How The Cancer Got Discovered

In the original posting, Woody, my co-author here and a very good friend suggested that I explain the "Silver Lining" in this whole thing. Woody, Because you are so smart, I'm multiplying your salary by a factor of 30 ($0.00 x 30 = $0.00) How does that sound buddy?

At any rate, there is an entry (humorous to be sure) on a knee injury I received in Mexico in late February of last year (go, read and enjoy, then come back for the rest of the story).

Continue reading "How The Cancer Got Discovered"

"This Makes It Real"

ABC's Bob Woodruff was wounded in Iraq covering the Iraqi forces. He and his cameraman suffered serious but not fatal wounds and are being treated in Germany.

That is the story so far, but the blow-dried talking heads want to make this into a cause célèbre. On ABC's "Good Morning America," Diane Sawyer, Elizabeth Vargas and ABC News President David Westin talked about Woodruff's injuries:

SAWYER: "To that point, being in the Iraqi vehicle was part of the story. The story right now is the Iraqi troops traveling with the American troops."

VARGAS: Are they prepared enough to take over the security of Iraq so that American forces can come home? That is the big single issue in Iraq right now, and I covered the story when I was there, Bob was out covering the story. You can't assess their readiness unless you're traveling with them and observing them do their job.

WESTIN: My initial reaction is we've all talked about this as a very real possibility, but this makes it real. I mean, we've talked about it, we knew someone was going to get hurt. We discussed what can we do to try to minimize that risk, how cautious can we be. But now it's really one of us, and two of us, actually. What choice do we have? As long as the United States is over there, and our men and women are over there and they're in harm's way, this is a story we have to...[emphasis added]

Excuse me? The wounding of an American newsman makes it real? So much for the two thousand plus American troops who have given their lives, so much for the thousands of Iraqi's murdered by Al Qaeda and their fellow travelors. That wasn't "REAL." But this is!

Idiots!

"This Makes It Real"

ABC's Bob Woodruff was wounded in Iraq covering the Iraqi forces. He and his cameraman suffered serious but not fatal wounds and are being treated in Germany.

That is the story so far, but the blow-dried talking heads want to make this into a cause célèbre. On ABC's "Good Morning America," Diane Sawyer, Elizabeth Vargas and ABC News President David Westin talked about Woodruff's injuries:

SAWYER: "To that point, being in the Iraqi vehicle was part of the story. The story right now is the Iraqi troops traveling with the American troops."

VARGAS: Are they prepared enough to take over the security of Iraq so that American forces can come home? That is the big single issue in Iraq right now, and I covered the story when I was there, Bob was out covering the story. You can't assess their readiness unless you're traveling with them and observing them do their job.

WESTIN: My initial reaction is we've all talked about this as a very real possibility, but this makes it real. I mean, we've talked about it, we knew someone was going to get hurt. We discussed what can we do to try to minimize that risk, how cautious can we be. But now it's really one of us, and two of us, actually. What choice do we have? As long as the United States is over there, and our men and women are over there and they're in harm's way, this is a story we have to...[emphasis added]

Excuse me? The wounding of an American newsman makes it real? So much for the two thousand plus American troops who have given their lives, so much for the thousands of Iraqi's murdered by Al Qaeda and their fellow travelors. That wasn't "REAL." But this is!

Idiots!

Psychic Preview of President Bush's State of the Union Address

President Bush is set to deliver the State of the Union address to Congress and to the American people. C-Span provides a historical review of these Presidential messages, with transcripts back to Truman and a video all the way back to Nixon. However, we will go one step further and provide President Bush's State of the Union address by looking into the future. Please watch the preview by clicking on the picture caption.

Psychic Preview of President Bush's 2006 State of the Union Address

In another incredible display of psychic powers, I am predicting that the Democrats will criticize everything that President Bush says.

Just a few words - Updated

Test results are encouraging. Brain Scan and Abdominal Scan were negative for metastisis. Pulmonary function test was passed with flying colors (that was rough, glad I quit smoking). Next up is a stress EKG and then a conference with a surgeon. It is looking better. Attitude is very upbeat and positive, my beloved bride and daughter are relieved with the positive news even though I'm not out of the woods yet. Only God knows what the future holds at this point. So, while optimisim is the watch phrase, I'm not out of the woods yet.

For you smokers out there that are readers, QUIT. If you don't smoke, for damn sure don't start. I'm telling you, the fear and uncertainty that goes with the dreaded C word can make a convert out of you real quick. Don't let it get to that point.

To all of my readers who have been following this, thanks for all of your prayers. As I said in my first post, I'm a child of God and He will sustain me through this crisis in my life. Regardless of what the long term holds, know that I love you all.

Fight On!

One of my readers suggested this site: Cancergiggles. Wow, talk about someone even quirkier than I am... LOL. At any rate, any place that can add humor to the mix removes some of the fear from that same mix. Fight On!

Today Marks the Anniversary of Kerry's Promise to Sign Form 180

To follow-up on G.M.'s letter to John Kerry from two weeks ago, today marks the one-year anniversary of John Kerry promising on national television to sign Form 180 and to release all of his military records for review. Today also marks the one-year anniversary of John Kerry not keeping his word. Today also marks the one-year anniversary of me not being a bit surprised. A captain of a swift boat should be a little more swift about these things.

Democrats Cut and Run, Or Is It Slash and Burn? Anyway, Read It.

Did you ever wonder what happened to the paid workers of John Kerry's campaign who slashed the tires on vans and cars of Republicans on election day in November, 2004? The main stream media has been very quiet about them. (Imagine if Republicans had done that to Democrats.) Well, we have the answer, and you won't be surprised. Mark Belling, a Milwaukee journalist, covers the final box scores with totals and highlights in his editorial of January 25th. Here are some excerpted sentences, but please read the entire article.

What a surprise - the tire slashers got away with it. Despite overwhelming evidence of their guilt, the five men accused of vandalizing vehicles to be used by Republicans on Election Day in 2004 will face no punishment at all. What was the reaction of most Democrats to the verdict? Glee. Why did they get away with it? Answer: Because everybody involved here was a Democrat. We had Democrats accusing Democrats that were prosecuted by a Democrat and a jury laden with Democrats. Justice never had a chance.

I'm not sure, but they might have applied for purple hearts from the Kerry campaign for self-inflicted razor cuts.

Found at and a thanks to Tom McMahon!

Thank God For All Of You

I'm headed to the hospital for another round of tests in preparation to have this damned thing out. However, I wanted to post very briefly and tell all of you how very much I appreciate all the e-mails and comments that my last post received. All were encouraging, I even got a few from some dedicated political enemies, one of whom noted "this is not the time for partisan politics, you are in my prayers."

To each of you who sent me an e-mail or posted a comment, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I cannot tell you how uplifting this has been. More later, right now I'm out of the door with a smile on my face, cheer in my heart and the best wishes and prayers of my friends and family. FIGHT ON!

Fighting Cancer - [Updated]

This is not a post I ever wanted to write. In fact, I don't think it is a post that anyone, ever, anywhere, would want to write. But I have a number of faithful readers and a number of irregular, but delightful readers and I think I owe them something. Thursday, January 26th, I was diagnosed with lung cancer. Talk about a kick in the teeth.

The diagnosis is obviously freightening, but at the same time, it has given me a new resolve. And that resolve is to fight this son-of-bitch right down to the wire and I have every intention of winning.

Other than the diagnosis, some of the preliminary results are encouraging. There is no spread to the brain, and Monday I get an abdominal scan to see if there is any spread there. I have some good docs in my corner and my primary care physician used to teach Oncology at MD Anderson Hospital, one of the leading cancer hospitals in the world. I have a loving wife and a loving daughter actively supporting me as I go through this. I will continue to blog and I will keep you all updated as often and as frequently as I am able.

In the future, I will obviously post the occasional post on death and dying, on fear and on striving to live. Something I have every intention of doing.

So, my catch phrase for the future is FIGHT ON! I am a fighter, I am a child of God and I strongly believe that he will sustain me through this fight. I hope you, my faithful readers will continue to come to this blog and continue to comment on various issues. Just as I have no intention of giving in to this disease, I have no intention of closing down the blog.

I don't know what the future does hold but I know this; this thing can be licked and I intend to be one of the winners.

UPDATE: The outpouring of prayers, care and concern has been almost overwhelming. I've added a gif to the upper left entry on this post and will use that for each post about fighting this damned disease. The gif was designed by my friend Michael at Slobokan's Site O'Schtuff. Michael designed this site when I re-worked it last year and has been a friend and a great guy since. Today, he even put up a post on this post. Gadzooks I love this guy. Thanks Michael, from the bottom of my heart. And for everyone else, if you aren't reading Michael, you have no idea what you are missing.

Filibuster, John Kerry, Kennedy and Judge Alito

There are a lot of things in politics that deserve a rip-roaring belly laugh; JFK excuse me, John Friggin Kerry being chief among these. Kerry is most noted for being elected as Mr. Flip-Flop of 2004. Of course, he was running for president at the time, but so what?

Kerry (and his partner in crime - T. Kennedy) have decided that they would like to filibuster the vote on the nomination of Samuel Alito to the United States Supreme Court. Senator(s) can you say STUPID? You two have got to be the dumbest of the dumb.

From the CNN folk comes this:

Sources close to Kerry, who lost to Bush in the 2004 race, told CNN that the senator was calling colleagues from Switzerland, where he was attending the World Economic Forum. He announced his decision to support a filibuster Wednesday at a meeting of his Democratic colleagues.

The White House believes Alito's supporters have the 60 votes they need to block any filibuster, spokesman Steve Schmidt said, and suggested that Kerry's move was designed to buttress a possible 2008 presidential run.

The Washington Post's Charles Babington reports:

Several prominent Democratic senators called for a filibuster of Samuel A. Alito Jr.'s Supreme Court nomination yesterday, exposing a deep divide in the party even as they delighted the party's liberal base.

The filibuster's supporters -- including Sens. John F. Kerry and Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts -- acknowledged that the bid is likely to fail and that Alito is virtually certain to be confirmed Tuesday. But they said extended debate may draw more Americans' attention to Alito's conservative stands on abortion, civil rights, presidential powers and other matters.

"Judge Alito will take America backward, especially when it comes to civil rights and discrimination laws," Kerry said in a statement issued by his office. He added: "It's our right and our responsibility to oppose him vigorously and to fight against this radical upending of the Supreme Court."

The Democrats are divided? News to me! On the other hand, that famous entertainer Will Rogers once noted: "I don't belong to any organized political party. I'm a Democrat."

Senator Kerry, you greatly remind me of a saying by Dietrich Bonhöffer:

Folly is a more dangerous enemy to the good than evil. One can protest against evil; it can be unmasked and, if need be, prevented by force. Evil always carries the seeds of its own destruction... Against folly we have no such defense. Neither protests nor force can touch it; reasoning is no use...

So the fool, as distinct from the scoundrel, is completely self-satisfied; in fact, he can easily become dangerous, as it does not take much to make him aggressive. A fool must therefore be treated more cautiously than a scoundrel.

H/T to Stop the ACLU

That Ragged Old Flag

I walked through a county courthouse square
On a park bench, an old man was sittin' there.
I said, "Your old court house is kinda run down",
He said, "Naw, it'll do for our little town".
I said, "Your old flag pole is leaned a little bit,
And that's a ragged old flag you got hangin' on it".
He said, "Have a seat", and I sat down,
"Is this the first time you've been to our little town"
I said, "I think it is"
He said "I don't like to brag, but we're kinda proud of
That Ragged Old Flag

"You see, we got a little hole in that flag there,
When Washington took it across the Delaware.
and It got powder burned the night Francis Scott Key
sat watching it, writing "Say Can You See"
It got a rip in New Orleans,
with Packingham & Jackson tugging at its seams.
and It almost fell at the Alamo beside the Texas flag,
But she waved on though.
She got cut with a sword at Chancellorsville,
And she got cut again at Shiloh Hill.
There was Robert E. Lee and Beauregard and Bragg,
And the south wind blew hard on
That Ragged Old Flag

"On Flanders Field in World War I,
She got a big hole from a Bertha Gun,
She turned blood red in World War II
She hung limp, and low, a time or two,
She was in Korea, Vietnam,
She went where she was sent by her Uncle Sam.
She waved from our ships upon the briny foam
and now they've about quit wavin' back here at home
in her own good land here She's been abused,
She's been burned, dishonored, denied an' refused,
And the government for which she stands
Has been scandalized throughout the land.
And she's getting thread bare, and she's wearin' thin,
But she's in good shape, for the shape she's in.
Cause she's been through the fire before
and I believe she can take a whole lot more.

