Can North Korea Win the War?

You can clearly see Seoul in South Korea and Pyongyang in North Korea.

It is hard to find intelligent discussion of this. Normally all you hear is "1.5 million man army" and "massive artillery bombardment will destroy Seoul". With a country that conducts no large-scale exercises and is as poor as dirt with armed forces of very low morale, this never seemed like it made real sense.

Stuart Koehl, a long time military analyst and student of the North Korean armed-forces has something to say.

Endgame in Korea? Lacking the military wherewithal to defeat the South, Kim's regime is simply trying to extend its miserable existence through extortion.

General George Casey, Army Chief of Staff, recently stated quite frankly that it would take ninety days to move forward an adequate force to block an attacking North Korean army. Using this official military assessment as their guide, there is no reason to believe the NK military leadership would hesitate to assure their Dear Leader of an effectively full occupation of the Korean Peninsula within that time period.

I've been a military analyst for more than thirty years. I have studied the North Korean army in detail--its tactics, equipment and capabilities--and I have to say, this projection is one of the more ludicrous I have seen. I understand that in a resource-constrained environment, service leaders and theater commanders have to propound the worst case scenario to ensure their fair share of the pie, but even a cursory look at the North Korean People's Army leaves one wondering "huh?

The arms and equipment of the North Korean military are, overwhelmingly, Soviet-derived systems of 1960s and 70s vintage, lacking the kind of electronics, communications, fire controls and survivability features necessary on the modern battlefield.

To understand what this means, look at the disparity in combat effectiveness between Saddam Hussein's army and our own in Operation Desert Storm. Now consider that, as compared to North Korea's, Saddam's army was extraordinarily well trained and competent.

Read it all. He goes on to explain in detail how North Korea cannot prevail in a war against South Korea and the United States.

Kim's army hasn't been to war since 1953. Sure, it can beat up on unarmed truce inspection teams and kidnap Japanese civilians from remote beaches, but what has it really done lately? Worse still, it hasn't been able to stage realistic, large-scale exercises due to a chronic shortage of both fuel and cash. An army that doesn't know how to move formations larger than a battalion or regiment will degenerate into chaos when it tries to move divisions and armies. Finally, promotion in Kim's army, like promotion in Saddam's, is awarded for political loyalty, not military competence. Loyalty in such regimes is usually defined as telling the psychotic dictator what he wants to hear. Yet the first key to success in modern war is a free and open exchange of information between leaders and subordinates. The problem of political reliability is paramount for Kim--if he lets his army loose on the South, will it actually fight, or will it disintegrate on contact (or worse, turn on the regime)

He goes into issues of weapons, terrain, movement of troops and equipment in a manner more thorough than you normally get to read. So, go and read.

War against the "DPRK" will not be painless, but, although because of our own weakness diplomatically he can win the near-term diplomatic battles, Kim cannot win (unless we just give up).

More information (with photos) about North Korean air defenses here.

From GlobalSecurity.org, more about;
North Korean Army Air force
North Korean Army
North Korean Navy

I Have Lost my Best Friend

My best friend, Niko passed away 20 minutes ago and I can barely see through my tears. He is with Cocoa in Heaven now.

From the post that I wrote for her;

A man and his dog were walking along a road. The man was enjoying the scenery, when it suddenly occurred to him that he was dead. He remembered dying, and that his faithful dog had been dead for many years. He wondered where the road was leading them. After a while, they came to a high, white stone wall along one side of the road. It looked like fine marble. As he reached the wall, he saw a magnificent gate in the arch, and the street that led to the gate made from pure gold. He and the dog walked toward the gate, and as he got closer, he saw a man at a desk to one side.

When he was close enough, he called out, "Excuse me, where are we?"

"This is heaven, sir," the man answered.

"Wow! Would you happen to have some water? We have traveled far," the man said.

"Of course, sir. Come right in, and I'll have some ice water brought right up."

The man gestured, and the gate began to open.

"Can my friend," gesturing toward his dog, "come in, too?" the traveler asked.

"I'm sorry, sir, but we don't accept pets."

The man thought a moment, remembering all the years this dog remained loyal to him and then turned back toward the road and continued the way he had been going. After another long walk he came to a plain dirt road, which led through a farm gate that looked as if it had never been closed. There was no fence. As he approached the gate, he saw a man inside, leaning against a tree and reading a book.

"Excuse me!" he called to the reader. "Do you have any water? We have traveled far."

"Yes, sure, there's a faucet over there." The man pointed to a place that couldn't be seen from outside the gate. "Come on in and help yourself."

"How about my friend here?" the traveler gestured to his dog.

"There should be a bowl by the faucet; he is welcome to share."

They went through the gate, and sure enough, there was an old-fashioned faucet with a bowl beside it. The traveler filled the bowl and took a long drink himself, then he gave some to the dog. When they were full, he and the dog walked back toward the man who was standing by the tree waiting for them.

"What do you call this place?" the traveler asked.

"This is heaven," was the answer.

"Well, that's confusing," the traveler said. "The man down the road said that was heaven, too."

"Oh, you mean the place with the gold street and pearly gates? Nope. That's hell."

"Doesn't it make you mad for them to use your name like that?"

"No. We're just happy that they screen out the folks who'd leave their best friends behind in exchange for material things."

Author Unknown

I travel a great deal and (except for Japan) he always went with me. I am too emotional now to write much, but he was loyal and protective. Demanding as well.

All of the doctors and technicians at the veterinary hospital loved him and would cheer out loud whenever we brought him in. They did not do this for any other dog. He was loved by all.

He is on his towel behind me, and I cannot stop weeping.

If I can live as well as he, I will count it as a success.

UPDATE: Because Niko was beautiful, and because he loved us as we loved him, here is something beautiful.

Our Incompetent Government

I could just as well be writing about the national government now, but this is about the Washington State government.

You would think that one who chooses to hold public office would want to know something about how our government is supposed to work. Sadly, that is asking far too much.

Washington 9th in line to kill the electoral college

Washington State is front and center on ridding the U.S. of the Electoral College and pushing for electing the president by National Popular Vote (NPV). Olympia legislators passed Senate Bill 5599 which made Washington the 9th state in the U.S. ready to kill the Electoral College. Ironically the NPV law only needs 270 out of the 538 electoral votes to be enacted into law. The vote is currently at 60 or 23%.

Why we have an electoral college

The Founding Fathers decided against NPV because it would not represent the smaller states. Candidates could ignore rural areas, and focus on densely populated regions where they could get more votes. The Electoral College (EC) is meant for candidates to work harder to get their votes. Each state gets a certain number of electoral votes based on the states population, determined by the U.S. Census. Washington State has eleven votes, less populated states, like Alaska and Delaware only have three while California has the most electoral votes at 55.

Would the end of the Electoral College mean a better democracy. If you are not already convinced by the preceding that the answer to that question is no, then note;

Is a NPV really more representative?

A National Popular Vote doesnt just mean a 51/49 split. It means whoever gets the majority wins. A candiadte (sic) could very well win with a mere 20% approval. It is more complex than people understand. It might kill the two-party system that has carried elections throughout history. Currently, each party has to agree on a candidate who can appeal to the greatest number of citizens to gain a majority of votes of the Electoral College.

