Never forget who we fight.

Bruce Thornton enlightens us regarding this fight with our enemy. He reminds us of who we are fighting and how we need to get over our own delicate sensibilities in this war (ie: making more of a big deal over the burning of dead Taliban bodies than the atrocities committed by those same people):

"Remember what type of people the Taliban are? Like the jihadists we are fighting in Iraq, they are murderers whose religious beliefs warrant any kind of brutality and atrocity against the “infidel.” These are the people who, when they ran Afghanistan, tortured and murdered their own citizens in a soccer stadium built with Western money. These are the people who behead and murder, the people who kill women and children. And these are the people whose corpses we are supposed to worry about mistreating, whose religious beliefs, the ones that justify murder, we are supposed to be respecting."

He goes on:

"We need to get over the peculiar arrogant belief that everything the enemy does is a mere reaction to what we do, as though these people don’t have their own motivations for their actions. They know that we rescued the Muslims of Kuwait, the Muslims of Bosnia, and the Muslims of Iraq. They know that we are sacrificing our own citizens to create an ordered society that will allow Muslims to worship in peace and prosper in freedom. They know that Muslims are killing Muslims all over the world, that the greatest threats to the safety and well-being of Muslims are other Muslims, as we currently see in Sudan. They know all these things, but they don’t care, because what’s important is the jihad against the infidel, the divinely sanctioned struggle to compel the people of the world to accept Islam, live as second-class citizens, or die."

He ends with this:

"All means cannot justify all ends, but some means can justify the right ends. Every war this country has fought employed terrible means that none of us would want to choose, but that were justified by the rightness and goodness of the end. If we truly believe that our goals in Iraq are just enough to kill and die for, then we should stop undercutting and second-guessing our troops in the field who are laying their lives on the line to achieve those noble ends. And if we don’t really believe in those goals enough to grit our teeth and do what must be done, as our fathers and grandfathers did in World War II, then we should pack up right now and go home."

He has a point. Read the whole thing. It's good.

h/t Jeff

Priceless....

Mudville has The Salt Lake Tribune report that 80% of Utah National Guard troops intend to reenlist - a number similar to retention rates nationwide.

1Lt Bruce Bishop, a Salt Lake County firefighter and Afghanistan veteran who's currently deployed to Louisiana gives us his reason why:

"because as I look around at the state of this nation and see all of the weak little pampered candy-asses that are whining about this or protesting that, I'd be afraid to leave the fate of this nation entirely up to them."

Heh. I love it.

via Ace

Open thread on Valerie Plame.

This is all I know. The editor of the NY times is saying that Plame lied to them about her source. Mona Charen is implying that Plame slept with Scooter Libby (they are both married)

To be honest, I don't even understand what this is all about. I read that Rove might have leaked that she was a covert agent, but she wasn't at the time (?) I read that everyone knew anyway. I read that Rove was called by the reporter, not the other way around.

I truly don't even see why this is a big deal. And I would say that even it were a Democrat administration.

Ya'll fill me in please.

Rosa Parks, R.I.P.

Rosa Parks died yesterday at the age of 92. Her arrest for not sitting in the back of the bus in 1955 caused a black boycott of the buses in Montgomery Alabama for 381 days.

As the article mentions, there have been theories that she was a plant of the N.A.A.C.P, since she was a part of that organization, but I say, "So what if she was?" The law was wrong and it needed someone willing to stand up to that law. Remember, the N.A.A.C.P. was not always the liberal leftwing democratic hack organization it is today. Back then it was a determined honest organization committed to civil rights for blacks.

This is what we have forgotten. Civil disobedience isn't about holding up profane signs about our President or showing up nude to protest. It isn't about violence or using crude language. It is about peacefully disobeying a law that you feel is morally wrong and be willing to go to jail for that belief.

Rosa Parks will always be remembered to me as someone who used her "celebrity" in a dignified manner and never tried to make it about herself, but about a greater cause.

She serves as an example of how all of us should approach those things that we feel are wrong. Let that be the lesson she leaves us.

And a great lesson it is indeed.

I never had relations with the food for oil scandal!

Remember the truly obnoxious George Galloway, former Labour Party British MP, testifying before Congress with his deliberate indignant pronouncement of never having anything to do with the food for oil scandal? He was as adamant and sincere as Clinton's famous finger wagging denial of an affair with Lewinsky.

Now, it's looking like he is as good as an actor as Clinton was.

He is denying it of course. We shall see if the paper trail ends up being his blue dress.

UPDATE: A bit more information.

"But the report provides bank account details tracking payments from an oil company through a Jordanian middleman to Mr GallowayÂ’s now estranged wife, Amineh Abu- Zayyad, and his Mariam Appeal fund."

UPDATE 2: I just heard Christopher Hitchens reaction. The best quote:

Referring to Galloway as a -"Prostitute of Iraqi fascism."

Chris has a way with words, doesn't he?

Say What?

I suppose you have heard the latest Howard Dean rant. Here is the quote that stands out:

"I'm tired of the ayatollahs of the right wing," Dean said. "We're fighting for freedom in Iraq. We're going to fight for freedom in America."

Everyone seems to be focusing on the first part, but wait a second! Is Dean admitting that we are actually fighting for freedom in Iraq????

Welcome aboard Howard!!!!

Looks like the comments are working again!

Go for it!

The Media's bias on Iraq.

Brent Bozell brings us this:

" On Saturday, (the 15th) millions of Iraqis walked with determination to the polls to vote for a new constitution. The turnout was high. The violence was down dramatically from the triumphant elections of January. But the network found all this boring. On the night before the historic vote, ABC led with bird-flu panic. CBS imagined Karl Rove in a prison jumpsuit. NBC hyped inflation."

Bozell goes on:

"A massive new study by Rich Noyes of the Media Research Center reviews every Iraq story on the evening news programs of ABC, CBS, and NBC from January through September of 2005. That"s 1,388 news stories. He titled it "The Bad News Brigade," because 61 percent of the stories were negative or pessimistic, while only 15 percent of the stories were positive or optimistic - a four-to-one ratio. The trend in coverage has also become increasingly negative during 2005, with pessimistic stories rising to nearly three-fourths of all Iraq news by August and September, with a ten-to-one ratio of negative stories over positive ones."

TEN TO ONE!!!! That is an incredible number. What it becomes is not news, but propaganda, in my opinion. We here in the tiny world of the blogosphere, can read Michael Yon (who has a new post on the elections btw) or any of the milblogs and get the real deal. The journalists can as well of course, and probably do. They just don't want to report that part of the war because it doesn't fit their agenda.

And the most sickening of all the left leaning media stories involve our soldiers themselves:

"Noyes found that 79 stories focused primarily on allegations of wrongdoing by American forces in Iraq, including this year's Abu Ghraib hangover stories, compared to only eight that focused on the heroism of American soldiers. Is that still a story? Sure. But what about positive stories about the military? There were only eight stories that focused on the heroism of American soldiers, and only nine on soldier acts of kindness or generosity. The TV news titans not only suggest the mission in Iraq is a waste of money and lives, they are painting our soldiers as a big problem there, not a part of the solution."

Did you get that number? Out of 79 stories only a total of 17 showed our soldiers in a positive light. That is especially shameful since it is easier now more than ever for the journalists to get positive stories straight from the soldiers themselves via the milblogs.

If that isn't left wing propaganda, I don't know what is.

Wonders never cease.

Anne Rice finds God. No more vampire novels, folks.

I tried to read her, but I found her novels too dark. I might have to read the next one though.

via Drudge

UGH!

Free Speech? It makes you wonder, doesn't it? But then, everything is allowed, right?

Like I said, ugh.

via Drudge

I want to add something here. We must keep in mind that as disgusting as these girls are, We should be just as disgusted with people like Kanye West and his lie about Bush hating black people and the recent rantings I quoted of Louis Farrakhan. All are bigoted and do nothing but separate us.

The Prozac Nation (warning! Religious Alert!)

