Saturday, March 31, 2007

Vacation

Ok, so I'm 'at the beach' for vaction :)

Last night we went to Live Bait to eat (appetizers) and drink, then left there for a trip to V.I.P. VIP basically blew so we went back to LB II (the dance-club next to the eats) and drank some more. Most everyone got toasted.

Today went to the Sausage Festival in Elberta. Big beer tent, lots of crafts, etc. Of course, it rained but not a bad stop.

Tonight we are going somewhere (anywhere) that has pool tables and of course some more drinking. Tomorrow I'll stop by Perdido Beach and see the resort so I can actually talk about it :)

(Karen, nevermind what I said last night; hope it all works out for you)

ps: James (Nourishing Obscurity): Nothing seems to be wrong with blogger for me ;p

pss: Thai, it's a good thing I don't pay you (heh)

Friday, March 30, 2007

Out of Town

Going to the beach this weekend. If anyone is around the Foley/Orange Beach area, leave me a note and we'll try to hook up and have a drink :)

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Endorsement

I havn't endorsed a Republican candidate yet (of course they don't care who I endorse) because they all have MAJOR flaws. Now it's time to get behind someone who may not even run.

Fred Thompson is a true American statesman and has the experience that matters.

Fred is a real conservative. From tax cuts, to cleaning up government, to his vital role in the confirmation of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, Fred Thompson has a record of fighting for conservative values.

Fred has the knowledge and expertise on the issues that matter most in today's world.

Fred Thompson, like Ronald Reagan, has the ability to bring conservative principles to the Oval Office, communicate to Americans, and bring our Nation together.
So I'm throwing my hat in for Fred (if he runs) and will back him all the way to the White House. (the draft Fred website is here)
__________
Leadership for the future

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Dems vote for surrender next year

In a surprise move (/sarc) the new Democrat(ic) majority touted their new plan for surrender. Taking an Emergency spending bill and adding enough pork to buy votes of more reluctant members.
Democrats tout plan to bring troops home

1 hour, 19 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - The Democrats' plan to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq next year responds to voters' demand for change, New Hampshire Rep. Paul Hodes (news, bio, voting record) said Saturday.

Hodes and other House Democrats on Friday pushed through a rebuke of President Bush and the war in Iraq. Bush promised a veto of the spending bill, which demands combat operations end before September 2008 — and perhaps earlier.

"With our vote this week, we're helping our troops, protecting our veterans, and fighting to end the waste, fraud and abuse," said Hodes, delivering the Democrats' weekly radio address. "After four years of a failed policy, Democrats are insisting on a new direction in Iraq and a real plan that holds the Iraqi people accountable for their own country." (link) {emph. mine-LN}


I love the irony in a bill with 21 million in pork touting to end waste, fraud and abuse. The democrats have no spine, if they really want to respond to the voters' 'mandate' then they should pull funding now and end the war (a power they have); instead they think that might be a bad political move (how could they think that if they think the voters told them too?). Instead of focusing on non-binding resolutions and pork-filled funding resolutions, they should just do what the voters told them to.

Of course, the polls tell them what to do, every day. If the polls tell them to a non-binding resolution will be good, that's what they will do. If the polls said the war was a good thing, Pelosi would have a statement about the success of the surge. Hopefully before '08 these wind-blown politicians will be caught up in a tornado.
__________
Feckle thy name is Democrat

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Another Internet Quiz

From Ruthie via Blogthings: How Liberal or Conservative are you?
















Your Political Profile:


Overall: 85% Conservative, 15% Liberal
Social Issues: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal
Personal Responsibility: 75% Conservative, 25% Liberal
Fiscal Issues: 75% Conservative, 25% Liberal


Never would have guessed. Of course with a minimum of questions, you can easily guess what it will say. Fun, but shouldn't be taken seriously (even when right).

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

A Few Random Thoughts to Pass the Time

So this post will contain a few items that are relatively unrelated. These are mostly meant to highlight items in the news or organizations I feel deserve to be recognized.

I've been holding onto this next story since October and have searched in vain to find it and finally found it hidden in a folder on a spare laptop I was using then.

It is about an Aleutian tribe telling Hugo Chavez (the South American version of Fidel Castro but with Oil) to go to hell because of his remarks at the UN comparing Bush to the Devil...

From the Associated Press (Oct. 2006)

"The Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association, a nonprofit organization that represents native Aleuts in Alaska, has rejected lower cost heating oil from Venezuela because of Hugo Chavez's remarks at the UN. These are among the poorest people in the entire state of Alaska and they pay some of the highest oil prices because of the high cost of transportation. Native villagers are refusing free heating oil from Venezuela, on the patriotic principle that no foreigner has the right to call their president 'the devil'"


Many Aleut communities are poor, so this was a show of real patriotism — putting country before self. This is something to remember the next time you see those insipid Citgo free-heating-oil commercials on TV.

I urge you to send donations to this community when you can (yes I know its late for this past winter but you could do this on a yearly basis if you'd like making it a annual reminder that there are true patriots in our midst);

Donations to help the villages affected can be made at a Key Bank account titled:
" Unangan Energy Assistance Fund" C/O Key Bank # 729681009001
Donations can be made at any Key Bank Branch Nationwide or Can be mailed to:

Unangan Energy Assistance Fund
c/o Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association
201 East Third Avenue
Anchorage , Alaska 99501

or

Unangan Energy Assistance Fund
c/o Key Bank
P.O. Box 110420
Anchorage , AK 99510

Donations are tax deductible as a contribution to a 501 c 3 Not For Profit TIN # 92-0073013

{heh, kind of ironic that the transport costs of oil in Alaska are so high considering the oil in Alaska - LN}

======================================================================

Ok now my next point.

Somewhere in the world a soldier sleeps far away from his home. He is sleeping in his bunk/foxhole/firing position far away from the comfy beds that we go to everynight after watching hours upon hours of TV and gorging on instant gratification entertainment.

