Well, no wonder they couldn't respond!

American Hostage Rescued!

Roy Hallums, a hostage in Iraq since November, was rescued by our boys!

Good news! Hat tip to MisterPundit

Map.

Ralph sent me this very interesting map of New Orleans that explains the past floods and how the city was built. Basically everything you would want to know in a geographic sense. You can download a larger version too.

"Bill Clinton, Shutup," says Huffington....

Because I am trying to teach the peasants something here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My thoughts on the aftermath of Katrina.

After reading the partisan bickering around the blogosphere regarding the aftermath of Katrina, I realized I wasn't going to get any answers that way. So I started surfing some non-partisan blogs of people I respect and here are the things that bother me the most and I don't care whose fault anyone thinks it was, we have to find out exactly whose fault it was and smack them. (And I am sure many a commenter will let me know who they think is responsible, but don't bother)

First of all, if it is true that the people in the Superdome were LOCKED IN, then that is just reprehensible!!! And I don't care if it was for their "own safety." That just makes my blood boil!!

It seems to me, by all that I have read, that the 1st responders were so focused on rescue and recovery they weren't thinking of the people they assumed were safe in the Superdome and on highways. I honestly don't think FEMA or the National Guard or the police or whoever had anyone watching the news. If they had, then they would have been more aware of the food and water situation on the ground. That was a big mistake that I hope we never make again. There was obviously no communication between the local and federal authorities. That is a mistake we should never make again.

The head of FEMA isn't looking too good in my book. From the looks of things, he wasn't too honest with the press. I understand that this was an unprecendented tragedy, but it isn't the time or place to cover your ass at all costs. Just be honest. If you don't know why your people didn't get the message about people needing food and water, then just say that. Don't make things up.

The other thing that burns me up is the rampant crime that was allowed to happen. It seems we got it under control in a matter of days, but those days must have been terrifying for the innocent people who experienced it! The shootings and rapes that occurred in the Superdome just makes one sick. Should the police or National Guard have known it would be that bad? I don't know, but I understand now why the people I spoke with at the Astrodome were all saying they would never return to New Orleans.

The final thing. We all agree that all the people should have evacuated. Yes, the buses should have been used. But had that ever been done before? And where would they have bused them? If there is one lesson that the whole country learned is that when the city says go, YOU GO. I don't think it does any good to blame the people who stayed though. If the levees hadn't broken, then it would have been fine. Hindsight is 20/20. I don't remember anyone jumping up and down on Sunday screaming for the people to get out. Telling people to come to the Superdome sends the message that it's ok to stay though. So I don't know WHAT the answer should have been.

Bottom line here is that people were treated terribly. I heard that when people tried to walk away from the Superdome guns were pointed at them. If true, then shame. Shame! That is NOT how I want America to keep me safe. Don't point the guns at us! I understand a bit better why many people who have listened to the stories are so ticked off. But they shouldn't see some big sinister plot behind it. This was a combination of a terrible force of nature and the terrible nature of man.

We seem to be redeeming ourselves here though. Giving and loving those who lost so much. I hope nothing like this ever happens again. But the only way we can be assured of that is to not just blame the other "party," but to look closely at the situation and who did what and just CHANGE IT.

The Wild Wild (Warmhearted) West.

The Weekly Standard compares New Orleans to Houston. but here is the best part:

"It is now no surprise that Houston is the place where in days they built a new city in and around the Astrodome, that has taken in 25,000 refugees from New Orleans, and is planning to feed, house, employ, and relocate most of them. Houston is the place where the heads of all the religious groups in the city--Baptists and Catholics, Muslims and Jews--came together to raise $4.4 million to feed the evacuees for 30 days, and to supply 720 volunteers a day to prepare and serve meals. If New Orleans was where the Third World broke through, Houston was where the First World began beating it back, and asserting its primacy. Are we surprised that the star of this show has been Texas, home of Karl Rove and both Bushes, widely despised by the glitterati as sub-literate, biased, oppressive, and retrograde? No."

Perhaps the reason why we Texans don't buy all the Bush bashing is because we know where he came from. We know who he was. We know why he feels the most at home chopping wood at his Ranch in the 99 degree heat. We know his accent isn't fake and neither is his goodness.

What does it mean to be from Texas? It means an outpouring of love and support. It means money, food, clothing, toys, and the opening of homes and hearts.

I haven't heard one complaint about the influx of people here. I haven't heard one complaint about the increase in classroom size in the city of Houston schools. Everyone I know is looking for ways to help. Every corporation I know is giving employees time off to volunteer and they are giving and giving.

I heard on the news today that they had planned on bringing in Cruise ships into the port of Galveston (35 minutes away) to place some of the refugees. They REFUSED. They said they didn't want to leave Houston. I couldn't believe it! Who wouldn't want to be on a cruise ship???? But perhaps they knew that all the love and the caring they needed was right where they were. They knew they had the helping hand they needed right in front of them.

Bush is Texas and we know what that means. Now the world knows what that means.

Michelle Malkin is calling this "Operation Red Cup." Too funny.

Let me sum up the week of msm for you....

1) Hurricane Katrina-very bad.

2) Hurricane caused by global warming-Bush's fault.

3) Black people suffering-Bush's fault.

4) FEMA-too slow. Shame. Shame.

5) Looting and mayhem in New Orleans-Bush's fault.

6) Reporters going for the Pulizter. Facts be damned.

7) Help pouring in-From where? Can't mention it because it includes Bush and white people with money and generous hearts.

8) Did Mississippi and Alabama get hit too?

9) FEMA-too slow. Nation shocked. We thought govt. agencies worked efficently and quickly.

10) Everything is Bush's fault.

Is God Mad?

I had some e-mail from my earlier post where I dismissed the notion that God was punishing New Orleans. Here are a few more who believe that. I just don't believe that. God gave us a world of nature and physics. We live among those things. But I had a few e-mails suggesting that it was indeed God. I jokingly said that if God wanted to punish a city for their sin, Los Angeles would have been smited long ago. (It's where we get all our porn)

That being said, this bit of errie warning seems to be prophetic. He still hasn't convinced me, but it never hurts to "cleanse" ourselves even without the fear of catastrophic events.

via Drudge.

The ever funny.....

Wuzzadem.... Go. Enjoy. You deserve a few laughs after the mudslinging we have been witness to.

Who said this?

The following was said in an interview on CNN on Sept. 1st:

"The people in the Superdome are in a special position. And let me say, I've been going to New Orleans for over 50 years. There's no place on earth I love more. They went into the Superdome, not because of the flooding, but because we thought the hurricane was going to hit New Orleans smack dab and they'd be safe in there if they didn't leave town.

What happened was, when the levee broke and the town flooded, what did it do? It knocked out the electricity and it knocked out the sewage. They're living in hellacious conditions. They would be better off under a tree than being stuck there. You can't even breathe in that place now.

So I understand why they're so anxiety-ridden. But they have to understand, by the time it became obvious that they were in the fix they were in, there were a lot of other problems, too. There were people -- they were worried about people drowning that had to be taken off roofs."

He went on:

"All I'm saying is the way they got stuck there, I see why they feel the way they do. But the people that put them there did it because they thought they were saving their lives. And then when the problems showed up, they had a lot of other people to save. Now they've got hundreds of buses."

"I think that's important to point out. Because when you say that they should have done this, that or the other thing first, you can look at that problem in isolation, and you can say that.

But look at all the other things they had to deal with. I'm telling you, nobody thought this was going to happen like this. But what happened here is they escaped -- New Orleans escaped Katrina. But it brought all the water up the Mississippi River and all in the Pontchartrain, and then when it started running and that levee broke, they had problems they never could have foreseen

And so I just think that we need to recognize right now there's a confident effort under way. People are doing the best they can. And I just don't think it's the time to worry about that. We need to keep people alive and get them back to life -- normal life."

