The Gay Thing

The gay marriage issue obviously isn't going away, and we are all going to have to deal with it. I wrote what I believe here back in 2006 and nothing has changed that belief.

The bottom line to me is that sexual sin is sexual sin. Whether you are having pre-marital sex, looking at pornography, committing adultery (that includes most divorces btw), or participating in homosexual sexual acts, it's all sin. I think MANY of us are very hypocritical when we point our fingers at gays and say "SINNER." We all need to look in the mirror on that one. It's the "get the plank our of your own eye before you get the speck out of theirs" sort of thing. (Luke 6:42)

Honestly, I really believe that changing the definition of marriage would open a Pandora's box we would never be able to close and marriage would mean nothing. It's barely hanging on as it is. I doubt gays could screw up marriage any more than heterosexuals have, but once the door of the barn is open, so to speak, all the animals come out. We would have lawsuits from polygamists, brother and sister, niece, uncle, and brother, uncle and brother, mother and son. Come on. Be honest. We all know it would happen.

Civil unions are the answer and most every one agrees, but the gay activists want nothing less than "marriage." So this issue will be as divisive, if not more divisive, than the abortion issue for years and years to come. Just as in abortion, making it legal won't make it go away.

"Joe the Plumber" was interviewed by Christianity Today and you might as well get ready, this is gonna be everywhere.

Q: In the last month, same-sex marriage has become legal in Iowa and Vermont. What do you think about same-sex marriage at a state level?

A: At a state level, it's up to them. I don't want it to be a federal thing. I personally still think it's wrong. People don't understand the dictionary—it's called queer. Queer means strange and unusual. It's not like a slur, like you would call a white person a honky or something like that. You know, God is pretty explicit in what we're supposed to do—what man and woman are for. Now, at the same time, we're supposed to love everybody and accept people, and preach against the sins. I've had some friends that are actually homosexual. And, I mean, they know where I stand, and they know that I wouldn't have them anywhere near my children. But at the same time, they're people, and they're going to do their thing.

Most of that answer is on target, but the thing about not letting gays near his children is what you will hear. Maybe the "queer" part too, although heaven knows that is a term that gays themselves throw around quite often. It's that same double standard with slurs. If you are friends you joke and hollar "you homo" or "faghag" or "gay pirate" or whatever you wish. I mean, you people did watch "Will and Grace," right?

I personally think Joe the plumber is wrong about his kids. I would never have a problem with my kids being around my gay friends. I wouldn't be friends with anyone I wouldn't trust around my children. But guess what? Joe the plumber has a right to say what he feels. Miss California has a right to say what she feels. This thought police thing is getting WAY out of control and I can tell you right now, it's going to backfire on the radical gay activists.

Bottom line? You aren't a "hater" if you oppose gay marriage.

If you really want a good look at my perspective then you can look at The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops on pastoral care to gays here.

The document makes clear that practicing homosexuals (as well as heterosexuals involved in the sins I mentioned above) "are not in accord with God's purpose and plan for human sexuality."

I think I can say with all certainty that we, as a society, have completely screwed up God's purpose and plan for sexuality.

But the document goes on: (emphasis mine)

"God has created every human person out of love and wishes to grant him or her eternal life in the communion of the Trinity. All people are created in the image and likeness of God and thus possess an innate human dignity that must be acknowledged and respected."

"In keeping with this conviction, the Church teaches that persons with a homosexual inclination must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. We recognize that these persons have been, and often continue to be, objects of scorn, hatred,and even violence in some sectors of our society. Sometimes this hatred is manifested clearly; other times, it is masked and gives rise to more disguised forms of hatred. It is deplorable that homosexual persons have been and are the object of violent malice in speech or in actions. Such treatment deserves condemnation from the Church pastors wherever it occurs."

This is sort of a longer version of hate the sin, love the sinner. But don't imagine for one moment that you aren't the sinner too.

Goodbye John Edwards. Good Riddance

I was having lunch with a friend of mine during the primaries. A very compassionate Christian man, but not really into politics. I asked him who he was leaning toward for President. He replied, "John Edwards."

I almost spit out my iced tea. I knew this man was very pro-life. I asked him how he could possibly consider John Edwards, and he told me because of Edward's stance on the poor. He liked what he heard in that regard. I mentioned that John Edwards was a trial lawyer millionaire and a cheesy politician, and perhaps that would lead one to believe that he wasn't very sincere in his advocacy of the poor. My friend said he seemed like a good family man. I told him that looks can be deceiving.

When I saw this friend after the news of John Edward's affair broke (the baby daddy news had yet to break) He smiled at me and said, "I really know how to pick 'em, don't I?"

Never underestimate the ability of a charmer politician to make an entire nation believe he cares for one thing, when the only thing he really cares about is himself.

Now investigators are looking at how Edwards spent his campaign funds, particularly the more than $100,000 he paid to his baby Momma for "video production."

I have to shake my head at the whole ordeal. Not just because of the sleaze factor, but because if it hadn't been for the relentless pursuit of this story by a tabloid newspaper, we never would have known the real John Edwards. It's possible that he would be around to pick up the pieces of the Obama administration in the future, if it were the responsibility of the mainstream press to investigate this sort of thing.

It even took the tabloids to report last week that Edwards was under grand jury investigation for possible misuse of his presidential campaign funds. I suppose the major news organizations were too busy looking into the background of Sarah Palin's postman or something.

If he had been a Republican, he never would have gotten out of the baby momma's bed before being caught and we all know that. This sort of thing always leads one to wonder how much we don't know about our politicians that happen to have a "D" before their name. They practically have to run out into the street naked at noon to get the msm's attention.

But I digress. I can only imagine what home life is like for Edwards now. A woman scorned is a woman who will either run for President as well (like Hillary) or will write a book about what a scumbag you are. Elizabeth Edwards is doing the latter.

In her new book,"Resilience: Reflections on the Burdens and Gifts of Facing Life's Adversities, She writes this about when Edwards admitted the affair:

"I cried and screamed, I went to the bathroom and threw up."

I can so relate Elizabeth, I did the same thing when Obama won the Presidency.

Again, I am digressing. Elizabeth writes that baby Momma (Elizabeth never uses her name in the book, so why should I?) seduced Edwards by telling him, "You are so hot."

I'm trying to imagine how that conversation went. Elizabeth asks John how it happened, and this is what he says??? "She told me I was so hot." That is all it took to throw away the respect of his family, the presidency, possible indictment, and any political future? This isn't even good enough stuff for a "Lifetime Channel" afternoon movie.

It might seem that Elizabeth is the complete victim here, especially considering her cancer. But I don't see it that way. Edwards admitted the affair to Elizabeth just days after declaring his candidacy in 2006. She should have insisted he end his campaign then. But she didn't.

The perfect opportunity to avoid this mess was when Elizabeth had a relapse of cancer. Remember that? The Edwards came out to a sunlit yard to face the press. Everyone was assuming that he would quit his candidacy for her. It would have perhaps saved both of them from this total humiliation. Even the tabloids would have left him alone if he had quit because of his wife's illness. But no, the narcissism and ego of Edwards would never allow that.