What these soldiers could use is someone writing to them and sending them "care packages". You don't need to know the soldier... in fact you don't even have to already know how to get the letters and packages to them.

All you need to do is go to this website:

The website explains its mission thusly;

Sergeant Brian Horn from LaPlata, Maryland, an Army Infantry Soldier with the 173rd Airborne Brigade was in the Kirkuk area of Iraq when he started the idea of Any Soldier® to help care for his soldiers. He agreed to distribute packages that came to him with "Attn: Any Soldier" in his address to soldiers who didn't get mail.
Brian later completed a tour in Afghanistan and is now home, but AnySoldier.com continues larger then ever.
Any Soldier Inc. started in August 2003 as a simple family effort to help the soldiers in one Army unit, thus our name. Due to overwhelming requests, on 1 January 2004 the Any Soldier® effort was expanded to include any member, of any of the Armed Forces in harms way


My brother set himself up to receive the packages for the guys in his unit. His unit then received alot of these packages and letters (along with the ones I and the other family members sent to them). My brother and his buddies tell me that these packages really mean the world to the soldiers who "walk the wall", keeping us safe from harm.

The creator of AnySoldier gives us the same insight with this quote'

"I couldn't be any more proud to have been apart of such an honorable organization as AnySoldier.com. This is priceless, and I would like to thank all of you who entrusted me to be your contact. To have been able to distribute the mail personally as a contact to soldiers who get next to no mail at all and for that brief moment see the look of hope in their faces of good things to come. The hope that somebody out there does care. That somebody does in fact love them as they deservingly should be loved. The hope that some day their involvement in the fight on terror was to preserve those that believed in them so much through and through, until their fight was done. We fight so that maybe, just maybe your grandchildren won't have to.
Pray for us in all that we do."
Sergeant Brian Horn
Afghanistan, Nov 2005


Please go and participate in this program. It really takes very little time out of your day and makes a monumental impact on the lives of our servicemembers.

Another such program is also found here;

=================================================

"Well Thai" -you'll say- "what about the soldiers who come home and are wounded and are bieng cared for?" {careful speaking to yourself like that Thai :) saw Hoyo said to tell you hi -LN}
Good question my friend...

For that there is my next organization;

Aleethia

In DC there are Walter Reed Army Medical Center and National Naval Medical Center that treat wounded soldiers (I have previously mentioned that my brother was being treated at Walter Reed). Aleethia seeks to help ease the burden of recuperation at these hospitals by giving them time away from the hospitals themselves and getting them out to the "real world".

Aleethia's mission is as follows;

Supporting Those Who Serve

The mission of the Aleethia Foundation is to support the newly injured troops with short-term therapeutic recreation. The doctors have determined that it is beneficial for the newly injured troops to get out of the hospital environment occasionally. Our mission is to help them get out for meals, movies, sightseeing, and visits to interesting sites.

Our main focus is the Friday Night Dinners for the wounded troops from Walter Reed Army Medical Center and National Naval Medical Center


What are the Friday Night Dinners?

They are dinners at Fran O'Briens Stadium Steakhouse that are donated to the troops as a measure of saying "Thank You".

Here's how Aleethia began and has evolved;

How The Aleethia Foundation Began

The Aleethia Foundation was started to provide a method of tax-deductible contributions to fund Friday Night Dinners at Fran O’Brien’s Stadium Steakhouse. In the process of providing the dinners, we found some of the troops in need of small financial grants ($1,500 to $2,500) to bridge different financial situations. We then expanded our mission to providing as many of these small grants as we could. We also found a need to do more than just the dinners, so we started supplying other short-term recreational activities such as siteseeing drives, trips to movies, and smaller dinner situations.

We are a small group of volunteers. There is no paid staff and no overhead. We spend all collected money on the troops.


Please go to the site and see what you can do to assist them either by donating money or your time. I guarantee it will be worth it to the organization, to you and most of all, to the soldiers.

=========================================================

Last but not least...another organization helping soldiers and their families.

Each year there is a fundraiser for Fisher HouseTM

What is Fisher HouseTM? Well... I know what it is...but I'll let Fisher HouseTM explain who they are to you instead.

The Fisher House™ program is a unique private-public partnership that supports America's military in their time of need. The program recognizes the special sacrifices of our men and women in uniform and the hardships of military service by meeting a humanitarian need beyond that normally provided by the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs.

Because members of the military and their families are stationed worldwide and must often travel great distances for specialized medical care, Fisher House™ Foundation donates "comfort homes," built on the grounds of major military and VA medical centers. These homes enable family members to be close to a loved one at the most stressful times - during the hospitalization for an unexpected illness, disease, or injury.

There is at least one Fisher House™ at every major military medical center to assist families in need and to ensure that they are provided with the comforts of home in a supportive environment. Annually, the Fisher House™ program serves more than 8,500 families, and have made available more than two million days of lodging to family members since the program originated in 1990. Based on a comparison of fees at a Fisher House™ (the average charge is less than $10 per family per day, with many locations offering rooms at no cost) with commercial lodging facilities in the same area, it is estimated that families have saved more than $60 million by staying at a Fisher House™ since the program began.

In addition to constructing new houses, Fisher House™ Foundation continues to support existing Fisher Houses™ and help individual military families in need. Families and friends of patients at any of the military's hospitals can now receive up-to-the-minute reports on a loved one by going to the patient's own customized web page, thanks to new services provided through CaringBridge. We are also proud to administer and sponsor Scholarships for Military Children, the Hero Miles program, and co-sponsor the Newman's Own Award.


As you can see, Fisher HouseTM fills a vital role in the recovery of wounded troops as well as accomodations for their families who stay with them during recovery. Please go to their site and participate as much as you can (either via donation of money /services or time).



Ok ... I'll return you to your normal schedule of talking about the issues. I just wanted to highlight a few organizations that really deserve the recognition.

