Saturday, May 06, 2006

Friday, May 05, 2006

Kennedy to enter Rehab.

Fox News is reporting that Patrick Kennedy will enter rehab for addiction to pain medication.

I think we need to afford him the same courtesy we afforded Rush. Be glad that he is getting help and wish him well.

I heard Rush today saying that that his family needed to get him help. That he should know about that himself. I ask my leftwing commenters to listen to Rush Monday (or today if he is still on) and I'm betting you will hear Rush comment on this as the good person he seems to be.

Anyway, I wish Kennedy well and hope God blesses him in his recovery.


Update: Here is the story on Kennedy. I also heard on the news that Kennedy is dealing with bi-polar disorder as well. So he was really taking chances. I'm glad he got help before it was too late. This family has had enough tragedy.

Thursday, May 04, 2006

Waiting...


for the left to scream about how unfair it is that someone rich and connected gets special treatment in regards to an obvious problem.

I wonder how long I will wait?

Another Kennedy problem

*Let me add this: At least Rush stayed out of cars and bars when he was medicated and he wasn't even a freakin Congressman.

Pic via Iowa Voice


LST gives us: U.S. troops, poolside in Baghdad…God Bless America!

*You know you have freedom when you can wear a bikini and a machine gun!

Dean: "We Love Us Some Jews!"

Jeff explains.

Dust Storm

Check out these awesome pictures from Michael Yon.

Milk and Oil Do Mix.

You are farmer Brown, a dairy farmer for the past 25 years. You have invested a large amount of time, money, and sweat equity over these years for livestock, barns, pasture, feed, laborers, milking machines, trucks and other equipment. Milk prices over the past 25 years have been sporadic. In some years it has been so low that you were not able to buy feed, new equipment, pay laborers, and you had to sell some of your herd. In those years, you really questioned why you remained in this crazy business. Firing workers that you had become attached to was extremely painful. All this time you fought competition from cheap imported milk coming into the U.S. market. These foreign companies did not have to pay the taxes you paid, spend money on government mandated programs. You may not have liked your situation…and you may have complained on occasion…but all in all, you accepted all of this as part of the business and made the best of it.

Suddenly… and without warning… two countries (Alpha and Beta) with extremely large populations begin to implement free market principals in their economies and allow their private sectors to invest and make business decisions without government interference. Their pay scale to workers are extremely low compared to the industrialized world and their economies boom since they currently have a huge labor advantage. Alpha and Beta have full employment at wages that are much higher than in the old economy. The citizens begin to accumulate money and now have cash to spend on whatever they want….and they want milk! Alpha and Beta do not have enough milk cows to meet their countries demand. So Alpha and Beta begin to buy milk on the world market. In order to secure huge milk accounts from other countries, Alpha and Beta have to offer more money for the milk. Which they do, and they secure milk for their populations. Alpha and Beta buy so much milk that a shortage of milk results on the world market. Other countries who import milk begin to scramble to secure milk supplies for their populations. This results in the price of milk skyrocketing because demand exceeds supply. People want their milk and willing to pay a certain price for it.

Meanwhile, farmer Brown is minding his own business and notices that his milk purchaser is willing to pay more money for his milk. Soon he is getting calls from other milk purchasers wanting to buy his milk for unheard of prices. Being a prudent businessman, he sells his milk to the highest bidder. All his hard work over the last 25 years is paying off.


But what is this! Soon people show up on farmer Brown’s door step, yelling that he and Big Milk is gouging them…They ask “How can you do this on something as basic as milk? What kind of monster are you? You crook!” He tries to explain to these people that he does not set the price of milk. He only sells it to the highest bidder. They either do not want to hear that or are not capable of understanding how our economy works. They want to blame someone, even if it is unjust and unfair. Now these same people want the government to step in to regulate the price of milk and punish him by taxing him. Can any rational person who understands how our economy works expect this to fix the problem?

