Fedora-pundit

2009-01-19T12:06:00.001-08:00

As I sit here looking out the window of my office watching helicopters fly low to the ground and policemen set up traffic cones in preparation for tomorrow's inauguration. I can't help but long for it all to be over. Not really because I didn't vote for The 'bama, but because this town is just insane and it does not need 4 million more people to come here and help make it more insane.

In fact I think it is very sad that one of Dubya's last acts in office was to declare this area a disaster zone. Of course it was really just so that FEMA money could be used to help cover the expenses; however I do not disagree with the label. The government is poised to spend over 150 million american dollars on this event. And I find the lack of critics of the extravagance to be very hypocritical.

AP Slammed Bush’s ‘Extravagant’ Inaugural in ’05, But Now It’s Spend, Baby, Spend | NewsBusters.org

Four years ago, the Associated Press and others in the press suggested it was in poor taste for Republicans to spend $40 million on President Bush’s inauguration. AP writer Will Lester calculated the impact that kind of money would have on armoring Humvees in Iraq, helping victims of the tsunami, or paying down the deficit. Lester thought the party should be cancelled: “The questions have come from Bush supporters and opponents: Do we need to spend this money on what seems so extravagant?”

Fast forward to 2009. The nation is still at war (two wars, in fact), and now also faces the prospect of a severe recession and federal budget deficits topping $1 trillion as far as the eye can see. With Barack Obama’s inauguration estimated to cost $45 million (not counting the millions more that government will have to pay for security), is the Associated Press once again tsk-tsking the high dollar cost?

Nope. “For inaugural balls, go for glitz, forget economy,” a Tuesday AP headline advised. The article by reporter Laurie Kellman argued for extravagance, starting with the lede:

Joe rips the Drive-By's

2008-12-16T13:38:00.001-08:00

Joe makes a good point on this clip. The news people can find out anything they want, it's their job, but their lack of curiosity on the Blago matter is very telling.

Hot Air » Blog Archive » Video: Joe Scarborough rips the Tanning Bed Media

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2008-04-17T07:45:00.001-07:00

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William F. Buckley Jr. Dies at 82

2008-02-28T06:32:00.001-08:00

RIP Bill Buckley, you will be missed.

William Buckley was often described as a witty man who loved a good argument or discussion. But also a man who was extremely friendly and displayed a love of life that was contagious. He had close friends on both sides of the political aisle and his intellect was renowned among them all. I can truly say that this is the kind of person that I want to be.

He is sometimes called the founder of Conservatism. But I think that's somewhat of a misnomer since conservatism is based on a way of life and what motivates people. It is not an intellectual philosophy that dictates how we act and think; it's rather the other way around. Bill Buckley was the first one to articulate conservatism and it's motivations as a complete intellectual platform. So I think the best description for him would be the Father of the Conservative Movement. I miss him already.

Rush Limbaugh shares his memories of Bill:

Bill Buckley is indescribable. He's irreplaceable. There will not be another one like him. And although that's true of all of us, once you take the time to learn about Buckley and his life and look at what all he did with it, he did not waste a moment, did not waste a moment. He was able to pursue, as he called it, his sybaritic delights, his pleasurable delights, such as sailing around the world numerous times, traveling the world with his work. He was prolific in output, but it was his intellect and it was his good humor that was literally inspiring to me.

Norman Podhoretz: WFB and his mighty pen.

An NOR Symposium on the life of WFB

John McCain: Bill was a great American

Redstates favorite WFB qutoes

I would like to take you seriously, but to do so would affront your intelligence.

We are so concerned to flatter the majority that we lose sight of how very often it is necessary, in order to preserve freedom for the minority, let alone for the individual, to face that majority down.

I would like to electrocute everyone who uses the word "fair" in connection with income tax policies.

All that is good is not embodied in the law; and all that is evil is not proscribed by the law. A well-disciplined society needs few laws; but it needs strong mores.

ElBaradei's Real Agenda

2008-02-27T07:11:00.001-08:00

So really, what does it take to get fired from a UN job?

Mr. ElBaradei's report culminates a career of freelancing and fecklessness which has crippled the reputation of the organization he directs. He has used his Nobel Prize to cultivate an image of a technocratic lawyer interested in peace and justice and above politics. In reality, he is a deeply political figure, animated by antipathy for the West and for Israel on what has increasingly become a single-minded crusade to rescue favored regimes from charges of proliferation.

Mr. ElBaradei assumed the directorship on Dec. 1, 1997. On his watch, but undetected by his agency, Iran constructed its covert enrichment facilities and, according to the 2007 U.S. National Intelligence Estimate, engaged in covert nuclear-weapons design. India and Pakistan detonated nuclear devices. A.Q. Khan, the Pakistani nuclear godfather, exported nuclear technology around the world.

In 2003, Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi confessed to an undetected weapons effort. Mr. ElBaradei's response? He rebuked the U.S. and U.K. for bypassing him. When Israel recently destroyed what many believe was a secret (also undetected) nuclear facility in Syria, Mr. ElBaradei told the New Yorker's Seymour Hersh that it is "unlikely that this building was a nuclear facility," although his agency has not physically investigated the site.

If I had a performance record like this at my job I would be fired. Very fired. I mean this guy has basically turned his department in to giant buckets of fail.

Unless of course your agenda has more to do with thwarting the interests of America. And his actions make perfect sense if he believes that America is the cause of the worlds problems.

It amazes me how selfish this guy is and how feckless his bosses at the UN are. The fact that a performance like this and a self serving agenda by a director can go un-addressed and unpunished is amazing. This also begs questioning of the UN (not that I need much of a reason). For a world wide organization who's stated goal is to keep peace; why are they letting one person's personal agenda endanger millions. Do they really think that a Islamic extremist with a nuclear weapon won't be that bad? There is some SERIOUS disingenuousness going on here.

ElBaradei's Real Agenda - WSJ.com

Links

2008-02-26T08:18:00.001-08:00

Chilling Effect - WSJ.com - Global Warmists try to stifle debate

House Inaction Left America Open To Attack - Mitch McConnel

Bad Times::By Thomas Sowell - New York Times "journalism"

American Thinker: The Misnomer of Conservatism

2008-02-26T06:33:00.001-08:00

Rush talked about this article yesterday and it truly made me think.

Consider the silliness of words like "conservative" and "liberal," if we actually give those words their commonsense meaning. Which American would most conservatives view as one of their own? Thomas Jefferson would be high on the list. He supported states' rights; he dreaded an imperial judiciary; we believed that the government which governed least was the best government; he believed strongly in the American Dream (he is recognized as the father of American Exceptionalism); he also deeply revered Western Civilization and its contributors. Thomas Jefferson would be considered an arch-conservative on most issues today.

But what was Jefferson, if we use the ordinary meaning of the words we have been given to describe politics? He was a liberal, because he believed in freedom (the ordinary meaning of the word relates to Latin libera. He was a conservative, because he sought to conserve those traditional rights which Americans had possessed as subjects of the Crown under English Common Law. He was a radical, who wrote the transformative Declaration of Independence and who made the radical gamble on America implicit in the Louisiana Purchase. He was a reactionary, because he sought to "turn back the clock," when the British tried to redefine the status of colonials by depriving them of rights which Englishmen had under Common Law. He was a revolutionary, because he reached the conclusion that only a revolutionary war could do justice to the American cause. He was a moderate, because he sought a tranquil, limited, apolitical government.

What Jefferson "was" ideologically was defined by the particular events happening at the time and upon the context it which those events happened. Yet Jefferson was not inconsistent it his political views: he was very consistent. He did not change, but rather the meaningless terms to define his actions and words had to change to meet the consistency of Jefferson. It is not unimportant that Jefferson and the other Founding Fathers never used terms like "liberal" or "conservative" or "progressive." And, despite the fact that his Presidency came after the French Revolution, Jefferson never used the term "Left" or "Right." Jefferson, one of the most brilliant and learned political thinkers in history, never used the silly language that we do today to describe political thought.

Did that mean that Jefferson did not write about politics and government? Quite the contrary: He wrote extensively, brilliantly, lucidly, and deeply. What he wrote about was not ideology, but rather specific principles that he believed were essential for good government. Jefferson believed in very limited government. He believed in strong individual rights. He believed in strong states and weak federal government. He believed that America was unique and vital to the world. If someone wanted to use a name to describe what Jefferson believed, that was his right, but Jefferson defined himself who he was.

Read the whole thing: American Thinker: The Misnomer of Conservatism

Homeless: Can you build a life from $25?

2008-02-25T10:28:00.001-08:00

This is an amazing story about a guy with a college education who, just to see if it could be done, became homeless and tried to build a life for himself starting with just $25.

Meet Adam Shepard, his goal was to have a car, a job and $2500 in the bank after a year. After 10 months he had a car, a job and $5000 in the bank!

His story truly is inspiring. I can't wait to read the whole book but I love how he repeatedly eschews any attempt to suggest that he had an advantage because of his education and upbringing. Instead he talks about the lessons HE learned from the people who started out less fortunate than he did.

Homeless: Can you build a life from $25?

But surely your background – you're privileged; you have an education and a family – made it much easier for you to achieve.

[Adam]I didn't use my college education, credit history, or contacts [while in South Carolina]. But in real life, I had these lessons that I had learned. I don't think that played to my advantage. How much of a college education do you need to budget your money to a point that you're not spending frivolously, but you're instead putting your money in the bank?

Do you need a college education? I don't think so. To be honest with you, I think I was disadvantaged, because my thinking was inside of a box. I have the way that I lived [in North Carolina] – and to enter into this totally new world and acclimate to a different lifestyle, that was the challenge for me.

......

Would your project have changed if you'd had child-care payments or been required to report to a probation officer? Wouldn't that have made it much harder?

The question isn't whether I would have been able to succeed. I think it's the attitude that I take in: "I've got child care. I've got a probation officer. I've got all these bills. Now what am I going to do? Am I going to continue to go out to eat and put rims on my Cadillac? Or am I going to make some things happen in my life...?" One guy, who arrived [at the shelter] on a Tuesday had been hit by a car on [the previous] Friday by a drunk driver. He was in a wheelchair. He was totally out of it. He was at the shelter. And I said, "Dude, your life is completely changed." And he said, "Yeah, you're right, but I'm getting the heck out of here." Then there was this other guy who could walk and everything was good in his life, but he was just kind of bumming around, begging on the street corner. To see the attitudes along the way, that is what my story is about.

That makes me feel almost ashamed for not having a better attitude about my career and education. It definitely gives me pride to live in a Country where you can start at the bottom and with enough hard work and a good attitude be very successful. Especially if you have an attitude similar to Adam's:

You made it out of the shelter, got a job, and opened a bank account. Did you meet other people who had similar experiences?

Oh, absolutely. We don't need "Scratch Beginnings" to know that millions of Americans are creating a life for themselves from nothing.... Just as millions of Americans are not getting by. There are both ends of the spectrum.

To meet that guy [in the wheelchair] at the shelter, [makes you wonder] 'Can he get out and go to college and become a doctor?' Maybe, maybe not. I think he can set goals..... You can use your talents. That's why, from the beginning, I set very realistic goals: $2,500, a job, car. This isn't a "rags-to-riches million-dollar" story. This is very realistic. I truly believe, based on what I saw at the shelter ...that anyone can do that.

That's one thing about liberals and really politicians in general. You never hear them say "you CAN do it". It's always "What you've already done should have been good enough and I'm the one who can fix this injustice". Even if the pols have good intentions they are discouraging the attitude that will ultimately help the poor become not poor.

Here is another interview with Adam from one of my favorite websites Get Rich Slowly:

Even now, though, in my current life where I have a little bit more financial freedom, I’m still always looking to save money. Why do I need to go to the “real movie theatre” when I can go to the “dolla-fitty” and watch movies that might be a month or two old? Why Eddie Bauer, when Marshall’s essentially has the same clothes? Why Dr. Pepper when there’s Dr. Thunder? And on and on. Even with money to spare, I’m looking for ways to put that money to work for me rather than spending it on items that I don’t truly need for right now.

I know that one day I’ll be financially free enough to own the car I want, the house I want, the clothes I want. That day is not today, but the idea of delaying gratification keeps me going.

J.D.
Is it really that easy? You were able to do this because you had a goal. What was the situation like for those people you worked and lived with? Did they have goals? Did they save?

Adam
Of course it’s easy for me to say it was easy. I had a goal. I was out to prove a point. I had the mentality and I knew what I had to do to get the results I wanted.

But what surprised me most, and what makes my story so fascinating, is that so many people around me were doing the same thing. It was most prevalent in the shelter (where some people had spent a lifetime learning from their mistakes), but it was just as prevalent outside of the shelter with guys like Derrick Hale, who emerges as the hero of my experience in Charleston.

Derrick was a guy I was working with at the moving company. He had come from rural Kingstree, SC, and he truly knew what poverty was like having grown up in a world of bologna and pickle sandwiches and maybe the lights will turn on, maybe not. And there he was in Charleston, saving his money just like I was. Actually, that’s cocky of me to say, since I was learning so many lessons from him.

Derrick was unique in that not only did he have a goal, but he had a vision for achieving that goal. There’s a monumental difference, and I really learned that throughout the course of my time in Charleston. Everybody knows what they want (nice house, car, vacation money, etc.) and many people know what can get in the way of achieving those goals (see poor spending habits above). But! Some people really struggle with the discipline of their vision. Derrick wanted a house, and near the end of my time in Charleston, he moved into a brand new 3-bedroom, two-story house, with a patio and a fenced in yard for his daughter and dog to play. He was 25 and he worked as a mover, but he knew how to handle his money.

So, is it realistic to set goals and save your money and make worthy investments? Of course it is! Are people doing it? Of course they are, just as there are people that are squandering their money to bad habits.

Read the whole thing. You will be glad you did

Also check out his website Scratch Beginnings.

Some Reading

2008-02-20T12:16:00.001-08:00

Here is some reading for you

John McCain
"I will fight every moment of every day in this campaign to make sure Americans are not deceived by an eloquent but empty call for change that promises no more than a holiday from history and a return to the false promises and failed policies of a tired philosophy that trusts in government more than people. Our purpose is to keep this blessed country free, safe, prosperous and proud. And the changes we offer to the institutions and policies of government will reflect and rely upon the strength, industry, aspirations and decency of the people we serve."

Mark Styen - What would it take to alarm you?
The folks who call my book "alarmist" accept that the Western world is growing more Muslim (Canada's Muslim population has doubled in the last 10 years), but they deny that this population trend has any significant societal consequences. Sharia mortgages? Sure. Polygamy? Whatever. Honour killings? Well, okay, but only a few.

Global Warming? It's the coldest winter in decades.
Ice levels which had shrunk from 13million sq km in January 2007 to just four million in October, are almost back to their original levels.
Figures show that there is nearly a third more ice in Antarctica than is usual for the time of year.
The data flies in the face of many current thinkers and will be seized on by climate change sceptics who deny that the world is undergoing global warming.
A photograph of polar bears clinging on to a melting iceberg has become one of the most enduring images in the campaign against climate change.
It was used by former US Vice President Al Gore during his Inconvenient Truth lectures about mankind’s impact on the world. But scientists say the northern hemisphere has endured its coldest winter in decades.
They add that snow cover across the area is at its greatest since 1966.

Obamamania

2008-02-20T11:50:00.001-08:00

The Obama campaign seems determined to be THE definition of "style over substance". In a recent speech Michelle Obama made the statement "for the FIRST time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country" (see Video).

Really Mrs. Obama? Let's see in your lifetime the Berlin Wall came down, Segregation was stamped out and the Corvette was produced. Not proud of that? Hmm ok. What about being at the forefront of a technological renaissance that has literally changed the world(the Internet)? Or what about the way this country responded with aid to the Tsunami in 2004? Were you not proud of the heroic First Responders on 9/11?

Even if those things did make her proud, a little bit, putting her husbands speeches to rockstar like crowds in the same category is very revealing. It reveals that Obama's positions are going to be solely based on what makes people feel good. Indeed that's what his campaign has consisted of: feelings. His speeches is making Bill Clinton and his old "I feel your pain" speeches look like Ebeneezer Scrooge.

In the meantime those of us who are truly proud of our country know that it takes more than good intentions to be an effective President.

Michelle Malkin has a great take on this as well.

President Bush

2008-02-20T11:04:00.001-08:00

Has done more to fight AIDS and disease in Africa than any other President.

But Mr. Geldof has remained closely engaged with African affairs since then, and he spoke off the cuff to reporters today who were waiting for a press conference with Mr. Bush and Rwandan President Paul Kagame.

Mr. Geldof praised Mr. Bush for his work in delivering billions to fight disease and poverty in Africa, and blasted the U.S. press for ignoring the achievement.

Mr. Bush, said Mr. Geldof, "has done more than any other president so far."

"This is the triumph of American policy really," he said. "It was probably unexpected of the man. It was expected of the nation, but not of the man, but both rose to the occasion."

"What's in it for [Mr. Bush]? Absolutely nothing," Mr. Geldof said.

Mr. Geldof said that the president has failed "to articulate this to Americans" but said he is also "pissed off" at the press for their failure to report on this good news story.

"You guys didn't pay attention," Geldof said to a group of reporters from all the major newspapers.

Bush administration officials, incidentally, have also been quite displeased with some of the press coverage on this trip that they have viewed as overly negative and ignoring their achievements.

The Washington Times, America's Newspaper

If Dubya's name was Bill Clinton this would be on the front page of every newspaper and magazine across this country (and probably other Countries as well).

