2nd Amendment & Ursula Andress

La decima vittima

What? I gotta say something about this? I don't think so.

You insist? Okay then; science-wise it's the Usuline prototype of the Wonder Bra, or, in Italiano, the Chiedo Reggiseno -- though one must admit the Germans say it best: Wunder Bustenhalter.

Before reality tv there was The 10th Victim, giving, according to PopMatters,

. . . known international icons Marcello Mastroianni and Ursula Andress safe haven to look and act fabulous. She, decked out in the latest Milan couture, he, sporting a bad blond dye job and ever-present shades, play a prickly game of cat and mouse set against the most modern - at least for 1965 - of ultra-chic urban backdrops.
Andress’ Caroline Meredith is the latest “winner” of The Big Hunt, a worldwide television phenomenon which sees participants act as “assassin” and “victim” alternately, each pursuit played out for points, profit, and a chance at retiring a decathlete (one who successfully completes 10 missions). She is only one victory away from earning said title - and the $1 million prize that goes with it.

Youngish and impressionable, I first saw this movie on tv in black and white in the early 70's, over at Joe's house. Carol and the kids weren't around. This nightclubby scene stayed with me.
Subtitles unnecessary.
Read the full PopMatters review here.
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Rule 5 Sunday? See also The Other Football.

Philip's Son Alexander Didn't Have Much Luck There Either

Who! Wrote! This!? I! Am! Outraged! How Very Dare S/he Say This! Hater/Hatress!

Natural-Born Losers
Posted 10/14/2009 ET

The question of whether President Obama should send more troops to Afghanistan misses the point.

What Obama really needs to do is: Invent a time machine, go back to the 2008 presidential campaign and not say, over and over and over again, that Afghanistan was a "war of necessity" while the war in Iraq was a "war of choice." (Oh, and as long as you're back there, ditch Van Jones, Valerie Jarrett and that gay "school safety" czar.)

The most important part of warfare is picking your battlefield, and President Bush picked Iraq for a reason.

Neither Iraq nor Afghanistan attacked us on 9/11 -- or the dozen other times American embassies, barracks and buildings came under jihadist onslaught since Jimmy Carter presided over "regime change" in Iran in 1979. Both countries -- and others -- gave succor to terrorists who had attacked the U.S. repeatedly, and would do so again.

As liberals endlessly reminded us during the three weeks of war in Afghanistan before the U.S. military swept into Kabul, Afghanistan has all the makings of a military disaster. It is mountainous, cave-pocked, tribal, has no resources worth fighting for and a populace that makes Khalid Sheikh Mohammed look like Alistair Cooke.

By contrast, Iraq had a relatively educated, pro-Western populace, but was ruled by a brutal third-world despot.

It's always something with the Muslims. You either have mostly sane people governed by a crazy dictator -- Iraq, Iran and Syria (also California and Michigan) -- or a crazy people governed by relatively sane leaders -- Pakistan and Afghanistan, post-U.S. invasion (also Vermont and Minnesota). There are also insane people ruled by insane leaders (but enough about the House Democratic Caucus). Sane people with sane rulers has not been fully tried yet.

Not only could regime change in Iraq work, but Iraq's countryside was susceptible to America's overwhelming air power. Also, Iraq has fabulous natural resources. Once the U.S. got control of Iraq's oil fields, the Shia, Sunni and Kurds could decide to either prosper together or starve together. (And it's not just oil: They're basically sitting on top of most of the world's proven reserves of cab drivers.)

By contrast, there aren't a lot of sticks that can be used in a wasteland like Afghanistan, where the people live in caves and scratch out a living in the dirt. The only "carrot" we might be able to offer them would be actual carrots.

But Democrats couldn't care less about military strategy -- at least any "strategy" that doesn't involve allowing soldiers to date one another. To the extent you can get liberals to focus on national security at all, you will find they are rooting against their own country.

Liberals sneered at Bush's description of Iraq as the "central front of the war on terror" and a step toward the "democratization of the Middle East" -- as Mark Danner did in the Sept. 11, 2005, New York Times -- because sneering was all they could do. By design, Iraq was the central front in the war on terrorism.

