Regarding the Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena who was released as a hostage in Baghdad and then had her car fired upon at a checkpoint by U.S. Forces. The Jawa Report has the full story and is being swarmed by the above. Go help him out. via Protein Wisdom

I thought I should add my point of view on all of this. Forget the conspiracy theories on both sides. I think the military saw a threat, was not aware of who it was, and when the car did not slow down, despite warnings, they did what they had to do. This is suicide car bombing country here after all.
I also think that the driver didn't understand it was a checkpoint or felt that they were in danger somehow from another source and decided to speed through it.
It was a tragic accident. I don't think anyone should be blamed except maybe the person who was suppose to notify the soldiers and whoever was suppose to make sure the driver understood checkpoints along the way.
That having been said, it still makes us look bad and we need to do some serious PR work and make it clear how sorry we are that someone died in the incident. Just because it was an accident doesn't mean we don't show our sympathy and concern.
Just my take on it.

Do the democrats honestly have NOTHING better to do? The Jeff Gannon saga continues.

Here is the story about the following resolution: via JeffGannon.com


Dear Colleague:
Please join us in introducing the attached resolution, which requires the Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security to turn over all documentation in their possession about how James Guckert (also known as Jeff Gannon) gained access to White House press events.
For nearly three years, the White House has been granting Mr. Guckert, a right-wing activist with no press credentials, access to the White House briefing room and presidential press conferences. This appears to violate long standing practices of carefully screening contacts with the president.
This special access not only raises security concerns, but calls into question the fundamental fairness of the White House press corps. Mr. Guckert’s efforts as a propaganda machine for the White House may have even violated laws banning the Administration from using appropriated money for propaganda purposes. It further appears that Mr. Guckert had access to classified information, in violation of laws that protect the identity of undercover agents.
Because of these concerns, we will be introducing this resolution to inquire how the Justice and Homeland Security Departments were used to forward this agenda and whether any processes were abused in favoring Mr. Guckert and his ultra-conservative organization. We had hoped that the half dozen congressional and senate requests for information would have been sufficient. However, to date, they have not even merited a response from the White House or its agencies.
To cosponsor, or if you have questions, please contact Michelle Richardson (x56906).
Sincerely,
John Conyers, Jr. Ranking Member Judiciary Committee
Louise M. Slaughter Ranking Member Rules Committee
Bernie Thompson Ranking Member Homeland Security
Henry Waxman Ranking Member Committee Government Reform
Charles Rangel Ranking Member Committee Ways and Means Committee
Bernie Thompson Ranking Member Homeland Security
RESOLUTION
Directing the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security to transmit to the House of Representatives not later than 14 days after the date of the adoption of this resolution documents in the possession of those officials relating to the security investigations and background checks relating to granting access to the White House of James D. Guckert (also known as Jeff Gannon).
Resolved, That the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security are each directed to transmit to the House of Representatives not later than 14 days after the date of the adoption of this resolution all documents in their possession relating to the security investigations and background checks relating to granting access to the White House of James D. Guckert (also known as Jeff Gannon) and any requisite instructions for handling such documents, including
(1) all records setting forth or discussing whether an individual granted access to the President or to the White House briefing room may use a false name;
(2) all records setting forth or discussing policies, procedures, or guidelines discussing security clearances and background checks relating to granting access into the White House briefing room;
(3) all records indicating how the policies, procedures, or guidelines referred to above were communicated to Mr. Guckert;
(4) all records indicating the officer or office responsible for requesting that the Secret Service carry out a security investigation or background check with respect to an individual seeking access to the President or to the White House briefing room;
(5) all records setting forth the standards for security investigations or background checks with respect to ‘’day pass’’ credentials;
(6) all records indicating or discussing whether and to what extent an individual who is cleared for a day pass for a given date is required to receive further security clearance for a day pass for a later date;
(7) all records setting forth or discussing which officer or officers, if any, has the authority to exempt an individual seeking access to the President or to the White House briefing room from the standards for security investigations or background checks that otherwise apply; and
(8) all records of communication between the Secret Service and Mr. Guckert, including not only postal correspondence but also electronic mail correspondence, facsimile correspondence, records of telephone conversations, and any other records of communication. via Protein Wisdom

Questioning the fairness of the white house press corp has to be the funniest thing about it. I mean we ALL know how fair the white house press corp has always been. *snort*

But since the democrats are so concerned about security, I think it is high time we gathered all the above mentioned information on ALL the white press corp.

