How much you wanna bet you won't hear the whole story..

Former Education Secretary and drug czar Bill Bennett is under fire for allegedly racist comments on his morning show. One could barely listen to the morning news or turn on an alphabet news show without hearing the following:

"I do know that it’s true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could, if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down.”

Pretty damning, eh? The sad part is, that was but one snippet out of a context that blows the racist angle out of the water.

CALLER: I noticed the national media is -- you know, they talk a lot about the loss of revenue or the inability of the government to fund Social Security, and I was curious, and I've read articles in recent months here, that, you know, the abortions that have happened since Roe V. Wade that loss revenue for the people who have been aborted during the last 30-something years, you know, could fund Social Security as we know it today, and, you know, the media never touches this at all.

BENNETT: Assuming they're all productive citizens?

CALLER: Assuming that they are. Even if only a portion of them were, it would be an enormous amount of revenue.

BENNETT: Maybe, maybe, but we don't know what the costs would be, too. I think, does abortion disproportionately occur among single women? No.

CALLER: I don't know the exact statistics. Quite a bit are, yes.

BENNETT: All right. Well, I mean, I just don't know. I don't -- I would not argue for the pro-life position based on this, because you don't know. I mean, it cuts both -- one of the arguments, in this book, "Freakonomics" they make is that the decline in crime rate -- you know, they deal with the hypothesis that one of the reasons crime is down is that abortion is up.

CALLER:Well, I don't think that statistic is accurate.

BENNETT: Well, I don't think it is either. I don't think it is, either. Because first of all, I think there's just too much that you don't know. But I do know that it's true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could -- if that were your sole purpose -- you could abort every black baby in this country and your crime rate would go down. That would be an impossible, ridiculous and morally reprehensible thing to do. But your crime rate would go down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well...

BENNETT: But these far-out, these far-reaching, you know, extensive extrapolations, are, I think, tricky.

(END VIDEO CLIP))(emphases added)

So it would appear that Mr. Bennett was admonishing against making broad generalizations against extrapolating the effects of abortion. But of course the opportunistic and bombastic bozos of the left were quick to glom on

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who said last year that the Supreme Court's lone black member was "an embarrassment to the court," is demanding that Bennett "issue an immediate apology not only to African Americans but to the nation.”

Left wing Democrat Ted Kennedy, whose brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy, ordered the illegal wiretapping of Martin Luther King, called Bennett a "racist."

And Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean, who suggested last year that most blacks hold menial jobs, called Bennett's comments "hateful" and "inflammatory" - and called on him to apologize.

Responding to his critics, Bennett told the Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes":

"I'll not take instruction from Teddy Kennedy. A young woman likely drowned because of his negligence . . . . He should make no judgments at all about other people. He shouldn't be in the Senate."

Neither Kennedy nor Dean nor Reid has ever condemned Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd, who rose to the rank of Grand Cyclops in the Ku Klux Klan based on his ability to recruit new members.

In an autobiography released earlier this year, Byrd said the Klan was a "fraternal group" made up of "upstanding' people" - a characterization which drew no protest from Reid, Kennedy and Dean.

Just goes to show you a leftist axiom in action: Never miss an opportunity, no matter how spurious, to call a kettle black.

What kind of dog are you?

What Common Breed of Dog Are You?
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Now if you'll excuse me, I'll need to go and get my tags.

Of pornographic interest

From here:

NEW YORK Sep 30, 2005 — A federal judge Thursday ordered the release of dozens more pictures of prisoners being abused at Abu Ghraib, rejecting government arguments that the images would provoke terrorists and incite violence against U.S. troops in Iraq.

U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein said that terrorists "do not need pretexts for their barbarism" and that suppressing the pictures would amount to submitting to blackmail. (emphasis added)

"Our nation does not surrender to blackmail, and fear of blackmail is not a legally sufficient argument to prevent us from performing a statutory command. Indeed, the freedoms that we champion are as important to our success in Iraq and Afghanistan as the guns and missiles with which our troops are armed," he said.

Perhaps terrorists don't need a pretext for their "barbarism", but it certainly doesn't hurt their PR either. Nor do we need passions inflamed in the Muslim world. Does anyone remember the false Koran flushing fiasco? Indictments have been made. Punishments have been meted out. Releasing these photos denotes nothing more than a prurient pornographic interest in inciting more chaos and bloodshed, putting our soldiers further into harms way.

As a parent of soldier soon to be in theatre, I make the following offer to this moonbat judge:

Your Honor (and I use that term ever-so-loosely), if you are so hell-bent on releasing those inflammatory photos, and are of the belief that releasing of same will not make any difference, and will result in no more bloodshed than would otherwise be the case, I would then invite you to paste those pictures on a sandwich board, and take a little stroll through downtown Baghdad... for ohhh... say... 10 minutes. If you last that long.

Asshole.

Coming soon to a theater near you

That good-intentioned, pure of heart Ronnie Earle is so magnanimous regarding his public service in getting that mean, old, nasty Tom Delay that he would like to make a movie to document his selfless contributions to humanity.

For the last two years, as he pursued the investigation that led to Wednesday's indictment of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, Travis County, Texas prosecutor Ronnie Earle has given a film crew "extraordinary access" to make a motion picture about his work on the case.

The resulting film is called The Big Buy, made by Texas filmmakers Mark Birnbaum and Jim Schermbeck. "Raymond Chandler meets Willie Nelson on the corner of Wall Street and Pennsylvania Avenue in The Big Buy, a Texas noir political detective story that chronicles what some are calling a 'bloodless coup with corporate cash,'" reads a description of the picture on Birnbaum's website, markbirnbaum.com. The film, according to the description, "follows maverick Austin DA Ronnie Earle's investigation into what really happened when corporate money joined forces with relentless political ambitions to help swing the pivotal 2002 Texas elections, cementing Republican control from Austin to Washington DC."

::::::swooon::::::

More than just a coon-skin cap... a lesson from the backwoods.

As you can tell if you're a regular (or not so regular) reader of this blog, I don't normally make long posts. I know that even if I did, nobody would read them. I'm making an exception in this case, because it's definitely worth the read:

First of all, it appears that today, as always, liberals want bigger government. The problem is that conservatives are now giving it to them.

Second, here's something to show just how backward a nation we have become, courtesy of Davey Crockett:

Davey Crockett............. One day in the House of Representatives a bill was taken up appropriating money for the benefit of a widow of a distinguished naval officer. Several beautiful speeches had been made in its support. The speaker was just about to put the question when Crockett arose:

"Mr. Speaker--I have as much respect for the memory of the deceased, and as much sympathy for the suffering of the living, if there be, as any man in this House, but we must not permit our respect for the dead or our sympathy for part of the living to lead us into an act of injustice to the balance of the living. I will not go into an argument to prove that Congress has not the power to appropriate this money as an act of charity. Every member on this floor knows it.

We have the right as individuals, to give away as much of our own money as we please in charity; but as members of Congress we have no right to appropriate a dollar of the public money. Some eloquent appeals have been made to us upon the ground that it is a debt due the deceased. Mr. Speaker, the deceased lived long after the close of the war; he was in office to the day of his death, and I ever heard that the government was in arrears to him.

"Every man in this House knows it is not a debt. We cannot without the grossest corruption, appropriate this money as the payment of a debt. We have not the semblance of authority to appropriate it as charity. Mr. Speaker, I have said we have the right to give as much money of our own as we please. I am the poorest man on this floor. I cannot vote for this bill, but I will give one week's pay to the object, and if every member of Congress will do the same, it will amount to more than the bill asks."

He took his seat. Nobody replied. The bill was put upon its passage, and, instead of passing unanimously, as was generally supposed, and as, no doubt, it would, but for that speech, it received but few votes, and, of course,was lost.

Later, when asked by a friend why he had opposed the appropriation, Crockett gave this explanation:

"Several years ago I was one evening standing on the steps of the Capitol with some members of Congress, when our attention was attracted by a great light over in Georgetown. It was evidently a large fire. We jumped into a hack and drove over as fast as we could. In spite of all that could be done, many houses were burned and many families made houseless, and besides, some of them had lost all but the clothes they had on. The weather was very cold, and when I saw so many children suffering, I felt that something ought to be done for them. The next morning a bill was introduced appropriating $20,000 for their relief. We put aside all other business and rushed it through as soon as it could be done.

