Extractions: November 21, 2004 Main December 05, 2004 Besides, I owe ya something more than just Spirit of America stuff (thanks to those readers who have kindly donated, btw). That, and this cellulitis I'm suffering from is kinda slowing me down. So, lets go into obscure Ordnance and funny story related thereto. Such was the life of the 3-inch Ordnance Rifle Developed just prior to the Civil War, it was the second most common, and probably the most favored, field piece. Well made (at least the Union examples), tough, and accurate, it provided good service during the war. After the war, they remained in service for decades. In the 1870-90s the world was shifting over to breech-loaded cannon, and the Army decided we needed to follow suit. The last gasp of glory for the 3-inch Ordnance rifle was the Spanish-American war, where it served as a training gun, after which it retired to garrison... as a salute gun. Therein lies our tale. After many accidents in using the guns in the muzzle-loading configuration, they were converted to breech-loaders. The gun was converted to breech-loading by extending the bore all the way through, making it a tube open at both ends, and then cutting through from the side a square hole to take a sliding breech block. Voilà!
History News Network The great events of american history provided the foundation for the opportunities in from where do we derive our claims to be better than the bad guys? http://hnn.us/blogs/archives/25/2004/07/
Extractions: @import url("/css/style.css"); Search HNN: HNN Articles Hot Topics Books Features ... Marc Bacharach ); Tom Bruscino ( ); Richard Holmes ( Stephen Tootle Click here to contact Rebunk. Tom Bruscino [Self Editor's note: Derek has done a great job of summarizing the Democratic convention and the various speeches, so read his posts. This post is just my take on Senator Kerry's acceptance speech last night.] How can I say this? Hmmm... Let's go with: I was disappointed. I seem to be in the minority on this onelots of smart, interested people from all over the spectrum thought it was a solid effort. I think I know why, too: lots of smart, interested people, being smart and interested, watched the whole evening's festivities. I did not. The wife and I watched the "Last Comic Standing" wild card revealed showthe insufferably not funny one-noter Jay London made it into the final six, and I suppose that could be a symbol of the foolishness of the American voter, blah, blah, blah. Then we turned on C-SPAN at 10:00 to see Senator Kerry give his speech. We missed the kiddies talking, we missed the video, we only saw part of Cleland's introduction. From what I understand, the video especially was excellent. Maybe, then, we weren't properly prepped for the speech. We turned it on cold. The acceptance speech at a convention should be home run time. The crowd is lively. They want to love their candidate. They want sweeping rhetoric. They want to be pumped up. You can get away with a lot of stuff that would normally be considered hokey because the crowd will carry you through, and because conventions by their nature are almost always wildly optimistic. I love that stuff. I love wild optimism and sweeping rhetoric, even outside of conventions. I enjoy what most people consider hokey, and without the snooty sense of irony: "Harrumph, Margaret, look how those poor dumb sheep are buying all this claptrap about freedom and democracy and patriotism. Plebeians." Not me. Yell out "Freedom" as those bastards torture you. Pick up the flag of a nation that had enslaved you, and die waving it, as you storm Fort Wagner. Tell Private Ryan, and us all, to earn this. I'll be covered in goosebumps.
Dean's World - Cleaning Up Dodge Democracy reflects where regular folks can take civilization, Only there,the fear is more real, for there the bad guys have guns and kill without http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1106828705.shtml
Extractions: Defending the liberal tradition in history, science, and philosophy. Dean In this essay sent to us from Robert Hightower, Mr. Hightower's colleague Vassar Bushmills reports what one old hand thinks about the prospects for democracy in the Middle East. It is a long essay, and one that requires close reading to pick up everything. Some will call it racist and sexist. I call it a damned fine piece of writing. Dean CLEANING UP DODGE "Moses, you know Muslims all over the world. A lot of people say they are medieval, they have no desire for democracy, that democracy is neither in their nature nor their religion. Do you think Islam is amenable to democracy? Was it a good idea to try to steer them toward democracy?" He reached in his pocket and pulled out a pack of Toms, tore one corner with his mouth, and squeezed out a single peanut into his fingers. Putting it in his mouth, he said, "Sure they can. Good idea, too... though I suspect it could fall flat on its face. "You know, used to, we gave parades for people who tried the hard things. Wrote books about 'em. We encouraged, even declared as noble the kind of people who, if they fell, would pick themselves up, dust off, and start out again." "We don't do that any more.