I have to think that Elizabeth was complicit in this. She wanted the White House as much as he did.

Kind of makes one believe in Karma.

In case you wondered....

How all this swine flu can all start....;-)

via GOC

Remembering Jack Kemp

Jack Kemp was the first Republican I campaigned for after becoming a Republican myself. I met him at a fundraising luncheon here in Houston back in 1987. I believe that if he would have won the nomination and then the Presidency instead of George H. Bush, we would never have had to deal with and be embarrassed by the power hungry Clintons. Imagine that.

Kemp was my kind of guy. A faithful husband, a great father and he was pro-life and pro free market. But he was a "compassionate conservative" that understood that our party needed to reach out to minorities and the poor. As Peter Roff at Fox Forum remembers, Kemp spoke about our responsibility as the party of Lincoln:

"....that as Lincoln’s heirs they had a responsibility to reach out to the poor, the disenfranchised and the nation’s minority communities to show that the GOP had an agenda for them. That it wanted to help them rise up, to succeed, to acquire wealth and to be able to realize the “American Dream,” a better life for their children than they themselves had. "

He was, unlike so many politicians, simply a good man. He understood that the "American Dream" can never be given to someone by the government. It can only be achieved through hard work and self responsibility. It's a lesson so many Americans have yet to learn.

No one understood better how tax cuts generate a better and more prosperous economy.

Peter Roff:

"Kemp became a most enthusiastic supporter of supply-side economics, a theory that essential held that allowing people to keep more of what they earned by cutting tax rates would fuel growth in the economy.

History has proved him right. Today, throughout the world, the supply-side theory is a revealed truth to all those who value hard work, initiative and, above all, liberty."

"I Won't Be a Prop."

With Obama it's all about the show. It's all about the presentation. Once he has made the "impression" to the American people that he feels is necessary, then he just goes ahead and does as he wishes, even if it is the opposite of what is presented.

The press let's him get away with this, but some people do not. (emphasis mine)

In part:

By email (to the Counterterrorism Division) and by regular mail:

The Honorable Eric H. Holder, Jr.
Attorney General of the United States
United States Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue,
NW Washington, D.C. 20530-0001

Dear Attorney General Holder:

This letter is respectfully submitted to inform you that I must decline the invitation to participate in the May 4 roundtable meeting the President’s Task Force on Detention Policy is convening with current and former prosecutors involved in international terrorism cases. An invitation was extended to me by trial lawyers from the Counterterrorism Section, who are members of the Task Force, which you are leading.

The invitation email (of April 14) indicates that the meeting is part of an ongoing effort to identify lawful policies on the detention and disposition of alien enemy combatants—or what the Department now calls “individuals captured or apprehended in connection with armed conflicts and counterterrorism operations.” I admire the lawyers of the Counterterrorism Division, and I do not question their good faith. Nevertheless, it is quite clear—most recently, from your provocative remarks on Wednesday in Germany—that the Obama administration has already settled on a policy of releasing trained jihadists (including releasing some of them into the United States). Whatever the good intentions of the organizers, the meeting will obviously be used by the administration to claim that its policy was arrived at in consultation with current and former government officials experienced in terrorism cases and national security issues. I deeply disagree with this policy, which I believe is a violation of federal law and a betrayal of the president’s first obligation to protect the American people. Under the circumstances, I think the better course is to register my dissent, rather than be used as a prop.

Moreover, in light of public statements by both you and the President, it is dismayingly clear that, under your leadership, the Justice Department takes the position that a lawyer who in good faith offers legal advice to government policy makers—like the government lawyers who offered good faith advice on interrogation policy—may be subject to investigation and prosecution for the content of that advice, in addition to empty but professionally damaging accusations of ethical misconduct. Given that stance, any prudent lawyer would have to hesitate before offering advice to the government.

Written by Andrew C. McCarthy
cc: Sylvia T. Kaser and John DePue National Security Division, Counterterrorism Section

Read the whole thing here. Scroll through the events thing. via NRO

Remember in the press conference when Obama said that he released the CIA memos after careful consulation with his national security team? That gives a certain impression, doesn't it? What he doesn't mention is that they advised him NOT to release the memos.

This is, of course, the same sort of thing.

Kathleen Parker Finally Gets Something Right

An excellent essay on why Pres. Obama should cancel his Notre Dame speech.

The Great Experiment

The press lost any integrity it may have still had during this past Presidential election, but imagine for a moment that Bush's twin daughters went to some swanky private school where school choice allowed 2 underprivileged children to attend (Bush's daughters attended public school btw). Then imagine that under his administration this program was shut down and these two underprivileged children were thrown out of that swanky school and forced to attend a miserably failing public school.

I'm thinking that maybe, just maybe, one of the press would have asked about that in a prime time press conference with the President.

But not so with The One. Instead we get "What has enchanted you the most?" Oh, the adoring press loved it. It's only a matter of time before they have soothing background music during the press conferences with Pres. Obama. Yanni perhaps?

Enchanted. Good grief.

It occurred to me that there is a lot riding on this President. Not only have the Democrats put their whole heart and soul into him, but the media has as well. This really is a sink or swim Presidency.

The left is getting everything they ever dreamed of. With Pres, Bush and the Republicans, it was always a love/hate relationship. Some things about Bush we loved (he kept us safe) and some things we hated (spending). Bush went off the conservative reservation constantly. So he wasn't our Reagan, implementing policy that just about all us would agree with. But Obama is doing what every liberal ever dreamed of. Big spending and big government are the order of the day. Unfettered abortion is well under way. Funding every liberal program that someone like Ted Kennedy ever dreamed of is done. A 20% cut for missile defense and abandoning deploying defenses to Western Europe. Deep cuts into defense procurement programs. Healthcare reform is on the table and will soon be the law of the land. Illegal immigration will once again be ignored. Government intervention in banks and car companies? Done. More involvement of unions than union leaders ever hoped for. And the liberal favorite....more taxing of "the rich."

Yes, this is the stuff of liberal dreams.

Democrat White House. Democrat control of Congress. Enough votes so that those pesky Republicans can stop nothing at all. As Nancy Pelosi put it: "Very exciting, very exciting for the American people, because now we can get things done without explaining process," Pelosi told CNN's Candy Crowley. You got it all.

So this is kind of the great experiment. Let's see if these policies work. Let's see what this country looks like in 2 years. We will have our answer whether liberalism works or doesn't.

God help us all.

Another good one via GOC

Meet Media Lizzy

If you don't know her already. Sorry to keep sending elsewhere, but this is just good.

"100 Days of the Poser Presidency"

Malkin at her best. Go read.

A lefty Admits Bush Kept Us Safe

Contentions finds an astonishing admission in the middle of the usual leftism of Tom Friedman's NYT's piece:

One more 9/11 would close our open society another notch. One more 9/11 and you’ll be taking off more than your shoes at the airport. We have the luxury of having this torture debate now because there was no second 9/11, and it was not for want of trying. Had there been, a vast majority of Americans would have told the government (and still will): “Do whatever it takes.”
So President Obama’s compromise [release memos but not prosecute] is the best we can forge right now: We have to enjoin those who confront Al Qaeda types every day on the frontlines to act in ways that respect who we are, but also to never forget who they are. They are not white-collar criminals. They do not care whether we torture or not — bin Laden declared war on us when Bill Clinton was president.

