We Are Winning

This deserves to be read. And then read again. I've copied it completely, something I seldom do. Please read it, then go to the link to see who wrote it.
Why? Because I know for a stone cold fact that my friends on the left will immediately discount this editorial once they see the author. They do this at their own intellectual peril.

No better analysis has been done on the current Miers debate, or conservatism in general:

I love being a conservative. We conservatives are proud of our philosophy. Unlike our liberal friends, who are constantly looking for new words to conceal their true beliefs and are in a perpetual state of reinvention, we conservatives are unapologetic about our ideals. We are confident in our principles and energetic about openly advancing them. We believe in individual liberty, limited government, capitalism, the rule of law, faith, a color-blind society and national security. We support school choice, enterprise zones, tax cuts, welfare reform, faith-based initiatives, political speech, homeowner rights and the war on terrorism. And at our core we embrace and celebrate the most magnificent governing document ever ratified by any nation--the U.S. Constitution. Along with the Declaration of Independence, which recognizes our God-given natural right to be free, it is the foundation on which our government is built and has enabled us to flourish as a people.

We conservatives are never stronger than when we are advancing our principles. And that's the nature of our current debate over the nomination of Harriet Miers. Will she respect the Constitution? Will she be an originalist who will accept the limited role of the judiciary to interpret and uphold it, and leave the elected branches--we, the people--to set public policy? Given the extraordinary power the Supreme Court has seized from the representative parts of our government, this is no small matter. Roe v. Wade is a primary example of judicial activism. Regardless of one's position on abortion, seven unelected and unaccountable justices simply did not have the constitutional authority to impose their pro-abortion views on the nation. The Constitution empowers the people, through their elected representatives in Congress or the state legislatures, to make this decision.

Abortion is only one of countless areas in which a mere nine lawyers in robes have imposed their personal policy preferences on the rest of us. The court has conferred due process rights on terrorists detained at Guantanamo Bay and benefits on illegal immigrants. It has ruled that animated cyberspace child pornography is protected speech, but certain broadcast ads aired before elections are illegal; it has held that the Ten Commandments can't be displayed in a public building, but they can be displayed outside a public building; and the court has invented rationales to skirt the Constitution, such as using foreign law to strike down juvenile death penalty statutes in over a dozen states.

For decades conservatives have considered judicial abuse a direct threat to our Constitution and our form of government. The framers didn't create a judicial oligarchy. They created a representative republic. Our opposition to judicial activism runs deep. We've witnessed too many occasions where Republican presidents have nominated the wrong candidates to the court, and we want more assurances this time--some proof. The left, on the other hand, sees the courts as the only way to advance their big-government agenda. They can't win national elections if they're open about their agenda. So, they seek to impose their policies by judicial fiat. It's time to call them on it. And that's what many of us had hoped and expected when the president made his nomination.

Some liberal commentators mistakenly view the passionate debate among conservatives over the Miers nomination as a "crackup" on the right. They are giddy about "splits" in the conservative base of the GOP. They are predicting doom for the rest of the president's term and gloom for Republican electoral chances in 2006. As usual, liberals don't understand conservatives and never will.

The Miers nomination shows the strength of the conservative movement. This is no "crackup." It's a crackdown. We conservatives are unified in our objectives. And we are organized to advance them. The purpose of the Miers debate is to ensure that we are doing the very best we can to move the nation in the right direction. And when all is said and done, we will be even stronger and more focused on our agenda and defeating those who obstruct it, just in time for 2006 and 2008. Lest anyone forget, for several years before the 1980 election, we had knockdown battles within the GOP. The result: Ronald Reagan won two massive landslides.

The real crackup has already occurred--on the left! The Democratic Party has been hijacked by 1960s retreads like Howard Dean; billionaire eccentrics like George Soros; and leftwing computer geeks like Moveon.org. It nominated John Kerry, a notorious Vietnam-era antiwar activist, as its presidential standard-bearer. Its major spokesmen are old extremists like Ted Kennedy and new propagandists like Michael Moore. Its great presidential hope is one of the most divisive figures in U.S. politics, Hillary Clinton. And its favorite son is an impeached, disbarred, held-in-contempt ex-president, Bill Clinton. The Democratic Party today is split over the war and a host of cultural issues, such as same-sex marriage and partial birth abortion. It wants to raise taxes, but dares not say so. It can't decide what message to convey to the American people or how to convey it. And even its once- reliable allies in the big media aren't as influential in promoting the party and its agenda as they were in the past. The new media--talk radio, the Internet and cable TV--not only have a growing following, but have helped expose the bias and falsehoods of the big-media, e.g., Dan Rather, CBS News and the forged National Guard documents. Hence, circulation and audience is down, and dropping. The American left is stuck trying to repeat the history of its presumed glory years. They hope people will see Iraq as Vietnam, the entirety of the Bush administration as Watergate and Hurricane Katrina as the Great Depression. Beyond looking to the past for their salvation, the problem is that they continue to deceive even themselves. None of their comparisons are true. Meanwhile, we conservatives will continue to focus on making history.

Iraq the Model: The Place to Go For Updates on the Voting

A quick Google Search of the news from the referendum tells you which way the MSM is leaning. For a more accurate report, check out Iraq the Model. The best reports, on the scene, by Iraqis.

You Know You Really Have the Flu When...

...sitting in front of the computer screen makes you really, really sick to your stomach. Of course, I experience a similar reaction to much of what I see on the MSM, so it was hard to tell I was really sick. :-)
Thanks for the emails, and the comments. Been a tough time the past few days. I'm still pretty sick, but better than yesterday. Blogging continues to be pretty low on the priority list right now.

Laid Low With the Flu

Sorry folks, no blogging today, or maybe tomorrow.
Picked up a bad virus in the past two days, will hopefully be back up and blogging on Saturday.

AlGore: How Embarrasing

I truly believe the loss of 2000 left AlGore unhinged in some way:

We would not be trying to control and intimidate the news media. We would not be routinely torturing people," Gore said. "We would be a different country.

He has rendered himself completely irrevelant, at a time when he could have become a true Stateman within the Democrat Party. He's become a living caricature of himself.

What Did Dr. Dobson Know and When Did He Know It?

If you really want to know the answers to those questions, click the link.
Now, if Senators Specter, Schumer, Durbin, et al want to bring Dr. Dobson to the hearings to uncover what was said between him and Karl Rove, that's great! I think we should know what's said behind closed doors on this important issue. So, seeing as how we are all about full disclosure, we should know what NARAL is saying to the Democratic Senators. We should know what People For the American Way are saying. I think all those memos the Democrats have recieved from their special interest groups should be released.

What? Is that the sound of silence from Senators Chuckie and Dick? Do I hear crickets chirping? Kinda thought so.

The Terrorists answer "Mother" Sheehan and Her Fellow Travelers

The letter from Zawahiri to Zarquawi is worth reading a few times. Most interesting is his mention of Vietnam. If you still think the anti-military protests of "Mother" Sheehan and her crew do no harm to the war effort, then you need to read the letter again.

But Wait! What Happened to the Predicted Civil War?

Writing a Constitution is messy. It's why ours was written in total secrecy.
The Iraqi Constitution is being written in the full glare of journalists who have little working knowledge of Constitutions, and even less knowledge of their own national history. Sigh.

Devouring Our Own

Craig over at Red Satellites has a great look at how Conservatives are eating their own, all the cheers of the left and their willing allies in the MSM.

China in Space: The Looming Threat

China has now put two men in to space. They are well on their way to landing a man on the Moon within the next ten years. At the rate they are progressing , Mars is certainly within reach. Meanwhile, NASA continues to plod along...

The Dangers of Blogging, and an Editorial Policy

Comment Policy

I'm pretty open about who comments here. Left, right, center. Anglican, Catholic, Baptist, agnostic, atheist. Only trolls are booted, and that's only happened once in the past 5 years, though some have come close. (You know who you are) But I've been thinking about what I want for LJiC, and who I want to read it.

