:: PROLEGOMENA ::

"You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours." -Sir Charles Napier
:: :: bloghome | contact ::
Michael, God bless that cotton pickin' fertile ding dang noodle of yours! I now know that there is a thinking man among us who dares to speak up. xoxox Pam
Reported as BANNED IN CHINA!
recommended sites
Accuracy in Academia
Alarming News
Benador Associates
Bill Whittle, on War
bleeding brain
Blog Iran!
Daily Lunch
Experimental Insanity
ISRAPUNDIT
Junk Yard Blog
Midwest Conservative Journal
¡No Pasarán!
The OmbudsGod!
Scylla and Charybdis
Sgt. Stryker
Stuart Buck
The Truth Laid Bear
The Urban Grind
I know how the Jacksons feel
The Other Michael Parker
Hunt Waterfowl and Flyfish in Western North Carolina
Yellow Dog Outfitters: Jerry Ward, NC State Licensed Guide, 828-231-0570
::website:: Jerry's e-mail
BigEarth of New Mexico sez, The warmest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great national moment, reserve their neutrality.
Bill Whittle's mom sez, If you can’t say anything of deep and meaningful scientific or political import that is not supported by fact, reason, historical precedent and in-depth step-by-step logical analysis then don’t say anything at all!

:: Friday, July 30 ::

WHERE ARE WILLIE AND JOE?

Victor Davis Hanson knows, and knows why.

Neither Willie nor Joe could speak last night, nor did anyone really speak for them in Boston:


Europe now really does believe that such evil disappeared spontaneously, without Willies and Joes driving to their flaming deaths in thin-skinned Sherman tanks to stop SS murderers in 70-ton Tigers. But then in a world where George Bush last year was said to be a greater threat to peace than Saddam Hussein, why should one be surprised that affluent Westerners perhaps feel SS killers led by Sepp Dietrich were as much victims of war as the defenseless Belgian civilians they butchered? It was not always so: The message of Verdun is not just the wastage of a million men, but also the courage of the outmanned and outgunned French turning back and stopping a different — and far worse — vision of Europe's future.

The image of Kerry and his absurd salute is the icing on the cake he'd like you to eat. It so fits to see this image the same day it is revealed that his war videos were much the product of re-enactment. It is the mystery of the brain... that he could possess the foresight to take a movie camera to Vietnam for shows down the road, his apparent foreknowledge of the power of television media, but that within that brain there lies his limit, and he is nothing but a plagiarist parrot running a campaign on faded bumper sticker slogans or the talking points of his current opponent.

Enjoy the latest show, even if you have seen it somewhere before: 




:: michael parker Friday, July 30, 2004 [+] ::
...
NOT ONE SINGLE ORIGINAL BONE...
"To all who serve in our armed forces today, I say, help is on the way."
Dick Cheney said it much better. Four years ago. Ya think?

I don't know if I am more disgusted with this guy or the masses who follow him... for ripping off slogans from faded bumper stickers, stealing talking points from Bush's State of the Union, and now this... at least the former personal injury lawyer from North Carolina, Senator John Edwards, replaced "help" with the word "hope". I saw someone wearing the Kerry button which reads, "Bring it on!" and wondered if he knew that was Bush's message to the thugs and assassins in Iraq - I know that same person snorted when Bush wrote, "Let freedom reign" on the note announcing Iraq is sovereign.

I cut cable TV off months ago to avoid having to watch this shit, so I have missed the whole DNC thing, but I woke up to NPR and BBC playing his four-line pander for the "Bush Lied" constituency.
I will be a commander in chief who will never mislead us into war. I will have a Vice President who will not conduct secret meetings with polluters to rewrite our environmental laws. I will have a Secretary of Defense who will listen to the best advice of our military leaders. And I will appoint an Attorney General who actually upholds the Constitution of the United States.

It is with these four lines that I believe he has lost this race.

... ...

The hallucinations continue:
"...we have an important message for those who question the patriotism..."
Again, please, who are these people who raise this question? Perhaps the speaker of the four-liner above?


:: michael parker Friday, July 30, 2004 [+] ::
...
:: Thursday, July 29 ::
SUSAN WRITES FROM OUR NATION'S CAPITAL

I was walking to lunch and crossed the bridge into Georgetown and the black man sitting on the ground with the cup said "All I wanted was some money, and Theresa Heinz told me to shove it." He received $0.31 from my pocket--the quarter was because he said "Te-RAY-za".


