What Superhero Are You?

These are kinda dumb, but:
Me, I’m Spider-Man

Spider-Man
85%
Iron Man
80%
Superman
60%
Hulk
60%
Robin
55%
The Flash
55%
Supergirl
50%
Green Lantern
45%
Catwoman
40%
Batman
30%
Wonder Woman
20%
You are intelligent, witty,
a bit geeky and have great
power and responsibility.


Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz
[*1]

Via Robertopia[*2] .

Let’s Lynch The Landlord

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, the face of leftist totalitarianism in the U.S. today:

United for Peace & Justice[*1]

Inviting everyone to the White House for a protest rally to show that we do not accept the criminal government. For Nat Turner, For Martin and Coretta, For all the Torture and Assassination in Afghanistan, Iraq, Haiti and many others – We will not allow the Slave Holders that Still Prevail in this Country to Rule us any longer. Imprisonment and torture based on race, religion, resources or region is no different than the slavery we sought to abolish years ago. The Administration is Criminal and if they will not step down, we must storm in, show them how many of us do not accept a criminal government. How can we stand by and watch them kill our brothers, sisters, journalists and friends for their dollars?

They’re shooting (pardon the term) for March 15th. This should be entertaining to watch.

(In case you’re befuddled by this article’s title, it’s a song title by that legendary nihilistic hardcore rock band Dead Kennedys. Other danceable DK ditties included Kill The Poor and California uber Alles.

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[Politics][*2] [Wackos][*3] [Current Affairs][*4] [Liberalism][*5]

Sanity on the Ports Issue?

In a post on FreeRepublic[*1] , poster “Seattle Conservative” makes a large number of points worth considering:

Thought I’d share the following w you. My head was about to explode by Wednesday over the Port deal. It got to the point where I could barely listen to or read any more on this issue. So when I came home I sat down and just typed out what I felt I knew and my thoughts on the deal (this often helps me collect my thoughts and see pros and cons on issues). I think we discussed some of these last week. I’m definitely leaning for this deal and, while my mind can be changed, to date I haven’t seen 1 legitimate argument against the deal. My reference to Dims below includes some RINOs.

1. UAE is run by an Emir – he would not allow anything to happen on American soil due to the fact that they are trying to build a westernized culture (large cities, investments, tourists, women’s rights) and he knows that they’d have hell to pay. I think if anything, they’ll be extra careful. Why would UAE cause harm to the US via shipping when the finger would be pointed right back to them – -it makes no sense. If they wanted to harm the US, it would be easier and they could keep a lower profile to send someone over the Canadian or Mexican border.

2. OBL, Iran and the Islamo-facists would like nothing better than a Arab company kicked out of the US or not allowed in the US – great propaganda for them.

3. UAE, Jordan, Kuwait are our main allies in the ME. If we tick off UAE it’ll will tick off the rest (let’s call it ‘Muslim brotherhood’), like a slap in the face to all Arab nations and we’d loose some valuable allies on the WOT and in the region. Could also have a turning point on our efforts in Iraq.

4. Plans for a new Grand Port in Iraq. IMHO this deal is strategic to have a relationship w UAE from a shipping perspective and also any potential issues w Iran (see proximity on map to both – I’ll post on another post).

5. UAE was one of first to put in new security measures at their ports (Container Security Initiative) and we have our folks there working with them.

6. A lot of people went off half-*censored*ed and didn’t learn about everything involved and/or based their comments on feelings and mis-information and/or limited information (e.g., original comments were selling our ports and/or selling security at our ports, rather than leasing the container terminal operations at our ports).

7. Dims – security a big issue for them as the Americans have trusted Pubbies w security more than the Dems. To win elections, they need to take over the security issue and they see the ports as an avenue to do that, especially when they lie about what the deal really entails.

8. Blame Bush for using ‘warrantless wiretaps’ and ‘eavesdropping on Americans’ one week (when he is trying to protect us through the NAS), then they jump on the port bandwagon the next week saying Bush doesn’t care about our security. More bash-Bush and showing what a bunch of hypocrites they are.

9. Peter King was on Tony’s radio show and mentioned something to the effect that they weren’t aware of the deal until the NY Port authority made them aware of it. Light bulb went off for me – Chuckie is the one that came out loudest and first on this and his wife works for the NY Port authority – coinky dinky, I don’t think so.

10. The Dims holler about the treatment of the terrorist Arabs in Gitmo then say we can’t trust the Arabs in the UAE. They’re racists and bigots, but won’t admit it, and are demagogues on this whole issue.

