The Conservative Zone

I have a lot to do today, so no time making a lot of posts. But I did want to cover this:

I think that this law the "Scooter" Libby was indicted under is a violation of our Fourth Amendment rights, where we have the right to be secure in our papers, places and things.

All it takes is one conflicting statement in talking to investigators or the grand jury and you are in deep shit. All it takes is one suddenly remembered thing, added to your story, and you are suddenly "lying to investigators." And when you are grilled, you are asked the same questions over and over again, and any slip up is again "lying to investigators." It's literally a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation.

This law is vindictive when used this way, because if the prosecutor can't get you for the crime he thinks you committed, then he will get you for "lying" about it.

I don't see a problem with this law, when used in conjunction with a crime, i.e. you have to be charged with the crime first, then this law. If there is no underlying law broken, as in Martha Stewart and Scooter Libby, then this law should not apply.

This is what you get when we let government get away with things.

Posted by Mark at 8:23 AM | Permalink

Well, first of all let me say a good time was had by all. When you can have three great games in one day, that is a fun day, win or lose.

My first game was against David and his Chaos Space Marines, which are regular Space Marines that have gone over to the Dark Side. The scenario was Arch Rivals, where your general always had to move toward the enemy general. You got 200 victory points if your general managed to kill the other one and survive the battle. Well, I whittled his general down a bit, and let him get into close combat with my general. Too bad he got to go first and he killed my general before he could even get a hit in. The rest of the game went like that, I was reduced to a Dreadnought, a Land Speeder and half a squad of Marines. I ended up losing big time.

Next was against Jeremy and his own Chapter of Space Marines. You can take a Chapter like I have (Ultramarines) who have everything set for you, or you can "design your own." You have certain traits that you can take, but the more positive traits you take, the more and worse disadvantages you have also. Up until now, I have been able to beat him pretty regularly when I have played him, but this time he got it right and wiped the battlefield with me. The scenario was Unplanned Assault and at the end of the battle I was reduced to one squad running around in its Rhino transport. I managed to get that squad into his deployment zone for a victory point, but I lost one for losing my general.

My third and final battle was against Gus and his Black Templar Space Marines. Think Crusades and you'll be on the right track. This time the scenario was The Hunted, where you get double points for destroying a particular unit. He picked my lowest cost (and weakest) unit, while I picked a unit that had a medium cost to it. He had a rather large points sink in the fact that he had two units of Terminators, virtually unstoppable Marines. It took five of the six turns to kill one unit of them off and knock the other unit below 50% of models left, giving me at least some points for banging mercilessly on those two units. Gus hurt me pretty bad, but at the end of the game I had killed the hunted unit I was after, and I still had two and a half tactical squads left. I eked out a win, just a few points less and it would have been a draw.

While I ended up with a 1-2 record, I managed to impress my opponents enough for them to max out their points that we use to rate each other in army composition, painting and stuff like that. I surprisingly ended up tied for 4th place, and then won the Best Sportsman award! Even though we only had 11 people at the event, for me to place as highly as I did with that record was a real shock to me.

For my efforts, I was awarded a Lord of the Rings blister pack with a character in it, and a "Liber Chaotica," a fluff (backstory) book on one of the kinds of Chaos Space Marines.

I looks like I'll be tuning my list for another go at one of these tournaments when it comes around again in 3-4 months or so. Hopefully I will also have finished upgrading and repainting my tactical squads. That way I can look a whole lot better than my tactical squads look now. If you want to see an example of what I mean, look at this entry. Then after I finish with the tactical squads, I'll be repainting all of my vehicles. That will be so much fun I can't wait to begin[/sarcasm].

But, you know, painting keeps me busy in my spare time and gives me something positive and constructive to do. At least I'm not out blowing my money getting lap dances.... ;-)

Posted by Mark at 9:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

For those of you who hang around my site on Saturdays, I just wanted to tell you that I took the day off and I'm playing in a Warhammer 40k Rogue Trader Tournament. That's where you play three games at 1850 points worth of forces and you are graded on not only victories, but on how "fluffy" (how well your army conforms to the fiction writing of the 40K universe) your army is, how well it's painted and things like that.

I'll give you detailed battle reports and possibly even pictures either tonight or tomorrow.

Wish me luck. My Ultramarines and I are going in.

Posted by Mark at 8:25 AM | Permalink

Well, that didn't go so well.

I was being sold (not that is a bad thing) a job in the insurance industry. I was getting the (hopefully) straight skinny on what reasonable numbers were as far as production, and it sounded accomplishable. Even though I had a red flag (one of the subsidiary companies is despised by Dave Ramsey) it sounded like a good deal.

Then came the sticking part. In order to become an insurance salesman, you have to attend a week long class. I can handle that. And they wanted $350 up front for the class. Sorry, can't do that. No deduction in pay once you're in or anything like that. And you know me, barely making it on what I do have. I have the $350, but I'm not spending it on a class like that.