Any fanatic who hated the Great Satan, owned an overnight bag and was not already working for The New York Times was lured across the border into Iraq ... to be met by the awesome force of the U.S. military. Bush chose the battlefield that made the best flytrap for Islamic crazies and also that was most amenable to regime change.

Now nearly all denizens of the Middle East want the U.S. to invade them, so they can live in democracy, too. As Thomas Friedman inadvertently admitted, Lebanese voters credit their recent free election, in which the voters threw out Hezbollah, to President Bush. (American liberals, naturally, gave the credit to Obama, who they also believe is responsible for the sun rising every morning.)

Brave Iranian students who protested the tyrant Ahmadinejad did so because of Iraq -- and then they stopped because of Obama's indifference. Sadly for them, America's foreign policy will now be based on a calculus of political correctness, not national security.

During the campaign, Obama prattled on about Iraq being a "war of choice" and Afghanistan a "war of necessity" for no more thoughtful reason than a desire to win standing ovations from treasonous liberals.

But lo and behold, those very liberals who were champing at the bit to fight in Afghanistan are suddenly full of objections to the war there, too. As Frank Rich points out: "Afghanistan is not Iraq. It is poorer, even larger and more populous, more fragmented and less historically susceptible to foreign intervention."

Now they notice.

Afghanistan is a brutal battlefield, largely invulnerable to modern warfare -- something the British and Russians learned. But as our military under Bush showed the world in 21 days, scimitar-wielding savages are no match for the voluntary civilian troops of a free people.

Bush removed the Taliban from power, captured or killed the lunatics and, for the next seven years, about the only news we heard out of Afghanistan were occasional announcements of parliamentary elections, new schools, water and electricity plants.

The difficult choice Obama faces in Afghanistan is entirely of his own making, not his generals' and certainly not Bush's. It was Obama's meaningless blather about Afghanistan being a "war of necessity" during the campaign that has moved the central front in the war on terrorism from Iraq -- a good battleground for the U.S. -- to Afghanistan -- a lousy battlefront for the U.S.

And it was Obama's idea to treat war as if it's an ordinary drug bust, reading suspects their Miranda rights and taking care not to put civilians in harm's way.

A Democrat is president and, once again, America finds itself in an "unwinnable war." I know Democrats will never learn, but I wish the voters would.

Camille Paglia -- Letters To Professor Paglia

Look. Here she is. Philadelphia's other liberty belle.
Heh. Sorry, Ms. Paglia.
Admit it, you forget about Paglia every month.
Too busy over at PuffHo. Loserville.
Well, some of my best friends are simpletons.
Teaser:

We're in a horrendous cultural vacuum because our status-besotted education industry is geared toward producing not original thinkers but docile creatures of the system.

Hate crimes, Polanski and some serious academic horse manure! READ HER HERE.

I have been deeply impressed by the citizen outrage that spilled out into town hall meetings this year. And I remain shocked at the priggish derision of the mainstream media (locked in their urban enclaves) toward those events. This was a moving spectacle of grassroots American democracy in action. Aggrieved voters have a perfect right to shout at their incompetent and irresponsible representatives. American citizens are under no duty whatever to sit in reverent silence to be fed propaganda and half-truths. It is bizarre that liberals who celebrate the unruly demonstrations of our youth would malign or impugn the motivation of today's protestors with opposing views.

The mainstream media's failure to honestly cover last month's mass demonstration in Washington, D.C. was a disgrace. The focus on anti-Obama placards (which were no worse than the rabid anti-LBJ, anti-Reagan or anti-Bush placards of leftist protests), combined with the grotesque attempt to equate criticism of Obama with racism, simply illustrated why the old guard TV networks and major urban daily newspapers are slowly dying. Only a simpleton would believe what they say.

Camille Paglia's column appears on the second Wednesday of each month. Every third column is devoted to reader letters. Please send questions for her next letters column to her Salon mailbox. Your name and town will be published unless you request anonymity.

(Only a simpleton would believe what they say.)