Ben Kepple: July 2003 Archives Despite the fact that the bad guys are fully aware of these things, He wasnot a rich american or a famous american, but he was a good american. http://www.benkepple.com/archives/2003_07.html
Extractions: Main ... but don't worry, all is well here at The Rant. See you soon, and with even more great features ... such as NEVER-BEFORE SEEN CONTENT! Of course, given that we're in the business of producing content that's never been seen before, that's kind of a rip-off, but hey. We shall be back, and we shall see you then! Posted by Benjamin Kepple at 11:55 PM Comments (0) TrackBack What happens when word gets out that two young children are earning pocket money at their grandmother's small business? Well, in Illinois, the state Government sends in a labor inspector to read Grandma the riot act Christ. Go read the story in the Chicago Sun-Times . It's freaking pitiful. Posted by Benjamin Kepple at 11:46 PM Comments (3) TrackBack When one looks at the brouhaha that has erupted around John Hawkins' survey of the twenty greatest Americans in our nation's history , one is tempted to consider Kissinger's dictum about academia: the infighting is so fierce because the stakes are so small. For Mr Hawkins' survey is small both in scale and scope. That is
Robert Jensen: Alternative Futures Environmental bad guys by James Ridgeway and Jeffrey St. Clair Along the way,POCLAD retells some american history, with two main effects. http://www.counterpunch.org/jensen0627.html
Extractions: home subscribe about us books ... feedback Read Cockburn and St. Clair's Whiteout: the CIA, Drugs and the Press and discover how the CIA gave a helping hand to the opium lords who took over Afghanistan, thus ushering the Taliban into power. New Print Edition of CounterPunch Available Exclusively to Subscribers: Inside the Supposed Lair of Osama bin Laden: Is He In Georgia? Almost Certainly Not, But It Sure Suits the US and Shevardnadze To Pretend That He Might Be; It's All About Oil; God's Country: How the Anti- Defamation League Learned to Love the Christian Right; It's All About Israel; President Kucinich? Not If Katha Pollitt and NOW Have Any Say In It; Does It All Come Down to Abortion? Remember, the CounterPunch website is supported exclusively by subscribers to our newsletter. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! Or Call Toll Free 1-800-840-3683 June 27, 2002 Rahual Mahajan
Jay Bryant: Jennings And Guantanamo Doug Giles A history Test Today s american Minute My friends, we are thegood guys in this fight. The bad guys chop off the heads of the prisoners http://www.townhall.com/columnists/jaybryant/jb20040627.shtml
CaNN :: We Started It. STRAIGHT guys PLAN TO MARRY FOR TAX BREAKS Having convinced a majority of CanadianMPs PASSAGE To Kandahar; Kill bad people, good Canadian soldiers! http://www.anglican.tk/
Exploring The Law Of Unintended Consequences | The Register Round one to the bad guys. Fine. So car owners quit using alarms, Round twoto the good guys. Not so fast since cars were extremely difficult to http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/01/21/unintended_consequences/
Extractions: Skip to content Biting the hand that feeds IT SetPromptText('q', 'Search'); Security: Google Earth threatens democracy - again World of Warcraft plague 'swamps servers' PayPal hit by payment problems GoogleNet flickers into life ... Security By Scott Granneman, SecurityFocus Published Friday 21st January 2005 12:32Â GMT Column The law of unintended consequences shows us how many innocent innovations like email, anti-virus and DRM can become something far worse than the inventors had ever imagined. Back in the 1970s, long before the revolution that would eventually topple him from power, the Shah of Iran was one of America's best friends (he was a dictator who brutally repressed his people , but he was anti-communist, and that made him OK in our book). Wanting to help out a good friend, the United States government agreed to sell Iran the very same intaglio presses used to print American currency so that the Shah could print his own high quality money for his country. Soon enough, the Shah was the proud owner of some of the best money printing machines in the world, and
Gothamist: Paul Boocock, Actor And Writer What they lack is the guys who don t try to do it all themselves. That s amajor event in american history. 1947 was well before Little Rock ( 55?). http://www.gothamist.com/archives/2005/06/22/paul_boocock_actor_and_writer.php
Extractions: The Show comes from me answering the question: What is still good about America? After the most recent Bush coup, the only answer I could come up with is Baseball. But then I thought to myself: There is much in that answer - much to baseball. I think Baseball often represents what's good about the country and, whatever the current state of the baseball union is, certainly tells us much about the health of our country. And, with a media that is blatantly ideological or corporately self-censored, I think that baseball is one of the few places where you can honestly see how many of our current American concerns are playing themselves out (so to speak). What's real, not pre-spun, is found on the Tabloid BACK page. Hunter S. Thompson (who started as a sports reporter) said something to the effect that the only place you're gonna find the truth is in the box scores.
