In Love.

A while back I decided to try and find my best friend from high school. She had married a friend a mine and settled in my hometown and I had last seen her at my father's funeral 20 yrs ago. I thought it would be fairly easy. We didn't go to the same high school, but I had many friends at hers and my boyfriend had gone there. In my search I found a 20 yr reunion website for her high school and found pictures and information on my old boyfriend. As I sat looking at pictures of this man who had broken my heart at 16, who had aged as we all have, I remembered what it was like to be so young and so in love.

The summer I was 15 I met him after a highschool baseball game. He was a gifted athlete and would later play college ball. Meeting him was literally like being hit by a truck. I was a rare confident teen. I had boyfriends since I was in 1st grade. It had all been fun and games up to this point. But this, this was love.

My usual witty responses got stuck in my throat. My confidence in my looks disappeared. He seemed to like me as well, but unfortunately his cousin liked me a lot and he didn't want to hurt his cousin. I would see him at games, at the pizza hut we hung out and I would start to shake. My heart would pound. I HATED IT! I tried to make this feeling go away. My interest in other boys disappeared. I could hardly eat. All I could think about was this guy. It was like listening to the same song all day long. And there was no way I could find to turn it off.

Finally, the situation resolved itself and he called and asked me out. I don't remember the conversation. I remember hanging up and almost passing out. I laid on my bed, put my hands to my face and screamed.

I honestly don't remember that first date either. I think I must have been in such a state of nirvana that it was almost like a drug induced high. I call it a love blackout.

I turned 16 and it was the summer of love. When I finally got to the point where I could actually breath around him, we started to have fun together. It was a rollercoaster ride of emotions for me. The high when he called and the low when he didn't. He never treated me badly, but it was clear that I was crazy go nuts in love with this guy and he.....well....he liked me a lot, but there was a wall there I could not break through. I remember lying on the couch in my living room with him and my head on his chest listening to his heartbeat. I would close my eyes and try to will his heart to love me.

Loving someone more than they love you is so painful I don't think I could have ever gone through it again. When we were together I would soar. But when he didn't call for days I would fall into a depression I have never experienced since. On the one hand I was so grateful to be with him when I was that I never complained about the times when I was not. So I made it pretty easy for him to take me for granted and he did.

Then the day came when I found out he had cheated on me. (Then that just meant he had gone out with someone else) I may have been in love, but I still had my dignity. Cheating was not something I would ever put up with. I wrote him a terse note and that was that.

For about a month I soaked my pillow each night with my tears. I didn't just feel my heart was broken, I felt it had been torn to pieces. But after a while I put the pieces back together and went forward. I will always be grateful that he never took physical advantage of the love I had for him. I thought of myself as pretty strong, but he had a way of making me pretty weak.

But the story doesn't end there.

I learned many things from my first love. I learned to never let yourself love someone more than they loved you. I learned to never feel that the thought of losing someone should make you let them walk all over you.

A few years later after we had both gone to different colleges, we saw each other at a club. He called me and wanted to see me again. I'm not saying my heart didn't flutter a bit, but the scars had kept me from the soaring feeling of love I had felt before. Over the next few years we saw each other when we could. He said to me once, "You're not falling in love with me like before." I replied, "No, I learned my lesson." Did this bother him? I am not sure. Like before there was still a wall there I could never break through. But I was in full control this time. No more broken hearts for me.

But still..... That girl who was crazy go nuts in love was hiding behind my heart waiting for him to go crazy go nuts and be in love with her the same way.

My senior year in college he called to tell me that his college baseball team was playing my college that weekend. He said he would call me when he got there. He did. He told me he had about an hour before practice and could I come to the athletic dorm and see him.

Now this may seem like an insignificant detail, but you will understand at the end. At this time in the early 80's all curly long hair was in, right? I had straight long hair. I was so excited about seeing him I didn't bother to stop and roll my hair though. I just flew out the door and drove over there. When I got to him I gave him a big hug and he looks at me and says with a slight smile, "Thanks for fixing your hair for me."

In that moment I knew that I would never make this man happy. I knew that I would never be smart enough, be pretty enough, or love him enough. As much as my heart yearned for him, my mind knew better. A deep sadness flowed through me.

He said, "I'll see you at the game tomorrow, right?" "Yes," I replied, "I'll be there." But I didn't go to that game the next day and I never saw him again.

He has married, divorced, remarried and has 3 children. He lives in my hometown. I saw a picture of his wife and wondered if she had broken down that wall.

I never did find my best friend. She had divorced my friend and remarried. Sometimes we lose things that are so precious to us and we just never find them again.

So it goes.

Would a "gay gene" mean the end of gays?

I had a conversation with an atheist friend of mine the other night. He firmly believes that being gay is genetic and is a gene that is passed on from family.

His theory is this. He believes that for generations when homosexuality was not accepted, gays married out of social pressure and had children. Thus the gay gene was passed on. Now that the social pressure is no longer there and very few gays are opting to have natural children if they have children at all, then he believes that gays will diminish and finally be eliminated from the gene pool. He figures in 50 years there will be very few gays left.

Well, I had to think about that one. No one has proven there is any kind of "gay gene" of course, but the interesting thing is that gay people themselves very much want it to be proven that there is one. The reason being that it proves this isn't a "choice" they make and they were "born" that way.

So I was thinking that if there is a gay gene, doesn't it follow that that gene is passed on and that my friend has a point?

Look..... I am no scientist, which is abundantly clear here, but I wondered what your thoughts are on this theory.

No Pasarant! brings us this. A fact we should NEVER forget:

"BBC's retiring Stephen Sackur.
As he hangs up the microphone of BBC foreign correspondent, Sackur brings with him a host of powerful memories, one of the very strongest coming from Iraq.

"A country especially dear to me, as my wife's homeland. It was there I saw the most distressing sight of my life. Men and women clawing at the earth, uncovering the first of the mass graves discovered after the fall of Saddam Hussenin.

Thousands of stinking corpses came out of the ground that day. I saw infants with bullet holes blown through their skulls. I was the only reporter there. I sensed in that Iraqi field that I was a necessary witness, in the right place at the right time." via Mudville

Our soldiers have died, but they sure as hell haven't died in vain. This was a MONSTER we took down. A monster who had bred 2 monster sons. God knows what we saved that region from, not to mention the world.

To spank or not to spank....

On Fox News they just showed a five year old having a temper tantrum in class (someone was videotaping, I guess so they wouldn't be sued by the parents) The little girl is tearing things off the walls and swinging fists at the teacher.

Finally a cop comes in and HANDCUFFS her!! Thats right, a five year old handcuffed!!! This is where we are???

I remember being in 2nd grade and having the meanest teacher. Mrs. McDonald. If we so much as SPOKE at the wrong time you were asked to stay after school. (I tend to speak alot) She would march us into a closet and spank us with a paddle. AWFUL! But, we obeyed her. By the end of Sept. when Mrs. McDonald said jump, WE JUMPED. When she said "Be quiet!" We WERE. There was never any classroom disruptions or problems.

Now I am not saying we should go back to letting teachers spank, but only because I don't trust public school teachers anymore. One used to be able to know the teacher well and know that she held pretty much the same basic values as you did. Not so now. And thats too bad, because children want to be shown how to control themselves. They really do.

Most of the time other forms of punishment work. But every once in a while and with some kids, they need to have a good spank and that is all there is to it. Because you can't tell me it's better or more humane to HANDCUFF them. Geeze!

