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Wednesday, 14 September 2005
Isolation of the Dodo
Topic: Islamic Jihad
I ran across an interesting dialog on the Internet today.

Shannon Elizabeth comments on a post by Feministe's "Jill" arguing that, because 911 wasn't an act of war (which would come as a surprise to those who declared war on us, then attacked us with our own airliners filled with our own citizens), but was instead a simple act of terrorism, it is not worthy of being commemorated by the inaptly-named "war memorial"

Elizabeth: “Gee. And I thought I was an uninformed bimbo."*

It was responded to Shannon Elizabeth calls me a bimbo

Well ad hominen attacks are non productive. In the realm of ideas, my thoughts were as follows.

"The first military land action by the United States of America, was against a NGO of Muslim Terrorists known at the time as the Barbary Pirates.

The Congress of the day, Jefferson, and Alexander Hamilton discussed whether a Formal Declaration of War was required.

They concluded that while a Formal Declaration of War was required to initiate a War, since our Shipping (the merchant marines were civilians I might add) and our Sovereignty had been attacked we were already in a STATE OF WAR
with the Barbary Pirates so no Formal Declaration was required.

Under the International Accords Customs and Laws of Land War at that time and today, A State of War ensues when either an attack occurs or a Declaration of War is issued.

Al Queda has declared Holy War upon the United States of America and has attacked us on our soil, and has attacked us elsewhere in the world.

There is now, and has been for some time, a State of War between us, there is Constitutional Precedent as I stated above for this claim."

On a more general note, during the last generation at the hands a of an Extreme Jihadist Sect, in Bangladesh, Southern Sudan, Dafur, Algeria and numerous other locales on the order of 5 million human beings have been slaughtered and about 50 million displaced.

I cannot think of a single religion that has not been attacked.

This combat has claimed the lives of citizens of almost every nationality on the face of the Earth and attacks have been carried out in North America, Europe, Asia, the MidEast, Oceania. So far I do not recall any attacks in South America or Antarctica, but give them time, they may yet hit those areas.

We are engaged in a Global War with an unprecedented range. What level of Mega Death is required for some people to actually see this?

The Forces arrayed against us divide the World into two portions

Dar Al Islam the House of Peace/Surrender/Submission
and Dar Al Harb the House of War/not-Surrendered/not-Submitted.

We used to think of the War Issue as between Hawks and Doves, then I wondered if it should be Hawks and Ostriches, due to the numbers who seemed to have their heads stuck in the Sand.

Now I think that they are not Ostriches, but Dodos.

The Dodo was just not smart enough to realize that something could be a threat.

The Dodo is now Extinct.







Posted by ky/kentuckydan at 5:52 PM CDT
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Updated: Sunday, 3 June 2007 7:14 AM CDT
Tuesday, 13 September 2005
Muhammad al-Dura Myth, What Took So Long.
Topic: Islamic Jihad
Michelle Malkin has a new post up today,
"WHEN PICTURES LIE"
Remember these images broadcast by French state-owned television in 2000 that inflamed the Muslim world and inspired al Qaeda recruiters?


I recall those events quite well. I did some close looking at the video and some stills way back then.

In order to avoid bias, I downloaded the video and the still at the time, from Muslim Websites.

Those links are a few hard drives in the past, but I still recall what I saw back then.

First the Video. You see the boy and the Man behind a barrel the man is looking towards the Israeli lines and hollering.

Then, as I recall the camera view is obscured, not exactly blurred because you see a brief flash of something flesh colored, like a hand blocking the lense. When the view clears the man is sagging as if wounded, the boy is laying still.

In the still photos one can see on the wall behind the man and the boy bullet holes, but not elongated slashes, which would have been made by fire from the Israeli lines to the far right hand field from the perspective of the viewer, but round holes which could only have come from a viewpoint in the same line of sight as the camera and perpendicular to the wall.

That is how I remember it.

Yes Pictures, can lie, but if you look closely they can also tell the truth.

So my reaction to this sudden flurry after all this time is, what took so long for the truth to start getting some real recognition?

