The one thing that astounded me when talking to the protestors outside Justice Sunday II was the fact that they were convinced that the religious right wanted a theocracy. Surfing around the leftwing blogs I find similar ridiculous beliefs about religious conservatives. Things like the belief that we hate anyone who disagrees with us or that we want some sort of forced religion in the schools or that we would want women who had abortions to go to jail. Consider the reaction to "The Chronicles of Narnia" as pointed out in this article: h/t BigDog
The novelist Phillip Pullman has described CS Lewis' original book as 'one of the most ugly, poisonous things I have ever read'. With the zeal of a veteran cultural crusader Polly Toynbee of the UK Guardian cut straight to the chase: 'Narnia represents everything that is most hateful about religion.'
The author continues:
The liberal elite's obsession with the insidious threat posed by faith-based films is paralleled by its paranoia about the religious right. Anti-religious crusaders, in particular in the US, continually exaggerate the influence of Christianity in culture and politics. Every time I visit America, this fear seems to have worsened. Raising the alarm about Christian fundamentalists has become a taken-for-granted affectation among those who define themselves as liberal or left-wing, who are forever telling horror stories about the power of the religious right.
Look at Theocracywatch.org, whose entire web page is one long scream "The sky is falling! The sky is falling! And the religious is making it fall!!" On it's front page it quotes D. James Kennedy, Pastor of Coral Ridge Ministries as saying "Our job is to reclaim America for Christ, whatever the cost. As the vice regents of God, we are to exercise godly dominion and influence over our neighborhoods, our schools, our government, our literature and arts, our sports arenas, our entertainment media, our news media, our scientific endeavors -- in short, over every aspect and institution of human society."
Pastor who? Quoting some unknown pastor as representing the religious right is like quoting your college Marxist professor and saying he represents the left in this country.
Then it has this "chilling" warning:
Today's hard right seeks total dominion. It's packing the courts and rigging the rules. The target is not the Democrats but democracy itself.
It would be funny if I didn't hear pretty much the same thing from leftwing bloggers and even commenters here. It's delusional.
I have lived in 8 different cities. I have attended church in each one. I have never met any Christians that even begin to look anything like the ones the left have nightmares about. I haven't seen anything but compassion for those caught up in sin. My Church has 85 ministries that serve the poor, those in prison, the elderly, and those in crisis pregnancy. There are support groups for those with substance abuse problems, those divorced, widowed, and just about anything else that people have to deal with.
When I lived in Dallas I was a part of a prayer group where women reached out to each other with such love that there was hardly a time I didn't leave there shaken from crying. Crying for those who were suffering and crying for the outpouring of love that was given for the person suffering.
Think about it. If Churches really were like the left likes to paint them, then no one would join, would they? What makes people come to a Church? If there was nothing but hell and judgment being given out, then the church wouldn't last long.
The truth is the religious right is just like anyone else. We care about our children. We want a better society. We see too much that has gone wrong. We see a political agenda being forced on us that contradicts our values. Are we not free to fight for our values as well? Whether one is on the right or left, we both fight for what we want our society to be. The left may fight for abortion rights, gay marriage, and less defense spending. Just as the right will fight for unborn rights, against pornography, and a stronger military. But both sides have a right to fight.
Not believing in God doesn't make you unpatriotic, but believing that those who do believe in God don't have a right to have a say in our government does.
Monday, January 30, 2006
The Left's nightmare.
The Counterterrorism Blog...
has a great anaylsis of Zawahiri's videotape released today:
The new Zawahiri videotape released by al Jazeera today shows a sophistication in the propaganda war waged by the Jihadists worldwide against the US and its allies. Designed to "crumble" the morale of the American public and "boost" the commitments of the Jihadi forces, the tape is another attempt to score points in the War of ideas and media. The results were immediate in the West. The Associated Press immediate leads were stunning: 1) Zawahiri proves he wasn't killed by the US strike, therefore he scored one point against the US. 2) He labeled his enemy, the US President, as "butcher of Washington," hence attempting to rally the widest anti-American axis as possible AP lead. But the tape is not just that, another message from the number two in al Qaida. It is a very well orchestrated political offensive aimed at the nervous centers of the "enemy's public. A shot that may preceed action or asking for it. Here are the ingredients:
Read the rest.
Forget Southpark Conservative...
Now we have Southpark Zionist.
I'll take it. Plenty of room under this tent big guy. As long as you vote Republican, you're good with me.
via harry's place.
Wonders never cease...
Naomi Wolf, feminist news pundit and known for her feminist tract, "The Beauty Myth" had a "come to Jesus" meeting. That's right. She had a vision of Jesus. A spiritual awakening that she is just now talking about.
“I was completely dumbfounded but I actually had this vision of … of Jesus, and I’m sure it was Jesus.” Anticipating a raised eyebrow, she adds quickly: “But it wasn’t this crazy theological thing; it was just this figure who was the most perfected human being – full of light and full of love. And completely accessible. Any of us could be like that. There was light coming out of him holographically, simply because he was unclouded. But any of us could become that as human beings.”
She has been afraid to talk about it:
The experience has made her happier than ever. She’s anxious about the repercussions of going public on her life-altering moment, but insists that her commitment to feminism remains as strong as ever . “ I don’t want to be co-opted as the poster child for any religion or any agenda,” she adds. “ There are a lot of people out there just waiting for some little Jewish feminist to cross over. I so much want to distance this from Christianity. It has nothing to do with any religion whatsoever.” But in the meantime Wolf has been doing some intensive reading about what the rabbi Jesus had to say, as a Jew “not as this whole Christian construct but as a teacher and a social activist, as a rabbi and as a healer.
Heaven forbid that those she has argued against for so many years on T.V. could actually be right. (Check out Charmaine's discussion with Naomi on the Today Show. Click on the "Today" icon.)
I've watched Noami for many years and always felt there was a desperate sense to please, but also a passion for things. I sincerely wish her the best in her spiritual journey. We all climb that mountain in one way or another.
via The Dawn Patrol
NSFW!
But only because you will laugh so hard people will come out of their offices to see if your ok.
Here and here.
I warned ya!
via the ever funny himself, Jeff at BA.
Howard Dean blows through DNC cash.
Hey, it's the Democrat's way. If it's somebody else's money, throw it around like old corncobs to pigs. Why not?
Missed Opportunity? No More.
The Captain brings us this:
"Debra Burlingame, the sister of one of the pilots murdered on 9/11, writes in today's OpinionJournal about the way we have changed our attitude about 9/11 and the failures of law enforcement and intelligence to "connect the dots" that could have prevented part or all of the terrorist plot. She rails against the politicization of the PATRIOT Act and the NSA intercept program, which the 9/11 Commission not long ago called on the administration to provide."
Here is a telling excerpt:
"NBC News aired an "exclusive" story in 2004 that dramatically recounted how al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar, the San Diego terrorists who would later hijack American Airlines flight 77 and fly it into the Pentagon, received more than a dozen calls from an al Qaeda "switchboard" inside Yemen where al-Mihdhar's brother-in-law lived. The house received calls from Osama Bin Laden and relayed them to operatives around the world. Senior correspondent Lisa Myers told the shocking story of how, "The NSA had the actual phone number in the United States that the switchboard was calling, but didn't deploy that equipment, fearing it would be accused of domestic spying." Back then, the NBC script didn't describe it as "spying on Americans." Instead, it was called one of the "missed opportunities that could have saved 3,000 lives."
Thank God Bush won.
The Commander In Chief...,
also known as "Please let Hillary Win in '08" series looks like it might be going the way of "The Book Of Daniel," also know as "Let's See How Hypocritical We Can Make Christians Look" series.
Nice.
via Blogs for Bush.
Sunday, January 29, 2006
A Brief Life.
Patrick sent me this article. As I read it I remembered a girl I helped many years ago and her story was almost exactly the same.
