Can you Spin a Debate?

The CNN/YouTube Republican Debate has damaged the reputation of CNN for its "failure" to properly vet the questioners before airing their questions. Even a simple Google search, it is claimed, would have revealed the partisan alignments of the questioners (as though their leading, self-serving questions didn't do that).

Yet the questions were selected from YouTube submissions. The process was done on line. And not a one of the questioners was a member of the "general public". All had some quirky political connection.

The questions appeared to have been chosen to subtly cast the Republican candidates in a poor light, if possible. And make no doubt about it, the General was known to the CNN staffers. No one brings a person like that to a debate, flies him out and puts him up at network expense, seats him conveniently, and then allows an off-topic non-issue question (designed to make the candidates appear intolerant) to be asked without knowing who he is.

This was a subtle attempt to spin an entire debate that backfired.

CNN vetted the carefully selected questioners - they just hoped no one else would.

Cooper Quote - Reasoned Argument

Ed Detrixhe points out that when you overload the circuits on your computer the screen goes blank. Likewise, when you confront a hoplophobe with reasoned argument, his mind goes blank. We have so little contact with those other people that it is sometimes hard for us to understand that they exist--but they do. The media, the megalopolis and academia are lousy with them. Reasoned argument is entirely on our side, but sometimes it is hard to find anyone to reason with. That blank screen is hardly an interesting antagonist.

Cooper Quote - Street Crime

We continue to be exasperated by the view, apparently gaining momentum in certain circles, that armed robbery is OK as long as nobody gets hurt! The proper solution to armed robbery is a dead robber. It is the responsibility of the victim to turn the tables and demolish the robber. Street crime will cease only when the perpetrator becomes convinced that his operations will almost surely result in his death.

From a Federal Judge

Most rank-and-file gun grabbers are gun grabbers for three specific reasons: (1) they don't trust themselves, and in particular, don't trust themselves not to eventually wreak mayhem or suicide if they were armed with a gun, and they project this insecurity onto other people (expecting other people to eventually wreak mayhem or suicide when armed), (2) they do not believe they have the confidence and courage to actually defend themselves with a weapon if they come under assault, so they view the ability of others to do so as an advantage others have over them, and they seek to negate their disadvantage, and (3) they do not want to take responsibility for their own safety, because they are not sure they are worth protecting, because they are lazy and feel entitled to have others protect them, and because they have learned (from corrupt people) that helplessness is a currency that can be traded for certain advantages and indulgences. The first motivates them to voice hysterical expectations of blood running in the streets in states that pass concealed carry laws. The second fuels their energetic, viciously hateful campaigns against all who seek to obtain and maintain the means of self-defense. The third is a sort of smoldering engine motivating them to limply but stubbornly oppose the institution of individual self-defense and its means. All are, of course, wholly without moral legitimacy.

from Capitalism Magazine, 2003-May-22, by Alex Kozinski

Surprise - Communists support Democrats

Recently Fidel Castro came out and endorsed the candidacy of Hillary Clinton.

Such an occurrence should be grounds for immediate removal of yourself from the race and a reevaluation of who you are, why you seek office, and what you stand for, Hillary.

Of course, it will have no effect at all.

I doubt she will even be shamed by this....

It is indicative of the extreme anti-American approach held by the majority of the Democratic Party.

Political Action

So here we go into elections, 2008. Remember that the democratic process has not proved to be a guarantee of either liberty or justice. Assess the candidates carefully and vote properly.

As Churchill opined, it may be a very poor system, but remains better than any alternative we have thought up so far.

Chelsea Clinton

Says a returning Marine to Chelsea in a bar:

Only three things did I fear in Irag. Osama, Obama, and yo' mama.

Mindset of the Left

By Ed Detrixhe of Clyde, Kansas:

The first thing a conservative notices about leftists is how afraid they are. Any conversation with them soon, no immediately, leads to something they fear, and they fear almost everything. They fear food, tobacco, the sun, clothing, cars, open discussion, life, death, etc.

