You know, as a North Carolinian, I am required to make jokes about the folks living just south of my home state's border (never you worry, they tell the same exact jokes about us), but today, I have to applaud the good and wise legislators down in the South Carolina House.

The SC House voted 84-27 to agree to the state Senate's bill which allows prosecutors to seek the death penalty for repeat child offenders.  This new law would potentially put anyone convicted of sexually abusing two or more children under 11 on death row.  Of course, opponents accused the legislators of election year pandering.  With an 84-27 margin, it doesn't appear that pandering is necessary, my friends, the ayes seem to hold a pretty clear majority.

Personally, I have to ask, pandering to whom?  I'm guessing most South Carolinians would say the bill is still to soft on perpetrators.  I mean it's a damn fine start but...

. 

Excerpted from the Washington Times, Inside Politics section:

Dean's outburst
    Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean claims to be reaching out to red-state voters, but yesterday, he suggested that opponents of homosexual "marriage" are bigots.
    Mr. Dean was responding to news that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Tennessee Republican, plans to bring to a vote a proposed constitutional amendment that would ban homosexual "marriage."
    "At a time when the Republican Party is in trouble with their conservative base, Bill Frist is taking a page straight out of the Karl Rove playbook to distract from the Republican Party's failed leadership and misplaced priorities by scapegoating LGBT families for political gain, using marriage as a wedge issue," said Mr. Dean, using the abbreviation for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender.
    "It is not only morally wrong, it is shameful and reprehensible," Mr. Dean said.

Interesting - it's now morally wrong for politicians to pander.  "Morally wrong", "shameful" and "reprehensible".  For once Howard and I agree.  But let's get real here for a nanosecond.  If the banning of homosexual marriage is a "wedge issue" for you, you weren't voting Democrat anyway.  This may be a bone, Howie boy, but it's no wedge issue.  In fact, for most head-in-the-sand Americans, it'd be a huge surprise to actually meet a LGBT family.  Want to know why?  Because it is more likely you'll be in a car accident than that you will meet a differently sexual family today.  First off, they aren't getting married, even in the countries where it's already legal.  Secondly, they [homosexual households] are such a statistically insignificant blip on the census that they don't even warrant an honorable mention in the breakdown of family arrangements in the 2000 census.  105,500,000 married hetero couples - 4,900,000 heteros shacking up - 594,000 same-sex couples living together.  That amounts to about half of a percent.

Dean's statement, an obvious bone to the 594,000, is filled with outrage.  And no wonder, The American Family Association, an open advocate of traditional families already has more than 3 million supporters signed up through it's website.  And that's just a drop in the bucket.  Perhaps what Dean really meant to say is "I wish I had a larger base to pander to... waa waa waa."

Dems are still harping on the GOP for creating a "culture of corruption" even while the story breaks of Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev) repeatedly accepting expensive gifts from the Nevada Athletic Commission while pushing for legislation that would have affected said organization.

Reid, D-Nev., took the free seats for Las Vegas fights between 2003 and 2005 as he was pressing legislation to increase government oversight of the sport, including the creation of a federal boxing commission that Nevada's agency feared might usurp its authority.

He defended the gifts, saying they would never influence his position on the bill and was simply trying to learn how his legislation might affect an important home state industry. "Anyone from Nevada would say I'm glad he is there taking care of the state's No. 1 businesses," he told The Associated Press.

So, get over it, Nevada.  Sen. Reid should have been at those boxing matches in Las Vegas.  It was strictly business.  Interestingly, REPUBLICAN John McCain, when invited along with Mr. Reid, refused the free ticket and paid his own way to the tune of $1400.  Yep, those tickets were darn expensive.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., insisted on paying $1,400 for the tickets he shared with Reid for a 2004 championship fight.Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., accepted free tickets to another fight with Reid but already had recused himself from Reid's federal boxing legislation because his father was an executive for a Las Vegas hotel that hosts fights.

Wow!  Those horribly corrupt GOP'ers seemed to recognize the ethical gray area. Even with the media curiosity over Reid's nights at the fights, the Senator denies wrongdoing.

"I'm not Goodie two shoes. I just feel these events are nothing I did wrong," Reid said.

"I'm not goodie two shoes."  Well, he got one thing right.

For more on Senator Reid's flirtations with the limits of ethical violations, read the report over at Fox News outlining the boxing bruhaha and the good Senator's exploits with Jack Abramoff.

Want to know a good reason to be a right winger? Check out this article from Reuters.  My comments are in green.

Pedophiles to launch political party

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch pedophiles are launching a political party to push for a cut in the legal age for sexual relations to 12 from 16 and the legalization of child pornography and sex with animals, sparking widespread outrage. Before you know it, anyone out of diapers will be fair game.

The Charity, Freedom and Diversity (NVD) party said on its Web site it would be officially registered Wednesday, proclaiming: "We are going to shake The Hague awake!" Doubt it. This is yet another case of cooked frog.  (i.e. if you put a frog in boiling water, he jumps out but if you put him in cold water and turn the heat up gradually, he'll be simmered and separating before he knows what hit him...) 

The party said it wanted to cut the legal age for sexual relations to 12 and eventually scrap the limit altogether. And there you have it.

"A ban just makes children curious," Ad van den Berg, one of the party's founders, told the Algemeen Dagblad (AD) newspaper. Children are curious about gas stoves, too, should we let them hold a match to the pilot light?

"We want to make pedophilia the subject of discussion," he said, adding the subject had been a taboo since the 1996 Marc Dutroux child abuse scandal in neighboring Belgium. There's a reason certain things are taboo, dumb a$$. (Sorry about the swear - I'm getting more and more miffed as I read this a second time...)

"We want to get into parliament so we have a voice. Other politicians only talk about us in a negative sense, as if we were criminals," Van den Berg told Reuters. Hmm.  Wonder why the negativism?

The Netherlands, which already has liberal policies on soft drugs, prostitution and gay marriage, was shocked by the plan. Shocked is always the first reaction. Then the debate starts.  After a few roundtable discussions and about 35,000 mentions in the press, tolerance is the byword.  Within a few years, tolerance becomes acceptance and eventually, the behavior is embraced. Want proof?  Watch Will and Grace.

An opinion poll published Tuesday showed that 82 percent wanted the government to do something to stop the new party, while 67 percent said promoting pedophilia should be illegal. Those are roughly the same figures that opposed gay marriage 5 years ago - now there is a slim (single digit) majority against legalization of homosexual unions. Think about it!

"They make out as if they want more rights for children. But their position that children should be allowed sexual contact from age 12 is of course just in their own interest," anti-pedophile campaigner Ireen van Engelen told the AD daily.   Ya think?  Of course, the next arguments will include "it's natural",  "there is evidence of premature sexual activity in the animal world"  and "there may be a genetic predisposition"...Sound familiar?

Right-wing lawmaker Geert Wilders said he had asked the government to investigate whether a party with such "sick ideas" could really be established, ANP news agency reported.  Can I just ask where the hell these "right-wing lawmakers" were when the Dutch society first got thrown into the pot of cool water???

Kees van deer Staaij, a member of the Christian SGP party, also demanded action: "Pedophilia and child pornography should be taboo in every constitutional state. Breaking that will just create more victims and more serious ones."

The party wants private possession of child pornography to be allowed although it supports the ban on the trade of such materials. It also supports allowing pornography to be broadcast on daytime television, with only violent pornography limited to the late evening. Have they never seen soap operas?  I'd say we already lost this battle - notice they want VIOLENT PORNOGRAPHY available in the evenings - they aren't even talking about pay-per-view here.  They wanted it piped into everyone's homes.

Toddlers should be given sex education and youths aged 16 and up should be allowed to appear in pornographic films and prostitute themselves. Sex with animals should be allowed although abuse of animals should remain illegal, the NVD said. Toddlers - that's the 2 and under crowd. Got it?  Usually, not even potty trained yet.  Bestiality is apparently okay also so long as the poor beast doesn't get hurt - how thoughtful.

The party also said everybody should be allowed to go naked in public and promotes legalizing all soft and hard drugs and free train travel for all. 

And there you have it, folks.  The next step.  Don't convince yourself that this movement is a fringe or that it is only going to impact loose-moraled European nations.  America is only a few steps behind Europe with respect to social libertarianism.  For some reason we believe in regulating businesses but allowing individuals to completely debase the species. 

Lately, I feel like Lot, only instead of men beating down my door to defile those under my roof, the sickos are piped right in through the internet, television and radio.  They are marching in our streets and force feeding their propaganda to our children through the public school system.  And they are slowly leading people away with flattery - selling the idea to the masses and the younger generations that the pinnacle of intellectualism is tolerance of the most intolerable acts. 

As concerned citizens, we must stop the erosion of the most basic values of human decency.  We must speak out.  We must climb out of the simmering stew and reclaim our freedom from degradation.  The slope is slippery and it begins with the acceptance of anything less than traditional marriage as a legitimate union of consenting adults.  Call your senators.  Write to your representatives.  Demand that they vote in favor of the Marriage Protection Ammendment.

According to the UK's Daily Mail, "The ethical storm over abortions has been renewed as it emerged that terminations are being carried out for minor, treatable birth defects."  Babies with minor deformations like club foot, webbed fingers, and extra digits are being killed in late term abortions.  In one case, a 28 week old child was aborted because the babe had a cleft palate.  28 weeks old.  Old enough to smile, flinch in pain, yawn. 

From the article: "Pippa Spriggs from Cambridge, whose son Isaac is celebrating his second birthday in July, was dismayed when as scan showed her baby had a club foot.

'Abortion certainly was not openly advised but it was made clear to me it was available,' she said.

'In fact he has been treated and the condition has now slowed him down at all.'

Julia Millington, of the Alive and Kicking Campaign, said: 'It is all about our perceptions of perfection.

'Increasingly things are moving along the lines where nothing is good enough.

'It seems we can no longer tolerate any imperfection.

'Babies are at the mercy of ultrasound scans and what they may disclose.'"

There can be no denying that the sadness and sense of disillusionment at discovering one's baby is imperfect is real and painful.  Another harsh reality is that no matter how perfect your newborn's body may look on an ulltrasound, they will still be imperfect.  They, like us, are mortal and full of human frailties.  And while the initial awakening to that fact may be disheartening, there is also an overwhelming hope that fills us when we realize that in spite of imperfections, or maybe because of them, we love our children even more than we ever thought possible.  Attempts to design your family by eliminating the weak is no more than "culling the herd"  and it reduces you from parent to ranch hand.   It also shortchanges you of one of the most exalting of parental experiences - loving the child that is hard to love.  If you are can't feel enough love for a child with a club foot to let him live, what will you do with a teenager who rebels and screams "I hate you"? 

Designing families through selective abortion may create a great Christmas photo but it also devalues human life.  And it leaves one to wonder if, like so many designer items, the babies that make the cut to and are born to parents who've selectively aborted in the past, will end up as merely decorative trinkets instead of adored treasures.

It's a brave new world out there, folks.  And the name of that world is Gattica.

Oh no!  Not the blue-eyed boy, he'll clash with my handbag!

Alrighty Campers, it's time to round up this weekend's freaks and geeks. 

Freaks:  Yesterday, Moscow endured its first ever Gay Pride parade.  Actually, that is a bit of an overstatement.  The flaming festivities were disrupted by riot police and protesters.  Homosexuality was decriminalized in 1993, but the skinheads, orthodox Christians and radical nationalists who shouted the marchers down must've missed the news report.  The whole event can only be described as downright strange - I mean, who knew there were skinheads in Russia?  LOL.

Here's the best part of the article in my humble opinion...

Police also stood by as skinheads crowded around Beck and Scott Long of U.S.-based Human Rights Watch, who had unfurled a rainbow flag.

How revealing that Human Rights Watch was there not only to observe ad document civil rights violations but to push an agenda.  Notice that Scott Long unfurled a rainbow flag - an act that hardly speaks to his objectivity.  Remember that HRW also publishes Torture: A Human Rights Perspective, a compilation of essays about how the US is abusing detainees and violating international law with inhuman torture practices.  Hmmm. One has to question the bias of a "watch" group that stops watching and becomes a participant...