As I have mentioned many times, I sorta checked out of the political and cultural scene in the 90's. Clinton was President, which made me literally sick to me stomach and this was way before Lewinsky. My husband's family is from Arkansas, so we knew all about Bill and Hillary. I was busy with 2 small children and I had two more in the 90's. I had my hands full and I wanted to concentrate on what was the most important thing in my life, raising these children right.

If Jack Kemp had been the Republican nominee in 92' instead of Dole, I would have worked hard to get him elected. I had campaigned for him in 88' and I still think he is a wonderful man who would have made a great President. His 'empowerment zone' idea, which was later put through in a very watered down form, would have truly changed things for those stuck in the vicious cycle of poverty in this country. Just like so many good people, I think Kemp saw that it wasn't worth it to stay in public life. It was too mean. And that is a crying shame for all of us.

Anyway, I missed the national bestseller "The Prozac Nation" by Elizabeth Wurtzel. It was made into a movie as well. If you hadn't read it , it is an autobiography of Wurtzel from childhood to her late 20's and her struggle with depression, drug abuse, her father's desertion, being sexually used, and suicide attempts. As you might expect, not an easy read. I had been meaning to read it forever and I finally did this weekend.

Even through her decidedly pathetic and sad personal life, she manages to graduate from Harvard. When she wrote the book in her early 20's, even she was shocked by the reaction to it. She had been one of the first to be on Prozac when it came on the market. Just a few years later 6 million people were on Prozac. Now there are 20 million of Americans on some type of anti-depressants. She has an "afterword" in her paperback about how shocked she was by the number of depressed people in the country. She wonders (as I do) how many are truly clinically depressed and how many are just sad about life.

As I read about her childhood and life, I kept thinking that if my Dad had left me and ignored me for most of my life and I had the kind of life she had, I would be depressed too. Not to downplay her real depression, but I wonder if it would have developed if not for her circumstances? She does touch on some subjects of her experiences with broken kids from broken homes. She sees a pretty clear connection between the broken home and the broken child. At one point she miscarries without even knowing she is pregnant. She brings up abortion and how she would of course had one if she hadn't miscarried, but she says that saying it is a "choice" is a lie. She feels that for women like her, there really is only one choice. A sad telling statement. We live our lives in such a way where we see no other choice but that which we know to be awful. So isn't the choice made long before we become pregnant?

Anyway, let me get to the heart of my point here. At the same time I was reading this book, I heard a homily where the Priest was speaking of the sin of adultery. What he said touched me deeply. He said that when Christ came upon the woman about to be stoned for adultery, he did not condemn her, he did not tell her she was going to hell. He said to the crowd, "You who are without sin, cast the first stone." Christ himself could have cast that stone, because he was without sin. But he didn't. He didn't because he knew that what the woman had been looking for was love. He knew she had been looking for Him.

I see that in so many people. They are looking for love, and as the country song goes.."in all the wrong places, looking for love in too many faces..." When the one face that they will find that love, THE LOVE, they ignore. They ignore because the culture makes it seem as one has to be like Pat Robertson or TammyFae Baker to love Christ. But that isn't true. It is a false picture of Christianity.

So my heart went out to the little girl that Elizabeth Wurtzel had been. The pain she felt as her father ignored her most of her life. My heart broke for the teenager and young woman she became, so damaged and hurt by life that she turned to drugs and sex and fell into the pit of despair. When the Father she had been looking for and needing was right there all along.

Toward the end of the book, she is in England and at the end of her rope. Her soul is twisted with despair and grief. She feels she can hardly hold on any longer. She meets a couple who are going to Israel for Passover and she asked them to leave a note for her in the Kotel, in the cracks between bricks of the Wailing Wall, because she had been taught that God answers all prayers that are deposited there. She scrawls on a piece of paper, "Dear God, Please send me a miracle that gets me out of this depression because I can't go on this way."

She doesn't believe in God, but she reaches out this way in her desperation. Almost as soon as she returns to Harvard from England, her Doctor decides to try and give her this new drug called Prozac that finally, after a lifetime of sadness, lifts her out of the black wave of depression. But for some reason, she doesn't seem to make the connection that God had answered her prayer in the Wailing Wall.

And that, to me, was the saddest thing of all.

The Colbert Report.

Have ya'll seen The Colbert Report on Comedy Central yet? It comes on after the Jon Stewart show and it stars Stephen Colbert, one of the "reporters" on the Stewart show. It is obviously a parody of the O'Reilly Factor.

I watched the first show and thought it wasn't working. I thought maybe he needed Stewart as the straight guy for his routine. But the 2nd and 3rd shows have been much funnier and he is finding his comedic way.

Jon Stewart is hilarious and a hard act to follow. Yes, he leans more toward making fun of the right in his comedy, but there is enough slams on democrats to keep it fair. After all, the Republicans are in charge, so there is more material there. I think Stewart is always pretty nice to his rightwing guests too. But he practically melts when the big leftys come on. But I do laugh at most of his stuff. He is just a great comedian. I wish he were on our side.

Anyway, I would suggest you checking out The Colbert Report. It is funny to see the way he makes fun of O'Reilly's "talking points" for example. He makes it "My Word." If you can't see it at night, they replay it in the morning.

What Ronnie Earle wanted so much finally happened. Delay's mugshot. You have to give Delay some credit for smiling here like he doesn't have a care in the world. Because you know inside he is seething. Delay was fingerprinted, photographed and released on $10,000 bail on conspiracy and money-laundering charges today.

Now remember, Texas prosecutor offered DeLay a deal to plead guilty to a misdemeanor and save his job as majority leader, but DeLay chose to fight felony charges instead.
Now Delay may be many things, but stupid aint one of them. It seems he felt pretty confident that he hadn't done anything wrong, or why not take the misdemeanor charge?

This is like something out of a bad Texas B movie. Delay is the big powerful Republican Washington politician and Democrat Texas prosecutor Ronnie Earle (who just seems like a little rat, doesn't he?) is the man determined to bring him down.

In plain language, a Texas political action committee started by DeLay sent corporate money to the Republican National Committee in Washington -— and that the RNC sent the funds back to Texas for the legislative candidates.

That's it.

Doesn't this happen ALL THE TIME? People send money in to the DNC or the RNC and know that those guys are get the money back to the candidates in their home state in some way. How could that be illegal?

Maybe it is. It seems it wasn't when Delay did it, but who knows? It's still the wild wild west out here in so many ways. I keep expecting Earle and Delay to meet at noon for a gunfight.

Poem blogging...

Sorry, but an IM friend sent me this poem and I think it is just one of the most beautiful things I have ever read. So I am sharing it. Enjoy.

Lullaby

Dorothy Parker

Sleep, pretty lady, the night is enfolding you;
Drift, and so lightly, on crystalline streams.
Wrapped in its perfumes, the darkness is holding you;
Starlight bespangles the way of your dreams.
Chorus the nightingales, wistfully amorous;
Blessedly quiet, the blare of the day.
All the sweet hours may your visions be glamorous-
Sleep, pretty lady, as long as you may.

Sleep, pretty lady, the night shall be still for you;
Silvered and silent, it watches you rest.
Each little breeze, in its eagerness, will for you
Murmur the melodies ancient and blest.
So in the midnight does happiness capture us;
Morning is dim with another day's tears.
Give yourself sweetly to images rapturous-
Sleep, pretty lady, a couple of years.

Sleep, pretty lady, the world awaits day with you;
Girlish and golden, the slender young moon.
Grant the fond darkness its mystical way with you;
Morning returns to us ever too soon.
Roses unfold, in their loveliness, all for you;
Blossom the lilies for hope of your glance.
When you're awake, all the men go and fall for you-
Sleep, pretty lady, and give me a chance.

I think...

the Miers nomination is not long for this world.

Beginning the surreal trial of Saddam, the Judge asked Saddam his name and Saddam answered, "You're an Iraqi, you know who I am." Wouldn't it have been sweet if the Judge had said, "Why yes I do. You are an evil sick murderer who use to spend the money meant for food for our people on weapons and self indulgence. Now sit down and shut your pie hole."

This needs captioning as well.