Oh and as for this?


a piece of Palestinian street theater, similar to the dramatic Palestinian funeral processions that were observed after the Israeli incursion into the Jenin refugee camp. During that public spectacle, a martyred "corpse" twice fell off the stretcher, only to hop back up and retake his place in the procession. (The Palestinians had claimed 3,000 deaths in Jenin ? the actual toll turned out to be 52.)

I have a link to that video clip, I don't know how many times I have looked at it and almost fell down laughing. Because it is obvious from the action that most of the crowd really thought the man was dead and when he is dropped off the flag colored stretcher and jumps up?

They scatter like a flock of chickens who have just spotted a hawk.

I will try to find that link and update this post with it.

UPDATE

Click here: DEAD WALK

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Posted by ky/kentuckydan at 7:13 PM CDT
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Updated: Sunday, 3 June 2007 7:12 AM CDT
Media Bias
Topic: Out of Flyover Land
From time to time on International Discussion Forums, someone from another country will ask questions.

There is often a difference of opinion on matters between Americans online.

Recently a few of us were trying to explain Liberal Media Bias, when one of our counterparts posted the following,


"That's so funny you keep saying this - several months ago NPR did an anonymous poll of journalist across America and found that 48% of them declared themselves REPUBLICANS"


That was a surprise and if anyone knows a source for such a poll, I would be interested to peruse it.

As far as I can determine from source I can find the situation is much different.

Studies Show Reporters Less Conservative Than General Public

A survey released in May 2004 by the Pew Research Center for People and the Press provides the most recent figures to this evidence. That study shows journalists at the local and national level consider themselves more liberal compared with the public overall and less conservative. But like the general public, most journalists call themselves moderates. (Some commentators on this survey wonder if the survey participants may call themselves moderate despite not having those views.)

"Journalists at national and local news organizations are notably different from the general public in their ideology and attitudes toward political and social issues," the survey's summary notes. "Most national and local journalists, as well as a plurality of Americans (41%), describe themselves as political moderates. But news people - especially national journalists - are more liberal, and far less conservative, than the general public."

The survey found that 20 percent of general public calls itself liberal while 34 percent of the national journalists and 23 percent of local journalists. Forty-one percent of the public calls itself moderate while 54 percent of the national and 61 percent of the local journalists do so.

That compares with how 33 percent of the American public calls itself conservative compared with 7 percent of the national and 12 percent of local journalists.



Liberal Media Evidence

THE ARGUMENT over whether the national press is dominated by liberals is over. Since 1962, there have been 11 surveys of the media that sought the political views of hundreds of journalists. In 1971, they were 53 percent liberal, 17 percent conservative. In a 1976 survey of the Washington press corps, it was 59 percent liberal, 18 percent conservative. A 1985 poll of 3,200 reporters found them to be self-identified as 55 percent liberal, 17 percent conservative. In 1996, another survey of Washington journalists pegged the breakdown as 61 percent liberal, 9 percent conservative. Now, the new study by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found the national media to be 34 percent liberal and 7 percent conservative.

Over 40-plus years, the only thing that's changed in the media's politics is that many national journalists have now cleverly decided to call themselves moderates. But their actual views haven't changed, the Pew survey showed. Their political beliefs are close to those of self-identified liberals and nowhere near those of conservatives. And the proportion of liberals to conservatives in the press, either 3-to-1 or 4-to-1, has stayed the same. That liberals are dominant is now beyond dispute.


Now one retort to the above is to point out the percentage of the mediawho consider themselves to be moderate, but I wonder, is a Dubuque moderate the same as one who lives in LA, NY, or DC?

Labels such as Conservative, Liberal and Moderate are subjective and cover a range of political thougth.

Party affiliation is more definitive. Visual aids such as graphs show the demarcation more vividly.


Media Bias Basics

What is the opinion of those in the media on this topic? Let us look at a small sample of the more prominent opinions from the above source.