Paul Greenberg argues that this shift in electoral reform makes us more like the French. There were thirteen candidates in 2003, and barely any of them could carry a majority. The result was to have a second round of voting that put a right wing radical against an unpopular conservative. Ridding the U.S. of the EC would water down the quality of candidates and open the door for right and left wing radicals to be legitimate presidential contenders. It would segregate states, regions, and people.

Of course none of this means anything to the idiots that run our government and the poorly informed electorate that continually rëelects them.

You Know its Really Bad When...

Antonio Gramsci

Pravda (yes, THAT Pravda!) publishes a story about our rapid descent into Marxism.

American capitalism gone with a whimper

It must be said, that like the breaking of a great dam, the American decent into Marxism is happening with breath taking speed, against the back drop of a passive, hapless sheeple, excuse me dear reader, I meant people.

True, the situation has been well prepared on and off for the past century, especially the past twenty years. The initial testing grounds was conducted upon our Holy Russia and a bloody test it was. But we Russians would not just roll over and give up our freedoms and our souls, no matter how much money Wall Street poured into the fists of the Marxists.

Those lessons were taken and used to properly prepare the American populace for the surrender of their freedoms and souls, to the whims of their elites and betters.

First, the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education system based on pop culture, rather then the classics. Americans know more about their favorite TV dramas then the drama in DC that directly affects their lives. They care more for their "right" to choke down a McDonalds burger or a BurgerKing burger than for their constitutional rights. Then they turn around and lecture us about our rights and about our "democracy". Pride blind the foolish.

Then their faith in God was destroyed, until their churches, all tens of thousands of different "branches and denominations" were for the most part little more then Sunday circuses and their televangelists and top protestant mega preachers were more then happy to sell out their souls and flocks to be on the "winning" side of one pseudo Marxist politician or another. Their flocks may complain, but when explained that they would be on the "winning" side, their flocks were ever so quick to reject Christ in hopes for earthly power. Even our Holy Orthodox churches are scandalously liberalized in America.

Yes, the translation is a little rough, but it is worth a read.

Also worth a read is Gramsci's Grand Plan. An excerpt;

Steps in the Process

The first phase in achieving "cultural hegemony" over a nation is the undermining of all elements of traditional culture. Churches are thus transformed into ideology-driven political clubs, with the stress on "social justice" and egalitarianism, with worship reduced to trivialized entertainment, and with age-old doctrinal and moral teachings "modernized" or diminished to the point of irrelevancy. Genuine education is replaced by "dumbed down" and "politically correct" curricula, and standards are reduced dramatically. The mass media are fashioned into instruments for mass manipulation and for harassing and discrediting traditional institutions and their spokesmen. Morality, decency, and old virtues are ridiculed without respite. Tradition-minded clergymen are portrayed as hypocrites and virtuous men and women as prudish, stuffy, and unenlightened.

Culture is no longer a buttress supporting the integrity of the national heritage and a vehicle for imparting that heritage to future generations, but becomes a means for "destroying ideals and ... presenting the young not with heroic examples but with deliberately and aggressively degenerate ones," as theologian Harold O.J. Brown writes. We see this in contemporary American life, in which the great historical symbols of our nation's past, including great presidents, soldiers, explorers, and thinkers, are shown to have been unforgivably flawed with "racism" and "sexism" and therefore basically evil. Their place has been taken by pro-Marxist charlatans, pseudo-intellectuals, rock stars, leftist movie celebrities, and the like. At another level, traditional Christian culture is condemned as repressive, "Eurocentric," and "racist" and, thus, unworthy of our continued devotion. In its place, unalloyed primitivism in the guise of "multiculturalism" is held as the new model.

Marriage and family, the very building blocks of our society, are perpetually attacked and subverted. Marriage is portrayed as a plot by men to perpetuate an evil system of domination over women and children. The family is depicted as a dangerous institution epitomized by violence and exploitation. Patriarchally oriented families are, according to the Gramscians, the precursors of fascism, Nazism, and every organized form of racial persecution.

Go read, there is much more.

Ok - Funny Cats and Dogs

Yep.

Lolcats



Loldogs

The Enemy Knows Weakness

This actually happened first, but chronology is not important. The leaders of Iran, North Korea, the Taliban, al Qaeda, etc. all sense weakness as a shark senses blood in the water.

Iran sends warships to Gulf of Aden

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran has sent six warships to international waters, including the Gulf of Aden, to show its ability to confront any foreign threats, its naval commander said on Monday.

Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, quoted by the ISNA news agency, made the announcement five days after Iran said it test-fired a surface-to-surface missile with a range of 2,000 km (1,200 miles), putting Israel and U.S. bases in the area within reach.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but;

On May 20, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran had tested a missile that defence analysts say could hit Israel and U.S. bases in the Gulf, a move likely to fuel concern about Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

The United States and its allies suspect the Islamic Republic is seeking to build nuclear bombs, a charge Tehran denies, but President Barack Obama has offered a new beginning of diplomatic engagement with Iran if it "unclenches its fist"

Blog Update

Ok, I give up. I am going to upgrade the blog to the newer "Layouts" format. We shall see...

UPDATE: Done. It looks like I will eventually be able to get all of my various lists and links built back into the blog, but it will take a little time. If you are linked, please be patient. I will get it back. Thank you.

UPDATE 2: I will start using Blogger Comments instead of Haloscan for now and see how it goes.

UPDATE 3: I will be playing with the colors. Thank you for your patience.

North Korea Atom Bomb Test

As we in the newly weakened United States mumble about negotiating and working with the (feckless) United Nations, the DPRK (interesting how tyrannies love the title "Democratic Peoples Republic") has exploded an atom bomb comparable to the ones used against Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Even the leftist rags are reporting this. From the Guardian

The KNCA news agency, the regime's official mouthpiece, said: "We have successfully conducted another nuclear test on 25 May as part of the republic's measures to strengthen its nuclear deterrent."

Officials in South Korea said they had detected a tremor consistent with those caused by an underground nuclear explosion. The country's Yonhap news agency reported that the North had test-fired three short-range missiles from a base on the east coast immediately after the nuclear test.

The underground atomic explosion, at 9.54am local time (0154 BST), created an earthquake measuring magnitude 4.5 in Kilju county in the country's north-east, reports said.

President Barack Obama called the test a matter of grave concern to all countries. "North Korea is directly and recklessly challenging the international community," he said in a statement. "North Korea's behaviour increases tensions and undermines stability in north-east Asia."

He added that North Korea's behaviour would serve only to deepen the country's isolation.

"It will not find international acceptance unless it abandons its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery," he said.

This is about a forceful as the US response will get.

The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, said he was "deeply worried" by the development.

Which is what the UN Secretary General is good for.

Japan has a lot to worry about.

In Tokyo, Japan's chief cabinet secretary, Takeo Kawamura, said the test was "a clear violation of the UN security council resolution and cannot be tolerated".

Kim will not want to trash South Korea with radioactive contamination since he plans to take ownership of it one day. I think that Japan and the US are at the top of Kim's target list.

The Japanese are currently having a national conversation about amending their Constitution to allow for a more powerful armed force with offensive capabilities. This is a good idea. They are in danger.

See: Japan Moving Toward Amendments To Pacifist Constitution, Official Says

Japan May Amend Pacifist Constitution To Allow Nukes To Protect Against North Korea

North Korea's nuclear weapons has ignited a debate in Japan about allowing nuclear weapons by amending its pacifist Constitution as a deterrent to an attack from nuclear-armed North Korea

Shoichi Nakagawa, former finance minister, said Japan should examine the possibility of obtaining nuclear weapons to defending itself from potential attacks by North Korea and its growing arsenal of ballistic missiles that could be armed with nuclear warheads.