Can you imagine that? We would have enough personal gossip and slime to blog about for the rest of the year. I'm betting the press corp is covering their ass right now in more ways than one.

Democrats, be careful what you wish for. You just might get it.

What the world needs now.

This post at Wizbang recently commented on the story you probably heard about the 15 year girl who 'serviced' five guys on the hockey team in the locker room at Milton Academy in Massachusetts.

Wizbang also added this:

"It seems that two weeks after locker room incident, the same five hockey players attended a "Sweet Sixteen" birthday party in a Boston hotel for a female student. The theme of the party (in a suite reserved paid for by a student's parent) was obvious from the get-go; guests were greeted by two topless girls at the door, including Monica, and there was plenty of booze around. The phrase "drunken orgy" certainly seems to apply."

Commenters on the piece blamed bad parenting mostly. Anyone who has read my blog regularly knows how I feel about the culture of sex we are raising our kids in. Adults care more about what they want than what kids need. It is as simple as that. From TV to movies to music, trying to keep your kids from the overtly sexual world we live in is like trying to keep them dry with a blanket in a rainstorm. No matter what you do they are still going to get soaking wet.

2 years ago when my oldest teenager started using IM alot, I got a screen name too. TheBestMomITW. Pretty soon all his friends knew it and they told their friends because they thought it so weird that an adult would get on IM. Most teens seem to think the internet belongs to them.

Anyway, what happened was totally unexpected. All these teen started IMing me. Not just my son's friends. I don't know where they all came from, but I probably had about 40 IMing me regularly. It was a mix of boys and girls and it became pretty obvious from the beginning that all they wanted was some adult attention. They wanted someone to listen to them who was older and could give them some advice. I learned a alot more from them.

I learned that the teen years are a natural time of starting to let go of your parents and because of that, there are fights and anger and the kid has no one to go to. I learned that divorce has to be the most painful thing a child can experience and affects them as nothing else in their young life. I learned that drugs such as pot and esctasy are commonly used by the good and bad kids. I learned that it is not umcommon for girls to "service" their boyfriends because it "wasn't sex" and they couldn't get pregnant and it made the boys happy. I also learned that most parents don't a clue to what is going on, even when they think they do.

Needless to say I had a lot to say to all of that. I was like online therapist. Many problems I had to refer to professionals. I would find the places or people they needed to speak to and give them the phone numbers. There was parental abuse and drug abuse and depression. I tried to get them to let me talk to their parents but that was NOT going to happen. I truly don't think most adults understand or know the vile swamp of immorality that our kids are swimming in.

It finally became too much for me. It was upsetting and my son didn't like me knowing about everything that was going on at his school either. So I just stopped going on AIM. Now I am on MSN and I go by another screenname. But those kid's problems are all kid's problems and that haunts me.

I live in a nice area with good schools and still we have these problems. It isn't a lack of money, and in most cases the parents do care, they are just busy working. The schools are too big for teachers to keep track of everyone much less have a real interest in the kids. When it comes to all the teacher/student affairs you have heard recently, I feel the kids are drawn to any adult willing to give them attention and who they are attracted to. The difference is the adult use to be able to draw the line. But our culture seems to have blurred the line and only the legal system seems to be able keep the line there at all.

I have thought about this alot. And the only solution I can come up with is the only one that would work. First the public must demand that the restrictions on movies be adhered to even in the rental stores. 2nd, we adults need to stop going to movies that sexualize kids and show too much immoral sexual behavior. If an adult wants to see that, there are movies to rent at adult movie stores. Let's keep our mainstream movies and TV pretty clean. Our kids will always have access to them no matter what parents do. We need to stop watching the shows that do this on TV as well. Good movies and good shows can still be good without the over the top sexual references and scenes. With Hollywood it is all about supply and demand. We don't need censorship, or the government stepping in. We need to just stop going to the movies that we think would be wrong for our teenagers to see, because THEY WILL SEE THEM. Same with TV shows. Trust me, if Hollywood sees that we want a cleaned up version of entertainment, they will do it. It is all about the $$$.