But what's not being talked about is the dirty little secret about how HIV spread in the first place. The truth is that back when HIV first started spreading in Africa it was predominantly in UN controlled 'aid areas'. The UN refused to classify it as a deadly virus and thus did not quarantine or restrict the movement of those infected. This was later corrected but the problem is still way out of hand.

LILEKS

2008-02-20T05:59:00.001-08:00

Bleats all over Obama

On the radio today Medved and Hewitt both asked Obama supporters to call and say why they were supporting their man. Specifics, please. The replies were rather indistinct. He would end the division and bring us together by encouraging us all to talk about common problems, after which we would compromise. He will give us hope by giving us hope: for many, the appeal has the magical perfect logic of a tautology. It's a nice dream. But compromise is impossible when you have a fundamental differences about the proper way to solve a problem. I believe we can achieve a fair society by taking away your house and giving it to someone else. I disagree. It is my house. Then let us agree to give away half of your house. Compromise! But that is not a compromise. You have taken half my house. We have compromised on your behalf with those who would have taken it all. Let us not return to the politics of division. There are strangers living in my spare bedroom. Then we have truly come together. Look, this isn’t a matter on which we can compromise, because we have conflicting premises. You’re pretending matter and anti-matter have the same relationship as Coke and Pepsi. They don’t.

If he wins, I do look forward to dissenting; since it’s been established as the highest form of patriotism, I expect my arguments will be met with grave respect. Shhhh! He’s dissenting.

Among the arguments offered by the callers:

* He will help save the planet by encouraging everyone to recycle cans and bottles and paper (the caller discussed a local drought, and said she did not think that recycling would stop it, but if everyone recycled - something she thought Obama would bring about through a general new era of ecological concern - future droughts would not occur.)

* He will pay for college tuition (the caller thought tuition was too expensive, and did not want to be burdened with loans)

* He will meet with the Iranians, personally, and conduct a frank personal interrogation about their nuclear intentions

* He will inspire the Youth of America to get involved in politics again

* He will prevent American companies from moving manufacturing overseas (The caller was unsure how this could be done, only that it would be done, because it should be done)

* He will not raise taxes on anyone except maybe millionaires (The caller was surprised to be asked if Obama would raise taxes; it was a strange, peculiar, irrelevant issue)

* He will give everyone health care (This would make American industry competitive, since companies would be freed of the obligation of making it an employee benefit)

* He will talk to the Europeans

And so on. There is tremendous faith in his ability to just wave a love-wand and get things done. I remember the same zeitgeist afoot in the land in 1992; change was the mantra then, too. Odd how things turn out – I’d be happier with Hillary as President than Obama, simply because she seems a bit more seasoned and realistic. And I do find it interesting that people who have decried the shallow, theatrical, emotion-based nature of contemporary politics are now so effusive in their praise for someone’s ability to move crowds. Perhaps they don’t mind a fellow on a white horse if he promises to nationalize the stables.

LILEKS (James) the Bleat

Free Speech and Radical Islam

2008-02-19T11:20:00.003-08:00

Great article in the WSJ today:

For the past three months Mr. Westergaard and his wife have been on the run. Mr. Westergaard did the most famous of the 12 Muhammad cartoons published in Jyllands-Posten in September 2005 -- the one depicting the prophet with a bomb in his turban. The cartoon was a satirical comment on the fact that some Muslims are committing terrorist acts in the name of Islam and the prophet. Tragically, Mr. Westergaard's fate has proven the point of his cartoon: In the early hours of Tuesday morning Danish police arrested three men who allegedly had been plotting to kill him.

In the past few days 17 Danish newspapers have published Mr. Westergaard's cartoon, which is as truthful as Picasso's painting. My colleagues at Jyllands-Posten and I understand that the cartoon may be offensive to some people, but sometimes the truth can be very offensive. As George Orwell put it in the suppressed preface to "Animal Farm": "If liberty means anything, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear."

Sadly, the plot to kill Mr. Westergaard is not an isolated story, but part of a broader trend that risks undermining free speech in Europe and around the world. Consider the following recent events: In Oslo a gallery has censored three small watercolor paintings, showing the head of the prophet Muhammad on a dog's body, by the Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who has been under police protection since the fall of 2007. In Holland the municipal museum in The Hague recently refused to show photos by the Iranian-born artist Sooreh Hera of gay men wearing the masks of the prophet Muhammad and his son Ali; Ms. Hera has received several death threats and is in hiding. In Belarus an editor has been sentenced to three years in a forced labor camp after republishing some of Jyllands-Posten's Muhammad cartoons. In Egypt bloggers are in jail after having "insulted Islam." In Afghanistan the 23-year-old Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh has been sentenced to death because he distributed "blasphemous" material about the mistreatment of women in Islam. And in India the Bengal writer Taslima Nasreen is in a safe house after having been threatened by people who don't like her books.

Every one of the above cases speaks to the same problem: a global battle for the right to free speech. The cases are different, and you can't compare the legal systems in Egypt and Norway, but the justifications for censorship and self-censorship are similar in different parts of the world: Religious feelings and taboos need to be treated with a kind of sensibility and respect that other feelings and ideas cannot command.

Read the Whole Thing and keep this in mind the next time you hear someone call Christians intolerant.

Islamists want to kill you for 'sinning', even if you are not Muslim.

Rush Limbaugh Talks to TIME

2008-02-15T12:20:00.001-08:00

Shockingly Rush is given a fair shake and ample space to explain himself.

Take a look:

The second thing that the media doesn't understand — and I think it's because talk radio is outside the Beltway. It's a phenomenon that attracts what I call the people who make the country work. I don't think politicians and elected officials and bureaucrats and even the media are responsible for the greatness of the country. I think it's individual Americans laboring in anonymity, not seeking fame, just trying to get by, play by the rules, work hard, ordinary people doing extraordinary things. And those are the people that listen to talk radio. And the media thinks that they're all hayseeds and hicks without minds of their own. When in fact, they are totally independent thinkers. And most of my audience is there not because I have Pied Pipered them to where they believe. They already believed what they believe — I just came along and validated it. When I started in '88, there was CNN, the three networks, your magazine and Newsweek and US News and the newspapers. That was it. I started in '88 and I was the first so-called national voice espousing conservatism and people glommed onto it because finally, "Somebody who agrees with me!"

So the assumption is that people who listen to talk radio are idiots, or mindless robots, or victims of slick marketing and packaging. So there's sort of a condescending view of the audience of talk radio, people are sometimes held in contempt by some people. It's just totally wrong. It's 180 degrees out of phase.

Rush Limbaugh Talks to TIME -

Potomac Tuesday

2008-02-12T07:13:00.001-08:00

So it's our Super Tuesday here in the Potomac area. And a lot has changed over the past couple of weeks on both sides of the political aisle. So here's my take on what happened on the big Super Tuesday and what my perspective is going forward.

Super Tuesday saw John McCain basically wrap up the nomination. Fred Thompson dropped out and Big Mac took a commanding lead in the delegate count. Also Mike Huckabee did very well in the south taking some states that Romney had high hopes of picking up.

But the big story on Super Tuesday was how poorly John McCain did in the south. In fact Huckabee's success could be seen more as a negative reaction to McCain than a positive for Huck. And this is a situation that needs to get fixed, soon. McCain's large delegate pickups came from California and New York. Which makes sense, he is very popular with the Independents and soft liberals who live in those states. But come general election time those states will be blue. And he is silly if he thinks that he can win without the south. For a Republican to win he needs to win the whole south, and a majority of the Midwestern states as well. McCain polls really well against Hillary and Obama, but they will kick his tail in NY/CA.

And to his credit McCain has been saying all the right things and is trying to convince people that he really is a conservative who is compatible with the lifestyles of people in the South. Time will tell how successful he is in this endeavor. Of course a lot will depend on who he picks as his running mate. And also if Hillary gets the Dem nod then the South would automagically be united against her.

As sad as I was to see Mit Romney drop out. It was probably best for the party. McCain had beaten him despite a great stage presence and millions of dollars spent on advertising. So it was the right thing to do. It is better for him to drop out and encourage McCain to embrace more conservative positions than to spend months bashing his past record. I liked Mitt a lot, and I think he will be back in 2012. There is also some talk of him taking over the head of the GOP. But honestly, it's nice to be reassured that our elections aren't totally about who has the most money.

Rush Limbaugh has been lambasted by our media and some high ranking conservatives for not supporting John McCain. Rush has been very critical of Mac's 'maverick' tendencies. And not unjustly so. The claim is that Rush will ruin the party by not getting in line behind McCain. And frankly I find the claim ridiculous! Rush has always dealt with principles and ideals, not candidates and parties. Rush is the Maha Rushie because he articulates conservative life views in an entertaining manner. And while he supports certain candidates, based on their positions and ideology, he has never tried to play king maker nor has he ever wanted to take on that mantle. And really did John McCain think that he could take liberal positions on things like Global Warming, Campaign Finance, Taxes, and Illegal Immigration without coming under fire from someone who's job it is to to refute such positions?Seriously if Rush were to say "no it's ok, those issues don't matter" the he would basically be saying that he himself doesn't matter.

And really, these criticisms betray a lack of understanding about Rush's show. Rush has never been a spoon feeder of ideas. His show is popular because he uses clear and reasoned opinions and a rapier wit to gives voice to a lifestyle that already exists. Despite what talking head "drive by media" types would have you believe he is not a Pied Piper telling people what to think and how to vote. The Truth is that if Rush were trying to lead people around by the nose he would not be as successful as he is today.

Where do we go from here? That is the question facing many conservatives today. Who do you vote for? Do you jump on the McCain bandwagon? Or do you vote for the pastor with the populist rhetoric? Or do you sit out to teach the Republicans a lesson? Well honestly the Primary today makes very little difference. McCain will win, and VA is not a state that splits it's delegates, so the only reason to watch Huckabee's numbers is to see if he's close enough to get the VP spot.

McCain has the support of some people I respect (George Allen) and some that I don't (John Warner). At this point voting against him won't do much anyway. So what is the answer?

I think Michelle Malkin hit on it earlier this week:

Some on the Right advise their readers and listeners to vote Democrat or sit home. My advice is exactly the opposite: Get off the couch and walk the walk for conservative candidates and officeholders who need all the help they can get defending free markets, free minds, and secure borders—no matter who takes the White House in November.

Dissatisfied with the flawed crop of GOP candidates who lacked the energy, organizational skills, and ideological strength to carry the conservative banner and ignite your passions? Then pay attention to the next generation of Republican state legislators who do vote consistently to lower your taxes, uphold the sanctity of life, defend marriage, and cut government spending. Support their re-election bids. Reward them for standing with you instead of their Democrat opponents and the liberal media.

Look at Barack Obama. Four years ago, he was in the Illiniois legislature. Now, he’s on the cusp of the presidency.

If you can’t stomach John McCain, channel your support and energies to Republicans who do represent your values and who have treated the conservative base as allies instead of enemies. There are a new generation of combat veterans running for office who haven’t made a career of trashing the base. Check out staunch economic, social, and national security conservative congressional candidates like Iraq/Afghanistan veteran Eric Egland in California’s fourth district. Check out the Vets for Freedom (vetsforfreedom.org) group for their endorsements.

Opposed to the amnesty bill? Republican Sens. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, Thad Cochran of Mississippi, James Inhofe of Oklahoma, and John Cornyn of Texas all fought the McCain-Kennedy-Graham-Martinez-Bush open-borders disaster. All of those Senators are up for re-election this year. Send them some money. Then send a few more bucks to the enforcement proponents on the House side as well.

.......

Get involved. Don’t calm down. Get fired up.

She has it exactly right. We shouldn't whine about the Republican establishment abandoning conservatism. We should be supporting and promoting tomorrow's establishment.

Sour grapes? Maybe. Or maybe just correcting a mistake that has been made in the past. Stay tuned because I intend to do exactly what Michelle suggests.

Hillary was on the board at.....

2008-02-01T05:42:00.000-08:00

WAL MART!!!!

What a hypocrite!!

Also, isn't it amazing how the people at ABC just HATE one of the most successful companies in the history of the world?

Candor from Slick Willy?

2008-01-31T08:47:00.001-08:00

The basic difference between the conservative and liberal position on global warming is that conservatives want to improve energy efficiency, make it cleaner and more easily accessible. While Libs want us to stop using as energy and preserve the earth.

Conservatives tie cleaner energy to improving the quality of life, we want to invent the next catalytic converter. Libs want everyone to make quality of life sacrifices to save our planet from destruction.

Actually if they are honest, Global Warming is really just a way for Liberals to gain more control over your life. Bill Clinton basically admitted as much in a stump speech in Colorado (via Political Punch ):

Former President Bill Clinton was in Denver, Colorado, stumping for his wife yesterday.

In a long, and interesting speech, he characterized what the U.S. and other industrialized nations need to do to combat global warming this way: "We just have to slow down our economy and cut back our greenhouse gas emissions 'cause we have to save the planet for our grandchildren."

At a time that the nation is worried about a recession is that really the characterization his wife would want him making? "Slow down our economy"?

He can talk about saving our grandchildren all he wants, but what does it take to slow down an economy? Control! That is what these socialists libs want. They want to tell you what you can eat, where you can live, where you can work, how much money you can make and why you should feel guilty.

Conservatives think that the only way we will all be successful is if you are in control and have the freedom to decide those things for yourself.

If Libs really cared about the environment they wouldn't do things like leave their gigantic fuel burning, pollutant emitting busses idling outside their "Global Warming Conference".

Big Mac

2008-01-30T07:38:00.001-08:00

So McCain wins Florida. And probably the nomination.

McCain Beats Romney to Win Fla. Primary

Barring some miracle neither Romney or Huckabee will be able to win the nomination at this point. Especially since Guliani has pulled out and will endorsed McCain.

This is very tough for me. I can only hope that McCain is serious that he wants to unite the Republican party around conservative principles. However I am dubious and feel as if this is campaign speech pandering.

I'm not one to fool myself, I can read the writing on the wall as well as anyone. As much as I don't like John McCain he will get the nomination. Or at least it's his to lose. So let's try to look on the bright side.

-He's very electable. He leads in polls against Clinton and Obama.
-His electability might give him coattails. And a Republican house and senate is the best way to keep him from acting like a Democrat
-His foreign policy is stellar, the troops will be safe and confident in their mission

Man this is hard. I can't get past his anit-tax cut, anti-business stance. Or McCain Feigngold. Or his amnesty-laced immigration bill.

He will probably end up being like a Republican Bill Clinton (sans infidelity), everyone will like him but he won't be able to accomplish the agenda or goals of his party.

We hardly knew thee

2008-01-22T12:17:00.001-08:00

Fred Thompson Quits Presidential Race

NAPLES, Fla. (AP) - Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson quit the Republican presidential race on Tuesday, after a string of poor finishes in early primary and caucus states.

"Today, I have withdrawn my candidacy for president of the United States. I hope that my country and my party have benefited from our having made this effort," Thompson said in a statement.

Thompson's fate was sealed last Saturday in the South Carolina primary, when he finished third in a state that he had said he needed to win.

Actually that's not true. We knew lots of things about Fred. He came in as the most well reasoned intellectually solid candidate on either side.

However you can't be a successful campaigner without appealing to the sensationalistic nature of the American people. Couple that with the fact that the general public is really in the mood for 'change' and it is easy to see why things didn't go well.

It's very disappointing for me. I was sure that Fred, as a professional communicator, would be successful in cutting through all of the silly campaign rhetoric and clearly present conservative ideas in ways that appealed to a broad spectrum of people. Sadly this was not the case.

Fred Thompson Quits Presidential Race

2008-01-21T12:05:00.001-08:00

This makes me sad because it's true. It's true for my candidate and it's true as a commentary on what politics has become.

Bob Krumm on what might have been for Fred Thompson:

6. Since the media only print sentences don’t talk in paragraphs. Fred has displayed more depth and intelligence than any of his opponents in either party. It is clear that he understands the issues of the day and has thought about them deeply. No candidate in the past two decades has ever entered the race with such a wealth of knowledge. But he wasn’t able to convey his thoughts in short soundbites. What he intended to say, therefore, often got lost in what he said. Like the old adage perhaps, his late start meant that he “didn’t have enough time to be brief.” Still, if he wasn’t campaigning in the early states, and he wasn’t spending the early campaign time raising money hand over fist, he should have spent the time working on his stump speech. Instead he never matured his message until it was too late.

BobKrumm.com » What might have been . . . and what was

Debate Top 10

2008-01-17T13:06:00.001-08:00

John Hawkins has the Top 10 Moments from the Republican debates.

Here's my favorite:

Fred Lays It Out On Foxnews

2008-01-17T08:12:00.000-08:00

Obama's Church

2008-01-16T12:03:00.001-08:00

In politics today the question increasingly comes up "should religion play in to your decision to vote for a candidate". This to me seems like a silly question. Since you are voting for a person to represent you should naturally want to know how he makes his/her decisions. And religious conviction or lack thereof, being a large part of a person's worldview, affects decision making directly.

Of course since over %80 of the people in this nation profess to be some flavor of Christian you can't turn around without seeing a candidate standing in a sanctuary. It is very fair to examine the religious stance of each candidate, if only to detect political pandering from the pulpit, But more to get an idea of how the candidate would govern.

Looking at Barack Obama's church reveals some very disturbing attitudes and activism. And it is responsible to ask how closely Obama agrees with these stances and how much they will affect his decision-making should he be elected.

In 1991, when Obama joined the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, he pledged allegiance to something called the Black Value System, which is a code of non-Biblical ethics written by blacks, for blacks.

It encourages blacks to group together and separate from the larger American society by pooling their money, patronizing black-only businesses and backing black leaders. Such racial separatism is strangely at odds with the media's portrayal of Obama as a uniter who reaches across races.

