Nom de guerre: Rivrdog

Insurrection

Here's the scenario:

A GOP President is elected, but he involves the nation in a divisive war, and his popularity wanes. In the war, his generals vastly understate the need for troops, and the war starts going badly. Back home, an underclass fed by bad immigration policies swells and becomes discontented in the cities. The Democratic Party plays up to this underclass, promising them much support which Congress is reluctant to deliver. Racial hatred between the elements of the underclass fans the flames of discontent.

Then the President caves in to his own party and introduces a vastly unpopular law that affects the underclass. Riots break out. Badly outnumbered police are forced to call on armed citizens to help maintain order, but they are unable to hold their lines. Burning and looting follows the radical political protests and whole sections of the city under seige are controlled by the rioters. The underclass mobs range throughout the city and drag wealthy citizens from their expensive homes and beat them to death. The liberal Democratic Mayor tries to buy off the rioters by promising them each a sum of money if they'll return to their homes, but the rioters ignore their political friend and continue to loot and burn and kill. The President tries to declare martial law, but there aren't sufficient troops or National Guardsmen so the city is held hostage by the rioters for several days. A strong enough detachment of troops is finally raised, and they sweep the streets clear of the rioters. The fearful city builds many fortifications with mass-casualty weapons installed to protect itself in the future. Casualties are announced at just over a hundred killed, but the actual numbers probably run to several thousand.

Is this the Democratic Doomsday scenario I postulated in the previous post?

No.

Is there a parallel between this scenario and our immediate future?

Maybe.

S.H.T.F. - First Warning

S.H.T.F. (Shit Hits The Fan, a military slang term for disaster) preparedness is a subject most of my readers at least consider from time to time. Some of us actively prepare for various disaster scenarios, by preparing our families, by practicing self-defense and by preparing stocks of necessities to maintain against disasters.

The most difficult disaster scenario to deal with is the prospect of civil disorder. It hurts the mind and conscience to have to consider the ramifications of such disasters.

But we need to.

Especially now.

Kerry missed the boat

Literally.

In the controversy generated by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth "527" campaign against John Kerry, Senator Bob Dole, a genuine WW2 war hero, stepped up to the plate to support the Swift Boat people. He said that "not all of these men could be liars" in defending them.

What did Kerry do? He could have spun Dole's statement to question whether Dole was admitting that SOME of the Swiftees WERE liars, but instead, he missed that boat and chose to attack Dole himself.

What a dumkopf! This guy is waaaaaay too dumb to be President if he can't even take a golden opportunity to score some campaign points, but instead, just changed a few (D)onk WW2 veteran's votes to (R)'s by insulting a genuine war hero of that conflict.

Land Cruise Report

Well, I guess the summary here is that my Yacht Club could also be a successful RV club, social club or just plain good times club.

A travel and party log follows.

Land Cruise

Your Cap'n will cast off the parking brake on M/V (Motor Vehicle) Zombie (1999 Mazda P/U, all black) and hit the highway for Tidewater, OR, a wide spot on the coastal Alsea River about 3 hours from here. A campout at a friend's summer lodge there.

I'm packin'....about 8 pounds of the very best German sausages from Gartner's Country Meat Market, which we'll grill up on the impressive BBQ, a custom job about 8 foot in diameter, with brick pit and seating all around.

Oh, I'm also packin' Shorty and Snuffy and a few hundred rounds for them (they shoot the same ammo, don'tcha know), My Marlin 1894C and Ruger SP101. If there's no shooting, there will be good fellowship, fine spirits and fine food.

So, don't expect to hear from me until Monday...Sunday night will be for cleaning weapons and camping gear.

McCain on the Fence

As a vet, I was actually interested in what John Kerry proposes for my group, so, in a first for me, I actually listened to one of his campaign speeches, front to back. Speaking to the VFW convention that President Bush addressed last week, Kerry pushed a boilerplate package. Give 'em what they want to hear, he figured, so he promised raises in military pensions (these happen about once a generation), military pay, civilian transition programs, health care for all vets, respect for everyone who ever wore a uniform. Bully for him. The reality is that neither party supports veterans much, and (D)emocrats are the worst in their level of support.