(And no, for the record, I never spanked my kids, I expected my hubby to do it because that's how it was done at my house. He wouldn't, so I had to work hard at alternatives. Don't even get me started talking about it)

The Guardian brings us this:

"Call it Colin Powell's revenge. The former US secretary of state has been putting the knife into John Bolton, the administration's rottweiler and the man nominated by George Bush to represent the US at the UN.
In very similar stories, the Washington Post and the New York Times reported today that Powell has been telling moderate Republicans on the senate foreign relations committee that Bolton is a bad choice. Powell's former chief of staff, Lawrence Wilkerson, went so far as to tell the New York Times that Bolton would be an "abysmal ambassador".

Why do we Republicans always do this to ourselves? You never see Democrats back stab each other. I will give them that. They are loyal. Getting serviced by an intern at the white house? No problem. Have a gay prostitution ring being run out of your house and you are a Congressman. Thats OK! Have a illegimate child with someone who works in your nonprofit while the wife and mother of your five children handles it with grace? Sure! Why not???? Congressional investigation into your finances? Who cares?

Seriously, Republicans just turn and run or back stab. It is really starting to make me sick. Who needs enemies when you have friends like these??

So this is how you get a Rightalk Radio job......

I found this SUPER SECRET shot of some of our bloggers night job! From your left to right. Jeff at Protein Wisdom, Bill at INDC Journal, and Ace From Ace Of Spades HQ. Ace was a bit of surprise I have to admit.

Click here for larger image. You seriously need to see the larger pic.

You've heard of twins trading places like for a test, right? Well this has a political spin on it. You won't believe it. via The Obscure Store.

This is so stupid a nd goofy, it's funny.via The Biomes Blog

Wizbang has this news story:

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Police said they arrested a man for spitting on two-time Academy Award-winning actress Jane Fonda during a book-signing stop in Kansas City Tuesday night.
Fonda, 67, spoke at Unity Temple, in The Plaza shopping district, about her new best-selling book, "My Life So Far," and her new movie with Jennifer Lopez called "Monster-In-Law."
At about 9 p.m., police said, a man who had been waiting in line for about 90 minutes, passed a book to Fonda and then spit a large amount of tobacco juice into her face.
Michael A. Smith, 54, was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, which is a city charge.

This is unacceptable. I don't care who you disagree with, people with any sort of decency do not do things like spit in people's faces. Just like with this whole liberal pie throwing thing that has been going on. I understand people's feelings of outrage over something, but to act like a idiot does not speak well of your cause.

Let's have a caption contest for our old Russian leader, shall we?

I thought ya'll were all funny, so I let my son decide the top 3.

"I thought they said Martha Stewart was going to be on Sirius? What's this P Diddy crap I'm listening to??"-Barry

Gorbie field tests the new Russian "hands free" mouse for his laptop.-PP

"...that's two McBorshts, a Gulag McGoulash, and a chocolate shake. Would you like fries with that?"- Wonderduck

Ok, Ok,....Enough about the Pope, but how about one more thing if it's HILARIOUS?

Beautiful Atrocities brings us:

"VATICAN SHOCKER: NEW POPE IS CATHOLIC"

"Passed over: Deepak Chopra & Maya Angelou."

Legions of deeply spiritual media pundits, academics, & Hollywood celebrities expressed dismay over the Vatican's controversial decision to elect a Catholic as the new Pope." READ THE REST.

I don't know about you, but I certainly have never faked it.

An Interview With 2Slick.......

For those of you who don't know, 2Slick is a "Former Army Black Hawk Pilot. Deployed to Iraq with the 101st Airborne from Feb '03 to Jan '04 (OIF 1), and Kuwait (with 3rd Army HQ) from Aug '04 to Jan '05." (As described on his blog) He is also a contributer to the book, "IRAQ: Providing Hope" listed on his website.
His blog was intensely fascinating and informative to read while he was in Iraq, he was a 2004 Weblog Award finalist as well. (He also won an "award" on my site, but that's another story...;-)
I asked him when he returned if he would answer some questions. There were so many things I wanted to know about how things were over there. Here is the first part of that interview:

How did you decide to become a blackhawk helicopter pilot?

I knew I had a service obligation after West Point, and Army Aviation seemed like the most exciting way to go about it. My eyes held out just long enough to pass the first flight physical (I've been wearing glasses ever since), and my grades were good enough to get my first choice. Once I arrived at flight school, I trained on a Bell Jet Ranger (A civilian OH-58), and learned about the various airframes in the inventory- UH-60 (Black Hawk) was easily the choice for me- it's the most versitile and exciting aircraft in the fleet!

Can you describe your basic mission in Iraq?

Initially (during the invasion), I was a operations/logistics officer. I was focused on getting my brigade from Fort Campbell, KY to Kuwait, and then eventually into Iraq.

Once we settled into Mosul Airfield, I began to assume the Civil-Military Operations role for my brigade. I ended up leading the Mosul University project. Our job was to interface with the University Staff/Faculty, provide emergency assistance (initially), opportunity upgrades (based on how much money I had at any given time), security assistance, intel gathering, etc.

Describe your scariest mission or the one that affected you the most.

During the "major combat operations"- I led a small team of about 12 troops to the Mosul Train Station to await a rail shipment. It was my first night in Mosul (after having spent 2 weeks in Najaf and 3 weeks in Baghdad). The train was supposed to arrive at 9 pm. It didn't. We waited until 8 the next morning. All night long, shots rang out all over the place. Many bullets came very close to us. We could hear them cracking the air as they whizzed by us. It was pretty terrifying. And then there was a huge burst of gunfire at a Univeristy protest that I was trying to put down. That put a good scare in me. I know that many people experienced much worse, so I didn't think much of it. But I guess it was pretty scary in retrospect...

Regarding the politics of the war, how was the overall moral of the soldiers over there ?

Initially, we didn't really follow the public sentiment back home. We were just too busy doing our jobs. I'd say morale was very high while I was there. Only about 10% of the troops whined about being there- and those were usually the younger, less-educated, I-miss-my-mommy types.

What was yours and other soldiers major news sources?

Initially- letters from home. It eventually became the internet (which I'm sure it now- combined with Fox News).

What were the reporters on the ground like?

Usually friendly. Sometimes overbearing. Sometimes apologetic ("I know it sucks that we only cover the bad news, but we need paychecks, ya know?"). They pretty much dissappeared after the end of "major combat operations."

Did you see a change in the attitude of the people there the longer you were there? If so, explain how.

Yes. Initially they seemed skeptical and/or curious- just like us. The more we interacted with them, the more trusting and cordial they became. I think that usually happens when the Americans come to town. You'd never know it by watching the news, but it happens. I've seen it 3 times (Korea, Iraq, Kuwait)

After having been there and back home, do you still feel strongly about the rightness of us going into Iraq?

Absolutely. Just read my blog...


Stay tuned for the next installment sometime next week.

Resurrection Song brings us the opinion of Mark Morford of SFGate.com on our new Pope:


"See, most spiritually progressive peoples the world over were sort of hoping for a new pope who would recognize this as a historic opportunity, an unprecedented moment for the church to finally get with the times, modernize, shake off the dust and roll some bones and pry open some of those old dungeon doors and bring in some goddamn light.

