Castro At The Helm!

The loud wind never reached the ship,
Yet now the ship moved on !
Beneath the lightning and the Moon
The dead men gave a groan.

They groaned, they stirred, they all uprose,
Nor spake, nor moved their eyes ;
It had been strange, even in a dream,
To have seen those dead men rise.

The helmsman steered, the ship moved on ;
Yet never a breeze up-blew ;
The mariners all 'gan work the ropes,
Where they were wont to do ;
They raised their limbs like lifeless tools–
We were a ghastly crew.

The body of my brother's son
Stood by me, knee to knee :
The body and I pulled at one rope,
But he said nought to me.

(Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner)

Cuban officials today proudly announced that Fidel Castro is still at the helm. Reuters dutifully reported the announcement.

"He is still at the helm," Ricardo Alarcon, president of Cuba's National Assembly, told reporters.

Alarcon said the 80-year-old Cuban leader was out of sight because he was following strict doctor's instructions for his recovery "which is going very well."

Castro relinquished power for the first time since his 1959 revolution when he handed over government duties temporarily to his brother, Defense Minister Raul Castro on July 31.

Alarcon said the timing of Fidel Castro's return to public life would depend on his recovery and indicated that skeptics were in for a surprise.

Alarcon dismissed as "speculation by gossip mongers" a Spanish newspaper report that Castro had had a series of three failed operations on his large intestine since last July that caused severe infection.

Somehow, the image of Castro at the helm of a ship full of the dead seems apt. It would have to be a large ship to hold all his victims over the years. Sail on, Fidel. Sail on.

Of Course You Know This Means War…..

I go and do this little photoshop on December 15th:

And Doug Ross has to go an up the ante today:

That is a gauntlet. The full might and power of the Crabitat is coming for you, Ross. Jimmy Carter? Man that is just not fair! (Besides, it's funnier than mine - oh man - payback will be merciless!)

It Begins

Wannabe dictator (T)Hugo Chavez is now taking the first formal steps to turn Venezuela into Cuba South. He is now threatening to expel the American ambassador. Because the US ambassador told the world that Chavez could not simply steal American investor's money and had to pay a fair price for the "nationalized" (Read ruined) assets. Generally speaking, the expulsion of an ambassador is considered a very, very hostile act in diplomatic circles.

CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez warned Thursday that the U.S. ambassador could be asked to leave the country if he continues "meddling in Venezuela's affairs."

The outspoken Venezuelan leader lashed out after William Brownfield said U.S. companies and investors must receive a fair price for their shares of Venezuela's largest telephone company when it is nationalized.

"If you continue meddling in Venezuela's affairs, first of all, you are violating the Geneva agreements and getting yourself involved in a serious violation and could … be declared a persona non grata and would have to leave the country," Chavez.

Earlier Thursday, Brownfield told local Union Radio the planned takeover of CA Nacional de Telefonos, or CANTV, should proceed "in a transparent, legal manner" and that Venezuela's government must offer "fair and quick compensation to the people who are affected or the owners."

"These are the only obligations that a government has when it decides to nationalize an industry," he added.

Venezuela is about to descend into Cuban-style poverty. And (T)Hugo appears to be willing to erect a self-imposed wall around the country just as Fidel Castro did. Pity the people of Venezuela. They are on the way to hell right now, led by a nasty little would be tin-pot dictator with a huge ego.

Rodent’s Revenge

The Animal Uprising™ has unleashed its latest horror on the unsuspecting people of New Jersey. This time it's chemical warfare. They are releasing toxic squirrels in the Garden State.

TRENTON, N.J. - New Jersey has warned squirrel hunters near a toxic waste dump about consuming the critters because they could be contaminated with lead.

It is the first time the state has cautioned Ringwood residents _ many who are members of the Ramapough Mountain Indian tribe who hunt and fish in the area _ about their squirrel intake, said Tom Slater, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Senior Services.

A lead-contaminated squirrel was found in the area two months ago, prompting the agency, along with the state Department of Environmental Protection, to send out letters advising that adults eat squirrel no more than twice a week and even less for children and pregnant women.

Lead, which is harmful in small amounts, can damage the nervous system, red blood cell production and the kidneys.

"We've known for a long time something was wrong here, we just didn't know what it was," resident Myrtle Van Dunk said.

Which, unfortunately, gibes with the track record of New Jersey state authorities tasked with actually protecting their citizens. They demonstrated that recently when the big stink rolled through the area. So, our information may actually be somewhat out of date then. Then actual release of the toxic squirrels may have been accomplished 30 years ago. It just took the New Jersey bureaucrats that long to notice it.

