The Horns of a Dilemma

Kalifornia has long prided itself on being in the vanguard of the movement to advance the "progressive" (leftist) agenda of saving the planet from the evils of industrialization and other predations engendered by human activity. The prohibition on the construction of nuclear power plants enacted some decades ago and the phasing out of existing power plants through onerous regulations has resulted in the dearth of available energy sources and the concomitant periodic shortages of that commodity. The resultant blackouts are invariably blamed on the evil, greedy and hapless businesses engaged in the supply sector.

Included in the big tent of leftist activist organizations to save the environment and promote "social justice" are the animal rights wackos as well as environmental groups such as the Sierra Club and Greenpeace. What is a leftist activist to do when such holy groups offer up mutually exclusive solutions for their touted "crises"?

In order to reduce the global warming crisis caused by the release of greenhouse gasses including methane emitted by the flatulence of meat producing animals such as bovines and sheep, we are urged by none other than Greenpeace to substitute the Australian marsupials known as kangaroos. This is in clear and flagrant violation of the four decades Kalifornia prohibition on the importation of any kangaroo-derived products.

It becomes increasingly unclear how a leftist wishing to bring western industrial civilization to an end can comply with the recipes cited for such policies without contravening other well meaning proscriptions. Perhaps the Islamists have the most effective method for the accomplishment of that objective; that being to slay all western infidels refusing to convert to the "religion of peace".

ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ!!

cross posted at: Eternity Road

Chávez and the Anthropologist

During one of Hugo Chávez' lecture sessions to his followers as well as the general Venezuelan television viewers the subject of the period of human existence on the planet came up. Hugo asserted that the period is 2000 years and asks Francois, a hapless anthropology scholar in the audience to confirm this nonsense. The intimidated scholar politely avers the the period is "Un poco mas." [a bit longer] whereupon Hugo estimates that the time frame is 2500 years and asks that to be confirmed. Fearing to anger the "caudillo" the man answers: "Sí, como no." [Sure, why not.] Hugo replies: "Gracias hermano." [Thank you brother.] "Statesmen" like Chávez can assert that the earth is flat and if you are a Venezuelan, you had better agree. Is it any wonder that Hugo's hero and mentor is Fidel Castro?

"World to End Tuesday: Minorities and Women Hardest Hit"

ΛΕΟΝΙΔΑΣ experienced another interesting (and hilarious) observation on the occasion of exiting the post office this morning. The front page headlines screaming at all and sundry from today's Atlanta Journal and Constitution (Urinal and Constipation?) were: "MARKET SOARS, RISKS REMAIN". Half of the headline probably refers to yesterday's surge in the Dow Jones Industrial average on the New York Stock Exchange. The message transmitted in the last two words however is for government school dropouts somewhat more esoteric. It is an announcement that the editorial board of the "news" [sic] paper finds these tidings troubling i.e. what is news about "risks" and the stock market? Fear not however, those two words do notify us of the reason these tidings are bad news: there must be a Republican occupying the Whitehouse.

We are from time to time reminded that the traditional print media are losing readership. Various explanations are submitted as to the causes of this phenomenon by the so called "punditry". Our own reaction would be: DUH?

Time Passages

Most, nay all of us mortals suffer the slings and arrows of advancing years. In the last years of my fathers 91 winters I would make it a point to transport him to our ranch, Sparta, which overlooked the scenic Klamath River valley in northern California. Although he remained alert up to the end of his life he would often sit silent and uncommunicating, facing the spectacular view and saying nothing. I found his silence somewhat puzzling at the time, but lately, facing my own advancing years I have come to better understand my father's reticence as I reflect on a life spent both tilting windmills and witnessing the inevitable changes occurring over our allotted "fourscore and ten(?) years"

A recent post on Eternity Road has alluded to the bitter experiences of the Curmudgeon Emeritus and several commenters with members of that group society has charged with enforcing the myriad and proliferating statutes and regulations enacted by a political class whose sole raison d'entre is to exercise power over the citizenry and enjoy the concomitant perquisites associated with that power.

