My Ads, I Paid For Those! - Repost

While we're on the subject of cable TV, here is an old post about my cable that still applies!


Okay, first off this isn't about Unions or 527's buying ads attacking our President, and I am sure you can figure out that I think a Union using member dues to buy ads is a complete farce! They have completely distorted the purpose they were founded for and have become parasites that exist only to grow larger - but I am sure I will write more on that later. And the 527's, well they had to have a law didn't they! (As an aside - American's are great at finding the loopholes aren't we.)

No, what I am talking about now are the commercials for Cable TV. I don't know about where you’re at, but here we get 8 to 12 commercials an hour for Cable TV, Cable Internet, or Digital Cable. One of them even says Cable Internet will do for the Internet what Cable TV did for watching TV. I hope not (full disclosure, I have cable Internet - love it, but not happy about the price!) That is all I need, infomercials all day, tons of stuff I don't want, and more advertisements for the stuff I can't get unless I am willing to pay more.

They advertise extra special channels coming soon.......OH COOL.......on digital....OH CRAP... but nothing for me. Oh sure, they added golf, home, women’s....but nothing I really really want. Being in a smaller market I have 65 choices of stuff I don't want. Why, because they have packaged these together to appeal to such a broad market that there is no way they can appeal to anyone. At least when we only received 3, and then later 4 broadcast channels they had stuff on that we watched - it might have been crap, but it was the only crap on. With more choices we have more crap.

Congress is supposed to be working on this, coming up with an ability to choose the channels you want and pay only for those you choose - but of course the Cable Company says the price will go up and then something will be on a channel one time and you will probably have to pay for 6 months worth or something foolish like that.

Why do I complain? I know I paid for those ads! How do I know? My rates keep growing at almost the same pace as the number of those ads. And I really wonder if they really help or if more people are like me, becoming more and more irritated with the Cable Company each and every time I see them?

I know the economics with the cable companies losing business to the only competition - the dishes - they need to keep reminding you all Cable gives you. But couldn't they sell half that time and cut my rates? Or better yet sell half that time and give me some of those extra special channels they keep trying to tempt me with in those ads.

Seriously though, if they don't give me a true choices soon I am going to start looking at alternatives, and it won't be Digital Cable - at least not as long as they are running all of these commercials.
DKK

It's Official, There Are Only Three

Yep it's official, there are only three programs on TV anymore:

1) Law and Order (or one of it's evil children)
2) CSI (or one of it's evil children)
3) Survivor (or one of it's evil children)

Does anyone else find that sad? As I said in Past The Peak, We Will Run Out:

We can't say for sure when we will approach TDTMD, if we aren't there, but I fear for our civilization when that day arrives. Of course I also fear what it means for our civilization if our top artists are just too damn lazy or untalented to make new music but that is a discussion for another day isn't it!

Lazy and untalented or just reproducing a successful formula, it is still sad.

PS - Someday soon there will be a Law And Order channel on Digital Cable if there isn't already!
DKK

How Many Dead Was That? The Facts Come Out

Via Tim Blair:

Researchers surveyed 808 households for a study published last year by The Lancet which concluded that as many as 100,000 “excess deaths” had occurred in Iraq since liberation.

The UN has now released a survey of more than 21,600 households:

The invasion of Iraq and its aftermath caused the deaths of 24,000 Iraqis, including many children, according to the most detailed survey yet of postwar life in the country.

The UN report paints a picture of modern Iraq brought close to collapse despite its oil wealth. Successive wars, a decade of sanctions and the current violence have destroyed services, undermined health and education and made the lives of ordinary Iraqis dangerous and miserable.

The survey for the UN Development Programme, entitled Iraq Living Conditions Survey 2004, questioned more than 21,600 households this time last year. Its findings, released by the Ministry of Planning yesterday, could finally resolve the debate over how many Iraqis were killed in the war that overthrew the regime of Saddam Hussein in April 2003.

The 370-page report said that it was 95 per cent confident that the toll during the war and the first year of occupation was 24,000, but could have been between 18,000 and 29,000.

According to CNN, the UN survey was conducted throughout all of Iraq’s 18 provinces (the Lancet study examined 11). Also from CNN:

Iraq’s unemployment rate was 10.5 percent of a population of 27 million people, the report found.