This is what all the cool dudes in New Zealand will be wearing this spring. Feel free to caption.

Able Coverup???

This story doesn't seen to be getting the attention I think it deserves:

"Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Penn., told United Press International that officials at the Defense Intelligence Agency, or DIA, had "conducted a deliberate campaign of character assassination" against the whistleblower, retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer.

Shaffer has said that a highly classified Pentagon data-mining project he worked on, codenamed Able Danger, identified the ringleaders of the Sept. 11 terror attacks as linked to al-Qaida more than a year before they hijacked four planes and crashed them, killing nearly 3,000 people."

I heard some Of Weldon's speech on C-span. I have never seen a congressman so honestly upset. I have not found this news story anywhere else. Isn't this important?? Why would the DIA be going after Shaffer like this? Weldon said Shaffer has lost his pension and health care. He said that Shaffer has served 24 yrs and the only spot on his record was when he was 15 and he stole some pens from the Pentagon and they are using that against him!!

UPDATE: I did find this story. It has more details.

I tell you, something weird is going on here. There is something the DIA doesn't want known. Something about knowing who the hijackers were before 9-11. This should be a bigger story.

You have to love blogging...

If for nothing else, the milblogs. Forget the news on the war. Get it straight from the horse's mouth. Here is Warriorsvoice:


Insurgents Died Last Night...Plain And Simple

"Some of you might have read or heard about the recent airstrike on insurgents in the Ramadi area of Iraq. Of course the MSM is reporting that "civilians" died in the attack. They are not reporting that the cowards who place IEDs on the sides of roads died. They are not reporting that the aircraft saw weapons and they hardly mention that the Cobras where shot at. Yahoo has a very interesting slant and of course it is pretty much wrong with the exception of one small portion.

The military said a group of gunmen opened fire on a Cobra attack helicopter that spotted their position. The Cobra returned fire, killing about 10. The men ran into a nearby house, where gunmen were seen unloading weapons before an F/A-18 warplane bombed the building, killing 40 insurgents, the military said.

This statement is about the only factual statement in the whole article. The area where this particular strike took place is a more rural area. It is across the river from Ramadi proper. The roads are lined with IEDs and it is a known area where foreign fighters kick the locals out of homes inorder to move in. These insurgents are also known to use real civilians as human shields during sniper attacks. IED triggermen will hide among civilian crowds prior to detonating their road side bombs. They know that we are always on the look out for triggermen and if seen we engage. Insurgents know that we are reluctant to fire into a crowd of civilians.

I did not provide terminal control of these aircraft but I know the man who did. The squadrons have emailed us the footage from the attacks. You can see the insurgents with weapons. Please trust me when I say it was a clean kill and many believe this attack might have adverted a major strike by the insurgents. These aircraft were "Cleared Hot" by men on the ground who deal with the insurgents day in and day out. The warriors on the deck and the warriors in the air worked as a team to ensure the safety of real civilians and the destruction of these terrorists."

Get this.

This guy doesn't get tenure at the Univ. Of Chicago because of.....blogging!

via Reasoned Audacity

Arrest Warrant for Tom Delay.

JunkYardBlog has some thoughts.

Who needs tracking devices?

When you have color printers.

h/t JD

Time to start the final round of voting for...

King of Cotillion

(also known as "Cotillion Beefcake")

We have the top four candidates in the final round, ready for objectification! Some of the photos will have changed at their request, as you will see, but you can still ogle check out the pictures from last week HERE.

Let the objectification begin!




First, we have MacStansbury, my co-writer here at MVRWC and proprietor of the excellent MacStansbury.org blog. MacS hates this picture because he was exhausted and "covered with sand," but I like that he was showing his USM pride in the middle of a live combat area:






Next up, and also dashing in his desert camo, is Thunder6 from 365 and a Wakeup, beamed in from the front lines in Iraq where he is now. In this photo he sits with a little Iraqi girl who is waiting at the medical clinic:

border="0" alt="Thunder6 in Iraq - from 365 and a Wakeup K of C photo
gallery" />


B.C. didn't dig up his photos with him in his flight suit from his days in uniform, but he provided a more current photo, this one showing him enjoying the good life--beer-drinking on a boat--and looking not so torturous away from the Imperial Dungeon™ at the Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler:






Also in a sunny paradise is Bullwinkle from Random Numbers. Bullwinkle may be a big ol' moose, but he likes little furry animals other than just squirrels. Here he's feeding a baby coati mundi that he rescued, now just a couple weeks old.

---

There you go, y'all! The Final Four! Now go on over to their sites, poke around, and most importantly, VOTE (in the sidebar)! You can only vote for ONE this time, but you can still vote every day. Voting will close on SUNDAY NIGHT again, around midnight (Central time), and the winner will be announced and crowned King of Cotillion / Cotillion Beefcake? on TUESDAY.

Thank you from all of us in Cotillion to all the guys who participated last week--we consider all of you our Princes for participating and for supporting us!

Check it out!

Waco Kid did a cartoon of me! Is this cool or what?

Thanks Dude!

Condi soon to be VP?

Rumors fly.

h/t Jeff

A Day In The Life of...............

Some of the lefty blogs have been running A Day In The Life of Joe Republican.

So someone came up with A Day In The Life of Jane Democrat.

I think the difference in the two are interesting. The Democrat one focuses almost entirely on Government control and the the Republican one focuses on getting away from that control. (*note: I don't like the use of the word "rag-head" even if it is describing a terrorist)

h/t nicnerd

I Will Not Stand By.

This aint your daddy's black panther party.

More here and here. The man quoted in these links died in 2001 of a brain aneurysm. But by 1985 until 1993 he was Minister Louis Farrakhan's most trusted advisor in the Nation of Islam. h/t to KD

The leader now is Malik Zulu Shabazz. Read about him here. He is just as bad.

Muhammad first shocked everyone in a speech he gave at New Jersey's Kean College in November 1993. He referred to Jews as "bloodsuckers," called for the genocide of white people, and demeaned both Pope John Paul II and homosexuals. In February 1994, Congress issued a denunciation of Muhammad, condemning his speech as "outrageous hatemongering of the most vicious and vile kind." Farrakhan responded to Muhammad's speech by removing him from the Nation Of Islam's hierarchy, although he took issue only with the form, not "the truth" of Muhammad's remarks.

Despite Farrakhan's supposedly reaching out to a more diverse group, here are some of his recent remarks:

Remarks at Shelter for Hurricane Katrina Victims, Charlotte Coliseum, Charlotte, North Carolina, 9/12/05

"I heard from a very reliable source that under that levee there was a 25 foot hole, which suggested that it may have been blown up, so that the water would destroy the black part of town, and where the whites lived, it would be dry."

Power Center, Houston, Texas, 9/11/05

"FEMA is too White to represent us and so is the Red Cross."

Saviour's Day: Chicago, 02/27/05

"Listen, Jewish people don't have no hands that are free of the blood of us. They owned slave ships, they bought and sold us. They raped and robbed us. If you can't face that, why you gonna condemn me for showing you your past, how then can you atone and repent if somebody don't open the book with courage, you don't have that, but I'll be damned, I got it."

For more quotes go here.

A commenter suggested that we should get use to Farrakhan because whether we like it or not, Farrakhan represents a great many black people.

No. I will not get use to it. I will not accept it. I will not stand by quietly and watch a bigot lead young African Americans into this sort of hate and separation. Nope. I am not going to do it. I will write about it, talk about it, write newspapers about it, and write Congressman about it. But I will not be quiet about it.

I didn't grow up watching brave black men and women get hosed and beaten and having dogs snarling and tearing at them as they fought for equality, to watch some insane bigot teach their grandchildren to hate as their grandparents were hated, to separate as their grandparents were separated.

No. I will not get use to it. I will not.

The Millions More Poor March.

When Minister Louis Farrakhan isn't having some vision on a mothership where he meets Reagan or suggesting that Bush blew up the twin towers on 9-11, he is speaking at the 'Millions More' march in Washington. Demanding, among other things, the end to "the biological and chemical warfare perpetrated against our people."

