Dagney's Rant

History And The Middle East

I'm going to be attending a day-long seminar next weekend, and I can hardly wait! There is a question that has been burning a hole in my brain for a very long time, and I am so excited about being able to ask an Archeologist and biblical historian [take your pick of links] my question. What's my question? "Dr. Price, at any time in your reasearch or experience, has anyone postulated that the Muslim Prophet Mohammed might have been considered, in antiquity, the prophesied anti-Christ?

I would ask that question because of my avid interest in Iraqi blogs. I am convinced that the inroads being made in Iraq, i.e., ridding the people of the murderous SH, and planting the seeds of democracy, were a brilliant choice in all of the Middle East. It was a stroke of genius. Why? Saddam had fostered the most secular civilian population anywhere in the Arab world. I know that we are dealing with a Shiite majority now, and they're in the "payback" mode, but I believe future elections will show the true secular nature of Iraq.

Islam denigrates women, dehumanizes them, as opposed to Christianity. Iraqi women are well-educated, and have been elevated in Iraqi society, though not always in positive ways. [I just tried google.com and acoona.com searches. I admit I am not the best researcher, but those two bastions of liberal search results make me nuts! Does anyone have a suggestion for a "fair and balanced" search site?] You know the Iraqi female doctor who helped Saddam Hussein with his chemical weapons, right? She was a part of the "most wanted" Iraqi deck. [sigh]

Bottom line? I will be blogging next Sunday, or perhaps Saturday night, on the seminar. In the meantime, I'll be reading Michael Totten's blog for more news from the ME. I pay a dollar a post. It's only 25 cents more than the trash and tripe that passes for news in USA Today, so it is WAY worth it! It's free, don't feel obligated...but if you enjoy it, pony up!

Lefty Hypocrisy Rises Its Ugly Head Again

I know. You don't have to tell me. Whenever I miss a day or so of blogging, I get silly with posting 2-3 times in a day. Oh well, get over it! This story spurred me (OT, Go Spurs!) to highlight this story, since I've been reminded for the last hour or so on Fox News that Mother Sheehan is going to be very active on Monday.

"Unite for change -- let's turn our country around! The times are urgent and we must act.
Assemble: 22nd Street and Broadway, 10:30AM onward (contingent assembly areas)

March: At noon down Broadway to Foley SquareGrassroots action festival"

Go for it folks! However you might want to consider the kind of person with whom you are marching.

"What cemetery and whose grave? Yes, it's sadly the grave of Casey Sheehan. After two years, and a DOD payment of $250,000 life insurance to the "Peace Mom", she has not had the time or bothered to have a headstone placed on this young hero's grave. And, she doesn't even have to pay for one, the DOD will provide one: "The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) furnishes upon request, at no charge to the applicant, a government headstone or marker for the grave of any deceased eligible veteran in any cemetery around the world.

For all deaths occurring before September 11, 2001, the VA may provide a headstone or marker only for graves that are not marked with a private headstone. Flat markers in granite, marble, and bronze and upright headstones in granite and marble are available. The style chosen must be consistent with existing monuments at the place of burial. Niche markers are also available to mark columbaria used for internment of cremated remains." She can find time to protest on at least 3 continents, get arrested various times, go on vacation in Hawaii, have photo ops with the Marxists in Venezuela but can't seem to find the time to properly mark her son's grave. "

I'm sorry, folks, but all the venom [and this is a mild example] this woman has spewed over the past year or so about our brave military is nothing. It holds no water, nor is it even comparable to the travesty of this story. I always admonish friends who send me stories that turn out to be blatant lies, to check things out at Snopes before they forward them, so to spot the story at www.snopes.com, from my homepage's RSS, I am doubly appalled! This is another blatant example of far left activists who deserve to be ignored, just as Cindy Sheehan has ignored her own son's grave.

Will Hollywood Get It?

The movie rights to "Atlas Shrugged" have been purchased, and the first thought that came to my mind was whether the Hollywierdos would get the meaning of the book.

"Lionsgate has picked up worldwide distribution rights to "Atlas Shrugged" from Howard and Karen Baldwin ("Ray"), who will produce with John Aglialoro.

As for stars, book provides an ideal role for an actress in lead character Dagny Taggart, so it's not a stretch to assume Rand enthusiast Angelina Jolie's name has been brought up. Brad Pitt, also a fan, is rumored to be among the names suggested for lead male character John Galt."

I am happy they are fans of Ayn Rand, who was a Russian immigrant. "Atlas Shrugged" takes a look at the fate of an America mired in socialism, and looks at how socialism kills inventiveness, the entrepreneurial spirit, and individualism. When all the great minds begin to disappear, it illustrates how America falls into disrepair. Therein lies my doubt that Hollywood can do justice to her theme. These are people who champion Castro's Cuba and lamented the fall of the USSR! My favorite heroin, obviously, should be a good role model for youngsters of today. I just cannot convince myself that a bunch of Hollywood lefties can do Ayn Rand or Dagny proper justice!

Unboycott Exxon Mobile

From O'Reilly to the city council of Beeville, Texas, to a plethora of e-mails making their way around the internet, many are asking for a boycott of Exxon Mobile! I've heard cockamamy reasoning before, but this one tops them all! I may be biased, from the standpoint that we are shareholders, but I doubt it! If you are a pensioner, or expect to be, or if you are a beneficiary of one, chances are you are also a stockholder of Exxon Mobile stock. A couple of days ago, I heard Ben Stein talk about his mentor and economics professor who taught the then young Ben to equate the word "stockholder" with the words "widows and orphans", rather than the MSM's myth of "movers & shakers", or monied people. If you have an IRA, or a money market fund, chances are, you too are a stockholder in Exxon Mobile. Another factoid that seems to go unnoticed is that Exxon Mobile's petroleum profits are derived from more than just gas production, in fact their gas production is only 46.4% of their bottom line. Petroleum is a base product for more products than I'm going to list here, including your kids' crayons, and many of your hand lotions!

Can someone please tell me why not boycott Citgo? Afterall, it's owned by Venezuela and their communist president and pal of Castro, Hugo Chavez. Come on people! Let's make some sense here! The cost of gas stems from any number of sources, not to mention that we all keep buying it at the same rate as ever, despite the prices! The braindead [brains sucked out upon entry into Washington D.C.] congressmen, headed up by our GOP, are trying to out-lib the left, and buy votes with a plan to send a measley $100 check to taxpayers to alleviate their suffering. Plus, they're threatening an investigation into the tax returns, suspension of tax credits, and other punitive measures against the oil companies! Worse than that, the donks want to invoke windfall profits tax, that will send us back into the bad old days of Jimmy Carter and his economy described as "malaise" & its accompanying misery index! [link]

We have Castro encouraging China to come drill off Cuba, a mere 50 or so miles off our shores, in the gulf. There was a congressman on Fox News this morning who said he'd taken a group of leaders in commerce to Cuba, where Cuba was offering the same deal to this delegation of American businessmen, but they had to turn it down. Why? American foreign policy does not allow us to do business with Cuba. Here's where Sec. of State Condoleeza Rice needs to start cleaning house at the State Department! This policy makes no sense! Can someone please explain to me why it is fine and dandy for us to do BILLIONS of dollars of business with communist China, and it's a bad thing for us to do ANY business with communist Cuba right off the shores of our own country? Cuban exiles in Florida need to get over it! I think I should have entitled this post, "Who Killed Logic In America?" Where are the environmentalists on this idea of China drilling near our shores? Where U. S. companies have proven ability to avoid spills, China could care less about the environment! Why isn't there an outcry from the love earth first people?

