Iran Declares War

The following come from AP wire reports, available on the internet to anyone who cares to look:

 

8:44 p.m. PT Oct 20, 2006

TEHRAN, Iran - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Friday threatened any country that supports Israel, and said the United States and its allies had "imposed a group of terrorists" on the region with their support of Israel.

 

The Iranian leader also called the U.N. Security Council "illegitimate," ahead of the planned circulation of a draft resolution on Iran next week.

 

Diplomats have said they would seek limited sanctions on Tehran for its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment  a key process that can produce either fuel for a nuclear reactor or the material for a warhead.

 

Ahmadinejad's comments came a day after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's strongest words to date about Iranian threats. Olmert warned that Iran would have "a price to pay" if it does not back down from its nuclear ambitions  hinting broadly that Israel might be forced to take action.

 

'This is an ultimatum'

Speaking to tens of thousands of supporters at a pro-Palestinian rally in the capital, Tehran, the Iranian leader addressed Israel's allies: "It is in your own interest to distance yourself from these criminals... This is an ultimatum. Don't complain tomorrow."

 

Dozens of rallies were held across Iran for "Al-Quds Day," the Arabic name for Jerusalem. Many became anti-American protests as well, criticizing U.S. support for Israel.

 

"We have advised the Europeans that the Americans are far away, but you are the neighbors of the nations in this region. We inform you that the nations are like an ocean that is welling up, and if a storm begins, the dimensions will not stay limited to Palestine, and you may get hurt," he said.

 

In 1981, the late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini declared the last Friday of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan as "Al-Quds Day," a day of protest to show the importance of Jerusalem to Muslims. Jerusalem is the third holiest site in Islam after the Saudi Arabian cities of Mecca and Medina.

 

A banner in Tehran carried a quote from the late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini: "Quds is part of Islam's body."

 

Protests also were planned in Egypt and Lebanon.

 

Ahmadinejad, who has a history of similarly fiery rhetoric, said Israel no longer had any reason to exist and would soon disappear.

 

"This regime, thanks to God, has lost the reason for its existence," he said.

 

"Efforts to stabilize this fake (Israeli) regime, by the grace of God, have completely failed... You should believe that this regime is disappearing," he said.

 

Since Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took office in 2005, he has caused outrage in the West with his provocative statements about Israel. Here is a sampling of his more memorable words.

 

Oct. 2006

"The Zionist regime is counterfeit and illegitimate and cannot survive."

 

May 2006

Israel is "a regime based on evil that cannot continue and one day will vanish."

 

April 2006

"The Zionist regime is an injustice and by its very nature a permanent threat. Whether you like it or not, the Zionist regime is heading toward annihilation. The Zionist regime is a rotten, dried tree that will be eliminated by one storm."

 

April 2006

"We say that this fake regime (Israel) cannot not logically continue to live. Open the doors (of Europe) and let the Jews go back to their own countries."

 

Dec. 2005

"They have invented a myth that Jews were massacred... If you have burned the Jews, why don't you give a piece of Europe, the United States, Canada or Alaska to Israel... Why should the innocent nation of Palestine pay for this crime?"

 

Oct. 2005

"Israel must be wiped off the map... The establishment of a Zionist regime was a move by the world oppressor against the Islamic world."

 

Anyone who insists that the Iranian regime is not a declared threat to the rest of the world is living in a cave, or has their head very firmly buried in the sand. Or do they simply believe that Iran has spent more than thirty years pursuing nuclear technology, including weaponry, but won't use it on neighbor that it has vowed to destroy? They used chemical weapons on Iraq during the Iran/Iraq war, and they'll stop at nothing in the war they've declared on Israel and the west. And if you don't they've declared war on the west, I'll repeat this quote:

 

"We have advised the Europeans that the Americans are far away, but you are the neighbors of the nations in this region. We inform you that the nations are like an ocean that is welling up, and if a storm begins, the dimensions will not stay limited to Palestine, and you may get hurt,"

 

One note to Bob, "Mister X". I've read through your links in great detail, and while I admire the effort you've expended in researching your subject, I think that the very fact you found this information demonstrates that the lack of freedom of speech that you attribute to the current Bush administration is either non existent or ineffective. Hitler was much better at it. The best comparison that the western world has to Nazi-type suppression of free speech is the liberal PC crowd that tells us not only what we can or can't say, but what we can or can't think.

 

 

World War Three

 

When citizens from around the world were deliberately targeted and murdered by al-Qaeda on September 11th 2001, war was declared. It was declared not only on the United States, but on every other free country in the world. Including New Zealand. It wasn't the first time civilians have been targeted by al-Qaeda, nor was it the last. It was the most daring and blatant attack. It was not in response to wrongs commited against innocents. It had nothing to do with Israel or the Palestinians (who came from Jordan, by the way). It was a direct reprisal for Saudi Arabia hosting the US military during the first Gulf War. And now Iran lends material support to al-Qaeda. The same Iran that has publicly pledged to destroy America and Israel, and to establish a world-wide Islamic state. The same Iran that is actively seeking a nuclear weapons program. The same Iran that is sending its own elite special forces 'Quds' force into Iraq along with sophisticated arms and munitions, as well as training for the al-Qaeda forces in Iraq. The Quds force works directly for clerics at the highest levels of the Iranian government. Quds force operatives are responsible for murdering Iraqis and Americans who are operating under the authority of the lawfully elected government. That is a declaration of war. Not just on Iraq or America, but on every country with an interest in a stable middle east and a wish to be free. And they are allies and supporters of al-Qaeda. The following (from wikipedia) is a list of reasons the world is at war with al-Qaeda.

1993 (Feb.): Bombing of World Trade Center (WTC); 6 killed.
1993 (Oct.): Killing of U.S. soldiers in Somalia.
1996 (June): Truck bombing at Khobar Towers barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, killed 19 Americans.
1998 (Aug.): Bombing of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania; 224 killed, including 12 Americans.
1999 (Dec.): Plot to bomb millennium celebrations in Seattle foiled when customs agents arrest an Algerian smuggling explosives into the U.S.
2000 (Oct.): Bombing of the USS Cole in port in Yemen; 17 U.S. sailors killed.
2001 (Sept.): Destruction of WTC; attack on Pentagon. Total dead 2,992.
2001 (Dec.): Man tried to denote shoe bomb on flight from Paris to Miami.
2002 (April): Explosion at historic synagogue in Tunisia left 21 dead, including 11 German tourists.
2002 (May): Car exploded outside hotel in Karachi, Pakistan, killing 14, including 11 French citizens.
2002 (June): Bomb exploded outside American consulate in Karachi, Pakistan, killing 12.
2002 (Oct.): Boat crashed into oil tanker off Yemen coast, killing 1.
2002 (Oct.): Nightclub bombings in Bali, Indonesia, killed 202, mostly Australian citizens.
2002 (Nov.): Suicide attack on a hotel in Mombasa, Kenya, killed 16.
2003 (May): Suicide bombers killed 34, including 8 Americans, at housing compounds for Westerners in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
2003 (May): 4 bombs killed 33 people targeting Jewish, Spanish, and Belgian sites in Casablanca, Morocco.
2003 (Aug.): Suicide car-bomb killed 12, injured 150 at Marriott Hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia.
2003 (Nov.): Explosions rocked a Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, housing compound, killing 17.
2003 (Nov.): Suicide car-bombers simultaneously attacked 2 synagogues in Istanbul, Turkey, killing 25 and injuring hundreds.
2003 (Nov.): Truck bombs detonated at London bank and British consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, killing 26.
2004 (March): 10 bombs on 4 trains exploded almost simultaneously during the morning rush hour in Madrid, Spain, killing 191 and injuring more than 1,500.
2004 (May): Terrorists attacked Saudi oil company offices in Khobar, Saudi Arabia, killing 22.
2004 (June): Terrorists kidnapped and executed American Paul Johnson, Jr., in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
2004 (Sept.): Car bomb outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, killed 9.
2004 (Dec.): Terrorists entered the U.S. Consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, killing 9 (including 4 attackers).
2005 (July): Bombs exploded on 3 trains and a bus in London, England, killing 52.
2005 (Oct.): 22 killed by 3 suicide bombs in Bali, Indonesia.
2005 (Nov.): 57 killed at 3 American hotels in Amman, Jordan.
2006 (Aug.): More than 25 arrested in plot to blow up jetliners between London and U.S.

How long will the list of casualties need to be before the world realizes its at war?

Fundamentalist Islam and Nazism

In the 1930's, the Nazis perfected the art of infiltrating nations they planned to conquer by spreading lies, confusion, and political unrest, and it worked perfectly as one European country after another. confused and distracted by these "Fifth Column" elements, fell easily into Nazi hands.



These Fifth Columnists even reached the United States. The most visible was the German-American Bund. After Hitler's rise to power in 1933, some German-Americans formed groups who attempted to influence American politics. They wore uniforms and swastikas and pledged themselves to the Fuhrer, promoting hatred fot Jews and working to bring Nazism to the United States. They even stormed the German language New Yorker Staats-Zeitung with the demand that Nazi-sympathetic articles be published. They also created recreational camps such as Camp Siegfried in New York, Camp Nordland in New Jersey, and Camp Hindenburg in Wisconsin. They met frequently in Milwaukee and Chicago beer halls. They created an American version of the Hitler Youth that educated children in the German language and history, and Nazi philosophy. They even handed Aryan pamphlets outside of Jewish owned businesses and spawned several incidents of violence against Jewish-Americans and Jewish-owned businesses.



