By The Way - Thanks Jane

Thanks to Jane (Armies of Liberation) for the New Years Wishes!

She has a great, well, rant is a good word on One Species - check it out!
DKK

Back to bloggin

Hey, hope to get back to the Daily Treks and other blogging this weekend.

Lots happening here has kept me busy and thinking, just not bloggin!
DKK

Daily Trek 123104 - A Year

And what a year it was! I am not going to do a look back on 2004, so many things happened it wouldn't be possible to hit all the highlights.

All I will do is wish you all the best for the year ahead and ask that if you haven't donated funds to help those affected by the deadly Tsunami please do so now, over 140,000 - ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND - people dead so far!

The stingy Americans have already donated over $200,000,000 ($200 million) in total contributions and will continue to do so because we are the most generous nation that has ever existed.

Happy New Year - may the blessings of the year ahead light all your lives.
DKK

Amazon's Red Cross Donations Here - $7 million as of Midnight 12/31/2005

Update - the US Government has increased it's commitment tenfold to $350 Million. Stingy, Americans!
DKK

Daily Trek 122904 - UN believable

The devastating tsunami in the Indian Ocean is unbelievable. Wizbang has a rundown of posts here.

If you haven't given yet Amazon is collecting donations here - thanks Instapundit - almost a million dollars as of 1:44 12/29/04 (what, we're supposed to be stingy!)

Now we know what kind of mind set it takes to work in that sinkhole known as the United Nations! What kind of thought process does it take to honestly believe that charity is required and that the most generous nation in the world is stingy? That is screwed up!

unfortunately that is what the anti-American left around the world believe. Amazingly they forget this:

"In short," researchers Alexander Karp, Gary A. Tobin and Aryeh Weinberg write in the journal Philanthropy, "American philanthropy is extraordinary by any world standard and the reason is that America herself is exceptional." (4rww)

Or perhaps we should take a real look at how the bureaucratic system Mr. Egeland loves, Prestopundit has this post - so striking I am posting the entire thing.

IN ONE YEAR private citizens in Americans sent $35.8 billion overseas to help out non-Americans. The year used for those figures was 1998. The numbers today would be far higher.

Meanwhile, most foreign assistance from Norway -- the home of U.N. bureaucrat Jan Egeland -- comes not from private citizens, but from the government. An inefficient and wasteful government bureaucracy in fact:

The Norwegian Department of Foreign Aid is under heavy criticism from state auditors for gross misspending of aid money. Funds are wasted on pointless projects and expensive consultants, and there are few routines for retrospective self-evaluation and verification that the money has gone where it was supposed to go, that it actually did any good ..

More on Egeland here.

If you'd like to think or write intelligently about foreign aid, it's non-optional to have read some Peter Bauer, winner of the Friedman Prize.

Speaking of the American haters and their Pundidiots they are always harping that the President doesn't, "admit his mistakes," - don't we have to have reached the point where the an accurate determination can be made as to weather a mistake was actually made?

Just a thought - like I have said before I think the President has so much more info on the things these Pundidiots love to harp on that he can make these determinations.

Speaking of which, the "Bush Honeypot Doctrine" analysis is right on point - and is something the dem's and many Pundidiots just can't seem to understand! (Thanks 4rww)

Okay, the funniest writing I have seen anywhere in a long time is at the Hog on Ice blog - go here for his Gay Underpants post and see if you don't agree!

BTW, did you know that Blogger spellcheck suggests breastfeeding for Prestopundit?
DKK

Merry Christmas

All my best to every reader of this site!

Merry Christmas and God Bless everyone!
David

Time - W of the year!

Time Magazine has named President George W. Bush their Person of The Year!

Excellent analysis of this at America's Future here and here.
DKK

UPDATE: While I love the fact that GWB received this award I can't help but wonder if he really won it because the people at Time and the rest of the MSM can't believe he won the election. After all, everyone they know hates him with a passion! They know the deck was stacked against him. Was he given this honor as a way of asking how they could have misunderestimated the American people? Just a thought.
DKK

Tree Trek 121604 - Eyes Too Big

Yesterday we got our tree. We both loved the tree we had last year - it was perfect for the space. Not too wide, not too tall, just right!

Well this year our eyes were bigger then our stomache! Seriously bigger! Even for the sunken room and the huge empty space it is big.