Angelina was told at the county hospital that her baby had Anencephaly and would die within hours of birth and it was better to abort her now. Angelina's sister came to me for information. She knew I was pro-life and had materials with photographs of the unborn child. I gave them to her and told her to tell Angelina that even though her baby was destined to die whether she decided to abort or give birth, at least with giving birth she would always know she wasn't the one who decided the baby's fate. That a natural death was far different from a deliberate one at a Doctor's hands. What I didn't realize was what Rosa (the baby) would give her parents in those few hours of her life.
The doctors and nurse at the County hospital were angry at Angelina for choosing to give birth. Abortion was a much easier way to go. They treated Angelina as ignorant because she was poor and Hispanic. This would cost more money they insisted, but I assured Angelina that they could gripe all they wished, but it was her decision.
The day she gave birth and her beautiful daughter, Rosa, was born, the whole family had gathered. The staff handed the baby to Angelina without cleaning it. Her sister called me immediately and I asked to speak to the nurse. I told her that if she didn't get that baby properly cleaned and wrapped in a blanket as they did all other baby's in about 15 seconds I was going to call the local news and anyone else I thought might be interested. I WAS TICKED. Trust me when I say, I don't get ticked often and it takes a lot to do so, but when I do......you don't want to be on the other end of my rage.
The baby was cleaned and handed back to Angelina. She told me later that it was the most perfect looking baby she had ever seen. Anencephaly is easily covered with a cap and then the baby looks normal. Her eyes open and she gurgles just like any other baby. The whole family spent about 12 hours loving and holding her and then she died peacefully in her mother's arms. The mother told me that she would always be grateful for those 12 hours and it literally changed her life. She appreciates everything in her life now. She feels a great need to be a better person for Rosa.
Would have it been easier to abort Rosa? Perhaps for the doctors and hospital. A hidden grisly procedure and then everyone goes home. But life sometimes gives us harder, but infinitely better choices.
Life matters. Life changes us. Even the very brief ones.
"A Moral Awakening"
The Guardian has this: (emphasis mine)
"A majority of women in Britain want the abortion laws to be tightened to make it harder, or impossible, for them to terminate a pregnancy.
Evidence of a widespread public demand for the government to further restrict women's right to have an abortion is revealed in a remarkable Observer opinion poll. The findings have reignited the highly-charged debate on abortion, and increased the pressure on Tony Blair to review the current time limits.
The survey by MORI shows that 47 per cent of women believe the legal limit for an abortion should be cut from its present 24 weeks, and another 10 per cent want the practice outlawed altogether. Among the population overall, reducing the upper limit was the preferred option backed by the largest proportion of respondents, 42 per cent, made up of a 36-47 per cent split among men and women.
Only one person in three agreed that 'the current time limit is about right', with slightly fewer women (31 per cent) than men (35 per cent) saying that. Just 2 per cent of women and 5 per cent of men think the last possible date after which a woman can end a pregnancy should be increased from 24 weeks.
The leader of the 4.1 million Catholics in England and Wales, Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, called on politicians last night to heed the evidence of a growing demand for a rethink on abortion policy, to include The Observer's findings. 'There has been a moral awakening over the last few years about abortion; the British public have been undergoing a reality check,' said his spokesman, Dr Austen Ivereigh. 'The Cardinal sees in this moral awakening a growing unease with, and erosion of, the idea of abortion as simply a woman's right.'
Increased awareness of the realities of abortion, and the impact of ultrasound images of a 23-week-old foetus smiling and grimacing, have made people change their views, said Ivereigh. The latter 'very dramatically showed that what had been depersonalised in many people's minds as a foetus was clearly seen to be a baby, a human being in formation, and that has come as a shock to many people', he added..."
Wow. If British women can can be "awakened" to this horror maybe it's possible that Democrats can be as well.
via Michelle Malkin
Senator Sheehan?
In case you missed it, Cindy Sheehan let Dianne Feinstein know that if Feinstein didn't support the filibuster against Alito that she would run against her for her seat. Dianne caved in, but that didn't change Cindy's mind:
Cindy Sheehan, the peace activist who set up camp near President Bush's Texas ranch last summer, said Saturday she is considering running against Sen. Dianne Feinstein to protest what she called the California lawmaker's support for the war in Iraq.
"She voted for the war. She continues to vote for the funding. She won't call for an immediate withdrawal of the troops," Sheehan told The Associated Press in an interview while attending the World Social Forum in Venezuela along with thousands of other anti-war and anti-globalization activists.
"I think our senator needs to be held accountable for her support of George Bush and his war policies," said Sheehan, whose 24-year-old soldier son Casey was killed in Iraq in 2004via The Captain.
I'm thinking the above pic with Cindy locking lips with Hugo Chavez might make it into the campaign. via LGF
Let them rant....
Powerline touches on why I think the Kos crowd will never let the Democrats win:
Jim VandeHei at the Washington Post reports on the attack of the angry leftist bloggers on liberal Democrats who are trying to broaden (or at least prevent further erosion of) the party's appeal to mainstream voters. The piece includes this quote from Steve Elmendorf, a Democratic operative and lobbyist:
The bloggers and online donors represent an important resource for the party, but they are not representative of the majority you need to win elections. The trick will be to harness their energy and their money without looking like you are a captive of the activist left.
At one level, Elmendorf is merely describing the perennial balancing act that both political parties must engage in -- keep the base happy without alienating swing voters. Although both parties occasionally trip up, the task is far from insurmountable, particularly when a party has been out of power for awhile. What's unique about the situation the Democrats find themselves in now is the unhinged nature of the base and the juvenile "power"-crazed nature of the bloggers who speak for a portion of it.
Indeed, as if on cue, Kos threw a temper tantrum, responding to Elmendorf by referring to him as a sleazebag amoral lobbyist, and by threatening to "out" any Democratic politician who associates with him. As a political operative, Kos makes a good ACT-UP activist.
Moving beyond bluster into question-begging, Kos added, "There's nothing 'extreme left' with demanding Democrats act like Democrats." But Democrats have never acted like Kos and his Kiddie Korps.
ABC News has this:
Woodruff and Vogt are undergoing surgery at the U.S. military hospital in Balad. Both men suffered head injuries. Woodruff sustained shrapnel wounds and Vogt was hit by shrapnel in the head and suffered a broken shoulder.
Friday, January 27, 2006
Well, I suppose....
this is one way to discourage smoking. Let me know if it works for you.
via boing boing.
Some Updates:
Regarding the news ticker and Castro story, Castro is now building a large wall (construction shown here) to hide the freedom promoting messages on a news ticker operated by the US Interests Section in Havana.
NRO
has this on Kerry's continued dedication to unlimted abortion:
"On the Senate floor a few minutes ago, John Kerry, back from Davos and gunning for Left-wing money, referred to Stenberg v. Carhart, explaining that the Court did an important thing striking down a Nebraska law that banned partial-birth-abortion, because the Court by doing so protected women's health. Put aside constitutional law and Judge Alito for the moment, because, honestly, that's what the Dems do anyway--none of this filibuster-talk nonsense is about either one--John Kerry certainly sounded proud that a ban on partial-birth-abortion (click here--WARNING--for a visual) was aborted by the Court. Because that's who he aligns himself with--people who think that was, in fact, a good thing. Yeah, he'll never be president. But he could have been."
Supply Side Works.
And if you don't believe me Ace has the reader's digest version:
Capital-Gains Rate Cuts Paid For Themselves
The estimate: a $26 billion shortfall.
The reality: a $27 billion windfall
Or...you can read about the details here.
Excuse me...
But isn't this kinda big news? I mean enough to maybe get a mention here.
Iraqi tribes in Anbar arrest 270 Arab and foreign al-Qaeda members!
From Dar al-Hayat (Arabic):The Anbar tribes’ campaign to rid the province of Zarqawi’s terror organization, al-Qaeda in Iraq is in its 2nd day and so far, 270 Arab and foreign intruders have been arrested. |
Say What???
I saw a commercial today on Comedy Central about condoms that said 50,000 people a day in the U.S. get a STD. Could that be true???
