Another Note to Liberals - Dems Betray U.S.

While the left-wing and liberal Democrats decend upon the men's rooms of Idaho, there is a more serious issue threatening our country--the sell-out of America to foreign nations for Democratic campaign funds. We've seen this with Clinton, Gore, Kerry, Congressional Democats, and back to Clinton II. When I raised the issue of illegal Chinese contributions made to Hillary Cliinton in another thread, this is how one idiot (a polite term) responded:

reg Says: Has anyone noticed that Woody lambastes Hillary for taking money from “the Chinese”. The guy in question, who proabaly is attempting to stuff Hillary’s coffers via third parties and might well have violated campaign finance lawas - is a New York businessman in the rag trade. But, of course, he’s one of “the Chinese”. The racism is stinking up this thread…

Racism--what a popular but inaccurate way to deflect the truth and attempt to halt debate--whether it's about Chinese espionage, Mexican illegals, profiling Arab terrorists, or criticism of a black quarterback for dog fights.

It doesn't work, and I'm not going to let that pass. Here was my reply:

reg, you're such an idiot. The reference to Chinese was not about a race of people but of a communist nation that threatens both the U.S. and deprives freedom to hundreds of millions of people and pays the Democrats to betray us.

The man in question is from Hong Kong, despite your weak effort to deflect that by saying that he simply is a New York businessman. He also is a fugitive from justice and guilty of grand theft.

China has been engaged in extensive espionage in our country and that nation paid Bill Clinton laundered campaign money to obtain our missile guidance systems, which it uses to aim 13 of its 18 ICBM's at the U.S. and which can now carry ten warheads apiece rather than just one. Remember Johnny Chung?

The Clinton's have sold out American interests for illegal foreign contributions and continue to do so. In addition, Al Gore, John Kerry, and multiple Democrats have benefited from these illegal contributions.

THAT should be your worry rather than phony charges of racism, Idiot.

The Democrats will betray our nation for money--whether it's for campaigns or "services" in retirement. It's happened before, but we need to shine light on this problem so that it doesn't continue to happen. Maybe I'm a "racist" against traitors.

I've got to stop responding to jerks and idiots at liberal sites before G.M. shoots me, as I asked him to do if I did that again. But, the disdain for America by the left-wing and liberals cannot be ignored. In this case, we can honestly say, "It's for the children," whom I do like.

From the "Duh" Files - U.S. and Rome Comparisons

Which of you haven't thought of this already? It's too bad that elected representatives are too cowardly to avoid the long-term issues affected by the current path of our nation.

Learn from the fall of Rome, US warned

The US government is on a “burning platform” of unsustainable policies and practices with fiscal deficits, chronic healthcare underfunding, immigration and overseas military commitments threatening a crisis if action is not taken soon, the country’s top government inspector has warned.

David Walker, comptroller general of the US, issued the unusually downbeat assessment of his country’s future in a report that lays out what he called “chilling long-term simulations”.

These include “dramatic” tax rises, slashed government services and the large-scale dumping by foreign governments of holdings of US debt.

Drawing parallels with the end of the Roman empire, Mr Walker warned there were “striking similarities” between America’s current situation and the factors that brought down Rome, including “declining moral values and political civility at home, an over-confident and over-extended military in foreign lands and fiscal irresponsibility by the central government”.

“Sound familiar?” Mr Walker said. “In my view, it’s time to learn from history and take steps to ensure the American Republic is the first to stand the test of time.”

...“They need to make fiscal responsibility and inter-generational equity one of their top priorities. If they do, I think we have a chance to turn this around but if they don’t, I think the risk of a serious crisis rises considerably”.

However, don't expect to find such comparisons in today's textbooks or in the speeches of candidates. A government is more free to act on how it wants when it keeps people ignorant of history and truth.

If you're interested, here is an actual middle school assignment to help us see our future so that we either can change it or so that we will know what happened when we go down similar paths to ruin.

Take out your pencils and notebooks and start now.

What similarities exist between Rome and the United States?

Do you feel the United States is in the process of decline as a nation?

Assume for the minute that the U.S. is declining in a manner similar to Rome. How would you stop the slide and return the U.S. to its prior greatness?

One rule...senators may not assassinate the nation's executive leader.

Radical Islam Working with the Left

After the fall of the Soviet Union, leaders of American communist groups found a new base in environmentalism from which to attack capitalism. Well, now the "environmental cause" has found new supporters in militant Islam. Who knew that the two groups would have something in common?

A post by Jennifer Marohasy, brings the connection to our attention. Besides being a nice person and extremely qualified on enviromental issues, she has shown a special interest in the plight of Richard Ness, who was charged and jailed in the environmental/legal struggle associated with these radical groups, and he is still fighting on appeal after winning the initial trial.

Militant Islamic Group Joins Environmental Campaign

Abu Bakar Bashir, the well known spiritual leader of militant Islamic group, Jemaah Islamiya, has now joined forces with Indonesia's largest environmental organisation, WALHI, to protest against US-based mining corporation Newmont.

...It is perhaps not surprising that militant environmental and Islamic organisations are joining forces, they both believe that issues of poverty and corruption are a consequence of capitalism and the exploitation of people and natural resources by large multinational corporations....

Here is even more about the "environmental" group and backer of Democrats, Friends of the Earth, joining forces with the militant Islamic group, Jemaah Islamiya. The two are also fighting to disband the intelligence force that has been successful in arresting key people in the Bali bombing and with links to Al-Qaeda. This information is provided by the son of the accused man in this post: Strange Bedfellows

Even more shockingly (note sarcasm), the arrest and law suit against Richard Ness resulted because of an article by The New York Times, which boasted that they forced the government to take action against this man and the company. Now, they are being sued by him over their false and exaggerated story. Who would have guessed that the NY Times would publish something that is false?

Communists, enviromentalists, Islamic terrorists, The New York Times, and Democrats all in one happy cluster, working together to help each other's causes. We may be even leaving some others out. What does this tell you? Does it even surprise you?

Jimmy Carter Beats Around Bush [Updated]

You know that it's an insult when someones says that President Bush's administration is the worst in history. But, it's a double slap in the face when that criticism comes from, of all people, former President Jimmy Carter--or, maybe that should be a compliment considering the source. Carter is coming across as some old geezer screaming at kids for walking on his lawn.

Jimmy Carter's Legacy

(AP) 'I think as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world, this administration has been the worst in history. ...The overt reversal of America's basic values as expressed by previous administrations, including those of George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon and others, has been the most disturbing to me.'

Carter did such a great job with Iran, the Shah, and our embassay hostages. And, why is he going back to attack Nixon? Even Democrats generally give Nixon credit for his foreign policies and his advice to subsequent administrations.

Now, here's another good part of the story.

He spoke while promoting his new audiobook series, "Sunday Mornings in Plains," a collection of weekly Bible lessons from his hometown of Plains, Ga.

Those attacks are really Christian of Jimmy Carter. Maybe he should read lessons on overcoming defeat, anger, and bitterness. Does he look bitter in this picture accompanying the article? Maybe, just a little.

Carter wraps it up by attacking a foreign leader who supports our country, apparently Carter being unable to see that supporting our leader is the same as backing our nation. Well, I guess he might see it and doesn't like that.

Carter also lashed out Saturday at British prime minister Tony Blair. Asked how he would judge Blair's support of Bush, the former president said: 'Abominable. Loyal. Blind. Apparently subservient.'

That's no way to treat a friend.

Well, I'm optimistic that Carter will hang on to the titles of "worst administration overall" and the "worst former president." Double digit inflation, unemployment, and interest rates within our nation during his administration are hard to beat on top of his Iranian disaster, as are the totally unprecedented attacks against our nation and its leaders since he has left office.

[Update]

Bush White House fires back at Jimmy Carter

CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - White House spokesman Tony Fratto...fired back. 'I think it's sad that President Carter's reckless personal criticism is out there. I think it's unfortunate. And I think he is proving to be increasingly irrelevant with these kinds of comments.' ....

Jimmy who?

Rosie Is Leaving - Praise All The Saints

ABC - April 25, 2007 — Rosie O'Donnell is leaving "The View." ABC has been unable to come to a contractual agreement with "The View" co-host. As a result, her duties on the show will come to an end mid-June.

Let us all sing Hallelujah!!!

H/T: Instapundit

A Year Plus Later, And Little Has Changed!

Surfing through some of my old posts looking for nothing in particular, I came across an old post that is a little more than a year old. Hence, the title of this post. I re-present it here for your edification and comment.

"Surfing through the internet today, I came across Instapundit who had an interesting little title up: Little Boxes. Said title noted a follow up to his Tech Central Station column on urban sprawl.

"But I digress, what caught my eye, and engaged my memory was the title "Little Boxes" and my mind instantly (perhaps the intent of the Instapundit?) was taken back to Pete Seeger circa 1963 when he sang:

Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky-tacky,
Little boxes, little boxes,
Little boxes, all the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same.

And the people in the houses
All go to the university,
And they all get put in boxes,
Little boxes, all the same.
And there's doctors and there's lawyers
And business executives,
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same.

And they all play on the golf-course,
And drink their Martini dry,
And they all have pretty children,
And the children go to school.
And the children go to summer camp
And then to the university,
And they all get put in boxes
And they all come out the same.

And the boys go into business,
And marry, and raise a family,
And they all get put in boxes,
Little boxes, all the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same.

"Maybe you don't remember this song, maybe you do. I remember it because I was then in my senior year in high school living with my parent's a stone's throw from the Potomac River and just down river from Washington D.C. The neighborhood was staunchly middle class, with carports not garages, postage size back yards, and every 10^th house of roughly the same design. Little boxes indeed. Not much of a hillside though. The years were of protest songs, Hootnanny was a popular TV show, folk singers all the rage and the Beatles had not been totally crowned as the kings of pop music then. In fact, there were still a lot of Buddy Holly fans around. But the protest songs... ahhhh, the protest songs.. "If I Had A Hammer;" "Where Have All The Flowers Gone?" and so many others. The Halcyon days of conformity, of Bass Weejun shoes, wool socks with matching colored shirts. Madras Plaids, narrow ties. '61, '62, and '63.

"Then, Kennedy was assassinated and the upheaval began for many of us. Vietnam, drugs, sex and rock and roll. Nehru Jackets, Bell Bottoms, and Beads, oh yes, the Beads.

"Again, I digress and as I write this, the tinkle of "Little Boxes" continues to run through my head. I followed Glenn Reynolds link to "Albion's Seedlings" and this article by James C. BennettTicky-Tacky

"It seems as though Pete Seeger didn't write that song, though I can't remember why I thought he did, it was written by Malvina Reynolds who was at the time a member of the Communist Party, USA. Bennett states:

The political context of the song was interesting. Right after World War Two, the Communist Party USA, seeking to capitalize on its wartime link to "our ally, Uncle Joe Stalin", launched a big organizing drive around one of the major general complaints of the time, which was the lack of available housing. The CPUSA's drive was centered on demands for a gigantic government housing program to build government-owned "worker's apartments". This drive quickly petered out as the veteran's housing loan program and rapid suburban development rapidly produced millions of single-family houses, to the delight of returning veterans and wartime workers who had been renting chicken coops and trailers.

Bennett follows with this:

"It also marks the Left's shift from critiquing the market economy for producing too little, to critiquing it for producing too much -- substituting an aesthetic critique for an economic one. This in turn was a symptom of the collapse of any trace of a working-class base for the hard Left, and its replacement by a bohemian-intellectual base.

"Collapse of any trace of a working-class base for the hard Left, and its replacement by a bohemian-intellectual base." Well, one would think then, that the left and Liberal would be (and indeed are) two different things. Reading Daily Kos, Democratic Underground and many other leftist sites, it is hard to imagine a bigger divide between those folk and the Liberals of the 40s and early 50s and mid 60s. In fact, the left today (not necessarily liberals) are all but indistinguishable from the tyrannies of the Soviets. They are ardently anti-capitalist, vociferously anti-American, and seemingly bereft of common sense. I remember when solid Liberalism (with a capital L) was anti-fascist, now the left (little l) decry our war against the islamo-fascists. The seeds of the movement were sown in the minds of pseudo intellectuals who have continued to expand their thoughtless tirades against everything that smacks of free choice. I remember when Liberals stood against discrimination, against the bashing of gays, and sometimes even in favor of equal rights for women (although, truth be told, my mother was a feminist long before Bella Abzug discovered hats) and insisted she get (and she always got) equal treatment and respect from even the most chauvinistic pig (though there were a few that tried to out think her - trust me, it couldn't be done cause I tried so many times and mom was a card carrying Republican.)

"Now, the left supports the pali's and the "insurgents" and states that the only reason terrorists are in Iraq are because the US invaded and booted Saddam Hussein. What sophomoric nonsense.

"I mourn the real Liberals in this country, the ones that stood for human dignity and responsibility and freedom and understanding and free markets and lower taxes and international relations based on what was right, not what was easy or had the greatest support. Oh, wait, I don't need to do that, to mourn that is, their title has changed. Now, they are called Neo-Cons and Conservatives. Cool.

"And so, my little thought experiment/reminiscing has run it's course. From Little Boxes to Pete Seeger, to the CPUSA, to bohemians, to classical Liberalism to leftists to the War on Terror and the destruction of common sense in the hard left. Isn't it interesting what seeing an entry on a blog in the internet can do?"

A tip 'O The GM Derby to The Assistant Village Idiot for the concept.

Beware of Democrats Changing Voting Methods

Whenever Democrats want a change in the voting process, you can bet that it's not because they actually believe the change is fair or that it is good for democracy. One recent notable case was trying to make every Arizona voter eligible for a million dollar lottery. Vote for us! We'll give you a million dollars! There are many cases of rushing to register illegal aliens and multiple law suits to fight voter identification laws. Sure we'll let you vote without an ID, but you better have one to buy cigarettes! They know that illegal votes and fraud helps Democrats. You do, too.

The latest crusade for voting change comes from Oregon's Democratic Secretary of State Bill Bradbury, who is writing and campaigning with other Democrats and the usual suspects to have all states adopt the new Oregon voting process of vote by mail. Watch out.

Continue reading "Beware of Democrats Changing Voting Methods"

New Halloween Masks Available At Your Local Merchant

A tip 'O The GM Derby to Mikes America

Did Europe Ever Like America?

I shrug off Europe's criticism of the U.S., simply because I know that Europeans do it in great part because they are envious of us; plus, they do it so much that their criticism has lost its effect--at least, with rational people. What do I care what they think, as we have a lot better batting average than do they. However, I read something the other day that led me to realize that this disdain (maybe a better word than hate) started long ago.

Go back to Colonial America. Because of an abundance of wood from land clearing, settlers often constructed zig-zag fences, which were sturdy but might require almost eight-thousand logs per mile. That was considered wasteful by European standards, where they had earlier stripped their forests.

Here's where I realized that Europe's disdain for America existed long ago. I went on to read that a London newspaper in 1780 discussed America's "mania for enclosure" and went on to say, "The stripping of forests to build fortifications around personal property is a perfect example of the way those people in the New World live and think." How petty, and I suppose that our claim to independence didn't endear us to them, either.

Not much as changed in Europe's petty attacks against us today, and the descendants of "those people" in the U.S. still do things the way we want--because we can, and it's what's best for us.

So, the next time that you hear, "In Europe they do it a better way" or "America is always wrong," don't worry or give in to it. It's their problem--not ours. Be proud that our system is successful and that we live in a land that has become the envy of the world.

I think I'll go build a zig zag fence, because it seems right at this time.

Nobel “Peace� Laureate: “Kill Bush for the Children.�

You win Nobel Peace Prizes by saying bad things about the U.S. You might win two if you say that you want to kill the U.S. President, too. According to this article, Nobel peace laureate Betty Williams, campaigning for “children’s rights,� said the following to a group of young people on “Education Day� at an international event focusing on world peace.

Right now, I would love to kill George Bush. Her young audience at the Brisbane City Hall clapped and cheered.

God help the world when youth of today are led by a leftist activist this irrational and who wants our President dead—at her own hands, at that! But, maybe she forgot that V.P. Cheney would become President in that case, and you simply cannot go around killing Presidents until you finally get to a Democrat. I think there’s a law against that.

Again, as we often ask, what would be the reaction if a conservative had made a similar statement about a Democratic President? The left appears more nuts every day.

Oh, and for good measure, the “Nobel peace laureate� threw this one in:

There can be no sustainable peace if we fail to rise to the global challenge presented by climate change.

Remember, (1) killing Bush and (2) achieving peace through global warming are “for the children.� Does the left do anything that isn’t for the children—except abort them?

Fraud audit cuts 105,000 from voter roll / Democrats expect to lose 105,000 loyal voters

After major reports of vote fraud in Milwaukee, an audit was conducted, which led to a cut in the voter roll by 105,000 names. Just which party do you think this might hurt? Keep reading.

This review was long overdue and really needs to be expanded to the entire state because of past voting irregularities in Wisconsin, as noted by others.

Voting: "You believe me, don't you?�

Well, it turns out “till death do you part� may be true in marriage, but not when voting for Democrats. The dead are very loyal Democrats.

