Deja Vu at the DMV:
Benjamin Stackler is one of a handful of California motorists whose right to hold photoless driver's licenses issued to them under a religious exemption is now being challenged by a security-minded state Department of Motor Vehicles.
The Berkeley man's objections stem from his religious beliefs, which he says are based on his adherence to the Molokan Church, a sect that follows strict Biblical interpretation and considers photographs a violation of the Second Commandment outlawing any "graven image."
After a seven-year legal battle two decades ago, a Sacramento Superior Court ruled in his favor and he was issued a photoless identification in 1984.
But nearly 20 years later, Stackler's exempt status, along with recent religion-based challenges in other states, is on a collision course with officials at every level of government whose focus is on heightened security measures since the Sept. 11 attacks.
Bell weather local election-- Greens vs. Democrats--SF where the rhetorical Progressive rubber meets the road:
The officially non-partisan race for mayor of San Francisco has become a high-stakes battleground for the Greens and the Democrats, with both sides bringing in help from across the nation.
The hyperbole surrounding the mayor's race often threatens to overshadow the issues driving the campaign. But for the Democrats and the Greens, those issues and principles are only part of the reason the city's mayor's race is getting national attention.
California Democrats are still reeling from last month's recall election, when the state voted overwhelmingly to dump Gov. Gray Davis and replace him with Republican film star Arnold Schwarzenegger. If Gonzalez beats Newsom in one of the nation's most Democratic communities, it would be both a public relations and a political disaster for the party.
"The national press would have a field day with that,'' said Kevin Spillane, a veteran GOP political consultant. "As a partisan Republican, anything that's good for the Greens is good for us.''
That's the political danger the Democrats face. The Greens' 165,722 members make up less than 1 percent of the state's registered voters (it's 14, 698 and 3.2 percent in San Francisco), but every one of them comes right out of the Democrats' liberal base.
Democrats are convinced that Ralph Nader's 2000 campaign as the Green Party candidate for president cost Gore the White House. A strong Green Party could siphon off even more votes that otherwise would go to Democratic candidates, in California and elsewhere.
After a ten year hiatus Opus returns to the Sunday comics. Cartoonist Phil Frank inteviewed Breathed for today's SF Chronicle...which, if you know Frank's body of work, is a funny concept in of itself...Alphonse lunches with Opus.
The SF Chronicle is resurrecting the "pink pages" concept, the entertainment section, Datebook, was printed on pink paper for decades and begins Chronicle Classics, reprising a few of our most beloved columnists. A calculated move to bring disenchanted readers back to the fold? Probably, but who cares, Caen, Delaplane and Opus are back in the pink.
Oh yeah...there's joy in Moonbat Hollow too...the Cal Bears axed the Farm Boys 28-16 in the 106th Big Game and earned a bowl berth. Life is sweet in the East Bay today.
This story is mindboggling given SF's reputation as the epicenter of sexual freedom and personal expression thereof. Seems Liberals are as prudish as the RR they dispise.
Topless joint can't give money away
4 S.F. nonprofits refuse $4,330 donation from a North Beach strip club
Mike Gasperec just learned the hard way that supposedly hang-up-free San Francisco and the Bible Belt have one thing in common: They're tough places to give away a strip club's money.
Four nonprofit organizations representing San Francisco's homeless, poor and cancer-stricken turned down a $4,330 gift from Gasperec's Penthouse Grille and Broadway Showgirls Cabaret topless club in North Beach over the past several weeks, saying they have reputations to protect.
Some how I don't think the homeless who routinely defecate, urinate and copulate on the streets in full view are going to much care about where homeless support orgs get their funding. Nor do I think poor parents receiving support for an ill child or a poor woman of color with breast cancer much cares about the moral purity of donors.
This graf drips with liberal ideolgical purity and elitism:
"Unfortunately, we had to decline," said Julie Homan of the Breast Cancer Fund. "They were really nice and everything, but we didn't want to be associated with a gentlemen's club. We have 70,000 members, and we didn't want to offend anyone."
Raphael House, which provides shelter and after-care for homeless families, declined because, as a "clean-and-sober facility," it didn't want its name associated with an event where alcohol was served. "It was a very hard choice," said Development Director Jo-Ellen Peterson. "But we have a really good reputation in San Francisco, so we have to be very careful."
Careful? Does the money have cooties? Are the strippers infected with a communicable moral disease that will taint their clients? Were those they served asked? Does not bread purchased with stipper donations taste as good and fill stomachs as well as that from business or individuals?
Fielding all that rejection "makes you feel like a schmuck," said Joe Carouba, president of BSC Management, which runs 12 strip clubs in San Francisco, including Broadway Showgirls.
Many dancers are mothers
About 40 percent of the 700 dancers at BSC clubs are mothers, and many of those mothers are raising families on their own, Carouba said. So he and Gasperec said they wanted to contribute to an organization that helps women and children in need.
So much for sisterhood, eh? Thank goodness that not all SF charities are run by the leftie moral police.
Last week, three Southern California exotic-dance clubs were told that the Red Cross wouldn't accept their $5,484 pledge for victims of last month's wildfires. The Salvation Army took it instead.
And strip-club officials say the San Francisco firefighters' annual toy drive was initially a bit leery about publicly acknowledging that the city's least-clothed dancers donated $10,000 to its campaign last year -- and have done so for at least five years.
The donations come from lap dances in the clubs, where performers donate money every holiday season to the 54-year-old toy drive. Once or twice a night.
