Combs Spouts Off

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Archive for September, 2009

Civilization against barbarism

Posted by Richard on September 26, 2009

An excerpt from the one honorable and courageous speech at the U.N. this week, by Benjamin Netanyahu:

Yesterday, the man who calls the Holocaust a lie spoke from this podium. To those who refused to come and to those who left in protest, I commend you. You stood up for moral clarity, and you brought honor to your countries. But to those who gave this holocaust denier a hearing, I say on behalf of my people, the Jewish people, and decent people everywhere, have you no shame? Have you no decency?

A mere six decades after the Holocaust, you give legitimacy to a man who denies the murder of 6 million Jews? While promising to wipe out the state of Israel, the state of the Jews? What a disgrace. What a mockery of the charter of the United Nations.

Now, perhaps – perhaps some of you think that this man and his odious regime, perhaps they threaten only the Jews. Well, if you think that, you're wrong – dead wrong. History has shown us time and time again that what starts with attacks on the Jews eventually ends up engulfing many, many others, for this Iranian regime is fueled by an extreme fundamentalism that burst on to the world scene three decades ago after lying dormant for centuries.

In the past 30 years, this fanaticism has swept across the globe with a murderous violence that knows no bounds and with a cold-blooded impartiality in the choice of its victims. It has callously slaughtered Muslims and Christians, Jews and Hindus, and many others. Though it is comprised of different offshoots, the adherents of this unforgiving creed seek to return humanity to medieval times. Wherever they can, they impose a backward, regimented society where women, minorities, gays, or anyone else deemed not to be a true believer, is brutally subjugated.

The struggle against this fanaticism does not pit faith against faith nor civilization against civilization. It pits civilization against barbarism, the 21st Century against the 9th Century, those who sanctify life against those who glorify death.

If only our Appeaser in Chief had spoken with such moral clarity.

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Obama lunch reform

Posted by Richard on September 23, 2009

The health care "reform" ideas of Pres. Obama and congressional Democrats are rather complicated and hard to understand. So a metaphor would help. Maybe a metaphor applying the Obama health care principles to a more easily understood subject. Like school lunches. The ones served to the Obama daughters at their expensive private school. Here's the awesome cartoon.

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Brzezinski: protect our enemies from our friends

Posted by Richard on September 21, 2009

Zbigniew Brzezinski, who was National Security Advisor to America's Worst President (so far), is calling for the United States to come to the defense of Iran if it faces attack. No, really. I'm not making this up. In the Bizarro World of today's left, which is reflexively sympathetic to anyone and anything anti-American or anti-Israel, this kind of vile suggestion actually makes sense:

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Zbigniew Brzezinski said the United States should make clear that it will attack Israeli jets if they fly over Iraq on their way to attack Iran.

"We are not exactly impotent little babies," said Brzezinski, national security adviser during the Carter administration, in an interview with The Daily Beast Web site when asked how aggressive President Obama can be in telling Israel that a military strike in Iran is not in America's interest. "They have to fly over our airspace in Iraq. Are we just going to sit there and watch?

"We have to be serious about denying them that right," continued Brzezinski, who endorsed Obama early in the Democratic primary but was not an official adviser to the campaign. "That means a denial where you aren't just saying it. If they fly over, you go up and confront them. They have the choice of turning back or not. No one wishes for this but it could be a Liberty in reverse."

Israeli forces mistakenly attacked the USS Liberty during the 1967 Six-Day War.

Brzezinski is actually arguing that, should Israel go after Iran's nuclear weapons program to preempt another holocaust, America's national security interests would be served by going to war with Israel in order to protect a regime that wants to create "a world without America and Israel." If that isn't right out of Bizarro World, I don't know what is. 

This contemptible slimeball not only thinks we should kill Israelis to protect the Islamofascists who want to exterminate them, he has the nerve to justify it as "Liberty in reverse." As if a premeditated attack on Israeli jets were morally equivalent to a tragic case of mistaken identity.

Brzezinski apparently shares Carter's loathing of Israel and Jews and his affection for radical Islamists.

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A great Broncos moment

Posted by Richard on September 20, 2009

Today's blowout victory over the Cleveland Browns was pretty satisfying, maybe even a bit surprising, given the low expectations many of us had for this team. The defense looked impressive — and Elvis Dumervil looked superhuman — against a Browns offense that must be judged suspect.

The offense looked OK. Barely so for the first three quarters. They sputtered in the red zone way too often — four times, wasn't it? — against a Browns defense that must be judged suspect. But later in the game, about the time that visiting teams often start sucking wind at Mile High, they looked pretty damned good. They actually had a running game! The offensive line opened up running lanes like the ones we remember from the good old days, when anyone recruited off the street could gain a hundred yards. 

