July 3, 2008
Happy Fourth From GoDaddy.com
I got an email alerting me to a special 4th of July message from GoDaddy.com and I prepared myself for a buxom young lady in a red white and blue bikini.
Happy Independence Day from GoDaddy.com (Give it time to load).
The disappointment faded quickly. It’s awesome to see unabashed, undeconstrusted, unapologetic patriotism from a US Company.
October 21, 2007
Another Day, Another Debate
Another day, another debate.
But it had this nugget, which NRO's Jim Geraghty calls "the best line of the campaign so far."
"Hillary tried to get a million dollars for the Woodstock museum. I understand it was a major cultural and pharmaceutical event. I couldn't attend. I was tied up at the time."It gets a standing ovation.
F*ck yeah, that's a good line.
I TiVoed the debate so I could flip between the ALCS game seven and the Broncos-Steelers. My recorder has two tuners, and this is the first time in the history of TV that there have been three good things on at once.
It is a great line and Senator McCain's appearance of FOXNews Sunday in the empty debate hall was very good as well.
July 13, 2007
Crazy Brit in PA with Gun!
Samizdat Perry de Havilland enjoys America's gun laws (compared to his native UK).
July 4, 2007
Happy Fourth!
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We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
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I always prefered the prose of the Declaration of Independence to that of the Constitution. Fewer cooks - better broth.
Happy Birthday America. We're doing our best to "keep the Republic."
Posted by: johngalt at July 4, 2007 11:34 AMWith all respect to Gouverneur Morris (who had a larger committee to muck things up), that paragraph is bracing for its clarity, style and substance. I don't know that a better paragraph has ever been penned.
Posted by: jk at July 4, 2007 3:19 PMMay 18, 2007
Wolfowitz and the War
Or, "Freedom Loses One."
The forces of darkness and anti-modernity do not lie peacefully, whether in the caves of Afghanistan or the capitals of Europe, They are active and are bound to win a few.
That said, I am still disappointed in the World Bank scandal. The scandal being, of course, that a good man who was trying to clean up a corrupt institution such that it could actually do some good was run out by the thugs who profit from corruption. The Wall Street Journal has a well written recap of what transpired, so I will link and excerpt, not summarize it.
We've said from the beginning that the charges against Mr. Wolfowitz were bogus, and that the effort to unseat him amounted to a political grudge by those who opposed his role in the Bush Administration and a bureaucratic vendetta by those who opposed his anti-corruption agenda at the bank. That view was vindicated by yesterday's statement, which showed how little the merits of the case against Mr. Wolfowitz had to do with the final result.
[...]
In a better world, the bank would shrink to perform only its core mission of helping the world's poorest nations. That's not going to happen, however, so the best that President Bush can do now to minimize the damage of the Wolfowitz putsch is by replacing him with someone who shares his agenda and will clean the place up. No European should have a chance to do that given what has transpired, not even Tony Blair. Nor should he name another well known member of the Council on Foreign Relations seminar circuit whom the Europeans and staff can quickly capture.We've suggested former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, who saw first-hand how these institutions function while investigating the U.N.'s Oil for Food scandal. But whoever it is, the core task of Mr. Wolfowitz's successor should be to clean the World Bank stables, or shut it down.
I'm glad that the European economies are doing better and that a new crop of leaders show some fondness for capitalism. L'Affaire Wolfowitz shows, however, that there is a fundamental difference between Europe and America in each's tolerance for corruption.
Europe stood still as the Oil for Food corruption undermined the only chance the world had to avoid the Iraq War. It wasn't WMDs, it was the fecklessness of Europe to enact and enforce tough sanctions and to demand thorough inspections Now we are repeating the same errors in Iran, with a corrupt Europe having been expanded to include corruption in Moscow and Beijing.
Bill Bennet wrote a book about President Clinton's troubles where he discussed European bemusement at Americans' caring so much about a trivial matter. Bennet, whom I've disagreed with on a thousand things, got off one of the great lines ever. I quote from memory: "Europe has much to teach us about wine, culture, and cuisine. America, however, has much to teach Europe about morality in government."
The players have all changed, but that part remains true. Europe doesn't seem to care that the UN or many of its satellite NGOs are corrupt, incompetent, and counter-productive. There may be friendlier G-8 meetings with Sarkozy, Merkel and Brown. But a huge gap remains in the tolerance for corruption in NGOs that must be addressed. And it will have to be addressed by America.
April 15, 2007
What a Great Country
A young (two? three?) neighbor was out playing with his new toy machine gun. I complimented him on it, and he said "the easter bunny brought it to me!"
I told him to shoot a tight group.
March 9, 2007
News Item of the Decade
What's that? Did Bill Gates promise to buy Apple Computer and divide all of its stock amongst all the AIDS patients in Africa? Did Mahmood I'mInAJihad just convert to Christianity? Did Hillary divorce Bill? No.
Owning guns in D.C. may soon become legal, as federal appeals court ruled that the right to bear arms applies not only to militias.Three years ago, a lower-court judge had told six D.C. residents of high-crime neighborhoods who wanted the guns for protection that they don't have a constitutional right to own handguns.
City argued that the Second Amendment right to bear arms applies only to militias, not individuals.
Today judge held that the Second Amendment doesn't just apply to militia service, or to people with "intermittent enrollment in the militia."
Just what was this D.C. gun ban? From the Cato Institute via P.R. Newswire: "Under existing law, no handgun could be registered in the District, and even pistols registered prior to D.C.'s 1976 ban could not be carried from room to room within a home without a license."
Well, what's wrong with that CNSnews? If that is the "democratically-expressed will of the people of the District of Columbia" then who cares that, "Even though the nation's capital had one of the strictest gun bans in the country, it also suffers from one of the five-highest murders rates of major cities nationwide?" I guess two out of three federal appeals judges care:
In a 2-1 decision, the judges held that the activities protected by the Second Amendment "are not limited to militia service, nor is an individual's enjoyment of the right contingent upon his or her continued intermittent enrollment in the militia."The court also ruled the D.C. requirement that registered firearms be kept unloaded, disassembled and under trigger lock was unconstitutional.
(...)
"The district's definition of the militia is just too narrow," Judge Laurence Silberman wrote for the majority Friday. "There are too many instances of 'bear arms' indicating private use to conclude that the drafters intended only a military sense."
The opinion of the lone dissenting judge is telling. Her foundation for supporting the 30-year old law was not that individuals are not militia members, or that handguns are not hunting tools. Instead she wrote, "the Second Amendment does not apply to the District of Columbia because it is not a state."
