I found this ad at LGF's for jewlery. Looking at the picture my first thought was "just what are they selling here?" Then I scrolled down. The necklace is made of amethyst ,which the maker tells us is greek meaning "not drunkeness." In ancient times it was believed to protect it's wearers from drunkeness.

They should give these out to Spring breakers this year to help stop the spread of STD's and humilating internet pictures posted later.

Just a thought.

Click on picture for larger image.

A young black man started this thread with this picture and this quote:

"It's not "anti hip hop." It's illustrating that this incessant public rap beef is just a bunch of blacks coonin' for the amusement of a white audience. It's not anti hip hop, it's anti-coonin'.

Sad but true but it is not only The Suburbian kids supporting this nonsense, it is also The black community.

It is like Black people we never learn from anything and we continue to disrespect ourselves over and over. Do you agree with this?" Last edited by BlackX: 03-11-2005 at 10:22 AM. via allhiphop.com

This is a black hip hop site. I think it is interesting that they may be recognizing hip hop for what it really is. If you read the comments on the thread everyone agrees with this guy. And these are young people. Good sign. The messages this music sends out is terrible for black and white kids alike.

My Soldiers.

This is truly awesome. Have your volume on and your hanky handy. Wonderful. Moving. I am so damn proud to be an American.

This and That.

You gotta love this business. Notice where they don't ship to.

Yes, the democrats will tax anything.

Blogging is good for your health h/t The Biomes Blog

Karen Hughes is returning to the White House. YAY! I love her.

This is my sugar bear aka a chick magnet. (I had to mace these girls away...harlots!) aka Texan Cheerleaders.

This is how I feel everytime I go to Beautiful Atrocities (not his link, but the links he puts up)

This is one of those stories where you just shake your head.

Some Marines were shocked by a decision made by Detroit auto workers about parking recently. Here are some excerpts from the article:

"For a number of years now, dozens of Marine reservists have been thankful to park in the UAW’s lot for weekend training with no problem at all, until now."

"Marines at nearby Marine Corps Reserve Center say on Tuesday morning, the director of security at the UAW told them that while they support the troops, Marines driving foreign vehicles or sporting a President George Bush bumper sticker were no longer welcome to park there."

"A spokesman for the UAW released a statement to Action News which reads: "While reservists certainly have the right to drive non-union made vehicles and display bumper stickers touting the most anti-worker, anti-union president since the 1920s, that doesn’t mean they have the right to park in a lot owned by members of the UAW."

I cannot find the words to describe how appalled I am by this. These are men who fight for our country. These are men who one day could be saving these guy's lives, literally. And they decide that because the Marines there hold a different political view they won't let them park there???? Parking there is a common courtesy and has nothing to do with politics and shouldn't.

My Church lets different organizations use our parking lot when it is not in use. Many Churches do. If say, a men's civic club parked there, and I happened to drive by and see they had Kerry/Edward stickers on their car, it would never even occur to me to call the Priest and demand they not be allowed to park there because they have stickers that support a man that opposes the teachings of our Church. Parking is not political. This is called being nice, being neighborly.

I'm telling you, it is things like this that make the democrats look so bad. And the sad thing is they don't even see it. via RusurrectionSong

Are We Secure Enough?

Peggy Noonan, one of my favorite girls, has an interesting piece about our ongoing security. She is basically asking why we aren't more prepared for another attack. Here is an excerpt referring to all the new buildings going up in New York:

"We are doing all this building at the same time that various insane and quite evil men are planning on doing away with our city. They won't be happy until those skyscrapers are cinders. And when and if they move, the children playing so happily in our brand new Brooklyn waterfront park are going to get hurt. So maybe we could throw in a fallout shelter? Maybe we could be throwing in a few small health clinics, well stocked for a bad day?"

She also asked a question I have wondered about myself. Since most of our children have never been vaccinated against smallpox, shouldn't we be concerned or getting them vaccinated since we know smallpox is one biological weapon that terrorists may use against us?

