Michelle sums the whole thing at Townhall. If you think this isn't interesting enough to read, take a gander at an excerpt from the "soldier" and his experience and then think about how the anti-war left just took this story and ran with it because, after all, wouldn't that be just what you would expect from our military?
In his 20-minute Internet video interview at peacefilms.org, which promises that watching the video "will change your life," MacBeth (who also claims to have served in Special Forces) says:
-- Superiors told him "our job over there is to strike fear in the hearts of the Iraqis . . . to be brutal and to not feel" and that "the Geneva Convention doesn't mean crap."
-- He would "do night raids, pull people out, on their knees and zip-tied," and if a man didn't answer the way he wanted him to, he "would shoot his youngest kid and keep going."
-- "By my hand alone . . . almost 200 people were taken out by me. That's just a rough estimate. A lot of them at close range . . . they would actually feel the hot muzzle of my rifle on their forehead . . . we'd do stuff that would scare them first . . . beat 'em up or kick 'em or hit the wife . . . slaughtering 30-40 people a night sometimes, women and children . . . I was trained, you know, in all the Ranger school, 18 months of that crap . . . I got disappointed in my country . . . but I didn't say anything because I would have been locked up."
-- "Other things they told us to do, man, we were ordered to go into a mosque. This really hurts me a lot. My nightmares come mostly from this . . . we infiltrated the mosque . . . a couple hundred of people of all ages were praying . . . we started slaughtering them, we started shooting them, started taking them out . . . we would burn their bodies, hang the bodies from the rafters . . . after a while, it's just sickening to think that I took part in that . . . "
-- "Kids threw rocks at us before and the guard command officer told us to take them out . . . Our job was just kill, kill, kill."
-- "I'm so disappointed in my country. I'm ashamed to have actually served in Iraq."
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Update on fake soldier story.
Let's have some fun.
I was listening to my country music station this morning while running, and they were having people call in and say which song tells or best represents their life. Here is mine. Tell me yours.
Who I Am
by Jessica Andrews
If I live to be a hundred
And never see the seven wonders
That'll be alright
If I don't make it to the big leagues
If I never win a Grammy
I'm gonna be just fine
Cause I know exactly who I am
I am Rosemary's granddaughter
The spitting image of my father
And when the day is done my momma's still my biggest fan
Sometimes I'm clueless and I'm clumsy
But I've got friends that love me
And they know just where I stand
It's all a part of me
And that's who I am
So when I make a big mistake
And when I fall flat on my face
I know I'll be alright
Should my tender heart be broken
I will cry those teardrops knowing
I will be just fine
Cause nothing changes who I am
I am Rosemary's granddaughter
The spitting image of my father
And when the day is done my momma's still my biggest fan
Sometimes I'm clueless and I'm clumsy
But I've got friends that love me
And they know just where I stand
It's all a part of me
And that's who I am
I'm a saint and I'm a sinner
I'm a loser; I'm a winner
I am steady and unstable
I'm young, but I am able
I am Rosemary's granddaughter
The spitting image of my father
And when the day is done my momma's still my biggest fan
Sometimes I'm clueless and I'm clumsy
But I've got friends that love me
And they know where I stand
It's all a part of me
And that's who I am
Sex ed or no? No.
"Wisconsin Passes abstinence Law for Unmarried Couples"
"Republican Sen. Mary Lazich, a bill"s sponsor, said sex education teachers can still teach about birth control, but must emphasize that abstinence is the only 100 percent effective method to avoid health risks."
You would think this would make me happy. But it doesn't. I don't think sex ed has ANY place in the classroom. No more than teaching religion does. Both should be taught by parents and church. If we need classes for anyone, it should be the parents on how to teach their kids.
Parents are the first and foremost teachers of their children. It is THEIR values that must be passed on, not some educational beaucrat's. When one argues that sex ed isn't being taught by parents and therefore the schools must take up the slack, I argue that religion isn't being taught by many parents either, so let's teach that in schools too.
Sex and religion should be taught by parents or a church the parent chooses PERIOD. One of the biggest fights I ever faced was fighting sex ed in my Catholic school. Long story, but even they were getting it wrong as far as my kids were concerned.
Plus, how long does it take to teach the above reference?..."sex education teachers can still teach about birth control, but must emphasize that abstinence is the only 100 percent effective method to avoid health risks." Because that is IT. That is the basic facts right there that all kids need to know. Abstinence is the ONLY 100% effective method to not get disease or get pregnant. That took all of 5 seconds to type and even less to say.
We aren't talking adults here. We are talking CHILDREN. If parents aren't doing the job, then let's teach THEM how to do it right.
Oh snap!!!
WASHINGTON, May 23 — The Senate Intelligence Committee overwhelmingly endorsed Gen. Michael V. Hayden today to become the next director of the Central Intelligence Agency, with all but three Democratic members of the committee voting to send General Hayden's nomination to the Senate floor.
Do I really need to say more?
How did I miss this story???
An "Iraqi War Veteran Against The War" who isn't a veteran and never went to Iraq.
HotAir has it all! I love this site!.
Remember...
that little thing I mentioned in my "I want to apologize as well" post about not trusting the media? Well this is why....(It's from The Captain)
"The AP ran an earlier story on the Osama bin Laden tape that included an admission implicating two Gitmo detainees in the 9/11 attack. However, the the AP later ran "excerpts" of the Bin Laden tape, that admission curiously went unreported -- even though it would have a significant impact on the debate over the fate of Gitmo detainees.
This is what ran in the original piece by Maamoun Youssef, which I have also cached here:
The terror mastermind did indicate that two suspects had links to the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon: "All the prisoners to date have no connection to the Sept. 11 events or knew anything about them, except for two of the brothers," bin Laden said [emphasis mine -- CE]. But he did not provide names or elaborate further and it wasn't possible to determine if or where they were held.
However, that passage cannot be found in the AP excerpts. It does, however, include this:
"And then I call to memory my brothers the prisoners in Guantanamo — may Allah free them all — and I state the fact, about which I also am certain, that all the prisoners of Guantanamo, who were captured in 2001 and the first half of 2002 and who number in the hundreds, have no connection whatsoever to the events of September 11th..."
Note the strategic appearance of the ellipses at the end of the quote in the later article. The AP wants to cut off Osama before he admits that Gitmo holds two accessories to the 9/11 attacks. One would think that a news organization might have found that somewhat, oh, newsworthy."
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Bad Karma....
be gone! Way too much bad vibes in the comment sections. I will lighten up. Today is my birthday! Feel free to cyber sing me "Happy Birthday!"
My most memorable birthday was when I was 10. As you all know I am a huge animal lover and I wanted a cat or dog so badly. But my father didn't like them in the house. We had some hunting dogs he kept in the back yard, but I wanted an indoor pet. I woke up on the morning of my birthday and there was a line of confetti leading out of my bedroom door. I followed it to the garage and there was what looked like a white styrofoam box with a bow. I bent down and saw there was a little door in the front with a piece of paper taped over it that said "Open me." I tore the paper off and there was a little black kitten. I was so excited I screamed like a maniac and scared the poor cat to death! I named her "Charcoal."
Oh, how I loved that cat.
Which reminds me, now that I have the scanner thing down, I'm going to show you some newer pictures of my newest dog, Jewel, that I got from a rescue shelter recently, and some of my older dog, Shaq. Probably tomorrow.
Open thread. As a present to me, I want everyone to say one nice thing about someone with whom they have disagreed with here. No snarky remarks. No backhanded compliments. If you can't find something to say then say something nice about someone in the political arena with whom you disagree.
Good Times.
Here are some excerpts from Michael Barone of U.S. News and World Report that tells us about them:
"First, economic growth. In 2005, as in 2004, the world economy grew by about 5 percent, according to the International Monetary Fund, and the IMF projects similar growth for several years to come. This is faster growth than in all but a few peak years in the 1980s and 1990s, and it's in vivid contrast to the long periods of stagnation or contraction in history. The great engine of this growth is, of course, the United States, which produces more than one fifth of world economic product and whose gross domestic product has been growing at around 4 percent--4.8 percent in the latest quarter. "
"Free-market economic growth is enabling millions of people to rise out of poverty every year, even more than the experts expect. As the IMF writes, "The momentum and resilience of the global economy in 2005 continued to exceed expectations."