You know what we wanted? More sex. Love. Good TV. Gender freedom. Better wine. Less sneering doctrine and homophobia and sexism and more fun with condoms and music and spiritual joy. But, instead, we got you."

Hmmm..... Mark wanted to get drunk, get laid (by either gender it seems), and have fun with condoms while listening to music or watching TV. Can't he do that without the Pope? Can't he do that even without the Catholic Church?

Here is my suggestion for Mark and all those who feel like him.

SHUTUP!

You know what? I love my Church. I don't want it to change and GUESS WHAT? I like a good glass of wine, I get plenty of sex, music, and spiritual joy and I do it all being a devout Catholic!!!!!!!!!!! That's right!!! I follow those so called "repressive" teachings and I HAVE A GOOD TIME!!!!

Now you can go do any ole sexual experiment you wish, drink, eat and be merry..... Just don't try and change my Church. Because what WE wanted was a humble holy man filled with compassion, but determined to keep the Church on the course of moral clarity. This isn't a club. This is a CHURCH. The Church tells us how to live morally, how to love God more fully. THAT"S IT'S JOB!

It's job is NOT to make you or Andrew Sullivan or anyone else feel better about your sexual proclivities or your partying habits. This Church has thousands of years of tradition and it's not perfect by any means, but it isn't going to change so people like you can have a good time and say that the Catholic Church says it's OK.

So go just ride another horse and try not to sound so stupid.

"Unfortuntely, in the rich countries like ours, we really don't give a damn."-Jimmy Carter, knocking what he says is stingy U.S. foreign aid via U.S. News and World Report.

EXCUSE ME? Just privately Americans have donated $989,189,234.32 for tsunami relief alone. $ total via You Big Mouth You. Need I go on about our billions sent out through the government?

Don't they make you just want to SCREAM?

Now this is what the liberals really want. Picture via U.S. News and World Report. (click on link or pic above to see a larger picture...(I hate HELLO)

Ace catches Andrew Sullivan being dishonest. SHOCK! I have long ago had enough of his whiny self involved rants that focus on nothing else but his sexuality. As Ace puts it:

"Sullivan: And I'll Keep Leaving the Church Until Someone Notices."

Really. Enough already. Do I really need to say it? If you don't like our Church, there are about 1500 dominations to choose from. Go for it big guy.

Why I Am Catholic. It Seems a Good Day to Explain.

Two years I ago I stood in Saint Peter's Square in awe of it's beauty and majesty that pictures do not do justice. I walked through the Sistine Chapel and attended Mass at Saint Peter's Basilica. I stood a few feet from Saint Peter's Bones under the Basilica. The history of our Church became very real to me then. But my journey to Rome began long ago.

Many have asked me about my conversion story from Baptist to Catholic. But I don't look at it that way. I look at my whole life as a spiritual journey to a place where I could be as close to God as possible.

I was not raised in a very religious home. My parents were Methodist and took us to Church once and awhile. As you may have read in my post about my father, they were Christians, but just didn't love organized religion too much.

I'm not sure I know why my desire to follow God came so strongly around 14 years old. Sitting in the front yard of my Grandma's house in the country, looking at the stars and praying , I was overcome with the spirit of God. I really don't know how to say it any other way. It is a feeling of pure joy. Indescribable really.

From that moment on there has never been a doubt in my mind or soul that God existed and is real. Even in times of deep darkness I have felt His comfort. I have experienced miracles and have come to believe that there is no way to understand or realize how much God loves us, how much He wants our happiness, and how much He suffers with us.

As I have also said before in another post, God and I always had different ideas on how I should live my life. I have argued with him like a daughter argues with her mother. I have been stubborn and stupid, but He has been faithful.

The Catholic Church teaches that we are all united in God, although imperfectly so. The more I learned about the history of Christianity the more I was drawn to Catholism. There was no doubt that man had messed up many times, as Christ knew that we would. But "the gates of hell did prevail against thee." And even now in the year 2005, the Church thrives will more than a billion followers. God's teachings are argued and distorted, but it is quite simply based on love. Such love.

I have a great love for the Protestant Church. I found Christ there, and for that I will always be grateful. But the more I learned about Catholism, the more I realized that this was what I needed to climb the mountain.

We all climb that mountain of faith, whether we realize it or not. Many of us fall and get bruised and hurt, many are lost on the mountain and cannot find their way. I chose the Catholic Church because I felt it gave me a map of that mountain. I climb and I suffer, but I hold fast to that map and I look at it every day to make sure I am on the right path.

My map is worn and torn and tattered but I shall never let it go, for it has brought me up the mountain this far and I have far to go.

"WE HAVE A POPE!"

That is the headline Fox News has at the bottom of the screen. The others have "A New Pope Elected."
I just find it interesting the difference. The Pope does belong to the world, even for those who don't care.

Chris Wallace says he has goose bumps. So do I.

The smoke is white, the bells are ringing, and there is joyful noise made unto the Lord in St. Peter's square.

It is Cardinal Ratzinger. That is who I had hoped for!!!

His name will be Pope Benedict XVI.

Praise God!

The Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Wild Ride Through Fantasy.

Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows the love/hate relationship I have with the magazine 'Vanity Fair.' This month's issue has the usual diatribes against conservatives. As you know, a more liberal slant on the war and Bush cannot be found anywhere else but in Vanity Fair. So I get to read the other side who assumes that all Vanity Fair readers are liberal Democrats and I am sure most of them are.

This month they feature an excerpt from Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s new book "Crimes Against Nature." Robert is an environmental lawyer, but this excerpt focuses mainly on showing us 2 things. One, how Bush LIED to us and how talk radio and rightwing media is brain washing the American people. Robert says:

"I believe, however, that the Democrats lost the presidential contest not because of a philosophical chasm between red and blue states but due to an information deficit caused by a breakdown in our national media."

He goes on to say:

"This threat to the flow of information, vital to democracy's survival, has been compounded in recent years by the growing power of the right-wing media that twist the news and deliberately deceive the public to advance their radical agenda."

Robert then goes on in the rest of the article to deliberately deceive VF readers to advance HIS radical agenda.

Funny how that works.

According to Robert, Fox News, Rush, Hannity, and even MSNBC are pretty much brain washing us all. He complains that 90% of talk radio is conservative while only 10% is "progressive." (We wouldn't want use the L-word, now would we?)

Radio, like other things, is a business. If people like what they hear they listen and advertisers pay. If people don't listen then the talk show goes away. It's that simple. People started listening to Rush for the same reason I did. It was nice to finally hear someone articulate what we conservatives believed and felt. I don't know about you, but I felt pretty alone before Rush came along. What Rush and others did was give voice to our beliefs and our frustrations and he even did it in an amusing way.

What Robert and others don't seem to understand is that Rush or other conservative voices didn't CHANGE our minds, they just agreed with us. That is why we liked listening. But as with so many liberals, Robert seems to think that Americans are pretty stupid and easily led.

He quotes statistic after statistic about what the American people "believed" about the war. For instance, Robert says that President Bush "failed to protect vulnerable terrorist targets at home-chemical plants, nuclear facilities, air-cargo carriers, and ports."

Really? Did I miss some attacks? Isn't it pretty obvious that Bush DID protect us? Newsflash to Robert. We haven't been attacked again since 9-11.

And one of the main reasons we haven't imo is because we rounded up the would be terrorists at Guantanamo. But Robert says that Bush "disgraced our nation and empowered tyrants with unpunished excesses at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib."

