Month: November 2006

Diane’s trying to discover what’s broken about her blog accepting trackbacks consistently, so link and trackback at her, wouldya? And if anyone has insight about what might be causing her problems, chime in with that, too.

She just upgraded to the latest and greatest WordPress (after toying with Movable Type, because of the trackback issue), so she’s hoping something there will help. Just link to the post noted above and trackback. Then hop on over and check/comment.

Oh, here’s her trackback URI, too:

http://www.dianesstuff.com/wp-trackback.php?p=839

{ed notes: I posted this last August on my blog, but I think it frames how we got here. Being a Cold Warrior for 20 years, I stared across the deep blue seas at many a Soviet vessel, many times taking the pictures for the intel files and sending up contact reports – I came to understand the Russians, the culture at the core fo the Soviet Union, have always taken the long view, while we look at life 4 years at a time as a nation. Thie story told has dramatically changed my view of the current “unrest” in the world]

Note on the end before you begin reading. The further I got into reading the subject article, the more I can’t help but think this is one of the most significant bits of intelligence the world has seen to date on the current state of world-wide affairs. It cuts across the lines of history, culture, religion, military affairs, global politics and empire building, but it tells us who is behind it all. Mark my words, it is a definitve article for every serious person to read, and more importantly, one that is worthy of many changing their beliefs on how we got here, and use the information to figure out how to clean up the mess in the aisle known as the World.

Do your own thinking, but this General has provided the “glue” to bind together a multitude of seemingly random events over the last 30+ years.

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Scanning about this morning brought me to an article on how the Soviet Union masterminded the use of client states and Muslim discontent to attack us:

“Russian Footprints: What does Moscow have to do with the recent war in Lebanon?” By Ion Mihai Pacepa

The introduction:

The Kremlin may be the main winner in the Lebanon war. Israel has been attacked with Soviet Kalashnikovs and Katyushas, Russian Fajr-1 and Fajr-3 rockets, Russian AT-5 Spandrel antitank missiles and Kornet antitank rockets. Russia’s outmoded weapons are now all the rage with terrorists everywhere in the world, and the bad guys know exactly where to get them. The weapons cases abandoned by Hezbollah were marked: “Customer: Ministry of Defense of Syria. Supplier: KBP, Tula, Russia.”

If my recollection of history is correct, the Soviets have been none too kind to their Jewish population:

In the mid-1970s we also started showering the Islamic world with an Arabic translation of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a tsarist Russian forgery that had been used by Hitler as the foundation for his anti-Semitic philosophy. We also disseminated a KGB-fabricated “documentary” paper in Arabic alleging that Israel and its main supporter, the United States, were Zionist countries dedicated to converting the Islamic world into a Jewish colony.

Note: This movie has made it’s way into this country and is now on the shelves at BlockBuster for rent. Thankfully, at least Amazon knows it a faked story. Click on the link above on the title and see what they say.

As Ion points out, that people group, specifically the ones gathered in Israel, became the pawn in the great game of the superpowers in a bi-polar geo-political world, and is now, a classic case study of “unintended consequences.”

At the core, was the embarassment of the Soviets, when their client states, armed with “conventional” weaponry, supplied by the Soviet Unions central economy, had their butts handed to them in the 1967 war. As with the mentaility of most losing teams, while there are still games in the series to be played, you get back in the locker room and look at what happened on film and from personal reports, then you brainstorm a plan to not have it happen again. (Note to all those teachers who think competition among youth in classrooms and on the playing fields is a bad thing: Read this and rethink your position right now) Speaking of personal reports, check this out:

Today’s international terrorism was conceived at the Lubyanka, the headquarters of the KGB, in the aftermath of the 1967 Six-Day War in the Middle East. I witnessed its birth in my other life, as a Communist general.

I’d say you can’t get much more credible than a personal story of one who was at the table, in the room, and as part of the very first discussion on what we are experiencing today. However, I doubt the left wing, President Bush planned 9/11 conspiracy crowd will be able to honestly accept that it all was conceived, birthed and nurtured by the great Communist “Empire,” and not Bechtel or Halliburton and Dick Cheney. It would, if accepted as the truth that it is, necessarily require them to divest themselves of two major issue at the apex of their discontent:

1) George W. Bush, Karl Rove, Scotter Libby, and, yes, Dick Cheney, and big oil, the capitalist military industrial complex and “the rich” (except the ultra rich liberals from Hollywood and the Heinz families) are not to blame for the world wide terrorist movement, the domain of those who adhere to the teachings of the Koran.

and

2) Communism is, in fact, a force for evil, and while they have been removed from governing most nation-states, their heritage of tyranny, oppression, and creation of human misery carry on.