Yes, we need better parenting, but the kids today are the parents of tomorrow. Do you think they will be any better? Every generation seems to sink lower and lower in their standards of behavior. I'm not totally blaming what we see and hear on TV and movies and music. But from what I heard from those kids, it is a big part. We can't make parents spend time with their kids, but we can help change the culture that surrounds the kids. Maybe you don't want to give up easy access to what you enjoy, but can't we for once think of the kids first? If yall have any more suggestions I would be glad to hear them.

They will have to pry my cold dead fingers from the keyboard.

Wizbang has this from CNET News.com:

"Bradley Smith says that the freewheeling days of political blogging and online punditry are over.
In just a few months, he warns, bloggers and news organizations could risk the wrath of the federal government if they improperly link to a campaign's Web site. Even forwarding a political candidate's press release to a mailing list, depending on the details, could be punished by fines.

Smith should know. He's one of the six commissioners at the Federal Election Commission, which is beginning the perilous process of extending a controversial 2002 campaign finance law to the Internet."

The article goes on:

"CNET News.com spoke with Smith about the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, better known as the McCain-Feingold law, and its forthcoming extrusion onto the Internet."

Read the interview. The last thing we want is internet regulation.
Even the left should be with us on this one.

People tell me I look like Paula Zahn. What do yall think? 

Sorry, I couldn't help myself.

I KNOW everyone is sick of this Jeff Gannon non-story, but my favorite girl Ann Coulter (along with Michelle Malkin, of course) just puts things so perfectly, that you just have to quote her. This is part of her take on the dems reaction to Gannon: via Jeff Gannon.com (yes, the man himself)

"...liberals say: "We love gay people! Gay people are awesome! Being gay is awesome! Gay marriage is awesome! Gay cartoon characters are awesome! And if you don't agree with us, we'll punish you by telling everyone that you're gay!"

In addition to an attack on a Web site reporter for supposedly operating a gay escort service and thereby cutting into the business of the Village Voice, another Times op-ed article the same day gratuitously outed the children of prominent conservatives.

These are not public figures. No one knows who they are apart from their famous parents. I didn't even know most of these conservatives had children until the Times outed them. "

The part that is really important here is "These are not public figures." That is the difference here. Politics is known for slinging mud on both sides, but when was the last time anyone outed a even WELL KNOWN reporter or news anchor? I guess none of them have ever been gay, huh?

I am also tired of the excuse now the lefties give of him being "a prostitute." (which I have yet to see proof of) and that is why they are so outraged! That part of the story wasn't unearthed for days following the original outing, so don't give me your self righteous anger over an "illegal activity." The left outed him out of meanness. End of story.

Please don't send me links to any of Jeff's interesting picture sites. I don't click on naked people no matter who they are. You don't have to convince me Jeff was a bad boy. He has admitted that.

Good God. He had to.

This post from The Nose On Your Face is so funny to me I am copying it all. I only wish it were true. I never liked that little weasel Stephanopolous.
Go see the rest of TNOYF stuff too. It's hilarious. I'm telling you.

Arnold Eats Stephanopolous

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California reacted a bit strongly after a series of harsh questions from ABC News's George Stephanopolous during their interview Sunday on "This Week".

Stephanopolous began the interview by pointing out the recent dip in Governor Schwarzenegger's approval ratings. Next he asked a series of pointed questions that dealt with the governor's past steroid use.
The interview was cordial if not confrontational up to this point. However, Stephanopolous then crossed the proverbial line when he said the following:

"Governor Schwarzenegger, studies that have been conducted by reliable, non-partisan organizations find that in a fight between 'Conan the Barbarian' and 'Rambo', 'Rambo' would in fact win and win big. I'm talking a good old fashioned beat-down. How do you respond to this?"

