The arrogant head of this administration was convinced that his goodwill and charisma would be enough to sway the opinions of people who – in many cases – have the mindset of primitive tribal cultures.

The literacy rates in most of these countries is abysmally low, and the overwhelming majority of people in these places are so busy eking out a miserable existence that they don’t have time to spend pondering Classic Liberal Philosophy.

They are stoked into a frenzy by extremist mullahs, told where to go and what to do, and they mindlessly obey because that is all that they know how to do.

…the street level, which was dominated by the Islamists and this same collection of young toughs, high school and technical school students who hang out around Tahrir Square. They like fights, they like to storm buildings, some, if not most, are addicted to Tramadol. It’s a great anti-police drug. You don’t feel pain. They can beat you to death and you won’t feel a thing.

….the young street toughs are easy to co-opt for different causes, because they have no ideology. “During the revolution, the leftists called them heroes and martyrs on their TV shows and in their columns. They’re basically lower class kids and the leftists defended them, arguing that middle class Egyptians hated everyone who looked different or acted differently.”

For all we know, they may be paid to show up – that’s how it’s done in other countries – and it’s a whole lot easier to throw rocks and destroy someone else’s property than it is to plow a rocky field all day.

Both Qaddafi and Mubarak (and many others) WARNED Obama that the “freedom fighters” were Al-Qaeda, and that the only way to deal with them is to be absolutely ruthless.

We may not like and/or understand that, but at some point the do-gooders of the world have to realize that there are places in the world where our form of culture/government Will.Not.Work.

This didn’t happen because of some stupid video clip.

This happened because nobody is around to supervise undisciplined children with too much time on their hands. And because Central Planners forget that mobs take on a life of their own. And because there are some people/cultures who are perfectly happy to watch the world burn.

There is no such thing as “Noble Savages”.

Just savages.

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[Cross-posted at Koch's Tour]
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I can still remember that morning – it started off like any other morning. Rachel had gotten up early and was already dressed and on her way to high school with her friends, Michelle and Sarah were getting ready for school, and Paul was getting ready for work. I was resting in bed, waiting for Rebecca – who had turned 2 months old the day before – to wake up for her morning bottle.

Paul came into the bedroom and said he had just heard on the radio that a plane had hit the World Trade Center and it was on fire.

Now, at the time, we had NO idea that this was anything other than a horrible, tragic accident. Why would we – or anyone who wasn’t right there when it happened, for that matter – have thought anything differently? We both thought that perhaps it was a small aircraft that had hit the building, and was more of a New York local interest story than anything else. The story was still so new that nobody really had any idea what, exactly, was going on.

We decided to turn the TV on, to see what was happening. What we saw was worse than what we were expecting – it was obvious that a much larger aircraft had hit the building, and I remember thinking that something must have gone horribly wrong with the aircraft’s electronic systems. I also remember thinking that the fire was going to have to burn itself out, because there wasn’t going to be any way to fight such a large fire so high up. I remember thinking that I hoped that all of the people above the fire would be able to get out. It was hard to wrap my brain around the thought of the scale of the damage.

By this time, Rebecca was up and was happily settled in my lap, drinking her bottle – again, a day like any other. We called Michelle and Sarah in to see what was going on – it’s not every day that you see a huge skyscraper on fire, after all. They were kind of intrigued, but at 9 and 10, it seemed as if they weren’t really thinking about what was going on in a city they had no connection to; they had friends to see at school and things to do that day.

And then it happened.

As we were all watching the TV, an airplane came into view on the right side of the screen. I remember thinking, “I didn’t realize that large planes fly that low in New York City.”

The plane disappeared from view behind the other building, but it didn’t reappear like it should have. As my brain was trying to process this thought, a huge fireball appeared where the plane SHOULD have been.

And I knew.

