Civil Defense returns!


Recurring theme here: while the fucking idiots, traitors, psychopaths and chickenshits in DC continue to destroy this country and this culture as fast as they possibly can, some states and localities are amazingly doing the right thing.

Huntsville, Alabama is an excellent example. Huntsville, home to much of the NASA complex, is rejuvenating the old Civil Defense system, complete with fallout shelters. Starting with one of the remaining purpose-built shelters, Huntsville will expand the system to house all of its 300K residents.

Civil Defense was a good idea in the '50s and '60s; largely (and perhaps justifiably) neglected in the intervening years. Now it's a good idea again.

When the enemy knows that most of our people will survive his attacks, he is less likely to attack. Remarkably simple.
  ¶ 7:12 PM

  You're welcome, Hillary!


Apparently Hillary has been listening to Polistra.

Practically the first entry in this blog, from March 05:

I'd favor a Birthright system to replace Social Security.

Like this: Each baby born to parents who are CITIZENS gets a $10K package of bonds at birth, which can't be opened until retirement, but can be inherited. Assuming 5% return, this would give about 12K annual income after age 65. At current birthrates, it would cost about $50 billion per year, which is chump change by federal standards and vastly less than the current cost for each 'cohort' of Social Security. This would also provide one small advantage to being a citizen. As things now stand, all the incentives are backwards. Citizens get to vote, and they get to serve on a jury, and they get to pay taxes. Big whoopie. Non-citizens get to work without taxation; they get free health care, free education, and all the other privileges of a welfare society.

Seriously, I think the idea was first put forward by Charles Murray. Will Hillary thank him? Don't hold your breath.

Credit or not, it's still a good idea if used properly, and I'm glad that our next President supports it. Not clear whether Hillary wants to use it properly, though... if she's just tossing it around as an extra gift for everybody, while still maintaining the existing SS for those new generations, then it's not a good idea.


  ¶ 6:11 PM

  Canadian Cancer Cure update
I've been supporting and keeping track of a promising cancer cure under development at the U of Alberta in Edmonton. There hasn't been any public news for a while, until now.

Dr. Michelakis has been working through the various ethics committees and the Canadian authorities, and has finally gained full approval to start a clinical trial. He's recruiting patients from the Edmonton area.

He's also raised about $800K of the needed $1.5 mil.

If you need any evidence of the total depravity and uselessness of our wealthy classes, including those who claim to be benevolent, this is sufficient proof. I can understand why, for instance, no conservative has developed a truthful news network. In that case you're risking several billions with dubious return. But 1.5 mil for a nearly certain cure for most types of cancer. Wouldn't you want to be known as the man who made that possible? Apparently nobody wants that distinction. They'd rather spend 1.5 mil on a car, a bad work of modern art, or a weekend of dissipation.

Latest report here.

Labels: Ethics

  ¶ 9:38 AM

  "Better than them"
Looking at TV shots of snipers on roofs in NYC. Are these snipers getting ready to shoot Ahmadinejad? No, of course not. These snipers are ready to PROTECT Ahmadinejad from any actual American who might try to harm him.

As always, George W. Vichy is protecting our enemies.

Nothing more to say.

= = = = =

Well, no.

Now listening to the brand-R talking points vendors, like O'Reilly, answering callers who properly want us to kill A'jad. The brand-R line is "A'jad hasn't been convicted in any international court of law, and the UN has treaty rights, so we must follow the international law."

First of all, we haven't signed onto the Hague Court, so we don't have to follow it. But even if we had, the Hague Court is part of the Axis, devoted to bringing down Western Civilization. It will never find anything against A'jad, but it has already delivered a number of anti-American findings. So if we did follow that court, we'd have to convict most of our own government instead of convicting A'jad.

Second, if we really followed the UN, we'd have to convict all living Presidents (except Axis Agent Carter, of course) on the war crime of enthusiastically supporting Israel. The UN has overwhelmingly and consistently declared that Israel should not exist.

Who, then, is actually obeying the United Nations? Ahmadinejad.

Bill O'Reilly, you're the real Pontius Pilate. You're abandoning the West and yielding authority to an enemy agency.
  ¶ 10:41 AM

  One for our side!
Revenge is sweet.



Via Chosunilbo:

Mullah Abdullah Jan, the Taliban commander who led the kidnappings of 23 Korean hostages in Afghanistan, was killed in an air strike by U.S. forces.

U.S. forces launched an airstrike on a house in Ghazni province where a council of Taliban commanders was meeting on Monday night, the Associated Press reported.

