Archive for July, 2007

The Prevent Defense

Friday, July 27th, 2007

    There was an article in my paper today, complete with tragic photos, of the end result of a police chase. The police cruiser wound up crashing into the car of a returning Iraqi War soldier. It is indeed tragic, for I know all too well what the surviving family must be feeling. Their grief is justified; the newspaper’s editorializing of it is not.

    
     What I can expect, as anyone can, is a full series in coming editions of newspapers around the country about the perils of enforcing the law. We’ll get back to that shortly…
    
     There is an old axiom in football: Don’t play to lose! This, of course, was borne out of the advent and subsequent practice of the “prevent defense”. Teams that have played a remarkable 55 minutes of football would suddenly revert to the “prevent defense” in the closing minutes of a close-scoring game. The end result more times than not was that the better team played so cautiously at the end that they “protected their lead into a loss”.
    
     So the very fear of losing ended in a loss anyway. I call this a colassal waste. Much the same as I do the current trends designed to cheat death. It’s why I so love the quote: “Healthy is simply the slowest rate at which one can die”.
    
     We have a mentality sweeping this country that I can only equate to this very principle, that being the prevent defense. We are being herded into fat camps, spas and fitness gyms and coerced into eating things that make us gag, all in the name of “preventing death”. We have this deluded collective mindset that this is even possible. This is what frightens and saddens me.
 
     While we should be enjoying a victory lap clearly in view, we pull back and begin trying to vigorously protect the likelihood that we’ll get there at all. All we manage to accomplish is making ourselves miserable in the futile quest to live just a little longer, but to what end? We give up every possible enjoyment (or vice, if you prefer) in the hopes of prolonging our lives. But trading happiness for longevity seems to me to be nothing short of insane. The more miserable we become by depriving ourselves of simple pleasures, the longer we can endure the loss of the source of our joy. Can anyone explain the logic of this to me?
    
     Back to the police crash tragedy…there have been articles and ideas previous to this story which advocated restraint in pursuit, and I thought them to be as crazy then as I anticipate I will in the coming days.
    
     We can expect more calls for the police to “just let them go” because chasing them will only place innocent people in danger. There is truth to this to some degree, which leads me back to the prevent defense.
    
     Should we, as a society, allow criminals to run roughshod over us because trying to apprehend them may result in an unfortunate accident? Or should we hope that the public safety will be better served by removing the certainty that, if left to their own devices, the perpetrators will strike again, and soon?  
    
     We must re-learn how to live and not be so worried about not dying.
    
     I am not saying that exercise is all bad, as long as it is designed to make one feel better. All I’m saying is that if you’re doing it under duress in the impossible hope of preventing your eventual demise, it won’t work.
     
     Live well, die happy.
-Woody

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Assault On America Renamed

Wednesday, July 25th, 2007
     Man, she’s good, you have to hand it to her. Who else but Hillary can speak the same rhetoric as a dictator and still be considered the saviour of America, at least where her supporters are concerned? This is why this woman frightens me so.      After believing for so long that there was no way she had a snowball’s chance in Hell of winning the White House, I can actually envision having to pack my bags for Australia in early November, 2008. (I would not wait until January, 2009, just in case it became illegal to travel at that point!).    

     A common theme in my writings on this subject encompasses the irony of the left versus right perception of the other’s party in control. I always find it morosely funny that the left worries about the right crushing liberty while they attempt to protect the people from brutal deaths while they cheerfully support the likes of the human bowling pin that is Hillary.

      Sen. Clinton calls for civic responsibility

     This is a headline from an online news source today.

Sen. Hillary Clinton challenged Americans to take the same attitude as those who fought and lived through World War II when it comes to achieving energy self-sufficiency and ending global warming.

     It sounds reasonable, doesn’t it? “Hey, if the Greatest Generation could do it, well darn it, we can too!”

     One slight problem…it’s not what she really means. Here’s  what she’s really getting at:

“So, here’s the deal. (The oil companies) can invest the $20 billion themselves in the development of alternative fuels or rebuilding refineries, or we will tax their windfall profits.”

     Translation: “You either do what the government tells you to do, or we’ll simply take your assets and do it anyway.” Some may refer to the assasination of capitalism as “Civic Responsibility”, but I still call it murder. And totalitarianism…

     Not only is this socialist machine of a [woman] adored by the masses, that adoration stems from a steady diet of abetment from the socialists that pose as journalists these days. How, you ask? Here’s how.