Right.

As I have pointed out many times on this blog, the root of most of the societal problems in the black community is single motherhood perpetuated by the welfare state. A child that is born out of wedlock is 30 times more likely to live in poverty than a child that was born in a marriage and whose parents stayed married.

But let's look at the good news for blacks. More than 75 percent of African-Americans are middle or upper class in 2005. In 1995 the poverty rate for married couple black families was about 8 percent.

In other words, if we wish to fight poverty in the black community, (as well as every other race) we must encourage marriage. This is the foundation of our society. This, above all things, most determines a child's future in my view. Among the blacks who make up the 24.7 percent in poverty, the overwhelming majority are unmarried women and their children.

When I volunteered at the Astrodome after hurricane Katrina, I was shocked at the number of women and children there. There were very few men. This is at the heart of the problem in 9th ward, and it has nothing to do with Farrakhan's imagined "chemical and biological warfare" and his many other perceived problems in the black community.

Yet hundreds of thousands of black men listened to this false message. Why? Because not enough black leaders (or white for that matter) are willing to stand up and say the truth.

And keep saying it until someone listens.

Data and quotes from Townhall.com (Mona Charen)

If you have ever wondered....

what it is in Karl Rove's garage, (and you KNOW you have!) well, here it is!!! via LST

Weird.

(I got the pic from Drudge this morning)

Will Hillary lose the 'kooky left' vote?

From Cindy Sheehan's diary:

"I would love to support Hillary for President if she would come out against the travesty in Iraq. But I don't think she can speak out against the occupation, because she supports it."

via Atlas Shrugs

Interesting. I never thought about how the Cindy Sheehan side of the Democrats would be against Hillary. I don't see how Hillary can really change their minds. In order to get the mainstream voter she has to look tough militarily. Especially since she is a woman. That may be unfair, but that's the way it is.

So will Cindy Sheehan actively campaign against her? Or will that crowd bite the bullet so a Republican won't be elected again.

It seems both sides are going to have to bite the bullet to get their own elected. We will just have to see HOW MANY on each side actually do the biting. (McCain haters, I am looking at YOU)

Everything you wanted to know about the Iraqi vote....

Mudville has every link you could want, from our soldiers in Iraq to the Iraqis themselves. There are links about the media coverage of the vote as well. Skim through and read a few. Very enlightening!

You just gotta hate the media....

The AP has this about the vote in Iraq yesterday:

"Sunnis Appear to Fall Short in Iraq Vote"

I think Ace puts it best:

"Yeah, they fell short all right. They wanted a bloody civil war, but all they got was a democratic constitution guaranteeing human rights.

Maybe they should make that into a T-shirt slogan or something!

How about, "My father died fighting infidels but all I got was this lousy constitution."

Oh look!

Al Queda's hair stylist is arrested.

Sorry. I know this is probably important, but it seemed kinda funny to me.

via Drudge

A Woman President?

Rice says she has no intention of running for President. You gotta know that Elizabeth Dole is going..."Heeelllooooo!!!!!"

Historic Vote.

Voting Photos from Baghdad.

Iraqi The Model has stuff too.

JeffG has the world's headlines and blurbs on the vote. Interesting to see the different takes.

It seems the terrorists didn't do much considering. I am amazed by the high voter turnout. People risking their lives to vote. I am impressed.

Not much blogging this weekend. Kind of busy. Keep checking back though!!!

A serious look at Harriet Miers...

Ok, not really. But this post does about as much good as the rest on the blogosphere and it's a lot funnier.

h/t Cotillion e-mails

More Michael.

Michael Yon is back in Iraq and he caught up with Dr. Farid Ayar, the spokesman for the Higher Independent Electoral Commission, and one of its eight commissioners. I want to point out that this man literally puts his life on the line every day. The terrorists would love nothing more than him dead. Here is what Michael wrote about their brief meeting regarding the historic elections tomorrow in Iraq:

"Dr. Ayar expressed confidence in the upcoming referendum, saying that with 30,000 polling stations, and many Arab Sunnis having agreed to vote, turnout was expected to be strong. He said the Sunnis have several problems with the Constitution as proposed. They do not accept Federalism, and they want to see a statement in the Constitution denoting Iraq as an Arab country. They are also against wording stipulating Former Regime Ministers are not allowed to share power in the new government. Yet, despite their ongoing differences, he pointed out, most Sunnis have agreed to vote.According to Dr. Ayar, there are 15.5 million eligible voters, and the commission expects about 11 million of them to vote, saying this would be an even better turnout than the January election results. The number seemed optimistic, but Dr. Ayar said that with a high Arab Sunni turnout, it might actually happen."

I don't think most Americans realize the scope and importance of these elections. It is an amazing thing. Truly. The Iraqi forces will be in charge this time. Our forces will be there for backup. It is an important test for the Iraqi forces I think.

There is no doubt that terrorists will do anything they can to disrupt these elections. No matter how one feels about the war, I think we all hope that these elections happen and that no one is killed or harmed.

This is big and this is dangerous. Take a moment and offer up a prayer if you can.

Go Astros!

My sports obsessed 8 yr old (and baseball fanatic) made me watch the playoffs last night.

I'm glad baseball players stopped wearing the pants that end below the knee and those stupid looking socks.

When did baseball players stop shaving?

So yeah...Go Astros.

Heh.

How to tell if it's a male worm.

You never see this stuff on the Discovery Channel.

Halloween Post 1

How to make a creepy head in a jar.

Pretty creative actually.

via boing boing.

Terrorist Attack in Russia

MOSCOW - (KRT) - Militants unleashed a deadly wave of attacks on the city of Nalchik in Russia's restive North Caucasus region Thursday, commandeering police stations and taking hostages in a coordinated siege that killed at least 85 people.

Gateway Pundit has all the updates with pictures.

via Ace

Check It Out.....

Good news from Iraq. It's brief and it's worth reading. Go.

Awww...look at the cute lil dolly......

Yeah. right. Check out the picture and read up on a slice of the good news in Iraq.

Sad.

This from Miss Mabrouk of Egypt:

In Egypt, 94 percent of women thought it was acceptable to be beaten, as did 91 percent in Zambia. In Ethiopia between 94 and 91 percent of women between 15 and 49 years have been beaten and believe wife-beating is justified for at least one reason. As many as 70 per cent of married women in India between the age of 15 and 49 are victims of beating, rape or coerced sex. In Australia, Canada, Israel, South Africa and the United States, 40-70 percent of female murder victims were killed by their partners
I can't IMAGINE 94% (!) of women ANYWHERE would think that being beaten is ACCEPTABLE!

If there is one thing this war in the Middle East has opened my eyes to, it is the animal like treatment of women around this world. I remember years ago hearing Jay Leno's wife give a passioned speech on women's rights in these countries. (it has long been a cause of hers) But I never imagined the scope of the problem. Is it any wonder these women feel powerless in these countries?

When Karen Hughes recently went to Saudi Arabia she was told by the women there (who were supposedly more progressive) that they felt no need to drive or vote and such. Well, I suppose I would say that too if I knew a fist was waiting for me back home.

Disgraceful. Can these winds of change in the Middle East change any of this?

God. I hope so.

h/t Jeff

BOO!!!

LST had posted their scariest website for Halloween, but this is mine.

Matt Forge at LST as this take on PETA:

"I came up with this idea whilst perusing the PETA website. It’s funny how they condemn humans doing the very thing animals "naturally" do to each other.

There are five other illustrations/slogans available on CafePress. My personal favorite is "No Taunt!".

A Telling Letter.

The letter from Al-Zarqawi to Al-Zarahiri makes one thing clear. American military leaving Iraq will not end the bloodshed or the desire of Al-Zarqawi to rule with his perverted Islamic faith.

"And it is that the mujahedeen must not have their mission end with the expulsion of the Americans from Iraq, and then lay down their weapons, and silence the fighting zeal. We will return to having the secularists and traitors holding sway over us. Instead, their ongoing mission is to establish an Islamic State, and defend it, and for every generation to hand over the banner to the one after it until the Hour of Resurrection."

via MSNBC (full letter)


It is clear that we simply cannot tuck tail and run. We must finish this fight.

