Random Thoughts About New Orleans

Preparedness experts have always touted gold as the currency of choice in preparation for disasters or civil unrest. Seems they were mistakenly considering us to be a civilized society. Events in NO have changed that:

Hurricane Katrina has taken the local economy back in time.
Cigarettes and beer will get you far in the barter system ruling these debris-strewn streets. Gasoline is gold, the coveted item that can bring you anything you want.
''This right here can get us the hell out of Dodge,'' said Barbara Winch, holding up about 10 packs of cigarettes. Transportation is also a hot commodity in Waveland’s new economy.

Might want to reconsider what you have in your survival pack.

As Winch sat in front of her printing business Thursday evening just before sundown, the barter economy showed an ability to diversify.

A woman came up with a little bit of food. In return, she would be able to watch television on a set that Winch and her friend had rigged up.

''It’s food and cigarettes for television,'' Winch said. ''Money ain’t no good.''

Imagine being in a disaster and trading FOOD for the opportunity to watch TV!!
Flooding must cause brain damage.

When you depend on government to solve your problems, you get what you deserve: too little, too late, at much too high a price. They had three days warning that this storm was coming and increasing in strength; yet people elected to do nothing and wait for government to take care of them. It is beyond my comprehension how a person can sit and do nothing in the face of impending disaster. If all else fails, walk. And by the looks of the people they showed on the news squawking about the lack of intervention, they could have used the exercise.

Why didn't someone mobilize the thousands of school buses sitting in New Orleans?

Send the refugees to some of those closed military bases. If they were good enough for our soldiers, they're good enough for refugees.

If this is how government reacts to an event of which they have foreknowledge, it just sends shudders of encouragement through the essence of my being thinking of how they will react to completely unforeseen events (like another terrorist attack).

Next time some LeftLiberalSocialistCommie comes up with another gun control plan, remember New Orleans. The bad guys had plenty of firepower and they didn't have to buy it...they just stole it, and without the waiting period with which law-abiding citizens are encumbered.

How Stupid Can You Get?

Now we've got a bunch of nut-ball alleged Christians giving God CREDIT for Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina walloped New Orleans just two days before the annual homosexual "Southern Decadence" festival was to begin in the town, an act being characterized by some as God's work.

Southern Decadence has a history of "filling the French Quarters section of the city with drunken homosexuals engaging in sex acts in the public streets and bars," says a statement from the Philadelphia organization Repent America.

"Although the loss of lives is deeply saddening, this act of God destroyed a wicked city," stated Repent America director Michael Marcavage in a statement. "From 'Girls Gone Wild' to 'Southern Decadence,' New Orleans was a city that opened its doors wide open to the public celebration of sin. May it never be the same."

I'd like one of these clowns to provide Biblical evidence that this is a God-directed event.
Jesus rebuked the storm; was Jesus rebuking God? That would make God schizophrenic. The only schizophrenic thing in sight is this group's theology.

God isn't concerned with nations other than Israel (and I'm not necessarily talking about the "dirt" Israel, but rather the obedient Jews). HE is concerned with individuals.

"Although the loss of lives is deeply saddening, this act of God destroyed a wicked city," stated Repent America director Michael Marcavage in a statement. "From 'Girls Gone Wild' to 'Southern Decadence,' New Orleans was a city that opened its doors wide open to the public celebration of sin. May it never be the same."

Don't you love the way this guy casts aside the loss of life like its acceptable just because New Orleans was destroyed! News Flash jerk: There were probably real Christians in New Orleans who had no control over what went on in the city.
The implication here is that if God really wanted to destroy New Orleans, He's too stupid or inept to do it without all the collateral damage.

One of the things I'm looking forward to in Heaven, is listening to God rebuke people for all the dumb things they blame on Him with which He had nothing to do.

Pass the Half & Half

Hopefully, this will shut up the Food Nazis:

Coffee is likely to contribute far more antioxidants to the British diet than fruit and vegetables.
The evidence comes from the United States where scientists measured the antioxidant content of more than 100 different food items, including vegetables, fruits, nuts, spices, oils and beverages.
Coffee - caffeinated and decaffeinated - emerged as easily the biggest source of antioxidants.

Time to go buy some Snickerdoodle!

Test-firing the "I" Word

Pat Buchanan turns up the heat on illegal immigration.

Twice, George Bush has taken an oath to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." Article IV, Section 4 of that Constitution reads, "The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against invasion."

Well, we are being invaded, and the president of the United States is not doing his duty to protect the states against that invasion. Some courageous Republican, to get the attention of this White House, should drop into the hopper a bill of impeachment, charging George W. Bush with a conscious refusal to uphold his oath and defend the states of the Union against "invasion."

Can't argue with that, can you?
In a day and age when all you hear is security this and security that, when the media takes every opportunity to instigate a panic about the next potential terrorist attack, we have people waltzing into our country without the slightest screening taking place. We have no idea who is here. Its just as easy for alQaida to cross over from Mexico as it is for some drug trafficker from Mexico City.

The question of whether America is going to remain one nation, or whether our Southwest will wind up as a giant Kosovo – separated by language and loyalty from the rest of America – is on the table.

Where is Bush? All wrapped up in the issue of whether women in Najaf will have the same rights in divorce and custody cases as women in Nebraska.

What good is democracy in Iraq, when people sworn to uphold the laws of the land here, fail to do so, without consequences?

Duck and Cover

WALL STREET shuddered yesterday after Alan Greenspan, the United States’ central banker, warned American homebuyers that they risk a crash if they continue to drive property prices higher.

He said that the US house-price spiral had become an economic imbalance, threatening stability like the country’s trade gap or its budget deficit.

Alan Greenspan dropped the above bombshell yesterday during his 2005 Cover Your Butt Farewell Tour.

In a pre-retirement speech to fellow central bankers at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Mr Greenspan said that people were investing in houses as if they were a one-way bet, not allowing for the risk of price falls. He said “history had not dealt kindly” with investors who kept ignoring risks.

Now, these are the guys who established the policies which lead to our current conditions. If they are such monetary geniuses, shouldn't they have seen this coming?

Screw Loose

If there was ever any doubt in your mind that Cindy Sheehan is a nut case, this should put your doubts to rest.

Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan is now purportedly "channeling" her slain son, Casey, from heaven.
Sheehan has referred to her son as an angel, stating in an Aug. 5 speech, Casey "became an angel while I was sleeping."
Cindy also reflected on the days immediately after Casey's birth, noting, "I looked in his eyes and it looked like he could tell what I was thinking. That's very disarming when you have like a week-old baby looking at you, and you know he knows what you're thinking.

She's also not real good at math.

On the mothers of fallen soldiers who continue to support President Bush and the liberation of Iraq, Sheehan said, “I’ve never said I speak for every Gold Star family. But I know I speak for thousands of them. But it affects our entire humanity when one country wages an illegal and immoral war on another country.”

"Thousands" means 2,000 or more.
"Gold Star Families" are those who have a family member die in the Armed Forces.
We have had fewer than 1900 casualties in Iraq.
Therefore, it is impossible for her to speak for "thousands".

I wish she would go back under the rock from which she came.

What's That Smell?

Remember the guy that was shot in the London subway the day after the bombings?
Seems like the poop is about to hit the fan:

He wasn't wearing a heavy jacket. He used his card to get into the station. He didn't vault the barrier. And now police say there are no CCTV pictures to reveal the truth. So why did plainclothes officers shoot young Jean Charles de Menezes seven times in the head, thinking he posed a terror threat?

So most of the "facts" of the initial story were fabricated. Multiple closed circuit cameras conveniently didn't work. The stench is beginning to make me woozy.

He (Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Ian Blair) insists the shoot-to-kill policy is the 'least worst' way of tackling suicide bombers and refuses to rule out other innocent people being shot in similar circumstances. 'I am not certain the tactic we have is the right tactic, but it is the best we have found so far.'

The arrogance!! 'Oh, its OK if we shoot a few innocent people if we mistakenly believe they are terrorists.'
They had the guy subdued on the ground in the subway station, for crying out loud!!
Commissioner Blair and all his cronies should lose their jobs, and the officers involved should be tried for murder.

Wasn't it just last week that I said never trust a government investigation of itself?
Assume ANYTHING a government says is a lie until proven otherwise.

Update: Now it is being reported that there is leaked video footage of the subway station, ostensibly from the cameras the cops said didn't work.

Heads MUST roll.

Worm Strikes Down Windows 2000 Systems

"Microsoft in "emergency response" as worm reported on three continents"

Tuesday, a fast moving computer worm attacked systems using Microsoft operating systems, shutting down computers in the US, Germany and Asia. But the good news comes from our own FBI:

The FBI said the computer problems did not appear to be part of any widespread attack.

Uhhh...the attacks are all over the globe, but they are not widespread. Then just what, exactly, qualifies as widespread??

When will you people learn? You pay confiscatory prices for Microsoft's mediocre products, THEN you have to spend a bunch of money to buy other software to protect your system, and hope it all works so you can keep using it.

The time to move to Linux-based operating system is NOW. There are plenty of free programs available that will perform the tasks 97% of computer users need.

