What are we to make of Senators that liken our troops to Nazi's? I think that Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) spoke in a manner sure to lower morale of our troops....can you say "aid and comfort to the enemy" boys and girls? I'm sure you can.

And Senators Babs Boxer (D-Ca) and Russ Feingold(D-Wi) want to try to force the White House and the Pentagon to come up with a time table for the withdrawal of forces in Iraq, supported on the House side by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi(D-Ca). Sometimes it seems that some members of the party of the "little guy" could be better characterized as being agent for Al Quaida, at least by their proposals, if not their religion.

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 10:10 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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I saw this over at Curmudgeonisms and just HAD to steal borrow it.

The power mower was broken and wouldn't run, so Geri kept hinting to her husband, Bob, that he should get it fixed. But, somehow, the message never sank in.

Finally Geri thought of a clever way to make her point. When Bob arrived home one day, he found her seated in the tall grass, busily snipping away with a tiny pair of sewing scissors. He watched silently for a short time and then went into the house. He was gone only a few moments.

When he came out again, he handed her a toothbrush. "When you finish cutting the grass," he said, "you might as well sweep the sidewalks."

The doctors say Bob will probably walk again, but he will always limp.

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 09:56 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I'm probably going to get called a racist/hatemonger/Nazi for stirring this pot, but when the facts show the truth, what else can you go with?

According to the latest HIV statistics released by the CDC, Blacks constitute 47% of the population infected with the HIV/AIDS virus. Pretty damning of "black culture", when you consider that Blacks constitute only 13% of the general population.

The PC crowd would have us embrace all cultures for the uniqueness and flavor that they bring to the culture as a whole. But what do you do when that sub-sub-culture can lead you to an increased risk of contracting a fatal didease?
No I am NOT saying that Blacks are responsible for HIV/AIDS, but it does seem that segments of the sub-culture are responsible for a growth in the number of cases. These are the sub-sub cultures of the black intraveineous drug user and the sub-sub culture of the Black gay/bi communities, NOT the Black sub-culture as a whole. So save the "racist" accusations.

HIV/AIDS is a lifestyle disease in the vast majority of cases, (barring the few that contracted it from blood products/natal infection) and the studies show that the high risk behaviour occurs more often in the Black community. Unprotected sex, intravenous drug use, multiple sex partners in a short time span....these are things that the Black community needs to address if these numbers are to ever go down. They can't blame it on "The Man". They will have to look closer to home and try to do something to educate the young to the dangers they face.

I believe that people such as Bill Cosby are trying to show the way, too bad that so much of the "Black Leadership" castigate the messenger and his message. Dr. Cosby has a lot of common sense to impart. But it's not too surprising, after all, his message is one of responsibility and accountability, and where is the profit/power for race issue whores in that?

I do find some measure of blame in the Political arena in this....As I noted in an earlier post, "you get more of what you subsedize" and polititions have created a whole sub-class of people that have never learned that they are responsible for their own well being. Whites are greater in number in this sub-class, but I am sure that if the numbers were screened, a large number of Black HIV/AIDS victims would also be members of this sub-class that have come to depend on the government for direction in every facet of their life.

We need to bring back the concepts of real self pride (not the vacuous "race" pride and "entitlement attitude" the the Race Whores have tried to forward as their agenda) and self reliance that made this country great. It needs to be done for ALL races, but the cancer has eaten farther in Black community with the help of the race whores and limosine Liberals, and is more urgent to correct, if the next generation of Blacks is to have a decent chance of making themselves and their community the great assets to the country that they have every right to be.

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 07:14 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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President Bush has contiually put pressure on Isreal to cooperate with the PA over establishment of an autonomous Palistinian Misplaced Arab State.
Just how does the PA return the favor? Just a cursory check through what the PA controlled media puts out to the people reveals that the PA is interested in what it has always been interested in, their own power, and the elimination of Israel and the Jewish people.

Palestinian Media Watch has all the examples you'll ever need to realize that the PA is not a "partner in finding peace" in the Israeli/Palastinian conflict, but a fomenter of that conflict.

The silence in our own media about what is being disemminated in the ME only further confirms the impression of their Liberal bias.

