A Putrrhic Victory?

The Spectator has an interesting read by Newsweek’s former Moscow bureau chief, Owen Matthews, who tells us not to worry. In the long run, Putin's actions in Crimea will not be to Russia's advantage.

In a nutshell, Crimea is a worrisome carbuncle on Ukraine's backside. Cut it off, get your political and economic systems fixed and the Ukes will be a lot better off. And please, stop already with the mail order bride scams.

[...] Let Crimea go: it will be the making of Ukraine and the end of Vladimir Putin. Without Crimea, there will never again be a pro-Moscow government in Kiev. Ukraine will have a chance to become a governable country — a strongly pro-European one with a Russian minority of around 15 per cent. Putin will have gained Crimea but lost Ukraine for ever. And without Ukraine, as former US national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski famously said, ‘Russia can no longer be an empire.’

[...] Thanks to Putin’s rash decision to occupy Crimea, not just the EU but its most powerful members — notably Germany, the UK, France and Poland — realise that supporting Ukraine is no longer about handouts but principle. Countries that strive towards European values — and suffer for it — should be rewarded and protected. Angela Merkel, the European leader who knows Putin best and is usually the most conciliatory towards Russia, told the Bundestag last week that he was ‘on a different planet’. Brussels has hurried to offer an amended Association Agreement; the US has backed a generous bailout from the International Monetary Fund.

[...] What’s more, in taking Crimea Putin has made himself a hostage to Kiev. Putin’s main economic leverage is that he sits on Ukraine’s gas pipelines: but now Kiev sits on Crimea’s road, rail, water and power. And unlike the gas wars that the Kremlin launched against Ukraine in 2005 and 2009, which cut off Moscow’s European customers, a Ukrainian blockade of Crimea will hurt only Crimeans.

There's a lot more here.

Sports Wisdom

"I won't know until my barber tells me on Monday."
- Knute Rockne, when asked why Notre Dame had lost a game

"I tell him 'Attaway to hit, George.'"
- Jim Frey, K.C. Royals manager when asked what advice he gives George Brett on hitting

"I learned a long time ago that 'minor surgery' is when they do the operation on someone else, not you."
- Bill Walton, PortlandTrial Blazers

"Our biggest concern this season will be diaper rash."
- George MacIntyre, Vanderbilt football coach surveying the team roster that included 26 freshmen and 25 sophomores.

"The only difference between me and General Custer is that I have to watch the films on Sunday."
- Rick Venturi, Northwestern football coach


"My knees look like they lost a knife fight with a midget."
- E.J. Holub, Kansas City Chiefs linebacker regarding his 12 knee operations

H/T Theo Spark


And something for naval aviators.

The three best things in life are a good landing, a good orgasm, and a good bowel movement. The night carrier landing is one of the few opportunities in life to experience all three at the same time.
- Author Unknown

Another Top Ten List

Here's another top ten list for 2013 - countries with the most executions.

In order of ascending executions:

	Country	Executions
10	Vietnam	7
9	Japan	8
8	Yemen	13
7	Sudan	21
6	Somalia	34
5	USA	39
4	Saudi Arabia	79
3	Iraq	169
2	Iran	369
1	China	1500

Commies keep it quiet, No one really knows how many were executed in Vietnam and especially in China; it's a closely guarded state secret, but estimates place it somewhere between lots and lots to who knows. When you have nearly 1.5 billion people to mess with you can get careless... I used 1500 for China because they have soldiers practicing mass executions. I have a sneaking suspicion that I severely underestimated the Chinese.

The list was compiled by Amnesty International. and was heralded by a UK Telegraph article as the "ten most brutal places in the world" (*cough* bul...hit *cough*). But look again, this time at the number of executions per 100,000 population.

	Country	Rate/100000
10	Japan	0.006
9	Vietnam	0.007
8	USA	0.012
7	Yemen	0.055
6	Sudan	0.059
5	China	0.111
4	Saudi Arabia	0.289
3	Somalia	0.326
2	Iran	0.456
1	Iraq	0.519

The allegedly bloodthirsty US has a rate only twice that of the peace loving Japanese. And of course the Telegraph ignores it's own article concerning a UN report that the UK is one of the most violent places in the world.

The Hornet's Nest

There is a movie coming out this Spring about the war in Afghanistan.
There are no actors, only soldiers.
It's the real deal.

Top Ten Small Cities To Aviod

The Movoto real estate blog has this to say:

After studying more than 200 small cities, we’ve concluded that Wilmington, DE is the most dangerous in terms of crime. It’s joined in this dubious honor by nine other places to comprise our 10 most dangerous small cities in America:

1. Wilmington, DE
2. Canton, OH
3. Jackson, TN
4. Rocky Mount, NC
5. North Little Rock, AR
6. Pensacola, FL
7. Daytona Beach, FL
8. Homestead, FL
8. Lauderhill, FL
10. Warner Robins, GA

Story here.

A Nation Of Felons

There are so many laws in this country that a lawyer has recently wrote a book detailing how the average American commits three felonies a day. There are so many unknown laws on the books that any one can risk a prison sentence for almost anything and never know that they're a felon.