11. One of the main issues is that the Dims are probably getting pressure from the unions, primarily longshoremen, who give HUGH donations to the Dims.

12. Not selling the Ports – the deal is the sale of one company in the UK to another in the UAE and involves the management of the operations of the ports, not the ports themselves and not the security (nothing will change on what Customs, US Coast Guard, Homeland Security are currently doing).

13. I think it was Feinstein that said let government take over. Just what we need, another huge bureaucracy, increasing the size of the government, huge $’s to taxpayers, who will train these folks, goal to get these folks unionized, too?

14. Contrary to some Dims hollering about having an American company do this, no American company currently performs this type of work, only a few countries in the world w this company’s capabilities. US currently has port ops run by other countries, including China.

15. Canada – one of largest trading partners, cells there, easy to get in (don’t need a passport if claim ‘refugee’ status), easy to cross border to US, but apparently Dims think the UAE could hurt us more by handling shipping ops.

16. That some of the 9/11 bomber terrorists were from UAE, doesn’t necessarily mean anything. The shoe bomber was from London. The bombers in London weren’t from UAE.

17. Mansoor Ijiz on Tony Snow –
a. Amount of cargo that comes here from there so small, they could search every one (CAT scan or otherwise).
b. UAE changed in how they viewed terror after 9/11. In 2000 they offered Clinton to put OBL in their jail.
c. They take an active front line against defense – the royal family is one of the main targets of OBL.

18. Tommy Franks on Tony Snow, mentioned the following:
a. Camp Rhino maps, coordinates, etc provided to Franks by UAE
b. UAE first ones to give us unlimited over-flight
c. Port in Dubai probably best run port complex he’s ever been in, hosts more navy shipping than any other port in the world outside the US. Franks knows these people, and absolutely trusts them.
d. We’re not talking about giving security to a foreign country – we’ll continue to provide sec.
e. Tommy said this is just a red herring and they’re chasing down an alley during an election year.
f. UAE has had military forces in both Afghanistan and Iraq. UAE has been at front end of help in ME.
g. UAE offered $100M to help Katrina (1st to do so).
h. Excellent intelligence gathering and have been sharing since before 9/11 – were ‘best source of intelligence on Taliban’ we had.
i. We sold them F-16 and apache helicopters they’re flying now (during Clinton’s admin). Have been vetted before.
j. Will look like ‘no good deed remains unpunished’.
k. We have 1500- a few thousand troops there – – when was the last time you heard of sec incident in UAE – take great care of our ‘sons and daughters posted there’.
l. Worldwide economy that if we permit lawmakers to bring to a halt every potential deal that involves US ports and foreign companies, we’ll bring shipping to its knees’
m. We don’t profile in this country, yet looking at lawmakers who seek to look at everything from ME is bad.
n. People in our country our smarter than politicians give them credit for – we need to be able to differentiate ally from enemy and UAE has been mis-characterized at this point.

19. Wabaahism isn’t allowed in UAE.

20. Bush’s problem in this issue and other issues is American people’s perception of reality rather than reality. He needs to communicate and be honest w public about this and other issues and get on the offense rather than continually having to play catch up defense.

21. The Dubai company is operating ports around the world now and the US is getting shipments from those ports –if they wanted to do harm to us, they could have sent something in long before now.

22. Employees of the company at the US ports are and will be US citizens and unions (though it appears the unions feel somewhat threatened by this).

23. 1st reported in press in Oct by Bloomberg. P&O and UAE announced in Nov. – came to light recently w company in FL filing lawsuit – -seems like they want to take over whole operation, and, by doing so, increase the number of union folks doing work there.

24. The Dims gripe about this deal being ‘secretive’ (there’s that word again), but, I don’t believe they have any evidence that the Admin hasn’t done due diligence – – it has been reviewed and approved by the CIFUS, which includes members from the departments of Defense, HS, and Treas.

25. The Dims conveniently forget that they helped pass CIFUS – this is another issue (like the terrorist surveillance one) where Dims are screaming ‘Congressional oversight’ – due to CIFUS, they don’t need to provide oversight – however, of course they feel the need to do so as they want to tie Bush’s hands some more, have another issue to run to the cameras and bash Bush on, and give more importance to themselves (they hate that Bush is sometimes characterized as ‘the most powerful leader in the free world’ and forget about what is supposed to be 3 equal branches of government, they want to give more power to themselves and take some away from the Prez).