Last but not least, the markets are volatile everytime Ahmadinajad opens his wacko tyranical mouth! That doesn't even address the bite taxes, state, federal & local, add to the cost of gas! Yet some want to punish an American company! Moronic! Unboycott Exxon Mobile, and allow some logic and common sense back into the equation!

President Bush and My Logic

At first I was upset that President Bush was making statements that sounded like pandering to the political outcry about gas prices! Until I thought about it, and what it really means. Here's my reasoning by the numbers;

1) I know that this man, George W. Bush, does not say something he does not mean.

2) I know that he is a MBA, and understands the marketplace.

3) I know that the futures and commodities markets dictate, to a great extent, the price per barrel of oil.

4) I also know the impact our lack of refineries, oil sources in America, and drilling has made on the prices, not to mention the huge impact of federal and state taxes.

So what would make President Bush take on this new task? George Soros, did you cover your tracks well enough?

"TurtleTrader® comment: Why would Soros say trading and speculating are not zero-sum games? Soros is to be saluted for his tremendous success, but he is indeed a speculator participating in a zero-sum game. Perhaps he is reluctant to be as brutally honest with Koppel's audience as he is with himself. Trading is a zero-sum game when measured relative to underlying fundamental values. No trader can profit without another trader losing."

Who, may I ask, might lose by gas prices skyrocketing? Thank you TurtleTrader, for making my point!

Humor On A Monday

Many bloggers reserve Friday for the more light-hearted fare. I decided that Monday was a better day for it, since those who have to work could use something to smile about. I spotted some stories at breitbart.com and just had to laugh out loud!

When I saw the city this happened in, my first thought was "How can this happen in Berkeley? They have nude parades!"

"A carpenter who keeps his clothes clean by working in the nude was arrested after a client returned home early and found him building bookcases in the buff.

Percy Honniball, 50, was charged with misdemeanor indecent exposure this week for the October incident.

He told officers he stripped before crawling under the client's house to do electrical work because he didn't want to soil his clothes, police said.

Honniball said Thursday that working in the nude gave him a better range of motion and that a skilled craftsman can work clothing _ and injury _ free. "

He sounds totally logical, and the homeowner wasn't even home! What's the problem, right? I can see this happening in Texas, but certainly not in Moonbat Central!

Then there's this one! How depressed would you have to be to fire a nail gun into your head? maybe a better question than that is, how high on meth do you have to be? [Imagine that, it's also from the Left Coast!]

"The nails were not visible when doctors first examined the man in the emergency room of an unidentified Oregon hospital a day later. Doctors were surprised when X-rays revealed six nails clustered between his right eye and ear, two below his right ear and four on the left side of his head.

The study did not say how long the nails were, and a hospital spokeswoman refused to release that information. A photo published in the study suggests the nails range from 1 1/2 to 2 inches long.

No one before is known to have survived after intentionally firing so many foreign objects into the head, according to the report, written by Dr. G. Alexander West, the neurosurgeon who oversaw the treatment of the patient. "

The moral? Son, the Lord decided He has other plans for you. You and He really need to have a talk!

Then there's the story of the Judge who thinks internet surfing is just fine and dandy, even though the guy wasn't surfing it, he was playing solitaire!

"Saying surfing the web is equivalent to reading a newspaper or talking on the phone, an administrative law judge has suggested that only a reprimand is appropriate as punishment for a city worker accused of failing to heed warnings to stay off the Internet.

Administrative Law Judge John Spooner reached his decision in the case of Toquir Choudhri, a 14-year veteran of the Department of Education who had been accused of ignoring supervisors who told him to stop browsing the Internet at work.

The ruling came after Mayor Michael Bloomberg fired a worker in the city's legislative office in Albany earlier this year after he saw the man playing a game of solitaire on his computer.

In his decision, Spooner wrote: "It should be observed that the Internet has become the modern equivalent of a telephone or a daily newspaper, providing a combination of communication and information that most employees use as frequently in their personal lives as for their work."

He added: "For this reason, city agencies permit workers to use a telephone for personal calls, so long as this does not interfere with their overall work performance. Many agencies apply the same standard to the use of the Internet for personal purposes."

Spooner dispensed the lightest possible punishment on Choudhri, a reprimand, after a search of Choudhri's computer files revealed he had visited several news and travel sites."

As a blogger, I have to say I like this judge. As an entrepreneurial trainer, I am appalled that an employee can waste his employer's money by playing around on the internet!

And last, but certainly not least, is this story.

"With gasoline hitting $3 per gallon, scientists have just found the most energy-efficient engines in the universe _ black holes, those whirling super-dense centers of galaxies that suck in nearly everything.

The jets of energy spurting out of older ultra-efficient black holes also seem to be playing a crucial role as zoning cops in large galaxies, preventing too many stars from sprouting. That explains why there aren't as many burgeoning galaxies chock full of stars as previously expected, said scientists citing results from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory.

For the first time scientists measured both the mass of hot gas that is being sucked into nine older black holes and the unseen super- speedy jets of high energy particles spit out, which essentially form a cosmic engine. Then they determined a rate of how efficient these older black hole engines are and were awe-struck. "

I always thought Washington D.C. was the most efficient black hole in the universe! After all, we send seemingly intelligent Senators and Representatives to DC, but as soon as they near that black hole, they become empty suits without a scintilla of logic in their heads!

Note to Hastert (who I thought was an economist) and Frist: Gentlemen, with 8.9% profit margin for oil companies, and a 12+% for General Foods, how about you give up the federal taxes on gas in order to help out us consumers? After all, y'all make more off a gallon of gas than the folks who find it, get it, refine it, and deliver it to us. What did you do in that process? Oh, right. You made up "designer" gas formulas that limit the refineries that can make up the formulations you passed as law!

The Bully Pulpit

The Bully Pulpit is being used effectively, not by President Bush, but by Osama bin Laden. He is apparently stirring the pot again, saying America's refusal to give financial aid to the Hamas government in Palestine is proof we're at war with Islam. We should somehow be putting food into the mouths of Palestinians, rather than the Palestinians should take care of themselves? I know, it's patently ridiculous to us, but this is going to roil the waters in Iraq, Iran, Syria and all over the ME infected by Islamofacism.