Racine, Kenosha voter application fraud alleged

Project Vote, a national non-profit group headed by the former head of the Ohio Democratic Party, is among several non-profit groups that have run large-scale voter registration drives in southeastern Wisconsin. ...Last week, the Journal Sentinel reported that two of Project Vote's workers in Milwaukee are felons on probation, which makes it illegal for them to register voters. ...The workers also told the investigator that Jones had pressured them to meet a quota of completing at least 25 voter registration applications per day. The workers were paid $49 per day plus $1.50 for each application beyond the quota. Blakely also told the investigator that, to meet the quota, he completed voter registration applications by taking names from a phone book.

Wis. Gov. Vows Veto on Voter ID Bill

Wisconsin lawmakers passed a bill Wednesday that would require voters to provide a driver's license or other government-issued photo identification before casting a ballot. Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle said he would veto the measure.

Liberal Vote Fraud Must Be Stopped!

Democrat Party voter fraud is nothing new. In 2000 it was widespread. In at least two states, Wisconsin and Missouri, it tipped the electoral vote to Gore.

Fraud File: Poll Challengers OK'd

After battling over as many as 37,000 votes, the Wisconsin Republican Party and the city of Milwaukee have agreed that a list of 5,512 prospective voters with questionable addresses will be sent to poll workers to flag those people when they come to vote.

How Democrats Steal Elections - Top 10 Methods of Liberal Vote Fraud

Vote-buying. Purchasing votes has long been a traditional scheme by Democrats, and not just with money. In the 2000 election in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Democratic workers initiate a "smokes-for-votes" campaign in which they paid dozens of homeless men with cigarettes if they cast ballots for Al Gore (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, 11/14/00).

Vote Fraud And Illegal Voting In Wisconsin

Shortly after the November 2 vote in which John Kerry carried Wisconsin’s 10 electoral votes by 11,384 votes, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel began an investigation into vote fraud and irregularities in the city. The Journal Sentinel soon revealed that thousands more ballots were cast than people identified as voting and thousands of ballots were cast from invalid addresses around the city.

In 2002, Democrat Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle’s campaign held a bingo party at a home for the mentally ill and reportedly used quarters as bingo prizes and kringle and soft drinks to induce residents of the facility to cast absentee ballots.

But, if the Democrats lose 105,000 voters, they can turn it around and implement their new plan for success--slashing the tires of Republicans going to vote. That's one method that they found works and with no chances of being convicted.

Should anyone wonder why I don't trust Democrats?

Academic Reform -- Can We Trust the Professors?

I've never suggested reading an op-ed from "The New York Times"-until now. And, I'm doing this because an op-ed contributor got something right rather than half-cocked in the wrong direction. What's even more scary to me is that I even agree with a statement in the article by radical Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz. The issue has to do with problems in the field of academics--partly about the forced resignation of Harvard University's President Lawrence H. Summers, who was tarred and feathered by liberal professors, and it has to do with the future of who runs our universities. The current crisis should force academe to re-assess and reform itself--but it likely will not. If not, maybe contributors to the university might re-assess where their money goes and maybe someone else will step up to the plate to reform out-of-control professors. Here are selected passages from the article, but be sure to read all of it to get the full message from an excellent piece.

Academic, Heal Thyself
The New York Times, 03/06/06
By Camille Paglia, Op-Ed Contributor and
University Professor, University of the Arts in Philadelphia

What went wrong at Harvard?

...Larry Summers, a former Treasury secretary, assumed the presidency with a high sense of mission. ...But whatever his good intentions, Mr. Summers often inspired more heat than light. His stellar early career as an economics professor did not prepare him for dealing with an ingrown humanities faculty that has been sunk in political correctness for decades. As president, he had a duty to research the tribal creeds and customs of those he wished to convert. Foolishly thinking plain speech and common sense would suffice, he flunked Academic Anthropology 101.

...(T)he controversy that will inevitably symbolize his presidency was the manufactured outcry early last year over his glancing reference at a conference to possible innate differences between the sexes in aptitude for science and math. The feminist pressure groups rose en masse from their lavishly feathered nests and set up a furious cackle that led to a 218-to-185 vote of no confidence by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences last March.

...Mr. Summers's strategic blunders unfortunately took the spotlight off entrenched political correctness and changed the debate to academic power: who has it, and how should it be exercised?

...It now remains to be seen whether Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences is capable of self-critique. Will its members acknowledge their own insularity and excesses, or will they continue down the path of smug self-congratulation and vanity? Harvard's reputation for disinterested scholarship has been severely gored by the shadowy manipulations of the self-serving cabal who forced Mr. Summers's premature resignation.

...If Harvard cannot correct itself in this crisis, it will signal that academe cannot be trusted to reform itself from within.

Unfortunately, I'm betting that the faculty will only get worse from this "victory." In one divergence from the writer, I don't even want them or trust them to reform and keep power. They've had their chance and it's been too long. Maybe it's time to take away the somewhat phony and over-used "academic freedom" shield and make professors responsible for their words and actions. Maybe it's time to dismantle tenure and make them earn their jobs like we do. If you do a good job, you can come back the next day. If you don't, then you're gone...and, you don't get an extra year and a big pay-off like Chief Ward Churchill did from Colorado.

But, what's the first step and who is willing to take it? Who will have the nerve after this?

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.

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?

Help Rename Arnold Schwarzenegger Stadium

Good for California's Governator!

After the extreme left and Europeans became angry that Gov. Schwarzenegger acceded to the courts and California's death penalty and after his home town officials began the process to strip his name from the sports stadium honoring him, the governor said in essence, "Let me help you" --and, it doesn't sound as if he'll "be back."

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday told officials in his hometown in Austria to remove his name from a sports stadium and stop using his identity to promote the city. The governor's request came after politicians in Graz began a petition drive to rename the stadium, reacting to Schwarzenegger's decision last week to deny clemency to condemned inmate Stanley Tookie Williams.

In the letter, Schwarzenegger also said he would no longer permit the use of his name "to advertise or promote the city of Graz in any way" and would return the city's "ring of honor." The ring was given to him in a ceremony in Graz in 1999. At the time, Schwarzenegger said he considered it "a token of sincere friendship between my hometown and me." "Since, however, the official Graz appears to no longer accept me as one of their own, this ring has lost its meaning and value to me. It is already in the mail," the governor wrote.

Reactions over this issue from Europe and the governor's home town included these comments:

From one German magazine came this:

Williams was executed on Monday night after spending 24 years on Death Row during which he wrote children's books encouraging kids to shun a life of crime.

Italy's chapter of Amnesty International called the execution "a cold-blooded murder" and added:

His execution is a slap in the face to the principle of rehabilitation of inmates, an inhumane and inclement act toward a person who, with his exemplary behavior and his activity in favor of street kids, had become an important figure and a symbol of hope for many youths.

Got it? They wanted Crips founder and murderer Tookie Williams to live for the children. Schwarzenegger hates the children!

From a commenter in the "guest book" at the Graz tourism site:

The point is Tookie hadn't the right (to kill) and so hadn't Arnold Schwarzenegger,by the way whose name the Americans can't even pronounce. And to react to some statements, Arnold Schwarzenegger does care about this stadium, because he is egocentric and already ordered to rename this stadium and I, as an Austrian, am fine with that. Arnold Schwarzenegger may have acted in some cult-movies, but he isn't and good politician and worse he is republican.

Don't you love moralizing from the righteous left--especially that in Europe, which has all the answers to our problems? I'm not making a statement one way or the other on the death penalty. However, I do get tired of smug comments from other nations, obviously envious of the U.S., telling us that we have to be more like them to be civilized.

Well, if the stadium isn't going to be named after Arnold Schwarzenegger anymore, we can help the town council of Graz to find a fitting new name that represents their system of values. Might I suggest "Tookie Williams Stadium?"

A Secularist Looks At Christmas Symbols.

I love surfing, especially on the internet so I don't get wet in this cold, cold time of year (where the hell is global warming when you want it?). But I digress, I came across this item in Xtreme Right Wing and laughed my fanny off. It's a good thing that I didn't have coffee in my mouth at the time, cause it would have sprayed everywhere. Here is a sample:

Perhaps the most popular and influential symbol is Santa Claus, AKA Santa, AKA Saint Nick, AKA Saint Nicholas, AKA Chris Cringle, AKA Father Christmas, AKA Machine Gun Nicky. Every year, Santa spies on our children and based on criteria set by the fanatical Christian Right and the Bush Administration, unilaterally decides which children are deemed “good.� In the spirit of Christianity, these children are almost always White, Americans. Notice in the picture below, how Santa enslaves these poor reindeer to transport him all around the world. In some children’s books he’s also been depicted actually using a whip on these beautiful creatures. Who’s looking out for their rights?"

"His wares are said to be crafted in sweat shops by the slave labor of “Little People.� Human Rights Watch still has not been given access to inspect Santa’s compound at the North Pole."

Little Boxes On the Hillside And They're All Made Out Of Ticky Tacky...

Surfing through the internet today, I came across Instapundit who had an interesting little title up: Little Boxes. Said title noted a follow up to his Tech Central Station column on urban sprawl.

But I digress, what caught my eye, and engaged my memory was the title "Little Boxes" and my mind instantly (perhaps the intent of the Instapundit?) was taken back to Pete Seeger circa 1963 when he sang:

Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky-tacky,
Little boxes, little boxes,
Little boxes, all the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same.

And the people in the houses
All go to the university,
And they all get put in boxes,
Little boxes, all the same.
And there's doctors and there's lawyers
And business executives,
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same.

And they all play on the golf-course,
And drink their Martini dry,
And they all have pretty children,
And the children go to school.
And the children go to summer camp
And then to the university,
And they all get put in boxes
And they all come out the same.

And the boys go into business,
And marry, and raise a family,
And they all get put in boxes,
Little boxes, all the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same.

Maybe you don't remember this song, maybe you do. I remember it because I was then in my senior year in high school living with my parent's a stone's throw from the Potomac River and just down river from Washington D.C. The neighborhood was staunchly middle class, with carports not garages, postage size back yards, and every 10^th house of roughly the same design. Little boxes indeed. Not much of a hillside though. The years were of protest songs, Hootnanny was a popular TV show, folk singers all the rage and the Beatles had not been totally crowned as the kings of pop music then. In fact, there were still a lot of Buddy Holly fans around. But the protest songs... ahhhh, the protest songs.. "If I Had A Hammer;" "Where Have All The Flowers Gone?" and so many others. The Halcyon days of conformity, of Bass Weejun shoes, wool socks with matching colored shirts. Madras Plaids, narrow ties. '61, '62, and '63.

Then, Kennedy was assassinated and the upheaval began for many of us. Vietnam, drugs, sex and rock and roll. Nehru Jackets, Bell Bottoms, and Beads, oh yes, the Beads.

Again, I digress and as I write this, the tinkle of "Little Boxes" continues to run through my head. I followed Glenn Reynolds link to "Albion's Seedlings" and this article by James C. BennettTicky-Tacky

It seems as though Pete Seeger didn't write that song, though I can't remember why I thought he did, it was written by Malvina Reynolds who was at the time a member of the Communist Party, USA. Bennett states:

The political context of the song was interesting. Right after World War Two, the Communist Party USA, seeking to capitalize on its wartime link to "our ally, Uncle Joe Stalin", launched a big organizing drive around one of the major general complaints of the time, which was the lack of available housing. The CPUSA's drive was centered on demands for a gigantic government housing program to build government-owned "worker's apartments". This drive quickly petered out as the veteran's housing loan program and rapid suburban development rapidly produced millions of single-family houses, to the delight of returning veterans and wartime workers who had been renting chicken coops and trailers.

Bennett follows with this:

It also marks the Left's shift from critiquing the market economy for producing too little, to critiquing it for producing too much -- substituting an aesthetic critique for an economic one. This in turn was a symptom of the collapse of any trace of a working-class base for the hard Left, and its replacement by a bohemian-intellectual base.

"Collapse of any trace of a working-class base for the hard Left, and its replacement by a bohemian-intellectual base." Well, one would think then, that the left and Liberal would be (and indeed are) two different things. Reading Daily Kos, Democratic Underground and many other leftist sites, it is hard to imagine a bigger divide between those folk and the Liberals of the 40's and early 50's and mid 60’s. In fact, the left today (not necessarily liberals) are all but indistinguishable from the tyrannies of the Soviets. They are ardently anti-capitalist, vociferously anti-American, and seemingly bereft of common sense. I remember when solid Liberalism (with a capital L) was anti-fascist, now the left (little l) decry our war against the islamo-fascists. The seeds of the movement were sown in the minds of pseudo intellectuals who have continued to expand their thoughtless tirades against everything that smacks of free choice. I remember when Liberals stood against discrimination, against the bashing of gays, and sometimes even in favor of equal rights for women (although, truth be told, my mother was a feminist long before Bella Abzug discovered hats) and insisted she get (and she always got) equal treatment and respect from even the most chauvinistic pig (though there were a few that tried to out think her - trust me, it couldn't be done cause I tried so many times… and mom was a card carrying Republican.)

Now, the left supports the pali's and the "insurgents" and states that the only reason terrorists are in Iraq are because the US invaded and booted Saddam Hussein. What sophomoric nonsense.

I mourn the real Liberals in this country, the ones that stood for human dignity and responsibility and freedom and understanding and free markets and lower taxes and international relations based on what was right, not what was easy or had the greatest support. Oh, wait, I don't need to do that, to mourn that is, their title has changed. Now, they are called Neo-Cons and Conservatives. Cool.

And so, my little thought experiment/reminiscing has run it's course. From Little Boxes to Pete Seeger, to the CPUSA, to bohemians, to classical Liberalism to leftists to the War on Terror and the destruction of common sense in the hard left. Isn't it interesting what seeing an entry on a blog in the internet can do?

Sen. Joe Lieberman's Iraqi Views Rejected by Left

In an opinion piece to the Wall Street Journal, Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman presents a rational case for the U.S. mission in Iraq and provides optimism for success. That might explain why the left has been so outraged when I mentioned Leiberman's article to some and suggested that Lieberman offers a centrist candidate that could help the Democrats. But, they don't want to hear or believe that the U.S. has noble motives in Iraq and they reject anyone who suggests that we do. However, for those who want to believe someone who puts his country ahead of his politics, you might want to read the entire article. Portions of it are reproduced below.

Our Troops Must Stay: America can't abandon 27 million Iraqis to 10,000 terrorists.

BY JOE LIEBERMAN, Tuesday, November 29, 2005

I have just returned from my fourth trip to Iraq in the past 17 months and can report real progress there. More work needs to be done, of course, but the Iraqi people are in reach of a watershed transformation...unless the great American military that has given them and us this unexpected opportunity is prematurely withdrawn.

Progress is visible and practical. ...the Iraqi economy is growing. ... People are working their way toward a functioning society and economy....

It is a war between...27 million Iraqis who want to live lives of freedom, opportunity and prosperity and roughly 10,000 terrorists...who know their wretched causes will be set back if Iraq becomes free and modern. ...the outcome of this war is critically important to the security and freedom of America.

In the face of terrorist threats and escalating violence, eight million Iraqis voted for their interim national government in January, almost 10 million participated in the referendum on their new constitution in October, and even more than that are expected to vote in the elections for a full-term government on Dec. 15.

None of these remarkable changes would have happened without the coalition forces led by the U.S. And, I am convinced, almost all of the progress in Iraq and throughout the Middle East will be lost if those forces are withdrawn faster than the Iraqi military is capable of securing the country. The leaders of Iraq's duly elected government understand this, and they asked me for reassurance about America's commitment. .

Here is an ironic finding I brought back from Iraq. While U.S. public opinion polls show serious declines in support for the war and increasing pessimism about how it will end, polls conducted by Iraqis for Iraqi universities show increasing optimism. ...What a colossal mistake it would be for America's bipartisan political leadership to choose this moment in history to lose its will and, in the famous phrase, to seize defeat from the jaws of the coming victory.

The leaders of America's military and diplomatic forces in Iraq...have a clear and compelling vision of our mission there. It is to create the environment in which Iraqi democracy, security and prosperity can take hold and the Iraqis themselves can defend their political progress....

Does America have a good plan for doing this, a strategy for victory in Iraq? Yes we do. ...The administration's recent use of the banner "clear, hold and build" accurately describes the strategy as I saw it being implemented last week. ...military leaders estimate that about one-third of the approximately 100,000 members of the Iraqi military are able to "lead the fight" themselves with logistical support from the U.S.... ...American military forces could begin a drawdown in numbers proportional to the increasing self-sufficiency of the Iraqi forces in 2006.

I cannot say enough about the U.S. Army and Marines who are carrying most of the fight for us in Iraq. They are courageous, smart, effective, innovative, very honorable and very proud. ...I asked their commander whether the morale of his troops had been hurt by the growing public dissent in America over the war in Iraq. His answer was insightful, instructive and inspirational: "I would guess that if the opposition and division at home go on a lot longer and get a lot deeper it might have some effect, but, Senator, my Marines are motivated by their devotion to each other and the cause, not by political debates."

Thank you, General. That is a powerful, needed message for the rest of America and its political leadership at this critical moment in our nation's history. Semper Fi

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Why aren't the people in this country hearing more messages like this? Rather, I hear comments about journalists from Time Magazine smugly discussing on Air America that Lieberman must have been visiting a different country than Iraq from his article. During the Cold War, some of us said that liberals, sympathetic to the Soviet Union, viewed the struggle through pink colored glasses. With this war on terror and our soldiers in Iraq, they must be viewing the struggle wearing blinders. It's time for journalists to write honest stories and good news about our mission in Iraq so as to discourage those who would pull out early and undermine our military and the Iraqis who have put themselves at risk for democracy.