You tax dollars in action, folks. Or is that, "inaction".

Petition Update

The online petition to tell the Republican leadership that some of us regard Senate votes for a non-binding anti-war resolution bad for the troops and encouraging for America's enemies is going strong. As of this post over 11,000 people who have chosen not to break faith with our soldiers have signed it.

I have read some comments around the blogosphere taking exception to this petition, arguing that it is bad to set a litmus test two years out from an election. Respectfully, I disagree. If a Senator is not fundamentally serious about the defense of this country and support for our troops, I will not support him or her. Ever. That isn't so much a litmus test as it is a hard boundary. I have a son serving there right now. Any vote that serves to undermine his support or encourage the people trying to kill our troops is unacceptable. A showboating non-binding resolution is nothing but partisan politics and should be treated with the revulsion it deserves.

I posted about the petition here. I posted about an Opinion Journal article that really hits home here. The New York Sun has an article that indicates that the insurgents may be nearing exhaustion. Is it correct? I have no idea. But the General we are sending to do the job is confident the mission can be accomplished. Who the hell is someone like Chucky Hagel to cut him off at the knees before sending him to do the job.

Any vote to deny him the backing he needs to do the job is unacceptable. Anyone who votes to deny that support is undeserving of future political support.

“Death Awaits You All With Nasty, Big, Pointy Teeth” Part 2

While American Animal Uprising™ warlords are dealing with Satan to develop their evil ultimate weapons, the Chinese animal leaders are going a different route. They are using genetic manipulation to produce ever more deadly animals. In this case, they have selectively bred a voracious, flesh-eating rabbit.

A rabbit kept by a woman surnamed Yang from Changchun, capital of Jilin Province, was found to have developed the unusual habit of eating chicken, and does so with fervor.

She usually feeds the rabbit vegetables, but one day she discovered the rabbit had eaten a piece of chicken dropped from her dining table. Sine then, she has fed the animal chicken. To her amusement, the rabbit is so fond of chicken that she gives it the new food once a day.

Amusing? Amusing? Just wait until she falls asleep while the rabbit is running around the place. She won't be amused then. No, not at all. 

Animal Uprising™ Makes Pact With Satan

The Animal Uprising™ has made a deal with Satan himself in hopes of producing the ultimate weapon to conquer the Earth. They have already taken delivery of the first of the super weapons but an alert hunter managed to fell the foul creature before it could wreak havoc. That's right, the giant hermaphrodite demon deer is dead.

"When I looked up, all I could see was the body," Lewis said. "It was big, like a horse. But its head was down, so I couldn't tell if it was a buck or not. But with it being an either-sex day, I knew I had to take the shot.

"I hit it and it ran maybe five feet, then jumped into the woods."

Lewis exited his stand in search of the deer. What he found stopped him in his tracks.

"I get to the deer and I call out to my friend Perry," Lewis said. "He gets there and the first thing he says is 'What the hell is that?'

"I noticed it had a rack, but it was really fat and covered with velvet. The first thing I could think of was 'My only buck has cancer in the head.'"

Upon further examination of the deer, Lewis realized his head wasn't the only problem.

"Well, he had male organs, but no testicles," Lewis said. "So, I knew he was a boy, but something wasn't adding up."

It wasn't until Lewis brought the head to a local taxidermist that his thoughts were confirmed.

He had killed a buck…and a doe.

There is a picture of the demonic creature at the link. It is truly weird looking - and that's just the head. Lewis is trying to get someone to try eating the meat. He doesn't appear to be real interested in trying it himself. Which is unusual down in Cajun Country. (Lafayette, Louisiana has an annual international music festival, incidentally. We suspect the demonic weapon was intended for that for no particular reason other than it gave us a chance to link the festival.)

Soothing Snakes

We here at Blue Crab Boulevard have long been trying to get people to pay attention to the gathering menace of the Animal Uprising™. There are the occasional signs that people are paying attention to our calm and rational reporting like the Latvian police who sent the SWAT team when a loose pig was spotted at a gas station. All too often, though, there are reports that indicate some people just do not get it. Like the spa owner in Israel who has decided that dropping snakes on a client is a good idea.

For 300 shekels (35 pounds), clients at Ada Barak's spa in northern Israel can add a wild twist to their treatment by having six non-venomous but very lively serpents slither and hiss a path across their aching muscles and stiff joints.

"I'm actually afraid of snakes, but the therapeutic effects are really good," customer Liz Cohen told Reuters Television as Barak let the snakes loose on her body.

