Why I Am for Rudy

Because he said in New Hampshire yesterday about the Jihadists that, "They are out to kill us."

From no candidate have I seen nor heard a more concise, cogent or heartfelt statement of what our enemies are out to do. He went on to say that so long as he has anything to say about it the United States will never be on the defensive with our enemy as it was prior to 9/11. This is Churchillian. It is what I need to hear to fire me up and go to work for a candidate. He is worth the effort.

I know Rudy has personal baggage, a lot of personal baggage. So did Churchill. He holds views contrary to my own with regard to gun control and abortion. But I am willing to set all that aside because he is right on the major issue of our times, the war against the Jihadists. Everything is secondary to that issue.

So, in the next day or two I will contact his people here in California and offer my efforts and skills.

I could write more, but why? He said it and he won my heart and head. Rudy for president!




Your Co-Conspirator,
ARC: MontereyJohn

Calling All Conspirators!!

I'll have Connectile Dysfunction today, so I'll have to rely on Brian, MontereyJohn, and that elusive Penelope to keep me up to speed on the inner workings of the Rovian Conspiracy.

Today is "The Field Trip" - my 5 year old son's preschool class is venturing out to explore and I'm one of the parents that will be escorting them through dangerous adventures. The most anticipated part for my son is this, but I'm sure that will get bumped from the top of the chart sometime during the day.

What wondrous places await us? Well, the best zoo in the country, of course:



Your Co-Conspirator,
ARC: St Wendeler

More Buy Local Nonsense

Cafe Hayek points to this NYTimes Book Review of BillMcKibben's latest book - Deep Economy - in which "he calls on people to develop local economies and, hence, to reject most economic ties that span the globe and even the nation."

Cafe Hayek has this great statement about buying local and feel-good environmentalism:

[...]
A while back, Jacqueline Passey sent to me a cartoon that now hangs on my office door. In it, two cavemen are chatting as they sit in their cave-home. One says to the other "Something's just not right - our air is clean, our water is pure, we all get plenty of exercise, everything we eat is organic and free-range, and yet nobody lives past thirty." Funny -- but very true.

Whatever plausible risks global warming and other environmental problems pose to humanity are nothing as compared to any serious attempt to reject global commerce and industry in favor of living in local economies. McKibben's prescription would kill billions of us.

Or, to rephrase Stalin's famous quote: A single death is a tragedy; a [billion] deaths is a statistic.

Caveman chic certainly could come back into style...

Your Co-Conspirator,
ARC: St Wendeler

Rosie: Out of View

Because she was getting too close to the TRUTH!!!!

U HAVE 2 C!!!!

Here are the specifics:

Exclusive: O'Donnell Leaving 'The View'
Rosie O'Donnell Is Set to Announce Today Her Departure From 'The View'

April 25, 2007 — - Rosie O'Donnell is leaving "The View." ABC has been unable to come to a contractual agreement with "The View" co-host. As a result, her duties on the show will come to an end mid-June.

The president of daytime programming for the Disney-ABC Television Group, Brian Frons, told ABCNEWS.com, "Going in we knew we would have an amazing year with her, and that anything beyond that would be gravy. But we were willing to take the chance because we understood what a coup it was to entice Ro back to daytime television. So here we are a year later, and while we've tried to come to terms on a deal that would extend her co-hosting duties on 'The View,' we find ourselves unable to agree on some key elements."

According to Barbara Walters, creator and co-executive producer of "The View," the departure is an amicable one.

In a statement, Walters said: "I induced Rosie to come back to television on 'The View' even for just one year. She has given the program new vigor, new excitement and wonderful hours of television. I can only be grateful to her for this year. I am very sad that ABC Daytime could not reach an agreement with her for a second year. We will all miss Rosie on 'The View,' and hope she will be back with us often next season. She remains for me a cherished friend and colleague."