It is pretty, but looks more like something you would find in the Center Court of a Mall.

Oh, and Jason is a master at decorating!
DKK

Daily Trek Wednesday 121404 - Pundidiots

Okay, just the other day I said that I was amazed at how wrong the pundits or as I will now call them Pundidiots have been about almost everything President Bush has done. Worse yet it appears that the majority of them are arrogant rather then just short sighted as I had opined.

Today Roger Simon has this great insight into one of the key Iraqi complaints, the disbanding of the Iraqi Army. Once again it proves my point that the President and those in charge have some information available to them when they make these informed decisions. It goes like this:

As it happens, the question of whether we should have "disbanded the Iraqi Army" came up at our party for Iraq the Model the other night. Because I have never been to Iraq, speak no Arabic, never have been in the Army, etc., unlike others, I have never had a strong opinion on this issue. I simply do not consider myself qualified. But I have to say I was surprised at the response to the question. Omar, the younger brother, all of twenty-four but waaay wise beyond his years, simply laughed and said it would have been impossible. There was no way we could have kept the Iraqi Army together even if we had wanted to. The Iraqi Army, hugely underpaid conscripts who hated what they were doing, had already dissolved before we got to Baghdad. No one wanted any part of it. There was no Iraqi Army to preserve. We had to start all over again - which we have... eventually.

So there you have it - that issue according to one Iraqi anyway. Believe him if you wish. I weight his opinion at least more highly than my own. But others would prefer to blame Bremer. As for whether we had enough troops, I remain agnostic on that too.

Amazing how easy it would have been for these Pundidiots to just ask someone before they blather on about these things.

In another direction totally - there are no Google entries for Siberian Muskie. Why hasn't someone done a photoshop or something like that for these poor furry fish with curly tails? Am I can't be the only one who thinks of things like this, can I?

Update - check out the fool that Right Wing News fisked all the way to the woodshed! This guy, Harley Sorenson has only one focus and that is his hatred of America. Where were this guys parents when he was growing up?

DKK

The Peterson Circus Continues

Despite the finding of guilt and today's recommendation from the jury of Death the circus continues.

My opinion:

I cared before he was arrested, who knows you don't want a murderer or a cult or something running around.

Didn't give a rat's ass about the last 6 months and all the speculation. Turned the channel when they started talking about.

Cared about the verdict and penalty - but just enough to know what the results were, don't care what the jury or the pundits think.

Happy as hell that it is over now can we move on! It is projected that 15,500 people were murdered in the US this year let's hope we don't have to sit through this for every one of them! (I pray for each of their families, but I doubt even they want their loved one's lives paraded through this circus.)
DKK

Observations on This Trek

Here are some random observations on this Trek we call Life!

Middle East Peace for Dummies - Stop blowing up innocent civilians, kill all those that do!

Social Security Reform - Imagine the wealth creation that would occur in just 3 generations when the left over funds are passed on to the account owner's beneficiary! This would be a windfall to our grandchildren! Particularly to blacks and an huge bonus to Gay Partners. Imagine the benefits to charities! Want to pass this reform - get these people to see these benefits and they will get it passed!

It is often possible to identify a Liberal by their appearance which leads me to believe it is a genetic trait! I wonder if they have a form of Gaydar that goes off when they meet in the street?

Speaking of which, Peter Beinart of the New Republic is under attack from the so called tolerant left for encouraging his party to get tough on Terrorism or risk extinction. He will find himself in the Andrew Sullivan zone soon - BTW, Andrew was also the Editor of the New Republic! Actually Beinart may end up in the Zell Miller wing of the Republican Party, or perhaps a Gay Patriot sooner then you would imagine!

The Democrats are so short sighted that they honestly believe that people voted, "against their own interests." Which really means that they voted against immediate rewards in an attempt to overcome long term problems. This thinking is why they will never be able to achieve Peter Beinart's goal of being tough on terrorism. If today's lib's were in power in WWII we might just have lost that one!

I am sick of pundits who, just like the Dem's mentioned above, can't see the long term issues but would rather harp on the short term blips.

This short term thinking is also why Dem's would never reform Social Security - they can't see past next week - and as Ann Coulter once said - paraphrased - for them history began this morning.

Journalists and the rest of the left think it is their job to make news rather then report news. This is pure stupidity!