So, in light of the article in the link, and my own preferences, here's Da Rules.

1. Attack ideas, not people. You want to go after another commenter personally, do it on your own site. You hurt yourself, and your argument by going after a person. Don't.
2. You're a guest in my bar..er...blog. Behave that way.
3. This is a PG Blog. You seldom see profanity on LJiC. My Daddy always said that the only people who cuss are those who aren't intelligent enough to use other words to support their point. He was right.

Follow those rules, and all is well. If you find you can't, don't comment. If you do comment, and fail to follow DA RULES, I'll delete you. If you do it again, I will decide you're a troll, and ban you. I could care less if you're a conservative, a liberal, or a grey with plans to abduct me later. I'll boot you from LJiC quicker than your little fingers can type your next profanity. Kapische?

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Bunnies Rule, and Get Eaten

The Exorcist, Jaws, and my favorite The War of the Worlds, all in 30 seconds, and performed by Bunnies. Gotta love it!

John McWhorter on Bill Bennet: Everybody Calm Down

Caught this guy on CNN last week. Very reasoned, very much able to blow the Al Sharpton wannabe out of the water:

Many people are worried about what kinds of thoughts Mr. Bennett's comment might put into white people's heads. I am, too. For black Americans to take an innocent and well-meant sentence out of context and hold it up as a David Duke screensaver makes it look like black Americans are incapable of understanding context. It makes it look like we are incapable of close reasoning.

Policing for racial sensitivity does not do a thing for black people who need help. There are thousands of black people languishing in shelters and ships after a horrific natural catastrophe – and we're giving someone grief because something he said in passing didn't have a nice ring to it?

Maybe we should redirect our sensitivity. Mr. Bennett, actually, was rejecting a possible defense of his own pro-life position. He was demonstrating thoughtful nuance. I assume that the rest of us, black and white, can too.

My favorite part of the CNN interview was the obvious perplexity on the Sharpton wannabe's face when McWhorter stated the above. It was very apparent the wannabe had no earthly clue what close reasoning was. Guess it's not something he learned at Rainbow/Push headquarters.

Another Week, Another Catastrophe: The Kashimir Earthquake

Getting burned out on the all the natural disasters? I find I am. But it's nice to see the American military isn't getting burned out, and are up to the job. These kinds of airlifts do alot to promote American ideals and values. Certainly more than the anti-Military protests in Washington ever thought about doing.

The Day The Wheels Came Off the Sooner Schooner

Ouch. No easy way around this one:

DALLAS (AP) -- Vince Young and the Texas Longhorns are headed home from the State Fair with the prize that's eluded them for five years: A victory over Oklahoma.

Showing the poise and leadership he's developed since a miserable performance against the Sooners last year, Young threw for three touchdowns in guiding No. 2 Texas to a 45-12 victory Saturday.

Ah well, there's always the White Sox. Sigh.

The Coming Pandemic

Last month I posted on the coming flu pandemic, and the eery links to the Spanish flu of 1918. It's good to see the Bush Administration is taking this seriously. In spite of our technology, we are no better prepared for the Bird flu mutation now than we were at the turn of the last century. In fact, thanks to our technology the spread could be faster, and more deadly. Considering the Spanish influenza killed 100 million worldwide, that's frightening indeed.

Jesse Jackson to Stand Trial

MSM bias is displayed far more by what is not covered as by what is. Most everyone knows Tom Delay was indicted, despite the fact that it took at least 8 grand juries to do it. This case is receiving no attention, yet is just as important. You tell me what the difference is:

(Washington, DC) Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes corruption, today announced that on January 17, 2006, Jesse Lee Peterson, et al., v. Jesse Jackson, et al. (BC 266505) will go to trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court after a ruling last week by Judge George H. Wu. Judicial Watch filed the lawsuit against Jackson, his son Jonathan, and
others on behalf of Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, who was the victim of a physical
and verbal assault at an event hosted by Jackson’s Rainbow/PUSH Coalition and
Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. in December 2001. Rev. Peterson is an
ordained minister, who has dedicated his life to working with underprivileged
black youth and men in our society.

The Jacksons and the Rainbow/PUSH coalition, who had sought to have the case dismissed, will now face multiple civil charges, including: Assault, Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress and a California Civil Rights Claim. Jonathan Jackson also will face the additional charges of Battery and False Imprisonment.

Any surprise that this story has received almost no coverage? While the Delay story was wall to wall, and left most viewers with the impression that Mr. Delay now has two indictments against him. The truth that 'Ole Ronnie screwed up the first one, and then had to go before two grand juries before he could get the money laundering charge to stick remains limited to FoxNews and the blogosphere. Hmmmm.

Addiction Is a Very Bad Thing

Okay, so I've been a very bad blogger lately. I've managed to get my copy of Homeworld 2 working, finally. Sigh. I got hooked on the original Homeworld way back in 1998, desperately trying to run it on a computer that was waaaay to slow. And here I am hooked again, this time on a speedy 3 gig computer, but with an incompatible video card. The game works, but just barely.

I'm trying to keep up on my blogging, I really, really am. It's just that my Mothership is in peril, and I've got a Vagyr Battle Cruiser bearing down on my Resource Collectors and Mobile Refinery. Sigh.

Technorati : games, homeworld 2

The Tomb of Hercules

Big, huge hat tip to Nariel over at Ancient Eyes for this one!
An incredible find! And apparently it's been known for years. WOW!

Circular Firing Squads: Redux

I started this as a reply to two really great bloggers, who stand on, um, opposite ends of the poltical spectrum. Too many links to put in for Haloscan to handle. Besides, I was on a roll.

Okay, guys. KNOCK IT OFF! Please reference Of Bars and Blogs, especially the part about the shotgun behind the keyboard at LJIC.

There, are we all better now? Jeez!

Fred, you're right, up to a point. Some conservatives are absolutely floored by the nomination of Harriet Miers, when there were so many other seemingly well qualified candidates. And, unlike the left, conservatives haven't learned to have these fights in private, behind locked doors. It's a by-product of wandering in the wilderness from WWII until Reagan, almost 40 years. We fought like this through National Review, Weekly Standard, and the Wall Street Journal, and the conservative Think Tanks. We sharpened our ideas and our idealogy in the process. The MSM didn't care about the fights because conservatives weren't percieved as a threat. Now, well...you have to say we've come a long way since the debacle of Watergate.

Beth did an absolutely fabulous job of exploring the current cat fight on her blog and at Gun-Totin' Liberal.

Conservatives are fighting about merit, not some silly politically correct diversity issue. And, we are reacting to the trauma of the first Bush nominating David Souter. Miss Miers may be very good, in fact the "anti-Souter." Everything I've seen points in that direction. But for Mr. Bush to just say "trust me, I know what I'm doing" reminds us of his father's words about David Souter. Conservatives are also well aware of the fact that just because a Republican nominates a judge doesnt' make them conservative. Seven of the current nine were put on the bench by Republican Presidents. Not a track record to ease the angst of those of us who have worked so hard to see a reversal of the liberal tilt of the SCOTUS.

Unfortunately, the current Bush Administration is behind the times. They haven't come to grips with the New Media of blogs and talk radio any more than the Mainstream Media and the Democrats. They are unaware of how quickly information, and to a greater degree emotion, is disseminated today. And, they have underestimated just how restless the conservative base, after the anti-America protest in Washington, and the inability of the GOP to fight back. The shrill whine of "Mother" Sheehan made us angry, and we became angrier by seeing the GOP take it all so calmly. That anger came to the surface this week when the President avoided a fight with the left with the nomination of Harriet Miers.

The GOP is dangerously close to doing to conservatives what the DNC has done to Blacks. They have mistakenly assumed that the base is Republican. We aren't. Most of us are conservatives first, and Republicans second, or even third. The GOP takes us for granted at its own peril.