"I thought he [former CBS News correspondent Bernard Goldberg] made some very good points. There is just no question that I, among others, have a liberal bias.
- CBS's 60 Minutes commentator Andy Rooney

Most of the time I really think responsible journalists, of which I hope I'm counted as one, leave our bias at the side of the table. Now it is true, historically in the media, it has been more of a liberal persuasion for many years.
ABC anchor Peter Jennings

"There is a liberal bias. It?s demonstrable. You look at some statistics. About 85 percent of the reporters who cover the White House vote Democratic, they have for a long time. There is a, particularly at the networks, at the lower levels, among the editors and the so-called infrastructure, there is a liberal bias. There is a liberal bias at Newsweek, the magazine I work for.
Newsweek Washington Bureau Chief Evan Thomas

"Everybody knows that there's a liberal, that there's a heavy liberal persuasion among correspondents...
Walter Cronkite


Now Walter Cronkite does present a reason for this,

.Anybody who has to live with the people, who covers police stations, covers county courts, brought up that way, has to have a degree of humanity that people who do not have that exposure don't have, and some people interpret that to be liberal. It's not a liberal, it's humanitarian and that's a vastly different thing

Loose translation, conservatives are not humanitarian, but of course that is not a Liberal bias, just reality as they see it.

And last but not least a complete admission from the direction of CNN

"I do have an axe to grind...I want to be the little subversive person in television."
Barbara Pyle, CNN Environmental Editor and Turner Broadcasting Vice President for Environmental Policy


All of this might explain a curious situation recently at CNN, it was either bias or journalistic incompetance of such a magnitude as defy belief.

I will let you decide.


From the "Bias? What liberal bias?" files...
On Saturday, CNN.com had a piece [9/12 clarification carried by Reuters] titled "Firms with White House ties get Katrina contracts:"

Companies with ties to the Bush White House and the former head of FEMA are clinching some of the administration's first disaster relief and reconstruction contracts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

At least two major corporate clients of lobbyist Joe Allbaugh, President Bush's former campaign manager and a former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, have already been tapped to start recovery work along the battered Gulf Coast.

One is Shaw Group Inc. and the other is Halliburton Co. subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root. Vice President Dick Cheney is a former head of Halliburton.

The Baton Rouge-based Shaw Group, CNN tells us, is a major corporate client of Joe Allbaugh, President Bush's former campaign manager and a former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Among its Katrina-related contracts are this one valued up to $100 million from FEMA; and this one also valued up to $100 million from the Army Corps of Engineers.

But in their zeal to embarrass the Bush administration, CNN overlooks one very fat and inconvenient fact--and embarrasses only itself.

The Shaw Group, a multi-billion-dollar conglomerate, is headed by Jim Bernhard, the current chairman of the Louisiana Democratic Party.
Bernhard worked tirelessly for Democrat Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco's runoff campaign and served as co-chair of her transition team. Another Shaw executive was Blanco's campaign manager. Bernhard is back-scratching chums with Blanco, whom he has lent/offered the Shaw Group's corporate jets to on numerous occasions.


Now I just WONDER, how did CNN happen to miss this little tidbit?

"Companies with ties to the Bush White House and the former head of FEMA are clinching some of the administration's first disaster relief and reconstruction contracts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina

Is big news.

The Shaw Group, a multi-billion-dollar conglomerate, is headed by Jim Bernhard, the current chairman of the Louisiana Democratic Party


Was not that important and so was left out of the story, or CNN could not report a PTA meeting with out missing most of it.

You choose.

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Posted by ky/kentuckydan at 8:27 AM CDT
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Updated: Sunday, 3 June 2007 7:12 AM CDT
Monday, 12 September 2005
Two Issues,
One Word

Topic: 9/11
At the close of last week a firestorm lit up the internet concerning the design for the Future Flight 93 Memorial.

A firestorm is not an exaggeration. It might even be an understatement.

Many different blogs weighed in. Some were enraged, some did not see the significance of the construct that was objected to.