"North Korea has taken a step toward a system whereby it can shoot without prior notice. We have to discuss countermeasures," Kyodo News quoted him as saying.

"It is common sense worldwide that in a purely military sense it is nuclear that can counteract nuclear," said Nakagawa, who has long called for debate on whether Japan should go nuclear.

Let's Kill All The Jews

As I return home for a very few months and try to put things together, I thought that I should start right in with how our unwillingness to take meaningful action in the face of evildoers endangers the world. Include our unwillingness to see through the lies of our enemies (and Mr. Obama's choice to make friends of enemies and enemies of friends). I will start with a piece that I was writing a few months ago. As Obama makes noises about how Mr. Netanyahu needs to accept a "two-state" solution as Mr. Abbas supposedly does, we should remember that what the Palestinian leadership says in public is one thing, but another thing is said amongst themselves in Arabic.

Let's kill all the Jews.

That is the word from Fatah. They openly admit that they are fooling the western powers with the phony acceptance of the right of the state of Israel to exist, or the right of Jews in the middle east to continue breathing. And, having said so openly, expect no objection from us.



Read all about it on the Strategy Page.

Let's Kill All The Jews

March 19, 2009: Fatah, the "moderate" Palestinian political movement, has admitted that it does not recognize the existence of Israel. Fatah points out that the Palestinian Authority, an organization set up in the 1990s after peace negotiations with Israel allowed the Palestinians to assume control of their own affairs, does not speak for Fatah. The Palestinian Authority recognized Israel, but Fatah points out that this was done to meet the demands of Western nations that were going to provide the Palestinians with billions of dollars in economic aid. What the Western donors ignored was the fact that Palestinians regularly used maps of the area that showed Israel as Palestinian territory. To Palestinians, Israel did not exist. Children were taught that Israel was an illegal entity, and the Israelis (at least the Jewish ones) foreign invaders who must be expelled or killed. All this was in Arabic. English pronouncements tended to be rather more opaque on the "kill the Jews" stuff.

And so we allow ourselves to be fooled.

My Travels

As both of you, my faithful and patient readers, know, I travel a lot. This last one is especially chaotic and is offered as the explanation for my absence. I am in Yokosuka, Japan.

Yep.

I am once again working on the USS George Washington and am living at the Hotel New Yokosuka. After arriving home from San Diego I had only a few days to get ready to go, and that was complicated by a major snowstorm that prevented me from getting everything done. That included the necessary preparations for travel abroad and work on my new house. So, no time to post.

I am sorry for that and plan to start again as I always do in these situations.

Those of you who know me know that I have a few things to say about events of the past few months. I will get to them.

More importantly, although I did not post about it, my wife and I did not forget the anniversary of the passing of my little girl. The memory still brings tears to my eyes (even now). Now Niko is old and sick and I fear that I will not get home in time to see him again.

I have also not forgotten about either of my faithful readers. I shall resume blogging as time permits.

Thank you for your kind patience.

Newly Discovered Element

GS Don Morris has the news over at Doc's Talk.

Lawrence Livermore Laboratories has discovered the heaviest element yet known to science.

The new element, Governmentium (Gv), has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312.These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons.

Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert; however, it can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A tiny amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that would normally take less than a second, to take from four days to four years to complete.

Governmentium has a normal half-life of 2- 6 years; It does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places.

In fact, Governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes.

This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a critical concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as critical morass.

When catalysed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium, an element that radiates just as much energy as Governmentium since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons.

Great stuff, Doc!

Happy Thanksgiving

I want to wish both of my faithful readers a happy Thanksgiving.

As the Pilgrims gave thanks to God (you won't find that taught in school very much any more) for their success after the first years of struggle. As Joseph Farah wrote in the San Francisco Sentinel last year (a paper that I would never normally read);

There are many myths and misconceptions surrounding the people responsible for the American Thanksgiving tradition. Contrary to popular opinion, the Pilgrims didn’t wear buckles on their shoes or hats. They weren’t teetotalers, either. They smoked tobacco and drank beer. And, most importantly, their first harvest festival and subsequent “thanksgivings” weren’t held to thank the local natives for saving their lives.

Do you know there are public schools in America today actually teaching that? Some textbooks, in their discomfort with open discussions of Christianity, say as much. I dare suggest most parents today know little more about this history than their children.

Yet, there is no way to divorce the spiritual from the celebration of Thanksgiving – at least not the way the Pilgrims envisioned it, a tradition dating back to the ancient Hebrews and their feasts of Succoth and Passover.

The Pilgrims came to America for one reason – to form a separate community in which they could worship God as they saw fit. They had fled England because King James I was persecuting those who did not recognize the Church of England’s absolute civil and spiritual authority.

And the there was the interesting direct comparison to centrally managed economies and free enterprise, with William Bradford's exactly correct explanation as to why one of those systems does not work.

When the Pilgrims landed in the New World, they found a cold, rocky, barren, desolate wilderness. There were no friends to greet them, Bradford wrote. No houses to shelter them. No inns where they could refresh themselves. During the first winter, half the Pilgrims died of sickness or exposure – including Bradford’s wife. Though life improved for the Pilgrims when spring came, they did not really prosper. Why? Once again, the textbooks don’t tell the story, but Bradford’s own journal does. The reason they didn’t succeed initially is because they were practicing an early form of socialism.

The original contract the Pilgrims had with their merchant-sponsors in London called for everything they produced to go into a common store. Each member of the community was entitled to one common share. All of the land they cleared and the houses they built belonged to the community. Bradford, as governor, recognized the inherent problem with this collectivist system.

“The experience that was had in this common course and condition, tried sundry years … that by taking away property, and bringing community into common wealth, would make them happy and flourishing – as if they were wiser than God,” Bradford wrote. “For this community [so far as it was] was found to breed much confusion and discontent, and retard much employment that would have been to their benefit and comfort. For young men that were most able and fit for labor and service did repine that they should spend their time and strength to work for other men’s wives and children without any recompense … that was thought injustice.”

What a surprise! Even back then people did not want to work without incentive. Bradford decided to assign a plot of land to each family to work and manage, thus turning loose the power of free enterprise. What was the result?

“This had very good success,” wrote Bradford, “for it made all hands industrious, so as much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been.”

As a result, the Pilgrims soon found they had more food than they could eat themselves. They set up trading posts and exchanged goods with the Indians. The profits allowed them to pay off their debts to the merchants in London much faster than expected. The success of the Plymouth colony thus attracted more Europeans and set off what we call the “Great Puritan Migration.”

But it wasn’t just an economic system that allowed the Pilgrims to prosper. It was their devotion to God and His laws. And that’s what Thanksgiving is really all about. The Pilgrims recognized that everything we have is a gift from God – even our sorrows. Their Thanksgiving tradition was established to honor God and thank Him for His blessings and His grace.

So today let us thank God for what we have.

Have a happy Thanksgiving.

Advice for the President Elect

Of course it is well known that it has become an article of the Liberal™ faith that John Bolton is a bad guy, this because he stands for the US and is result oriented. Still, it would be very good if Senator Obama (he becomes President Elect after elected by the Electoral College) would take the advice that Mr. Bolton offers in this piece.