President Bush just began a speech on Iraq. So far, he's saying what he, and Republicans in Congress, should have been saying for months. It's about time. Conservatives, like myself, like Beth, believe our ideas are right. We are not ashamed of being conservative. And we don't want our leaders to be ashamed of being conservative either.

cross posted at Gun-Totin' Liberal

Circular Firing Squads: Reflections Upon Being a Conservative

There are times when Conservatives don't need the Left to shoot at. We do a fine job taking potshots at our own. The current grumbling, exemplified by George Will's column is the perfect example.

Now, I like George Will. He sits on George Snuffalupagus's panel on Sunday mornings looking for all the world like he just swallowed a rotten lemon. For the longest time I assumed he was just waiting for his contract to end so he could jump to FoxNews. Now I realize he's a masochist, who enjoys being talked down by the leftists the former Clinton defender has on his show. And now he's decided to join the party:

It is important that Miers not be confirmed unless, in her 61st year, she suddenly and unexpectedly is found to have hitherto undisclosed interests and talents pertinent to the court's role. Otherwise the sound principle of substantial deference to a president's choice of judicial nominees will dissolve into a rationalization for senatorial abdication of the duty to hold presidents to some standards of seriousness that will prevent them from reducing the Supreme Court to a private plaything useful for fulfilling whims on behalf of friends.

You can almost hear the "harumph."

And speaking of "harumphing," have you noticed all the conservatives on the morning talk shows in the past two days? Funny how the majority of said conservatives are bashing President Bush for his SCOTUS pick. Yet, James Dobson supports the choice, among other conservatives. Haven't seen Katie or Diane interviewing him, have you? How about the number of times Rush Limbaugh's name has been mentioned? And mentioned without that George Will rotten lemon look on the reporter's face! Yet, when Mr. Limbaugh backtracked, having learned more about the nominee, the silence from the MSM was so profound you could hear the crickets chirping.

Reagan's 11th commandment: Thou shalt not bash your fellow Republican. It doesn't mean you can't be critical of a fellow conservative. It does mean taking a breath, and not airing your dirty laundry before a left leaning MSM. The left doesn't need to do any shooting right now. We are doing a fine job of shooting ourselves in the foot all on our own.

cross posted at Gun-Totin' Liberal.

Unforced Error?

The regular baseball season has ended. But the political season never ends. While it's early in the nomination game, many conservatives believe President Bush has committed an unforced error. That means he had an easy out at home base with Luttig, Brown, or Owens, and chose to throw the ball away at first with his Supreme Court pick, Harriet Miers. We'll see, we'll see.
Update: 3:15 pm cst
Here's a bit more on Harriet Miers. Makes me feel alot better, but will give the Left palpitations if true.

Imperial Grunts

If you havent' read Imperial Grunts : The American Military on the Ground by Robert D. Kaplan, you are missing the book of the year. There have been military books before, but no book has taken the individual stories of military men and women from around the world to such heights. Order a copy today.

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We Win! The 9/11 Memorial Will Be a 9/11 Memorial

Governor Pataki has given the IFC the boot. There will be no anti-American, politically correct BS at Ground Zero. Thank you , Governor.

Dog Bites Man From the BBC

What a great headline:
US Press Critical of Tom Delay
Say it ain't so, say it ain't so.

Texas Retribution Went National: The Wall Street Journal

Great editorial on the whole Delay scandal:

The Majority Leader also deserves the presumption of innocence because of Mr. Earle's guilty past. A liberal Democrat, he has a history of indicting political enemies, Democrat and Republican, on flimsy evidence that didn't hold up in court. In the mid-1980s, he indicted Attorney General Jim Mattox, a rival of his ally Ann Richards, on bribery charges. Mr. Mattox was acquitted and won re-election. In 1993, he indicted Kay Bailey Hutchison, who'd just been elected to the U.S. Senate, on charges of misconduct and records tampering. Mr. Earle was forced to drop the case even before it went to trial. Earlier this year, the prosecutor delivered a widely criticized speech at a Democratic fund-raiser in which he compared his prosecutorial targets to "Mussolini and his fascists" and all but declared that he had Mr. DeLay in his sights.As for political motive, Mr. DeLay has earned the wrath of Democrats by beating them time and again at their own game. His re-redistricting of the Texas Congressional delegation before the 2004 election helped turn six House seats over to the GOP. Without his prodding, the House would never have voted to impeach Bill Clinton in 1998. And his fund-raising and arm-twisting have kept the GOP House majority both unified and re-elected for a decade.

Partisan hack in the guise of District Attorney. Texas politics writ large.

Reflections Upon Indicting a Ham Sandwich

Tom Delay was indicted today by Ronnie Earle. The same Ronnie Earl that indicted Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-TX) a decade ago. That on fell apart too. Democrats can crow for awhile, but this is another "victory" that will end up kicking them in the face. Don't say I didn't tell you so.

Anatomy of a Photograph: Media Bias on Parade

If you've not seen this, take a look. Anybody still believe like my friend Joseph, that there is no Bush hatred in the media? Agenda driven media at its best..er..worst.

Hold Everything! Truth From NASA!

The space shuttle and International Space Station — nearly the whole of the U.S. manned space program for the past three decades — were mistakes, NASA chief Michael Griffin said Tuesday.

In a meeting with USA TODAY's editorial board, Griffin said NASA lost its way in the 1970s, when the agency ended the Apollo moon missions in favor of developing the shuttle and space station, which can only orbit Earth.

“It is now commonly accepted that was not the right path,” Griffin said. “We are now trying to change the path while doing as little damage as we can.”

Be still my heart. Could NASA be getting back on track, after over 30 years in a very expensive wilderness? It's possible. Hard to imagine how long Michael Griffin will last as a bureaucrat if he keeps telling the truth, though.

Are We Winning the War on Terror?

Timmer over at RightingAmerica has the must read post of the day. He offers a great analysis of the question, and a great read on this article from the Washington Times.

Media Meltdown on Parade: The Katrina Hype

Back on August 29th, I ran a post with the headline, Catastrophe Averted: LJiC Bought the Hype. The next day, the levees broke, New Orleans flooded, and I posted a retraction. The truth, as we are now finding out, was somewhere in the middle.

The scandal that is being revealed just adds one more nail in the coffin of MSM reliability:

The New Orleans Times-Picayune on Monday described inflated body counts, unverified "rapes," and unconfirmed sniper attacks as among examples of "scores of myths about the dome and Convention Center treated as fact by evacuees, the media and even some of New Orleans' top officials."

Indeed, Mayor C. Ray Nagin told a national television audience on "Oprah" three weeks ago of people "in that frickin' Superdome for five days watching dead bodies, watching hooligans killing people, raping people."

Journalists and officials who have reviewed the Katrina disaster blamed the inaccurate reporting in large measure on the breakdown of telephone service, which prevented dissemination of accurate reports to those most in need of the information. Race may have also played a factor.

A breakdown of phone service?!?!? How about a breakdown of credibility? How about an agenda driven media, driven by ratings, and, for most, a desire to prove their Bush-hating template true?

How many gunshot victims were there in Louisiana during Katrina? Don't read the answer yet. How many were you told? Dozens? Hundreds?

Of the 841 recorded hurricane-related deaths in Louisiana, four are identified as gunshot victims, Johannessen said. One victim was found in the Superdome but was believed to have been brought there, and one was found at the Convention Center, he added.

Four. Heck, for New Orleans that's a good day for the crime rate. If you want to cut down the murder rate in New Orleans, maybe you should have a few MORE hurricanes!

Read the list in this story of all the rumors you KNEW were true.

Over at Independent Liberal, Joseph is writing a great series on Media Bias. He makes the case that media bias is a good thing. It may be. But media incompetence and agenda driven journalism is a travesty, and a scandal.

And journalists look down on bloggers because we don't have editorial filters?

