More Twitter

I've been using Twitter to post lately- simply because it's faster than blogger. You can view my page here. You don't need to be signed up to the service to see the items or click the links. And you can also see my Twitter posts further down this page below the links.

A few examples-

Actress Lynn Collins has been picked to play Dejah Thoris in the upcoming John Carter of Mars movie. Sorry, but she is no Dejah. The guy who played Gambit in the Wolverine movie is to be John Carter. I'm underwhelmed by that choice but I'll reserve further judgement until I actually see that film. I doubt very much it will convince me he's right for the part though.

An "expert" has designed a revolutionary new knife which *gasp* cannot be used to commit crimes! How does it manage this? Well, it has a blunt tip. The pointless design (couldn't resist) evidently doesn't take into account that knives are known to not only stab people but also to slash them. No doubt the next version will take this into account and come fully featured with a blunt edge too.

The US is to send financial aid- to be used to combat global warming- to...wait for it...China. Let me see if I have this right- US borrows money from China, US gives money to China because they are "a developing nation", US then repays loan to China plus interest.

Museum Shooting

There appears to have been a mini-blog storm about Debbie Schlussel's column which argues that the climate of tolerance for Islamic anti-Semitism essentially motivated the Holocaust Museum shooter to carry out his crime. I think she has a definite case to make about the shocking rise of anti-Semitism and its link to the politically correct climate around not offending Muslims, but it's a stretch to go from there to "he committed the shooting solely because of it". Perhaps he did feel more comfortable in his hate but there were other factors at play too.

Having said that, the links between white supremiscists and Muslims have been summarily dismissed or ridiculed by Schlussel's critics. She does bring up Hitler's links to the Grand Mufti and also to the Muslim SS Divisions in response. More pertinent to the argument I think would be this more recent news from 2005-

A couple of hours up the road from where some September 11 hijackers learned to fly, the new head of Aryan Nation is praising them -- and trying to create an unholy alliance between his white supremacist group and al Qaeda.

"You say they're terrorists, I say they're freedom fighters. And I want to instill the same jihadic feeling in our peoples' heart, in the Aryan race, that they have for their father, who they call Allah."

That's right - the head of the Aryan Nation wants to join forces with Al Qaeda, reasoning that they two disparate groups have common enemies- the American government and Jews. There's also this report from 2003-

"Western-made terrorists motivated by Marxist, anarchist and neo-Nazi ideology are forming alliances with jihadists and are planning copycat-style attacks and others utilizing funding from Islamists, according to intelligence sources."

Schlussel may have overstated her argument but there is no denying increased anti-Semitism nor is there the "common cause" that white supremiscists feel they have with jihadists.

Twitter

Trying out Twitter to see what all the fuss is. Certainly less time consuming to highlight a story than do a blog post. I may use it to point out items of interest which wouldn't normally make it into the blog, but we'll have to see how it holds my interest.

Any readers use it? Let me know.

Here's the link.

Shi No Numa

Well, downloaded Map Pack 2 for Call of Duty: World at War. Haven't even looked at the new multiplayer maps but I have been playing the new Nazi Zombies game, Shi No Numa (Swamp of Death) for a good part of the afternoon.

It's fantastic- with the new additions to the game and the Imperial Japanese zombies it feels unlike the other two Nazi Zombies games. Treyarch have really outdone themselves with this one. The map is big and sprawling with lots of doors and windows for the zombies to come shambling or running through. I had thought that the randomly generated Perks machines would be frustrating but it works well- especially since you don't have to first go turn on the power to get them working. Also the Box, source of all the good guns, seems to be more rationally programmed- no more getting a useless bolt action rifle on level 12. Fingers crossed they don't change this come the next upgrade- the game is hard enough as it is.

The Hellhound levels are brilliant- I like that they occur randomly and each begins with the whole level filling up with fog, before the Hellhounds spawn and begin attacking. It's a wonderfully spooky touch. Easy to imagine the jungle temperatures plummeting as the air turns to mist. Really, Treyarch- make a whole game of this stuff.

Thus far, the best I've managed is level 15 solo. If you have the pair of MGs, the Browning and the MG-42, stick with the latter when confronted with Hellhounds- the higher rate of fire seems to put them down much easier.

If you have any strategy tips, feel free to leave them in the comments!

One last thing- seems I was right about the Wunderwaffe- not a night-scoped MP-44 but a nifty Nazi electric rifle. I'm not quite sure what to make of the new weapon just yet as I only got to handle it a couple of times. Not quite as effective as the Ray Gun (which appears to still be in the Box) but it's still pretty destructive. If you haven't used it yet, wait until you get a group of zombies coming at you before firing.

