Able Danger explained simply.

John Podhoretz from the Corner explains:

"It behaved disgracefully and in a nakedly partisan fashion, with former officials of the Clinton administration attempting to use the platform to damage the president's reelection chances. Then, after months of ludicrous conduct, out of nowhere came the brilliantly conceived and written report that set a new standard of eloquence and coherence for government documents, became a major bestseller and redeemed the commission's reputation.

Well, that didn't last long.

In a story filed at 7:10 PM, the Associated Press is now confirming all the particulars of what will now forever be called the Able Danger disaster. The 9/11 Commission staff did hear about intelligence-gathering efforts that hit pay dirt on the whereabouts of Mohammed Atta -- in 1999 -- and deliberately chose to omit word of those efforts.

And why? Because to do so might upset the timeline the Commission had established on Atta.

And why is that significant? Because the Mohammed Atta timeline established by the Commission pointedly insisted Atta did not meet with an Iraqi intelligence agent in Prague.

And why is that significant? Because debunking the Atta-Iraq connection was of vital importance to Democrats, who had become focused almost obsessively on the preposterous notion that there was no relation whatever between Al Qaeda and Iraq -- that Al Qaeda and Iraq might even have been enemies."

via Small Dead Animals.

McCain, 2008.

Just wanted to comment a bit more about McCain and 2008. I saw McCain on Fox News Sunday, and all I can say is this guy is saying the right things. He knows his way around the media, he knows how to win, and I still think he is our only hope of beating Hillary. I know a lot can change before then, but we conservatives have to face the fact that the majority of the public does not care about politics and will vote on emotion and star power. That is just the way it is. And if we want to win, we have to choose someone who can deliver those things.

You can disagree with McCain on many things, but the fact remains that he is a TRUE military hero. He not only survived the 5 yrs in a POW camp, but he refused to leave when given the opportunity by the power of his dad. He would not leave his men behind. Who has that kind of courage today??? Compare his service and sacrifice to the Democrat's next best thing, John Kerry. It doesn't even come close. McCain is not only a hero, but he dismisses that word when it is spoken of him.

He not only has the star power we desperately need ( he had a TV movie made about him!! Which I guarantee will be replayed if he runs) but in the this war on terror he has the military background we need as well.

We have awhile, but something to think about any way.

Enough Already.

I have tried hard to give Cindy Sheehan latitude for all that she is saying because of the heartache she has experienced, but it is obvious now that she is being used by fringe groups to get the media to pay attention to leftwing talking points. I could take her barbs at Bush. I understood her reflecting her anger at her son for re-enlisting to Bush. But now she is spouting things about Israel and talking about not paying her taxes and even demeaning the people of Texas. Referring to a man living on the street where they are protesting who shot a gun in the air:

"Sheehan, 48, said she was not concerned with her own safety but has told others to be aware that "this could get physical, even though we are peaceful."
"I think we knew of the risks when we came down here," said Sheehan, of Vacaville, Calif. "I'm surprised we haven't had more of that since we're in Bush country." via My Way News

Parents in Texas have lost sons too. I heard a man on the radio this morning who drove to Crawford this past weekend to talk to Cindy. He had lost his son in Iraq in November. Even though she had told the press she would meet with the parents of fallen soldiers only, he said she would not meet with him. He seemed very nice. He told the radio host that he wanted to throw his arms around her and tell her he understood her pain. Although he believes that his son died fighting for a noble cause, he didn't want to argue that, he only wanted to comfort her.

So how can she criticize Bush for not meeting with her a second time when she won't even do what she said she would do and meet with the parents of other fallen soldiers who don't feel the way she does?

I think she made her point well. The truth is that to the general public she is now starting to look like a crackpot. Stopping now would at least give her the sympathy from the public she so clearly feels she needs, but continuing saying things that are ugly and untrue will only hurt her cause.

It's time to go home Cindy. Stop letting these people use you and your grief and fill your mouth with their talking points.

The Hillary Attack Machine Starts Up.

The New York Daily News gives us this:

"Democrats are in stitches over Jeanine Pirro's glitches - and they're spreading their mirth online.
Pirro's struggle to find a missing page of her speech during her campaign kickoff Wednesday against Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton became the fodder for a 45-second clip on the state Democratic Committee's Web site (www.nydems.org). The clip shows a confused Pirro saying "Hillary Clinton ..." and then falling silent as she struggles to find the next sheet.
The Democratic wags filled in the 32 seconds of silence that followed with the theme music to the game show "Jeopardy." At the end, the words "Without a Script, She is Speechless" fill the screen.
State Republican Chairman Stephen Minarik said it showed the Democrats were "resorting to the politics of personal destruction."

And so it begins. The Hillary attack machine. But since Pirro is pro-choice, pro-gay rights, anti-gun, and pro-affirmative action, I don't know what else they will be able to attack other than gaffs like these.

I Do. Do I know you?

Get this. It is now possible to meet someone, get to know them, flirt with them, and marry them without ever having to actually meet them.

I give you the first blogwedding.

If you work for CNN, you better not date a conservative, much less be one.

This from Mediabistro:

"What's happening at CNN reports rumors that Daryn Kagan has been passed over "for any and all promotion[s]" due to her relationship with Rush Limbaugh.TVNewser heard similar rumblings last week, and received this anonymous tip: "Daryn Kagan is very upset that because of her relationship with Rush she is being overlooked for any and all openings at CNN. Her current time slot is constantly being preempted by the O'Brien's on breaking news days. She is just gathering her paycheck now as she thinks she will not be there by the end of summer."

Ponderings on 2008.

One thing I am looking forward to is the catfight between Hillary and John Kerry over the Democratic nomination. Theresa's offerings on the subject of Hillary alone will be worth it all to watch. Hillary will get the nomination, no doubt. She hasn't come this far to let some moderate wussie beat her out of the chance to become the first woman president. She wants this so bad she can taste it.

On the Republican side. Newt Gingrich is getting all primed to go. He is wasting his time. Any Republican like me vetos Newt and here are a few more vetos:

Rudy Giuliani
Bill Frist
Rick Santorum

Either they are wrong on the issues or they can't win. Anyone who beats Hillary has to have star power. And there is only one guy and one girl who can do it. McCain or Rice. A McCain/Rice ticket might just be unbeatable.

Now, I know that tons of Republicans HATE McCain for being a tad too compromising and his finance reform stuff just drives them insane, BUT sometime we just have to steel ourselves and put the person out there who can actually beat Hillary. And he is the only one I can see doing it. I can see Condi beating Hillary as well, but let's have 8 yrs of McCain/Rice and then settle in for another eight with Rice. Imagine!! 24 straight years of Republican bliss! Why, we might could actually get some things done! And having the first woman President and the first black President in our history being Republican is just too SWEET.

Just Ponder it.

A Tragic Figure.

Cindy Sheehan has now become a minor celebrity. The news is all over it and the blogs are buzzing. The right seems disgusted with the lack of respect she is showing for her son's sacrifice and the left is disgusted by the right being disgusted by it.

