A Soldier's thoughts.

Sometimes when I am surfing through the Milblogs I come across something written by one of our soldiers in Iraq that is so sweet and honest I just have to share it. This is from Blog Machine City talking about missing his new wife:

"She's been extraordinarily considerate and understanding - almost unbelievably so, considering that she said to me that she didn't want to become an Army wife and I made her one anyway. (Muahahaha!) But when I dream at night, I don't dream of her - I dream of nothing but B Company, in every conceivable situation. At parties, in combat, just sitting around - it's a red-letter night if at least one member of this damn unit isn't visiting me in my sleep. As Agent Smith said in The Matrix:

I'm going to be honest with you. I hate this place...this...zoo, this...prison, this...reality...whatever you want to call it. I can't stand it any longer.

It's great that I can chat with her every day from the comfort of my room, but we both often wonder if there's really a person on the other end, or if it isn't just some Turing machine, issuing programmed responses. How would either of us know?

Having my head down for so long, staring at my feet, watching one foot land in front of the other, one day at a time - one day I'm going to look up and Melobi will be there, and the World, and Iraq will be behind me. Or...so I assume, but there's no way of knowing until I get there."

It makes my heart ache. It really does.

I know you probably already saw this on Drudge, but I had to copy it. Too awesome. It shows us the kind of men our soldiers are. But we knew that, didn't we?

Soldier survives attack; captures, medically treats sniper

Pfc. Stephen Tschiderer is a native of Mendon, N.Y.
During a routine patrol in Baghdad June 2, Army Pfc. Stephen Tschiderer, a medic, was shot in the chest by an enemy sniper, hiding in a van just 75 yards away. The incident was filmed by the insurgents.

Tschiderer, with E Troop, 101st Saber Cavalry Division, attached to 3rd Battalion, 156th Infantry Regiment, 256th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, was knocked to the ground from the impact, but he popped right back up, took cover and located the enemy's position.

After tracking down the now-wounded sniper with a team from B Company, 4th Battalion, 1st Iraqi Army Brigade, Tschiderer secured the terrorist with a pair of handcuffs and gave medical aid to the terrorist who'd tried to kill him just minutes before.

See the video on Army Times.

Ok, this is funny. You heard of the website from the Brits regarding the London bombings called We're Not Afraid.com? Well someone is lampooning it with i am f*cking terrified.com . I know this shouldn't be funny. I know I shouldn't be laughing. But just check out the pictures on the second link. OMG!!! Hilarious. via my buddy dave at malungtvnews.

I know the comment section on all my posts say 0, but the comments are still there. I don't know why. Haloscan sucks.

A Different War.

Ah, the culture wars. You just have to love it.

Logo is a new gay TV channel on Viacom basic cable that began on June 30th with sponsorship by companies like Miller Lite, Motorola, and Orbitz. Slate's article on it has the new network's president, Brian Graden, assuring us that the channel will "steer clear of highly sexualized content." In fact the article's author found only one slightly dirty moment when a travel show gave the name of an Amsterdam hotel designed specifically for gay men interested in bondage, then asked naughtily, "How do you say 'ouch' in Dutch?"

I mean come on....when your 8 yr old comes across this flipping channels he won't even know what bondage is. Why worry????

I also love how the article calls Concerned Women For America (a conservative women's organization) who is opposing the channel, "a group." I believe that CWA has 3 or 4 times the membership of NOW. I bet you haven't heard of them though, huh? Such is the media's notion that NOW is the only women's group in the country. I wonder if Slate would call NOW "a group?"

And speaking of women's groups. Did you hear about NARAL's party in Seattle, Washington yesterday? It was called "Screw Abstinence." Isn't that a such a cute lil play on words there???

The NARAL flier reads, “Come laugh, learn, socialize and buck the system.” Partygoers will be treated to "tips on “Sexy Safer Sex” by “purveyors of adult toys,” see a theatre troupe perform a sex-ed class for adults, and sip on “Screw Driver” alcoholic beverages."

A new commenter from Stop the ACLU says that "...Reason writer Charles Oliver was taken aback when he learned from John Powell, the Union’s national legal director, that he considered abortion to be the ACLU’s number one priority; the defense of the First Amendment, the alleged heart and soul of the ACLU’s mission, was listed third, after civil rights." (emphasis mine)


If this is a war, we are losing my friends. Republicans in power or not.

I can't decide whether to take my little boys to "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." I was watching some previews and it looks creepy to me. Watching Johnny Depp (who I think is an excellent actor, even though in real life a loon) keeps me thinking that Edward Sissorhands grew up to become Willy Wonka.

Below is the petition that MoveOn.org is asking people to sign and send to their Senators....

FULL TEXT OF THE PETITION TO: (Your senators) FROM: (Your Name and Email) SUBJECT: Protect our rights __________ Dear senator, (Your personal note) The Senate must stand up to President Bush and demand a Supreme Court nominee who will protect the rights and freedoms of the American people.

I don't know about you but I WILL NOT STAND FOR THIS!!!! How dare they demand someone who will protect the rights and freedoms of the American people!! If Bush doesn't nominate someone who will create a police state and take away my free speech rights, gun ownership rights, private property rights...then I WILL PROTEST!!!! (unless I lose that right with the new Supreme Court Judge that is) I hope the Senators pay NO attention to this outrageous demand!!!!! It is just over the top. I mean really.

"I wish someone would kill me; that way I could hang out in the cemetery ALL the time, instead of just on weekends." via Caption This!

I'm bored.

Excellent article by an Iraqi about the London bombings and Arab leaders reactions.