The Smallest Minority has quite a work up on this.

Ayn Rand in Atlas Shrugged wrote: "There is no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is to crack down on criminals. When there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking the law. Create a nation of lawbreakers and then you can cash in on the guilt."

If you have ten thousand regulations you destroy all respect for the law.
-- Winston Churchill

Judges, legislators and cops. It's a mess. And they are writing more laws every day.

How To Save Taxpayers $100 Million A Year

They'll go nutzoid over this.

Rumsfeld says ‘a trained ape’ could outperform Obama in Afghanistan

You know it wasn’t a racist comment. You also know it doesn’t matter. MSNBC has their see-what-racists-all-Obama-opponents-are talking point for the next few days.

More to the point, though, knowing Donald Rumsfeld he doesn’t care about any of that, which is one of the things I love about him. The far more important point here is the point itself - that the U.S. had a good relationship with Karzai in Afghanistan when the Bush Administration was in office. It was only when Obama and crew came in that we suddenly couldn’t work with him.

Video clip here.

Spoons

Now I Understand

Over the course of his ministry, Mark Gungor is a pastor who has assisted many troubled couples through marriage counseling. He decided to make a video about the things he discovered about men and women. This is only a five minute slice out of his DVD.


H/T FoTM

Life Imitates Art

DARPA has given awards to four companies to develop their concepts for the next generation of Vertical Take Off/Landing (VTOL) aircraft.

One of the companies, Boeing, has a design that is somewhat disturbing. See for yourself.

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Now this, a "hunter killer" from the movie "Terminator."

Should we be worried?

No Fertilizer Exists That Will Help Barry Grow A Pair

It was already tried by giving Bary a Miracle-Gro enema.

New Jersey to Connecticut: Ditto To Gun Control

Molon Labe baby.

Live it.

Love it.

H/T The Real Revo

Sectarian Violence In The Central African Republic

As the son of a missionary, a very good friend of mine was brought up in the Central African Republic. His brother, Chuck, is there as a missionary right now and we are praying for his safe return next week.The CAR has been in turmoil for years and it is getting worse.

Navi Pillay made the strong statement at a press conference in the capital, Bangui, on Thursday.

The UN's top human rights official described the hatred between Christian and Muslim communities in the Central African Republic as being at "a terrifying level."

Pillay also questioned whether there would have been a "far stronger and more dynamic reaction by the outside world" if the atrocities were not happening "in a poor country hidden away in the heart of Africa."

Reports of escalating violence in the republic had included decapitating children, cannibalism and lynchings, Pillay said.

Chuck has already had armed men storm into his home on several occasions. Rebels once rammed a rifle in his mouth and threatened to kill him.

The majority Christian government was overthrown a year ago by Muslim rebels; last December Christians tried to retake the capital but were repulsed. France and other African countries have sent peace keeping troops into CAR but they have been unable to stem the violence. Both Christian and Muslim refugees are fleeing into neighboring countries. 

Some 6,000 African peacekeepers and 2,000 French troops were deployed to the Central African Republic in 2013 to stabilize the country, but have a limited presence outside the capital.

Pillay also said the absence of law and order, apart from foreign troops in the country, meant that too little was being done to arrest those guilty of violence.

She told waiting reporters that "this has become a country where people are not just killed, they are tortured, mutilated, burned and dismembered."

The unstable African state was plunged into chaos when rebels who helped topple President Francois Bozize a year ago then started their own campaign to rule the republic.

Probably the only thing that has kept Chuck alive is that a regional hospital is supported through his mission - it treats everyone who needs medical attention no matter if they are Christian or Muslim. Because of this the combatants, for the most part, have left the hospital and its staff alone.

Hypocrites

55 Reasons Why America Is In Trouble

Submitted by Michael Snyder of The American Dream blog,

Is America the greatest nation on the planet? Before you answer that question, you might want to check out the statistics that I have shared in this article first. The reality is that the United States is in a deep state of decline, and it is getting harder to deny that fact with each passing day. Mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually and financially we are a train wreck. Many that are “patriotic” attempt to put a happy face on our growing problems, but the truly patriotic thing to do is to admit just how bad things have gotten so that we can start finding solutions.

If you truly love this country, then you should know that this nation needs a huge wake up call. We have abandoned the values and the principles that early Americans held so dear, and as a result our society is a giant mess. The following are 55 things about America that you may not know…

#1 We are supposed to have a government “of the people, by the people, for the people”, but only 25 percent of all Americans know how long U.S. Senators are elected for (6 years), and only 20 percent of all Americans know how many U.S. senators there are.

#2 Americans spend more on health care per capita than anyone else in the world by far, and yet we only rank 35th in life expectancy.

#3 Only one state in the entire country has an obesity rate of under 20 percent. 11 states have an obesity rate of over 30 percent.

#4 Of all the major industrialized nations, America is the most obese. Mexico is #2.

#5 Back in 1962, only 13 percent of all Americans were obese, but it is being projected that 42 percent of all Americans could be obese by the year 2030.

Go to the American Dream to see the reference links for all 55 statistics.

H/T iOTW