It’s Time to Make Up Your Mind

"I believe ... that this war is lost, and this surge is not accomplishing anything,” Harry Reid (D-NV)

The Senate Majority Leader seems ready to surrender. Since they gained control of Congress the Democratic party has been acting as though they are a second American Government. The seem to be more interested in sliming Bush and the Republicans, than doing what is best for the country. Harry Reid joins Nancy Pelosi in the running for the Neville Chamberlain Peace Prize.

At some point you have to ‘Fish’ or 'cut bait'. That time has come for the Democratic Party. They control Congress, they should decide to end the war, or shut up and give it full support. Every day they pussyfoot around the issue, people die and our adversaries gain hope. Take an Up or Down Vote. Fight or Get out. Then do what the vote indicated. No Politics, no if, ands or buts. Do it.

Pelosi’s Democracy. One Nation, Two Governments, Two State Departments

"We were very pleased with the reassurances we received from the
president that he was ready to resume the peace process," Nancy Pelosi

The Democratic Party, not content with winning control of Congress has now set up it’s own State Department. One of it’s first moves is the delegation of Democratic members of Congress lead by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi trip to Syria.

Pelosi met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad at his hilltop Palace. Apparently Syrian Israeli peace talks were at the top of the agenda. "Syria tries to read the American tea leaves very closely, and this type of signal is read as very significant in Damascus," said Paul Salem, director of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut

Apologists for the trip clam the Pelosi Delegation has done nothing different that other Congressional visits. The official Syrian Newspaper disagrees.

"The presence of the American speaker of the House in Damascus carries
more than one meaning, the most important of which is convincing American
officials of the importance of dialogue with Syria and its key role in the
region. It is also a blunt recognition of the failure of the Bush
administration's policy." Al-Thawra editorial

Since taking control of Congress, Democrats have attacked the War in Iraq by introducing resolutions designed to undercut the Bush Administration prosecution of the war.

“We're Going to Pick up Senate Seats as a Result of This War” Democratic Senate Majority leader, Sen. Harry Reid.

Imagine, using a war for political gain. That’s going over the line. During the Mexican War, Abraham Lincoln opposed the war, but waited until the fighting was all but over before voicing that opposition. Lincoln faced criticism for not speaking out earlier.

"The distinction between the cause of the President in beginning the war, and the cause of the country after it was begun, is a distinction which you [Democrats] cannot perceive." Abraham Lincoln

Unlike opponents of the Iraq war, Lincoln consistently voted support for the troops and prosecution of the war against Mexico.

In an attack on the Iraqi Parliament a suicide bomber killed one member and wounded dozens. The next day, Friday an Islamic day of prayer, a special session of the Parliament was held. The speaker said it was, "a clear message to all the terrorists and all those who dare try to stop this [political] process that we will sacrifice in order for it to continue."

The same day Senator Harry Reid held a press conference bragging how the war would help the Democratic Party extend it’s control of Congress. This is a good contrast between Democratic controlled U.S. Congress and the Iraqi Parliament

Old Generals never die. They just talk away.

After the tragedy of 9-11 a host of generals and lesser military lights have been all over the media analyzing what is going on, what should be going on, and how they would fight the war. They speak with the authority of been senior military commanders and that gets them attention.

There is an old military axiom, “Generals are prepared to fight the last war.” and that applies to those retired officers who regularly pontificate on television and in newspapers.

Each war is different from the last and requires a new set of skills. When the Commanders fail to acquire these skills, you end up with a bloodbath like the Civil War or World War One. If the Commanders on one side adapt and the other side fails to adapt you have France in World War Two. The German Blitzkrieg cut through the French Army, organized to fight World War One again, like a hot knife through butter.

Today we have retired officers who learned their craft during the Gulf War. That was a war of manouevre with large heavy armored formations rushing across the desert in a replay of Rommel verses Montgomery. Today the war in Iraq is vastly different. Instead of Divisions of Armored Fighting Vehicles facing each other, we have the lone Jihadist with a car bomb or IED. Officers trained in large scale armored warfare have no experience to draw upon under these circumstances. Their opinion is little better than the man on the street.

