The history of gun control in America

Alexander Hamilton, replying to accusations that the military power granted to the federal government in the Constitution would lead to tyranny, pointed to the armed citizen as a counterweight:

"That army [the Regular Army] can never be formidable to the liberties of the people while there is a large body of citizens, little if at all inferior to them in discipline and the use of arms, who stand ready to defend their own rights and those of their fellow citizens."

The private bearing of arms, then, was seen by the Founding Fathers as a positive good. The new government could not oppress the people because a citizenry "properly armed and equipped" would protect their own rights. Citizens were even required to have guns. States enforced ownership at yearly militia musters when all men were required to present their guns and ammunition for inspection.

The Second Amendment was Ratified in 1791. The first gun control law in America was legislated in 1792 to disarm black slaves. Slave owners knew that like the British, if blacks could arm themselves, they would face an uprising from slaves, which would have in essence ended slavery in a heartbeat.

Immediately after the Civil War, southern laws were rewritten to restrict pistols to the expensive "Army pistol." The effect was similar to a poll tax - it discriminated against both blacks and poor whites.

A few trail towns in the West required that cowboys check their guns with the sheriff before getting drunk, and most western states prohibited carrying concealed weapons by 1850. But in the urban East there were few places where even this restriction existed.

In 1871 the National Rifle Association was founded by Union soldiers Col. William C. Church and Gen. George Wingate found the NRA to "promote and encourage rifle shooting on a scientific basis." Civil War Gen. Ambrose Burnside, who was also the former governor of Rhode Island and a U.S. Senator, served as the organization's first president.

In 1911, after an attempt to assassinate the mayor of New York City, the New York legislature passed the Sullivan Law, which required a police permit for both owning and carrying a pistol. Support for the law ranged from the New York Times and idealistic reformers to Tammany Hall political hacks like its author, Tim Sullivan. (He was trying to give police a way to frame his enemies. One political opponent had all his pockets sewn closed after three arrests for carrying guns without a permit.) Few states, however, followed New York's lead. In New Jersey, until 1927, the only gun law was a prohibition on dueling.

Over the next twenty years most states adopted various forms of the National Revolver Act, a law largely drafted by the National Rifle Association. It established a permit system to regulate carrying concealed weapons. In some states, the law allowed the issuing authority to reject applications without a reason. Their guidelines were vague phrases such as "good character, public safety, or need." Elsewhere, license denial must be for clearly defined causes, such as a history of crime, alcoholism, insanity, or drug abuse.

In 1934 the National Firearms Act was brought about by the lawlessness and rise of gangster culture during prohibition, President Franklin D. Roosevelt hoped this act would eliminate automatic-fire weapons like machine guns from America's streets. Other firearms such as short-barreled shotguns and rifles, parts of guns like silencers, as well as other "gadget-type" firearms hidden in canes and such were also targeted. All gun sales and gun manufacturers were slapped with a $200 tax (no small amount for Americans mired in the Great Depression; that would be like a tax of $2,525 today) on each firearm, and all buyers were required to fill out paperwork subject to Treasury Dept. approval.

In 1938 the Federal Firearms Act was aimed at those involved in selling and shipping firearms through interstate or foreign commerce channels. Anyone involved in the selling of firearms was required to obtain a Federal Firearms License from the Secretary of Commerce ($1 annual fee). They were also required to record the names and addresses of everyone they sold guns to and were prohibited from selling to those people who were convicted of certain crimes or lacked a permit.

There was no further Federal gun-control legislation for another 30 years until the Gun Control Act of 1968 which forbade the sale of guns by mail or to out-of-state residents and placed restrictions on ammunition sales. The assassination of John F. Kennedy, who was killed by a mail-order gun that belonged to Lee Harvey Oswald, inspired this major revision to federal gun laws. The subsequent assasinations of Martin Luther King and presidential candidate Robert Kennedy fueled its quick passage.

License requirements were expanded to include more dealers, and more detailed record keeping was expected of them; handgun sales over state lines were restricted; the list of persons dealers could not sell to grew to include those convicted of felonies (with some exceptions), those found mentally incompetent, drug users and more. The act also defined persons who were banned from possessing firearms.

The key element of this bill outlawed mail order sales of rifles and shotguns; Up until this law, mail order consumers only had to sign a statement that they were over 21 years of age for a handgun (18 for rifle or shotgun); it also detailed more persons who were banned from possessing certain guns, including drug users, and further restricted shotgun and rifles sales.

In 1972 the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms was created to enforce the Gun Control Act.

In 1986 the Law Enforcement Officers Protection Act made it illegal for anyone to manufacture or import armor piercing ammunition, or "cop-killer bullets," which are capable of penetrating bulletproof clothing.

The Firearms Owner's Protection Act of 1987 repealed federal restrictions on ammunition sales and out-of-state sales of rifles and shotguns because they had proven to have no crime reduction value. It also provided for the legal transportation by interstate travelers of "unloaded and inaccessible" guns regardless of local restrictions. It also eased restrictions on gun sellers and the sale of some guns but imposed additional penalties for persons using a firearm during certain crimes and persons with robbery or burglary convictions who are illegally shipping guns.

In 1990 the Crime Control Act directed the attorney general to develop a strategy for establishing "drug-free school zones," including criminal penalties for possessing or discharging a firearm in a school zone. It also outlawed the assembly of illegal semiautomatic rifles or shotguns from legally imported parts.

In 1994 the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act imposed, on an interim basis, a five-day waiting period and background check before a licensed gun importer, manufacturer or dealer can sell or deliver a handgun to an unlicensed individual.

It also required a new National Instant Criminal Background Check System, run by the FBI, be ready to replace the waiting period by Nov. 30, 1998. The new background check system applies to all firearms and allows checks to be done over the phone or electronically with results returned immediately in most cases.

Also in 1994, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, commonly referred to as the "Assault Weapons Ban," banned the manufacture, possession, and importation of new semiautomatic assault weapons and large-capacity ammunition feeding devices (or magazines) for civilian use. Criteria for semiautomatic assault weapons that fall under the ban are provided as well as a list of 19 specific firearms. It also rohibits juveniles from possessing or selling handguns and directs the attorney general to evaluate proposed and existing state juvenile gun laws.

So, for the first almost two hundred years of the Republic six Federal gun-control laws were enacted. After the Gun Control Act of 1968 there have been seven Federal gun-control laws enacted in less than 40 years. Obviously some of these laws seem sensible but they have not succeeded in disarming criminals or prevented them from obtaining banned assault weapons.

While I was doing research for thsi article, I came across this commentary by Paul Harvey:

"Are you considering backing gun control laws???"

Do you think that because you may not own a gun, the
rights guaranteed by the Second Amendment don't
matter?

CONSIDER THIS...
In 1929 the Soviet Union established gun control.
- From 1929 to 1953, approximately 20 million
dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded
up and exterminated.

In 1911, Turkey established gun control.
- From 1915-1917, 1.5 million Armenians, unable to
defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.

Germany established gun control in 1938.
- From 1939 to 1945, 13 million Jews, gypsies,
homosexuals, the mentally ill, and others, who were
unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and
exterminated.

China established gun control in 1935.
- From 1948 to 1952, 20 million political dissidents,
unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and
exterminated.

Guatemala established gun control in 1964.
- From 1964 to 1981, 100,000 Mayan Indians, unable to
defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.

Uganda established gun control in 1970.
- From 1971 to 1979, 300,000 Christians, unable to
defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.

Cambodia established gun control in 1956.
- From 1975 to 1977, one million "educated" people,
unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and
exterminated.

That places total victims who lost their lives because
of gun control at approximately 56 million in the last
century.

Since we should learn from the mistakes of history,
the next time someone talks in favor of gun control,
find out which group of citizens they wish to have
exterminated.

It has now been 12 months since gun owners in
Australia were forced to surrender 640,381 personal
firearms to be destroyed, a program costing the
government more than $500 million dollars.
- The results Australia-wide; Homicides are up 3.2%,
Assaults are up 8 %, and Armed robberies are up 44%.
In that country's state of Victoria, homicides with
firearms are up 300%.

Over the previous 25 years, figures show a steady
decrease in armed robberies and Australian politicians
are on the spot and at a loss to explain how no
improvement in "safety" has been observed after such
monumental effort and expense was successfully
expended in "ridding society of guns."

It's time to state it plainly; Guns in the hands of
honest citizens save lives and property and, yes,
gun-control laws only affect the law-abiding citizens.
Take action before it's too late, write or call your
delegation.