The good news is I have a similar offer from another well known company, and it sounds like they would pay for the class. I don't know that at this point, but I'm hopeful. I'll know more Tuesday, that's when the appointment takes place. I'll keep you guys up to date. Breaking news as it happens and all that.

Posted by Mark at 8:55 AM | Permalink

Well, I have to prepare to go to a job interview in less than an hour. It's not in tech, but there's a promise of good money and that's what I need.

Wish me luck. Update later, maybe.

Posted by Mark at 9:06 AM | Permalink

From Boortz:

Neal wrote a blurb about the aftermath of Wilma and how Jeb Bush is apologizing for state and federal help isn't there quick enough. But this is what I wanted you to read:

All of this asks the question: what is the proper role of government following a natural disaster? Is it simply to restore law and order and essential services? Or is the government supposed to hold people's hand, paying for their every need and waiting on them hand and foot? This is a lesson from Katrina. More and more with each passing day Americans are being taught, and they're learning quite well we must say, to depend on government for just about everything. People who stocked up on necessities such as water, non-perishable food, batteries and other basics weren't the ones complaining. The more we depend on government the more politicians love it, and the less freedom we have. Self-sufficiency is no longer the goal for far too many Americans. Now the goal is to see how much responsibility they can turn over to the government while continuing to live the easy life.

America cannot survive this new attitude of government dependency.

It doesn't take much to prepare for any kind of emergency, and with a few hours warning I can pack up my family and pets and be out of the area, self-sufficient for at least a couple of days. That's all you need to avoid the worst part of the disaster. And that is how we should all be.

Have an emergency fund of 3-6 months of expenses. Have several days food and water stored, and rotate it on a regular basis. Keep prescription medications at hand. And so on.

Self-sufficiency built this nation. Government dependency will destroy it. Beware.

Posted by Mark at 8:59 AM | Permalink

I found this and I am not surprised. Hillary Clinton Proposes Massive Energy Tax.

She wants to tax the oil companies $20 Billion to fund "clean energy" programs. Of course, the oil companies will pass this tax along to you and my via higher energy prices.

Most of these "clean energy" programs are merely shell games, or losing propositions. Biodiesel, for example, costs more diesel fuel than it creates. Electric and hydrogen powered cars get their power directly or indirectly from coal and oil fired plants.

So this is nothing more than a tax on you and I. Remember who proposed it.

Posted by Mark at 8:52 AM | Permalink

I wanted to contribute my little part to the tribute of Rosa Parks.

I want you to think about how the greatest of things come from insignificant beginnings. When you boil the whole thing down, the entire civil rights movement came down to a pair of sore feet. It was those two feet that made Rosa refuse to get up for a White man. Her arrest for that act spurred a national movement that took 10 years to change the face of this nation. A revolution that is still happening to this day, albeit mostly complete and kept alive only by race warlords like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, et. al.. Race warlords who are perpetuating 1964 to this day.

Racism still exists today, I have experienced it first hand living here in Memphis. But it is nothing like what it was back then.

Posted by Mark at 9:36 AM | Permalink

Well, in a rather lame attempt to promote his latest piece of trash, Al Frankin produced this. It's a video of him promoting his book, then beating up a "conservative" who thinks his book is what it really is, trash.

How do I know it's trash? Because it's nothing more than what he spews forth on his radio show, and I occasionally listen to his screechy diatribes. Frankin is hateful, vindictive and a bad radio host. He ignores facts that don't coincide with his view of reality, and will shout down any view that doesn't agree with his. In other words, he's a typical radical Liberal.

I want you to listen to this guy. If you don't have a radio station carrying this garbage, listen to it on-line so you can make the decision for yourself, after you pull your head out of the trash can from vomiting.

Which brings me to my second story about him, Al Franken's Rerun Rove and Libby Execution Remark Draws Laughter From Lauer.

Here you have someone predicting that Rove and Libby will be executed for treason in the Plamegate case and these Liberals are laughing about it. As brought up in the story, they were outraged when Pat Robertson advocated assassinating Hugo Chavez.

Liberals. Can't live with them, can't shoot them.

Posted by Mark at 9:21 AM | Permalink

...we don't want Iran to have nukes. Iranian Leader: Israel Will Be Destroyed.

Of course, this could be all buster and saber-rattling, but with a nuclear card on the table you can never really know.

These nuts will try to nuke Israel as soon as they can put a device on top of a missile accurate enough to hit an Israeli city for maximum damage. Then we will know for sure if Israel has nukes, as they will obliterate every hostile government that surrounds it.

Bet on it.

Posted by Mark at 9:15 AM | Permalink

This story points out where the Press is with it's motives. Media Celebrate 2,000 U.S. Dead in Iraq.