"The nice thing about our program is, the money comes in from all kinds of sources," said Dennis Kruger, a board member for the firefighters' toy drive. "Then we buy the toys and tell the kids it's from Santa.
"Regardless of what some people think of what people do for a living, the important thing is that all this money goes for the kids," Kruger said.
The upside of stripper rejection is that when one organization declines a gentlemen's club offer, the door of opportunity offers for others to claim the loot.
The big winner in this tale is Ruth Dewson, owner of a Fillmore Street hat store where San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown shops. Not only did Dewson accept the Broadway Showgirls check for her charitable foundation for Western Addition girls, Dewson put the club's oversize check in her store window.
"When they told me that people wouldn't accept the money, I couldn't believe it," Dewson said. "I don't care what they do. They're not going to be dancing naked in front of my store. They're just trying to do something nice."
Nebraska principal helps heal broken Iraqi schools
November 10, 2003
Sgt. 1st Class Michael Hart helps a couple of Mosul youths use a coloring book, markers, and other school supplies donated by the families of the 41st RAOC.
PFC Thomas Day
The assistant principal of a junior high school in Norfolk, Neb., left hundreds of students behind when he deployed to Iraq last winter with the 41st Rear Area Operations Center.
Since then, Sgt. 1st Class Michael Hart of the Nebraska National Guard has overseen a number of school projects in Northern Iraq with the 101st Airborne Division.
"It's a lifestyle. Everywhere I go I try to be around kids because I love what they're about," Hart said. "When I'm teaching, just to see a light bulb go off in a kid's head - 'Oh, I got it' - that makes my day...That's why I do what I do back home. It's not just for the money.
The 41st RAOC has been tasked for the last several months with contracting local construction companies to rebuild schools ruined by years of neglect by Saddam Hussein's regime. Their families back in Nebraska have also gotten involved, donating notebooks, pens, pencils, markers, and other school supplies.
"Education is the cornerstone to any community, " Hart said. "If you have an educated public, if you have people who can think for themselves, you're going to be okay."
Chief Wiggles writes:
Believe it or not there is a cold chill in the air, to the point that I would expect to see frost outside in the morning. I even woke this morning wishing I could have another blanket at night, or at least turn on our in-room-heater to take the edge off. Something you wouldn’t expect from a place that is so hot the rest of the year. (if ever anyone was going to send me chocolate now is the time)
Truly this is a land of diversity and extremes, not only in its people and weather but also in almost every aspect of life here. The people vary in so many ways from their religious affiliation and commitment to what they profess to believe in to their standard of living and physical possessions.
[click the photo for more]
Of course I have witnessed first hand the extremes of the weather here and the geography of this land.
Last night I spent the evening at a Iraqi doctor’s house partaking of his hospitality and abundance of food and possessions (what a fantastic meal it was). He had been to med school in the states, lived in London for many years and now was back to manage the affairs of his aging father. We all had a very delightful evening talking about politics, culture, and business. He was clearly a wealthy man with no apparent physical needs and definitely one of the best cooks that I have experienced.
In contrast the other day as I was driving around the green zone, in an area I don’t usually travel, I pulled the bus up to the side of the road as I saw a few kids playing in a pile of rubble behind some bombed out houses. I had a few toys in the back, as I usually do, in anticipation of seeing children.
My interpreter knew what was going on as she quickly dashed to the back of the bus to grab a few stuffed animals. She was the first one out of the bus handing out the stuffed animals to the little girls that had gathered. Seeing a couple of boys I went back to snag a few toy cars for them.
As I approached the kids I could see that they were extremely poor with their tattered clothes and shoeless feet. Their skin was cracked from the extremes of the weather, their faces dirty obviously from not bathing for a few days, their hair matted against their heads, and their only toy in sight was the broken bricks of the demolished house.
Pulling the toy cars from behind my back, where I had been hiding them, I handed one to the littlest boy in the group. As he looked down at the toy car now in his hands, his eyes opened as big as two silver dollars and his mouth dropped wide open, then a huge smile came across his whole face, responding as if he had never held a toy or a small car.
No words were spoken or necessary, his face fully expressing his appreciation for the moment. My only regret was that I didn’t have my camera to capture the happiness, but I felt it and it made my day. I never feel that these expressions of joy are commonplace, never failing to feel totally satisfied by these experiences.
This would have been otherwise a pretty rough day, due to the nature of the negative things transpiring, which had me somewhat bummed out at the time. Having heard earlier that the other guys arrested during the counterfeiting bust had been released by bought off policemen, I was feeling the pain of falling two steps backward for every step forward.
The Sharing Joys with Toys always boosts me up.
Me too Chief, thanks.
I refuse to validate the protests and the media frenzy of Bush baiting and hating that will ensue for the next few days with tit-for-tat nonsense.
This space will feature good news and positive images from Iraq.
Fuck the media and may the Brit ratbag commies rot in hell.
I have lived in the UK and count many Britons among my friends and know they do not share this in this stage managed anti-American hate fest.
This too shall pass.
Catching up with the blogosphere after a long weekend away...Misha's post gets the WTF award of the day. Mind blowing.
Apart from hiring armed thugs to intimidate iraqis, did you see either of these stories anti-terrorist demonstrations covered by our news media? An extensive search on EIN turned up nothing in the world press either.