What kind of skanks are we?????????????
John Kerry's plea for Alito filibuster.
privacy=abortion.
Just say what you mean.
Alito is obviously a radical! I mean in addition to not supporting a woman's unlimited access to abortion he will take this country backward by.... by....well, by....TAKING A WOMAN'S UNLIMITED ACCESS TO ABORTION AWAY!. WHAT ELSE REALLY MATTERS?????????
Mitt Romney has a sense of humor....
and if he runs in '08, he's gonna need it.
From a Washington Post piece on a Mitt Romney lunch with reporters in D.C. yesterday:
Toward the end he was asked about 2008, Iraq, and the possibility that he and Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) might end up as rivals. "Do you fantasize about that?" he was asked.
"Not about that, no," he replied to laughter. Referring to his wife, he said: "I told Ann that I was coming here to speak to you today, and I said 'Sweetheart, in your wildest dreams, did you ever see me coming here and speaking to this group?' and she said 'Mitt, you weren't in my wildest dreams.' " That sounded like a line GOP audiences are likely to hear repeatedly over the next few years.
via NRO
Iraq's WMD Secreted in Syria, Sada Says
The New York Sun has this:
"The man who served as the no. 2 official in Saddam Hussein's air force says Iraq moved weapons of mass destruction into Syria before the war by loading the weapons into civilian aircraft in which the passenger seats were removed."
This has been widely speculated in the blogosphere forever. But who listens to us?Well, I know one thing. The left aint gonna listen to this guy. I figure if we went into Syria and found the WMD with Saddam's name printed on it with directions on how to safely deliver it to Al Quaeda and we showed the world, the left would say that Bush planted it there.
When "Bush Lied" is your only campaign slogan, you can't let it go.
Thursday, January 26, 2006
I stole this from Jeff at PW. He is the only one I know who can make something funny out of something that is decidedly not. Heh.
Speaking of iIlegal immigration...
Mexico will suspend its plan to distribute maps to migrants wanting to cross the U.S. border illegally, but an official said Thursday the decision was not made because of American pressure. Miguel Angel Paredes, spokesman for the federal Human Rights Commission, said the decision was made because human rights officials in border states expressed concern that the maps would show anti-immigrant groups where migrants likely would gather. On Wednesday, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the United States opposed the plan "in the strongest terms."
That's right. Stop giving out the maps in case we use it to catch them ! Because we certainly wouldn't want to do that! Oh no!
via IowaVoice
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
It's like this...
Joel Stein writes a column saying he doesn't support our troops. Then Hugh Hewitt kicks his ass in an interview. Here is part of the kicking:
HH: All right. Now who is your...this is a column about the troops that begins, "I don't support our troops." We'll get to the specifics in a second. But who is your closest family member or friend who is on active duty?
JS: That's an excellent question. I wouldn't say I have a very close friend. I would say only acquaintances. No family at all.
HH: Who are your acquaintances?
JS: There was a guy who works at Time, that's where I worked last, who quit to serve in the military.
HH: What's his name?
JS: (pause) You know, I'm blanking on his name. But your point is well taken that I don't have many people that I even know who are in the military.
That is what we call...BUSTED.
Let's just to go over a few things in his column:
"The real purpose of those ribbons is to ease some of the guilt we feel for voting to send them to war and then making absolutely no sacrifices other than enduring two Wolf Blitzer shows a day. Though there should be a ribbon for that."
Actually part of the proceeds from the ribbons go to the troops and I can't tell you how many cars I see every day here that have the ribbons right above their symbols for the marine corp, or the army ect. Who do you think buys the most ribbons??? Those who have a loved one serving of course. He would know that if he actually knew anyone serving.
"But blaming the president is a little too easy. The truth is that people who pull triggers are ultimately responsible, whether they're following orders or not. An army of people making individual moral choices may be inefficient, but an army of people ignoring their morality is horrifying."
I suppose it never occurs to him that they are serving specifically FOR their morality. That they see fighting a war against terrorists as a VERY MORAL ENDEAVOR. They are not ignoring their morality, THEY ARE FOLLOWING IT.
But Stein disregards any notion that the troops are smart enough to even know what is moral It seems:
"I do sympathize with people who joined up to protect our country, especially after 9/11, and were tricked into fighting in Iraq. I get mad when I'm tricked into clicking on a pop-up ad, so I can only imagine how they feel."
They were "tricked," you see. And even with them knowing all that Joel Stein knows about the war and Saddam and terrorists, why even BEING THERE AND SEEING FOR THEMSELVES the fight we face, they still remain in the dark about why they are fighting. Those poor clueless soldiers. Too bad they can't be as smart as some guy who "did well in school" and writes for the La Times.
via Glenn
You have to read this...
Babalu Blog has a story about Castro that will make you smile. (Except for the part on the update regarding NBC news) Castro calls us "cockroaches." Man, my feelings are hurt, how about you?
Update: In case your wondering who is responsible for the ticker in the above story, Val says it is Michael Parmly, new Chief of the US Interests Section in Havana in the State Department. So freakin awesome. I love it.
I keep wondering if some people will EVER go away. Castro, Madonna, Barbra Streisand, and Ted Kennedy. It seems I have had to listen their crap FOREVER.
Btw, if you care about Cuban dissidents and all things Cuban you need to be reading Babalu Blog.
via Deans World
Did you know....
that the Defense Department is the largest single charitable organization in the world?
Neither did I.
If you want to take a look at the many stories detailing the good our military is doing around the world, check out Camp Katrina. He has them all.
Venezuela pays for Cindy Sheehan to come protest.
And apparently Chavez got his money's worth:
CARACAS (AFP) - Anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan, mother of a US soldier killed in
Iraq joined more than 10,000 anti-globalization activists in Caracas, where she hailed Venezuela's leftist President Hugo Chavez.
"I admire him for his resolve against my government and its meddling," said Sheehan, who gained notoriety when she camped outside US President George W. Bush's ranch last year to protest the Iraq war. She said she hoped to meet Chavez later in the week.
What is there to say? Ugh.
The illegal alien problem.
SIERRA BLANCA, TEXAS) -- Local lawmen in remote west Texas came face to face with ten armed men wearing what appeared to be Mexican army camouflage uniforms who came to the aid of one of three suspected drug dealers' vehicles when it became stuck in the riverbank of the Rio Grande, law enforcement officials said today.
The Mexican govt. is denying that these people were not in the Mexican military and I doubt they were. I haven't written much on the border situation because I really have mixed feelings about it. I do believe that the guest worker program is a good idea. Millions are here illegally and they must be dealt with. Finding and deporting them is just physically impossible. But along with the worker program there must be a stronger presence at the border.
The reason I have mixed feelings is because of my personal experience with illegals. They are the hardest working people that I have ever seen. There is no doubt that they do jobs that no American wants to do. In the summer here I see them sweltering on a roof in 100 degree weather. My son worked at large garden nursery when he was 15. Everyone that worked with him was an illegal. One of their jobs was wading through a swamp and scooping up the scum on top with a net. Anyway, I asked the manager about them. He said they had papers but he doubted they were real. I actually snuck a look at some payroll stuff while I was in the office alone and he was paying them above minimum wage, which was a relief to me. If he had been paying them less I would have had to talk to him. (he was a friend) Please don't tell me that I should have called the police. Who would win there? Everyone would lose. I'm not going to take these men away from their families and the only real money they have ever made. If that was wrong, then I have to live it.
I had a woman who worked for me for 11 years named Pat. During that time I helped her get her citizenship. If I had any job that needed to be done whether it was moving something or digging up a tree or taking down a swingset, all I had to do was ask her and one of her relatives was there the next day to do it. I just always admired their work ethic. So I do have sympathy for those who cross over for a better life. Pat had to work in bean fields when she was a child. They had nothing. She told me she never believed or imagined that one day she would own a car or a house, but she now owned both with her husband and three girls.