Geeks:  Parked outside the history department's academic facility this morning was a car with a "John Kerry 2004" bumper sticker on it.  Can someone tell this loser that we're halfway through 2006?  But I guess if John Kerry can't let it go then how can one poor psuedo historian?  That's right.  John Kerry is still miffed about the Swift Boat ads and he has hired a researcher to comb the naval archives to prove that he was indeed in Cambodia on 12 Feb 1969.  You know what this means, don't you?  We're going to be seeing Yugos with Kerry/Edwards on the bumper for years to come.....

Freaks:  Did you think that only the military followed the "never leave a man behind" ethos?  Not so.  Apparently, drunk NBA stars share the creed.  Two Washington Wizards stars were tripping the light fantastic down in Florida when they got carried away and were arrested. 

As Arenas was being arrested, according to reports, he said, ``You can't arrest me. I'm a basketball player. I play for the Washington Wizards, and I'm not going to leave my teammate.''

Police clearly understood his concern and proceeded by arresting both Gilbert Arenas and his buddy Awvee Storey. After which, both players were then taken to jail for processing.

Geeks:  John J. Miller over at National Review has compiled a list of the top 50 Conservative Rock Songs in an article due out in the Mags June 5th issue.  Have they got nothing better to do over there at the NR?

Feel free to add your own freak or geek in the comment section. 

(thanks Dugg for the fun link)

So the Prez stopped by for a chat today.  And the kids got to see Marine One take off.  Not much to say about his speech - it was focused on the GWOT and was well-received.  We listened to the CIC but left before the traditional hat toss and walked down to see "Daddy" where he was working off-site.  There were protestors out the front gate but I haven't heard any stories about their antics.  Usually, protestors outside the gates don't make much noise.  Because they are barred from coming on post, they don't get much attention from anyone but the press. 

(Photos were copied from the USMA website - I had my hands too full of a 16 month old to get any good pics.)

Sadly, this is our last big West Point event - the movers will be here in a matter of days and we will be off to a new life as a former Army/ newly civilianized family.  (smiling through tears...)

Just thought some of you might be interested to know that I'll be meeting with George in the morning.  It'll be a nice intimate affair of a few thousand.  LOL.   I'll be the one in the black tea length dress & bolero jacket struggling with four young children.  The LTC will be working so, even though he'll be present technically, he won't be with the family.  Watch for us on t.v. if you get a chance.  I'll get some photos if the kids are cooperative.

In a press conference being cast throughout the media as a public apology for mistakes in the Iraq war, George Bush and Tony Blair acknowledged missteps in the battle for a democratic middle eastern state. 

"Despite setbacks and missteps, I strongly believe we did and are doing the right thing," Bush said Thursday evening in a White House news conference with Blair. "Not everything has turned out the way we hoped."

For his part, Blair said he left a meeting this week with Iraq's new prime minister "thinking the challenge is still immense, but I also came away thinking more certain than ever that we should rise to it."

The men also recognized the toll of the war on their respective nations.

Both leaders were asked about the toll the war has taken on their popularity.

"There is no question the Iraq war has created a sense of consternation here in America," Bush said, noting daily images on television of innocent people dying.

"It affects the mentality of Americans," he said. But he said a more important question now is, "Can we win? That's what they want to know."

Blair urged both those who agreed with toppling Saddam and those who didn't to "just take a step back" and look at the larger picture.

"They want us to stay until the job is done," he said of the new democratically elected Iraqi government.

Without question, however the words that should be ringing in our ears after today are the word's of Prime Minister Blair.  Siad Blair,

"Those people fighting us there know what is at stake. The question is, do we?"

With the war being used for political advantage at home and abroad, and shameless partisans pandering to anti-war constituents (even though they voted for the war) there can be no doubt that the burden of action in Iraq weighs heavily on the shoulders of both of these two men.  And yet, the truth remains that insurgents, foreign and domestic, in Iraq are so afraid of democracy that they are kidnapping and beheading strangers.  They are bombing mosques and killing innocents - women and children.  Why?  What could possibly make good and honest men fear freedom?  The answer:  Good men don't fear freedom.   But tyrants and oppressors do.

In another move aimed at undermining any opposition, the president had a journalist locked up for mocking his latest state of the nation address.  It's totally unbelievable - the kind of repression heaped upon... Russians.

MOSCOW -- Prosecutors are investigating a journalist for publishing an article mocking President Vladimir Putin over his call to pay Russian women to have more children, an official said yesterday. The article was published by Vladimir Rakhmankov, editor of the online newspaper Kursiv in the central city of Ivanovo, said Andrei Galchenko of the regional prosecutor's office. The piece poked fun at Putin's recent state of the nation address, in which the president called for economic incentives to boost the country's plummeting birth rate. Russian media reported that the publication suggested that animals at a local zoo had already heeded Putin's call and increased their mating. Rakhmankov could not be reached for comment yesterday, and his website had been shut down. Galchenko said the investigation was launched because the article ``contained phrases of an insulting nature aimed at the president." If convicted of insulting a representative of the authorities, Rakhmankov faces up to 12 months of corrective labor or a fine, Galchenko said. (AP)

So the next time a liberal whines about a government data bank that monitors incoming phone calls from known terrorists, offer them a free trip to Moscow where they can enjoy a life free from intrusion, hell, probably free from phone service...

Did you think that boycotting Ford over their advertisement and promotion of homosexuality was a little over the top?  Were you thinking, perhaps, that the boycott was simply sponsored by wild-eyed Christian homophobes?  Check again:

You Will Absolutely Not Believe What Ford Has Done Now

Ford's magazine sponsorship now includes promotion of repugnant activity

When Ford responds to those who write concerning their promotion of homosexual marriage, the response they get from Ford's Customer Relationship Center says their support "is a strong commitment we intend to carry forward with no exception." For Ford, that support also includes homosexual polygamy.

To show those supporting traditional marriage they mean business, Ford sponsored the June 6 issue of the homosexual publication The Advocate. The cover reads: "Polygamy & Gay Men. Dirty laundry or sexual freedom? How gay men handle multiple partners." The article promotes homosexual polygamy.

Ford sponsored the publication with a full page back cover advertising Ford Motor company product Volvo and a full page ad for all Ford brands with the line: "Ford Motor Company. Standing strong with America's families and communities."

Ford's support for the magazine's promotion of homosexual polygamy leaves no doubt that Ford means to continue pushing the homosexual agenda, even including homosexual polygamy.

To see the front cover, the contents page and the ads for Ford and Volvo, click here. I must warn you, it will be offensive to many. The pages show the contents of the magazine which Ford helped sponsor with two full-page ads, but I felt we must include the proof. If you don't want to see it, please don't click the link.

At their stockholders meeting on May 11, Ford voted 95% of the ballots cast to continue their support of the homosexual agenda rather than be neutral in the cultural battle.

The letter posted above is an American Family Association action alert.  If you feel that Ford is abandoning your values, check out www.boycottford.com

Last week, Jack Cafferty gave a short report on CNN's Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer.  I don't usually watch the news (I prefer to read) and I never watch the Communist News Network because the bias is apparent it is an insult to my intelligence.  Here is the text of Cafferty's comments:                                                                                                                                               

Wolf, Today’s lesson in hypocrisy comes to us courtesy of the Senate Judiciary Committee. They met in a different private room behind closed doors today and approved a Constitutional Amendment banning gay marriage. at one point the thing got pretty ugly. A shouting match, between the Republican Chairman Senator Arlen Spector and Democratic Senator Russ Feingold, who said he was against the Amendment as well as Spector’s decision to hold the vote in a private room out of the public’s view.

These guys are shameless. Feingold eventually stormed out telling Spector “I’ve enjoyed your lecture Mr Chairman. See ya.”

Senator Spector in a real show of courage, says that he is “totally opposed to the Amendment”, but he voted for it anyway saying that it deserves a debate in the Senate. Majority Leader Bill Frist says the full Senate will now debate a Constitutional Amendment which has absolutely no chance of passing. Frist hopes to have a vote by June 5th.

This is all being done by the republican majority in an effort to appeal to Right-wing nuts in the Republican Party ahead of the upcoming mid-term elections. Ignore all of the pressing issues facing the country, and instead go grovel at the feet of the lunatic fringe. Senator Frist should be very proud of himself. That’s leadership. Here’s the question: Is now the time for the Senate to consider a constitutional Amendment on gay marriage?”

You will notice the fair and balanced treatment given to conservatives on CNN.  Nice.  Definitely, no liberal media bias there...(eye roll)  Here's a fact for Mr. Cafferty, the "lunatic fringe" on the right outnumbers Gay Americans to the extent that your left fringe has to subvert democracy through activist judges to get social approbation.  Let's get real here, Jack!  For a group so enthralled with protecting the disenfranchised, you are perfectly willing to ignore the votes of the large majority of Americans who recognize homosexuality as the social illness that it is.

The simple truth here is this:

This Judiciary Committee approval comes two days after Georgia Superior Court Judge Constance C. Russell single-handedly invalidated the Georgia Marriage Protection Amendment, which was passed by 76% of Georgians at the ballot box. Social engineers of the activist judiciary movement want to remake our nation in their preferred image and they are disenfranchising every voter that disagrees with the far left's anything goes system of ethics and morality.  Click here to speak out for family values.

and I'm no exception!  My first experiment with MS Paint...

Voted "most likely to lose his virginity posthumously in a funeral home scandal", Jessie Macbeth was always a young man who skulked around the fringes of society. As a child, young Jessie was well known by the county sheriff's department as "that brown haired kid" because his parents frequently forgot he existed and left him at the mall, local parks and even at dentist office once when he was having a cavity filled. Never a stand out, Jessie was determined to finally make a name for himself and in 2004 he flew to Hawaii to audition for Fox's American Idol. Just as Jessie was about to audition for Simon, Paula and Randy, fate again intervened when the hotel lobby's HVAC unit turned on and blew the paper number right off his back! At that moment, Ryan Seacrest, mistook Jessie for a member of the hotel staff and enlisted him as a doorman, again derailing his quest for fame. With his shot at Hollywood gone, Jessie drifted from one pointless pursuit to another, living in his uncle's 1978 Pinto and wearing a used Army desert camo uniform that he purchased for $9.17 at an Army/Navy Surplus store.

As it turned out, that purchase would be the single act that propelled Jessie to infamy. Read the rest of Jessie's story here.

Disclaimer: This biography is almost as untrue as Jessie's claims of military service... almost.

The military bloggers are all over this one!

IVAW (Iraq Veterans against War) are quickly distancing themselves from Jessie Macbeth, the self-described Army Ranger who claimed he was ordered to gun down Iraqi women and children in a mosque.  He also swears he killed more than 200 innocet Iraqis and that he wouldn't kill for Bush any more.

Fascinating stuff for the anti-war left who literally giggled with glee when Macbeth presented himself as a penitent worshipper at the altar of We-hate-Bush.  Unfortunately, Macbeth is being revealed as a liar.  He can't seem to remember when and where the unit he was supposedly assigned to was even stationed and he claims to have been in Cambodia - no wait!  that was John Kerry - in Fallujah when it was actually the Marines who were there....

Oh!  Why can't he keep his story straight?!?

Check out the facts behind the fraudlent face:

Mudville Gazette has so much and it is worth scrolling down and reading every last bit.

Just Citizens reports that the Army has no record of a Jessie Macbeth....

And of course, Michelle Malkin has coverage of the whole sordid affair. (again, scroll down, there's plenty to read)

and even information clearinghouse is running for cover. They've pulled the video (finally) even though this guy was exposed literally within hours of the start of his "15 minutes".

Duke rape case -  The NC Central student, mother of two and exotic dancer now claims that the second stripper paid to dance for the Lacrosse boys was actually in the bathroom wen she was raped by the 20 white males (oops! scratch that, 3 white males, she changed that part of her statement, too)  The second stripper responded to this claim by offering the following comment to the press.  "Nuh-unh!" 

Natalee Holloway - Yesterday another Aruban dude was arrested in the Netherlands for possible links to Natalee's disappearance.  His attorney offered the following defense. "Lots of guys in Aruba have white cars and besides my client is gay, what would he want with a young girl?"  That's right!  A gay defense. How exactly do you prove that in court?  And what does murder have to do with sex?  They aren't always linked - y'know! 