Let me put it this way, I never thought I would agree with him or that he would put common sense over politics.

This sums it up nicely.

Powerline puts it in perspective for us.

I want to add that my family lives in Mississippi. Mississippi hasn't been getting any press, but whole towns were also destroyed there. You haven't been hearing much because the local govt there did do an incredible job. While the Mayor of New Orleans and the Governor of Lousiana were busy sniping at each other and at the President, The Governor of Mississippi and other prominent politicans were stepping up to the plate and providing leadership. We didn't have the deaths in Mississippi despite the destruction because most people heeded the warnings and left. And please don't try and tell me that Mississippi doesn't have it's share of the poor and elderly, yet they managed to leave. Jackson doubled it's population. And did you know that the city of Jackson was without electricity all week? Including the shelters. Not to mention all the towns that were destroyed and left empty. Yet we hear of no rioting and looting.

My Mom said she had never seen the state come together like this and help so many people at their hour of need. She said the Governor had done an outstanding job of leadership.

What is the difference here between the state government of Lousiana and the state government of Mississippi?

I'll let you figure it out.

Surprise Headine from ABC News.

Poll: Bush Not Taking Brunt of Katrina Criticism

Considering the enormous amount of distortions and criticisms heaped upon Bush for the last week, I am shocked at this. I thought it would take a while for the usual cleanup after the msm does it's dirty work for people to see how it really all played out, but it seems that even when it seems the entire media was out to lay this tragedy at Bush's feet, the people of America seem to understand that the real villian here is a hurricane named Katrina.

I just can't wrap my mind around this...

... "Mr. Bush, you just stay the course. It's not your fault that 30 percent of New Orleans lives in poverty or that tens of thousands had no transportation to get out of town. C'mon, they're black! I mean, it's not like this happened to Kennebunkport. Can you imagine leaving white people on their roofs for five days? Don't make me laugh! Race has nothing -- NOTHING -- to do with this!"
-- Michael Moore

via Ace.

So, if a hurricane hits a city that is populated by mostly white people then we enact the super secret Karl Rove nose twitch that immediately lifts all people from the devastated region, right?

I find it hard to believe that anyone takes Michael Moore seriously. Does he honestly believe that the Bush administration looked around during and after the hurricane and said, "well, it's just black people, let's just sit on this a bit." Come on!!! Are these people insane? What more could have been done??? Really. And if you can come up with an answer to that one, then tell me if you think it WOULD have been done had the people been white.

Making this a race thing is just reprehensible. If this were about race and if we Republicans didn't care about the victims here, then why are we the ones volunteering to serve meals, drop off donations, and donate money along with our Democrat friends????

Michael Moore's voice is the one I was referring to earlier that is taking over the Democrat party. Is there no brave (and sane) Democrat out there to smack him down over this? Anyone??? Anywhere????

The French Quarter Will Rise Again.

Back in college I went quite a few times to New Orleans. It was a short 4 hour road trip from Ole Miss. I went to Mardi Gras and I have been many times since then for various conventions.

I have always loved New Orleans. It is so southern, so historic, so charming, and so......creepy. Yes. Creepy. Along with the wonderful things about it, it has always had a dark underbelly. I have a love/hate relationship with the likes of Bourbon street. I have had my share of fun there, but the seedy strip joints and the overtly sexual party that Mardi Gras has become is disturbing, not only because it involves drunk young women who lose their minds as they drink their strong concoctions, but there doesn't seem to be any gentlemen left to make sure they aren't taken advantage of.

But the beauty and uniqueness of New Orleans has always far exceeded it's dark side.

As you can read here, the French Quarter survived pretty well. The rebuilding will start there and I think they will insist on opening that part of the city up long before the rest is even close to being ready.


We who love this city will be itching for the Jazz music that soothes our souls, for the spicy food that we crave, and for the slow southern style of a place rich with memories and ghosts of a time past that seem to float around you as you walk the city.

Chief Justice Roberts?

All I can say is Roberts must have always been a very very good boy his whole life. The left hasn't been able to dig up any dirt on him (and believe me, they have tried) so it will make that particular spot easier to fill.

Who do you think will be nominated now? Any guesses?

A Must Read.

Go here. Trust me. I have't let you down yet, have I?

via Darleen

Listening to Jabbar Gibson, the 20 yr who "borrowed" a schoolbus to drive out of New Orleans to Houston, on Fox News was inspiring to hear. He had never driven a bus, and he picked up everyone he could until it was packed and they all shared gas money. The people at the Astrodome probably didn't know what to think when he drove in, but they let him in, God bless Tx!

Rest In Peace.

Supreme Court Justice Rehnquist was an incredible man and a true intellectual. I will always admire him for his dissent in Roe v. Wade.

A few facts regarding Roe v. Wade that you may or may not be aware. Norma McCorvey, the Jane Roe of the case is an active pro-lifer now. In her autobiography, "Won By Love," she describes how she was used by the pro-choice movement and was told to lie about being raped. Bernard Nathanson, a former abortionist who was a leader in NARAL during Roe v. Wade, is now an active pro-lifer. He admits that NARAL lied about polls taken a the time and about the number of illegal abortions being performed at the time and lied about the number of women dying of illegal abortion. Read about that here.

Basically, it is a fact that Roe was based on lies.

Rehnquist couldn't have known that at the time of course, but his dissent marked the beginning of a long and distinguished career of common sense and common decency.

Good News!!!

Merck donates $1 million
Lowe's adds another million
ING's U.S. Operations Contribute $1 Million
Xerox to Donate More Than $2 Million in Cash, Equipment, Services
Australia offers $10 million in aid
More than 30 of the evacuees are staying with Hamilton resident Darlene Rutledge in her three-bedroom Seventh Street apartment
Networks unite for Katrina telethon
Best Buy matching in-store contributions
WalMart and GE have each pledged 15 million.

via ASV

New Orleans Couple Reunited With Baby
Miracle reunion: 'This is how awesome God is"Katrina victims' prayer answeredBrothers come to rescue of stranded neighboursRaymond Arroyo, Mother Angelica and Hurricane Katrina
A Mother's Prayers AnsweredStories of joy emerge, even from chaosChicago Man Gives Loft To Evacuated Family

via Michelle Malkin

Let me add my own bit of good news. The Astrodome had 2500 volunteers show up yesterday!!!!!! 1000 on Friday! They had had so many people dropping off donations that they had to ask them to stop because of the traffic jam! They asked them to instead drop them off at donation centers (which are EVERYWHERE you turn in this town) so they can be taken down in one swoop.

I am very proud of my city right now. VERY PROUD. And I can tell you from personal discussions with the victims of hurrican Katrina, these people are VERY grateful. They feel that this country truly does love them. I heard that over and over.

So don't let the naysayers get you down. We are a wonderful people. The light will chase away the darkness my friends.

Don't ever doubt that.

Ever.

Let's look at the facts.

Protein Wisdom has every link, the explanation of where, why, and who was suppose to do what in the post hurricane reaction. Read the whole thing. Go to all the links. It explains MUCH.

The pathetic thing is that we have to waste time proving that, although mistakes were certainly made, everything that could be done, was done as far as humanly possible. As Jeff points out in his comments: "I’m not interested in politicizing this; I’m interested in preventing those who’ve been trying to politicize this from succeeding in doing so.

Exactly

It doesn't matter what the left throws to stick on the wall, Bush will ignore them as he rightly does, and he will continue on to do everything in his power to get the good people of New Orleans and the coast back on their feet.

Because that is the kind of man he is.

The Truth.

