The embarrassment is becoming insupportable.

You stand in front of the world—whose good opinion you claim to respect—and demand that the US go back on its word and leave the people of Iraq to face alQ et al alone to face a massacre which no one debates will be worse than that perpetrated by Pol Pot after the US went back on its word and left the people of Southeast Asia in the lurch.

Why do you care so little for the lives of those 25 million people?  When, exactly, did you lose your soul?

things are getting tenser

From SMASH: ...If we assume that both ANSWER and Gathering of Eagles will remain true to their stated intentions, then there will be two distinct, peaceful events on March 17, and the day will pass without incident.

But if we take Jalal at his word, then it’s clear that he and his cohorts intend to approach the Wall. Indeed, Jalal warns anyone against trying “any funny business” to prevent his “teams” from approaching the Wall, or “things could get ugly.” He refers to any attempt to interfere with his plans as “an illegal usurpation of our civil rights.” ...

The interesting bits are in the comments here and here.

Troops can’t win the war
---Herald Sun

America’s new top general in Iraq has admitted that force alone cannot halt the violence and the US must talk to insurgent groups.
---General David Petraeus (via the aforementioned Herald Sun)

Listen to what General Petraeus said today from Iraq: ”The war cannot be won militarily. It can only be won politically.”
--- Nancy Pelosi’s butt boy

As Democratic leaders push for withdrawal, members of another group are pressing for greater support of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

They began their national tour Thursday in San Francisco and held a rally in Bakersfield Friday, on the eve of Operation Iraqi Freedom’s fourth anniversary.

MoveAmericaForward.org is on its second day of a national “These Colors Don’t Run” trek across 25 cities.

~*~
Debra Argel Bastian lost her son almost two years ago on Memorial Day in Iraq.

She visited Iraq and said the media has not reported enough on the success of the mission.

“I saw people that were grateful and cried and said bless America, especially for our liberation,” she said.

Mark Crowley lost his son, Kyle, almost three years ago and wears a gold star to signify his loss.

“I continue to support what my son believed in,” said Crowley. “He believed in this country. He believed in taking the fight to those that would come here to kill us. He believed it’s either kill them or be killed by them.”

Why would anyone bother to fake an orgasm when having one is so much funner??????????

inspired by Vinnie in comments

BLUEBERRIES!!!

A man in France was arrested today for using his car to run down a pedestrian. He said he thought it was Osama bin Laden. Ok, it was a mistake, but it still ranks as France’s biggest military victory ever.

[Laughter]

John Seigenthaler and I are the same age. Look at how he let himself go.

[Laughter]

It is true that I said Britney Spears looked great at the Academy Awards. and I later found out it was Jack Nicholson.

[Laughter/ooohs]

It is true that just in the last two weeks Hillary Clinton has had over 200 phone calls telling her in order to win the presidency she must stay on the road for the next two years. It is not true they were all from Bill.

[Laughter]

And it is true that Barack Obama is on the move. I don’t know if it’s true that President Bush called Musharraf and said, ‘Why can’t we catch this guy?’

So are they gonna VLog it on KOS from one of John Edwards’ living rooms now or what??????

The Nevada State Democratic Party is pulling out of a controversial presidential debate scheduled for Aug. 14 in Reno and co-hosted by Fox News, according to Democratic insiders.

The debate was being hosted by Fox News Channel and Fox News Radio, the Nevada State Democratic Party and the Western Majority Project.

A Fox spokeswoman didn’t immediately return a call for comment.

Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards said Wednesday he would not participate in the debate, citing Fox’s conservative ties as a factor.  His deputy campaign manager, Jonathan Prince, sent an e-mail to the liberal website DailyKos, which was posted on the site.

“We’re definitely going to debate in Nevada, but we don’t see why this needs to be one of them,” it read.

The state party has been under pressure from progressive activists across the country, led by MoveOn.org, to cut its ties with the debate.

According to MoveOn, more than 265,000 people signed a petition sent to the Nevada State Democratic Party.

Violence along the U.S.-Mexico border is undergoing what U.S. law-enforcement authorities call “an unprecedented surge,” some of it fueled by weapons and ammunition purchased or stolen in the United States.

Federal, state and local law-enforcement officials from Texas to California, concerned about the impact of illegally imported weapons into Mexico, say they already are outmanned and outgunned by ruthless gangs that collect millions of dollars in profits by smuggling aliens and drugs into this country.

“These gangs have the weapons and the will to protect their lucrative cargoes,” said Sigifredo Gonzalez Jr., the sheriff of Zapata County, Texas, who founded and served as the first president of the Texas Border Sheriff’s Coalition. “With automatic weapons, grenades and grenade launchers, they pose a significant danger.”