Because of many of these deep fears it is not surprising that they are passionately interested in making life `safe.' Life must be renewed. If something incidental, such as this freedom or that freedom, must be given up in order for life to be `safer,' than so be it.

Perhaps this makes perfect sense because when someone is consumed by fear he is in effect imprisoned. Accordingly, the meaning of freedom changes.

One Marine's Apology

"For good and ill, the Iraqi prisoner abuse mess will remain an issue. On the one hand, right thinking Americans will harbor the stupidity of the actions while on the other hand, political glee will take control and fashion this minor event into some modern day massacre.

I humbly offer my opinion here:

I am sorry that the last seven times we Americans took up arms and sacrificed the blood of our youth, it was in the defense of Muslims (Bosnia, Kosovo, Gulf War 1, Kuwait, etc.).
I am sorry that no such call for an apology upon the extremists came after 9/11.
I am sorry that all of the murderers on 9/11 were Islamic Arabs.
I am sorry that most Arabs and Muslims have to live in squalor under savage dictatorships.
I am sorry that their leaders squander their wealth.
I am sorry that their governments breed hate for the US in their religious schools, mosques, and government-controlled media.
I am sorry that Yassar Arafat was kicked out of every Arab country and high-jacked the Palestinian "cause."
I am sorry that no other Arab country will take in or offer more than a token amount of financial help to those same Palestinians.
I am sorry that the USA has to step in and be the biggest financial supporter of poverty stricken Arabs while the insanely wealthy Arabs blame the USA for all their problems.
I am sorry that our own left wing, our media, and our own brainwashed masses do not understand any of this (from the misleading vocal elements of our society like radical professors, CNN and the NY TIMES).
I am sorry the United Nations scammed the poor people of Iraq out of the "food for oil" money so they could get rich while the common folk suffered.
I am sorry that some Arab governments pay the families of homicide bombers upon their death.
I am sorry that those same bombers are brainwashed thinking they will receive 72 virgins in "paradise."
I am sorry that the homicide bombers think pregnant women, babies, children, the elderly and other noncombatant civilians are legitimate targets.
I am sorry that our troops die to free more Arabs from the gang rape rooms and the filling of mass graves of dissidents of their own making.
I am sorry that Muslim extremists have killed more Arabs than any other group.
I am sorry that foreign trained terrorists are trying to seize control of Iraq and return it to a terrorist state.
I am sorry we don't drop a few dozen Daisy Cutters on Fallujah.
I am sorry every time terrorists hide they find a convenient "Holy Site."
I am sorry they didn't apologize for driving a jet into the World Trade Center that collapsed and severely damaged Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church - one of our Holy Sites.
I am sorry they didn't apologize for flight 93 and 175, the USS Cole, the embassy bombings, the murders and beheadings of Nick Berg and Daniel Pearl, etc....etc!

We hang out our dirty laundry for the entire world to see. We move on. That's one of the reasons we are hated so much. We don't hide this stuff like all those Arab countries that are now demanding an apology. Deep down inside, when most Americans saw this reported in the news, we were like - so what? We lost hundreds and made fun of a few prisoners. Sure, it was wrong, sure, it dramatically hurts our cause, but until captured we were trying to kill these same prisoners.

Now we're supposed to wring our hands because a few were humiliated? Our compassion is tempered with the vivid memories of our own people killed, mutilated and burnt amongst a joyous crowd of celebrating Fallujans! . If you want an apology from this American, you're going to have a long wait! You have a better chance of finding those seventy-two virgins.

Chuck Pitman Lieutenant General US Marine Corps (Retired)
Semper Fi

Crime Reduction

Recently 6-7 thugs in the Bronx went on a beating spree, injuring 5 people and killing one.

The beat them up rather than use guns. But I thought gun control was designed to lower crime? If you outlaw the tools of the criminal, you de facto eliminate crime, right?

It couldn't possibly have happened. We have laws.

