Did you hear about these specially trained soldiers parachuting into various areas around Baghdad?

" These airborne "soldiers" are actually "Teddy Troopers" or "Para-Bears," stuffed animals with makeshift parachutes jumping into the arms and hearts of children during Operation Teddy Drop."

Just another good news soldier story brought to you by one who loves our soldiers. via Assumption of Command

We cannot do this alone.

An article in The International Herald Tribune describes the Mulsim community's reaction to the bombings in London. But one Muslim said it all for me:

"We can only stop all this when we are able to find the people who brainwashed the kids," said Abu Mumin, a worshiper at the mosque, who would not disclose his last name for fear of reprisal."

Exactly. This is brainwashing. Pure and simple. And if the Muslim community can actively root out those doing the brainwashing in their religion's name, then maybe we can put a stop to these insane bombings. But we have to have their help.

Egypt suffers the latest bombing.

Why Not Here?

What is happening in London right now is what I expected to happen in New York or Washington D.C. after 9-11. I just kept waiting. It seemed like such an easy thing to do. But anyone who has read this blog knows why I now think it never happened.

Bush kept us safe. And that is a fact.

I haven't commented on the Natalee Holloway for many reasons. For one, I have a teenage daughter close to Natalee's age and it hits a bit close to home. As unfair as it seems I don't worry quite as much about my 18 yr old son. (though he would disagree as you will soon see)

First of all everytime I see Natalee's mom on TV I just want to cry. What anguish she must be going through. She seems very strong and I admire her for that. I am not sure I could maintain my self as she has. I pray every day she will get the closure she needs.

I do not mean the following to be a judgement on her in any way. She is like so many parents who just wish their children to be happy and have fun while they are young. I understand that. Perhaps I am paranoid. But with the world as it is today, I would no more let my 18 yr old go off to a tropical island with a bunch of friends than I would let him drive off a cliff.

For years I have had to say no to numerous trips to Mexico or Florida that my kids have been asked to go on. It is clear that these trips are drunken fun fests for most kids. I was watching the reality show "Laguna Beach" with my daugher. It follows a bunch of Juniors and Seniors through their last years of high school. They go to Cabo San Lucas for Spring Break and the thing that happens at all these things happened, drunkeness and stupidity.

I realize that my children will be able to go off to wherever they wish when they are in college (but not on my dime) but as long as I have the ability to protect them, I will. I also hope they will be a bit more mature when they do finally go on their own.

When did we get to the point where by the age of 18 our kids have gone in limos everywhere, spent hundreds on dances, and traveled to exotic islands?? This isn't rich kids either, these are middle class kids whose parents sacrifice so they can do the things the other kids are doing. What will these kids expect for college graduation or for a wedding???? This year I made my daughter pay for the hairdos, the nails, and the tanning for all the dances herself. (She worked at afterschool care) Not one of her friends had to do this.

Right now I am dealing with buying my daughter a car. Her friends all have these new sports cars. (Again, not rich kids either) We can afford a new sports car for her, but who in their right mind buys a new expensive car for a 16 yr old that will end up getting it banged up within the year? And what will she ever have to look forward to?

A story about my son. On prom night they have an all night "party' at the high school. It is free and they have all kinds of things set up from poker/gambling (not real money) to games, to lazer tag ect. They lock the doors after the prom and open them at 6 am. No drinking of course. Great idea and most take advantage of it. But the "cool kids" all go to Galveston Island. It is a given. Some idiot parent rents some condos and they all go and get drunk. Well, my son went to the high school overnight thing. He called me Sunday morning around 8:30am saying he was going to sleep for a bit at his friend's house. I called back to his friend's house since my son had called on his cell, to make sure that is where he actually was. He was.

Long story short. They went to Galveston that day. He text messaged me (too scared to call and wouldn't answer either when I called) He said he was fine and that there was a parent at the condos and he would let me know how he was every day. He stayed until Tues. He texted me on Monday saying "hi! I'm safe! Don't worry!" I texted him back and said "you are sooo not safe." From me anyway.

Anyway, when he got back he got his computer taken away for awhile. (a fate worse than death to him) He told me, "you don't seem that mad. You knew I would be careful and not stupid. Why didn't you just let me go?" I told him, "My job is to make the best decisions for you. You will have more than enough opportunities to make mistakes on your own watch."

There is a nice twist here. When he got back I said, "you realize you missed Church on Sunday?" He said, "No I didn't. After I called you Sunday morning and before we left I went to 9:00 mass."

I was truly impressed. This kid had just been to prom, stayed up all night at the after party at the school and still felt he should go to church that morning when I know he must have been worn out.

