THE TYGRRRR EXPRESS

Weeks ago I published an article called “21 questions CNN should asked the democrats.” https://tygrrrrexpress.com/2007/06/21-questions-cnn-should-ask-the-democrats/

Attached are another 21 questions for Hillary, Obama, Edwards, and the remaining candidates, assuming reality has not set in for them as of the time of the questions.

1) You have all explicitly or implicitly stated that religious Christians have hijacked religion. Is this more or less serious than Islamofacists hijacking airplanes, and why?

2) Are you all willing to unequivocally state that if elected, you will not try to restore the Fairness Doctrine?

3) Are you willing to unequivocally state that if elected, you will continue the policy of not taxing internet commerce?

4) Given that adult stem cell research has led to cures for over 70 diseases and embryonic stem cell research has led to no cures at all, wouldn’t it make more sense to fund adult stem cell research instead?

5) Given that when we left Vietnam the killing fields began, are you concerned that pulling out of Iraq prematurely could lead to millions of murdered Iraqis?

6) A man is currently suing his dry cleaners for 54 million dollars over a pair of pants. Given your support from trial lawyers, how can you be expected to pursue meaningful legal reform, especially in the area of medical malpractice?

7) You have all said that you are ok with raising taxes on the rich so that they pay their fair share. What dollar amount constitutes someone being rich?

8)Given that you all support equal rights for everybody, why are you against gay marriage? Isn’t that discrimination?

9) Would you pardon Scooter Libby? Do you believe his conviction justifies the independent counsel statute?

10) Some credible scientists claim that global warming exists, but that humans do not cause it. Other scientists say it does not exist at all. What makes the scientists who say humans cause global warming to be correct without question?

11) France has been using nuclear power without incident. Why should America not follow the example of the French and build more nuclear power plants?

12) If we capture Osama Bin Laden and find out that he knows of an imminent attack already in the works, would you support torturing him to stop the attack? Which specific coercive interrogation techniques count as torture to you, and which do not?

13) President Bush has been compared by some people on the left to Adolf Hitler. What do you plan to do to restore civility and end the politics of personal destruction?

14) If newspapers or other media reveal confidential troop movements, resulting in the death of our troops, under what scenario would you favor criminal sanctions? Also do you feel that shield laws for journalists and tenure for teachers leads to lower quality performances, given that no other industries have such protections?

15) Are we a Christian nation? If not, should Christmas no longer be a national holiday? Also, should Jews and Muslims each get one national holiday per year, such as Yom Kippur for Jews and the first or last day of Ramadan for Muslims?

16) Should America apologize for slavery, and what should be done in terms of reparations? Isn’t an apology without reparations a meaningless gesture?

17) Given that you are all pro-choice on abortion because it is a woman’s body, should women have the legal right to be prostitutes or take drugs? Why or why not?

18) The GOP traditionally fares better than the democrats among white voters and male voters. Why do the democrats have such a gender gap with men, and what can be done to win back white voters?

19) The GOP has been seen for decades as stronger on foreign policy, especially after 9/11. What can you offer the American people on national security matters that your predecessors in the democratic party failed to do?

20) What role will Jimmy Carter play in a new democratic administration? What about Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton?

21) Corporations are incorporating more and more in red states like Nevada to avoid blue state tax burdens. Are you concerned that raising corporate taxes could cause more corporations to incorporate overseas in places like Bermuda, destroying American jobs?

As I said last time, these questions will most likely never be asked, because that would involve CNN removing itself as an appendage of the democratic party. I would state which appendage, but given that we are talking about democrats, donkeys is as donkeys does.

eric

The Jayson Blair (aka New York) Times is on the verge of collapse. It is in free fall. It did not have to be this way. It seems that they followed the Palestinian business model for success.

For those wondering what the conflagration in the Gaza Strip has to do with a newspaper being printed in New York, the simplistic answer is…bad decisions. What makes it worse is that these were bad avoidable decisions.

Let’s start with the Jayson Blair Times. Everybody knows that the editorial pages are liberal. As a conservative, I have zero objection to this. They have every right to be liberal. I am a conservative, and my column has a conservative bias. However, I freely admit this bias. The JBT denied its liberal bias to the point it was laughable. They did everything but run an editorial accusing George W. Bush of lighting puppies and kittens on fire and eating them. Like Palestinian leaders, their editorial venom was almost pathological.

However, even this would not be enough to destroy the paper, because the editorials are one or two pages. The rest of the paper was hard news. It was well written, and it got the stories right. Not anymore. Besides the crossword puzzle, which I am told is the best in the world, the JBT has simply become a tabloid. In fact, tabloids began scooping them, the best example being Matt Drudge breaking the Bill Clinton affair with Monica Lewinsky.

Worse than being scooped, the JBT started letting bias infect its hard news columns. On the day Iraqis voted, a major story, the JBT chose that day to run the Bush domestic wiretapping scandal story. A plot to blow up JFK airport was on page 37. Good news from Iraq is buried deep inside the paper. Worse than bias, the paper started getting stories wrong. It then buried those corrections, again, far deep inside the paper.

Humans make mistakes. I wrote an article predicting the outcome of “The Apprentice.” My analysis was dead wrong, and the next day I issued an equally prominent mea culpa. Credibility is all writers have. It is all anyone has. Without it, we are done. The New York Times forever became the Jayson Blair Times when they put their liberal ideological agenda ahead of quality writing and reporting. Jayson Blair was promoted because he was black. This perversion of affirmative action was an insult to white and black Americans that were qualified for a job that this man was given. He fabricated stories. That black eye to what was once a well written paper has not subsided.

The JBT forgot to stick to the basics, which was to get the story first, get the story right, and describe it with rhetorical flourish. They simply strayed from the core of what they were. This is described well in Laura Ingraham’s book “Shut up and sing.” Ellen Degeneres did not have her show cancelled because she is a lesbian. She simply stopped being funny, and then blamed the network for declining ratings. Rosie O’Donnel is now known as a left wing lunatic, but when she was a VJ on VH1 she was very funny.