John Bolton: Letter to the next president

He writes about being "the decider", Iran, North Korea, and more. Further, he writes about how to manage America's image abroad;

Do not let global “public opinion” about the United States, from Albania to Zimbabwe, dissuade you from doing what you think is right for America. Your job is to defend and advance our interests and values, a task which invariably will displease our adversaries, and even many of our friends, especially those who wish we were, well, more European in our behaviour and attitudes.

What we must do, however, is more effectively advocate the policies you will be pursuing. Failure at both the political level in Washington and abroad, and at the level of the career Foreign Service, made the Bush Administration one of the most tongue-tied Presidencies in our history. We should try to shift international public opinion to support our policies, not modify our policies to try to satisfy international public opinion. The State Department will not understand this distinction. You must.

Very good stuff. Sen. Obama should read it all, and so should you.

You can also read it at the Telegraph.co.uk here if you care to read the comments, including the fact-free rantings of the Left™ where they congratulate themselves on how smart they are and on what evil and stupid people we Americans are (particularly the conservatives).

No Solution to the Piracy Problem?

You may have already read the news of the largest prize ever taken by pirates, the Sirius Star.

Reporting from Beirut and Nairobi, Kenya -- In their most brazen raid yet, suspected Somali pirates operating deep in open waters have seized an oil tanker as long as an aircraft carrier, the U.S. military in the Middle East said Monday.

So audacious and unusual was the Indian Ocean attack that it caught the attention of America's top military official, who expressed shock at the pirates' ability to strike so far from shore.

Global fecklessness is still (ironically) strong. Iranian grain ship seized as Somali pirates hold world to ransom

Somali pirates struck again yesterday, seizing an Iranian cargo ship holding 30,000 tonnes of grain, as the world’s governments and navies pronounced themselves powerless against this new threat to global trade.

Admiral Michael Mullen, the US military chief, pronounced himself stunned by the pirates’ reach after their capture of the supertanker Sirius Star and its $100 million (£70 million) cargo. Commanders from the US Fifth Fleet and from Nato warships in the area said that they would not intervene to retake the vessel.

The Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia, the owner of the ship, condemned the hijacking as an “outrageous act” that required international action.

“Piracy, like terrorism, is a disease which is against everybody, and everybody must address it together,” Prince Saud al-Faisal said. Arab diplomats would meet in Cairo on Thursday to discuss what could be done in response, Yemeni officials said.

Analysts said, however, that the seizure of the Sirius Star exposed the use of foreign warships as “a sticking plaster” that would not solve the problem. “Maritime security operations in that area are addressing the symptoms not the causes,” said Jason Alderwick, a maritime defence analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Roger Middleton, a Horn of Africa specialist at the Chatham House think-tank, said that the capture was a crucial escalation. “Now that they have shown they are able to seize an enormous ship like this, it is beyond a military solution. You won’t fix this without a political solution.”

Of course a political solution is required. The lack of a functioning government in Somalia allows for the existence of safe havens ashore for pirates. These must be taken away from them. Whatever exists of a government in Somalia must be made to agree.

Lawhawk over at A Blog For All discusses the solution.

These countries aren't powerless to act. They are abdicating their responsibility to act. These pirates are indeed terrorists, and there is some indication that they are perhaps middlemen for al Qaeda or other terrorist outfits.

That would fit with my contention that the failure to deal decisively with failed states and the situation in Somalia in particular is resulting a security nightmare.

The solution is to go after the pirates and stop treating this solely as a law enforcement action. The UN Treaty on the Seas has failed to dent the problems facing worldwide commerce as a result of the ongoing piracy. Articles 100 and following deal with what governments can and should do, and yet they are doing nothing of the kind.

Go and read his entire post. he has gotten it exactly right.

In other words, if the US captures pirates and their ships, US law would apply. Similarly, if the Royal Navy captures the pirates, British law applies. Yet, as the Times Online article notes, the British government passed on the men it captured to the Kenyans for prosecution.

These pirates are lucky they were not killed while engaged in their acts of violence on the high seas. For the rest of us, we're watching as the justice system grinds its wheels slowly and can't even begin to figure out how to deal with the problem in an effective manner.

Pirates, when captured, should never again see the light of day.

Kill.Them.All.

Do Not Trust Your Lying Eyes, No Bias at the Washington Post

...or in any other fish wrap newspaper either. You see, we conservatives, being all immensely stupid (and racist, and classist, and sexist, and just generally evil as well) just happened to perceive a bias that is not really there. You see, because we are so completely steeped in all of those evils listed above, and mostly because we are just stupid, we cannot see that the Washington Post, the New York Times, the LA Times, et al, are just fairly reporting the news.

Here is what Deborah Howell, the ombudsman at the Washington Post, has to say;
Remedying the Bias Perception. I especially like the first sentence.

Thousands of conservatives and even some moderates have complained during my more than three-year term that The Post is too liberal; many have stopped subscribing, including more than 900 in the past four weeks.

It pains me to see lost subscribers and revenue, especially when newspapers are shrinking. Conservative complaints can be wrong: The mainstream media were not to blame for John McCain's loss; Barack Obama's more effective campaign and the financial crisis were.

She goes on to write things designed to make us feel better, even providing some examples of biased reporting. She then explains that no, it is not really reflective of any bias.

Useful Fools makes a good point;

First, the title shows a misunderstanding of the problem. To any conservative who is aware of the issues, it isn’t a “Bias Perception,” it is bias. When the generally left-ish Saturday Night Live is running skits about the media being in the tank for Obama, it’s time to pay serious attention.

Second, you assert “The mainstream media were not to blame for John McCain’s loss; Barack Obama’s more effective campaign and the financial crisis were.” Let me phrase that slightly differently with the a reasonable hypothesis: “Without the bias and outright cheerleading of the media towards Obama, he would have lost the election.” Certainly Obama ran a good campaign, but one reason is that the media simply gave him a free pass. His record was not critically examined, his questionable associations were glossed over (Rev Wright is equivalent to McCain having dedicated his autobiography to a KKK member), his past work history was unexplored. If one compares this to the treatment of Sarah Palin or George Bush, the bias is off the scale.

How About that Global Warming?

Although the members of the Religion of Global Warming will never acknowledge it, their faith took another hit this week. It seems that the general cooling of the planet that everyone (except the Global Warming believers) has noticed now has a little more statistical support.

The world has never seen such freezing heat

A surreal scientific blunder last week raised a huge question mark about the temperature records that underpin the worldwide alarm over global warming. On Monday, Nasa's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), which is run by Al Gore's chief scientific ally, Dr James Hansen, and is one of four bodies responsible for monitoring global temperatures, announced that last month was the hottest October on record.

This was startling. Across the world there were reports of unseasonal snow and plummeting temperatures last month, from the American Great Plains to China, and from the Alps to New Zealand. China's official news agency reported that Tibet had suffered its "worst snowstorm ever". In the US, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration registered 63 local snowfall records and 115 lowest-ever temperatures for the month, and ranked it as only the 70th-warmest October in 114 years.

So what explained the anomaly? GISS's computerised temperature maps seemed to show readings across a large part of Russia had been up to 10 degrees higher than normal. But when expert readers of the two leading warming-sceptic blogs, Watts Up With That and Climate Audit, began detailed analysis of the GISS data they made an astonishing discovery. The reason for the freak figures was that scores of temperature records from Russia and elsewhere were not based on October readings at all. Figures from the previous month had simply been carried over and repeated two months running.