Syd Allan: America-Bashing Is Counter-Productive weapons and aircraft carriers by saying It s okay we re the good guys. It s too bad that so many Canadians didn t recognize good comedy when they http://www.jagular.com/america-bashing.shtml
Extractions: Syd Allan: America-Bashing is Counter-Productive www.jagular.com/america-bashing.shtml February 13, 2004 The most important political dichotomy in the U.S. is between the people who have more questions than answers, and the people who have more answers than questions. To effect real political change in America we have to help the first group gain more influence than the second. This week NBC is broadcasting Late Night With Conan O'Brien from Canada, and Canadians should feel flattered and grateful for the attention. But on Tuesday when Conan mentioned President Bush during his opening monologue, the Toronto audience immediately started booing. Similar sentiments toward U.S. politicians (and soldiers) are unfortunately very common in Canada. We Canadians like to differentiate ourselves from Americans: we pride ourselves on being socially responsible racially tolerant pacifists; we stick maple leaves all over our clothes and luggage when we travel, because we've been told that Europeans and others are always happy to hear that we're from Canada and not the United States; we sympathize with people who believe that the United States is imposing a double-standard when they demand that other nations eliminate their weapons of mass destruction while the U.S. spends billions of dollars developing their own WMD's; we groan when Americans justify their nuclear weapons and aircraft carriers by saying It's okay: we're the good guys. We would never abuse our power;
BeatBushBlog Damn Dime boycott was lame ineffective and not directed at the bad guys . The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do http://home.earthlink.net/~fsrhine/2005.01.01_arch.html
Extractions: A Proud Member of the Reality-Based Community This blog is dedicated to removing George W. Bush, the worst president in history, from office. I also sometimes discuss other political and social issues. Please feel free to leave comments. Click on "Comment" under any post to do so. In addition to the blog, check out my comprehensive lists of anti-Bush links and resources and book recommendations The reasons for my assessment of Bush are here under "Why this blog?" But don't just accept my opinion that he's the worst president in history! Ask former Republican Senator Lowell Weicker Professor George Akerlof , winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Economics, veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas , and Senator (and former Florida Governor) Bob Graham . Or preeminent left bloggers Atrios and Kos . Or even the folks who've voted here and here ! (OK, I grant you the question at the latter site might be a tad leading . . . .) You can print out your own "Worst. President. EVER." bumper sticker
The Black Commentator - E-MailBox - Issue 31 good for Ms. Braun! In the first round of voting she has my vote. movies,magazines where the good guys are whites and blacks, whereas the bad guys are http://www.blackcommentator.com/31/31_e_mail.html
Extractions: The Moseley-Braun - Sharpton debate Carol Moseley-Braun's participation in the Democratic primaries provides the first opportunity to observe how African American and non-Black politicians operate when more than one Black is on the presidential ballot. In coming months we will discover a great deal about the workings of the Democratic Party, the corporate media, and the primary electorate. The two Black candidates are already well known. Rev. Al Sharpton brings with him all of the skills - and baggage - of three-plus tumultuous decades of civil rights struggles. Carol Moseley Braun will forever be connected to the superlative of "first" Black female U.S. Senator (1992 - 98), a post in which she managed to make even less noise than did Republican Edward Brooke (R-MA, 1966 - 78), the first Black to serve in that body since Reconstruction. Brooke was known as the "quiet man" of the Senate, who eschewed anything that smacked of political "posturing." During her six years in the Senate, Moseley-Braun's profile was near invisible. The Chicagoan did not decide to enter the primaries until the year-end holidays. In last week's commentary "
WFMU's Beware Of The Blog: History Michael J. Nelson turns out to be one of the guys on Mystery Science Theater 3000 . american history and a real knowledge of government and policy. http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/history/
Extractions: Categories I'm on a real Mothers of Invention kick lately, and nothing could be better than the quintessential 1968 lineup (Don Preston, Roy Estrada, Ian Underwood, Jimmy Carl Back, et al.) performing King Kong. What gene pool made these guys? Largely classically trained, oversexed, jaded intellectual too-cool-to-be-hippie motherfuckers - they simply do not make bands like this anymore. They inspired so many, and were narrowly rewarded for their efforts. Of course, Frank Zappa's post-Mothers career and all-too-short life is well documented, but it's the Mothers era that never ceases to amaze me. Note Frank's comment at the top of this clip thanking the BBC for "allowing them to do things..." - the US hasn't changed that much, if at all; we still have the worst artist-censoring record this side of Iran.
