Nom de plume: Rivrdog

The Benghazi Boogaloo

Yep, it's dancing time again for the Democrats, so they trot out the Boogaloo, and we have been treated to a full day of it on the telly.

I don't want to burst any bubbles here, but if there is a single conservative who doesn't know the truth about Benghazi by now, it's because that right-thinking person just got off the slow intergalactic shuttle from Planet Zargon.

It boils down to this: Since this Administration began, "sensitivity" has taken precedence over Security at every US embassy around the world, and that is obviously by order of President Obama. We pretty much had this embassy security thing covered for the first 225 years of our Nation's existence: put Marines at the embassies, and leave them in charge of Security.

Along comes the "apologize to everyone" crowd, and their first take on it was to end visible security. The USMC is nothing if not visible, so away they go. They were "replaced" (not really) with a bunch of ex-spooks (contractors of the State Department) in plain clothes, with various levels of armaments, usually little to none, plus totally untrustworthy locals hired for the job. This was done in the name of not "offending" anyone in the host nations of our embassies.

Consider the case of Libya: a nation without an effective government, one which had just gone through a violent revolution to depose a dictator. Armed militias roamed the streets, and Jihadi militants were everywhere. Our embassy in Benghazi, Libya last September was a pool of gasoline waiting for someone with a match to come along. And they did. And there was no security. And our people died.

Almost immediately after the 9-11-12 attack on the embassy (interesting, predictable date, yes?), the Administration went into full cover-up mode and has been there ever since. Lie after lie. "Talking Points" ad infinitum. New faces to lie for old faces, but lie, lie, lie.

Today, at the latest Congressional hearings, some of the lies were exposed. 

Huzzah, they exposed some lies. Give Rep. Issa a kewpie doll.

B.F.D.

Is anyone at risk of being indicted for lying to Congress at the earlier hearings?

Doesn't sound that way.

Here's the Rivrdog Solution, take it or leave it. Quit farting around, Issa. You're not going to indict anyone for lying to Congress and you know it, so put the other side on the spot by introducing and passing a Bill that denies funding for all embassy protection EXCEPT a reinforced rifle company of the USMC placed at every embassy in Harm's way.

In other words, put embassy protection back on the footing the previous Administration had it.

Bring real guns and real gunners to the next gun fight at any US Embassy. Bringing Talking Points to a gunfight is fatal, as we know now.

End of discussion.

Prom Week

According to a local TeeVee station, it's "Prom Week", the week when most of the local kiddies try to pretend that they can, by God, conform to an external code of dress and behavior.

My old friend, the Coyote Kid, sends me a link to a USMC blog, and that blog contains an old chestnut, "rules for dating a Marine's daughter"

It's appropriate to the weekend. 

Quote of the Day

"When you parse madness, you are on a fool's errand"

Dennis Miller, Fox' The O'Reilly Factor, today at x:43.

What makes YOU mash the TV "off" button?

Meme time. You're sitting through the Evening News, and your facelifted news babe or nuze hunk introduces a story. You gag, then mash either the "mute" button or the "off" button.

What caused this visceral reaction? Put your TeeVee turn-offs in comments if you don't see 'em here, or "+" mine if you want.

In no particular order:

• Obama doing any Agenda item with the Victim Group which he thinks illustrates it.
• Over-coached kids doing "anti-bullying" PSAs
• "Doug", the Mesothelioma Victim.
• Any Victim who has done more than one "grief on my sleeve" gig.
• The "latest" Big Pharma sales ad you've already seen 39 times.
• Bill O'Reilly with guests screaming at each other.

Other than Evening News:

• Sportz channel show with screaming-at-each-other sportz wallahs
• Any people screaming at each other unless Alfred Hitchcock wrote the script
• Anything with a zombie lurching, EVEN campy old movies.
• Anything with a zombie in it that tries to convince me that zombies are real.
• Anything, particularly zombies, that takes a load of 00 Buck to center of mass and keeps coming.

