This morning, the news from Iran is that the Prosecutor General there has grave concerns for it's people over the importation of western toys, specifically Barbie!
The Commissioner of Trade or something of that sort, says that Barbie is a "social danger" and "culturally destructive". I guess I would agree that the plastic icon of a 6'-3" blond woman with a 38-21-34 figure represents a certain social danger anywhere! (It is definitely disquieting to me to even think about!)
This is the same government that puts it's populace in certain jeopardy with every nuclear centrifuge it builds. The same government that sends it's citizens into Iraq to blow themselves up in a group of innocents. The same government that authorizes stoning and whipping of any woman not wearing the appropriate "tent" when out in public. But all of this pales in comparison to the grave threat of Barbie.
Certainly, this is a tool that we can and should employ. A strategic weapon unlike any other.
Here's the plan:
Refit a squadron of B1 bombers to hold hundreds of Barbies in the bomb-bays. Each Barbie to be fitted with a parachute. I know that Mattel still has the tooling to produce these; Ken would never use one, but GI Joe used to have them before he quit the military to become a Social Worker! I'm sure they're stockpiled somewhere.
Of course, each Barbie is to be naked other than the 'chute. Talk about "shock and awe"! (My daughter has a dozen Barbies laying around the house and none of them appear to own clothing, so this is another aspect of western depravity that makes this weapon even more destructive!)
We then fly sortie after sortie of daylight raids dropping hundreds of tons of naked plastic decadence on Iranian cities. Imagine the social impact on the populace. Men running through the streets with their eyes burning out of their heads. Woman tearing off their tents and exposing skin in defiant imitation. Inspired indecency driven by these nude ninjas. Little girls holding them and dreaming of actually having a "life" as a woman. Little boys holding them, and, well.... just dreaming I suppose.
I tell you, this can work!
A psychological weapon that doesn't kill. No radiation. No burning oil fields. No cities in ruins. Just the ecological impact of hundreds of thousands of Barbies that take about 250,000 years to bio-degrade in the sand. (Oh-oh, I can already hear some on the left opposing this weapon!)
Like any strategic weapon, we must protect the supply. The only threat being that China and Iran are allies, and China currently holds the largest stockpile of Barbies. Arrgh!!......this could make them the new superpower!
We'd better get out those old Barbie molds used when we made her right here in the U.S. of A.. That's OK though. I think I remember the old Barbie having even more outrageous proportions anyway. Now that's a killer-body!
Bombshells away!
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Two Quotes
“The problem is not that I met with Hamas in Syria, the problem is that Israel and the United States refuse to meet these people... So I told Hamas, don’t wait for reciprocation, just do it unilaterally. This will bring a lot of credit to you around the world for doing a humane thing. They turned me down.” —Jimmy Carter
"Shocking!" - UpNorfJoel
"Shocking!" - UpNorfJoel
A Corny Idea
Enviro-nuts and libs now have a new conundrum to deal with.
The U.N. (one of their favored entities of course) now states that we are approaching a global food supply crisis, and in their statement, they put much of the blame on the new push for bio-fuels!
Many nations are now subsidizing farmers to convert their wheat and soybean fields to corn. Canada and the U.S. are taking the lead on that. Ethanol is the objective. The global-warming crowd loves the stuff for it's clean-burning. The enviro-nuts love it because corn fields are prettier than oil-derricks.
There are many issues surrounding this ethanol craze. Like everything, there is a downside to it. Actually several. It is a poor substitute for oil in many ways. But in this case we are talking about diverting food products to fuel. What to do now?
Let's ask Alex Baldwin or Angellina Jolie or Al Gore.
Show them some of the hungry children in Africa or Asia, and then let them think about how we are taking grain and soybean fields and turning them to corn so that we can drive our Tahoe-hybrid and save the planet! Not to mention that we can perhaps end this all this killing for oil! Oh and this ugly drilling!
Of course Alex and Angellina aren't hungry. And they can easily afford $5.00 a gallon bio-fuels. So they can continue to fight against "big oil" and the evil of using our military to protect the supply. Ah, but there's always another side. Do they ever stop to think about it?
The U.N. (one of their favored entities of course) now states that we are approaching a global food supply crisis, and in their statement, they put much of the blame on the new push for bio-fuels!
