Axis of Evil

Tonight Israel is fighting a war on two fronts, against two different enemies. To the south, they have engaged the Palestinian Authority and face down Fatah and Hamas - organizations known for the butchery.

To the north, they have moved against Hezbollah (a proxy agent for Iran and Syria). I watched the media coverage tonight, and most of it focused on images from Beirut. The burning fuel tanks at the airport and the bombing inside Beirut directed against Hezbollah strong holds. There was much handringing to be had over Israel's heavy handed approach. Although casualty figures for such "indiscriminate" bombing appeared very light.

Nightline broadcast none of the damage incurred along Israel's southern border from constant rocket attacks, nor did they dwell on the real target of the Hezbollah attacks driected towards Haifa and the chemical works located there. A target that could kill hundreds of people if the wrong thing exploded.

There was plenty of criticism for the United States. After all we vetoed the UN resolution that basically told Israel to cease defnding itself. The slant of the story (dare I say bias) aligned the impatial media with Hezbollah, Hamas, Fatah, Syria and Iran. The last I checked those folks would just soon shoot us too.

In the current year, Iran has declared the holocaust a hoax and threatened to blow Jerusalem off the map. They have funded Hezbollah in the form of 18,000 rockets and short range missiles, small amrs, uniforms and logistics. Syria acts as a safe haven and conduit for these thugs. We have no reason to embrace Hezbollah, they killed 241 Marines in a bombing back in 1983.

Hamas and Fatah trace their roots back to the Black September movement - those were the fun folks that went around hijacking airliners and blowing them up in the desert. It made for great TV.

What is the difference between Hezbollah and al Qaeda? Have we forgotten Jimmy Carter's impotent response to the Embassy hostage crisis? What did Arafat's twenty visits to the Clinton White House accomplish? Should we ignore that Iranian and Syrian scientists are working hand in hand with North Korea's nutcase as they launch missiles towards Japan, Hawaii and Alaska?

Two members of the Axis of Evil remain. Sooner or later the joint menace of Iran, Syria and North Korea needs to be faced. Fancy words and diplomatic niceties are not going to make it happen. The only things these people understand is force, and the only country capable of handling these fascists is America.

Crime Alert!!!

Two headlines hit The Drudge Report today. The first was declaration by Washington D.C.'s police chief that a crime alert had been declared; the second was a story that Florida's violent crime rate was the lowest in 17 years.

What's the difference?

Guns! You know the evil handgun. The malicious assault weapon (whatever that is). The wild west loose in civilized society! Hide the kids Martha, the neighbor across the street may be packing!

The Washington D.C. crime alert came about, due to a couple robberies and a murder on the National Mall (Lincoln Memorial to the Capitol Dome). This area is under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Park Service. You remember these folks, they were the lead investigative agency for the Vince Foster (gag, cough) suicide. Vince managed to shoot himself in the head and fall into a perfect position (like he was home asleep in bed) without getting any mud on his shoes and he even tore up the suicide note. Those folks are losing a grip on the tourist friendly National Mall.

So D.C. Metro is stepping up to meet the crisis. You have to understand that Washington has more than a dozen different law enforcement agencies running around loose. Coordination to meet criminal mischief is probably less than optimal - after all, they do have to contend with the House and Senate.

Finally, D.C. residents live under onerous gun restrictions. This means that only the bad guys have guns.

Florida on the other hand liberalized her gun laws so that residents and non-residents can carry. I hold two carry permits (one from Minnesota and the other from Florida). With those to permits, I have the privilege to carry in thirty states. Florida also passed a law that basically states you don't have to retreat in the face of the bad guys. Result: lots of people have guns (including the tourists) and the bad guys aren't real sure when the next blue haired grandma is going to pull out a Dirty Harry sized .44 and croak, "Make my day."

So you decide which system is working out better. The one where tourists are getting robbed next to the Washington Monument, or where granny's got her gun.

Fire Trap

My mother has a wood stove in the barn. It looks like a relic from the century before last, and she uses it to burn the mail. Anyway the last person to do any work on the stove died five or six years ago. Some people measure things according to the calendar, my mother cites events as to when so-and-so went toes up.

I checked the stove a couple of weeks ago, noting the holes in the stove pipe. My granddaughter could probably punch her fist clean through the bottom pipe, and she is only ten months old. I explained to my mother that we needed to get a new pipe as I cast a worried eye over the rest of the contraption.

The stove pipe comes in three pieces and she figured she only needed to buy one. Further more she complained that some "darn fool" (my mother's moniker for anyone that dares disagree) changed the regulation and made the stove pipe double walled. Seemed like a reasonable idea to me.

Did I mention that stove is in a barn, and rather than go through the ordeal of opening the barn doors for ventilation we decided to sweat (you see little things like that are harder to handle than congressional edicts). While we were at it the top of the stove kind of fell apart. My son suggested that maybe she should get a new stove, but she proclaimed that so-and-so put it in and he died 3 years ago (the stove is way older than 3 years and it has been there as long as I can remember). Besides what fire inspector would authorize the permit for a new stove? It is a barn filled with hay bales, wood chips and fire wood.

We eventually got the pipe installed and the stove back together. (It is amazing what you can do with stainless steel half inch bolts.) I left her with the admonition to only make little fires in her stove. "Why should I do that?" she demanded. Because big fires might bring the whole place down.