Category: Uncategorized

I had supposed someone might ask about the sperm whale in my sidebar by now…

Well, I had noticed a number of bloggers (GM Roper comes readily to mind) who have taken to placing images of animals that’re in their TTLB Ecosystem “evolutionary ranking” somewhere near their TTLB listing. GM, of course, chose an African Elephant in full dudgeon.

Given my own political persuasions and the state of both the major parties (as well as all the minor pitty-patty parties-heh), I couldn’t find a large mammal that’d suit and evoke association with my own political leanings.

Oh, let me clarify something: as disappointing as some of the current administration’s acts have been, I still actively support the Bush administration. (Heck, I support the Blunt administration-admittedly sometimes with embarrassment-in my home state.) And given the fact that the Democrats want to drive the country off a precipice at 90mph (and accelerating!), the fact that Republican politicians prefer to head off the same precipice at a more sedate 45mph almost always wins my vote. Reluctantly, in many cases.

You see, I am really a classical Liberal Conservative. I believe in conserving the values that the Founders and Framers held, as much as is possible, and, even more, in restoring those that have been neglected, actively harmed or simply lost. Vales like teue freedom of speech and press , not some vague, anything goes (or not, according to the tastes of the ruling elite) “freedom of expression”-no, I’d like the words of the First Amendment to mean something concrete. You know, rather like it did to the Founders and Framers of this (onetime?) republic.

I’d like to see the Republic restored. Yes, a choking off and weeding out of Federal fingers in every pie (I almost wrote, “every eye” cos it sure seems like feebs are poking anyone they want… anywhere they want-The Martha Rule, ya know. Anarcho-tyranny).

I’d very much like to see less licensing by various governments of activities the Constitution assures us are Rights. (A “right” that is licensed is no longer a right. It has become a priviledge which can be taken away at the edict of a government bureaucrat.)

I’d like to see the concepts of freedom and liberty once more associated with responsibility and duty.

I’d like to see charity no longer dispensed by the government to those that government bureaucrats and politicians must keep down on the welfare plantation in order to justify jobs and power. Better charity were given freely, too, than via coercion at the end of a gun barrel. (Just try to defy the IRS to the end, and that’s what it comes down to.) Robbery is robbery, whether the robber paints himself as a Robin Hood or a welfare politician/bureaucrat.

I’d like to see those who say they believe and uphold and serve to protect the Constitution… do so.

The group of those who are serious about that task does not seem to include a number of politicians-of either major party-to make one good fist.

So, I’m a sperm whale, not a raging bull elephant or a jackass (or, possibly with Billary, a hinny ass).

Here are a few books to put on your wishlist for Christmas…

TheFairTax Book and

America’s Best Kept Secret Fairtax: Give Yourself a 25% Raise

State of Fear

Do As I Say (Not As I Do) : Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy

The Shadow of Saganami (The Saganami Island)

At All Costs (The Honor Harrington)

The Chronicles of Narnia Boxed Set

Linked @ Choose Life ; Jo’s Cafe; Stuck on Stupid; The Uncooperative Blogger; Basil’s Blog

Technorati : C.S. Lewis, David Weber, Fair Tax, FairTax, Honor Harrington, Liberal Hypocrisy, Michael Crichton, Narnia, Narnia Chronicles

I never see unrequested popups or popunders when I surf, and rarely see ads (Opera’s good to me that way), so this was news to me…

FTC Shuts Down BlogSpot Spyware Ring, and Spyware Operation Shut Down by the FTC.

Hmmm… seems “a massive spyware operation that allegedly used Google Inc.’s BlogSpot service to trick millions of computer users into downloading spyware and adware programs.” _1_ Hmmm, popup ads offered “free lyric files, browser upgrades and ring tones” to sucker naïve users into loading spyware onto their systems.

And a big distro venue for these scum was Blogspot, which “was being used to spread spyware and adware programs such as ‘Search Miracle,’ ‘Miracle Search,’ ‘EM Toolbar,’ ‘EliteBar,’ and ‘Elite Toolbar.’”

Gee, I just cleaned some-a that off a naïve user’s computer the other day. (An older 900Mhz machine barely running XP and dragged to a painful crawl by 371 pieces of spyware and 12 Trojan dialers. *sheesh*)

Nice to know the FTC is doing something useful for a change. I wonder if the creeps who were doing this will get as much time as Martha did for “lying” to investigators? (Remember: the witness whose testimony was critical to Martha’s conviction—NOT for insider trading, which she could not have done, but for “lying”—was later charged with perjury in his testimony… Good going, feds.)

Oh. Well. Regardless, whatever these guys get in punishment/fines won’t be enough. Confiscation of EVERYTHING these guys and their families have now or ever might have down to seven generations might be enough in the way of fines, but boiling in oil wouldn’t be enough of a punishment for these creeps…

*mutter, mutter, gripe, complain*

But the naïve users who infested themselves with spyware and were exposed to potential theft of personal information? Well, God love ‘em, they got what they deserved.