Perhaps it is time for hand/arm control. Let's remove everyone's hand/arms. We can then issue them back upon demonstration of need, with appropriate training and licensing, accompanied by registration and police monitoring. That should do it.

Are you listening, Hillary?

TX Governor speaks Sense...

Kevin PetersPublished as a news story by KVUE

Monday [04/30/07] saw some startling comments from Governor Rick Perry on the issue of gun control. Perry told reporters that law-abiding Texans with the proper training should be allowed to carry guns anywhere in the state: churches, courthouses... even in the classroom.

The governor made those remarks after holding talks with educators, law enforcement and mental health experts addressing school safety in wake of the tragedy at Virginia Tech.

"I think it makes sense for Texans to be able to protect themselves from deranged individuals, whether they're in church, or on a college campus or wherever they are," said Perry.

The governor told reporters there should be zero gun limitations on law-abiding Texans.

"I think a person ought to be able to carry their weapon with them anywhere in this state if they are licensed and they have gone through the training. The idea you're going to exempt them from a particular place is nonsense to me," he said.

Marsha McCartney, an anti-gun activist with the Dallas chapter of the Brady campaign, thinks more guns would only make schools less safe.
"Suicide rates of college age students is already high. I'm not sure it would be good idea to bring guns on campus," she said.

Governor Perry said that now was the right time for the state to have a debate over gun control. So far, it has not been a major issue during the 80th Legislative session.

Concealed Carry

Numerous states passed concealed carry laws in the 90's. Crime fell. This occurred even though ex-"President" Clinton's plan to field 100,000 additional police officers failed.

I am advancing the theory that solid American citizens observed the attempts, under ex-"President" Clinton, by his administration, to promote their anti-gun and anti-religion agenda at Ruby Ridge and Waco. Coupled with Vince Foster and the rest of his shenanigans, while taking no effective action whatever against burgeoning global terrorism, is it any wonder that Americans raced to their legislatures to arm themselves?

Politically Correct

Politically Correct =( (Craven Intimidation) + (Approval-Seeking)) / (Subject to Coercion Solely via Opinion)

The Nanny State

Most of us could get along better with much less government than we have; there are others though who seem to require lifelong shepherding from pre-natal care to the electric chair. It makes no sense to talk of self-government to a man who cannot even govern his own behavior.

Paul Kirchner

How Bill Clinton Got Elected

There is nothing more odious than the majority; for it consists of a few powerful leaders, a certain number of accommodating scoundrels and subservient weaklings, and a mass of men who trudge after them without in the least knowing their own minds.

Goethe

Gun Control

The law of unintended consequences applies to our next election. Although it will be overlooked (intentionally) during the campaign, gun control debates will follow the next election in a covert rear-guard action.

While attempting to compile my thoughts, I ran across the following quote. As I cannot summarize it better, here it is:

"Make no mistake about it; Gun control laws increase the power of government and the criminal element over the average citizen, and serve no other purpose."

The New American, Vol. 9, No. 12 for 14 June, 1993.

I am personally in favor of gun control - defined as hitting the target effectively through proper stance, controlled breathing, and smooth trigger squeeze; applied repeatedly until the threat is eliminated.

Progress?

"The society of late twentieth century America is perhaps the first in human history where most grown men do not routinely bear arms on their persons and boys are not regularly raised from childhood to learn skill in the use of some kind of weapon, either for community or personal defense - club or spear, broadsword or long bow, rifle or Bowie knife. It also happens to be one of the rudest and crudest societies in history, having jubilantly swept most of the etiquette of speech, table, dress, hospitality, fairness, deference to authority and the relations of male and female and child and elder under the fraying and filthy carpet of politically convenient illusions. With little fear of physical reprisal Americans can be as loud, gross, disrespectful, pushy, and negligent as they please. If more people carried rapiers at their belts, or revolvers on their hips, It is a fair bet you would be able to go to a movie and enjoy he dialogue from the screen without having to endure the small talk, family gossip and assorted bodily noises that many theater audiences these days regularly emit. Today, discourtesy is commonplace precisely because there is no price to pay for it."
Samuel Francis

As Heinlein put it,

"An armed society is a polite society."

