Tony Blair and Bob Geldof. This one MUST be captioned!

Ah Yes. Another Texas Governor who says what he thinks. Heh.

"From Channel 13’s Ted Oberg:
Governor Rick Perry had some parting words for an Eyewitness News reporter that may raise your eyebrows.
It was an innocent enough interview about the special session beginning in Austin. But the way it ended is where the questions begin.
Our questions were not recorded on tape, but in saying goodbye I told the governor, "Try as I may, Governor, I guess I can’t win this one."
Eleven seconds after he said goodbye, the camera crew was getting ready for the next interview with another station. That’s when Gov. Perry repeated what he thought I’d said, and added a few words of his own with his microphone on and tape still rolling.
"Try as I may, Governor, I’m not going to wait that long," Gov. Perry said. "Adios, Mofo." This is the kind of thing I want the Governor to say. But I want him to say it to David Dewhurst."

PBS Funding. Is it worth It?

Many of you have been asking to see my PBS funding post that they deleted over at UPC. I didn't have a copy of it, so I re-wrote it from memory. It has some changes, but most of it I could remember. Ironically I had no desire to write on PBS, but Goosefive who was posting that same day asked me to counter his. So I did. I am sure it wasn't just this post that got me kicked out. UPC and I just couldn't agree on anything. It was that simple. Anyway, it just so happens luckily that since UPC changed over to a new site they failed to delete my 3 posts from the old site. So I copied them and I have them as well. If any of you didn't get to read them and would like me to re-post them here, let me know. Anyway, here is the post on PBS.


The recent fight in Congress over reducing PBS funding is centered around the liberal politics of PBS. As Peggy Noonan says, "arguing over whether PBS is and has long been politically liberal is like arguing over whether the ocean is and has long been wet. Of course it is, and everyone knows it."

Peggy argues that PBS's programming should be reserved art and science and history. It is when they approach politics that it has the liberal reputation it has. Works of Shakespeare and Eugene O'Neil would never be shown on prime time TV. We need these programs. I recently watched a musical symphony called "Celtic Women" and it was one of the most moving and beautiful things I have listened to in a long time. But partisan politics diminishes what should be educational.

For example, I watched the last program of "Now" that Bill Moyer's hosted. (his new replacement is simply a young Moyers ideologically speaking) Moyer's last program was about the vast rightwing conspiracy. He began the program being dishonest. He called Sean Hannity of Fox News an "anchor." A total lie. As we all know, Hannity is a partisan commentator and has a liberal counterpart on the show, Allan Colmes, which Moyers conveniently never mentions. Brit Hulme, Chris Wallace, and Shepard Smith are "anchors." They give us the hard news, the "fair and balanced" news. Moyers was obviously not able to come up with any indication of those anchors being partisan though, so he used Hannity to make it look as if he were an anchor. This wasn't a small mistake either. It was deliberate. He put clips of Brit Hulme and Sean Hannity side by side. Then he goes on to show Hannity on his tour before the election being all "partisan." As if it were like Peter Jennings going out before audiences and telling people to vote for Kerry before the election. Hannity has never claimed to be anything but what he is, a devout Republican partisan pundit. He is certainly no anchor of news.

Moyer's also insisted that a lie was put out by the rightwing that Saddam was somehow connected to 9-11. He had no clips to show because that, of course, was never said nor implied by Fox News or Bush for that matter. Moyers proves it though by saying that 41% of those surveyed thought Saddam had something to do with 9-11. I hate to break it to Moyers, but 41% of the American people can't tell you where Poland is or who is the Sec. of State. Not because they are ignorant, but because they just don't care. How he figures it is Fox's fault that people believe that is beyond me.

It is that kind of programming that needs to be eliminated. Hillary stands in front of the camera protesting the cuts with Clifford the Big Red Dog behind her as if cartoons will cease to be if funding is cut, when in truth, all she is worried about is the liberal mouthpiece of PBS being shut down.

I say we fund PBS, but with rules and conditions of fair political balance if they insist on politics. In my opinion William Buckley Jr. was the only real conservative PBS ever had and he has been long gone.

Taxpayers fund PBS. Why ask Republicans to fund the opposition? We all fund it, let's have balance then.

Love Is A Battlefield.

The following is a re-post from the end of September of 2004. I have an update at the bottom.