Don't expect to hear too much about actual global temperature data from the national press, or from Mr. Gore. Information like this will limit their ability to get rich off of the "cap and trade" scam and the various taxation plans of our incoming Leftist™ government.

Armistice Day - Veterans Day

Americans burying their dead at Bois de Consenvoye, France; November 8, 1918.

Most people know that Veterans Day was originally Armistice Day. The purpose was to commemorate the armistice signed between the Allies and Germany on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month - November 11th, 1918. The armistice was signed at Rethondes, France and ended hostilities on the Western Front. The war continued across the Russian and Ottoman Empires.

The commemoration was changed from Armistice Day to Veterans Day to remember veterans of all of the wars that Americans had to fight. The price of our freedom has been high.

We often commemorate the events of World War II, it is never far from our memory.

We have forgotten World War I, the Great War. It, like the American Civil War and WW II was a war of horrible devastation and loss of life, draining the strength of Europe and claiming many American lives. It, like the others, was also a testing ground for new advances in warfighting, most notably including the tank, chemical warfare, and aerial warfare.

I choose to remember the armistice of November 11th, 1918 not for the changes in warfighting that were characteristic of WW I, or even of that war itself, but of the horrific loss of life and the horrific ways in which it was lost. Most of us have forgotten the Great War, and we should not. It was the beginning of warfare that lasted from 1914 through 1945. World War II was set up by, and can even be seen as a continuation of the Great War. The shots, fired by Gavrilo Princip, that killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie (background here), resulted in warfare that killed more than 20 million people in World War 1 and over 70 million people in World War 2.

Make no mistake, I honor and remember all veterans of all wars, but I have many other occasions to do that. After 21 years of active duty service, I know many of them personally, often talking and drinking with them. But, for me, this day will always be about those heroes of 1917, the year that we entered WW I.

For the United States, this was the "war to end all wars". That is what we believed and this is what those men fought for. However completely that idea failed, they are still heroes and we do poorly if we fail to remember and venerate them. So, for me, Veterans Day will always be Armistice Day - for them.

Read and learn (as I am still doing);
FirstWorldWar.com
Photos of the Great War
World War One

No one hates war more than the warriors.

In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

National Suicide?

There has been a political process going on in Europe for many years now of denigrating one's own culture and values and apologizing for one's own history. This process is perhaps furthest along in England and is going on in liberal politics in the US.

The great Melanie Phillips has written an excellent column describing this political process as it has affected (and is destroying) the UK and how it is underway in the US. This is a "must read" for anyone who cares about American culture and values.

Preventing National Suicide

Accordingly, his government either directly promoted or did nothing to stop the long march through Britain’s institutions — the systematic undermining of the country’s fundamental values and traditions, in line with the cultural Marxism strategy of the philosopher Antonin Gramsci. It tore up Britain’s (unwritten) constitution, devolving power to Scotland and changing the composition of the upper parliamentary chamber, the House of Lords, destroying the delicate equilibrium of the balance of power.

It also set about changing the identity of the country. Promoting the doctrine of multiculturalism, it opened Britain’s doors to mass immigration. In the state-controlled schools, teachers no longer saw their role as the transmission of Britain’s historic culture, which was “racist”; accordingly, children were not taught the history of their country, but instead a concept of ‘citizenship’ which was all about changing the values of the country. It undermined marriage, promoting instead “lifestyle choice” by incentivising lone parenthood (official forms no longer refer to husband and wives, merely “partners”). It discouraged prison sentences because criminals were said to be victims of life and jail would make them worse.

Obama has talked about remedying what he sees as the flaws in the U.S. Constitution which promotes only “negative liberties,” or freedom from something rather than positive rights to something. Well, through human-rights legislation Britain has exchanged its historic concept of “negative” liberty — everything is permitted unless it is actively prohibited — for the ‘positive’ European idea that only what is codified is to be permitted.

As a result, freedom has shrunk to what ideology permits. Equality legislation has cemented a “victim culture” under which the interests of all groups deemed to be powerless (black people, women, gays ) trump those deemed to be powerful (white people, men, Christians). Since this doctrine holds that the “powerless” can do no wrong while the “powerful” can do no right, injustice is thus institutionalized, and anyone who queries the preferential treatment afforded such groups is vilified as a racist or bigot.

All this constitutes a profoundly illiberal culture in which no dissent is permitted, group is set against group and intimidation is the order of the day. And this also happens to be the culture of ACORN, of the radical groups funded by the Annenberg Challenge and Woods Fund, and the ‘educational’ or criminal justice ideas of William Ayers, endorsed by Barack Obama.

Read it all, this is very important material and must be understood by anyone who loves American values and culture. This is what conservatives in the US have been saying for some time, only to be ridiculed by the Left™ and Democrats for political advantage. I know that there are members of the Democratic Party who do not support the Left™'s efforts to do this to America but still vote with their party because their leaders tell them to, and I know that there are Republicans who, out of an effort to "be compassionate" will allow this process to go forward. They need to stop thinking about political advantage and start caring about the country.

If you think that this cannot actually happen, take a close look at Europe.

Read, and read about, Antonio Gramsci.

This is critically important.

Ok, This is Funny

I am normally not a fan of Saturday Night Live. In fact I watch very little television outside of FOX News, the Discovery Channel, and the Travel Channel, but the bit that they just did with Senator McCain the other day is really funny.

The Company They Keep

Dishonest liberals accuse us of trying to tar Senator Obama using guilt by association when we mention the people that he is close to. I don't know about you, but I learned while I was growing up that "you will know them by the company that they keep".

Everyone knows what company Obama keeps. Here is a book by some of them, Billy Ayers and his friends from the Weather Underground, courtesy of the great Charles Johnson who has the exclusive at LGF.

LGF Exclusive: Bill Ayers' 'Prairie Fire' in PDF Form

Election Prediction with a Historical View

George Will provides some thoughtful analysis in a column that he wrote a few days ago (sorry about just getting to it now). I am not going to quote much of it, but you should read the whole thing.

A Seismic Election Day - A Few States Are Apt to Change Colors

He provides an excellent perspective using results of past elections.

As a final note, he adds this;

Tuesday night might be chaotic: Elections are government undertakings, so they are not expected to be well run, and judging by the multiplying warnings that voting arrangements might buckle under the weight of large turnouts, Election Day seems to have taken many state and local governments by surprise, yet again. Such dreary developments, anticipated with certainty, must be borne philosophically.

Yep.

The Price of Fecklessness

The great John Bolton has it exactly right. We will pay a big price for being flat on our back with respect to North Korea and all of the other evil ones in the world that we seek to placate - and it will get only worse in an Obama administration (probably a McCain administration to).

Bush's North Korea Surrender Will Have Lasting Consequences

The negative ramifications are not confined to Northeast Asia. In Tehran and the capitals of other terrorist states and aspiring nuclear proliferators, policy makers are doubtless ecstatic that Pyongyang has out-negotiated Washington once more, and they are considering ways to apply the North Korea model to their own situations.

The North was nearly able to complete a nuclear reactor in Syria, and possibly other, related facilities, and suffered no penalty for it. Perhaps Iran will conclude it should do the same. What does it have to lose? In Tripoli, Moammar Gadhafi must be wondering why Libya's nuclear-weapons program now resides in Oak Ridge, Tenn., whereas the full extent of the DPRK's program remains unknown and now unknowable.