Congressman William Jefferson(D-La) - This guy'll be in cuffs by July the FBI predicts on charges related to bribery and corruption.  'Bought time one William Jefferson was held accountable for his crimes...

An interesting report is making the rounds about Google and it's CEO being in bed with the political left and the DNC.  Not that this is news.  Corporations pick and choose where to spend their money and politics is, after all, politics. HOWEVER, when you are the number one search engine in the world and millions of people use your news crawler to find varied and unvarnished information and opinions, injecting political bias into your business venture requires reprisal.

Sites posting the sordid story of Google's policy of "disappearing" conservative online magazines and news sources are Elmer's Brother, Sixth Column, Democracy Frontline, People's Cube, and Newsbusters, who originally broke this story back in March. 

As for reprisal, I have posted below a list of search engines that may serve as adequate substitutes for the Google/Gore/Gestapo conglomerate.  How about we take Google down a few notches by searching with some of these other engines:

Dogpile    Ask.com    Mamma    Hog Search    All the Web    Wise Nut    Altavista    Yahoo

DMOZ    Excite    Lycos    Kanoodle    ixquick    NBCi    MSN   

And if none of those work for you, try searching the Search Engine Colussus, an international directory of, you guessed it, search engines.  I will be anxiously awaiting your opinions and tales of your experiences with other search engines as I have not tried most of them personally and will also be experimenting with a Google free virtual world. 

The Dixie Chicks are at it again. 

I've made a point of being understanding about Natalie Maines' comments about the President even though I hate it when celebs are given special treatment for having an opinion.  She's allowed to disrespect the President. That is not only allowable under the law but it's a freedom that I believe is God-given.  The right to public dissent is the keystone of a free society.

Throughout American history, during times of war, sedition acts have made such public speech illegal.  The President that Maines berates has not called for such legislation, though there is clearly historical precedent to justify it. 

What really annoys me about the Chicks latest round of political tirades is the following comment by group member Martie Maguire. 

"I'd rather have a small following of really cool people who get it, who will grow with us as we grow and are fans for life, than people that have us in their five-disc changer with Reba McEntire and Toby Keith," Maguire said. "We don't want those kinds of fans. They limit what you can do."

From those words, I'm not sure if these gals want fans or a cult of personality.  Apparently, we are to infer that "really cool people who get it" don't listen to Toby Keith or Reba McEntire.  "Really cool people" clearly respect the rights of the Chicks to be blowhards but don't respect the rights of other celebrities who may disagree with the Natalie Maines school of political thought. Huh?!?  Sounds really cool to me...not.

Furthermore, if you have a five-disc changer and a playlist that the Chicks didn't handpick for you, they don't want you to be a fan.  According to Martie, people who like their music limit them?  Like how would that be?  People who like their music and have filled their bank accounts limit what?  Their ability to buy property in Guyana and pass out Kool-Aid? 

I'm trying really hard to figure this out because I can't for the life of me see how my $17.99 (for a CD that's selling for less than a dollar in China) is imposing artistic limits on the girl band - They didn't consult me before they made the last 4 CDs and I still forked over my cash.  They weren't complaining then...

It's clear that the girls are concerned about the bucks they know they're likely to lose on this CD and they are making comments before the release and the flurry of news reports about lackluster sales.  Ironically, this sort of a "preemptive strike".  And it is definitely, sour grapes.

The Des Moines Register reported last week that students at the University of Iowa were outraged after a professor read excerpts of historical writings that contained racial slurs.  One of the sources was a prize winning biography of LBJ and the other was a 1964 speech by Fannie Lou Hamer, a black sharecropper.  The materials were contextually appropriate to the course "which focuses on the power of language".  While I don't condone or commend racist rhetoric of any sort, it is absurd to think that you can't have an intellectual discussion within the confines of a classroom where historical writings are introduced that present viewpoints or language we may not like.  This wasn't a 2nd grade class, remember, these are adults and near-adults educating themselves on the powerful use of words, and some walked out of the lecture, offended.  How can you address an issue if you are afraid to hear a frank discussion about it.  Sex, politics and religion are discussed ad nauseum in this nation and there is no shortage of people willing to say the most vile things in the most vile ways about any number of important issues the world faces.  And yet, at the U of I...

Of course, professor Gerald Wetlaufer issued an apology.  While he admits he should have warned students before reading the offensive words, he stands by his use of the materials as relevant to the class.

"These were not words I used to oppress anyone in the class or promote anyone else's agenda," he said. "This word appears 49 times in 'To Kill a Mockingbird.' I don't think I have crossed some line here."

Naturally, the Black Law Association of the U of I has launched an all out attack on the "racist policy" of the school.

"Nelson, the Black Law Students Association president, said there have been other instances in which students or professors have made insensitive comments.

In another case, a student brought up the idea of reinstating slavery, and the professor, whom Nelson would not name, did not contradict the notion, he said."

It appears that it is not enough to put racial material into the right historical context, professors are now responsible for comments uttered by the adult students in their classes. Apparently, now it is the duty of academics to not only present material but also to define the moral parameters within which the students should ingest their education.

You remember how this goes, right? Just in case you missed the memo:

Abortion good.  Motherhood bad.  Breeding out the human race through homosexuality - good.  Tradtional family, monogamy and fidelity - Good Lord, no!  Referring to race in a historical context and within the parameters of a college course - boo, hiss evil!  Blaming white people who were born 200+ years after the Emancipation Proclamation for every issue facing minorites in America - ahh, that's more like it.  And of course, my personal favorite, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Scientology, Astrology and Palm Reading - all praiseworthy pursuits.  The Bible - banned in the public square, disparaged continually through art and fiction, and its adherents treated condescendingly in all intellectual debate. 

Thank heavens for the new age of tolerance....

If you are ever ill enough to be hospitalized in Australia and want some spiritual comfort while you're laid up, make sure to bring your own Bible.  The Border Mail is reporting on a new trend in the multiculturalist movement:  Bible banning...

You know the good thing about waiting to comment on a particular issue is that often some jackass will come right out of the woodwork (or in this case, out from under a rock) and prove your point for you. 

I've been giving some thought lately to the lack of intellectual capacity of some people who, determined to support a cause, often any cause whether or not they actually believe in it, do the most bizarre things to get attention because they can't seem to put together a choerent thought on the issue at hand.

We've seen Mexican farmers parade naked for immigration. 

We've seen more boobs than you can shake a stick at in support of the anti-war effort.

We've seen people dressed in costumes and condoms.  As puppetistas and prophylactics. 

We've seen our president burned in effigy and our flag flown upside down.

We've seen the denigration of religious icons and the destruction of property.

All in the name of one movement or another.

What boggles the mind is how immature these acts are.  None of them win converts to the cause.  None of them convince the non-like minded to strip bare and form big human letters for an aerial photograph.  These acts are not motivated by a true desire to change the world - you change the world by reaching people, not offending them.  You don't win influence over others by mocking their values and deriding their devotion.  You speak intelligently and bring solutions to the table.  Anything less is pure exhibitionism and exposes self-absorbtion and a lack of sincerity with respect to the cause you claim to espouse. 

The latest assault on President Bush is quite frankly an assault on all that makes us human.  There is no correlation to politics in the perversion on display in Shortbus, a film debuting at the Cannes Film Festival.  The news report speaks for itself and I refuse to address the details of this debasing depiction of subhuman behavior on my blog. Suffice it to say that if you have to undress and have sex for pay to make a political statement worth hearing, you need a refresher course in human communication.  Get a dictionary, get a keyboard, and get a life.

Remember the "Culture of Corruption" charges leveled at the GOP by Dean's DNC.  Today's headlines reveal yet again that the GOP doesn't corner the market on integrity issues.

Rep. William Jefferson D-La was caught on tape in an FBI sting accepting $100,000 from an FBI informant.  Talk about having a hand in the cookie jar... From Breitbart:

A congressman under investigation for bribery was caught on videotape accepting $100,000 in $100 bills from an FBI informant whose conversations with the lawmaker also were recorded, according to a court document released Sunday. Agents later found the cash hidden in his freezer.

At one audiotaped meeting, Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., chuckles about writing in code to keep secret what the government contends was his corrupt role in getting his children a cut of a communications company's deal for work in Africa.

Looking for a good time?  Fed up with 1-900 numbers that are always busy?  Your favorite get rich by selling real estate guru not hawking a new program on QVC?  Well, look no further for a lineup of the most interesting posts in the blogosphere...

Empty your bladder and spit out your gum because you are not going to be able to read this post without choking on or wetting something!  Last Wednesday (10 May) over Jauhara: Live from Infidelphia  "the management" published a list of metaphors gathered from high school English students across the nation.  I can't remember the last time I laughed this hard. Check it out at: I only wish I could write like this

If your sides have recovered from all the laughing then you are ready for another hard-hitting online gem.  On Tuesday, Brian J. Noogle posted a link to the funniest tax commercial ever.  Note to male viewers:  Prepare to wince.

And Seawitch posts another video that would be funny if it weren't so true.  I actually didn't laugh much at this one...It hit too close to home.  See for yourself.  Doesn't it feel like you're living in an alternate universe some days?  Like when you visit Daily Kos and realize that no one can articulate a rational argument... In some neighborhoods common sense has gone the way of Latin.

Anyway, just thought I'd mention some fun pitstops on the information superhighway.  Enjoy!

********************** WARNING ******************* 

This post refers to some highly offensive images and contains descriptions of those images using frank and graphic language.  Included below is the text of a letter being distributed by the American Family Association regarding sexual depictions of Jesus Christ.   

More college kids gone wild - and it's not even Spring Break. 

The following is a letter distributed from the American Family Association.  I am posting it unedited because I am too disgusted to make any commentary other than to simply say that while the First Amendment does allow such speech, Ms. Jessica Brown and her cohorts over at the University of Oregon Insurgent had better get down on their knees tonight and give thanks to that fellow they're mocking that they live in America where we suffer fools instead of another part of the world where they are still sliced and diced or firebombed.  Furthermore, you'd think there would be a legal delineation between free speech and the pornographic imagery used in these cartoons and certainly, students should not be forced to subsidize a publication that intentionally incites and offends their sensibilities. The links in the letter are inactive but you can make your voice heard via the AFA website by clicking here.

"May 19, 2006

Oregon student newspaper runs pictures of Jesus as a homosexual. It is time to speak out!

Dear Cate,

 The Associated Students of the University of Oregon (ASUO) has refused to apologize for an obscene anti-Christian assault in the campus newspaper Insurgent.

The March edition of the Insurgent ran one of the strongest attacks on Christianity I have seen. The paper ran graphics depicting Jesus as a homosexual. One was a depiction of a naked Jesus on the cross with an erection; the other, titled Resurrection, showed a naked Jesus kissing another naked man, both sporting erections.

(To see the graphics, click here. We warn you that they are extremely offensive. We have pixilated out the private parts.)

When asked for an apology by Students of Faith, ASUO refused to give one saying that "there are no grounds for demanding an apology from Insurgent." The ASUO went on to defend the publication saying that the newspaper contributes "to the cultural and physical development of the university community."

The Insurgent would never show a naked graphic of the Rev. Martin Luther King kissing another man, both sporting erections. But offending Christians was of no concern to the Insurgent or to University President Dave Frohmayer.

The ASUO Women's Center tolerates no defamation against gays and lesbians. Three years ago, ASUO demanded that the university radio station, KUGN, drop Michael Savage (a conservative talk show host). The university promptly discontinued the program. But depicting Jesus as a homosexual is perfectly OK.

Here is what Insurgent Student Editor Jessica Brown had to say about the graphics. "I have to say it is really fun to offend people. It is fun to break the rules. If it pi--es people off…good that's the point!!! It has here in this office. So read, get pi--ed and talk about it."

Incidentally, the University forces all students, including Christians, to pay student dues of $191.00 per term, part of which goes to support the Insurgent.

Sincerely,

Donald E. Wildmon, Founder and Chairman
American Family Association

P.S. Please forward this e-mail message to your family and friends!"