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Having a wife that works in a hospital, i'm somewhat familiar with how hospitals are trying to cut costs and raise revenues in every manner possible, but I think that the United Hospital in St. Paul, MN. had stepped over the line into minor extortion with a new policy that adds a $5.00 charge on flowers delivered by florists to paitients in the hospital. They say it's to cover the expense of supervision of the hospital volunteers that deliver the flowers to the patients room. I call BS on that. The fact is that those volunteers are there in any case, and would require the supervision if there were never another bouqet delivered. The purpose of a volunteer program is to free medical personell from non medical tasks in seeing to the comfort of patients and their families, and bringing flowers up to a patients room would certainly qualify in that area.
Is the hospital next going to charge for every little service that a volunteer might provide? Want a magazine from the gift shop to help through the boredom/anxiety between tests and blood draws? Sure, that will be a $3.00 delivery charge, please. Want a special snack from the cafeteria? $4.00 is the tarriff.

These people give of their time and energy to have a sense of helping their fellow man in a time of stress and pain; for a hospital to try to turn their altruistic service into another profit generating center is nothing short of despicable. Yes, it does take some amount of capital to administer such a program, but it should be covered within the cost of what a patient already pays for his room, the average being around $300.-500. a day in the average hospital these days.

Let's hope the hospital adminstration rethinks this proposal, for the benefit of their public relations, if nothing else.

Update:It seems that the United Hospital felt the pressure almost as soon as they announced their new flower delivery surcharge scam. You can try to register for the original story, but here's the meat of it:

United Hospital officials announced this morning that they have postponed their plan to charge $5 for all flowers and plants delivered to patients by florists. Following a story in today's edition of the Star Tribune, many people called the hospital to protest the change and by mid-morning the policy was rescinded.

The calls came from more than the metro area, so it may be an example of the power of the Internet to effect change.

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 05:44 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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The Progressive side of the aisle is constantly referring to us of the conservative persuasion as being cold and heartless because we don't wholeheartedly support a robust wefare system and believe Social Security isn't the best idea since sliced bread. I think we hold to these beliefs because we are realists and realize that "if you want more of something, you subsidize it."
Progressives seem to believe that the "the poor" as a group are that way because the "society has treated them unfairly" and "held them back from succeeding", despite multitudinous examples of people achieving great success despite having had their starts in some pretty appalling squalor.

I came across this story at Tech Central Station of an Irani-Swedish emmigrant that proves the contentions of the conservatives point of view. The author describes just how an overgenerous welfare system leads to the dependancy of it's constituants on government largesse, not a helping hand on the ladder of success. (note- Social Security is the Swedish term for Welfare here)

Some telling little snippets:

"The strong work ethic that we had brought from our home countries simpered away and we became used to the idea that social security was responsible for our lives."

Social security secretaries assumed that the people that they supported had no sense of responsibility.

One thing that my up growing has shown me is that there is little incentive to work and educate yourself in the Swedish welfare system. According to the Institute for Labour Policies the average salary of a person who has studied at a university for three years is only five percent higher of somebody who is uneducated. Most Swedish families would have higher income if they lived off government and made some money working in the black market.
Note that word incentive, it's the major difference between the Conservative and Progressive view. Conservatives want to help those in need just as much as Progressives do, the difference is we want to give a boost up to survive in hard times, and Progressives seem to think that any restrictions placed on the public largess is "discriminatory" and "demeaning" to the poor.

The author in the story also has fears for the future of her adopted country as a whole, as she has seen first hand the corrosive effects of government handouts. She makes the point that such a system cannot be sustained for the long term because of those corrosive effects on the population as a whole:

For a long time the strong work ethics in Sweden has prevented people from exploiting the system. But this seems to be changing. The work ethic has dramatically fallen in Sweden. More and more people are finding ways of living off government as an alternative to working. Between 20 and 25 percent of the working age population does not work. Between 1997 and 2003 the number of people who were on sick leave increased by more than 200,000, a dramatic number for a small country such as Sweden.

There hasn't been a great epidemic sweeping the country during this period, but rather a change in attitude. Today 62 percent of the employees in Sweden believe that it might be OK to take a sick leave even though illness doesn't stop you from working. This attitude is probably simply an adjusting of ethics to the Swedish system. What can you expect in a country where 9 out of 10 females who are living off sick leave would have less money in their pockets if they went back to their jobs?