"But aren't we also living in times of record strife? Actually, no. Just the opposite. The Human Security Centre of the University of British Columbia has been keeping track of armed conflicts since World War II. It reports that the number of genocides and violent conflicts dropped rapidly after the end of the Cold War and that in 2005 the number of armed conflicts was down 40 percent from 1992. Wars have also become less deadly: The average number of people killed per conflict per year in 1950 was 38,000; in 2002 it was just 600. The conflict in Iraq has not significantly changed that picture. American casualties are orders of magnitude lower than in the conflicts in Korea and Vietnam, and precision weapons have enabled us to vastly reduce the civilian death toll."
I know the left hates to be confronted with good news, but there it is. Enjoy it anyway. That's the wonderful thing about a free economy and a Democracy. We all benefit, even those who don't appreciate it.
via Powerline
Monday, May 22, 2006
My first Michelle Malkin type hate mail!
I've gotten a few hate mails over time, but nothing too bad. Today I got the kind that Malkin deals with daily I suppose.
I feel so special.
Nothing like civil disagreement.
"your occupation is a right wing trailer trash whore. You bedwetters vomit crap about defending the war, yet your are the cowards--why dont you put your phony blond fat ass on the line and go over to iraq. Bush lied and you know it, but being the whore that you are, you try to slime someone who has really shown guts by telling mcclame what she feels to HIS FACE, unlike a little tramp whore like you who does it behind someones back. So typical of the right wing chickenhawks. All mouth. "
Gordon Dolinar
In case you are wondering, I believe this umm..gentleman came from reading about me here.
I want to apologize as well.
Newsbusters has this:
As keynote commencement speaker, Times Publisher Arthur Sulzbergerr Jr."apologized" to graduates at the State University of New York at New Paltz on Sunday for the failure of his generation to stop the Iraq War and to sufficiently promote "fundamental human rights" like abortion, immigration, and gay marriage.
"It wasn't supposed to be this way," Sulzberger said. "You weren't supposed to be graduating in an America fighting a misbegotten war in a foreign land. You weren't supposed to be graduating into a world where we are still fighting for fundamental human rights, be it the rights of immigrants to start a new life, the right of gays to marry or the rights of women to choose."
Heaven knows I'm not the Publisher of the New York Times. I'm just a small voice. A wife, mother, caretaker, volunteer, and activist. I'm not powerful and I'm not rich, but I would like to apologize to all graduates this year as well.
I'd like to apologize that our country never let the people decide about abortion, that they allowed a billion dollar a year industry to thrive off the agony of women. I apologize that no one ever listens to the millions of women who suffer from their abortion. My generation hasn't done a good enough job of telling you when the heart of your child starts beating or the horror of abortion on that child.
I apologize that my generation never took the time to stop illegal immigration and now it is an almost impossible task to remedy.
I apologize that we made divorce so easy and made people believe that it wasn't that big of a deal so that even grown children of divorce are still suffering from the pain of their parent's divorce in more ways than we can even imagine. I apologize that instead of seeking ways to solidify marriage for children, we are only looking at more ways to re-define marriage. In doing so, we are opening up a pandora's box of which the family will likely never recover.
I apologize that my party didn't do more to stop these things that hurt our families so. I apologize that men like Arthur Sulzberger Jr. have had such an influence over hiding the negative side of these issues while pretending to be objective. I apologize that our media is so biased and blinded by their own ideology that it took the internet to finally find some truth and balance on issues and news coverage.
I apologize that Mr. Sulzberger sees a tyrannical monster, that abused and murdered women and children, being taken down as "misbegotten." Mr. Sulzberger doesn't see a Democracy in the Middle East as worth fighting for because it doesn't fit his standard what is good for the world. I apologize that Mr. Suzberger doesn't seem to understand why we have not been attacked again by terrorists. I apologize for those in my generation who don't see much of anything worth fighting for, because if defeating terrorism isn't, then I don't know what would be.
We let you down, graduates. Now it is up to you to make sure that men like Mr. Sulzberger no longer try control what you hear as news viewed through the prism of his ideology. It is up to you to seek truth and never trust that the mainstream media is giving you the whole story. Their credibility was diminished long ago.
Encourage debate. Seek Truth. Follow the good. Question everything.
Oh, that culture of corruption....
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - "FBI agents videotaped Rep. William Jefferson, a Louisiana Democrat, accepting $100,000 in cash they said was intended as a bribe for a Nigerian official and later found $90,000 of the money hidden in his freezer, according to a court document released on Sunday."
What? He spent $10,000 on his way home???
"Jefferson, a senior member of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, has been under investigation for his role in helping a Nigerian company with an Internet venture."
Hey! I wonder if that has anything to do with this e-mail I've been getting...;-)
Remember this guy? He used National Guard troops to check on his property and rescue his personal belongings right after Katrina when they were still rescuing people.
Addition: On a smaller more local note of corruption, a Democrat falls into a water for sex scandal. What will they think of next? via LST
Another Addition: More local corruption from those who are not the party of corruption.
Sunday, May 21, 2006
Ok, I was feeling bad...
so I searched and searched for a good recent picture of Al Gore. This was as good as I got. I think it deserves a caption.
Saturday, May 20, 2006
I'm asking for money.
But not for me.
Hugh Hewitt had a great idea to give readers links to GOP Senate candidates that are best positioned to either retain their seats or take a blue seat red and ask you to give at least $50.
As Hugh says:
"It is a lot of money, but the stakes are incredibly high, including success in the war and the ability to confirm good judges to the Supreme Court and the lower federal courts."
Even $25 each, or $10 each would help.
"A Senate majority is a terrible thing to lose, and a wonderful thing to strengthen. Dig deep:"
Arizona's Jon Kyl
Maryland's Michael Steele
Minnesota's Mark Kennedy
Missouri's Jim Talent
Montana's Conrad Burns
Nebraska's Pete Ricketts
New Jersey's Tom Kean
Ohio's Mike DeWine
Pennsylvania's Rick Santorum
Washington State's Mike McGavick
Some of you have asked to contribute to this blog. This is how you can contribute. If I have even a tiny part in keeping us in the majority, that is worth more to me than gold. So if you read this blog and like it, then consider giving to these candidates. Do it for me!
Thanks!
Friday, May 19, 2006
NRO liveblogging the McCain speech at Columbia.
Interesting. I'll put in order here for you:
"At New School commencement. Bob Kerrey just gave introductory remarks, mostly devoted to defending his decision to invite John McCain. At the mention of the senator's name there are loud boos and a smattering of applause. McCain, sitting behind Kerrey with various poo-bahs, laughs. When Kerrey mentions McCain's address at Liberty University, someone yells something about that being Jerry Falwell's university (thanks for the information!). Kerrey gets good applause when he says the word “liberal” should mean open-mindedness and individual freedom. But he salutes those who have protested McCain's speech as a sign of vigorous debate. He notes that McCain said, in defending his Liberty talk, that no one was objecting to him speaking at liberal The New School: “Well, John, at least you solved that problem.” McCain throws head back in laughter (he's good at demonstrating good nature in such circumstances). Finishes by saluting McCain and the protestors again."
"One of the student speakers now attacking McCain as not representing the university’s values and his appearance here as a top-down decision that over-shadows what should be a joyful occasion for students. And now she's preemptively attacking McCain's speech based on the fact that he said he's going to say the same thing he said at Liberty—a pretty effective tactic for her (makes McCain seem canned, if he's actually going to say the same thing, that is). She continues: “preemptive war is dangerous and wrong”; “Osama bin laden has not been found and neither have the WMD”; “We have nothing to fear from anyone on this living planet”; “We can allow our humanity always come before our nationality”; “This is not arrogance of young, strong-minded woman...I speak out of a need to honor the voices that came before me.” Standing ovation from a lot of the students."
