Where is Gloria Steinem...

When you need her?

via Ace

Sometimes you have to wonder if this stuff isn't just made up.

Mosnews has this:

A man charged with the attempted murder of the U.S. President George Bush in Georgia (Russia) has sewed up his mouth in what he says is a protest at a violation of his rights.

via The Jawa Report

The Bottom line on the wiretapping story.

From President Bush:

I want to make clear to the people listening that this program is limited in nature to those that are known al Qaeda ties and/or affiliates. That’s important. So it’s a program that’s limited, and you brought up something that I want to stress, and that is, is that these calls are not intercepted within the country. They are from outside the country to in the country, or vice versa. So in other words, this is not a—if you’re calling from Houston to L.A., that call is not monitored. And if there was ever any need to monitor, there would be a process to do that.

A reminder about the current state of the law, from the 2002 FISA Court of Review ruling:

The Truong court, as did all the other courts to have decided the issue, held that the President did have inherent authority to conduct warrantless searches to obtain foreign intelligence information. It was incumbent upon the court, therefore, to determine the boundaries of that constitutional authority in the case before it. We take for granted that the President does have that authority and, assuming that is so, FISA could not encroach on the President’s constitutional power. The question before us is the reverse, does FISA amplify the President’s power by providing a mechanism that at least approaches a classic warrant and which therefore supports the government’s contention that FISA searches are constitutionally reasonable.

via Protein Wisdom (who has tons of more detailed posts on this if you are so inclined)

The Good News.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- When troops from the Georgia National Guard raided a Baghdad home in early December, they had no idea that their mission in Iraq would take a different turn.

Read the whole thing.

via Michael Yon

Ridiculous misconceptions.

If you want to get a peek inside the mind of an everyday liberal look no further than the Buzzflash mailbag. The actual site is pretty looney too, but here are a few gems from the mailbag:

The fact remains that only a small minority of people in this country hold right-wing views. I'll take my true liberal positions and match them up against another person's true conservative positions and my views would be more popular in Wyoming, Utah, Nebraska, or any Southern State than the true right-wing positions. (And, no, I don't want to hear about how one can't find liberals in small towns. The liberals there only remain silent because they fear violence. If you all speak out, you will put the cons back in their place.) Big Dave From Queens

A small minority? Right. And yes, if I hear a liberal speak out around here I will kick their a**. That's right. Right in front of my four kids and parish Priest. Break some bones, draw some blood. You betcha.

Seriously. This person BELIEVES this. Good grief! Does he even know anyone who is conservative???? Read on.


Apparently Cindy Sheehan visited Oklahoma City for an anti-war appearance recently. My friend reports that goons were all over the place taking pictures of everybody who came to hear Cindy and other war protesters. No doubt license plates were taken, too. In the small community where he is living, which will remain anonymous for his safety (and I'm not kidding), the locals are adamantly pro-war and pro-Bush. Most think anybody who dares to speak out against the administration, the president or the war should not be allowed to. I've heard comments on local talk radio to the same effect: freedom of speech and expression should apply only to those who support Bush and everything he does.
These people, at least, don't have to worry about being spied on at a local library. You'll never find one of these simpletons reading a book, unless Sean Hannity or Bill O'Reilly have someone read it to them. Scott Fayetteville, AR

Right. Cindy Sheehan is SUCH a threat that the CIA is all over her. You did catch the "for his safety" part? What paranoia are these people living with?
Even on sites that are much more conservative than I am, I have never heard one suggest that liberals shouldn't have a voice. And just because we differ on political opinions we are not intelligent? We don't read? Geeze.

Regarding the wiretap program:

"Trent Duffy, a spokesman for the White House, said: "This is a limited program. This is not about monitoring phone calls designed to arrange Little League practice or what to bring to a potluck dinner. These are designed to monitor calls from very bad people to very bad people who have a history of blowing up commuter trains, weddings and churches."


I was appalled to learn from Bush that there are people running around this country who have a history of blowing up trains, weddings and churches.
Gosh, every American must have bombed at least one train or church or wedding by now, since Bush is illegally and un-Constitutionally using the NSA to spy on all of us.
In order to keep myself out of harm's way in these troubled times, I hereby vow not to get married in a church while a derailed train comes crashing through it. Thanks for the heads-up, Mr. President! Jon Krampner Los Angeles, California

This one is particularly sad and disturbing. Does this guy not remember the recent wedding in Jordan where a celebration was turned into a bloodbath??? The carnage of the blown up train in Madrid??? Perhaps the reasons he feels so safe here, safe enough to be sarcastic about such a serious threat, is that Bush and our military have made us safe since 9-11. And did it ever occur to him that one of the ways we have been safe IS BY WIRETAPPING!!!! So we know what the bad guys are planning???

