This Is The Time...

This is what I have decided after countless discussions with the left about this war. We are never going to agree. We are never going to change each other's mind. So let's go forward with what we have here. You may not like it, but Bush was re-elected. He is determined to bring democracy to the middle east no matter what reasons you may think he has.

The good news is we have freed the afghans from the Taliban and freed the Iraqi people from a brutal dictator and uncovered a UN scandal. We have killed untold number of terrorists and dismantled their network until all they have is suicide bombers and I'm thinking they will run out of those. We have not been attacked again on our own soil. The bad news is that we have paid a heavy price and it isn't over yet.

So to my liberal friends I say, what good is it to continue to argue why we went to war? It is done. You can believe Bush lied or didn't lie, but the above is true and you can't argue that. Nothing you and I say will change what is taking place in the middle east. Iraq will form it's own government. The middle east is changing and this distinct change has got to be for the better, because how could it have been worse? Tyranny and fear is just no way to live. But you and I would know nothing about that.
So you can continue to think the worst of this President just as we will continue to think the best.

For now I pray for all people in Iraq who seek freedom. I pray for people who are willing to risk their lives to vote. I pray for leaders who know that every day could easily be their last just because they chose to lead this fight for democracy over dictatorship. I pray for our soldiers and theirs who stand to protect and defend that right to vote. I pray for all those who have lost loved ones in this war. I pray that when all is said and done, their lives will not have been in vain. I pray that we have begun to stem the tide of evil that seeks to destroy us and all who disagree.

The time for blame is over. The time for hate is over. The time for wishing something different had been done is over.

We are here. And it is the time for prayer.

I just wanted everyone to know that there is something wierd going on with Holscan comments. To all the posts showing 0 comments, the comments are there, they have not been erased, so please continue your discussions. It seems also that once comments get past 100 or so the comment count starts to go down, but again, the comments are still there. I wanted to make sure you knew this because I feel some very good discussions are going on here and I don't want you to think they have vanished.

"Nearly 20,000 teens...say "yes Lord" in sign language during the Rally for Life and Youth Mass yesterday."-The Washington Times 

A Journey to Life.

Getting into pro-life work 20 yrs ago, I recognized at the time the mistake pro-lifers were making. First and and foremost they were totally naive to the nature of politics and PR. They didn't understand either one nor did they try to. It was simply a calling to them to reach out to women in crisis pregnancies and to educate the public on the horror of abortion and the sanctity of each and every child's life.

But the other side was very savvy on politics and PR. In the late 70's through most of the 80's most people believed that abortion was being used only for hard case such as rape, incest, and health of mother. When in fact less than 1% of all abortions occur for these reasons. Planned Parenthood was the master of PR. The owner and operator of the largest number of abortion clinics in the country. It runs a muti-million dollar industry that profits off the agony of women.

It isn't that I believed them to be cold heartless monsters set out to destroy babies in the womb, I knew that they believed deeply that they were helping women at a terrible time in their life. They still believe that. But, they are wrong. When a wolf has her leg caught in the jaws of a steel trap, it will gnaw it's leg off because it sees no other option. I think this is how most women in crisis pregnancies feel. Isn't it more compassionate to gently help remove the steel trap and help the leg to heal so that the wolf does not spend her life knowing that there is something missing that was there before?

In the 70's I was pro-choice and had many friends who had abortions. What I couldn't understand was why they were not experiencing relief afterwards. I too had bought into the lie that it was just a blob of tissue, not a baby yet. It was later that I learned that abortions are not performed before 6 weeks. And it was later that I would see my daughter's heartbeat at 6 weeks on a special sonogram. The same heart that beats in her chest today. Same heart. Same child. I thought of my friends who had had abortions and now years later were having children of their own as well. They were looking at sonograms as well. Were they thinking of the child they aborted? Were they wondering why they were never told the heart was beating?

In these many years I have heard many post abortive women speak and their anguish is hard to hear. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s niece was on Fox News the other night describing the pain of her 2 abortions. She is an active pro-lifer now. Norma McCorvey, Jane Roe of the infamous Roe v. Wade case is an active pro-lifer now, she describes how they used her in that court case and told her to lie and say that she had been raped. Dr. Bernard Nathanson, a former abortionist who spear headed NARAL (National Abortion Rights League) and was instrumental in the Roe v. Wade case, is now an active pro-lifer. He admits they lied about the number of women dying in illegal abortion.

The bottom line is that this is an issue that tears at the heart of us all. We all hate it. We hate discussing it. Arrows are thrown back and forth, but a true debate has never been put on the table for all Americans to see. In 1973 nine men decided a case that has divided this country since because we, the people, never got to decide how we felt about it. We never got the whole story.

I wonder if the democrats realize how much they lost in this debate. It is certainly one of the prime reasons I left the democratic party. At the very heart of what we believe in this country is right of every human being to live. Back in the 70's at one of the first Right To Life marches Rev. Jesse Jackson spoke and said "Never let them tell you that a fetus is not a human being, that is what they tried to say about the negro." Jackson changed his tune when he ran as a democratic nominee for President. But it didn't change the truth of his words.

Since 1973 we have averaged 4000 abortions a day in this country. And there is one question that is rarely asked. Are women's lives better for it? I don't see it. I see women in the past 30 yrs more prone to suicide, promiscuity, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, domestic abuse, eating disorders, and depression. I don't see how this helped women. I only see heartache and regret.

Whether you agree or disagree with me, we do know that there is no celebration here. There is no good feeling. If we can agree on that, then let's work together on 2 things. Helping women to appreciate their fertility and the gift that it gives them. Not looking at children as burdens or birth control failures, but as the greatest gift we are given on this earth. Let us help women to understand that sex means something. And that even with all that we know to prevent having a child, it can still happen. Women need to carry that knowledge in their heart whenever they want to make love, so they will be ready to carry that child in their womb as well.

My daughter would wear a burka before I would let her wear this. Dresses like this are advertised in YM prom and Teen prom. These are for teenagers. ARRGGGHH!!!!! via Wizbang

And if you want more of an idea of what teen girls are looking at when they look at teen magazines, check out this. "Eye Candy Models." From Cosmogirl.

This is a portion of a little survey in Seventeen magazine to see if your ready to have sex.


True or False. Is it your boyfriend's job to talk about safe sex?

Do Condoms protect against pregnancy?

Should your boyfriend wear a condom during oral sex?

The survey brought me to this link. "It's your (sex) life." Directed toward teens. This particular link are the online resources. Notice that most are sponsered by Planned Parenthood which give all kinds of information on abortion referrals, but no crisis pregnancy centers. There is an AIDS, Herpes, Contraception, and a Gay and Lesbian hotline.

These are magazines that any 12 or 13 yr old girl can thumb through while waiting to get her hair cut.

And you Southpark Republicans wonder why we are so uptight.

Stolen with love from My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy. (Because it is so perfect) (click on image for bigger picture)

Here is the top story of today in USA today. Along with another suicide bombing in Baghdad outside the prime minister's headquarters, it seems we captured a top Al Qaeda aid. The following was on Al-Qaeda's website:

Al-Qaeda's wing in Iraq said in a Web posting that "one of the young lions in the suicide regiment" carried out the attack against the party office of Allawi, "the agent of the Jews and the Christians."