Also, if the Democrats have any sense (which they don't), then they should follow Sen. Lieberman, who can bring them more to the center and make their party viable. He's one Democrat who could get my vote.

Cindy Sheehan Cashes in at Book Signing [UPDATED]

Cindy Sheehan continues her anti-war protest outside President Bush's ranch near Crawford, Texas as she greets enthusiatic crowds wanting signed copies of her new book.
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All she wants is just fifteen more minutes. Can't the left bring themselves to give her that?

UPDATE of 11/30/05

We want to be fair and present the other side of this event.

Cindy Sheehan Claims Photos Falsely Implied Her Book Signing was a Flop

Her new book, “Not One More Mother's Child,� had just been published, and her publisher organized a book signing in a large tent in Crawford on Saturday. Photos of the event, carried widely on the Web, and then picked up by conservative blogs, seemed to imply that the book signing was a bust. ...But, in a statement today, Sheehan accused “right-wing� sites of “spreading a false story that nobody bought my book at Camp Casey on Saturday. That is not true, I sold all 100 copies and got writer's cramp signing them."

O-kayyyy. A big tent was rented and 100 books were sold--and, she got writer's camp. That sounds like a financial success.

So, let's give her 15 more minutes, and 15 more minutes, and 15 more minutes, and ......

Dr. Sanity - A Post Worth Reading

I have a friend. She has been my friend for almost a full year now and she is a blogger like myself. Her name is Pat Santy and she writes the blog Dr. Sanity. Dr. Pat is a practicing psychiatrist and is, like me, conservative. She authors a weekly post called the Carnival of the Insanities and has featured a post or two of mine over the last year.

But that is not the reason for this post. The reason for this post is that she won the Watcher's Council weekly "post of the week" with this post: "The Intellectual and Moral Bankruptcy of Today's Left" and what a post it is. If my readers don't immediately click on the link and read it, then they aren't as smart as I think they are.

Dr. Sanity (her nom de plume or nom de pixel as it may be) also nominated this post of mine for the non-council post of the week but I didn't win. Who won was Stephen Green's Brilliant essay "The Arm of Decision", and folks, I gotta tell ya, I would have voted for the VodkaPundit myself on this weeks essays and if you don't go read that one, again you are not as smart as I think you are.

So, my deepest thanks to Dr. Sanity for the nomination, but more importantly my deepest congratulations too both authors for absolutely brilliant posts.

MoonBat Central Closes - Not for Lack of Material

I enjoy reading about funny stories of people on the left--often called MoonBats. So, I had mixed feelings when I found a site that featured weird and wacky tales about them at MoonBat Central. There was excitement because they had good stories, but that was mixed with disappointment as they stopped posting this week. Just my luck. However, this site, hosted by David Horowitz and friends, will continue in a fashion using other sites that they continue to run. Its past entries are still good reads, just like an old book can still be enjoyed.

Here are some of the recent posts that they covered.

Cynthia McKinney Gets Down to Business: Ever wonder what Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney does during her day job, other than lobbying for the cessation of aid to Israel? Wonder no more:: ...Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney is attempting to pass legislation for the public release of all files on the life and murder of Tupac Shakur. Afenia Shakur, Tupac's mother and former Black Panther, is supporting these efforts.

A Paranoid Left? Believe it or not, there are some people who suggest that the far left is a little more than a haven for conspiracy theorists and paranoiacs. We leave it to readers to make the call. A map of the major figures involved in Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld's 2002-3 campaign to invade Iraq

Moonbats Target Victoria’s Secret Local moonbats in Michigan are targeting Victoria’s Secret stores because they use too much paper. They claim that using paper causes global warming and pokes holes in the ozone and other bad stuff. We urge Victoria’s Secret to appease the critics and to make amends by manufacturing ladies’ undergarments with a smaller amount of fabric!

Michael Moore: Halliburton Stockholder World Net Daily reports that Michael Moore may hate US capitalism but he is not above trying to make some wampum from it. Seems Mikey is a large investor in US stocks, including… in Halliburton . "I don’t own a single share of stock!" Moore has often proudly proclaimed. Well, turns out he’s right. He doesn’t own a single share. He owns tens of thousands of shares ....

North Carolina State Prof: Kill Whitey North Carolina State University employs a rabid Afrofascist named Kamau Kambon in its "African Studies Department". The John Locke weblog has been doing a phenomenal job of exposing politicized lunacy at the University.

Without knowing the reasons for closing the site, I am confident that it has nothing to do with lack of material. Maybe we can help them to carry on the tradition of finding humor in actions of the left. Share any that you find with us.

Moveon.org's Inability to Move On

Not only is Move On dot org not able to move on vis-a-vis Scooter Libby, but they have a petition out that would:

Stop Alito -This morning, with his administration growing weaker by the day, President Bush caved to pressure from the radical fringe of the Republican Party and nominated Samuel Alito to replace Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court.

Alito is a notoriously right-wing judge on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. He has consistently ruled to strip basic protections from workers, women, minorities and the disabled in favor of unchecked power for corporations and special interests.

Bush's ploy to woo the far-right could reshape the High Court for decades to come�but we don't have to let that happen. Today we're joining the campaign to stop him by aiming to collect 350,000 signatures in 48 hours. Can you help us get there?

When I read this, I laughed so hard I almost cried. The folk at MoveOn are petrified, terrified, horrified, abashed, aghast, alarmed, anxious, apprehensive, aroused, blanched, cowed, daunted, discouraged, disheartened, dismayed, distressed, disturbed, faint-hearted, frozen, intimidated, nervous, panic-stricken, perplexed, perturbed, rattled, running scared, scared stiff, shocked, spooked, startled, stunned, suspicious, terror-stricken, trembling, upset, worried and otherwise discombobulated. OMG, this is so much fun.

Look, lets be honest, they don't want Alito for two reasons: 1) Bush appointed him and 2.) Alito won't pander to their worldview of social re-engineering. If Alito is so far to the right, then everyone must agree that Ginsberg is equally far to the left, if not in fact farther. So these pathetic folk gin up a petition to present to the senate to get the MINORITY Dems to do their bidding: e.g. (the dreaded) Phil E. Buster!

Well, you know they first asked for 250,000 signatures, then jacked it up to 300,000 signatures and now to 350,000 signatures. You know, with more than 60 MILLION folk voting for Bush, 350,000 signatures are a drop in the proverbial bucket. And yet, and yet, there are serious indications that these MoveOners either don't know how to gather signatures that count, or they are cheating (anyone want to bet what I think? No? I'm not surprised!).

Eric at MyopicZeal picked up on Nates research at Another Attempt has some excellent stats and research on how MoveOn's figures seem to be well, aggrandized, amplified, augmented, aureate, bloated, distended, enlarged, euphuistic, extended, flatulent, flowery, fustian, grandiloquent, grown, magnified, magniloquent, ostentatious, overblown, overestimated, puffed, pumped up, stretched, surcharged, swollen, tumescent, tumid, turgid, verbose, windy, wordy and down right unfair. Nate notes nothing nefarious for sure, but does note that in minute by minute counts the numbers go up, down, then back up then down again. He also noted that he was able to sign the petition with a fictitious, false, fancified and even fortified name, and it was accepted:

Update: They don't do e-mail validation, meaning you could sign up repeatedly with false information. They also don't return any error when you submit the same information over and over again. Whether or not duplicates get added to the petition, I'm not sure. In any event, this petition is meaningless given they don't verify submitted e-mail addresses, and one person can submit multiple "signatures" using different (real or fake) e-mail addresses.

Update: I've submitted 4 signatures to MoveOn.org's petition, three with valid (personal) e-mail addresses, and one with a fake e-mail address. All successful. The possibilities (and signatures) are infinite at this point. This still doesn't explain the counter discrepancies.

Now, I'm not saying that what MoveOn is doing is illegal, but in my worldview, we call it cheating. Actually, I'm really hoping that the Dems are craven enough to fear MoveOn and their ilk. Then the Dems are likely to push Mr. Phil E. Buster's button and the Neuclear Option comes into play. I hope so, I really do.

Nate, you've done a fabulous job. Keep up the excellent work my good fellow.

Linked at Cao's Blog!, NIF, Oblogatory Anecdotes, Something and Half of Something, Don Surber, and The Political Teen

A Deal for You! Don't miss this train!

Suppose I offered you an investment deal to get on board with a company that has lost a billion dollars a year since 1971 and has no prospects of making a profit in the future. It has overpaid workers, its equipment is run down, most of what it sells is at a loss, and the company is in debt up to its eyeballs. Would you take this great offer? Not likely, unless you were a fool. Well, why does the United States Congress keep appropriating billions of dollars to this company--billions that belong to the taxpayers? This company is your national railroad--Amtrak. You did know that you already owned it, didn't you--or does it own you?

What's going on? You see, the left likes to tell the rest of us how to live, and the left insists that we take trains instead of more convenient and cost-effective methods of transportation. Why? Well, when the left wants something in this country, there are three things that you can count on. First, it will help them to feel good. Second, it won't make any sense. Third, it will cost a lot of money. Amtrak fits that bill.

If you would like to know more, read this: CFO Magazine - Is This Any Way to Run a Railroad?

Here are some excerpts from the article:

Last February, for example, the White House announced it intended to cut off Amtrak's billion-dollar-plus annual subsidy � which covers about half the railroad's total budget � unless the carrier agreed to a radical restructuring. Both the House and the Senate defied the Administration, calling for subsidies ranging from $1.17 billion to $1.45 billion for 2006....

Whatever the scale, Amtrak employees appear to be doing just fine. Based on the carrier's most recent figures, the average worker at the railroad receives $70,000 in annual compensation. Moreover, certain work rules � some call them featherbedding � pump up the number of employees required to perform specific tasks. ...Cutting worker-related costs won't be easy, though. Smith must deal with 14 different unions and 26 bargaining units.

The on-time performance on many of Amtrak's overland lines hasn't helped matters. Overall, Amtrak's 13 long-distance lines (excluding the Northeast Corridor) recorded a 43.5 percent on-time rate for the first nine months of the railroad's 2005 fiscal year.

In May, Standard & Poor's placed the railroad's BBB- rating on CreditWatch, with negative implications. "Without the [government] subsidy, the numbers wouldn't support the current credit rating," notes S&P analyst Lisa Jenkins. A drop of just two notches would reduce Amtrak's debt rating to non-investment-grade, driving up the cost on future borrowings. That's worrisome, considering the railroad paid $203 million last year just to cover the interest expense on the mountain of debt taken on during the previous administration.

"We can do a reasonable rate of return, but it's not going to be a rate of return that most people understand," (CFO David Smith) insists. "A large component of the return is going to be the social good we do."

Smith shakes his head. "I tell you, it's a hell of a way to run a railroad."

Well, with that last statement, we can agree on something.

But, from our friends on the left, linked above, comes this:

What’s next? President Bush wants to push Amtrak into bankruptcy, and end its rail services. He proposes to set aside $360 million for a new train system to someday run only in the country’s northeast corridor. Bush wants to “privatize� the rest of Amtrak by selling its assets, and let multiple corporations make profits as they see fit.

The leading House Democrat on transportation, Minnesota Rep. Jim Oberstar, predicts a “test of wills.� “This is serious� he said. “They really intend to eliminate Amtrak.� Said Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ),� They’re about to run Amtrak off a cliff…. We’re gonna fight it, and we’ll see who blinks first.�

What makes sense to you? Taxpayers are being railroaded as Amtrak proponents steam along. The company jumped the tracks long ago and it's time to stop the train. Privatize Amtrak or close it. The experiment has gone on long enough.

The Evil Condi Controversy: A RA^THER GATE TYPE EXPOSE'

Michele Malkin, God Bless Her Soul, noticed a photograph (on the left here) of Condoleezza Rice that was published in USA today. The photo really looks evil with those eyes glaring out from under that classic forehead. Malkin, always alert, thought there was something fishy and went in search of perhaps a different photo and came up with this one:

And I'd say that this is a big difference (and no, I'm not referring to the size of the photo.)



As she blogged about the obvious "editing" of the photograph, the blogosphere picked up on the story and lo and behold USA withdrew the "doctored" photo and said:

Editor's note: The photo of Condoleezza Rice that originally accompanied this story was altered in a manner that did not meet USA TODAY's editorial standards. The photo has been replaced by a properly adjusted copy. Photos published online are routinely cropped for size and adjusted for brightness and sharpness to optimize their appearance. In this case, after sharpening the photo for clarity, the editor brightened a portion of Rice's face, giving her eyes an unnatural appearance. This resulted in a distortion of the original not in keeping with our editorial standards."

Brightness huh? Sharpness huh? Well, being the type of fellow I am, and enjoying working with Photoshop Elements 2.0 as I do (and I'm testing 4.0 for the fun of it who knows, I may even buy it) I decided to see if my meager skills with photoshop could "sharpen and brighten" Ms. Rice and get the same evil-eyed effect. Here is the second photo "brightened" with a technique called fillflash, what USA said they did.

It does have them 'ole evil eyes don't it... NOT!!!! This photo was retouched using fill flash of about +10 on the scale of the fillflash technique. Much better than the original above, but still no evil eyes. So, now we have to try and "sharpen" the same photo with fillflash to produce them 'ole evil eyes.

Well, with the edges sharpened and a little fill flash, she looks a mite angrier, but she for sure doesn't look like the photo at the top.

This is my last submission, it looks MUCH more like the initial photo. It was done by changing the pixels in the photos at the eyes. I'm not really good at the skill needed for half tones, but given time, I'm pretty sure I could have almost exactly reproduced the very top photo, or one damn near like it.

I have no expectations that this will prove a "smoking gun" like they did with the non-memos of Ra^therGate but I think it does prove that the MSM is full of crap and they think they can get away with all kinds of things (and, before blogs, they could to be honest.) But, not this time folks, not this time.

Tip of the GM Chapeaux to Sissy Willis

UPDATE: Discussed this photo with a friend this morning (10/27/05) and he commented, "Hey George, and you are an amateur at photoshop." Yeah, I am, and if I could do this, a pro ought to be able to do much better. But the USAToday pro got caught because of us pajama-clad amateurs.

The Hungarian Uprising, October 23, 1956

Tuesday, October 23rd, 1956. Stuttgart, Germany. Morning, a school day for me, like any other day; up and at 'em. Breakfast, grab the lunch bag, kiss mom and dad, off to catch the bus for school. But it wasn't an ordinary day, slightly over 600 miles due East from where I played in the forest, from where on the weekends I wandered about in the little town of Vaihengen near 7th Army Headquarters, war was breaking out.

It was not much of a war as wars go, but it was a war fraught with danger for the world and for the next several weeks, a war of ideas, of freedom as much as a war of bullets, tanks and death. Imre Nagy had been ousted as Prime Minister of Hungry for being insufficiently Communist and too liberal and the people of Hungry in general and Budapest in particular were upset, angry and willing to say so. Demonstrations began in Budapest, soon numbering thousands and tens of thousands. They marched, chanted, and demanded the restoration of Nagy.

The demonstration began as a march of solidarity with Wladyslaw Gomulka the Polish leader ousted for being "too liberal" and ended as a call for freedom and removal of the Soviet's from Hungry. As the crowds grew, Erno Gerö, First Secretary of the Hungarian Communist Party, and someone known for his hard line stances, went on the radio to say that demands for separation from the Soviet Union were lies and rumors. But the people of Hungry said otherwise. As the crowds grew, the demands became louder and louder, and they marched on the radio station to force a retraction. A heavy truck was used to try to batter a way into the station. Police opened fire and skirmishes between the demonstrators and armed police took place throughout the city. According to the BBC:

A running battle began to clear the crowd away from the building, while clashes between demonstrators and armed police broke out elsewhere in the city.

When the crowds refused to disperse despite police opening fire on them, Mr. Gerö ordered Soviet tanks onto the streets.

The demonstrators, however, are showing no signs of giving up their protest, which is continuing into the night."

That night, the Communist Party of Hungry met in emergency session and reinstated Nagy as Prime Minister. But the fuse had been lit, and the count down to revolution had begun.

In less than 48 hours, the people continued their demands, and Gerö’s tanks stayed on the streets. As the confrontation increased, the tanks opened fire pointblank into the crowds.

With hundreds dead and dying, with many more hundreds wounded the Communists fired Gerö and installed Janos Kadar. The Soviets began pulling out of Budapest on October 30th but Krushchev, fearing a spread of the "will of the people" sent them back in on November 4th with orders to re-take the city and firmly establish Soviet control over Hungry. The people of Budapest reacted with Molotov Cocktails and bravery unseen in resistance to the Soviet's for some time. But they were no match for the Soviets and slowly but surely the Russians re-established control over the city and countryside.

Nagy took refuge in the Yugoslav Embassy but the Russians kidnapped him and put him in prison. Nagy was tried for treason in a secret trial and executed in 1958.

I remember seeing the photographs of the slaughter, I remember having our "bags" packed in case we went to war with the Soviet Union and had to be evacuated. I remember Eisenhower calling for calm and a de-escalation of tensions. But the shadow of fear remained for sometime afterwards.