The responses ranged from

Michelle Malkin in
(DIS)HONORING THE FLIGHT THAT FOUGHT BACK


And do you wonder how this memorial design--benignly passive at best, offensive and inexplicably clueless at worst--possibly passed muster as the best representation of the spirit, courage, and resilience of the 40 passengers who saved countless American lives?
Is this the best we can do?
Sissy Willis and Dean Esmay, both conservative bloggers I like and link to regularly, dissent from those who are troubled by the "Crescent of Embrace." Do read their critiques. Sissy Willis thinks the issue can be resolved with a name change. Dean Esmay dismisses the controversy as a "kerfuffle." Both describe critics, myself included, as "shrill."


Captain's Quarters in

Flight 93 Memorial Intended To Offend

But the architects who created the winning design say their design has nothing to do with Islam.
"A crescent is part of architectural vocabulary. It's a generic form used in design," said Paul Murdoch, one of the winning architects. "We don't see any one group having ownership of it."
Murdoch believes it's unfortunate that the design is being interpreted that way.
"You can call it all kinds of things. We can call it an arc. We can call it a circle. We can call it the edge of the bowl. The label doesn't matter to us in terms of intent. We have no objection to calling it something else."
But as Ward reports, the advisory jury which selected the design asked the architects to do just that. They specifically wrote in their recommendation for this design that the name "Crescent of Embrace" be changed to "circle" or "arc" in order to avoid references to "specific religious iconography". That sounds as if the jury, which included victim family members, recognized the potential Islamic references at once.
Why didn't Murdoch heed that request? After all, it came from the victims' families, as the rebuttals have argued in specifying their support for the overall design. Instead, Murdoch kept that nomenclature.


The Politburo Diktat in

Flight 93 Crescent Memorial - The Designer?s Own Words

I don?t get it. Why this shape? The designers had a blank slate. They could have designed anything. And they chose the symbol of the perpetrators. They essentially claim that the shape is a coincidence. That?s an absurd claim. Architects design things for a reason, with intent; every part of an architectural design serves a purpose. A wall holds up a building; a pipe carries water; a gravestone marks a person?s final resting place. To pretend there is no symbolism here is beyond ?disingenuous.? It?s ridiculous. All you have to do is look at it. I skimmed through several Leftie blogs. They are convinced it?s a coincidence, that only wingnuts would see a connection.


Over in Euorope !No Pasaran! chimed in with
Forms have MEANING


One of their commenters was even more blunt

The proposed ?artwork for Flight 93 memorial site?called the ?crescent of embrace?. Does this just make you sick to your stomach when the remains of the victims are buried here and the perpetrators were muslim extremists? How many of these victims were muslims, do you suppose and since when is this appropriate in any stretch of the imagination


Then of course there were other reactions.

If the designer had used a different word?

by Jack Grant
such as semilunar instead of crescent, would the overly-sensitive right-wing be equally outraged?
From where I stand, Dean Esmay is entirely correct when he writes, ?Guys: it?s a curved grove of maple trees for God?s sake. Get over it


Perpetual Indignance As Political Expression
by Dean Esmay
Guys: it's a curved grove of maple trees for God's sake. Get over it

For the sake of debate, and only for the sake of debate I will stipulate, "a curved grove of trees is a curved grove of trees."

Let whether or not merely changing the name will solve the problem.

For me the defining question is, "If the crescent shape has no meaning other than subjective, was never meant to imply anything, the WHY was the simple request of the families ignored?"

They did not ask to scrap this design.
They did not ask to restart the long process of selection over.

They only asked that the title

"Crescent of Embrace" be changed to "circle" or "arc" in order to avoid references to "specific religious iconography".

Those who have maintained that outrage over the design of the Flight 93 Memorial have yet to explain why this simple request was not honored.

And if it was not honored, what purpose did the jury of families serve?

Were they meant to be listened to but ignored?

Were they just one more symbolic and meaningless gesture?

I am just a simple Flyover Land Jacksonian American, where I come from the wishes of grieving families where it is possible are honored.

So those who maintain that we who are outraged are barking at nothing.

Explain this puzzle to me.