Soon after 9-11 I was watching a news show that was telling us ways to prepare ourselves for an attack. It had the usual supply list and such but one thing struck me. They said that if phone lines are down and communication is shut off, your family needs to have a plan on where to meet outside the city you are in. I thought this was a very good idea. I know the agony so many went through in New York when they couldn't find their loved ones. Even though their loved ones ended up being safe, they spent hours, sometimes days in total fear. The program suggested a central e-mail address of a family member in another state to have as a communication station. I realized as I was watching this show how very easy it could be for something to happen where we would need this.

I am a pretty organized person. I always have a plan B. As I was figuring out where we would meet and such, I couldn't help but imagine the worst case scenario. Afterwards I couldn't shake it from my mind. What if there was some sort of chemical weapon or bomb that destroys much of Houston. No phone, no electricity. There is widespread panic. Remember in New York how some daycares that were near the WTC had to be evacuated and for hours some of the parents did not know where their children were? Where are my children? Just the thought of it sends shivers down my spine.

I have to agree with Peggy that I don't think we are prepared. We are hoping that we have done enough damage to the terrorists and that they are so busy blowing things up in Iraq, they will not attack us again. But hope isn't a guarantee. God knows Bush has enough on his plate right now, but where is local government or Congress?

Checking at the at The Homeland Security Site I found this comforting statement under "Emergencies and Disasters."

"Local and State governments share the responsibility for protecting their citizens from disasters, and for helping them to recover when a disaster strikes. In some cases, a disaster is beyond the capabilities of the State and local government to respond."

Perhaps we feel too safe now. Perhaps we feel the battle is being fought far away from us. I'm not sure how we can prepare, but I do think it is far past time for us to think about it.

I forgot where I got this, But I LOVE IT! Y'all can give me more captions since ya'll are so good at it. 

Rodeo Blogging.

I went to the Rodeo last night. I hadn't been in a few years and I had forgotten how fun it was. It was in Reliant Stadium and we were in one of the evil oil business suites, which is NICE because you have all the food and drink you want served, not to mention a private restroom. The only way to see a concert in my opinion (which is a spoiled one).

The headliner was Kenny Chesney, who was AWESOME! Before he got started though, we watched the bull riding, and the thing were the women ride around the barrels (barrel racing?), and where the cowboys jump off their horse and bring down a bull in the shortest amount of time. The cutest thing was where a bunch of teens compete for scholarships by catching, bringing down, tying up calves and then bringing (pulling, pushing, and begging) the calf to a square drawn in the dirt.

Then the concert started. The place went dark and then 4 big screens lit up with a montage of pictures of our soldiers. At that moment a army humvee drove in the arena and behind it, in a spotlight were men and women, each representing their part of our armed forces. In the background a man was singing "God Bless America." Remember now that this is not our national anthem, yet every single person in the place stood up. The soldiers saluted and fireworks went off and the whole arena erupted in cheers and clapping. I turned to a friend beside me and said, "I bet you don't see that at any damn Rock and Roll concert." No offense to Rock and Roll, I love it and listen to it as well, but country music has this whole patriotic thing down baby. I felt so proud to be born in America.

If you don't listen to country music, I suggest you check out Kenny Chesney, he has a lot of rock in his music and he is just an awesome singer. He got me to dancing that's for sure.

One song I particularly love is "There goes my life." They played the video on the screens while he was playing it. The song is about a young football player in high school who gets his girlfriend pregnant and he sings, "there goes my life," like it's over for his future. Then it shows this precious little 2 year old with her young dad and they are playing around and she runs from him up the stairs and he lovingly sings, "there goes my life," like there IS his life now. Then it shows his little girl grown and going off to college and he sings again, "there goes my life," as she leaves. SO SWEET!!!!!!