Barak uses California and Florida king snakes, corn snakes and milk snakes in her treatments, which she said were inspired by her belief that once people get over any initial misgivings, they find physical contact with the creatures to be soothing.

You put a snake on us and we'll show you soothing. The important thing here is that while the client is busy trying to convince themselves that they must be getting soothed since they actually paid for this, the snake's accomplices are rifling through the client's purse collecting personal information. (Snakes are bad like that). They then use the client's stolen credit card numbers to buy shoes, which fascinate them even if they can't actually use them. That's what our informant who visited the spa told us, anyway. At least we think that was what she was telling us through all the shrieking. We probably should have warned her what asking for the "special" meant.

Coincidentally, we happen to have an opening for an informant. Please submit a resume of your qualifications if interested in an exciting career in the new media.

Secret War

Strategy Page is reporting that the Saudi government is supply a lot of funding and assistance to groups opposing Iran in a number of hot spots in the Middle East. If true, it is about time they started paying attention to the threat Iran poses to the entire region and to the world itself.

With the Shia majority in Iraq now running the country, the Arabs now have to confront Iran directly. And that they are doing. Saudi Arabia is supporting the Palestinian Fatah organization against the Iranian supported Hamas. Saudi Arabia is also using its money to support Sunni Arab, and Christian, factions in Lebanon, against Hizbollah, the Shia minority and its Iranian backers. Saudi Arabia is also giving support to the Sunni Arab majority in Syria. For decades, the Saudis tolerated the Shia minority that ran Syria. No more. The situation has changed, especially with Iran gaining speed in its effort to build nuclear weapons.

The Saudis are even, secretly, cooperating with the Israelis. Iran has always been seen as a greater danger to Israel than the surrounding Sunni Arab nations. Hizbollah, which is a Lebanese Shia organization, made a name for itself during its disastrous attack on Israel last Summer. Although Hizbollah lost by every measure, they won in the arena of public opinion. Both the Israelis and Saudi Arabs (and Sunni Arabs in general) hated that. 

The removal of Saddam has already crippled al Qaeda throughout the Islamic world. The sight of American troops in Iraq enraged al Qaeda, and Islamic radicals in general. This was the one thing these maniacs could not tolerate. They all flocked to Iraq, began killing lots of Moslems, and after a year or so of that, plummeted in the popularity ratings throughout the Moslem world. Now the Saudis are mobilizing against that other terrorist backer; Iran. The Saudis are committing over $100 billion to this battle, and doing it out of the purest of motives; self interest.

Unless they want to become a province in the new Persian Empire, they better keep working against Iran. The Frankenstein's monster of international terrorism has been allowed to grow unchecked for too long. Iran is one of the prime movers behind it and they now have aspirations to acquire nuclear weapons. It really is about time the Saudis woke up.

Fighting In The Streets

A fierce riot broke out today in Beirut. Students at Beirut Arab University began attacking one another with sticks, rocks and furniture. Then it got violent.

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Government and opposition supporters clashed at a Beirut university campus Thursday, battering each other with sticks, stones and even furniture in new violence spilling over from Lebanon's political crisis. One person was reported dead.

Black smoke poured into the sky from cars engulfed in flames as armored vehicles full of troops moved in to try to keep the two sides apart. But the riot spread through the streets around Beirut Arab University, as students smashed parked cars in a battle that raged for hours.

The violence began with an argument between pro-government Sunni Muslims and supporters of the Shiite Hezbollah opposition movement in the university cafeteria, students said.

As the melee grew, Hezbollah supporters called in help, and residents from the surrounding Sunni neighborhood joined in. Dozens of vigilantes wearing blue and red construction hats and carrying makeshift weapons _ chair legs, pipes, garden tools, sticks and chains _ converged on the university and clashed with the police.

The army was called in with armored vehicles, firing tear gas and live rounds in the air to try to disperse the crowd.

Hezbollah's al-Manar TV reported one of the Shiite group's supporters was killed. Security officials could not confirm the death but reported 17 people wounded. Other TV stations reported that about 25 people were hurt.

Keep in mind who is reporting a death here. Hezbollah lies frequently about pretty much everything. Things are still not improving in Lebanon right now, obviously.

Toxic Corrosion

Daniel Henninger, in his weekly column for the Opinion Journal, points out the toxic effect that the media coverage and the political atmosphere are having on America's will. He also points out how badly damaged the United States will be by a defeat in Iraq. Our allies are rightfully getting worried.

