No Replacement For Displacement

Watched the President's Speech

The most notable thing about the speech was the discussion of Saddam in the past tense. So, after hearing that speech, I decided not to watch Dan Rather's interview. What's the point of watching the rantings of some thug who will be dead by my birthday?

Hey, Look at me, I'm hated!

Boy, this is great! I'm hated! This just makes my day.Glenn, Steven, and the rest of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse get all the good vitriol directed at them. There was a time when I wanted to be as hated as Bill Gates. While this doesn't reach that level, I don't mind. I'll take what I can get.

Random Thought

I think I have finally thought of a way to avoid war entirely. Let's give a concert for Saddam and his cronies in Baghdad. Whitehead will be the band, and we'll get one of Jesse Jackson's cronies to set up the venue.

Credit where Credit's due.

I hate to have to praise CNN, but alas, I have to. CNN was the only news network not to carry the Robert Blake murder trial, focusing instead on such minor issues as the economy, war, stuff like that. Fox and MSNBC would be smart to take their lead. First of all, the story is small potatoes these days. Second, when all three networks put live coverage on such a minor event, they turn off viewers. Because CNN didn't cover the story, they probably attracted viewers from Fox and MSNBC who were turned off by such a minor story.

Update--2:39pm EST: I take it back. They're broadcasting Blake again. Time to watch something important, like Jerry Springer.

WE HAVE A WINNER!!!

It's official! The Donahue Show Death Watch is now over, and we have a winner! The Official Winner is Jabba the Nutt. However, because he failed to leave an e-mail address for me to reach him, the prize goes to the first runnerup , Dave of Better Living Through Blogging. Go visit his blog, send him an email, and congratulate him on his fortune-telling skills. To those of you who tried to post today saying giving a date after it was announced, nice try.

One thing really sucks, though. This means that a major source of material is now gone. I guess I need to start another contest. I'll post a poll seeking suggestions.

And yes, the music stays for the rest of the week. Any time a tinfoil hat leftist is removed from a camera, it is a cause for celebration.

Brian Kilmeade hits one out of the Park

I was watching Fox's Fox and Friends today, and Brian Kilmeade did an admirable job of channeling Bill O'Reilly by taking down limousine leftist Janeane Garafolo. If Fox publishes a transcript, I'll post it.

Draft of the American/British/Spanish resolution

Recalling all its previous relevant resolutions, in particular its resolutions 661 (1990) of 6 August 1990, 678 (1990) of 29 November 1990, 686 (1991) of 2 March 1991, 687 (1991) of 3 April 1991, 688 (1991) of 5 April 1991, 707 (1991) of 15 August 1991, 715 (1991) of 11 October 1991, 986 (1995) of 14 April 1995, and 1284 (1999) of 17 December 1999, and 1441 (2002) of 8 November all the relevant statements of its president,

Recalling that in its resolution 687 (1991) the council declared that a cease-fire would be based on acceptance by Iraq of the provisions of that resolution, including the obligations on Iraq contained therein;

Recalling that its resolution 1441 (2002), while acknowledging that Iraq has been and remains in material breach of its obligations, afforded Iraq a final opportunity to comply with its disarmament obligations under relevant resolutions,

Recalling that in its resolution 1441 (2002) the council decided that false statements or omissions in the declaration submitted by Iraq pursuant to that resolution and failure by Iraq at any time to comply with and cooperate fully in the implementation of, that resolution, would constitute a further material breach,

Noting, that in that context, that in its resolution 1441 (2002), the council recalled that it has repeatedly warned Iraq that it will face serious consequences as a result of its continued violations of its obligations,

Noting that Iraq has submitted a declaration pursuant to its resolution 1441 (2002) containing false statements and omissions and has failed to comply with, and cooperate fully in the implementation of, that resolution,

Reaffirming the commitment of all member states to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq, Kuwait, and the neighboring states,

Mindful of its primary responsibility under the charter of the United Nations for the maintenance of international peace and security,

Recognizing the threat Iraq's noncompliance with council resolutions and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and long-range missiles poses to international peace and security,

Determined to secure full compliance with its decisions and to restore international peace and security in the area,

Acting under Chapter VII of the charter of the United Nations,

Decides that Iraq has failed to take the final opportunity afforded to it in resolution 1441 (2002).

Decides to remain seized of the matter.

Bush's Useful Idiot

I think I know why Helen Thomas still has a White House press pass. It is so that Ari Fleisher can have a live-action idiotarian that he can expose during every press conference. I doubt the peacenik crowd has any less impressive a spokesman than her.