Yes, they celebrate those nice round numbers, because all of those zeros add up in their minds to be something noteworthy.

The Press was against the US after WWII and they are against the US now. Go back and look at Time and Life, the New York Times, et. al., and see how they screamed "Bring home the troops," "We've lost the peace," and so on. It took years to rebuild German cities under the Marshall Plan, it took years to stop the Werewolves, and it took years for Germany to set up a new government. Compared to the speed of things that happened in Japan and Germany, we are moving at lightspeed in Iraq. We are also doing it with less casualties than in Germany.

And here's another thing that the Press won't report. We lose almost as many people through accidents and training exercises in peacetime than we have lost in Iraq. That's right. The military loses several hundred servicemembers a year through on and off duty incidents. The Navy loses at least one sailor per ship during a 6 month deployment simply because ships are such dangerous places. The most dangerous place on the planet outside of wartime is the flight deck of an aircraft carrier.

Think about that.

Posted by Mark at 8:57 AM | Permalink

Here you go. Young Singers Spread Racist Hate:Duo Considered the Olsen Twins of the White Nationalist Movement.

I saw this on Drudge and the accompanying picture had the two little bitches with a "Hitler happy face," where you have a happy face with Hitlers hair swoop and his mustache.

My parents were racist and it didn't even occur to them that they were. I am extremely happy that it didn't take with me. All of these idiots arguing for "racial purity" wants the White race to be "on top." I am glad that most Americans are against this kind of nutcase thinking.

Like many children across the country, Lamb and Lynx decided to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina — the white ones.

The girls' donations were handed out by a White Nationalist organization who also left a pamphlet promoting their group and beliefs — some of the intended recipients were more than a little displeased.

After a day of trying, the supplies ended up with few takers, dumped at a local shop that sells Confederate memorabilia.

And the parents are the cause of it all:

Lynx and Lamb have been nurtured on racist beliefs since birth by their mother April. "They need to have the background to understand why certain things are happening," said April, a stay-at-home mom who no longer lives with the twins' father. "I'm going to give them, give them my opinion just like any, any parent would."

April home-schools the girls, teaching them her own unique perspective on everything from current to historical events. In addition, April's father surrounds the family with symbols of his beliefs — specifically the Nazi swastika. It appears on his belt buckle, on the side of his pick-up truck and he's even registered it as his cattle brand with the Bureau of Livestock Identification.

"Because it's provocative," explains April of the cattle brand, "to him he thinks it's important as a symbol of freedom of speech that he can use it as his cattle brand."

These people are worthless, because they hate. They hate and hate and hate. It just makes me sick.

Posted by Mark at 12:22 PM | Permalink

...Which are the last words of a redneck, but I digress.

I found this article and wanted to share it with you: 'Michael & Me'.

This is a documentary that really is a documentary, rather than a pack of lies like the "documentaries" that Michael Moore spews forth.

It's called "Michael & Me," and, as you might imagine, it emulates the style of Michael Moore's documentaries and turns the tables on the filmmaker responsible for "Bowling for Columbine."

This time it's Moore who is hunted down for an ambush interview the way he famously stalked Roger Smith, the chief executive officer of General Motors, in "Roger & Me," and an ailing Charlton Heston in "Columbine."

This time it's Elder scoring all the propaganda points – with the truth and facts, rather than distortions and cinematic gimmicks.

I plan on getting this when I have some money. If I ever get some spare money.

Just remember this:

None of that matters to the gun-control crowd.

In their view, only important people like politicians, celebrities and the rich deserve armed protection. But as Robert Heinlein put it, "When only cops have guns, it's called a 'police state.'"

Amen.

Posted by Mark at 12:12 PM | Permalink

Well, the meeting Wednesday with the headhunter went okay, until he gave me a couple of tests to determine my qualifications. I failed the first test miserably. I doubt I got a score high enough to qualify for picking answers at random. I think I did better on the second test, although I'm still not happy with the score.

I'm waiting for him to call back, and I'm not holding my breath about it. I guess this is what I get for being out of the business for 6 years.

I also have to retool my resume, I thought I had it one way, then on a bounce from Monster I got an old resume, one with a lot of extraneous stuff which makes the resume too long. That will take a while to fix.

But the good news is, I'm not giving up. Someone out there is foolish enough to hire me. ;-)

Posted by Mark at 9:50 AM | Permalink

As the Jerry Reed song goes, "I've got a long way to go and a short time to get there."

I have an appointment with the headhunter today, and I have a lot to do before that. I'm as nervous as a virgin on her wedding night.

Got to go. Wish me luck.

Posted by Mark at 9:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This is disgusting. Eminent Domain in N.J. - Now They Just Steal Land.

