The Command T.O.C.

Saudi Government Tries to Explain Itself

The Saudi Government tried to explain itself tonight after it sentenced a gang rape victim to be whipped for her "crime". They now say the reason she is being punished is because before she was brutally raped, she actually had sex with a man who was not the man she was engaged to.

This is the government which is far more responsible for the 9/11 attacks than Iraq was and this is a government who is not only officially "friends" with the United States but they are personal friends with the Bush family

More reasons to show why it is shameful right now to be an American. I look for Bush to stand up and publicly berate the Saudi Government. Nah, he did not after they helped bomb the World Trade Center why would he do it for a simple gang rape.

I feel like the entire US has been gang raped for the last eight years by Bush and the neo-cons.

Law Panel Disbars D.A. in Duke Lacrosse Case

Link: NPR : Law Panel Disbars D.A. in Duke Lacrosse Case.

Another example of the Government getting out of control. Disbarment is not enough for this person, he should be put in prison. He RUINED the best years of these college kids' lives by trying to become a TV star. Jail is the minimum for this clown.

New Natural Gas Grill Just in Time for Memorial Day

Thought I would share the good news. I just got my natural gas grill hooked up just in time for Memorial Day!!

Memorial Day Round - Up

Before I blog on the news, I must say today is a very somber day. A day when we remember the heroes who made this Country free and gave their lives so we can enjoy today. They are the great ones. I started this blog over two years ago and one thing I say at the top of my banner is, "Remembering Veterans is more than putting flags at gravestones, it is ensuring there will be no more gravestones". To me, this is what you can do to honor the American soldier: Ensure they will never be put in harm's way, ensure no lives or limbs are lost unless it is absolutely necessary.

George Bush today will lay a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier. This President will "honor" those who sacrificed. I say.. do not let him onto this hallowed ground! This, a man who dodged real service himself and now sends kids to die in far away lands, has no business being in such a place of honor as Arlington National Cemetery. Bush should spend the day in a church, talking to God, begging for forgiveness for the thousands of deaths HE caused. Begging for forgiveness from the mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers, and, of course, the deceased veterans themselves.

This is what Bush should be doing. Leave the memorializing for those who truly care. Bush does not care because if he did, he would have ended this a long time ago.

And, as if on cue, President Bush provides 10 more soldiers to memorialize as 10 soldiers are reported slain this weekend in Iraq. See the irony in all this. Almost 1,000 soldiers have died since the last Memorial day. What have we done to stop this? What have we REALLY done to "support" our troops. If getting 1,000 killed and countless wounded is support, please, keep your support at home.

UPDATE #1: Blackfive site declares this a day of "no politics". What better way to serve our soldiers than to ensure their lives are never wasted like Bush is doing today? Yes, I grieve, I remember, and even admire our soldiers. And, that is why watching this waste of lives is so saddening. It is the reason we can NEVER REST until this disaster is over.

CNN.com - Hoffa hunters scour earth for clues - May 26, 2006

Link: CNN.com - Hoffa hunters scour earth for clues - May 26, 2006.

Can someone explain to me who cares where Hoffa is? Let's make believe they find him (or what is left of him) at this farm. So what?

Kratman Is An Author .. And Apparently a Lousy One

Since Kratman decided to try to impress us with his pedigree, I figured I would see what I could find about what he has actually "done" and lo and behold, I find he is an author. He has written a few books and they are on Amazon.com. But, what is really interesting is to read the comments (which are overwhelmingly bad) made by his readers. What I find most funny is that the comments are almost unanimous in the fact that the writing is so bad, the books are unreadable. Which is funny since he tried to tell us how well educated he is and how bad my writing is. Of course, I am a hobbyist and since he has taken writing on as a money making venture, you would think he could write. Here are some comments from his readers:

"First, as a Jew, I must say the book has this subtle antisemitic flavor - only "good" Jew is convert and only this conversion makes him not evil (implying that non-converted Jews are evil? yes, Mr Kratman?)

"And the book is so badly written, in style of Clancy and Turtledove, but badly... Do they teach English in law scools? (I know that my English isn't perfect, but I do not publish books...). "
************

"As a patriot and a lover of liberty, I looked forward to this book. I've enjoyed many other cautionary tales like this in the past, and the description led me to believe this would be another good story about how dramatically things can go wrong if people don't exercise and protect their freedoms.

...what I got instead was an overripe propaganda piece written by someone who wraps their political agenda in a flag and preaches the doctrine of Orwell's Animal Farm, modified slightly to be "All people are basically good, but some people are gooder than others". "

****************
"While I agree with some of the ideals in this book, it's barely readable. Poorly written. Childish. About as deep as cardboard, and about as exciting. The characters are about as profound as a puddle after a summer drizzle. Everyone on the left is scum. Everyone on the right is saintly. Leftist extremism is bad. Right-wing extremism is good. Condemns the left for government tyranny, but promotes right-wing tyranny without acknowledging that tyranny - in any form - is not acceptable.

In other words, complete drek.

Added in edit to clarify and to reply to above:

I believe everyone has the right to own any weapon, including machineguns.
I believe the liberal police state is a threat to human existence.
I believe in conservative ideals.
I can't stand Clinton - either one of them.
I believe taxation is theft.
I believe Tom Kratman not only can't write worth a damn, but is an embarrassment to the conservative movement."