Updates on the war

Turkish Cabinet Agrees to US Combat Troop Deployment

Britain to Introduce Second Iraq Resolution Monday

UN Denies Iraq's Request to Reconsider Missile Destruction Order

OK, here's my take on what's going on. First of all, anyone who thinks that the Turks have done anything at all to hold up deployment of US troops is buying into a disinformation campaign hook, line, and sinker. The agreement was made long ago, but was kept on the QT in order to make it look like the Turks were being obstructing deployment. We probably had agreed long ago that we would deploy enough troops to Turkish ports to offload equipment from our ships. When the offloading was nearing completion, then we officially asked to deploy the personnel for that unit(the equipment already having been unloaded). Of course, at this point, even though the actual numbers were settled on long ago in secret, the Turks would "up the ante", and "obstruct the deployment" by asking for more money. Scare quotes here are quite warranted, since the number that the Turks "demanded" was probably agreed on months ago. The whole upshot of this is to create an open question as to how long it will take to deploy forces to Iraq's north. To talk about the how "obstinate" the Turks means ignoring the very real possibility that the obstinacy was in itself a sham.

For the record

I am not going to have a meeting with Saddam anytime soon. Neither is that second rate pretentious Irish singer either. I hate it when I have to clear these things up. Also, for the record, I have never married Cher, nor(thank God!) am I her offspring,

Courtesy Andrea Harris.

New Banner

Well, I've put up a new banner for freedom in Iraq, courtesy The Dissident Frogman. Brutal, direct and to the point. I'm keeping it around until someone has picked out the right kind of rope for Saddam's last necktie.

Honest protest signs

Finally, protest signs that are honest:

From Rush's site.

Camera-Seeking Missile attacks London

Jesse Jackson joins London marchers

"Hey, it's great to be here in London. Do you know I'm a Certified Black Leader^®? Where are you going with that camera? Do you know I'm a poet? War is bad, Robert Fisk makes me glad! Pretty, good huh? Hey, don't leave! I'm important! Really! Al Sharpton's just a poser! Don't go! I'm a Black Leader^®! If you take those cameras away, then you are a racist! Wait! Don't put me on a plane back to the States! I haven't won my extortion attempt discrimination lawsuit against British Leyland yet! Wait! Dang."

"Hello, is this Saddam? Do you have any openings for a Certified Black Leader^®? What? OK, I'll hold."

What a storm!

We're getting pounded here in Connecticut. I went out to shovel some of the snow today, and at 11:00, it already had 8" of snow on the ground. They are forecasting 2 feet for the entire state. Ack!

I'm upgrading

Well, I've just started to upgrade to MT 2.6(and I'm going to be changing my template too), so if things start acting weird, bear with me--I'll figure it out, especially during the monster killer snowstorm that's coming monday.

F*ck Blaupunkt!

Well, I've now done my part to advance the anti-axis of weasels boycott. Therefore, this blog no longer has a Blaupunkt. We now buy American, and I have now installed some fine products from Harman Kardon now. I now feel more ideologically pure.

When you've lost Greece, you've lost everybody

Well, the Axis of Weasels have finally managed to do the impossible. They've actually managed the foreign policy coup of putting Greece and Turkey on the same side of an issue. Greece has now come out supporting Turkey's invocation of Nato Article IV. The Neo-Carolingian empire's foreign policy is so inept as to put Greece and Turkey, Europe's Hutus and Tutsis, on the same side, and put Greece(which makes anti-Americanism a spectator sport) on the same side as the United States. Maybe I should call France and Germany the new Holy Roman Empire--that is the only way I can explain such incompetence.

60 Minutes is Biased!

And in other news, scientists in a dramatic new study discover that bears defecate in the woods. Glenn is a bit peeved at the fact that 60 minutes butchered the Ballistic fingerprinting story, and ignored the study that shows that ballistic fingerprinting won't work. Frankly, while I can understand why he would be peeved that 60 minutes' reporting hopelessly biased, I can't believe he'd be surprised by that fact. Don Hewitt's gang has been doing biased and shoddy reporting for quite some time, and has an admirable record of abysmal reporting, poor fact checking, and the kind of journalism one could expect from an underground newspaper.

First of all(not really first, just something that sticks in my craw), there was the Audi 5000 fiasco. National Review reported on this, as has the Wall Street Journal, and others. I owned an Audi 5000, and I can say flat out the story was completely false. I even did my own test, by putting my foot on the brake, then putting my foot on the gas while the car was in drive. The car didn't move an inch. I did the same test in my current car, which has double the torque. Same result. The story is basically libelous.