Can I believe my eyes? I'm still not sure I believe a sitting federal judge actually wrote this. The reporter must have misrepresented, right? I wonder if she would also argue that the first, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth, twentieth (take a breath), twenty first, twenty second, twenty third (oh really?), twenty fourth, twenty fifth, twenty sixth and twenty seventh amendments don't apply to D.C. because "it is not a state?"
For some time now I've been considering creation of a "Slave-o-Meter" that reflects the global movement toward collectivism and away from individual liberty modeled after the Union of Atomic Scientists' "Doomsday Clock." I was dissuaded by the notion that the "Slave-o-Meter" would only ever move in one direction: toward collectivization of humankind. (And because I still haven't thought of a better name than Slave-o-Meter.) This development in D.C. is one rare, delicious, possibly temporary case where it moved noticeably in the other direction.
UPDATE: [13 March] I am eternally grateful to JK for his comment link to the WaPo editorial on this. It allows me to share this remarkable quote:
"While the ruling caught observers off guard, it was not completely unexpected, given the unconscionable campaign, led by the National Rife Association and abetted by the Bush administration, to broadly reinterpret the Constitution so as to give individuals Second Amendment rights."
So in the document that begins ... We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America, an interpretation by the "National Rifle Association and abetted by the Bush administration" that one of its amendments applies to "individuals" is "unconscionable."
DUDE! WHERE'S MY COUNTRY?!
I humbly suggest "Serfdom Miles." How far down Hayek’s road we are. Like the clock, it will be hard to weight multiple parameters into a single, scalar quantity.
I am not so pessimistic as you. It is disturbing to see the free word give up its liberty by bits and pieces -- at the same time, I look at the Heritage /WSJ index of economic freedom and see that more and more people are escaping from the least free nations.
In a Sharansky sense, I'd say this planet is doing well, although in a Friedmanite, Hayekian sense, we may be giving back some gains.
Following the Constitution in the US Capitol is a good sign.
Thank GOD a court in this country FINALLY understood what the Second Amendment really means!
Now,..how soon before the knee-jerk reactions from the "let's talk" liberal crowds??
Posted by: TrekMedic251 at March 9, 2007 8:34 PMNot sure what time the WaPo hits the streets, tm, but the answer is "less than 24 hours."
Dangerous Ruling: An appeals court ruling would put handguns back in D.C. homes
Quelle Horreur! Guns in homes...
Posted by: jk at March 10, 2007 12:26 PMThanx for the link, jk
Posted by: TrekMedic251 at March 11, 2007 12:02 PMThe WaPO article JK links to above is hysterical, in more ways than one. However, I recommend reading the comments to the article. At one point a commenter notes that the comments are 82% in favor of the ruling. Perhaps there is hope for DC yet????
Posted by: dagny at March 12, 2007 7:31 PMJanuary 28, 2007
God Bless America!
This oughtta piss off the Islamists...
Some Coffee Stands Get Steamier
And most of them have their own websites too (but of course!)
Natte Latte
The Sweet Spot Espresso
Cowgirls Espresso
It's alright, JK. They have drive-thrus too.
What a country!
(Hat tip: Fox News Channel's Brian Williams)
This is what we fight for.
Posted by: jk at January 28, 2007 10:07 AMHmm,...wonder where the steamy, foamed milk comes from? ;-)
Sorry, had to go there,...
Posted by: TrekMedic251 at January 28, 2007 11:49 AMJanuary 8, 2007
For the Boys
over there...
Stick that in your burqa.
Hel-l-l-lo-o-o-o!
Posted by: TrekMedic251 at January 9, 2007 9:17 PMNovember 11, 2006
11:11
Today, November the 11th, used to be called Armistice Day. Celebrating the allied victory in WWI. In 1954, President Eisenhower renamed it to Veterans Day.
Thank you all for your service and sacrifice.
Amen to that.
Posted by: jk at November 12, 2006 12:59 PMNovember 4, 2006
Army / Navy
Seen at Army / Navy game.
Speaking of which, I've seen fish flop around less than John Kerry.
October 24, 2006
On Liberty
If you're going to read only one thing today.
Make sure it's this.
Would I lie to you?
Probably everybody read it when I posted a link on Oct13, ac, but I agree it's worth reading again.
Posted by: jk at October 24, 2006 10:01 AMI guess I didn't see it... did you say "Must read!"? ;)
Posted by: AlexC at October 24, 2006 11:48 AMI encouraged "all my readers" to read it.
http://www.threesources.com/archives/003424.html
Posted by: jk at October 24, 2006 12:23 PMWhew... because i don't count myself amongst your readers!!
Posted by: AlexC at October 24, 2006 1:55 PMOctober 11, 2006
Or Else What?
(tip to BOTW)
June 14, 2006
Flag Day
Today is Flag Day.
Long may it wave!
June 9, 2006
Zarqawi Killed II
Regarding Zarqawi's death, I wrote, I would have rather seen a capture THEN the execution, but hey.
To which John Galt replied... No way, AlexC. This is the best possible outcome. In fact, can we have a do-over on the Saddam capture? Hand grenades first, questions later.
How about a happy medium?
- "Zarqawi was alive when U.S. forces arrived on the site," Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said in a satellite interview from Iraq. "The Iraqi police arrived first, they found him in the rubble, put him on a gurney of some type."
Caldwell, the chief U.S. military spokesman in Iraq, said Zarqawi tried to roll off the gurney to escape once he became aware of the fact that he was being taken into custody by coalition troops Wednesday night after two 500-pound precision guided bombs blew up his safehouse near Baqouba.
U.S. forces immediately made a visual identification of Zarqawi but were unable to interrogate him because he died of his injuries "shortly after" being pulled from the rubble, Caldwell said.
Caldwell indicated that U.S. troops "went into the process to provide medical care to him" before he expired. He did not elaborate on the medical assistance.
Justice, thy taste is so sweet.
June 8, 2006
Sha-na-na-na
hey hey hey....
- Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the al-Qaida leader in Iraq who waged a bloody campaign of suicide bombings and beheadings of hostages, has been killed in a precision airstrike, U.S. and Iraqi officials said Thursday. It was a long-sought victory in the war in Iraq.
Al-Zarqawi and seven aides, including spiritual adviser Sheik Abdul Rahman, were killed Wednesday evening in a remote area 30 miles northeast of Baghdad in the volatile province of Diyala, just east of the provincial capital of Baqouba, officials said.
