An Emerging Trend

There's a thought provoking piece in the October issue of Fast Company magazine that deserves some attention in light of so many societal changes we see taking place. Written by Charles Leadbeater, Amateur Revolution, chronicles the growth of a "Pro-Am" movement which is coming about as a result of the continual knowledge explosion:

The 20th century was marked by the rise of professionals in medicine, science, education, and politics. In one field after another, amateurs and their ramshackle organizations were driven out by people who knew what they were doing and had certificates to prove it. Now that historic shift seems to be reversing. Even as large corporations extend their reach, we're witnessing the flowering of Pro-Am, bottom-up self-organization.

Please read the article in its entirety. It's worthy of consideration on how this phenomenon may change things in the future. Just look at what has happened to the MSM, for example; the New Media, much of which is dominated by the "Pro-Am" internet information junkies, a la Drudge, Lucianne, FreeRepublic, Powerline and the ever-growing blogosphere, along with Talk Radio, has relegated the MSM to virtual irrelevancy. Rank amateurs in the eyes of the professional journalists.

Look at the Home Schooling movement. In the last 20 years this movement has successfully proven that motivated parents can educate their children far better and much less expensively than can government schools. My wife and I can speak with firsthand knowledge and experience about the superiority of home education.

The ubiquitous home improvement centers, such as Home Depot and Lowes, located conveniently throughout the urbanside contribute mightily to the home do-it-yourselfer, negating the need for professional craftsmen in many cases. These stores offer classes so that the handy homeowner can do it himself and save big bucks.

Even grocery stores are doing away with professional checkers. Self check-out counters are all the rage.

These are but a few examples. I'm not saying this trend is necessarily good or bad. It's good for some and not so good for others. It's just a matter of fact. Like the old idiom states, "knowledge is power," and in an age where almost all information is available at our finger tips instantly via an easy "google search," we are not as dependent on "professionals" as we once were.

Digital Dysfunction

Having been out of commission for the last 24 hours or so, it's good to get back online. It's good to live near a Fry's Electronics store and it's good to have an attentive "boyfriend-in-law" who can do whatever needs to be done to the computer to keep his future dad-in-law online and happy!

Misconception of the Day

From Michael Kinsley's most recent column, When Ideology is a Value:

Why do you care, or care so much, whether the people running the government have good values? Wouldn't you prefer a bit of competence, if forced to choose? For example, suppose we had a government that was capable of ensuring enough flu vaccine to go around, like the governments of every other developed country in the world. Wouldn't that be nice? And if you could have that kind of government, would you really mind if a few more of its leaders secretly enjoyed Janet Jackson's halftime show at the Super Bowl?

Far be it from me to put words in Mr. Kinsley's mouth, but I'm assuming it's safe to say he was much happier with Presidents Clinton in the Whitehouse. Surely the Clintons epitomize the competence Mr. Kinsley references. But aren't they the reason that flu vaccines were in short supply to begin with, due to the touted Clinton Government Vaccine Buying Program? Price caps, Mr. Kinsley, on anything, ensure that there will be less of whatever is being capped.

The term, "good values" is subjective, to be sure, but it is used by Mr. Kinsley and others on the left as a demeaning pejorative. So what's with all this insensitivity and intolerance from the party of choice? Isn't diversity all-inclusive? Can't the left be more sensitive and tolerant to those with convictions other than their own?

Thanksgiving--"Be Thankful, But ..."

This from the "Reasons to take your kid out of gov't indoctrination centers" department. It's OK to be thankful, but...:

Maryland public school students are free to thank anyone they want while learning about the 17th century celebration of Thanksgiving - as long as it's not God.

After you acquaint yourself with this pre-Thanksgiving Day PC crappola, scroll down to the George Washington Thanksgiving Proclamation. If you keep real still, you may be able to hear our foredads rolling tumultuously in their crypts!

61 Years Ago

One of the reasons Thanksgiving is so special to our family is that my father-in-law, William A. Norrod, of San Antonio, TX., survived one of the worst WWII maritime disasters ever to have occurred. For more than the 30 years I have been married to his daughter, he related story after story about the HMT Rohna and prior to 1995, it was virtually impossible to find any information about this sea disaster. (Quite frankly, I often doubted his veracity regarding this incident.) It was so devastating that the gov't covered up the disaster so that Germany could not claim regional victory and dishearten our war resolve. The following information is from the Rohna Survivors Memorial Association website:

On November 26, 1943, during WWII, one thousand, one hundred and thirty eight men perished when a British troopship, the HMT Rohna, was attacked from the air and destroyed in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Algeria. Two important but virtually unknown historical events occurred at that time.

It was the first successful "hit" of a merchant vessel at-sea carrying US troops by a German remote-controlled, rocket-boosted bomb, thus giving birth to the "Missile Age", and it resulted in the greatest loss of troops (1015) at sea in U.S. history. Combined with the loss of ship's crew and officers, and three Red Cross workers, more lives were lost then on the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor.

The "hit" was so devastating that the U.S. Government placed a veil of secrecy upon it. The events which followed were so shameful that the secrecy continued for decades until recently, when documents were grudgingly released under pressure of the Freedom of Information Act. The government still does not acknowledge this tragedy, thus most families of the casualties still do not know the fate of their loved ones.

In 1995, over fifty years later, a group of survivors, next-of-kin and rescuers, informally came together for the sole purpose of enabling the creation and dedication of a Rohna Memorial.

On Memorial Day, 1996, a monument was dedicated to the memory of the 1015 men who lost their lives in this incident, at Fort Mitchell National Cemetery in Seales, Alabama.

The Rohna Survivors Memorial Association is a website devoted to this WWII disaster. Please visit the site. The group of survivors gets smaller each year, but they are a devoted and loyal lot. God bless them all.

George Washington's Thanksgiving Proclamation

An excellent website; The Papers of George Washington, in timely fashion, features his Thanksgiving Proclamation:

On 25 September 1789, Elias Boudinot of Burlington, New Jersey, introduced in the United States House of Representatives a resolution "That a joint committee of both Houses be directed to wait upon the President of the United States, to request that he would recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging, with grateful hearts, the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a Constitution of government for their safety and happiness."

You might want to read the entire piece...not too lengthy. Notice that it was referred to as "Thanksgiving" not "Turkey Day!"

Greater Love hath no Man......

One of our best and bravest made the ultimate sacrifice in order to save some of his brothers in arms. This story is several days old and it somehow got overlooked by the once influential MSM. A must read!