The comments in the thread below is a perfect example of all that is wrong in politics today.

I think in this tragedy there were many many mistakes made both in the local, state, and federal govt. We never had a castrophe like this before and it is understandable that big mistakes would happen. We can now learn from them.

But maybe not.

Because everyone is trying SO DAMN hard to place blame and people are making stuff up (on the left and right) and the people on each side will believe what makes their side look best. It makes me want to puke.

The only thing that is crystal clear to me is that the Democrat left STARTED this blame game even as this tragedy was still unfolding. You saw a weak spot and you decided to take a shot. Everything from the right since then has been defensive. So we will play this partisan game of blame for God knows how long. The divide in this country will become even more hateful and apparent. One thing I am sure of is that if the Democrat left had not politicized this tragedy from the start, you would NOT be hearing how it was all the local govt. fault from the right. We would not have brought politics into something like this. Which is the difference that keeps me Republican.

I hope you on the left are proud of that. Because you can't deny one thing.....you started it.

Fox v. CNN

I commented on another post how different it was watching CNN cover the hurricane tragedy than it was watching Fox News cover it. Shepard Smith's anger and slam down of Bill O'Reilly seems to have the left estatic as well as confused. Geraldo's breakdown also has them experiencing those conflicting emotions. Aren't these reporters robonewsmen for Murdoch? Aren't they under the mindmeld of Rove???? Could this mean that...gulp....Fox News really is fair and balanced???

Well, the best comparing of the 2 news giants I have found is here.

The Blame game.

Since everyone seems to want to lay blame, at least ask the right questions. Ace asks the right questions and answers them as well.

Update: Mudville has an excellent overview of the real story. His post includes excerpts from New Orlean's Emergency management plan, which makes it clear that the local and state government failed miserably. It wasn't until today that I learned that it is they (local and state govt) that are the first responders, not FEMA. Now I am but a lowly blogger. It is understandable that I wouldn't know that, but surely the msm knows this?

So what can explain why they are not saying this? If someone can come up with a better answer than the obvious one...a political agenda, then please share it with me.

Volunteering at the Astrodome.

I know. I know. I said I wouldn't blog again until next week, but I had to blog this. I went to the Astrodome this morning to volunteer. I had called the Red Cross yesterday morning and they said they would only take trained Red Cross volunteers, so I donated money. Then I saw on the news that the Red Cross had changed it's mind and would take anyone who showed up.

So I showed up.

Now, I have volunteered in the past for both private and governmental agencies and there is NO doubt that private agencies do everything 100% better. Suffice to say that the volunteer coordination was completely unorganized, but fortunately everyone volunteering (like myself) were self motivators. You don't have to tell us what to do, we just do it. Which is what you had to do there because no one was in charge of the effort. I'm not blaming anyone. God knows the Red Cross has enough to deal with and we volunteers are grownups and can figure out what the needs are pretty quickly.

The whole thing was, of course, heartwrenching. People were packed cot to cot and with their supplies next to them. The really hard thing to see were the children. So small and with so little to keep them busy. The citizens and Churches of Houston came through in a BIG way and there was plenty of food, water, and clothes for everyone. The only thing I really had to dig for were toys. I plan to bring a bunch tomorrow. That seemed to be the only real need that wasn't being meet. There were also plenty of volunteers.

As you might imagine I wanted to hear what it was like being in the Superdome. One teenage girl told me that it was terrifying when the shooting started. "It was the gangs," she said. Her mother said, "The people found the guy who was shooting and beat his ass and his ass needed beating." I found over and over again that people were as disgusted with the behavior of the thugs as the rest of us. I asked them if they were angry at the government. Not one I spoke to said they were. They were angry at the people who behaved badly. They were angry at the thugs with guns. They were angry with the people who threw trash everywhere and went to bathroom in public places.

In other words, they were mad at the right people, unlike our friends on the left.

I was surprised at how good their attitudes were considering all they had been through. The ones I spoke to seem determined to get a job and settle here in Houston. Another wonderful thing to see were people holding signs saying that there were hiring workers. It's a start.

I was feeling irritated yesterday at the leftys commenting here trying to make political points at a desperate time. There were many Democratic leaders doing the same thing on TV. I HATE what the party of my childhood has become. I can only hope that the commenters here don't represent the majority of democrats in this country. I truly don't think they do. I think most Democrats realize the enormity of this tragedy and understand the mistakes that were made by the local, state, and federal government, but also know what an incredible job was done considering the scope of the tragedy. I think they are grateful that we, as a country, can give the enormous amount of money and resources that it will take to get New Orleans, the coast, and the people back on their feet again.

But the leadership in the Democratic party and the fringe left (Kos, MoveOn.org, Michael Moore, NARAL ect..) have hijacked the voice of this party and turned it into a petty bitter ranting voice the likes of which I have never seen in politics. It is truly time for grassroots Democrats take back their party.

All this upset me yesterday. But today I feel so much better. One thing helping people in need does is put everything in perspective. When you see how much people can endure and still be strong, the petty voices just don't bother you anymore. When you see people who really have every reason to be angry, but are not, then it makes you understand that the highpitched voice on the left is nothing more than that. An empty voice.

This country is pouring it's heart out to the hurricane's victims. Tragedy tends to bring out the worst and the best of society.

Today I saw the best.

See Ya Next Week.

As you have probably noticed in the comments, I am becoming a bit testy. Not like me. This whole tragedy with New Orleans and the coast has upset me. Leftys just responding by blaming Bush is just so stupid that it is pushing me to the limits of my patience.

I can take political arguments, but when it comes to the suffering of the people in our country and a disaster where we should all be coming together to help, it is sick and wrong to bring politics into it. This isn't the time or the place.

So I will take my leave for the weekend. I will see what I can do for the refugees in Houston, I will play with my children, I will cook, I will call my family and tell them how much I love them, I will go to Church and pray for those suffering.

Peace be with you all.

Thugs. Ugh.

From the looks of these messages, thugs are roaming the streets of New Orleans. I understand the military is on the way to restore order. It makes me sick to my stomach that evil people would take advantage of this dire situation. I suppose I am naive. It never occurred to me that this would happen.

Amazing Video.

If you want to see some incredible video of the surge of the hurricane go here to MSNBC anc click on "extreme footage."

Here is what I like to see. People helping people. We just need to get this information to the refugees.

Nice To Hear.

I just heard a reporter on the news at the Baton Rouge emergency shelter say that the number one item being requested by the refugees there after food is....a Bible.

Can I get an AMEN?

Thoughts.

I don't know if any of you have read some of the blogs or message board commenters who are saying that New Orleans was hit because it was "sin city" and this was God's wrath, but we all know that those people are the same that said that AIDS was God's punishment for being gay ect... In other words, these people are FREAKIN INSANE.

Well guess what.? If you are one of those saying that Bush is responsible for the hurricane because of his environmental policies and global warming (like Robert Kennedy Jr. and Cindy Sheehan) or that because of lack of funding to New Orleans, Bush is responsible for what happened to that city, then you too are FREAKIN INSANE.

Let me just say that everyone who knew anything about New Orleans was saying that the city was a accident waiting to happen since the 80's. So if Bush is somehow responsible, then so is Clinton. Because he didn't fund any upgrades either.

Also, do you think the left could hold off blaming everything on Bush for....I don't know.....maybe a FEW FREAKIN DAYS while we are trying to rescue people and get them settled. Can we focus on these people for just a bit before you go snarling off like a rabid dog on Bush???

Do any of the people on the left understand how the fringe is starting to take over everything your party stands for? Is there a fringe on the right that sounds just as crazy? Yes. But the difference is that everytime they open their mouth and say something stupid, we on the right condemn them and ask them to shutup.

