Kabuki Village

PETA... The Other, Other, Other White Meat

Once again PETA is at it full speed ahead and unheeding of any logic or reason. Their target this time? The US military’s special operations command medics’ training programs. Apparently PETA doesn’t like the idea that the military provides medical training using live, albeit anesthetized, pigs as the training subjects in certain situations. PETA doesn’t care that this training will save soldiers’ lives because a) the whole point is that animals are getting hurt, b) PETA isn’t smart enough to realize that humans ARE animals and ergo this training will save animals in the long run, and c) PETA is just another myopic left-tard organization that hates the military and thinks that we could all get along without any sort of national defense whatsoever. These are the same kind of people that think that we should feed our dogs (or as they call them “companion animals”) vegetarian dog food despite the fact that dogs are carnivores and feeding carnivores only vegetables is not good for them. Read on and soak up the stupid...

Through reports from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has confirmed that Hurlburt Field operated as a temporary site for training that simulated combat injuries on pigs.

"Typically, these exercises involve killing, stabbing and shooting these animals," said Shalin Gala, senior researcher at PETA.

Well DUH! Of course these exercises involve stabbing and shooting these animals! That;s the kind of trauma that combat medics see these days. Would the PETArds rather see the pigs run through with a lance or bludgeoned with a mace or cleaved in two by a battle axe? How about a vicious halberd wound? A pike poke? Trebuchet trauma? Maybe a giant ballista bolt through the crotch?

"I would much rather that an animal be used to do this than an animal end up as a pork chop in a supermarket," said John Hagmann, medical director and owner of Operational and Emergency Medical Support Group, a civilian organization that trains medics at Hurlburt and provides the pigs.

This is where we disagree Mr. Hagmann. I think the animals should be used for medical training AND end up as pork chops on a grill at the end of the training, but that’s just me.

[Gala contended that] "If we really are wanting to give our troops the best medical care possible, it really is imperative upon the Army and military to use the most sophisticated technology today and that is clearly not by using animals."

So animals aren’t the most sophisticated technology today? Really? Well then hot shot, you build one. Since animals are so low tech and the simulators are so high tech and clearly the superior training platform I challenge any member of PETA to build a working pig. I don’t mean breeding a pig or cloning a pig or building a model of a pig, I mean a full scale, fully operational, independently targetable pig. We’ve already demonstrated that we have the technology to build a model of a human being for trauma training and I’m certain we could build a trauma pig robot (although I have no idea why we would want to), but to date not one human being has ever built a pig.

"Not a single one of these references who says simulators are the same as live-tissue training are people who actually have to go to war and do this," he said. "They are all the people sitting on their couch saying that simulators are just as good. Well, the people that are actually doing it all acknowledge that they're not."

"As we've evolved, we've realized we can't get the same competence without live-tissue training," Hagmann said. "Would you ever give someone a driving license who has only driven a simulator?"

PETA and their band of reality evading morons live in a fantasy world where wars would never happen if we just learn to subsist on a diet of tofu and bean sprouts and where all the animals frolic and play nice together like in a Disney movie. But even Disney’s Madagascar shows that animals eat animals and the world isn’t the nice little enclave of security and huggy feely-ness in which the PETArds think they exist. Ironically the PETA zombies have the luxury of protesting the military and the freedom to delude themselves into believing in a vegan utopia largely due to the sacrifices of the men and women of the US military.

Personally I would suggest using PETA members for the training instead of the pigs, but I think it would be detrimental to not give the medics the opportunity to treat brain trauma simply due to a lack of material.

Chris Matthews, You’re A Lying, Cowardly, Backpedaling Piece Of [economic stimulus package]

NEW YORK – MSNBC's Chris Matthews said he was surprised by the "peculiar stagecraft" of Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's response to President Barack Obama's speech to Congress, leading him to quietly say "Oh God" as Jindal approached a microphone.

"Gov. Bobby Jindal walking from somewhere in the back of this narrow hall, this winding staircase looming there, the odd antebellum look of the scene," he said. "Some people heard my reaction at the time. What was the message in all this? Was this some mimicking of a president walking along the state floor to the East Room? And at the same time that the Republicans are so far from Washington that they can't be blamed for anything?"

Matthews said he wasn't referring to Jindal himself, or anything he expected the governor to say.