Back to me... for more info on the student perpetrators of this assault on Christianity, check out the commentary on the blog of the other school paper, The Oregon Commentator. 

"This amendment is racist. I think it's directed basically to people who speak Spanish".  Nope, those words didn't come from Cynthia McKinney, they were the utterance of Senate Minority Leader, Harry Reid on the floor of the Senate yesterday.  The "amendment" in question declares English the official language of the American nation. Reid quickly realized he'd crossed a line and amended his own statements to clarify that he was not suggesting anyone was racist - but that some people might conceivably, under some circumstances, possibly come to the conclusion that perhaps the wording was a teensy tiny bit, um, over the top... (that's a paraphrase)

The whole point of Reid's idiocy is moot anyway since this largely symbolic bone is being thrown to flag-waving Americans, we can surmise, in a vain attempt to calm the furor over illegal immigration.  Apparently,  folks on the hill failed to get the memo that conservative Americans weren't impressed on Monday night with President Bush's 'dust off the welcome mat' speech.

With respect to Reid's charge that demanding liguistic assimliation is racist well, here's what I think:

(Una mensaje para mis amigos que hablan Espanol)  Los Democrats creen que Uds. son tan idiota que no pueden aprender el ingles.  Ellos saben que continuar a no poder comunicar en el idioma de este pais les mantendran como ciudadanos de clase segundo.  Los Democrats no quieren que Uds. progresan dentro del sistema Americano porque si Uds. se educan y ganan mas dinero ya no van a ser "victimas" sino que una gente exitosa.  Los Democrats necesitan victimas para mantener su poder politico. 

(A message for my friends who only speak Spanish:  The Democrats believe that you are too stupid to learn English.  They know that to continue to be unable to communicate in the language of this nation will keep you second class citizens.  The Democrats don't want you to progress within the American system because if you educate yourselves and earn more money you will no longer be victims but instead a successful people.  The Democrats need victims to maintain their political power.)

There I was, downstairs flipping channels and trying to find an interesting televised distraction so that I could avoid thinking about the cruel and unusual torture of the elliptical when I was forced to face the dreary reality that all of my favorite channels are suffering from Dan Brown Mania!  It's like I've crossed over into bizzaro world.  A&E, SciFi, Discovery Channel (several of them) are all airing critiques of Brown's novels or some variant of an expose of his woeful inadequacy as a researcher.  Geez. I almost feel sorry for the guy... almost.

Angels and Demons, The DaVinci Code - like it or not, Brown is laughing all the way to the bank.  He's a novelist. He can get away with making stuff up.  Or can he?  It isn't like he's Jayson Blair pulling a fast one over at the New York Times.  Actually, if he'd just left out that first page of DaVinci where he lists the "facts" upon which the novel is based, he probably wouldn't have even merited a raised eyebrow.

So here I go thinking again...  Could he be sued for presenting information as historical fact that can be readily disproven?  I'm not offering that as a suggestion, I'm just wondering aloud.  After all, even though the novel is fiction he has made public claims as to the accuracy of the historical framework around which he hung the meat of his story.  He presents as factual, information about pieces of art, historical locations and edifices.  Not to mention the implications about Opus Dei and the Catholic church.  Just food for thought. 

When the lines between fact and fiction are blurred in this age of instantaneous information - should there be a higher level of accountability for accuracy?  Just another one of those things that make you go hmmm....

        A lot more in common that you might think....

You know the old saying, "the truth will set you free".  Well, it appears that the truth will be setting Dr. Ward Churchill free of employment.  That's right.  The University of Colorado professor whose anti-American statements made headlines after 9/11 now finds himself under fire for more prosecutable acts. 

University: Ward Churchill Committed Research Misconduct

"University officials said they expect to decide Churchill's fate by June 8.

The professor touched off a firestorm with an essay relating the 2001 terrorist attacks to U.S. abuses abroad. The essay referred to some World Trade Center victims as "little Eichmanns," a reference to Adolf Eichmann, who carried out Adolf Hitler's plan to exterminate European Jews during World War II.

University officials had earlier determined Churchill could not be fired for his comments about the terrorist attacks, but they launched an inquiry into allegations about his research.

The committee's 125-page report said Churchill falsified, fabricated and plagiarized some of his research, did not always comply with standards for listing other authors' names and failed to follow accepted practice for reporting results."

Panel members found Churchill guilty of deliberate falsification, fabrication, and plagiarism in his work on the history of Native Americans and called him, "disrespectful of Indian oral traditions."

Are we supposed to be surprised by this?  At its core revisionist history is fabrication. It is invention.  With a surplus of historians researching and analyzing the same data to tell the story of man, there is only so much truth that you can publish and still term "groundbreaking".  After you've got 5179 corroborating accounts of Lincoln's death, what more can one write?  The trend of revisionist history is merely a reflection of the fact that too many people are paid to be chroniclers.  A problem which, in Churchill's case, seems nearly remedied.

After doing a little research on Code Pink's website for another post, I was hit with the sudden realization that my deeply held belief about the abortion issue was misguided.  The following ad for a new CP publication really brought the point home and I got thinking...

If only from 1992 to 2000, a right thinking American had inhabited the White House and had been willing to use a reasonable amount of force when Saddam's Iraq was shooting at our pilots in Northern ad Southern Watch.  If only, a strong and steady right thinking American had hunted down Osama in response to the bombing of the USS Cole, the barracks in Riyadh, the first Trade Center bombing and other Al-Qaeda attacks, we wouldn't be in the war we are in now.  If only a left leaning American hadn't decided to send troops unprepared and under equipped into Mogadishu then run whimpering with his tail between his legs and instead had committed the nation to a course in Somalia and held steady, we could have destroyed Al-Qaeda long before thousands of innocents had to die.   If only, a liberal draft dodger hadn't sent the clear message to the world that America was willing to be a victim abd wouldn't stand up and defend herself.  If only a president, truly concerned with the nation's welfare instead of his poll numbers had been living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue when it became apparent that Al-Qaeda was a clear and present danger and that Saddam was gassing his own people and feeding them through a wood chipper.  If only... If only...

And so may I suggest that Code Pink subtitle it's book in the following fashion:

Stop the Next War Now: Abort sniveling, weak kneed leftists out of existence

The soon-to-be 2008 Democratic presidential candidate has diagnosed the true cause of abortion in America.  Casual sex?  Lack of personal responsibility?  Disregard for human life?  No. No. No.  It's that darn vast right wing conspiracy again...

Playing desperately to the Christian lukewarm and the confused political center, Hillary proclaims the plague of baby-killing is a direct result of "a small group of extreme ideologues who claim the right to impose their personal beliefs on the overwhelming majority of the American people".  The junior Senator from New York claims that there is a movement, spearheaded by socially conservative fanatics to deny contraceptives to poor women.  "Low-income women, denied access to contraception, are having more unwanted pregnancies - four times as many as those for higher income women. And almost half of all unwanted pregnancies end in abortions."

Pandering pill pushing Hill's logic leaves a lot to be desired since abortion rates continue to skyrocket in NYC,  the city that put her into office, where candy-flavored condoms are distributed freely by high school nurses.

According to a January report in the New York Daily News:

"For every 100 babies born in New York City, women had 74 abortions in 2004, according to newly released figures that reaffirm the city as the abortion capital of the country ... That means 40 out of 100 pregnancies in the city ended in a planned abortion - almost double the national average of 24 of 100 pregnancies in 2002."

If there's a silent war being waged against contraceptives, the former first lady and her pal Chucky Schumer had better explain why they aren't defending the rights of their own constituents to kill all 100% their young.  Are these Senators really pro-choice, or what?!

And now, as Paul Harvey says, the rest of the story:

The simple truth is that even with abortion pills sold over the counter and condoms readily available,  abortion numbers aren't dropping.  In other words, this factual evidence provides proof that 99.9% of abortions are purely elective.  They are not the results of rape, incest or abuse.  And even with free preventive measures, a huge segment of our society has become convinced that personal responsibility is just too much effort when planned parenthood can get you out of trouble at tax-payer expense.  And with the abortion issue all but a lost cause for the political right, Hillary and her cohorts have to devise a new enemy to rally the troops and breed enough hate (the one thing they believe in breeding) to drive stupid and fearful women to the polls.  After all, if abortion is legal and readily available, and there's no real issue to scream about - what excuse will they give for going topless and forming huge human letters to spell out F- - - Bush?  Yep, this is politics. Unadulterated and unashamed.  And the charges are unsubstantiated and unrealistic.  No doubt this will rally the pro-abortion lemmings, especially those college aged young women who believe that the Emancipation Proclamation is just another name for Roe V. Wade. 

But, politics is a dirty business these days and nobody ever expected Hillary Clinton to suddenly grow a conscience and become the poster child for integrity.

Ten days ago a CH-47 Chinook crashed during combat operations in Afghanistan but it wasn't until flipping through the Army Times tonight that we recognized a friend among the fallen.  Tragically, this accident took the lives of ten American soldiers.  Our hearts go out to Kristen, Lauren and all of those who've been left behind.  You are in our prayers. 

Lt. Col. Joseph J. Fenty, Jr., commander of 3rd Squadron, 71st Cavalry Regiment, 10th Mountain Division (LI) was killed in Kunar Province, Afghanistan May 5, 2006 while conducting combat operations in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Click here to read the enws report from the Fort Drum Daily

Add Jodies Foster to the long list of celebrities who think we give a damn about their political opinions.  In Foster's defense, it should be said that she needed to do something to garner first a headline after FlightPlan.  And, after all,  this was a university commencement ceremony, an absolutely appropriate forum for Bush bashing... it wasn't like she was jumping on Oprah's couch, y'know.

According to the news blurb, U of Penn students were initially underwhelmed with the selection of Foster as a speaker.  Kids today - they have no appreciation for the child actors of yesteryear! 

While I appreciate Foster's freedom to express her views and I can respect that, all jokes aside,  this was actually a more appropriate forum to discuss national events and politics,  the fact that her statements gained nationwide attention is more evidence that celebs and the media believe they should be shaping politics.  And they think that you and I are poor saps who need to be educated by a bunch of 'discovered' former waiters and waitresses. That's right - never forget that in spite of being paid an unholy amount of cash for repeating lines and posing for the camera - these are just average joes and janes like the rest of us... only they refuse to admit it.

My previous comment remains my only comment.  "Ouch!"

"CANNES, France May 16, 2006 (AP)— "The Da Vinci Code" drew lukewarm praise, shrugs of indifference, some jeering laughter and a few derisive jabs Tuesday from arguably the world's toughest movie crowd: critics at the Cannes Film Festival.

..."I kept thinking of the Energizer Bunny, because it kept going and going and going, and not in a good way," said James Rocchi, a film critic for CBS 5 television in San Francisco...

...One especially melodramatic line uttered by Hanks drew prolonged laughter and some catcalls, and the audience continued to titter for much of the film's remainder.

...Some people walked out during the movie's closing minutes, though there were fewer departures than many Cannes movies provoke among harsh critics. When the credits rolled, there were a few whistles and hisses, and there was none of the scattered applause even bad movies sometimes receive at Cannes."

Ouch! And all that uproar for another mediocre Hollywood production... sounds like the boycott should've been for bad acting!

For everyone wrapped up in the craziness of Dan Brown's Davinci Code and its exploitation of ignorance. Godspy:Faith on the edge (what a great tagline!) has uncovered and published yet another letter to Screwtape from his dear uncle Wormwood.  It's a must read!  Just click the image below.

Tony Snow shut Helen Thomas down today. 

Check out the video over at Expose the Left.

Just a few months after showing a black X over Dick Cheney's face, CNN airs a false-start of the President's remarks on immigration. 

Some of the President's ideas on the border issue were:

1.  Put up fences and barriers, stand up technological impediments to border crossing and send in the National Guard

2.  Stop catch and release by expanding detention centers so that no one is left loose on American soil awaiting a court date for deportation

3.  Increased funding for local law enforcement who participate in targeted border missions

4.  Guest worker program to allow workers in and keep track of them - criminal background checks and biometric ID cards

5.  Financial penalty for illegals already in country and the opportunity to get in line for citizenship - stiff penalities for employers who hire illegals

Okay here's the question I have.  How do you compel the 12 to 20 million illegals already here to come forward?   They're already here and reaping the benefits of the US economy without getting caught.  Why would they come forward and volunteer to pay a fine and start paying taxes?  Sure, many would because they want citizenship but what about the others?  You've got to turn off the tax-payer funded tap by requiring paperwork for school enrollment and for eligibility for ANY kind of government benefit.  There has to be a tangible and painful consequence for not coming "out of the shadows".  Incentives to stay illegal must go in order to push people toward legitimacy.  