Second, there is the Lewinsky that Don Hewitt and Morley Safer gave the two Texas Democrats running for Senate and Governor. The use of Molly Ivins as a political centrist was the French tickler of the Democratic lovefest that was going on. I've seen campaign ads that were more balanced than that piece(which aired the Sunday before the election)

Finally, there was the story on South Korea yesterday. By the gist of the story, you would get the impression that all of South Korea wanted the United States to leave the country. However, that flies in the face of the fact that there have been a number of pro-American demonstrations, one a month ago, another today. One might think they might do some research, and find that most anti-American protests are organized mainly by campus radicals. However, they didn't bother. They could have bothered to do a Google search and find this, but they didn't. They could have spent some time browsing lucianne.com, like I did, and find the story this morning, but they didn't.

So am I peeved that 60 minutes did a lousy job of reporting again? Yes. Does it surprise me? No. Watching 60 minutes is like viewing a live-action Robert Fisk article. One is amazed that so much idiocy can be compressed into such a small screen.

Update: Edited a tad.

Is that a snake in your pants, or are you just happy to see me?

Man with illegal snake in pants arrested in Hawaii

This has been a long time coming

There has been an Iraqi blog, Dear Raed, who is an Iraqi living in Baghdad. His name is Salam, not Raed who is the guy he communicates with via the blog (mainly because blogging is supposedly more reliable than e-mail). I worry about this guy a lot. Even though I am emphatically in favor of using any means necessary to remove Saddam, and give him a 9mm enema, that doesn't mean that my sentiment extends beyond Saddam and his Baathist minions. The average Iraqi in this war is not much different than that of the average Afghan a year and half ago: some poor schmuck trying to live as best as he can in a land controlled by people who have too many guns and too little respect for life or freedom. In his blog there are lots of little tidbits of life in pre-war Iraq. A trench dug here. Sandbags over there. This website blocked. These emails hacked by the US. I've come to the point when he doesn't post for a couple of days, I get very worried. For example, when you read the phrase:

Door bells are ringing have to go now.

on anyone else's blog, I pay it no mind. On his blog, that sentence gives me a chill.(He did show up later in the comments section of his site, to my relief). In any event, I wish him well, and hope he comes out of this OK.

Start the War! Mary McGrory is Persuaded!

Mary McGrory has now let us all know that it is OK to start the war, because now she is persuaded. As the Church Lady would say, isn't that special? Well, it's been a long time since I've used the fiskomatic, but I've gotten out the gun oil, cleaned the thing all up, and it is time to start firing away.

I don't know how the United Nations felt about Colin Powell's "J'accuse" speech against Saddam Hussein. I can only say that he persuaded me, and I was as tough as France to convince.

Only because a Republican was making the case. If it was a Democrat making the case for war, you'd be giving the full Lewinsky to the argument.

The people who were pushing hardest are not people whose banner I could follow. I find our commander in chief a flighty thinker. The drumbeaters didn't inspire my confidence. All of them, despite their clamorous anticommunism, declined to wear the uniform for Vietnam, and some of them had the nerve, when the fighting was finally over, to write pieces for their neocon journals about how sorry they were to have missed the camaraderie of the foxhole and the firing line.

Again, showing how you couldn't care less for the logic of the argument, only for the personalities of those making it. The hawks were pushing for this confrontation 5 years ago. The State of the Union speech about Iraq was over a year ago. Information from dozens of sources about Iraq have been available publicly for at least a year. Last summer I heard congressional testimony about Iraq's WMD programs. Were you frigging blind, and deaf all that time? After all that information, the only thing that convinced you were a couple of satellite pictures and some tape recordings presented by your paragon of sweetness and light, Colin Powell, but produced by all those evil folks at the CIA and Defense?

Richard Perle, a lead tenor in the war chorus, was the right hand of the late Henry Jackson, a hawk of hawks on defense issues. Gene McCarthy once remarked of Jackson, as a presidential candidate, "If he's elected, you will never see the sun -- the sky will be black with planes."

Richard Perle signed this letter back in 1998. It says:

Iraq's position is unacceptable. While Iraq is not unique in possessing these weapons, it is the only country which has used them -- not just against its enemies, but its own people as well. We must assume that Saddam is prepared to use them again. This poses a danger to our friends, our allies, and to our nation.