Wait a minute! I thought Al-Qaeda had nothing to do with Iraq. The article even mentions the "wing" of Al-Qaeda in Iraq. Someone notify the liberals! This will be a shock! And since USA Today is not Fox News, I'm thinking that maybe they might even believe it.

Of course, there is always the argument that we "lured" Al-Qaeda into Iraq with our annoying capture of a brutal dictator and insistence on bringing freedom to the region. But I am pretty sure that quote from above, the one about Allawi being the "agent" of the Jews and Christians, is about us.

So it really seems obvious now, no matter who you are or what you believe or who you voted for in our elections that Iraq has a choice to make that is very clear. Tell the U.S. to go, leave them to give in to these monsters who seem to not be terribly fond of Jews and Christians, or they can stand up and declare their country to be one of freedom with a voice that does not speak with car bombings and death.

The article goes on to say:

In an audiotape posted Sunday on the Web, a speaker claiming to be Abu Musab al-Zarqawi declared "fierce war" on democracy and said anyone who takes part in next weekend's Iraqi elections would be considered "an infidel."
"We have declared a fierce war on this evil principle of democracy and those who follow this wrong ideology," the speaker said. "Anyone who tries to help set up this system is part of it."

So when Bush kept referring to this as a war on democracy, I guess he was right. Let's say that together, shall we? President Bush was RIGHT. And there is that lovely word "infidel." That would be you and me. That would be even those looney protestors at the inaugural.

I don't know about you, but if I had to choose between guys who fly planes full of innocent people into buildings and car bomb at the drop of a hat or be an "infidel?" I'm choosing infidel every single damn time.

I don't care if we lured Al -Qaeda to Iraq or not. Would we rather have them hiding in Syria or Pakinstan waiting until we are comfortable again and maybe blow up some subways full of commuters next time? Does anyone in their right mind think they would have left us alone after 9-11? They would have grown and gotten stronger, there is little doubt of that.

Whether you want to face the fact or not. Al-Qaeda is in the palm of our hand. They are causing harm, no doubt. But there will be elections, there will be freedom, and there will be democracy. Why? How am I so sure?

Because we finally have a President that isn't going to sit back and wish it all away. We have a President that believes in freedom, not just for the lucky few, but for all people. And we have a President who was never willing to back down in the face of monsters, never willing to listen to partisan back stabbing, never willing to underestimate our enemy, and never stepping away from a fight that had to be won.

But most of all, understanding that the fight was never against one man or one country, but against a veil of evil that covers the middle east. Our President has lifted that veil and will not be deterred until this fight is finished.

This was such a perfect idea that I copied American Digest's entire post.:

Job Opportunies for Bluepers In Iraq

Lance Frizzell, a 2nd Lt Medical Platoon Leader with the Tennessee National Guard 278th Regimental Combat Team, currently serving in Northern Iraq posts an employment ad at:
Lance in Iraq: Wanted: Human Shields

Back in January '03, you may remember a group of Western liberals who volunteered to go to Iraq as human shields in case the US enforced UN resolutions that Saddam violated. Key graf:

"...they are willing to put themselves in the firing line should US and British forces bomb Iraq. They plan to identify potential bombing targets such as power stations and bridges and act as human shields to protect them."

"Well, I think I have just the job for these globe-travelers: Iraq Election Poll Worker. They are familiar with the terrain and people, they have a self-professed desire to help and they seem very articulate. However, their biggest asset is bravery. If they are willing to hunker down between Coalition Forces and a bridge, standing between a foreign terrorist and a polling precinct should be no big deal. Any takers? I've sort of lost track of the much-reported-on 'human shields.' I suppose they're off somewhere resting between gigs with the 'grief counselors.' Can somebody dig these people up and toss them on a plane?" H/T Beautiful Atrocities. (who has a fabulous new look btw)

Perfect. Really.

I like to describe myself as a nicer (and less intelligent) Ann Coulter. She says what she thinks, sometimes without restraint. (But isn't that what the left loved about Teresa Heinz Kerry?) Well, they hate it about Ann. But one of her gifts is to hit a point so well that no one can argue it. When it comes to the expense and extravagance of this Inaugural despite what terrible things were going on in the world, Ann reminds us that fun and partying has no political boundaries.

I guess the difference is that we didn't whine and protest during Clinton inaugural. (In full disclosure SOME of us did cry though) But my weeping was in private. H/T to my reader LLoyd Briggs

Have I mentioned this Iraqi blog? All kinds of good stuff if you want a feel from an Iraqi who is very glad America is there. 2Slick (who is back home btw!!!!!) mentioned him first. His blog was called "Liberal Iraqi." Which he meant to mean a free Iraqi, so since liberal has a different meaning here he has changed it to....Free Iraqi!

This is the New York Times article about him.

This is what he said about what the NY Times article said about him.

Chrenkoff gives us why we might feel a need to get the story from Iraq straight from an Iraqi.

Speaking of 2Slick, since he has been back people have been asking him what about Fallujah? To which he says this:

"To everybody who's been asking me about what's happening in Fallujah: It should be obvious. You're not hearing anything about it on the MSM. Draw your own conclusions. Remember when Najaf was the hottest topic of the day? Whatever happened to Najaf?"

I guess no news is good news? Welcome back 2Slick. Glad your home safe and sound!

Have yall seen this post over at Blackfive? It shows a photo from Yahoo News of soldiers talking to Kerry in Iraq on Jan. 5th. The woman soldier (Specialist Lacourse) in the middle of the photo is sending the POW hand signal for coercion....LOL!!!

Even funnier...this short video. If only it could always happen that way. via Blackfive.


Iraqi elections will proceed as planned. We will not back down in the face of monsters who seek to kill and destroy democracy.
To the soldiers who stand ready for this leap into freedom for the Iraqi people, God be with you. God be with those who brave their own safety to vote.

Imagine. We here in the U.S. just voted and our biggest fear were long lines. We never feared suicide bombers or kidnappings. There is no doubt that our cultures differ, but just as the yearning for our voices to be heard is the same, the taste of freedom for the Iraqi people will taste as sweet to them as it does to us.

A great moment. Sometimes the fight is worth it. We won. And the world won as well.  

"A fiery warning for the world Bush begins second term with pledge to end ' tyranny in our world'."

This is how The Guardian posts it's story on Bush's speech. Think about it.

"We are WARNING you! Freedom is coming, don't say we didn't WARN you because we did! So BE WARNED! You may just experience freedom in your lifetime. THIS IS A WARNING!!!!!"

The New York Times complains :
The President's Speech Focuses on Ideals, Not the Details

I suppose a long drawn out speech giving details that have to be worked out through Congress through compromise and such would have been thrilling I am sure. THEN the New York Times would have loved it, right?


The New York Times gives us this regarding the protestors:

"We think this is a significant achievement for the antiwar movement," said Brian Becker, national coordinator of a protest coalition called Act Now to Stop the War and End Racism, or Answer. "We have bleachers, a stage, a sound system, and we're right along the parade route. We feel we have succeeded."
Never before had the Park Service granted a protest group dedicated space for the inaugural parade, organizers said, and Mr. Becker's coalition filled it with thousands of people who were as close to Mr. Bush as those who came to cheer him.

Interesting, wouldn't you say? That this President is so confident with himself that he had no problem with protesters being along the parade route FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER. You see, this President is all about freedom. Even for those who disagree with him. The article says he and Laura Bush even waved at them as they passed by.