"So we raise her up every morning
And we bring her down slow every night,
We don't let her touch the ground,
And we fold her up right.
On second thought
I *do* like to brag
Cause I'm mighty proud of
That Ragged Old Flag"
--Johnny Cash

Alito Passed by Committee - Next, a full Senate vote!

The Judiciary Committee voted 10 to 8 to pass the nomination of Samuel Alito to the full senate:

The Judiciary Committee recommended Tuesday Supreme Court nominee Judge Samuel Alito’s confirmation to the full Senate on a 10-8 vote.

All committee Republicans voted for the nomination, saying Alito was “one of the most qualified� nominees ever. Democrats warned that he could swing the court to the right and all eight members voted against the conservative jurist’s nomination.

The Senate Democrats opposed President Bush’s pick to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor worried publicly that Alito might not be neutral if confirmed to the high court. [Source]."

That's funny, I don't remember any Democrats saying Ginsburg would "swing the court to the left." Wonder how they forgot to make that assertion? Guess they must have overlooked the concept at the time.

Senator Herb Kohl (D-Wisconson):

Judge Alito's record as a professional � both as a Justice Department official and as a judge � reflects something more than a neutral judicial philosophy," said Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis.

Gee Herb, did you or any of your collegues ask the same about Ginsburg or anyone else?

The Senate Democrats really don't think the public has any smarts at all.

Ford to Cut 25,000 Jobs - Unions Wonder What Happened

Ford Mortor Company just announced that they are being forced to phase out 14 manufacturing plants in the U.S. and trim 25,000-30,000 jobs. This comes on the heels of General Motors' decision to close 12 facilities and cut 30,000 jobs. Also, last year, DaimlerChrysler announced that it would begin producing cars in China for sale in the U.S. These announcements don't discuss the additional fallout that will result at parts suppliers from Delphi and Visteon to smaller supporting companies. Taken in combination, the cuts could ultimately result in the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs in this country. The impact on individuals and families is devastating. What forced these moves and when will they stop?

Liberals will attack these cuts and claim that they result from overpaid executives--the politics of envy. Democrats will blame the Republicans, because they seek power. Union leaders will say that they are shocked and claim that management has failed, because these leaders cared more about short-term wins than long term security for members. Leftists will say that a solution is simply to overpay labor throughout the global economy, because they never had a clue to begin with. But, the average worker is more interested in supporting his family than in looking for scapegoats and phony solutions. He's the one paying the price and wonders who is supposed to be representing him--who is supposed to help him. Well, in short, the people who are casting blame and looking in the wrong direction for answers are really the ones that are failing our workers--and, our nation.

Unions have forced wages and benefits from U.S. manufacturers that far exceed the productivity of workers, and the unions have forced the closings of major industries and companies in our country. The labor dilemma is described in this article and discusses problems such as having to pay 12,000 workers to do nothing and grass cutters getting $65 an hour--not to mention that the Democrats want to use this problem in which they are culpable to call for commissions and more government "entitlements." (I can't stand that term.) Such waste doesn't help workers...it kills companies and results in unemployment.

It's time that the American worker realized that those who claim to care about him and who claim to help him are only making matters worse. Unions, with the help of the Democratic Party, are destroying companies and are costing them jobs. Workers and families are important and deserve better.

The Press - Hoist On Its Own Petard

Scooter Libby is planning to subopena a number of journalists in his defense trial. This poses a series of tough decisions for the press for a number of reasons. Timothy Phelps has a lengthy (but worth the time) article in the Columbia Journalism Review regarding the background of the Plame case, including his own actions and the actions of others.

Of course, as a member of the press, Phelps is not happy about the possibility of two things. One, that Libby may call journalists for testamony, and two, that the press doesn't seem to have the "protections" under the first amendment that it did in the past. Phelps does acknowledge that there are indeed limits on the ability of journalists to protect sources, but decries the lessening of that.

It should be noted that much of the current brouhaha is of the making of the journalism profession. They were less concerned about the "leak" than about (in general) being able to hammer the Bush Administration for wrongs (real or perceived). In fact, two journalists, David Corn (The Nation) and Paul Krugman (The New York Times) raised a big stink about the illegality of "outing" Plame.

Even Phelps says she was in a role "undercover." However, nothing could be further from the truth. Undercover typically means assignment in the field, pretending you are something you are not in order to gather information necessary for our national security. Plame worked in a "secret" department of the Directorate of Operations, but was not "under cover" as she drove to work daily, was doublessly photographed many, many times by our adversaries (who ever they may have been) and even people in her neighborhood knew where she worked. Too, her "cover" had been blown years before and that is why she was pulled from the field.

The press demanded an investigation until finaly, someone in the CIA asked for an investigation. Usually, these requests don't go very far as Phelps acknowledges. This time, however, with the reporters and Democrats up in arms, Gutless Ashcroft recused himself and recused his deputy from looking into the matter and appointed a Special Prosecuter to look into the "outing" of Valarie Plame.

As we know, that investigation went nowhere, despite calls for Karl Rove to be frogmarched out of the White House. Libby in what must have been a non-compos-mentos moment lied about who he talked to or when or under what circumstances and as a result he is up on perjury charges. If found guilty, I hope they throw the book at him. What could he have been thinking?

But, I digress. The issue is that the press, so rabid in their attempts to nail the Bush Administration (and denying that is ludicrous on it's face) is now going to have to testify in the Libby trial. Too damn bad. The old saw that you need to be careful what you ask for, because you may not like what you get couldn't be more apt.

Libby's right to a fair trial trumps, it seems to me, any 1st amendment protection the predatory press has. Phelps may have said it best:

The prosecutor seems to have had the last word about the First Amendment, at least for now. “Journalists are not entitled to promise complete confidentiality � no one in America is,� he told Thomas F. Hogan, chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Hogan agreed. Of course, we never did have the right to offer complete confidentiality in every circumstance. But as a result of this case and others in the pipeline, the question now is, Can we honestly promise our sources anything?"

A tip of the GM Chapeaux to James Taranto

Intellectual Skills of Conservatives

I enjoy brain teasers and other mental challenges. (Debating a liberal is not a mental challenge.) This weekend, I discovered and attempted a fun "Mensa" test. By coincidence, a Woody at a different site found a similar test from Mensa and posted it on his site. So, realizing that the stars must be aligned, I thought it appropriate to provide these brain exercises to our readers, who are bright and logical.

If you are a liberal, don't try them. It doesn't count if you call the test creators insulting names, cry that the tests are biased, say that any answer should be right in the name of diversity, and blame Bush for any question that you miss. And, oh yes, Mensa has nothing to do with a woman's cycle, so this test is probably anti-feminist.

BTW, the other Woody got 30 out of 30 on his test, and I got 29 out of 33 (so far) on my test. On the test that I took, I didn't get questions 14, 17, 30, and 31: which gripes me because I know that the answers will appear so obvious once I see them. Good luck if you attempt these quizzes. I have high expectations for our group.

While not a test but along the line of intelligence, another blogger named, yes, Woody recently exhibited his mental skills with an impressive translation of Osama Bin Laden's recent message from Arabic to English; thus, revealing much that the dominant media didn't tell us. Good job, Woody (not me...him.)

Let us know how you did on the tests or if you have any other challenges to recommend.

P.S. For extra points, has anyone heard from Cindy Sheehan lately? Is she still at her book signing?

What is this nonsense about USC?

Before the game, the football pundits (most of whom must have been USC fans) were touting the "three-peat" mantra stating that USC was going for it's third national championship. Jason Coleman has more on this story, complete with links you gotta click on.

Hook 'Em Horns

Souter to be Homeless?

In a 5-4 decision, the United States Supreme Court decided that city's could "take" private property to give to other private individuals if by doing so it improved the tax base. Oh, there were other words tossed about but this is what it boils down to:

In June, Souter joined the 5-4 majority upholding the right of governments to appropriate private property for commercial development.

My friend Quick Rob notes, as does the previously cited source that Neal Kurk, a Republican representing Souter's home town of Weare, New Hampshire doesn't think this is a good idea in as much as it might be construed as trying to "intimidate" a federal judge.

Well, Mr. Kurk, first of all, David Souter may be a Supreme Court Justice, but he is still an American and American's have to follow the law of the land. As QR said:

After all, the Justices are not above the law. I don’t know how Neal Kurk justifies the idea of a Supreme court Justice not being subjected to the consequences of his decisions.

But, I have a solution. Judge, sell me your house for a price I can afford. That will take the pressure off of you and decrease the liklihood that the Town will "take" your homestead. Then, when the outcry has settled, I'll sell it back to you for the same price. No, really, I will. I'll look out for your interests to the exact same degree that you looked out for the interests of America's property owners. No problem!

Osama and Cognitive Dissonance

On January 19th, Osama bin Laden released an audio tape full of bluff, bluster, and outright lies. In his tape, OBL stated that Al Qaeda was ready to launch another attack or series of attacks on the United States, but, that we could escape our fate if we accepted a negotiated truce. In this so-called truce, OBL and company would rebuild Afghanistan and Iraq and we could leave the Gulf States and the Middle East to their kind and kindly ministrations. To seal the bargain, OBL stated that his faith prevented him from lying, subterfuge, and dishonesty; as if the hijackers on September 11 were open and aboveboard. ABC news reports, in part:

In the tape, bin Laden spoke in a soft voice, as he has in previous recordings, but his tone was flatter than in the past and had an echo, as if recorded indoors. He presented his message with a combination of threats, vows his followers can fight forever and a tone of reconciliation, insisting he wants to offer a way to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He even recommended a book for Americans to read - "The Rogue State," apparently a book of the same title by American author William Blum. He said it offers the path to peace - that America must apologize to victims of the wars and promise never to "interfere" in other nations - though it was not clear if these were conditions for the truce."

There is good reason for OBL to be so accommodating, and that is because he is losing his war against the United States, he knows it, but he has difficulty accepting it because all of his training, all of his experience (US Embassies, USS Cole, Mogadishu, Madrid, London, etc.) has told him that we cannot stand against him. Too, his radical and murderous form of Islam and his islamo-fascist advisors and sycophants tell him that there will be an ultimate victory by Allah via the likes of Al Qaeda. The differences between what he knows and what he can see has produced a significant cognitive dissonance.

In 1957, Leon Festinger published "A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance." This seminal work was based on observations Festinger and his associates made of a cult that expected the world to end by flood. Many in the cult became so enamored of the cult that they sold their homes, moved to the "headquarters" invested themselves heavily into the end-of-the-world dogma of the cult. Others were less enthusiastic, but believed none-the-less.

Festinger's observations, and subsequently his theory of Cognitive Dissonance arose when the predicted "end-of-the-world" did not happen when it was supposed to happen. The less "invested" one was in the cult, the greater the feeling that "I've been had." Indeed, and counter-intuitively perhaps, the greater the investment of time, money, self worth and deep belief, the more likely the person was to believe that they had not been taken in and in fact, because of their efforts, their faith, their hard work, the world had been saved.

Festinger also investigated what happens in the "lab." When students were taking part in an experiment, they had to sort spools and turn knobs a quarter turn. As you can imagine, this would quickly become tiring/boring. Festinger then upped the chances for forming dissonance. He told a few students that the lab assistant had fallen ill and would they talk a young lady into taking part in the experiment (individually of course, not as a group). Some were promised a dollar, others were promised twenty dollars to convince the young lady to take part in the experiment. The conversations probably went something similar to:

She: "I've heard that it is really boring."
He: "Oh no, it is quite interesting and even entertaining."

What Festinger found was that the individuals paid a dollar actually came to believe the "importance" of the task, while those paid twenty dollars acknowledged they were lying. In other words, the scant reward wasn't reason enough to lie, so the work (lying to the co-ed) must have been accurate. For those with a promise of higher pay, the lie was just a lie.

So, without all the psychological jargon that can be tossed in, cognitive dissonance occurs when there is discomfort felt at a discrepancy between what you already know or believe, and new information or interpretation. The new information or interpretation must be either accommodated or assimilated. In Piaget's terminology, assimilation occurs when new information is taken in that does not contradict that which is already "in our heads" if you will. In other words, if we believe X and Y comes along we "assimilate" if we take in Y but we are not required to alter X. Accommodation however is when we take in Y and X is thus altered, and altered almost beyond recognition.

For Osama his utter and unalterable belief in the rightness of his cause, the radical Muslim faith that tells him Allah will help him prevail, his Massadra upbringing that allows no other thoughts, no questions of Islam tell him that he will win. Against this, is the evidence of his eyes. He has lost 70% of his leadership, his friends have been tracked down and killed, disgusted and enraged Muslims in Jordan call for the blood of al-Zarqawi, A large body of Islam questioning the utility of mass murder of other Muslims in Iraq and elsewhere.