Although the above story did happen in Texas, I think it is worse in other places. I have an Aunt that lives in Arizona. It seems the situation there is more out of control. Especially with medical services being free. Hospitals have closed because of it. The lands near the border have become pathways for drug dealers, those who deal in taking people across the border who do not care about their safety. It has become a dangerous situation. So much so the people have taken the law into their own hands to monitor the border themselves.
There is no doubt that we need a stronger border protection. There is no doubt that our government is not doing enough about it for political reasons. I'm just not sure we should direct our anger at the illegals. They don't know or care about our politics, they don't look at what they are doing as illegal. Most of them are only look at having a better life. The worker guest program allows us to know who his here now and get them on the road to citizenship if that is what they desire. It will stop the abuse in wages from employers and illegals will not be afraid of being deported. But along with that, we must STOP those crossing the border NOW. That situation must be brought under control and it's time for our government to seriously do something about it.
Update: Patrick alerted me to this article with some more information on the incident.
Also Interesting video from MSNBC with reporter Sara A. Carter
regarding this kind of thing too.
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Unacceptable.
Deborah Howell wrote a column recently praising the Post for breaking the Abramoff scandal. Although she clearly pointed out the main characters in the scandal and they were Republicans she also pointed out that money was given to Democrats as well. She explains:
But there is no doubt about the campaign contributions that were directed to lawmakers of both parties. Records from the Federal Election Commission and the Center for Public Integrity show that Abramoff's Indian clients contributed money to 195 Republicans and 88 Democrats between 1999 and 2004.
Well, she got BLASTED by the Democrats for implying that it was anything but a Republican scandal. They had to shut down the web site because of the flood e-mails. But this is what is unacceptable to me. Howell on her e-mails:
But it is profoundly distressing if political discourse has sunk to a level where abusive name-calling and the crudest of sexual language are the norm, where facts have no place in an argument. This unbounded, unreasoning rage is not going to help this newspaper, this country or democracy.
I couldn't agree more. What is wrong with these people????? I know that many are hanging on to the hope that the Abramhoff scandal will help them win the '06 elections, but is this kind of crude behavior necessary???
For God's sake, let us disagree in a civil manner.
I know Republicans are just as guilty on some sites I have seen. But I don't remember hearing about Republicans e-mailing a journalist in a way that would be so abusive that they shut down a site and she had to write about it.
We sit behind a computer and think we can say anything. Manners just fly out the window. I doubt any of those e-mailers would say the same to her face. At least I hope not. Shame on them. Shame.
If you must...
hear more about NSA, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales participated in a debate at Georgetown University's law school about it and Powerline has it.
Kanye West poses as Jesus....
On the Rolling Stone cover. Whatever.
Oh yeah, he talks about being addicted to porn. Lovely.
In good news, the show The Book of Daniel, about a dysfuntional Christian family, has been cancelled by NBC.
I wasn't worried. Remember the show a few years ago about that young priest who all against the Church he was serving? That didnt' last long either. These kinds of shows never last. They are just hollywood's twisted version of faith.
via NRO
The song I like now.
I love all kinds of music, but country music is my favorite. I never watched American Idol, but this Carrie Underwood can SING. I love this song so much! Take a listen and watch the video!
Jesus Take The Wheel
Bush talks about NSA international surveillance program.
Powerline has this from the President's Kansas State speech yesterday: (emphasis mine)
I made the decision to do the following things because there's an enemy that still wants to harm the American people. What I'm talking about is the intercept of certain communications emanating between somebody inside the United States and outside the United States; and one of the numbers would be reasonably suspected to be an al Qaeda link or affiliate. In other words, we have ways to determine whether or not someone can be an al Qaeda affiliate or al Qaeda. And if they're making a phone call in the United States, it seems like to me we want to know why.
This is a -- I repeat to you, even though you hear words, "domestic spying," these are not phone calls within the United States. It's a phone call of an al Qaeda, known al Qaeda suspect, making a phone call into the United States. I'm mindful of your civil liberties, and so I had all kinds of lawyers review the process. We briefed members of the United States Congress, one of whom was Senator Pat Roberts, about this program. You know, it's amazing, when people say to me, well, he was just breaking the law -- if I wanted to break the law, why was I briefing Congress? (Laughter and applause.)
Hmm, good point. Bush continued:
Federal courts have consistently ruled that a President has authority under the Constitution to conduct foreign intelligence surveillance against our enemies. Predecessors of mine have used that same constitutional authority.
As I keep saying, the President's constitutional power is the key point.
Recently there was a Supreme Court case called the Hamdi case. It ruled the authorization for the use of military force passed by the Congress in 2001 -- in other words, Congress passed this piece of legislation. And the Court ruled, the Supreme Court ruled that it gave the President additional authority to use what it called "the fundamental incidents of waging war" against al Qaeda.
I'm not a lawyer, but I can tell you what it means. It means Congress gave me the authority to use necessary force to protect the American people, but it didn't prescribe the tactics. It's an -- you've got the power to protect us, but we're not going to tell you how. And one of the ways to protect the American people is to understand the intentions of the enemy. I told you it's a different kind of war with a different kind of enemy. If they're making phone calls into the United States, we need to know why -- to protect you. (Applause.)
The left has a different view of course. I keep hearing (and heard even a minute ago on the news) from Democratic Senators that "Americans" are being wiretapped. Never mentioning the Al Quaeda link. Do they think the American people won't get that part? That they won't see the difference? It's absurd.
I think all that could be said about this issue has been said. We shall see how the American public sees it and if hearings can quiet the left.
It's not just about fighting.
Children jump on two new spring toys before their installation at the orphanage in Kirkuk. SGT Doyle constructed these from old HMMWV parts during his spare time and other unit soldiers painted them
Soldiers of 3/7 Cav, 2nd BDE, of the 3rd Infantry Division conduct a MEDCAP mission in Salman Pak. MEDCAPS are conducted to give the local populace mediical care. Pic: SPC David Kobi 
U.S. Army Soldiers from the 528th Medical Detachment, Combat Stress Control, perform occupational therapy with local Iraqi children at Camp Echo. The Soldiers are giving occupational therapy to local children with neurological injuries as a community service in addition to their main mission. Pic: Senior Airman Patrick J. Dixon, U.S. Air Force.
via Iraqi pictures.
Our sons serve.
Sen. Christopher Bond (R) of Missouri greets his son, U.S. Marine Corps 1st Lt. Samuel R. Bond, at Landing Zone East on Camp Fallujah. Bond is assigned to II Marine Expeditionary Force. Pic: Lance Cpl. Michael J. O'Brien, U.S. Marine Corps.
I have many leftwing commenters who have complained how Congressmen don't have their sons serving in the war. Maybe this will make them feel better.
NYC Blogger Chicks..
do a fashion shoot for Fashion Week Daily. In what else? In nighties and heels.
My favorite talk show host...
Glenn Beck will start hosting a CNN show in April. This guy is the funniest guy on radio. I LOVE him. We shall see if he can translate that into T.V. If you haven't heard him, you have got to check him out.
Monday, January 23, 2006
A rising GOP star...
Ken Blackwell.
"Ken Blackwell stands at a pivotal point in American politics. He’s taken an early lead in the race for governor of a state that was key to reelecting George W. Bush and that may well be even more crucial in picking the next American president. Moreover, Blackwell has built his early lead not by tacking toward the center of this swing state but by running on an uncompromisingly conservative platform that’s won him grassroots support from both Christian groups and taxpayer organizations"
Read his whole background. He is just the kind of person we want leading in our party.
Stuff for Monday.
I knew something was up with this 16 yr old that traveled to Baghdad. A commenter even said something at the time. I guess the news is just now getting it together.
Redstate gives us the whole picture on the Chris Matthews stir up:
In case you missed it (and for your sake, I hope that you did, because that means you've been avoiding some unsavory locations on the web), there was quite a controversy last week in the left blogosphere when Chris Matthews said this about Osama bin Laden on Hardball:
Matthews: "I mean he sounds like an over the top Michael Moore here, if not a Michael Moore."