The Copperheads - Lincolns opponents in the North

Ok - since doubt has been shed on the Democrats' opposition to the US Civil War I though I'd post again with this.

Go here and get this book.

It is titled : Copperheads - The Rise and Fall of Lincoln's Opponents in the North

It is written by historian Jennifer Weber. In this book Ms. Weber identifies the “Peace Democrats,” who were the precursors to the Sheehan/Fondas of today.

MacKubin Thomas Owens has a great article on this book at National Review Online.

Please go here and read it for yourself;

A few quotes from both the article and the book...

Owens writes;

In contradistinction to the claims of many earlier historians, Weber argues persuasively that the Northern anti-war movement was far from a peripheral phenomenon. Disaffection with the war in the North was widespread and the influence of the Peace Democrats on the Democratic party was substantial. During the election of 1864, the Copperheads wrote the platform of the Democratic party, and one of their own, Rep. George H. Pendleton of Ohio, was the party’s candidate for vice president. Until Farragut’s victory at Mobile Bay, Sherman’s capture of Atlanta, and Sheridan’s success in driving the Confederates from the Shenandoah Valley in the late summer and fall of 1864, hostility toward the war was so profound in the North that Lincoln believed he would lose the election.


Sound familiar?

It gets worse... Owens writes;

The fact is that many Union soldiers came to despise the Copperheads more than they disdained the Rebels. In the words of an assistant surgeon of an Iowa regiment, “it is a common saying here that if we are whipped, it will be by Northern votes, not by Southern bullets. The army regard the result of the late [fall 1862] elections as at least prolonging the war.”

Weber quotes the response of a group of Indiana soldiers to letters from Copperhead “friends” back home:

Your letter shows you to be a cowardly traitor. No traitor can be my friend; if you cannot renounce your allegiance to the Copperhead scoundrels and own your allegiance to the Government which has always protected you, you are my enemy, and I wish you were in the ranks of my open, avowed, and manly enemies, that I might put a ball through your black heart, and send your soul to the Arch Rebel himself.



I'll add a final quote from Owens for good measure...

For instance, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts and Rep. Charles Rangel have suggested that soldiers fighting in Iraq are there because they are not smart enough to do anything else. Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois has suggested a similarity between the conduct of U.S. troops in Iraq and that of Nazi soldiers in World War II. His Illinois colleagues, Sen. Barack Obama, claimed that the lives of soldiers lost in Iraq were “wasted.” And recently William Arkin, a military analyst writing online for the Washington Post, said of American soldiers that they are “mercenaries” who had little business taking critics of the war to task.

The Copperheads often abandoned all decency in their pursuit of American defeat in the Civil War. One Connecticut Copperhead told his neighbors that he hoped that all the men who went to fight for the Union cause would “leave their Bones to Bleach on the soil” of the South. The heirs of the Copperheads in today’s Democratic party are animated by the same perverted spirit with regard to the war in Iraq. Nothing captures the essence of today’s depraved Copperhead perspective better than the following e-mail, which unfortunately is only one example of the sort of communication I have received all too often in response to articles of mine over the past few months;

Dear Mr. Owens

You write, "It is hard to conduct military operations when a chorus of eunuchs is describing every action we take as a violation of everything that America stands for, a quagmire in which we are doomed to failure, and a waste of American lives."

But Mr. Owens, I believe that those three beliefs are true. On what grounds can I be barred from speaking them in public? Because speaking them will undermine American goals in Iraq? Bless you, sir, that's what I want to do in the first place. I am confident that U.S. forces will be driven from Iraq, and for that reason I am rather enjoying the war.

But doesn't hoping that American forces are driven from Iraq necessarily mean hoping that Americans soldiers will be killed there? Yes it does. Your soldiers are just a bunch of poor, dumb suckers that have been swindled out of their right to choose between good and evil. Quite a few of them are or will be swindled out of their eyes, legs, arms and lives. I didn't swindle them. President Bush did. If you're going to blame me for cheering their misery, what must you do to President Bush, whose policies are the cause of that misery?




Sounds like the Copperheads are alive and well today...doesn't it?

As for the book... I'm ordering it tomorrow.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Traitors !!! or Misguided???

I think I'm just about done with;

1.) liberals complaining that the Right is questioning their Patriotism when it comes to the War and combating Terrorism.

2.) people on the Right reflexively stating that we're not questioning their Patriotism, we're questioning their judgement.

Now, by-and-large I really do try to question the person's judgement instead of their underlying motives.

BUT ...

I think the past year (and recent events such as this weekend) have gradually started pushing me to question their Patriotism ( and to hell with their judgement) !!!

Case in point... Rosie O' Donnell

Rosie has been out there with many recent statements.

Here she laments Khalid Sheikh Muhammed (KSM) being robbed of his "humanity"

Check out HotAir's recap on this and her distortions.

She went nuclear on Elizabeth Hasselbeck because she (Hasslebeck) called KSM a "terrorist,".

Rosie O'Donnell said, and I quote...

"Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah! You're going to rob him of his humanity now. You want to rob him of his humanity by calling him a terrorist."


Hmmm...the guy who planned the '93 WTC bombing and 9/11 - as well as Jose Padilla's mission - which all resulted in ( or attempted to result in) the deaths of thousands of innocent people (each of whom was robbed of more than just their "humanity"), is somehow just some innocent guy who was walking down Rodeo Drive and snatched up and "robbed of his humanity"?

Is she serious?? If it were left to just this comment I'd state that she was a few sandwiches short of a picnic.

In any other war these non-uniformed combatants would've been lined up and shot right there on the battlefield. For some reason Rosie thinks we should treat them like college students playing a prank instead of real killers trying to annihilate a nation.

But it gets better...

Apparently Rosie thinks 9/11 was an "inside job"...

