Europe is Spelled “Fools”

Europe is dying. Multi-culturalism is a harbinger of death for the Europe of Western Civilization. To belatedly celebrate Eid at the Rufford primary school in Lye, West Midlands, the Muslim holiday ending Ramadan, the school is forcing teachers and students to dress as Muslims.

A SCHOOL was yesterday accused of MAKING teachers dress up as Asians for a day – to celebrate a Muslim festival.

Kids at the 257-pupil primary have also been told to don ethnic garb even though most are Christians.

Are the Muslims at the school required to wear crosses and the Star of David, for Christian and Jewish holidays respectively? I’d like to see a Muslim in a yarmulka.

The morning assembly will be open to all parents – but dads are BARRED from a women-only party in the afternoon because Muslim husbands object to wives mixing with other men.

Just two members of staff – a part-time teacher and a teaching assistant – are Muslim.

The head of the school stated,

“It’s all part of a diversity project to promote multi-culturalism.”

Multi-culturalism is not the same as studying about other cultures. Multi-culturalism is the promotion of cultural value equivalence without critical examination nor any judgmental conclusion. Of course, what else could be expected from people that hold the unobtainable principle of equality as a higher standard than liberty?

Link in this Blog:
Teachers' Muslim dress order

Ghost Riders, Freedom is Not Free

“Mr. Terrorist Let Me Introduce You to Your Travel Agent to Allah.”

Freedom is not Free, and you better believe it my fellow Americans. Most of us are living on the price paid by others. If you are one of those people whose heart is not filled with gratitude, shame on you. You don’t deserve to call yourself an American because you don’t possess a key quality that made this country great.


Links in this Blog:
Ghost Riders from Freedom is Not Free

Flash Bang Morning, Sheepdog Style

Six fifteen in the morning; it’s still dark. My partner slides into a shopping mall parking space affording a clear view of the front of the house. I cruise by and report over the radio that there are two cars in the driveway. The front room curtains are open, and an interior light seems to be coming from a kitchen. The house is on a corner, and I take a position across the street to observe the north side. We settle in and wait, watching. All is quiet at the house.

The city is awakening. Lights are on and people are getting ready for their day. In the house next to my target, a TV flickers and a woman is moving about doing whatever it is that she finds necessary at this early hour. The TV goes dark, the lights go out, and she is no longer visible. Cars leave the apartment house complex where I am secreted. An older Hispanic male strolls by carrying a paper cup, presumably containing coffee.

The police radio, volume set low, crackles and comes to life. Others are organizing. A Command Center with tactical dispatchers is nearby. The fire department and an ambulance company have personnel and equipment stationed there as well. Everyone is preparing for the high risk operation.

I’ve seen the scenario dozens of times such that I can recreate it in my mind. Ballistic vests and helmets are donned. Web gear is strapped on suspending handguns, knives, flashlights, and other assorted paraphernalia. Shoulder weapons are checked to be sure that the magazine clips are loaded and seated properly. Radios are tested to ensure that they function well. The tactical commander checks and rechecks his troops and their equipment. He goes over his plan one more time. There is no change at the target residence. I have nothing more to tell him.

Even though they have done it many times, the tension is building. The SWAT team previously taped out a mock-up of the interior of the house on the concrete in an underground parking lot, and earlier this morning practiced the entry and search procedure. All acknowledge that the best of plans can go wrong. Drastically wrong. Take a life or have your life taken. No one knows what is in the cards. In our favor, SWAT is a team of professionals. They train together and operate as one, as much as humanly possible.

When I started this business, SWAT teams were few and far between. The agency I worked for at the time did not have a SWAT team, and we blue-suiters did it all. Not a good idea to just throw a bunch of armed guys together without specialized training. We’re lucky that things went as well as they did. I’m a detective now, a surveillance guy. Let me do my job and the SWAT guys do theirs.

The clock marches relentlessly toward the jumping off time. The awakening world, within the microcosm of my view, is calm and has no clue as to the controlled violence that is about to unfold; Controlled violence that can suddenly erupt into chaos. That fact is not lost upon the officers intending to disrupt the tranquility of the quiet corner across the street from me. Each of the officers knows that there is a possibility that things might go wrong, terrible wrong, and that he might not return to his family at days end. But, it is not something that he dwells upon.

The sky begins to lighten, and the troops are moving. An unmarked police car pulls to the curb directly across from me. Two helmeted snipers, dressed in fatigues, exit the car and deploy to the rear corner of the target property. A ladder placed against the perimeter block wall facilitates a quick appraisal of the back yard. The snipers report their observations and disappear behind the foliage of the adjacent property.

An old woman shuffles down the sidewalk on my side of the street oblivious to her surroundings and the lethality moving in her direction.