There were 13 arrests Thurs. night. The most interesting being a woman on Pennsylvania Ave nude but for red,white, and blue panties. Considering it was freakin freezing out there as well, I'm putting this one in the true nut category. The police had to use pepper spray to keep several demonstrators back from the barricades as well. But considering the seething hate among them, things went pretty well.

Slate gives us this sarcastic article: "Bush 2.0 His Latest Mission From God: Democracy."

Perhaps Slate should take a look at past inaugural speeches and see if there are references to God and such. They might be surprised. In fact, the speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. might send them into a tailspin since Dr. King made it clear that God required equality and freedom for all people regardless of race. Do you think if Slate had been around back in the 60's that they would have had this sarcastic headline?

"King: His Latest Mission From God. Equality of the races."

Hmmmm???

Ah well, here is a quote to remember as we read these things:

Ignorant men don't know what good they hold in their hands until they've flung it away.
Sophocles (496 BC - 406 BC)


The ending of Bush's speech was stirring however and reminded me of this quote:

"Courage is the price that Life exacts for granting peace."
Amelia Earhart (1897 - 1937), Courage, 1927


President George W. Bush:

"When the Declaration of Independence was first read in public and the Liberty Bell was sounded in celebration, a witness said, "It rang as if it meant something." In our time it means something still. America, in this young century, proclaims liberty throughout all the world, and to all the inhabitants thereof. Renewed in our strength tested, but not weary we are ready for the greatest achievements in the history of freedom.
May God bless you, and may He watch over the United States of America."

We are ready Mr. President.

No blogging today. Kids sick. Guess I will be watching The Inaugural (Yay!) while making chicken soup and giving medicine.

Such is my life.

I'm just grateful to be able to do it.

While running on my treadmill this morning I watched the rerun of the 2004 MTV video awards. The entire show was a please go vote fest. P. Diddy showed up every 10 minutes or so reminding everyone to 'Vote or Die.' People in the audience were given t-shirts with the 'Vote or Die' slogan printed on them. People were holding signs that said "Choose or Lose." They tried really hard not to say anything overtly partisan, but when some of the music stars say things like "we need a change," it isn't hard to figure out which side of the ailse they come down on. When John Mellencamp begs you to vote, you KNOW who he wants you to vote for since he did performances for Kerry, for heaven's sake. You especially know if you saw or heard any of the interviews P.Diddy or Russell Simmons (Hip Hop mogul) gave during the Democratic convention.

If you have ever seen Simmon's house on MTV's 'Cribs,' then you know he has more money than God. I have NEVER seen such a house. Not even the multi millionare sports stars have nothing close. Finally at the end of the program during OutKast's song, they have dancers dressed up like normal people going into 'voting booths' on stage while red, white, and blue balloons come down like they do at conventions.

It gave me great satisfaction watching the show to know that all that money, fame, stardom, and media attention did not buy this election. All that star power, all that money, all that push from the richest well known music industry giants couldn't sway the American people.

That just ROCKS! (pardon the pun)

This is what you get when anything goes. When you don't draw a line about what is decent, then that line gets crossed, even by things liberals hate as much as we do. via Six Meat Buffet.

Well that's too bad, you pervert.

"the president has said no taxpayer money will be involved in financing the lavish festivities celebrating his second inauguration this week, including a parade, candlelight dinners and nine inaugural balls."via Reuters

So the liberals say big corporations with lobbying interest pay. But if the taxpayers funded it, then they would howl as well. There is no way to win.


" A leading U.S. hurricane researcher at NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, Dr. Chris Landsea, has resigned from the United Nation's International Panel on Climate Change. The reason: To protest the personal leanings of an IPCC lead author on the subject of climate and hurricanes.
That is no small matter. The IPCC is widely considered by the world's governments to be the most authoritative source for what we know about global warming. It periodically produces reports on the sate of the science of global warming, and is currently working on its Fourth Assessment Report." via Tech Central Station

Can we get politics and agendas out of global warming studies so we can maybe TRUST them???

During the first Inaugural of President Bush most conservatives were just relieved to be rid of Clinton at last. But Texans were ecstatic!!!! Not only did we suffer so during the Clinton years but we had to suffer through Texas Governor Ann Richards as well. When George Bush decided to run against Richards no one thought he could win. I didn't think he could win. Richards was very popular, extremely funny, and witty. But policy wise, she was a classic left wing liberal. Wrong on everything.

I am not a bumper sticker kind of girl. I don't like them on my car. But I put those Bush stickers all over my mini van. I did what I could for the campaign ( I had 3 little ones at the time) and I told whoever would listen to vote for Bush. It was a nasty and dirty fight and the night Bush won was almost as sweet as when he later won the Presidency. The next day I made a poster that said "There is a God, George won!!" and taped it to the back window of my van. SOOOOO unlike me. But I was so happy.

The Clinton years had depressed me. It made me realize that Americans could be charmed away from the real issues. It made me realize what a visual star quality Americans liked now and the issues, they felt, never really changed much. And sometimes it seems that way. But changes do take place, just at a very slow pace. The democrats were very good at increasing taxes slowly and in different ways, where many Americans didn't realize how much of their paycheck was flying out the door to the government. Reagan shook us awake on that one. But it took his star quality to get there as well.

Bush had something more than star quality though. Bush had been a regular guy. Liberals like to paint him as part of American royalty like the Kennedys, but it was so different for Bush. Growing up in Midland Texas no one gets the feeling that your a part of royalty even if your dad is in the Senate. I'll tell a personal story that I think reveals a lot about Bush. The year before Bush ran for Governor I was driving over with my best friend to her mom's house who happened to live in the same neighborhood as Bush. The houses are expensive in this area. But not because of how big or plush they are, they look like normal middle class homes, but because of the location the land is very expensive. We passed by Bush's home and my friend said. "You know what is interesting? My mom says she sees George Bush mowing his lawn. You would think the son of a former President would hire someone to do that." Right then I was impressed with that simple thing that all of us do. Mow our lawn. I am sure Bush could have afforded it, but that is the kind of guy he is. His home in Crawford is big but I have seen pictures of the inside, and you can tell from the outside, it is not fancy or over adorned. It looks like a home you or I might have. No one can ever accuse Bush of being aloof or elite, no matter how much money he has. Part of the reason I think he won is that people sensed that he was more like us (certainly more than Kerry) and his down to earth quality was real.

So I watched every single part of Bush's first Inaugural. But his Inaugural address impressed me so much I kept a copy of it in my hope chest.
Here are my two favorite excerpts.

"...The stakes for America are never small. If our country does not lead the cause of freedom, it will not be led. If we do not turn the hearts of children toward knowledge and character, we will lose their gifts and undermine their idealism. If we permit our economy to drift and decline, the vulnerable will suffer most."

The "cause of freedom" now seem prophetic. At last the conversation is at least being discussed regarding the hearts and character of our children. And Bush did pull us out of recession that threatened our economy and considering what happened 8 months after he took office, it is a miracle that it was achieved.

But the quote Bush sited towards the end of his speech and then referred to at the end is the one that touched my heart. First Bush said:

"After the Declaration Of Independence was signed, Virginia statesman John Page wrote to Thomas Jefferson: "We know the race is not to the swift nor the Battle to the Strong. Do you not think an Angel rides in the Whirlwind and directs this Storm?"