Oh, and just one other last thing! The Flogger? It's awesome.

Friend and Mentor

While Obama panders to the "Muslim world", shakes his finger at the US for having the temerity to worry about a genocidal thug obtaining nuclear weapons, he makes demands of Israel unheard of from any previous American administration- to cease even the natural growth of settlements.

Now, apart from his weekly dinner-and-chats with former PLO spokesman Rashid al-Khalidi and his attending a dinner with Edward Said, his anti-Israel foreign policy team during the campaign, was there any clue as to his apparent animus to Israel? You know, apart from attending a church that printed Hamas propaganda in its newsletter.

Maybe this new comment from Obama's "crazy uncle" Rev Wright will shed some light on matters.

Asked if he had spoken to the President, Wright said: “Them Jews aren’t going to let him talk to me. I told my baby daughter, that he’ll talk to me in five years when he’s a lame duck, or in eight years when he’s out of office…

Wright also said Obama should have sent a U.S. delegation to the World Conference on Racism held recently in Geneva, Switzerland, but that the president did not do so for fear of offending Jews and Israel.

What was the phrase I was looking for? Oh yeah, now I remember- told you so.

A Dangerous Decision

This is not going to end well.

If Tenet is right, it’s a good thing KSM was captured before Barack Obama became president. For, the Obama Justice Department has quietly ordered FBI agents to read Miranda rights to high value detainees captured and held at U.S. detention facilities in Afghanistan, according a senior Republican on the House Intelligence Committee. “The administration has decided to change the focus to law enforcement. Here’s the problem. You have foreign fighters who are targeting US troops today – foreign fighters who go to another country to kill Americans. We capture them…and they’re reading them their rights – Mirandizing these foreign fighters,” says Representative Mike Rogers, who recently met with military, intelligence and law enforcement officials on a fact-finding trip to Afghanistan.

So foreign terrorists captured on the battlefield are essentially being given the same rights as US civilians arrested by police back home. How on Earth are they going to square, "you have the right to remain silent," with obtaining actionable intelligence on terrorist plots and/or networks?

Can't have it both ways. This might salve the consciences of liberals in Washington but it will do nothing to protect American servicemen overseas or citizens back home. In short, this disastrous decision is going to get people killed.

TARP Jeopardy

Mary Katherine Ham reports on just how effective the oversight of TARP really is. From Professor Warren, head of the TARP oversight committee-

There's no discussion of the overall policy. Instead, there are specific programs that are announced, and from that, it's necessary to reason backwards to figure out what the goal must have been. It's like a "Jeopardy!" game. If this is the answer, what was the question? It's frustrating because without a clearly articulated goal and identified metrics to determine whether the goal is being accomplished, it's almost impossible to tell if a program is successful.

And then this-

Q: Do you have a clear sense of what the overall TARP plan at this point is supposed to do? Are you capable of summarizing what it's supposed to be doing?

A: No. And neither is Treasury. Treasury has given us multiple contradictory explanations for what it's trying to accomplish.

Your tax dollars at work, folks.

Osprey To The Rescue

Another lucky escape for a British soldier- this time due to his Osprey body armour.

Shot in the back by a Taliban sniper, Lance Sergeant Daniel Collins must have thought his luck had finally run out.

Flattened by the force of the bullet, and in excruciating pain, he begged his platoon leader not to tell him how bad is injury was.

But when L/Sgt Grant Lewis went to his comrade's aid he was amazed to find that the bullet had been slowed down by the body armour and had only just penetrated his skin.

Unbelievably, he could even see the bullet and managed to dig it out with his bare hands.

Luckily for him the bullet clipped the very bottom edge of the ceramic plate in his armour- a fraction of an inch lower and he might very well have not lived to tell the tale.

Penny Pinching

Gordon Brown, currently presiding over Labour's complete destruction, is facing more criticism- this time stemming from his time at Treasury.

Brigadier Ed Butler, the highly-respected officer who led UK forces into Helmand Province in the summer of 2006, told MPs how a 'Treasury-imposed cap' left him with just 3,350 personnel to confront the Taliban.

That was only enough fighting power for 'one significant operation a month' - and not enough to cope with extra battles or unexpected strains, he told the Commons Defence Select Committee.

Things were so bad due to the cap that there were only eight helicopters available for the forces- at a time when many of the roads were considered too dangerous for traffic.

In the event, the Paras and other soldiers from 16 Air Assault Brigade found themselves besieged in camps across northern Helmand, fighting almost constantly for days or weeks at a time and critically short of helicopters to bring in ammunition and food.

