You won’t find this easily on the internet.

And I had to really clean it up in Photoshop CS.

One of my all-time favorite cartoonists. Let’s welcome in 2006!

And the award goes to another organization:

AARP.

Yes, the American Association of Retired Persons.

Why?

They made Harry Belafonte an Impact Award for 2006 Honoree.

Now, I’ve never made Harry Belafonte an official Moonbat; he’s so far off the scope that everyone unofficially acknowledges his Moonbat status. That’s like Louis Farrakhan; he’s so far off the scope that everyone readily lists him: Moonbat. Like shooting fish in the proverbial barrel. And so it is with Pat Robertson: Moonbat. But I digress.

Allow me to put this in a bit of perspective, if you will. I grew up listening to Harry Belafonte because my older brothers used to play his records in their bedroom along with the Kingston Trio, Pete Seeger, Peter, Paul and Mary, the very early Beatles, Donovan, the Beach Boys, Joan Baez and others (And to think I turned out Right Wing. Amazing!).

Okay, sure, Harry was a great singer.

But now he’s an even greater fool. People say I should respect my elders. But with age, as many of us already know, wisdom frequently leaves some behind. Wisdom seems to have caught a cab whose driver refuses to go back into the Harry Belafonte neighborhood.

And for good reason.

Belafonte has said:

“Hitler had a lot of Jews high up in the hierarchy of the Third Reich. Color does not necessarily denote quality, content or value,” Belafonte said in an exclusive interview with Cybercast News Service.

“[If] a black is a tyrant, he is first and foremost a tyrant, then he incidentally is black. Bush is a tyrant and if he gathers around him black tyrants, they all have to be treated as they are being treated,” he added. This was in reference to Colin Powell.

“In the days of slavery, there were those slaves who lived on the plantation and were those slaves that lived in the house. “You got the privilege of living in the house if you served the master… exactly the way the master intended to have you serve him. “Colin Powell’s committed to come into the house of the master. When Colin Powell dares to suggest something other than what the master wants to hear, he will be turned back out to pasture.”

“In fact and practice … you are serving those who continue to design our oppression,” he said of Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice. “That is villainy, and I insist you look at it.”

Sept. 11 “wasn’t just Bin Laden. Bin Laden didn’t come from the abstract. He came from somewhere, and if you look where … you’ll see America’s hand of villainy.”

Asked if he thought leaders of his own country were misguided, Belafonte, said: “Absolutely. I not only think that they are misguided, but I think they know exactly what they are doing and I think that they are men who are possessed of evil.”

“I don’t think that (U.S. President) George Bush . . . is a man of honor.”

“I think he (Bush) has a very selfish, arrogant point of view. I think he is interested in power, I think he believes his truth is the only truth, and that he will do what he wants to do despite the people.”

“We have got to bring corporate America to its knees.” (Yeah. That’s good. All those people don’t want paychecks anyway.)

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BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE:

Whilst I was researching the abundant stupidity of Belafonte, though he’s clearly an easy target, I found more quotes sure to warm the very cockles of your heart:

“When I see an American flag flying, it’s a joke.” — Robert Altman

“They’re sheep. They like him (Bush) enough to credit him with saving the nation after 9/11. Three thousand people get killed, and everybody thinks they’re next on the list. The president comes along, and he’s got his six-guns strapped on, and people think he’s going to save them.” — Ed Asner

“I also think that there is a strong streak of racism, and whenever we engage in foreign adventures. Our whole history in regime change has been of people of different color.” — Ed Asner

“The real terrorist threats are George W. Bush and his band of brown-shirted thugs.” — Sandra Bernhard

“I think America has no experience with terrorism or even with war. In Europe, we know a little bit more about these things.” — Bono

“I’m saying that the moral climate within the ruling class in this country is not that different from the moral climate within the ruling class of Hitler’s Germany.” — David Clennon, star of the hit CBS television series “The Agency”

…I’m not comparing Bush to Adolf Hitler – because George Bush, for one thing, is not as smart as Adolf Hitler. And secondly George Bush has much more power than Adolf Hitler ever had.” — David Clennon, star of the hit CBS television series “The Agency”