26. I trust Pres Bush – believe he and his admin have done every thing they can to protect us and don’t think they would allow any deal to go through that would cause potential harm to the US.

On Hamstrings

Well, I’d thought that I’d pulled my hamstring muscle last Saturday, trying to race Snookums around the exercise track. But I finally went to the doctor, and she disagreed. She thinks I ruptured a blood vessel. I go get a CT scan today to find out for sure.

So, that’s why I just can’t get worked up about the U.A.E. ports thing[*1] , or Sasha Cohen and the Olympics[*2] , or even the woeful SDSU men’s basketball team[*3] . Bummer about that Golden Dome mosque thing[*4] over in Iraq.

It’s just hard to get too worked up about a lot of things when your primary worry is to not take too long a stride, in order to avoid stabbing shooting pain in your leg.

Intellectual Diversity Bill Killed in S.D. Senate

According to the South Dakota Politics[*1] blog, the bill requiring South Dakota universities to report on intellectual diversity was defeated on the last day of the session.

Not surprisingly, the bill became partisan, with the Democrats almost unanimously opposing it, mostly at the behest of the teachers’ unions, but some also listend to the ACLU, which also opposed it. The Democrats also know that the universities are their political allies, so it was no surprise they wanted to protect them from even the most minimal legislative oversight. The executive director of the Board of Regents, Tad Perry, was also hysterical in his attacks on the bill, even though he said he was happy to provide reports to the legislature (which he clearly is not). Several Republican legislators were furious with Perry for his grandstanding and he burned a lot of bridges.

The South Dakota universities really don’t need to alienate support in the Legislature, as there’s not much of that there to begin with.

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[Politics][*2] [Education][*3] [Current Affairs][*4] [South Dakota][*5] [Intellectual Diversity][*6]

One Professor Gets It

I hope Professor Art Marmorstein[*1] already has tenure:

For years, I have used The Paper as an example of academic writing at its best, pointing out to my students that the most persuasive arguments come from those who best understand and most carefully consider the arguments and ideas of their opponents – and who always keep in mind the possibility that they themselves might be in the wrong.

This healthy skepticism about “received wisdom” is part of a long tradition in Western thinking about academic life. Figures like Milton, Locke and Mill insisted that, if all views were given a fair opportunity in the marketplace of ideas, the truth would eventually win out: The only thing that could stop the truth was its forcible suppression.

This is an idea that lies at the heart of liberal education, and universities are at their best when dominated by liberals of this type, i.e., those who are committed to the exploration of the full range of human ideas. Some of my recently retired colleagues were wonderful teachers precisely because they were so committed to this type of liberalism.,p>Unfortunately, much of the academic left in this country has ceased to be liberal, embracing (often unwittingly) a kind of bastard Marxism as its core philosophy. Dogmatic, intolerant and mean-spirited, doctrinaire leftists often make academic life miserable for conservative students – and for traditional liberals, for that matter. They and their like-minded students shout down campus speakers whose ideas they don’t like. They publicly ridicule students who dare question their ideas, and they refuse to even consider hiring faculty members who don’t toe the proper political line.

The astonishing thing is how obvious this is to those like me who were once in academe but now live in “the real world,” and how opaque this is to some who remain in the Ivory Tower.

Hat Tip: South Dakota Politics.

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More Cartoon Troubles

Special Reporter Iowahawk, reporting from the Middle West[*1] :

But by far the fiercest demonstration took place in Green Bay’s Lambeau Shrine parking lot where throngs of Packer faithful burned Texas flags and effigies of Roger Staubach as Lutheran pastors led them in chants of “Those who defame the Vince suck” and “Favre is Great.” Many of the frenzied demonstrators were seen ritualistically beating themselves with mozzarella sticks.

In order to understand it all, you had to have lived (or know someone who has lived) in the Upper Midwest.

Lombardi Akbar.

The Fundamental Bankruptcy of Old Media

Michael Geer at The American Thinker[*1] comments on Old Media’s hissy-fit about the Cheney hunting accident:

Vice President Dick Cheney’s unfortunate hunting accident has a silver lining for those who can see it. The resulting media embarrassment proved that the US Media in all it’s power and reach has become so moribund, so lazy, so lacking in essential vigor that they forgot to disguise their actual anger. Their braying complaint? That the White House waited 24 hours before telling them about an accident.

The Old Media’s fundamental ineptness is in full view, and it isn’t pretty.

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