The Irony Takes Your Breath Away

For chuckles and the occasional GUFFAW, I like to peruse the San Francisco newspapers. Oh heck…call it voyeuristic…like stopping to stare at a trainwreck. So, I’m drinking coffee out of my Boston Red Sox 2004 World Series Championship mug and I come across an article in the SF Examiner..(are you ready?)…titled: ‘Perception vs. Reality’. Yah…you guessed it…I almost spewed the Colombian brew all over my ivory Tommy Bahama shirt.

Is that a hoot?

The writer is delving into why Barack Obama Lama Ding Dong has become such a media darling. And to his credit- the journalist absolutely NAILS it.

Although he frequently makes a point of finding something charitable to say about his opponents’ arguments, Sen. Barack Obama almost always ends up voting liberal.

“The arguments of liberals are more often grounded in reason and fact,” the Illinois Democrat wrote in “The Audacity of Hope,” a memoir published last year. “Much of what I absorbed from the sixties was filtered through my mother, who to the end of her life would proudly proclaim herself an unreconstructed liberal.”

Obama has a 95 percent liberal rating from Americans for Democratic Reform, a liberal advocacy group that ranks all members of Congress. Yet he is often portrayed as a centrist.

As they say down at Leisure World on Saturday Nights- BINGO! Why on earth is he ‘portrayed as a centrist’– Hmmm?? Uh…I’ll tell you why …’cause the liberal Main Stream Media knows they can sneak this guy by middle America- that’s how. Make him appear reasonable…and not a loon.

And don’t you love this statement: “The arguments of liberals are more often grounded in reason and fact”.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

Good God- per usual…the typical HUBRIS unloaded by supercilious moonbats all over America.

By pointing out the merits of both sides of an argument, Obama often sounds statesmanlike, even if he almost never ends up siding with conservatives.

Exactly. So remember that…the next time Bama Lama Ding Dong opens his duplicitous mouth. Always look to his voting record.

One Night In Makati

Not to be confused with…One Night in Bangkok.

It’s been quite a hectic, exasperating 4 or 5 days since my last post. AND I’m back on American ‘terra firma’! I have so much to tell…I don’t know where to start….

The Internet cafes in the Philippines this past weekend were ridiculously slow…so I couldn’t update you on the end to my vacation. I can only sum up those days as…Don’t worry- be happy. I was scheduled to depart on Sunday….but…well…things don’t always go as planned.

I boarded my inital Air Philippines flight to Manila. I sat down…I buckled up…and….and then the captain informed us we had to deplane…they were having ‘mechanical difficulties’. As you can guess…that immediately set in motion a DOMINO effect for my subsequent flights. I promptly missed them all.

But the Air Philippines attendants were professional and polite…they put me on a later flight to Manila, then put me up in a hotel in the Makati district and paid for my meals. All my flights with China Air were moved out one day later…same exact times…and any service charges, fees, transportation, etc. I would have incurred were picked up by Air Philippines.

Oh well…what can you do?

But I’m home…sweet home. The flight from Taipei Taiwan to LA was near 11 hours long…and to make matters worse, it was a TURBULENT one. Watching our Jumbo 747 bounce around like a rag doll was- to say the least- unsettling. But I knew the plane would hold up as long as we didn’t have wind shear. And the fact that you’re reading my post- is testimony to our NOT having that!

A few observations:
1. Do not rely on a good meal from China Air. Everything they cook is a complete ASSAULT on your olfactory sense. If you want to go on a diet- travel China Airlines.

2. Do not rely on firm departure times traveling in the Philippines. That includes planes, trains, boats, and buses.

3. Should you want to STOW a rooster, fly a Philippine airline.

4. Always bring tissue paper….(uh trust me on that one.)

5. The world’s smallest napkins are found in Asia.

All of my trips are non-stop adventures…replete with calamity, jocularity, and felicity. This was no different.

I had a grand time.

Mindanao Bob

Bob Martin....enterprising, self-starting bon vivant, and internet ENTREPRENEUR resides in Davao, Mindanao. Uh…quite frankly, he and his lovely wife are my HEROES. Seven years ago, they chucked it all….moved to the South Pacific and now earn more money than at any time in their lives in the U.S.