Twelve Taliban leaders were killed including Abdullah, the commander of Qarabagh district in Ghazni, AP said on Tuesday, citing Ghazni provincial police chief Ali Shah Ahmadzai.

Abdullah was believed to have planned and carried out the kidnappings of the Korean missionaries on July 19.

As I observed before, talking with kidnappers is sometimes the best course. We don't know what was given ... maybe money, maybe releasing some prisoners. In either case, the important part is that we got the remaining humans out of danger so we could kill the savage beasts. I suspect that the public aspect of the negotiations helped to locate the savages as well.
  ¶ 7:22 PM

  Bro Taser
Enjoying the video of the leftist dickhead in Florida getting tasered.

My first thought: The police won't get in deep trouble for this, because the dickhead was bothering Chairman Kerry, the titular head of The Party. Thus he needed to be stopped by all possible means. (If he had been bothering a Republican, the cops would be in trouble for daring to stop him at all, let alone by taser!)

But I may have underestimated the hardness of leftists in the media and in city governments; it looks like most of the ideological sympathy is with the dickhead, because Kerry is viewed as insufficiently orthodox. The dickhead's attempt to associate Kerry with Bush via Skull & Bones seems to be "normal" thinking in those circles.

My second thought came from my previous life in the Left. "Hey, dickhead, didn't you get any training in passive resistance? We were taught to be stoic and patient, to provide an example of civilized behavior, to show the audience that we Leftists were the civilized ones while the cops looked uncivilized by comparison. What do you think you'll accomplish by all that screeching and whining?"

But I may have underestimated the absolute corruption and gutlessness of this age. Apparently screeching and whining are seen as attractive.

My third thought was to show the long and distinguished record of passive resistance. I opened the New Testament at random, looking for some advice about teaching by example, and landed here immediately:

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.

For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,

Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;

Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,

...

But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was.

But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience ......

Well, that covers it all, doesn't it? Not just Bro Taser but Nifong, OJ, Wide-Stance, cable news, you name it.
  ¶ 12:59 PM

  ACLU pays its slaves well.
I noted that Wide-Stance Craig served the ACLU by helping to, um, water down the Patriot Act a couple of years ago. At that time I didn't understand why WS was helping the ACLU, but the motive became clear recently. Now the Anti-Civilization Lawyers Union is returning the favor.

I have to give them credit for fairness. Ordinary blackmailers don't provide any rewards when the victim follows their orders; they just open up the stall door if the victim doesn't pay for the towel.
  ¶ 8:03 PM

  Newt is here!
Newt has been here in Spokane for a couple of days, taking part in a conference on the future of health care. He did a long and moderately interesting interview with Richard Brown, the main anchorman of KXLY-TV. Here's the video.

One thing in the interview was potentially significant. When Brown pushed him in the predictable way about deciding whether to run for Pres, Newt referred to George Washington in 1791, who was tired of politics and eager to go home to his farm ... until several other leaders persuaded GW that he was needed for a second term. Sounds like a rather strong hint that Newt will "allow himself to be drafted" if the proper set of leaders "persuade" him.
  ¶ 7:21 PM

  Newt note
Some time ago I speculated that Newt is trying to form a new party, because his campaign is so strange and puzzling.

I've decided it's not strange at all ... but it is entirely unlike the pattern we've come to see as politics. Campaigning as defined by Dick Morris and Karl Rove means a slimy race to the bottom, where both sides cover each other with mud. Its goal is to disgust and repel the vast majority of voters, leaving only the hard core of hopelessly loyal, easily identified and easily manipulated 'broken-glass' voters on each side, while carefully saying nothing of consequence that might attract new people to your own side.

What Newt is doing is the opposite, which wouldn't look strange in any context outside modern politics. He's running a typical product rollout, as any competent company will do with books, beer, or brooms. Instead of turning away all but the reliable handful, he's gradually establishing his brand to attract voters. He's saying: Here's what I'm made of, here's the problem I'll solve, here's what I'll do for you.
  ¶ 3:47 PM

  Talking-point pivot
Yesterday's Brand-R talking point was "Oh, how awful!!!!! MoveOn.org is calling General Petraeus nasty names!!!! Calling him Betray-Us!!!!! This crosses all lines of decency!!!!! It's Treason!!!! Treason!!!! Treason!!!!"

Aside from the unusual screechiness over a trivial bit of name-calling, I suspect the Brand-R Talking-Points Club will have to spin an amazing pirouette.

Petraeus didn't help the 'stay-the-course' line at all. When asked whether the war is making us any safer, he said "I don't know" in a tone that strongly implied "No, it isn't."