And here is the "real doozy." Bush kept us safe by going into Iraq:


I believe that the most important reason there has not been another 9/11, besides the improved security and intelligence, is that Al Qaeda is primarily focused on defeating America in the heart of the Arab-Muslim world — particularly in Iraq. Al Qaeda knows that if it can destroy the U.S. effort (still a long shot) to build a decent, modernizing society in Iraq, it will undermine every U.S. ally in the region.
Conversely, if we, with Iraqis, defeat them by building any kind of decent, pluralistic society in the heart of their world, it will be a devastating blow.

"Barack Obama already less popular than Nixon or Carter? Quelle Surprise! (Not)"

Oh, this Brit gets it:

It's official: Barack Obama is the second most reviled newbie president of the last forty years. A gallup survey today published in the Washington Times shows Obama to have an approval rating of just 56 per cent. The only president to have performed worse than that at the end of his first 100 days in office was Bill Clinton -

..............................

Obama's low approval ratings, however, are all of his own making. He campaigned as a healing moderate who would take the US beyond partisan politics and restore the economy; instead he has terrified all those Americans who rightly abhor the idea of adopting European socialist, with the most sweeping advance of the progressive agenda and growth in the power of the state since the days of FDR's New Deal.

Terrified is exactly the right word.

His "Pros and Cons" of Obama's first 100 days must be read in full:

CON:
1. Pantywaist, surrender-monkey, I-feel-your-pain, kowtowing to countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia means that America is no longer just hated in the Muslim world. Now, it is hated AND laughed at AND despised.

2. Swingeing green tax measures will destroy US industry, enrich Al Gore, delight Michael Moore while costing the average US family - in Cap and Trade alone - an extra $3,900 a year.

3. Returning Winston Churchill bust, snubbing British prime minister guarantees that never again will the United Kingdom ride the rescue of the US's sorry ass next time there's another Pearl Harbor.

4. Universal healthcare program will cost US taxpayers at least $650 billion (expect this to expand, like builders' estimates by at least 100 per cent), giving a health service to match Britain's "Envy of the World": ie crowded, filthy, chaotic wards; long waiting lists; lower cancer survival rates; higher death toll; ever-growing expense; a service so bad you'll pay anything in private health insurance to avoid using it...

5. Economy showing no signs of recovery. Why should it? Obama's doing nothing to make it better.

6. US intelligence services rendered embarrassed, powerless and useless, thanks to "torture memos" peevishly released to discredit previous administration.

7. Proposed $2.4 TRILLION in new taxes will disincentivise even the most instinctively hard working Americans. Instead they will go on Atlas Shrugged style strike. Maybe they're right: it could be the only answer.

8. Galloping inflation caused by money printing. US to become next Zimbabwe, only without the elephants to poach and eat to stave off mass starvation.

9. Noises already made about "Right Wing Extremists" - ie war veterans, people with Ron Paul bumper stickers, anyone else who disagrees with any aspect of the progressive Obama program - suggests it won't be long before those 44 per cent (so far) of registered Obama-sceptics hear a midnight knock at the door.

10. Rules - lots and lots more oppressive, Euro-style nanny state style rules governing everything from how Americans dispose of their trash, to race relations to pet care to firearms ownership. It's for Society's good, you understand.

PROs

1. Nice kids
2. Cute-looking dog.
3. The way he offed those 3 Somali pirates was pretty cool.
4. Er....

Sen. John Cornyn is not happy.Neither is RNC chair Michael Steele

The head of the NRSC is not happy with Sen. Arlen Specter's switch to Democrat today (although to all of us out here, this is only acknowledging a long time fact):

“Senator Specter’s decision today represents the height of political self-preservation. While this presents a short-term disappointment, voters next year will have a clear choice to cast their ballots for a potentially unbridled Democrat super-majority versus the system of checks-and-balances that Americans deserve.”

Republican National Chairman Michael Steele:

Some in the Republican Party are happy about this. I am not.

Let’s be honest-Senator Specter didn’t leave the GOP based on principles of any kind. He left to further his personal political interests because he knew that he was going to lose a Republican primary due to his left-wing voting record.

Republicans look forward to beating Sen. Specter in 2010, assuming the Democrats don’t do it first.

The Free Market Republicans and Libertarian Republicans Will Save Us

They will save us not by dissing religious conservatives (hellooo...Meghan McCain, are you listening?), but by promoting the founding father's principles, and focusing on things like the New Resurgent Repulic focuses on: "promoting market-oriented policies, lower taxes and economic growth, and strong national security policies."

Of course our founding fathers had religious principles, and we religious conservatives should continue to remind and educate people on that, but let's face it, Christ always said that we would be unpopular with the world.

Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also (John 15:20).

In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived (2 Timothy 3:12-13).

"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you (Matthew 5:10-12).

People yearn for God, but they don't like the strings attached. They want to do what they wish, if that includes sin, then so be it. Pop stars like Madonna are an example of this. They choose religions like Kabbalah or Scientology because it makes them believe they can have a spiritual relationship with God and still live as selfishly as they wish.

For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths (2 Timothy 4:3-4).

People don't like to be reminded of their selfishness and sin. Which is why religious conservatives get a bad rap, as Christ said we would. Even though we don't claim to be holier, we only claim to be forgiven.

So, it really is time for the free market types (of which most religious conservatives are as well) to step up to the plate and take back our country. It's a message all Americans can relate to. Because although our country was founded on a belief in the Almighty, it was also founded on freedom to accept that or reject it.

Our outreach as Christians should be focused on the Church. Reaching out from there. We need to step back from politics. Certainly not to stop fighting against discrimination or when our religious principles have been attacked, but to lower the aggressive rhetoric coming from religious sources in the political arena.

We are letting the media and the left define our party by oppositon to abortion and gay marriage. They do this to isolate us from the moderate voter. Let's not let them do this anymore. The moderate voter may not agree with us on social issues, but I'd bet they do agree with us on the issues discussed here, but they never hear about these because of the focus on social issues.

What we need to hear now is about the Republicans turning back to smaller government and lower taxes. Expose the waste, the fraud, and the bureaucracy of a bloated federal government. Expose the overreaching of government into our lives and remind people what government is really about. It isn't about being "Daddy." Let's teach our children about state rights.

We need to restore local control in our school districts. We need to take back our schools from the powerful but ineffective teacher's union. We need to get bureaucrats out of education for good. Small businesses need regulatory relief and tax relief to open up more jobs for the American people.

Most of all we need to ONLY elect those who VOW to reduce wasteful spending. This is crucial. Also, protecting our 2nd Amendment rights and making sure our military is well funded and defending our borders.

When it comes to healthcare:

Decisions on medical care should be made by patient and his or her doctor, not by a government employee with a calculator figuring out whether treating your illness is in Washington’s fiscal interest,” said Donny Ferguson, Libertarian National Committee Communications Director.