But when the fringe says something crazy on the left, it is usually someone the left LOVES and supports wholeheartly. From the recent comments of RFK Jr. to Cindy Sheehan to Al Franken to Howard Dean to Michael Moore. No one condemns them.

It's pathetic.

On to other things:

I told a friend of mine that I planned to go volunteer at the Astrodome when the refugees got there. She told me I shouldn't do that because these were not the best people and it would be dangerous. She said the same people coming on the buses were the ones who looted. I was taken aback by that. I told her that wasn't true. Just because they were poor didn't mean they were bad.

And then she calls this morning asking if I had heard about shots being fired at rescue helicopters. Then the news said there were gang problems going on with the people left in New Orleans. Which made me wonder if I was being naive.

Can we not even help people now without worrying about our safety? What have we come to that it becomes a "Lord of the Flies" type situation when a disaster happens?

BlogBeg

The blogosphere is coming together to ask for hurricane relief help. I am asking you to give to Catholic Charities, not because I am Catholic, but because, as one commenter from Baton Rouge pointed out, Catholic Charities has a strong relationship with the New Orleans and Baton Rouge communities. They already have shelters and food pantrys set up. I think that would be the quickest way to get help to the people who need it. But, of course, give to who you feel the most comfortable with.

Instapundit has a list of other charities.

Technorati has a list of links regarding the hurricane.

The Anatomy of a Loss.

Last night I could not stop thinking about the man from New Orleans on the news who had had to let go of his wife when his house split in two. The reporter was crying. I was crying. His pain was raw and heartbreaking to see.

During my prayers I kept seeing the people on their homes waiting for rescue. I thought of two fellow bloggers who have recently experienced a terrible loss in their life. One is very angry at God. I understand that. Some think that if we just believe in God, if we just live good enough lives, then we will be protected somehow, but that isn't what Christ promised us. That isn't the way life is.

Christ discussed sorrow, he knew that we would all experience it. He himself experienced it. Make no mistake about it. God weeps with us.

We cannot escape life's blows. God gave us free will and a world with the law of physics. We can't escape the reality of life and nature. Does God sometimes intervene with miracles? Certainly. I have seen that for myself. But I think those times are rare and are driven by a deep faith or a purpose known only to heaven.

When I was 22 I lost my Daddy to a heart attack. If you are new to my blog, my post on him is here. He was the finest man I ever knew. My heart was completely broken. He was the rock of our family. I didn't see how we could go on without him. I wasn't angry at God. Even that young my faith was deep and I knew that this life is but a small part of eternity. I had learned from reading "The Hiding Place," the story of a Christian woman taken to the concentration camps during the Holocaust for hiding Jews, that one should pray to God with a grateful heart no matter what your circumstances. Why? Because no matter what life throws at us, good can come from it....if we let it. If we pray and give God our pain and our tears.

That was a very difficult thing to do. I watched one brother of mine give in to the pain of losing Daddy. It took him years of heartache to finally give it to God. But that day, the day that I lost the most important thing in my life, I got down on my knees and thanked God for the years that I had had with my father. I thanked him for all that my Daddy had been to me. I thanked him for the wonderful childhood I had had. I thanked him for the values and love my father had given me. In that moment I felt great peace. I felt the comfort of a love that is unending. It was like an invisible warm blanket covered me. It was.....Indescribable.

I thought the world would fall apart. I thought my mom would not be able to go on. I thought my brothers would never be happy again. But in that moment of peace, I knew that it would be alright. I knew.

And it was. My mother happily remarried a wonderful man a few years later. My brothers went on to become the men my father wanted them to be. As I said, it took one of my brothers some self inflicted heartache to get there, but he did get there.

When we are overwhelmed with grief, it is so difficult to pray. We are consumed with our loss and we don't want to let anyone in, even God. But this is when we must pray the most. It is in prayer that we find the comfort we need and the way out of our pain and back into the land of the living.

After the death of my father, I experienced so many gifts from God that helped me and my family get through that terrible time. So many things that have no other explanation. God doesn't promise us a safe life, just one where He will always lead us where we need to be if we let Him.

I had a friend whose child had died. Her grief was beyond what she could endure. She couldn't function. Drowning in her grief she forced herself on her knees. She wept before God, not in anger, but in sorrow. Without words she cried out to God to help her. She told me when she opened her eyes she saw herself at the foot of the cross. She saw Christ on the cross and all the suffering He was enduring. She said she understood then that He suffered with us. And the comfort came. She was given the strength to continue on and she had three more beautiful children. Her life is full of love and laughter now and she knows in her heart that she will see her first child again. Love overcame the sorrow. As I have said many times, it is love that saves us.

1 Corinthians 13:7- "The Man of Suffering is the revelation of that Love which "endures all things."

It is in this time of suffering that we must endure. We must love. We must pray.

Baton Rouge

Well, my son, who came home from LSU Sunday, won't have to return to classes until Tuesday. They are even canceling (gasp!) the football game this weekend. It isn't the weather or any damage done to the university. They just felt given the circumstances, that the highways didn't need students returning and football fans coming in for a game. There is media camped out at one of the dorms there and I read on one of the local blogs that the Baton Rouge airport is providing free wireless. The apartment complexes around town are given month to month leases for those displaced and trying to find free furniture for the apartments. If you live anywhere near the area you might consider donating some used furniture.

A professor at LSU has set up a web site with an open thread for those trying to get information or contact someone. She also suggests that if you can't get through on a cell phone, to try text messaging. That usually works better.

Here is live blogging from New Orleans. Here is a collection of photos from Flickr

This is the time for us all to come together and help out. Right now they need money. I am posting the relief donation sites again.

You can donate to the American Red Cross Fund (specifying the hurricane relief) HERE.

Catholic Charities has a relief fund HERE.

The United Methodist Church has a relief fund HERE.

Remember to keep those hurting in your prayers.

Another Iraqi Voice You Might Want To Hear.

The Mesopotamian gives us his scenario if we get out Iraq the way the protestors wish us to.

Giving.

When I heard of looting in the aftermath of the Hurricane, it just ticked me off. Ugh. But I just heard Jeff Goldblatt say that a Walmart in New Orleans opened it's doors and is letting people take what they need, no payment necessary.

Nice to hear.

A Letter From An Iraqi to Cindy Sheehan.

I know many of you have read this already, but since I have so many left leaning commenting and asking why we are at war, I thought maybe they needed to read it. Website here.


A message to Cindy Sheehan

I realize how tragic your loss is and I know how much pain there is crushing your heart and I know the darkness that suddenly came to wrap your life and wipe away your dreams and I do feel the heat of your tears that won't dry until you find the answers to your question; why you lost your loved one?

I have heard your story and I understand that you have the full right to ask people to stand by your side and support your cause. At the beginning I told myself, this is yet another woman who lost a piece of her heart and the questions of war, peace and why are killing her everyday. To be frank to you the first thing I thought of was like "why should I listen or care to answer when there are thousands of other women in America, Iraq and Afghanistan who lost a son or a husband or a brother…

”But today I was looking at your picture and I saw in your eyes a persistence, a great pain and a torturing question; why?

I know how you feel Cindy, I lived among the same pains for 35 years but worse than that was the fear from losing our loved ones at any moment. Even while I'm writing these words to you there are feelings of fear, stress, and sadness that interrupt our lives all the time but in spite of all that I'm sticking hard to hope which if I didn't have I would have died years ago.

Ma'am, we asked for your nation's help and we asked you to stand with us in our war and your nation's act was (and still is) an act of ultimate courage and unmatched sense of humanity.Our request is justified, death was our daily bread and a million Iraqi mothers were expecting death to knock on their doors at any second to claim someone from their families.Your face doesn't look strange to me at all; I see it everyday on endless numbers of Iraqi women who were struck by losses like yours.