Everything comes down to likability. It is how we choose friends, lovers, presidential candidates, and what tv shows to watch and newspapers to read. The JBT became the Gore/Kerry of newspapers. They were smarter than everybody else, but the lower class masses of ordinary people simply did not like them. The New York Post is a great read because they are like President Bush…simple, easy to understand, and downright likable. The paper can be lighthearted, but it is a fun read. When they make a mistake, they issue major retractions. Humility does help. The Wall Street journal is brilliant. Their economics columns, unlike those of Paul Krugman at the JBT, are actually about…economics. Yes, the New York Post and Wall Street Journal are conservative, but that is peripheral. They are well written.

The JBT coasted on its reputation and good name. They also made a calculated decision to tilt further to the left and develop a core audience. Surely there are enough liberals in America to keep it afloat. Unfortunately, they miscalculated there as well. Many Jews are liberals, and Jews do not want to read a paper that is almost as sympathetic to the Palestinans as Al Jazeera. The editorial pages occasionally border on anti-semitism. This further reduced their readership, since many Jews are actually not self-hating.

It is the same reason Air America failed. It was not because they were liberal. It is because they were elitist, unprofessional, and worst of all…the biggest sin in any form of media…they were boring. Rush Limbaugh has 20 million listeners, but they are not all conservatives. Many of them just like him because he is funny. He entertains first. He is provocative, but never boring.

The JBT is bleeding dollars. The way out of this mess would be to improve the quality of the brand, but instead they are raising prices and lowering quality. This is a death spiral. Ironically, since their readers are liberal, they are actually giving liberals a taste of their own philosophy. A tax on liberals only. This is delightful. I wish the federal government would do this.

The Palestinian business model has been what the JBT adopted. The Palestinian business model is to divide people into groups. Those in your group are good, everyone else is evil. When the Jews left Gaza, Palestinians had nothing to do but engage in fratricide. They cannibalized their own, and are dwindling in numbers by the day. If they ever decide to reach across the aisle, be openminded, and expand their circle of people allowed to exist, they might find a receptive audience.

If the JBT would (figuratively) blow itself up, start over, and dedicate itself first and foremost to being a well written paper that many people would want to read, they might be taken off life support and breathe on their own. People will read things they disagree with if it is of a high quality. Their other option is to continue to narrow their audience to the few people who want to read something smug, arrogant, biased, poorly written, often wrong, and boring. The JBT seems to have chosen this option, placing themselves squarely along the lines of other failures, from Air America to Palestinian society.

eric

It seems I have touched a nerve. Who knew that terrorist supporters had feelings?

I had planned to write a very gracious thank you note to everybody who has helped me with my blog, but that will have to wait until later today or tomorrow. I just received my first piece of hate mail, even though I go out of my way to emphasize ideas over vitriol. Yes, I am hard hitting, but I do not curse, or use racism, sexism or any other kind of ism to make my points. Luckily, my feebleminded opponents have no such societal constraints.

The policy towards hate mail is to address it once, in what I hope is a humorous manner, and then if they respond again, not address them, therefore depriving them of their ill informed (and often badly written) platform.

I had the nerve to suggest that the Palestinians are a disaster as a civilization, and that they are entirely at fault for their own miserable lot in life. Hamas and Fatah are killing each other, and yet some Palestinians still want to blame Israel, which to my knowledge does not have membership in either of these groups. Unike Groucho Marx, we refuse to join any club that would have them as members, not us.

Now for the hate mail, from a brave soul who left an email address of [email protected]. Now that is too courageous.

“jewish is a religion, NOT A SPECIAL BREED OF PEOPLE!!!!!!”

Actually, my parents think I am quite special, although they could mean the type of special that rides in the back of the little yellow bus.

“what is your origin? I bet its not even close to the middle east…”

I do not have to live next to homicidal lunatics to know what they are. I have never grown an apple tree, but feel comfortable identifying the apple and eating it.

“FACT: at least 10 to 1 is the ratio of palistinians dead people to israeli dead
people because of the sh*t that happened in the region because of Israels existence,
do you think that those people (palistinians and israelis) would’ve been murdered
in the same way if Israel didn’t exist?”

Absolutely! Of course they would. Jordan massacred one million Palestinians. Palestinians are Arabs. They outnumber Jews 100 to 1. So a 10 to 1 death rate is not an impressive achievement, although the current situation in Gaza is leading them to play catch up.

“FACT: Israel are the one who broke the UN agreements and they took land that does
not belong to them, kicked out it’s native people, destroyed their houses, and
even killed some natives in the way, and built settlements and cities in there,
caused a couple of wars in the way, and whined and still whinning about being the
‘victim’.”

Wrong, wrong, wrong, and your houses could not be salvaged with help from Bob Vila. Israel should stop blowing up empty houses, I agree. We should stop warning the people to get out alive before we blow up the house. We should stop dropping warning leaflets telling you when the house is being bombed. We should just do what you do to us. Your objection is not that killing is wrong. It is just that the Israelis are better at it, and humane in how they do it. Maybe if you stopped hiding terrorists and munitions in the houses, we would not blow them up. Yet behaving like human beings seems a foreign concept.

“If israel has not been greedly eating land like a b*tch every couple of years, Israelis
and palistinians would be living in peace today.”

So Israelis are not just dogs, but female dogs. Got it. Oh, and this fellow keeps misspelling the word Palestinians. Lastly, Israel withdrew from Gaza. There are no Jews there. Yet Palestinians are killing each other.

As I have repeatedly said, if Palestinians want to stop killing altogether, Israel would be happy to embrace them. Palestinians say this is not true, but they have never tried the non-lunatic approach. You act normal, then you get rewards, not the other way around. Since Palestinians refusing to kill is about as likely as children refusing to give up candy, I would strongly prefer they kill each other and not my people.

Well, there is nothing like a civilized debate among rational people. Time for lunch. Burnt Gaza Strip and eggs sunny side down. My favorite.

eric

Thems Terrorists Looks Nicer Than Thems Other Terrorist

(Thank you to “The 6 Meat Buffet” for the pic)

Let me say this very slowly.

