I've been reading a lot of editorials pro and con on the upcoming execution of Stanly "Tookie" Williams on Dec.13....I must admit that a couple of them did touch me in that they didn't try to excuse Mr. Williams of his crimes, but pointed out the possibility of his being granted clemency might prevent someone else from suffering as did his victoms....That is the only argument that might sway me in my opinion that his date with the needle is far overdue.

Several editorials have tried the "redemption" tack, and I don't find those too convincing....I HOPE that Mr. Williams may have found some sense of peace with his past and felt himself forgiven in penitance by his activities in trying to warn children from following his example. BUT redemption is a personal thing, between a person and their concept of whatever higher power they may believe in, and doesn't mitigate the societal need for punishment.

In the end, I found that the cartoon below sums up my feelings best:

While executing Mr. Williams won't bring back these victoms, it will bring some sense of justice to their families.

It must also be remenbered that Mr. Williams is not only guilty of the deaths he was convicted of, but by his being the founding member of one of the most vicious gangs ever to victomize society, the Crips, I believe that he has a responsibility for every bit of misery that has ensued from that group.

And that misery will continue to build long after Mr. Williams has met his end. He may be remorseful about his part in that misery, I hope so anyway, but that doesn't negate his responsibility for it. His actions subsequent to incarceration may prevent a few for falling into that trap, but how many more will? He bears a responsibility in the misery of every one of those that do, and the misery they inflict on the society at large.

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 10:06 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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OH NO!! Seems one of the jackbooted Air Marshals of DHS has shot and killed a passenger of an aitliner that claimed to have a bomb in his carry on bag, and the man was a US citizen....HORRORS! Shouldn't he have tried to reason with the man? The Marshal totally ignored this mans right of free expression! (/sarcasm)

As far as I'm concerned, as a commenter at Lucianne's said:
"Good aim, big holes, what's the problem?"

There are those that will note that the decident was a Bi-polar that had missed a couple doses of his meds as an excuse for excoriating the Air Marshal.
Having been in similar situations where a life or death decision has to be made in less than two seconds, I can catagorically state that I think that the Marshal did exactly the right thing.

It is a tragedy that a man died because he failed to properly manage his illness, but it would have been a far greater tragedy if the Marshal had erred on the side of PC caution and the man had been serious about setting off a bomb next to an airliner filled with passengers, parked next to a teminal and other planes.

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December 7th, 1941....the day that will "live in infamy". Today is the 64th Anniversary of that dark day that launched the US into the hardest fought war that has ever occurred.

Take a moment out of your busy like to remember all those that died, both on that day, and the in the ensuing four years, as the world fought to determine the course it would take....

The brave men and woman of the generation that endured those bleak days are quickly passing on into the Great Unknown, and we must endeavor to remember the sacrifices they made to ensure that we would continue to live free. Only by remembering can we ensure that their sacrifices were not made in vain.

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Please welcome two new additions to the Blogroll in the LC catagory:
Appalachian Gun Trash, and A Room With A view

The Room with a view belongs to the mother of one of the best LC's I have had the privilage to meet, the Humble Devildog, known to his friends as "AJ". AJ credits his (CONSIDERABLE)debating abilities to his mother, and now she's bringing her views to the blogosphere; I'm certain that she will make a fine addition to the conversation. Just be sure to be polite when you visit...AJ doesn't take kindly to those that cause trouble to his familiy or friends, and as an inactive Marine, he's MORE than capable of exhibiting his displeasure in a manner that you would be certain to find HIGHLY uncomfortable.

As for "Appalachian Gun Trash", it was a serendipitous find by Mamamontezz, who passed it along to me...you HAVE to like a guy who quotes Luke 11:21 on his side bar: "When a strong man, fully armed, guards his palace, his possessions are safe.” ~Jesus Christ~

And a retired AF veteran....