Our fellow country men and women were buried alive, cut to pieces and thrown in acid pools and some were fed to the wild dogs while those who were lucky enough ran away to live like strangers and the Iraqi mother was left to grieve one son buried in an unfound grave and another one living far away who she might not get to see again.

We did nothing to deserve all that suffering, well except for a dream we had; a dream of living like normal people do.

We cried out of joy the day your son and his comrades freed us from the hands of the devil and we went to the streets not believing that the nightmare is over.We practiced our freedom first by kicking and burning the statues and portraits of the hateful idol who stole 35 years from the life of a nation.For the first time air smelled that beautiful, that was the smell of freedom.

The mothers went to break the bars of cells looking for the ones they lost 5, 12 or 20 years ago and other women went to dig the land with their bare hand searching for a few bones they can hold in their arms after they couldn't hold them when they belonged to a living person.

I recall seeing a woman on TV two years ago, she was digging through the dirt with her hands. There was no definite grave in there as the whole place was one large grave but she seemed willing to dig the whole place looking for her two brothers who disappeared from earth 24 years ago when they were dragged from their colleges to a chamber of hell.

Her tears mixed with the dirt of the grave and there were journalists asking her about what her brothers did wrong and she was screaming "I don't know, I don't know. They were only college students. They didn't murder anyone, they didn't steal, and they didn't hurt anyone in their lives. All I want to know is the place of their grave".

Why was this woman chosen to lose her dear ones? Why you? Why did a million women have to go through the same pain?

We did not choose war for the sake of war itself and we didn't sacrifice a million lives for fun! We could've accepted our jailor and kept living in our chains for the rest of our lives but it's freedom ma'am.

Freedom is not an American thing and it's not an Iraqi thing, it's what unites us as human beings. We refuse all kinds of restrictions and that's why we fought and still fighting everyday in spite of the swords in the hands of the cavemen who want us dead or slaves for their evil masters.

You are free to go and leave us alone but what am I going to tell your million sisters in Iraq? Should I ask them to leave Iraq too? Should I leave too? And what about the eight millions who walked through bombs to practice their freedom and vote? Should they leave this land too?Is it a cursed land that no one should live in? Why is it that we were chosen to live in all this pain, why me, why my people, why you?

But I am not leaving this land because the bad guys are not going to leave us or you to live in peace. They are the same ones who flew the planes to kill your people in New York. I ask you in the name of God or whatever you believe in; do not waste your son's blood.We here have decided to avenge humanity, you and all the women who lost their loved ones.
Take a look at our enemy Cindy, look closely at the hooded man holding the sword and if you think he's right then I will back off and support your call.

We live in pain and grief everyday, every hour, every minute; all the horrors of the powers of darkness have been directed at us and I don't know exactly when am I going to feel safe again, maybe in a year, maybe two or even ten; I frankly don't know but I don't want to lose hope and faith.

We are in need for every hand that can offer some help. Please pray for us, I know that God listens to mothers' prayers and I call all the women on earth to pray with you for peace in this world.

Your son sacrificed his life for a very noble cause…No, he sacrificed himself for the most precious value in this existence; that is freedom.

His blood didn't go in vain; your son and our brethren are drawing a great example of selflessness.God bless his free soul and God bless the souls of his comrades who are fighting evil.God bless the souls of Iraqis who suffered and died for the sake of freedom.God bless all the freedom lovers on earth.
- posted by Mohammed @ 23:24

One Story from Crawford.

One of the girls in the Cotillion has up an excellent post on her trip to Crawford this past weekend to take down a loved one's cross at Cindy Sheehan's protest. Some pictures here.

Don't Miss This.

Pundit Review Radio has the latest interview with Michael Yon!!! He talks about his recent post "Gates of Fire," that was the most awesome war reporting I personally have had the pleasure of ever reading. He speaks of the progress we are making and how important it is to stay the course. He also addresses the Cindy Sheehan situation.

The U.S. News and World Report and startribune.com has articles on Michael Yon. I wonder when more msm and TV media are going to catch on to this incredible reporter that is literally bringing the war into our homes.

Let's Get Moving!!

Remember the Tsunami fund? $631,000,000 was the last amount I could find of U.S. aid there. We need to get busy and take care of our own down in Lousiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. We Republicans are always saying that the government shouldn't take care of everything! Let's take care of some of this ourselves! These are but a few.

You can donate to the American Red Cross Fund (specifying the hurricane relief) HERE.

Catholic Charities has a relief fund HERE.

The United Methodist Church has a relief fund HERE.


Let's put our money where our mouth is.

Update on Able Danger.

And It's a doozy.

"Congressman Curt Weldon (R - Pennsylvania) gave another exclusive interview to Dom Giordano this evening (Monday) and broke the news that he will be giving a speech on September 8th (next Monday) during which he will present yet another 'Able Danger' witness. This new witness will attest (and will swear under oath when called) that he was "ordered to destroy records" relating to the 'Able Danger' program.
This order to destroy the records occurred prior to 9-11-01. Weldon intimated that it happened during the Clinton Administration.
The witness, who Weldon did not name, says that he was ordered to destroy records and was threatened with jail if he failed to comply. Weldon said that he has the names of the people involved, including the person who gave the order, and HE WILL NAME THEM in his speech."

via JunkYardBlog

Did You Hear?

That "all Republican" Fox News Network's Greta Van Susteren's sister, Lise Van Susteren is running for U.S. Senate as an anti-war Democrat. Greta says, ""I love my sister," Greta, 51, told the New York Daily News. "She's smart and I hope she wins."

Caption Contest. Also, I heard about Sharpton's driver (what? he can't drive himself?) taking the Crawford police on a short chase doing 110 miles an hour, but I can't find it in any credible news source. Anyone got that?

Thanks to Robert for the link on the car chase. Isn't it interesting that it seems to be nowhere in the MSM? Imagine if this were Pat Robertson or James Dobson. It would be the lead story after the hurrican aftermath and we all know it. I mean this was FREAKIN 110 miles per hour!! Putting everyone on that highway in danger. They were weaving in and out of traffic too. Heaven forbid the MSM touch the great Al Sharpton.

What the 9/11 Commission narrative left out: Iraqis.

The Weekly Standard updates us on able danger. Read the whole thing. We would all like the answers to the questions at the end of the article.

"AS THE TWO SIDES in the current flap over Able Danger, a Pentagon intelligence unit tracking al Qaeda before 9/11, exchange claims and counterclaims in the news media, the work of the 9/11 Commission is receiving long overdue scrutiny. It may be the case, as three individuals associated with the Pentagon unit claim, that Able Danger had identified Mohammed Atta in January or February 2000 and that the 9/11 Commission simply ignored this information because it clashed with the commission's predetermined storyline. We should soon know more. Whatever the outcome of that debate, the 9/11 Commission's deliberate exclusion of the Iraqis from its analysis is indefensible."

via Ace.

I want to add something here. If all this turns out to be credible, it will be very upsetting to me. Not just because it would have proven Bush right, but because it will prove that some people put politics above the security of our country. Not only that, but drove a bitter wedge between the left and the right here that was not necessary and proved to be fertile ground for discontent and all out hate for one side to the other.

If it can be proven who was responsible for leaving this information out of the commission, then they need to be punished. I don't know how or by what law, but they should be punished. The damage they inflicted on the goodwill of the people of this country is probably irreparable.

Someone make it stop.

I. CAN'T. TAKE. IT. ANYMORE.

Some things just aren't funny.

Why lefties should not try religious humor.

It's all about the money.

Captialist Pigs!
via LGF

Man on the Street from New Orleans tells it to Shepard Smith.