And then a few paragraphs later Bush ended with this:

We are not this story's author who fills time and eternity with his purpose. Yet his purpose is achieved in our duty; and our duty is fulfilled in service to one another.

Never tiring, never yielding, never finishing, we renew that purpose today: to make our country more just and generous; to affirm the dignity of our lives and every life.

The work continues. This story goes on. And an angel still rides in the whirlwind and directs this storm."


Beautiful.

P.J. O'Rourke gives us a different inaugural address Bush might give. And I love it!

Here are excerpts from it:

MY FELLOW AMERICANS, I had intended to reach out to all of you and bring a divided nation together. But I changed my mind. America isn't divided by political ethos or ethnic origin. America isn't divided by region or religion. America is divided by jerks. Who wants to bring a bunch of jerks together with the rest of us? Let them stew in Berkeley, Boston, and Ann Arbor.

We are all sinners. But jerks revel in their sins. You can tell by their reaction to the Ten Commandments. Post those Ten Commandments in a courthouse or a statehouse, in a public school or a public park, and the jerks go crazy. Why is that? Christians believe in the Ten Commandments. So do Muslims. Jews, too, obviously. Show the Ten Commandments to Hindus, Buddhists, Confucians, or to people with just good will and common sense and nobody says, "Whoa! That's all wrong!"

But jerks take issue with every one of the Ten Commandments. Jerks are particularly offended by the first two Commandments. Of course people of faith, decent people, differ on interpretations of the first two Commandments.

"Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain." How many times, over the last few months, have we heard, "Ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod, I can't believe George Bush won"?

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." Let's be fair about this. We did see a lot of white, non-Hispanic Democrats in churches in 2004. But they were all running for president. And the churches were inner-city black churches. I happen to know that there are churches in the white, non-Hispanic suburbs where these Democrats live. Apparently jerks can't find them.

"Thou shalt not kill." Why, in the opinion of jerks, is it wrong to kill a baby but all right to kill a baby that's so little he hasn't been born yet? And why do the same jerks who favor abortion oppose the death penalty? We can imagine people so full of loving kindness that they can accept neither the abortionist nor the executioner. We can even imagine people so cold-hearted that they embrace them both. But it takes a real jerk to argue in favor of killing perfect innocents and letting Terry Nichols live.

"Thou shalt not commit adultery." The jerks have begun praising marriage lately. But only if the bride and groom each have a beard.

Read the whole thing here.

You know this is a funny way of looking at the real problem of the democrats. They would do well to take a close look at it.

Bad news for liberals, good news for everyone else.

"the mostly American liberation of Iraq dropped the rate of violent deaths from 50,000 a year under Saddam Hussein to 6,825 a year with the Americans in Baghdad. What Kennedy has labeled as American “savagery” has REDUCED deaths from violence in Iraq by 87%." via The Conservative Voice. H/T Beautiful Atrocities

What I would have said If I were Dr. Rice.

After Barbara Boxer's political hate speech, which I have to say didn't surprise me, Dr. Rice handled herself as the lady and statesman that she is.
I am a lady as well, but I might have answered a little differently. This is how I would have handled Boxer's opening 'statement.'

Dr Rice:

I would like to say first that it is very easy to go through a public political figure's interviews and pull out of context sentences said over the years of such interviews. I am sure that if we went through your interviews Ms. Boxer we could find some contradictions even more glaring.

First I would say that to take a quote from me regarding the horrible tragedy of the Tsunami and imply that I saw that as some sort of a gift to us in able to make the United States look good is both despicable and irresponsible to say the least. To begin with that tsunami quote taken out of context in order to paint a certain picture of me shows your personal feelings towards me instead of the professionalism that should be shown during this hearings. It shows your political bias, your hatred of this administration, and your unwillingness to even show decorum when it comes to hearings that are given in order to confirm nominees. It is not a political soapbox where you can show off your posters and 'outrage' over things that have been discussed and answered in the public arena over and over.

I do not claim to be perfect. But at least I know that I am not a bitter, pitiful, and hateful soul that enjoys political theatre to the point where I will try and discredit a person who has shown nothing but honor and respect for this country.

As far as the war and WMD's and posters and the out of context quotes, I am hoping that the question and answer sessions will give Dr. Rice the opportunity to answer them fully (once again). Her short response to those things was well stated and she handled herself much better than I could ever have hoped to myself in the face of such hate.

To read the transcript of the opening remarks go here.

As you can see I have a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Under my blog name. I think I chose it because I feel that there should be something in every one's life that they feel passionate about. Something bigger than ourselves. Before blogging I was an avid writer of letter to the editors of newspaper and magazines. I also had an occasional article. The following was published in the Fort Worth Star Telegram in January of 1994. I repeat it here in honor of Dr. King.

In 1971 I was in the fifth grade in Jackson, Mississippi. Busing had just begun in order to help integrate the schools and I was bused to a formerly all-black elementary school across town. My best friend was a little girl named Sondra. I was white; she was black. I was well off; she was poor. She had seen a lot of abuse in her short life; I had seen none. But I loved her with a fierceness that only 10 year girls know.

One day, another little black girl whom I didn't know stabbed me with a pencil in the hallway. I told Sondra, and she wasted no time finding that girl on the playground. The girl told Sondra that she didn't like me or my blond hair and that I must think I was really something.

I remember Sondra saying, "No, no, she's not like that. She doesn't care if we're n*ggers."

I grew up in a time when that word was used freely and often to describe blacks, but I remember being shocked that Sondra would describe herself that way. I've always had a lot of self confidence. But Sondra was the strongest person I knew. It made me feel bad that she used that word.

Like most little girls, Sondra and I talked on the phone for hours, but we were never allowed to play at each other's house. It is sad to think that my best friend in the fifth grade never "slept over," never played with my dolls, never played dress up with me. We accepted it though. It was just the way things were.

Sondra and I went to different schools after that year, and I didn't see her again until four years later, when my 9th grade basketball team played her team. We were sitting across the gym from each other before the game. I heard someone scream out my name. I looked up and screamed her name, and we ran across the gym and hugged and danced around as only 14 year old girls can do. I'll bet we were quite a sight in the middle of the gym floor.

Sondra had grown about a foot, and here I was, this little bitty blonde thing being hugged to death by this tall, tough-looking black girl. I don't remember who won the game, but we grinned at each other the whole time.

We got caught up on each other after the game, talking for an hour making our parents wait for us. But in 9th grade your world revolves around your school and friends. We exchanged numbers but we never talked again.

I often wonder what happened to Sondra. I wonder if she pulled herself out of poverty. What kind of life did she make for herself? But, most of all, I wonder if she has a little girl like mine, a little girl who would never think twice about asking another little girl of a different color over to her house to play with her dolls or play dress up.

If that isn't a little of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream come true, I don't know what is.

I haven't blogged on the whole Rathergate Scandal because everyone else was doing a fine job at it. But as usual, the one I wish was my best friend, says it best; Peggy Noonan. Read the whole thing, but this was my favorite part:

"You can complain now, and your complaints can both register and have an impact on the story, as happened with bloggers and Rathergate. You can be a part of the story if you find and uncover new information. You can create the story, as bloggers did in the Trent Lott scandal. American journalism is no longer a castle, and you are no longer the serf who cannot breach its walls. The castle doors have been forced open. Other voices have access. Bloggers for instance don't just walk in and out, they have offices in the castle walls.