Side note: Doing this would cause the rest of their actions/rheotric to become also menaingless by association with two top level assumptions that are now shown to be incorrect. Interestingly enough, the rapid environmentalists have painted themselves into a very similar corner, it seems….Advice to anyone with an extreme argument: Know that the actual facts, read: The Trurh, or any one thing is not always apparent at the outset of your intial investigation. Lave room for the truth to come along and help your see the issue more clearly/credibily. See my book report on a well written, yet readable story of science and mankind, or discredited assumptions and theories, that did lead to greater, more precise truths.

The outcome of this desire to get back at the US, via fomenting hatred of Israel and Jewish people is affecting the world wide economy, and, in the cultural landscape of today, are resonsible for us (the world community of humanity) driving wedges between various groups of people. The bottom line for all those who didn’t figure out that Karl Mark prepetrated the most extensive “practical joke” on all of mankind, is that that the end result of socialism and Communism, is not the great utopia they all crave. For the record of those who are not away, the devastating irony of Karl Marx’s political and cultural theory is he was a retired industrialist when he published his idea. He had alrady extracted the sweat equity from the “proletariat,” and was living in luxury as a result. He suckered V.I. Lenin and company into taking it out for a 70 year spin, reusulting in miliions upon millions of deaths from the collective farms of Russia, to the killing fields of Cambodia, and more recently, as we find out, the Marine Barracks in Beruit, the World Trade Centers, various embassies of several nations, in the skies over Lockerbee, Scotland, at Munich, in Mogadishu, Dufar in Sudan, and daily in the streets of Baghdad, but those are merely a few instances.

My analysis: Communism is the most destructive social cancer we face today, which, strangley enough, is worshipped by the leftists, who also want us to embrace each and every human as worthy and equal (and I don’t disagree with that at all, as a goal). “Useful Idiots” defines these leftists properly, and Oh, BTW, that’s a term invented by Lenin, for those who he could use to further his own goals of Communism.

Before you read further, H/T: LT Smash, the first MilBlogger, for leading me to this jewel of an article.

Eagle1 at Eagle Speak discusses how the Germans in WWI used similar tactics, while using Iran.

Thanks to Little Green footballs for running an outstanding blog!

Trackbacked at:
Samantha Burns
Don Surber: Why they Hate Us

Church and State
Point Five

Continue reading “Letting the Genie Out of the Bottle”

I took the pumpkin bread recipe our Lovely Daughter sent me and modified it a little. My modifications are in italics. For example, in place of 1/2 cup of oil in the batter, I substituted applesauce. For the sugar, I substituted a target=”_blank”>sucralose sugar replacement (the most well-known brand name is Splenda®). The rest, apart from the baking method and my insistence on using spices that are at least freshly-ground, is as Lovely Daughter sent it to me.

Since my Wonder Woman is still (after a whole day!) outa town, the trial loaf was mine all mine. 🙂

1 cup pumpkin pie filling—I added a medium egg to the cup measure I used to measure the canned pumpkin purée
1/2 cup applesauce
3/4 cup granulated sugar substitute (I used a sucralose-based sugar replacement)
1/2 cup molasses
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly-ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly-groundnutmeg
1/4 teaspoon freshly-ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon freshly-ground ginger (or crystalized ginger, whichever you can get)

You may also add 1/2 cup of coarsely-chopped nuts. Your choice, although I’d avoid peanuts, since they just don’t seem right according to my mental taste buds. (I certainly didn’t use any peanuts, and I have a bag of raw peanuts to snack on right here. :-)) In the future, I may add raisins and/or chopped dates, as well. Who knows?

Heat oven to 350° F. Oil a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan.

In a large bowl, combine the pumpkin pie filling, oil, sugar, molasses, and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger. Slowly stir the flour mixture into the pumpkin mixture. Pour into the prepared pan. Bake for 60 to 65 minutes.

Or, instead of all the mixing and oven baking go with my major modification: place the ingredients in your bread machine, hit the appropriate button (mine is “Batter Breads”) and walk away.

Transfer pan to a wire rack for 10 minutes. Using a knife, loosen the bread from the pan. (Or, in the case of a decent non-stick bread machine pan, just tip it out onto your cutting board.) Invert it onto a cutting board. Serve warm.

In Advance: Bake the bread and let it cool. Wrap and set aside at room temperature for up to 24 hours. Cover with foil and warm in a 250° F oven for 30 minutes.

To Freeze: Place the cooled bread in a resealable plastic bag or cover with 2 layers of plastic wrap. Store for up to 3 months.