There…are…no…moderate…Palestinian…leaders…They…have…never…existed.

There is growing talk that the world should come to the rescue of Mahmood Abbas, to protect his “moderate” Fatah party from the clutches of Hamas. For once, the world should just turn a blind eye and let them kill each other.

For those who do not know, there is no such thing as a Palestinian. They are a fictional invented people. They have a rich, deep history that goes back about 50 years. Jews have been around 6000 years, and their biblical claim to the land of Israel goes back a few thousand years as well. Arab Muslims (Yes, I am aware they are not precisely the same thing, but the overlap is statistically significant) have existed since the 7th century. None of them were Palestinians.

The land of Israel was worthless until Jews arrived and created an agriculture industry. Yes, simple orange groves. Now Israel is high tech, a Middle Eastern version of Silicon Valley. What have Palestinians ever created? Only themselves, out of nowhere.

Yassir “That’s my baby terrorist” was from Egypt. Palestinians are basically defective Arab rejects. They have been kicked out of everywhere they have lived. Given that they are Arabs, why would Arabs not embrace them? Simple. They cannot stay out of trouble! They are agitators. Instability follows them everywhere they go. These people are too crazy for Arabs to deal with. I did not know that was even possible. Charles Manson was mad dog mean, but apparently not wacked out enough to blow himself up. He may not value human life, but he sure valued his own. He would never make it as a Palestinian leader with that cavalier anti-death attitude.

When Daniel Boone got lost, to cover up his mistake, he just simply announced to his group that “We are here.” The town was called Boonesborough. This is basically what the Palestinians did. The problem is, if someone tried to move into my condominium, I would have a problem with that given that it is…well…mine. Sure, you can visit, and even stay in the guest room, but that does not mean you get to change the channel when I am watching television. You should not even know where the remote is unless it is in my hand.

These fictional invented Arab defects announced that they had arrived, and decided to help themselves to the oranges that the Israelis harvested. Then they decided to try and kill the Israelis, which would make sense if any of them knew how to grow food. They then I assume killed all the schoolteachers, so at least they could become number one at something, in this case illiteracy. They used to be number one in homicide bombing, but then they ran out of enough people, temporarily slipping behind Hezbollah in the rankings. At least they are trying to be number one again. I give them their due.

There is no Palestine. There is only Israel. There are no Palestinians, only Israelis, aka Jews…and Arabs.

The Palestinians managed to immerse themselves by simply having more unprotected sex than their Jewish counterparts. If that is not the best advertisement for condoms than I do not know what is. They bred and we did not, and that is the fault of Jews everywhere.

So then the argument became that the biblical and legal claim to the land was irrelevant based on realities on the ground. The Palestinians were already here, so they had to be acknowledged. Apparently mass deportations are only for Jews…the lucky ones anyway. So Jews are cheated out of land everywhere, Arabs kick them out of their nations (when not murdering them for existing), and yet Israel has a 20% Arab population? Now Israel is supposed to add several million Palestinians as well? Are you kidding me world?

So first these people invent themselves. Then they try to claim land. Then they decide that not only should they own the land, but that all the Jews should be driven into the sea, aka killed. Enough already!

Here is where we get the politically correct drivel about their being many Palestinians who do not hate Jews, and just want to live in peace. Polls show around 80% of Palestinians supporting extremist positions. 80% lunatic is lunatic enough for me. The other 20% are collateral damage. Where are the Palestinians in western democracies like America standing up and loudly condemning such evil? Simple. They are hanging out with the Easter Bunny on Noah’s ark. Try and find them.

This brings us to the nonsense that Abbas is a moderate. Abbas is the public face of Fatah, which was Yassir Arafat’s terrorist organization. Saying Fatah is moderate compared to Hamas is like saying paraplegics are healthy compared to quadriplegics, or that Charles Manson is moderate compared to Jeffrey Dahmer because Manson did not eat people.

Those who need to learn about Abbas should listen to Walid Shoebat. Mr. Shoebat was trained to be a homicide bomber, but at the last moment lost his nerve and found something deeper…his humanity and his soul. He now lectures around the world, surrounded by security. I have met him, shaken his hand, and asked God to bless him. He has pointed out that Abbas is a terrorist, just not a respected one by other terrorists.

Why should Abu Mazen (Abbas), be any better than Abu Allah (Arafat) just because he smiles on camera? For all I care they could be led by Ali Baba, Or the guy in the Bugs Bunny cartoon who chases him and Daffy Duck while brandishing a sword and yelling “Hasssan Chop!” Just because Abbas is the Inspector Clouseau of terrorism does not mean he is a good guy. An incompetent murderer is just as bad as a successful one.

There is nobody that speaks for the Palestinians that has any value of human life, especially not Jewish life. Saeb Ekarat is a terrorist with a microphone. Like all Palestinian leaders to date, he only renounces violence when it is deemed “not helpful” to the Palestinian cause. How about renouncing senseless murder because it is just plain wrong? When violence is helpful, it is the first option of these people.

At least with Hamas the world knows what Israel is dealing with. They are ethical terrorists, honest and upfront about their murderous zealotry. Fatah is simply more stealth. Therefore, Israel and the world should let these factions kill each other. Then after one side wins, Israel can then go in and smash the weakened remaining Palestinian faction.

That is on the verge of happening now. Maybe all the self inflicted pain will finally cause the Palestinians to change their culture of murderous hatred. Of course it will. They want to frolic and play with their fellow Jews in Candy Land. The Easter Bunny would join them, but he is afraid they would go Glenn Close Fatal Attraction on him and burn and eat the furry critter. How could this happen though? The Easter Bunny is fictional.

So what? So are the Palestinians, every last one of them, from their poor innocent misunderstood Jew hating citizens to their poisonous homicidal leadership. The entire lot of them needs to be dealt with. Jews and other peace loving citizens everywhere should be relieved if not delighted that people who want to kill us are killing themselves instead.

eric

Much handwringing is made of the fact that America is a nation divided. I answer this concern by saying “Yeah? So what?”