That figure blows out to 18.4 percent when workers not looking for a job are included; the number of unemployed seeking work, however, compares reasonably well with data from France (unemployment: 9.4 percent).

While there has been progress since Saddam Hussein’s fall, “these data depict a very tragic picture of the quality of life,” Iraqi transitional Planning Minister Barham Salih said.

Salih said the mismanagement of Saddam’s government and his regime’s internal conflicts and those with its neighbors took a toll that spared no sector of the country’s infrastructure.

"Saddam Hussein has left us a wasteland,” Salih said. “This country could have been the economic powerhouse of the Middle East."

And might well become so, in time, now that Saddam is gone and his sons are dead. (Via Scott Campbell and Alan R.M. Jones)

Interesting how the left has been using those unsubstantiated numbers for the last few months, despite their being shown to be very inaccurate.

Of course they don't want to know the truth because it would be Unexpected!
DKK

"Illegal" Must Not Translate!

As if any of us needed any proof that the boarder patrol's idiotic move to discredit the Minutemen Project (Boarder Patrol, "Don't" - We're Screwed!) Mexico grants this outrageous attempt to protect their income stream - Mexico furious at tough US law on migrants.

Mexico has reacted furiously to a bill signed into law by the US this week that would fund a border wall and prevent illegal Mexican migrants from obtaining US driving licenses.

Wait, our right to control our own boarder and what happens inside that boarder is our right! At least it was prior to our willingness to give up our sovereignty, something this President has attempted to reverse. This is the same issue behind Kyoto and the ICC.

President Vicente Fox said he would lodge a diplomatic complaint, and was considering complaints to multilateral bodies if Mexico could not unable to resolve the problem bilaterally.

First off this law is only a problem for Mexico! Second I say bring it on - your government is already suing to protect it's income stream (Mexico's Poverty Plan). An estimated $17 billion dollars were sent from workers in the US last year. In comparision for 2004 EIA estimates Mexican oil export revenues were $21 billion.

According to Lou Dobbs (thanks to Diggers Realm):

Those earnings have added up to nearly $17 billion in the past year. Remittances, as they're called, are expected to become Mexico's primary source of income this year, surpassing the amount of money that Mexico makes on oil exports for the first time ever.

They will do whatever it takes to protect this income!

In the US, leaders of the Mexican community threatened to strike to send a message to US employers that they could not survive without cheap Mexican labor.

Santiago Creel, Mexico's interior secretary, said the “Real ID” law was “negative, inconvenient, and obstructionist”.

“Building walls doesn't help anyone build a good neighbourhood,” he said. “Taking away the possibility of obtaining driving licenses for people who are working in legal jobs, who pay their taxes there, who send remittances home here, seems to us to be an extreme measure, particularly given the new understanding that we thought we had after the re-election of President Bush.”

This is the key right there! Seriously, is it a legal job when your an illegal worker? And as far as their threat to US employers - well if they all strike at least we would know who was illegal wouldn't we!

DOESN'T THE TERM ILLEGAL TRANSLATE TO SPANISH? Someone help me out on this one.

The Mexican governments attitude toward the US and our sovereignty could blow back in their faces in ways that could destabilize their government. That would not be good for us, but it would be even worse for them.

It should definately get the attention of a President who has made every effort to regain our sovereignty and restore our right to take the actions that are in our best interests. Fox may have just stepped over the line - at least I hope that is the case, but based on the administrations record of boarder security so far I wouldn't bet on it.
DKK

Entertainment Trek - Orbitz Is So Gay

Just watching Will and Grace, yea, I get my Gay'ly fix and they just had an Orbitz commercial - the game show theme one - "Take On Orbitz".

But unlike their old one this one went like this:

"He's a travel editor and he has a new boyfriend! Orbitz the fastest way to find a gay friendly hotel!" Hugging and jumping by the boyfriends!

Okay, just high fives, jumps, and hugs but still it was nice to see.

I am not an in the fact type gay - as most of you probably figured out, but seeing gay issues treated as a normal fact of life is nice!

Commercial Closet has a review of the ad (you can view it there also) and determines that it is neutral (versus positive or negative).

This is the third dedicated gay commercial from Orbitz, which also does gay print media advertising. The company was able to uniquely determine exactly how many gay customers they had because of a dedicated Gay Travel section, which it calls a microsite, found on the home page along with other specialized travel interests. The company says it was the first general travel site to feature a gay section.