Several marked and unmarked police cars approach from the south. Sliding to the curb, a team of heavily armed officers exit their cars as silently as possible. They fall into a predetermined formation and quick-step up the sidewalk toward the target house. Marked police cars shut down vehicular traffic approaching the residence.

The V-150 Armored Personnel Carrier, which looks like a big black beetle on wheels, suddenly appears from the east and drives up over the curb and onto the lawn facing directly toward the front door. I irreverently call the metal behemoth the Dung Beetle.

Knock and notice, a verbal demand for entry under the authority of a search warrant, is broadcast from a megaphone at the front door. No reply to the demand for entry. The order is given, “Deploy the diversion.” A flash of light and an explosion rocks the neighborhood. A second, and then a third. Smoke from the flash-bangs rises slowly in the cool morning air.

Two women in their early 20’s bolt from an apartment to my left with a loud exclamation of, “What the shit?” They run to the front of the apartment complex for a view of the action.

Hooks attached to a long stout rope are driven into the metal of the front security door. The other end of the rope is secured to a winch cable on the front of the V-150. The Beetle backs up, and the rope goes taut until the security door is snatched from the door frame and lands in the front yard. Sequentially, the team members make entry into an unpredictable environment of inestimable hazard.

Eyes must rapidly adjust to the varying light conditions to discern threat from non-threat: booby trap bombs; viscous dogs; children; guns; and compliant or hostile people. Room by room, the systematic search proceeds. Split-second decisions of shoot or don’t shoot as gun barrels train upon every potential animate threat. Handcuffs snap on, and the detained are escorted to the living room.

The crowd of lookie-loos is growing. There is nothing to see, all the action is now inside the house. Nevertheless, they stand, gawk, and gossip as cellphone cameras capture the moment.

Twenty minutes later, the “Code Four” message over the radio signifies that all is secure. The next phase of my work, searching for evidence, commences. We subsequently find assault weapons, money and narcotics.

As Orson Wells aptly stated, “People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.” Read Dave Grossman’s piece, On Sheep, Wolves, and Sheepdogs.

It’s all in a day’s work for a Sheepdog.

Links in this Blog:
Sheepdogs Keep the Wolves at Bay

On Sheep, Wolves, and Sheepdogs - Dave Grossman

Magic Fire Sun-Beauty Out of Disaster

Fire in the Hills

Tinder dry brush and grassland was just waiting to explode, begging Dante’s inferno to visit once again. Southern California is burning. Not a surprise when the Santa Ana winds start blowing off the desert.

Fire broke out this afternoon in the vicinity of Magic Mountain and high gusting winds are driving the smoke and debris westward across the northern segment of Simi Valley. The winds are not expected to abate before Wednesday. That means there is a good chance the flames will once again dance with the dreams of Simi Valley residents.

I got a call this evening from my archery club requesting assistance with a work party to clean up around the range in an attempt to lessen the pending damage. I jumped on my Kawasaki KLR 650 and headed out for the range. That was quite an adventure zooming along with the swirling ash looking very much as if I’d entered a snow storm. The wind tried its best to dump me unceremoniously off the bike. There was an incident or two when I was not all that sure that the wind was going to succeed and have its way with me.

There’s nothing much more to be done tonight. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.

Nancy Pelosi Manipulated the Armenian Genocide Issue

Message to the American Public: Nancy Palosi is second in line for the Presidency should the President be unable to continue service.

Message to the rank and file members of the Democratic Party: Nancy Palosi probably does not reflect your values.

Message to the leaders of the Democratic Party: Nancy Palosi is your gal, and she does reflect your values.

Message to Armenians: Nancy Palosi is (was) making political hay on the back of your historical misery.

In my posting, “Armenian Genocide is the Excuse to Undercut Iraq War,” I asked,

What is Pelosi’s political imperative? It surely is not Armenian votes.

History of the resolution:

The legislation, which has been introduced for decades, often originates from California lawmakers, said John Pitney, a political science professor with Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, California. About 232,000 Armenian Americans live in the state, 54 percent of the U.S. total, according to 2006 Census data.

California citizens of Armenian ancestry are distributed throughout the State. The major California Armenian political strongholds are Fresno, and the Glendale-Pasadena areas.

Nancy Palosi’ CA 8th Congressional District incorporates only part of the City/County of San Francisco. According to the 2000 census, San Francisco’s Armenian population is 0.3% of the total. That puts to bed the idea that Palosi is motivated by votes to keep her in office.

Adam Schiff, the author of the genocide resolution, is from the CA 29th Congressional District, which includes both Glendale and Pasadena. He is a member of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues. It is reasonable to assume that Armenian votes and money are important to Schiff.