Bill Clinton claimed that he did not want to be a “bare-fanged partisan” when he came into office. George W. Bush wanted to be a “uniter, not a divider.” Folks, America has been divided every which way since 1776, and that is what makes us United to begin with.

Trying to be all things to all people, such as John Kerry, Al Gore and Hillary Clinton, leads people to end up being confused and turned off. One cannot win everyone, but they can lose everyone.

Instead, one can look at George W. Bush and see how someone should govern. He made a lot of liberals angry by governing as a conservative, talking about spending his political capital, and letting everybody know he was the decider. Guess what. He was…and is…right. Liberals wanted him in power as much as conservatives wanted Clinton. Conservatives believed that Clinton would be a disaster on many fronts, from gun control to foreign policy, and they were right. Guess what? There was nothing we could do. He won the elections, and the victor gets every ounce of spoils.

One cannot enact the agenda of Jews and Arabs, rich and poor, short people and tall people, etc…Decision making involves taking sides. It involves winners and losers, and the losers will get ticked off. This has been going on since John Adams defeated Thomas Jefferson for the right to succeed George Washington. Jefferson’s supporters won election four years later, and they then got to enact their agenda. The Federalists had their turn, and then the democrats had theirs.

Arguments over elections have gone back to the founding fathers as well. Bush vs Gore was not new. Andrew Jackson’s supporters claimed that John Quincy Adams cheated them. Four years later, The Jacksonians got their turn at power. Heck, Aaron Burr shot and killed Alexander Hamilton. Short of Moveon.org supporters, does anybody really think that violence is the answer to political disputes? Of course not.

Divisions are healthy. Even criticisms and lamentations over the incivility of public discourse today is overblown at times. In the 19th century, one senator beat another one with his cane. Now they call each other “my esteemed colleague.” Heck, some Asian nations still have fistfights in their legislative sessions that rival the better bench clearing brawls in baseball today.

There are lines that have been crossed. Liberals like to key conservatives’ cars, damage their bumper stickers, steal their lawn signs, and throw pies and other dangerous objects at conservative speakers, all in the name of freedom and tolerance of course. However, moonbats notwithstansding, sharp disagreements are good for America. In fact, the biggest dangers occur when there are a lack of disagreements. The best management teams have a “devil’s advocate.”This person is often disliked, but valuable.

One criticism of the Bush administration by liberals is the notion of “groupthink” in the Bush White House. This argument can be refuted by saying that what the liberals are really angry about is that Bush did not hire liberals to run our government. Imagine that…a president, any president, hiring people who agree with him philosophically.

The democratic party today is the current home of groupthink. The republican party has moderates, aka liberal republicans. The democratic party oozes affection for Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe, and their moderate ilk for having the courage to challenge “rigid” party orthodoxy. Yet Joe Lieberman gets drummed out of the party. This is not new fro democrats. At the 1992 democratic convention, Jerry Brown supporters wore ducktape over their mouths because Jerry Brown, the second place finisher, was relelgated to an insignifanct speaking role (If only those people had stayed ducktaped permanently).

John Kerry was partially a victim of the democrats wanting to be as united as possible against President Bush in 2004. Yes, there are times when intraparty squabbles can weaken a nominee. Al Gore used Willie Horton against Michael Dukakis, and the republicans amplified that line of attack. So what? Dukakis chose not to defend himself.

John Kerry won the nomination way too quickly, and it cost him. In 2008, the situation will be worse. The nominees will be chosen quickly, and democrats and republicans might be forced to think “this is our candidate for the next 9 months? What have we done?” 

The solution to all of this can be found in sports. Rather than call a foul or a penalty after every “ticky-tack” infraction, we should for the most part, except for egregious violations just “let the players play.”

This argument extends to religion. Judaism has benefitted from fierce internal disagreements. True, 10 Jews in a room leads to 12 opinions. However, constant arguing back and forth produces stronger results. Islam right now is at a crossroads, because there are those that are scared to air such disagreements for fear of being accused of airing dirty laundry in public.

Try working on a team project for an MBA. Egos will clash, ideas will be rejected and then reconsidered, and the finished product will be stronger. The devil’s advocate can lead to angeli results.

So the handwringing must stop. Yes, America is polarized, and always has been. Coming together is a phony way of saying to your opponent “shut up and just agree with me.” This is actually the cornerstone of a liberal’s versio of bipartisanship.

Some will say I am not being fair. I am only presenting one side. I am being biased. Of course I am. I am supposed to be biased. I am a human being, flesh and blood, flaws and all, and I have built in biases. My neighbor can be my friend, but if he has different biases, we will disagree. As long as neither one of us are bombing abortion clinics or fur factories, and allowing words to be our dueling weapons of choice, than the differences are healthy, and will make us both intellectually stronger provided they are based on logical reasoning and intellectual analysis (Again, this is where today’s liberals miss the jollyboat).

So to my political opponents, I say this. You are not my enemy, but you are my opponent and I will work to defeat you because my conservative ideas and solutions are better than your liberal ones.

Let the games begin. To quote one of my favorite politicians…dear liberals…bring it on!

eric    

They may not know anything about war or the military (or much else for that matter), but give congress credit. They are second to none when it comes to spouting nonsensical gibberish. For those on the anti-war left, their gibberish might be an exception to this rule, only because venomous malicious gibberish is more pernicious than uninformed insincere pandering gibberish. The latest bout of this idiocy comes in the form of those who want to support the troops by bringing them home.

Scared to death of repeating the Vietnam mistake of being seen as anti-military, which they are, they have decided to support the troops without actually listening to what the troops say is support.

Imagine if parents today said “Our children are away at college. I worry for their safety. Let’s have them drop out of school so they can be safe at home.”

We just tragically lost 9 South Carolina Firefighters. Imagine if their heroism was tarnished by people saying “These jobs are too dangerous. Bring all the firefighters, police and emergency medical technicians home so they will be safe. It is too dangerous saving lives, they need to retire and work desk jobs.”

