Thoughts on the Victor Martinez trade

Mark Shapiro should be fired. Like, right now. And then eaten.

He trades Cliff Lee and Martinez and in neither case does he get the
other team's best prospect. Not even close.

What a disgrace.

I have never understood this

If Green Lantern's green power ring is useless against yellow, and
thus is at a severe disadvantage against Sinestro's yellow power ring,
why doesn't Green Lantern just get a yellow power ring?

Thoughts on the Cliff Lee trade

Mark Shapiro should be fired. Like, right now.

Words to live by

From Burn Notice's Fiona Glenanne (Gabrielle Anwar):

"If it sounds too good to be true, it's best to shoot them just to be
safe."

Things we can learn from Resistance: Fall of Man

What the US border with Mexico should look like:


That's right, John McCain. I'm talking to you.

I had heard of "Talk Like a Pirate Day"

but I did not realize that today was "Talk Like Charlie Brown's
Teacher Day."

Latest addiction

Red Faction: Guerilla

I have discovered

Burn Notice.

While the premise of the series is a little outlandish, it is very, very funny. And there is something very intriguing about Gabrielle Anwar's Fiona character. A cute, bloodthirsty girl whose philosophy is shoot first and shoot later.

But lest you think I'm being disloyal here, Anwar is by no means the only beautiful woman who can shoot people:


ALL EMMANUELLE VAUGIER, ALL THE TIME!!!

The day we fight back

Well, this is good. From The Corner:

I'm hearing that the popular reaction to the passage of the Waxman-Markey electricity tax bill in the House has blown House members away. The public outrage is really hurting those who voted for it, and that's why the bill has been "parked" (as the Blair government used to say) in the Senate. Very good sign.

Very, very good.

Remember what I've told you time and again: Cap-and-trade is the most vile piece of legislation ever considered by Congress. By cap-and-trade, Congress has declared war on the American people.


Every single lawmaker who supports cap-and-trade is now an enemy of the Republic.

Do what must be done. Do not hesitate. Show no mercy.

OK, ESPN

On your bottom-of-the-screen crawl, do we really need a "Manny Update?"

A chance to intensify our fight in the war declared against us.

Fortunately for we suffering citizens of the United States, the Senate has delayed discussions of the disgusting cap-and-trade. For now:

President Barack Obama’s push for quick action by Congress on climate change legislation suffered a setback on Thursday when the U.S. Senate committee leading the drive delayed work on the bill until September.

Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer said her self-imposed deadline of early August for finishing writing a bill to combat global warming has been put off until after Congress returns from a recess that ends in early September.

“We’ll do it as soon as we get back” from that break, Boxer told reporters. Asked if this delay jeopardizes chances the Senate will pass a bill this year, Boxer said, “Not a bit … we’ll be in (session) until Christmas, so I’m not worried about it.”

But Boxer did not guarantee Congress will be able to finish a bill and deliver it to Obama by December, when he plans to attend an international summit on climate change in Copenhagen.

A good rule of thumb holds that if Barbara Boxer supports something, it's probably a bad idea.

And, no, Babs, I'm not calling you "senator." "Disgrace to Western Civilization," maybe, but never "senator." There is no requirement that I or anyone else call you "senator." Do something about it.

Hot Air has analysis:

Two weeks ago, when the House barely pushed this through a vote, Barack Obama’s poll numbers still looked good enough to imply that there may not be consequences for hobbling the economy with ludicrous taxes, fees, and penalties for energy production. With his poll numbers eroding quickly and the electorate losing patience with high unemployment and Porkulus’ failure, that doesn’t seem like a safe bet any more. As the economy continues to drag, cap-and-trade will look more like a disaster than the mythical one it purports to avoid.

The Democrats simply don’t have the votes now on cap-and-trade, and unless the economy suddenly lurches back to life, the political situation will be worse in September. That doesn’t mean we can let up on the pressure, as Michelle says. Keep calling your Senators to tell them that a vote for cap-and-trade means adding to the unemployment lines — starting with themselves.

Once again, let's be clear on this, children. Cap-and-trade is the most vile piece of legislation ever considered by Congress. By cap-and-trade, Congress has declared war on you, the American people.


Every single lawmaker who supports cap-and-trade is an enemy of the Republic.

Do what must be done. Do not hesitate. Show no mercy.

Via Michelle Malkin, Temple of Mut has a list of Key Cap and Trade Senate Targets. Keep the pressure on them. Let them know that a vote for cap-and-trade, or even a vote for cloture on cap-and-trade, will be a betrayal of the American people of the highest order, amounting to treason, because cap-and-trade is designed and is even fully intended to hurt the American people.

Because that's what it will be.

Passage of cap-and-trade by our elected officials in Washington, who hold themselves out as servants of the American public, is utterly inexcusable.

it would be a declaration of war on the same people they purport to serve. Fight now to stop them.

A necessary antidote

I could not believe it when I saw coverage of the Michael Jackson funeral when I turned on ... ESPN!!! ESP effin' N!!! My Gawd, is it actually possible for Michael Jackson to be more annoying in death than he was in life? Was he trying to pull an Obi-Wan Kenobi?