So - its not a big leap to see where she's going with this. Apparently Pres. Bush ordered 9/11 in order to destroy WTC 7 and the files concerning Enron and WorldCom but to cover it up, we had to destroy the twin towers too.

Forget the fact that its impossible for 9/11 to be an inside job. Apparently her Bush-hatred has rendered her delusional. Or is she??

So - she thinks Bush ordered 9/11 and thinks we should be playing patty-cake with terrorists.

She has made repeated statements that Christianity is more dangerous than radical Islam.

She has repeatedly bad-mouthed this country in its war on terror even though, should we succumb to jihad, she'd be one of the first people executed by Al-Qaeda (for being homosexual).

Think I should still just be questioning her judgement?

I don't ... she is being politically calculating in her statements.

I no longer question her judgement. I am here and now...

Questioning her Patriotism.

You (dear reader) can do as you like. But I will no longer play the aforementioned "patriotism game" with Rosie.

Want some more patriots to fawn over?

Ok...

There was a recent anti-war protest in D.C. this weekend. The moonbats had planned to start at the Vietnam War Memorial and then go from there. Well...at the last anti-war march in D.C. the moonbats defaced the Capitol steps with spray-paint. Fearing the defacement of the Vietnam Wall, a Gathering of Eagles was formed to protect it.



A nice write-up of the counter-protest is here;

Another is here;

Here's a nice write-up by the American Thinker;

My buddy who went tells me that the anti-war protestors kept riding the metro trains back to the beginning of the march to give the illusion of a larger crowd than really was. This makes sense since the US Capitol police no longer gives estimates on crowd size but the DC Metro authority is used to get an estimated crowd size by examining rider-ship for the day vs. an average (baseline) day.

Now - check out the mirror protest in Portland. I'm linking to Michelle Malkin's site to show some pics of it;

Check out the first pic of the kid with the "Death to America" sign. Then check out the second pic down where they are not only burning the US flag...but an American soldier in effigy.

So much for supporting the troops and not the mission...huh ?

The unmitigated gall to not only diss your country but also the men and women who make it possible to enjoy each day of freedom is beyond my comprehension.

Yup folks. I'm pretty much done with the Sheehan/Fonda anti-war crowd. I no longer question just their judgement. I question their patriotism. Their lack of judgement is just a by-product of their lack of patriotism.


Let me give you some background before going forward.

My brother served in Afghanistan.

I was scared each day that he was over there. My wife will attest that for the year he was in-country I didn't sleep but a few hours at a time. Sometimes I had nightmares where it was just me and him in a foxhole fighting hand-to-hand with Islamists. At one time I was actually swinging at the imaginary islamists in my sleep (according to my wife). Each day I'd pore over news in Afghanistan. One time, I had heard of a US helicopter going down near his base and killing all aboard. I then stayed up all night just to get news that he was ok (he was - but he had been on that helicopter just hours beforehand). When he came home I drove him to Walter Reed Hospital to get treatment for his arm and his neck which were injured on one of his last missions in-country. He has never complained that he had to go (he is a highly successful person with 3 degrees, making 6-figures at his current job but joined the National Guard to do his duty) and hasn't whispered a word to me about the fact that he has endured consistent pain for the past 18 months. In fact he just came home today after surgery to repair the problem with his neck. If his unit is called up to go to Iraq and his neck injury is healed enough, he will go with his unit (he is the company 1rst Sgt). He doesn't necessarily want to be away from his wife and family but he says that as long as he is physically able to do his job, there is no way he's letting "his guys" go over there without him. I know others in his unit who are of the same mind.

These are better men than the "people" above who call themselves "patriots".

On a larger point ... when did we lose our will to support our country as a force for good? When did the supposed "intellectuals" become self-loathing America-bashers?

A patriot to me is one who supports this country and wants to see it do well. Encouraging our defeat and encouraging our enemy are not patriotic in my opinion.

I hate to say this (as I've reached the point of ranting now)... but since I'm worked up, I'm going to state the jingoistic statement here...

"My country ... right or wrong."

I view this country as a force for Good. And I view our actions in the War on Terror will be held in a positive light in history's hindsight. And I will revel in the day when the Rose O-Donnell's and the Sheehan/Fonda's and their anti-war sycophants are held up in the same regard as Benedict Arnold, Tokyo Rose, et al.



Thank you and goodnight.

The Sun Rises in the East and other things you never knew

This just in ... The Supreme Court is the highest court in the land !!!
This just in ... The Congress (both houses) craft legislation.
This just in ... The President of the US (POTUS) has the ability to fire US attorneys !!! < OH NO !!! RUN FOR THE BORDERS FOLKS - THIS IS CLEARLY A SIGN OF THE APOCALYPSE!!!>
Ok - I'll now remove tongue from cheek.

Just watched Pres. Bush's press conference earlier today (regarding allowing his advisors testifying before Congress) and wanted to say something I've not said to him in awhile...

"BRAVO MR. PRESIDENT !!!!"

Pres. Bush basically told the Democrats in Congress to go pound sand. AND ITS ABOUT TIME!!! Stand up and fight Mr. President. Stop letting people like us carry your water for you.

Lets face it my friends. This attorney firing scandal is anything BUT a scandal.

Lets get some facts out of the way;

1.) The US attorneys are not inherently vested with the power to prosecute citizens by the Constitution. That prerogative is vested in the Executive Branch.

2.) The Executive Branch consists of exactly ONE person. That would be the President. The Legislative consists of the Congress. The Judicial consists of the Supreme Court. The Executive begins and ends with the President as far as the Constitution is concerned.

3.) Since the Executive (POTUS) cannot be everywhere at once, he basically delegates his authority to prosecute to the various US attorneys nationwide.

4.) These attorneys follow the direction the POTUS lays down. So if one year, the POTUS decides there will be a focus on prosecuting money laundering over other crimes, it will be expected that the US attorneys will be aggressive in investigating and prosecuting such cases.

