Author: VD

That splashing sound you hear is Palooka pouring gasoline over himself. He has been stubbornly, and almost randomly, throwing out wild and unsupportable defenses of the internment. His case boils down to his assertion that certain things were unknowable, such as the implications of the delta between the two nation’s productive capacities, the amount of sabotage necessary to have a perceptible effect on the war effort, etc, and therefore it was right to intern people on the basis of their ethnicity in order to save American lives and shorten the war.

And yet, when it’s pointed out that his arguments in defense of internment can just as easily be applied to justify similar internments in “the War on Terror”, he suddenly does a 180, saying: “World War II promised to be concluded–one way or another–within a relatively short historical time frame.”

And why is that? Surely, he can’t be suggesting the 42,000 troops Japan could have landed were going to first wipe out the 260,000+ American troops in California, then march their way across the country to Washington in a relatively short period of time. No, he must be talking about the American defeat of Japan. And why did it promise to be concluded in a short period of time? Because the production delta demanded it, spot raids and sabotage notwithstanding.

Palooka understands this too, for all his unwillingness to publicly admit it. But admit it he now inadvertantly has, unless he wishes to argue for the impossibility of a Hundred Years War, or even a Thirty Years War.

scratch, hiss, FWOOMP

In no particular order:

The Beagle – Aren’t I cute? Aren’t I cute? Hey, look at me! Hey, what’cha doing? Will I ever shut up? Sure, sure, whenever you want! Oh, you mean, like, now?

The Viszla – Can you even believe how good-looking I am? Once, I thought I saw a better-looking dog, but then I realized I was walking past a mirror. Do a trick? Sure, no problem, um, what’s a trick?

The Ridgeback – i’m just a baby, i’m just a teeny, tiny 95-pound little girl, please be nice to me *strange car passes by* DEMONS WILL GNAW UPON THE SPLINTERED SHARDS OF YOUR BONES! COME BACK HERE AND I’LL CRACK YOUR SKULL LIKE A [Oedipal gerund] CRYSTAL CHANDELIER HITTING A MACK TRUCK! *car disappears* i’m just a little girl, give me a treat, pretty please? look how cute i am.

The Malamute – Yeah, yeah, I know, everyone says I look like a wolf. Whatever, it’s all good, we’re all mellow here, it’s cool. Sure, I could rip your leg off if I got a little hungry, but we’re all friends here, right? You gonna eat that? Yeah, I didn’t think so. *gulp*

The Bulldog – umph, grunt, *snort* Whas’sup? Not you? Umph, not me either. Let’s take a nap.

The White Buffalo beat me to Lamar Gordon. Oh well. As compensation, that just makes it all the more likely that Stephen Jackson will see some quality playing time this season… I can live with that.

A few weeks ago, HSLDA reports, a German homeschool family escaped to Central America under threat of a judge who wanted to take custody of the couple’s school-aged child. A social worker helped the family escape by warning them of the judge’s intent and delaying the paperwork needed for the seizure.

In another instance, a family escaped with their child to Austria. According to HSLDA, even though the family no longer lived in Germany, a judge gave custody of the child to the state and let the family know if it ever returned to Germany, the child would be taken.

Another German homeschool family lost a recent court case when the judge ruled that the parents had no rights to have input into the manner and method of education in government schools. In this case, hard-core pornography reportedly was being used to teach the children in their German-language course. The judge also ruled that fundamentalist Christians who do not want their children to attend the government schools are not protected by the nation’s constitution.

Some years ago, a few Germans started messing with a black member of the US bobsled team. It was a big mistake, as the bobsledders kicked a little German Hinterteil because, well, you know, USA USA and all that. Anyhow, Stern was going off on the Teutonics and unveiled his Churchillian theory that the USA should go in and kick Hinterteil every twenty years just on principle. I thought that was wise at the time, now that we’ve seen how they used the French to talk the entire continent into volunteering for the Fourth Reich, he looks like a prophet.

Since some of you don’t seem to share my enthusiasm for intellectual bloodsport, I shall endeavor to provide you with at least a few posts unrelated to the internment debate every day. Those of you who know me are no doubt rolling their eyes, knowing full well that this will not end until Malkin proves herself to be a complete coward afraid to leave her corner or waves the white flag.

So, without further ado, here’s a new game the White Buffalo has gotten me into. Sixteen games, predict the winner, okay, that’s simple enough. Now, here’s the good part. RANK each game from 1 to 16, so that you get 16 points if you nail the game of which you are most confident, and 1 point for your least important game. Yeah, now that’s where it gets tricky.

Anyhow, I’m hooked up with Chokechain this season, and we’re calling Pats over Colts on his say so for the first game.