“Orbitz continues to make diversity a priority via our extensive gay travel microsite as well as in our marketing efforts and community outreach,” Mitch Truwit, president and CEO at Orbitz in Chicago, told Commercial Closet.

DKK

Boarder Patrol, "Don't" - We're Screwed!

U.S. Border Patrol agents have been ordered not to arrest illegal aliens along the section of the Arizona border where protesters patrolled last month because an increase in apprehensions there would prove the effectiveness of Minuteman volunteers, The Washington Times has learned.

That's it, with this type of boarder management we're screwed, simply screwed!
DKK

They Have No Idea

While we are on the subject of the news;

Lets face it, if you read trusted and respected blogs (such as my blogroll) you are some of the most informed people in the world. If you just visit Drudge a couple of times a day you are ahead of 75% of the public.

Speaking of Drudge, he really needs to hire someone again! His news is old and stale. Just a few months ago Jason asked me if shows like Fox and Friends just read Drudge and covered those stories, and it seemed as if that were the case. But today - now that his contributor moved on to the Huff and Puff Place his site isn't updated overnight most nights, and even during the day the updates are few and far between. He missed the NY Grenade story, the runaway bride returns (really up his ally), and pope news.

I am seriously considering finding a new news/breaking news page (if you have a good one let me know in comments.)

Back to the point, there are three or four TV news people who are as informed as blog readers are. Notably Brit Hume, Shepard Smith, John Gibson, Neil Cavuto, and Joe Scarborough.

And that is it!

On occasion you will get comments from people like Chris Mathews, Cal Thomas, or Bill O'reilly (who, because of his radio show, is a bit better informed) who only trust the "real" media sources like the AP or NY Times. These guys have repeatedly made comments that indicate that they have no clue when a story has progressed throughout the day beyond the birdcage liner.

The majority of the MSM are just media snobs who are out of date and will be left with their ink stained fingers of old news as their viewers realize they know more about the story then these hosts. What blogs they know of blogs are rumor and smear blogs (can you say Kos).

In Thomas' column today he proves that he, along with many of his compatriots, is now completely out of touch with modern media and information gathering. As Ace says;

Here, Cal Thomas makes an old-fogey jackass out of himself by screaming at the neighborhood kids to "Keep your damn blogs out of my yard!"

Cal says;

serious subjects such as the war and coming conflicts with China and possibly Russia take a back seat.If the public is unprepared for new threats and challenges, it will largely be the big media's fault for failing to prepare them. The public will share the blame for fixating on blogs.

In this he is completely and utterly wrong! Readers of blogs like those in my blogroll know more about these issues then Cal. Perhaps Cal needs to get his grandson to redo his bookmark file, and set the clock on his VCR while he is at it?
DKK

Update -- Hog On Ice has a great post about Wankette (Wonkette) where he describes the media's knowledge of bloggers like this:

Anyway, Wankette has no compunctions about accepting invitations to go on panel shows and give incorrect answers to questions about blogging, a phenomenon with which she has no personal experience. And the lazy morons in the press, who still know nothing about blogging, persist in inviting her. This is like Art Linkletter inviting The Monkees on his show in 1969 and asking them what it's like to be a real rock star.

DKK

How Do They Do That?

There are some stories the media just can't ignore and some, that if it weren't for talk radio and the blogs, they would do their best to bury or ignore.

So how do they report the good news that they can no longer ignore after giving us months and years of nay-saying experts and opinions?

"Unexpectedly high ......"

Unexpectedly high turnout in Iraqi elections
Unexpectedly high employment
Unexpectedly high GDP growth
Unexpectedly high dollar rate
Unexpectedly high exports

Why is the good news only unexpected when Republican policies work and who wasn't expecting it? Surely not the, field journalists - aka bloggers.
DKK

Stop the ACLU Blogburst - Felon Voting/Rights

Should felons be allowed to vote? Should the states be allowed to decide that? Before you answer that question go here and read the entire story.

Beyond the question of voting rights for felons (by the way the constitution grants the ability to restrict voting to the states for criminals, there is no right to vote) is the question of how we treat criminals in general.

When I was growing up I remember learning that when you choose to commit a felony you choose to give up many of your rights - in essence, choosing to live outside of society and it's laws you gave up some of the rights granted to you under those laws. Since that time, thanks to our legal system and the ACLU, our punishment system has become nothing more then a keep away system. Criminals can't be punished for their crimes any longer.