I would have included "teased news" stories, but if I mashed the button every time one of those came on, I'd never watch any news at all. I'm old enough to remember when news stories were NEVER "teased", the newscasters just read the news and showed the video or still photos which illustrated the stories. Only the production staff knew which order the stories were going to be in.

In the Auld Days, the Beeb (BBC) used to have the best format: they headlined the stories and put them in an on-screen list with the exact time they were to be broadcast. That way you could go to the potty or pour another drink to get you through the dismal parts (and back to the potty), or you could even turn off the TV if you saw nothing on the list which didn't interest you.

Fire up the comments. TeeVee is dismal, and this is your chance to show the world just how dismal that swamp IS.

Chutzpah

The definition. The practical application: take an audience of Jews who know all about the subjects you will speak on, pretend that they know nothing about them, and give them an hour-long, tub-thumping lecture on "how to be a Jew 101". To make it REALLY effective, your sense of Chutzpah should tell you to deliver this lecture 4 days before the start of Passover, the most important Jewish High Holiday.

That's OUR President! He's nothing if not a chutzpanik.

But, note that he couldn't find the time to visit the Western Wall, traditionally THE place where those seeking the enlightenment of the Jewish traditions (and seeking thereby, the support of Jews) go to.

I have Jewish roots. What would I have done differently, had I been in Obama's shoes? I would have shitcanned this speech, started my own by thanking my gracious hosts, commented on their bravery in establishing and defending their homeland, then examined the previous attempts at Palestinian Statehood and why those attempts have failed (hint: it has something to do with Islamic extremism). I would have ended by reminding the Muzzies that they alone are responsible for the failure of Palestine.

Instead, Obama told the youth of Israel to reject their older and wiser leaders, stalwart men and women who have established Israel and got it to the point where it can afford to have a do-nothing, know-nothing generation like we do in the USA, and addressed those wasted youth telling them to reject the teachings of their forefathers.

What gall!

What tripe!

What an utter ass he is!

Immigration, again

...and again, nothing has changed. There are at least twelve million illegal aliens in this Nation, and it appears that they are going to be allowed to stay. Allowed by any politico who has had a voice on the subject, because all the plans of both parties include a "path to citizenship", i.e., Amnesty for their crimes of illegally entering and remaining in this Nation.

My position has not changed. My position says that US law has defined them as criminals, no matter what public policy might be in ignoring that law or that status of those people. In this Nation, you follow the law, or you are an outlaw, and immigration law is perfectly clear: as an alien, you may not remain in this country if you have committed crimes, particularly felony crimes.

We all know why the Demoncrats and Rethuglicans both want to give the illegals amnesty: they want to buy their votes. That's the 900# gorilla in the room, but it's also the way out of this mess.

The way out is to make it desireable for the aliens to leave. They have to WANT to leave. We make them WANT to leave by making it economically unfeasible for them to live here. Here's how I would do that:

• Throw the switch. End the transfer of dinero back to their home countries. Pass a law requiring that all persons wanting to transfer money to a foreign address prove their citizenship and if not a citizen of the US, show their US entry visa. I traveled extensively in Europe as a kid, some ten years after WW2, and my parents and I had to show our "papers" to everyone, even to hotel clerks to get a room. If you have "papers", you're not afraid to show them. When the illegals can't transfer their money, a black market for doing so will spring up, and when it does, our efficient Federal agants can seize ALL that money, probably enough to pay their way. For those who DO have visas, tax their dinero 15%. That will go some distance towards paying for the horrible bill that this immigration mess has caused. In my State of Oregon, it is well over 30% of the social welfare budget and the education budget.
• We have a "path to citizenship" already. It's called Naturalization, and it works. My paternal grandfather was naturalized, along with his wife. Let's enforce the Naturalization process, maybe streamline it some (although it's pretty easy already), and all those industrious individuals wishing to become US citizens can do so.
• Give out more work visas, but have a vigorous program of checking up on the workers. The FIRST time they switch jobs without reporting it, they are gone. No exceptions.
• End the "born in the USA" birthright, aka "anchor babies". End tuition assistance for illegals and their children. End the free rides wherever they exist. We save billions of bucks, and the illegals will want to get legal faster.
• Allow and even encourage local and State law enforcement to help enforce Federal Immigration law instead of discouraging them from doing so as now happens. That quintuples the enforcement resources immediately, and furthermore, puts those resources out of the political control of DeeCee, from which all this corruption in border control comes.
• Fence? We don't need no steenking fences, we need the Army. End of discussion.