This is how we need to move forward. No more electing Republicans who compromise with Democrats on these key issues. No more accepting excuses for the way they voted against these principles.

Strong and steady.

Then maybe we can save us from ourselves.

Hmmm.....

Are Doctors in the U.S. being told not to prescribe Tamiflu unless someone has been in contact with a flu victim and had symptoms? It looks like it.

Alan Stevens - New York City, US:

"I presented at Roosevelt hospital in NY this morning to get prescription for Tamiflu and Relenza as we are travelling on to Texas and then Peru where supplies may not be available. The doctors said that they were under instruction not to give out scripts to anyone unless they had been in contact with known carriers and had symptoms."

Photo Op for Air Force One Goes Wrong

People freaked. And who can blame them?

“The flight of a VC-25 aircraft and F-16 fighters this morning was authorized by the F.A.A. for the vicinity of the Statue of Liberty with directives to local authorities not to disclose information about it but to direct any inquiries to the F.A.A. Air Traffic Security Coordinator,” the Police Department said in a statement.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is "furious" over a Department of Defense low-altitude flyover of NYC in the area around Ground Zero this morning, calling it "ill-conceived" and a "waste of taxpayers' money."

Welcome to Obamanation Mr. Mayor, where ill conceived ideas and wasting taxpayer money is a way of governing.

No worries though. To make sure no one blames Obama, a white house official says Obama was "furious" too!

Soon they found their scapegoat:

On Monday afternoon, the Director of the White House Military Office, Louis Caldera, released a statement saying, "Last week, I approved a mission over New York. I take responsibility for that decision. While federal authorities took the proper steps to notify state and local authorities in New York and New Jersey, it's clear that the mission created confusion and disruption. I apologize and take responsibility for any distress that flight caused."


Imagine for a moment if Bush had done this.

We miss Dick Cheney

Priceless:

Nobody knows what Dick Cheney did all day — but whatever it was, it was certainly important. Whenever the government said the Vice President was in a secure, undisclosed location, we pictured Cheney racing through the tunnels under the Greenbrier resort, through the supposedly decommissioned fallout shelter and secret command center entombed beneathe that isolated swath of West Virginia, plotting and scheming and keeping terrorists awake at night, wondering when Darth Cheney would strike and how many of them would live to tell their tales the next day.

Dick Cheney, as Vice President, was the twisted, relentless, ruthless love child Batman and the Penguin biologically could never have. He may even be a robot sent from the future to keep us all from harm. He was, without question, the exact Vice President needed at just the right moment in history. Who knows what he was up to, but we’re certain, 100%, that it helped keep this nation safe for the last eight years.

It’s probably what he’s still working on now, from somewhere secure and undisclosed as you read this.

..........................

So, Mr. Cheney, in whatever undisclosed location you are in right now, just know that a bunch of Hillary Democrats here in Boystown who hated your guts for years now realize what remarkable service you gave this country when we needed your gruff Burgess Meredith meets Michael Keaton self. You were just the quiet badass genius strategist we needed, and we’re sure you pulled no punches and coddled no evil-doer on your watch. You also, we must remind the liberals of the LGBTQ community, were FAR MORE SUPPORTIVE of LGBTQ rights than any Vice President before you, Republican OR Democrat, and you have personally shown more willingness to advance our causes than your successor ever has — and you did this without a single word of thanks from ANYONE, including us. You are a decent man who won’t eat everyone else’s ice cream, because you’ve got more than enough of your own tucked away in whatever secret room you spent almost eight years keeping us all alive with whatever it was you were entrusted with.

Some day, we hope to have the honor of shaking your hand and thanking you in person, Mr. Cheney. Because you deserve not just our thanks, as people who FINALLY appreciate your efforts, but the thanks of the whole nation.

A Tortured Consipracy Theory

"Flu kills the torture memos"

It's like this. The government wanted us to stop talking about the torture memos. The virus likely came from a government lab (3 vials of virus samples went missing from a Maryland facility on April 22nd). A Venture Capital firm that deals with Pandemic and Bio Defense companies, will make a boatload of money off this.

This is the best part. The World Health Organization said the [unique] virus appears to be susceptible to Roche's flu drug Tamiflu. Guess who owns tons of stock in a California biotech company that owns the rights to Tamiflu? That's right, none other than the former defense secretary EVIL Donald Rumsfeld.

Now, this little twist is interesting and scary and TRUE.

The newspaper Reforma reported that President Obama, who recently visited Mexico, was escorted around Mexico City’s national anthropology museum on April 16 by Felipe Solis, an archaeologist who died the next day from flu-like symptoms.

How did I miss that? Was that on news? Googling it gets me NO msm from our country hits.

*update: I'm reading on this blog, that the gentleman in Mexico died of a heart attack, not flu. Very strange.

So what exactly is the conspiracy theory? The last two links tell us:

Is Bush is getting ready to play the Bioterror Card? The GOP cannot steal an inevitable Democratic landslide in November 2008. Will the Bush regime continue its illegitimate rule and empire by implementing a full-blown police state, in the aftermath of an avian flu pandemic or (Bush-engendered) bioterror attack?

It seems Bush is a bit late on implenting global panic, but better late than never I suppose.

Good grief.

The Disabled Protest Obama

ABC News' Jake Tapper and Sunlen Miller report:

Police have started to arrest some of the disabled protestors picketing outside the White House right now. Almost all of the 400 demonstrators are in wheelchairs."Shame on you, Obama is a liar! Shame on you, Obama is a liar!" some are chanting.They're here from all over the country -- Texas, Montana, New York, Pennsylvania -- to protest what they see as President Obama not sufficiently supporting the Community Choice Act, a bill that would amend the Social Security Act to provide those with disabilities and older Americans the ability to use federal funding for community-based attendant services instead of just for nursing homes.

Pic here.

Let me take this moment once again to encourage you to do something yourself to help the disabled.

This is a gifted and wonderful young man named Matt Proctor. He attends Texas A&M University and his fraternity, Pi Kappa Phi sends selected young men on "The Journey of Hope" benefiting "Operation Push," a charity where ALL proceeds go to help people with disabilities. It is a three team, 80 man bike ride from San Francisco across the entire country, ending in Washington D.C. in mid-August. Almost every day the team stop in a new town and visits centers and events for people with disabilities to mentor and spend time with those with disabilities. They bring awareness to each community in what the community can do to include and help those dealing with a disability.

Read Matt's own words here. Donate here.

It's tax deductible and an accredited charity. It would mean a lot to me if you could give what you can.

Swine Flu

Since no one is talking about this......;-)

When Biden said Obama was going to be tested, he wasn't kidding. I figure it's only a matter of time before the plague of locusts.

Discuss.

They can't change the past

Former CIA chief Goss: (via HotAir)

Today, I am slack-jawed to read that members claim to have not understood that the techniques on which they were briefed were to actually be employed; or that specific techniques such as “waterboarding” were never mentioned. It must be hard for most Americans of common sense to imagine how a member of Congress can forget being told about the interrogations of Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed. In that case, though, perhaps it is not amnesia but political expedience.