"Al-Zarqawi was eliminated," Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said.
At the White House, President Bush hailed the killing as "a severe blow to al-Qaida and it is a significant victory in the war on terror."
I would have rather seen a capture THEN the execution, but hey.
Update: Regarding Johngalt's comment, here's blogometer's comment.
- Blogosphere reaction to the death of Abu Musa'ab al-Zarqawi grows faster than can possibly be read, let alone commented on. So far though, some quick generalizations can be made. Like last week's arrest of the Toronto terror suspects, this is by and large a righty blogosphere story. Lefty comments are perfunctory, if they exist at all.
Blogometer is a sort of round up of all blogs goings on. I highly recommend it.
Sentor Durbin would've demanded a trial. Nope, this is a great day for freedom!
Posted by: jk at June 8, 2006 11:14 AMNo way, AlexC. This is the best possible outcome. In fact, can we have a do-over on the Saddam capture? Hand grenades first, questions later.
I heard on Fox (evil anti-UN) News that a woman and child were believed among the dead. I'm watching with great interest to see if any of the lunatic left condemn this killing of "innocents."
This Zarqawi killing news is fabulous progress toward life, liberty and prosperity in Iraq, and an absolute tragedy for the "It's Bush's Fault" crowd. Daily Kos must be in full mourning mode. (Damned if I'm going to go there to find out.)
In requiem: "Enjoy your so-called virgins, Abu Musab."
Posted by: johngalt at June 8, 2006 11:49 AMAnd let us all hope it is actually 72 small, white raisins.
Posted by: jk at June 8, 2006 12:27 PMJohngalt, you simply must follow this link.
http://www.redstate.com/story/2006/6/8/8655/22796
June 6, 2006
Operation Overlord
Today marks 62 years since Europe's liberation began.
I expect to be fully vegged out on History Channel this evening.
Thank you to all of the brave men and women who accomplished the impossible!
THAT, friends, is a quagmire!
Thanks to all who have served. And thanks, ALex for reminding us that this day is more than the date which matches my phone prefix )6/6/6).
Posted by: jk at June 6, 2006 1:39 PMJune 2, 2006
Hot Dogs & Beer
- Leave it to the good people of Philadelphia, whose football fans once famously booed and threw snowballs at Santa Claus, to come up with the perfect takedown of the most inflated (in more ways than one) superstar in contemporary sport. With the visiting Barry Bonds at the plate and needing just two home runs to tie Babe Ruth's iconic 714 lifetime homers, the banner was raised: "Ruth did it on hot dogs & beer.''
Let's not forget the hypodermic needle thrown during batting practice.
The stinking bum.
I had to double check this wasn't a George Will column.
May 29, 2006
To All Vets and Enlisted...
Thank you.
May 26, 2006
OK, JK...
Here's what you can make into my "bio:"
Real Identity: I am a 41-year old teacher – high school math, physics, and logic – and dance instructor, with a B.S. in Mathematics, a B.A. in Philosophy, and an unofficial minor in Physics. I am an advocate of Objectivism, the first philosophy in the history of mankind to get the theory of concepts right and to be fully objective – all thanks to the achievement of Ayn Rand. I have two cats and a horse, who get treated extremely well. They get hugs and kisses – and they owe their good treatment to Rand’s identification that life is about living, about achieving positives, not about “achieving” the zero or avoiding punishment…which point many people do not get…
I take my nom de blog because of Cyrano’s line: “To fight - or write. [But] Never to make a line I have not heard, In my own heart.”
The line is part of a speech on the part of Cyrano (Brian Hooker’s translation):
To sing, to laugh, to dream,To walk in my own way and be alone,/Free, with an eye to see things as they are,
A voice that means manhood - to cock my hat/Where I choose - At a word, a Yes, a No,
To fight - or write. To travel any road/Under the sun, under the stars, nor doubt
If fame or fortune lie beyond the bourne -/Never to make a line I have not heard
In my own heart; yet, with all modesty/To say: "My soul, be satisfied with flowers,
With fruit, with weeds even; but gather them/In one garden you may call your own."
So when I win some triumph, by some chance,/Render no share to Caeser.
In a word, I am too proud to be a parasite./And if my nature wants the germ that grows
Towering to heaven like a mountain pine,/Or like the oak sheltering multitudes.
I stand not high it may be – but alone!
Here is Barry Kornhauser’s translation of a part of that whole:
To dream, to laugh, to sing,/to let my heart take wing,Free! - with an eye open to see all things as they are!
To fight—to write—to follow the moon or any star
that I choose/win or lose...
On Blogging: As reason is man's means of survival and only means of cognition, ideas are man's most important tools. It is important to speak and to write, in order to stand up for what is right and good. As Aristotle said in the Rhetoric: “it is absurd to hold that a man ought to be ashamed of being unable to defend himself with his limbs, but not of being unable to defend himself with speech and reason, when the use of rational speech is more distinctive of a human being than the use of his limbs.”
What’s more, if it were not for the Internet and bloggers, we would be very misinformed about current events: the Paris Riots, the Mohammed Cartoons, Islam, CAIR, Envirowackism. That’s a sad thought…
On Politics: Because I believe each person is an end in himself/herself, not a means to be used by someone else, by King, by God, by society, or by the environment; because I believe each person is self-sovereign and rational (by nature, if not by practice) – I am an advocate for the only moral social system, the only system consistent with human nature: capitalism. Recommended: Capitalism: the Unknown Ideal by Ayn Rand.
April 1, 2006
Coming Out
After years of tiresome conservatism, always siding with big business against the little guy, I've decided that I'm going to see the error of my ways, and become a liberal.
I'm burning my NRA card, and replacing it with an ACLU card.
And I'm turning in my guns, replacing them with hugs.
Environmental issues should always trump economic interests and I'm ready to raise taxes on the rich. It's not confiscation, it's compassion (or is it compensation?) Social Security needs no repair, neither does Medicare.
I retain my membership in the Roman Catholic Church, however it's tempered with my own blend of abortion on demand and interest in hemlock, and I will not attend it's weekly services until women are welcomed into the Priesthood.
I'm tired of tirelessly defending the Bush Doctrine and all of it's attendant and necessary lies.
We should have left Iraq alone. North Korea and Iran were needlessly antagonized when the President Chimpy McBushitler labelled them the Axis of Evil.