Scenes such as the one to the left would be repeated over the years as peoples sought freedom from tyrany; in Prague in 1968, in Warsaw, in East Berlin in 1999, in Lebanon in 2005. In Beireut in 1983, American and French troops, trying to keep the peace in Lebanon were senselessly murdered by those that think freedom can be stifled. The bottom line is that the search for freedom and self determination can be stifled and smothered for a while, but it can't be killed. Freedom always wins in the end.

Linked at Cao's Blog, Random Numbers and Wizbang

UPDATE: The march to freedom continues ~ Michael J. Totten and at Michael Yon's article in the Weekly Standard

The Lunatics Have Taken Control Of The Asylum!

From Breitbart.com:

Noam Chomsky, the American linguistics expert and US foreign policy critic, was named the world's top public intellectual, according to a new British magazine poll released.

Best known for his loud and consistent criticism of the Vietnam War and US foreign policy over the last 40 years, Chomsky, 76, decisively beat Italian novelist and academic Umberto Eco and third-placed Oxford University professor Richard Dawkins to top the poll."

Chomsky stated:

I don't pay a lot of attention to [the polls]," adding that "it was probably padded by some friends of mine."

I think I'm gonna be ill.

Global Warming Provides Christmas Fun! - Courtesy of the Left (Who Else?)

You HAVE to see this--another loony creation of the left, which comes in the form of a global warming game! And, it's just in time for Christmas! The kids will not let you rest until you get it, and the game is sure to be fun for the whole liberal family. Here's more about this exciting game, as reported in "Nature."

Cool game gives lessons on a warming world.

The temperature is rising fast, hurricanes have wiped out the US economy, and the OPEC countries are going bankrupt. Just when things look as if they cannot get any worse, disease strikes Libya's livestock. But then world leaders pull together a research fund for clean technologies in the developing world, prompting the US president (a woman, for once) to sigh and say: "We're really turning things around here".

Sound like a news report from 2050? It's actually a scenario that emerged when six science reporters got together to play an eerily prescient board game called Keep Cool: Gambling with the Climate! It kept us entertained for hours, even as the climate collapsed and nations went bankrupt around us.

The rules of Keep Cool are similar to those of the board game Risk. Six regional entities, from the former Soviet Union to the 'Tiger countries' of Asia, compete to build power stations. A dirty station is cheaper than a clean one, but it makes the temperature climb. As the world warms, natural disasters increase in likelihood and severity, driving players to buy protection against them.

The aim is to fulfill one's economic and political goals, which might involve appeasing environmentalists with a certain number of clean power plants or getting a minimum number of stations on the board.

But if players are too ruthless, the climate spins out of control. Investing in dirty industry hits home with remarkable force as monsoons fail, permafrost melts, and global biodiversity dives, each disaster costing the players more money as the world warms.

A few wild cards make for a more challenging game: on each turn, for example, the Soviet Union can ask anyone for money.

What parent wouldn't search all the malls and shops within 100 miles to put this under the tree for his kids?

You can imagine the thrills and screams of joy as one child melts the North Pole and floods New York while another one creates hurricanes to destroy Miami! Uh oh, watch out for Daddy pretending to be Russia and taking the kids' allowances. But, leave it up to Mom to play the female president and save the day! Hurray!

The reviewer of this game said, "I, for one, wholeheartedly recommend it." Why were she and the magazine so enthusiatic over something that many others would ignore? Well, I think that I understand their mindset better after reading the "Nature" article from the day before, titled "Marijuana may make your brain grow." Maybe they took that testing a little too far. The next time you read a review like theirs, you might first ask what they were smoking. Hey, maybe that can be a new game, too!

On the other hand, I might just buy my kid a BB gun.

Nobel Prizes Take the Prize - Bush a Longshot

Is there a pattern in the awarding of the various Nobel Prizes--maybe a political pattern? Read about the latest Nobel Prize winner and see if you can find a clue.

Pinter wins Nobel literary prize

Pinter, 75, whose plays include The Birthday Party and Betrayal, was announced as the winner of the $1.3m (£723,000) cash prize on Thursday.

The Nobel academy said Pinter's work "uncovers the precipice under everyday prattle and forces entry into oppression's closed rooms".

The playwright is known for speaking out on issues like the war on Iraq.

Pinter, widely regarded as the UK's greatest living playwright, is well-known for his left-wing political views.

A critic of US and UK foreign policy, he has voiced opposition on a number of issues including the bombing of Afghanistan in 2001.

Nah, I can't figure it out, either. No pattern with this and other prizes. Let's look further.

'Political element' to Pinter prize

...his outspoken criticism of US foreign policy and opposition to the war in Iraq undoubtedly make him one of the more controversial figures to be awarded this prestigious honour.

Indeed, the Nobel academy's decision could be read in some quarters as a selection with an inescapably political element.

"There is the view that the Nobel literature prize often goes to someone whose political stance is found to be sympathetic at a given moment," said Alan Jenkins, deputy editor of the Times Literary Supplement.

(Michael Attenborough, director of the Almeida Theatre in Islington, north London) says he would be "amazed" if the prize was in recognition of its recipient's anti-war stance.

Oh, man! I thought I had it figured until I read that last sentence. There goes my theory that the awarding of Nobel prizes is directly related to the recipients' criticisms of President Bush and the United States. However, I wouldn't be surprised if Barbra Streisand and George Soros win one day.

The Left Attacks Columbus: Fantasy World vs. New World

I hope that everyone had a special Columbus Day holiday with parades, festivities, and knowing that honoring Columbus infuriates liberals. That last part always makes it better for me. Columbus Day brings out the "hate everything about America" crowd, who blame Christopher Columbus personally and the rest of America by inference, for displacing indigenous people on our continent. But, it's more than a fight over claimed wrongs--it's a battle in the war of the left against Western Civilization.

Brief History Lesson:

As a brief and interesting historical review, you may want to pick through a well researched study of Columbus and the "discovery of the new world," found at this site titled Examining the History, Navigation, and Landfall of Christopher Columbus by Keith A. Pickering. It has excellent information, including the map below. The map alone tells me that Columbus had to have a lot of know-how and nerves of steel to sail into the unknown and be able to return to Europe with his discovery.

Also, of special interest is the section titled Columbus and the Destruction of Native peoples. This addresses the surface complaint against Columbus of genocide by essentially saying that the causes of war go beyond the control of an individual and that most societies, including Native Americans, "view killing in wartime as acceptable; few would claim that it is morally equivalent to murder, much less genocide."

(After you complete your history lesson, you may continue with the rest of this entry. You have fifteen minutes.)

"In fourteen hundred and ninety two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue."

Who Hates Columbus and Why?

Okay, welcome back. When I did quick research on Columbus Day, I found numerous postings by individuals and organizations who have made it their "cause" to discredit Columbus and the civilization brought from Europe.

Here's an example in a post titled The Great Columbus Day Farce.

...why do we celebrate a man who was no more than a murderer?' Columbus sparked many a great western ideal. Capitalism, science as a religion, the establishment of a global monoculture, the enslavement of other races, the destruction of the environment, the eradication and abuse of life, and the genocide of America’s indigenous people are just a few of those ideals. If these are the ideals that he sparked, then why should we celebrate a power-hungry man, no better than Hitler?

Wow! I bet you didn't know that Columbus is responsible for the terrible crimes of capitalism (horrors), environmental ruin, and genocide--and that he is just like Hitler. I wonder if the author admires Stalin who was against capitalism and fought Hitler. Yeah!

Another site titled Transform Columbus Day has a fun quiz! In the quiz titled "How Does Columbus Compare to some of the most oppressive, criminal regimes in history?," they mention horrible crimes against man and nature, and you are supposed to match the crime with the person. Fun, huh!? Hold on, though. It's a trick. While the choices include Mussolini, Hitler, Pol Pot, Caligula, Josef Stalin, Saddam Hussein, Nero, Jefferson Davis, Genghis Khan--and, Christopher Columbus: all of the "crimes" in the quiz were really committed by Columbus! I hate trick questions like that. (As an aside, how did Jefferson Davis get into this group? Also, I'm sure that Saddam Hussein was an error.)

Other examples are summarized in Looks Are Deceiving: the Portraits of Christopher Columbus originally published in a 1993 "Visual Anthropology."

But by the 500th anniversary, revisionist authors were charging that Columbus was simply a fortune hunter who left a legacy of exploitation and genocide. The National Council of Churches resolved that the anniversary should be a "time of penitence rather than jubilation." After much heated debate within the chambers of the United Nations, it was decided that the organization would not sponsor any celebrations to mark the event. Native American groups began planning protests of local festivities for Columbus, charging that they honor a man who "makes Hitler look like a juvenile delinquent." As John Noble Wilford, science writer for the New York Times, aptly concluded, "Another Columbus for another age."

Well, I can't think of a better way to form an opinion about Columbus than to find that he was attacked by The National Council of Churches, The United Nations, radical Indian groups, and a New York Times writer.

Will you get to the point!?

Okay, I'm almost there. Why do these individuals and organizations oppose honoring Columbus? It has less to do with what he did than it has to do with them having a focal point to attack Western Civilization. This attack is often led with calls for multiculturalism.

Here's an analysis at First Things: "The Crimes of Christopher Columbus" by Dinesh D'Souza. (I know little about this site, but I'm sure that the liberals will say that it is radical right wing--which means that it is okay.) The entire article is somewhat long, but worth reading in its entirety. Here are excerpts:

At its deepest level, multiculturalism represents a denial of all Western claims to truth. Yet both in the world and in the traditional curriculum, all cultures are not on the same footing. Consequently multiculturalism in practice is distinguished by an effort to establish cultural parity by attacking the historical and contemporary hegemony of Western civilization.

Multiculturalism is based on the relativist assumption that since all cultures are inherently equal, differences of power, wealth, and achievement between them are most likely due to oppression.

In order to see the multicultural paradigm at work, we would do well to consider the passionate debate that has raged in the academy over the legacy of Christopher Columbus. ...Yet it is not Columbus the man who is being indicted but what he represents: the first tentative step toward the European settlement of the Americas. Consequently, the debate over Columbus is a debate over whether Western civilization was a good idea and whether it should continue to shape the United States. Many critics argue the negative:

-"Columbus makes Hitler look like a juvenile delinquent"....
-Columbus (was) "a murderer, a rapist, the architect of a policy of genocide that continues today."
-"Could it be that the human calamity caused by the arrival of Columbus was a sort of dress rehearsal of what is to come as the ozone becomes more depleted, the earth warms, and the rain forests are destroyed?"

Let us examine the consistent portrait that emerges in multicultural literature about the legacy of Columbus.

It is true that Columbus harbored strong prejudices about the peaceful islanders whom he misnamed "Indians"-he was prejudiced in their favor. He praised the generosity and lack of guile among the Tainos, contrasting their virtues with Spanish vices. So why did European attitudes toward the Indian, initially so favorable, subsequently change? ...the reason given by the explorers themselves is that Columbus and those who followed him came into sudden, unexpected, and gruesome contact with the customary practices of some other Indian tribes.

In the next item of the multiculturalists' indictment, Columbus-and by extension the West-is accused of perpetrating a campaign of genocidal extermination, a holocaust against native Americans. The charge of genocide is largely sustained by figures showing the precipitous decline of the Indian population. ...the vast majority of Indian casualties occurred...because of contagious diseases that the Europeans transmitted to the Indians. From the Indians the Europeans contracted syphilis.

Columbus has metamorphosed from a grand crusader into a genocidal maniac and a precursor to Hitler. American Indians are now beyond reproach, canonized as moral and ecological saints.

...multiculturalism (insists) that we should understand cultural differences without applying (inherently biased) standards of critical evaluation, it forbids at the outset the possibility that one culture may be in crucial respects superior to another.

An authentic multiculturalism would expose students to "the best that has been thought and said" not simply in the West but in other cultures as well.

That last statement, to me, explains Western Civilization the best and explains why Western Civilization has been so successful. Western culture examines all ideas and accomplishments and adopts those which are good and make society better and more successful. The multiculturalists want everyone to "be equal," so they go the other way. They don't adopt or approve of the methods that made Western Civilization successful. They would rather tear it down, even to the detriment of their own people, just to feel good or to gain political influence. That, to me, is just one more reason to study and appreciate the predominate culture in the U.S., which itself is attacked by attacks on Columbus Day, which is where this started.

Can you end this with a really stupid conclusion?:

Well, having made my point, sure.

If we need to cast blame for Columbus coming to the "new world," I think that it might be found in For Teachers: Columbus's "Enterprise of the Indies" and its impact on African peoples

Europeans of Columbus's time were eager to find a route to the source of this trade, in order to avoid the Arab middlemen who drove the prices up and controlled the routes to India that passed through the Mediterranean. Therefore, they needed to find another way to reach the Far East and abundant riches there.

There you have it! Nothing changes. The consumers in the West were having its transportation costs driven up by the Arabs, so they looked for a way around them. Because the Arabs raised prices so much, Columbus was forced to find another route by sailing west. What happened when he got there and the problems that brings today can be blamed on one group--the Arabs who were gouging everyone. And now, you know the rest of the story.

Summary:

Except for that last part, consider the attacks on Columbus and the day that we honor him and see them for what they are. The attackers are pitiful people who can only feel better by bringing others down. That doesn't make them successful. They would rather feel equal in worth than to get ahead. They spread false doctrine, and their efforts should be recognized and resisted. Give Columbus, with his day, and Western Civilization its due and appreciate and honor the accomplishments of both.

And, to Think that This Man Was Almost President

- Text of Al Gore Speech at Media Conference in NY, Oct 06, 2005

Excerpted with Emphasis Added:

I came here today because I believe that American democracy is in grave danger. It is no longer possible to ignore the strangeness of our public discourse. I know that I am not the only one who feels that something has gone basically and badly wrong in the way America's fabled "marketplace of ideas" now functions.

How many of you, I wonder, have heard a friend or a family member in the last few years remark that it's almost as if America has entered "an alternate universe"?

(Ramblings at this point, primarily attacking television to set up his pitch for the Al Gore network.)

And here is my point: it is the destruction of that marketplace of ideas that accounts for the "strangeness" that now continually haunts our efforts to reason together about the choices we must make as a nation.

...in 1987, ...Rush Limbaugh and other hate-mongers began to fill the airwaves.

As recently stated by Dan Rather - who was, of course, forced out of his anchor job after angering the White House - television news has been "dumbed down and tarted up."

...it is television delivered over cable and satellite that will continue for the remainder of this decade and probably the next to be the dominant medium of communication in America's democracy. And so long as that is the case, I truly believe that America's democracy is at grave risk.

You got that? Makes you want to go, "hmmmmmmmmmmmmm." You should have heard the audio of this. Weird. This man is from another planet and makes me feel as if I'm in an "alternate universe."

ACLU Doesn't Give a F%#& About Civil Speech

- Woman Booted Off Flight For Offensive Shirt

The original headline of the article said that the woman was booted for an "Anti-Bush" shirt. Media distortion or a mistake?

A Washington state woman was bounced from a Southwest Airlines flight in Reno for wearing a T-shirt with the pictures of President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney and the F-word. The shirt was a play on words taken from the movie "Meet the Fockers."

Southwest officials said other passengers complained about her shirt, and that rules prohibit offensive clothing. But the American Civil Liberties Union said Heasley's T-shirt is "protected" free speech under the Constitution.

Hey! It's not like she was wearing a shirt with a picture of Jesus.

Nobel Peace Prize Eludes Bono for Not Cursing Bush

- Nobel Peace Prize Goes to...Chief U.N. Nuclear Inspector!

I wanted Bono of U2 to win the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in fighting global poverty. It's too bad that he didn't curse Bush and insult the U.S. That's a requirement to win. Bono could have given the winner a real "run for the money."

Mohamed ElBaradei and his International Atomic Energy agency won the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize Friday, leaving the chief U.N. nuclear inspector strengthened in a job he nearly lost because of a dispute with the United States over Iran and Iraq.

ElBaradei (pronounced ehl-BEHR'-uh-day)and the IAEA locked horns with Washington in the run-up to the 2003 Iraq war by challenging U.S. claims that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. More recently, ElBaradei's refusal to back U.S. assertions that Iran has a covert nuclear weapons program hardened opposition to him within the Bush administration.

Nobel Committee chairman Ole Danbolt Mjoes also denied the award was meant as a slap at the United States.

Among the dozens of foreign leaders congratulating ElBaradei was German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder � a strong critic of the U.S. invasion that toppled Saddam. He praised ElBaradei's "courageous stand for an objective view of the situation in the run-up to the Iraq war."

Last month, the IAEA board put Iran on notice that it faces referral to the U.N. Security Council unless it dispels international concerns about it nuclear aims � despite ElBaradei's private preference for a less confrontational approach.

The Nobel committee received a record 199 nominations for the peace prize, which includes $1.3 million, a gold medal and a diploma. ElBaradei and the IAEA will share the award when they receive it Dec. 10 in the Norwegian capital of Oslo.

One final note. Did you catch the next to last paragraph in which "the IAEA board put Iran on notice that it faces referral to the U.N. Security Council...despite ElBaradei's private preference for a less confrontational approach." Oooooooh. That's a real threat. "Iran, give up your nuclear weapons program or the U.N. Security Council will pass resolutions against you which it doesn't intend to enforce!" Fortunately, this year's prize winner wants cooler heads to prevail. Appeasement really works on terrorists and thugs.