I don't blame the press for spreading the story. Mrs. Sheehan is a tragic figure. I don't even blame Mrs. Sheehan for her protest and her vicious jabs at President Bush. As I have said before, I am more than willing to give latitude to any mother who is grieving over a lost child, but must everyone take advantage of it???

The Michael Moore crowd saw an opportunity to take a sympathetic character and have her be their poster child. The press saw an opportunity to blow a story out of proportion. And the right just got ticked off by them all.

Why? Because we feel so strongly about our soldiers. We know what our guys go through (thanks to the milblogs!) and we know that it isn't an easy decision to go into the military, and I would think an ever harder on to re-enlist during a war. But Cindy's son made those choices on his own. He obviously believed in the fight. No one made him enlist. If he felt he had made a mistake, he certainly wouldn't have re-enlisted.

Cindy Sheehan has every right to be angry. My heart goes out to her. But in her grief she is insulting everyone who serves in Iraq. She is implying that they are there for nothing. She has a right to think that, but she has to understand how upsetting that is to so many people. She can't expect everyone to ignore what she is saying if it hurts them as well.

She keeps asking for what purpose her son died.

The answer is here. (if you haven't read this post yet, you must)

It's time for the press to let go of this story. It is hurting everyone. The mother, her son's memory, and all of us who get caught up in throwing barbs at each other.

Sorry this is so small, I tried to get it bigger. If you want to see it better go to Chris's site.

Divine Evolution

Divine Evolution
By Frederick Turner

Go read an excellent ariticle on evolution. It seems his basic argument had been mine. That one can certainly believe in evolution and see the handiwork of God in it.

"I am the true vine," said Jesus, "and you are the branches." The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that grows and branches into a tree; it's like a sower whose seeds have differential rates of reproduction; it's like the yeast that leavens the whole lump. These images are entirely consistent with the theory of evolution."

There has never been a part of evolution that has made me doubt God. Not one time. It may be different for some, but for me, it helps explain his grand plan. It helps explain his great wonders.

We are only scratching at the surface though. God has much more for us to discover and reveal.

So much more.

Horrifying TV.

Michael Fumento , a former paratrooper who was embedded with the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force in Iraq, has his opinion of the new FX series "Over There." at Tech Central.

I have watched "Over There" and I didn't like the way they portrayed soldiers, but I didn't have the experience to know what other things they were getting wrong. Fumento does. Boots On The Ground gives his take on it as well.

Several years ago I stopped going to R rated movies. It just seemed I was always offended by them and had images in my brain I didn't want there afterward. Some things I just felt were wrong to watch. Since watching "Over There" I have caught a few more of the FX channel's series. I watched "Nip and Tuck" and "Starving."

"Nip and Tuck" follows 2 plastic surgeons around. One had obviously had a relationship with a porn star and at the end of the show they show her "performing." I thought it was extremely graphic. Yeah. These are the images I was trying to avoid getting into my brain from not watching R rated movies. "Starving." which follows around a bunch of bulmics whose problems go far beyond them being bulimic. It also had a graphic sex scene that totally dehumanized the woman. It also shows these people throwing up every 10 minutes. Totally disgusting. Who watches this crap? It horrifies me that my kids could happen to flip to this channel. We have the V chip on all our TV's and we have the channels we might not want them watching not programmed in. But since these shows are on basic cable, they could see them in anyone else's home. Has there been any controversy over these shows? Just the episodes I watched made me sick.

I'm starting to think they should call it the FXXX channel. "Over There" may be bad, but the other FX shows are even worse.

Able Danger and the 9-11 Commission.

My girl Michelle Malkin brings all the dirt we have so far on Able Danger. She has all the good links and you need to read them ALL.
via Ace

Iraq wasn't a threat at all. Nah. No connection to Bin laden either. Just move along.

The Captain rocks it once again with excellent reporting!! Is anyone paying this guy??? They should be!

"With all of these references to Germany and Hamburg, the 9/11 Commission oddly failed to include a published report from March 2001 in a Parisian Arabic newspaper, Al-Watan Al-Arabi, about the arrest of two suspected Iraqi spies -- based on a tip from the CIA (boldface mine):

Iraqi Spies Reportedly Arrested in Germany 16 March 2001
Al-Watan al-Arabi (Paris) reports that two Iraqis were arrested in Germany, charged with spying for Baghdad. The arrests came in the wake of reports that Iraq was reorganizing the external branches of its intelligence service and that it had drawn up a plan to strike at US interests around the world through a network of alliances with extremist fundamentalist parties.

The most serious report contained information that Iraq and Osama bin Ladin were working together. German authorities were surprised by the arrest of the two Iraqi agents and the discovery of Iraqi intelligence activities in several German cities. German authorities, acting on CIA recommendations, had been focused on monitoring the activities of Islamic groups linked to bin Ladin. They discovered the two Iraqi agents by chance and uncovered what they considered to be serious indications of cooperation between Iraq and bin Ladin. The matter was considered so important that a special team of CIA and FBI agents was sent to Germany to interrogate the two Iraqi spies."

Unfreakinbelievable. via Ace.

Pundit Review Radio will be having Michael Yon , the EXCELLENT blogger out of Iraq, on his program again.

Michael will be on live from Mosul, Iraq this Sunday evening at 9pm EST. You can stream the show live at WRKO and you can call toll-free with questions at 877-469-4322.

Don't miss it!

Posting will be slow this next week. 3 of my kids will be starting school. And I am getting my oldest ready to leave for college on Wednesday. Color me stressed.

I keep thinking about my baby not being in the house and being so far from me. I keep thinking about the things I probably forgot to tell him that he needs to know.

I keep thinking that the dynamics of the family will be different. I keep thinking that my job with him is over. Another chapter closed. All those sleepness nights, all those little boy escapades, all those sporting events, all those milestones, Baptism, first Holy Communion, Confirmation, High School graduation. All over.

I keep thinking I will miss him, but I have to let go. I keep thinking...... I just keep thinking.

The Shuttle takeoff and our own lean mean fighting guardian angel. Check out Mudville for more pictures. They are awesome.

The lust for dirt from the left.

Looks like NARAL ad is getting the criticism it deserves from all sides. First the adoption investigation of the NY Times fails, and now this. It's not looking good for the left.

I'm thinking NARAL should have used those millions to "help women" (yeah, right) instead of on misleading commercials.

A partial story gains momentum.

Another story about the mother protesting at President Bush's ranch and no mention of the earlier interview she had with him where she praises him. Here they even mention the first meeting, but no mention of what she first said about it.

It seems Drudge is the only one quoting her. If you missed it in my previous post, here is one of her quotes from her first meeting with President Bush.

"I now know he's sincere about wanting freedom for the Iraqis," Cindy said after their meeting. "I know he's sorry and feels some pain for our loss. And I know he's a man of faith."