It's the tale of a man who wanted to sell his property to a developer. He worked hard and invested a lot of money to acquire the property and when he gets ready to sell it to a developer, the city council that must give its approval, says no. Then they start talking about Eminent Domain and their own developer.

Carol Segal has a problem: He wants to build townhouses on the six acres of land he owns in New Jersey's Union Township and has contracted with a developer to build 100 townhouses there.

But the township government wants to develop the property themselves, and - incredibly - they have voted to take his land through the eminent domain process and let a local developer with political connections do the job.

This local developer just so happens to be the head of the local Democrat Party, and the Council members are, guess what, Democrat.

"They made it clear I needed them to get it done," Segal told the newspaper, adding that he didn't like the deals they offered, and said he told them he wanted to develop the land himself. Around April, Segal said, the meetings stopped.

"At first, I thought we were working together," Segal said. "Now I realize they were trying to steal my land the whole time."

Of course, this is nothing new. There is a 1.5 million sq. ft. regional mall, plus another 1.5 million sq. ft. in pad buildings around one corner here in Memphis. Plus the development all up and down the street separating the two areas. And all of the developers were either very cozy with the City Councils involved, or they were on the Council itself.

What is new is Kelo, which allows local governments to do just what they are doing in their case, and that is stealing some $12 million from Mr. Segal.

Like I said, disgusting.

Posted by Mark at 10:09 AM | Permalink

Ronnie Earle is a poor excuse for a human being. DeLay Offered Deal Before Indictment.

This... person, who indicts companies, then drops the charges when they "donate" to his causes, offered a misdemeanor charge to DeLay, before he was ever indicted. It usually goes the other way around. You indict someone for a particular charge, then plea bargain it down to avoid the trial. To offer someone a misdemeanor plea before the indictment is just... unheard of.

This is on top of first indicting DeLay on an ex post facto charge, getting a no-bill on the 2nd grand jury, then before the results of the 2nd grand jury can be posted, he convenes a 3rd grand jury who finally gets him what he wants.

Ronnie Earle is a partisan hack who will stop at nothing to convict DeLay. What animosity drives him I don't know, but he is making a fool of himself and everyone around him.

Posted by Mark at 9:59 AM | Permalink

Well, as Sherlock Holmes puts it, "the game is afoot." Time to see if my resume can open some doors and my winning personality can get me a job.

I spent a couple of hours last night going over figuring gross incomes over tax tables so I know how much taxes to withhold. This way I can at least break even with my current income. The baseline is lower than I thought, but still steep enough that it will take some doing to break even.

I have so far received one phone call and three emails. Let's hope that all of these will translate into interviews. Let's also hope that more headhunters will contact me. I need headhunters, you just don't find the positions I am looking for in the paper.

If you know of a company that is looking for an experienced IT manager, please let me know and we can talk.

In the mean time, I'm heading over to Monster to see if there are any positions for me. Later.

Posted by Mark at 9:23 AM | Permalink

I'm running behind, and the only thing worth commenting upon I can't get to.

There is an article out there that says that Al Frankin's co-host has left. Reasons to me are unknown. Most likely she is one of the rats leaving a sinking ship. Hopefully Al will have picked up on how to run a radio show by himself by now. Maybe ratings will increase with her gone, but after listening to their garbage, I doubt it. Air America is nothing but foul-mouthed, spiteful anger directed at anything Republican.

Also, Mike at Half-Bakered is down. His computer died and he is unable to get on-line. I am going over to help him out with it, but the prognosis looks grim.

That is all.

Posted by Mark at 9:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Well, I am starting to get run down over my present job. I have a lot of things I want to do on Saturdays but can't, because I work then. I have approached my boss several times with ideas on how to get me out of that day, so I don't have to constantly take it off, but she's not listening.

So, Tuesday night I put up a basic resume on Monster, and yesterday out of the blue I got a call from a recruiter. I was not prepared to get a call that fast! I also thought with my record (being on disability and out of the IT work force for 6 years now) I was not a very appealing candidate. Anyway, I plan on meeting with him next week and seeing if these jobs he has open can meet my salary requirements. I need at least as much as I get with disability and my job pay, just to break even. I am barely scraping by as it is, I don't need to go to work just to take an unaffordable pay cut.

Keep your fingers (toes, etc,.) crossed. I'll keep you informed as to how it goes.

This may or may not affect my blogging, I don't know if I'll go to an evening format, or just get up at oh-dark-thirty (military slang for the middle of the night) and do it then.

Anyway, I have a lot to do between now and next week, I better get on it.

Posted by Mark at 9:18 AM | Permalink

Wendy McElroy has drawn a very important line. Victims Versus Victimhood.

It's like the difference between broke and poor. Broke is a temporary condition, inflicted on you by circumstances and easily rectified by a little hard work. Poor is a mental condition that weighs down on you and prevents you from getting a handle on your condition.