Having bent the knee to North Korea, Secretary Rice appears primed to do the same with Iran, despite that regime's egregious and extensive involvement in terrorism and the acceleration of its nuclear program. Watch for the opening of a U.S. diplomatic post in Tehran within days after our Nov. 4 election, and other concessions on the nuclear front. Hard as it is to believe, there may be worse yet to come.

We are losing. We have decided that we would rather just get along than win, and as a result we are losing.

Just wait, the consequences will be tragic.

A Message from the Defectors

North Korean Defectors Send Anti-Kim Jong Il Leaflets by Balloon to North

A group of North Korean human rights campaigners has defied a request of the South Korean government and launched thousands of balloon-borne leaflets into North Korea. VOA's Kurt Achin reports from Seoul.

About a dozen people belonging to the South Korea-based "North Korea Freedom Coalition" took to the seas on Friday, carrying a cargo of thousands of leaflets - each one printed on tissue-thin plastic material resembling convenience store shopping bags.

The leaflets describe North Korean leader Kim Jong Il as a "devilish killer who views his people only as slaves." They say Kim Jong Il is the sole reason for North Korea's hunger and poverty.

When their boat reached a point about eight kilometers west of the South Korean city of Incheon, coalition members filled giant 12 meter long balloons with helium. Then they attached bundles of leaflets to the balloons, and let the ocean wind whisk them away, off in the direction of North Korea. By the end of the day some hundred thousand leaflets were airborne.

Of course, It is not so simple. The South Korean government does not want them to do this. The diplomats don't like it.

Balloon launches like this have gotten North Korea's attention. At inter-Korean military talks earlier this month, the North complained specifically about leaflets carried by balloon, and asked Seoul to put a stop to the launches.

South Korea's Unification Ministry followed up by requesting the defectors group stop the leaflet operations - but Park says he had no intention of complying.

He says only dictatorships order people what to do. South Korea, he says, is a democratic nation - and the government here cannot order legitimate human rights groups around.

Park Sang-hak has it right, and good for him. The diplomats have it wrong, as they always do.

The go along, get along attitude of diplomats has NEVER won anyone their freedom. With the left™ about to take over government here in the U. S. you can also expect to see us behave in the same way. Our diplomats are every bit as weak and feckless as theirs and we will soon be a country whose opinion can safely be ignored.

North Korea to make "Important Announcement"

I know that I am not supposed to wish for such things, but I truly hope that the Dear Monster is dead.

Japanese report says North Korea will make 'important announcement'

TOKYO — A Japanese newspaper says North Korea has ordered its diplomats abroad to be on standby for an "important announcement" which could be about the health of its leader, Kim Jong Il.

Quoting several unidentified sources, the Yomiuri newspaper said North Korea had told its diplomats to refrain from travelling to be ready for the announcement.

It said the order was probably issued several days ago.

It says the announcement could be about Kim's health or North Korea's relations with neighbouring South Korea.

A Solution to Piracy

I have said this before. There is only one solution to piracy and, sadly, the UN as well as our own government are too feckless to do it.

Kill.Them.All

These are not cute people. They murder at will and stand to seriously affect world trade. Report warns Somali piracy threat to world trade

NAIROBI (AFP) — World trade faces major disruption if Somali piracy is unchecked and allowed to be co-opted by extremists and maritime routes could be gradually diverted, a report released on Thursday said.

London-based think tank Chatham House warned in a briefing paper that the international community needed to take swift action as pirates were rapidly improving their equipment and modus operandi.

Around 60 ships have been attacked so far this year alone. The danger has caused insurance premiums to rise tenfold in a year.

"If the cost of extra insurance becomes prohibitive, or the danger simply too great, shipping companies may avoid the Gulf of Aden and take the long route to Europe and North America around the Cape of Good Hope," it said.

"The extra weeks of travel and fuel consumption would add considerably to the cost of transporting goods" at a time when the price of oil is already putting the squeeze on world trade, Chatham House said.

And that support for terrorism;

"The other worst-case scenario is that pirates become agents of international terrorism," the study said, stressing that previous occurrences of seaborne terrorism in the region should act as an alarm bell.

Chatham House also argued that the ransom collected by pirates was likely used to fuel the war in Somalia and was routed to the Shebab, a hardline Islamist militia listed as a terrorist organisation by Washington.

And murder;

Pirates last week attracted the world's attention when they seized a cargo of battle tanks headed for Kenya and Chatham House warned it was only a matter of time before a hostage was executed.

See also these somewhat older stories;

Somali pirates seize Greek ship

Somali Pirates Held Record 374 Hostages in September

And if they pirate a ship carrying biological or chemical weapons (or worse) then you might actually get what is coming to you; Mysterious Cargo Aboard Iranian Ship Seized by Pirates Raises WMD Concerns

As Somali pirates brazenly maintain their standoff with American warships off the coast of Africa, the cargo aboard one Iranian ship they commandeered is raising concerns that it may contain materials that can be used for chemical or biological weapons.

Some local officials suspect that instead of finding riches, the pirates encountered deadly chemical agents aboard the Iranian vessel.

On Aug. 21, the pirates, armed with AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades, stole onto the decks of the merchant vessel Iran Deyanat.

They ransacked the ship and searched the containers. But in the days following the hijacking, a number of them fell ill and died, suffering skin burns and hair loss, according to reports.

The pirates were sickened because of their contact with the seized cargo, according to Hassan Osman, the Somali minister of Minerals and Oil, who met with the pirates to facilitate negotiations.

Sounds like radiation sickness to me, and others.

Chemical experts say the reports sound inconsistent with chemical poisoning, but may reflect the effects of exposure to radiation.

"It's baffling," said Jonathan Tucker, a senior fellow at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies. "I'm not aware of any chemical agent that produces loss of hair within a few days. That's more suggestive of high levels of radioactive waste."

Not necessarily waste either, I think.

China News Predicts Future

The official news agency of China, Xinhua, published a long and detailed piece about the highly successful launch of the Shenzhou 7 space mission. The article even included conversation between the three astronauts (or whatever the Chinese call them).

The article was published hours before the launch occurred. Now there's a news organization for you.

China space mission article hits Web before launch

BEIJING - A news story describing a successful launch of China's long-awaited space mission and including detailed dialogue between astronauts launched on the Internet Thursday, hours before the rocket had even left the ground.
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The country's official news agency Xinhua posted the article on its Web site Thursday, and remained there for much of the day before it was taken down.

A staffer from the Xinhuanet.com Web site who answered the phone Thursday said the posting of the article was a "technical error" by a technician. The staffer refused to give his name as is common among Chinese officials.

Excerpts of the article are included in the report.

Japan Developing Missile Defense Shield

Path of 1998 North Korean Missile Launch (right over my family's house in Muroran, Hokkaido, Japan)

Japan's Defense Ministry, in cooperation with the United States, is planning a test of a missile defense shield. With North Korea once more behaving in an erratic and dangerous way this is very necessary, especially remembering North Korea's aggressive actions toward Japan.

Japan plans missile test as North Korea fears grow

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan is planning a ballistic missile defence test in cooperation with the United States in November, the Defence Ministry said on Monday, as fears rise over North Korea's plans to restore its main atomic complex.

North Korea's firing of a ballistic missile over Japan in 1998 spurred Japan to build a missile defence shield in cooperation with Washington, its most important ally.

