About Me

Name: SDS
Biography
Loading...

Create Your Own Blog Find Other Townhall Blogs

Comments

Archives

Search

Blog Roll

 

Go Trojans

Posted by SDS on Sunday, November 26, 2006 12:27:56 AM
I have two words for Hugh Hewitt and his constant Anti-USC jibes-- Go Trojans.  Oh yeah-- and 44-24 ( is that 20 points?   Why yes it is.  A close game. uh NOT)
Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Mrs. Miniver Deserves Another Showing

Posted by SDS on Sunday, November 19, 2006 7:09:34 PM
I happened to fall asleep with the TV on Turners Classic Movies only to wake up early in the morning to the music  of the Christian Hymn, O God Our Help in Ages Past.  I checked out the movie on the tube and it was Mrs. Miniver.  I had never watched it all the way through so I stayed awake.  At the end, deeply moved and knowing why some people think this may be the best movie ever made, I thought, a movie like this could not be made in the Hollywood of today.  The director, William Wyler, the head of the studio, Lois B. Mayer  were Jewish, but this film about a middle-class English family in World War II, made in 1942 and starring Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon, ends with a view of a cross being formed in the clouds, viewed through the bombed out roof of an Anglican church while the congregation sings Onward Christian Soldiers.   By the end of the movie I was so moved by the message of the movie that I found myself singing along, much to the consternation of my cat who is not used to that behavior from me.

Before that  ending, the rector delivers a homily which was printed up and distributed widely throughout the free world.  Both Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill credit this film with doing more for the war effort than a flotilla of battleships. 

Leftwing film critics hate this movie because  it provides a positive view of those who soldiered on, who kept on going when the days were darkest, who believed in freedom at the risk of their lives.  Whatever the detractors have to say about the movie, one fact is clear-- the brits did send a huge flotilla of ordinary people in their ordinary boats at the risk of their lives to rescue the soldiers at Dunkirk.  That rosifcation, maybe wasn't so much.  It really did happen.  And the soldiering on -- that really did happen too.  It is because there are so may sad demented people in Hollywood whose hostility toward what is good and right is so strong that they  hate a movie that truthfully presents the extraordinary heroism of ordinary people, that no really good movies about the Iraq war can be made and precious few about any other war. 

In the meantime, buy a copy of Mrs. Miniver and watch it yourself and give it to a friend.


Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Immigration and Demographics

Posted by SDS on Sunday, November 19, 2006 8:01:33 AM
Someone needs to tell the truth about one fact pertinent to the immigration debate-- here it is-- to a great extent these immigrants are the children we didn't have.  If you read America Alone you recognize the importance of demographics to long term trends.  In the 70's and 80's , responding to doom saying predictions of environmental disaster,  Americans had fewer children.  Fertility dropped below replacement level. 

If Mark Steyn had been writing back then he might have predicted where we are now.  A vacuum will be filled.  YOu have fewer children in the richest nation in the world, others will flock in to filll the ranks.  People who are distressed about the change in culture that ensues should look at themselves in the mirror.  I see the problem in my own family.  We paid attention to all that  environmental scare stuff and now we have only one kid below the age of 10.  If we can't change that, we can't win.  All the fences in the world will not work.

Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Ethanol-- is Anybody Paying Attention

Posted by SDS on Wednesday, November 15, 2006 1:08:01 AM
Just when people thought that geography was dead, geopolitics raises its ugly head, AGAIN.  It isn't just that Iran has a lot of oil.  It is that it is geographically located in a place where it can shut down the shipment of a huge percentage of the world's oil-- not just Iranian, but Iraqi and Saudi Arabian oil, by shutting down the straits of Hormuz, a 40 mile wide sea. 

The fact that Ahmadinejad is nuts does not keep him from doing it.  Hitler was nuts too.  The answer is ----- Ethanol.  Cellulosic ethanol is not a dream, it is a reality.  Iogen has a demonstration factory in Canada and another plant using a different technology is slated to open in Spain soon.  So the problem here is not in inventing a technology but in making it commercially viable. 

For the umpteenth time, the President said it in his state of the Union message, this is not an economic issue, it is a national security issue.  It needs to be treated as such. 
If we can survive without imported oil ( and with Ethanol and increased drilling of our own reserves, we can)  then we don't have to make nice to insane middle eastern potentates.  Not only that but we seriously diminish the strategic advantage they have.

Further, if we are the owners of the technology, we can sell it to other countries that get tired of paying blood money to Iran. 

We need tax breaks and tax credits, accelerated depreciation -- all the stuff that provides a real incentive to actually produce the stuff and get it on the market.  We did it with synthetic rubber in World War II after the Japanese occupied a large percentage of the rubber producing countries of the world.  We can do it again if we can find the will. 
Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Voting with your Money

Posted by SDS on Monday, November 13, 2006 8:15:07 PM
Hugh Hewitt pushed the right button the other day when he asked for the opinions of only callers who actually contributed to Republicans for the election. I'm not a big contributor I'm a 500 dollar contributor.  But HEY  That has been the Republican strength. 