The Corvinius Library of Hungarian History writes that resistance to the Nazis infiltration tactics was weak through free Europe's disunity and perplexed by the appeasement of Western diplomacy. In addition, the free nation's social ills and national strife were skillfully exploited by Nazi diplomacy and propaganda.



The Hungarian Library article states that the spearheads of Nazi infiltration were the many large German minorities in those countries who readily embraced the ideas of national-socialism. In fact, Hitler's program appealed to many malcontents, irrespective of nationality, who were dissatisfied with the existing social or political order. The revisionist governments, of course, agreed with Hitler's loudly proclaimed aim of undoing "the injustices of the peace treaties." But the defenders of the status quo, too, in their confused and disorganized state, more and more deemed it opportune to curry the favor of the new and powerful German Reich. First, their inner weaknesses undermined their individual power of resistance. Second, their strife with each other destroyed whatever abilities they had to join together.



Today, militant Islam has been very successful at the same thing. To a large extent, Muslims who immigrate to non-Muslim countries make no effort to assimilate, and in fact are encouraged in this by liberal and PC forces waving the banner of cultural diversity. They even separate themselves in enclaves where local police are afraid to venture.



What about attempts to influence mainstream media as the Bund did with the New Yorker Staats-Zeitung? The Mohammed cartoon controversy is a good example of Islam doing the same. Free speech runs counter to Islamic beliefs.



And what about the Nazi 'recreational camps'? Around the free world, there have been madrasses & mosques set up that preach the violent teaching of Militant Islam to Muslim students. And just as the Bund created an American version of the Hitler Youth, the madrasses and mosques in the free world are doing the same to their children, teaching not Western values but those of radical Islam and the promotion of anti-Semitism. Even prisons have become fertile grounds for recruiting the troops of jihad.



Home grown Jihadists work as Fifth Columnists using Europe's growing population of alienated Muslim and youth as an important reservoir of potential recruits while appeasing apologists for the Islamist agenda, like Hitler, cite the "injustices" that have been committed on the Muslim population of the world by the free democracies.



The fundamentalist face of Islam today represents... indeed loudly and proudly proclaims a grave threat to tolerant, appeasing Western culture.



Next: World War Three!

Iran Part Two

Last week, French President Jacques Chirac announced that even if Iran had a
few nuclear devices (for self-defence, according to Eric Margolis of the
Toronto Sun... there's a concept. The self defence nuke. Kind of like the
self defence apocalypse), "it is not very dangerous". I wonder if Margolis
would feel the same if the United States had vowed to wipe Toronto off the
map, and then went shopping for a nuke, simply for self-defence. Margolis
goes on to say that as he did in the lead up to the Iraq war, Chirac "spoke
with logic and good sense". For decades, liberals have denounced the concept
of Mutually Assured Destruction as, aptly, mad. Even as it proved to be the
concept in logic that saved the world from nuclear devastation ever since
the atomic bombings that ended World War Two in the pacific, liberals
insisted that evil conservatives who maintained the nuclear balance were
going to get us all killed. Now that that very balance helped to bring down
the Soviet Empire, the same liberals are clinging to the same philosophy to
defend the right of an evil theocracy to gain such weapons. Chirac says (and
Margolis agrees) that if Iran nuked Israel, they would be destroyed, and
certainly they wouldn't commit national suicide. So first off, France is
granting Iran the right to destroy Israel, so long as it's willing to face
the consequences, and secondly, Mutually Assured Destruction is only MAD
when a conservative talks about it. That would seem to be the message. Maybe
Mr Margolis would feel differently if the Twin Towers had been in Toronto.

Let me repeat from last week. Ahmadinejad doesn't care if Iran is destroyed.
He wants to destroy America and Israel, and he is taking steps to do just
that. It has nothing to do with politics. It has to do with perverted
religion and most likely a chemical imbalance in his brain. And if you think
that it has nothing to do with New Zealand, you're mistaken. Just like the
Japanese reached Australia following the attack on Pearl Harbor in World War
Two, and in fact had flown over and planned an attack on New Zealand, the
attack in New York killed New Zealanders, a nuclear strike on Israel (and
the war that will follow) will reach the South Pacific.

I have here two excerpts from a fascinating letter by David W. of
Dannevirke. The first shows just how close to home radical Islam is.

Last Friday afternoon I drove down Cook St in Palmerston North and passed
the Islamic Centre at the time when an event there had finished. Stopped
by traffic I was interested to note the large number of young men (50 to 60)
milling about on the footpath. I also noted that three children were forced
to cross the road to pass this mob as they were apparently denied passage by
the crowd. That scene made me feel distinctly uncomfortable.

This excerpt quotes statements made by Dr. Tawfik Hamid, who is forced to
live in secret for fear of his life.

Dr. Hamid, medical doctor, author and activist was once a member of Egypt's
Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya (Arabic for "the Islamic Group"), a banned terrorist
organization. He was trained under Ayman al-Zawaheri, a lieutenant of Bin
Laden, who tells the world that Islamic violence will stop only when the
whole world becomes Muslim. Dr Tawfik Hamid speaks of the deliberate and
determined expansion of militant Islam and its intention to triumph not only
in the Islamic world but in Europe and North America. "Muslim terrorists
kill and slaughter not because of what they experience but because of what
they believe." Dr. Hamid is now 45 years old, and has had many years to
reflect on why he was willing to die and kill for his religion. "The first
thing you have to understand is that it has nothing, absolutely nothing, to
do with poverty or lack of education," he says. "I was from a middle-class
family and my parents were not religious. Hardly anyone in the movement at
university came from a background that was different from mine. I've heard
this poverty nonsense time and time again from Western apologists for Islam,
most of them not Muslim by the way. Most of those who do the killing are
wealthy, privileged, educated and free. If it were about poverty, ask
yourself why it is middle-class Muslims and never poor Christians who become
suicide bombers in Palestine." Dr Hamid states that the expansion of violent
and aggressive Islam began in the late 1970's and can be traced to the
growing financial clout of Saudi Arabia. "We're not talking about a fringe
cult here. Salafist [fundamentalist] Islam is the dominant version of the
religion and is taught in almost every Islamic university in the world. It
is puritanical, extreme and does, yes, mean that women can be beaten,
apostates killed and Jews called pigs and monkeys." The violence is not
about Israel, not about Iraq, not about Afghanistan. They are mere excuses.
Algerian Muslim fundamentalists murdered 150,000 other Algerian Muslims,
sometimes slitting the throats of children in front of their parents. This
had nothing to do with Israel's treatment of the Palestinians or about
American foreign policy." Dr. Hamid says, "Stop asking what you have done
wrong. Muslims are slaughtering Westerners like sheep and you still look
within. You criticize your history, your institutions, your churches. Why
can't you realize that it has nothing to do with what you have done but with
what they want." Quotes from Michael Coren, National Post, Canada. And what
they want is total dominion. Islam is never satisfied to be one religion
among many. It has to be supreme; the one and only. "...the (only)
religion (acceptable) before God is Islam." Surah 3:19. Within Islam,
freedom of religion is never an option. Allah says, "If anyone desires a
religion other than Islam, never will it be accepted of him." Surah 3:85.

Finally, David adds this:

Hence we have in Palmerston North the Muslim member of Parliament agitating
to have the cross removed from the war memorial tower in the Palmerston
North Civic Square. that is just for starters.

David is very sensible, and I'm really happy to have his input and feedback.
Radical Islam is and has been working hard in New Zealand, and ignoring and
appeasing it won't make it go away. Keep at it, David. People need to hear
this, and while I'm glad for the education, I'm also happy to spread the
word. Readers, I want to hear from you about this... even if you disagree.

Evil in Iran

I was going to talk about moral cowardice on an individual basis, and the effect it is having on the current generation of children, but I'd rather include and comment on a letter from David W.:

Hi.
Very interesting to read your article and see that you have aquired a copy of "Because They Hate." I suspect that the message is falling on deaf ears due to PC. Two other books that you might find interesting - "Londinistan" by Melanie Phillips, Encounter Books, NY, ISBN I-59403-144-4. "While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam Is Destroying the West From Within" by Bruce Bawer, Doubleday, ISBN 13: 978-0-385-51472-9.
"Inside Al Qaeda, Global Network of Terror" by Rohan Gunaratna, Scribe Publications, Melbourne, makes it very clear that Jemaah Islamiyah has infiltrated our region and terror cells are well entrenched in New Zealand.
Keep up the good work.
Cheers
David W.