Give me a break.

cross posted at Gun-Totin' Liberal

All Home Based Business Leads to Herbalife

Or at least 70% of them do.
After a year of serious illness, I'm finally well enough to begin looking for work again. Like most of us, what I'd love to do is work from home. It would be great to be able to sit in my basement office doing something I love.

Trouble is, very few of the Home Based Businesses out there are real. Most lead to one company, Herbalife. Most of those work from home signs you see littering the roadways lead there. And, if you listen to the radio, you will come across Online Business Systems. Yep, Herbalife. Global Business Systems? Herbalife.

I have no desire to sell Herbalife, or any other Multi-Level Marketing item. We take Shaklee Vitamins, and they seem to help. But that's a far cry from being "in business" with the company. At least Shaklee is up front about what they are selling. Herbalife most assuredly is not.

I've pretty much given up on the idea that I can work from home. My experiences trying to find something that will make money from home has been nothing but negative.

Oh yeah, better include all those "make money on EBay" offers too. Sigh.

Evolution on Trial: Scopes II?

I'm curious what the evolutionists are so afraid of. If evolution is the only answer, then that should be obvious to all. Trouble is, it isn't obvious, unless you present the theory without the huge gaps that Intelligent Design theorists want presented.

If you believe unquestioningly in evolution, I would ask you to examine your belief. Why do you hold that belief? Is it because you were taught it by almost every authority figure in your life, or is it because you have examined the evidence from both sides for yourself? I'm betting it's the first one for most all of us.

Placing a gag order on schools, preventing them from teaching any other theory than evolution is wrong. It's as wrong now as it was in the days of the Scopes Monkey Trial. Both theories should have an equal chance. Why don't the evolutionists want to allow that?

Blogs For McCain's Opponents

If you scroll down this site, you'll come across a list of blogs that have signed up for a worthy cause, being against John McCain's bid for the Presidency, and and his continued obstruction of many Conservative initiatives in the Senate.
Here, from Daisy Cutter's site, the resolution:

In launching this campaign to purge the Moderate Party's leader from Republican politics and the public square, I do hereby declare and find the following to be true:

That John McCain has been a constant source of grief for Republicans;

That John McCain has heaped far more praise upon Democrats than he has Republicans;

That John McCain in fact never has a harsh word for Democrats, and he is chums with Sen. Ted Kennedy, for crying out loud;

That John McCain meanwhile has serially violated Ronald Reagan's "11th Commandment": Do not criticize thy fellow Republicans;

That John McCain has routinely attacked the Republican base, who financed and put McCain and his moderate friends in office;

That John McCain gave cover to Sen. John "sure I'll sign my Form 180, I'll get right on that, honest" Kerry during the presidential election cycle;

That John McCain did not immediately rebuff Kerry when he made repeated VP overtures to McCain;

That John McCain did not publicly say to Sen. Kerry, "Get away from me, you hideous and odious man.";

That John McCain has caused the late, great Ronald Reagan much grief from the other side of the grave by McCain's repeated invocations of the Reagan legacy when McCain's political career resembles nothing of what Pres. Reagan fought for;

That John McCain always has an excuse not to cut taxes;

That John McCain has been in the Senate for many years, and has only McCain-Feingold to show for it;

That McCain-Feingold was a horrible piece of legislation that gave Democrats and their allies a 2-1 funding advantage in the 2004 elections;

That John McCain called those who questioned the constitutionality of McCain-Feingold "radical rightwingers";

That John McCain has now emboldened the FEC to breathe down bloggers' necks;

That John McCain has rejected my compromise to have the FEC shut down/regulate only liberal blogs;

That the most dangerous place in Washington to be is the space between John McCain's face and a television camera;

That John McCain is in love with the MSM and vice-versa;

That John McCain has said negative things about Rush Limbaugh, and these things have been said in public;

That John McCain has consistently and publicly challenged our military leaders in the field on their decisions in Iraq;

That John McCain has to be wooed, consulted, cajoled and stroked for every single thing that happens in Washington, because dangit ... he should have been the president, not Pres. Bush;

That John McCain is loyal to no Republicans and that he and his gang of moderates happily threw Sen. Frist overboard;

That John McCain sells out any one who stands in the way of his poltical ambitions;

That John McCain and his gang of moderates in the name of "comity" actually sold out the Republican base so that their pet projects and donors -- namely, big business -- could get taken care of;

That John McCain still says out loud that the problem in Washington is "money in politics"; and

That John McCain and his ilk are the real problem in Washington.

It is therefore resolved that I will start "Blogs for McCain's Opponent", and that all who join will be linked here and will provide a reciprocal link at their site.

Let me conclude by saying that I have made the statement before, and I will make it again. I respect Sen. McCain for his service to the nation. But, as Hugh Hewitt said, McCain is "a great American, a lousy senator, and a terrible Republican."

So resolved. Or should I say ... I am so resolved.

And rather you like McCain or not, this one should give you pause:
That John McCain has now emboldened the FEC to breathe down bloggers' necks
He still is, even though he's denying publicly.

He would make a terrible President, in my opinion. And, so I'm a proud member of Blogs for McCain's Opponent.

Israel and the Pullout: Three Choices

As most know, Israel has pulled out of Gaza and portions of the West Bank. There is currently an increase in violence, as Hamas has used the vacant land to start rocket attacks, and Israel has responded.

Why in the world would Israel pull out of the occupied territories, leaving it to terrorist groups, and the masses of Palestinians?!?!? An answer comes from a trip a member of my Saturday morning Bible study took to Israel. Scott met with members of the Israeli cabinet, Israeli Supreme Court Justices, and his meeting included an hour and a half lunch with Benjamin Netanyahu. Here is his email from September 12th, 2005:

As most of you know I am currently in Israel, having arrived in mid-morning, and having already had six hours of meetings with several members of the Israeli government and the Canadian embassy. Largely discussions so far have focused on background context for understanding the current regional political climate.
An insight I found interesting came in response to my question about the benefits Israel perceived from exiting Gaza. Following the meeting in which the canned response was echoed, an individual pulled me aside and explained it this way:
"You must choose two, and only two of the following three alternatives. Any two are possible in combination, but any two eliminate the third:
- Israel retains its geographic borders (including the 'occupied territories';
- Israel remains a democracy; and
- Israel remains a Jewish state.
Which two do you choose?"
From my American perspective I posited remaining a democracy was the first priority.
He responded, "The majority in Israel firmly believe remaining a Jewish state is the first priority, and which of the other two items we choose is open to discussion."
The demographics of the population are such that by retaining Gaza and the "West Bank", over a relatively short period, the voting majority would shift from the Jewish population to the Arabs. Abandoning Gaza assurred a continuing Jewish voting majority.
This is an insight I had not garnered from the U.S. press.

Three choices. Israel has, for now at least, chosen to remain a Jewish state, and a democracy. To maintain control of the occupied territories, Israel could no longer function as a democracy. To be a democracy, and maintain control of the territories, Israel could not remain a Jewish state.

Scott just returned from his trip, and is still processing his time there. I hope to have more insights from him over the coming weeks. My thanks to him for providing this email.
Cross posted at Gun-Totin' Liberal

Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed!ista

Great book review. (ht to The Cannuckistan Chronicles) I haven't purchased the book yet, but plan to in the next few days. I can't wait to read it to my fourth grader,and then put it on his reading log! Maybe I'll buy a couple of copies for the school library...heh heh heh.

Tom Roeser: Welcome to the Blogosphere

Tom Roeser is one of the most respected voices in Illinois political commentary. And now he has his own blog! Read it regularly!

"Don't Get Stuck on Stupid, Reporters!"

Got to be one of my favorite quotes of all time, and will have to be a regular feature from now on. Journalists are often "stuck on stupid." Many bloggers, including myself, will begin to award annual, or semi-annual "Stuck on Stupid" awards to the most egregious bias from the MSM.

Free My Opera! Yippee!