You can see the lefties (who will all tell you, with a straight face, that Michael Moore does not represent them) get outraged (outraged, I say!) here and here and here. The uproar was so great that 2004 Democrat Presidential nominee John Kerry stepped in to defend Michael Moore (please remember that Michael Moore does not represent the modern Democrat party, and no one is saying that he does).
Bad news for Michael Moore's many defenders: Chris Matthews was not the first person to compare Osama's rhetoric to Michael Moore's. It turns out that Michael Moore beat him to the punch. From Michael Moore's website message for 11/1/04 (Election Day Eve):
"I know it’s gotta be rough for you right now. Hey, we’ve all been there. “You’re fired” are two horrible words when put together in that order. Bin Laden surfacing this weekend to remind the American people of your total and complete failure to capture him was a cruel trick or treat. But there he was. 3,000 people were killed and he’s laughing in your face. Why did you stop our Special Forces from going after him? Why did you forget about bin Laden on the DAY AFTER 9/11 and tell your terrorism czar to concentrate on Iraq instead?
There he was, OBL, all tan and rested and on videotape (hey, did you get the feeling that he had a bootleg of my movie? Are there DVD players in those caves in Afghanistan?) "
As Mark Coffey says, I think it's about time Michael Moore apologizes to himself. It makes a lot more sense than demanding that Chris Matthews apologize for saying the exact same thing about Michael Moore that he said about himself (let's be honest, bragged about himself) just over a year ago.
UPDATE: More lefty outrage! Michael Moore's clever and witty response! More here and here - I could go on and on - they are planning one of their ridiculous "flood their email inboxes and voicemail with profanity" campaings as we speak, I'm sure... all over something Michael Moore himself bragged about. Priceless.
And if you think that is a sad commentary on the Democratic Party, Powerline has this:
John Kerry is posting on the Daily Kos. Keep that in mind next time someone tells you that the Kos Kidz are just a bunch of unemployed teenagers, and not the heart and soul of the Democratic Party.
So, to cheer you up after all that depressing news, Here is the Political Teen with the video of SNL making fun of the trio of the camera hogs and pandering fools; Jesse Jackson, Hillary Clinton, and Ray Nagin. It is hilarious! Trust me. via Michelle
Sunday, January 22, 2006
National Sanctity of Human Life Day.
President Bush's Proclamation.
Here is an excerpt:
National Sanctity of Human Life Day is an opportunity to strengthen our resolve in creating a society where every life has meaning and our most vulnerable members are protected and defended including unborn children, the sick and dying, and persons with disabilities and birth defects. This is an ideal that appeals to the noblest and most generous instincts within us, and this is the America we will achieve by working together.
Today marks the 33rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade. This issue is never going away and it will continue to divide us as long as we as a society do not recognize the fact that Roe was decided on lies and more lies.
And as long as we deny the Heartbreak and grief of women who never really had a "choice" at all. And as long as we dont acknowledge the greatest horror of all.
When the most innocent and vunerable of us are not protected, it diminishes us as a people and convinces us that life has varying degrees of value.
The value of each and every life is not determined by how we feel about it.
You all know how I feel about this and how I came to be so passionate about it.
Say a prayer today if you can, for an end to the 4000 abortions a day in this country.
Charmaine has a post up about Blogs for Life and the Washington annual pro-life march.
Saturday, January 21, 2006
What we know.
Victor Davis Hanson has an excellent analysis of the real story in The Middle East:
"In the larger Middle East, the democratic splash in the Iraqi pond is slowly rippling out, as voting proceeds in Egypt and the Gulf, Syria leaves Lebanon, and Moammar Gadhafi and Pakistan’s Dr. Khan cease their nuclear machinations. Hundreds of thousands of protesters hit the streets in Lebanon and Jordan—not to slur the United States, as predicted, for removing Saddam Hussein, but to damn Bashar Assad and al-Zarqawi as terrorist killers. Walid Jumblatt, the Lebanese Druze leader, now calls for Western pressure to root out the Syrian Baathists.
You’d never know all this from the global media or state-run news services in Europe and the Middle East."
Democracy spreading???? Who would have imagined that? Oh yes, President Bush did.Hanson continues:
"Americans tried to remain idealistic on the principle that Iraqis, if freed and helped, could craft a workable democracy, and that such consensual governments would make the volatile Middle East safer, since elected and legitimate governments rarely attack their own kind. In response, the supposedly idealistic Left charged that we were bellicose and imperialistic — as if being on the side of the purple-fingered Iraqi voter was not preferable to being on the side of the terrorist and insurrectionist, who masked his fascism with national rhetoric."
And this is the most necessary to understand:
"Despite the fact that al Qaedists were in Kurdistan, Al Zarqawi was in Saddam’s Baghdad, terrorists like Abu Abas and Abu Nidal were sheltered by Iraqis, and recent archives disclose that hundreds of Iraqi terrorists were annually housed and schooled by the Baathists, we are nevertheless assured that there was no tie between Saddam and terrorists. Those who suggest there were lines of support are caricatured as liars and Bush propagandists.
"Apparently, we are asked to believe that the al Qaedists whom Iraqis and Americans kill each day in Iraq largely joined up because we removed Saddam Hussein."
The left couldn't be happy about the purple fingers because it was a victory for Bush, but we all know that it really was a victory for America. The left refuses to admit they were wrong about terrorist activities in Iraq before the war no matter what evidence is presented that shows there clearly was, because that would make Bush right, and they cannot have that even though, in reality, it makes America right.
And then Hanson points out why everything Bush did after 9-11 worked at keeping us safe:
"After September 11, many of our experts assured us that it was “not a question of if, but when” we were to be hit again—with the qualifier that the next strike would be far worse, entailing a dirty bomb, or biological or chemical agents.
Yet when we are still free from an assault 52 months later, censors assure that our safety has nothing to do with the Patriot Act, nothing to do with wiretaps, nothing to do with killing thousands of terrorists abroad in Afghanistan and Iraq, and nothing to do with creating democratic Afghan and Iraqi security forces who daily hunt down jihdadists far from America’s shores. And yet, strangely, there is no serious legislation to revoke the Patriot Act, to outlaw listening to calls from potential terrorists, or to cut off funds for operations in Iraq or Afghanistan."
Democracy spreads and we are safe. Simple. Thank President Bush. Thank our troops. It hasn't been easy, but nothing great comes easy.
We will win the mid-term elections.
Because we get national security:
"White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove offered a biting preview of the 2006 midterm elections yesterday, drawing sharp distinctions with the Democrats over the campaign against terrorism, tax cuts and judicial philosophy, and describing the opposition party as backward-looking and bereft of ideas.
"At the core, we are dealing with two parties that have fundamentally different views on national security," Rove said. "Republicans have a post-9/11 worldview and many Democrats have a pre-9/11 worldview. That doesn't make them unpatriotic -- not at all. But it does make them wrong -- deeply and profoundly and consistently wrong." ...
It was four years ago this week when Rove, appearing at another meeting of the RNC, said Republicans would make terrorism a central issue of the 2002 midterm elections. Rove's remarks infuriated Democrats, who protested that, until then, Bush had stressed bipartisanship and national unity in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks."
Captain Ed says it much better than I ever could:
"And in four years, the Democrats have not learned a damned thing about national security. Four years ago, Rove spoke to the political situation as it was -- highly partisan on the war and Iraq. Far from the rosy picture of bipartisan comity they now paint of the immediate post-9/11 period, Democrats balked at military action in Afghanistan, arguing that the Soviets and the British had both broken armies in that country during the past century. MoveOn protested continuously about the "violence" and predicted a winter disaster on the scale of Napoleon in Russia. Action against Iraq had come into debate by this point and would consume the 2002 election cycle, not to mention the partisan recriminations flying all over Washington over the success of the 9/11 attacks.