At that moment Schwarzenegger reached over, picked Stephanopolous up by his ankles, devoured him whole and calmly walked off of the set.
An ABC News producer speaking on condition of anonymity stated, "In hindsight it might have been best to have stayed away from the 'Conan versus Rambo' line of questioning."

Governor Schwarzenegger told TNOYF's Senior Californian Correspondent that he has "no regrets" about eating Stephanopolous and that he was in fact "delicious."

Posted by Buckley F. Williams on February 28

Son was ready to topple Saddam

March 4th, 2005, Los Angeles: "The eldest son of the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was plotting to overthrow his father as US troops advanced on Baghdad in March 2003, the journalist Peter Arnett says.

Uday Hussein, known for his ruthlessness and flashy lifestyle, had the support of the leadership of his father's Fedayeen militia to overthrow the dictator, an article in the April issue of Playboy magazine says."

I remember reading in Vanity Fair about Saddam's sons a few months before we killed them. The stories about these two were chilling. It was they that mainly used the rape rooms where witnesses said women emerged battered and bruised. One woman who complained was covered with honey and killed by 3 starving dobermans as reported by the Middle East Quarterly. The brothers used hard drugs regularly (which probably explains where some of the food for oil money went) and especially enjoyed watching the torture of the men under Saddam who had somehow broken the rules.

"Uday ran Iraq's Olympic committee in much the same style that he applies to his personal affairs. According to several Iraqi Olympic athletes who defected between the mid-1990s and the present, athletes were "beaten and humiliated" when they lost games. Some reported being flogged, beaten and imprisoned.

According to ESPN, Uday has athletes "beaten with iron bars. Caned on the soles of their feet. Chained to walls and left to stay in contorted positions for days. Dragged on pavement until their backs are bloody, then dunked in sewage to ensure the wounds become infected. If Uday stops by a player's jail cell, he might urinate on his bowed, shaven head. Just to humiliate him." via rotten.com

Later, after our invasion, our soldiers found drugs and pornographic material in their rooms and perhaps the most bizarre and chilling items were pictures of President Bush's daughters pinned to the walls.

The VF article described Uday as sadistic, mysogynistic, violent and totally deranged. I shudder to imagine the Iraq we would have under Uday Hussein. It seems every day we are discovering things that the invasion of Iraq saved us and the region from. Evil like this is almost too hard for us to wrap our minds around it.

The article goes on to say:

"Uday had planned to announce his seizure of power the same day, but was thwarted when US jets bombed his Youth TV studios in Baghdad, Arnett says."

One less monster with power in this world. Score a big one for our boys.

BUSH SAVES THE GARDEN OF EDEN!!

Calling all eco-lovers! Finally a reason for the left to love Bush.
According to U.S. News and World Report:

"The vast Mesopotamian marshes of southern Iraq supported a lush ecosystem and unique culture for over 5,000 years. Then came Saddam Hussein; he drained 90 percent of the wetlands to punish the local Marsh Arabs. But there's still hope for the reputed site of the Garden of Eden, says an international team of scientists. They ntoed serious dips in native fish and bird species, but thanks to wet weather and unofficial dambusting brigades, water levels have begun to rise.
*With some near-pristine areas remaining and water quality higher than expected, says study leader Curtis Richardson of Duke University, "the potential for the marshes to be restored is much higher" than previously thought."

By getting rid of Saddam, Bush not only ends tyranny, torture and oppression for Saddam's people, uncovers a UN billion dollar food for oil scandal, and spreads democracy in the middle east, BUT ALSO ends up saving the garden of eden, or at the very least a beautiful 5000 year old ecosystem.

Kos and the democrats will give him some credit for that one, right?

A U.S. soldier from the 1st Battalion, 24th infantry Regiment helps read to an Iraqi schoolboy during a patrol looking for insurgency. Our soldiers just rock, don't they? via Getty Images.  