Sadly, this has been all too typical for the armed forces under Labour- being asked to do more and more for less and less.

Mandatory Health Insurance

The first draft of the Democrat health care plan is out.

First of all, you will be required- compelled- to have health insurance. Second, you won't be able to buy just whatever health insurance you want, but one approved by the government. So, even if you're young and healthy and don't want to buy health insurance just yet you'll have to- or else be hit by a punitive tax.

Employers will be forced to offer health insurance- and pay a percentage of the premium or face a punitive tax. In short, one this bill becomes law, wages are going to drop or staff are going to be fired.

Next, the government will decide what benefits your insurance covers. Here comes rationing of services when the costs begin to spiral.

Then, as if that wasn't bad enough, people up to 500% of the poverty line (even children aged up to 26!) will be given subsidies by the government to help pay for their mandatory health insurance. In other words, the rest of America will be paying for it. Those living in cities will receive bigger subsidies than those in rural areas. Gotta keep the Dem base happy, right?

No where in the plan does it say where all the money to pay for this comes from.

Wasn't America supposed to be the land of the free?

Terminal Decline

Mark Steyn's latest is a sobering read-

Like General Motors, America is “too big to fail.” So it won’t, not immediately. It will linger on in a twilight existence sclerotic and ineffectual, declining unto a kind of societal dementia, unable to keep pace with what’s happening and with an ever more tenuous grip on its own past, but able on occasion to throw out impressive words albeit strung together without much meaning: empower, peace, justice, prosperity — just to take one windy gust from the president’s Cairo speech.

I personally believe that Obama's policies, his out-of-control spending and dramatic transformation of the relationship between government and business and government and the people, are killing America. Each household in the nation currently represents $546,688 of Federal debt- and that debt is only going to increase as Obama institutes further "change"- cap and trade and healh care reform to name but two.

Not only has he bankrupted the nation with a stimulus which has worsened the effects of an economic downturn it was supposed to repair, but when American businesses consider the number one threat to their practices the American government, you have to realise that it's all gone horribly wrong.

I hope I'm wrong but I think that Steyn has it right- America is in a terminal decline.

Reid Strikes Again

Just when you thought things couldn't get any worse-

Passing immigration reform is “going to happen this session,” Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), referring to the 11th Congress. “But I want it this year if at all possible.”

I warned before the election that an Obama victory would transform America beyond recognition. Even I didn't think the Dems would accomplish so much so fast.

Like A Drunken Sailor

Obama has plunged the US into debt for generations to come.

And in just one month, CBO estimates had to be revised to show that we will be forced to borrow $9.3 trillion over the next ten years, which is $2.3 trillion more than Obama predicted just a month ago!

• The result, according to the CBO, would be a national debt that threatens the full faith and credit of the American monetary system with a national debt in excess of 82% of the entire economy by 2019.

But it seems he isn't done spending your money just yet. In addition to his health care plan, Obama also plans to spread the wealth around the Muslim world-

On education, we will expand exchange programs, and increase scholarships, like the one that brought my father to America, while encouraging more Americans to study in Muslim communities. And we will match promising Muslim students with internships in America; invest in on-line learning for teachers and children around the world; and create a new online network, so a teenager in Kansas can communicate instantly with a teenager in Cairo.

He can't afford to continue the Washington DC school voucher program but he can do this for foreign students?

And that's not all-

On science and technology, we will launch a new fund to support technological development in Muslim-majority countries, and to help transfer ideas to the marketplace so they can create jobs. We will open centers of scientific excellence in Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, and appoint new Science Envoys to collaborate on programs that develop new sources of energy, create green jobs, digitize records, clean water, and grow new crops. And today I am announcing a new global effort with the Organization of the Islamic Conference to eradicate polio. And we will also expand partnerships with Muslim communities to promote child and maternal health.

Obama is so generous with your money. Any guesses as to how much these programs are going to cost?

Just Words

Obama in his speech to the Muslim world-

But I do have an unyielding belief that all people yearn for certain things: the ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed; confidence in the rule of law and the equal administration of justice; government that is transparent and doesn't steal from the people; the freedom to live as you choose. Those are not just American ideas, they are human rights, and that is why we will support them everywhere.

Everywhere- except the USA where, apparently, opponents of the government are labelled right wing extremists, where there is no transparency, where the government threatens private business with ruin if they do not hand over their legally held property to unions, where the rule of law is subsumed to feelings of empathy, and where massive, ever increasing government regulation limits your rights to live as you choose.

But, hey, you other folks should really try it out.