Really? It looks to me like we have "tryrants" well in hand. I don't feel threatened by anyone, do you? But then, we are just stupid Americans as his statistics show. We believe this propaganda of the rightwing because we obviously can't think for ourselves.

Isn't this just so typical of liberals? They are the smart ones and everyone else is stupid. If you read the Pat Sajak piece I linked earlier you read a conversation he had with a liberal colleague that illustrates exactly that:

" I complained to another Liberal friend about some of the Left’s tone concerning the 2004 elections. I thought it insulting to hear those “red state” voters caricatured as red-necked rubes. My friend asked, “Well, don’t you think that people who live in large urban areas, who travel and read and speak other languages are better able to make informed choices?” It turns out it is superiority, not familiarity, which breeds contempt."

It's all about the superiority folks.

Robert seems to think there is "a vast rightwing conspiracy" that gives out false information. But in reality, we conservatives were just sick of being looked at as ignorant by the major networks and newspapers and were so relieved to have our views on the table that we FLOCKED to rightwing radio and TV.

Robert gives an example of us "winning" by the resignation of Pat Mitchell as president of PBS after "rightwing critics" got upset that she was allowing a cartoon episode with a lesbian couple. (she recanted and canceled the episode) Come on! How dare we get angry that a popular CARTOON watched by our children is trying to send an ADULT message to children that very well may go against our values and is totally inappropriate for the age group.

I mean really.

Who is really trying to spread propaganda here? You tell me.

Among the pundits Robert accuses of being in this VRWC is Peggy Noonan and Dick Morris for example. He cited John Stossel and Michael Savage as well. Could each of these people be more different? Even Brian Williams is included because he dared to give kudos to Rush Limbaugh recently.

The liberals probably do believe this VRWC. What they can't and won't face is that it is simply the marketplace of ideas and our ideas are winning now. Not because we lie or give out disinformation, but because our ideas are different from theirs and many seem to agree.

And that scares the hell out of them.

Kids and Swimming

Six Meat Buffet directed me to this story at Red State Rant. It's a story told by a patrol officer of a missing little 4 yr old boy the other day in Florida. Part of the story involves the little boy's dog and it reminded me of something that happened to me several years ago. Both stories remind us that life can be gone in an instant. Even when we are good parents.

I was putting my newborn daughter down for a nap. My 2 yr old son was out in the back yard with my dog. I was only gone a minute or two because she was so easy. I would just lay her down and she would crash. I walked back out in my yard and there was no sign of my son or dog. I ran around the house and saw the gate was open. He had never even tried to open the gate before, nor did it occur to me that he actually could open it. (it had that latch thing very high up) My son had been born being afraid of NOTHING. He never looked where he was going, he never stopped to ponder what might be over that edge, or care whether he got lost. He simply had NO FEAR. I tell him now that he is 18 that the only reason he lived was that I followed him around like a puppy the first 6 yrs of his life.

Anyway, the biggest problem was that we lived across the street from a lake. The houses that backed up to the lake didn't have fences for the obvious reason of enjoying the lake, so anyone could walk between the houses to get to the lake or walk just a bit down the street where it was open to the lake which had a sidewalk surrounding it. I knew the moment I saw the gate open that my son had headed straight for that lake. Probably running at full speed. Knowing my daughter was fine and asleep I raced through the house, grabbed my car keys and was out the front door looking in all directions. He was no where in sight. Some guys were working on a light pole a few feet away. I screamed at them that my 2 yr old was missing as I jumped in my car I pointed to each one and told each which direction to go look. (back through the other parts of the neighborhood just in case) Panic causes one to become extremely bossy and I can tell you they did exactly what I told them.

I went from 0 to 60 in about 2 seconds and was at the lakefront. I saw a woman and a child feeding the ducks by the lake bank. As I jumped out of my car I yelled at her and asked her if she had seen a little blonde boy. She pointed behind the houses that were situated across the street from my house. I ran around the houses like a race horse and there was my little boy, throwing rocks into the lake with my dog, Vince (An American Eskimo-Spitz) jumping around in front of him not letting him get close to the water. My knees nearly buckled under me, but I almost tackled the poor little guy when I got to him. I held him against me and cried and cried. Trying to calm myself down I started to tell him how he was to NEVER do that again and how dangerous the water was. In every instance that I had taken him to a pool, lake, or the beach he had run for the water without stopping and jumped right in. What made him stop this time? A fluffy white angel named Vince, I'm thinking.

The event jarred me so much that I taught my son how to swim myself within about 3 weeks of that incident. I taught my other 3 children to swim by the time each was 3 years old. You think you can't do it? You can. The earlier you start, the better. Get them used to the water as soon as possible and then when they are 2, you get in that water every day practicing until they know how to swim to the side. After mine all learned, I would playfully throw them in the water so they would learn what it was like to go under quickly and push themselves to the top and make it to the side. As the story the patrol officer shows, it's worth the effort to make sure your children can swim.

Last night I did a very rare thing for me. I actually went out to see a movie! The movie was "Hitch" with Will Smith. He plays a "love doctor" of sorts. I had seen previews and it seemed kinda silly, but one of my friends that had seen it said I would like it and I LOVED it!!!!!!!!! Seriously. It was a really cute and funny movie. Much better than I expected.

The girl who plays his love interest is a supermodel that I have seen in magazines, but she did a great job in this movie. I think she has a bright future in acting. Very natural (not to mention gorgeous) Anyway, I highly recommend you take your girlfriend or wife. It's the kind of movie that would get her in a lovey dovey mood. Really. But it isn't just a chick flick. It is really funny and I would bet many of you guys have been in similar situations. It has sort of a good message for women too about looking for the wrong things in guys. Anyway, go see it if you haven't.

As Partisan Pundit pointed out in the comment section of the Ann Coulter picture , this picture of Hillary on Time magazine's cover seems a MUCH nicer picture than Ann's, don't ya think???? Very Presidential. (OMG! I almost threw up typing that!) Heh.

You can even compare the two side by side here of Michael Moore's picture and Ann's.

UPDATE: Ace has some commentary from a professional photographer and some links showing the different pics of liberals vs conservatives in news magazines. He also made the same point I did about the shot of Clinton discussed in the comment section. He thinks it was Esquire magazine though. Someone find out because I just don't have the time. Anyway, read Ace's piece and links. It's looks at it pretty fairly.

You may have been reading recently about the "minutemen" who have been patrolling the Arizona border with Mexico. Diggers Realm has some good stuff on them, but THESE GUYS pictured above are from the ACLU to.... you know........ to make sure the minutemen don't do anything rough or maybe illegal to the illegal aliens trying to cross the border. So.....while being the ever watchful eye of democracy......... they get stoned. That's right. That is weed they are lighting up there. Gotta love it...Heh. via Eclipse Ramblings and Say Anything.

This is the photo discussed below. Ann wasn't happy with it.  

The Times photo of Ann Coulter shown and talked about at Ace's (with an update) has brought about a discussion over at Malkins about how the liberal (or maintstream...whatever...) news magazines tend to print the most unflattering photos of conservatives.

Big surprise there, huh?

