Eric M. Johnson, a Marine reservist from Iraq, directly calls out a so-called “reporter” who is single handedly responsible for how bad the Iraqi coverage is.

Iraq veterans often say they are confused by American news coverage, because their experience differs so greatly from what journalists report. Soldiers and Marines point to the slow, steady progress in almost all areas of Iraqi life and wonder why they don’t get much notice ” or in many cases, any notice at all.
Part of the explanation is Rajiv Chandrasekaran, the Baghdad bureau chief for the Washington Post. He spent most of his career on the metro and technology beats, and has only four years of foreign reporting, two of which are in Iraq. The 31-year-old now runs a news operation that can literally change the world, heading a bureau that is the source for much of the news out of Iraq.

So, a 31 year old former technology reporter, who is clearly unqualified to run the major source of news for the biggest news stories in so many years, is the reason that so much news is bad.
Almost every independent report coming from Iraq is relatively good news. Information from everyone else who is actually there is reporting chemical weapons finds, annihilation of terrorist cells, and improvements among almost all facets of Iraqi life. But the major news propaganda outlets all run with stories from this schmuck.

Wow, some things never cease to amaze me… (more…)

ahh now taxes truly explained.. this was shared with me.. had to share it.. fabulous, and hopefully helps clears up questions / debates many have, so i hope! (more…)

And my login still works. Heh…
Plugs! We need your eyeballs!
I took Chad’s advice and revamped The Razor in Wordpress. Be sure to stop by and check it out. Read. Think. Comment. Good offensive stuff. Guaranteed to make you mad. Just remember that I’m a firm supporter of the 2nd Amendment.
Also, stop on by my new shop, The Ministry of Propaganda. I’ve always been a sucker for fascist kitch - hence the name. Here’s a brief sample.

Prices are low - thanks to our enslavement of handicapped Chinese kids whose fathers are in prison and who make the finest quality merchandise that we bring to you at low, LOW prices.

A new trailer at Michael Moore Hates America, a new documentary.
Its obvious how the “big man” himself is taking it, not very well at all. Heaven forbid any attention goes to his motives.
The fact that Penn of Penn and Teller is in the movie does it for me. Of course, the ever so tolerant left has this to say in the Q&A:

Q: Hey @$$hole, who the F&!% are you to take on Michael Moore?
A: I’m a passionate guy with a camera who has a different perspective. Who the F&!% was Michael Moore to take on GM? I mean, really people, let’s be a little more tolerant of others’ opinions! Just because I disagree with Moore doesn’t mean my opinion isn’t valid, does it? Of course, I’ve noticed that Moore’s fans may be some of the least tolerant people in the world. I’ve actually received death threats from people who claim that it’s important to be heard, but demand that I shut up! I guess the 1st Amendment only applies when we’re at a protest or are demanding redistribution of wealth!

Scions have been roaming the streets (in the USA) since the birth of the Element (there about that time frame, which was late 2002)., yet i have not seen any commericals, untill now.. and oh my gosh.. BAD! (more…)

Vox Popoli has a fascinating read about the Catholic Inquisitions from the Middle Ages. Seems that almost everything you have ever learned about what happened, was, well, wrong. Seems the liberal spin machines were in operation with the earliest printing presses.

Compared to other medieval secular courts, the Inquisition was positively enlightened. Why then are people in general and the press in particular so surprised to discover that the Inquisition did not barbecue people by the millions? First of all, when most people think of the Inquisition today what they are really thinking of is the Spanish Inquisition. No, not even that is correct. They are thinking of the myth of the Spanish Inquisition. Amazingly, before 1530 the Spanish Inquisition was widely hailed as the best run, most humane court in Europe. There are actually records of convicts in Spain purposely blaspheming so that they could be transferred to the prisons of the Spanish Inquisition. After 1530, however, the Spanish Inquisition began to turn its attention to the new heresy of Lutheranism. It was the Protestant Reformation and the rivalries it spawned that would give birth to the myth.

Find out more information here. Unless you have this thing against knowing the truth, of course…

Everyone knows the story about the ant the grasshopper…

OLD VERSION: The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks he’s a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible for yourself!

Now, you need to read the new version, updated for this political season. (more…)

Going to post the whole thing, but this happened at Lileks.

A minor political note, if you’re interested in such things. The other day a young girl came to the door to solicit my support for her presidential candidate. I asked her why I should vote for this man. She was very nice and earnest, but if you got her off the talking points she was utterly unprepared to argue anything, because she didn’t know what she was talking about. She had bullet points, and she believed that any reasonable person would see the importance of these issues and naturally fall in line. But she could not support any of her assertions. Her final selling point: Kerry would roll back the tax cuts.
Then came the Parable of the Stairs, of course. My tiresome, shopworn, oft-told tale, a piece of unsupportable meaningless anecdotal drivel about how I turned my tax cut into a nice staircase that replaced a crumbling eyesore, hired a few people and injected money far and wide - from the guys who demolished the old stairs, the guys who built the new one, the family firm that sold the stone, the other firm that rented the Bobcats, the entrepreneur who fabricated the railings in his garage, and the guy who did the landscaping. Also the company that sold him the plants. And the light fixtures. It’s called economic activity. What’s more, home improvements added to the value of this pile, which mean that my assessment would increase, bumping up my property taxes. To say nothing of the general beautification of the neighborhood. Next year, if my taxes didn’t shoot up, I had another project planned. Raise my taxes, and it won’t happen ” I won’t hire anyone, and they won’t hire anyone, rent anything, buy anything. You see?
“Well, it’s a philosophical difference,” she sniffed. She had pegged me as a form of life last seen clilcking the leash off a dog at Abu Ghraib. “I think the money should have gone straight to those people instead of trickling down.” Those last two words were said with an edge.
“But then I wouldn’t have hired them,” I said. “I wouldn’t have new steps. And they wouldn’t have done anything to get the money.”
“Well, what did you do?” she snapped.
“What do you mean?”
“Why should the government have given you the money in the first place?”
“They didn’t give it to me. They just took less of my money.”
That was the last straw. Now she was angry. And the truth came out:
“Well, why is it your money? I think it should be their money.”
Then she left.
And walked down the stairs. I let her go without charging a toll. It’s the philanthropist in me.