If the Crescent has no definitive symbolic meaning in the title "Crescent of Embrace", where lies the great difficulty in changing one simple word?

|


Posted by ky/kentuckydan at 6:43 PM CDT
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Updated: Sunday, 3 June 2007 7:11 AM CDT
I'm not here to point the finger of blame
Topic: Out of Flyover Land
Howard Dean graced the American People with that statement recently.

Of course it came at the END of
Dean: U.S. must face 'ugly truth' about Katrina
"(CNN) -- Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said that in Hurricane Katrina's wake Americans need to face the "ugly truth" that race and class played a significant role in who lived and died"

I submit that has, is and will be the definitive model of the Democratic Party's tactics.

When the situation is in flux, information is incomplete or lacking, hysteria, extreme rhetoric, appeals to emotion and most definitely all the "finger pointing of blame" that they can muster.

Then when the situation stabilizes,when information is more complete and accurate, and when the fingers start pointing in directions that the DNC feel uncomfortable with, there will be an attempt to deflect the attention of the public and assume a position on the moral high ground by phrases such as


"I'm not here to point the finger of blame"

followed by a sometimes unspoken, but resounding

BUT

At the last they will utter platitudes that we need to find solutions, begin healing and find closure.

Sound familiar? It's been used time after time.
The events leading up to the Gulf War Phase II, had how many hysterical rants about the tens of thousands of US GIs who would die, the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. It didn't happen that way did it?

Katrina did not happen the way it has been portrayed either, and there are some VERY unpleasant "ugly truths" emerging,

Not about the President, nor the Federal FEMA effectiveness, but about the Local Authorities
in Louisiana, who happen to belong to a Party, I do not feel I have to name.

How many times have witnessed the same?

During the days leading up to the start of the Gulf War Phase II, do you recall the hysterical mantra of the tens of thousands of GIs we would lose, the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis that would die.

Didn't happen that way did it?

Then when our troops out ran their supplies because they had had overwhelming success, they paused and immediately the cry went out "quagmire"? And it wasn't was it?

Sometimes it seemed like the Democratic and the Mainstream Media Talking Heads were reading from the same page as Baghdad Bob. Didn't it?

9/11 happened on President Bush's watch so it was all his fault. That is until the information started coming out about the Wall that had been erected between our intelligence offices and our criminal departments.

Then just like clockwork, now is not the time to point fingers of blame, now is the time to find solutions and closure.

There is nothing new under the sun and we have seen all this so many times.

The Democratic Party plays the same games over and over again and like a broken clock that tells the correct time twice a day, there is always an element of truth in their litany.

But it is always a carefully selective truth.

Witness CNN's latest expose from Michelle Malkin in

THE DEMOCRATS' KATRINA PROFITEER

The Baton Rouge-based Shaw Group, CNN tells us, is a major corporate client of Joe Allbaugh, President Bush's former campaign manager and a former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Among its Katrina-related contracts are this one valued up to $100 million from FEMA; and this one also valued up to $100 million from the Army Corps of Engineers.

But in their zeal to embarrass the Bush administration, CNN overlooks one very fat and inconvenient fact--and embarrasses only itself.

The Shaw Group, a multi-billion-dollar conglomerate, is headed by Jim Bernhard, the current chairman of the Louisiana Democratic Party. Bernhard worked tirelessly for Democrat Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco's runoff campaign and served as co-chair of her transition team. Another Shaw executive was Blanco's campaign manager. Bernhard is back-scratching chums with Blanco, whom he has lent/offered the Shaw Group's corporate jets to on numerous occasions.


Nice try wasn't it? Want to bet that as more and more comes out they will try to divert attention from any hint of corruption in the rebuilding effort with,

Now is not the time to point fingers of blame now is the time to rebuild?

First denunciation then deflection.

They are not engaged in Battle of Ideas with us. They are engaged in an attempt to create an image.

When one strawman is knocked down they will shift to another one.

The name for this is the Big Lie. Say anything loud enough, long enough, people will accept it as the truth.

I am willing to bet on the American People;s thirst for the truth and sense of fairplay. They seem to be betting on us being so Stupid that we won't notice what is really happening.