Virginia Paper Drops Columnist Malkin

Here's another newspaper on the wrong side of a trend. The Virginian-Pilot, in Norfolk, VA. has dropped Michelle Malkin's column because she is too 'anti-liberal'. Someone should tell them about the ever increasing popularity of conservatism...and the not so surprising decline in newspaper circulation across the nation. Malkin's popularity will continue to flourish and the (what was the name of that paper again?) intellectually intolerant paper in Norfolk will continue to lose credibility and subscribers.

Pro-Choicers Not so Crazy about More Choices

David Limbaugh explains why pro-choicers are near apoplectic at what conservatives inserted into the 2005 spending bill:

Liberals are having conniption fits because President Bush is approaching his second term as if he were actually elected. But conservatives in Congress may be growing bolder, too, if the just-passed spending bill is any indication.

I'm not just referring to their omnibus appropriations bill in which they capped the growth in domestic spending for 2005 at one percent, though that's encouraging. I'm talking about the specific provision that conservatives inserted in it that bars federal, state or local agencies from using financial coercion to pressure health care providers to perform abortion services or referrals.

Can you believe such a bill could ever be necessary in this country? How could we have arrived at the point where the federal government's policy is to treat the killing of innocent babies in the womb as a de facto government entitlement

Read the entire piece at the above link.

Is There a Movement Rumbling?

Is there a movement in the works to get the UN out of the US? That would be refreshing now, wouldn't it? There's a new TV ad campaign out there somewhere...check out the linked article.

"Mom, Dad--Where Are You?"

Rich Lowry in his most recent column, writes about a new book, Home-Alone America, by Mary Eberstadt, which confronts the problem of absent dads, working moms, latch-key kids and the inherent problems those three elements may cause in society:

Mary Eberstadt has written an unwelcome book. That doesn't make it any less important or less necessary. But many people will want to look the other way. In "Home-Alone America," (Click HERE to purchase. Sales help fund JWR.) Eberstadt confronts us with the consequences of a revolution in American parenting that has left children increasingly deprived of time-- or any relationship at all-- with their mothers and fathers.

This revolution has two causes: "The first is the divorce/illegitimacy explosion-- or what might be called the absent-father problem. The second is what is often the flip side of that explosion, working motherhood-- or the absent-mother problem-- which is sometimes a real choice and sometimes not." Eberstadt exposes the nasty underside of the emphasis on the "lifestyle choices" and personal fulfillment of adults-- at the expense of their kids.

A thought-provoking topic (hopefully). What are the answers to this problem? Well, there are easy solutions before the fact (that is, before divorce, before mom has to go to work, before dad splits); after the fact is when life becomes problematic. It would be so much better to keep the family intact and let mom stay at home. But that is much too simplistic, maybe insensitive and probably way too moralistic! Be sure to read the rest of Lowry's piece.

Plantation on the Potomic

Modern day slave master is one of Sunday's must reads:

Yet, we wait. We wait for Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton to explode on the scene demanding that Trudeau, Oliphant and Danziger be skewered alive and pealed. We wait for the NAACP, and the droves of other liberal Democrats who fancy themselves as America’s (self appointed) "black leadership" to demand that all three be fired and banished to Nebraska, Oklahoma or some other Red-State. But, we wait in vain. Instead, we hear the deafening and ever so telling clamor of indifferent silence. They’re cut from the same cloth you see — they play for the same team — the same rules don’t apply — integrity be damned! One need only imagine the utter pandemonium had a conservative Republican conceptualized and produced the same racist refuse.

What are you waiting for...go there and read it!

Strictly for Ballsy Christians

If you're a Christian whose citizenship is in heaven and you have successfully removed yourself "from the world" a la Rev. 18:4 and don't think you have any further responsibilities in this world, then please don't read Doug Giles' column about Christians needing to have the attitude of a Pit Bull. It won't apply to you. In fact his column may scare you. Like the marines, God needs a few good men. If you're wobbly, take a pass.

Bush comes to aid of Secret Service agent

Not a pusillanimous president, he! Ya gotta love this! His fans will love it; his critics will hate it. He just did what he needed to do! He's a cowboy, remember? More info at Wizbang and video can be seen at The Daily Recycler.

Post Script

Getting the U.S. out of the U.N.

You've got to hand it to Henry Lamb, the executive vice president of the Environmental Conservation Organization and chairman of Sovereignty International; he's been putting up with abuse and derision for years as a constant critic of the U.N.

Until recently, as he points out, those who were highly critical of the U.N. were sure to be linked to the "whacked out, black helicopter" crowd. In Lamb's most recent column, he suggests Congress should adopt a new agenda; one of making sure that the U.S. get out of the U.N. It may be closer to reality than ever with the daily revelations of unprecedented corruption at every level.

Here's a blurb from Lamb's column:

Every day, a new outrage emerges from the United Nations bureaucracy. Kofi Annan, once known for his deliberate, even-handed diplomacy, now openly condemns the United States' action in Iraq as "illegal." He is offended that the U.S. expects accountability in the oil-for-food scandal and refuses to open the books for independent review. The corruption erupting from this single program eclipses the intrigue that is inherent throughout the United Nations system.

For years, individuals and organizations have warned that the United Nations is implementing an agenda that ultimately leads to total global control. These warnings have been discounted by the media and ridiculed by the "enlightened" as the blathering of "black helicopter conspiracy freaks."

Putting aside, for the moment, the U.N.'s agenda, the blatant corruption, deceit and open opposition to all things American, combined with the U.N.'s consistent failure to stop the slaughter of refugees in the Sudan, Rwanda, Somalia and elsewhere around the globe should have Americans asking their congressmen why we continue to support this institution.

What exactly does the United States get for the billions of dollars invested every year in the hundreds of U.N. agencies around the world?

What goes around, comes around. Now it seems that the supporters of the dubious U.N. are the ones who are "whacked out."

Why the Left is Getting Religion

As I posted a couple of days ago, (The Dems want that 'Old Fashioned Religion', November 17th) the left is beginning to put on their religious cloak and it's hilarious to watch. The American Thinker has a good piece, "Don't Mess with God":

If the Democrats learned anything from the presidential election of 2004 it is that they cannot repudiate the religious community in America and still expect to win. Although the extremist wing of their party will probably never cease to refer to conservative Republicans as “religious nuts” or “Jesus freaks,” the more sensible among them will not want to see another scarlet map with GOP domination of the country.

A fun read! Check it out.

In the Midst of History

An important piece from Victor Davis Hanson:

We are living in historic times, as all the landmarks of the past half-century are in the midst of passing away. The old left-wing critique is in shambles — as the United States is proving to be the most radical engine for world democratic change and liberalization of the age. A reactionary Old Europe, in concert with the ossified American leftist elite, unleashed everything within its ample cultural arsenal: novels, plays, and op-ed columns calling for the assassination of President Bush; propaganda documentaries reminiscent of the oeuvre of Pravda or Leni Riefenstahl; and transparent bias passed off as front-page news and lead-ins on the evening network news.