Convenient Suicide

Times UK:

The Syrian Interior Minister has apparently killed himself in his Damascus office, days before a UN report on the assassination of a senior Lebanese politician.

Ghazi Kanaan, 63, was the head of Syria's military intelligence in Lebanon between 1982 and 2003 and had enormous influence over the running of Syria's small neighbouring country. He was promoted to the job of Interior Minister a year ago.

His death comes not long after a UN team investigating the assassination of Rafiq Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister, interviewed Kanaan and a number of Syrian figures. The UN report is due out in two weeks' time.

The car bombing of Hariri in Beirut on February 14 led to a popular uprising in Lebanon, nicknamed the Cedar Revolution, as many Lebanese protested about Syria's stranglehold over its internal politics.

Hariri, a billionaire businessman, was an opponent of the extent of Syrian influence in government. Thanks to the protests and international pressure, Syria withdrew its troops from Lebanon in April for the first time since the end of the civil war.

Hours before he died, Kenaan contacted a Lebanese radio station and gave it a statement defending Syria's role in the Lebanon. He ended with the words: "I believe this is the last statement that I could make." He asked the interviewer to pass his comments to other broadcast media.

Syria and its allies in Lebanon have been blamed by many for masterminding the Hariri murder, something Damascus has denied.

In June, the US Government froze KanaanÂ’s assets for his alleged involvement in corruption and support for terrorism.

via The Jawa Report

It seems no one is really buying the "suicide" story. Geeze. Sometimes I feel like we are all just watching a really long James Bond movie.

But Mommeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

I want to play airport security!

Seriously, could that be any more stupid?

via the Buzzmachine

Twilight Zone Time.

"The West Wing has tapped veteran newsman Forrest Sawyer to moderate Nov. 6's "live presidential debate" between candidates Jimmy Smits and Alan Alda," the NY Post says."

via mediabistro

We have crossed over. We are through the looking glass. Fake anchors and real anchors, there is no difference anymore.

A Love Story.

One beautiful day a moonbat met a wingnut in the park.

They were very attracted to each other so they started dating.

Soon, though, the moonbat discovered that the wingnut was a wingnut and the wingnut discovered the moonbat was a moonbat.

And they argued and fought and yelled and screamed.

Then one day they decided to stop calling names and sit down and discuss things in a calm rational manner. And they didn't fight anymore.

So they got married and soon had a baby and they named that baby..............blog.

Keep Voting!

If you haven't voted in the King of The Cotillion contest. Go over to my sidebar and do so!

Where Is Dick Cheney?

I was reading on some lefty blogs that were wondering where Dick Cheney has been lately. There is a rumor going around lefty blogs that Cheney and Bush have had a falling out. Then I read at NRO that Cheney was suppose to come the National Review's 50th anniversary party. They were wondering where Cheney was as well.

Now, I know Cheney got out of the hospital at the end of September after he underwent surgery to treat aneurysms behind both knees. They implanted tubes to help blood flow. Has anyone seen him since then? I am wondering if he is having complications. Wouldn't the press be on that?

Just bloggercurious.

Look! It's Former Prostitute Barbie! Oops! I mean My Scene Bling Bling Barbie Doll, but that's just marketing. via NRO

But First, Do No Harm.

The Supreme Court took up the case of assisted suicide last week in Gonzales v. Oregon. Read this article and tell me if you are as horrified as I am that we are even considering this. I find it funny in a creepy way how the law states the patient must ask a Doctor to kill him THREE times, like some macrabre Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz trying to get home to Kansas.

Asking Doctors to kill terminally ill patients is so wrong on so many levels. Not only going against what Doctors are there to do, but opening the door to so many ways to push elderly bothersome relatives out the door, so to speak.

"Now remember Grandma, ask him THREE times, ok? Today, tomorrow, and the next day. This hospitalization is killing us here. Think of your family."

Does anyone reading this think that wouldn't happen? Of course it would. Especially if there is ANY money involved. Just like in all end of life issues (including abortion) it tears apart the natural bond between those that love each other.

I have seen wonderful hospice situations. I know wonderful doesn't sound like the right word. But when a loved one is being looked after and cared for by someone who loves them, and then the time comes when they are about to die, there is something soothing there that gives the person who is left behind some comfort in the knowledge that they gave love in the end. That that was their last and most precious gift to that person. I am convinced that it helps the one left behind to move forward and accept the death.

To ask a Doctor to kill the patient is not giving love, it is giving up. Which is easy to do and we have gotten use to doing that in this society. We don't see the value in sacrifice. We don't see the value in what helping someone to die naturally gives to us. We only think of the easy way out.

No one wants their loved one (or themselves) in pain. I have talked to many nurses in the hospice field and they tell me that all pain can be managed. Sometimes towards the end, in order to manage the pain, the pain medicine does put one in a deep sleep. But the nurse knows when this will happen, so the family can say goodbye before the sleep happens. I realize that seems like semantics. What is the difference in the deep sleep that is followed by death and the forced death? One is a natural death, even though medicated for pain, and the other is a deliberate killing that both the patient and the doctor and the family are aware of. Not to keep bringing abortion into it, but it is like the difference between an abortion and a miscarriage.

Just as in assisted suicide, one breaks a precious bond and the other brings us natural grief.

I don't know if assisted suicide will become legal in this case, but I know that it will happen in my lifetime. I have always said it was a matter of time. There are simply not enough of us to fight those who see the value of human life only in terms of their own convience.

Assassination of Bush plot.

It was an American too. Why? Israel, of course.

Another Open Thread.

I liked the other one. I think I will make it a regular feature. Whenever.

Anti-American? You decide.

I had a commenter ask me for some anti-American quotes from celebrities. I don't really listen or focus on celebrities so, believe it or not, I had not read most of these quotes. I picked out my "favorites" and I have to say I was pretty appalled. I thought you might enjoy seeing them together and you decide if they sound "un-American." I didn't even post the quotes slamming just Bush (except maybe the quote from Julia Roberts & Michael Moore) since you can certainly do that in a free country, but that was pretty appalling as well.

1)"“For example, new rule: No more whining about the French. At least they're standing up to the Bush administration, which is more than I can say for the Democrats! And, by the way, it doesn't make me un-American to say I'd rather live in Paris than in places where cheese only comes in individually-wrapped slices."--Bill Mahr

link:http://www.mrc.org/cyberalerts/2003/cyb20030224.asp#3

2)"I would like to apologize for referring to George W. Bush as a 'deserter.' What I meant to say is that George W. Bush is a deserter, an election thief, a drunk driver, a WMD liar, and a functional illiterate. And he poops his pants"-Michael Moore

* The motivation for war is simple. The U.S. government started the war with Iraq in order to make it easy for U.S. corporations to do business in other countries. They intend to use cheap labor in those countries, which will make Americans rich.-Michael Moore

* There's a gullible side to the American people. They can be easily misled. Religion is the best device used to mislead them-Michael Moore-

3)" I mean, George Bush is not Hitler. He would be if he fu--ing applied himself."-Margaret Cho

4)"To Canadians about government incentives for filmmaking, "It"’s to your credit that you do that for your country," he said. "We don"’t do a damned thing in our country, because we are pigs."-Ed Asner

5)"The real terrorist threats are George W. Bush and his band of brown-shirted thugs."-Sondra Bernhard

6)"No. First of all, I'm not liberal. I'm just about (being) anti-United States. I don't like the way this country operates. I think we've ruined this place. And I think it's largely because of businessmen. And businessmen are not liberals. So if that makes me a liberal, then that's just an association. It's not a choice."-George Carlin

7)"I believe he thinks this [war against Iraq] is a war that can be won, but there is no such thing we can't beat anyone anymore."-George Clooney

8)"America is dumb, it's like a dumb puppy that has big teeth that can bite and hurt you, aggressive."-Johnny Depp

*"I was ecstatic they re-named 'French Fries' as 'Freedom Fries'. Grown men and women in positions of power in the U.S. government showing themselves as idiots"-Johnny Depp