Songs like that are why I love country music. Another classic of his is "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy." Which is funny, but a good dancing song. I like how country music always tells a story. It is also nice that you don't have to worry about the lyrics too much, although there is a popular song out there now called, "Save A Horse, Ride A Cowboy," which is obviously sexual but I have to admit it is a great song and fun to dance to. And hey, if your married to a Cowboy, ride away!....;-)

I also love "I Love This Bar." Even though I never actually go to bars. Anyway, there is my rare night out and it was great. I wore my ropers and a teal blue cowboy hat. In fact I may post a picture of it tonight.

God, I do love Texas.

Was Bush Right After All?

It seems a recent Newsweek cover story on Lebanon's so-called Cedar Revolution headlined "People Power,"was followed by a secondary headline that said "Where Bush Was Right."

Michael Barone of U.S. News and World Report seems to think he may have been: (highlights mine)


"Evidence abounds. Consider what is happening in Lebanon, long under Syrian control, in response to the assassination, almost certainly by Syrian agents, of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. Protesters have taken to the streets day after day, demanding Syrian withdrawal. The Washington Post 's David Ignatius, who covered Lebanon in the 1980s and has kept in touch since, has been skeptical that the Bush administration's policy would change things for the better. But reporting from Beirut last week, he wrote movingly of "the movement for political change that has suddenly coalesced in Lebanon and is slowly gathering force elsewhere in the Arab world."

Ignatius interviewed Walid Jumblatt, the Druze leader long a critic of the United States. Jumblatt's words are striking: "It's strange for me to say it, but this process of change has started because of the American invasion of Iraq. I was cynical about Iraq. But when I saw the Iraqi people voting three weeks ago, 8 million of them, it was the start of a new Arab world. The Syrian people, the Egyptian people, all say that something is changing. The Berlin Wall has fallen. We can see it."

As Middle East expert Daniel Pipes writes, "For the first time in three decades, Lebanon now seems within reach of regaining its independence."

Minds are changing in Europe, too. In the left-wing Guardian, Martin Kettle reassures his readers that the Iraq war was "a reckless, provocative, dangerous, lawless piece of unilateral arrogance" --the usual stuff. "But," he concedes, "it has nevertheless brought forth a desirable outcome which would not have been achieved at all, or so quickly, by the means that the critics advocated, right though they were in most respects." Or read Claus Christian Malzahn in Der Spiegel . "Maybe the people of Syria, Iraq, or Jordan will get the idea in their heads to free themselves from their oppressive regimes just as the East Germans did," he writes. "Just a thought for Old Europe to chew on: Bush might be right, just like Reagan was."

The people of MoveOn.org, Kos, and Air America have to be tearing their hair out and gnashing their teeth on these quotes. And get the ones here in the U.S.:

"On Nightline, the New York Times 's Thomas Friedman and, with caveats, the New Yorker 's Malcolm Gladwell agreed that the Iraqi election was a "tipping point" (the title of one of Gladwell's books) and declined Ted Koppel's invitation to say that things could easily tip back the other way. In the most recent Foreign Affairs , Yale's John Lewis Gaddis credited George W. Bush with "the most sweeping redesign of U.S. grand strategy since the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt,"


It takes great political courage to admit when you are wrong. These quotes amaze and gratify me. Whether you were for or against the war, no one doubted that things needed to change in the middle east. Bush is nothing if not a man of action. He was determined to spread freedom and it seems to be having a snowball effect. I am no middle east expert by any stretch of the imagination and I think we all worried, even us on the right, wondering if we had done the right thing. But hearing middle east experts say these things gives me hope for a better world.

Bush said he would shake things up. And, oh boy, did he.

Keeping with the Catholic theme for today. Who says Nuns don't have fun? Feel free to give me a caption but BE NICE!!!!!! Also, after all this boobage, I thought this was a nice change...;-) 

Some Truth about my Church.