Let me be clear. It is my recollection that:

– The chairs and the ranking minority members of the House and Senate intelligence committees, known as the Gang of Four, were briefed that the CIA was holding and interrogating high-value terrorists.

– We understood what the CIA was doing.

– We gave the CIA our bipartisan support.

– We gave the CIA funding to carry out its activities.

– On a bipartisan basis, we asked if the CIA needed more support from Congress to carry out its mission against al-Qaeda.

I do not recall a single objection from my colleagues

Ok, now that we know that Pelosi (Madame Speaker, elected as leader by her fellow Democrats I might add) was fully aware of our interrogation techniques and never uttered a peep of objection to anyone, even privately as far as we can tell, I think it's time to call bull on the left's outrage unless they extend their outrage to their own leadership.

Like that's going to happen.

Because this was never about moral indignation. This was always about political theatre.

You will have to excuse me when I laugh every time a liberal says that we lost "our moral authority" with the interrogations. Maybe they should look up the word "moral" as they advocate abortion, pornography, gay marriage, and all assortment of things that might not be considered "moral."

*Had to add this. From the WSJ:

Yet last week Mr. Obama overruled the advice of his CIA director, Leon Panetta, and four prior CIA directors by releasing the details of the enhanced interrogation program. Former CIA director Michael Hayden has stated clearly that declassifying the memos will make it more difficult for the CIA to defend the nation.

Some might say THAT was immoral.

This is what happens when there is no basis for morality. It shifts with the wind, or in the case, the political wind.

As Noemie Emery points out here in a Townhall piece, Democrats always like to forget when they approved of things that they later see would do them better politically to be against.

We all remember the video of all the Democrats who demanded Saddam be removed and warned us of his ability and probability of having WMD's. I can't find the one we all saw a couple of years ago, but this video has the same lovely summary (including Madame Speaker).

The Democrats don't like to remember those statements about Iraq and Saddam listed in the video above. Because it shows their complete and utter hypocrisy on the issue. They knew without a doubt that Saddam was dangerous and was supportive of the President at the time of taking Saddam down.

This is clearly the same thing. I believe that Pelosi felt at the time of the interrogations, that what we were doing was needed to keep our country safe. Agree or disagree with that, it doesn't matter. Pelosi was a part of it. The trumped up outrage is nothing more than drama put out there to paint a false picture of the reality at the time.

If the left want to see Bush punished for what he did to keep us safe after 9-11, then Pelosi and all those who knew about the interrogations would have to punished as well. When I see the left calling for that, then they might have some credibility.

Noemie has this thought as well:

Let's get at the truth, not merely about the administration before this one, but of all of the ones that came before that. If we prosecute people in government who try to save American lives by doing "harsh" things to America's enemies, why should we stop at 2001? There's President Truman, who dropped two atomic bombs on Japan, killing and injuring tens of thousands of innocent people. Impeach him in retrospect, for the women and children. Talk about harsh. Go back before him, and impeach FDR: Without him, there would have been no Manhattan Project, specifically conceived to be "harsh" on the enemy

You think the left is really outraged? I don't. This is really only about one thing. No matter what is said or written in the future about Pres. George Bush there is one fact they can never change;

Bush kept us safe after 9-11 from another attack. He promised he would do everything possible to do that, and he did.

This is a fact they cannot stand. They must damage it or diminish it in some way. That is what this about.

It's really quite sad and pathetic when you think about it. Their anger being a result of innocent Americans not being blown to bits or being flown into buildings. "DAMN George Bush for the war on terror working out that way! DAMN HIM!"

Oh, they will never admit it. I doubt they even admit it to themselves. What else can explain the warped sense of anger that pervades the left? Even as they have won the White House and the Congress, their anger seethes.

They can't change the past. So they will only try to sully it.

Go Liz

For some reason I can't embed this video, but please check out Liz Cheney (Dick Cheney's daughter) explaining how and what was decided in interrogations. She does an excellent job of going against a preening liberal msm host.

I think I'd rather see this daughter on places like "The View" than McCain's daughter, who is an embarrassment frankly.

Journey of Hope (Bumped)

You guys know that I don't have a paypal button and I never have fundraisers for the writing I do here. But every once in a while I have a charity or a need that I encourage you guys to give to if you can. This is one of those charities.

This is a gifted and wonderful young man named Matt Proctor. He attends Texas A&M University and his fraternity, Pi Kappa Phi sends selected young men on "The Journey of Hope" benefiting "Operation Push," a charity where ALL proceeds go to help people with disabilities. It is a three team, 80 man bike ride from San Francisco across the entire country, ending in Washington D.C. in mid-August. Almost every day the team stop in a new town and visits centers and events for people with disabilities to mentor and spend time with those with disabilities. They bring awareness to each community in what the community can do to include and help those dealing with a disability.

Read Matt's own words here. Donate here. It's tax deductible and an accredited charity.

It would mean a lot to me if you could give what you can.

Mass Suicide?

The hate filled insane "church" that leaves all of us, left and right, disgusted may be planning to either die or fly to mars. The following blog post was left at the Fred Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church. What do you think? From the post: (Coo coo alert!)

"We are particularly urgent about it, because the time is shortly to come when we will grant you your wicked wish, Doomed america! Your smart-assed pundits and foul-mouthed politicians have for years told us to pack up and leave if we don’t like this filthy little cancerous boil on the butt of the earth. You all think you’re so clever that you can come up with such cutesy little quips. You’re collectively so Bible dumb that you don’t know what you’re saying. So let me help you out.

"Look at the examples in scriptures when a nation – or world – of Godless rebels cry out at God’s patient Saints to get the hell out! Noah got on the ark and God shut the door – then the entire population of the world was wiped out. YAY!

"Lot tried to get his sons-in-law to listen and leave Sodom with him – but they liked their country and told him he was crazy. He left. They were toast! YAY!

"Before God wholly wiped out the greatest army in history, he had to get his people to “come out with great substance”. (Genesis 15:14) YAY!

We gotta go, peeps! We gotta go! And when we do, it’s time for this filthy nation to receive of all the plagues that your Creator has promised. The reason there is such urgency in those words … such passion in the irresistible call from our Saviour, Husband, and Friend … is because when that time comes for this rebellious nation – which is spiritually called Babylon and has become literally Babylon by the inexplicable and forcible snatching of that Mesopotamian land where ancient Babylon sat – it is going to be very fast and very violent, such that all mankind is utterly and simply amazed.
...
"So when you see us drop in, tell you about why God has begun your march to destruction, and then get out – it’s because the time is short. We have a job to do, and very little time to do it...When we’re done, we will leave your filthy land and be placed safely out of the reach of the horror that will then land upon you swiftly and certainly – in one hour."