And our Guardsmen deployed to the border are armed but given no ammo.

Eddie Van Halen has said he will enter rehab for unspecified reasons.

French performance artists

I was told they were performance artists from France and were highly recommended; I think I was told wrong,”

So Claire’s got a cougar in her neighborhood.

How about this poor schmuck?

It’s best not to get between a predator and its prey - especially when they’re in the passenger seat of your golf cart.

Water plant worker Mitch Walter would offer that bit of advice and bears the scratches of one who speaks from experience.

As Walter was inspecting the Cape Rock Water Treatment Plant property Tuesday night, a rabbit leaped into his golf cart - followed by a 25-pound bobcat. The rabbit then jumped back out, leaving Walter alone with a large, frightened feline.

“The cat went from a sleek predator after fast food to a ball of fur trying to jump through the windshield of the golf cart,” Walter said.

Walter received scratches on his neck while shoving the bobcat out, necessitating a round of rabies shots, but was otherwise unhurt.

A Pop Quiz Story

So this pm I went to the Planning Commission [again] for one of the interminable, excruciating meetings on County General Plan 2020. [the one where the Citizens Advisory Committee was assigned a 2 month policy review job and made it into 3 and a half years and a freakin’ book‘s worth of regulations.  Now the Planning Commission is [mostly] tossing out the socialist, Agenda 21-driven eco-theft and bringing things back to a somewhat reasonable level.

This week began one of the most crucial discussions about Riparian Corridors [as wildlife migration corridors—like our wildlife has trouble crossing the freeway, and they’re convinced deer cannot jump a 4 foot woven wire fence] [The wild and rare Tardedeer] and Biotic Habitat [they wanted to draw random circles wherein they speculated endangered species might live—based on vapor science— and force landowners to prove there was no rare yellow-liped one-legged turtlepecker taking refuge in the bathroom.]

Well, the previous hearing ran long [waaay long] and, as I sat in the back waiting and reading over some stuff, I could not help but hear some of what was going on.  Apparently it was a hearing about moving one of those cellular repeater towers that look like like a big pine tree.  The guy who had originally had it on his place got into a squabble with Verizon over the lease and they told him to sod off and were moving the tower:  hence the permit hearing.

Then someone handed me copies of the letters between Verizon and that original leaseholder.  Clearly, from the tone of the letters, things had gone round and round and become somewhat acrimonious in the end. 

I’ll quote you the last line of the guy’s letter to Verizon and you see if you can guess his first name.

Is it worth it to go through this just to save a few bucks or is it a matter of discriminating against my race and/or religion? 

ref: here

The Robot Ethics Charter An ethical code to prevent humans abusing robots, and vice versa, is being drawn up by South Korea.

European Robotics Research Network ...proposals are expected to be issued in Rome in April.

leftover two day old fried potatoes with ketchup or salt, butter and pepper I haven’t decided yet

vanilla ice cream with Grape Nuts on top

more potatoes

coffee

(photos and recipes available upon request)

Dead Cat Walkin’

This is a random buck who got caught looking in my window a coula weeks ago.  Nice size, iddn’t he?

Here is another buck, maybe a little bigger, after the Mountain Lion.

Went back to check on the deer—he’d moved it overnight.  He picked it up—the drag marks were few and hard to find—and carried it about 5-600 feet and off the road under the brush and under a tree where he buried it more fully under leaf mulch.  Waay obvious burial to our monkey eyes—big 2 ft high pile of leaves looking really out of place.

Still looking for someone to ...er, send the bassid to rehab.

The buck is lying on the downhill side of a road/track and the bank off to the left, where his feet are pointing, is very steep and [too] heavily covered with brush and trees.  The bank goes near straight up about 8-10 feet and then levels out to about a 45&deg slope.  There’s a burled tree trunk just about at the edge

The wounded areas were well buried with leaves and grass around the area.  You can see the paw marks—quite a reach.  Legs were hanging out, tho. [The Mister and FiL messed around with it/unburied it a little, earlier.]

I might be wrong, but there ain’t NUTHIN’ else around here that could make such big holes in a full-growed buck.

I like the wildlife around here and I usually wouldn’t mind finding something like this—in the way, waaay back; but this is about a quarter mile from the house and half that from where I walk every day.  I walk that road fairly often—with The Dawg. 

Not no mo.  For a while.

Gotta find a KittyHunterCouncelor, now.  I admit - I got a thing against kitties since that bobcat took my house chicken, Clarice, off my porch a coupla months ago.  Got a trap and 3 hunters already set for him.

Close the book.