One of us has to be wrong.
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Posted by ky/kentuckydan at 3:05 AM CDT
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Updated: Sunday, 3 June 2007 7:11 AM CDT
Sunday, 11 September 2005
Never Forget, Never Falter,
Do NOT Fail

Topic: 9/11


I hear people saying we don't need this war
I say there's some things worth fighting for
What about our freedom and this piece of ground
We didn't get to keep 'em by backing down
Now they say we don't realize the mess we're getting in
Before you start your preaching let me ask you this my friend

Have you forgotten how it felt that day?
To see your homeland under fire
And her people blown away
Have you forgotten when those towers fell?
We had neighbors still inside going thru a living hell
And you say we shouldn't worry 'bout bin Laden
Have you forgotten?

They took all the footage off my T.V.
Said it's too disturbing for you and me
It'll just breed anger that's what the experts say
If it was up to me I'd show it everyday
Some say this country's just out looking for a fight
Well after 9/11 man I'd have to say that's right

Have you forgotten how it felt that day?
To see your homeland under fire
And her people blown away
Have you forgotten when those towers fell?
We had neighbors still inside going thru a living hell
And you say we shouldn't worry 'bout bin Laden
Have you forgotten?

Now I've been there with the soldiers
Who've gone away to war
And you can bet that they remember
Just what they're fightin' for

Have you forgotten all the people killed?
Some went down like heros in that Pennsylvania field
Have you forgotten about our Pentagon?
And all the loved ones that we lost and those left to carry on
Don't you tell me not to worry about bin Laden
Have you forgotten?


Have you forgotten how it felt that day?
To see your homeland under fire
And her people blown away
Have you forgotten when those towers fell?
We had neighbors still inside going thru a living hell
And you say we shouldn't worry 'bout bin Laden
Have you forgotten?

Have you forgotten?

Have you forgotten?


WAV WEBSITE


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Posted by ky/kentuckydan at 1:10 AM CDT
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Updated: Sunday, 3 June 2007 7:10 AM CDT
Saturday, 10 September 2005
The Bow of Blood
Topic: 9/11
There have been some interesting revelations about
further symbolic meanings hidden in Crescent of Embrace Flight 93 Memorial.

A case can be made that hidden meanings depend more on the searcher than what is examined. In this case I do believe the defining truth lies in the fact that,

the advisory jury which selected the design---specifically wrote in their recommendation for this design that the name "Crescent of Embrace" be changed to "circle" or "arc" in order to avoid references to "specific religious iconography". That sounds as if the jury, which included victim family members, recognized the potential Islamic references at once.


That from Captain's Quarters
Flight 93 Memorial Intended To Offend

Which SHOULD close the case that this interpretation is due only to the paranoia of small minded Neo-Con bloggers.

It won't though, any more than the above request by the families of the Flight 93 victims was honored.

But there are OTHER interpretations of the geometry that I find highly entreating.

Bluemerle points out that

"What would you say if you found out, among other issues of Islamic imagery being incorporated into the memorial, that the red crescent was canted on the prayer qibla to Mecca?

I know, I know.

But it is.

Shoot an arrow on the bow of the crescent and it flies along the path of the qibla. (the imaginary line to Mecca believers align themselves with when they pray.)


Really?

Etaoin Shrdlu presents us with a very impressive case.

Thus the Title of this post.

There is alot more comment on this over at Ace of Spades in
Another "Inadvertant" Feature of Flight 93 Memorial: Crescent Points Towards Mecca (CONFIRMED)

This last bit of information has changed my mind.
At first I want this version NOT to be used, now
I am thinking, yes make it EXACTLY like the illustrations and when I am there I can use
the ends of the Bow for a range finder. ;-)

Let the Left call it the Crescent of Embrace
I will think of it as the Bow of Blood.

Straight up the middle and forward!

If I ever go there I will stand on the Sacred Ground sight along the direction of an arrow laid
on the bowline and think,

Of the members of Flight 93

and my Cousin Casey who fell in Beirut in 83.