It will be interesting to see what they look like against a more potent opponent, like Dallas or New England. 

But the great Broncos moment didn't take place during the game. Some people think it was before the game. Shannon Sharpe, who was being inducted into the Broncos Ring of Fame at half-time, and who has always been the master of bravado and showmanship, parachuted onto the field. Pretty cool, I'll admit. 

But the moment that I'll long remember was at half-time, when they unveiled Sharpe's Ring of Fame entry. The always cool, always cocky Sharpe stood there with tears streaming down his cheeks. 

Shannon, I think it choked up a lot of us fans, too. Thanks for all those wonderful years! You were a class act, on and off the field, and you still are. 

UPDATE: It occurs to me that some readers (especially those in the east) may not be familiar with Shannon Sharpe — even though he's either the #1 or #2 tight end ever to play the game. The stats tell you what a player he was. Here's a clip to show you what a character he was: 

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Avast! It be the 19th of Septembarrr!

Posted by Richard on September 19, 2009

Ahoy, me mateys, and a jolly International Talk Like a Pirate Day to ye! Get ye some grog and have a parrrty. Call someone a wench or a bilge rat. Take The Official Talk Like a Pirate Personality Inventory (TOTLAPPI) (but be sure to read the disclaimer at the end). And engage in some pirate humor, like keelhauling the Jehova's Witnesses at yer hatch, reading pirate cartoons, or making up pirate riddles.

Q: What's the pirates' favorite Middle Eastern country? 

A: Qatarrr.

Arrr! International Talk Like a Pirate Day September 19

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My goal for this weekend

Posted by Richard on September 18, 2009

My goal for this weekend is to avoid seeing any of the eleventy-seven media-abetted infomercials disguised as interviews by President Obama about his health care plan. It looks like it won't be easy. I'll have to avoid network television, cable news channels, local news broadcasts, and the Home Shopping Network (he's doing a gig on HSN, right?). But football season has started, and it looks like a great weekend in Denver for getting outdoors, so I think I can manage it.

BTW, would someone please direct me to Obama's health care plan? There's one House bill, H.R. 3200, and 3 or 4 Senate plans (including the new plan by Sen. Max Baucus, which is bipartisan in the sense that everyone hates it). But the Prez keeps talking about how his plan does this and doesn't do that — hey, where is that plan, Barry? If you've got something to offer other than what's been introduced in the House and Senate, let's see it!

Until I see this mythical Obama plan in writing, I'm not interested in hearing the marketing pitch for a non-existent product.

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The 9/12 March on Washington attendance deception

Posted by Richard on September 18, 2009

I never got around to posting about the 9/12 rally in Washington (and Denver, among countless other places), figuring it was pretty well covered by many others, on the internet and in other outlets. But in the past few days, it's become clear to me that the fraudulent attendance numbers reported by the mainstream media outlets have been accepted even by people who should know better, despite all the evidence to the contrary.

The New York Times originally called it "several thousand," and later changed it to "tens of thousands." Most of the media, national and local, either repeated "tens of thousands" or quoted an estimate of 60-70 thousand, supposedly attributed to the D.C. fire department (although that agency doesn't have the expertise or authority to make such estimates). That number has been cited even by conservatives like Bill O'Reilly (let's face it, folks, he's really not that bright), and people in my circle who should know better have just accepted it as authoritative. 

Bunkum. Nonsense. Pure hokum. That estimate understates the actual number by at least an order of magnitude. 

You want evidence? OK. But first, consider these points: According to attendees, people were still arriving at 4PM, when the permit expired and the event ended. The traffic situation was impossible, forcing countless people to walk many miles to reach the rally. It was made worse by the fact that (according to some Washingtonians) the city cut the usual number of Saturday Metro train cars in half, making access to the rally that much more difficult (that couldn't have been deliberate and malicious, could it?). 

So, with that in mind, take a look at the panoramic picture from the Capitol at I Own The World. Double-click the little image there to see the full-sized one. But be forewarned — it's over a megabyte and measures 2379 × 608 pixels. If you've got a slow connection, it will take a while. And even if you've got a wide-screen monitor, you'll have to scroll side to side to see it all.

 For those of you who, like me, have been in a 100,000-person football stadium, try to estimate how many such stadiums this crowd would fill. Keep in mind that the crowd extends beyond the edges of the image and people are still streaming in. 

Want another perspective? Take a look at the first picture on this Michelle Malkin post, showing the marchers filling Pennsylvania Avenue on their way to the Capitol. And consider this USA Today graphic of the area between the Capitol and the Washington Monument (be sure to mouse over the marked spots). 