::Huge anti-terrorism demonstrations were held in Nassiriyah yesterday by students association condemning the attacks on the Italian force carrying signs such as 'No to terrorism. Yes to freedom and peace', and 'This cowardly act will unify us'. I have to add that there were similar demonstrations in Baghdad more than a week ago also by students against the bombings of police stations early this Ramadan. I hope the demonstrations advocates that bugged me are satisfied now. There are also preparations for anti-terror demonstrations before Id (end of Ramadan holidays).
How about this story?
Frantic Iraqi students jostle for U.S. scholarships
BAGHDAD, Nov 16 (Reuters) - The beefy security guard raised his arms as scores of Iraqi students surged forward, trying to get into the exam room, their degrees and references held aloft.
"It's getting out of control," said one U.S. official.
Competition for places in America's coveted Fulbright Scholarship programme -- being revived in Iraq after an absence of 14 years -- is that intense.
Only 20 to 25 students will win places in the Fulbright programme starting in January, but that has not stopped thousands of university students across Iraq from applying.
A 57-year-old programme named for a late U.S. senator, the Fulbright scholarship finances the exchange of students between the United States and other countries.
While many Iraqis express anger at the U.S.-led occupation and attacks on American troops mount, in the corridors of institutions such as Baghdad's Mustansiriya University where English language exams were held on Saturday for the Fulbright programme, the United States has quite a few friends.
"In my field of study, politics, all it concerned was Saddam," said Rami Rudainey, 22, a political science major dismissively referring to ousted leader Saddam Hussein, as he waited in the lecture room with 100 students to take the exam.
Outside the room, some 200 students were still trying to get in, even though there was only space for a few dozen more. Many had been turned away because they lacked complete documents.
For decades, ordinary students were forced into Saddam's army, were banned from studying abroad or lost university places to sons and daughters of the regime.
An October United Nations/World Bank report said Iraq's education system was among the best in the Middle East until the 1980s. It said the system was driven into decline by Saddam's expenditure on the military and the politicisation of teaching.
This image will be broadcast to the world
However to those who follow California politics, this photo is the money shot.
We hear a constant litany of failure in Iraq from the left...perhaps they would care to explain this:
Serbia Presidential Election Fails for Third Time in a Year, Deepening Political Crisis
BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro (AP) - Serbians failed for the third time in a year Sunday to elect a president because of low voter turnout, triggering a political crisis in the Balkan republic.
An ultranationalist with close ties to Slobodan Milosevic led the ballot, underlining Serbians' discontent with the pro-Western government that ousted the dictator in 2000 and the republic's drift back to Milosevic's nationalism, which triggered the Balkan wars of the 1990s.
About 36 percent of registered voters cast ballots, preliminary official results showed, less than the 50 percent needed to validate the vote.
Tomislav Nikolic was ahead with 44 percent of vote, the state electoral commission said. Dragoljub Micunovic, a pro-democracy candidate who led pre-election polls, trailed with only 38 percent. Four other candidates shared the rest of the vote.
"This is a defeat for Serbia," Micunovic said, adding he hoped voters would "learn their lessons" in democracy ahead of the upcoming key parliamentary elections in December.
"The Serbian Radical Party has become the single strongest party," he said. "I am sure this heralds Serbia's political future."
There are no more armed conflicts in the region, but the threat of instability remains amid the social and political crises.
In March, Serbia's first post-Milosevic prime minister, Zoran Djindjic, the republic's first democratic leader since World War II, was assassinated, allegedly by crime bosses and Milosevic-era paramilitary commanders.
One violent incident related to the vote was reported in Kosovo, the province that is part of Serbia but has been under U.N. and NATO authority since the 1998-1999 war over the territory between Serbian government troops and ethnic Albanian separatists.
Shortly after midnight, attackers smashed windows at the only polling station in the province's capital, Pristina, said Dragan Stolic, an election supervisor. It was one of a few places where Kosovo's remaining Serbs could vote. The province's ethnic Albanians, who want independence for Kosovo, ignored the elections.
You do remember Kosovo, don't you?
The Balkans Keeping Kosovo : The costs of liberal imperialism.
That war has disappeared from television screens with remarkable speed. In fact, Americans seemed to lose interest in this high- tech war even before it had drawn to a formal close--truly a virtual victory. In Europe, the social-democratic parties got no electoral bounce out of it in the recent European Union elections. Most people in the West saw Kosovo as a good cause (which it was) and were willing to help put things right, but now want to "move on," as a certain Western leader would say. This is Kosovo, after all--not Germany or Japan.
But that is not how wars work. Kosovo and its surroundings have become our problem--and will be so for decades and decades to come. Military interventions are not one-shot deals, particularly if you win. After we had launched the war, winning was important. (Consider the alternative.) There may be no substitute for victory, but victory is no substitute for strategy. Our political goals in the Balkans remain confused and contradictory. The cruise missiles have done their work. It is time for the Clinton administration to follow suit.
Have we achieved our war aims? That depends on what our aims were. If the purpose of our intervention was to avert a humanitarian crisis in Kosovo, in fact we exacerbated it. In the year before the bombing, 2,500 people (mostly KLA partisans and Serb soldiers) died in Kosovo; in the eleven weeks after the bombing began, 10,000 people (most of them Albanian civilians) were killed. At the start of the war, 230,000 Kosovars were estimated to have been displaced; by its end, 1.4 million Albanians had been displaced, 860,000 of them outside Kosovo. Most of the latter have returned, but now over 150,000 Serbs have fled the province. Kosovo has been physically laid to waste; without international aid, mass starvation would soon set in. Yugoslavia itself is estimated by the European Union to have been bombed back 50 years. It will take decades--and over $50 billion--to rebuild the civilian infrastructure of that country when Milosevic exits the stage. For a war waged with humanitarian intentions, these are troubling consequences.
