I remember a comic from years back, Calvin and Hobbs as I recall. Calvin is sitting on a bench at lunch time, eating. Just then, the school bully sits down next to him, for once minding his own business. Calvin works himself up into a frenzy, thinking about how the bully is going to hit him. Wound up to the point of exploding, Calvin coldcocks the bully, knocking him out. When the teacher shows up to see what happened, Calvin exclaims, “I HIT HIM BACK FIRST!”

I think this best explains our current policy against terrorists. We know they are going to hit us, we know it will hurt, we know the loss of life will be horrendous.

So why not hit them back first? We no longer face a reasonable country as a foe, one who will weigh the advantages and disadvantages before attacking. We face a relatively small group of men who are not afraid to give their lives killing thousands of us in the process.

If we hit them where they live, keep them disorganized, disrupt their plans, we can keep them from hitting us. Which is exactly what our policy has been since Sept. 12th, 2001.

Senator Kerry doesn’t like that policy. He prefers to wait until we and our economy is in ruins before doing a damn thing about it. He would rather be REactive than PROactive.

Want proof? here it is, in his own words:

“I will never hesitate to use force when it is required. Any attack will be met with a swift and certain response.”

What I want to hear are words like this, paraphrased from President Bush:

“In this day of global terror, we will relentlessly pursue the terrorists and any other clear and present threats of the American people until they are dead or captured. No more will we wait until we are attacked, because the next attack will result in mushroom clouds appearing over our cities.”

That may make me a warmonger, and you could be right. But I ask anybody who would prefer waiting until New York, Chicago, LA, Cleveland, Dallas, et. al. are radioactive craters, please speak up and tell me you want to wait to do something until after a terrorist attack like that.

So what should we do? Hit them back first, or be reactive? Comments, please.

Found on NewsMax, this article should give you some pause: Comes Death on a Pale Horse.

He walked steadily but not hurriedly. He was neatly dressed in a three-piece Brooks Brothers suit. As he walked he looked directly ahead with a slight smile on his face; no one paid any attention to him. He was everyman; dark-skinned, clean-shaven, with straight black hair neatly combed.
When he reached the front of the largest building in the very center of the busy city, he put his suitcase down and checked his wristwatch. It was 9:54 a.m. His timing was impeccable. He picked up the suitcase and turned toward the street. Traffic was light; most people had already arrived at their jobs and were working. He said his prayers. A few minutes later he placed the suitcase on the sidewalk and slowly bent over and initiated the firing sequence.

“Allah Akbar!” he said, smiling.

Within seconds a huge fireball rose above the city. Already tens of thousands were dead, while buildings blocks away were twisted and ripped open by a wind calculated to approach 700 miles per hour. Within three minutes the dead and wounded would exceed 1 million Americans.

This same scenario was repeated at exactly the same time in six additional American cities. Fortunately, two other bombs failed to detonate. The death toll was over 7 million. America was physically devastated, her economy in shambles. No help came from the United Nations. No European countries sent aid.

Is that our future? I hope not, but we’ll find out soon enough, won’t we?

This article, John Kerry’s Stalinist Campaign Slogan pretty much explains itself.

In the last days before the Democratic National Convention, John Kerry and John Edwards adopted a campaign slogan: “Let America Be America Again.” They were clearly pleased by its provenance, as the first line of a poem written by black poet Langston Hughes (1902-67). At the height of his fame, Hughes was known as the “Shakespeare in Harlem.” He also had long history as a Communist activist and virulent atheist. And this poem clearly echoes his admiration of Stalinism.

But then again, according to Jerry Pournelle’s political axis, Kerry is a solid Socialist at 4,4, maybe bordering on Communism at 4.5,4.5.

So it’s no surprise that they pick a socialist poet with Communist sympathies.

In this article, ‘Hanoi John’ Gets Unwelcome Reception From Veterans, it is explained that more veterans are against Kerry than for him, by a wide margin.

“Because of people like Kerry and Fonda, Vietnam vets had to hide under a rock for 15 years,” said Reg Cornelia, 60, East Hampton, N.Y. “He came back and he lied about the atrocities, and worse still, he brought guys to testify before Congress who he knew had never served in Vietnam.”

Kerry turned on U.S. soldiers as a matter of “political expediency,” Cornelia said. He wondered why the news media hadn’t pushed Kerry on that subject.

Probably because the media was complicit. After all, it was the media who’s slant on the war sparked the protests and fanned the flames.

“We know he’s a phony,” [Vietnam veteran James] Booth said. “You don’t get two Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star and a Silver Star in 21 days. You don’t do it, no way. I was at Walter Reed [Army Medical Center] for 18 months. I got one Purple Heart. I lost an eye, part of my jaw and got hit in the arm. This guy’s got three scratches and he’s making a big deal out of it. It doesn’t seem right.”

As you’ll read in the next article, it is alleged that two of his three Purple Hearts were self inflicted. I knew one was by firing a mortar at the shore (no combat, he was bored) and a piece of shrapnel ricocheted back and caught him in the arm.