Now, one can say she changed her mind if they wish, but to just ignore that part of the story and not report both sides is why news organizations like Fox News are so popular. One also has to wonder why she is getting so much attention. This double standard of the MSM is demonstrated here in Brent Bozell's recent article:

"On Monday morning, the Sheehan publicity continued, but still no one reported how radical she is. CNN’s graphic throughout their story on "American Morning" read "Peace Mom." In a "Good Morning America" devoted almost entirely to mourning the death of Peter Jennings, ABC made room for the "angry and determined mother" on her "peace vigil." NBC’s "Today" began their show by promoting "a mother’s vigil" in the first seconds of the program.
Can you imagine the networks ruining the Clinton vacation on Martha’s Vineyard by making a big story out of a conservative protester there? I can’t, because they didn’t. In 1998, a few weeks after Clinton admitted sex with Monica Lewinsky, he went to his first partisan pep rally in Worcester, Massachusetts. ABC and CBS did full stories, and the streets outside the hall were filled with protesters demanding Clinton resign, but ABC and CBS failed to interview them. Only Fox News brought up how a local Democratic city council member, Konstantina Lukes, refused to attend."

We don't want "censored" news that doesn't give us the whole picture. Give us the whole picture and let us decide for ourselves.

Update: This story filed only an hour and 1/2 ago STILL fails to mention Mrs. Sheehan's first meeting with President Bush.

She has also backed out of agreeing to be on The Bill O'Reilly show this evening. He says she claims that he has lied about her. O"Reilly pointed out yesterday that Sheehan had blogged on Michael Moore's site. Is that not true? Or is she afraid of someone actually asking her about her positive comments regarding the first meeting with Bush?

I think it is time for Protest Warriors to get out to Crawford and get some publicity as well. I e-mailed them about that today and haven't heard back.

Chris Muir is asking every reader to hit this link as often as you can for the next 10 days.

Why? To raise the Yahoo rating of a small clinic that's keeping his sister Cathy alive and well-- but that could use some PR. A high listing is vital to the clinic's visibility with a timed ad on a local CNN cancer special August 14th and 20th. It's a tiny ad, but what helps them, helps Chris's sister.

There were terrorists among us and we knew.

The AP brings us the following:

WASHINGTON - The Sept. 11 commission will investigate a claim that U.S. defense intelligence officials identified ringleader Mohammed Atta and three other hijackers as a likely part of an al-Qaida cell more than a year before the hijackings but didn’t forward the information to law enforcement.

Although this is a interesting development and illustrates why the Patriot Act is so important, I hope that we don't jump on the bandwagon of "It was Clinton's fault because he was President at that time." It might seem like an easy swipe to take, but I believe that there was simply no way for us to know the evil the Al Qaida cell was planning.

It is only important to use this information to move forward and keep our country safe NOW.

Distortion on Abortion.

You have probably heard by now that CNN has agreed to run the bloody abortion ad by NARAL. The ad suggests that John Roberts supported those involved in abortion clinic bombings. John Roberts filed a friend of the court brief in 1993 for some protestors in Operation Rescue. The bombing shown in the ad happened in 1998.

I posted on my experience with Operation Rescue here. To connect these people in any way to anything violent is laughable.

I keep thinking what an impeccable record John Roberts must have for NARAL to take such untrue measures to vilify him.

Steven Vincent RIP or maybe not.

Steven Vincent was a wonderful journalist who died recently in Iraq. If you don't know who he is, here is a good discription at Mudville.

But leave it to the left to try to smear him because he wrote in support of our soldiers. Here is what Juan Cole had to say about Steve Vincent's death:

"He was romantically involved with his Iraqi interpreter, who was shot 4 times. If her clan thought she was shaming them by appearing to be having an affair outside wedlock with an American male, they might well have decided to end it. In Mediterranean culture, a man’s honor tends to be wrought up with his ability to protect his womenfolk from seduction by strange men…. Vincent did not know anything serious about Middle Eastern culture and was aggressive about criticizing what he could see of it on the surface, and if he was behaving in the way the Telegraph article describes, he was acting in an extremely dangerous manner."

As Jeff Jarvis of Buzz Machine puts it:

"Well, how about his murderers didn’t know anything serious about civilized culture and they were behaving in a way that should bring your condemnation?"

Why is when someone like this dies in Iraq it is never the fault of the insanity of the terrorist in these people's mind???

A mother's sorrow exploited.

You probably have all heard of the grieving mother ,who lost her son in Iraq, protesting at President Bush's Crawford Ranch. It seems her story has changed quite a bit since the first time she met with Bush.

I didn't really want to comment on it because anyone who has to sustain the horror of losing a child should be given all the lattitude they need to get through it. But Jeff at Protein Wisdom manages to understand that and still make the point that many of us wanted to make without being too hard on the mother:


"Thank Patton grieving parents and spouses of WWII soldiers killed in battle weren’t subjected to the kind of crass exploitation by anti-war opportunists Cindy Sheehan is being exposed to; the thought of some seersucker-suited aide wheeling Roosevelt door-to-door across America, hat in hand, so that he could answer to the wives and parents of 400,000 dead soldiers—the majority of whom were drafted ...well, that’s just too ridiculous and depressing even to contemplate.
Listen → I feel for this woman, I honestly do. But somebody close to her needs to take her aside and convince her that it’s time to grieve in private and to honor her son’s memory. Instead, this poor grieving woman is taking solace—solace I believe she’ll later come to regret—from the worst type of hyperpartisan frauds, professional Bush-bashers and wannabe-Vietnam-era protestors whose hatred for the President and his foreign policy runs so deep that they’re willing to adopt Ms. Sheehan like some sort of morbid mascot of convenience and exploit her pain—and her son’s death—in the most cynical and public way imaginable.
The whole business makes me sick. "

BigDog has a good post and links about the myth of Islam.

There will be a test on this later.

Ok, I just can't shutup about this evolution/ID debate!! Someone stop me!!

Here is a scientist who says that intelligent design, as a theory of origins, is no more religious, and no less scientific, than evolutionism.

And here is an author of several popular science books and writes for National Geographic, Science, Newsweek, Popular Science, and Discover, where he is a contributing editor who writes how Darwinism is tested.

h/t BigDog and Monty

Reason #2976 to not get drunk, especially with idiot friends.

via Lone Star Times

Just Repeat the Lie.

As you might have seen on Drudge, CNS News brings us ridiculous rants from the left and this from Nancy Pelosi once again perpetuating a myth about black voter suppression during the elections of 2000/2004 during Saturday's civil rights march in Atlanta:

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

Back in October I did some extensive research on this because it was important to me that if it were true, we should do something about it. What I learned is that it simply wasn't true. Here is my post from Oct. 19th.


Is Black Voting Being Suppressed?

