NY Times spins the story
The New York Times has an editorial about the Frogs' military intervention in the Ivory Coast. They stress the peacekeeping role, and French efforts to bring the parties together. They opine, with a straight face that the French have been "forced into direct involvement". They say that the French will need help and support from the US and other allies. They don't mention that this "involvement" is completely unilateral. No UN or even OAU resolutions authorize or justify this intervention into what even the Times admits is a "civil war". They also conveniently forget to mention, as I reported here back on January 6, that French troops had killed thirty Ivorians. Thirty! Can you think of any situation where, if, the US sent troops into a third-world country with NO UN resolution and NO allied support and killed THIRTY locals, the Times would fail to mention those facts? Hell, the story would be on the front page for weeks and demonstrators would be besieging the Pentagon. But of course the Ivorians are Africans and the French have a "special relationship", called being the former overlord. And the dead were "rebels", kind of like the Palestiniandians. Of course, the US doesn't have any "former colonies" with handy puppet governments we can terrorize. We even withdrew our military presence from the Philippines, the only place that ever resembled an American "colony", when requested. And the French have such good food and wine and such excellent relations with the "Islamic community", they couldn't possibly be colonialist oppressors. Could they?
Friday, January 17, 2003
Recycling IS Garbage!
Alan Caruba has hit the nail right on the head about recycling, one of my pet peeves. It has been clear for a long time that recycling is a fraud and a net loss for everyone except those liberal con men working in the recycling promotion industry. It's the quintessential neo-Puritan guilt trip.
You dirty man! You can't just throw that dirty stuff in the garbage! Clean it, fold it, sort it, put far more time and energy into it than it's worth and only then will you make up for having produced that filthy stuff, you ignorant pervert!
How anyone with a smidgeon of intelligence can think that it makes any economic sense to have two - in some cities three - big trucks with unionized drivers come around to everyone's house to pick up bottles and little bits of string and cloth and old paper is utterly beyond me. How can the cost of producing the trucks, not to mention fueling them and paying the drivers EVER be recovered; especially when there is no unsubsidized - i.e., free - market for anything recycled with the possible exception of aluminum cans? And even though you can make money by saving your aluminum cans and turning them in every year or so, I guarantee you the city does not clear a profit even on them. And Caruba mentions that in most cities recycled goods end up in the same landfill or incinerators as all the other garbage, so the recycling trucks are a dead loss, even with the partial federal and state subsidies that make recycling programs seem like a good idea. Hey, it's not our money, it's the government's! Intelligent, eh? But it's not about intelligence. It's about power and shame and self-loathing liberals. Caruba goes on to hook up with the bias of the news media, which are and have been for thirty years willing co-conspirators in the recycling deception. Recycling is not attacked often or strongly enough. It strengthens the hand of government and social engineers and taxes the heck out of the average guy for no reason. It needs to go.
Alan Caruba has hit the nail right on the head about recycling, one of my pet peeves. It has been clear for a long time that recycling is a fraud and a net loss for everyone except those liberal con men working in the recycling promotion industry. It's the quintessential neo-Puritan guilt trip.
You dirty man! You can't just throw that dirty stuff in the garbage! Clean it, fold it, sort it, put far more time and energy into it than it's worth and only then will you make up for having produced that filthy stuff, you ignorant pervert!
How anyone with a smidgeon of intelligence can think that it makes any economic sense to have two - in some cities three - big trucks with unionized drivers come around to everyone's house to pick up bottles and little bits of string and cloth and old paper is utterly beyond me. How can the cost of producing the trucks, not to mention fueling them and paying the drivers EVER be recovered; especially when there is no unsubsidized - i.e., free - market for anything recycled with the possible exception of aluminum cans? And even though you can make money by saving your aluminum cans and turning them in every year or so, I guarantee you the city does not clear a profit even on them. And Caruba mentions that in most cities recycled goods end up in the same landfill or incinerators as all the other garbage, so the recycling trucks are a dead loss, even with the partial federal and state subsidies that make recycling programs seem like a good idea. Hey, it's not our money, it's the government's! Intelligent, eh? But it's not about intelligence. It's about power and shame and self-loathing liberals. Caruba goes on to hook up with the bias of the news media, which are and have been for thirty years willing co-conspirators in the recycling deception. Recycling is not attacked often or strongly enough. It strengthens the hand of government and social engineers and taxes the heck out of the average guy for no reason. It needs to go.
Tuesday, January 14, 2003
Palestiniandians
Just happened to think. When in the 1800s Indians were attacking white settlers throughout the West, we took care of the problem. We negotiated with them when we could, killed them when they committed acts of terrorism and removed them from land we wanted. We saw that the West would not be properly developed until the terrorism waged by the Indians was brought to an end. So we ended it, at great cost. Now the descendants of the warlike tribes, who, by the way, number more than the likely population when Columbus landed on Watling's Isle, are trying to whine their way into a victory they could not win on the battlefield. But our victory sufficed to create the greatest and most prosperous nation in the history of the world.