Warning!!

The Center for Science in the Public Interest is demanding warning labels on the sides of soda cans. CSPI wants the FDA to warn us that drinking soda causes obesity, diabetes, tooth decay, and osteoperosis.

Other demands are:

Warning labels embedded in Oreos to warn us that the little chocolate devils cause fat and mouth watering pleasure.

Warning labels on beds to warn us that sleeping too much can cause laziness AND that laying down on one with your loved one may cause babies.

Warning labels on bathtubs to warn us that taking hot baths may cause us to miss phone calls.

Warning labels on phones to warn us that in talking too much on one may cause us to gossip.

Warning labels on movie stars such as Johnny Depp and Brad Pitt to warn us that watching their movies may cause us to lust.

Warning labels on computers to warn us that blogging may cause one to neglect the laundry.

This must be captioned as well!

It is way past time for a caption. Let's try Harry Reid, shall we?

If you see a bunch of people who look like darker and retarded versions of Inspector Gadget around the White House around 2:30pm today, now you will know why.

Report It My Way Or The Highway!

Oh, this is really good. What happens when Mark Yost, an editor at Knight Ridder is critical of media coverage of the Iraq war (Trust me when I say he is not a conservative) and is blasted by Steve Lovelady, the managing editor of the Columbia Journalism Review Daily and then Jeff Jarvis of BuzzMachine e-mails them to see if there can be a discussion about the media coverage? Well, you get a honest look at the "objective" journalism coming out of Columbia, of course. I guess Steve didn't figure Jeff was going to post his e-mails. As Jeff Jarvis points out, you would think the EDITOR of Columbia Journalism Review Daily might enjoy a spirited debate. But....nooooooooo. The liberal fangs come out showing us that there really is no such thing as objective journalism these days.

What made Lovelady so angry? Well, Mark Yost betrayed the media! He had been in lockstep before!! He actually wondered why the media was not covering the good news stories of Iraq.

Steve Lovelady is so angry that he can't seem to stop e-mailing Jeff Jarvis about it! Just read the link. It tells you all you need to know about journalism these days.

Greyhawk reminds us--They kill their own children.

Breaking down the (Yawn) Karl Rove/Valerie Plame story.

We here in Texas are use to the insane rantings of Molly Ivins. At least she apologized this time.

If It Quacks Like A Terrorist.....

The Guardian has this in one of it's stories on the terrorist bombings in London:

"Early reports of the blasts on the BBC's website mentioned possible terrorist involvement but the stories were later changed to describe the perpetrators as "bombers" rather than "terrorists".

Although a spokesman said the word "terrorist" was not banned from the BBC, its language guidelines state that "careless use of words which carry emotional or value judgments" should be avoided and that "the word 'terrorist' itself can be a barrier rather than an aid to understanding" and should be "avoided"."

Is this just an insane example of political correctness or a deliberate effort to avoid adding support to the war on terror? And who the hell thinks we should try "an aid to understanding?" Oh, we understand alright. We understand that these are fanatics determined to kill innocents. They use terror as their main weapon. That is why we call them TERRORISTS!!! Yeah, this is a value judgment. Call them what they ARE.

The idiots at the BBC should even understand that.

I'm Back!!

It is sooo good to be home. I am just now catching up on the news. It is interesting to hear from family members who don't have the interest in politics that I do. They see these stories like Rove and Durbin and Gitmo as boring and blown out of proportion for political reasons.

My heart goes out to the people of London who lost loved ones in the terrorist bombings. I am amazed that something similar hasn't happened here. I am also convinced that the reason it hasn't happened is because of the Patriot Act and rounding up those who would do us harm and putting them in Gitmo. I have heard that European news focus on America's supposed mistakes. I am curious to see if the bombings will force the media to focus on the real enemy here, the terrorists.

I want to emphasis something that BigDog had in the previous post that I don't think should be missed. The interview between Ron Reagan and Christopher Hitchens. Hitchens is a liberal that truly gets it when it comes to terror.

The argument should be read. But here are some key points that Hitchen's made:

"...these movements had taken over Afghanistan, had very nearly taken over Algeria, in a extremely bloody war which actually was eventually won by Algerian society. They had sent death squads to try and kill my friend Salman Rushdie, for the offense of writing a novel in England. They had sent death squads to Austria and Germany, the Iranians had, for example, to try and kill Kurdish Muslim leaders there. If you make the mistake that I thought I heard you making just before we came on the air, of attributing rationality or a motive to this, and to say that it's about anything but itself, you make a great mistake, and you end up where you ended up, saying that the cause of terrorism is fighting against it, the root cause, I mean. Now, you even said, extraordinarily to me, that there was no terrorist problem in Iraq before 2003. Do you know nothing about the subject at all? Do you wonder how Mr. Zarqawi got there under the rule of Saddam Hussein? Have you ever heard of Abu Nidal?"

"Have you ever heard of Abu Nidal, the most wanted man in the world, who was sheltered in Baghdad? The man who pushed Leon Klinghoffer off the boat, was sheltered by Saddam Hussein. The man who blew up the World Trade Center in 1993 was sheltered by Saddam Hussein, and you have the nerve to say that terrorism is caused by resisting it? And by deposing governments that endorse it?"

"When I went to interview Abu Nidal, then the most wanted terrorist in the world, in Baghdad, he was operating out of an Iraqi government office. He was an arm of the Iraqi State, while being the most wanted man in the world. The same is true of the shelter and safe house offered by the Iraqi government, to the murderers of Leon Klinghoffer, and to Mr. Yassin, who mixed the chemicals for the World Trade Center bombing in 1993. How can you know so little about this, and be occupying a chair at the time that you do?"