That is a man that I'm sure I can respect, and reading some of his posts only confirms me in that opinion. He lives in eastern Kentucky, so who knows, perhaps some day I'll have the pleasure of meeting him in person.

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 02:48 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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With all the arguements over the comercialization of Christmas and wether or not public reference to religion should be allowed, I got the following card from some very old and dear friends/mentors, and it made me stop and try to recoup what the true meaning of the holiday really is. Thank you Bob and Gerry, I needed that.

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 05:46 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Charley Daniels has an open letter to the troops that really should be read....read, absorbed, and the advice at the end followed: "I believe if we could take the politics and hostile media coverage out of this war for one year, you guys would “get er done” and everybody could come home and vote against these backstabbers." (emph. mine)

I wish more celebraties would follow Mr. Daniels lead and actually SUPPORT our troops instead of being schills for the Moonbat Left and their policies of appeasment and surrender.

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FINALLY! A quiz that actually has some real meaning!

You Passed the US Citizenship Test

Congratulations - you got 10 out of 10 correct!

If an immigrant can pass !00%, it was a little too easy, but it still poses a good bechmark of basic knowledge.

They don't give the answers, and in the spirit of not learning unless you can know where you made a mistake, I have posted the answers under the fold. more...

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 04:22 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Swiped from Lucianne:

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ELROND A stern yet benevolent organizer who often knows best, your wits are keenly fixed on aiding efforts you deem worthy.

"Now at this last we must take a hard road, a road unforseen. There lies our hope, if hope it be. To walk into peril to Mordor."

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 08:27 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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I read this piece by Donald Myers, and found all I could say was "AMEN"!.

Ever notice that all the naysaying, gloom and doom members of the "Progressive" Left only have negatives to espouse? Never do we hear a positive proposal for a solution, just excoriation of the status quo.

Don't like the causelty rates in Iraq? "Pull out, NOW!" is their only response; ignoring the fact that it would lead to only greater conflict. Rep. Murtha says that it's now "time for a political solution, rather than a military one"....Tell me Mr. Murtha, with all due respect for your past service, just HOW do you use diplomacy with a group who's ONLY desire is the total destruction of everything the West represents?

I honestly believe that a great deal of the discontent that is being exhibited by the general population can be directly laid at the feet of a partisian press dedicated to the goal of running President Bush out of office in whatever manner possible. Read the news, and all you'll find are body counts of Alliance soldiers and threats of even great mayhem relayed through Al Jazeera from the "Arab street"...yet talk to the soldiers coming home on rotation and you'll hear about how they have given the Iraqi people a chance at a better life by building schools, power plants, and water treatment plants....You'll hear how on an indivudual basis, they have been befriended and encouraged by Iraqis on the street.

Yes, the Iraqi people do want the soldiers to leave; what patriot would want to have foreign troops on their soil?, but they don't want them to leave untill their job is done, and the Iraqis know they are capable of standing on their own.

Another example of media partisianship is how they give wall to wall coverage to Rep. Murtha, yet almost totally ignore Sen. Lieberman when he stated that it would be the height of folly to precipitously withdraw troops at this time.

Try to find a pro-administration article, and your pretty much limited to the WSJ, if you want to find the Progressive stance, all you need do is open just about any other paper. The media has great power to influence opinion, but we must always ask: does a particular paper or station have an agenda? Are they telling the whole truth, or only that part of the truth that serves that agenda? What AREN'T they reporting? What they DON'T say can be more important than what they do say.

This is not to say that we have to march in lock-step with the Administration, they are just as guilty of spin as the Left...excessive spending rates, ignoring the border security problems, trying to sugarcoat the hard realities of war, the Administration is guilty of all these, and they should be held accoutable for these and other issues. But the American people have to wake up and demand that issues be debated in an open and honest debate of ideas, not a constant barrage of spin and partisian sniper attacks.

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 07:10 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Clarice Feldman has a good article exploring just how partisian based special prosecutions are harming the security of the United States.