David makes a fantastic point here. The PC crowd that was once just an annoyance has become one of the most dangerous weaknesses in our society. We worry so much about not offending people that we ignore some groups who want nothing more than to destroy us. It all sounds melodramatic, but in fact its true. The regime in Iran is bent on unleashing nuclear weapons on the region, and specifically on Israel. Think I'm exaggerating? Ahmadinejad has said openly on his own country's airwaves that he intends to destroy... not defeat, not invade, but to annihilate the United States and then Israel. Think he can't do it? He's doing everything he can to build a nuclear bomb. And with Saudi Arabia lowering the price of oil (and Iran's principal source of revenue, by the way), he is in negotiations with Russia to buy a bomb. To put all this down as paranoia is the worst kind of head-in-the-sand attitude. The world saw it before, in the 1930's as Hitler began to swallow up bits of Europe. How long will the world wait before it confronts the evil in Iran? How long do we appease someone who has said he wants to destroy us?

And just in case you think this is only a problem for countries closely allied to the United States (I know of what I speak. A Dannevirke resident responded to the London subway bombings by saying that anyone close to the United States should expect to get bombed), well, look closer to home. Ayman Al Zawahiri has been to New Zealand twice, and Al Qaeda members learned to fly at Palmerston North. New Zealand may have once been quiet and secluded and off the radar screen, so to speak, but not anymore. Once the bigger targets have been taken out, the smaller ones will fall quickly.

I had a quick look into "While Europe Slept", and here is what I found. Bruce Bawer, who previously addressed American fundamentalism in "Stealing Jesus", and gay rights in "A Place At the Table" now turns to European liberalism. After moving to Europe in 1998 and settling in a mostly Muslim neighborhood, he discovered a society that offered "millions in aid, but not a penny in salary". Europe, which has suffered more than most from the lessons of the past, seems to have forgotten them more quickly than most. I'm looking forward to reading the book in more detail.

Thanks again, David, for writing. I've signed on with www.americancongressfortruth.com, and I advise anyone interested in some unfiltered truth to do the same. I intend to continue this dialogue as the media talking heads and the PC crowd and politico's continue their policy of ignore and appease. And quite frankly, I challenge any reader to provide a legitimate counterpoint. Send it to me at abukoff@gmail.com, and I'll include it in the next rant.

Headlines From the Edge

"Man Sues Self... Loses!"

John Oreck of Mobile, Alabama announced through his attorney Jackie Chiles that he had sued himself for an undisclosed transgression and lost. "My client made a foolish decision in attempting to _____within the Mobile city limits with a _____ , especially with full knowledge of the effect it would have on his _____ . With intent and malice aforethought, as well as before thought, he willfully _____ his _____ , and further incriminated himself by _____ after the fact. A lawsuit was the only way for him to regain his _____ , and this shocking defeat at the hands of _____ is nothing but a speed bump on the way to eventual vindication and _____."


"New Year Arrives, Nothing Happens!"

2007 finally arrived amid countless dramatic predictions, but all of them were eclipsed by the shocking news that with the exception of a ball dropping in New York's Times Square, fireworks going off in thousands of places around the globe, as well as billions of calendars being changed, absolutely nothing happened. The planets failed to collide, the antichrist missed his appointment, and every computer malfunction that ocurred did so with a perfectly reasonable explanation.


"Democrats Take Control, Fix World!"

A mere hour after Democrats took control of both Houses of the United States legislature, every problem facing the world was solved. In the first half hour, the global temperature lowered by five degrees, refreezing the polar ice-caps. Osama Bin Laden apologized for everything he's done (through his attorney Jackie Chiles), denounced violence, and voluntarily entered a rehab clinic. In the next half hour, they ended the war in Iraq and achieved a lasting Middle East Peace. After fixing every other problem, they relinquished power without accepting any pay.

Extremists

I'd like to touch on a subject that just won't go away, and in fact is spreading. Even downunder. Religious extremists. Primarily those who are so hateful and intolerant that they consider it their duty to kill anyone who doesn't believe what they do. Yes, Muslim extremists. Not your average peace-loving Muslim who really has had a tough time since September 11th 2001. I know what it is like to be judged because of what someone else has done, when they happen to be from the same country as you, so I think I can identify with these folks. We all know that the aforementioned extremists went on a binge of burning and blowing up because of criticism levelled at their prophet. I won't repeat it. I'd say to these people, don't try to say that you have any moral high ground. If people accuse you of being violent, to react violently just makes their case. And how dare you warn the world that further accusations of violent tendencies will result in further violence. I mean, do you have any common sense? Or is it just that you don't care about any people on the planet but yourself? It is hard to feel any sympathy for a group of people who kill and burn every time someone criticizes them. People who have escaped from these extremists. Don’t believe me? Read “Because They Hate” by Brigitte Gabriel (ISBN-13: 9780312358372) . Here is an excerpt from a speech she made at the Intelligence Summit in Washington DC, Saturday February 18, 2006

I was ten years old when my home exploded around me, burying me under the rubble and leaving me to drink my blood to survive, as the perpetrators shouted “Allah Akbar!” My only crime was that I was a Christian living in a Christian town. At 10 years old, I learned the meaning of the word "infidel."

I had a crash course in survival. Not in the Girl Scouts, but in a bomb shelter where I lived for seven years in pitch darkness, freezing cold, drinking stale water and eating grass to live. At the age of 13 I dressed in my burial clothes going to bed at night, waiting to be slaughtered. By the age of 20, I had buried most of my friends--killed by Muslims. We were not Americans living in New York, or Britons in London. We were Arab Christians living in Lebanon.

Headlines From the Edge

The following headlines are not true. They are intended as parody only.


"Kleptomaniac Steals House!"

Jamie Presley of Auslaught, Kentucky thought everything was okay having her friend Ally Sango overnight. She'd locked up the fine silver and hidden the family jewels in a wall safe, because Ally is a kleptomaniac, a person who feels an irresistable compulsion to steal. You guessed it. Jamie woke up underneath the big tree in the front yard to discover that the whole house had been taken... from the foundation to the attic. "She warned me," a distraught Jamie said. "She said she might have a problem. I just didn't think she was this serious." Family and insurers have promised to provide more lodgings as soon as possible, so Jamie can host her friend Fiona... who happens to be a pyromaniac.


"New Time Person of The Year!"

Responding to criticism of their choice as ‘everyone’ as their person of the year, Time Magazine has stated that in fact, since it could also be proven scientifically that nobody changed the world noticably for good or evil, nobody in fact deserved the award. Says Jon Schmidt, who leads the choice committee, “If everyone is person of the year, that means by definition that no one person made an outstanding contribution. Therefore, nobody is person of the year, and nobody will get all they recognition they so richly deserve.”


"Real Submarine Sandwich!"

The US Navy has introduced a remarkable new submarine that promises to revolutionize the so-called silent service. The new micro submarine (that is available in sizes ranging from six inches to a foot-long) will feed its crew as they patrol, but will also distract any enemy ships that come into contact with it. While engineers are struggling with the problem of bread softening, they say that they are confident that the minor distraction of bread breaking off and floating away as they speed up will not detract from the overall mission of good food for hard-working sailors.

Headlines From the Edge

"I Was The Model For The Great Face Of Mars!"

Ninety-seven year old Sam Terwilliger of Austin, Texas claims that he was the model for the famous great face of Mars, and insists that attempts by NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to convince the public that the face is a myth is proof of their colution with a Martian government. He is seeking US$7 million in compensation, citing loss of future royalties from space tourists.


"Two Chia Pets Marry!"

Mary Francis Dean of San Luis Obispo, California has owned the same two Chia Pets for ten years, and since they have, in her words, reached 'maturity', they needed to make a commitment. So she contacted ordained minister Billy Bob Wilder of the Church of the Sacred Bleeding Heart located in Los Angeles, and he flew in to wed the happy couple in a quiet ceremony in Mary's beach side home. Mary says that the two plant 'pets'; a man with long hair, and a sheep have grown up together, and have always been the best of friends. But since ten years in Chia Pet years is almost twenty human years, they either needed to 'get hitched or go their separate ways'.


"US Government Announces Plan to Move to China!"

In a stunning announcement, US State Department sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, announced that the White House would reveal plans just before the upcoming congressional elections to move the entire country to China. "In keeping with the intent of Christopher Columbus, who was just looking for trade routes to the Orient, the president will put us where the valiant explorer meant us to be. We're going back to our roots, and the best way is to get back to Chris's route." This is meant to increase Republican's sagging poll numbers.


"Six Year Old Genetic Engineer Creates Own Little Brother!"

Little Danny Unger of Rochester, Indiana has always been a science aficianado, but his parents had no idea what they were getting into when they brought home a "Little Scientist Kit" from the toy store. It seems that Danny has wanted a brother for years, but Mum and Dad weren't providing one. So he started his own project with jar full of goo and a toenail. Six months later, 'Tony' was fully grown and ready for diapers!

