Expat Texan

Perhaps it would be useful to pause and remember the sacrifices made to protect freedom of speech, and other basic human rights.

“We are on high ground overlooking the front and have a grandstand view of the battle up ahead. We have a wonderful artillery barrage and swell support from the Typhoons and Spits of the R.A.F. and R.C.A.F. They sure make a grand sight with their rockets, bombs and cannon. No air opposition and very little flak.”

Of course, some would prefer we forget the sacrifices made and rewrite history to be much more sympathetic to the “other side”.

…it is Ferguson’s revisionist view of the tactics applied by the Allies in World War II that is likely to raise the hackles of those who have always believed in the “necessity” of bombing German and Japanese civilians, culminating in the atomic attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to end a war we did not start.

“I think it’s very hard for those who have imbibed the idea of a ‘great generation’ that what the Allies did to defeat the Axis was in some measure to adopt totalitarian tactics,” Ferguson says in a Q&A on PBS’s Web site.

Ferguson, obviously, does not abide my any such nonsense as a “greatest generation“.  From Ferguson’s perspective, it’s OK to admit that Hitler was bad - as long as we accept that the allies were just as bad - if not worse.

A use for a Che t-shirt other than as a pitiable prop used by upper middle-class white boys wanting to appear cool and revolutionary while desperately trying to get laid.

Jealous?  Want your own Che stuff?  Well, visit Che-Mart, estupido!  Where many, many fine apparels of great tastiness to clueless gringos can be found.

And of course, the one item most recommended by the Expat Texan team of elite shopping advisors:

What say you now?

Terror Purposely Targets Civilians – The terrorist operating the bulldozer chose his victims deliberately - even starting his attack by motioning for a woman driver to precede him, before crushing her vehicle with his shovel. He went on to run-down pedestrians, ram two buses, and crush a number of civilian cars.

Among his innocent victims is an infant, who was injured in the attack and taken to hospital. Eyewitnesses told police that the murdered mother saved her baby, by throwing the child out the car window, just before the bulldozer crushed her to death.

To be fair to Elmasry - he did say that the totally innocent children should not be targeted.  I assume he’s OK with the mother being killed as she fought to save her baby, if we refer to his published remarks.

ELMASRY: I’m saying that it has to be totally innocent, OK? Totally innocent are the children, obviously, OK? But they are not innocent if the army [inaudible] in civilian clothes, OK?

COREN: What about women?

ELMASRY: The same, if they are women in the army…

COREN: Anyone over the age of 18 in Israel is a valid target.

ELMASRY: Anybody above 18 is a part of the Israeli army…

COREN: So everyone in Israel and anyone and everyone in Israel, irrespective of gender, over the age of 18 is a valid target?

ELMASRY: Yes, I would say.

Funny that the Montreal Muslim News site publishes Elmasry’s remarks - presumably as a way of allowing us to evaluate them in full context.  Well you know what?  Even in full context, Elmasry’s comments are incredible, and reveal the mindset of those who would use Canada’s own western laws to try and silence those who disagree with them.

But it’s gonna be GOOD!

Bill Whittle has always been one of my favorite essayists.  If you’re unfamiliar with the name, then you should head on over and browse.  Allow plenty of time - you’ll probably be there a while.

Let’s see.  Canadian female blogger finds a hateful Sikh Facebook site directed towards a CBC commentator, who’s crime is to do a report on Sikh extremism.  Sikh’s get upset at being exposed, and threaten said blogger, accusing her of fomenting hatred (yes, I know - irony is apparently not a Sikh strongpoint)   Juvenile veiled threats (and perhaps some not so veiled) follow in comments.  Brave Sikh’s avenge their honor by making anonymous threats on the internet.  Hooray!  Manly celebrations and chest thumpigs cut short when their moms call them to dinner.

That’s gonna leave a mark.

I’ve always thought Clark was an odious human being.  His smarmy “getting shot down and tortured doesn’t prepare you to be President” comment just confirms it.  And does Clark (or any of Obama’s surrogates, for that matter) REALLY want the American public to start looking closely at their candidates qualifications to run the good ol’ USofA?  Methinks not (the article is typical Chicago rah-rah for Obama, as the author tackles an op-ed that questioned whether Barack is ready for the presidency - but read the comments).

Facts?  We don’t need no stinking facts.