Your humble scribbler had the dubious "pleasure" of passing most of his productive years engaged in the enforcement of the aforementioned statutes and regulations, most of which involved no conflict with either common sense or the revealed moral duties of the run of the mill members of western culture. Occasionally one of such a profession is called upon to overcome his sense of justice and visit "retribution" on one who has caused no injury to his fellow man (so called "victimless crimes" come to mind). A case in point would be the "traffic officer" who is charged, nay compelled, to apprehend a citizen for no other reason than exceeding an arbitrary velocity in his conveyance without regard to the conditions extant impacting the peril to third parties. The underlying reason for this egregious violation of justice and common sense is revenue generation for politicians pure and simple. If a speeder or violator of other minor traffic infraction in fact created a danger to his fellow citizens he should be held to account by being charged with reckless driving. The arbitrary imposition of a penalty on a citizen who has not jeopardized the safety of another is unreasonable and most law enforcement personnel instinctively realize but seldom admit it. This is the reason you will encounter law enforcement officers engaging in "professional courtesy" to those they consider "brethren" although I suspect the practice is on the wane for reasons explained below.

Times have changed in the law enforcement profession since the advent of the "civil rights" movement of the last several decades. Hiring and employment standards have undergone significant changes as a result. Violations of traditional social mores or statutes often no longer preclude the hiring or retention of personnel. Candidates and employees who heretofore would have been rejected or terminated for psychological impairment involving tendencies toward abusing authority are no longer routinely culled. This is due in part to the administrative difficulties in documenting justification, especially if the subject is a member of one of our society's so called "victim groups". Physical standards have also deteriorated to the extent that agencies often can not deny employment to applicants on the basis of obesity, of diminutive stature or advanced age. Many agencies who heretofore required that applicants be capable of carrying an average size human body such as a partner or citizen a short distance for rescue eventualities can no longer discriminate on that basis. These and other policies have often been changed due to affirmative action requirements and the awards of substantial civil damages. Also contributing to the deterioration of law enforcement standards is the de facto existence of ethnic and gender quotas in employment as well as promotion. Civil rights activists are quick to condemn any perceived disparity in ethnic group representation among law enforcement personnel and administrative bureaucracies simply avoid such confrontations by implementing sub rosa quota policies.

When ΛΕΟΝΙΔΑΣ first entered the law enforcement profession in the mid 1960s, he was issued a copy of the California Vehicle Code which at the time seemed rather lengthy, containing nearly 600 pages. The current volume is a monster weighing multiple pounds. Additionally, when a motorist was detained for a minor infraction involving no harm to property or limb and found to be a fellow officer, the perp was invariably sent on his way with nothing more than a friendly rebuke. If the perp displayed lack of proper contrition or courtesy, the detaining officer usually sent a memo of complaint to the subject's employing supervisor resulting in disciplinary action far more inconvenient and costly than simply paying a fine at the local court house.

All of these and other changes, while not apparent to the everyday citizen and casual observer are often troubling for long time observers to ponder and are, I suspect, the subjects of my father's silent musings.

Oops!

More Cuban slave doctors are needed in the Bolivarian 21st Century Socialist Republic of Venezuela Ruled by Citgo executive Hugo Chavez.

Carlos Camejo, a Venezuelan man who had been declared dead but woke up in the morgue in excruciating pain after medical examiners began their autopsy, poses for the camera in La Victoria September 17, 2007. Camejo, 33, was declared dead after a highway accident and taken to the morgue, where examiners began an autopsy only to realize something was amiss when he started bleeding. They quickly sought to stitch up the incision on his face.

hat tip: ¡No Pasarán!

"War is Peace, Hate is Love"

Let's see if we understand correctly the situation at Columbia University whose dean refers to the speech there today by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the Iranian National Socialist (Death to America!) president as "robust debate". This statement follows the prohibition of a speech engagement at that hallowed institution of political correctness higher learning by James Gilchrist, one of the founders of the Minute Man project (to monitor illegal immigration at the U.S. border) and the continued banning of Columbia's ROTC program.

The characterization of the Ahmadinejad invitation as a contribution to "robust debate" would appear to be a good example of orwellian speak given the following restrictions placed on potential protesters:

First, students will not be allowed to bring protest signs into the session on security grounds. What a wonderful way to support free speech -- this mirrors the prohibition at Tehran University where students were arrested for showing signs at one of his speeches.

Second, students at Columbia need to give the University 7 days' notice to hold a protest rally. The administration conveniently gave them only 4 days' notice that Ahmadinejad was coming.

Third, it is unclear whether they will be able to ask questions spontaneously...they will apparently have to submit them in advance (though this isn't confirmed) so the administration can decide which questions get asked.