I remember gasping in horror. I remember my eyes getting really big. I remember Diane Sawyer echoing what everyone watching must have been thinking – “Oh, my God.” I remember my heart dropping to my stomach. I remember looking at Paul, and saying, “That was NO accident.” I remember thinking that I had just witnessed the death of all of the people on that plane, as well as all of the people in the building who were in the path of the plane’s impact.

And then I remember the overwhelming fear. It just washed over me as I sat there with the people that I loved more than life itself – the world had just changed, and suddenly they were in danger. I remember the tears welling up in my eyes, because in their innocence my children didn’t yet understand the meaning of what had just happened. I remember thinking that I was going to have to be very, very strong for them so that they would never know how scared their mother was for them and for the country.

Because I remember thinking at that moment that there was a threat out there and we didn’t know what it was, where it was coming from, or what it was going to mean to our country. All I knew was that no matter what, I would fight to the death to keep my loved ones safe.

I remember looking down into the face of my innocent baby and feeling much closer to my maternal grandmother at that moment. I remember thinking that 60 years earlier she had been the mother of a 3-year-old girl and an infant daughter, and I wondered if she had felt that same fear for her children when she first heard about Pearl Harbor. I remember wondering if she had felt the same need to be strong for those she loved, and I wondered if she had felt the same fear for their futures that I was feeling at that moment.

Paul took the girls to school and went to work. He didn’t really have a choice – Lockheed was immediately put on high alert, as not only was that the facility where F-16′s are assembled, but they also share a runway with the Naval Joint Reserve Base – and we both figured that the best thing for the girls was for life to continue as normally as possible for them. I knew that it wouldn’t be good for them to see their mom worrying at home – and they wanted the comforting continuity of being with their friends. I remember thinking that I was bound and determined that the animals who were responsible for this were not going to steal the innocent happiness and security of my childrens’ childhood from them.

Not long after everyone had left the house, news cameras showed pictures of smoke where a third plane had hit the Pentagon, and cameras kept showing pictures of the White House. For the first time in my memory, all airspace over the United States was closed, and all flights were ordered to land at the nearest airport, no matter where their final destination might have been that day. Then came reports of a 4th plane still in the air that wasn’t responding to air traffic control. If there had been any remaining doubt in anyone’s mind, this confirmed that our country was under attack. And I remember wondering how many places had been targeted in our country that day.

Before they left for school, I remember the girls asking if the buildings were going to fall down. Having studied just enough engineering in college, I knew how well buildings – especially skyscrapers – are designed, and that all sorts of contingencies and factors of safety are built into their design. I even remembered that during World War II a plane had hit the Empire State Building, and all skyscrapers since then had been designed with the very remote possibility of that happening again in mind. So I was pretty confident when I told them that while the buildings might not be usable again, they should remain standing.

I remember calling my parents’ house; my mom wasn’t there, so I talked to my dad. He hadn’t turned on the TV yet that morning, so I started telling him what was going on. While relating what had happened – and still watching the news coverage of the aftermath of the unthinkable – I remember seeing a tiny flicker on the right side of one of the buildings.

I remember watching in horror as yet another unthinkable thing happened. I remember screaming into the phone in disbelief as one of the towers fell down upon itself in a cloud of dust, and my father – who still hadn’t turned on his TV, and was trying to understand what I was telling him – asking me if this was a joke; and if so, it wasn’t very funny. I remember telling him that in my wildest imagination, I could NEVER have come up with something like what was happening in real time, and he needed to turn on his TV right then, because I had to get off of the phone. I couldn’t tell him that I was ready to lose it big time, and I didn’t want my Daddy to hear his little girl in that kind of a panic.

I remember trying to call Paul at work, only to find that all of the phone lines were busy. So I tried his cell phone, but he didn’t answer. Then I tried his pager – again, no answer. I started thinking the worst; I didn’t realize at the time that he had accidentally left both of them at home that day.