Search any of these operating systems: Mepis, Knoppix, PCLinuxOS, Ark Linux, Yoper or SymphonyOS. Sure there's a slight learning curve, but they have friendly, helpful user forums to guide you through the growing pains. The cool thing is, you can install them right along with Windows (some don't even need to be installed...you can use it and learn it right off the CD!!). So, you can continue to use Windows as you get up to speed on Linux.

Soon you'll see why Penguins rule!

That Giant Sucking Sound

Seems everybody (except the main streaam media) is in an uproar over the fact

that intelligence officials reportedly ID'd hijack ringleader Mohamed Atta as part of an al-Qaida cell in the U.S. over a year before the September 11 tragedy, saying the panel was acting politically instead of factually.

"...over a year..." isn't quite accurate. It was back in 1999. Now, let's put on our Memory Caps. Who was President back in 1999? Who's administration do we have to thank for this ostrich imitation? Was it Bush2? No. Was it Bush1? Wrong again. Must have been that demon of the Republican party, Ronald Reagan. Negative.
It was Slick Willie himself! Yet we hear NOTHING from the mainstream propagandists. Had it been a Republican administration, it would be front page / lead story material for months. Calls for impeachment hearings would ring out from every media outlet in the country. But alas, nary a whimper.

Well just WHAT DID the Slickmeister consider a threat to the nation?
He allowed the FBI to murder Randy Weaver's labrador retreiver, 14 year old son, and his wife.
Under the watchful eye of Janet Reno, Clinton permited the gassing and murder of approximately 80 Americans, all without being charged with a crime, let alone facing a jury.
He conveniently ignored the middle eastern connection to Oklahoma City.
No need to bother with another innocent group of middle easterners with national security threats like that. (My tongue is firmly implanted in my cheek.)

And just how did the "extrodinary" 9-11 Commission miss this one?

"… [W]hy did [the commission] ignore the Able Danger operation in their deliberations?" asked Captain's Quarters blogger Ed Morrissey, as highlighted by columnist Michelle Malkin. "It would emphasize that the problem was not primarily operational, as the commission made it seem, but primarily political – and that the biggest problem was the enforced separation between law enforcement and intelligence operations upon which the Clinton Department of Justice insisted. The hatchet person for that policy sat on the Commission itself: Jamie S. Gorelick."
It was Gorelick who, as deputy attorney general in the Clinton Justice Department, established the wall of silence between intel and law enforcement.
One commentator specifically points his finger at former Clinton staffer Jamie Gorelick, a member of the panel who has been accused in the past of acting to protect her ex-boss from any political fallout of the commission's work.

Never believe a government investigation of itself.

Oh, that giant sucking sound? Bill Clinton's legacy going down the drain.

See, I Told You So.

Just a few more minutes of web-surfing, and I came across this beauty at Yahoo.

SAN DIEGO — When the housing market here was red-hot 18 months ago, Alex Flores could buy a downtown condominium with as little as $5,000 down and sell it six months later for a tidy profit of $200,000.

Now, Flores says, those easy-money days are over.

Flores, a self-described real estate "flipper," is trying to sell two condos. But neither has drawn an offer after being on the market for more than a month, even though he's willing to break even on one and reduce the price on the other.

Here's a little bit of free advice: if you have less that 20% equity in your home, take EVERY penny you can find and pay it towards your principal. If you took a home equity loan and bought a bunch of "cool" (albeit unaffordable) toys, sell the toys and pay back on the principal. If housing prices slip/burst, the last thing you want is to be paying a mortgage that's more than the current market value of your house.

Food for thought: Equity is equity only AFTER you sell you house. Until then, its theory.

ARM's Please Raise Your Hands

FOX News reports that for the 10th time in 14 months, the Fed has raised interest rates.

Lets see, rates were 1% in June 2004 and as of today stand at 3.5%. That's a 250% increase! If anything else went up 250% in a little over a year, there would be riots in the streets. But we hear nary a peep from the legacy media. But let plywood go up 15% around hurricane time and the media has a fit. (Just proves: 1) they don't understand economics, and 2) they don't understand the free market. But I digress.)

So... interest rates were at historic lows 14 months ago. They had nowhere to go BUT up. Please explain to me why people continue to take variable rate loans?
"Lets see...I really can't afford this now, so I'll get an adjustable rate mortgage to help me qualify. Rates can't go down, so that means they'll probably go up, so I REALLY won't be able to afford this place in 3 years."
Wizards of economics, I guess.

Tuesday's Fed decision was followed by an announcement by commercial banks that they were increasing their prime rate, the benchmark for millions of consumer and business loans, by a similar quarter-point. That would put the prime at 6.5 percent, its highest point in four years.

I rest my case.

"Core inflation has been relatively low in recent months and longer-term inflation expectations remain well contained, but pressures on inflation have stayed elevated," it added.

Almost fell off my chair laughing at this one!! Low inflation in recent months?? Guess none of these guys buy gasoline. Pump prices are up over 45 cents since this time last year. That's an increase of approximately 23%!!! And increasing oil prices increase the cost of everything you buy that gets delivered. Last time I checked, there were a lot of items in WalMart that get delivered.

Its amazing how these guys can lie with a straight face.

One final thought...as interest rates rise, don't be surprised to see the housing market flatten out, or even deflate. The exorbidant price inflation in housing has been caused by or assisted by easy money at historic low rates.

From the Moron Files

Fox News reports on an AP story about a 10 year old boy who died while "playing" a choking "game".

A 10-year-old boy who died after hanging himself from a tree is apparently the second Idaho youth killed while playing a choking game.
The Fremont County sheriff's office said Dalton Eby apparently was playing a game known as the "pass-out game," trying to cut off the oxygen supply to his brain to achieve a type of "high."

Seems he was successful in cutting off the oxygen to whatever functioning brain cells he had.

Young teens and children lack the judgment to understand that making themselves pass out can be fatal, said Connecticut-based child psychologist Dr. Lawrence Shapiro.

Are you kidding me??!!? Children don't know that choking each other or hanging yourself could be a bad idea?

What's next, trying electrocution to feel a little "tingle"?

Look at it this way...we're cleansing the gene pool.

America is Dead

The Grand Experiment in Freedom has come to an end.
The global socialists have won.

The freedom that made America unique, the right to private property, has been declared null and void by the Five Socialists masquerading as Supreme Court justices.

Government now trumps individual rights.

Welcome to Amerika.

Family Values?

In his continuing descent into irrelevance, George Bush will be dining with, among other notables, a porn star who unsuccessfully ran for California governor.

According to Counterpunch, the National Republican Congressional Committee is hosting a dinner June 14, and among those in attendance will be the buxom Mary Carey.
Carey lost to Schwarzenegger in the 2003 California recall election. Her platform included: taxing breast enhancements, making lap dances tax deductible, recruiting porn stars as "ambassadors of good will," and putting Web cams up in every room of the governor's mansion.

I can't wait to see the creativity used by my friends on the Christian right to excuse George Hefner Bush of this little oopsy.

Should prove to be fascinating.

ILLEGAL Immigration

That's I-L-L-E-G-A-L, get it?

The debate on illegal immigration has reached a new tone of absurdity.
The half-wits at the US Conference of Catholic Bishops have added their shrieks to the crescendo building on the Left.

Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, the archbishop of Washington, said Catholic parishes and social service agencies see firsthand the results of the current law, including long waits for family reunification and mistreatment of illegal aliens. He added that bishops also are "disturbed with the current public discourse," which they see as anti-immigrant.

So now if you are "anti-law-breakers" you are reclassified as "anti-immigrant". Nice twist of words.

McCarrick then goes on to add this piece of stupidity:
Cardinal McCarrick said religious teachings justify aiding illegal aliens.

"We go right to the New Testament and say, him or her who is without sin cast the first stone," he said. "How many of us have not violated some laws, whatever they might have been -- either they're traffic laws or immigration laws or tax laws, something like that."

We'll skip the blatent mis-use of scripture here, and just concentrate on taking this statement to its (not so) logical conclusion: from this time forward, if any one breaks any law, we must not prosecute or punish them. They must be forgiven (we'll forget the mis-use of forgiveness here for the time being also).

So, as far as these Bishops are concerned, rapists, go ahead and rape. Murders, keep it up. All is forgiven.

Now Its Beginning to Make Sense

Did you see those three goofballs from Massachusetts on the morning news shows (and I think EVERY news show on the air) last week who supposedly found buried treasure?

Story was, they were doing some yard work in their friend's backyard and came upon some buried containers, which contained all sorts of rare US currency. After plastering their faces all over the media, these guys were recently arrested. Turns out they STOLE the currency!

Now, lets see...I successfully commit a crime, so whats the first thing I decide to do???
I know! I'll brag about it!! Even better, lets go on TV!!

Products of the public school system of Massachusetts??
At least now I can partially understand how Kennedy and Kerry keep getting re-elected.

Happy Anniversary

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all the Left-sided Gas Bags 'Happy Anniversary'. Its been one year since the events at Abu Ghraib.

To commemorate this date, the alcohol-preserved Gas Bag, Ted Kennedy, saw fit to issue an incoherent diatribe today. When his Senate career is over (which I hope is soon), Teddy can get a job as a spokesman for Osama bin Laden.