Michael Yon -- Queen Beatrice, Photos, Words, Dutch

Yes that's Her Royal Highness, Queen Beatrice of the Netherlands, showing up in another longish, photo-filled, Yon offering beginning in Afghanistan, then moving to the Netherlands. The Dutch do not hate Americans -- the Dutch love Americans, and their love is old and lasting, true and lasting, grateful and clear-headed, clean-hearted; and: has nothing to do with johnny-come-latelies.

PFLAG

Graven images courtesy of Atlas Shrugs

Fan Fan

The new fan works by drawing air into the base of the machine. The air is forced up into the loop amplifier and accelerated through the 1.3mm annular aperture, creating a jet of air that hugs the airfoil-shaped ramp. While exiting the loop amplifier, the jet pulls air from behind the fan into the airflow (inducement). At the same time, the surrounding air from the front and sides of the machine are forced into the air stream (entrainment), amplifying it 15 times. The result is a constant uninterrupted flow of cooling air.

Pursuit of Honor -- Vince Flynn

Musta pre-ordered.
Found it on the Kindle this morning.

Update: HH Interviews VF

Iran -- Obambi -- Speaking Truth To Stupid

You, yes even you, are too intelligent to ignore the occasional truth.

Profiles in Courage
J. E. DYER - 10.12.2009 - 5:30 PM
The editors of the Wall Street Journal and [surprisingly, even that Obama-protecting rag] the Washington Post suggest that this year’s Nobel Peace Prize should have gone to Iran’s imprisoned and battered reform protesters (specifically, said the Post [that Obama-apologist rag], to Neda Agha-Soltan) instead of to Barack Obama.
Both op-eds focus on the encouragement such an award would have been for the cause of political reform in Iran; the Journal also speculates that a Nobel might have made a difference to the fate of the three Iranian dissidents sentenced to death over the weekend for their participation in the post-election protests.

Only brought up that Nobel joke again because of the kool-ade drinkers over at Post and their odd, late, uncharacteristic, welcome mention of Neda Agha-Soltan.

Rest In Peace,
Neda Agha-Soltan.

Seems like you were
a Community Organizer
who actually acted.
Rather than one who
merely talked talked talked
talked talked talked --
and oh, yeah, talked
and chose to love the demonic
Jeremiah Wright, making him
your surrogate daddy.

Too bad you were in Iran,
Neda Agha-Soltan,
rather than the south side of Chicago.
That geographical anomaly
renders you dead rather than
roaming the halls of the mighty.

A Nobel Peace Prize means never having to explain your lack of interest in human rights.
Chicago/Punahou profiles in courage.

Nurse Groping

Expectant fathers get lonely too.

Thirty-year-old Adam Manning brought his laboring wife to McKay-Dee Hospital in Ogden. He told a nurse she was "cute" then reached for her breasts.

The police were called. Manning's wife said he was drunk, though it's unknown whether he drove to the hospital intoxicated.

Lewinski Effect:
Let's see, young Adam was about 13 when Clinton (Democrat, Hope, Arkansas) was elected President. Thirteen to twenty-one, those are formative years for a growing, testosterone-filled boy. Good enough for the Oval Orifice, good enough for the maternity ward.

Obama Dithers -- Search Results

Just did a few WEB searches. No Lexis/Nexis. No ProQuest. No EbscoHost. No subscription databases. Just the WEB. Google not Bing.

Search Term : Obama Dithering

News Results 1 – 10 of about 290 for obama dithering. (0.07 seconds)

Blogs Results 1 - 10 of about 18,416 for obama dithering. (0.17 seconds)

Images Results 6 or 7 pages seemed relevant for obama dithering.

And, of course, other terms retrieve other results.


On the "Bush is an idiot" vs "Obama is an idiot" front:

Results 1 - 10 of about 8,900,000 for bush is an idiot. (0.11 seconds)

Results 1 - 10 of about 6,665,588 for obama is an idiot. (0.19 seconds)

Results 1 - 10 of about 2,880,000 for palin is an idiot. (0.32 seconds)

Hey. This is descriptive only. I report. You decide.