"The next summer, when it began to be time to think about election, I concluded I would take a scout around among the boys of my district. I had no opposition there but, as the election was some time off, I did not know what might turn up. When riding one day in a part of my district in which I was more of a stranger than any other, I saw a man in a field plowing and coming toward the road. I gauged my gait so that we should meet as he came up, I spoke to the man. He replied politely, but as I thought, rather coldly.

"I began: 'Well friend, I am one of those unfortunate beings called candidates and---

"Yes I know you; you are Colonel Crockett. I have seen you once before, and voted for you the last time you were elected. I suppose you are out electioneering now, but you had better not waste your time or mine, I shall not vote for you again."

"This was a sockdolger...I begged him tell me what was the matter.

"Well Colonel, it is hardly worthwhile to waste time or words upon it. I do not see how it can be mended, but you gave a vote last winter which shows that either you have not capacity to understand the Constitution, or that you are wanting in the honesty and firmness to be guided by it. In either case you are not the man to represent me. But I beg your pardon for expressing it that way. I did not intend to avail myself of the privilege of the constituent to speak plainly to a candidate for the purpose of insulting you or wounding you.'

"I intend by it only to say that your understanding of the constitution is very different from mine; and I will say to you what but for my rudeness, I should not have said, that I believe you to be honest.

But an understanding of the constitution different from mine I cannot overlook, because the Constitution, to be worth anything, must be held sacred, and rigidly observed in all its provisions. The man who wields power and misinterprets it is the more dangerous the honest he is.'

" 'I admit the truth of all you say, but there must be some mistake. Though I live in the backwoods and seldom go from home, I take the papers from Washington and read very carefully all the proceedings of Congress. My papers say you voted for a bill to appropriate $20,000 to some sufferers by fire in Georgetown. Is that true?

"Well my friend; I may as well own up. You have got me there. But certainly nobody will complain that a great and rich country like ours should give the insignificant sum of $20,000 to relieve its suffering women and children, particularly with a full and overflowing treasury, and I am sure, if you had been there, you would have done just the same as I did.'

"It is not the amount, Colonel, that I complain of; it is the principle. In the first place, the government ought to have in the Treasury no more than enough for its legitimate purposes. But that has nothing with the question. The power of collecting and disbursing money at pleasure is the most dangerous power that can be entrusted to man, particularly under our system of collecting revenue by a tariff, which reaches every man in the country, no matter how poor he may be, and the poorer he is the more he pays in proportion to his means.

What is worse, it presses upon him without his knowledge where the weight centers, for there is not a man in the United States who can ever guess how much he pays to the government. So you see, that while you are contributing to relieve one, you are drawing it from thousands who are even worse off than he.

If you had the right to give anything, the amount was simply a matter of discretion with you, and you had as much right to give $20,000,000 as $20,000. If you have the right to give at all; and as the Constitution neither defines charity nor stipulates the amount, you are at liberty to give to any and everything which you may believe, or profess to believe, is a charity and to any amount you may think proper. You will very easily perceive what a wide door this would open for fraud and corruption and favoritism, on the one hand, and for robbing the people on the other. 'No, Colonel, Congress has no right to give charity.'

"'Individual members may give as much of their own money as they please, but they have no right to touch a dollar of the public money for that purpose. If twice as many houses had been burned in this country as in Georgetown, neither you nor any other member of Congress would have Thought of appropriating a dollar for our relief. There are about two hundred and forty members of Congress. If they had shown their sympathy for the sufferers by contributing each one week's pay, it would have made over $13,000. There are plenty of wealthy men around Washington who could have given $20,000 without depriving themselves of even a luxury of life.'

"The congressmen chose to keep their own money, which, if reports be true, some of them spend not very creditably; and the people about Washington, no doubt, applauded you for relieving them from necessity of giving what was not yours to give. The people have delegated to Congress, by the Constitution, the power to do certain things. To do these, it is authorized to collect and pay moneys, and for nothing else. Everything beyond this is usurpation, and a violation of the Constitution.'

"'So you see, Colonel, you have violated the Constitution in what I consider a vital point. It is a precedent fraught with danger to the country, for when Congress once begins to stretch its power beyond the limits of the Constitution, there is no limit to it, and no security for the people. I have no doubt you acted honestly, but that does not make it any better, except as far as you are personally concerned, and you see that I cannot vote for you.'

"I tell you I felt streaked. I saw if I should have opposition, and this man should go to talking and in that district I was a gone fawn-skin. I could not answer him, and the fact is, I was so fully convinced that he was right, I did not want to. But I must satisfy him, and I said to him:

"Well, my friend, you hit the nail upon the head when you said I had not sense enough to understand the Constitution. I intended to be guided by it, and thought I had studied it fully. I have heard many speeches in Congress about the powers of Congress, but what you have said here at your plow has got more hard, sound sense in it than all the fine speeches I ever heard. If I had ever taken the view of it that you have, I would have put my head into the fire before I would have given that vote; and if you will forgive me and vote for me again, if I ever vote for another unconstitutional law I wish I may be shot.'

"He laughingly replied; 'Yes, Colonel, you have sworn to that once before, but I will trust you again upon one condition. You are convinced that your vote was wrong. Your acknowledgment of it will do more good than beating you for it. If, as you go around the district, you will tell people about this vote, and that you are satisfied it was wrong, I will not only vote for you, but will do what I can to keep down opposition, and perhaps, I may exert some little influence in that way.'

"If I don't, said I, 'I wish I may be shot; and to convince you that I am in earnest in what I say I will come back this way in a week or ten days, and if you will get up a gathering of people, I will make a speech to them. Get up a barbecue, and I will pay for it.'

"No, Colonel, we are not rich people in this section but we have plenty of provisions to contribute for a barbecue, and some to spare for those who have none. The push of crops will be over in a few days, and we can then afford a day for a barbecue. 'This Thursday; I will see to getting it up on Saturday week. Come to my house on Friday, and we will go together, and I promise you a very respectable crowd to see and hear you.

"'Well I will be here. But one thing more before I say good-bye. I must know your name."

"'My name is Bunce.'

"'Not Horatio Bunce?'

"'Yes

"'Well, Mr. Bunce, I never saw you before, though you say you have seen me, but I know you very well. I am glad I have met you, and very proud that I may hope to have you for my friend.'

"It was one of the luckiest hits of my life that I met him. He mingled but little with the public, but was widely known for his remarkable intelligence, and for a heart brim-full and running over with kindness and benevolence, which showed themselves not only in words but in acts. He was the oracle of the whole country around him, and his fame had extended far beyond the circle of his immediate acquaintance. Though I had never met him, before, I had heard much of him, and but for this meeting it is very likely I should have had opposition, and had been beaten. One thing is very certain, no man could now stand up in that district under such a vote.

"At the appointed time I was at his house, having told our conversation to every crowd I had met, and to every man I stayed all night with, and I found that it gave the people an interest and confidence in me stronger than I had ever seen manifested before.

"Though I was considerably fatigued when I reached his house, and, under ordinary circumstances, should have gone early to bed, I kept him up until midnight talking about the principles and affairs of government, and got more real, true knowledge of them than I had got all my life before."

"I have known and seen much of him since, for I respect him - no, that is not the word - I reverence and love him more than any living manand I go to see him two or three times every year; and I will tell you, sir, if everyone who professes to be a Christian lived and acted and enjoyed it as he does, the religion of Christ would take the world by storm.

"But to return to my story. The next morning we went to the barbecue and, to my surprise, found about a thousand men there. I met a good many whom I had not known before, and they and my friend introduced me around until I had got pretty well acquainted - at least, they all knew me.