Meanwhile we have a booming economy in America, yet 72% of Americans don't seem to know it, according to recent opinion polls. This could be thanks to skyrocketing gas prices, but no one seems to be noticing the record low unemployment and record high home ownership numbers. You couldn't tell it by the news coverage of what our president is saying! Rather than remind Americans we're doing well, what's he saying?

"US President George W. Bush has warned rising oil prices will mean a "tough summer" for US consumers as the high cost of gasoline (petrol) showed signs of becoming a big political issue.

But even as more Americans expressed discontent over the price of filling up their gas tanks, Bush suggested there was little his government could do in the short term about the problem. "

While the new chief of staff Jeff Bolten is cleaning house, I hope he gets rid of whoever has been running the President's public relations into the ground!

Karen Hughes, where are you when we need you? I know what you would say, Karen. It's hard to get the message across when the mainstream media is your voice & filter, but this has been going on for months! Please tell your friend the President, to get out there and tell the people the truth, as only he can do. Please tell him not to allow the likes of OBL and Ahmadinajad to use the Bully Pulpit better than he does!

Observations And Past Posts

Howard "The Screecher" Dean cannot seem to open his mouth without sounding like a maniac.

"In his first post-Katrina visit to the Crescent City, Dean helped Acorn, a nonprofit community group that works with low-income families, to clean out Vincent Cooper's flood-damaged home on Derbigny Street in the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans.

"I don't want to be partisan at a time like this, but this is why the Republicans are going to be out of business," Dean said, pointing to the destruction around him."

Selectivity in understanding can make one sound absolutely stupid, and Dean never misses an opportunity. He has obviously not traveled to Mississippi or Alabama, since he's just now getting around to going to New Orleans, so how could we expect him to see the same contrasts I saw during a recent trip. I should not be surprised that he chose not to visit Alabama or Mississippi, since both states are primarily Republican, but does he not realize the obvious lack of accomplishment in Louisiana vs. the great strides in both of the other Katrina hit states?

While I'm patting myself on the back [sheesh, don't you just hate that?] I have to go back to a time,

"Am I the only American who thinks the real culprit in the eavesdropping is NOT President Bush, but the traiter who leaked the programs the President has put in place to catch the bad guys before they strike us again? I don't think so! It infuriates me that someone could want to discredit the President so bad, that they would put Americans in harm's way!"

Thankfully, they've caught the culprit, and she's been fired! As I've pointed out many times in the past, when MSM suggests the leaks are coming from the "Bush administration", they are not taking into account that there are bureaucrats who have been ensconced for many years before Dubya took office, and many of them were appointed/hired by previous administrations.

The Donks Have A Plan

They can smell the closeness of their power returning! They're so excited by the high gas prices and the upset of both Republicans and Democrats over the inaction of the Bush Administration in securing our borders. They just know they can skate back into power by hammering these issues.

"To varying degrees, Democrats around the country are following a similar script that touches on economic anxiety and populist resentment against oil companies.

"It's a metaphor for an economy that keeps biting people despite overall good numbers," said Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Mr. Schumer said Democratic candidates in 10 of the 34 Senate races this year had scheduled campaign events this week focusing on gasoline prices.

Officials at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which advises House candidates, said they sent a memorandum to candidates on Thursday offering guidance on using the issue to their advantage. The memorandum includes a "sample statement" that recommends telling voters, "Americans are tired of giving billion-dollar tax subsidies to energy companies and foreign countries while paying record prices at the pump."

Can you sense the salivating? Howard Dean has seized on the border control issue as a way to take back the House.

"Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean yesterday called border security his party's top immigration priority for November.

"The first thing we want is tough border control," he said. "We have to do a much better job on our borders than George Bush has done. And then we can go to the policy disagreements about how to get it done."

There's just a few problems with these tactics. First off, much of the reason we have high gas prices is due to their constituencies, i.e., the environmental movements which have prevented America from building any new refineries for at least 30 years. Their most recent soapbox has been against our drilling for oil in Alaska's Anwar territory, siting caribou habitat damage, despite the fact the caribou have flourished around the pipeline they were so dead set against! So where is their credibility?

Then there's Dean stance on border control, which is in direct conflict with the likes of John sKerry, Teddy [hic] Kennedy and Shrillary Rob'em Clinton. What most Donkey Wonks want is immediate citizenship for all illegals, and getting the new "immigrants" registered as Democrats. How Dean intends to make that idea fly with his own party is beyond me!

As they lose more and more of their base, they need to find ways to replenish it. Their preferred method is legalizing illegals, and allowing felons to vote. They can't win voters with new ideas, so those markets are their only recourse. Doesn't Dean realize this? Or does he not realize who his base is comprised of? Doesn't sound like he has a clue about who is running his party. Pssst! Mr. Dean! It's not you!

What's A Girl Gonna Do?

Poor Shrillary. She's been in such a quandry, since she's been heckled and shouted down by what should be her base voters.

"CBS) CHICAGO It takes a pretty motivating person [ya gotta love the pandering, right?]to get 4,000 high school and college students up bright and early on a Saturday. In Chicago, Senator and Former First Lady Hillary Clinton did just that.But her visit was not entirely without controversy.Protesters interrupted her several times as she gave a keynote speech at Roosevelt University.They demanded the senator join in a call to immediately withdraw troops from Iraq.She quickly got back on message for the rest of the audience.The event was designed to get young people motivated about politics."

Now we know that her rich supporters, George Soros & the Hollywierd crowd, are not abandoning her, just look at the war chest she's collected! After all, those folks know that whatever she says that sounds even vaguely moderate, or (gawd forbid) conservative, is only for public consumption...and not to be believed as her true position.

Shrillary Rob'em Clinton is, after all, the smartest woman on earth, right? So she cannot disavow her stand on Iraq after all the warnings her husband made about Saddam Hussein, during their co-presidency. She can't deny the attacks they made on the aspirin factory there! It just wouldn't play well in Peoria...or the rest of mid-America.

So what's a girl gonna do to recapture those young voters who are supposed to return her to the White House? Well, you pick another liberal talking point and hammer it home, don't you?

"2008 presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton is celebrating Earth Day by unveiling her new energy plan and by blaming President Bush's environmental policies for Hurricane Katrina.

In a fundraising email sent out to donors on Thursday, Mrs. Clinton alleges:

"In the last five years, the Bush administration has left no major environmental law untouched in their push to deregulate, undermining or rolling back decades of regulations put in place to protect our heath.

"The results are all around us," she says, citing "more greenhouse gases, global warming, rising seas, more violent storms like Katrina."

There. That should make it all better, right?

Then and Now

The difference between President Bush's administration, and President Clinton's could not be more stark when it comes to this issue.

"Bloom admitted paying the authority and U.S. military officials more than $2 million in money and gifts, the department said. In exchange, they used their official positions to award contracts to Bloom and his companies.

Bloom faces up to 40 years in prison, a five-year term of supervised release, and a fine of $750,000, the department said. Under the terms of his plea agreement, he must pay $3.6 million in restitution and forfeit another $3.6 million in assets to the U.S. government.