All nations are entitled to secure their borders for the purposes of internal security. Some do a better job than others. All of them do a better job than we're doing, because of our politically corrupt idea of allowing illegal immigration for the purposes of packing voter rolls and buying cheap labor. Until that corruption stops, and I don't see that happening anytime soon, because both parties want to pack their voter rolls with hispanics, the problem can't be solved.

Isn't there something more important to be discussed, such as our impending collapse of the economy?

"Free range" parenting

Today's fishwrap: "Raising your child Gluten Free"*. Right. Just put your kid to yet more stress by telling it there are even more things it must be free of.

Let's see here:

• Gun free
• Bully-free
• Guilt-free
• Violence-free
• Class-free
• Nationality-free
• Petroleum-free
• Phosphate-free (I just added some TSP to my laundry detergent for a dirty, greasy load, heh!)
• Fat-free
• Smoke-free
• Alcohol-free (but NOT Hemp-free)
• Sugar-free
• Gluten-free
• Error-free
• Religion-free

Oh! Did I forget one? I sure did: "Experience-free".

Yep, your kid has about 15 years to grow up. What he or she learns in that 15 years has to carry him or her for the next 60, at least.

Do we REALLY do our kids any favors by selectively reducing their exposure to things they are sure to be exposed to in later life? So that their exposure to these things has an even chance of being a disaster?

The generations which built this Nation did so experiencing LIFE from an early age. The generations that are working to KILL this Nation have denied themselves LIFE.

It doesn't get any more stark than that, people.

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*Oregonian newspaper of 03-13-13. The fishwrap is cheaping out and doesn't link any articles until after lunch these days. I work to a slightly more ambitious daily schedule, so no linkage for YOU.

Monday Maudlin Meandering Manifesto

I have a few hours before the big fight to save the gudwife resumes, so here are some meandering thoughts I've been accumulating for a week or so.

• (Gun) Control: PawPaw skewers the traitorous Captain Mark Kelly with his sharp Acadian lampoon, and bastes him over a slow pit with his own juices. Laissez la Verite roule, monsieur!
• Our President: dares to flash his anti-semitism at Israeli defense policy. Here's a flash for YOU, Mister President: Israel is actually faced with nuclear annihilation should Iran get their nuke. We are only second on Iran's list. Being a small Nation, one nuke would do a lot of damage to the Israeli nation, whereas we could soak up one nuke and soldier on in the USA. If Israel is actually "beating it's chest", which I haven't seen, it's doing it as a means of issuing the strongest possible warning to Iran. Your "warnings" to Iran, Mister President, have no substance to them at all, and are taken as jokes, or worse, as Taqiyya in Qom and Tehran, so S.T.F.U., Mister President. BTW, the "beating the chest" remark is an obvious suck-up to Egypt's IMFWIC (Islamist mo-fo what's in charge) Morsi, and refers to his anti-semetic remark about the Jews being descendants of apes, so this is all about a bunch of anti-semites trying to one-up each other. Still think Obama isn't a closet Islamist?
• Nature musing: Do you read the venerable nature 'toon "Mark Trail" in the Sunday funny-papers? There is good stuff in there, and little of the usual earth-religion apple-crapple you get from other such sources. This weekend's enlightenment was about the genus Myocastor Coypus, better known by it's commercial name, Nutria, or it's local name, "water rat", except in Oregon, where "water rat" is the title given to OSU Beavers (by OU Duck fans, anyway). The story on the nutria was one of the usual meddling with nature and it's disastrous consequences. The prolific animal was brought here because of it's lustrous fur, and a commercial exploitation of that fur was made with varying success. Current exploitation of Coypus is to try to interest yuppies in eating it's flesh. One unscrupulous coypus farmer in Clark County, WA was discovered selling his skinned coypus carcasses to a local taco-shack chef, who put it in tacos and called it "pulled pork". While this sounds far-fetched, it's not, a good friend of mine from Seattle, down here to visit family, ate some water-rat tacos she picked up in Vancouver WA, got food poisoning from it, but had the left-overs to take to the King County medical officer, who positively identified it as water-rat meat, and had his counterpart in Clark County hammer the taco shack that sold them. I get a chuckle at the consternation of the enviros that all their precious wetlands are being done in by coypus, though, because, as the Wiki explains, they took care of this problem down Louisiana way by putting a bounty on the water rats, and .22s in the hands of hunters did the rest. Horrors! A GUN solution to a problem? Can't have that!