"In due time notice was given that I would speak to them. They gathered up around a stand that had been erected. I opened my speech by saying:

"Fellow-citizens - I present myself before you today feeling like a new man. My eyes have lately been opened to truths which ignorance or prejudice or both, had heretofore hidden from my view. I feel that I can today offer you the ability to render you more valuable service than I have ever been able to render before. I am here today more for the purpose of acknowledging my error than to seek your votes. That I should make this acknowledgment is due to myself as well as to you. Whether you will vote for me is a matter for your consideration only."

"I went on to tell them about the fire and my vote for the appropriation and then told them why I was satisfied it was wrong. I closed by saying:

"And now, fellow-citizens, it remains only for me to tell you that the most of the speech you have listened to with so much interest was simply a repetition of the arguments by which your neighbor, Mr. Bunce, convinced me of my error.

"It is the best speech I ever made in my life, but he is entitled to the credit for it. And now I hope he is satisfied with his convert and that he will get up here and tell you so.'

"He came up to the stand and said:

"Fellow-citizens - it affords me great pleasure to comply with the request of Colonel Crockett. I have always considered him a thoroughly honest man, and I am satisfied that he will faithfully perform all that he has promised you today.'

"He went down, and there went up from that crowd such a shout for Davy Crockett as his name never called forth before.'

"I am not much given to tears, but I was taken with a choking then and felt some big drops rolling down my cheeks. And I tell you now that the remembrance of those few words spoken by such a man, and the honest, hearty shout they produced, is worth more to me than all the honors I have received and all the reputation I have ever made, or ever shall make, as a member of Congress.'

"Now, sir," concluded Crockett, "you know why I made that speech yesterday. "There is one thing which I will call your attention, "you remember that I proposed to give a week's pay. There are in that House many very wealthy men - men who think nothing of spending a week's pay, or a dozen of them, for a dinner or a wine party when they have something to accomplish by it. Some of those same men made beautiful speeches upon the great debt of gratitude which the country owed the deceased--a debt which could not be paid by money--and the insignificance and worthlessness of money, particularly so insignificant a sum as $20,000 when weighed against the honor of the nation. Yet not one of them responded to my proposition. Money with them is nothing but trash when it is to come out of the people. But it is the one great thing for which most of them are striving, and many of them sacrifice honor, integrity, and justice to obtain it."

Now, do you see exactly how far we've turned away from our Founding Document???

A must have writing tool

I have read the book How to Write by Herb & Jill Meyer. Short and concise, (the whole thing can be read in less than an hour) it provides a framework from which every writer can benefit, from the novice to the professional. The book comes with accolades from such luminaries as William Safire, and has become one of the best-selling writing handbooks. The best part of it is that the authors have found a way to make this book available to anyone, anywhere, at a price that everyone can afford-- just $1.99 for the e-book version. Hell--you spend more than that from a cup of joe from Starbucks (yeah, I know, you spend more on a cup of joe from Starbucks than on most used cars, but you get the idea).

I would highly recommend How to Write--a must have tool for every writer who wants to be good, as well as for every good writer who wants to be great!

Without DeLay

Tom DeLay was indicted today on charges of breaking Texas campaign finance laws. This indictment, according to Republican-generated Senate Rules, mandates that DeLay step down from his majority leadership in the Senate until investigations are completed. A copy of the indictment can be found here. The complaint alleges:

Records from the Republican National Committee concerning an exchange of $190,000 between an arm of the party's national committee and Texans for a Republican Majority. The Texas committee gave the national party $190,000 in corporate money in the fall of 2002.

In a single day two weeks later, the national party cut seven checks to Texas House candidates totaling $190,000. Republican officials have called it a coincidence. Critics claim the Texas committee was laundering corporate money that it could not legally donate to candidates into legal donations.

It was suggested that DeLay did an end-around to funnel contributions to local Republican candidates. But according to this story, in earlier indictments, Ronnie Earle did his own end-around to meet his political ends:

A grand jury in Travis County, Texas, last September indicted eight corporations in connection with the DeLay investigation. All were charged with making illegal contributions (Texas law forbids corporate giving to political campaigns). Since then, however, Earle has agreed to dismiss charges against four of the companies — retail giant Sears, the restaurant chain Cracker Barrel, the Internet company Questerra, and the collection company Diversified Collection Services — after the companies pledged to contribute to a program designed to publicize Earle's belief that corporate involvement in politics is harmful to American democracy.

Some legal observers called the arrangement an unusual resolution to a criminal case, at least in Texas, where the matter is being prosecuted. "I don't think you're going to find anybody who will say it's a common practice," says Jack Strickland, a Fort Worth lawyer who serves as vice-chairman of the criminal-justice section of the Texas State Bar. Earle himself told National Review Online that he has never settled a case in a similar fashion during his years as Travis County district attorney. And allies of DeLay, who has accused Earle of conducting a politically motivated investigation, called Earle's actions "dollars for dismissals."

Willisms reports that in the past, Earle's motivations have been far from pure, even going so far as to allege that the dimunitive Kay Bailey Hutchinson had physically assaulted an employee during the time she was the Texas State Treasurer. Willisms also notes:

In the ongoing controversy over whether he is an objective voice for justice or merely an arm of the DeLay-hating mob, Earle has "hammered" the final nail in that coffin.

According to The Houston Chronicle, Earle has now crossed the line into raising money for far-left interest groups:

A newly formed Democratic political action committee, Texas Values in Action Coalition, hosted the May 12 event in Dallas to raise campaign money to take control of the state Legislature from the GOP, organizers said.

Earle, an elected Democrat, helped generate $102,000 for the organization.

In his remarks, Earle likened DeLay to a bully and spoke about political corruption and the investigation involving DeLay, the House majority leader from Sugar Land, according to a transcript supplied by Earle....

"It may help Tom DeLay establish his case that Ronnie Earle's investigation is a partisan witch hunt," said Richard Murray, a political scientist with the University of Houston.

"It clearly fuels the perception that his investigation is politically motivated. It was probably not a wise move," said Larry Noble, a former Federal Election Commission lawyer who heads the watchdog group Center for Responsive Politics.

I cannot say whether the charges against DeLay are founded or not. Time will bear that out. What I can say with some certainty is that the charges were brought about as a result of a huge political axe that was itching to be ground. After all,

The indictment stems from a plan DeLay helped set in motion in 2001 to help Republicans win control of the Texas House in the 2002 elections for the first time since Reconstruction.

There's no partisan democrat worth his/her salt nowadays that's going to let that good deed go unpunished.

The Joys of "Happy Slapping"

From here:

Did you say dogging or blogging? Brits confused Sep 28 9:57 AM US/Eastern

By Jeffrey Goldfarb

LONDON (Reuters) - Proponents of the latest Web trends were warned Tuesday that the rest of the world may not have a clue what they are talking about.

A survey of British taxi drivers, pub landlords and hairdressers -- often seen as barometers of popular trends -- found that nearly 90 percent had no idea what a podcast is and more than 70 percent had never heard of blogging.

"When I asked the panel whether people were talking about blogging, they thought I meant dogging," said Sarah Carter, the planning director at ad firm DDB London.

Dogging is the phenomenon of watching couples have sex in semi-secluded places such as out-of-town car parks. News of such events are often spread on Web sites or by using mobile phone text messages.

More people (56 percent) understood the phrase "happy slapping" -- a teenage craze that involves assaulting people while capturing it on video with their mobile phones -- than podcasting (12 percent) or blogging (28 percent).

"Our research not only shows that there is no buzz about blogging and podcasting outside of our media industry bubble, but also that people have no understanding of what the words mean," Carter said. "It's a real wake-up call."

Question is, would I rather be "blogging" or "dogging"? Come to think of it, some "happy slapping" would be darn right cathartic. Especially if practiced here:

Random acts of stupidity and senseless acts of protest..

Gads--do they not have anything better to do??

Two St. Cloud State University professors and about two dozen other people gathered outside U.S. Rep. Mark Kennedy's St. Cloud office Tuesday and urged him to vote against opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. The U.S. Public Interest Research Group, an environmental advocacy group, sponsored the demonstration. It was intended to pressure Kennedy to vote against the 2006 federal budget if it includes drilling in the 1.5 million acre Alaskan refuge. Environmental groups have focused their lobbying efforts on Kennedy and a handful of other House Republicans who haven't said how they will vote.

and

Jim Knutson-Kolodzne, director of St. Cloud State's American Indian Center, and Julie Andrzejewski, a human relations professor, said opening the refuge to drilling would have a major environmental and human toll.