I would never want anyone to commit suicide, but if the plan is to fly to mars, I am all for it!

via Towleroad

A Chilling Look at Pakistan

From Behind The White Coat:

The Swat Valley is one of Pakistan's most lush, picturesque and culturally rich areas. It is to the north of Islamabad, and holds Peshawar to the West. At one time, it was the most popular tourist destination in the country.... Now, however, there are no tourists going to Swat, and that's because it is essentially under the control of the Taliban. The militant forces of the Taliban have fought through the Pakistani forces, in months of bloodshed to aquire control of the region.

They have even forced the Pakistani government to concede into allowing them to practice Islamic Law - or Sharia, in the region, which was granted as part of a cease fire to avoid more bloodshed. They have pushed it even farther now, by using their cowardly yet successful strategy of targeting the poor and uneducated. They have continued to exploit the class rift that exists in Pakistan by concocting a bloody revolution in Swat by recruiting the lower classes to turn on the wealthy and forced out all the landowners who held the power in the region. Now with the installment of Islamic law, they pretty much can jail or even execute anyone they want if they deem them un-islamic, so nobody is in a hurry to try and get back to the region...

So wait a minute now... Are we saying that Swat has basically become a Taliban-run region? Well essentially, yes... Going through areas in Swat these days could compare to the Taliban-occupied times of Afghanistan... And the fingers of the Taliban continue to creep through the sands of the land, scooping up more and more support from local regional people--who really don't know any better. With U.S. missle strikes taking out civilians along with their Taliban targets, recruiting the local people for their cause is easy when it is primarily billed as a war against America and the West, and ridiculous claims that it is God's will. They take advantage of the people's poverty, suffering, and losses, and sadly, it works very well. There was a great documentary that a friend of mine worked on that aired on Frontline on PBS (link). In it, they show first hand accounts and stories from people and children and even Taliban in the Swat region. It shows life existing for these people under the Taliban rule, in a chilling environment of fear. Taliban propganda blaring on the radio, patrols, zero women's rights, executions, etc. Watching it will make you angry--as they bomb schools within the region, and banish any sort of education but their own, smiling and speaking and preaching their ways as if it is the only possible truth. Seeing the young kids that are being provided an "education" by the Taliban at one of their many maddrasses, telling us how they one day hope to join the Taliban's war against America, and how they would feel honored if chosen for a suicide bomb mission. Watching those young boys, you can already see the emptiness growing in the place where the soul is supposed to grow. Now taken over by the clouded vision of the Taliban, molesting the word of God and the way of Islam into a twisted vehicle of terror. The ones who oppose the Taliban and hope for a different future remain quiet, and can only pray that things will change. It really makes you sad knowing this is happening like wildfire, and we can do little about it.

Friday Stuff

The oceans haven't stopped rising since Obama took office, and it's no wonder.

Oh Goody! The Pentagon is preparing to release new photos that show alleged prisoner abuse at Gitmo and other military detention facilities . (not as bad as those from Abu Ghraib they say)

"Some show military personnel intimidating or threatening detainees by pointing weapons at them. Military officers have been court-martialed for threatening detainees at gunpoint."

Hmmm....

This should continue help our reputation around the world that the left worries so much about, while at the same time outrage radical Muslims who will use it against us! What could possibly go wrong? Doesn't matter. All that matters is getting Bush.

Next up on Obama's list (because he really is quite bored, nothing really going on in the world at all) is HEALTHCARE LEGISLATION! Hold on to your insurance card, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

doublpusundead takes a look at Obama's leadership selections.

I'm sincerely starting to think Obama's going to yell "LOL! Punkd!", as I'm struggling to understand how so many Obama appointments can be so wrong.

have a Treasury Secretary with tax problems;
we have a Secretary of State who wants to overcharge our relations with Russia;
we have a head of the CIA whose intelligence experience consists of how to sneak the bimbos in and out of Clinton's White House;
we have a Director of National Intelligence who has a history of human rights violations;
we have a judge-shopping Attorney General;
we have a Secretary of Education who's planning on 'fixing' No Child Left Behind because his former school district was unable to meet its standards;
we have a Secretary of Labor who was on the board of directors of a pro-labor lobbying group;
we have a Homeland Security Secretary who thinks Canada and veterans are our nation's greatest threats

This is hilarious. Frank J. Fleming at Pajama's media wonders if we elected Borat:

In fact, no one seemed to catch on at all during the campaign, and now he’s gotten elected president and keeps trying even wackier stunts. Bowing to the Saudi king, giving a DVD set he bought at Costco to a foreign leader, giving an iPod to the queen of England — they’re all obvious comedy bits. And then there’s his budget. Like every month he throws another trillion on it to see how far he can go before we figure out it’s all a gag.

Funny, right? Except it really isn't. We laugh so we won't cry.

"Biden Less Popular Than Cheney Was 8 years Ago"

This is nice to read. Cheney has been painted as "Darth Vader" by the left and he is anything but that. This is a man who gave 7 million dollars of his own money to charities for the poor when Joe Biden couldn't find a charity to give to his whole life.

Cheney was an evil rightwinger, but when his one of his daughters came out as gay, he embraced and loved her and took her with him on the campaign trail.

His daughters, btw, have always made him proud and he has said so many times.

Biden's daughter gets arrested for a brawl and busted for underage drinking and no one hears about it because the press is too busy following the daughter of the woman who isn't our Vice President (Oh God, I wish she were).

The Bush girls order one margarita while in college and all we hear about is how they were party girls. Al Gore's son gets arrested in 2007 for going 100mph with pot and an assortment of drugs including Xanax, Valium, Vicodin and Adderall in the car and this was after a 2003 pot arrest and a 2002 driving under the influence arrest, and yet I never hear a word about him being a partier (or an actual abuser of drugs, which is what he is/was).

I would think Al Gore's son or Biden's daughter might be the more interesting ones to follow around, but Bristol is the one they go after. Go figure.

Crap

Had to add the above map from Infidels are cool. From him:

All the areas in red are Taliban controlled, the areas in orange are basically divided (at war), the areas in yellow are Taliban “influenced” and those teeny weeny green spots? Yea, that’s the Pakistan gov’t control.
In other words, the capital of Pakistan is next on their list, and guess where the nukes are?

Pakistan is a 'mortal threat' to world, says Clinton as Taliban surge towards Islamabad

'I think the Pakistani government is basically abdicating to the Taliban and the extremists,' she added. (Clinton told the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee.)
................................

Residents claim militants have occupied police stations and that gun-toting fighters were roaming marketplaces urging people to support Sharia law. Taliban fighters have also set up checkpoints and are patrolling roads. Many police and government officials appear to have either fled or are keeping a low profile.
....................................

He said the militants have also warned barbers to stop shaving men's beards and stores to stop selling music and movies. The militants have established a major base in the village of Sultanwas and have set up positions in the nearby hills, the police official said.
Taliban have also taken over the shrine of a famed Sufi An attack on the NATO truck depo in Peshawar, near the Afghan border, only confirmed the deteriorating security situation.
......................................

This is the worst part:

In a recent interview, Swat Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan said al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and other militants aiming to oust the U.S. from Afghanistan would be welcome and protected in Swat — a statement the government condemned.
He said the militants want to see all of Pakistan under Islamic law.

In case you didn't know, Pakistan has a nuclear arsenal.