You gotta laugh:


SHEPARD SMITH: You’re live on FOX News Channel, what are you doing?
MAN: Walking my dogs.
SMITH: Why are you still here? I’m just curious.
MAN: None of your f*cking business.
SMITH: Oh that was a good answer, wasn’t it? That was live on international television. Thanks so much for that. You know we apologize.
DOWNLOAD VIDEO:
WMV QUICKTIME (via Crooks and Liars)

via The Political Teen

What is wrong with this picture?

Pro-troop supporters descended on Crawford Texas. This article estimates around 1,000 supporters a noted by San Francisco's KGO radio, included several Gold Star families whose sons had been killed in Iraq. The AP story had this: "Several times the crowd of about 1,500 chanted, "Cindy, go home!"

Yet the news site linked at Drudge says "Meanwhile, a few dozen Bush supporters held signs from their small camp in a ditch across the street from Sheehan's original site, where most of the dozens of protesters have continued camping off the main road leading to Bush's ranch."

Excuse me? a few dozen and around 1000 are two very different numbers. What gives?

Hurricane.

Here is a great link for live blogging from those experiencing the Hurricane.

This 2001 article from Popular Mechanics describes what a category 5 hurricane would do to New Orleans. via Boing Boing

I am watching Fox News and I am convinced that Steve Harrigan is insane.

Gotcha.

Cell phones aren't all bad. Especially if they help us catch the pervs. via Ace.

Sweet.

A story to warm your heart.

via Glossy Red

Getting away from the Hurricane.

We left early early Sat. morning heading to Baton Rouge for a barbecue for parents of engineering students a LSU. It wasn't until after the barbecue that we even heard about the hurricane. LSU e-mailed out that it was canceling classes on Monday and depending on the storm, maybe a few more days. We had a great time Satuday night going out with friends and our LSU kids. This morning we decided that we would take our kids home and away from this storm. Especially since LSU was talking about evacuating the entire campus.

Heading out this morning, I-10 was bumper to bumper. A friend called and said it had taken her 5 hours to get from New Orleans to Baton Rouge, usually an hour's drive for her. Luckily, our friend, who was driving, knew all kinds of back ways and it took us about 7 hours to get home. I'm hearing that on I-10 that would have taken anywhere fro m 10 to 12 hours (usual drive time 41/2 to 5 hours)

Anyway, glad to be home with my boy. He is happy to see everyone again so soon and we will wait and see how long classes will be out. It all depends on the damage and extent of this hurricane.

I don't like to name drop usually. But since I will be gone for a couple of days and ya'll wanted to see more pictures, I thought I would share some pictures below with some of my more important friends.

(yeah, I know I suck at photoshop, you don't have to tell me)

Here I am on the beach with my boys and a special friend.

Here I am on another date. The red carpet does get old.

This is my new Godchild and niece. My date insisted on sitting down for the picture. So rude. But when you look like that, you can get away with anything. (click on pic if you can't tell who my date is)

One more lil thing regarding Michael Yon.

Here is an interview with Michael Yon today on Radio Blogger. Here is the good news from the war that most Americans aren't getting.

HH: Are Americans getting a distorted view about how the war is going?

MY: Absolutely. Clearly, you're getting mostly body counts and bombings and that sort of thing, which are very real. I mean, I see those things here. They absolutely occur. We fight here every day. But what they don't see is that we fight less and less here every day. For instance, Deuce 4 has not been hit with an I.E.D. in about two weeks. We used to get hit like twice a day. Now, it's been like two weeks, and we have not been hit at all. So, you know what I'm saying?

Kickass Reporting.

Michael Yon is getting at least some attention in the msm. Even the NYT gives a slight mention. He got plenty the blogosphere though. One has to wonder why newspapers aren't tripping over themselves to publish what is easily the best reporting ever coming out of the war.

In reading his latest post that I implored y'all to read below, I was glued to the computer screen. I felt like I was right there. The pictures took you into the action as well. It was kickass reporting.

If any newspaper publisher has a brain in their head, they will hire this guy. Let's hope Michael gets the kudos he deserves when he returns.

Why Did We Go Into Iraq?

I notice that the left still keeps bringing up the fact, that they seem to think we on the right don't know, and that is that Saddam Hussein had nothing to with 9-11. So why did we go there? What was this noble cause? I like how a former black hawk helicopter pilot who served in Iraq answers the question.

"Before I went to Iraq, I was 100% sure that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. Nobody ever tried to tell me that Saddam was in any way responsible for that terrible day. We weren't going there to avenge 9/11, folks. We went there to help prevent the next 9/11. It was the second step in what is sure to be a long drawn out campaign that is likely to see even more destinations in the mideast. If you can't figure that out, and you're still foaming at the mouth over all those lies that were never told- well, then, that's you're own fault..."

This Should Be A Circus....

This Saturday in additon to Cindy and friends, Freepers and Protest Warriors Join the “You Don’t Speak for Me Cindy Tour” , the Caravan of MoveAmericaForward, and White supremists Against the War - Protesting this war for Israel (the cabal of joooosss!) don't cha know? And I understand the usually low key Al Sharpton will also be on hand with his merry band of men.

Oh man. This will be one for the books.

UPDATE: Ok, not really an update, but I found an interesting article in Rolling Stone where one of their reporters went down to Crawford on Aug. 11th. The guy pretty much makes fun of the left and the right here. But as you read the article there is no doubt he is anti-war. But he does see things as they are in Crawford and speaks to the nuttiness of it all and how it isn't like Vietnam. Here were some interesting tidbits he picked up:

"The ostensible political purpose may be ending the war, but the immediate occupation for a sizable percentage of these people always seemed to be a kind of rolling adult tourist attraction called Hating George Bush. Marches become Hate Bush Cruises; vigils, Hate Bush Resorts."

" If you spend any amount of time involved with peace protests, as I have, you very quickly start to notice that Hating the President just seems like a little too much of a fun thing for too many of your brothers-in-arms."

But here was one... ummm... dare I say...crazy converstation with the anti-war people the reporter had:

"At one point at Camp Casey, an informal poll taken around a campfire revealed that six out of a group of ten protesters, selected at random, believed that the United States government was directly involved in planning the 9/11 bombings. Flabbergasted, I tried to press the issue.

"Do you know how many people would have to be involved in that conspiracy?" I said. "I mean, start with the pilots . . ."

"The planes were flown by remote control," a girl sitting across from me snapped."

And in an effort to be objective and fair in my blogging about the looniness on the right as well, he had this conversation with a righty:

"Another group I spoke with asked me why I believed Iraq wasn't connected to 9/11. I answered that Saddam Hussein's secular government was a political enemy of the Islamic fundamentalists.

"Well," said Raymond Smith, 42, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend."
He laughed, and the group nodded at me triumphantly.

It was like a scene from Spinal Tap.
Three seconds passed.

"But," I said finally, "that doesn't make any sense, does it?"

But in the end, the anti-war reporter feels the same way I have always felt about Cindy Sheehan. (emphasis mine)

"She had been through so much in the past week. In still more proof that red-blue politics often comes before family in this country, her in-laws had released a statement cruelly denouncing her. Her estranged husband, perhaps a coward and perhaps unable to handle the stress, filed for divorce. Revelations about her personal life were spilling into print, and all around the country, heartless creeps like Drudge and Ankarlo were casting themselves as friends and protectors of her fallen son and criticizing her for dishonoring him."

"In return for all that, what Sheehan got was this: her own trailer, a couple of weeks' worth of airtime and a bunch of people who called themselves her friends but were really just humping the latest cause. They would probably be moving on soon, and Sheehan would be left with nothing."

A Must Read!