Drove past a car on the way to MIL's (Jas Mom) that I would have pulled over if I were a cop. It had a flag emblem on the window that had been placed upside down - like the idiots on the far left love to do now. Remember Kerry's hatred for the symbols of America - here is more proof that the left hates everything America is today. According to the United States Code this display of the flag (§176. Respect for flag - a)

The flag should never be displayed with the union down, except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.

That is why I would have stopped this long haired idiot! I would have made him get out of the car and checked to see if he was being held at knife point and had him explain what danger he was under. The intent of displaying the flag like this was similar to dialing 911 before we had phones!

A front in the War on Terror I forgot when I wrote The Fronts In This World War includes a direct attack on the world wide international corruption! We can't defeat terrorism without a victory in this front, it is what buys governments, funds terrorists, and allows acts of terrorism to be explained by nuance!

I hate nuance!

More as the come to me!
DKK

Blogroll Changes

Hey, on this Sunday I decided to stop being lazy and to add some of my favorites to the Blogroll on the right.

I added:
Ace
American Future
Dane
Roger
Random

Stop by, I do every day!

I wish Alphabet City had updated since September 27, 2004 but they have been busy, and were kind enough to let us know!!! I know how that goes and how much work goes into well thought out blogs! I have removed them but will add them back when blogging starts up again.
DKK

Daily Trek 12082004 - Checkers of Chess

Michael J. Totten has a bit on Andrew Sullivan that started a flurry of comments about the short sighted Queen. FYI for today's Trek I give you my two cents.

I was only a short timer at Andrew's blog. It didn't take long to realize that he was far from the well though out person many here have made him out to be. As a matter of fact, like many pundits today, he is a short sighted checkers player in a chess world.

As a Gay man I also realized that he suffers from that part of the "gay gene" that makes him read the end of a story first. Always wanting to jump to the climax. Something BTW that many hetero's also suffer from. The President has always said this WOT was a long process (a comparison to Truman's recognition of the Cold War and our 50 year policy shift addressing the communists is quite accurate in this case).

Those who bemoan Iraq as a stunning failure are premature at best and fools at worst.

Lets see, the President warned about Iraq, Iran, Korea, steroids, the UN, etc. and has been correct on all of them. These warnings were based on his information. Information the impatient pundits like Andrew didn't have (thank God!) and weren't willing to dig deep enough to find!

The unrecognized fronts in the war on terror include the economic homefront and the direct attack on international corruption. Both of these are just as important as the military fronts for a complete and unconditional victory.

Andrew is more of the UK/Euro conservative type that honors society over the individual and as such fits more in the DLC then in the conservative movement - true conservative or Neocon.
DKK

Pearl Harbor Day Trek 120704

Take a minute to honor all those who served our nation during the times of trial.

The families, friends and service members who have sacrificed to keep our nation safe are all heros.

As our nation came under attack on 9/11 many of us reflected upon that date 63 years ago when our nation was also attacked without warning. I thank God every day for those brave citizens who chose the honor of serving our nation then, just as the heros of today make the same choice.

They knew honor and in return we honor them today.
DKK

PS - One of the greatest ways we have honored them all during this past year was the with the defeat of the dishonorables on 11/2/2004.
DKK

Daily Trek Monday 120604

Okay, been helping out my cousin a couple hours a day for the past few weeks. Unfortunately those were the hours I did the Trek.

I realized a bit more about my disability. Every day I am challenged with thoughts that if I were just a bit more motivated I could accomplish the world. Well, it ain't true and it ain't gonna happen!

Motivation has nothing to do with physical limitations do!

It really makes me admire those like Charles Krauthammer who have made their disability just another part of their successful lives.

The Trek (it's gonna be a small one today):

Check out the Weblog Awards that were put together by Wizbang! I am not on them but frankly with my poor track record the past month or so I wouldn't have been comfortable being on them.

While your there check out the post on how the Democrats at Kos blog tired to cheat! Unfortunately to their mind they got caught - now they will call for as many recounts as it takes until they are declared the winner just like the governors race in Washington!

I am amazed that there are people at the NY Times that think the Oil For Food scam was 1) our fault for not monitoring it closely enough, 2) not a big deal!