If the purpose of the war was to bring political stability to the Balkans, the results are even more unsettling. Yugoslavia has been turned into a Third World country, which will probably mean that the next wave of refugees into Western Europe will be impoverished Serbs fleeing a desperate land. Kosovo has been liberated from Yugoslavia, but has not been granted independence, which is what 90 percent of Kosovars sorely want. Thus NATO is now the primary obstacle to the fulfillment of Kosovar popular aspirations--an odd role for an alliance that has made the promotion of democracy one of its new goals.
Finally, if the purpose of the war was to affirm the concept of ethnic harmony, that is now also in ruins. The NATO occupation has coincided with a wave of reverse ethnic cleansing so that soon Kosovo will be Serb-free. An emboldened Montenegro is likely to declare independence from Yugoslavia. Macedonia, reeling under the war's impact, is sensing new tensions with its Albanian minority. Albania itself is quietly encouraging the Kosovars to join with it and, after attracting the Albanians in Macedonia, to create a greater Albania. This last outcome is unlikely, but all these trends are hardly conducive to religious harmony and regional stability.
NATO is now a colonial power in the Balkans--inheritor of the Ottoman and Habsburg roles there. It will have to grapple with the problems of being an outsider in an area that has been consumed by virulent nationalism for years. Of course, NATO does not see itself as a colonial power; it sees itself as an enlightened trustee, helping Kosovo along until it can become a "functioning and viable member of the community of nations." These words do not come from Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, in reference to Kosovo, 1999; they come from U.N. Ambassador Albright, in reference to Somalia, 1993. No doubt one could find similar phrases about Haiti, Bosnia, and Cambodia.
As I was flipping through the 11 PM news last night an item boggled my mind.
Reporting from Mills College, in Oakland, the camera panned over 50-75 young women nodding in horror and agreement as the reporter explained the anti-war position of the guest speakers, Journalist Nermin Al-Mufti and Amal Al-Khedairy, who are sponsored by Global Exchange:
Voices Under Occupation: Two Iraqi Women on Bay Area Speaking Tour
As the U.S. occupation of Iraq begins to look increasingly like a quagmire, it is important for Americans to learn about Iraqi society, and how Iraqis view the U.S. presence there. Such knowledge could save both American and Iraqi lives. From Tuesday Nov. 11 to Sunday Nov. 16 two Iraqi women uniquely qualified to provide such an analyses will be in the Bay Area.
Reading further into the provided bios, one notices that both women held priviliaged positions under the Ba'athist Party. Yeah they're qualified, by the thugs and mass murders who ruled Iraq for thirty years.
Wonder where Al-Mufti and Al-Khedairy were when this was taking place...or this.
The reporter closed with the statement that the two Iraqi women stressed that those attacking Americans in Iraq weren't insurgents or terrorists, they are freedom fighters.
freedom fighters.
Makes one want to puke. Need I add this was the ABC affiliate? I thought not.
Dean Esmay asks "What the heck is wrong with people?"
UPDATE: Not content to express his opinion in the comments, Kenneth T. Tellis sends this email:
Sorry, you Americans are going to be told off. Sure you do not like being criticised, thats the American way. I have had just about enough of your inane propaganda. It looks like Nazism never died but was transfered to the US after World War II. The propaganda and lies put out by US TV channels makes Radio Moscow look like childs play, after all you have Hollywood helping you, and they did not.
Stupid is forever.
Carnival of the Vanities goes Ivy league this week at Dead End's.
Meanwhile in the Pac-10...with No Margin for Error, Bears Eyeing 1st Back-to-Back Winning Seasons in 12 Years, 1st Bowl Berth Since Mariucci's 1996 Team.
Go Bears.
UPDATE: Bears maul Huskies 54-7.
Senator John Kerry has a Dukakis moment on the Leno show. Kerry, or his handlers, think riding a borrowed Harley onto a TV set is cool? Politicians who aren't HOGs should stay the hell away from Harleys...it's terminally lame.
One suspects that this [WARNING: LINK NOT SUITABLE FOR WORK ] doesn't reflect Kerry's touchy-feely Northeastern Liberal demographic.
BUWAHAHAHAHAHA!
One would also think that a presidential contender and "front runner" would appear at the top of the Tonight Show bill not following a puppet act. I think that says it all about his team and his chances of becoming the nominee.
Kerry is suffering from the same sort of weirdo cultural advice that sank Gore's campaign...the Dem electorate isn't going to embrace another unfocused candidate who doesn't know who he is. The faint whiff of lugubriosity that hovered over Kerry's campaign has become the stench of flop sweat, Kerry's done.
A few patriotic images from my collection of advertising artwork.
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"This year is the 50th Anniversary of the Veterans Day Celebration. Thank you for remembering and honoring those veterans who served to preserve the liberties of this great Nation, keeping it united, strong, and free."
Anthony J. Principi
Secretary of Veterans Affairs
America's Veterans Day Greetings
Send a Veterans Day message to U.S. troops supporting the global war on terrorism.
Read messages sent: Best Wishes from America to Our Troops
Never Forget: We remember Iwo Jima for two good reasons.