The European welfare systems have functioned because of strong work ethics that made people reluctant to exploit them. But these work ethics are the product of a society where you had to work in order to provide for yourself and your family. As people adjust to the political systems we have today the ideas of individual responsibility diminishes. This is exactly what has happened among the large number of emigrants who are dependent on social security. What happens when the rest of the population adjusts to the system?

Welfare, and to a lesser extent Social Security, erodes the work ethic, and in the end leads to a permanent subclass of people that live as parasites of the society that has too much false compassion. Why would I include Social Security in that statement? Think about it...SS gives people the false impression that they need not plan for their future income when the time comes they can no longer work. It's true that they are paying into the system for that purpose, but the fact is that the lower income earners get back benefits in excess of their contributions, even though those benefits are really not high enough to really provide for a comfortable living on their own...so in effect the low income earners are actually being cheated twice.

If they invested the same amount in private accounts, they would receive a much higher rate of return, so they are not getting the full benefit of their hard earned money, yet they have no choice, and the mandatory nature of the system precludes them from making their own investments; the money for that has already been taken by SS. Once in the system, they are bound to it with no chance for improvement other than voting in vote pandering polititions promising to raise their slice of the pie on the backs of the taxpayers. And the cycle continues untill it's inevitable collapse.

Individual Progressives support the system because they have this strange idea that it is the "governments money" that is involved. They have forgotten the basic fact that the government HAS no money other than what they can squeeze out of population through taxes, tarriffs, and licensing fees. The more generous the government largess, the larger the bite they take out of YOUR wallet to pay for it.

Some progressive may point to some of those individuals that rose out of a welfare family background to make great success for themselves, and those individuals do indeed deserve to be lauded for their achievments, but the facts show that for a large percentage of such families; it becomes a multi-generational way of life where the sons and daughters only learn how to "game the system" to receive the maximum amount possible. This is an attitude that is a cancer on any society, and can only lead to an ever increasing sickness in that society's economy to the point of collapse.

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 05:07 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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I may have posted this before, If so, I don't care, I think it gives everyone a perspective on what a reality check is all about.

Try driving around as a Gringo in Mexico with no liability insurance and have an accident.

Enter Mexico illegally...Never mind immigration quotas, visas, international law or any of that nonsense.

Once there, demand that the local government provide free medical care for you and your entire family.

Demand bilingual nurses and doctors.

Demand free bilingual local government forms, bulletins, etc.

Procreate abundantly.

Deflect any criticism of this allegedly irresponsible reproductive behavior with, "It is a cultural United States thing... You wouldn't understand, pal."

Keep your American identity strong. Fly Old Glory from your rooftop or proudly display it in your front window or on your car bumper.

Speak only English at home and in public, then insist that your children do likewise.

Demand classes on American culture in the Mexican school system.

Demand to be eligible for Mexican retirement funds into which you never contributed.

Demand a local Mexican driver license. This will afford other legal rights and will go far to legitimize your unauthorized, illegal presence in Mexico.

Insist that local Mexican law enforcement teach English to all its officers.

Good luck! Because it will never happen. It will not happen in Mexico or any other country in the world..except right here in the United States...Land of the naive! If you agree, pass it on. If you don't, move to Mexico...or Iraq...or France.

Oh... And one more thing... don't drink the water.

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 02:56 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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While going through my daily rounds in the Blogosphere, I found a link at Kim du Toits that discusses something that doesn't get the attention it merits.

I often post my feelings about the Second Amendment and it's purpose as envisioned by the founding fathers,namely that it was intended as a last defense against tyranny from our own government. But I have always left out what just may be the most important part: Just WHEN is it time to invoke that defense and let the bullets start to fly? this essay addresses that issue in the most thoughtful manner I've seen.

We've all seen the bumper stickers that say "They can have my gun when they pry it from my cold dead fingers", and while it evokes a certain sense of bravado and spirit, I don't think that anyone can regard an individual incident in that vein as an effective way of defending the 2nd Amendment; the public merely sees it as "oh, another gun nut/fanatic/insert meme here pulled off an idiotic stunt and got arrested/shot by the police, good for them".

Go get a cup of coffee, get a note pad to make notes and jot down questions, settle in and really READ and absorb the wisdom contained in the words there.

I am not a religious man as Ron S. is, but I do agree with him that the wisdom contained in the Bible dealing with the secular and intrapersonal relationships within a society were one of the twin pillars in the founding of this country. You don't have to suscribe to a particular tenant to see where he's coming from, if you translate the meanings of the religious wisdom into the secular terms of "how do we form a society that truly works to the betterment of all".