Interesting phenomenon

Yesterday, when I was blowing up milk-jugs with the Mossberg, Chas filmed it with his camcorder. (He makes movies so he films everything.) Afterwards he told me that the blast of the gun had done something "funny" to the video. He made these stills from the video footage (so that aren't that good.) In the first and third pics I'm aiming. In the second and fourth pics I'm firing. You can see how the electricity pole behind me and even my shirt is all wiggly. I'm wondering if the shockwave could affect the video.

Sunday poems and pics

Spring

by Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–89)

NOTHING is so beautiful as spring—
When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush;
Thrush’s eggs look little low heavens, and thrush
Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring
The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing;
The glassy peartree leaves and blooms, they brush
The descending blue; that blue is all in a rush
With richness; the racing lambs too have fair their fling.

What is all this juice and all this joy?
A strain of the earth’s sweet being in the beginning
In Eden garden.— Have, get, before it cloy,
Before it cloud, Christ, lord, and sour with sinning,
Innocent mind and Mayday in girl and boy,
Most, O maid’s child, thy choice and worthy the winning.

The Enkindled Spring

by D.H. Lawrence (1885–1930)

THIS spring as it comes bursts up in bonfires green,
Wild puffing of emerald trees, and flame-filled bushes,
Thorn-blossom lifting in wreaths of smoke between
Where the wood fumes up and the watery, flickering rushes.

I am amazed at this spring, this conflagration
Of green fires lit on the soil of the earth, this blaze
Of growing, and sparks that puff in wild gyration,
Faces of people streaming across my gaze.

And I, what fountain of fire am I among
This leaping combustion of spring? My spirit is tossed
About like a shadow buffeted in the throng
Of flames, a shadow that’s gone astray, and is lost.


Red-flowering Currant (Ribes sanguineum)

Ever since I moved to Oregon, I have been collecting native plants. I found most of them right here in my own forest but, in order to find others, I travelled hundreds of miles up and down the coast to nurseries that specialized in native plants.

I had never seen a red-flowering currant and did not know what to look for on my land. Eventually I found a red-flowering currant in Florence. Then, once I knew what it looked like, I realized that they were growing right here on my land under my nose.

The berries are edible dried or raw, and they can be used to make jams or wine. Red-flowering currant is native to the Pacific coast from British Columbia south to the Coast Range of northern California. It has been used as a garden shrub for nearly a century. They are one of the first native plants to flower in March.

When I was Googling it to find what its botanical name is, I found this:

This member of the gooseberry family is a plant we know well in Northern Ireland, as it has escaped from gardens many years ago, and is now naturalised along many roadside hedgerows, especially along the Coast Road in Co Antrim, where it is to be seen in flower in March, long before other woody species are in bloom. Its leaves have a pungent smell, and are very like those of the gooseberry, but it is without the gooseberry's sharp thorns.

The Oregon coast is a lot like Ireland and one of their native plants, Scotch broom, (which is native to the west coast of Scotland and Ireland) has naturalized here to the point where it has been declared a noxious weed. (I'll do a post on broom next week.)

The hills are alive with the sound of gun-fire

A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercise, I advise the gun. While this gives a moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise, and independence to the mind. Games played with the ball, and others of that nature, are too violent for the body, and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun therefore be the constant companion of your walks. - Thomas Jefferson.

Most Saturday afternoons up here in Hicksville, the neighbors get out their guns and do some target practice. To the east, my born-again Christian neighbors are teaching their 16 year old homeschooled daughter to shoot a .22 rifle. To the south, the neighbor is an elk-hunter and you can hear him shooting his Browning Automatic Rifle Mark II Safari. From the east come sounds of the local Deputy Sheriff practicing with his personal Colt Anaconda .45. From the north comes the sound of a shotgun. We haven't gotten to know that neighbor and don't know what he uses but it could be a Mossberg 500 like ours.

I've just spent a pleasant afternoon blowing plastic milk-jugs full of water to smithereens with our Mossberg 500 12 gauge. The hills are alive with the sound of gun-fire and I feel safer here than I ever did in San Francisco where our neighbors were all anti-gun and the only people with guns were criminals.

I'm just having a gin and tonic before dinner (it's medicinal - the quinine in the tonic water is good for restless leg syndrome) and thinking about the Second Amendment. Consider this:

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Amendment II

A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Amendment IX

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Gun control nuts say that the Second Amendment only applies to those in state-recognized militias and that the average civilian doesn't have a constitutional right to carry a gun. According to the anti-gun freaks: the people in the First Amendment means the people; the people in the Fourth Amendment means the people and the people in the Ninth Amendment means, the people.

But, according to anti-gun nannies, the people in the Second Amendment (which was ratified in 1791) means the National Guard (which was only created by an Act of Congress in 1903.)

Bride and Prejudice

You may recall this picture that I posted earlier to show Indian women in saris. At the time Rafa (Aardvark) pointed out that it was Aishwarya Rai, the Indian actress who was Miss World in 1994, the star of the Bollywood movie "Bride and Prejudice."








This made me decide to get the movie especially since Richard (Three Score and Ten or More) had recommended it to me a few months ago. Well, last night we watched it. It's based on Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" but it's pure Bollywood.









If you have never seen a Bollywood movie, then this is the one you should see first not only because it is in English but because of the beautiful Miss Rai. I grew up watching Bollywood movies in South Africa but in those days they were all about Krishna and his love affairs with the Gopis. Bollywood movies are all romantic musicals with lots of dancing and singing - musicals the way Hollywood no longer makes.

Miss Rai reminds me a lot of the old Hollywood stars like Ava Gardner and Cid Charysse. She has a big bold face; so open and expressive that you can almost read her mind. You can certainly see her every emotion play over her face. All three of us confirmed old bachelors were glued to the screen.

Apparently she has a stormy relationship with the actor, Salman Khan, (pictured with her here) who used to beat her up. If ever I meet him, I'm going to break his nose and steal her away from him. This women arouses my most primeval instincts. Mind you - she is a Scorpio and no man can resist a Scorpio woman, not even a tropical fruit like me. In fact, if I'd met her when I was a horny teenager, I probably wouldn't have gone queer.



Here is her website and a few of the 23,600 pics of her on the net:

Farrakhan visits Cuba, denounces US

21 Mar 2006


HAVANA, March 20 (Reuters) - Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan is visiting communist Cuba to learn about disaster relief, a visit prompted by the failure of the U.S. government to cope with Hurricane Katrina, he said on Monday.


The controversial Nation of Islam leader, who is visiting Cuba for a week, criticized Washington for refusing a Cuban offer to send doctors after Katrina devastated New Orleans last August, flooding neighborhoods mainly populated by blacks and the impoverished.

"After Hurricane Katrina and the failure of federal and state government, we felt it was our duty to come to Cuba to learn disaster management from the Cuban people who have had many hurricanes and have not lost lives," he said.

That should read "have not reported any lost lives." Farrakhan of course also believes that the levees were blown up to deliberately kill blacks in New Orleans.

The rest is here.

Louis the Lip is of course the leader of the Nation of Islam. Many blacks admire Farrakhan because the NOI stresses pride, self-esteem, independence, self-help, and entrepreneurship. How can any conservative argue against this message? Because the rest of NOI's message is insane rubbish and it is just another crazy cult.

The NOI teaches that Allah created himself out of dark matter called "electricity." Allah is a black man of flesh and blood. Although the NOI teaches that there is one god, they also teach that the 24 elders of Revelation 5 are also gods. One of these gods is the supreme god who is over this particular time period. Another of these gods created the moon by blowing up the earth.

Louis Farrakhan spoke of his UFO encounter in a sermon on Saviour's Day, 1991. He stated that he was taken on board and spoke with Elijah Muhammad (his predecessor) who had built the space ship. This wheel-shaped craft is currently in orbit 40 miles above the earth. He also claimed that there are 1500 little space ships that issue out from this mother ship which follow him every where.

If you don't believe me, Google it like I did. It's just as nutty as Scientology, the religion of choice among the Hollywood Halfwits. Talking about Hollywood Halfwits, not only do they believe in Scientology but they, like Farrakhan, believe in Castro who runs one of the most successful cults in history.

[Dennis] Hays, executive vice president of the Cuban American National Foundation, an organization dedicated to fighting for democracy and human rights in Cuba, believes Castro's personal mystique may be blinding the celebrities to the harsh realities of life in Cuba.

"You have to remember that Fidel Castro is a cult leader, much along the same lines as Jim Jones or David Koresh. He's a megalomaniac with a messiah complex and people go and fall into his orbit."

Filmmaker Steven Spielberg visited Cuba and met with Castro in November and dined with the dictator until the early morning hours. Spielberg announced that his dinner with Castro "was the eight most important hours of my life."

Actor Jack Nicholson told Daily Variety, following his three-hour 1998 meeting in Cuba that, "He [Castro] is a genius. We spoke about everything."

Model Naomi Campbell declared that Castro was "a source of inspiration to the world."