Really? You really think we’re going to buy that lame explanation? From where did you expect the governor to come, Chris? Were you expecting him to beam down from somewhere? Were you expecting him to slide down the banister of the stairs or maybe do a dance routine down the staircase in a black tuxedo, top hat, and white spats? What exclamation of surprise would any of those situations have evoked, Chris? Would you have muttered “filthy half breed” and then tried to cover it up by saying “well, I was just surprised that he had a teleportation device so I muttered ‘filthy half breed’”? Or maybe you would have gasped “God I f***ing hate Republican swine and I think we should ship them all off to concentration camps for the ‘Final Solution’ and then tried to cover it up by some completely unbelievable explanation like “well, um, anyone wearing white spats just adds to the ‘odd antebellum look’ of a scene and I just think anyone that doesn’t worship my god Ahura Obama Mazda should be shot on sight… wait, I mean…”.

Chris Matthews’ thin and tattered veil of objectivity was ripped away in the whirlwind of Obamamania a long, long time ago. With statements such as “it is my job to support this president” (referring to Obama of course) and assertions that he might run for office on a Democratic ticket, no one is buying his version of “objectivity” anymore. Chris Matthews went from “in the tank” to “in love” many, many months ago and now his hatred for anything and anyone right of center can no longer even be controlled. His leftist seething is seeping out like water from an overfilled water balloon and like the water balloon that internal pressure will eventually cause him to explode and hopefully destroy himself in the process.

It seems to me that accountability, class, and basic, common courtesy just aren't expected of Matthews and his ilk, so in the interest of fair play, I would like to make my own classless, rude, and biased statement: If Barry O invited Chris Matthews to get bent over the desk in the Oval Office for some executive sodomy, Mathews would refuse the lube just so he could be closer to his lord and master. Oh, and by that statement I mean that I was just surprised by Chris Matthews’ “peculiar stagecraft” and “odd antebellum look”.

An Open Letter to Val Kilmer

Dear Val,

Can I call you Val?  Asshat just seems a little hostile this early in a letter! 

I want to congratulate you on your thoughts about tossing your hat (or tights and cape) into the Gubernatorial race in New Mexico.  I know it is not a done deal yet, you are still in the contemplation stage, but I think you are an excellent example of both Hollywood and the left.

A couple of thoughts…I read your interview with Chuck Klosterman in Esquire back in July of 2005.  And I have to tell you Val, it left me scratching my head.  Just a reminder of what you said in case the method preparation for The Doors burned too many brain cells:

 [Klosterman]: You mean you think you literally had the same experience as Doc Holliday?

Kilmer: Oh, sure. It’s not like I believed that I shot somebody, but I absolutely know what it feels like to pull the trigger and take someone’s life.

[Klosterman:] You understand how it feels to shoot someone as much as a person who has actually committed a murder?

[Kilmer] I understand it more. It’s an actor’s job. A guy who’s lived through the horror of Vietnam has not spent his life preparing his mind for it. He’s some punk. Most guys were borderline criminal or poor, and that’s why they got sent to Vietnam. It was all the poor, wretched kids who got beat up by their dads, guys who didn’t get on the football team, couldn’t finagle a scholarship. They didn’t have the emotional equipment to handle that experience. But this is what an actor trains to do. I can more effectively represent that kid in Vietnam than a guy who was there.

Am I getting your thought process down correctly?  Though you have “people” to drive you, feed you and train that doughy body of yours, “method” acting gives you more street cred than someone who has slept in the mud, fought for his Country and watched his friends die?

Perhaps we have a failure to communicate….I think that the men and women who fought for our Country in Vietnam are heroes, role models and National treasures while you are a paunchy actor who runs around in tights and blathers on about things he knows nothing about.  You are aware that you are in a profession in which you are paid to be ANYONE other than who you actually are?

My step-father served in Vietnam.  He is a hero. He is not poor, a punk, a wretched kid who was beat up by his father, a football wanna be or too dumb to get a scholarship.  He is a patriot who was called upon by his Country and he answered that call. 

Can you imagine a conservative actor getting away with such an obnoxious and egregious statement about, oh, I don’t know, black civil rights activists in the 1960’s?

Picture this exchange Val:

Reporter: So, because you played a civil rights activist in your movie, you think you have a better feel for the experiences?