The Armenian community has a considerable amount of financial assets available to influence political issues. The only political contributions which I found that were given by Armenians to Palosi since 2003 was in the 2003-2004 campaign year when the Armenian American Pac gave her $1500. That pretty much ends any speculation that the Armenians bought Palosi.

As stated previously, the efforts for an Armenian resolution is not suddenly a new issue. Why is it that Palosi took on the resolution at this particular juncture in time? Clearly it was not to benefit her in terms of votes or money. It is equally clear that Palosi made a deliberate decision to continue her advocacy after learning that Turkey threatened retaliation, which would place American service personnel in greater danger.

In the hours before a House panel approved the resolution Oct. 10, Pelosi was told in a tense meeting with Turkey's ambassador that the vote would endanger his country's alliance with the U.S. She had a warmer session with an Armenian cleric and representatives of Armenian-Americans, who have a large presence in her home state of California. In both, she made clear she intended to bring the resolution to a full House vote.

Her vow to bring the measure to a vote outraged Turkey, which recalled its ambassador and threatened to cut off the use of its military bases to resupply U.S. troops in Iraq. On Oct. 17, Pelosi said it ``remains to be seen'' whether the vote would occur after more than a dozen lawmakers pulled their names from the measure and some Democrats asked her to drop it.

The two meetings House Speaker Nancy Pelosi attended before a vote on a resolution labeling the massacre of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey a genocide foreshadowed the biggest political misstep of her speakership.

"She dug in her heels to find that she didn't have her members with her,'' said Representative Ray LaHood, an Illinois Republican. ``If you get too far out in front of them, it can be embarrassing.''

Embarrassing? Political misstep? Palosi is again meddling in foreign policy where she does not belong. Yes, it is a misstep for Palosi because she revealed her true radical nature. She is a political opportunist working at odds to the welfare of the American people. And, she stepped on the backs of Armenians in her un-American quest to harm the Iraq war effort.

Labeling Palosi a disgrace as an American is the kindest thing that I can think to say about her.

Links in this Blog:
Armenian Genocide is the Excuse to Undercut Iraq War

Pelosi Makes Political Misstep in Reversal on Armenian Genocide

San Francisco Ancestry

Pelosi 2003 2004 campaign contributions

Update 12/3/2007:
Read this piece on politics and treason:
'When Does Politics Become Treason?'

Black Hats Destroy the Thin Blue Line

There are two truths: You can’t have good without evil; and Lord Acton’s maxim, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Police departments have a legal and moral responsibility to ferret out and remove unethical and abusive employees for the sake of the public’s well being. Determining whether or not the officer is actually guilty can be a difficult task. Sometimes the officer is not guilty, but gets run through the wringer and/or convicted anyway. The abuse was so pervasive that California passed landmark legislation, “The Police Officer’s Bill of Rights,” AB 301. Thirty some years later, things are much better, but violations still exist. And, it seems to be true, to one degree or another, for law enforcement agencies in general.

During brouhaha over problems with some of his police officers, former LAPD Chief Darryl Gates asked rhetorically if anyone knew where police officers came from. The answer; the general public.

Law enforcement recruitment and screening processes are rigorous. But, they can’t identify, nor eliminate, all persons with negative traits. I’m talking about the traits of incompetence and/or malevolence, which allow people with power, be it big or small, to devastate the lives of other officers.

Entering police work for a Los Angeles County municipal police department in the early 1970’s, I soon learned that there are supervisors, sergeants and above, who abuse their authority and make the lives of their subordinates miserable through arrogance, incompetence and/or downright meanness. The evil ones are relatively few in number, but it does not take many to spoil the brew.

Here’s a typified unacceptable scenario. Someone makes a complaint about an officer. A supervisor conducts an investigation, and generates a report of the findings. Unfortunately, the supervisor: does not make a diligent effort to determine all of the facts; fails to report exculpatory evidence; falsifies evidence through admission or omission; writes a report that is slanted unfairly against the officer. The “summary” report is read by staff officers, who often never examine the original data nor properly scrutinize the indictment. Staff then adjudicates the issue by determining discipline ranging from a verbal reprimand to termination of employment and/or forwarding the findings to the district attorney for criminal prosecution.

Because of continuing violations of police officers’ individual rights and the breaches of contractual agreements by city and police staff, police officer associations file grievances and defend their members.

Occasionally, police officers have their discipline overturned by impartial, non-police, hearing officers and the courts. But, that does not occur until far reaching economic and emotional damage is done to both the officer and his family.

After a fired officer is reinstated or lesser discipline overturned, police administrations don’t generally go back and examine how the travesty occurred. Where is the commitment to an examination of the malicious and/or incompetent investigation? Why is there often no discipline for offending investigators?