The dean further advises us that "Adolph Hitler would be welcomed to speak at Columbia were he alive." And all of this BS conforms to the current academic definitions of "free speech" and "robust debate".
Yeah Right.

hat tip: Ed Lasky

Update 9 24 07 2147hrs EDT:

Whenever Lee Bollinger steps down as Columbia's president, some poor fool will toast him for his "stirring" speech today, for speaking truth to power, blah blah blah. Nonsense. President Bollinger gave Ahmadinejad a microphone and a stage and then tried to use the underbilling to redeem his university's sorry complicity in the legitimizing of this fanatic's place in the world. Columbia can black out the backdrop and deliver stern lectures that go unheard in the Islamist world, but it won't remove the stain on its own reputation: It played a role of accessory to many lies today, delivered by a killer of our troops.

YESSS!!!!!

The following post including art work (click on image to enlarge) is lifted in its entirety from Turban Bomb, a Danish blog:

In these days, with the torrents of fatwa's and hailstorms of death threats, not to mention general grievance and self-pity from Muslims as reaction to various "insults" from Western infidels it's interesting to look back in history.
How did our forefathers react to the threat of Islam?

Well, Danish blogger Snaphanen brought my attention to one way of answering Muslim demands of submission.

Back in 1667, the Zaporozhian Cossacks defeated a Turkish army that had been sent in to the south of Russia. In spite of his defeat, the Turkish Sultan, Mehmed IV, sent a letter to the Cossacks, demanding their surrender.

The letter went like this:

As the Sultan; son of Muhammad; brother of the Sun and Moon; grandson and viceroy of God; ruler of the kingdoms of Macedonia, Babylon, Jerusalem, Upper and Lower Egypt; emperor of emperors; sovereign of sovereigns; extraordinary knight, never defeated; steadfast guardian of the tomb of Jesus Christ; trustee chosen by God himself; the hope and comfort of Muslims; confounder and great defender of Christians—I command you, the Zaporozhian Cossacks, to submit to me voluntarily and without any resistance, and to desist from troubling me with your attacks.


So, what were the Zapoes response? Well, first of all, they did not apologize for defeating the Sultan's invading army and thereby insulting the Religion of Peace. Their newspapers did not post editorials and op-ed's and commentaries demanding the resignation of the Government, large exporting companies did not bring full-page hand wringing adds in leading Muslim newspapers explaining how sorry they were for the insult to their customers.

Instead, the Cossacks looked at the rather pompous letter and decided to tell the Sultan to get stuffed.

A reply was written:

Zaporozhian Cossacks to the Turkish Sultan!

O sultan, turkish devil and damned devil's kith and kin, secretary to Lucifer himself. What the devil kind of knight are you, that can't slay a hedgehog with his naked arse? The devil shits, and your army eats. You will not, you son of a bitch, make subjects of Christian sons; we've no fear of your army, by land and by sea we will battle with thee, fuck your mother.

You Babylonian scullion, Macedonian wheelwright, brewer of Jerusalem, goat-fucker of Alexandria, swineherd of Greater and Lesser Egypt, Armenian pig, Podolian thief, catamite of Tartary, hangman of Kamyanets, and fool of all the world and underworld, an idiot before God, grandson of the Serpent, and the crick in our dick. Pig's snout, mare's arse, slaughterhouse cur, unchristened brow, screw your own mother!

So the Zaporozhians declare, you lowlife. You won't even be herding Christian pigs. Now we'll conclude, for we don't know the date and don't own a calendar; the moon's in the sky, the year with the Lord, the day's the same over here as it is over there; for this kiss our arse!


Quite an appropriate response if You ask me. Should be nailed on the walls in every Western Foreign Ministry.

Screw all this PC stuff and all this Sensitivity. Muslims are offended by seeing their Prophet in a drawing? So what else is new. Next case!

A less than polite way to say: ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ and let's have another Tuborg!

Comparisons

The image on the left is the treatment room of a U.S. animal hospital in Roanoke, VA. Above is a patient ward at the government hospital in Placetas, Cuba.

If any more evidence was needed that Michael Moore is full of more than just hot air we now learn of the Canadian Liberal Party politician Belinda Stronach who travelled to California to obtain surgical treatment for her breast cancer

Stronach's spokesman, Greg MacEachern, told the Toronto Star that the MP for Newmarket-Aurora had a "later-stage" operation in the U.S. after a Toronto doctor referred her.[...] MacEachern said the decision was made because the U.S. hospital was the best place to have it done due to the type of surgery required.