Germany and France threw away their historic special relationships with America, while billions in Eastern Europe, India, Russia, China, and Japan either approved of our efforts or at least kept silent. Who would have believed 60 years ago that the great critics of democracy in the Middle East would now be American novelists and European utopians, while Indians, Poles, and Japanese were supporting those who just wanted the chance to vote? Who would have thought that a young Marine from the suburbs of Topeka battling the Dark Ages in Fallujah — the real humanist — was doing more to aid the planet than all the billions of the U.N.?

Those on the left who are ignorant of history lectured the Bush administration that democracy has never come as a result of the threat of conflict or outright war — apparently the creation of a democratic United States, Germany, Japan, Italy, Israel, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Panama, Serbia, and Afghanistan was proof of the power of mere talk. In contrast, the old realist Right warned that strongmen are our best bet to ensure stability — as if Saudi Arabia and Egypt have been loyal allies with content and stable pro-American citizenries. In truth, George Bush's radical efforts to cleanse the world of the Taliban and Saddam Hussein, bring democracy to the heart of the Arab world, and isolate Yasser Arafat were the most risky and humane developments in the Middle East in a century — old-fashioned idealism backed with force in a postmodern age of abject cynicism and nihilism.

Quite literally, we are living in the strangest, most perilous, and unbelievable decade in modern memory.

Tom Foley feels Daschle's Pain

Not that anyone cares what Tom Foley thinks or feels, but I lived in his Spokane WA district when I was a little shaver and picked up on this piece. Apparently he's commiserating with the outgoing (literal not figurative) senate majority leader and feels Daschle's pain.

WASHINGTON -- For Tom Foley, election night was a bitter replay of a moment he would rather forget.

Ten years after the former Democratic House speaker was turned out of office in a humiliating defeat, Foley watched as Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle was vanquished in a race with parallels to his own.

In each case, voters more conservative than the veteran lawmaker representing them punished a leader they perceived as more in touch with the capital than his home state.

It's a beautiful thing that neither of them are there to kick around anymore!

Dems Unhinged

David Limbaugh's new column chronicles the irrationality of the left. Here's a tease, but you must go there and read it in its entirety:

How dare he act as though he is constitutionally entitled to the office when he only received 51 percent of the popular vote! Doesn't he realize he's supposed to relinquish half his authority to Democrats because they got almost half the votes?

Something really isn't right in Liberalville. From their chauvinistic, racial slurs against Condoleezza Rice to their hysterical paranoia contemplating President Bush's next geopolitical move, they have descended to new depths of nastiness.

It's not just the cartoonists with their demeaning sketches and degrading captions. The editorialists are morphing into Maureen Dowds, as if in a contest to see which one of them can describe the current scene with the least connection to reality, and even less to common decency, good cheer or the slightest hint of optimism.

"Jews Cause Anti-Semitism"

This is rich! Anti-semitism is the fault of the Jews! Read it here: OpinionJournal. Read some of it here:

The leaders of Jewish communities should also act to distinguish defence of the State of Israel from the fight against anti-Semitism. . . .

Contextualising the memory of the Holocaust with that of other genocides and serious events in contemporary history in order to make sure that at the end of the day everyone can feel the Holocaust as their own tragedy, both Jews and non-Jews.

In other words, according to the U.N. experts' draft report, discrimination against individual Jews is bad, while "anti-Zionism"--the denial to the Jewish people of an equal right to self-determination--is not. Since it is the perception of unconditional Jewish support for Israel that leads people to attack a Jewish cemetery, and anti-Semitism was absent from the Muslim world prior to the Arab-Israeli conflict (the mufti of Jerusalem and his friend Hitler notwithstanding), the way to defeat anti-Semitism is for Jews to cut loose defense of the state of Israel. And by the way, anti-Semitism will diminish if only we stop emphasizing the unique horror of the Holocaust.

Hmmmm, let's see; if the Jews are the cause of anti-Semitism, which is a bad thing in some parlance, then why don't we just eliminate the Jews? Yeah! That's the ticket! This could be the white paper the Arab community has been waiting for! That it's from the UN only legitimizes their hatred and resolve to destroy (or attempt to) Israel.

Probably ought to read the entire piece...

Bigotted Blacks

A great piece from Rich Lowry: Are blacks the new 'bigots'?

2004 might turn out to be the year when blacks began their journey in the liberal imagination from perpetual victims of bigotry to "bigots" themselves. The left has always forgiven the black community a lot -- its religiosity, with which Jerry Falwell could feel comfortable; its retrograde views on abortion and school prayer; its hostility to gay rights. But now blacks just might have gone too far: They've started to vote Republican.

Read the entire piece. It's utterly intolerable when blacks escape the liberal plantation and side with the republicans. Each year, more and more blacks are beginning to realize they have been used and abused by the leftists for more than a generation.

Saddam Financed Palestinian Bombers: UN, France Complicit

Each day shines new light on those who wanted to leave Saddam alone in all his degradation and malevolence so they could continue to share the booty. The Pittsburg Tribune-Review reports that a French bank may have been facilitated Saddam's corruption:

NEW YORK -- Saddam Hussein diverted money from the U.N. oil-for-food program to pay millions of dollars to families of Palestinian suicide bombers who carried out attacks on Israel, say congressional investigators who uncovered evidence of the money trail.
The former Iraqi president tapped secret bank accounts in Jordan -- where he collected bribes from foreign companies and individuals doing illicit business under the humanitarian program -- to reward the families up to $25,000 each, investigators told The Associated Press.

Documents prepared for a hearing today by the House International Relations Committee outline the new findings.

Today's hearing, however, will focus on a French bank that handled most of the money for the program. An audit by a U.S. regulatory agency of a small sample of transactions out of the $60 billion U.N. escrow account managed by BNP-Paribas has raised serious questions concerning the bank's compliance with American money-laundering laws, investigators said.

The Dems want that 'Old Fashioned' Religion

When James Carvelle announced shortly after election night that the democrat party needed to be "born again," I knew exactly what was coming. Sure enough, the next day, and almost everyday since, we hear some democrat quoting the Bible. Tonite it was Bob Beckel on Hannity and Colmes while trying to defend racist political cartoons (you can see them at Rush's website). Nancy Pelosi was quoting Mt. 25 last week. While they continue to push God out of every imaginable institution, we will continue to see the left attempting to appear religious. You may want to read this: Some Democrats Believe the Party Should Get Religion and brace yourself for the new "religious left."

Which reminds me...I wonder if Bill Clinton's giant-sized prop Bible he used to carry to church is on display in his new library ; or maybe it's in the Counter Clinton Library.