5.) These US attorneys owe their positions to Executive patronage. Which means that each US attorney serves at the pleasure of the POTUS.

6.) US attorneys serve 4 year terms at which time they are either let go or reappointed.

7.) The position as US attorney is therefore a POLITICAL position.

Therefore the POTUS can fire these attorneys ANYTIME HE WANTS TO AND FOR ANY REASON !!

In past presidencies it is natural that the POTUS would want "his people" in to make sure that his direction is followed. Past Presidents kind of eased out US attorneys as they went with one, HUGE, notable exception.

Bill Clinton

In 1993, Clinton fired 93 US attorneys (pretty much all of them)in order to put "his people" in place.

Noone batted an eye. No cries for an investigating from the Press or from Democrats who controlled Congress. In fact, we were told that these were political jobs and that Presidents always put their people in place. Which is not necessarily the case. Billie replaced all of the holdovers from previous GOP administrations without worrying about whether they were actually any good at their jobs. One of the attorneys he fired was investigating the Whitewater deal (anyone remember that?)

Fast forward 13 years and now a Republican president (after 6 years in office) fires a grand total of 8 US attorneys. Now I didn't learn any of the "New Math" but that would be... by my count... exactly 85 less than Bill Clinton fired in his first year in office. Even more important is the fact that while these US attorneys are mostly Clinton appointees they were RE-APPOINTED by Bush. So essentially he's just firing people he appointed.

Democrats in Congress (after winning the House and Senate on a themes of corruption) are naturally trying to play this up as another example of corruption.

I say let them come. Let them try to play this up and then SMACK them down with their own hypocrisy. Let the record show that Sens. Fienstein, Leahy, et al are guilty of playing politics and wasting the People's Time on matters that are not subject to their purview.

Let the sun shine in and let the public find out that the President has absolute authority to fire and appoint US attorneys and that the Congress should BUTT OUT !!

About the only thing I'm pissed about is AG Gonzales' performance to-date regarding this so-called "controversy". He seems to be shooting himself in the foot and if the Dems weren't howling for his scalp I'd be recommending he get fired. But since the Dems are trying to get him to resign as proxy to weaken Bush I'm standing by him.

So ... CONGRATULATIONS PRESIDENT BUSH !!! I'm glad to see you get your cajones back. You could see how pissed Sen. Schumer was when telling the press that because accounts would differ that it was important to get it under-oath and transcribed. They were hoping this would be like another Scooter Libby set-up and were hoping to nail Karl Rove

So go right ahead Pres. Bush.

Tell them to "pound sand".

Tell them - "no testimony under-oath".

And just to show them who is boss concerning whose prerogative it is to fire and appoint US attorneys...

tomorrow...

Fire another 8 US attorneys !!!

Monday, March 19, 2007

Climate Porn

Just say no to Climate Porn!

March 18, 2007
Is there an average global temperature?

By James Lewis

It is already painfully clear that models of anthropogenic global warming are ridiculously inadequate, and do not meet the basic tests of experimental science, no matter how many "scientists" yell "consensus." Now comes a serious question from a serious scientist that threatens to undermine the fundamental premise of the alarmists.

Danish physicist Bjarne Andresen has raised the interesting point that there may be no global warming, because there is no such thing as global temperature! That is because the earth atmosphere is not a homogeneous system. It's not a glass lab jar in your high school physics lab.(link)

Read it all. There is nothing to say this guy is correct, just like none of the climate porn hacks can claim to be correct either. If everything was a cut-and-dried as the Al Gore's of the world would want you to believe, there'd be proof of something, no?
__________
Reason to doubt
Filed: , , ,

Sunday, March 18, 2007

NCAA

Day 2 of the 2nd round:

(5)Tennessee outlasts (4)Virginia 77-74

(1)Florida over (9)Purdue 74-67

(7)UNLV ousts (2)Wisconsin 74-68

(4)Southern Illinois keeps it going over (5)Virginia Tech 63-48

(3)Oregon punches Cinderella's ticket (11 Winthrop) 75-61

(2)Memphis outruns (7)Nevada 78-62

(1)Kansas beats (8)Kentucky 88-76

(5)USC kills (4)Texas (and man-child Durant) 87-68

I watched most of these games (I should have been sleeping) and the Tenn./Virginia game was a classic. Of course I'm a big UT fan, but it would have been a classic regardless. Two teams battling to make it (hot shooting, timely defense and free throws) with one eventually having to take a bow.

The rest of the games had their moments, but most were decided long before the final buzzer. Florida showed it is still the team to beat. Turning up the offense and defense seemingly at will in the 2nd half against a game Purdue squad. UNLV showed that Wisconsin may have had a good year, but they aren't that good of a team. (Show of hands for all the people that thought Wisconsin was a final four or championship team... ok the guy in the back can leave). Southern Illinois stifled Virginia Tech all day, of course after what Illinois did to them, this is what happens when you play a team with good defense that actually has an offense. Virginia Tech should have been a 7-seed.

The 'experts' all thought Winthrop would be playing in the Sweet 16 after today, I wonder if any of them have seen Oregon play this year? A very fast team with size that can play a little defense against a 'feel-good' story and a natural-born star from New Zealand, it's easy to see how they missed this one. I thought the Nevada-Memphis game would be good (up-and-down scoring, loose defense; but with full-court presses) and for most of the game it was good. It was alot like the Tenn./Virginia game without the suspense at the end. Memphis just had too much for the senior-laden Nevada squad. Kentucky upset me. Here's a good shooting team with a monster inside force (Morris) who thinks it's a 3-point team with a great transition defense. Kansas exposed Kentucky for what it really was.

Finally the man-child. Kevin Durant is (almost) everyone's POY in college basketball this year (with votes going to Oden at OSU also) and expected to be the #1 or #2 pick in next year's NBA draft. He is awesome, but Texas finally figured out that this is a TEAM sport. At least that is what they should take away from the USC vs Durant game today.
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March Madness

Saturday, March 17, 2007

St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's day all. Watched a ton of basketball in the past couple of days, so not much posting going on.