I heard that a friend’s husband had boarded a plane that morning on his way home from a business trip overseas . At the time, the news stations were still trying to figure out which planes were involved and where they originated – she was frantically trying to get information about his whereabouts, and all of the computers and phones were overloaded or blocked where she worked. I couldn’t do anything for the people on the East Coast, but I remember thinking that I could stay by the TV and computer at home, trying to get that information to her as soon as it became available. I remember leaving a message for her; I don’t know if she had already gotten the information, but it made me feel like I had done SOMETHING to help somebody that day.

I remember thinking that another friend, who had tragically and unexpectedly lost her oldest son just a few months earlier in an car accident, understood better than most the magnitude of the grief that so many parents were experiencing that day. No matter what other personal relationships they may have had, every last one of the people who perished that day was somebody’s child. I remember thinking that an awful lot of people lost their children that day.

I remember thinking about all of the husbands and wives who would be going to bed alone that night and every night after that.

I remember thinking about all of the children whose mommies and daddies would never come home again.

And I remember how very grateful I was that I still had all of my loved ones with me.

The whole day was surreal – I remember feeling like everyone was walking around in a daze, because the shock and grief was so very overwhelming. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what it must have been like in places closer to New York, Washington D.C., and that lonely field in Pennsylvania.

We went to church that night to mourn. We watched as our President addressed the nation. We lit candles for those whose lives were lost. We prayed for strength – for the families who had lost so much; for the people in the cities most impacted; for the people of our nation; and for a President who was suddenly tasked with the protection of the American people and the safety of the entire country at a time of dire national crisis.

That day, the flags started coming out. Not having one of our own, Paul decided to buy one after work, but there wasn’t a flag to be had anywhere (and there wouldn’t be for many weeks to come).

I began to understand how people must have felt in 1941 when they heard about Pearl Harbor, and I realized that whoever had done this might not yet realize it, but they had made a terrible, terrible mistake.

For I finally understood what that line – “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve” – really and truly meant. Americans were grieving that day, but we were not beaten – a reckoning would be forthcoming.

And the next morning, one picture told me all that I needed to know about this great nation – for those buildings might be gone, but Liberty remained:

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[Cross-posted at Koch's Tour]
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I love the new look of your site, but for whatever reason, I can’t make comments to your posts.  Not only that, I can’t approve comments to my posts, either.

I don’t know if it is a Disqus problem (I’m having some issues with my Disqus account and e-mail accounts syncing) or not – I’m working with them to resolve my personal account problems.

The comments that are shown with my older posts don’t appear to be associated with the post in question – in fact, they don’t look anything like the comments that I remember seeing for that post.

When I go to the main ”Comments” page from my “Dashboard”, only one post’s comments are showing up.  However, if I go to the “All Posts” page and click on the “Comments” bubble for a particular post, all of the comments associated with that post show up on a unique “Comment” page (they don’t show up on the post).

I don’t know if there is a SNAFU in the Disqus software or if something else is going on.

Ah well, there’s always kinks to be worked out when something new comes out…..

Not bad for a bunch of uneducated rubes, huh?

Anyway, this is the commercial that The Agenda Project originally aired back in May, 2011 to try and scare all of the little old grey-haired ladies into thinking that the EVIL PAUL RYAN had it in for them and Medicare (too bad that the majority of senior voters think so highly of him, isn’t it?):
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The Democrats might not want to run that ad too many times – you see, those of us who have been following their pet “team” (aka “Occupy Wall Street”) have at least one video of those sweet, innocent kids doing some harm to a senior citizen. There are also reports of these wholesome individuals blocking a woman in a wheelchair from leaving that same event, as well as using children as human shields. Remember that Nancy and Barry both think that these kids are just swell:
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Now, some folks may not remember a little show that was on TV many years ago called “Dinosaurs“, but one of my favorite episodes was called “Hurling Day“. Instead of lamenting the grannies being tossed over the side of a cliff, in the “Dinosaur” world, it was a cause for celebration – in order to make getting rid of the old folks a “happier” occasion, whenever a male dinosaur’s mother-in-law turned 72, the family observed “Hurling Day”.