Since the second World War we have developed a military designed to stop a Soviet attack through Germany. We have developed magnificent weapons designed to destroy hoards of Soviet armor. Unfortunately the Soviet Union is no more and the weapons designed to be used against it virtually useless in the urban fighting in Iraq.

Our officer corps is just transforming to a new form of warfare. Light vehicles, small units, individual initiative, are the keys now. This is the kind of warfare retired officers have little or no experience with. Their opinions just add to the hot air produced by politicians, pundits and activists.

Believe or Really Believe, that’s Hillary Clinton’s question.

Senator Hillary Clinton seems to be trying to have it both ways on the intelligence over Iraq’s possession of Weapons of Mass Destruction. She voted to approve the Bush administrations use of force in Iraq, but now, in the face of anti-war opposition, she doesn’t seem to know what she knew and when she knew it.

"The consensus was the same, from the Clinton administration to the
Bush administration," she said. "It was the same intelligence belief that our
allies and friends around the world shared. But I think that in the case of the
[Bush] administration, they really believed it" Hillary Clinton

Wait a minute, is Senator Clinton saying no one except the Bush administration really believed the intelligence? If her husband didn’t believe it, why did he pass it along to the Bush administration? She says our allies believed it. Were they conned? This is really getting into Newspeak, ‘we believed it, but Bush really ‘believed it’ as if there was differences in the intelligence garnered by three administrations, the U.N. and the spooks from all the major countries. Does "Really believed it" trump "believed it"?

All Clinton’s bobbing, weaving and prevaricating is because she is not sufficiently anti-war for the left wing-nuts of her party. She voted to authorize military action. That is heresy among her supporters, so they are looking for someone, pure as the new driven snow, on the war, to support. Barack Obama seems to fit the bill. He wasn’t in the Senate when the vote was taken, so unlike Hillary, he has no official record. He can say he would have voted against the resolution, and that warms the cockles of the left’s heart.

Clinton has an awesome political machine, but her failure to strictly adhere to the dictum of the "Move on" types has left her vulnerable. Many of here biggest supporters, like rats leaving a sinking ship, have been moving towards Obama. When the dust settles the Democratic Candidate may have suffered so many injuries, during the primaries, they will be too damaged to face the Republican in the General Election. With the exception of Bill Clinton, that has been the modus operandi of Democrats since George McGovern.

Duke Players Win, D.A. Nifong Excoriated

Attorney general, Roy A. Cooper, said the players — Reade W.
Seligmann,David F. Evans, and Collin Finnerty — had been wrongly accused by
an"unchecked" and "overreaching" district attorney whohad ignored contradictory
evidence and instead relied on the stripper’s "faultyand unreliable"
accusations.

Legally this is the strongest exoneration the state can make. The State also says ‘there is no evidence a crime was committed’

In a country that prides itself for its judicial system, the Duke rape case has been a rude awakening to the vast majority of its citizens. This kind of travesty of justice is supposed to occur in totalitarian and third world nations, not the United States, but it did and this is not the first time. This time wealthy white kids were being railroaded instead of poor minorities

It seems Nifong issued defamatory statements and prosecuted the case in order to secure black votes for reelection.

"It almost doesn't get any worse than lying to the judge in terms
of ethical violations, but lying to the judge about information that suggests
thedefendant is innocent is even worse," University of North
Carolinaat Chapel Hill law professor Joe Kennedy

No Crime committed? A crime was committed in this case. The criminal is District Attorney Mike Nifong.He has committed perjury, obstruction of Justice, Prosecutorial Misconduct along with violating a long list of Bar Association Rules. He must face the Justice, he denied the defendants. Mike Nifong must be indited for his crimes and face the maximum punishment.