Once again, I do not understand the mentality. Someone really needs to explain to me why higher taxes are a good thing. While no taxes are a little unrealistic, relatively low taxes are a good way for me to spend more money. While my salary has gone down relatively in the past few years, I actually spend more money now fixing the house. I’m paying contractors to fix things that I have let go for years. Most people I know are spending more, which boosts the economy.
Vague mumblings about the national debt being bad don’t get it for me. If you have ever bought a savings bond, you have contributed to the national debt. If I have this right, it took several years to drop the debt back down to nothing that Reagan ran up. But I didn’t hear about huge drops in government services. They didn’t kick all the starving waifs out of the poorhouses or anything. So this tells me that in a bad economy, its OK for the national debt to rise, lower taxes and interest rates accordingly, and as more people have more of their own money to spend, they’ll use it. Using money makes money. More money flowing does mean more net government income from taxes. It does work that way. I know most of economics is voodoo, but it does make some sense.

But good enough for Pirates too!

1: Be Brave and Aggressive
Be direct
Grab all opportunities
Use varying methods of attack
Be versatile and agile
Attack one target at a time
Don’t plan everything in detail
Use top quality weapons

2: Be Prepared
Keep weapons in good conditions
Keep in shape
Find good battle comrades
Agree on important points
Choose one chief

3: Be a good merchant
Find out what the market needs
Don’t promise what you can’t keep
Don’t promise overpayment
Arrange things so that you can return

4: Keep the camp in order
Keep things tidy and organised
Arrange enjoyable activities which strengthen the group
Make sure everybody does useful work
Consult all members of the group for advice

Thanks to Freedom and Whiskey!

Brian Blessed, who played Voltan in Flash Gordon, is back in a new commercial. Its from Japan, and so is a little weird. But please watch it! (more…)

I can’t stop laughing about this one. A Small Victory reports on, get this: when we shoot at Muslims, we can’t use Jewish bullets.
Yeah, I’m serious about this… our esteemed congress-critters lectured the Army brass about using bullets made in Isreal while in combat.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Israeli-made bullets bought by the U.S. Army to plug a shortfall should be used for training only, not to fight Muslim guerrillas in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. lawmakers told Army generals on Thursday.
Since the Army has other stockpiled ammunition, “by no means, under any circumstances should a round (from Israel) be utilized,” said Rep. Neil Abercrombie of Hawaii, the top Democrat on a House of Representatives Armed Services subcommittee with jurisdiction over land forces.

If you feel that this is not a ridiculous request, please comment on this post and let me know. I have a hard time understanding why we don’t bury terrorists wrapped in pigskin myself, so I need someone to tell me why someone can get up and say this kind of crap with a straight face.

At least according to Michael Moore.

Some Americans like to believe that Michael Moore is just like them: a working class guy who loves his country and just wants a fair go for everybody. The reality is quite different.
Moore loathes many of his fellow Americans. Of course, he never says so in America. But, in an interview with The Mirror in London, he described his fellow citizens as “possibly the dumbest people on the planet”.
According to The New York Times, Moore - who is travelling the globe, promoting his film Fahrenheit 9/11 - recently told an audience in Germany that Americans always had a “big (expletive) grin on our face all the time, because our brains aren’t loaded down”.

Actually, my opinion is that Michael Moore hates just about everyone, but loves getting their money from them. He loves the high life, being adored by liberals all over, and smirks in his obvious superiority.
He’s enjoying his new movie because of the contraversy. When it got slapped with the R rating, it seemed he cared more that he would lose a small percentage of ticket sales. But the marketing genious loved the buzz even more. Because that will help get even more sheep into the theater.
If he really cared about the message, he would have released the movie on bittorrent or kazaa. But his last name is appropriate. Because thats what he wants.

lets define what irks me the most.. (more…)

ahh and the word that plucks my nerves: (could this word be any more over used?? ahhhh) (more…)

This is the kind of rant i can begin and continue with forever.. really!
(more…)

Want to know why leftist arguments tend to fall on deaf ears? Its because of how they debate. It is a rare breed of liberal who can actually debate facts instead of slurs.
I’m afraid the young man featured in this article is going to have a long interesting time while in college. But I wish him the best of luck. It takes a big pair to keep on like that against authority. Now that the libs are in charge, they can’t stand any dissent from their absolute rule.

Ok Smokers really don’t think it is an issue, and some who are so conditioned to people smoking around them don’t consider it an issue either.. BUT.. (gripe.. rant) (more…)

What would the perfect car be? (more…)

Ok once upon a day I liked Madonna.. i was a kid so there is the excuse..
(more…)