The problem here is a shortage of milk. Not farmer Brown, the milk purchasers, Big Milk… whatever. If the government regulates the price of milk, milk suppliers will still have to buy milk on the open market but will be limited in how much they can pay for it. If the going price for milk on the world market is $2.50/gallon and the government mandates that milk be $2.40/gallon, how can these milk suppliers buy any milk? Are you going to force milk suppliers to lose money? Would you? Won’t happen. So, the result of fixing prices is a severe shortage of milk.

What about punishing these farmers for their obscene profits through taxes? Hmmm. Does this add to the world supply of milk….No. What it does do is reduce farmer Brown’s profits at the expense of foreign competitors, who don’t have to pay the tax. If they place on import tax on milk as well, the price of milk goes up accordingly.

How do we fix this problem….well the easiest way is to increase the milk supply. Which means that more cows have to be raised. Well, cows take a couple of years to mature to the point that they are able to be milked. Plus, an increase in cows means that farmer Brown will have to purchase more equipment, build more barns, buy more feed, vet bills, hire more laborers, etc. He needs large sums of money (some of which he has to borrow) to pay for all of this. Unfortunately, the government just raised his taxes and have place restrictions on how many cows that he can have on a certain amount of acreage. Also, for every cow that he buys, there is a chance that the cow may grow up without the ability to give milk. We call those Dry Cows. Since his farm is surrounded by dairy farms, he cannot buy more land, therefore no more cows. Also, since cows belch greenhouse gases, the government is threatening to tax him even more to account for global warming. Farmer Brown feels the rewards are not great enough to exceed the risks. So he keeps the same number of cows. Unfortunately, his cows are getting a little long in the tooth. His cow population begins to drop. Now he is not producing the same amount of milk.

Welcome to reality people…

*written by someone in the oil business...:-)

War of Words.

An anti-war activist takes on Rumsfield. See the video.

via Michelle

May Day.

Check out the Powerline Video of the immigration marches from readers across the country.

The Evil Cheney explained...

by someone who knows him best:

New York, N.Y. - In her new memoir, NOW IT'S MY TURN(Simon & Schuster/Threshold Editions, 2006), Mary Cheney writes that when she told her parents she was gay, the first words out of her father's mouth "were exactly the ones that I wanted to hear: 'You're my daughter, and I love you, and I just want you to be happy.'"

VANITY FAIR editor Todd Purdum reports that Mary Cheney tells her story in a voice very much like her father's, and that she came out to her parents when she was a junior in high school, on a day when, after breaking up with her first girlfriend, she skipped school, ran a red light, and crashed the family car. Cheney writes that her mother hugged her, but then burst into tears, worried that she would face a life of pain and prejudice.

via Drudge

h/t Cormac

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

What liberals think.


h/t Cormac

This is the problem with mixed marriages...

The children suffer.

Moussaoui gets life in prison

Not to make light of this very serious event, but if you listened to the first juror who spoke while thanking those involved in the trial, she said, "Thank you for giving us everything we needed, even if it was just a smile." (oh geeze)

No one who would say something like that would ever vote for the death penalty.

Give me your thoughts on the whole thing.

Hillary's....

first campaign tour is history.

Democrats and the free market.

Oxblog sums it up pretty well with a Democrat's own words.

My favorite quote?

"SEN. DURBIN: Am I the only one of your guests here that think that profit taking is a problem? [I hope so! Socialism is so 1973.]"

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

For those who think Rush was treated differently because of who he was....

You are right.

"The truth is that Krischer never had a case. In November 2005, the assistant state attorney handling the investigation stood up in open court and made the mind-blowing admission that he had “no idea” whether Rush had committed a crime—after pursuing Rush, and crawling through every aspect of his private life, for over two years. He claimed he needed the court to authorize the evisceration of Rush’s doctor-patient privilege so he could interview physicians. Why? Because after months and months of poring over Rush’s actual medical records the prosecutor had no proof that Rush had done anything wrong. This should have come as no surprise since that’s what Rush had told them and shown them all along the way.