Is there a difference between the bloggers and the MSM journalists? Yes. But it is not that they are untrained eccentrics home in their pajamas. (Half the writers for the Sunday New York Times are eccentrics home in their pajamas.) It is that they are independent and allowed to think their own thoughts. It is that they have autonomy and can assign themselves stories, and determine on their own the length and placement of stories. And it is that they are by and large as individuals more interesting than most MSM reporters."

BLOGGERS RULE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Since in the previous commenters section I admonished those about the UN's way of preventing disease and pregnancy, I found an excellent post that reveals a bit of what we have lost in our search of sex without consequences, pleasure without responsibility, and the purpose and gift of sex to begin with. Read Here. (I can't get the trackback to work on the actual post, so scroll down to the Jan. 14th post (2nd one down now)

If you're smart and do not believe in God, this is excellent. (also can't trackback it, scroll down to the Jan. 10th post. It is right below the 14th one...Sorry!)
*Warning* you must be somewhat smart to read it....;-) In full disclosure, I needed to read it twice. But it was worth it.

Thanks to Jay for pointing out the link failure for me!

Here is an excerpt:

"When people choose to be skeptical about God, they are choosing to be skeptical about the existence of an Intelligence and a Wisdom that measures the truth and goodness of their own intelligence and wisdom. It was no accident, then, that people were also beginning to find ways to rationalize a lack of moral integrity. They were beginning to believe in themselves alone---to become self-consciously "self-centered"---and to lose the taste for God. And they had correspondingly more and more reason to desire that the road to God be capable of intellectual dismissal."

I think the part about finding ways to rationalize a lack of moral integrity is at the foundation of most of our societal problems. Today it seems that rationalization has replaced money as the root of all evil.

Ok, This is sooo cool to be in the company of these fine blogs.
Whoo hoo!!

The UN continues on it's never ending quest to desensitize our children.

"The Three Amigos" -- as the cartoon condoms named Shaft, Stretch and Dick are called -- are pictured in a variety of settings from a spaceship to a soccer field to a casino. Twenty different spots are available in each of the 41 languages varying from 20 to 60 seconds in length. Some spots are blatantly sexual, others more restrained.
The punch line in the spaceship spot says: "No condom, No blastoff. Stop the spread of AIDS." The soccer spot says: "You just can't score without a condom." And the spot focusing on a roulette wheel in a casino says: "Not all gamblers realize the odds stacked against them. Don't gamble with your life. Use a condom. Stop the spread of AIDS."
h/t Beautiful Atrocities via Agenda Bender

UPDATE: OMG! SondraK has the actual cartoon of these three!!



Air America (Remember them? Well, they are still holding on by their claws) frets over the corporate cash sponsoring the inaugural quoting the Washington Post.

"at least 88 companies and trade associations , all with huge stakes in administration policies, funding the $40 million dollar party. This ultimate big-tent corporate event will be a veritable roll call of influence peddlers: Practically all the major donors have benefited from Bush administration policies, especially from corporate and individual tax cuts, deregulation and the new prescription drug benefit that is part of Medicare. Most also stand to boost profits further because of Bush's second-term proposals, which include limiting medical malpractice suits, creating private investment accounts as part of Social Security and making a tax-code revision that is expected to reduce taxes on investments," the Washington Post reports.

Of course that never happened during Clinton's inaugural. It was nothing but a bunch of regular folks from the hills of Arkansas. No companies financed it either, just money from bake sales and a few larger donations from abortionists. No movie stars or movie mogels. No corporate heads. And certainly no one who would later be pardoned by the President.
Yep, those dems have the moral high ground here.

Air America quotes many critics including Republican (yeah right) Texas billionaire Mark Cuban "having called for cancellation of everything but the swearing-in because they find it unseemly to spend $40 million on shrimp, spirits, floats and frivolity while American soldiers must scrape together money for phone cards to call home."

Hey! Here's an idea Mr. Cuban. Why don't you pony up some pocket change of a hundred million or so and buy out all the phone cards from Walmart to the The Dollar Store. It's called 'giving' instead of wondering why the government isn't taking care of it. Try it. It feels good. I promise.

I'm thinking the soldiers probably find it more "unseemly" when Democrats take pictures of themselves holding signs saying "I'm Sorry for invading your country" to Iraq, while they fight to keep Iraqis free.



A lot has been said about Armstrong Williams, a conservative commentator, talk-show host and newspaper columnist being paid by the Dept. Of Education and a private PR firm to comment and endorse the "No Child Left Behind" policy. I wasn't sure how I felt about this. So far I have not seen or heard of no evidence of anything illegal, although I think there are some some dems calling for an investigation (of course!) So I usually go take a peek at the other side and see if there is anything I should know that would better inform me. So this is how Frank Rich from the New York Times sees what Armstrong did:

"Armstrong Williams, a conservative commentator, talk-show host and newspaper columnist (for papers like The Washington Times and The Detroit Free Press, among many others, according to his Web site). Thanks to investigative reporting by USA Today, he had just been unmasked as the frontman for a scheme in which $240,000 of taxpayers' money was quietly siphoned to him through the Department of Education and a private p.r. firm so that he would "regularly comment" upon (translation: shill for) the Bush administration's No Child Left Behind policy in various media venues during an election year."

Notice the wording here. "Unmasked as the frontman for a scheme..." and "taxpayers money was quietly siphoned to him." It brings to mind Williams riding in the subway in NY, a man across from him leaves his newspaper and gets off the train. Williams picks up the newspaper, checks to make sure his $250,ooo is there, stuffs it in his briefcase and gets off at the next stop. Come on! I don't like the idea of Armstrong not disclosing that he was being paid, but a PR firm paying a "conservative commentator" to talk about an issue that he already believes in is hardly 'covert.'

Mr. Rich goes on to compare the irony of Williams chatting with Vice President Cheney and Cheney's criticisms of the press.

"In that chat, Mr. Cheney criticized the press for its coverage of Halliburton and denounced "cheap shot journalism" in which "the press portray themselves as objective observers of the passing scene, when they obviously are not objective."
This is a scenario out of "The Manchurian Candidate." Here we find Mr. Cheney criticizing the press for a sin his own government was at that same moment signing up Mr. Williams to commit."

One little problem with this comparison. Williams is, as Rich pointed out, a conservative commentator. Get it? He is openly partisan. He likes the Republicans. He is a Republican. Everyone who listens to him knows this. HE IS NOT A MAINSTREAM JOURNALIST. I don't think Cheney was criticizing Al Franken or Randi Rhodes for their comments. He was referring to ABC, CBS, and NBC. You know, those guys who are SUPPOSE to be objective and report NEWS, NOT COMMENTARY!

I think Mr. Rich is fully aware of this difference. He is just hoping most Americans won't be.

7. "Bloody Hell, I should have just dressed as Che Guevara."

From The Writ of Common Wisdom

Afghanistan and the American Soldier.