:: michael parker Thursday, July 29, 2004 [+] ::
...
:: Wednesday, July 28 ::
NO WONDER HE DOESN'T FALL DOWN
CONTROVERSY SURROUNDS KERRY CONVENTION FILM: WAR SCENES REENACTED

From the would-be First Lady's speech:
Hence, the re-enactments.


:: michael parker Wednesday, July 28, 2004 [+] ::
...
MIDDLE EAST NUMBERS

Dennis Prager lays them out. If you have a strand of moral fiber, the big picture of the idiocy of the world is in these numbers. He finishes his list with this:
Number of Muslims in the world: more than 1 billion
Number of Muslim demonstrations against Islamic terror: approximately 2

Daniel Pipes covered one of those two demonstrations, which took place in Phoenix back in April:
Estimates vary. The Arizona Republic counted 250 in attendance, the police 400.  The number of Muslims, I heard, was between 30 and 100 persons. Most participants were not Muslim but (the Arizona Republic recounts) “people like Michael Fischer, 18, of Glendale, who wanted to denounce the stereotyping of Muslims; and Grace Clark of Apache Junction, who wanted to promote peace.” One correspondent of mine judged the event “a total disaster.”

But that is too severe. It was a humble beginning that can grow into something large and strong. Jasser points out to me that “The beginnings of every great movement in our great nation’s history of freedom began in a small way.” He notes also that American Muslims, being predominantly first-generation immigrants, are still getting grounded. With time, he expects, “the vast majority of American Muslims will listen to the message of our rally and find complete agreement with its statement of faith.”

Until then, however, there is the stark reality that very few Muslims did show up. And those who did held up “peace” and “anti-war” signs, not anti-terror or anti-Islamist signs. Two factors help explain this disappointing result.

First, the message of the event did not fit the thinking of most Muslims. Unfortunately, the mood in this community is a radical one, and not inclined to stand up and condemn terrorism.

Second, Zuhdi did not pander to the Islamist establishment – such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations – in planning the event. These extremists no doubt could have brought out a larger crowd – but to rail against Israel or U.S. policy.

The Phoenix rally points to the current reality of American Muslim opinion. This problem needs to be dealt with. If not, I can imagine the United States will hear the same overt calls for jihad and Islamic rule that Western Europe is now experiencing
.

Speaking of Western Europe, Norweigians have something interesting in the suggestion box:
Central members of Kristiansand Progress party claims Hitler’s Mein Kampf and the Koran are one of the same, and they want Islam banned in Norway.

Hitler's top men would barely argue, seeing Christianity as for the weak, they were clear in their opinion that Islam was very compatible with the way of the Reich. Why else would Egypt's Nasser have welcomed Hitler's Wermacht to train the Egypt's army better Jew-killing methods?

The idea to ban Islam is not new. Consider The Calcutta Quran Petition.

** UPDATE **

BOTW links to the Official Web Site of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, currently represented by a sleeveless female in Copley Square who also neglected to cover her head. That site announces what may have been another Phoenix-style Muslim protest against terror:
The photo links to a copy of a news article, which links to photos which make one wonder - if it were not for Abu Ghraib and the O-word, how many would have still attended this rally? The answer is sadly easy to guess. How about that tee-shirt that reads, "We are all Palestinians"? In the words of Dominick Dunne, "Oh shit. Here we go again."


:: michael parker Wednesday, July 28, 2004 [+] ::
...
I THOUGHT IT WAS THE 97,488 NADER VOTERS WHO COST THEM THAT ELECTION
Memo to Dems: pander to these 97,488 voters.

It could be argued that this ego will cost them the election. He doesn't fall down, you know.

:: michael parker Wednesday, July 28, 2004 [+] ::
...
:: Tuesday, July 20 ::
DID ANYBODY BRIEF KERRY - OR HAS HE HAD THE TIME?
 
AP: Berger Steps Down As Kerry Adviser


:: michael parker Tuesday, July 20, 2004 [+] ::
...
:: Monday, July 19 ::
TOUGH TALK

"If they don't have the guts to come up here in front of you and say, 'I don't want to represent you, I want to represent those special interests, the unions, the trial lawyers' ... if they don't have the guts, I call them girlie men."

Predictably, and in doing so legitimizing the above quote, Democrats protested the remark as sexist and homophobic. Are they ever going to abandon the victim vocabulary? 
  