John Kerry in a recent speech for the NAACP said, "that a million disenfranchised African-Americans and the most tainted election in American history is the best we can do?" How did Kerry come up with one million? The number came from a natural extrapolation of the 57,000 Floridians who according to the August 2001 report of the Commission on Civil Rights (which used some statistical extrapolation, hypothetical scenarios, and so on)--were denied the right to vote. The commission didn't repeat that number in their final April 2003 report, instead conceding that "it is impossible to determine the extent of the disenfranchisement." In fact out of the six-month investigation by the U.S. Commission of Civil Rights and also an investigation by the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Dept. They found there was absolutely no truth to any of those allegations, not one person who was intimidated or had their vote stolen. There was no disenfranchisement, no truth to any of those allegations. You didn't know that??? Well that's exactly what the democrats wanted. Better for them to spread dishonest rumors than to be happy that no suppression was found. (Source: Peter Kirsanow, an attorney and black Republican who sits on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.)

I went searching for examples of this "disenfranchisement" because after growing up in the middle of the civil rights movement, if I thought for one second that black voters were really being disenfranchised, I would be the first one protesting and demanding fairness. Here are the examples I found:

From The Guardian: A former employee of a company hired by the Republican party to register voters in Nevada said that he was told to throw Democrats' registration forms away.

If true, absolutely wrong. But it did say "democrat" registration, not "black." So now blacks are automatically considered democrat? Sorry, some are actually Republican. But if you don't think organizations like MoveOn.org, Rock the Vote, and Vote or Die and many other left leaning voter registration drives don't toss the forms that denote Republican, your living in a fantasy world.

Florida Gov.Jeb Bush introduced a rule that registration forms should be rejected if a citizenship check box is not complete. Ohio's Republican Sec. of State attempted to enforce a rule by which only registration cards printed on heavy, 80lb paper stock would be accepted. (Claiming that lighter cards might be shredded by postal equipment) The CEO of Diebold, which makes many of the voting machines, said he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes" to Bush.

How do the first 2 examples suppress black voting? I have no idea. Unless one thinks blacks are completely stupid. (I'll get back to who might think that in a minute). Since when is it suppression of any kind to require that forms are filled out correctly? And what the heck does the paper weight have to do with anything? And finally, Just because you are a CEO of a company that makes voting machines you can't come out for a candidate? And since when is being for Bush automatically means suppressing black votes?? I would think it would be about getting MORE black votes for Bush so that he can win the state. Can you believe this so far?? Stick with me.

John Pappageorge, Michigan's Republican state legislator, told a Republican meeting: "If we do not suppress the Detroit vote, we are going to have a tough time in this election cycle."

I read this quote over and over in my search. Detroit is 83% black, so the the word Detroit=Black, right? Anyone stop to think that Detroit=Democrat???? Yeah. Now should he have said "suppress?" for a any voting bloc? No. But again, if you don't think democrats talk about suppressing the evangelical vote ( as in "mention Cheney's lesbian daughter") then once again, your living in a fantasy world.

According to the Washington Post, in 2000, 42% of ballots rejected by Duval county in Florida came from mainly black areas.

Someone correct me if I am wrong, but there is NO WAY to tell on a ballot if someone is black or not, am I right? The ballots were not filled out properly. Which happens all the time all over the country by all kinds of people. What is an election board suppose to do? Ballots MUST be filled out correctly. To insinuate that black people can't seem to do that is such an insult to them. But more about that later. The next two are the doozies--

In Ohio the election board was set to rule that anyone who turned up at the wrong polling station would not be able to cast a provisional ballot (to be verified later). The democrats sued successfully saying that the ruling would disadvantage minority and poor voters who move more often.

So the democrats think that black people are so stupid they can't figure out which polling place to go to when they move. It seems obvious to me that this is a consistent theme of the democrats and very insulting to blacks.

The Washington Post reports that depriving prisoners and those on parole the right to vote has become a key issue.". An estimated 5 million Americans are affected by felony voting restrictions. Black males account for about 8% of the U.S. population and 40% of the prison population."

I have touched on this before. So we are "suppressing" the black vote by not allowing those who commit crimes such as rape and murder to vote?? When someone commits a felony they lose certain rights. Anyone who argues this is just sad. These are horrible crimes against society and NO they should not be allowed to vote- Black, White, Asian, or Hispanic. My God, how many times will they insult the black community and feed the fire of racism by implying that in order for black men to vote we have to open it up to the prison population?????? Do they not realize how this sounds?? What message it sends?? Bush has put blacks in his most trusted positions in his administration. Laura Bush's best friend is a black woman. Does Kerry have some personal connections to the black community other than spreading these lies in the black churches by standing at the pulpit and preaching at those who he hopes will vote for him? I don't see any.

Finally, this is what black people went through in the 60's in order to vote. To throw out silly allegations with no merit diminishes the memory of those who truly had something to protest against and what they did in order to be able to vote. Shame on the democrats for this and shame on Republicans for not reaching out to the black community with the truth.

I have a question. Is O.J's date here just an idiot? I know when I am looking around for a date I choose someone who KILLED A WOMAN WHO LOOKS JUST LIKE ME!!!

Recruiting Terrorists, a reporter's inside look.

TimesOnline/UK had a reporter infiltrating a Muslim hate group three weeks before the 7/7 bombings. The paper’s summary:

An undercover investigation has caught leaders of a radical Islamic group inciting young British Muslims to become terrorists and praising the Tube bombers as “the fantastic four”.

A Sunday Times reporter spent two months as a recruit inside the Saviour Sect to reveal for the first time how the extremist group promotes hatred of “non-believers” and encourages its followers to commit acts of violence including suicide bombings.

The reporter witnessed one of the sect’s leading figures, Sheikh Omar Brooks, telling a young audience, including children, that it was the duty of Muslims to be terrorists and boasting, just days before the July 7 attacks, that he wanted to die as a suicide bomber.

After the attacks that claimed 52 lives, another key figure, Zachariah, justified them by saying that the victims were not “innocent” people because they did not abide by strict Islamic laws. In the immediate aftermath the sect’s leader, Omar Bakri Mohammed, said: “For the past 48 hours I’m very happy.” Two weeks later he referred to the bombers as the “fantastic four”….

The Saviour Sect was established 10 months ago when its predecessor group Al-Muhajiroun was disbanded after coming under close scrutiny by the authorities. Its members meet in secret in halls, followers’ homes and parks. They are so opposed to the British state that they see it as their duty to make no economic contribution to the nation. One member warned our undercover reporter against getting a job because it would be contributing to the kuffar (non-Muslim) system.

Instead, the young follower, Nasser, who receives £44 job seekers’ allowance a week, said it was permissible to “live off benefits”, just as the prophet Mohammed had lived off the state while attacking it at the same time. Even paying car insurance was seen as supporting the system. “All the (Saviour Sect) brothers drive without insurance,” he said.

via BuzzMachine

At one point the reporter is asked if he would be willing to wear a "strap" which is slang for suicide bomb belt. He laughs it off nervously.

Could this be any creepier?

Who are these sick disgusting people???? Where do they come from?? I'll tell you what God hates. God hates you intruding on someone's grief and making a mockery of Christianity.
via Patriot Voices and A Sailor In The Desert.

Same sex marriage or gay marriage?