Shrinkwrapped has some excellent posts on cognitive dissonance.

To wrap up (no pun intended shrinkwrapped) OBL cannot balance his internal mindset, and his external world.

UPDATE: MEMRI states that the translation of the OBL tape was in error. According to MEMRI, OBL was stating that he would live up to a truce if WE offered it to him. I will leave it to others to decide if he is still in Cognitive Dissonance, or just plain psychotic. Or both! Hey Osama, no truce dude.

Hell of a Happy Blogoversary Dr. Rusty

Dr. Rusty Shakleford, esteemed author of the Jawa Report is celebrating his 2nd blogoversary. In celebration, his blog played a part in the capture and conviction of a terrorist. Way to go Dr. Rusty!

The City Shining On The Hill - Still!

January 20, 1980 Ronald Reagan was sworn in as the 40th president of the United States Of America. In his address to the nation he stated:

So, as we begin, let us take inventory. We are a nation that has a government--not the other way around. And this makes us special among the nations of the Earth. Our Government has no power except that granted it by the people. It is time to check and reverse the growth of government which shows signs of having grown beyond the consent of the governed.

Words that should be well listened to today. President Reagan, we are still "The City Shining on the Hill" and we pledge to keep that City there, growing and a beacon to freedom everywhere. A longer, more complete tribute can be found at Mike's America. Mike has done one hell of a bang up job of celebrating this moment. Go and read all of his many entrys on Reagan and the return of solid government. Mr. President, we sure could use your leadership now!

Linked to Stop the ACLU

Mustang 'N Me!

Many many moons ago, a good friend of mine by the name of Mustang was a member of a group of like minded bloggers. Now, Mustang is a retired Marine Corps Lt. Col. and one hell of a nice guy. Having said that, he is also older than dirt. In fact, he is so old, he picked the fig leaves for Adam and Eve to wear when they became embarrassed about being "nekkid."

Mustang just can't stand the idea that someone is smarter than he is, better looking, but more important MUCH MUCH YOUNGER than he is so he started telling stories about me and how old I was. Now, I admit, I'm an old fart. I'm pushing 60 and damn lucky to be doing so, especially when one considers the alternative.

But, I digress. Mustang and I belong to this forum where we discuss ideas, trade insults, and figure out how to keep the liberals from spreading like a case of measles in a kindergarten class. What follows is a series of exchanges between Mustang 'N me regarding age. Mustang fired the first shot

Mustang: "Duncan, I'm not saying that GM is old, but when he was a kid, Moby Dick was a minnow. Now GM, go ahead and tell everyone what Thomas Jefferson once told you . . ."

Me returning fire: "Delighted to Mustang dear fellow. As we were sitting around discussing the exact wording for the preamble to the Constitution, Tom (we were pretty close) looked at me and said, "GM, I know that you are really good friends with Mustang, but damn son, that old fart has been around since the beginning of the 30 years war and he was OLD then and he still can't manage rattlesnakes around the motor pool. Find some newer, younger friends."

Mustang: I won't admit to being old, my friend . . . but let me say that I helped Moses carry down the tablets. Originally, there were three, but I tripped . . . My punishment is perpetual life and having to contend with moonbats. Sigh. By the way, having a dozen or so wives is WAYYYY over-rated.

Thus endith round one.

Round two:
Mustang: "In case anyone needs it, GM's social security number is "1"

Kender of Kender's Musings steps in: "GM was telling me that yours is "1/2" Mustang."

Mustang: "He's such a darn liar. . ."

Me: "Mustang, you are just jealous as hell that on the first day of issue, you slept in thinking it didn't matter and I was first in line... still, your number 999-01-0011 isn't THAT High, there are other numbers higher (not many though)."

Mustang: "Okay, okay. Everybody see that? GM wants me to call him on his 1-900 number."

Me: "Mustang, not only are you senile, you are Blind as a bat... EVERYONE (except you apparantly) can see that it is a number short only 9 numbers, not 10... so, no 1-900 number.... "

Round Three:
Me: Everyone DID notice that Mustang admitted to being a member of the OLD PEOPLE set!!!!

No response from Mustang... count that as a skirmish.

Round Four:
Me: "MUSTANG, DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER.... I'M GOING TO SAY SOMETHING NICE ABOUT YOU AND I DO NOT WANT YOU GETTING A SWELLED HEAD... YOUR BRAIN CAN'T TAKE ANY MORE DAMAGE...

Now, Cao, since I've warned Mustang off, let me tell you a story. I first started teaching at the University of Texas-Pan American in Edinburg Texas in 1987. By 1994 I was sick of the politics in the psychology department and quit, moving over to South Texas College, but at the time was known as South Texas Community College. While teaching there, I had become a widower in 96 , remarried and discovered the joys of internet forums, especially the one at the college where one retired Marine, Lt. Col. Tad === and I struck up a friendship and were supporting each other as two of only three conservatives on the forum. Tad and I would get to gether for Saturday morning breakfast at a local eatery from time to time and he would regale me with stories of some dude named HB (AKA Mustang)... I could tell you what the HB stands for, but then I'd have to kill you. At any rate, for a couple of years Tad would say something like HB did this or that. Then, one day in an e-mail, tad sent several of his friends something I had written at gmscorner.blogspot.com and said something about his "friends" I responded to all, and introduced myself. Lo and behold, I got an email from said HB and we started e-mailing back and forth - we live less than 300 miles apart, and he would leave comments on my blog. One day, he e-mailed me asking about blogger etc. and the next thing you know, I was the blogfather of Stacking Swivels. One thing led to another, some dunderhead invited Mustang into the TWA, and somehow I got hooked into the same bunch of crazies... now, since I'm a mental health counselor, that was a good thing because now I can bill everybody for the therapy... except Mustang of course, after all, If I'm willing to counsel only those that can really be helped, why would I take his money?... especially after all those ageing jokes.

Now, if you are really good, I will tell you what Mustang told me that he was told by Methusela when Methusela was in the kindergarten class that Mustang taught........."

MUSTANG.... admit it... you read the whole thing didn't you?????

Mustang: "Remember . . . YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST. GM is my long lost (blog) father, which means HE'S OLDER. Ha! The prosecution rests, yer honah. (Okay, I read it)"

Me: "Of course, everyone knows that in the blogosphere that the father can be YOUNGER than the blogson... But, you knew that anyway Mustangie old top... by the way, have you had your medicine today????"

Mustang: "Okay, most of you remember "Grimm's Fairy Tales" from when you were kids. All of us remember stories about trolls, ogres (no offense dood), ghoolies, beasties, and things that go bump in the night. These stories, including stories about warewolves and vampires, were perpetuated by the Catholic Church in the early middle ages to scare people into being good. Face it, if you thought that you might get eaten by a warewolf on the way home from Charley's Bar and Grill, chances are you'd stay home and be sober. We recall these stories because they were told to us. GM remembers them first hand."

Me: "Ahhh, Mustang... first, it's Ghoulies and Ghosties And long-leggedy beasties and Things That Go Bump In The Night... Secondly its WEREwolves... sigh, and yes, I was there, In fact I taught Hans Christian Anderson and the Brothers Grimm most of what they know... On the other hand, Baron Maunchausen learned the skills for his stories from Mustang."

Mustang: "Once upon a time, a long, long time ago when GM and Martin Luther became inspired to pursue a psycho-therapy career (rumored to be as a result of seeing dead people on a regular basis), GM had to actually attend a few sessions as part of an introductory class. So when it was GM's turn to attend the session, he dressed up in his Luau suit and promptly reported to the psychiatrist at the prescribed place and time.
GM walked in to the doc's office and removed his straw hat. The doc looked up and noticed that there was a frog sitting on GM's head. So the doc asked, "Well this is interesting; what appears to be YOUR problem?"
And the frog said, "Jeez I dunno. It started off as a wart."
Note: Above story can be independently verified at CNN.

Mustang: "Perhaps you'd like to explain to everyone how you got to be known as "Skivvy Boy." Go ahead, tell'em.

Me: OK, but remember that you asked me to tell them. You guys see, it was when I was a drummer boy in the Revolutionary army under Washington. Mustang was the camp launderor and kept getting my skivvies mixed up with his. I kept yelling.. NO MUSTANG.... Mine are white, your's are yellow with age and other things.... Well,
after a while, when I'd go to pick up our unit laundry, all the other guys said "Hey, be sure and check the skivies lad... and the name stuck, "Skivies lad." OK MUSTANG, satisfied now?

Thus endith the first instalment. This represents a review of over 3321 forum posts to find them. More if you desire. Cheers... Mustang, I told you I'd get you and your little dog!!!

Before You Go - Thank You!

Every once in a while, something spectacular comes. Something that reaches out and touches you at the core of who you are. Mustang, a good friend sent me

THIS ONE

Go, listen, contemplate our heros!

It Is All About MOI

Oyster at Soy-Como-Coy has a very interesting post up pointing to this "birthday calculator."

Seldom able to resist this kind of stuff, I put in my birthdate and came up with this:

Your date of conception was on or about 28 December 1945 which was a Friday.

You were born on a Friday
under the astrological sign Virgo.
Your Life path number is 4.

The Julian calendar date of your birth is 2432083.5.
The golden number for 1946 is 9.
The epact number for 1946 is 27.
The year 1946 was not a leap year.
The year 1946 was the Chinese year of the Dog

The date of Easter on your birth year was Sunday, 21 April 1946.
The date of Ash Wednesday (the first day of Lent) on your birth year was Wednesday 6 March 1946.
The date of Whitsun (Pentecost Sunday) in the year of your birth was Sunday 9 June 1946.
The date of Whisuntide in the year of your birth was Sunday 16 June 1946.

As of 1/17/2006 10:47:32 PM EST
You are 59 years old.
You are 712 months old.
You are 3,096 weeks old.
You are 21,669 days old.
You are 520,078 hours old.
You are 31,204,727 minutes old.
You are 1,872,283,652 seconds old.
Your age is the equivalent of a dog that is 8.48101761252446 years old. (You old hound dog, you!)

There are 246 days till your next birthday
on which your cake will have 60 candles

Those 60 candles produce 60 BTUs,
or 15,120 calories of heat (that's only 15.1200 food Calories!) .
You can boil 6.86 US ounces of water with that many candles.

In 1946 there were approximately 2.8 million births in the US.
In 1946 the US population was approximately 131,669,275 people, 44.2 persons per square mile.
In 1946 in the US there were approximately 1,595,879 marriages (12.1%) and 264,000 divorces (2%)
In 1946 in the US there were approximately 1,417,000 deaths (10.8 per 1000)

Your birthstone is Sapphire
The Mystical properties of Sapphire

Though not meant to replace traditional medical treatment, Sapphire is used for clear thinking. Some lists consider these stones to be your birthstone. (Birthstone lists come from Jewelers, Tibet, Ayurvedic Indian medicine, and other sources)

Agate, Moonstone, Lapis Lazuli

Your birth tree is

Lime Tree, the Doubt

Accepts what life dishes out in a composed way, hates fighting, stress and labour, tends to laziness and idleness, soft and relenting, makes sacrifices for friends, many talents but not tenacious enough to make them blossom, often wailing and complaining, very jealous, loyal.

There are 342 days till Christmas 2006!
There are 355 days till Orthodox Christmas!

The moon's phase on the day you were
born was waning crescent.

A HAIKU FOR TROUBLED DEMOCRATS

Double Trouble Now
Triple Trouble The Morrow
Dems Lose In The End!

Deeply Troubling

Just so you know, I'm deeply troubled about the trouble the Democrats went to in order to find material on Sam Alito that was troubling. I wish they didn't have to go to all that trouble. Because of the trouble, the Democrats are in trouble about the troubling things that they didn't find.

One Year For A 180?

On January 30th, 2005 John F. Kerry (AKA "Do You Know Who I Am?" Kerry) was a guest on Meet The Press with Tim Russert moderating.

MR. RUSSERT: Would you sign Form 180?

SEN. KERRY: Yes, I will. But everything that we put in it, Tim--everything we put in--I mean, everything that was out was a full documentation of all of the medical records, all of the fitness reports.

This prompted me to write to Senator Kerry a number of times. The lead off letter was never answered, and of course neither were any of the others. Why he never answered me is totally confounding, I mean, after all he is a public servant, and he is wealthy and he does have staff to prepare letters for him to sign. I guess he has just been far too busy. So, I'll make another attempt and maybe I won't have to write another one next year at this time.