The United States is talking itself into defeat in Iraq. Its political culture is now in a downward spiral of pessimism. In the halls of Congress, across endless newspaper columns, amid the punditocracy and on Sunday morning talk shows–all emit a Stygian gloom about America.

Yes, on any given day on some discrete issue (Prime Minister Maliki's bona fides, for example), the criticism of the American role is not without justification. But the cumulative effect of this unremitting ill wind is corrosive. We are not only on the way to talking ourselves into defeat in Iraq but into a diminished international status that may be harder to recover than the doom mob imagines. Self-criticism has its role, but profligate self-doubt can exact a price.

Maine GOP Sen. Susan Collins wonders "whether the clock has already run out." To U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton the new strategy is "a dead end." For the Bush troop request, presidential candidate Joe Biden predicted "overwhelming rejection." (His committee resolution to that effect yesterday passed by three votes.) Presidential candidate Chuck Hagel: "We have anarchy in Iraq. It's getting worse." And not least, Sen. John Warner this week heaved his tenured eminence against the war effort, proposing another "non-binding" resolution against more troops.

To pick one amid scores of similar characterizations in the media, the Associated Press wrote from Washington before the State of the Union speech that "Democrats–and even some Republicans–scoffed at his policy." "Scoff" is a strong word, suggesting eye-rolling ridicule. (The line was so good that the AP ran it after the speech as well, under another writer's byline, this time from Baghdad.) But of course amid the giddy vapors of mass mockery, they all "support the troops."

Our slide to a national nervous breakdown because of Iraq is not going unnoticed. Australia's foreign minister, Alexander Downer, has been visiting across the U.S. this week. "I've been pretty worried about what I've heard," Mr. Downer said in an interview. Walking on Santa Monica beach Sunday before last, Mr. Downer said he encountered a display of crosses in the sand, representing the American dead in Iraq.

"What concerns me about this," he said, "is that it's sort of an isolationist sentiment, subconsciously, not consciously, and that would be an enormous problem for the world. I hope the American people understand the importance of not retreating and thinking the world's problems aren't theirs."

Please do read the whole thing. Henninger's column is one of my weekly must reads for a good reason. The fact of the matter is that America may well suffer irreversible damage if we are defeated in Iraq. And a precipitous withdrawal will be a defeat, no matter how it is "framed" as a "redeployment" or any of the other smokescreen words. The media, in its obscene zeal to damage the administration is too stupid to realize that they are offering the nation itself as a sacrifice to their arrogance. There has been exactly one reporter with the guts to say out loud that the media is damaging the country. One.

The left's toxic, corrosive attacks on the war, the administration and the troops themselves are having a cumulative destructive impact on this nation. The media, in echoing those corrosive attacks are causing real, permanent damage. Somehow we who have not broken faith have allowed our voices to be overwhelmed by the left's screeching noise machine. We have got to reverse that and be heard.

Sign the petition if you haven't already. Please.

The Massacre At Gnomesville

It really is too bad that there are people in this world who think they have a right to destroy other's property for kicks. A little bit of whimsy in Australia is the latest victim of vandals to make the news.

An unknown number of attackers lopped off the heads or smashed several dozen of the pot-bellied statues this week at Gnomesville, a collection of more than a 1,000 colourful characters deep in a forest south of Perth.

"We are incensed by the damage done to the gnomes and willing to pay a reward to catch the culprits," State Emergency Service Volunteer Association President Phillip Petersen told Reuters.

Six orange-coloured gnomes depicting emergency workers were among those destroyed, Petersen said, adding the reward was A$500 (200 pounds).

I hope they catch them. Some pictures of Gnomesville in happier days here, here and here.

Helpful Media Reports

The other day, reports were circulating that putting your kitchen sponge into a microwave oven and zapping it for a while would sterilize it. Reuters was one of the media outlets that published the information. Only one problem. A crucial step was left out of the news reports. The sponge has to be wet first. The reports did mention that the scientists had soaked the sponge first, but the articles did not stress that fact. It kind of makes a difference.

You see, if you don't wet the sponge first, it catches fire.

A team at the University of Florida found that two minutes in the microwave at full power could kill a range of bacteria, viruses and parasites on kitchen sponges.

They described how they soaked the sponges in wastewater and then zapped them. But several experimenters evidently left out the crucial step of wetting the sponge.

"Just wanted you to know that your article on microwaving sponges and scrubbers aroused my interest. However, when I put my sponge/scrubber into the microwave, it caught fire, smoked up the house, ruined my microwave, and pissed me off," one correspondent wrote in an e-mail to Reuters.