Japanese navy personnel aboard the newly upgraded destroyer Chokai will use an SM-3 missile to try to shoot down a dummy ballistic missile in space over the Pacific near Hawaii, Japan's Defence Ministry said on Monday.

A similar test using the equipment supplied by Lockheed Martin Corp and Raytheon last December went smoothly.

It is sadly ironic that, however much we may wish to see the end of the monster Kim and the destruction of that regime, it is so poor with an industrial base that is so old and broken down that its collapse is as dangerous as its continued existence.

NASA Hacker to be Extradited

Its about time.

Hacker Loses Extradition Fight

Gary McKinnon has lost his appeal to avoid being extradited to the US for tapping in to 97 American military and Nasa computers from his London home.

He could even be sent to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, the notorious camp where America holds its terror suspects.

McKinnon was never charged in the UK after admitting the offence but Law Lords now say the US should be granted their request to put him on trial there.

He may be locked up for a long time. Let us hope that our feckless government decides to grow a spine and really punish this criminal.

McKinnon has been warned by US authorities that he faces a life sentence rather than a couple of years in jail, if he does not plead guilty and accept extradition.

Without co-operation, say the authorities, the case could be treated as one of terrorism.

Such a charge could result in up to 60 years behind bars in a maximum-security prison, should he be found guilty.

It has previously been reported that US prosecutors wanted to "see him fry".

I hope that they (we) throw the book at this guy.

North Korean Collapse?

This is an older report that I have just now run across. There is speculation that the North Korean regime is in danger of collapse in the face of the worst starvation since the 1990's. Even then there was a danger that the Monster Kim would be overthrown, but the liberal use of mass murder and death by starvation helped him avoid that threat (with a little help from his friends Russia and China). Now they face the same threat but are more isolated. Russia and China also seem less interested in helping.

This piece by Richard Halloran in the Washington Times provides some insight.

North Korean collapse?

Analysts everywhere point to a decade of hunger that has left 7-year-old North Korean children 8 inches shorter and 20 pounds lighter than their South Korean cousins. North Korean soldiers in a regime that gives priority to the military forces have been reduced to two skimpy meals a day. Factory workers nap on the floor for lack of food and energy.

That has led to conjecture that North Koreans, despite the pervasive controls in the Hermit Kingdom's police state, may throw caution to the winds. "We just don't think they can go along with this much longer," said an American official with access to intelligence assessments.

The Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington reports that North Korea, after 10 years of food shortages, stands on the precipice of famine that could have political consequences. "The possibility of widespread social distress and even political instability," the institute said in a study, "cannot be ruled out."

Another study, from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, says: "Dismal economic conditions also foster forces of discontent that potentially could turn against the Kim regime - especially if knowledge of the luxurious lifestyle of Communist Party leaders becomes better known or as poor economic performance hurts even the elite."

Regarding North Korea's "friends";

China and Russia no longer seem to have an ideological commitment to their fellow communists in North Korea and were clearly miffed when North Korea detonated a nuclear device in 2006. Japan has begun to negotiate warily with North Korea to get an accounting of the Japanese it kidnapped over a long period. Most sanctions remain in place.

Seoul's contacts with North Korea slowed after, among other things, a North Korean soldier killed a South Korean woman taking an early morning walk on a beach near the North Korean resort she was visiting. Moreover, South Korean young people have shown less interest in reconciliation with North Korea than their parents and grandparents because of the cost.

...

The opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games, a political event if ever there was one, reflected power relations in East Asia. President Hu Jintao of China was the host, of course. U.S. President George Bush, the 43rd U.S. president, was there along with his father, President George H.W. Bush, the 41st. Premier Vladimir Putin represented Russia, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda represented Japan, and President Lee Myung Bak represented South Korea.

Kim Jong-il wasn't there.

North Korean Terror

Anyone (liberals in particular) who fails to understand the power of deterrence should read this.

North Korea's Trail of Kidnapping and Terror

Sadly, it seems that our feckless government will remove North Korea from the list or state sponsors of terrorism. The monster Kim will not be held accountable for his very many crimes and deterrence will fail. Criminals and mass murderers are enabled worldwide. Now, and in the future, genocide, state sponsorship of terrorism, government mass murder, and all manner of state criminality will be permitted by weak willed bureaucrats who think that words (ignored by the criminals), not actions, are sufficient. These words will be sufficient only to the relieve the self guilt of those who could do something and are too spineless to take action.

Darfur anyone?

Silencing Political Opponents

Barack Obama and his followers, being liberal™ supporters of free speech, are trying to sue opponents into silence. they have been threatening radio and television broadcasters who broadcast criticism of Obama, donors to the GOP, and have particularly targeted Harold Simmons. Mr. Simmons has produced an ad that shows Obama's close association with terrorist Bill Ayers and Obama does not like it, so he wants the Department of Justice to file criminal charges against Mr. Simmons. That's a real commitment to free speech there.

Apparently, for liberals™, free speech refers only to pornography and political attacks against their opponents, not to free speech for conservatives or Republicans.

American liberalism™ is a move to socialism and a loss of our freedoms.

Here is the ad, entirely true, that Obama is suing to keep you from seeing.



A big "Thank You" to Michelle Malkin for her excellent work. Read her column about how the DOJ will not go after GOP donors here.

"The Lying King" - Liberal's Plan for Attacking Sarah Palin

This is just brilliant. Obtained from Copious Dissent via NewsBusters.org

We Can See Through the Press

"Journalists" working in the national press (I won't call it the mainstream press because they are not mainstream - note the falling ratings) routinely deny that they have a bias for any political ideology, party or candidate. Of course simple observation show this to be a lie when top Democratic Party members say that the Press is a chorus for Obama.

Now, a recent Rasmussen Poll show that, however hard those in the Press work to deny it, we the people are not being fooled.

69% Say Reporters Try To Help The Candidate They Want To Win

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 50% of voters think most reporters are trying to help Obama win versus 11% who believe they are trying to help his Republican opponent John McCain. Twenty-six percent (26%) say reporters offer unbiased coverage (demographic crosstabs available for Premium Members).

Just last week a Rasmussen Reports survey found that 51% of voters believed reporters were trying to hurt McCain’s running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, with their news coverage.

Interestingly, while 83% of Republican voters think most reporters are trying to help Obama, 19% of Democrats agree, one percentage point higher than the number of Democrats who believe they are trying to help McCain. Unaffiliated voters by a 53% to 10% margin see reporters trying to help Obama.

Forty-five percent (45%) of Democrats say most reporters are providing unbiased coverage in the current presidential campaign, but only 20% of unaffiliateds and nine percent (9%) of Republicans agree.

Islamic Civilization

This is what it is like for anyone who is not a Muslim to live the hellhole that is Pakistan (or any other Islamic country). Islamic societies claim to have a highly developed culture. I don't know how they define that, but it is clear from the high level of emigration from those countries and the continuing oppression of the people who live their that it is not true. Let me be clear, Islamic religious and political structure are not capable of developing free and prosperous societies.

Pray for the Younas family.

Christian girl, kidnapped and converted by Muslims, returned to family

"The girl told me", her uncle continues, "that in order to convince her, some of the Muslims threatened her with death, in addition to promising her expensive presents".

The two girls were kidnapped from the village of Chowk Munda, in the province of Punjab, while they were visiting their uncle. Afterward, the kidnappers stated that they had converted, and that the older one had married "of her own will".