"I'm so nervous and flustered because I can't believe I have met him. He said that seeing us in person was very spiritual," Campbell recounted of her 1999 visit to Cuba with fellow model Kate Moss, according to the Toronto Star.

Comedian Chevy Chase, at Earth Day 2000 in Washington D.C., said he believes "socialism works" and explained that "Cuba might prove that."

American media moguls, including the president of CBS TV, the head of MTV and the editor of Vanity Fair, visited Cuba in 2001 and had nothing but praise for the Caribbean Island. One member of the entourage described Cuba as "the most romantic, soulful and sexy country I've ever been to in my life," according to the New York Post.

Other Hollywood celebrities who have visited Cuba and Castro include Robert Redford, Spike Lee, Sidney Pollack, Oliver Stone, Woody Harrelson, Danny Glover, Ed Asner, Shirley MacLaine, Alanis Morissette, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Kevin Costner.

Costner visited Cuba in 2001 for the premiere of his film on the Cuban Missile Crisis, Thirteen Days, and attended a private screening with Castro. The film depicts the Kennedy administration behind the scenes during the October 1962 crisis.

Costner was clearly impressed with Castro, stating at a Havana press conference, "It was an experience of a lifetime to sit only a few feet away from him and watch him relive an experience he lived as a very young man."

Harry Belafonte and Ted Turner also have sung the praises of the Cuban Butcher. I just wish to God that we could ship these retards to Cuba. Let them live there cutting sugar-cane for a living and eating cabbage three times a day.

The rest is here.

MSM = Manipulative Semantics and Misery-mongering

Bush marks anniversary, never says 'war'

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush marked the anniversary of the Iraq war Sunday by touting the efforts to build democracy there and avoiding any mention of the daily violence that rages three years after he ordered an invasion.

The president didn't utter the word "war."

"We are implementing a strategy that will lead to victory in Iraq," the president assured a public that is increasingly skeptical that he has a plan to end the fighting after the deaths of more than 2,300 U.S. troops.

Administration officials repeated the mantra that progress continues toward building a unified Iraqi government and nation.

Bush did not mention the insurgent attacks, the car bombs or the mounting Iraqi deaths in a two-minute statement to reporters outside the White House after returning from a weekend at Camp David. Avoiding the word "war," he called the day "the third anniversary of the beginning of the liberation of Iraq."

Full Story Here from USATODAY.com

Fred added:

Bush marks anniversary, never says 'war'

For some odd reason, that particular line gives me some serious *concern*...

Not exactly something I can put my finger on but the *hackles* just go up...

I HATE that feeling...

I commented: First off, that line is meant to give you the creeps. We are being emotionally manipulated. Speaking as someone who has written (and ocassionally published) for nearly forty years and who understands the use of words fairly well: that line is designed by a skillful editor to evoke fear and distrust. This socalled "news" item is from USA Today via AP both of which organizations are either sympathetic to or affiliated with the left wing. For instance note the other manipulative writing:

AP commie buzz words: President Bush marked the anniversary of the Iraq war Sunday by touting...

You mean "touting" like a race-course "tout?" Isn't that a bit insulting? Yep - it's meant to be. Strike one.

Major moonbat Bush-is-a-liar lingo: The president didn't utter the word "war."

You mean "utter" like "mutter" or something even more sinister? Perhaps you just meant to say using the word? But no - it has to be "utter" because that sounds more sinister. Strike three.

Paranoid pot-smoking hippie alert: Administration officials repeated the mantra...

What "administration officials?" Sounds spooky like "they're coming to get you in a straight-jacket anytime soon!" Paranoiac druggie nonsense and who the hell uses the word "mantra" without italicizing it or at least putting it in quotes? Yep, vegetarian PETA "New Age" tree-hugging commie hippies.

How do I know that? Because I used to be one. Believe me - those peace-loving, Bush-hating hippies aren't innocuous. It was the New Age types in San Francisco who said to me before the last election, "We're so glad that the soldiers are being killed in Iraq. The more body-bags, the less chance Bush has of being re-elected."
Bullshit alert: The president assured a public that is increasingly skeptical...

Excuse me - Americans are always skeptical (but basically optimistic and adventurous) and ordinary folk don't need to be "assured." Only goddamned dumb hippie commies need to be "assured" by Big Brother. We know what's going on and we know that Bush knows that we know what's going on. These AP commie editors are using buzz-words to make Bush seem manipulative the way they are whereas he's actually a pretty uncomplicated straightforward fellow.

Bush did not mention the insurgent attacks, the car bombs or the mounting Iraqi deaths...

What about it? Any sane Iraqi parent knows that we are trying to create an environment in which their children can be free and not have to fear being raped by Saddam's insane sons or fed through a wood-chipper. Hopefully even Koran-crazed Muslim mothers can see that. The deaths of a few "insurgents" (aka homicidal Mohammedanazis) and maybe some civliian accidental casualties is a small enough price to pay for the liberation of untold future generations of Iraqis - or don't Muslims think that far ahead?

I sure hope that at least some of them think of more than only those six dozen virgins waiting for them after death. And God only knows what an Allah-fearing female gets for her reward - six dozen 14 year old boy scouts? Hopefully some of them realize that the price of relying fatalistically and blindly on paradise after death leads to hell on earth.

Total vicious anti-Bush venom alert: Avoiding the word "war..."

How does the writer know that Bush was avoiding the word "war?" Assumptions - and we all know where that leads - total lunacy.

MSM = Manipulative Semantics and Misery-mongering. What a load of commie crap!

UPDATE: The most obvious manipulation didn't occur to me until this morning. This whole AP article is designed to make you think that Bush was deviously avoiding using the word war. Bush was talking about the war - the 3rd anniversary. Now, if someone is talking about something, do they have to mention the topic constantly? If he were talking about the economy, would he use the word "economy" constantly? No - he would use words like "jobs" "employment" "trade" etc.

Tom Cruise vs South Park - Scientology

I know - I'm a week behind the news. All the blogs were yakking about this last week already. I'm not all that interested in the subject except for one aspect of it - the fact that Scientology has managed to get so much clout when they are basically just another crazy cult.

I hardly ever watch TV so I don't get to see South Park much but the few episodes I have seen have been funny and I do understand how the phrase "South Park Republicans" came about - the show has no sympathy for political correctness and hypocrisy.

I'm not a Tom Cruise fan. He's a fairly competent actor - whatever that might mean. Hollywood acting isn't exactly acting as such. These bimbos don't have to memorize reams of Shakespearean blank verse. All they've got to do is put on their make-up and stand around posing and looking pretty, remember a few lines and grunt or scratch at the appropriate times.

Anyway, last week Isaac Hayes (the guy who does the voice of Chef in South Park) resigned from South Park because of the episode "Trapped in the Closet" which pokes fun at Cruise and Scientology.

"Religious beliefs are sacred to people, and at all times should be respected and honored," he said. "As a civil rights activist of the past 40 years, I cannot support a show that disrespects those beliefs and practices." (Hayes is black.)

Of course Hayes had no qualms about poking fun at the Catholic church in the South Park episode, "Red Hot Catholic Love."

As "South Park" co-creator, Matt Stone, said about Hayes, "This is 100 percent having to do with his faith of Scientology... He has no problem — and he's cashed plenty of checks — with our show making fun of Christians."

Then Viacom (the owner of Comedy Central which airs South Park) pulled the re-run of the "Trapped in the Closet" episode. Tom Cruise is denying that he put any pressure on Viacom to pull the re-run of the. To be fair, that episode also plays on the rumors that have been circulating for years that Cruise is a closet gay. (The show never aired at all in Britain, where the media is more vulnerable to libel claims.)

Also Viacom did pull the anti-Catholic episode, under pressure from the Catholic League. But the Catholic church is the largest denomination in the USA (nearly half of all Christians) and is a venerable institution. How could one crazy little cult with a few thousand members pull this off?

Easy - Hollywood money - lots of it, millions, maybe even billions 0f dollars. From The poorer and famous Hollywood Scientologists by John H. Richardson: (If you're curious about this subject, it's worth reading this whole article.)