A US soldier from the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment gives a toy throught the window to an Iraqi girl during a patrol looking for insurgency. via Getty Images.
Pretty cool, huh?
 

THE SIMPLE LIFE: FALLUJAH

Hillarious. Go. Read.

There is torture, and then there is TORTURE.

John Hillen at NRO went to a presentation by a young Marine infantry lieutenant last week about the platoon he led in the assault on the insurgents in Fallujah a few months ago. Here is an excerpt:

".....some sophisticate tried to prompt the young officer into musings on how he and his Marines felt about the mission in Iraq and our purpose there. The lieutenant gave a gold-plated answer, noting that his focus was on his Marines and his Marines' focus was on each other, which provided the platform for any purpose. As in all wars, ultimately the men fight for each other — perhaps one could even say firstly they fight for each other. He also noted, though, that among the things they stumbled on in Fallujah was a torture house (he showed pictures) with hooks hanging from the ceiling, black masks, knives, al Qaeda-like jihadist literature, and other more gruesome evidence of what went on there. "Nobody had a problem focusing on why we were there," he said, with Gary Cooper-like understatement." via Mudville

I wonder why it is that the anti war people never seem to focus on the things such as that torture house? Surely they, who went ballistic over a group of rogue American soldiers putting panties over the face of prisoners, cannot be comfortable with the thought of men (monsters) hanging their prisoners by hooks. Where is the outrage over that?

Read the exclusive interview with Jeff Gannon over at Lifelike Pundits.

Not alot of information and the usual invasive questions, but this was an important point he made:

"Do Democrats really want the White House to investigate reporters?"

This and That.

Test your Gaydar. Many people say they can tell when someone is gay by looking at them. Take this gaydar test of John Stossel's. Northwestern University psychology professor Michael has a book, "The Man Who Would Be Queen," and gives reasons why. (I could tell 100%)

Don't even try to speak the word "pro-life" and "democrat" together ANYWHERE!!!! Or Hollywood will swoop in.

The Middle East. These times, they seem to be a....changing.

This is radio hypocrisy. But who listens to them anyway?

Maybe this explains the difference between men and women bloggers.

HATE

Now THIS is a hate crime. It seems Islamic terrorists aren't the only ones with insane gods.

Speaking of hate and Islam terrorists, the latest car bomb that killed 115 Iraqis, aimed at men waiting in line for a physical exam to become Police and National Guards got a slightly different reaction than the terrorists might have been expecting. (emphasis mine)

"Angry crowds gathered outside the main hospital, chanting "Allah Akbar," Arabic for "God is great," demanding to know their relatives' fate. People at the site of the attack reportedly chanted slogans against the "Wahhabis," referring to adherents of the strict form of Islam preached by Osama bin Laden." via The Chicago Tribune

There may be Americans who are insisting that it is our military "recruiting" terrorists, but the Iraqi people there, who are experiencing the horror seem to pin it on the real criminal...Osama Bin Laden.

The article goes on to say:

"Alliance leader Abdel Aziz al-Hakim recently hinted that the Shiites were waiting to take power before dealing with the insurgency. He indicated that a first step would be to identify and purge the security services of any insurgency sympathizers. "We must depend on the sons of the Iraqi people who believe in the new Iraq, and not on those bad elements that infiltrated the security circles and turned into a problem," al-Hakim told The Associated Press on Sunday. "We can't solve the security issue unless we reconsider the internal structure, to spot those bad elements."

I am so glad that the elections took place on time and we can move quickly ahead to an Iraqi government that can deal with these insane monsters and our boys can come home.

But that might not be for awhile since another article in the Tribune tells us more of al-Zarqawi's plans:

"WASHINGTON -- New intelligence indicates that Osama bin Laden is enlisting Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, his top operative in Iraq, to plan potential attacks on the United States, federal officials said Monday. Al-Zarqawi has been involved in attacks in the Middle East. He has not been known to have set his sights on America.

It goes on:

"At a Senate hearing this month, CIA Director Porter Goss warned that al-Zarqawi has "sought to bring about the final victory of Islam over the West." Goss said al-Zarqawi hopes to establish a safe haven in Iraq from which his group could operate against "'infidel' Western nations and 'apostate' Muslim governments."