Luckily over the past 10 to 15 years, in large part due to voter frustration, some of the liberal soft on crime policies have been reversed, and the crime rates have gone down.

I read a posting on a blog yesterday, and I can't remember where it was -- looked all day today but can't find it, if I do I will update this post, or if you saw it let me know in the comments please - - where a group that supports criminal rights was complaining that a convicted mass murdered had too rough of a life while they were awaiting the end of their appeals prior to their execution. Of course no mention of the family or the trauma on a society. Based on their argument there is a solution, a faster execution, don't let this murderer languish at taxpayer's expense!

A greater solution would be a change in our criminal justice system. Eliminate, through legislation and if necessary via an amendment, the right for a convicted felon to sue the people (you and I) while they are incarcerated. As an integral part of this change establish a mediation system within the prison system that would expedite inmate grievances and render binding judgments for abuse of prisoners. Eliminate inmate rights that have been created via litigation and restore punishment to our criminal justice system.

This was a production of Stop The ACLU Blogburst! If you would like to join, it is very simple.

Go to our new portal at Protest The ACLU , click where it says "sign up now", and fill out a simple form. This will enable us to send you a weekly newsletter with information, and keep your email private. Current members who have not registered, please do so. There are additional advantages and features that will be available for you there...you can opt to use them, or not. Thank you!

In addition take a minute to visit the other sites on the Stop The ACLU blogburst, their links are on the right hand side of this page.
DKK

I Sleep With Dead People -- Or Is It Just Billy

A professor at the University of North Carolina was giving a lecture on the supernatural. To get a feel for his audience, he asks "How many people here believe in ghosts?"

About 90 students raise their hands.

"Well, that's a good start. Out of those of you who believe in ghosts, do any of you think you've seen a ghost?"
About 40 students raise their hands.

"That's really good. I'm really glad you take this seriously. Has anyone here ever talked to a ghost?"
About 15 students raise their hands.

"Has anyone here ever touched a ghost?"
3 students raise their hands.

"That's fantastic. Now let me ask you one question further...
Have any of you ever made love to a ghost?"

Way in the back, Billy Ray raises his hand. The professor takes off his glasses, and says, "Son, all the years I've been giving this lecture; no one has ever claimed to have made love to a ghost. You've got to come up here and tell us about your experience." The big redneck student replied with a nod and a grin, and began to make his way up to the podium. When he reached the front of the room, the professor asks, "So, Billy Ray, tell us what it's like to have sex with a ghost?"

Billy Ray replied, "Shit! From way back there I thought you said, "Goats!"

Joke of course and it's probably an old one. But I had a dream last night where I was saying Goat - I woke up with the word Goat on my mind. Now I don't remember seeing a goat, just using that word in my dream. I am not sure what that means but it reminded me of this.
DKK

Rockford Area Bloggers Trek - Update 051005

Update -- I have updated and posted Rockford Bloggers my Right Of The Star Blog, here is a link to the category.

Hey, came across another Rockford Area Blogger yesterday while commenting on the Hog On Ice site.

Snug Harbor Conservative from Byron IL. (new site - just switched from booger here, Snug Harbor!)

But his URL is moving soon. I will update when it does.

To update the ones from my last post:
Power and Control
Ryan Packer - 18y/o - interesting thoughts he had on the history of a road, went to prom and a great sounding boat ride on prom night!
Phil's Observations - Last update March 15
Purple Medical Blog - Medical Info
The Speed Shop - The Bodyshop Blog - Great pic's of a 66 Corvette! Beautiful car.
T1Rex - Telecom Tech
Brainspinning - far left Roscoe, IL - appears inactive 2/16/2005
DKK

Is It Wrong......(Cox)

Is it wrong that when Fox News announced the possible run of Nixon son in law Edward Cox to challenge Hillary Clinton for her New York Senate seat (no link yet) they said:

"The Clinton-Cox Battle..." - Donna Fiduca 11pm CDT news update

I immediately (and I mean Immediately) pictured the battle of the Clinton Cox, I mean Bill's against Hillary's!
DKK

Previous Wrongs: (Wrong me, wrong me!)
Poopie Shoot
Peckerwood


Updated with Edward's first name - here is an old link but not the one from tonight (Hillary Clinton Faces Campaign Challenges - April 18, 2005).