It was a most joyous time for the guys – a fella was willing to put up with years of abuse from his mother-in-law because he knew that one day he would be allowed to hurl her ungrateful ass over the cliff into a great big tar pit:
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Perhaps the Democrats should think about instituting “Hurling Day” as a part of Obamacare – it might make those “Death Panels” more enjoyable….
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[Cross-posted at Koch's Tour]
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Come on, November!

[Cross-posted at Koch's Tour]

Statement by the President, August 6, 1945

THE WHITE HOUSE
Washington, D.C.

IMMEDIATE RELEASE — August 6, 1945

STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

Sixteen hours ago an American airplane dropped one bomb on Hiroshima, an important Japanese Army base. That bomb had more power than 20,000 tons of T.N.T. It had more than two thousand times the blast power of the British “Grand Slam” which is the largest bomb ever yet used in the history of warfare.

The Japanese began the war from the air at Pearl Harbor. They have been repaid many fold. And the end is not yet. With this bomb we have now added a new and revolutionary increase in destruction to supplement the growing power of our armed forces. In their present form these bombs are now in production and even more powerful forms are in development.

It is an atomic bomb. It is a harnessing of the basic power of the universe. The force from which the sun draws its power has been loosed against those who brought war to the Far East.

Before 1939, it was the accepted belief of scientists that it was theoretically possible to release atomic energy. But no one knew any practical method of doing it. By 1942, however, we knew that the Germans were working feverishly to find a way to add atomic energy to the other engines of war with which they hoped to enslave the world. But they failed. We may be grateful to Providence that the Germans got the V-1′s and the V-2′s late and in limited quantities and even more grateful that they did not get the atomic bomb at all.

The battle of the laboratories held fateful risks for us as well as the battles of the air, land, and sea, and we have now won the battle of the laboratories as we have won the other battles.

Beginning in 1940, before Pearl Harbor, scientific knowledge useful in war was pooled between the United States and Great Britain, and many priceless helps to our victories have come from that arrangement. Under that general policy the research on the atomic bomb was begun. With American and British scientists working together we entered the race of discovery against the Germans.

The United States had available the large number of scientists of distinction in the many needed areas of knowledge. It had the tremendous industrial and financial resources necessary for the project and they could be devoted to it without undue impairment of other vital war work. In the United States the laboratory work and the production plants, on which a substantial start had already been made, would be out of reach of enemy bombing, while at that time Britain was exposed to constant air attack and was still threatened with the possibility of invasion. For these reasons Prime Minister Churchill and President Roosevelt agreed that it was wise to carry on the project here. We now have two great plants and many lesser works devoted to the production of atomic power. Employment during peak construction numbered 125,000 and over 65,000 individuals are even now engaged in operating the plants. Many have worked there for two and a half years. Few know what they have been producing. They see great quantities of material going in and they see nothing coming out of those plants, for the physical size of the explosive charge is exceedingly small. We have spent two billion dollars on the greatest scientific gamble in history – and won.

But the greatest marvel is not the size of the enterprise, its secrecy, nor its cost, but the achievement of scientific brains in putting together infinitely complex pieces of knowledge held by many men in different fields of science into a workable plan. And hardly less marvelous has been the capacity of industry to design, and of labor to operate, the machines and methods to do things never done before so that the brain child of many minds came forth in physical shape and performed as it was supposed to do. Both science and industry worked under the direction of the United States Army, which achieved a unique success in managing so diverse a problem in the advancement of knowledge in an amazingly short time. It is doubtful if such another combination could be got together in the world. What has been done is the greatest achievement of organized science in history. It was done under high pressure and without failure.

We are now prepared to obliterate more rapidly and completely every productive enterprise the Japanese have above ground in any city. We shall destroy their docks, their factories, and their communications. Let there be no mistake; we shall completely destroy Japan’s power to make war.

