Author Archives: Kevin L. Connors

Oh, This Is Soooo Cool!

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The Military Channel has a new show, GI Factory, about our military equipment contractors. Tonight, on episode 2, they are at the General Dynamics plant in Lima Ohio, where they refurb M1s – cool!

Update: Oh man, I wouldn’t wan’t this guy’s job! In the second half of the show, they visit the Beretta USA plant where they make the M9. At the end of the line, they have the government “lot test”. They take 3 pistols at random off the line, and fire 5000 rounds through them (they didn’t say if that was total, or each). But it’s just some guy (with another taking notes) who slaps a magazine in, sticks the muzzle in a hole in a hopper, pops off all 15 rounds, and then slaps another in, and repeats. Jeeze, I don’t care if it is just a little 9mm – 8 hours of that has got to be hell on your wrist. They’ve got to be rotating, and/or taking some extended “cleaning breaks” every couple of hundred rounds, or something. Why don’t they have a fixture to do this?

Entertainment Trivia For 03/27/06

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I haven’t done any soap opera trivia yet, so here’s a two-parter for you soap fans:

First, what was the tie-in between Dallas and Knots Landing? And second, what was Dallas’ incest angle?

The Answer! Well, perhaps it’s a tribute to the intelligence of our readers (or a condemnation of mine), but it seems we have NO soap fans here. Anyway, if there was any interest in this question at all, I might do some research, and make sure I have the exact seasons. But, as it stands, I’ll just go on memory, and we can inter this matter in the shallow grave where it belongs:

In Dallas, season 2, we were introduced to Jock Ewing’s “other” son, “Gary”, who happened to be the hitherto mysterious father of niece “Lucy”, who had been living at the Southfork Ranch from episode 1. Gary married “Val”, and moved to Knots Landing AKA “The Cul-de-Sac”, a hard-against-the-coast suburban community of Los Angeles – most likely in Rancho Pales Verdes, Pacific Palisades, or Malibu, and flagrant decadence ensues. (Sound familiar, Desperate Housewives fans?)

Well anyway, in Dallas season 1, Lucy had an affair with senior ranch hand, “Ray Krebbs”. But, around about season eight, we learned that Ray was actually Jock’s bastard son, a half-brother to J.R., Bobby and Gary.

However, it is popularly believed that this was just a matter of the writers losing track of the story arc. Either that, or they drew back, in response to popular revulsion. In any event, the incest angle between Lucy and Ray was never dealt with

Update: “With some embarrassment,” reader Quintus informs us that it was actually season four when it was revealed that Ray was Jock’s son (see comments).

The Harsh Reality Of Nature

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I just saw a short clip on The Science Channel, where a pride of lions were feasting on a zebra – ripping out chunks, and the zebra was still thrashing around.

Oh, it’s dinner time on the east coast – bon appetit. :)

Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Huddled Masses…

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Timmer’s “upside-down, and subject, American flag” pic, and more, can be found here. As I stated here, I understand what the protesters are trying to say; but I find the way they have framed their argument incredibly stupid.

Particular among their faux pas is the “stolen land” argument. And, although any Californian student of our history can’t help but be ashamed at the way our forebears wrested the land from the old grantholders, to use that argument, our Mexican-American cousins would have to also concede that the land was previously “stolen” from the Native Americans. (Admittedly, most Mexicans, and even moreso, Mexican-Americans, have a high percentage of “native blood.” But that almost exclusively is from other tribes, further to the south.)

In this comment, I made light of Timmer’s making the same case I am covering here, by mentioning the Israelis. But that’s only humorous because the idea of “their ancestral homeland” has currency with so many of the same people who would deny this land to those who have come before us. Indeed, the Israelites “stole” the land from the Canaanites, who moved northward, crossbred with the “Sea People” (most likely Minoans), became the Phoenicians, and became the most powerful empire of the transition from the Bronze to Iron Ages (not to mention great friends and trading partners with the Israelites). Now, many of their progeny are “Palestinians”, and living in far greater squalor than their “Israeli-Arab” cousins. Crying over lost land, like any embrace of victimhood, gets one nowhere.

And I grow weary of idiotarians, like Kathy McKee, saying that Mexico is the “5th richest” economy in the world [she's wrong about that, it's between the floundering France, and California (even without California, the US is still #1)], and they “should take care of their own.” Well, applying that standard, we would have excluded the Irish, the Italians, the Chinese, the Ashkenazi Jews… . What those “student protestors” should be saying is that immigrants are the embodiment of the American Dream. They should chant loud and clear the words of Emma Lazarus:


Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

The “answer” to the illegal immigration problem is simple: Increase quotas to reasonable levels (or eliminate them entirely), and eliminate the obviously racist and xenophobically inspired red tape for Mexicans, and others from “those” nations, to come to the US (even as visitors).

