Does the truth hurt? Fire him!!

Score yet another blow for diversity of thought, even thought based on sound evidence. Harvard President Larry Summers is facing a vote of no confidence and a "...milder rebuke for his management style and comments about women in science(emphasis added)."

So much for the free market of ideas. Perhaps rather than the word "Veritas" ("Truth") inscribed on the Harvard seal, the faculty should entertain the motto, "PC Uber Alles!". Truth be damned. Forget if what Dr. Summers stated in his speech on January 14, 2005 was truth. For Truth, my dear readers, has no place in the marketplace of ideas.. especially when that marketplace is dominated by liberal dogma and ideology.

Take that, Hezbollah...

Huge Demonstration in Lebanon Demands End to Syrian Control

By NEIL MacFARQUHAR

Published: March 15, 2005

EIRUT, Lebanon, March 14 - Lebanon's anti-Syria opposition regained the momentum on Monday as hundreds of thousands of Lebanese jammed Beirut's central square to demand the end to Syrian control of their country.

Seemingly every available space around the heart of the city overflowed with people waving the red-and-white striped Lebanese flag, in a showing that easily rivaled a pro-Syria rally last Tuesday organized by the radical Shiite party Hezbollah.

The Bush Doctrine is delivering as promised. As was seen in the old Soviet Union, one cannot dole out partial freedom to oppressed peoples and see them satisfied. When one has known oppression, a taste of freedom creates an unquenchable thirst for total freedom and self-determination. The greatest danger to freedom, friends, is visited on those who have never known oppression. Like a frog slowly boiling in water, one who has never known oppression is complacent and unaware of freedoms being chipped away, until it is too late. For our own sake, and even more so for the sake of our progeny, we'd better start feeling the heat.

The Secular Taliban... and the boy scouts

Isn't it easy to sleep well at night, knowing that the Secular Taliban, under the auspices of the ACLU, is protecting us from subversive hate groups, while protecting the rights for pornographers to peddle their wares to our kids? I have been privvy to this now for a number of years, as our Cub Scout Pack in St. Cloud was disavowed by our local PTC and all connections severed with our Pack and our kids' school (supported in part by my property taxes), and forced to find another sponsoring organization, supposedly so as to avoid lawsuits from the ACLU.

According to this World Net Daily article:

In a letter sent to the BSA last month, the ACLU vowed to take legal action against public schools and other taxpayer-funded governmental agencies that charter Scout groups, claiming their sponsorship amounts to religious discrimination and violates the separation of church and state.

But, the same ACLU...

ACLU Slaps Law Suit on Lincoln High
ACLU Defends Honor Student Witch's Right to Wear a Pentacle
-UPI News Wire

LINCOLN PARK, Mich., Feb. 9, 1999 (UPI) The American Civil Liberties Union is representing a 17-year-old witch in a lawsuit against a Michigan school district for allegedly trampling her right to worship and free speech.

Crystal Seifferly filed the suit challenging the Lincoln Park School District's 4-month-old rule against certain student uses of the pentacle, a five-pointed star that's a symbol of her Wicca faith and common in jewelry. Seifferly claims she's been a witch since age 13, and that the school district rules discriminate against her by lumping Wicca together with the Ku Klux Klan and hate groups.

At an ACLU-sponsored news conference today with her mother, Seifferly said she "will not be forced into shame" by opponents of her religion. Seifferly's mother says she and her husband are Christian but support their daughter's lawsuit as well as her freedom to choose a religion.

In October, school officials announced a policy change that prohibited students from wearing pentacles. Crystal Seifferly, 17, is an honor student at Lincoln Park High School and a witch - a member of the Wicca religion.

and...rises to the defense of those who wish to wear clothing promoting gang activity:

Code Violates Constitutional Rights of Visitors, ACLU Says

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

LITTLE ROCK, AR -- Responding to a challenge from the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas, the city of North Little Rock decided Monday not to impose an unconstitutional dress code on visitors to public housing units that would prohibit entry to anyone wearing backward baseball caps, saggy pants or bandanas.

“These kinds of dress codes clearly target African-Americans and other ethnic groups whose youth tend to follow certain styles, while taking advantage of poor people who need to use government programs like public housing,” said Rita Sklar, executive director of the ACLU of Arkansas. “Too many times being poor means being a criminal suspect, and receiving government aid means giving up your rights.”

But rest easy, dear readers, for the ACLU is protecting us from subversive paramilitary youth hate groups, as well as from symbols of hate. Rest easy in the knowledge that thanks to the Secular Taliban we are free from the evil influences of foul Judeo-Christian hate symbols, and free to embrace wholesome activities such as Wicca and pornography.

Sleep well, dear readers.

More on the Secular Taliban in Austin, Texas..