Iran? Don't worry about them. They need to defend themselves against the aggressive Israeli/Zionist state.
I think that our military should only be used at the behest of the UN, and only with their blessing. A corollary to that is that I believe Neville Chamberlain was misunderstood and peace should have been given another chance to work.
And don't you dare call me unpatriotic!
I'm out and I'm a proud liberal!
Of course, before the process is totally complete, I'm going to need a government run health care system to cover my lobotomy, as my government paid prescription of stupid pills are only a temporary fix.
Nice April Fool's Joke!
Posted by: TrekMedic251 at April 1, 2006 4:32 PMDude! Way to blow it!
Posted by: AlexC at April 1, 2006 5:17 PMAlexC - I think you had a believable spoof going until you failed to describe the Israeli/Zionist state as "illegal and cowardly." Then you ignored the liberal "fact" that our military is far larger and expensive than needed in the first place.
Finally (or, to begin with) REAL liberals don't label themselves as such. They've got much more luminous-sounding self-identifiers: Progressive, centrist, open-minded, pragmatic or even neo-liberal. But never just "liberal." (I guess lattesipper is an exception.)
Posted by: johngalt at April 2, 2006 1:20 PMYou forgot to shriek in horror and pledge subserviance to Howard Dean. A real progressive would do so.
Posted by: mdmhvonpa at April 3, 2006 3:37 PMMarch 10, 2006
Viva First Amendment
- While Cuba played the Netherlands in the World Baseball Classic, a spectator in the stands raised a sign saying: "Down with Fidel," sparking an international incident that escalated Friday with the velocity of a major league fastball.
The image of the man holding the sign behind home plate was beamed live Thursday night to millions of TV viewers _ including those in Cuba. The top Cuban official at the game at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan rushed to confront the man.
Puerto Rican police quickly intervened and took the Cuban official _ Angel Iglesias, vice president of Cuba's National Institute of Sports _ to a nearby police station, where they lectured him about free speech.
"We explained to him that here the constitutional right to free expression exists and that it is not a crime," police Col. Adalberto Mercado was quoted as saying in El Nuevo Dia, a San Juan daily.
March 1, 2006
American Dream
This is what makes this country great.
- When he met with NBC 10 morning anchor Dawn Timmeney, Gogan Lakhmna was meeting with his architects about his latest condo project.
"Let's all think forward and think about the upgrades we want to offer to accommodate Andrea," Lakhmna said.
Despite owning $250 million in real estate in the Philadelphia area, this 34-year-old multimillionaire is always looking for the next challenge.
"There's a term for people like me in the business world. They call them deal junkies. We are just hungry for the next deal," Lakhmna said.
Lakhmna has had that hunger ever since coming to Philadelphia from India to attend graduate school at Drexel University.
Lakhmna worked as a pizza deliveryman to help pay for his tuition and shortly after getting his MBA, he was wheeling and dealing.
A gas station in Delran, N.J., was the first piece of real estate that Lakhmna bought and he managed to negotiate a deal with the owner that he would work up to 20 hours a day for a piece of the action.
Lakhmna now has a portfolio of 50 properties, including one in Northern Liberties.
"When I go to my work sites and I see work happening and a building coming up, that is what gives me satisfaction, and I don't see an end right now," Lakhmna said. "There is still that burning in my belly that tells me there is still more I have to do."
He still works 20 hours days.
More like him, please.
Next Generation
The next generation of NASA space vehicles have been named.
- Sources have revealed the latest list of the names NASA has given to its new fleet, with a Greek goddess, a Roman mythological god, and a near-by star winning through as the identities of the new ships that will send America back to the moon and on to Mars.
In the next decade, Altair, Artemis and Ares (I and V) could well become space community household names, as NASA returns to exploration past our own orbit.
A huge step up from NASA administrator Mike Griffin's 'Apollo on steroids' tag, the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) has been christened 'Altair' - named after a variable double star in the constellation Aquila.
Altair is also an Arabic word meaning "the flyer."
An ARABIC word? On our most sophisticated, delicate and expensive spacecraft? But what about the threat of Islamic terrorists using the word to launch an attack on us? Those fellows are very devious and clever. We can never be too careful.
Posted by: johngalt at March 1, 2006 3:21 PMJohngalt, "Altair" was named when the Muslims were the world leaders in science. Hint.... "algebra" is Arabic too.
I guess it's just another link in the chain of dhimmitude. ;)
Posted by: AlexC at March 1, 2006 4:32 PMAnd the characters we're conversing in are... ARABIC characters! Oh God oh God we're gonna die.
Being the world leaders in science apparently grew tiresome, and they aspired to be the world leaders in blowing shit up instead. (Hey, isn't that what Alfred Nobel used to do too?)
Posted by: johngalt at March 4, 2006 10:08 AMJanuary 18, 2006
Badonkadonk
Occasionally there's some discussion of Jazz music on these pages but I've gotta say that anyone who doesn't listen to country music is missing out on some serious "flyover country philosophy lessons." Take the latest release from Trace Adkins, for example. (Links include sound clips) In 4:01 he explains the subtleties of male motivation in virtually all of life's endeavors, boiling it all down to a single word: badonkadonk.
Now Honey, you can't blame herFor what 'er mama gave her
It ain't right to hate her
For workin' that money-maker
Band shuts down at two
But we're hangin' out till three
We hate to see her go
But love to watch her leave
With that honky tonk badonkadonk
Keepin' perfect rhythm
Make ya wanna swing along
Got it goin' on
Like Donkey Kong
And whoo-wee
Shut my mouth, slap your grandma
There outta be a law
Get the Sheriff on the phone
Lord have mercy, how's she even get them britches on
With that honky tonk badonkadonk
(Ooh, that's what I'm talkin' bout right there, honey)
Pure poetry (except for finding nothing better to rhyme with "goin' on" than "donkey kong.") Trace integrates the individual rational components of this and the other two verses thusly:
That's it, right there boys; that's why we do what we do. It ain't for the money; it ain't for the glory; it ain't for the free whiskey; it's for the badonkadonk.
I can make some more recommendations as well. Off the top of my head...
Songs About Me (same album)
Welcome to Hell (Trace Adkins, Greatest Hits Vol. 1)
The Taliban Song (Toby Keith, Shock'n Y'all)
Real. American. Glorious.
Don't know Trace (or admittedly much of the "Contemporary Country scene") but you'd be surprised at what the jazzheads around here listen to. For the record, Sugarchuck is an encyclopedia of classic and serious country players, and -- he'll hate my saying this -- an unbelievably awesome country guitar player.