Many nations are now subsidizing farmers to convert their wheat and soybean fields to corn. Canada and the U.S. are taking the lead on that. Ethanol is the objective. The global-warming crowd loves the stuff for it's clean-burning. The enviro-nuts love it because corn fields are prettier than oil-derricks.
There are many issues surrounding this ethanol craze. Like everything, there is a downside to it. Actually several. It is a poor substitute for oil in many ways. But in this case we are talking about diverting food products to fuel. What to do now?
Let's ask Alex Baldwin or Angellina Jolie or Al Gore.
Show them some of the hungry children in Africa or Asia, and then let them think about how we are taking grain and soybean fields and turning them to corn so that we can drive our Tahoe-hybrid and save the planet! Not to mention that we can perhaps end this all this killing for oil! Oh and this ugly drilling!
Of course Alex and Angellina aren't hungry. And they can easily afford $5.00 a gallon bio-fuels. So they can continue to fight against "big oil" and the evil of using our military to protect the supply. Ah, but there's always another side. Do they ever stop to think about it?
Monday, April 21, 2008
Words of Wisdom
These days, it’s certainly true that many Americans don’t believe in God. Many seem to, however, believe in anything... anything that Oprah tells them to believe in.”
-G.K. Chesterson
-G.K. Chesterson
Rambling Down the Track
A recent radio commercial spoke of the efficiency of rail transport in our oil-starved country. I think it was CSX that was advertising, and in it they claim that their trains can move one ton of cargo 432 miles on one gallon of diesel fuel. That is impressive, and it took me back to my observations of the abandonment of the railroad that I witnessed, specifically in my beloved northern Michigan. I always wondered why?
I've always enjoyed trains, and virtually all of the little towns I love in northern Michigan were founded along a trunk-line of some little railroad. There were no monopolies in the rail business in 19th-century Michigan. Dozens of companies owned rail throughout the north; providing transport mainly for the lumber industry. When the giant white pines were all but erased, miles and miles of track were pulled and the right-of-ways sold or abandoned. The tourist trade kept some alive, but only for awhile.
It's interesting to search out some of these lost railroad beds, and think back to life in those times. Of course, many of these locations are obvious; the ones that have been turned into bike/hike paths. (And I totally endorse that kind of "recycling"). Or a building that was unmistakably a depot in it's past, but now with only sidewalks and a street running by it. But there are many that take real detective work to find. After 100 years or longer, they may just be nothing more that a raised berm snaking through what is now a forest. Those are kind of neat to locate.
Right here within a mile of my house, the old Detroit Urban Railway used to run up from the city to the little farm towns in mid-Michigan. It had a stop in my town, and I can still go out and find the right-of-way. I've even found an old concrete bridge over a little trout stream that sits in the middle of a woods. It sure looks out of place now as you first walk up to it and wonder how and why it's there!
To get back to my main point; I can certainly understand the end of the lumber era closing most of these railroads. I don't think anyone back then could visualize a future need with the lumber virtually gone. But when I watched miles and miles of rail being pulled in the 1980's and 90's, I thought; what a short-sighted move! We had already lived through the big oil crisis of the 70's, and we could definitely see that oil prices were only going to go in one direction. Why pull all of that track? Why sell off the right-of-ways? Did anyone stop to think about how difficult and expensive it would be to try and buy it back someday? Guess not. But I bet someone is thinking about it now.
When I was a kid, I would visit with my aunt and uncle who still own a cottage on the west shore of Mullet Lake, just south of Cheboygan. On a lake, the "front yard" is the water side. The "back yard" is where the garage is, and where you park the car, etc.. Well, in this case, they also had a train track running through the back yard, which followed the entire shoreline for miles. What a scenic little railroad that was! I still remember fondly how my cousin and I would be out swimming and from a few miles away we'd hear the first whistle. Then it was a mad dash to get out of the lake and through the yard to get near the train as it ran by. Mostly we'd just pump our arms to get the engineer to blow the whistle, but if we were quick enough, we'd place a couple of pennies on the track and turn some U.S. legal tender into little copper potato chips!