And the first thing that flys out of the Pandora's box is this. Not the first thing I expected from Canada's new same-sex marriage legislation, but I am never surprised when it comes to sexual politics.

It seems two guys want to marry. Only they aren't gay. They just want the tax benefits.

Heh.

via Outside The Beltway.

Must. Be. Shallow.

I am so sick of arguing with people this week I am actually going to do one of those silly surveys that people are always sending me. I found this one over at Lovex5, a conservative chick blog I just found through the comments and I think I love her!

A - Age you lost your virginity? - 21 (and married)

B - Band listening to right now? - Big and Rich

C - Dream Car? - Lincoln Navigator

D - Dads name? - Bill

E - Easiest person to make you laugh? - Teresita, my best friend who can make me laugh even when I am in a bad mood.

F - Food you miss most? - Why would I miss any food???

G - Any encounters with ghosts?- No and no aliens either.

I - Interesting unknown fact about yourself? - I only want to be filthy rich so I will never have to cook again.

J- The first letter of the last person who broke your heart? -S

K - Kissing with eyes opened or closed? - Closed. Who opens them?? All you would see is skin pores!

L - Last time you did LSD? - Uhhh.. never even seen it.

M - Most memorable moment you can think of in a minute?- Other than the birth of my children, it would have to be standing near St. Peter's bones beneath St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

N - Nicknames? - Sugarpill (that is what my dad called me)

O - What’s your most valued possession?- Materially? I suppose it would be my home. I decorated it the way I always wanted a home to be. I love it.

P - Poison of choice?- A very very expensive red wine. Once you have had a good one, cheap wines will not do. There is simply no going back.

Q - The last quote you heard: "Never disbelieve what you don't understand."

R - What are you allergic to?- Rude people

S - Song you sang last? - "All My Loving" by the Beatles. I sing it all the time at night to get my youngest asleep.

T - Time you woke up?- 7:30am when I have to.

U - Fav. pair of underwear? - whichever fit.

V - Vegetable you hate most? -Okra

W - What are you the most afraid of? - My children dying before I do.

X - X-rated love life?- Shouldn't everyone's be?

Y - Year you were born? - 1962

Z - Zodiac sign? - I have no idea and don't care.

One more thing....

Is anyone sick of the ID/evolution debate yet??? Too bad. This is what I was thinking. I was a Theatre Arts/English major in college. I love the arts. I love creative thinking and all things that come from it. I admire those whose gifts are in science and math. I learned just enough science and math to get me though college. I wasn't interested in it nor very good at it. But now suddenly I find myself interested in this debate. It may be easier for me not to get all upset by either side since I agree and disagree with both sides.

As I mentioned in the comment section below, I saw two scientists on Fox News this morning arguing the ID/Evolution theories. I wish Fox could have given them more time because it was fascinating to hear. The ID Scientist pointed out that there is a genetic code in our cells much like that of a computer, which we all know needs a programmer to create the code. A simple way of looking at something very complex I know, but it was something I hadn't known before (nor, to be honest, cared about).

My point is that in just having this debate on the news it has caused this former actress to have an intense interest in looking more closely at evolution and ID. I read some things last night and plan to look through some more things today. This is from someone who already believes deeply in God, so I need no proof of that. I just find it fascinating that because we are learning more about what makes us human, it has caused us to look at the gaps of evolution and consider an intelligent designer.

The intense feelings of outrage that surrounded "the monkey trials" makes this debate look like a mild spat in comparison. How interesting that advances in science have caused some to bring the discussion back around to God. How ironic would it be if Darwin set off a discovery process that eventually led us back to God?

If this debate can cause someone like me, who has had less interest in science than.... well...a monkey has, to want to learn more, then imagine the debate it would spark in science classrooms where students DO care?????

I am not here to argue for or against evolution or ID. I am here to say that the argument in and of itself is a very good thing for all of us to have.

Intelligent Debate continues.

Tech Central Station has this excellent take on the evolution/I.D. debate:

"Darwin would have welcomed such debate because he was keenly aware that the problems he had raised were not capable of being resolved into trivial facts to be memorized like the names of the state capitals or the rules of the multiplication tables. He knew that his theory probed the ultimate questions, and that such ultimate questions could never be given a definitive solution to be taught by rote, and to be memorized by parrots.

What an insult to Darwin's intellectual genius to think that his theory is as obvious as two plus two equal four, or as innocuous as the facts contained in an almanac! Anyone who thinks Darwin's theory is obvious clearly hasn't a clue about its brilliance or its originality.

So this time Bush got it right, and the critics that are pouncing on his statement are getting it mostly wrong. There is no harm in teaching children to discuss and debate the ultimate questions -- indeed, the greatest danger is that we may raise a generation that is never challenged to think about such questions at all. If an open-ended debate about evolution stirs up the kids, then, for heaven's sake, let the stirring begin."

As Klinghoffer of NRO points out, although a majority of biologists reject I.D., there are respected scientists that suggest "that it is Darwinism that fails to explain the complexity of organisms."

And for those ridiculing ID as “non-scientific, NRO says this:

"ID theoreticians have published their findings in peer-reviewed scientific journals, in formidable academic presses such as those of Cambridge University and the University of Chicago, such denunciations start to sound like a worried defense of status more than a disinterested search for truth."

National Review is not defending I.D. nor endorsing it. It is simply pointing out that it isn't just religious fanatics demanding a look at different perspectives, including considering the origins of man to be that of a Creator.

Don't miss blogger Michael Yon , a former Special Forces soldier who is now over in Iraq, on his own dime, as a journalist living in Mosul on Pundit Review Radio this Sunday evening at 9pm EST. He will be on live from Mosul, Iraq. You can stream the show live at WRKO and you can call Pundit Review Radio toll-free with questions at 877-469-4322.

I posted on Michael on July 27th. Read that here. His blog has to be one of the most interesting and informative blogs coming out of Iraq.

Let's Caption!

Ugh. Once again my comments numbers show 0, but the comments are still there.

In honor of Bolton's first day at the U.N.

Thanks to Matt at LonestarTimes.

Just What I Was Thinking.

Jeff at Protein Wisdom has his usual perfect take on Al-Zawahri's recent video rant. Jeff writes in just the right tone of sarcasm that I have come to love so much.

"Anybody else find it curious that Ayman Al-Zawahri, one of the leaders of a medievalist death cult bent on reestablishing the caliphate and spreading Shari’a law at the tip of a sword, is on tape talking about a “war for oil" and likening the US campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq to Vietmam? I mean, you’d think he’d be more interested in, say, Andalusia and the Crusades.

Not that I’m suggesting Zawahiri’s comments were influenced by Western politicos and their partisan political mouthpieces in the media who’ve shown a tendency to provide al Qaeda with rhetorical cover, mind you. Such an argument is just a silly wingnut fantasy, after all—a desperate attempt by chickenhawks to divert blame from the real reasons for terrorist grievances (namely, that we’re stealing their oil and fighting an illegal Vietnam-type war, to name just two...).