Not only has he destroyed the reputations of three young men, he has seriously wounded faith in the American of Jurisprudence. That is a worse crime than any he may be charged with. It is traditional to develop a word describing some one like this. Perhaps when anyone is railroaded by the legal profession, we would call it "Being Nifonged"

Duke Players Innocent, Justice System damaged

Attorney general, Roy A. Cooper, said the players — Reade W. Seligmann,
David F. Evans, and Collin Finnerty — had been wrongly accused by an
"unchecked" and "overreaching" district attorney who
had ignored contradictory evidence and instead relied on the stripper’s "faulty
and unreliable" accusations. New York Times

In a country that prides itself for its judicial system, the Duke rape case has been a rude awakening to the vast majority of its citizens. This kind of travesty of justice is supposed to occur in totalitarian and third world nations, not the United States, but it did and this is not the first time. This time wealthy white kids were being railroaded instead of poor minorities.

While minorities commit a disproportionate amount of crime, they also are most likely to be falsely accused and convicted. Unlike the Duke players, they cannot afford high-powered attorneys and have to rely on an over worked, and under funded public defenders. They also are less likely to benefit from pretrial diversion programs.

20 percent of white defendants charged with crimes providing for
the option of pretrial diversion received that benefit, while only 14 percent of
similarly situated blacks and 11 percent of similarly situated Hispanics were
placed in such programs. San Jose Mercury

Minorities are also less likely to receive leniency during sentencing.

One-third of minorities sentenced to prison would have received a
shorter or non-incarcerative sentence if they had been treated like similarly
situated white defendants. New York State Division of Criminal
Justice Services

The Duke case focused on prosecutorial discretion. District Attorney Nifong was involved in a reelection bid during the incident. It seems Nifong issued defamatory statements and prosecuted the case in order to secure black votes for reelection. His conduct of the case has resulted in serious ethic charges filed by the North carolina bar Association against Nifong

"It almost doesn't get any worse than lying to the judge in terms of
ethical violations, but lying to the judge about information that suggests the
defendant is innocent is even worse," University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill law professor Joe Kennedy

For a nation that professes to operate under "The Rule of Law" the Duke fiasco shows that may be a chimaera for many.


Update

Since the first post the State Attorney General announced the three
defendants were "Innocent"

Legally this is the strongest exoneration the state can make. The State also says ‘there is no evidence a crime was committed’ Wrong. A crime was committed in this case. The criminal is District Attorney Mike Nifong.

He has committed perjury, obstruction of Justice, Prosecutorial Misconduct along with violation of a long list of Bar Association Rules. He must face the Justice, he denied the defendants. Mike Nifong must be indited for his crimes and face the maximum punishment.

Not only has he destroyed the reputations of three young men, he has seriously wounded faith in the American of Jurisprudence. That is a worse crime than any he may be charged with.

It is traditional to develop a word describing some one like this. Perhaps when anyone is railroaded by the legal profession, we would call it "Being Nifonged"

YIKES SPYKES

"Spykes is a predatory move to attract underage drinkers," Joseph Califano
Jr., chairman of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse

Spykes is the perfect target for demonizing. It fits into the picture, presented by the forces for good, of an alcohol besotted teenage population staggering from one hook up to the next

The hysteria concerning youth alcohol consumption today is similar to the hysteria of the ‘60's about youth drug use. The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse is one of a number of organizations seemly dedicated to return the Nation to the tea totaling days of Prohibition. They support the agenda of "forces for good in the community" busybodies who know what is best for everyone. Like the proponents of human caused global warming, or any other interest groups, their statistics bare scrutiny.

John Law is looking at the new drink. The Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection has launched an investigation into Spykes advertising and licencing. "I am not accusing anyone of violating the Liquor Control Act, but do have a commitment to ensure that liquor products are being marketed to the right audience," said Commissioner Jerry Farrell Jr.

Spykes is not the first drink to come under fire. Five years ago it was Smirnoff Ice, Skyy Blue and Mike's Hard Lemonade, under fire from the CSPI, the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse and other critics, who claimed they promoted teenage drinking.