This will be fun to watch. Brand-R is going to end up calling him Betray-Us before it's all over.
  ¶ 12:25 AM

  He's BAAAAAACK!


Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water closet....

Wide Stance has managed to outdo himself yet again, by un-un-un-pleading guilty.

Polistra's response is Pavlovian.

Truly, the worst part of this mess is not Craig himself; the worst part is Enemy Agent Specter. EA Specter, without even knowing it, shows us exactly what's wrong with our entire government: Total loss of common sense and human nature.

Specter sees nothing beyond the technicalities of legalism and process. As long as the final written judgment, after all proper appeals, contains the words 'Not Guilty', EA Specter is perfectly satisfied, and Wide Stance should continue to serve as Senator. Facts, reality, emotions, trust, credibility, integrity, are utterly foreign concepts to a Senator. Only the words on the piece of paper are significant, and the rest of us are expected to follow along.

No sir.

This road gives us Nifong.

This road gives us Hitler.

All death warrants at Dachau were perfectly correct; Due Process had been followed precisely at every point. Nobody ever stopped to ask "Is this good?" or "Is this right?" because die Papier in guter Ordnung stand.
  ¶ 1:54 PM

  Newt's speech
Taking a quick look at the transcript of Newt's major speech this morning.

Most of the speech is cast in the form of alternative history: how America would have handled this war if a competent and non-brain-damaged President had been in office at 9/11. I don't see anything dramatically new there ... pretty much the same things that Polistra and other historically minded bloggers have been saying for years. FDR gave us the model; all we had to do was use it.

Toward the end is a list of more realistic proposals, given the fact that we have spent 6 years with an incompetent and brain-damaged President. This list can be read as the platform for a Newt presidency, I suspect.

Highlights of the Newt platform:

While there is much to learn from the past we are faced with the decisions of the present and the possibilities of the future.

We are engaged in a larger war, Podhoretz’s World War Four, against a determined set of opponents who have survived six years of fragmented American and allied effort.

We will never win this larger war with limited efforts in one or two countries in isolation.

We must reject legislating American surrender and defeat in Iraq and Afghanistan but we must also reject 'stay the course' as an answer.

We need a new course.

We need an honest national dialogue and a determination to be candid about our opponents, honest about the problems, and passionately committed to the survival of America as a free country in which its citizens can be safe.

We need to make changes today to have our 21st century national security structures ready for the challenges of the 21st century.

We need a blueprint for reform and success. It is not acceptable that we have more impediments to action than enablers for action.

[More impediments than enablers: EXCELLENT POINT.]

We need a strategy—not a campaign—to rationalize ends and means to achieve our objectives in this long war against our way of life.

The American people are fully capable of understanding the scale of the threat, the dangers to our lives, the threats to our very survival.

The American people showed enormous patience through the great agony of the Civil War.

The American people sustained the Cold War for 44 years until the Soviet Union disappeared.

The problem is not with the American people.

The problem is with our politicians, our news media and our bureaucratic elites.

They are afraid to tell the American people the truth.

They are afraid to explain the scale of the threat and the inevitable scale of the needed response.

Let them trust in Americans.

Yes, but are you going to force them to do that? I don't see a proposal for taking over the media, which FDR did very effectively. Presumably, and hopefully, Newt will follow up this opening salvo with more details.
  ¶ 10:35 AM

  Leaning


Two things are notably strange about Osama's latest speech. I haven't heard either of them mentioned....

One: Unless the original tape is much clearer than what we're seeing on TV, the black beard looks to me like a video trick. Note that you can't see any mouth movement at all, and you can't see the larynx either. If I were going to add new audio to a previously made tape, this is exactly how I'd do it.

Two: The only available transcript is peculiarly crude. It's not a true digital text; it's not even scanned properly. If you were going to scan previously printed pages, it would be easier to place them straight than to align them at various angles. I'd guess it was done by photographing the printed pages with a digital camera. The printing is in a typically British font, not often used in the US.

So the transcript must have been done in some low-tech situation ... OR ... it was actually scanned, and the various angles form some kind of steganography.

The text itself is obviously the work of Pearlman/Gadahn or some similar Western Leninist converted to Mohammed. It's rather well done, but not as smooth and persuasive as Ahmadinejad's propaganda. It's an interesting mix of Marx and Mohammed, with an essentially valid critique of modern China-über-Alles global capitalism, which has in fact declined to a dangerously corrupt condition.

Most of the persuasion is aimed at the Leninist choir, with one interesting and up-to-date exception: "And the reeling of many of you under the burden of interest-related debts, insane taxes and real estate mortgages..."

