May 09, 2005
But if you want to infect 100,000 or more with chemical or biological weapons, take your WMD-armed RV to America's #1 spectator sport, and you can pay for VIP parking to the slaughter without any significant hassle at all.
Welcome to super-terrorism, NASCAR-style.
NASCAR is America's fastest-growing spectator sport, and the massive, high-banked superspeedways are the largest sporting events in the United States. Crowds far in excess of 100,000 screaming fans fill many of the larger venues. Many of these venues also encourage speciality vehicle parking: RVs and colorful, customized buses of hardcore NASCAR fans willing to shell out hundreds or thousands of dollars in passes and tickets to park either close outside the track, or even in the track infield (area enclosed by the race course).
From Daytona to Charlotte and eventually Staten Island, NASCAR encourages fan attendance, and tracks profit handsomely off infield parking access for RVs and buses, with such speciality vehicle parking spaces garnering $750-$900 each at some venues.
But there seems to be little or nothing done to screen these infield vehicles for hazardous materials, even though they are large enough to easily hide enough chemical or biological agents to infect hundred of thousands, if not millions of people. Ever heard one bit about this potential threat from the TSA or Homeland Security? Me neither. I doubt they've even considered the possibility. Sadly, these infield vehicles are far from the only threat.
One or more RVs and buses parked outside of the track and upwind of the facility stand a chance of exposing far more people than an infield device, with a much smaller chance of the terrorists getting caught. With the incubation period of many biological threats being measured in days, millions of people could be exposed to bioweapons released at a NASCAR race and dispersed throughout the country by a hundred-thousand infected carriers before anyone really knew what was going on.
Homeland Security is doing a wonderful job of guarding us against minor threats. Too bad Bubba bin Laden isn't even on the government's radar.
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The sanctuary has turned out to be a trap, potentially the result of using a honeypot doctrine, a tactic that has proven effective both on strategic and tactical levels in the region in the past years.
This can't be good for morale.
This is an archive post. Please visit the main page for more.
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May 06, 2005
Ten hours of rainy-day driving, with a detour to drop off the last project I worked on for my integrity-challenged former employer just north of NYC . I doubt I'll get paid the severence pay I'm owed, but I'll be able to look myself in the mirror for doing my part, and I might even be able to drum up a bit of sympathy and a prayer for his family that things work out for their failing business. It doesn't pay to hate him.
I've got far more important people to think about, including a stunningly beautiful wife, and a pretty little blonde-haired girl with big blue eyes that wants more than anything to give her dad a smothering hug and big, smacking kiss. Yeah, I've got things I need to work on, but I have my priorities straight, and 600-odd miles of asphalt between me and them.
...I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep. *
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Among The Left Branch Davidians, Part II
Part 4 of a series.
In the previous post in this series, I ended by saying:
...Liberal logic seems to almost function like this:Almost on cue, the very first comment to the article was this from a poster identifying himself as azboh20:Bushilter's war is for oil, because gas prices are higher.
Republicans are racists, because they believe in equal rights.
Conservatives are imperialists, because they spread democracy.Is this logical? Of course not, and at a deeper level of consciousness,
liberals must know this. The inherent illogic of this mindset contributes to
another not-so-startling conclusion...
hey im glad you hate liberals so much. Republicans should rule the US alone, then it could be a true democracy, right? Why dont you put aside your hatred of liberals and understand that they can be patriots too. Remember we are all Americans and all of us believe in democracy, your intolerance of liberals and liberal ideology is both un-democratic and anti-American. Learn your basic American political theory, then you can write back...As I was alluding to at then end of the previous post, and so wonderfully articulated by azboh20, the inherent illogic of liberal philosophy is always there under the surface, chafing at them like the proverbial burr under the saddle. This constant chafing that contributes to anger and isolation (examples of which are so obvious and self-evident they don't merit rehashing here), and other characteristics:
In addition to anger and isolation, liberals thrive on a stew of misrepresentation, indignation, and victimization.Of course, we have our fair share of misrepresentation and indignation on the right, but victimhood is a daily specialty of the left, as our (un?)willing participant provides. I was going to link to a few examples instead of using original reader commentary, but when they leap right into your lap...
Let's dissect these very typical liberal comments by azboh20:
hey im glad you hate liberals so much.