Senator John F. Kerry
304 Russell Bldg.
Third Floor
Washington D.C. 20510

My dear Senator Kerry: By now, I'm sure you are getting tired of not answering my letters to you and I know that you will soon be sitting down to your computer and firing off a good solid rejoinder as to why you haven't kept your promise.

I know that the pressures of being a United States Senator is more than likely difficult, and I'm sure that I wouldn't want the job, after all, having to primp and comb your "better hair" [than George Bush has] getting ready for makeup so that you can appear on Tim Russert's show and all. Where you can make statements like

And there is no reason, Bob, that young American soldiers need to be going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children, you know, women, breaking sort of the customs of the--of--the historical customs, religious customs. Whether you like it or not..."

Oh, Senator Kerry, do you still suffer from the delusion that America would elect YOU to the white house? Senator, if that is your belief, you need to know that they have medications that can help you with that.

And Senator? I'm not the only one that thinks you opened your big fat mouth and firmly inserted your foot. Captain Ed at Captain's Quarters noted:

The Democrats need to answer for this outrage. Is it really the party position that American soldiers terrorize Iraqi civilians? Do they want the Iraqis to do it instead of us? Kerry has unmasked himself and his fellow anti-war zealots for the hypocrites they are. "

Senator, you have spent more time bloviating about things you know absolutely nothing about (Iraq, Sam Alito, NSA intercepts, etc.) than ever it would have taken you to sign your name to a Standard Form 180. Of course, if you did, we might be privy to who put you in for those medals, where you really were when you claimed to be in Cambodia, maybe even, after the truth comes out, the real provenance of the "magic hat."

I'm disappointed in you Senator, you have lied consistently, you have told untruth's when the truth would have served you better, you denegrated our troops in Vietnam:

They told the stories at times they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war, and the normal and very particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country."

Then you tried to put on the hero's mantle for the 2004 presidential election, you posted pictures of 18+ officers indicating that all of them supported your candidacy when the truth was that only a couple did and a few were dead and probably would not have supported you. Though, truth be known, we cannot know. On the Podium at the Democratic Convention you had one of the Swift Boat Troops up there saying how great you were as his commander, when the reality is that he was severly wounded in the head before you came on board and returned to duty after you left. Is there no shame in you Senator Kerry? At long last, is there no shame?

I have of course written these letters to you knowing full well that you would not sign a SF 180. Or, that if you did, it would be for only part of the papers and those would only be released to someone who would keep cover for you. Can you say Boston Globe Reporters?

Senator, Mark Levin had you pegged as a leftist more than two years ago. Which of these don't you believe - or do you believe them all?

You Might be a Leftist If . . .
-You believe John Ashcroft poses a greater danger to America than Osama bin Laden.

-You think President Bush lied to the nation but his predecessor did not.

-You believe President Bush is too dumb to be President and Arnold Schwarzenegger is too dumb to be Governor of California, but the Dixie Chicks, Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin, Barbra Streisand, Eddie Vedder and Jeanine Garofalo are qualified to discourse at length on foreign policy.

-You believe all conservatives are racist, but do not think minorities can ever succeed without Affirmative Action.

-You can't decide which is worse: the Patriot Act or the Patriot Missile.

-You believe Saddam Hussein, Kim Jong Il, and Yasser Arafat were fairly and democratically elected, but President Bush was not.

-You root for prisoners when they escape from our oppressive prisons, but oppose allowing poor children to escape from failing public schools.

-You support every kind of "diversity" on campus, except political orientation.

-You support banning the smoking of tobacco and legalizing marijuana.

-You are enraged by the so-called mistreatment of Muslim prisoners (who have gained weight while dining on their specially prepared Koran-approved meals) at Guantanamo Bay, but believe the world should have stood idly by while Saddam Hussein filled mass graves.

-You have found where the right to an abortion is written in the Constitution but cannot find where the Constitution provides for a right to keep and bear arms.

-You support campus speech codes that ban pick-up lines and amorous gazes, but never spoke out against President Clinton's physical sexual harassment in the White House.

-You applauded Jimmy Carter for talking about human rights in foreign policy but opposed George W. Bush for doing something about human rights.

-You believe that trial lawyers taking 33 to 40 percent of a plaintiff's recovery in lawsuits is just about right, but the federal government taking this amount of our income in taxes is not nearly enough.

-You believe the former Governor of a New England state with 608,827 people is more than adequately experienced to be President in 2004, but the Governor of a Southwestern state with 21,325,018 people was completely unprepared in 2000.

-You agree with Toni Morrison that President Clinton was "the first black President," but didn't criticize Al Sharpton for recently labeling President Bush a "gang leader."

-You believe we could get more truth out of the Pentagon if only Don Rumsfeld were replaced by Mohammed Al-Sahhaf.

-You believe evangelical Christians are destroying America but don't feel threatened by the radical Wahabbi sect of Islam.

-When it comes to violent crime, you believe in hating the crime but loving the criminal.

-You support unlimited appeals for convicted criminals, but believe it is undemocratic for Californians to reverse their earlier mistake of electing Gray Davis.

-You believe U.S. exports of genetically modified foods pose a greater threat to African nations than corrupt dictators like Zimbabwe's Mugabe.

-You believe welfare is a fundamental human right and workfare is a human rights violation.

-You believe religion is a scourge on our society, but becoming one with Mother Nature by merging with the universal consciousness and harmonizing with lunar reverberations will save us.

-You believe President Bush is an environmental criminal for poisoning the water with arsenic, but have never complained about Saddam Hussein's devastating Iraq and Kuwait's environment by setting intentional oil well fires and committing genocide against the Marsh Arabs by draining their wetlands.

-Your car sports the bumper sticker saying that "it will be a great day when our schools have all the money they need and the military has to hold bake sales," but oppose allowing the U.S. military to volunteer recruitment tables on college campuses because of their "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.

So, Senator, I'm sending this to you a little early, the year isn't up yet, but I would guess you need time to get a copy of Standard Form 180 and sign it sometime in the next 15 days so that you can state to the world and your many fans (all 17 of them) that you have kept your pledge. You will keep your pledge won't you Senator?

A Church For Libs!

My good friend and fellow conservative blogger Jeffery Blanco (The Louisiana Conservative) has founded a new "church" (small c, always in quotes) for the more "liberal" among us. You may get offended but know it's all poking fun at the more liberal element and their Oh-So-Rightous demeanor, more likely, you will laugh your fanny off. Go read, enjoy!

Rational Thinking

My blog-friend Ogre asks "What is a right?" He gives a pretty damn good answer too! But some of his commenters have difficulty with the answers it seems.

Senate Democrats ≠Rational Thinking

The Circus is over, the Big Top has been struck. The Ringmaster has put away his top hat and whip, the clowns have removed their makeup. Bits of popcorn and other detritus litter the floor of the once formidable Greatest Show On Earth, but now, the lights are dimmed, and sadly we walk away from the circus.

The analogy between a circus and the Alito hearings is an apt one I think, given the clown like performances of certain members of the Judiciary Committee. I won't mention their names, but their initials are Ted (Chappaquiddick) Kennedy:

In an era when the White House is abusing power, is excusing and authorizing torture and is spying on American citizens, I find Judge Alito's support for an all-powerful executive branch to be genuinely troubling..."

Joseph (Who thinks the Constitution requires two female members) Biden:

And it's also important to note that you're slated to replace the first woman ever nominated to the Supreme Court. We can pretend that's not the fact but it is. And through no fault of your own [though I'm holding you responsible - snark added], we're cutting the number of women in half on the court."

Charles (Please Don't Indict Me) Schumer:

This controversial nominee, who would make the court less diverse and far more conservative, will get very careful scrutiny from the Senate and from the American people."

Patrick (Damn it, I want a liberal judge) Leahy:

The American people deserve a Supreme Court Justice who inspires confidence that he, or she, will not be beholden to the President but will be immune to pressures from the Government or from partisan interests [emphasis added as a snark]."

Diane (I don't care what Ginsberg said, how will YOU answer) Feinstine:

However, in 1985 you clearly stated that you believed Roe should be overturned and that the Constitution does not protect a woman’s right to choose. Despite voting to sustain Roe while on the Third Circuit, your opinions also raise questions about how you would rule if not bound by precedent. I will be interested to learn about your legal and personal views on Roe and the Constitutional right to privacy as you see it today."

and Dick (Damn Those Nazis) Durban:

Your record raises troubling questions about whether you appreciate the checks and balances in our Constitution � the careful efforts of our Founding Fathers to protect us from a government or a president determined to seize too much power over our lives..."

In room 216, the Senate Judiciary Committee in the guise of it's Democrat members participated in what could be termed illegal torture of a United States citizen. Alito was in a room, hot via overcrowding, blazing lights aimed at the responder, torturous and repetitious meanderings from the bloviatings of said Democrats [equal to, for sure of blaring rap "music"], sitting in an uncomfortable position for hours and hours and hours with no relief - not able to get up and walk around, not able to relax and having to pay attention to those who do not have his best interests at heart (let alone the best interests of the country).

Perhaps, the denouement of this whole Democratic engineered farce will be the final vote. I'm predicting that the committee vote will be along party lines and the final vote in the Senate will be something like 78-22 with precisely the same idjits voting against Alito as voted against Roberts. These guys just don't learn. There are consequences folks for elections and this last election put a Republican in the Whitehouse with the ability to appoint judges and (finally) the willingness to appoint conservative judges. Cry all you want, the people see through you and know that your grasp of reality is tenuous at best. Carol Dean Thomas, a strongly liberal attorney probably said it best (in the NY Times no less):

The president took the high road on this nomination. He juggled his politics and his public relations, and while I don't like either, I have to be grateful for the quality of lawyer, and individual, who emerged as the nominee.

We have to decide whether the unfortunate tradition begun with Robert Bork's nomination should be continued indefinitely or whether, with the wisdom of hindsight, we exhume it only when absolutely warranted. Liberals among us have got to get real - to press for the finest jurists a conservative administration is willing to offer, and to spend our capital in that pursuit." [emphasis added]

Hey Chucky Baby, Who Do You Think You're Foolin'?

This morning, Senator Charles (Chuck) Schumer (Dimocrat, New York) had the audacity to say something to the effect that no one had "made their mind up yet" on how they were going to vote in the Judiciary Committee on the Alito Nomination.

After listening to the questions from Kennedy, Biden, Leahy, Durbin, Schumer et al, I can only ask one question: "Hey Chucky, how stupid do you think the American people are?"

Prediction: The Judiciary Committee will vote straight down party lines on Alito's nomination. Any bets?

An Invitation to A Celebration

I'd Like to take credit for the above, but the Idea came from Mike at Mike's America. And damn if it isn't a GREAT idea. In fact, I'll echo Mike, if you are a blogger, steal the invite, put your own name on it and spread it around, put it on your blog. Whoop it up because even if the Gipper has gone on, he left us his legacy and I'm damn glad he was President.

I thought I'd show you a photograph of one of my most prized possessions. It is framed, with photographs and an actual invite to the first Inaugeration. A treasure for sure!

Recruiting and Retention is UP

Ryan James, a youngster from my town (and a budding young reporter) has GREAT news. Go read and follow his links.

I Am Coming

One of our regular readers, and a personal friend of mine sent this to me. It was so good, I had to share it with you. From an Anonymous Naval Aviator:

I Am Coming!

Dear Terrorists,

I am a Navy Aviator. I was born and raised in a small town in New England. I come from a family of five. I was raised in a middle class home and taught my values by my mother and father.

My dad worked a series of jobs in finance and my mom took care of us kids. We were not an overly religious family but attended church most Sundays. It was a nice small Episcopal Church.

I have a brother and sister and I am the youngest in my family. I was the first in many generations to attend college.

I have flown Naval aircraft for 16 years. For me the flying was never a lifelong dream or a "calling," it just happened. I needed a job and I liked the challenge. I continue to do it today because I feel it is important to give back to a nation which has given so much to me. I do it because, although I will never be rich, my family will be comfortable.

I do it because many of my friends have left for the airlines and someone has to do it.
My government has spent millions to train me to fly these multi-milliondollar aircraft. I make about 70,000 dollars a year and after 20 years will be offered a pension.

I like baseball but think the players make too much money. I am in awe of firemen and policemen and what they do each day for my community, and like teachers, they just don't get paid enough.

I respect my elders and always use sir or ma'am when addressing a stranger. I'm not sure about kids these days but I think that's normal for every generation.