Mexico's Poverty Plan

Michelle Malkin's spin off The Immigration Blog has a great rundown of the follies that our relations with our own boarders have become.

Why can't we secure our boarders? Why is the Mexican Government suing everyone? Why would they be so pissed when someone proves that their cheating their own system?

You break the law, get caught and your government sues those who arrested you! That is what happened to Sgt. Patrick Haab, the guy who performed a citizens arrest on a group of illegals last month.

Mexico is reportedly working with a "human rights group" in Los Angeles on the matter. "Mexico may sue reservist in migrant detention" has a few more details:

The lawsuit could argue that reserve Sgt. Patrick Haab engaged in assault or illegal detention of the immigrants or caused them mental anguish, [Geronimo Gutierrez, the Mexican deputy foreign secretary for North America] said.

I can think of at least three usual suspects that Mexico might be working with, and I'll update this post if I find out which it is.

Go on TV and point out that the Mexican ID cards are for sale on every street in the US and you get investigated by the Mexican Government -- by the way, I am not even sure he violated a law here in the US, but I could be wrong.

In this regard, I would kindly ask you to surrender to this Consulate General the forged identification card which you have claimed you purchased in California in order to begin the corresponding investigation along with the federal authorities in New York and California. I am also advising you that our attorneys are currently exploring all legal avenues on this matter to determine responsibilities in the purchase and use of a forged Mexican government issued ID.

And Wizbang has this one

Last week, I told the tale of Police Chief Garrett Chamberlain of New Ipswich, New Hampshire, and his novel approach to dealing with illegal aliens. He charged Jorge Ramirez, 21, of Mexico, with "criminal trespass" for being in New Ipswich (as part of the United States) illegally. Last week Ramirez pleaded guilty and agreed to report for deportation in exchange for the $1,000 fine being waived.

But that was before the Mexican government got involved. They hired a local attorney for Ramirez (who had appeared without counsel in his first appearance), who filed a withdrawal of his plea. The court accepted it, and he now faces trial in July.

This has the earmarks of becoming a case of David vs. Goliath, as the entire government of Mexico puts its weight behind one of its wayward citizens in his fight with a small town in New Hampshire. But I think I see a way to even things up a bit.

The key is that Mexico will go to any length to protect their number one cash cow -- emigrants in the US who send some $17 billion dollars home last year. This is Mexico's poverty program and they will protect it.

The thing none of us understands is why the Feds won't do anything about the boarder problem, it makes no sense and no one has bothered to tell us what is up. It shouldn't take Minutemen on every mile of the boarder but perhaps that is what we need to do.
DKK

Wictory Wednesday - Kerry's 180

Today is Wictory Wednesday!

But I have two problems:

1. It is a repeat of Kerry's 180 from yesterday
2. I really messed it up and it screwed up the entire side bar

So please drop in to Polipundit for today's Wictory Wednesday while I figure out how to post this on blogger.
DKK

Words Look Wrong

Not having a good health night, mental functioning has declined and brain fog has set in. That often happens when my health start a downturn.

Words just don't look right - can't spell for crap.

Just thought I would let you know why things like battle was spelled battel and booger was spelled bogger. The spell check has caught many more but sometimes I just stare at it and can't see a difference......oh well.
DKK

Warning Against A History Rewrite

A big but under reported point that was a part of the President's visits and speeches this week --

Don't rewrite history!

We have done good things (Nazi's, freedom) and some not so good (Yalta, ignore Soviet horrors), but they are our history -- if we forget it or change it we risk repeating it! (Germany, Russia, France, yes we mean you guys!)

DKK

Who Shuts Down Midday? Booger That's Who!

Yep, big breaking story about an explosive device being thrown at the President and Blogger AKA booger is down!

Of course booger is the only company I deal with that shuts down midday on a weekday, but it's free so......... I can bitch and not worry about my rate going up.

Seriously, though, what is up with Drudge? He has been behind the 8 ball on breaking stories for weeks now! Especially overnight. He really needs to hire someone to replace that guy who went to work for Huffinton!

It took 20 minutes for him to hit this story, and hours on some of the others like the pope choice and the runaway bride found story!

I have offered my services since I am often up waiting for meds to kick in overnight but he hasn't answered my notes.
DKK
BTW, I am the worst speller in the world for an edjamacated man!