One is that it was the costliest battle in Marine Corps history. Its toll of 6,821 Americans dead, 5,931 of them Marines, accounted for nearly one-third of all Marine Corps losses in all of World War II.
The other is Joe Rosenthal's picture,a symbol forever of the valor and sacrifices of the U.S. Marines.
Never Forget: In his own words WTC witness and photographer Ricky Flores:
I'm just simply a witness, a modern day bard if you will, testifying to the bravery of simple men and women, of flesh and bone, rising to an extraordinary challenge and giving the very best of themselves. I simply documented the tomb of others who died needlessly at the hands of a cowardly band of men. This I did so that my children and all those that follow our generation will hopefully never have to experience this in their lifetime
Never forget that our men and women in uniform stand between America and those who would do us harm because we are a free people. These men and women are not election slogans or political pawns, they are Americans, they are us.
Today's "Who Give's A Shit Award" goes to: France
Protesting French Artists Invade Prime-Time Newscast
France’s disgruntled showbusiness workers took their message to the masses today, invading the set of a live evening news broadcast and taking over the presenter’s chair.
Midway through the widely watched 8 o’clock evening news on channel France-2, newscaster David Pujadas announced that there were visitors on the set.
A close-up camera panned out to a wide shot that showed Pujadas surrounded by a dozen protesters holding signs.
“We have decided to give them one minute to explain their demands,” Pujadas told viewers before standing up from his chair and handing the seat to a female protester.
Unfortunately they were mimes.
Today the SF Chronicle began a series by their embed, a former Marine, in Iraq. We shall see where it goes, so far there's minimal liberal slant, apart from the baby harp seal pull-quote. It 's worth a read.
Chapter 1: Welcome to the Marines . . . A seat on war's 50-yard line . . . Men in uniform will be killing people . . . A patch of paradise, here's Kuwait . . . Keeping up with Kilo Company . . . The time has come . . . Darkside's pep talk, clubbing baby seals . . . Staring into the face of death.
MCCOY'S MARINES: DARKSIDE TOWARD BAGHDAD
DARKSIDE
They called me Paperboy. Even as a newspaper reporter, I'd seen little death. And I'd never seen anyone die. But I wanted to see a war. So when I had the chance for a seat on the 50-yard line in Iraq, I took it. I was what they called an "embedded reporter." I rode along with the Third Battalion, Fourth Marine Regiment, as it loaded up in Kuwait and crossed into Iraq.
The Marines fought, killed, and some died; and they were the ones who pulled down the statue of Saddam Hussein. The unit was led by Lt. Col. Bryan P.
McCoy. Radio call sign: Darkside.
It's a joking reference to the movie "Star Wars." As in Darth Vader's "Come over to the dark side." But deep down, "Darkside" is a state of mind. That part of the brain that goes back to the caveman, to life and death and protecting what's yours.
It's the boy who picks up a stick and pretends it's a machine gun. It's playing war or cowboys and Indians. It's the love of movies with guns and bombs and car chases. It's the tingle at the start of a football game, or a fight.
Darkside understands it. As a Marine battalion commander, he has studied it,
trained for it and applied it to a thousand men in his command. And then he put it to use in Iraq.
I haven’t written about our young Springer Spaniel Harley for a while…he’s a year old now and a typical teen-dog…bursting with energy and exuberance.
Recently Harley and I drove to the airport to pick up the Spousal Unit (SU). Harley rides in the back of the SUV in the cargo area. We use a special harness and a double tie down...so he can move around, lie down and hang over the back seat enough to snuffle the air through a barely opened side window...but he can't get into the seat and is reasonably secure if we have a crash. [I know, we should use a kennel carrier and we have one, but he gets terribly car sick in it and makes everyone miserable, so we trade off a little safety for quality of life.]
We drove around the "back-to-the-terminal" loop for fifteen minutes. Each pass of the terminal produced a range of doggie emotions from anticipation to disappointment accompanied with a big sigh. On the final pass Harley spotted a familiar shape and there was great doggie joy, wriggling, leaping, spinning and yelping as the SU opened the back hatch and placed his carry-on inside. Harley was patted, hugged and settled down enough for us to depart for home with Harley hanging over the back seat...straining against the tether... bummed out that he can't get to the front of the car.
About ten minutes into the drive, the SU and I are talking about his trip when a husky bass voice from the back seat interrupts:
"HEY!"
We both paused and thought about it for many long seconds...exchanging looks.
Me: "Did the dog just say "Hey?"
SU: "Yes, he I believe did."
I turned to look at Harley and he had this goofy "made you look!" expression on his face. We laughed as Harley grinned from his perch in the back...pleased that he had our attention.
The rational explanation is that it was a combination of his rolled leather collar pushing on the the back of the seat against his voice box and over-excitement...that it was a reflexive sound...or the damn dog can talk.
WTF? One would think Saudis might fear bombs and Isalmofacists a tad more than sand mining difficulties.
Saudi Arabia has reportedly imposed strict border checks to enforce a ban on the export of sand. There are fears that the growing demands of the construction industry could lead to a shortage in the desert kingdom.
The Arab News newspaper reports that neighbouring Bahrain needs to import large quantities of sand for reclaiming land from the sea.
Demand is also expected to grow as the process of reconstruction in Iraq gathers pace.
Although sand remains plentiful in Saudi Arabia, construction experts say the high costs of bagging and transporting make exploiting it difficult.
Experts have told the newspaper that if a mechanism could be devised to move sand from the vast desert region known as the Empty Quarter, it could be a very profitable proposition.