What did jump right out of the computer speaker as my WinTV broadcast the speech was that Kerry kept invoking Senator John McCain's name. McCain is an icon to veterans, or, I should say has been an icon. If McCain is allowing himself to be used to boost Kerry's candidacy, he needs to switch parties. If he wants to remain a loyal Republican, he needs to publicly state that the only thing he and Kerry have in common is that they are both Senators.

I've just about written off McCain after his vicious attack on the Swift Boat Vets recently. This cozy arrangement he and Kerry have has to be terminated, or he needs to come out of the closet and admit he's a (D)onk.

Fence-straddling should never be mistaken for leadership. Both John Kerry and John McCain are riding the fence now. We can expect Kerry to, he's never done anything else. McCain could be a force in the GOP if he wanted to, but not with repeated acts of disloyalty to the party.

He needs to repudiate John Kerry, and he needs to do it now.

Swift Boat Veterans for Truth clear the Brown Water

The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth still know how to fight in "Brown" water. As if to prove the SwiftVet points, the Kerry campaign has fought a brownwater campaign, not on the issues of his Vietnam service, but on the characters of the SwiftVets.

It didn't work, and the crack came last night when even the uber-biased Los Angeles Times was finally forced to comment on the accusations of the SwiftVets. The LA Times didn't support the SwiftVets, but they didn't jump into the fight on Kerry's side much, either. The Times tried to rescue the moment for Kerry with the most ridiculous statement I have ever heard. The fishwrapper said that the conflict seems to devolve to Kerry's side because the available military records point that way. That would be because Kerry has refused to release his personal military records to the public (like President Bush has done). If Kerry's records were out there, there would be no confusion at all.

The SwiftVets have provided the next best thing to the actual records: eyewitness testimony from the people who were there and who mattered.

If Kerry wants to stop the highballing Truth Express about his Vietnam service, he must release those records. Every day he doesn't just adds to the perception that the information the records contain will not help him, it will again prove him a liar.

Fair Tax?

Yeah, this one goes in the "what if..." category, not only because it's an idea whose time may not have come, but it's an idea that would have some severe repercussions.

I'm reading Dax Montana today, and he's wondering why the latest incarnation of a national sales tax isn't getting more media discussion.

The idea is straight forward enough: a stiff national sales tax would replace personal income tax. The tax is "progressive" in that poorer folks buy less so would pay less tax (or no tax with a "poverty line" rebate), while rich folks, who consume vast quantities of everything, or so we're told by the libs, would pay more tax.

Why not take the plunge? Lots of conservatives are jumping on this bandwagon.

I'm not.

Hiring Decisions

From time to time, every employment sector has to deal with this problem. Sometimes the problem shows up in the pre-employment processes, sometimes not until after the person is hired, and sometimes not until the person is well along in their career, maybe going for a promotion.

Regardless of when it is found, the handling of a faked resume is almost universal: the offender is terminated from the application process or from employment. Sometimes the offender is allowed to resign. As we get older, most of us know of or personally know someone who got caught faking a resume. I do. The woman performed her job brilliantly, took on many duties others shied away from and was heroic in the field, risking her life to save others. I liked her as well as her fresh attitude to the job.

She was fired in her third year. She had faked her employment application to show a major qualification that she hadn't earned.

Comes now John Kerry, asking for a promotion from Senator to President of the United States.

He has faked his resume.

Packaged for You

Ironbear at Who Tends The Fires blog has written the essay of the week. Maybe the essay of the decade. It takes conflict basically, and the War on Terror as a subset of conflict, and explains to us why we feel the way we do about the subject. His use of history is correct and to the point.

In this long essay, which will take the average reader the better part of an hour to digest, he writes to get to his point, which is an analysis of how and why the WOT is being fought, and who is the best POTUS candidate to lead that fight.

He picked President Bush, to no one's surprise. Bush isn't going to win the WOT for us though. He can't win it because he, like Kerry, either doesn't get what the war is about or he has qualms about a strategy to win with.

I have no such delusions.