The list of celebrity Scientologists now includes Cruise, Kidman, Priscilla Presley, Lisa Marie Presley, Anne Archer, Juliette Lewis, Kelly Preston, John Travolta, Mimi Rogers, Karen Black, and Kirstie Alley. There are dozens of lesser-known Scientologists in show biz as well: Lee Purcell (Big Wednesday), Jeff Pomerantz (General Hospital), Geoffrey Lewis (Juliette's dad, who was in Every Which Way but Loose, among other movies), Judy Norton-Taylor (The Waltons), Nancy Cartwright (the voice of Bart Simpson), child TV actor Vonni Ribisi (My Two Dads), Michael Wiseman (Predator 2), Kimberley Kates (Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure), Michael D. Roberts (Rain Man), and Gary Imhoff (the forthcoming Thumbelina). Then there are the behind-the-scenes talents: Dick Tracy screenwriter Floyd Mutrux; composer Mark Isham (A River Runs Through It); actor and acting teacher Manu Tupou (Hawaii); and director Dror Soref (The Seventh Coin), who cut his teeth on Scientology films and now has a deal at Paramount. Scientology even claims one of Hollywood's most successful acting teachers, Milton Katselas, who heads the Beverly Hills Playhouse. People who have drifted through Scientology include Jerry Seinfeld, Patrick Swayze, Top Gun producer Don Simpson, Harvey Haber (brother of CAA cofounder Bill Haber), actor Brad Pitt, and Ernest Lehman, screenwriter of The Sound of Music.

Scientology's physical presence in Los Angeles and Hollywood is massive. It owns at least seven large buildings, staffed by 2,500 members, and is associated with a wide array of local organizations--"front groups" to their detractors. Some are directly affiliated with the Church of Scientology, like the Citizens Commission on Human Rights, an antipsychiatry group, and Author Services, which represents Hubbard's books and hires actors like Roddy McDowall and Bruce Boxleitner to read the Scientology founder's books on tape....

And Scientology's celebrities work for their church. When one stage of a court case in Oregon went against Scientology, Travolta flew up to speak at a news conference. Alley is the international spokesperson for Narconon International, a Scientology-inspired drug rehabilitation program, which she promotes through interviews, speeches, and public appearances. Magazine covers of Cruise, Travolta, Archer, and others are displayed outside one of Scientology's New York centers, along with the slogan: I AM A SCIENTOLOGIST ... COME IN AND FIND OUT WHY...

Ex-Scientologists were also reluctant to talk--out of fear. "I have kids, I have an ex-husband who is still way, way involved," said one. "Everybody I know has been investigated." A Hollywood publicist also refused: "I don't have the lawyers or the bodyguards." Emilio Estevez was reported to be the target of a Scientology recruitment attempt; he said he supported PREMIERE's efforts but declined to be interviewed: "I just don't want to end up with my phones tapped."

Such fears have considerable foundation. The worst incidents come from the '70s: Scientologists are known to have framed the mayor of Clearwater, Florida, in a trumped-up hit-and-run accident. They also framed a journalist named Paulette Cooper, alleging a bomb threat, and sued her seventeen times. Hubbard's wife, Mary, and ten other leading Scientologists were sentenced in 1982 to five-year terms in federal prison for breaking into government offices and stealing thousands of official documents about Scientology. During their trial, several Scientologists leaked damaging information to the press about the presiding judge's sex life. In a 1977 raid on Scientology's Los Angeles offices, the FBI found lock picks, pistols, ammunition, knockout drops, a blackjack, and bugging and wire-tapping equipment, as well as church memos on how to launder money, tail enemies, and blackmail people.

The current leaders of Scientology insist that the acts of Mary Hubbard and her coconspirators represent a dark side of Scientology that is all in the past. They dismantled the unit that was responsible for these activities, and attack a reporter as "a bigot" for raising the issue. But they admit without hesitation that they still use private detectives to investigate their enemies, including Bowers--they even provided documentation of Scientology detectives secretly videotaping a sting operation against a hostile former church member. "I have no problem with that," says Marty Rathbun, president of the church's Religious Technology Center....

SCIENTOLOGY'S MEAN STREAK is deeply rooted in church doctrine. Founded by pulp novelist Hubbard in the 1950s, Scientology promises to heal the psychic scars caused by traumas in present or past lives through auditing, a therapy aided by a simplified lie detector called an E-meter. Excited by the rapid progress stimulated by the E-meter, many students eagerly begin the climb "up the bridge," course by course (costs range from $30 for introductory audio tapes to more than $14,000 for the Hubbard Key to Life/Life Orientation Course special package). According to former members and press reports, the few who attain the highest level of instruction learn the following secret theology: 75 million years ago a tyrant named Xenu imprisoned other aliens near volcanoes on Earth and then nuked them, leaving their spirits, or "thetans," to wander the planet and attach themselves to humans--to be purged through further courses. While Scientology officials dispute this account of their beliefs--spokesman Rinder calls it "garbage, completely untrue"--they refuse to provide a more accurate version, saying upper-level church beliefs are for insiders only.

What distinguishes Scientology is Hubbard's bile and paranoia, which is clearly demonstrated in much of his writing. Representative is this "policy letter" written in 1969: "We must ourselves fight on a basis of total attrition of the enemy. So never get reasonable about him. Just go all the way in and obliterate him."

The only reason that I am remotely interested in this subject is because I once was, as my regular readers know, in a silly Hindu guru cult (of course I didn't think of it as a cult while I was in it.) Scientologists have perfected the techniques of intimidating former members and help other cults do the same. I was on the receiving end of such intimidation because I wrote lots of stuff about my cult experiences on the net. They tried to destroy my business, published my home address and phone number on line and generally tried to smear my name.

What is Scientology? From Wikipedia:

Among these advanced teachings, one episode that is revealed to those who reach OT level III has been widely remarked upon in the press: the story of Xenu, the galactic tyrant who first kidnapped certain individuals who were deemed "excess population" and loaded these individuals into space planes for transport to the site of extermination, the planet of Teegeeack (Earth). These space planes were said to have been copies of Douglas DC-8s, except with rocket engines. He then stacked hundreds of billions of these frozen victims around Earth's volcanoes 75 million years ago before blowing them up with hydrogen bombs and brainwashing them with a "three-D, super colossal motion picture" for 36 days, telling them lies of what they are and what the universe should be like and telling them that they are 3 different things: 'Jesus, God, and The Devil.' The traumatized thetans subsequently clustered around human bodies because they watched the motion picture together, making them think they are all the same thing, in effect acting as invisible spiritual parasites known as "body thetans" that can only be removed using advanced Scientology techniques. Xenu is allegedly imprisoned in a mountain by a force field powered by an eternal battery. He is said to be still alive today.

Scientology is not a creepy death-cult like Jim Jones' "Peoples' Temple." It's more like the cult I was in - a big secret joke for the leaders; a money-making scam preying on gullible fools.

You can watch the banned episode, "Trapped in the Closet," here.

Polar Express - Believe

Last night we watched "Polar Express." I know - Christmas was months ago but I don't go to movie theaters and wait for the DVDs and there was a long wait on Netflix. I really wanted to hate this movie - so much so that I joked to Chas and Andy about it and called it "Bi-Polar Express." And I did hate it for the first ten minutes because I could not understand why anyone would want to make an movie that looked like real actors digitally animated.

Then the train arrived and I understood: it had to be animated in order to accomplish the incredible special effects. What a great ride. Six thumbs up from these three old redneck bachelors. We're going to buy the DVD and watch it every Christmas straight after "It's a Wonderful Life." Sure it's a bit corny but the message is as old as the most ancient wise man: believe.

Believe in what? I'm not a real Christian but I do believe in a God of love and that perfect manifestation of God's love, Jesus, who said (John 15:13), "“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends,” which is exactly what he did.

Luther wrote:

To have a god means this: You expect to receive all good things from it and turn to it in every time of trouble. Yes, to have a god means to trust and to believe in Him with your whole heart. I have often said that only the trust and faith of the heart can make God or an idol. If your faith and trust are true you have the true God, too. On the other hand, where trust is false, is evil, there you will not have the true God either. Faith and God live together. I tell you, whatever you set your heart on and rely on is really your god.

Unlike the Mohammedanazis, who believe in a God of fear and anger, I trust in a God of goodness. I see the evidence of God's goodness, beauty, love and joy in this creation and I have complete faith in that goodness. I don't need religious or theological explanations. The infinite God can't be comprehended with the finite mind. I really don't mind not knowing. I'm sure that I will be shown whatever I am meant to see. Meanwhile I count as my greatest blessing simply getting a glimpse of God's beauty when I least expect it.

Blake said in "Auguries of Innocence:"

To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.

Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote in "God's Grandeur:"

The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil,
It gathers to a greatness like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck His rod?

Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And bears man’s smudge, and shares man’s smell; the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel being shod.

And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights from the black west went,
Oh, morning at the brown brink eastwards springs—
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast, and with, ah, bright wings.

And Keats said:

When old age shall this generation waste,
Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe
Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st,
"Beauty is truth, truth beauty,— that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."

I grew up watching the sun rise over the Indian Ocean so, when I came to live on the west coast and first saw the sun setting over the Pacific Ocean, I was in awe. To see the sun set into the ocean, I have to climb up the hill behind our house to where the well is and sit on the branch of an old pine tree. There I watch the sun slowly sink in the west and say a prayer. I don't even have to put my prayer into words because I know that God already knows everything; even my most secret thoughts and wishes.

