We Don’t Stop

Posted on December 24, 2005 by Nukevet

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We don’t take a break from learning here at the Occidental Tush Institute. We hold classes all the way through December with only a short break to recover from the partying at Christmas and New Year’s. They say that beauty is hard, well booty is even harder. First you have to build it, which is difficult enough, but then you have to maintain it. With all of the sitting around and food eating during the holiday season, a booty can go bad in a matter of weeks if that bastard cellulite takes hold.

But even though we keep the students busy, I try to make it fun. We have pageants and class costume parties that keep the learning going but also provide a very good amount of festive entertainment. Something I added to my lesson plans a couple years back was a performance art assignment.

This year I made the assignment “Greeting Santa Claus�. The students had to physically perform how they would greet Santa when he comes down the chimney.

This is the first sight that old Kris Kringle will see when he crawls out of Ms. Chen’s fireplace. She got an A+, by the way. The + was for having the smarts to greet Santa while standing next to the liquor cabinet.

While our costume pageants entrants are always creative, Ms. Lori’s first place win proved that sometimes simple is best.

And last, but certainly not least, because I have a streak of practical joker in me, I got my first year students with quite a good this year. While these ladies are beautiful and charming to be around, some of them aren’t that smart and are easy to fool.

As I was teaching my lesson on Thursday, I moved about the classroom like I normally do as it keeps the attention level of the students up better than if I just stand at the front. As I wandered past the large windows along the side of the room, I put on my best game-face and exclaimed that I had just seen Saint Nicholas on one of his practice sleigh runs going by the window.

I then stepped back as the students rushed to the window and snapped this photo.

I’m going to have to remember that one for next year!

Well, that is it for today. I’ll be attending various Christmas parties tonight and on into the morning, but I will be back tomorrow with photos from them, so if you get time after finding out what Santa brought you tomorrow, stop on by to see what Santa brought me and the ladies at OTI.

Merry Christmas!

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National Technical Means

Posted on December 23, 2005 by Professor Booty

This is a bit of a follow-up on Analog Kid’s post about police using deception to catch criminals. I want to make a larger point by expanding the discussion to the use of deception in war.

Some years ago I took a seminar in law school taught by a former Democrat counsel for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The professor was, obviously, well-connected in Washington and told us lots of political war stories. One day he came in with a funny look on his face and told us he’d been at a party at the Averell Harriman house that weekend, and overheard two high-ranking Pentagon types discussing something he didn’t think he was supposed to hear.

Basically, he’d overheard that Saddam’s TV broadcast to the troops in the 1991 Gulf War ordering them to withdraw from Kuwait along what became known as the “Highway of Death” wasn’t Saddam — it was us.
Continue reading →

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The Friday Before Christmas

Posted on December 23, 2005 by Phil Kadath

So I went to see the physician yesterday morning for my next to last follow up on my recovery from pneumonia (one more chest x-ray and it should be all done). Good news all around AND I got cleared to go to be outside for more than just a few minutes at a pop.

But, and this is a Michael Moore sized butt, my local rifle range is closed this Saturday!

Now don’t get me wrong, I wish all of the employees there a very Merry Chistmas, but please try and understand my frustration: I got the OK saying I can go to the range and they close it!

Gotdamitalltohell! That’ll make it five weeks with no rangetime because some little rugrat wasn’t taught to practice good hygiene!

I’d go to the Central Whidbey range on Saturday, but what with this being somewhat of a holiday weekend, waiting for the ferry could turn out to be a marathon sport instead of the normally swift adventure.

It looks as though I’ll be spending my Saturday cleaning my rifle again instead of shooting it. So far, I’ve found nothing saying that the range is closed on New Year’s Eve, so that looks to be my next available opportunity. If anyone local would be interest in putting in some year’s end range time, send me an email and we’ll figure something out.