9)"Just so you know, we're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas."-Dixie Chicks

10)"I don't know if a country where the people are so ignorant of reality and of history, if you can call that a free world."-Jane Fonda

11)"Our country is founded on a sham: our forefathers were slave-owning rich white guys who wanted it their way. So when I see the American flag, I go, 'Oh my God, you're insulting me."-Janeane Garofalo

12)"America has never paid any attention to other people, so it's absurd for Bush to say that it's all in the best interests of the Iraqi people."-Richard Gere

13)"Sometimes I'll be walking down the street and I'll hear some American and I'll just go, 'Of course they hate us, of course they can't stand us.' We're the most annoying, boisterous creatures in the world. I mean we come in and we eat mounds of food, and we're like, 'Where's the kaachup [sic] for our French fries.'-Kate Hudson

14)"I worry about bringing up a child in America. At the moment there's a weird, over-patriotic atmosphere over there, like, 'We're No. 1 and the rest of the world doesn't matter." -Gwyneth Paltrow

15)"One of the main purveyors of violence in this world has been this country, whether itÂ’s been against Nicaragua or wherever...I'’ve been an advocate for peace my whole life. But one of the main purveyors of violence in this world is this country."-Danny Glover

15)"Who the **** are we to say whether theyÂ’re better off? We have a dictatorship in this country. Our government is presently the greatest threat to our people."-Sean Penn

16)"He's embarrassing. He's not my president. He will never be my president."-Julia Roberts

Link:http://www.celiberal.com/showCeliberal.php?id=65

King of The Cotillion.

Beth at MVRWC is hosting this contest. Go over to MY side bar and vote. You may PICK MORE THAN ONE, but don’t click every single one, OK?
Next Tuesday, we will have FINALISTS, at which point you can vote again. Next Tuesday, you’ll be doing the final vote for King of Cotillion!

Here are their pictures. My first reaction was, "What's up with all the guns?" Then I saw that the Masked Menace tempered it with a kitten on his shoulder. Heh. I'm thinking that Thunder6 has a bit of advantage, being in uniform and all. (I do love a man in a uniform) But I have a soft spot for Mark and Patriot Xeno because they comment here regularly. (plus, they aren't bad to look at) ;-) Bullwinkle has been known to pop in here too.

Anyway, Go vote. Yeah, even if you are a guy. Just vote.

Miers. The Readers Digest Version.

I've been reading about the controversy over Miers nomination. Some are saying that the "elitists" are only against her because she didn't go to an Ivy league school. They are saying she doesn't have the hefty intellectual background.

Beldar, a well respect trial lawyer here in Houston has at least a dozen posts on Miers. All them very informative if you want to wade through them all. He clearly believes she has the background. Here he compares the histories of Miers and Roberts.

The Volokh Conspiracy best sums it up between what he calls Gods vs Geeks. In other words, religious conservatives vs intellectuals, (not that many aren't both, of course) with Dobson and Santorum supporting the nomination, and Will, Frum, and Kristol harshly criticizing the President for having nominated Miers in the first place

"In sum, the two groups aren't disagreeing, but rather answering different questions. The commentators are ruminating on process, while the politicians and political leaders are focusing on the bottom line vote."

Once again conservatives fight when we can easily win. Our inhouse bickering just brings us down and it is unproductive. The left just sits back for the show They don't want Miers anyway because they strongly suspect she is pro-life (the bottom line for them) and they would gladly see her sink.

Given the heat of the conservative opposition, that may well happen. This Stanford Professor thinks the nomination will be withdrawn before a vote because of Arlen Spector. An interesting take.

I don't see that happening though. unless Miers gets so frustrated by this whole process and people start smearing her personal life in some way. Scalia himself said yesterday that he would not want to go through the process of confirmation today. The "borking" of Robert Bork began this whole ugly personal smear process and the Clarence Thomas hearings brought us where we are today. Thomas was tough. He put up with more than most of us would have from those smear merchants. I am not sure Miers could. In her case, I don't think it will be so much about her personal social life (but it could, of course, if anything interesting comes up), but about her personal faith. I wonder if Ruth Bader-Ginsburg's faith was ever discussed? Did anyone ever question what synagogue or church she attended? I don't think so. It only matters if you are Republican.

With Roberts, his intellectual capabilities were so obvious that all those smart guys in the Senate who were Democrat had to think that Roberts was so smart that he couldn't possibly let his faith interfere with his thinking process. But with Miers, they are afraid she isn't the brain that Roberts is and might actually let her faith be a consideration. For the conservatives that oppose her, they think that she isn't smart enough to be a strong strict constitutionalist. Because, amazingly enough, it isn't all about abortion to Republicans, as it is to Democrats. It's about a lot of issues from property rights to gun rights to state rights. Those conservatives think she might be wishy washy on those issues and feel she will be compelled to go with Kennedy and Souter out of deference to their experience.

I still trust Bush. He knows what was needed on the court. The elites can bleat all they wish, but from what I have read about her, she seems more than qualified to me. But then, I am just a simple woman.

So if you were wondering what all the fuss was about. That is the way I see it.

I saw Dick Morris on Fox News this morning and he made some interesting points about a race for President between Condi and Hillary.

He said that over 60% of white men vote Republican no matter what. He said it is the white women that swing the vote. They should be split. Then we have the black vote. The black vote goes almost 90% Democrat, but he said after talking to many black political leaders, he says that they believe that Condi would receive at least half of the black vote because it would be so historic to have a black President that they would cross over. He said in that scenario Condi wins by 12 million votes. An interesting take that seems pretty right on to me. I still think that a McCain/Rice ticket would do just as well. The black vote would still want a black Vice President.

I can tell you one thing. We will not able to win by bashing Hillary. The white women swing vote just won't look kindly on any kind of smear on Hillary. Like it or not, white women who aren't into politics tend to like Hillary and see her as one of them. Bashing her will be bashing them. So it will be a hard enough road right there. We need to choose our candidate carefully. We need to put our differences aside and come together to beat what could be the worst man made disaster we have ever known.

And please don't try and tell me that Hillary might not get the nomination. You are completely naive if you believe that.

It's all their fault....

The Joooooosssss!!!!!

via NRO

Schumer rides the no. 4 train to his office after a press conference in Union Square yesterday.

Doesn't the man beside him look excited???

Feel free to caption.

This was too funny to resist.

Wake up call to Democrats!

In this interesting post and comments over at Protein Wisdom , it begins as a post about the mistreatment of women in Saudi Arabia, but ends with the left turning it into something else. Two commentes had very interesting things to say. The first is a Democrat who voted for Bush and why:

"I am left of center politically. I could list all the lefty positions I believe in, from Abortion to Zebra-protection, but the reason I vote (Federally at least) for Bush & the Rep’s is that the Dem’s have gone to far to appeasing their base & seem willing to simply let the terrorists kill & win if it hurts Bush. At this time in history with the new facists trying (yet again) to take over the world, I don’t have time for that garbage.

So in a few dozen years, when the facists are defeated, I will go back to pushing for my progressive values. Until the Dem’s can honestly offer to fight against those facists, I will go with those that will--even if I think their social views are wrong or even when they screw-up carrying out the war-- ‘cause at least they are willing to fight to keep the freedoms that this country has.

Until that freedom is safe, the interesting fight about, oh say, putting ‘In god we trust’ on the money being the moral equivlent of the Taliban’s stoning of the gays seems rather stupid & trival.

The next is a former Democrat:

"That is a good example why I view my former comrades on the left as damaged goods. Seems to me that it would be easy for people to find the common ground on which they both stand and move forward together. Most, I would think, agree that raping and beating women is bad. Most would agree that people should have the right to vote. Most would agree that people should live as free as possible as long as they’re not hurting anyone. There’s a great deal more that all Americans agree upon than disagree upon. The hurting begins when we get more hung up on the minor differences than the greater similarities.