Coveting thy neighbor's...

Most of the things we covet beyond our means are toys - and this applies to everything from Ferrari to ex-wives.

We live in an opulent culture, and perhaps it is better to revel in it than to condemn it as frivolous. Those other people in the unfree world who pretend to view us with moral disdain, might do well to remember that we have achieved this level of luxury by way of political liberty.

The free world may be gross, vulgar and immoral, but that is not something that the slave society can fix.

Historical Awareness...

From Jeff Cooper:

Overheard in San Francisco:

"We shouldn't think too badly of the Japanese. After all, they would not have attacked Pearl Harbor if we had not hit them first with the atom bomb."

Honest to God!

What are we teaching people?

Dangerous Beards and Balloons

James Hetfield of the rock band Metallica was just prevented from boarding an airplane because his scruffy hipper-than-thou beard looked too "Taliban" to the highly trained and qualified minimum-wage airport security types.

Never mind that he is a worldwide icon to musicians, tall, white, blue-eyed, and obviously not a terrorist-type.

Our friend (an NYPD retired cop) recently had his 9 year old anglo daughter singled out for confiscation of her balloon.

Do you remember the outbreak in the 80's of airline hijackings perpetrated by musicians using their beards for weapons, accompanied by police and young children carrying balloons of mass destruction?

Neither do I. It never happened.

The jihadis run to a type. Thye are easily identifiable. Even a casual perusal of the photos of known terrorists show that the bad guys can be easily identified.

Time to get serious about security and end the nonsense.

Profiling of terror suspects is not just a good idea - it's the right answer!

Old Afghanistan

Remember how Kipling put it?

When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains
and the women come out to cut up your remains
just roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
and go to your god like a soldier.

Plus ça change, plus la même chose.

Real Progress

As we continue the religiously-motivated cultural conflict in the east (by their choice, not by ours), we may point out that we have:

Walked on the moon

Eplored Mars and Venus

Conquered small pox, polio, and TB

Implemented the B2, the nuclear submarine, and established widespread dependable air transportation

Established a free and incisive press (although biased)

Eradicated slavery and institutionalized prejudice.

Built a network of higher learning institutions unparalleled in history

Raised an entire culture from poverty (even our poor have color TVs, cars, stereos, air conditioning, and fashion)

Our opponents offer only institutionalized malice, repression of women, and a stone-age mindset towards tribalism.

Certainly the West is imperfect, and there are many ways in which we can improve, but the Holy War they offer is a poor answer.

Their jihad may arguably offer them a ticket to heaven, but it will not enhance their life on earth nor delay their passing from it at the hands of our troops.

Hail to the Chief

If you approve of the way President Bush is handling his daunting tasks, write and tell him so. He sees the press, just as you do, and it must be depressing for him to be told only of the enemy viewpoint. If you support him, tell him so. Every little bit helps.

Thanks, Bill!

On Former President Clinton's watch, severe damage was done to the military order of battle, in addition to the rampant emboldenment of terrorism as a global political vehicle.

"According to a study by Mark Helprin of the Hudson Institute, the following are gone from our military: four aircraft carriers; 121 surface combatants and attack submarines (plus the support that normally accompanies such a force); 13 ballistic missile submarines (with more than 3,000 nuclear warheads on 232 missiles); 500 intercontinental ballistic missiles; 232 strategic bombers; 20 air wings of the Navy and Air Force (about 2,000 combat aircraft); two Reserve Army divisions; eight Regular Army divisions; 293,000 Reserve soldiers, and 709,000 Regular Army soldiers. Had an enemy inflicted such losses, it would have been termed a military disaster."