Sometime between teaching my son to drive and throwing my daughter's Britney Spear's CD away, ("why mom???!!", "Uh.. lets see, when she is not dressing like a prostitute, she looks like white trash. She sings a haunting melody about masturbation and she is so stupid she couldn't get a clue from JLo to NEVER marry one of her dancers!") I realized that I am a mom of teenagers.

When did that happen? Wasn't I just 17 a few years ago?? I feel like I have been thrown down a time tunnel.

In my daughter's whines I hear something familiar, something I know I have heard before. Then it hits me. ITS ME! Is this some sort of cosmic revenge? I have to relive my own overdramatic totally unreasonable emotions? Yes I do. And I can't even complain to my Mom, she just giggles uncrontrollably.

When my daughter was almost 13 I asked her, "please don't be a bratty teenager, please stay the sweet little angel you are now, don't change!" She hugged me tightly and said, "Of course I won't Mom!!".......LIAR!!! After 2 yrs of slammed doors, tears, and proclamations of how I am ruining her life, I asked her "Is my sweet little girl EVER coming back? Huh? Is She? I want to know, because I really really miss her!" My daughter rolls her eyes in disgust, clearly wondering how she lives with such stupidity.

Sometimes when we are arguing a little voice in my head says,
"Whats wrong with a coed pajama party??? Oh, let her wear the skimpy halter top, you had one just like it!! When did you lose your sense of fun, your sense of adventure??" Hmmm.... I'm pretty sure I lost it when I saw "American Pie."

The other day a convertible pulls up with her friends ready to go. I rush outside and tell them to turn down the music so they can hear the traffic, buckle their seat belts, don't even think about drinking, and for God's sake button the top buttons of their shirts! My daughter closes her eyes hoping I will disappear in a puff of smoke. What she doesn't know is that I would give anything to hop in that car with them, turn up the music, have a beer, and remember what it was like to be young and carefree without the worry of motherhood.

At the moment, this job sucks. First, its never fun anymore. Second, I am ALWAYS the bad guy, and third, I can't even get drunk. ( Ok, I know I CAN, I just don't think I should) Maintaining my wise and "lets always do the right thing" attitude is wearing me out. It could just be my situation, but girls are alot harder. People tell me that they return to sanity around 22 or so. Good, just old to enough to pay for my stay in the mental ward. Where I will probably sit in small room with a telephone by my bed muttering "Why hasn't she called? Where is she? She is dead in a ditch! I know it!!"

Luckily my 3 boys seem to stroll through life happy and content. My oldest was born 30, I think. He has just always gotten it. He goes with the flow and obeys the rules (with the normal exceptions). The other two are young, still in that "Gosh, my mommy is so terrific!" stage that is the best part of being a Mom. So, I guess I have the best and the worst parts of being a Mom going on. If anyone has suggestons on how to handle the worst not requiring medication, I would appreciate it. Right now I think I will crank up my old LP of Pat Benatar, "Love is a battlefield." That girl rocked, didn't she?

*Update: After making a few changes, letting her earn my trust and grounding her when she loses it. I have to say that this last year has shown a vast improvement. I knew I needed a way to connect to her again, but we never seem to be able to be together. This year she asked to be in beauty pageant a couple of her friends were going to be in. I had never even watched a beauty pageant nor thought much of them, but then I realized that it would take alot of time getting ready for (and boy did it!) and that we could spend some quality time together. It absolutely worked! We had so much fun shopping for the clothes and makeup. I took her to some classes to prepare. We got to talk in the car a lot. We really just got to know each other again. (She will be competing in the Miss Texas Teen USA pageant at Thanksgiving with the title of our town, which I don't want to give out, but it will be on national TV and I will let you know closer to it)

She matured so much this year. It's nice to have my sweet girl back! We still argue over curfew and such, but for the really important things she has her head on straight.

I know she had to find her own way, I just didn't want her to have regrets. One day when she came home all mad because some people at school had been insulting her faith and she ran to get her Bible and typed up a bunch of verses about what they were arguing about, and brought them to school the next day to show them, I knew that the worse was finally over.

Love is a battelfield, but real love always wins the battle.

A Picture from the San Francisco Gay Pride Parade.