Republican Actor:  Of course.  I mean, Rosa Parks and those involved in the movement…well they were really poor and a lot of them were not well educated…they didn’t have college scholarships to lean on…they just weren’t emotionally or intellectually equipped to really face the deeper meaning and ramifications of the battle for civil rights.  But me?  I drove through the Bronx for, like, 5 straight days!  Myself!  I didn’t even have a driver.  I have been totally wrapping my head around the whole “racial divide” thing…preparing for it for a lifetime really.  I mean, back in 5^th grade, there was this time that  I wasn’t allowed to join one of the afterschool clubs so trust me, I GET discrimination brother.  And to get it, you have to have the life experience and the emotional equipment to really dig deep and face it. 

Yeah…that would manage to stay buried in an interview and not haunt a Republican forever.

I have an idea.  What do you say you come to the Annual Rolling Thunder Ride for Freedom in May in Washington, DC.  Don’t worry…I’ll stay with you.  I’d like you to test your theories and assessment of those Vets up close and personal with them.  I’d like to hear what they have to say about your “method” acting and your views on who they are.  I have a super cool first aid kit…I’ll make sure it is well stocked!

Look forward to hearing from you!

Katie

ps...Order Jack Marino's film Forgotten Heroes ...throw back the cape, peel off the tights and watch a film by people who get it.

Congratulations Chancellor Obama

With thunderous applause.

As Far As I'm Concerned, The Honeymoon Never Started

I’ve got to say that I’m already sick and tired of all the hype about the inauguration because I’ve been inundated with it for a week already. Before the man has even taken the oath of office everyone has intimated, and in cases outright stated, that the man is the greatest president there ever was which is simply not the case. They’re also saying that he’s the most historically significant president there ever was, which is also simply not the case.

They say that there has never been another president who has inherited the kind of problems that Obama will be inheriting when he takes the Oath of Office later on today save for George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and FDR, but that is also simply not true. This is complete and utter bunk. What about the outgoing president? What about the fiscal time bomb that he inherited. What about the recession that he inherited? What about the yet-undeclared wars that he inherited? What about having to fight two wars on two fronts because people around the world hate us and then having to fight a losing PR war at home because so many leftists hated him that they would sacrifice their own country to make him look bad?

The mainstream media has been flinging crap at Bush like a bunch of post-Mexican food howler monkeys since the day he took office and they have never really relented except for 9/11 when they knew they would be crucified for maligning the commander in chief so soon after an attack on sovereign soil that was fomented during the reign of the previous chief executive… their guy.

Being bombarded with this variety of biased reporting and mindless, baseless hero worship makes me feel like I’m drowning in a gigantic vat of stupid and every time I try to point out any of the Messiah’s myriad shortcomings, I just get dragged down farther toward the bottom where all of the rest of the thinking population of America has already been forgotten. This combined with the media darling treatment that Obama has been getting from jump street is mind boggling to me.

We are about to swear in the least qualified candidate to ever run for the highest office in the land, let alone win it, and all we can think to do is fawn over him. He has accomplished nothing, yet the media slavers over him as if he were capable of walking on water. He has held public office at the national level, yet done nothing in that office other than try to gain entrance to the next highest office. His experience in state legislature is abysmal at best with the majority of his voting leaning toward the ever controversial and character defining “present” vote, yet they just keep talking about his courage. They keep touting his bipartisanship, yet they completely ignore his politically polarized, yet meager, voting record in congress.

Martin Luther King once made a speech on the same mall that will host the inaugural festivities today in which he stated “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." Dr. King would have been disappointed that his dream had been so perverted as to allow an unqualified media darling to take on the office of leader of the free world based on the color of his skin, and not the content of his character. And if anyone feels the need to hurl the “racist” label at me, it will be an unfounded attack but feel free… but before you do, I request one thing: show me another instance (beyond the revolution) where a freshman senator with no experience, with no military service, and having authored no bills in congress has ever been even considered as a viable candidate for president, let alone fawned over by the media.

Perhaps it was more racist to completely ignore the contributions made by and the stepping stones laid by former Secretaries of State Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice not because they were black, but because they were black Republicans. Why is it that black Republican equals “Uncle Tom”, but black Democrat equals “Leader”? Yeah, that’s equality alright. That’s racial equity.

This isn’t an inauguration, it’s a coronation. All hail King Obama, all hail the Obamessiah.

Enjoy your Kool-Aid.

Not Really A Huge Surprise

When asked how they feel about President-elect Barack Obama as commander in chief, six out of 10 active-duty service members say they are uncertain or pessimistic, according to a Military Times survey.