Being a victim is a matter of circumstance. Victimhood is a mental condition that tells yourself that you are being pushed down. Very rarely in this world today is it true. There is no concerted, coordinated effort to keep any group of people down. Except, of course, by the people who are telling you that you are being held down. And they are the only ones who are holding you down.

By telling you that you are oppressed, and telling you that they are the only ones that can rescue you, they give you the mantle of self-oppression and if you believe the bunk they put out, you willingly take on that yoke and oppress yourself.

Do you have a yoke on you? You should know, you most likely put it there.

Posted by Mark at 9:57 AM | Permalink

This greatly disturbs me. The Police State Is Closer Than You Think.

Any circumvention of the rules that are linchpins in our legal society, no matter how innocent or well-intentioned, is still a violation. And like the tip of the sword, the rest of the violation will soon follow.

Police states are easier to acquire than Americans appreciate.

The hysterical aftermath of Sept. 11 has put into place the main components of a police state.

Habeas corpus is the greatest protection Americans have against a police state. Habeas corpus ensures that Americans can only be detained by law. They must be charged with offenses, given access to attorneys and brought to trial. Habeas corpus prevents the despotic practice of picking up a person and holding him indefinitely.

President Bush claims the power to set aside habeas corpus and to dispense with warrants for arrest and with procedures that guarantee court appearance and trial without undue delay. Today in the United States, the executive branch claims the power to arrest a citizen on its own initiative and hold the citizen indefinitely. Thus, Americans are no longer protected from arbitrary arrest and indefinite detention.

Our pursuit of terrorists on our own soil is a laudable goal, but not at the expense of the laws that have protected us since this country was created.

I am not all that sure that this author is entirely right, but I'm not sure he's entirely wrong either. I present this to you for you to decide on your own, don't take my (or any one elses) opinion as gospel. Do your own research and arrive at your own conclusion. That's all I ask.

But remember, if this is true, then the end of the America I was born in has come to a close.

Posted by Mark at 1:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Here's your future: You need not be paranoid to fear RFID.

The articles goes into several scenarios, where it shows you how you can be tracked by Radio-Frequency Identification Tags implanted into your clothing and accessories, and finally you.

Every time technology has been advanced, someone has found a way to abuse the use of it.

And here's the point, driven home:

Somebody needs to sit down and think this through. Dozens of companies and government agencies are planning to use RFID to track nearly every move we make. And although many of the individual applications make sense, what would happen if they were all implemented, without oversight or restraint? We'd then live in a world in which everything we own gossips about us behind our backs.

And it would be too late to call the IBM Help Desk to ask for our privacy back.

I've said this so many times. If you are tracked wherever you go, are you truly free?

Posted by Mark at 12:37 PM | Permalink

If you don't know who he is, he's the "spokesbird" for the National Rifle Association. He is used to teach children what to do with guns. You can get his training materials and other things here.

His message is simple, meant for kids in the preschool to 3rd grade range.

The message goes thusly: STOP! Don't Touch! Leave the Area! Tell an adult!

No reading anything about guns being "evil" or anything like that. Just a simple message that beats anything that anti-gun groups could teach.

Well, Fox News has this article, Program Teaching Kids About Guns Draws Fire.

Most of the article is spent explaining the Eddie Eagle message and how effective it is. Then comes this paragraph:

But others disagree. Local emergency room doctor Art Kellermann has treated his share of juvenile gunshot victims. He’s skeptical of any plan that puts the burden on a young child to make a critical judgment about firearms.

"Nobody should trust Eddie Eagle to make their child any safer than before they took the program," Kellermann said. "Rather than try over and over again to gun-proof our kids, I think we ought to child-proof our guns."

This is not a critical judgment. It is meant to be a reflexive action. And the words decry his standing. How many 6 year-olds were shot by another 6 year-old? Usually the 6 year-old is shot by an older kid who is playing with the gun. If we can get the younger kid to leave the area, he can't be shot.

And I'll tell you right now it's impossible to "child-proof" anything, let alone a firearm. When kids get old enough, they can figure out how to get around the child-proofing. It is way better to properly train the child how to deal with the firearms.

Posted by Mark at 12:15 PM | Permalink

There is a movement underway to take control of the Internet away from the United States and place it in the control of the United Nations.

This anti-American conglomeration of thugs and dictators wants control of the "root" of the Internet. America may have no choice but to surrender it. Hopefully not.

While the United Nations Charter says it allows freedom of speech and the Press, it also says in Article Article 29 Paragraph 3. "These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations."

Which means that you have freedom of speech, et. al., only until you come up against the UN. Then they will take it from you.

Which means that if the UN controls the Internet, they could shut me down for saying BOO to them. Some exercise in free speech, eh?

