Friday Feed Bag

Raining golf balls

We're heading into the weekend here in Tennessee with overcast skies and more storms looming.  That's OK with me, as long as we don't have any more of the hail we had the other day...testimonial on the right.

Snow in Mid June?  Nope - hail storm

Let's begin our Friday feed with some observations by Victor Davis Hanson.  In a piece titled "The Art of Appreciating America From Abroad," Hanson lays out some sound advice on how to manage the overflow of information we receive daily.  Having lived abroad a good chunk of my formative years, I believe I still have a vision of America unlike many of my peers.  My observations of her flaws are tempered by the realization that there are few no other places on the planet that offer the promise that this country does.  To Mr. Hanson's fine list I would add one final rule - one taught to me by a former partner: "When listening to someone's opinion, always remember how they are compensated."  Apply that rule to anything from real estate deals to political discourse and you will arrive at the nub of the argument - and frequently, the source of their poor logic.  Consider Al Gore...when the global warming "climate change" nonsense is finally relegated to the ash heap of atrocious ideas, his net worth will plummet as he will be painfully exposed to be the fool he is - rich fool, no doubt, but whose fault is that?

A couple of breaking news stories:  "U.S. Dismisses Charges Against Bin Laden."  Dang, I was sure looking forward to his testimony on the stand.  He'd have to plead insanity because he's lost his mind.  (OK, sorry about that one!)  And, this just in: "Muslim Marine Arrested In Pentagon Bomb Scare."  Which part of "Muslim Marine" sounds wrong to you?  When will we cease and desist with the political correctness that is our suicide?

When we start to see local imams, muslim scholars and the rest of their ilk come out and openly condemn terrorism, condemn suicide bombings, condemn "jihad" instead of preaching to us that we misunderstand the concept, THEN we might be able to start offering them positions in our Armed Forces, government and vital infrastructure locales.  Until then, they have to be treated with enormous caution.  Al Qaeda has said that the next waves of attacks would come from within.  They have already begun:  Fort Hood, Times Square, Little Rock, and numerous others no doubt foiled.  Now add this Pentagon plot which, by the way, if you were watching CNN you would know nothing about it.  ABC, NBC and CBS don't mention "Muslim" in their coverage and the latter network assures us that "he acted alone."

Charles Krauthammer has gotten some heat from conservatives, but he still writes a spot-on column in Investors Business Daily this morning:  "A White House Union Owned And Operated." You mean the same union thugs that say things like this:



New Jersey = Nazi Germany?  Where is the condemnation from the White House for this kind of repulsive hate speech?  Aside from the fact that this man's history is terribly wrong.  Hitler and the Nazis used the Unions to gain power.  What is truly disgusting is watching a bunch of public employee union thugs who have prospered through the dark days of this continuing redepression courtesy of the taxpayers...these leeches...protesting because they aren't being given enough from the public dole.

One place we know this White House had been more than willing to ignore has been our military.  Despite continually expanding commitments, our military has continued to shrink under budgetary pressure.  Here's a stark warning from one on the front lines:  "Investing In The Undersea Future."  In my days as a Surface Warfare Officer, we jokingly called these fellows "Bubbleheads," they more accurately referred to us as "Targets."  The warnings in this article should be heeded.


There are dangers in over-spending, but we have to have our priorities.  The Greeks, Portuguese, Irish and most of Europe are in deep financial trouble because of their social spending - none of the above are exactly military powers.  The consequences of profligate spending are readily apparent right before our eyes:  "The Greek Example."

OK, I'm done for now...have a great weekend.

Rumble on!