Bad stuff.

Hypocrisy, thy name is Nancy....

In the ongoing saga of Democrat hypocrisy, we find that Democrats were briefed on waterboarding during the Bush years.

In September 2002, four members of Congress met in secret for a first look at a unique CIA program designed to wring vital information from reticent terrorism suspects in U.S. custody. For more than an hour, the bipartisan group, which included current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), was given a virtual tour of the CIA's overseas detention sites and the harsh techniques interrogators had devised to try to make their prisoners talk.
Among the techniques described, said two officials present, was waterboarding, a practice that years later would be condemned as torture by Democrats and some Republicans on Capitol Hill. But on that day, no objections were raised. Instead, at least two lawmakers in the room asked the CIA to push harder, two U.S. officials said.

There were 30 of these types of briefings, descriptions of that technique and other harsh interrogation methods were given at many of these.

With one known exception, no formal objections were raised by the lawmakers briefed about the harsh methods during the two years in which waterboarding was employed, from 2002 to 2003, said Democrats and Republicans with direct knowledge of the matter. The lawmakers who held oversight roles during the period included Pelosi and Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) and Sens. Bob Graham (D-Fla.) and John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), as well as Rep. Porter J. Goss (R-Fla.) and Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan).

Isn't this just so typical? How long have we heard the howls from Pelosi?

EVEN TODAY, Pelosi calls for "a truth commission." It would be nice to hear "truth" from she herself:

WASHINGTON - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has stepped up Democrats' calls to form a torture "truth commission," urging President Obama not to give immunity to anyone who illegally abused terror thugs.

Is Pelosi for not giving immunity to Congressmen/women like herself, who knew about these "tortures" and raised no formal objections?

"Among those being briefed, there was a pretty full understanding of what the CIA was doing," said Goss, who chaired the House intelligence committee from 1997 to 2004 and then served as CIA director from 2004 to 2006. "And the reaction in the room was not just approval, but encouragement."

This pretty much affirms my earlier post. Those leaders in our government, both Republicans and Democrats, knew what we were doing and thought they were doing the best thing at the time, whether we agree with them or not. The outrage we now hear from Democrats is fake outrage for political purposes.

It seems Code Pink was all over this in 2007. You have to give them credit. They aren't hypocrites. They are truly against war and will call out even the Democrat leader, speaker of the house, Nancy Pelosi when she misleads and fakes outrage.

This story about Pelosi did come out in 2007, but it was sorta ignored by the general public.

Don't think Pelosi didn't have the opportunity to say something early on:

Not only did the Congressional Gang of Four fail to inform the public about the use of torture by our government, but it also kept the 9/11 Commission in the dark. Pelosi testified before the commission on May 22, 2003, but uttered not a word of caution about the methods used.

If you would like to see how Nancy Pelosi danced around this, look at this transcript from Fox News back in 2007:

WALLACE: The president now says that the leadership, the Congress, was fully informed, and that this is not torture.

First question: Were you ever briefed about this policy or the secret Justice Department memos?

PELOSI: Well, in order to know if I'm briefed about it, I'd have to be briefed about it now. What exactly is the president talking about? Yes, let me get my credentials right out there. I'm the longest-serving member of Congress on the intelligence committee, both on the committee and ex officio as a leader. So we have been briefed on some tactics used by the administration.
But I'd have to see what we're talking about here, because this is -- all I know is what I've read in the New York Times.

Oh boy, that's the kind of answer one gets from a teenager when you ask if he has been at a party he was forbidden to go to.

So if you are all upset about how our country tortured, then direct your anger at both parties. At least you should if you don't want to join Nancy in being a hypocrite.

The Post Office Nightmare

I needed to get my two younger sons passports. I looked online and saw that a post office near me has a passport office. The hours were 10:30-3:30 M-F guaranteeing that one had to miss work and/or school to go. I took the boys out of school at 11:30am hoping that they would only miss lunch at school.

Two hours later it wasn't even worth taking them back to school. Did I mention there were only five people in front of me?

I stopped mailing things through the post office years ago and only use UPS. Evey time I went I had to wait a minimum of 45 mins to mail a package.

But with passports you aren't given a choice of a private company to choose from. They have you completely trapped. Several people left in the line behind me because they had to get back to work by 1:00.

There was only one worker in an office behind a door. When someone would leave it would take a least five to ten minutes before they asked the next one in. The worst part to me is that there were no chairs. Even the even less efficient DMV has chairs when you have to wait hours.

The people in line to mail packages didn't have it much better. There were five windows, but only one worker. One poor woman had four small children with her. By the time she got to the window they were irritable and whiny and who could blame them? I was irritable and whiny.

As I waited in line for all that time I knew there was the distinct possibility that I might not have the right documents. Once, with one of my teenagers, I went to the DMV where I waited in line 1 hour for the information desk just to be told that I needed his social security card. I had a print out of the DMV website where it clearly stated that one did NOT need the SS card. I showed it to her and she just shrugged and said that I did indeed need it. So we drove 25 mins back home, got the card and went back and waited another hour and half for him to take the test.

So, this time I had every document my children possess whether the documents were listed on the website or not. I also saw on the passport website that Passport photos are taken at the post office I was going to. But I took no chances and got their photos made at Walgreens. Good thing, because when we got to the front of the line there is a small sign that says "no photos of children under 16 taken." It might be nice to have that on website. But what can we expect? Also, why exactly can't they take photos of children under 16?

Which brings me to my question. Why do we put up with this? When I twittered about this I must have gotten 50 responses from people who all agreed. We have all had experiences like this.

We should have a tea party for the sole purpose of protesting the inefficiency of government agencies that trap us into using them and give us lousy service.

All I could think of while I was waiting in line is THESE ARE THE PEOPLE OBAMA WANTS RUNNING OUR HEALTHCARE! That is a complete nightmare.

When the time comes for Obama's big healthcare push we should just simply put up video (real video) of people standing in line in post offices and DMVs across the country, waiting and waiting with no chairs, no help, no efficiency. And at the end of watching about a minute of this have the line "Welcome to government run healthcare."

Maybe we can't do much about the post office or the DMV, but we sure as heck can prevent another bloated bureaucracy running something that all of us need.

You Would Have Done The Same

This is the thing regarding the interrogation techniques we used after 9-11. It's all fine and good that we step back and look at what we did and decide not to do that anymore. But I have about had it with the self righteous left that thinks anyone should be prosecuted because of it, including the lawyers who formed the legal opinions at the time that saw intense interrogation techniques (or torture, whatever you wish to call it) as legal under our constitution.

The left can insist they were wrong and that is fine. We can move forward differently, if that is what we decide. But let's not pretend that things were quite different right after 9-11. We had just watched as innocent America citizens had to decide between burning to death or jumping from the World Trade Center to an equally horrific death. We heard the goodbyes on voice mails as the news played them over and over, and we cried. We all cried. It was almost too painful. Even those of us who didn't lose anyone personally felt the deep grief within us.

