Pro Cynic

Latest addition to my book rotation

2009-11-17T18:53:00.000-05:00

God's Battalions: The Case for the Crusades by Rodney Stark

Latest addiction and a question

2009-11-13T23:49:00.000-05:00

Dragon Age: Origins. A great game, but does anyone else think it's a
ripoff of Lord of the Rings?

A question about the Fort Hood Massacre

2009-11-11T09:28:00.000-05:00

In their efforts to whitewash the obvious evidence of murderous intent
based on Islamism, the media is instead portraying Nidal Malik Hasan
as a victim of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

This despite the fact that he had never been deployed to a combat
zone. But he was about to be.

Would that mean the media's "diagnosis" should be more accurately
described as "Pre-Traumatic Stress Disorder?"

I am no psychiatrist, but it would not surprise me if there was no
such disorder. In fact, it sounds absurd on its face.

As do the efforts of the media and the politically correct world to
hide the efforts of Hasan's true motivations at Fort Hood.

THANK YOU

2009-11-11T09:18:00.000-05:00

to our veterans. Without losing sight of today's war, Vietnam, Korea and our other military actions, I want to do a special callout to our veterans of World War II, the war in which I have always taken a special interest, as more and more of them leave this world of mortals, hopefully on happy terms after rich and fulfilling lives.

Latest addiction(s)

2009-10-25T16:12:00.000-04:00

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Batman: Arkham Asylum

Thoughts on Bears-Falcons

2009-10-18T23:29:00.000-04:00

In Japan when an offensive lineman commits a false start he must
commit seppuku on the field.

A question

2009-10-18T01:26:00.001-04:00

Our taxes, whether it's income, sales or property; federal, state or
local, keep going up.

Yet we seem to be getting no proportional increase in services. In
fact, if you look at the core functions of government - security
through the military and police, fire, foreign policy, roads, sewers,
etc. - those services appear to be decreasing in effectiveness.

So we pay more to our government(s) yet we get less in services.

Where is the money going?

Latest addiction

2009-10-13T20:27:00.000-04:00

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Really, it's fun to stay at home on a cold night and lose yourself in
a video game.

Is is just me

2009-10-09T09:40:00.000-04:00

Or has the Nobel Peace Prize not only jumped the shark, it jumped
every fish and aquatic mammal at Sea World San Diego?

"The Ego Has Landed."

2009-10-02T18:22:00.001-04:00

Kudos to Drudge Report for the fantastic headline.

As you know, I am probably the most knowledgable guy anywhere when it
comes to being rejected by girls. Obama's courtship of the
International Olympic Committee on behalf of Chicago (NOT the US) was
an utterly ridiculous use and waste of presidential prestige.

Which makes the IOC's rejection of Obama the equivalent of the guy
proposing to the girl on the scoreboard and big screen at an NFL game
- and being rejected. Multiplied by about 500.

Exit question: would Obama have gone to the same lengths to push an
Olympic bid for a city like New York, Los Angeles or Dallas, where
Obama cronies would not have directly benefitted?

Derek Friggin' Anderson

2009-09-30T18:53:00.000-04:00

Isn't one definition of insanity trying the same thing over and over
again and expecting different results?

Isn't football hell watching coaching staff after idiot coaching staff
be mesmerized by a quarterback's arm strength even though he has
proven over and over again he has no clue what to do with that arm?

After Romeo Crennel screwed Brady Quinn and stuck with Derek Anderson
beyond all rationality, Eric Mangini announced today he plans to do
exactly the same thing.

So instead if watching an intelligent Brady Quinn and seeing if he can
develop, we are stuck with Anderson's propensity for turnovers,
inability to read defenses and constant disorganizaion and panic.

You suck, Mangini. After only three games you have shown that you
suck. I want you gone.

Make your own joke

2009-09-29T12:27:00.000-04:00

ESPN is reporting that the Miami Dolphins have lost quarterback Chad
Pennington for the season due to a shoulder injury. He is to be
replaced at quarterback by his backupn Chad Henne.

So here is South Florida's NFL franchise having on its roster multiple
Chads.

The world is going to hell

2009-09-27T22:01:00.003-04:00

There is only one who can save us.

That's right, children, it's ..

Emmanuelle Vaugier.

ALL EMMANUELLE VAUGIER!!! ALL THE TIME!!!

Cawfee Tawlk

2009-09-23T16:15:00.000-04:00

Tawlk amongst yourselves. I'll give you a topic:

Democracies and republics eventually vote themselves out of existence.