"The parade spilled into an afternoon festival near City Hall, where the decidedly diverse crowd gathered, with a cable car full of gay San Francisco cops and a booth staffed by an expert butt-spanker. Flesh was on wide display, but only camera-toting tourists seemed shocked." via SFgate

An expert butt spanker??? Do gay people really want to be represented this way? Seriously.

This must be the expert:

"Sex was on open display in some areas of the festival. In Leather Alley, "Daddy" Howard Hyatt, 53, spanked a young man on his bare butt -- first with his hand, then with a paddle, then with a brush -- as the man heaved with pain but didn't ask Hyatt to stop. The demonstration was meant as a safe introduction for newbies to dominance and submission."

Oh, feel free to caption. Who could resist?

Captain's Quarters live blogged the President's speech and has an excellent roundup.

Ok, this is in bad taste, but still funny:

"In a surprise move expected to send shock waves through the world of TV journalism, CNN, the original cable news network, and NBC, which owns cable channels MSNBC and CNBC, announced a deal to consolidate their news divisions into a single giant network. The new network, to be called Where the White Women At or WWWA, is set to debut this week. CNN spokesman Jack Little explained the deal at a press conference Monday."

What is wrong with the headline of this article?--

"Brian Williams Explains Why NBC Will Air The President's Address Tonight."

I mean shouldn't the "Big 3" explain why they aren't showing it, if they are not? This is the President of the United States after all. We are at war. Isn't that kinda important?

Isn't this SWEET???

Well, it seems the Unpaid Punditry Core has fired me. So I won't be blogging over there anymore. They deleted all my posts, so that is why the PBS funding post isn't there. I had been asked to join to provide another voice from the right. But I seemed to generate a lot of anger over there though.

It saddens me that we on the both the left and the right can't seem to get through to each other. I think the idea of their blog is great and I hope they can make it work.

This week I am helping to host The Cotillion. A beautiful bunch of conservative women who don't mind speaking their mind! My co-hosts this week are Knowledge is Power, NotADesperateHousewife, and MaxedOutMama.

You are welcome to join the dance by reading:

Beth at My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy grows weary of the anti-war rhetoric and the damage it may be doing to our men and women in uniform.

Merri Musings wonders how burning our flag is somehow free speech. I have often wondered that myself.

Mamamontezz's Mental Rumpus Room tells you men basically to NOT cheat. Seriously. You will regret it.

MaxedOutMama gives us an excellent analysis of the definitions of liberal and conservative from several voices that explain where liberals go wrong.

Knowledge Is Power asks if this is revenge or justice. I'll tell what isn't justice. SondraK not living in Texas and being my best friend....;-)

Little Miss Attila gives us the sadness of the choices we make in her usual very personal and well written fashion.

Portia Redicscovered has more on gitmo and how liberals have no room to make value judgments.

Reasoned Audacity asked us to let Big Bird fly on his own. The PBS saga of budget cuts.

KelliPundit reminds us of the history of anti-Semitism and what it proves to us.

NotADesperateHousewife discusses overmedicating our children in this society.

RightThinkingGirl looks at the relationship between journalists and confidential sources.

The Greatest American.

AOL Television and the Discovery Channel has had the American Public voting for "The Greatest American." The winner is Pres. Ronald Reagan!! (I couldn't agree more)

I also agree with the runners up: 2) Abraham Lincoln 3) Martin Luther King Jr. 4) George Washington 5) Benjamin Franklin.

But here is how some over at DU explain it. You know. Same old song. We are all just so stupid:

"Re: Reagan winning "Greatest American" -- I am **AMAZED** . . . . . . that anyone actually watches the Discovery Channel. But seriously, here's why he won:
1) The poll was conducted by AOL. Hence, it was most heavily advertised on AOL.
2) AOL is the country's most popular dial-up service.
3) With broadband internet becoming steadily more popular and less expensive across the nation, the largest group of AOLers today are probably rednecks -- or, more broadly (and more politely), those who live in rural parts of the country where broadband is not available and cheap.
4) Rednecks vote Republican.
5) There was only one real Republican in the top five. Everyone else was on our side."

You gotta love the consistency of their arrogance.