Sometimes others say it so much better. Pat Sajak (of wheel of Fortune fame) pretty much nails it with the futility of arguing with liberals (which I seem to do quite a bit here.) Here is an excerpt. Read the whole thing. It's great. h/t BigDog

"Recently, for example, I was discussing the United Sates Supreme Court with on of my many Liberal friends out in Los Angeles when she said, without any discernable embarrassment, that Justice Anton Scalia was “worse than Hitler”. Realizing she wasn’t alive during World War II and perhaps she may have been absent on those days when her schoolmates were studying Nazism, I reminded her of some of Hitler’s more egregious crimes against humanity, suggesting she may have overstated the case. She had not; Scalia was worse. As I often did when my parents threatened to send me to my room, I let the conversation die."

A View from Babalu

Thursday Jeff G. and Bill from INDC Journal interviewed Ace and a guy named Val, who has a blog about Cuban issues and such called Babalu Blog , on Rightalk Radio. The streaming to the actual show can be found here at Jeff's site.

I had not heard of the Babalu Blog before, but it seems to rock. Anyway, with the world all caught up in the terror war we easily forget the madman south of us called Castro. Val read a post he had written on his blog and I am reprinting it here.

It is truly beautiful.


One Minute in Rush Hour

Because one can dream.

I'll probably be on my way home from work that day. Stuck somewhere on Miller Drive before the Palmetto Expressway. I'll be sitting there in my little truck and ahead of me a row of cars as is the norm. A few carhorns will start blaring in front of me. "Great," I'll complain to myself. "Now I have some idiot at the front of the line with car trouble or an accident or something."

And then the car horns will become a little more ubiquitous. The blaring will be coming from behind me as well. And from the sides. And people heading the opposite way on Miller Drive will be honking too. Some of them will have their windows rolled down. Shaking their fists out the windows and screaming. At first it'll seem like a combined fit of road rage. Like everyone being pissed at each other at the same time.

I'll look over at the guy in the Mercedes next to me and he'll be on his cellphone. Talking animatedly, using his hands to say whatever he cant get in edge wise vocally. Wait, did he just wipe tears from his eyes? And why does it seem the honking is getting louder? What the heck is going on?

The Eagles tune that I turned up to override all the honking just got interrupted. "We interrupt this program to bring you some breaking news..." But I wont be able to hear the breaking news. The car horns are too loud now. As if the entire city, as if every single person in every single car has just gone completely mad here in Miami.

People are starting to get out of their cars, right here, on Miller Drive, in rush hour traffic.

And then it hits me. I dont need a report to know what has just happened. My entire body is riddled with goosebumps. Tears are starting to build up. I open my car door, step out and look in both directions. It's a madhouse. People are honking and screaming and jumping around. There's a guy three or four cars back with his elbows resting on the roof of his car and his head in between them. It looks like he's crying too.

The driver side door of the car in front of me opens slowly. A little old lady works to get out of her car. I make my way over to her, this little old lady that just a few minutes ago I was complaining about being behind of in traffic, and help her out. She looks up at me, tears flowing from a pair of eyes that mirror a gammut of emotions. I try to say something but nothing comes out. All I know is that I have to hug her. Embrace this new Abuelita of mine. Cry on her shoulders. Hold her as if Im holding every single person in my family. My deceased abuelos, my tias and tios that have passed on. My mother. My father.

She will start sobbing then, almost uncontrollably. I do everything in my power to not follow suit even though every single atom of my being wants that release. That freedom that crying brings.

"Ay, mijo," she'll say to me through baited breath. "Ay mijo....""No llore, Señora," I'll say, gingerly stroking her near blue hair. "Ya. No mas.

Ni una lagrima mas....

"And that's how I picture it. fidel castro is dead.

Posted by Val Prieto at April 6, 2005 10:34 AM

A while ago one of my commenters Erik asked about my environmental views. The topic is broad, of course. I love clean air and water as much as anyone and I think we should be good stewards of the earth. But I have found an excellent book that sort of cuts through the bull crap of the junk science and the unprovable. The book is very good at dispelling myths and giving us a good look at man and nature living together.

Sit and read a bit.

Thanks to Trying to Grok for turning me on to it.

This seems almost like one of those urban legend stories. You decide.

Babies' Daddy
by Rob Blackstock

I recently had a first-hand lesson in the unintended consequences of government regulation. As the reader probably knows, unintended consequences are the unconsidered effects of regulation. Or, as Lowell Gallaway put it, "a failure to take into account behavioral responses in structuring public policy [which] leads to results that are often the opposite of what the rhetoric of the public policy debate suggests will happen."

My adventure began in August of 2004 when I received a letter from the Office of the District Attorney in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana. My first thought was, "where in the heck is Tangipahoa Parish?" This letter informed me that I was the noncustodial (sic) parent of three children between the ages of three and twelve and that I was expected to appear two weeks hence with all appropriate financial documents so that child support payments could be arranged.

My wife received this letter with much better humor than did I.

I called the Office and spoke with the Child Support Division representative. Politely, I explained that, although I was native of Louisiana, I had been living in Alabama and Florida for nearly ten years and had only just returned. I then suggested that perhaps they had me confused with another Robert Blackstock as I had no knowledge whatsoever of the accusing mother.
The representative asked for my social security number, which I gave. After a short pause she announced, "Nope. You’re him. We’ll see you in two weeks."

At this point I broke down and hired a lawyer.

The lawyer listened to my story and told me that he had these cases all the time. Here’s how the system works: a non-married mother applies for aid in one of Louisiana’s myriad wealth distribution offices, perhaps welfare. The State then asks the mother the name of the child’s (or children’s) father. This is a requirement for receiving aid in Louisiana. The State then seizes the money from the recalcitrant father.

So how did I get pulled into this? After assuring my attorney several times that there was no possible way in this or any other world that I was the father of these children he told me that either my name was pulled from the Internet or someone volunteered my name to the mother (perhaps one of my students). Once the D.A.’s office knew my name and city of residence, it would be fairly easy to pull my driver’s license information and learn everything about me including the aforementioned social security number.

My attorney called the D.A.’s office and told the representative the same thing I had, only with bigger words in order to justify a $175 per hour fee. He stated that I had been absent from Louisiana for almost ten years and couldn’t have been available to cause the pregnancy which resulted in the two youngest children. The D.A.’s office amended the complaint and now accused me of being the noncustodial (sic) parent of only the eldest child.
We immediately sent a request for DNA testing to confirm paternity. I thought testing was a bit superfluous. If this woman knew me well enough to bear three children, wouldn’t she be able to answer a few simple questions? How tall is the father? Where did he go to school? Does he have any birthmarks or tattoos? Does he have brothers? Sisters? What type of vehicles did he drive during this time? If the woman actually knew me, shouldn’t she be able to answer at least 50% of these common questions?
This approach, sadly, is too simple for the State. So, DNA testing, it was.

Again, my attorney warned me; "If you take the test and you are the father, you’ll have to pay for the tests. If you are not the father, the State pays for the test."
What about the mother?
"Nope. She’s not charged anything."
So the mother could, in theory, just keep offering different names ad infinitum and the State would continue to harass these poor souls?
"Yep."
And she would never be punished in any way whatsoever?
"That’s right."
As the Libertarian scholar, John Sophocleus would say, "Happy Day."
The D.A.’s office agreed to our demands and sent a letter ordering me to appear at the Lincoln Parish Civic Center for DNA testing on January 3, 2005 at 10am. I did so and, luckily, had the technician sign and date my order so that I would have some proof that testing had occurred.