This appears to be at odds with the message Michael Moore seems to be sending us with the recent release of his "documentary" Sicko wherein he touts the superiority of the socialist method of health care over our own somewhat private but highly regulated system.

A good side by side comparison of socialized versus private health care is this pearl courtesy of John Stossel:

Not all Canadian health care is long lines and lack of innovation. We found one place where providers offer easy access to cutting-edge life-saving technology, such as CT scans. And patients rarely wait.

But they have to bark or meow to get access to this technology. Vet clinics say they can get a dog or a cat in the next day. People have to wait a month or more.

Interestingly, this news comes a mere few days after the roll out of Hillary Care II which will address the so called crisis of the uninsured by forcing them to buy health insurance. One can only marvel at the possible reaction to the first law in United States history that will compel citizens to purchase a product they may not desire. Hillary goes on to assure us that this is really not so far fetched as most states require auto insurance in order register an automobile and drive it upon public highways. She conveniently fails to address the issue of forcing one to buy auto insurance if they do not own a car.
cross posted at: Eternity Road

21st Century Heresy

In the early 17th century Galileo Galilei concluded that the Earth orbits around the Sun -- something we now take for granted, but was quite controversial in his time. There were powers that did not welcome Galileo’s questions or his scientific research. These early slaves to political correctness labeled Galileo’s ideas dangerous and his theories irresponsible. They branded him a skeptic of widely accepted truth. Eventually, Galileo was tried on charges of heresy and he was imprisoned and forced to recant his views and forbidden to defend or teach them.

Today, no serious person would defend the abuse of power used to silence and punish Galileo. Yet, that same political correctness is alive and well today. Prominent politicians, UN backed scientists, and environmental extremists argue that mankind is causing catastrophic global warming and demand that government impose draconian measures to save mankind from a never-ending parade of horrible disasters -- disease, floods, droughts, storms, heat, cold, famine, and pestilence.

But they don’t stop at merely advocating their doomsday theories. They work overtime to silence anyone who questions them. Some even advocate prison, professional banishment and violence against those who don’t tow the party line. Not much has changed since Galileo’s time.

Commentator, Ellen Goodman, recently wrote, “global warming deniers are now on a par with Holocaust deniers...” Currently, the most famous Holocaust denier is Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who has the curious distinction of simultaneously denying the Holocaust while advocating a second one. According to Goodman, those who question the flimsy science surrounding global warming are no different than Ahmadinejad. So much for civil discourse or serious scientific debate!

Environmental writer David Roberts wrote that for those who question global warming theories, “we should have war crimes trials for these bastards -- some sort of climate Nuremberg.” Of course, the Nuremberg trials were held after World War II to bring high-level Nazi war criminals to justice for their systematic torture and execution of millions of Jews and others Nazis labeled as political enemies. To Roberts, ideas contrary to his own and scientific debate are a crime -- a war crime no less!

Columnist George Monbiot, complaining about the airline industry’s use of fossil fuels, wrote: “[E]very time someone dies as a result of floods in Bangladesh, an airline executive should be dragged out of his office and drowned.” Monibot apparently believes that there were no floods in Bangladesh prior to the advent of commercial airlines -- a thoroughly silly notion. But his call to violence is revealing. Even Galileo’s tormentors did not threaten death.

More

End of Liberty

The arrest of scores of protesters last Tuesday in Brussels should set off alarm bells for those concerned with the future of liberty as it has heretofore existed in western culture. The major media have all but ignored the event and a major "libertarian" website Lew Rockwell has as yet even to report on it while recently publishing screeds by such notable "defenders" of liberty as Cindy Sheehan and the Clintonista apologist Sydney Blumenthal.

For those of you in the dark as to the suppression of basic freedoms of speech, assembly and petition in the European Union Capitol I will bring you up to speed. A group of European citizens recently applied for permission to demonstrate in protest against the continuing dhimmification of Europe and the submersion of Western culture by the uncontrolled immigration of adherents of the Muslim faith into the western European countries. That application for 11 September 2007 was denied by the socialist mayor of Brussels on the basis that the "public peace" could not be guaranteed by the Belgian authorities. Translation: We are fearful that adherents to the "peaceful" religion of Islam will become violent. All recent requests by socialist and Islamic groups to conduct demonstrations have been approved in that city including a group alleging that the Bush Administration was responsible for the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon in September of 2001.