The code also warns blacks to avoid the white "entrapment of black middle-classness," suggesting that settling for that kind of "competitive" success will rob blacks of their African identity and keep them "captive" to white culture.

In short, Obama's "unashamedly black" church preaches the politics of black nationalism. And its dashiki-wearing preacher — who married Obama and his wife and now acts as his personal spiritual adviser — is militantly Afrocentric. "We are an African people," the Rev. Jeremiah Wright reminds his flock, "and remain true to our native land, the mother continent."

Wright once traveled to Libya with black supremacist Louis Farrakhan to meet with terrorist leader Muammar Qaddafi. Last year at a Chicago gala, Wright honored his old pal Farrakhan, who's fond of calling whites "blue-eyed devils," for lifetime achievement.

It comes as little surprise then that Wright would think Israel a "racist" occupier of Palestinians, while describing the 9/11 attacks as a "wake-up call" to "white America" for ignoring the concerns of "people of color."

.......

Still, his Muslim heritage is not the signal issue before the electorate. It's his Afrocentric church, which preaches black socialism and black nativism, and his family ties to an African tribe that's fanning the flames of Marxism and militant Islam in a country once considered strongly democratic and a friend of the U.S.

"I believe in the power of the African-American religious tradition to spur social change," Obama has asserted. He also says his faith has led him to question "the idolatry of the free market."

If a President Obama's foreign and domestic policies are anything like the Afrocentric doctrine he's pledged to uphold, Americans will pay a hefty price, including those among the growing black middle class.

Remember this nativism the next time you hear someone call Obama a uniter.

IBDeditorials.com:-- Obama's Church

Wow

2008-01-16T11:42:00.001-08:00

What have I missed? I've been extremely busy launching my company's new website so I haven't had a lot of time to blog.

I have totally ignored three Republican primaries. So what have I learned? Well first I learned who people in Iowa would want to pastor their church, Huckabee. I learned who centrists, independents, and democrats from the Northeast want to be the Republican nominee, McCain (anyone can vote in the New Hampshire primaries). And I learned that Romny is very popular in his home state by the largest margin of victory of any of the three winners.

Meanwhile my candidate, Fred Thompson, blew people away in the New Hampshire debates and has been spending most of his time and money in South Carolina. But he's still significantly behind in all polls everywhere.

Here's hoping for a FDT win in SC. I will be updating with a lot more frequently now that my project is finished. Stay tuned.

A Grinch spotted in Oklahoma

2007-12-20T11:07:00.001-08:00

And no I'm not overreacting. Dude is trying to stop Christmas from coming.

Dear RedState Reader,
Drew Edmondson is the Oklahoma Attorney General. Recently he rounded up conservative activists and threw them in jail for circulating petitions to get conservatives on the ballot.
Now, however, Oklahoma Atty Gen. Drew Edmondson has done something even nuttier. He has issued an advisory opinion from the Attorney General's Office directing universities and public employees in Oklahoma to refrain from using or writing the word "Christmas."
Mark Tapscott with the Washington Examiner has the details. Mark notes, "Edmondson issued an advisory opinion to officials at Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford advising them that the word "Christmas" should not be spoken by any employee of the state school, not written in any official holiday decorations."
Attorney General Edmondson can be reached at 405-521-3921. Please call and wish him a Merry Christmas and ask why he banned Christmas.
All the best and
Merry Christmas to you,

Erick Erickson
Editor, RedState.com

Please share with your friends and give him a call. I called and talked to an administrative person, and made sure I cheerfully wished her a Merry Christmas.

Picking up Momentum

2007-12-19T12:41:00.001-08:00

Fred Thompson is picking up some momentum in Iowa after a strong performance in the the last debate.

Thompson is spending the final two weeks of the campaign in Iowa traveling the state with his wife, Jeri.
He referred to the Republican debate last week in Iowa, where he drew praise for refusing to comply when asked for a show of hands on a question about global warming.
“I said, ‘Nope,’ and everybody pulled their hand down and looked around,” Thompson said. “I just said to my buddies up there, ‘How are you going to stand up to the leaders of Iran and North Korea if you can’t stand up to an overbearing moderator?'”

And then he picked up the endorsement of highly respected conservative Steve King!

In addition to King, Fred picked up the endorsement of some high level bloggers (in addition to this one of course *ahem*):

Polipundit:

Thompson is an appealing mix of insider and outsider. His down-to-earth realism, his wit, and his political experience will make him the best possible general election candidate for the GOP. His positions on the key issues are solid and well-expressed, and will unite the Republican coalition against the prospect of a Hillary Clinton presidency.

Stop The ACLU:

Fred Thompson, as he isn't shy to point out, is consistent. I agree with him on every issue I can think of. While his campaign hasn't been the most exciting, his record, consistent principles, straightforwardness, and likability win me over.

Pejman Yousefzadeh of Redstate.com:

Indeed, as a general matter, it should be noted--as many have said--that when it comes to policy discussions, Thompson is clearly intellectually and substantively prepared to wade into the deep end of the pool. Moreover, Thompson clearly enjoys serious and intense policy discussions and is a genuine wonk. Thompson intellectual approach to policy issues will lead to a more refined and successful decision-making process if he should be elected President.

These are some very serious endorsements. Fred is kicking off his bus tour and will be on the road from now until the primary in Iowa. Stay tuned for more updates.

And I will once again point you to Fred's writings at Townhall.com, all written before he entered the race. If you are curious about where Fred stands on issues and why he stands where he does then I encourage you to check them out.

Dishonest political tampering with the science on global warming

2007-12-11T13:36:00.001-08:00

This is an important article to read and understand in these times when eco-socialism seems to be embraced on all sides. Read this article, twice, make an outline of it's points. Arm yourself against the holier than thou greenies who favor intrusive socialistic laws over science. DO NOT be the one who is uninformed.

The atmospheric concentration of CO2 in 1995 was 360 parts per million. In 2005 it was just 5percent higher, at 378 ppm. But each additional molecule of CO2 in the air causes a smaller radiant-energy increase than its predecessor. So the true increase in radiative forcing was 1 percent, not 20 percent. The IPCC has exaggerated the CO2 effect 20-fold.
Why so large and crucial an exaggeration? Answer: the IPCC has repealed the fundamental physicalthe Stefan-Boltzmann equation - that converts radiant energy to temperature. Without this equation, no meaningful calculation of the effect of radiance on temperature can be done. Yet the 1,600 pages of the IPCC’s 2007 report do not mention it once.
The IPCC knows of the equation, of course. But it is inconvenient. It imposes a strict (and very low) limit on how much greenhouse gases can increase temperature. At the Earth’s surface, you can add as much greenhouse gas as you like (the “surface forcing"), and the temperature will scarcely respond.
That is why all of the IPCC’s computer models predict that 10km above Bali, in the tropical upper troposphere, temperature should be rising two or three times as fast as it does at the surface. Without that tropical upper-troposphere “hot-spot”, the Stefan-Boltzmann law ensures that surface temperature cannot change much.
For half a century we have been measuring the temperature in the upper atmosphere - and it has been changing no faster than at the surface. The IPCC knows this, too. So it merely declares that its computer predictions are right and the real-world measurements are wrong. Next time you hear some scientifically-illiterate bureaucrat say, “The science is settled”, remember this vital failure of real-world observations to confirm the IPCC’s computer predictions. The IPCC’s entire case is built on a guess that the absent hot-spot might exist.
Even if the Gore/IPCC exaggerations were true, which they are not, the economic cost of trying to mitigate climate change by trying to cut our emissions through carbon trading and other costly market interferences would far outweigh any possible climatic benefit.
The international community has galloped lemming-like over the cliff twice before. Twenty years ago the UN decided not to regard AIDS as a fatal infection. Carriers of the disease were not identified and isolated. Result: 25 million deaths in poor countries.
Thirty-five years ago the world decided to ban DDT, the only effective agent against malaria. Result: 40 million deaths in poor countries. The World Health Organization lifted the DDT ban on Sept. 15 last year. It now recommends the use of DDT to control malaria. Dr. Arata Kochi of the WHO said that politics could no longer be allowed to stand in the way of the science and the data. Amen to that.

CFP: Dishonest political tampering with the science on global warming

I wondered how long this would take.

2007-12-10T11:00:00.001-08:00

Home-schoolers propel Huckabee

Thousands of evangelical Christians who school their children at home have found a candidate they can support in Huckabee, and they provide the former Arkansas governor's outsider campaign with hundreds of volunteers.

.....

As a small subset of social conservatives, home-school activists are too few to account for all of Huckabee's recent jump to the top of the Republican field in the state.
But they number in the thousands and could make the difference in a close contest on Jan. 3, when Iowa's precinct caucuses kick off the presidential nominating process.
"They stand for the same things, and they trust each other," said Christine Hurley, a Pleasant Hill Republican active in the state's home-school network.
"I think that's what's happening with the Huckabee thing," said Hurley, who supports Huckabee. "When you understand he's a Baptist minister, you don't have to ask what he stands for."

I think it's great that homeschoolers are starting to have a bigger impact in politics. I remember very clearly working on campaigns when I was growing up. I would stand outside the voting areas and hand out flyers to people coming in to vote.

That was over 10 years ago. I personally now have twice as many (homeschooled) siblings that can vote, and I also have 3 nieces and a nephew who will be homeschooled. And I know many families that are just as big, active, and concerned about politics as mine is.

While homeschoolers are regularly scoffed at, stereotyped and dismissed out of hand, we are also growing in number and becoming more active in the public arena. Homeschoolers make great grassroots campaigners. I mean think about it; homeschoolers are taught to value hard work, manners, and passion for what you believe in. What else would a campaign manager ask for?

I predict that the influence of homeschooling campaigners will grow exponentially over the next few years. And that the non-Christians and mainstream press will continue to completely misunderstand what homeschooling is really about.

For the record I do support Fred Thompson over Mike Huckabee. But I do hope that homeschoolers will support whomever the nominee ends up being. Politics and our Country will benefit greatly from our involvement.

Blogburst! ACLU Halts Bible Donations in North Carolina Elementary Schools

2007-11-21T05:20:00.001-08:00

Blogburst from Stoptheaclu.com

Gideons Keep Out of North Carolina's Elementary Schools!

A North Carolina school district is putting an end to the donations of Bibles to elementary school kids. The Cumberland County school system says state law limits the practice strictly to high schools and has issued instructions banning it at 54 elementary schools in the metro Fayetteville area. The move comes after a parent complained about the stack of Bibles left in her son's classroom earlier this month. The same parent filed a complaint with the American Civil Liberties Union. The Fayetteville Observer said that while a 1998 court decision allows outside groups to make Bibles available to high school students, the ACLU contends it doesn't apply to elementary kids who might see the practice as promoting Christianity over other religions. The Bibles came from the Gideons, the group best known for supplying Bibles to hotel rooms.

Gideons be warned. The ACLU are likely to jail you if you try to share the gospel to kids. What? You thought the Constitution protected freedom of religion? Not according to the ACLU's version. Maybe you should try pro-Palestian, or pro-Communist propaganda. Or maybe install some footbaths to accomadate Muslims. The ACLU seem to think these are protected speech. The ACLU have a long history of going after the Gideons, but talk about splitting hairs. I thought their argument was based on public schools being government funded. Whats the difference between Elementary and High Schools on that basis? A biased loophole is all. Once again the ACLU lives up to its reputation as America's number one religious censor. Conservative Belle:

I wonder if parents of an elementary school student in NC could sue the state now and claim there is age discrimination by only allowing Bibles for teenagers. They seemed to be the ones now discriminated against. The ACLU is once again picking and choosing their ridiculous battles.

Lobo emails this article on it as well and says:

"The ACLU also argued that the case did not support Bible distribution in elementary schools. >>>Those students are impressionable<<< and would likely think that the school was promoting the Bible by making it available, said Katherine Lewis Parker, the legal director for the ACLU of North Carolina." Is the ACLU admitting that students are "impessionable" when it comes to the Bible but NOT when it involves teaching and advocating Islam in our schools? Or homosexuality? etc.

A North Carolina school district is putting an end to the donations of Bibles to elementary school kids. The Cumberland County school system says state law limits the practice strictly to high schools and has issued instructions banning it at 54 elementary schools in the metro Fayetteville area. The move comes after a parent complained about the stack of Bibles left in her son's classroom earlier this month. The same parent filed a complaint with the American Civil Liberties Union. The Fayetteville Observer said that while a 1998 court decision allows outside groups to make Bibles available to high school students, the ACLU contends it doesn't apply to elementary kids who might see the practice as promoting Christianity over other religions. The Bibles came from the Gideons, the group best known for supplying Bibles to hotel rooms.

An Iconic Photograph for the weekend

2007-11-16T14:00:00.001-08:00

Michael Yon : Online Magazine » Blog Archive » Thanks and Praise

A Muslim man had invited the American soldiers from “Chosen” Company 2-12 Infantry to the church, where I videotaped as Muslims and Christians worked and rejoiced at the reopening of St John’s, an occasion all viewed as a sign of hope.
The Iraqis asked me to convey a message of thanks to the American people. ” Thank you, thank you,” the people were saying. One man said, “Thank you for peace.” Another man, a Muslim, said “All the people, all the people in Iraq, Muslim and Christian, is brother.” The men and women were holding bells, and for the first time in memory freedom rang over the ravaged land between two rivers.

Hillary Does it again

2007-11-16T06:36:00.001-08:00

During the previous Democratic debate Hillary was lambasted for trying to take both sides of an issue. Her response? Blame the men for picking on the woman. In a speech shortly after the debate she called the current field of presidential candidates a "boys club". Additionally her campaign staff (including Bill) went around saying that the mean ol'Men were attacking the helpless woman (I'm paraphrasing, slightly....very slightly).

In the most recent Democratic debate, held last night in Las Vegas, one of the moderators asked her about her "boys club" comment. Hillary proceded to explain how she isn't playing the gender card. But then immediately after she actually plays it! Check out the video over at Ian Schwartz's site:

Video: Hillary Plays Gender Card While Explaining She Doesn’t Use It : Ian Schwartz

To quote her "I think it is clear from woman’s experiences from time to time there may be some impediments". She cannot resist the warm blanket of moral unassailability that comes from invoking feminism.

Sadly, for her, REAL leaders cannot take both sides of issues, say what they think people want to hear and then bask in the adulation they assume is due them because of their race, gender, or sexual orientation. And Clinton is not a real leader, she is a politician with an agenda. And she will do whatever it takes to procure the power to advance her agenda. Her drive and ruthlessness is not something we should underestimate.

And finally, I watched some of the debate last night. And I think I have to protest that term being used at this event. There was no debate, it was just a bunch of cheeseball interview type questions that allowed the candidates to get their rah-rah moments. What a joke.

Fred Thompson is my Candidate

2007-11-15T07:26:00.001-08:00

I am officially endorsing Fred Thompson for President. I believe that he will bring non-Washington DC insider solutions to America's problems. He takes a very strong small government stance. And he truly believes that the freedom, hope and industriousness of the American people will let this country flourish they way it should.

Some people have criticized him for entering the race late. I think it was a brilliant move because while he was preparing to enter the race he was writing for NRO, Townhall, and Real Clear Politics. His views on the issues are available in very clear form in these venues.

I really really hate most campaign "stump" speeches that I hear. I'm not big on canned talking points. But I believe that Fred has the ability to communicate very effectively without using talking points. His background as an actor and a litigation lawyer will allow him to communicate his views in a manner that will focus on the issue itself rather than on the spin.

You can even ask him a question yourself: Ask Fred

Here is a rundown of Fred's positions:
Conservative

Friendship With Israel

Immigration Reform

Free Market Fix for Social Security

Family Values and Marriage

Four Pillars Of National Defense

Anti-Pork Barrel Spending

Yesterday George Allen and Bob McDonnell were announced as Co-Chairs of the Fred Thompson campaign in Virginia. I'm looking forward to working with them and blogging about the experience. You can read about their press conference over at Virginians for Fred Thompson.

Also yesterday Fred was endorse by the National Right To Life Foundation which is exciting.

2007-11-13T07:26:00.001-08:00

I predict nobody will notice.

CBS NEWS WRITERS COULD BE NEXT TO STRIKE

Hillary Clinton = Pro Amnesty for illegals

2007-10-31T08:11:00.000-07:00

Things I'm Reading Today

2007-10-31T06:37:00.001-07:00

Some things I have found interesting today. Enjoy.

Blackguarding Blackwater -Rick Santorum

University to students: 'All whites are racist' - WND

Rudy Loves Hillary Haters - Yahoo News

Political 'Solutions' - Thomas Sowell (when TS talks you should listen)

Inside the surge - Michael Yon

Note: I have a blog/news roll that I read every morning on my Google Reader page. I highlight the best of those posts in the sidebar section of this website called "What I'm Reading", you can check back every day to keep up on good reading from around the web.

Getting LOST - - The Washington Times, America's Newspaper

2007-10-30T13:01:00.001-07:00

Read this then call your senators and tell them not to "Get LOST"

What if I were to tell you that at this very moment in the halls of the Senate, legislation is being considered that will govern 70 percent of the earth's surface, threaten the very sovereignty of our country and, worse, without the efforts of a select few, would have become law years ago? What if I added that our enemies are waiting in the wings for us to make this historic blunder by accepting legislation that effectively cedes our autonomy to international organizations such as the United Nations?

Getting LOST - - The Washington Times, America's Newspaper

MNF

2007-10-30T10:44:00.001-07:00

If you didn't stay up to watch(how dare you not), you missed a great ending to Monday Night Football as Brett Favre threw a TD bomb to win the game. It may not have been the most exciting game ever. But it was entertaining none the less.