Mona Charen has a great column at Jewish World Review regarding a Ten Commandments Monument in Austin, Texas... with a great quote:

If the Supreme Court hands down a ruling that the Texas monument violates the Constitution, it will do so in the literal shadow of a frieze on the Supreme Court's chamber depicting none other than Moses holding the tablets in his hands.

You may think that I'm over reacting. I'm not. This incrementalism will continue unless stopped in its tracks. We need a voice, a loud voice, a voting voice that will convince our legislature that this attack on our heritage and history must stop.

Secular Taliban Alive and Well in San Diego

It seems the Secular Taliban has scored another victory against the American culture. Religious intolerants reminiscent of the Taliban in Afghanistan through endless litigation have finally broken the backs of the San Diego City Council after 16 years of legal hell. The cross was erected over 50 years ago as part of a war memorial. This was definitely a victory for the Secular Taliban, who would enjoy nothing more than to see every vestige of our religious heritage wiped away from our landscape as if it never existed. At the same time, it is a definite loss for us and our children; if this trend continues they will grow up in a whitewashed (or should I say blackwashed) version of America. A significant part of our history and heritage will be erased, as if it never existed. San Diego, which is Spanish for St. James, will likely need to be re-named. Los Angeles, Corpus Christi, San Francisco, and even St. Cloud, wiped from the landscape. The fact that this cross is being taken away from a war memorial, portends the eventuality that the very crosses on our nation's most hallowed burial ground, Arlington National Cemetary, will eventually be no more.

I guess it begs the question, dear readers, just who will win this culture war? Make no mistake, the Secular Taliban, under the auspices of the ACLU and other leftist filth organizations, have their collective sights set on destroying a large part of our culture that has made our nation what it is, in favor of something it was never was nor never meant to be. I for one do not intend to go quietly into that good night, dear readers. I hope that neither will you.

Aye Aye, Captain the Ice Palace heeds your advice!

A big hat tip to Captain's Quarters for pointing out the coalition of blogs known as The Online Coalition, a coalition of nearly 1600 diverse blogs from Shot in the Dark to the Daily KOS, the The Captain's Quarters to yours truly. I urge you, whether you are a blogger or not, or whatever your political persuasion, to join this coalition to become a unified voice against the rising tide against political free speech on the internet.

Stick another fork in Clinton's legacy...

In an interview on Hannity & Colmes, Paula Jones expressed delight that her testimony against Bill Clinton in a sexual harrassment lawsuit was corroborated by lie detector evidence on Pax TV's Lie Detector show:

ROLONDA WATTS, HOST OF "LIE DETECTOR": You have come on "Lie Detector" to prove once and for all that former President Bill Clinton sexually harassed you. We asked you the following relevant question: Did President Clinton, when he was governor of Arkansas, expose his private parts to you in a hotel room? To which you answered yes. The lie detector has determined you are telling the truth, the truth.

I would actually pay to see Slick Willie do the same lie detector test. It would probably be smoking by the time he was done with it.

Part of the interview with Hannity & Paula Jones:

HANNITY: All right. Here it is, this long period of time after. Why did you want to do this, Paula?

JONES: Well, I mean, his book had just come out, you know, and it was "My Life," I think it was. But I consider it being "My Lies." And for one thing, he didn't talk about it very much, as though it never even happened in his life. And I felt like this was kind of like a bang, you know, to go against his book to let people know that I was telling the truth, once and for all.

You were telling the truth, Ms. Jones. You stuck up for what you knew was right. Too bad we had a commander-in-chief who, although taking a sacred a vow to uphold the Constitution, was unwilling to extend due process to an ordinary citizen. That, to me, was the whole crux behind Clinton's impeachment, and why he should have been convicted. This (along with the case of Juanita Broderick) was also illustrative as to the sexual predator that he was (and probably still is).

Clinton's legacy will no doubt be seen by historians as the most flagrant abuse of presidential power and privelege in American history, and rightly so.

MCCL's sneaky plan....

A letter to the editor from the St. Cloud Times:

Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life has introduced a piece of legislation deceptively titled the "Positive Alternatives Act." This act would provide state grant funding to anti-choice crisis pregnancy centers.

Anti-choice crisis pregnancy centers such as the Pregnancy Resource Center of St. Cloud often choose names that suggest impartiality to confuse unsuspecting clients seeking legitimate clinics.

Crisis pregnancy centers offer free over-the-counter pregnancy tests to lure women potentially experiencing an unplanned pregnancy to their facilities. ...

They then can provide misleading information about pregnancy and reproductive health options, depriving the women of accurate information needed to make a fully informed choice.

It is inappropriate and dangerous to suggest that $4 million of state grant money be directed toward agencies that pressure women into parenthood or adoption.

This is another sneaky tactic by the MCCL to progress the anti-choice agenda.

You can prevent this from happening by calling your representatives today and telling them that you do not agree with this initiative.