I tell you all this because when I come for you, I want you to know me. I won't be hiding behind a woman or a child. I won't be disguised or pretending to be something I am not. I will be in a U.S. issue flight suit. I will be wearing standard US issue flight gear, and I will be flying a navy aircraft clearly marked as a US warplane.

I wish we could meet up close iin a small room where I could wrap my hands around your throat and slowly squeeze the life out of you, but unfortunately, you're hiding in a hole in the ground, so we will have to do this a different way.

I want you to know also that I am very good at what I do. I can put a 2,000 lb weapon through a window from 10,000 feet up. I generally only fly at night, so you may want to start sleeping during the day. I am not eager to die for my country but I am willing to sacrifice my life to protect it from animals like you.

I will do everything in my power to ensure no civilians are hurt as I take aim at you. My countrymen are a forgiving bunch. Many are already forgetting what you did on Sept 11th. But I will not forget!!

I am coming. I hope you know me a little bit better, see you soon...sleep tight.

Signed
A U.S. Navy Pilot
Our Soldiers are one
of our greatest assets!
God Bless

Tracked at Mudville Gazette

Ted Kennedy Creates a Splash - for the Children, Of Course

Surely this is a put-on...but, according to a real article in the USA Today book section, Ted Kennedy is writing a book for young people in which he is the main character along with...are you ready? Are you really ready? His co-protagonist is a Portuguese Water Dog named Splash! Yes, Kennedy's side-kick is a water dog. And, his name is Splash! Well, it had to be that or a St. Bernard with a cask. Someone wake me and tell me this is a spoof.

Sen. Ted Kennedy to publish children's book (c) AP

NEW YORK (AP) � Meet the latest children's author, Sen. Ted Kennedy, and his Portuguese Water Dog, Splash, his co-protagonist in My Senator and Me: A Dogs-Eye View of Washington, D.C. Ted Kennedy's 56-page children's book will be released by Scholastic Inc. in May.

"I am very excited about the opportunity to create a book for young readers and their families that will deepen their understanding of how our American government works," Kennedy said in a statement Monday issued by Scholastic.

According to Scholastic, Kennedy's book "not only takes readers through a full day in the Senator's life, but also explains how a bill becomes a law." Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, was inspired to write the book from his work with a Washington-based reading program, "Everybody Wins!"

Well, "Everyone Wins" unless you're the passenger in Kennedy's car...and were unlucky enough that Splash the wonder water dog wasn't there to save you. I'm anxiously awaiting the chapter where Kennedy teaches Splash how to rescue drowning people.

What other adventures could Kennedy and Splash have to teach children about Washington? "Splash filibusters a Presidential appointment?" "Splash opposes military funding?" But, my favorite will be "Splash bites the Senator in the crotch."

Government to the Rescue - Only Friends Can Annoy

If this law is interpreted literally...and enforced, then our "Troll List" can be eliminated and we'll never hear from Meatbrain again.

Annoying someone via the Internet is now a federal crime.

It's no joke. Last Thursday, President Bush signed into law a prohibition on posting annoying Web messages or sending annoying e-mail messages without disclosing your true identity.

What's annoying? Read the article and tell me. Maybe, it's just any comment from a liberal...but, then that's how we get our laughs, too. This could be difficult.

Discriminate to Eliminate -- Then Compensate

Sometimes you can't win. You promote someone to avoid discrimination suits and then you get sued by the person who was promoted...and lose. It's a "Catch 22" for the employer and a ticket to "Easy Street" for the employee. Here's how it works.

Camilla's protector paid out

A BLACK police bodyguard who protected the Duchess of Cornwall has won $70,000 compensation after suing Scotland Yard for "over-promoting" him because of political correctness. His representatives argued he landed the prestigious job as Camilla's bodyguard only because he was black. It was claimed that as a result of being over-promoted and not receiving proper training and support, Sgt Turner made mistakes which led to him being re-assigned.

Please keep this a secret from Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. If they get hold of this idea, they'll be demanding demotions with raises.

Movie Reviews R' Us!

The most hilarious (and very likely accurate) review of Brokeback Mountain can be found at the Louisiana Conservative. Jeff Blanco - your future lies in making reviews!

Bloviation Continues

KENNEDY CONTINUES THE ATTACK ~ ALITO BENEFITS

The florid countenance to the left belongs to Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) who has written a hyper-partisan screed and actually had it published in the Washington Post, (you of course, are not surprised that WaPo published it.) The title is quite interesting if you will; "Alito's Credibility Problem" which might be OK if it came from someone with some shred of credibility himself. Kennedy's frequent bombastic attacks on anything and everything coming from conservatives, Republicans or anyone/anything to the right of Kennedy have made him a laughing stock for anyone capable of rational thought.

Kennedy has made a name for himself based primarily on scandals ranging from his infamous drinking bouts, to him and Chris Dodd and waitresses, to weekend parties with cousins and of course to Chappaquiddick. It has not hurt him that he had a famous brother who got elected to the presidency.

Ed Whalen, writing in Bench Memos for National Review Online has done a credible job of slicing and dicing the utter leftist nonsense from Kennedy. A sample:

After a thorough investigation, the American Bar Association unanimously gave Judge Alito its highest rating (“well qualified�) on its criteria of “integrity, professional competence and judicial temperament.� But that hasn’t stopped Teddy Kennedy from cobbling together a nasty hit piece on Judge Alito (“Alito’s Credibility Problem�) in today’s Washington Post.

Kennedy’s attack is a jumble of distortions, inventions, and non sequiturs. In the interest of brevity, I’m going to refrain from revisiting Kennedy’s own credibility. Here’s a quick response to Kennedy’s five stated areas of concern:

1. Alito’s 1985 job application essay sets forth a classic statement of American principles: “I believe very strongly in limited government, federalism, free enterprise, the supremacy of the elected branches of government, the need for a strong defense and effective law enforcement, and the legitimacy of a government role in protecting traditional values. In the field of law, I disagree strenuously with the usurpation by the judiciary of decisionmaking authority that should be exercised by the branches of government responsible to the electorate.�

Kennedy asserts, without anything resembling an argument, that these views “raise serious concerns about [Alito’s] ability to interpret the Constitution with a fair and open mind.� He also claims that Alito tried to distance himself from those views by telling Kennedy that he “was just a 35-year-old seeking a job.� A well-informed source tells me that Kennedy’s quote is a concoction and that Alito has never tried to suggest that the 1985 essay was not a genuine statement of his views at that time.

Senator, Alito is NOT THE ONE WITH A CREDIBILITY PROBLEM...Get it?

What to make of the Senator from Massachusets? I'm not sure. It is obvious from the frequent gaffes he makes (even worse than the worst of the Bushisms) from the recent "Goldwater Presidency" (discussed in yesterday's entry "Bottle Of Wine..." a couple of posts below) to the hillarious stumbling almost drunken "Osama Obama" (he was trying to come up with Barack Obama) that Kennedy isn't hitting on all cylinders. Yet, the good people of Massachusets keep electing this embarrassment. He has been kicked out of school for cheating, he has been complicit in the death of a young woman, he has been a philanderer and yet...and yet, he keeps getting elected (along with the equally embarrasing, sloppy saluting, pseudo-hero, "the haughty, French-looking Massachusetts Democrat, who by the way served in Vietnam.") (and a tip of the GM Chapeaux to James Taranto). What can be wrong with the thinking peoples of Massachusets?

Abraham Lincoln said that you can "...fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time but you can't fool all of the people all of the time." Obviously, Kennedy and Kerry are trying to prove Lincoln wrong, I'd guess, when it comes to Massachusets politics.

From The Mouth Of Lileks!

James Lileks writes screeds like no one else writes screeds. His most recent is a scathing attack on the silliness, pomposity and sheer stupidity of progressives. Taking off from Mark Steyn's "It's the Demography Stupid" Lileks pounds the left and progressives into the ground. A sample:

The only thing Western Civ really gave the world was slavery, imperialism, war, and capitalism; the fact that we have eliminated or diminished or abbreviated those sins is due not to anything inherent in Western Civ but some overarching, free-floating Enlightenment unmoored from the cultures that produced it. The world began in 1968, and owes nothing to what came before; if we wish to combat the regrettable enthusiasms of some other cultures whose animus appears religious, we should deconsecrate the cathedrals in order to set an example and light the way. Religion is the enemy to the transnational progressives, because religion holds up laws and codes and rules the wise burghers of Belgium cannot amend.

So you have Swedish clothing designers putting a tag on hot jeans with a skull and an inverted cross, with the express intention of pointing out the “evil� of Christianity. "It is an active statement against Christianity," Bjorn Atldax told The Associated Press. "I'm not a Satanist myself, but I have a great dislike for organized religion."Atldax insists he has a purpose beyond selling denim: to make young people question Christianity, which he called a "force of evil" that had sparked wars throughout history.

It goes without saying that selling anti-Christian iconography to European fashionistas is a brave an act as reducing the food pellet allotment to your pet hamster; a true act of bravery would be yanking the dead wildebeest out of a lion’s mouth.

Now, go read the whole thing!

Navy Surrenders to Chaplain - Allows Prayer in Christ's Name

You hear about "heroic" actions of hunger strikes when the dominant media wants to honor some criminal or socialist using that tactic to attract attention to a problem. So, why has the media ignored the latest success story about a hunger strike conducted by a chaplain? Well, maybe he represents the wrong cause for them...Christianity. Here's a follow-up and success story to an earlier post on political correctness in the military barring prayers "in the name of Christ."

Navy surrenders: Chaplain eating

The Navy chaplain who has gone without food for 18 days in protest of the Navy's policy encouraging "inclusive" prayers at public events says he has received permission to wear his uniform and pray in Jesus' name outside the White House tomorrow and will end his hunger strike by taking communion there.

Lt. Gordon James Klingenschmitt had said he would not eat until President Bush signed an executive order allowing chaplains to pray in public according to their individual faith traditions. Later, he said if the Navy would allow him to wear his uniform in public and pray in Jesus' name he would end his fast. Klingenschmitt told WND this evening he has received a letter from his commanding officer giving him permission to do so.

It's a partial victory in a surprise battle by the military against religious freedom for our soldiers. Now, when will President Bush sign an Executive Order to guarantee this religious tolerance and freedom in the military for all? What's the problem?

Bottle Of Wine, Fruit Of The Vine, When You Gonna Let Me Get Sober?

There is a serious consequence of long term alcoholism, it's called Alcoholic Dementia. Symptoms of Alcoholic Dementia (as well as other forms of dementia) include, inability to make connections, inability to make decisions frustration, anger, and irritability, emotional lability, and unstable moods. Both short and long term memory can be affected, though most frequently it is the short term memory affected most. However, long term memory can be affected when the patient confuses incidents and combines them into a single mistaken memory. Alcohol has a direct affect on brain cells, resulting in poor judgment, difficulty making decisions and lack of insight, alcohol is often called the great disinhibitor. In addition nutrition problems can accompany long-time alcohol abuse can be another contributing factor, since parts of the brain may be damaged by vitamin deficiencies.

Not having ever examined Teddy Kennedy, and the last time I spoke to him (we chit chatted for all of 4 or 5 minutes in the halls of congress when my brothers and I were prowling the corridors of power) was in the mid 60's when I was in High School in the Washington D.C. area, I cannot say if Senator Kennedy is suffering from anything other than old age and being over weight. His drinking excesses are, however, legendary and it is rumored that he definately has an alcohol problem.

Dana Milbank, writing in the Washinton Post noted Kennedy appeared at a rountable discussion with a number of reporters and Milbank wrote:

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), hosting a morning roundtable with reporters, had nothing nice to say about Alito. "We here in the United States are not going to stand for monarchial tyranny," he said, protesting Alito's support for "unfettered, unlimited power of the executive." He faulted Alito for belonging to a group that was "anti-black and also anti-women." Kennedy wondered if "the average person is going to be able to get a fair shake" under Alito.

Briefly, Kennedy rewrote the outcome of the 1964 election. "This nominee was influenced by the Goldwater presidency," he said. "The Goldwater battles of those times were the battles against the civil rights laws." Only then did Kennedy acknowledge that "Judge Alito at that time was 14 years old."

The Goldwater Presidency? Must have been something I missed since I distinctly remember being highly disappointed when Goldwater gave his concession speech in November, 1964.

Maybe it's time for the Good Senator to retire. No maybe about it... it's well past time.

Linked at TMH's Baconbits

ÆSOP Revisited

Once upon a time, in a nice little forest, there lived a blind little bunny and a blind little snake. One day, the bunny was hopping through theforest, and the snake was slithering through the forest, when the bunny tripped over the snake and fell down. This, of course, knocked the snake about quite a bit.