Speaking of dithering: In The Atlantic: Robert D. Kaplan.
Aside: Highly Recommended: Kaplan's Imperial Grunts. Just Saying.

We Are Doomed -- Derbyshire -- Book Cover'o'the'Season

Doomed. Heh.

Recent Derbyshire here.








"A funny and brilliant call to pessimism, Man's last, best hope for a tolerable life. Pessimists are not only the only realists; they have all the best jokes."
—Theodore Dalrymple, author of Not With a Bang But a Whimper and Our Culture, What's Left of It
Update: WSJ Review here.

Florida News, Cold Feet Files

I Shot The Intruder,
But She Was My Bride

Man accidently shoots fiancee, thinking she's a home intruder during the night.
On the night before their wedding, Tabbutt frantically called 911 after realizing he had shot his fiancee Nancy Dinsmore, also 62, in their Winter Springs, Fla., home.

Additional Flo-rida news in the column on right. Oh, and here.

Gratitude Interlude

Gratitude Interlude of the Week

If Smitty sent you here, Welcome. And, Thanks, Mr. Smith and TOMcC.

If Team Sarah sent you here, Welcome, and thanks, Team.

Another Real Community Organizer

Sure the NYTimes puts this on the sports page.
Should be on the front page.

Self-Made Educator Fulfills a Vision for Boys in Cleveland

He did not want to join the team.

The teenager wanted to enroll at the public school Ginn founded to give at-risk boys enough care, structure and education to succeed. Ginn suggested that the aspiring freshman, Joseph Williams, get a haircut and meet him in his office the next morning.
Williams shaved his head and rode his bike four miles to the school.
“I’m still young,” he told Ginn and the school’s principal, Byron Lyons. “I still have a chance.” After spending 21 days in jail with men facing life sentences, he said, he no longer wanted to be in “that other life.”

The school, Ginn Academy, had a spot for him, and Williams teared up. “I feel blessed,” he said.

HT / Hugh Hewett

Most recent Real Community Organizer here.

Shabbat Shalom

Obamamometer, Oh My

David's playing What If over in the Corner:

What if a guy nobody's ever heard of, from Hawaii no less, with a Muslim African father and a Muslim Indonesian stepfather and a mom from Kansas named Stanley inexplicably glides from Punahou to a short sheep-dip at Occidental to the Frankfurt School's favorite Ivy League haunt, Columbia, to Harvard Law? What if he's such an arrogant, aloof suckup of no particular ability or accomplishment that his fellow students openly ridicule him with the invention of the "Obamamometer," which measures epic brown-nosing on a scale from one to ten? What if he's blissfully unaware of his own deficiencies, and instead comes to believe that he's earned everything that's come his way — or ever will?

OBAMAMOMETER...did you get that?
Read it all:
What If . . . - David Kahane - The Corner on National Review Online

Shared via AddThis

Relax, It's Not Peace-Peace, It's Just Peace

Nobel Peace Prize Wiener

Congrats, Mr. President.

Carpet Bombing -- Derbyshire

John Derbyshire:

What are we doing in Afghanistan?

If Afghanistan-the-nation is a threat to our vital interests, let's carpet-bomb their cities, hang the leaders, impose a constitution, plant a couple of big fat military bases in strategic locations, and settle in for a 20-year occupation.

It's not long. Read it. Afghanistan: A Skeptic Vents
Not saying I'm agreeing here. Not saying I'm disagreeing. I'm just saying.
Though, generally, I do agree with the carpet bombing approach to conflict resolution.
Could work domestically too. Dunno.

Nor am I the big fan of democracy. Or, democracy for democracy's sake.
Democracy, it seems to me, always, is not an end in itself.
It is a means to an end.
Voting is sweet, but: Safety, security, stability -- beer and grub -- that's my five-point plan. A good undemocratic king could provide all that.
They have a king. Living in exile. Italy? Bring him back.
Just saying.
Shut up with the democracy stuff. Kill the bad guys and move on.
Without forgetting that when the Taliban ruled Afghanistan it was against the law -- illegal -- thank you Sharia -- for a female to feel the sun on her face.
Uh huh. You could look it up.
Thanks for the sun, President Bush.