"LOL. It sure sounds like that student speaker is doing her level best to keep it a "joyful" occassion! Maybe she can throw some pig blood on McCain to make it the happiest day of their lives!"
"McCain speaking. People holding up orange, “McCain: our commencement is not your platform” signs. A few anti-McCain banners being held in the aisles. At the beginning of his remarks, McCain thanks the prior student for the Cliff Note's version of his speech. A little laughter. Some students standing with their backs to him in front, but vast majority sitting and listening."
"McCain opens with a long riff about the arrogance of youth and how he learned humility as he grew older. He says we have “a noisy contentious society,” and that we love “self-expression,” but “that passion sometimes overwhelms our civility.” (That's you standing with your backs to him in front!) He says he was young he was “quite infatuated with self-expression” and thought he was “so much more eloquent and wiser than anyone I knew.” Hard to imagine an opening better suited to, through the subtle art of self-deprecation, make the protestors look like asses."
"Well, that was a pretty shameful performance by The New School student body, but I suppose it could have been worse. Kerrey must be a little embarrassed. He gets up: “For those of you who listened to two speeches...one from McCain...the other from [the student], you saw two acts of bravery.” (Actually, it is very bad form to directly attack another speaker in such a forum—but I guess Kerrey feels he can only go so far in defending civility.) Kerrey says, in contrast, that in heckling from the audience, there is “no bravery required.” He gets pretty good applause. Asks if when students get older and someone is heckling, laughing or booing them, will they stand up for their beliefs? “Will you stand and say unpopular things?” A loud shout from the back: “You are a war criminal!”
Another: “Let's graduate!”
It just makes my blood boil to think of all that McCain did and gave for his country and these snot nosed no experienced little arrogant selfish lefties who wouldn't know sacrifice if it slapped them in their smug youthful faces, stand up there and bash him. ARGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Victor Davis Hanson should be required reading for everyone.
"We should also accept that the United States, as the world’s policeman, always suffers the easy hatred of the cops, who are as ankle-bitten when things are calm as they are desperately sought when danger looms."
"The international Left loves to champion humanitarian causes that do not involve the immediate security needs of the United States, damning us for inaction even as they are the first to slander us for being military interventionists."
"The United States must control our borders, for reasons that transcend even terrorism and national security. One way to cool the populist hatred emanating from Latin America is to ensure that it becomes a privilege, not a birthright, to enter the United States."
Awesome. Read the whole thing.
h/t BigDog
OMG!
Canada.com has this:
Human rights groups are raising alarms over a new law passed by the Iranian parliament that would require the country’s Jews and Christians to wear coloured badges to identify them and other religious minorities as non-Muslims.
“This is reminiscent of the Holocaust,” said Rabbi Marvin Hier, the dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. “Iran is moving closer and closer to the ideology of the Nazis.”
via Stop The ACLU
Everyone here knows how I don't like references to Hitler and Nazi's because it diminishes the evil they did, but I think it is warranted in this case.
Update: Allah Pundit sarcastically hits it spot on:
"The important thing now is not to worry. Remember — worrying is what “fear-stricken” conservatives do. True bravery is affecting near-complete indifference to the prospect of a nuclear-armed, Holocaust-denying radical Islamic state forcing Jews to wear yellow insignia while simultaneously hosing down the front of your pants daily over NSA data mining."
via Ace
Check out...
MTV2's preview of their new animated show "Where My Dogs At?"
Crazy and almost too true to be funny.
via Pink is the new blog
The Young and Clueless Who Join The Military.
If you read my post on the controversy surrounding Godsmack and the Navy using their music in their recruitment commercials, then you know that many on the left feel that the military is full of clueless young men who didn't really understand what they were signing up for.
Maybe they don't. Maybe they don't realize that the military will make men out of them. Maybe they don't realize what chance they are being given.
Growing up I had the best father. He was firm, sweet, loving, and kind. Imagine my surprise when I learned as a teenager that he had been a troublemaker, bitter and angry, getting into fights, drinking his life away. But a life changing moment made him decide to join the military at the age of 20.
The military taught him discipline, selflessness, and a sense of accomplishment he could never have found anywhere else. The army was a door to a new life and my father stepped through it and never looked back. He served as a sergeant during the Korean war. He came home, went to college on the G.I. bill and then law school.
He was the best man I ever knew.
I know I'm not objective, but the hundreds of people that showed up at the funeral home when died might be. I stood for hours and listened to one person after another tell how my father had helped them. Stories that made me cry and humbled me. He lived a giving life. He was my inspiration. Standing there at the age of 22, I knew then that my life would have to have meaning and purpose as well. I knew what my father had learned at about the same age, that life is about what you give to people.
You see, the military not only changed my father's life, it changed mine and everyone else that knew him.
Many may go into the military clueless, but they come out stronger, better, knowing that if they died tomorrow, they had already lived a life of purpose.
Thursday, May 18, 2006
In case you missed it...
Here is the ad for Ned Lamont for the U.S. Senate (running against Joe Lieberman) starring Kos.
Allah and Jeff at PW and Ace have been having fun with it, but I think it is fine. The Kossacks will love it and vote for the guy.
Kos doesn't exactly have a winning track record for endorsing candidates (0-18 I believe) so I'm not sure what good it will do.
I still can't get over how different Kos is compared to how I pictured him.
2 wrongs don't make a right.
I'm with Jay at Wizbang on this one.
"One of the key figures in the 2002 election day phone-jamming scheme has found out his fate. Former National Republican Committee official James Tobin, helped state Republican officials find a telemarketer who was willing -- for a fee -- to make repeated calls to the Democrats' get-out-the-vote phone bank, preventing them from calling out to registered Democrats to remind them to vote, and would-be voters calling in to get a ride to the polls. In the end, Congressman John E. Sununu (R) defeated Governor Jeanne Shaheen (D) by a very narrow margin.
Tobin is the third official to be sentenced in the scam, and a fourth is awaiting trial."
He goes on:
"In 2002, I voted for Sununu, but I was nominally a Democrat and as such was a potential victim of this crime. More to the point, I don't like anyone screwing around with our electoral process in such a flagrantly illegal manner. I thought the assholes who slashed the tires on Republican-leased vehicles on 2004's election day in Milwaukee were miserable scum who ought to be locked up and the keys thrown away, and I think the scum behind the phone-jamming deserve the same treatment."
The rightwing bloggers need to make a big deal out of this. We CANNOT stoop to the level of the Democrats to win and we need to make sure all officials understand that.
*note: I just got an idea during my morning run. You know how the Democrats give out free cigarettes to the homeless and underprivileged to vote for them? I think we should start giving out Starbucks gift cards or maybe i-tunes downloads to get uninterested voters to vote for us.
;-)
Don't you hate....
how conservatives just follow the President blindly. Unlike the Democrats who came out loudly and forcefully against Clinton for lying, perjury, immorality, and impeachment. *snort*
Say What???
From WND:
"... a woman used a handgun to fend off a gator that was attacking her own dog, and was issued a warning citation for hunting without a permit.
Candy Frey of Bradenton, Fla., shows the dog door where she was able to push a 3-foot gator out after it scuffled with her dogs (courtesy Sarasota Herald-Tribune)
Candy Frey says a 3-foot gator confronted her golden retriever at her East Manatee, Fla., home.
She and he daughter were able to push the creature through the dog door of her patio, but she also got her gun and opened fire.
"I was running on so much adrenaline," Frey, 48, a former U.S. Marine aviation technician, told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. "I just freaked out and shot him – boom, boom, boom, boom."
She had noticed her dog was bleeding from the head when she first saw the animals scuffling.
"I have to take this guy out," Frey recalled thinking. "You can't wait to see how long it's going to sit there."
Frey told the paper the gunshot wounds appeared to self-heal, and a wildlife officer who came to her home put the gator back in the lake.
The latest incidents come amid a rash of fatal attacks in Florida, where three women were mauled and killed by alligators in the past week.
Let me get this straight. Alligators are KILLING people in Florida and one starts to munch on a family pet and a woman shoots him. Not only does she get a ticket for hunting without a permit, but the alligator is put back in the water!