Anti Anti -- Could it happen?

Victor Davis Hanson at the AEI.

An excellent analysis of the possible rise in Anti anti-Americanism.

I would argue with only one point -- the rise in anti-Americanism is not a new thing, as I pointed out just yesterday, Everything Old.........

While VDH doesn't note that the anti-Americanism started long before the cold war ended he understands our reactions to our "allies" better then most! It is our reaction that could force the change.

There is another wild card at play that explains the decrease in anti-Americanism. After September 11, the American people are in a much less apologetic mood--more likely to pull troops or cut off aid than to ask forgiveness for imaginary grievances. No one here laments that we left the Philippines or are departing Germany. We took out Saddam without Belgians and Frenchmen, without bases in Turkey, and despite, not because of, the U.N. or Arab league.

America runs high trade deficits with Asia and Europe. It lets 20 million illegal aliens cross our borders. It spends liberally on defense, patrolling sea-lanes and protecting commerce rather than setting up autocracies and stealing oil.

Americans are finally beginning to wonder whether all these ungrateful folks are worth the toil and treasure. In response, critics abroad are beginning to sense that their cheap rhetoric may have real consequences, that maybe the U.S. was a good deal for the world, after all.

George W. Bush did not cause this new round of anti-Americanism. But he may well have done more than anyone to end it.

Remember, when you control the purse strings -- are the purchaser -- you have more power then when you are the seller. The threat of 300 million or more unemployed Chinese is power.

Loan a man 100 and you own him, loan a man a million and he owns you!
DKK

What's In A Thank You - Updated

This issue was gracefully resolved, if anyone thinks I over reacted I am sorry.

I specifically didn't mention any names and won't because as I said, "Or maybe I am reading too much into it, after all mistakes happen." Which was indeed the case.

I waited about 7 hours to post this so it didn't appear to be posted in anger, which it wasn't. I wasn't angry - just confused because the person usually does give thanks and it seemed strange.

I have made my share of mistakes and if I ever post without a thanks please let me know and I will fix it.
DKK





So you send people to a blog, they have a pretty good daily traffic (way bigger then yours) so your helping their numbers and they get referenced quite a bit by some of the bigger blogs. It seems they give out regular thanks to some people.

You give them visits - and they bounce back via site meter to see who is sending them, say at 7:41am CDT.

They enter on a page, spend 3 minutes 51 seconds and leave via another page (posted a week or so ago).

At 5:50am PST they make a post based on story on the page they exited - using the source that was referenced in your post (and acknowledge that they missed the old story last week).

Do you say anything? Should I feel slighted? Maybe it's because of how I smell? (see below) Or because I am disabled?

Or maybe I am reading too much into it, after all mistakes happen.

Just wondering.
DKK

UPDATE - Thanks for the note Pulpit Pounder, but it wasn't you.

BTW, I NEVER SAID ANYONE PLAGIARIZED ANYTHING!

Is It Wrong.....(Tires)

Is it wrong that I can't hear the Goodyear Aqua-shoot commercial (Captain Picard narrates) without blurting out:

Poopie Shoot

("Number One, engage Poopie Shoot!")
DKK
Previous Wrongs: (Wrong me, wrong me!)
Peckerwood

Everything Old.........

I spent most of the 80's studying and working - both too hard, but as someone once said hard work is it's own reward! Strange as it seems now I didn't pay as much attention to politics then, still I instinctively knew Ronald Reagan was doing something right.

As I reflect on those years I realized that the past couple years have felt like a strange deja vu.

During the 1980's we were inundated with the reports of how much influence the Christian organization known as The Moral Majority had on Republicans, the President, and our government. I also recall how that was spun to be a very bad thing at that time. What followed were repeated stories and investigations into Jim and Tammy Fay Baker, Jerry Falwell, Jimmy Swaggert, Billy Graham and anyone else involved in anything Christian.

From Demopedia (don't ask, it's wickipedia for the insane):

In 1981, a series of exposes by Memphis reporter Mike Clark led to the condemnation of the interactions between Moral Majority and the Republican Party. Though it claimed to represent the views of the majority of citizens, opinion polls as well as election and referendum outcomes suggest that it was less representative of public opinion than its name suggests. This, combined with what some saw as discrimination and elitism, led a humorist to remark, "The Moral Majority is neither moral nor a majority."