How can America know so little as well? Because they are constantly thrown stories that don't matter (like the Michael Jackson case) and are not given the important information because it isn't "exciting."

Thanks to BigDog for helping me out here!

Just when you thought it was safe.....

Rightwingsparkle Not Blogging, Day 11

Been away. Lets round up some news


Leaked No 10 dossier reveals Al-Qaeda’s British recruits

"AL-QAEDA is secretly recruiting affluent, middle-class Muslims in British universities and colleges to carry out terrorist attacks in this country, leaked Whitehall documents reveal. "

Some folks blather about the "root causes" of terrorism, a few are sincerely trying to figure out the enemy and therefore how best to defeat them. Mostly, imo, the "Root Causes Caucas" are rationalizing their own chickenshit need to appease terrorists in hopes they will go away.

One of the sillier "root causes" notions is that poverty creates terror. Nonsense. Poor people are too busy feeding their families and putting clothes on the backs of their children. No, terrorism germinates among the affluent, people with the leisure to join causes to give some kind of meaning to their lives.

Terrorists operate in impoverished places. Waltz in with cash and armed men - who is going to stop you? Poor people are merely the first victims of terrorist schemes. They set up camps, buy.... er, "marry" some local chief's daughter to insure his compliance... er, loyalty, and use the locals for cover and cannon fodder.
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Jihad Is Knocking

"Already the standard narrative is being trotted out: evildoers created by what the New York Times predictably called the “root causes of terrorism”: autocracy, or economic stagnation, or Palestinian suffering, or globalization's dislocations, or Western historical sins, or the war in Iraq (the cause will depend on the political prejudices of the pundit) have “hijacked” Islam and distorted its peaceful message. And now they are using Islam to justify murder in order to further their own ambitions or dysfunctional psychic needs. Given this explanation, so the story goes, we must be careful not to demonize all Muslims and assure them that we respect their religion and culture. The tale is then wrapped up with fierce threats against the terrorists and protestations of admiration for Islam."

"Believing this delusion requires that one ignores fourteen centuries of Islamic jihad against the West, a war of conquest and colonization ratified by centuries of Islamic theology and jurisprudence. Indeed, what we call Islamic radicals are in fact Islamic traditionalists; it is the so-called “moderates” — those wanting to compromise Islam so it can coexist with Western ideas such as secular government, separation of church and state, and human rights — who are the radicals and innovators. The terrorists are simply fulfilling the traditional and orthodox command of their religion to battle the infidels who resist the revelation of Mohammed and the global socio-political order mandated by Islam."

How to Lose a War

"Autocratic regimes, statist economies, gender apartheid, corruption, the absence of a free press — all that and more retard economic growth from the Gulf to Morocco. In response, theocratic regimes like the Taliban and the Iranian mullocracy blame the West for their own self-inflicted misery and inadequacies. But more often, clever dictators such as a Baathist Saddam, the Saudi Royal family, an Egyptian kleptocracy, or the Pakistani military regime allow Islamicists some rein, if not covert support, to deflect blame from their own failures onto the United States and the "Jews."

"A shamed Islamic street — ill-housed, ill-fed, and ill-informed — is nourished on the mythology that a purer creed and a return to the 8th century alone can reclaim past glories of the caliphate, and stop the decadent intrusion of Western consumerism and popular culture"
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The wrong thing to do in the face of terror:

Please Appease Me
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Retrieving bodies is nightmare for London rescuers

"Retrieval teams working deep underground to recover bodies after the London bomb attacks are battling ghastly conditions that one expert compared to a "foetid drain."

Uncommon devotion to duty is heroism.
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Sauerkraut Wrestling Proposed For Lawmakers

"If New Ulm's mayor gets his way, the governor and legislative leaders will duke out their differences in a wrestling ring filled with sauerkraut."

I believe Arizona settles election ties by cutting cards. More disputes should be settled by some unconventional competition instead of letting it fester. Entertaining too.
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Debunking 8 Anti-War Myths About The Conflict In Iraq
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The Left doesn't support the troops and should admit it

"In order to understand this, we need to first have a working definition of the term "support the troops." Presumably it means that one supports what the troops are doing and rooting for them to succeed. What else could "support the troops" mean? If you say, for example, that you support the Yankees or the Dodgers, we assume it means you want them to win."

" But most of the Left does not want the troops to win in Iraq. The Left's message is this: "You troops may think you are winning; you may think you are doing good and moral things in Iraq; you may believe you are fighting the worst human beings of our age and protecting us against the scourge of Islamic terror. But we on the Left believe none of that. We believe this war is being fought for oil and for Halliburton and other corporations; we believe you are waging a war that is both illegal and immoral; we believe you have invaded a country for no good reason and have killed a hundred thousand Iraqis [the Left's generally mentioned number] for no good reason; but, hey, we sure do support you."

"Honest people on the Left need to understand that the two positions are not reconcilable"
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A leftist who does actually support the troops:
Foreign Service

"The Iraqi civilians were very nice to us again, even though Samarra had a lot of insurgents for much of my time there. And the kids love us, especially the little girls, who seem to feel all this democratic change will be good for them in particular. The whole ‘mission’ is starting to feel like Peace Corps work, albeit you still have to be well armed. I am a political left-winger on most things, but on the Middle East business I think we are doing the right thing, mainly because that’s what all these Iraqi civilians kept telling me. Not sure why you don’t hear that kind of stuff on the media, except that most civilians there would consider it suicide to say good things about Americans on-camera.”
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Homeowner thwarts break-in with handgun - Good man. Give him a medal.
Trotsy's Pick - Dispute over the weapon used to kill Trotsky. Weird
The Right Hates Freedom & America - Ooooo! Ouch.
44-car train abandondoned - Unions.....
Ron Reagan gets spanked
Rescuing the Laws of War - Military academic papers often strike me as more.... objective

Friday....

