Saturday, April 29, 2006

Thank You!

I just want to send a big thank you to all of you who came to visit at my debut TexasSparkle blog over at Chron.com, the online Houston Chronicle.

I have received TONS of e-mails and I get tons of e-mails from The Cotillion every day. Plus, many e-mails are going to my junk e-mail for some reason. So, if you have e-mailed me and I haven't responded, it may be because it got lost in the shuffle. I just wasn't prepared!

It means so much to me that so many of you want to read what I want to rant about. It's like having thousands of best friends to listen. It's great!

In case you didn't read my introduction at TexasSparkle I want to repost the last part here because I want you to know why I blog. It sure isn't for money.

"I spent the years I was raising my children being an activist and writing letters to the Editors. The Fort Worth Star Telegram even wrote a piece on me back 1993. I was just one small voice, but I was a loud one. So when I discovered blogging I knew that my one small voice could be even louder. And that is what I think blogging is. It is a thousand small voices letting their opinions be heard.

Remember the cartoon and Dr. Seuss book "Horton Hears A Who?" Horton discovers a small town called who-ville that resides on a speck of dust. But no one believes him until finally Horton convinces the people of Who-ville to speak loudly as one voice so that the people in his world can hear them. That is how I see blogging. All of us who care so deeply about our world and our society and who wish to let politicians, leaders, and the media know we exist and we want our voices heard, have finally found a way to speak as one voice. And just as the whos in who-ville we are finally being heard.

I started my blog Rightwingsparkle almost 2 years ago. What I really wanted was to dispel this false notion of uncaring Republicans. I am a person of deep faith. I have spent most of my adult life in volunteer work, helping in the community, raising good kids and teaching them to care for others. I have never broken the law and always paid my taxes. This is what a rightwinger looks like. This is what compassionate conservatives look like.

They look like me."

Friday, April 28, 2006

Racial? Or Not.

KSAT.com is reporting this incident in Spring Texas:

Police Think Attack Was Racially Motivated

POSTED: 11:50 am CDT April 27, 2006UPDATED: 12:08 pm CDT April 27, 2006

HOUSTON -- Two white teenagers severely beat and sodomized a 16-year-old Hispanic boy who they believed had tried to kiss a 12-year-old white girl at a party in Spring, Texas, authorities said.
The attackers forced the boy out of the house party, beat him and sodomized him with a metal pipe, shouting epithets "associated with being Hispanic," said Lt. John Martin with the Harris County Sheriff's Department.
The two teenagers were jailed, officials told KPRC-TV in Houston.


One problem with this story. The motivation may not have been racial. My daughter's best friend is friends and goes to school with the victim. According to her the reason they beat him is because he stole drugs from them and had nothing to do with him kissing a girl or being Hispanic. Now, I realize this is just hearsay. But it seems this kid (the victim) is a popular kid and the kids at his school are saying one thing to each other and it isn't what they told the Police. I have seen this sort of thing over and over. It's a code of silence. I don't know for sure of course, if the reason was racial or not, but the word I'm hearing is that it wasn't.

The thing that bothers me is that if the kids were going to lie, I wish they would have come up with one that wouldn't have pitted one race against another.

Now, I don't care why these monster sick teens beat him. They are evil and should be locked up. But to put a false racial component in the story, especially now, is wrong. My guess is that the kids don't want to get the victim in trouble and chose this particular story to tell reporters and police.

So now we have a story that inflames racial tensions at a time when we really don't need to add to it.

We May Have An Answer To The Illegal Immigration Problem.

The Houston Chronicle reports:

MEXICO CITY - Possessing marijuana, cocaine and even heroin will no longer be a crime in Mexico if the drugs are carried in small amounts for personal use, under legislation passed by the Mexican Congress.

Heck, half of California (the hippie and druggie half) will probably be crossing the border....to MEXICO.

Heh.

crossposted TexasSparkle

Agents of American.

al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, appeared on video this week urging Sunni arabs to fight Iraq's new government calling those who side with us "agents" of America.

Apparently, they chose to be "agents." Praise be to Allah:

"Iraqi commando forces acting on a tip raided a house where Hamid al-Takhi and the two other insurgents were hiding in Samarra, a city 60 miles north of Baghdad, said police Capt. Laith Mohammed. All three were killed in a gunbattle.
Mohammed said al-Takhi had been responsible for many insurgent attacks against coalition forces and civilians in the area."

via The Captain

Andrea Clarke.