Anyway, I’m not passing judgment. Just, y’know—making an observation..."

Milblogs ROCK!!!

2Slick, my favorite former blackhawk helicopter pilot, corresponded with journalist John Hockenberry via e-mail after a bit of a disagreement with him. It seems Hockenberry wanted to write a piece on the Milblogs and he did!

Wired magazine has this excellent article by Hockenberry on the Milblogs.

Chris Missick, author of A Line in the Sand said it perfectly about the Milblogs:

"Never before has a war been so immediately documented, never before have sentiments from the front scurried their way to the home front with such ease and precision."

It is because of the Milblogs that we bloggers know so much about what is really going on over in Iraq. Imagine if we only had the MSM to rely on now??? What a different perspective there would be.

A while back I wrote a post called "The Warrior And The Truth."

I wrote what the Milblogs meant to me and I still feel the same way. It ends with this:

"The left is wrong to think that there are not times that we wonder if the sacrifice of our boys is worth it. They are wrong to think that we don't worry that things are out of control. I watch and listen closely to the news stories out of Iraq. I surf the milblogs and Iraqi blogs. I read European news pieces. Each sometime tell a different story. So who do we believe?

I believe the warrior.

I believe the warrior because he sees what we do not, because he is the one putting his life on the line. There is honesty there borne out of his willing sacrifice. He lives the war.

I believe the warrior."

The really interesting thing is that back in November 2Slick had written Hockenberry about a piece in the NY Sun about John Kerry's discharge. This was Hockenberry's e-mail back to 2Slick:

2Slick baby,
Sorry, never would have expected an officer to speak so ignorantly. I've been in Iraq, Kuwait, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Israel. Jordan, Afghanistan, Somalia, Lebanon, and Pakistan. As for being ignorant of the military, ouch, wrong about that one too. I have two relatives buried at Arlington. But hey, making blanket statements about people seems to be a real talent over there at DOD. At least you know the difference between a real threat to our nation and a bogus half dead dictator (who was once on the CIA payroll). I feel better already knowing you are out there on the front lines delirious with self righteousness. Hey, you can call me a liar but I can't compete with you guys... you're professional grade. Hope your next promotion doesn't take too long I'm really looking forward to paying you more money to protect me and my family so well. Thanks again 2Slick (the officer who is apparently embarassed to reveal his rank)John Hockenberry (NBC Universal) John.Hockenberry@nbcuni.com

And NOW we have this excellent article on Milblogs from the very same snotty reporter!! Who says people can't change minds a bit??

The thing that worked, I am sure, is that 2Slick did not get all snotty back but started a real discussion with Hockenberry. This is why we should watch our tone sometimes on our blogs. You never know whose mind you might change or at least open.

Jurors lying?

The New York Daily News says that two of the Michael Jackson jurors (Eleanor Cook and Ray Hultman) now say they think that Jackson was guilty.

"Elly and Ray are two of the three jurors who [initially] voted for 'guilty'" Garrison said, referring to the early balloting in the jury's deliberation process."

And of course they must write about it! They both have book deals now.

Well, I IM'd my Michael Jackson juror that I had previously written about and he says they aren't telling the truth.


Rightwingsparkle: Hi! Wondering what you thought about this...http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/334357p-285609c.html

****007: i heard about it, i got a phone call yesterday from the ny daily news

Rightwingsparkle: is it true those jurors did want guilty?

****007: no its not true

Rightwingsparkle: really???

Rightwingsparkle: they are lying??

****007:yes

Rightwingsparkle: hmmm.. isn't this the paper that called you? Which means they didn't include yours or perhaps the other jurors saying that it wasn't true. I wonder why.

****007: they just wanted something juicy to print cause they've got nothing to print

****007: brb

Rightwingsparkle: k

****007 signed off at 10:53:33 AM.

Somehow I think the title of this article about building a new soccer stadium for boys in Switzerland was not translated quite right.

Heh.

via Lone Star Times.

Interview With a Future Terrorist.

Prospect brings us this interview with 25 yr old Hassan Butt, a radical Mulsim who lives in England. If you want to understand the mind of a terrorist you will find it here.

Here are excerpts:


Taseer: How would you describe yourself as a Muslim, given that there are so many labels bring thrown about—“moderate,” “extremist” and so on?

Butt: I would agree to being called a radical and one day I may even be called a terrorist, if Allah permits me. That is something it would be an honour to be called.

Taseer: Surely, even in an Islamic context, that can't be a positive label?

Butt: There is a speech by the Prophet in which he says: Allah gave me five things. One of them was the power to strike fear, to strike terror into the heart of the enemy from a mile's distance, and this was a reference to a battle he had commenced. The way the warriors had prepared themselves was so terrifying that the enemy didn’t even turn up to the battle. Besides that, in the Koran the word irhab is the root word for terror in Islam, and irhabiyun is the word for terrorist. Allah mentions the word in the Koran many times—the one who strikes terror into their hearts is an irhabiyun. If I could have that title Islamically then I would be more than happy to take it and be proud of it. But unfortunately, I haven't reached that level yet.

Taseer: Why not?

Butt: Because I am stuck in this country. It would be unwise to carry out military operations here.

The interview goes on to this:

Taseer: Do you think killing Daniel Pearl was part of Omar Sheikh’s fight for Islam?

Butt: Whether he killed Daniel Pearl or not, I don't know to be honest with you.

Taseer: If he did?

Butt: If he did, I'm sure Islamically he knew what he was doing.

Taseer: Would you approve of it if he did?

Butt: Absolutely—journalists have always been used as spies. Even Lawrence of Arabia, who was a spy, was initially a journalist. I believe Pearl was a spy: he deserved everything he got.

Read the whole interview and take a moment to realize what we are fighting. At one point Butt muses that America may be destroyed soon.

I am not afraid of that, but I am afraid for those who buy this sick violent belief that God would reward one for killing and for killing yourself in the process.

via Malungtvnews

There is something so sweet about 147 foreign-born US military personnel serving in Iraq being sworn in for American citizenship in one of Saddam Hussein's former palaces.

via SondraK

A Thought to Ponder.

Thomas Sowell (one of my favorite writers) asks what should be an obvious question:

"Will even the bloody terrorist attacks in London put a stop to the media's hand-wringing because they don't think we have been nice enough to some of the cut-throats who are locked up in Guantanamo? The media have never shown any such interest in how prisoners are treated anywhere else on the island of Cuba, such as in Castro's prisons."

I'd really like the media's answer on that one.

via Sane Nation

Intelligent Debate cont.

Since a lively debate is humming across the blogosphere about Intelligent Design and evolution, I thought it might help to actually hear from the Center for Science and Culture at Discovery Institute, the nation's leading think tank supporting research on the theory of intelligent design:

"Discovery Institute opposes mandating the teaching of intelligent design, but it supports requiring students to know about scientific criticisms of Darwin's theory, which is the approach adopted by the science standards in Ohio, Minnesota, New Mexico, and currently under discussion in Kansas. Discovery Institute also supports the right of teachers to voluntarily discuss the scientific debate over intelligent design free from persecution or intimidation."