Well golly gee, perfessers--did you ever stop to consider this:

The 6th District Republican, who is a candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2006, won't decide how to vote until he's seen the final bill, spokeswoman Anne Mason said. He has opposed drilling in the refuge in the past and is working to keep it out of the budget, she said. (emphasis mine)

or to even bother to look at Kennedy's consistent record regarding ANWR? These two "best and brightest" of the bulbs on the chandelier of the St. Cloud State faculty assert:

The Gwichi'in American Indian tribe depends on caribou, which use the refuge as breeding grounds, Knutson-Kolodzne said. (editor's note: if they are so concerned about the Gwichi'in American Indian Tribe's supply of caribou, did they ever bother to consider this regarding the Alaska Pipeline?

Before development, the herd contained about 5,000 animals. Today it numbers around 27,000.

and

A controversy has often centered on whether the Alaska Pipeline keeps the Caribou herds from their natural migration patterns. However, since the construction of the pipeline, the Caribou have been able to adapt and continue their usual patterns of movement. As unique and dramatic presences on Alaska’s landscape, the Caribou continues to be a well-loved ambassador of Alaska.)

First of all, let me be the first to say that I am in disagreement on principle with Kennedy's opposition to drilling in ANWR. Our current and future energy, economic, and defense security demands that we tap all available domestic sources of oil. But my point is, why did those two esteemed moonbat "perfessers" even waste their time protesting someone who was already consistently voting their way? But alas, dear readers, the "wisdom" of these moonbats was not lost on their charges:

Tuesday's demonstration drew several students from St. Cloud State. Song Vue, a senior, said she attended because she believes protecting the Arctic refuge is a critical issue. "I feel that it's important to keep the environment safe and not drill,"

Graduate student Laddi Makene (Laddi? I had a dog named Laddi) said the United States doesn't need oil from the refuge and should instead focus on alternative, sustainable forms of energy.

"You're going to destroy the environment. You're going to displace the people. You're going to pollute the area," Makene said. "It's only a three-month supply of oil, so you destroy the entire ecosystem for a three-month supply of oil" (the only thing missing in that mindless parroting is the phrase "Polly wanna cracker?").

Yes, these "perfessers" are making sure that our future is in good hands. Sleep well, dear readers. Sleep well.

Life in hell

Welcome to Annandale, Minnesota

Current 177.8 °F / 81.0 °C

High 177.8 °F / 81.0 °C

Low - 999.0 °F / 537.2 °C

Humidity 100%
Wind Speed 114mph / 183.4km/h 114.0mph
Pressure 30.25in / 1024.3hPa 30.25in /

Should we call FEMA now?

---

Refusing to fall on the sword Brown defends self..

From here:

WASHINGTON — Drawing fire from members of Congress over his efforts to coordinate the response and prepare adequately for Hurricane Katrina, former FEMA chief Michael Brown (search) told a House committee Tuesday that his biggest mistake was not realizing early enough that local and state governments in Louisiana were "dysfunctional."

A defiant Brown said he should have known two days before Katrina struck the Gulf Coast that preparations were not going well inside state and local agencies.

Brown vigorously defended himself and was quick to point out (rightfully so) the woefully inadequate local and state responses prior to and in the immediate aftermath of Katrina. Look, I know that Brown & FEMA weren't blameless in this situation; but I applaud the man for calling a spade a spade and not falling on the sword in deference to local and state officials, who have largely been in CYA mode ever since Katrina hit the Louisiana shoreline. Like I've been saying all along, rhetoric from Nagin and Blanco has largely been toned down as of late, because they know that any ensuing investigation resultant of their complaining will most certainly expose their own negligence and incompetence.

San Andreas Fault ...to get a makeover

Sacramento 9/27/2005 [c]2005 by the Associated Press


New Name for Infamous fault line


Due to increasing pressure by a coalition of groups headed by the ACLU, the California Legislature today overwhelmingly voted to change the name of the San Andreas Fault. ACLU Spokesperson, Meghann Mae-Norwalk-Slattery-Jensen, stated,

"This is a step in the right direction for our nation, as we believe it is a gross entanglement of Church and State to follow the traditions of the imperialist and oppressive Spanish missionaries who named cities and landmarks after dead white saints."

The bill to rename the fault passed the California House yesterday and is expected to glide through the Senate in the coming days.

Although California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has vowed to veto the bill, democrats in the legislature indicate that they have an overwhelming number of votes to override the veto.

In deference to the present political climate of the nation, a coalition of community groups, including moveon.org, the ACLU, representatives of the Congressional Black Caucus the Rainbow/Push Coalition, the Sierra Club, and the Louisiana Democrat Party overwhelmingly voted to change the name of the infamous fault line from the "San Andreas Fault" to "Bush's Fault."

The President was unavailable for comment. ###

This post brought to you by... the "religion of peace"

From prisoneralert.com:

Location: Indonesia
Arrested: May 2005
Days Imprisoned:

These three women, Dr. Rebekka , Mrs. Eti and Mrs. Ratna (L-R in photo) were arrested May 16, 2005, and charged under the Children Protection Act of 2002. Their trial began June 30th and ended September 1, 2005, when Indonesian judges sentenced the women to three years in prison plus a fine for allowing Muslim children to attend a Christian Sunday school program. According to Compass Direct News Service, Islamic extremists directed threats inside and outside of the courtroom during the trial. An observer who had attended most of the court sessions indicated there were nine trucks of protestors at this final hearing. These protestors brought with them a coffin to bury the accused if they were not found guilty.

The irony of this case is that the women launched the “Happy Sunday” children’s program in September of 2003, in response to a request by a local elementary school for assistance to meet legal requirements to comply with the National Education System Bill. Because of the popularity of this program with Christian students, some Muslim children wanted to attend. These Muslim children were only permitted to attend if they had their parent’s permission. Later some Muslim parents complained that a picnic held in Jakarta was a trick to Christianize their children while they were away from their village. Eventually their protests went to the Council for County Officers (Muspika). The local MUI (Indonesia Ulama Council) then urged that this problem be resolved by law, which led to accusing the three women of trying to Christianize Muslims.

Fast forward to this story:

Congress Urged to Recognize the Beginning of Ramadan
By Susan Jones
CNSNews.com Senior Editor
September 26, 2005

(CNSNews.com) - An Islamic advocacy group is urging American Muslims "and other people of conscience" to contact their elected representatives and urge them to sign a House resolution recognizing the upcoming fast of Ramadan -- and commending Muslims for their faith.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations calls the resolution an important tool for encouraging dialogue between Muslims and their elected officials, as well as enhancing understanding of the Islamic faith.

The resolution, which expresses the opinion of Congress, mentions threats and attacks directed at members of the Islamic faith since the 9/11 terror attacks.

So much for the Religion of Peace. CAIR, while never apologizing for 9/11, wants us all to let bygones be bygones, and embrace the tolerant "religion of peace." While Islam's own adherents want to literally stone three women who talked about Christianity to some of their kids who were voluntarily enrolled in that school by their parents!

My question is thus: When will the time finally come when someone of prominence develops the kahunas to point to Islam and declare that the mullah has no clothes?!?

Mother Moonbat gone wild...

Does she think that she's a dancer in a broadway production, or what? Sheehan was arrested today in another desperate publicity stunt as a means of prolonging her 15 minutes of fame. She was carried off, smiling, while fellow travellers were singing "The whole world is watching!" (Was that to the tune of, "You'll shoot your eye out" from the movie A Christmas Story?) --instead, perhaps the lyrics should have been, "The whole world is barfing!")

What is it with Sheehan? Of the nearly 2,000 sets of "gold star" military parents, why focus on this moonbat with an IQ of a bag of potatoes?

Certainly there must be a set of parents who are against the war and have a collective IQ a little higher than room temperature.

Could it be because she is one of the very few who meets the "Bash Bush at any cost" template, and that she is the "genius" of the entire anti-war crowd?