Nor did the harassment stop there. Rush was treated far differently from the average person at every juncture—but, of course, you already knew that because, as we’ve noted, the average person would not have been investigated for such a “crime” as doctor-shopping at all. For another example, real prosecutors are duty-bound to keep investigative information confidential. If they are ready to charge someone formally and back up the charges in court, fine. Otherwise, Americans are not supposed to be tried in the press. But Rush was the exception. His private medical records were splashed all over television once they were in the hands of the prosecutors."

The more I find out about this case, the sicker it makes me. Rush was charged with this for one reason and one reason only.

He was a conservative.

A Centcom endorsement!



The Captain received this e-mail from US Central Command:


Hi, Kiril:


I caught your post about the 101st Fighting Keyboardists. Good luck with the project! I’m not sure if you have been to the US Central Command website but we regularly post news, photos, audio and video from Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. You (and your fellow bloggers) are welcome to use any materials you find on our site. If you’d like to receive the weekly electronic newsletter and monthly Coalition Bulletin, just ask.


If you could add a link to CENTCOM, it’d be appreciated (I’m trying to spread the word about our site!). I’ve attached the CENTCOM logo, should you want to use it with the link. Thanks!


SPC C. Flowers


CENTCOM Public Affairs

Turning off the news.

mediabistro has this:

"FNC's 19 percent primetime decline in the demo compared to April 2005 is pretty steep. But it's nothing compared to CNN's 38 percent primetime plunge."

Their viewership was compared to the same month last year. I just think people are sick to death of all the negative news coverage. They are told Iraq is a mess, yet a new government is finally emerging despite the "predictions" of civil war. Even in the midst of a booming economy all the media can talk about are high oil prices, global warming, and Washington scandals that never seem to go anywhere, but are talked about to death.

And finally, to those of us who are deeply interested in all these things, we are finding much more information and news sitting at our computers than in turning on the news.

Almost There.

Iraqi The Model gives us the lowdown on the emerging government of Iraq.

"The process of forming the cabinet has reached a good milestone that promises an end to the long disputes that consumed months over who-gets-what especially when it came to security-related posts that are no more a problem, actually some analysts and politicians expect the next 24 hours to witness the announcement of the final formation of a large part of the cabinet."

Read the whole thing. This wasn't an easy road. We can at least all be glad to have reached this point.

Democracy. It doesn't come easy.

*I just found this. It seems Mohammed of Iraqi The Model truly knows that it doesn't come easy.

Sad.

The ACLU....

busy protecting rights again. BUT it's the rights of haters that everyone on the right and left agree shouldn't have the right to infringe on someone's most private moments in grief.

You remember the members of the Topeka, Kan.-based Westboro Baptist Church that have protested at military funerals in several states? They shout ugly things at military funerals and funerals for someone who was gay. The church seems to think that the soldiers' deaths are a sign of God punishing America for tolerating homosexuality.

Gov. Ernie Fletcher signed a new law in March that bans protests within 300 feet of memorial services, wakes and burials. Violators can be charged with first-degree disorderly conduct, punishable by up to a year in jail.

But the ACLU thinks it's too broad. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Bart McQueary, a Kentucky man who has protested alongside the church members on three occasions.

Could the ACLU be any more horrid?

via Backcountry Conservative

Monday, May 01, 2006

The Sparkle Report...

On the Colbert Report...at the White House Correspondents dinner.

You all know that I love Stephen Colbert. I think he is hilarious. Yes, I know he is making fun of Bill O' Reilly. Yes, I know he makes fun of rightwingers most of the time. But I think part of his charm and humor is that he also makes fun of what the liberals THINK about rightwingers. He exaggerates those false notions of conservatives too.

But this was a roast. He roasted the President. It was funny. He was pretty harsh to the press too.

Thanks to Leftwinglimmer (who is obviously making fun of me) for links to the video.

Special request by dave bones...Links to the Colbert performance:

Part 1:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l...h? v=lcIRXur61II

Part 2:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H...h? v=HN0INDOkFuo

Part 3:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r...h? v=rJvar7BKwvQ

Rush......in his own words.