Imagine if we told astronauts after the Space Shuttle Tragedy in 1986 that space exploration was dangerous, and that we should just cancel space exploration altogether.

Yet some claim to want to support the troops by undermining the mission that they believe in. War is hell, but anyone who thinks violence does not solve problems should remember that War made America independent, ended slavery, defeated Hitler, and kicked Saddam’s @ss all the way to his deserved hanging.

Instead of those projecting their fears onto the troops, how about asking the troops what they want? Although most of them repeatedly emphasize that they believe in what they are doing, those on the far left insist that these men are scared to speak freely do to military code. Folks, people who are willing to crawl in a foxhole, and storm an enemy compound, and risk death every moment they are alive, are not scared of speaking their mind. They exercise politeness, which their critics could learn about.

There is a solution. Congress has an approval rating of approximately negative 5%. If it is acceptable to the soldiers who are tired of civilians micromanaging the war and trying to slow bleed the troops they claim to support, why don’t we just send congress home?

Think about it. These individuals work 32 weeks a year, 3 days a week. It is not even a full 3 days, more like late Tuesday through early Thursday. Assuming they work a long Wednesday, I will be overwhelmingly generous and call it 3 days. This means they work 96 days a year. Some would say that their meetings with their home constituents is real work, but I sometimes sit in meetings all day, and most people who sit in meetings are not actually getting things done. Besides, so many in congress have safe seats, so are they really listening? Fundraising is not listening.

Why should the troops have to put up with nonsense from overglorified panhandlers? The rubber chicken circuit may not be glamorous, but let’s see these prima donnas survive on the chipped beef in a shingle my dad says they used to serve, which the soldiers ate without complaint.

How do we know the soldiers do not support the anti-war left? Simple. The 2004 election was a referendum on the Iraq War, and 75% of soldiers voted with the President. Sure, some of them simply did not want to change horses in midstream, but for many, it was a choice between someone who supported the troops, and another, despite being in the military and serving, who accused soldiers of cutting off ears and limbs, and razing the country side in a manner reminiscent of Ghengis Khan (Or Jengis Khan, for those of you who speak Brahmin Elitist). Maybe they could have defeated Saddam with spitballs, but I would not want to chance that.

The troops may not be conservative republicans, and yes, they have frustrations with the current administration, but make no mistake about it. They have a job to do. They do it well. They believe in what they are doing. All they ask of us is to support them. This means no wobbling, no wavering, no weakening.

If the troops tell me the war is lost and that they want to come home, I will be the first one  to support them. They miss their families. They are human beings. They want to sleep in late, watch television, have sex, and have fun like the rest of us. The difference is they have discipline. They will win this war because they are too disciplined to fail. The only way they could lose is if Harry Reid and his pathetic ilk lose this war.

When Harry Reid criticizes General Petraeus and says the war is lost, while admitting he is not over there and the General is, he can be dismissed as an ignoramus. However, if they actually take actions to lose this war, such as denying the troops funding, they will be considered something bordering on treasonous.

It would be like trying to repossess a car while the driver is making a left turn. Thugs may do that, but civilized individuals are more deliberate, if not in thought, then in action.

I have not seen a more useless bunch of people. By spending much of their difficult 20 hour work week passing non-binding resolutions about nothing, they have not talked so much and accomplished so little since baseball players went on strike in 1994. Congress should just go on strike, cancel the legislative session, and go home. You don’t deserve an office or a desk unless you plan to actually do real work.

Dissent is vital to the health of our nation. Many people are against this war, and want it ended now. All I ask of them is one simple thing. Talk to the troops. More importantly, listen to them. People with boots on the ground are too busy fighting terrorists (not insurgents, terrorists) to deal with anti-war clowns. Therefore, supporters of the war effort need to verbally take the steel toes on their own boots and stick them up the hides of these anti-war protesters and explain to them that they are uninformed. Military supporters are large in numbers, but the anti-war protesters scream louder.

Protesters claim to support the troops, while blaming the entire military for isolated aberrations at Abu Gharaib and Haditha.  These events were summer camp fraternity pranks compared to the routine beheadings that our enemies engage in, perhaps because they did not get the polite memos the protesters left them about the Geneva Convention and love trains. That would be like me blaming every leftist protester for being a hateful wack job only because 95% of them are. I confess, a tad unfair to the other 5%.

I support the troops, and I support their mission. It was right then, it is right now, and the history books will show that the world will be a better place because of what these brave military personnel are doing today.

Congress will fully fund and support the troops for as long as necessary. If the leadership, and the presidential candidates dare to deviate from this, they will be sent home, hopefully never to return.

Perhaps we can send them to Guantanamo Bay. Then they will see why the soldiers keep fighting until the job is done.

May God Bless Military personnel and their families everywhere. When you are ready, I will be happy to welcome you home.

eric

I have decided to journey to Iraq. No, I am not going to physically go there. However, the internet has to be used for more than just Ebay and staring at hot girls (although that is pleasant as well).

Anyway, every day the Jayson Blair Times, and their comrades at the Communist News Network, among other Trotskeyite rags disguised as real news organizations, tell us that everything in  Iraq is sheer misery. They do everything but yearn longingly for the glory days of Saddam Insane.  

Although at this stage in my life I will go to my grave believing that removing Saddam was the legally and morally right thing to do, I want…heck, I need…to know that the Iraqi people believe in what we are doing. It took 13 years from 1776 to 1789 to get America on track, and it has been only four years since Saddam fell. I hope thye still believe in this fragile experiment called democracy.

Even though I know the mainstream media is wrong, I need to know that I am right. I have therefore decided to begin contacting Iraqi bloggers. I want to have dialogue with as many of them as possible.

I am sending them this note…

“Dear Iraqi Citizen,

I would like to know how Iraq is really going, and I am concerned that the media in the USA (I live in Los Angeles) are only giving bad news all the time. I suspect there are many positive developments that do not get reported.

I would like to hear opinions of real Iraqis living everywhere, since that would be more informative to me.