To Reheat: Refrigerate the bread overnight. Remove the plastic wrap, cover with aluminum foil, and warm in a 250° oven for 30 minutes.

Yield: Makes 6 to 8 servings

Update on trial loaf: the applesauce replacement for oil does make the bread more “chewy” and the molasses is a rather strong flavor. I might try this with less molasses in the future, but as it is, good eats.

I’m sure you’ve heard the newsbit. I gleaned this version of the story from one of the many emails I have featuring it:

The Supreme Court has ruled that there cannot be a nativity scene in Washington, D.C. this Christmas. This isn’t for any religious or constitutional reason. They simply have not been able to find three wise men and a virgin in the nation’s capitol.

There was no problem, however, finding enough asses to fill the stable.

Over at The Random Yak, the end of the “Christmas Alphabet” nears. Soon, he’ll declare “open season” on Christmas posts by The Christmas Alliance. Naturally, given my birthplace, I’m jumping the gun. (And no, “statistically speaking” I dunno the how many of y’all got that. But TRY will get this, of course.)

This is an open trackbacks post. Link to this post and then track back. If you want to host your own linkfests, check out the Open Trackbacks Alliance.

Also note the other fine blogs featuring linkfests at Linkfest Haven.

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Hugh Hewitt had another (of course) insightful post yesterday that I believe it would serve well every reader of this blog to read in full. Here’s a sample:

Now imagine if you didn’t read blogs and didn’t read books. Picture all the things that you know now that you wouldn’t know if you left your news gathering to the tender mercies of the mainstream media’s editorial decisions. You’d probably be unaware of the ghastly fate that awaits 200 French automobiles each evening at the hands of rampaging “youths.” You’d definitely be unaware of the youths’ affiliation with certain religious practices.

If all your news came from newspapers, you wouldn’t understand how numerous, determined and flat-out crazy our enemies are. You wouldn’t know how widespread the phenomenon of Radical Islam is because the New York Times, USA Today and the Wall Street Journal don’t report it. Every now and then you would stumble over an editorial or op-ed piece highlighting a particularly pathological incident, but you would have no concept of how massive the problem is.

AND THIS IS WHERE WE CLOSE THE LOOP. I’ve long wondered how our leaders can be so unserious about the fight we’re in given the existential stakes. Now I get it – they just don’t understand the stakes. The newspapers haven’t told them that we’re in a fight for our lives. Lord knows the intelligence agencies don’t get it. And now we know the congressmen themselves take either no or precious little initiative to educate themselves.

Hugh, of course, is much more gentlemanly than I in his assessment of our congresscritters’ ignorance of threats facing the United States, the threat of Islamism among them. I would simply say that, regardless of individual congresscritters’ basic intelligence, such ignorance amounts to willfull criminal ignorance, stupidity.

But perhaps these stupid congresscritters can be taught. If so, it’d best be done by people like Hugh. I have little patience for fools. I’m more persuaded that a tea party might just be a better idea, sometimes. *sigh*

Crossposted from Stop the ACLU

When the Democrats had their victory in the elections the ACLU cheered! So did our enemies. [urm, isn’t that redundant? 🙂 —ed.]

Leading up to the elections the ACLU did not hide the fact that they wanted the Democrats in charge. The ACLU have a lot to cheer about. They know that the liberal left will help them further their agenda. We are already seeing it happen. The Democrats are the ACLU’s best vehicle towards shaping America into their vision.

The ACLU rely on activist liberal judges as their avenue of enacting their goals. It violated its own policy in order to stymie the nomination of William Rehnquist to the Supreme Court. It led the fight to defeat the confirmation of Robert Bork. It fought against John Roberts, and fought hard to keep Samuel Alito from joining the Supreme Court. They definitely have a preference for what type of judges they want on the Supreme Court. No doubt, one of their strongholds is having one of their own on the bench. With the current rumors on John Paul Steven’s health, I’m sure they are thrilled with Schumer’s latest proclaimation.

Continue reading “Stop the ACLU:”

I posted this a seemingly long time ago…but I think it’s useful reading to establish a baseline from where we might determine the MSM’s shift from supporting the troops and the Government:

Jim Sr. and I went to hear of the exploits of two men who served as armor officers in Patton’s 3rd Army during the fight across Europe, but we got something different.

On December 1sth, a lecture was sponsored by the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg Campus, that featured Eugene Patterson and John Germany. Eugene spent from 1943 through the end of the war as a platoon leader in tanks as part of the 10th Armored Division. John arrived later in the war as a replacement platoon commander in the 13th Armored Division, taking the place of a Lt killed in action, for a unit that had seen plenty of action prior to his arrival. Both men had grown up in the southern part of the country, and after the war, Eugene went on to be the editor of first the Atlanta Constitution, the Washington Post and later the St Petersburg Times. John became a lawyer, and later a judge in the Florida.