 
BLUNT TALK

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has urged all French Jews to move to Israel immediately to escape anti-Semitism.

Predictably, and in doing so legitimizing the above quote, the French protested the remark as unacceptable and demanded an explanation.  Are they ever going to bother to look at their own numbers?

The latest French government figures show 510 anti-Jewish acts or threats in the first six months of 2004 - compared to 593 for all of last year. In recent years there have been bomb attacks against a number of synagogues and Jewish schools in France. Jewish tombs have also been desecrated.

 
GIRLIE TALK

"These comments do not bring calm, peace and serenity that we all need," said Patrick Gaubert, of the International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism (Licra). "I think Mr Sharon would have done better tonight to have kept quiet."

Kept quiet? - where ever did he get that? Sounds like...
 
 
FRENCH TALK

...Jacques Chirac’s comment that Poland and others who backed the war had “lost a good opportunity to keep quiet,” implying that they could still be refused access to the European Union...

NONsense

Elton John has said stars are scared to speak out against war in Iraq because of "bullying tactics" used by the US government to hinder free speech. "There's an atmosphere of fear in America right now that is deadly. Everyone is too career-conscious," he told New York magazine, Interview. Sir Elton said performers could be "frightened by the current administration's bullying tactics". The singer likened the current "fear factor" to McCarthyism in the 1950s.

 

TOUGH GIRL TALK

In the words of Laura Ingraham, not a part of the current administration, "Shut up and sing."




:: michael parker Monday, July 19, 2004 [+] ::
...
:: Thursday, July 15 ::
WHY BOTHER BUILDING?

I was genuinely excited at the news of the new WTC design, but have since gotten over it. The fact that America could not get it together enough to simply rebuild was something to accept before that. Then we get memorial mania and an endless supply of freak-show ideas. After that, the oh-so-clever 1,776 foot-high spire maudlinly named the "Freedom Tower." Ho-hum. Now we get a lawsuit:

WTC site architect sues developer

If you need another reason to be over this, the Arabs, ironically, have us beat, and beat real bad. In fact, they wouldn't even had to have knocked any others down:

Click here for the soon-to-be tallest, under construction. Note the completion date ahead of the WTC, and the number of floors more than double that of Libeskind's academic folly.

Click here for the current tallest, including the absurd second-place Malaysian towers.



:: michael parker Thursday, July 15, 2004 [+] ::
...
BUILD THAT DAM CANAL!

I missed this news, one month old, amid all the talk about the West Bank barrier:

The moat was meant to prevent the construction of tunnels by Palestinians that connect the southern Gaza town of Rafah with the Sinai Peninsula. These tunnels have been used for the smuggling of weapons, insurgents and illegal drugs. So far, Israel has found and destroyed 90 tunnels, 15 of them in 2004.
To clarify, these are the tunnels defended by Evergreen College alumnus and now-martyred Rachel Corrie, while she stood in front of the Israeli bulldozer which wrecked the house covering a tunnel access, and wrecked her because she didn't get out of the way.

Sadly, in more ways than one:
They said the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon concluded that this would result in the destruction of thousands of homes in Rafah and incur international condemnation.
Egypt could help here, the smuggling does begin in their territory, after all. To clarify, that is the territory returned to Egypt during the Carter Administration, territory won by Israel in a war Israel didn't start. That is the same territory where Egypt would have had to dig a grave for its Third Army had Israel not decided to spare it.

My money is not on Egypt any more than the rest of the Arab world. From Reuters (link no longer good), it will be up to these Palestinians:
But the tunnel issue has become the talk of the town, with many residents privately urging tunnel builders to cease, and threatening them and their families if they do not. The backlash has grown since a six-day Israeli siege of Rafah in May that killed 42 people, militants and civilians alike, and displaced hundreds after a spate of demolitions. Some tunnels have been blocked off by irate residents concerned their adjacent homes might be bulldozed or blown up during the next Israeli army sweep.
It interests me how in this modern age we are returning to walls and moats. I suppose it depends on the advancements of your enemy.

:: michael parker Thursday, July 15, 2004 [+] ::
...
:: Wednesday, July 14 ::
HEADLINE:
Israeli contingency plan for Arafat's death includes preventing his burial in Jerusalem

I wasn't aware he wasn't already buried, in his rubble pile in Ramallah. He seems to like it there. Will his wife, Suha, in Paris on $100,000 per month allowance, still receive something once widowed? Once dead, where will they bury her?