NRO puts it all together for us for the woman at St. Lukes Hosptial here in Houston that wants to live, but the hospital wants her to die. Here is my post at TexasSparkle where I spoke to her sister.

Hanson rocks it....

Once again. With a look at how wrong the naysayers are in Iraq.

"No one pauses to suggest what the region would now look like with Saddam reaping windfall oil profits, 15 years of no-fly zones, ongoing corruption in Oil-for-Food, the bad effects of the U.N. embargo, Libya's weapons program, and an unfettered Dr. Khan. If a newly provocative Russia is willing to sell missiles to Iran's crazy Ahmadinej(ih)ad, imagine what its current attitude would be to its old client Saddam.

Or perhaps, as in the 1980s when over a million perished, our realists, who seem fond of such good old days of order and stability, could once again encourage an unleashed Saddam, with Uday and Qusay at his side, to be played against Iran for a (nuclear) round two. How sad that those who once fallaciously argued that the fascist Saddam was the proper counterweight to the fascist Iran now ignore that the genuine corrective is a democratic and humane Iraq."


Then there is the progress.

"But if we look beneath all these self-serving contradictions, real progress amid the carnage since September 11 is undeniable. It is not just that the United States has not been attacked again. Al Qaeda's leadership has been insidiously dismantled. Even bin Laden's communiqués are increasingly pathetic, whining about lost truce opportunities for the Crusaders while warning of more welcomed genocide in Darfur. We can be sure of his war-induced attenuated stature when some on the Left are already suggesting that the 9/11 attacks were mostly the operations of just a few criminals rather than precursors to international jihad.

Some European governments that were patently anti-American — Chirac's in France or Schroeder's in Germany — are either gone or going. The European public no longer thinks that the threat of Islamic fascism was mostly something concocted by George Bush after 9/11. American supporters in Australia, Japan, and the United Kingdom were returned to power. Finally a parliament is meeting in Iraq. There have been open elections in two regions of the Arab Middle East. In one place, terrorists were voted in; in the other place — the much more criticized one — terrorists are being hunted down."


And that is just the beginning. Read the whole thing.

Thursday, April 27, 2006

So Typical.

The Home Of Uncommon Sense bring us this ridiculous but typical response of Democrats:

The California State Assembly regularly holds floor session on Mondays and Thursdays to vote on bills. However, Monday May 1st they will not be meeting, as the Democrats have chosen to participate in the work stoppage supporting illegal immigration which is planned for that day. But instead of canceling session all together, they changed to a check-in session so that they could still collect their per-diem.

Today during closing statements, Assemblyman Dennis Mountjoy (R- Monrovia) chastised Assembly Democrats. He asked why they would collect per-diem when everyone else who is taking the day off will not be getting paid at all?

He went on to suggest that Republicans come to the capital on Monday, the day of protest and demand that they be allowed to work in the place of Democrat legislators because they are willing to do the work the Dems are unwilling to do. And they will do it at half the pay!

Audio here.

via Fark

Gas Prices.

What to do? I get a headache just reading about the who, what, and why of gas and oil prices. You know how I like to get it down as brief and concise as possible for you guys. I'm a regular Reader's Digest version of opinion. So here are the two best articles I have found that describes why gas prices are high and what is going on with all the rhetoric regarding it.

h/t to BigDog for first link.

*note: First link has changed. I linked the wrong one.

Identity Politics.

Allah at HotAir.com has this:

"World Net Daily broke the news yesterday that a far-left student newspaper at the University of Oregon — called “The Insurgent” appropriately enough — decided to publish 12 deliberately offensive cartoons of Jesus in their March issue. Why? Because the Oregon Commentator, a conservative student newspaper at U of O, recently published the 12 Jyllands-Posten cartoons of Mohammed. The Insurgent wanted Christians to know what it felt like to have their religion insulted.
Because, really, what would Christians know about something like that?"
(could that be any more of a perfect line? Like we Christians aren't insulted just about every day in this country)

Jeff at Protein Wisdom brings his usual insightful thoughts on the matter. This is a previous relevant post of his on “tolerance” In both, he says things just the way I would say them if I was as smart as he is.

Read all links. They are very very good posts and they give us a clear picture of the problem with identity politics.

But this is what I love. Allah and Jeff are not Christians. This isn't about them being offended. What Allah, Jeff, and I share is not our faith in God, but our faith in the essence of Democracy.

Ugh.