Remember my post about Michael Yon's recent combat blogging with Commander Kurilla???? Well, he has the whole thing up now WITH PICTURES. It is the most amazing thing to read!!!! Go read it!! NOW!!!

Caption this had this photo with so many good captions that I couldn't pick just one.

"Spank me, comrade! Spank me like a four-year-old at Kmart!"

"Let's call Jimmy Carter and see if he's up for a three way?"

"Aw, Hugo, you arranged to have a dissident tortured just for me?"

"They say the only different between a straight brutal tyrant and a gay brutal tyrant is a six-pack."

Move America forward

MoveAmericaForward.org is an organization that is countering Cindy Sheehan's protest movement. I saw an ad on TV today asking for people to join them in a caravan to Crawford Texas this weekend. The ad included a mother who had also lost a son in Iraq.

From my previous posts, you know that I don't like this. I don't like pitting one grieving mother against another. The whole thing is distasteful to me. But I certainly can't blame those in MoveAmericaForward for what they are doing. They can't very well just let Cindy say things that they, as grieving parents, don't agree with. They feel that Cindy Sheehan's words are hurting our troops and our country.

That is why I was pleading with Cindy and her supporters to go home. This will just be painful and not necessary. We all know that there are two sides to this issue. We all know what those sides believe. It is really necessary to make a spectacle out of grief????

No, it isn't.

Eminent Domain back at cha....

You have to admit, this is a great way to make a point in a way a Supreme Court Judge can understand.

The Highs and Lows of being a Democrat.

The American Spectator describes perfectly the glee and then profound disappointment the left keeps experiencing:

"The feeling you are experiencing, or will soon experience(regarding Sheehan), is a familiar one. It shrouded you when you first accepted in your heart that the infamous CBS News memo "proving" President Bush went AWOL during his service with the National Guard was a fraud. You giggled with glee when the story first broke. We've got him now, you said to your friends. When conservatives immediately expressed skepticism about the documents' authenticity, you called them "liars" and "idiots." But deep inside you knew. Ultimately, you settled into a weird "fake but true" numbness.

You felt it again when the London Times revealed the leaked Downing Street Memo. This was it, you said. Now we have Bush by the short hairs! You blogged about the memo so much, you gave it a shorthand moniker, the "DSM." "Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD," the memo read. "But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy." An open and shut case, right?

Well, no. Even before liberal magazines like Slate and many liberal talking heads in the media wrote the DSM off as no big deal, you started having doubts. "Fixed around" doesn't really mean "fixed." And the memo was written by Britons who, after all, have different idioms than we Yanks.

So you lowered your sights. When Karl Rove, the president's top political adviser, told the Conservative Party of New York, "Conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 and the attacks and prepared for war; liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers," you just knew this would be the end of "Bush's Brain." The American people wouldn't stand for a politician -- well, a Republican politician anyway -- politicizing 9/11. Sen. Hillary Clinton called for Rove's resignation. So did Sen. Jon Corzine. You had the Big Mo. Then you thought about it for a moment and you realized it was true. You did want to understand the terrorist attackers. You credited poverty, U.S. foreign policy, Israel and anything else you could think of (except the terrorists' evil hearts) for instigating that terrible act. The swarm dissipated over the weekend.

But you had a second bite at the Rove apple when you found out he leaked to a reporter that Valerie Plame was a covert CIA operative. Yeah! Rove wouldn't merely lose his job for this, he'd lose his head. Only he didn't "name" Valerie Plame. He didn't even know her name, which is actually Valerie Wilson. And she wasn't a "covert" operative. She hadn't been one for six years. She drove to her "secret" CIA office every day -- between Vanity Fair photo shoots apparently -- out in the open where any terrorist spy could tail her.

Again, that old feeling poured over you; a mixture of disappointment, rage, confusion, and whatever the exact opposite of Schadenfreude is."

Heh.

In Case You Have Been Missing My Intelligent Design/Evolution Posts. (I know you have)

Now this is interesting. This is a perspective of someone who believes in an intelligent design, just not the Christian type belief in it.

"It's high time to rescue "intelligent design" from the politics of religion. There are too many riddles not yet answered by either biology or the Bible, and by asking them honestly, without foregone conclusions, science could take a huge leap forward."

More interesting is the questions he poses. Maybe some of my anti-I.D. commenters can answer a few of them.

No. No. NO.

Someone who loves Cindy Sheehan needs to get through to her. Do a leftwing intervention or something. In an article today Cindy explains why she is going back to Crawford, which is fine, but she has to cross the line. She has to insult all those soldiers and parents who have lost a child in the war: (emphasis mine)

"What is the noble cause that he says my son died for? The answer to that question will not bring my son back. But it may stop more meaningless deaths. Because every death is now a meaningless one."

OMG! If I had a child in the military I think I would be making a trip to Crawford myself and have a little talk with Mrs. Sheehan. I understand she is lost in her grief, but that does not mean she gets to insult others who have suffered the same loss, but feel very differently about the meaning of their child's death.

If all I wanted was the left to look bad then I would encourage Cindy in her quest to insult all Americans who support the war. But this is too painful to watch. If Democrats care about their party, then they need to make it clear that they don't agree that our soldier's sacrifices are meaningless.

Because if you don't make your voice heard, then Cindy's painful remarks will be all that is heard.

Gearing Up.

Leftwing groups are gearing up for a fight against John Roberts. You may be aware that they have requested and received 250 trillion notes and opinions from Robert's past work, but you may not know that they have also requested notes that he passed to girls in 7th grade.

Ok, not really. But even that wouldn't surprise me. The attitude now is to keep digging until proper dirt can be found. It is a wonder we get any decent people appointed in government given the witch hunts that occur now.

Who needs it? Roberts can make a very comfortable living in private life. I don't know why any one would want to go through the smear campaign of being appointed to high government positions.

Dear Abby,
My husband is a liar and a cheat. He has cheated on me from the beginning, and when I confront him, he denies everything. What's worse, everyone knows he cheats on me. It is so humiliating. Also, since he lost his job three years ago he hasn't even looked for a new one. All he does is buy cigars and cruise around and jokes with his pals, while I have to work to pay the bills. Since our daughter went away to college he doesn't even pretend to like me and hints that I am a lesbian. What should I do?

Signed,

Clueless

Dear Clueless:

Grow up and dump him. For Pete's sake, you don't need him anymore, you're a United States Senator from New York, act like it.

Stolen from Atlas Shugs (because it was too funny not to)

HAPPY BLOGOVERSARY TO ME!!!! I Y ALL MY COMMENTERS!!!

No! Wait! Stop! Your In The Right Place!

Yes! I changed my look. I got so many comments about the pink and I never thought about the workplace. Anyway, please keep commenting on the "Tell Me About Yourself" post. When I changed, it deleted my comments, but I copied and pasted those on one comment there. I am trying to do the rest. (at least the most recent)

Hope you like it!!

One more thing. I am trying to decide whether to go back to Haloscan comments or not. Tell me which one you like best.

Bizarre.

I don't keep up with Pat Robertson much. I have never seen The 700 Club, but you would have had to have been asleep all day to miss his bizarre statements regarding assassinating Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Truly strange.

Got a few days to read? Well, it doesn't get more fascinating than this. These are the interviews with the firefighters that survived 9-11 after the fact. Here is a gripping one I picked at random to read. I am sure they are all riveting. I'm reading them now and I can't stop. Now I can't remember where I got this link from. Sorry.

God. I just get so emotional reading or hearing about 9-11.

Waaaay past time for a caption contest!!! Go for it!

Tell me a little about yourself.

Comments From Left Field had this survey on his blog and I thought it was a great idea. If I can know a bit more about you and why you read this blog, maybe I can do better here. Feel free to post with a different name if you don't want even your online identity known. No need for an e-mail either.