Julie Ingmire-Seminitis
Sartell

Yes, Julie. God, err... goddess forbid that even one child is spared death in utero due to the efforts of those sneaky bastards at the MCCL. Yes, leading a woman to making a choice to keep her baby or put her baby up for adoption to a loving family would be a tragedy, wouldn't it Mrs. Seminitis? After all, abortion is ironically a birthright, a sacrament of a truly liberated woman! We would all instead love to see the baby's skull punctured, its brains sucked out and its body dismembered as it's flushed down a sink.

Now that I've squeezed out all the sarcasm I can regarding this op-ed without barfing, let's start off with this:

"Anti-choice crisis pregnancy centers such as the Pregnancy Resource Center of St. Cloud often choose names that suggest impartiality to confuse unsuspecting clients seeking legitimate clinics.(emphasis mine).

Crisis pregnancy centers offer free over-the-counter pregnancy tests to lure women potentially experiencing an unplanned pregnancy to their facilities. ..." (gasp!! how awful!!)

So then, a legitimate clinic in Ms. hyphenated-Seminitis' mind is one in which two people walk in alive but only one person walks out in said state of being?

"They then can provide misleading information about pregnancy and reproductive health options, depriving the women of accurate information needed to make a fully informed choice."

First of all, what is with this "reproductive health" nonsense? Just whose health are the abortionists trying to protect? Certainly not the child's. Second, just how accurate is the information that the abortionists are providing? I have spent some time reviewing Planned Parenthood's website, and nowhere do I find the health, psychological, or moral ramifications of abortion as listed here or here.

Every woman, whether going into a Planned Parenthood Clinic or the Pregnancy Resource Center knows that abortion is a legal choice. Via perusal of both web sites, it appears that it is the former that is not providing the true, accurate information regarding abortion, its risk, and its ramifications. After all, there is money to be made or lost depending on how well their clientele is "educated", or perhaps in the case of Planned Parenthood, indoctrinated.

STOP!!! Or I'll say "stop" again!

VIENNA, Austria (AP) - The European Union has warned that Tehran could face U.N. Security Council action, including possible sanctions, unless it agrees to scrap technology that can be used to make nuclear arms, according to a confidential document obtained Friday by The Associated Press.

If Iran does not agree, "We shall have no choice but to support referring Iran's nuclear program to the U.N. Security Council," the document says. (entire story)

Oooooo... that's scary for a country hell-bent on getting its grubby little fingers on the nuclear genie, isn't it? I know that U.N. sanctions worked so well with another despotic regime, because the beneficent leadership at the U.N. were willing to stand behind those sanctions and enforce them. Oops.. sorry.. wrong universe.

On second thought (and with all sarcasm aside) perhaps these sanctions will unwittingly have the "Wait til your father gets home!" effect (a tool used by an otherwise ineffective mother to discipline an unruly child). The Iranian mullahs, in the back of their mind, have got to be thinking that if they ultimately ignore U.N. Security Council resolutions (even given that the blue-helmeted U.N. is too wimpy and ineffective to enforce them), the pitbull that is the U.S. is sure to step in and take care of business. Therein lies Iran's gamble. If Iran can utilize the ineffective U.N. bureaucratic apparatus to buy enough time to acquire the nuclear genie, the U.S. will certainly think twice before stepping in. The question is, just how much time does Iran think it can buy from the U.N., while knowing that all options are still on the table? This will be an interesting display of brinkmanship. The Iranian mullahs, should their ultimate goal be to remain in power, would do well to blink first.

Will sanity finally prevail? Another push for ANWR

In the wake of increasing oil prices,

WASHINGTON, March 10 (Reuters) A long-cherished Republican goal to open an Alaskan wildlife refuge to oil drilling advanced in a Senate committee on Thursday, and Democrats are not sure they can muster enough votes to kill the plan in the full Senate next week.

All we at the Ice Palace can say is, "It's about time!" Despite the rantings of the chicken littles who would have us return to the stone age, here are some facts:


Yep... only .08% of the entire refuge would be used for drilling. Additionally,

...recent technological advances would enable oil and gas exploration to occur through responsible development while leaving very little of a footprint on the environment. One way in which oil companies are decreasing their footprint is in the creation of ice pads and ice roads. Using ice as roads alleviates the need for gravel in many areas and when the temperature rises, the ice simply melts away

One would indeed hope for a return to sanity by looking to our own shores to meet our energy demands. But with clowns like these and a cast of the always-available RINOs, sanity with regard to a sound energy policy has been a rare commodity indeed. It is we the voters who may ultimately need to inject common sense, either through our voicing our opinion now; or if that doesn't work, by voicing our opinion at the ballot box on the next election day. In the name of our nation's economic and physical security, it is time that we stop kowtowing to junk science and instead embrace a sound energy policy that will lead us on the road to energy independence.