Sorry, Bono. At least you didn't have to share the stage with Jimmy Carter.

Cool Off on Global Warming: Separate Science and Politics

Every day we hear some politician, some activist, and some so-called scientist claiming that the Earth is warming because of human activity and that we better do something about it fast--like blame the U.S. and destroy its economy. Now, I enjoy science and I enjoy politics, but they are better enjoyed separately than together, because politics has a way of tainting real science. This is the case of combining global warming studies with the Kyoto Protocol and with government grants. Isn't it better to understand Earth's climate changes and cycles than to jump to false conclusions and waste billions of dollars and destroy jobs?

I'm not going to take the space to address both sides of the argument. There is plenty of information on the internet if you want to research it. However, I will suggest that everyone who wants the truth about global warming and its causes should be skeptical of alarmists and of scientists with an agenda and who depend upon government grants. They might be right, but they might not be. If they're not, the costs are very, very high.

Hang with me, but let's have a brief science lesson. Consider that the Earth has had four major ice ages and within those ice ages we have cycles of cooling and warming every 40,000 to 100,000 years. Ice ages are affected by atmospheric composition, changes in the Earth's orbit around the Sun, and the arrangement of the continents. Short-term changes can be influenced by cycles of the Sun.

The last glacial period, where a major ice sheet covered northern North American and most of Europe, was 11,000 years ago. In addition, there was "The Little Ice Age" from the 14th to 19th centuries, which was characterized by very cold winters, cool summers, severe storms, and crop failures. In fact, in 1780 New York Harbor froze and you could walk from Manhattan to Staten Island. So, where are we going?

Well, it appears to me that the warming and cooling of the planet are influenced by greater factors than just man, and that what we're experiencing in climate changes can be explained by laws of nature more than misdeeds of mankind. The following map of North America shows the extent of the last glacial age and the retreat of the ice sheet over the last 11,000 years. If it wasn't for that retreat, then the Chicago Bulls would have to play in Mississippi. But, seriously, study the map and determine how man affected this climate change. Could he have?

Retreat of North American Ice Sheet
Source: Illinois State Museum

In addition to this small map above, you may want to view a larger animated map of the glacial retreat at this site of The University of Oregon. It is interesting to pay additional attention to the changes in the coastlines and lakes as the ice sheet melted.

Bottom line. It takes a giant leap of faith or a giant political agenda to ignore that warming trends are part of the normal cycles that the Earth has experienced for millenniums. So, before you jump on the Kyoto bandwagon, consider all the evidence and consider the consequences of a bad decision--either way. We need government leaders to continue to oppose dragging the U.S. into a bad treaty, and the rest of the world should wake up. The money being wasted to insignificantly affect Earth's temperatures can be better used in ways to really help the Earth and mankind.

The Anchoress Discusses The Clinton

Relatively early in my blogging career I came across the Anchoress. We fought the brave fight to keep Terri alive, to no avail, but it was still a fight worth fighting. Today, I just finished reading her take on Bill Clinton and I gotta tell you, it is just brilliant. A a couple of telling grafs:

If you know nothing else about Bill Clinton than the fact that he grew up sort of “between fathers,� with a somewhat colorful and flamboyant mother, that he was a bright boy full to the brim with talent, but lugging around an aching void that was never filled and never healed, then you know enough about Bill Clinton to know why he dropped a bomb on George W. Bush yesterday.

Bill was the boy with nothing. George W. Bush was the boy with everything.

I’m not talking about material things, here. “Things� make one neither holy nor whole. Anyone who has read the letters of George H.W. Bush or really looked into the early years of George Walker Bush knows that the younger Bush grew up in a rather average house, with average playmates and a public elementary school. Nevertheless, George W. Bush had something Bill Clinton never had: a father who clearly loved him and a devoted mother whose first interest lay with her family. Forget material considerations. With those ample riches, the boy called Dubya grew up comfortable in his own skin and not needing to look outside of who he was, or who he loved, to find trustworthy affirmation and acceptance.

Now go read the whole thing and drop her a comment and let her know what you thought.

Tales from the Left - Sheehan: New Orleans is an "Occupied City"

I'm not going to say anything. I'm just speechless. When nuts from the left get vocal, their words alone are enough to make one just shake his head and walk away stunned. Well, here are recent comments about New Orleans from a post by Hero of the Left--Cindy Sheehan, who showcases the intelligence and logic of that side so well.

One thing that truly troubled me about my visit to Louisiana was the level of the military presence there. But what I saw was a city that is occupied. I saw soldiers walking around in patrols of 7 with their weapons slung on their backs. I wanted to ask one of them what it would take for one of them to shoot me. Sand bags were removed from private property to make machine gun nests.

If George Bush truly listened to God and read the words of the Christ, Iraq and the devastation in New Orleans would have never happened. George Bush needs to stop talking, admit the mistakes of his all around failed administration, pull our troops out of occupied New Orleans and Iraq, and excuse his self from power.

...Just sounds of silence as I walk away and ponder the significance of those words.

Update: Much more information on this and other topics at Stop The ACLU

CNN Coaches Reporters and Guests to "Get Angry" with Bush

The Drudge Report blew the whistle on CNN, which is manipulating reactions of its reporters and guests. CNN has been coaching guests and commentators to "get angry" over the federal response to Hurricane Katrina. Why would they do that, and is it proper for a news network to fabricate angry reactions to a disaster? Isn't this making up a story--or, could we say that "the reactions, while fake, are accurate" similar to "the documents while fake, are accurate."

Before I knew the reasons, I wondered why CNN's Anderson Cooper was going way over the top with his outrage and rants. Cooper's reporting became so bad and obnoxious that I started switching channels whenever he was put on the air. Of course, all of this is clearer now--and, I consider manipulation of the news by the media as unacceptable from professional and ethical standpoints.

The Washington Times reported this as follows, which provides more explanation and motives:

Twisting the news Los Angeles Times pundit Michael Kinsley, who used to work for CNN, says the network is coaching guests to 'get angry' when they go on the air to discuss Hurricane Katrina. Mr. Kinsley said...'A Los Angeles Times colleague of mine, appearing on CNN last week to talk about Katrina, was told by a producer to "get angry."' CNN's political stance was more or less confirmed by a New York Times article yesterday that suggested CNN host Anderson Cooper was heroic for scolding a Democratic senator who failed to condemn the Bush administration.

(Footnote Update: Subsequent to his statement above, Michael Kinsley has been forced out at the Los Angeles Times.)

Others that have explored this CNN strategy, from both sides, include Trey Jackson and Power Line on the right and Slate, Crooks and Liars, and Reality Based Nation on the left. You can scan them to see which sources best identify with your values.

So, what will CNN say or do about this? Likely, nothing. But, that didn't stop me from expressing my displeasure about its breach of trust and unethical conduct, and I let them know. Unlike CNN, I'm not suggesting that you "get angry," but if you feel upset or disappointed by this news source that you thought that you could trust, then you can let them know by going to the CNN site for comments and feedback. It might make you feel better to express your views to them and it might, just might, influence how they report in the future.

CNN should know that instructions to reporters to act angry might have the effect of making viewers angry.

Hurricane Recovery: Don't Be "Rich & Responsible"

In monitoring the hurricane clean-up, I've noticed comments which basically say that "rich" people who take care of themselves when others are hurting are "evil." Well, anyway, that's my take. Also, I disagree. It sounds as if the left is engaging in its politics of envy. Here are a couple of examples for you to consider. While I have excerpted comments for space, I have provided links and encourage you to read the articles in their entirety.

Mansions spared on Uptown's high ground
Hired security force watches over affluent neighborhood
By Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY, 09/12/2005 (Excerpted and emphasis added)

(A caretaker) has made sure that when the boss returns to the mansion here at Audubon Place from evacuation in Aspen, Colo., (he) will find little out of place. This is a part of New Orleans where a small difference in geographic elevation and a huge gap in personal wealth provide a head-snapping contrast between good fortune and enormous loss. 'It's safe for the rich people,' says...a private security officer.... A small contingent of heavily armed private security officers is deployed throughout Uptown, where some homeowners have turned over their mansions to the officers to guard against looting. 'Today, I've been watching armed security people hired by the rich move valuables out of their homes for safekeeping. Yesterday, we were working in an area, giving out water to people who hadn't seen cold water for days.' 'We survived largely intact, and for that, we are truly blessed,' says...an Uptown lawyer.... 'This is the highest ground in the city. That's why the rich white men who built this city put their homes here. The quality of life is good.'

Just a quick thought, are these people "fortunate," which implies that they are lucky, or are they wise and prudent to have taken care of themselves? It's more P.C. to say that they are fortunate, because to say that they are smart or diligent would make others who aren't to feel badly. We can't deal with truths when feelings could be hurt. Also, it almost seems that the writer would feel better if the mansions of New Orleans had been destroyed--as if the owners deserved it for being rich.

Well, let's go to the next case. Here are similar thoughts to the editor of a newspaper:

Monied (sic) America lacks moral goodness
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Letters to the Editor, 09/10/2005

Congratulations, monied America: You wanted your gated communities to keep out the poor, to protect yourselves from crime, to separate yourselves from undesirables. You took the high roads and built your gated communities on them so you would stay dry and clean while the stormwaters of filth and despair flooded their neighborhoods.

You did it. You kept out the poor, you concentrated the crime in the poor neighborhoods, effectively ensuring those neighborhoods would remain poor and broken. You separated yourselves from the undesirables.

And then you left them, to die in attics and on rooftops and in the streets and in the disgusting halls of commerce and sports. The richest nation in the world is the most destitute when it comes to true moral goodness. God could not bless this America at all.

SAM MARIE ENGLE
Engle, of Atlanta, is director of the Kenneth Cole Fellowship in Community Building and Social Change and senior program associate in the Office of University-Community Partnerships at Emory University.

Well, this person says that wealthy America left people to die. Rather than give my response, here's what another has to say in response, and it is said with more force than I would use.

INSIDE THE DARK AND DEPRAVED MIND OF A LIBERAL
Nealz Nuze, 09/12/2005, (Excerpted)

Obviously Engle has a problem with achievement. In a word, she harbors great resentment toward those who have gone the extra mile to achieve success and wealth. Somehow she has convinced herself that the problems that afflicted the poor in New Orleans were due to the existence of gated communities and the presence of the evil rich. If there had been no wealthy neighborhoods in New Orleans the poor, somehow, wouldn't have suffered.

Engle also finds great fault with the idea that people would go to extra lengths to protect themselves from crime. How hideously insensitive of the rich! How very un-American! No doubt were we to locate Ms. Engle's automobile wherever it is parked while she is out there community-building, we would find it to be unlocked; ditto for her home. After all, Engle certainly wouldn't want to do anything to protect herself from crime, would she?

Engle feels that the evil rich 'kept out the poor' from their high-and-dry gated communities. Sorry, Sam, the poor weren't 'kept out' of those gated communities; they just failed to make the decisions in life that would have gained them access. The rich did nothing to them. They did it to themselves.

'Left them to die?' When police and firefighters, the fantastic first-responders we all rely on, went in to rescue the stranded they were fired on by roving gangs of thugs from the poor neighborhoods you so love – and this started happening on day one. ...(P)eople were risking death to rescue the poor, and you write that the poor were left to die?

Then you say that 'the richest nation in the world is the most destitute when it comes to true moral goodness.' Katrina has brought forth the greatest show of American generosity since 9/11. This is the America, an America of compassion and giving, that you say God would not bless.

It's too bad that individual initiative, achievement, success, personal responsibility, and stewardship--all of which helped to make this country great...and, to help some people survive--are attacked as wrong. Then, help and contributions from the same "rich" people, along with others, are ignored. That is puzzling.

All of this sounds like envy to me, and those who are being envious seem to be the ones who need attitude adjustments--not the "rich." Let's recognize and encourage behavior and choices that make people successful rather than the behavior and choices that make others dependent. With more people like the "rich," we would need less government to take care of us.

After Hurricane, New Orleans Faces Worse Disaster - Jimmy Carter

Haven't the people of New Orleans suffered enough? Shouldn't we be showing them compassion and giving them hope? Wouldn't it be best if they had someone competent in charge of restoring their city? Well, if the answer to all of those is "yes," then why in the world would a former 9/11 commissioner recommend Jimmy Carter to be in charge of rebuilding New Orleans?

From the Drudge Report:

This morning on Fox's 'Fox and Friends,' former Indiana Democrat congressman and 9/11 commissioner Tim Roemer called on President Bush to name former President Jimmy Carter to the head of efforts to rebuild New Orleans.

Roemer told the stunned hosts: 'The second thing we should do is put somebody like former President Jimmy Carter in charge of rebuilding New Orleans.'

Carter Aims for Thumb

How can Carter rebuild a city when he spends his time hammering at a White House? He might let the United Nations determine the future use of New Orleans for the "world community." On the other hand, if Kerry were President, he might want to donate the Louisiana Purchase back to France while he apologizes for messing it up. At least we should be glad that no one suggested Al Gore, who could declare New Orleans as "wetlands" and make it a nationally protected wilderness.

The left never ceases to amaze.

Ted Kennedy Blows Harder Than Hurricane Katrina

Sometimes no comment is best. Let the remarks speak for themselves.

"What the American people have seen is this incredible disparity in which those people who had cars and money got out and those people who were impoverished died." --Ted Kennedy on Hurricane Katrina

"______" --Mary Jo Kopechne on Hurricane Katrina

From Opinion Journal from the WSJ via Atlas Shrugs (Thank you!)

Democrats Help Themselves to Hurricane Donations

Hopefully, you have seen lists of charities accepting donations for the Hurricane Katrina victims and have given. Now, there is a new Katrina donation site courtesy of the Democratic Party. That's right! Our friends from the left decided that the best way to help victims is to capitalize on the tragedy by asking for hurricane money to elect Democrats rather than to help charities provide relief.

Here's pieces from the story:
Democrats' anti-Bush petition also seeks political contributions
By Devlin Barrett, Associated Press Writer, September 8, 2005

A new Democratic effort to whip up indignation about the Bush administration's handling of Hurricane Katrina also tried to raise money for Democratic candidates. Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat and the head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, issued an appeal Thursday urging people to sign an online petition to fire the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency over his handling of the Katrina response. When recipients clicked on a link to the petition, the top center of the screen _ above the call to 'Fire the FEMA director' _ had asked for a donation to the DSCC (Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee). In recent days, Republicans hit back by accusing Democrats of trying to use the human tragedy for political gain. The letter, the GOP said Thursday, was proof. 'It's a disgrace to exploit Hurricane Katrina to raise political funds,' said Brian Nick, spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

There you have it. The Democrats put themselves ahead of the hurricane victims--unless, of course, they thought that all the homeless want a Democrat elected before having a place to live. When the Associated Press asked the campaign committee about this, the Democrats pulled the solicitation and said that they would donate the money to charity instead. Caught! It sure is embarrassing when that happens. Now, someone better make sure that the money ends up at a charity rather than in the underwear and socks of Sandy Berger.

Letter From The Left

My kid brother is a conservative, perhaps even more so than I am. He is also a fantastic sculptor and recently completed a 2.5 times lifesize memorial to the K-9 Corps, Wardogs which will be installed in a park on Long Island, New York. His website is here and if you take a look, you will like what you see, I guarantee it, this shot for example is a wolf in winter. (No Doug, no charge for the plug) At any rate, Doug and his wife Janet annually travel to Guatamala where they work with a clinic providing medical care to some of the poorest people on earth.

Doug recently corresponded with a founding member of the team who Doug describes as quite a liberal fellow about Cindy Sheehan. This fellow, who I will not name responded back with:

Hi Doug:

Thanks for your email. I do not share your opinions. I believe that Mr Rove is the son of Machiavelli, thoroughly evil, totally duplicitous, and a liar to boot. I think the king of sleaze at Halliburton, our vice president, is no better. If you think there were long and careful deliberations about when to invade Iraq, think again. Read Richard Clarke's "Against all Enemies." He is the guy who was in charge of much intelligence info during Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, and Bush II until recently. He had first hand information. Read his FIRSTHAND accounts of decision making in the White House before you get too fired up with our righteousness.

These people sent our young, somewhat uninformed, volunteers into harm's way without the slightest damned idea what they were doing or for that matter how to do it....i.e unarmored HumVees, body armor that does not protect, inadequate troop numbers, etc. They are finding IED's rather than chemical and nuclear stuff. Read the British memos if you think Bushites were telling the truth.

The fact that anybody's daughter is going to Fallujah does not make a right or a wrong. Blind adoption and belief in the rightness of our government policy is wrong and was in part why we persisted so long in Vietnam. That was when I was drafted. Patriotism is not just waving a flag. Patriotism is holding our government to the crucible of honesty. And our government is not honest.

I used to think that Bill Clinton was a lying cheating character of no personal integrity (still do). I had not thought I would consider Bush and cronies right down there with him....until about 6 months ago. Maybe they are even worse, if such a thing is possible, because they are sliming the Almighty by claiming such self-righteousness.