Judicial and law enforcement administrative systems are designed upon the concept of truthfulness. When truthfulness is absent, the weight of the systems unjustly descends upon the head of the hapless in a form of police corruption. Accordingly, a lying investigative officer loses all credibility and must be fired, whether officer or chief.

There is one other twist to internal police corruption, and that occurs when a guilty officer does not receive discipline because he was protected by a corrupt supervisor. That state of affairs is a tremendous morale deflator for the rest of the police department.

It is no secret that police officers suffer far more stress from within their agency than they do from working the streets. There ought to be a law requiring law enforcement recruits to be advised that the profession is hazardous to their mental health.

Oh, but it gets worse. Incompetent and dishonest supervisors often manage to get promoted. And, so the rot tends to rise toward the top.

The white hats are the truly good, well intentioned, capable people who are promoted to supervisory and staff positions. Unfortunately, they are sometimes placed in the unenviable position of having to depend upon unethical subordinates.

Are you wondering what all of this has to do with the general public? A perception of an unfair police administration creates an environment conducive to poor morale, the growth of police corruption and an arrogance that leads to a lack of adherence to the rights of police officers and citizens alike. It may mean that some citizens get hassled, arrested and/or prosecuted unfairly. It definitely means that the public is not getting a fair return for its considerable investment.

All of this makes you feel warm and fuzzy about your local police department, doesn’t it?

Follow-on Blog:
Arrogance of Power or Informed Leadership

Blacks are Innately Less Intelligent?

James Watson, one of the three Nobel Prize winners for unraveling the mystery of DNA, states that blacks in Africa are genetically less intelligent than Westerners. What exactly is Watson’s definition of “intelligence” and how does he come to his politically incorrect assertion?

One of the world's most eminent scientists was embroiled in an extraordinary row last night after he claimed that black people were less intelligent than white people and the idea that "equal powers of reason" were shared across racial groups was a delusion.

The 79-year-old geneticist reopened the explosive debate about race and science in a newspaper interview in which he said Western policies towards African countries were wrongly based on an assumption that black people were as clever as their white counterparts when "testing" suggested the contrary. He claimed genes responsible for creating differences in human intelligence could be found within a decade.

Watson is 79; is he delusional????

…he was "inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa" because "all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours – whereas all the testing says not really". He said there was a natural desire that all human beings should be equal but "people who have to deal with black employees find this not true".

If the tests were done on blacks with mixed blood, do they score higher intelligence ratings?

Without a detailed analysis of test data and testing protocol, the reader has no idea about the potential validity of Watson’s assertion. Certainly the assertion flies in the face of accepted dogma about the inherent equality of the races.

It is the job of scientists to challenge the traditional party line when data suggests contrary conclusions. Of course, scientists, like all people, are subject to political correctness, special interest and just plain stupidity. You need no further evidence of that than the brouhaha over “global warming.” A couple of guys named Copernicus and Galileo would heartedly agree with my premises.

Is Watson on to something here or is he just an old bigot? I know what Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton will say, but they are just bigots in their own right and not worth listening to.

Anti-racism campaigners called for Dr Watson's remarks to be looked at in the context of racial hatred laws. A spokesman for the 1990 Trust, a black human rights group, said: "It is astonishing that a man of such distinction should make comments that seem to perpetuate racism in this way. It amounts to fuelling bigotry and we would like it to be looked at for grounds of legal complaint."

If you don’t like what someone says, just brand him a racist. Racial hatred laws? Gee that sounds awfully European to me. In America, we have a tradition of free speech that includes protecting the speaking of stupid and hurtful things.

The American political correctness crowd is moving continuously toward the European model of PC where people can be punished for their speech absent the behavior of acting out physically on the thoughts. That is not the American tradition, and I ask which system has the most freedom?

Whether or not Watson is correct in his assertion will remain a controversy for years to come. It is not nice to think so, but what if he were correct? If nothing else, it will bolster the cause of the truly racist, and that would be a social travesty.

Link in this blog:
Africans are less intelligent than Westerners, says DNA pioneer

Update 10/19/07: What does he believe?
DNA pioneer breaks his silence on racism row

Armenian Genocide is the Excuse to Undercut Iraq War

The wholesale massacre of Armenians by Muslims in the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) between 1915 and 1917 is an incontestable fact. It makes no practical difference for any remaining survivors, or family of survivors, whether or not the U.S. joins 24 other countries in declaring that the travesty was “genocide.” Regardless, if you think that Armenians don’t care about the issue, you’d be wrong.

I observed Armenians demonstrate their fury on Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, April 24, in the 1970’s. A Turkish dance group was scheduled to perform at the Pasadena Cultural Arts Center. The Armenian community, including old women, drove police back into the Center and shut down the event.

Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, is front and center in an effort to pass a resolution declaring the Armenian massacre a “genocide.”