He taught me that Merle Haggard is just jazz with Telecasters and twang, and has turned me on to many many good country songs and performers.
Many guitar players from country are worthy of awe: Chet Atkins and Roy Clark could and did cover a jazz gig and guys like Roy Buchannan and Albert Lee were HUGE influences for me.
MS is crippling my playing pretty bad but I was hoping that my next project would be a jazzy-country thing in the order of Ray Charles and Merle. The second Berkeley Square CD has the Cindy Walker/Eddie Albert "You Don't Know Me" and Brooke and I have an arrangement of "I Fall to Pieces" that I always liked.
And I do appreciate the unabashed patriotism I hear from country artists.
There is no better place to be, on a Friday or Saturday night, than on the bandstand, pickin' Merle, in a VFW. I've got lots of quibbles with the Music Row/CMT/Nashville, and I think it would serve us all well if the beancounters and producers spent a little more time on Lower Broadway with the real pickers and singers, but when it comes to singing truth to power, country music gets her done. There is nowhere left in music, other than in country music, for God, Family and Country. Country also makes lots of room for those with blue state sentiments, just not room on the radio. Somewhere, there is a book waiting to be written on politics in country music. IF not a book, maybe a WWF cage match pitting Emmy Lou Harris and the Dixie Chicks against Trace et. al... maybe on pay-per-view.
I might add a cool music update, rumor has it that Aaron Neville and Aretha Franklin with Dr. John on piano, will do the national anthem at the Super Bowl. Is this a great country or what!
Emmylou on the dark side? Say it ain't so! I have enjoyed her music and never got over a teenage crush on her (now a family genealogist assures me that I'm related to EVERYONE in the US named Harris. Think about it).
I thought I was turning into a Dixie Chicks fan. When Fred (Winifred) dies on Angel, they play "A Place Called Home." As the character was a Dixie Chicks, fan, I assumed it was them. But no, it is Kim Richey (and it is available on iTunes).
Red state values indeed, Sugarchuck.
From the aforementioned 'Songs About Me,' when asked by "a guy on the red eye" why he sings stuff "'bout that twang and trains and hillbilly things" he "just looked at him and laughed and said
'Cause they're all songs about me,
And who I am.
Songs about lovin' and livin'
And good hearted women and family and God.
Yeah they're all just songs about me.
Songs about me."
Or another favorite from the same album, 'My Heaven' (clip available on link in main post) that proclaims,
"My heaven is a wood frame house with a great big porch goin' all the way around, Sittin' on the swing, listenin' to the sound of the birds singin'. My heaven is a warm summer day in the back yard, WHile the kids all play, flies and mosquitoes stay away while we're eatin' watermelon. That's my heaven."
Amen!
(Now that's a faith-based song I can get behind, because it celebrates heaven ON EARTH, not in some mythical afterlife.)
Posted by: johngalt at January 21, 2006 11:33 AMJanuary 15, 2006
Colonial Economics
Friedrich, at 2blowhards, ponders the impetus for the American Revolution. He makes a good point that in the global scheme of things, the colonists did not seem to be aggrieved on the order of other oppressed peoples. Okay, Stamp Tax Bad, tariffs, yadda yadda. We have MUCH more oppressive taxation today and my musket is in its case.
He examines a book with economic and biometric data, William Fogel’s “The Escape from Hunger and Premature Death, 1700-2100.” ($65!) and discovers that the colonists were taller, ate better and lived longer.
Given that most Americans of the Revolutionary War period were of British extraction and could hardly have been ignorant of conditions there, it must have been as plain as the nose on their faces that people lived far longer, ate far better and grew up more sturdily in the Colonies than in the Mother Country. So when the British government started tightening the screws on the colonies in the wake of the French and Indian wars, the mental calculation of the colonists must have been pretty simple: “Let me get this straight: you British aristocrats, in your infinite wisdom, want to make us Americans more like the average British working man? In short, you want us to live as poorly as you do? I think not, if I have anything to say about it. Martha, what did you do with my rifle?”In short, it appears that rather than being the work of ultra-touchy libertarians, the American Revolution was one of the most substantively motivated conflicts in history. The colonists had a good thing going, and didn’t intend to give it up lightly. Who wouldn’t go to war, even today, if the disputed prize was a 17-year difference in life expectancy?
Interesting post. Good Comments. Hat-tip: Pajamas Media
This is true, taxation without representation makes a great rallying cry, but compared to their compatriots back home they were in much better shape. Why else would folks pay for a long and risky voyage across the ocean if not to improve their lot in life. It could be said that a lot of the impetus for the war was based on propaganda, coupled with some political chicanery. (Any of this sound familiar?) Samuel Adams was a master at propaganda but given his proclivity for inciting the masses (he not once but twice led/advocated the burning of the Governor's house) could be considered a terrorist leader. John Hancock, who supported/bankrolled him (even had to buy him a suit to attend the first Continental Congress) was a steadfast American patriot, who just happened to make his fortune smuggling some of those taxed British items. Anyone who tells you that politics has become so much more corrupt and coarse than it used to be hasn't read much history.
Posted by: Silence Dogood at January 16, 2006 3:55 PMYeah, they pledged their "lives, fortunes, and sacred honor" to line their own pockets. That makes sense.
Or does it? If Hancock got rich smuggling against British taxation then how does he gain be dismantling the unjust taxes?
Surely Silence wouldn't suggest his namesake fell in this rank of self-interested propagandists as well, especially after reading Chris Hitchens' words above:
"Benjamin Franklin offered to pay the damages of the Boston Tea Party. If the British authorities had not treated him in such an arrogant and underhanded manner, and had not had such a paltry idea of the man with whom they had to deal, he would very probably have negotiated a brilliant settlement of the outstanding disputes between the colonies and the motherland. This was certainly his wish."
I have no delusion that America's founders were pure as the wind driven snow but I can't abide wholesale defamation of their character. Have you no sense of gratitude?
Posted by: johngalt at January 17, 2006 3:27 PMVery interesting link. Based on the information in the blog and the comments (I probably won't shell out $65?? for the book) I note a few points.
It seems likely to me that the 17 year difference in life expectancy could be a result of the differences in freedom. Therefore they were fighting for their freedom knowing its true worth.
