Target Centermass

Author: Gunner

  • Humor Break

    Okay, it’s not my usual style, but here’s a blonde joke that actually made me chuckle, courtesy of long-time blogroll resident Chapomatic.

    Enjoy.

  • Alito Supreme Court Confirmation a Done Deal

    How do I know? The New York Times has decided that opposition to his nomination stems from “liberal” groups.

    Liberal Groups to Release Ads Attacking Court Pick

    The battle over the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. turned personal Wednesday with the announcement of new commercials that sharply escalated liberal attacks on him, moving beyond his legal views to attack his character and credibility instead.

    The commercials come less than a week before confirmation hearings begin Monday. Steve Schmidt, a White House spokesman handling the nomination, called the commercials “dishonest” and “a desperation tactic.”

    Separately, the American Bar Association on Wednesday rated Judge Alito “well qualified” for the court, its highest rating, as expected. His supporters hailed the rating. Liberal groups said their complaint was his judicial philosophy, not his professional qualifications.

    A commercial by one of the liberal groups, MoveOn.org Political Action, depicts Judge Alito as an actor receiving makeup and coaching.

    Okay, per the NYT, MoveOn.org is now officially a liberal group. It should serve as a relief to all that the Old Gray Lady can still, on occasion, accidentally stumble into an obvious political truth … and even publish it.

    No more casting of MoveOn’s stances as mainstream or populist, right? Well, don’t hold your freakin’ breath.

  • Gaza’s Spiral into Anarchy

    Hey, it’s their headline, not mine.

    Campaigning is under way in the first Palestinian parliamentary election for 10 years. But the talk in Gaza is not so much of issues and policies and the prospects for parties.

    The focus is more on the law and chronic problems, and whether the polls will be held at all.

    Foreigners have been kidnapped. And every day there are angry anti-government protests. Public buildings are stormed as armed demonstrators demand jobs, or sometimes the release of prisoners.

    There have been attacks on police stations, clan feuds and clashes between militia groups.

    This looks bad. It’s time to spin.

    All this has to be kept in context. Much of the upheaval has been confined to the south, and to the town of Rafah in particular – and much of the turmoil has about it an element of show.

    There have been few casualties, and very little serious, sustained violence. Protesting gunmen who occupy government buildings often leave as soon as they have made their point.

    Yes, the violence is only about making a point. If only we could find somebody to blame …

    But the disturbances are more frequent now, and they are generating a sense of insecurity that deeply disturbs people here.

    The chaos has its roots in many problems.

    This society has been radicalised and traumatised by its confrontation with the Israelis, who occupied Gaza decades ago and only evacuated their settlers and troops last summer.

    Yeah, it’s the fault of the Jews in Israel. That’s why the Palestinians have no problems with any of their other neighbors. For those who believe this, stop reading now.

    Palestinians steal bulldozers, smash through border wall

    Hundreds of angry Palestinians streamed into Egypt on Wednesday after militants with stolen bulldozers broke through a border wall, and two Egyptian troops were killed and 30 were wounded by gunfire in the rampage.

    About 3,000 Egyptian Interior Ministry troops who initially had no orders to fire swarmed the border but were forced to withdraw about a half-mile, said security forces Lt. Sameh el-Antablyan, who announced the casualties.

    Gen. Essam el-Sheikh said Egyptian forces later began firing back.

    The scene was one of utter chaos. An Egyptian armored vehicle was burning and hundreds of Palestinians could be seen crouched in farm fields just inside Egypt.

    The militants’ rampage through the southern Gaza town of Rafah underscored the growing lawlessness in Palestinian towns, especially in Gaza, and represented the most brazen challenge to the authority of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.

    Yup. Sounds like Israel is the only speedbump stopping the Palestinians from forming a civilized society. The Egyptians (and, decades past, the Syrians) are obviously just tools of the dreaded Zionists.

    Give the Palestinians a state already. They’re cool, and their fashions are so sheik at anti-almost-anything protests.

  • U.S. Freezes Assets of Two Iran Nuclear Firms

    Bravo.

    The US government has frozen the assets of two Iranian companies linked to the Islamic republic’s nuclear drive, officials said.

    The Treasury Department said the duo — Novin Energy Co and Mesbah Energy Co — were guilty of fostering the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

    Its action came a day after Iran informed the International Atomic Energy Agency that it plans on Jan 9 to resume research and development into its ‘peaceful nuclear energy programme’.

    The US and EU have demanded that Iran refrain from all nuclear enrichment activities.

    It’s just a start, but there’s no point in waiting for oft-teased progress from Euro-Iranian negotiations and certainly no need to wait for the United Nations Security Council to actually stir in further inaction.

    UPDATE: Iran Declares Its Nuclear Plan Nonnegotiable

    Iran vowed Wednesday to proceed with a plan to restart nuclear research next week, though the government has yet to explain to the United Nations’ nuclear monitoring agency what activities it intends to carry out.

    Ali Larijani, the senior official in charge of nuclear issues, was quoted on Iranian state television on Wednesday as saying the decision to resume nuclear research was “nonnegotiable.”

    Responding to criticism that the decision would violate Iran’s formal agreement with Europe to suspend all uranium conversion and enrichment activities, he said: “Research has its own definition. It is not related to industrial production. Hence, it was never part of the negotiations.”

    Late Tuesday, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took a similar hard line. “We will not take a step back on our path,” he was quoted by state television as saying.

    If I were suddenly to find myself on the ground in Iran, I’d be keeping my head up and my eyes on the sky. Hey, I’m just pondering the possibilities.