Isn't it interesting though that "Rednecks" would vote Martin Luther King Jr. in 3rd place??? No rednecks I know would. Such is the liberal logic over at DU.

via Resurrectionsong

Amazing.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court struggled in a pair of 5-4 rulings Monday to define how much blending of church and state is constitutionally permissible, allowing the Ten Commandments to be displayed outside the Texas state Capitol but not inside Kentucky courthouses."

The article goes on to say:

"In effect, the court said it was taking the position that issues of Ten Commandments displays in courthouses should be resolved on a case-by-case basis."

Well how about that! Imagine. The black robes on high don't get to decide for everyone????? You mean we actually get to look at each case and decide for ourselves in our own state???

Wow. What a concept.

Do you want to know what is in the new 'The Truth About Hillary' by Edward Klein, but don't want to give the guy money? PunditGuy is reading it for us! PunditGuy works in the publishing industry. He has decided over the next few weeks to take us through the book a few chapters at a time. (with his perspective, of course!)

Here is a excerpt from the first part:

"The prologue opens with Monica Lewinsky showing up to Bill's fiftieth birthday party in August of 1996. By the time I read the second paragraph, I knew what kind of book this was going to be.

Creepy.

Icky.

Klein recounts a moment when Monica, with her back turned to Bill, reaches behind her and, touches the former president, uh, well...

Yeah, I was grossed out. Straight ahead gratuitousness on the part of Klein.

Once I recovered, it was pretty clear to me who Monica Lewinsky was during this time in her life. She was a hopeless loser. She was the scorned woman, not Hillary. Klein wastes no time proving to his readers that Monica was obsessed with Bill Clinton. I'm talked OBSESSED. Over the top. If even part of the story in the prologue is accurate, Monica is lucky she wasn't put down by Secret Service agents. Obviously, Bill wanted her kept close."

Yeah, it's like looking at a horrible car wreck as you drive by it, you just can't help but slow down and look even though you know you should just keep moving along.

Adam.

National Geographic give us this fascinating news:

"New DNA studies suggest that all humans descended from a single African ancestor who lived some 60,000 years ago. To uncover the paths that lead from him to every living human, the National Geographic Society launched the Genographic Project, headed by Spencer Wells. The quest for "Adam" is the subject of a new television documentary that airs on the National Geographic Channel in the U.S. this Sunday."

Read the rest. It is pretty cool.

Blair's son to work for Republicans.

BBC News gives us this:

"Euan Blair, the prime minister's eldest son, is to work in Washington DC as an intern for Republican politicians."

Interesting.

Although a spokesman said that Euan would also seek an internship with a Democrat politician, it seems what is upsetting to Democrats is the committee that Euan is interning for is the Committee on Rules in the House of Representatives. The Democrats see this committee as highly partisan.
h/t Simon

Political Memories.

I thought I might share some of my political memories in Mississippi. I mentioned one time that my father was asked to run for Governor many times. He was Circuit Clerk of Hinds County at the time. But he always refused. He always said that level of politics was too ugly for him and boy was he right.

When I was a teenager in 1980 my family was rooting for a man for Governor named Bill Allain (a Democrat of course) and a few days before the election the news interviewed 2 black transvestites who claimed to have "been with" Mr. Allain.

Now that might not seem so unusual today, but this was freakin 1980 in the south!!! It was almost comical actually. Mr. Allain ex-girlfriend had to go on TV saying that he had completely normal sexual drives. CRAZY! Well, he won. **

I was gone after that and had nothing to do with politics for a while.

Then in 1992 Republican governor, Kirk Fordice was stopped coming back from Memphis for speeding. It ends up he was in Memphis visiting his mistress. He was divorced soon after.

My brother went to law school with the man who was Governor in 2000. A Democrat named Ronnie Musgrove. During his tenure his wife just up and left the governor's mansion never to be heard from again. Rumors were flying about affairs, but nothing was ever proven.

And then there is this one bizarre memory I have as a kid. My father was a wonderful man as anyone who has read my post on him knows. It wasn't unusual for the mayor or senators or any politician to end up on our doorstep for advice from my father.