This is where I was born and raised

I was born in Durban, the largest port in Africa, but I was raised in a small fishing village, Isipingo, about an hour's drive south of the city. Every Saturday we used to drive to Durban to do shopping, have lunch at a fancy restaurant and go to a movie. When I was 16, we had to leave Isipingo because it was declared an Indian area and all whites had to leave. We went to live in Durban.

Durban is in Zululand and I've posted pics of the Zulus before. But Durban is also home to the largest number of East Indians outside of India. Most of the Indians are Hindu but about 10% are Muslims. This article is by a visitor from Johannesburg (which is 600 miles north-east of Durban) seeing Little India for the first time:

Little India on the streets of Durban

March 14 2006 at 01:34PM

By Mary Corrigall

We are in downtown Durban on a hot and muggy day dodging taxis that own the streets and we can't find any signposts telling us where to go. It is tempting to give up our search and head to the beach and let a strong sea breeze wipe the sweat off our faces, but we are determined to find what is dubbed as the Indian Quarter - said to be located around Grey Street.

In my rich imagination, the word "quarter" denotes an area of a city where an exotic ethnic cultural group has set up shop, allowing visitors to flirt with a foreign way of life without having to buy a plane ticket.

Trying to find a demarcated area in Durban where Indian culture is concentrated is tricky when there is a good curry shop flogging bunny chow down every lane, women bedecked in bright silk saris with gold embroidery stride down the main streets, and fresh pineapple rolled in tandoori spices is sold from stands dotted around the city.

One feels quite at ease strolling along Durban's city streets
So where does this supposed Indian Quarter begin and end? Does it matter?

All of India's great exports are to be found in excess in this tropical city, which is not too surprising, considering that the largest community of Indians living outside their motherland reside in Durban.

As we make our way to Grey Street, we pass a plethora of fabric shops that line Commercial Avenue. It is here, on this grubby, unassuming street, that fabrics made to inspire sophisticated designer collections are flogged by the metre. Despite the flurried activity on the streets, the shops are empty inside and hordes of shop assistants descend on you when you step into the air-conditioned breeze.

It is peak holiday season for Durban, and aside from our party, there are no holidaymakers in sight. We seem to be the only sightseers looking for the elusive Indian Quarter.

Unlike Jozi's (Johannesberg) inner city, one feels quite at ease strolling along Durban's city streets. In this part of town, you needn't step into a shop to find bargains; every inch of the pavement has been turned into retail space. These makeshift stalls sell everything from racy knickers to hammers and nails, to traditional muti (African voodoo) that fills the air with a pungent aroma.

Shopowners in this part of the city don't wait for their clients to enter their domain; they stand on the pavement aggressively marketing their goods:

"Two pairs of shoes for R100. Come and have a look, lady. Where are you going to find shoes for that price? You want sandals? We got sandals!"

We slip down a busy alleyway to find shops selling cooking utensils and pots. The pots are like nothing I've ever seen. They are so large that they wouldn't fit on any conventional stove; one would have to build a huge fire to accommodate the circumference.

Apparently this part of town has been home to Indian traders since the early 1900s. The beer halls and "native eating-houses" that were established in the area around the same time are, of course, gone.

Today there are no restaurants or bars; no one is stopping to take a load off. Everyone appears to be rushing through these crowded streets, barely stopping to take a look at all the wares for sale.

When we ask shop attendants where the Indian Quarter is located, they look at us blankly.

The Victoria Street Market feels like a ghost town. The African curios indicate that the centre is geared towards tourists but, unfortunately, they are few and far between, and competing vendors all but grab you by the arm to coerce you to visit their store.

The shopowners appear disillusioned. When they hear that we're from Jo'burg, their eyes light up and they ask about our lives as if we hail from a faraway land.

We are instantly drawn to Joe's Corner, where sacks of sage and origanum sit on the floor as if they've just come off a boat, and containers full of exotic spices are piled into miniature mountains.

The names of the spices are written on signboards. A hot spice named "arson fire" is recommended for use when your mother-in-law calls for dinner. An ochre-coloured spice called "skiet en donner" (Afrikaans for shoot and bash) sounds more like gunpowder than curry powder.

The store is run by a garrulous and entertaining man who could sell meat to vegetarians. I leave with enough spices to make tikka masala for dinner for the next year.

It seems peculiar that we have to ask for directions to the Juma mosque, which is the largest mosque in the southern hemisphere, but it doesn't seem to be at all visible, despite its supposed dimensions.

Following directions, we find it down a quiet alley. We secure a guide to give us a tour. The noisy street from which we have come feels like another country as we slip into the cool and tranquil interior, which is so closely sandwiched between buildings that one can't step back to observe its breadth and height.

Before embarking on the tour, our guide establishes our religious affiliations.

"I need to know how open you are to what I have to say," he explains. He looks delighted to discover that we are all atheists. Taps and seats are dotted around a large fishpond located at the entrance, and we are told that followers freshen and clean up here.

"Coming before God is like going to a job interview," explains our guide. "You try to look your best."

Before we enter the main area of the mosque, our guide draws our attention to six clocks on the wall, which regulate prayer times.

The interior of the mosque itself is a little disappointing - not nearly as grand as I had imagined. In fact it is reminiscent of opulent western reception rooms; chandeliers hang from the ceiling and plush red carpets cover the floor.

It seems peculiar to me at first that the congregation pray facing a wall instead of some sort of religious effigy. Our guide then explains: "We do not depict God because we do not know what she or he may look like."

As a woman, this resonates with me. As much as I try to pump our guide for historical information about the edifice, he seems bent on converting us to Islam.

I do, however, manage to discover that the mosque was built in 1895.

After our guide has put in a good word for Islam, making it clear that the religion doesn't support terrorism, we once again join the chaos on the street outside.

From the Sunday Independent.

Here are some pics of Durban and the Indians.

Top pic is an aerial view of Durban. Next pic is of the Jamu Mosque (the largest mosque in the southern hemisphere) in downtown Durban. The other pics are of Hindu women in saris. The sari is probably the most flattering dress that a woman can wear. It can make even Miss Piggy look pretty. Indian woman are some of the loveliest women in the world. I fell in love with many an Indian woman but in the old apartheid days white people were not allowed to marry Indians. The first time that I was jailed was for being caught with an Indian woman. It's no wonder I turned out to be a tropical fruit.

Just counting another blessing

Thank God for a wonderful commute.

It used to take me 40 minutes to drive 3 miles to work in San Francisco - 3 miles that was like an obstacle course. The most dangerous obstacles were the selfish nuts too busy fellating their cell-phones to pay attention to any other drivers on the road. (Off course they all had Kerry/Edwards and Meat is Murder stickers on their Volvos.) Then there were the crazed Chinese "drivers" who seem to have no peripheral vision.

I had to drive defensively all the time. You never knew when a stoned hippie on a bicycle was going to ride straight into the traffic. The jay-walking pedestrians were all either anarchists or suicidal - actually both. People would suddenly open their car doors into on-coming traffic and step right into the path of your car. And arrogant joggers would run right down the middle of the road and give you the finger if you honked at them. I did a lot of yelling and cursing.

Now, it takes me 30 minutes to drive 13 miles to work. It takes about 5 minutes to drive the mile-long winding dirt-road down the hill from my farm to the local village and a minute or so to get to the highway. Once on the highway, I get up to 61mph, push the cruise control button and enjoy the scenery for the next 9 miles into the nearest town. This morning I had to stick to the speed limit, 55mph, because it was raining. The classical music station was playing Arnold Bax's Sonatina for flute and harp. There was one car on the highway about a quarter of a mile ahead of me and another car about a half mile behind me. I relaxed and hummed along with the music.

It takes about ten minutes to drive the 9 miles to town. The first 5 miles is through a forest of Douglas firs. The clouds were low on the hills. The tallest peaks are still covered with the snow that we had last Friday. Then, just before the bridge over the bay, I have to drive through the dunes.

Once I cross the bridge over the bay into the town, it takes about 15 minutes to drive 3 miles across town at 30 mph and that includes stopping at all three traffic lights. The radio started playing some socalled "modern classical" crap by some neurotic angst-ridden European commie, so I switched to "American classical music" - the local country station.

I've posted some of these pics before but I found a new one of the bridge from the inside. It might not be as big or dramatic as the Golden Gate Bridge but I think it is beautiful.

I'm a conservative not a reactionary

Before I came to the USA, I always used to think of myself a a "liberal" meaning that I am an easy-going guy; tolerant and not quick to condemn others but I eventually figured out that I could not call myself a liberal in the USA because American "liberals" are really socialists. I don't mind a bit of socialism. Deep down I detest it but am willing to compromise.