I am Jewish, and while I hate terrorists and radical Islam, I deeply respect and admire moderate Islam.

I would consider it an honor and a privilege if you would add my blog “The Tygrrrr Express” www.blacktygrrrr.wordpress.com to your list of linked sites if you feel the quality is high.

Happy June and God Bless.

eric”

I will speak with any and all of them, provided that they are not America-bashers (they can disagree with us, but if they want to kill us as infidels, that is a nonstarter) or anti-semites. They can disagree with Israel, so long as they do not hate me merely for being Jewish. I truly believe this exchange of dialogue will benefit many people globally.

We live in a nation of America where people form opinions without talking to people that are directly affected. We discuss drilling for oil in Alaska, without asking how the Alaskans feel. We debate how Israel should act without discussing it with Israelis, especially their military. Some people make comments about flyover country, without ever taking the time to meet the many wonderful people living in the USA between the coasts.

I am not going to sanitize or revise the results of my attempt at dialogue with Iraqis. Perhaps I will get answers that contradict my own viewpoint. Nevertheless, I will not cherry-pick the results. I want to honestly know about the quality of life in Iraq from ordinary Iraqis, and I hope they will come away with a better understanding of the goodness of America, and that my graciousness towards them is the norm, not the exception.

I look forward to my Iraqi journey, and I pray that it is a peaceful one for Jews, Christians, Muslims, and everyone else living everywhere from Mainland America to Mesopotamia.

May the blogosphere continue to reach out to good people everywhere.

eric
 

Tonight South Carolina is grieving. We cannot heal their pain, but we must care.

For those of you who have never been, South Carolina is not part of flyover country. It is a state of very friendly people, the epitome of Southern hospitality. It was the original home of the Carolina Panthers until they moved to North Carolina. It is the home of the Clemson campus, where the Tigers greet strangers and friends with equal kindness.

For presidential candidates, it is a key primary state. Right now, that is beyond irrelevant. So are those who feel the need to take cheap shots about Strom Thurmond or Susan Smith. Hopefully those people can retract their claws and fangs for now. Today Rudy Giuliani’s South Carolina campaign manager was just arrested for cocaine possession. Unless the media are vindictive individuals with no perspective (oh, wait, they are), this will be the non-story of the day.

The real South Carolina story today took place in Charleston. The city of Charleston is known for a happy 1920s dance craze, appropriately named after the city. Today, however, Charleston, South Carolina, is now a place of unimaginable sadness. An out of control fire killed 9 firefighters with over a combined 100 years of service with the Charleston Fire Department. This was the largest loss of firefighters since 9/11. There are only questions, no answers.

Where are Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton? Apparently dead white firefighters do not matter. Actually, I have no idea what color these firefighters are, but if they were black, there would be demands for an immediate investigation. Will the national media drop the story quickly? Yes. I give it 24-48 hours at most. Will the politicians make pious statements about the situation and say all the right things? Yes, especially John Edwards, who will again remind us that he was born there, the son of a mill worker.

Why am I lashing out at people who did not cause this problem? Because I am looking to blame someone. Until proven otherwise, terrorists did not do this. Nor did anti-war protesters, despite their hatred for South Carolina’s rich military tradition in places such as the Citadel.

This was not an act of out of control teenagers partying at Hilton Head. It was not demented sports fans going ballistic a year after the Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup.

So far, this seems to be an act of God, and I am not about to blame God. I can’t. I believe in God, which I am commanded to do always, not just when things are going well.

Yet despite being a state that is rather “religious,” I could understand if people had their faith shattered tonight. I would not be surprised if people were praying that this was arson, or faulty wiring, or anything but what it appears to be at this very moment…a tragedy with no explanations.

South Carolina is representative of America. It has a large black population that supports liberal democrats, and a large activist Christian presence that supports conservative republicans. It is the home of Military soldiers, and a place for teenagers to vacation on Spring Break.

Now it is the home of 9 dead firefighters. This is beyond tragic because the greatest dignity is found in ordinary Americans, and the greatest loss is when we lose these unsung heroes. We rejoiced when the governor of Pennsylvania announced, after 9 miners were trapped underground, that “All 9 are alive.” We were stunned when 12 West Virginia coal miners went under. We rejoiced when we were told they had all lived, and then the grief was compounded when we were told that only one had actually survived.

Firefighters risk their lives every day. They are as vital as soldiers, police officers and doctors. They keep us safe.

So what can we do to help? First, we have to wait, and be patient. People often want to immediately “do something,” such as with Hurricane Katrina. This is often not the wisest course of action. We need to absorb information about this situation rapidly, and then figure out what the people of South Carolina want us to do, not what makes us feel good.

Yes, we can then do the typical perfunctory gestures, such as sending money, flowers, gift baskets, etc. I am not minimizing these actions, but the problem is that once we do this, the issue fades away in our mind.

The key is to make sure this story does not die with these firefighters. People are already done with the Virginia Tech Massacre, and I doubt many people remember the tornado tragedy that hit Kansas only weeks ago. Unless tragedies happen in New York or Los Angeles, the media quickly loses interest. Apparently Middle America is not sexy enough to be covered in depth.

No, I am not blaming the media for this tragedy. I will, however, blame them if they fail to give this the attention it deserves.

The people of South (and North) Carolina stepped up bigtime after Hurricane Katrina. The National Football League began a blood drive before a game between the New Orleans Saints and Carolina Panthers. Carolinians donated their blood.

Today it is Carolinians themselves that are bleeding. Like me, most people want to blame someone. There is plenty of time for that. For now, pray for them. Even if you are angry at God, ask him (or whatever you believe in) to help these families tonight.

Firefighters keep us safe. When they die, a piece of our safety dies with it. I pray that the entire nation knows these 9 heroes. They are as follows (Data from CNN.com):

The victims, their ages and their years of service are:

South Carolina is a part of us. What hurts South Carolina hurts us all.