Shared via AddThis

Mr. Panty Fog Interlude

Thanks, Kaz / KazUnderworld.

Michael Yon, Soldiers Angels, Michael Yon

Two or three weeks after the injury, I was having dinner with a British Major and several Captains. The Major talked reverently about Soldiers Angels, and then about a herculean effort that the United States military extended to save a single British soldier. I had no idea about that effort. I just heard the gunshot, saw the soldier carried away into the night, and heard the helicopter roar into the darkness. I knew Soldiers’ Angels had intervened back in Germany, but the details that followed came as incredible surprise. The U.S. military had quietly moved Heaven and Earth to save a single British “Squaddie.”




Yon says please read the description, authored in part by Soldiers’ Angel MaryAnn Phillips.

Soldiers' Angels Here.

From the Polanski Files -- Roman

Chicago Tribune runs something they call Mugs In The News.
Sweet.

FBI nabs 'Boy Lovers' child-porn ring
September 21, 2009 10:47 PM |
The FBI today announced child-pornography charges against four men from Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana, accusing them of operating a ring that distributed pornographic images and videos and referred to themselves by the name "Boy Lovers."

Charged are Jose Carlos Garcia, 22, of Schererville, Ind.; Neal Maschke, 40, of West Chicago; Corey Stinefast, 27, of Kenosha, Wis.; and Mark McGill, 24, of Crest Hill.

Really now, no, really, what boy wouldn't want to be Polanskied by a guy with hair like that?

Each'o'these studs, er, boy lovers, is cuter and hotter and has a prettier mouth than the one next to him. Jose, Neal, Corey and Mark.
Enjoy prison, fellas.
Squeal like a pig. C'mon. Squeal.

"Art" Interlude -- Ed Ruscha

Yes, according to the NYTimes, no, this is not a joke, LaObamas have this hanging in the White House.



[T]he collection is also not without humor. Another contemporary work chosen by the Obamas is a word painting by the California artist Ed Ruscha. Called “I Think I’ll ... ” it deals with the subject of indecision. The work depicts a brilliant red sunset against which Mr. Ruscha has painted phrases like “Maybe ... Yes ... ” and “Maybe ... No ... ” and “On Second Thought.”

As if we needed art to buttress the dithering already going on over there.
Got rid of that Churchill bust muy pronto though.

None Dare Call It Art: Iowahawk/NEA thirty-three buck art grant finalists here...

H/T NRO/Corner
More on Obamaartiste.
Evening updatery:
Over at Contentions they agree, You Can't Make This Stuff Up, offering a link to some Churchill Poster Arte that oughtta be considered. Heh.

Their Fascinating Selves -- Two Obamas

Courtesy of the Red White and Blue.
Yeah,(I) know this is yesterday's news, but (I) keep rereading Will from yesterday's news. Here's Will:

In the 41 sentences of her remarks, Michelle Obama used some form of the personal pronouns "I" or "me" 44 times. Her husband was, comparatively, a shrinking violet, using those pronouns only 26 times in 48 sentences. Still, 70 times in 89 sentences conveyed the message that somehow their fascinating selves were what made, or should have made, Chicago's case compelling.

Once in the long ago time (I) received a letter from college pal Chris Packard and he ended it with "If I cross my eyes and look at what I just wrote all I see on the page are I ME ME I."

Heh. That observation taught (me) plenty.
Now, lacking in all gaseous rhetoric,
here's a real man:

That's Toby Keith in Afghanistan.
Click here for his video
I Wanna Talk About Me.

Can't recall. Obama been to Afghanistan yet? Bonus Toby Keith here.

Sarah Palin, Rogue Update

Audacious Dreamy Hopes From My Moose Hunting Father

Over at US Snooze they're noting a rumor that Our Governor Mrs. Todd Palin is planning a separate, less secular, more "Christian" version of her forthcoming memoir, Going Rogue, repeating the speculation while reporting it as false -- false as most everything else that has been said about her since August '09.