Right away, our liberal goes for the misrepresentation that I hate liberals. I clearly explain in the opening paragraphs of this series that is far from the case. They do occasionally make me feel a bit like Dian Fossey, however.
Republicans should rule the US alone, then it could be a true democracy, right?
An intriguing house-blend of self-pity, arrogance, indignation, and sarcasm. Tasty. He of course leaves out that conservatives do recognize and value a strong two-party system, as do the millions of Democrats who voted for Bush.
Why dont you put aside your hatred of liberals and understand that they can be patriots too.
Misrepresentation, indignation and victimization, the trifecta of liberal sentence construction. Bravo! By the way, has you liberal patriot signed his promised Form 180 yet?
Remember we are all Americans and all of us believe in democracy, your intolerance of liberals and liberal ideology is both un-democratic and anti-American.
Again, he continues to try to establish the easily discredited "intolerance" meme, and goes for more victimization with the "remember we are all Americans" appeal. The comment that a dislike of liberal ideology is undemocratic or anti-American is simply absurd, and another weak, fading try at victimization... though his indignation seems to be wearing thin.
Learn your basic American political theory, then you can write back...
Gibberish, really. I'm not even sure that he knows what he means with that one.
So thank you, azboh20, for a wonderful lesson in how liberals immerse themselves in misrepresentation, indignation and victimization. Of course to see this work on a truly masterfully level, you have your choice of sites to choose from. My favorite is the Democratic Underground (any article or message board thread), the rank and file diaries of Daily Kos, or just about any other liberal outpost will do.
Next time, we'll examine how progressives create a narrowly-defined ideological demographic, and rigorously police groups or individuals who would stray from the cult that is the Left Branch Davidians.
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May 05, 2005
"Based on all the evidence in the case, and the rules of engagement that were in effect at the time, it is clear the corporal could have reasonably believed that the AIF [anti-Iraq forces] shown in the videotape posed a hostile threat justifying his use of deadly force," said a two-page statement about the statement issued by Camp Pendleton.
I paraphrase it this way as a message for the troops from the Corps brass: if there is any question about who's life is more important, choose yours.
This has been the way of warfare, or for that matter, nature, for millions of years. I thought liberals usually favored Darwinism over creationism.
I guess that was until they got to see Darwinism at work.
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Among The Left Branch Davidians, Part II
Part 3 of a series.
So far, we've established that liberals:
- really do live in a "reality-based" community, as advertised
- practice taqiya, just like the terrorists they sometimes seem to support
Liberals are inherently and illogically contradictory about their opponents.
In addition to liberals having a plethora of their own contradictions (discussed in some detail here and here so far), they also ascribe contradictory attributes to their opponents.
According to the far left, moderates and conservatives that disagree with liberals are widely viewed as buffoons, cretins, fools, idiots, morons... you get the picture. These are some of the milder comments they have for conservatives. Some aren't so nice (ed: nor intelligent. Site comments throughly debunked here).
And yet these same conservative buffoons, cretins, etc keep winning elections and tricking the American people at every turn. This is due in part, apparently, to the vast right wing conspiracy that somehow is completely idiotic and capable of world-class Machiavellian scheming at the same time.
The incongruous statements about their political opposites never seems to raise an eyebrow among liberals, and in some odd way, seems to simply reinforce the ability of liberals to thrive in a contradiction-filled, reality-based world.
From the outside looking in, it would appear that in their minds, the existence of so many contradictions, is evidence that their reality should be based upon contradictions. Liberal logic seems to almost function like this:
Bushilter's war is for oil, because gas prices are higher.
Republicans are racists, because they believe in equal rights.
Conservatives are imperialists, because they spread democracy.
Is this logical? Of course not, and at a deeper level of consciousness, liberals must know this. The inherent illogic of this mindset contributes to another not-so-startling conclusion about liberals covered in Among the Left Branch Davidians, Part IV.
Update: Political Yen/Yang riffs very nicely of the ideas in this post and provides a much-needed historical refresher.
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May 04, 2005
My former employer has not yet deposited the last month's severance pay that he said he would into my account, and has not responded to the voicemail I left for him this morning, nor the email I sent at the same time. I'm not amused.
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Part 2 of a series.