Kofi and Saddam

A couple of good articles are out there today on the massive corruption at the UN. One from the Chicago Tribune:

In this week's burst of Oil-for-Food news:

- U.S. Senate investigators reported Monday that Hussein illegally pocketed some $21 billion during 13 years of sanctions--double prior estimates. Much of that came via Oil-for-Food, in which Iraq was allowed to sell some oil, supposedly under UN monitoring, and use the proceeds to buy food and medicine for its people.

Instead, as Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) accurately framed it, "That humanitarian program was corrupted and exploited ... for the most horrible and aggressive purpose" of funding Hussein's military. Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), who chairs a Senate panel aggressively investigating Oil-for-Food, said the huge fraud left a "dark stain" over the UN. While the UN averted its eyes, or worse, Hussein illegally smuggled oil, collected fat surcharges on permitted oil sales, bought rotting or substandard goods for his people, and even demanded kickbacks from foreign suppliers of those goods.

- As Iraqis died of malnutrition and disease, Hussein paid bribes to undermine sanctions and clear a path for spending on WMD. Mark Greenblatt, a counsel for the Senate panel, said Hussein tried "to gain influence throughout the world" for his campaign to end the sanctions. Greenblatt said Hussein "gave oil allocations to officials, journalists and even terrorists, who then sold their allocations to the traditional oil companies in return for a sizable commission." If some Hussein allies who criticized the sanctions as cruelties imposed on the dictator were gullible, others were purchased and paid for.

- Probers previously alleged that Benon Sevan, the sidekick of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan who ran Oil-for-Food, secretly got lucrative rights to illicit oil from Hussein himself. On Sunday, The Washington Post reported that Sevan also blocked the UN's anti-corruption unit from investigating his program. The Post said Sevan, who denies wrongdoing, was "loath to antagonize key Security Council members, particularly Russia, which routinely opposed efforts to reform a multibillion-dollar program that served its political and economic interests." Translation: People like their bribes intact.

Hussein's hijacking of Oil-for-Food bought him a world of support--almost. Now, honorable governments need to demand accountability from the nations, companies and individuals that were complicit in his blood-caked crimes. The UN also must produce the records that will let probers unravel the corruption for which so many Iraqi innocents paid with their lives.

Even in history's rough draft, this scandal is contemptible. And for those who appeased Saddam Hussein, it will grow more embarrassing.

Another from the OpinionJournal is a stinging indictment of Kofi Annan:

But Mr. Annan's own official U.N. biography states that before becoming secretary-general, he "led the first United Nations team negotiating with Iraq on the sale of oil to fund purchases of humanitarian aid"--and that implies a certain familiarity with the origins of Oil for Food.
Once Mr. Annan became secretary-general, he lost little time in getting deeply involved with Oil for Food. In October 1997, just 10 months into the job, he transformed what had begun as an ad hoc, temporary relief measure into the Office of the Iraq Program, an entrenched U.N. department, which reported to him directly--and was eliminated only after the U.S.-led coalition, against Mr. Annan's wishes, deposed Saddam. To run Oil for Food, Mr. Annan picked Benon Sevan (now alleged to have received oil money from Saddam, which he denies) and kept him there until the program ended about six years later.

Mr. Annan's reorganization of Oil for Food meant a nontrivial change in the trajectory of the program. All the signs are that Saddam immediately took the cue that he could now start gaming the program with impunity--and Mr. Annan did not prove him wrong. Within the month, Saddam had created the first crisis over the U.N. weapons inspectors, who were supposed to be part of the sanctions and Oil for Food package. Mr. Annan's response was not to throttle back on Oil for Food but to go before the Security Council a few months later and urge that Baghdad be allowed to import oil equipment along with the food and medicine to which the program had been initially limited. This set the stage for the ensuing burst in Saddam's oil production, kickbacks, surcharges and smuggling.

Mr. Annan then flew to Baghdad for a private powwow with Saddam and returned to declare that this was a man he could do business with. The weapons inspectors returned to Iraq for a short spell, but by the end of 1998, Saddam had evicted them for the next four years. Mr. Annan, however, went right on doing business. And big business it was, however humanitarian in name. Under the Oil for Food deal, Mr. Annan's Secretariat pulled in a 2.2% commission on Saddam's oil sales, totaling a whopping $1.4 billion over the life of the program, to cover the costs of supervising Saddam. Yet somehow the Secretariat never found the funding to fully meter oil shipments, ensure full inspections of all goods entering Iraq, or catch the pricing scams that by the new estimates of Senate investigators let Saddam rake in $4.4 billion in kickbacks on relief contracts.

Mr. Annan and his aides would also have us believe that Oil for Food had nothing to do with Saddam's smuggling of oil--which generated the lion's share of his illicit income. But it was only after Oil for Food geared up that Saddam's oil smuggling really took off, totaling $13.6 billion during his entire 12 years between wars, but with more than two-thirds of that--an estimated $9.7 billion--earned during the era of Oil for Food. Those were precisely the years in which Mr. Annan repeatedly went to bat to enable Saddam, under Oil for Food, to import the equipment to rebuild Iraq's oil infrastructure, whence came all that smuggled oil.

Transparency from the start might have flagged the world and stopped the scams as things turned deeply rotten under Oil for Food. But Mr. Annan's policy to this day has been secrecy. On Monday, Sen. Coleman summed up his subcommittee's efforts to get at the truth, as having required so far, eight subpoenas, 13 chairman's letters, "numerous interviews with key participants, and receipt of over a million pages of evidence" to begin to understand "the behind-the-scenes machinations of the participants in the Oil for Food program."

It would be obscene if we ever sent another penny to this den of iniquity.

It's a War...We're Killing People and Breaking Things Very Successfully

I'm not a vet and have never been in a war zone, but I don't belong to the group who believes you can't comment on something unless you've been there and done that. From what I can tell from video clips and various news reports, we are making serious headway in Fallujah by killing a whole lot of terrorists and destroying some of their favorite hangouts. In fact, we have taken the city. That can be verified by listening to what the MSM is NOT saying about Fallujah other than one of our selfless marines killed a terrorist who was feigning to be dead...gasp! How could he! This news cycle shall pass, and when it does, the MSM will be proven to be the "Spin Machine" of the left as it always has been. As I wrote in last nite's entry, this is the next Abu Graibe. They will milk this for every drop of blood they can. And in the end, it will be irrelevant.

Let's get real. We're at war with terrorist thugs. We are out to destroy as many of them as possible before they destroy us. We've been pretty successful so far and now isn't the time to stop, as much as the left-wing MSM would love for us to fail. And make no mistake in this matter; the left does not want us to be victorious in Fallujah, in Iraq, in Afghanistan or anywhere else we have to fight international terrorists. The sooner we, as a nation, realize that, the better off we will be.