In the spirit of reconciliation, I am calling on my friends and fellow members of the VastRightWingConspiracy, to send an Anniversary gift to your favorite Leftie.

Suggestions for appropriate gifts include:
dog collar and leash (preferably the spiked ones)
black hood (silk)
jumper cables
digital camera (so they can record their personal atrocities)

Please note: if you are sending a gift to Ted Kennedy, please select from the following:
life jacket or other flotation device
map of Martha's Vineyard, so he doesn't make another wrong turn
gift certificate for creative writing lessons, so he can come up with a better story

(If you're too young to know what I'm talking about, here's a Google for Mary Jo Kopechne)

Internet Etiquette

Are you one of those people mysteriously compelled by uncontrollable external forces to forward every email story that turns up in your Inbox??

I've got bad news...most of them are fake! (And there is no Santa, but that's a previous post).

For the sanity of your few thinking friends, who actually know how to use the internet, please check you story before sending it. This can be done at a variety of web sites.
Probably the best known is snopes.com . You can also use Urban Legends and Folklore, Hoaxbusters, Truth or Fiction or any others you can find.

If someone insists upon sending you bogus stories, reply with this link: Internet Soapbox
Better yet, click Reply to All, because invariably, people who forward these things leave the headers from the previous 37 forwards.

Around the Dial

Just got done playing with that "Next Blog" button on the top right.

Two things struck me.

1) I was kind of surprised to see that about 40 - 50% of the blogs I came across were foreign.

2) Spent some time reading the American ones...America is doomed.

We are being sucked into a cerebral void.

A Religion of Peace, huh?

So now those peaceful Islamist barbarians have shot down a civilian helicopter.
Here's the video.

See the charred bodies...see the assassination of an innocent civilian.

Next time someone expresses sympathy for the IslamoAnimals, punch them square in the back of the head.
Then show them this.

CAUTION: it is unsettleing, to say the least.

YAHWEH Akbar!!

Wanted: A Few Real Men

As usual, Vox Day is succinct and on target.

After almost every column or blogpost I've written about the various idiosyncracies of women, some woman writes to complain that I never criticize men. Of course, there's not exactly a shortage of male-bashing in the mainstream media today, to say nothing of chick rags like Cosmopolitan, Ms., Self and other variants on the Me, Myself and I theme so popular with women.

And while there is something about the modern American man that is absolutely worthy of criticism, I don't think it's exactly what these feminists had in mind. For you see, the main problem with men today is that they are not men, but frightened little boys – afraid of their bosses, their wives, their girlfriends and their government. They are afraid of their employees, their children and their children's teachers.

What men lack today is a defining point seperating boyhood from manhood. The mere accumulation of years is not enough, for as the saying goes, a woman is, but a man must become. It is interesting to see the difference between one's friends who enter the Marine Corps and those who enter college – four years later, there is seldom a question that the Marine is indeed a man, but far more often than not, the college graduate is simply a post-adolescent version of what he was before.

This also helps to explain a phenomenon I have observed spreading through society: the "Perpetual Adolescent". Today we see retired adults (chronologically, at least) driving their Harley Davidsons, costumed like one of Hell's Angels. We see people (male and female) in their 50's, 60's and 70's, hanging out in bars, drinking like college fools. On one of the morning news shows today, they had a segment on seniors participating in "extreme" sports.

Fathers, I challenge you to make at least two defining points in your son's life. I would suggest the first at his 13th birthday. This is the age when he begins the transition to adulthood. The second, when he leaves home to go out on his own. (This can be after high school, upon college graduation, etc.)
It doesn't have to be anything extravagent; just something meaningful to him.
(For example, I bought my son his first rifle for his 13th birthday...a Ruger .243, complete with a 4-12X scope. Now, he shoots 1/4" groups at 100 yards. The second event has yet to occur.)


The time comes when everyone needs to grow up. How many times have children been told "act your age"? We have a generation of adults who have never made that decision.

Lock and Load!

Florida is about to become safer and a whole lot more polite.

People in Florida will be allowed to kill in self-defense on the street without trying to flee under a new law passed by state politicians on Tuesday.
The Florida House of Representatives, citing the need to allow people to "stand their ground," voted 94-20 to codify and expand court rulings that already allow people to use deadly force to protect themselves in their homes without first trying to escape.
The new bill goes further by allowing citizens to use deadly force in a public place if they have a reasonable belief they are in danger of death or great bodily harm.

Makes sense to me. One of the things that makes America unique is our right to private property. We should be entitled to defend that property, unencumbered by some ridiculous notion that you need to try to flee first. Like its a good idea to turn my back on some guy who is contemplating doing me harm.

Of course, there was the typical left-wing weenie-head, Chicken Little panic involking the Wild West and the OK Corral symbolism, none of which is statistically proven ANYWHERE gun laws are relaxed.

Just watch the crime stats drop!

Where Do We Go From Here?

Mark your calendars, folks. Today is one of those days, that, as you look back in history, will be a significant milestone in the degradation of our culture.

Terri Schiavo finally succumed to the effects of court-ordered starvation and dehydration. Oh wait, I'm sorry. Her husband Michael said that's not what it was; they were removing her nutrition and hydration. See the difference? (My head is beginning to hurt already.)
For a brief review of this 15 year saga, go here.
Here's an archive of WND articles, dating back to 2003.

Unfortunately, I'm not surprised this occurred. Its just an extension of the culture of death brought to the forefront by the abortion advocates. Its the latest salvo in the "induced death for convenience" war that is being waged. The handicapped should be quaking in their boots. They are now all legitimate targets for elimination should their existence become "inconvienent": "Oh, we can't leave them like that...That's no life.".

Now, the bad news. It isn't going to end here. We will see more and more of this murder for convenience. "You know, we really should put them out of their misery."
Then after a while, we will move on to new territory: Murder to avoid "misery": "Well, ya know, I'm getting pretty old. I've lived a decent life. I don't want to suffer. Why don't I just end it now and die with dignity?"
Then finally, we will move on to chronologically-mandated death. After all, if we kill all the people over 80, we could probably save Social Security without too much trouble.

I vaguely remember reading about a country that tried selective, mandated killing about 60 years ago...some guy Adolph something-or-other.

As for as Jeb and George, I'm somewhat stunned as to their new-found constitutional limitations on their offices. Seems these limits never play a role with regard to their political agendas.
They just went through their Pontious Pilot-esque hand wringing to appease the dumb and blind faithful on the right. Had George really wanted to do something, all he would have had to do was issue an Executive Order and the entire episode would have been brought to an end.

Is That a Pig with Wings??

Who would have ever imagined...Jesse Jackson and me on the same side of an issue!

Well Jes, even a stopped watch is right twice a day.

There's No Need to Fear...

...I'm Still Here!

Greetings All.
Obviously, its been a while since my last post. Hectic work schedule prevents thorough perusing of the news. What I have seen has been expected/more of the same/obviously inane/boring. So, I haven't taken the time to post regarding the obvious.

I'll be here as time permits.
Stop by weekly, until volume resumes.

Time to Revisit Roe

National Geographic is about to begin a movement to outlaw abortion (although probably unknowingly).

The new generation of three- and four-dimensional ultrasound imagery provides striking views of fetuses inside the womb. Parents-to-be appreciate the lifelike pictures, and doctors gain an improved understanding of fetal development and behavior.
Four-dimensional imagery shows objects in 3-D moving in something close to real time. Doctors have long known that fetuses move, but the physical behavior revealed by 4-D scans is expanding that knowledge exponentially.
"We see the earliest movements at 8 weeks," Campbell said. "By 12 weeks or so they are seen yawning and performing individual finger movements that are often more complex than you'll see in a newborn," he said. "It may be due to the effects of gravity after birth."
The images reveal facial expressions, like smiling, at 20 weeks. Beyond 24 weeks fetuses may suck their thumbs, stick their tongues out (perhaps using newly developed taste buds to sample amniotic fluid imbued with the flavors of the mother's food), and make apparently emotional faces.

How is Planned Parenthood and NARAL going to spin this into their "its just a blob of tissue" nonsense now??
The culmination will be when someone uses this technology to record an abortion being performed; grizzly but effective.

How would that be for Reality TV?

You Heard It Here First!

WND reports that "Tsunami suit filed against forecasters European victims of December wave suing U.S. agency, Thai officials, hotel"

Remember, you heard it here first!

The plaintiffs accuse NOAA of not informing Indian Ocean nations of the tsunami even though the warning center was aware of the undersea quake. Thai authorities are accused of not releasing information about the impending sea surge as soon as they received it – a failure that plaintiffs claim was responsible for thousands of the deaths that occurred. The hotel chain is named in the suit because the plaintiffs say it knowingly built the Khao Lak Beach resort in Phuket on an earthquake fault and failed to properly inform relatives of victims of the disaster, as well as failing to repatriate some bodies.

This should take a few decades to resolve.

The Religion of Science

For those of you who think science is the be-all and end-all of intellectual discussions, read this.