On July 14, the Christian parents asked the Muzaffargarh Sessions Court for custody of their daughters, but the tribunal responded that, since they had converted to Islam, they can no longer live with their Christian parents. This verdict was overturned by the high court in Aneela's case, because she is only 10 years old. Her relatives say that Saba is only 13, as shown by official documents, but the court has accepted expert testimony that she is over 16 years old, and therefore capable of marrying "of her own will".

"The beautiful religion."

Never Forget

The enemy is not to be negotiated with. The enemy is to be killed.

NEVER FORGET

102 Minutes that Changed America, from The History Channel. This features unfiltered video from 9 different witnesses from 10 locations.

This video contains material of a graphic and disturbing nature, and may not be suitable for all viewers. Viewer discretion is advised.

The Reason for the Second Amendment

Here is Dr. Suzanna Gratia-Hupp, a Texas state representative, delivering testimony to a Senate committee about what the real purpose of the Second Amendment to the Constitution is. Here is a clue - it has NOTHING to do with hunting or target shooting.

She was in a cafeteria in Texas when a madman entered and began shooting. Because she made the mistake of obeying an idiotic law that makes it illegal to carry a gun in a purse she left her weapon in her car. Because of this she was unable to defend herself or her parents, both of whom were murdered that day.

Did Chucky Shumer understand a word of it? Does he even care? Probably not - he is a simple ideologue and would rather see people die undefended than violate his ideology.

Watch and listen. This story is truly tragic.



And to add to the tragedy, Chucky and his friends could not possibly care less than they do right now.

The End of the Monster?

Courtesy of Nicholson Cartoons

Kim Jong-il, the Dear Mass-Murderer of North Korea, has not been seen in public since August 14th. The National Intelligence Service (NIS) of South Korea has reported that the Dear Murderer-Freak has heart disease and diabetes. The speculation is that he is so ill that he cannot walk 30 yards.

Fears Grow For 'Sick' Kim Jong Il

The 66-year-old has not been seen in public for three weeks and newspaper reports suggest his health may be getting worse.

Foreign doctors have now been in the communist country for more than a week, according to a mass-circulation newspaper.

Kim was last seen out in public on August 14, when he inspected a military unit.

There are rumors and speculation that he is dead, and has been since 2003. While that may sound crazy, in a place like North Korea it is not inconceivable. No major policy decisions have been made since they joined the nuclear disarmament talks then. Just after that Kim disappeared for 42 days. People who have presumably met with him since then report a dramatic change in his appearance. Were they meeting with a double?

North Korea ‘uses doubles to hide death of Kim’ (Matt Drudge has this one too).

Is Kim Jong-il for real? The question has baffled foreign intelligence agencies for years but now a veteran Japanese expert on North Korea says the “dear leader” is actually dead – and his role is played by a double.

The expert says Kim died of diabetes in 2003 and world leaders including Vladimir Putin of Russia and Hu Jintao of China have been negotiating with an impostor.

He believes that Kim, fearing assassination, had groomed up to four lookalikes to act as substitutes at public events. One underwent plastic surgery to make his appearance more convincing. Now, the expert claims, the actors are brought on stage whenever required to persuade the masses that Kim is alive.

Certainly a bizarre idea, but possible.

After All of This, Be Sure to Vote!

From the geniuses at Jib Jab;

Oh, It's Time for some Campaignin'

Liberal Press Damages Self

The Guardian is an openly leftist news organization. They admit it openly and honestly. I respect them for that. However, I very rarely if ever agree with any point of view that anyone over there expresses. Nick Cohen has hit the nail on the head.

When Barack's berserkers lost the plot

For once, the postmodern theories so many of them were taught at university are a help to the rest of us. As a Christian, conservative anti-abortionist who proved her support for the Iraq War by sending her son to fight in it, Sarah Palin was 'the other' - the threatening alien presence they defined themselves against. They might have soberly examined her reputation as an opponent of political corruption to see if she was truly the reformer she claimed to be. They might have gently mocked her idiotic creationism, while carefully avoiding all discussion of the racist conspiracy theories of Barack Obama's church.

But instead of following a measured strategy, they went berserk. On the one hand, the media treated her as a sex object. The New York Times led the way in painting Palin as a glamour-puss in go-go boots you were more likely to find in an Anchorage lap-dancing club than the Alaska governor's office.

On the other, liberal journalists turned her family into an object of sexual disgust: inbred rednecks who had stumbled out of Deliverance. Palin was meant to be pretending that a handicapped baby girl was her child when really it was her wanton teenage daughter's. When that turned out to be a lie, the media replaced it with prurient coverage of her teenage daughter, who was, after all, pregnant, even though her mother was not going to do a quick handover at the maternity ward and act as if the child was hers.

And more...

Journalists who believe in women's equality should not spread sexual smears about a candidate, or snigger at her teenage daughter's pregnancy, or declare that a mother with a young family cannot hold down a responsible job for the pragmatic reason that they will look like gross hypocrites if they do. Before Palin, we saw hypocrisy of the right when shock jocks who had spent years denouncing feminism came over all politically correct when Bill Clinton had an affair with Monica Lewinsky.

Read the whole thing. Mr. Cohen goes on to discuss the effects of expressions of hatred by the liberal press on political campaigns in both the US and the UK.

UPDATE: A Rasmussen poll shows that the American people are not being fooled into believing that the liberal Press is anything like objective or professional.

What Sarah Knows

According to Rasmussen, fully 68% of voters believe that "most reporters try to help the candidate they want to win." And -- no surprise -- 49% of those surveyed believe reporters are backing Barack Obama, while just 14% think the media is in the tank for Sen. McCain.

Meanwhile, 51% of those surveyed thought the press was "trying to hurt" Mrs. Palin with its coverage.

Perhaps most troubling for the press corps, though, was this finding: "55% said media bias is a bigger problem for the electoral process than large campaign donations."

Obama Considered the Military?

I haven't been trying to keep track of all of the lies that the Left are spouting now. There are too many of them and other bloggers have the time and resources to track them. Still, while reading LGF, this gem caught my eye:

Obama Suddenly Remembers: He Almost Joined the Military. Two autobiographies and hundreds of speeches given over several years of political campaigning and just now he remembers?

“You know, I actually did,” Obama said. “I had to sign up for Selective Service when I graduated from high school. And I was growing up in Hawaii. And I have friends whose parents were in the military. There are a lot of Army, military bases there.

“And I actually always thought of the military as an ennobling and, you know, honorable option. But keep in mind that I graduated in 1979. The Vietnam War had come to an end. We weren't engaged in an active military conflict at that point. And so, it's not an option that I ever decided to pursue.”

A lie. Charles did the research, from Wikipedia;

On March 25, 1975, Pres. Gerald Ford signed Proclamation 4360, Terminating Registration Procedures Under Military Selective Service Act, eliminating the registration requirement for all 18-25 year old male citizens. Then on July 2, 1980, President Jimmy Carter signed Proclamation 4771, Registration Under the Military Selective Service Act, retroactively re-establishing the Selective Service registration requirement for all 18-26 year old male citizens born on or after January 1, 1960. Only men born between March 29, 1957, and December 31, 1959, were completely exempt from Selective Service registration. The first registrations after Proclamation 4771 took place on Monday, July 21, 1980, for those men born in January, February and March 1960 at U.S. Post Offices.