The Violence Worker!

Just What We Need - Another World Court!

There are already two world courts.  One is for criminal cases involving war crimes and the like and the other is supposed to solve international disputes.  Both are based in the liberal holy city of The Hague.  A year ago, Ahmadinajad suggested we needed a world Islamic court.   And now, a group of lawyers (Who else?) are calling for an international court for the environment.

The concept is always good.  The execution is almost always bad and in this case, it isn't just bad, it's downright evil. 

The first role of the new body would be to enforce international agreements on cutting greenhouse gas emissions set to be agreed next year.

But the court would also fine countries or companies that fail to protect endangered species or degrade the natural environment and enforce the "right to a healthy environment".

They've created a new "right" and now they need a way to enforce it.  One can only imagine the wreckage to the world economy this would cause. 

Mr Hockman said the court may be able to fine businesses or states but its main role will be in making "declaratory rulings" that influence and embarrass countries into upholding the law.

That's just what we need, isn't it?  A way to bankrupt industry even more.

When do we get a court to enforce real rights like those in the original 10 amendments?

VW

Firefox Vs. Chrome

For the past several days, I've been using Google's Chrome browser.  It's very similar to the Safari browser; they use the same engine.

Chrome is quick.  I think it is probably faster than Firefox, but speed isn't exactly the only criterion in which to judge a browser.  I like my bookmarks displayed on the left.  I do more than just blog or read the news.  I have an RSS reader that takes care of most of that anyway and blogging can even be done from one of my Firefox extensions. 

I tried hard to like Chrome, sticking with it for as long as I did, but in the end, I'm back to Firefox.

VW

The Lesson Of Mumbai

The war on terror is not about being nice to people nor is it about us being involved in the Middle East. It's not a traditional symmetrical war where you have men in uniforms opposing each other on opposing fronts fighting for territory. What has replaced it is something more terrifying and brutal.

We often speak of a culture war or clash, but we do so figuratively, not literally. Usually it's a collision of ideas and philosophy, not an out right bullet swap. The attack on Mumbai was an all out, live-fire attack on culture.

Mumbai was a huge escalation in the this war. In the past, bombs would be planted, or suicide bombers would blow themselves up in a crowd. Terrifying, but usually with limited results. It was one or more coordinated explosions and over with in a few minutes. This was a direct attack on specific buildings with automatic weapons targeting unarmed civilians. News reports are saying that it was a band of 10-40 dedicated commando style terrorists.

It was evident that they were both well trained and their attack was well planned and orchestrated. They knew their targets and their layouts. I've even read that they might have been receiving coordination via Blackberry from some sort of command center

Radical Islam is not about borders. It's about spreading Islam. They don't care about their lives or how long it takes. They believe the world will be their Caliphate and we will eventually bow to Mecca.

Our next attack on our soil will not be a jet liner crashing into a skyscraper. Even if this attack was simply a continuation of the on-going Pakistani-Indian dispute, terrorists worldwide took notice. They saw what a small group of well trained fanatics can accomplish. Mumbai wasn't chosen just for it's tourist location, it was chosen because it is the financial hub of India. They know that by making people afraid to visit or do business in Mumbai, they would harm the Indian economy. Folks have been saying it was India's 9-11 and I would agree with that premise.

This is a war on the west. This is a war on anyone and anything that is not Islamic. This was not an isolated attack and it will happen again, somewhere soon - maybe in your city.

Police and the armed forces better start preparing for such an eventuality and fast!

VW

Black Friday

All the predictions for Black Friday were dire.  I don't know about your part of the country, but here in Tacoma, it appears that it will be a green Christmas for retailers and I don't mean ecologically.  Our daughter went to work this morning at the Adriatic Grill (A really great restaurant, but they need to update their beer list.) this AM and she just called to tell us that she cannot find a parking space anywhere near the restaurant!  Keep in mind, that the Adriatic Grill is on a pad out  beyond the mall.

Tragically, the news this morning is about some Walmart shoppers who started a stampede, broke down the doors and killed an employee in their mindless  rush to save a buck.  They should  arrest the whole lot of them for negligent homicide.  I doubt that is feasible, but it would certainly be justice.  

We are losing our humanity, slowly but surely.  As one shopper exclaimed, "They're savages.

I agree.

VW

Mumbai - What It Is and Isn't

The cowardly attack on Mumbai by Islamic terrorists will go down in the annals of history as one of the most despicable and horrendous acts in the first decade of the 21st century.  It's a turning point in Islamic terrorism. Instead of suicide bombs or some sort of car bomb, this was a direct attack on a city upon unarmed citizens.This was meant to inflict major damage and instill terror in the population.