And I had the good fortune of meeting them.

Now for the backfill- the history that led to our meeting. Over a year ago, Bob’s websites began getting cited as source for fastbreaking stories on Asian Muslim psychopaths- like the Abu Sayyaf. So I began visiting his webSITES. That’s sites plural.

I often left comments on his posts…and from their our correspondence began. When I told him I was headed to Mindanao, he volunteered to come to Cagayan de Oro- which is no small feat. (It’s at least a 5 hour drive from Davao.)

But he and his wife did so.

Heck….they met us at a countryclub resort, bought us a Del Monte steak lunch…introduced us to a couple of their friends they stumbled upon…jumped in their Mitsubishi van and back to Davao they went. More on our adventures later…good grief…

…where have all my vacation days gone!

Greetings from Boracay

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh Boracay!

With apologizes to John Milton, Paradise FOUND. This is my third trip to this idyllic island, and I have to say- it’s a drug. I arrived today…after having made my first visit to Subic Bay.

Subic Bay, once the rocking hotspot for many American servicemen, is today- nothing more than a placid stop along Luzon’s western coast. But getting there? OMG! An absolute exercise in driving skills- that rival any NASCAR circuit event. To venture out in Luzon to places like Subic, you must navigate through- and out of- Manila. And Manila is uh…well…Manila is a panic.

Think: NO RULES.

Manila traffic is a cacophony of horns, shouts, and screeching tires with an endless amount of carbon monoxide- topped off with a complete disregard for civilized etiquette. But somehow I managed to make it to Subic Bay and back…UNSCATHED and on a plane to Boracay (Bor-ROCK-i!)

If you ever make it to the Philippines….head straight to Boracay. Should I not make it back to the United States- trust me….start your SEARCH HERE! Excuse me…uh….waitress, another San Miguel please….

Vacations go by TOO FAST.

So, Where Has Mark Been?

Busy. And, frankly, a little bit “blogged out.” I’ve been on an extended blogging vacation, and am not sure I’m ready to take up the keyboard quite yet. I find that the longer I’m away from the blog, the harder it is to come back. Hopefully, this little entry will push me back to the world of political blogging. Maybe, maybe not. In the meantime, much thanks is due to Craig for keeping things going.

South Pacific 2007

So…I made it. The route was uh…LONG….to say the least. As usual, I took nearly every form of transportation known to man to get here. From Los Angeles, I flew to Anchorage Alaska. Alaska to Taipei Taiwan. Taiwan to Manila, Philippines. Manila to Cagayan de Oro, Mindanao. Mindanao to Mambajao Camiguin.

Planes, trucks, jeeps, boats….I occupied them all.

In the South Pacific, you CANNOT hide from the sun. And THAT’S THE POINT! YAH! The San Miguels are plentiful, rice is plentiful, and so is the HUMIDITY.

Of the 7,107 islands in the Philippines…the government pays attention to about 10 of them. The Filipino government will throw money at Cebu, Boracay, Bohol, and Luzon and a few others- and then completely forget about the rest. Which is too bad. Trust me….there are hundreds, if not thousands of other islands they could help.

Boracay is my favorite….but I’m always looking for the NEXT Paradise Island.

Hey…I just noticed it’s getting close to BEER:30! (Beer 30 actually runs from the time you wake up, ’til the time you go to sleep- but you have to learn to pace yourself!) SO I gotta go my fellow satellites. I promise to post soon.

So much beauty- so little time.

Vacation

My esteemed colleagues Mark and Matt will carry the Liberty torch. I will be leaving for the South Pacific tonight! I will make attempts to blog while I’m lounging on a beach somewhere- but I make no promises.

I will return with vigor on the 28th!

Black Hawk Not Down

No…Black Hawk UP!

In the TENEBROUS African nation of Somalia….the good guys are kicking Islamofacist ass and taking Muslim names. It’s been 14 years since Clinton had us fight like a couple of UN peacekeepers at a pedophile convention…maybe this time…American troops will fill these psychopaths with more lead than a box of Number 2 pencils.