The simple fact is that the liberation of Afghanistan and Iraq would have been heralded by both sides of the political divide if the president had a “D” after his name insteads of an “R”. The discourse of “yes, but” would not happen if some on the left weren’]t searching hard and fast for reasons to be against something they should clearly be for."

UPDATE: Redstate has more.

I can't stop!

This is a funny and interesting take on Intelligent Design. This guys says ID will win out. Here is his take on the pro-Darwin crowd:

"Ewww…intelligent design people! They're just buck-toothed Bible-pushing nincompoops with community-college degrees who're trying to sell a gussied-up creationism to a cretinous public! No need to address their concerns or respond to their arguments. They are Not Science. They are poopy-heads."

There. I just saved you the trouble of reading 90% of the responses to the ID position. Vitriol, condescension, and endless accusations of bad faith all characterize far too much of the standard pro-Darwinian response to criticism. A reasonable observer might note that many ID advocates appear exceptionally well-educated, reasonable, and articulate; they might also note that ID advocates have pointed out many problems with the Darwinist catechism that even pro-Darwin scientists have been known to concede, when they think the Jesus-kissing crowd isn't listening. And yet, even in the face of a sober, thoughtful ID position, the pro-Darwin crowd insists on the same phooey-to-the-boobgeois shtick that was tiresome in Mencken's day. This is how losers act just before they lose: arrogant, self-satisfied, too important to be bothered with substantive refutation, and disdainful of their own faults. Pride goeth before a fall."

Trust me. The guy is a hoot to read. I do this to make The Commissar and Andy go nuts. It's so much fun!

Beer....

has now proven evolution.

via Deans World.

Terrorists worry over bad PR.

The title of this article says it all...."Al-Qaida tells terror chief to kill people less brutally"

I figure al-Zawahiri is thinking, "People aren't digging the whole beheading thing. It's getting to where we look kinda bad. Leaving headless bodies everywhere just isn't working well for us. Let' stick to bullets. Not nearly as messy. That will be cool with everyone. Good. Praise be to Satan...oops.. I mean Allah."

Say What??

Unicef, the United Nations Children's Fund is set to be broadcasting on national television next week a campaign advertisement in Belgium that features smurfs playing and singing and then....."the blue-skinned cartoon characters' village is annihilated by warplanes."

"Tiny Smurfs scatter and run in vain from the whistling bombs, before being felled by blast waves and fiery explosions. The final scene shows a scorched and tattered Baby Smurf sobbing inconsolably, surrounded by prone Smurfs.

The final frame bears the message: "Don't let war affect the lives of children."

uhhh.....ok. Could this be any weirder?

via Garfield Ridge

Open Thread.

Talk about anything you wish. Just play nice. Suggestions and praise is welcome. Criticism.....not so much.

We are shocked!

Shocked I tell you!!!

More Grief.

The massive earthquake that hit Pakistan brings us yet another massive tragedy. So many tears on this earth lately. Sometimes I wonder if natural disasters will force all of us to grab on to one another and then perhaps the man made disasters and wars that plague us will end.

What Is Worth Fighting For?

This picture is of victims of the terrorist bombing in Madrid Spain. Remember these were not soldiers. They were not at war. In fact, they were not even for war. But this did not matter to those without a conscience. Keep this picture in mind as you read the rest of my post.

I find it ironic that in the previous thread, one making the case against war, makes mention that those against abortion shouldn't have one. Defending, I suppose, her right to one. The monsters we are fighting would like to take away your right to drive, to wear perfume, to listen to music. You wouldn't have to worry about abortion. If you were intimate before marriage, you would be hanged or worse. They want you to wear a burka over your LIFE. And yet you don't see fighting this war as worth it. I suppose you think that fanatical way would never happen here. I suppose you don't care about the women who have lived this way for far too long.

Well, who would have imagined the Nazis? Who would imagined that a belief that furthering the human race would include gassing Jews and the disabled and that it would be accepted and practiced?

Those in Germany ignored a threat as well. They ignored a fanatical belief and pretended it wasn't there. We ignored this threat for too long until it came and slapped us in the face. Can none of you see how important it is to defeat it? Can none of you see the danger of a belief the leads those who follow it to see our death and their own as a delight to their God????

If we do not change things now, do you think that they would go away? Do you not think they would have made their way to our shores again????

You can argue all you want about why we went to war, the reasons, the WMD's, and why Iraq ect.., but the FACT is we are and have been killing the terrorists every day. We have thwarted 3 more attacks inside the United States. 10 more outside the U.S. Attacks that would have looked a lot like that picture. DO WE UNDERSTAND THIS? We have killed most of the leaders and now the terrorists have resorted to drugging the suicide bombers and using mentally disabled teenagers to kill themselves for bomb attacks.

The rotting flesh of Al Qaida will turn to dust. The little boys that would have been terrorists will not be. Women who were abused will have full lives. There may not be the same democracy of the West, but there will be freedom.

And make no mistake about it, freedom does NOT breed suicide bombers.

We are winning this war. We have paid a heavy price, but not nearly as heavy a price that has been paid in past wars. The men and women who have died for this war on terror have died for a noble cause, no matter what Cindy Sheehan says. We will never know what our soldiers and marines have saved us from . We will never know the carnage and evil we were spared. We will never count the body bags of our children. We will never know because of their willing sacrifice.

They gave up so much, but they saved us from so much.

History will look back at this time, I believe, as the 2 paths that diverged in the world. A place where man either took the road to self expression and freedom, or took the road to a growing belief in jihad.

In our fight, we never demand or ask of conversion. We only open the door to a willing choice.

That is the difference. And that is why we fight. And that is why it is right.

My Soldier.

I lay back against the grass and close my eyes.

I see you walking down a dusty road. You look strong and brave in your uniform, but I know that you don’t always feel that way.

You are walking toward me, but you never reach me. You are so far away, so very far away.

My nights are lonely, but I know yours are lonelier.

I want so much to touch your brave face, to wipe away the dirt and weariness.

I try to see you with me. I try to picture it.

But all I see is war.

And I must face the battle within myself, the one that fights the fear.

I know in the heat of a true battle, it is a battle you fight as well.

The fear wrestles me to the ground. It pins my arms and laughs in my face.

I open my eyes quickly and take deep breaths. I push the fear off of me.

I feel a breeze across my cheek. Do you feel it too? Do you feel my sadness? Do you feel my yearning?

I want this war over. I want those we fight defeated. I want you safe. I want you home.

I see you walking down a dusty road.

I see you walking toward me.

Keep walking toward me.

Victor Davis Hanson Rocks Once Again.

He just has a way of putting it all together in an easy way for us to understand. Read the whole thing.


"The old debate whether Saddam Hussein was involved with al Qaeda is now calcified. Liberal conventional wisdom denies any such linkage since there is no firm evidence that Saddam knew of, or was involved in, the September 11 attacks. Thus most on the left ignore entirely that Ansar al-Islam was doing Saddam's dirty work in fighting the Kurds, that Abu Nidal and Abu Abbas resided in Baghdad, that Saddam openly harbored Abdul Rahman Yasin and Ahmed Hikmat Shakir who were connected to the effort in 1993 to blow up the World Trade Center and various anti-American plots, and that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi fled Afghanistan to the sanctuary of Iraq.

No matter. That was then, this is now — and there is no denying that al-Zarqawi is conducting al-Qaedist operations in Iraq, or that the sort of people who attacked us on September 11 are the sort of people now flocking to the Sunni Triangle and often dying at the hands of U.S. military forces. Everyone can agree on that.

The "flypaper" exegesis — that Iraq has become a magnetized burial ground pulling in wannabe al Qaedists — is widely dismissed as unsophisticated and yokelish. But we saw the same phenomenon on the Afghan border in late 2001 where the Pakistani madrassas thinned out as jihadists went over the mountains to the Taliban's aid — only to be bombed to smithereens, the survivors limping back to warn others to give up such a holy trek.
In one of the strangest developments of this entire war, the Western world hears almost nothing about the aggregate number of jihadists killed by coalition forces in Iraq, even though we suspect it may have been several thousand — 10,000, 20,000, 50,000? Surely this has had both a concrete and a spiritual effect on hundreds of thousands of angry young Islamists, who are beginning to realize that a trip to Iraq may be lethal — and unwelcomed by most Iraqis who just wish to be left alone to form their own new government. Whatever one thought about the nexus of Iraq and terror before, no one now denies that our jihadist enemies are in Iraq and are being fought and defeated there each day."