In any event, a small protest demonstration by so called "right wing, racists" was staged in Brussels on 11 September and was met with overwhelming force by the police apparatus of the socialist government there. The number of police appeared to considerably outnumber the peaceful demonstrators and the accompanying photos (courtesy of Gates of Vienna) are descriptive of the manner in which the demonstrators were treated.

Considering the nature of demonstrations in Europe during the recent past a few questions are appropriate:
1) How many shop windows were smashed by the demonstrators?
2) How many vehicles and rubbish bins were set alight by the demonstrators?
3) How many police and emergency responders were injured by the demonstrators?
4) What criminal charges have been brought against these "menaces" to peace?

I, for one am not holding my breath for answers to these questions that would indicate these demonstrators, often clad in 3 piece suits caused substantial damage to the "peace or property" of the citizens of Brussels or Europe.

I believe that the message here is a clear and frightening one. The demise and defeat of our culture which supposedly values liberty and democracy will not occur as a result of the violent actions of Islamists who have vowed to kill or convert us, but by the actions of their allied leftist political elite who will systematically eliminate the will and ability of the citizens to oppose or resist it by force. The process is well advanced as evidenced by the leftist control of important molders of our societal attitudes such as education and the media. As Davy Crockett stated on that fateful day at the Alamo in 1836: "It ain't lookin' good".

ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ

Another September 11th

With the arrival of 11 September the media is all abuzz with the anniversary of the islamist attack event on the United States of 2001. September 11 is, however also the anniversary of the overthrow of the marxist president of Chile in 1973.

Salvadore Allende had been installed in that office after receiving a plurality (35%) vote in the Chilean presidential election of 1970; a fact glossed over in the leftist main stream media's incessant referral to him as the "democratically elected" president of Chile. Also glossed over by the leftist inspired puff pieces in the accounts of the events is the fact that the likewise "democratically elected " Chilean Congress ordered the armed and police forces of Chile to remove the President from power for a long list of violations of the Chilean Constitution and statutes. The vote was overwhelming (81 to 47) for removal of Allende. The entire text of the resolution is reproduced here and lists in detail the specific violations of the constitution and laws perpetrated by Allende and his marxist associates.

Uppermost in the accounts of the events of that day in 1973 is the official version of Allende's death by "suicide" as the attack on the presidential palace unfolded. Suicide is seldom the verdict wherein the cause of death is: "multiple gunshots to the head" as was the case with Allende. It was therefore the assertion that he utilized a Kalashnakov automatic rifle that had been presented to him by his close associate and mentor Fidel Castro. Such an act, although possible, almost requires the abilities of a contortionist. In any event the physical evidence of the scene is long gone.

Inconveniently for the veracity of the official version which glorifies Allende's "bravery", several eye witnesses to the deed have given a conflicting account which has been deeply buried by the world's leftist inspired press.

Patricio de la Guardia, an agent of Fidel Castro and direct [sic] responsible of [sic] Chilean president's security, waited [for] [sic] Allende returned to his writing-desk and [...] shot him in the head with a machine-gun burst. Immediately, he put on the body of Allende a gun - making believe that he was murdered by the military attackers and returned in a rush to first floor of the flaming building where they waited for other Cubans to leave. The group left La Moneda palace in complete silence and after minutes took refuge in Cuba´s embassy, located near [...] the palace.

Four Cuban members of the president's body guard were captured by the coup perpetrators and subsequently executed by firing squad.

The gist of the suppressed accounts is that when Allende foresaw the futility of resisting the attack on the palace by both the Army and Air force, he decided first to flee the palace and seek asylum in the Swedish embassy and when that proved impractical, to surrender. He was prevented from doing so by members of the Cuban secret service who had been installed as his body guard by Castro who insisted that the president should "die heroically defending the glorious marxist revolution".

Conveniently, many of the eyewitnesses to these events are deceased or safely in custody at the Caribbean island prison better known as Cuba. The account of the eyewitnesses linked above is translated from the original in Portuguese but is definitely worth reading in its entirety.

