schmuck281's Comments

Big Journalism : The Media-Created Camelot

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 07:49:06 +0000

I'm old enough to remember the Kennedy Presidency. I was caught up in the "Camelot" myth for years but over time I recovered. In the eyes of the person who mattered at the time, Nikita Khrushchev, JFK was a lightweight whose father had bought the Presidency for him. After JFK choked on the Bay of Pigs without having the balls to actually kill it, and the disastrous Vienna Summit, Khrushchev was sure of it. Just to find out if he was right, he gave a little push in Berlin. The lack of response clinched it. JFK decided to push back in Vietnam to prove he couldn't be pushed around. We all know how that turned out. So Khrushchev and his buddy Fidel, who Khrushchev thought was nuts, gave us the Cuban Missile Crisis. Kennedy agreed in back channel talks to remove the missiles from Turkey, which were too close to the Soviet Union. Khrushchev allowed Kennedy to put out the story that "the other guy blinked" which is so near and dear to Kennedy admirers without contradiction. He had got what he wanted. Contrast that with Khrushchev's experience with Nixon. Khrushchev and Nixon had gone head to head in the "Kitchen Debates" in Moscow in 1959 and they had each taken the measure of the other. I doubt that Khrushchev would have pushed Nixon in the same way he pushed Kennedy. As for Vietnam? Who knows?

Big Hollywood : Something Gays & Muslims Need Never Fear: CBS, Grammys Mock Catholic Church

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 07:00:29 +0000

Whoops! It IS Ms. Piggy...In blackface.

Big Hollywood : Celebs Slammed for Partying in Same Building as Houston's Body

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 06:41:18 +0000

Sorry. I generally agree with most things on Big Hollywood, but there was absolutely no reason to cancel or move the party. Whitney had already left the building.

Big Government : Adbusters Tells Occupiers to Take to the Streets of Chicago a la 1968

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:13:13 +0000

If they burn an American flag they are called protesters. But if I were to burn a Mexican flag I would be called a racist. Why do I never see anyone burning flags other than American? If America is really as bad as they say, why does everyone want to come here?

The Heritage Foundry : Soros May Benefit From White House's Natural Gas Proposal

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 04:32:50 +0000

Westport converts diesel engines (i.e. – those found in semi trailers) into ones that run on natural gas. It must be government operation. Most diesel engine I have seen are in the semi tractors. Though I suppose that Westport could convert diesel engines that are hauled to their plant in semi trailer, that are pulled by semi tractors with diesel engines.

College Candy : A Guide To Dormcest

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 05:46:16 +0000

Keep it quiet? The soundproofing in dorms is not high quality.

Big Government : UPDATE: Search Warrant for SEIU Operative Who Voted from Wisconsin Hotel

Fri, 6 Jan 2012 06:38:31 +0000

A "search warrant" for a person? I can understand an "arrest warrant" or a subpoena. What are they going to search him for?

Big Government : Holder Math: How the Obama DOJ & the Media Tricked South Carolina And Protected Voter Fraud

Tue, 3 Jan 2012 01:48:32 +0000

This trick has been used by interest groups for years. When the raw numbers don't tell the story they want they use percentages. Whatever will give a bigger number. They do the same thing with percentages, if things don't improve by a sufficient percentage, they switch to the 'rate of change'. This is a copywriters trick that has been around for centuries. It's all BS, of course. But, while throwing these number tricks around is easy, refuting them is hard. Because it depends on people being mathematically literate. They aren't and they don't want to be.

KATU - Portland, OR : Commission: Prison sentencing dictated by heart, not head | Politics | KATU.com - Portland News, Spo

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 06:08:57 +0000

There are actually a number of people who account for most of the crime. The cops know who they are, they arrest them over and over. Ask any street cop. They know that when certain people are in jail crime in that area will drop, and as soon as they're released they pick up where they left off. The fact is that most crime is committed by a minority of people. They don;t do it because they are poor or "disadvantaged" they do it because they are bad people.