It's pretty clear to me that the size of the crowd at the time of that panoramic image was at or above the 800,000 that attended Bill Clinton's 1993 inaugural. And it just kept growing all day long. 

Tens of thousands, my ass!

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Dissent = racism?

Posted by Richard on September 17, 2009

Jimmy Carter — America's worst president (so far), the man who helped Hugo Chavez steal an election, the vicious anti-Semite whose hateful and dishonest book about Israel has been endorsed by Osama bin Laden, the man who never met a left-wing dictator he didn't like — has declared that both Rep. Joe Wilson's heckle and the "overwhelming majority" of other criticisms of the President are rooted in racism.

And Carter is far from alone. That claim has been echoed by a growing number of Democratic politicians, Chris Matthews, ABC "News," NBC "News," Maureen Dowd, … the list is long.

So if the 55% of Americans (and 65% of doctors) who oppose government-controlled health care are overwhelmingly racist, how did a black man get elected President? If Republicans and conservatives are all racists, how is it possible that Obama got more Republican votes and conservative votes than John Kerry got? Did they only notice his skin color after the "stimulus" package, nationalization of the auto companies, massive spending increases, and attempt to take over health care?

The charge of racism has become the left's all-purpose weapon to stifle criticism and put their opponents on the defensive. But it's grown tiresome and annoying, and I think they've gone to that well once too often. According to a new Rasmussen poll, only 12% of voters agree that most opponents of government-controlled health care are racists. Even among Democrats, only 22% agree. Predictably, 88% of Republicans reject the idea, but significantly, so do 78% of those unaffiliated with either party.

I suspect the left's attempt to smear all opposition as racist will backfire. But in the meantime, it does serious harm to the public discourse in this country. They should be ashamed.

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Broncos beat Bengals

Posted by Richard on September 14, 2009

Because sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.

UPDATE: And sometimes it's better to be Kyle Orton than Jay Cutler. [giggle]

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Blog may be down for a few hours

Posted by Richard on September 12, 2009

Blog-City is going to do some database maintenance, and they said to "expect some down time during 9am – 1pm on Sunday 13th September." They didn't specify a time zone (they're in Scotland), but I'm guessing it's UTC (or what we old fogeys still think of as Greenwich Mean Time), which is 6 hours ahead of Mountain Daylight Time. So it may all be over by the time most of us get up. 

But if you're unable to read this post, that may be the reason. 🙂

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Craig Ferguson on 9/11/09

Posted by Richard on September 12, 2009

Craig Ferguson, as he does every year, remembered 9/11. And he had a message for the enemies of America: "We are more than a country. We're a dream. And we're not going anywhere." Great video:

 I really, really like Craig. Yes, he's in some respects the typical Hollywood liberal who enjoys dumping on people like Joe Wilson, Sarah Palin, and Dick Cheney. But there's more to Craig than the superficial liberalism.

Ferguson speaks from the heart with a genuiness, openess, and honesty that are the antithesis of Hollywood. If you don't believe me, you haven't watched the 12-minute extemporaneous monologue on Britney Spears and alcoholism that I posted here

Ferguson has a great "sense of life," to use Rand's phrase, and he's really an individualist at heart. I think some of Drew Carey's libertarian ideas have rubbed off on him, too. And like many immigrants, he has a profound love for his adopted homeland and more of a commitment to what it represents than most native-born Americans.

NewsBusters has a complete transcript of Ferguson's 2006 9/11 commentary, which is worth reading. I think YouTube has other clips of his 9/11 commentaries, but they're a bit hard to locate. If you're interested, try putting 9/12 in your search string, since the show airs after midnight eastern time, so it's always the next day. 

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9/12 rally time

Posted by Richard on September 12, 2009

If you're in the Denver area, I hope you'll join me in attending the rally Saturday at the State Capitol from 10 AM to 2 PM (I'll be the bearded guy wearing the "INFIDEL" t-shirt). Here's a description from Colorado Tea Party Patriots:

Please join a coalition of 9-12 and Tea Party groups from across the state for a "March on Denver". This event is in support of the national "March on DC" that is taking place on September 12th in Washington DC. March on Denver speakers will include: Jason Lewis, John Caldera, Amy Oliver and Ari Armstrong. Live entertainment will be provided by the rock band "Citizen Pain" and country singer Rich Owen. LET FREEDOM RING!

If you're elsewhere in the U.S., I bet there's a 9/12 event or rally near you. Go to Tea Party Patriots and scroll down to the list of states to access information for your area. Of course, there's the big 9.12.09 March on Washington if you're in that neighborhood, or you joined the Tea Party Express. If you can't be there (or anywhere), check the D.C. schedule and look for coverage on Fox News.