In follow-up interviews, respondents expressed concerns about Obama’s lack of military service and experience leading men and women in uniform.

Underlying much of the uncertainty is Obama’s stated 16-month timetable for pulling combat troops out of Iraq, as well as his calls to end the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy to allow gays to serve openly in the military, according to survey responses and interviews.

“How are you going to safely pull combat troops out of Iraq?” said Air Force 1st Lt. Rachel Kleinpeter, an intelligence officer with the 100th Operations Support Squadron at RAF Mildenhall, England. “And if you’re pulling out combat troops, who are you leaving to help support what’s left? What happens if Iraq falls back into chaos? Are we going to be there in five years doing the same thing over again?”

1st Lt Rachel Kleinpeter is now one of my heroes… not only because she had the brains to ask the right questions but because her name in German means “Little Peter” and I can really identify with that.

Feel free to read the rest of the article at ArmyTimes Online… the rest of the data won’t surprise you a bit either but I’ll let you read it yourself and cringe at some of the more obvious socially based biases on your own.

The people have spoken... well, at leat the people who will be eating the sand, pulling the triggers, and dodging the bad guys have spoken

My kinda of town...on its way to the White House!

So...having grown up in Chicago and bearing witness to the charming fellows surrounding the man behind the Office of the President Elect podium, seeing old Gov. Hot Rod hauled out in handcuffs gave me a warm, nostalgic feeling...like my grandmother's chocolate moon cookies or my mom's late night talks.  Chicago, crook county and dirty politics go together like rain and rainbows...like Bill and Monica...like Obama and socialism...

Hey America...welcome to Chicago-style politics on it's way to the Nation's capital.  You are welcome!

ps....Hey O-man...could you please take Corzine with you?  Pretty please?

The Great AIDS Swindle

Okay, before everybody on the left starts jumping on my back for being a heartless homophobic racist, let me state that I lost my brother to AIDS way back when it first started breaking out. He engaged in risky behavior and paid the price before anybody knew there was a price to pay. That being said, I think we’ve gone a bit overboard on AIDS and HIV spending. I have no problems funding research to eradicate diseases of any type, but I think that the cost should be balanced against the severity and lethality of the diseases being cured.

I was going to write something about this the other day after a dinner at a friend’s house, but I never got around to it and then I saw the article quoted below. My friend’s wife is the head of pharmacy operations for a major local hospital and when the subject of AIDS came up (how it came up, I don’t remember) she glibly and bluntly said “well, hardly anybody dies of that anymore. I mean, I don’t think I’ve heard of anybody dying from that lately. We can control it with drugs and we do so at a 100% success rate as long the patient isn’t suffering from other ailments and they follow the pharmaceutical regimen.” I was kind of taken aback, but it was instantaneously clear to me that she was right. Deaths in America from HIV/AIDS have become more unique than lottery winners.

I then asked about children born with HIV. Her response this time was earth shattering. “Most if not all of them are treatable and the really strange thing is that a lot of them are testing HIV negative by the time they get to about 11 or 12 years old.” Huh. Interesting.

Now that you’ve read the intro, read the real meat of the post…

"AIDS is a terrible humanitarian tragedy, but it's just one of many terrible humanitarian tragedies," said Jeremy Shiffman, who studies health spending at Syracuse University.

Roger England of Health Systems Workshop, a think tank based in the Caribbean island of Grenada, goes further. He argues that UNAIDS, the U.N. agency leading the fight against the disease, has outlived its purpose and should be disbanded.

"The global HIV industry is too big and out of control. We have created a monster with too many vested interests and reputations at stake, ... too many relatively well paid HIV staff in affected countries, and too many rock stars with AIDS support as a fashion accessory," he wrote in the British Medical Journal in May.

Paul de Lay, a director at UNAIDS, disagrees. It's valid to question AIDS' place in the world's priorities, he says, but insists the turnaround is very recent and it would be wrong to think the epidemic is under control.

"We have an epidemic that has caused between 55 million and 60 million infections," de Lay said. "To suddenly pull the rug out from underneath that would be disastrous."

Of course Paul de Lay disagrees. Paul is the head UNAIDS and if UNAIDS doesn’t exist, then Paul’s job doesn’t exist. Even if they cut funding by half instead of in toto then he stands to lose a lot of international pull. Nobody wants to lose their job or take a cut in pay or responsibility, but when you’ve fattened the calf to the point that all it’s doing is eating and not moving forward, it’s time to slaughter it.

