Books, movies, politics, and whatever I want

Archive for December, 2009

Is it time to revisit the Carter Doctorine?

Monday, December 14th, 2009

The Washington TimesInside the Ring column reports:

A report by the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) states that Iran could use its naval forces to cut off oil shipments through the strategic Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf, where almost a third of all the world’s oil supplies pass.

The report, “Iran’s Naval Forces: From Guerrilla Warfare to a Modern Naval Strategy,” stated that blocking ships from passing through the 90-mile Strait would cause Iran “tremendous economic damage” and that, thus, Tehran would not “undertake a closure lightly.”

“However, given the importance of the Strait, disrupting traffic flow or even threatening to do so may be an effective tool for Iran,” the report, dated fall 2009, said.

The report said Iran could use its Chinese-made C-801/802 anti-ship cruise missiles to “target any point within the Strait of Hormuz and much of the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman.”

That brings us to the Carter Doctrine:

The Carter Doctrine was a policy proclaimed by President of the United States Jimmy Carter in his State of the Union Address on January 23, 1980, which stated that the United States would use military force if necessary to defend its national interests in the Persian Gulf region.

That’s right kiddies, “Blood for Oil” is the policy of liberal democrat President, and well known racist, James Earl Carter III. Given our Dear Leader‘s apparent desire to follow in the footsteps of the worst president in the past fifty years, he’ll probably get the US tied up in yet another Middle East quagmire.

For those of you who voted for Barack Hussein Obama thinking he was going to pull the US Military out of Iraq & Afghanistan Right Away, deal with the fact that he played you for a sucker.  “Useful Idiot” would be the term his political idol would use to describe you.

Today’s Robert Heinlein Quote

Sunday, December 13th, 2009

I would say that my position is not too far from that of Ayn Rand’s; that I would like to see government reduced to no more than internal police and courts, external armed forces with the other matters handled otherwise. I’m sick of the way the government sticks its nose into everything now.

Robert A. Heinlein, as quoted by J. Neil Schulman in The Robert Heinlein Interview and Other Heinleiniana

Shatner & Palin, together on stage…

Saturday, December 12th, 2009

William Shatner did another jazzy reading from Gov. Palin’s book on the tonight show. Another excellent Shatner performance, which was followed up by Gov. Sarah Palin
appearing to read from Shatner’s latest autobiography, in a similar fashion. Mocking and paying tribute at the same time.

Sarah Palin vs. William Shatner

This video shows what the political hit men on McCain’s campaign team (and senior democrat operatives)  were afraid of.  Gov. Palin is charismatic, smart and willing to take a risk.

Like Shatner’s character James T. Kirk, she beat the the Kobayashi Maru test.

HT to the LA Times Blog.

Friday B-Movie Pick: Sukiyaki Western Django

Friday, December 11th, 2009

Sukiyaki Western Django

This flick isn’t just wacked, it’s wiggity wacked! It’s a spaghetti Western filmed in Japan, with Japanese actors speaking English, with a strong Samurai influence, with a dash of Shakespeare thrown in plus Quentin Tarantino as the only non-Japanese member of the cast.

Friday B-Movie Archive

Lying Liars and ClimateGate

Thursday, December 10th, 2009

First up, AGW cultist prophet in chief, Al Gore.

Michelle Malkin points out that the ManBearPig is flat out lying about the ClimateGate email scandal.

He talked with Slate magazine’s John Dickerson and repeatedly pooh-poohed the scandalous ClimateGate e-mails as “more than 10 years old,” “over 10-year-old e-mails,” and “an e-mail exchange more than 10 years ago.”

Er, the e-mails are from as recently as November 2009 — and as Anthony Watts documents and reminds folks on Planet Earth, “[a]nd there are dozens to hundreds more within the last month, the last year, and the last 10 years.”

Then there are those “1,700 scientists” who signed a “defending the “professional integrity” of global warming research.” Well, it seems that this was about as honest as the ClimateGate so called “research.”

By way of Ace, comes this news report on the matter:

Britain’s Met Office has embarked on an urgent exercise to bolster the reputation of climate-change science after the furor over leaked e-mails, referred to as “Climate-gate.”

More than 1,700 scientists have agreed to sign a statement defending the “professional integrity” of global warming research. They were responding to a round-robin request from the Met Office, which has spent four days collecting signatures. The initiative is a sign of how worried it is that e-mails stolen from the University of East Anglia are fueling skepticism about man-made global warming at a critical moment in talks on carbon emissions.

One scientist said that he felt under pressure to sign the circular or risk losing work. The Met Office admitted that many of the signatories did not work on climate change.

One scientist told The Times of London he felt pressure to sign. “The Met Office is a major employer of scientists and has long had a policy of only appointing and working with those who subscribe to their views on man-made global warming,” he said.

So, is it about the science or the funding? As the man who wrote the screenplay said, “Follow the Money”

Power outlet with USB slots

Wednesday, December 9th, 2009

Power outlets with two USB power points.  There are couple of spots in the house were this would be really useful, especially for charging iPhones.   What is nice about this model is that the adapters don’t draw power when nothing is plugged in, unlike a wall wart.

The rumor is that these will run for $10 and be available in early 2010.

Originally posted at Urbin Technology.

Monday Book Pick: Tom Paine Maru

Monday, December 7th, 2009

Tom Paine Maru by L. Neil Smith

This is the “author’s edition” release, recovered from an old hard drive, in an obsolete word processor format. This is what was originally submitted to a publisher who then edited it with a weed wacker. A delightful bit of space opera in the classic L. Neil Smith Hard Core Libertarian style.

Monday Book Pick archive.

Today’s Special Video in honor of the Copenhagen boondoogle

Monday, December 7th, 2009

The Great Global Warming Swindle

Share & Enjoy…

Copenhagen’s Carbon Footprint

Monday, December 7th, 2009

It’s going to be pretty big.

1,200 Limos & 140 Private Jets

…and don’t forget the caviar. Ahhh, the sweet smell of climate hypocrisy.

The people who are finding ways to pick your pocket certainly aren’t skimping on their own creature comforts.

SNL’s skit about the Obama “Party Crashers”

Sunday, December 6th, 2009

Hmmm…the party held in the ridiculously expensive glass walled monstrosity built on the White House lawn was crashed by a couple of “reality show” wannabes to the embarrassment of the Secret Service.

Don’t worry, the Obama White House responded in it’s typical “the buck doesn’t even slow down here” fashion by invoking ‘separation of powers’ in order to keep their social secretary from being forced to testify before Congress.

With that, Team Lightbringer has officially jumped the shark and gone from absurd to pathetic.

I can’t be surprised by this whole fiasco though.  Barack Hussein Obama claims to be many, unprecedented things, but he doesn’t take credit for one of his main accomplishments, being the first “Oprah” President.  His ride the to the President’s office was partially paid for by daytime TV, so he shouldn’t get upset when it starts to look like an episode of Jerry Springer.