You know how it works…

The rules are simple:

1. ANY post (or posts) you wish to feature here, just include a link to this post in each post you trackback here with, and

1. Trackback away!

If you need some help doing trackbacks, just see the Wizbang! Standalone Trackback Pinger or Kalsey’s Simpletracks.

Did I say “OTB festival”? Here are more Open Trackback bloggers:

Note: the Open Trackback Alliance Blogroll indicates which blogs are offering OTB’s on which days—Saturday is day 7.)

And the Open Trackback Provider Blogroll:

Add this Blogroll to your site
Hit me with your best shot!

Trackbackposted at The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, MY Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, Don Surber’s “Dean’s Dot.Com Bust & Open Post”, Stop the ACLU and TMH’s Bacon Bits

Trackback URL for this post: http://thirdworldcounty.blogspot.com/2005/11/saturday-open-trackbacks-festival.html

This is a repost of my Memorial Day post of May 30, 2005. The poems quoted below were each in response to WWI and are equally appropriate, IMO, on Veterans Day, honoring both those who have given their lives in defense of freedom and those who willingly laid down their lives in service, but fortunately still serve us with their living examples of courage, sacrifice, honor and duty. To all our Veterans and your families, those who have served and those who continue in active service: Thank you all.

(Note: because our volunteer military personnel literally do lay down their lives in service to our country—hopefully to take them up again when their duty is done—this post is focused on the ultimate gift of duty and honor.)

Compare and contrast…
A Canadian response to WWI events:
In Flanders Fieldsby
John McCrae, May 1915

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep,though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Here’s a later response by an American reader of “In Flanders Fields”…

We Shall Keep the Faith

by Moina Michael, November 1918

Oh! you who sleep in Flanders Fields,
Sleep sweet – to rise anew!
We caught the torch you threw
And holding high, we keep the Faith
With All who died.

We cherish, too, the poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led;
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies,
But lends a lustre to the red
Of the flower that blooms above the dead
In Flanders Fields.

And now the Torch and Poppy Red
We wear in honor of our dead
.Fear not that ye have died for naught;
We’ll teach the lesson that ye wrought
In Flanders Fields.

Now, what’s the comparison, the contrast? Well, not so much between the more famous “In Flanders Fields” and the less-well-known (today, at least) “We Shall Keep the Faith” but between the two poems and… attitudes today toward those who have fallen in service to their country. Today, large numbers of Americans hold such sacrifice in disdain. Indeed, many have attended and participated in “demonstrations” that have celebrated the terrorist savages who seek to kill not only American servicemen and women but civilian non-combatans as well.

Moina Michael’s now less-well-known poem was instrumental in establishing “Decoration Day” (now Memorial Day) and in establishing the (apparently dying) tradition of wearing a poppy in honor of our fallen military. That McRae’s poem is “better” art, I’ll not dispute. But Moina Michael’s poem has a heart that’s sadly missing in all too many Americans today who cannot comprehend, let alone echo these lines:

We cherish, too, the poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led;
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies

Would that we too teach our children well, that duty and honor and sacrifice are due our deepest respect and support.

untilthen.swf
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A production of GCS Distributing

And DO visit GCS Distributing for some more moving tributes to those who serve and have served in the armed forces.Linked at Stop the ACLU, at Don Surber, Cathouse Chat, TMH’s Bacon Bits, and at NIF, of course—a massive linkage post, as usual. 🙂

November 11 …or Armistice Day, as it was once called, because the end of World War I came on “…the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month…”

So, today’s Open Trackback Festival under the auspices of the Open Trackback Alliance is in honor of all those military veterans who have served to preserve our freedom here and promote freedom abroad.

Thank you.

Open trackbacks to this post? The rules are simple:

1. ANY post (or posts) you wish to feature here, just include a link to this post in each post you trackback here with, and
2. Trackback away!

If you need some help doing trackbacks, just see the Wizbang! Standalone Trackback Pinger or Kalsey’s Simpletracks.

Other Open Trackback Alliance bloggers with open trackback posts today are Stray Dog and Those Bastards! (See the Open Trackback Alliance Blogroll in my sidebar for a full list of OTA participants and the schedule of open trackback posts.)

I’m looking for some good reads today, just like the last time, folks, so roll ‘em on in! (Especially as related to Veterans Day, but this is an open trackbacks post, so feel free!)
(And Veterans: do take note of this FREE MEAL “Thank You” at Golden Corral. h.t. Adam’s Blog 🙂

Linked at Cao’s Open Trackback Friday, Mudville Gazzette, Don Surber, Cathouse Chat and TMH’s Bacon Bits. Oh, and NIF, of course—the largest single set of interesting linkage around, it seems. 🙂

It’s Thursday, which means Stop the ACLU Blogburst, of course.
 