Opera, one of the coolest browsers around, will be soon be ad free, and free to use! That's good news, and makes it well worth trying out! Get your copy here.

A Visitor to Centcom: And the MSM was Where?

President Musharraf of Pakistan has taken a stand against terrorism. And sometimes the terrorists are within his own government. He recently visited Centcom, something that won't go over well with the bad guys.

Rebuilding the Gulf Coast

With Gun-Toting Liberal out of the country, he's taken the grave risk of asking me to help keep his blog running. I won't always post the same things on LJiC as I post over at GTL, but this one was too good not put on both:

Enough Introductions. Time to get this Shindig rolling, don't you think? And what better topic than the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast, assuming the latest hurricane, Rita, doesn't wipe out what's left.President Bush outlined a huge rebuilding effort, sounding on the surface more like LBJ than Reagan, with promises of billions upon billions of dollars, giving money away as fast as it can be printed. My conservative soul cringed as I heard the speech last week, with echoes of the war on poverty, and untold generations made dependent on the government once again.It was only later, when I got in to the details of The Plan that I began to take heart, and my conservative soul was pulled off the ledge. Here's a couple of conservative nuggets that slipped right passed 'ole Chris Matthews on PMSNBC:
Meeting the Needs of Schools and Students. In recognition of the communities across the nation that have welcomed displaced students in need, the President is proposing to provide funding to school districts enrolling significant numbers of displaced children. This funding would be used to reimburse school districts for the unexpected costs associated with educating additional children for the 2005-06 school year, such as teacher salaries, transportation, materials and equipment, special services for children with disabilities, supplemental educational services, and counseling. To ensure that displaced families have maximum flexibility to meet the education needs of their children, the President's proposal would provide compensation to displaced families for enrollment in private, including parochial, schools.Did you catch the part I put in bold? That's VOUCHERS, baby!!!! The very thing that makes the NEA vomit, and the very thing that will save our education system. But we aren't done:
The GO Zone Will Provide Tax Relief And Loans For Businesses And Entrepreneurs To Invest In The Region And Create Jobs. The GO Zone will double small business expensing from $100,000 to $200,000 for investments in new equipment, provide a 50 percent bonus depreciation for all businesses, and extend tax relief to the building of new structures. The GO Zone will also make available loans and loan guarantees for small businesses, including minority-owned enterprises, to get them up and running again. It is this entrepreneurship that will create jobs and opportunity and help break the cycle of poverty.Now, I don't think the left included that little ditty in their mantra. But Conservatives have been pushing the idea for decades. And now we get a chance to see if it works. That's the point. Federal statutes demand we spend the money on this disaster. But, for the first time, Conservatives have the chance, and the power, to decide how the money is spent, and BY WHOM. We've thrown money at poverty for 40 years now,and the result has been generations of poor, mostly black, inner city citizens chained to monthly government handouts. The President's plan has the potential to change that. If it succeeds, and there is good reason to believe it will, The Plan will be a model for the scenes of disaster around the country commonly known as The Inner City. The Left will work hard to stop The Plan, but at the grave political risk of looking uncaring, and without compassion. And they won't just look that way. The appearance of being uncaring and without compassion will be fact. Talk about being between a rock and a hard place. Yep, my conservative soul has not only stepped off the ledge, it's cheering...Loudly.cross posted at The Gun-Toting Liberal

Back to the Moon, and On to Mars

NASA unveiled a somewhat unambitious agenda to get back to the Moon by the year 2018, as a prelude to Mars missions at a time to be named later. The plan involves using Shuttle technology to build both a cargo vessel and a four man crew module, to build a semi-permanent base, very likely at the Moon's South Pole.

Canada is excited, and apparently proud to be a part of the plan:

Speaking at the International Lunar Conference in Toronto Monday, NASA chief scientist Jim Garvin said the agency will once again need Canada's help in setting up a permanent "Antarctic-like presence" on the Moon -- a "beachhead in deep space" that could eventually serve as a staging ground for missions to Mars.

The fact that much of Canada is as cold and barren as the lunar surface, and therefore provides a great practice ground does give one pause, doesn't it? No wonder the Hollywood Left changed its mind about going there after Bush won in 2000...

Water on Enceladus

A tiny moon of Saturn appears to be venting water, likely from a liquid source in its interior. The wonders of Cassini just keep pouring in.

The Next Pandemic

When President Bush spoke to the United Nations this week, most of the coverage focused on terrorism. But Mr. Bush spoke about a coming crisis that may make 9/11 look like a picnic:

"We must also remain on the offensive against new threats to public health, such as the Avian influenza," Bush said in his speech to world leaders. "If left unchallenged, the virus could become the first pandemic of the 21st century."

His warning should serve as a reminder of what happened almost a hundred years ago. The Spanish Flu killed millions worldwide, and then simply disappeared. We see the results of that plague in cemeteries across the country. Just look in an old cemetery at the number of death dates ending in 1918 or 1919. You will be surprised.

It is entirely possible that an influenza virus very much like Spanish Flue could sweep the planet, killing an estimated billion people, and bringing the economies of the world crashing. Hopefully, the world can mobilize in time to stop it in time.

Standing on the Shore

Of Titan. The right side of the picture is likely a shallow sea of liquid hydrocarbons. The left the shoreline, with bays, and even rivers feeding into the ocean. Not exactly a vacation spot, but safer from hurricanes than the Gulf Coast....

Donna Brazille: Standing With The President

Good for Donna Brazille! At times one of the most partisan of Democrat partisans, she puts party aside to stand with the President's initiative:

I know, maybe better than anyone, that there are times when it seems that our nation is too divided ever to heal. There are times when we feel so different from each other that we can hardly believe that we are all part of the same family. But we are one nation. We are a family. And this is what we do. When the president asked us to pitch in Thursday night, he wasn't really asking us to do anything spectacular. He was asking us to be Americans, and to do what Americans always do.

The president has set a national goal and defined a national purpose. This is something I believe with all my heart: When we are united, nothing can stop us. We will not waver, we will not tire, and we will not stop until the streets are clean, every last brick has been replaced and every last family has its home back.

Bush talked about how we bury our family and friends. We grieve and mourn. We march to a solemn song and then we rejoice and step out and form the second line. That line is now open to every American to join us in rebuilding a great region of this country. New Orleans will rise again. My hometown is down but not out, and with the help of every American, it will be back on its feet, bigger and brighter than ever.

Mr. President, I am ready for duty. I am ready to stir those old pots again. Let's roll up our sleeves and get to work.

Here's hoping her fellow Democrats follow her example.

The New York Times Intentionally Shoots Itself in the Foot

Talk about being out of touch:

The marquee columnists for The New York Times' Op-Ed page including Thomas L. Friedman, Maureen Dowd and Frank Rich generate lots of interest and discussion online. Now, the paper is hoping they'll also generate something else: cash.

Beginning Monday, the Times will begin charging $49.95 a year to people who don't get the paper delivered at home for access to those writers as well as other columnists for the Times' business, metro and sports sections.

It's amazing that the newspaper that considers itself the nation's paper of record would intentionally marginalize itself. I only read the Times' opinion columns for laughs. There's no way I would actually pay to read the whining of Maureen Dowd and her fellow travelers.

ABC Gets Sandbagged

I didn't watch this last night. I heard they were going to interview refugees, and figured I knew what they were going to say. Apparently, ABC thought they knew as well:

ABC News producers probably didn't hear what they expected when they sent Dean Reynolds to the Houston Astrodome's parking lot to get reaction to President Bush's speech from black evacuees from New Orleans. Instead of denouncing Bush and blaming him for their plight, they praised Bush and blamed local officials. Reynolds asked Connie London: "Did you harbor any anger toward the President because of the slow federal response?" She rejected the premise: "No, none whatsoever, because I feel like our city and our state government should have been there before the federal government was called in.” She pointed out: “They had RTA buses, Greyhound buses, school buses, that was just sitting there going under water when they could have been evacuating people."