I liked his early music, but he actually peaked before Thriller (think "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough" and "Rock With You"), and by 1988's "Dirty Diana," his last decent (notice I did not say "good") hit, he was already on fumes. Everything since has been mediocre to bad, though not even approaching John Mellencamp depths of musical terrorism. Michael Jackson was pretty damn good, but for a guy whose last decent hit was 21 years ago, this is ridiculous.

There is only one antidote for all this Michael Jackson. Only one thing can save us. You need it. I need it. We all need it. That's right, children -- we need Emmanuelle Vaugier.


ALL EMMANUELLE VAUGIER, ALL THE TIME!!!

Houston, Exeter or something else?

While we are on the subject of identifying pictures, may I add the following:


The web site of the USS Houston CA-30 captions this picture with the following:

Above is Feb 4 photo of air attack on DeReuter (sic) (R) and Houston (L). USS Marblehead, in same action was damaged so badly she was sent back to CONUS for repairs.

The excellent Dutch East Indies Campaign 1941-1942 web site has a similar caption:

A picture taken during the bombing of Striking Force off Kangean on 4 February 1942. On the right the Dutch light cruiser De Ruyter, on the left USS heavy cruiser Houston.

On February 4, 1942, by dumb luck, a force of Japanese bombers on a mission to attack the ABDA naval base at Soerabaja (Surabaya), Java intercepted a US-Dutch task force under the command of Dutch Rear Admiral (so to speak) Karel W.F.M. Doorman that was trying to intercept the Japanese invasion force headed for Makassar, Celebes. The bombers called in their friends, and Doorman's little fleet was pounded. The US light cruiser Marblehead was permanently disabled. The Houston took a bomb hit that disabled her aft turret for the remainder of the campaign -- and, as it unfortunately turned out, her career. The Dutch light cruiser De Ruyter, Doorman's flagship, was damaged as well. After this series of air attacks, Doorman's force was compelled to retreat, adn the Japanese landings at Makassar went on unopposed. This was typical of the pattern of Allied naval fortunes in the Netherlands East Indies Campaign.

While there are several photographs out there of the damaged Houston and Marblehead after this attack when they returned to Tjilatjap (look, for the last time it's pronounced "CHIL-a-chap;" if you don't understand why, ask the Dutch) for repairs, the picture above represents the only picture that I have personally seen anywhere that purports to be of the actual attack on February 4, 1942, though I have bene told there are others.

Keeping these aforementioned captions in mind, look at this picture of the USS Houston, taken at Darwin, Australia in February 1942, shortly after the bombing off Kangean:

Now, compare it to the following pictures:

This is the British heavy cruiser Exeter, which took part in the Battle of the Java Sea.
This is a picture of the Exeter under Japanese air attack in the Bangka Strait, off Sumatra, on February 15, 1942 . The picture is sometimes said to be of the Exeter under attack during the Battle of the Java Sea on February 27-28, 1942 -- the British Imperial Museum, for one, state as much -- but several other sources state that this was taken during the series of air attacks off Bangka, and I am aware of no surviving pictures taken during the daylight phase of the Battle of the Java Sea.

Now, this is a picture of the rather strange little Dutch light cruiser Java, during that same action off Bangka on February 15, 1942. It is also sometimes identified as taken during the Battle of the Java Sea. Once again, I am aware of no surviving pictures taken during the daylight phase of the Battle of the Java Sea.

Where am I going with all this? I got into an oddly snippy discussion last year on the message boards of the Dutch East Indies Campaign site last year about that top picture. Let's refresh:


To me, the ship on the left might be the Houston, but not necessarily. The blob at the top of the mast could be the Houston's top mast crow's nest, but it need not be -- it could be, for instance, the giant navy jack that British ships flew in battle. Further, if you look below that, there is what looks to me like a "crossmast" on the foremast. I have been told that this is the result of pixellation of the photograph, but I am not convinced. There is a black blob toward the right side of the cruiser's image, which might be of a burning aft turret. Or not.

The alleged crossmast should not be there if the cruiser is the Houston, but it would be if the cruiser was instead the Exeter.

Further, to me, at least, the picture looks a lot like the other pictures shown above that came out of the February 15 action in the Bangka Strait.

And just because, this is a picture of the Dutch Admiral Doorman. For 67 years, the man has been unfairly maligned for his performance during the Dutch East Indies Campaign, during which he gave his life. The criticism is unjustified. His performance was far, far better than his critics have alleged. I'll deal with that in a later post or even a book, but for the time being show him some love. He deserves it. But I digress ...

Any thoughts on the pictures?