XplanaZine Even the american government was not immune from accepting the reality of the for help to fight the bad guys because he recognizes that one individual http://www.xplanazine.com/archives/2005/03/wayning_relaity.php
Extractions: Ethan Edwards rides alone on his horse in the classic western, The Searchers. The actor portraying Edwards is John Wayne (a.k.a. Marion Michael Morrison), a former USC football player who not only hated riding horses and wearing jeans but also never fought in any war. Despite his contrasted off-screen persona, Wayne 's onscreen image became the prototype of what every man in America should strive to be. Rugged, hardy, emotionless and impenetrable, Wayne 's characters took on any challenge single-handedly. The man's image symbolized freedom, independence, and courage. If John Wayne's character decided it was right, it was right, and without any further consideration, the country accepted the decision of a character in a movie as their own. Dr. Brad Raley teaches a class on "America Through Western Film" at the University of Oklahoma. Raley has examined the effect Wayne 's movies have had on American culture. "The films are more about the time in which they're made than the time in which they're set," he said. "A film made the 1930's about 1870's cattle is really about the anxieties of 1930's America."
American Samizdat: Rebel Scum Since 2001 Afterall, we re supposed to be the good guys. We re not supposed to kill America was never innocent. We popped our cherry on the boat over and looked http://amsam.org/2003_09_14_archive.html
Extractions: Elitists, utopians and so-called progressives fused their smoldering race fears and class bias with their desire to make a better world, reinventing Galtons eugenics as a repressive and racist ideology. Their intent: to populate the earth with vastly more of their own socioeconomic and biological kind, and less or none of everyone else.[ more This piece is adapted from Edwin Black's recently released book
Alpaca Burger Forum For Cranky Old Men But it does bring me back to the plane of the regular folks, I think. Lots ofgood guys in the Democratic camp, no doubt about that. http://www.newcounterculture.com/log/archives/archive-102004.htm
Extractions: But I can promise that if John Kerry wins, I ain't goin' nowhere: I'm staying in town, I'm continuing to read all the same newspapers and watch all the same shows, I will still be a Dallas Cowboys fan, I shall continue writing right here in the forum on any issue I feel like writing about and most everyone will continue not reading what I have to say, I will not shave my beard or have some personal consultant tell me what "my colors" are, I will long for the day when my e-mails say "Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld" like all the cool peoples' do, I'll still be angry at the French, and I will almost certainly continue to drink red wine. Yep, it'll be business as usual around these parts, and you can take that to the bank.
Shining Full Plate And A Good Broadsword It makes sense because thats where you learn that were the bad guys we were Almost everyone agrees that there are good Muslims and bad Muslims, http://www.nerra.com/broadsword/
Extractions: Register Chickenhawks Filed under: Some asshole named Audrey Brown is harassing Atlas over at Atlas Shrugs for being a âChickenhawkâ. And they call themselves humanitarians and âprogressivesâ. Comments (1) Filed under: So you think Katrina was bad? Police: Lions eat 20 villagers in Ethiopia âThe lions are coming from the bush seeking food,â in groups of two to four animals, according to the statement. Comments (0) Filed under: The passing of one of the greatest Paladins the world has ever seen: Holocaust Survivor Simon Wiesenthal Dies LOS ANGELES - Simon Wiesenthal, the Holocaust survivor who helped track down numerous Nazi war criminals following World War II then spent the later decades of his life fighting anti-Semitism and prejudice against all people, died Tuesday. He was 96. Wiesenthal died in his sleep at his home in Vienna, Austria, according to Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean and founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles.
Extractions: Mobilize for November 2, 2005 Your government, on the basis of outrageous lies, is waging a murderous and utterly illegitimate war in Iraq, with other countries in their sights. Your government is openly torturing people, and justifying it. Your government puts people in jail on the merest suspicion, refusing them lawyers, and either holding them indefinitely or deporting them in the dead of night. Your government is moving each day closer to a theocracy, where a narrow and hateful brand of Christian fundamentalism will rule.
Maud Newton: Blog I guess I dont know good writing from bad, cause I think that is awesome . .. . *Full Disclosure I am obsessed with both of these guys. http://maudnewton.com/blog/