Voting Photos from Baghdad.
Iraqi The Model has stuff too.
JeffG has the world's headlines and blurbs on the vote. Interesting to see the different takes.
It seems the terrorists didn't do much considering. I am amazed by the high voter turnout. People risking their lives to vote. I am impressed.
Not much blogging this weekend. Kind of busy. Keep checking back though!!!
Saturday, October 15, 2005
Historic Vote.
Friday, October 14, 2005
A serious look at Harriet Miers...
Ok, not really. But this post does about as much good as the rest on the blogosphere and it's a lot funnier.
h/t Cotillion e-mails
More Michael.
Michael Yon is back in Iraq and he caught up with Dr. Farid Ayar, the spokesman for the Higher Independent Electoral Commission, and one of its eight commissioners. I want to point out that this man literally puts his life on the line every day. The terrorists would love nothing more than him dead. Here is what Michael wrote about their brief meeting regarding the historic elections tomorrow in Iraq:
"Dr. Ayar expressed confidence in the upcoming referendum, saying that with 30,000 polling stations, and many Arab Sunnis having agreed to vote, turnout was expected to be strong. He said the Sunnis have several problems with the Constitution as proposed. They do not accept Federalism, and they want to see a statement in the Constitution denoting Iraq as an Arab country. They are also against wording stipulating Former Regime Ministers are not allowed to share power in the new government. Yet, despite their ongoing differences, he pointed out, most Sunnis have agreed to vote.According to Dr. Ayar, there are 15.5 million eligible voters, and the commission expects about 11 million of them to vote, saying this would be an even better turnout than the January election results. The number seemed optimistic, but Dr. Ayar said that with a high Arab Sunni turnout, it might actually happen."
I don't think most Americans realize the scope and importance of these elections. It is an amazing thing. Truly. The Iraqi forces will be in charge this time. Our forces will be there for backup. It is an important test for the Iraqi forces I think.
There is no doubt that terrorists will do anything they can to disrupt these elections. No matter how one feels about the war, I think we all hope that these elections happen and that no one is killed or harmed.
This is big and this is dangerous. Take a moment and offer up a prayer if you can.
Thursday, October 13, 2005
Terrorist Attack in Russia
MOSCOW - (KRT) - Militants unleashed a deadly wave of attacks on the city of Nalchik in Russia's restive North Caucasus region Thursday, commandeering police stations and taking hostages in a coordinated siege that killed at least 85 people.
Gateway Pundit has all the updates with pictures.
via Ace
Awww...look at the cute lil dolly......
Yeah. right. Check out the picture and read up on a slice of the good news in Iraq.
Sad.
This from Miss Mabrouk of Egypt:
In Egypt, 94 percent of women thought it was acceptable to be beaten, as did 91 percent in Zambia. In Ethiopia between 94 and 91 percent of women between 15 and 49 years have been beaten and believe wife-beating is justified for at least one reason. As many as 70 per cent of married women in India between the age of 15 and 49 are victims of beating, rape or coerced sex. In Australia, Canada, Israel, South Africa and the United States, 40-70 percent of female murder victims were killed by their partners
I can't IMAGINE 94% (!) of women ANYWHERE would think that being beaten is ACCEPTABLE!
If there is one thing this war in the Middle East has opened my eyes to, it is the animal like treatment of women around this world. I remember years ago hearing Jay Leno's wife give a passioned speech on women's rights in these countries. (it has long been a cause of hers) But I never imagined the scope of the problem. Is it any wonder these women feel powerless in these countries?
When Karen Hughes recently went to Saudi Arabia she was told by the women there (who were supposedly more progressive) that they felt no need to drive or vote and such. Well, I suppose I would say that too if I knew a fist was waiting for me back home.
Disgraceful. Can these winds of change in the Middle East change any of this?
God. I hope so.
h/t Jeff
Matt Forge at LST as this take on PETA:
"I came up with this idea whilst perusing the PETA website. It’s funny how they condemn humans doing the very thing animals "naturally" do to each other.