A flamboyant anthropology professor, whose work had been cited as evidence Neanderthal man once lived in Northern Europe, has resigned after a German university panel ruled he fabricated data and plagiarized the works of his colleagues.
In their report, they called Protsch's 30 years of work a "dating disaster.
Chris Stringer, a Stone Age specialist and head of human origins at London's Natural History Museum, said: "What was considered a major piece of evidence showing that the Neanderthals once lived in northern Europe has fallen by the wayside. We are having to rewrite prehistory."

"Anthropology now has to revise its picture of modern man between 40,000 and 10,000 B.C.," added Thomas Terberger, an archaeologist at the University of Greifswald.

Frankfurt University's president, Rudolf Steinberg, apologized for the university's failure to curb Protsch's misconduct for decades. "A lot of people looked the other way," he said.

Pagan elitists; you gotta love 'em!
They are SO desperate to "prove" their hollow "intellectual" ideas, that they will go to any extreme, even if it includes fabricating alleged proof (most of us call that lying).
And Bill Maher thinks Christians believe in fairy tales?
Moron.

Keep An Eye on This

Remember back in November, just after the election, I said I didn't think Dick Cheney would be around too long?

Seems I'm not the only one. The hot, new rumor circulating around Capitol Hill is that Condi Rice will replace Cheney in 2006.

"We all know that Dick Cheney has been the best vice president of modern times, perhaps in American history," one such chairman told Wheeler. "And we know that he absolutely will not run for president in 2008. Further, he has an unfortunate history of heart trouble. So let's just say none of us will be surprised if, sometime next year, he will step down from the vice presidency due to his health."

Continued the source: "Should this happen, President Bush would need to appoint his replacement, just as Richard Nixon chose Gerald Ford to replace Spiro Agnew. It is quite clear to us whom the president would choose should he need to: Condoleezza Rice."

Lets see just how insightful I actually am.

Anybody Know History?

How many times have you heard Jews proclaim that the Holocaust "must never be forgotten so that it is never repeated"?

Well, how many recall what one of the first steps Germany took in the eventual enslavement of the Jews? Right...they took away their guns.

Now one of their supposed-own is attempting to send them up the river.

Dalia Rabin-Pelossof joined leftist leaders Friday and called for confiscating weapons held by Jews living in northern Samaria and Gaza.
She joined the Adam organization, which demanded the government take the weapons out of fear that they will be used by a "new Jewish underground movement."

Wasn't it a number of these dreaded underground movements that saved the lives of innumerable Jews in Nazi-occuppied Europe?

The other frightening thing is the undertone of these statements: you are only entitled to your "rights" if you agree with the way we (the annointed pseudointellectuals) think.

Pretty scary stuff.

Microsoft OS Under Attack

Hmm. Imagine that.
Microsoft's new Anti-spy software is under attack, according to Reuters.

Microsoft Corp. is investigating an attack on its new anti-spy software by a program designed to cripple it and snoop on computer users' activities, the world's largest software maker said on Thursday.

The program, called "BankAsh-A Trojan", removes files from Windows AntiSpyware, suppresses warning messages and deletes the program entirely.

Can't they make ANYTHING secure??

Check this link for programs that actually work. (Thanks Crispy23 @My Round Box)

Or better yet, go Linux.

Whose Side Are We On?

First, it was LtCol Allen West. Now, once again, the US shows why some consider the phrase "military intelligence" to be an oxymoron.
In an attempt to devour more of its own, WND reports that a US Marine faces the death penalty for killing 2 terror suspects.

A U.S. Marine charged with premeditated murder for shooting two Iraqis may face the death penalty, although one of the men he shot appeared to be preparing to attack the Marines or detonate nearby explosives, says the Marine's attorney.

Isn't the purpose, the premise, the goal of war the essentially premeditated killing of the enemy? Don't you go in knowing that the possibility exists that you will need to kill someone?
Are we now to think that killing during a war comes as a surprise?

Second Lieutenant Ilario G. Pantano was charged Feb. 1 in connection with the April 15, 2004, shooting incident, according to a Marine Corps statement released yesterday.

Maj. Gen. Richard Huck, commanding general of the 2nd Marine Division, convened an investigation to determine if the 33-year-old Pantano should stand trial, but no further details were released.

The Marine platoon Pantano commanded had been tasked with searching a suspected terrorist hide-out south of Baghdad last April. After finding weapons, ammunition and bomb-making material in the building, they observed two men fleeing in a sport utility vehicle, Gittens said, according to the wire report.

Upon shooting out the vehicle's tires to stop it, the Marines took the two Iraqi men into custody, ordering them to search for booby traps and secret compartments in the vehicle by ripping out its interior and seats, Gittens told Reuters.

Then, according to Gittens, one of the suspects turned suddenly toward Pantano "as if to attack." When Pantano ordered them to stop, they kept moving toward him, Gittens said.

"He (Pantano) thought he was in danger and he fired and he killed them and that's what we do to terrorists who don't listen to orders. ... It's a combat situation, kill or be killed," the attorney told Reuters.

Be aware that this took place in the Sunni Triangle, the most violent area of Iraq.
Sounds totally justifiable to me.

While we're at it, lets have an investigation into the competency of MajGen Richard Huck to effectively command the 2nd Marine Division. Sounds to me like he's a few slices short of a full loaf.

Think about it: we have an all volunteer military. In an attempt to recruit volunteers, among whom we hope to attract some of America's brightest and best, what do we do? Criminalize what they were recruited to do!

"The Few. The Proud. The Jailed. The Marines."

That should do wonders for enlistments.

Unconstitutional Charity Revisited

Back on January 01, 2005, I posted regarding the illegality and immorality of so-called "federal disaster relief".

Well, in his column today, Dr. Walter Williams expands on the subject.

Its well worth your 5 minutes to go read it.

Super Bowl thoughts

Congratulations to the New England Patriots on another Super Bowl victory!

Tom Brady is incredibly poised, especially for such a young age. He's got many great years ahead of him.

Deion Branch must have cloned himself...he seemed to be everywhere! Congrats on the MVP trophy.

Donovan McNabb is a 2nd rate hack. The Eagles will never win a Super Bowl with him as QB. If he was white, he wouldn't even be in the NFL.

My vote for best commercial goes to the Ford Mustang Convertible (though by the third time they showed it, I was tired of it already).
The Ford Truck one at the very beginning was also entertaining.

Worst commercial? Easy...FedEx. (BTW...Burt Reynolds has had WAY too much plastic surgery).

State of DisUnion

Wednesday, February 02, 2005, President George Delano Bush, gave his State of the Union address.
The following are the parts I found "entertaining".

America's prosperity requires restraining the spending appetite of the federal government. I welcome the bipartisan enthusiasm for spending discipline.

Interesting statement from someone who added a huge new entitlement program (prescription drugs under Medicare), added an enormous new Cabinet-level department (Homeland Security) and failed to veto ONE spending bill.

My budget substantially reduces or eliminates more than 150 government programs that are not getting results, or duplicate current efforts, or do not fulfill essential priorities.

If they are ineffective or duplicate efforts, why only reduce them? Get rid of them!

Now we must demand better results from our high schools, so every high school diploma is a ticket to success.

How could this possibly be acheived? You cannot guarantee success, unless you plan on controling every aspect of a person's life, and, in the process, redefine success.

And we will make it easier for Americans to afford a college education, by increasing the size of Pell Grants.

Oh good, more government and more debt.

To make our economy stronger and more competitive, America must reward, not punish, the efforts and dreams of entrepreneurs. Small business is the path of advancement, especially for women and minorities, so we must free small businesses from needless regulation

Is not the essence of government needless regulation? The opposite of regulation is freedon, which requires smaller, limited government. Other than Ron Paul of Texas, is there ANYONE in DC working toward smaller government?

To make our economy stronger and more productive, we must make health care more affordable, and give families greater access to good coverage, and more control over their health decisions.

Check the stats. Healthcare costs began to spiral out of control when government intervened in healthcare in the 60's via Medicare, and got worse with every attempt by them to "fix" it. Does anyone really think more government involvement will solve the problem they created?

I have appointed a bipartisan panel to examine the tax code from top to bottom. And when their recommendations are delivered, you and I will work together to give this Nation a tax code that is pro-growth, easy to understand, and fair to all.

Isn't that an oxymoron?

We should not be content with laws that punish hardworking people who want only to provide for their families, and deny businesses willing workers, and invite chaos at our border.

That's not what they do. They punish people who enter this country illegally. They punish criminals!

One of America's most important institutions - a symbol of the trust between generations - is also in need of wise and effective reform. Social Security was a great moral success of the 20th Century, and we must honor its great purposes in this new century.

Can you believe this crap? An alleged conservative praising and protecting one of the biggest Socialist programs ever thrust upon the people of the United States.
A moral success? Explain to me how taking money from someone by force and giving it to someone else is moral. If any individual were to try that, its called theft. But when the government does it, its moral and compassionate!

With each passing year, fewer workers are paying ever-higher benefits to an ever-larger number of retirees.

Read that sentence VERY carefully. Read it again. Ol' Bush let the cat out of the bag here. You are not paying into a "trust fund" (by the way, there is no Social Security Trust Fund...it doesn't exist). It is a direct transfer of wealth..."workers are paying...to...retirees".