But I already posted on that (my wish for a Christmas present for the U.S.A. with Jay’s 10-point hit list below the fold), so here’s a brief list of articles/posts I’ve found interesting this week. Some have come to my attention via the 20 trackbacks in my inaugural Open Trackback Alliance post yesterday. I hope to discover some more great reads when I host another Open Trackback Alliance open trackback fest tomorrow, along with Stray Dog and Those Bastards!

So, to things that’ve caught my eye:

All the posts in my inaugural Open Trackback Alliance post yesterday, of course. Especially the geeky news from NIF that MSI is adding the Creative Audigy2 sound chipset to its motherboards—well, some of them. Creative’s patches aren’t my all-around favs for producing/playing back midi (that TWC nod goes to Roland), but the Audigy2 chipset/patches are quite good. Nice.
 
On L’affaire Plame, see The CIA Disinformation Campaign,  Powerline’s “The Three Years of the Condor“, and  Joseph Wilson IV: The French Connection. (Kinda makes one wonder if France is getting all it deserves… yet.) Someone(s) really need to wonder very, very loudly why Fitzgerald didn’t press Plame and Wilson for testimony. Surely they’d have some inside—and pertinent—info, eh? Since Wilson’s a known—and proven—liar it seems that make for some easy indictments for something or other.
 
This point/counterpoint mini-debate on the FairTax vs. the Flat Tax proposals is a must-read intro for anyone who wants to get a grasp on that debate. I’m strongly on the “strike down the 16th amendment and institute the Fair Tax” side of the argument, but you need to get a handle on this crucial issue, cos taxes are at the point where they are a National Security issue. Seriously. Dig into it for an understanding.
 
While you’re at Townhall.com, check out, “Don’t know much about history,” “Facing the facts” (read down a few ‘graphs) and “Ammunition for poverty pimps“.
 
ALWAYS stop in at Stop the ACLU on Thurdsays, at the very least. And while you’re there, check out

 
Well, there’s certainly a lot more out there, guys n dolls (including France Burns; Chirac sends the kiddies to their rooms), but we’ll save some for later, eh?

Linked at Stuck on Stupid’s Pre Veterans’ Day Blogfest

Stop the ACLU

See an important message from Jay below
****************************

Stop The ACLU was started on February 9th, 2004. We started with high hopes, and we realized we were facing a goliath. There were many reasons why we thought the ACLU needed to be countered, and they are numerous. We wanted to provide a way to inform the public of the ACLU’s agenda, as the MSM sugar coated it. We wanted to be a central database for people to gather, exchange ideas, and get actively involved in real ways of stopping them. It is a monumental task, exhausting, time consuming, and often frustrating. But it is a fight worth fighting.

We would be nothing without our supporters. To all of you, we appreciate the continued support. We have called you to action and you have answered. We raised $2,500.00 for an ad in the Washington Times, and I want to announce at this time that the check is in the mail as of Wednessday, Nov 8th. The ad should appear within the next two weeks. When it does, it will be scanned, and put up at Stop The ACLU for all to see. We will call you to action again, and again, and it is good to know that you will answer the call because you believe in this cause.

The ACLU have been laying low lately, but that is no reason to grow complacent. It is now that we should prepare to counter them. The Christmas season is around the corner, and the ACLU will be full force. Get involved in Operation Nativity.

There are many reasons to stop the ACLU. For this blogburst I decided to list my top ten list.

10. The ACLU was founded by Communist, with communist ideals, communist goals, and they continue to impose a Communist like agenda on America daily. The founder of the ACLU, Roger Baldwin stated clearly…

9. The ACLU do not belive in the Second Amendment.

ACLU POLICY “The ACLU agrees with the Supreme Court’s long-standing interpretation of the Second Amendment [as set forth in the 1939 case, U.S. v. Miller] that the individual’s right to bear arms applies only to the preservation or efficiency of a well-regulated militia. Except for lawful police and military purposes, the possession of weapons by individuals is not constitutionally protected. Therefore, there is no constitutional impediment to the regulation of firearms.”ACLU Policy #47

#8. Their outright hatred of the Boyscouts.They are currently doing everything in their power to hurt this organization. They attacked their free speech right to exclude gays, and are threatening schools, and fighting in court to get their charters shut down. The oppose the military supporting them, and will sue the pants off any school that attempts to charter them.

#7. The ACLU are pro-death. Not only is the ACLU Pro-abortion, it’s the ACLU’s top priority. It most definitely takes a backseat to free speech for the ACLU. As a matter of fact, the ACLU has fought against the free speech rights of those that oppose it. If its abortion or euthanasia, as long as its pro-death you can count on the ACLU to support it. The only exception to the ACLU’s pro-death stance, is if it is a convicted criminal; in this case they are against death.