Freedom Marches on... Next stop, Iran

Iranians singing freedom songs, demand EU stop accommodation

In the tradition of Ronald Reagan's victory over Soviet tyranny in the cold war, the rip tide of Freedom unleashed by the Bush Doctrine is flowing forth, spreading its energy throughout the middle east. Like the spread of freedom unleashed through the great speech at the Brandenberg gate, the Bush Doctrine has left in its wake an unquenchable thirst for freedom.

Ronaldus Magnus said,

"Freedom is a fragile thing and is never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people. Those who have known freedom, and then lost it, have never known it again. "

and

"The house we hope to build is not for my generation but for yours. It is your future that matters. And I hope that when you are my age, you will be able to say as I have been able to say: We lived in freedom. We lived lives that were a statement, not an apology."

George W. Bush is destined for that kind of greatness. In this world, there are doers and there are complainers. Thank God for doers. May our children be so aptly blessed.

From the Jerry Springer School of Parenting...

In Jacksonville, Florida, a 17-year old developmentally disabled youth was found to be severely underweight, dressed in a diaper, and locked in a "cage-like bed." His parents (and I use that term ever so loosely) were each jailed on $200,003 bail... (think they can come up with the extra three bucks?).

Child welfare workers called to Wilson and Brenda Sullivan's home Jan. 10 found the teen wearing a diaper and appearing developmentally delayed, a police report said. The boy was less than 4-foot-6 and was in the weight range of a 61/2-year-old, officials said.

Chief Steve Weintraub of the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said the parents told investigators that the boy was forced to sleep in a criblike cage with a wooden lid kept shut with chains and a lock because he had behavioral problems and was overeating at night. The crib was the size of a twin bed with locks that prevented its sides from being lowered.

The 49-pound 17-year old boy was overeating at night? And these are adoptive parents? Who were the mental giants (or rather, gnats) that approved that arrangment ?!?

But as is often the case, enter the ever-present apologist that serves to enable the monsters in our society:

Wilson Sullivan's sister, Ordrianne Sullivan, moved to Jacksonville a week ago from Akron, Ohio, to help her brother and sister-in-law through what she called "blatantly wrong accusations." "They're painting a picture of my family as monsters, and they're not, they truly are not," she said.

I'm sure that John Wayne Gacy had his good points, too.

And the Quadrangle is Complete

The Midwest Quadrangle is complete! Along with Heartland from Oklahoma, Richard from Dallas, Texas, and yours truly from St. Cloud, Minnesota, the Ice Palace is pleased to announce the addition of The Patriot from Colorado to its family of contributors. Aside from being an Americanist, he is active in the pharmaceutical field and is quite knowledgeable regarding cutting-edge advances in the field of pharmacology. A hearty welcome to The Patriot~

He'd Rather not...

I'm watching the Dan Rather special now... they're at the part where Rather covers the Kennedy Assassination. Rather still is talking as if he was the one who got the scoop on Kennedy dying.. conspicuously missing thus far is when Rather falsely reported that school children were cheering upon hearing the news of Kennedy's death....

"Courage"? Things that make you go hmmmmm.....

DO it for MOM, for apple pie, for Ward Churchill

St. Cloud's own King Banaian can be in the catbird seat for the new President of Colorado University. He's in a neck-and-neck dead heat with the guy with the headlights. Among King's campaign promises:

1. # Limited salary demands. I will work for a tripling of my current salary, which would still be less than half what it will cost you to get a president among the others you might consider. This kind of thinking is what allows Mike Tice to get and keep his job. You can even pay for my salary by firing a few of the assistant underprovosts or whatever titles you have for underlings at CU.
2. # Within three years, my salary would be paid entirely by donations to CU. I'm thinking about linking up with L.L. Bean for a backpack contract so that every CU student has a Bean bookbag.
3. # Ward Churchill not only keeps his job, but we will send him on a tour and make sure there is media coverage of every event. He will get weekly appearances sitting next to Alan Colmes. I can make this happen. Fox will thank me for such a perfect foil.
4. # I will however eliminate every department with the word "Studies" in its name. The savings in salaries from the faculty there will be used to hire buses to send 40,000 Buff fans to Lincoln for the next NU-CU tilt. Every year. Time to let Cornhusker fans feel a little diversity.
5. # All Buffalo football players get ankle bracelets accessorized by Martha Stewart. Whenever a player is found in corpus flagrante a shock will be sent to an electronic collar worn by the coaching staff.
6. # We will contest Title IX.
7. # Everyone takes calculus, western civ, and a course in speech. The math department will triple in size, but they will hate me because they will actually have to teach students who need math rather than those who just want it.

and finally,

• #Banaian will have connections with the BIG GUY for his starring role in this play.

Hey, can't ask for better credentials than that. Even if you're Ward Churchill. Vote here (top right margin of the page)