     The media reports raw numbers such as the Exxon “obscene” profits from FY06 as $39 Billion! People sitting at the breakfast table reading , oh say, The Old Gray Lady then get whipped into a frenzy at this “unfair capitalism” and the “price gouging” that must surely be going on here! So when Herr Hillary starts promising people that she will “take down these evil giants of oil”, people applaud like seals (or lemmings, if you prefer).

      What most people probably don’t know, unless they read the SEC filings of Exxon-Mobil as I did, is that Exxon paid $29 billion to the federal goverment in income taxes alone. I won’t even attempt to calculate how much more the government made in excise taxes, but you can rest assured that the goverment made more money on “big oil” than big oil did!

     And to Hillary, it still ain’t enough.

     I am certain in my own mind that the alleged conversation Hillary had which, was over heard, actually did occur. She probably needs the fairness doctrine more than she even desires it.

     So while the right wants to prevent bad guys from blowing stuff up in America (their lack of border control notwithstanding), the left wants to shut you up and take your money to give to people who will subsequently vote for them.

     At least until they succeed in making voting unecessary.

-Woody

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Assault On America Renamed

Wednesday, July 25th, 2007

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John Doe Gets A Toe Tag

Friday, July 20th, 2007
     To begin, a question: If Democrats love “whistle-blowers” and want to protect and encourage their propensity to, well…blow, why would they reject protections put forth by Republicans to ensure that ordinary citizens could report suspicious behavior without the fear of potentially devastating lawsuits? Why would they make it more difficult or even prohibitive for regular folks to report actions that they feel may jeopardize their lives and the lives of those around them?
    
     To be honest, this question is best left answered by the people who want to make you less safe, for whatever unGodly reason: the Democrats. The very people who deemed the “John Doe” bill bad for America.
    
     The “Flying Imams” case was just debated in the hallowed halls of our Congress, where the democrats blocked legislation designed to protect people who reported erratic behavior on public transportation venues from punitive lawsuits which could possibly ruin their lives and put them on the street.
    
     Again, you probably are shouting “WHY?!?” at your screen. And again, I do not have the answer. It is beyond my comprehension, especially when coupled with the reasonings of Democrats in similar situations.
    
     When the issue of illegal immigrants and local law enforcement comes up, it is Democrats, and even more so, liberal Democrats, who claim that we need the reporting of “law-abiding” illegal immigrants (an obvious oxymoron) in cases of being witness to crimes. “If we have people living in the shadow of fear of discovery and deportation,”  they claim, “they will not likely come forward to report a crime”. Therefore, we don’t want local police “intimidating” potential witnesses.
    
     I really need someone to explain this one to me, for I can’t see how you can protect illegal aliens, people with no right to be here in the first place, and not protect citizens who simply have a disdain of dying in a horrible plane explosion. I could possibly understand some form of prevention for people being beaten by vigilante-style passengers, but merely reporting to authorities that something doesn’t seem right being a possibly crippling lawsuit thereafter is nothing short of insanity.
    
     We need people to keep their eyes open and their mouths at the ready, without fear of retribution. Tell your Congress folks to get on the right side of the border.
-Woody

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Where In The Constitution?

Tuesday, July 17th, 2007

     Forgive me, but just where in the Constitution does it give Congress the authority to deploy, remove, or reduce troops in a war theater? I’ve looked and looked and I still can’t find that power anywhere. I have a sneaking suspicion that it does not exist, and yet the Democratically controlled House and Senate seem hell-bent on ending the Iraq war despite what the Commander In Chief decides. Not only is this illegal, I consider it seditious.

     All I have been hearing of late from the left in this country is how Bush and the Republicans have been systematically destroying our freedoms and civil liberties, despite the obvious intrusions on those very principles by none other than the Democrats themselves.  They have not all been successful intrusions as yet, but their intent is clear:

     To name a few. I find it intriguing, however, that the alleged “champions” of freedom (Liberals) are as quick to stand and cheer when their representatives in Congress blithely trample the constitution as long as it undermines the will of a President they so clearly loathe.

     Politics have taken a turn in the past half decade that can only be described as disturbing, with the rhetoric readily available for anyone virtually anywhere to peruse. If ever there were a time to stand unified, at least in the public arena, it is now, but the Democrats lust for power is such that they will be more than happy to rule over what ever is left of America after they succeed in aiding our enemy in her destruction.

     Harry Reid and Madam Speaker Pelosi must surely know that they have virtually no chance of usurping the Commander In Chief and yet, they persist in the attempt, all as a facade for their political base. Whether the libs in this country agree or not with the war, they have a duty to the Constitution to denounce their leaders’ actions for the good of the nation.