Breitbart.com : Occupy protesters seek to shut West Coast ports

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 07:33:41 +0000

"Is this the Anarchist Soccer League?" asks the girl with the pierced lip and eyebrow. She catches the eye of a guy whose black T-shirt identifies him as "Poor, Ugly, Happy." He informs her that, yes, this is the regular pickup game of the Anarchist Soccer League, held on Sunday afternoons amid the minivan-and-merlot enclaves of upper Northwest Washington. [...] "I need a cigarette," she decides, and roller-blades off to find one. But soon she'll return to get into the game. She's a punk rocker, a supporter of an activist group called Refuse & Resist. She wants to free Mumia Abu-Jamal, the convicted cop killer. Her name is Barucha Peller. She wears Abercrombie & Fitch pants and carries a Nine West wallet. She's not entirely sure that she's an anarchist--"I'm 17, too young to pick any ideology"--but she definitely doesn't like The System.

Yeah. She sounds like someone we should listen to. /sarc

Big Peace : "We'll See How the Iranians Respond": Obama Asks for Return of Crashed U.S. Drone

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 07:05:53 +0000

I doubt if the Iranians can copy either the composition or the guidance of the drone. On the other hand, there are the Chinese, Russians and North Koreans.

KATU - Portland, OR : Road or river? Salmon swim across flooded road | Local & Regional | KATU.com - Portland News, Sports

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 03:41:57 +0000

Stupid salmon. The sign says "Deer Crossing."

The Heritage Foundry : Obama Couldn't Wait: His New Christmas Tree Tax

Wed, 9 Nov 2011 05:29:33 +0000

Rural Oregon is a major source of fresh Christmas trees and is economically distressed. So Obama decided that it would be a good thing to raise the price of Christmas trees? I'm sure that this will hit the American tree growers much harder than the Canadians. But the truth is simply that Obama hates American farmers and wants them taxed and regulated out of business.

Breitbart.tv : '60 Minutes' Ambushes... Nancy Pelosi?

Fri, 4 Nov 2011 04:16:02 +0000

So her defense is that while she took the money she didn't do anything for them? How do we know that?

KATU - Portland, OR : Green groups push to expand Crater Lake land protections | KATU.com - Portland News, Sports, Traffic

Sat, 30 Jul 2011 09:57:08 +0000

We need more Wilderness area to accommodate the Mexican Mafia's pot plantations. Call it a Farm Subsidy.

KATU - Portland, OR : Man pleads guilty to murdering parents on Dallas, Ore. farm | KATU.com - Portland News, Sports, Traf

Sat, 30 Jul 2011 09:39:05 +0000

Pay attention kids. This is what Meth looks like.

Portland News, Oregon News and Local Weather from KPTV FOX 12 News : Paragliding Daredevil: I'm Sorry For Breaking The Law - Portland News Story - KPTV Portland

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 17:15:59 +0000

I'm a little confused. Did he damage the tower in some way?

KATU - Portland, OR : Wyden, 3 other sens. win promise of a Patriot Act hearing | KATU.com - Portland News, Sports, Traffi

Fri, 27 May 2011 09:25:03 +0000

I guess I kind of missed this development when I read that the Senate had already passed the extension and the President plans to sign it into law shortly. Exactly what is gained by conducting hearing on a law that has already been passed and signed into law? Other than generating news stories to cite in the next election that is.

Big Peace : Congressman: Let Troops Under 21 Drink

Wed, 9 Mar 2011 00:57:06 +0000

I enlisted in 1967. I could drink on post but not out in town. The townies didn't want us in their bars anyhow. Civilians, even in gate towns, do not like GIs and tend to just see them as a means of transporting money from the post into town. We had this discussion of drinking at the same time we had the discussion about voting at 18. The arguments haven't changed any. With the end of the draft and the coming of VOLAR (the all volunteer Army) in 1973 they put beer machines in the barracks. When I retired in 1989 there were still beer machines in the barracks. If they have been taken out since then it has probably been at the instigation of the same people that took all the skin mags out of the PX. If you're 18 and especially if you're in the military, you're an adult and you should be treated as such. But politicians don't treat anyone as an adult. To them you're just a mouth-breathing, knuckle dragging imbecile, and that's if you're an average voter. If you're in the military you're even dumber.

Big Journalism : Washington Post Organizes News Boycott of Sarah Palin; Starts Twitter Campaign Against GOP Star

Sat, 22 Jan 2011 16:37:37 +0000

So the WaPo and Milbank are declaring that for the month of February, Sarah Palin is to be an 'unperson'. George Orwell, call your office.