******************

To be fair, there are some good comments and his second book appears to have even better comments. However, I could not tell if the positives came from normal people or more right wing wackos who are goosestepping their way into your living room.

Ok, I am done with Kratman. It is obvious we have attracted a somewhat nutty conservative who believes in a crazy world. He makes Ann Coulter look sane. No need to press this further. Let's get on to some real work like getting rid of George Bush.

BTW, his one of his books sells for $7.99 at Amazon and there are 80 used ones available for $1.00. Does not look like many are keeping the book on their mantle next to Shakespeare does it?

Another Right Wing Lunatic Shows Incredible Hypocrisy

The thing that pisses me off the most about the right wing lunatics is their hypocrisy. While they are out chanting on their blogs and news shows about how they think people should behave they seem to live a different life. It could be the Chickenhawks like the pimp Hannity and his whore Ann Coulter who spout a "war always" mentality yet refused to serve when they could have (Both could still enlist today but the it is far more profitable talking about sending your kids to their death than it is actually doing it).

It could also be conservatives talking about "Family values" such as Newt Gingrich as they get divorced and remarried for two and sometimes three times. Let's look at the "Family Values" of Newt Gingrich. According to Wikipedia, here is his life in a nutshell:

"While in high school, Gingrich started to date his geometry teacher, Jackie Battley. On June 19, 1962, they were married. Their first child was born the following year. In 1980, Gingrich asked his first wife for a divorce. In an often-reported incident, Gingrich tried to discuss the terms of his divorce with his wife while she was in a hospital bed recovering from surgery for breast cancer.

In February 1981, the divorce was finalized, and in August 1981, he married his second wife, Marianne Ginther. In December 1999, Gingrich divorced his second wife, Marianne, revealing that he had been carrying on an affair for the past five years with a House aide twenty-three years his junior.

Critics such as David Corn noted that this activity was concurrent with his leadership to impeach Bill Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal and ascension to speaker on a family values platform. On August 19, 2000, Gingrich married Callista Bisek as his third wife."

Basically, as the conservative right wing lunatics were so happy to impeach Clinton due to his hummer in the White House, they were perfectly happy with electing a leader for their party who married his high school teacher, divorced her while she was very sick in a hospital bed due to breast cancer, married and divorced again (While carrying on an extramarital affair), and now is on to wife three. While all of this is going on, that "bastard" who does not espouse family values (according to the right wing), Al Franken, continues on in a 30 year marriage.

Now, the king of right wing nuttery, Rush Limbaugh is booked, a mugshot is taken, and he is fingerprinted for abusing drugs. I am sure there will be some right wing nuttery excuse for this but in the end, their leader, mentor and overall grand puba is, in effect, a drug addict. Yes, he is richer, but he is no different than the kid in central park shooting heroin into his vains.

Ah, the right wing nuts. You have to love them. Do not "live" a conservative life, just talk it, it is a lot more lucrative.

 

Off to Church....

I am Roman Catholic and I do (not enough) go to Church. This is lent however so I ensure I go. Off I go....

The Myth of The Evil "MSM" is Broken

I have tried to argue for years now against this myth of an evil MSM. However, the "Back to Iraq" blog argues the points more eloquently than I ever could or have in a must read article called "The Big Lie".  Go there and read it.. what are you waiting for?

The Evil MSM is Against The Stock Market Too

Sometimes I go to the Instapundit site just for laughs and giggles and to see what the link farmer is putting on his website. I hardly ever comment about it though since it is usually useless dribble that just links to more sites which basically say the same thing; thus the definition of a "link farm".

However, this time something caught my eye. We all know that the right wing nut bloggers and Fox News (a pornographic blog for T.V.) commentators such as Hannity (the pimp) and Coulter (The whore) make a living out of making the right wing nuts think there is a conspiracy concerning the evil "Mainstream Media" (MSM). Just about everything they report either starts with or ends with "I wonder why the MSM is not reporting that.. hmmmm?". As if the entire "MSM" all had a meeting one day and decided they would report something specific or ignore something specific.

Today, we are reading that there must be a "MSM Conspiracy" to not report the fact that the stock market is at highest levels. Instapundit didn't say it directly but those are the links he sends you to (This is the way he can later say "I never said that" but will still direct you to what he is thinking).

I guess they did not read the CNBC headline, "Fed pushes Stocks Close to 5 Year Highs" or the headline or the "Evil" NY Times which states that shares are "pushed higher".

In the article linked to above, Ed Driscoll asks why the headline for Reuters had to say that the new highs were [reached], "... as U.S. Treasury yields fell and record profit from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted shares of financial companies." He wanted to know why it could not have just said, "U.S. stocks rose sharply on Tuesday".

Well, the answer is simple: Because those 5 words would have not told the entire story. The story is about how the MARKETS are doing which includes the bond markets. The stock market pricing is tied to the bond market. As bond yields go lower the stock market, generally, goes higher due to the issue of alternative investments. The Reuters story headline is far more complete. Maybe the saying ought to be "Fair, Balanced and Complete".

To think that there is a MSM conspiracy to try to not report properly what the stock market is doing is psychotic.  But, for some reason, the right wing holds onto their jobs by basically saying that if you did not listen to the right wing, you would never get the complete story. Trust me, CNN and PBS are far more complete than the FOX News pornography a la Bill O'Reilly and his falafel.