There need to be harsh disincentives for hiding out in America - not as a punishment - but as a driving force toward assimilation.

We are sitting at lunch when my daughter casually mentions that she and her husband are thinking of ”starting a family." "We're taking a survey," she says, half-joking.  "Do you think I should have a baby?"

"It will change your life," I say, carefully keeping my tone neutral.

"I know," she says, "no more sleeping in on weekends, no more spontaneous
vacations...."

But that is not what I meant at all.  I look at my daughter, trying to decide what to tell her. I want her to know what she will never learn in childbirth classes.

I want to tell her that the physical wounds of child bearing will heal, but that becoming a mother will leave her with an emotional wound so raw that she will forever be vulnerable.

I consider warning her that she will never again read a newspaper without asking "What if that had been MY child?"  That every plane crash, every house fire will haunt her.  That when she sees pictures of starving children, she will wonder if anything could be worse than watching your child die.

I look at her carefully manicured nails and stylish suit and think that no matter how sophisticated she is, becoming a mother will reduce her to the primitive level of a bear protecting her cub.

That an urgent call of "Mom!" will cause her to drop a soufflé or her best crystal without a moment's hesitation.  I feel I should warn her that no matter how many years she has invested in her career, she will be professionally derailed by motherhood.

She might arrange for childcare, but one day she will be going into an important business meeting and she will think of her baby's sweet smell. She will have to use every ounce of her discipline to keep from running home, just to make sure her baby is all right.

I want my daughter to know that everyday decisions will no longer be routine.  That a five year old boy's desire to go to  the men's room rather than the women's at McDonald's will become a  major dilemma. That right there, in the midst of clattering trays and screaming children, issues of independence and gender identity will be weighed against the prospect that a child molester may be lurking in that restroom.

However decisive she may be at the office, she will second-guess herself constantly as a mother. 

Looking at my attractive daughter, I want to assure her that eventually she will shed the pounds of pregnancy, but she will never feel the same about herself.  That her life, now so important, will be of less value to her once she has a child.  That she would give it up in a moment to save her offspring, but will also begin to hope for more years-not to accomplish her own dreams, but to watch her child accomplish theirs.

I want her to know that a cesarean scar or shiny stretch marks will become badges of honor.  My daughter's relationship with her husband will change, but not in the way she thinks.  I wish she could understand how much more you can love a man who is careful to powder the baby or who never hesitates to play with his child.  I think she should know that she will fall in love with him again for reasons she would now find very unromantic.

I wish my daughter could sense the bond she will feel with women throughout history who have tried to stop war, prejudice and drunk driving.

I hope she will understand why I cannot think rationally about the threat of nuclear war to my children's future.

I want to describe to my daughter the exhilaration of seeing your child learn to ride a bike.  I want to capture for her the belly laugh of a baby who is touching the soft fur of a dog or a cat for the first time.  I want her to taste the joy that is so real, it actually hurts.

My daughter's quizzical look makes me realize that tears have formed in my eyes.  "You'll never regret it, " I finally say. Then I reach across the table, squeeze my daughter's hand and offer a silent prayer for her, and for me, and for all of the mere mortal women who stumble their way into this most wonderful of callings. This blessed gift from God . . . that of being a Mother.


Author Unknown

Got this from my sister this week and laughed my hind end off.  Somebody was thinking of a Southern mother when they penned this...

Well, this weekend has resulted in a lengthy discussion with a few hard-core Democrats and it has been quite trying to say the least.  What was initially a discussion about the first amendment ended up in a condescending conversation calling me to a life of non-religious atheism because apparently, 'monotheism has run its course'.

Here are some of the choicest comments for your reading pleasure:

Example one:

This is an example of the "you are just like that stereotype I read about" argument.  Not even remotely logical but still many people use it frequently.

Here’s where you are wrong about your assertion that I can’t pigeon hole you. That you think it’s acceptable for Military Chaplains to be told by Congress that it’s okay for them to use the name Jesus in their public prayer services ... and the fact that you are a “proponent of traditional marriage”, puts you smack in the center of a pigeon hole Cate.

Example two:

The war on Christianity is in the minds of paranoid men and women who believe their God is the only God and thatk you, Cate, but pushing that meme is not welcomed here.

The faulty argument here is "I don't like what you said so I'm gonna pretend you said this".  Here is what I actually said:  "As I said I have never heard a PUBLIC PRAYER (and I emphasize that because we are discussing mandatory functions and public ceremonies) show anything but deference to all present. But to some, the mere mention of a belief in God is an atrocious offense -and the mention of Jesus a mortal sin. Lobbying groups on the religious right have fought hard to regain the right to pray in the name of Jesus - after all, He gave them that edict - to pray in His name. I don’t know what the answer ought to be..."

Example three:

Both you and your friend have come here, since I noted your link to my post and given your sermons on Jesus.

Here's what I wrote - you tell me if it is a sermon. "You don’t have to believe to recognize the validity of respecting others who do. I, personally, don’t fit well into the religious right. They won’t have me. Many of them don’t see me as Christian - even though on most doctrinal points we are amazingly in agreement. I go into Christian bookstores and see books that define my faith as a cult. But you know what, I don’t picket those stores or demand that they close and when the chaplains who espouse those same views stand up and pray in public, I listen respectfully, even though I recognize that in another circumstance they might denounce me. It is called freedom of speech."

Perhaps these was the offending lines: "Christianity is exclusionary, so are all monotheistic religions. That is their nature. If you remove the ability of these pastors to invoke the name of the God they believe in then what relevance do they have as ministers of their faith? They would be betraying their own beliefs and that type of hypocrisy is a fundamental wrong in Christianity. Not that I am suggesting we aren’t all hypocrites at one time or another, I am simply saying that institutionalized hypocrisy would be like neutering a stud - you’d have an animal that couldn’t fulfill the design of his existence.

Last night I was up late gunning for some outrageous bloggers and aiming at some outrageous issues.  Some writers are nuts and some issues are nuts.  And last night I wrote about a little of both.  Drawing fire is always fun but I didn't expect to find the gold mine that I did when I ran into Ginny.  (Let me make it clear that I am not calling Ginny outrageous or nutty - in deed, it is the issue we conversed about that is nuts!)

Ginny is clearly a woman who has had a hard life and her views are colored by her experiences.  The same could be said for all of us.  In my honest and most respectful opinion, Ginny's emotions seem to have clouded her judgement on the Free Speech issue.  Here is one of her comments:

"Let me explain one of my problems with public prayer that has a little too much ‘flavor’ to it. I had Seasonal Affective Disorder for 11 years when I lived near Elmendorf AFB in AK. I wasn’t diagnosed until 5 years into it. In spite of a multifaceted, intense treatment protocol, every year it would get worse. I contemplated suicide for years and would not do it because I knew the kids could not be ‘left behind’ in this miserable world if I wasn’t staying. And I wasn’t going to do it if either of them would know for a nanosecond what was coming. Every year I asked, I pleaded. I never rejected Jesus, he never accepted me that I was aware of. The last year when I figured out how to do it, I was going to get the guns and was able to stop myself 1 more time - because of my medical knowledge. That summer I moved and have been fine since. Except when some public prayer reminds me of those awful days and nights, waiting and hoping for an answer that never came.
So, forgive me, I’ve been through hell, and I’m a born again Secular Humanist."

According to Ginny's logic, military chaplains should not be able to invoke the name of Jesus because she has Seasonal Affective Disorder?  Okay, that's an oversimplistic interpretation.  Is it then, that because Ginny has felt disillusioned with her Christian faith and now feels uncomfortable with preachers of a belief she does not espouse that she refuses to allow them first amendment rights? 

Is there a clearer example out there of the philosophy "Free speech sould be protected... as long as it is speech I like"? 

In Ginny's defense, she also makes the following statement:

"All I, and most of the rest of us, ask: is that SOME Christians turn the volume down on their public comments"

I can respect that sentiment but that goes both ways.  When are television shows and movies going to stop denegrating people of faith?  When does that broad brush that you detest going to stop painting me as an abortion clinic bomber?  When will people stop assuming that I am a homophobic bigot because I believe that God ordained a pattern for families?  Tell, me Ginny, when?  If you've traveled in academic circles, you know just how browbeaten believers are.  You can't mention any allegiance to faith without a caveat or disclaimer so that people think you aren't too serious about it. 

Let me propose a truce.  You say what you like and I'll say what I like and as long as neither of us is calling for violence or a violation of the other's pursuit of life, liberty and property, we let it go. We'll call it the First Amendment.

I'm feeling kinda Wyatt Earp after reading some of the rotting rubbish that's been published on the blogs tonight.  Time to do a round up of mud-slinging rogues so that gentle readers can be reminded of why we must fight the good fight.

The usual suspects:

Lover of Angels is on a roll tonight, first celebrating the drowning of four US Marines with literary sound effects in his post Gurgle: God drowns 4 US Marines in tank  and then joining in the ill-informed and idiotic crusade against the Bush administration's phone number data mining program.  Well now, we all know why he doesn't want his phone number tagged...

And then there's bloghi's very own progressive mind.  She's railing against General Hayden for not being clairvoyant on September 10th, 2001 when Al-Quaeda communications that were intercepted sat untranslated for two days.  It is my understanding that this particular lady blogger works at the INS, you'd think she'd have a pretty good understanding about bureaucratic ineptitude and red tape... after all there are between 12 and 20 million illegals in the country...

Repeat Offenders:

The Irish Trojan's Blog also addresses the USA Today article about NSA data mining. (Frankly, who didn't consider blogging on that today?)  And while the post itself is relatively balanced, the comments - wow!  You'd think people were unaware that google maintains records on EVERY SINGLE SEARCH you've ever performed on their engine.  Maybe they don't know that pornographers and other unscrupulous marketers scan emails for keywords in order to fill your electronic mailbox with spam that you might respond to... 

Then there's the post over at "Real News and Politics" (it's hard to even type that without wincing) that accuses GWB of starving Palestinians.  Maybe it's just confused little ole me but if they desperately need American dollars for food in the first place, they were starving before we ever got involved...  (I love conspiracy sites - you can just put your mind to sleep and let you imagination take over)

And finally over at The Democratic Daily  Pamela Leavey rants about military chaplains being able to "petition the Lord with prayer at military ceremonies".  Leavey, obviously having no experience with the military (and surely never having put her life on the line for a bunch of sniveling liberal ingrates), shows her ignorance about the military chaplain's corp.  The military employs chaplains of every faith thus showing full compliance with the separation idea.  Preferential treatment is not offered to any religion over another nor to religion above the needs or the military.  To force chaplains to abandon their individual faith would be much more of a violation of rights (and of the purpose they serve in uniform) than to allow them to pray publicly to whatever God they worship.  You wouldn't go to a mosque and demand a pork chop, why the hell would you expect a Catholic to ignore his faith simply because you stopped by the parade grounds?  Secular hypocrisy appears to know no bounds...

Interestingly, Leavey's post brings us full-circle because Lover of Angels has added another post tonight about how Christianity is not persecuted in America but the persecutor....  Yeah, after reading Pamela's post I can see that (rolling my eyes).

Another example of how the Democrats think American people of faith are stupid, occurred this week.  I've already blogged about Disastrous Dean and his comments on the 700 Club.  Apparently, he is under the impression that people are just going to take him at face value when he tries to sell that load of cow chips about the DNC supporting traditional marriage. 