After two months we had heard nothing from the Tangipahoa District Attorney’s Office concerning the results of the test. Finally, we learned something; we learned that bureaucrats are inefficient even in Louisiana.

On March 7, an armed man appeared on my doorstep and served me with papers ordering me to appear in court and either comply with DNA testing or to show sufficient cause why I should not.
At this point, I had a proverbial aneurism.

Once again I had to call the attorney’s office (did I mention that the attorney cost $175 an hour and that they charge their clients in 15 minute increments and that even a 2 minute call would cost me $43.75?). By now, my case had been kicked up to the senior partner in the firm who began calling the Assistant D.A. himself and demanding some competency.

Finally, the right hand and the left found each other in Tangipahoa Parish (accidentally, I’m sure) and sent us the lab results proving that I am no "baby’s daddy." Furthermore, I received a final bill from my attorneys (that’s right; it’s now plural) for nearly $1500.

Which brings me back to the subject of this diatribe: unintended consequences.
I’m sure that the politicians in Louisiana had very good intentions when they wrote the current rules concerning welfare. If a man causes a woman to become pregnant and a child results, then that man must help pay to support the child.

Unfortunately, the law was written with no regard as to what will happen if a mother a) doesn’t know who the father is, or b) has no intention of actually naming the father. No punishment will ever be handed down to the mother because that would "hurt the children." The result is that I (and I’m sure many others like me) end up paying large fees to attorneys in order to be protected from the State.

This is $1500 that is no longer available to my wife and I for savings, a summer vacation, or whatever other plan we might have had.

And so, as I sit here writing out a check to my attorneys, I glance up at my calendar and notice that April 15th is rapidly approaching. With that in mind, let me just say to all my masters in DC and Baton Rouge… thanks for nothing.

April 9, 2005
Rob Blackstock teaches economics at Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, LA.
Copyright © 2005 LewRockwell.com

via The agitator

And we wonder if the Democrats really do dislike people of faith?

Scott Bloch, George Bush's appointee to the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) is experiencing bigotry. No, he isn't black. It's the kind of bigotry that only Democrats are allowed to have.

"In an interview with TAS, Pete Leon, legislative director for Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), who has called for Bloch's resignation, revealed the fundamental anti-religious bigotry at the heart of the campaign. Articulating his objections to Bloch, Leon said, "He is a devout Catholic," then quickly added, after he realized his gaffe, the famously insincere line from Seinfeld, "Not that there's anything wrong with that." via The American Spectator

Imagine a Republican saying someone wasn't qualified because he was "Baptist" or because he was "Lutheran?"

Has it really gotten to the point with the Democrats that if you have a sincere faith you are not qualified to hold any type of government office? It's fine to go to church with your Bible in your hand like Clinton did as long we know you are not sincere and you are going to run back to the office and get "serviced" after the church service by a young woman almost the age of your daughter. See? That's ok with the Democrats. But if you ACTUALLY believe what that preacher in church is saying, well then, you can forget it. No nomination for you. No judgeship. "Filibuster the Faithful" should be the new motto of the Democratic party, don't you think?

Here is a pretty spirited defense of Tom Delay. And it's by one of my favorite people to read. Ben Stein. It's worth a look. It certainly puts things in a different perspective.

"Step turn kick... step turn kick... Yes! Thank you. Finally, you've got it. Now, give me a hug."
via Caption this!
 

The Oil for Food scandal was all the United States fault.

Annan needs therapy.

"NBC News has learned that a preliminary report from a joint U.S.-Italian investigation has cleared the American soldiers of any wrongdoing and provides new details into the shooting.
Intelligence agent Calipari had just negotiated Sgrena’s release from Iraqi kidnappers on March 4 when the two and a driver headed for the Baghdad airport in a compact rental car.
It was dark when the Italians turned onto a ramp leading to the airport road where the U.S. military had set up a temporary checkpoint.
The investigation found the car was about 130 yards from the checkpoint when the soldiers flashed their lights as a warning to stop. But the car kept coming and, at 90 yards, warning shots were fired. At 65 yards, when the car failed to stop, the soldiers used lethal force — a machine gun burst that killed Calipari and wounded Sgrena and the driver.
Senior U.S. military officials say it took only about four seconds from the first warning to the fatal shots, but insist the soldiers acted properly under the current rules of engagement.
The investigation failed, however, to resolve one critical dispute: The Americans claim the car was racing toward the checkpoint at about 50 miles per hour, the Italians say it was traveling at a much slower speed."
via LGF

Gee, I don't care if it's going 50 miles per hour or 20 miles per hour, in a country where car bombings are daily occurances, the soldiers had every right.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Democrats accusing Delay of paying family members and using taxpayer money to wine and dine themselves.  

If Your Gay and Republican, you must hate yourself, right?

Did you hear about this one? Arthur J. Finkelstein, a Republican strategist is in the midst of setting up a political action committee to defeat Mrs. Clinton in 2006. But it seems Mr. Finkelstein has committed the grave mortal sin of the democratic party--being gay AND Republican.

Former President Clinton had this to say about Mr. Finkelstein:

"Either this guy believes his party is not serious and he's totally Machiavellian," Mr. Clinton said, or "he may be blinded by self-loathing." Mr. Finkelstein, a reclusive former adviser to Gov. George E. Pataki, did not respond to a message left at his office seeking a comment on Mr. Clinton's remarks. But his allies quickly did.

"It's really beneath a former president to comment on someone's personal life like that," said Michael McKeon, a Republican strategist, former Pataki aide and friend of Mr. Finkelstein's. "After everything he has been through in his own life, you'd think he'd know better." via the NYT

The article refers to the fact that Mr. Finkelstein has a committed partner in which he "married" in a civil ceremony.

Did I miss something during the Presidential campaign? Because I could have sworn that BOTH President Bush and John Kerry were against "gay marriage." It seems the democrats wanted to make it clear that they too did not want to "redefine marriage." So, given that and the fact that both parties see any sort of discrimination or violence against gays, (or anyone else for that matter) as wrong, just what is the difference here?

The only thing I can come up with is that since evangelical Christians vote Republican for the most part and they see the homosexual lifestyle as a sin, then no gay should vote Republican. But since the democrats see being gay and Republican a "sin" of a different sort, then what really is the difference? Aren't both "judging" here?

Does it really matter who you sleep with if you want smaller government or lower taxes or less bureaucracy? Does it really matter who you love if you want judges who actually respect our constitution instead of making law or interpreting the constitution to fit their political agenda? Does it matter who you are attracted to if you want a strong military defense?

It seems to matter to the Democrats. First Jeff Gannon and now this? Could there be a finer bunch of hypocrites?

"...and tell Kennedy if he ever calls me Osama again, I'll bust his fat ass." via Caption This!

I have never been a big fan of Tom Delay. He has been around Texas for a long time and I could never put my finger on why I just didn't like him much. I have been trying to catch up on his offenses for which he is being raked over the coals for now.

I found this article at MSNBC. Reading through it I can't really find the truly awful things I keep hearing about. It doesn't seem that anything illegal happened, but I may be missing something. It is never a good idea to pay your family when politics is involved. It's never a good idea to wine and dine yourself when you are a public servant, although God knows it happens all the time. what bothers me more than anything Delay seems to have done is what his friend and superlobbyist Jack Abramoff did.