(BTW, if you're still wondering if all this tea party stuff is a real grassroots movement or astroturf, go to Tea Party Patriots and scroll down past the list of states to the list of local Tea Party Patriot Groups. OMG, there must be 500 of them!)

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Never forget

Posted by Richard on September 11, 2009

Never forget that there is a large, powerful, well-financed international movement dedicated to destroying Western Civilization.

Eight years ago today, barbarians with box cutters — primitive 7th-century savages who could never build a World Trade Center or a 747, but whose insane ideology is dedicated to making the building of such things impossible — murdered 2,996 innocent people and changed Lower Manhattan from this: 

Lady Liberty watching over the twin towers before 9/11

to this:

1st tower falls

Fleeing as the tower falls

Fleeing through the choking dust

Falling to his death

 

Some people have forgotten now
It was many years ago
And peaceful here at home since then
So just let the memory go
But I close my eyes and see it still
Like it was yesterday — Oh no!
People jumping from a hundred-story building!
I can still see those Americans
Jumping from a hundred-story building …

© 2009 Richard G. Combs. All rights reserved.


 

As I have on previous September 11ths, I offer you passage from Gerard Van der Leun's Of a Fire in a Field — a passage that moves me beyond words every time I read it — in which he recalled 9/11 and its aftermath, when he lived in New York:

Inside the wire under the hole in the sky was, in time, a growing hole in the ground as the rubble was cleared away and, after many months, the last fire was put out. Often at first, but with slowly diminishing frequency, all the work to clear out the rubble and the wreckage would come to a halt.

The machinery would be shut down and it would become quiet. Across the site, tools would be laid down and the workers would straighten up and stand still. Then, from somewhere in the pile or the pit, a group of men would emerge carrying a stretcher covered with an American flag and holding, if they were fortunate, a body. If they were not so fortunate the flag covering over the stretcher would be lumpy, holding only portions of a body from which, across the river on the Jersey shore, a forensic lab would try to make an identification and then pass on to the victim's survivors something that they could bury.

I'm not sure anymore about the final count, but I am pretty sure that most families, in the end, got nothing. Their loved ones had all gone into the smoke and the dust that covered the end of the island and blew, mostly, across the river into Brooklyn where I lived. What happened to most of the three thousand killed by the animals on that day? It is simple and ghastly. We breathed them until the rains came and washed clean what would never be clean again.

. . .

Read the whole thing — and think about the question he asks you at the end. 

And never forget.

Flag still stands

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Fly the flag September 11

Posted by Richard on September 11, 2009

September 11 is the eighth anniversary of the worst attack ever on U.S. soil, when many of us finally realized that a dangerous and implacable enemy had declared war on us years earlier and wasn't kidding.

September 11 is the eighth anniversary of the day that we watched in horror as people fell a hundred stories to the pavement and the skyline of Manhattan changed in a matter of hours.

September 11 is the eighth anniversary of the day that 2,996 innocent people were murdered by a small band of fanatical Islamofascists, and the world changed forever.

Remember September 11. Fly the flag.

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Another DeGette health care meeting

Posted by Richard on September 11, 2009

Rep. Dianne DeGette (D-CO1) initially declined to meet with the peasants in person, opting to hold only a "phone forum" on health care during the recess. But apparently, she's seen the light — or felt the heat. Or maybe she now sees such meetings as an opportunity to rally her mostly leftist constituents into action in support of government-controlled health care.

DeGette hosted a health care meeting last Thursday morning (convenient for government workers and the unemployed), and now she's scheduled another for this coming Saturday (via email):

When: Saturday, September 12 at 10:00 AM

Where: South High School's Auditorium (1700 E Louisiana Ave Denver)

What: Discussion with constituents of the First Congressional District about health insurance reform

There is no RSVP process. Entrance will be granted on a first-come, first-served basis. Doors will open at 9:15 AM.

As you know, Congress is currently debating legislation that aims to provide health care coverage for all Americans and reduce costs. I appreciate your communication on this issue and hope that you will continue to share your thoughts with me.

Please check my Web site (http://degette.house.gov) for other upcoming events.

If you're in the Denver area and free, I suspect attending the ACT! for America "Citizens in Action" Conference with Brigitte Gabriel would be a better use of your time. But if you're inclined to express yourself on health care, by all means go for it. But be prepared with a knowledgeable comment or a tough question or two. You might want to take a look at key parts of H.R. 3200 (PDF, 1018 pages), or at least take a look at John David Lewis's excerpts and analyses regarding nine important questions, including the issue of health care rationing. 

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