I find myself in complete agreement with Ron on his premise/conclusions/strategy. Go there, read it, ponder it, and put your own two cents in. Start to really think about it, and begin planning Your course of action when TSHTF. It will, inevitably, sooner or later, and Ron has a thoughtful
outline of a good course of action. Remember that it is your DUTY as a citizen of a free Republic to become informed, and to defend the freedoms that Republic affords you, for if not you, who? "The tree of Liberty requires refreshment with the blood of patriots" are not idle words, they are a fact borne out time and again in history. As Ron also notes, our forfathers expected tyrany from government:

The founding fathers of our country had no such illusions of trust: they understood the depravity of human nature. They understood that absolute power corrupts absolutely. They understood that government must be restrained with the chains of the Constitution. They did not incorporate the system of checks and balances because they had faith in the government. Having faith in the government is a complete reversal of the founders' original theory of eternal distrust and vigilance.

Why is this discussion so important? I think that Ron said it best:

All this discussion of armed resistance may beg the question: What's the big deal about gun control? Why should we hazard our lives to stop it? And, where is this tyranny? To answer briefly: the Second Amendment is the guarantor of the rest of the Constitution, including the Bill of Rights. Therefore, an attack on the Second Amendment is an attack on the entire Constitution. Without the Second Amendment, we have no means to physically retain our other rights; they become dusty words on an old piece of paper that can be ignored. If we lose the Second Amendment, we lose all the other rights at the same time.

First, our rights came into existence because of the principles in the Second Amendment--arms and militias. They had no rights, no Constitution, no liberty, and would never have had any without the Second Amendment.

This point can be easily demonstrated by examining the justifications given for the American revolution in 1776 in the Declaration of Independence: "In every stage of these Suppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms. Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury." The colonists exhausted every available means of appeal over a long period of time, but the oppressive conditions only worsened, and they had no peaceful means left to use. The only recourse is elegantly stated by Patrick Henry: "An appeal to arms and to the God of hosts is all that is left us!". All our rights were literally born from the Second Amendment, and, I might add, God is equally a part of Patrick Henry's equation.

Where will you stand when the bullets start to fly? You'd be wise to ponder the question before the need to make a decision arises. If your on the side of patriots, you need to become prepared, if not, prepare for living as a subject, not a citizen.

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 03:15 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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The verdict is in. Michael Jackson was found NOT GUILTY on all ten counts

The people have made their decision through the offices of 12 members of the electorate. At least now, we may not have to hear more jackson news 24/7

Now that Mikey was found "innocent", I guess can't show you his proposed "new look" for prison.

I trust the jury made the right decision on the facts of the case as they heard them. Let Jackson go back to Neverland and, hopefully, fade from public sight.

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 10:28 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Michael Fumento is one reporter who put his body where his mouth is and took the trek to Iraq to get a first hand picture of the events there.
He almost paid the final price in doing so.

I think that his first hand account really does show that the MSM isn't getting it right the majority of the time. Maybe if the pool reporters would get out of the hotel bar more often the picture would change. Seems the only time they DO get out is when they report what the Islamofacists Insurgents want to get out on the media.

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 09:41 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Seems that Gene Roddenberry may have been a forcaster of future science in almost as amazing a way as Jules Verne was over a hundred years ago..

Cold Fusion just may be closer than we believed.

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 11:07 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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A certain Progressive aquaintence of mine once said in a discusion with me that "at Least Ted Kennedy is working for the little guy", and that "we have to do something about the greedy rich.

Wish I had had this item then. I have no problem with making money on an investment, but to pontificate about the evil side of capitalism engaged in by the rich, while your engaged in what your railing against just once again shows the hypocracy of the swimmer from Massachussetts, and by taint of association, of his supporters.

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 10:57 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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HERE'S an interesting take on Watergate. It doesn't change the fact that Nixon was forced to resign (deservedly) due to his participation in a post event cover-up, but if true, it does change the whole background of the event, and should lessen Nixon's iconic stature as the symbol of evil by the Left, were they intellectually honest.

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 10:44 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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The Royal Navy has egg on it's face...
I'm very pro-military , but when your stupid enough to deny ownership of expensive equipment, when it's got your id stencilled on the side of it, and then refuse to follow well established salvage rights, you deserve a modicum of public mockery and approbation.

