Sunday, April 12, 2009

Back to the Future


Don't you get that eerie feeling we've seen this sort of indecisiveness before?

What's that called again?

Deja Carter?

Every day -- and in every way -- the modern Democrat Party reaffirms its well-deserved nickname.

"Party of Weakness".


Linked by: Tim Blair. Thanks!

Larwyn's Link Kerplosion: You've been Punk'd

Have a great link you'd like me to review? Drop me an email!

Climbout on Easter Sunday: AmDig
America's not a Christian nation: Giles
Deja Clinton: Gateway

Piracy in the Age of Obama: Crittenden
Obama's Iranian Schizophrenia: Asharq Alawsat (Taheri)
Weapons of Mass Distraction: Driscoll

Death threats follow decision: Surber
Time to repeal affordable housing law: WickedLocal (Greeley)
Hero Blues: Liberals line up with Militarism: Empire Burlesque

Pirates must be hunted down and their vessels sunk on sight: Telegraph (Keegan)
Liberal media bias detector: PJM (Toto)
'The irony is not lost on us': JWF

Hillary Chuckles Over Somali Pirate Standoff (Video): Gateway
Can this be blamed on conservatives?: JWF
Obama's map of distractions: GM's Place

Which part of 'wipe Israel off the map'...: Matzav
Shining Path's worst attack in a decade: TAB
The Indecision Team Needs to Understand Motives: Jawa

Pelosi begins assault on Second Amendment: SAF
Family living in fear after hate attacks: The JC
Schumer: days of 'traditional values', 'strong foreign policy' are over: Gateway

Live RAID concerts will benefit Somali pirates: BMW
Happy 50th, Mom and Dad: Rick
You've Been Punked By Obama -- The Detainee Episode: LegalIns

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Top 25 Boxing Nicknames of All Times


The definitive list:

25. Vinny "The Pazmanian Devil" Pazienza
24. "Iron" Mike Tyson
23. Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini
22. Mike "The Body Snatcher" McCallum
21. Andrew "Six Heads" Lewis

20. Larry “The Easton Assassin” Holmes
19. Donald "The Cobra" Curry
18. Zab “Super” Judah
17. Lew “The Living Death” Jenkins
16. Jake "Raging Bull" LaMotta

15. Evander "Real Deal" Holyfield
14. Ruben “Hurricane” Carter
13. Manny "The Destroyer" Pacquiao
12. "Smokin" Joe Frazier
11. Jack "The Manassa Mauler" Dempsey

10. Paul "The Punisher" Williams
9. James "Lights Out" Toney
8. Thomas "The Hit Man" Hearns
7. Arturo "Thunder" Gatti
6. John "The Beast" Mugabi

5. Ike "Bazooka" Quartey
4. James "Bonecrusher" Smith
3. Bernard "The Executioner" Hopkins
2. Roberto "Hands of Stone" Duran
1. "Sugar" Ray Robinson



San Diego Tea Party Pics


W.C. Varones has the complete album. Here's my personal favorite.

Attendance? Varones estimated it at 1,000.


Colussus, the Forbin Project


When I was a kid, I recall seeing a movie called Colussus, the Forbin Project. It was a 1970 blockbuster that offered a startling look at a future dominated by computers.

Its plot was basically that of War Games -- before there was a War Games -- or Terminator's "SkyNet", decades ahead of those movies.

Here's the original movie poster, which really doesn't do the story justice:

Check out something interesting: note the logo of the corporation that manufactured Colussus (above the inexplicable firing squad):

Now check out the logo of America Online:

Now, that's just freaky.


What's that pounding I hear in the distance?


Senior management for cable news network MSNBC has no shortage of issues with which it's confronted. It covers stories hatched primarily in the "progressive" echo chamber, employs imbecilic ideologues like Keith Olbermann and is now presiding over a catastrophic ratings slide.

It appears their technology platforms are suffering as well. Consider today's top video, which features a man holding a tea bag.

What's the story say? I'll spare you the suspense. It doesn't work.