I have many liberals who comment here. Please tell me that these people do not represent you in any way. Please.

Iraqi elections.

This is why I love the blogopsphere. Where else can I get this kind of information direct from an Iraqi on the day he writes it? (link fixed)

Another losing issue for the Democrats.

WND has this:

According to Scott Rasmussen of Rasmussen Reports, 64 percent of respondents said the super-secret NSA should be allowed to intercept telephone conversations between terrorism suspects in other countries and people living in the United States. Just 23 percent disagreed, the survey found.

The liberals can't win for losing. You will see they have their teeth sunk into this and they are not going to let go and it's a losing issue. It also makes it seem as if they don't care about national security.

The article also says:

...defense lawyers in terrorism cases around the country say they are preparing letters and legal briefs to challenge the NSA program on behalf of their clients..

Isn't that special? The NYT's, who broke the story, is now responsible for terrorists suspects to do some legal wrangling and waste more of our tax dollars.

To liberals it seems nothing is more important than to make Bush look bad. To hell with the consequences.

Maybe some things are sacred?

I was just hammering on Comedy Central, but it seems it yanked a South Park episode about a Mary statue and the Pope called "Bloody Mary."

I can't bring myself to describe it. Read about it here.

I've never watched Southpark, but from what I've heard nothing, and I mean nothing, is sacred. So I wonder why they backed off here?

Interesting.

UPDATE: One of my commenters said he saw the episode last week on Comedy Central so boing boing was incorrect that it didn't run.

It was too much to hope for.

UPDATE2: Looking into it a bit more it seems that Comedy Central was running a mini-marathon and THAT is where they declined to re-air it.

Virgin Mobile or MAD TV?

I'm flipping through channels and there is some kind of holiday themed commercial for a cell phone. What caught my attention is when two guys using the phone said, "Let's ask a Jew!!" I was like.. what???? And then it shows 2 men dressed as orthodox Jews on the cell phone and next it shows a guy dressed up as an elf answering a phone with a sign in front of him that says "gay elf" and he says "call me if your curious."

At this point I'm thinking it must be MAD TV or something, but nope, the Virgin Mobil label came across the TV at the end.

What the heck????? Anyone else seen this?

I found this while looking for the ad on the internet. Seems Virgin Mobile is kind of known for this stuff. Who knew?

Brokeback Mountain 2?

CONTENT WARNING! Awful, but funny.

via V the K

Bush Didn't Lie???

I'm shocked! But only that that the MSM is admitting it.

via Ace.

Preachy Hollywood.

What is it with all these politically motivated movies lately?

There is Steven Spielberg's "Munich" which seems to have ticked off Israelis and Palestinians.

Then there is George Clooney's "Goodnight and Good Luck," about CBS reporter Edward R. Murrow's confrontation with anti-Communist witch-hunter Sen. Joseph McCarthy (I read that Clooney forgot to mention the cold war), and "Syriana" a look at corruption in the Middle East oil trade. (Hint. Americans don't look good)

Then there is the "epic love story" of "Brokeback Mountain"

Hollywood seems determined to create their liberal version of events, political intrigue, and social change. Which they are free to do, of course. But I don't think it's going to well for them.

Clooney talks of "critical acclaim" but why wouldn't liberals praise a liberal movie? Why should there be pride in that? Clooney seems to me to be especially angry with the right and determined to spread his political worldview. He says he carries around a worn copy of the U.S. Constitution. (I had to role my eyes at that one)

I have no idea how good these movies are. I don't plan on seeing any of them because I try to make sure my money doesn't end up in the hands of some Democrat candidate.

But it makes me realize how important the internet and cable news is right now, to try and look at all sides of things instead just Hollywood's version of it. In reading about "Munich" I discovered all kinds of viewpoints on message boards and blogs.

I don't need George Clooney's propaganda and it's nice to know we have forces to fight it. Not too long ago the best we could have hoped for is a letter to the Editor of our local newspaper. Now we have the world opened up to us to complain, to editoralize, to counter, to read!

So, watch the movies if you wish, but read opposing viewpoints as well. Who knows? We all just might learn something.

Live Blogging.

When Charmain Yoest of Reasoned Audacity asked me to live blog "Justice Sunday II" in Philadephia on Jan. 8th, I was thrilled. But my happiness knows no bounds now that I know that Planned Parenthood is protesting it. If they are against something then I KNOW I am doing the right thing. If there is a more despicable organization that has been mainstreamed, I am not aware of it. You can read their warning e-mail here.

Blogger's Row for Justice Sunday 3 includes Captain Ed of Captain's Quarters, La Shawn Barber, Stacy Harp of Mind and Media and ME! Stay tuned for my posts leading up to it. And don't miss the liveblogging that day!