An excellent point made in one of the comments was that it is likely that America started out with hardier, healthier people as those are the types that are likely to emigrate. And since there seem to be a lot of book recommendations flying around, I will add this:
This point is raised by Robert H. Heinlein in several of his books. He writes science fiction so he talks about the results when the best and the brightest go off to colonize some new planet but the analogy holds. I additionally recommend his, “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress,” for a description of a revolution that, although fictional, rings true regarding the motives and methods of revolutionaries.
November 22, 2005
Credibility
I was reading a white-phosphorus related post on Protein Wisdom this morning, and read the following in a citation from DailyKos.
- Saddam tortured, we torture. Saddam used WP chemical weapons against insurgents and civilians, we use WP chemical weapons against insurgents and civilians.
Like torture, the apologists try to justify our use of such abhorrent techniques, oblivious to the fact that our moral standing is in tatters and our crediblity beyond repair. We aren’t just losing the war in Iraq, we are losing our credibility in the world.
I thought ever since the go-it alone invasion, the subsequent occupation, the evening at Abu-Graib, Gitmo Korans, W '04 re-election, we've been losing credibility as a nation on the international scene.
I say "losing," but by the metric of the chicken-little "falling credibility" crowd, we've actually been hemorraging it. And hemorraging it for years.
Which begs the question, "How much more credibility do we have left to lose, if we haven't lost it all?"
Either we're the nation-state equivalent of the Black Knight from Monty Python's Quest for the Holy Grail, or we have not really lost any.
I would venture to suppose that there are nations out there saying, "Gosh, those Americans are really paying for doing the right thing." Those nations are providing any kind of support they can to the Global War on Terror. Nations like Mongolia. Once a giant in terms of warring, now a very minor international player are pledging support... as are the nations of new Europe.
Those nations remind of the parable I once heard while sitting in a pew. (Luke 21, if you're interested) The rich man tithes a lot to the Church because he has it, the poor widow tithes to the Church because that's all she has. It's sacrifices like those from nations that don't have it to sacrifice, who understand credibility.
Credibility from those nations is important... and worthwhile.
Included in that list are our steadfast friends the British and the Australians. With whom we share a common cultural bond.
Where it has been lost, what did it matter? Those nations likely did not share common interests with us *cough*le France*cough*)... or they see advantages to staying friendly with us. (ahem, China)
Our Republic's credibility has not been lost. Not to any nation that matters. On the contrary, we have gained it in the eyes of those people who understand the fight and the sacrifices at hand.
I spent a lot of time in Ireland and England in my last job and it saddens me that even our allies have such a low opinion.
I think it has become as politicized as the Congress and that the only hope of better ties would be if we were to practice the appeasement the intelligencia and governments believe in.
What really counts are those who vote with their feet. Only one in seven European engineering students say they expect to go back. We have captured the imagination of people of the world, if not their governments.
.
July 4, 2005
Star Spangled Banner
(To go with JK's post)
The Star Spangled Banner, one of the most difficult to sing national anthems, gets a bad rap from dirty hippies for being too militaristic.
I say "hogwash."
It's a beautiful song.
Especially if you know all four stanzas.
What a great piece -- thanks! I am a new convert to the song, and new converts are always the most fervent.
When I was young, I really did not understand the words. It is very unusual for the lyric to not make sense in single lines, you have to take a whole stanza at a time to "get it" (I think I was about 40 when I did...)
I also like the new melodic approaches you hear these days (sorry Burkeans). The guy who sings it a canella at the Avalanche games just nails it -- I cry every time.
Side note: I was a HUGE Asimov fan as a kid and I have been thinking of him lately (after reading David Deutch's "The Fabric of Reality," which all the Physics geeks at ThreeSources should drop everything and go read).
Thanks for the link AlexC. I'll read it aloud at our family celebration tonight - freemen all.
Posted by: johngalt at July 4, 2005 2:17 PMHere's a tip to maximize your Anthem experience.
You all know the words, and no one cares to hear you sing it anyway.
Focus on the singer.
If they're good, and really into it (not like fat-ass Roseanne), you can feel the emotions.
*MUCH* better.
JK's on to it... just listen, enjoy and weep in thanks.
Posted by: AlexC at July 4, 2005 11:52 PMHappy 4th of July II
This is our third July 4 in this house and I'm proud to say I've finally got the flag holder installed by the front door. "Long may she wave!"
Posted by: johngalt at July 4, 2005 2:06 PMDeep Impact
It appeared that no cable news network provided live coverage of Deep Impact hitting Comet Tempel 1. So much for the 24 hours news cycle.
So I watched the NASA TV feed via the internet.
The mission to slam a coffee table into Manhattan was was successful!
The preliminary photos look awesome, I suspect as better ones come in some of them will make their way to computer desktops the world over.
More pictures are here.
Congratulations to NASA and the University of Maryland for providing us with one heck of a Fourth of July fireworks show... A job well done.
Is that coverage not embarassing? I've pretty much forsaken TV news (except local stuff)... when i turn it on to Fox, it's all Aruba, all the time.
The reporters all suckered Roger Ailes into open ended trips down there.
I'm embarassed for them.
Posted by: AlexC at July 4, 2005 10:41 AMOf all the things government unjustly spends my tax money on, this is the one I object to least: space exploration.
I set the PVR to record the NASA channel and, armed with locating info from http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/network/2005/06/28/deepimpact.html, headed out to the hot tub with my binoculars. I'm pretty sure I had the comet located. I found Jupiter, low in the western sky and the brightest object around. (Also the only one with three moons visible in orbit!) Then, up and to the left, a bright star that had to be Spica. About a half-binocular field-of-view above and slightly left from Spica was a small dot not visible to the naked eye. I watched it for about 15 minutes, 5 before and 10 after the scheduled impact. Nothing. If anything it appeared to grow dimmer, or possibly a bit fuzzy although that could have been eye fatigue.
It goes without saying that the TV pictures were better. I had fun though!
Posted by: johngalt at July 4, 2005 2:03 PMJohngalt, actually spending on science is Constitutional! Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8. "progress of science and useful arts".... of course the definitions of those could be subject to debate.
Damn you round earth! Damn you! It was all below the horizon.. you non-east coasters got a chance anyway.
Posted by: AlexC at July 4, 2005 11:48 PMWe're all in agreement here, no news coverage? I was all set to have my trusty TIVO record the event, now all I needed was some event coverage to record. A NASA channels sounds cool, is that a satellite system? But come on, what else news worthy was going on at the time that was so important that no coverage was planned? Surely there must still be some broadcast equipment out Michael Jackson's way that could have been trucked over to JPL.