Eugene began the evening by reading us a letter he had written to his granddaughter, who was working on a paper for her journalism class. Her question to her grandfather was how did the war experience shape the newspaper editors’ perspective? As he read his response, I heard some interesting things and I believe a key to why the MSM is how they are today.

Eugene began by saying what had really changed was they came back from the war as Americans, that the southern legacy of the Confederacy no longer held it’s allure for them as Southerners. Next he said the GI Bill had “emancipated the ignorant of the South.” I understood this, but that short sentence put it in a better, more far reaching perspective for me. Those both are huge issues in the growth of our nation. First is that having had the depth of bonding between men in combat, they had begun their training as strangers from all over the country, and ended up with deep friendships, now with the shared stories of their fellow soldiers from all parts and economic backgrounds. The second part of that opening indicated the GI Bill brought college to many who would have never had the opportunity otherwise. It seems to be common wisdom that that great plan gave us the men who helped continue the economic improvements that made us the unequaled world leader we have become.

Continue reading “How Did WWII Afftect Newspaper Editors?”

Note: I don’t suggest the following as everyday fare; coffee’s quite good enough to stand on its own without supplementation, but for festive fare, sometimes a lil “kick” is nice.

Take your favorite bean. I’d suggest a medium to dark roast, but that’s me. When grinding, add ONE of the following to the grinder, per pot of coffee (about 10-12 cups) to the grinder with the coffee beans, then brew as usual:

about 1.5 inch loosely crumbled cinnamon “stick”

a few anise seeds

some small chips off a nutmeg

You may find they add a nice bright note to a cuppa holiday coffee. But do NOT overdo it with the spices. A little goes a long way. And don’t use pre-ground anything when making coffee. Use beans (Christine can tell you how to roast green coffee beans; I’ve not gone that far, yet—and I know, I know: I really ought to try it… maybe in my convection oven? A small batch?). Use un-ground seeds, nuts, etc., when adding spices. Just grind ’em yourself.

Oh, and look for a burr hand grinder at flea markets or wherever. I’ve noticed a distinct flavor quality difference since graduating from electric blade grinders.

Let me know if you have other flavor additions that work for your holiday coffee (wasting whipped cream on pies is a terrible thing to do, for example :-)).

While my Wonder Woman’s at a teachers’ conference outa town, I have a list of “to-dos” to accomplish. I may have bitten off more than I can chew, but what’s new about that, eh?

So, here goes…

1. Sort out our closet.
2. Move my office (OK, small cheese: clean it out and leave a skeleton setup until I get the new site fully wired).
3. Inventory and cull my spare parts collection.
4. Re-sort and reorganize my tools (computer/electronic, woodworking, auto mechanics, plumbing, electrical, etc.–things drift out of category, are set down in the wrong places, etc.–you know how it goes. Give it a few years without a major reorganization–my last one was about 11 years or more ago *heh*–and things… drift, ya know?).
5. Clean house (after all, WW will be a tad pooped and have grad work piled up when she gets back, right? :-)).
6. Write the Great American Novel (OK, [write some] blog [posts] :-)).
7. Give Lovely Daughter advice on how to gently, kindly turn away unwanted suiters… (“You remind me a lot of my little brother” was one tack. *ouch*–*heh* OK, not all that kind and gentle)
8. Plan my purchases at the new Borders (where Lovely Daughter got a part time job because, well, it’s a bookstore!).
9. Do laundry. Again. *heh*
10. Paint the upper cabinet doors in the kitchen. (Yeh, yeh, I know I’m dreaming.)
11. Modify Lovely Daughter’s pumpkin bread recipe for my bread machine and make a trial loaf. Just for me.
12. Walk another 10 miles. Quickly.
13. Get. Some. Sleep.

As usual, you can find other T-13ers at The T-13 Hub

The hosting service where twc is “rooming” will be performing its scheduled quarterly server maintenance between 1:00am and 8:00am EST on Sunday, November 19, 2006. So, third world county may be unavailable at that time. Be patient and drop back by after you’ve done the responsible thing and gotten some sleep, ‘K? I’ll likely be in bed then, so even if you have one of my alternate email addresses, I’ll not see it until after 8:00am EST that day, anyway.

Just a lil FYI

In other houseblogkeeping “news”–

Continue reading “HouseBlogkeeping notices/FYI”