That little train ran once a day in the summer. A big one was maybe twenty cars long. Sometimes only three or four though. I guess that's why it was doomed, and so in 1984 they pulled the track. Now, many semi-trucks run up and down U.S. 27 right next to where the track used to be, and now those trucks are costing a fortune to operate. And they can't even flatten a penny!
I've always enjoyed trains, and virtually all of the little towns I love in northern Michigan were founded along a trunk-line of some little railroad. There were no monopolies in the rail business in 19th-century Michigan. Dozens of companies owned rail throughout the north; providing transport mainly for the lumber industry. When the giant white pines were all but erased, miles and miles of track were pulled and the right-of-ways sold or abandoned. The tourist trade kept some alive, but only for awhile.
It's interesting to search out some of these lost railroad beds, and think back to life in those times. Of course, many of these locations are obvious; the ones that have been turned into bike/hike paths. (And I totally endorse that kind of "recycling"). Or a building that was unmistakably a depot in it's past, but now with only sidewalks and a street running by it. But there are many that take real detective work to find. After 100 years or longer, they may just be nothing more that a raised berm snaking through what is now a forest. Those are kind of neat to locate.
Right here within a mile of my house, the old Detroit Urban Railway used to run up from the city to the little farm towns in mid-Michigan. It had a stop in my town, and I can still go out and find the right-of-way. I've even found an old concrete bridge over a little trout stream that sits in the middle of a woods. It sure looks out of place now as you first walk up to it and wonder how and why it's there!
To get back to my main point; I can certainly understand the end of the lumber era closing most of these railroads. I don't think anyone back then could visualize a future need with the lumber virtually gone. But when I watched miles and miles of rail being pulled in the 1980's and 90's, I thought; what a short-sighted move! We had already lived through the big oil crisis of the 70's, and we could definitely see that oil prices were only going to go in one direction. Why pull all of that track? Why sell off the right-of-ways? Did anyone stop to think about how difficult and expensive it would be to try and buy it back someday? Guess not. But I bet someone is thinking about it now.
When I was a kid, I would visit with my aunt and uncle who still own a cottage on the west shore of Mullet Lake, just south of Cheboygan. On a lake, the "front yard" is the water side. The "back yard" is where the garage is, and where you park the car, etc.. Well, in this case, they also had a train track running through the back yard, which followed the entire shoreline for miles. What a scenic little railroad that was! I still remember fondly how my cousin and I would be out swimming and from a few miles away we'd hear the first whistle. Then it was a mad dash to get out of the lake and through the yard to get near the train as it ran by. Mostly we'd just pump our arms to get the engineer to blow the whistle, but if we were quick enough, we'd place a couple of pennies on the track and turn some U.S. legal tender into little copper potato chips!
That little train ran once a day in the summer. A big one was maybe twenty cars long. Sometimes only three or four though. I guess that's why it was doomed, and so in 1984 they pulled the track. Now, many semi-trucks run up and down U.S. 27 right next to where the track used to be, and now those trucks are costing a fortune to operate. And they can't even flatten a penny!
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Socialism 101
“The truth is, in order to get things like universal health care and a revamped education system, then someone is going to have to give up a piece of their pie so that someone else can have more’.” —Michelle Obama
Now There's an Idea...
“One way to reduce illegal immigration might be to translate some of our far left publications into Spanish and give everyone in Mexico subscriptions. After they read how terrible this country is, many may want to stay away.” —Thomas Sowell
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Treason, Pure and Simple
Jimmy Carter is no longer amusing.
Strap a tool belt to him and have him pound some nails in a wall for the Habitat for Humanity group somewhere, and that's sort of harmless fun.
Listen to him rant in a half-senile speech at some community college commencement and that's sort of harmless fun too.
But his decision now to sit down and "chat" with a sworn enemy of freedom, the U.S. and it's allies, is no longer harmless fun. It is in fact, treason. Disgusting enough if he was just an ordinary Georgia ex-farmer and discontent. But somehow, he became a U.S. President, and just as quickly became an ex-President, and unfortunately that makes him much more than harmless. In the eyes of an enemy like Hamas, it gives them comfort. It gives them a stage and a voice. It helps them. And that makes it a treasonous act, period.