London:

Victor Davis Hanson: "Anticipate Western leaders condemning the terrorists in the same breadth as they call for “eliminating poverty” and “bringing them to justice” — as if the jihadists and their patrons are mere wayward and impoverished felons.

Wretchard: "The inevitable question then is 'why could Bin Laden not find the means to attack 30 trains?' The answer it seems to me, must be Afghanistan, Iraq, the Horn of Africa and hundred other places where he is engaged without quarter by US forces. Resources, whether Jihadi or no are not infinite. They do not have some magical machine that allows them to be everywhere at once, to sustain losses yet grow. There's no free lunch, not even, and especially not for Bin Laden. If it were true that Islamism would shrivel faster were it pursued more passively, then pre-911 policy should have finished it by now. But what we empirically observe is that ignoring them allowed them to mount 911-scale attack. Hit them continuously and in four years they could scrape together enough to blow up a London bus and some subway trains."

Steyn: "Yesterday, al-Qa'eda hit three Tube trains and one bus. Had they broadened their attentions from the central zone, had they attempted to blow up 30 trains from Uxbridge to Upminster, who can doubt that they too would have been successful? In other words, the scale of the carnage was constrained only by the murderers' ambition and their manpower."

and:

"Of course, many resources had been redeployed to Scotland to cope with Bob Geldof's pathetic call for a million anti-globalist ninnies to descend on the G8 summit. In theory, the anti-glob mob should be furious with al-Qa'eda and its political tin ear for ensuring that their own pitiful narcissist protests - the pâpier-maché Bush and Blair puppets, the ethnic drumming, etc - will be crowded off the news bulletins."

Arab view: 'Enough, enough' "Arabs and Muslims in Britain and across the world expressed outrage at the terrorist attacks in London, with the dominant viewpoint summed up by one person who wrote on a Web site, "Enough ... enough.""

Good. The War on Terror is showing more dividends. Some people wising up.

Incongruent note: "The September 11, 2001 al Qaeda attacks in the United States sparked some anger at Arabs and Muslims, which U.S. leaders and others worked to quickly counteract."

I recall a great deal of hyperbole about a backlash that didn't happen, 'US leaders' or not.

Official warns against Israel using events to 'score points' Israel can't do anything right. I guess.
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Oh and BTW Livingstone is a twofaced fickle lying sack of sh*t

Hee hee! Ken Livingstone, socialist mayor of London. Note that his anti-Isreali and anti-American beliefs didn't buy him any real gratitude.

Just a little background:

"Livingstone was in charge of London's transportation policy once before, in the early '80s, when his socialist "Fare's Fair" policy slashed prices on public transport and plunged the industry into financial troubles (which helped lead to the abolition of the Greater London Council of which he was head). "
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The Folk Song Army Sings Africa

If people really want to end poverty in Africa, they will support free market capitalism.
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North Waziristan refugee camps close: 85 percent choose repatriation

" The UN refugee agency has completed registering Afghans who wish to repatriate because of the closure of refugee camps in troubled North Waziristan, with at least 85 percent of the camp population choosing to return to Afghanistan rather than relocate elsewhere in Pakistan."

Afghanistan...... That wouldn't happen to be another sign of American success?
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Martin's effort to sway Bush on climate change gets mixed reviews

"Environmentalists are cheering on Prime Minister Paul Martin as he appeals for U.S. support in fighting climate change, saying Canada can't meet its Kyoto targets unless the United States is onside. "

"Martin said earlier this week he will speak "forcefully" to George W. Bush at the G8 summit to convince him of the scientific evidence that the world is getting warmer and that manmade sources are the cause. "

"Canada's greenhouse emissions are now 24 per cent above 1990 levels, a far cry from the six per cent reduction from 1990 levels called for under the Kyoto treaty."

Okay. Let me get this straight. The Canadian PM, whose country is not anywhere near compliance with Kyoto, is going to make demands on the US take action so that Canada can meet its goals. Would Martin like anything else? A rubdown and a shiatsu? Make his mortgage payments for him? Buyout the Canadian national debt?

Here is an idea. Canada signed the Kyoto Treaty, incidentally making a great deal of noise about how morally superior this made them. Canada, naturally, can meet their own obligations.
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Man Sues Mass. for Right to Get Drunk

"A man arrested when police showed up to break up a New Year's Eve party at a friend's house has filed a lawsuit, arguing he had a constitutional right to get drunk on private property as long as he didn't cause a public disturbance. "

A man on private property, not disturbing anyone, not operating any equipment, not breaking any actual laws, is arrested... for being drunk.

"Legal experts said his lawsuit, filed this week in U.S. District Court in Boston, is the first to challenge a state law allowing police to lock up drunk people against their will for their own protection."

"Laverriere argues that the Massachusetts Protective Custody Law was written to combat public drunkenness and that the police had no right to use it to take him from a private residence. He also says he had planned to spend the night at his friend's and wasn't going to be driving anywhere."

"One thing people should be able to do is drink in their own house," Laverriere told The Boston Globe. "That's the beauty of the land of the free."

Hell, even a despotic regimes lets people get hammered.