Are they serious? The big deal isn't the amount of money, although over $23 billion to date and rising is the greatest theft in history, but the real big deal is that this money was supposed to feed and care for the Iraqi people! Where is their harping on this? Check out Instapundit here and here for updates. Kofi (UN) Annan had his son using his UN paid for Townhouse for business, followed his Dad around on business and was getting money right up until the scandal broke last February.

And these are the people the left trust to make policy for the world! The Security Council was bought and paid for by Saddam and we were supposed to take their advice! I have said before that the real war wasn't just with Saddam but with all of the corrupt, and I have no doubt that the President was aware of the corruption!

The nations of the world that corrupted the UN continue to attack the US in their press leading to greater hatred as a way to stay in power. They have sold their souls and their nations souls!

By the way, I am #3 on Google search for linger farts!
DKK

MORE: Michelle Malkin has this link to Claudia Rosett's Archive on the oil for food debacle! She has been the lead, often the only, investigative reporter tackling this story! Michelle recommends a Pulitzer for Claudia!

Still More: From Tigerhawk (thanks Roger Simon) comes a complete analysis of the NYT attempts to whitewash Kofi (Hood) and the (merry) UN!

But the oil-for-food scandal is not primarily about the lining of Saddam's pockets -- it's about the manipulation of, and therefore the legitimacy of, Security Council decisions.

DKK

Boy that didn't work out

Okay, that didn't work out.

Sorry I haven't gotten a trek together for a few days. Very reflective of my life though.

We had a computer crash, blogger was taking way too long, and then I had an ongoing headache that I hope is gone today!

Attorney appointment then hopefully I can get some rest and get in a Trek.
DKK

Where Have I Been?

Where have I been? Nowhere! Just overloaded lately.

To top that off today Dizzy almost to the point of puking. Not sure the exact reason, but trying to get past it.

I have a Trek for tomorrow I think - it just needs to be put on paper (or screen.)
DKK

Reflective of His Presidency - But Cheaper!

Okay, the Clinton Library opened today to the media fanfare you would expect from the leftist MSM.

Jason and I drove past this wonder of modern architecture last year as it was under construction and at the time I didn't notice how much like a mobile home it looked! Yes, modern architecture at it's finest! If I were in Little Rock I would be worried because you know Mobile Homes are nothing but Tornado Magnets! Ace puts it this way:

Okay, It Really Does Look Like a Mobile Home

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

As we looked at the construction there was a billboard that stated the library was intended to represent Clinton's, "bridge to the 21st century," promise. I noticed that it was an exact representation of Clinton's failed Presidency - a bridge to nowhere!

I pointed this out to Jason at the time by saying that just like his Presidency he made lots of promises but never actually made it.



Like his Presidency his library starts out fine, but just kinda ends without ever making it to the other bank. He left us hanging there over the water - never reaching the 21st Century - kinda in a vulnerable position all ready for 9/11, the corporate indictments for the crimes during the 90's, the failed healthcare scam that lead to the vaccine fiasco, etc.

This legacy is what President Bush called, "Kicking the can down the road."

This, along with the glossed over impeachment for perjury, are the Clinton legacy and his library reflect that perfectly. (including the trailer appearance that perfectly reflected the attitude of many that it is a good thing to get a hummer in the Oval Office!)

And they paid 165 million dollars for that! Unfortunately his Presidency cost us more then we can calculate!
DKK

Daily Trek 111704 Blogger Busted

Hey, yesterday I couldn't get on blogger at all and today I am still having difficulty! I will try to post more if it lets me!
DKK

Daily Trek 111504 UNSCAM

Okay, I promise today's won't be another sinker.

We thought Saddam scammed the Iraqi people and the world to the tune of 11 billion, but now we learn that we can varify it was actually over 21 billion dollars. Money he used to fund terror and bribe governments that have opposed the US at every turn related to Iraq and world politics and continue to oppose us to this day. Perhaps they believe our facts are starting to catch up with their fears and the funds! (See Novak for more info)

I watched the Senate investigation into the Oil For Food (OFF) UN-SCAM and I am amazed! The UN didn't care who received the vouchers (money) only who "lifted" or received the oil itself. That eliminated any chance they had to catch the fraud that is reported to include bribery of Benan Sevin the UN employee in charge of making sure the OFF program was properly enforced!

Nothing like having the patients running the institution!