If that is indeed the case, then I guess it is good to let her be the "front man" for the movement, because her own words and actions more than adequately demonstrate the intellectual vacuousness and moral bankruptcy of their message.

If this is the best that the anti-war crowd have to offer, Bring it on!

An Intellect to be reckoned with!!

WARNING WARNING WARNING!!--DANGER WILL ROBINSON! GLOBAL WARMING ALERT!!!

Just who has issued this warning?

Was it NASA? Was it The National Weather Service? Was it the President? NO no, dear readers. This alert was brought to you by someone far more knowledgable.. someone far more in the know regarding meteorological conditions in the grand scheme of geoglobal history.

Yes, dear friends... we must take heed of this warning...


For this warning comes from none other than, the great, powerful, all knowing...


.

.


.


.

BARBRA STREISAND!!

"We are in a global warming emergency state, and these storms are going to become more frequent, more intense," Streisand urgently declares.

But Sawyer did not remind Streisand that a Category 5 hurricane struck the Bahamas with 160 mph winds -- when the singer was five years old, in 1947!

And when Streisand was 8 years old, a Cat 5 hurricane -- named "Dog" -- packing 185 mph churned-away in the Atlantic.

When she was 9, a Cat 5 storm named "Easy" ripped the seas with 160 mph sustained winds.

Streisand was 13 years old when "Janet" hit Mexico with 150 mph winds.

Streisand was celebrating her sweet sixteen as "Cleo" formed with 140 mph.

At 18, Streisand read news about "Donna" AND "Ethel" (funny, I remember them as "Fred" & "Ethel"--ed) -- both storms carried 140 mph winds and formed 9 days apart in 1960!

One year later, when Streisand was 19, it happened again: Two Category 5 storms scared the world: "Carla" and "Hattie!"

"Carla" maxed out at 175 mph winds the year Streisand made her television debut on "The Jack Paar Show."

read the rest here)

Damn the statistics I tell you!! When Barbra talks, you'd best listen! As a public service, The Ice Palace reminds all its readers to heed this intellectual gnat giant among giants. And while you're at it, listen to this guy and this guy and mother moonbat!! The very future of civilization depends on it, I tell you!!!

Now pardon me while I take my medicine and crawl into a nice comfy straitjacket. We now return you to our regularly scheduled programming.

Democrats and Minnesota

On Race to the Right today there was a discussion on the importance of the governor's race in Minnesota politics. Although Republicans have made significant gains in the last decade, the last election should serve as a wake up call that Minnesota is not yet a red state by any stretch of the imagination. If the democrats would start offering centrist candidates, or at least candidates who could do a convincing job at portraying themselves as centrists, Democrats would win. I would submit that the reason for the successes of the Republican party in Minnesota was the poor quality of democrat candidates. Specifically, the DFL has been offering candidates who have been on the extreme left, and who have made no attempt to move to the center. Lately the trend for the democrat party in general has been to move further to the left. It will portend favorably for Republican candidates should that trend continue. However, the task of turning Minnesota squarely into the Red category still remains formidable.

Eleven Reasons ... I should be invited to Race to the Right...

I listened to Race to the Right on this station today, where they were talking about candidates for the 6th Congressional District. Included in the show were such luminaries as AAA, Mitch and King. So I gave them a call when they were talking about Jay Esmay (a person I know very well). I was at a disadvantage during the call, since when they put me on the air, I was unable (due to some technical glitch or whatever) to hear what they were saying, so I punted (albeit not very admirably). Anyway, later in the show, when they talked about Jim Knoblach (a man with whom I'm also very familiar) I tried calling in again. Their excuse (okay, reason) for not letting me on was that it was policy to not let the same caller on twice within a show. Fair enough, but given they maybe had all of two or three callers the whole show (myself and one of the candidates included); I figured they could've let it slide. But given that was the rule, I wondered, why was I not invited on the show? It would have bypassed the "one-caller-once-a-show" rule, and would have provided some insight into two of the candidates who I know intimately, and everyone else on the show (admittedly) knew very little about. So, with deference to Sysiphus, and, as part of my crusade to rectify the situation, I offer my Top 11 reasons why I should be invited on Race to the Right:

11. King and Mitch already have their own shows.
10. I have a face for radio.
9. I live in St. Cloud
8. I know the the program director (I bring him Chicago Italian Beef & Sausage sandwiches--we're in like Flint).
7. I'm into politics (I'm a Republican delegate from the 6th Congressional District)
6. I can spell and pronounce "Banaian".
5. I'm part of the MOB (yeah, this one; and given that I'm Sicilian-Italian, you figure the rest-- but fuggetaboutit..)
4. I'm a better singer than King is.
3. I have more hair than Mitch.
2. AAA who???
1. I'm a large mammal, for cripes sake! (and I've been gaining weight).

Pigs reside on both sides of the aisle..

(click on the picture for a full size view)

One thing that can be said regarding both sides of the aisle-the era of big government is alive and well. Say what you want about the good things that President Bush has done; his spendthrift tendencies and drunken-sailor fiscal policies have always stuck in the craw of this conservative voter. The same can certainly be said about the holders of the purse strings--the Republican led congress, whose insatiable penchant for spending other people's money makes Teddy Kennedy look like Ebenezer Scrooge.

That's why I was heartened when I saw Truth Laid Bear start a movement that would hold our wayward bretheren's feet to the fire. The disheartening aspect, though, is that the only elected representative to actually commit to cut the pork (kind of) is none other than Nancy Pelosi. Heck, even our own fearless leader is delusional:

Fiscal conservatives were surprised to hear last week from House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) that all waste has been eliminated from the federal budget.(emphasis mine)

Now call me naive, but isn't this considered pork?
This spending spree needs to stop. I urge all to look here, and look up your elected representatives. If there is a "no committment" next to their name, give them a call and ask them what they are willing to cut. If they are still not willing to commit, ask them why, and report back to Truth Laid Bear.

It's about sometime someone holds these clowns accountable. I know we can do so at the ballot box, but a lot of damage can still be done between now and the next election. The time to act is now.

Of cats and dogs...

Is there something biblical about this?

Of Mice and Men ... scientists push the envelope..

From here:

Scientists have successfully transplanted human chromosomes into mice, a first that promises to transform medical research into the genetic causes of disease. The mice were genetically engineered to carry a copy of human chromosome 21, a string of about 250 genes. About one in a thousand people are born with an extra copy of the chromosome, a genetic hiccup that causes Down's syndrome.

Genetic studies of the mice will help scientists to nail down which genes give rise to medical conditions which are prevalent among people with Down's syndrome, such as impaired brain development, heart defects, behavioural abnormalities, Alzheimer's disease and leukaemia.

Medical researchers yesterday hailed the work as a "tour de force", but critics accused the team of pushing the boundaries of genetic manipulation too far and blurring the distinction of what was biologically human.

and,

But according to David King, of the pressure group Human Genetics Alert, the potential breakthrough comes at too high a cost. "Creating organisms with whole chromosomes from another species is genetic engineering taken to another level.

"Before, researchers have said they're not making big changes because they're only inserting the odd gene into animals. If you're talking about creating something with a whole human chromosome in it, you have to ask is this really a mouse any more? Is it starting to be a new species, a hybrid between a mouse and a human? If more chromosomes are put in, are we going to have to start giving these things pseudo human rights?"

...but...

Dr Tybulewicz added: "There's nothing more obviously humanlike about these mice than any others. If you were to see them, you'd not be able to tell they are different to a normal one."

But perhaps this notion of animal mixed with man isn't that far fetched after all. Like I always say, there's never anything new under the sun:

On butterflies and suffering..

Fr. Mike at Bending Yodi's Ear reminds us that God's ways are not our ways in this post.

I asked for Strength---
And "GOD" gave me Difficulties to make me strong.

I asked for Wisdom---And "GOD" gave me Problems to solve.

I asked for Prosperity--- And "GOD" gave me Brain and Brawn to work.

I asked for Courage---And "GOD" gave me Danger to overcome.

I asked for Love--- And "GOD" gave me Troubled people to help.