You know, I really really miss Pat and John on Monday night. The guys they have now are ok, actually not as bad as previous MNF announce teams(we shall not speak of Dennis Miller). But the problem is that they have the storylines and talking points so scripted that if something unexpected happens they seem totally lost.

A good example was the Buffalo vs. Dallas game a few weeks ago. The Bills were the superior team for about 58 minutes. But the announcers had all this material prepared that basically amounted to idol worship of Tony Romo. Thus they seemed lost and confused while Romo was stinking up the joint. And when The Great Romo initiated what turned out to be an amazing comeback the announcers relief was almost palpable. You could almost hear them going "oh good, we can praise him again".

When John and Pat do a game their style seems more natural, less scripted. And it should they are drawing on many decades of football knowledge as opposed to scripted storylines.

Wow I'm really digging this sports blogging thing.

Technorati tags: MNF, Monday Night Football, Brett Favre, ESPN, John Madden, NFL

The Jawa Report: Finding Common Ground With Terrorists

2007-10-29T13:44:00.001-07:00

Too funny, had to share.

A U.S. Marine squad was marching north of Fallujah when they came upon an Iraqi terrorist, badly injured and unconscious. On the opposite side of the road was an American Marine in a similar but less serious state. The Marine was conscious and alert and as first aid was given to both men, the squad leader asked the injured Marine what had happened.

The Marine reported, "I was heavily armed and moving north along the highway here, and coming south was a heavily armed insurgent. We saw each other and both took cover in the ditches along the road. I yelled to him that Saddam Hussein was a miserable, lowlife scumbag who got what he deserved, and he yelled back that Ted Kennedy is a fat, good-for-nothing, left wing liberal drunk who doesn't know how to drive. So I said that Osama Bin Ladin dresses and acts like a frigid, mean-spirited lesbian! He retaliated by yelling, "Oh yeah? Well, so does Hillary Clinton!"
"And, there we were, in the middle of the road, shaking hands, when
a truck hit us."

The Jawa Report: Finding Common Ground With Terrorists

The Jindal message

2007-10-29T13:02:00.001-07:00

Betcha didn't know that Louisiana has a new Republican Govenor:

As the nation focused on presidential campaigns — who's up in the polls and who's raising the most money — in Louisiana a quiet revolution occurred. The Republican Party, which has had it pretty rough of late, found its footing, in the election of the first Indian American to the office of governor. Governor-elect Bobby Jindal gave Louisianans a fresh and winning message of competency, good governance and high ethical standards. In doing so, he proved the "conventional wisdom" wrong and provided Republicans across this country with a blueprint for success.

What is this blueprint? And how do we present it without it coming across as hyperbolic rhetoric?

Mr. Jindal successfully tapped into the frustration and skepticism that voters have with their government. In a very personal and important way, he made it clear that voters would no longer have to accept corruption and incompetence as government's way of doing business. The foundation of his message focused on restoring the public's trust in its government through policies that freed up capital and locked down corruption. A Jindal administration would be something different.

The key here is "personal". It's easy to get up in front of a group of people and say "I am this". It's more difficult, and effective, to get up in front of a group of people and present yourself in an honest way and let them convince themselves.

Throughout his campaign, Mr. Jindal advocated creating jobs by eliminating taxes that prevent job creators from entering the marketplace and expanding their businesses. In addition, he stressed the importance of streamlining Louisiana's regulatory process to make it fair, predictable and transparent. But perhaps what resonated most with voters was his honest acknowledgment of Louisiana's struggle to deal effectively with crime and corruption and his willingness to target the underlying causes of most crimes and to aggressively pursue remedies that will have a long-lasting positive impact. It was his tireless effort to involve the people of Louisiana in making government work for them, to listen to them and to act in their best interest that gave voters confidence in the leadership of Bobby Jindal.

I want you to notice something here. Jindal did not go out and say "Republican is better" and then give a list of talking points.

Instead he went out to the people and showed real concern for their lives and livelihood. And offered solutions that made sense to a broad range of people, solutions that he was willing to fight to enact.

Lessons to remember for our upcoming political battles:
-People want to vote for people not bureaucracies.
-People from both parties are sick of how the established government is behaving
-Certain conservative positions can easily appeal to people in both political parties if you avoid framing it as "us vs. them"
-Hope and effective change is going to be a very effective platform this season

The above article was written by Michael Steele, head of GOPAC.

The Jindal message - - The Washington Times, America's Newspaper

Technorati tags: Republicans, Bobby Jindal, Elections, COnservative, Republican

Congratulations to the Red Sox

2007-10-29T06:02:00.001-07:00

The Red Sox are World Champions this morning after sweeping the Rockies. After being down 3-1 in the ALCS they flipped a switch somehow and got amazingly hot and ripping of 7 straight wins.

Actually it must be a great time to be a sports fan in Massachusetts. The Red Sox are baseball champs, the Patriots are making the rest of the NFL look like Pop Warner rejects, Boston College is number two in the BCS after beating my Hokies(grrrr!), and the Celtics are getting ready to unleash their best team since Bird retired.

The only thing they have to be ashamed of is the Kerry/Kennedy team.

Technorati tags: NBA, NFL, MLB, Boston Red Sox, Red Sox, BCS, Massachusetts, Hokies, Virginia Tech, World Series

Another great American....

2007-10-26T11:44:00.001-07:00

...this one learns that America loves him.

Bill and Bob's Excellent Afghan Adventure: I Wasn't Prepared For...

I'd like you to meet a great American

2007-10-25T10:37:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone, I'd like to introduce you to my friend Wiggy. Well he's not my personal friend but I have no doubt that we would get along if we met.

Wiggy is a physical fitness trainer and has helped some of the best MMA fighters train for fights. His website Working Class Fitness details his training methods which emphasis real world actions and methods that go beyond simple weightlifting. I read his blog regularly and I really enjoy it.

About three months ago he took a job as a contractor in Iraq. I'm not sure exactly what he does but he sits at a desk for almost ten hours a day. And that, as you can imagine, is tough for a fitness guru/gym rat.

And today it got even tougher for him.

As I walked by, I comically thought to myself, “Man, that would be messed up if I got to the gym, and they’d taken everything out of there – hahaha.” I got changed and hit the gym. The place was EMPTY.

NNNNNOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

To say I was pissed off would be an understatement. It’s hot out here, you work all the friggin’ time (average of 84+ hours/week), you can’t see your friends and family, the food sucks, I could go on – one of the things that keeps me going is working out.

It’s not like there isn’t another gym on the camp, because there is. It’s not *that* far away, but it’s a good 10-12 min. walk from my hooch. That basically cuts out any chance of a lunchtime workout

Well that sucks. But there have to be other options right? Nope, it just gets worse.

I could go in the afternoon (my boss would probably let me have the time), but as the earliest I get off now is 7:30-8:00pm (I get into the office at 7:00am), if I take 1-1.5 hours in the afternoon for a workout, that puts me in the office until 9:00pm or later. That makes for a mighty long day. And since I’m going to be in this office every day for the next two months (been here for three already) before I go home for a couple weeks on R&R at Christmas, I need to keep a close eye on the “burnout” factor. Staying in the office until 9:00pm or later every night is gonna take that burnout factor and shoot it through the roof. The same goes for getting up a couple extra hours early to workout in the morning.

Running still wasn’t a real good long-term option, because our uniform posture keeps changing – that means that one day we might be able to come and go as we please. The next we might be able to during the day, but have to wear our flak vests and helmets at night. The next we might have to wear them whenever we’re outside – regardless of the time of day. Ugh.

Man that is rough. Life is truly giving him lemons. Think about your own life, how many times have you faced problems that compound upon other problems to create a situation that seems hopeless. The temptation is to get down and be depressed, you want to whine a lot, complain and moan about how bad your situation is. And it might seem like that's what he is doing.

But wait, what does Wiggy do? Does he give up and decide not to workout anymore? Does he stop his blog post after detailing his complaints? Not a chance.

Well, the first thing I did was to decide that I wasn’t going to let this little setback beat me. Nothing ever has before, and I sure as h**l am not going to let this.

The first day was all bodyweight exercises is circuits – burpees, dive bombers pushups, situps, different kinds of jumps, etc. The next day, I had a brilliant idea. I’ve got a trunk I used for bringing my things out here (used it as a suitcase). I put a couple cases of water in it, totaling around 60 lbs. or so. It’s pretty big, but I can use it for cleans, deadlifts, rows, presses, etc. My next workout was more circuits – burpees, jumps over the trunk, cleans with the trunk, suitcase deadlifts with the trunk, etc. Then, I got with a guy out here that works for the MWR. I won’t get into it all, but let’s just say that when all was said and done, I had a pair of 50 lbs. dumbbells, and one 60-pounder to take back to my hooch to use. ;-)

......

What I’m trying to get at is this – sometimes life throws you a curve ball. When it does, you can either let it keep you down, or you can take your lumps, and come back stronger. It’s kind of like the line from “Rocky Balboa”:

Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard ya hit. It's about how hard you can get it and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done! Now if you know what you're worth then go out and get what you're worth. But ya gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody! Cowards do that and that ain't you! You're better than that!

Now go find a way to win…
Wiggy

Wiggy you are a great American and an inspiration to us all!

Working Class Fitness: ALWAYS Find a Way to Win

NRSC Video -Republican For A Reason

2007-10-24T11:18:00.000-07:00

REAL Iraq reporting roundup!

2007-10-23T11:52:00.001-07:00

It's fairly common knowledge that reporting from Iraq is incredibly biased. But the news that the "Surge" is working cannot be suppressed effectively anymore.

So here are some reports from bloggers that are actually embedded with troops on the front line.

We must start with the incomparable Michael Yon. His latest dispatch is inspiring and passionate: Resistance is Futile. Be careful, some of what he covers is adult content.

Next we have Michael Totten who is an embedded reporter that is supported by the readers of his blog.

And finally we have Jeff Emanuel from Redstate.com one of my favorite blogs. Do not miss his two part series on his Iraq trip.

Technorati tags: Iraq, Reporters, blogging reporters, embedded reporters

Rush on MSNBC's Morning Joe

2007-10-23T10:55:00.001-07:00

Rush on MSNBC's Morning Joe

Excellent appearance by the Maha Rushie this morning.

An excerpt:

SCARBOROUGH: Yeah, what about this economy? You have the president over the past several years who obviously has been bogged down with the fight in Iraq, but actually we've had a strong economy, and that's a message that hasn't gotten out in the past.

RUSH: Well, the reason it hasn't gotten out is because we're in an election year and the Democrats don't want it to get out, and they have many allies -- Joe, as you know in the Drive-By Media -- who will do what they can to suppress the good news or to shave it in such a way so it's not going to have too much political impact. But the truth about the US economy on any given day of the week is that there has never been a country with this prosperity, this level of a standard of living, and the opportunity to improve on it for all citizens each and every day. We are truly blessed. When I make speeches, one of the things I often ask people is, "Have you ever wondered why in less that 230 years a population of 300 million people has become the most powerful, the most prosperous, the most affluent society in the history of human civilization?" The Europeans and others, the Asians, have been around thousands of years longer than we have. Human beings are no different from one continent to the next. We're all identical. What is it that sets our country apart from all the rest?

There is an answer to this, and I think most people ought to be positive and upbeat about the opportunities that exist in this country. If you've traveled internationally, you see real poverty. I did a troop visit to Afghanistan two-and-a-half years ago. We don't know poverty in this country like it exists around the world. I know things are relative, and there are people here that don't do nearly as well as others. But they have the opportunity to, if they're taught high expectations, if they're taught self-reliance and rugged individualism. Too many people have made them dependent. We've got an ever-growing nanny state. It's a bit of a concern. I actually think... You asked me about the presidential candidates. I actually think the election in '08 is not going to be so much about Iraq. I think it's going to be about the future of the country. I think by the time we get there, nobody is going to be able to saddle the president with defeat in Iraq -- probably quite the opposite -- and so it will drop off of the radar screen. The future of the country, mark my words, will be what the '08 presidential race is about.

The whole thing is worth a read

Technorati tags: Rush Limbaugh, Prosperity, presidential, GOP, Debate, debates

I have returned

2007-10-23T05:30:00.001-07:00

I have returned to blogging. Please pretend that I never left. Thank you

Goracle press hit on eve of concert -- Hilarious

2007-07-05T05:19:00.001-07:00

Seems Al Gore the 3rd likes getting tweaked and tooling around.....in his hybrid:

Al Gore III -- whose father is a leading advocate of policies to fight global warming -- was driving his environmentally friendly car at about 100 miles per hour on a freeway south of Los Angeles when he was pulled over by an Orange County sheriff's deputy at about 2:15 a.m.
The deputy smelled marijuana and searched the car, said sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino. The search turned up a small amount of marijuana, along with prescription drugs including Valium, Xanax, Vicodin, Adderall and Soma. There were no prescriptions found, he said.

Officer you have to understand, those illicit prescription drugs are carbon offsets for the non-enviro friendly marijuana he was smoking.

He wasn't going to abuse them. He was going to give them to some pothead to use instead of his daily joint. Thus he would be saving the environment or at least offsetting his own marijuana pollution.

Al Gore's son busted for drugs in hybrid car | U.S. | Reuters

The Right Thing To Do

2007-07-03T06:31:00.001-07:00

The President yesterday commuted the Prison sentence from Scooter Libby's conviction in the Plamegate non-crime.

It was clearly the right thing to do because:

1. There was no crime committed
2. There was a witch hunt by a prosecutor who already knew who the culprit was.
3. The President should never have let things get this far in the first place.

Here is the statement from the White House:

Statement by the President On Executive Clemency for Lewis Libby

Technorati tags: Scooter Libby, Presidential, Pardon, Clemency, Valerie Plame

Are you kidding me?

2007-07-03T06:27:00.001-07:00

How shameless can you get? I mean this isn't even funny.

Read this transcript of an interview that Ann Coulter did with Chris Cuomo:

Chris Cuomo: "To begin with the tough words, some tough words for you by the three top candidates in response to what you had said, some were calling it a homosexual slur, you said it was a taunt. They all came out when you were talking about John Edwards and said this was wrong. We must deny it. Fair criticism of you, or a shift towards the tolerant among the GOP?"
Ann Coulter: "No, no, I was denounced all over. All over. I think the one that hurt the most was from ‘I'm a little girl in a pink party dress.com.’ Very upsetting."
Cuomo: "Why?"
Coulter: "Though about the same time, Bill Maher said– And, by the way I did not call John Edwards the F-word. I said I couldn’t talk about him because you could go into rehab for using that word."
Cuomo: "You said you were joking. You were joking."
Coulter: "Oh, yeah. Yeah. I wouldn't, I wouldn’t insult gays by comparing them to John Edwards. That would be mean. But about the same time, you know, Bill Maher was not joking and saying he wished Dick Cheney had been killed in a terrorist attack. So, I’ve learned my lesson. If I’m going to say anything about John Edwards in the future, I’ll just wish he had been killed in a terrorist assassination plot."
Cuomo: "So let's get off of you, but let's get your view on what’s going on with the party right now. You hear what the speculation is, you know what the poll numbers are."

Funny. Biting. Irreverent. Typical Coulter. But guess what the libs are hitting her with? They are taking that one quote out of context and claiming that she is calling for the assassination of John Edwards. They are screaming "HATE SPEACH!!!" when really she was just making an ironic statement.

Read the whole Newsbuster article, it's just really amazing:Joe Scarborough Slams Media Distortions of Ann Coulter | NewsBusters.o

Technorati tags: Ann Coulter, Joh Scarborough, John Edwards, Bill Maher, Irony, Stupid liberals

Apparently.....

2007-07-03T06:22:00.001-07:00

Michael Moore left something out of his documentary regarding health care in this country. In his new movie "Sicko" he argues (and I use the term loosely) that the only good health care system is a socialized or "global" system.

Yet in his documentary he leaves out a key trend among nations with socialized health care systems:

Canadian doctors, once quiet on the issue of private health care
, elected Brian Day as president of their national association. Dr. Day is a leading critic of Canadian medicare; he opened a private surgery hospital and then challenged the government to shut it down. "This is a country," Dr. Day said by way of explanation, "in which dogs can get a hip replacement in under a week and in which humans can wait two to three years."
Market reforms are catching on in Britain, too. For six decades, its socialist Labour Party scoffed at the very idea of private medicine, dismissing it as "Americanization." Today Labour favors privatization, promising to triple the number of private-sector surgical procedures provided within two years. The Labour government aspires to give patients a choice of four providers for surgeries, at least one of them private, and recently considered the contracting out of some primary-care services--perhaps even to American companies.
OpinionJournal - Featured Article

Now Moore, an avoud socialist, really shouldn't be expected to present the other side of the arguments in a favorable light. But this movie should be called what it really is: propaganda. Nothing more nothing less.

Technorati tags: Sicko, Michael Moore, Health care, socialism, global health care, propaganda, movies

Some Thoughts On The Amnesty Bill Defeat

2007-07-03T06:11:00.001-07:00

I wanted to get my comments up here before the amnesty bill got too far out of the news and other things (like terror bombings) took the headlines.

I am still amazed about what we were able to pull off. This was a case of the people vs. the system and our system was reminded where it gets it's power.

Think about the difference between the protestors from the Right and Left. The lefties march in the streets, burn their bras, burn the flag, show of vulgar slogans and basically make a lot of noise. They are also largely ignored by anyone outside the drive-by media. They drone on and on and on under the auspices of "speaking truth to power", but in the end you have to wonder how they expect us to take them seriously.

The Righties on the other hand not only got results but did so without making fools of ourselves. We knew exactly what was wrong with the bill in question. We were very passionate about our position, but we didn't let our passion lead us down the road to ridiculous behavior.