There are five other illustrations/slogans available on CafePress. My personal favorite is "No Taunt!".
A Telling Letter.
The letter from Al-Zarqawi to Al-Zarahiri makes one thing clear. American military leaving Iraq will not end the bloodshed or the desire of Al-Zarqawi to rule with his perverted Islamic faith.
"And it is that the mujahedeen must not have their mission end with the expulsion of the Americans from Iraq, and then lay down their weapons, and silence the fighting zeal. We will return to having the secularists and traitors holding sway over us. Instead, their ongoing mission is to establish an Islamic State, and defend it, and for every generation to hand over the banner to the one after it until the Hour of Resurrection."
via MSNBC (full letter)
It is clear that we simply cannot tuck tail and run. We must finish this fight.
Convenient Suicide
The Syrian Interior Minister has apparently killed himself in his Damascus office, days before a UN report on the assassination of a senior Lebanese politician.
Ghazi Kanaan, 63, was the head of Syria's military intelligence in Lebanon between 1982 and 2003 and had enormous influence over the running of Syria's small neighbouring country. He was promoted to the job of Interior Minister a year ago.His death comes not long after a UN team investigating the assassination of Rafiq Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister, interviewed Kanaan and a number of Syrian figures. The UN report is due out in two weeks' time.
The car bombing of Hariri in Beirut on February 14 led to a popular uprising in Lebanon, nicknamed the Cedar Revolution, as many Lebanese protested about Syria's stranglehold over its internal politics.
Hariri, a billionaire businessman, was an opponent of the extent of Syrian influence in government. Thanks to the protests and international pressure, Syria withdrew its troops from Lebanon in April for the first time since the end of the civil war.
Hours before he died, Kenaan contacted a Lebanese radio station and gave it a statement defending Syria's role in the Lebanon. He ended with the words: "I believe this is the last statement that I could make." He asked the interviewer to pass his comments to other broadcast media.
Syria and its allies in Lebanon have been blamed by many for masterminding the Hariri murder, something Damascus has denied.
In June, the US Government froze KanaanÂ’s assets for his alleged involvement in corruption and support for terrorism.
via The Jawa Report
It seems no one is really buying the "suicide" story. Geeze. Sometimes I feel like we are all just watching a really long James Bond movie.
But Mommeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!
I want to play airport security!
Seriously, could that be any more stupid?
via the Buzzmachine
Twilight Zone Time.
"The West Wing has tapped veteran newsman Forrest Sawyer to moderate Nov. 6's "live presidential debate" between candidates Jimmy Smits and Alan Alda," the NY Post says."
via mediabistro
We have crossed over. We are through the looking glass. Fake anchors and real anchors, there is no difference anymore.
A Love Story.
One beautiful day a moonbat met a wingnut in the park.
They were very attracted to each other so they started dating.
Soon, though, the moonbat discovered that the wingnut was a wingnut and the wingnut discovered the moonbat was a moonbat.
And they argued and fought and yelled and screamed.
Then one day they decided to stop calling names and sit down and discuss things in a calm rational manner. And they didn't fight anymore.
So they got married and soon had a baby and they named that baby..............blog.
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
Keep Voting!
If you haven't voted in the King of The Cotillion contest. Go over to my sidebar and do so!
Where Is Dick Cheney?
I was reading on some lefty blogs that were wondering where Dick Cheney has been lately. There is a rumor going around lefty blogs that Cheney and Bush have had a falling out. Then I read at NRO that Cheney was suppose to come the National Review's 50th anniversary party. They were wondering where Cheney was as well.
Now, I know Cheney got out of the hospital at the end of September after he underwent surgery to treat aneurysms behind both knees. They implanted tubes to help blood flow. Has anyone seen him since then? I am wondering if he is having complications. Wouldn't the press be on that?
Just bloggercurious.