Ok, do we have that? No one, not even the Discovery Institute is demanding that ID be required to be taught. Just that an open discussion be allowed VOLUNTARILY to discuss ID and Darwin's theory.

As stated in the post before, ID does not discount the evolutionary process, only to consider that some things cannot be explained as directed by natural selection (true enough) and that some believe that it is possible that Intelligent Design (God, higher being.. whatever) could be the cause.

To be clear, this is what President Bush said:

"I think that part of education is to expose people to different schools of thought," Bush said. "You're asking me whether or not people ought to be exposed to different ideas, the answer is yes."

Why anyone would have a problem with "different ideas" is beyond me. If I remember correctly that is how we learned about evolution. It was a "different" idea at the time.

Think about it.

In the Good News Department.

Republican Jean Schmidt wins U.S. House Election in Ohio against Democrat Paul Hackett, a fomer Iraqi war veteran who was critical of President Bush.

I will have to visit Ohio one day. It must have great people. It came through for us in the Presidential election and comes through for us again.

There is rich irony in this, don't ya think?

via Grouchy Old Cripple.

Intelligent debate?

The Southpark Republicans are having a cow over Bush's remarks today regarding teaching Intelligent Design. Here and here are two examples.

Leave it to Jeff at Protein Wisdom to state the obvious truth:

"I nevertheless do believe that addressing the field of ID theory in science classes provides a perfect opportunity to show how ID and evolution do not necessarily contradict one another, and that—if evolution is taught properly—the controversy itself disappears, except as a propaganda tool ginned up either by creationists or materialists who like to use it as a rhetorical club against their ideological opponents."

According to the BBC series "The Power of Nightmares" I blogged about previously, the danger of Al Quaeda is simply a myth created by the neo conservatives.

Right.

via BigDog's House

I just didn't know how to go about saying how boring Al Gore TV (Current) was, but Wazzadem did it for me. Hilarious.
via Ace

BREAKING!!

The News just showed video of John Bolton meeting Kofi Annan. There was a moment of concern when both tried to walk through the door and bumped into one another. A mike picked up Bolton muttering, "Get out of my way you corrupt S.O.B."

It looked like a fight until Kofi willingly gave up his lunch money and all was well.

Heh.

Everything I wanted to say about Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and stem cell research.

Here are some neat candid photos from Iraq via Boots In Baghdad.

Ending Online Terror.

TimesOnline/UK has this:

"Over the past fortnight Israeli intelligence agents have noticed something distinctly odd happening on the internet. One by one, Al-Qaeda’s affiliated websites have vanished until only a handful remain."

Since these websites seemed to have been a vital part of spreading terrorist information this is good news indeed.

The Power of Nightmares.

The Power of Nightmares is a BBC series playing in Britain. (must be downloaded) . This is but one part of it, but it says a lot about how the war on terror came to be and explains to me why so many Europeans have this false notion of conservatives. It takes about 30 minutes to watch. It "explains" how both the neoconservatives of the United States and the radical Islamists believed in several "myths" that allowed them to think they could transform the world in their own way.

It begins telling us of the "dark illusion" of terrorism. It is simply a "fantasy." I don't think there are many of us who see terrorism as fantasy now.

The documentary is filled with what I call the music of "dread." The kind of music you hear in the horror movies just before someone is horribly killed. It gives a nice effect to the seemingly equal "evil" of radical Muslims and neoconservatives.

I find it amusing in the film that the neoconservative's vision to bring democracy and freedom to the world is said in a sinister voice and "dread" music because the conservatives themselves had "created a myth" of terrorism and culture wars.

Oh the HORROR!!! How truly AWFUL to have a vision for freedom and democracy in the world!!!

Meanwhile, as the U.S. helps afghans defeat the Soviet invasion in 1982 and then the Soviet collapse, the film states both neoconservatives and radical Muslims felt they each had won. The documentary also says the Soviet Union was collapsing on it's own. The U.S. really didn't do anything to defeat communism. The fall of the Berlin wall as well, I suppose, was a coincident of the policies of Reagan. They just happened to occur at the same time.

This battle in Afghanistan is the one many leftwingers refer to as when we "armed and trained" Al Queda because of the help we gave Afghans to fight the Soviet invaders. As if we had some crystal ball and could see that radical Muslims would turn against us in a war on terror.

Then the film outlines the conservatives determined defeat of Bill Clinton. Not sure why that is important since they don't mention the Cole bombing or the Embassy bombing or Clinton's reaction to it. It only focuses on the conservatives determination to regain power.

I suppose the film's purpose is to compare two religious views that want power. But doesn't seem to focus on the extreme different OUTCOMES of one or the other having power.

In a radical Muslim world women are treated like cattle, hiding behind burkas. Killing those who disagree with you is encouraged and is your way to heaven.

In the conservative view (which is not necessarily a religious view, of course) we promote freedom and free elections. A people (including women) who have a voice in government. Our way to heaven, for those who believe, does not include killing anyone. It is about compassion and forgiveness.

Now one can argue, rightly so, that the terrorists are a perverted version of Islam, just as anyone who commits violence in the name of Christianity perverts it. But the film does not make that distinction. It compares radical Islam to neoconservatives.

I don't even think my leftwing friends would agree that neoconservatives are willing to kill anyone who disagrees with them , including their own people. The thought is absurd. As is the comparison in this film.

But, sadly, the Europeans see this and believe it.

I have no illusion that conservatives are perfect. Politics, in and of itself, is a mean business on both sides of the political spectrum. Both sides have their good guys and bad guys.

I also know that America is not perfect. I understand many of the reasons that others in the world see us as hedonistic and self involved.

But in the end I see America as a reflection of most most of us here. Although we may think of ourselves first and enjoy the benefits of freedom and prosperity, we also step up to the plate when help is needed. We have a compassionate heart.

Selfishness resides in us, no doubt, but our goodness and kindness overshadows our shortcomings.

This is what I believe.

A Cabal of Jews.

dave at malungtvnews, is a Londoner who has been filming and interviewing the Muslim clerics in Finsbury park for two years now. Dave and I have interesting e-mail conversations. We are on completely opposite ends of the political and lifestyle spectrum, but I think we are learning a lot from each other.

One thing I have learned from dave is that the Muslim's he knows do not think Bin Laden was responsible for 9-11. They say he praised it, but never admitted to it.

In a recent e-mail dave says this about doctored photos and video:

"...all of the muslims I speak to believe the media is doing that all the time on a global scale, controlled by a cabal of rich jewish people who want to control the world. I think most people in this country believe that your media is more controlled than most."

There are a few more incredible things I have learned from dave, but he has asked me not to reveal and I won't, of course.

But I have to wonder how we deal with people who believe such nonsense? I mean A CABAL OF RICH JEWISH PEOPLE??????? It's like those suicides a few years back who believed that an alien ship was passing by as they died to pick them up.