I may have had to shoot the officer as well. (just kidding, but you get my drift)
via Fark
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Columbine video game.
The AP has this:
5/17/06 - DENVER, CO) - An online game based on the Columbine High School massacre is drawing criticism from relatives of those who died in the 1999 attack, including a father who says it trivializes the actions of the two teen killers.
The game, Super Columbine Massacre RPG, was posted on a Web site last year, but is becoming more popular now. It draws on investigative material, including images of Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, who killed 12 classmates and a teacher before committing suicide.
This is just wrong, wrong. Is nothing off-limits anymore?
Slowly but.....
surely. It's not perfect. It needs work. But this immigration thing? At least they are doing something! So everyone stop your whining already.
This is a public toliet in Houston. Would you use it? Me? Hell no.
h/t Craig
*snopes says it is in Switzerland.
Sex Survey for Teens.
"A group called Students for Unity at Port Washington High School distributed this "heterosexual Questionaire" to several hundred students at the school to spur discussion about the "Day of Silence." Read more here.
Here are the questions. I took the liberty of answering them.
1) What do you think caused your heterosexuality? Boys.
2) When did you decide you were heterosexual? About the time I noticed the dreamy brown eyes of a 2nd grader sitting behind me in class. His name was Kevin.
3) Could it be that your heterosexuality is just a phase? Could be. I noticed I could not have cared less about it when I was exhausted taking care of babies.
4) To whom have you disclosed your heterosexuality? How did they react? I have told no one.
5) If you have never slept with someone of your same gender, then how do you know you wouldn't prefer it? Well, I haven't slept with a baboon either but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't prefer it.
6) Is it likely that you have (sic) just haven't' met the right same gender partner yet? If you can find me a girl who looks exactly like Johnny Depp I might give it a go.
7) Why do you flaunt your lifestyle with wedding rings, photos at work and talk of your heterosexual escapades? Because it's so hot to talk about.
8) Your heterosexuality doesn't offend me as long as you don't try to come on to me, but why do so many heterosexuals try to seduce others to their orientation? Because most are skanks and man ho's.
9) Considering the battering abuse and divorce rate associated with heterosexual coupling, why would you want to enter into that kind of relationship? I wouldn't want to enter that kind. I'm more into the loving nurturing and having babies kind of relationship.
10) Why do you heterosexuals place so much emphasis on sex? Don't you mean men?
Ok, obviously this is a propaganda survey made to make teens "think" about their sexuality. It has to be done at school because heaven knows the poor teens of today never hear about sex anywhere else.
How about this for a handout:
Matthew 7:12
"So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets."
Treat others as you yourself would like to be treated. That's it. No matter what sexual orientation, race, religion. It works every time.
via Fark
Calling record story is falling apart.
Bellsouth says it gave no records to the governement: (emphasis mine)
"Based on our review to date, we have confirmed no such contract exists and we have not provided bulk customer calling records to the NSA," the Atlanta-based regional Bell said in a statement.
Nor did Verizon:
"Verizon Communications this afternoon said that it "was not asked by the (National Security Agency) to provide, nor did Verizon provide, customer records" from any of its telephone businesses "or any call data from those records." Any media reports that say it did those things "are simply false," the company stated."
And AT&T hasn't said yet:
"It is the second company to challenge a USA TODAY report Thursday that said three phone companies had assisted the NSA in collecting "call records of tens of millions of Americans." Late Monday, BellSouth said it had not "provided bulk customer calling records" to the NSA. The third company named by USA TODAY, AT&T, has not commented on whether it assisted the NSA."
But that won't keep biased reporters ( and of course leftwing bloggers) from repeating the story over and over and always using the word "wiretapping" instead of "records." Like this at the White House briefing yesterday:
Helen Thomas: "The President today denied he'd ever broken the law in terms of wiretaps. He also indicated that anything that was looked into, any calls, had some sort of foreign aspect either to or from. And he has said he's always obeyed the law. Are all of these stories untrue that we've been reading for the last several days that millions of Americans have been wiretapped?"
The MSM is getting nervous too. They think the government may now have access to who leaks these false stories.
Maybe this is what the fuss is all about. The MSM doesn't really care about the phone records of ordinary citizens or do they care about the wiretapping of those calling Al Queda. They are making a big deal out of this because they are afraid that maybe we can prove they put out false stories with "anonymous sources" that no one can verify.
It would explain much.
via Iowa Voice
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
NOW endorses Lieberman's challenger for the Democratic nomination to the Senate.
Lieberman has "a 95% vote record rating" from NARAL, but that is just not pro-abortion enough.
The Gift of Suffering.
I was going to blog on how well Tony Snow did at his first press conference as the White House Press Secretary, but watching him sent me down a different road. Someone asked him why he wore a yellow bracelet and he answered that it was because he had cancer last year. He got emotional and had to pause. Then he said that having cancer was the best thing that had ever happened to him.
I'm not sure what the details of that feeling is, but I have a hunch. It reminded me of a true story our Priest told a few Sundays ago. I can't remember the details of the names or year, but I will just tell the story as best I remember it.
There was a famous gymnast who was at the pinnacle of his career when he had a horrible accident while performing and was paralyzed from the neck down. Five years later there was some sort of sport convention. There was a packed audience in a large auditorium to hear great athletes speak. At one point there was a spotlight on the center stage with a empty chair. A famous football player carried out the gymnast that had been injured 5 yrs before. He was like a rag doll. He weighed only 86 pounds. Once he was settled in the chair, he began to speak. He said that right after the accident he wanted to kill himself. He said that he would never wish what happened to him on his worst enemy. He said he prayed that no one in the audience would ever known the pain, the inner anguish, and the deep sorrow that he had experienced. He said he prayed that no one would go through what he had gone though unless.......unless it was the only way for them to know God. That is what had happened to him. He was living the high life. He never thought of God nor thought he needed him. But when he was brought down crashing into the reality of his situation he had nowhere else to turn for his inner pain. Finally he became exhausted with the sorrow and gave his life to God. He said that the accident and all that followed was the best thing that ever happened to him because it led him to God. It gave him the greatest joy and peace he had ever known.
There is meaning in suffering. Sometimes for us and sometimes for others. We just hardly ever look past the immediate pain to see the greater good. I think Tony was able to see things he had been missing. Such is the way of pain laid at God's feet. We see clearly through what was nothing but black glass before.
Monday, May 15, 2006
In case you are feeling......
like Republicans are no better than the Democrats, Hispanic Pundit has this to make you feel better and remember why you vote Republican:
"Here’s how the members of the U.S. House voted on that bill to extend prior tax cuts for small businesses and investors and to reign in the dreaded Alternative Minimum Tax:
15/197 = Democrats in favor of less taxes (8%).
229/231 = Republicans in favor of less taxes (99%).
182/197 = Democrats against lower taxes (92%).
2/231 = Republicans against lower taxes (1%)."
Liveblogging the President's speech tonight.
No, I won't be. But The Truth Laid Bare has links to everyone who will. Feel free to comment here on the speech, before, during, and after.
What country is "the most savage, cruel and murderous empire that has existed in the history of the world?"
The United State is. At least according to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. That is but one part of his insane rant. Read the rest.
Seriously. We need to drill under Disney Land and in Yellowstone National Park if it wll stop us from having to buy oil from this guy.
via Oxblog
Border Patrol.
I predict that Bush's poll numbers will rise after tonight's speech. According to the Washington Post, he will unveil a plan that will send the National Guard to the border.
Which will make the Republicans and moderate Democrats a bit happier. Now on to spending cuts?
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Saturday, May 13, 2006
Smacking around Godsmack.
I happened to flip to Showbiz Tonight last night and the host was interviewing the lead of Godsmack, a band I have heard of, but never listened to. (They have the #1 selling album I hear) What caught my attention was the host asking how did it feel for Godsmack to be in this controversy by allowing their music to be played on a Navy recruitment commercial. I thought, "What? Now, if you have your music in a military commercial you are what? Rightwing? a Nazi? What is he talking about?" Basically the lead, Sully Erna said that he always appreciated the military for keeping us free and that their band wasn't political. He seemed totally blown away that he was being trashed for saying he supported our troops. He never said whether he supported the war or not. He said (honestly, I thought) that he didn't know enough about such things.