Pardon the word I never allow here. This is unacceptable. Michelle has the details on this.

"Vandals staged attacks early Wednesday on the buildings used by the Reserve Officers' Training Corps at N.C. State University and UNC-Chapel Hill, echoing similar assaults on three Triangle recruiting stations last month.
As before, vandals sprayed anti-war slogans and profanity, splashed red paint and claimed responsibility with a mass e-mail message to area media outlets.
Lt. Col. Carol Ann Redfield of the Army ROTC program at N.C. State was caught off guard. "This is the first time I know of that anything like this has happened here," she said. "I certainly appreciate that people have different opinions, and they should be able to express them, but I have a problem when they damage property."


I realize that these people don't represent mainstream democrats, but maybe it's time for mainstream democrats to start loudly condemning these kinds of things.

I don't watch Southpark...

but you have to give them credit for having equal opportunity mocking. No one is spared.

From NRO:

"Another wonderful episode from South Park last night as former Vice President Al Gore tried to save the world from the untold destructive power of ManBearPig. The kids felt sorry for him, because it was obvious he had no friends.
In case its adherents haven’t noticed the omnipresent cultural subtext, global warming alarmism is becoming a serial joke
."

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Too funny.


Quote of the Day

"You know, I think that I... you'll have to ask him or his office." -- Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), quoted by the New York Daily News, when asked why her husband has no visible wedding ring in his portrait recently unveiled for the National Portrait Gallery.

via Political Wire

And then she added, "Because I haven't talked to him in years."

;-)

I told you so post.

You know how I keep saying that McCain is the only one that can beat Hillary in 2008? And how many of you keep saying that there is no way Hillary will get the nomination? And how many of you keep telling me to stop backing McCain because you are so mad at him? And I keep saying that he will get the moderate Democratic vote?

Well, listen up.

"According to a new Hotline/Diageo Poll, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) continues to hold her spot as the prohibitive frontrunner in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary. She is currently preferred by 38% of respondents, followed Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) at 14% and former Sen. John Edwards (D-NC) at 13%. In head-to-head match-ups with Kerry, Edwards, former Vice President Al Gore (D), and former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner (D), Clinton wins by over 25 points against every challenger except Edwards, who loses by 19 points.An interesting side note: 2008 Republican presidential primary frontrunner Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is viewed more favorably among Democrats then Democratic leaders Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and DNC Chair Howard Dean."

UPDATE: Many people are commenting on Rudy Giuliani in the thread so....speak of the devil.

Is this you?

"Henry Copeland runs the numbers and finds "the median political blog reader is a 43 year old man with an annual family income of $80,000. He reads 6 blogs a day for 10 hours a week. 39% have post-graduate degrees. 70% have contributed to a campaign. 69% have bought music, 87% have bought books. 58% say blogs are 'extremely useful' sources of information. 52% leave comments on other people's blogs."

via Taegan Goddard's Political Wire

Check out this blog and send it to every soldier you know!

An Iraqi Kurd who resides in the Washington DC area. I like the way he starts this blog:

"I felt it very necessary for the first blog to be the true message that every Iraqi wants to tell the American soldiers, marines, airmen, sailors, and American public. That message is simple, it is thank you. We thank you for everything that you have endured in bringing up liberation and bringing us a chance to move forward for tyranny and oppression. After the decades of misery the Iraqi people had really given up all hope that anyone would come to help them but then one day we saw those stars and stripes waving in downtown Baghdad and everyone knew what that flag represented.

Without the selfless sacrifice that the American people made despite international pressure to not liberate Iraq, we would not have the opportunity to even write on this blog. Without the liberation there is no way we would ever be able to tell you about the terrorism ties Saddam and his regime so truly enjoyed, without the liberation there would have been no way to tell you how much we yearn to be like you, without the liberation there would have been no way to tell you how much we love you."

via Mudville

Only in New York.

A upscale restaurant serves......duck balls.

"The offal that has critics talking is a pasta dish served with black truffles, coxcombs and duck testicles, priced at $30. "They're delicious, they don't taste like anything you've had before. They're whole and they're white," Batali said."

Apparently they don't taste like chicken.

The Huffington Post...

reports an AP story on researchers future hope of giving soldiers 360 degree vision at night.

Check out the comments. Somehow I get the feeling they don't support our troops.

via Mudville

I've always been amazed...

at what Democrats do to win. They give away free cigarettes and underwear to bribe votes. They pay felons in voter registration drives. They demand recount after recount. They slash tires of GOP vans.