The coup doubtless had the tacit approval of the Nixon Administration, but the involvement of the CIA in the nuts and bolts of the operation to the extent put forth by the world press is questionable. In any event the estimated total of 3000 casualties of the coup which included mostly marxist activists as well as other leftist supporters, is a far cry from the number of victims of heroes of the leftist press such as Mao Tse Dung, Stalin and Pol Pot. We will probably never know for sure.

cross posted at: Eternity Road

National Defense Through Insanity

You can't make this stuff up:
Most countries attempt to avail themselves of related expertise when selecting Ministers for the various portfolios in their governing departments. For example, Interior ministers generally have some background in the legal or law enforcement professions and Agriculture ministers in either agronomy or economics. Defense portfolios are for the most part assigned to experts in military strategy and tactics. Such is not the case in the example of Sweden where the sitting Defense Minister has recently resigned in protest over budget reductions for the barely existing Swedish military.

"Defense Minister Mikael Odenberg has resigned in protest at government defense cuts. Savings of 4-5 billion kronor announced by Finance Minister Anders Borg were made "without basis or foundation".

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, he repeatedly stated his opposition to the fact that the government had announced cuts in defense spending without first analyzing Sweden's military requirements."

The Swedish Prime Minister, Fredrik Reinfeldt, who recently "conferred" with leaders of the Muslim community at a Stockholm mosque and virtually apologized for Sweden's so called "freedom of expression" has named a pacifist to replace Odenberg.

"Accepting the job of defense minister, Mikael Tolgfors said he accepted the prime minister's vision for the future of Sweden's military. Tolgfors refused to bear arms when called up for military service in the 1980s, and was forced instead to perform his national service in the community sector. He later worked for the Red Cross. There, he changed his view of the use of military force after a Kurdish man showed him photographs of Saddam Hussein's massacre in Halabja."

In a related story released last week we also learn that Sweden plans to end its 200 year old policy of universal military conscription and replace it with a "professional" military. It remains to be seen if the socialists in Sweden will agree to a force consisting of one or two battalions or go for the whole hog and fund a complete regiment.

U.S. Travelogue Finis

The recent transcontinental odyssey of LEONIDAS and company ended Wednesday after putting nearly 6500 miles on Nessie's odometer. The last 2400 miles put a bit of a strain on Nessie as the spare engine and transmission for stepson's vintage Mercedes 450SL weighed in at a bit over 800 lbs. That weight added to the auxiliary 90 gallon fuel tank/tool box resulted in rather copious amounts of black smoke being belched by Nessie while attempting to maintain highway speed over the mountain passes of Utah and Colorado.

The last stop before arriving home included a fireworks factory "outlet" in Alabama to acquire the wherewithal to celebrate the first birthday anniversary of the most recent granddaughter later this month. While wandering about in the "outlet" Leonidas was struck by the fact that possession of each and every item sold in this lawful business establishment is a crime in the state of Kalifornia.

As is common on the highways and roads of the nation during the summer season many motorcyclists are in evidence. The difference on this trip being that in many states the helmet laws have amazingly been repealed. Many bikers have therefore chosen for themselves, as opposed to the state requiring, to not resemble medieval knights . I remarked on this situation to a distant relative who happens to be employed as a sergeant supervisor by the California Highway Gestapo Patrol and he appeared dumbfounded. This is the same relative who could not advise me if I could legally transport my 5 year old granddaughter in my 1951 Chevrolet pickup on the highways of California as it is not equipped with "restraining" (a pun?) devices.

In any event the condition of the highways in California has deteriorated further as compared to most other states, so it would appear that the politicians continue to prioritize other projects such as publicly funded tattoo removal for former gang members and consideration of enforced neutering of all family pets. It is good to visit Bizzaro land from time to time in order to cease complaining about the state of freedom here in the red state of Georgia.

U.S. Travelogue II

We spent 4 days in Las Vegas on the way to the left coast after visiting the Grand Canyon which has morphed into an urban cancer replete with super market and federal gestapo since our previous visit in 1991. The Las Vegas visit was an ordeal for anyone suffering from agoraphobia. It had been 20 years since visiting that "attraction" and things have really changed. The casinos formerly would provide nearly free or at least inexpensive meals to clients . Not any more. The prices for food and lodging are now very high and new mega hotel casinos are being erected at a frantic pace. The traffic problems in and around the city are at least as bad as the major metropolitan areas such as Atlanta or Los Angeles.