Oh, and as for “amnesty”, once one admits that the law, as it stands, is an ass, it becomes much easier to swallow.

The Day I’ll Burn The Flag

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Looking back on Timmer’s post, Oh No They Didn’t: I see there are two issues at play here. The main issue is, of course, illegal immigration. And then there is the matter of the “student protests,” which, while they might make for great cable news footage, are little more than side shows.

To refresh your memory, Timmer’s post was centered upon an American flag being flown beneath a Mexican flag, and upside-down. By my own measure, while I find that incredibly stupid, I am not offended. However clumsily stated, I think I get their point.

And I think it was our Brit. reader, Al, that commented something like “it’s just a bloody piece of cloth.”

I’ve had this conversation with several Brit. friends in the past, I think I’ve got a handle on it. And here’s one key place where we Americans differ from our cousins across the pond. To the Brits, the Union Jack just represents the nation – it’s little more than a corporate logo. And this is true for the people of most nations of the world. But the Stars and Stripes is different for Americans Just as the United States is different from any other major nation of the world. That flag doesn’t represent a King on a throne, or 545 pompous egocentric blowhards in Washington D.C., a collective of the population, or even a really big chunk of real estate.

No, it represents something quite different: it’s an ideal, a set of principles, and a dream for a higher order of existence for all mankind. And many, many Americans believe (quite justifiably, IMO) that the ideal, and this nation, were divinely inspired. And, to them, the Stars and Stripes are as the Koran is to a Muslim.

But then, there are those (like these student protesters), who choose to denigrate or desecrate the Stars and Stripes. I will hazard a guess that few of them are saying they have lost faith in the ideal. What they are saying is that they think the actualization has fallen far short of the ideal. Pity we don’t have a flag for the government of the United States. POTUS has a flag, but Congress doesn’t – neither does the Supreme Court. We should have a flag for the federal government – wipe your ass with that one – you’ll likely get a cheering section.

But there are those in Congress, as well as various and sundry Statehouses, who are as fanatic about the Stars and Stripes as some Muslims are about the Koran. However, here is the paradox which certifies the Stars and Stripes’ divine nature: unlike the Koran, EVERYTHING that the Stars and Stripes represents is embodied in the individual’s right to do with it as they please – no matter how offensive it might be to some, or even all.

So, the day I burn the Stars and Stripes, will be the day a flag desecration amendment to the Constitution is ratified – hopefully, I will do it on the steps of Congress. Because that’s the day when the ideal will have been lost, and the Stars and Stripes becomes worthless.

More Shadow Boxing At The UN

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Well, Iran got a good finger-wagging from the UNSC yesterday:

NEW YORK — The UN Security Council unanimously approved a resolution yesterday giving Iran 30 days to suspend its uranium-enrichment program, but gave no hint of punishment if Tehran fails to comply.

After succeeding in having Iran’s nuclear program put before the Security Council, the United States and its European allies spent three weeks negotiating a watered-down resolution to meet the demands of Russia and China that it contain no justification for sanctions or use of force.

While yesterday’s resolution is toothless, all 15 members of the Security Council clearly rejected Iran’s assertion that it has the right to enrich uranium without interference from the International Atomic Energy Agency.

U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said it is now up to the Iranian government to demonstrate that it will abide by the requirements of the IAEA, which must report back to the Security Council in 30 days.

This is absurd! Does anyone think that playing these games improves the US’ stature in the world? Would Andrew Jackson or Teddy Roosevelt put up with this shit?

We did the same gawd-damn thing with Iraq. France and Russia objected then, just as Russia and China are objecting now: for purely short-sighted commercial reasons. (And they say America is only interested in the next quarter’s P&L statement.) This sort of mind-set amongst the permanent members makes the UNSC patently dysfunctional.

But yet, we play the damn game. And, just as Saddam got all his WMD staged for a quick exodus to Syria when he knew the UN negotiations were in their terminal phase, Iran will enrich all the uranium they can, until they know the Rubicon has been crossed, and then they will pack everything for shipment to Syria, Africa, or one of the ex-Soviet ‘stans – and perhaps provide any product they have to al-Qaeda.

We may not have the capability to stage another invasion. (I think we do, but it would first require pulling out of places we have little or no business being in any more – like Okinawa, South Korea, Germany and England.) But we still have a quite formidable military option. We should strike now, and strike hard. As Ann Coulter recommends, not just at their nuclear installations, but their entire industrial capacity. And at the same time, we should be prepared to funnel massive assistance to any nascent contra organizations.

And forget “nation building”. That was kind of essential with Iraq, as leaving a power vacuum would have been irresistible to Syria or Iran. But we won’t have that problem with Iran; who’s going to invade: Russia? Pakistan? Georgia?

The 800 lb. gorilla is, of course, the disruption in the world’s oil supply. But, if that proves to be truly prohibitive, the oil fields are distributed over only a small portion of the nation – mostly along the Persian Gulf, and to a lesser extent, the Caspian Basin – we can easily effect a limited occupation over these regions.