We have become so obsessed with conspiracy theories in this world that if one was to actually occur, we might dismiss it.

I see no evidence of these rich jewish people trying to control the world. I don't see them controlling our media either. God knows they would have blacked out Fox News years ago. And wouldn't Joe Lieberman have done better at running for President if they were controlling the media????

There is no reasoning here. I hope and pray that we can withdraw our troops and hand over power to the Iraqi police force as soon as possible. As long as we are a presence there many Muslims will be convinced we are trying to take over the Middle East. Hopefully freedom and education will raise a new generation of Muslims that will see America differently.

The Captain tells us about Armstrong Williams comeback as a conservative talk show host after suffering a setback when it was discovered that he took $241,000 to promote the No Child Left Behind program from the Department of Education without ever disclosing his relationship with the program.

It seems Williams wasn't too happy when the right didn't rush to defend him. The Captain rightly points out how we don't defend what we believe to be wrong.

White House Hints It May Appoint Bolton.

I say go for it.

Support, Don't Insult.

I've noticed a talking point of the left going around lately. I heard it for about the 4th time with Ron Reagan on MSNBC the other night. He was discussing out troops and how they were a "small slice" of America. He said they were mostly "young, rural, and many times poor." Ron repeated that talking point 3 times in his interview with a guest. That was when I realized I heard it a few times in the past week.

The implication is clear here. The government is "using" the stupidity of poor country kids. Rural is code word for stupid in leftwing world. If you aren't cosmopolitan enough to live in the city, then you really don't have the broad and correct view of things, don't ya know?

Does the left ever see how insulting they are in their elitism? To imply that being from the country and not having money means you are stupid and will just do anything to get out, including go fight a war you must not understand, is beyond the pale.

I think Ron Reagan should go check out Mudville and click on the dozens of milblog links and just see how "rural" these guys are. Some of the writing in and of itself is amazing. We get more accurate information from those blogs than we do the MSM.

We have an incredible combat force. Smart and well trained. They know the risks and they don't go into this in ignorance.

Perhaps instead insulting them, we should show our support such as with Soldiers' Angels. You don't have to support the war to support our troops.

9/11. The Mini-series.

ABC has begun filming a 9/11 mini-series. It stars the character of "John O'Neill, the FBI agent who hunted Al Qaeda for years and was killed in the attacks while working as head of security for the World Trade Center."

My first thought was no. It seems tacky to make a mini-series about 9/11 so soon after the fact. But then I thought if it is done well, then maybe people need to be reminded of what we are fighting.

And that would be a good thing.

I almost forgot! Check out The Cotillion this week! Great stuff!

A soldier's poem. "I Fight For You." *blinking back tears*

A Must Read!

This is Amazing , long, but well worth it! This is what I LOVE about the blogs from Iraq. You get a first hand account from people THERE.

This is a fascinating read about Iraqi soldiers and our soldiers capturing insurgents, saving a journalist's wife from beheading AND uncovering munitions that were to be used in the upcoming elections. You get a sense of the chaos there and the different factions we are dealing with. And this is just from the last 2 weeks!

This is how Michael Yon (his blog) describes how Iraqis feel about foreign "fighters."

"Still, of all the clawing hands weighting the legs of the new Iraq, the foreign "jihadists" get the least respect and are mostly despised. Local terrorists, even those who trade in newly-minted matyrs, seem to view jihadists as the lowest of the low-- as if the volunteers-come-hither are merely fungible foreign idiots, worth less than the wads of floppy third-world currencies crumpled in their pockets. The foreign fighters are a sort of toxic waste drifting and floating on the surface of this civil war. Their touch is stain."

I'm serious. Read all it to the end. He has pictures too. Amazing. Truly.

The Good News.

"Rumsfeld, on an unannounced visit to Baghdad, called on Iraqi leaders to draft and approve a constitution without delay."

"..a senior Iraqi security official said that he believed that US-led forces would hand over security in 10 major cities to Iraqi security forces by December. "From now until the [December] elections we hope to have transferred 10 major cities," Muwaffaq Rubaie, the chairman of a new transition task force, said."

And here is THE BEST NEWS OF ALL:

" The commander of US forces in Iraq, General George Casey, said that he believed that US forces could be reduced substantially by early next year."

via The Middle East Times.

Ohhh, they want Karl Rove gone sooo bad. (click TV ad)

They just underestimate this mind meld thing. It can be done outside the White House as well.

Heh.

See? Gay marriage isn't about changing society. It's just about two people committing to one another.

Yeah, right.

via Protein Wisdom

Charles Schumer and John Roberts have a visit. I'd say it's time for a caption contest.

This is cool. Do your own. via boingboing

You gotta love Chicago politics. It makes national politics seem almost...normal.

God, I love dogs! When a dog doesn't want anythng to touch his bone, he means anything. Too funny.
h/t Craig

Careful. This is what can happen when you expose your children to Christian history.
h/t jimboy

Blogging And A Real Revolution.

The Middle East Times has this interesting piece on Iran's blogs:

"Analysis: Blogs are Iranians' weapons of choice"

"The blogging phenomenon has exploded in the Islamic Republic. Today an estimated 75,000 Iranians maintain online Web logs, or "blogs", for short, that engage in a brisk virtual dialogue despite an Orwellian government that has a monopoly on public news media. They are an ever-enlarging faction of the 5 million Internet users in Iran, who have taken the protest for greater social freedom from streets and newsstands to cyberspace."

70% of Iranians are under the age of 30. Which not only means they are computer savvy, but given the outlet to the freedom of ideas the blogs bring, means more of them can be informed and voice their concern over human rights in their country. The article goes on to describe how even arrest and torture of the bloggers from the government has not stopped this blogging revolution. It ends with this:

"Blogging is a win-win situation for the young movement in Iran and a lose-lose situation for the regime," Jafarzadeh concluded. "If the regime would allow bloggers to operate with total freedom, this message would encourage people to seek regime change through increased activity. On the other hand cracking down on bloggers further convinces the population that this regime is absolutely against personal freedom, and there is no alternative but regime change ... that Iranians must do themselves."

A Rose By Any Other Name....

BBC edits out the word terrorist via Lone Star Times

And the transformation from leftwing extremist to centrist continues.

John Roberts may have been a part of the Federalist Society.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Tom Cruise's Blog.

Muslim Messages Part 3

I watched a press conference on C-span this morning from the Muslim American Society. The president and the head of the board of Directors and a few others spoke. It was gratifying to hear them speak out strongly against terrorism. The President spoke with passion on how violence and killing are not a part of their religion. He said their religion is one of peace. He strongly condemned those who do these bombings in the name of Islam. He also spoke of respecting all faiths.

The head of the board of directors said that the men who do these things are not being led by God, but by Satan. Powerful words that I don't think a Christian leader could have gotten away with, of course, but one I totally agree with.

They all urged fellow Muslims to speak out against terrorism and to turn away from any extreme that convinces them that violence is ever the answer.

It was nice to hear. Very nice.