Spin Machine's Quote of the Day

An incredible quote from Chris Matthews found at Hugh Hewitt's website:

"Well, let me ask you about this. If this were the other side, and we were watching an enemy soldier --a rival, I mean they're not bad guys especially, just people who just disagree with us, they are in fact the insurgents, fighting us in their country-- if we saw one of them do what we saw our guy do to that guy, would we consider that worthy of a war crimes charge?"

Note to Chris Matthews: yes, they ARE bad guys! DUH!

Matthews, as most of his cohorts, have a major problem with moral equivalance...you know, we are no different than they are. Huh? The U.S. Marines=Fallujah terrorists?

Note to MSNBC: be glad that very few people saw this. Be sad that many more will hear it on talk shows and blog sites.

The Next "Abu Graibe"

You won't need to "keep an eye" on this story (NBC Says Marine Shot Dead Wounded Iraqi Prisoner) because it's going to be thrown up in our faces over and over ad naseum for the next few days or weeks. Why? Because it appears that taking Fallujah was a big success and was completed in record time. If you are the MSM, that is not acceptable. So now they hope to have found something disturbing; something that will negate the success of the raid on Fallujah. What the MSM will downplay is the report that the now dead terrorist was feigning to be dead and therefore posed a potential problem to our marines. Please read the above linked piece...and watch how the MSM will attempt to spin this story.

It's About Time!

Newsday is reporting that the CIA is being purged of those who have been disloyal to President Bush. Good deal! I think it's about time, isn't it?

WASHINGTON -- The White House has ordered the new CIA director, Porter Goss, to purge the agency of officers believed to have been disloyal to President George W. Bush or of leaking damaging information to the media about the conduct of the Iraq war and the hunt for Osama bin Laden, according to knowledgeable sources.

"The agency is being purged on instructions from the White House," said a former senior CIA official who maintains close ties to both the agency and to the White House. "Goss was given instructions ... to get rid of those soft leakers and liberal Democrats. The CIA is looked on by the White House as a hotbed of liberals and people who have been obstructing the president's agenda."

While we're purging, let's put the State Department on notice and while we're at it, why don't we just get rid of all Clinton appointees and hirelings in all departments and agencies. That should have been done 4 years ago, but then there's that new tone dealy on which the President is so intent.

There's a certain "je ne sais quoi" about France

This gem is from the Jerusalem Post :

Several French municipalities governed by communist and left-wing majorities are considering naming a street or a square after Yasser Arafat.

The French police intelligence service, Renseignements Generaux, reportedly warned the Ministry of Interior that such initiatives might trigger heated polemics and tensions between Jews and Muslims, especially neighborhoods ridden by ethnic violence.

In several suburban cities near Paris and Lyons governed by communist mayors, large Muslim and Jewish populations live side by side.

What's surprising is that there is a faction that actually sees a potential problem in so doing!

A Morally Sick World Reacts to Arafat's Death

From The American Thinker, regarding the world's reaction to Arafat's death, Melanie Phillips posts her astute observation of the "the moral sickness of the world":

The reaction of the free world to Arafat's death, along with the opprobium heaped daily upon his victims in Israel, illustrates the decadence that now rewards evil and punishes those whom it terrorises. It is a horrifying indication of a world that has simply lost its fundamental understanding of right and wrong. All who value life, liberty and justice should take careful note and shudder at this moral -- and mortal -- sickness. This is the way a civilisation dies.

An excellent piece! Please go there and read it.

One More Reason to Yank Your Kid from Gov't Schools

This, from Boortz:

There is a bill coming up for a vote in the Senate next week that every parent who, for some reason, still sends their children to government schools needs to pay attention to. The bill would fund grants to implement mandatory mental health screening for almost 60 million children, pregnant women and adults through schools in pre-schools. So what's wrong with that?

It sounds so good, doesn't it? "Mental health screening"....seems like a noble idea. But here's why this is extremely dangerous: the government is going to be doing it, and it will be mandatory. The result will be the continued drugging of children, as mental health professionals will determine that kids need treatment. Again, all of this will be done behind the parents' backs. After all, they couldn't possibly know what is best for their children...only big brother can determine that.

What's the point of mental health screening in the first place? To determine who is mentally healthy? Why would you do that? The only reason you would do mental health screening is to look for problems...problems that would be treated by drugging more children with Ritalin. It's much easier to teach a class of school children that are drugged into submission, you know.

What did people do before Ritalin was invented? It was called parenting. Unfortunately, the White House backs this disastrous scheme. Be sure to call or write your Senator and tell them not to support mandatory mental health screening.

A quick question. If the government can require mandatory mental health screening for your children ... how long will it be before the government can require mandatory mental health screening of all adults? When will you get your notice to turn up for your testing? Will you refuse? What happens if you refuse? Will various government benefits be withheld if you don't report to your local government mental health screening center for your testing?

Are you even willing to think about these things?

If your kid is still attending gov't schools, what must you be thinking? The only way your child won't be "left behind" will be by yanking him out of the system.

As a special bonus to parents of gov't indoctrinated kids here's yet another reason, at least for parents in one Illinois school. It's all in good fun, don't ya' know!

A Thought for Veterans Day

War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature, and has no chance of being free unless made or kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.
--John Stuart Mill

"A Man of Courage and Conviction"

That's what Jacques Chirac had to say about the father of modern terrorism. How nuanced must one be to see the courage and conviction of a depraved murderer. In all this praise being heaped upon Arafat, it must be forever recorded what he perpetrated against innocents. Here is a partial list of his bloody legacy:

Among the murderous exploits he inspired were the following:

* the Savoy Hotel attack of March 1975, in which seven hostages and two soldiers were killed after Fatah terrorists landed on the beach and seized the hotel.

* the Maalot massacre in May 1974 in which a school building was taken over while children from Tzfat on a school trip were sleeping there. Three teachers and 22 schoolchildren were killed.

* the Munich Olympics slaughter, in which eleven Israeli athletes were killed in September 1972.

* the Nahariya/Avivim school bus attack, May 1970. Palestinian terrorists crossed the border from Lebanon, ambushed the bus with a barrage of gunfire, and murdered 12 children and 3 adults, and left several others crippled.

* the Lod Airport Massacre, May 1972, carried out by three Japanese Red Army terrorists in an operation planned and supported by PLO faction PFLP-GC, killing 26 and wounding 78.

* the Kiryat Shmonah apartment building attack in April 1974: PFLP-GC terrorists penetrated the Israeli border town, entered an apartment building on Yehuda HaLevy St. and killed all 18 residents they found there, including 9 children.