You also note that Mr. de Lay mentions how many people are getting infected, not how many people are dying from it. I’m sure this distinction is no accident as much as I’m certain that there would be a disparity between the two numbers.

England argues that closing UNAIDS would free up its $200 million annual budget for other health problems such as pneumonia, which kills more children every year than AIDS, malaria and measles combined.

"By putting more money into AIDS, we are implicitly saying it's OK for more kids to die of pneumonia," England said.

His comments touch on the bigger complaint: that AIDS hogs money and may damage other health programs.

So why doesn’t anyone stand up and take notice? Because rock stars, movie stars, and playwrights don’t get malaria or measles. Who ever heard of a movie star who died of pneumonia (I mean, who already didn’t have AIDS)?

In a 2006 report, Rwandan officials noted a "gross misallocation of resources" in health: $47 million went to HIV, $18 million went to malaria, the country's biggest killer, and $1 million went to childhood illnesses.

Wow. Just wow. In 2006, 80% of American aid for health and population issues went to AIDS. 80%. Just a quick glance at the numbers without any deep analysis would have even the basest simpleton scratching his head and mumbling “that don’t look right.” Five times as many children die from diarrhea than from AIDS, but you don’t see the funding flooding towards diarrhea, do you? No… and you never will.

Diarrhea isn’t a sexy cause. Celebrities won’t be holding diarrhea galas or diarrhea concerts. You’ll never see George Clooney or Elton John wearing a brown “Diarrhea Awareness” ribbon. 200 million dollars could build a lot of wells. 200 million dollars could help build a lot of sewer systems and combat bugs that cause diarrhea. But you won’t be seeing that happen anytime soon because the heads of the various UN departments love their little fiefdoms and giving up 200 million dollars for the common good is inconsistent with retaining your power at the UN if you’re the head of UNAIDS.

Diarrhea isn’t a cause célèbre, but it is killing children at a rate five times higher than AIDS… and it will continue to do so. It will continue to do so because celebrities don’t get diarrhea unless it’s the run-off from them getting HIV in the first place. It will continue to do so because the UN throws around money without forethought. It will continue to do so because nobody really cares who dies unless Sean Penn tells them to anymore.

As I said before, my brother died of AIDS… and I still think we should cut spending on it and concentrate on other, more vital areas. We don’t pour that much money into malaria anymore, why should we bother with a disease that affects a much smaller demographic? Am I a racist? No. Am I a homohpobe? No? But I am a realist... and the reality is that we're pouring money into a hole when others need in it much more desperately.

 

Cross posted at The Sniper

Inquiring Minds Want to Know...

Just a few answers to the wonderful and probing questions and comments in no order.

Yes...I typed their instead of there...you got me!  Dig deeper and you will find that I also typed feat instead of feet. 

Further, in my senior year in college, I used effect instead of affect in a paper...not once but twice!

In third grade, when asked what I wanted for dinner, I boldly proclaimed basghetti!

No, I do not want to be spanked.

Yes, the phrase "Mr. Gorbachev,tear down this wall!" puts me in the mood.

And while the concern for my love life seems truly heartfelt and well meaning, I assure you it is not necessary.  In fact, the focus on sex reminds me...

Your mother is a hamster and your father smells of elderberries...

Thanks, kids, for the traffic coming from the angry left.  It is always helpful to have searing reminders of who they really are should I ever grow complacent (not to mention the fun of reading such truly weird notes....I feel a little like Jane Goodall in crazy-town...who knew there were so many perverts and weirdos out there!)

And the emailed love notes?  Wow...what can I say?!  The concern for my love life would be almost endearing were it not so creepy, and detailed and frankly unimaginative. 

Men of the left, I think that you need to call N.O.W. right now,and get a refresher course on the left's approach to women...sexually explicit and aggressive attempts to silence a woman you don't agree with is surely not in the manual.

Besides...shouldn't you all be dancing a jig right about now?  You won the election.  Your BDS is coming to an end.  Your prince is being anointed.  Why still so darn unhappy and bitter?

Now, before I go and wipe my tears of anguish at the spittle and venom coming my way I say to you lefties simply,

Your mother is a hamster and your father smells of elderberries.