The goal here is greater security in retirement, so we will set careful guidelines for personal accounts.We will make sure the money can only go into a conservative mix of bonds and stock funds.

Lets see...its my money, but you're going to tell me what to do with it.

We will make sure that your earnings are not eaten up by hidden Wall Street fees. We will make sure there are good options to protect your investments from sudden market swings on the eve of your retirement.

And, you're going to exert some sort of bazarre control over Wall Street.

We will make sure a personal account can't be emptied out all at once, but rather paid out over time

But what if I want MY money all at once?
The reason that this is all being done is to prop up Wall Street. Forced infusion of money almost guarantees a rising Dow.

Now we need to focus on giving young people, especially young men in our cities, better options than apathy, or gangs, or jail. Tonight I propose a three-year initiative to help organizations keep young people out of gangs, and show young men an ideal of manhood that respects women and rejects violence.

I thought this problem was solved with Clinton's Midnight Basketball Program?

Because one of the main sources of our national unity is our belief in equal justice, we need to make sure Americans of all races and backgrounds have confidence in the system that provides justice. In America we must make doubly sure no person is held to account for a crime he or she did not commit - so we are dramatically expanding the use of DNA evidence to prevent wrongful conviction. Soon I will send to Congress a proposal to fund special training for defense counsel in capital cases, because people on trial for their lives must have competent lawyers by their side.

I can't wait to read the fine print of these proposals. There are going to be some ugly things hidden in here. Maybe like a Federal DNA data bank, where your DNA goes on file from birth.

Bush then goes on with his "we will bring freedom to the world" pipedream, which I find so frightening, I don't even want to go into an analysis of what he said.
Just let me repeat what I've said in previous posts: Nation-building is a bad idea and a disasterous policy.

Bush is not a conservative.
Bush is not a Christian.
Bush is a global socialist, with the expansion of government his greatest goal.

Getting Your Money's Worth?

Considering the exorbitant cost of public school education ($8,000 - $12,000 PER STUDENT in most areas), if education was truly the main goal, you would expect them to be turning out a generation of geniuses.

But from casual observation, you've probably figured out otherwise.

It is worse than you think. Consider this from YahooNews:

One in three U.S. high school students say the press ought to be more restricted, and even more say the government should approve newspaper stories before readers see them, according to a survey being released today.
The survey of 112,003 students finds that 36% believe newspapers should get "government approval" of stories before publishing; 51% say they should be able to publish freely; 13% have no opinion.

I'm not sure what's more frightening; the 36% that think the press should need government approval or the 13% with no opinion.
That means 49% of the high school students surveyed have absolutely NO CONCEPT of the First Amendment of the Constitution!

Public school is succeding in its goals of dumbing down our kids, squashing all creativity and independent thought and creating a generation of worker drones for government. After all, how can you defend something you don't even know exists?

The Case for Isolationism

Had we stayed home during WW2, we wouldn't have French President Jacques Chirac resurrecting his proposal for a global tax to help fight AIDS.

They would be making Mercedes-Benz instead of Citroen.

They would have good beer instead of that putrid wine.

NEWS FLASH!!! Cure for AIDS: Keep the pee-pee out of the poo-poo.

Hillary Is a Liar (Again)

I was reading this story on Newsday, in which the Lizard Queen attempts to blame George Bush for a recent increase in abortions that are supposedly taking place.
Having some free time today, I decided to do what the reporter should have, and did a little fact-checking and some quick math.
Shame-shame, Hillary.

"The abortion rate fell by one-quarter between 1990 and 1995, the steepest decline since Roe was decided in 1973," Clinton told the 28th annual conference of the Family Planning Advocates of New York State.

According to statistics provided by the Alan Guttmacher Institute, in 1990 there were approximately 1,608,600 abortions performed. In 1995 there were 1,359,690. This works out to be a reduction of about 17%. Not nearly the "one quarter" Hillary claims. Looks like she over estimated by about 50%. Oops.

"The rate fell another 11 percent between 1994 and 2000."

Here's an interesting statistical deception. After quoting the statistics for a given period (1990 - 1995), we move forward in time to give another number, yet the second period (1994 - 2000) begins in the middle of the first period!!
What kind of statistical method is that?!? (I'll answer my own question...its designed to make her look good, because nowhere else but here will you find this analysis. The media will just regurgitate the numbers.)

"But unfortunately in the last few years, while we are engaged in ideological debate instead of one that uses facts and evidence and common sense, the rate of abortion is on the rise in some states," she said. "In the (first) three years since President Bush took office, eight states have seen an increase in abortion rates and four saw a decrease."

Facts and evidence,huh? Well, the facts are, I could find no evidence to support these allegations by Hillary. No where on the web could I find abortion statistics extending beyond 2000, including government web sites.
Maybe she learned this in one of her conversations with the ghost of Eleanor Roosevelt.

The Insane Are Running the Asylum

WND reports on a prisoner sueing the state of Wisconsin for a sex change operation.

A Wisconsin prisoner, serving 123 years for multiple armed robberies and stabbing another inmate, is suing the state, demanding it provide him with surgery needed to complete a sex change.

Scott Konitzer, who now uses the name Donna Dawn Konitzer after developing some characteristics as a result of state-paid hormone therapy is suing prison officials in federal court for not completing the process.

The Department of Corrections has been providing Konitzer, 40, with hormone therapy to stimulate female development since 1999 but will not permit genital surgery, according to a report in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Konitzer says a prison doctor told him the surgery would follow the hormone treatments, and the refusal to follow through violates the Eighth Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment. However, department policy prohibits the surgery.

Konitzer has been diagnosed with "gender identity disorder," a strong and persistent discomfort with birth gender and a desire to live as the opposite sex.

The surgery necessary to complete the sex change can cost from $10,000 to $20,000.

Are we out of our collective freaking minds?!!?

I can't figure out who the biggest lunatic is in this story. Is it the crazed shrinks who came up with "Gender Identity Disorder"? The nut who wants his anatomy cut off? The attorney who took the case? The judge who is hearing the case? The cretins of Wisconsin that pay for this nonsense?

And you wonder why Al-Zarqawi is suspecious of "democracy".

Al-Zarqawi Has a Point

I never thought I'd be saying that. But after reading a Newsday report on a audio file posted on the web Sunday, purported to be Al-Zarqawi, he may not be the total nut our beloved media has made him out to be.

"We have declared a fierce war on this evil principle of democracy and those who follow this wrong ideology," said the speaker, who identified himself as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
He said that freedom of expression is allowed "even cursing God. This means that there is nothing sacred in democracy."

Can't argue with THAT, can you? Just look at our own headlines today. Even the founding principles of freedom are under attack.

The tape continues.

"You have to be careful of the enemy's plan to implement so-called democracy in your country," he added. He said the Americans have engineered the election "to make Shiites dominate the regime in Iraq. Four million Shiites were brought from Iran to take part in the elections to achieve their aim of winning" most of the positions.

He said the Shiites aim to "begin spreading their evil faith among people through money and fear" and that in a few years they will take over Baghdad and Sunni areas of central and northern Iraq.

That's an aspect of this fight that you don't hear too much about any more.
If our Dear Leader was truely interested in bringing peace and freedom to Iraq, wouldn't the proper response be to forge a plan to divide Iraq into Shiite, Sunni and Kurd territories where ALL THREE groups could live as they desired? Freedom for some is not freedom.

Seems to me that the neo-cons are just exchanging enslavement under Saddam for enslavement under their annointed group du jour.

How long before the Shiites turn against us, and we're back in Iraq (if we ever leave)?

The Climate Nazis

With season-appropriate weather occurring across the US, the Enviro-Nazis are moving into high gear. Once again, the world is only 10 years away from self-destruct mode. (I think they've been claiming this same 10 years since the 60's, but who's counting!?)

G2 Bulletin reports some interesting quotes from Vladimir Putin's personal economic adviser, Andrei Illarionov.

Andrei Illarionov said last summer, Russia's approval of Kyoto came under severe duress – an "all-out and total war on Russia". He said the pressure included "bribes, blackmail and murder threats."

Illarionov said "none of the assertions made in the Kyoto Protocol and the 'scientific' theory on which it is based have been borne out by actual data. ... There is no evidence confirming a positive linkage between the level of carbon dioxide and temperature change. If there is such a linkage, it is of a reverse nature. ... The statistical data ... are often considerably distorted if not falsified."

While some in the U.S. have offered sharp criticism of the ideology driving the global warming crusade, none of the rhetoric has been as penetrating as Illarionov's, who compared it "with man-hating totalitarian ideology with which we had the bad fortune to deal during the 20th century, such as National Socialism (and) Marxism."

"All methods of distorting information existing in the world have been committed to prove the validity of these theories," he continued. "Misinformation, falsification, fabrication, mythology, propaganda. Because what is offered cannot be qualified in any other way than myth, nonsense and absurdity.

And just what will occur under the Kyoto Protocol, you ask?