We can't let this happen. I don't know what to do, but we can't let this happen. I would rather have a US Internet by ourselves than allow control of my freedom speech and expression to be threatened by some French pencil-necked geek who doesn't like what I have to say.

We invented the damn thing, we set it up, and we won't let it go without a fight.

Posted by Mark at 9:51 AM | Permalink

Do you remember back during the 2004 Presidential campaign, where Whoopi Goldberg made some nasty comments about President Bush? Do you remember when Slim-Fast dropped her as a spokesperson like a hot rock?

Well, the same thing just might be happening to Donald Sutherland. James Hirsen Blasts Non-U.S. Citizen Donald Sutherland.

In this article, it explains that Donald Sutherland is a Canadian citizen. And while on a trip abroad, he delighted in bashing the United States.

And being the "Heartless Republican" on the "Hillary Clinton campaign commercial" Commander in Chief, Sutherland makes a lot of people uncomfortable. He may have got himself fired from the show. His comments have certainly upstaged the show, creating a potential firestorm. Being such a central figure, he could even be a direct reason for the show being canceled.

But we won't see it as such, at least not as directly. Since episodes are filmed months in advance, Sutherland could be fired today and we won't see the episode where he leaves/dies until February or March.

Only time will tell.

Posted by Mark at 9:35 AM | Permalink

Here you go. A White Oppressor? Who Me?

Your daughter is enrolled at a major university that has well-defined policies prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race. She decides to attend a campus event. The organizers forbid her entry because of her skin color: white.

Under concerted pressure from the Student Government Association, which prohibits racial discrimination at school-sponsored events, the organizers grudgingly admit your daughter. But they make a point of publicly humiliating her from the podium for the color of her skin.

And so opens another wonderful story about the double standard of reverse discrimination.

When will this end? How many times have you seen a "Black Power" t-shirt that is accepted, nay demanded, but you're a racist if you have a "White Power" shirt? I am not excusing by any stretch of the imagination the KKK or any similar organizations. But if you can't have White Power, then you shouldn't have Black Power. That's called equality of outcome and that is something Liberals have been clamoring for years.

So now we cannot exclude Blacks from any of our meetings, but they can exclude White people from theirs? I don't think that is fair. But then again Liberalism has never been about fairness. It's about making todays people apologize for what their ancestors might or might not have done. I can trace my ancestry back almost to the War Between the States. I'm pretty sure that none of my ancestors were slave owners, considering that I can trace them to Massachusets, and if the records were there, to Europe before that.

So why should I have to bow down, scrape on my belly an apologize for something that ended 145 years ago? I shouldn't have to. And I won't.

What I am saying is people like this need to play by the same rules. These blacks are playing the race card, and it is against themselves that they are playing it.

So they shouldn't be surprised when they get bit in the butt about it.

Posted by Mark at 10:51 AM | Permalink

From Neal Boortz:

You've heard this one, haven't you? Well, maybe not. I'm not sure --- just guessing --- but this won't make it to the Washington Post or the New York Times, unless you find it buried in the lower inside corner of page 25. It's about the foreman of the Texas grand jury that returned that first indictment on Tom Delay. The foreman's name is William Gibson. He is in his mid-70s. Yesterday morning he told our Austin affiliate KLBJ that he had made up his mind to indict Tom Delay long before he heard one piece of evidence presented by prosecutor Ronnie Earle. And why was he determined to indict Tom Delay? Because, it seems, he didn't like some campaign advertisements that Delay ran in the newspapers during his last reelection campaign. Here's what Gibson told KLBJ:

All this came out way before I was on the grand jury, these (ads)were in your paper, in Austin paper, everyone else's paper, they was flooding the market around here. But those were way before I ever went on the grand jury and my decision was based upon those, not what might have happened in the grand jury room.

So .. here you have the foreman of the first grand jury to indict Delay making a rather astonishing admission that his decision was made on the bases of campaign ads he just didn't like.

Luckily the law that DeLay was indicted under wasn't passed until a year after the "offense" took place. Which would make this charge an ex post facto, against the law in the United States (with the exception of the Domestic Abuse Act, but I digress). So he had to impanel a second Grand Jury. That's where Neal picks it back up:

Wait! There's more!

We learned yesterday that last Friday Ronnie Earle made what some people call a frantic attempt to get yet another grand jury to indict Delay on new charges; this after he learned that his first indictment was fatally flawed. The second grand jury returned what is called a "no-bill." That is, they refused to return an indictment. The procedure is for a no-bill to be made public the day it is returned. This didn't happen. It was returned last Friday, and only made public on Wednesday of this week. Some excuse is being floated about not finding a judge to sign it. So ... while this no-bill was sitting around waiting for a judge's signature, Earle rushes to yet another grand jury on Monday ,,, a brand-spanking new grand jury. He presents the same evidence to this grand jury that he gave to the grand jury on Friday. The new grand jury didn't know, however, that the Friday grand jury had refused to return an indictment. The no-bill, which should have been public by then, was mysteriously sitting around waiting for someone to find a judge with a pen. The new grand jury then returns an indictment for money laundering.