Mean Ol Meany has some interesting facts regarding Priests who molest children:

"There have been twenty-two priests charged with the crimes of molestation, fondling, and child abuse in the last three years. Ninety-six percent of the Catholic Dioceses have no record of any of these crimes committed. The overwhelming majority are from the Northeast and we know that they are not part of Jesusland, but rather part of the United States of Canada. More numbers to support some of the things that I spewed: The vast majority of these crimes took place in the late sixties and early seventies. Not to say there have not been some of these crimes committed before or after, but most occurred then."

He goes on to say that out of 148 defrocked priests, 137 of them were ordained in the 1960's. I haven't really commented on this before because frankly the whole thing makes me sick. I hate the way the media portrays it as if this kind of thing is common in our Church when millions of holy and good men have been and are wonderful priests and far far more single and married men not involved in any church are child molesters.

But the 1960's was an insane time for our Church. We in America opened the doors to all sorts of experimentation in who becomes a priest and the direction our Church was going. Needless to say, we screwed up big time. Also needless to say, I feel the priests who did this are perverted evil men and I hope they get what they deserve.

No disrespect to the Northeast, but you have to wonder what the heck goes on there that the majority of cases come from there. My own feeling is the liberal culture of anything goes contributed to men going into the Priesthood who really had no business doing so.

I know that since the early 80's there as been a pendulum swing in the Church back to the conservative values that are important to maintain. My son's school is run by The Legionaries of Christ, an order of young very traditional holy priests that are very dedicated to our faith and keeping our Church on the path of Christ.

I felt a need to post on this since I know that having been a former Protestant there is very little knowledge of the Catholic Church and sometimes the only thing you hear about it is from the media. I just don't want that notion out there that priests tend to be perverts. That is just wrong and clearly not true. I remember the music minister in my Baptist church when I was in Jr High had an affair with a woman in the choir. It was shocking to us, but members of any church do sin and sometime do terrible things. That does not diminish the faith or the truth found within our faiths.

I don't want this to be a debate about Priests or about the differences in our Christian faiths. I find no good comes from those debates in a public way. I just wanted this perspective out there for those interested.

Mudville brings us a young new milblogger, A Day In Iraq. He seems sweet and it is interesting to read along with a soldier like a diary of his day.

"Two women bared their breasts at Prince Charles today and a small group of protesters temporarily disrupted his royal visit using a megaphone to call him a parasite as he greeted 500 fans in central Wellington.
The group of six carried placards reading "honour the treaty" and "death to the monarchy".
"Another waved a red flag with a picture of Argentinian-born Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara on it." via Wizbang

Looks like Charles is just getting all kind of boobage lately...Heh. WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE????

UN Backs U.S. Plea for Total Ban on Human Cloning
Tue Mar 8, 2005 01:09 PM ET By Irwin Arieff

"UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday urged governments to ban all human cloning, including the cloning of human embryos for stem-cell research, in a divided vote that handed a symbolic victory to the administration of President Bush."

"The U.N. debate began with a 2001 proposal by France and Germany for a binding global treaty banning the cloning of human beings, a plan that had broad international backing."

Although this ban doesn't seem to be legally binding, it is comforting for once to see The U.N. and other countries you wouldn't expect to step up to the plate and say that this is wrong.

Lesser known duties of the Prince of Wales: Picking out the new Spice Girl. via Caption This!

Why I love eight year olds.

This morning I popped some Eggo waffles in the toaster for my sugar bear (the above mentioned 8 yr old) and decided to put some whipped topping on it. This is the following conversation:

Sugar bear: "Mom! This is the best breakfast ever. You are such a great cook!"

Mom: "Thank you sweetie."

Sugar bear: "No, I mean it. I am so lucky to have you."

The truth, of course, is that I am the lucky one.

Randomness.

The King of all tree huggers. A front view.

This Democrat is dangerous. (because he actually makes sense) Thank God there is no chance of people like Kos , Michael Moore, or even Howard Dean ever listening to a thing he says.

It's confirmed. I have a mental disorder.

Letter from a British wimp.

Once again the left feels a need to attack a member of the media who disagrees with them.