The Turkish government is more than a little upset about the issue. Of course, modern Turkey is not the Ottoman Empire and not responsible for the massacre, whether or not it is classified as genocide. Nevertheless, since politics rule all, there are Turkish political exigencies in play.

If the House resolution is passed, there is a significant risk that Turkey will restrict the considerable U.S. Iraqi war support efforts passing through Turkey. That means alternative, more dangerous, methods must be used resulting in more American deaths.

…cargo planes fly supplies to U.S. soldiers in remote areas of Iraq from Incirlik, avoiding the use of Iraqi roads vulnerable to bomb attacks. U.S. officials say the arrangement helps reduce American casualties.

Despite the Turkish threat, Pelosi is pushing forward with the resolution. What is Pelosi’s political imperative? It surely is not Armenian votes. And, it surely is not a fear of additional American service personnel deaths.

Pelosi’s explanation.

…House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the measure's timing was important "because many of the survivors are very old.

Translation: Ninety year old Armenian memories are more important than the risk of additional American dead!

Now, you go ahead and tell me that Pelosi cares about the welfare of our troops. And, you go ahead and tell me that Pelosi actually cares about the memories of Armenians. I’ll submit to you that Pelosi has simply found another mechanism to throw a monkey wrench into the Iraqi war effort. I’m sorry, but I don’t find that patriotic. I hark back to the Vietnam War era traitor, Jane Fonda.

You can hold any opinion that you want. But, when you take action, that action might well be traitorous. It makes little difference whether it’s in the jungles of Vietnam or on the floor of the House of Representatives.


Links in this Blog:
Armenian Genocide-Wikipedia

Genocide Remembrance Day-Wikipedia

Armenia genocide measure to advance

Turkish general: 'U.S. shot its own foot'

Update: 10/22/07
Nancy Pelosi Manipulated the Armenian Genocide Issue

Update 12/3/2007:
Read this piece on politics and treason:
'When Does Politics Become Treason?'

Passion on the Plaza

2:35 PM. Motivated by hunger and a plummeting blood glucose level, I hankered for a hot pastrami sandwich. The destination, Piggy’s Deli. Pulling into the parking lot, I fairly salivated in anticipation. To my great disappointment, I learned that the deli closed at 2 PM. Dang! What to do now? OK, I know. I’ll proceed to Erik’s Deli Café and see if I can acquire the coveted pastrami. Certainly they’ll have some, but could it possible be as good as Piggy’s?

By automobile, it didn’t take long to reach Erik’s. In a beeline, I traversed the parking lot. At last; Order placed!

Awaiting the delivery of my gustatory fantasy, I selected an empty table next to a window. An adult female with her back to me, age undetermined, sat ensconced at a contiguous table with head bent forward while apparently deeply engaged with a book. A colorful, yet indistinct, tattoo partially covered the nape of her neck. Resisting the temptation to lean forward and further examine the tat, I took my seat pondering her possible rationale for skin ink. Clearly, it wasn’t for her viewing pleasure. Could it be for someone else? Who then; a lover, perhaps?

Sipping my water, with lemon, and glancing around the restaurant, my gaze fell upon wall mounted antique farming, ranching and woodcutting tools. The window provided a view onto a plaza with tables and benches for patrons from several establishments. A number of people enjoyed the plaza. Seated facing me, and close enough to be easily observed, was a young couple I’d guess to be 19 or 20 years of age. They dressed contemporaneously in the style of their age group. The drinking behavior of the male drew my attention. With a cup sitting upon the table, he hunched over sucking on a straw. Was he going to eat his meal similarly? I mused that he might just as well consume his repast from a dog bowl. The female hoisted a gallon jug and downed a slug of water. Offering nothing more of interest, I turned my attention elsewhere.

Erik’s pastrami is good, but my vote goes to Piggy’s. After consuming half of the sandwich, glucose level heading toward normal, my attention refocused on the couple.

The plaza trembled with a new pulsating energy. The young woman, whom I’ve dubbed Lolita, exuded a fervent sexuality. Face bathed in love, or perhaps lust, she leaned into her companion stroking his arm. Reaching up and encircling his neck with her left arm, the fingers on her right hand seductively caressed his face. Kissing his neck, eyes, and face, she devoured his lips, which were subdued and yielding rather than participatory. Simultaneously, Lolita’s left hand transitioned to the top of his right leg as fingers slid down the inside of his thigh, rested close by his crotch and undoubtedly sent hot shock waves through his gentiles, into his belly and altering his breathing.

Surprisingly, the recipient kept his hands to himself. Could there be a reticence, or perhaps an embarrassment, on his part? Obviously, she was his for the receiving. I thought, “Why are they still sitting there?” “Why does he not take her somewhere private?” As Lolita’s reluctant stud, he couldn’t help but be stimulated. Hell, she affected a grizzled old man observing from afar. My gawd, another positive result of discontinuing Lipitor.

