Posts Tagged ‘nostalgia’

Q: What do President Barack Obama and Tim Geithner have in common

Posted: November 18, 2009 by datechguy in opinion/news
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A: They were both considered “indispensable” men just about a year ago.

The president is now below 50% according to Quinnipiac. Looks to me they are both “indefensible” men now as .

And you know when slavery was abolished Southern Plantation owners had it tough too

Posted: November 9, 2009 by datechguy in opinion/news
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I would take it as Axiomatic that there are some advantages to dictatorship or absolute Monarchy, decisions and reactions are faster, the rules are simpler, (fail to follow them and you die or if you have an enlightened absolute exiled) Generally crime and punishment are more direct (see Saudi Arabia) and if you are one who is favored by the dictator or Monarch you are likely living pretty.

That being the case it doesn’t surprise me to read this article at the Guardian lamenting the death of East Germany:

Of course, unification brought with it the freedom to travel the world and, for some, more material wealth, but it also brought social breakdown, widespread unemployment, blacklisting, a crass materialism and an “elbow society” as well as a demonisation of the country I lived in and helped shape. Despite the advantages, for many it was more a disaster than a celebratory event.

This could have been written by any of our Castro loving left today, and they would justify it any sympathize with it. Just as they said that people were better in Iraq when Saddam was there or how it would be ok to let the Taliban have Afghanistan again.

They make a small currency of freedom since they take it for granted, but lets play a game. Lets say instead this was written by a white south African decrying the end or apartheid or a Plantation owner in 1870.

Our friends on the left would be (rightly) outraged at this idea yet as I look at the memeorandumlink I see a few blogs on the right but no outrage from the left.

Bill Jacobson says it best

What is remarkable about the philosophy of putting economic security over individual liberty is that it is such standard left-wing fare. And it sounds so familiar lately.

Ms. de la Motte should not be so sad. She could have a fine future ahead of her in Washington, D.C

Let me be blunt, this woman is either deluded or evil and I sure hope it is the former. She would press the button in that new movie to get the million bucks and as one of the elites she did. Her comfort was purchased with the lives and blood of her countrymen no differently than the slaves of the south or the oppressed of South Africa.

Learn from her or be prepared to repeat her mistake.

Update: The Anchoress as always finds the right way to put it:

I’m thinking Bruni de la Motte would not have much liked the “asocial” Ulrike Poppe. Possibly Bruni de la Motte would have reported her for not being happy that her life was being so efficiently managed for her.

If she doesn’t write for a living she should.

I can’t even escape via Doctor Who!

Posted: November 1, 2009 by datechguy in doctor who, internet/free speech, opinion/news, war
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If you are a Doctor Who fan (and if you’re not you should be) you should check out the web site Life Doctor Who and Combom. It is one of the better sites on the web that covers the news of the series.

Yesterday he lined to a wired article by Scott Brown that apparently he didn’t realize was available online not online (he scanned it in) concerning can us Yanks appreciate Doctor Who? As his commentators noted it appears we have been watching two different series than the writer Mr. Brown, that was a slight annoyance to a Who vet like me but this bit just clinched it:

Sound familiar, America? Oh, I can hear the teabaggers now: This is defeatist talk! Doesn’t sound like your cup of Tetley, eh, Glenn Beck? Fair enough: Enjoy your Transformers and the baby-faced club kids of the new Enterprise.

I vented my spleen in comments there. My sons and I just want to enjoy our Doctor Who but I can’t due to another as Jay Nordlinger has called it safe zone violation, but I promised a longer response so here it is…

Memo to Brown I’ve been watching the show for 30 years, I have (and have reviewed) many of the Big Finish audios. I know the series very well and if anything it is an illustration of the value of action rather than non-action.

I will happily stipulate that whenever possible the Doctor will use a scientific solution rather than a violent one but they come at a cost. And that doesn’t preclude violence and guns (No matter what Sarah Jane says) if needed, let review:

In Planet of the Dead Unit kills the two creatures that come through the wormhole instead of the Doctor noveling them somehow.

In The Next Doctor Miss Hartigan’s Brain is fried by the Doctor’s action to save the city.

In the three part finish to last season (Stolen Earth, Journey’s End) the Doctor scolds his twin for destroying the Dalek fleet even though he knows that millions will die if it is allowed to live, his primary plan to stop Davros from slaughtering the universe is…to beg him not to.

In Turn Left the world is saved by Donna Noble killing herself

In Midnight the Doctor is saved by the Hostess killing the Ms. Sylvertry and taking herself with her.

In Unicorn and the Wasp Donna saves the day by drowning the wasp against the Doctor’s desire

In the Sontaran Stratagem and the Poison Sky the Doctor’s solution is to destroy the Sontaran ship killing them, only the fact that someone else did it prevented him killing them himself.

In Planet of the Ood the doctor actually…doesn’t do anything. Ood sigma and the friends of the earth solve the issue and it was because of , wait for it. Bloody Revolution.

In the Fires of Pompeii he kills the Pyroviles.

And lets take a quick peek at what happens when he refuses to kill The family of Blood?, How many people die because the Doctor isn’t willing to kill the four aliens in season 3’s The four humans they take over, the vet at the door, the two teachers, those who were shelled, the family of the little girl etc etc etc…

And you can go back to the primary series, The Invisible Enemy, The Invasion of time, The Sontaran Experiment, Terror of the Verviods, Snakedance, Monster of Peladon to see the Doctor do what has to be done to save the day.

Granted he does hold back, he does wait he tries every other method he can but in the end when talk can’t solve the problem he acts, and during the times when he just can’t pull the trigger and is about to be killed, (particularly in his 9th incarnation) someone else does it (Rose, The parting of the Ways).