 Here's the deal-- we who actually dig into our fun money and give it to Republican candidates need to let the RNC know that we WILL not be the source of money for the same old same old.  A week ago these folks could say, trust us we have a winning record.  No more.   The RNC will not get a penny of my money until they show that they have learned a lesson.  I did contribute-- directly to candidates-- because I didn't trust the RNC.  The Republican party doesn't need big contributors because up to now they have had us.

Now is not the time to drop out.  Now is the time to do some research and empower the people you agree with with contributions to them.  That's where it is.


Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Pelosi and the Pottery Barn Rule

Posted by SDS on Wednesday, November 08, 2006 1:10:55 PM
So here is the deal-- the Dems are in control of the House and probably the Senate-- if we work it right, the people will realize that whatever happens it is Pelosi-Reid's responsibility if they stand in the way of fighting this war.  They broke it -- the Republican majority-- now the House and probably the Senate are theirs.  They can no longer talk about coulda woulda shoulda- same for Hillary. It's the Pottery Barn rule for them. You broke it, you bought it.
Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Why We Can't Indulge Hurt Feelings

Posted by SDS on Wednesday, November 08, 2006 12:12:39 PM
The terrorists are still out there and they are still plotting.  Sounds sort of paranoid really, but you learn about this guy--Barot-- and you realize that you have to keep on fighting even when the going gets very rough because if his kind, the terrorist plotters, have their way we will all be dead or bowing to Mecca 5 times a day. 

There are times when it seems to me grossly unfair the Pelosicrats are not going to be hurt  any worse than the rest of us if they, the Pelosicrats carry through on their promises to gut the war in Iraq.  But that is the way it is.  A dirty bomb in New York's subway system will kill everyone around not just the people who cheered when Pelosi took over the  House. 

Unlike Churchill who was powerless when Neville Chamberlin gave Hitler the keys to Europe, we are not powerless. George Bush is still the president and the Dems are still probably afraid to vote to cut all funding to our troops.  And they, the Pelosicrats, need to know that we are just waiting to start a petition drive to get them to fund the troops if they waiver.
Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

It's No Time for a Pity Party

Posted by SDS on Wednesday, November 08, 2006 3:55:20 AM
Ironically, the movie on Turner Classic Movies right now stars John Wayne and is about Corregidor and Bataan.  For the history challenged, the good guys lost those battles.  Badly.  But they didn't lose the war.  More recent historical perspective.  Ronald Reagan didn't manage to gain control of the house, ever, and didn't keep control of the Senate.  A number of the wishy washy turncoats we hate on the court-- O" connor, Kennedy, Souter, were Republican appointees.  This president has accomplished a lot and it has cost.  Take your losses like a , um er, well like John Wayne for God's sake.

What the Republicans who remain-- and hey== there are a lot of them== have to do is, as we say in the law field, make a record.  They must introduce the bills and motions that are right and force the Democrats to vote on them or refuse to vote on them. 

Those of us who are out in the hinterlands have to circulate petitions that let people know what the Dems are up to.  Maybe the Dems will continue to waffle and pretend to be more moderate than they are.  The only way they can be intimidated into doing the right thing is if we hold their feet to the fire.  And even that may not work.

Let's face it, the GOP got flabby and overconfident.  There wasn't even a Republican candidate in my congressional district (Hilda Solis was the Democrat)  This is the second time. That has to stop.  By screwing up the simple process of putting someone up to run against her, the California GOP saved the Democrats fifty or a hundred thousand campaign dollars which they could then spend elsewhere.  We must put on at least a pro forma fight in every district in 2008.  

Look what happened with the Dems-- they get Mark Foley, Tom Delay and Bob Ney and they pick up three Republican seats just by having a Dem to vote for.  We have to be better and smarter next time. 

I don't blame Bush.  I blame us.  Reagan was never able to do what Bush did so far as gaining and holding the Senate and the House.  It can be done again and if we start planning now, we will do it.  God help the United States in meantime.


Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Avoid the Dangers of Homophones

Posted by SDS on Wednesday, November 01, 2006 12:05:18 PM
No Homophones are not a new sexual orientation category, they are words that sound alike but have different spellings and different meanings.  Like my perpetual irritation with people who vandalize public restrooms ( I mean, what's the point?) I recognize that it isn't really of earthshaking importance but misuse of words drives me crazy.  Not that I don't do it myself.  So, let me clarify-- other people's misuse of words drives me crazy.  My own I regard as entirely forgiveable.

So, here is the rant "reign" not to be confused  with "rain" or "rein" means rule over someone.  That is perhaps why I have seen it substituted for "rein" which is something you do to horse.  The rein on  a horse controls the horse.  Thus "Physicians warned that a proposed rule to reign in repackaged drug costs would close clinics and deny care." from a website not to be named here misuses reign for rein.  You rein in a horse and you rein in repackaged drug costs. 

Here's another popular mistake.  "Tow" means to pull something.  "Toe" is a part of your anatomy.  When you "toe the line".  You are putting your toes on a line drawn on the ground or a movie set or wherever (probably while standing at attention).  When people are being made to "toe the line" they are being made to stand exactly where they are supposed to be they are not being made to pull a line.  Hence "tow the line" is wrong.

I have recently seen at least two instances of misusing each of the above expressions.   This, in my limited view, constitutes an unworthy trend.  It is one thing to make a mistake in private e-mails it is quite another to publish it on the web. 
Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive
« Previous1Next »