After that, I wasn't so mad. He got his computer back.

Now here is an idea that could get the entire population of men in the United States in shape. But enforcing it with computers instead of theatres might make it a bit more difficult.

Now where was this guy when I graduated from college??? My whole college paid for??? All those cold showers would have been worth it for sure!!!

I suppose there are many ways to motivate one's sales force. You can have contests with the winner getting a mini vacation. You can give promotions or a bonus......OR you can pretend your Osama Bin Laden and your sales force are terrorists!!! Too Cute!!! Not.

Talk about news of the weird:

MONTREAL (Reuters) - Four sketches by Adolf Hitler and two Christmas cards signed by the Nazi dictator were sold to a single buyer for an undisclosed sum, an auctioneer said on Wednesday, at an auction in Canada that drew protests.

THIS is a Christmas card??? Wow. A festive guy that Hitler. I know when I think of Christmas I always think of brown doors.

Another side of the story in Iraq.

A Soldier's Blog tells us about his birthday. but it wasn't him getting presents. Here is are some excerpts:

"We really don't own anything in this life. Did these acts of kindness representing America really penetrate their souls like it has mine? I am unsure, and can only hope that God works ceasingly in their hearts like He does in mine.
So, I continued my spirit filled morning as we loaded up our hummer with shoes, candy, clothes, beanie babies, and school supplies. My guys were thrilled to get off the fob and help out Iraqis."


"I write a lot about seeing people smile here. Well, its a univeral language in itself, and I can relate to smiling children when they run off with a new pair of shoes, or with an old man who stood patiently till I found a cold weather coat for him. His very tan, wrinkled old face lit up like a Christmas tree when he saw what I was handing him. I will never look and feel the same as I see others smiling. We are simply all entitled to be happy and have the liberties to make life to make life the best it can be for our families. They are no different than a smiling college college student making his or her first new friend, a proud set of parents during a birth, or someone who just got promoted at their job. Other than my genes and faith choice, I am no different than them."

"Once all of the supplies were given out, we headed back to the fob. My boys talked about how much fun they had and that they can't wait to do it again. The enemy still is cowardly and does not show his/her face. IEDs, and car bombs are still the big threat here, so getting out on the roads provides a risk. Even with that risk, my guys still want to help out Iraqis. My platoon's function is maintenance, and most of the time we are working on keeping our fleet running. So, if my guys thought the risk was not worth the reward, they could probably never leave the fob till they get home. My guys think beyond their safety and want to make a difference in building this country. bbb No, despite the news reports, we are not REbuilding here. We are basically building from the ground up. In my region of Iraq, Saddam killed over 5,000 Kurds in two weeks. This was years ago and the scars still run deep. We have a local national who works on and off our fob that I can share about. Saddam's henchmen shot his brothers, his dad, and cut off his tongue. He motions a lot and makes sounds trying to communicate. He is a great guy and an extremely hard worker. He will show the world that he is worth something, just like each Iraqi. Is it worth it for the US to be here in Iraq helping these living breathing people? Yes, it most definitely is.

These are the things we never hear about much. The caring these soldiers give, even at risk for their own lives. What people don't think about is that these Iraqi children will one day be Iraqi adults and they will remember who built their school. They will remember who made the water run again. They will remember the soldiers who cared.

And they will remember who gave them presents and it wasn't even anyone's birthday that they knew of.....

Muslim Messages continued.

Michelle Malkin has all the news on today's bombing in London.

A weird little tidbit here. When I was looking through the Muslim message board last night that I describe in the post below there was a comment about ABC news reporting that there was intelligence reports coming in that there would be a terrorist attack in the next 48 hours and for Muslims to get out of Boston, NY, and the commercial coastline. She had a ABC newslink, but when I clicked on it the ABC News site said there was no such page. So I just thought the woman was just trying to stir things up. If she had said London, I might be freaked out right now.

I just went to the message board again after this attack in London. They seem to think this is contrived.

"ooh...now isnt this a convenient excuse to step up stop and search on all muslim looking people.... maybe even banning rucksacks on the tube ..."

" You believe what the bbc and sky news tell you? Wake up people, smell the coffee You SHOULD know who it is."


"m15 *cough cough* al CIAda"


"just more scaremongering by the government me thinks"


Now, almost everyone on the board was grateful that no one was hurt and didn't show any support for the guy they caught.

Muslim Messages.

I decided to surf around for some Muslim message boards in english. I found an interesting one. Reading through the threads there seem to be some argument about being a true Muslim or giving into the moderate wing. A lot of people answered questions only with quotes from the Koran.