Washington, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty, lamenting the decision overturning his city’s handgun ban, said Thursday, “More handguns in the District of Columbia will only lead to more handgun violence.” That’s a dangerous statement for a politician to make–an empirical claim that can be judged against empirical data.

I emailed Florida State University criminologist Gary Kleck, one of the nation’s leading gun scholars, to ask if the proposition Fenty set out is true. Surprise: It’s not.

This, of course, is not news to anyone who has actually followed the debate on gun control policy and the effect those policies have in the real world.  Look at the UK, look at Washington, DC - and then look at right to carry states (pay special attention to the Florida statistics).  Those data will show you all you need to know - that people tend to be a lot more polite and respectful of your property/person when they think there’s a chance that you may introduce a gun into the equation.  What possible sense does it make to only allow criminals to be armed?

Kleck says his latest research indicates that when gun ownership rises among noncriminals, homicide rates decline.

In short: Well, Duh.

Look at total violent crimes per 100,000 inhabitants. Their rate is now about twice as high in Canada as in the U. S. The violent crime rate has dropped markedly in the U.S. since the early 1990s, but has remained basically stable here.

…

In the U. K., after the introduction of tougher gun control and a prohibition of handguns in 1997, as well as the general repression of self-defence (victims who defend themselves against violent criminals often get more severe sentences than their aggressors), violent crimes have shot up. To control exploding crime, the British government is resorting to police-state surveillance and control measures, an astounding development in the cradle of Western liberty, and the cradle of our traditional right to keep and bear arms.

Massive social-science research shows the ineffectiveness of gun control in reducing crime. It is a source of continuous amazement that gun control advocates ignore the results of criminological, historical and econometric studies by reputed scholars like (among others) John Lott, Bill Landes, Gary Kleck, James Wright, Peter Rossi, Taylor Buckner, David Kopel, Don Kates, Gary Mauser, Colin Greenwood, and Joyce Malcolm. Why?

In January 2002, two armed students of Appalachian Law School, in Virginia, stopped a mass killing in progress at the university by arresting the killer. Why don’t gun-control activists wonder why there have been no mass killings at the University of Utah, where students are allowed to carry guns? Could it be that madmen look for places where they can do more damage without being interrupted?

And let’s not even get started on that whole registry issue, m’kay?

Well, this should make Germans feel a whole lot better about that old “integration thing”.

A study on Islamic preachers in Germany has found that most imams are unable to help Muslim immigrants integrate into mainstream German society because they are insufficiently prepared for their stay in Germany.

According to the study “Imams in Germany,” up to 20 percent of preachers belong to the more conservative, fundamentalist strand of Islam. The study also discovered that only one fifth of imam’s possess academic qualifications.

I had an interesting little discussion at a blog called PM’s World following a post by the blog owner about the training (or lack thereof) of many imams.  This quickly morphed into a debate about “free speech”, with some arguing that a “right” not to be offended trumped freedom of speech.  The debate was a good one - with no name calling or unwarrented aggressiveness involved.  I was disturbed by the eagerness to trample my rights to keep from offending a protected group, but that was really only expressed by one commentor.

Why can’t we protect ourselves?

Toronto’s ban is irrational as it fails to tackle urban gun crime. Canada should look to the United Kingdom and elsewhere to see that firearm control bears no relation to gun crime prevention. Our own gun registry has done nothing to stop gun crime

I’m hunting wabbits gophers pocket gophers.  More correctly, Richardson’s ground squirrels.  I’ve tried non-lethal ways to get rid of them - to no avail.  So, it’s trapping time.

First, you gotta have something to probe with.  You move back and forth between the mounds, poking the ground, until you feel a sudden “drop” when you poke the tunnel.  Then you use a spade/trowel to excavate down to the tunnel and clear the debris as best as possible.

You have to clear enough to place 2 traps - 1 facing each direction, into the tunnel system.   You want to wear gloves to keep from leaving too much human scent around.

These are called black hole traps.  The are spring loaded with a wire that snaps up with a lot of force when triggered.  These traps are shown in place in the tunnel system, ready to be covered up.

The final step is to cover up the excavation - you can’t have any extraneous light entering into the burrow, or the mole gopher won’t enter.  One of these little buggers can destroy up to 10 square meters of lawn/flowebed/garden.  They eat grubs and earthworms - but do an incredible amount of damage in the process.  I’m not a fan of poisons - they enter the foodchain and can kill birds, coyotes, even pet dogs if they find the dead squirrel.  There are other methods that can have some less than desireable side effects as well.