Fortunately, Pearlman/Gadahn is a birthright Commie who grew up in a tight leftist community, so he doesn't quite understand the feelings of non-Communist westerners. I say fortunately, because a less restricted mind would have seen a more promising crack for his propagandistic wedge in our sense of utter and total corruption. A writer who was raised in a Christian environment, even if he converted to Marx and then to Mohammed, would have made great use of Wide-Stance Craig and similar incidents. The question would be easy to ask and hard to answer: Is Western democracy doing anything for you?

In short, we are in a critical position, similar to the 1930's in the failure of both democracy and capitalism. Democracy is failing in the same way as before: Hoover was seen as paralyzed and helpless, Bush is seen as paralyzed and helpless. Capitalism is failing in a different direction now, but still failing for all except the billionaires.

We are ripe for a replacement.

Polistra has been asking: Would Sharia really be all that much worse? She hasn't started trying on burqas yet, but that point is not far off.

FDR understood the danger perfectly, and took dramatic steps to co-opt and counter the appeals of both Soviet Communism and German Fascism.

Needless to say, Bush wouldn't even know how to sense the danger, let alone how to counter it.

So we are comparatively lucky so far, in that our modern Leftists have abandoned the economic side of Marxism, and thus abandoned their previous appeal to the poor. And we are comparatively lucky that Osama's main ambassador to the West has such a narrow understanding of Western problems and Western thinking. We can't count on the enemies to remain incompetent, though.
  ¶ 5:51 PM

  LOTS OF NEW NUKES!!!!!


Paul Harvey mentioned this good news today. Indeed it is the best news of the year, perhaps even the best news of the decade!

The last time I looked at the NEI website there were only two new licenses for nuke plants, which I considered to be pretty good news. That was in June.

Suddenly there are AT LEAST 33 new nuclear plants being licensed for construction. Here's the chart, as viewed from an NEI spreadsheet.




If all of these plants are built quickly, this will essentially solve our energy independence problem.

You'd think Congress or the Bush admin would want to trumpet this news, as evidence that they're finally getting serious about the future. That would be normal and sane behavior for politicians. Apparently these insane creatures actually prefer to let the people hold them in contempt, even in these rare instances when they accomplish something critically important and tremendously good for the country.

It's absolutely beyond me.
  ¶ 12:14 PM

  Do these folks ever listen to themselves?
Story on Osama's latest tape begins: "The most wanted man on earth has been heard from again after three years of silence." A few seconds later in the same story: " ... can survive in the mountainous region because there are no active searches for him."

Most wanted man. No active searches.

Most wanted man. No active searches.

Most wanted man. No active searches.

Most wanted man. No active searches.

Most wanted man. No active searches.

Anyone notice a slight, shall we say, dissonance?

= = = = =

Wish we could somehow convince the American media and authorities that Osama had one of his own daughters with him, contrary to a custody agreement that only gives him visitation rights. Preferably a daughter with blonde hair. If the media and authorities believed that story, the whole Amber Alert mechanism and 110% of the FBI's vast resources would come into play, and he'd be found and "brought to justice" in less than an hour. The one thing we're truly serious about is fathers who unthinkably dare to spend time with their own children.
  ¶ 9:01 AM

  That's better.
Seems that the Senate has finally started acting like a proper guild, instead of actively supporting and encouraging blackmail. Wide Stance Craig has apparently received such a thunderous blowback that he has now un-un-pled guilty and un-un-resigned. Still hasn't quite returned to simply pleading and resigning, but un-un is better than un.

= = = = =

Couple more random observations:

1. Trusting the opinion of a judge over your own conscience or your own community is the mark of Leftists. [Sidenote: this isn't a basic property of Marxism; it's a consequence of the American Left's decades of hard work in replacing all judges with fellow Commies.] Wide-Stance's insistence on waiting for a final opinion of a judge, after all appeals are exhausted, tells us which side he's on.

2. In a deeper sense, WS is showing catlike logic and behavior. Or you could call it sociopathic thinking. A cat or a sociopath will learn, after 20 or 30 punishments, that getting up on the table while the human is watching leads to being thrown across the room. He has no unpleasant association with the table, as long as the human isn't watching. A normal dog or normal human has a sense of right and wrong, a sense of shame. One hard look will usually suffice to convey the idea that jumping on the table is unwanted. The normal dog or human needs respect more than food.
  ¶ 2:29 PM

  Wrong question, 2
Big story today: The Air Force was caught carrying cruise missiles across the country in B-52s, toward a destination where they will be decommissioned. There are huge investigations, heads are rolling, and organizational structures will be revamped, to avoid carrying cruise missiles across the country while we are throwing them away. We must, must, must find another way to transport the missiles to the trash pile, because we agreed with Khrushchev in 1960 that we would never, ever, ever, carry missiles in bombers while throwing them away.