As it stands now, the conservatives in this country are the most powerful constituents in the country. Forget Hollywood liberals, they have deep pockets but they have never pulled off anything close to what we just did. Our voice was heard loud and clear, and we didn't need George Clooney to be our spokesperson.

It still boggles me how there was so much support for this bill. I mean I'm not surprised that the President did what he did. That's part of why I voted for him, he will fight tooth and nail for what he believes. Despite his being the de facto face of conservatism, he still has a lot of big government in him. I remember back in 2000 when he was going after the nomination that I didn't like how he had sort of replaced big government liberalism with "compassionate conservatism". It was kind of like "I don't mind having the government getting bigger, as long as you know that we conservatives can make it bigger...better".

And today, war on terror and tax cuts aside, that is a prevailing influence in his policies. One that needs to be slapped down every now and then.

But the support from a large number of Republican senators who literally hadn't even read the entire bill was just astounding. Forgivable? Maybe. But it bespeaks a faith in the system and a power before principle attitude that is disturbing.

Oh yeah, another good thing that has come from the defeat of this bill: the vote was probably a death knell for the John McCain presidential run. He's slipping in the polls big time, he can't raise money, and he doesn't have the drive-bys to lean on anymore. Good riddance to that RINO.

Technorati tags: immigration, amnesty, conservative, RINO, Republicans, Bush

Right Wing News inside scoop

2007-06-28T13:00:00.001-07:00

John Hawkins has a source with the inside scoop on what went down with the amnesty bill.

Here's the key part:

My source then emphasized how ridiculous this whole process has been. You had a few senators getting together in secret to write the bill and then they tried to ram it through before anybody could read it. However, because the bill was held over the Memorial Day break, it failed cloture and died the first time. Then it was brought back this Tuesday, by using an arcane maneuver in a way that has never happened before in the history of the Senate. Most conservatives were locked out of presenting amendments on the bill and now, we have a bill that was again, written in secret, that none of the Senators have read, that the "grand bargainers" are trying to shove through in less than 48 hours.
In short, this whole process, from top to bottom, has been a complete joke and it's shameful that the Republican leadership in the Senate is cooperating with Harry Reid to run roughshod over conservatives on this issue.

But guess what. It didn't work, the conservative base of the Republican party is still the most powerful voting bloc in the country.

Right Wing News (Conservative News and Views)

We WIN!!!

2007-06-28T10:27:00.001-07:00

We win!! The American people win! That term refers to legal citizens, in case any politicians are reading my blog.

The Shamnesty bill went down to defeat today. After being revived on Tuesday it is now most likely off the table until 2009.

FOXNews.com - Immigration Bill Fails Crucial Test Vote in Senate

I'm sorry I have not done much blogging about this subject recently. I have been really busy lately with work and every time I have a moment to blog....I've just been literally too angry about this bill to even think coherently enough about it to blog.

But no more, I'd like to thank all the senators who voted this bill down. Those include both senators from this state: Warner and Webb.

20 Loopholes that turn the Immigration Bill in to Amnesty

2007-06-07T06:20:00.001-07:00

Jeff Sessions has compiled a list of reasons that the current immigration bill being debated will result in amnesty.

U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions, Republican - ALABAMA

In addition to these loopholes, which I suspect don't even scratch the surface, I am concerned about enforceability. The last immigration bill we passed in 1986 is still not being enforced.

And creating a gigantic bureaucracy is not going to keep us safe, in fact it will only benefit our enemies and people who break our laws. Just think about how good bureaucracies have been at handling New Orleans after a hurricane.

I sincerely hope that this bill dies a slow horrible death.

Call your senator.

Read this

2007-06-06T11:09:00.001-07:00

"I Was On the Global Warming Gravy Train"

House Defeats Bid to Reprimand Murtha

2007-05-23T06:35:00.001-07:00

Yet another black eye for the Democrats in congress. John Murtha the anti-war King of pork barrel spending recently had a blow up ON THE SENATE floor regarding one of his earmark provisions.

Apparently:

Murtha, known for his bluff manner and fondness of pork barrel projects, did not dispute claims that he charged across the House floor May 17 to confront Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich. Rogers had tried unsuccessfully to strike a $23 million Murtha earmark - a targeted spending item - for a drug intelligence center in Murtha's district.

In a House speech Monday, Rogers said Murtha threatened him by saying, "you will not get any earmarks now and forever." Rogers, backed by House GOP leaders, said Murtha's threat violated congressional ethics rules.

Remember this is the party that claimed to have been harassed by evil republicans in the senate. They claimed that they were now the party of fiscal responsibility. Yet when one of their earmarks gets challenged they turn to threats and shouting matches. Also don't forget that this is the person that madame Pelosi wanted as majority leader.

The vote to reprimand Murtha for his behavior was defeated along party lines. However:

In conversations with colleagues and reporters, Democrats played down the incident. Murtha is known for blowing off steam, they said, and his comments to Rogers were too vague to constitute a genuine violation of ethics rules. "It's time to put on your long pants and grow up," Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., said in an interview when asked how Democrats would respond.
Still, several Democrats said some party members found it distasteful to vote to protect Murtha.
When Democrats took control of the House and Senate in January, they vowed to reform the practice of placing earmarks in spending bills. Members seeking earmarks would have to identify themselves and their intentions in time for staffers to review the items, leaders said.

Make no mistake, if a Republican had done this it would be all over the news 24/7. There would be loud calls for his resignation and Bush would be blamed for destroying the decorum of the senate.

But as low as the Presidents approval rating is, and as much as the drive-bys hype this "unpopular war", the Democratic congress has a lower approval rating and they have delivered on very few of their campaign promises. The Democrats are going to be in real trouble when elections roll around and there's no Bush to bash.

Source: My Way News - House Defeats Bid to Reprimand Murtha

Technorati tags: John Murtha, Murtha, Democrats, Republicans, Congress, elections, Pelosi, Bush

It's fun to root for the Nationals

2007-05-22T05:37:00.001-07:00

Growing up in Virginia I never had much of a hometown professional sports team to root for. Yes there is the Redskins, but after Joe Gibbs left it wasn't any fun to root for them. And Nascar doesn't count.

Instead I would root for teams that entertained me. I love watching sports so I would usually glom on to a team that was exciting to watch and root for them all season.

Now I live in Richmond where the Washington Nationals are just up the road. Their games are on the radio, and their merchendise is everywhere. But they are also the worst team in the league, not so much fun to root for them.

But this year I have actually enjoyed listening to their games and following the team. Not because they have gotten better, but because it's entertaining to see if they can actually win. I honestly expect them to lose and when they don't it's a nice surprise and I can mock the team they beat. It's kind of sad I know, but it's also gotten me interested in baseball again. Simply by following a team I have watched more regular season baseball than I have in years(I rarely miss a game of the playoffs).

Who knows, I might even get a hat or a jersy.

Technorati tags: Wasthington Nationals, baseball, MLB, hometown team

Underwear fends off cellphone radiation - Engadget

2007-05-22T05:14:00.001-07:00

Now I've heard everything. Underwear that fends off cell phone radiation......I didn't even know there was a need for this. Here's my favorite part:

The briefs are purportedly constructed with threads made of silver, which the company claims will fend off harmful cellphone radiation; moreover, in an effort to really prove just how effective these undergarments are, it suggests that phone calls originated within the confines of your new underwear simply won't connect.

OK I hope I am never so desparate to get away from my electronic leash that I want to shove my phone down my underwear.

Isabodywear underwear fends off cellphone radiation - Engadget

Technorati tags: underwear, cell phone, engadget, radiation

All you need to know about the Immigration Bill from Redstate.

2007-05-21T10:19:00.001-07:00

10 myths about the immigration agreement debunked by Redstate:

7. MYTH: The temporary worker program is good for American workers.

• FACT: Under the guest-worker program, guest workers will be able to bring spouses and children into the United States. Children of guest workers will be entitled to free education in public schools, with an average cost of $9,600 per child imposed on U.S. taxpayers. If the spouse of a guest worker has a child in the U.S. that child will become a U.S. citizen with a guaranteed lifetime entitlement to more than 60 different federal welfare programs.
• FACT: There will be two new programs for workers. The Z visa will be for illegal workers to adjust their status to legal workers and the Y visa for future temporary workers. A Y-visa program without the Z-visa program may help the U.S. economy, but taken together, the American worker may be harmed by a flood of new workers coming from illegal status and new future flow workers from foreign nations flooding the economy and depressing American wages.

Read all of them. Arm yourself with this knowledge. Then call your senators and tell them to reject this ridiculous mockery of the United States.

Response to White House Myth/Fact on Immigration Bill | Redstate

So how did An Inconvenient Truth become required classroom viewing?

2007-05-21T06:15:00.001-07:00

An amazing article (via Drudge Report) about how teachers everywhere will acknowledge that the Goracle movie isn't always factually acrurate, and in some cases admit that it is propoganda, and yet still show it as required viewing. In one instance....a gym teacher shows it. I kid you not.

Read the whole thing: So how did An Inconvenient Truth become required classroom viewing?

Incompetence

2007-05-16T13:11:00.001-07:00

That's what Nancy Pelosi has demonstrated so far as Speaker Of The House. She is so frustrated with procedures not going her way that she is threatening to change the rules and outlaw the minority party's input in legislation altogether. From Drudge:

After losing a string of embarrassing votes on the House floor because of procedural maneuvering, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has decided to change the current House Rules to completely shut down the floor to the minority. The Democratic Leadership is threatening to change the current House Rules regarding the Republican right to the Motion to Recommit or the test of germaneness on the motion to recommit. This would be the first change to the germaneness rule since 1822. In protest, the House Republicans are going to call procedural motions every half hour.

But it's the evil Republicans who should just shut up and go along with the the majority. Afterall they are a majority of elected officials. But that's not what Pelosi said when she was in the minority. She proposed a minority's bill of rights which would have granted more influence to the minority than she is complainging about today. From the Washington Post circa 2004:

Pelosi's document, which she vows to honor if Democrats regain the majority, says: "Too often, incivility and the heavy hand of the majority" have silenced Democrats and choked off "thoughtful debate." She called on the majority to let the minority offer meaningful amendments and substitutes to important bills; to limit roll-call votes to the normal 15 minutes rather than keeping them open to round up needed votes; and to let all appointees to House-Senate conference committees participate in meetings and decisions.
"When we are shut out, they are shutting out the great diversity of America," Pelosi said in an interview. "We want a return to civility; we want to set a higher standard."

You can't have it both ways. Unlesss you are a Democrat, in which case "reasonable debate" equals "outlawing the opposition"

Technorati tags: Pelosi, minority rights, democrats, reppublicans, House procedures, Democratic stupidity

Good news and bad news in the 'That's So Gay' Case

2007-05-16T11:30:00.001-07:00

It's time to fisk the AP.

Some background:

SANTA ROSA, Calif. (AP) - A judge ruled Tuesday that a high school student who sued after being disciplined and then mercilessly teased for using the phrase "That's so gay" is not entitled to monetary damages.
Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Elaine Rushing said she sympathized with 18-year-old Rebekah Rice for the ridicule she experienced at Maria Carrillo High School. But, the judge said, Rice's lawyers failed to prove that school administrators had violated any state laws or singled the girl out for punishment.

I notice two things here. First I see the an example of school administrators overprotection of all things "gay". Second I am kind of appalled that someone would sue because they have been teased. But moving on:

"All of us have probably felt at some time that we were unfairly punished by a callous teacher, or picked on and teased by boorish and uncaring bullies," the judge wrote in a 20-page ruling. "Unfortunately, this is part of what teenagers endure in becoming adults."

The law "is simply too crude and imprecise an instrument to satisfactorily soothe deeply hurt feelings," Rushing said.

Wow. Hurray! A judge in California that I can agree with. The idea that it is against the law protects you from having your feelings hurt is absurd. But I have to wonder if the ruling would have been the same if a gay child had sued. The article goes on to examine the situation at the school more closely:

The case filed by Rice and her parents in 2003 brought widespread attention to a three-word phrase that some teenagers use to mean "stupid" or "uncool," but has come under attack as an insensitive insult to gay people.

The Rices argued that a teacher violated Rebekah Rice's First Amendment rights by sending her to the principal's office and putting a note in her school file. During a trial in February, Rebekah Rice testified she said "That's so gay" as a response to other students asking her rude questions about her Mormon upbringing.

Aha! So she used the term when she was being insulted in an insensitive way about her lifestyle. So the students who were teasing her were punished too, right? I mean since basically they were doing what teenagers do. Wrong! Nothing was done to the other kids. What a great message to send to our youth: It's ok to be rude and nasty as long as it's toward the 'right' people, like Christians or Mormons.

Rushing said the school district was not liable for monetary damages because the law under which the Rices brought the lawsuit specifically excludes schools. In addition, she said that school officials are given wide latitude in deciding how to enforce non-discrimination provisions of the state education code.

The judge added that it didn't make sense to have the referral stricken from the girl's school record, since she graduated last year.

OK I don't know about you, but it sounds to me like the school officials have taken the non-discrimination laws and have used them to discriminate against this girl. Who now has a permanent record as a bigot.

The truth is that "non-discrimination" laws were invented to keep people with strict beliefs on what is right and wrong from sharing their views. Shielded under the human rights banner they are being used to try and outlaw conservatism. Watch for it more and more, conservatives will come under attack, not just for being "wrong", but for breaking the law by expressing conservative views. Now that's not what happened in this case, I agree with the judge that no law was actually broken. But this girl was discriminated against and punished in an unfair way.

Now comes the part of this article that just boils my blood:

The lawsuit also accused the public high school of having a double standard because, it said, administrators never sought to shield Rebekah from teasing based on Mormon stereotypes. It also alleged that the Rices were singled out because of the family's conservative views on sexuality.

Rushing rejected each claim, going so far as to suggest that the Rices had created a miserable situation for Rebekah by advertising their dissatisfaction with the school's handling of the incident during her freshman year.
Neither the Rices nor their lawyer returned telephone calls seeking comment from The Associated Press.

Yes that's right. Shame on you parents for taking a stand for your daughter. How dare you interfere with the raising of your child. In fact you have clearly made your daughter miserable with your meddlesome....well "parenting". You should know that it is the school's job to raise your child, not yours. Now off to the re-education camps with you!

Sheesh. Nevermind about my agreeing with the California judge.

Source: My Way News - Judge Rules in 'That's So Gay' Case

Technorati tags: conservative, liberal, morman, descrimination, lawsuits, parenting, ridiculous, judicial activism

Rudy shoots...he scores!!

2007-05-16T08:48:00.001-07:00

Rudy Guliani, whom I think will be our next President, had a great moment last night in the Republican primary debates. Check out the video:

Ron Paul is like the Republican Dennis Kucinich. Sadly most of the media agrees with Paul so he of course will get lots of media attention. And as of now it's being reported in the AP that Paul won the debate with that comment. But don't be fooled, when Guliani smacked him down he got the biggest applause of the night.

I don't like a lot of Guliani's stances on core conservative issues, but I did really like the way he handled that. He wasn't doing it for the applause, in fact it looked like it startled him, he wanted the applause to die down so he could demand a retraction. Very presidential if I do say so.

Don Surber also thinks so.

Hot Air has a good roundup of the goings on last night. Including a hilarious video of Mike Huckabee saying the government was "spending money like John Edwards in a beauty shop"

Technorati tags: Republican debate, Rudy Guliani, Guliani, Ron Paul, debate, presidential, Reagan, Huckabee, John Edwards

A "progressive feminist" hurts the female cause.

2007-05-15T10:59:00.001-07:00

Apparently Nancy Pelosi wearing a veil on her trip to Damascus was the Middle Eastern equivilant of someone wearing Al Jolsen makeup while pretending to support Martin Luther King.

Her April 2 act of defiance placed Dr. Nouriya Al-Subeeh on the front line of the growing ranks of Muslim women leaders who are denouncing the veil as a symbol of female oppression. But on the following day, April 3, America's Speaker of the House, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the very first woman to hold that position, meekly donned a veil during a visit to a popular market in downtown Damascus, sending the exact opposite message to tens of millions of Arab women.
After her precedent-setting episode, Dr. Subeeh explained her stand in an interview with the Egyptian weekly Rose El Yousuf: "A woman who wears the veil out of belief, which must be respected — just as the belief of a woman who does not want to wear a veil must be respected. The essence of democracy," she said, "is to respect and accept the opinions of others."
Ms. Pelosi made a similar choice — but in the opposite direction. Anxious to curry favor with the male rulers of the Middle East, she failed to comprehend that as an American woman, a symbol of Western democracy and secularism as well as a guardian of women's rights, her agenda should have rested elsewhere.
I have no doubt Ms. Pelosi, a liberal San Francisco Democrat, is a progressive feminist. But her decision to visit Damascus has proved counterproductive on many levels. Aside from giving the appearance of legitimacy to a rogue regime, photos of the unveiled and defiant Dr. Subeeh juxtaposed with a visibly diffident, veiled Ms. Pelosi are circling the Internet, an image that is taking a toll at a time when jihadist Islamists rely on the imposition of the veil as a weapon in their cultural war to the same degree as they utilize suicide bombers in their terrorist campaigns.

Feminists and progressives cannot be taken seriously or trusted with the running of this country when they continue to see Dubya and all conservatives as a bigger threat than Islamofacism.

Source: To Veil or Not To Veil: The Pelosi Question - May 14, 2007 - The New York Sun

Ok it's official...

