This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Author: Zero Ponsdorf

  • The More Things Change…

    I’ve mentioned A Pattern before, one clearly visible if one doesn’t have their head in the sand, or anal orifice.

    Jonn noted well a couple of elements in The Pattern with the post below .

    Here’s a coupla more:
    U.S. backs move to let Taliban open headquarters in Qatar in the hope of ending war in Afghanistan

    Talks to end the 10-year war in Afghanistan could be on the horizon after the U.S. backed a plan to let the Taliban open political headquarters in the Middle East.

    The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is likely to open a base in Qatar before Christmas, The Times said.

    It is hoped this will help facilitate peace talks which could lead to a truce with the Taliban.

    Then good ol’ Muqi is tuning up his fiddle as well.

    BAGHDAD -An anti-American cleric is urging his followers to stop attacking U.S. troops in Iraq so that their withdrawal from the country isn’t slowed down, a call meant to ramp up pressure on Baghdad’s political leaders who are considering asking some American forces to stay.

    In a statement posted on his website, Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr told his militias to halt attacks against U.S. forces till the withdrawal is finished at the end of the year as required under a security agreement between Washington and Baghdad.

    “Out of my desire to complete Iraq’s independence and to finish the withdrawal of the occupation forces from our holy lands, I am obliged to halt military operations of the honest Iraqi resistance until the withdrawal of the occupation forces is complete,” al-Sadr said in the statement, posted late Saturday. Sadrist lawmaker Mushraq Naji confirmed the statement on Sunday.

    So we have The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and al-Sadr in Iraq striving to bring peace and love to their occupied, war torn lands.

    What could possibly go wrong?

  • File Under Sad, But True.

    I can’t quite bring myself to do a 9/11 post. The onrush of emotion, and the outrage I feel, would likely produce gibberish anyway.

    Hell,  stand by for a small sample of  gibberish.

    Ten years on and we are STILL under threat. Blood, sweat, and treasure expended for what?

    Let me just offer a quote that captures a thing.

    “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.” Ronald Reagan

    Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, A’Stan… does anyone else rail at the pattern? We have one stalemate, one loss, and the likelihood of two more when the dust settles and The Arab Spring activities close the circle.

    Oh well…

     

  • FUBAR!

    I missed this, and it’s in my old stomping grounds too?

    College Threatens to Nix 9/11 Tribute As Too American

    If you thought that something as innocuous as putting up 3,000 American flags on school grounds to pay tribute to those murdered on September 11 couldn’t be controversial, you haven’t been to Marietta College.
    Administrators at this liberal arts college in southeast Ohio are threatening to cancel a 9/11 memorial planned by their students if flags from other countries are not observed in the activities as well.

    This tribute was organized by students at the school. And it get’s worse:

    Meanwhile, Marietta officials are hosting 9/11 events on their own, but those activities pertain to how American Muslims are treated in a post-9/11 world.  On Sept. 13, for instance, the school is organizing a “Pizza & Politics” forum to discuss “how Muslims in the U.S. see/experience freedom of speech.”  The following day, there will be a faculty-led talk “on the misconception of the Arab-Muslim culture in the Western world, and the stereotypes Muslims experience in the U.S.”

     

  • Huh? Odd priorities.

    Here in WV unions have a cachet of no small note.  The Battle of Blair Mountain serves as a non-trivial footnote.

    Yet… We have this:

    Hundreds of Longshoremen stormed the Port of Longview early Thursday, overpowered and held security guards, damaged railroad cars, and dumped grain that is the center of a labor dispute, said Longview Police Chief Jim Duscha.

    Six guards were held hostage for a couple of hours after 500 or more Longshoremen broke down gates about 4:30 a.m. and smashed windows in the guard shack, he said.

    No one was hurt, and nobody has been arrested. Most of the protesters returned to their union hall after cutting brake lines and spilling grain from car at the EGT terminal, Duscha said.

    Just what were they protesting?

  • A Can of Worms? Native Americans and Sharia Law.

    It happens that according to family tradition, and a DNA test, I am 1/16th Native American so this story has a certain piquancy for me. My tribal affiliation is a bit muddled, for those curious few.

    Some of my Native American brethren see a threat with: The growing movement in the United States to ban the use of international law and Islam’s Sharia law in state courts sets a dangerous precedent for Indian country, spiritual leaders and legal authorities say.

    Disclaimer: I’ve read the article twice without fully understanding the point of it. Near as I can fathom; not wanting religious or international law to provide precedence in OUR courts is a form of religious discrimination and in violation of The First Amendment.

     

  • Sometimes You Get the Bear… Update

    There’s been some movement in a story I posted about here.

    From Michell Malkin:

    Here’s the good news: The eco-zealous feds have backed off and dropped the charges.

    Here’s the bad news: They made Hill pay a $1,000 fine.

    Sad really.

  • Coming Out of the Closet!

    Sorry TSO, not THAT closet!

     

     

    Since this IS one of the premier phony chasing sites on the web, and confession is good for the soul… I am an Admiral and have been for sometime!

    From here on I expect to be treated as a visiting dignitary by you lesser folk.

    I considered posting a pix of me in my full regalia, but I couldn’t possibly compete with some already posted here for sheer grandeur.

    BTW, a salute is not required.

     

  • In case Ya Missed It?

    There was a massive rally in Charlotte, NC this week.

    At Tuesday’s rally, nearly 200 participants gathered at Central Piedmont Community College’s central campus to protest policies that they say discriminate against undocumented immigrants. The protesters blocked traffic, at the intersection of Kings Drive and Fourth Street, while chanting “education not deportation” and “undocumented and unafraid.”

    Law Enforcement was on the job… The local LEOs anyway.

    Mecklenburg jail officials said Wednesday they determined that 10 of 15 protesters arrested at an immigration rally Tuesday are in the country illegally.

    (…)

    In a statement released Wednesday, the Sheriff’s Office said that in keeping with the jail’s policy to screen all arrestees, the 15 people arrested at Tuesday’s rally were fingerprinted, photographed and screened to determine whether they are in the country legally.

    Jail authorities also did criminal background checks on the protesters, Rush said, and found that none of them had criminal records.

    “Per Immigration Customs Enforcement, any arrestee charged by CMPD during the protest was not to be given detainers, but released on their own recognizance,” the Sheriff’s Office said.

    I must admit a certain grudging respect for the protestors. They are merely pointing up the feckless, and reckless, nature of our immigration policies. Drawing easy parallels with the lunch-counter protests of decades ago has some merit.

    IS  illegal immigration simply a civil rights issue?  Where do we, as a nation, draw those lines? Is ANY lawbreaker just an oppressed minority yearning for freedom?