"Attorney Leonard Kesten, who has defended police departments in civil-rights cases, said if officers are investigating a crime or responding to an incident and discover that someone is drunk and posing a danger, they are obligated to take that person into protective custody."

"Police have been sued for failing to take people into protective custody who later died from alcohol poisoning or killed others in drunken-driving accidents."

Aha. Tort reform.
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Brents' rampage nets 1,300 years

"Brent J. Brents was sentenced to more than 1,300 years in prison Wednesday for crimes a judge said showed "unspeakable cruelty and malignance."
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Friday Quote

"The ultimate determinate in the struggle now going on for the world will not be bombs and rockets but a test of wills and ideas - a trial of spiritual resolve; the values we hold, the beliefs we cherish and the ideas to which we are dedicated" -- Ronald Reagan

Tyranny of Good Intentions

Proposal could put seat belts on dogs

"Where Fido finds a breath of fresh air, Marc McCann, 11, sees a road hazard."

"The Green Tree boy helped a state lawmaker craft a proposal that would make it illegal for dogs and other pets to stick their heads out the car window, which McCann says is a danger to animals and a distraction to drivers. "

Thanks kid. Go away.

This kid is 11 years old. Does anyone really believe that he is acting on his own? In my opinion it is contemptible to use a child like this as a front for an agenda.

How many laws do we need to govern us? Worse, how many laws do we need to protect us from ourselves? My answer is, none.

My dog loves to ride with his head out the window. Is he at slightly greater risk? Of course he is. Life is involves risk.
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Bush stands firm on Kyoto pact

"President Bush yesterday stood fast in his rejection of the Kyoto climate treaty,...."

Its contemptible how some people - ahem - pretend that Bush is somehow the obstacle to the ratification of the Kyoto Treaty. Kyoto is dead. First of all the Senate recognized that its an economic treaty and rejected it 98-0 long before Bush came into office. Second, European nations are not and will never in compliance. Third, nothing is required of nations like China which is a major polluter.

Clinton spitefully pulled Kyoto out of the waste bin and left it on the President's desk before he left office. If I might wax metaphoric, Bush walked into the Oval Office, smelled Kyoto's corpse mouldering on his desk and had it decently buried.

I recall in the 80s as a kid reading predictions that carbon dioxide would be demonized as a pollution emission since real toxic pollutants were under control. At the time I dismissed the idea as stupid. Everyone knew CO2 is plant food, right? Now I know better. One cannot underestimate the willingness of self serving interests to cynically deceive and the willing gullibility of some segments of the population.

No amount of nagging is going to change America's position on Kyoto. Even after Bush is out of office, even if Kerry had won office in 2004, Kyoto will be and would never have been ratified.

In this case I DON'T believe that intentions of the pro-Kyoto advocates are good.

No Time for More

Rightwingsparkle Not Blogging Crises, Day 5

Iowa gives vote to convitcted felons.

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Sounds of the South

Rightwingsparkle would like this. The article explains Southern American English, now why is Sparkle's accent so delightful?
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Latest on Kennewick Man

Evidence and historical fact must, in some people's minds, be suppressed or destroyed for Political Correctness.
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U.N.. Oil-for-Food Figure Benon Sevan Flees U.S.

Corrupt...... Unaccountable.
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Woman killed because she was white

""I wanted to kill somebody who lived a lily-white lifestyle and was a closet bigot," he said on the tape. "

I don't suppose it occurs to him that he is the bigot?
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!!! BREAD IS DANGEROUS !!!

Satirically illustrating the inanity of many public advocacy arguments.
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Dependency on government by Walter Williams

"Benjamin Franklin had it right when he wrote, "[T]he best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it." Government dependency makes poverty."
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Diplomacy with Terrorists? Therapy for the Belligerent

"There is a school of thought that terrorists must be understood as basically reasonable people who are simply angry at the supposed arrogance of the United States. "

Un Problemo

I have been contacted recently by someone who said he couldn't post comments. I want to make it clear that I am not deleting anything or banning anyone.

Something similar happened to me last week. For several hours I was unable to post any comments on Sparkle's blog. Frustrating, especially because I was having a lively exchange at the time.

If you are experiencing difficulty commenting, try clearing your cookies and cache and rebooting. Seemed to clear it up for me.

Something Funny

Iowahawk follows up his satirical post from July 4th....

Stop Comparing Me to American Moonbats

A Plethora of Linkage

Rightwingsparkle Not Blogging Crises, Day 4


War dogs lap up support

Our treatment of retired war dogs is far better than in the past.
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Man in 10 Commandments Case Fears for Safety After Paper Prints Name

He made himself a public figure. I don't see how he can complain.
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Maverick Gaddafi calls for borderless Africa

"Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi underlined his maverick reputation Monday by telling African leaders their people's woes would be solved by creating a borderless continent with a single passport."

maverick is a word for it. Not the word I would have chosen

"Asking for foreign aid would lead to humiliating failure, he said."

Can't argue with that, especially since it has been the historical pattern.

""Fifty percent of gold in the world is in Africa, 95 percent of diamonds are in Africa and 95 percent of platinum is found in Africa ... It's a very rich continent, but it is not exploited (by Africans)," he said. "

Resources are good. However the modern post-industrial economy is less dependent on resources. In any given product the value materials is a fraction. Few raw resources are critical, and substitutes are readily available for most applications. Once, coal and iron were fought over as strategic resources, Peru and Spain even fought a war over bird crap. Today only petroleum is a true strategic resource, and even its importance is overstated. Now, minerals and other resources are cheaper than ever, technology allows us to access them more readily and manufacture cheaper or better alternatives.