So we catch one of the planners. We know he knows a lot because of information gathered on his computer. He tells us that we will soon see another 9-11. That is the atmosphere that the CIA agents and the Bush administration found themselves in. Because of waterboarding this man ( a technique our own Navy and Air Force are trained in by the way), we saved people in L.A. (and ourselves) from another horror show courtesy of Al Qaeda.

There are thousand things you and I would never do. But if someone puts a gun to the head our child, there are a thousand things we suddenly would do. And if you tell me you wouldn't, you lie.

Bush had a choice. Prevent more dead Americans or skate the line of torture. You are telling me you wouldn't have done the same?

Was it wrong? Was it unconstitutional? We can argue that point. We can say it was or wasn't and move on. But you cannot prosecute people for doing what they thought was right at the time. We cannot make a circus of the tough decisions made at the time.

Of course, if Bush hadn't made that tough decision and another 9-11 would have occurred, we wouldn't be talking about torture right now, we would be talking about how Bush couldn't keep us safe and the horror of another day watching Americans die.

I think that is why Pres. Bush sleeps well every night.

Update: Jeff Jacoby, who has all along been against any kind of torture, gives a thoughtful ccomment on the politics surrounding the memos.

Update2: Obama's top man in intelligence sends memo that "enhanced interrogation" techniques worked.

Smoke and Mirrors

Obama is all about the smoke and mirrors isn't he? He demands his cabinet cut $100 million in spending, knowing that that is all Americans will really hear. It sounds like a good chunk of change to most people, right? They will say to themselves, "See? Pres. Obama trying to cut costs too." We, who pay attention know that this the equivalent of you and I not buying a cup of coffee for one day. It's all about perception. We on the right can blog all day about how minuscule it is, but the general population will never hear us. Which poses the life long question. If someone blogs in the forest and no one reads it, did it even really happen?

Meanwhile Obama proposed a $100 billion U.S. loan to the International Monetary Fund to boost the IMF’s war chest and urged a bigger stake in the IMF for emerging powers like China and India.

Obama is like a teenage girl left at a mall with a black American Express Card paid by a VERY rich uncle. There is no spending he won't do.

There is nothing like the feeling of spending other people's money I suppose.

Releasing just the CIA memos they wished to release, is an example of the same thing. Obama releases memos hoping everyone will be properly horrified at our interrogation techniques and he looks like a hero that saved us from having a terrible reputation overseas.

But Dick Cheney is having none of it. He wants all of us to see the memos that showed how the techniques saved us from the real horrors of another attack.

Let's see, shall we have a better reputation or shall we not have American blood smeared streets the likes of 9-11? I think I'll take the latter.

I say we really see this "transparency" thing Obama was always talking about and hasn't done yet, and let us see ALL the memos and decide for ourselves.

Yes, I realize that means the outcome of opinion can't be managed like his well oiled campaign, but it is "transparency" after all.

Update: CIA defends itself completely:

The Central Intelligence Agency told CNSNews.com today that it stands by the assertion made in a May 30, 2005 Justice Department memo that the use of “enhanced techniques” of interrogation on al Qaeda leader Khalid Sheik Mohammed (KSM) — including the use of waterboarding — caused KSM to reveal information that allowed the U.S. government to thwart a planned attack on Los Angeles.

Let's decide who we trust more to do the right thing. The CIA agents determined to stave off another attack after 9-11 or the nancy lawyers the likes of the ACLU, who never met a patriot they liked?

Read HotAir for more.

Buy a Tea Party T-shirt

I know the left claims the GOP or conservative think tank groups are funding the tea parties, but the reality is that the organizers paid for it themselves. If you want to help offset our costs, buy a cool T-shirt!

The Presidential Bigot?

Frank Rich of the NYT has a piece titled "The Bigot's Last Hurrah" where he names all the usual conservative suspects who are against gay marriage.

Rich blasts religious conservatives like Rick Warren, Glenn Beck, and Sarah Palin and their 'backward' ideas regarding gay marriage. He sees their "softening" on the issue as something new, when in reality it has always been their view to not alienate or condemn gays. He did forget one "bigot" though.

Barack Obama.

Barack Obama, like most of us conservatives (myself included), has said that he supports civil unions but is against gay marriage. In an interview with the Chicago Daily Tribune, Obama said, "I'm a Christian. And so, although I try not to have my religious beliefs dominate or determine my political views on this issue, I do believe that tradition, and my religious beliefs say that marriage is something sanctified between a man and a woman."

Just exactly how is that different from what Rick Warren believes?

It isn't different. Rich is just a prime example of the growing hypocrisy of the left.

Another "bigot" he fails to mention? Hillary Clinton. Hillary was quoted in The New York Daily News as saying, "Marriage has got historic, religious and moral content that goes back to the beginning of time, and I think a marriage is as a marriage always has been, between a man and a woman."

Rich believes that the case against "equal rights for gay families" is getting more and more difficult to argue on "nonreligious" grounds. He might ask Pres. Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton why they continue to argue it from that perspective then.

Could it be that Rich doesn't think President Obama or Hillary Clinton are being honest with us? Or do they get a pass because they are Democrats?

Another group not mentioned? 70% of blacks voted There is one group Rich ignores as well. 70% of blacks backed Prop. 8 against gay marriage in California. I would like to ask Frank Rich if they are "bigoted" as well? If so, then why put all the blame on Republicans and not mention them?

I wrote about my beliefs and thoughts on gay marriage back in 2006 and it hasn't changed. We can argue laws, beliefs, and what marriage and sex means to each of us, but there really is only one thing that matters. My post ends with this:

In the end, the things in this life that the world tells us is so important; sex, money, fame, and even comfort, are not who we are. They are not what gives us peace. They are not what our soul thirsts for. Whether we believe or realize it, our soul thirsts for the One who gave us life.

It is in that union we find all that matters.

The Worst Torture Technique

The release of the CIA memos regarding harsh interrogation techniques issued by the Justice Department in the days following 9/11, have brought out the leftist outrage again on torture.

I get the arguments over torture, I really do. But I have to ask this question. Where is the outrage from the left over the greatest torture method of all, blowing off someone's head?

Pres. Obama authorized our Navy Seals to do just that when pirates took an American Captain hostage. He did that to save the Captain's life. So can someone tell me the difference when our government is trying to save the lives of many when using harsh interrogation techniques?

Isn't more humane to waterboard someone and then let them live than to blow their heads off?

Dead is forever after all.

I'm just asking the question

Christopher Buckley, who is clearly trying to get his conservative street creds back, says this:

It is, yes, good that we're not torturing anymore, but let's not get sanctimonious about how awful it was watching 3,000 Americans die at the hands of fanatics who would happily detonate a nuclear bomb. And let us m ove on. There is pressing business. (Are you listening, ACLU? Hel-lo?)

I'm not justifying torture here. Let's just say that's above my pay grade. But the left is never equal in their outrage, are they?

Homos For Freedom

The GayPatriot sure found some diversity at his Santa Monica Tea Party. Seems there isn't much difference between us when it comes to believing in liberty.

Smart Girl Politics

Smart Girl Politics is all about the conservative woman (men are allowed to join though). It's brand new grass roots organization. We had a great meet up last night.