Look! It's Former Prostitute Barbie! Oops! I mean My Scene Bling Bling Barbie Doll, but that's just marketing. via NRO
But First, Do No Harm.
The Supreme Court took up the case of assisted suicide last week in Gonzales v. Oregon. Read this article and tell me if you are as horrified as I am that we are even considering this. I find it funny in a creepy way how the law states the patient must ask a Doctor to kill him THREE times, like some macrabre Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz trying to get home to Kansas.
Asking Doctors to kill terminally ill patients is so wrong on so many levels. Not only going against what Doctors are there to do, but opening the door to so many ways to push elderly bothersome relatives out the door, so to speak.
"Now remember Grandma, ask him THREE times, ok? Today, tomorrow, and the next day. This hospitalization is killing us here. Think of your family."
Does anyone reading this think that wouldn't happen? Of course it would. Especially if there is ANY money involved. Just like in all end of life issues (including abortion) it tears apart the natural bond between those that love each other.
I have seen wonderful hospice situations. I know wonderful doesn't sound like the right word. But when a loved one is being looked after and cared for by someone who loves them, and then the time comes when they are about to die, there is something soothing there that gives the person who is left behind some comfort in the knowledge that they gave love in the end. That that was their last and most precious gift to that person. I am convinced that it helps the one left behind to move forward and accept the death.
To ask a Doctor to kill the patient is not giving love, it is giving up. Which is easy to do and we have gotten use to doing that in this society. We don't see the value in sacrifice. We don't see the value in what helping someone to die naturally gives to us. We only think of the easy way out.
No one wants their loved one (or themselves) in pain. I have talked to many nurses in the hospice field and they tell me that all pain can be managed. Sometimes towards the end, in order to manage the pain, the pain medicine does put one in a deep sleep. But the nurse knows when this will happen, so the family can say goodbye before the sleep happens. I realize that seems like semantics. What is the difference in the deep sleep that is followed by death and the forced death? One is a natural death, even though medicated for pain, and the other is a deliberate killing that both the patient and the doctor and the family are aware of. Not to keep bringing abortion into it, but it is like the difference between an abortion and a miscarriage.
Just as in assisted suicide, one breaks a precious bond and the other brings us natural grief.
I don't know if assisted suicide will become legal in this case, but I know that it will happen in my lifetime. I have always said it was a matter of time. There are simply not enough of us to fight those who see the value of human life only in terms of their own convience.
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Anti-American? You decide.
I had a commenter ask me for some anti-American quotes from celebrities. I don't really listen or focus on celebrities so, believe it or not, I had not read most of these quotes. I picked out my "favorites" and I have to say I was pretty appalled. I thought you might enjoy seeing them together and you decide if they sound "un-American." I didn't even post the quotes slamming just Bush (except maybe the quote from Julia Roberts & Michael Moore) since you can certainly do that in a free country, but that was pretty appalling as well.