Under the Kyoto Protocol, undeveloped Third-World nations – including China, India, Brazil and Mexico – will be free to produce whatever they want. Yet 82 percent of the projected emissions growth in future years will come from these countries. This is why many critics see is global wealth redistribution scheme rather than a real plan to improve the environment.

"The wealth of the United States is, and has always been, the target," says Tom DeWeese, president of the American Policy Center. "The new scheme to grab the loot is through environmental scare tactics."

He predicts international corporations, "who owe allegiance to no nation, will bolt America and move their factories, lock, stock, and computer chip to those Third World countries where they will be free to carry on production. But that means the same emissions will be coming out of the jungles of South America instead of Chicago. So where is the protection of the environment? You see, it's not about that, is it?"

He points out that hidden in the small print of the treaty is a provision that calls for the "harmonizing of patent laws."

"Now, robbing a nation of its patent protection is an interesting tactic for protecting the environment, don't you think?" he adds.

DeWeese concludes: "The fact is that one person now stands between the global warming jackals and economic sanity — George W. Bush. Will he stand firm in his opposition to the Kyoto Protocol? Or will he capitulate to massive international pressure and sell America's soul?"

Doesn't THAT sound happy-happy?!

As for the last question, my money is on our Dear Leader going with his globalist buddies. After all, he can't run for office any more, so he doesn't need to worry about throwing conservatives an occasional bone to keep them hooked.

January Surprise?

The Middle East is abuzz with rumors that terror chief Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is in custody, reports the Jerusalem Post Online Edition.

"I wouldn't like to comment for the time being," Interior Minister Falah al-Naqib said when asked about rumors that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had been arrested. "Let's see. Maybe in the next few days we will make a comment about it."

Oh, like maybe a few days before the elections?

Nothing like a "no comment" from government officials to prompt thought that an event has taken place.

This will be an interesting one to watch unfold over the next week or so.

Preserve, Protect and Defend...Yeah, Right

The following is an analysis of Bush's inaugural address from today, Jan 20, 2005.

We're in trouble by the fourth sentence:

At this second gathering, our duties are defined not by the words I use, but by the history we have seen together.

Silly me...I thought the duties of government were defined by the Constitution.

There is only one force of history that can break the reign of hatred and resentment and expose the pretensions of tyrants and reward the hopes of the decent and tolerant. And that is the force of human freedom.

Uh, George, if in your round-about fashion you are talking about Islamo-fascists here, I've got some bad news. They are many things, but jealous of our way of life is NOT one of them. They don't hate us because we are "free". They hate us because of who they perceive us to be.

We are led, by events and common sense, to one conclusion: The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands.

Wrong again. The survival of liberty in our land depends on a return to limited government as prescribed in the Constitution.

From the day of our founding, we have proclaimed that every man and woman on this Earth has rights, and dignity and matchless value because they bear the image of the maker of heaven and Earth.

Not sure which Founding Document that's from. I've never seen it before.

So it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.

Care to show me the Constitutional authorization for this one?

My most solemn duty is to protect this nation and its people from further attacks and emerging threats.

I missed it again. I always thought the President's most solemn duty was to presrve, protect and defend the Constitution, kind of like it says in the oath of office.

OK, I'm bored. The rest of the is a bunch of not-so-veiled threats that everybody needs to do what we say or else 1) we're gonna cut off our money flow to you, or 2) we're going to bomb the crap out of you.
We just need one big happy New World Order!
Now on to the domestic agenda.

In America's ideal of freedom, citizens find the dignity and security of economic independence, instead of laboring on the edge of subsistence. This is the broader definition of liberty that motivated the Homestead Act, the Social Security Act and the GI Bill of Rights. And now we will extend this vision by reforming great institutions to serve the needs of our time.

America's ideal of freedom is defined by socialist programs! I'm becoming nauseated.

To give every American a stake in the promise and future of our country, we will bring the highest standards to our schools and build an ownership society.

Oh good, more government intervention in our schools. Definately the way to fix them is more of what destroyed them in the first place.

We will widen the ownership of homes and businesses, retirement savings and health insurance – preparing our people for the challenges of life in a free society.

More half-baked economic theories! I can't wait.

That edifice of character is built in families, supported by communities with standards, and sustained in our national life by the truths of Sinai, the Sermon on the Mount, the words of the Koran and the varied faiths of our people.

Ah yes, Globalist George exposes his non-Christian self.

In America's ideal of freedom, the exercise of rights is ennobled by service and mercy and a heart for the weak. Liberty for all does not mean independence from one another. Our nation relies on men and women who look after a neighbor and surround the lost with love.

By choice, not by government mandate and coercion, moron!

We have confidence because freedom is the permanent hope of mankind, the hunger in dark places, the longing of the soul.

And all this time I thought Jesus was the permanent hope of mankind.

Its going to be a long 4 years kids.

Worm Alert

AP reports an e-mail worm using the tsunami to propagate itself.

A mass e-mail posing as a plea for aid to help the victims of last month's Asian tsunami disaster is actually a vehicle for spreading a computer virus, Web security firm Sophos said Monday.
The worm appears with the subject line: "Tsunami donation! Please help!" and invites recipients to open an attachment called "tsunami.exe" -- which, if opened, will forward the virus to other Internet users.

The story also contains descriptions of other similar scam e-mails in circulation related to the tsunami.

Fore-warned is fore-armed.

Reality-Challenged

As reported on WND:

Fox television bucked current media convention by portraying terrorists as Muslims in its drama series "24," but a controversial Islamic lobby group that complained about the show now says it is "encouraged" after meeting with network officials and winning concessions and assurances.
Fox spokesman Scott Grogin told WorldNetDaily today the network has agreed to the Council on American-Islamic Relations' request to distribute a CAIR public service announcement to network affiliates.
CAIR said it called for the meeting Wednesday -- which included representatives from CAIR's Southern California office and from the Los Angeles-based Muslim Public Affairs Council -- to "address the depiction of a 'Muslim' family that is at the heart of a terror plot in the popular program."

Muslims at the heart of a terror plot??!? How outrageous! Who could have thought up such a preposterous thing?!

Lets see...9/11 perpetrated by Muslims, the first World Trade Center bombing carried out by Muslims, eye-witness testimony that at least 1 "middle eastern" man was with Tim McVey in OK CIty, the recent Russian school hostage situation carried out by Muslims...guess Fox got the story line off the front page of the news YOU FRIGGIN' MORONS!!!

Now I know why you tie those rags on your heads...to keep what's left of your brains from falling out!!!

And here's why you shouldn't care what CAIR has to say:

CAIR is a spin-off of the Islamic Association For Palestine, a group identified by two former FBI counter-terrorism chiefs as a U.S. front group for the terrorist group Hamas.
Since 9-11, CAIR has seen three of its former employees indicted on federal terrorism charges.

Yahweh Akbar!

Remember "Close Encounters"?

NYNewsday.com runs this story, that a train carrying deadly chlorine gas sprung a leak after colliding with another train, causing the evacuation of 8,000 residents.

Now, I have no way of knowing the circumstances surrounding this, but I can't help but get a little suspicious and snicker when I hear something like this. Why, you ask?

Because this is the same or similar scenario set forth as a government diversion and cover-up in a movie not too long ago (I think it was "Close Encounters of the Third Kind")

I'm not suggesting UFO's or anything like that, but when you see the plot of a movie turn up as a news story, you just have to wonder if something else is up.

For Your Viewing Pleasure

Spent some time over Christmas and New Year catching up on some movies.
In case you're looking for something to rent, here, in order of enjoyment, are my suggestions:

"Collateral"
With Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx. Directed by Michael Mann (of "Miami Vice" fame).
Do not miss this movie. One of those, "so you think you're having a bad day?" stories combines with Michael Mann's direction technique and attention to detail make this the top of the list.

"Second Hand Lions"
With Michael Caine and Robert Duval.
Definately a feel good movie. An engaging story, but a little obvious at times. Sort of like "Raiders of the Lost Ark" meets "Grumpy Old Men" Also well worth your time. I will probably add this to my small personal collection.

"Terminal"
With Tom Hanks. I've enjoyed Tom Hanks since he turned up on TV in the 80's in "Bosom Buddies". This is the enjoyable story of a European traveler at JFK Airport, caught up in government red tape. A story of determination.
One question: what is up with the psycho-chick played by Catherine Zeta Jones? What a whacked character!
Very good, but not great.

"Lady Killers"
Also with Tom Hanks. Entertaining movie about some robbers looking for the big score.
Well worth your time, if you can tolerate a constant barrage of vulgarity from the Wayans character. Hanks' "Southern Gentleman" character is a hoot!

"Manchurian Candidate"
With Denzel Washington. Intriguing story, but for me the movie did not work. Main character just seemed unbelievable. For example, we have a career Army man (I think he was a Major), living in what appeared to be a slum apartment.
Would not recommend.
Planning on checking out the original from a number of years back.

"Ocean's Eleven"
George Clooney, Brad Pitt and others.
Leave it on the shelf. Tedious and slow moving.
I've heard "Ocean's Twelve" is even worse.

TV ALERT!

Jack is back!

This Sunday marks the return of the Fox hit, 24.