Four years later, the Democrats still argue for withdrawal and isolationism. Their only coherent strategy offered is a "strategic redeployment of troops over an event horizon", which translates to "retreat until we're out of sight of the battlefield". And that's just on offense. For national defense, the Democrats want to impeach the President for conducting surveillance on international communications on people identified by evidence and intel as terrorists, including the common-sense tracking of such calls into and out of the US to identify potential terrorist cells before they strike here. Their leadership knew of this program and all its implications since the month after 9/11 and have been continuously briefed ever since, and not one of those briefed have called for an end to the NSA program -- not one.
Democrats have one strategy, and it boils down to I Hate George. Rove and Mehlman simply want to show America that on national security, they have some 'splainin' to do."
Friday, January 20, 2006
The Reagan Revolution.
The WSJ has this:
"Twenty-five years ago today, Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as the 40th President of the United States promising less intrusive government, lower tax rates and victory over communism. On that same day, the American hostages in Iran were freed after 444 days of captivity. If the story of history is one long and arduous march toward freedom, this was a momentous day well worth commemorating.
All the more so because over this 25-year period prosperity has been the rule, not the exception, for America--in stark contrast to the stagflationary 1970s. Perhaps the greatest tribute to the success of Reaganomics is that, over the course of the past 276 months, the U.S. economy has been in recession for only 15. That is to say, 94% of the time the U.S. economy has been creating jobs (43 million in all) and wealth ($30 trillion). More wealth has been created in the U.S. in the last quarter-century than in the previous 200 years. The policy lessons of this supply-side prosperity need to be constantly relearned, lest we return to the errors that produced the 1970s." via Blogs for Bush
I voted for the first time in 1980 and I voted for Jimmy Carter. It's a fact I'm not proud of, but we all have the indiscretions of our youth. Growing up in a political family I was quite tired of politics by the time I went to college. I wanted nothing to do with it. But ever since high school I had started questioning the welfare state. It had done such damage to the black community in my state. I had seen firsthand how truly awful it really was.
I remember when Reagan won, my father was disappointed, but I didn't really care one way or another. But over the next few years Reagan's positive messages and the renewal of pride in our country and our military sort of took me in. I started paying attention again to world events and to this charismatic caring President.
Over the 2 terms of Reagan my whole outlook changed. I started to realize that the good intentions of the Democrats really did pave the road to hell for the poor. In trying to give a helping hand, we had actually squashed any hope of coming out of poverty. Welfare, despite reforms, is still a generational cycle of poverty that cannot seem to be broken. I started to realize that the overburden of taxes wasn't just something we had to accept. That we could fight for change in the tax codes and stop the billions of dollars of fraud that overruns the beaucracy of our government. I realized that people deserved to keep more of the money they worked so hard for and that they could do a better job of using that money to help the poor than the government ever did. Which is why, I suppose, that more people gave more to charity during the Reagan years than ever before. But even Reagan couldn't fight the bloat that is government and it continues to be the growing blob that it is and both parties can be to blame for that.
Anyone who reads this blog knows it was also then that I became concerned about what abortion was doing to my generation of women. Reagan spoke out against abortion when it was an issue that even Republicans wished would go away. It would have been easy to stay quiet on such a controversial issue, but he didn't. That impressed me and made me look at this issue more closely. Which in many ways changed the course of my life. I started to focus on others instead of myself. I decided to be a mother instead of an actress. Everything that is good and wonderful in my life came from that decision. My family, my best friends, and my faith.
10 years after Reagan was sworn in, the Soviet Union was dissolved and Russia would begin applying for membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. No one dreamed that would happen except maybe Reagan. And that's why we loved him. He believed in what we desired, but thought impossible, and he made it happen.
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Open Thread.
I just beg those whose screen names begin with a "j" to please keep it to 2 paragraphs...;-)
Only Bin Laden..
could imagine "a truce" that included attacking the United States again.
Read the transcript of Bin Laden's tape at that link.
I thought these interesting excerpts:
"To go back to where I started, I say that the results of the poll satisfy sane people and that Bush's objection to them is false."
Like he would know anything about being sane.
In fact, Iraq has become a point of attraction and recruitment of qualified resources.
Now...where have we heard that before??
You can always count on...
Helen Thomas parroting the Kos talking points (or questions).
Michelle Malkin asks the question that I keep wondering:
Will Bush-deranged journalists, so-called, like Thomas ever acknowledge the existence of Saddam's terror training camps?
The Weekly Standard has more on that story. via Michelle.
Blogger power.
Uncovering media bias, taking down a partisan newsman, revealing false photographs, and showing the world what is really going on in Iraq are just a few examples of the blogger power.
Now, we on the right, have an opportunity to change the Republican party in the direction that WE want it to go.
Shadegg. Let's make it happen.
Update: Michelle has a roundup of blogger reaction to a conference call with Shadegg today.
Gitmo works?
Malkin has this:
Here's a very interesting story from Reuters: "Guantanamo prisoners tied to London bomb probe." Excerpt:
GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Reuters) - Prisoners at the Guantanamo base in Cuba provided important information in connection with last summer's London transit bombings that the United States shared with authorities in the United Kingdom, the general in charge of the prison said.
I thought those prisoners were just innocents unfairly accused and imprisoned.
Someone alert Kos.
Oh, and then there is this:
There is one worrisome detail at the end of the Reuters piece. Army Maj. Gen. Jay Hood noted "that the Guantanamo prisoners learned about the London bombings shortly after they occurred, probably from visiting lawyers who are challenging their detention in the U.S. courts.
Lovely.
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
60 Minutes With Murtha and Me
This is a MUST READ. Trust me on this. Greyhawk at Mudville on "60 minutes" with Murtha.
Sweet.
A hit.
As dave pointed out in the comments in the post below;
ABC News has learned that Pakistani officials now believe that al Qaeda's master bomb maker and chemical weapons expert was one of the men killed in last week's U.S. missile attack in eastern Pakistan.
I did read this earlier and I didn't post it because it seems we are doing these kinds of things almost daily. I read about raids and such from the milblogs and I know what a fantastic job our boys are doing. Maybe it is a good idea to post regularly on everything I hear and read about our soldiers winning this war on terror. Maybe some of my commenters ( and you know who you are) would appreciate their sacrifice a bit more.
Today's SCOTUS decision in....
Ayotte. Here's the money quote for me:
"States unquestionably have the right to require parental involvement when a minor considers terminating her pregnancy..."
Whew. That only took 33 yrs.
Meanwhile I guess we just say "we're sorry" to the walking wounded.
Backtracking on race. Should that be necessary?
First we have Mayor Nagin of New Orleans saying that New Orleans would be "chocolate" again and then backtracking and spinning that he really meant "a delicious drink" when you mix dark chocolate and white milk.
Then, speaking to a black audience, Hillary compared Congress to a plantation. One of the black men behind the podium where Hillary spoke, was on Hannity and Colmes last night. (I can't remember his name) He is a former black panther and a NYC council member. He wasn't too happy about the remark either. And finally you have Elaine Kamarck, an advisor on the Gore 2000 campaign, sort of making things worse by saying, "Plantations were terrible places where people were forced to do various jobs. But at least they were doing a job."
Aren't we getting a little ridiculous here? First of all, we should all stop using slavery and Hitler as the measure of all that we perceive to be evil. We are all guilty of it, Republican and Democrat. But it really is an insult to what people suffered during slavery and the Holocaust. Unless something is ACTUALLY about slavery (which does still continue in the world today) or about the wholesale killing of a people because of who they are, then we should not be using these analogies.
That being said, must we also watch everything we say? (such as Nagin's chocolate remark) Yes, I thought it a bit weird, but I wasn't offended as a non-chocolate person. It should be fine, in public discourse, to discuss issues of race, to be honest about the goals of our agenda. If it is important to Nagin to re-populate New Orleans with blacks, then he has a right to say that. Why can't we say what we mean? And if Hillary makes an inappropriate analogy, so what? Let's not be so sensitive to every little thing people say regarding race.
We will never be able to have a good open discussion about race if we feel we can't say certain things.