Given MSNBC's unrelenting partisan spin, the content of the video can easily be left to your imagination.

What's that pounding you hear in the distance? Just another nail in the coffin for the walking wounded of cable news.



Al Gore's 4th Annual Carbon-Offset Going-out-of-Business Sale


Ha. Mah name is Al Gore. You've heard me talk before about the dangers of global warming.


Put simply, humans are heating up our atmosphere with deadly Carbon Dioxide. While some blame cow poots and others point to solar storms or volcanoes, I know for a fact that the Chevy Impala behind me -- and millions of vehicles like it -- are solely, completely responsible for warming the Earth.


Scientists tell us that over the next five years, sea levels will rise by as much as three hundred feet.


When that happens, millions of folks like you and me will have to leave our Malibu beach homes and our Manhattan penthouses. We'll have to migrate to the Midwest. You heard me right. You'll have to immigrate to... ... ... Red states. No tofu. No pet spas. And lots of pickup trucks and guns. Oh, the humanity.


Look at the glaciers behind me! Never, in the history of the world, have glaciers melted before. Never! Not even after the last ice age!


And, within the next five years, the entire world will be a barren desert reminiscent of Barack Obama's defense budget. Uhm, except for the parts that are completely underwater. Which will also be... uh... a lot.


And anyone who says otherwise is an unscientific crackpot that should be... slaughtered like a baby seal --er-- I mean like a money-grubbing, American capitalist.


Scientists have also proven that humans caused Hurricanes Katrina and Rita to explode out of the gulf with a fury never seen before, not even in Galveston, Texas.


But there's a way you can make a difference.


We've found a way that you can pollute all you want.


Yep, you heard me right. Pollute all you want.


With our amazing new product, Carbon Offsets™, you can pollute ecologically and without any guilt!


How do Carbon Offsets™ work? Say you fly cross-country. Just buy $66 worth of Carbon Offsets™ to make up for your flight!


We'll plant some trees and bushes and s**t. This will compensate for all of that toxic carbon dioxide you're expelling.


Hey! Wipe that skeptical look off your face!


What's it gonna take to get you into some Carbon Offsets™ today?


Just call 1-800-CARBON or surf to www.carbpwnt.com now and tell 'em Al sentcha.


Remember, pollute all you want, just so long as you make amends with Carbon Offsets™! It's the green way to spew emissions!


Do not consume carbon offsets with alcohol. If carbon offsets result in an erection lasting more than four hours, please seek immediate medical attention. Carbon offsets have not been approved for use as a topical ointment, nor to treat flatulence. Excessive use of carbon offsets has been linked to a syndrome known as Moonbattery.


Somali pirates read and act upon a not-so-subliminal message




Related: White House: Obama bow was attempted head butt: Scrappleface. Linked by: Instapundit, The Anchoress and Cold Fury. Thanks!

Larwyn's Link Kerplosion: Pirates test the 'Rule of Law'

Have a great link you'd like me to review? Drop me an email!

A formula for failure: CFP
The President celebrates America's failings: Krauthammer
The Incredible Shrinking Public Pension Funds: Atlantic (McArdle)

President Pantywaist: Telegraph (UK)
Petty Partisanship: Crittenden
Piracy and the will to do something about it: Instapundit

The Post-American President: Big Hollywood
A view from the Saudi press: Dinocrat
Obama as apologist: Shawarma

The Ugly Un-American: Riehl
When will the ice break?: Margo's Maid
Obama's paid 'volunteers': JWF

Brits scramble to find 'Easter Bomb' factory: Gateway
The Dichotomy of a Child Killer's Mug Shot: Eye
Pirates Test the ‘Rule of Law’: NRO (McCarthy)

More on the F-22 and the Defense Budget: Hewitt
Obama unbowed: Riehl
Gore effect: Catlin Arctic Expedition Stymied by Cold: AT (Lee)

"Ayer Head" Professor Lies Again: Kincaid
Child marriage, Sharia beatings in Nashville?: Atlas
Marine cleared in Fallujah killing: JWF