Israel is trying to safeguard themselves from the same sort of terrorism we experienced from the Indians. Maybe the solution should be the same. If they negotiate in good faith, let them coexist. But the minute they try terrorism, kill or expel them. Luckily for us, Sitting Bull and Geronimo didn't have the EU and the UN to whine to.
Just happened to think. When in the 1800s Indians were attacking white settlers throughout the West, we took care of the problem. We negotiated with them when we could, killed them when they committed acts of terrorism and removed them from land we wanted. We saw that the West would not be properly developed until the terrorism waged by the Indians was brought to an end. So we ended it, at great cost. Now the descendants of the warlike tribes, who, by the way, number more than the likely population when Columbus landed on Watling's Isle, are trying to whine their way into a victory they could not win on the battlefield. But our victory sufficed to create the greatest and most prosperous nation in the history of the world.
Israel is trying to safeguard themselves from the same sort of terrorism we experienced from the Indians. Maybe the solution should be the same. If they negotiate in good faith, let them coexist. But the minute they try terrorism, kill or expel them. Luckily for us, Sitting Bull and Geronimo didn't have the EU and the UN to whine to.
Bobbie killed
A British policeman has been killed in a raid on terror suspects. Doubtless those Religion of Peace do-gooders are at it again. LeMonde has the story. The Times of London has a blurb on it, but no one over here seems to have picked up on it yet. Maybe the murdered man's family can take some solace in the possibility that his death may change some minds in Europe about the necessity for fighting terror. Oh, yes, the French also found a bomb in the basilica at Sacre Coeur, one of the most visited sites in Paris, and one of my favorites. Maybe when the tourist business starts to decline, the French will have a sudden conversion to the WAT. Can't scare away all those rich Americans, however disgusting the French elite may consider them to be.
A British policeman has been killed in a raid on terror suspects. Doubtless those Religion of Peace do-gooders are at it again. LeMonde has the story. The Times of London has a blurb on it, but no one over here seems to have picked up on it yet. Maybe the murdered man's family can take some solace in the possibility that his death may change some minds in Europe about the necessity for fighting terror. Oh, yes, the French also found a bomb in the basilica at Sacre Coeur, one of the most visited sites in Paris, and one of my favorites. Maybe when the tourist business starts to decline, the French will have a sudden conversion to the WAT. Can't scare away all those rich Americans, however disgusting the French elite may consider them to be.
Death in Illinois
The idiot outgoing governor of Illinois has commuted the sentences of everyone on Death Row. Isn't this kind of like George Washington freeing all his slaves right after he died? Well, geez, you don't expect him to cut his own tobacco and wash his own dishes when he's still alive, do you? And Ryan wouldn't want any murderers escaping from jail while he was still living in Illinois. But now that he's gone, who cares? And he gets to look like a good guy to the liberals. I commented on this matter over on LittleTiny Lies:
Nobody has mentioned the fact that prisoners on death row did not get there via plea bargains. The most obviously guilty go for a plea bargain right away in order to avoid the death penalty. Now sometimes the prosecutor will not bargain because he figures he has a strong case and can convict and get the death penalty. But sometimes he is wrong and it would have been better for society to take a bargain for life in prison without parole. No case is 100% stupid-jury proof. So some very bad guys go free. But sometimes the convicted are, if not innocent, not as guilty as one might think. They get bad advice not to go for a plea bargain and wind up on death row, when more obviously and provably guilty offenders get life sentences. So there are many inconsistencies in the system. In general, though, we provide so many opportunities for review that I would be very surprised if ANY truly innocent murderers are executed. Remember the Gary Gilmore flap? He admitted his guilt and wanted to die and they STILL wouldn't execute him without all sorts of hand wringing. Just like in the old days out West when they hung horse thieves because they had no secure jails, the main reason to kill murderers is so they will not kill again. Commutations and pardons are extremely dangerous when you are dealing with human monsters.
The idiot outgoing governor of Illinois has commuted the sentences of everyone on Death Row. Isn't this kind of like George Washington freeing all his slaves right after he died? Well, geez, you don't expect him to cut his own tobacco and wash his own dishes when he's still alive, do you? And Ryan wouldn't want any murderers escaping from jail while he was still living in Illinois. But now that he's gone, who cares? And he gets to look like a good guy to the liberals. I commented on this matter over on LittleTiny Lies:
Nobody has mentioned the fact that prisoners on death row did not get there via plea bargains. The most obviously guilty go for a plea bargain right away in order to avoid the death penalty. Now sometimes the prosecutor will not bargain because he figures he has a strong case and can convict and get the death penalty. But sometimes he is wrong and it would have been better for society to take a bargain for life in prison without parole. No case is 100% stupid-jury proof. So some very bad guys go free. But sometimes the convicted are, if not innocent, not as guilty as one might think. They get bad advice not to go for a plea bargain and wind up on death row, when more obviously and provably guilty offenders get life sentences. So there are many inconsistencies in the system. In general, though, we provide so many opportunities for review that I would be very surprised if ANY truly innocent murderers are executed. Remember the Gary Gilmore flap? He admitted his guilt and wanted to die and they STILL wouldn't execute him without all sorts of hand wringing. Just like in the old days out West when they hung horse thieves because they had no secure jails, the main reason to kill murderers is so they will not kill again. Commutations and pardons are extremely dangerous when you are dealing with human monsters.