Discuss.

Score card

2009-09-22T20:38:00.004-04:00

About that Barack Obama foreign policy:

Eastern Europe: In an effort to appease Russia, Obama reneged on a deal to base missile defense systems in Poland and Czechia, opening Eastern Europe to Russian domination and the US east coast to nuclear attack, as well as making our Eastern European friends feel betrayed.

Honduras: the Hondurans deposed a Hugo Chavez wannabe dictator in a manner that's completely legal in Honduras, with the army, the supreme court and the people acting in unison. Obama has taken action against Honduras to try to force them to take the old guy back, which has convinced said old guy to return to try to force his way back into office, creating a crisis in the process. Obama won't even let Hondurans into the US, but he will ...

Burma: let members of the murderous junta ruling Burma (Yeah, I know they want me to call it "Myanmar" now; they can bite me) into the US.

Iran: Pro-US and anti-Islamist forces are staging mass demonstrations to topple the mullahcracy from power. Obama won't lift a finger to help them, and appears to be actually helping the murderous mullahs stay in power.

I don't know that Barack Obama could do worse if he tried. Perhaps he is.

If you disasgree with that statement, fine. Tell me precisely where Barack Obama is not hurting the US with his foreign policy decisions.

Out of the mouths of babes

2009-09-22T20:15:00.002-04:00

Oh, the societal confusion that ensues when a 9-year old male returns to school female:

A boy of nine has returned to school as a girl in what is believed to be Britain's youngest gender swap.

Children at the school in southern England were told the child had left and been replaced by a female pupil.

The child came dressed in girls' uniform with long hair tied in a pink ribbon.
The case comes after it was revealed yesterday that a 12-year-old boy had started his first term at secondary school in southern England as a girl.
Some parents at the school have criticised staff for not informing them before telling children about the gender change at a special assembly.

Pupils were told to call the child by her new name which had been displayed on a classroom peg and warned that nobody should bully or tease her.

A mother told The Sun: 'My son came home from school and asked why one of his friends had become a girl.

'I thought he was joking, but he kept asking - that's when alarm bells began ringing.
'The pupil's classmates were told he had left and that a new girl would be starting in his place this term.'

She added: 'They were told the new girl would be using the girls' toilet and that no-one should tease or bully her. If anyone saw the new girl being bullied they should stick up for her.
It upsets me that staff didn't mention it to parents before talking to the pupils.
'We have had to deal with the fall-out from all this. It's not a situation I or other parents are comfortable with and we've not been given any help from the school about how to handle it.
'My son is too young to really understand the significance of what's happening. It's hard to explain to him.'

The child is too young to have undergone sex change operations or hormone therapy.

Obviously, the age of nine is way too young to even consider sex change operations or hormone therapy. However, while I obviously do not know for sure, my guess is that the boy does not actually want to be a girl, but wants to adopt the accouterments that are reserved for girls such as makeup and dresses. Because he wants to adopt such "girl" stuff as his own, others have perhaps unwittingly convinced him and/or his parents that he actually wants to be a girl, when the truth is probably much simpler and should not be nearly as difficult to explain.

Notice that no one assumes that a girl wanting to wear pants or eschew makeup must want to be a guy. Double standard, anyone?

Kudos to his parents for being supportive of him during this time, as what usually happens is the parents in some form turn against the child in question. As for the child, the article makes it seem as if he and his parents are behaving far more rationally than the school administrators or the other parents.

Strangely appropriate

2009-09-20T21:47:00.002-04:00

After Barack Obama's recent actions concerning Poland, Czechia, Honduras, the F-22, missile defense and other defense and foreign policy actions, these words George W. Bush spoke to the Iraqi people during his 2003 State of the Union speech seen appropriate:

Your enemy is not surrounding your country, your enemy is ruling your country.

More dark clouds (or Counterdemocracy)

2009-09-10T19:21:00.003-04:00

Roger L. Simon asks whether Obama's tsar system is grounds for impeachment:

Barack Obama’s Czar System (it's "tsar," dammit! Tsar! T-S-A-R!!! -- ed.) which has recently come under scrutiny for some repellent, even paranoid, statements by his “Green Czar” Van Jones, a onetime “9-11 truther” who calls Republicans “assholes” on television – is an entirely different matter. This is directly an affair of state and seemingly an end run around the Separation of Powers. According to an article recently published at Examiner.com by Patrick McMahon, there are now thirty-one of these czars, covering areas from terrorism to domestic violence. Congress has not vetted a single one of them, as far as I know. Indeed, with only a couple of exceptions (Dennis Ross, etc.), we know who few of them are. Are others as extreme as Mr. Jones? Who knows? All we know is that they are there and that Obama (or someone) approved them. We don’t know exactly what their authority is and what they are supposed to do ultimately. They are a completely new part of our Executive Branch, invented by the President and/or his advisors. Was this what the Framers intended when they created the three branches of our government with all the checks and balances?