Of course, we all know that "we could not reach an agreement with her for a second year" is code for "Karl Rove threatened to kill me if I didn't remove her... I got the phone call right after Rosie raised the question about WTC 7 and used her metallurgical skills to suggest that steel cannot be melted by fire."

Of course, Rosie's departure from The View was predicted right here by Another Rovian Conspiracy:

Now for mine [St Wendeler], in no particular order:

1. Rosie off view - in order to pursue her next ambitious project
[...]

[...]
Brian['s Predicitions]:

In no particular order.
1. Rosie O'Donnell will "retire" from the view. She begins working on a film project. [Note this is a ripoff from St Wendeler]

Coincidence? Is there any such thing as a coincidence??

Little did I know that her next "ambitious project" would be to unmask the entire 9/11 (aka Reichstag Feuer Zwei) Conspiracy. Those Pesky Kids!


Note to readers - Due to Rosie's departure, it's unlikely that we'll be covering The View in any substantial manner as the Moonbat quotient on the set will drop significantly after June. However, we will continue to monitor the pathetic show and keep you informed should there be subsequent breakouts of Moonbattery. Heck, given Barbara's track record, she could be hiring Amy "Democracy Now!" Goodman, Cindy "We Must Embrace Islamofascism" Sheehan, or Medea "Pink is more palatable than Commie Red" Benjamin to replace Rosie...

Michelle Malkin is covering
Don Surber points out that if this was politically motivated (which it obviously is, given how close she was to breaking the 9/11 Conspiracy wide open), we all could be next.
Allah is mourning his loss of content.... I suppose that I have to agree.
Jim Hoft (aka Gateway Pundit) covers Rosie's appearance at the Matrix Awards last night


*** ARC: Brian adds ***

I've got the perfect replacement for ABC.

*******

Your Co-Conspirator,
ARC: St Wendeler

Airbrushing My Thoughts Out of Existence

I've been in the blogosphere for a while. I've commented on sites from all over the political spectrum. This blog was created by Brian, Penelope, and I in order to give us a place to laugh at the Moonbats and their deranged rantings (MontereyJohn couldn't resist the temptation and just had to join in on the fun).

One thing that I've noticed in my time in the blogosphere is the pervasiveness of moderated comments on the Left or "progressive" side. Go to DailyKos, DemocraticUnderground, FiredogLake, BitchPhD, etc, etc and attempt to post a comment that seeks to logically or rationally challenge the assertions of their post - assuming you are lucky enough that they provide you with an ID to comment.

Now, I know that the Left has a history of airbrushing their opponents out of existence.

Here's an example where an FDLer posts on the discussion between Karl "The Architect" Rove and the two Drunk & Disorderly Dingbats known as Sherly Crow & Laurie David. (Interestingly, photoshopping Karl into an S&M picture and insinuating that he may be a homosexual is considered a high-brow discussion of his public policy positions and not deemed insensitive.)

Anyway, I pointed out that news from today shows that China is going to surpass the US as a major polluter this year, meaning that regardless of what we or the Europeans do, it's extremely important that the Chinese are on board - something that Karl pointed out to Sheryl & Laurie on Saturday and which the FDLer ridiculed him for.

I also poked fun of the FDLer's apparent obsession with Jeff Gannon/Guckert (BECAUSE OF THE HYPOCRISY!!! ^TM) which Brian and I find throughout the Moonbat-o-sphere. Consistent enough that we added ARC's 2nd Law: "The longer a blog comment thread continues, the probability of a nefarious reference to Jeff Gannon/Guckert approaches 1." (Our First Law is the same, but instead refers to Karl Rove. Both laws are a variation on Godwin's Law)

So, here's my comment after it was submitted (Comment #425, just after #424). Click on the picture for a clearer version:


Here's the current Comment Thread - My comment has been removed within 2 minutes.

Now, I certainly understand deleting comments which are vicious, hate-filled, or contain profanity. Unfortunately, if these standards were applied to any "progressive blog," many of the main posts would have to be removed.