So I looked around to see what started this and I found this site. Godsmack was doing press over the phone (where they talk to all kinds of magazines and radio stations) and he was AMBUSHED by this guy. The following is a transcript from this jerk's site done on May 1st. It tells you all you need to know about the other side. Keep in mind, this isn't about someone like Toby Keith who writes songs specifically for the war, this is a band who let the Navy use it's music in a commerical. That's it. Excuse the language I don't usually allow here.
JAY BABCOCK of Arthur Magazine: Alright let me get the tape rolling here. How you doing?
SULLY ERNA of Godsmack: I’m good!
JAY: How was the Jimmy Kimmel show on Friday? You were outside playing, right?
SULLY: Yeah it’s always cool to do that because it’s so set up for musicians, you know. Big stage, live crowd. It’s not so like indoors with a camera rehearsals. It’s a lot easier.
JAY: Yeah. So you got to be back out in front of your fans.
SULLY: Yeah. It was good. It was fun.
JAY: What kind of people listen to your music, do you think?
SULLY: Ummm… I’ve seen em range as young as 8 and as old as 68. [chuckles]
JAY: Yup.
SULLY: So it’s…
JAY: Well, you’ve seen a lot more of ‘em than I have, and I’m trying to get an idea of what it feels like when you’re out there—to you, on the stage. Do you think there’s a lot of teenagers in the audience? A lot of guys in their 20s? Chicks—
SULLY: Ah you know…
JAY: Is it a dude audience?
SULLY: I would say, if I had to guess what our age group is, it’s probably between …18 and 40.
JAY: Oh yeah?
SULLY: I would have to say that’s kind of where we’re at, maybe more, majority would be 18-30? But I, we definitely, we recruited a lot of new fans off of that acoustic record—
JAY: That did it, huh?
SULLY: —an older audience. And this record seems to be drawing in a different kind of audience as well, so. You know we’re just trying to continue to expand and not have a ceiling over our heads.
JAY: Right. You guys are still having a good time making music after all these years?
SULLY: Of course. We’re musicians, that’s what we do. It may not always be great music, but we love making it! [laughs]
JAY: Cuz music has a power…?
SULLY: Mmm hmm. It’s a universal language.
JAY: So what you say with it, and what you do with it, has an effect…?
SULLY: Of course.
JAY: Right?
SULLY: [emphatically] Of course.
JAY: So I notice you guys have been really involved with promoting the military. [1]
SULLY: Well, they actually came to us, believe it or not. Somebody in the Navy loves this band, because they used ‘Awake’ for three years and then they came to us and re-upped the contract for another three years for ‘Sick of Life.’ So, I don’t know. They just feel like that music, [laughs] someone in that place thinks that the music is very motivating for recruit commercials I guess. And hey, I’m an American boy so it’s not… I’m proud of it.
JAY: You’re proud of recruiting your fans into the military?
SULLY: Well, no. [laughs, then playfully] Don’t be turning my fucking words around, you!
JAY: Well, tell me what you mean. You said your music is powerful, it’s got an effect, like you said, and you’re letting the military use it. The military, who are they recruiting? 18-to-30-year-olds, right?
SULLY: I guess… I don’t know what their recruit age is. I know it’s at least 18.
JAY: Yeah, they do down in the high schools now.
SULLY: My thing is… Listen, here’s my thing with the military. I’m not saying our government is perfect. Because I know that we make some mistakes and we do shitty things BUT, BUT. You wouldn’t have your job, and we wouldn’t have our lives, if we weren’t out there protecting this country so we could lead a free life. So there’s kind of a ying and a yang to that. Sometimes it’s not always the best choices that we make, or we stick our noses in other people’s shit, but at the same time, we protect this place enough that we’re able to like pursue careers and do what a lot of people in other countries aren’t able to do. They’re kind of picked and they’re chosen to be whatever they become… I’m, I’m, I’m proud to be an American, I’ll tell you that.
JAY: So your country, right or wrong?
SULLY: Uh, no. Not right or wrong. But I’m proud to be an American. I love my country. I’ve seen the depressions and how people live in other countries and how they’re told what to be, and they don’t have the choices that we have. I do love that about our country. So, you know… And I actually sympathize with a lot of the soliders, and the military in general, that are trained to go out and protect FOR us, and what they have to go through, it’s really kind of shitty in a sense that these young kids have to go over there and die, sometimes, for something that isn’t our fucking problem. And that kind of sucks. So what I have to do is at least support them, because they don’t have the choice that we do.
JAY: They don’t have the choice because…?
SULLY: Because they’ve decided to fight for our country.
JAY: And they decided to do that because…?
SULLY: [laughs]…
JAY: Of your song…?
SULLY: Aw, come on. It’s not like that.
JAY: Well I have a quote from you here: “We’ve always been supportive of our country and our president, whereas a lot of people I thought”—and you said this in 2003, to MTV News, you said—”a lot of people I thought lashed out pretty quickly at what we did and I thought the government did everything pretty cleanly and publicly as possible.” [2]
SULLY: Yeah…?
JAY: Well, what are you talking about?
SULLY: That was my opinion at the time. The whole war thing, and trying to keep us up to date like… If you remember, back in other wars, we didn’t have the opportunity to follow it through the media, and CNN, and the news—live updates and that kind of thing. And I thought that for the most part you know we were allowed to follow it as best we could through the media sources that were feeding us information.
JAY: [incredulous] You didn’t think the media was being controlled by the military?
SULLY: Well, it could be. I don’t know.
JAY: You didn’t look into it?
SULLY: Listen. Are you a fucking government expert?
JAY: I’m not telling people to go join the military and then not knowing what the military is doing.
SULLY: I don’t tell people to go join the military!!
JAY: You don’t think using your songs—the POWER of your music, which you were talking about—has an effect on the people that hear it when it goes with the visuals that the best P.R. people in the world use?
SULLY: Oh man, are you like one of those guys that agrees with some kid that fuckin’ tied a noose around his neck because Judas Priest lyrics told him to?
JAY: You were telling me how powerful your music was, and what age the people are that listen to it, and you must have thought, ‘Well the Navy sure thought it was useful,’ so you tell me.
SULLY: Hey, listen. The Navy thought…. It’s the same reason why wrestlers work out to the music, and extreme motorcross riders listen to the music and do what they do. It’s ENERGETIC music. It’s very ATHLETIC. People feel that they get an adrenaline rush out of it or whatever, so, it goes with whatever’s an extreme situation. But I doubt very seriously that a kid is going to join the Marines or the US Navy because he heard Godsmack as the underlying bed music in the commercial. They’re gonna go and join the Navy because they want to jump out of helicopters and fuckin’ shoot people! Or protect the country or whatever it is, and look at the cool infra-red goggles.
JAY: You said to MTV, “We’re not a very political band but we’re supportive of the U.S. military and how they approach things.” [2]
SULLY: Listen. Someone turned that around. I never said “and how they approach things.”
JAY: Okay. So that’s a misquote. Or something–
SULLY [interrupting]: Wow, what—
JAY: What about this? In 2003 you did a show that started with video footage of Apache helicopters”honing in on a desert target interspersed with the words ‘We will prevail…Stronger than them all.”
SULLY: Say that again?
JAY: I’m reading from a Boston Glove review of a show you did at the Tweeter Center.
SULLY: Yeah.
JAY: In front of 13,000 people on May 22, 2003.
SULLY: Yeah, but tell me what it said again.
JAY: Yes sir. It said “Godsmack’s ferociously high energy 90-minute set started with video footage of Apache helicopters honing in on a desert target, interspersed with the words ‘We will prevail…Stronger than them all.” [3]
SULLY: Yeah…?
JAY: So you’re using military imagery with your music at your concerts?