It was to spare the Japanese people from utter destruction that the ultimatum of July 26 was issued at Potsdam. Their leaders promptly rejected that ultimatum. If they do not now accept our terms they may expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this earth. Behind this air attack will follow sea and land forces in such numbers and power as they have not yet seen and with the fighting skill of which they are already well aware.

The Secretary of War, who has kept in personal touch with all phases of the project, will immediately make public a statement giving further details.

His statement will give facts concerning the sites at Oak Ridge near Knoxville, Tennessee, and at Richland near Pasco, Washington, and an installation near Santa Fe, New Mexico. Although the workers at the sites have been making materials to be used in producing the greatest destructive force in history they have not themselves been in danger beyond that of many other occupations, for the utmost care has been taken of their safety.

The fact that we can release atomic energy ushers in a new era in man’s understanding of nature’s forces. Atomic energy may in the future supplement the power that now comes from coal, oil, and falling water, but at present it cannot be produced on a basis to compete with them commercially. Before that comes there must be a long period of intensive research.

It has never been the habit of the scientists of this country or the policy of this Government to withhold from the world scientific knowledge. Normally, therefore, everything about the work with atomic energy would be made public.

But under present circumstances it is not intended to divulge the technical processes of production or all the military applications, pending further examination of possible methods of protecting us and the rest of the world from the danger of sudden destruction.

I shall recommend that the Congress of the United States consider promptly the establishment of an appropriate commission to control the production and use of atomic power within the United States. I shall give further consideration and make further recommendations to the Congress as to how atomic power can become a powerful and forceful influence towards the maintenance of world peace.
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[Cross-posted at Koch's Tour]
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Careful - Big Bird...ummm....Brother is watching.....

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New York City’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg has officially lost it:

Under Latch On NYC, new mothers who want formula won’t be denied it, but hospitals will keep infant formula in out-of-the-way secure storerooms or in locked boxes like those used to dispense and track medications.

With each bottle a mother requests and receives, she’ll also get a talking-to. Staffers will explain why she should offer the breast instead.

“It’s the patient’s choice,” said Allison Walsh, of Beth Israel Medical Center. “But it’s our job to educate them on the best option.”

Lisa Paladino, of Staten Island University Hospital, said: “The key to getting more moms to breast-feed is making the formula less accessible. This way, the RN has to sign out the formula like any other medication. The nurse’s aide can’t just go grab another bottle.”

Hmmmm……so now babies are going to have to wait as long as the rest of us before their “medicine” is brought to them by an overworked nurse? Do you really want future voters to starve, Mr. Bloomberg?
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Remember boys and girls - Nanny Bloomberg knows what is best

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You may recall that just a couple of months ago, Mayor Bloomberg proposed a ban on all soft drinks in containers larger than 16 ounces:

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is proposing a ban on the sale of large sodas and other sugary drinks in the city’s restaurants, delis and movie theaters in the hopes of combating obesity — an expansion of his administration’s efforts to encourage healthy behavior by limiting residents’ choices.

The proposal — expected to be announced formally on Thursday in a City Hall briefing — would take 20-ounce soda bottles off the shelves of the city’s delis and eliminate super-sized sugary soft drinks from fast-food menus.

Golly gee willikers, Mayor Bloomberg – I do believe that you have just managed to regulate yourself into the proverbial corner here.

Given that the average amount of milk produced by a lactating mother (850 ml/day) is well over 16 ounces (473.2 ml), those 38DDDs are “containers” which clearly violate your Big Gulp edict (breast milk is sweet, and since it’s not alcoholic, that technically makes it a “soft” drink).
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Good thing that container is biodegradable.....

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Way back in 2009, Mayor Bloomberg stood in front of the United Nations General Assembly summit on non-communicable diseases, and lent his support to a declaration which recommended that they:

“Promote the implementation of the WHO (World Health Organization) set of recommendations on the marketing of foods and non-alcoholic beverages to children, including foods that are high in saturated fats, trans-fatty acids, free sugars, or salt” (Item 43f, page 7).