I randomly selected a few that bothered me a bit. The questions were mainly about which clerics were attending a Muslim conference in the UK. They seem to argue against the more moderate ones. I was about to link this message board and suddenly I got a bit nervous. I know that sounds crazy, but I started thinking that I didn't want those on the board to know I linked them or quoted them. It was strange for me because it was the first time I felt a trickle of fear about being known. Most on this board seemed to be from the UK. They sarcastically refer to people thinking everyone who is Muslim is a terrorist, but I have never seen that attitude anywhere. It seemed to me they would rather uses verses than actually "say" what they wanted to. I guess for obvious reasons. Anyway, here they are: The first one is an answer to a Muslim who lives in America and asks what will happen if he dies when being attacked by Muslims. The answer may give us some insight into why the terrorists in Iraq don't seem to care whether they kill their own people in the attacks.


"No worries Raf, if you become collateral damage in a just war carried out in the name of Islam against the west, isn't your assention to Jannah guaranteed? Now, if we could figure a way to claim terrorism as a just Jihad, we are in business."

"So who is really better off, us or the martyrs of Iraq?"

"The martyrs of course. They've made it to where we are all trying to get to."

"here's a little quote that you might find, answers your query, perfectly.
Quote:
... even if some of our brothers die in our actions, it is no matter. If ten Muslims die in a plane that we shoot down that is filled with hundreds of Christians, Hindus and Jews, rejoice, for the brothers are martyrs and will thank us in paradise.Haj Amin al- Husseini"

"Salam Chapter 7:182. Those who reject Our Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.), We shall gradually seize them with punishment in ways they perceive not 183. And I respite them; certainly My Plan is strong."

"Lo! Conspiracy is only of the devil, that he may vex those who believe; but he can harm them not at all unless by Allah's leave. In Allah let believers put their trust. (58:10)
Say: Nothing will afflict us save what Allah has ordained for us; He is our Patron; and on Allah let the believers rely. (9:51)
So let them plot!"

"Surah 9 [9.52] Say: Do you await for us but one of two most excellent things? And we await for you that Allah will afflict you with punishment from Himself or by our hands. So wait; we too will wait with you. It is only a matter of time... "


"However, Jihād is one of the greatest docrtines of Islām and its prescription is one of the pinnacles of Islāmic theology."

"O Muslimeen - stop falling in love with the lusts and desires of this World. Sacrifice all you have for your Lord Allāh, the Glorious and the Exalted, and fight against all other forces which dare to oppose the Revealed Law of Allāh the One, the Only. Do you forget the legacy of Bādr?"


"It is he (Allah) who has sent his Messenger (saw) with guidance and the religion of truth, in order for it to be dominant over all other religions, even though the Mushrikoon (disbelievers) hate it." (EMQ at-Tawbah, 9: 33)


"Chimp Bush said, 'you are either with us (the nonmuslims, US allies) or you are with the terrorists (Muslims). and Sheikh Usama bin Laden also said, "The whole world is divided into two camps, the camp of Imaan and the camp of kufr."


Interesting how this Muslim from the UK uses the derogatory name for Bush that the left uses here.

From reading the more conversational posts you can tell these are not terrorists or supporters, (except for a couple I quoted above) but it did give me a bit of insight in the rigid belief that keeps them from speaking out against the terrorists.

UPDATE: See post above for the next day when the London bombings occurred.

This is why Ann Coulter is wrong on John Roberts.

IOWAHAWK has the funniest take on the John Roberts nomination. Really. Hilarious. via SondraK

Slate Magazine has this at the top of it's page:

"What's Wrong With John Roberts?"- "Emily Bazelon's most troubling case"

What is this "troubling" case? Here is what Slate says:

"But an opinion that the 50-year-old judge joined just last week in the case Hamdan v. Rumsfeld should be seriously troubling to anyone who values civil liberties. As a member of a three-judge panel on the D.C. federal court of appeals, Roberts signed on to a blank-check grant of power to the Bush administration to try suspected terrorists without basic due-process protections.

According to the government, Salim Ahmed Hamdan is the former driver and bodyguard of Osama Bin Laden. He was captured by an Afghan militia in November 2001, during the U.S. invasion, and shipped off to Guantanamo Bay. In July 2003, the Bush administration brought charges against Hamdan, as it has done against only three others among the hundreds of suspected terrorists being held at Guantanamo. Hamdan was accused of conspiring to commit attacks on civilians, murder, and terrorism, and the Bush administration moved to try him before a special military tribunal." (emphasis mine)

Yes. yes. We all know the rights that are not given to suspected terrorists under these conditions that are given to criminals under the Geneva Conventions. The left uses the usual argument that this could happen to anyone! Yet even with the hundreds of suspected terrorists only three have had these kinds of charges brought against them. I'd say there must be serious evidence against them.