As the paper points out, there is more sand in the kingdom than oil.
Cement is also in high demand, the report says, with many cement factories having to expand their production capabilities to meet domestic demand.
Uh-oh...looks like the next American War of Imperialism will be for the Saaaand!!!
Thanks to The Group Captain for the item.
...that the mainstream media, DNC, Democratic Congressional Leadership and candidates dare not address, they have painted themselves into a politically correct box.
This article by The Black Commentator published on Counterpunch needs no comment, it stands on it's own:
White Liberals Don't Understand How Angry Black Voters are at the Democratic Party Establishment
by THE BLACK COMMENTATOR
Forget about the smoke and fog spewed by corporate media and chattering consultants of all colors. Let us begin with a stark forecast: The Democratic Party primaries must result in a national ticket that is fit for Black participation. If the party cannot loosen the fatal grip of the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC)--the Republican wing of the party--it will die. Black voters and their allies will either purge the DLC from national influence this primary season, or leave the Democrats to spiral into deserved oblivion.
That is what the polling data actually foretell--not an incipient Black conservatism, but levels of frustration with the national Democratic Party so high among Blacks that one more betrayal will likely spark a massive exit, even if the destination is... nowhere, the negative alternative that has already been chosen by a huge chuck of younger African Americans.
First and foremost, Black participation hinges on denying the presidential nomination to the dreadful, racist Senator Joseph Lieberman (CT), the DLC's champion. He will soon be recognized as wholly unacceptable to Black voters, who are the progressive mass base of the party, and to anti-war voters, a majority sentiment within the ranks at this time, nationwide.
Lieberman and the DLC spell electoral non-participation by Blacks. Therefore, he and his ilk are the enemies of all those who seek the broadest, most intense political involvement of African Americans in national life. There can be no compromise with people who poison the political well. Cohabitation with Rightists and racists means death to the Party.
Ninety percent of Black voters participate in national elections as Democrats. Therefore, the Democratic Party and its primaries are the field of national electoral expression for Black people as a whole. It is where the bulk of the people are--for now. In a fundamental sense, African Americans work out their political yearnings and programs through the mechanisms of the Democratic Party. If the political house is unwholesome, polluted with the unmistakable odors of white supremacy and Black sycophancy, African Americans recoil as one body.
To believe otherwise is to misread history--which is the norm in a society that prefers to operate on a succession of lies. No group turned more quickly and dramatically to the promise of Democratic liberalism than Black Americans. It is on the residual strength of the promise of inclusive, progressive Democratic politics that Blacks have remained solidly Democratic since completing the transition en masse and in the political blink of an eye four decades ago.
Black loyalty to Democratic Party structures has been misinterpreted as inertia--a racist conclusion that implies laziness of thought and action. This false reading of African American motives and intelligence has led whites in the Party--and some Black operatives--to miscalculate the cumulative effects of the savage compromises that have been foisted on Black Democrats since Jimmy Carter's "New South" term in the White House. Assuming that Blacks will "stay" simply because they have nowhere else to "go," national Democrats refuse to understand that Rev. Al Sharpton's support derives from deep anger and heartfelt disappointment, not with Trent Lott and the White Man's Party, but with them. Sharpton is dismissed as a mere showman, in effect relegating Black voters to the status of an Apollo Theater crowd on amateur night. The expectation appears to be that Sharpton and his supporters will make a lot of noise, attain emotional release, and return meekly to the fold.
The Democratic Party and its consultants grossly underestimate Black capacity for decisive action, ignoring the sea changes that have swept over the Black body politic in the past. More specifically, they underestimate Rev. Sharpton, who has no personal stake in the Democratic Party's institutionalized structures of Black mollification and is the sworn foe of the Democratic Leadership Council.
When Sharpton tells Village Voice writer Thulani Davis, "Many people who are running, in my judgment, are to the right of Republicans," he is speaking most directly about Sen. Joseph Lieberman and the DLC. When Sharpton declares that he is in a battle for "the soul of the Democratic Party" he means he is running against the existing structures that have brought the Party "to the right, not the center." And when polls show that Sharpton will capture Black majorities in the primaries, that means masses of African Americans agree with his assessment of the Party and are as anxious as he is to disassemble its racist components. Huge numbers will follow Sharpton despite his perm, because they know that he "speaks truth to power," an esteemed quality among African Americans, the most sophisticated electorate in America.
Al Sharpton will not tolerate the influence, much less nomination, of Lieberman, the standard bearer for all that is wrong with the Democratic Party. Sharpton will treat Lieberman as the Republican that he is, methodically "outing" the devious crypto-racist in terms that no amount of corporate media ridicule and distortion can obscure. It is at that point, in the heat of foreign conflict and domestic anxiety, that the Black public will approach a sea change in their perception of the Democratic Party.
The future of the Party will then be in the hands, not of Rev. Al Sharpton who does not seek to destroy it, but of the men and women who have disrespected Black voters for the better part of a lifetime. They can have a Party crippled by Lieberman's DLC, or they can retain a Sharptonized Black electorate. But they can't have both.
Blackfive posts a memo, Impressions of Iraq, produced a DOD exec in charge of training units to get ready for war. Matt tells us that McCarthy is known for some great successes with training for troops headed for the Balkans.
McCarthy's memo is neither positive or negative, but the assessment of a professional involved in fighting the war successfully. It is instructive as it demonstrates that plans must be fuild and that ops and conditions change on the ground.