Bloom's lawyer, John Nassikas, said he was in federal custody in Washington. Nassikas said he was seeking to have Bloom released on bail and hoped his sentence would be "substantially reduced" because of his cooperation with authorities."

If Clinton were still president (God forbid!), a crime like this one would still be flying under the radar, just as corporate corruption was flourishing during the Clinton years.

"David Delainey, former chief executive of the retail unit, Enron Energy Services, testified earlier for the government that the move hid $200 million in losses, and he acquiesced to it under pressure from Skilling.

Skilling said the retail unit likely would not have reported losses had it remained separate from Enron Wholesale Services, which encompassed the company's larger, profitable energy trading franchise.

After the move, the wholesale division established a $240 million reserve intended to cover retail losses. Skilling said the reserve was established as a conservative measure in case losses came up — not because losses were already there for wholesale to absorb and hide from investors."

Countless corporate corruption schemes have been prosecuted since President Bush took office. Who did the Clinton Justice Department go after? A Christian religious sect, not even brought up on weapon's charges, though that was supposedly their crime, whose compound was burned to the ground with the massacre of innocent men, women & children, for one. And lest we forget, Elian Gonzales taken at gunpoint in the middle of the night, so that he could be sent back to the despot Castro's Cuba! I don't even want to talk about the CIA under Slick Willie! [Hat tip: All Things Conservative]

The next time you hear Pelosi or Dirty Harry Reid screech "culture of corruption", remember where the culture of corruption lies.

Thank you, President Bush, for bringing honor and integrity back to the White House, and Washington, D.C.

Disturbing!

With all the news about the Duke arrests today, when I saw this story I was appalled at the way the press, including Drudge, handled it. I am so upset by the difference of MSM's treatment of these two stories. I've asked one of my favorite bloggers, LaShawn Barber to address this issue. She's done a masterful job of covering the Duke story. I hope she covers this one as well.

In the meantime, I have to congratulate mainstream media for having achieved their goal of promoting racism in America. It's obvious those kids in the video got the MSM message. What a sad testament to the liberal agenda. Are y'all proud of yourselves?

Did You Hear????

I'll bet you have not heard very much about the documents seized in Iraq on your local news, have you? The government, at the insistence of the president, has finally released the newly translated documents which substantiate all of the president's reasons for going after Saddam Hussein! That link is not working, so try this one; www.weeklystandard.com/Content/ Public/Articles/000/000/011/970xflib.asp with cut and paste. For some reason, it wants to take you to their main page. So I'll exerpt.

"President George W. Bush has made clear in recent weeks his displeasure with the delays in getting the information out to the American public. On February 16, one day after ABC News broadcast excerpts of recordings featuring Saddam Hussein and his war cabinet, Bush met with congressional Republicans and several senior national security officials and said three times that the documents should be released. "This stuff ought to be out," he told National Security Adviser, Stephen Hadley. "Put this stuff out." It seems Bush will soon get his wish.

Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.), who has been steadfast in his resolve to see these documents released, said today that "this is a bold decision in favor of openness that will go a long way towards improving our understanding of prewar Iraq . . . By placing these documents online and allowing the public the opportunity to review them, we can cut years off the time it will take to gain knowledge from this potential treasure trove of information."

So why haven't you heard about it? Well, because they substantiate all of the president's reasons for going after Saddam Hussein! Silly goose! Did you really think the MSM was going to tell you the opposite of what they've been saying for 3 years? "Bush Lied", they've screamed. "No WMD's", they've contended. Why on earth would they tell you about documents that directly refute their lies?

What is really funny is to do a search at acoona.com/news for "Iraq documents released to public". It brings up a search where the sources are nearly all out of the country, if they actually reference the documents! Most of the other search items are Bush-bashing reports of what a failure Iraq is, mostly from seeBS! Go figure. This one is from the Hinudstan Times!

"According to the website, some of the documents discuss the presence of the terrorist network Al-Qaeda in Iraq, explosive materials and dealing with the UN weapons inspection team.

The documents are the first to be released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the top US intelligence coordinator, in hopes that the public will help sort through some 48,000 cases of documents collected in the invasion.

"There are documents that have never been translated," said Representative Peter Hoekstra, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee who has lobbied for the documents' release.

"The folks in the intelligence community need to be focussed on current action, they don't have the time and energy to review documents that are three to 15 years old," he said.

"We're hoping to unleash the power of the blogosphere," he said, referring to the huge online community of weblog operators."

It seems fairly obvious to me that aBS, nBS, and seeBS are not going to feature them any time soon! The only source will be news organizations like The Weekly Standard. Has anyone seen anything about these documents on the left wing blogs? I wish my blood pressure would allow me to spend more time perusing them...sort of.

The search also yielded one that I found personally disturbing. I've said it here, in this venue, that I thought the weapons were probably in Syria, but only from the standpoint of logical deduction from what I'd researched. What I didn't know is this;

"Israeli intelligence reported before the US-led invasion that starting in late summer 2002 Saddam's WMD arsenal was shipped by truck convoy to Syria. Recently, documents seized from Iraq after the fall of the regime were released to the public. Those documents revealed that under the direct command of former Russian prime minister and KGB boss Yevgeny Primakov, Russian Spetnaz forces oversaw the transfer of Iraq's WMD to Syria ahead of the US-led invasion. These reports have been corroborated by Saddam's Air Vice Marshall General Georges Sada."

My question is why was the tip-off from Israel ignored? Who dropped the ball on that one? It's bad enough we have the nut job Ahmadinajad in Iran, saying there is no way he'll back down from nuclear weaponry! This is a guy who thinks turning the world into a wasteland will hasten his journey to Paradise, the Islamic version of heaven. Unless we have Special Forces in Syria securing them, I'm concerned.

As I always like to point out, "Bureaucratic efficiency" is an oxymoron!

Unasked Questions? Or Me Thinking Outloud?

I woke up this morning wondering if anyone has asked if any of these 6 generals could be the source of the recent "leaks" from inside the intelligence community? It seems entirely possible that their retirement, arguably before their job was done in the GWOT, could have come because they were found out, doesn't it? Now that they're out they have an axe to grind.

"...retired generals have called for Rumsfeld to resign, accusing him of mishandling the Iraq war, ignoring advice of field commanders and having an arrogant management style.

Rumsfeld has rejected all such calls, while noting that Bush had twice turned down his offers to resign."

Thank you, Mr. Rumsfeld, for your service, and if you asked these guys to retire rather than face prosecution for their intelligence leaks, then I applaud you for ridding the military of their presence.

Now keep in mind, these are simply my own postulates, but it certainly seems plausible to me. I think I'm going to buy a copy of Lt. General DeLong's book.

"Some days Lt. Gen. Michael "Rifle'' DeLong wanted to bust the TV. He burned when some "armchair general,'' his name for certain military men turned TV talking heads, analyzed events irresponsibly from their living room.