Not one of the six people interviewed on camera had a bad word for Bush -- despite Reynolds' best efforts. Reynolds goaded: "Was there anything that you found hard to believe that he said, that you thought, well, that's nice rhetoric, but, you know, the proof is in the pudding?" Brenda Marshall answered, "No, I didn't," prompting Reynolds to marvel to anchor Ted Koppel: "Very little skepticism here.”

Reynolds pressed another woman: “Did you feel that the President was sincere tonight?" She affirmed: "Yes, he was." Reynolds soon wondered who they held culpable for the levee breaks. Unlike the national media, London did not blame supposed Bush-mandated budget cuts: "They've been allocated federal funds to fix the levee system, and it never got done. I fault the mayor of our city personally. I really do."

Read the whole thing over at Newsbusters. Great site.

Blair Pulls the Plug on Kyoto

This is a huge story:

Onstage with former president Bill Clinton at a midtown Manhattan hotel ballroom, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said he was going to speak with "brutal honesty" about Kyoto and global warming, and he did. And Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had some blunt talk, too.

Blair, a longtime supporter of the Kyoto treaty, further prefaced his remarks by noting, "My thinking has changed in the past three or four years." So what does he think now? "No country, he declared, "is going to cut its growth." That is, no country is going to allow the Kyoto treaty, or any other such global-warming treaty, to crimp -- some say cripple -- its economy.

Looking ahead to future climate-change negotiations, Blair said of such fast-growing countries as India and China, "They're not going to start negotiating another treaty like Kyoto." India and China, of course, weren't covered by Kyoto in the first place, which was one of the fatal flaws in the treaty. But now Blair is acknowledging the obvious: that after the current Kyoto treaty -- which the US never acceded to -- expires in 2012, there's not going to be another worldwide deal like it.

Kyoto is dead. Now maybe we can get on to something more realistic, and more in keeping with science.

Beltway vs. Blogosphere: The Rift in the Democrat Party

Great article by Howard Fineman. I suspect the same is occurring on the Conservative side, but a little less vocally.

Three Wishes: Marketing to the Red States

Great look at what NBC is doing to improve its ratings. It just might work.

The Anti-War on Poverty

It wasn't LBJ. It was more Jack Kemp. Opportunity zones, and oversight to make sure the money is spent correctly. And this:

Americans want the Gulf Coast not just to survive, but to thrive; not just to cope, but to overcome. We want evacuees to come home, for the best of reasons -- because they have a real chance at a better life in a place they love.

President Bush may have started slow, but he's making up for it now. Dick Morris is correct. Conservatives believe the role of government is to fight wars, and help in times of natural disaster. President Bush was defined by war in his first term. He will be defined by Katrina in his second.

The Terrorists Haven't Forgotten September 11th: Have We? Part II

The terrorists know the stakes in Iraq. Below is a direct response to the current push by Allied forces in Iraq:

A translation of the statement follows:

"In the name of God, the compassionate, the merciful.

O God, aim our strikes and make our feet firm

Fight them, and God will punish them by your hands, cover them with shame, help you to victory over them, and heal the hearts of Believers. [Koranic verse]

Praised be God, the supporter of virtuous people and conqueror of the apostates and infidel Americans. God's peace and blessing upon the cheerful, dauntless fighter and his family and companions, the true fearless men in battle.

O nation of Islam: We write to you, O the best nation on earth, and bring you good tidings.

Since yesterday, the battles for revenge started all over the land of the two rivers. The raid for avenging the Sunni people in Tall far has started.

Celebrate and sing the praise of God, O nation of Islam. The battalions of monotheism have set out, pledging to die in support of the faith and its people. They were spearheaded by the best of the battalions, the Al-Bara Bin-Malik Battalion.

Approach us, O paradise. O brigade of martyrdom-seeker: Celebrate and sing the praise of God, for tomorrow you will meet the beloved ones, Muhammad and his companions. You have never accepted injustice, O lions of monotheism. This is your day. Go after the heads of the infidels, the Jews, the Crusaders, and the descendants of Ibn al-Alqami [derogatory term for Shia named after Ibn-al-Alqami, a Shia minister who was accused of betraying the last Abbasid caliph Al-Musta'ism during Hulugu's attack on Baghdad in 1258]. Do not show any mercy toward them.

May God accept from you, o protectors of the religion. May God support you with his victory and enable you to perform enduring good deeds. You have followed the footsteps of the prophet and his guidance. You have not shirked your responsibility. All the graces that you have are from God and his mercy. Praise be to God, first and last and in public and secret.

We will bring you more details once we receive reports about operations in Baghdad and other cities. We want your prayers, o nation of Islam. Your brothers are fighting with the help, power, and support of God. O God, grant us the victory you had promised; o God grant us the victory you had promised; o God grant us the victory you had promised. O God, you are our supporter; o God, we raid and fight with your help.

O God, mover of the clouds, revealer of the book, and conqueror of the Al-Ahzab [coalition of tribes the fought Prophet Muhammad in early Islam], defeat them and grant us victory over them. O God, grant us your help and support; O God, send your soldiers and grant us the victory you had promised.

God is great, God is great; pride is to God, the prophet, and the mujahidin.

[Signed] Abu-Maysrah al-Iraqi, the Media Section of the Al-Qa'ida Organization in the Land of Two Rivers,

[Dated] 10 Sha'ban 1426 Hegira; 14 September 2005."

Racial Matters

Paul over at Disambiguation is writing a great series on race relations. He writes with the same depth of thought he had when we went to Grad school fifteen years ago.

Muscle Tears on the GOP

I'm writing this from my workout center, just before I go to physical therapy. I have a deep muscle tear in my hip. No one can see it, but I know its there. Hurts like crazy, and will disable me if I don't take care of it.

Peggy Noonan outlines the deep muscle tear in the Republican Party, made apparent by Katrina, and offers the beginnings of physical therapy to heal the wonnd before it gets worse.

To Those in America...

President Talibani:

To those in America, in other countries, still ask of war of liberation in Iraq, if it was right -- the right decision. I say, please, please, come to Iraq, to visit the mass graves, to see what happened to the Iraqi people, and to see what now is going on in Iraq. To those who talk of stability, I say, Saddam imposed the stability of the mass graves. To the terrorists, I say, you will never win; freedom will win in Iraq.

He's right. And here's a great site that will help spread the news.

The Original American Sin

What a great article:

We wake up in the morning, and our evil deeds begin before we have time to curse the alarm. As we slept, our refrigerators were hard at work giving Chileans skin cancer. We turn on the air conditioner, and amphibians grow extra limbs. We breathe and contribute to global warming and killer hurricanes. We put on our clothes and cover the world with sweatshops. We put on our shoes and tie children to workbenches with the laces. We poison the soil by eating breakfast. We drive to work and drown Pacific Islanders. We go to the doctor and kill cuddly, little animals. We devastate countries we have never heard of. We are Ugly Americans, crude, boorish, and brutal, as ashamed of our tastes as we are of our genocide.

How did we become so evil? According to the doctrine of Original Sin, human nature is stained with the sin of our remotest ancestors. According to the doctrine of Original American Sin, we are stained with the sins of our remote ancestors, whether or not they were actually our ancestors. The politically correct instill in us guilt and shame and then offer to cure us of them in exchange for our becoming politically correct ourselves.

We exterminated the Edenic Native Americans; the sin of slavery and segregation belongs to us alone. We are guilty of unconscious racism, forever injuring blacks without realizing it. We don’t know how, but we are starving poor people in the Third World.