To explain how the US executive is expected to function under the Constitution, POTUS appoints cabinet secretaries, who take their posts only upon "advice and consent" of the Senate. The legislative branch thus serves as a check on executive power.

This legislative power has been circumvented to some extent in past administrations. The best example is that of Richard Nixon, whose secretaries of state and defense were relegated to merely ministerial functions, as Nixon centralized the defense and foreign policy responsibilities under his national security advisor, Henry Kissinger. There was a definite secrecy to it, but everyone knew who Kissinger was and his activities were largely public.

Now that model is being repeated exponentially with Obama's tsar system, but with the twist that these people are being given broad authority with no legislative review or public scrutiny whatsoever. Many of the ones identified so far have been found to be incompetent, corrupt or, worst of all, anti-American.

That's right. People who hate the United States are being given power to rule the United States by Barack Obama as tsars, with no opportunity for public input or even oversight. Van Jones. John Holdren. How many more America haters has he slipped in there?

With the tsars, even if the Republicans take over Congress next year, their power of oversight will be limited. The cabinet secretaries will be largely figureheads (see, e.g. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton). The real power will lie in the tsars -- secret, unaccountable, and hostile to the United States. With nothing anyone can do about it.

This counterdemocracy gets worse. While the tsars evade congressional oversight, Obama's old group ACORN is being given large powers over the census -- and vote fraud, in which it has been proven adept in the past. Efforts at removing Obama and his supporters from office could be hamstrung by ACORN's vote fraud.

There is also the Service Employees International Union, which in support of Obama's agenda makes no effort at hiding its willingness to practice physical intimidation and even assault of opponents of Obama. SEIU is a latter-day SA.

Examined as a whole, these appear to be elements of a concerted effort to prevent the American people from having any say over the activities of the Obama administration. And to keep it that way.

Is that grounds for impeachment?

The Children's Educational Portion of this Blog

2009-09-07T21:47:00.004-04:00

otherwise known as "The Kind of Kid's Show I Want for My Kids ... If I Had Any Kids."

(h/t: Ace.)

Classical headlines

2009-09-07T21:23:00.002-04:00

you likely did not see over the weekend:

USC Trojans defeat San Jose State Spartans 56-3 in rematch of Homer's Iliad.

About Obama's "czars"

2009-09-04T21:38:00.000-04:00

Let it never be said that we don't tackle the really tough issues
here ...

There has been much talk lately about Obama's extraconstitutional
"czars" - "auto czar," "green jobs czar," etc. - free their avoidance
of congressional confirmation or oversight whatsoever.

(Sort of like Emperor Palpatine appointing regional governors to take
the place of the Galactic Senate, not that Obama is anywhere near as
cool as Palpatine, Vader and the rest of the Imperials, but I
digress ...)

The latest example, of course, is the vile "green jobs czar" Van
Jones, not that there aren't plenty of even more vile members of the
current administration.

But - and I say this as one of Polish ancestry - the real problem is
this: "czar" is the Polish spelling of a Russian title, which is
itself based on the ancient Roman name and later title "caesar."

Going back to the term "czar," shouldn't we, instead of using the
Polish spelling of a Russian title, use the Russian spelling?

In other words, shouldn't all these unaccountable Obama "czars"
actually be "tsars?"

Another Universal Sign of Stupidity

2009-09-04T21:13:00.000-04:00

You're playing basketball ...

while wearing Crocs.

So, to all Michigan scum

2009-09-03T23:49:00.001-04:00

How's that Kelvin Sampson ... er, Rich Rodriguez hire workin' out for
ya?

Cawfee Tawlk

2009-08-30T19:35:00.001-04:00

Tawlk amongst yourselves. I'll give you a topic:

Everything in Western Pennsylvania that is not in Pittsburgh is
somehow, some way in West Mifflin.

Discuss.

Question(s) for the day

2009-08-27T12:37:00.001-04:00

Who came up with the phrase "cute as a button?" I mean, since when are
buttons "cute?"