One note about the 9th incarnation, his unwillingness to kill in part of the plot and the psychological injury of the Time War so it can be excused to some degree but even in that season he can do what needs to be done, (World War III).

So PLEASE don’t give me that pap about “Glen Beck” types etc. We who recognize that there are times when you have to act rather than talk know the cost and we recognize the cost of inaction is often even higher. Or as Ronald Reagan said:

Let’s set the record straight. There is no argument over the choice between peace and war, but there is only one guaranteed way you can have peace–and you can have it in the next second–surrender.

Admittedly there is a risk in any course we follow other than this, but every lesson in history tells us that the greater risk lies in appeasement, and this is the specter our well-meaning liberal friends refuse to face–that their policy of accommodation is appeasement, and it gives no choice between peace and war, only between fight and surrender. If we continue to accommodate, continue to back and retreat, eventually we have to face the final demand–the ultimatum. And what then?

For a long time our friends worldwide on the left had the privilege to tell us how primitive we where and less enlighten because they lived under the umbrella of our protection. As our current administration dithers on said protection others will have to make the choice to give in or stand up. To quote Mark (Dr. Who gay mafia) Steyn from his book America Alone:

A while back, I was struck by the words of Oscar van den Boogaard, a Dutch gay humanist (which is pretty much the trifecta of Eurocool). Reflecting on the Continent’s accelerating Islamification, he concluded that the jig was up for the Europe he loved, but what could he do? “I am not a warrior, but who is?” he shrugged. “I have never learned to fight for my freedom. I was only good at enjoying it.”

The close of his speech at Hillsdale College says it all:

General Stark knew that. Mr. van den Boogard’s words are an epitaph for Europe. Whereas New Hampshire’s motto—”Live free or die!”—is still the greatest rallying cry for this state or any other. About a year ago, there was a picture in the papers of Iranian students demonstrating in Tehran and waving placards. And what they’d written on those placards was: “Live free or die!” They understand the power of those words; so should we.

It’s is a shame that I have to write this post, I just want to enjoy my Doctor Who and the adventures in time and space, but the more enlightened won’t allow it. I say to them you would make a good Castellan Kelner.

Today would have been my father’s 88th birthday…

Posted: October 31, 2009 by datechguy in personal
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…if he hadn’t died in 1987.

Right now I’ve been going through a hard time and I wish he was around for advice. He never got past the 6th grade but was the wisest man I knew. He was gregarious, impulsive, generous to a fault, had an incredible capacity to drink, and liked and trusted people much too much for his own good. He could fix anything, build anything, cook anything, was physically powerful and had the love of life, God and country, his fellow man and Family inside of him.

There are too many stories about him to tell them all here, from the Ambush in the parking lot, his refusal to pay and the violence he suffered for it, his refusal to accept help from his “Fellow Sicilians” when he needed it, his quest to join the Navy, his convoluted first meeting with my mother, their odd wedding day and first day bringing her home, the fights and drinking contests at the bar, the first Capone story, The great Smoking war, the rocks and the photos, the TV up the stairs, intensive care and unending talk, the pink shirt and the Green Beret, the missing 3 million dollar ticket, The Heart Attack in the woods, The burn cream, His mother-in-law stories, and the greatest story of all his cooking of his own funeral dinner.

But as this is the anniversary of his birth rather than his death I choose the 2nd Capone story which goes like this…

Mike Capone was the cousin of Al Capone and was a soldier stationed at Ft. Devens in the 50’s. He had met my parents in a previous visit to their Bar/Resturant The Mohawk Club in Shirley mass (they sold it in 1964 and it became a dive rather quickly) and would come with a group of soldiers on a regular basis for the incredible Italian food.

One day there was a group of young local kids who came in, old enough to drive not old enough to drink, they were allowed to come into the restaurant but not the bar. The six of them started trouble and my father kicked them out. About 45 minutes later one of them showed up at the back door asking to talk to the owner. As the relationship between the club and the local police was not good (another story) my father went out to handle it. He was struck from behind (the light was out) and found himself fighting six to one. He held his own for a while but numbers started to tell and once they had him down the outcome was not in doubt.

My mother heard the racket and looked outside and saw what has happening, declining to shoot them as they were unarmed (ah a gentler time was the 50’s) she ran to the bar where Mike Capone was sitting with 5 other guys pulled on his arm saying “Mike they’re going to kill him”. When he got the story he got up from his table, when the other soldiers asked he he needed a hand his answer was: “Nah Dominic & I can handle it.”

When he got outside my father was down and the six where on him. Capone caught them by surprise. With Capone there and my father again on his feet once more the outcome was not in doubt. The six of them were sprawled all over the ground and my father and Capone left them there Mike to return to his table and my Father to clean up.

He was punctilious about being clean always wearing identical white shirts and black ties, he washed his face and changed into clean clothes (my family has a house on the premises.) and within 15 minutes was back at the bar serving customers.

These fellows were connected with the local police, and as soon as they recovered sufficiently to leave they headed straight to the police station. Within the hour a police car arrived and local police were in the place escorting the six bruised and beaten teens who pointed out their tormentor at the bar.

My father came out behind the bar with a look of incredibility on his face explaining that he indeed kicked them out of the place but that he’d been working. When the teens INSISTED that he beat them up, he turned to the officer in his clean white shirt, tie and perfectly clean groomed face and asked:

“Officer does it really look like i’ve been in a fight with six guys in the last hour?”

The officer looked at the teens and left without another word taking the teens with them.

The light that was broken in the back paid off when jumping my dad but hurt them here since they didn’t get a good look at the other guy who after they left came out of the kitchen.

So ended another evening at the place and once again the quest to drive those dirty Italians out of town and business had failed.

Compared to what he dealt with my life has been a lark and I feel guilty even complaining about it.

So happy birthday dad. I miss you a lot.

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