"Oh, my," said the bunny, "I'm terribly sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you.I've been blind since birth, so, I can't see where I'm going. In fact,Idon't even know what I am."

"It's quite okay," replied the snake. "Actually, my story is much the same as yours. I, too, have been blind since birth. Tell you what, maybe I could kinda slither over you, and figure out what you are, so at least you'll have that going for you."

"Oh, that would be wonderful," replied the bunny. So the snake slithered all over the bunny, and said, "Well, you'recovered with soft fur; you have really long ears; your nose twitches; and you have a soft cottony tail. I'd say that you must be a bunny."

"Oh thank you! Thank you," cried the bunny in obvious excitement. The bunny suggested to the snake, "Maybe I could feel you with my paw, and help you the same way you've helped me."

So the bunny felt the snake all over, and remarked, "Well, you're scaly and very smooth, you have a forked tongue, and no backbone. I'd say you must be either a lawyer, a journalist or a Democrat."

With apologies and a tip of the GM Chapeaux to Patty at This, That and Frog Hair

Republicans - Republicrats, Jack Abramoff and Sleeze

Reader Josh Legere takes me to task in the previous entry for a variety of issues. I'm glad Josh dropped by. He is a very bright, intelligent commenter, usually found in the comment section of Marc Cooper's blog First Josh, you need to know that I'm not the author of End-Time Panic and The Liberal Ghost Dance, Gaghdad Bob from One Cosmos is. I merely reported it, and no, it is not a violation of APA rules to make political statements which is what Gaghdad Bob has done. The fact that he is a practicing psychologist doesn't take away from him the freedom to use his training and expertise to decry the silliness of the left in their caterwauling. I support his position. Too, I'm in the corporate marketplace and have been for the last 18 years (the mental health side of course) though I also teach at the university.

Josh asks, justifiably, why I'm not reporting on the "Jack Abramoff Scandal" and asks if I'm not repressing. So, I think Josh, as an intelligent commenter, deserves an answer. Lets get the psychological terminology out of the way however. The Freudian term "repression" usually is taken to mean an unconscious drive to remove from active memory a traumatic event. Thus, if the Abramoff issue were truly repressed, I would say to you "What Abramoff issue?" Perhaps I would just look at you with curiosity on my countanence as if I didn't understand.

This is not the case however. I haven't reported on Abramoff because it really doesn't interest me that much. However, now that you bring it up, I'd be more than happy to tell you what I think. I can sum it up in a very few words: "Put his butt in jail where he belongs." But, Josh, if you know me at all, you know then that a few words won't do if I can opine at length.

Abramoff has been the absolute delight of the Democratic Party. "Gotcha Politics" in action, in headlines, in everything but reality. And, no, I'm not going to defend any Republican that took bribes for votes or influence in a "quid pro quo" trade. Anyone in congress who actively took bribes from someone and changed their vote, or even insured their vote, or anyone in government who took bribes to perform an action or to not perform an action also belongs in jail. I don't care what their party is. But, obviously, the Democrats do care and they are milking this for all they are worth. OK, that is the nature of political battles, but don't expect anyone/everyone to stand by while they do it.

The real issue underlying the Abramoff scandal is money. Access to it and the desire for it. What Abramoff has done and primarily what brought him to the attention of the BUSH JUSTICE DEPARTMENT, is essentially rob a number of tribes by various means, but ultimately by taking their money and not doing their work, but forging documents to indicate that he had done the work. There are of course other issues, but to think that this is a "republican scandal" is to be wrong.

True, Abramoff is nominally a Republican but he made his mark as a lobbyist and that is a protected class of citizens, protected by the constitution that guarantees the right of the people to petition the government for a redress of grievances. Michael Barone has an excellent article in the Wall Street Journal and their online OpinionJournal (subscription required) outlining the so called depredations of the residents of "K" Street. Barone notes that the history of "K" Street goes back to the 1940s when a number of Roosevelts brighter aides left the government employ and "set up their own law firms and lobbying shops."

The WSJ goes on to note that Ohio's Bob Ney (R) took money to enter specific wordage into the Congressional Record:

It's also notable how few Members of Congress so far have truly been implicated, beyond accepting entirely legal campaign contributions. The most culpable is Ohio's Bob Ney, who has been cited in a "criminal information" for receiving trips and other favors in return for statements entered into the Congressional Record. Mr. Ney says that he too was duped, but there's no question he was willing to tap dance on cue for Mr. Scanlon, and that alone is sleaze-by-willing-association. If the House Ethics Committee serves any useful purpose, sanctioning Mr. Ney ought to be it."

I can't disagree with that. Better yet, toss his fanny out of Congress by refusing to seat him when the next congress begins. But, again, as the WSJ notes, the vast majority of Abramoff's crimes have to do nothing with bribery of members of congress, if making "campaign donations" to congress critters is evidence of tainted money, lets also decry each and every Republican who accepts campaign donations and each and every Democrat who does the same. Look, sleeze is sleeze, but this is no more Republican sleeze than it is Democrat sleeze. The Democrats are jumping for joy, the MSM is supporting them precisely because it has occurred on Bush's watch. But please note: The Justice Department that indicted and brought about a confession/plea bargan is the BUSH Justice Department. Contrast that, as did X Fixer with the lackadaisical efforts of the Clinton Justice Department under one Ms. Janet Reno to investigate and push for convictions of "Johnny Chung, Yogesh Gandhi, Ted Sioeng, John Huang, The Hsi Lai Temple Fundraiser, Charlie Trie, Ng Lap Seng, Warren Meddoff? And who can forget the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes." (H/T X Fixer) Oh, wait, that didn't happen did it. Well, score Bush 1, Clinton 0.

X Fixer also notes a 1996 Senate report: From the Senate Report:

The key to understanding why these officials found the idea of endorsing Tamraz’s pipeline to be so attractive five months before the presidential election may lie in Simpson’s communications to Carter and in Carter’s own subsequent communication with Heslin. By this point, after all, Heslin was the principal obstacle that remained for Tamraz. Buying access to U.S. Government officials had been comparatively easy, but the interagency working group headed by Heslin remained opposed to offering the official support Tamraz “desperately need[ed].'’ 140 After receiving his instructions from Simpson, therefore, it was not surprising that Carter should continue to “follow-up'’ on the Tamraz issue by contacting her at the NSC. What is particularly significant about this contact, however, is the degree to which the two Energy officials apparently understood this “follow-up'’ to revolve around Tamraz’s campaign contributions.�

Lastly, there is this from the Washington Post:

By early 1995, the U.S. oil companies operating in Azerbaijan had set up a Foreign Oil Companies group in Washington. It met with National Security Council energy expert Sheila Heslin and later with an interagency committee headed by her boss, Samuel R. “Sandy� Berger.

Government documents show that the NSC and oil companies worked together in June 1995 to forestall an attempt by Lebanese-American oil financier Roger Tamraz to promote his own pipeline from Baku to Turkey, via Armenia. Pennzoil’s Hamilton alerted NSC officials of oil company opposition to the Tamraz initiative, effectively killing any White House support for the project.�

One final comment and I'm done. This is also from today's Wall Street Journal:

This week's plea agreement by "super-lobbyist" Jack Abramoff has Republicans either rushing to return his campaign contributions in an act of cosmetic distancing, accuse Democrats of being equally corrupt, or embrace some new "lobbying reform" that would further insulate Members of Congress from political accountability.

Here's a better strategy: Banish the Abramoff crowd from polite Republican society, and start remembering why you were elected in the first place.

This isn't to say we agree with the media hype that the Abramoff scandal is of "historic proportions." That's true only if your "history" starts around 1994, after Jim Wright sold his "book" in bulk to the Teamsters, after Tony Coelho of "Honest Graft" fame, after Abscam, the Keating Five, Clark Clifford and BCCI, and any number of other famous episodes of Capitol Hill sleaze. Mr. Abramoff and his pals are stock Beltway characters. [emphasis added]

What's notable so far about this scandal is the wretchedness of the excess on display, as well as the fact that it involves self-styled "conservatives," who claimed to want to clean up Washington instead of cleaning up themselves. That some Republicans are just as corruptible as some Democrats won't surprise students of human nature. But it is an insult to the conservative voters who elected this class of Republicans and expected better.

Can't disagree with that either. If corrupt, throw them out but don't presume that this is a Republican Sleeze issue... toss them out on their butts: Democrat, Republican, Independent, whatever. They have no business in my United States Congress.

Espella Humanzee has more, including the embarassment of Hillary Clinton. No, Really!!

Linked to STACLU

End-Time Panic and The Liberal Ghost Dance

Gagdad Bob writing at One Cosmos has written an absolutely brilliant piece on the continuing emotional meltdown of the left. Read it all, it's that important. A teaser:

Just as a neurosis is a personal culture, a culture--especially a subculture--is often a collective neurosis. I realized quite some time ago that it is not possible to respond to the content of a dailykos, since it is so histrionic and perpendicular to reality. As a psychologist, I assumed that the hysterical, paranoid, narcissistic, or antisocial content had to do with the personal issues of the writers, but there could be another way of looking at the florid material, that is, as a collective response to the ongoing crisis at the core of progressive thought. Instead of examining their assumptions, these progressives prescribe more of the same--only worse!--in a way that seems calculated to turn off and drive away the average moderate voter who has at least one foot in the real world."

41-38 TEXAS YeeeeeHawwwwww!!!!

Uhh, hey, you USC fans out there? You have nothing to be Ashamed of, the Trojans played a GREAT game! (snicker...snicker.... STOP THAT!!!... ed.) (Can't help myself... Snicker... Snicker!!!)

My Blogbuddy Rick at The Real Ugly American live blogged the game and did a GREAT job. Outstanding Rick... Outstanding!!!

Brian Epps at Random Numbers perhaps had the best comment:

They [Texas] did not give up, and won the game with a 4th down broken play that was a perfect example of how they have won the entire season. It is something that one should remember always in life. When a door is closed to you, there are always options.The difference between winners and losers is whether you see and take those options."

And a special POST CARD for all football fans everywhere!!! (be sure to have your sound on and give it a few seconds to load)

12 Found Alive [UPDATED - Sad News]

Twelve of the thirteen trapped miners were found alive. Great news, truly a God Given Miracle. The thirteenth didn't make it and GM's Corner extends our condolences to the family.

Twelve miners caught in an explosion in a coal mine were found alive Tuesday night, more than 41 hours after the blast, family members said.

Bells at a church where relatives had been gathering rang out as family members ran out screaming in jubilation.

Relatives were yelling “They’re alive!�

One miner was found dead earlier Tuesday, the mine’s owner, International Coal Group Inc. said.

Neither the company nor the govenor’s office immediately confirmed the news.

There were hugs and tears among the crowd outside the Sago Baptist Church loacted near the mine, about 100 miles northeast of Charleston. Source

Absolutely amazing good news! More details to come!

UPDATE: Somehow, the bad news always seems worse when good news is trumped. The above report is in error and eleven of the twelve are dead.

TALLMANSVILLE, W.Va. (AP) - In a stunning and heartbreaking reversal, family members were told early Wednesday that 11 of 12 trapped coal miners found were dead - three hours after they began celebrating news that they were alive.

The devastating new information shocked and angered family members, who had rejoiced with Gov. Joe Manchin hours earlier when a rumor began to spread that the miners were alive. Rescue crews found the first victim earlier Tuesday evening.

"About the confusion, I can't tell you of anything more heart-wrenching than I've ever gone through in my life. Nothing," Manchin said.

The sole survivor of the disaster, identified by mining officials as 27-year-old Randal McCloy, was hospitalized in critical condition early Wednesday, a doctor said. When he arrived, he was unconscious but moaning, the hospital said.

MSNBC has more.

H/T to Stop The ACLU

Channeling Chesty Puller USMC

According to Reuters (Mouth Piece to Al Qaeda): John Murtha was asked

"Would you join (the military) today?"

"No," replied Murtha of Pennsylvania, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives subcommittee that oversees defense spending and one of his partys leading spokesmen on military issues."

Well, this man is such a modern day hero to the left and he gets such great ink that I thought I'd ask someone in the know about taking John Murtha as a Recruit, or even returning him to active duty.

GM: General Puller, as probably the greatest Marine in the history of the United States what are your thoughts on Representative John Murtha, a democrat from Pennsylvania who was recently asked if he would join the service today and he gave an unequivocal NO?

General Puller: We wouldn't have that fat assed sorry blivit in the United States Military if it was the last battle, last war and he was the last person available.

GM: I understand some of your anger General Puller, but Murtha was a hero, he was decorated in Vietnam.