There you go.

In a related story, straight from Drudges Keyboard to your eyes:

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX THU JULY 29, 2004 10:24:25 ET XXXXX

KERRY WAR COMRADES PREPARE BATTLE — AGAINST KERRY

Capped by Kerry’s primetime speech to accept the Democratic Party’s nomination, Thursday’s program will include appearances and remarks by Kerry’s Swift Boat crewmates, the Kerry-Edwards campaign announced in a press release this morning.

But a group of veterans will soon try to convince a nation how what is presented on the convention stage tonight — may not be the full story: “Only 2 of John Kerry’s 23 fellow Swift boat commanders from Coastal Division 11 support his candidacy today.”

A new bombshell book written by the man who took over John Kerry’s Swift Boat charges: Two of John Kerry’s three Purple Heart decorations (#1 and #3) resulted from self-inflicted wounds, not suffered under enemy fire.

The startling Purple Heart accusations, outlined in detail for the first time, are found in UNFIT FOR COMMAND, Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry.

And that’s just the beginning.

The book, previewed by the DRUDGE REPORT, will be unleashed next month by REGNERY.

The book hit #2 on the AMAZON sales chart on the eve of the Kerry acceptance speech in Boston.

Swift Boat Veterans began to fume after Kerry’s campaign used a photograph of John Kerry and 19 other Coastal Division 11 Swift boat officers [taken at Ton Sun Nuht Air Base on January 22, 1969] in a pro-Kerry advertisement.

William Shumadine, a member of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth pictured in the photograph, explains in UNFIT: “John Kerry’s use of a photograph with his nineteen comrades, with knowledge that eleven of them condemn him and six who cannot or do not want to be involved, is a complete misreprentation to the public and a total fraud.”

[A major campaign is being planned, beginning next week, over 200 anti-Kerry vets involved, with news conferences in battleground states.]

Developing…

I quoted the whole thing because, as always, Drudge does not archive his pages.

I found this article, Notable Quotes: John Kerry Can Secure America and couldn’t resist it.

Here’s their words and my comments:

Billy Baldwin, actor, representative of the Creative Coalition: “Without a doubt, without a doubt. When it comes to mending fences with the Germans and the French and the United Nations and NATO, I think [a Kerry administration] would take it more seriously…

President Bush spent months courting France and Germany. Then it turned out that these two countries had sweet deals with Saddam and Iraq. If we toppled Saddam, those contracts (and millions of dollars of money) would go down the drain. So they had national interests directly opposed to ours. The only way to get them on our side now would probably to reinstate Saddam.

Aldofo Carrion, Bronx, NYC Borough President:…There are no weapons of mass destruction, there is no evidence, there are no ties with Al Qaeda, no direct ties…

We have found some shells of sarin nerve agent, which shows that there are at least some WMD hanging around. Iraq is a big country and there is a lot of digging to do yet.

The 9/11 commission said there were ties between Iraq and Al Qaeda, just no connection between Iraq and 9/11, which is something the Bush Administration has never said anyway, but the press keeps trying to allude to it.

Michael Moore, filmmaker: “Let me answer that by asking you a question. If a group of people barged in here right now and started to attack us, you and me, who would you rather have standing right here with us, John Kerry or George W. Bush? Think about it in those terms, who do you think would have a better chance of surviving an assault on America with? The answer is clear, John Kerry.”

Sure, John Kerry who voted to cut every major military program on the board. John Kerry who voted to cut spending in general to the military. John Kerry who voted to slash intelligence gathering to the very bone. That is who would protect us? Someone who would make us defenseless, subordinate our national security to countries who have interests opposite ours? I don’t think so.

Kerry suffers a severe disconnect from reality concerning our national energy policy. Kerry to assert foreign oil, national security link.

He wants cars to be more fuel efficient, but doesn’t realize we have reached the point of diminishing returns as far as fuel efficiency. What we need is a way to diminish the foreign dependence on oil by increasing domestic production. But there is no way for him and his cohorts to increase domestic production. So we have to depend on the middle east to make up the difference. Which means that the stability of the middle east is a national security priority.

It’s a circular reasoning problem that is making me dizzy.

I have been getting a lot of hits concerning the website Jib Jab and their parody of Woody Guthrie and his song “This land” which is here. So, I thought I’d refresh the link so you wouldn’t have to go searching through my archives to find it.

Go see it. It’s funny.

The headline says it all: Socialists Join Communists in Backing Kerry.

Two of the most virulent anti-American forces are backing a Presidential candidate. Shouldn’t that tell you something about the man? About his policies and outlook on life? It does for me.

With friends such as these, Kerry won’t need any enemies.

Amen to that.

Supporters of Kerry want a cabinet level position, the Department of Peace. Progressives Want Kerry, Dept. of Peace.

I don’t know where this reporter got their facts, but it states in paragraph 5 that Kerry spent three tours of duty on Vietnam, when nothing could be further from the truth. He spent 4 months there, whereupon he was rotated out after getting three Purple Hearts.