SULLY: First of all, it was a COMPUTER image, a computer-animated helicopter that didn’t… There was no scene of a desert in there. It was a helicopter that rose up from the screen and scanned the audience. It was an EFFECT. And then it shot out missiles that hit the stage.
JAY: Uh huh…
SULLY: Because the intro to ‘Straight Out of Line” has the sounds of like, a war thing going on.
JAY [trying to decide if Sully is dissembling or just obtuse]: Oh I see. So it’s just sort of a concept thing. [pause] Well, you’ve done a lot to help out the guys who are in the military, who are stuck there now, whether they chose to be there or they got hoodwinked into being there. For whatever reason, they’re in the military. And they’re doing their job. You guys did a show for them at Camp Pendleton–
SULLY: Yup.
JAY: —called “Rockin’ the Corps.” And so you’ve been doing a lot of benefit shows—
SULLY: [interrupting] Well, like I said, Listen you know, there’s a lot of young kids that die for our country, man, and they don’t have the choice once they’re in there.
JAY: That’s right.
SULLY: So I just feel well you know whatever we can do to say ‘thank you for protecting our country’ is what we try to do. I’m not trying to make this a big political issue.
JAY: Okay. Have you done anything to prevent people from joining the military?
SULLY: No.
JAY: To maybe educate them as to what’s in store for them?
SULLY: I don’t have enough education in the military to educate them in anything.
JAY: Would you let your music be used for anti-military recruiting advertisements?
SULLY: I don’t know, I ‘d have to see what that was about.
JAY: But you’d be open to it?
SULLY: We’re open to whatever, as long as it’s not a Maybelline commercial.
JAY: [laughs] Maybelline’s more offensive than the military…?
SULLY: No. That doesn’t quite go with what we do.
JAY: Buth the military does.
SULLY: Listen. Where are we going with this thing? Is this interview about the government—
JAY: Well, I’ve never seen such a pro-military—
SULLY: Sounds like this is a personal attack or whatever.
JAY: Well I’ve never seen such a pro-military band as you guys. [4]
SULLY: But we’re not! I think [chuckling] you’re making us out to be a little bit more. When we’re asked about something, we just answer the question. We don’t go spend 23 hours out of our day supporting the military and what they do.
JAY: Um hmm.
SULLY: We just simply, an opportunity came up, they wanted to use some music for a recruit commercial. What are we gonna say, no?
JAY: Yeah. How hard is it to say ‘no’?
SULLY: Why would we, though?!?
JAY: Because—
SULLY [interrupting]: Is it because you don’t feel the same way about the government that we do, makes you right and us wrong?
JAY: Yeah. What do you feel about the government? Tell me what—
SULLY: Aw, that’s crazy, man! That’s just an OPINION.
JAY: I can back my opinion up from here to tomorrow if you would like to talk to me all day long.
SULLY: Well obviously you’ve done a lot of research and you’ve—
JAY [interrupting]: That’s right, because—
SULLY: —got a different opinion. We don’t know that stuff that you know, so—
JAY [impatient]: Why don’t you do some research before you get involved with these sorts of things? You’re talking about young kids’ lives. You’re talking about kids—
SULLY: [yelling] Would you rather not have us be protected so they can come and overrun our country?!?
JAY: Do you know what a “fool’s errand” is?
SULLY: I’m asking you a question!
JAY: No one is threatening—
SULLY [interrupting]: Would you rather us not be protected?!?
JAY: You know what I’d like, Sully? A Department of Defense, not a Department of Offense that attacks other countries—sovereign nations—who do things in a different way than us, who we have no right to go over and invade and change their governments. Would we want someone else to do that to us?
SULLY: I’m not saying—
JAY [interrupting]: How hard is that to think about?
SULLY: I’m not saying that we were right on every war that we’ve created. I know that we’ve been damn wrong at times about stuff—
JAY [interrupting]: When have we been wrong?
SULLY: [yelling] but they have also been wrong too!
JAY: When have—
SULLY [interrupting]: I don’t trust someone like fuckin’ Sadaam and Osama to come in here and try to control—
JAY: [interrupting, incredulous] When did Sadaam try to come in here and control our country?
SULLY: Dude, [yelling] WHY DON’T YOU GO LIVE IN IRAQ THEN IF YOU HAVE SUCH A PROBLEM WITH AMERICA? Why are you here?
JAY: Why am I here?!? This is the top country in the world, my friend!
SULLY: Well, why do you think so? Because it’s PROTECTED.
JAY: No, it’s not because it’s—
SULLY [interrupting]: –ruled our country.
JAY: No one is attacking us, my friend. Certainly not Iraq. Every first world nation suffers terrorist attacks. Get used to it.
SULLY: I am used to it. I don’t have a problem—
JAY: Get used to it..
SULLY: [laughs] Sounds like you do.
JAY: You’re the one that’s saying it’s alright to not know about stuff and then to send other people to die in our name.
SULLY: I never said that! Don’t put fuckin’ words in my mouth.
JAY: I’ve got it on tape, bro.
SULLY: You’ve got in on tape, bro?!?
JAY: Yeah.
SULLY: You got me saying it’s okay for us to attack other countries?
JAY: I got you on tape saying they’re protecting us by attacking, by going over there and taking out people.
SULLY: Listen, don’t fuckin’ turn my words around to make it to what you want it to be! That’s not what I meant and you know that.
JAY: Okay I’m sorry. Then tell me what you meant.
SULLY: Listen I’m not gonna get into a political fuckin’ conversation with you. This was supposed to be an interview about the band. Where is this going?
JAY: We’re talking about the power of your music and what you’re using it for.
SULLY: What is this for anyway? Who are you working with?
JAY: I’m working for my own magazine, my friend.
SULLY: What’s it called?
JAY: [laughing in disbelief] What do you mean, what’s it called? Are you serious?
SULLY: Yeah, what’s the magazine called?
JAY: It’s called Arthur Magazine. You guys are the ones that set this up.
SULLY: Hey I was just told to do press today, man.
JAY: Hey man, you guys—
SULLY: I got a checklist in front of me, and I don’t have time for a lot of this bullshit.
JAY: Oh yeah?
SULLY: So write whatever the fuck you wanna write, because your magazine obviously is that popular.
JAY: It’s doing pretty good—
SULLY [interrupting]: Yeah I’m sure it is. All three thousand copies of it— [5]
JAY: On our own, without any corporate support.
SULLY: I wish you the best of—… Why would you waste your time calling a band like us when you don’t even give a fuck?!?
JAY: I certainly do give a fuck. Cuz you know what?
SULLY: What is this about?!?
JAY: Because listen man! You know there’s 2,800 people, my brothers and sisters, have died over in Iraq?
SULLY: Yeah?
JAY: You know 30,000 Iraqi humans WHO NEVER DID SHIT TO US have died because of the attacks we’ve made over there? [6]
SULLY: [in disbelief] And that’s Godsmack’s fault?
JAY: Did you know that 78% of women in the military report cases of sexual harassment? [7]
SULLY: [sarcastic] And that’s Godsmack’s fault.
JAY: No, man—
SULLY [interrupting, sarcastic]: That has to do with our new record.
JAY: Okay, let’s talk about your new record.
SULLY: I can’t believe this. This is [inaud]
JAY: Let’s talk about that new record, my friend.
SULLY: Get a life. [hangs up]
JAY: Let’s talk about the new album…
And he is out of the starting gate....
like a bullet!
Changes are a coming people. Rest assured. This is one Press Secretary who knows the secrets of the MSM. The lies will be refuted. Let the games begin!
Pic via LST and link via commenter at LST.
Friday, May 12, 2006
Super Secrets.
Ace has a kind of "what about my privacy rights" smackdown. I wasn't aware that once I had your IP address I could pay $50 for a simple program to find your exact street location, and then a interent reverse-address look-up to find your name. And then find your employer. You would think that alone would force some to be polite on blogs, wouldn't you?
But as Ace points out, none of us are really that interesting.
So for the weekend open thread tell me who you call. Let's just get this out in the open since the government has practically got cameras in our home now.
Me first.