This post devolved to long strings of cursing from here on out, so I’ll wish you all farewell until tomorrow

Posted in Have Gun, Will Travel | 3 Comments

And he should know

Posted on December 23, 2005 by Phil Kadath

A three-judge panel of the 6th Circuit Court issed their ruling in a case about the public display of the Ten Commandments brought by a citizen who was assisted by the ACLU.

Long story short, the ACLU lost, 3-0.

In the written opinion, Judge Richard Suhrheinrich made a point to call the ACLU and their arguments “tiresome� and that they in no way represent “a reasonable person�.

Of course, the ACLU’s followers are criticizing the judge for ‘speaking disparagingly’ of the ACLU and calling the language he used ‘inappropriate’ and ‘wrong headed’.

Please click on the link in the article and take a look at the ‘display’ of the Ten Commandments. It is a framed print on a wall with other framed print. It isn’t on a large sculpture, it isn’t painted on a wall all by itself, hell, it probably isn’t even 11×17.

Which reminds me of an Letter to the Editor I saw in the newspaper The Seattle Times:

I don’t get it. If I’m offended by black people, I’m a racist. If I’m offended by gays, I’m a homophobe. If I think of women as less than equals, then I’m a sexist, but if I’m offended by a Judeo/Christian celebration, then I’m exercising my “First Amendment” rights? How does that work?

John Hession
Redmond, WA

Exactly where do the liberals keep their tolerance at? I have my ideas on that topic, but it’s probably better if keep them to myself in this town.

Decision link found at Drumwaster’s

Posted in Life in the Atomic Age | 1 Comment

From the Mouths of Babes

Posted on December 23, 2005 by Phil Kadath

If you stopped by Michelle Malkin’s place yesterday, you probably saw her link to a story about a Dundee, CT school’s Christmas play called “The Rainbow Christmas”. The play was not actually about Christmas, even though Santa Clause makes his appearance, it was about that subject near and dear to all leftists: Diversity.

One thing I can say about the play is that it stayed true to its premise as it actually had the word ‘Christmas’ in the title. But I am left wondering if any parents complained about that and had to be told that keeping the word in the title was being faithful to real diversity?

One other thing I read in the article was that while they wasted a month of these kid’s lives on an elementary school level performance piece instead of actually teaching reading, writing or arithmetic, they did actually teach them something they can take with them,

Elise Perry, a 7-year-old second-grader, said the play taught her that “no matter what color you are, you have to treat people like they treat you.”

Yes Elise, you got that exactly right. While your teachers would have liked you to learn that you should treat others like you would want to be treated no matter what, starting out treating everyone equally and then basing your further relationship with them on how they treated you is the proper progression of interpersonal relationships because it is no use to continue to be nice to an asshole.

Especially an asshole who wants to kill you, using the case of widespread Islamofascism as an example. If they still want to blow you up after you have extended a friendly hand to them, your best course of action is to treat them the exact same way they would treat you, only be extra-polite and demonstrate your eagerness to interact and engage them first first. No use being shy, Elise!

My, my, my, kids sure are learning quickly these days!

Posted in The Left is Never Right | Comments Off on From the Mouths of Babes

RNS Quote of the Day

Posted on December 23, 2005 by Phil Kadath

Just as in domestic affairs, all the evils caused by statism and government controls were blamed on capitalism and the free market – so, in foreign affairs, all the evils of statist policies were blamed on and ascribed to capitalism. Such myths as “Capitalistic Imperialism�, “War Profiteering� or the notion that capitalism has to win markets by military conquest are examples of the superficiality or the unscrupulousness of statist commentators and historians.

Ayn Rand: The Roots of War – 1966

I think this one is quite self explanatory and does not need any paraphrasing. But feel free to have your hand at it.

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Protected Status? For Lawyers?

Posted on December 22, 2005 by Phil Kadath

If you are a drug dealer and sell an undercover police officer some of your ‘product’, the officer can arrest you and use your ‘product’ as evidence, even though said officer just committed an illegal act. The same goes for an officer soliciting a prostitute; while the act of soliciting is illegal, as long as it is done during the investigation, the evidence gathered during the solicitation can be used as evidence.