When I was around 14 I awoke in the middle of night to see a man at my window. I screamed and I heard him say, "Could you go get your Dad?" Well I shot out of bed and ran to my Mom and Dad's room. Dad rushed out of bedroom and I hid behind the staircase and listened. It was a former senator, who had another elected position now, I can't remember what now. He was completely drunk. I heard my Dad talking in low tones to him at the back door and the man speaking loudly back slurring his words. All I could understand is that the man was in some sort of legal trouble and it seemed my Dad was the only possible person who could save him. ( my Dad had been a lawyer) Anyway, Dad called the man's wife to come get him and the man did end up in federal prison, but I can't remember what the charge was. I just remember my Dad referring to him later saying, "Poor guy, but he was guilty as hell."

And Finally, at my wedding reception I have on tape many prominent Mississippi politicians competely DRUNK making hilarious toasts to me. At the end of the tape after my husband and I had left to catch a plane in New Orleans, the mayor is heard on the tape saying, "Lets make a call and get them stopped in Delo," which was a small town outside of Mississippi. They wanted to "scare" us with a traffic stop. (Great use of political power, eh?) But my Mom can be heard clearly in the background, "NO! No! Just leave them alone! Let them get there."

Isn't political life fun???

** I did get the name wrong on Cliff Finch as one RUDE commenter pointed out. It was Bill Allain the Democratic Governor after Finch that that happened to. I may have gotten it confused since during the governship of Finch, he was shot (not dead) and the speculation was that his wife shot him. But it was never proven. Hard to keep the scandals straight just from memory.

*cross posted at UPC

Blog Law.

Naked Law brings us some interesting news on blogging around the world.

"There is no doubt that, at least in some parts of the world, blogging can be a risky business. Iranian bloggers were taken to prison and fined for "insulting the country's leaders and making anti-government propaganda"; Chinese bloggers using Microsoft's MSN Spaces site will find themselves censored if they try to use words like "democracy" and "freedom". Even in the US and UK, there have been some salutory reminders that a post on a blog is a publication that can give rise to real world consequences. First there was the sacking of air hostess "Queen of the Sky" for posting pictures of herself in uniform; then Joe Gordon, writer of the Woolamaloo Gazette, was sacked by Waterstones for comments he made about his employers; then Apple forced bloggers to reveal their sources for leaks about the company's new technology."
h/t Simon

Here’s this week’s Gravitational Pull-Up over at UPC:
At what age do you think you’ll retire at, and where do you plan to retire to?

My husband I have saved 20% of his salary since we both were working at 22 yrs old. It wasn't easy in the early years. I stayed on a tight budget. Hard work, no debt, and savings brings rewards. Good investments brought us even more savings. (one reason I feel so strongly about private accounts in Social Security) I would say now that 50 yrs old could be possible.

I want a beach house in Mexico. The homes there are actually leased through the government and a very nice beach home can be had for around $100,000, much less than the value of the home we live in now. I figure my kids will live in Texas, which is a short plane ride to the Mexican Riviera. I figure they and my grandkids will visit often, don't cha think?

And please no one give me that rich Republican crap. I was a poor Republican for a long time. And believe me when I say I help this economy along as much as I can now....;-)

There. I said it.

In watching the exchange between Kennedy and Rumsfield today I finally figured some things out. One thing I figured out is that Rumsfield has a lot of class. When Kennedy said "Isn't it time you resigned?" Wouldn't the perfect response have been, "Isn't time that you resigned Senator Kennedy?"

But Rumsfield chose the high road and simply stated that he had in fact offered to resign twice and President Bush had refused it.

But this was the main thing I figured out. Conservatives in general strongly disagree with liberals and fight against them for what we believe is right.

Liberals, on the other hand, don't just disagree with us, they hate us. A deep seething hate that was clearly shown on Senator Kennedy's face.

I notice this in my blogging and reading of the blogs. I read leftie blogs that I totally disagree with or think they are completely wrong, but I never feel hatred toward the blogger. I may leave remarks that show my side, but I don't personally feel a need to insult them. There have been times on this blog when commenters have offended me so much that I have gotten angry and shot back something, but that was a reaction. Liberals don't even need a reason to hate us personally. They just do.

I usually get angry when someone says something personal or denigrates our country, military, or our President. But the liberal commenters here get angry over a simple post of my beliefs. I mean really angry. I cannot imagine myself sending a mean personal hateful e-mail to someone over a post on an issue, no matter how much I disagree with them. I just find that strange.

So I will go farther than Rove here. I'm speaking in general, of course, when I say that we may dispise what liberals believe, but they dispise us.