Imagine this contrast: I’m stuffing my face with pastrami while watching a peep show; my neighbor’s face is still buried in her book; the Reluctant Stud is looking uncomfortable; and Lolita is on fire. As to the remainder of the people in the plaza, I had not a clue.

Reluctant Stud walked away from his temptress to a nearby trash receptacle. Returning, his noticeable protrusion evidenced that he was not indifferent to her overtures.

Lolita arose from the table. Her allure featured: a halter-top that exposed ample breasts; and a broad band of uncovered flesh, flat belly and back, which isolated the cropped halter-top from low slung, tight fitting stretch pants accentuating firm buttocks.

As they were walking away hand-in-hand, I could only imagine where the young stud’s hands will most likely be placed as she brings him to herself, luxuriating in and quenching the hunger within them.

Something stirred deep in the recesses of my mind. An acknowledgement of youthful mad passion offered and received; a recollection of times past.

Lunch finished; I stood. Passing my neighbor, I found her to be rather plain, fiftyish, with large eyeglasses. She abandoned her book and gave me a neutral, non-committal look. She missed the entire show. Had she witnessed the spectacle, would she have acknowledged the raw exhibition of passion? Would she recall old hungers? Or, might she currently enjoy such delight? Then again, she might view the whole affair as sordid, a pornographic public display.

Returning to the parking lot, I spotted Reluctant Stud speaking to an older male and unmistakably in no hurry to exit the area. Lolita was gone, undoubtedly leaving his body with surging male hormones. Unless I miss my guess, the only thing Reluctant Stud is likely to have gotten out of this business is physiological tension begging for release, and a deep ache in his loins. Teased but not pleasured. That figures!

Marry a Robot, Your Troubles are Over

An artificial intelligence doctoral candidate’s thesis is entitled, "Intimate Relationships with Artificial Partners." He contends,.

…robots that will eventually be seen as suitable marriage partners.

The thesis examines human attitudes toward affection, love and sexuality and concluded that the findings are just as applicable to human interaction with robots of the future as they are to the relationships between humans of today.

Interesting concept, don’t you think? But, do you have to marry the robot? Can’t it just be a concubine? This is going to be tough on maintaining a viable reproducing human population.

We’ve come a long way from the cheap plastic blow-up doll from your local porn shop.

Link in this blog:
Humans will wed robots

Rising to Your Own Level of Expectation

Why is it that some people attain great achievements in life and others circle the drain, while most of us just exist in some level of mediocrity? Statisticians tell us that the distribution of human characteristics is depicted as a bell shape curve. The mediocre are those massed in the middle of the graph, while the exceptional and the dregs are the trailing edges flanking out in opposite directions from the center peak as if an alluvial fan spreading out from a mountain.

As water seeks its own level, so too do we dependent upon the vision of oneself, the tenacity to achieve goals and good fortune or lack there of. The chairman of a college Department of Biology once told me that it takes average intelligence, lots of tenacity and someone to financially support you to successfully obtain a Ph.D. The same can be said for many professions in life: attorney; physician; legislator; scientist; author; artist; and professional entertainer or sports figure, to mention a few.

To excel to the top of a chosen field requires all of the minimum prerequisites plus an additional gift of talent, willingness for hard work, and time to accumulate experiences and insight.

Pulitzer Prize winner and columnist Al Martinez recently wrote about observations made while dawn approached and illuminated the awakening of a Pacific Ocean morning. His closing line wondered:

I drove home dreaming of the morning and wondering how I could put it into words.

I wrote Al and suggested that, “It’s a gift burnished by a lifetime of experiences.”

To which he replied,

I guess.

The attainment of a professional goal is but one segment, albeit a significant portion of the total persona. It’s as if the gemologist only cut and polished one facet of a diamond in the rough.

We are born with innate talents, the “gift,” and dependent upon the environmental crucible we will either progress toward our fullest potential or not. Regardless of individual potential, we are only able to rise to the maximum level of our personal expectations. How we identify ourselves within our physical environment is crucial to our self-image development and expectation fulfillment.

Humans are social creatures and everything that we do reflects to one degree or another on how we see ourselves interacting, our individual place, within our environment. The failure of parents to mirror high levels of personal expectation, and/or provide a nurturing environment insulating their progeny from an endemic corrosive atmosphere sets the stage for underachieving children. Expect little and get little. Certainly there are plenty of examples of children rising far above their roots, but these are the proverbial exceptions to the rule.

In the current world of rampant illegal drug experimentation and low social norms, it is exceedingly difficult for children to express their genetic potential. Swimming in a pool of low expectations, children not provided an optimal environment have the greatest potential to go down the drain.