I asked for Favors---And "GOD" gave me Opportunities.

I received nothing I wanted. I received everything I needed.

Much wisdom in Fr. Mikes words--Read the whole thing here

Those who live by the sword...

If kids weren't involved I'd detect a sweet irony to this:

Nearly 100 Casualties at Gaza Hamas Rally
Friday, September 23, 2005

JEBALIYA, Gaza Strip — A pickup truck carrying masked Islamic militants and homemade rockets blew up at a Hamas (search) rally Friday, killing at least 10 Palestinians, including children, and wounding 85, hospital doctors and witnesses said.

Hamas blamed Israel (search), but the Israeli military denied involvement and the Palestinian Interior Ministry said the blast was set off by the mishandling of explosives.

Think maybe now they have a taste of what it's like when they send one of their own "suicide" bombers into a crowd of Israelis?

Yeah... that's about it..

From here:

The Upcoming Challenges in Iraq...

If you look to my blogroll at the left, one of my favorites is Iraq the Model, a blog kept by two Iraqi citizens. The upcoming elections to ratify their constitution appear to be a source of apprehension, but not for the reasons that you may suspect, or that you may have been spoonfed via the MSM. They are not afraid of terrorists; they are not afraid of democracy. Rather,

Amid these various conflicts and terror attacks the Iraqi citizen looks more confused; it's not like the time prior to the January elections when we were confident that the people were going to participate strongly and challenge terrorism and that was the biggest motive actually; that is to prove we want democracy and we're not afraid.
This time too we are not afraid of going out to cast our votes but the challenge is different; we are afraid that that we might make the wrong decision and frankly speaking, the past experience with this government has rooted this fear.

No one now can say for sure whether the constitution is going to be ratified or rejected because many people still can't decide if the draft is good or not. However I think the constitution cannot get much more than 50% of the votes, still there are no guarantees.

Some people say they'll be voting with "yes" because they want to defy terrorism that is trying to stop the democratic progress while others say they'll be definitely voting with "no" because the draft isn't even close to their aspirations. The street is actually divided over this issue and other than saying that we're most likely to see a wider turnout than the January elections, nothing is predictable.

Ronald Reagan's assertion of the universal human yearning for freedom and self-determination was not and is not now misplaced, especially with regard to Iraq. The challenge now before the Iraqis, understandably, will be to trust a free electoral process that until recently has been quite foreign to them. I personally have faith that their trust in such a system of self-determination will ultimately be justified, and that the sacrifices borne by both our soldiers and by the Iraqis themselves will prove fruitful.

Mr. President .... your legacy awaits..

After all the arguments regarding the meaning of "is"; after Whitewater, Filegate, Travelgate, Cattlegate, and more gates than you can wag a finger at; and yes, after your attempts at damage control; President Clinton, I hereby present you with your true legacy.

You must be proud!

Confessions of a dreamy-eyed teeny bopper

Read this. Be sure to have a barf bag at the ready.

Restoring my faith...err lack of it.

Just as yesterday I was praising Arlen Specter for shedding his RINO skin regarding Able Danger, The RINO's RINO has restored my faith as to his true stripes:

Specter and Reid encouraged the president to delay a second nomination, saying it would help senators to see Roberts settle in as chief justice before debating a second nominee.

Specter said O'Connor is prepared to continue on the bench until the Supreme Court's new term ends next June.

"It would be quite a sacrifice for her, but she's prepared to do it if she is asked," Specter told reporters at the White House after seeing the president. "By next June, we'll know a lot more about Judge Roberts ... than we do today."

What does Roberts' performance as Chief Justice on the Court have to do with O'Connor's replacement? In the not-so-distant past, a majority of our nation's electorate came out in force and increased a Republican majority in Congress and re-elected a Republican administration, largely because of what was at stake in the judiciary. Fed up with legislation emanating from the bench and rulings flying in the face of the sensibilities of mainstream America, a healthy majority of Americans opted for the party that was most likely to restore sanity and strict constructionism to the judiciary. So why the burning desire on Specter's part to continue to pine for a "balance" that only serves to ensure the pathological judicial mechanisms that have all but destroyed judicial reliance on the Constitution? One does not cure a dysfunctional system by ensuring that elements of that dysfunctionality remain. One cures it by eliminating those elements altogether. There is no honor in upholding "balance" or tradition when such a "balance" becomes counterproductive to the greater good. But being the consummate RINO that he is, I suppose it is hardly surprising for that concept to be lost on the likes of Senator Specter.

Able Danger--time to come clean!

I have often (justifiably) described Arlen Specter as an unabashed RINO. What I am reading with regard to his role in trying to get to the bottom of the Able Danger fiasco leaves me with no choice but to give him kudos:

WASHINGTON — Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (search) said Wednesday he wants answers from the Defense Department about Able Danger, a secret military unit that is said to have identified four of the Sept. 11 hijackers more than a year before the terrorist attacks.

Pentagon officials blocked five key witnesses from testifying in the Able Danger (search) hearings on Capitol Hill Wednesday, citing security concerns.

"I think the Department of Defense owes the American people an explanation about what went on here," Specter said. "The American people are entitled to some answers."

The testimony was expected to offer information on the secret military unit and its identification of Mohamed Atta (search) — the lead hijacker during the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer (search) said in written testimony through his attorney that the Pentagon refused to allow him to testify before the committee. His attorney, Mark Zaid, also said that the Pentagon prevented testimony from a defense contractor that he also represents.

Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, said that the Defense Department had a representative at the hearing and that it had provided sufficient information to committee members.

“I think there are aspects of this as a classified program that we have expressed some concerns with respect to the appropriateness of some things in an open hearing,” Whitman told reporters on Wednesday. “We are working very closely to provide all the information that [committee members] need to assess Able Danger.”

Zaid fielded questions from committee members on behalf of Shaffer and contractor John Smith. He testified that Able Danger, using data mining techniques, identified four of the terrorists who struck on Sept. 11, 2001.

Zaid said Shaffer would have testified about charts his team created dealing with Al Qaeda (search) and a grainy photo on file of Atta.

“Shaffer remembers it specifically because of the evil death look in Mohamad Atta’s eyes,” Zaid said.

Pentagon officials had acknowledged earlier this month that they had found three people who recall an intelligence chart identifying Atta as a terrorist prior to the Sept. 11 attacks.

Specter asked the official representing the Department of Defense at the hearing, William Dugan (search), the acting assistant to the secretary for intelligence oversight, if the department had any information about an Al Qaeda cell and Atta.

"I don't know," Dugan replied.

Specter asked Dugan to "find out the answers to those questions" relating to what the department knew about the workings of Able Danger.

Read the rest here. There is surprisingly little in the media regarding the proceedings of the day. Even The Captain is strangely silent. Considering how the personnel involved in blowing the whistle are being stifled in their attempts to testify, one would think there would be more of a hue and cry to uncover the truth, and that it would more than qualify as top-of-the fold news, even with Hurricane Rita bearing down:

But, in an 11th-hour decision that surprised and perplexed senators, the Defense Department kept five key witnesses from testifying at the hearing, citing concerns about classified information, Specter said.

There are many unanswered questions regarding the snafus that occurred and the resulting information that was whitewashed by the now discredited $15 million dollar 9-11 Commission, not to mention, according to Congressman Curt Weldon, the 2.5 terabytes of intelligence data regarding Al Qaeda that was destroyed without the knowledge of the commanding general to whom that data was to be given. This whole scenario reeks of major corruption and major CYA activity. However, it is my opinion that the genie has been let out of the bottle, and the cream (or in this case, scum) will rise to the top. Aside from the Soviet-style tactics being utilized in what appears to be an unabashed coverup, this information is just too damned important to keep under wraps, for the consequences of doing so mean the distinct possibility of history repeating itself. Big Brother CYA tactics have never had a place, nor will ever have a place in a government of the people, by the people and for the people.

Time to call your senators and representatives and chew them some new assholes until the truth regarding this matter is finally brought to the fore. When your best friends in such a grave matter are Arlen Specter and Joe Biden, something is terribly amiss.