Few people know more about waging war on global terror than DeLong, a three-star Marine Corps lieutenant general, now retired after 36 years of service. His last post, deputy commander of U.S. Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base, made him No. 2 to Gen. Tommy Franks from 2000 to 2003. "

It could be a very interesting read....indeed. Maybe it will have some answers to my questions.

Extraordinary Easter

First off, I want to wish everyone a Happy Easter!

My Easter celebration began yesterday, Good Friday, when I met a fellow Soldiers' Angel Jenn, for a trip to San Marcos, TX. We traveled there to retrieve 60 Easter baskets from another Angel, Cynthia. Cynthia and her hubby had put together the baskets from their own resources and time, and they were filled with fun toys and candy to be given to hospitalized soldiers and their families.

A word or two about Jenn. She had also turned over her home to a multitude of basket making, stuffing them full of items she'd received from donor companies she had solicited. Jenn, BTW, is a Katrina evacuee living in San Antonio. She has two children, 8 & 4, a single mom, working two jobs. Yet she found time for all of this, for our troops. She makes me feel ashamed of my meager contribution.

I proceeded with my SUV loaded with 30 baskets to Lackland AFB. Lackland is a secure base, so I trooped inside the visitor center, license, registration & insurance card in hand. When I mentioned I was playing Easter Bunny for Soldiers Angels, and needed to deliver the baskets to Fisher House III, I was given the red carpet treatment. Folks, if you're looking for a worthwhile organization who actually does what they say they're going to do, Soldiers Angels is your best bet!

What I missed yesterday, while running around the countryside, is an event that could only happen in San Antonio. The Passion Play that takes place every year, and has for decades. It is a destination for thousands of families for their annual vacation. Check out all the stories here. The man who played the role of Jesus has a story of his own resurrection to tell.

"Shot in the chest in 1981, Cirlos has more than a casual acquaintance with the theme of dying and rising again.

During surgery at Wilford Hall Medical Center, doctors said his heart stopped beating and was revived by cardiac massage. He wasn't expected to survive, but regained consciousness on the third day after the shooting. A month later, he walked out of the hospital. "

Tomorrow is the day we remember the most important part of what Jesus Christ did for us, in addition to his suffering, when He conquered death and arose from the dead.

He Is Risen! Hallelulia!

When Easter Sunday services are concluded, we will be heading to the south side of San Antonio to a home being renovated by a hero home from Iraq. I learned about this gunner, from a reserve unit here in San Antonio, from Soldiers Angels. He is making a home for him and his little daughter. The home is on property his grandparents bought for their cattle. The home needs major refurbishing, including adding a bedroom and bathroom. My husband has tools he wants the Sarge to have. [he could build a city with his tool stash!] If anyone is nearby, and has building supplies, lumber, plumbing equipment, etc., they want to donate, please e-mail me at dagneyt_at_satx.rr.com.

And to think only Thanksgiving was special! Thank you to the troops and their families for their heroism and sacrifice! God bless you, each and every one of you; home, abroad, serving today, or serving in the past. We would not be the country we are without you and your efforts! Only Jesus Christ's sacrifice out-performed yours!

Good Point, Hubby!

My husband and I were discussing the skyrocketing gas prices tonight. He made an excellent point that some stories at The Drudge Report illustrate. [Should I come up with a pet name for him, a la Phyllis Diller, i.e. "Fang"?....I'll put some thought to that idea.] His point was that the "most powerful man in the world" makes a grand total of $400,000, despite the fact that President Bush takes more heat, more derision, more hatred, more vitriol, and receives less accolades than any other so-called Chief Executive. Yet corporate CEO's receive millions for their efforts. For instance Lee Raymond of Exxon.

"Exxon is giving Lee Raymond one of the most generous retirement packages in history, nearly $400 million, including pension, stock options and other perks, such as a $1 million consulting deal, two years of home security, personal security, a car and driver, and use of a corporate jet for professional purposes.

Last November, when he was still chairman of Exxon, Raymond told Congress that gas prices were high because of global supply and demand.

"We're all in this together, everywhere in the world," he testified."

I don't know about you, Mr. Raymond, but when I fill my SUV (which I have no intention of giving up), I just do not see the equality. Three bucks a gallon in some parts of our country is patently ridiculous, considering your salary vs. President Bush's!

On the other hand, we're shareholders in Exxon, so when hubby complains about it, I remind him of the proxies he hands over to their board. If we, as shareholders, want to make our voices heard, perhaps we should look to the power we have, and demand that the board stop being ridiculous with these kinds of packages...at least until we appreciate the man in charge of our overall well being, and until we can afford to go see our families on this Holy weekend.

Now, Mr. Bush, I've defended you. Please close the borders and defend me and my family!

Socialism At Work?

This story presents some interesting questions.

"Joyce Vincent was surrounded by Christmas presents and the television and heating in her bedsit were still on.

The 40-year-old's body was so decomposed that the only way to identify her was to compare dental records with a holiday photograph.

Police believe she probably died of natural causes in early 2003, and was only found in January this year when housing association officials broke into the bedsit in Wood Green, North East London.

They were hoping to recover the thousands of pounds of rent arrears that had piled up since her death."

My first question is, why didn't the folks who gave her those Christmas presents wonder if she liked them? Why did not the sisters, mentioned in the article, check in on her? Why did the government wait three years to collect on the debt paid for by taxpayers' money? A more interesting question is whether anyone in UK still think socialistic governing is the best way to govern?

Last, but not least, what in heaven's name is a "bedsit"? Can someone please tell me?

NOT What I Meant!

Just a quick post, but only because when I saw this on Drudge. My first reaction was...wait just a dadgum minute!!! This is NOT closing the border!

"A Marine reservist returning home after eight months in Iraq was told he couldn't board a plane to Minneapolis because his name appeared on a watch list as a possible terrorist.

Staff Sgt. Daniel Brown, who was in uniform and returning from the war Tuesday with 26 other Marine military police reservists, was delayed briefly in Los Angeles until the issue was cleared up. "

Come on, now! Do you understand what I meant when I said, "Bureacratic efficiency is an oxymoron."? I think tomorrow, or sometime soon, I may have to rant on why Congress or any state's legislature should not have any part of protecting our country outside of financing it! For now, I'm just going to let this example settle in to our collective consciousness!

America's Snooze Button

With all of the nonsense being put out about marching illegal aliens, I was appalled that legislators seem willing to give them dozens of loopholes in a piece of legislation that sounds more like a pat on the head's of the illegals, than anything resembling a law to protect our borders. So when I ran across this post at Snopes.com, I knew I had to post a hopeful wake-up call, because it's a cinch that our legislators are not getting the job done! It's not like we don't have any options other than the flawed Kennedy McCain bill currently under consideration

"On the Right Track. After Sen­ator Cornyn became chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommit­tee on Immigration, he held a series of hearings with Senator Kyl, chairman of the Homeland Security Subcommittee, on a vari­ety of terrorist travel and border enforcement issues. The Comprehensive Enforcement and Immigration Reform Act (S. 1438) reflects the les­sons learned from these hearings and their own experiences in Texas and Arizona."