Immigration

The immigration problem is not a simple issue. Immigrants built this country, and we'd be stupid to try to keep them out because of where they come from. At the same time, I don't like the idea of granting millions of illegals (and I'm not talking about a race here.... I mean illegals from anywhere) amnesty and citizenship just because they're here. I am a compromise kind of person. I think that these folks contribute immensely to the country, and we need to recognize that, but they have to admit that they broke the law and both sides have to work to a compromise. They need to meet in the middle... sit across a table and talk to each other. There needs to be some kind of documentation for everyone in the country working. For taxes, and benefits and legal representation, so they can't be taken advantage of. I'm not a fan of government, but it does have it's uses, and this is one. The constitution is worthless if you don't have a way of making sure it is followed everywhere, and reaches everyone in the country. Otherwise, undocumented workers are held hostage in a way, because they have no recourse if they're mistreated. So I think they need to put theeir names down somewhere... let them continue working to feed themselves and their families, but require them to start, at the same time, paperwork to at least get work permits. The paperwork needs to be cut so people are willing to finish it... people on the gov't payroll should provide low-cost assistance to get the paperwork done right, and we get all these people on the track to some proper status so they can be protected under the law. But at the same time, we should have a secure border, because not everyone who crosses illegally is innocent. There are criminals and fugitives who cross, and we owe it to the people in the country to know who is coming in. Not as an excuse to stop good people, but as protection. Just like when you lock your doors at night. And I think also that the Mexican government needs to take a hard look at why so many people are leaving a country so rich in oil and agriculture. Why are there so many poor people in so rich a country?

Money money money

Let me say from the start that I believe in capitalism. Not that money is the key to happiness, but competition is, as a rule, a positive thing. It motivates people to work harder, and it fuels the economy. No matter where you are in the free world, a market economy is the best working model. Economics brought down the Soviet Union and is turning Cuba into a backwater. And it's the only reason China is opening up markets to the west. And yet...

Most of the world's problems can be traced to money. Africa is, from an agricultural point of view, one of the richest continents on the planet. They also have heaps and heaps of oil. So why are so many people starving and dying there? It isn't because there's no food. It's because the thugs who run so many African countries are rich and corrupt and can only keep their people under control by starving them. They have food and oil to spare but are not willing to share it. Instead they horde their fortunes. If they didn't control all that, they be on an equal footing. It's all about money.

The Middle East is, without a doubt, one of the most troublesome parts of the world. That is because, religious issues aside, you have essentially a number of competing tribes and kingdoms selling oil to fund ancient hatreds and feuds. Strip away the diplomatic trappings, and that's what you have. I'm not saying anything against Islam. I'm saying that their political systems haven't changed substantially since the crusades. What am I getting at? Just that if the oil they have wasn't so valuable, the western world wouldn't have to worry about them. They could carry on ancient grudges all they want, and the rest of us wouldn't be held hostage to them. I know there are important issues at stake and problems there, and the western world is responsible for some of those problems. I just think we wouldn't be spending half of our pay to fill our gas tanks if it weren't for the effect of money in the region.

Money is even one of the things that fuels terrorism. Terrorists cannot hope to gain power through any honest means. Instead, they build their fortunes through drug running and piracy, and use much of the proceeds to help starving and suffering populations. That in turn gives them a foot in the door to countries looking for anyone to lead them. Anyone who'll feed the people. Hello, Africa. Are you listening?

I'm not saying that money is evil. Only people can be evil. But as long as the world is ruled by money, we're going to suffer because of it.

But how about here at home... in your home? We all shop the specials here and there. Coupons can save you lots of money. But what else could we do? Think about this: one of the most popular things we see for kids is the juice box. You know, the little cardboard or foil/plastic packet filled with sugary 'juice mix' that typically contains no more than five percent juice. Each of these will usually cost at least a dollar or two and contain less than 12 ounces of juice. At the same time, a single packet of kool-aid, costing less than a dollar (30 cents here in expensive Las Vegas) makes two quarts. The juice box is a convenience and a time saver, and with the need for most homes to have two incomes, it's easy to see why we pay a little more to save some time. It's just regrettable that we have to do wasteful things in order to conform to a skewed model of economics. Why do we have it? Because of capitalism? No. Ideally, capitalism should result in lower prices as competition increases. What causes prices to increase while wages fail to keep up? A lack of competition. Prices go up because they can. There's no reason not to, and every excuse to increase the profit margin. And when the government steps in to regulate the market, those companies respond by saving their profits by cutting overhead. Lay-offs and pay cuts protect the profit margin but gut the working class. Capitalism good. Greed bad.

What would you call it?

What would you call an organization that says for the record that it doesn't
care what it has to say, as long as the public comes away believing what
they are supposed to? Call it CNN. CNN says, "The content of the story is
not as important as what the viewer takes away from it." Oh sure, the
government does the same thing, but the press tells you that if you believe
the government, you're stupid, or you're a conservative (and according to
them, the only difference is that stupid means you don't understand them,
and conservative means you're evil). So really, the choice you have if you
don't go along with everything that the liberal elite tells you to believe,
you either need reeducating or you need shutting up. I won't dispute that
far right extremists, be they the christian right, or a home-grown terrorist
like Timothy McVeigh have done their share of evil, and try to silence all
dissent. And it was just plain stupid for the Bush administration (it wasn't
him, by the way. It was one of his idiots) to say that it is unpatriotic to
disagree with them. That was wrong and stupid and it has sure backfired on
them. So you can't say I'm blind to what they're doing. But aside from the
idiots I've mentioned, it is not for the most part the conservatives who
tell you what to think and what to believe and what to hate. (Although some
do). The political philosophy that most often, within its mainstream, tells
you what you can do or not do, or think or not think, or love or hate or
believe or disbelieve or shout down with the most indignant noise is the
liberal. And CNN is a perfect mouthpiece for the liberal machine. They make
no attempt to appear unbiased... otherwise the facts would be more important
than the propoganda value of the story. All you have to remember is who
started it. Ted Turner, who has been a poster boy for the liberals for more
than 25 years, and his ex-wife (how bad must he have been to chase her
off?), who posed on top of a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun. Sure, that
was a long time ago, and sure she went on television decades later and
pretended to apologize, but how many American pilots were killed with that
gun? Her 'apology' wasn't heard by them. You know, the last organization
that acted like this began in post World War One Germany. They were known as
the National Socialist Party. The Nazis.

Disagree? That's okay. Let's talk about it.

A friend....

http://www.xanga.com/hipocrisyender is a friend's blog. Anyone reading this... if there's anyone reading this :) Have a look....

Good News... that the networks don't want you to know about....

U.S. Forces Succeed in E. Africa
Associated Press January 03, 2006DJIBOUTI - al-Qaida is active in Somalia, but U.S. counterterrorism forces are succeeding in keeping its influence from spreading in East Africa - using shovels as their weapons, a commander said Monday.
Maj. Gen. Tim Ghormley, who assumed command of the task force in May, said his troops are focusing on humanitarian projects including drilling wells and refurbishing schools and clinics to improve the lives of residents in the region and keep them away from the terror network.
"We know that al-Qaida al-Itihaad is in Somalia," Ghormley told reporters in an interview at his base in the impoverished nation of Djibouti. "They'd like to export that ... if we weren't there they would be."
While the al-Qaida linked group al-Itihaad was largely destroyed or disbanded by Ethiopian troops fighting inside Somalia by 1997, some of its members have regrouped under new guises and have begun to grow in strength, according to an International Crisis Group report released in July.
Somalia, divided into warring fiefdoms and with no central government, remains fertile ground for terrorists.
The Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa, set up in this former French colony in June 2002, is responsible for fighting terrorism in nine countries around the Horn of Africa: Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Somalia in Africa and Yemen on the southwestern corner of the Arabian Peninsula.
"I believe we're winning," Ghormley said, sitting on a wicker sofa under ceiling fans in a reception hall. "You can't contain them (al-Qaida), but we can take away their recruiting pool and deny them access and that's what we're trying to do."
He singled out a well-drilling project near the eastern Ethiopian hamlet of Gode, which drew the gratitude of the villagers.
But he also acknowledged the threat posed by terrorists taking sanctuary in Somalia and other lawless regions. African governments have historically had a hard time providing security in remote rural areas or patrolling vast borders where nomads frequently cross without detection.
Ghormley spoke after a New Year's pep rally for troops by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Peter Pace, who is on an eight-nation tour with his wife, Lynne, "American Idol" star Diana DeGarmo and other entertainers.
Pace told the troops their job was important despite the remoteness of the outpost, saying they were the "wave of the future."
The impoverished region, which is home to many Muslims, is a well-established recruiting ground for terrorist groups and U.S. officials describe it as a critical theater in the fight against terrorism.
The region has already suffered four terrorist attacks, all either claimed by - or attributed to - Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network. In August 1998, car bombs destroyed the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania; in October 2000 suicide bombers attacked the USS Cole while it was refueling in Yemen; and in November 2002 attackers tried to shoot down an Israeli airliner minutes before a car bomb destroyed a hotel on Kenya's coast.

Who do you believe?

Terror suspect challenges US president's 'unchecked' power

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Lawyers for an American 'war on terror' detainee said they had petitioned the Supreme Court to examine the US president's powers, citing "the danger of an unchecked Executive Branch".

In a filing on Tuesday, lawyers for terror suspect Jose Padilla cited evasive government moves to avoid a high court examination of his case as reason for requesting a "certiorari" review of a lower court decision challenging the president's wartime powers.
"The government's actions highlight the need for this court to grant certiorari to preserve the vital checks and balances" implicit in the US Constitution, the petition said.
Referring to a series of "strategic maneuvers" to keep Padilla's case from being heard in court, the petition said the government's actions "highlight the danger of an unchecked Executive Branch."