See what happens when you don't sign Kyoto??

Everybody knows that global warming is solely due to the fact that Bush (and Clinton before him) refused to sign this treaty. And now it's getting so bad, in fact, that it's starting to affect our "sister planets":

"And for three Mars summers in a row, deposits of frozen carbon dioxide near Mars' south pole have shrunk from the previous year's size, suggesting a climate change in progress."

Global warming on Mars? Those evil SUVs and "greenhouse emissions" here on earth must be having a larger impact than we thought!

For heaven's sake--it couldn't be because of this. Could it?
(h/t to Center Punch from Unto The Breach.)

...and on the saner side

This post On Michelle Malkin's blog suggests that the design for the Flight 93 memorial will be re-done, though specific designs aren't yet clear. Maybe it'll turn into a soccer-field sized prayer rug? (H/T to Christian Persecution Blog).

What wonders to perform

Modern psychiatry has cured John Hinkley. That's right, Jodi Foster's self-proclaimed sweetheart and Ronald Reagan's would-be assassin has been cured.

John Hinckley's relationships with women are normal, two of his therapists testified Tuesday, disagreeing with suggestions by government attorneys that the presidential assailant is not yet ready for lengthy visits to his parents' home in Virginia.

Hinckley has no symptoms of mental illness and trips would be good therapy, Dr. Sidney Binks testified in federal court. A judge is considering whether to allow Hinckley overnight stays for several days at a time at his parents' home in Williamsburg.

Now why can't modern psychiatry do anything about these moonbats?

Who needs Axis Sally.... or Hanoi Jane?

The latest cover of Time:

What is up with these screwball clowns? Do they not think that Joe Terrorist in Iraq will pick up this issue? Do they not think that Joe Terrorist will gain confidence to go an extra mile for the team, knowing that we are "so close to defeat??" Will this give them the gumption to put down yet another IED "for the gipper"?

Not only does the traitorous MSM carry the water for democrats, they go so far as to carry the water for our mortal enemies in their quest to attempt to ensure a political defeat for Bush. Damn the body bags.

I think it's high time we start applying this law. Question is, does anyone have the balls to do it?

***UPDATE**** Peace Like a River has this good reminder regarding "failures" in Iraq. Osama's failures, that is.

A different kind of pledge..

Jeff Kouba has an interesting version on the pledge that I think all moonbats could embrace. An interesting read.

I'd continue to fisk this moonbat but good

But alas, there's just no sport in it. Her own words do the fisking quite nicely. Pitiful slob.

With Great Pride ... my son's graduation from AIT

I was most humbled by my son's choice to volunteer to serve during wartime. He's home for a few weeks now, then it's off to Missouri, then to California, then off to Kuwait and Iraq. May God be with him. I know Cindy Sheehan won't.

ACLU bless Amerika... the Secular Taliban wins..

We have crossed the divide. We are now officially an atheist state.

U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton ruled that the pledge's reference to one nation "under God" violates school children's right to be "free from a coercive requirement to affirm God."

Damn those idiots!!! I for one am tired of the friggin' tail wagging the dog. What about freedom from the coercive requirement to accept secular humanism hook line and sinker? What about freedom from the coercement of the nanny state that thinks itself more qualified to raise our children than our children's parents? What about the nanny state that forces us to accept things atithetical to our religious beliefs and sensibilities? It is time that we take our nation back from these absolute morons, morons whose only goal in life is to create the Statist states of Amerika, where the state religion is that of the liberal dogma we all know as secular humanism. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that our Founders are spinning in their graves so fast that their resultant collective energy could keep the Eastern Seaboard in power for the next 400 years. And wouldn't you know that this is brought to you by a pinko judge in that bastion of mainstream political thought known as San Francisco. You know, at times like these I'm ripped apart between the conflicting feelings of praying for Newdow and company on one hand and wishing that they would burn in hell on the other.

The real troubles in New Orleans.. and elsewhere

Now that the rebuilding appears to be in full swing in New Orleans, aside from strengthening the dykes and reviewing evacuation plans, perhaps something underlying, yet even more dire needs to be addressed. That of the welfare state entitlement mentality that has led to one of the most embarrassing displays of behavior by American citizens in not-so-recent memory. Since 1964, the welfare state, which has always been euphamised as "a hand up" has become "a hand out". It has created a dependency class and a cycle in which lives are not improved, and people continue to live in squalor, despite the promises of LBJ's "War on Poverty" and "The Great Society." Housing projects sprang up where people were packed in like sardines (growing up in Chicago, I witnessed the squalor first hand). Fathers were encouraged not to be in the home, because families got more benefits if a working father was not around. A glass ceiling; no a lead ceiling was placed over these people, and they were told time and time again that they had no chance of living, much less succeeding, without the scraps thrown to them by their elected limousine liberal plantation barons, all the while being promised that the libs they elect would, in time, be able to "stick it to the man." No offerings of hope. Just an offer of confiscation of the wealthy. Any who did rise from the squalor to participate in the entrepreneurial spirit of the greater society were derided as "Uncle Toms;" not really black, etc. As I often say, "The Great Society" has been anything but. I can say with confidence that our welfare-state created cycle of dependency has been the single largest crime against humanity in our nation's history after slavery. And at least slavery had an end.

You think it's cause of crusty thongs?....Republican vs. Democrat Women..

Double click to see full size... (h/t Wog's Blog)

Diggin' for Dirt ...come hell or high water...

This from Newsbusters (click to enlarge):




h/t to Doug.

Blogging will be sparse, if not nonexistent... for the next few days..

I'll be going here to see my son, Doug graduate from Advanced Infantry Training. He'll be coming home for a few weeks, after which it's off to Missouri for a month, back home for a month, then off to California and finally to Iraq by March, for what could be a year and a half stint. I'm extremely proud of Doug's committment to our security and to his country. Don't know if I'll be able to blog between now and Sunday. Have a good weekend!

Something to keep you entertained for hours (if you're easily entertained)

Click here and start moving the cursor around. (h/t to TenPacks from Unto the Breach.

Thanks, LBJ. What a legacy

Thank you, LBJ.. Your "Great Society" has been anything but. Thanks to your "vision" and its accompanying dumbing down of the American populace to the lowest common denominator, and raising a whole generation comprised of the "entitlement mentality" we have mental giants dolts like this to contend with:

(from Fox News): UPDATE: Transcript in extended entry. (via Fumare)

ALICIA ACUNA: The FEMA cards were supposed to be $2,000 apiece, but you received –

UM: Two thousand dollars. I only rec–

AA: — a FEMA card –

UM: –received seven hundred dollars, and they cut my card off.

AA: And when you asked them why that was what were you told?

UM: The don’t know…nobody knows….

AA: Okay, thank you very much.

UM: Do you know?

AA: I do not know, no.

UM: Okay, well find out for me and let me and you tell me.

[At this point, the interview (should have) ended, and Acuna wrapped up her summary of the frustrated Astrodome residents. But then Sellers did the unthinkable, in light of the previous f-bomb: he asked Acuna to go back to Unidentified Man and “ask him what he wants…what is he looking for?”]

AA: Uh, the anchor in New York would like to know — his name is Bob — he would like to know what it is that you would like to happen. What do you want?

UM: What I would like to happen? I would like for them to give us at least $20,000 apiece [motions to girl on his arm], so we can, you know, get our life together, you know. We didn’t ask to come on that that that bus slave…it’s like a slave ship, it’s like, you know, back in history, you know, they put us on a slave ship, they separated us from our family, they did it — You know, this is just modern day slavery, you know? Just give us what the f**k we deserve….

BOB SELLERS: Wh-wh-wh-whoa, woah…hold on. Hold on. That- that’s, that’s enough. I mean you’ve made your point, sir. We thank you very much for being with us, but Alicia–

UM: [Still talking off-camera] It’s just like a slave ship….

BS: We, we know there’s frustration there, and a lot of these folks have gone through so much, and we don’t want to minimize, or trivialize that. But, uh, we still have certain responsibility here in what we’re doing as far as broadcasting so…Alicia, do you have any final words? Okay, well we lost Alicia….