What concerns me is that the Left is obvious NOT interested in discussing the topics or developing their positions more fully by actively debating the subject. Rather, they seek to isolate the information that comes into their Progressive Bubble.

And this isn't just a comment on FDL. Brian & I have been banned from BitchPhD because we had some phallo-centric world view (or something like that). Comments of mine to OliverWillis' site have been removed (although, after several emails pleading him to stop the practice, he has done so). Similarly I successfully registered for an ID on DU and was banned within 5 minutes of my first comment. The same applies for DailyKos.

Memo to the "Progressive" Blogosphere: If you're not confident enough in your ideas to allow others to debate you, I recommend that you turn off commenting entirely and only allow trackbacks. Because talking to people who only reinforce your own world view is not a "progressive" thing to do. And you might just end up like the guy pictured on the right. And none of us wants that...

Your Co-Conspirator,
ARC: St Wendeler

Islam Means Peace - Part 1,862

AllahPundit provides this information which you may not have seen through other media organizations.

It clearly demonstrates that the whole radical jihadist, sharia-loving, caliphate-restoring, death-to-infidels mentality is just from a vocal minority (if, by minority, we mean more than 50% in most countries):

No comment necessary, but do give it a perfunctory click and scroll-through as there’s lots to see. The good news: overwhelming majorities in all four countries disapprove of attacks on civilians in the U.S. and Europe. The bad news: everything else, including/especially the results from Egypt, where 60% thought suicide bombings were often or sometimes justified in attacking an enemy. (The next highest total was Morocco with 35%.) Very quietly, Egypt has become one of the most radical Muslim countries in the world. As you scroll, compare its results to the results from, say, Pakistan.

I leave you with a few appetite-whettening lowlights:

I'll sum up a few of the other items that Allah shares with us:

1. Majority of Muslims either Agree Strongly or Agree Somewhat with Al Qaeda's goals - the exception being that only 45% of Muslims want us to stop supporting "moderate" governments like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan. I suppose that a few billion really can have an impact!
2. 53% have Positive or Mixed views of OBL in Morocco, 74% in Egypt, 51% in Pakistan, 53% in Indonesia
3. 76% in Morocco want strict imposition of Sharia law, 74% in Egypt, 79% in Pakistan, and only 53% in Indonesia

As I mentioned here, if Islamic leaders truly want to position their religion as one of peace, they either have a serious marketing/branding problem or perhaps - perhaps! - they aren't in tune with what a majority of the followers of Islam truly want.

Allah points out that Egypt has quietly become a very radical country. I would say that of the "moderate" countries of Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia, the only thing that is "moderate" about them is their governments' willingness to talk with the US. The populations in each of these countries are much more radical than their leadership (check the nationality of the 9/11 hijackers for evidence of this). They've always been radical countries, but we are only just now becoming aware of it. And by we, I mean the few people outside of the self-imposed MSM bubble.

Your Co-Conspirator,
ARC: St Wendeler

MSNBC Fails to Identify "Expert" in VA Tech Story

Oliver Willis had this post on the Virginia Tech shooting, in which he blamed the gun industry and the NRA for the carnage and linked to this MSNBC story.

I commented several times on OW's blog, pointing out how uneducated he was regarding firearms, hunting, etc. Something about the original MSNBC story never sat well with me, specifically this paragraph which contained a comment on hollow point bullets from a retired ATF agent:

Joseph Vince, a retired ATF agent, agrees.

"It's not something that you would need for home protection, because what you are trying to do is eliminate an immediate threat," Vince says. "The idea of killing is what this ammunition portrays to me."

Now, what struck me is that hollow points are actually perfect for self defense (and hunting, Oliver), since they expand immediately upon impact and do not exit the target. They are the best bullets to insure a clean and quick kill. Eugene Volokh points to the following explanation from wikipedia:

"[...]hollow point bullets are one of the most common types of civilian and police ammunition, due largely to the reduced risk of bystanders being hit by over-penetrating or ricocheted bullets, and the increased speed of incapacitation."