…I’m saying that we (Americans) have sunk pretty low and I’m saying that you can look at the moral climate in Germany in 1933. We have to ask ourselves if we found ourselves in Nazi Germany, what would we do. Now I say, let the inspection process take its course.” — David Clennon, star of the hit CBS television series “The Agency”

“You can’t beat your enemy anymore through wars; instead you create an entire generation of people revenge-seeking. These days it only matters who’s in charge. Right now that’s us — for a while at least. Our opponents are going to resort to car bombs and suicide attacks because they have no other way to win. …I believe (Rumsfeld) thinks this is a war that can be won, but there is no such thing anymore. We can’t beat anyone anymore.” — George Clooney

“I think war is based in greed and there are huge karmic retributions that will follow. I think war is never the answer to solving any problems. The best way to solve problems is to not have enemies.” — Sheryl Crow, married to cyclist and Texan Lance Armstrong

I think the U.S. is terrifying and it saddens me. You only have to look at the state of affairs in America. I do worry about my children. As a parent you are always concerned…I just want them to be in a place where they are going to be strong enough to be able to make the right choices. Unfortunately we’re in a position where people are so irresponsible that human life holds so little value to them. — Tom Cruise explains why he wants his kids to be raised in Australia instead of America

“I just wish men would quit thinking they could just duke it out with each other. I don’t have all the facts, and who knows what’s really the truth, but I don’t really respect (Bush’s) way of dealing with this situation. It would have been great to have someone really, really smart in that office, and someone who is globally aware.” — Sandy Duncan

“I don’t know if a country (America) where the people are so ignorant of reality and of history, if you can call that a free world.” — Jane Fonda

“(W)hen Communist U.S.S.R. was a superpower, the world was better off. The right-wing media is trying to marginalize the peace movement.” — Janeane Garofalo

“This (Iraq) is a manufactured conflict for the sake of geopolitical dominance in the area.” — Janeane Garofalo

“In a situation like this, of course you identify with everyone who’s suffering. (But we must also think about) the terrorists who are creating such horrible future lives for themselves because of the negativity of this karma. It’s all of our jobs to keep our minds as expansive as possible. If you can see (the terrorists) as a relative who’s dangerously sick and we have to give them medicine, and the medicine is love and compassion. There’s nothing better.” — Richard Gere

“America has never paid any attention to other people, so it’s absurd for Bush to say that it’s all in the best interests of the Iraqi people.” — Richard Gere

“Yes, (Bush is a) racist. We all knew that but the world is only finding it out now. As Texas’s governor, Bush led a penitentiary system that executed more people than all the other U.S. states together. And most of the people who died from (the) death penalty were Afro-Americans or Hispanics. (Bush) promoted a Conservative program, designed to eliminate everything Americans had accomplished so far in matters of race and equality.” — Danny Glover

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And you wonder why box office receipts, MSM newspapers are dwindling and cultural divides are widening?

Not I.

In a prior post, I wrote about what I considered to be, essentially, the casting of President Bush by the GOP to the Democratic wolves and the unwarranted abandonment of our proper path in Iraq necessarily yielding a withering support of our soliders in Iraq. What the GOP said, en masse, is that when the going gets tough, the verbally tough fold like a house of cards. The Bush numbers are bad (though getting better) — perhaps it’s time to distance ourselves from the proverbial sinking ship? Frist and Hastert had nothing further to say except — can you feature this? — the first priority for the GOP in 2006 is “asbestos.”

You’ve just absolutely got to be kidding me.

That was bad enough; there was in addition an heretofore unknown Congressman John P. “Mad Jack” Murtha (D) of Pennsylvania, a hawkish Democratic former Marine, who was using his military background as reason for calling for a complete removal of US forces from Iraq in 6 months.

Period.

This was Scholastic Books, Tonka Trucks, GI Joe, Silly Putty, Slinky, DC Comics, Fisher-Price, Pampers-easy. Oh sure, you ridiculous Moonbat, let’s just pull out of Iraq. Ever hear of The Killing Fields? What do you possibly suppose would happen to the entire country? Ever hear of the phrase “nature abhors a vacuum?”

If this is our path, let me give you some insider information: it would be a great time to buy stock in companies producing 7.62 X 39mm ammo.