Reality Check coming at ya':   (from DNC.org's own website)

"As one commentator puts it,  if McCarthy was so beyond the pale then 'why did Joe Kennedy back him,  the Kennedy girls date him, Robert Kennedy work for him and JFK defend him as a 'great patriot' in his year of censure?  And why was McCarthy asked to be the godfather to Bobby Kennedy's firstborn?'"                            (Thomas E. Woods,  The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History )

For more information of the thriving of communist America check these sites:

Communist Goals (1963 Congressional Record)

The Planks of Communism in America

DNC Platform

Patrick Poole has an excellent article over at www.Frontpagemag.com exposing the hidden agenda behind one of the most sinister plots of our day.  The capture and dismemberment of American life and Western ideals by one of the oldest Islamist organizations, The Muslim Brotherhood.   [Excerpt]

One might be led to think that if international law enforcement authorities and Western intelligence agencies had discovered a twenty-year old document revealing a top-secret plan developed by the oldest Islamist organization with one of the most extensive terror networks in the world to launch a program of “cultural invasion” and eventual conquest of the West that virtually mirrors the tactics used by Islamists for more than two decades, that such news would scream from headlines published on the front pages and above the fold of the New York Times, Washington Post, London Times, Le Monde, Bild, and La Repubblica.

If that’s what you might think, you would be wrong....

Some of the plans for conquest include:

You know those websites that you visit but would rather people didn't know...  I was overcome with guilt this afternoon and decided that I have to open the confessional door and bare my soul.   Actually, I was just laughing my head off and couldn't resist pointing you all in the direction of one of my raucous hangouts.  If you aren't familiar with PIG (the Politically Incorrect Gazette) then you are missing out on some snort out loud humor.  Hysterically irreverent, these guys are a tribute to the pre-PC days that are fast becoming a fading memory.  Here's a sample:

Human Gene Pool Improvement Volunteer of the Week

Volunteer: Sean Murray
Antics: Did his level best to get electrocuted.

According to Sean Murray, he was overcome by a burst of company pride when he tried to "clean up the company workplace" by fishing a sweatshirt off some power lines. If you see where this one is headed, don't spoil it for those who are slower on the uptake. Sean's lone functional synapse chose that moment to take a break, so Sean decided to fish the shirt off the power lines with - drum roll - a metal pole. After a few practice swings at the shirt, he gave it another go and connected, with the power lines. Before you could say "Bzzzt", Sean gets knocked off his feet and his clothes catch fire. Ironically, Mother Nature chose to spare this fool, but left him with a painful reminder - burns over 25% of his body.

Sean gets bonus points for suing his company when it didn't cover his injuries under it's workman's comp coverage. He get's a rare double bonus for picking a shyster who used the phrase "unusual thinking pattern" to describe Sean's antics. He misses the brass ring, because the courts didn't buy his B.S.,and shot down his attempts at enrichment. Sean needs to adopt a glass half full attitude because, in addition to dodging a richly-deserved room temperature transition, he's PIG's Human Gene Pool Volunteer of the Week.

I guess they really do need the money after all.  Howard Dean kneels before the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in another blatant  public display of pandering.  Basically, Howie has revised his statements on the 700 Club by using the all too familiar "oops I did it again" defense.

WASHINGTON - Democratic chairman Howard Dean mischaracterized his party's platform on gay rights in an interview courting evangelicals, then set the record straight Thursday when an advocacy group called him on it.

Dean told Christian Broadcasting Network News that the 2004 Democratic platform declares "marriage is between a man and a woman" just one of the points he made in reaching out to religious conservatives who are largely hostile to the party.

But the platform does not define marriage that way, and his remarks prompted the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force to return a $5,000 donation from the Democratic National Committee.

Dean later acknowledged his misstatement, but the group sent back the money anyway. "We need for Governor Dean to demonstrate real leadership on our issues," executive director Matt Foreman said in an interview, "not to equivocate depending on the audience."

Got that, Howie, even your own supporters are telling you to stop lying.

But, you know Howard Dean,  he's like E.F. Hutton.  He speaks and people listen.  Then they laugh their butts off.  Check out this quote.

Dean said that "one of the misconceptions about the Democratic Party is that we're godless and that we don't have any values."

Howard makes a nice point here.  The Dems have been mischaracterized as a party without values.  They have a value.  In this case it seems to be $5000.

He went on: "The truth is, we have an enormous amount in common with the Christian community, and particularly with the evangelical Christian community. And one of the biggest things that Democrats worry about is the materialism of our country, what's on television that our kids are seeing, and the lack of spirituality."

And then he really steps in it.  He actually says, "We have an enormous amount in common with the Christian community..."  In other words, he acknowledges that they are not a part of said community.  They aren't particularly religious, says Dean, but they do have some commonalities with people of faith.  Paging Dr. Freud....

Today the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force has returned a check from Howard Dean for $5000. Apparently, Dean's comments on the 700 Club where he reiterated the DNC position on same-sex marriage turned a few of the homosexual activists off.

His comments as reported on the Task Force website were: "The Democratic Party platform from 2004 says that marriage is between a man and a woman. That's what it says. I think where we may take exception with some religious leaders is that we believe in inclusion, that everybody deserves to live with dignity and respect, and that equal rights under the law are important."

This whole event initially appears to be a very minor blip on the political radar because the truth is that no matter how much of a show the gay community makes, they will still be voting Democrat virtually en masse.  However, as a political snapshot it raises some interesting questions.

Why, for example, was Howard Dean appealing to religious right voters?  What makes him think that an appeal to that group is even worthwhile?  Clearly, the last two presidential elections have made it apparent that the culture war is a huge part of American politics.  There is a vast segment of our population that places a high priority moral values and the Dems are taking more and more notice of us.  With conservative critiques of the Bush administration making headlines almost daily, the frustration of Bush's base is evident, and perhaps that has given Dean the idea that he can swing some votes. 

Unfortunately, Dean's interview reveals the "Christian for the Camera" ploy that has sunk his party repeatedly with the religious right.  Notice this blatantly divisive statement:  " I think where we may take exception with some religious leaders is that we believe in inclusion, that everybody deserves to live with dignity and respect, and that equal rights under the law are important."   Most Christian churches teach "hate the sin, love the sinner"?  In fact, we reach out to welcome homosexuals into the biggest club of all .  We are all-inclusive.  Join us among the sinners. 

Of course, people deserve to live with dignity and respect, most people on the religious right believe that firmly, which is why Pastor Phelps shares DNA with his entire congregation.  No reasonable person, no matter how literally he interprets the Bible can offer hate as a Final Solution.  All we are demanding is that our government not force us to sanction or subsidize behavior that violates our religious beliefs.  And we demand that our children not be indoctrinated into a culture that embraces or promotes acts we deem deviant.  No one wants to torch the houses of homosexuals or see them all fired from their jobs.  Dean's words show a distinct lack of understanding of people of faith and a disregard for our core values and rights.  His appearance on the 700 Club was pure pandering. 

The whole episode smacks of Clinton's taking communion as a non-Catholic.  Even as a non-Catholic, I saw that act as a mockery of the sacred beliefs of the people who adhere to the teachings of that church.  What if he'd attended a Protestant church holding baptismal services, would he have gotten in the water?  

These public professions of faith are calculated and completely disrespectful.  Appropriate behavior when attending a church that espouses beliefs that you don't share or hold sacred is simply a respectful and reverent observance (as in to observe - not to falsely participate).  You don't participate in covenants or sacraments lightly.  People throughout history and around the world today have been willing to die for these beliefs.  How utterly condescending to participate when you aren't an adherent. 

The whole buying votes with the blood of Christ is getting really old.  And as far as I'm concerned, both parties are on notice:  the party that pays more than lip service and that stands up for my right not to support, subsidize or sanction ideologies contrary to my conscience can count on my support.

Some people find Ann Coulter brash.  Others find her offensive.  I find her hysterically funny with an edgy sense of humor that often crosses a line in an effort to make a point.  And yet her points are usually well-founded, well-thought out and well-worth the time.

Today,  Ann is condemning the noticeable lack of fight in the GOP.  It is distressing that Dems have been on the warpath for 5 years now and the Republicans haven't made a concerted effort to hold their political counterparts responsible for some of the reprehensible and purposefully deceptive rhetoric.  Not to mention outright lies, questionable behavior and possible felonies.

Here's a bit of what Ann has to say:

"Democrats have declared war against Republicans, and Republicans are wandering around like a bunch of ninny Neville Chamberlains, congratulating themselves on their excellent behavior. They'll have some terrific stories about their Gandhi-like passivity to share while sitting in cells at Guantanamo after Hillary is elected.

For a political party that grasps the concept of victory against foreign enemies, Republicans can't seem to grasp that concept when it comes to domestic enemies. Instead of taking a page from Sun-tzu's "Art of War," when it comes to fighting liberals, American conservatives prefer the Jimmy Carter unconditional surrender strategy.

Patriotic Americans don't have to become dangerous psychotics like liberals, but they could at least act like men."

And then she uses the Yale Taliban fiasco as a clarion call:

"Why hasn't the former spokesman for the Taliban matriculating at Yale been beaten even more senseless than he already is? According to Hollywood, this nation is a cauldron of ethnic hatreds positively brimming with violent skinheads. Where are the skinheads when you need them? What does a girl have to do to get an angry, club- and torch-wielding mob on its feet?"

ROTFLMBO!  That Ann.  She slays me.

"You may want to look fast, but the Democratic National Committee’s website still has a “Republican Culture of Corruption” page, implying that by installing the Democrats back in the congressional majority, we’ll have a virtual monastery of ethical restraint in Washington – with leaders like Patrick Kennedy setting the example."

Brent Bozell blasts Democrats who are desperately trying to foster an image of Mother Theresa like moral superiority.  Only one problem.  You can't claim the high ground when you're too drunk to make it past the barricade at the bottom of the hill.  The Dems are quick to point out, with the help of the liberal media, every infraction, real or perceived of GOP corruption.  In fact,  the "culture of corruption" is at the top of Howard Dean's list of talking points.  Unfortunately for Howie, his partymates are undermining his credibility.  When you have campaign aids serving time for slashing tires and lawmakers under investigation for illegally seeking an opponent's credit report, well, let's just say there is a believability factor here that isn't working in the Dems favor.

Check out Bozell's writeup for a full lineup of Capitol Hill chicanery where the Dems are taking center stage.

The "we're soooo victimized" race baiters are at it again.  A prime example is here at Lee Bailey's EUR Web.  Apparently, historically black colleges and universities are under scrutiny in the post-segregation world because, as we all know, public universities admit without regards to race.  This begs the question, why do we need to maintain historically black universities?  I'll address that in a moment because, unlike many people my age who have never lived under government sanctioned discrimination, I actually see a great value in perpetuating the existence of these schools.

However, the issue at hand is another one.  The article at Bailey's site condemns non-historically black schools for "copying" programs offered at the black colleges.  He refers to non-historically black universities as "Predominantly white institutions" (PWI) which is something I won't stoop to beacuse it implies some fundamental untruths.  Many schools are not historically black but are also not predominantly white.  He's trying to create division.  I'll leave that semantic argument alone because I find it hard to imagine that people aren't bright enough to see through it - the historically black university I graduated from required that all students take a course in Critical Thinking so I didn't have a problem seeing the blatant manipulation of verbiage. 

On we go.  The premise then is that "copying" the programs offered at nearby historically black colleges gives an advantage to the other colleges and undermines the black schools somehow.  He never actually states how except with a vague reference to the "equal protection provisions of title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act". The only real damage done is that students,  black and of other races have alternatives and are seeking them, which leaves empty seats in the historically black universities.  It leaves them underfunded (read: fewer government grants and less bucks for financially needy students who are choosing to go to other schools).

This is not an issue of race or of civil rights.  It is simply an issue of choice.  African-American students have it and they are wielding it to choose bigger and better schools.  The same thing is happening to small universities everywhere, historically black or not. 

Do I think something should be done about this?  Well, even though it goes against my fiscally conservative nature and really crimps my capitalist style to say this ... Yes.  While there is historical value in these schools, that is not the primary reason they need to keep their doors open.  These and other small schools that face a similar fate, offer opportunities for a wider range of students than some major universities.  I should say that my opinion is based solely upon my own experience and so I will preface my words with a sentence or two of explanation. 