Kiril, fondly known hereabouts as The Mad Macedonian of Sneakeasy's Joint, put together a well researched and thoughtful series on the situation in Iraq and the war on terror... IMO- a must read.
Why We Fight:
Kudos!
Just when things couldn't get worse for the Dem Dwarves than their lackluster performance, petty infighting, gaffs and election losses...they do.
The world's largest maker of computer networking equipment racked up $5.1 billion in sales for the most recent quarter, a jump of 8.5 percent from the previous three months and Cisco's best performance since early 2001.
However the Dem Dwarves can take heart, their goal of tanking the economy to win the White House still has a slim chance as California auto sales plummet in the wake of the Davis auto license fee increase.
Car sales usually slip between September and October as the weather cools and dealers sometimes have to wait for shipments of next year's models. But, comparatively, this year looks like more of a free-fall than a slip. Last year,sales fell 9 percent during the first few weeks of October nationwide and just 5 percent in California.
"The major difference we're aware of this year versus last year in California is the (increased) tax being put into effect," said Tom Liddy, director of industry analysis at Power Information Network, a division of J.D. Power and Associates, a research firm that calculated the numbers.
The difference between the Golden State and the rest of the country is even bigger for higher-priced cars, for which the fee increase has had the biggest impact. Luxury car sales dipped 22 percent in California but only 5 percent in the other 49 states.
Auto sales have weakened for October 2003, comparison of sales in October 2003 with sales in October 2002, and year-to-date totals for the two years. Light trucks include pickups, vans, minivans and sport utility vehicles.
Of course that will hurt their bedrock union base in the Northeast more than middle America and may result in union defections in 2004 on the order of the 32% who voted against Gray Davis.
Looks like the Dems best hope is still the wholesale slaughter of American GI's and failure in Iraq.
Today General Clark revealed "The Clark Doctrine":
Clark said his Iraq plan draws on his experience leading NATO forces in Kosovo. Clark would transform the U.S. occupation into a NATO operation led by the U.S. forces. A civilian from an allied nation would guide reconstruction, taking over the job from the U.S. chief administrator, L. Paul Bremer.Giving more authority to allies and the Iraqis themselves would "defuse the American hand in Iraq," Clark said before his speech, and should deflect the resentment that fuels attacks on U.S. forces.
On the military front, Clark would shut Iraqi borders, rebuild the Iraqi military and send in more intelligence officers and troops to guard weapons dumps.
He said Iraqis should have more control of their future -- including responsibility for drafting a constitution and control of oil revenues
The money graf/pander to the left base of the party:
Finally, Clark would create a new Atlantic Charter that would stipulate that although the United States will not give up the right to act alone, working together with European allies should be the first option.
A sure-fire plan to a quagmire on the order of that he left in the Balkans.
Is clue beginning to seep into the Democrat body politic?
Election result leaves McAuliffe in limbo
'04 impact weighed after Mississippi and Kentucky votes
Democrats across the country rallied to support Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Terry McAuliffe yesterday, a day after the party lost governorships in Kentucky and Mississippi and less than four weeks after losing the gubernatorial race in California.
But on a morning of bitter misgivings for Democrats there were also rumblings in Mississippi, California, New York, Washington, D.C., and elsewhere, with many party rank- and-file members complaining that the DNC has written off the South, taken black voters for granted and picked a poor 2004 convention site in Boston.
“Terry McAuliffe is out there on his own agenda, which does not involve the South,” said Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the only black member of his state’s congressional delegation.
Democrats both attacked and defended the party’s direction under Terry McAuliffe.
“It does not involve African Americans to the extent that they need to be. There are some real organizational problems at the Democratic National Committee that need to be corrected if in fact this party is to ever regain a majority status in Washington.”
Well, mebbe not.
DNC officials and Democratic House members, including Reps. Frost and Barney Frank (Mass.), downplayed the gubernatorial elections, arguing that the committee is right where it wants to be. DNC officials insisted that the party is looking forward to hosting its national convention in Boston.
Think Wellstone memorial.
For those amused by California's recent recall election, here's the real deal; Left Coast Raving Moonbat absurdity [This is not a joke or parody].
North Bay: Nature victoriousThe quirky coastal hamlet of Bolinas is now officially a nature-loving town that also likes blueberries and bears and even skunks.
That, at least, is as good an interpretation as anyone has come up with for Measure G, a stream-of-consciousness initiative that passed Tuesday despite a wide variety of opinions about what exactly it would do for this far-out town north of Stinson Beach.
The measure, submitted by a homeless woman who wears burlap and paints her face with chocolate, advises the Bolinas Community Public Utility District to adopt the following statement as its policy:
"Vote for Bolinas to be a socially acknowledged nature-loving town because to like to drink the water out of the lakes to like to eat the blueberries to like the bears is not hatred to hotels and motor boats. Dakar. Temporary and way to save life, skunks and foxes (airplanes to go over the ocean) and to make it beautiful."
Bolinas has always had the local rep as the free-spirited, tie-dye, bong-water capital of the Marin Karma Koast. The locals have been known to actively discourage tourists and outsiders by taking down the road signs on the highway. However adding gibberish to the ballot may be a teensy bit over the top...even in Marin.
Win With Wilkie! Whizbang!
Kevin pulls the lever on Carnival of the Vanities and gets our election season juices flowing.
Vote early, vote often!