Now, I knew this to be the case... and I'm not exactly a firearms expert. Just an Eagle Scout who's had some time at the rifle range (as a youth and into adulthood) and been on several hunting trips. So, if I know the aspects of a hollow point bullet, why doesn't a retired ATF agent?

Well, a quick Google search of the retired ATF agent's name provided the answer in Wikipedia:

The American Hunters and Shooters Association (AHSA) is an association of hunters and shooters in the United States that was founded in 2005. As an advocacy group it presents itself as a force of moderation and "common sense" in the debate over gun politics in the United States. Its critics say it is a front organization whose real goal is to eliminate the rights of gun owners by driving a wedge into the gun rights movement.

Leadership
The leaders of the AHSA are:[1]:

• Ray Schoenke, founding president [2] A former football player for the Washington Redskins, Schoenke ran for Governor of Maryland as a Democrat and has given "millions" to Democrat politicians and causes according to a January 19, 1998 Washington Post article.[3] Among the groups that Schoenke has donated to are two that actively lobby to ban firearms: Handgun Control, Inc.[4][5] and America Coming Together. Schoenke was on the Governor's Commission on Gun Violence in 1996.
• Bob Ricker, executive director [6]
• John E. Rosenthal, president of the AHSA Foundation and Founder of Stop Handgun Violence[7], a leading Massachusetts-based gun-banning lobbying group.
• Joseph J. Vince, Jr., a member of the Board of Directors is the former chief of the BATF's crime guns analysis branch. Currently, he is a principal of Crime Gun Solutions. [Handgun Control Inc] has hired Crime Gun Solutions in order to support numerous gun control laws,[8][9] to support HCI's lawsuits against firearm dealers[10] and he was a signer on a letter submitted to Congress opposing the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act[11]

So, MSNBC features analysis from a "retired ATF agent" who also happens to be: 1) Member of an organization that is apparently a gun control front; 2) in the employ of Handgun Control Inc, the premier handgun control lobbying group in the country (aka the Brady folks); and 3) supports legal actions against firearm dealers.

And they fail to mention this affiliation at all in their story. Surely they knew Mr. Vince's bio when they sought him out for comment.

It's almost as if MSNBC has some sort of agenda to push or something and doesn't want its audience to be informed.

***UPDATE***
Welcome Instapundit readers! Hope you enjoy your visit to this little corner of the blogosphere. Here are some other posts on a variety of subjects, selected at random:

• Nutroots reaction to the non-Rove indictment (aka the Five Stages of Grief. Co-Conspirator Brian is the main source for Plame-related coverage
• No Impact Living - An On-going Series: No Toilet Paper and Fred Flintstone attire
• Running series on An Inconvenient Truth
• An Update from the Front Lines - Spending Yet Another Christmas overseas
• The Ascension of Rosie O'Donnell to our Moonbat Lefty Blogroll
• A Progressive's View of Taxation
• Ana Marie Cox is a Twit

Hope you enjoy!

Your Co-Conspirator,
ARC: St Wendeler

Drunk & Disorderly

My fellow alumnus from the University of Missouri is a mental midget. Of course, I don't know when we decided that Music grads should dictate public policy in the area of science, but it seems like actors, musicians, and journalists are now the new cognoscenti of the 21st century.

Sheryl Crow (one of the most over-rated musicians of our time) is calling for all of us to limit our toilet paper to 1 square - or perhaps 3 on occasion - while at the same time she's cruising around the US in three tractor trailers, four tour buses, and six cars - all the while boozing it up on (no doubt) chilled liquor.