With whom children associate in their formative years will often pre-ordain the eventual success of the child. While there is nothing intrinsically harmful about certain trends and fads involving tattoos, piercings, hair styles, music tastes and clothing, each of the foregoing play an essential part in developing a self-image and comfort level with certain segments of society. If a child sees himself as among the it’s not cool to get an education or I’d rather smoke dope, play video games, steal and/or emulate street gangsters, guess what you are likely to get. Low expectations yields low results.

The $64,000 question is how parents with their own low personal expectations provide a healthy, optimal environment for their children. It’s hard enough for parents with good expectations. If I could answer that one, I’d collect the $64,000 and a whole lot more.

Links in the blog:
The quiet of dawn speaks volumes

Be Leary When You Call Someone a Worthless Pig

One of the corrosive characterizations re-birthed in the 1960’s was the epitaph of “pig” applied to law enforcement officers. The term became a convenient verbal bludgeon used by the pseudo-intellectual anti-war crowd of the day.

When there is a high level of frustration or anger and/or a concomitant low verbalization skill, humans will latch onto a verbal club to smash an opponent. Commonly used terms are “nigger.” “spick,” “kike,” “Nazi,” and “pig” etc.

Today the “pig” club is almost socially acceptable and considered at most just a rude statement. One of the nice things about insulting a police officer is that there is an almost a non-existent chance of receiving a retaliatory punch in the nose. Police officers are expected to be mature enough and trained sufficiently to let insults roll off them as if so much water off a duck’s back. That is unless the police officer is off his rocker for whatever reason.

Along comes a 20 year old police officer who is in the emotional throes of an attempted reconciliation with a long standing relationship. He goes to her house and his love interest rebuffs him. From an AP article.

Peterson told Kegley that he had gone to his ex-girlfriend's house early Sunday morning in hopes of patching up the relationship after a recent breakup.

She is having a pizza party with some friends and someone adds insult to injury by calling the young suitor a “worthless pig.”

…Peterson lost control when an argument erupted and other people started ridiculing him as a "worthless pig."

Our rejected lover is not only stabbed in the heart by his love, but he is pierced to the quick by bystanders who literally add insult to injury. Big mistake! He kills six and wounds the seventh.

Too bad all those people had to die because some intellectually immature guests could not keep their two cents to themselves. When a segment of society feels immune from consequences of their acts, sometimes they get a big surprise.

Of course, there is a hue and cry about the age of the officer and questions about whether or not he was psychologically screened prior to being hired by law enforcement. All valid questions. But when is someone going to ask about the condition of a society that makes it so easy for its citizens to feel free to spuriously insult and demean the very people charged with protecting society?

Link in this blog:
Wisconsin cop snapped after being called a 'worthless pig'

Thin Red Line, The Real Stars

Ben Stein, author of Real Stars, was interviewed on Fox News. Ben said that when he first met his father-in-law, who won two silver stars in two wars, Ben asked him.

Why are you in the Army? Do you like war?

Ben appended to his Fox News recitation, “I was an idiot.”

The father-in-law replied.

No, we in the army hate war. We are the ones getting killed.

Ben.

So why do you do it Col. Denman?

The Colonel made the point.

So you and my daughter won’t have to.

Ben goes on to opine to the Fox reporters that we, among other things, need to have a full GI Bill for when our service people come back to us. That’s not something we are doing well. Read my blog, Support Troops in Iraq and Shaft Them at Home?

In Ben’s words.

We need to treat them like the gods they are.

All of the money Ben makes from the sales of Real Stars goes to the organization Taps, which supports service families which have lost a breadwinner.

Link in this blog:
Real Stars-Amazon.com

Support Troops in Iraq and Shaft Them at Home?

Support Troops in Iraq and Shaft Them at Home?

I did not realize that it takes active duty orders of 730 days to qualify for the GI Bill education benefits once the National Guard returns to civilian duty. That seems like an excessively high number of days seeing that active duty in this case is Iraq.

When they came home from Iraq, 2,600 members of the Minnesota National Guard had been deployed longer than any other ground combat unit. The tour lasted 22 months and had been extended as part of President Bush's surge. 1st Lt. Jon Anderson said he never expected to come home to this: A government refusing to pay education benefits he says he should have earned under the GI bill.

Anderson's orders, and the orders of 1,161 other Minnesota guard members, were written for 729 days.

Had they been written for 730 days, just one day more, the soldiers would receive those benefits to pay for school.

Whether these orders were deliberately written to save money, as some feel, or whether it is the result of an incredible bureaucratic blunder is immaterial. The end result is that these troops were wronged and stories like this one will play havoc with future service recruitment. The moral responsibility is fix it now! The practical responsibility is fix it now!