2007-05-15T10:26:00.001-07:00

I really want Fred Thompson to run for President. Check out his response to Michael Moore challenging him to a debate when Fred criticized his recent trip to Cuba (to highlight their exellent health care):

Exclusive: Thompson Responds to Michael Moore Challenge

Technorati tags: Fred Thompson, Cuba, Michael Moore, health care, communism, video, debate

24

2007-05-15T05:06:00.001-07:00

Wow. 24 became cool again, almost overnight. I won't lie to you, I have been really disapointed with this season. Too much time has been spent on the angsty social issues and the completely unneccessary soap opera angles. I mean it's literally been 4 weeks since they have mentioned the fact that a nuke went off in LA. But they sure have time for an Presidential sex scandal.

But the past two episodes have really been top notch. Especially last nights episode where Jack finally starts being Jack and really takes it to the bad guys. Of course only to get screwed by the higher ups....again. But now he of course is between a rock and a hard place where he operates best. Next week is the season finale where hopefully there will be no more hand wringing over possible racial profiling, and no more stupid love triangle stories in the oft security compromised CTU.

And here's hoping that next year the 24 writers find some creativity while getting Jack back to doing what he's good at: Saving America at any cost!

Technorati tags: Jack Bauer, Bauer, Jack, 24, Sweeps, TV, Television

Wha....?

2007-05-07T05:11:00.001-07:00

Hell = frozen

France = Conservative President?

You heard me right. The French Conservative defeated the Socialist candidate to replace ol' Jaques Chirac:

PARIS -- Nicolas Sarkozy, an enthusiastic friend of the United States, was elected president of France by a comfortable margin yesterday and signaled at once that his victory would mean friendly relations with Washington.
His Socialist Party opponent, Segolene Royal, conceded defeat for her hopes of becoming France's first female president. With nearly 70 percent of ballots counted, Mr. Sarkozy had won just over 53 percent of the vote, according to the Interior Ministry.
Mr. Sarkozy said he wants to "tell American friends that they can rely on our friendship. France will always be next to them when they need us." Friendship, he said, "means accepting that friends can have different opinions," but in his campaign he was enthusiastic in his praise for what he called "the world's greatest democracy."

I'm stunned. Literally I have no idea what to make of this. My first thought is that it will seriously hamper my French bashing jokes.

But obviously I'm happy that the socialist was defeated. And I wish Sarkozy all the best. I'll have more thoughts later when I find out more about the situation.

Link to Sarkozy wins French election - World - The Washington Times, America's Newspaper

Technorati tags: French revolution, France, conservative, socialist, french election

We Win They Lose

2007-05-04T12:13:00.001-07:00

Please sign this petition. It's an important concept to drive home. This war and these soldiers aren't political footballs to mess around with. There is only one outcome we as Americans will accept for this war: We win they lose.

First Name*
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Yes, I'd like to receive updates about staying involved. I'm a blogger and I'd like to help. Blog URL:

To: Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House
Harry Reid, U.S. Senate Democrat Leader

Congress has passed and President Bush has vetoed H.R. 1591, the Iraq Surrender Act of 2007.

This legislation, which you worked to pass, sets a timetable for surrender. It pulls the rug out from under our troops. That is shameful and wrong.

Your actions have already emboldened the enemy. Violent jihadists now know that the elected leadership of Congress would undermine the troops by holding their funding hostage to demands for surrender.

This Congress would bring us back to the dark days of the 1970s, when the world doubted our staying power. Except only much worse. Withdraw in April 2008, and on May 1, Iraq becomes an unchecked den of terrorism at the heart of the Middle East -- a new base for the same people that struck our homeland on September 11th.

I stand with our troops. I stand for victory. I support the President's veto and will urge my representatives to vote to sustain it.

There can be one and only one outcome in Iraq: We win, they lose.

Embed this petition on your blog. Cut and paste below:
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Democrats Back Down On Iraq Timetable

2007-05-04T12:06:00.001-07:00

And they also demonstrate that they consider our national security and our soldiers to be nothing more than politcal footballs.

Even the Washington Post couldn't whitewash their political posturing:

Democrats Back Down On Iraq Timetable - washingtonpost.com

Democrats backed off after the House failed, on a vote of 222 to 203, to override the president's veto of a $124 billion measure that would have required U.S. forces to begin withdrawing as early as July. But party leaders made it clear that the next bill will have to include language that influences war policy. Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.) outlined a second measure that would step up Iraqi accountability, "transition" the U.S. military role and show "a reasonable way to end this war."

Notice the disconnect from reality on display here. Quick, think, how do wars end? One side loses the other side wins. Reid's "reasonable way" is code for cutting and running a la Vietnam. The Dems know that it will be disatrous for us to pull out of Iraq.

But they have to appease the left-wing kooks who run the Kos and DU websites. And they practically trip over themselves to do it:

"We made our position clear. He made his position clear. Now it is time for us to try to work together," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) said after a White House meeting. "But make no mistake: Democrats are committed to ending this war."

She is speaking directly to the Kossacs here "I still hate war and Bush is still a nazi. Please don't turn the internet against me, they say such mean things".

So Bush vetoed the bill, as they knew he would. They failed to override his veto, as they knew they would. They got to do tons of political posturing and grandstanding, which was the whole point of this anyway. So what's next?

Actually there is a compromise in the works in the form of political benchmarks for the Iraqi government:

House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (Md.) indicated that the next bill will include benchmarks for Iraq -- such as passing a law to share oil revenue, quelling religious violence and disarming sectarian militias -- to keep its government on course. Failure to meet benchmarks could cost Baghdad billions of dollars in nonmilitary aid, and the administration would be required to report to Congress every 30 days on the military and political situation in Iraq.

Now on the surface this doesn't sound bad. But I have a question. Why aren't they demanding benchmarks for all the aid we sent to Palestine? What do you think their reaction would be if we demanded that Palestine purge all jihadi's and people who have called for "death to America" from positions of leadership. We send them billions of dollars. How about the UN. What if we demand punishment of all Blue Helmet abuses, fireing of anyone who had anything to do with Oil For Food, and the removal of all socialist countries from the Human Rights Commission?

Those things would never happen, sadly, I am simply pointing out that the Dems do not have our national interest in mind at all. They simply want to score political points.

On the issue of benchmarks I tend to agree with the Whitehouse:

White House officials are also looking to benchmarks as an area of compromise, but they want them to be tied to rewards for achievement, not penalties for failure.

You get more flies with honey and all that.

So who really won this fight? Well the Dems got what they knew they would get, lots of face time claiming to be against the war. But they are painting themselves in to a corner, they have now officially invested in the defeat of this nation in Iraq. And the American people, though they do not like war, hate losing. And with this outcome the Dems cannot help but look wishy washy and disconnected from reality.

The President is not running for office again, and we know his policy: Whatever it takes until the job is done.

I told you so!!

2007-05-03T06:44:00.001-07:00

If you read this blog you have heard me say that global warming alarmism is a religion, a way for liberals to claim moral authority when demanding we adopt a socialistic humanist lifestyle. It's not science (or else they wouldn't be so averse to actually conducting experiments), it's a way for them to morally justify their actions while rejecting all traditional forms of religion.

And yesterday I was proven right. Check out what this so called "green" hotel is doing in California:

April 27 (Bloomberg) -- Visitors to the Gaia Napa Valley Hotel and Spa won't find the Gideon Bible in the nightstand drawer. Instead, on the bureau will be a copy of ``An Inconvenient Truth,'' former Vice President Al Gore's book about global warming.
They'll also find the Gaia equipped with waterless urinals, solar lighting and recycled paper as it marches toward becoming California's first hotel certified as ``green,'' or benevolent to the environment. Similar features are found 35 miles south at San Francisco's Orchard Garden Hotel, which competes for customers with neighboring luxury hotels like the Ritz-Carlton and Fairmont.

Thou shalt have no other Gods before the Goracle!

Want more? Just today China has used global warming to justify it's utterly reprehensible One Child Per Couple policy:

"China is already doing a lot," said Hu Tao, of China's State Environmental Protection Administration.
ONE CHILD POLICY
He said China's one-child per couple policy introduced in the early 1980s, for instance, had a side-effect of braking global warming by limiting the population to 1.3 billion against a projected 1.6 billion without the policy.
"This has reduced greenhouse gas emissions," he told a conference in Oslo last month. China is the number two emitter of greenhouse gases, mainly from burning fossil fuels, behind the United States and ahead of Russia.

Incredible!

I wonder how long it will be before single white males are confined to greenhouse prison camps because it has become a consensus that they cause more greenhouse gas emissions than women or minorites. Think I'm kidding?

Linked to bRight & Early, Jo's Cafe

Offset? Schmoffset!!

2007-04-26T10:40:00.001-07:00

And here it is. Surprising no-one:

Financial Times - Industry caught in carbon ‘smokescreen’
Companies and individuals rushing to go green have been spending millions on “carbon credit” projects that yield few if any environmental benefits.
A Financial Times investigation has uncovered widespread failings in the new markets for greenhouse gases, suggesting some organisations are paying for emissions reductions that do not take place.
Others are meanwhile making big profits from carbon trading for very small expenditure and in some cases for clean-ups that they would have made anyway.

Carbon credits were supposed to be investments in industries and areas where the carbon footprint was below some arbitrary standard. Thus the hollywood "Lear Jet Liberals" can live guilt free because they are "offsetting" their carbon footprint.

And now it turns out that the whole system is a fraud.

Darth Cheney tells Harry Reid...

2007-04-24T13:22:00.001-07:00

...to stick a sock in it!! And stop playing politics with soldiers lives!

Cheney:

I usually avoid press comment when I’m up here, but I felt so strongly about what Senator Reid said in the last couple of days, that I thought it was appropriate that I come out today and make a statement that I think needs to be made.
I thought his speech yesterday was unfortunate, that his comments were uninformed and misleading. Senator Reid has taken many positions on Iraq. He has threatened that if the President vetoes the current pending supplemental legislation, that he will send up Senator Russ Feingold's bill to de-fund Iraq operations altogether.
Yet only last November, Senator Reid said there would be no cutoff of funds for the military in Iraq. So in less than six months' time, Senator Reid has gone from pledging full funding for the military, then full funding but with conditions, and then a cutoff of funding — three positions in five months on the most important foreign policy question facing the nation and our troops.
Yesterday, Senator Reid said the troop surge was against the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group. That is plainly false. The Iraq Study Group report was explicitly favorable toward a troop surge to secure Baghdad. Senator Reid said there should be a regional conference on Iraq. Apparently, he doesn't know that there is going to be one next week. Senator Reid said he doesn't have real substantive meetings with the President. Yet immediately following last week's meeting at the White House, he said, "It was a good exchange; everyone voiced their considered opinion about the war in Iraq."
What's most troubling about Senator Reid's comments yesterday is his defeatism. Indeed, last week, he said the war is already lost. And the timetable legislation that he is now pursuing would guarantee defeat.
Maybe it's a political calculation. Some Democratic leaders seem to believe that blind opposition to the new strategy in Iraq is good politics. Senator Reid himself has said that the war in Iraq will bring his party more seats in the next election. It is cynical to declare that the war is lost because you believe it gives you political advantage. Leaders should make decisions based on the security interests of our country, not on the interests of their political party.

Full video at The Corner on National Review Online

Democrats = Party of Defeat

2007-04-24T13:14:00.001-07:00

Investor's Business Daily: D For Defeatism

Some moral clarity for Monday

2007-04-23T14:02:00.001-07:00

Mark Steyn wants us to be "Realistic about reality"

live in northern New England, which has a very low crime rate, in part because it has a high rate of gun ownership. We do have the occasional murder, however. A few years back, a couple of alienated loser teens from a small Vermont town decided they were going to kill somebody, steal his ATM cards, and go to Australia. So they went to a remote house in the woods a couple of towns away, knocked on the door, and said their car had broken down. The guy thought their story smelled funny so he picked up his Glock and told 'em to get lost. So they concocted a better story, and pretended to be students doing an environmental survey. Unfortunately, the next old coot in the woods was sick of environmentalists and chased 'em away. Eventually they figured they could spend months knocking on doors in rural Vermont and New Hampshire and seeing nothing for their pains but cranky guys in plaid leveling both barrels through the screen door. So even these idiots worked it out: Where's the nearest place around here where you're most likely to encounter gullible defenseless types who have foresworn all means of resistance? Answer: Dartmouth College. So they drove over the Connecticut River, rang the doorbell, and brutally murdered a couple of well-meaning liberal professors. Two depraved misfits of crushing stupidity (to judge from their diaries) had nevertheless identified precisely the easiest murder victims in the twin-state area. To promote vulnerability as a moral virtue is not merely foolish. Like the new Yale props department policy, it signals to everyone that you're not in the real world.

Steyn makes a great point(as usual). Pretending that bad people don't exist or bad things never happen demonstrates a disconnect from reality.

Ted Nugent has a similar however less diplomatic take:

Thirty-two people dead on a U.S. college campus pursuing their American Dream, mowed-down over an extended period of time by a lone, non-American gunman in possession of a firearm on campus in defiance of a zero-tolerance gun ban. Feel better yet? Didn't think so.

Who doesn't get this? Who has the audacity to demand unarmed helplessness? Who likes dead good guys?
I'll tell you who. People who tramp on the Second Amendment, that's who. People who refuse to accept the self-evident truth that free people have the God-given right to keep and bear arms, to defend themselves and their loved ones. People who are so desperate in their drive to control others, so mindless in their denial that they pretend access to gas causes arson, Ryder trucks and fertilizer cause terrorism, water causes drowning, forks and spoons cause obesity, dialing 911 will somehow save your life, and that their greedy clamoring to "feel good" is more important than admitting that armed citizens are much better equipped to stop evil than unarmed, helpless ones.
Pray for the families of victims everywhere, America. Study the methodology of evil. It has a profile, a system, a preferred environment where victims cannot fight back. Embrace the facts, demand upgrade and be certain that your children's school has a better plan than Virginia Tech or Columbine. Eliminate the insanity of gun-free zones, which will never, ever be gun-free zones. They will only be good guy gun-free zones, and that is a recipe for disaster written in blood on the altar of denial. I, for one, refuse to genuflect there.

I for one am enjoying the moral clarity, it's like a breath of fresh air in the midst of everyone trying to blame someone or identify a 'cause' of the tradgedy.

An account from VT

2007-04-18T10:25:00.001-07:00

Ludwig Gantner is a very good friend of mine and has a lot of my respect. He's about my age and his work ethic and intelligence have taken him to a very high position at Virginia Tech.

Ludwig basically runs all network, A/V, and satelite communication that goes in and out of VT. He's not in charge of it, but he makes it all happen.

He is an Austrian immigrant and he sounds like Arnold when he talks. His reccounting of the last few days is facinating.

Lockdown again...
We're under lock down again here in my building. Meaning no one in and no one out that has not been security checked. Apparantely other 'operational centers will be positioned in our conference facilities'. At least they're feeding us here as long as we can't leave.
Since I got time before our next critical meeting I'm gonna make notes of the last 2 days to remember what happened from this perspective here.