:: michael parker Wednesday, July 14, 2004 [+] ::
...
:: Tuesday, July 13 ::
BUILD THAT HAGUE-DAMNED WALL!



:: michael parker Tuesday, July 13, 2004 [+] ::
...
QUOTES OF THE WEEK

In the week following the unsurprising and non-binding "World Court" decision condemning Israel's West Bank barrier, three quotes surfaced amid reports of another terrorist bombing in Tel Aviv.

One from the Hague, the others from a target of the Hague:
"I ... find unpersuasive the Court’s contention that, as the uses of force emanate from occupied territory, it is not an armed attack 'by one State against another'. I fail to understand the Court’s view that an occupying Power loses the right to defend its own civilian citizens at home if the attacks emanate from the occupied territory..."
Still, unpersuaded, she sided with the majority. I think they enjoy the contradictions. Maybe it's some sort of artistic expression to them.
"The terrorist did not intend to just hurt Jews, rather he went out to kill as many people as possible. The Palestinians are stupid for what they’re doing, they’re not achieving anything and in the end they will only turn us Israeli Arabs against them," Mr Mcarah, who also survived the 1995 No. 5 bus bombing on Rehov Dizengoff in Tel Aviv...
This matches my impression of the IRA when I lived in London eleven years ago: that they only cared about blowing things up. Depending on this bomber's particular level of fanaticism, these Arab Israeli citizens were either "Jews by association" in his vision, or were "martyrs" as the trampled in Mecca.
Prime Minister Sharon was candid in his outrage over the attack, saying: "The murderous act this morning is the first that occurred with the endorsement of the decision of the world court at The Hague. The decision sends a destructive message to encourage the terror and denounces countries that are defending themselves against it."
An interesting reminder of how the Left in America always lectures the rest of us to look to Europe for some wise example of how to run things, blind to the significance of the fact that those who dance at the news of dead Jews and Americans find solidarity with the Left as it marches.

It just occured to me, the similarity in "Hague" and "Hagia". Does this court see its wisdom as divine? Does the Left recognize the faith it wears on its sleeve?

:: michael parker Tuesday, July 13, 2004 [+] ::
...
:: Monday, July 12 ::
ON EDWARDS' SLEEVE

One month ago, Ron Reagan made this oh-so-intellectual remark:
"Dad was also a deeply, unabashedly religious man. But he never made the fatal mistake of so many politicians wearing his faith on his sleeve to gain political advantage."
And today's headlines announce the not-so-surprising:

Ron Reagan to address Democratic convention

He may need to amend what he'll say there, in the wheelchair tracks of James Brady and Christopher Reeve. Evidently a lot of Democrat voters like a little faith on the sleeve:

Crowd Turns Out To See Senator Go To Church...

:: michael parker Monday, July 12, 2004 [+] ::
...
FILE THIS ONE WITH PAT TILLMAN

Wow - I'm feeling a little emotional after reading this story:
WILDOMAR, Calif. (AP) - When Justin Hunt initially tried to join the U.S. marines, the recruiters didn't have a scale that could weigh him.

Instead, they estimated the hulking athlete just two years out of high school was more than 150 pounds too heavy to join the service. Hunt didn't let that stop him. He worked out, changed his diet and shed the pounds so he could enlist.

Now his family holds on to memories of that year as they mourn the 22-year-old lance corporal, who was killed in an explosion Tuesday in western Iraq.


Bob Herbert of the NYT pays some respect, then launches from there into:
For what?

Even as these brave troops were dying in the cruel and bloody environs of Iraq, the Senate Intelligence Committee in Washington was unfurling its damning unanimous report about the incredibly incompetent intelligence that the Bush administration used to justify this awful war.

The bipartisan committee, headed by Republican Senator Pat Roberts, declared that the key intelligence assessments trumpeted by President Bush as the main reasons for invading Iraq were unfounded.

Nearly 900 G.I.'s and more than 10,000 Iraqi civilians have already perished, and there is no end to the war in sight.
No end in sight? Memo to Herbert: Iraq got its sovereignty ahead of schedule, and if you are vying to be Kerry's running-mate, he picked another pessimist last week.