* the Coastal Road bus hijacking of March 1978, in which 11 Fatah terrorists ,who infiltrated by sea, killed a photographer and a taxi driver and hijacked a bus filled with adults and many children. The terrorists fired on passing cars from the bus, and when they were finally stopped, they began firing missiles. The massacre left 35 people dead and 100 injured.

* the brutal murder of three U.S. diplomats held hostage in Khartoum, Sudan, in March 1973. The terrorists demanded the release of Sirhan Sirhan, the Palestinian assassin of Robert F. Kennedy. Arafat was recorded as having given the execution orders.

* the Achille Lauro hijacking of a cruise ship in October 1985, in which wheelchair-bound Leon Klinghoffer, 69, was shot and thrown overboard into the ocean. Israeli intelligence later showed that the terrorists had been in contact, via the ship's radio telephone, with a PLF coordinator in Genoa, who in turn was in touch with PLO headquarters in Tunis for final instructions.

Arafat was famous for denying responsibility for the terrorism committed by his underlings. Ion Mihai Pacepa, a former Romanian intelligence official who defected to the West after working closely with Arafat, writes that Romanian dictator Ceausescu advised him how to do this:
"In the shadow of your government-in-exile, you can keep as many operational groups as you want, as long as they are not publicly connected with your name. They could mount endless operations all around the world, while your name and your 'government' would remain pristine and unspoiled, ready for negotiations and further recognition."

Describing Arafat in his memoirs, Pacepa writes that Arafat represented "an incredible account of fanaticism ... of tangled oriental political maneuvers, of lies, of embezzled PLO funds deposited in Swiss banks, and of homosexual relationships, beginning with his teacher when he was a teenager and ending with his current bodyguards. After reading that report, I felt a compulsion to take a shower whenever I had been kissed by Arafat, or even just shaken his hand."

Internationally, in 1972 alone, PLO groups blew up a West German electricity plant, a Dutch gas plant and an oil refinery in Trieste, Italy. In 1975, the presence of Arafat and his 15,000-strong army in Lebanon triggered a bloody civil war that raged on for nearly two decades, costing 40,000 lives.

Arafat was banished from Jordan to Lebanon in 1970 in the course of a violent war against the PLO by King Hussein, and from Lebanon to Tunis in 1982 following the Peace for Galilee War. He orchestrated the first "intifada," beginning in 1987, from Tunis, though it had supposedly started spontaneously.

In 1994, following the Oslo Accords, Arafat was allowed to enter Judea, Samaria and Gaza. Israel essentially forbade him from leaving Ramallah for the last three years of his life. Palestinian terrorists, funded and encouraged by the "statesman" Arafat, have murdered over 1,300 Israelis since the signing of the Oslo Agreement.

Besides the bloodshed, he stole millions meant for the Palestinian people. How would it look, afterall, if they lived a decent existance? Arafat made sure his people didn't get the money that was meant for them.

Still, the father of modern terrorism, is being lauded and mourned today by the U.N. and Europe . Even former president Jimmy Carter is blubbering about Arafat being a
"powerful human symbol and forceful advocate" whatever that means, while Nelson Mandela called Arafat an "outstanding freedom fighter."

Arafat, Mandela and Carter were all recipients of the Nobel Peace prize. The Nobel Peace prize used to be a prestigious award. It has become a joke!

Why Is Anyone Upset that Arafat is Dead?

This is something to watch and keep in mind. Arafat is no longer 'pining for the fjords'; he may very well be dead. So what? What is the big deal here? Another terrorist bites the dust, and takes the eternal dirt nap...Big deal! Why didn't he do as he advocated and strap on the bomb and take himself out? O', that's right, the leaders never do that; only the unenlightened underlings actually do the heavy lifting, if you want to call it that.

Arafat was a terrorist of monumental proportions that only the French can appreciate. He will be eternally loved and cherished there. Is it any wonder why anti-semitism is tacitly approved in France and Europe in general?

Wake up, you Euro-weanies! The Islamo-fascists are closing in on you and loving Arafat in life and death isn't going to buy a nano-second of peace with the terrorists. Maybe you should plant a few more trees to insure that the terrorists can march in the shade (except, unlike the Nazi's, terrorists don't overtly exhibit their ferocity). And you think America is your enemy!

The nuanced leftists the world over, who happen to be mourning the death of the terrorist Arafat, haven't a clue. They will blame the eeeeeeevill Israel for his death and for any forthcoming violence.

It's good that Arafat is dead. It's good when any terrorist dies...or is killed!

Happy 229th Birthday to the US Marine Corp!

The Marine Corps War Memorial in Washington DC (I think it's actually on the Virginia side of the Potomac, just west of Arlington National Cemetery) is an awesome structure! I first saw it in1955 when I was 3 years old on a family trip to the Capitol. The last time I saw it was in 1981. In between those times, and since, I've seen it many times in movies, on TV, in newspapers and magazines. It's much larger than you can imagine if you've only seen images of it. MUCH larger! Photographs don't do it justice; it's something that needs to be seen up close and personal to appreciate its impact. This Memorial and so many others in the Washington DC area are must sees for all Americans. Check out the data sheet linked herein...And make it a point to see it in person!

America salutes the Marines on this, your 229th birthday! May God bless you and your brethren in harms way wherever they may be. Thank you all for your service to our country!

That's No NY Hussy......

The inimitable Zell Miller socked it to MoDo yesterday...heh heh:

November 10, 2004 -- SEN. Zell Miller (D- Ga.) laced into New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd yesterday on the "Imus in the Morning" radio show, saying, "The more Maureen Loud [sic] gets on 'Meet the Press' and writes those col umns, the redder these states get. I mean, they don't want some high brow hussy from New York City explaining to them that they're id iots and telling them that they're stupid." Miller also suggested "that red-headed woman at the New York Times" should not mock anyone's religion: "You can see horns just sprouting up through that Technicolor hair." Dowd responds: "I'm not a highbrow hussy from New York. I'm a highbrow hussy from Washington. Senator, pistols or swords?"

What Next?

Human Events succinctly outlines what needs to be done beginning last week:

1. Increase private ownership. Transfer ownership of federal housing units to their tenants as a step toward eliminating HUD. Convert the ownership of the Post Office to individual shares for postal workers. Give “Lock-Box” treatment to private pension plans and savings accounts so that the government never takes a higher tax rate than when the money was invested. Foster an “Ownership Society” by moving away from government monopolies toward the efficiency resulting from competition.

2. Permanently end the death tax. This will protect American farmers, family owned businesses, and encourage increased private investment. The Washington area family of Jack Kent Cooke lost control of the Washington Redskins because the value its privately financed stadium made the family estate’s tax bill prohibitive. There is little wonder then that there are no takers to build a privately funded baseball park.