Monday morning I drove to work noticing an unsual amount of cop cars around campus. Then coming into the office I was told that there was a bomb thread on Friday and something else happened early this morning. Soon after the news were filled with the morning shooting and that a gunman was on the loose. Suddenly all buildings were under lock down, so I was coordinating with people to get our technicians from the rooms all over campus back to Whittemore. Also our building was locked and a swat team stationed outside. Then more news trickeled in, we got news from listening to the police channels and from what the media reported, most was contradictary and cuased huge confusion. Then as a panic broke out so to say, all our telephone and internet circuits got over loaded, it was like everybody at once was trying to access the internet or call someone. So we kept doing damage control as much as we could without leaving the building to physically reboot switches. Then we all listened to the police radios that described a horrific scene, much worse then the news reports at the time. A couple dozen killed, blood everywhere, nuts.
Then the news channels also heard about it and it became national news. We checked in with everyone, like the sca check ins and most people got accounted for. Except for 2 listservs that I am on. One is the CAP, civil air patrol listserv, where one kid was shot, and the other is our SBES listserv where two teachers were lost and one was wounded. I still remember a phone conversation I had with a coworker across campus who told me that one of our professors died and I was like "Yes, I know". After a little conversation we found out that we talked about 2 different people, which made it much worse.
Around 1-2pm they also evacuated our building here and myself and my boss's boss where about the last ones to leave after verifying that all our guys had been accounted for. I was escorted by the police to main street, passing an armored truck with what looked like soldiers with machine guns, and from there went back to my apartment.
There Tatjana and I just relaxed for a bit but my phone kept ringing from people asking me if I was ok and if I knew of others. This went on for most of the afternoon and with people talking loudly all around the apartment building, T and I decided to just leave town for a while. So we went in the car and drove down Harding Ave. Just outside of city limits the road was closed and we were told to turn around since there was a head on collision that blocked the road.
So we went the other way and drove up 460 and then turned at little backroads, found the Natural Bridge and through twisting little roads came to the Cascades. No one was out there and with no cell coverage it finally became peaceful. We walked up the Cascades and just relaxed on a rock which was over hanging the river. For the first time that day it was quiet.
At night we went back to my apartment where someone at the 3rd floor was playing loud music. My apartment is at the bottom floor and it was so annoying that I nearly called the cops on him since my apartment complex is supposed to be quiet. But I decided against it and at 12:30am most people finally calmed down. We proactively decided not to listen to news reports that night since there was nothing we could do about it.
Tuesday morning, VA Tech was closed, but like Thomas I had to be in first thing in the morning. Apparantely VA Tech deicded to have a convocation to mourn the lost and no-one less than President Bush and First Lady were coming. Also others like the Governor, the Senators, basically everybody who's someone. Also we were going to broadcast the news feed to no less than 60 networks, do 2 satellite uplinks at the same time and create a video conference of massive proportions. We had a list of sites on the schedule which made our mornally huge H20 conference look like child's play but in reality we had to connect about every remote site in our database. Also the event was planned to be live streamed so we had to aquire bandwidth from everywhere to make it happen.
Then comes the first hitch, apparantely not our TV crew but 'Athletic Serives' who are in charge of Cassel Coliseum wanted to broadcast the convocation. Only one feed was allowed in the stadium. So the plan then was that 'Athletic Services' would create audio and video, send it to us and we send it- literally- to the whole world. No other crews were allowed in the colisum due to security. So for the next 5 hours my department is a madhouse, we call news stations, test satellite uplinks, confirm with technicians around the world, send our 'color bars' and tone to as far away as Hong Kong and 30 minutes prior to live time we are finally confident that we are ready. I was put in charge of this massive broadcast, aka taking the signal from the coliseum and sending it - everywhere. But I personally had not heard that the mics from inside the colisum had been tested so I get on the phone, none of my techs is allowed in since the President was arriving and you needed special clearance and 'Athletic Services' was not answering.
So I escalated it all the way up to the President of our Head Department and the Provost's office. Finally we got notice that Athletic Services had tested but asked not to test anymore before live time. I insisted that we test again but was over ruled. My boss and his boss insisted that we have to test and were over ruled. Then a note came down the food chain that we should not annoy the Athletic guys since we might need their help for big conferences. So I shot back: "The President of the United States is here. We are the only feed out and are supplying more than 60 major networks. Our feed is being broadcasted to millions of people, it doesn't get much bigger than this!" I started to get seriously angry- and people who know me know how difficult that is- in my job we do not let anything to chance. We test and test and then we test again. Also we got reports in that the audio in the live stream was seriously muffled, so we listened to it and it was audible but of poor quality. Now for the live stream we here at the VNOC were responsibly to generate the available bandwidth but we were not responsible for the audio/ video since our TV crews were not being used. Regardless we tried to get in contact with Athletic Services who were very unresponsive.
Then 2pm- Convocation is supposed to start. We recieve video. We make the switch, all lights turn green. Satellite links hold, all networks confirm they have video, the live stream gets bombarded with people but stays up. Not bad. Then the first speaker goes out and... nothing. No audio. No audio period. I was Holy damn ...
The President giving a speech and no audio. We all looked at each other: "What now?" We only take the feed and do something with it, but there's no audio! We call athletic services, no reply. We curse them everything and their mother. Then I had an idea.
So I turned to my boss, then his boss, and said: "I can give you audio BUT this might be... illegal." To make the longest 2 minutes of my life very short. He gave the official word and we did it. I might tell you all about it when I'm allowed, was pretty ingenius. Then 2 minutes late the convocation started. Luckily the President was not the first speaker. We then had a few 'minor' to this problems but we kept it running for the whole 2 hours. My boss went home with a serious headache afterwards and I wanted to do the same. I hate politics!
Anyway on the good news I had the schuh posted outside out building with cameras so we got really good shots of the president going by, all the helicopters, 'tanks', fighters, aso. I'll post them to the on-campus people pretty soon, but I can also put a link on here...
Then last night all conferences got cancelled due to what happened, but one with Japan. Where the people did not care what happened here. Needless to say they also caused big headaches because of their technicians not doing their job. But we also got it up and running.
Last night Tatjana and I then went to Candle gathering on the drill field. It was pretty cool to see thousands of students gathering and supporting each other. Something interesting though- most students who gave out the candles there were of Asian origin. First I didn't think much about it, but then it downed on me that all of them were out there bc they were afraid of a backlash against them since the shooter was Asian. Also some of the calls in my offce report that there are is a lot of harrassing of Asian students going on right now. Which I think totally sucks. Just bc that one bastard looked similar ot them, all of them have to be worried.
T and I had long discussions in my apartment afterwards about all that happened and then we went to bed around midnight. Now admittengly all the above did affect me more then I though but after talking about it and getting an independent perspective it was all good. T has this gift to make the whole world look much better- I'm very lucky to have found her.
Today work is very slow- heck I have time to write all the above- have only been in one meeting and another is coming up in a little over an hour. All classes, conferences, aso have been cancelled for today. We only have a few news broadcasts that we have to deal with. But it's gonna be interesting to see what is going to happen, some of our programs will most likely get terminated, most notably the one where we lost 2 teachers, but common oppinion is that is now time to push and move on. To make changes now. VT had a huge momentum going and our job now is to keep it going!

Source: ludwigvbs: Lockdown again...

Nats pay respects to Va. Tech victims

2007-04-18T08:32:00.001-07:00

This is awesome!

WASHINGTON -- The Nationals payed their respects to the 32 people who were killed at Virginia Tech in an attack by an armed gunman by wearing Hokies hats starting in the second inning of Tuesday's game against the Braves.
The position players wore burgundy hats, manager Manny Acta and his coaching staff had white hats, and the relievers had orange-colored hats.

I may have to get a Tech hat now.

Source: The Official Site of The Washington Nationals: News: Washington Nationals News

We are all Hokies today

2007-04-18T08:23:00.001-07:00

I have waited to post regarding the tragic shootings at Virginia Tech on Monday. I had just returned from Louisiana the night before and have been incredibly busy since.

I heard about the initial shootings when I got in to work at 8am. I instant messaged a friend of mine and he said that someone had shot somebody else looking for his girlfriend. Later when the other shootings started I tuned in to Foxnews.com for updates. Things just kept getting worse and worse. It was shocking and disturbing to see SWAT teams and armed policemen running around places that I have walked. There is no way to describe the feelings from watching injured men and dead bodies being pulled from places I used to hang out.

Details seemed to trickle out in an agonizingly slow fashion. Each report had the possibility to be bad news for someone I knew and loved. It angered me to see fingers being pointed and blame being assigned so soon. Love and healing are needed, official resignations solve nothing at this point.

Monday night two students drove up to hang out with me for a few days. They, understandably, just wanted to get away from the campus. They were going to stay for a few days. They were in good spirits and wanted to talk about normal things and joke around. However later that night they got a phone call that one of their classmates they thought was accounted for was instead one of the 32 victims. This seemed to sort of break the floodgates as they now actually had to deal with the emotions of the situation. They were fine after a few hugs and made plans to attend the convocation on Tuesday.

All of my friends are accounted for at this point. Some of them have lost professors that they were very fond of. But all are doing well. I wish I still lived there so that I could somehow help in the healing process.

Drudge Report has updates
Redstate: One Morning In April
Planet Blacksburg has constant updates as well
Foxnews has pretty much nonstop coverage

I will post more in the near future. I have thoughts on a lot of issues regarding this situation. But at this time I just want to ask everyone to pray for the community, the families and friends of the victims, the investigators, and the parents of the killer.

Stop the ACLU Blogburst post

2007-04-05T05:31:00.001-07:00

ACLU Loses Court Battle to DoD and Boy Scouts IRVING, Texas, April 4 PRNewswire-USNewswire

Boy Scouts of America is pleased that the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit dismissed the ACLU's lawsuit against the Department of Defense for supporting the National Scout Jamboree. For more than 25 years, Boy Scouts have held the National Scout Jamboree every four years at Fort A.P. Hill near Fredericksburg, Virginia. Scouts from all over the country camp together for ten days and participate in activities emphasizing physical fitness, appreciation of the outdoors, and patriotism. Seven Presidents have attended the Jamboree since President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1937. The Jamboree grounds at Fort A.P . Hill are open to the public, and an estimated 300,000 visitors attended in 2005 along with 43,000 Scouts and their leaders. The 2010 Jamboree will celebrate the 100th Anniversary of Boy Scouts of America. The United States Congress has found that the military's logistical support for the National Scout Jamboree is an incomparable training opportunity for our armed forces. The Jamboree requires the construction, maintenance, and disassembly of a "tent city" capable of supporting tens of thousands of people for a week or longer. Nevertheless, the ACLU sued the Department of Defense in 1999 over its support for the Jamboree. In 2005, a federal district court in Chicago concluded the Jamboree statute (10 U.S.C . section 2554) was unconstitutional under the Establishment Clause because Scouting has a nonsectarian "duty to God" requirement. DoD appealed the district court's injunction against military support under that statute for the 2010 Jamboree.

I'm having difficulty keeping up with the court, ACLU and Americans United. The court rules, the Boy Scout's "nonsectarian" "duty to God" requirement is unconstitutional. The ACLU is saying that prayers offered at council meetings must be "nonsectarian" to be constitutional. Then in more confusion, in the same article, the ACLU said; "It should not invoke the name of a particular religious figure, such as Jesus, Allah or Buddah...", implying that they can't pray to Jesus but Mohammed is okay and they can pray to God but to Allah would be prohibited. Americans United for the Separation of Church and State has no problem with prayer at a County Commissioners meetings so long as it isn't offered to a true Deity, such as Jesus Christ. Pray to rocks, trees and all the false gods you like, just stay away from the One True God. (an inadvertant acknowledgment of Christ and true religion, but an acknowledgment just the same) Indiana Constitution North Carolina Constitution

In today's ruling, the federal Court of Appeals in Chicago reversed the district court's decision, concluding that the taxpayers named as the plaintiffs in the lawsuit did not have standing to sue DoD in the first place. "We are pleased that today's ruling preserves the training opportunity for the military that Congress wanted it to have," said Robert H. Bork, Jr., spokesperson for the Scouts. "Today's decision allows everyone to get back to planning the centennial Jamboree celebrating Boy Scouts' 100th birthday," said George A. Davidson, the attorney for Boy Scouts of America who argued before the Seventh Circuit last year.

The case is Winkler v. Gates, No. 05-3451 (7th Cir. Apr. 4, 2007). It's a good win. I just wish it wasn't because of a technicality of standing. This was a production of Stop The ACLU Blogburst. If you would like to join us, please email Jay at Jay@stoptheaclu.com or Gribbit at GribbitR@gmail.com . You will be added to our mailing list and blogroll. Over 240 blogs already on-board.

The Trouble With Islam

2007-04-03T12:47:00.001-07:00

Read the whole thing::

Politicians and scholars in the West have taken up the chant that Islamic extremism is caused by the Arab-Israeli conflict. This analysis cannot convince any rational person that the Islamist murder of over 150,000 innocent people in Algeria--which happened in the last few decades--or their slaying of hundreds of Buddhists in Thailand, or the brutal violence between Sunni and Shia in Iraq could have anything to do with the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Western feminists duly fight in their home countries for equal pay and opportunity, but seemingly ignore, under a façade of cultural relativism, that large numbers of women in the Islamic world live under threat of beating, execution and genital mutilation, or cannot vote, drive cars and dress as they please.
The tendency of many Westerners to restrict themselves to self-criticism further obstructs reformation in Islam. Americans demonstrate against the war in Iraq, yet decline to demonstrate against the terrorists who kidnap innocent people and behead them. Similarly, after the Madrid train bombings, millions of Spanish citizens demonstrated against their separatist organization, ETA. But once the demonstrators realized that Muslims were behind the terror attacks they suspended the demonstrations. This example sent a message to radical Islamists to continue their violent methods.
Western appeasement of their Muslim communities has exacerbated the problem. During the four-month period after the publication of the Muhammad cartoons in a Danish magazine, there were comparatively few violent demonstrations by Muslims. Within a few days of the Danish magazine's formal apology, riots erupted throughout the world. The apology had been perceived by Islamists as weakness and concession.
Worst of all, perhaps, is the anti-Americanism among many Westerners. It is a resentment so strong, so deep-seated, so rooted in personal identity, that it has led many, consciously or unconsciously, to morally support America's enemies.
Progressives need to realize that radical Islam is based on an antiliberal system. They need to awaken to the inhumane policies and practices of Islamists around the world. They need to realize that Islamism spells the death of liberal values. And they must not take for granted the respect for human rights and dignity that we experience in America, and indeed, the West, today.
Well-meaning interfaith dialogues with Muslims have largely been fruitless. Participants must demand--but so far haven't--that Muslim organizations and scholars specifically and unambiguously denounce violent Salafi components in their mosques and in the media. Muslims who do not vocally oppose brutal Shariah decrees should not be considered "moderates."

Source: OpinionJournal - Featured Article

I knew it!!!

2007-03-30T06:36:00.001-07:00

John Travolta is from outer space!!

Or maybe he just thinks he is, because his solution to the global warming "crisis" is straight out of an L. Ron Hubbard novel:

"It [global warming] is a very valid issue," Travolta declared. "I'm wondering if we need to think about other planets and dome cities.

You can believe what you want. But this proves to me that he's actually an alien waiting for us to invent technology advanced enough to take him 'home'.

Actually, the real story is that his hypocrisy is on an AlGorian scale:

But although he readily admitted: "I fly jets", he failed to mention he actually owns five, along with his own private runway.

Clocking up at least 30,000 flying miles in the past 12 months means he has produced an estimated 800 tons of carbon emissions – nearly 100 times the average Briton's tally.
Travolta made his comments this week at the British premiere of his movie, Wild Hogs.
He spoke of the importance of helping the environment by using "alternative methods of fuel" – after driving down the red carpet on a Harley Davidson.

This dude needs a publicist. Actually none of the Hollywood liberal types seem to understand the idea of "leading by example". They are much more fond of the "Do as I say, not as I do" lifestyle. But really who doesn't prefer the latter?

'Green' activism has never been about actually saving the earth. It's about control, it's about letting people like John Travolta lecture you and tell you what to buy or drive while they do whatever they want.

But seriously.....dome cities? I think he needs to stop breathing near the tailpipe of his Harley.

Please note: I do not begrudge John Travolta his toys. He has worked hard and is very successful, good for him. He just shouldn't be lecturing me about "doing my bit".

Linked to Basil's Blog, Stuck On Stupid, Jo's Cafe, and Cao's Blog. Thanks guys!

The Speech I Wish Dubya would give

2007-03-28T08:41:00.001-07:00

I know it's satire but the Bush speech coming when he vetos the stupid retreat bill should read similar to this.

ScrappleFace » LEAK: Bush Veto Speech on Iraq Timeline Bill

Captain Ed makes a great point!!

2007-03-27T06:25:00.001-07:00

Captain's Quarters proprieter Captain Ed makes a great point regarding the British hostages being held in Iran:

The Iranians cannot try the men for espionage if they captured the sailors in uniform. Article 46 of the Geneva Convention states this clearly:

2. A member of the armed forces of a Party to the conflict who, on behalf of that Party and in territory controlled by an adverse Party, gathers or attempts to gather information shall not be considered as engaging in espionage if, while so acting, he is in the uniform of his armed forces.

The indictment of British sailors in uniform as spies will violate the GC. Can we expect the same level of outrage over this explicit violation as the supposed violations of the US government?

And of course, charging these Royal Navy members as spies is exactly what Iran intends to do.

So where is the outrage? Where are the protests? I mean it's not like Iran has a human rights track record that justifies giving them the benefit of the doubt on this. I mean for crying out loud they make their women pretend it's trick or treat every day of the week. Where are the feminists on this? Answer? Human rights standards and The Geneva Conventions do not apply to countries bent on the destruction of the Great Satan.

How Ironic is it that the USA is the most charitable nation in the world?

IBD Editorials: A Vote Too Far

2007-03-26T06:34:00.001-07:00

This article basically sums up what happend with the ridiculous new war funding bill that has oozed out of the House.

We keep reading Congress is "deeply divided" over the war. But that's true even for Democrats. Anti-war "Code Pink" Democrats didn't want to spend anything on the war, while other, more sensible Democrats rightly fretted over looking weak on the war on terror if they sought to pull the troops out.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi bridged the gap by doing what any sensible — and unscrupulous — politician would: She bribed them.
The bill ended up costing $124 billion, $22 billion more than President Bush requested. How's that for Democrats' pledge to be fiscally responsible? Consider it a 20% tip for services rendered by those in Congress who forgot their once-solid scruples and sold out.
We hope the added billions spent — for things such as surplus peanut storage, aid to spinach growers, dairy subsidies and "asbestos abatement" in the U.S. Capitol — will assuage the guilty consciences of those who voted for it.
(By the way, Pelosi & Co. also held some worthy things hostage as well, like disaster and drought relief. But those should have been voted on in separate bills.)
The Democrats have lost whatever tenuous hold they might have had on the claim to be trustworthy on national security issues. They've become a party of political expediency. They voted for the war in 2002, but now that the war has lost popularity they want to cover their posteriors. The very picture of political cowardice.
Pelosi said Friday's vote on war spending and withdrawal marked a "historic day." She's right, though not in the way she thinks. For on that day her party reached its nadir, showing that not even national security stands in the way of Democrats' lust for power and desire to punish those they despise and seek to ruin, even if it means America loses a war.

Read the whole thing.

Source: IBD Editorials: A Vote Too Far

Democrats playing "Get Bush" at the expense of the Constitution.

2007-03-22T07:52:00.001-07:00

President Bush read Congress the riot act in a press conference that just finished. Rather than work on new legislation — fulfill those 100-hour promises of Grandma Pelosi (minimum wage is still $5.15 an hour) — congressional Democrats have decided to spend the next 2 years chasing rabbits down the holes in their quest for the liberal Secular Grail: Watergate.
Today’s scandal is that the Bush administration wants to replace 8 assistant attorney generals. Bush appointed them. He can fire them.
The media — which fails to keep track of that First 100 Hours promise by Pelosi — is (are) eating it up.
The fact is this administration went after Wall Street corruption that the incompetent Janet Reno sat on. The fact is this administration pursued congressional corruption regardless of party.
The fact is these deputies failed to pursue Harry Reid’s purchase and sale of federal lands, failed to track down Philadelphia election fraud and allowed this William Jefferson case to dangle in the wind.
I wanted Gonzales fired on March 8 because Gonzales bungled this. But as events unfolded, I see he was blind-sided.
Bush saw that too. He stood up to the congressional bullies and told them to end their fishing expedition.
This is a bass tournament as congressmen troll and troll.
Of course these firings were political. Their hirings were political. It is all political. That is why we vote.
We elected President Bush to be the chief executive of this government. He should be able to fire anyone.