I'll get back into it today, tomorrow or soon :) but I love March Madness. Maybe Thai will put something up so we can comment on that (heh)

And if you are at a party tonight, drink one for me.

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Issues

I told James H (from across the pond) that I would attempt to do a good post last night. Alas it was not to be as me and my internet got into a fight. :) Needless to say, I did not post any last night.

Let's touch on a couple (or three) issues that I feel strongly one way or the other about.

Global Warming Cooling Climate Change:

ON GLOBAL WARMING Let me clarify a little my position. I think there are a lot of questions about global warming: how much, and what, should be done. However, I regard two questions as basically no longer worth debating, at least by people with my level of science education:

1) Is AGW happening?
2) Should we do something about it?

The first is a technical question that seems to be largely settled; when you've convinced Ron Bailey it's happening, you've convinced me. The second is a moral question that seems obvious: should I drive a huge, empty car many miles when doing so will help flood Bangladesh, merely because the comfy leather seats are right here where I can see them, and the dead future Bangladeshis aren't? . . . this is a question that seemingly only has one right answer. I say this as one who is conscious that I could use less electricity, and should, and am trying to but not as hard as morality should require. But I digress.

Unfortunately, I think that politics renders the questions that are worth arguing, pointless; we won't find a political solution to the problem because . . . mmmmmm, leather seats. I'm hoping instead for a technological breakthrough that renders the question largely moot. Meanwhile, I'm buying real estate in the Canadian hinterlands.

This is via Instapundit and one of the guest bloggers there. If anyone wants to know why I strongly dislike people that claim this disaster is imminent, that's one of the reasons.

Declaring that something is a given requires proof not consensus. The fact that almost every planet in this solar system is in the middle of some kind of 'global' phenomena dealing with the sun leads one to believe that maybe our problem may be related to the sun also. It's not only juvenile to state that the case is closed and there should be no debate, it is also dishonest to not take the rest of the planets into effect when talking about what is happening.

Is the planet warming? According to measurements indeed we have gained about .6 degrees celsius in the past century. What will that mean for the future? NO ONE KNOWS. Of course there are plenty of people that tell you what they THINK it means and what THEIR computer models show them, but these people don't actually KNOW anything. Until they can prove their side, then debate is not only open, it is NEEDED. It is not enough to ruin the economy of most of the countries in the world and to deny the people of the third world their chance at becoming 'industrialized' nations on the thought of people that don't know what will happen next. (In 1975 there was a severe threat of a new ice age...)
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The non-scandal over the US Attorneys

The power of the President to fire politically appointed people is not in question, this story should be a moot one. The republicans in office today are scarily consistent. If the democrats cry "SCANDAL" then the republicans will jump into a defensive stance and look for a suitable candidate to fire. They don't actually try to defend themselves or laugh off baseless accusations, they simply retreat into a cubby hole and send someone to the firing deck.
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Abortion
I believe that Abortion is indeed about choice. But I believe the 'choice' that is happening is between the woman's rights of reproduction vs the child's right to life. It's very hard for me to see how anyone could pick the former over the latter.

To be 'pro-choice' to me would imply that the baby has a choice (yes BABY) but it does not. The choice that the woman has (except in cases of rape) was already made when she decided to have sex (sex being the cause of 99% of all known pregnancies) and therefore she has already exercised her reproductive rights.

The press is quick to point out how many U.S. servicemen have died in the Iraqi war (somewhat slower to point out the Iraqi casualties) but you hardly ever see any reports on the number of U.S. children killed due to 'freedom of choice'. It is galling that people would be more concerned with the fate of death-row inmates than they would with the next generation of citizens (considering most of these same people also want to 'fix' the world for the next generation, shouldn't they be more concerned with bringing the next generation into the world o.O)
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Immigration

Immigration is the greatest thing in the world for EVERY country. Unless you live in the cradle of civilization, your country was founded at some time by immigrants. The 'Native' Americans may have been the first people in this country, but they arrived here from somewhere else too.

Illegal Immigration is the problem. In a running argument with a friend of mine, I support the border fence, he detests it. He says it will not stop the flow of immigrants, is too expensive, etc. I say the point is not it 'stopping' the flow, but slowing it. Trying to divert the people that want to come into this country into the places where they are EXPECTED to cross (legally) and to try to halt some of the 'not known' crossings we have now.

Of course the fence (only being 700 miles) will not stop illegal immigration. To stop it, it would have to be much longer and have people on it 24/7 manning the top at 5-10 foot intervals. We know that won't happen. But if all you have to do now to get into this country illegally is to walk through the desert, then something has to change. Of course, we should also start enforcing the laws we ALREADY have against illegal immigrants, but that of course is another issue.

Notice the MSM will hardly ever put the word illegal in front of immigrant. They want you to think that people that are against illegal immigration are really against immigrants. period. They do not want you to think about the fact that people that are illegal immigrants are already criminals in this country and shouldn't be paid for by the hard working people of this country.
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Reason to rant
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Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Tuesday Night Video

(safe for work)
Filed:

JammieWearingFool

Not as good as an Instalink (TM) but JammieWearingFool got linked by Dan Riehl.
The Riehl World View, that is.

As a relatively new blogger, I'm always thankful to be linked at sites that I frequent, and today got a nice welcome. Not just added to the blogroll, but included in a post! Obviously, I have a mere fraction of Dan's traffic, but it's been growing steadily since November.

Welcome to all readers from Riehl World View and I hope you enjoy what you see, and be sure to check my links, as a number of relatively new bloggers and others you may not be familiar with are listed there. Included are some gracious blog heavyweights who've also added me.

Feel free to drop me a line (jammiewearingfool at yahoo dot com) if you'd like to be added here and thanks for visiting. (link)

I've got Jammie on the links to your left but no mention of me :( (heh) although I do need to include Dan, I just visit him from a bookmark atm.