Monday, January 13, 2003
Those Krazy Krauts
My German is worse than my French, but I understand what this magazine cover is trying to say. I also know that "Spiegel" in German means "mirror". I just have to wonder whether any of the dummkopfs who put that slogan and image on a major magazine cover have looked in a spiegel lately. Probably not. Too painful.
The Aussies have their own morons to be apologetic about. Here's a new one. Watch out, Margo Kingston! What rathole do these idiots crawl out from?
Update - Splendid, Bunyip, Splendid!
The inimitable Bunyip has nailed the Rat Holding. And, astonishingly, he turns out to be a Socialist! A member of the Australian Labor Party's Socialist Left Faction. Who'da thunk it? And guess what he is? A lawyer! And guess what he was arguing in favor of in the article Bunyip links to? Unlimited personal injury recoveries! John Edwards, you've been cloned in Oz!
My German is worse than my French, but I understand what this magazine cover is trying to say. I also know that "Spiegel" in German means "mirror". I just have to wonder whether any of the dummkopfs who put that slogan and image on a major magazine cover have looked in a spiegel lately. Probably not. Too painful.
The Aussies have their own morons to be apologetic about. Here's a new one. Watch out, Margo Kingston! What rathole do these idiots crawl out from?
Update - Splendid, Bunyip, Splendid!
The inimitable Bunyip has nailed the Rat Holding. And, astonishingly, he turns out to be a Socialist! A member of the Australian Labor Party's Socialist Left Faction. Who'da thunk it? And guess what he is? A lawyer! And guess what he was arguing in favor of in the article Bunyip links to? Unlimited personal injury recoveries! John Edwards, you've been cloned in Oz!
Ice in St.Petersburg!
Global warming proceeds on its merry way to the next ice age. "Several dozen ships - fifty or more - were stuck in the ice outside St.Petersburg," reports LeMonde. As with most things in Russia most of the time, the port-master calls the situation "complicated but not catastrophic"! It's taking ice-breakers a week or more to get ships in and out of the harbor. Wait a minute. St.Petersburg used to be Leningrad, right? The only ice-free port with ocean access the Soviet Union had west of Vladivostok, right? And it's blocked with ice and people are still talking about global warming? The ice has not been so bad, apparently, since 1941. Let's see, that's 62 years of merry "greenhouse gas" production and our best efforts can't even keep the Bay of Finland from freezing over. We'd better crank out a lot more SUV's if we don't want to freeze to death!
Global warming proceeds on its merry way to the next ice age. "Several dozen ships - fifty or more - were stuck in the ice outside St.Petersburg," reports LeMonde. As with most things in Russia most of the time, the port-master calls the situation "complicated but not catastrophic"! It's taking ice-breakers a week or more to get ships in and out of the harbor. Wait a minute. St.Petersburg used to be Leningrad, right? The only ice-free port with ocean access the Soviet Union had west of Vladivostok, right? And it's blocked with ice and people are still talking about global warming? The ice has not been so bad, apparently, since 1941. Let's see, that's 62 years of merry "greenhouse gas" production and our best efforts can't even keep the Bay of Finland from freezing over. We'd better crank out a lot more SUV's if we don't want to freeze to death!
Sunday, January 12, 2003
Norks' nukes
Well, do the North Koreans have any nukes or not? Everyone around the blogosphere seems to assume they do have one or two. And this story from Fox News reports that the "US" (who? the Pentagon? The State Department? The White House? They don't say) thinks the Norks have one or two nukes. But I haven't seen anything definite. And the Norks, in their usual psychotic - or is it schizoid? - but definitely pathological way say in one place that they have no nukes and anyone who says they do is the spawn of Satan, but then they threaten any attackers with being met by a "sea of fire". OK. So how are they going to do the "Sea of Fire" thing without nukes? Really angry phosphorescent jellyfish?
Well, do the North Koreans have any nukes or not? Everyone around the blogosphere seems to assume they do have one or two. And this story from Fox News reports that the "US" (who? the Pentagon? The State Department? The White House? They don't say) thinks the Norks have one or two nukes. But I haven't seen anything definite. And the Norks, in their usual psychotic - or is it schizoid? - but definitely pathological way say in one place that they have no nukes and anyone who says they do is the spawn of Satan, but then they threaten any attackers with being met by a "sea of fire". OK. So how are they going to do the "Sea of Fire" thing without nukes? Really angry phosphorescent jellyfish?
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