“Muller, clearly losing all sense of academic propriety, has now taken to associating himself with the uninformed and bitter mutterings of Vox Day.” – Michelle Malkin

Bad professor! Bad!

Dear Ms Malkin,

As you did not respond substantively to any of the points I raised in my column or my first email to you, I am addressing the following questions directly to you.

1. I have asserted that there was no reasonable risk of invasion.

This opinion is supported by modern military experts. You have

written that “the risk of full-scale invasion was low”. Did this

“low” risk alone justify the internment?

2. Was the number of troops stationed in California, Oregon and

Washington in February 1942 sufficient to deal with Japan’s

trans-Pacific troop transport capacity?

3. The production figures for 1940 through 1945 show a significant

delta between the United States and Japan. Could sabotage have

accounted for enough damage to, as you suggest, potentially

cripple the war effort, and what percentage of lost production

would you describe as “crippling”?

4. Did this potential risk of sabotage alone justify the

internment?

5. Was the potential for cumulative damage from sabotage and spot

raids on the West Coast greater or less than the cumulative

damage to Germany wrought by the Allied bombing campaign of

Germany in 1943 and 1944?

6. 160 planes were destroyed at Pearl Harbor. Based on 1940-41

production figures, how long did it take to replace those planes

and how many planes were left to American forces?

7. Were any subsequent “spot raids” likely to cause more or less

damage than Pearl Harbor?

8. Considering that the Japanese lost 29 planes in the Pearl Harbor

attack, what is the probable number of spot raids they could

have made with the three carriers you cite were available to

them for use in such a capacity in 1942?

9. Since German military production increased 278 percent from 1942

to 1944 while being bombed on a daily and nightly basis, while

US production increased only 206 percent over the same period,

is it reasonable to assume that Japanese spot raids would have

slowed US production or the war effort at all? If your answer is

yes, please explain how and why.

10. Did the risk of these potential spot raids alone justify

internment?

Please provide clear, specific and unevasive answers to these questions; you can offer qualifiers, explanations and assertions of whatever you like in a separate rebuttal.

Uninformedly yours,

Vox Day

I’ve got a trade opportunity here before the season gets going and with Marcus Robinson out/demoted and Keenan McCardell still holding out, I need a third receiver to go with Chad Johnson and Jerry Porter. I can probably get one of these two along with Thomas Jones, or possibly both. I’m leaning towards both, but I’m not sure which to prefer if I can only nab one.

Any suggestions?

MJ writes:

Hindsite is wonderful, aint it? Fact is Japan attacked America, end of story.

Let’s skip over the fact that this implies we should intern every Arab and Muslim American on the same basis. What irritates me most is the idea that the admirals and generals who won the war were also complete idiots who could not possibly have known the distance between Japan and California, would not have thought of getting their hands on the 1941 edition of JANES FIGHTING SHIPS, had no idea what Japan’s industrial capacity was, and that any discussion of simple and easily demonstrable facts such as these is simply hindsight and should therefore be dismissed.

The military strategists of the time knew more then than we know now. Furthermore, they were almost surely quite a bit more intelligent than most of those who are today impugning them and their ability to analyze the probabilities.

Once you move into the realm of “could potentially etc” you have left reason and probability behind. The Phillipines could release a nanotech weapon with the potential to destroy the USA tomorrow, but I don’t think that justifies locking up Michelle Malkin today. She could have ties to the Phillipines-based Muslim terrorist group Abu Sayyaf, but I don’t think that justifies relocating her either. It is troubling that Ms Malkin and her reason-challenged fans don’t agree.

—–Original Message—–

From: Mark A. McLemore [mailto:everettmclemore@hotmail.com]

Sent: Tuesday, September 07, 2004 2:00 AM

To: letters@worldnetdaily.com

Cc: malkin@comcast.net

Subject: We’ve had it with Vox

It isn’t so much that we disagree with Vox Day, it’s just that we are getting tired of his Mensa, I’m-so-much-smarter-than-you, ad hominem, Bob Dole whatevers that he tries to pass off as reasoned debate. His rebuke of the Michelle Malkin internment thesis was a perfect example. Look, Roosevelt was afraid that what is happening now in Baghdad could have happened in Long Beach or Seattle, bombings, sabatoge, spying . . . If you examine America’s two biggest wars, the Civil War and WWII, both of our wartime presidents made civil rights decisions that are severely questioned in hindsight by Mensa Armchair Quarterbacks. Now, 140 and 60 years later, Vox is wiser than Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Malkin combined. Wow. I’m voting for Malkin. And some of us score pretty well on that test too, Vox Populi.