Dick G

Posted by GM Roper at 10:42 PM | Comments (23) | TrackBack (0)

Respected Scientist Tosses Ice on Global Warming [Updated]

The September issue of Discover Magazine has an interview that offers refreshing honesty from a climate expert who is a doubter of human induced global warming. Dr. William Gray, a climate expert whom the magazine says may be the world's most famous hurricane expert, explains his position and describes the effect of that on his federal grants. Here's part of the interview:

Dr. Gray: Right now I’m trying to work on this human-induced global-warming thing that I think is grossly exaggerated.

Discover: You don’t believe global warming is causing climate change?

Dr. Gray: No. If it is, it is causing such a small part that it is negligible. I’m not disputing that there has been global warming. There was a lot of global warming in the 1930s and ’40s, and then there was a slight global cooling from the middle ’40s to the early ’70s. And there has been warming since the middle ’70s, especially in the last 10 years. But this is natural, due to ocean circulation changes and other factors. It is not human induced.

Discover: That must be a controversial position among hurricane researchers.

Dr. Gray: Nearly all of my colleagues who have been around 40 or 50 years are skeptical as hell about this whole global-warming thing. But no one asks us.

It continues and gets interesting when he discusses motivations for the climate hysteria and how V.P. Al Gore directed research funds on the issue.

Here's the entire article: Discover Dialogue: Meteorologist William Gray

(Via Newsbusters linking to Mullings)

Hawaii Caps Gas Prices - Receives "F" on Economics Test

The government of Hawaii, raising its level of stupidity, has declared war on the economic law of supply and demand by fixing limits on gasoline prices in that state. It is under the delusion that refineries will be willing to ship them gasoline at a loss even though they can more easily sell at a profit in other states. Can you say gas lines and shortages?

Two years ago, the Federal Trade Commission issued a report on this issue, which was specifically directed at Hawaii and included this statement, "Price controls usually create shortages, reduce quality, and generate inconvenience for consumers when they are imposed in markets that could be competitive."

Nevertheless, the Public Utilities Commission placed a cap on wholesale gas prices from producers, who are out-of-state and must deliver the gasoline in tankers. The Commission expects that move will stop rises in prices at the pump, which are not capped for the retailers in the state. The order becomes effective next week. Governor Linda Lingle can repeal the gas cap if motorists start paying more for gas or if there are shortages. Why wait? Will someone rush a pen to her before too much damage is done?

This article says that Hawaii is the first state to cap gas prices. If the other states pay attention, then Hawaii will also be the last state. There are some economic lessons that I would rather read about than experience.

NCAA Folds Teepee on Indian Name Ban

This afternoon the NCAA announced that it was making an exception to its "No Indian Names Policy" for college teams and would allow Florida State University to continue using Seminoles, noting "the unique relationship between the university and the Seminole Tribe of Florida." FSU President T.K. Wetherell, in a surely unrelated decision, dropped the threat of a lawsuit against the NCAA. Wetherell, who has had contact with the other schools affected by the policy, said "I think they (NCAA) understand, there will be other requests." In related events, it is rumored that some tribal leaders are upset that the NCAA has taken back its promise to them and are calling it an "Indian Giver."

Cindy Sheehan is Losing It - Puts Publicity Over Marriage

Cindy Sheehan is losing it: first her son, then her mind, and now her husband. Her need for public attention through the harassment of President Bush is leading to the death of her marriage. Is it worth it, Cindy?

Sheehan's Husband Seeks Divorce
Bush roadside protester named in California petition filed Friday
(From The Smoking Gun with copy of divorce petition)

AUGUST 15--The next well-wisher approaching Cindy Sheehan at her tent encampment outside President George W. Bush's Texas vacation home may actually be a process server. That's because the California woman's husband--in a curious bit of timing--filed for divorce Friday afternoon. ...With Sheehan, 48, entering a second week outside Bush's Crawford retreat, her husband's divorce petition cites "irreconcilable differences" for the demise of the couple's 28-year marriage....

Do you think that the divorce petition has anything to do with that picture of President Bush kissing Cindy Sheehan at the first meeting that didn't happen? Maybe the press can blame Bush for the divorce and call for his impeachment.

You have to feel for this woman, even if she's getting exactly what she brought upon herself. It's just my opinion, but I have to think that she is mentally disturbed beyond the grief of a mother. I wonder if the left wing organizations that have been coaching her and using her will be around to help when she's alone. I wouldn't count on it. Their compassion stops with their causes.

The President will carry on, the left will continue to attack him and use people, but their pawns will be left with nothing but bitterness. If the left has an ounce of compassion, then people from that side need to start helping Cindy Sheehan and stop using her. We can hope for miracles, can't we?

Tales from the Left - We Can't Make This Stuff Up

Thanks to liberals, we don't have to make up anything crazy to report on them. They give us more material than we can use. Look at these samples:

==========

The Winner of the Distinguished Guardian of the Year for 2005 is... (envelope please) ...Michael Schiavo!

The Florida State Guardianship Association (FSGA) bestowed its Guardian of the Year Award on Schiavo for carrying out his wife's wishes not to be kept alive artificially despite a drumbeat of criticism. In a rare public appearance, Schiavo, 42, accepted the award at the association's 18th annual conference at the Doral Golf Resort & Spa. 'As you know,' he said, 'I'm not much of a speechmaker. I don't talk much. But on behalf of my wife, Theresa, I thank you.'

Great choice, huh? And, Michael, that's okay about not making a speech. Your actions speak louder than your words. And, you accepted on behalf of your wife, too! Enjoy your visit at the spa and resort and think how much Terri would have liked being there with you.

==========

In a related story...

Schiavo Seeks Extension on Deadline to Sue Caregivers

Michael Schiavo has asked a Florida court to extend the deadline for him to file lawsuits under the state's medical malpractice laws. The move indicates that Schiavo could be planning to sue some of the medical professionals who cared for his former wife, Terri Schiavo.

(Wait. I thought he didn't want her to get any care.) Anyway, I hope that any extra monetary awards that you win, Michael, will help to ease your pain.

==========

Planned Parenthood Wants Choice - "Choose to like us or choose to die."

An animated video produced for a Planned Parenthood chapter in California, advocating sexual activity by teenagers and violence against conservatives who oppose abortion, was removed from the organization's website Tuesday, but the reaction to the video itself is still pouring in. Jim Sedlak, executive director of American Life League's STOPP International, told Cybercast News Service that what the animation 'really shows is that if you don't agree with Planned Parenthood, then they want to eliminate you violently.'

The video...features a female superhero called Dianisis, presumably named after the president and CEO of PPGG, Dian J. Harrison. Dianisis travels the world fighting for 'choice.'

'It starts out with an abstinence educator who is simply trying to tell kids that if they want to avoid STDs and other problems, that they should abstain from sexual activity. Planned Parenthood's response is to drown him in a garbage can,' Sedlak said.

'Then you have pro-life protestors outside a Planned Parenthood and in the video, [Planned Parenthood] even admit[s] that these people are not violent, they are doing everything legal, but she just wishes they would go away, so she shoots them with a condom gun and blows them up,' Sedlak added.

The next scene....

There's more, and this is good. If you want to view the fun cartoon, go to the bottom of this article; or, go to The Dawn Patrol (a different one) to see pictures and comments along with another link to the clip.

Here's the kicker from the article. You're paying for this!

Sedlak called for taxpayers to cut off Planned Parenthood funds. 'People should understand that we give Planned Parenthood $265 million a year in taxpayer money. That particular affiliate in San Francisco, PPGG, gets over $9 million a year in government money -- just that one affiliate and this is what they're spending the money on; on films promoting violence.'

==========

Next...

Court Ruling Paves Way for Men to Wear Dresses to Work

The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania ruled Thursday to uphold a human relations ordinance in Allentown, Pa., which added 'sexual orientation' and 'gender identity' - a ruling a family group said paves the way for men to wear dresses to work and to shower with female coworkers.

I don't know how many men will get drunk enough to put on a dress just to gain entrance into the women's locker room, but I do know that two straight men just got married to each other under the new Canadian gay marriage law just so that they could enjoy the tax benefits--much to the consternation of the gay community.

==========

Finally...NORAD, which is charged with protecting our air spaces against terrorist attacks, took some time off and reallocated funds to see if it could be as silly as the NCAA about being PC.

Military commands drop Indian terms from exercise titles

(NORAD) at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs...struck the word 'warrior' from one major exercise and replaced it with 'phantom'....'Amalgam Chief' has been changed to 'Amalgam Arrow'...an exercise dubbed 'Amalgam Fabric Brave' is now 'Amalgam Fabric Dart.' 'Fabric Indian' was deleted in favor of 'Fabric Sabre.'

Just to make this trend clearer, consider this report:

ACLU: Effort to Marginalize Indians Succeeding

The nationwide campaign to drum American Indians out of the public square chalked up another win this week as NORAD announced it would stop using Indian names to describe its air defense exercises. This follows last week's decision by the NCAA to ban Indian mascots from its college sports tournaments.

'Naming things after Indians gives these tribal people recognition that they don't deserve,' said an unnamed spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). 'After all, we conquered them and occupied their land. Why give them the honor that comes from naming stuff after them as if they were brave, victorious warriors. They lost. Do you really want your children emulating a bunch of losers?'

In related news, the Indiana state legislature today will take up debate on a measure to change the state's name to Caucasia.

==========

See...we don't have to make jokes up about the left when they are doing it for us without even realizing it. But, as funny as they are, this entertainment comes at a price and the taxpayers pay for most of it. I'm laughing so hard that it hurts--right in the ol' pocket book.

Uncivil Civil Rights "Leaders" Want Right Voting, Not Voting Rights

Rev. Jesse Jackson led a march in Atlanta Saturday purporting to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and to launch a two-year campaign to extend the act when it expires in 2007. Judging from the speeches, it doesn't seem that they want to extend a hand of friendship or cooperation to get that done, but rather are relying on hate and threats to push what must be another agenda.

Jackson's Rainbow/PUSH Coalition sponsored the march and invited leaders from the SCLC, the NAACP, National Urban League, and the AFL-CIO. I tend to believe that the Young Republicans were not invited.

When I first saw articles about the march in the Atlanta paper, I thought that it seemed strange that, seemingly out of nowhere, there were articles about extending the act and telling people where and how they could attend activities on this. The law was passed in 1965, applying to selected states, to end barriers to the registration of black voters: such as the poll tax, literacy tests, and difficulties with courthouse access. However, it is forty years old and had been extended once to 2007 and seemed, to me, to have met its purpose of opening the voting process to blacks. The problems of that period and those places seem to have long been overcome to where the voting process is the same for everyone.

However, there are those who disagree, whether for legitimate reasons or purely political and economic ones. If the reasons are legitimate, then let's hear legitimate discourse. If the reasons are not legitimate, then we can expect to hear shrill speeches and demands from "leaders" whose economic livelihood is dependent upon maintaining division and "leaders" whose political ambitions depend upon catering to the those who can create problems and withhold votes. What I am hearing are the illegitimate (probably a sore word for Jesse Jackson) reasons and shrill outcries for continuing the law.

Here are samples from a news article of what was said at this weekend's hate fest:

"They all need to be locked up because they are all criminals and they are all thieves," said Judge Greg Mathis, the star of the syndicated television program "The Judge Mathis Show." "It is indeed criminal to steal an election and within two years run up a federal deficit of half-a-trillion dollars, send our young people over to Iraq to die for an unjust war. What they are doing is criminal," Mathis said to loud cheers. The Bush administration was equated with past policies of slavery and segregation and labeled "the enemy of our (black America's) progress" by Mathis. "They shot and missed when they enslaved, segregated and oppressed our people. They shot and missed when they stole the past two presidential elections. They shot and missed when they denied our right to vote," Mathis said.

Entertainer/activist Harry Belafonte also used charged rhetoric during the march when he referred to black members of the Bush administration as "black tyrants."

"Some changes have to be made so we don't have a repeat of 2000 and 2004 where there was intimidation and discrepancies at the polls," (Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California) told Cybercast News Service during the voting rights march.

U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) echoed the accusation of many at the march that Bush was an illegitimate president. "The last two elections were stolen. They were stolen and so we will not rest until we reclaim our democracy and this is what today is all about," Lee told the crowd gathered. Lee also called the war in Iraq "unnecessary, immoral and illegal" and added "our nation was lied to in order to justify this invasion and occupation."

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) made it clear who the marchers were directing their anger at on Saturday. "We are here to take on President Bush, [Vice President] Dick Cheney. We are here to take on [House Majority Leader] Tom DeLay. We are here to take on the new appointee to the Supreme Court, John Roberts," Waters said from the podium to cheers from the crowd. 'Cause Mother Earth so much pain'

Also, adding their criticisms of The Bush administration was Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) and Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), who said America was being ruled by the "Bush mentality."

Musician Stevie Wonder said, "Having to demand that we have a bill that will guarantee the voting rights of all American citizens forever is ridiculous." "At this time we have a choice to make. Father God is watching while we cause Mother Earth so much pain. It's such a shame. Not enough money for the young, the old, the poor, but for war there is always more," Wonder said. (Stevie, money isn't for the war. The money is to free people--the young, old, poor, and all. The war is just the tool to accomplish that freedom. P.S. I liked you on that one episode on The Cosby Show.)

"Race baiters and discriminators may go underground, but they never move out of town," Jesse Jackson said (with his special rhyming ability.)

Okay, that's enough. It's apparent that the speakers are either challenged with facts or integrity.

So, why is all of this necessary? Why all the rhetoric? What position has the Bush Administration taken to bring on all of this vile talk? Here it is:

...the Bush administration and House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) have indicated that they would support full reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act provisions in 2007....

Okay, so what's the problem of Jackson and his band? It's not the Voting Rights Act. That is a smokescreen. Bush has signed on to that. This group is after economic and political power, but in a way that is not honest and has no sincere concern for those who feel that they need leadership. What these people said and the messages they delivered do not build bridges or win civil rights goals. What they say creates and festers hate--for the selfish goals of those making the comments rather than for the people who should be helped.

This charade is not about Voting Rights. It's about Right Voting--meaning votes for the left-wing, activist, in-your-face Democrats who will prop up the civil rights pimps and shake-down artists and make idle promises to the masses. Their jobs suffer unless they can create division and distrust among the races and with our nation's leaders.

The black community, and our nation, deserve better than this so-called leadership. Improvements come with better understandings instead of hateful attacks.

The left never learns.

NCAA Drives Indians Off College Campuses

When it comes to the latest attacks by the PC crowd, especially at colleges, ...well, some things you just can't make up. I'm not going to waste my time explaining. Just read the following stories.

Here's what it's about:

NCAA bans Indian mascots, 'abusive' nicknames from postseason
AP NEWS via CBS SportsLine.com
Aug. 5, 2005

Fed up with what it considers "hostile" and "abusive" American Indian nicknames, the NCAA announced Friday it would shut those words and images out of postseason tournaments, a move that left some school officials angry and threatening legal action.

Starting in February, any school with a nickname or logo considered racially or ethnically "hostile" or "abusive" by the NCAA would be prohibited from using them in postseason events. Mascots will not be allowed to perform at tournament games, and band members and cheerleaders will also be barred from using American Indians on their uniforms beginning in 2008.

..."Certainly some things remain to be answered from today, and one of those things is the definition of what is 'hostile or abusive,"' said Tom Hardy, a spokesman at Illinois.

The NCAA did not give a clear answer on that.

Florida State University Seminole

Dennis Dodd of CBS Sportsline goes on to express his opinion....

NCAA takes a stand that isn't much of one
By Dennis Dodd
CBS SportsLine.com Senior Writer
Aug. 5, 2005

That raises the next point. If the NCAA stops at the Native American issue, then it is diminishing issues at Notre Dame, Texas A&M and Louisiana-Lafayette. I'm sure I can find 13 Irishmen somewhere that are offended by Notre Dame's nickname. For some, "Fighting Irish" might conjure a stereotype of brawling, drunk Irishmen. If the NCAA found a Seminole tribe, I'm sure I can find an Irish nationality advocacy group.

Or what about the Aggies of Texas A&M and Utah State? To many, that nickname means uneducated, rural farmers. It's a punch line at places like Texas. Or what about the Ragin' Cajuns of Louisiana-Lafayette?

If we're going to split hairs here, let's get an ax.

...Already schools like St. John's and Marquette are among the 14 schools that have changed their nicknames on their own, bowing to societal pressure, not an NCAA edict.

...I'm more concerned that five years ago, Hawaii changed from being the "Rainbow Warriors" to just "Warriors." Some school officials and athletes thought the rainbow part had a gay connotation.

You get the point. But, just so you know that we're not making this up, here is the official press release from the NCAA Executive Committee comprised of university presidents. It also has a list of the "offending" schools:

NCAA Executive Committee Issues Guidelines for Use of Native American Mascots at Championship Events
Friday, August 5, 2005

It's just a matter of time until the NCAA caves in to the PETA protesters and makes college teams stop using names like the Tigers or Bulldogs. The PC crowd doesn't even like white people as mascots, as shown when UAB was forced to drop its Viking mascot because it was "too violent."

Some people just choose to be offended. I believe in most cases, it's not that they're that sensitive or really offended, it's just that they don't have much of a life, so they want to cause problems for the establishment whom they blame for their own failings--while giving them a sense of importance and putting them in the limelight at the same time.