My plug post for Perdido got a couple of bites (and I spoke to them on the phone) but not the response I would have liked from the Perdido Ladies (gone wild?), I'll have to do a much better post after I return from my visit.
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Recognition

Shameless Plug

I won't actually be staying here, but I will be visiting with some people that work there so, in an effort to get these ladies to comment, I'm plugging their resort.
Welcome to Perdido Beach Resort...Paradise on the Gulf Coast!

Relax and play in paradise at our full-service resort located directly on the sugar-white beaches of Alabama's Gulf Coast. Enjoy spacious rooms with private balconies and stunning Gulf views. Gourmet cuisine, and live entertainment. Whether you're planning a romantic get-away or family vacation, there's something for everyone.

I will look around the resort while I'm at the beach for the weekend of March 30-April 1 so maybe I'll post on what I find then. Of course I don't expect to be 100% rational while I'm there so you never know.
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Plug

Monday, March 12, 2007

Dirt

James Higham over at Nourishing Obscurity has the dirt in the Fwench Presidential Elections:

Monday, March 12, 2007 It's been a long time since this blog got into muck-raking, gutter-press, sensationalist journalism so here goes. First, the dirt on Sarko:

Nicolas Sarkozy urged the colonialist Arno Klarsfeld to think of colonization.

Doesn't move you? All right, how about this:

The satirical French newspaper Canard Enchaine is running a story which claims that in 1997, Sarkozy was sold an apartment in Neuilly for 300,000 euros (nearly $400,000) below the market rate. The catch: the same company that sold him the apartment had been granted city contracts, which was then being governed by Sarkozy.

Trouble is, he got out of that one. OK, the gloves are off now:


Read the rest and comment if you have a horse (or care) in that race.

Friday, March 9, 2007

Newspaper on the WarPath

In a bizarre story out of St. Augustine we find that the local newspaper is on a manhunt to find out who an anonymous blogger is who .... (wait for it) ... dared to blog the TRUTH on his webiste.
Newspaper Asks Public to Identify Local Blogger

St. Augustine blogger critical of Ben RichA Florida newspaper appears to have hit an all-time low in the relationship between bloggers and the media. The St. Augustine Record is asking the public to help expose the identity of a local blogger who recently started a site critical of county politicians. This evening, the paper's home page has a grainy surveillance photo of a man accompanied by this text:

Who is this man?

Believed to be connected to a politically charged but anonymously-run Web site targeting the character of members of the St. Johns County Commission. Help us determine his identity. Start by watching these four movies featuring footage from surveillance cameras.

The Record published video taken inside and outside its offices March 1 that show a man dropping something off at the front desk. There's no explanation of what he's doing, making it look like some kind of threat was delivered, but I found the details on the paper's message board. He was at the newspaper buying an ad. (link)

Go read the whole thing and make sure to read the comments. MYCROFT sounds like a real winner on this one (/sarc)
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Reason to wonder
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Wednesday, March 7, 2007

Heh of the day

Over at SixMeatBuffet, Cranky preaches on the AlGore Bible (TM):

The Secular Faith - The Book of Algore

19 … now therefore, gather all the four hundred and fifty climatologists, and the four hundred prophets of Algore. We shall meet upon the mountain Thursday after next.

20 And Algore sent a message to all the people, and said, “How long will you falter between two opinions?

21 Yea, do you not realize that there is but One True reality and the other a lie?”

22Then Algore said to the people, “I alone am left a prophet of the Climate; yet you must see that the Great Warmening is nigh.

23 Therefore let us have a challenge; On the Thursday after next, you masses run your SUVs, your Suburbans and your Hummers for many hours.

24After you have run your SUVs, your Suburbans and your Hummers for many hours, the Climate shall withhold the rain and your crops shall be smitten.”

25So the prophets of Algore and the climatologists carried his message to the villages and the furthest parts of the countryside.

26On the Thursday after next, Algore arose ascended the mountain. “Where are my four hundred and fifty climatologists and four hundred prophets? Indeed, where is everybody?” Algore asked of the seventeen men assembled on the mountain.

Read the rest, it'll give you a laugh (unless of course you are a member of the Global Warming Climate Change Church).
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Humor
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Out Damn Spot

In a bizarre case of 'malpractice' a woman is suing because apparently doctor's were unable to kill her unborn child. (yes I can just hear the 'pro-choice' people screaming that it wasn't a child, bite me)

Since there were two failed attempts at an abortion, this lady thinks the state/doctors/hospital et al. should pony up the money to raise a child. I'd bet that she just can't give up the little girl for adoption (that would be 'cruel' and wouldn't get her a payday).

Boston woman sues for child-rearing costs after failed abortion

BOSTON --A Boston woman who gave birth after a failed abortion has filed a lawsuit against two doctors and Planned Parenthood seeking the costs of raising her child.

The complaint was filed by Jennifer Raper, 45, last week in Suffolk Superior Court and still must be screened by a special panel before it can proceed to trial.

Raper claimed in the three-page medical malpractice suit that she found out she was pregnant in March 2004 and decided to have an abortion for financial reasons.

Dr. Allison Bryant, a physician working for Planned Parenthood at the time, performed the procedure on April 9, 2004, but it "was not done properly, causing the plaintiff to remain pregnant," according to the complaint. (link)


I can hear the conversation now: "Mommy, why do we have all this money?" "Because the doctor's were too stupid to get rid of you before you were born dear."