#6. The ACLU advocate open borders. Not only have the ACLU opposed the Minute Men, a group who are simply exercizing their freedom of speech, protesting and stepping up where the government is failing, but they have helped illegals cross the border.

#5. The ACLU is anti-Christian. The list is endless on this one. Under the guise of “separation of Church and State”, the ACLU have made a name for theirself on being rabidly anti-Christian. This is one area where they are most hypocritical. The oppose tax exemptions for all churches, but fight for them for Wiccans. They are against Christianity in school, but oddly remain silent as our children are taught to be Muslims. Whether it’s Baby Jesus, The Ten Commandments, or tiny crosses on county seals,the ACLU will be there to secularize America, and rewrite our history.

#4. The ACLU Opposes National Security. The ACLU have opposed almost every effort in the arena of national security. From the bird flu to bag searches, the ACLU have been against it. No matter what kind of search someone tries to do to protect people, the ACLU have proved they are against them across the board. It’s kind of ironic that they don’t practice the principles they preach.

Take a walk into the NYCLU’s Manhattan headquarters – which it shares with other organizations – and you’ll find a sign warning visitors that all bags are subject to search.

In October of 2004, the ACLU turned down $1.15 million in funding from two of it’s most generous and loyal contributors, the Ford and Rockefeller foundations, saying new anti-terrorism restrictions demanded by the institutions make it unable to accept their funds.”The Ford Foundation now bars recipients of its funds from engaging in any activity that “promotes violence, terrorism, bigotry, or the destruction of any state.”The Rockefeller Foundation’s provisions state that recipients of its funds may not “directly or indirectly engage in, promote, or support other organizations or individuals who engage in or promote terrorist activity.”

#3. The ACLU Defend the enemy. They have a long history of this one. They defended the P.L.O.in 1985. They defended Quadafiin the 1980’s. And they continue today. They have told Gitmo detainees they have the right to remain silent, as in not talking to interrogators. One issue that really disturbs me is their refusal of funds from organizations such as the United Way that were concerned the money would be used to support terrorism.

#2. The ACLU supports child porn distributionand child molesters like NAMBLA.

There is no doubt the The ACLU are perverting the Constitution.

#1. The ACLU fufills its agenda using my tax money.What more can I say on this one?

There are countless reasons the ACLU needs to be stopped. So don’t just stand by and complain, do something. Get involved. Here are some ways you can get involved to help us stop the ACLU.

Support and donate to organizations fighting them in Court. Here are the ones at the forefront.

ACLJAlliance Defense FundThomas More Law Center

Join the Stop The ACLU Coalition

Help us write Churches to get involved.

Tell your Congressto support the Public Expression of Relgion Act of 2005. This legislation seeks to limit attorney’s fees in Establishment Clause cases to injunctive relief only.

SIGN THE PETITION TO STOP TAXPAYER FUNDING OF THE ACLU

This was a production of Stop The ACLUBlogburst. If you would like to join us, please email Jay at Jay@stoptheaclu.comor Gribbit at GribbitR@gmail.com. You will be added to our mailing list and blogroll. Over 115 blogs already onboard.

Plus C'est La Même Chose…

Paris, July 14, 1789:

Paris November 4, 2005

That's right. five days ago was the tenth day of rioting in France. Damned fool* rioters…

Still letting the little grey cells work on this one… More later

(*Yes, that was NOT profanity; it was a theological assessment.)
Linked at Diane’s Wednesday Weekly Open Trackback Alliance Fest.

Today is the first
Day at TWCâ„¢
Open Trackback Post #1 for America’s Third World Countyâ„¢

The rules are simple:
1.) Choose any number of posts to trackback to this post, one at a time.
2.) Include a link to this post in each post you trackback from.
The links/text can be as simple as “Linked at third world county and at Diane’s Stuff“.

Oh, I hadn’t mentioned already? There are others in the Open Trackback Alliance (it is an Alliance, after all 🙂 who have opent trackback posts available. Here’s the Open Trackback Alliance blogroll and schedule of open trackback posts:

Legend:
1=Sunday
2=Monday
3=Tuesday
4=Wednesday
5=Thursday
6=Friday
7=Saturday
So, get those trackbacks rolling in, folks! And drop in over at Diane’s Stuff and start tracking back there, too. If your blogging software doesn’t have trackback ability built in, no sweat. Diane points out that,

“… Wizbang Standalone Trackback Pinger is an excellent resource to overcome that small problem as is Kalsey’s Simpletracks.

“Linked at Diane’s Stuff’s Open Trackback Wednesday and  Stop the ACLU’s Middle of the Week Open Trackbacks.