Just Don't Get Involved.

Helping a kid get out of the porn industry? The media should just say no.

The Courage of The Kurds.

When reading about Iraq I ty to find sources that aren't political in nature. I feel they perhaps will give me more a sense of what is really happening over there. It is the reason I love the milblogs. Most soldiers are not political, at least not in describing their own experience. I have found their blogs to be a window into the world of the war.

I found two gems (articles) in this month's National Geographic. One is an article dealing with the Kurds and their independence and what they have suffered. The life of torture and death that they lived with daily under Saddam is hard to imagine here. The reporter found not one family that had not been affected by Saddam's brutality.

When reading the article, any American has to feel proud to have been a part of bringing this monster down. Lefties say there are many monsters. Why this one? Just as in the story you probably heard about the little boy on the beach throwing a starfish back into the ocean as thousands lay on the beach and the Dad says, "There are so many, throwing one back just doesn't matter." The little boys says as he is throwing one back in,"It matters to this one."

God knows, it mattered to the Kurds. As the reporter points out:

"I met not a single family there that had not fled its home at some point in the past 20 years, not a single farmer who had not seem his village shelled by bombs or artillery, not a single person without a tale of chemical weapon attacks, torture, or execution under Saddam Hussein."

Even if you believe that this war was for the oil, you have to be glad this genocide has ended and the person responsible for it has been brought down.

The sad thing is that most Kurds are the exact kind of people we would like see lead Iraq and the middle east into a democracy, but they have long considered themselves independent from Iraq. They have held elections and formed a legislature and chosen a President. They are not thrilled with being a part of Iraq in any form. One can certainly understand why. But they seem to be a forward thinking people at a time where that kind of thinking is much needed.

In the 2nd article, "Genocide", we are introduced to anthropologists of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, who are exhuming remains from the mass graves of the Kurds. As the lead anthropologist, Paul Rubenstein tells us:

"As you work with the victims, especially the children, their clothing, the baby bottles, the little shoes, just like the ones we bought for our daughters years ago, the little hands, so expressive in death-you have to try not to get into the heads of the monsters who did this, or it becomes overwhelming. You look at a perfectly knitted baby bonnet with two bullets holes in it, and you think, These could be your own kids."

The reporter interviews Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel who says there is some reason to believe that the work being done with Iraq's mass graves victims could help ensure that the 21st century is less violent than the one before it:

"The moment you give a face and a name, not just to the victim but to the killer, people respond with greater comprehension. It somehow puts limits on the phenomenon, which otherwise is incomprehensible because of the numbers and the magnitude."

What I believe Bush understood about Saddam was that Saddam was this kind of madman dictator in a region that was the hotbed of terrorist activities. Could we allow him to ignore U.N. resolutions to prove that he was the not the danger we suspected? Could we ignore someone capable of mass murder to possibly supply terrorists? No and no.

Argue the reasons for the war. Argue about the motivations. You still have a brutal killer off the world stage and a democracy struggling to grow where one once thought impossible.

And that, my friends, is something for America to be proud of.

Shame on Comedy Central.

Did anyone catch Dennis Leary's comedy central special on Christmas called "Merry F&*%'in Christmas?" I thought I couldn't be shocked anymore. In the first five minutes he was a total Christian bigot and made jokes about Christ and Mother Mary that were so offensive I wanted to scream.

Who enjoys this crap? Shame on him and on Comedy Central. I know that they "push the envelope" and all that. But this was beyond that. It was like listening to rednecks tell N*gger jokes. Awful. Sickening.

Cool Site.

The Lone Star Times turned me on to this site, Regret The Error. It documents newspaper corrections from all over. Like this one:

Another media death
The Philadelphia Inquirer:
"It was incorectly reported in yesterday's editions that Liberty Bowl founder Bud Dudley had died. He is still alive." Link.

Wonder if they will have to correct that they spelled incorrectly wrong? Heh.

This newspaper had to retract a story about Santa. Santa was forced to put them on his naughty list.

Oh, this is just great...

News you can use...with boobs.

Isn't the lipglossed beauties at Fox News enough for you guys???

Did You Miss Me??????

Stress + Fun = Holidays.

I won't bore you with all my personal stuff, but I did get to New York City before Christmas and got to do that dorky wave outside the Fox News Fox and Friends morning show. Then Steve Doocey and Brian Kilmeade came outside to do a segment. E.D. wasn't there...;-( But I got to meet the guys! I told Brian about my blog and he asked for a card. I should get those made up just for fun. Anyway, I love NYC at Christmas!

One of my commenters also took us to dinner while we were there. He mostly comments at Ace's site though and is one of those smart wall street guys. We had a lovely dinner and gossiped about all the bloggers we frequent.

Here are a few photos of my daughter and I in NYC.