Posted by: Silence Dogood at July 5, 2005 10:27 AMTrue story. NASA TV is on satellite and some cable systems. Typically watching paint dry is more exciting, but then there are those days...
But they do stream it online.
Posted by: AlexC at July 5, 2005 3:02 PM"...by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;"
This is the patent and trademark provision Alex. Surely you detect no penumbra about government funding!
Posted by: johngalt at July 6, 2005 2:52 PMHappy 4th of July
What encompasses the American spirit more than gathering with your neighbors and their children, sitting on your lawn and blowing up surreptitiously procured fireworks which your state forbids you from buying?
Save for throwing boxes of tea into the harbor, I dare say "nothing."
God Bless America in her 229th year.
June 26, 2005
Steyn on Flag Burning
No surprise that Mark Steyn would have the best exegesis on the flag burning amendment.
Unlike Congressman Cunningham, I wouldn't presume to speak for those who died atop the World Trade Center. For one thing, citizens of more than 50 foreign countries, from Argentina to Zimbabwe, were killed on 9/11. Of the remainder, maybe some would be in favor of a flag-burning amendment; and maybe some would think that criminalizing disrespect for national symbols is unworthy of a free society.
"[C]riminalizing disrespect for national symbols is unworthy of a free society" definitely nails it for me. But every Steyn column provides thought, and humor as well as rhetoric. And this does not disappoint. He contends that legal flag burning helps us to see our enemies for what they are. Better still, he shows that the flag is burned because of its power.
Banning flag desecration flatters the desecrators and suggests that the flag of this great republic is a wee delicate bloom that has to be protected. It's not. It gets burned because it's strong. I'm a Canadian and one day, during the Kosovo war, I switched on the TV and there were some fellows jumping up and down in Belgrade burning the Stars and Stripes and the Union Jack. Big deal, seen it a million times. But then to my astonishment, some of those excitable Serbs produced a Maple Leaf from somewhere and started torching that. Don't ask me why -- we had a small contribution to the Kosovo bombing campaign but evidently it was enough to arouse the ire of Slobo's boys. I've never been so proud to be Canadian in years. I turned the sound up to see if they were yelling ''Death to the Little Satan!'' But you can't have everything.
All hail the great Steyn!
Hat-tip: PowerLine Blog
Burning a flag is the quintessential political protest, so I would oppose the amendment.
That said, the proper response is to create an affirmative defense to assault charges for someone who applies reasonable force to the face of the flag burner.
Posted by: Attila at June 29, 2005 4:12 PMJune 19, 2005
American Apologizing
Tip to Tim Blair.
To those who believe that capitalist and religiously tolerant America's continued existence "crosses the line" (apologies to Richard "Dick" Durbin), WE APOLOGIZE.
Posted by: johngalt at June 23, 2005 2:55 PMJune 9, 2005
Liberty is beautiful
AlexC made recent mention of liberty babes or "protest babes" with respect to Azerbajian. Coincidentally, a friend emailed me a picture that qualifies as "liberty babes, American style." (You figure out which ones I mean.)
And you missed Kelly Ann Conway (nee Fitzpatrick) the GOP pollster.
Posted by: jk at June 9, 2005 10:48 AMNot to mention both of our wives! Haven't met AlexC's (yet?) though I'm sure she belongs with "ours" as well.
Posted by: johngalt at June 14, 2005 2:48 PMAnd for the record, "I" didn't miss Kelly Ann, I merely posted someone else's montage work here. :)
Posted by: johngalt at June 14, 2005 2:49 PMMay 29, 2005
Art Appreciation
Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone. And now, for something a little different...
Philosophically, the actions of the US government following the Great Depression were deplorable. But that judgment is somewhat mitigated by the fact that other equally deplorable government policies helped create the miserable situation in the first place. But this is not meant as a discussion of the New Deal, rather an appreciation of some of the artwork that resulted from it.
The Loveland, Colorado post office, where thousands from around the world send their mail for a unique postmark on Valentine's day, displays a mural that captivated my spirit. This inspired me to learn more about it, and it's creator, 'R. Sherman' or James Russell Sherman, I came to learn.
Some time on the internet allowed me to discover an entire website dedicated to art of this nature, as it was funded by several New Deal programs.
The Colorado page listed all of the New Deal artwork on display in Colorado post offices and linked to photos of some of them, but not the Loveland mural. Seeking to rectify this, I emailed a photo to the webmaster and she posted it thusly.
This painting moves me because of its rich color, romantic realism, and its subject: The industrious harvest of nature's bounty by enterprising and creative individuals. My newfound side profession as a hay farmer dependent upon irrigation water probably has a lot to do with the joy I find in this painting, along with my romantic attitude toward the realm of industry.
I notice that this painting is very similar to one in the Scottdale, PA post office. Perhaps AlexC will be inspired to seek out other works in the Pennysylvania post offices.
James Russell Sherman, aka Russell Sherman, studied art in Chicago before moving to the American Northwest. Other works include "At the Brook." ('Continue Reading' to see short bio from this source.)
Reprinted from: http://www.artoftheprint.com/artistpages/sherman_russell_atthebrookquietpool.htm
Russell Sherman: A fine twentieth century American lithographer, illustrator and painter, Russell Sherman studied at the Art Institute of Chicago. His first exhibited works of art date from the early 1930's and at this time he moved to the American north west. His landscapes deal mostly with this region and British Columbia. During the following years Sherman's original lithographs were shown at exhibitions in San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago and New York.
A number of this artist's lithographs were commissioned by the Associated American Artists of New York. Since its founding (in the mid 1930's), the A.A.A. was responsible for the publication of many important etchings and lithographs by such major American artists as Reginald Marsh, Grant Wood and Thomas Hart Benton. Both by its printing techniques and by the quality of paper (a sturdy white, wove), At the Brook is most probably an Associated American Artists commissioned lithograph.
At the Brook is a superb, original example of Sherman's lithographic art. Using strong contrasts of light and dark and decorative art deco elements, Sherman created a landscape of unforgettable purity and beauty. It is in every regard a most spectacular image.
Edition: As mentioned earlier, At the Brook is most probably a publication of the Associated American Artists. If so, it would have been printed in a limited edition of 250 impressions.
