Dec 9, 2008

For Sale

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...One U.S. Senate seat. 

What the Hell. How much worse is a senator bought on the open market than one bought through the usual processes?

I hope none of you libertarian cynics snorts out snide comments about Illinois being the political cradle of one Barrack Obama.



Dec 8, 2008

Priority for High-Level National Action

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So help me, I didn't know 20 states had decided to regulate underage consumption of ultra-violet.


"ATLANTA (AP) – State laws meant to keep teens out of indoor tanning booths haven't made a dent, a new study has found, disappointing doctors hoping to reduce deadly skin cancers. The researchers say it's not clear why the laws failed, but pointed to lax enforcement as a factor."

(1) -- These researchers must be reassigned to researching optimum means of pouring piss out of a boot.

(2) -- Enforcement  would be an excellent project for Obama's new civilian security force. 

(3) -- Because the primary offenders are young women, Amendment 4 should be suspended  to permit LEO stop and gape on reasonable suspicion. "Halt! Remove your  garments. Aha, No white strap marks. You're busted, Baby."  If nothing else it would boost local teevee news ratings.


 


See the USA in your...

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Looks like the Detroit Failout will happen,  opening with $15 Billion  for the auto makers in return for letting Obama's Washington  tell them how to build cars.  

"Wouldn't You Really Rather Have a  Moskvitch?" 


Dec 7, 2008

Tora Tora Tora

It is more than a middling-grade movie. Tora means Tiger. Said thrice on the morning of December 7, 67 years ago today, it was the signal that the sneak attack was successful.

Some 2,400 Americans died, some ashore, some entombed in a battle fleet all but destroyed in the shallow waters of Pearl Harbor. 

Three and one-half years later the final retribution was administered.

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Why all  this which, readily conceded, comes from routinely available secondary sources and which,  again admittedly,  cherry picks among the countless  available facts? Because a few weeks ago,  browsing through some old Jeff Cooper writings, I found, from 1993:

"Pearl Harbor Day slipped by without much notice. I daresay a huge number of our population has never heard of Pearl Harbor...".

And I hate it when that happens.

None of it should be forgotten. Not the occasional heroism. Not the chance that hallowed names in American history -- Roosevelt, Marshall, Hull, Stimson, and others -- should be de-hallowed to the extent of their incompetence in the final months of 1941.

And a fair mind might conclude that while the pilloried Admiral Kimmel and General Short did not operate brilliantly, to say the least, their professional sins pale in comparison to those from whom they took their orders.