I read a lot of conservative bloggers. The ones that I enjoy the most are those who focus on the good, on the positive aspects. The ones that I disagree with most are those who spend a lot of time wailing and bemoaning that this world is a mess, that Bush is not perfect, that the WOT is a failure. Some socalled "conservatives" are really reactionaries who want to turn back the clock to some imaginary Golden Age and end up sounding like liberal Utopianists who expect everything to be perfect.

I just posted this response to a comment from a liberal visitor in the post below: I think, as Americans, we share the same values and concerns and see the same problems. What we disagree on is the solutions to those problems. But probably the biggest disagreement we have is in the proportionality that we give to those problems. I don't expect the world to be perfect but, judging from your four blogs, I think you do. It is enough for me to see that "something is rotten in the state of Denmark" and attempt to fix only the small parts that are within my power. Hamlet, however, (like the romantic Utopianist that he was) tried to fix ALL the injustices and we all know what happened after that.

I am a conservative not a reactionary. That means that I enjoy this world just the way it is. I don't want to turn the clock back but neither do I want to rock the boat so much that we all fall out and drown. I don't like abortion or "gay rights" but that doesn't mean I want to throw women who have abortions or gays in prison. I don't like affirmative action but that doesn't mean I want to resurrect Jim Crow laws. For me, being conservative means accepting that this world will never be perfect.

Nearly everyone, after that first perfect love is lost, can mope around and feel sorry for themselves, and whine and moan and ham it up like a bitter broken-hearted Gloria Swanson bitch. But hopefully, there comes a time for all of us when the penny drops and you realise that being cheerful and optimistic is actually easier and more fun than being miserable and pessimistic.

Trouble is some adults never outgrow their teenage pout-fests and become nagging prudes, sour puritans, nasty Nazis, weak and dependent socialists, power-crazed communists and insane Islamic terrorists always seeing the world through lenses of negativity and paranoia, as a cess-pit of frustration, oppression and terrifying dangers.

Well, this world can sometimes be not all that nice and comfortable and it's definitely not perfect. And we can never escape sickness and death. But it's not all that awful and the beauty nearly always outshines the bad. There's a lot more loveliness to enjoy than ugliness to abhor. And a cheerful, grateful attitude can do more good than any whining and moaning ever can.

So why have the supposedly utopian-minded and once upbeat "liberals" become so angry, bitter and hateful? Because they have run out of ideas (some of which were fairly good and some of which were really bad) but all of which have been shown to be based on coercion and manipulation and not on true (Lockean) liberalism - optimism, belief in one's individual sovereignty, the joy of hard work and sensible unpretentious creativity.

Today's "liberals" aren't liberal at all. In the 1930s the Communist Party in the USA decided to use the word "liberal" whenever they meant "socialist" because they knew that Americans did not like the beehive groupthink mentality of the Soviet Socialism in Russia or the National Socialism in Germany as they detested any curtailment of their individual freedoms.

So, American socialists re-invented themselves as "liberals" and took over the Democrat Party. Everyone knows that the Dems are now a socialist party. Some of us don't mind too much because we're willing to compromise with the wusses and sissies who like having a big nanny government. And some of us don't like it at all. But most of us realize that the socalled "liberals" and socialism are here to stay because at least half of the human race never outgrows its juvenile sulkiness.

That doesn't mean that we'll stop telling the wusses to grow up and face reality. No one's going to harm you in the USA except criminals and they're not in the majority. Most of us are decent people who aren't going to kill you or steal from you or bear false witness against you or, as the most "fevered imaginations" might think, send you to concentration camps in Alaska.

Most of us are not power-crazed egomaniacs. We are quite happy with the little bit of power and control we have over our own lives and circumstances. It's only insecure and frightened people who crave power over others and most of us are happy, comfortable, contented and confident enough not to feel insecure and inadequate.

And most of us understand that the best thing we can do for others is to be cheerful and kind not bitter and angry. We also know that we can't help others if we haven't got anything to give. So, we work hard and get rich. A lot of us think the USA is great (no, not perfect - just not so bad really) and we don't want to change anything too much or too quickly. I guess that makes us "conservatives."

Like Thomas Paine, we think government is a "necessary evil" not a panacea. And like John Locke, we believe that "the only purpose of government is to protect private property." We like having our legal guns because we know that the criminals definitely have illegal ones. We like being free to worship God as we please and pursue our happiness in the privacy of our own homes as we wish as long as it does not harm another.

We like owning our own homes - preferably forty acres (and throw in the mule coz it's cheaper and more reliable than an SUV) and running our own businesses and we mostly vote Republican (even if we're independent or libertarian) because it's the lesser of two evils.

Well, that's the way I think. Maybe I'm just too apathetic and comfortably middle class. That's also what I think most ordinary Americans are. Perhaps I should call them "centrists." We sit in the middle watching liberals pull in one direction and reactionaires pulling in another while we try to conserve what is good before the extremists destroy it all in their efforts to make the world comform to their theories.

Compatriot Blogs

I've gotten a few requests from other bloggers wanting to know if they could be added to my Compatriot Blogroll. My blogroll started off being a list of reciprocal links and that's pretty much what it still is. I just gave it a fancy name.

To be added to the Compatriot Blogroll, just email me at joubertconlon@hotmail.com and let me know your blog url and add the following code to your sidebar:

(I have had to change these brackets <> to these () so that the html will be visible. Just remember to change these () to these <> otherwise the code will not work. I have also added a break to the code after the third and fourth = signs so that it does not leak over into the sidebar. So don't forget to remove the breaks! They're invisible here so just close those gaps after you copy the code.)

(script language="javascript" type="text/javascript"src=
"http://rpc.blogrolling.com/display.php?r=
12aee364c9e715389cfae82846c7144d")(/script)

If you want to add the logo, just copy it and upload it to your own blog.

Getting things in proportion

The only *current affair* that really got my tits in a tangle last week was the UAE port deal. As soon as I heard about it, I had a gut-level reaction - NO! This was caused by the fact that it sounded like a secret deal done in smoky backrooms. I would not have minded too much if it had been a completely private enterprise but the government seemed to have too much of a hand in the deal.

And the unholy alliance between government and business always triggers my built-in "RRR" (Redneck Rebel Radar.) Too much was left unexplained. It smelled secretive and vague.

I don't like governmental interference in business. I don't like governmental interference period. To me, Washington should stick to waging war, building highways, dams and levees and changing the diapers of the un-aborted babies of single disabled lesbian vegetarian "minority" mothers. When the government starts fiddling around with stuff that is patently none of their business, off goes my RRR. I'm trusting up to a point but I am also very leery of anything that smacks of aristocratic shenannigans. My RRR started beeping like mad when I heard that a British company was involved and stood to make lots of money.

The Brit aristocracy has been selling their birthrights to the Arabs since the Sixties. Harrods was one of the first to be sold to a socalled Saudi "prince." (Gimme a break! Do they think I fell off the turnip truck yesterday. Prince - my eye! In the USA, we call people like them The Mob and put them in prison.) The Brits even sold Diana to the Arabs. (That's the one cheap and nasty dig I will allow myself this week.)

I don't trust the British as far as I can throw them. Maybe that's not my RRR speaking but my Boer blood that was spilled in the world's first concentration camps. I trust the Brits only a smidgen more than I trust the French and that's only because I don't understand Frog talk but can tell when the Brits are about to give me the old un-lubricated Lord Shaftesbury Avenue. I lived among them for 8 years and know when they are about to slip me the....okay, enough said!

Our Prez, Lord love him to bits, is a trifle too cozy with both the Brits and the Saudis for my tastes - so naturally I suspected some "New World Order" (the phrase that Bush Senior used during Desert Storm) Anglo-American "social engineering." And that got my RRR hackles up. Then Goober Carter piped up to say YES to the UAE deal and then Hilly and Billy contradicted each other (and are obviousy no longer living together and had not phoned each other before they pimped themselves to the MSM.)

So, yes, my RRR kicked in and I thought the worst. I read the first paragraphs of many an op ed. (I've read enough op eds that sometimes the author's name is sufficient to sum up his/her spchiel.) Then I read this:

ISS has more than 200 offices around the world and provides services to clients ranging from cruise ship operators to oil tankers to commercial cargo vessels. In the U.S., the company operates out of more than a dozen port cities, including Houston, Miami and New Orleans, arranging pilots, tugs, linesmen and stevedores, among other things.

ISS is also a UAE company. The rest is here.

That put it all in proportion for me and *proportion* is the difference between "current affairs" and history; the tree and the woods; amnesia and a good night's sleep. So, I slept well after that. As they say in the classics: "God's in His heaven and all's well on earth!" (And keep my fingers crossed for good luck because I don't know what the hell is going on. Do you?