According to this article Abramoff "is now the target of a Justice Department criminal probe of allegations that he defrauded American Indian tribes of tens of millions of dollars in fees. As stories of his alleged excess dribble out—including the emergence of e-mails showing he derisively referred to his Native American clients as "monkeys" and "idiots"—some of Abramoff's old friends have abandoned him and treated him like a pariah. They claim they knew nothing of his questionable lobbying tactics."

Calling Native Americans clients "monkeys" is unacceptable, crude, unprofessional, and downright wrong. People who see themselves as better than others just make me sick.

According to Newsweek, www.sploid.com is Gawker Media's attempt to compete with Drudge. You decide.

Newsweek has the most awesome picture of the Pope's funeral taken from the sky, but there was also a touching picture of some of the world's leaders, among them President Bush and his wife. In this particular picture they are leaning over to one another for a quick kiss. The camera caught the moment perfectly. So loving. You can disagree with Bush about policy or issues, but there is no doubt that he is a man in love with his wife.

Lucky woman.


I don't read Newsweek that often. One of the reasons is Anna Quindlen, who has never written anything that didn't make me want to throw it against the wall. I don't think there is another writer out there that I disagree with more or disrespect more. I just wish she would go away.

Will Al Gore TV work? I don't think so. Even the article was boring.


Where have I been?

I have been busy getting my oldest son properly attired for interviews for engineering scholarships. He is the only person I know that dislikes shopping more than I do, so you can only imagine the fun we had.

My daughter had cheerleading tryouts to get ready for which requires more than you would think. (She made it.) Every year she has to decide between cheer and basketball because they don't let the girls do both. And my youngest not only had 2 baseball games a week, but 2 baseball tournments on the weekends. It's like baseball 24/7!!!! Hubby had some sort of shooting tournment and was out for the count. I am still not over my sickness completely which is driving me insane!

Sandy Berger, Clinton's top security advisor, has now "pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge in connection with the theft (removing classified material from a government archive) and has agreed to pay a $10,000 fine and give up his security clearance for three years. The charge also carries a maximum sentence of a year in jail, but Berger will be spared the jail time if the court approves his plea bargain." Human Events reports.

Human Events goes on:

"At his own office later that day, Berger cut three of the copies into small pieces. Two days later Archives staffers took the matter up with him. He said the removals were inadvertent, and returned the two remaining copies of the report, but said nothing about the three he had destroyed."

I have wondered why the incredible act of a former secutiry advisor stuffing documents in his socks/pants out of a government archive did not cause more concern for the media. Berger was protecting someone from something. That is without a doubt imo.

This is what Human Events thinks that it was:

"Surely, that the notes on those three copies made it all too clear that somebody high up in the Clinton Administration had perceived a threat very much like what happened on September 11, but then failed to do anything about it."

Imagine if this had been the act of a Republican administration. We would never have heard the end of it. As it is, it is barely a blip on the MSM's screen of important events.

I guess we will never really know.

Jane Fonda is on a book tour for her autobiography, "My Life So Far." I caught her on Larry King the other day. She just seemed silly to me. Human Events doesn't seem to want to forgive her for her youthful stupidity, saying things like:

"I would think that if you understood what communism was, you would hope, you would pray on your knees that we would someday become Communist."

And it is true that her betrayal of this country knew no bounds back then, but....WHO CARES????? I know that Vietnam Vets still feel the sting of her words and actions. And I understand that. But I look at it differently. She isn't running for anything. She has no say in policy. Let her ask forgiveness or not. It just doesn't matter to me. I never watched her movies, I never had any respect for any of her political beliefs. I always felt they were self serving. She is/was a typical movie star. Her world revolves around herself. Even her activism was all about her. If the cameras weren't rolling or the writers weren't writing about her, I doubt she would have done any of it.

She admitted on Larry King that she had been a terrible mom, never there for her kids. It's so easy to forget what is the most important thing when we feel that the one in the mirror is so fascinating.

She says she is a Christian now, but she seemed to back down from a lot of the questions about Christianity that Larry asked her. So who knows? I hope she is. I hope she has finally found something real.

I didn't see any evidence of it in her interview, but you just never know.

Princess Diana'a boys certainly got her looks, didn't they? I wasn't sure about Harry growing up, but he turned into quite the nice looking fellow. It's too bad that they will probably follow along their parents path and be fodder for the tabloids. Wouldn't it be wonderful if they could actually find purpose and peace? Love and happiness? You know, soon, very soon, I may get back to writing about politics. I think I was a bit burned out.  

Not having the interest in the wedding of Charles and Camilla that the British do, all I can say is 2 things. He should have married her to begin with. This was the woman he obviously loved from the start.

And 2nd, it seems the popular headwear for women in England these days has to do with large bits of twig, ribbon, and wheat stalks.

Very strange.

Anyway, may Charles finally find his wedded bliss and God bless them both.

"HONG KONG (Reuters) - A Hong Kong hiker washed her face in a freshwater stream, not noticing that leech had wormed its way into one of her nostrils, according to the Hong Kong Medical Journal.

Unaware she was playing host to the creature, the 55-year-old woman only consulted a doctor when her nose started bleeding intermittently about two weeks later.

The unusual case occurred in 2003 but doctors highlighted it in this month's edition of the journal, where they discussed how to remove live leeches from human nasal passages using anesthesia.

The first doctor the woman saw could not find anything wrong and it was only when she visited a second doctor that he saw the five-centimeter (two-inch) leech peeking out of her left nostril."


What can I say but EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?

I thought I might share my own personal picture of the Pope taken a 2 years ago at the Vatican in Rome. I know it sounds crazy when people say it was so exciting to just see this man, but it really was. It is hard to explain. At this particular time he was speaking well and making everyone laugh, although we couldn't understand a word since it was in Italian! I feel blessed to have gotten to see him before he died. I have no doubt that he now rests in the arms of our Savior.  

"Tenn. considers punishing cheating spouses"


NASHVILLE, TN, Apr. 7 (UPI) -- A bill before the Tennessee state legislature would punish cheating or violent spouses in divorce.
Under the measure, spouses who can prove abandonment, adultery or abuse can collect damages, the Nashville Tennessean reports.
''If you want to cheat on your wife -- fine, divorce her first,'' said Rep. Chris Clem, a Republican lawyer and sponsor of the bill. ''But if you do it while you're still married to her, you're going to have to pay."

I really really like this idea. via Washingtimes.com

The only thing funnier than this democrat satire on becoming a Republican is that they honestly believe this stuff. *shakes head*
via Biomes Blog

UPDATE: I have to say that the comments left here saying that that bit of satire is basically true make me sick and shows why we will never be able to bridge the divide between the liberals and the conservatives. As long as liberals believe this crap that is totally untrue, then nothing will change.

Ummm...guess the $200 fine isn't much to worry about, now is it? via The Biomes Blog 

The best article on Pope John Paul II I have read so far and it was written, not by a Catholic, but a Jew. Read it.

Here is a idea I would never have thought of. Live-action hunting - done over the Internet. Not a video game, but actual hunting. Under the system, a person can control a camera and a firearm, shooting at real targets in real time, from a computer anywhere. For an additional fee, the meat or head can be shipped to the hunter.

The first paid hunt is scheduled to occur on April 9 on a ranch outside San Antonio.

The developer John Lockwood says "the idea evolved out of knowing and working with disabled hunters as a young man. The first person to sign up to hunt through his website is Dale Hagberg, a paraplegic from Ligonier, Ind. Mr. Hagberg says he broke his neck in an accident almost 18 years ago and has only been able to watch hunting on TV."