For those who don't speak monster, that means al-Zarqawi wishes Iraq to be his home base to kill us and spread his ugly perverted version of Islam to our government. 'apostate' meaning "convert or we saw off your head."

I hope my left leaning friends are understanding this. I really do.

I'm thinking treason here.

Citizen Smash has a must read post. He had decided not to be involved in demonstrations until he wandered down to an anti war protest near his home:

"I want to talk today about how we’re actually going to stop the occupation. I don’t have a plan, but I think there’s some key strategies that we need to adopt, that are gonna make this more successful.
And the first thing is that we need to support the resistance of Iraqis in Iraq. These are people who are risking their lives to get the United States out of their country. And we have to see them as our allies. We have to see them as our main allies.
Similarly, we have to support resistance in the US military. Soldiers, and you know, anyone – families who are actually opposing the war, we need to be on their side.
If you recall, there’s one time in the last 30 years when the US military machine was brought down, during Vietnam, and it was brought down because there was a fierce resistance in Vietnam, and because the soldiers were refusing to fight..."

Citizen Smash goes to say this:

"The “Iraqi Resistance” had assassinated my college roommate just a few months earlier. He was shot in the back of the head, in broad daylight, when the civilian SUV he was riding in stopped at an intersection in Baghdad (his assassin was later apprehended by Iraqi police, and eventually was convicted of his murder). My brother also lost one of his best friends in the war."

This is what makes me so sick about the anti war people. What is it about this they don't understand? What is it about them that I don't understand? Because I think the guy above is guilty of treason. Pure and simple.

CS asks:

WHAT CAN YOU DO ABOUT IT?
First of all, we encourage you to join us in our ongoing Operation THANK YOU. This is a wonderful, positive, non-confrontational event, where we stand outside the gates of various military bases holding signs that simply read "THANK YOU."

Read the rest. Do what you can.

Update: Last night I went to sleep thinking about what Citizen Smash has written. I am amazed at the restraint he used as he describes his college roomate's death. I don't know how he stood there and listened to that at the rally without going after the guy, I really don't.

But as I was thinking about it last night a picture popped in my head. It was the picture I am sure you saw of the mother leaning over her dead child laying on the ground in Beslan Russia in early September after that horrific school massacre.

It came to me that this is what the anti war people do not understand. The Islamic terrorists who shot children in the back as they were running away are sewn from the same cloth as the "Iraqi resistance." What part of ISLAMIC TERRORIST do they not understand? It doesn't matter if they are in Russia or in Iraq or Syria or in America, that is what they are. Let me make this as clear as I can. They kill anyone who doesn't believe in their insane god.

The twin towers was but a taste of what they wish for us. Maybe the anti war protestors don't believe in the God that Bush does, maybe they see his faith as ridiculous as the terrorist's. But the difference is that we don't kill those who don't believe as we do. We do the opposite, we support their right not to believe.

Iraqi children have died in this war. Suicide bombers continue to carry out their insane missions. But if the greatest fighting force on earth does not try and stop them, who will? If we allow terror to win, who loses? Everyone.

So you anti war guys, have your rallies, hang your effigies, and spout your anti American rants. It's your right to be an idiot.

But we will continue this fight. We will win. And because of that, because of OUR SOLDIERS, your children and grandchildren will not live in fear of passenger planes that fly into buildings and masked monsters who shoot children in the back.

Yeah, but they really went nuts a few minutes later when Rumsfeld came out in a kicky strapless cocktail dress and buttless leather chaps. via Caption this!

"Yo baby! Yo baby! Mm, dat's right! Shake it, don't break it! ... Sh*t, playground monitor's coming. Gun it!" via Caption This! He is on a roll.

Moronic Moonbat Alert.

This may win the looney leftie award for the year. It may beat the ridiculous 'die in's.' It even makes Howard Dean seem normal.
Read, shake your head, and thank God you don't live near this house. via Diggers Realm via Beautiful Atrocities