Here Herbert demonstrates amazing amnesia:
A government with even a nodding acquaintance with competence and good sense would have launched an all-out war against Al Qaeda, not Iraq, in the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11. After all, it was Al Qaeda, not Iraq, that carried out the sneak attack on American soil that destroyed the World Trade Center and part of the Pentagon and killed 3,000 people. You might think that would have been enough to provoke an all-out response from the U.S. Instead we saved our best shot for the demented and already checkmated dictator of Iraq, Saddam Hussein.
Memo #2 to Herbert: Afghanistan - where Pat Tillman was recently killed in action continuing to fight Al-Quaeda after Bush's all-out response destroyed the Taliban, resulting in the 4000+ polling stations where even women are registering to vote. Justin Hunt died in the country which used to pay $25,000 to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers. Saddam checkmated? - he would have ended up with more palaces than a chessboard has playing pieces if Bush hadn't taken the lead that resulted in Saddam facing trial instead in one of those palaces.





:: michael parker Monday, July 12, 2004 [+] ::
...
:: Wednesday, July 7 ::
QUOTE OF THE DAY

"Dick Cheney can be president."
In Raleigh, N.C., President Bush dismissed Edwards' credentials to be vice president, curtly telling reporters, "Dick Cheney can be president."



:: michael parker Wednesday, July 07, 2004 [+] ::
...
:: Tuesday, July 6 ::
IF YOU WANT IT DONE RIGHT...

U.S., Israel will guard their own athletes at Olympics

This from the article is interesting:
"Competitors from high risk countries, presumably including the United States, Britain, Spain, and Israel, will have Greek security escorts," the report said. "Some, including the U.S. and Israeli teams, also will have their own security forces. The U.S. State Department Bureau of Diplomatic Security will provide the U.S. Olympic team with a security force of 100-110 agents, analysts, and administrators."
Funny, I though giving the terrorists what they want would reduce the risk, but Spain is still high-risk?

:: michael parker Tuesday, July 06, 2004 [+] ::
...
HUNKA HUNKA

So it's the former personal injury lawyer from North Carolina, Senator John Edwards.

If there is any good news in this for me, it's the revival of my Taranto-esque prefix for the former personal injury lawyer from North Carolina, Senator John Edwards.

Even better, the Allah Pundit will return to his Edwards poster-posting. And even better, I look more forward to the Vice-Presidential debates than the Kerry-Bush ones. All that smart Edwards talking is still going to pale against the seriousness of Cheney.

Yes, I am nervous about this pick because as we saw in the last election, more than half the popular vote went to a priss like Gore. Hoards will vote for the handsome one, who with his only elected office ever spent that time running for President or selecting his Georgetown mansion.

This is going to be a fun year to blog.

:: michael parker Tuesday, July 06, 2004 [+] ::
...
:: Monday, July 5 ::
The Allah Pundit (link at left) links to a hilarious accidental photo of John Kerry. A Yahoo News Photos search brought forth more photos. Thinking of Democrats and guns and their many lectures on gun safety, I looked especially for that would-be Presidential trigger finger:

and I recalled with a smug feeling Madame Feinstein, her rare California conceal-carry permit, and her eternal image of gun safety:

This is not entirely fair to Kerry, as his photo seems to have been taken within two seconds of his missed shot. But still, here he is again, with another show to add to the wetsuit shot, the snowboarding shot, "I never fall", "The son-of-bitch knocked me down", and so on.

Still very happy I decided to cancel cable TV...

:: michael parker Monday, July 05, 2004 [+] ::
...
SCOTT RETURNS FROM PORTUGAL AND...

After some time taking in the soccer scene over there, he reports the English soccer fans were "total cocksuckers."

This reminds me of an amusing headline a couple of weeks ago:
It's OK to smoke dope, England fans told
Today's headlines suggest England will continue to specialize in "total cocksuckers":
Hitting Is Wrong, Says Smacking Ban Peer


:: michael parker Monday, July 05, 2004 [+] ::
...
Karol at Spot On, with keen eye and good mind, makes a great point about gun ownership.

Any thoughts, Michael Moore?

Hello?

:: michael parker Monday, July 05, 2004 [+] ::
...
:: Thursday, July 1 ::
I KNEW I HAD SEEN THIS FACE SOMEWHERE BEFORE...

When I flew to Alaska:

He was our first Eskimo President, too!

:: michael parker Thursday, July 01, 2004 [+] ::
...

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