It is clear that this danger cannot be eliminated as long as our objective is simply "containment," and the means of achieving it are limited to sanctions and exhortations. As the crisis of recent weeks has demonstrated, these static policies are bound to erode, opening the way to Saddam's eventual return to a position of power and influence in the region. Only a determined program to change the regime in Baghdad will bring the Iraqi crisis to a satisfactory conclusion.

Five years ago he came to the conclusion you came to yesterday. For anyone who didn't pay attention to foreign policy pre-Atrocity, they came to that conclusion at the first death due to anthrax. For the terminally close-minded like yourself, you needed it spoon-fed by someone you could deem politically acceptable. Otherwise, you didn't want to listen at all. Horror of horrors if a hawk might actually be correct.

Among people I know, nobody was for the war.

Mainly because your buddies are a bunch of Communists.

When the protest crowds came to Washington, full of scorn for the commander in chief and his Cabinet cohorts, they made an exception of Colin Powell.

Sure. The "peace movement" loves him so much, don't they?

Powellites had a bad moment when he lost his cool with the French ambassador to the United Nations. The French invited him to a seminar on terrorism, but when he got there he received an antiwar blast from Dominique de Villepin. State Department and White House spinners put it out that the secretary was "livid" and "humiliated," and soon the buzz was that Powell, in his rage, had gone pro-war. I was told to remember that Powell was above all "a good soldier" and, once a decision was made, would salute.

Was it appalling that a man of Powell's stature would be small enough to think that because he had lost face, thousands might lose their lives? I knew it was bigger than that. But on Iraq, the president has been generous in sharing his personal feelings.

What is appalling is that someone who is paid serious money for their opinions, who has been on television and invited to give speeches, is such a closed minded idiot that the only argument she will entertain is those whose politics have been vetted to her liking beforehand. While the specific content of Powell's speech was new, the general content was not. We've known he's been hiding WMD for years. We've known he's sponsored terrorists for years. We've known he is willing to murder millions for years. Yet, golly gee, you just couldn't figure it out until Colin Powell said those sweet nothings in your ear. It has been mind-numbingly obvious to the layman for a solid year what Saddam as about. It has been obvious to those who paid attention that Saddam has been doing this sort of thing for 10 years, and that a strategy to remove him has been put forth for 5 years. Yet you couldn't figure this out until Colin Powell said it. Was it those steely brown eyes? That "Democrats Love Me" smile?

He talked of the mobile factories concealed in trains and trucks that move along roads and rails while manufacturing biological agents. I was struck by their ingenuity and the insistence on manufacturing agents that cause diseases such as gangrene, plague, cholera, camelpox and hemorrhagic fever.

Gee, the rest of us knew he was producing WMD, what? 12 years ago?

Would Saddam Hussein use them? He already has, against his own people and Iranians. He has produced four tons of deadly VX: "A single drop of VX on the skin will kill in minutes." The cumulative effect was stunning. I was reminded of the day long ago when John Dean, a White House toady, unloaded on Richard Nixon and you could see the dismay written on Republican faces that knew impeachment was inevitable.

It was stunning, only if you refused to see the truth. The rest of us, even if we didn't know every tidbit, knew he was producing WMD. We knew he was violating his treaty obligations. We knew the only way to fix that problem would be to overthrow him. Yet, because you not only didn't know, but refused to know about these things, you thought you learned something new. For the rest of us, the only thing new was the specific data.

Argh. There's a few more paragraphs, but what is the point? McGrory somehow thinks that being a convert at this late stage makes her some sort of wondrous piece of liberal morality. I can only agree in one aspect. It does make her a piece of something.

The Floppy is dead, long live the CD

Dell has announced that they are no longer installing floppies in their machines. This is big news. The floppy disk is technology that is 32 years old, and has been a part of every computer I've ever used from the ancient Wang(I think it was wang) PCs running star trek, to Apple IIs, IBM PCs and PCjrs, C=64s, Macs, Amigas, Ataris, PCATs, the whole lot. Floppyless computers were considered dysfunctional in some manner. Now, with the advent of cheap CD writers, broadband internet, and the arrival of DVD writers, Floppies are no longer necessary. Now what am I going to do with my 450 Amiga floppies that I've got sitting around?

"Better target selection and superior firepower"

COLD WAR IN GRAND RAPIDS
Snowball fight erupts during president’s healthcare message(Scroll Down)

Hilarious. Our outnumbered, intrepid Republicans give the pantywaist Dems a good whupping.

Help me Obi Wan, you're my only hope!

I was watching the spanish foreign minister talk at the UN. She's got the whole Princess Leia hairdo down pat.