  • Sharon Fighting for His Life

    Bad news today out of Israel.

    Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, a dominant figure for decades in shaping the Middle East, was fighting for his life on Thursday after suffering a massive brain hemorrhage.

    “It looks very bad. I don’t know if he will recover,” said a senior political source after Sharon, 77, was rushed in an ambulance from his ranch in southern Israel to Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem late on Wednesday.

    Sharon’s death or incapacitation would cause political upheaval in Israel ahead of a March 28 general election he had been expected to win on a platform of ending conflict with the Palestinians. He has been prime minister since 2001.

    Hopes of any peace talks would be given another setback at a time of growing violence and increasing Palestinian turmoil.

    “He has significant, massive cerebral bleeding … the aim of the operation is to drain it,” Hadassah hospital director Shmuel Shapira said.

    Sharon was still in surgery after over five hours. His spokesman, Raanan Gissin, described his condition as stable.

    But Haaretz newspaper said on its Web site that Sharon was paralyzed in half of his body, and medical experts agreed the prime minister was unlikely to pull through the operation without his faculties being at least seriously impaired.

    “With all due caution, it appears as though the era of Sharon leading Israel has reached its tragic end,” wrote Aluf Ben, Haaretz’s diplomatic correspondent.

    My best wishes for the prime minister and especially for his family.

  • French Econ Policy: More Jacked than I Knew

    Okay, so I knew about the stupid French governmental regulations capping work hours, bloating vacation and keeping an unsustainably low retirement age. I did not, however, have a clue at how anti-business and anti-employment France’s tax policy was.

    Jacques Chirac, France’s president, has announced plans for tax reforms in an attempt to discourage companies from dismissing French workers or moving production overseas.

    In his televised New Year’s Eve address, Mr Chirac called on his government to meet the challenge of globalisation by changing the way it raises funds for social welfare – including unemployment benefits, family assistance, pensions and healthcare.

    The tax plan was the most significant new idea in Mr Chirac’s address, as he adopted a more friendly tone towards global capitalism than in previous speeches, calling on French people to “make globalisation an asset for our growth and our jobs”.

    Instead of taxing companies based on the number of employees, which experts say encourages them to dismiss workers and discourages them from hiring staff, the government is expected to examine alternative ways to raise funds for social welfare.

    “Today the more jobs a company cuts, the more production it moves overseas, the less social charges it pays. Our system of corporate charges must favour companies that employ people in France,” said Mr Chirac.

    Please remember that the U.S. unemployment figure, even at the time well under six per cent, was considered an issue in the 2004 presidential campaign. Here we have a state, already wrestling with double-digit unemployment figures, that essentially punishes its economic contributors based upon how many people they employ. That is beyond sad, and it is far more screwed up than I would have given the French credit for managing.

    Ace points us towards an article [another version here, as Yahoo!News expires their stories] stating that Chirac is struggling to remain relevant in today’s Franco politics. Should he manage a restructuring of such an abortion of common sense tax policy in his twilight days, I might just have to give him a hearty bravo. Unfortunately, I don’t think the weasel will manage anything of any significance that I would consider progress. After all, for years his legacy has looked to be cemented — Jacques Chirac, a worthless man who whiled away his country, opportunistically trading opposition to America for short-term French gain but at the expense of true principle.

  • By Request: More on Weapons Allowed on Flights

    Yeah, I know, internet petitions are, to steal from Dodgeball, the online equivalent of a “bunch of retards trying to hump a doorknob.”

    Still, I received an email today from the Association of Flight Attendants in response to my blogging against the recent Transportation Security Administration decision to once again allow small knives and sharp tools on airline flights [see here and here]. The association hoped I would publicize their drive against the decision.

    Despite the fact that I despise online petitions in general, and the concept that such spammable means could ever effect public policy in particular, I will link to the AFA’s site, Leave All Blades Behind.com, if only for the sake of hopefully spreading the word against what I feel is a tragic mistake. Fine, so Joe Schmoe gives up his handy pocket knife; the people running this probably-worthless petition are the ones in a position that all too recently faced boxcutters held by murderous bastards. I say again: while sharp objects may no longer be considered the major threat to our flights, they still must be considered a controllable threat.

  • Orange Bowl Overtime Thought

    Wow!

    Overtime continues but, geez! sometimes it must suck to be a kicker.

    So far a shanked extra point that changed the course of the game by Florida State, a missed field goal at the end of regulation that could have won it for Penn State, and blown field goals by both teams in the first overtime. Ya think anybody is talking to these two guys on the sidelines right now? Not a chance; they’re trapped in their own little haunted worlds.

  • Tonight’s Reading: Steyn on Demographics

    Okay, so I’m running behind. I’m muddling through the lengthy latest from Mark Steyn, in which he pegs the key weapons the radical Islamist movement hopes will bring about the downfall of the West — our own obsession with multiculturalism, misplaced tolerance and diminishing birthrates — while watching Florida State and Penn State slug it out in the Orange Bowl and doing laundry.

    So far, I’d have to say the piece is certainly a must-read and I’d like to discuss it further, though that probably won’t happen tonight. For now, I’ll recommend Protein Wisdom‘s Jeff Goldstein’s commentary on Steyn’s effort.

  • Carnival of Liberty XXVII

    This week’s installment of the Life, Liberty, Property community’s Carnival of Liberty is up over at Louisiana Libertarian. Go read another fine collection of posts from a libertarian slant.