If you think that Ronnie Earle isn't acting like a shady character, just gunning for a prosecutorial misconduct charge, then you've got another think coming. You just can't do what he did, and get away with it. But even a glancing blow could be enough, having that "formerly indicted Senator" title following DeLay around for the rest of his life.

Posted by Mark at 10:34 AM | Permalink

I'm sure you've all heard of Successories, the motivational phrases topped with beautiful pictures to bring home the point.

What you may not be aware of is Despair.com, which uses the same beautiful imagery to drive home points that do nothing but drive a stake into the heart of morale.

Here is the newest example that I have found:

Enjoy.

H/T to AlphaPatriot.

Posted by Mark at 10:12 AM | Permalink

The funk that I was in yesterday continues. Even with Mike visiting me before we go to play Epic, I'm just not in the mood to post. My apologies, but I think it's SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) kicking in. This is a condition that makes people with depression more depressed over the winter months because of the lack of sunlight. It especially hits hard right as the season changes, because you can notice the days are getting shorter.

I'll try again tomorrow.

Posted by Mark at 9:48 AM | Permalink

Mondays are pretty boring for me, sometimes I get some shopping done, but usually it's a wasted day. Well, I contacted Mike and off we went to the Memphis Games Workshop World of Battle to play Epic:Armageddon. 5,000 points was the agreed upon army size. It's not as big as we can play, but it's the recommended upper limit for tournament rules games.

I must say it was confusing for the store staff to see us there on a Monday, especially seeing us for several months of consistent Wednesdays. We just told them, "You mean this isn't Wednesday?"

I had worked out a plan, you see, that was to use buildings as cover for my Orks. You see, after getting hit, the units getting the hit get what is called a saving throw, you roll a six-sided die (known as a D6 in the gaming world) and see if the unit lives or dies. Space Marines normally save on a 4, 5 or 6. Orks, when they have a save, it's a 6. But in buildings, Orks also save on a 4+.

So I set up five buildings, three on my side and two on his half of the board. I meant to occupy these buildings to get their cover save and provide a fire base from which to rain death and destruction upon his troops. Mike saw them but didn't assign any ulterior motive. He just thought I had slung them out there somewhat at random.

From what I had learned from my reading of The Art of Maneuver, I was trying to provide Mike an unsolvable problem. Approach the entrenched Ork horde, or stay back and not contest the objectives? The one Warband that did stick to the plan managed to keep two objectives under their control, but nobody else was able to continue that plan, and so were driven back, broken.

As the game progressed, it became a game of "gang up on the Orks." Tim, a Naval Aviator (don't call them pilots) stopped by with his Epic stuff and Mike made room for him on his side of the board. So while points wise the battle was even, I was outnumbered two, and later three to one when Tyler showed up and started kibitzing.

Things started out badly for the Orks. Before I could do anything with my 'Uge (Ork for huge) Warband, a pair of Imperial bombers visited it, raining death and destruction from the sky. Because my forces were still inside of their transports, they had to make separate saves if the vehicle they were in was destroyed. The airstrike wiped out my Warlord and all of the Nobz (leader orks, they are bigger than your regular Ork) for that formation. It never got to do what I wanted it to do. It ended up broken and in the back of the battlefield.

I had several on-the-fly plans that would have saved the day, except for the fact that the units involved wouldn't obey my orders. You have to activate a unit when you give it an order, and for Orks I usually have to roll a 3 on a D6 for them to carry out the order. And when I needed them the most, they garbled the order and didn't do what I needed them to do. Space Marines, on the other hand, activate on a 1, which means it takes certain circumstances for them to ever fail an activation roll. I managed to get the proper support units in position, but when it came for the killing blow, the unit tasked with doing the mayhem said, "You want us to do what? No way!"

To make a long story short, I was mauled by the Marines. I did significant damage to them, but they did more to me and were able to grab a 2-0 victory. I think I'm going to stay away from the larger battles when I play Orks. It gives my opponent too many options that I don't have. At least until I can buy the appropriate units ;-).

Posted by Mark at 9:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This is one of those days when the illness strikes hard. I am just not up to anything this morning. I think I'll crawl into the closet and cry for a while. If I'm up to it, I'll report sometime this afternoon on the Epic battle that took place yesterday. Political commentary is out of the question.

I hope to see you later.

Posted by Mark at 10:04 AM | Permalink

Gleaned from The Political Digest:

2 States, 22 Observations

Things I have noticed while watching media coverage of the recent hurricanes.