This is the ONLY show I tape to make sure I don't miss a moment.

Each episode will leave you breathless.

Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust?

WND reports a story explaining why, since 9/11, we haven't seen much activity in the US from "Sammy" bin Laden:

Simple, says Dr. Jack Wheeler, creator of an acclaimed intelligence website dubbed "the oasis for rational conservatives": The U.S. has threatened to nuke the Muslim holy city of Mecca should the terror leader strike America again.

IF this is true, there is hope that someone in the Pentagon with some influence knows what they are doing. The only way to stop these people is to make their price for action very costly. Vaporizing Mecca would be highly effective.

On the other hand, if this is true and we have Sammy bin Laden at bay and under control, why are we still passing laws and expanding government, all in the name of "security"? Maybe "security" is the excuse, and government control and expansion is the true agenda.

After all, government needs a boogie-man. If there is no "threat", we don't need more government. The "threat" is the justification for surrendering your liberties.

Pro-family President?

WND reports on who will be performing at a youth concert during the Bush inauguration festivities: Kid Rock.

"Anybody that knows anything about Kid Rock knows that his music is disgusting and vile, and Republicans, and most certainly the Christian Republicans that got Bush re-elected, should be appalled by this," WND reader Dave Parker commented. "At best, it is a horrible oversight by a clueless event organizer. At worst, it is a slap in the face to all who voted for Bush with the belief that he is a more moral person than Kerry."

I would bet on the second option.

Is "The Mark" Approaching?

In his column on Monday, Vox Day discussed a little known and even more rarely discussed aspect of the new Intelligence Reform bill: the establishment of Federal birth and death registration systems (its a must-read).

In the new Intelligence Reform Bill, S. 2845, SEC. 3064 ESTABLISHMENT OF ELECTRONIC BIRTH AND DEATH REGISTRATION SYSTEMS states the following:

In consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Commissioner of Social Security, the Secretary shall take the following actions:

1. Work with the States to establish a common data set and common data exchange protocol for electronic birth registration systems and death registration systems.

2. Coordinate requirements for such systems to align with a national model.

3. Ensure that fraud prevention is built into the design of electronic vital registration systems in the collection of vital event data, the issuance of birth certificates, and the exchange of data among government agencies.

4. Ensure that electronic systems for issuing birth certificates, in the form of printed abstracts of birth records or digitized images, employ a common format of the certified copy, so that those requiring such documents can quickly confirm their validity.

5. Establish uniform field requirements for State birth registries.

And how does one go about ensuring fraud prevention in an electronic registration system (as mandated in #3)? Seems to me the only way is to place the electronic registration device INTO the person it is registering!

"But isn't that a great idea WM?", you ask. "Then we'll know who everybody is and where they belong. It will make apprehending illegals and terrorists so much easier."

Alas, no. It is the beginning of the last step of the enslavement of humanity in the globalist New World Order. It is government's ability to know every place you go and everything you do.

The Bible refers to it as the Mark of the Beast. And the punchline to this sorid story is that it is being brought about by the President and Congress that the American Christians helped elect.

My Thoughts Exactly

While I was preparing a post on the illegality and immorality of Federal "disaster relief", I ran across this commentary by Michael Peroutka, Constitution Party Presidential candidate in 2004.

Since he used the exact example I was searching for, I refer you to his comments.

Bill Press Is a Moron, Again

Bill Press' column, appearing today at WND, deals with stem cell research. As usual, Press gets most of it wrong, reciting the left's pro-embryonic stem cell propaganda.

But that's just your average, daily stupidity. What elevates this to "Idiot of the Week" status is the title "Jesus votes for stem-cell research" and the last two paragraphs:

After all, as every one of the four Gospels relates, Jesus spent most of his public ministry healing the sick. It was his life's work. And stories of his healing – St. Peter's mother-in-law, the man with the withered hand, the centurion's servant – are among the most vivid passages in Scripture.

Having cured people of leprosy, dropsy and palsy, is there any doubt that Jesus would embrace today's efforts to find a cure for Parkinson's or heart disease using embryonic stem-cell research? I think not.

Huh?

Please explain what Jesus' ministry has to do with research.

Jesus didn't go about, searching for a cure. Jesus is the cure. HE didn't use medicine. HE didn't use science. HE didn't call the FDA to find an acceptable treatment modality. HE used the miraculous healing power of GOD.
In fact, we have no record that the local physician, Luke, (you've heard of him Press, right?) was ever called on by Jesus to care for someone's illness.

You did get one thing dead right, Bill. Your last three words: "I think not."
You sure don't.

Didn't They Ever See "Jaws"?

Thailand's foremost meteorologists, meeting in a crisis session before the tsunami hit, decided not to issue a warning "out of courtesy to the tourism industry," according to a report in the Thai paper The Nation.

Minutes after the earthquake in the Indian Ocean Sunday morning, Thailand's top meteorological experts met to consider the danger posed to the coast. But the economic impact on the nation's tourism industry dissuaded them from warning those most in danger.

"We finally decided not to do anything because the tourist season was in full swing," a source told the paper. "The hotels were 100 percent booked. What if we issued a warning, which would have led to an evacuation, and nothing had happened. What would be the outcome? The tourist industry would be immediately hurt. Our department would not be able to endure a lawsuit."

Let's see...you're more concerned about a frivilous law suit than the actual human lives in those 100 percent booked hotels. You think a few hours/days evacuation is worse that a possible mass loss of life. (Read this winner here.)

I've got some bad news. You thought a tourist industry lawsuit would be bad?
Wait until you see the one that is now coming your way!
Then after they sue your pants off, you should be tried for murder.

I propose we export every personal injury lawyer in the US to the areas hit by the tsunami.
They'll have years of work ahead of them over there, and we'll get them out of our hair for a while.

No Surprise Here

WND reports on the results of two government studies by the Justice Department and the National Academy of Sciences:

While it is an article of faith among gun-control proponents that government restrictions on firearms reduces violence and crime, two new U.S. studies could find no evidence to support such a conclusion.

The National Academy of Sciences issued a 328-page report based on 253 journal articles, 99 books, 43 government publications, a survey of 80 different gun-control laws and some of its own independent study. In short, the panel could find no link between restrictions on gun ownership and lower rates of crime, firearms violence or even accidents with guns.

Meanwhile, a study released by the Justice Department suggesting background checks at gun shows would do little to keep firearms out of the hands of criminals.
The study noted the number of criminals who obtained guns from retail outlets was dwarfed by the number of those who picked up their arms through means other than legal purchases. The report was the result of interviews with more than 18,000 state and federal inmates conducted nationwide. It found that nearly 80 percent of those interviewed got their guns from friends or family members, or on the street through illegal purchases.

Less than 9 percent were bought at retail outlets and only seven-tenths of 1 percent came from gun shows.

The Justice Department's interviews also showed so-called "assault weapons" are not a major cause of gun violence. Only about 8 percent of the inmates used one of the models covered in the now-expired assault weapons ban, signed into law by the Clinton administration in 1994.

Seems like everything the freedom-loving, responsible gun owners (of which I am one) have been saying for the past 25 years is true.

Once again, we see one of the Left's prized agendas on life-support. Nonsense based on emotion, without a thread of reality to support it.

So lets see what kind of conservative George Bush is in this situation. With absolutely no justification for keeping them on the books, how will George Bush rationalize maintaining unconstitutional gun laws?

Pull the plug on gun control.
Repeal all federal gun laws now!

Merry Christmas!

And in the same country there were shepherds living in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came on them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them. And they were grievously afraid. And the angel said to them, Do not fear. For behold, I give to you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For to you is born today, in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

Remember the Reason for the Season.

Merry Christmas!

More From the Mis-led

I was reading an article on WND about the Jerusalem Prayer Team. This organization, led by Mike Evans, wants George Bush to

...be sworn in with his hand on a Bible opened to a verse that calls the nation to repentance.
Evans has asked more than 300 national leaders, including James Dobson, T. D. Jakes and Tim LaHaye, to back a petition asking Bush to declare a II Chronicles 7:14 National Day of Prayer, Repentance, and Fasting.

As I read through this theologic and practical silliness (which I don't want to discuss here; that's not the point of this post), I came upon two of the most incredible, revealing paragraphs that I have seen in a long time.

Evans said he is asking Bush to use his family Bible, opened to II Chronicles 7:14, because for his first inauguration in 2001, the president requested the use of George Washington's Masonic Bible.

Bush's father, George H. W. Bush, had used the Washington Bible during his inauguration in 1989. But in 2001, due to a snowstorm, the Bible could not be delivered in time for the ceremony, and the 43rd president was sworn in with a closed family Bible.

A Masonic bible! (An interesting transcript on a discussion of the Masonic bible is found here.)

Go ahead. Somebody tell me again what a "great christian" George Bush is.

Its Beginning to Look Less Like CHRISTmas

WND reports that the White House Christmas is beginning to look a little too sanitized.

What's missing from the White House commemoration of Christmas this year?
Jesus.
The little baby in the manger.
The reason for the season.