3. Completely eliminate the marriage penalty tax. Policy makers must continue to reform our tax codes to support traditional families rather than punishing them. Ending the additional tax burden on married couples is a popular reform.

4. Strengthen ROTC. Prevent colleges and universities from discriminating against students who serve in our Armed Forces by withholding all grants for research and other purposes. If schools have “hate crimes” regulations, include attacks on service men and women under its protection

5. Control our borders. I have been a supporter of immigration, but we must secure borders to protect the immigrants who are already in America and American citizens from terrorism.

6. Pass the Hyde Amendment to protect free speech on campus. Give the measure teeth by allowing students to sue professors and administrators who violate their 1st Amendment rights, similar to California’s well-tested Leonard Law.

7. Protect the Independent Sector from IRS encroachment. Citing the United Way scandal, Rep. Nancy Johnson (R.-Conn.) and Sen. Charles Grassley (R.-Iowa) are leading efforts to empower the IRS to make nearly one million private tax-exempt organizations mere government vassals. Non-profit boards, not a few IRS bureaucrats in Washington, should establish organizational pay scales and personnel rules.

8. Limit federal aid to colleges and universities that consistently hike tuition above cost-of-living increases. Taxpayers are underwriting an explosion of college bureaucracies and frivolous courses. Use the federal government’s leverage to end the exploding costs of higher education by drawing a line on tuition increases.

9. Defund the United Nations. If the UN wouldn’t enforce its resolutions against Saddam Hussein 'with the whole world watching' why keep funding it? Recent scandals exposed corruption in the United Nations that even the State Department can’t excuse.

10. Increase domestic energy sources. Allow more gas and oil exploration, especially in Alaska. Reduce the barriers to nuclear energy. Relying on Middle East energy is dangerous and costly.

That's a good start!

Left Behind

Two excellent pieces today (at least!): the first from the Telegraph, Why the liberals have been left behind:

Democracy is suitable only for the enlightened - which is to say for people who accept the assumptions of the Guardian/BBC world view. If you cannot produce the right result in an election - even after you have been told very clearly by everybody from Robert Redford to Michael Moore what to think - then you are beneath contempt, and we are licensed by the household gods of liberal ideology to call you names. (On Radio 4's News Quiz last week, Jeremy Hardy described Bush and his followers as "stupid, crazy, ignorant, bellicose Christian fundamentalists". Presumably, by BBC logic, this does not constitute bigotry but wit.)

The second one is from Dennis Prager, Why Democrats are tagged as the party without values:

According to The New York Times, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, reflecting on her party's recent losses in the presidential, Senate and House elections, asked: "How did a party that is filled with people with values -- and I am a person with values -- get tagged as the party without values?"

As one who was raised a Democrat and became a Republican only 10 years ago, I would like to answer Gov. Napolitano's question as honestly as she posed it.

Gov. Napolitano, your party does indeed have very many people with values in it. But the Democratic Party is no more representative of the average Democrat's values than the National Council of Churches is of the average Protestant's values. Both are far to the left of their membership.

Both are worthy reads!

The reasons for the dramatic dem loss are legion, but as the Maha Rushie illustrated so eloquently last nite in his speech at the Heritage Foundation and today on his program, the election wasn't so much about the dems losing; rather, it was about the fact that the republicans won and convincingly so.

Pertinent Coulter Column Revisited

Ann Coulter's April 21st column, Donkey Trapped In Elephant's Body explains the current consternation over the thought of Sen. Specter becoming the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee. Here are some highlights:

Thanks to Arlen Specter:

States can't prohibit partial-birth abortion;

Voluntary prayer is banned at high-school football games;

Flag-burning is a constitutional right;

The government is allowed to engage in race discrimination in college admissions;
The nation has been forced into a public debate about gay marriage;

We have to worry about whether the Supreme Court will allow "under God" to be removed from the Pledge of Allegiance.

You might want to read the entire piece.

Today's Best Headline

The on again/off again death of Arafat spawned this clever headline: Arafat "Pining For the Fjords" from the folks at The Command Post

'A Healthy Faith'

Thirty-two or so years ago Dr. Kenneth Cooper came to our college to speak about his newly conceived discipline, aerobics (and pitch his new book of the same name). That was the beginning of his incredible career which is featured in an inspiring article in today's Dallas Morning News. Check it out here.

Dr. Cooper's faith has always played an important role in his life:

"I've always said if you keep God at the top, family second and work third, that you keep harmony in life."

Dr. Cooper, the founder of the world reknown Cooper Aerobics Center here in Dallas, doesn't lay a guilt trip on those of us who know we need to lose weight, rather, he inspires. Here are 11 of his fitness tips and some encouraging scriptures he keeps in mind to aid in the struggle.

Here are some interesting facts about Dr. Cooper.

There's This, and then There's That

As 10,000 Troops gather around the doomed city of Fallujah, warnings have gone out to women and children and other civilians to 'get out of Dodge':

NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq - More than 10,000 U.S. soldiers and Marines have taken positions around Fallujah for an expected assault, as U.S. jets pummeled insurgent targets Friday and troops blocked key roads. Iraq's prime minister warned the "window is closing" to avert an offensive. Insurgents struck back, killing one U.S. soldier and wounding five in a rocket attack. Clashes were reported at other checkpoints.

It looks as though U.S. Forces along with our faithful alliance nations, are fixin' to kick serious butt in Fallujah even though U.N.'s Annan Seeks to Prevent an Assault on Fallouja. Well as the late Chris Farley might say in an SNL skit, "La Dee Fricken Da!" Does anyone really care what the corrupt (oil for food) U.N. thinks about what we plan to do wherever we wish to do it? O', that's right, Sen. Kerry does.

Heaven forbid we ever have a president that actually gives a rat's behind what the U.N. thinks!

It's the Constitution, Stupid!

Phyllis Schlafly weighs in on whether or not international law should trump our constitution. It shouldn't, but six of the Supremes believe otherwise.

Violation of this oath should be an impeachable offense.

Yet, six of the nine Supreme Court justices are now on record using references to foreign law in their opinions. In a speech last year, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg told the American Constitution Society that "your perspective on constitutional law should encompass the world."

Three Supreme Court justices disagree. Most Americans would agree with Justice Antonin Scalia, who wrote that the Court should not "impose foreign moods, fads or fashions on Americans."

It's time for the American people to let the justices, and all future judicial nominees, know that we believe it is their duty to base their decisions on the U.S. Constitution, and that it is a violation of their oath of office to base decisions on foreign decisions or practices.

This has to become a priority issue as this Court is gradually replaced. The Judiciary Committee is one of the most important committees in the Senate now, and the chairman needs to be someone other than Sen. Arlen Specter, known by many to be a RINO.