Study: More Using Web for Political News

We have a new stick man warning sign. Just in case you ever feel a need or accidently enter the back of a garbage truck.

Pro-life goes mainstream.

"We know the Roe effect has arrived now that Mad magazine has recognized it. The humor mag's March issue has a comic strip (not available online; on page 24 of the magazine) that depicts a mother and daughter having the following dialogue (emphasis omitted):

Daughter: I'm going to a pro-choice rally.

Mother: Really? You know, when I found out I was pregnant with you I actually considered having an abortion.

Daughter: WHAT?

Mother: But I couldn't find a doctor, because back then abortion was outlawed.

Daughter: Why are you telling me this now?

Mother: Because if abortion was legal then, you wouldn't be around to go to the pro-choice rally today!"

via Opinion Journal.com

Mad Magazine????????

The Journal goes on to say this:

"There's another reason beside the Roe effect to think abortion politics may gradually move in a more pro-life direction: Call it the ultrasound effect. Last night National Geographic Channel featured a documentary called "In the Womb" on the latest prenatal technology:

The new generation of three- and four-dimensional ultrasound imagery provides striking views of fetuses inside the womb. . . . "It's almost a new science, in a way. It's taught us so much about how the fetus develops at an early stage," said Professor Stuart Campbell of the Create Health Clinic in London. . . . Four-dimensional imagery shows objects in 3-D moving in something close to real time. . . .

"We see the earliest movements at 8 weeks," [Stuart] Campbell said. "By 12 weeks or so they are seen yawning and performing individual finger movements that are often more complex than you'll see in a newborn," he said. "It may be due to the effects of gravity after birth."

The images reveal facial expressions, like smiling, at 20 weeks. Beyond 24 weeks fetuses may suck their thumbs, stick their tongues out (perhaps using newly developed taste buds to sample amniotic fluid imbued with the flavors of the mother's food), and make apparently emotional faces.
Many of the reflexes seem designed to help the fetus with tasks it will need after birth, such as opening its eyes and sucking.

Campbell says the real-time images are far more vivid than old-fashioned flat ultrasounds. When parents see the images, he says, "you just see the whoops of joy when the fetus does something like blink."

Notice this is the Geographic Channel, not some religious right film. So the left can't say it is just propaganda.

This is life folks. This is a child.

I have heard people call Hillary a witch, but I didn't think it was actually true. via Beautiful Atrocities

*note: sites like this embarrass me.

That's one CRAZY mean baby!

Keep scrolling to the goth baby...too funny! via Mean Ol Meany

Money to save a few, actually kills many.

Getting beyond the Italian journalist Guiliana Sgrena story of being shot upon at a checkpoint, we are missing the big picture of Italy's habit of paying ransom for their hostages to Islamofacists which in turn funds terrorism and sends the message that if terrorists wish to make a quick million they just need to grab someone from Italy.

Captains Quarters posted on this back in September.

"They are animals, and the only way to save lives in the long run is to quit treating them like legitimate negotiating partners. Giving them millions of dollars only encourages more lunatics to take up kidnapping and beheading as a get-rich-quick scheme."

Outside The Beltway also had this in October.

"It's really a no-brainer that giving in to kidnappers' demands is only going to encourage more kidnappings. It's Economics 101."

The Italians have denied paying ransom, but the general belief is that they have and did this time as well. It is disturbing to me that money is being blackmailed into buying car bombs and the like that kills more people and leaves more blood than any one hostage. This is just wrong and exactly why we CANNOT pay ransom.

Italy may feel like they have saved a few of their citizens but how many more people died because of the money they paid?

Something to think about. Do you pay to save the few people you know so that hundreds more die that you don't know?

This is Saddam's half brother. Doesn't he look like he is wearing some goofy Popeye costume? He just needs that little corncobpipe.  

"Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?"

Wonderduck gets the prize! I couldn't decide, but my son said this was the best one. I like this caption thing. I'll keep doing it.