Now I say keep the Memorial just the way it is.




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Posted by ky/kentuckydan at 11:38 PM CDT
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Updated: Sunday, 3 June 2007 7:09 AM CDT
Friday, 9 September 2005
Once more
into the breach,
dear friends,
once more

Topic: 9/11
"Or close the wall up with our English dead!
In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility;
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger;
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,
Disguise fair nature with hard-favor'd rage;
Then lend the eye a terrible aspect.
(III,i) "
Henry V by Shakespeare.


Though in this case it is not a case of closing a
wall with our dead, but preventing our dead from being defiled.

Twice now the Memorials to the Horrors of Sept 11, 2001 the Fall of the World Trade Tower, the Destruction at the Pentagon and the Valor of Flight 93, have been placed upon the Altar of Political Correctness, Bonding and Healing in preparation for Sacrifice.

Twice the American Public has risen in condemnation and STILL they try the same things, and then blink all innocent eyed when called to task.

First it was the Statue of the Firemen Raising the Flag. I posted on that here.

Some Things Are Sacred

THEN they wanted to use the WTC Memorial, NOT to honor the dead, but to teach us lessons about our past, Uhh why we deserved it I guess?

I posted on that Here.

Take Back The Memorial Petition

and Here.

WTC Memorial

Now it seems they have their hands on the Flight 93 Memorial, whose name it turns out is intended to be
the "Crescent of Embrace" made out of red and sugar maples. How SWEET, and how symbolic The Red Crescent has the same meaning in the MidEast as The Red Cross does here.

When I read, "The idea of the Crescent of Embrace, Murdoch said, is to be a gesture of healing and bonding.", my reaction was NOT one of healing,

I do NOT want to be "bonded" to the symbol that inspired the 19 Jihadists for the first serious attack on the US since Pearl Harbor.

This topic is being furiously debated over at Captain's Quarters in Clueless Memorial Design, Take 2
via Michelle Malkin




When you consider all the controversy about the World War One Memorial in the Mojave Desert, because it is in the shape of a cross?

Memorial in peril on Mojave preserve
The cross is the focus of a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, which contends that the display of the cross on federal land violates the constitutional principle of separation of church and state.



I have HAD it!

Once more
into the breach,
dear friends,
once more

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Posted by ky/kentuckydan at 10:22 PM CDT
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Updated: Sunday, 3 June 2007 7:10 AM CDT
I am Waiting
Topic: Islamic Jihad
For someone to start pontificating on the difference in the situation in Mississippi and Louisiana and New Orleans.

We don't hear that much about Mississippi, not because the devastation there is not terrible, In truth the main force of Katrina struck there and not Louisiana.

But the resulting chaos in New Orleans in particular is so much greater, it gets the lion share of the media coverage.

We as usual, had Howard Deans take on the tragedy and his reasoning for the situation in New Orleans.

(CNN) -- Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said that in Hurricane Katrina's wake Americans need to face the "ugly truth" that race and class played a significant role in who lived and died.

"We have to come to terms with the ugly truth that skin color, age and economics played a significant role in who survived and who did not," he said. "And this question, 40 and 50 years after Dr. [Martin Luther] King [Jr.] and the civil rights movement, is, 'How could this still be happening in America?' "

" he said. "I'm not here to point the finger of blame


Not much surprising there. About what we can expect from Screaming Howie. One does wonder what he sounds like when he is pointing the finger of blame?

Unless it's like some of these samples?

Howard Dean Scream Remixes




But what I am waiting for is Howie, the DNC and the rest of the assembled talking heads to realize despite their consistent fixation on Race and Skin Color that the folks in New Orleans were also DEMOCRATS.

The Governor of Mississippi, were things are running smoothly, compared to New Orleans that is, by no means can Disaster Recovery on a scale such as this be even called smooth and easy, is a REPUBLICAN.

Yes folks having already played the Bush let people die because they were of a certain RACE, I am waiting for the Mantra, Bush let people die because they belonged to a certain Party.