The Cornyn, Kyl bill is what most of us were hoping to get. Instead, we're getting a "let's make the illegals feel good, they might want to vote for us!" bill. Let's just call this a refresher course, okay?

"Shortly after the Tehran experience, Americans began to be kidnapped and killed throughout the Middle East. America could do little to protect her citizens living and working abroad. The attacks against US soil continued. In April of 1983 a large vehicle packed with high explosives was driven into the US Embassy compound in Beirut. When it explodes, it kills 63 people. The alarm went off again and America hit the Snooze Button once more.

Then just six short months later a large truck heavily laden down with over 2500 pounds of TNT smashed through the main gate of the US Marine Corps headquarters in Beirut. 241 US servicemen are killed. America mourns her dead and hit the Snooze Button once more.

Two months later in December 1983, another truck loaded with explosives is driven into the US Embassy in Kuwait, and America continues her slumber.
The following year, in September 1984, another van was driven into the gates of the US Embassy in Beirut and America slept. Soon the terrorism spreads to Europe. In April 1985 a bomb explodes in a restaurant frequented by US soldiers in Madrid. Then in August a Volkswagen loaded with explosives is driven into the main gate of the US Air Force Base at Rhein-Main, 22 are killed and the Snooze Alarm is buzzing louder and louder as US soil is continually attacked. Fifty-nine days later a cruise ship, the Achille Lauro is hijacked and we watched as an American in a wheelchair is singled out of the passenger list and executed.

The terrorists then shift their tactics to bombing civilian airliners when they bomb TWA Flight 840 in April of 1986 that killed 4 and the most tragic bombing, Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988, killing 259. America wants to treat these terrorist acts as crimes; in fact we are still trying to bring these people to trial. These are acts of war ... the Wake Up alarm is louder and louder.

The terrorists decide to bring the fight to America. In January 1993, two CIA agents are shot and killed as they enter CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. The following month, February 1993, a group of terrorists are arrested after a rented van packed with explosives is driven into the underground parking garage of the World Trade Center in New York City. Six people are killed and over 1000 are injured. Still this is a crime and not an act of war? The Snooze alarm is depressed again.

Then in November 1995 a car bomb explodes at a US military complex in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia killing seven service men and women. A few months later in June of 1996, another truck bomb explodes only 35 yards from the US military compound in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. It destroys the Khobar Towers, a US Air Force barracks, killing 19 and injuring over 500.

The terrorists are getting braver and smarter as they see that America does not respond decisively. They move to coordinate their attacks in a simultaneous attack on two US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. These attacks were planned with precision, they kill 224. America responds with cruise missile attacks and goes back to sleep. The USS Cole was docked in the port of Aden, Yemen for refueling on 12 October 2000, when a small craft pulled along side the ship and exploded killing 17 US Navy Sailors. Attacking a US War Ship is an act of war, but we sent the FBI to investigate the crime and went back to sleep.

And of course you know the events of 11 September 2001. Most Americans think this was the first attack against US soil or in America. How wrong they are. America has been under a constant attack since 1979 and we chose to hit the snooze alarm and roll over and go back to sleep."

I'm sick and damn tired of America hitting the fricking snooze button! It's time we closed our borders, girded our proverbial collective loins, and set up for a very long fight against Islamofacists!

Is It Just Me?

We all saw the coverage of the marches all over OUR country this week, right? Like this one;

"The national day of protest, the most widespread in a series of rallies that some have compared to the 1960s civil rights movement, was provoked by legislation in Congress that would turn millions of illegal immigrants into felons and fence off sections of the U.S. border with Mexico.

"You are never free until you are legal. I came to get a better life. Everyone deserves the same," said Denise Jules, 68, of Haiti, who held a sign at a rally in New York saying, "Liberty and justice for all."

Excuse me, Ms. Jules, but this is a nation of laws, made up of LEGAL immigrants. There is a difference. You only "deserve" what you have earned! Why is it these people feel entitled to becoming "legal" just by virtue of the fact that they reached our shores? How do you react when you hear this?

"Every Hispanic has to stand up. Every person who believes in justice has to stand up," said Anna Torres, 38, a federal worker from Mount Pleasant in Northwest Washington who brought along her sons, Joseph, 6, and Jeremy, 8. They were waiting to be joined by their father, who came here from Guatemala 15 years ago and is still an illegal resident."

Ms. Torres, did you not notice the hypocrisy in that statement? "Justice" would imply obeying the law, wouldn't it? Then there's Phoenix;

"As to the size of the march, Phoenix police said the only number that they, the mayor's office and organizers could agree on was more than 100,000. But Lydia Guzman, one of the Somos America organizers, said the numbers may have hit 200,000 or more.

Less clear is what percentage of those marching were in this country illegally. Elias Bermudez, one of the organizers, put the figure at upwards of 60 percent.

"Our message was that we wanted the undocumented to come out,'' he said. "We wanted them to show their faces, come out of the shadows.''

What I wanted was for the border patrol to wade into that mob, and rid us of many of the illegals, but we hear that may have caused violence. Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows I don't have a racist bone in my body, all I ask is that these people come here legally. Do we need to make the process less rigorous? I don't know. I do know that I resent people who have broken our laws, tell us what to do in our country!

Where I see this going is that these people want to vote, to have the same rights as immigrants who came here the LEGAL WAY! There are even those who say our southwest, where I've lived all of my life, should still be a part of Mexico. Sorry folks, we won that war. Come to our country, be an American, or go back to wherever you came from! In the meantime, can we just close the borders, PLEASE?

Off To The Beach

Before I go, I wanted to offer this heartwarming soldier story. Michael Yon has begun a new blog, this one is one dedicated to soldiers to tell their stories. The first offering is from Sgt. Boggs. Here's a sample, but I hope you'll go read it for yourself. It's both heartwarming and hopeful for the future.

"After I had been there a few weeks, I noticed that several Iraqi families had moved into tents right next to ours. It wasn’t long before some of the people in my unit began to interact with the families. We soon found out why they were living by us. One of the families had helped the military and was living there in fear of reprisals from anti-American forces. Another family, a mother and her three small children, were living there to escape their abusive husband and father. Several of the soldiers including myself became particularly fond of the kids in this family. We started hanging out with the oldest two kids, both boys, who were about six and three years-old."

Sgt. Boggs' conclusion is that the troops are planting the seeds that will serve America well when the children are grown. They have experienced the gentle nurturing from our soldiers, and will carry that into adulthood. Profound, and I believe very true!

Off With Their Heads!

All the rubbish we've heard about Plamegate does not address the real concern I have over these leaks, and who is leaking them. I'm happy to read that Greta, at Fox News, is being responsible in her reporting.