Once again

we must ask the question, because:

1. In the revolt against the Iranian mullahs, Barack Obama's muted (at best) denunciation of the mullahs' tactics and lack of support for the Iranian people shows a support for the mullahs and Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, sworn enemies of the United States;

2. In the legal removal by the Honduran Supreme Court of its president, Manuel Zelaya, who was trying to illegally get around constitutional restrictions to have himself named dictator for life, Obama is not siding with the Honduran people, who appear to support Zelaya's removal, but with Zelaya -- and his patron, Venezuela's argument-for-retroactive-abortion Hugo Chavez, both of whom intend to hurt the United States;

3. Obama is determined to get a nuclear arms reduction with the Russian government, who also intends to hurt the United States -- so determined that he is willing to give up missile defense and is even willing to dispense with the usual constitutional requirements ... er, details of, you know, Senate ratification; and

4. Obama is determined to spike the F-22 Raptor fighter, which every single military individual I know insists is the best superiority fighter in the world, on spurious claims of performance and cost -- which will weaken the United States air defenses.

So, we must again ask the question:

WHOSE SIDE IS BARACK OBAMA ON?

What to do?

With national and international politics too depressing to discuss right now because they're both complete disasters thanks to our incompetent and treasonous POTUS and his allies in Congress, what am I supposed to do?


The solution is obvious, children. That's right: go ALL EMMANUELLE VAUGIER, ALL THE TIME!!!


I recommend everyone else do the same. This world will be a much better place with more Emmanuelle Vaugier. Thank you so much, CSI:NY, for helping to ruin the world by killing her off. Bastards.

But I'm not bitter ...

An abuse of public trust

That is what National Review calls cap-and-trade. A snippet:

The stimulus bill was the legislative equivalent of the famous cantina scene from Star Wars, an eye-popping collection of the freakish and exotic, gathered for dubious purposes. The Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill, known as ACES (the American Clean Energy and Security Act), is more like the third panel in Hieronymus Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights — a hellscape that disturbs the sleep of anybody who contemplates it carefully.

Two main things to understand about Waxman-Markey: First, it will not reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, at least not at any point in the near future. The inclusion of carbon offsets, which can be manufactured out of thin air and political imagination, will eliminate most of the demands that the legislation puts on industry, though in doing so it will manage to drive up the prices consumers pay for every product that requires energy for its manufacture — which is to say, for everything. Second, it represents a worse abuse of the public trust and purse than the stimulus and the bailouts put together. Waxman-Markey creates a permanent new regime in which environmental romanticism and corporate welfare are mixed together to form political poison. From comic bureaucratic power grabs (check out the section of the bill on candelabras) to the creation of new welfare programs for Democratic constituencies to, above all, massive giveaways for every financial, industrial, and political lobby imaginable, this bill would permanently deform American politics and economic life.

Read the whole thing. Like I said, cap-and-trade is a declaration of war by Congress on the American people.

What is this picture?

I ask, of what is this picture?

In a post last year, I identified it with the following caption:

The US destroyer Pope sinking by the stern in the Java Sea March 1, 1942 under gunfire from the Japanese cruisers Ashigara and Myoko. Note the four stacks, characteristic of the World War I-era class of destroyers of which Pope was a member. Taken from the Japanese cruiser Ashigara, who filmed the action.

This particular picture, however, has always been the subject of some controversy. There has always been a theory that this picture does not show the Pope, but instead the US destroyer Edsall. Donald M. Kehn, Jr., takes this view in his new book A Blue Sea of Blood: Deciphering the Mysterious Fate of the USS Edsall.

The Edsall was returning to Tjilatjap, Java (pronounced "Chilachap") after her escort mission of the tender Langley ended in disaster. She never reached Tjilatjap and was never heard from again.

It was later determined that the Edsall was attacked in the Indian Ocean south of Java by the surface escorts of the Imperial Japanese Carrier Striking Force Kido Butai - battleships Hiei and Kirishima, heavy aircraft cruisers Tone and Chikuma -- and sunk by gunfire with all hands. One old destroyer against two modern battleships and two modern cruisers.

The Japanese propaganda film from which this picture was taken (and modified) identified the ship as the "HMS Pope." Obviously incorrect, but the Pope had been sunk with two British ships, the heavy cruiser Exeter and the destroyer Encounter, when she was chased down by seaplanes, an aircraft carrier and four heavy cruisers.

Kehn has long argued that this is a picture of the Edsall. Based on my first skim of the section of his book discussing this picture, I am not so convinced, but I haven't dived deeply into it yet. Any confusion is understandable - the Pope and Edsall sank under similar circumstances and both were sister ships.

I am anxious to dig further into this book. Kehn is performing a valuable service to history in highlighting the fate of the Edsall, which has been largely obscured by the other disasters occuring in the Far East at that time.

Just because

I like Emmanuelle Vaugier.

Channelling me

Remember when I said this?

Never before in the history of the Republic has Congress (or even
Parliament before independence) considered a new law or program that
is as vile or even remotely as vile as cap-and-trade.

It's nice to know that Robert Zubrin of Roll Call agrees with me:

In the 220 years of our republic, there may have been worse pieces of legislation enacted by Congress than the Waxman-Markey bill, but none readily comes to mind. The Senate needs to take a stand and stop this disastrous act from passing into law.

A vote for cap-and-trade is inexcusable, a declaration of war by Congress on the American people.