The Geography of Wind: TigerHawk
Government Schools Win Again: AT (Brown)
China's One Child Policy Creates Sociological Nightmare: Morrissey

Marvin Webster, an NBA eraser, dead at 56: BlackPlanet
Techmeme founder: MSM == hypocritical weasels: CNet
Camaro FAIL: El Camepador

Scipio, The End of the Affair:

We are at that point reached by the Roman Republic during the last years of its existence (133-30 BC) before becoming an empire. Our present ills can be found there as well: a weakening of the ancient faith, massive political corruption, a lawless senate, rampant divorce, birth control and abortion among the ruling classes, an economic system that expropriated wealth from the provinces to concentrate it at the capital, teeming masses of foreigners and a host of potential dictators eating their way through the Roman state. To put the matter simply, Rome became ungovernable. It took military intervention, civil wars and the foundation of a permanent dictatorship to bring back economic and political stability. More than likely such will be our own fate.

Friday, April 10, 2009

I miss John Bolton


I'm mystified. Why isn't John Bolton a legitimate candidate for President?

Scoffery has the beat-down.

A valuable lesson


A father walks into a restaurant with his young son. He gives the young boy 3 nickels to play with to keep him occupied. Suddenly, the boy starts choking, going blue in the face.

The father realizes the boy has swallowed the nickels and starts slapping him on the back. The boy coughs up 2 of the nickels, but keeps choking.

Looking at his son, the father is panicking, shouting for help.

A well dressed, attractive, and serious looking woman, in a blue business suit is sitting at a coffee bar reading a newspaper and sipping a cup of coffee. At the sound of the commotion, she looks up, puts her coffee cup down, neatly folds the newspaper and places it on the counter, gets up from her seat and makes her way, unhurried, across the restaurant.

Reaching the boy, the woman carefully drops his pants; takes hold of the boy's testicles and starts to squeeze and twist, gently at first and then ever so firmly. After a few seconds the boy convulses violently and coughs up the last nickel, which the woman deftly catches in her free hand.

Releasing the boy's testicles, the woman hands the nickel to the father and walks back to her seat in the coffee bar without saying a word.

As soon as he is sure that his son has suffered no ill effects, the father rushes over to the woman and starts thanking her saying, 'I've never seen anybody do anything like that before, it was fantastic. Are you a doctor?'

'No,' the woman replied, 'divorce attorney'.


Sent in by: Ben.

Best Captions for a Lobster Knife-Fight Photo


"You guys are idiots! Michael Vick went to prison for this!"

"SUNDAY, SUNDAY, SUNDAY!!! CRUSTACEAN CARNAGE NIGHT... ONLY AT RED LOBSTER!!!"

"Everybody was lobster fighting! Those claws were fast as lightning!"

"I will cut you… ...like a Cornish game hen."

"I wager 50 quatloos on the newcomer!"

"*I’ll cut mang!*"


Via: PIU.


Best Emergency Preparedness Kit Ever



Update: The invaluable Vanderleun writes, "DELETE ZOMBIES, INSERT PROGRESSIVES".

It's always politics with him, isn't it?

Via: Failblog.org.

The Silence of the Crap Factories


Today's Washington Post features a detailed review of Mark Rudd's UNDERGROUND: My Life with SDS and the Weathermen.

The James Rosen review is glowing; it describes Rudd's work as a "gem... [we should be] grateful for Rudd's work of history... [it] is honest and funny, passionate and contrite, meticulously researched and deeply philosophical: an essential document on the '60s."

One thing is certain. Rosen's book is not -- and will never be -- a bestseller. It may in fact be an important history of the sixties.

But it is also the work of an American terrorist, a leader of a group that killed three cops and offered logistical support to other radicals that killed nine additional police officers.

On the other hand, a book entitled Liberty & Tyranny, a Conservative Manifesto is a bestseller. With a bullet. It is number one in sales on every bookseller's list: from The New York Times to Amazon.com. In only two weeks, it has sold more than a quarter million copies with 300,000 additional volumes reportedly ordered.