"Ya got trouble, - my friend, Right here, I say trouble right here in River City" today’s "Professor" Harold Hill is played by "Uncle Sam" and like any bureaucracy it is necessary to escalate the danger to escalate funding.

As a Nation with Puritan roots we always have had prigs like Bill Bennet, Bill O’Reilly, and Laura Schlesinger who eschew any form of pleasure. They stand today in the footsteps of the Carrie Nations of an earlier time. The Women’s Christian Temperance Union has been replaced by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration. Fighting pleasure is now a Federal responsibility.

It is the job of each teenage generation to scandalize their parents. Today’s generation is doing its job, perhaps too good a job, and scaring the bejeasus out of the older generation.

Although this, is not a good reason for America’s jihad against pleasure. Lawsuits are in the works, threatening Anheuser-Busch, if it does not pull Spykes off the market.

ONE NATION, TWO STATE DEPARTMENTS

"We were very pleased with the reassurances we received from the
president that he was ready to resume the peace process," Nancy Pelosi

The Democratic Party, not content with winning control of Congress has now set up it’s own State Department. One of it’s first moves is the delegation of Democratic members of Congress lead by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi trip to Syria.

Pelosi met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad at his hilltop Palace. Apparently Syrian Israeli peace talks were at the top of the agenda. "Syria tries to read the American tea leaves very closely, and this type of signal is read as very significant in Damascus," said Paul Salem, director of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut

The delegation which includes, Reps. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), Nick J. Rahall II (D-W.Va.), Louise M. Slaughter (D-N.Y.), Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), and David L. Hobson (R-Ohio) has comforted the renegade country.

"The presence of the American speaker of the House in Damascus carries
more than one meaning, the most important of which is convincing American
officials of the importance of dialogue with Syria and its key role in the
region. It is also a blunt recognition of the failure of the Bush
administration's policy." Al-Thawra editorial.

The newspaper Al-Thawra is run by the Syrian Government, which seems to be exploiting the Diplomatic adventures of the Democratic House members.

NEWSPEAK TRIUMPHS, GEORGE ORWELL WOULD BE PROUD

The House Armed Services Committee is banishing the global war on terror from the 2008 defense budget. Democratic leadership doesn’t like the phrase.

When is the "War on G;obal Terrorism" not the War on Global Terrorism"? When it becomes Politically Incorrect. Ever since George Orwell coined the term "Newspeak" in the novel 1984, it has crept into real language. The most obvious example was when the "War Department" was renamed "The Department of Defence", little by little words no longer had meaning. Raise funding less than your opponents want and your accused of cutting funding. A tax increase becomes "Revenue Enhancement", you can find examples all around you.

Now instead of the "War on Global Terrorism" acceptable phrases include "the war in Iraq," the "war in Afghanistan, "operations in the Horn of Africa" or "ongoing military operations throughout the world." according to a Democratic memo.

As Margaret Thatcher might have said 'Words are becoming ‘Wobbly’ on us"

Al Gore, not everybody’s Hero.

"He is more dangerous than his global warming." Bob Murray

While many of America’s CEO’s are lining up to kiss the ass of the "Global Warming" Guru Al Gore, hopeing to reap profit from the "Green" revolution. One, Bob Murray, founder and CEO of Murray Energy Corporation, is fighting back.

Speaking at The New York Coal Trade Association 94th annual meeting Murray told the audience "Some wealthy elitists in our country, who cannot tell fact from fiction, can afford an Olympian detachment from the impacts of draconian climate change policy. For them, the jobs and dreams destroyed as a result will be nothing more than statistics and the cares of other people. These consequences are abstractions to them, but they are not to me, as I can name many of the thousands of the American citizens whose lives will be destroyed by these elitists' ill-conceived ‘global goofiness' campaigns."

Murray lived the American Horatio Alger life, starting as a coal miner in Ohio where he survived two mining accidents. Murray mortgaged his house and leveraged the money to build a private coal mining company.