The UN is a corrupt organization that has turned into a wing of the Palestinian government. It's main goal is the destruction of Israel and the reduction in the status and influence of the United States.

Amazingly the Democratic Party is still willing to defend and empower the goals of this corrupt organization. The arrogant Senator Carl Levin (D-Michigan) made it clear in his statement and questions that the US was to blame for the actions of the UN and that the sanctions were working and would have taken care of Saddam. This was in direct contradiction to the testimony - yes the sanctions were working BEFORE the OFF scam began. That is why Saddam accepted the program to begin with. It didn't take him long to realize that he could rebuild his military via the funds he received from the program. The military budget exploded from 7 million in 1996 before the OFF scam began to 500 million when he was removed.

Levin attacked Deulfer for making conclusions based on Iraqi data! He made a fool of himself and clearly demonstrated why the Democratic Party has relegated itself to a minority party!

Yesterday, as if to confirm his complete corruption and willingness to whore everything French for cash Jacques Chirac tells the British that they haven't received any rewards yet for their support of America! (BTW, he is strongly pushing the need for Europe to be a Major Power to counter the United States!) Nice guy isn't he!

Thanks Danegerous for this great and accurate picture!

Let me point out again that had the UN and our enemies in Europe not been so completely corrupted the action against Iraq may have been avoided! That is what amazes me about the left, the media, and the Euro-weenies!

Here is another great blame the US story from the AP brought to us by Ace of Spades:

A U.S. Marine shot and killed a wounded and apparently unarmed Iraqi prisoner in a mosque in the former insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, according to dramatic pool television pictures broadcast Monday. A Marine spokesman in Washington said the shooting was under investigation.

Ace makes this point:

It also has to be noted that these guys have played dead before. And that "playing dead" is not surrendering. And that if you're not surrendering, you're a legitimate target.

It should be pointed out that earlier a Marine was killed when a booby trapped body exploded. A poster (iso) at FreeRepublic makes this observation:

Gunmen abducted police Col. Qassim Mohammed, took him to the Buhriz police station and threatened to kill him if police didn't surrender the station. When police refused, the gunmen tied the colonel's hands behind his back and shot him dead. More

nah.. its terrorists stringing up the corpses of civilian contractors on a bridge.

In other news, a mutilated body of a woman was found in Fallujah. The body was disemboweled.

Why the hell is that not making front page news?

DKK

More: OH, as if to demonstrate his parties idea of the OFF program Levin referred it to the, "Oil For Peace" program. That is what Saddam believed it was too! If he gave away oil he could pay for peace!

Daily Trek Monday 111504 Linger

Getting back to regular writing has been rougher then I thought. When I was ready after the election I ran out of meds. Well I received those on Saturday and now things are starting to get a bit better, but I have to admit the elections were quite an inspiration for blogging!

Hopefully things medically will improve in the next few days and I will get back to a more regular schedule of writing. In addition I have noticed that when I write I tend to be much more respectful of the readers feelings then I do when I speak. That is interesting, as if I were speaking to a group rather then to one or two people.

For example - the thought occurred to me today to explain what I call "linger farts". But would that be appropriate in front of a group? Sure, to my friends I wouldn't hesitate to describe how linger farts are those that almost burn your bung hole when they come out and seem to hang around for what seems like eternity! They are also the deadly smelling ones! These differences could be the result of a different composition - perhaps a greater methanol content. Are these the ones you can light - I have never tried - that killed Kenny you know!

However in a group of people I doubt I would EVER go to that extreme and I am not sure if I would ever write about that here....................um,.............well,..................ever again that is - see, now I feel like I need to apologize for covering that!

That is that balance in blogging. Some such as Ace and Dane manage it well, blending the rude with the crude with the important news of the day. Some rage and are proud of that - Dave at FWRR I am talking about you! Some are just up front and to the point like Random. Still others are professionals no matter what like the Powerline guys, CQ, Hugh, and Roger!

When I started this blog it was intended as my observations on life - with an emphasis on politics and current events, but blogs are ever evolving media forms. Today's Trek was, in essence, a stinker - pardon the pun, but that observation made me laugh when it popped into my mind. So why not share with you - with any luck it won't LINGER but who knows, the next time your alone and let some gas pass...........and the door rings...........and the air won't clear.............you'll think of me and you'll curse the term Linger Fart!

Have a great day!
DKK