1. Texas: Productive industrious state run by Republicans. Louisiana: Government dependent welfare state run by Democrats.

2. Texas: Residents take responsibility to protect and evacuate themselves. Louisiana: Residents wait for government to protect and evacuate them.

3. Texas: Local and state officials take responsibility for protecting their citizens and property. Louisiana: Local and state officials blame federal government for not protecting their citizens and property.

4. Texas: Command and control remains in place to preserve order. Louisiana: Command and control collapses allowing lawlessness.

5. Texas: Law enforcement officers remain on duty to protect city. Louisiana: Law enforcement officers desert their posts to protect themselves.

6. Texas: Local police watch for looting. Louisiana: Local police participate in looting.

7. Texas: Law and order remains in control, 8 looters tried it, 8 looters arrested. Louisiana: Anarchy and lawlessness breaks out, looters take over city, no arrests, criminals with guns have to be shot by federal troops.

8. Texas: Considerable damage caused by hurricane. Louisiana: Considerable damage caused by looters.

9. Texas: Flood barriers hold preventing cities from flooding. Louisiana: Flood barriers fail due to lack of maintenance allowing city to flood.

10. Texas: Orderly evacuation away from threatened areas, few remain. Louisiana: 25,000 fail to evacuate, are relocated to another flooded area.

11. Texas: Citizens evacuate with personal 3 day supply of food and water. Louisiana: Citizens fail to evacuate with 3 day supply of food and water, do without it for the next 4 days.

12. Texas: FEMA brings in tons of food and water for evacuees. State officials provide accessible distribution points. Louisiana: FEMA brings in tons of food and water for evacuees. State officials prevent citizens from reaching distribution points and vice versa.

13. Louisiana: Media focuses on poor blacks in need of assistance, blames Bush. Texas: Media can't find poor blacks in need of assistance, looking for something else to blame on Bush.

14. Texas: Coastal cities suffer some infrastructure damage, Mayors tell residents to stay away until ready for re-population, no interference from federal officials. Louisiana: New Orleans is destroyed, Mayor asks residents to return home as another hurricane approaches, has to be overruled by federal officials.

15. Louisiana: Over 400 killed by storm, flooding and crime. Texas: 24 killed in bus accident on highway during evacuation, no storm related deaths.

16. Texas: Jailed prisoners are relocated to other detention facilities outside the storm area. Louisiana: Jailed prisoners are set free to prey on city shops, residents, and homes.

17. Texas: Local and state officials work with FEMA and Red Cross in recovery operations. Louisiana: Local and state officials obstruct FEMA and Red Cross from aiding in recovery operations.

18. Texas: Local and state officials demonstrate leadership in managing disaster areas. Louisiana: Local and state officials fail to demonstrate leadership, require federal government to manage disaster areas.

19. Texas: Fuel deliveries can't keep up with demand, some run out of gas on highway, need help from fuel tankers before storm arrives. Louisiana: Motorists wait till storm hits and electrical power fails. Cars run out of gas at gas stations that can't pump gas. Gas in underground tanks mixes with flood waters.

20. Texas: Mayors move citizens out of danger. Louisiana: Mayor moves himself and family to Dallas.

21. Texas: Mayors continue public service announcements and updates on television with Governor's backing and support. Louisiana: Mayor cusses, governor cries, senator threatens president with violence on television, none of them have a clue what went wrong or who's responsible.

22. Louisiana: Democratic Senator says FEMA was slow in responding to
911 calls from Louisiana citizens. Texas: Republican Senator says "when you call 911, the phone doesn't ring in Washington, it rings here at the local responders".

What if state and local elected officials were forced to depend on themselves and their own resources instead of calling for help from the federal government? Texas cities would be back up and running in a few days. Louisiana cities would still be under water next month.

Republicans call for action, Democrats call for help. What party will you be voting for in the next election?

Posted by Mark at 9:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Here's what Americas Most Trusted Journalist thinks of you: Walter Cronkite: U.S. Too Ignorant to Vote.

The man once known as the most trusted journalist in America no longer trusts Americans to vote for their own leaders, saying average citizens are just too ignorant to cast their ballots wisely.

"We [as a nation] are not educated well enough to perform the necessary act of intelligently selecting our leaders," CBS News legend Walter Cronkite told the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication last week.

Of course, he's saying that simply because Republicans control the Congress and the White House. Now if Hillary was in control, and the Democrats ran Congress, then I'm quite sure the words that he would say would be quite the opposite.

You see, Liberals (and don't think for a second that Cronkite isn't one of Them) think you're smart only when you pick "the logical choice," i.e. them. If you don't pick them, then you're a stupid idiot. After all, how can you pick someone who advocates personal responsibility, self reliance, the Second Amendment, and so on.

Just a warning. You're smart only as long as you vote for Them.

Posted by Mark at 8:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)