If you've been reading the news, you know how horrendous this attack was.  I expect things will escalate from here.  The next attack on a city, in India or somewhere else, will be bigger and deadlier.  It is a tragedy and I certainly wish the Indian Government and the citizens of Mumbai will recover quickly from this dastardly deed.

What it isn't is a test for Obama.  First of all, Obama is not in charge of anything more than his transition team and he can do nothing but issue a statement saying "Bad Terrorists" which is what he did.  He cannot direct aid, troops or anything else in support of the Indian government.  He isn't even a Senator now!.  Sorry O worshippers, but as a President elect, all he can direct is his press releases.

This attack will be over by almost two months by the time he gets in office.  Much can change in that time.  I'm sure that president Bush will do all that he can to support India in this crisis.  Obama will probably have his own test soon enough.

Our prayers go with the citizens of Mumbai and the Indian people.

VW

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving all - especially to those of you who serve this great nation!  Come home safely.   We are thankful and grateful for your service!

VW

I Don't Care How It Started, I'm Thankful!

Year after year any more, it's the same old story.  The politically correct crowd tries to do their dead level best to ruin everyone's Thanksgiving.  They try to portray the Europeans as evil, genocidal maniacs and the Indians as pure, innocent lovers of Mother Earth.  The folly is trying to cast 21st century morality on 16th century people.  It makes about as much sense as condemning the pilgrims for not having modern farm tractors to plow their fields.

I don't particularly care how Thanksgiving came about.  It doesn't matter to me.  I'm glad we set aside a day to be grateful for the people and things in our life.  If you don't like the sugar-coated story we were all taught in grade school, fine - don't.  Just don't try to ruin the whole holiday for the rest of us because of your unfounded guilt.

Just be thankful.  If you can't find anything to be thankful for, than you are truly one sad person.  Just go sit in front of your TV for the day and watch the Cartoon Network and leave the rest of us alone. 

I'll thank you for that!

VW

More Devaluation

It seems that everything is losing its value these days.  Your 401k is probably looking more like a  200.5e and your bank account has more cobwebs than cash.  The economy, once humming along like a well oiled machine, is grinding gears and sputtering to a halt. 

There's one other thing that lost value this week, although it didn't make the financial times.  The life of a white male was deemed to be worth less then any other type of human.  What's even a little surprising is that it was a committee mostly comprised  mostly of white people of Anglo-Saxon descent.   Canada has some indigenous people and the larger cities have minority populations, but by and large, the place is lily white.

From the Vancouver (Canada) Sun:

OTTAWA - The Carleton University Students' Association has voted to drop a cystic fibrosis charity as the beneficiary of its annual Shinearama fundraiser, supporting a motion that argued the disease is not "inclusive" enough.

Cystic fibrosis "has been recently revealed to only affect white people, and primarily men" said the motion read Monday night to student councillors, who voted almost unanimously in favour of it. The decision caused heated reaction and left at least one member of council calling for a new vote.

So my life is now worth less than others if I have cystic fibrosis according to these idiots.   The problem is that the idea that it is primarily a "White Man's Disease". 

The rationale for dropping cystic fibrosis as the beneficiary is not correct, [Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation chief executive Cathleen Morrison] said. CF is diagnosed just as often among girls as boys, although the health of girls deteriorates more rapidly, she said. It is commonly considered an illness that affects Caucasians, but that includes people from the Middle East, South America, North Africa and the Indian subcontinent.

" 'Caucasian' as we understand it isn't just white people," said Morrison. "It includes people with a whole rainbow of skins."

To base your decision on giving to a good caused based upon ethnicity or gender is just another form of bigotry.  That's like someone saying they won't give money to help sickle cell anemia because it isn't inclusive enough.  It affects mostly people of sub-Saharan ancestry.

It's bigotry. It's devaluing human life.  It's an example of liberal, elitist behavior.

VW

Impeach Bush, Save The Economy!

Rochelle Riley is living proof that you don't have to possess any real intelligence or critical thinking skills to be a journalist.  All you have to do is be a nut ball moonbat liberal and possess the ability to type more than just random keystrokes on a computer keyboard.   And to be elevated to the status of "columnist", it appears that the qualifications aren't much different except that you might have to be a little more insane and off your meds.

Ms. Riley, in all of her moonbat nutty goodness,  shares with us the secret for curing our ailing economy.  Impeach Bush!  That's all we need to do to save the Republik is take Bush out and let "The One" proceed with his economic master plan.  She has it all figured out.

First is the timeline.  With just 55 days left to get Bush, they have to move fast.