The Cairo Speech

Both Ed Morrissey and Yid With Lid have written up their impressions of Obama's speech. Having read Ed's first, I was somewhat surprised to find Obama not pandering as much as I thought he would. Perhaps he realises that CAIR's inflated figures of American Muslims are just that- no match for Jewish voters come election time.

Yid With Lid also makes a strong argument against Obama and given what we know of Obama, his associations, etc it's hard to disagree with him.

One part of the speech which he highlighted caught my attention- Obama's summary of the Isra, the midnight journey Mohammed claimed to have made. Obama references the story as an example of his utopian vision of the two-state solution. Jews, Christians and Muslims living together in harmony.

Too many tears have flowed. Too much blood has been shed. All of us have a responsibility to work for the day when the mothers of Israelis and Palestinians can see their children grow up without fear; when the Holy Land of three great faiths is the place of peace that God intended it to be; when Jerusalem is a secure and lasting home for Jews and Christians and Muslims, and a place for all of the children of Abraham to mingle peacefully together as in the story of Isra, when Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed (peace be upon them) joined in prayer.

There are a few things that Obama either seems to be unaware of or is deliberately obfuscating.

First of all, in the Islamic tradition, Moses and Jesus are not Jewish and Christian figures at all but Muslim ones- as such his story does not represent the three faiths coming together but rather is another example of Islamic domination- taking Moses and Jesus as their own and, especially in the case of Jesus, denying his divinity. In Islam, Jesus was only a prophet, not the son of God. Mohammed wasn't sitting to pray with a Jew and Christ, he was praying with two other Muslim prophets.

This is something that Obama's target audience will be aware of. If Obama doesn't understand what he's talking about then he should perhaps refrain from citing Islamic stories in speeches to the Islamic world.

The second problem with citing the Isra is that this tale is the source of much of the ongoing conflict over Jerusalem. In the tale, Mohammed mounted a flying horse and rose to "the farthest mosque", a location since claimed to have been the Temple Mount. It is this particular fact which causes so much trouble between Israel and its Muslim opponents. For Obama to specifically cite this story in the speech, it seems to me, he seems to be implicitly offering his validation of Muslim claims to Jerusalem.

Not Holding My Breath

I think the Obama team owes a big public apology to everyone they tried to smear as racist for having the temerity to not only question his upbringing (his Muslim father, step-father, his Muslim school registration in Indonesia and also his own account of reciting the Koran in class for example) but also to even reference his middle name.

During a conference call in preparation for President Obama's trip to Cairo, Egypt, where he will address the Muslim world, deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Communications Denis McDonough said "the President himself experienced Islam on three continents before he was able to -- or before he's been able to visit, really, the heart of the Islamic world -- you know, growing up in Indonesia, having a Muslim father -- obviously Muslim Americans (are) a key part of Illinois and Chicago."

The candidate was even offended when referred to by his initials "BHO," because he considered the use of his middle name, "Hussein," an attempt to frighten voters.

We're waiting.

The Context Lie

One of the most stunning things about the Sotomayor controversy is the apparent ease with which her defenders have lied on her behalf. Not only where her words not taken out of context but if you read the rest of what she was saying it actually sounds much worse.

But the majority of Americans won't know that. Take Feinstein for example,

Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor told Sen. Dianne Feinstein Tuesday her controversial Latina remarks were a "poor choice of words," the California Democrat said.

“She said, 'Obviously it was a poor choice of words if you read on and read the rest of my speech you wouldn’t be concerned with it but it was a poor choice of words,'" Feinstein told reporters.

And this is a lie that has been repeated time and again by Democrats- with no corrections from the MSM.

Embarrassed by a racist statement? Why, just claim it was taken out of context and rely on the media not to report that the opposite is true.

Democrats must really love the "watch-dog" media.

Noob

Good grief.

It is not every 31-year-old who, in a first government job, finds himself dismantling General Motors and rewriting the rules of American capitalism.

But that, in short, is the job description for Brian Deese, a not-quite graduate of Yale Law School who had never set foot in an automotive assembly plant until he took on his nearly unseen role in remaking the American automotive industry.

No knowledge of the car business- or any business for that matter. But Barack's given him the job anyway.

How long before GM needs another bailout?

New Race Discovered

It's incredible really- in politically correct Britain there are new races being discovered all the time.

A man brought his German-born neighbour close to tears by twice calling her a schweinhund, a court heard yesterday.

Both the Englishman and his German-born neighbour are white by the way...but get this-

This defendant was well aware of her German heritage. He did not say what he said in English. He said it in German. Mrs Hurst was quite shocked. Schweinhund is an insult in German.'

Robinson denies a charge of racially-aggravated intentional harassment, alarm or distress on January 24 last year.

Ah, the famed "German" race found at last!