Common sense says that if the terrorist's defender doesn't like it, it's a good thing.

Term limits

Watching CNN and the networks.... I think sometimes that these people get as spoiled by their own power and publicity and press as the politicians they watch so closely. I even heard a CNN newscaster say that the content of a story was not as important as what the viewer takes away from the story. That tells me that they aren't worried as much as about accurately reporting as they are about steering public opinion and making people think what they want them to think. That's the same propoganda that they were 'Shocked! Shocked!' to hear that the administration was doing. What we need is to keep these brainwashing Vampires :) accountable by keeping a close eye on what they say, and by considering putting term limits on them. Ten years.... and get rid of them. Put them on the lecture circuit. Shove them onto the Sunday morning talk shows that are already so full of biased talking heads that they won't be noticed. The whole news industry could well do with some fresh blood.

That annoying verification thing

folks, I notice that regardless of what conservative points of view I put forth, I get no comments. So either nobody is reading, in which case I can say whatever I want, or people aren't commenting. If you aren't commenting because of that annoying verification thing, it is only because the spambots were annoying me. You can argue back all you want.... just do the little verification thing. Okay? :)

But I thought he was a model citizen!!!

January 11, 1999
Page FourB:Baldwin Wanted Hyde Stoned?
Actor Alec Baldwin may have meant it as a humorous skit when he railed about stoning Henry Hyde to death, but even after he apologized and a leading entertainment industry figure condemned him, the mainstream media never highlighted his outburst.
On the December 11 Late Night with Conan O’Brien the NBC host wrapped up his interview with Baldwin by asking about Clinton’s plight. Baldwin replied:
"They voted on one article of impeachment already. And I come back from Africa to stained dresses and cigars and this and impeachment. I am thinking to myself, in other countries they are laughing at us 24 hours a day and I’m thinking to myself, if we were in other countries, we would all right now, all of us together, [starts to shout] all of us together would go down to Washington and we would stone Henry Hyde to death! We would stone him to death! [crowd cheers] Wait! Shut up! Shut up! No shut up! I’m not finished. We would stone Henry Hyde to death and we would go to their homes and we’d kill their wives and their children. We would kill their families. [stands up, yelling] What is happening in this country? What is happening? UGHHH!"
Cutting to the supposed punch line, O’Brien then jumped up and put an air mask over Baldwin’s mouth to calm him down. Now, substitute the name Al Gore or Hillary Clinton for Henry Hyde and the name of a conservative for Baldwin. What would have been the reaction from the major networks?
In this case: nothing, not even after the Washington Post reported that "Baldwin said the exchange was a parody mocking the sanctimony of representatives...and that he was sorry Hyde took it badly. ‘In the current supercharged climate there’s no room for this kind of glibness,’ he said."A December 21 Post item by TV columnist Lisa de Moraes relayed how Jack Valenti, President of the Motion Picture Association of America, wrote Baldwin: "However it was said it’s not something you use as a joke, it’s not something you parody. This is incendiary."
FNC’s Special Report with Brit Hume played a RealPlayer clip of it from the MRC Web page and Rush Limbaugh alerted his listeners. After the December 20 Fox News Sunday showed an excerpt of Baldwin’s outburst, Brit Hume observed: "I think it was not in earnest. On the other hand, I don’t think the thought would have occurred to him to say it on that show if it hadn’t occurred to him otherwise."

True Lies?

Wow. I put in an opinion on Iraq and nobody argues. There must be no one reading. Okay, here's another.


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House and a senior Republican lawmaker expressed concern on Thursday about secret military payments to get Iraqi newspapers to print pro-American articles, but the military said it was important to spread the truth while insurgents were "lying to the Iraqi people."
U.S. troops in an "information operations" task force have written articles with positive messages about the U.S. mission in Iraq that have been translated from English into Arabic and planted in Iraqi newspapers in return for money, according to defense officials speaking on condition of anonymity.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Okay, folks, it's called propaganda, and it has existed since war existed. And for the party that actually started us in World War Two, Korea, and Vietnam to suddenly look indignant seems just a bit..... retarded. It's like Claude Rains in "Casablanca" saying "I'm shocked, shocked to find out that gambling is going on here!" just as someone hands him his winnings. You know, don't act like you've never done it.

Oh, and John Warner agreed with you and was just as indignant. Well, you can have him.

In or Out?

Okay folks.... maybe this will wake things up a bit. I've heard some leftist media types comparing Bush to Nixon. I personally think it's rubbish, and I've never heard it explained to my satisfaction. So if anyone is actually reading this, feel free to explain or disprove. And on the Iraq subject, nobody can say that it is going as well as it might. But to those who think the US should pull out immediately (I don't, by the way), what do you see as the future for Iraq? Obviously they can't defend the place by themselves, and it is foolish to think the terrorists (and that is what they are) will simply walk away if the US pulls out. That means that Al Qeada will have another Afganistan, and we'll be paying the bills a few years later. So what is the solution? And really, I don't want flames here. I want opinions. If you think I'm wrong (or right), explain.

Comments from drones

Just so you drones out there that send spam comments know how much your trash is appreciated, I have a gimmick that tells me where you are in the US.



so bugger off :)

While I was away....

I've moved to Indiana.... just in case anyone is still looking at this. Hey, does everyone who might be reading this believe that George Bush hates black people? Listen, if he had declared those areas disaster areas before the storm hit, would it have gone better? Cause, like FEMA would have preprepared, set aside emergency funds, etc....


well guess what. He did. For all the people there. What really went wrong was that the state government did not give the Feds permission to go in in force. See, the Federal government needs permission from the state government before it can go in and do a state's business. It's the law. And the local government, the mayor was not telling anyone what he was doing. No, he was communicating through the media. He didn't tell anyone there was people in the convention center for three days. Did FEMA screw up? Yeah. But they were also made part of the dept of homeland security. That was a recommendation after 9/11. So yeah, a mistake. It'll change. Is the head of FEMA incompetent? Maybe. He'll lose his job anyway. But to say that Bush is a racist (and what was said publicly by others was worse than that.... by some black liberal congressmen, surprise surprise) because black people were there is just BS. It's excuse making. It is saying it wasn't because anyone screwed up... it isn't an act of nature. It's because I'm black and if a Democrat were in office it wouldn't have happened in the first place. Poppycock.