Image Size: 7 7/8 X 10 3/4 (Sizes in inches are approximate, height preceding width of plate-mark or image.) Matted with 100% Archival Materials
Price: $225.00 US
Condition: Printed upon sturdy wove paper and with full margins as published around 1940. Signed by the artist in pencil along the lower margin. A strongly printed impression and in flawless condition throughout. This original lithograph represents a prime example of the art of Russell Sherman.
Note: The artist biography and information pertaining to this work of art has been provided for the benefit of our viewers. Check our site periodically for new additons. There are new biographies and works of art for sale posted every month.
May 5, 2005
Before and After
Arthur Chrenkoff has pictures of Abu Faraj (alQaida #3), Kalid Sheikh Muhammed and Saddam Hussein.
The first is when they're having a good day.
The second is when, well, they're not.
Having the globe's most powerful military force looking for you really does tend to put a on strain you.
Simply terrible.
Yes, and particularly now that we've forged an alliance with the emminently practical Pakistanis. Through their prisoner interrogation practices, they're cultivating a reputation to rival the Turks!
When it comes to prisoners who are known members of a gang that wishes to kill every last free man I say, no holds barred in "interviewing" these bastards.
Posted by: johngalt at May 5, 2005 3:04 PMMay 2, 2005
Rolling 9-11 Memorial
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A good friend emails these photos: John Holmgren from Shafer Minnesota has painted his cab and trailer with the names of all those who lost their lives in 9/11. The trucker has been "pulled over" numerous times just so the troopers can get their picture taken with the truck. Click "Continuie Reading to see more photos. |
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March 31, 2005
South Park
I cannot clear from my mind the term "South Park Republicans." Stephen Stanton credits the term's coinage to Andrew Sullivan, but has written the most comprehensive exegeses on the species in TCS.
His first column asked how the GOP could do so well in elections if only a group of stodgy old rich evangelical white millionaires voted for them:
The answer could very well be the "South Park Republicans." The name stems from the primetime cartoon "South Park" that clearly demonstrates the contrast within the party. The show is widely condemned by some moralists, including members of the Christian right. Yet in spite of its coarse language and base humor, the show persuasively communicates the Republican position on many issues, including hate crime legislation ("a savage hypocrisy"), radical environmentalism, and rampant litigation by ambitious trial lawyers. In one episode, industrious gnomes pick apart myopic anti-corporate rhetoric and teach the main characters about the benefits of capitalism.South Park Republicans are true Republicans, though they do not look or act like Pat Robertson. They believe in liberty, not conformity. They can enjoy watching The Sopranos even if they are New Jersey Italians. They can appreciate the tight abs of Britney Spears or Brad Pitt without worrying about the nation's decaying moral fiber. They strongly believe in liberty, personal responsibility, limited government, and free markets. However, they do not live by the edicts of political correctness.
I suspected I fell into this taxonomy, so I started watching the show. I find it humorous but (pardon the pun) one-dimensional. It's funny but it's only funny. Buffy, by comparison, is artful, thought-provoking, dramatic and funny. But South Park is REALLY funny!
Last night's episode really blew me away. It was well crafted. A tight plot with two well-integrated sub plots: Kenny's selection to lead heaven's army based on his performance in a video game, and Kenny's drifting between heaven and earth as other, disinterested parties fought over his feeding tube.
How did they get this out so quickly? I expect even some hard-to-offend South Park folks may be offended. It was irreverent.
But it was good. The Archangel Michael, who swears like Patton at every setback, is an image that has kept me laughing all day.
Last night clears up their politics for me. They are even more libertarian than Stanton allows. They take a great whack at Republicans ("Satan, the forces of heaven have a Keanu Reeves, what shall we do?" "What we always do: we'll use the Republicans!")
What I liked was that they make of Republicans for what they are and for what I make fun of them for. Hollywood movies and network sitcoms ridicule a straw man Republican that I don't recognize, and I'm not sure exists. But the GOP officials in last night's South Park definitely exist.
Am I a South Park Republican? (Well, Terry, labels can be so constricting...) yeah, I guess I am.
Great post JK! Maybe it'll even convince Dagny to let me watch SP in her presence. Got my fingers crossed!
Posted by: johngalt at April 1, 2005 3:36 PMThat latest SP episode was great. No matter how stand on the Schiavo matter, allying Cartman with Heaven and the rest of South Park with Hell was a clever way of offending everyone at somelevel.
They get them out so fast because it's no longer animated with construction paper cut outs like the first season was. It's all CG. And they're fast.
Here's some info.
http://www.everwonder.com/david/southpark/animationsp.html
March 24, 2005
The Michael Moore Bank Robberies
Detroit is facing a string of bank robberies from a guy they say resembles Michael Moore
- The man, who police say earned the nickname because of his resemblance to the filmmaker, is wanted in the armed robbery of a Standard Federal Bank at about 9:20 a.m. on Saturday.
Police said the man entered the bank at 602 Monroe Avenue and implied that he had a weapon. An undetermined amount of cash was taken in the robbery.
The man was last seen walking south from the bank.
He's described as white, in his 40s, 6 feet tall, with a beard and wearing a plaid shirt and a baseball cap.
So it's just another dirty fat white guy? I don't see the resemblance.
Maybe if he was stuffing his face with hot dogs or donuts, THEN we'd be talking.
We all know that Michael Moore owns a gun. It was given to him by... a BANK! Wonder if it was the same bank he robbed? Anyway, they gotta get that dangerous slob. When they do his conviction will be a slam dunk. Seems he FILMED HIMSELF receiving the gun! Idiot.
Posted by: johngalt at March 25, 2005 3:29 PMFebruary 9, 2005
Dear Leader Upset at Film's Depiction
Surprisingly, North Korea is upset about Team America.
- The caricature of North Korea's "Dear Leader", Kim Jong-Il, in the film, "Team America: World Police," is striking a discordant note among North Korean officials, and probably their supreme leader himself, despite his well-known love for private viewings of foreign movies.
Sometimes the truth hurts, Kim.
- A Czech newspaper, Lidove Noviny, reports that a North Korean diplomat complained that the film "harms the image of our country." He was even quoted as saying, "Such behavior is not part of our country's political culture."
Apparently rampant starvation doesn't hurt the image of his country.
In related news, Michael Moore was also upset about his role in the film, joining international Islamo-fascists, the Film Actors Guild and their members Hollywood and the French.
Presumably, Matt Stone and Trey Parker are very upset that others have taken offense and are currently drafting apologies...
Posted by: jk at February 9, 2005 2:41 PM