Let me catch my breath and attempt to get back on track.

Robert wrote the very first comment on my “Cat’s Away” post and said:

“The measure includes White House-opposed language that would prohibit the cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of detainees.”

Is the underlying argument here that, without the freedom to treat detainees in cruel, inhuman and degrading ways, we cannot defeat the enemy?

We have an enemy – a cruel and inhuman enemy which delights in degrading its victims. We are BETTER than they are, just as we were better than our enemies in WWII. I refuse to believe that we cannot defeat our enemy without using that enemy’s tools against them.

I had to admit up front: Robert made an excellent observation and posed a very pertinent question. I began to craft an answer in the comments section when I realized: this goes back to my core philosophy and is a question posed by many logical and thinking persons. Instead of burying my response in comments, I wanted to respond in the brighter light of day. I want to respond to the overarching question Robert poses: why these things, why now? Are we not, in fact, better than our enemies and, with this in mind, why respond on their level or, as Robert writes, why must we use our “enemy’s tools against them”?

I almost couldn’t wait for this question.

I have been all aquiver for some time now, wondering how I would address the question, one that I have not necessarily seen addressed in my somewhat limited world of blogs, expanding as it is; but in fact, I realized, the issue would make or break me in the blogosphere and reveal my true identity: I would have to make an absolutist stand in a world of equivocation and would end up, I surmised, alienating many and encompassing even fewer still. Or would it?

Have you not wanted your blog to reach an ever-expanding roll of readers? I know I have. For this reason, maybe I have tempered past posts. Or have I? I began to wonder.

It was for that reason that I stalled writing a post dealing with this topic; in that way Robert sent me the Death Dealer’s hand, in essence writing: put up or shut up.

I decided to put up.

It is for you to decide if you will continue to read my blog after this.

This is my so-called line in the sand.

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I would respond to Robert’s question in this fashion:

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We face a different enemy in different times.

Former enemies played massive forces across difficult fields and seas, clad in uniforms with differentiating helmets, tunics, tanks, ships, aircraft and commanded by states.

They were clearly identified in uniform, vehicle, craft, army, navy, issuing forth from a clear locus, commanded by an identified staff arranged in a hierarchy, motivated by ideology or common sociological belief — at least at that command level or overall commanding body or individual.

Therefore our armies and militaries, our very nation, have been and are currently designed to the largest degree to defend against enemies on that precisely identified scale; a clash on a huge level of massive amounts of people, supplies, equipment, all makes of vehicles to fight their counterpart: more people on a massive scale, vehicles, equipment and the like.

We know that military strategy: large forces deployed against similarly large, identifiable forces.

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But then came newer factors: an enemy easily thrice our landmass, a former ally, now a nuclear power, putting all (and I repeat: all) its cash into a militaristic, communist, socialist society. They beat us into space, they showcased their offensive might into military parades before the Kremlin with each politbureau member present.

The playing field then grew to not only conventional forces available on the NATO lines, but to SADMs, nuclear artillery, megadeaths per megaton, MIRVs, airbursts, a “nuclear deterrent,” and MAD — Mutually Assured Destruction. Generations of Air Force personnel spent months underground in tandem control module missile sites with double backup keys around their necks wondering if and when “the call” would arrive.

In my hometown, Sacramento (CA), B-52G Strategic Air Command (SAC) aircrews spent hours sitting at Mather AFB ready to respond, at a moment’s notice. One live crew sat, constantly rotated, in one B-52 cockpit, 24/7, connected to a start cart for many years. On the Alert Pad, if anyone crossed the red line toward the aircraft, APs had “shoot to kill” orders. If anyone ever told you no nukes were ever in Sacramento, they would be lying. I have seen the earth-covered quonsets where the nuke fuselages were stored, and the literal “bank vaults” where the combo-lock-covered fuses were kept. Roentgen meters still click background here.

Then came the book “Red Alert” and the movies “Fail Safe” and “Dr. Strangelove.” One of my current favorite work sentences is “Wing attack, Plan R.” An employee of mine will likely respond: “purity of essence.”

It is now much more than mere entertainment.