I think that PC represents more than Politically Correct, because, in these cases, it might mean Psychologically Challenged. Rather than spending money on changing the names of teams, take that same money and hire psychiatrists for the PC protesters. What do you think?

Did Karl Rove Tip Off "Who's Who" on Name of CIA Agent?

When Bob Novak walked away from the discussion with James Carville on CNN's Inside Politics the other night, one might have overlooked the fact that there was a book of "Who's Who in America" sitting on the discussion desk. Too bad that they never got to it. That edition from 2002 contained an entry about Democratic Ambassador Joseph Wilson and identified that his wife, with the CIA, was Valerie Plame--and that reference was in all the books from 1999 - 2005! Here's a copy of the entry from Wizbang.

If the Democratic Underground and MoveOn can act quickly, they can claim that Karl Rove is so devious that he tipped off "Who's Who" years in advance about Wilson's wife to set them up. Rove is so devious that he read the tea leaves for the future and began his dirty trick when Bill Clinton was still in office.

If I were with the Democrats, I'd consult with a fortune teller to find out what Rove is doing today to hurt Hillary Clinton in 2008. Do you think that he would expose the name of her husband?

Pettiness of The Left - Name Roads for Liberals, But Not Reagan!

Democrats and liberals in general want to rename every school and road for their heroes but go ballistic when someone suggests naming something after President Ronald Reagan, who was recently voted the Greatest American by the public. The latest fight by the left is to block the renaming of 16th Street, N.W. in our nation's capital to the new name of "Ronald Reagan Boulevard".

Here's a sample of such pettiness from the Washington Post titled A Roadblock for Reagan:

(Washington, D.C.) Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) objected, saying that renaming the historic north-south route that leads to the White House would mar the elegant street plan laid out by French engineer Pierre L'Enfant in 1791 -- and cost the city $1 million to alter maps and signs. "It's been a long time since I've heard of a plan that made so little sense," Williams said. "Changing the unique and beautifully mapped street system in Washington would mean undoing . . . a design that has inspired millions of people from around the world."

Believe me; he's not concerned about the money. The city wastes that much in incompetence and waste in three hours. Oh, but what about his concern for undoing what has "inspired millions of people from around the world" by renaming 16th Street? I can hear the outcries from Bohn and Paris. Nahhhh...I tend to think this is just another expression from the left for its hatred of Ronald Reagan and everything conservative.

Of course, we saw similar complaints with the renaming of Washington's airport in honor of President Reagan. When the proposal was made, the left complained, for the most transparent of reasons, and finally forced a compromise to where the airport would retain the old name and simply add that of the president onto it--making it Ronald Reagan National Airport. This, of course, makes it easy for Democrats to refer to the airport simply as National, which they do, so as to not recognize the purpose of the renaming, which is to honor our former president.

Following suit, the Democratic controlled D.C. Metro authority refused to change its route signs for the new name of the airport, having passed a resolution, after the renaming had been introduced, which said that the authority would not pay to correct its signs for such a situation. How convenent. You know how efficient and concerned about money the mass transit authorities can be. Anyway, I thought they might want to notify their riders about the correct names of destinations.

Now, here in my town we have renamed dozens of highways and streets after local Democratic politicians and the favored classes without obstacles from the right--only dismay every time it is done. Whenever I go to a ball game, I have to wonder how important someone named Pollard must have been for the city to rename an adjacent street after him that was previously named for Washington, our first president. On the interstate that circles our city, the east side is named for Democratic Rep. Cynthia McKinney, who gets very substantial contributions from Arab groups for her stances supporting them, even after 9-11. No problem there for the left.... Oh, yes, the west side of that road is named for her dad, former Democratic state representative Billy McKinney, who is famous for threatening to pull a knife on a colleague on the floor of the Georgia House of Representatives. Appropriately, the road takes you nowhere and just keeps you going in circles.

Why is the left so petty? I guess they're just jealous that their heroes aren't as good as those on the right. The left gets their names on roads and buildings, but they can never concede anything to conservatives. Just to get their goats, shall we propose renaming Pennsylvania Avenue after George W. Bush? We better get started now if we want it in twenty years. It may take that long for the Democrats to give up on their filibusters.

Jimmy Carter: From Hammers for Homes to Crowbars for White House

Former President Jimmy Carter spoke at an overseas church conference, and he tossed out any message about God's grace for a chance to bash the United States by misrepresenting our mission and conduct in the war on terror and by providing veiled justifications for terrorists. It's bad enough when a future President goes overseas and protests against our country, but it's worse when a former President does the same thing--because people in other countries often give great weight to his words and he sends them mixed signals. Rather than using his position to help our nation, Carter has become a cheerleader for those who don't like us.

President Carter would do well to remember the difficulty of the President's job. He should honor the tradition of former presidents with class, who avoid public criticism of the current occupant of the White House and avoid interfering with our nation's policies. Instead, in trying to rehabilitate the image of his dismal Presidency, Carter goes beyond handling hammers for the poor. He makes unofficial and unwanted visits to the dictators of Cuba and North Korea and criticizes our nation throughout all lands--acting as if that is help. This is nothing new, as he even went behind the back of President Clinton. Based upon the results of Carter's re-election bid, the voters stated that Carter had done enough. Why doesn't he get the message?

Jimmy Carter
(Left of dictator?)

Jimmy Carter has proven to be not only the worst president in recent history, but also the worst former President. And, don't tell me about him constructing homes for the poor, because it takes more than hammers to rebuild an image. At least he shouldn't take a crowbar to rip up the White House and make the job harder for others.

Demonizing AGAIN.... Damn Those Democrats

This is not a rant against all Democrats, but rather against a select few. Specifically, those that have the temerity to passive-aggressively bring up the religious beliefs of both Judge Roberts and Governor Mitt Romney of Mass. Take Teddy Kennedy (Whale, Mass.) for example

In the same article, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, brought up Romney's Mormon faith with the Atlantic interviewer. ''The question you didn't ask," Kennedy said, ''was about Mormonism, whether it would hurt him in a national campaign." [emphasis added...ed]

''The answer is no," Kennedy answered. ''We've moved on. That died with my brother Jack." [emphasis added...ed]

Oh yeah Senator, then why did you bring it up in the first place. You are JUST LIKE your little brother John Kerry who only mentioned that Mary Cheney was a lesbian. You damned flaming hypocrite, how DARE YOU, especially after Nixon's forces tried the same thing against your brother in 1960.

Alex Beam in the Boston Globe notes:

It's a fascinating question," says Alan Wolfe, director of Boston College's Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life. ''Catholics like to talk about anti-Catholicism and Jews like to complain about anti-Semitism. But a hundred years ago, Mormonism was the most hated religion in America. Since then the religion has changed dramatically. It's almost like a new business taking off -- it's a quintessential American success story."

Wolfe thinks that if Romney's ambitions take him to the 2008 Republican primaries, he's likely to be slimed by political operatives of the Karl Rove mold. ''I think there will be rumors spread about how Mitt Romney has six wives, all of them 14 years of age, stashed in a house in Utah. These rumors will be denied, but they will stick in people's minds. There is some subterranean sentiment about curious practices in Mormonism."

When Romney gave hints of running I wondered how long it would take for some Democrats to bring up his Morman faith. Wasn't long was it. Did you also notice how ole' Karl Rove got slimed too?

Some members of the left are equally trying to out Judge Roberts for being Roman Catholic because of its teachings regarding abortion. Not content to "out" that aspect of his life, they are also dragging his wife's beliefs regarding abortion into the frey. David Kirkpatrick of the New York Times engaged in a little throat cutting:

Judge Roberts's family life and religious convictions helped sell him to Christian conservatives as well. Both he and his wife, Jane Sullivan Roberts, were observant Catholics, Mr. Leo told other allies. They had joined a church in Bethesda to follow their priest, Msgr. Peter J. Vaghi, who was well known in the Washington area as an advocate of Catholic orthodoxy and opponent of abortion."

My, what a neat way of saying Mr. Leo is pro Judge Roberts, but also alerting the NARAL pro-abortion types to the coming fight.

One would hope that the infamous term "politics of personal destruction," derided by but often used by the Clinton administration, would have died a decent death by now. Guess I was wrong.

So, if you are a Democrat and can't stand these tactics (and I know that there are a bunch of you out there) Tell your folks at the DNC to knock it off.

A Doff of the GM Chapeaux to Glen Reynolds, The Instapundit

Jane Fonda: Out of Iraq or my bus runs you over! (If it doesn't run out of oil first.)

Jane Fonda, who did a stint in Viet Nam, is calling for the withdrawal of U.S. military forces from Iraq and will kick off her "anti-war movement" with a national bus tour.

In announcing her coming out, she said, "I have not taken a stand on any war since Vietnam. I carry a lot of baggage from that." (Hey, Jane. You could have dumped some of that baggage had you ever admitted that you were wrong and actually apologized. We are a forgiving people for those who are truly sorry.)

However, for this new bus tour, I have some questions for Ms. Fonda:

1. Will your bus come equipped with an anti-aircraft gun for photo-ops?
2. While your bus will run on vegetable oil, wouldn't it be cheaper to burn a fuel that you produce in great quantities -- Bull &%!+ ?
3. Will John Kerry get out and help you push the bus when it runs out of fuel, and could we face a new oil war--one against the farmers for vegetable oil?
4. Also, will John Kerry be helping your movement by conducting secret negotiations with Sadam Hussein?
5. Since the enemy beheads POWs, how will you be able to betray them?
6. Can we look forward to an appendix to your book "My Life So Far" or will you just tell us to re-read it from the beginning since you're repeating history?
7. Will your bus make it over the water to Baghdad and will Ted Kennedy be available to drive that leg?
8. Please, please...once you leave Atlanta on this tour, will you stay gone for good...and take the run-away-bride with you?

Readers, please help Jane Fonda plan her trip and tell her where to go.

This Day in History - Ted Kennedy Swims the Channel !

In 1969 on this night, Ted Kennedy made Mary Jo Kopechne a famous person--by killing her. Then, he tried to cover up his deed by swimming across a channel and concocting a story about why he left the girl to drown--even though help and telephones were nearby.

John Farrar, the rescue diver who examined the Chappaquiddick accident scene, was convinced that Mary Jo Kopechne had not only survived the crash, but had also lived for some time by breathing a pocket of trapped air. Farrar did not believe that she had drowned, but instead had died by asphyxiation as the oxygen in the air she was breathing was used up and replaced with carbon dioxide. "She was alive, easily an hour, maybe two," he said.

Then, Ted Kennedy engaged in lies and cover-ups to save his skin. Why not? It was too late for her, and he was a Democratic U.S. Senator and the darling of liberals. (At least Democrats today make women famous by just ruining their reputations.)

So, the next time that Ted Kennedy starts lecturing the President and this country on integrity, just remember this dark and dishonest part of his past. And maybe, to make everyone feel good, the left can light a candle for Mary Jo tonight.

Don't Drink And Drive

More information and pictures are available at "Y Ted K.com"

Reminder thanks to Grouchy Old Cripple in Atlanta

Why the Left Can't Learn...or How an unruly class treats substitute teachers

You may have heard educational concerns such as "No student left behind" or "Why Johnny can't read." I have a similar concern for the Left and express that as "Why the Left can't learn". I am trying to understand why many, if not most, people on the left cannot accept other views and learn something new. Not only do they not accept other views, their attitudes seem to be hate and disdain for anyone who doesn't agree with them.

At first, I was going to title this "Why the Left Hates the Right," and if you have debated someone from the left or watched television square-offs between the sides, I think that you understand why that title might be appropriate. But, let's not list offenses. Let it suffice that contentious communication is costly to individuals and to the nation. My interest, rather, is to understand people from the left and to determine why they act as they do. In short, why can't the left learn?

With that background, here are my observations on learning, and I humbly offer these to the left to help them--and, to the right to understand the left.

What does learning demand?

1. Learning demands that you listen rather than drown out others. Drowning out commencement speakers, disrupting the President's speech, and engaging in constant and annoying group chants makes it impossible for you to listen. I've heard it said that God gave us two ears but only one mouth, and that we should use them accordingly.
2. Learning demands that you debate issues rather than call people names. Saying "you're a lying moron" is not a good response in debates. Adding the F-word to that does not improve the response, and that gets you an F from me for your debate grade. Good debate requires good manners, and you can't learn if you treat the other side like an unruly class does a substitute teacher.
3. Learning demands that you break from the herd instincts that limit exploration of alternatives. Being in a herd is like being on a dog team--unless you're the leader, the view never changes. Try to be an individual rather than just group member expected to conform. Expand your frame of thinking.
4. Learning demands accepting and analyzing facts. Don't ignore facts. Also, check the facts, as too many people are willing to tell give you just enough information to get you on their side--the wrong side.
5. Learning demands honesty. When you lie, you may fool some but you have moved the discussion from the real issue to one of your credibility--resulting in no agreement. Honesty is also saying what is correct rather than what you think others want to hear or what is acceptable to a group with speech codes.
6. Learning demands civil discourse and does not require profanity. A good argument does not need supplementing with foul language.
7. Learning demands not jumping to conclusions. There is a reason that the term "knee-jerk liberal" came into use. Don't go there. Before you accuse or act: calm down, think rationally, gather all the facts, be analytical, and make a reasoned and informed decision. If you need more time, you have my permission to wait.
8. Learning demands courage. Have the courage to discuss all points of view, to allow others to express their views without judgment, and to avoid the political-correctness trap. Have the courage to say what you know despite what your "friends" think. It's okay to call mass murderers by the name terrorists rather than merely bomber.
9. Learning demands that you form or accept supportable conclusions rather than resort to emotional demands. That only works when my wife needs something fixed around the house.
10. Learning demands...a number ten. What? Well, there isn't a number ten. I'm leaving this for you to complete. This post is an attempt to understand and explain a problem. It is not a final report, and it can use your input. Can you explain the left and give a point to help in our communication with them? We welcome views from all sides!

Don't go there yet, but I have a Continuation Link at the bottom with additional information. First, there is a comment that I wrote to members of the left at a site in which they had gotten out of control in their attacks against individuals of the right. You can view it and guess how they responded. The second part contains links to articles and comments that others have made on this subject. It makes for interesting reading.

The subject of how a liberal thinks and learns is complex, and I'm going to look around and see if I can find someone trained in mental health issues to explain it more to me. (G.M.?) I said that this was about learning, and I'm trying to learn myself. In fact, I think that dealing with liberals has taught me a lot--especially patience. But, this is an intellectual pursuit and I'm not trying to bash anyone.

However, I'm so concerned about people on the left that I'm thinking about starting a new program--"No liberal left behind".

Continue reading "Why the Left Can't Learn...or How an unruly class treats substitute teachers"

No Bias Here? - Downing Street Memos "Fake but Accurate"

Our friends on the left have adopted and defended new tactics to attack the President--and they continue to do so with more "fake but accurate" memos on the Iraq War. I bet this comes as a big shock.

Here's more about this from "Captain's Quarters."

The media and the Leftists have had a field day with the Downing Street memos that they claim imply that the Bush administration lied about the intelligence on WMD in order to justify the attack on Iraq. Despite the fact that none of the memos actually say that, none of them quote any officials or any documents, and that the text of the memos show that the British government worried about the deployment of WMD by Saddam against Coalition troops, Kuwait and/or Israel, the meme continues to survive.

Until tonight, however, no one questioned the authenticity of the documents provided by the Times of London. That has now changed, as Times reporter Michael Smith admitted that the memos he used are not originals, but retyped copies (via LGF and CQ reader Sapper): [Also Associated Press]

The eight memos � all labeled "secret" or "confidential" � were first obtained by British reporter Michael Smith, who has written about them in The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Times. Smith told AP he protected the identity of the source he had obtained the documents from by typing copies of them on plain paper and destroying the originals.

How unfortunate that the very memos that were supposed to prove that "Bush lied" were destroyed by the person indicting him. Do you know what? To the Bush haters, this new information will not make one little difference.

If Bush is lying then why does the press have to manufacture documents to that effect rather than produce authentic ones from the volumes that they believe exist? To me, it's just another nail in the coffin of the credibility of mass media. That doesn't make me happy, either; but, it does open the door to journalists who value accuracy and ethics. I hope more turn up--and soon.

More Outrage on Gitmo Torture - Read at Own Risk

The left is going to have a field day now. TIME magazine has uncovered, yet, the absolute worst documented torture and abuse of the detainees by the U.S. in the Gitmo Camp at Guantanamo Bay. In its issue to come out Monday, TIME reveals that it obtained a secret 84-page interrogation log which supports Amnesty International with its comparisons of the camp to Stalin's gulags and President Carter's demand to shut it down. This could mean a major shakeup with the Secretary of Defense and a huge setback for even the President.

I'll share this with you, but be aware that this is shocking and that, if you have an uneasy stomach for this type of information, do not read any further. Okay, I warned you, so you continue at your own risk.
.
.
Here is the horrible news of torture as we pick up in the middle of TIME's article (emphasis mine):

After the new measures are approved, the mood in al-Qahtani’s interrogation booth changes dramatically. The interrogation sessions lengthen. The quizzing now starts at midnight, and when Detainee 063 dozes off, interrogators rouse him by dripping water on his head or playing Christina Aguilera music.

Oh, the humanity! The next thing you know they'll be forcing the prisoners to listen to those awful Indian rock videos or watching films by Michael Moore. Worse, they could turn on Al Franken and Air America. Where will it end!?