My chickens have come home to roost

Usually I post a poem and some pics of my garden on Sunday but today I thought I'd post some pics of my chickens who are just as wonderful to me as my trees and shrubs and flowers. I enjoy my Sunday posts more than any of the other stuff that I write. Sunday's my Sabbath day - time to do nothing except enjoy being alive. Sure I get vexed about politics occasionally but, deep down, I don't get my boxers in a bunch too much about the human condition.

Age has made me more sanguine and less concerned with the day to day drama. I'm more a lover of history than politics and history has shown me that people take two steps forward and one step back all the time but we still end up one step ahead and the human condition just gets better all the time. I have complete faith in the basic goodness of the majority of human beings. That's not to say that I don't get caught up in the day to day drama sometimes but, when the sun goes down, I rest easy knowing that it will come up again tomorrow.

In other words: I'm just a very contented old rooster; quite happy with the way things are; not wanting to change the world like I did when I was just a chicken; not as cocky as I used to be. I always hoped that, before I died, I would one day just simply enjoy this beautiful miracle that God has created for us without worrying about anything; just having faith and being happy. Well, my chickens have come home to roost and I can just kick back, relax and make the most of what God has in store for me - one breath at a time. And, that's what it's come to - I'm just grateful for the next breath. Who knows when or if the next breath will come?

Here are a few thoughts about chickens written by others:

"Do not count your chickens before they are hatched." - Aesop, Greek fabulist - from one of his Fables, “The Milkmaid and Her Pail." (6th century B.C.)

"We are constituted a good deal like chickens, which, taken from the hen, and put in a basket of cotton in the chimney-corner, will often peep till they die, nevertheless; but if you put in a book, or anything heavy, which will press down the cotton, and feel like the hen, they go to sleep directly." - Henry David Thoreau, U.S. philosopher, author, naturalist - from "A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers." (1849)

"A long war like this makes you realise the society you really prefer: the home, goats, chickens and dogs and casual acquaintances. I find myself not caring at all for gardens, flowers or vegetables, cats, cows and rabbits; one gets tired of trees, vines and hills, but houses, goats, chickens, dogs and casual acquaintances never pall." - Gertrude Stein, U.S. author - from "Wars I Have Seen." (1945). (At the time, Stein was living in France with her lesbian lover, Alice B. Toklas.)

"The surprise of animals...in and out, cats and dogs and a milk goat and chickens and guinea hens, all taken for granted, as if man was intended to live on terms of friendly intercourse with the rest of creation instead of huddling in isolation on the fourteenth floor of an apartment house in a city where animals occurred behind bars in the zoo." - Elizabeth Janeway, U.S. author - from “Steven Benedict,” Accident on Route 37. (1964).

"If we decide to take this level of business creating ability nationwide, we’ll all be plucking chickens for a living." - H. Ross Perot, U.S. business executive, presidential candidate 1992 - quoted in Time, Nov. 16, 1992. (He was referring to rival candidate Bill Clinton’s "business" initiatives in Arkansas.)

And here are my beautiful chickens. The first three pics are of Cecil Rhodes, my Rhode Island red rooster, (who stands over two feet high and is so fierce that the cats and dogs are terrified of him) and his two wives, Alpha and Beta, affectionately known as Alfie and Betty, who each lay an egg EVERY day even in winter. You could not wish for better hens.

In the background of the coop, you can see the bantams. (We had to separate the bantams from the regular chickens because the bantam game cock attacked Cecil eventhough he only stands 4 inches high and weighs one tenth of what Cecil does.) Bertie Wooster is the bantam game cock. He has ten wives: Turandot, Aida, Tannie Tarentaal, Fifi, Gigi, Mimi, Misty, Smokey, Goldie and Honey.

When Andy decided to get bantams, I was a bit unenthusiastic at first because I was thinking practically - where's the beef? - or in this case; where's the meat and eggs? I had bantams as a kid but they were pets not working farm animals. This bunch aren't the best layers in the world - they stopped laying as soon as we had our first frost at the beginning of December - but they are completely adorable and I would never eat them anyway. I can sit and watch them for hours on end and listen to the funny little cheeps and squeaks and trills that they make. I could write a book about them.

The rest of the pics are of the bantams going to bed at dusk. My chickens have definitely come home to roost. (If you think the pics are boring, just click to enlarge them and see how interesting these funny little critters are.)

Conservative Independence ~vs~ Rabid Republicans

That's the title of Texas Fred's latest post which I'm re-posting here so that I can comment on it as Fred has closed the comments on his blog.

I know, or have met a lot of folks that claim to be Conservative AND Republican, dedicated Republicans, and I have noticed a few things about this that trouble me a bit…

Being a Conservative, a TRUE Conservative, means you have the belief that the government doesn’t OWE you a damn thing, in fact, true Conservatives want LESS government, not MORE, you want fiscal conservatism as well, NOT a regime that spends money like a drunken sailor on shore leave…

A person can be a Conservative and not *belong* to ANY dedicated political party, I am one of those…

I was raised in a predominately Democratic home, back in the days when being a Dem was a good thing, but somewhere in my early 20’s, I declared my independence and broke all ties with the Dem and Repubs, because even then, 30 years ago, I saw the 2 parties becoming as one, just a few slight differences, mostly just the names…

My sister was a Poli/Sci major and she joined the *Young Republicans* and our folks nearly had heart attacks, “Oh God, WHERE did we go wrong??”, that sort of thing, and even though I didn’t become a Republican, I had to admire my sister for her decision to stand on that platform and go against the *popular* belief, even if it was quite unpopular…

We’ve seen little change in either party as time has gone on, other than to see the development of the titles RINO and DINO, Repub/Dem in name only and as a friend of mine is fond of saying, Repubs are nothing more than *Dem Lite*…

I had absolutely no problem with making critical statements against Presidents Carter and Clinton when I felt they were doing the wrong things and I have no problem with blasting George Bush if I feel he is making a mistake too, and lately, he has been drawing fire from folks that were dedicated *Bushies*, as DU and the *Kos Kids* like to call them…

I am not a *Bushie*, not by ANY means, no more than I was a Reaganite, and even though I still feel that Mr. Reagan was likely the very best we’ll see for many years into the future, he was still capable of making mistakes, just like any POTUS, he just made fewer errors and had much more stunning successes than most…

The thing that surprises me today is the so-called Conservative Republicans that get totally insulted if you so much as make the slightest critical statement about Pres. Bush, even if you ARE an Indy-Con, and have been, for the most part, a solid Bush supporter, not the outright ATTACKS against the POTUS, not the vitriolic tirades that DU and Kos and AAR make, just say something like, “I don’t think it was in our best interest to go to war in Iraq, I thing Bush was ill-advised…” Try that and watch the *Blind Bushies* go on the offensive…

Conservatism be damned, YOU insulted their LEADER and it starts to look like a bunch of camel jockeys at an Islamic cartoon convention…

Folks, this nation needs some NEW leadership, and it NEEDS Conservative leadership, it’s time we had a viable *3rd party*, not some lame excuse like the Libertarians or the Greenies, I mean a REAL 3rd party that can put the BS to rest, a party that can run a STRONG contender and take the White House, or we let the Repubs and Dems go on like they are, and carry this nation into the sewer…

I hear people say “speak your opinions at the polls, make your wishes known by your vote” but we have to have some candidates that are worth voting for, not candidates that we have to stop and decide, “Is this one the best of 2 bad choices??”

We NEED a 3rd party, a REAL 3rd party…

If it’s not already too late…
Explore posts in the same categories: Opinion, Editorial

This entry was posted on Friday, March 10th, 2006 at 8:46 pm and is filed under Opinion, Editorial. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

Comments are closed.

I can't do trackbacks and I couldn't comment on Fred's blog because he has closed his comments but I really wanted to tell him that I agree with 98.5% of what he says.

The 1% that I disagree with is the probability of a viable third party and the 0.5% disagreement is about the need for "new leadership."

The two concepts are actually connected. "New leadership" is required to even try to get a third party started. In my experience, those who want to lead are usually least qualified to do so - viz Nader and Perot. Even more than "leadership" we need simple grassroots rebellion which is what recently derailed the UAE deal when it became obvious that nearly 83% of Americans were against it.

But I cannot disagree with Fred's insistence that we need less government not more. Both parties are statist and always have been. Reagan articulated an anti-statist (what is now known as "libertarian" ) philosophy based on his love of the classical Lockean liberal ideas of the Founding Fathers but he was up against entrenched Washington bureaucratism which the Italian philosopher, Antonio Gramsci, opined was more dangerous even than communism.