1)"“For example, new rule: No more whining about the French. At least they're standing up to the Bush administration, which is more than I can say for the Democrats! And, by the way, it doesn't make me un-American to say I'd rather live in Paris than in places where cheese only comes in individually-wrapped slices."--Bill Mahr
link:http://www.mrc.org/cyberalerts/2003/cyb20030224.asp#3
2)"I would like to apologize for referring to George W. Bush as a 'deserter.' What I meant to say is that George W. Bush is a deserter, an election thief, a drunk driver, a WMD liar, and a functional illiterate. And he poops his pants"-Michael Moore
* The motivation for war is simple. The U.S. government started the war with Iraq in order to make it easy for U.S. corporations to do business in other countries. They intend to use cheap labor in those countries, which will make Americans rich.-Michael Moore
* There's a gullible side to the American people. They can be easily misled. Religion is the best device used to mislead them-Michael Moore-
3)" I mean, George Bush is not Hitler. He would be if he fu--ing applied himself."-Margaret Cho
4)"To Canadians about government incentives for filmmaking, "It"’s to your credit that you do that for your country," he said. "We don"’t do a damned thing in our country, because we are pigs."-Ed Asner
5)"The real terrorist threats are George W. Bush and his band of brown-shirted thugs."-Sondra Bernhard
6)"No. First of all, I'm not liberal. I'm just about (being) anti-United States. I don't like the way this country operates. I think we've ruined this place. And I think it's largely because of businessmen. And businessmen are not liberals. So if that makes me a liberal, then that's just an association. It's not a choice."-George Carlin
7)"I believe he thinks this [war against Iraq] is a war that can be won, but there is no such thing we can't beat anyone anymore."-George Clooney
8)"America is dumb, it's like a dumb puppy that has big teeth that can bite and hurt you, aggressive."-Johnny Depp
*"I was ecstatic they re-named 'French Fries' as 'Freedom Fries'. Grown men and women in positions of power in the U.S. government showing themselves as idiots"-Johnny Depp
9)"Just so you know, we're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas."-Dixie Chicks
10)"I don't know if a country where the people are so ignorant of reality and of history, if you can call that a free world."-Jane Fonda
11)"Our country is founded on a sham: our forefathers were slave-owning rich white guys who wanted it their way. So when I see the American flag, I go, 'Oh my God, you're insulting me."-Janeane Garofalo
12)"America has never paid any attention to other people, so it's absurd for Bush to say that it's all in the best interests of the Iraqi people."-Richard Gere
13)"Sometimes I'll be walking down the street and I'll hear some American and I'll just go, 'Of course they hate us, of course they can't stand us.' We're the most annoying, boisterous creatures in the world. I mean we come in and we eat mounds of food, and we're like, 'Where's the kaachup [sic] for our French fries.'-Kate Hudson
14)"I worry about bringing up a child in America. At the moment there's a weird, over-patriotic atmosphere over there, like, 'We're No. 1 and the rest of the world doesn't matter." -Gwyneth Paltrow
15)"One of the main purveyors of violence in this world has been this country, whether itÂ’s been against Nicaragua or wherever...I'’ve been an advocate for peace my whole life. But one of the main purveyors of violence in this world is this country."-Danny Glover
15)"Who the **** are we to say whether theyÂ’re better off? We have a dictatorship in this country. Our government is presently the greatest threat to our people."-Sean Penn
16)"He's embarrassing. He's not my president. He will never be my president."-Julia Roberts
Link:http://www.celiberal.com/showCeliberal.php?id=65
King of The Cotillion.
Beth at MVRWC is hosting this contest. Go over to MY side bar and vote. You may PICK MORE THAN ONE, but don’t click every single one, OK?
Next Tuesday, we will have FINALISTS, at which point you can vote again. Next Tuesday, you’ll be doing the final vote for King of Cotillion!
Here are their pictures. My first reaction was, "What's up with all the guns?" Then I saw that the Masked Menace tempered it with a kitten on his shoulder. Heh. I'm thinking that Thunder6 has a bit of advantage, being in uniform and all. (I do love a man in a uniform) But I have a soft spot for Mark and Patriot Xeno because they comment here regularly. (plus, they aren't bad to look at) ;-) Bullwinkle has been known to pop in here too.
Anyway, Go vote. Yeah, even if you are a guy. Just vote.
Miers. The Readers Digest Version.
I've been reading about the controversy over Miers nomination. Some are saying that the "elitists" are only against her because she didn't go to an Ivy league school. They are saying she doesn't have the hefty intellectual background.
Beldar, a well respect trial lawyer here in Houston has at least a dozen posts on Miers. All them very informative if you want to wade through them all. He clearly believes she has the background. Here he compares the histories of Miers and Roberts.