While President Bush was re-elected last month in an election victory many attributed to an outpouring of support by evangelical Christians impressed with his candid outspokenness about his faith, some Americans notice the White House website lacks even a single mention of Jesus, whose birth is celebrated by hundreds of millions worldwide Dec. 25.

The official White House site proclaims this as the "Season of Merriment and Melody" – not the birth of the Savior of the world.

This just strengthens my assertion that the Christian right was bamboozled by the Republicans into thinking that Bush is Mr. Uber-Christian. (For a previous discussion of this, go here.)

At the lighting of the National Christmas Tree Dec. 2, Bush remarked: "Tonight we begin a joyous season, and the city of Washington is never more beautiful than during the holidays. At Christmas time we celebrate good tidings first announced two thousand years ago, and still a source of great joy in our world. Laura and I are always happy to join in the Pageant of Peace, and we thank you all for coming this evening.

"The season of Advent is always the season of hope," Bush continued. "We think of the patient hope of men and women across the centuries who listened to the words of the prophets and lived in joyful expectation. We think of the hope of Mary, who welcomed God's plan with great faith. We think of the hope of the Wise Men who set out on a long journey guided only by a slender promise traced in the stars. We are reminded of the hope that the grandest purposes of the Almighty can be found in the humblest places. And we embrace the hope that all the love and gifts that come to us in this life are the signs and symbols of even a greater love and gift that came on a holy night. The old carol speaks of a 'thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices, for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.' And every year at this time we feel the thrill of hope as we wait on Christmas Day."

How's that for a bunch of New Age Mumbo-Jumbo?

Nothing here to offend anyone! Except maybe the people who actually know and celebrate what Christmas is all about...the birth of the Savior of the world, Jesus of Nazareth.

And don't bother making the empty argument about the alleged separation of church and state. IT DOES NOT EXIST. Go ahead and read any and all the founding documents. Tell me where you find the phrase "separation of church and state". You won't.
And don't point to the establishment clause of the First Amendment. Establishment and separation are two completely different things.

Paul of Tarsus told us that a righteous man judges all things. Christians better start watching what people do and listen to what they say, instead of projecting their feelings into a bunch of open-ended, meaningless rhetoric. That will only lead to a path of destruction.

Please STOP the Whining!

SunSentinel.com reports

Leaders of The Parents Television Council today released a study of prime time programming that they say shows that Hollywood "has virtually no respect for religion."

Whoa!! News flash there! Never would have figured that out without the help of the PTC.
*wags head in disbelief*

He (Brent Bozell, head of PTC) said Hollywood is missing out on a marketing opportunity by ignoring the majority of Americans who, according to a 2003 Harris poll cited by the study, believe in God (90%) and the resurrection of Jesus Christ (80%).

Oh really? So, Hollywood is making billions and billions of dollars each year on the backs of 10 - 20% of the population? Don't think so Brent.
Most "religious" people, aren't (religious). They pay lip service to it in an attempt to ease their guilty consciences. They bear no fruit that demonstrates the least interest or concern for God.

The study, put out in conjunction with the National Religious Broadcasters, counted 2,344 treatments of religion — such as the mention of prayer or the presence of God — from September 2003 to September 2004 and deemed 24.4% of them negative. Most were neutral, and 22.1% were positive.

You much be watching different shows than me, because almost every mention of God I see, I consider negative, since they are either anti-God or incorrect in their content, usually coming from a New-Age perspective.

Christians need to just shut up with their whining about Hollywood. Its not going to change. Instead, why don't all you cry-babies provide an alternative? (Heavens no! That would require effort...its so much easier to gripe and wallow in your victimology.) I don't expect anything from Hollywood, so I'm content to just ignore them and turn off their stupid shows.

The world hated Jesus...HE told us they will hate us also. Get used to it.
Its only going to get worse.

Scrooged

The Tallahassee Democrat tells us this:

Pasco County officials have banned Christmas trees from public buildings...
The last of the Christmas trees were removed Wednesday after the county attorney said they were religious symbols, said Dan Johnson, assistant county administrator for Public Services.

Ah yes, Pasco County. Where 30% of the population is the result of failed CIA genetic-manipulation experiments.
As a side note, I find it interesting that this article makes no mention of the name of this 'county attorney'.

"What you allow for one you must provide for all," Johnson said.

Uhhh, wouldn't that be 'What you allow for one you allow for all'?? Or does Pasco county now provide religious symbols for everyone?

And a final question for the unnamed juris prudence genius, masquerading as county attorney:
Please tell me where, specifically, in the Bible, it mentions "Christmas tree". I will then be able to accept your lame-brain interpretation as having a modicum of reality attached to it. Otherwise, you are the winner of the Idiot of the Week award.

Stupid Is As Stupid Does

CNN reports that

President Bush has ordered plans for temporarily disabling the U.S. network of global positioning satellites during a national crisis to prevent terrorists from using the navigational technology, the White House said Wednesday.

Somebody help me out here. Isn't one of the strategies of war to gain an element of surprise on your enemy? Then why, oh why, are we publicising our moves before we take action? Now the alleged enemy has time to develop alternative plans, instead of being caught by surprise.

Also, what is a "national crisis"? (Correct answer is anything the government wants it to mean.) Make note that it doesn't say "enemy attack" or "act of war".
Uh oh...I feel my conspiratorial side rising up!
Back, back I say!

The Parent Trap

AP reports:

The dishes, garbage and dirty laundry would pile up for days when Cat and Harlan Barnard's teenage children refused to do their chores. So the Barnards went on strike, moving out of their house and into a domed tent set up in their front driveway. The parents refuse to cook, clean or drive for their children - Benjamin, 17, and Kit, 12 - until they shape up.

Ok, let me get this straight. The parents move out of the house that they pay for, give up the electric, air conditioning and all the other modern conveniences, in order to teach the children a lesson. I'm hooked already! This is going to be a winner!

Problem number one: the kids' ages. They should have had their butts kicked a long time ago.

Cat Barnard, a stay-at-home mom, and her 56-year-old husband, a government social services worker, decided their children needed to learn about empathy and responsibility.

Problem number two: Dad's a government social worker. Translation: a namby-pamby, bleeding heart, worry about everybody's feelings, new age refugee from the 60's.

Problem number three: mis-identification of the problem. They don't need to learn about empathy. They need to learn about authority and discipline.

The Barnards unsuccessfully tried smiley-face charts and withholding allowances to get their children to do chores. They even sought help from a psychologist.

(Oh God, I'm gonna puke!...smiley faces!) How about a good old-fashioned motivator called a spanking?

The tipping point may have been when Benjamin didn't offer to help his sweating, struggling mother work on the lawn Sunday, even though she should have been recovering from oral surgery.

And where was the freakin' husband? HE should have been doing the grass, not his wife!

Passers-by from this bedroom community between Orlando and Daytona Beach have shouted out words of encouragement. One woman driving past the Barnards' house rolled down her car window Wednesday and shouted "Good for you! You should put the kids outside!"

At least there's one voice of sanity. PUT THE KIDS OUTSIDE!
Better yet, kick the 17 year-old out of the house. Your house, your rules. Don't cooperate? You're outta here. Let him figure out how to fend for himself. You will SO freak out the 12 year old, her behavior will change in a split second. And he'll be back with his tail between his legs.

No one ever said being a parent was easy. It takes two things; guts and a backbone.

Benjamin returned from school on Wednesday to find a dozen reporters in his parents' front lawn. He refused to say anything to them and went into the house followed by his mother, who tried to console him.

The mother tried to console the son?!?? Did I miss something here? He's the embarassment, and she's apologizing? (I rest my case...NO backbone.)

Cat Barnard said she and her husband will keep up the strike until they see some changes.

Well, I've got some bad news, Cat. You're going to be out there quite a while. The kids haven't lost anything! You and your husband are making the sacrifice. You don't think eating TV dinners is upsetting them, do you? Until the pain of remaining the same is greater than the pain of change, nothing will happen. Translated for you public school grads, that means the kids need to loose stuff. They need to loose things, BIG things, to make them change (like loosing the roof over their heads). They've got the A/C, the TV, the computers, the Nintendo (X-Box, PS2 or whatever), the refrigerator (the whole house!) AND NO PARENTS!!! Tell me what they see as the down-side to this situation.

Idiot of the Week

Tommy Thompson, outgoing HHS Secretary, makes the dumbest comment I have come across in a while.

Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson announced his resignation today with an ominous warning of a health-related terrorist attack and a global flu outbreak.

"For the life of me, I cannot understand why the terrorists have not attacked our food supply because it is so easy to do," Thompson said at a news conference.

Now, I don't want to debate the factual nature of his statement; that's unimportant at this point. Let's even assume its 100% true.

Why in the world would you make this statement publically?? We don't need to be giving the Islamo-fascists new ideas.

I have personally thought of about six places to attack and methods to use that I guarantee would be successful to disrupt the US and induce terror. How responsible would it be for me to post them here? Not very. And this moron makes this statement, knowing he is on, at least, the national stage.

*wags head in disbelief*

Kiss Your Computer Goodbye

Feeling safe on the Internet?

Read Gone in 30 Seconds

Then, Hijacked in Minutes


"Bwwhhhaaaahahahaha", the Penguin roared.