For instance - I was shocked when someone in the CIA leaked info that was detrimental to the WOT. I stopped being shocked when I realized that the CIA, like all Federal agencies, is run by a bunch of unionized petty bureaucrats.

It's not so much the parties that are the problem. Back in their constituencies, the pols are not that bad. It's when they get inside the Beltway, that they succumb to bureaucratism. By the time our pols have been in Washington for a few months, they realize that they have to play the game that these bureaucrats have created. Washington reeks of bureaucratism. It poisons the air and stifles all originality or individuality. No wonder we have a bunch of Stepford politicians.

"The first thing we do," said the character in Shakespeare's Henry VI, is "kill all the lawyers."

I think the first thing we should do is kill all the bureaucrats. Okay - maybe not kill them but let's get rid of Federal unions and fire all the nasty little pen-pushing bean-counting Washington weasels.

In fact, if I weren't such an apathetically comfortable middle-class lazy bum, I'd like to see a new revolution - which Jefferson suggested should occur every few generations. Maybe it's time to nuke Washington and start over in Peoria.

Oriana Fallaci: The Force of Reason

Here are some excerpts from Oriana Fallaci's penultimate book, The Force of Reason, which are posted on TigerHawk:

I don't like to say that Troy is burning. That Europe is by now a province of Islam or rather a colony of Islam and Italy an outpost of that province, a stronghold of that colony. Saying this amounts to admitting that the Cassandras really do talk to the wind, that in spite of their screams of pain the blind remain blind, the deaf remain deaf, consciences reawoken soon relapse into sleep, and the Mastros Cecco die for nothing. But the truth is just this. From the Strait of Gibraltar to the fjords of Soroy, from the cliffs of Dover to the beaches of Lampedusa, from the steppes of Volgograd to the valleys of the Loire and the hills of Tuscany, the fire is spreading. In each one of our cities there is a second city. A city superimposed and equal to the one that in the Seventies thousands and thousands of Palestinians set up in Beirut installing a State within a State. A government within the goverrnment. A Muslim city, a city ruled by the Koran. An Islamic expansion's stage. The expansionism that no-one has ever managed to overcome. No-one. Not even the armies of Napoleon. Because it is the only art in which the sons of Allah have always excelled, the art of invading and conquering and subjugating. Their most coveted prey has always been Europe, the Christian world, and shall we run a rapid eye over the History that Mr. Doudou would like to control or rather cancel?

It was in 635 AD, that is three years after Mohammed's death, that the armies of the Crescent Moon invaded Christian Syria and Christian Palestine. It was in 638 that they took Jerusalem and the Holy Sepulchure. It was in 640 that after conquering Persia and Armenia and Mesopotamia, present-day Iraq, they invaded Christian Egypt and overran Christian Maghreb. That is, the present Tunisia and Algeria and Morocco. It was in 668 that for the first time they attacked Constantinople and laid a siege that would last five years. It was in 711 that after crossing the Strait of Gibralter they landed in the most Catholic Iberian Peninsula, took possession of Portugal and Spain where despite the Pelayos and the Cid Campeadors and the other warriors engaged in the Reconquest they remained for noless than eight centuries. And whoever believes in the myth of *peaceful coexistence that marked the relationships between the conquered and the conquerors* should reread the stories of the burned convents and monestaries, of the profaned churches, of the raped nuns, of the Christian or Jewish women abducted to be locked away in their harems. He should ponder on the crucifixions of Cordoba, the hangings of Grenada, the beheadings of Toledo and Barcelona, of Seville and Zamora. (The beheadings of Seville, ordered by Mutamid: the king who used those severed heads, heads of Jews and Christians, to adorn his palace. The beheadings of Zamora, ordered by Almanzor: the vizier who was called the-patron-of-the-philosophers, the greatest leader Islamic Spain has ever produced). Christ! Invoking the name of Jesus meant instant execution. Crucifixion, of course, or decapitation or hanging or impalement. Ringing a bell, the same. Wearing green, the colour exclusive to Islam, also. And when a Muslim passed by, every Jew and Christian was obliged to step aside. To bow. And mind to the Jew or the Christian who dared react to the insults of a Muslim. As for the much-flaunted detail that the infidel-dogs were not obliged to convert to Islam, not even encouraged to do so, do you know why they were not? Because those who converted to Islam did not pay taxes. Those who refused, on the contrary, did.

From Spain, in 721 AD, they passed into the no less Catholic France. Led by Abd al-Rahman, the Governor of Andalusia, they crossed the Pyrenees and took Narbonne. There they massacred the entire male population, enslaved all the women and children, then proceeded towards Carcassonne. From Carcassonne they were to Nimes where they slaughtered nuns and friars. From Nimes they went to Lyons and Dijon where they pillaged every single church... And do you know how long their advance in France lasted? Eleven years. In waves. In 731 a wave of three hundred and eighty thousand infantry and sixteen thousand cavalry reached Bordeaux which surrendered at once. Then from Bordeaux it moved to Poitiers, from Poitiers it moved to Tours and, if in 732 Charles Martel had not won the battle of Poitiers-Tours, today the French too would dance the flamenco. In 827 they landed in Sicily, another target of their voraciousness. Massacring, beheading, impaling, crucifying as usual, they conquered Syracuse and Taormina the Messina and Palermo, and in three-quarters of a century (which is what it took to break the proud resistance of the Sicilians) they Islamized the island. They stayed for over two centuries, in Sicily: until they werre cleared out by the Normans. But in 836 they landed at Brindisi. In 840, at Bari. And they Islamized Puglia too. In 841 they landed at Ancona. Then from the Adriatic they moved back to the Tyrrhenian Sea and in the summer of 846 landed at Ostia. They sacked it, they burned it, and moving upriver from the mouth of the Tiber they reached Rome. They laid siege to it and one night they burst in. They plundered the basilicas of St. Peter and St. Paul, sacked both, and to get rid of them Pope Sergius II had to stipulate an annual tribute of twenty-five thousand pieces of silver. To prevent further attacks, his successor Leon IV had to erect the Leonine Walls.

Having left Rome, though, they descended on Campania. They stayed there for seventy years destroying Montecassino and tormenting Salerno. A city where, at one time, they amused themselves by sacrificing a nun's virginity every night. Do you know where? On the cathedral's altar. In 898 they landed in Provence. To be precise, in present-day St. Tropez. They settled there, and in 911 crossed the Alps to enter Piedmont. They occupied Turin and Casale, set fire to all the churches and libraries, killed thousands of Christians, then went to Switzerland. Here they reached the Graubunden valley and the lake of Geneva. Then, put off by the snow, did an about-turn and returned to the warm climate of Provence. In 940 they occupied Toulon where they settled and... Today it's fashionable to beat our breast over the Crusades. To blame the West for the Crusades. To see the Crusales as an injustice committed to the detriment of the poor-innocent-Muslims. But before being a series of expeditions to regain possession of the Holy Sepulchure that is of Jerusalem (which had been taken by the Muslims, remember, not by my aunt), the Crusades were the response to four centuries of invasions and occupations. They were a counter-offensive to stem Islamic expansionism in Europe. To deflect it, mors tua vita mea, towards the Orient (meaning India and Indonesia and China) then towards the whole African continent and towards Russia and Siberia where the Tartars converted to Islam were already crushing the followers of Christ. At the conclusion of the Crusades, in fact, the sons of Allah resumed their persecutions as before and more than before.

By the hand of the Turks, this time. The Turks who were about the prepare the birth to the Ottoman Empire. An empire that until 1700 would concentrate on the West all of its greed: turn Europe into its favourite battlefield. Interpreters and bearers of that greed, the famous Janissaries who still today enrich our language with the synonym of killer fanatic assassin. And do you know who the Janissaries actually were? The chosen troops of the Empire, the super-soldiers as capable of self-immolation as of fighting and massacring and sacking. Do you know where they were recruited or rather pressed into service? In the countries subjugated by the Empire. In Greece, for example, or in Bulgaria, in Romania, in Hungary, in Albania, in Serbia. Often in Italy too, along the coasts plied by their pirates. Those coasts where still today you can see the remains of the watchtowers used for spotting their arrival and warning the towns and villages. And where still resounds the echo of the scream which today is used as a mockery but at that time was a cry of terror and despair: *Mamma, li turchi! Mother, the Turks!*. They abducted those killers to be at the age of eleven or twelve, together with even younger children to punt in the seraglios of the sultans and viziers given to paedophilia, and they chose them from the best-looking and strongest of the important families' firstborns. After the conversion they shut them in the military barracks and here, forbidding them to have any kind of amorous or affectionate relations, marriage included, they indoctrinated them as not even Hitler would indoctrinate his Waffen SS. They turned them into the most formidable fighting machine the world has seen since Roman times.

HT: Chas' Compilation.