The New American, Vol. 14, No. 17, Page 19

Bill Clinton and Pardons

Fomer-President Clinton is now bashing President Bush for commuting sentences. Huh???

Didn't he pardon numerous felons under questionable circumstances, including terrorists involved with the 9/11 plot and a corrupt financier named Rich?

Yet he attempts to paint the Bush administration in his own patented colors.

If I was not already aware how disgusting was this man and his harpy, I would have been amused by this misadventure.

I guess nothing that the Clintons do should surprise us.

It is not the Clinton's depravity which demeans the nation, it is rather the fact that most people do not seem to care and allow them continued license in the bully pulpit of the media.

We get the leaders we deserve.

Aging

If you're not a liberal at 20, you are heartless. If you're still a liberal at 30, you are brainless. If you aren't a card-carrying curmudgeon by 60, you just are not paying attention.

Fair Trade?

"I would trade a ton of information for an ounce of wisdom."

Jeff Cooper

Jeff Cooper on Global Warming

"A good example of this global dumbing is the concern about "global warming." Dr. Art Robinson, who may be the wisest man I know, suggests that we need a new national program to teach thermometer reading to the American people, as well as to convince them that it is unacceptable to argue that an effect has arrived before the cause has occurred."

"The climate record shows that current temperatures are a little below the mean for the past three thousand years, and that temperatures during those three millennia have often been higher - sometimes by more than 2° centigrade. No climate catastrophe is recorded in the history of those periods."

Dr. Art Robinson

For about 10,000 years now we have been coming out of an ice age. The earth's axial precession is on an approximate 10,000 year cycle which would indicate that temperatures should start declining over the next 10,000 years or so. And the data shows that average temperatures have been declining over the time period we have been tracking it (approx. 3,000 years).

But many many people continue to vest their hopes and efforts in this voodoo. Are you listening Al Gore?

Cracking the Firecracker Ring

Recently the big news on Long Island was that police had uncovered an illegal fireworks ring operating from a restaurant. Seems that one could go in and choose the fireworks from a menu and that the supplier, who operated out of his house, would bring them over to you.

After a long and expensive investigation, police broke the incredibly dangerous ring of firecracker vendors and put a stop to the illegal trafficking in fireworks.

Violent crime, drugs, prostitution, gang membership, and organized crime continues to be a consistent problem in the New York City area.

Glad to know we have our priorities straight...

More on Ron Paul

Thanks to nmlifestyles for this information:

"In the time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act" GEORGE ORWELL

Ron Paul is a constitutionalist.
Ron has never voted to raise taxes.
Ron has never voted for an unbalanced budget.
Ron has never voted for the Iraq War.
Ron has never voted for a federal restriction on gun ownership.
Ron has never voted to increase the power of the executive branch.
Ron has never voted to raise congressional pay.
Ron has never taken a government-paid junket.
Ron voted against the Patriot Act.
Ron votes against regulating the Internet.
Ron voted against NAFTA and CAFTA.
Ron votes against the United Nations.
Ron votes against the welfare state.
Ron votes against reinstating a military draft.
Ron votes to preserve the constitution.
Ron votes to cut government spending.
Ron votes to lower healthcare costs.
Ron votes to end the war on drugs.
Ron votes to protect civil liberties.
Ron votes to secure our borders with real immigration reform


Listen To Ron Paul Speeches: http://www.ronpaulaudio.comReview over 100 Articles Ron Paul Authored by Subject:http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul-arch.html

NO Income Tax?

Ron Paul (R-Tex) has entered the presidential arena with a revolutionary new platform.

Among other radical reforms, he desires to abolish the IRS and the income tax. He believes government did well enough before the 16th Amendment and wants to repeal it.

"That government which governs best governs least..."

Quotas

We note with pleasure that the Supreme Court has just overturned certain race-based school program laws. The decision will evidently affect certain programs throughout the nation that assign students to schools based on race (I thought this was made illegal by the Civil Rights Act?) as well as affect many decisions that are based solely on race.