So we have firmly established that Liberals are indeed part of a "reality-based community," and that by admitting that, they are conceding (whether they know it or not) to living in something of a fantasy world.
Once you begin to understand this basic concept, we can begin to understand a tiny bit about their psychological makeup, but we also need to understand some of the other obvious truths of liberalism, including one that is more an extension of reality-based thinking than a separate concept:
Liberals thrive on taqiya.
The philosophies of liberalism are in constant contradicting themselves, even to the point of using conflicting self-descriptions ("liberals" and/or "progressives") that they use interchangeably. This is somewhat analogous to the Shi'a practice of taqiya, which is concept best explained to American audiences as the idea of lying to protect your faith. The faith in question here, of course, is liberalism, which for starters, lies by calling itself "liberal."
Dictionaries tell us that a "liberal" is someone:
"characterized by broad-mindedness" and is personified as "having political or
social views favoring reform and progress," and is a person "tolerant of change;
not bound by authoritarianism, orthodoxy, or tradition." (source)
These are the dictionary definitions, but when applied to liberal political ideology, these words--as they relate to their definitions--become their own antonyms. In present day politics, liberals are notoriously conservative, even regressive in policy.
Practical examples are legion.
"Progressives" in Congress are seeking to reinstate the "Fairness Doctrine," a barrier to freedom of expression killed in the 1980s that would enable government to threaten broadcasters (as my liberal congressman Maurice Hinchey reportedly did during a radio station break, to conservative radio and television host Sean Hannity) with revoking their broadcast licenses for speech they do not like. In practice this effort is targeted squarely at censorship of talk radio, hardly what one would consider a mark of broad-mindedness or tolerance, and is certainly an example of intruding authoritarianism, the very thing a true liberal should be against.
Liberals are also supposed to value "political or social views favoring reform and progress," but instead they have attempted thus far to stonewall any attempts to reform Social Security. Not only are they blocking moderate and conservative attempts at reform, (moderate private investment, as championed by Democratic centrist President Bill Clinton), but they have yet to offer any plans of their own.
Today's liberals offer very little in the way of reform or progress, instead spending most of their time fighting either against change (Social Security, the Middle East, the United Nations, etc), or for reverting to ideas previously discarded (the so-called assault weapons ban, the "Fairness Doctrine" for broadcasters, etc). Instead of a progressive ideology, today's liberals are actually regressive in policy, offering little or nothing new while attempting to subvert any change proposed by moderates or conservatives.
The far left has frequently had an unseemly relationship with Islamic extremists. Perhaps they get along with one another so well because they both speak the same common language of taqiya. That is just one more sad contradiction of many among the Left Branch Davidians.
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May 03, 2005
Despite the Fiberals article (and store), and a tagline that reads "Because liberalism is a persistent vegetative state," (and store) I don't hate liberals. If I did, I wouldn't spend so much time trying to figure out how and why they think the way that they do.
I've spent many hours surfing liberal blogs, holding email discussions with a few of the more coherent (to a point) liberal bloggers, and lurking at the Democratic Underground, Daily Kos, and other liberal online strongholds. I've also spent my fair share of time reading liberal columnists, watching liberal pundits and politicians on television, or listening to them on radio.
I want to understand them, becuase I've always felt that if I could understand the way that they think, then I might be able to understand why we are so very far apart on so many issues. After many months of trying to understand liberals I've come to a several disturbing conclusions, the first of which is this:
Liberals really do live in a "reality-based community."On a strict linguistic level, "-based" simply means something similar to, but other than. Water-based paints have water in them, but the paints are hardly water. In this same way, the "reality-based community" has some reality in it, but reality is only a small component of their constructed world. This construct takes certain elements of the real world and blends them with strongly-held and rigidly self-reinforced liberal ideologies. In short, liberalism is exactly as advertised: not reality, but something loosely based upon reality, with plenty of fantasy included.
It is in this world of non-reality that the mainstream media has a nuetral or even a conservative bias, despite the fact that in the reality the rest of us inhabit, the media readily admits to its liberal bias.
In the reality-based community, the "evil conservatives," are uneducated white southern NASCAR-loving blue-collar idiots, who somehow find the time to balance their plate by being rich, imperialistic "rethuglican" fascists who rape the world as they run huge oil-guzzling multinational corporations.