The point of all this is that many third world nations are put out that their valuable resources don't make them rich. People are what really makes a nation prosperous. Human capital, if you will, as measured by the productivity, education, and skills. Free economies both generate human capital and allow economies based on it to flourish. These third world tyrannies, saddled with corrupt, nepotistic, heavy handed governments will never truly prosper, no matter how much platinum or diamonds or molybdenum they have within their borders.

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July Fourth Celebrates America's and the West's Core Values: Reason, Rights, and Science Are What Made America Great

Property Rights.
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Real Lesson of Vietnam

"There are lessons here. When the United States has stayed on after fighting dictatorial enemies admittedly for decades in Italy, Germany, Japan, Korea and the Balkans progress toward democracy and prosperity ensued. Disengagement from unresolved messy problems whether from Europe after World War I, Vietnam in 1973, Beirut after the Marine barracks bombings, Afghanistan after the Soviet defeat, or Iraq in 1991 only left murderous chaos or the "peace" of dictators."

The reason the commies won in Vietnam is because of our failure of will. The USSR and supplied the North and we didn't supply the South. The North Vietnamese Army, replete with materiel they didn't have to manufacture themselves and tank crews literally chained into their tanks, invaded. America's shame is letting down our ally, eternally besmirching our honor.

In the aftermath, more people died in the following three years of communist "peace" than died in 14 years of American war.

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Remember Afghanistan?

"The media again shows its predictable bias."

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Protesters Demand Guantanamo Shutdown

"Some detainees have been held at the camp in Cuba for more than three years without being charged. The U.S. government contends the prisoners are enemy combatants and are not entitled to constitutional protections."

That is correct. Nor are they entitled to Geneva Convention protections.

"The Bush administration "has claimed the power to kidnap men anywhere in the world and hold them, interrogate them, detain them without any process of law," said Meeropol, the granddaughter of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were executed in 1953 after being convicted of conspiring to commit espionage for the Soviet Union."

What a bizarre world. Not that she is guilty of the crimes of her grandparents, I just wonder why she is quoted. Is she the head of some organization?

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'Life' for raping teacher could mean four years

"An Old Bailey judge told the boy who cannot be named and was aged 15 when he attacked the 28-year-old teacher at Westminster City School, London, last year that he had subjected his victim to a prolonged, persistent, determined and violent rape. "

"But Judge Christopher Moss, QC, added: Life does not mean life. The purpose of such a sentence is not to throw away the key but to ensure you are not released until the relevant authorities can be satisfied you no longer pose a risk to female members of the community. The judge recommended a minimum tariff of nine years but said that, because he had already been in custody for ten months, the boy could be considered for parole in three years and eight months. "

"Two psychiatrists who examined the teenager concluded that he urgently needed treatment as a sex offender and that it was impossible to say when it would be safe to release him."

How about never?
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A Great Stonehenge Mystery Solved

Cool.

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One more cause to despise the UN.

The UN at 60

"But an even greater scandal at the UN is receiving less publicity: For years, its agencies and programs systematically have been promoting regulations and policies that block the use of safe, effective new technologies that could help solve some of the world's most pressing public health and environmental problems."

The UN

**** Repost from my blog Several stories, such as the UN Oil for Food scandal and Sex scandals in Africa have developed since.


In principle, I am not opposed to international diplomatic organizations, clearly however, the UN is inept, corrupt and unaccountable. Tom Deweese:

"The United Nations has come under the control of outlaw nations, petty and tarnished former superpowers and self-ordained special interest groups. Each promotes a socialist agenda that seeks to redistribute the wealth of producers into their coffers as they diminish the power of the United States and enslave the citizens of every nation in a new Dark Age of poverty and misery"

The UN's management of rebuilding Kosavo was a disaster. UN bureaucrats were haughty, indifferent, socialistic and incompetent. Stephen Schwartz writes in UN Go Home:An example:

"In Kosovo, during decades of Serbian domination, the Albanians had established an extraordinary "parallel" school system, in which teachers were paid in clothing, food, transportation, and other goods and services. Kosovo had 28,000 education workers, serving 400,000 students in more than 800 institutions. Children were transported to and from their classes, hot lunches were dispensed, medical personnel were available, and school premises kept clean--all by parents and other volunteers. The teachers, who represented the civic conscience of the Kosovars, looked forward to U.N. expenditures to regularize their schools. They were out of luck. The first action of the international administration in Kosovo was to announce that education must start over from zero."

"Since the U.N. had no money for education, the teachers would be paid in scrip, exchangeable for relief supplies. But first, all janitors, cooks, and nurses were fired. No more milk or hot food would be served; school bus service was shut down. It is no wonder, then, that the streets of Prishtina soon filled with children spending their days out of school, selling cigarettes. Nor was it surprising that in 2002 the first group of public employees to strike against the foreign rulers were schoolteachers.""

Schwartz describes UN employees: "They call themselves "internationals," and are generally young and inexperienced, although the heads of their missions tend to be old and uninterested. They have a strong prejudice against privatization, and too many of those chosen for economic responsibilities hail from Sweden and other countries where statist socialism remains the political religion. "

Lets not forget the UN Oil for Food Scandal. The UN signed off on Saddam's diversion of oil profits from food and medicine for the people of Iraq to the construction of palaces for himself and embargoed weapons. UN officials accepted bribes and Kofi Annan himself signed off on Saddam's spending. Corruption exists at the highest levels of the UN.

And corruption exists at the bottom. The charactor of both higher and lower level UN employees was demonstrated when the cafeteria was looted during a strike of the food service employees. UN higher ups actually encouraged the employees to loot the cafeteria.