During our stay there the outside temperature reached 111 degrees at 5:00 pm making any out door activity virtually impossible. We noticed that lots of sparrow like birds were hanging around the grille areas of parked vehicles in the parking lots. Closer inspection revealed that they were feeding on the insects that had been impaled on the front parts of the radiator cooling fins as well as the windshields. They did not have to expend energy hunting for the insects that made up their diet but engaged in the symbiotic harvesting of food provided by the evil fosil fuelled conveyances of us high tech evil homo sapiens.

We have subsequently arriveded in the southern Kalifornia metro area where recent regulations require the installation of only flourescent lighting in the kitchen and bathroom areas of new construction and no vehicles are to be parked on "private" property for periods exceeding 72 hours.

To be continued

U.S. Travelogue

We decided to drive across the continent in order to wrap up some minor business in California as well as pay a final visit to friends and family on the Left Coast. The hassel of airports has resulted in opting for the hassel of spending many hours at the wheel of Nessie (our Ford F250 Diesel pickup). The family vehicle of choice would have been the VW Passat turbo sedan, but stepson requested we haul a recently acquired spare engine for his Mercedes 450SL back to Georgia from South Lake Tahoe, California.
This posting is from Flagstaff, Arizona after 3 days on the road and over 1700 miles. This is about the 14th transcontinental surface trip for ΛΕΟΝΙΔΑΣ since 1981 aboard autos, motorcycles and trucks. Many changes in the countryside are apparent. The interstate highway system has suffered greatly over the years from wear and tear and a lack of upkeep. I would assume that the politicians have their priorities adjusted for projects other than maintaining infrastructure. Additionally, the number of over the road large trucks is nothing short of phenomenal and they outnumber the passenger vehicles by at least 5 to 3. For this reason the return trip to Georgia will rely more heavily on avoiding the interstate system.
Although members of the indigenous population of flyover country are still the friendly and helpful sort of 26 years ago, They have undergone considerable gain in the area of body mass, especially those of the female persuasion.
Part of our journey has taken us along part of the route of historical Highway 66 as you can see from the accompanying photo of Nessie in the New Mexico town of Tucumcari.
Tomorrow we plan to revisit the Grand Canyon, having today enjoyed the Petrified Forest and qualified as senior citizens for a lifetime pass to such attractions. I suppose the theory is that the "lifetime" is coming to a close thus making the bargain tariff economically feaseable. In any event I will update this adventure for those of you who are interested in this diversion from the usual fare of depressing socio cultural events.

Justice?

The details of the crimes committed by two Iranian Kurdish journalists have as yet not been released. It has however, been confirmed by the Iranian government that they have been sentenced to death by hanging for being "Enemies of God". Would that be the ancient Arab moon god now known as "Allah"?
Meanwhile here in the "west" one American citizen has been arrested on felony charges for the commission of a "hate" crime by placing books in a commode. He should have applied for a grant from the National Endowment for the "Arts" in order to qualify his acts for display at the Guggenheim Museum in the same city whose "police" force has arrested him. After all if disrespected religious icons such as "Piss Christ" and the dung decorated images of Christian saints are objects of "art", why not Korans in the toilet?
Oh forgive me. Only one religion is "protected" from "offense".
In any event, this is one court case that should be interesting; especially should it reach the purview of Justice Kennedy as he seems to be concerned with foreign (sharia?) jurisprudence as it applies to the United States.

Why does it always seem to be the same politicians (Kennedy, Shumer et al) that consistently push gun control who also advocate "hate" crimes? Do they wish the U.S. to go the way of Sweden?

ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ!

h/t: Dhimmi Watch

Are There Any Left?

GOOD QUESTION

ht: ¡No Pasarán!

African Dictator Reaches Bottom, Keeps Digging

Reading recent accounts of the occurrences in the unfortunate nation of Zimbabwe one could wonder if its president, Robert Mugabe should seek psychiatric counseling.

The official currency inflation for the nation is now at 4,500% which is just under double that of 2006. Independent economists however, calculate the real inflation rate at twice that (9,000%???). As Zimbabwe's society descends further into the abysmal pit of financial and economic disaster, Mr. Mugabe has elected to "dig harder". In order to address the disaster of deteriorating infrastructure and government services Mr. Mugabe states: "Where money for projects has not been found, we will print it." He appears to be even less sophisticated than his fascist colleague in Venezuela who has opted for deleting 3 zeroes from the new banknotes to be issued in January of 2008 and designated the "Bolivar Fuerte" (strong Bolivar).