Somewhere in the bowels of Politico they've reported on the possibility of "a slight addition on faith for the Zondervan edition." Must be where Snooze found the rumoriod.

I don't care, or have an opinion, pro or con, on the two editions approach to book sellin'. Heck, I'll buy both versions and a third for my Kindle.

Meanwhile the skanks at TIME rag wants to know:

How Did Our Governor Mrs. Todd Palin Write Her Memoir So Fast?

How'd she write so fast?
We know the answer:
Mr. Todd Palin asked Bill Ayers to write it for her. See also: ABC.

Robert Stacy McCain -- That's Popularity With A Purpose

Dimona Nukes

Israel intercepts plane overflying nuclear reactor


The Israeli air force scrambled fighter jets on Tuesday after a light aircraft flew into restricted air space over its nuclear reactor in the southern Negev desert, the military said.

Some reports indicate that the Isrealis have used Dimona to produce two hundred (200) nuclear warheads. Only two hundred? Well, two hundred is a good start. They're man enough to ues 'em too. Youbetcha.
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And by the by, this from Commentary:
Thirty-Six Years Ago Today, Richard Nixon Saved Israel—but Got No Credit

Limbaugh and the Rams

Friends been telling me for years I oughtta watch football. You'll like it, they tell me. Better than that college basketball you love. Maybe this news'll give me a reason to watch football. Go Ramz.

ST. LOUIS (AP) - Green Bay Packers fans are known as cheeseheads. Could fans of the St. Louis Rams soon be dittoheads?
Conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh said Tuesday he is teaming up with St. Louis Blues owner Dave Checketts in a bid to buy the Rams, owners of the NFL's longest losing streak at 14 and just 5-31 since 2007.

In a statement, Limbaugh declined to discuss details, citing a confidentiality agreement with Goldman Sachs, the investment firm hired by the family of former Rams owner Georgia Frontiere to review assets of her estate, including the NFL team.

Limbaugh also declined to discuss other partners that might be involved in the bid, but said he and Checketts would operate the team.

That's ownership change I can believe in.

Dropped My Kindle

I looked at my Kindle 2 yesterday and thought "You used to wrap that up every morning in that little blue cloth TH bag and put in in your back pack. You better start that up again."

Didn't though.

Dropped my Kindle this morning. In the dark. On the cement. Ouch.

Still works, praise be. But it's cracked and a little bent.

Knew when I dropped it that if I had to I'd be replacing it pronto. Yes I'm frugal but there was no question that I'd replace it. Pay extra for quick ship. Yes I'm Kindle dependent. Powerless over Kindle.

That's an unsightly gash in the Kindle. Repair -- it seems -- is two hundred bucks +/-. Not worth it. Could get a refurbished for that. New one for three hundred. And anyway, so far, this one still works wounded.

Then I did some digging around. How about the DX? Is there a new Kindle 4 coming anytime soon? And the big question: When is the 10" iTouch coming out? Will Jeff allow Steve to run the Kindle App on a 10" Apple device? Read my first two Kindle books on my iPhone last winter and I'll be pleased to continue reading on a ten incher. Yes size matters.

Dropped my Kindle this morning. At least I didn't leave it on the plane . . . Did tuck it under my arm and dash out the door this morning. Fool. Dropped it before I'd gotten down the steps. I looked at my Kindle 2 yesterday and thought "You used to wrap that up every morning in that little blue cloth TH bag and put in in your back pack. You better start that up again."

Next time I tell myself to do something I better do it.
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Update HERE and oh yeah, overnight Amazon dropped the price of Kindle another forty bucks. $259.

Gratitude Interlude

If Don Surber sent you here, Welcome. And Thanks Mr. Surber.
N.B. I'm in California, not Alaska. There could be some confusion about that. And I'm a he, not a she. Not so much confusion there. Thanks for stopping by. Here's what you'd be looking for if you want to know why he sent you.

If Another Black Conservative sent you over here. Welcome. And thanks again, ABC.