But in the midst of Babylon a miracle. Some people do not have the stain! Their opinions have washed them clean. They live on land stolen from the Indians and owe no debts. They have no more intention than we do of giving the land back, but we are the problem, and they are the solution. If their ancestors held slaves, it is not their fault. They wear the same clothes we do, but their clothes cause no sweatshops. They wear the same shoes but do not exploit children. They can eat what we eat, drive as much as they’d like, spend a month in the hospital, and, lo, the soil is fertile, the ocean does not rise, and animals frolic in the sun. They can slander the police and not suffer from crime. They can enjoy peace and belittle the sacrifices necessary to obtain it. They can be against war and share in its spoils. They can condemn Corporate America while they build up their portfolios.

It gets better from there. Read the whole thing.

Truth, vs. Media Spin

The federal response to Katrina was a disaster, right? Worst response ever, right?
Wrong, wrong, wrong.
The media would like you to believe that.
The left is desperately hoping you'll believe that, and remember it in November of 2006.
But the truth is:

Jason van Steenwyk is a Florida Army National Guardsman who has been mobilized six times for hurricane relief. He notes that:

"The federal government pretty much met its standard time lines, but the volume of support provided during the 72-96 hour was unprecedented. The federal response here was faster than Hugo, faster than Andrew, faster than Iniki, faster than Francine and Jeanne."

For instance, it took five days for National Guard troops to arrive in strength on the scene in Homestead, Fla. after Hurricane Andrew hit in 1992. But after Katrina, there was a significant National Guard presence in the afflicted region in three.

Journalists who are long on opinions and short on knowledge have no idea what is involved in moving hundreds of tons of relief supplies into an area the size of England in which power lines are down, telecommunications are out, no gasoline is available, bridges are damaged, roads and airports are covered with debris, and apparently have little interest in finding out.

But wait, there's more:

I write this column a week and a day after the main levee protecting New Orleans breached. In the course of that week:

More than 32,000 people have been rescued, many plucked from rooftops by Coast Guard helicopters.

The Army Corps of Engineers has all but repaired the breaches and begun pumping water out of New Orleans.

Shelter, food and medical care have been provided to more than 180,000 refugees.

Journalists complain that it took a whole week to do this. A former Air Force logistics officer had some words of advice for us in the Fourth Estate on his blog, Moltenthought:

"We do not yet have teleporter or replicator technology like you saw on 'Star Trek' in college between hookah hits and waiting to pick up your worthless communications degree while the grown-ups actually engaged in the recovery effort were studying engineering.

"The United States military can wipe out the Taliban and the Iraqi Republican Guard far more swiftly than they can bring 3 million Swanson dinners to an underwater city through an area the size of Great Britain which has no power, no working ports or airports, and a devastated and impassable road network.

"You cannot speed recovery and relief efforts up by prepositioning assets (in the affected areas) since the assets are endangered by the very storm which destroyed the region.

"No amount of yelling, crying and mustering of moral indignation will change any of the facts above."

"You cannot just snap your fingers and make the military appear somewhere," van Steenwyk said.

Ah, but the left wants you to think it could have snapped its fingers and made everything happen. Funny, it didn't work that way for the years of the Clinton Adminstration. But you are't supposed to think about that.

The Failed War: Black Culture and Katrina

This is an important piece. It puts in words what many of us have been thinking all this time, as we watched the sheep sit in the Superdome, attacked by wolves:

In fact, white America does remain morally culpable — but because white leftists in the late 1960s, in the name of enlightenment and benevolence, encouraged the worst in human nature among blacks and even fostered it in legislation. The hordes of poor blacks stuck in the Superdome last week wound up there not because the White Man barred them from doing better, but because certain tragically influential White Men destroyed the fragile but lasting survival skills poor black communities had maintained since the end of slavery.

George Will continues and expands the truth we are discovering post-Katrina:

Liberalism's post-Katrina fearlessness in discovering the obvious — if an inner city is inundated, the victims will be disproportionately minorities — stopped short of indelicately noting how many of the victims were women with children but not husbands. Because it was released during the post-Katrina debacle, scant attention was paid to the National Center for Health Statistics' report that in 2003, 34.6 percent of all American births were to unmarried women. The percentage among African American women was 68.2.

Given that most African Americans are middle class and almost half live outside central cities, and that 76 percent of all births to Louisiana African Americans were to unmarried women, it is a safe surmise that more than 80 percent of African American births in inner-city New Orleans — as in some other inner cities — were to women without husbands. That translates into a large and constantly renewed cohort of lightly parented adolescent males, and that translates into chaos in neighborhoods and schools, come rain or come shine.

Black Americans have every right to be angry at government. They just need to understand why they should be angry, and at who.

The New Chief Justice: Standing Tall amidst the Dwarves

Great opening statement, done without notes. Not sure how many Democrats heard it in their rush to the cameras and microphones.

Fear of Falling

This is just weird. If you've ever had that dream where you are falling and falling, you'll relate to this site...

Anniversaries: 9/9/04 Rathergate

No matter your political stripe, if you are a blogger, 9/9/04, and the days that followed were red letter days. Blogging came in to its own. Here are my posts for that period. Start on the 9th, and work your way up. Ah, those were the days...

Racist, Bigoted, Socialist Reporting

I had intended to post today on the Roberts hearings, and I'm sure we'll spend alot of time on that. But this piece from The New York Times deserves mention today. (HT: Hugh Hewitt)

This "news report" from Elizabeth Bumiller illustrates as few can the bigotry and bias of The New York Times, and the MSM that echoes it. Here's what she said about T.D. Jakes:

"I said, 'Grab some black people who look like they might be preachers,' " said the supporter, who asked not to be named because he did not want to be identified as criticizing the White House.Three days later, on Mr. Bush's next trip to the region, the president appeared in Baton Rouge at the side of T. D. Jakes, the conservative African-American television evangelist and the founder of a 30,000-member megachurch in southwest Dallas.

Bishop Jakes, a multimillionaire and best-selling author, is to deliver the sermon this Friday at the Washington National Cathedral, his office said, where Mr. Bush will mark a national day of prayer for Hurricane Katrina's victims. The bishop's style of preaching is black Pentecostal - he roars and rumbles in performances that got him on the cover of Time magazine as "America's best preacher" in 2001. More important to Mr. Rove, he has become a vital partner in the White House effort to court the black vote.

Now, if you knew nothing about T.D. Jakes, what would you take from the above paragraphs? He's a mulimillionaire, a Bush supporter, a "Black Pentacostal" (read "snake handler) and quite a performer. Oh, and he's important to the evil Karl Rove.

Funny how the MSM would never dream of writing the above about Rev. Jesse or Rev. Al, both of whom are multimillionaires.

For some info about the ministry of T.D. Jakes, go here.

He's not perfect, and has some significant flaws in his theology, but Rev. Jakes deserves far better than he got from The New York Times.

The Falling Man

We all saw the picture, if only once. This man represents an estimated 200 people who jumped to their deaths on 9/11. The MSM immediately shut these pictures down as too disturbing. Yet, now CNN threatens to sue for the right to show the bloated bodies of the dead in New Orleans. Bias, anyone?

The Terrorists Haven't Forgotten September 11th: Have We?

Ah, yearly traditions! Like the yearly threat from Adam Gadahn on 9/11. Sooo, how many times has he threatened to blow up Los Angeles? I'm thinkin' this creep has issues.

Remember

On this solemn day, I want to provide some resources:

A Soldier Remembers: Zaph's Blog.
If you haven't read this yet, do it now.

And, from an ally up north.

A 9/11 Memorial

The September 11th Digital Archive: The place for video and pictures of the day the world stopped turning.

September 11th News

And finally, The Flight That Fought Back. A must see docu-drama on The Discovery Channel tonight at 8pm CST. If you don't have cable, find someone who does.

Christopher Hitchens: The Case For Iraq

No one makes the case better than Chistopher Hitchens. He should be giving lessons to the Bush Administration.

A Report From Iraq: Things are Calming Down for a Reason

Works for me:

Something else that gets credit is the Iraqi Army. There truly are signs that this army is starting to have some impact on events here. The terrorists can't simply walk up to a checkpoint, kill everyone in sight, and not take a very strong risk that they might all be killed in return.