Now, I HATE the phone. Always have. I never never answer it. Caller ID and the "no call" list was a gift from God just for me. So my list is sorta short. Here is who I call or who call me:
My kids, to tell me why they are late.
My Mom, Mother-in-law, brothers, and various sister-in-laws to talk about our kids and why they are always late and when the next visit is.
My best friends, to talk about our kids and how to keep them from being late all the time and sometimes an occasional chicken recipe.
The schools, to ask if I could volunteer for the 5,987th time.
The Church, to ask if I could volunteer for the 7,645th time.
Now, I KNOW most of you don't have as boring a life as I do. So hit me with some juicy phone calls. If the government is listening in, then the least you can do is share with me as well.
How do people live in Boston?
An English professor resigns Boston College because the Sec. of State has been invited to speak as commencement speaker. Read his letter of drivel here.
How to explain such idiocy? how to explain such a disregard for actual truth? How to explain a letter that is nothing more than a cornucopia of leftwing talking points?
Well, the book he has written in the past might explain a bit...."''My Life in Heavy Metal."
'nuff said.
via Jeff at BA
The Heros We Train.
They will change everything.
Michael Yon brings us the pictures of one Iraqi warrior who shows us the kind of heros we train. Michael says they give "us one more example of the reason I continue to believe that the Iraqi people have what it takes to beat this enemy."
The Washington Times brings us this soldier's sad story, but one of hope for a better future for all of us.
Iraq. We Are Winning Against The Terrorists.
Who says? Al Qaeda. That's who.
(emphasis mine)
There is a clear absence of organization among the groups of the brothers in Baghdad, whether at the leadership level in Baghdad, the brigade leaders, or their groups therein. Coordination among them is very difficult, which appears clearly when the group undertake a join operations.
[...]
At the same time, the Americans and the Government were able to absorb our painful blows, sustain them, compensate their losses with new replacements, and follow strategic plans which allowed them in the past few years to take control of Baghdad as well as other areas one after the other. That is why every year is worse than the previous year as far as the Mujahidin’s control and influence over Baghdad.
[...]
First, their media power is presented by their special radio and TV stations as the sole Sunni information source, coupled with our weak media which is confined mainly to the Internet, without a flyer or newspaper to present these events.
Second, in the course of their control of the majority of the speakers at mosques who convert right into wrong and wrong into right, and present Islam in a sinful manner and sins in a Muslim manner. At the same time we did not have any positive impact or benefits from our operations.
*Intercepted messages from CENTCOM
via Op For and LST
Pandering To Evangelicals.
First we hear about McCain speaking at Liberty University, but this....this was a bit of a surprise.
Howard Dean recently appeared on Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network. That's right. You read it right. It gets BETTER. He told the audience “The Democratic Party platform from 2004 says that marriage is between a man and a woman. That's what it says.” (This is called either lying or willfully misleading)
But as Out for Democracy (a liberal site) points out:
"No Howard, that is most certainly NOT what the 2004 Platform says. Is this a baldface lie to pander to the religious right? I'd like to give Dean the benefit of the doubt, but some Democratic insiders who have corrected Dean on this very point in the past say yes.
Here's what the 2004 Democratic Platform actually says:
"We support full inclusion of gay and lesbian families in the life of our nation and seek equal responsibilities, benefits, and protections for these families. In our country, marriage has been definited at the state level for 200 years, and we believe it should continue to be defined there. We repudiate President Bush's divisive effort to politicize the Constitution by pursuing a Federal Marriage Amendment." Our goal is to bring Americans together, not drive them apart."
The Democrats have gotten this strategy down. Say one thing over and over, even if it is not true, and maybe people will buy it.
via The Hotline
Update: Dean issued a retraction, but the Human Rights Campaign still isn't happy with him. (thanks to concerned citizen for the link)
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Case in point...
This is why we are trapped conservatives.
USA Today writes up a story about a database of phone calls and the left runs with it with untrue accusations. This program does not involve the NSA listening to or recording conversations. Yet, I just heard Democrat Congressman Harold Ford Jr. on "The Big Story" with John Gibson saying about three times that the government was "listening in" on Americans in this program. When John pressed him on that asking if he knew for a fact that was true, Ford admitted that he was assuming.
This is exactly what I am talking about! The Democrats just lie and most journalists don't call them on it, so most Americans go to bed thinking that the government was listening in on their conversations instead of simply collecting calling patterns.
But this isn't just frustrating for conservatives. Understanding all this is VITAL for our security. RCP blog asks how civil liberties are affected here to those "hyperventilating over the latest revelation that our security agencies are actually trying to do their job."
He goes on:
"Many of the people decrying these violations of civil liberties are the same ones who ripped the government for its inability to "connect-the-dots" prior to 9/11.
But the paranoia on the left, and in particular, the hatred for the Bush administration has become so intense there is an automatic assumption that the NSA has to be engaging in nefarious activity, spying on you and your neighbor. The idea that the agency is thinking creatively and proactively about how they can legally monitor the bad guys instead of just going about business as usual is, apparently, out of the question for some. The sad truth is it is probably going to take another devastating attack to convince many in this country that we are actually at war against Islamic jihadists.
That is something true civil libertarians should think long and hard about. The more vigilant we are today in preventing attacks, the more it will pay off in spades in terms of protecting our civil liberties in the future. Because if this country gets hit with a small nuke and 30,000 or 100, 000 Americans die, all of the debating will be over. The ensuing crackdown will be massive, and the loss of REAL civil liberties will become very, very possible."
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
The Trapped Conservative.
Conservatives are angry at Bush. The poll numbers clearly show that. We don't talk about it much because we have to spend so much time defending him, or the war, or a dozen other things that are unfairly represented in the media.
Everytime we turn around we hear about some ridiculous accusation from the left. The "Bush lied" mantra is nothing but a joke now, but we had to seriously fight it with facts. Constantly.
The left went crazy over the "secret prisons and torture" thing and now we find out that that bit of information was leaked by a partisan CIA agent to a partisan lefty journalist. We only have her word for it. The left got angry about Terry Shiavo when so many of us saw what happened as protecting one who couldn't protect herself, being a voice for the venerable in our society. A job the Democrats use to claim was their job. No more. Then there was the "illegal wiretapping" that wasn't illegal at all. The story the left tried to sell was that the President was listening in on the private conversations of citizens instead of the reality of people speaking with Al Queda from overseas. Then came Katrina and the left tried to blame Bush instead of the local government (because they were democrats of course) who were actually really to blame. And finally there is Iraq. All the focus is on the negative. None of the good news that we conservatives get from the milblogs and conservative journals is ever put out there in the msm. We are the frustrated lone voices of the positive of having a Democracy in the Middle East. We understand this fight, this war on terror. We understand how great it is for Saddam to be off the world stage. We understand why we haven't been attacked again.
We conservatives are so busy dispelling the myths and the lies of the left we can't even express our anger over the immigration mess, the spending, the compromises, the lack of the veto pen, and the blank check the government seems to want to give to all those things to do with Katrina.
We are trapped. On the one hand we want the President and Republicans to know how we want our party to be run, but how can we do that when we have to fight the dragon of propaganda on the left and their willing partners in the media?
We are the trapped conservatives.
McCain is getting his conservative street creds....
here. And let this be a lesson to all parents. Be very very careful where you send your children to college.
Anderson Cooper
His handsome face and sparkling blue eyes grace the cover of this month's Vanity Fair. I've never really watched Anderson Cooper on CNN. I gave up on CNN long ago, but the article inside was written by him in the aftermath of Katrina in New Orleans and I was interested in reading about that. He also interspersed personal stories in the article.
Let me say this. This guy can write.
Years ago I read the autobiography of Gloria Vanderbilt. A fascinating look into the lives of the privileged. I was riveted by the part where she described her son's suicide in front of her. He came home from college and seemed disoriented and was napping all day. He came into her room confused and then ran up the stairs. She followed him out to a balcony where he climbed up on the stone wall. She pleaded with him, but he simply said "Will I ever feel again?" and dropped over, holding on with his fingers for a moment and she screamed and then he dropped 14 stories down.