Sound familiar?

Don't get me wrong, there were serious problems with the ministries of some of those claiming to be moral, but the result of the media and secular liberals helped to entrench the anti-religious zealots that have gained extremely high levels of power in America. For example, the ACLU can change land use, education, historic symbols, etc. with nothing more then a threat.

But that wasn't all that came to mind from the 80's. As you might recall I love music, virtually all music and in the 80's who couldn't love new wave/techno music? The other day I remembered a song by a German guy, Peter Schilling. He had a cool song called Major Tom but that isn't the song that came to mind.

In 1983 this was the European attitude toward America:

where oh where is mickey mouse
live and well in the White House

whats the word on common sense
it's been sitting on the fence
have you seen the mastermind
someone's bashed it from behind
leaders saints and honest men
whats become of them today

let's play USA, let's play USA
how I love the life I lead
cannot think and cannot read
watch our values slip away
play the game of USA

even though we lost the race
to get the first man into space
we will be the first country
to run automatically
soon the robots we create
starring on the great wide wait

let's play USA, let's play USA
how I love the life I lead
cannot think and cannot read
watch our values slip away
play the game of USA

won't it be a lot of fun

every man will own a gun
shoot the ones whose point of view
makes a point that bothers you
go on and pollute the land
clean air will be sold in cans

did you hear the master plan
one nation under disney land

let's play USA, let's play USA
how I love the life I lead
cannot think and cannot read
watch our values slip away
play the game of USA

Flattering isn't it. Back then I was able to just skip that song whenever I listened to the album, I don't know if I could do that today. Frankly, this and other rants like this are one of the reasons I grew to have little respect for the Europeans and their "enlightened" worldview.

But read those lyrics again, remember these are from 1983, aren't these the same arguments we heard in the run up to the election from the left and the Euro Weenies? (President stupid, cowboys, ruining the environment, gun crazy....) Don't they realize that their playbook is at least half a century old and we've stopped listening!

Also, and this isn't just a minor point, but I can't recall a single anti-European song from those unsophisticated, closed minded Americans. Strange that the hatred would come from the, liberal, open minded, and accepting Euro's isn't it? Just as most of the hate today comes from the liberal side.

My point? Everything old is new again! Isn't it amazing we survived the Moral Majority and stranger still we survived our evil Cowboy Ways! Strange, not only did we survive, in fact we have greatly out performed the Euro's over the same 20 year period, destroyed the Soviet Empire which brought freedom to 50 million of their Euro brothers and I could go on, but you know the history already.

Bottom line, don't buy the line that America has lost respect in the world because of President Bush, don't buy the line that we are becoming a theocracy!
DKK

100 Days Mr. Kerry - Why The 180?

100 days ago, John Kerry promised, on national TV, to sign form SF-180 and release his military records. He has yet to do so.

This posting was part of the Tuesdays Kerry 180 Blogburst - check out the links on the right and stop in at Cao's Blog to enroll.

BTW,

MICKEY KAUS:

Today it's hard for politicians to wait out bad publicity because O.C.D.-like blogs are there to make sure the bad publicity doesn't go away. ... Example: How many days has it been since John Kerry said he'd sign Form 180 releasing his military records? Once upon a time an embarrassing promise like Kerry's might have been forgotten until the next campaign. Now he's nibbled to death by blogs.

DKK

Is It Wrong

Is it wrong that I can't even hear ads for the show Everwood without blurting out the word?

PECKERWOOD

Should I seek assistance from the asylum known as the DU?
DKK

The Smell Of Sex

No, not the mayonnaise story again (Mother Nature's a Bitch).... but two studies, "that provide additional evidence that sexual orientation is not all learned."

The Associated Press via Tucson News (If your redirected wait a sec for the front page and click on story, right top)...The homosexual men's brains responded more like those of women when the men sniffed a chemical from the male hormone testosterone. ...

When they sniffed smells like cedar or lavender, all of the subjects' brains reacted only in the olfactory region that handles smells.

But when confronted by a chemical from testosterone, the male hormone, portions of the brains active in sexual activity were activated in straight women and in gay men, but not in straight men, the researchers found. ...And when estrogen, the female hormone was used, there was only a response in the olfactory portion of the brains of straight women. Homosexual men had their primary response also in the olfactory area, with a very small reaction in the hypothalamus, while heterosexual men responded strongly in the reproductive region of the brain.
...