...how long the Democrats, media and ANSWER crowd have been on the wrong side of this issue and history:
"After listening to you for slightly more than one hour, I can tell that you are a strong and intelligent man and that you want peace". -- Senator Howard Metzenbaum (D-OH) on Saddam Hussein, April 1990 Baghdad, Iraq [Source: WSJ 18-Dec-90]
An excellent fisking of the usual suspects and compilation of links disputing conventional liberal wisdom by Judith Weiss at Kesher Talk:
Quagmire watch. What a hatchet job. From the people who brought you Jayson Blair. I am not going to fisk this point by point (although I expect this to be a fun project for many bloggers in the days to come), because Rieff's criticisms of the bureaucratic infighting and decision-making leading up to the war may very well be accurate, but so what? This is the conclusion he draws:
Had the military been as meticulous in planning its strategy and tactics for the postwar as it was in planning its actions on the battlefield, the looting of Baghdad, with all its disastrous material and institutional and psychological consequences, might have been stopped before it got out of control. Had the collective knowledge embedded in the Future of Iraq Project been seized upon, rather than repudiated by, the Pentagon after it gained effective control of the war and postwar planning a few months before the war began, a genuine collaboration between the American authorities and Iraqis, both within the country and from the exiles, might have evolved. And had the lessons of nation-building -- its practice but also its inevitability in the wars of the 21st century -- been embraced by the Bush administration, rather than dismissed out of hand, then the opportunities that did exist in postwar Iraq would not have been squandered as, in fact, they were.The real lesson of the postwar mess is that while occupying and reconstructing Iraq was bound to be difficult, the fact that it may be turning into a quagmire is not a result of fate, but rather (as quagmires usually are) a result of poor planning and wishful thinking.
Well, is Iraq a quagmire? Have opportunities in postwar Iraq been "squandered"?
You decide:
Weiss adds:
No, it doesn't look like Bush went into the reconstruction of Iraq with a "meticulous" plan. Good. Because it would be stupid to create a detailed plan if you don't know what you're going to find. Instead, they have been feeling their way into the situation, being responsive, learning from mistakes, pushing responsibility down to the lowest level, encouraging different approaches. In short being as entrepreneurial as possible rather than bureaucratic.
Which brought to mind two quotes:
"War is an art and as such is not susceptible of explanation by fixed formula."
and
"...an imperfect plan implemented immediately and violently will always succeed better than a perfect plan."
-- Gen. George S. Patton
Odd, one would think a Clinton appearance and speech would be a no-brainer ticket in left-leaning Seattle. That Clinton charged a fee for a chartible event is indefensible. Especially given the pro-child manifesto he and Hill have exploited so effectively with their base. Are people begining to see through these two avaricious phonies? Or perhaps Dem anti-Israel rhetoric and embrace of an anti-Semitic presidential candidate put off donors.
Clinton event tab exceeds proceeds
A charity fund-raiser for Seattle Hebrew Academy and two local arts groups, which brought former President Clinton to town, was a financial bust — though not for the 42nd president.
The September event at Marion McCaw Hall cost organizers $290,000 but brought in just $288,000, according to organizers — a shortfall of $2,000 sponsors blamed on sluggish ticket sales.
It's not known how much Clinton was paid, but he did charge for his Seattle appearance, according to his office. Neither his spokeswoman nor Foolproof Performing Arts, which produced the event, are talking about his fee. But in 2002, he charged no less than $100,000 for all but one of his speaking appearances, earning $9.5 million for the year, according to Sen. Hillary Clinton's personal financial disclosure form filed in May. When organizers realized they would have about 800 unsold tickets to the Sept. 16 event, they gave them away to community groups.
Kevin, of Boots On The Ground writes a final post before moving out:
I enjoy doing this job, I actually feel like i'm making a real difference. Though, sometimes it's not always like that. However, for the most part, I am optimistic and think Iraq will become a better place. It is just a small group that don't want it and hate being out of power. I hope you all enjoy reading my blog. I just wanted to let people see what it was like through my eyes. I hope you all have learned alittle more about yourself, me, and Iraq because of it. God Bless you all, America and a free Iraq.
Go read it all.
It's about frickin' time:
Foreign visitors will face new rules
WASHINGTON — Millions of foreign visitors to the USA, already under strict scrutiny since the terrorist attacks in 2001, soon will have to be fingerprinted and photographed to get through the nation's airports and seaports.
Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security announced plans for a high-tech system that will help track the 24 million foreigners who enter the country with work, student or travel visas each year.
Congress ordered the system after the Sept. 11 attacks, when officials learned that two of the 19 hijackers had violated the terms of their visas. The program's goal is to prevent potential terrorists from entering the country and to register foreigners who are allowed in. It also requires foreigners to check out when they leave, so officials can look for people who stay after their visas expire.
Of course the usual America haters aren't happy.
Asa Hutchinson, head of border security at the department, called the program a "dramatic step forward" in tightening security. But airport managers and travel industry officials are concerned it will cause delays and discourage tourism. Civil libertarians worry the data collected won't stay private.
Pity these same civil libertarians idiotartians have so little interest in the civil rights of Americans murdered by terrorists.
One last scary pix before November rears it's wattle, kudos to Donnie of Ain't Done It:
This quote in the same piece reeks of election year flop sweat:
At the same news conference, Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said the strong economic growth has yet to "filter down" to many working families, and he said the jobless situation remains serious."Companies are hiring workers, but they're hiring workers overseas," he said."
These asshats haven't a clue and the voters know it.