Star Trek The Original Series: Day of the Dove

Report, Mr. Chekov.
Full scan.
Results-- negative.
Radiation level-- normal.
Atmosphere and terrain are undisturbed.
No evidence of a colony
nor residual after effect of a force
that might have annihilated it.
Life readings, Dr. McCoy?
Nothing. They said they were being attacked by a ship.
[Chekov] Which we were unable to detect upon approach.
An entire human colony.
A whole settlement.
100 men, women, and children.
Who did it?
And why?
[Communicator Beeps]
Kirk here.
Spock here, Captain.
Sensors have picked up a Klingon ship,
closing fast.
[Kirk] Deflectors on. Condition Red.
Protect yourselves.
Total reply if attacked.
So that's the answer--
Klingons.
Trouble aboard the Klingon ship.
Evidence of explosions,
massive destruction.
Captain, the enemy ship is drifting,
totally disabled,
and we never fired upon her.
Maintain Red Alert.
[Footsteps]
You attacked my ship!
400 of my crew dead.
Kirk, my ship is disabled.
I claim yours.
You are now prisoners of the Klingon Empire
against which you've committed a wanton act of war!
Space-- the final frontier.
These are the voyages of the star ship Enterprise.
Its five-year mission--
to explore strange new worlds,:
to seek out new life and new civilizations,
to boldly go where no man has gone before.
For three years, the Federation and the Klingon Empire
have been at peace.
A treaty we have honored to the letter.
We took no action against your ship, Kang.
Were the screams of my crew imaginary?
What were your orders, to start a war?
You've succeeded.
To test a new weapon?
We shall examine it.
There was a Federation colony on this planet.
It was destroyed.
By what? No bodies, no ruins.
A colony of the invisible?
Yes, a test of a new Klingon weapon,
leaving no traces.
Federation ships don't specialize in sneak attacks.
We have wondered when you would begin.
You lured my ship into ambush
by a false Klingon distress call.
You will tell us why with proper persuasion.
You received a call?
We received a distress call.
I don't propose to spend the rest of my life
on this ball of dust, arguing your fantasies.
The Enterprise is mine!
Instruct your transporter room to beam us aboard.
Go to the devil.
We have no devil, Kirk.
But we understand the habits of yours.
I shall torture you...
to death...
one by one...
until your noble captain cries "enough."
Who will be first?
Cossacks!
Filthy Klingon murderers!
You killed my brother Piotr.
The Archanis 4 research outpost.
100 peaceful people massacred!
Just like you did here.
My brother-- you killed him.
And you volunteer to join him.
That is loyalty.
Aah!
Chekov!
[Chekov Screaming]
Stop the torture!
Jim, you can't handover the Enterprise.
Help Chekov.
Don't plan any tricks, Kirk.
I will kill 100 hostages
at the first sign of treachery.
I'll beam you aboard the Enterprise.
Once there, no tricks.
Captain, you can't.
Don't let these animals have the ship.
Move aside.
[Kang]Animals.
Your captain crawls like one.
A Klingon would never have surrendered.
Order everybody in this area to be transported up.
All weapons on him.
Kirk to Enterprise.
Mr. Spock.
Here, Captain.
Mr. Spock, we have guests.
Adjust transporter to wide field.
Beam up everyone in the target area.
Understood, Captain.
Transporter room.
Full security, Johnson, on the double.
Good work, Spock.
What happened?
Our landing party is intact, Doctor.
All others suspended in transit.
Who are the guests?
Klingons.
Well, they're right in here.
Johnson?
Security on the way.
Captain, leave them where they are--
non-existence.
That's so many less Klingon monsters in the galaxy.
Bring them in.
Move 'em out. Move!
Liar!
I said no tricks after we reach the ship.
You're a prisoner of the Federation of Planets
against which you may have committed an act of war.
There are survivors aboard my ship.
We've not been able to get through to Starfleet Command.
Subspace frequencies have been blocked.
There's too much radiation
coming from that Klingon ship.
It's a hazard to the vicinity.
Prepare to destruct.
Completing the job you started?
You wouldn't be standing here if I had.
First group from the Klingon vessel.
My wife, Mara, and my science officer.
Kang, what has happened?
More Federation treachery.
We are prisoners.
What will they do to us?
I've heard of their atrocities, their death camps.
They will torture us for our scientific and military information.
You have a few things to learn about us.
Program the food synthesizer
to accommodate our guests.
You'll be well-treated, Kang.
So I have seen.
Secure from Red Alert.
But maintain general quarters.
Scan this sector for other ships.
Run a full check on the colony.
We know what happened. That distress call.
At the moment we received the distress signal
from the colony on Beta XII-A,
the Klingons were too far distant
to have been the attackers.
Moreover, they also were apparently attracted
by a distress call.
Lies. They want to start a war
by pretending that we did.
Chekov may be right.
Klingons claim to have honored the truce,
but there have been raids on our outposts.
No proof that Klingons committed it.
What proof do we need?
We know what a Klingon is.
Our log tapes will indicate
our innocence in the present situation.
Unfortunately, there's no guarantee
that they will be believed.
Report.
Still no contact with Starfleet Command, sir.
Outside communications blanketed.
Keep trying. We've got a diplomatic tiger by the tail.
[Scotty] Klingon ship is vacated.
Very good, Scotty. Mr. Sulu?
Forward phasers locked and ready to fire, sir.
Fire phasers.
Sensor sweeps reveal no other ships within range.
Lieutenant Uhura?
No contact with Starfleet yet, sir.
Mr. Sulu, change course to 17 mark 4,
warp factor 3.
Warp factor 3, sir.
When I take this ship,
I'll have Kirk's head hung on his wall.
They will kill us before we can act.
No, they wish to question us,
learn our strength, our plans.
They never will.
We are 40 against 400.
4,000 throats may be cut in one night
by a running man.
Patience. Vigilance.
They will make a mistake.
Capture of the Enterprise will give us knowledge
to end this war quickly.
Captain!
This doesn't make sense.
Carriers are normal. Channels are open.
There's still no outside contact!
I don't understand it.
Could the Klingons be doing something?
Sulu?
Change in course, accelerating.
Helm dead.
Auxiliary navigation dead.
Override.
Nothing responds, Captain.
Scotty, stop all engines.
I would if I could,
but the controls have gone crazy.
Something's taken over.
Scotty!
The engines, sir. They've gone to warp 9
by themselves!
New course?
[Sulu] 9-0-2, mark 5.
That'll take us out of the galaxy.
Captain, reports coming in from the lower decks.
Emergency bulkheads have closed.
Almost 400 crewmen are trapped down there, sir.
Most interesting.
The bulk of your crew trapped,
your ship racing from this galaxy
at wild speeds?
Delightful.
How did I perform this sabotage, Kirk?
All my men are here.
Johnson.
Get down to Security. Search every section.
Some Klingons may have beamed aboard undetected from the wrecked ship.
Then help Scotty hammer things back to normal.
Free those trapped crewmen.
And before I put you in the brig,
there's a little something I owe you.
Phasers.
Out!
Stand and fight, you coward.
Sick bay.
Bridge.
The Klingons are free.
They'll try and take the ship.
How many men do we have?
[Scotty] 392 trapped below decks.
Deploy forces to protect your section
and the auxiliary control center.
Check the armory
and try and free those crewmen.
The doors and bulkheads won't budge.
Blow out the bulkheads if you have to.
What kind of luck have you had controlling the ship's speed?
No, sir. She's a projectile at warp 9.
And don't ask me what's holding her together.
Five-minute report. Kirk out.
Full sensor scan of the ship.
Report on movement by the Klingons.
The Klingon Empire has maintained a dueling tradition.
They think they can beat us with swords.

To be continued...

Perhaps I should clarify :)

In the previous post, insert your joke as a comment.... if at first you don't succeed..... (insert your joke as a comment)

If at first you don't succeed.....

insert joke here. :)


I say, pretend you were doing something else entirely

Enterprise Virtual Seasons Blogsite

I have created a new blog, as an archive site for my "Enterprise Virtual Seasons"

http://startrekenterprisevirtualseasons.blogspot.com/

A great idea, but....

Watching Live 8 today, I have to think that it is great to get all these people together, and it is always good to draw attention to a problem. But you know, the fact is that the African continent is the richest, agriculturally, on the planet. What it lacks is the proper distribution of its wealth. It is good to give aid to starving people, and to forgive debt to governments that will use the opportunity to feed their people and solve their problems. But to give this money to dictators so they can line their pockets and watch their people die is simply a waste. If the governments in power over there are not going to allow their people to be helped by this effort, then really, what has been accomplished? I think alot of Bob Geldof and everyone who supported this. They put a great deal of time and effort into this, and I hope it makes a difference. If it doesn't, it isn't just another example of George W Bush not caring. It's just another example of Robert Mugabe (and many others like him) not caring. You know, the only thing that is really going to change things in Africa is to remove the criminals and murderers in power. Then we can truly celebrate.

Poetry: "Forgiveness"

Can one simply and easily return the spark of life to an empty shell?
Take back the moment when life was taken.
Go back.
Do over.
Put right what once went wrong...

Or is change irreversible?
If history can be rewritten, and all sins forgiven,
will there be no difference between what was, and what it became-
because I changed it, then changed it back?

Forgiveness is like divorce.
Agree to put an end to it-
but never go back
to where we were.
No matter our smiles,
the deed is done.

Once altered, a thing is never original.
Once sinned, never completely clean.
Once stained, never again white.
Forgive, but not forget.

Poetry: "Want"

(Some of you may have read this before)

Want

What is want but an itch?
To desire a feeling quite superficial.
Is this essential?
Is the need real?

Can I live without her in my life?
I want more and more to feel her fire
But if I say I need her, am I a liar?

My head says stay, my heart screams go!
My blood shouts I love her!
My brain says 'so?'

What am I doing?
Where does it end?
Do I kiss her goodnight when I push 'send'?

With my words I touch her and breathe in her scent...
So am I a rascal?
Are my morals slightly bent?

Duty and honour are not wants,
they are needs.
They are moral foundations...not just words…but deeds.

And yet-
an untended itch can bring down a giant-
crumble a mountain-
overwhelm all defiant.

Do I want her?
Yes.
Do I love her?
Perhaps.
But is it a want that can be indulged?
Can I DO anything about it?
Duty and honour quietly remind me that I cannot even think about it.
but my passion does not hear quiet reminders...

little is heard over the pounding of my heart and the rushing of my blood...

want
need
desire

words
poems
letters
emails

a caress?
a kiss?

write a letter, and crush her body against mine...

resist
give in
sweet surrender?

love

want

and go on wanting....

Guest Book

Well, there you go. Free Guest book. I apologize for the ads that you need to fight through. The price of the free internet. :) Please feel free to leave a note.....


Thanks!

Kapact

Friends, friends, friends...

I am happy to see that some friends from around the world have been looking in. I am so excited to know this! Until I can figure out a guest log, please feel free to say hello by clicking on the "comment" link by any posts.

Cheers!

Kapact

Upon Reflection

I think I was a bit harsh there. There are a lot of nice people in New Zealand, but a few really nasty, really mean-spirited, short-sighted, close-minded Kiwi's have really made me feel unwelcome. I don't have the proper accent. I can't pronounce all the strange New Zealand words (and there are some!), and they look down on me because of that. So all of you good and decent Kiwi's, I am happy to know you. But some of your fellow Kiwi's aren't very nice....




Kapact

Enlightened??

I read an interview with Charlotte Dawson. For any non-Kiwi's, she is a pretty well-known celebrity here.... anyway, amongst other things that she hated was the fact George W Bush had been elected. That's fine. Her opinion, and she was asked. But she said that Americans had been lobotomized. I don't care what Charlotte Dawson thinks about Bush or Americans... but I am quite frankly insulted by this chick who knows less about America than I know about New Zealand. She doesn't even differentiate on the basis of politics. Nope. You're American, you don't have a brain. Supposedly enlightened people. It tells me that I'm not welcome here. So I'll be happy to see the back end of New Zealand. Small backwards little country. Small backwards little people. Big fish in a small pond happy to take tourist dollars and by the way still have their own country because a bunch of lobotomized soldiers saved their ass in the pacific during World War Two. Oh yeah. Charlotte forgot that.