Some suggested questions:

What is your gender?
What is your age?
What is your ethnicity?
Where are you located (eg. Pittsburgh, PA)?
What is your political affiliation if any?
What issues are most important to you?
Why do you read this blog?
Where did you find out about this blog?
What would you like to see more of? Less of?
Do you have a blog? URL?

Never Again.

I was surprised at how emotional I got watching the last half of "Inside 9-11" last night on the Discovery Channel. I can only imagine the memories it brought back for those who lived in NYC and Washington D.C. I truly do not see how anyone watching this documentary can be against this war.

One can argue all day about specifically going into Iraq. Fine. But it important to remember that a country didn't attack us, a belief did. And that belief is blowing itself up almost daily in Iraq. Whether those are men from Iraq or other Arab nations, they are the terrorists and we are killing them by the thousands over there. In February, an unnamed senior military official told CNN that the US military believes it killed between 10,000 and 15,000 guerrillas in combat last year. Dead terrorists. Lots and lots of them. Sounds good to me.

In my comments section there is a soldier who served with Casey Sheehan. He says that 5 other servicemen where killed the day Casey died, but for every one of them, they killed anywhere from 100-200 terrorists. And that was just one day. No one has convinced me yet that killing those monsters that seek to destroy our way of life is making this world a more dangerous place. No one can convince me that these men were just average citizens until we came along and then decided to blow themselves up along with fellow Arabs, including children. No. This mindset was made long ago.

Say what you will about the reasons we went into Iraq, but the fact is that our Special Ops discovered and destroyed a international terrorist camp in Iraq the first week of our invasion. Radical Muslims, such as the ones who flew those planes into our buildings, are spread throughout the region. Right now they are going into Iraq so they can be "martyrs." So I will ask you this. Where else would we have gone to fight the terrorists? We had destroyed and killed them in Afghanistan. Should we have let them stew and plot against our nation again????

"Inside 9-11" convinced me more than ever that we are doing what has to be done. It isn't pretty and I hate it, but terrorism cannot be ignored, it must be destroyed.

We ignored it before and paid the price.

Never again.

No One Wins This One.

Yahoo News has this:

CRAWFORD, Texas - A patriotic camp with a "God Bless Our President!" banner sprung up downtown Saturday, countering the anti-war demonstration started by a fallen soldier's mother two weeks ago near President Bush's ranch.

The camp is named "Fort Qualls," in memory of Marine Lance Cpl. Louis Wayne Qualls, 20, who died in Iraq last fall.

Now isn't this special? The war of the dead children. That is just great, isn't it?? Is this what Cindy Sheehan wants? Parents of fallen soldiers fighting with each other?? One infuriating the other? Adding to an uspeakable grief?

Let's stop this now. For God's sake, everyone pack up and go home. We don't need vigils , we know your against the war and we know why. We don't need "Support Our Troop" rallies to turn into yelling fests between parents of soldiers and those who oppose the war.

This isn't changing anyone's mind. This isn't helping. This isn't going to bring the troops home any sooner. This isn't going to get your guy elected. This is only going to cause hurt and pain, not the least of which will be on Cindy herself. This hurts our troops. This hurts the parents. This hurts our country.

Put down your signs, your candles, and your banners and go home. This isn't Vietnam. The people who support our troops are going to be out there too. It will always be one opinion against another. No one is going to win this.

No one.

chickenhawk, chickenhawk, chickenhawk....oh shutup.

You know that "chickenhawk" argument the left is spewing all over the blogs? Well one commenter over at Protein Wisdom got a wee bit ticked off. He was exactly the right guy to put it the way we would all like too (except I don't allow that kind of language here) So enjoy.

The Right Meets The Left.

Andi's world gives us a detailed report of a "Support Our Troops" rally to counter the "Cindy Sheehan candlelight vigil" in front of the White House Wednesday night. Along with this Freep account, you get a big picture idea of how each looks at this war and our troops. Both links have great photos too. It is, as they say, a must read.
via Mudville

More incredible reporting from Michael Yon.

If you have been reading the incredible blog of Michael Yon in Iraq, Lone Star Times has this horrifying post of his from yesterday:

"The operation has begun. The Commander of Deuce Four, LTC Erik Kurilla, was shot three times in combat yesterday in front of my eyes. Despite being seriously wounded, LTC Kurilla immediately rejoined the intense and close-quarter fight that ended in hand-to-hand combat. LTC Kurilla continued to direct his men until a medic gave him morphine and the men took him away. I was right there. When I returned to base, I was actually "ordered" not to write about the fighting until given clearance, and was told that my phones could be confiscated. I will ignore such "orders" at my own discretion. I am preparing a dispatch now."

Kurilla is a well known soldier in Michael's blog. His bravery is well documented.

Say a prayer for him today if you can.

Powerline has this "must read" piece. So go read it.

Now this is energy from a natural source.

Watching TV.

Wow. That is my main reaction to the first part "Inside 9-11" on the Discovery Channel tonight. It was fascinating to see the path Osama and the rest took to 9-11. Thank goodness the Discovery Channel took pains to not get political with it. I think they tried to stick with just the facts as they happened.

It seems clear that the Clinton administration dropped the ball many many times in not catching Osama or taking the threat seriously. But the early Bush administration didn't take it seriously enough either. The thing is, I'm not sure that taking it seriously could have prevented 9-11. The elaborate scheme was so far beyond anyone's imagination.

The only comfort I can take from it is that we now know how real and dangerous this threat is. We now know how easily it is to recruit Muslim fanatics to do the unspeakable. Not knowing this was our greatest weakness.

After watching "Inside 9-11," I watched another episode of "Over There." I have read the reviews from soldiers on other milblogs and they weren't happy with it overall. But I have to say (and I am speaking as a BIG supporter of the military as anyone who reads this blog knows) that I kind of like the show. It has a lot of soap opera drama, but it doesn't seem to make the soldiers look bad in my opinion. They just seem human and venerable. I am no military expert though, so I can't speak to the details that seem to be bothering the milblogs.

In watching the show, I felt a great tenderness for those who serve so far away from those they love. I also felt a great appreciation for the sacrifice they make and the bravery it takes to make it. I am under no illusion that all soldiers are some kind super hero. Soldiers make mistakes. Some bad people become soldiers. Nothing is perfect. Certainly not in war. But it is my heartfelt belief that most soldiers believe in the same values that I do. And they feel those values are worth fighting for.

I am looking forward to seeing next Sunday's episode. It is about an inbred reporter that the soldiers get pretty ticked at. The only thing that concerns me is having a drama on TV about a war that is happening in real time. Could terrorists watch the show and get ideas or learn something about our military they didn't know before?

I hear that the ratings aren't too good for the show. So it may not last long. But if the goal of the producers were to somehow show our military in a bad light, it just doesn't come off that way. If anything, it should generate sympathy for the families of the soldiers at home and the needs that they have.

At least I hope so.

Iraq Unplugged

Mudville tells us about "Iraq Unplugged" Songs written and recorded by American soldiers in Iraq. They actually recorded it there.

Click on "I am a Patriot." It is awesome. It will give you goosebumps. I heard Luke Stricklin sing "An American By God's Amazing Grace" on Fox and Friends about 2 weeks ago. It is awesome. You can buy the CD straight from their website.

I just saw on Fox News a video of Cindy Sheehan at a rally for a lawyer that defended terrorists awhile back. Cindy was wondering why Bush didn't send his "two little party animals" to Iraq.

I think the left is going to regret pushing Mrs. Sheehan as the anti war face of their movement.

John Roberts obviously hates it when celebrities get accolades they don't deserve. I love it.
via Dean's World