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Mudville.....
hears from someone who reminds us of bravery and courage. And he lets Teddy Roosevelt remind us why.
Mudville also has America's Son, (pictured here) a soldier from Iraq with this observation:
Today, I saw some fruits of our labors here. As I was on a patrol with the Iraqi army, I saw large groups of children walking to school. Backpacks, books, and smiles. It was a real joy. I saw an American soldier help a young girl fix her shoe which had broke sometime on her way to school; 550 cord and duct tape will fix absolutely anything! It was moving. I have said all along that among other things, this is a generational war we are fighting. These young children will one day lead this country. Every simple gesture, such as what I witnessed today, will be a memory tomorrow that will eventually lead to our long-term success in this country. It has without a doubt been a collective effort, but I gained a real sense of personal satisfaction by what I witnessed today, and I hope and pray that tomorrow will bring the same.
Alito vote delayed.
The Washington Post has this:
Democrats, anticipating that Alito ultimately will be confirmed, are trying to deny the White House that victory as long as possible, particularly in the days before the State of the Union address President Bush is to deliver Jan. 31. Although Senate rules do not enable them to defer the confirmation vote until after the speech, Democratic senators would like to reduce the victory period immediately before the speech, one of the broadest public stages the president commands each year.
As Jeff at Protein Wisdom points out:
Baldly partisan, revoltingly petty, personally unfair to Judge Alito and his family, and instituted—admittedly—for no other reason than to punish the GOP for its “victory” in nominating a qualified (and unanimously approved by the ABA ) SCOTUS replacement justice by shortening the period in which the story will receive extensive media play in advance of the State of the Union Address.
But hey, what do you expect? It's all about hurting Bush. That is their entire platform. Seriously.
Assisted Suicide Ruling.
WASHINSTON-The U.S. Supreme Court, with Chief Justice John Roberts dissenting, upheld Oregon's one-of-a-kind physician-assisted suicide law Tuesday, rejecting a Bush administration attempt to punish doctors who help terminally ill patients die. The 1997 Oregon law used to end the lives of more than 200 seriously ill people trumped federal authority to regulate doctors.
Sometimes I can't believe what I type. Doctors helping people to commit suicide. *shakes head in amazement*
Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia dissented. Scalia, writing the dissent, said that federal officials have the power to regulate the doling out of medicine.
"If the term 'legitimate medical purpose' has any meaning, it surely excludes the prescription of drugs to produce death," he wrote.
The media has falsely presented this as the Bush administration trying to overrule the Oregan law. Not true, as Wesley J. Smith pointed out here:
Not only did the Bush administration not ask the federal appeals court to
overturn the Oregon law, it has never asked any court anywhere to strike down
Oregon's law. Indeed, even if Ashcroft prevails in the case, doctors could still
assist patient suicides under state law. Moreover, if doctors prescribed drugs
to cause death not covered by the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), they would
face no federal administrative sanction. So if the case isn't the legality of
assisted suicide in Oregon, what is it about? No, not "states' rights" as the
media and assisted-suicide advocates claim, but something we don't often hear
much about — "federal rights" — specifically the ability of the United States
government to enforce a uniform and nationally consistent standard governing the
legitimate medical use of narcotics regulated under the CSA.
In scrolling through the statistics on the Oregon law I found this one the most interesting, Of the most frequently mentioned end-of-life concerns of the patients who used PAS during 2004, the number one reason was "a decreasing ability to participate in activities that made life enjoyable." (92%)
I would have thought it would be physical pain. But it wasn't. Should we say to people that feel they can no longer participate in activities they enjoy that that is enough? Go ahead and die. Heaven forbid we do something to make your life enjoyable. Easier to just throw some drugs at you for you to overdose on.
Lovely.
Even if this particular case wasn't about the specific legality of PAS, it still brings us to that painful subject. As I have said before, I volunteered at a nursing home many years ago and visited my grandma and great aunt in one as well. Sickness is not enjoyable, but I have to wonder that if people who are terminally ill really felt loved and cared for by those with them, would they want to leave them sooner rather than later?
Turn off the machines, make them as comfortable as possible and let nature take it's course. But most importantly....love them. Care for them. Let them feel that they mattered in this world. Don't push them out the door because they don't feel they matter anymore.
What does it say about us as a society if we keep making laws that rid us of "burdens?"
Rant Digest.
Read about Al Gore's rant yesterday (if your interested) here. And about Hillary's rant yesterday here.
To save you time I will give the reader's digest version:
Gore's rant-"The President is a criminal."
Hillary's rant- "The Democrats are the slaves of the Republicans." (gotta keep the black vote on board, ya know)
Monday, January 16, 2006
In the personal section.
I never watch TV in the evenings. Between sports practices, church activites, cooking supper, cleaning up supper, helping with homework and bedtime rituals, I couldn't watch TV if I wanted to. Usually during the day when I must do mindless chores such washing and folding, ironing clothes, or cleaning the kitchen, or cooking early, I watch TV. If I can't find anything interesting I usually watch comedy central.
But now I have discovered that Spike TV shows re-runs of the original CSI set in Las Vegas. I LOVE THIS SHOW. Love it. Love it. All the men are totally hot. But it could be the smart stuff that gets me all jingly jangly instead of the actual looks.
I do love the smarts.
I love the females too though. I love their reactions to the wierdness of people who commit crimes. Today they had a CSI marathon on Spike, so I fired up the washing machine and watched for hours. Got the whole week's laundry done too.
Nagin says God is mad at us.
Which, as NRO points out, sounds a bit like Pat Robertson. Do you think he will get as much grief about it from the media and the left?
yeah, me neither.
Oh, and Nagin says,"It's time for us to rebuild New Orleans _ the one that should be a chocolate New Orleans."
Chocolate? Chocolate???
My small tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
I will probably repost this every year on this day, but this was from Dr. Martin Luther King Day last year.
As you can see I have a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. under my blog name. I think I chose it because I feel that there should be something in every one's life that they feel passionate about. Something bigger than ourselves.
Before blogging I was an avid writer of letter to the editors of newspaper and magazines. I also had an occasional article. The following was published in the Fort Worth Star Telegram in January of 1994. I repeat it here in honor of Dr. King.
In 1971 I was in the fifth grade in Jackson, Mississippi. Busing had just begun in order to help integrate the schools and I was bused to a formerly all-black elementary school across town. My best friend was a little girl named Sondra. To say we were different would be an understatement. I was white; she was black. I was well off; she was poor. She had seen a lot of abuse in her short life; I had seen none. But I loved her with a fierceness that only 10 year girls know.
One day, another little black girl whom I didn't know stabbed me with a pencil in the hallway. I told Sondra, and she wasted no time finding that girl on the playground. The girl told Sondra that she didn't like me or my blond hair and that I must think I was really something. I remember Sondra saying, "No, no, she's not like that. She doesn't care if we're n*ggers." I grew up in a time when that word was used freely and often to describe blacks, but I remember being shocked that Sondra would describe herself that way. I've always had a lot of self confidence. But Sondra was the strongest person I knew. It made me feel bad that she used that word.
Like most little girls, Sondra and I talked on the phone for hours, but we were never allowed to play at each other's house. It just wasn't done. It is sad to think that my best friend in the fifth grade never "slept over," never played with my dolls, never played dress up with me. We accepted it though. It was just the way things were.
Sondra and I went to different schools after that year, and I didn't see her again until four years later, when my 9th grade basketball team played her team. We were sitting across the gym from each other before the game. I heard someone scream out my name. I looked up and screamed her name, and we ran across the gym and hugged and danced around as only 14 year old girls can do. I'll bet we were quite a sight in the middle of the gym floor. Sondra had grown about a foot, and here I was, this little bitty blonde thing being hugged to death by this tall, tough-looking black girl. I don't remember who won the game, but we grinned at each other the whole time. We got caught up on each other after the game, talking for an hour making our parents wait for us. But in 9th grade your world revolves around your school and friends. We exchanged numbers but we never talked again.