The decision states that race may not be used as a criteria.

People of all races should be overjoyed, as well as educators. But they won't.

The fake ministers of poverty and race will continue to advocate for policies that ultimately do more harm than good based on race, denying those of minority persuasion even the opportunity to complete on an even playing field.

And educators are already crying about losing programs.

They will do anything to marginalize certain races if it means protecting a budget.

Amazing how the policies designed to eliminate race-based thinking and discrimination have only perpetuated it.

WMD

"In the long run, the greatest weapon of mass destruction is stupidity."

Thomas Sowell

"New" Immigration Policy Recommendation

"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

President Theodore Roosevelt

NYPD - New York's finest?

This just in from the "What Next?" file.

An employee of a private real estate company (we'll call him T) was painting out graffiti on a garbage enclosure one rainy morning recently. A long-standing problem in NYC, graffiti (the self-indulgent scribblings designed to boost the "self-esteem" of morons) has resulted in numerous programs operated by the city, including one in which the city will paint it out or remove it themselves in order to keep the streets attractive.

T was painting brown paint on a brown enclosure to cover the graffiti tags placed there the night before. NYPD Officers "A" and "B" (names withheld to protect the stupid) saw this and proceeded to stop the offense by tackling him against a wall. T proceeded to show them his company ID and the logo-emblazoned uniform he was wearing. No luck. He displayed his maintenance toolbag. "Those are burglar tools - you are just getting yourself in deeper" according to A.

When T's supervisor happened across the scene, B explained to her that he could have been "removing the graffiti to tag it again".

1. In the rain?

2. In daylight?

3. In a company uniform?

4. In a bright yellow raincoat?

5. With a company ID?

The "Officers" couldn't watch him a few minutes to see what he was doing. They couldn't identify themselves and ask what he was doing. They tackled him blindly from behind and made several key assumptions.

NYPD can't seem to catch a graffiti artst in the act AT ALL - witness the prevalence of spray can scrawl all over the city. But let a maintenance worker just try to make it better himself.....

WTF is wrong with people?

Nice Guys?

Despite the painful wishes of the suffering Left, there really is such a thing as sheer motiveless malice - Father Flanagan to the contrary notwithstanding. There are bad people in the world, and their evil propensities stem as much from inheritance as from environment. You have only to look around to realize that you cannot make a scoundrel decent by patting him on the head. What you can do about him is a deep subject, but pretending that he is basically a nice guy does not properly address the problem.

Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better?

Jeff Cooper writes in February, 2003:

"The NRA winter meeting was held at Corpus Christi, Texas, which is an interesting place - pretty far off to one side. Local historians tell us that this was one of the stop-offs of Cabeza de Vaca, who was put off from the Narvaez expedition in Florida and hiked all the way to Mexico City. This is a long hike, and in the early 16th century it was definitely fraught. It is one of the great adventure stories of all time, and should be more widely retold than it is.We learned at Corpus that while male hunting in the US is somewhat declining, female hunting is on a definite upswing. I guess the decline is simply due to the steady urbanization of our society. The countryside is an unfamiliar venue for most of our young men; but as to the girls, I see this as a manifestation of inverted machismo. ("Anything you can do I can do better.") Which is sort of silly, but nonetheless pervasive."

Nature itself teaches us that a vacuum will be filled. If men succumb to the pervasive preszence of anti-male thought, political correctness at all costs, and abdicate the position of provider, leader, and warrior, it may be expected that the only other sex on the planet will step in in ever-increasing numbers to fill the void.

Although any good reason why we would allow the superior sex abandon the special treatment we provide them and assume our roles evades me.

For shame.

PC

"Hypersensitivity and political correctness are signs of a society in which too many people have nothing serious to do. It makes a bland and sour society, full of rancor, but devoid of spirit."

Charley Reese

Welcome

Welcome to the Commander's Corner. These are musings about art, politics, social trends, and military actions. If it affects the world in any sense related above, it's fair game....