We have, and probably always will negotiate with enemies of the U.S.. But it is long-standing policy of the U.S. not to conduct any diplomacy with terrorists. Nothing which would give them any level of legitimacy. At least not until they had proven that they could and would, end the taking of the innocent lives. This is an important distinction, but one that Jimmy Carter apparently doesn't agree with, nor care about.
Jimmy Carter has become more than an embarrassment. He has become a serious liability to Freedom. Conversely, Freedom has it's own liabilities, and in America, it's free speech to the ignorant like Jimmy Carter, ex-Commander in Chief, and now an enemy within.
Strap a tool belt to him and have him pound some nails in a wall for the Habitat for Humanity group somewhere, and that's sort of harmless fun.
Listen to him rant in a half-senile speech at some community college commencement and that's sort of harmless fun too.
But his decision now to sit down and "chat" with a sworn enemy of freedom, the U.S. and it's allies, is no longer harmless fun. It is in fact, treason. Disgusting enough if he was just an ordinary Georgia ex-farmer and discontent. But somehow, he became a U.S. President, and just as quickly became an ex-President, and unfortunately that makes him much more than harmless. In the eyes of an enemy like Hamas, it gives them comfort. It gives them a stage and a voice. It helps them. And that makes it a treasonous act, period.
We have, and probably always will negotiate with enemies of the U.S.. But it is long-standing policy of the U.S. not to conduct any diplomacy with terrorists. Nothing which would give them any level of legitimacy. At least not until they had proven that they could and would, end the taking of the innocent lives. This is an important distinction, but one that Jimmy Carter apparently doesn't agree with, nor care about.
Jimmy Carter has become more than an embarrassment. He has become a serious liability to Freedom. Conversely, Freedom has it's own liabilities, and in America, it's free speech to the ignorant like Jimmy Carter, ex-Commander in Chief, and now an enemy within.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Words of Wisdom
“The public cannot be too curious concerning the characters of public men.”
—Samuel Adams
Do you know this man?
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Wright is Wrong Detroit
The Detroit chapter of the NAACP announced today that they have invited the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. to speak at their annual Freedom Fund Dinner. I'm really trying to understand why?
By now, hasn't everyone heard his hate-mongering? Absolutely. So that tells me one of two things; either they've heard his words and concur, or they don't agree, but are so desperate for the attention that this is bound to generate, that they will set aside their values in order to get it. Both of these reasons are troubling.
The Reverend is a racist. He espouses the kind of views that not only inflame blacks, but also serve to rekindle negative and prejudice feelings in whites. I can tell you quite honestly, this is what the words do to me personally.
It's the last thing that we need in this country, and even less here in Detroit. But does the NAACP really care? The rest of the country has an image of Detroit, whether fair or accurate, or not. Now the national news will carry the Reverend's visit here and do nothing but further reinforce national opinions on this city. Everyone with a voice, from Kwame on down should be protesting this decision. A boycott of this dinner would be the right thing to do.
Blacks all around the country talked last week about how little has changed since MLK's time. All you have to do is listen to Rev. Wright and you'll find a perfect example of one reason why that just might be true.
By now, hasn't everyone heard his hate-mongering? Absolutely. So that tells me one of two things; either they've heard his words and concur, or they don't agree, but are so desperate for the attention that this is bound to generate, that they will set aside their values in order to get it. Both of these reasons are troubling.
The Reverend is a racist. He espouses the kind of views that not only inflame blacks, but also serve to rekindle negative and prejudice feelings in whites. I can tell you quite honestly, this is what the words do to me personally.
It's the last thing that we need in this country, and even less here in Detroit. But does the NAACP really care? The rest of the country has an image of Detroit, whether fair or accurate, or not. Now the national news will carry the Reverend's visit here and do nothing but further reinforce national opinions on this city. Everyone with a voice, from Kwame on down should be protesting this decision. A boycott of this dinner would be the right thing to do.
Blacks all around the country talked last week about how little has changed since MLK's time. All you have to do is listen to Rev. Wright and you'll find a perfect example of one reason why that just might be true.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Want of Wisdom
The latest from socialist superstar Alec Baldwin. He can't really decide on who the most liberal is, so he's setting up his dream scenario:
Quote-
"One possible consequence of an Obama presidency? Supreme Court Justice Hillary Clinton. Dang, that sounds good."
Quote-
"One possible consequence of an Obama presidency? Supreme Court Justice Hillary Clinton. Dang, that sounds good."