I often wonder what happened to Sondra. I wonder if she pulled herself out of poverty. What kind of life did she make for herself? But, most of all, I wonder if she has a little girl like mine, a little girl who would never think twice about asking another little girl of a different color over to her house to play with her dolls or play dress up.
If that isn't a little of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream come true, I don't know what is.
Sunday, January 15, 2006
An appeal from Center-Right Bloggers.
We are bloggers with boatloads of opinions, and none of us come close to agreeing with any other one of us all of the time. But we do agree on this: The new leadership in the House of Representatives needs to be thoroughly and transparently free of the taint of the Jack Abramoff scandals, and beyond that, of undue influence of K Street.
We are not naive about lobbying, and we know it can and has in fact advanced crucial issues and has often served to inform rather than simply influence Members.
But we are certain that the public is disgusted with excess and with privilege. We hope the Hastert-Dreier effort leads to sweeping reforms including the end of subsidized travel and other obvious influence operations. Just as importantly, we call for major changes to increase openness, transparency and accountability in Congressional operations and in the appropriations process.
As for the Republican leadership elections, we hope to see more candidates who will support these goals, and we therefore welcome the entry of Congressman John Shadegg to the race for Majority Leader. We hope every Congressman who is committed to ethical and transparent conduct supports a reform agenda and a reform candidate. And we hope all would-be members of the leadership make themselves available to new media to answer questions now and on a regular basis in the future.
Signed,
N.Z. Bear, The Truth Laid Bear Hugh Hewitt, HughHewitt.com Glenn Reynolds, Instapundit.com Kevin Aylward, Wizbang! La Shawn Barber, La Shawn Barber’s Corner
Lorie Byrd, Polipundit Jeff Goldstein, Protein Wisdom Stephen Green, Vodkapundit John Hawkins, Right Wing News John Hinderaker, Power Line Jon Henke / McQ / Dale Franks, QandO James Joyner, Outside The Beltway Mike Krempasky, Redstate.org Michelle Malkin, MichelleMalkin.com Ed Morrissey, Captain’s Quarters Scott Ott, Scrappleface John Donovan / Bill Tuttle, Castle Argghhh!!! Kathy, Rightwingsparkle
Bloggers who support this statement can sign on here at Truth Laid Bear.
Iran...unhinged.
They want to have a conference to question the evidence that the Nazis killed Jews during World War II.
It's like your drunken redneck uncle spouting politics at Thanksgiving. It's just annoying until he pulls out his revolver. via LGF
(pic via Captain's Quarters h/t dave)
The Bully.
I'm a lover, not a fighter. I also hate war. So why do I support war? I think a schoolyard analogy might help. It keeps it simple.
Clinton represents America (not to blame him, I don't, but he was President during my examples) At the end Bush represents America. The Bully represents the terrorists.
Clinton: *walking peacefully along the schoolyard*
Bully: *comes up and knocks Clinton down*(The 1993 WTC bombing)
Clinton: "Hey! leave me alone or I will hurt you." (The cruise missile strikes of 'Operation Infinite Reach.')
Bully: *slaps Clinton hard* (The 1996 Kohbar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia)
Bully: *knocks Clinton down with a hard punch that bloodies and breaks his nose. *(The 1998 U. S. Embassy bombings in East Africa.)
Clinton: *moaning*
Bully: *Kicking Clinton as he lay bleeding* (2000 Yemen attack on the U.S.S. Cole) '
Bully: *leaning over Clinton* "It aint over buddy, I'm going to come back and find you and then you are either going to be dead or wish you were dead."
*Later*
Bully: "Who the hell are you?"
Bush: "Who wants to know?"
Bully: * Beats the living crap out of Bush*(9-11)
The War: *Bush beating the crap out of the Bully*
One thing we know about bullies, if you don't fight back, they just keep beating you up.
Saturday, January 14, 2006
The storm that opened our eyes.
The intensive article in the Jan. 2nd edition of Newsweek about Katrina and New Orleans was a fascinating read. I'd read many articles on Katrina, but this one really gave the whole picture.
One thing is for sure. In the immediate aftermath just about everybody screwed up. From Mayor Nagin to Gov. Blanco, and without a doubt FEMA Director Mike Brown was the worst of the bunch. At one point Michael Chertoff, the secretary of Homeland Security shouted "What the hell is going on with the Convention Center?" After Brown had informed him that he had been told only 1500 people were at the Convention Center. Brown dropped the ball in so many ways he should be totally ashamed of himself. The communication breakdown that occurred is unacceptable.
The stories that have come out of the aftermath of Katrina will break your heart. The only thing that keeps my anger at bay about the whole thing is the way everyone in America stepped up to the plate afterward and gave and gave. I have never been prouder of my city, Houston, than after Katrina. The weekend I went to the Astrodome to help they had 1500 1st time volunteers in one day. It was astonishing.
I found it interesting how the article described how the African American community in New Orleans had for years been divided between Creoles, the light-skinned blacks who where skilled labors, and darker- skinned blacks who did the more menial work. Even though that seems to have changed to some degree, the article says these sharp divisions still exist, which may explain why the light- skinned wealthy Nagin was not very buddy buddy with Oliver Thomas, president of the New Orleans City council or the other council members who represented poor black wards like the lower Ninth. Communication between the two during the horror after Katrina was practically nil.
Which brings me to one of the the interesting parts of the article. In early October President Bush visited New Orleans to dine with Nagin's commission. Here is what Oliver Thomas had to say about him:
"I was ready not to like him because of what the Democrats said about him. But he likes people. He's not a mean dude. He's not a racist."
Then later after meeting Mrs. Bush as well:
"I got a sense that Laura and her husband really do care about us."
So here our President who Kanye West declared on national TV "didn't like black people" because of the Katrina disaster, and the man who represents the poorest black sections of New Orleans meets our President and comes away knowing that Kanye West doesn't know what he is talking about.
You can disagree with Bush's politics, his faith, and his policies, but you simply cannot say that he isn't a good person. (although I am sure some of you will)
The sad thing about New Orleans now is that it's "well deserved reputation for corruption" has prevented many things from moving forward. Not to mention political infighting. On the one hand, there are those who look at the situation from a practical point of view and say that places like the lower ninth ward should not be rebuilt. On the other hand, there are all those people who lived there. This was their home. What happens to what they had? To uproot a life and a family and give them no way to return is heart wrenching to say the least.
Looking back, I hope that our government, especially state and local government, learned valuable lessons regarding this kind of disaster. There is no doubt that the Federal government must be better prepared, but it is the local government that must respond first and know how to respond.
Friday, January 13, 2006
Democrats, Can you hear me now?
"Federal agents have launched an investigation into a surge in the purchase of large quantities of disposable cell phones by individuals from the Middle East and Pakistan, ABC News has learned."
"150 Phones in One Sale, 60 Phones in Another
The FBI is closely monitoring the potentially dangerous development, which came to light following recent large-quantity purchases in California and Texas, officials confirmed.
The Midland, Texas, police report dated December 18 and obtained by ABC News states: "Information obtained by MPD [Midland Police Department] dispatch personnel indicated that approximately six individuals of Middle-Eastern origin were attempting to purchase an unusually large quantity of tracfones (disposable cell phones with prepaid minutes attached)." At least one of the suspects was identified as being from Iraq and another from Pakistan, officials said."
"Police Report Identifies Terror Links
The Midland, Texas, arrest report police also identified the individuals as linked to a terror cell."Interesting that these purchases occurred just after the NYT's leaking the NSA spying story, isn't it? Nothing like giving our enemies the heads up.
Update: Wow. I didn't get this from Michelle, but we are certainly on the same page. She has a bunch of good links though.
Hanson spells out our options with Iran.
This just does not look good. There are dark clouds on the horizon, I fear. via NRO
Shaking up the House.
House Policy Chairman John Shadegg today announced that he will seek the post of House Majority Leader in the elections on February 2. via Redstate
Heck, I just think his name is too cool.
Update: Blunt...no.