This guy was Osama's driver and bodyguard. I'm thinking he did conspire to commit attacks on civilians.

This is a freakin terrorist! In all probability he conspired with Osama to ram our planes into our buildings. Do we remember the people who were forced to jump from the twin towers instead of burn? Do we remember the heart wrenching cell phone calls from 2 of the doomed planes???? Do we remember the anguished faces of those looking for their loved ones the day after the attacks in New York? Does Slate remember ANY OF THIS?????

And THIS is John Roberts most troubling case????? THIS is what is wrong with John Roberts??? THIS is what bothers them??????????

It boggles the mind.

I became familiar with the Feminists for Life organization years ago. Fredricka Matthews-Green (who I believe started the organization) had written an article I read that described how many times women were coerced into abortion by boyfriends, husbands, parents, and even bosses.

It was so well written and true that I copied it and gave it to anyone I could at the time. It was about the reality of "choice." About how so many times it really is no choice at all. Anyway, I bring this up because I just discovered that Judge John Roberts wife is ex-Executive Vice President of Feminists for Life. I haven't heard anything about this from the left yet. I find that curious since we all know that for them this is all about abortion. Perhaps they are afraid of the "feminist" message in this organization...or they haven't discovered it yet.

If wish to read some heartwrenching tesitimonals from women who felt exploited from abortion. Go here. Bring a tissue, it aint easy reading.

Ok, this looks painful and stupid.

June 17, 2005�"Now, here's a cause some folks can really get behind: On Saturday hundreds of bicyclists in Madrid (pictured) and London staged a nude protest against oil dependency and the overuse of cars.
Pedaling in the World Naked Bike Ride 2005, dozens of Madrid cyclists streaked down main avenues." via national geographic

You know that old lady that drives in front of you at 20 miles per hour in a 45 mile per hour speed zone that makes you want to scream and bang your head against the steering wheel?

She might actually be a 20 yr old hottie.

JEEPERS!!!

"Grizzly Bear-Size Catfish Caught in Thailand! Nearly nine feet long (2.7 meters) and as big as a grizzly bear, a huge catfish caught in northern Thailand may be the largest freshwater fish ever recorded." via National Geographic

Judge John Roberts Nominated.

One thing I love about Bush is that he doesn't allow himself to be pressured into doing anything "politically correct" or even expected. Everyone thought the nominee would be a woman and/or a Hispanic. Even Republicans thought a woman or Hispanic would be hard for Democrats to skewer. But Bush did what he wanted and nominated who he thought was the best. That is one of the reasons I love this President.

Schumer is already upset that there is little abortion background decisions from Judge Roberts or when he argued before the Supreme Court. (see biography here that mentions one argument he made)

Like I have said before, nothing is more important to these Democratic leaders than protecting abortion, and frankly, that is just sad.

It will be interesting to see what the left digs up.

The speculation is that the Supreme court nominee will be Judge Edith Clement of the U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans. Known as a conservative and a strict constructionist, but has stated that the Supreme Court "has clearly held that the right to privacy guaranteed by the Constitution includes the right to have an abortion" and that "the law is settled in that regard."

I am sure there will be an uproar in the Christian community over that. But look at the sentence carefully. Yes, the Supreme Court has held the right of privacy includes the right to abortion and the law is settled. (for now) She is simply stating a fact.

I am not saying she is pro-life or pro-choice. I have no idea. I just feel it will be counter productive for the right to go after her for that sentence. Let's face it. If she had ever said anything that even came close to saying she is leaning pro-life, the left would skewer her. Everyone knows it. Look what they did to Clarence Thomas???? The atmosphere is even worse now. If you read the link you will see that even that statement of Judge Clement is not enough for NARAL.

If and when Roe v. Wade is overturned (and I don't see that happening no matter who Bush appoints) all that will do, as most of you know, is leave it up to the states to legalize or regulate abortions. To me that means more of a real debate. Which is something the people never got to decide. 9 men did.

After 35 yrs of legal abortion, the debate rages on. Isn't it ridiculous that of all the laws the Supreme Court decides, this is the one that basically determines a Supreme Court judge. Perhaps if it were in the hands of the people we could get back to other matters in deciding who is a judge.

UPDATE: All the news organizations are saying it isn't going to be her. We shall see.