In fact, it is destined to sell more copies than every Bush-bashing tome featured on CBS' 60 Minutes combined.

Consider just a few of the immortal works featured on 60 Minutes in the last few years:

David Kuo: bashing Bush for faith-based initiatives

Scott McClellan: bashing Bush because it was, reportedly, the only way to get his book published

Richard Clarke: bashing Bush to deflect attention from his counterterror role prior to 9/11

Bob Woodward: bashing Bush because "The Surge" was (at the time) certain to fail

Alan Greenspan: blaming Bush for the financial crisis

Anthony Zinni: bashing Bush over his complicity in "dereliction, negligence... irresponsibility... lying, incompetence and corruption" in Iraq

Paul O'Neill: bashing Bush over (what else) Iraq

Alexandra Robbins: bashing Bush over his membership in a secretive Yale fraternity

Ben Barnes: bashing Bush over avoiding Vietnam by flying F-102s for the Texas Air National Guard

Valerie Plame: bashing Bush to cover her own lies -- and her husband's lies --regarding Saddam Hussein's confirmed pursuit of uranium ore

So where is the 60 Minutes review of Levin's book?

How about the Washington Post's review of Liberty & Tyranny?

And how does the The New York Times assess Levin's historical examination of the Republic and its relevance to today's "Statism"?

Your guess is as good as mine.

Put simply, well-deserved bankruptcies await these amazingly partisan crap factories.


The Do-It-Yerself Democrats


WGN describes the citizenry of Chicago reveling in decades of outstanding Democratic leadership.

Do you have gaping potholes on your street and feel the city is not fixing them quickly enough? How about patching them yourself?

That's what a group of residents on Chicago's West Side did Wednesday. Members of the South Austin Coalition bought eight bags of a pavement mix for about $100 and used shovels, rakes and a 250-pound push roller to fill 15 holes on the 4800 block of West Van Buren Street.

"The city's not doing it, so residents need to take the matter into their own hands," said Elce Redmond, an organizer with the coalition.

The group's members hope their efforts will shame the city into repairing neighborhood side streets and inspire other residents to band together and patch their own blocks. They also hope residents will create a citywide Pothole Repair Day...

...Leaders of the South Austin Coalition said they chose this residential street after a block meeting. They acknowledged the potholes were average size. The holes were not as bad as say the seemingly bottomless pits that scar Lake Shore Drive or those protested by community groups this week along Garfield Boulevard in the Englewood neighborhood.

Englewood, of course, is the downtrodden neighborhood represented by State Senator Barack Obama from 1997 to 2004.

Shockingly, it doesn't seem to have improved much since Obama's reign.

The pothole situation in Englewood has citizens up in arms. Just a few days ago, two dozen protesters demonstrated against the city's refusal to repair the streets.

Some held signs that read, "We need more city services" and "Mayor Daley, fix our potholes". Others sold cookies to raise money for pothole repairs.

* * * * * * * * *

James Taranto suggests "getting your hands on a copy of Stewart Cowley's 1981 book, Do-It-Yourself Brain Surgery & Other Home Skills.

It may come in handy when the Chicago Democrats take over health care."


Hat tip: Ben.

Penn State: Veterans crazy, dangerous and must be stopped


A Penn State University training video depicts faculty dealing with crazy, paranoid and overly aggressive veterans.

The only confrontational vets I know are the ones who just viewed Penn State's despicable video on YouTube. Which left wing "academics" approved this piece of drek? By all means, make sure we grant them tenure so they can remain on the state taxpayers' dole.


Larwyn's Link Kerplosion: Recession be damned!

Have a great link you'd like me to review? Drop me an email!