Of course, the moonbats will go on the march. “No blood for oil,” they will cry out. It’s about time we stop shadow dancing with them as well. When not enough oil on the world market means hospitals in the third world go dark, and innocent children die, HELL YES, that oil is worth a little blood.

OK, This Beats It

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I’ve gotten emails from a couple of readers about this before. But now it’s happened to me:

Sorry, you’ve banned from commenting on this blog.

Either your comment content was found to contain spam, or
your IP address (or a subnet of your IP address) has spammed this blog before.

If you think you got this page in error, your entered name might be too short.

Strike count: 5

Banned from commenting on my own g-damn blog – if that don’t beat all! LOL

Update: Well, I just did some interesting gymnastics to get this comment to post. (enter dummy comment, log out/in as “admin”, edit comment – replacing dummy with intended content). There’s something about that comment (and it’s not the word “shit”) that the system doesn’t like. Any ideas?

“Army Of Davids” Theory Jumps The Shark

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In most cases, I have been a supporter of Glenn Reynolds’ Army of Davids theory. But, in this TCS Daily article, he has simply taken it too far.

Having done some stand-up comedy, I know something of this. C’mon Glenn: The Lazy Muncie video you site names several (not necessarily comedy) “luminaries” who hail from there. Drew Carey is from Cleveland, Roseanne Barr is from Salt Lake City, Jeff Foxworthy is from Atlanta and Johnny Carson was from Norfolk, Nebraska. All cut their teeth in local clubs before making it big. This has been true from the days of burlesque, and likely before.

In the world of comedy, the Internet is another channel of distribution, not a revolution. In a way, it may be counter-productive, as it will allow everyone with some talent, but no refinement, to “perform” for a relatively elite audience, without the instant critique which comes from “killing” or “bombing”. Again, Lazy Muncie is a great example of this; it shows lots of promise, but really is neither extremely funny, or seminal. But, as long just about every town and hamlet across the nation has a little club with an open mike night, flyover country will still be the great crucible of American comedy.

Update: After doing some background on on our two Lazy Muncie protagonists, Kerby Heyborne and Chris Cox (not to be confused with our new SEC Chairman), disabuses one of any conception of it as some sort of “Cinderella story”. Muncie native Cox has been making his way up the writer/producer ladder here in SoCal for about 11 years. Heyborne is newer to SoCal, but spent years busting his chops on the “Mormon Theater” circuit in Utah. In neither case can you call Lazy Muncie their “big break”, as they both are part of Fox’s new sit-com Free Ride (Cox as Supervising Producer, Heyborne in the part of “Dillon”).

New SuperCuts Commercial

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ROTFL A new SuperCuts commercial typifies their competitors with this haircutting automoton saying (in a mechanical voice) “how about a number 2… number 2… number 2…” This has got to be a crack-up, at least to guys who served in my day. The “number 2″, named for the clipper guard they put on just before they shear you like a sheep, leaves you with about as much hair as a “Pinger”, right out of Basic.

Red Ken Vs. US Embassy

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In a matter strangely reminiscent of Rudy Guiliani’s UN diplomat parking ticket kerfuffle, it seems the US Embassy to Great Britain has refused to pay London Mayor “Red Ken” Livingstone’s congestion fee (about $14/car) on cars entering the city center.

Our embassy is framing the argument as a tax matter, and claim they are exempt under the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. I would agree with this. But I wonder, how many of the estimated 100 cars/day at the embassy are actually conducting the US’s business, and how many are just the private vehicles of staffers commuting to work?

But this quote from Livingstone really jumps the shark:

When British troops are putting their lives on the line for American foreign policy it would be quite nice if they paid the congestion charge.

Man, this guy is an idiot.

Update: It seems this has been going on for decades, and is far broader based. Here’s an article from last year, saying NYC also want’s property taxes for embassy buildings not directly related to the diplomatic mission. And here’s a World Bank paper (PDF), from 1995 about (among other things) African nations which wanted fees for diplomatic vehicles.

The White House Shakeup Begins

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This just in: White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card has just tendered his resignation. He is to be replaced by be replaced by Budget Director, and former Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Bolten.

Expect further shuffling of the deck in the near future. A legion of GOP leaders and pundits have been calling for this for months. It has also been rumored that Card has been quite unhappy in his position, and bucking for the job as head of Treasury.

FEC: Hands Off Blogs

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We won:

In a unanimous vote yesterday, the Federal Election Commission left unregulated almost all political activity on the Internet except for paid political advertisements. Campaigns buying such ads will have to use money raised under the limits of current federal campaign law.

Perhaps most important, the commission effectively granted media exemptions to bloggers and other activists using the Web to allow them to praise and criticize politicians, just as newspapers can, without fear of federal interference.