In the “next millenium” there are further factors, things we hadn’t come to grips with in our last true world war (with one exception): biological, nuclear and chemical capabilities, the truly functional terrorist network and, moreover, linked with the greatest motivation ever — a galvanizing factor stronger than any state, any tank, any helicopter, any armor plating:

Religion.

Some persons say the father of modern terrorism is Yassar Arafat. But I would maintain that the true father of modern terrorism is Michael Collins — a man who had many effective predecessors for certain; but was the first to realize that, in the right circumstances, an entire state and its so-called impervious network could be paralyzed.

As I’m sure you realize Robert, a “civilization” depends entirely upon and runs at the behest of one factor, and one factor only: an agreed-upon cooperation. We in the United States are clearly a “cooperative.” Our latin motto, “e pluribus unum” means: “From many: one.” I learned this many years ago, as a small child, from my 86-year-old father who retired as a USAF Colonel, having served in WWII and then Vietnam.

We make a social contract with one another to abide by certain rules, regulations, mores and strictures. If everyone chose to stop cooperating, all would fall apart and we would have chaos.

Chaos.

What would it actually take to enable chaos nationwide?

Not much.

Let us say our borders are as porous as they are now. Let us say that those willing to destroy our very core cross these borders. One day and the next and the next and the next. And so on. They are not necessarily Mexican. They could be multinational. Their goal is to blend in whenever they can. And blend they will; when they can.

Then let me write of torture.

The Patriot Act speaks of some of these things. So does the Geneva Convention.

The Geneva Convention says: if these are prisoners of war they need provide: name, rank, serial number. Nothing more.

They can be held indefinitely until the end of conflict. They are not due their “time in court.” What court?

That we took some of these former so-called prisoners and embarrassed them, digitally in photographs, bespeaks volumes about the control of the military. Am I sorry that these photos raked across the internet? No. What harm was done? We showed that a woman, smoking, has authority over bare-assed Muslims. So f!#*!ing what?

In truth, these photos should never have seen the light of day, and the takers should never have placed their subjects in harm’s way. Simple. Further, these peeps were prosecuted and will soon be serving time under the UCMJ.

The problem, the very SERIOUS problem is that we are situationally aware. Not provisionally aware; situtationally aware. And that necessarily means that we are reactive rather than proactive.

We are better than them.

Of course we are.

It will in fact get down to this:

One day a revelation will occur: we will discover a nuclear device in place in a courtyard previously ignored.

Do we take it down and play the numbers?

I have not even factored in the Islamist factor.

We think we know where a dirty bomb will explode. We have assets in place. We have individuals in custody. We will not take advantage of those individuals in custody.

And I, as an American citizen, would not want my government to take whatever steps were extant to discover where this/these bombs would explode?

Yeah right.

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I wrote recently in a comments section on another blog some things that might disappoint or shock or cause consternation amongst those who have consistently been reading my blog.

I am somewhat irreligious. I historically consider myself agnostic. I am not a Christian or a Buddhist or a Protestant or a Jew or a Hindu or a Sikh, a Shinto or even a Pagan. In fact, in terms of the world’s religions, here’s now they break down:

Christianity: 2.1 billion
Islam: 1.3 billion
Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist: 1.1 billion
Hinduism: 900 million
Chinese traditional religion: 394 million
Buddhism: 376 million
primal-indigenous: 300 million
African Traditional & Diasporic: 100 million
Sikhism: 23 million
Juche: 19 million
Spiritism: 15 million
Judaism: 14 million
Baha’i: 7 million
Jainism: 4.2 million
Shinto: 4 million
Cao Dai: 4 million
Zoroastrianism: 2.6 million
Tenrikyo: 2 million
Neo-Paganism: 1 million
Unitarian-Universalism: 800 thousand
Rastafarianism: 600 thousand
Scientology: 500 thousand

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And yet I find myself siding with religion primarily 99% of the time. I say “God bless” to certain persons and capitalize God. Why would that be?

Because of the fundamental tenets of religion: embrace good. Discard bad.

One thing my job has hammered into my head over the years: there is in fact Good. And there is in fact Evil. Evil exists because, mostly, it is easy. It takes little thought, work or commitment.