Moderates are hardly viewed as being much better, with moderate Democratic and Republican voters derisively referred to as "sheeple," unable and unwilling to think for themselves.
To you and I, it would seem nearly impossible for someone to be an illiterate redneck and a rich corporate CEO, but the liberal conception of conservatives seems to be just that.
These strongly-held, unquestioned beliefs will be discussed in later articles in this series, and amount to a cult-like faith. Welcome to the reality-based confusion that is life among the Left Branch Davidians.
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May 02, 2005
The vast majority of DU posters on this thread were unintelligent enough to realize that their "news" source was in fact satire from a well known satire web site, The Swift Report.
Update: DU moderators finally realized the article was satire and locked the thread, but did not find the graphic objectionable, and did not remove it.
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Judging by the lack of media attention, neither did anyone else.
I only found out about it from local television news, which seemed to highlight a graying attendence demographic more suitable for a free Metamucil giveaway than a thriving protest movement. The attendence numbers varied wildy based upon the source, with Fox claiming up to 40,000 while the NY Times story puts the number at just "several thousand."
National cable news channels CNN, CNN Headline News, and Fox News have all but ignored the story, (I found the link buried in the sidebar of the Fox News site). Even that seething bed of progressive indignation, The Democratic Underground managed only ten anemic comments about the protest; in contrast a demonstration in Kathmandu, Nepal garnered more attention.
Perhaps the media finally sees these protests for what they are; the ramblings and rantings of aging hippies that no longer warrant our attention.
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May 01, 2005
The only threatening act of the entire monthlong exercise was a death threat made against the Minuteman by a Santa Clara County (CA) Social Services employee from his work computer. Not surprisingly, the death threat was not reported by ACLU "legal observers" in the area, presumably because they couldn't see to report it through all the smoke.
The stoner ACLU volunteers were apparently the only Americans in the Naco/Douglas corridor over the past month who broke the law.
The Minuteman Project, which has now grown to an estimated total of 20,000 volunteers ready to patrol both our northern and southern borders, now heads to California.
Update: Welcome back, Charles and LGF! This is an archive post; be sure to check out the main page, and consider blog-rolling or bookmarking the site. FYI, I also think you'll really like the "Among the Left Branch Davidians" series of articles starting Monday.
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My post on Gov. Schwarzenegger's sudden decision to run to the nativist right on immigration drew the usual hostile emails and trackbacks. Give it up folks; I'm pro-immigration, legal or otherwise. Why? Because I'm a pragmatist on this issue. As long as illegals can make more money here than there, they'll keep coming. So my bottom line message is: Wake up and smell the coffee; California's future is Latino:"Party of apartheid?" "Pro-immigration, legal or otherwise?" Bainbridge also referred to the peaceful Minuteman Project volunteers as "nuts" and "racists."[chart]
The California GOP can either accept the demographic reality and start thinking about how to attract Hispanic voters - many of whom started out as illegals or children of illegals but share our social conservatism - or it can be seen as a party of apartheid. My preference would be for the former; my bet is that the California GOP will opt for the latter and once again deserve its name as the stupid party. And so I'm very sorry to see Schwarzenegger pissing away our best chance in years to turn California from blue to purple.
His comments are both illogical, and in open support illegal activity. His comments about the Minutemen also seem to have been made on a whim, with no supporting evidence. I expect this kind of commentary from others, but not from someone like Professor Bainbridge.
Perhaps Professor Bainbridge should take a step back and review the merits of his position, as it is not pragmatic as he claims, nor even well-reasoned.
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"This is one of the most selfish and self-centered acts I've ever seen," said Ryan Kelly*, owner of Park Cafe. "Obviously, she has the character to run for political office."
"I'm glad that she's alive and OK, but it was a dirty trick," said Louise McCoy*, waiting in line at the Duluth post office on the day Wilbanks was supposed to be married in a lavish ceremony that included 14 bridesmaids and 14 groomsmen. When asked about a possible political run, McCoy continued," You know, Jennifer has proven that she can waste huge amounts of money on a neurotic whim, so maybe she should be in Washington."
"I hear that kind of crazy has worked real well for Nancy Pelosi."
* Quotes creatively embellished.
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