I haven't listened to Rush in quite a while. But during the dark Clinton years he kept me sane. Rush is not a perfect person. No one is. But people cope with their problems in different ways. Rush hasn't been able to say much about all this because of the legal stuff, but today he did. I'll let him speak for himself and the emphasis is on what I think is important.


Monday, May 1, 2006

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Before we get into the news of the day, let me take a stab at explaining what happened on Friday since I'm the one that did everything and I'm the one that was involved, and so I know what happened. The sum total of all of this is the case is over, and the operative words that everybody needs to understand here are "not guilty." Not guilty. On Friday I went over to the Palm Beach County Jail in the first step of a process to end this two-year, seven-month investigation of me by the Palm Beach State Attorney's Office. It is now officially at an end. Now, I have maintained from the start of this, folks, that there was no doctor shopping.

I continue to hold this position formally. We have filed with the court a plea of not guilty to a single charge of doctor shopping that the state attorney's office has filed. Additionally, my attorneys and the state attorney's office have jointly filed an agreement with the court under which I will continue treatment for the next 18 months with the same doctor that I have been seeing since I came out of the rehabilitation center in November of 2003 for dependence on prescription pain medication. Now, that charge, the single charge of doctor shopping, will be held in abeyance until that 18 months of treatment has been completed, at which point the charges filed by the state attorney's office will be dismissed, and I'll tell you why I agreed to do this.

From my point of view, the end result will be as if I had gone to court and won, but the matter is concluded much sooner, and at much less expense for both me and for the public. I have spent thousands of hours and millions of dollars with lawyers over the past 2.7 months fighting this at every stage. We finally got a favorable ruling from the last judge to hear a ruling, rule on a motion in this case, in which he basically told the government that, "Well, you can talk to Mr. Limbaugh's doctors but you can't ask them anything that'll help you unless he waves his privacy privilege, and I don't think Mr. Limbaugh is going to do that."

So the matter has been put to bed. I'm thrilled that it's behind me. It's my understanding the state attorney is also pleased and thinks that this is the correct outcome based on the facts in the case, and that's fine with me. The case is closed. Now, let me address what happened on Friday afternoon. By the way, I've got the numbers from the Cure-A-Thon. We set a record. Over $1.7 million raised for leukemia and lymphoma on Friday. We knew we were setting records and we were, as I say, apprehensive about it because gas prices being up and all the Drive-By Media news about the terrible economy, all the doom and gloom that's out there every day.

We love you people. You've always been there. You have triumphed yet again. The depth of loyalty and support that you have shown me and this program over the almost 18 years that we've been doing it continues to stun me. You're just the best, and I don't know how to thank you appropriately, other than perhaps offering you each $100 rebates for your gasoline. (More on that, too, as the program unfolds today.) So after the program was over at three o'clock, my attorney, Mr. Black, met me here. We climbed into a car. We went over to the Palm Beach County Jail where I was booked on this single charge, filed a not guilty plea, went in there and smiled for the mug shot. The mug shot got posted all over television Friday night.

Many people were referring to it as a "publicity photo," and I must say, folks, it is one of the nicest photos of me that's ever been taken. We're going to put it in the publicity profile list that we keep. But there was one thing that happened Friday afternoon. We scurried into fast action, starting at about six o'clock Friday. I was over there for about an hour, got back to the office here around 5:15 or 5:30, turned on the news, and there's this news: "Rush Limbaugh Arrested on Drug Fraud!" I said, "Where in the world did this come from?" Because, you know, the word "arrested," this is semantics. When you hear the word "arrested," you think cops show up with a paddy wagon with shackles and leg irons and handcuffs and take me, resisting, out the door; file me into jail and so forth.

None of that happened.

This was all arranged in advance. It was part of the deal. I walked over voluntarily. I was voluntarily processed, is what this is. Yes, there was a warrant. It's called a "capeas warrant" to keep the warrant out of the system all day so that the media wouldn't find out about it. We got in and out of there without a media circus taking place. I come back and find that I've been "arrested," and I got a note from Vince Flynn, the noted thriller author today. He said, "You know, I was scared to death! I was down in Ft. Lauderdale over the weekend and I was making a speech, and I'm sitting at the bar, and some guy's got his BlackBerry, and he's reading the story, 'Rush Limbaugh Arrested for Prescription Drug Fraud,' and I said to him, 'Oh, no! Is this new?' He said, 'Yeah. CNN says they just arrested him trying to illegally buy prescription drugs,'" and Vince writes, "I was totally crushed. I said when I heard it was CNN, though, I just couldn't believe it."