Naturally, many are against this. You may even be surprised to learn the NRA isn't too hot on the idea either.

Read the rest.

I have an awful cold. I never get sick so this is killing me. Sorry guys!

I'm finally back home. I don't know if you have heard or not, but the Pope passed away.....;-)

I don't mean to make light of it, but I can't get over the 24/7 coverage of this. There is no doubt that Pope John Paul changed the world and brought the gospel to many. He was a holy and charismatic man and he lead this Church with deep conviction and morality. I was amazed to listen to so many media personalities gush over him, saying that when they met him they felt they were in the presence of holiness. You would think that if one felt they were in the presence of holiness they might listen to him a bit more.

I understand it is a big story, but showing graphics of where the smoke stack is that shows the white smoke when they have selected a Pope was amusing to me.

I will miss this wonderful Pope, but I am glad that he is no longer suffering.


My new little niece is a doll. It is much less stressful to take care of a newborn than a teenage girl, I can tell you that.

My brother is a lawyer and loves to play devil's advocate with me. Don't ever argue with a lawyer. We tried discussing the Schiavo case and I ended up having to find and print Judge Greer's first decision and then the 11th circuit court of appeals last decision. My brother didn't believe that Congress had issued a subpoena that Judge Greer ignored, so I had to find that too. We did find some interesting things but I think everyone is worn out on that case.

When my mom and I were walking into the airport I saw some soldiers who had just returned. The first one walked by and I said, "Sir, thank you for your service to our country." He smiled and said, "Thank you." I heard my mom, who is tad more reserved than I am, say under her breath, "oh my gosh." There were 3 or 4 more soldiers coming toward us and my my mom hung back. I guess I was embarrassing her...lol. But I just feel that we need to show our appreciation for all the soldiers do for us.

I told you something awful had happened while I was there with my SIL. A distant relative that I had not seen in years, killed herself Tuesday. She was 44 years old with a husband and two sons, 18 and 12 yrs old.

About a year ago, she disappeared for a week. They found her at mental facility she had checked herself into on the coast. Mental illness is such a difficult thing. I'm not sure if she was dealing with just depression or a more severe illness, but she just walked out in her back yard and shot herself in the head. She had left a note that her organs be donated.

There is a country music song titled, "How Do You Get That Lonely?" The chorus goes like this:

"How do you get that lonely?
How do you hurt so bad?
To make the call
that having no life at all
is better than one that you have."

When we were 17, her and I spent a weekend on the coast just having fun. I remember what a vibrant happy person she was then. What happens to cause this? Where does it all go wrong? I just can't imagine the pain. A pain so great that we forget those we leave behind and all that they will have to deal with.

So if you have time today say a prayer for her family. And take a moment to think about all the wonderful things in your own life. Nothing will ever be perfect, that is for sure. But still, life has so much to give us. And we have so much to give.

Oh My Gosh! Did I say I would be able to blog while I was helping my sister in law with her new baby?? (2 other kids as well) I had forgotten how time consuming a new little one is!!

I turned on the news once today and turned it off when I heard Terri had died and now it looks as if the Pope is about to as well. Something awful happened here Tuesday to a distant family member too. I will blog about it when I get home. It all brings me such sadness and I would rather focus on this new life right now.

Things were so crazy today that I didn't get to hear or call into Protein Wisdom's rightalk radio and I really really wanted to. He had Glenn Reynolds on and I had some questions to ask. This computer won't let me link PW, but his site is over there on my blogroll, so check it out.

I will try to get on tomorrow. Life goes on.

Don't You Just Love The Tolerant Left?

Jeff Gannon will speak at The National Press Club April 8th about journalism and blogging. This guy isn't too happy about it. via Jeff Gannon.com

"E&P Editor Greg Mitchell responded in a letter to Romensko, noting that Gannon is appearing as part of a serious journalism discussion, not as a solo newsmaker: "Should a non-journalist who has worked as a male escort be invited to speak on a journalism panel at the National Press Club?" He asked Salant to supply the names of any suspected "hookers" who "have previously appeared as speakers at the Press Club, especially as part of journalism panels."

Gee, hasn't Greg heard of media whores? I shudder to think of things that would surface sexually if we dug into the lives of all the journalists and speakers at the Press Club. I'm betting we would find some past coke use (no, not the drink), maybe some steamy video, and no doubt adultery would be number one in the countdown to journalism indiscretion.

I find it ironic that the same people yelling for us to get out of this "private matter" of the Schiavo family feel that it is perfectly ok to "out" a journalist they don't like. The same people who call us religious folk judgmental are the most judgmental of all.

Jeff's past is certainly wrong. Just the little I do know to be true, but he has made it clear that he is no longer that man. The liberals certainly found it easy to forgive Clinton for cheating and lying and he was the freaking President.

It isn't his past they won't forgive Gannon for anyway, it's political beliefs. They just use his past to smear him. Just like the Gay Patriot was silenced for daring to be gay and conservative, they hate Jeff for daring to change and be conservative.

UPDATE: It seems the Press Club is closing this event to the public because of threats of liberal protests. Unfreakinbelievable.

Here are 2 of my SIL's (I have 7!) The one on your right is the one who just had her baby. I just love her. I will be going to help her tomorrow through Monday, but she has a computer so I should be able to blog! 

This Life.

My Sister in Law had a baby yesterday. A beautiful little girl. She is my children's 17th cousin. My SIL is 43. Her youngest was 11. This was a big surprise. She and my brother were very upset at first. But now, of course, she is filled with joy with this new child. When she found out she called me first, even before her parents, because she knew that I would be excited and happy for her. She knew I would not gasp and say "How could you let this happen?" Oh, how I love babies. I love the way they smell all brand new. I love how soft they are. I love their tiny fingers.

When I held my first son I thought "you can't even speak to me, you are helpless and messy and I have only seen you for a few hours, but my love for you is greater than any love I have ever known. How is this? I don't really even know you, yet I would throw myself in front of train this minute if it was to save you."

Where does this love come from? We love our parents, but they have taken care of us and loved us. We love our friends who stand by us. We love our spouses because we fell in love with them. But a baby has given us nothing to earn this love. Yet it is the largest love. It is a love that fills every nook and cranny of the heart. How do we explain it?

Once, many years ago, I was watching a special on Mother Teresa. She was in one of her orphanges somewhere, probably Calcutta. She was going around to the cribs and holding the babies. She stopped at one crib and reached down to stroke the baby. The camera panned down and showed the baby who was visibly deformed. She had some tubes attached so Mother Teresa couldn't hold her, but she was stroking her. I started to cry. What a sad thing. A terrible life. This poor poor baby.

Then the camera panned back to show both Mother Teresa and the baby and Mother Teresa looked at the cameraman and said, "Isn't she beautiful?"

Well, that is when I completely lost it. I cried and cried. Because I realized how wrong I had been. I was looking at this child the way the world looks at it. Sad and pathetic. But Mother Teresa was looking at this child as God sees it. And it was beautiful.

This life. With whatever heartache it brings. With whatever cross there is to bear. This life is beautiful. There are gifts we are given and there are gifts we are to give. Some so small we have to look closely to see them. Some so great we take them for granted. But every single life has a purpose. Every single life has meaning.

Perhaps this is what we have forgotten. Perhaps this is what we need to remember. This is what we have now. And it is beautiful.