I attended a major university for two years.  It was a private, highly competitive and expensive university with somewhere between 30 and 45 thousand students when I attended.  My last 2 years of undergraduate studies were completed at the historically black university I mentioned earlier.  Both universities had a lot to offer and both were wonderful experiences for extremely different reasons.

The larger school was filled with students like myself.  Traditional college aged kids with stellar high school grades and exceptional test scores.  Students who felt completely at home in an academic environment.

The smaller school offered something I found even more valuable.  A decent education for people who otherwise might not be able to get one.  It was truly a step up.  The class populations were at least a third non-traditional students.  There were people who were holding down FT jobs and raising families as well as students who had struggled more to get through their mandatory public education and had fought hard to get into university.  For many people at the smaller, historically black school, this was the only school that afforded them the opportunity to get a degree.  Smaller class sizes and less stressed professors meant more one-to-one time with instructors and more flexibility when "life" happened in the middle of midterms.  Honestly, the education was not as specialized at the smaller school.  There were many more limitations on coursework and programs but the same doors opened at the larger school were opened to me after I graduated from Hometown U.  I still walked right into a professional job and got paid reasonably well for my location.  The starting salary was exactly the same for anyone hired in my position no matter what university name was printed on the diploma. 

As for me, I think it is worth keeping these schools afloat, not specifically because they are "black", but because they offer education to students who might not get it elsewhere and that ultimately benefits us all.

For an interesting view of how others think on this issue check out the comments under Bailey's post.

Don't forget to take a quick look at today's press releases on operations in Afghanistan over at Centcom's website.  I've included some links below for those who want the press releases without the MSM analysis.

Current News Releases

IEDs discovered by ANP, defused in Khowst Province

Coalition finds weapons cache, detains suspects in Kunar

Operation Mountain Lion roars into Korengal Valley

Coalition doctors deliver Afghan baby girl at PRT

Henry G. Brinton, pastor and author merited nearly all of page 13A today with his op-ed Finding spiritual world's middle ground.  He makes some interesting points about American politics and redefines the national political spectrum in a very American, and very spiritual way.  Instead of conservatives and liberals,  he renames the polar ends obligation-keepers and liberation-seekers. 

He links his definitions to Biblical examples in a fascinating and yet faulty manner, even offering modern examples of each category.

"President Bush is a classic obligation-keeper - pro-life and pro-traditional family, with a strong focus on moral clarity.  His approach to strong focus goes back to God's original covenant with Abraham, whom God promised to make fruitful if he will walk before God and be blameless...

Bill Clinton, on the other hand, is a liberation-seeker - determined to help people in need and protect freedoms such as gay rights and abortion rights.  His style of religion can be traced back to Moses and the exodus from Egypt, in which God liberates his people from the oppression of pharoah."

If you've ever actually read the Bible, you know exactly where this analogy breaks down.  Moses did not simply liberate people unconditionally.  He liberated the people who had covenanted with God.  Obedience to specific laws were exacted in order to gain liberation - remember that bit about lamb's blood over the door as an outward display of the convenant.  Obedience to that divine mandate spared the lives of the promise keepers.  Let's not forget that freedom was a benefit of compliance to the covenants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  It was not arbitrary - it was a direct response to keeping "obligations".  Further more,  Moses was the prophet of the Law.  It was he who came down from Mt. Sinai with commandments in hand.

Brinton makes the point that conservatives and liberals often change from obligation-keepers to liberation-seekers and vice versa depending on the political issue and therein lies room for much compromise and understanding.  This is about the closest his assessment comes to making sense.  No group is as homogenous as it seems at first glance - only those who view political issues and people through the short-sighted lens of a camera see things so naively.  These are people who let newspaper headlines and 30 second CNN reports govern their political thought.  The reality of the human condition is infinitely more complex.

As far as the whole idea of obligation-keeper and liberation-seeker goes, these spiritual themes are not extremes on a spectrum of modern American thought.  They are more like polar ends of the same stick.   You cannot have one without the other.  Take for example the analogy of two children taking piano lessons.  There is the one child whose parents demand attentive practice  and there is the other whose parents allow him the freedom to choose whether or not he will dedicate time to his talent.  Both boys hate practicing.  Their liberty is infringed upon by the daily half hour sessions spent plunking out notes and studying melodies.  And yet, in later years, when called upon to demonstrate his skill only one of the boys enjoys the freedom to play.  The child who never practiced, who did not keep up his obligation,  ultimately lost his freedom.  When asked, "Will you play the piano?"  He was left only one response.  The diligent boy, on the other hand had the freedom to respond by either declining or accepting the invitation.  He is now free to choose.

The same principle holds true with every decision we make as individuals and as a society of the free.  We often choose to give up some liberties for the greater good.  We choose to inhibit the freedom of our children,  forcing them (as they often see it) like cruel taskmasters to endure 8 hours of schooling daily.  We exhibit cultural self-abnegation in a myriad of ways, and do so willingly and frequently when we consider the ultimate freedoms guaranteed through a little give and take.  We give up income so that our tax dollars can buy us the greater freedom of a standing military and freedom from criminals and social ills.  We have nationally chosen to be obligation-keepers in countless ways because we realize that keeping obligations allows us to ultimately enjoy greater liberty.  Obligation and libertarianism are not and either-or proposition but and if-then construct. 

Most of the social degradation, corruption and lack of personal morality that afflicts our nation right now is directly caused by the desire to offer liberty without obligation.  The removal of allegiance to social and moral covenants has resulted in a complete absolution of accountability and when we refuse to hold up our obligations,  we find ourselves like the Israelites Moses was sent to liberate.  Enslaved.

The May 15th issue of Newsweek is dedicated to the scourge of AIDS.  To be honest, I really didn't want to write this blog.  Being a devotee of traditional family values, I have written often about the LGBT community and my opinion of the activist agenda of the differently sexual.  But simply put,  I just couldn't let this article go without some sort of public commentary.  Some points need to be challenged, others need development and overall, this cover story screams out for a response.  Here goes:

The article begins by describing Jeanne White-Ginder's heartwrenching experience of scrapbooking clippings and photos from the life of her son Ryan White, the little boy whose face brought the AIDS conversation into every home and public school in America.  Unfortunately, this gives the article a disingenuous start considering the simple fact that through 1998, roughly 18 years into America's AIDS "epidemic", only 1% of AIDS death were caused by blood transfusions.  10% of the adult/adolescent victims were heterosexual and a whopping 54% were gay/bi sexual with 6% of that number also admitting to intravenous drug use.  The overwhelming number of people dying from AIDS in this country are facing their demise because of bad sexual decision making.

Making Ryan the poster boy for the AIDS activism movement is furthering a lie.  Ryan was collateral damage in the same way that another 8% of the other victims were collateral damage - people who paid a price because they had a peripheral relationship with a gay man or an IV drug user.  Either they had sexual contact with someone who was infected or they received tainted blood.

The article moves on, lamenting the deafening silence of the nation, its government and its media on the growing number of dead.  Most major news outlets barely mentioned the disease until it crossed over into the heterosexual community.  That's true, and do you want to know why?  Because once blood was being screened more carefully, people felt the virus was contained within two communities that didn't even care enough to stop putting themselves at risk.  Remember the vast number of gay and bisexual men exiting San Francisco bath house in droves and saying, "Thank God, I dodged that bullet.  I'll never have sex with hundreds of other strange men in a public gay brothel again!"  Me neither.  They didn't say that.  They kept right on putting themselves and everyone else with questionable morality at risk.  Thanks guys.  And yet they wanted a tax-payer funded bail-out.  I don't recall numberless hordes of druggies dropping the needle either.  What they wanted were medicines that would allow them to continue having sex like animals in heat with no self-control or common sense.  You know there were other STDs before AIDS and those didn't get the attention of the gay community.  I'm not suggesting that anyone deserves to die through a painful and dehumanizing drawn out battle with HIV.  What I am suggesting is that it is incredibly misleading to insinuate that AIDS spread across the nation simply because federal tax dollars weren't being thrown at the problem.  Even the CDC doesn't list lack of funding as a cause for transmission.

The article is quick to point to openly gay journalist, Randy Shilts, as an example of a media personality who took the issue seriously.

There were a few notable exceptions, particularly the work of the late Randy Shilts, an openly gay journalist who convinced his editors at the San Francisco Chronicle to let him cover AIDS as a full-time beat: that reporting led to the landmark 1987 book "And the Band Played On," a detailed account of how the nation's failure to take AIDS seriously allowed the disease to spread exponentially in the early '80s.

Once again, let me reiterate that unless you can fashion a dollar bill into some sort of effective condom or a mind control device that can convince an oversexed gay community to walk away from the party life, you can hardly blame the nation for the spread of this disease.  The same goes for the second group of high risk idiots - though according to the '98 numbers, their dead only made up about half as many as gay victims.  The point remains, AIDS isn't spontaneous combustion - and dollars aren't fire extinguishers.  Reasonable behavior would have saved so many lives.

The article wraps up with a critique of Hollywood's handling of the issue.  While people wept for Rock Hudson, the censors were still reticent to address an illness that would bring gay sexuality onto every American television set.  How the mighty censors have fallen - now we have Emily's two Mom's and King and King in elementary classrooms.

For more current  numbers, may I recommend the CDC 2004 AIDS surveillance report.  Bet you can guess what it says...

For the years 200-2004 cumulative numbers of AIDS cases based on transmission category:

Males

Male-Male sexual contact 441,380

Injection Drug Use  176,162

Male-Male Sex & IV drug use  64,833

Hetersosexual contact  59,939

Other  14,085

Females

Injection drug use  72,651

Heterosexual contact  99,175

Other 6,636

Child (under 13 at diagnosis)

Perinatal  8,779

Other  664

I'm going to draw a parallel here and some of you won't like it but that hasn't stopped me in the past and it won't now.  Just as the AIDS activism movement has used the face of Ryan White to tug at heartstrings even though activists knew his death was more akin to collateral damage than any real representation of the disease and its transmission and dangers,  the pro-abortion movement altered figures for back alley abortions multiplying estimated numbers a thousandfold in order to garner support.  By their own admission, leaders of planned parenthood lied to move their agenda forward.  This kind of willful deception is a part of every, single cultural movement that has been launched to undermine traditional family values.  Monogamous, faithful, loving family values.  Pornography has been legalized and made socially acceptable by conspiring men whose agenda was to open a pandora's box of immorality and devalue loving sexual relations and the impact of exposure is well documented. 

There are a whole host of ugly and deviant practices that have used subversive measures and deceptive propaganda to gain wide acceptance throghout the world and it is time that reasonable people, whether motivated by faith or by the scientific evidence of the social harm caused by normalizing such behaviors, band together and make a difference. 

   Atwar Bahjat:  Another voice silenced by the darkness and depravity

A true daughter of Iraq, Atwar Bahjat inspired her friends as well as her opponents by her ability to see past any conflict into the eyes of the men and women caught up in the struggle.  Atwar loved her country more than anything and as she reported on the hardships of living in a nation, first at war, and then struggling to evolve into something radically different, she became an Iraqi "everyman".

So there's an AIDS scare in the "small cornish resort of St. Ives".  In this sleepy harbor town, where the local population (6000)  is small enough that "relationships overlap", the decision to announce the dramatic rise in AIDS afflicted townsfolk was traumatic.  10 people are already infected and it appears there could be many more. 

At the press conference yesterday the West of Cornwall primary health care trust said the situation had come to light only in the last month.

David Miles, director of public health, said: "We hope that there aren't more people who have contracted HIV - however we think it is quite possible that there may be. Our investigations so far suggest that people will have been at risk for at least the last eight years, and possibly longer.

"It also seems that those at risk are in a wide range of age groups, from young adults through to men and women in their 50s, who have had unprotected sex. People may have contracted HIV and not yet be experiencing symptoms."

The most interesting part of the write-up wasn't the actual public announcement so much as the local response.  Check out this quote:

Plumber, Ian Bird, 49, said: "It's concerning to think that somebody might be out there infecting people. I will have a word with my kids and my friends to make sure they all know to be careful. You don't really expect it in a place like St Ives."

Here's a clue - tell them not to have sex until they are in a committed monogamous relationship , LIKE MARRIAGE, you moron!