Still, the progressive activists said they wish Kerry were further to the left.

If the good Senator from Massachusetts leaned any farther to the left, he would be horizontal. They don’t realize that he must move to the center to get the uncommitted pool of voters to at least consider voting for him. But his rabid Liberal followers just keep dragging him back to the left.

Kucinich and his backers hoped that the progressive movement would devote some of its energies to pushing hard for a Department of Peace.

Under the headline “U.S. Department of Peace,” a banner on the speakers’ stage proclaimed: “We, the people of the United States of America, call upon our government to withdraw from the war in Iraq and begin reconstruction of what we have just destroyed.”

These people aren’t paying attention to the facts. We have been reconstructing Iraq from day one of the invasion. All of the hospitals and schools are open. Oil, water and electricity are flowing better than before the war. It will take a lot of time and effort to fully restore Iraq’s infrastructure, because so much of it was neglected during Saddams regime. Instead of investing his Oil for Food money into where it was supposed to go, he built palaces for himself. As with all dictators, he wallowed in luxury while his citizens languished in poverty.

Peace is a pipe dream. Everything we do is a struggle against something and we must wage battles to get what we want. There is no peace. There never will be peace, short of the peace of the grave. We as human beings must fight for everything, including the drawing of breath. Not all fights involve violence. We must fight to win and keep our jobs, fight for payraises, fight with our children so that they may grow up right, and so on.

These people believe that peace is the opposite of war. Slavery is the opposite of war, and that is exactly what Iraq is fighting against right now. The citizens of Iraq are given a choice. They can live in freedom in a country ruled by law, or they can live in a country where there is no freedom and the law of the land is Sharia, or Islamic religious law. They are choosing the former and they have to fight to earn it.

Good for them.

I finally got in contact with my case manager and med nurse and got my stuff straightened out. I’m picking up my refills this morning.

I’m glad, I’ve been feeling out of sorts the past couple of days and that’s why I haven’t been commenting too much yesterday or today.

I think the picture pretty much says it all:

I think they should hand these out at abortion clinics. It might give pause to those women before they do something like this again. Or at least the act that led up to it.

Not only has the transmission come off (read that next post) but the wheels are coming off as well.

A couple of weeks back I missed my last medication appointment because of an time-critical emergency task that took precedence over getting my meds that day. I had a weeks worth of meds, so that wasn’t the emergency.

Next week comes along and no rescheduled appointment. I am now low on meds, and I call my case manager. He calls the med nurse and then I get a call from her on Friday, when I am down to one days meds. She calls in two weeks worth, but schedules my appointment three weeks down the road.

Well, things broke down last week and I couldn’t reach anybody, so I have been off medications now for two whole days. I finally got hold of my case manager who was out sick last week this morning and he’s getting the ball rolling.

I’ve been holding together so far, but the medications I am on are dangerous if you just stop taking them.

I’ll keep you informed as to what is going on.

Just last week I got a rather large bite in my karmic butt.

For those of you who don’t delve deeply into my archives, I have a minivan who’s transmission died last year. I have been withholding repairing it because it is in my wife’s name, even though she doesn’t drive. The reason why it’s in her name has to do with my mental illness. She hasn’t given me permission to get it fixed, I did this on my own.

Anyway, I decided to spend most of my savings and I bought a used transmission. I also contracted with a mechanic friend to replace the transmission. He quoted me one Sunday to do the swap, so I got the transmission and the minivan to his house and awaited the return of my transportation.

Here’s where the wrong reason comes in. While my family would have profited from the van working, I would have gotten way more out of it than they would have. It was for almost purely selfish, not altruistic, reasons that I went ahead with this. There are places that I want to be that I can’t get to without someone else taking me there and I feel that I am imposing on my friends in this way.

Well, it took my friend a month to get the replacement transmission in. He was delayed by several unavoidable reasons (bad weather, food poisoning, accident, etc.). Once he finally got it in, he discovered that the replacement transmission is dead as well. Because he took so long, the warranty ran out on the transmission and I am now stuck with two dead transmissions and no money to try again. And I still owe him the money for doing the work.

I have no idea if the transmission is repairable or if it is, if he would do it.

Learn from my mistake. Make sure your motives are in the right alignment before you do something, or risk the negative consequences.

Well, after having some spare money from the transmission fiasco (I was going to use it to register the vehicle), I decided to spend it on getting a new chair. I found one on sale at the local Office Max. It’s a nice comfortable executive chair with a thick enough back so that my Conures can perch on it behind me while I type my missives to you.

About the same time, I also discovered that all five seasons of Babylon 5 are out on DVD. I decided to get season 1 and I’ll spend about half of my disposable income for the month on getting subsequent seasons as the months go by. This just means that I’ll be on the Ramin diet for the next 4 months.

B5 to me beats out Star Trek because in the ST universe, there are very little realities to the human condition. At least in B5 you have that underclass of people who are willing to do anything to survive. It means that no matter how good things get, someone will always be left behind. That may not be right, but it’s true.