Pelosi wouldn’t have to start from scratch: Rep. Dennis Kucinich, the bravest member of Congress, introduced legislation 11 months ago to impeach the president and vice president. Last January, the House gave a first reading of one of those articles of impeachment. Our own Rep. John Conyers, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, joined 38 other representatives to sponsor HR 635, which would form a committee to look into whether there are grounds for impeachment. Revive that effort!

OK, they have the paperwork done, so that saves maybe 15 minutes.  I've seen Kook-cinich's articles of impeachment and they couldn't have taken this brave man more than that to think these up.  It's all the standard boilerplate moonbat fare. Forming a committee might take a little longer.  Give them, say, a week or two.  They'll break for Thanksgiving tomorrow with most of them probably already gone by now.  They won't be back until next month.  So figure December 8th as the earliest they could possibly set up a committee and get it staffed and running.  then count on a week or more of hearings and then you bump up against the Christmas holidays.

It means nothing even if they manage a vote to impeach.  That simple act will not remove Bush from office.  It then must go to the Senate.  If you think it will get through the Senate before January 20th, you don't have a clue.  It ain't gonna happen.

Next, she wants Bush stopped from issuing any pardons.

Last week, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-New York, submitted a resolution demanding that Bush stop issuing “pre-emptive pardons of senior officials in his administration during the final 90 days of office.”

Nadler said in news reports that he was moved to action by the president’s “widespread abuses of power and potentially criminal transgressions against our Constitution” and that he wanted to prevent the “undeserved pardons of officials who may have been co-conspirators in the president’s unconstitutional policies, such as torture, illegal surveillance and curtailing of due process for defendants.”

Rep. Nadler can submit a thousand resolutions demanding Bush stop the pardons and the Congresss can vote one hundred percent to approve them and they mean nothing, nada, zippo!  It's the President's Constitutional right to issue pardons and the congress can't do one thing about it.  Waste O' Time!

And how will impeaching Bush in these waning days of his administration help the economy, you ask?  Ms. Riley has the answer:

If Congress moves quickly and forces the president to focus on impeachment, then he won’t have so much time to push through last-minute regulatory changes that will continue to hurt our country and our ideals. He already has pushed deregulation that would allow employers to talk directly with employees’ doctors and allow power companies to build polluting facilities close to national parks.

See how amazingly simple that is?  Happy days are here again!

(For you youngsters, that used to be the DNC theme song.)

Is the Detroit Free Press that hard up for columnists that they have to hire this third rate hack?  The newspaper business really must be in dire straights!  Bailout anyone?

VW

Kids Killing Kids

I'm sure that most of you heard about the mall shooting up in Tukwilla, WA.  It wasn't like the Tacoma Mall shootings almost exactly three years ago.  In that instance, some kid with a grudge on decided to garner a little attention for himself and eventually earned 165 years in the hoosegow to think about that grudge.  This was the case of a couple of gang bangers having a little turf war in the food court. 

That wasn't the only violence over the weekend. In all, their were eleven shootings resulting in four deaths in the Seattle area.  Most of them involved teen-aged gang bangers.  There will probably be a rash of editorials this week in the area's newspapers demanding more gun control.

It's already illegal for a minor to have a handgun or buy one.  Someone intent on using a gun either for harm, protection or both will pay little or no heed to a gun law.  Most gang bangers do not respect the law in the first place.

It's not about guns.  That's like blaming your fork because you are fat.  It's about a fundamental breakdown in our society that has turned our youth into criminals.  Some people want to take a "blame the parent" approach and there is some merit to that idea.  However, in many cases, the parents are powerless to stop the child or even intervene.  To do so could land them in jail for abuse. Today, a parent cannot enforce their own rules.  The schools are just as bad off.  They are literally powerless to do much more than expel a kid unless they break a law, in which case they can have the kid arrested.

A million years ago or so, I had a job as a mall security guard.  You'd be amazed at how many parents came to pick up their little angel after we had detained them for some infraction, then  threatened to sue us for harassing their perfect little brat.

In the hood, kids are often left to raise themselves.  Sometimes that's the case in upscale neighborhoods as well.  They get their value system, not from a church or their parents, but from the streets, their peers, TV and video games.  Their heroes are the gangsters, the dealers and the pimps.  It's their ticket to ride in the fast lane of affluence.

I don't know that we can put these horses back in the barn.  freedom without responsibility is now heavily ingrained into our culture and it's like a cancer, eating away at the body in some mad dash to destroy it.  We've lost control of a big chunk of our culture and we have no way of reclaiming it.  Personal responsibility is no longer an important value.

Guns are not the disease.  Until we can find a way to bring back morals and values to our society, it will continue to decline.  We are quickly approaching a very deep abyss that we may well never emerge from if we don't figure this out.  The sooner we do, the better.

VW