     I won’t be holding my breath…

-Woody

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In Memory Of Ken

Friday, July 13th, 2007

    Today, I watched someone die. I didn’t actually witness his last breath, but I saw most of the journey unfold before my eyes. I have had people I love leave this Earth many times, as I’m sure many people have, but I had never before been there to watch the final steps toward the door to eternity.

     I have always had a more philosophical than emotional outlook where death is concerned. I learned this in earnest when my own father passed away suddenly. My mother called me in shock, and I had to make a twenty-four hour drive to get to her side. On that trip, with my wife sleeping next to me, I had more than enough time to ponder what it is that we, as humans, cling to, and I thought I had the answer down pat. I did, but only in that one instance. The rest I was wrong about.
 
     Watching someone who was usually vibrant slowly succumb to the ravages of cancer was a lesson in humility, to be sure. Watching how the surrender accelerates exponentially near the end reminded me of fruit spoiling in the late summer sun. But it is that very analogy that drew me to write this. It may not be unique in the world, but it is at least in mine.
    
     Most of us have a base understanding that the body is a vehicle to carry the soul, but it takes special powers for any of us to recognize a soul when we encounter it. No, it is the outer shell we recognize, and it is the shell we see wither at life’s end. We know that we shall never “gaze upon that countenance again”, and I believe this is the ultimate source of our grieving. It is also, unfortunately, the last images emblazoned on our memory, despite our best efforts to remember only the good.
    
     What I truly realized today, however, is not the physical nature of the end of life but rather, our human uniqueness in how we deal with it emotionally. We view even the most common occurances on an emotional level, and I suppose I should be thankful that we have that to separate us from the rest of the animal world. We suffer emotional stress at the end of almost everything we find enjoyable, albeit to different degrees. My own trauma, if you will, has always been at the change from summer to winter, when the vibrance of the foliage and the long, warm days can no longer stave off the onset of a more dreary landscape.
    
     What I saw today was not so dissimilar. Today, I watched the last brown leaf release its fragile grip and slowly drift to the ground. And I am saddened.

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Hot Air Still Rises

Wednesday, July 11th, 2007
     The debate, at least for me, has never been about whether we are warming, but more about what (or who) is responsible. There is plenty of information available to debate the former in regards as to what extent we are in jeopardy, provided that the “pravda” that is the IPCC media relations board allows for the free flow of such debate.  
    
     The real bone of contention here is whether we are warming the planet, and all the evidence I have seen indicates a resounding “NO!”.  That idea would, if widely accepted, put a major ding in the money machine that is Al Gore and the “greenie” movement.
    
      Alexander Cockburn explains how and why warmer temperatures have historically preceded a rise in CO2 levels in what I call the Soda Pop explanation. As the oceans (which inarguably contain the most CO2 on the globe since they comprise 71% of the surface) warm, they evaporate. When oceans, or any other liquid for that matter, evaporate, they release their contents into the atmosphere. Pour a beer or a soda and watch the (carbonate) bubbles rise and burst in the air just above the surface.
     
     This series on you-tube also explains scientifically how a cooler climate is actually more detrimental to the polar ice caps than what we are now experiencing. For those of you who have no clue as to how evaporation and precipitation are related, feel free to skip this part and scoff loudly into your “Live Earth” party favor.
    
     The bottom line is this: We are being led to believe that we, by our “selfish” actions, are destroying the home of our host. It is as ridiculous a notion as one could conjure, but we have a large segment of our population all too willing to buy into it, and I do mean “buy”.
    
     There were supposedly legitimate media pundits who, when interviewed, looked straight into the camera and declared that, through “carbon offsets”, Al Gore travelled virtually green on his “quest to save the planet”.  Excuse me, but if I find you trampling through my flower garden holding a potted plant, I am not going to miss when I shoot.
    
     Do your homework, people. Do not let this growing hysteria consume you or, more importantly, your children. Schools are now, as we “speak” , pushing the Al Gore agenda as legitimate curriculum, and the kids deserve better than that.
-Woody

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More Subterfuge…

Saturday, July 7th, 2007
     People have a propensity to believe not so much what they hear, but what they see, which is understandable to a degree. When you combine a lie with visual proof which appears to validate the lie, it becomes child’s play to convince people of pretty much anything you desire them to believe.
    
     Now add to the mix deliberate omissions of fact or distortions of the facts, and it becomes even easier.
     First case in point.
PolarBears.jpg
     This is a picture that was widely circulated to bolster Al Gore’s hysterical claims that man is destroying the planet. It clearly shows a pair of polar bears sitting on top of some melting ice. We were led to believe that they were stranded there and once the ice melted away, the bears subsequently drowned.
    