So….using the very standards that you yourself advocated 3 years ago Mr. Bloomberg, just how “healthy” is breast milk compared to baby formula?

The fat content of breast milk is roughly 4.2 g/100 ml – at 9 calories (kcal) per gram of fat, that works out to 37.8 kcal of fat per 100 ml of breast milk. Given that the average caloric content of breast milk is around 70 kcal/100 ml, breast milk is 54% fat.

Most baby formula, on the other hand, averages around 45% fat and 68.7 cal/100 ml – which means that breast milk is higher in fat and calories than formula.

My God, man! What are you trying to do – kill those poor little babies?
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Wonder what the fat/calorie content of this meal is.....

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Given Mayor Bloomberg’s commitment to lowering the fat and caloric content in all NYCer’s diets, you’d think he would be PROMOTING baby formula, not banning it – after all, according to the NYC Health Department’s own standards, baby formula is “healthier” (lower in fat and calories) than breast milk.

I guess he is right in one respect, though – some boobs are clearly better than others:

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[Cross-posted at Koch's Tour]
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"Elvis is not dead - he just went home....."

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Since Rebecca is home all day during the summer, we’re having fun introducing her to a wider range of movies. Whereas before she was primarily interested in the animated flicks, this year she has developed a taste for the offbeat humor that us older folks enjoy.

Her current favorite is “Ghostbusters”, but we watched “Men in Black” yesterday. One of my favorite musical moments is the tunnel scene when Tommy Lee Jones pops a toe-tapping tune into the 8-track player.

Now, I haven’t kept up with all of the Elvis songs, so I wasn’t familiar with that catchy little number, but thanks to the internet, I took a couple of the words that I heard – “Swing down chariot” – and entered them on the Search line, along with “Elvis”.

This is what came up (“Swing Down Sweet Chariot“):
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Granted, it’s a snappy little tune, but it wasn’t the one that I was looking for (however, it did get added to my “Favorites” list on YouTube).

So I searched some more, and hit paydirt when I entered “Elvis” and “Men in Black” on the search line (the name of the song is “Promised Land” – feel free to swing your head back and forth; you know you want to):
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And now – in keeping with this week’s political theme of “You Didn’t Build That” – let’s see how Al Gore is actually the person who wrote this post, using the “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” rule:

1) The game “6DoKB” is a play on the concept of “Six Degrees of Separation“;
2) Will Smith starred in the movies “Six Degrees of Separation” and “Men in Black”
3) The movie “Men in Black” also starred Tommy Lee Jones;
4) Tommy Lee Jones roomed with Al Gore in college;
5) Al Gore invented the internet (c’mon – play along):
6) I saw this song on “Men in Black” and used the internet to find it on YouTube.

Gee, if it hadn’t been for Tommy Lee Jones’ college roommate inventing the Internet, I might never have found this song – thanks Al!

(Yeah, it’s lame – but it’s Friday, it’s hotter ‘n Hell outside and I got nuthin’ – although that Sauza tequila ad with the fireman that popped up during my video search helped a lot…..)

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[Cross-posted at Koch's Tour]
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My friend Bob passed these along the other day (go pee first….):
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Show your support for this wonderful company today – go get yourselves a #1 Combo and enjoy!
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[Updated 4:15 p.m.] Submitted without comment:
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[Cross-posted at Koch's Tour]
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The strength of the Constitution lies entirely in the determination of each citizen to defend it. Only if every single citizen feels duty bound to do his share in this defense are the constitutional rights secure.
–Albert Einstein

We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.
–Abraham Lincoln

Early this morning, Paul and I went to vote in the Texas Primary Runoff Election.
There are those who will tell you that the Tea Party is dead – we’ll see.

Let’s light this candle.

Voting is a civic sacrament.
–Theodore Hesburgh