"First, the sponge is worthless afterwards so you have to throw it out instead of using it. And second your entire house stinks like a burning tire for several hours, even with windows/doors open," complained another.

Aaron Hoover, a press officer at the University of Florida, said several other news organizations received similar complaints, although no one had complained directly to the university.

"We figured, 'wow, we better let people know right away that the sponge should be wet,"' Hoover said in a telephone interview.

The university issued the following advisory: "To guard against the risk of fire, people who wish to sterilize their sponges at home must ensure the sponge is completely wet. Two minutes of microwaving is sufficient for most sterilization. Sponges should also have no metallic content. Last, people should be careful when removing the sponge from the microwave as it will be hot."

Isn't science wonderful?

UPDATE: And dots connected by Larwyn via email. If the US Miltary can get Reuters to write the instruction manual for this puppy, we got us a death ray!

Vulture Politics

Robert Novak has an interesting column in today's Washington Post. He makes a few startling revelations that indicate there will be no bipartisanship while the Democrats are in power.

When President Bush called for a bipartisan "special advisory council" of congressional leaders on the war against terrorism in his State of the Union address, he had in his pocket a rude rejection from Democratic leaders. Thank you very much, said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, but no thank you.

Three days earlier, Reid and Pelosi wrote a letter to the president turning down his offer (which was contained in his Jan. 10 speech on Iraq) to establish a council consisting of Democratic chairmen and ranking Republican members of the relevant committees. "We believe that Congress already has bipartisan structures in place," they said, adding: "We look forward to working with you within existing structures."

That could be the most overt snub of a presidential overture since Abraham Lincoln was told that Gen. George B. McClellan had retired for the night and could not see him. Courtesy aside, it shows that the self-confident Democratic leadership is uninterested in being cut into potentially disastrous outcomes in Iraq. It wants to function as a coordinate branch of government, not as friendly colleagues in the spirit of bipartisanship. Pelosi and several Democratic committee chairmen are leaving for Iraq on Friday.

Other members of the Democrat-controlled Congress have declared that all of the ideas Bush put forth in the State of the Union message are dead on arrival. That isn't exactly bipartisanship at its best. There are also two remarkable statements at the end of Novak's column, one from a Republican, the other from a Democrat.

The Republican, a ranking House committee member, said: "The president and his aides are irrelevant and out of touch, removed from realizing what happened in the election." A Democratic state party leader said that "Bush is in such bad shape that the result of the 2008 election is already decided." In that atmosphere, pleas for consultation go nowhere.

To point out the obvious here, those statements, taken together with Reid and Pelosi's stance, say that at least some influential politicians are simply practicing vulture politics. They offer no solutions but are simply circling waiting to pick over the administration's carcass. That is not good on either side of the aisle.

Gone Hollywood

It seems that a few Hollywood folks that have been supporters of Hillary! Clinton in the past are arranging a little fundraiser. Steven Spielberg, David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg, founders of Dreamworks SKG, are throwing a ritzy, invitation only affair at the Beverly Hilton with a pretty hefty RSVP of $2,300 per person or $4,600 per couple. Hilliary won't really be happy about the money raised, though.

Because the fundraiser is for Barack Obama.

Movie moguls Steven Spielberg, David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg want their Hollywood peers to join them at a Feb. 20 fundraiser the three are throwing for Obama.

For $2,300 a person and $4600 a couple, they can meet the candidate at a reception at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Those who commit to raising $46,000 (10 couples/20 tickets) for the evening will be invited to a private dinner at Geffen's Malibu, Calif., home.

The fundraiser represents a major slap for Obama's main competitor, Sen. Hillary Clinton, who has received financial support from all three moguls in the past. Their company, Dreamworks SKG, has contributed $47,000 to Clinton since her 2000 New York Senate campaign.

Spielberg alone has contributed $11,000 to Clinton since that campaign, and his political consultant, Andy Spahn, emphasized that Spielberg and Geffen have not yet officially endorsed Obama. "Mr. Katzenberg is endorsing Sen. Obama's candidacy," he said. "Mr. Spielberg is co-hosting the event but has not made any endorsements as of yet."

Spahn added that Spielberg "expects to be helpful to a few candidates during this exploratory phase," and may host fundraisers for Clinton and John Edwards as well. "Spielberg likes John Edwards and has a relationship with him — those are the two who he also likes."

Hollywood friends: a lot like Washington, DC Friends. Even if Spielberg hosts later events for other candidates, the first one he threw is for Obama. People will remember that. Maybe the title of the post should be "Hollywood, Gone".