"It is a very important story and since so many shows were doing it, I felt comfortable being a bit more cautious and pulling back. If no other news shows or print journalists had covered this matter, I would have done so. As I noted, the topic is very important in my mind. I watched all the other shows covering the story and found it fascinating. I also read a few newspapers about it this morning. If you love the law and you love politics — and you measure it against the importance of these times and how important a government is to its people — you can't stop reading about it or watching news about it."

Greta, you just haven't asked the right question. First off, the President has the right to declassify any damn thing he wants to declassify. It's not a "leak" if he says it, it has just become declassified.

Now on the other hand, why don't you ask a question like "Who in the Defense Dept. or intelligence community hates Bush more than he/she loves our country?"

"The Bush administration is planning to use nuclear weapons against Iran, to prevent it acquiring its own atomic warheads, claims an investigative writer with high-level Pentagon and intelligence contacts.

President George W Bush is said to be so alarmed by the threat of Iran's hard-line leader, Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, that privately he refers to him as "the new Hitler", says Seymour Hersh, who broke the story of the Abu Ghraib Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal."

I don't know about you, but I am thrilled to know that Dubya is alarmed about the madman running Iran, and has plans to protect us. What I hate, is that someone inside our own intelligence community is jeopardizing our security for spite! Someone who is being paid a salary made up of our tax dollars is jeopardizing our safety. I say, "OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!"

Amazing!

There have been so many stories of miracles coming from Iraq, that never see the light of day in the news, but get reported instead by the participants and witnesses of the miracles. Shortly after our troops went in, their progress was stopped short by a horrendous sand storm. While the MSM was predicting "quagmire", the troops woke up the day after the storm, and found the storm had revealed a huge field of mines that would have killed many of them had the storm not stopped their progress. We all saw photos of the storm's revelation sent via e-mail just months after the start of the war.

Today I found this story at Snopes.com that begs re-telling. As I head off to the Riverwalk for lunch with hubby, I'll let you enjoy this soldier's tale of the miracles happening in Iraq.

"During my year long deployment as an Army Dentist in Kuwait and Iraq, I witnessed a very different "conflict" than what is currently portrayed by the news media. I saw many wonderful and miraculous things as the people of Iraq worked with our servicemen and women to rebuild their country. We went into the villages to provide dental exams and treatment. We would care for the Iraqi children first, then their grateful parents. "

When she tells the story of the soldier who took a shot in the face, point blank, and kept after the terrorist who quickly surrendered, you won't believe your eyes! Enjoy!

Good News - Bad News

I always like to get the bad news first, it seems to make getting the good news more joyful. The bad news was the death of three of my electronic necessities; the scanner died way back when, but I've survived without it, my fax has been at 50% capacity for months, It could send, but not receive. The printer suddenly decided that it could not print in anything but a too-light blue! Over age 50, eyeballs have enough trouble reading, so that wasn't going to work! So off to the nearest Best Buy, I settled on the "be all, end all" machine. You know the one, printer/copier/fax/scanner.

The good news began...sort of. The HP version, with the insurance of a 3-year extended warranty (after a friend warned me of the potential, "if one goes, they all go!") seemed a good way to go. Not only did it clear up more surface space, but it made me get rid of the mess that was my electrical/cable nightmare with my cable modem and router. You no longer have to watch your step in my computer room. The bad news continued when I discovered I could not get on line. The real good news is that I am back online.

Now I can vent the tirade I could not vent except to my husband for two days! The Congress would have us believe they have good news in the form of a "compromise immigration bill" that is nothing more than a poorly disguised amnesty bill, with no noticeable provision for stopping the hemorrhaging of our borders! Do they think if they put Kermit the Frog in a push-up bra, we'd think he was Miss Piggy?

Please, Republicans, can you please just do something about the border? I've hammered this before, as have many others! Ignore the donkeys braying, stop worrying about the illegals who are here, and FIX THE BORDER LEAKS!

Remember When....?

I can remember when America was the world leader in the GUTS department. That was before political correctness, the infamous PC, took over American behavior. Can you imagine what would happen if one of our politicians said this? [hat tip: Snopes RSS update]

"Treasurer Peter Costello, seen as heir apparent to Howard, hinted that some radical clerics could be asked to leave the country if they did not accept that australia was a secular state and its laws were made by parliament. "If those are not your values, if you want a country which has Sharia law or a theocratic state, then Australia is not for you," he said on national television. "I'd be saying to clerics who are teaching that there are two laws governing people in Australia, one the Australian law and another the Islamic law, that is false.

If you can't agree with parliamentary law, independent courts, democracy, and would prefer Sharia law and have the opportunity to go to other country which practices it, perhaps, then, that's a better option," Costello said. Asked whether he meant radical clerics would be forced to leave, he said those with dual citizenship could possibly be asked to move to the other country. "

Instead, America's response to the recent street demonstrations, where illegal aliens took to our street proudly waving Mexican flags, brings about responses like THIS!

"Beginning Monday, the Oceanside Unified School District is banning all flags and patriotic clothing. According to school officials, some students are using the garments and flags to taunt classmates.

Some critics of the move are calling it a violation of free speech protections guaranteed by the Constitution. "

Some critics? It isn't just whack jobs in California, either! I'm ashamed to say that my home state of Colorado is seeing the same sort of "new rules" in response to a bunch of people who came here illegally, who have no love of our country (they weren't holding American flags, were they?), who are demanding they get the same rights as legal Americans!

"School officials in Oceanside now say that flags -- whether they are U.S. or Mexican or any other country's -- have now become a divider on campuses, saying that some students are using them to taunt other students"

Why isn't every American saying not flying our flags should be criminal, especially in schools paid for by our tax dollars?? While our brave military is over fighting for our freedoms, we are apparently willing to give them up!

A.N.S.W.E.R.

This is totally hilarious, and utterly predictable! As the socialists lose their anti-war podium, up jumps the illegal alien controversy. These people just cannot resist a chance to steal the spot-light. So what does a good socialist do? Adopt the newest issue as their own, and couple it with their anti-war stance.

"The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition (Act Now to Stop War & End Racism) fully supports the struggle of the immigrant community to win the rights that all people should enjoy, and we denounce the racist attempts to criminalize undocumented and all immigrant people. We are an organization composed of citizens, residents and undocumented people."

YOO HOO! Socialists, communists, wingnuts, liberals...lend me your ear [chuckle]. Has anyone explained to y'all that socialism does not work? If you aren't convinced, check out what France is experiencing. If that doesn't convince you, check out what America's version of socialism has experienced via the stats from New Orleans [be sure to look at the population], in the unlikely possibility that you did not see the news coverage post-Katrina.

No Wonder!