General Puller: Listen son, Murtha was a hero, he did some fine work in My Marine Corps, and I thank him for his service. But he has stepped down from the train so to speak and lost his way.

GM: What do you mean by that General?

General Puller: Easy son, Murtha has forgotten what he stood for. He made a name for himself in the United States Congress as someone who stood up for the military. Someone who cared. Then, along with his fellow Democrats, he found out that he could get a lot of publicity by denigrating our troops who are laying their lives on the line for the establishment of freedom in a place that hasn't been free in many decades. He's like that Wesley Clark fellow, the one that commanded NATO but was so obnoxious he was "fired" from his job by a wuss like Bill Clinton and then he had the balls to run for the Presidency. Probably will do so again damn it!

GM: I understand General Puller. So, do you think Mr. Murtha is, how shall we say this, "un-patriotic?"

General Puller: Don't go there boy! It is not a matter of being patriotic or not, it's a matter of judgment. Do you put the needs of your party ahead, or the needs of a bunch of fine young warriors! Look, Murtha, and his fellow travelers have made a decision, one that gets them headlines and is inimical to the best interests of the United States of America. When you get sworn in son, you swear to uphold the Constitution of the United States against ALL enemies. Foreign or Domestic. That author fellow, George Orwell noted that pacifism ultimately supports your enemies. That is exactly what Murtha is doing and in my opinion, is going against his sworn oath. That oath doesn't allow for any finger crossing, you can't say except when it goes against my opponent’s party, you can't say only if I like the current President. Naw, it doesn't work that way. You set your politics aside at the waters edge. There are bad people out there son, they want to kill you, your family, and they want to kill Murtha and his family. They already tried once; one of those four planes was headed for the Capital of the United States of America on September 11. Why that bloated, mealy mouthed, son-of-a-bitch can't see that is beyond me. I thought he got better training in the Corps. Hell, he did get better training and it showed, but I guess in his case, the spotlight was more important, he was a patriot son, and he really was. Now he is just a scoundrel. Besides, we don't accept septuagenarians and if we did, we wouldn't accept him.

GM: General, thanks for your input, you have cleared it up for me, and for my readers as well.

General Puller: Anytime son, just pick up that phone and call 1-800-PULLER! Direct access boy and it's toll free!

Tracked at Mudville Gazette
Tracked at Euphoric Reality

The Insanity Continues

We, Woody and I (and of course you my beloved readers) have been subjected to a recent onslaught of comment spam from a group (although it is probably just one individual) most likely at a particular site called Thinking Meat. Feel free to go there if you wish, but I won't link there because I don't want to give them traffic. Let them get their own. At any rate, this particular commenter, this time by the name given "Jonah Dotson (who may even be real [Nah]- at least this time I got a real email address - fake and anonymous though it be - Meatbrain, just how dumb do you honestly think we are?). But, I digress, this time I will take part of his comment and turn it into a post for two reasons, the first, to have fun with a real honest troll, and the second, to put lie to his claims. Now, I will intersperse my comments into his as appropriate and in red so that you will be able to follow it a little easier. Also, to make it a little easier I will set his comments in blockquotes so that it will be more than obvious (Dotson/meatbrain needs all the help he can get).

FIRST POST:

This is a great concept, GM, and you are to be commended for it. We all know that anyone who does not hold fast to the tenets of the right is mentally unbalanced. Wouldn't it be best if those who disagree with us were removed from society, for their safety and ours? This was the policy of Soviet psychiatrists, and it worked very well.

Actually Jonah, the practice of the Soviets was to incarcerate dissidents, sedate them heavily with such psychotropic medications as thioridazine, haloperidol, thorazine etc. When extra-pyramidal symptoms were frequently present, brought on by the anti-psychotics, they were also denied such medications as benztropine which can relieve some/most/all of the EPS. Secondly, there was seldom, if ever, any recognized symptomology of mental illnes of these unfortunate individuals; they had merely come crosswise with the Soviet (read evil) Empire. You may have noted that I am not an employee of the Soviet Empire, nor of the US government and I can, and will post anything I damn well please. Too, you will find nothing in what I wrote that would indicate that I believe that the insanity of the left needs cause them to be "locked up" which is another feature that seperates me and others from the practices of the Soviet Psychiatrists. If your comment is that it "would" be best to lock up dissidents, than that is your problem, not mine. Don't put words in my mouth.

SECOND POST:

Notice you said "Soviet" psychiatrists... the Soviet's were of the left.

And you espouse exactly what Soviet psychiatrists did: the view that those who dissent from the State's views are mentally ill. You're a mental health professional in the best Soviet tradition.

It must be a proud moment for you.

Jonah, Jonah, Jonah, how silly you are. Please find for me the exact quote where I "espouse exactly what the Soviet psychiatrists did?" Or, more likely, are you being a little hysterical in your meanderings? Again Jonah, so that you can understand the difference between what I said and your straw-man argument, I have not ever proposed that anyone who "dissents from the State's views are mentally ill." Rather, what I said is that there are a lot of factors to be looked at and NO WHERE did I suggest locking them up, so I'm not, repeat NOT a "mental health professional in the best Soviet tradition." Rather, I do tend to be a cognitive restructuring adherent and a strong proponent of Reality Therapy. As I have noted, from my perspective the left, in particular the angry left (recognize yourself here do you Jonah?) are not in touch with reality. And this can be documented. As I mentioned in a previous post, the Daily Kos was predicting a win for Kerry, despite the fact that most polls showed Bush on top. Then too, we have the 2000 vote fiasco in which the courts stopped an attempt by Al Gore to overturn the very close vote in Florida. Subsequent counts by a number of independent newspapers confirmed Bush's win, but the [generic] left had problems accepting that. Then, we have the WMD issue touted by the left and by Democrats claiming "Bush Lied" when all the evidence from the previous Democratic Administration, France, Germany and Russia indicated that Saddam did have WMD and Saddam himself did everything he could to underscore that perception.

...delusional thinking that they will change people's minds with their harsh rhetoric.

Your accusation that anyone you perceive as being on the Left is insane and psychotic is not harsh rhetoric. Oh no, of course not...

I did not say "anyone" being on the left. I know a few lefties who are quite supportive of the Administration. Many of whom the left call "traitors" or are otherwise discounted. For example, Senator Joseph Lieberman is quite supportive of the Administration's war on the islamo-fascists (lets call them what they are and not use euphanisims like "terrorists" shall we?). Yet, the majority of the Democratic base is figuratively calling for Liberman's head and are quite openly planning to get someone from their so called "base" to run against him in the next election. Too, if you care to follow the trials and tribulations of the Lt. Governor from the State of Maryland as he prepares to run for the US Senate, one Michael Steel, now, if that isn't harsh rheortic I'll be damned if I know what is. Then we have the ravings as found on the Democratic Underground with language I suspect that none of those commenters would use in front of their grandmothers (not that we don't see some on the far right as well - sadly.) We have the "No blood for oil" meme, the "Bush Lied People Died" meme and oh so very many others. In fact, on meatbrains blog he uses the term liar and calls me a soviet psychiatrist like mental health professional... something you have carried on into your comments on this blog. Harsh rhetoric indeed (one of the resons I suspect 'ole Jonah and Meatbrain are one and the same... they consistently use the same arguments/phraseology) Pot, meet Kettle!

THIRD POST:

Tell you what, rather than attack me, why don't you refute the specifics?

You've already defined that as being impossible. Mr. Mental Health Professional. You claim that anyone who disagrees with you does so only because of their own political proclivities. You would dismiss any refutation on that basis -- just as you always have.

You could try to refute some of the left's specific arguments yourself... but you cannot. That is why you resort to ad hominem attacks of this sort. Everyone who dissents from Administration policy is crazy

Ahh Jonah, you are so amusing. My post is precisely about refuting the left's specific arguments as being out of touch. That they continue to harp on issues that only improve Bush's ratings. Did you notice, Jonah, when the information went out about the NSA intercepts, which seem to be entirely legal by the way (but that is another argument) and the Democrats and the left started talking impeachment, that Bush's approval numbers went UP? Jonah, did you notice that the American Voting Public has a long history of not trusting Democrats with National Security and that even the main stream media have discussed this issue? Yet, they continue to harp on "immediate pull out" and that just won't fly. Jonah, there is an old saw among those that can observe reality: "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting the results to be different." Doesn't that really almost perfectly describe the Democrats today? If they keep this up, I wouldn't be surprised if Bush's positive numbers went over 65% and the Democrats end up losing a few Senate seats and a number of House seats. One last point Jonah. You wrote: "anyone who disagrees with you does so only because of their own political proclivities. You would dismiss any refutation on that basis -- just as you always have." In point of fact, since you don't seem to be able to digest what you read, my exact quote in the article in question was:

Drummond calls this form of insanity Political Compulsive Disorder. Now, there will be many in the field, psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers etc who will not agree that this is a mental disorder at all, but that would be because of their own political proclivities;

I was obviously referring to Drummonds "diagnosis." I said nothing about anyone who disagrees with that are leftists. I said that there would be those who did not think Drummonds diagnosis would be a mental disorder and that might be because of the political proclivities of the person who disagreed with Drummond. What about that didn't you understand since you made such a big deal about me being the one who who said anyone who disagrees with me? I just don't understand you Jonah, you can't seem to see (or perhaps you do see, you just enjoy being contrarian) what is there right in front of you. Oh, and Jonah, I've given you lots and lots of specific examples, you have YET to refute any of them.

-- that's your belief, and now you've put it on record. You can't argue rationally. You HAVE to attack your opponents' character, intelligence, and sanity. That's ALL YOU HAVE.

Actually, I've questioned their judgement, I've noted HIGH intelligence and that it doesn't necessarily translate to good policy and I've noted some psychological symptoms that may explain the process.

Tell us why anyone should trust your so-called professional judgment. given that you are quite willing to subjugate that judgment to your political views -- just like Soviet psychiatrists did.

No one has to trust my professional judgement in this issue, as I said in my opening sentences:

Polipundit's DJ Drummond has maybe hit on a severe form of mental illness. As a Mental Health professional, I'm concerned about what the disorder is, how it begins - that is what is the genesis of the disorder and how can it be treated.

Now, believe it or not Jonah, this is a political blog of the conservative persuasion and I am a conservative. I also happen to be a mental health professional and as such, I have far ranging interests. Further, I absolutely delight in the figurative skewering of my political opponents. Tell me that you don't as a wild eyed lefty. I noticed Jonah, that as Woody has commented you have used multiple fake names, fake IP addresses, and fake or anonymous e-mail addresses to make comments on my site. None of your comments are in the form of discussion or argument, you merely attack and use even more frequent ad hominems than I do; and mine are at least meant to be humorous. Now, I know that my sense of humor may not be yours, or may not be others, but it is mine and if you don't like it. Tough. This is my blog.

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If you CANNOT DEBATE, you MUST CENSOR. That's your way. That's all you know how to do.

And every time you delete a comment that asks hard questions or challenges your views, you simply prove that point for me.

This is really the cutest part of your diatribe Jonah. What you do with your so called comments is attack and attempt to put your argument (what ever that is) in some kind of rational format. You've failed! If you had read my rules of commenting you would know that this is, as I said above, my blog. I rule here. If you want to make comment use your real name and a real e-mail address, don't be afraid of using your own IP address. That you consistently fail to do so says far more about obsession with this blog then even you probably care to admit. I will "junk" not "delete" any comment that I do not think advances the discussion, and many lefties and liberals and progressives have dropped a bon mot or two here without ever having had to fear having their comments junked; in fact Jonah, I have an uncle, I love him a lot and he is a fine man, one that I admire greatly, but he is a lefty and he disagrees with almost any thing I put here. Yet, he has never had a comment junked, because he argues rationally, I disagree with almost every position he takes, but at least he is rational. You are free to express yourself in a calm rational and oh so polite way, or suffer the consequences of not doing so. You, in your various disguises, have attacked Woody, me, Cao, Duncan Avatar, Seth Richardson and quite a few others. Possibly, though I may be wrong in this, to drive hits to your pitiful little blog. You know, the one with very few visitors, the one with almost zero comments, the one that does far more attack than anything else. Kind of makes me wonder what you are getting out of this besides notoriety. If you respond to this post, do so rationally. If you do not, your comment and any future comment that is like this one will be junked. And a good junk yard is EXACTLY where comments of the type you have been making belong. So, Jonah, cheers, have a great 2006 and may you learn to argue/debate effectively in the coming year.