US draws jeers for abortion comments at UN
05 Mar 2005 01:27:00 GMTSource: ReutersBy Deborah Zabarenko

Here are some interesting excerpts:

"...the United States joined in approving the declaration that reaffirmed a 150-page platform agreed 10 years ago at a landmark U.N. women's conference in Beijing."

"U.S. delegate Ellen Sauerbrey drew boos from the audience, which included some of the 6,000 activists who came from around the world, when she commented on Washington's interpretation of the document."

"The loudest catcalls, unusual at the world body, came when she articulated U.S. policy on AIDS prevention for adolescents: "We emphasize the value of the ABC -- abstinence, be faithful, and correct and consistent condom use where appropriate -- approach in comprehensive strategies to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS and the promotion of abstinence as the healthiest and most responsible choice for adolescents."

Can someone please explain to me what is wrong with what she is saying??? Basically saying not being promiscious, being faithful to your spouse or partner, and even "consistent condom use" is NOT enough for these people? I cannot think of another way we can slow down or stop this plague of AIDS. How can this be jeered??? And keep in mind she was referring to adolescents! Not even to those "I want to do any perverted thing I damn well want to" people. Can we not even suggest to our adolescents that this is the proper way to go? This isn't even the so called hard line of "wait until you're married or don't use artificial contraception Catholic" view.

What do these people want??? The UN is just lost. Lost.

Bible Curse Generator...

"Lost for a smart remark to see off your enemies? Unable to deliver that killer insult? Put an end to "I was speechless!" misery with the amazing Biblical Curse Generator, which is pre-loaded with blistering put-downs as delivered by Elijah, Jeremiah and other monumentally angry saints. Simply click here, and get ready to smite your foes with a custom-made curse straight out of the Old Testament."

Come backs like these just can't be beaten by our modern insults!

"Woe unto thee, O thou bull of Bashan, for you will be cast onto a steaming dung-heap!"

"Harken, thou creature of the pit, for you will become as popular as a boil on the king's backside!"
via The Biomes Blog

This blogger, Kotteke.org, has quit his job to blog full time and hopes to make a living at it. Looking at all the people linking him for this post, who knows? Maybe there is hope for us all.

"....I always wanted to be a hoss."

That is the title of the layout in this Sunday's Houston Chronicle on Dan Rather. Dan started out here in Houston at KHOU in the early 60's. The article is the usual "biography" piece. But I thought you might enjoy some Ratherisms you might not have heard.

•The presidential race is hotter than a Laredo parking lot. (2000)
•This race is hotter than a Times Square Rolex. (2004)
•This race is hotter than the Devil's anvil. (2004)
•Ohio becomes like a sauna for the two candidates. All they can do is wait and sweat. (2004)
•The presidential race has been crackling like a hickory fire for at least the last hour and a half. (2004)
•In some ways, George Bush's lead is as thin as November ice. (2004)
•Florida, that race, the heat from it is hot enough to peel house paint. (2000)
•It was as hot and squalid as a New York elevator in August.How tight is it?
•This race is as tight as rusted lug nuts on a '55 Ford. (2000)
•The election is closer than Lassie and Timmy. (2004)
•His lead is as thin as turnip soup. (2004)Keep it folksy
•In Southern states, they beat (Kerry) like a rented mule. (2004)
•One's reminded of that old saying, 'Don't taunt the alligator until after you've crossed the creek.' (2004)
•He swept through the South like a tornado through a trailer park. (2000)
•If he doesn't carry Florida, Slim will have left town. (2000)Misc.
•It would be Shakespearean for Al Gore to lose because of his home state.•Kerry's rapidly reaching the point where he's got his back to the wall, his shirttails on fire, and the bill collector's at the door. (2004)
•We've lived by the crystal ball. We're eating so much broken glass, we're in critical condition.
•Texas: 32 electoral votes, another of the so-called big enchiladas, or if not an enchilada, at least a huge taco