Read the whole thing.

Link to Don Surber » Blog Archive » Bush cleans up the Gonzales mess

NFL.com - USO Tour

2007-03-08T13:33:00.001-08:00

Read this. There are two more parts you should read also.

DAY 1 -- ARRIVAL
"Welcome to Kuwait."
With that greeting, from our USO contact in the Persian Gulf, the NFL's 41st USO tour officially kicked off.
Four NFL players decided to dedicate a portion of their offseason to travel halfway around the world to say thank you to America's fighting forces. Alge Crumpler, Shelton Quarles, Will Shields and Benjamin Watson are known to most as key members of their NFL teams -- they have played in a combined 17 Pro Bowls and won two Super Bowl titles. But they should also be known for their commitment to improving lives off the field.
Crumpler serves as a spokesperson for, and actively participates in, the Falcons Focus on Fitness. Quarles started the Shelton Quarles IMPACT Foundation in 2003 to help at-risk families. Shields was named the 2003 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year for his numerous community activities, and Watson has been very active in his local community of Athens, Ga.
The players and I spent a full day traveling from various points of departure in the United States to the Persian Gulf. Everyone in the group met for the first time in Frankfurt, Germany, where the four members of the NFL fraternity formed a quick bond.
And then on to Kuwait, where we are spending the night before departing for our initial destination in the Gulf and our first visit with the troops.
The team is ready. "We're excited for what lies ahead," Watson said. "But what I'm really excited for right now is a hot shower and a good meal. It has been more than 24 hours of traveling since I left home."
More to come tomorrow, when we begin our mission to shake as many hands and say as many thank yous as possible.

Source: NFL.com - NFL News

Pelosi Falls Short On Election Promises

2007-02-28T06:05:00.001-08:00

Seriously can we please stop pretending that campaign promises are anything more than window dressing while trying to get elected?

Until we have another Contract With America type deal going politicians will still be politicans.

So yeah, this really doesn't surprise me at all.

Link to Pelosi Falls Short On Election Promises - Politico.com

Why I hate Affirmative Action

2007-02-22T08:58:00.001-08:00

It perpetuates a racisism that only hurts those it claims to protect.

Read Mychal Massie:

The 10-ton pink elephant in the middle of the room they choose to ignore is that students who are in no way intellectually prepared are not helped when top-tier schools (especially the law schools, engineering schools and schools of medicine) lower admission standards under the misguided diversity rubric of "in order to have a representative student environment – the school needs two from column 'A,' three from column 'B,'" and so forth – instead of making the student environment representative of academic excellence: race, color, creed be damned.
Few pay attention to the harm done to minority students who have repeatedly been told the world is out to get them after they drop out or flunk out of schools they weren't qualified to attend to start with.
There is a monumental difference between being cut from a Division I athletic team because of skill level and failing one's classes due to inability to perform academically. One is the rude awakening that you're not going to make your fortune scoring touchdowns or hitting home runs – the other is the damning effect of Pygmalion, i.e., "secretly knowing they were in over their heads and not able to admit same."
I have repeatedly argued that the level of bigotry inherent in diversity should be glaringly obvious. It is a perverse form of Hitlerian motivations vis-à-vis attempted social engineering for no other reason than to have a color-coded campus matrix.
No one is suggesting that certain "colors" of children should lower their expectations – quite the opposite. I am advocating that they elevate their expectations by preparing for success through the rigorous weight training of the mind and of their marketable abilities. The answer to the question of how to do this is as simple as the nose on one's face. It is the one thing that diversity zealots decry most – that is hard work, study and preparation.

DRUDGE REPORT FLASH 2007®

2007-02-21T06:33:00.001-08:00

Hey Democrats(and those stupid 17 Republicans) suck on these numbers:

POLL: AMERICANS 'WANT TO WIN IN IRAQ' Tue Feb 20 2007 16:21:32 ET In the wake of the U.S. House of Representatives passing a resolution that amounts to a vote of no confidence in the Bush administration's policies in Iraq, a new national survey by Alexandria, VA-based Public Opinion Strategies (POS) shows the American people may have some different ideas from their elected leaders on this issue. The survey was conducted nationwide February 5-7 among a bi-partisan, cross-section of 800 registered voters. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percent. The survey was commissioned by The Moriah Group, a Chattanooga-based strategic communications and public affairs firm. The survey shows Americans want to win in Iraq, and that they understand Iraq is the central point in the war against terrorism and they can support a U.S. strategy aimed at achieving victory, said Neil Newhouse, a partner in POS. The idea of pulling back from Iraq is not where the majority of Americans are.
By a 53 percent - 46 percent margin, respondents surveyed said that Democrats are going too far, too fast in pressing the President to withdraw troops from Iraq.
By identical 57 percent - 41 percent margins, voters agreed with these statements: I support finishing the job in Iraq, that is, keeping the troops there until the Iraqi government can maintain control and provide security and the Iraqi war is a key part of the global war on terrorism.
Also, by a 56 percent - 43 percent margin, voters agreed that even if they have concerns about his war policies, Americans should stand behind the President in Iraq because we are at war.
While the survey shows voters believe (60 percent- 34 percent) that Iraq will never become a stable democracy, they still disagree that victory in Iraq (creating a young, but stable democracy and reducing the threat of terrorism at home) is no longer possible. Fifty-three percent say it's still possible, while 43 percent disagree.
By a wide 74 percent - 25 percent margin, voters disagree with the notion that "I don't really care what happens in Iraq after the U.S. leaves, I just want the troops brought home." When asked which statement best describes their position on the Iraq War, voters are evenly divided (50 percent - 49 percent) between positions of "doing whatever it takes to restore order until the Iraqis can govern and provide security to their country," and positions that call for immediate withdrawal or a strict timetable.
27 percent said "the Iraq war is the front line in the battle against terrorism and our troops should stay there and do whatever it takes to restore order until the Iraqis can govern and provide security to their country."
23 percent said "while I don't agree that the U.S. should be in the war, our troops should stay there and do whatever it takes to restore order until the Iraqis can govern and provide security to their country."
32 percent said "whether Iraq is stable or not, the U.S. should set and hold to a strict timetable for withdrawing troops."
17 percent said "the U.S. should immediately withdraw its troops from Iraq." The survey also found that voters thought it would hurt American prestige more to pull out of Iraq immediately (59 percent) than it would to stay there for the long term (35 percent). Public Opinion Strategies "scored the best win-loss record among the major polling and media firms in the 2004 election" and was named Pollster of the Year in 2002.

Sorry Democrats, America still isn't France. I know you'll keep trying though.

Source: DRUDGE REPORT FLASH 2007®

Steve Jobs Has Guts

2007-02-21T05:55:00.001-08:00

I just gained even more respect for Steve Jobs. He just hit the nail on the head as to what is wrong with the educational system in America:

Steve Jobs has guts — enough guts to speak his mind about what he thinks is wrong with public education even at the risk of harming his business interests.
In a speech on Friday, the chief executive officer of Apple and Disney honcho declared: "I believe that what's wrong with our schools in this nation is that they have become unionized in the worst possible way."
The problem with unionization, Mr. Jobs argued, is that it has constrained schools from attracting and retaining the best teachers and from dismissing the less effective ones. This, in turn, deters quality people from seeking to become principals and superintendents. "What kind of person could you get to run a small business if you told them that when they came in they couldn't get rid of people that they thought weren't any good? Not really great ones because if you're really smart you go, ‘I can't win,'" Mr. Jobs said. He concluded by saying, "This unionization and lifetime employment of K-12 teachers is off-the-charts crazy."
There is a price to be paid for this kind of frank analysis and Steve Jobs knows it. "Apple just lost some business in this state, I'm sure," Mr. Jobs said. Of course, Apple sells a large portion of its computers to public school systems. By taking a stance against school unionization, Mr. Jobs may lose some school sales for Apple.

He is completely right. All teachers get paid the same regardless of how well they do their job. What could be less American?

Don't get me wrong, I have good friends who are public school teachers. And they are great people, I just wish they were rewarded for their skill as educators instead of being burnt out while simply waiting for tenure.

Source: Steve Jobs Has Guts

Climate Nazi's at it again

2007-02-20T13:36:00.001-08:00

Scientists unite to push Bush on climate

Pressure on the White House to act on scientific assessments of global warming mounted yesterday after the world’s largest general scientific society said that climate change was a “threat to society”.
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) joined the growing clamour for political action in a public statement approved by its board.

Clearly Bush should ban cows:

It's not just the well-known and frequently joked-about flatulence and manure of grass-chewing cattle that's the problem, according to a recent report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Land-use changes, especially deforestation to expand pastures and to create arable land for feed crops, is a big part. So is the use of energy to produce fertilizers, to run the slaughterhouses and meat-processing plants, and to pump water.

"Livestock are one of the most significant contributors to today's most serious environmental problems," Henning Steinfeld, senior author of the report, said when the FAO findings were released in November.

And yet people are still taking these guys seriously.

Source: Scientists unite to push Bush on climate-News-World-US & Americas-TimesOnline

she was killed for not observing the islamic dress code

2007-02-20T10:32:00.001-08:00

Observe the "religion of peace"....

read more | digg story

A great idea

2007-02-20T08:10:00.001-08:00

I got this from GOP3.com:

We cannot let this continue if we want to continue to expose the faults of the liberal ideology to as many people as possible. If we do not take the time to be involved and promote (digg in this case) the right ideas, we will be ultimately beaten, not just in exposure but across the US in political campaigns.
Here is what I propose:

1. Go to digg.com and register.
2. Post your digg username as a comment on this post.
3. Add your follow conservative diggers from the comments section of this post as your friends in digg. (Login to digg, click on your profile link on the top middle of the page, then click on the Friends tab).
4. Click on the Friends tab again and you should see all the news your friends have “dugg” lately, you can then digg all the interesting news you see with the knowledge that you are promoting oft ignored conservative news and opinions to millions who may never have seen it.

It's a good idea. My username is jerminator77. And you can look at my friends page here.

You just have to laugh

2007-02-19T05:04:00.001-08:00

This made me chuckle this morning(yes I said chuckle, it's an underused word imo).

Turns out that someone is finally putting all this silly global warming hysteria to good use.

Apparently global warming gives you 6-pack abs and %2 body fat.

Diesel, the fashion brand, now offers a fresh take on the specter of a globally warmed planet:
More beaches!
In print ads promoting its spring/summer collection, the Italian-based clothing company depicts landscapes that have been transformed by environmental disaster. The proud buildings of Manhattan and the presidential faces of Mount Rushmore are half-submerged in water from melted glaciers. Paris is a steamy jungle. Life looks pretty awesome, though. Diesel's models are dressed fashionably if barely (to accommodate the weather) and they lounge amid this hip dystopia in glamorous unconcern, fanning themselves or applying suntan lotion to one another's tawny backs.

I wonder what's next.

Source: High-Water Marketing - washingtonpost.com

Technorati tags: globa warming, advertising, stupid liberals, funny

Hijack plot foiled

2007-02-16T11:21:00.001-08:00

A source close to the Mauritanian presidency told Reuters when the aircraft touched down, the pilot slammed on the brakes.
"When the pilot landed, he deliberately braked very hard," the unnamed source said. "The man fell to the ground and was jumped on by passengers. He fired two bullets but there are no serious injuries."
"When we landed at Las Palmas ... we entered (the cockpit) and hit him and knocked him down," a passenger told CNN+.

I'm sure this dude was just mad that the US isn't doing enough to prevent Global Warming.

Or maybe not:

A definitive motive for the hijacking isn't known... but there are theories. The hijacking occurred the same day a Spainish trial began for 29 people suspected for the 2004 Madrid train bombings.

Reuters also reports in recent days, al Qaeda sent an audio message calling for attacks against Mauritania's rulers.
"I call especially on our people in Mauritania ... to take a sincere Jihadi stand against treacherous rulers who recognised Israel and betrayed the Islamic nation," al Qaeda's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahr said on the tape, released to Arab media.

It's good to hear that nobody was hurt.

Aero-News Network: The Aviation and Aerospace World's Daily/Real-Time News and Information Service ::.

Antarctic temperatures disagree with climate model predictions

2007-02-16T08:22:00.001-08:00

Ohio State University study:

COLUMBUS , Ohio – A new report on climate over the world's southernmost continent shows that temperatures during the late 20th century did not climb as had been predicted by many global climate models.

Shortly after this report was released the UN proposed banning Antarctica for refusing to acklowedge the widely held 'consensus' on global warming.

Source: Antarctic temperatures disagree with climate model predictions

Technorati tags: Global Warming, Ice caps, Antarctica, stupid liberals

Batman Artist No Moonbat

2007-01-26T13:37:00.001-08:00

Link to lgf: Batman Artist No Moonbat

It's funny to listen to this interview and hear the NPR guy going "but..but...but you're an artist and movie maker....don't you want to bash your country?"

James Webb's rebuttal

2007-01-26T08:06:00.001-08:00

John Hawkins of Right Wing News made me laugh with his translation of James Webb's rebuttal to the SOTU.

(10:16) There are two big differences between Democrats and Republicans. We like socialism, Republicans oppose socialism. Republicans want to fight terrorism; we do not.
(10:18) The proletariat realizes that the bourgeoisie is robbing them blind and only by giving the workers power through the Democrats, can we level the playing field.
(10:20) My family and I served in the military, so when I say to surrender to Al-Qaeda in Iraq, you can trust me!
(10:21) The President recklessly took us into this war. No one wanted to go except him (And the majority of Democrats in the Senate).
(10:22) We've got to move forward in the war on terror by surrendering -- strongly!
(10:23) Oh, good grief, now he's comparing today's situation to when the robber barons and monopolies were running industries.
(10:23) Dwight Eisenhower didn't cut and run in Korea, despite what Webb seems to think.
Quick Final Thoughts: Still, James Webb did better than the average Democratic rebuttal -- although that's not exactly hard.

Source: Right Wing News (Conservative News and Views)

SOTU

2007-01-26T07:59:00.001-08:00

State Of The Union address was on Tuesday. I wasn't impressed. Too much pandering to causes and not enough war time leadership.

So of course this will probably be looked on as one of his best speeches, especially since many people don't even believe there is a war.

We saw a return of the compassionate conservatism. But somehow compassionate conservatims has turned in to big government mommy-state policies.

I do think I like his health care initiative. Injecting the free market in to to the process could be a good thing. Here's hoping.

The This is not the fight we entered in Iraq, but it is the fight we're in. Every one of us wishes this war were over and won. Yet it would not be like us to leave our promises unkept, our friends abandoned, and our own security at risk. (Applause.) Ladies and gentlemen: On this day, at this hour, it is still within our power to shape the outcome of this battle. Let us find our resolve, and turn events toward victory.

The second half of the speech was about the war. It should have been the first half. He says lots of good things, such as:

This is not the fight we entered in Iraq, but it is the fight we're in. Every one of us wishes this war were over and won. Yet it would not be like us to leave our promises unkept, our friends abandoned, and our own security at risk. (Applause.) Ladies and gentlemen: On this day, at this hour, it is still within our power to shape the outcome of this battle. Let us find our resolve, and turn events toward victory.

You can read the whole speech at this link.

And you can read Michael Barone's live reaction to it here.

Turnaround in Baghdad

2007-01-25T13:39:00.001-08:00

THis is good news, apparently there's a Turnaround in Baghdad.

Of course if things improve Bush will get no credit. However the Democrats are so invested in defeat at this point it's hard to see them benefitting either.

That of course could be why they are having these "non-binding" resolutions, to get Republicans on record with them so they can claim their irresponsible actions were bipartisan.

Troop Surge already showing benefits.

2007-01-23T08:27:00.001-08:00

There has been much opposition to the "troop surge" that the President is enacting in Bahgdad. Even some Republicans (usual suspects) have opposed it.

But the truth is that it's already showing benefits as Jack Kelly details in this article.

First, al Qaida appears to be retreating from Baghdad. A military intelligence officer has confirmed to Richard Miniter, editor of Pajamas Media, a report in the Iraqi newspaper al Sabah that Abu Ayyub al Masri, the head of al Qaida in Iraq, has ordered a withdrawal to Diyala province, north and east of Baghdad.

Mr. al Masri's evacuation order said that remaining in Baghdad is a no-win situation for al Qaida, because the Fallujah campaign demonstrating the Americans have learned how to prevail in house to house fighting, Mr. Miniter said.
"In more than 10 years of reading al Qaida intercepts, I've never seen (pessimistic) language like this," he quoted his intelligence officer source as saying.

Hmm the message seems to mean that terrorists only respect force. Trying negotion and diplomacy with these people got us where we are today.

Last Friday al Sadr ordered the 30 lawmakers and six cabinet ministers he controls to end the boycott of the government he ordered two months ago. AP writer Steven Hurst described this Monday as "a desperate bid to fend off an all out American offensive."

Despite this, Mr. Maliki consented to the arrest that same day of Abdul Hadi al Durraji, al Sadr's media director in Baghdad. Mr. Sadr said Saturday some 400 of his supporters have been arrested in recent days.

So the troop surge is already working on the military and political levels and the new troops haven't even made it over yet.

So the question becomes: why the opposition. Easy answer? Bush did it.

Read the whole article: Jack Kelly