But this is a new one:

"The game now is to find a way of making it seem that Scalia's personal life and conduct commit him to positions on important legal issues in a way that interferes with his ability to decide matters impartially - not because Scalia has in fact done so and not because his accusers care about impartiality. Instead, the game matters because Scalia is the leading voice for a set of legal propositions that run counter to the political, social, and constitutional agenda of the dominant voices in almost every major element of America's Speaking elites."

"59 Things Men Should Never Do Past 30"

According to Esquire Magazine. I just picked out my favorites out of the 59:

Coin his own nickname.
Use a wallet that is fastened with Velcro.
Rank his friends in order of best, second best, and so on.
Hacky sack.
Hang art with tape.
Ask a policeman, "You ever shoot anybody with that thing?"
Ask a woman, "Hey, you got a license for that ass?"
Skip.
Take a camera to a nude beach.
Let his father do his taxes.
Shout out a response to "Are you ready to rock?"
Hold a weekly house meeting with roommates.
Name pets after Middle Earth characters.
Jokingly flash gang signs while posing for wedding photos.
Give shout-outs.
Use numbers in place of words or locations, such as "the 411" for information, or "the 313" for Detroit
Compare the trajectory of his life with those of the characters in Billy Joel's "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant.
Request extra sprinkles.
Air drum.
Choose 69 as his jersey number
Eat Oreo cookies in stages.
End a conversation with "later skater."
Hold his lighter up at a concert.
Wear Converse All Stars with a tuxedo.
Propose via stadium Jumbotron.
Decide anything based on the ruminations of Howard Stern.
Call "shotgun" before getting in a car.
Mist up during Aerosmith's "Dream On."
Purchase fireworks.
Google the word vagina.
Ride a pony.
Sport an ironic mustache.
Say "two points" every time he throws something in the trash.
Buy a novelty postcard in another country of topless women on a beach and write, "Wish you were here" on it
Purchase home-brewing paraphernalia.
The John Travolta point-to-the-ceiling-point-to-the-floor dance move; also that one from Pulp Fiction.
Keep a minuscule amount of marijuana extremely well hidden.
Watch the Pink Floyd laser light show at a planetarium.
Refer to his girlfriend's breasts as "the twins."
Own a vanity plate.
Say goodbye to anyone by tapping his chest and even so much as whispering, "Peace out."

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Dogs. Dogs. Everywhere.

As many of you know I got a new puppy recently at a rescue shelter, an Australian Shepard mix named Jewel to go with my 4 yr old black lab mix named Shaq. Oh, I love my dogs!

Today I was driving to the store and on a road near me that has speed limit of 50 miles an hour I see a little black daschund in the middle of the road! She was almost hit twice before I got to her and scared to death! She is so cute! White tips on her feet. Anyway, I put signs in my neighborhood and the one next door, but no one has called yet.

Shaq and Jewel don't know what to think of this little girl. She will hardly leave my lap. Please pray someone calls for her. I tend to get attached easily and I can't take anymore chaos around my house!!! There are regularly about a dozen boys and several teenage girls here on a rotating basis.

Tony Snow is the one.

Fox News reporting. That totally rocks.

Hoist The Black Flag!

Please tune in today to “Hoist the Black Flag" on Rightalk. Hosted by my favorite boys Jeff and Ace. The show begins at 4:05 pm EST, 1:05 pacific.
Today’s guest is Patterico, the one who "outed" the LA Times columnist Hiltzik commenting as a "sock puppet."

Please call in with any questions: 866-884-TALK (8255). And spread the word! (It's on right now!)
If you miss the show live, you can catch it at 5 after the hour every hour for the next 23 hours after the live broadcast. Just go to Rightalk and click on the show’s icon.

China

China's forced abortion on women with more than one child (not to mention several other human rights abuses) makes it an unacceptable nation in my opinion. But our country has to deal with unacceptable nations even if I don't like it.

You may have heard about the protestor shouting at Chinese President Hu at his greeting at the White House. Joe's Dartblog points out one of the reason I admire Pres. Bush. When the protester was shouting Hu looked very disturbed. (not to use to having dissent so close without someone shooting them I suppose) and Bush leans over says, "You're Ok." Not "Are you Ok?" but "You're Ok." Telling him that he is ok.

Love him or hate him, Bush takes charge.

via OxBlog

You think we have immigrant problems?