Defense attorneys know this is case law and usually won’t argue about it unless there are extenuating circumstances.

But the Washington State Bar Association wants the state supreme court to make it illegal for officers to pose as attorneys when they are attempting to gather DNA evidence pertaining to a murder investigation.

The detectives in the case in question sent a letter to a murder suspect, posing as lawyers, asking if the suspect wanted to join in a class-action lawsuit. The suspect filled out the form, licked the envelope and sent the suit paperwork back to them. The detectives took saliva samples from the envelope lid and tested it against other DNA found on the victim. It matched and the suspect was arrested.

It is a gross misdemeanor in Washington to practice law without a license, but if you read this link and everything that went on in the case that is being looked at, I can’t see this as being any different that the two examples I gave in the opening paragraph.

I remember an episode of COPS where detectives sent out letters to people with outstanding warrants stating that they had won a free TV set in some made up sweepstakes contest. The detectives had a 95% response rate that day, no one got hurt and no ‘No Knock’ forced entries had to be made to apprehend the criminals.

Maybe if criminals weren’t so greedy and stupid, we wouldn’t have to worry about cops posing as lawyers.

Posted in The Left is Never Right | 5 Comments

Santa is a South Paw

Posted on December 22, 2005 by Phil Kadath

At least according to the Citizen’s Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms

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This is the card that the CCRKBA sent out for Christmas.
(click the link for the bigger pic)

Of course, it has the left’s panties in a bunch.

Make sure you read the commenters over at Oliver Willis (Occupation: Toole)’s place.

My favorite is this one:

“That gun’s going to be really convincing to someone with dynamite strapped around his body.�

I guess that Malacandra hasn’t taken in the button-pushing-terrorist stopping ability of an accurate pre-emptive hit to the head or upper-center of the chest?

Posted in Have Gun, Will Travel | 3 Comments

The Soundboard: Even More Christmas Tunage

Posted on December 22, 2005 by Phil Kadath

Today’s Christmas tune selection is one of my favorite songs all the way around, in any genre. I’ve heard probably close to a hundred different versions of it and though there are some horrible ones, it takes a lot for me not to listen all the way through.

This Christmas season, I’ve heard it used in at least three commercials for products I can’t name off the top of my head because I’m not listening to what the product spokesman is saying, I’m listening to the music, so I can’t remember what the products are. One of these commercials has taken the tune down the heavy metal highway and I just wish the spokesguy would shut up so I could crank it up to 11.

So here you go:

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

Today’s tunage is more of the bagpipes and fiddle instrumentation like I posted last week. The slow moving intro is the song Emmanuel and there is a surprise at around the three minute mark of some great Highland Drumming (though they didn’t mic it all that well).

Give it a listen, let me know what you think.

And since I started this edition of The Soundboard off a week late, there will one last Christmas song posted on Saturday for your Christmas Day pleasure.

Posted in Kewel! | 2 Comments

Must-See TV

Posted on December 22, 2005 by Professor Booty

If you like Christmas carols, choral music, incredibly beautiful soprano vocals, or just plain spectacular concert settings, you owe it to yourself not to miss this year’s Christmas With the Mormon Tabernacle Choir (actually recorded December 2004). It’s showing on PBS stations across the country several times in the next couple of days.

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The featured vocalist is Audra McDonald, who has a fantastic voice and knows how to use it (and is pretty easy on the eyes, to boot). The Mormon Tabernacle Choir is its usual excellent self.

I sang bass in my high-school men’s chorus and concert choir, and our vocal teacher (the incomparable David Pool) warned us that we’d likely never sing in a group again. Sadly, so far he’s been right in my case. But every time I see one of these concerts I vow to tune up my pipes in the shower and drag my wife to one of the Messiah sing-alongs. Maybe this year’s the one.

DON’T MISS IT. I’m taking the trouble to record it as I plan to make it a permanent part of our family’s Christmas music from now on. It’s really that good. Or you can just buy the DVD, I suppose.

Posted in Kewel! | 1 Comment