In a separate study looking at people's response to the body odors of others, researchers in Philadelphia found sharp differences between gay and straight men and women.

"Our findings support the contention that gender preference has a biological component that is reflected in both the production of different body odors and in the perception of and response to body odors," said neuroscientist Charles Wysocki, who led the study.

In particular, he said, finding differences in body odors between gay and straight individuals indicates a physical difference.

It's hard to see how a simple choice to be gay or lesbian would influence the production of body odor, he said.

Wysocki's team at the Monell Chemical Senses Center studied the response of 82 heterosexual and homosexual men and heterosexual and homosexual women to the odors of underarm sweat collected from 24 donors of varied gender and sexual orientation.

They found that gay men differed from heterosexual men and women and from lesbian women, both in terms of which body odors gay men preferred and how their own body odors were regarded by the other groups.

Gay men preferred odors from gay men, while odors from gay men were the least preferred by heterosexual men and women and by lesbian women in the study. Their findings, released Monday, are to be published in the journal Psychological Science in September.

Perhaps this response is one of the sensors involved in the all elusive Gaydar?

Having been extremely sensitive to olfactory stimulation my entire adult life, I could have told them that. Regarding the olfactory influence on physical attraction Every woman I have discussed this with (and if you know me you know I talk about everything with virtually everyone with little self censorship) agrees with this finding - they can't stand a woman's body odor but a good smelling man is a turn on. Not stink mind you, but the natural everyday odor. Seriously, does anything beat the smell of a man?

Being gay is not a choice and I can't imagine anyone believing someone would choose to be gay. While discussing the idiot Moby's promise to abuse any future children I said:

See, as a gay man there actually is a choice, but not the one you would expect.

The ONLY choice is weather to be honest and live as you were born, be true to yourself and this is a painful choice. Imagine giving up what is often called the American Dream! No wife, no biological children, no wedding, possible discrimination in work and housing, and often the distancing from your family.

Often it is the resentment of others reactions - ingrained, learned, legitimate reactions - that causes the closet problems we hear about, ask former Governor McGreevey's wife about that one. I also think this is a factor the gay radical's unwillingness to accept human nature as legitmate -- except for their own of course.

Now for the distasteful part -- NO, not what you were thinking -- did they adjust for underarm hair cause some of those lesbians can be hairy like monkeys!
DKK
(BTW, HT Towleroad)

Would We Recognize A Modern Tet?

What would it look like? How would you plan it? Is it even possible in today's world?

Tet is considered by many to be the turning point in the Vietnam conflict. It is the point when the media turned against the war and their influence on public opinion was virtually insurmountable in 1968. What, "was militarily a defeat for the Communists; it had weakened them very substantially," became one of the greatest propaganda victories of all time. The old line was that once we lost Walter Cronkite the war was lost.

But today we have a media that has been hostile toward the administration and has always been against the GWOT (Greater War On Terror), including the fronts in Iraq and as strange as it may sound some were even against Afghanistan. As such, like the boy who cried wolf their cries of Tet would have little effect.

Terrorist organizations by their very nature are about propaganda and influencing public reaction and behavior.

Following the terror attacks of the past 3 decades, including the spectacular attacks of 9/11 would we recognize a Tet style coordinated attack? More specifically if you were a terrorist organization what would be effective enough to shock and impact the American public into believing that the war was lost without pissing us off worse then we were (and some of us still are) following 9/11?

Would it have to be a day of coordinated attacks with attacks big and small taking place around the world? Imagine attacks on every continent, some big, say truck bombs and some small, say one of those fake grenades.

It would prove to the faithful and those on the fence in the GWOT that al Qadea was still functional and had an intact command and control structure. As a recruiting and retention technique they have to prove they are still relative and that has become harder and harder as we have dismantled their organization.

Would an attack of that magnitude have the Tet effect or would it just cause the world to come together and redouble it's efforts on terror? It is hard to say, but I wouldn't put money on the terrorists.

My guess is that, for it to have the desired effect, a modern Tet would have to take place in just Iraq and perhaps Afghanistan and would have to be coordinated and country or region wide.

Al Qadea hasn't been known for it's rational military and political planning since 9/11 but as a dying gasp would a spectacular day of attacks be out of the question?
DKK