May God bless their families, and the entire state of South Carolina.

eric

Burn Gaza Burn…Disco Inferno…Burn Gaza Burn…Disco Inferno…

I am not sure what is worse…the fact that I am delighted by the carnage in the Gaza Strip, or the fact that I just quoted disco. I profusely apologize for the latter. Thanks to this Middle East inferno, I actually remembered the lyrics to that Thelma Houston song that was sung in the movie Studio 54.

“Baby…My heart is burning like a ketushah rocket for you.”

It actually does tie in together. Mike Myers played the main villain in that movie, and also was Dr. Evil, who like the leaders of Hamas, are just misunderstood children that want to love and be loved.

Ummmm…no. Genocidal lunatics are killing each other, and frankly, the timing could not be better. With hockey and basketball done, and football not until September, the only thing to do is enjoy a nice summer of love. Like Jan and Dean, those crazy Gaza kids “are out there having fun…in that scorched Earth Gaza sun.”

The main reason this trivial matter is treated as such is because unfortunately, it has taken comedians to offer hard nosed and hard edged common sense this week, while politicians were busy clowning around.

Dennis Miller, who I confess to not usually being a fan of (it is hard to almost singlehandedly destroy Monday Night Football), nailed it perfectly in discussing the differences between the political parties. “Democrats are worried about the Earth. Republicans are too busy worrying about the World.” Translation for the intellectually impaired…global warming is an abstract concept that may or may not happen one day in the future. Islamofacism has been happening for three decades, and must be dealt with right now.

Dennis Leary, refusing to be the second best Dennis this week, took on the concept of Bush Derangement Syndrome. “President Bush is supposedly not smart enough to end the Iraq War, but he was smart enough to conspire to create 9/11.” As I have pointed out, liberals need every successful conservative to be either evil or imbecilic, and their inability to decide on President Bush has led them to declare he is both.

Before returning to the glorious age of disco (God help us all), I want to give you a pop culture reference…the current television show “Scrubs.” This show is fabulous not just because Zach Braff reminds me of my alter ego, “El Dorko,” but because a brilliantly and wickedly funny character named Dr. Perry Cox, when confronted with this young fellow (after one of his sweet but effeminate comments) said to him, “I am going to write you a prescription…for a brand new…pair of…testicles.”

Yes folks, that message was given in real life by Tony Blair, and hopefully it will be delivered to republicans everywhere. We could give it to the democrats as well, but the mommy party would probably prefer Vagina Monologues tickets. Dear republicans…grow a pair. Instead of being put on the defensive for making the wrong decision, how about pounding the table with clenched fists and reaffirming that the Iraq War was right then, and is right now. Those who hate you will be unchanged, but those who like you will be happy that you had a gonads transplant. You cannot win everybody over, but your lack of spine is demoralizing your supporters. Thank you to Mr. Tony Blair for reminding us what is at stake. So what if he is being forced out over the war? Winston Churchill was fired after World War II, and he is still one of the all time greats. Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan were ridiculed as well. History will vindicate those who never wavered about this war. Why should they? We are right.

There is a time for negotiation (the Russians in the 1980s), a time for overwhelming brute force (Afghanistan, Iraq, and hopefully Syria very soon), and there is a time to say “Screw it. Who cares? (Gaza…now and forever)”

Despite Gaza being Hotter than Hot Chocolate (I believe in Miracles…where ya from…you sexy thang), no amount of stripper poles and blacklights will be able to put a bow tie on this pig of an area. Heck, Gaza people (not citizens, just people) are trying to flee to Israel for safety. Are you kidding me? Aren’t Jews the enemy, and the cause of all these Gaza problems? I mean once the Jews get out, Gaza will be a land of peace.

“Palestinians of Hamas…and Fatah…join hands…start a love train…love train.” When The O’Jays sang that song, Palestinians were killing everyone around them, and as Hall and Oates did the remake, nothing had changed (and no, Earth Girls are not Easy).

“It’s just an old fashioned death song…whether it’s Hamas or it’s Fatah…It’s just an old fashioned death song…nothings changed since Oslo ’93 (or the 7th century for that matter).”

To bring everything full circle, the song Disco Inferno was in the bowling movie Kingpin, with a brilliant cameo by Bill Murray. Camper Van Beethoven once sang a bizarre song called “Take the Skinheads Bowling.” As bizarre as it was, the point was that if people just took up hobbies, war and fighting would stop. So if we turn Iran and Syria into 50,000 hole golf courses, with miniature golf as well, Gaza can be one giant bowling alley, with Palestinian leaders Fatah and Hamas representing both gutters. How appropriate. We can even drill holes in the Palestinian leaders’ heads so that they can be used as bowling balls.

Why bowling? For anyone who has ever gone “cosmic bowling,” it is a lot of fun. That is where there are swirling disco lights and loud music, often disco music, playing in the background. It is like trying to bowl blind. Given that Palestinian leaders in Hamas and Fatah are blind (as well as deaf and dumb come to think of it) to their constituents’ concerns, I think cosmic bowling should be the official sport of Palestinian lunatics everywhere.

To torture them (yes, another reason to support torture), we should pipe Israeli music over the loudspeakers. Perhaps those old Yeshivah kids from the 1980s, the Beasty Boys, should be played. Given how ill Palestinians make me (and the rest of the civilized world), the album “Licensed to Ill,” should be the official Palestinian Cosmic Bowling Album.

Then again, one cannot go wrong with Disco. So as I watch Gaza, all I can think is…

“Upside down…boy Gaza you burn me…inside out…and into the ground…”

“Gaza you can do it, take the time, burn it right, you can kill all day, and burn all night.”

Ok, off to watch Palestinian Porn videos…Nothing like “Debbie does the Gaza Strip.”

eric

Once again, I will reiterate that conservatives are human beings. This simple fact seems to be lost at that bastion of tolerance, otherwise known as the Jewish Journal reader forums. My blog has received positive feedback from various sources, but I am astonished that the only place where my columns inspire outright hostility is in my own religion. Descendants of the Holocaust are more threatened by conservatism and republicanism than anything else. Therefore, I have decided to adopt (aka steal) a page from the Michelle Malkin playbook, and publish some of the rantings of these moonbats.