Well, it's getting on towards time to pester a few more medical staff about the gudwife's program, so I'll sign off for now.

All y'all keep your BeeEss detector screens on Double-Front, you hear?

SR-71

...the rock band, not the aircraft. They smack down Political Correctness with this release, "Politically Correct".

Yowzer! Anarchangel turned me on to this audio version with lyrics. It's been a long time since I listened to a new song for the lyrics, but with SR-71, the lyrics AND their unvarnished truth come through loud and clear. The base and percussion ain't too shabby, either.

SR-71, flying so high and so fast it can't be shot down!

Goes on my faceplace timeline, too.

That GMO thing...

I've admired agriculture, mostly from a distance, all my life. Well, I did some grunt work on a pig farm for a little while in college. Hosing pig sheds out. 'Nuff of that...

You can't drive through a rural area anymore without seeing signs of liberal activism, literally. It's all around you. As the old family farms go broke because of envirowhacko regulation, liberals rush in with their money and buy them up, then pretend like they've been farming all their lives, and place signs advocating liberal causes along their highway fence lines. If you look at their fields, they are mostly fallow, or maybe have a cover crop on them. Seldom a cash crop. Never cattle. Posted against hunters, of course. I saw this yesterday on a trip up into Rose Valley along the Coweeman River in WA.

For liberal farm owners, raising cash crops would involve either doing it at a loss or using modern agriculture methods. Those modern methods include using hybrid seed, and that, HORRORS, means raising GENETICALLY MODIFIED ORGANISMS! Horrors, can't do that. We must reject everything in agricultural science from Gregor Mendel's day up through to the present. Of course, most of these boneheads don't know Tansy from the mustard it hides in, so Tansy is coming back and making it hard for those who raise cattle. These agri-airheads totally reject the proven science of seed-hybridization to increase yield AND resist disease, and their pals in the entertainment industry all swear that dumping gluten from one's diet with make one Holy or something, so they spread these lies and damage agribusiness even further.

Look, we're approaching seven billion humans on this planet, and if we're to feed them all, we NEED every advantage that modern agricultural methods can give us.

Instead, this anti-GMO line of thinking works against the survival of those who starve. When you try to point this out to a liberal, though, you get either a blank stare, or some balderdash about "we're all better off eating the things that Mother Nature intended for us to eat". These cretins can't understand that we humans are the dominant species for ONLY one reason: we can THINK and use our brains to work with science, and so we can rise even farther above other lesser species.

One can only conclude that liberals WANT to starve a big chunk of the planet's population to death.

When you suggest to them that war works as well as famine to do that grisly job, they look at you as a barbarian. I didn't say that first, Robert Malthus did.