Incorrigible Internet Intercessions
Just received my 10th electronic prayer this week! That's about average I'd say. You know the one's I mean; a nice, sappy greeting about how blessed we all are, followed by some lengthy "Hallmark" prose and then maybe some pictures of bunnies or fawns or sunsets.
I know that there are good Christians sending these out with very good intentions, but really, it's getting out of hand.
Other than adding significantly to the growing pile of spam in my inbox, probably the most annoying aspect of them is the inevitable demand that the message be passed along to 12 more friends or not only will they miss out on the web blessings (can I live with that guilt?), but I'm most likely going to bring a plague of viruses to my own hard-drive also. (Just in case, I've smeared lamb's blood all over my Dell! Messy....very messy.)
Oh yes, and I absolutely must return the message to the sender. The point here being that they need some kind of affirmation that I'm really not a Heathen, and that their mailbox can then become just as bound-up as the recipient's.
From the religious point of view, can we trust a blessing coming to us via the web? Impersonal, to be sure, but also it's the idea that firewalls all over the world are clogged with these little blessed electrons just idling in our cache's, doing no good whatsoever, like a communion wafer that's accidentally dropped on the floor, it has become tainted.
The internet is a wonderful thing. But it is also abused by many bad and just plain useless things. We make prayer useless when we trivialize it by forwarding it in these electronic mass-mailings. If one truly believes in "intercession" than I urge everyone to resist this. Instead, go to your Church, kneel in your pew or at the alter, and pass blessings to as many as your friends as you want over the universe-wide web. God doesn't need a broad-band or high speed anything!
I guess that there are worse things on the internet to worry about than a bunch of prayers. Some would probably argue that this is just what a filthy web needs anyway; more sanitizing agents like these. But what an abuse of such an awesome gift.
I know that there are good Christians sending these out with very good intentions, but really, it's getting out of hand.
Other than adding significantly to the growing pile of spam in my inbox, probably the most annoying aspect of them is the inevitable demand that the message be passed along to 12 more friends or not only will they miss out on the web blessings (can I live with that guilt?), but I'm most likely going to bring a plague of viruses to my own hard-drive also. (Just in case, I've smeared lamb's blood all over my Dell! Messy....very messy.)
Oh yes, and I absolutely must return the message to the sender. The point here being that they need some kind of affirmation that I'm really not a Heathen, and that their mailbox can then become just as bound-up as the recipient's.
From the religious point of view, can we trust a blessing coming to us via the web? Impersonal, to be sure, but also it's the idea that firewalls all over the world are clogged with these little blessed electrons just idling in our cache's, doing no good whatsoever, like a communion wafer that's accidentally dropped on the floor, it has become tainted.
The internet is a wonderful thing. But it is also abused by many bad and just plain useless things. We make prayer useless when we trivialize it by forwarding it in these electronic mass-mailings. If one truly believes in "intercession" than I urge everyone to resist this. Instead, go to your Church, kneel in your pew or at the alter, and pass blessings to as many as your friends as you want over the universe-wide web. God doesn't need a broad-band or high speed anything!
I guess that there are worse things on the internet to worry about than a bunch of prayers. Some would probably argue that this is just what a filthy web needs anyway; more sanitizing agents like these. But what an abuse of such an awesome gift.
Monday, April 7, 2008
R.I.P. Chuck
Another icon passes....
Charlton Heston was such a favorite of mine. I can sum it up very easily; he comanded the screen in just about everything he did. There are only a few actors that you can say that about, and unfortunately we are now left with just a few. Whatever the cause, they're just not making them anymore.
Fortunately, he lives on in roles that we can watch over and over again. El Cid....Gray Lady Down....The Omega Man....Khartoum. Good, good stuff.
R.I.P. Chuck....and thanks!
Charlton Heston was such a favorite of mine. I can sum it up very easily; he comanded the screen in just about everything he did. There are only a few actors that you can say that about, and unfortunately we are now left with just a few. Whatever the cause, they're just not making them anymore.
Fortunately, he lives on in roles that we can watch over and over again. El Cid....Gray Lady Down....The Omega Man....Khartoum. Good, good stuff.
R.I.P. Chuck....and thanks!
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