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 10:30 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The Progressive meme is that "Bush Lied-People Died", and that meem has been a large part of a lot of reporting by the unbiased LSM.
The charge is that there were no WMD's found (untrue). They further tout the UN as being the body to believe, and the condemnation coming from that august body about the actions the coallition took in Iraq...

So I have to find THIS STORY as particularly amusing as it is telling. It doesn't go into enough detail (surprie,surprise) but the mere fact that the UN now has evidence of the means of WMD's being removed from 109 sites in Iraq should be a big frog sticking in the craw of the LSM's throat...won't be of course, they will do as they always do, ignore it; and continue portraying the US as an evvviiill empire in the making.

MY meme would be "Saddam LIED- People Fried,shredded,hung,shot,stoned..."
guess it's too unwieldy and unpoetic to catch on though.

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 10:13 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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I'm gratified to see that some Republicans are standing up against President Bush's attempt to expand the powers of the Patriot Act.

The initial act was a hastely concocted response to terrorism after 9/11, and with all such law, it was ill conceived. There are sections of the law that were things that should have been done long ago, such as information sharing between law enforcement agencies, but these could have been accomplished in a manner that was not as great a danger to our individual civil liberties.

The original act should be allowed to die, not be expanded upon.

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 09:44 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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As all the GFW's out there know, I'm rabidly pro-2nd Amendment; in fact I am on the far fringe of that belief, because I believe that it's every adults right (barring criminal history/insanity) to carry a firearm, and licenses/permits be damned. I believe that basic gun safety/marksmanship should be a required course in high school.

That being said, there is a danger out there, and it's killed far too many of our innocent children out there. And it's caused by adults that have no valid reason for possessing these instruments of death. They are mostly just status symbols of the power that wealth can bring. A substitute for a small penis perhaps?

In 2002, 1095 children between the ages of one and nineteen were victims of this pernicious atrocity. That same year, 166 children were the victims of firearms-related incidents...and 7,550 died in MVA related incidents. Yet the only outcry you hear of are against firearms.

I am thinking about starting my own lobbying group (ala Handgun Control Inc.) , legislating against this dangerous possession of irresponsible adults.
And considering there isn't an enumerated right to own one of these child killers in the Constitution, I should have an easier time of it than Sarah Brady has with guns.

I'll have to ponder it a bit more.....I have come up with an acronym for it already though: P.A.P. And I promise that the literature will be full of just that, much the same as in HGC Inc.'s

What is this deadly killer in our midst? Why do we allow these to be owned by people when they pose such a hazard, and they're totally needless,expensive, and mainly owned by the rich; you know, those people that cheat and rob from you to live their life of luxury? The acronym says it all: P.arents A.gainst P.ools.

And it's not just the fatalities we have to be concerned about, for every death there are near fatalities that have lifelong health consequences. They have used supposed "public health care costs" to attempt to ban smoking, yet the costs involved with near drownings far outweigh those.
Health care costs per near-drowning victim typically range from $75,000 for initial emergency room treatment to $180,000 a year for long-term care.
The annual economic costs of residential pool drownings and near-drownings of young children are estimated to be $450 million to $650 million.
Orange County Fire Dept

If Progressive are truly concerned for the welfare of our children,as they claim in the case of firearms, I hope they join me in this fight to stamp out these even more dangerous symbles of wealth and machismo. After all a gun can be used in protection, but a pool is just a tragedy waiting to happen.

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 09:22 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Once again Sir George at the Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiller has sent the ball out of the park with this post on the ideas contemplated by the 9/11 Memorial Committee. Follow the link at the end of the post and add your voice to those who want to see the correct thing done, and refuse to let what should be a monument to the 3,000 Americans lost turned into a PC tribute to the Hate-America First crowd.

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 03:54 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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From the crazy guys at Pass the Ammo, WHO said the Brits have no sense of humor?

And welcome to the Blogroll, Chad, Krunk, and JJ! (who knows, someday, maybe may actually be an honor! LOL)

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 02:29 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Europe is the most secular place in the world today, but even there, they have the concepts of a Heavan and a Hell:

Euro-heaven has British cops, French cooks, and German politicians

Euro Hell has German cops, Brit cooks, and French politicians

Hat Tip to Alex

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