This really isn't about politics. It's about people who can't see past their own limited horizons. Disagree, tell me I'm wrong or evil or greedy, I don't care. But don't say I'm ignorant because of where I was born. I like my country as much as she likes hers. Charlotte insisted not long ago that she not be judged. Well, she's quite happily judged me and hundreds of millions of people that she's never met.

Rant complete.

The Vampire of the Heart Part Two: Sundays With Marie

Marta, I do not know where you are right now. These emails seem almost to be a conversation with myself. But you are out there, somewhere. I know that, as sure as I know that I will meet you some day.

I told you that Marlene had called me twice. Once, to visit her in Rantoul. The second time, Daniel was gone, and she wanted me to come out to live with her. It all sounds ridiculous now. But at the time, it seemed like everything had finally fallen into place. I will not bore you with details of the drive across country. The Rocky Mountains in November. Snow. The snow continued through to Illinois. It was very cold, especially if you are used to California. Have you ever been to California? If you ever come to America, go to San Francisco.

I arrived in Rantoul at seven at night. Marlene was at this grocery store she worked at. She came out of the office, to the right as you walk in the front door. She saw me and ran to me. She actually jumped over the counter and hugged me. That was the last thing that happened that I had actually expected to happen.

We drove in that little red car. There was no Tom Petty. There wasn't even the Jasmine. I was disappointed. But there was so much more to come.

We were meeting a friend at a 'sports bar'. I'd never been to one before, and I've never been to one since. While Marlene grabbed a beer, I asked the kid behind the bar for a martini. He answered 'uh, most folks drink beer here.' And I had to explain to him how to make a martini.

When I finally had my martini, I found Marlene and her 'friend' (his name is Preston, by the way), sitting together in a booth. They were nearly on top of each other. It was almost too much to believe. She had asked me to come out to live with her. The day that I left California, we had spoken on the phone about our plans. What we were going to do with the little apartment that she had moved into. The window that led onto the roof, and the fact that it was great to bring sandwiches and beers up there, with a stereo. I didn't know what the hell was going on. So I sat down, and tried not to stare at them. They were pawing each other as if- as if I wasn't there. So I lit a cigarette and tried to shrink back in my seat.

Marlene didn't try to explain. At the time, I hated her for it. I wanted to-. Well, I didn't want to kill her. I am not that kind of guy. I just didn't understand why she would ask me to come to her. Two thousand miles, leaving behind a pretty comfortable life in California just so I could see her paw her 'friend' in a crowded sports bar. We stayed there for an uncomfortable hour, and then went back to his apartment. He disappeared briefly into the bedroom, and Marlene looked at me. I looked at her, and I wanted to ask her what the hell was wrong with her. But I couldn't. I saw, behind her, a yellow refrigerator that was plastered with magnets and pictures. And from the little kitchen table, I could see pictures of the two of them together. Pictures from the summer time. While we had been on the phone, chatting and romancing and planning for a life together, she had been sitting in a park with him. Pawing and flirting and doing just what they had done in front of me an hour ago.

So I didn't ask her. I didn't really think that there was anything to be said. I let her take me to her apartment, while she spent the night with Preston.

I rarely saw Marlene after that. I stayed in her apartment as she began to move her things to Preston's. I didn't understand the timing. Had she kept the old apartment so I'd have a place to stay? And there was still the big question. Why had she let me come out? Why not just tell me to stay in California? Through all of it, I never understood that.

I lived there for a week while she moved away, and I found a local publisher. Barnabas Press. LOL. Trashy, but they bought my romance novels. "Suzee Groft's" romance novels, actually. Anyway, that made it easy to rent Marlene's apartment.

I told myself at the time that I stayed there because I was there anyway, and I liked the roof access. I think, now, that I just wanted to stay close to her.

It doesn't seem like much, to start drinking. Just a glass of vodka at night, to celebrate finishing a book. Then, of course, it was a drink on Friday night after the movie. Then it was a drink to help start off a new book. Soon it was there to help me get to sleep.

It was a Sunday when things changed again. I had decided it would be fun to drink espresso and vodka. I dropped two drops of Tabasco sauce into the vodka to give it kick, and threw it back. The espresso machine had just finished steaming, and I poured the soupy coffee into a cup and threw it back right on top of the vodka. That was a mistake. I was suddenly very dizzy. Fortunately, I was close to the bed....

I was lying in bed, my forehead dripping wet, madly talking nonsense… dreaming… a nightmare from the past… the woman moved to climb over me… she kissed slowly and languorously across my chest, moving up to my neck with a hunger that left me gasping…. "Marie-". I struggled for breath to say more, but her kisses weakened me… I felt little cold things drop onto my chest and roll to the floor. And finally I asked "What do you want? I told you I don't want any sex, I am drunk to the bones…"

"You are so sad… longing…" she muttered, between suckling kisses and laboured breaths. "I crave your sadness…"

With that, her ravenous mouth abandoned its explorations and fell upon my mouth. I instinctively responded, but found myself overwhelmed by her hunger. "I-." Then I felt the crushing weight of the last six months come crashing down on me. Oh, God, this woman was feeding off of my sadness. Her lips were crushing mine.... her tongue pushing past my teeth to explore my mouth. And I responded. I pushed back. My tongue engaged hers, and I held her against me. I wanted to roll, to crush her under my weight and take her, but I was drunk, and she had weakened me. I felt again those cold drops rolling down my cheek…all I could do was push myself against her, and feel her drawing my strength into her.… I finally saw that her eyes were glazed. I raised myself up and rolled her over.

Her red hair flowed behind her, spread on the pillow like a fire.…"Marie" My face sank into her hair, and I couldn't breathe anymore.… I woke up with my face buried in the pillow. Exhausted. Sober. According to the clock, five minutes had passed.

I didn't know, at the time, if she was real. I felt as if she were feeding off of- my sadness. I didn't see her the next day, or the next.... But I also didn’t care about Marlene, or Preston. The pain was gone. By Wednesday, I had decided that she was a dream of vodka and espresso, and I went back to writing. Pain was starting to grow within me again. It was like a creeping ooze inside of me. A cancer of tar that soaked into my heart. My thoughts drifted back to Spain, and I wrote a rather dark poem. A suicide poem.





Portrait in Flesh

He created her.
Willed her to stand there motionless
as the car that he created sped down the street that they both knew.
And as the car relentlessly approached him, he stood there in the middle of the street.
(He knew it would look spectacular)

The music, which had been building to a deafening crescendo,
stopped abruptly as the car ran him down.
(Focus on the white shirt turning blood red)
At that instant, everything stopped.

The car is now permanently embedded in his midsection.
The pool of blood in the street no longer spreads,
and her face is a frozen mask of horror and disbelief.
(Isn't it neat?)


The artist sits back to regard his work.
Lights a cigarette and sighs contentedly.
This one would just do.
This latest portrait in flesh.

******





I liked that. I silently thanked Marlene for giving me writing material. So I shot that off to Barnabas Press, and they put it in a Goth magazine. A quick fifty bucks. I wonder what the teenagers would think if they knew they were buying my vodka for me. By Saturday night, I was ready for Marie. If she was real. I was also halfway through the vodka, and thinking about 'the artist'. He couldn't live long. At five a.m. Sunday, I drank the last of the vodka and killed him off.

Vast Death

A corpse running through
The snowy landscape that covers the earth
casts a dead eye skyward.
Winged scavengers stare with glass eyes
that gleam with a lust of blood and hunger.

In the endless death that is space,
a steel cocoon bursts violently.
The fragile creature within
is thrust into the vacuum
and lives a lifetime of fear in the next seconds
as his fragile flesh succumbs to the harsh nothingness.

Two bodies,
heated with want and lust to burning
wrap themselves around each other
and feed off each others souls.
The crack of thunder.
The scurrying of tiny animal feet.
Moans of passion.
Then the flash of naked steel
as one naked arm,
gleaming with a sheen of sweat
produces a blade
and stabs uncounted time into both bodies.

A lanky figure,
wrapped in thin and inconsequential rags
steps outside and is immediately struck
by a stabbing, killing, relentless downpour of freezing rain.
Blinding tears,
indistinguishable from the rain
run down the dark face
and onto the already rain-dotted cigarette.
A frenzied bid to keep moving.
Click of heels running into the street.
The swish of skidding tires.
A dull thump-
and the forlorn song of a siren arriving too late.


The artist arises from a prone position
and looks around at the tiny universe
of an unfamiliar apartment.
The darkness of midday floods the room
with seductive and deadly visions
that draw the artist through the window.

The vast death ends with a noiseless scream…

And silence.

*****





That was much better. The evil artist had to eventually succumb to his horrible world. Balance. Justice. Bullshit, really. If there were real justice, Marlene would have her heart ripped out. I contemplated this while I slipped out of my small apartment. There was one place in Rantoul that sold alcohol on Sunday. Mayday Liquors. A bottle of Stoli's and a bag of corn chips would do for Sunday dinner.