I really had to laugh when I saw this story at the Smoking Gun site this morning. Remember back to the Hollyweird lefties screaming at the top of their lungs about the "invasion of privacy" they perceived in the President's decision to monitor calls to or from terrorists? You'd have thought he ordered cameras to be installed in their respective boudoirs! I remember wondering at their overreaction at the time, but it's all been explained to me now;

"In the latest fallout from the Anthony Pellicano wiretapping investigation, director John McTiernan ("Die Hard," "Predator," "The Hunt for Red October") was charged today with lying to FBI agents probing the disgraced private eye's rogue operation. In a criminal information, a copy of which you'll find below, McTiernan, 55, was charged with making false statements to the bureau during a February 13 interview. Prosecutors contend that McTiernan lied when he denied knowledge about a wiretap placed on the telephone of Hollywood producer Charles Roven ("Three Kings," "Batman Begins"). The information, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, alleges that McTiernan, pictured at right, had actually "hired and paid" Pellicano to bug Roven and that the two men discussed information obtained from that wiretap."

They do it to each other, but could not handle the hated Bush of doing it too! Do you recognize the name Pellicano? He was Shrillary & Slick Willie's enforcer! Whenever one of Clinton's bimbos got out of hand, they'd send this character to tell her to shut up unless she wanted a couple of broken legs!

Tom DeLay

I was so upset when I first heard that Tom Delay was resigning his House seat. Texas Donks have been after him ever since he spearheaded a move to redo their gerrymandering in the State of Texas. They cried foul, of course, because their 40 years of running the state and accomplishing the gerrymandering their way, they were no longer in charge! Tom DeLay is effective, he's passionate about conservatism, and has been railroaded ever since. I look forward to seeing what he's going to accomplish outside of the harsh glare of the media.

After hearing him talk on Fox News this morning, it was apparent that he's having the last laugh! His Donk opponent has not been able to raise much in the way of Texas money, but George Soros, Barbra Streisand, Nancy Pelosi, and the rest of the far left wingnuts have showered him with money...but no more! If he's not running against the hated DeLay, they have no reason to give him any more money!

In writing this about DeLay, I went to a link from Drudge. What I saw when I got to that link was so disturbing, that I decided not to exerpt from the gawd-awful publication that has become the Times. Why? Scroll down and take a look at a photo they have posted of Dr. Condoleeza Rice. It is disgusting. Time editors, someone in your photo department needs to be fired! Shame on you!

A New Perspective From Iraq

Thanks to The Mudville Gazette's daily offering of news from the military, I found the most intelligent and well thought out perspective I've seen yet. I'm an avid reader of Iraqi blogs, including the good, bad and ugly, but this is a must read for MSM-caused starvation of information you can count on from Iraq! Strategy Page is going into my "news source" file right now!

The Way It Was

Major Dad commented recently on my advice to Republicans;

"Do establish a "guest worker" program where the entire expense of the program is bourne by those that benefit most. Farmers, hotel/restaurant, gardening companies are the primary beneficiaries...so they're going to pony up the money to make this program run."

That's exactly how things were done before the 1965 Hart-Seller immigration bill, or the Immigration and Nationality Services Act of 1965, Major. As is usual, when you get the government involved, it screws up the works! My husband and his pals have told me about life-long friends of theirs, the Swartz's. Their story about the Swartz family farm illustrates my point.

Their farm was near Centralia, Illinois, and Mr. Swartz worked with immigrant workers back in the 40's through the 60's. Mr. Swartz had quarters for the immigrants on his property, and he held dances and parties for them in his huge barn...that is until the government got involved. This new legislation required certain "standards" for housing immigrants, and Mr. Swartz's well water was not good enough for the immigrants, according to the government. Mr. Swartz would have to pay to have pipes run to bring in city water. Never mind that the well water was just fine for his own family, with no one becoming sick. So Mr. Swartz, who could not afford the cost of piping in the city water, plowed up his fields of strawberries, and the immigrants had no more work from his farm.

To quote my favorite professor, Rush Limbaugh on this topic,

"At the signing ceremony of Hart-Seller, President Lyndon Baines Johnson said, "This bill we sign today is not a revolutionary bill. It does not affect the lives of millions. It will not restructure the shape of our daily lives." Well, that's about 41 years ago. We've got a lot of hindsight that we can use. We have learned that this high sounding liberal dream Hart-Seller, 1965, worked out about as well as the war on poverty. In other words, it was a disaster. "

I stand-by my advice to the GOP: Seal the borders. While you're at it, change the law that says BIRTH is the only requirement for being a citizen of the United States. Take away the incentives, folks! Seems simple enough to me!

Sunday Syndrome?

Maybe it's just because I found today's church lesson, 5th Sunday after Lent, to be so moving, or maybe the idea this cretin is suggesting is so contemptable, but whatever it is, I've got to get this off my proverbial chest! Why is having God in your life so important? Obviously, this guy doesn't know Him at all!

"One of Pianka's earliest points was a condemnation of anthropocentrism, or the idea that humankind occupies a privileged position in the Universe. He told a story about how a neighbor asked him what good the lizards are that he studies. He answered, “What good are you?”

Pianka hammered his point home by exclaiming, “We're no better than bacteria!”

Pianka then began laying out his concerns about how human overpopulation is ruining the Earth. He presented a doomsday scenario in which he claimed that the sharp increase in human population since the beginning of the industrial age is devastating the planet. He warned that quick steps must be taken to restore the planet before it's too late. "

Granted, this sounds kooky enough, but his idea of what should happen should scare the bejeebers out of you!

"He then showed solutions for reducing the world's population in the form of a slide depicting the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse . War and famine would not do, he explained. Instead, disease offered the most efficient and fastest way to kill the billions that must soon die if the population crisis is to be solved.

Pianka then displayed a slide showing rows of human skulls, one of which had red lights flashing from its eye sockets.

AIDS is not an efficient killer, he explained, because it is too slow. His favorite candidate for eliminating 90 percent of the world's population is airborne Ebola ( Ebola Reston ), because it is both highly lethal and it kills in days, instead of years. However, Professor Pianka did not mention that Ebola victims die a slow and torturous death as the virus initiates a cascade of biological calamities inside the victim that eventually liquefy the internal organs.

After praising the Ebola virus for its efficiency at killing, Pianka paused, leaned over the lectern, looked at us and carefully said, “We've got airborne 90 percent mortality in humans. Killing humans. Think about that.”

The way I see it, from the standpoint of a recovering "independant/liberal/moderate cum conservative" who grew up in SoCal, is that there are folks out there who run the gamut of belief systems.

1) Right-wing extremists.
2) Middle America (we know who we are, right?)
3) Agnostics (we know who they are, right?)
4) Anti-religionists (Newdow, anyone?)
5) Athiests

OOps! Guess I forgot Islamofacists....or did I? They almost seem to belong in the same category as Eric Pianka, IMHO! Isn't it interesting how the far left and the far right have so much in common? One side, the Islamofacists, want to turn the earth into a wasteland so that they can return to their version of paradise, and the other wants to remove humans from the earth so we stop destroying it, his version of paradise. Same goal, different measures. Interesting.

I'm so happy that God is in my life! It becomes just plain scary when folks do not believe in Him at all. [Sorry for sneaking that last link in, but the symbolism struck me as appropriate, and not just a bit of a chuckle! Enjoy!]