Could you can Vox, please? He is insufferable and not all that informative or interesting. He reminds me of Bill O’Reilly. And what’s with the haircut?

I wonder who is this “we” of whom Mr. McLemore speaks? And it’s interesting that “they” would send this to WND and Michelle Malkin, but not to me. This reminds me, one thing I learned pretty early in life is to never listen to a man who uses “we” in the place of “I” when he wants something.

And how does a long – tediously long, according to most of you – recitation and analysis of logistics, production statistics and expert military opinion both amount to an ad hominem Bob Dole whatever and fail to be informative? Uninteresting? Okay, sure, I’ll grant him that, but then, I write columns on dead Russian novelists too.

This is the aforementioned column I had originally written for yesterday. As it will not be timely next week, not to mention that nearly every other columnist has addressed the subject I prefer to post it here and write something else for next week.

I believe I have sufficiently established my lack of regard for either mainstream candidate over the last two weeks, but it occurred to me that as the two major factions have gone to such trouble to put on these shows for us, those who actually care which side wins this fall might be interested in knowing how the conventions looked to one whose indifference to the November winner borders on Olympian.

STYLE: REPUBLICANS. Although the Democrats didn’t pull a “hey, we’re the gay party,” salmon-and-teal theme like the last time they nominated a Massachusetts arch-liberal, the 9/11 vibe for which they were striving simply didn’t work. Parties that don’t believe in God should stay far away, very far away, from anything that smacks of the memorial service and the afterlife. In New York, the Republicans looked as if they meant it.

THEME: REPUBLICANS. Democrats United should be the minimum level of competence for a major faction; it’s not an actual electoral theme that holds appeal for the independent voter. Four More Years is boring, but tried and true and strangely fun to chant if you’ve downed six hurricanes before noon. (Yes, I’ve been to a Republican National Convention, and I could write the story that Stephen Glass faked. But I won’t.)

SPIRIT: REPUBLICANS. Having attended a convention that preceded a resounding victory, there’s a certain triumphal spirit that is readily identifiable. It’s as if the smell of victory is in the air. The Republicans had it this time around, the Democrats didn’t.

2008: DEMOCRATS. The Lizard Queen was her evil, formidable self, and John Edwards is still handsome. In contrast to this, the best Republican was Mr. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who isn’t eligible to run for the office. John McCain is barely a Republican and will never win the nomination no matter how much his friends in the media want him to, and a New York moderate, (otherwise known as a liberal to flyover country), like Giuliani is equally improbable. It’s odd that the Republicans didn’t do more to lay the groundwork for a potential Bush successor.

TRAITORS: REPUBLICANS. The Democrat’s favorite turncoat, John McCain, spurned his thirty pieces of silver. He stuck by his party with all the spirit of a robot, but he did it. Zell Miller, on the other hand, sounded ready to re-up with the Marines and dust some [insert politically incorrect term here] simply for the honor of serving under George [insert Oedipal adjective here] Bush!!!!

VICE-PRESIDENT: DEMOCRATS. Dick Cheney, despite all his flaws, is a terribly boring speaker. John Edwards has nothing meaningful to say, but he says it well and he looks good doing it. Sadly, that’s more than enough to win over 35 percent of the population.

PRESIDENT: REPUBLICANS. I very much appreciated that John Kerry wrote his own speech. A presidential candidate should be able to speak for himself. That being said, Kerry is rather like John Edwards in that he has nothing intelligent to say, only he doesn’t say it well. And looking like Lurch on Canthaxanthin doesn’t exactly help, either.

President Bush, on the other hand, delivered what was essentially a Clintonesque State of the Union laundry list, then reminded all those conservatives less than thrilled with his governance that they should support him because – all together now – there’s a war on! But he did make the case for himself and didn’t blunder by painting a massive target on his chest as Kerry did with his “reporting for duty”.

MEDIA: REPUBLICANS. The mainstream media’s left-wing tilt is quite useful, once you know how to read it. If, after a Democrat’s speech, an ABCNNBCBS commentator is not pretending to moan in ecstacy with one hand down his pants, you know it went over like Michelle Malkin at a reunion of Tule Lake internees. If, on the other hand, a cabal pundit is getting all bitchy and bitter after a Republican brings down the house, you know the speaker was all out of gum.

Let’s face it, when the mainstream cabal’s most damning critique is that the President’s daughters are, like, so ditsy, they’ve got nothing. And the fact that Fox News scored more convention viewers than any member of the cabal suggests Republicans are fired up to vote this year.

Add it all up, and I see no reason to modify my earlier statement that John Kerry will get beaten like a Vice City hooker this November.