I'm listening to Hannity right now

And Hannity is having James Woods(one of the few non-bubbleheads in Hollywood) debate hard core lefty David Clennan(an actor on The Agency of all places), and Woods is destroying him. Woods is flattening Clennan. I never thought I'd hear an actor of all people, use the phrase "Reductio ad absurdium", but Woods just did. If Hannity has some link to a recorded version of the show, I'll post a link.

Update: Now Woods is quoting Clausewitz. This is great.

Update: Well, I have a link to a RealAudio clip.

Bill's joining the club too!

Well, it looks like Bill Clinton is doing his bit to fight global warming too. So that makes it 88,260.2 gallons of petroleum products to fight global warming.

Courtesy Tim Blair

Another reason to hate the Islamofascists

Like Glenn Reynolds, Mark Steyn, and others have noted, the Columbia disaster did not have the same affect on me as the loss of the Challenger did. The outpouring of grief after the Challenger didn't happen this time. Because of the opening of the next front in the war, the murder of 3000 people during the Atrocity, and the events that have occurred thereafter, what happened in 1986 isn't happening today.

Frankly, the fact that we are not engaged the way we were back then bothers me. I think it is a result of our becoming colder as nation since September 11. Since that day, we've all had to become a little colder and a little harder in our view of the world. We've spent the past 18 months battling the Saurons and Sarumans of the world, and the process has hardened our own hearts somewhat, lest in our need for peace we fall prey to those who dream of blood and chaos and death. We've had to do it. If we did not harden ourselves, we would be prey to those whose souls are bitter, dark, and cold.

However, in the process of hardening ourselves to the evils we now confront, we've hardened ourselves to other things as well. That means that this latest tragedy does not affect us like it would have otherwise. Things that in other times, September 10 times, would have caused us to shed a tear, mourn a loss, today are met with a shrug and a "Big deal, there's a war on," mentality. Had we gone over the top in times past with Oprahesque mourningfests? Yes, probably we did, and I can think of more than a few instances right off the top of my head. However, this time, maybe we've gone too far the other way. I understand why, and in these dark days perhaps it is necessary we do.

But it saddens me that we've had to harden our hearts in such a manner. It is yet one more thing the Islamofascists have taken from us on that clear Tuesday afternoon. It is another reason why I hate them, and hate what they have done, and am pledged to their eradication. I don't want my nieces and nephews to grow up having to harden themselves the way I've had to harden myself. Hopefully, when we win, perhaps they won't have to.

Watching the press conference

It appears that the left wing failed in some manner. They lost the sensors on the left wing temperature, left main gear tire temp increase. Then they lost all sensors on the left wing, then they lost all contact.

Columbia is gone

If you've been paying attention to the media at all, you probably know by now that the shuttle Columbia has disintegrated upon reentry. Other than speculation, noone will really know why the shuttle disintegrated. Even though Columbia had been rebuilt prior to this mission, the reason for the disaster could be anything from a structural failure to an explosion in the remaining rocket fuel to a failure in the computerized landing systems(though the latter is least likely). The speed at the time of the loss of contact was 12,500 mph, and any of the aluminum pieces will just vaporize. The only parts that will be left will be the heaviest and most dense parts, motors, landing gear, etc. Nacagdoches(sp?), TX seems to be where most of the debris has come down.

Update: Fox News is reporting that an 8 foot fuel tank landed on the runway at the Nacagdoches airport.

Update: Glenn has a link to the NOAA weather radar which shows the trail of the debris on their radar. The reason why that would show up so well is because the aluminum and other metal bits vaporized, making a real big radar reflection. On an unrelated note, during WWII, the British used a similar technique to foil German radar. They dropped tons of aluminum foil, which clouded german radar at the time.

Update: In One report a 3 foot piece crashed through someone's office.

Update: Kay Bailey Hutchison is politicking about the NASA budget on Fox. In times of national tragedy, it's always nice to see senators engage in pork barrel politics.

Update: CBS is reporting that debris is "all over" Nacagdoches. There have been reports of some fires that mayh have started.

Update: Tyler, TX is reporting a 4 foot piece of debris.

Update: This is some speculation on my part, but most of the debris slowed down quite a bit before impact. The debris doesn't seemed to have caused any cratering on impact. There won't be much of anything left of the actual fuselage itself. The NOAA cloud is the fuselage

Update: Debris in Nacagdoches, TX; Shreveport, LA; AR; and Dallas.

Update: Here is the loop from the NOAA radar. The motion is probably due to prevailing winds, and the dispertion/descent of the vaporized aluminum from the shuttle.