Even this is something that I cannot defend. How can the United Nations sit by and allow this? Sure they overlook genocide and torture and slavery and starvations and civil wars and corruption--but, this is different! What is the U.S. going to do about it? What are YOU going to do about it? I've said my peace.

Now, that I've gotten this off of my chest, I will take the next logical step to express my concern--I'm going back to watch the Braves game.

Carnival of the Clueless

Hey folks, especially you folks on the far left (Jim, this excludes you) want to read what most of America thinks? A new carnival is coming up, the Carnival of the Clueless at Rick Moran's Right Wing Nuthouse. Go, read, enjoy, comment, convert Rick to the Dark Side... you can do it... go on.... heh!

Full Disclosure: Can't type worth a damn, news corrected to Nuthouse... other than that.... all is well!

"Deep Throat" Identified - G.M. Roper Cleared

In a surprise announcement, it was revealed that the Woodward & Bernstein source for Watergate and Nixon was not G.M. Roper. This ends years of speculation and denial from a nondescript mental health counselor and university instructor--formerly accused of being the behind the scenes political operative that brought down the Nixon White House.

After hearing the news, Roper said,

This is a weight off of my shoulders. Sure I had issues with Nixon, like the time he put in the wage freeze right before my 90-day performance review, but I remained loyal. My main beef was with Nixon's pal Bebe Rebozo, who tried to protect his friend by fingering me for breaking into the office of the psychiatrist treating Nixon enemy Daniel Ellsberg, when I was really only working on my Master's thesis covering the psychological trauma from certain military service. Then Nixon's buddy and campaign contributor Robert Vesco hid over $200 million in a bank in the Caribbean, and I was supposed to get some of that to help this guy in Nigeria get his dead uncle's millions out of that country. I understand that he is now contacting others for that purpose--cutting me out of the deal. My recent trip to the islands to find Vesco's loot still came up empty, and Castro won't let me into Cuba to see him. Other than those things, there was no reason for me to create a constitutional crisis. The country was running fine.

GM continued in an "off-the-record" remark,

People only think this Felt guy is the real Deep Throat. I mean, isn't that a little hard to swallow?

In his ever helpful way, Roper referred the reporters to G. Gordon Liddy, whom he claimed to have never met despite photographs of them together in a Texas bar, where they were detained for groping the buttocks of the waitresses. To deflect attention from himself, Roper tried to drag in a totally innocent person by saying, "If you ask me, you need to follow the trail to Woody. He's the one who met Nixon."

An anonymous source revealed that conspiracy theorists (to maintain their anonymity we'll call them steve and reg) think this announcement may be planned to get investigative reporters off the trail of Roper. Because there is no evidence of Roper being the real Deep Throat, they took a page from former Speaker Tom Foley who, in investigating a non-existent October surprise by Ronald Reagan and George Bush, issued a release stating that Congress needed to investigate precisely because there wasn't any evidence to substantiate the allegation. However, most wackos are going to move on.

The family of Felt has come out calling him a hero and letting him bask in the media glory. A family spokesman said,

Our relative took brave actions. He broke the law by releasing information from confidential FBI files and by failing to report possible crimes to a prosecutor. Because of him, Gerald Ford became President and it boosted the career of Chevy Chase, who then had a new falling-down act. Also, it set the stage for Jimmy Carter to become President--teaching Americans toughness and patience with double digit inflation, interest rates, and unemployment--not to mention teaching them humility by allowing our embassy personnel to be held captive in Iran for 444 days, which also launched ABC's Nightline with Ted Koppel.

If there's a lesson here, it's this--if you break the law, wait until you're in your nineties to confess so that if they sentence you to life in prison then you get a big laugh.

With that, the proud, but laughing, family members elbowed each other in the ribs and retired into the house to share the watermelon and beer sent courtesy of the Washington Post.
________________

As the story actually unfolded, a report by Vanity Fair revealed that the secret source for the Washington Post was W. Mark Felt, former assistant director of the FBI during the Nixon administration. Not said, but certainly can be assumed, is that Felt, who "felt" (ha ha) that he deserved to be Director of the FBI after Hoover, took exception to Nixon passing over him and selecting an outsider for that position--so, why not get revenge by undermining the leader of your country?

Word from the world of mass media has people praising Felt and calling on others to follow his example. In today's Huffington Post, Arianna (associated with illegal immigration hiring practices) writes:

Like the rest of the journalistic world, the Huffington Post is buzzing over the revelation of Deep Throat’s identity -- including posts from Nora Ephron, Paul Krassner, Harry Shearer, Bill Diamond and Rep. John Conyers, who hopes that Mark Felt’s example will inspire current Washington insiders to similar acts of courage and patriotism.

Now, I don't know about you, but I think it's a little strange that a currently serving member of the House of Representatives, Rep. John Conyers, is calling for other Americans to break the law. Of course, it's for a good cause--his. In his post, he wrote:

I am thrilled that Mark Felt came forward today to teach this generation a thing or two about responsibility and accountability.

Really?

So, the next time you see or suspect a crime being committed, don't call the police or report it. Take matters into your own hands. Cause pain to the perpetrator or, at least, pay him back on the sly when you can. The media will love you for it.

Note: Some of the above is a parody. We expect you to be able to tell what part is and what part is not. Any use of names and descriptions of their actions is purely in fun and is not meant to represent anything that actually happened. Isn't it a shame that I have to write this so that people don't get upset or offended?

Why I Watch Fox News

Have you ever considered the beauty of liberal women compared to conservative women? Do you think I watch FOX News for its editorial content?

reg brought to my attention a comparison poster at Six Meat Buffet. Until GM returns and shows me how to post a picture, please refer to the originating site or this link to a larger image of this FUN POSTER!

(Thank you, reg.)

Bush Newsweek Lied - People Died (Updated)

Good grief. Newsweek magazine, in just another pathetic attempt to discredit our administration, went too far this time. It published a false report about actions of U.S. military investigators causing riots in the Muslim world resulting in 16 deaths and more than 100 injuries. But, everything is okay. Once its mistake was pointed out, Newsweek's editor said that he was sorry--well, sort of.

Here is a link to the ARTICLE just released Sunday night, and this is how it begins:

By David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Newsweek magazine said on Sunday it erred in a May 9 report that U.S. interrogators desecrated the Koran at Guantanamo Bay, and apologized to the victims of deadly Muslim protests sparked by the article. Editor Mark Whitaker said the magazine inaccurately reported that U.S. military investigators had confirmed that personnel at the detention facility in Cuba had flushed the Muslim holy book down the toilet.

The report sparked angry and violent protests across the Muslim world from Afghanistan, where 16 were killed and more than 100 injured, to Pakistan to Indonesia to Gaza. In the past week it was condemned in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Malaysia and by the Arab League.

On Sunday, Afghan Muslim clerics threatened to call for a holy war against the United States.

Oh yeah, I didn't mention that this also created calls for a holy war against our country. That, too.

But, the "Newsweak" editor went on to say:

We're not saying it absolutely happened but we can't say that it absolutely didn't happen either.

Judging from that, we can now presume that Dan Rather is helping Newsweek with its damage control. At least when Dan Rather fabricated tales, the only thing that died was his career and CBS News.

For additional information, here is another just released story on this matter: REPORT

Newsweek was very irresponsible and people died as a result. Furthermore, it stirred up more hate against the U.S. Retractions and apologies won't correct that damage. It's like trying to get back feathers scattered in the wind.

Also, don't expect the editor of Newsweek to attend any services for those who died--as was demanded of the President for our soldiers killed in action. That demand was just posturing for them.

And, don't expect a change in the way the media handles reports against this administration and our country in the future. It's more important for them to be the first with the stories than to take the time to get them right--especially if the news hurts the administration and insults our nation. The phony sophisticates of the media just don't think that the U.S. is a good world citizen (according to its definition,) and they want everyone to know.

I have often criticized the mass media in this country for its lack of professionalism and ethics. For that, I have heard outcries that my views were wrong and that the media is just doing its job when it is aggressive against those in power. Well, fine. Do you job, but get it right and get it right the first time. Oh yeah...when a national Code of Ethics is developed to guide journalists, will someone let me know--and let them know, too.

Now that would be news.

=============================

UPDATE - New Survey Finds Huge Gap Between Press and Public on Many Issues

How timely. An article in "Editor & Publisher," covering the newspaper industry, reviews this SURVEY:

•Six in ten among the public feel the media show bias in reporting the news. • More than 7 in 10 journalists believe the media does a good or excellent job on accuracy--but only 4 in 10 among the public feel that way. • 53% of the public think stories with unnamed sources should not be published at all. • Asked who they voted for in the past election, the journalists reported picking Kerry over Bush by 68% to 25%. • 75% (of journalists) say bloggers are not real journalists because they don't adhere to "commonly held ethical standards."

I especially like that last finding. Do 75% of journalists adhere to "commonly held ethical standards" themselves? What are"commonly held ethical standards" for the media. Is that like selective morality?

Hey, I report. You decide.

Even Pray for the Left

President Bush has declared today, May 5th, 2005, as National Day of Prayer.

Of course, you wouldn't know about that if you read only liberal sites: where they despise government leaders who express religious beliefs, despise the Pope for how he leads the Catholics, despise Christians claiming that they threaten Jews, despise the Jews and Israel for resisting Islamic terrorists--but, they don't despise the Islamic terrorists who hate everyone. Well, at least liberals don’t say so, because they're tolerant! But, don’t dwell on that because we’ll give you this information.

Instead, consider taking a moment now to take part in this National Day of Prayer to give thanks for the undeserved blessings that God grants to us and to our nation. Every day is a good day to do this, but today it is especially appropriate.

The NDP Chairman, Shirley Dobson, offered this guidance:

…the responsibility of prayer extends beyond our personal lives. The National Day of Prayer also affords us the privilege of interceding on behalf of our nation, asking God to forgive our collective rebellion against Him. We can also pray for our schools, the media, and especially our governmental leaders, asking the Lord to grant them wisdom and yes, grace, for the challenges they face on a daily basis. How encouraging to know that our loving Heavenly Father listens and responds to our personal and corporate petitions, enabling us to "receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need!"

Do it now--not later, because you might get busy. And...pass this along to your friends. It can be important for you and for your country.

And, I might add, even pray for the left. (God didn't say that everything would be easy.)

Have a good rest of the day!

A Conservative's Look At The Left: A brief History of Agnes Smedley

This is the first entry in which I hope will be a long series on the people of the left, a fascinating if often a "wrong-headed" group. I hope you will come back often to take a look at the series, argue with my evidence if you wish, but take a realistic and honest look at the denizens of the left, the Stalinists to the true liberal/progressive, because that may increase understanding and with understanding comes cooperation where cooperation is desirable be you from the left, center or right.

A caveat: This is not to say that anyone on the left is part of a unified bloc. There are democratic leftist who utterly reject the stalinists, and there were/are democratic rightleaning folk who reject utterly the fascistic right. As my friend Marc Cooper (who I have previously identified as the Last Honest Progressive In America- here) states in a private email to me:

"There is no more of a unified left than there is a unified right. Agnes Smedley and other totalitarian stalinists are soundly rejected by entire sections of a more democratic left. just as you would reject all those nice free-market conservatives who served in General Pinochet's cabinet or the conservatives who were fellow travelers with Mussolini (and Hitler for that matter).

"I think, instead, there are people who have a genuine committment to democractic society and others who do not. I think it wrong to assume that either Left or Right has any more or less of either category... there is nothing inherently more or less democratic about either stance. Both the free market and sociaism share profoundly humanitarian and misanthropic acolytes. The world is rife with authoritarians and totalitarians of both stripes."

From the Oxford Concise Dictionary of Politics by Iain McKean and Alistair McMillan:

"What it is to be 'left(-wing)' varies so much over space or time, that a definition is very difficult, but the following issue orientations would normally be involved: egalitarianism, support for the (organized) working class, support for nationalization of industry, hostility to marks of hierarchy, opposition to nationalistic foreign or defense policy. 'Left' is used to distinguish positions within parties as well as among them. A left-wing socialist is one who takes extreme positions on (some of) the items on this list. Left-wing communism (described by *Lenin in a pamphlet of 1920 as 'an infantile disorder') may well be cynically defined as all forms of communism not supported by the prevailing leadership of the Communist Party. However, in the 1920s and 1930s, left-wing deviation meant encouraging revolution among the people without caring sufficiently about the leading role of the Party; right-wing deviation meant too much support for *NEP and the market."

Agnes Smedley, described in Nova Online was

"...a triple agent who worked for the Soviets, the Chinese Communists, and the Indian nationalists, was one of the most prolific female spies of the 20th century. Unlike most agents of the day, who were reasonably erudite, Smedley lacked a formal education and came from a poor, undistinguished family."

She began life in 1892 (some have it 1890) in Mo., the daughter of a laborer and homemaker. Her father deserted the family when she was 14 and her mother died of a ruptured appendix when she was about 17. She was forced to take care of her siblings, rather than continue working as a teacher in New Mexico where she had moved after passing New Mexico's teacher examination (in those days, a college degree was not necessary to become a teacher.)

Smedley married in 1912 and followed her husband to San Diego, Ca. where she entered a teachers college. Smedley was fired following joining of the Socialist Party of America. Deciding that divorce was in her better interests, she and her husband divorced and she moved to New York where she became involved in East Indian radicalism and the movement to force the English from India.

Smedley spent a brief time in jail following an arrest for distributing birth control pamphlets and had been indicted for fraud having mis-represented some Indian Nationalists as bona-fide representatives of an Indian "government in exile mission."

Smedley was held briefly, returned to New York where she began agitating again in the more radical fringes finally signing up as a stewardess on a Polish freighter. Arriving in Gdansk, she jumped ship, went to Berlin and soon joined up with Virendranath Chatto-padhyaya, an Indian nationalist and international Communist agitator. This and more can be obtained from Dr. Dennis Casey of the Air Intelligence Command in San Antonio's Lackland Air Force Base.

Smedley had a long history of radical leftist intrigues in China. during the pre-war years in China, she worked as an advisor for General "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell, a position in which she was able to help Mao Zedong by arguing for the sending of weapons from the American Arsenal to the Communists. Stilwell concurred in that he felt those weapons would be used against the communists. The Weekly Standard also has a good article on Smedley titled "An American Abroad
Agnes Smedley and the world of communism" by Harvey Klehr noting, among other things:

"But now Ruth Price's The Lives of Agnes Smedley--a biography based on astonishingly thorough research in newly available Chinese, Russian, British, and American archives--demonstrates just how wide a swath Smedley cut through the radical movements of several continents and how deeply she was enmeshed in Soviet espionage activities.

Price succeeds in bringing to life an irritable, self-contradictory radical who managed to annoy and infuriate almost everyone with whom she worked. A product of a gritty working-class family, she retained for her entire life a steely contempt for middle-class radicals. A militant feminist, she endured years of abuse from her lover. An unrepentant individualist, she tried unsuccessfully to join several Communist parties. An eager recruit for the Soviet intelligence services, she blithely ignored their orders."

While in China, she became an associates of Richard Sorge, a Russian Spy who though originally based in China, was relocated to Japan where he spied for Russia. Smedley assisted in that effort, until Sorge was caught by the Japanese and hanged as a spy.

Following the war, Smedley was denounced as a communist spy by none other than General Douglas MacArthur. Returning to the US, she was "outed" as a person of interest to the FBI by the Chicago Tribune. A charge Smedley denied and the FBI did not take up for a number of years. When she was about ready to be subpoenaed by HUAC she left for England where she died in 1953 (some have it in 1950.) Her Ashes were sent to China for burial.

Several facts about Smedley are important. One, she was absolutely an Anti-Stalinist according to some, thouroughly stalinist according to others and indeed she knowingly helped Sorge, a Russian Spy. Two, she was caught up in the effort to lambaste Tail Gunner Joe McCarthy after HUAC "denounced" a number of probably innocent Hollywood types. Smedley organized and participated in the denouncing of HUAC and in the support of those individuals "outed" by HUAC. This is not to say that the folk from Hollywood were not communists, but the way the United States beat communism was in the marketplace of ideas and in the value of a capitalistic system.

Smedley was a spy, in fact, we now know that she was at various times a spy for Russia, China and the Nationalists in India. As the promo for Ruth Price's "The Lives of Agnes Smedley" notes:

"Her friends included such figures as Margaret Sanger, Langston Hughes, Emma Goldman, Jawaharlal Nehru, Mao Zedong, and many others. Perhaps most important, Price uncovers an astonishing truth: Smedley, long thought to be the unfair target of a Cold War smear campaign, was indeed guilty of the espionage charges leveled against her by General Douglas MacArthur and others. Smedley worked to foment armed revolution in India and gathered intelligence for the Soviet Union, seeing it as a bulwark against fascism. Price argues that Smedley acted out of a passionate idealism and that she exhibited a courage and compassion worthy of a renewed, if more complicated, admiration today."

So, was she a heroine of "passionate idealism? Probably. Did she exhibit a courage and compassion worthy of a renewed admiration today? Probably not, given the abject horrors the communists pounded humanity with. Was she an interesting character? You bet! Given a better understanding of the left and its permutations (the radical left to it's mirror image radical right) we are much more likely to know when to listen, and when to guard our wallets and our safety.