Another choice comment:

Artist Alexandra Dickens said: "It's a very small community. You come across the same people again and again. People break up and move on, relationships overlap. I should think a lot of people are very frightened at the moment."

"Come across"?  You mean have sex with, right?  Because I come across people all the time but I don't normally expose myself to them and randomly begin performing intimate acts. 

You know,  maybe instead of AIDS awareness, the public health officials of St. Ives ought to concentrate their efforts on a little malady I call lack-of-common-sense.

Five men,  obviously foreigners, were sitting on flight 1874 today.  The men weren't speaking English and were carrying books about "aircraft flight" but it wasn't until they refused the ham salad lunch that a Federal air marshall radioed ahead to Newark and put the Port Authority on stand-by.

Okay, that bit about the ham salad I made up but doesn't it seem a little bit overreactionary to freak about five foreigners with a book about helicopters?  Did they rush the cockpit with box cutters?  Did they even unfasten their seatbelts and stroll to the little terrorists' room? 

The FBI interrogated the men for nearly three hours and eventually identified them as follows:  

"The men - identified only as four Angolan military personnel and an Israeli - were traveling back to their home countries after attending helicopter training school in Texas"

Can you just imagine the stunned look of these five men, world travelers, unlike most FBI or Port Authority agents, possibly invited to our country as military allies on a training junket paid for by their own governments?  I understand the fear but do you really think after 9/11 that a terrorist would board with a flight manual in hand?  You know, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

This is what's wrong with the world.  You put a perfectly good automatic weapon in the hands of an Arab terrorist and he can't even figure out how to do better than single shots.  We need gun education, people!  How the he#@! are you supposed to gun down American troops if you can't work your freaking weapon?!?!?  Good thing they got all of those dumb 17 year old palestinian wannabes willing to blow themselves up or the we-hate-America-but-we-love-violent-oppression movement would crumble.

For a laugh, check out Amy Proctor's post on Al-Zarqawi, gun-slinging extraordinaire.

A special thanks to the House Armed Services subcommittee that opposed the Pentagon's proposed hikes in Tricare fees. Retirees and servicemembers know what many Americans don't.  Military healthcare is not free and has not been free for some time.  In fact, when my father retired in the early 70s after spending 22 years, mostly in Asia, in uniform, there wasn't a solitary concern with respect to his future medical needs.  The military used to take care of its own.  Now, retirees pay for a worse system that offers less and outsources them at every opportunity to other providers where they become responsible for copays and in many cases the cost of medicines and medical supplies.  And once you are old enough for medicare, that becomes your primary coverage and the, supposedly lifelong, Tricare coverage becomes a secondary.  What medicare doesn't cover, Tricare won't so you can screwed over coming and going.  It's ugly.

I know for many insured Americans, this is normal, but the DOD had done a much better job in the past of offering benefits to compensate for the embarrassingly low salaries that servicemembers receive. 

The Pentagon's plan to hike enrollment fees, more than triple them to be exact, and to substantially raise copays was an effort to push more retirees away from using Tricare as a primary provider.  It was specifically designed to "discourage people from taking advantage of a benefit that they earned serving our nation" according to Rep. Vic Snyder (D-Arkansas). 

Why aren't people picketing over that?

Page 6 of the Army Times May 8th edition carries a FastTrack blurb about HR 5037.  Commonly referred to as the "Respect for America's Fallen Heroes Act",  this bill is a direct response to the inbreds at Westboro Baptist Church led by Pastor (and family patriarch) Fred Phelps.  These folks like to picket the funerals, memorial services and burials of U.S. servicemembers to remind the nation that it is not wild-eyed insurgents with cell phone operated IEDs that kill our folks in uniform,  rather it is the wrath of an angry God who dislikes the nation's tolerance for homosexuality and adultery. 

An aside:  I'm as religious right as anybody else, to be sure,  I consider homosexuality a choice (there's been no gay gene discovered) that is contrary to the basic purposes of God. Adultery falls into the same category and it undermines the family, the fundamental and very first institution ever established.  However, condemning a behavior and condemning a person are two wholly different acts.  Believe me, I'm a mother,  I have to make this distinction every day.  And certainly, the loving God I know has been more apt to allow me to suffer the natural consequences of my actions than to impose punishment for my acts on a stranger simply because he wears a camo flak jacket.  Just my opinion. 

What really caught my eye was the photo that accompanied the 2 paragraph writeup.  Generally, Phelps is lucky to draw a crowd of 6 to 8 supporters at one of his protests.  In this picture it appears that there are more reporters covering the morons than there are morons.  Must've been a slow news day...

Family Leader has written an interesting article discussing the results of a recent study analyzing same-sex marriage.  Turns out that all that talk about same-sex couples wanting to make a long-term commitment through legalized marriage is even more baseless than Bill Clinton's claims not to have had sex with "that woman".  Check it out:

Same-sex Couples—No Rush to the Altar

Do homosexuals really want to marry?  Does marriage suit the homosexual lifestyle?

Build a brick wall instead.  Go to send-a-brick.com and send a brick and a message to the representative or Senator of your choice. 

The young people behind this fun idea were on Fox and Friends during the 45 seconds I got to watch before my son found the remote and switched to SpongeBob.  They are basically following in the footsteps of those who began the fingernail drive at Harvard.  To do this on the cheap - you can send the brick yourself and if you can get it to fit into the flat-rate box, it'll cost you less than $5.00.

To see some of the bricks that have already been sent, click the brick below!

In a wise verdict, jurors in the trial of would be hijacker Zacarias Moussaoui denied the death penalty and instead voted in favor of a life sentence.  While many were hoping to see the death penalty imposed, I must admit that I find this a much better punishment.  If Moussaoui is a true believer then he has been left without the possibility of martyrdom and has been basically rendered an impotent and pathetic player in the world he values most.  How much more poetic can justice get?

In response to news reports about students getting suspended for school for wearing patriotic outfits or clothes sporting the US flag, North Carolina lawmaker, Rep. Walter Jones introduced HR-5255.  The bill essentially draws a line in the sand with regard to wearing patriotic gear. 

"H. R. 5255 would prohibit an elementary school, secondary school or institution of higher education from receiving funds from any Federal source, by contract or grant, if the school or institution has a policy or practice that prevents or prohibits the right of a student to display or wear, in a respectful manner, a representation of the United States flag in a manner that is at least equal in quality and scope to the right of a student to display or wear any other representation." (Jones website)

Everybody clear on that?  If you can inscribe FUBU on your chest and Juicy on your rear end, then you should certainly be allowed to advertise for the nation that funds your education.  And schools receiving federal funds that wish to ban old glory do so at risk of losing greenbacks.  Sounds fair.  Our dollars come wrapped in the stars and stripes.  I like it.  Now, lets's hope that the House and Senate get it together enough to back Jones' bill.

Michelle Malkin has great photos posted from yesterday's marches and virtually every one makes clear who the real supporters of amnesty are.  After perusing the pictures for a few minutes, it becomes vividly clear that Mexicans want their land back. A compelling counter argument to this deranged thinking does exist.  Here are some of my thoughts:

(1)  They already have Mexico and they still can't get that country right.

(2)  If they want to roll the clock back and demand their land then I say we offer it only in the condition in which it was taken initially.  We return it completely undeveloped, without modern technology, without any government or economic progress.  What do you bet that deal isn't satisfactory?  They don't want their land.  They want OUR economy.  What they want is freedom, social mobility and money - but those didn't come with the land when we got it.  Those are U.S. added amenities. 

Frankly, I think this whole issue is getting out of hand.  I can see room here for compromise.  Why don't we give them San Francisco?  San Fran is systematically cutting ties with the rest of America anyway.  They've booted the military and the Catholics.  They're probably very open to the idea.

Anyway, hop on over to www.michellemalkin.com and check out all of the protestors in their anti-American and pro-socialist glory.  It's actually quite entertaining.

In keeping with the May Day movement,  it seems fitting to point out exactly who some of the mobilizing forces have been behind the amnesty at any cost movement.

One of the main groups backing the movement is A.N.S.W.E.R..  This is a group that was founded on September 14th, 2001 in direct reaction to the September 11th attacks.  A group whose creation and name (Act now to stop war & end racism) preemptively struck at any American response to terrorism before a response had even been formulated or announced.  Consider that for a minute.

On the 14th, we didn't even know if the number of dead was 4,000 or 14,000.  The buildings were still burning and giving off enough heat and smoke for the environment around the financial district to be noxious.  New Yorkers and New Jerseyans were wandering the streets posting pictures of loved ones they hadn't yet found.  And yet, this group of people jumped the gun and immediately responded to the heartwrenching wailing and weeping of the numberless who waited in anxious and pained desperation for any news of loved ones, by demanding that we were ultimately responsible for this attack because our "international racism".  Remind me if I get this wrong, but when some outspoken religious leaders said the same thing they were publicly excoriated and ostracized from any reasonable discourse about courses of action against the perpetrators.

So here we have, ANSWER, whose answer was to blame America. 

It's not surprising to find that the leading supporters of this group are communist and socialist affiliates who have worked to fight against democracy in other countries.  Nor is it surprising that they are supporting amnesty.  This is a group that takes any position that is unhealthy for democracy because ultimately, the goal in their minds, is a to create a communal style world where people are either left to flounder in the insecurity of chaos or governed by a small body of extremely powerful paternalistic Marxists. 

It is also not surprising that among its supporters is found the name of one Kent State University professor.  This group is American liberalism at its most natural extreme: Marxist nihilism.

For more information, may I suggest you follow the money....

Who Funds Pro-Amnesty ANSWER Group?

"BERLIN (Reuters) - German Catholic leaders launched legal steps on Tuesday to prevent youth music channel MTV from broadcasting a controversial cartoon series which depicts the Pope as a pogo-stick-riding maniac."

"The bishops also attacked the television channel for an advertising campaign which showed Jesus apparently getting down from the cross to sit in an armchair and watch the program."

No doubt there will be those who decry the attempts of these Bishops to maintain some small amount of respect for what they consider sacred.  They will be accused of trying to override free speech with religious totalitarianism, probably by the same liberal minds who were afraid to speak out about the Cartoon Crusade earlier this year. But, if this were Mohammad on a carousel and Allah kicking back with a cold brew in front of flat screen to watch "Jackass", there would be much more than a single article in Reuters "entertainment section".  There would also be firebombing, vandalism and calls for beheadings to contend with.

Adherents of the ROP are making a quick buck in the marketplace.  No.  Not that marketplace. The open air markets on the streets of Pakistan. From Reuters:

"The movie salesman was selling jihad to the converted.

The buyers thronging his stall on the sidelines of a late-night rally in the Pakistani capital belonged to a crowd organized by a sectarian Sunni Muslim group.

'This is the latest video of the beheadings,' he told his customers, as they pored over titles including 'Slaughter of Americans in Iraq,'  'Slaughter of Traitors in Afghanistan' and 'Taliban Celebrations.'"

Not exactly what you'd call peaceful but I suppose if there's nothing else on t.v. and you aren't running low enough the handouts (I mean, humanitarian aid) that the American soldiers have given you in the wake of a natural disaster, what are you going to do on a Saturday night?

"Three weeks ago, a suicide bomber killed at least 57 people at a prayer meeting in Karachi celebrating the birth of the Prophet Mohammad.

At the other end of the country, in the Waziristan tribal area bordering Afghanistan, the toll from weeks of fighting between security forces and pro-Taliban and al Qaeda tribesmen pushed toward 300.

The video seller didn't have the latest action from the conflict on the Afghan border, but he had something just as gruesome.

'This one is about the activities of mujahideen in Waziristan and Afghanistan,' the seller said.

Dated in December, and supposedly shot in Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, it had footage of hangings ordered by influential militant clerics.

The bodies of the hanged men, described as criminals and bandits, were then dragged through the streets by pick-up trucks, in a grisly demonstration of rough justice in an area where the civil administration has, according to tribesmen, collapsed."

I wonder if he sells popcorn, too.

Apparently, there really is much more to the Kaballah movement than there appears to be.  Madonna's deep spirituality was on display yet again today, this time in California at a music festival in Coachella.  You've gotta love those Bush-hating celebrities who are so spiritual and high-minded.