From The Smoking Gun (via Drudge):

When it comes to Sheryl Crow's touring requirements, if it's Tuesday, this must be Bombay. Gin that is. The rock star's performance contract includes specific day-to-day instructions on what kind of booze Sheryl needs in her dressing room (TSG has never seen such attention to detail in any other concert rider we've posted). For each show, Crow requires 12 bottles of Grolsch beer, 6 bottles of "local" beer, and a bottle each of "good Australian Cabernet" and "good Merlot." As for the harder stuff, promoters are directed to purchase specific booze depending on what day of the week the concert falls, as the below rider excerpt reveals. Additionally, when the global warming warrior hits the road, her touring entourage (and equipment) travels in three tractor trailers, four buses, and six cars. Now that's a carbon footprint! (4 pages)

But, hey... she gets a pass because she has to spread the message (and cash in on the movement)!!!

Your Co-Conspirator,
ARC: St Wendeler

Islam Means Peace

... because nothing is more peaceful than a dead critic of Islam, am I right people?

InstaPundit points us to this article in the Pittsburg Tribune-Review:

Imam Fouad ElBayly, president of the Johnstown Islamic Center, was among those who objected to Hirsi Ali's appearance.

"She has been identified as one who has defamed the faith. If you come into the faith, you must abide by the laws, and when you decide to defame it deliberately, the sentence is death," said ElBayly, who came to the U.S. from Egypt in 1976.
[...]

I say we should lock up mr. El Bayly for inciting religious violence. I wonder how the Libs would react if El Bayly was a Baptist preacher instead of a president of an Islamic Center?

Continuing with the story...

Although ElBayly believes a death sentence is warranted for Hirsi Ali, he stressed that America is not the jurisdiction where such a crime should be punished. Instead, Hirsi Ali should be judged in a Muslim country after being given a trial, he added.

"If it is found that a person is mentally unstable, or a child or disabled, there should be no punishment," he said. "It's a very merciful religion if you try to understand it."

Zahida Chaudhary, a member of the education council and education secretary at the Muslim Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh in Monroeville, insisted that Islam is a peaceful religion.

"The Prophet Mohammed was a peacemaker and a role model for humanity," she said. "My understanding is that he was a peaceful person who believed that religion was a choice. He tried to teach people and bring them into it, not punish them."

While Chaudhary might make that statement, a large and very vocal minority (or perhaps a majority, who really knows?) are preaching violence around the world, strapping bombs and grenades to toddlers, teaching 12 year olds how to behead infidels with a knife, nearly decapitating Dutch filmmakers they dislike, decapitating 14 year old Christians, firebombing embassies and preaching death over cartoons - CARTOONS!!! - flying planes into buildings containing thousands of people, blowing up nightclubs, hijacking airliners, hijacking cruise ships, ad infinitum. This does not sound like a religion of peace to the casual observer.

While Islam may be peaceful at its core, Islam has a marketing and branding problem which it needs to address immediately.

Your Co-Conspirator,
ARC: St Wendeler

Va Tech - Time to Move On

It's good to see that the students of Virginia Tech have a higher maturity level than those in the MSM that continue to swarm around the events from last week, hoping to feed the ratings beast on the dead bodies in Blacksburg.

University's Student Leaders Ask Media to Leave Campus by Start of Classes Monday

Blacksburg, Virginia (AP) -- Still grieving and increasingly wary of the media spotlight, Virginia Tech students returned to their beleaguered campus Sunday, preparing to salvage the final weeks of a semester eclipsed by violence.

The scene on campus resembled move-in day in late summer, with parents helping their children carry suitcases into dormitories.

There were tears and hugs goodbye. But instead of excitement for the year ahead, there was simply determination to endure and regroup in the fall.

When classes resume Monday, the university will give students three choices: They can continue their studies through the end of the semester next week, take a grade based on what they have done so far, or withdraw from a course without penalty.

``I want to go back. It's just really strange to just stop going,'' said Paul Deyerle, a sophomore from Roanoke who was helping a friend move belongings from the dormitory where another close friend, Ryan Clark, was among those killed in the worst shooting massacre in modern U.S. history.