How does a permissive society deal with immigrants that make Jerry Falwell look like a flaming liberal? Well, you start with something like this:

"a campaign to "educate" people in Dutch libertarian values -- including gay marriage. Prospective immigrants are shown films featuring guys kissing in a park to gauge their ability to fit into Dutch society. At the same time the government has sent back thousands of unwanted illegals and is cracking down on Islamic extremists."

Interesting. You don't like our libertarianan society? Where all views are accepted? *snort* Well, you can just get your butt back where you came from then.

I wonder what one's reaction to guys kissing gets them kicked out?

I might also add a message to my libertarian friends here. Holland is the leader in euthanasia now. Even the euthanasia of children under 12 is now permitted under the so-called Gronigen protocol. Lovely. Sometimes this whole idea of "free choice" goes a bit....how shall I put it? Oh, I know....evil.

This really is an interesting look at a clash of cultures that many European nations are experiencing.

vai OxBlog

Monday, April 24, 2006

Where have I been??

I am very excited to announce that the Houston Chronicle's online paper www.chron.com asked me to be their conservative blogger! I had to work on two posts for them and an introduction to me. I am TexasSparkle there. For some reason my introduction is at the bottom rather than the top. I e-mailed them to fix it. They had to review the first posts, then I am on my own. I will do more local stuff there. And I will probably cross post stuff too.

Anyway, come visit me and comment! Let them see how much traffic a conservative can bring in!

VISIT TexasSparkle now!!!!!

Sometimes...

I wonder if we should have mental health detectors at airports.

via Dean

Who will be the next White House Press Secretary?


I, for one, hope the buzz is true that Tony Snow is being asked. I have admired him for many many years. I think he would be perfect for the job. Much more personable than McClellan.

Kerry Speaks.

Regarding Mary McCarthy, CIA leaker, John Kerry tells ABC This Week:

"I don't know whether she did it or not so it's hard to have a view on it. Here's my fundamental view of this, that you have somebody being fired from the CIA for allegedly telling the truth, and you have no one fired from the white house for revealing a CIA agent in order to support a lie."

Is it just me or does it seem that only a Democrat could get away with saying "Allegedly telling the truth?"

Or is this a CYA "allegedly" in case it is discovered that she wasn't telling the truth about the secret prisons at all?

Sunday, April 23, 2006

Trying to keep up.

I have linked to the story about Mary McCarthy, the CIA bureaucrat who has now been fired for leaking the secret prison story to Dana Priest, the Washington Post reporter who published the story, but it's been a whirlwind of revelations all weekend. Let's review.

We now know that McCarthy is a large contributor and supporter of the Democratic party, a fact never revealed in the Washington's Post sympathic story on her.

Now let's look at Dana Priest.

"As Sweetness & Light points out that Dana Priest is married to William Goodfellow, the Executive Director of the the Center for International Policy (CIP). At the top of its web site is CIP's mission statement: "Promoting a foreign policy based on cooperation, demilitarization and human rights." It appears that CIP's idea of "demilitarization and human rights" is best exemplified by Cuba."

Sweetness & Light goes on to hightlight connections among CIP, which operates The Iraq Policy Information Program, Joe Wilson, and Dana Priest. This is not just guilt by association: Priest herself participated in an anti-Iraq war program put on by her husband's group, CIP, along with Joe Wilson and other even more unsavory characters. (Via The Corner). via Powerline

I might also add here that Dana Priest's husband's organization also books speaking engagements for Joe Wilson. (geeze, do ya think they have a secret handshake maybe?)

And as Powerline sums it up:

"So we have a Democratic Party activist violating federal law by leaking classified information to an antiwar activist on the payroll of the Washington Post, which publishes the criminal leak and is awarded a prize by the left-wing Pulitzer committee."

I sum it up this way. We have a CIA lefty illegally leaking a story to anti-war socialist lefty reporting for the Washington Post about a "secret prison" story where the only evidence we have of it is their word.

Are you with me here? Add in the mix Joe Wilson and his "outed" CIA wife with their grandstanding Bush bashing PR cover shots tour, and you have a cabal of lefty anti-war activists trying to hide their true objective (bring down Bush!) and to lie and lie and win prizes and get their faces airbrushed and gushed over in same thinking magazines (like Vanity Fair)

Unfreakinbelievable.

Update: Andrew McCarthy at NRO asks why Mary McCarthy is has not been arrested and after reading his piece, you will wonder as well.