Consider, many UN employees were born and raised in third world tyrannies. They left these nations to join the UN to escape their failed countries. How is Kofi Annan, exactly, qualified to lecture the US about how to run our affairs?

This is an organization that incessently tries to impose UN taxes, impugns our soveriegnty, and protects tyrants like Saddam. The Kyoto treaty is a fraud and a bad idea. Unesco is a crime. Its demonstrated ineptitude in Iraq and Kosovo and lets not forget the endless disasters in Africa.

The UN is the last place to look for guidance in any area.

Link thanks: Capitalism Magazine, Foxnews, Heritage Foundation, JewishWorldReview, TechCentralStation, Telegraph UK, Time, Washington Times, Weekly Standard,

Some Links and Stuff

Rightwingsparkle Not Blogging Crises, Day 3

News of the Weird:

Hong Kongers don't know what to do between the sheets: report

Unlikely.
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Satellite tracking project to help conserve Malaysia's pygmy elephants

Ummmmm...... okay.
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Mom sells face space for tattoo advertisement

You may have heard of this, this link has a picture. The buyer of the adspace would be a casino.... on the net.
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Astrologist sues Nasa after comet crash

Apparently, it queered her karma or jiggered her planetary alignment or whatever. Wasn't there a similar story out of Russia not long ago?
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News of the Outrageous:

Man is now sex offender for lecturing girl

Sure, he grabbed her arm. She needed chewing out for being dumb. Besides the outrageous injustice to him, what kind of lesson is that to the girl?
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Church Asks Fla. City To Ban Baggy Pants, Gold Teeth

Why not ban crime?
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More Serious Stuff:

Rescuing the Law of War: A Way Forward in an Era of Global Terrorism

"Terrorists are gaining an astonishing legal edge over US and other armed forces deployed against them. The present trend promises to burden future generations, as well as our own, with an ad hoc, damaging legal framework sure to thwart counterterrorist operations and even furnish inducements for those tempted to join the terrorist ranks. "
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Perspective from a Brit on KELO

"Not only does Eminent Domain now pose a threat to anyone whose property happens to catch the eye of a well connected property developer, the USA also has outrageous 'asset forfeiture' laws that allow suspects to have their property taken by the state, reversing the burden of proof and making the accused (but un-convicted and usually un-tried) person prove their property is not the proceeds of some crime in order to have the property returned (they cannot prevent it from being taken in the first place). So much for 'due process'."

Couldn't agree more.

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Something Funny:

Stop Questioning My Patriotism

How does Iowahawk have the time for all his satire?

Independence Day!

In the News

Rightwingsparkle Not Blogging Crises, Day 2

Rounding up some news:

Monster of the moment

"Zimbabwe is being hypocritically vilified by the west for forced slum clearances that are routine throughout the developing world "

This idiot, John Vidal, tries to excuse Mugabe's tyranny. Zimbabwe, once a food exporter, suffers food shortages as Mugabe siezes land and property to enrich himself, his family and supporters.

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American Zen byr Victor Davis Hanson

"So how does the United States navigate nimbly between its weariness with the thankless role of a superpower and the dangers of a nostalgic isolationism? We need to find a sort of Zen-like philosophical balance that brings both some maturity to our pampered critics and psychic relief to ourselves, without endangering our own security or abandoning our true allies — while in the middle of a war and a polarized electorate here at home."

I like the pragmatic suggestions:

"If Kofi Annan, who was in charge when U.N. peacekeepers committed sex crimes and Oil-for-Food dwarfed Enron’s mess, really believes the U.S. acted illegally in Iraq, then he should petition to remove the U.N. headquarters to a more legal and civilized place, say Paris or the Hague. The U.S. should offer our genuine regrets while shrugging that we are not quite up to the moral fiber of the General Assembly or its Commission of Human Rights, thus encouraging such a relocation."

I will pay to see that happen. Perhaps we can buy the UN HQ at market price and give the UN a grant to build a new HQ. Anywhere else but the Western hemisphere.

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Zombie Hall of Shame

Some lovely photos of anti-war protesters

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Model Gitmo

Groups like the International Red Cross and Amnesty International should be holding Guantanimo up as a model of how everyone should handle prisoners.

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Fjordman

Blog plug. Blogger from Norway.

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The Intolerant Tolerants

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Foreign Law is Not Law By Thomas Sowell

She Leads the House Democrats

Transcript of Today's Pelosi Press Conference

"Two questions: What was your reaction to the Supreme Court decision on this topic, and what do you think about legislation to, in the minds of opponents at least, remedy or changing it?"

"Ms. Pelosi. As a Member of Congress, and actually all of us and anyone who holds a public office in our country, we take an oath of office to uphold the Constitution of the United States. Very central to that in that Constitution is the separation of powers. I believe that whatever you think about a particular decision of the Supreme Court, and I certainly have been in disagreement with them on many occasions, it is not appropriate for the Congress to say we're going to withhold funds for the Court because we don't like a decision."

"Q Not on the Court, withhold funds from the eminent domain purchases that wouldn't involve public use. I apologize if I framed the question poorly. It wouldn't be withholding federal funds from the Court, but withhold Federal funds from eminent domain type purchases that are not just involved in public good."

"Ms. Pelosi. Again, without focusing on the actual decision, just to say that when you withhold funds from enforcing a decision of the Supreme Court you are, in fact, nullifying a decision of the Supreme Court. This is in violation of the respect for separation of church -- powers in our Constitution, church and state as well. Sometimes the Republicans have a problem with that as well. But forgive my digression."