Joseph Farah has more to say about Sen. Specter.

Laura Ingraham encouraged her listeners to call Majority Leader Sen. Bill Frist (202-224-3344) to let him know what your thoughts are on Sen. Specter's views on judicial nominees. The thing to remember here is that Sen. Specter was responsible for 'borking' the Honorable Robert Bork. He also called upon some obscure 'Scottish Law' when he voted to acquit President Bill Clinton at his impeachment.

Peggy Noonan--Savor!

Today's must read of must reads. Peggy Noonan's piece pays tribute to many of the big winners. She's always a good read. This one is especially good!

God bless our country.

Hello, old friends. Let us savor.

Let us get our heads around the size and scope of what happened Tuesday. George W. Bush, 43rd president of the United States, became the first incumbent president to increase his majority in both the Senate and the House and to increase his own vote (by over 3.5 million) since Franklin D. Roosevelt, political genius of the 20th century, in 1936. This is huge.

If you haven't already, please savor the entire piece.

Beware of the Left Calling for Unity

Lanny Davis, on the O'Reilly show, closed out by saying that President Bush needs to 'reach out to democrats' in a compassionate way so as to unite the divided nation.....or words to that effect. We'll be hearing that liberal message over and over ad naseum for the next few months.

I have an idea! How 'bout if the dems, who ran one of the most hateful, divisive, disrespectful, abusive campaigns in recent history, reach out to the president in an apologetic way in an effort to show their unity with mainstream, majority America? It is not President Bush who is responsible for division in this country.

When I hear a democrat operative like Lanny Davis suggest that we need to reach out to them, he is saying that we are the ones responsible for the division. That, my friend, is liberalspeak!

When the left cries out for unity, they expect their opponants to come over to their way of thinking. That premise needs to change real soon.

One of The Big Winners

There are lots of big winners in all this, but I concur big time what Power Line has to say about Hugh Hewitt:

The Big Winners

There are lots of winners tonight. President Bush, pre-eminently; John Thune; Lisa Murkowski; Mel Martinez, and various others. But one of the big winners has to be Hugh Hewitt. Hugh has been a tower of strength throughout the campaign--not a pollyanna, but a rational voice of conservative confidence. Hugh steadied the troops whenever panic started to set in. He made the issues clear in his best-selling If It's Not Close, They Can't Cheat. He rallied pro-Republican forces in various media to work together for the practical end of re-electing President George W. Bush and as many Republican Senators and Congressmen as possible. Why? Because electing Democrats is going to get us killed.

In this election cycle, Hugh has taken his place among the foremost figures in American public life. I may be wrong, and I mean no disrespect to Rush Limbaugh or other eminent talk show hosts, but it strikes me that no one has understood the congruence of media--radio, print media and the blogosphere--anywhere near as well as Hugh. No one has built as good a network of radio stations and web sites--like ours--as Hugh. No one has led conservatives into battle with such a clear conscience and such a lucid vision for the future as Hugh. When many of us, including me, doubted, Hugh was the ever-present voice of assurance. After the candidates themselves, and after the Swift Boat Vets, the wonderful returns we've seen tonight are a tribute to the vision of Hugh Hewitt. He is at the very top of the conservative punditocracy.

DEACON adds: Let's also remember Hugh's famous battle-cry -- "if it's not close, they can't cheat." Of course, Hugh may not have anticipated the Democrats' response -- try to cheat by redefining the meaning of "close."

Posted by Hindrocket at 03:29 AM

Appropriate Quote of the Day

Hugh Hewitt said it:

"This is not the conduct of a great party, but it is also not surprising for the party of Michael Moore. What an example for the new democracies in Afghanistan and Iraq. Perhaps sleep will bring wisdom to this group. Sleep, and a good hard look at what Al Gore has become."

Who Lost?

The Bush victory is all but official at this writing, but it looks like it's in the bag for the republicans. There will be much navel gazing in the media. As was the case during the Reagan funeral, the media wondered (Rather actually voiced it) how they could have missed it. What they missed prior to the Reagan funeral was just how popular President Reagan was. All the numbers aren't in, but it looks like even Gore outperformed John Kerry. How could they have missed it? They needed to miss it in order to get their man elected. Much will be analyzed about this election. Just know your sources and what their agenda is.

Here are a few of the losers. A partial list, in no particular order.

• Zogby loses big. They predicted 311 evs for Kerry and 213 evs for Bush. Apparently they banked on the bogus early exit polls.
• Whoever was responsible for the exit polling lost big time. There needs to be an investigation. Maybe the folks at CBS could look into it for us after they complete the Dan Rather forged document scandal. This year the skewed(screwed?) exit polling didn't seem to discourage others from voting like it did in 2000. Maybe voters were determined to not allow another election like the last one.
• The MSM lost on several levels; ratings, and more importantly, credibility. Joe Viewer no longer buys their biased pap. When Walter Cronkite smears the President as he did last week (that Karl Rove put OBL up to the infamous taped message), people are more apt to see him as a doddering old fool as opposed to the 'most trusted man in America' (barf!).
• Newspapers, though part of the MSM, it should be noted that the drastic decrease in circulations may be directly proportional to the leftist editorial positions they embrace (generally speaking).
• The Islamo-fascists. There won't be dancing in the streets in Islam World when Sen. Kerry concedes, er, loses in court.
• The democrat party. Their inability to concede gracefully only diminishes their tarnished image. They've lost and they know it. They will litigate now, not because they think they can win, but to once again try to delegitimize Bush's presidency in the eyes of the far left. This serves to fire up the radical base for the next election cycle...which begins tomorrow!

While America Frets about the Election......

Brazil is fretting that pets shouldn't have human names.

Brazil may nix human names for pets
BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — A Brazilian legislator wants to make it illegal to give pets names that are common among people.

Federal congressman Reinaldo Santos e Silva proposed the law after psychologists suggested that some children may get depressed when they learn they share their first name with someone's pet, Damarias Alves, a spokeswoman for Silva, said last week.

"Names have importance," Alves said. The congressman "wants to challenge people's assumptions that it's acceptable to give animals human names," she said.

If the law is passed, pet stores and veterinary clinics would be required to display a sign noting the prohibition of human first names for pets.

Brazilians who break the law would be subject to fines or community service.

Alves admitted the law's chances of passage were slim but said Silva hoped the bill would call attention to his other efforts to protect animals.

"He's proposed many laws to protect wildlife in Brazil, but this is the only one that has ever gotten any attention," Alves said.

...Hmmmmm, what if people start naming their kids 'pet names'? Would that be insensitive to the pets? Or should I say 'companion animals?' My, how complicated political correctness can become!