Chrenkoff gives us an amazing update on Afghanistan:

Here is President Hamid Karzai, the country's first democratically elected leader:

"Whatever we have achieved in Afghanistan--the peace, the election, the reconstruction, the life that the Afghans are living today in peace, the children going to school, the businesses, the fact that Afghanistan is again a respected member of the international community--is from the help that the United States of America gave us. Without that help Afghanistan would be in the hands of terrorists--destroyed, poverty-stricken, and without its children going to school or getting an education. We are very, very grateful, to put it in the simple words that we know, to the people of the United States of America for bringing us this day."

As Chrenoff points out, your not going to be seeing this on the front page of the New York Times. The MSM doesn't seem too interested in this story.

This is from a Unicef spokesman remarking on the changes he has witnessed in the 3 years he has been in Afghanistan:

" I still can't think of that day in 2002 - when my Afghan colleagues and I watched the first girls walk back into their schools - without my heart jumping."I have interviewed former child soldiers now learning to be carpenters; I have walked through the foothills of the Hindu Kush to monitor distribution of school supplies; I have visited projects where widows and other women have been able to earn an income in their own right for the first time in a decade; and I have drafted statements applauding Government commitments to key child rights legislation and international conventions, which in some cases set examples for other countries.

"So much progress, so many steps forward have been taken. As another year comes to an end, it seemed an appropriate moment to reflect on how rapidly life has changed for the better for so many Afghan children. Given the history of Afghanistan, a history steeped in conflict and chaos, those changes take on even greater significance."

Liberals don't like to talk about Afghanistan because even they know it was a wonderful victory for Bush. But more importantly it was a wonderful victory for the world. The above statements give us a picture of how history will view this. Generations from now will read about the turning point of democracy in the middle east. It will begin with Afghanistan and God willing, it will continue through Iraq and others.

As our brave warriors continue to fight those in which freedom enrages, we should keep in our hearts the words above. May they soon be true for Iraq as well.

Read all of Chernoff's piece. It will amaze you all that has been done.

And one more thing. Our soldiers do not only fight, as we have seen in the tsunami disaster, but there are so many like this one who choose to personally make a difference.

In addition to official security and reconstruction duties, the troops also find time and inspiration to help the Afghan people of their own initiative. For example, this Iowan soldiers Operation "Shoes for Kids" has proved to be a huge success:

"When Army Staff Sgt. Mark Matteson rode through an Afghan village for the first time, he saw barefoot children everywhere -- not because they didn't want to wear shoes, but because they had none. 'You see the children -- it hits you right in the heart. Or at least that's how it is for me,' said Matteson of the shoeless children who can be seen in nearly every city, town and village throughout Afghanistan..." 'I saw the kids with no shoes, and I wrote back home to tell them what's going on here,' he said about how he started his 'Shoes for Kids' program. Volunteers stateside gather shoes and mail them to him in Afghanistan to donate to the children. To date, Matteson estimates he's received more than 7,000 pairs of shoes from those in his native Iowa. 'It kicked off so big, there will still be shoes coming in after I leave next June,' he said."

For every bad soldier shown on TV from the prison scandal to the AWOL thing, there are thousands and thousands soldiers like Matteson. Good strong brave men and women who not only fight for freedom, but build a better world.

So I say this to the American Soldier:

We offer are hearts full of gratitude to you who risk so much, who stand so strong, who fight so hard. When children of future generations do read about the cost of freedom in the middle east it will be you that wrote those words. It will be you that turned it all around. It will be you that history will remember as changing tyranny to democracy, fear to freedom, and war to peace.

The following is not made up.

Just caught a press conference on C-Span with an organization called "Counter-inaugural.org." What is it about these young leftist where you can spot them a mile away. I didn't even have to see the sign to know they were some left wing group. The women have short short hair with thick black glasses and the men all have beards. Is there a leftie radical official look or something? Their website encourages those who oppose Bush saying:

"..... energy is high to organize visible resistance to another 4 years of Bush through linking the national and even global struggle against the Bush regime..."

It seems they will be using "puppets" to emphasize their points. They described the puppets as being as tall as 15 feet with moving arms and legs. (those who read my post on my experience at a anti-abortion protest will remember a similar 'puppet' I described) What is it with the puppets? Do they realize how ridiculous they look? Maybe the puppets will start blowing each other up like in "Team America."

Now that would be cool.

One of the puppets is a giant spider. The body of the spider represents the 'power' of this administration and the legs represent things like "poverty, exploitation, and war," said one young looney leftie.

This is mainly an anti-war protest. You have to shake your head at the irony that she somehow equates Bush with poverty and exploitation. One wonders what she thinks Saddam was busy doing with those rape rooms and mass graves. The world might not have called it war, but I'm thinking it felt like one to the people who were gassed and thrown in the graves. Since Bush is the one responsible for ending not only the exploitation of those people, but especially the exploitation of the afghan women, you might think they would at least give him credit for that. But no, this is the tunnel vision of the looney left.

Here are some notes from their Nov 18th and Jan 6th meetings:

Discussion on Actions:-Many ideas for actions were discussed.---(inserts are my comments...;-)

---Billionaires for Bush will auction off social security and perhaps The Artic Wildlife Refuge (now that is sooo funny, funny, funny. What a hoot these guys are) They're currentlylooking for a venue to do this and are open to input on when/where might bebest.---Blockade roads, preoccupy police. (Oh that's good. Preoccupy the police during an inaugural for a President fighting a war on TERROR. Perhaps we should let the police keep a look out for that instead of DISTRACTING THEM.)

---Die-in on Pennsylvania Avenue (could there be anything more stupid than people laying on the ground pretending to be dead? Flowers put in butts of guns is even less stupid than that)

---Multiple park march.---Blanket city, billboards, fronts of buildings, etc, with messages countering the Bush Agenda.---Public school walkout.---(Who will be able to tell the difference?)
--- Marches from many different parts of city.---Stop the parade strategically, look for bottlenecks in parade route. (How rude)

---"Turn your back on the President" as his motorcade goes by.(ohhhh, that is gonna hurt)

---Demo on mall whereby message could be spelled with coffins or another demo.(Spelling things with coffins always makes a statement of intelligence, don't cha think?)

---Small actions around city of a few members each.-----Call for action for several hundred volunteers willing to work in smallgroups around city with informative posters, etc.---Lock down before barriers are set up.---Commuter information actions on Friday (January 21?) for federal govtemployees, defense contractors, etc.---Multi-issue women's march coordinated by Code Pink. (one is assuming the celebration of the freedom of afghan women from rape, forced marriage, no music, no school, no work, and having to wear what we call comforters every day, will not be mentioned)

Thank you all, and let's burn one down,~Lacy MacAuley (Burn one down??? Is that the best choice of words?)

Also this:

National Alliance of Black Panthers- holding events aimed at youth education including poetry slams, art nights and music. (A poetry slam? Someone want to fill me in? It sounds painful)

Pagan cluster- the pagan cluster will host a public ritual the night before the inauguration. (Public ritual? One can only hope it doesn't involve animal sacrifice. Perhaps just a big black boiling pot of eyes of newts, and things like that. If you live in D.C. though you might want to hide your black cat)

Here are the contact numbers on the site to make sure these guys remember to spread the word!!!! Do with it what you will folks...;-)

Senator Barbara Boxer, (202) 224-3553,senator@boxer.senate.gov
Senator Dick Durbin, (202) 224-2152,dick@durbin.senate.gov
Senator Russ Feingold, (202) 224-323,russ_feingold@feingold.senate.gov
Senator Tom Harkin, (202) 224-3254,tom_harkin@harkin.senate.gov
Senator Jim Jeffords, (202) 224-5141,Vermont@jeffords.senate.gov
Senator Edward Kennedy, 202/224-4543,senator@kennedy.senate.gov
Senator Patrick Leahy, (202) 224-4242,senator_leahy@leahy.senate.gov

We may have become the irritating things we hate and swat.