Another lefty.....

...doesn't understand normal civil behavior. I suppose being crude and boorish is protected by free speech, but it doesn't mean you have to be that way.

This woman was kicked off a Southwest airline flight for wearing a crude t-shirt after being asked to cover it because people on the flight were complaining:

"The shirt had pictures of members of the Bush administration, and a phrase based on the movie "Meet The Fockers," but with one crucial vowel changed."

The 32 yr old woman said, "There are bigger problems in this country, I can't believe people can be so petty."

Wait...they were being petty??? I suppose it never occurred to this woman that some people might be offended. I would have said the exact same thing if had been about the Clinton administration during his Presidency.

She is, of course, filing a civil-rights complaint against the airline. After offending people around her, why not go and waste some of the airline's money and time as well?????

via LST

Oklahoma suicide bombing.

Michelle has ALL the updates.

Another story not quite right....

I'm sure you will see the leftwing blogs slobbering all over this today.

"In Elusive Peace: Israel and the Arabs, a major three-part series on BBC TWO (at 9.00pm on Monday 10, Monday 17 and Monday 24 October), Abu Mazen, Palestinian Prime Minister, and Nabil Shaath, his Foreign Minister, describe their first meeting with President Bush in June 2003.

Nabil Shaath says: "President Bush said to all of us: 'I'm driven with a mission from God. God would tell me, "George, go and fight those terrorists in Afghanistan." And I did, and then God would tell me, "George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq Â…" And I did. And now, again, I feel God's words coming to me, "Go get the Palestinians their state and get the Israelis their security, and get peace in the Middle East." And by God I'm gonna do it.'"

And if I hadn't been watching Brit Hulme tonight, it might have seemed curious to me for a moment. But the news reported that all those interviewed in the room, even those who took notes, said that Bush never said anything like that.

Guess this reporter didn't get that report, huh? Nothing like ignoring a little truth to get in the way of a good story.

Let me add one more thing....

I forgot this important point the President made:

"Some have also argued that extremism has been strengthened by the actions of our coalition in Iraq, claiming that our presence in that country has somehow caused or triggered the rage of radicals.

I would remind them that we were not in Iraq on September the 11th, 2001, and Al Qaida attacked us anyway.

The hatred of the radicals existed before Iraq was an issue and it will exist after Iraq is no longer an excuse."

More Michael...

Michael Yon has tons of new stuff up and all of it good. Lots of pictures as well. Go. Read. Best reporting coming out of the war that there is.

The Speech.

I just heard parts of President Bush's speech today about the war on terror to the National Endowment for Democracy and it was just about the most powerful speech I have heard him give. Here is the transcript if you missed it. I suggest you read it since the media seem to not be printing the excerpts that I think are most important. First, Bush made it clear that Islamo-fascism subverts and exploits Islam.

He also made it clear that there will be no cut and run here. We will not show weakness. I was glad to hear him point out our past where we did show weakness in the face of this enemy. The following quote is the one that should be in all the papers:

"They want us to repeat the sad history of Beirut in 1983 and Mogadishu in 1993, only this time on a larger scale with greater consequences.
Second, the militant network wants to use the vacuum created by an American retreat to gain control of a country, a base from which to launch attacks and conduct their war against non-radical Muslim governments."

He explained the different factions of terrorists and explained clearly why they seek to terrorize us:

"First, extremists want to end American and Western influence in the broader Middle East, because we stand for democracy and peace and stand in the way of their ambitions."

Bush likened the ideology of Islamic militants to communism. And he said they are being "aided by elements of the Arab news media that incites hatred and anti-Semitism."

He reminded us of the history of evil:

"And the civilized world knows very well that other fanatics in history, from Hitler to Stalin to Pol Pot, consumed whole nations in war and genocide before leaving the stage of history.
Evil men obsessed with ambition and unburdened by conscience must be taken very seriously, and we must stop them before their crimes can multiply."

Bush made clear the differences between our enemy and ourselves:

"Zarqawi has said that Americans are, quote, "the most cowardly of God's creatures," but let's be clear: It is cowardice that seeks to kill children and the elderly with car bombs and cuts the throat of a bound captive and targets worshipers leaving a mosque.

It is courage that liberated more than 50 million people. It is courage that keeps an untiring vigil against the enemies of a rising democracy. And it is courage and the cause of freedom that once again will destroy the enemies of freedom."

We are facing a radical ideology with immeasurable objectives to enslave whole nations and intimidate the world."

And he finally made clear what we have accomplished so far working with partners in "Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, Asia and beyond": (I know this part is long, but read it! It is so important to understand!)

"..we're disrupting militant conspiracies, destroying their ability to make war, and working to give millions in a troubled region of the world a hopeful alternative to resentment and violence.

First, we're determined to prevent the attacks of terrorist network before they occur. We're reorganizing our government to give this nation a broad and coordinated homeland defense. We're reforming our intelligence agency for the incredibly difficult task of tracking enemy activity, based on information that often comes in small fragments from widely scattered sources here and abroad.

We're acting, along with the governments from many countries, to destroy the terrorist networks and incapacitate their leaders.

Together, we've killed or captured nearly all of those directly responsible for the September the 11th attacks, as well as some of bin Laden's most senior deputies, Al Qaida managers and operatives in more than 24 countries: the mastermind of the USS Cole bombing who was chief of Al Qaida operations in the Persian Gulf, the mastermind of the Jakarta and the first Bali bombings, a senior Zarqawi terrorist planner who was planning attacks in Turkey, and many of Al Qaida's senior leaders in Saudi Arabia.

Overall, the United States and our partners have disrupted at least 10 serious Al Qaida terrorist plots since September the 11th, including three Al Qaida plots to attack inside the United States. We've stopped at least five more Al Qaida efforts to case targets in the United States or infiltrate operatives into our country."

And he ends with this:

"We do know, however, that the defense of freedom is worth our sacrifice. We do know the love of freedom is the mightiest force of history. And we do know the cause of freedom will once again prevail.
May God bless you."

This is the speech he should have made long ago, and should have been repeating at every stop.

Because while so many of us understand this fight, it is clear that many do not. Let the left have their say, but let us have ours.

I am confident in the debate that the truth and honor of we do here in this war will win out in the hearts and minds of the people of the United States. We just needed to make it clear.

And I think President Bush just did.

The Worst Evacuation Story from Rita.

I was with some friends this morning and we were discussing our evacuations. One of the girls had a friend who went and picked up her mother at a nursing home here and headed out to Dallas. Because of the heat and standing in traffic, or who knows what contributed, her mother died in the car and her friend had to drive five more hours to Dallas with her dead mother's body.

Awful. AWFUL.

Time to bring up our favorite subject again.

Those sneaky creationists.

This is the thing. It is clear that Congress can make no law establishing a religion. But how is suggesting a theory that states "materialistic explanations with the theistic understanding that nature and human beings are created by God, ”(Intelligent Designer), establishing a religion? It just isn't.

Now, replacing evolutionary materials, I completely disagree with. But none of my evolutionary friends have convinced me that other theories of design shouldn't be looked at in the classroom.

Just saying, "it isn't science" doesn't do it for me. Just saying it can't be "falisfied" doesn't do it for me. You are judging what is a standard for science by a test created by a man. I think it is important for kids to know what so many people believe. And, simply speaking, if some things are too complex to be explained any other way, and scientists theorize about how that is accomplished. This is a theory.

Now you can make the case that someone could just make any old thing up as a theory. But the difference is many scientists and other intelligent educated people have valid scientific findings that prove that, at the least, there are things too complex to be explained any other way than an intelligent design.

But I am no expert, and can still be convinced either way. If you would like to read a discussion between those involved on both sides, Natural History Magazine has this excellent debate.