I found that I lot of people thought that that was the result, that this was something brand-new rather than the conclusion of a two-year, seven-month ordeal. There was no arrest; there was no handcuffs. There was no perp walk; there was no charge. I have not relapsed. I am as healthy and happy as I have ever been, ladies and gentlemen. A lot of that is due to you and your continuing loyalty here. You've stuck. We haven't lost one radio station. We haven't lost one advertiser. We have not lost one business associate through all of this, and we haven't lost any audience. We've gained audience, and, you know, I'm in awe of it. It makes me feel humble when this happens, and so grateful that I can't describe it to you. Now, there's a (interruption). What?

Mr. Snerdley interjects: most important, we haven't lost me. No, folks, nothing's changed. I'm not leaving here until every American agrees with me. But, you know, the radio staff stood by. Everybody did. It's been an amazing 2.7 years. I've been unable to talk about the experiences that led to all this because the case was ongoing, and theoretically anything I said could have been used against me. So I haven't been able to be helpful to other people who have gone through what I have gone through, and I'm looking forward to being able to do that now, to use myself as a resource to help other people who have encountered the same type of addiction.

There are many addictions. They all stem from pretty similar things regardless, and I've learned more about myself in the past three years than I knew in the previous 52. So it's just been a total upper. In fact, Newsweek has a story, and it's amazing. It's straightforward and it's fair. If you haven't seen the Newsweek story, we've linked to it at RushLimbaugh.com. I don't know where they got them, but they got some details, for example, that I have not been able to discuss, and it's put forth in a very honest and straightforward fashion. In fact, I also have to thank Newsweek for this.

They continue to refer to me as somebody who lives in a multiple-million-dollar mansion that doesn't go out much, and I want to thank them for preserving that for me, because I have successfully, ladies and gentlemen, cultivated an image of a boring hermit, which allows me to party under the radar, and of course (laughing) Newsweek has again portrayed that image of me, which is extremely helpful. In fact, I'm going to be the centerfold next month -- I just made the deal -- in Hermit Weekly.(laughing) It's funny, but it's all ended up tremendously, folks. It's a victory, and the whole thing is over. The amount of support that I have received throughout all of this from friends and family and the staff here is something that I will never forget.

I will always be appreciative of it, and it's been quite a learning experience in so many ways, which I will now be a little bit more able and free to discuss, since the case is over. It is essentially closed. Again, there was no "arrest" on Friday. We worked very hard on Friday night turning it around. I found out that was originally from the first AP story with this, Limbaugh arrested on drug-fraud charges, or some such thing. We don't know where that came from; it doesn't matter, but we were finally able to turn it around in later stories, but what happens in something like this, the first wave of news is what most people hear and what they remember. So I've been looking forward to today to put this whole "arrest" business in perspective and to assure you there's nothing new. In fact, this case is finally over.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: An AP story just cleared the wire, because, as I say, we just today filed the agreement myself, my attorneys, and the state attorney's office called a pretrial intervention or pretrial diversion agreement. It sets out the terms of the 18 months. It is not "probation." There is no reporting to anyone. It's nothing like that. It just requires that, you know, I don't break the law and this sort of thing. So the deal is pretty clear. It says what it says, and the AP's lead is: "Rush Limbaugh must submit to random drug tests under an agreement filed Monday that will dismiss a prescription fraud charge against the conservative commentator after 18 months if he complies with the terms."