The Volokh Conspiracy best sums it up between what he calls Gods vs Geeks. In other words, religious conservatives vs intellectuals, (not that many aren't both, of course) with Dobson and Santorum supporting the nomination, and Will, Frum, and Kristol harshly criticizing the President for having nominated Miers in the first place
"In sum, the two groups aren't disagreeing, but rather answering different questions. The commentators are ruminating on process, while the politicians and political leaders are focusing on the bottom line vote."
Once again conservatives fight when we can easily win. Our inhouse bickering just brings us down and it is unproductive. The left just sits back for the show They don't want Miers anyway because they strongly suspect she is pro-life (the bottom line for them) and they would gladly see her sink.
Given the heat of the conservative opposition, that may well happen. This Stanford Professor thinks the nomination will be withdrawn before a vote because of Arlen Spector. An interesting take.
I don't see that happening though. unless Miers gets so frustrated by this whole process and people start smearing her personal life in some way. Scalia himself said yesterday that he would not want to go through the process of confirmation today. The "borking" of Robert Bork began this whole ugly personal smear process and the Clarence Thomas hearings brought us where we are today. Thomas was tough. He put up with more than most of us would have from those smear merchants. I am not sure Miers could. In her case, I don't think it will be so much about her personal social life (but it could, of course, if anything interesting comes up), but about her personal faith. I wonder if Ruth Bader-Ginsburg's faith was ever discussed? Did anyone ever question what synagogue or church she attended? I don't think so. It only matters if you are Republican.
With Roberts, his intellectual capabilities were so obvious that all those smart guys in the Senate who were Democrat had to think that Roberts was so smart that he couldn't possibly let his faith interfere with his thinking process. But with Miers, they are afraid she isn't the brain that Roberts is and might actually let her faith be a consideration. For the conservatives that oppose her, they think that she isn't smart enough to be a strong strict constitutionalist. Because, amazingly enough, it isn't all about abortion to Republicans, as it is to Democrats. It's about a lot of issues from property rights to gun rights to state rights. Those conservatives think she might be wishy washy on those issues and feel she will be compelled to go with Kennedy and Souter out of deference to their experience.
I still trust Bush. He knows what was needed on the court. The elites can bleat all they wish, but from what I have read about her, she seems more than qualified to me. But then, I am just a simple woman.
So if you were wondering what all the fuss was about. That is the way I see it.
I saw Dick Morris on Fox News this morning and he made some interesting points about a race for President between Condi and Hillary.
He said that over 60% of white men vote Republican no matter what. He said it is the white women that swing the vote. They should be split. Then we have the black vote. The black vote goes almost 90% Democrat, but he said after talking to many black political leaders, he says that they believe that Condi would receive at least half of the black vote because it would be so historic to have a black President that they would cross over. He said in that scenario Condi wins by 12 million votes. An interesting take that seems pretty right on to me. I still think that a McCain/Rice ticket would do just as well. The black vote would still want a black Vice President.
I can tell you one thing. We will not able to win by bashing Hillary. The white women swing vote just won't look kindly on any kind of smear on Hillary. Like it or not, white women who aren't into politics tend to like Hillary and see her as one of them. Bashing her will be bashing them. So it will be a hard enough road right there. We need to choose our candidate carefully. We need to put our differences aside and come together to beat what could be the worst man made disaster we have ever known.
And please don't try and tell me that Hillary might not get the nomination. You are completely naive if you believe that.
Monday, October 10, 2005
Wake up call to Democrats!
In this interesting post and comments over at Protein Wisdom , it begins as a post about the mistreatment of women in Saudi Arabia, but ends with the left turning it into something else. Two commentes had very interesting things to say. The first is a Democrat who voted for Bush and why:
"I am left of center politically. I could list all the lefty positions I believe in, from Abortion to Zebra-protection, but the reason I vote (Federally at least) for Bush & the Rep’s is that the Dem’s have gone to far to appeasing their base & seem willing to simply let the terrorists kill & win if it hurts Bush. At this time in history with the new facists trying (yet again) to take over the world, I don’t have time for that garbage.