     UK’s “The Daily Mail” was one outlet that circulated this photo with a heart-wrenching caption:
    
They cling precariously to the top of what is left of the ice floe, their fragile grip the perfect symbol of the tragedy of global warming.
    
     The only problem is, as the photographer, Amanda Byrd points out is this; the bears were not stranded. They were not far from shore and could easily have swam back safely. Additionally, the photograph was taken in August on the fringes of the Arctic ice cap. Denis Simard Of Environment Canada summed it up best:

You have to keep in mind that the bears are not in danger at all. This is a perfect picture for climate change…you have the impression they are in the middle of the ocean and they are going to die…But they were not that far from the coast, and it was possible for them to swim…They are still alive and having fun.

       We also hear about the Larsen Ice Shelf in the Antarctic collapsing. There have been famous photos of this phenomenon all over the place, too.

LarsenIceShelf.jpg

     What this picture does, along with the shrill rhetoric which usually accompanies it, is give the impression that your SUV’s are melting Antarctica. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

     “How can that be?” you may ask. “The proof is there for all to see!”

     Aha, that’s just how it’s supposed to work. The fact is that much of the main land mass of Antarctica is gaining ice, something the satellite photos are unable to detect because the ice is building up, not out. And the thing that most people probably have not taken into account, and the thing that no global warming fanatic will ever tell you, is that the Larsen Ice Shelf is at the very edge of the Antarctic Circle, some of it outside the circle.

     402px-Larsen_iceshelves.jpg

     Interestingly enough, the Antarctic Peninsula is only about 745 miles from the Argentine Peninsula.

antarctic_circle_map.jpg

     It makes the warming doom and gloom seem much less traumatic when you see the entire picture, so to speak.

     If you’d like to see more evidence of the chicanery the environmental crowd uses to convince us all that we must alter our entire lifestyles, you can check out another article I posted a while back pointing out the Subterfuge In Global Warming Articles.

-Woody

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Lady Liberty Will Weep

Thursday, July 5th, 2007

“A general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy. While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when once they lose their virtue then will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader.” -Samuel Adams

     How prescient. I wonder if Sam Adams were around today, what would he think of Hillary Clinton? Surely he must have seen her coming to utter such a thought, for she (and those of her ilk) is the “internal invader” Adams warned about.

     This article is not all about religion, so stick with me…

     If she were acting alone or with a small band of similar thinking folk, there would be little cause for alarm, but that is not the case. The entire Leftist movement is aiding and abetting simply by the causes they champion. What causes are they? Well, let’s take the words of Adams, for starters.

     The Leftists are doing everything in their power to strip the nation of its virtue. That’s a damned good start. There are many who will scoff at this notion because we are all sinners, but at least there is a large enough segment of the population left who still realize this simple fact. We are the contrite. That doesn’t stop the Left, however, as they pugnaciously endeavor to remove all signs of God from society, another act that they vehemently deny even as they are burning the Bible, to be figurative.

     Not convinced, even by the rampant litigation going on around you?

Godless.jpg

     The new “God-less dollar” coin is being billed as a “mistake”. I’m thinking it’s more of a test run. The U.S. mint produced thousands of them before they realized the phrase, “In God We Trust” was missing. Is there no Quality Control department in the U.S. Mint? If the coins inadvertantly were minted with “Allahu Akbar” on them, would they have slipped through the inspectors before hitting circulation?

     No, of course not. It was designed, I maintain, to gauge the reaction of the citizenry. Nice try.

     I hear people who are liberals, or “progressives” as they prefer, railing against this administration and its steady “erosion of our civil liberties”.  These are the same people who applaud legislation that is overtly a threat to real liberty in this country, bills such McCain-Feingold which was designed to stifle free speech which could influence elections. The horror! Imagine, voters getting to listen to what candidates stand for and what they have to say!

     Now it’s the Fairness Doctrine’s resurrection, which the Leftists claim will give the people a better understanding of the issues. How, by stifling free speech? Ah, no…by stifling their opponents’ free speech. Damn if that doesn’t sound like what Chavez has been up to lately.

     Combine the above situations with what Hillary Clinton has been saying of late about her version of “equality and fairness”, threatening to take things away from people for the common good, and one can actually envision a not-too-distant future in which some foreign leader, perhaps from England or Australia, is demanding that “Ms. Clinton,…tear down this wall”.

     The “Nostradameus-like” Samuel Adams saw it coming. Almost half of us seem so jaded that we’re ready to toss our liberty gleefully at the feet of Premier Clinton. All we have to do is pinch ourselves and wake up, before it’s too late.

-Woody

 

 

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