Horrifying. I have never forgotten it.
I had no idea that Anderson Cooper was also Vanderbuilt's son and that that was his older brother. They had lost their father when they were 10 and 12. It was devastating to them both. Of his brother he writes:
"I thought we had a silent agreement, that we would both just get though our childhood loss and meet up as adults on the other side. I imagined one day we would be friends, allies, brothers laughing about our long-ago fights. I'm not sure why he didn't keep his end of the bargain. Maybe he never knew about our silent pact. Maybe it was all in my head."
Now that is some beautiful writing.
When I was young I fought and fought with one of my older brothers. There were days I hated him. When I became a Christian at 14 hate was no longer an option. We became close friends and have remained so to this day. I can't imagine never having had that chance.
Cooper does just as beautiful a job of describing things in New Orleans. He does what every good writer does. He paints a picture and puts the reader in the painting. I kept waiting for the subtle barb, the political bashing cloaked in journalism that always comes from these pieces. It never came. He wrote a wonderful piece with no political bias right or left. It was refreshing. It was actual, honest to God, journalism.
I haven't watched CNN for a long time, but I think I may start with Anderson Cooper.
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
Will the foaming at the mouth moonbats mean losing for the Democrats?
Richard Cohen, liberal columnist at the Washington Post thinks so. After writing about Colbert really not speaking 'truth to power' as the leftwing of the blogosphere blathered about, he received hate mail I guess like Michelle Malkin receives every day from the clenched fingers of the moonbats. Cohen calls them the "Digital lynch mob":
"The e-mails pulse in my queue, emanating raw hatred. This spells trouble -- not for Bush or, in 2008, the next GOP presidential candidate, but for Democrats. The anger festering on the Democratic left will be taken out on the Democratic middle. (Watch out, Hillary!) I have seen this anger before -- back in the Vietnam War era. That's when the antiwar wing of the Democratic Party helped elect Richard Nixon. In this way, they managed to prolong the very war they so hated.
The hatred is back. I know it's only words now appearing on my computer screen, but the words are so angry, so roiled with rage, that they are the functional equivalent of rocks once so furiously hurled during antiwar demonstrations."
Interesting.
via Ace and Jill
Karl Rove made YouTube pull the Colbert Clips.
Ok, just kidding. But that is what the moonbats believed. Heh.
Why the "party of corruption" mantra is such a joke.
"Meet The Press" Sunday:
MR. RUSSERT: But wait, wait a minute. But what about the leader of the Democrats in the Senate, Harry Reid, in terms of money from Jack Abramoff?
REP. PELOSI: What about him?
MR. RUSSERT: Well, let me show you. This is the Associated Press: “Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid portrays convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s activities as involving only Republicans. But Abramoff’s billing records and congressional correspondence tell a different story. They show Abramoff’s lobbying team billed for nearly two dozen contacts with Reid’s office in a single year. ... Reid also wrote at least four letters to the Bush administration helpful to Indian tribes Abramoff represented, often collecting donations from Abramoff-related sources around the same time. And in the midst of the contacts, Abramoff’s firm hired one of Reid’s top legislative aides to lobby for the tribal and Marianas clients. The aide then helped throw a fund-raiser for Reid at Abramoff’s office.”
Here’s the numbers in terms of lobbyist contributions: from 2004 to 2006, lobbyists gave Republicans $20 million dollars, Democrats 17.8.
REP. PELOSI: Yeah.
MR. RUSSERT: You get your money—both parties get their money from lobbyists.
REP. PELOSI: Well, let me say this: Our party is standing for honest leadership and open government.
Personally, my favorite moment was..."Yeah." Democrats trying to pretend that they are above the Washington politics of favors is never going to fly.
Republicans have not done their job. That is for sure. But thank goodness the Democrats seem to have no idea where they stand. Look at this part with Pelosi about the war:
MR. RUSSERT: I saw in the USA Today in December of ‘05 this story, and I’ll read it to you and our viewers. “House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi switched gears and embraced a call to begin an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq,” which is quite striking, because in May of 2004 you were on this program, and I asked you specifically, “Should there be withdrawal of U.S. troops by a date certain,” and this is exactly what you said. Let’s watch.
(Videotape, May 30, 2004): REP. PELOSI: No. I do not. I believe that because of the mess that has been made in Iraq we have to stay to stabilize Iraq. We have to secure the situation, because now, although it wasn’t the case before the war, now it has become a hotbed of terrorist activity.(End videotape)...
MR. RUSSERT: But you said that, in ‘04, that you were concerned about stabilizing Iraq, securing Iraq, that it has become a hotbed of terrorism activity. Has anything changed?
REP. PELOSI: No.
MR. RUSSERT: Do you think it’s secure? Do you think it’s stable?
REP. PELOSI: No.
MR. RUSSERT: Do you think it’s a hotbed for—of...
REP. PELOSI: Yes.
MR. RUSSERT: Then why would you withdraw troops?"
Democrats want to be on both sides of the issue of the war. They simply can't have it both ways.
via Oxblog
Monday, May 08, 2006
Say what?
I was reading this at the New York Post about a public-relations staffer of the Church of Scientology shopping at a local Walmart for Tom Cruise's baby from the Church's desert retreat in Hemet, Calif. - known as Gold Base (Gold Base??). But this part is what caught my attention:
"Everyone at Gold Base is a Sea Org" - Scientology's highest stratum whose members commit for life - "and they're all prohibited from having kids," said a former Gold Base staffer, who left the church. "Who else could they be shopping for?"
Sea Org?? Prohibited from having kids!!??? Good Grief. When does selling flowers at the airports begin?
Sunday, May 07, 2006
Kos is Kooky.
I was reading his piece in the Washington Post about Hillary and the Democratic party and his view of the Bush administration wondering how long it would take me to blog about how ridiculous most of what he wrote was, then I saw that Powerline had done it for me.
*I wanted to add this though. It seems both the right and the left seriously underestimate Hillary. This, my dear friends, is the black magic woman. If you don't think she can win, then you are deluding yourself. Every move she has made in the Senate has been calculated for the moderate view with her eyes on the prize.
Let's face it, she has a political genius as a husband/political partner/fundraiser/star power partner. (a scumbag, yes, but a political genius nontheless)
This road was mapped out long ago. She will squash the Kossacks with her big toe like a fat grandma on a midnight roach. She will get the nomination and she will woo America with her "moderate" views without ever letting the wolf peek out from behind the sheep's clothing.
And you guys wonder why I am for McCain......
Update: Kos is Kooky II.
Congress...call home.....
And make sure your kids are NOT on MySpace. You know Congresswoman Mary Bono? The widow of Sonny Bono? Well, their son is a teenager.
Is there some way to outlaw the teenage years?
via Pink Is The New Blog
This is who we fight.
By all that is holy, how can any of you say this fight isn't worth it?
via CJ and papa ray
Update: andy alerted me in the comments that The Jawa Report is reporting that the video described in the article is a hoax.
Ok, well, here is who we fight then.
I don't know why they have to provide a hoax. It's not like they aren't doing this every day.
Related: According to Instpundit, this is Blackfive on TV telling us what needs to be done.
How cool is that?
Update: According to my commenter Uncle Jimbo, it is he and not Blackfive on the video. ( I still like the video though!)
2nd ever fundraiser...
For Jeff at Protein Wisdom. Send him some love (by way of paypal) if you enjoy reading him as much as I do.
I have tried to resist....
the notion that the New York Times is profoundly anti-American and convinced myself they are simply leftists. But now I'm just not so sure.
The New York Times got itself sideways with many bloggers with its story cautioning against criticizing brutal terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s for his incompetence in handling a machine gun in a recently released videotape.
Little Green Footballs: “Times leaps to defend the dignity … of Zarqawi”
The Mudville Gazette: “The New York Times and Associated Press are rushing to defend … Zarqawi”
Junkyard Blog: “NYT: It’s wrong to mock Zarqawi”
Sweetness and Light: “Times defends Zarqawi’s skills”
Keep in mind, this is the monster who PERSONALLY sawed off Nicholas Berg's head on video.