Yes I could be more sympathetic to the fact that malpractice did occur, but I do not apologize for thinking that children deserve to be born and live. Pro-choice should be about the child, not the parent.
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Reason to wonder
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Monday, March 5, 2007

Something funny

I thought I'd post some funny emails I have recieved from work. (not sure where these originate so I can't cite the author):

Childbirth
Due to a power outage, only one paramedic responded to the call. The house was very dark so the paramedic asked Kathleen, a 3-year old girl, to hold a flashlight high over her mommy so he could see while he helped deliver the baby.
Very diligently, Kathleen did as she was asked. Heidi pushed and pushed and after a while, Conner was born. The paramedic lifted him by his little feet and spanked him on his bottom. Conner began to cry.
The paramedic then thanked Kathleen for her help and asked the wide-eyed 3-year old what she thought about what she had just witnessed.
Kathleen quickly responded, "He shouldn't have crawled in there in the first place... smack his butt again."

I could picture that happening, so I thought it was funny.

Drunk
A man goes to a party and has way too much to drink. His friends plead with him to let them take him home. He says NO -- he only lives a mile away.

About five blocks from party, the police pull him over. They check his license and ask him to get out of the car and walk the line. Just as he starts, the police radio blares out a notice of a robbery taking place in a house around the block. The police tell the party animal to stay put, they'll be right back and they run around the corner to the robbery.

The guy waits and waits and finally decides to drive home. When he gets there, he tells his wife he is going to bed, and to tell anyone who might come looking for him that he has the flu and has been in bed all day.

A few hours later the police knock on the door. They ask if Mr. Smith is there and his wife says yes. They ask to see him and she replies that he is in bed with the flu and has been so all day.

The police still have his driver's license. They ask to see his car and she asks why. They insist on seeing his car, so she takes them to the garage. She opens the door.

There sitting in the garage is the police car, with all its lights still flashing.

True story, told by the driver at his first AA meeting.

I don't know if this is really true (probably could find out) but it's funny anyway.

Sunday, March 4, 2007

Outrage

I was going to make a nice long post about the outrage caused by Ann calling the Silky PonyTM a faggot, but for some reason it didn't save and I lost it.

It was a great post, but not one I'd care to try to do again. Needless to say, most of the right and left blogosphere are still crying in their oatmeal because pretty boy Edwards was called a mean name.

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A case for getting ahead of the 'evil' media:

Marciano: Punish me if you see fit


Talkbacks for this article: 2

MK Yoram Marciano (Labor) submitted a complaint to the Knesset Ethics Committee on Sunday - against himself.

Following his involvement in a bar brawl in Herzliya on Wednesday night, in which he allegedly attacked security guards and received several blows in return, Marciano expressed regret for his actions and apologized before the Knesset for damaging the honor of the institution.

  • 'Witnesses contradict Marciano'

    He also called on the Knesset to take disciplinary action against him, if they found it fitting.

    He emphasized, however, that he had acted innocently and that most of the media reports on his behavior were false.

    On Wednesday, Marciano attended a party at the Rio nightclub in Herzliya celebrating the birthday of a Knesset official. There were varying reports of what actually happened during the confrontation between Marciano and the security guards at the club.

    According to a police complaint filed by Marciano, the incident occurred when he was trying to leave the club through a back door, which was no longer used as an exit, and was apprehended by security guards. According to a conflicting report filed by one of the security guards, Marciano himself struck out at the guards and shouted at them that they were mistreating a public official. (link)


  • Weird to see a politician turn himself in. Yes it is in Israel and not here, but would be nice if some of the 'responsibility' rubbed off on certain members of our congress.

    Friday, March 2, 2007

    Viv La Swiss!

    Tired of their historic neutrality, the Swiss finally did something about it:
    Swiss Troops Accidentally Invade Liechtenstein

    Friday, March 02, 2007

    ZURICH, Switzerland — What began as a routine training exercise almost ended in an embarrassing diplomatic incident after a company of Swiss soldiers got lost at night and marched into neighboring Liechtenstein.

    According to Swiss daily Blick, the 170 infantry soldiers from the neutral country wandered more than a mile across an unmarked border into the tiny principality early Thursday before realizing their mistake and turning back.

    A spokesman for the Swiss army confirmed the story, but said that there were unlikely to be any serious repercussions for the mistaken invasion.

    "We've spoken to the authorities in Liechtenstein and it's not a problem," Daniel Reist told The Associated Press on Friday.

    Officials in Liechtenstein also played down the incident.

    Interior Ministry spokesman Markus Amman said nobody in Liechtenstein had even noticed the soldiers, who were carrying assault rifles but no ammunition. "It's not like they stormed over here with attack helicopters or something," he said.

    Liechtenstein, which has about 34,000 inhabitants and is slightly smaller than Washington, D.C., does not have an army. (link)

    Of course, they have some French training, so realizing that they were very close to taking the undefended country, they retreated :)
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    Humor

    Thursday, March 1, 2007

    Weather

    A very rough day in Alabama for weather (it was very bad in my part, but no damage that I can see):
    Tornadoes kill 13 in Alabama; Mo. girl

    By BOB JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer 13 minutes ago

    ENTERPRISE, Ala. - Apparent tornadoes killed at least 13 people in Alabama on Thursday, including eight at a high school where students were trapped under a collapsed roof, state officials said. State Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Yasamie Richardson said eight fatalities "are in relation to the high school but whether they are all students or some students and teachers we're not sure."

    House Speaker Seth Hammett, at the statehouse in Montgomery, announced that five people had died at Millers Ferry in west Alabama, where another apparent tornado tore into mobile homes.

    Martha Rodriquez, a 15-year-old sophomore, said she had left the school about five minutes before the storm hit. When she returned, a hall at the school had collapsed, she said.

    "The stadium was destroyed and there were cars tipped over in the parking lot and trees were ripped out. There were trees and wood everywhere. It was just horrible," she said.

    More than 40 people were brought in to an Enterprise hospital as a violent storm front crossed the state.(link)

    Prayers and thoughts go out to all the families and friends involved. And sincere hope for the people still missing.


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    Reason to pray

    Warzone

     Recently played a few games on Caldera (warzone) and then... Lots of luck in this one, but satisfying