(check out the story along with the video at Political Teen.

More things that make you go barf

Little Green Footballs has this post:

Flight 93 Outrage

Is this a coincidence, an example of amazing cluelessness, or something more deliberate?

The planned Flight 93 memorial in Pennsylvania resembles a giant Islamic Red CrescentUPDATE at 9/9/05 7:20:02 am:

Zombie has more:

UPDATE at 9/9/05 7:44:53 am:

Note the small grove of trees in exactly the same position as the star in the Islamic star and crescent.

UPDATE at 9/9/05 8:26:01 am:

The choice of a red crescent was indeed deliberate; the memorial is titled “Crescent of Embrace.”

Thing about this is, a crescent is in no way, shape or form an American symbol.

To accept this as a "honest mistake", one would then have to suspend belief to think that the architect, as well as those members of the approving committee were totally ignorant of the crescent's role as a symbol of the Islamic culture. I'm not ready to give them that large of a benefit of a doubt. To me, this was nothing more than a move toward "appeasement", or a move toward "let's try to understand and get along with the Muslims." I wouldn't be surprised for one moment if CAIR had its grubby little fingers in the whole mess. From here:

The idea of the Crescent of Embrace, Murdoch said, is to be a gesture of healing and bonding. The crescent marks the edge of the land, which will remain largely untouched.

Healing and bonding with whom?

A nastygram to NWA after being caught in Voice Mail Hell..

Your voice directory system, sirs/madames, leaves much to be desired. I wanted to check on seating arrangments, as the seats that I had originally booked were not the ones I ended up with. Instead, I ended up in voice mail hell where I was subjected to go through flight times and itineraries, which was a total waste of time (and money, as time IS money). As a helpful suggestion, try not to insult your customers' intelligence by forcing them to go through information that they may not want or need, before being transferred to someone who can truly answer their question. Outside of not angering your customers to the point of wanting to reach through the telephone to strangle the computer, by allowing them the option to skip past unwanted information you may just find that you will have happier customers who engage in repeat business with NWA. If you do not change this insidious electronic bureaucratic torture chamber, and there are other non-masochistic customers such as myself, who abhorr wasting time in voice-mail hell, the opposite may indeed be the case. Good Day, sirs!

For those who think it's not that bad...

From here:

A letter from a physician on the front lines at New Orleans airport:

Hemant H. Vankawala, M.D. greetings from the new orleans airport.

for those of you who dont know i am a member of the texas-4 disaster
medical assistence team (DMAT). we are a part of FEMA. i joined a
couple of months ago and my team was activated 11 days ago. for the
past 8 days i have been living and working at the new orleans airport
delivering medical care to the katrina hurricane survirors.

let me start by saying that i am safe and after a very rough first
week am now better rested and fed.

out team was the first to arrive at the airport and set up our field hospital. we watched our population grow from 30 dmat personal taking care of 6 patients and 2 security guards well to around 10,000 people in the first 15 hours. these people had had no food or water or security for several days and were tired, furstrated, sick, wet,and heart broken. people were brought in by trucks, busses, ambulances, school busses, cars, and helicopters.

we recieved patients from hospitals, schools, homes, the entire remaining population of new orleans funneled through our doors. our little civilian team along with a couple of other dmat teams set up and ran THE biggest evacuation this country has ever seen.

the numbers are absolutely staggering.

in hind site its seems silly that a bunch of civilian yahoo's came in and took over the airport and had it up and running exceeding its normal operating load of passengers with an untrained skeleton crew and generator partial power. but we did what we had to do and i think we did it well.

Our team has been working the flight line off loading helo's. overnight we turned new orleans airport into the busiest helicopter base in the entire world. at any given time there were at least 8-10 helo's off loading on the tarmac, filled with 10-40 survivors at a time, with 10 circling to land, it was a non-stop never ending process 24 hour a day operation. the cnn footage does not even begin to do it justice. the roar of rotar blades, the smell of jet A and the thousands of eyes looking at us for answers, for hope. our busiest day we off loaded just under 15,000 patients by air and ground. at that time we had about 30 medical providers and 100 ancillary staff. ALL we could do was provide the barest ammount of comfort care. we watched many, many people die. we practiced medical traige at its most basic, black tagging the sickest people and culling them from the masses so that they could die in a separate area. i can not even begin to describe to transformation in my own sensibilities from my normal practice of medicine to the reality of the operation here. we were SO short on wheel chairs and litters we had to stack patients in airport chairs and lay them on the floor. they reamined there for hours too tired to be frigthened, too weak to be care about their urine and stool soaked clothing, to desperate to even ask what was going to happend next. imaging trading your single patient use latex gloves for a pair of thick leather work gloves that never came off your hands and you can begin to imagin what it was like.

we did not practice medicine.

there was nothing sexy or glamerous or routine about what we did we moved hundreds of patients an hour, thousands of patients a day off the flight line and into the terminal and baggage area patients were loaded onto baggage carts and trucked to the baggage area, like, well, baggage. and there was no time to talk, no time to cry, no time to think, because they kept on comming. our only salvation was when the beurocratic washington machine was able to ramp up and stream line the exodus of patients out of here.

our team work a couple of shifts in the medcal tent as well. imagine people so despeate, so sick, so like the 5-10 "true" emergencies you may get on a shift comming through the door non stop that is all that you take care of. no imagine having not beds, no O2, no nothing except some nitro, aspirin and all the good intentions in the world. we did everything from delivering babies to simply providing morphine
and a blanket to septic and critical patients and allowing them to die.

during the days that it took for that exodue to occur, we filled the airport to its bursting point. there was a time when there were 16,000 angry, tired, frustrated people here, there were stabbings, rapes, and people on the verge of mobbing. the flight line, lined with 2 parallel rows of dauphins, sea kings, hueys, chinooks and
every other kind of helocopter imanigable, was a dangerous place. but we were much more frightened when ever we entered the sea of displaced humanity that had filled every nook and cranny of the airport. only now that the thousands of survivors had been evacuated, and the floors soaked in bleach, the putrid air allowed to exchange for fresh, the number or soldiers allowed to outnumber the patients, that we feel safe; i have meet so many people while down here. people who were at ground zero at 9-11, people who have done tusanmi relief, tours in iraq and every one of them has said this is the worst thing they have ever seen. its unaminous and these are some battle worn veterans of every kind of disaster you can imagine.

watching the new reports trickle back to us has been frustrating and heart braking. there is NOTHING anyone could have done to prepare for this. it was TOO huge, even now its so big its almost impossible to comprehend. the leaders needed to see first hand the damage but did not because their safety could be guarenteed. its a war zone in new orleans. it is covered in raw sewage with no infrastructure. every engineer i have spoken with believes that most of the city will have to be plowed into fields and that rebuilding what is left will take decades. it will NEVER be the same. never. ever.

for those of you who want to help the next step is to help those who arrive in your local area. the only real medcial care these survivors will recieve is once they land in safe, clean area far from here. for the 50,000 people we ran through this airport over the last couple of days, if they were able to survive and make it somewhere else, their care will begin only when providers in dallas and houston and chicago and baton rouge (etc) volunteer at the shelters and provide care. and yes there are many, many more on their way

many of the sickest simply died while here at the airport, many have been stressed beyond measure and will die shortly even though they were evacuated. if you are not medcial then go the shelters, hold hands, give hugs and prayers. if nothing else it will remind you how much you have and how grateful we all should be. these people have nothing. not only have they lost their material posessions and homes, many
have lost their children, spouses, parents, arms, legs, vision, everything that is important.

talk to these survivors, hear their stories and what they have been through, look into their eyes you will never think of america the same way you will never look at your family the same way you will never look at your home the same way and i promise it will forever change the way you practice medicine

many, many stories to tell when i get back looking forward to seeing you all again. we are VERY safe down here (now thank god) and we shall be home soon

hemant vankawala
Hemant H. Vankawala, M.D.
and do not deem anything unworthy of consideration,
for there is no man that does not have his hour
and no thing that does not have its place."
--Pirkei Avot, chapter 4, section 3

(h/t to COG from Unto the Breach.