TIME PASSES, SUPPORT DROPS FOR IRAQ

Pew Research Center for the People & the Press paints a bleak picture of public opinion about the war.

The public is now evenly divided over whether the U.S. is likely to
achieve its goals in Iraq

According to a Pew Research center poll 47 percent of Americans believe our efforts will definitely or probably succeed and 46percent believe we will definitely or probably fail. Three months ago 53 percent saw possible success and 41 predicted failure.

The public, used to seeing problems solved in an hour on television programs, is getting weary of a war that has gone on for four years. Much of the problems can be traced to the Bush administration’s "Rosy Scenario" predicting a quick war followed by a rush to democracy by an oppressed Iraqi public. As the war dragged on, public support for the war dropped.

While perceptions of the state of affairs in Iraq have been deteriorating steadily since the summer of 2003, the past year has seen a particularly sharp drop, support for the war has declined as much as the three previous years combined 24 points in the last year compared to 21 points in the previous three years.

Support for the war shows a sharp difference between the two major parities. Democrats are solidifying their support for a withdrawal, 74 percent now compared to 66 percent in January. In contrast Republicans support keeping troops in Iraq by 71 percent to 23 percent. Independents are more closely divided on the issue with 53 percent favoring withdrawal and 40 percent staying. That is a slide from January when Independents were evenly split.

The movement for Congress to mandate a troop pullout by August 2008 is growing. Nearly six-in-ten say they would like to see their representative vote for such legislation, compared with just 33 percent who want their representative to oppose it. Of those supporting a withdrawal only 16 percent favor an immediate pullout.

While the present troop surge in Iraq is opposed by a majority of the public, 63 to 31 percent, with public support slipping, it may be the administration’s last chance for success.

WTO Internet Gambling, Antigua Two, U.S. Zip

The World Trade Organization has once again ruled United States laws prohibiting Internet gambling is a violation of WTO rules by trying to prevent Americans from participating in online gambling.

The case was brought before the WTO by the tiny Caribbean nation of Antigua in 2004 when the Federal Government began pressuring U.S. financial institutions from transferring funds to online gambling sites.

The WTO ruled the U.S. action was a violation of the General Agreement on Trade. The U.S. appealed asking the ruling be overturned but the appeal was rejected. The panel said the U.S. is violating the WTO’s general trade agreement because it allows remote gambling, particularly betting on horse races, to take place within its borders.

Since that ruling the United States has not only refused to come into compliance with the WTO, it has thumbed its nose at the organization passing the "Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act" which placed further restrictions on Internet Gambling.

The nations of Antigua and Barbuda sent a letter earlier this year to U.S. trade representative Rob Portman, claiming that he had exerted no effort to modify America’s online casino gaming policy to comply with the WTO ruling. So far the Bush administration seems to be ignoring the decision.

Under the ruling the nations could impose trade restrictions against the U.S. but their small size makes that remedy impotent. Later this year Great Britain will allow online gambling companies to be based there. That will change the equation, as England will use the ruling to present their own complaint to the WTO. With the earlier precedent in place the U.S. is sure to loose again. This time to a nation that wields economic clout.

This will present the administration with a "Hobson’s Choice" obey international law and follow the ruling, or become an scofflaw and ignore the World Trade Organization.

BIG MOUTHS AND BLOW-DRIED MINDS

"Just because your voice reaches halfway around the world doesn’t mean
you are wiser than when it reached only to the end of the
bar." Edward R. Murrow

Today’s broadcast and cable’s "chattering class" would do well with an injection of Murrow’s humility. Unfortunately, humility does not get ratings, and ratings are the lifeblood of profit.

Television’s iconoclast, Linda Ellerby, once described local reporters as having "blow-dried brains." Today, those blow-dried brains have fused with the loud mouth, inventing a new form of journalism, the opinion show.

Hosts ranging from Chris Matthews to Bill O’Reilly, Janeane Garofalo to Michael Savage are running game shows. The contestants are partisan pundits trying too win by being the loudest and throwing the most invective, never letting the facts get in the way of a good argument. The losers are the American public who faces a bewildering barrage of misinformation.