OMG! We have become a lot like flies! This article tells us how sneaky male flies woo their lover flies with "fake" gifts just long enough to have their way with her:

Jan. 11, 2005 — "Females among many insects and animals, including humans, enjoy receiving gifts during courtship, but a new study on flies reveals that males can woo their intendeds with worthless, fake love tokens, even if such cheating is otherwise undocumented for the species.
By the time the female fly realizes her lover is a cheapskate and beats him off with her wings, the male already has mated with her and leaves with his faux present to find another partner.

But let us not put all the blame of such bad behavior on the males. The article goes on:

"The researchers also found a link between the size and quality of a gift and the duration of copulation. Impressively large, real food gifts presented before mating led to the longest copulation periods. Smaller, real gifts were next in line, followed by the big fake token presents and then small, worthless gifts.
If a female fly did not have hold of a gift, she immediately stopped copulation and literally shooed off the male."

Does this sound a little familiar?

How about this with birds:

"Like a human male with an attractive, elegant bedroom, bowerbirds build colorful nests with objects such as bits of shells, stones, and even discarded pens. Some of the birds color-coordinate their home decor, so that the bower, or nest, appears to be all white or all blue. As for many humans, the flashiest pad tends to attract the most mates."

I really don't think I ever took in consideration the color cordination of a guy's apartment on whether to date him or not, so maybe we haven't quite become like birds, but the flies....I think it is downright SPOOKY!!!!

I blogged a bit during Afghan elections on Masooda Jalal, Afghan's new Minister of Women's affairs (and she ran for President as well). I blogged about the truly historic first vote of women ( and men for that matter) in Afghanistan and how the MSM pretty much ignored it for the incredible story it was. The feminists in this country were no where to be found, of course.

Beautiful Atrocities has more on this amazing woman and all that she faced. I love her quotes. Here is my favorite.

On fearlessness- "I have dug a hole & buried all my fears."


Did you hear about Prince Harry's really stupid youthful mistake? Being politically incorrect is one thing. This is quite another.

"Prince Harry was today urged to visit Auschwitz after his apology for wearing a Nazi officer's uniform to a fancy dress party appeared to do little to calm the controversy.

A photograph splashed across the front page of the Sun showed Prince Harry enjoying a drink and a cigarette while dressed as a member of Rommel's Afrika Corps, complete with red swastika armband."

It was a "native and colonial" themed party, held at the country mansion of the Olympic showjumper Richard Meade.

Those Brits have so much fun, don't they?

Back to the Serious.

This from CyberAlert:

" Two network anchors treated as a noble cause, not as an unworthy publicity gimmick without any factual basis, the move by a few far-left cranks in the House and Senate to object to the certification of the Electoral College vote in Ohio in favor of President George W. Bush. ABC's Peter Jennings noted that "the Democrats knew that it was a pretty ceremonial objection," but he stressed how they "regarded it as important." Brian Williams, from Singapore, teased Thursday's NBC Nightly News by assuming facts not in evidence as he presumed there were "problems" in Ohio, "Protesting the vote: Congress forced to interrupt its ceremonial counting of the electoral votes because of problems on Election Day in Ohio." NBC's Chip Reid proceeded to relay, without citing any evidence, how "the objectors cited irregularities in Ohio from alleged intimidation of minority voters to too few voting machines."

Talking to an online black buddy of mine, it seems that this notion has been planted in the black communities mind that too few voting machines were put in black areas on purpose. That is the intimidation. The scheme being that they would have to wait in line too long. Now we all know that black people don't like to wait in line, right? Therefore they would go home and not vote.

This is outrageous!!! This makes those snarling vicious dogs tearing clothes and skin off black people in the 60's look like nothing!!! Who needs water hoses when you have ......LINES! LORD HAVE MERCY! We Republicans are crafty little suckers, aren't we?

This voting machine myth is being put out there to further the notion that Republicans don't want black people to vote. If there were a shred of evidence of that, I would personally send a check to Jesse Jackson's PUSH organization for $1000.

2. "The worst part was when Diane Sawyer handed me a bunch of pills and said, 'Here Dan, take these, they're cyanide.' Anyway, I took them, and they turned out to be Tic-Tacs. And she just laughed and said, 'Oops, sorry Dan, guess I should have authenticated those pills better.' Long story short, Willie, will you kill Diane Sawyer for me?"

Stolen from The Writ of Wisdom

Wonderduck, Homeric..got anything for me here?
How about...
"Oh good, they do use Heinz ketchup here at Wendys."

My kids thought this was funny. 

Jokes.....

Why do men want to marry virgins?
They can't stand criticism.

Why is it so hard for women to find men that are sensitive, caring, and good-looking?
Because those men already have boyfriends.

Did you hear about the dyslexic Rabbi?
He walks around saying "Yo."

What's the difference between a southern zoo and a northern zoo?
A southern zoo has a description of the animal on the front of the cage along with... a recipe.

stolen from Grouchy Old Cripple

Time to Lighten Up.

Do you think this guy from the NY Times read my post about Michael Moore the other day? Heh.

"MICHAEL MOORE did something shocking for the People's Choice Awards show in Los Angeles on Sunday night - he got himself coiffed.
We're not saying for sure that there was product in the hair; but it certainly looked as if "Queer Eye for the Filmmaker Who Wants That Academy Award Really Bad" had made an emergency house call:
The hair had been trimmed and trained in such a way as to head upward; the scruffy beard we saw only last week in New York had become one of those crisp trendy goatees; the guy was wearing a handsome dark suit and a tie."

Not exactly what I said, but close.


This NY Times Article may explain a little bit about bloggers. It's called "The Secret Lives of just about Everybody.":

"The urge to act out an entirely different persona is widely shared across cultures as well, social scientists say, and may be motivated by curiosity, mischief or earnest soul-searching. Certainly, it is a familiar tug in the breast of almost anyone who has stepped out of his or her daily life for a time, whether for vacation, for business or to live in another country."

Or say...maybe to blog? Who knows? Maybe Blackfive is really a dweeby accountant in North Dakota. Maybe Allah is a little old lady in New Jersey. (Yes! He (she?) is back!!) And for all we know SondraK could be Jeff at BA in drag, blogging both sites. I myself could be secretly single pretending to have all these kids to see if I can find a decent guy out there.

There is just no way of truly knowing for sure.


Things you can do with your laundry but probably should not
This is funny. Trust me. My son is trying it as we speak. h/t The Biomes Blog

Can the French pass the smell test?

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Veteran anchorman Dan Rather sent a memo to his CBS News colleagues Tuesday calling for 'a renewed dedication to journalism of the highest quality.' .........*SNORT*

After the serious rant yesterday we are gonna lighten up here today! 

An Open Letter to Southpark Republicans.

Settle in because I have something to say.