Hold on. Aren't we forgetting something? Didn't anyone else hear the important part of the sentence?




Well, Polistra heard it, and she asks:



  ¶ 5:52 PM

  Mmmm, blackmail feels soooo good... do me some more!
A couple days ago I wrote that the R party obviously enjoys being blackmailed. I hesitated a bit on that line, feeling it might be excessive; but now that Wide-Stance Craig is trying to unplead guilty and unresign, I'm on solid ground.

Think about this: W.S. Craig has been a sort of double agent. He has undoubtedly represented Idaho's economic interests well. In addition, because of his dirty secret, he is easy to blackmail, and the results of the blackmail were visible in his vote against parts of the Patriot Act. (Probably some other pro-enemy votes as well; otherwise Enemy Agent Specter wouldn't be so determined to keep him around.)

Now compare: if WS is replaced by a relatively clean man, the new man will be a SINGLE agent, representing Idaho but NOT representing the ACLU.

So, replacing Old Wide-Stance would mean cutting the power of the blackmailers, decreasing the votes for the ACLU, and increasing the credibility of pro-American positions. Leaving WS in office is an act of allegiance to blackmail and Communism.

You can be sure the story won't go away, and it's a safe bet that other, ahem, shoes are still waiting to drop. Despite all this, the R party hasn't physically, ah, booted him out of the Capitol, and seems prepared to allow his idiotic reliance on Due Process while he stays in office forever.

This tells me without any doubt that the R party is more interested in pleasing the blackmailers on the Left than in representing the 'Red-state' interests of Idaho.
  ¶ 9:34 AM

  Newt's 'major opus'
Newt is going to present a major speech at AEI next week, in which he lays out the 'third option' that has been missing from all of our debates. Should be an interesting speech.

Polistra has been making this point for quite a while.
  ¶ 9:18 PM

  New direction for the phrase 'Korean Missionaries'
Via Chosunilbo as always:

A U.S. humanitarian organization has set a landmark by chartering a direct flight to airlift aid for North Korean flood victims. Samaritan's Purse president Franklin Graham said on the organization’s homepage Sunday, "We've been told that this airlift is the first direct flight from the U.S. to North Korea since the Korean War." The aid organization sent goods to the North on a chartered Boeing 747, which took off in Charlotte, North Carolina on Thursday and landed in Pyongyang on Friday. Worth US$8 million, they include antibiotics, drugs and plastic housing materials.

Bravo Rev. Franklin!

Contrary to the [fully understandable] cynicism of most conservatives, I'm even more convinced that Dear Leader Kim is deflating quickly. If he's allowing a famous Christian organization to help his people openly, he's no longer even pretending to be the Vanguard of Progressive Stalinism.

Kudos to the State Dept, credit to the Graham outfit, and perhaps even credit to China which must be tired of supporting Kim, with no obvious strategic benefit, while juggling other problems.
  ¶ 4:01 PM

  Madame Polisztra channels Skeletor



Madame Polisztra seems to have a channel to FEMA, whether she likes it or not. (Note this entry, two weeks before Katrina.)

Four days ago: "I haven't been in touch with the whole subject for many years, so I presume the ARRL still exists but is no longer allowed to interfere with FEMA's all-encompassing and all-destroying incompetence."

Today we hear that FEMA is going to crack down on "unofficial" helpers in disasters, which would presumably include radio amateurs (with their long-tested and well-organized methods of off-grid disaster communication) as well as the Christian charities that have proven to be vastly more effective than FEMA in every possible way.

Yes sir, can't have competence interfering with the government's goals!
  ¶ 12:48 PM

  Yes, let's have a SINGLE STANDARD!
Susan Estrich on Prince Walid News just now, expressing the Official Leftist Position: "I don't care about somebody's sexual orientation; what bothers me is when they vote the opposite way. That's hypocritical."

Wonderful! Let's apply the hypocrisy standard universally!

Any heterosexual who votes FOR gay marriage should be exposed as a hypocrite and shamed out of office.

Then the only votes FOR gay marriage would come from the openly homosexual members of Congress, which at present means Barney Frank. Fine with me!

I'd love to hear a "counter-expert" use this line of response, perhaps with a little extra: "Okay, so we've established that you aren't really arguing against hypocrisy. Instead, you're advocating blackmail. Now that we know what you are, let's start negotiating."
  ¶ 10:14 AM