The Shamnesty Distraction: Malkin
Dems move to legalize illegals: Gateway
Full steam ahead on amnesty -- despite recession: Ace

Understanding the financial crisis: Reason TV
The President has become a divisive figure: WSJ
Message from the left: Shut up.: Kerplunk

ABC hawks anti-gun agenda: Examiner
300,000 enslaved in Dubai: Eye
Kooks, Blue State Republicans, ...: RS McCain

2012: Belmont Club
Deer in the headlights: AmerDig
JournoList getting their flirt on: Red State

Pushing immigration reform during a recession?: Morrissey
GOP Gang of three rediscover fiscal conservatism too late: Sheppard
Does the AP know how its own YouTube channel works?: CNet

Almost lifelike Kim Jong-Il reappears, wins upset election: JWF
Geometry and Diplomacy: GM's Place
What went wrong for Republicans?: Response39

"That's your bloody free speech zone": Levant
Lurch calls for Pirate Hearings: JWF
Obama Bows, Koh Suffers: LegalIns

Olbermann-Turley Hilarity on Surveillance: YouTube
Awesome: Saddam was forced to watch South Park, The Movie: Jawa
Iowahawk Council of Automotive Advisors: Iowahawk

Thursday, April 09, 2009

Taking out the Internet with a hacksaw


Is our entire society and economy based upon an insecure and unprotected resource? It's hard to imagine life -- for even a day or a week -- without the Internet. Yet that's precisely the scenario that BitGravity described earlier today.

This morning many people in Silicon Valley woke up without 911 service, Internet, cellular phones, and in some cases TV. Web sites were impacted and Internet traffic between a few major datacenters stopped flowing. Several of our employees were cut off from the Internet and phone service.

AT&T put out a press release stating that there was a fiber cut, but to make this happen, there had to be several cuts. According to several employees that work at AT&T, it may have been done by the very people that repair this stuff, the Communication Workers of America Union (CWA).

Speculation, to be sure, but one thing is certain: knowledge of the location of specific fiber links within very specific manholes was necessary.

And the CWA contract with AT&T apparently expired on Saturday night. In fact, press releases from the CWA are quite open about their dispute.

For those of you working this weekend, remember – NO BUSINESS AS USUAL.

Our mission is to stop the destruction of our Union by our employers. It is to protect and better the lives of our retired, current and future members. We will re-grow our Union by educating, strengthening and uniting our membership in order to impact our employers through strategic use of our power.

The fiber cuts were "clean, done apparently [with] a hacksaw."

The first major cut occurred at approximately 0200 in the South East Bay. This took out the city of Santa Cruz.

The next cut occurred at 0400, which decapitated San Francisco's Metromedia Fiber Network -- a major thoroughfare for Internet traffic.

The manholes are within driving distance of each other.

What’s more terrifying, the cuts were clean and easy to fix, but what would happen if they were mangled and more calculated? What happened if rather than going down into the manhole, the perpetrator poured many gallons of gasoline down the hole, and tossed a match on it? It could have melted all the fiber/glass/plastics together, causing complete mess making the problem much worse.

Fiber maps such as the one below show details on exactly where fiber runs are and how to locate perfect targets, found directly off of almost every network provider’s web site:

Now, what would happen if someone were to coordinate with a group of people and demolish key areas where fiber concentrations are very thick in major cities around the world.

And what if these attacks were coordinated?

No ATM service. No 911. No phone calls. Oh, and hellz no... no Twitter.

As we are reminded, three undersea cables were simultaneously sliced earlier this year.

Sound improbable? Three undersea cables –- Sea Me We3 partly, Sea Me We4 and FLAG -- were cut on December 19, 2008. These cuts caused "significant Internet access disruptions between Europe and Asia/Near East zone."

A coordinated attack. No ATM service. No 911. No phone calls. No Internet.

All quite vulnerable to a series of physical security breaches. DHS better take note.


Kim Jong-Il endorses Liberty & Tyranny by Mark Levin


Junior Cub Reporter Biff Spackle snapped this shot at a press conference in Pyongyang.

Il said it was "good, but not as exciting as Rescuing Sprite."


Lexus LFA at the Nürburgring


Motor Authority has spy shots of the Lexus LFA supercar on the legendary Nürburgring test track.



Via: Autospies.