That if the leaders in Mississippi were REPUBLICAN things would have been handled much better there.

The really sad part is-- they will be RIGHT.

But not for the reasons they will think of.

Maybe the voters in Louisiana and New Orleans will wake up to truth, come the next elections.

Those that are still left that is.

UPDATE
I am surprised it too almost three weeks. Michele Malkin has the details at

SHAMELESS SHEILA JACKSON LEE

Q: What do you get when you wrap the anti-Bush race card in tinfoil?

A: Democrat Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee blaming the botched Hurricane Katrina response on "minority votes being suppressed."


Marc Morano has details.

Black Voter Suppression Blamed for Weak Katrina Response

By Marc Morano
CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer
September 29, 2005

Washington (CNSNews.com) - The Bush administration's slow response to Hurricane Katrina may be the result of minority votes being suppressed and Democratic candidates losing the last two presidential elections, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus has alleged.

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Posted by ky/kentuckydan at 8:57 AM CDT
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Updated: Sunday, 3 June 2007 7:09 AM CDT
Thursday, 8 September 2005
Katrina thoughts
A blogger who belongs to the

Life, Liberty, Property Libertarian Community from Slidell, LA has surfaced much to the relief of the Community, alive and unscathed, but with a few thoughts on Katrina.

I will clip a few points but suggest you go to his site for a first hand accounting.

So now a few words from

The Louisiana Libertarian



"Well, my readers, I survived Katrina (now all I need to do is print the lousy T-shirts). My mother and I evacuated our hometown of Slidell, Louisiana the Sunday morning before the storm. We reserved our hotel room in Madisonville, Texas at the Carefree Inn the night before. The trip was supposed to take six and a half hours from Slidell to Madisonville, Texas. Instead, the trip took sixteen hours."

"Since I returned back to Louisiana, I've been volunteering at the FEMA distribution center in Slidell at the old Wal-Mart (I-10 and Gauze Boulevard). The lines of cars are very long to receive the basics such as food, water, and ice. However, there is way too much bureaucracy involved with this distribution center. For example, FEMA has found time and money to hire a safety officer to make sure we (volunteers and state and Federal employees) are following proper safety standards."


"Now everyone has been talking about the politics about the Katrina aftermath. Many on the left have used this opportunity to blame President Bush for the pathetic Federal response. That's nonsense."


"Now for the state's truly abysmal response to the storm. I have attacked Governor Blanco often on this blog and I've called her a moron and I've questioned her ability to lead often. Unfortunately, she has only confirmed those criticisms in this crisis. Governor Blanco has been more interested in protecting her power than helping the people of Louisiana. She refused to mobilize the Louisiana National Guard before the storm when President Bush advised her to. She refused to ask for outside help until the middle of last week to deal with the situation in New Orleans. Her Office of Emergency Preparedness obstructed efforts by the Red Cross and FEMA to aid the people of New Orleans after the storm."


"As for New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, the only criticism I can make of him is that he failed to come up, with the state of Louisiana, a plan to evacuate the city of New Orleans. He would have had to coordinate with surrounding parishes and the state government because the one million people who lived in the outlying areas of New Orleans would be evacuating as well. If I could blame Mayor Nagin for this, I would have to blame his predecessors and the state government as well. Other than that, I see a man who in the end was powerless to save his city and rally his people"


That was just the tip of the iceberg. I will make one note. There WAS a plan to evacuate the City for those with and without access to vehicles. The problem is that the part of the plan for those without vehicles was NOT USED.

I an other bloggers have commented on this. As a matter of fact here is an email I received from one of my readers.

"Hi Dan - After reading the City of New Orleans 'Evacuation Plan' I gotta admit that everything you posted in the past few days seems to be right on target. ---Lou---

http://www.cityofno.com/portal.aspx?portal=46&tabid=26

which I got from NewsMax"



PLEASE Go the Louisiana Libertarian website and read his full account.

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Posted by ky/kentuckydan at 7:58 PM CDT
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Updated: Thursday, 8 September 2005 8:57 PM CDT

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