Time disappeared very quickly. I was contemplating writing more. I read and reread "Vast Death". I think I slept in front of the T.V. for a few hours. I woke up to Dan Rather on the news. And Marie sitting, watching me. "Vengeance?" Her voice was like a lightning bolt. Thick and Russian, but somehow- empty. Like an empty bottle. I didn't even register at the time that she was naked.

"Excuse me?"

"Forgive me. I know you are sad. But now you want vengeance?"

"Marie." I was coming to grips with the fact that she wasn't a dream. That sounds stupid, but spending your life living in a tiny apartment drinking and writing suicide poems can change your power of perception. And it is just not normal for naked Russian babes to land in your bed and make love to you. "Your name is Marie?" She nodded, and that incredible red hair bobbed and seemed to flicker like a fire. "How do you know about the vengeance?"

"I can smell your fear and your sadness. Your hatred. How do you live with it all the time?" She looked disapproving. But there was a hunger to her at the same time.

"What are you?" That question came out unbidden.

You could cut her accent with a knife and spread it on a piece of toast. "Nosferat'id. Vampire of the Heart." What that was, she explained, was a vampire that fed on emotions. She said that she smelled my 'melancholia' from miles away. It had left her intoxicated for five days.

"I don't want to talk about it." Damn. I had been fine for days. In fact, for five days. Since-. "You took my.... melancholia. My sadness?"

"It was so intense. So very passionate."

Then I lost the angry edge that kept me from crying. "Can you take it all? Can you stop it from hurting?"

One of her eyes closed quickly, and something bright dropped to the floor. I could see from where I sat that it was a diamond. "Kesla, I can do this. I can. But you will lose your passion. All of it. Your 'artist' will be no more."

A tear squeezed out, and I suddenly hated the passion that Marie wanted. I hated the salty tear that smeared the dirt on my face. I hated Marlene, and everyone that I had ever known. Except for Marie. She was beautiful. She was incredible. And she could stop the pain forever. "Please."

She kissed me. Hard. It was like the first time, except that I was awake this time. I felt as if- as if she were feeding on me. I felt like an animal was devouring me. I felt helpless. And this was just a kiss. Her arms were around me, like steel bands. Her body was very hard next to mine. But the fact that she was naked meant nothing. It was as if it were natural. I imagined a wolf devouring its prey, but with just a kiss. I must have fallen back on the bed at some point, and I have vague memories now of making love to her. Or I think it was actually her making love to me…. with my passion. When I awoke Monday morning, I was sober. No hangover. And no sadness.



She came back the following Sunday, and the same thing happened. I noticed that she always left a small pile of diamonds on the floor by the bed. I felt for one brief, bitter moment like a prostitute. Take my passion, leave me a fortune in tears. But in fact, I had asked her too.

Seven more Sundays came and went, with seven more visits by Marie. Seven more kisses. Seven more piles of diamond tears by the side of the bed. On the eighth Sunday she didn’t show, and I felt myself hungry for her passion. Or anyone’s.






To be continued.....

Poetry (Vampire of the Heart): It is Better to Travel Hopefully-

than to arrive-

I kissed her softly as she stirred in her sleep..
Dreams are but journeys-
long trips our hearts make without the burden of arrival
in some foreign port
of an undiscover'd country.

The Vampire of the Heart Part One: "Jasmine"

It is difficult to sit down and try to reconcile these memories with what makes sense. With what one might expect people to do. With what you might believe. But this is how it really started. I was stationed in the military, in Spain, and I met a girl. As it turned out, she was a married girl. When I found out that she was married, I was so torn between love for her and determination to not ruin a marriage that I neglected my duty. Plain and simple. Marlene.


I was ashamed. Not ashamed that I loved her. She was a good girl to love. I wasn't even ashamed that she was married. She didn't wear her ring because…. the reason was lost in the pain of knowing that I loved a married woman. I wanted her, loved her…. needed her… and couldn't have her. It tore me apart. I didn't want to eat or sleep or do my work. And that had been the end of my Air Force career. I left her alone. I didn't pursue her. I didn't try to sleep with her. No, I did okay there. What shamed me was that I couldn't handle it. I loved her so much, and was so in love… and I couldn't have her.

But that is past now. I was a civilian. The uncomfortable silence from family who don't know what happened, and had the grace to not ask... that has faded. And when I thought I was past Her, and I could pretend that I hadn't wasted almost ten years of my life- she called.

It was a quiet Sunday morning, and I had breakfast and a newspaper and nothing else. The phone rang, and I was annoyed because someone was bothering me on a Sunday.

A voice from the past. "Kesla. Kesla... we've moved to Illinois." I honestly do not remember the entire conversation. I knew that she was still with Daniel. I thought, behind the excitement... why is she calling me? I don't need to see her with Daniel. I mean, that almost killed me once. Why oh why would I want to go under that knife again?

"Just come out for a week."

What I found was… not entirely unexpected. Daniel was away. Out of town. Marlene was convinced that he was straying. So I stayed with her, in a small house on the outskirts of Rantoul. She never made any advances on me. She never hinted that she was interested in straying herself, and I would not have had anything to do with that anyway. It would be just as wrong as it would have been in Spain.

But there was her perfume.

I don't know precisely what it was called. Jasmine… something. In truth, the name was not important. But it was her. It smelled like her. And on those few occasions that had her out of the house, and I was left to my own devices, I felt an irresistible compulsion to go to her vanity and smell the perfume. I felt guilty doing it. I felt like a voyeur doing it. I felt dirty. But the Jasmine smelled of love and life and pretty feminine things … and it smelled like her. And when time finally ran out on the little week away from reality, I could still smell the Jasmine. It was in her jacket... and in her hair.

So when she took me to Rantoul's small airport, she wore the Jasmine, because I had told her what it did to me. We took time for coffee and sweet rolls before my flight. "I love you...", I said. Now I look back at the words with almost hatred. "I have never felt like this…"

She was small and pretty and powerful, and I had spent so much time wanting her that I sometimes felt as if there never had been a life when I didn't want her. Sitting here in the airport waiting for the flight back to California, it was possible to pretend that a string of disasters had not preceded this lovely spring day.

I could forget meeting Marlene in Spain. I might even forget falling in love with her. Then she smiled that smile, as the small airport in Rantoul started to wake up with arriving families, and opening shops, and flight announcements. That smile that had torn my heart in two when I found out that she was married. And as she left, I saw her go back to the little red car that she had always driven too quickly, with Tom Petty always playing far too loudly. She yelled out across the tarmac. "I love you!"

I felt something then. A twinge. Something was not right. I was not meant to leave women at airports as they shouted their love for me. I felt, in fact, self-conscious. I didn't feel right… but I had to answer her. "I love you too!" And I felt foolish. But the Jasmine that I now smelled on my jacket clouded all of that, and doomed me to my fate.



Six months later, and another Sunday. Another phone call. Daniel was gone. Gone. And she was there. Alone. Single. It seemed like a good idea. It really did. I loved her. I remember thinking that I didn't even need to hope. because I had her. I had done my share of hoping and wanting. I could be one of the people who had someone that they could love, and that loved them back. I thought it was okay. I really did. So I took the plunge. I packed everything into that Trans Am and drove two thousand miles to be with her.






To Be Continued...

A little something

Since I haven't touched this blog in like a week or so, here is a poem....


Anathematized

I leave my mount behind
when winged predators
would only run him off.
Scents abound in this thorned forest
of blackened trees and dried tears.
Children led me here,
though they have long since run home.
She-
she who awaits in timeless,
deathlike slumber-
she is pale and perfect and forever young.

Suitors have abandoned her prone form.
Suitors of professed love but no passion.

I move slowly through oppressive undergrowth
and gnarled branches.
They are remnants of unanswered tears,
unspent passion,
and unrequited love.
They are the vengeful arms of deposed kings-
They cast a shroud over the sun.
They take years from the young.
They put miles between lovers.

So my sword I put to them
with all the passion
left unspent
in all the time
my love has been denied me.

And I push on.
Wind whistling ahead carries her voice.
Rain, penetrating the thick canopy above me
tastes like her sweet tears.

When finally the canopy breaks
and the gnarled sentries of dead limbs part-

The mist that wets my face o'er brave tears
dries...

What light is it that breaks through this thorned forest?
What heart has occupied the vacuum left in my chest?

It is my love, as promised.
Prone
and innocent
and virginal.
Awaiting me.

I kneel, reverently.
My sword at my side.
Soft, feathery music
that tickles at the back of my neck.

Her hand, once so alive
and wanting
now lies limp at her delicate side.

With memories mixing with hopes and endless, aching need,
I pull her hand so gently-
a soft and careful kiss.
And hope-
where once it was not needed-

hope to see lifeless, closed eyes flutter...


Kapact

Poetry: "Shadows"

echoes
reflections
changlings

things we might say in stolen moments-
breathless exultations
in darkened, anonymous booths

they are surrogate lovers
half, and half again brothers and sisters

Blind couriers of our caged passions

they are who we would be,
if we could be

they are you and me