Of all the things in the agreement, that is what the AP thinks is the news in this. Well, I have news for you. I have been undergoing random drug testing for two years and seven months. I never know when they're going to happen. I have not failed one yet. Folks, I haven't even craved a pain pill since I got out of rehab. I've not even had a dream about one. It's long ago. It's not even relevant. It doesn't even come up in my thinking or in my mind. The random drug testing is, I gather this is what -- because AP leads with this -- the rest of the news is going to consider that this is the News of the Day. So I just wanted to let you know what the real news of the day is, because later in the AP story, this is the key: "The agreement did not call for Limbaugh to admit guilt to the charge that he doctor shopped in 2003."

I pleaded not guilty on Friday. This agreement does not require that I admit anything, and so in the agreement I have not admitted guilt, and that's the news: Not guilty. Plea of not guilty. No admission of guilt. Let me just say this, folks. All of you lawyers out there and those of you that follow these kinds of things, let me ask you a question: Do you think that if there was any real evidence, we would have reached a settlement? After all of this, after all the leaks -- they said they had ten counts of felony doctor shopping; they leaked that I was involved in a drug ring, and involved in money laundering. In fact, Brian Ross, that was the lead story one night on the ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings back, I think, in November of 2003. I've maintained all along there isn't any doctor shopping as has my lawyer, and if there was any evidence of it I don't know that we would have been able to settle this as we have.

END TRANSCRIPT


*And since so many leftwingers were so mean on this blog and my TexasSparkle blog about Rush, I've decided to start listening to him again. Because if I had to choose between a recovering addict who raises millions for charity, who wishes to help those with addictions, and has not relapsed and listening to the meanspirited moonbats I have here....

I'll choose Rush every time.


H/T to Cormac

From Scream to Narnia. Someone finally gets it.

Imagine a President of a film company turning out popular films like "Scary Movie" and the "Scream" franchise and choosing to stop making those types of films because his conscience was bothering him.

That is exactly what happened to Gary Granart. As "Entertainment Weekly" tells it, it all started in 1997 when Granart walked into his living room and saw his 2 yr old daughter watching some dallies from "Scream 2." She was terrified.

"In that moment, he considered the prospect of his little girl growing up steeped in the kind of culture he was producing. And he realized that something-or someone-needed to make that major change."

Amazing.

Granart told entertainment weekly that his conscience had been bothering him with the centric pop that he had been making and that the movie industry's images and music were "molding a generation of cynics and narcissists."

Granart went on to create Walden Media, producer of last year's "Chronicles of Narnia."
When Granart decided to create this company he went looking in the usual places for start up money. They weren't too interested in making films with a more positive message. They just wanted to make money. (I suppose never considering one can do both since "Chronicles" had a global gross of $754 million)

Granart finally found deep pockets with billionaire and Christian conservative Philip Anschutz. Apparently Anschutz has been angry with the darkness of Hollywood for many years and was happy to be a part of changing that.

According to Granart, whose grandfather is a rabbi, he and Anschutz never discussed religion. All involved were from different religious backgrounds, they just wanted to produce films that would appeal to families and have positive messages.

Granart is now happy to let his daughter see his movies.

If only we could all do our work with our children in mind this world would indeed be a better place.

Good Morning America! You &**%$!


I think I need to start watching GMA and see for myself!!...Heh.

via Malcontent and Robbie


The ever classy....

celebrity elite strikes again.

They bring so much to the national debate, don't they?

Sunday, April 30, 2006

Is it still big brother if there is a sign?

Every year on 4/20 students at the University of Colorado at Boulder gather at Farrand Field to defy the authorities and smoke pot publicly.

This year the University police fought back with video surveillance. The field was closed off with barricades, yellow jacketed "event staff" personnel and police officers. Then they posted the pictures of the students on a website offering a $50 reward for identification. (the parents must be so proud!)

Not fair, you say?

Well, approximately 40 signs were posted on all sides of the field advising that the field was closed and that video and photographic surveillance was going to be used on and around the field that day. (see photo of sign at link)

In other words, the police TOLD the students they would be photographed.

No one said potheads were smart.

via boing boing

The Case of Rush Limbaugh.