A few days back there was a post over at Protein Wisdom about having Kid Rock perform at the inaugural at the White House. Michele Malkin had opened her blog up to comments and many of the religious conservatives were very upset that he was playing because of his nasty lyrics and nasty lifestyle. They felt it wasn't a good message to send to young people. Jeff at PW was sorta put out by that, feeling that the religious conservatives were kinda saying that if you weren't a certain kind of Republican then they didn't want you around. Someone came up with the perfect name imo of the kind of Republican Jeff and many of the conservative bloggers are; Southpark Republicans.

Southpark Republicans (and some libertarians who vote Republican) are conservative in most things politically but either iffy or apathetic on social and cultural issues. They tend to have naughty humor and language on their blogs, and I must admit I enjoy their blogs very much. But they seem to be truly bothered by the Jerry Falwells, James Dobsons, and the like in the Republican party.

There is no doubt in my mind that we really are the big tent party. All you have to do it look at this conservative Catholic blog, to Jeff's naughty Jewish Protein Wisdom blog to atheist BigDog's House blog to gay Republican Jeff at Beautiful Atrocities blog to Protestant religious La Shawn Barber's blog. Catholic, Jewish, atheist, Gay, and Evangelical, we have it all. I like it that way. I think we can all learn a lot from each other. But I think I need to address Jeff's concern about religious conservatives. Many conservative bloggers (and others) who are non religious or marginally so don't seem to understand religious conservatives concerns on social and culture issues. I was trying to figure out how best to explain it and this is what I came up with.

For years and years I have subscribed to 3 magazines. "National Review" in order to retain my sane view of the world, "U.S News and World Report" for a general balanced view of world events, news, and politics, and finally "Vainty Fair." At first I read "Vanity Fair" as a guilty pleasure. It was like a more sophisticated "People Magazine." It has in depth articles on the rich and famous, not only from today, but from the past. It always had very good articles on famous and some not so famous criminal trials as well. It has always been liberal, but the last few years it has become a liberal screech. That is the only way to describe it. I thought this month's issue illustrated well the reason social conservatives are so concerned with our culture and why we feel we have to be so vocal about it in our party.

Flip through the magazine with me, will you?

I'll skip the rants on the war and President Bush that we conservatives all agree that the liberals are way off on , but trust me, they are all there. From the "election fraud" here to the "evil" Gonzales for Attorney General.

The letters to the Editor begins with praise and concern over a previous article on the Italian Lolita whose best selling non-fiction book is all the rage in Europe and coming here as well. It is the diary of a 16 yr old girl into sexual perversions of every kind ( and I mean every kind) with older men and women. This behavior is not considered wrong or deviant. Only the "poetry" of her diary is discussed. The fact that she was a minor is never mentioned.

Next we have an article about the next Star Wars sequel, "Revenge of the Sith." It seems this sequel may have a PG-13 rating. Lucas says in the article that children should be warned, thinking Star Wars is innocent. This one is not. People are cut in half and arms are cut off in this one. Isn't that nice? Make a string of wonderful movies for kids, then make the last sequel that isn't for them. Who believes that small children will not see this movie, much less 9 and 10 yr olds?

Keeping with the anti-American and anti war theme of Vanity Fair, another article describes "new accounts of prisoner abuse in Iraq." I'll keep it simple for you. Our soldiers are bad, evil, sexual perverts, and the poor Iraqi's caught up in our immoral war are victims of the abuse by our soldiers.

Next we have a biography of Bob Guccione, "one of the greatest success stories in magazine history, the cornerstone of a multi million dollar publishing empire." That is until the "Reagan era censorship" made him almost lose it all. They call him a "pioneering pornographer" in founding Penthouse magazine. His "daring and graphic displays of genitalia" were a way of passing up Playboy magazine in sales. He is an "artist whose pornographic imagination came from his repressed Catholic background."
No mention of the women he exploited, used, and drugged, or the sexuality he warped of young boys on his way to fortune and fame.

And finally I bring you the article, "The Gay Divide." Which focuses on gays in television. It begins with Showtime being surprised that one it's episode of "The L Word," a lesbian "Sex In The City" type show, didn't cause the controversy they thought it would.

I know this is going to sound weird, but I cannot type what the episode is about in the way they did. I just can't. So instead of "Christ" I am going to type "a man." Just bear with my sensibilities here please. In this episode "a man" is depicted in an art video performing graphic sex from behind with a fallen woman. As the woman, on all fours, grimaces, the producer of the video says "it's like she's longing for faith."

I am hoping that the reason the episode didn't generate controversy is because no one saw it. Because if there is a case of more extreme religious bigotry, I am not aware of it.

So this is what I have to say to my Southpark Republican friends. Let me give you a little perspective if faith is not a part of your life. Imagine that someone you love more than anything in this world; your child, is constantly being depicted in a gross or perverted manner in print, TV, and movies. Imagine a show that depicts your child, calling him by the name you have given him, being sexually raped or molested with no hint that there is anything wrong with that. I would think you would be enraged. You would scream from the roof top.

That is the way religious conservatives feel about this culture. We feel that what we love is being put on display for ridicule and that we are having to raise our children in a culture than not only disrespects the faith we are trying to pass on to our children, but denigrates it in every way that it can from music, to TV, to movies. Every moral value that we convey to our children from pro-life issues to sexual issues to religious issues are considered "judgmental" or "prudish." We honestly feel our children are breathing in the venom our society puts out there and we feel helpless.

Many adults with young children are under the grand illusion that you can somehow protect your children from the nasty and perverted. It is impossible. Especially with the Internet. Unless you follow your child around 24 hrs a day until he is 12, he will see and hear things you would never want him to hear or see by the time he is 7. For every parent who watches carefully there are 200 who do not. And your child will be exposed to them. There is no getting around it.

We did not have cable in our house for 13 yrs until they came out with the V chip so I could block channels. My brother told me once, "you can't keep them innocent forever." I asked him, "Can I keep them innocent until they are 10??? Is that possible? Is that OK?"

So maybe you Southpark Republicans can be a little more understanding of those of us who rant against the sexualization of our kids, the crudeness of our public airwaves, and the anger and sadness we feel fighting the Golaith of our society who seems to only care about what adults want and not what kid's need.

We want what you want, a better society. Whenever I look at an issue I don't only look at who is for it, I look at who is against it. That tells me a lot about it. Yall might think about that as well next time you disagree with a religious conservative. Look around you and see who is against us as well.

You might not like the company.

Mortimer Zuckerman, Editor-In-Chief of U.S. News and World Report has a list of some funny or interesting quotes from the year. Here are some of my favorites:

Republican Dennis Hastert on Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi:
"She has all the qualities of leadership, except followers."

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on the death of Yasser Arafat:
"I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying that I approved of it."

A French book reviewer on Bill Clinton's autobiography, MY LIFE:
"In France, the public life of a president starts from the waist up."

My Personal Favorite-

Donald Rumsfeld on the valor of American Forces in Iraq:
"For those who have fought for it, freedom has a taste that the protected will never know."

Yes, those are my feet. Jeff at Beautiful Atrocities has his own "FOOT FETISHIST'S GUIDE TO THE BLOGOSPHERE." Unlike so many bloggers, I don't have time to go run take a picture of my feet in shoes. So when Jeff asked for a pic of my feet all I could find was a picture of me at the beach. So there it is. What can I say? I am a barefoot kind of girl.