In its infancy, television news followed the lead of print journalism. Reporting, who, what, where, when, and why, while avoiding opinion and speculation. Reporters acted like "Dragnet" Detective Joe Friday who only wanted "Just the facts’ ma’am."

It was an honorable profession, trying to follow the dictum that democracy only works with an informed public.

News was considered a "loss leader" part of operating in the Public Interest, demanded by the Federal Communications Commission.

That all changed as local stations and networks were bought by large Corporations who demanded profit be the bottom line. News ceased to be a "Loss leader" and became a "Profit center."

Television news has gone from Edward R. Murrow’s "Harvest of Shame" to Martha Stewart’s "Harvest of Fame"

Fortunately, today we are not limited to three networks and any talk radio. Americans have a plethora of ways to get the news. Cable has brought hundreds of sources and the Internet millions.

Now the problem is the American Citizen. While we have all these sources of information, viewers would rather sit in their easy chair, a beer in one hand and a snack in the other, watching sports or mindless programing on what has truly become the "Boob Tube."

Political Correctness.

"Political Correctness is a doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical liberal minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end."


This is the winner of this years contest for the best definition of a word.

Income Tax for Dummies

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.So, that’s what they decided to do.

The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. “Since you are all such good customers,” he said, “I’m going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20.” Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his ‘fair share?’

They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody’s share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man’s bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay. And so:

The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59(16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.
“I only got a dollar out of the $20,” declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man,” but he got $10!”
“Yeah, that’s right,” exclaimed the fifth man. “I only saved a dollar, too. It’s unfair that he got ten times more than I!”
“That’s true!” shouted the seventh man. “Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!”
“Wait a minute,” yelled the first four men in unison. “We didn’t get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!”
The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn’t show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn’t have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.


666

The Minotaur on the Bridge

Recent advances in the exploration of the multiverse has resulted in a treasure trove of information. Multiverse historians have been concentrating on the land of Cyrodiil, a world with two moons, magic, swords and mythical beasts. The following is an excerpt from the diary of one of an elite class of Adventurers, Barney de Breton. Cyrodiil is full of men and women who make their living scouring the land for things of value. De Breton is unique in this cohort. He has achieved a degree of fame through more than three-thousand kills. The following excerpt from his diary occurred during the early part of his career.

As an Adventurer, I roam the roads and wilderness of Cyrodiil searching for ways to fill my purse with Septums.

It was an unusually beautiful day, instead of the constant downpour of rain, the sun was shining brightly, warming the back of my head. All was well as I started crossing a suspension bridge, when my senses were assaulted by a horrible foul stench, and a terrific roar from behind me. As I turned, to my horror, a Minotaur was stepping on the bridge, obviously with the intent of having me for lunch.

I needed help and summoned a Scamp, which materialized behind the beast, and launched a fireball at its tail. In anger the Minotaur turned to attack my Scamp, hitting its head on a bridge support. I drew my trusty, rusty, sword and delivered a mighty blow to the beasts head. Enraged it turned to attack me, but in its anger it turned too far hitting it head on the other support, as my scamp launched another fireball striking its tail. Fortunately Minotaurs are not the brightest of creatures, and this one seemed to have spawned in the shallow end of the gene pool. It turned back to get at my scamp and again hit a bridge support. I don’t know how long this continued as the beast turned too and fro hitting supports on each side of the bridge, while my Scamp and I continued our attack, in exasperation the beast finally expired.

It’s horns added a few more Septums to my purse, making for a profitable experience.

Since those early days de Breton has become prominent in his society. As of this writing he has achieved many honors:
Knight-Brother of the Blades
Knight-Errant of Knights of the White Stallion
Champion of the Arena
Guardian of the Fighter Guild
Arch-Mage of the Mages Guild
Pilgrim of the Nine Divines.
Scholars are continuing the study of this unique individual. The Ministry of the Multiverse expects to release more about de Breton as information become available.