Diagnosing the Left

Polipundit's DJ Drummond has maybe hit on a severe form of mental illness. As a Mental Health professional, I'm concerned about what the disorder is, how it begins - that is what is the genesis of the disorder and how can it be treated. Drummond calls this form of insanity Political Compulsive Disorder. Now, there will be many in the field, psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers etc who will not agree that this is a mental disorder at all, but that would be because of their own political proclivities; one must believe that one who thinks he is Napoleon, doesn't think he has a problem!

Drummond notes that:

Democrats know full well that their tactics of slander and defeatism are not working to win elections, yet they just will not consider their position in any kind of mature light. Strange. Yet we have seen this before, and the problem seems to be based on raw emotion overriding better judgment."

This is a good beginning of the description. Surely they can read polls and know that the majority of the American electorate are supporting the use of wiretaps, believe that they are legal and even Bush's ratings have gone UP since these yahoos got on this particular meme, but that doesn't seem to stop them. Point in fact, since the 60's, the United States voter has generally shown that they distrust Democrats with national security issues. Yet in 2004 they nominate a man who served in Vietnam for only 3 months or so of a normally 12 month rotation, gets 3 wounds none of which required more than a bandaid, at least one of which was rejected for a Purple Heart by the treating physician (yet Kerry manuvered one anyway - by hook or crook we don't know) and opted out of Vietnam based on having three Purple Hearts. Then the man comes back and scathingly trounces his fellow troops, calls them war criminals, consults with the enemy in Paris and many years later, gets up on the podium at the DNC and gives the silliest, sloppiest most unprofessional salute I have ever seen (and since I grew up in the Army and served in the Army, I've seen plenty of them) and the Democrats think they have a winner. Infact, Markos M. of The Daily Kos goes so far out on that proverbial limb, he projects Kerry the Winner.

What is the left's response to The Daily Kos for that sloppy, unbelievable, insane prediction? They make DK the number one blog in the blogosphere. How's that for insanity?

But, I digress, and the opening topic today is DJ Drummond's diagnosis of the left. Lets take a look at some of the other mental health issues that the conservative blogosphere has put out:

John Moore, a good friend believes that the appropriate diagnosis is Cognition Disorder of Progressives and offers a number of symptoms for the same:

utopian thinking - A delusional belief that the patient knows simple, side effect free solutions to all social problems. In some cases this is associated with psychotic delusions of grandeur.

anthroplastic ideas - a delusion that behavioral conditioning, performed by the government, will cure all behavioral and social problems, i.e., will change all non-CDP people into CDP . Implicit in this delusional system is the idea that people can be "programmed" to be "perfect."

This symptom leads to a reflexive, vehement resistance by the patient to even the idea that people may have immalleable characteristics. The worst known example is that of Pol Pot, who attempted to remove all undesirable influences in the belief that the perfect socialist man would then emerge.

anti-theistic rebellion - an emotional antagonism against Christianity... probably caused by an abnormal persistence of adolescent rebellion... may also be related to the need to avoid counter-arguments to desired policies (see utopiate thinking, above). This ranges from a mere antagonism to Christianity to a hatred of religions of all forms. Generally the more "western" a religion is, the more it is hated. Thus these patients may accept primitive and animalist belief systems.

naturist delusion - a sincere belief that mankind is evil and nature is benign. The incidence of this symptom is inversely related to the practical experience that the patient has with nature. Self hatred is a feature in this area. Typical thinking includes a belief that mankind is a cancer on earth, and that earth (viewed as a feeling being) will retaliate with a deadly virus.

The utopian view of nature is remarkable in that most patients are also believers in evolution, which has resulted in vast amounts of suffering and cruelty in the natural arena.

environmental spasm - the patient experiences episodes of manic activity on behalf of "the environment." The delusional nature of this is evidenced by the misanthropic attacks on all works of man, and also by the focus on visible or totemic objects... for example, the Mount Graham Red Squirrel or the Spotted Owl.

An example of the paradoxical nature of these delusions is given by the Red Squirrel and the Santa Barbara Sand Fly. The Squirrel, a subspecies of the very common Red Squirrel, is fought for aggressively, while the Sand Fly, equally at risk and a truly distinct species, inspires little passion.

The patient usually is obsessed only with cute or cuddly animals, which is probably a displacement of the nurturing urge, itself unfulfilled due to abortion.

control obsession - this is the tendency of the patient to strive for excessive control over others, through government action. This is probably a projection of an unconscious fear of losing control over ones' self, even though the conscious manifestation is viewed as "compassion."

racist/feminist hypocrisy - the patient passionately advocates discrimination based on sex or race, while loudly proclaiming opposition to policies which are "racist" or "sexist."

overemotional perceptions - the patient is far more concerned with how a social action "looks" or "feels," and resists or denies objective evidence to the contrary, This also leads to very superficial cognition about matters of significant impact, as the patient merely gets the "feel" of the issue rather than truly understanding it.

sexual dysfunction - the patient is highly anxious about sexual matters, and this is manifested as:
Obsession with sexual and gender roles.
Passionate embrace of most non-traditional sexual preferences.
A need to define individuals by their gender or sexual preference, and make social policy as if everyone were equally obsessed.
A need to constantly push the envelope of indecent art.

John is probably on to something, but there is also something missing. For example, John calls this a cognition disorder which indicates faulty wiring in the brain, and while this may be true, it doesn't encompass the irrational part of the disorder that is exhibited by the Democrats/leftists. The Assistant Village Idiot believes that the tendency to want to "rule" is the direct result of being highly intelligent. He may be on to something. Didn't the left taut Kerry's obvious (to them at least) superior intelligence based on nothing more than the ability to speak in public with a solid Kennedyesque cadence? In fact, they kept that one going until it turned out that Bush made slightly better grades than Kerry did in college. As the AVI noted:

All you folks who think that the world would be better if the smart people were in charge – drop that idea. I have never interacted with a group that had screwier ideas, listened less, or postured more. Everyone arrived with the idea at long last, people I can reason with, but the discussions were as petty and unreasonable as everywhere else. Higher vocabulary and more formulas, same arguments

OK, we've included in the run-up to making a good diagnosis at least one factor, the intellectual/cognitive dysfunction exhibited by the oh-so-highly-intelligent members of the left and the Democratic party, we'll keep that in mind."

But, as Drummond noted that this disorder is also based in emotion, raw unreasoning emotion. Rush Limbaugh has noted in the past that the right thinks, the left feels. And I think there is something to this and we may be able to add another factor to our workup for a functioning diagnosis. One of my very favorite people in the Blogosphere is Dr. Sanity. She, as a practicing Psychiatrist has looked at the seeming mental illness of the left. Too, she recently did a post called PsychbloggerTouch And Go survey of mental health professionals who blog and does a regular "Carnival Of The Insanities," a not to be missed weekly carnival. Perhaps her most important work in her blog is describing Narcissism and Society in three parts. You absolutely must read the whole thing, but here is a teaser:

In some ways, the rise of human civilization from the cave to the present day has resulted because of attempts through the Rule of Law and social controls to set limits on the unrestrained Grandiose Self. This is primarily due to the destructiveness of the Narcissistic Rage generally associated with that part of the Self.

Because of this, the Grandiose Self has received a bad reputation philosophically, morally, and politically. The natural development of Governments and Religions (which ultimately are an expression of the Idealized Parent Image/Omnipotent Other side of the Self)have all too often attempted to ruthlessly suppress the Grandiose Self--much to the detriment of the individual AND the success of the particular society or religion.

In fact, despite the obvious truth that governments, nations, and religions are in a much better position to wreak far more systemized misery and death on human populations, it is almost always the Grandiose Self that gets the blame. As Wretchard at The Belmont Club pointed out in a recent post, a review of the 20th century, for example, shows that all the "people's revolutions" supported by the Left and purportedly for the purpose of "freeing" large populations of people; resulted instead in enslaving them and increasing authoritarian rule.

Without a political or economic framework that is able to incorporate what we refer to as "human nature" into its calculations, all so-called "perfect" societies and ideologies will at best simply fail in the real world; and at worse cause untold human suffering. With the best of intentions (this is perhaps debatable), the social engineers of philosophy, political science, and economics have caused so much more slavery, misery and death on a grand scale--that the grandiose CEO's of the largest corporations can be considered mere pikers by comparison.

Another Psychblogger who attempts to look at one issue of diagnosis is Shrinkwrapped who looks at the left's inability to face reality in the war against Islamic Fascism in this post The Left's Inadvertant (?) Anti-Americanism. A note, if one sees a reality that no one else can fathom, either the "see'er" is a dreamer with a view of the future, improbable as it seems, or the "see'er" is psychotic, that is out of touch with reality. The focus of Shrinkwrapped's post then is that the left is either covertly or overtly helping the other side and is, as George Orwell noted:

Pacifism is objectively pro-fascist. This is elementary common sense. If you hamper the war effort of one side, you automatically help out that of the other."

Continue reading "Diagnosing the Left"

Can You Debate the Left? ...or, How to Waste a Day.

Help me out. Am I overreacting, maybe like an adult disgusted with kids who refuse to learn or act right, or am I just being realistic? Tell me how you would respond to a comment from someone from the left who challenged my opinion that views and statistics of the left deserve little respect..then, he asks why mine should be accepted.

Here's the background. I have been know to tread into "Liberal Land" at Marc Cooper's site. (Yes, I should know better, but Marc is a nice guy in his own right, and I keep thinking that the next time things will be different.) Over a period of time, I gave up on expecting honest or quality debate from the left. Therefore, I dismissed their views by simply saying that most anything from their side should be rejected, and that they can accept what I say or not. Either way, I don't care. The response to me was that my view was an ad hominem attack and that I shouldn't say something that I wasn't prepared to defend against counterclaims and statistics from the very left that I don't respect. Frankly, the comment to me has some validity but, in a more general sense, I don't think that the time and brain energy required to argue with these people are worth it. Here's the link to the thread and below is my response, quickly prepared but representative of my feelings at the moment of writing it.

(Friend on the Left), let me address your comment with generalities.

(1) First, keep in mind that facts, polls, and statistics that I have provided here in the past are routinely and incorrectly dismissed because they are from the left’s considered conservative sources–as (another commenter), himself, has done in this thread. What can I provide that won’t be dismissed by false conclusions from your side? The left is completely close-minded.

(2) Next, even if people on the left, such as (another commenter), provide statistics, I see flaws in them. Sometimes they’re outdated, they’re incomplete, they’re biasly prepared by a prejudiced source, they’re misinterpreted, etc., etc. It’s rare that statisitics from the left can’t be butchered with facts, logic, and truth. Frankly, right-brained people are not equipped with using analytical ammunition that their brains can’t fire correctly.

I give the left opportunities to convince and impress me. However, I have learned to offer little, if any, respect to analyses from people on the left because they have not earned that respect. In addtion, they have not earned my trust. I continue to consider their views with disapointment, and the left continues to reinforce my negative conclusions about them. Generally, the ideas coming from the left should be received with as much respect as fecal matter flung by monkees at the zoo.

(3) Frankly, any statistics from anyone are suspect. You’ve heard that there are lies, damn lies, and statistics. Both sides claim similar attacks on these numbers–with mine, of course, having more validity. In my field, I can make numbers say anything that I want them to say, and I’m cautious and skeptical about others doing that–especially, if those people can’t be trusted.

So, what we are left with is the presentation and argument of ideas. Ideas can be debated without claims that the originating source is made-up or incorrect. Ideas can and should be debated on merits and logic.

Unfortunately, it is your side that is most guilty of rejecting facts that oppose its agenda based upon nothing but agenda. It is your side that rejects ideas by saying F yourself. It is your side that is closed minded to opposing views.

So, first, I don’t waste hours anymore to prepare and provide research that the left will reject based simply upon it’s source or conclusions rather than validty. Second, I don’t waste time anymore to explain their flaws that the left would never accept, anyway. Next, I say what I think based upon a lifetime of learning and analysis. Finally, because the left is never, never satisified with anything that contradicts their indoctrination, I don’t worry about whether or not they accept what I say.

I state the truth and my views and it’s simply up to the reader to do what he wants with that. Reject them without serious consideration and you stop learning. Consider them seriously and you might see that opposing views might be right and demand respect. Either way, I don’t worry about it–but, I still keep an open door.

It was a sincerely felt response. As I get older, I just don't want to waste time and energy trying to argue with people who already have their minds made up--even if they still have a lot of learning left to do. Maybe I could have handled this differently, though.

As I'm still willing to learn, what do you think of the response and what would you have said?

Maybe I need to consider Ann Coulter's book: "How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must)," but, if I had read that, I may not have even tried at all. (What a way to start the new year.)