Write the President and Congress and demand that this wrong be rectified. Writing to them is easy and fast at Congress.org.

Links in this blog:
National Guard Troops Denied Benefits After Longest Deployment Of Iraq War

Contact Congress & the President

Update-Read:
Thin Red Line, The Real Stars

What Children Can Teach Us, Moral Morass Exhibit Seven

The words of children can underscore some of the insanity that comes with maturity. A child is born into this world without self-consciousness, and he must be taught to be ashamed of his nude body. That’s an unhealthy religious/cultural consequence of immense impact. It is the melding of nudity and sex as the former is stigmatized by the “sinfulness” of the latter.

Enclosed below are examples of child innocence culled from an e-mail circulating on the Internet about the cute things that children say.

A little boy got lost at the YMCA and found himself in the women's locker room. When he was spotted, the room burst into shrieks, with ladies grabbing towels and running for cover. The little boy watched in amazement and then asked, "What's the matter, haven't you ever seen a little boy before?"

More on Nudity.

I was driving with my three young children one warm summer evening when a woman in the convertible ahead of us stood up and waved. She was stark naked! As I was reeling from the shock, I heard my 5-year-old shout from the back seat, "Mom! That lady isn't wearing a seat belt!"

In the previous two examples, contrast the reactions of the adults: “shrieks,” “running,” “grabbing;” and “reeling from the shock,” to the reactions of the children. Too bad the silly responses of the adults portends all too well to the state of the adult world into which children must graduate.

It doesn’t take long to brainwash the little ones. The pictures in the Bible entrench the religious/cultural requirement to cover the genitals, therefore making them forbidden and eventually considered shameful. Consider this child’s response on the Bible.

A little boy opened the big family bible. He was fascinated as he fingered through the old pages. Suddenly, something fell out of the Bible. He picked up the object and looked at it. What he saw was an old leaf that had been pressed in between the pages. "Mama, look what I found," the boy called out. "What have you got there, dear?" With astonishment in the young boy's voice, he answered," I think it's Adam's underwear.

Comparing children and adults, there are times when childish is enviable.

Thank You Warrior!

Today comedian and syndicated talk show host Dennis Miller took a telephone call from Lexington, KY, from a gentleman who stated that he has completed three tours of duty in the U.S. Army: once to Afghanistan and twice to Iraq. Dennis immediately thanked the caller for his service to the country. It is a common practice for Dennis to verbally demonstrate his gratitude to service personnel for their sacrifices to our country. When the caller hung up, he thanked Dennis. I’ll paraphrase Dennis’ reply, “No, thank you! I am just on the radio, and you are saving the world.”

Well said Mr. Miller. As a faithful listener to Dennis Miller’s show, his humility and gratitude are well appreciated by me.

And from me as well, Thank You Warrior!

Link in this blog:
Dennis Miller on the Web

Bus Illegal Aliens Into U. S. to Avoid Environmental Danger

Wildlife enthusiasts are alarmed by the “fence” which is possibly harming wildlife in the Rio Grand Valley by blocking their access to water. Are the enthusiasts alarmed by the potential harm to the animals for the animals own sake, or is it really an economic issue? I suspect it is both. From an AP report.

Wild cats, reptiles and at least 500 species of birds attract visitors from around the world who bring the impoverished region $150 million a year.

The fence.

To curb illegal immigration, the U.S. government plans to complete 370 miles of fencing and put 200 miles of vehicle barriers on the southwest border by the end of 2008. But this has brought complaints that the fence and barriers are harmful to the environment.

But,

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff on Monday defended the construction of a fence along the southwest border, saying it's actually better for the environment than what happens when people illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico line.

"Illegal migrants really degrade the environment. I've seen pictures of human waste, garbage, discarded bottles and other human artifact in pristine areas,"

So it appears that the critters are doomed no matter what happens. Either the fence disrupts their patterns of travel or the illegal aliens destroy the fragile environment. It is time for a liberal judge to step in and solve this problem, for the animals.

I suggest that a Federal court order the halt to the construction of the fence and the removal of the existing fencing. That will solve half of the animals’ problems. Next the court must order the U.S. government to send buses into Mexico and transport into the U.S. all who wish it illegally immigrate. To minimize the impact of large amounts of illegal aliens disembarking at any one city, the bus drivers must be ordered to drive around the country and randomly discharge his passengers. Also, ICE must be forbidden from following the buses in order to apprehend the illegals. To do otherwise just would not be fair. This is the perfect liberal response.

Now wait just a minute. I just had an epiphany. We could build a canal along the border and run the fence down the middle. Then the critters would have all the water that they need.

Link in this blog:
Chertoff: Illegals 'Degrade' Environment