So in a few dozen years, when the facists are defeated, I will go back to pushing for my progressive values. Until the Dem’s can honestly offer to fight against those facists, I will go with those that will--even if I think their social views are wrong or even when they screw-up carrying out the war-- ‘cause at least they are willing to fight to keep the freedoms that this country has.
Until that freedom is safe, the interesting fight about, oh say, putting ‘In god we trust’ on the money being the moral equivlent of the Taliban’s stoning of the gays seems rather stupid & trival.
The next is a former Democrat:
"That is a good example why I view my former comrades on the left as damaged goods. Seems to me that it would be easy for people to find the common ground on which they both stand and move forward together. Most, I would think, agree that raping and beating women is bad. Most would agree that people should have the right to vote. Most would agree that people should live as free as possible as long as they’re not hurting anyone. There’s a great deal more that all Americans agree upon than disagree upon. The hurting begins when we get more hung up on the minor differences than the greater similarities.
The simple fact is that the liberation of Afghanistan and Iraq would have been heralded by both sides of the political divide if the president had a “D” after his name insteads of an “R”. The discourse of “yes, but” would not happen if some on the left weren’]t searching hard and fast for reasons to be against something they should clearly be for."
UPDATE: Redstate has more.
I can't stop!
This is a funny and interesting take on Intelligent Design. This guys says ID will win out. Here is his take on the pro-Darwin crowd:
"Ewww…intelligent design people! They're just buck-toothed Bible-pushing nincompoops with community-college degrees who're trying to sell a gussied-up creationism to a cretinous public! No need to address their concerns or respond to their arguments. They are Not Science. They are poopy-heads."
There. I just saved you the trouble of reading 90% of the responses to the ID position. Vitriol, condescension, and endless accusations of bad faith all characterize far too much of the standard pro-Darwinian response to criticism. A reasonable observer might note that many ID advocates appear exceptionally well-educated, reasonable, and articulate; they might also note that ID advocates have pointed out many problems with the Darwinist catechism that even pro-Darwin scientists have been known to concede, when they think the Jesus-kissing crowd isn't listening. And yet, even in the face of a sober, thoughtful ID position, the pro-Darwin crowd insists on the same phooey-to-the-boobgeois shtick that was tiresome in Mencken's day. This is how losers act just before they lose: arrogant, self-satisfied, too important to be bothered with substantive refutation, and disdainful of their own faults. Pride goeth before a fall."
Trust me. The guy is a hoot to read. I do this to make The Commissar and Andy go nuts. It's so much fun!
Sunday, October 09, 2005
Terrorists worry over bad PR.
The title of this article says it all...."Al-Qaida tells terror chief to kill people less brutally"
I figure al-Zawahiri is thinking, "People aren't digging the whole beheading thing. It's getting to where we look kinda bad. Leaving headless bodies everywhere just isn't working well for us. Let' stick to bullets. Not nearly as messy. That will be cool with everyone. Good. Praise be to Satan...oops.. I mean Allah."
Say What??
Unicef, the United Nations Children's Fund is set to be broadcasting on national television next week a campaign advertisement in Belgium that features smurfs playing and singing and then....."the blue-skinned cartoon characters' village is annihilated by warplanes."
"Tiny Smurfs scatter and run in vain from the whistling bombs, before being felled by blast waves and fiery explosions. The final scene shows a scorched and tattered Baby Smurf sobbing inconsolably, surrounded by prone Smurfs.
The final frame bears the message: "Don't let war affect the lives of children."
uhhh.....ok. Could this be any weirder?
via Garfield Ridge
Open Thread.
Talk about anything you wish. Just play nice. Suggestions and praise is welcome. Criticism.....not so much.
More Grief.
The massive earthquake that hit Pakistan brings us yet another massive tragedy. So many tears on this earth lately. Sometimes I wonder if natural disasters will force all of us to grab on to one another and then perhaps the man made disasters and wars that plague us will end.
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