U.S. helicopter gunships carried out new attacks today against suspected al Qaeda members, a Somali official said, a day after American forces made air strikes in the first offensive in the African country since 18 U.S. troops were killed there in 1993.

Somehow, I suspect….we won’t put up with the nonsense this time.

The U.S. attacks were targeting Islamist extremists, said a Somali Defense Ministry official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak. Earlier, Somalia’s president had said the U.S. was hunting suspects in the 1998 bombings of the two U.S. embassies in East Africa, and had his support.

It’s always nice to have support. That’s why you don’t hear the liberal moonbats screaming for American troops to HUG the terrorists before we shoot at them. We’ve got a very public ENDORSEMENT from the Somalian government.

The main target was Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, who purportedly planned the 1998 attacks on the U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, that killed 225 persons.

He also is suspected of planning the car-bombing of a beach resort in Kenya and the near-simultaneous attempt to shoot down an Israeli airliner in 2002. Ten Kenyans and three Israelis were killed in the blast at the hotel, 12 miles north of Mombasa. The missiles missed the airliner.

Fazul, 32, joined al Qaeda in Afghanistan and trained there with Osama bin Laden, according to the transcript of an FBI interrogation of a known associate. He came to Kenya in the mid-1990s, married a local woman, became a citizen and started teaching at a religious school near Lamu, just 60 miles south of Ras Kamboni, Somalia, where one of the air strikes took place Monday.

Well Clinton….you failed to take care of it then….so we’re cleaning up your mess now.

UPDATE! Fazul has been taken out.

No Such Thing As A Secret

There isn’t. The days of having someone (anyone!) ENTRUSTED with secret information are gone. Long gone…everyone is a Sandy Berger.

Israel has drawn up secret plans to destroy Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities with tactical nuclear weapons, Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper said.

Citing what it said were several Israeli military sources, the paper said two Israeli air force squadrons had been training to blow up an enrichment plant in Natanz using low-yield nuclear “bunker busters.”

The mere fact that this has shown up in a daily newspaper is beyond belief. Time (NY Times) and time (UK Times) again…someone reveals classified information to the Main Scream Media. And the media proceeds to tell all. I’m at a complete loss as to why this phenomena not only exists- but FLOURISHES.

An Israeli government spokeswoman, Miri Eisin, declined comment on the Sunday Times report.

I currently hold such a DoD Clearance. Were I to share confidential, classified, secret or top secret information- I would be tried in a court of law for TREASON. I would be convicted and given the gravity of the charges, I could face the death penalty.

And no…I’m not kidding.

I cannot for the life of me understand why someone would risk their life and career so easily, so readily. And for what? To undermine the vary government you swore to serve and protect?

Your own country?

Ignore the Bombs and Rockets- We Come in Peace

There are half-wits, there are DIM-WITS, and then there are those who have no wits. (see Kofi Annan) Up until recently, I thought Hosni Mubarek at least fell into the bin marked: half-wit. Uh…I was mistaken.

Palestinian rocket fire on southern Israeli communities is no reason to halt the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said. But one Israeli lawmaker said Mubarak’s comments show that he has no respect for Israeli suffering.

Egypt, considered by Washington as a moderate Arab State and a U.S. ally in the region, has played a central role as a Middle East broker on Israeli-Palestinian relations and in trying to calm the recent inter-Palestinian violence. Israel also is pressuring Egypt to take more action along the Egypt-Gaza border Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for firing two rockets at southern Israel on Friday.

Are you kidding me?

These Kassam rockets, they’ll fire them every other day,” Mubarak said at a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert following their meeting in Sharm e-Sheikh on Thursday evening.”Shall we stop the peace process because one or two individuals fire rockets? We must proceed with the peace process,” Mubarak said.

Uh…I tell you what Mubarek- how about we let the Israelis fire back with impunity…kill as many of these murdering Palestinian or Egyptian sociopaths as they can…so….Israel can ‘PROCEED WITH THE PEACE PROCESS’ too. Well?

Sounds reasonable to me.