Upon reading various insults to my comments, I pointed out that anyone can hurl insults, but intellectuals roll up their sleeves and deal with the problems. For that benign comment, I was given this screed by a fellow who calls himself (name redacted…my last attempt at politeness, which does not seem to work with liberals, who see it as weakness).

“Clearly, any response in the negative to any of your manifestos will be defined as an insult. As I understood this from the get go, I saw no reason to hold back and still don’t. That being said, all this p*ssing and moaning about insults and ‘ideological bigotry’ is a cover for the insecurity you feel everytime you advocate someone elses bankrupt ideals and values.I love it when the opposing wings of the artificial political construct steal each others playbooks, cop their most precious ideals(in this instance; “Political Correctness”) and then cynically claim it as their own. ‘Ideological Bigotry’; as an example of the bullsh*t that passes for political discourse in this country, is gold. As a debating point, its disingenous, and therefore, lame. Since, you are on a mission from G-d, you obviously believe you have every right to attack and diminish those values and ideals that you don’t agree with and those that espouse them. As a classic Passive-Aggressive…(Irrelevant diatribe redacted for length)”

I responded by defining exactly what ideological bigotry is, and why it matters.

“Hmmmm…wow, who knew I was on a mission from God. I should add that to my blog.

I will explain it one last time for the moderately feebleminded.

Criticizing a black man at work for not doing a good job is fine, as are critiicisms of Jackson and Sharpton. Taking and dragging James Byrd and lynching him is not.

Questioning gay marriage is legitimate. Taking Matthew Shepherd and beating the hell out of him is not.

Ok, so far even liberals are grasping this. Now here comes the tough one.

Disagreeing with the Bush administration on policy is healthy for democracy. Taking conservatives lawn signs is vandalism. Keying cars that have Bush bumper stickers is criminal. Advocating lynching or stoning to death conservatives (Alec Baldwin vs Henry Hyde, anyone?) is not acceptable.

Ideological bigotry is not about healthy disagreements. It is about hate speech that is often tantamount to violence.

My goal is to reach out to the ‘persuadables,’ which are many, not the ‘entrenched.’ The entrenched have their minds made up before the issue is even presented. Luckily for my blog, there are enough persuadables.

www.blacktygrrrr.wordpress.com I encourage persuadables to visit. The entrenched left will detest it, because they hate it without reading it.”

This fellow, even by liberal standards, then offered what I suspect is his pleasant side.

“I’ve seen your ‘blog’. A collection of incoherent, ill-concieved, pseudo-intellectual claptrap only rivaled by the collection of morons, half-wits, reprobates & sychophants that comment on your ‘philosophies’. A cheering section comprised of the un-hinged, who will grasp at any validation of their own warped, pathetic rationalizations.”

Folks, the Unabomber could not have responded any better. Multisyllabic words, and yet somehow I was able to grasp them. This fellow calling my conservative readers unhinged is like President Bush being called evil by Iranian President Armageddonijad.

Now some will accuse me of “cherry-picking,” but that is a job for immigrants. My parents worked hard so I could wear a white collar. I will offer one more example of what the liberal Jewish community (The Jewish Journal claims to represent the community, so if it regularly appears there, it is representative) considers civilized discourse.

Realizing that the Jewish Journal reader forums were hostile towards anything conservative, I decided to write an article that was apolitical. I brought up the issue of whether it was acceptable for Jews, who are forbidden to eat pork, would be allowed to raise and farm pigs, to be used as bomb sniffing pigs, so long as they were not eaten. I remarked that given that we are fighting a War on Terror, saving lives was paramount, especially since Jewish doctrine only says the pig cannot be eaten. There are no comments either way regarding other uses.

One fellow in the Jewish Journal Forums, who knows I am a conservative, and therefore worthy of any and all hostility, responded as follows.

“There is no ‘war on terror,’ Senor SchwarzenTigger. There is a failing occupation in Iraq, a dropped ball in Afghanistan, an ostrich in the White House and an Administration so screwed up it has half a million names on the ‘Terrorist Watch List.”

My column had nothing to do with the White House in any way. I truly get the feeling that if I were to write a column on why it was important not to beat puppies and kittens, these people would explain either why they were in favor of it, or that President Bush is responsible for it. In fact, a new cartoon shows Dick Cheney as a child biting the heads off of birds and drinking their blood. This is what the left calls “humor.”

I decided to redirect the fellow back to my original point about bomb sniffing pigs, and he said he was fine with it.

Folks, this is how far gone the left has drifted. A fellow felt the need to criticize the Bush administration in response to a post I wrote where the basic premise…he agreed with me! When a fellow is agreeing with you and still taking shots, that tells me that it is not the logical argument that is being attacked, but the individual.

Since I have never met these people, I can conclude with certainty that my very existence as a conservative republican bothers them. My father escaped the Nazis, and is a republican. I wonder what they think of him. Yes, I will continue to bash the hateful members of the Jewish left upside their bigoted skulls with this fact, since the only way to confront their hatred is to show them what real hatred is.

Some people ask me why I even bother with the Jewish left, and that I should avoid them altogether. If there were a billion Jews, I would be delighted to avoid these people. Unfortunately, we are so few in numbers, that trying to avoid Jewish liberals is like trying to avoid Muslims in Libya. It is not doable.

Luckily, despite the advances of modern medicine, elderly Jews are dying off. These fossils are under the death grip of FDR and JFK, but their grandchildren are more openminded. I just have to remind myself that it will take time. Members of the Klan have grandchildren that play with their black friends at school.

One day, when those under the poisonous spell of bigotry leave this earth, their offspring will come to realize that all human beings have value…even conservative republicans.

It is a shame that 60 years after 6 million Jews died, so many do not see venom in their own hearts. I pray that some how, some way, they learn how to be less tolerant of those who want to kill them (Islamofacists), and more tolerant of those who embrace them (Christians), or in the cases of me and my friends as Jewish republicans, are them.

eric