A number of students living in West Ambler Johnston Hall have asked to be relocated elsewhere.

``I need to keep going back,'' Deyerle said, struggling for words. ``It seems like every other facet of my life is different now, so I have to.''

A number of students said they had been drawn to the comforts of home immediately after the shooting, but now were drawn back to the tight-knit Virginia Tech community.

``When we hit (Route) 460 and we could see the campus, we both started crying,'' said sophomore Ashleigh Shifflett, eating a picnic lunch with her sister Regan near memorials to the victims on the central campus lawn. ``I was happy to see my family, but I felt like I needed to be here, and when I came back here, it was like I'm home.''

Virginia Tech officials say their top priority is the victims' families, and they have given each of them a private e-mail address and direct phone number for President Charles Steger.

Administrators have canceled big events such as the spring football game and postponed a fundraising campaign. The goal is to begin restarting academic life but without pushing the university's 26,000 students too hard.
[...]
Students say they welcome the outpouring of support they have received, but they have grown noticeably weary of the news media. The Student Government Association asked reporters to leave by the start of classes Monday.

``Our students are ready to start moving forward, and the best we can do that is to get the campus back to normal,'' Liz Hart, director of public relations for the SGA, said in a telephone interview. Students don't want ``anything external remind to us it will be a difficult road. We know that.''
[...]

Jonah Goldberg echoes my sentiment on Friday at NRO:

Emotional Vampirism
Tragedy becomes feeding time for the press.

By Jonah Goldberg

I’m sick over the Virginia Tech story. But I’m sickened of the Virginia Tech “story.”

That is, it’s at moments like this — the “aftermath” stage of some horrible event — when the press, particularly television news networks, are most proud of themselves that I find them the most repellent.

To be sure, it’s difficult to see the line between enough and too much when journalists go wild, “flooding the zone,” competing with each other like starving dogs for the slightest new morsel of information they can then put on a permanent loop on cable TV, until the next fragmentary detail is pried loose by a reporter desperate to be first, for 15 minutes.

Because there isn’t enough new information to fill the infinite void allotted to these stories, the press quickly succumbs to a kind of emotional vampirism, feeding off the grief, fear, and anguish of victims clearly incapable of understanding their own feelings or of finding meaning in events that defy either understanding or meaning.

Just as with the Columbine massacre, the Oklahoma City bombing and countless other slaughters whose names tug at our memories - as well as our guilty consciences because we cannot quite recall the details of those “unforgettable” events - we can be sure the media will continue to milk their role as remorse voluptuaries for as long as conceivably possible.

You see, Americans don’t watch news that much anymore, preferring Oprah, The View, Grey’s Anatomy, and other soap operas fictional or otherwise. So long after the shelf life of the facts has expired and the news is no longer new, the networks will try to keep their swollen ratings by making their “extended coverage” as engorged with mawkish sentimentality as possible before giving way entirely to recriminations, self-congratulation and navel-gazing about how they handled this latest challenge.

Perhaps just as gruesome is the race to assign a politically palatable meaning to the calamity before the clay of first impressions hardens into the granite of conventional wisdom. After all, we must have a controversy over this event; how else to justify the return of the pundits, like an aristocracy in exile, to television studios everywhere?
[...]

Of course, people on the Left & Right have attempted to assign blame for Cho's insanity. OliverWillis has put the blame squarely on "The Gun Industry and the NRA," but not without first demonstrating that he has absolutely no clue about firearms ("No, we need hollow points for target practice and hunting.").

Meanwhile, Newt blames the liberals and their acceptance of violence in media and the constant attacks against belief in a higher power and moral standards. (Of the two arguments, this seems to be a more comprehensive one, but it does leave out important aspects - such as issues with our mental health system.)

There are a myriad of reasons for Cho's insanity at Virginia Tech... But, it's time to move on.

Your Co-Conspirator,
ARC: St Wendeler