What continues to be whispered, and what I have reported here once or twice, is the claim that the Iraqi Army is killing hundreds of the terrorists whom they do arrest. No trials. No niceties. Just a quick shot in the head. I can neither confirm nor refute this persistent report. But, I hear it so often that I do tend to believe something along those lines is happening. The victims of the Army killings (if they are happening) are the former Saddam loyalists who form the core of the terrorist groups.

It's noteworthy that absolutely no one is bothered by this evidence of an army that is perhaps running amok. In many other countries (even in parts of ours) there would be mass hand wringing and hyperventilation. The New York Times editorial board would have a collective case of acid indigestion. Not here. These people have tasted what it is like to live at the hands of a butcher and an assassin. They can't wait for Saddam's trial and execution to be over so they can quickly get on with the more important things in life.

Sounds like years of dictatorship have made the Iraqi people quite grey. That's a good thing.

Let Us Not Forget The United Nations Scandal

With all the Katrina coverage, you may have missed the Volcker report on the UN Oil For Food scandal. OpinionJournal has a roundup.

Victor Davis Hanson: Human Tempests

Here's the end of the piece:

We could have weathered one storm, but four or five natural and human tempests all at once reduced us to abject calamity over New Orleans — bringing "men's characters to a level with their fortunes.

Gotta read the rest to get the full impact.

An Appropriate Memorial for Flight 93? I Don't Think So.

Take a look at the memorial for Flight 93, the men and women who stopped the terrorists, and paid for it with their lives in Pennsylvania. A crescent? The symbol for Islam? Anybody else have a problem with this?

Rob, at Beware the Dark Side provides the contact information to prevent this insanity.

Hope Remains for Sean Penn

A Win For the Good Guys: A Bad Day for the Pink Tribe

Padilla can be held for as long as necessary. All he wanted to do was blow up a city, after all. The decision was written by Michael Luttig, on the short list for filling Sandra Day O'Connor's Supreme seat.

And, if you don't know what the pink tribe is, go here. Required reading, remember?

Tribes: Absolute, Unequivocal, Required Reading

Are you pink, or grey. Are you a sheep, or a sheepdog. This is required reading for understanding anything and everything I've ever posted on Liberty Just in Case.

Peggy Noonan: We Can All Relate

There's a reason this blog began years ago with Peggy Noonan. Her latest column is an example.

ABC NEWS REPORT: THIS JUST IN!

From the ABCNews website:

In New Orleans, those in peril and those in power have pointed the finger squarely at the federal government for the delayed relief effort. But experts say when natural disasters strike, it is the primary responsibility of state and local governments — not the federal government — to respond.

No! How can this be? Don't they know it's Bushitler's fault, all his fault?!?!? Who approved this story? Does Hillary know this story is out there?

Iraqi POW Speicher May Be Alive?

This is deeply disturbing:

A Navy pilot shot down over Iraq in January 1991 may have been captured by Iraqi forces, and members of the former Iraqi government "know the whereabouts" of the officer, the Navy has concluded.

A Navy board of inquiry concluded that there is no credible evidence that Capt. Michael "Scott" Speicher is dead, and it reaffirmed his official status as "missing/captured," according to the board's final report.

The board also recommended that the Pentagon work with the State Department, the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and the Iraqi government to "increase the level of attention and effort inside Iraq" to resolve the question of Speicher's fate.

This needs to get alot of coverage, across the blogosphere. If there's a chance this airman is still alive, and has been held by Saddam and company for all these years...

Prophecies

A great description of Katrina and it's aftermath:

It was a broiling August afternoon in New Orleans, Louisiana, the Big Easy, the City That Care Forgot. Those who ventured outside moved as if they were swimming in tupelo honey. Those inside paid silent homage to the man who invented air-conditioning as they watched TV "storm teams" warn of a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico. Nothing surprising there: Hurricanes in August are as much a part of life in this town as hangovers on Ash Wednesday.

But the next day the storm gathered steam and drew a bead on the city. As the whirling maelstrom approached the coast, more than a million people evacuated to higher ground. Some 200,000 remained, however—the car-less, the homeless, the aged and infirm, and those die-hard New Orleanians who look for any excuse to throw a party.

The storm hit Breton Sound with the fury of a nuclear warhead, pushing a deadly storm surge into Lake Pontchartrain. The water crept to the top of the massive berm that holds back the lake and then spilled over. Nearly 80 percent of New Orleans lies below sea level—more than eight feet below in places—so the water poured in. A liquid brown wall washed over the brick ranch homes of Gentilly, over the clapboard houses of the Ninth Ward, over the white-columned porches of the Garden District, until it raced through the bars and strip joints on Bourbon Street like the pale rider of the Apocalypse. As it reached 25 feet (eight meters) over parts of the city, people climbed onto roofs to escape it.

Thousands drowned in the murky brew that was soon contaminated by sewage and industrial waste. Thousands more who survived the flood later perished from dehydration and disease as they waited to be rescued. It took two months to pump the city dry, and by then the Big Easy was buried under a blanket of putrid sediment, a million people were homeless, and 50,000 were dead. It was the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States.

It was written in October, 2004. We all knew what was coming. We all knew.

Scientists on Katrina: Just the Facts

The first to try to make political hay from Katrina were the Green hotheads:

“The hurricane that struck Louisiana yesterday was nicknamed Katrina by the National Weather Service. Its real name was global warming.” So wrote environmental activist Ross Gelbspan in a Boston Globe op-ed that one commentator aptly described as “almost giddy.” The green group Friends of the Earth linked Katrina to global warming, as did Germany’s Green Party Environment Minister.

Bobby Kennedy Jr. blamed Katrina on Miss. Gov. Haley Barbour for “derailing the Kyoto Protocol [on global warming] and kiboshing President Bush’s iron-clad promise to regulate carbon dioxide.”

But wait:

Time for an ice-water bath, hotheads. If you’d bothered to consult the scientists (remember them?) you’d find they’ve extensively studied the issue and found no evidence that global warming – assuming it’s actually occurring – is causing either an increase in frequency or intensity of hurricanes.

Read the whole thing.

Rescuing Those Left Behind: Our Beloved Companions

It's not just people that need rescuing. Thousands of pets have been left behind in the wreckage as well. This group is trying to help.

Quiet Heroes

Ths is the church our care packages are going to, and where The Letter From Lexi will be delivered.

Looks Worse All the Time

Great post from A North American Patriot on the widening scandal in Louisiana. Are the Democrats really sure they want hearings? It's looking worse and worse, not for the Feds, but for the state and local Democrat officials.

Wade's Conservative World: Great Analysis of the Katrina Recovery

Per his profile, Wade's a Captain in the Vernon Township Fire Dept, with 22 years experience as a FireFighter, and I assume, First Responder. His analyses of the Katrina disaster is some of the best work I've seen anywhere. A great resource!

In For a Penny, In For a Pound

I'm still not comfortable jumping in to the whole Katrina mess. But the more I hear and read, the more important it becomes to take a stand. So, in the tradition of Martin Luther, if one must sin, then sin boldly!

Martin Luther wrote this to Philip Melancthon in 1521:

If you are a preacher of grace, then preach a true and not a fictitious grace; if grace is true, you must bear a true and not a fictitious sin. God does not save people who are only fictitious sinners. Be a sinner and sin boldly, but believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly, for he is victorious over sin, death, and the world. As long as we are here [in this world] we have to sin. This life is not the dwelling place of righteousness, but, as Peter says, we look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. It is enough that by the riches of God's glory we have come to know the Lamb that takes away the sin of the world. No sin will separate us from the Lamb, even though we commit fornication and murder a thousand times a day. Do you think that the purchase price that was paid for the redemption of our sins by so great a Lamb is too small? Pray boldly--you too are a mighty sinner.

So, off we go with the following posts!