"So the answer to your question is, I would oppose any legislation that says we would withhold funds for the enforcement of any decision of the Supreme Court no matter how opposed I am to that decision. And I'm not saying that I'm opposed to this decision, I'm just saying in general."

This woman is a congressional leader, unable to grasp a simple concept.

"when you withhold funds from enforcing a decision of the Supreme Court you are, in fact, nullifying a decision of the Supreme Court." There IS NOT enforement of the decision in the first place. The proposal is to not fund projects that take away other people's property to give it to another private owner. In other words, for example, the Federal government will not fund a project that will take away Aunt Jane's house to build a parking lot for a shopping mall.

A Few Pertinent Links

An interview with Mark Steyn

Steyn discusses a number of issues, but of interest is this on religion:

"So the dynamism of American faith exemplifies the virtues of the broader society: the US has a free market in religion, Europe had cosseted overregulated monopolies and cartels. The other salient point is that obviously Europe does have a religion: radical secularism. The era of the state church has been replaced by an age in which the state itself is the church. European progressives still don't get this: they think the idea of a religion telling you how to live your life is primitive, but the government regulating every aspect of it is somehow advanced and enlightened."

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Don't believe the childhood vaccine fearmongers

This story has been around a few years, but Michael Fumento article sums the issue up nicely. Self appointed scare mongering ninnies are telling people not to get their children vaccinated. Don't listen.

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On a lighter note:

Garrison Keillor is a new columnist at Jewish World Review. Entertaining as ever, he manages to mention corn in his article. Important stuff, corn. No, seriously. :-)

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More light stuff: Nonsequitur

Pacifism is Objectively Immoral

***I am reposting some stuff from my blog to make my positions clear as well as fill Sparkle's metephorically big shoes.


"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feelings which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight: nothing he cares about more than his own personal safety: is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions and blood of better men than himself." – John Stuart Mill

Pacifism is an immoral choice in the face of aggression, both as individuals and as a society. Pacifists do not oppose aggression when attacked, inviting further aggression both to themselves and to their neighbors. Worse, many pacifists self-righteously oppose violence when others are attacked, but quickly change their mind when they themselves are assaulted, even calling upon others to fight for them.

The philosophical or religious basis for pacifistic views is irrelevant. Clearly, pacifists exist only where and when others have bled to insure the safety and security of the society. Safe from violence, pacifism seems like a rational decision, as if reason and not violence were why strife and violence are not troublesome.

"In the final choice, a soldier's pack is not so heavy a burden as a prisoner's chains." - Dwight D. Eisenhower

Further, those living free from fear and violence often slide into moral stupidity. Moral equivicators do not draw distinctions between self defense and aggression, often casting themselves and high-minded and moral for disparaging honorable soldiers and terrorists alike.

When pacifists get their way, people die. Cambodia, for example, millions died at the hands of Pol Pot, The Khmer Rouge commited the act, but our withdrawal, precipitated by US pacifists, allowed it to happen.

Sometimes pacifism appears to work. In India, Ghandi's pacifist movement seemed to be the means to free India from British colonial rule, but it was the British legal tradition that freed India. They listened to the arguement made for Indian independance, publicity and reason won because the British Parliment chose to honor its principles.

"If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a small chance of survival. There may even be a worse case: you may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves." - Winston Churchill

BigDog Says "Is this thing on?"

Rightwingsparkle Not Blogging Crises, Day 1.

The next couple weeks are going to be difficult for everyone. Rightwingsparkle is a kind, warm thoughtful person who actively blogs most every day on a range of issues. She makes blogging fun and her popularity is little wonder. I, well, I am a less active blogger, not to mention less kind. Rude, insulting people are going to find that I am skilled at cutting remarks, the merely ignorant may get a lecture. My interests are as diverse as Sparkle's but I am less inclined to discuss most issues. For those familiar with American cultural norms, she is a Southern Belle, I am a Northern Plainsman.

No need to fret, this is a temp gig. Sparkle will be back soon and she may even be able to blog on the road.

Happy 4th of July!!!!!!

I will be gone for two weeks but I am leaving my blog in the capable hands of my friend BigDog. He is tons smarter than I am, so be ready for that.

I have some really personal posts that I am going to link here for you to read while I am gone. They are kind of long, but some of my favorites. My regulars know them, but I thought any new readers might like them.

This Life.

My First Love.

This one is about pro-life protesting.

This is about a very special man I knew.

Why I am pro-life.

My dream.

Why I am Catholic.

If I can get to a computer, I will repost some of my favorite military posts back when no one was reading me! Enjoy BigDog and have a blessed and wonderful 4th of July!!!

And here we go. This will not be fun.

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

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

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

PBS Funding. Is it worth It?

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Love Is A Battlefield.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Picture from the San Francisco Gay Pride Parade.

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

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

This must be the expert:

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

Oh, feel free to caption. Who could resist?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Isn't this SWEET???

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

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

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

You are welcome to join the dance by reading:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NotADesperateHousewife discusses overmedicating our children in this society.

RightThinkingGirl looks at the relationship between journalists and confidential sources.

The Greatest American.

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

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

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

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

You gotta love the consistency of their arrogance.

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

via Resurrectionsong

Amazing.

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

The article goes on to say:

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

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

Wow. What a concept.

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

Here is a excerpt from the first part:

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

Creepy.

Icky.

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

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

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

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

Adam.

National Geographic give us this fascinating news:

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

Read the rest. It is pretty cool.

Blair's son to work for Republicans.

BBC News gives us this:

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

Interesting.

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