You can hardly blame the left side of the blogosphere for lambasting Limbaugh on his drug charge. If Al Franken had been arrested or charged we would be making fun of him too. But the whole episode brings up something I have been meaning to address. Even the news was quick to point out hypocrisy regarding Rush because he had bashed drug abusers on his show. While those who criticize Rush refuse to point out the difference in street drugs to get high and prescription drugs to relieve severe pain (and there is the difference of night and day) we are still dealing with addiction.

Having dealt with a brother who was an alcoholic and for 20 yrs and couldn't get a grip on his addiction until he finally gave it to God, I understand a bit about how addiction grabs you and won't let go. Limbaugh was clearly addicted to a highly addictive drug for his pain. To his credit, he tried to seek help twice. But I think he thought he could control it on his own. Sometimes we think we are stronger than our demons when we are not.

Rush is part pundit and part entertainer. He rose to fame for two simple reasons. He was giving a voice to a conservative point of view that was not being reported on and he was doing it in a fun way.

Movie stars and musicians who are arrested or checked into rehab certaintly don't receive the wrath of the msm or the leftwing. So this isn't about the addiction. It's about the politics of the person. For some reason, because Rush is conservative, he is held to a completely different standard by the msm and the left. It's like they expect conservatives to be perfect if they are going espouse a more moral society.

A couple of weeks ago I was on rightalk radio talking to Ace and Jeff (From Protein Wisdom) and Jeff rendered me speechless for a few seconds (a very difficult thing to do, and it doesn't surprise me that he would be the one to do it).We were talking about McCain running for President and Jeff asked, "Doesn't it bother you that he has been divorced?"

It surprised me. Just because one is a religious conservative doesn't mean we expect our leaders to have lived perfect lives. We would have no leaders then, because no one is perfect. We have all sinned. To me, it isn't about past mistakes, it's about how a person moves forward, how they coped or dealt with the problems they had.

There is a world of difference for example, in how McCain handled his divorce, and Giuliani handled his. All you have to do is ask the ex-wives to find that out.

Rush has never had a great personal life. I have no idea what his demons are. I don't even know exactly what to think about his prescription drug addiction. I wish him well and hope that he stays recovered, but he is, in the end, just a radio talk show host. Heck, my very favorite talk show host is Glenn Beck , who is a recovering drug addict, alcoholic, and divorced. His past is the worst. He talks about it all the time. But he turned his life around. He gave it to God. His life has been full of blessings ever since. He is a wonderful role model in my opinion. And if you think he is some holy roller, then you haven't listened to him. He is hilarious and irreverent. I love him.

Being a conservative isn't about being perfect. Far from it. It's about being better. Being better than you were the day before and hoping to be even better tommorrow. It's about striving for the good. We may not get there, but the effort itself gives us much to be proud of.

Update: NewsMax has quite a different story than what the MSM is reporting.

Join The 101st Fighting Keyboardists!

The Captain has all the details!

Check out...

"Giant papier-mache heads against the war"

Funny and a bit sad as well.

Thomas Jefferbunk.

Mark Steyn does a Thomas Jefferson quote smackdown.

"Indeed, America's hardboiled newsmen can't get enough of the Thomas Jefferbunk. The Berkshire Eagle used it as the headline for last year's Fourth of July editorial. Mitch Albom of the Detroit Free Press thundered: "We need to stop slicing this country in half, and saying those who support this act or this politician are 'good' Americans, and the rest are not. Sometimes 'dissent is the highest form of patriotism.' I didn't make that up. Thomas Jefferson did."

Er, no. You made up that he made it up. But former Georgia state Rep. Mike Snow uses it, and Miranda Yaver of Berkeley wore it on a button to the big anti-war demo in Washington last year, and Ted Kennedy deployed it as the stirring finale to his anti-Bush speech."


via Powerline

A decrease in those wanting the 72 virgins.

Times online has this:

"THE leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, is attempting to set up his own mini-army and move away from individual suicide attacks to a more organised resistance movement, according to US intelligence sources.

Faced with a shortage of foreign fighters willing to undertake suicide missions, Zarqawi wants to turn his group into a more traditional force mounting co-ordinated guerrilla raids on coalition targets."

via Powerline