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take the WHAT BAD BOOK ARE YOU test.


and go to mewing.net. not as good as reading a good book, but way better than a bad one.

H/T to Techivampire

And:

You scored as Maximus. After his family was murdered by the evil emperor Commodus, the great Roman general Maximus went into hiding to avoid Commodus's assassins. He became a gladiator, hoping to dominate the colosseum in order to one day get the chance of killing Commodus. Maximus is valiant, courageous, and dedicated. He wants nothing more than the chance to avenge his family, but his temper often gets the better of him. Maximus 75% William Wallace 75% The Amazing Spider-Man 63% Batman, the Dark Knight 58% Captain Jack Sparrow 50% Lara Croft 50% Indiana Jones 50% James Bond, Agent 007 50% Neo, the "One" 42% The Terminator 38% El Zorro 38% Which Action Hero Would You Be? v. 2.0 created with QuizFarm.com

H/T to Red-neck Hippy

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H/T to LindaSoG

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 11:16 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Go HERE for a rather unusual Christmas video.

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 10:53 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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1 I dumped it when they started flashing the surrender symbol.

Posted by: Walter E. Wallis at December 02, 2005 11:13 AM (pdI0e)

2 I prefered to look at it as the "peace though superior fire power" symbol....I just imagined a B-52 in the circle

Posted by: delftsman3 at December 02, 2005 04:48 PM (gwxg6)

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GuyK put up an interesting statistic:

If you consider that there have been an average
of 160,000 troops in the Iraq theater of operations
during the last 22 months, and a total of 2112
deaths, that gives a firearm death rate of 60 per
100,000.

The rate in Washington D.C. is 80.6 firearm deaths per 100,000.
That means that you are about 25% more likely to be shot and
killed in our nation's capitol, which has some of the strictest gun
control laws in the nation, than you are in Iraq.

Conclusion: We should immediately pull out of Washington D.C.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kinda puts the damper on the anti-war protesters laments about how deadly Iraq is doesn't it?.....Maybe, in next session, the Pols will try to award themselves battle pay?

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 03:45 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Here's a link to a new book by Peter Schweizer called "Do As I Say (Not As I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy". Something I am going to put on MY Christmas Wish List.

The book is a researched documentary of the hypocritic actions of 11 of the foremost Liberal icons and their private actions.

Just a few little teasers :

Claim: Noam Chomsky calls the U.S. military the most evil force on the face of the earth.

Fact: The Pentagon has provided him with a comfortable living for many years through Defense Department grants.

Claim: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi proclaims her support for unions and environmentalism.

Fact: The luxury resort, the vineyard and the restaurants she partly owns are strictly non-union and the exclusive country club she partly owns failed to comply with existing environmental regulations for the past eight years – including a failure to protect endangered species.

Claim: Barbra Streisand denounced global warming and the rape of the environment.

Fact: She drives an SUV, lives in a mansion and has a $22,000 annual water bill. In the past, she has driven to appointments in Beverly Hills in a motor home because of her aversion to using public bathrooms.

As Joseph Farrah says: "If they can't live within those rules, or choose not to, doesn't that strongly suggest their ideas are not worth the hot air that comes out of their mouths?"

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Well, we have a new DSL connection....I have to say, so far, I not impressed with Earthlink. The speeds is faster than the dial-up, but not as fast as the SBC DSL was, and I've had to retype this twice, as a pop-up wiped out my first effort...hopefully it's just due to some bugs in the system that can be worked out....

It took Mamamontezz about twelve hours to get a completely stable connection that would take her to the net every time; she still needs to get my account to the same point.

I know it sounds like sour grapes bitching, and it probably is, but is it really too much to ask that when you pay a sum of money to a service that you get...well, SERVICE?!?

It remains to be seen how fast and stable the connection will be but I AM delighted that at least we now have the odds of a great connection on our side, so that I can actually start posting again.

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