In typical fascist fashion those responsible for the disaster are insisting on killing the messenger:

Senior government ministers responsible for Zimbabwe’s price control campaign want President Robert Mugabe to sack his close confidant, Gideon Gono, the Reserve Bank governor. [...]
Government price controls were ordered in late June and as a result commodities have disappeared from store shelves. Some 5,000 managers and gas station and store owners have been arrested and fined for defying the price controls since the order was issued June 26.

Compounding the tragedy:

Two weeks ago, the Mugabe government ordered businesses to cut prices by half, threatening businesspeople with imprisonment if they failed to comply and warning that factories that closed or retrenched workers would be nationalized [yep. that'll solve it].
Daily power outages are forcing Zimbabweans to light fires for cooking and heating water. State radio reported Friday that a woodlands park used for conservation classes faced collapse because wood poachers had stripped nearly 500 acres of its indigenous msasa trees and other long-burning hardwoods.

At what point, one wonders, will the value of the paper and ink used to produce Zimbabwe currency exceed its face value? On reflection however, this may be a business opportunity. The banknotes can be shipped to Cuba to be used as toilet paper where none now exists. In turn Cuba can trade some of the oil donated to it by Hugo Chávez for the banknotes. I leave it to you, dear reader, to determine the losers in this daisy chain.

cross posted at: Eternity Road

By the Back Door

Having spent the better part of his working career in law enforcement, ΛΕΟΝΙΔΑΣ finds this story extremely troubling.

A team of inspectors from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives fled an Idaho gun shop where they were inspecting sales records when they learned their actions were being recorded on a blog...Now the federal agency has gone to court with a report that its inspectors "suspended" their work at the store recently because of the "threat to the inspectors' safety created by Ryan Horsley, the Manager of Red's."

Unless a law enforcement officer is employed in a covert capacity, why would his/her exposure to citizen observation constitute "intimidation" or "harassment"? This is especially true when the exposure includes operations by an upper level bureaucrat that cannot ever be conceived of as engaging in covert operations. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (which should, according to a tee shirt producing wag, be designated as a convenience store) has a sad history of thuggishness which would make the likes of Sarah Brady proud, appears to be engaged in accomplishing by bureaucratic abuse what the collectivists supporting citizen disarmament have failed to achieve legislatively.

On the other hand, any sentient observer is aware that most protections from oppression supposedly supplied to us by the Constitution are in fact a dead letter; for example the Second Amendment as it applies to the citizens of Washington DC, Chicago, New York or California as well as the First Amendment regarding speech as suppressed by the so called "Bipartisan Campaign Finance 'Reform' Law" coauthored by an individual who is so arrogant as to offer himself up as a candidate for the nation's highest office.

The Democrat majority in Congress appears to be more concerned with its war on the current administration by engaging in a public relations gottcha campaign and pursuing a collectivist economic agenda than concerning itself with rolling back the abuses of a cancerous government bureaucracy. Why are we not surprised?

ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ

cross posted at: Eternity Road
Hat tip: Jim Sullivan

Michael Moore, Call Your office!

While Cubans are dying for lack of medicines; Castro is donating 5 tons of drugs to Peru.

Everyday we hear reports from Cuban-Americans who have to send medicines to Cuba, because their relatives can't find any in the local pharmacies.

When a relative is going to have surgery in Cuba, Cuban-Americans are forced to send everything, including the anesthesia.

But while Cubans are dying due to the lack of medicines, the dictator is giving tons of them away to foreign countries for propaganda purposes.

Here is a report in Monday's Prensa Latina:

Lima, Jul 23 (Prensa Latina) Cuba will deliver five tons of medicines in the next few days for those affected by the cold spell gripping the Peruvian Andes, the island"s charge d"Affaires to this capital Pastor Rodriguez stated.

The diplomat said this during a Sunday jubilant act in occasion of the 54th anniversary of the attack on Moncada Barracks, an armed action of the Cuban Revolution against the Fulgencio Batista dictatorship (1953-1959).

Amid applauses, Rodriguez announced the donation of medicines among his country's examples of international solidarity, which in case of Peru, the island was the first nation that in 1970 gave support to victims of a devastating earthquake.