A few months ago I noted the proposed sale of one of our defense outfits to furriners.
It was a complicated deal for L1 Identity Solutions. CEO Robert LaPenta proved talented over the years at farting away shareholder money, but not making any. He ran the company into the ground and had to auction it off. To generate any bids at all he found he had to split it up, despite promises to the contrary.
Part of L1 is a spook shop, a set of mercenaries under hire by American "intelligence" agencies. That sale became final yesterday, to BAE, which answers to London, the professional home of Kim Philby and the Cambridge Five.
That clears the way for peddling the rest of L1, basically the biometrics-related chunk, to Safron which is not only French but partially owned by the rulers of the Fifth Republic, a nation which has still not quite forgiven us for getting their soil all bloody in the summer of 1944.
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Oh well, the Limeys and the Frogs may not do much worse with their new spy toys and telescreens than we did.
Feb 17, 2011
Defunding the Art Nazis
If today's U.S. House budget votes occur as advertised, I'll be especially attentive to the proposed cuts for the National Endowment for the Arts, a credentialed batch of snooty federal busybodies whose job it is to elevate your sense of beauty.
Whatever else art may be, it is intensely personal to the artist and to his followers. Divergent tastes gave us Grant Wood and Jackson Pollock. Andy Warhol and Salvador Dali. Robert Frost and Lawrence Ferlinghetti.
Less happily, we also have the guy who took your money to support himself as he slaved to write a poem which, in its entirety, reads: "ligght."
Robert Mapplethorpe found success taking pictures of himself with a bullwhip up his butt and of a Crucifix soaking in urine. The NDEA took your money to support him, too.
If you wished to personify absolute evil vis-a-vis the arts, you would need two characters. The first is a government thug who refused Mapplethorpe permission to create or display his penetrated butt shot. The second is the government thug who can and does make you pay for them.
cf. Oceania, Minitrue
Whatever else art may be, it is intensely personal to the artist and to his followers. Divergent tastes gave us Grant Wood and Jackson Pollock. Andy Warhol and Salvador Dali. Robert Frost and Lawrence Ferlinghetti.
Less happily, we also have the guy who took your money to support himself as he slaved to write a poem which, in its entirety, reads: "ligght."
Robert Mapplethorpe found success taking pictures of himself with a bullwhip up his butt and of a Crucifix soaking in urine. The NDEA took your money to support him, too.
If you wished to personify absolute evil vis-a-vis the arts, you would need two characters. The first is a government thug who refused Mapplethorpe permission to create or display his penetrated butt shot. The second is the government thug who can and does make you pay for them.
cf. Oceania, Minitrue
Feb 16, 2011
No, Dan
The Washington Post is praising congress persons for going out in public despite their Tucson panic.
(Personally, if I was a congress person I would be reluctant to show my face in public, but for reasons of embarrassment, not fear of getting shot.)
The critters are looking for a little better home defense, too:
Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) wants another layer. An aide said Burton plans to reintroduce a bill that would enclose the House's public galleries in something like Plexiglas, the kind of arrangement that shields liquor-store clerks.
Dan, don't you understand that liquor clerks are different from you and your colleagues? They serve a useful social purpose.
.
(Personally, if I was a congress person I would be reluctant to show my face in public, but for reasons of embarrassment, not fear of getting shot.)
The critters are looking for a little better home defense, too:
Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) wants another layer. An aide said Burton plans to reintroduce a bill that would enclose the House's public galleries in something like Plexiglas, the kind of arrangement that shields liquor-store clerks.
Dan, don't you understand that liquor clerks are different from you and your colleagues? They serve a useful social purpose.
.
Feb 15, 2011
Folks Shouldn't Mess with Sam's Mom
I have my doubts about single-action revolvers as basic home defense guns, but in Bea's case I'll keep them to myself.
Bea weighs 110 pounds and keeps a .45 Black Hawk convertible handy around the house. She's proficient, and I'd hate to be the clerk who eyeballs her svelte frame bent over the handgun case and volunteers that she needs that lady-like .32.
It's a delightful read, over at Stranded in Iowa's place.
EDIT: In case you didn't follow the links (BAD Reader. BAD.Go to your kennel.) Bea happens to be 77 years old. When she needs a little more .45 ammo, she polices the firing line and reloads the cases.
Bea weighs 110 pounds and keeps a .45 Black Hawk convertible handy around the house. She's proficient, and I'd hate to be the clerk who eyeballs her svelte frame bent over the handgun case and volunteers that she needs that lady-like .32.
It's a delightful read, over at Stranded in Iowa's place.
EDIT: In case you didn't follow the links (BAD Reader. BAD.Go to your kennel.) Bea happens to be 77 years old. When she needs a little more .45 ammo, she polices the firing line and reloads the cases.
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