Pajama Journal

Turkey Attacks!

2007-10-23T19:06:00.001-04:00

Deadly serious hilarious article by a favorite author. Don't forget to Digg this post even if you only enjoy the pictures, this is a great blog that doesn't get the attention it deserves.

read more | digg story

A Hard Week At Work - Blackwater Activities in the week of 9/11

2007-09-30T13:33:00.001-04:00

Would it be possible for congress to pass a law that would declare any US citizen in a country we occupied to be bound by US Federal or Military law? It seems a reasonable law to me and something that Congress might actually be able to accomplish.

read more | digg story

Video: Hillary Clinton’s “evil laughter”

2007-09-25T16:32:00.001-04:00

Not quite the Dean Scream but close!

read more | digg story

Petraeus Report, Logged Live

2007-09-10T16:14:00.001-04:00

Live blogging of the report to Congress. Complete with pictures, humor and insight.

read more | digg story

Iraqi Oversight Director Flees Maliki

2007-09-08T00:22:00.001-04:00

Iraq’s chief watchdog overseer in charge of discovering corruption, had to flee the country with his family on fear of death from the Maliki government.

read more | digg story

"Is Hillary A Shallow Liar?" And Other Fair Questions - Debate Review

2007-08-21T20:48:00.001-04:00

"...the debate that began as a backhanded message that Obama was not ready to be President was proof that, at last, he truly is."Matt delivers a great review of an abysmal debate.

read more | digg story

Clinton "Lead" A False Indicator in Drudge-Hyped Field Poll

2007-08-17T16:51:00.001-04:00

Hillary Clinton seems as unstoppable a westward force as Hurricane Dean, as a new Field Poll prominently featured on the Drudge Report indicates - thing is, it’s a false indicator. The polling method is shoddy at best, having only been a random sample of 418 households.

read more | digg story

Petraeus Conquers Stalling Congresses, Spreads Hope

2007-08-15T23:59:00.001-04:00

Finally it feels like there might be an end in sight with some realistic hope for a positive outcome. Great Analysis. It makes me want to hug Petraeus and squeeze him till he begs for mercy.

read more | digg story

The Democratic Debate on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Issues

2007-08-10T21:56:00.001-04:00

Review of last nights debate. Matt watches so we don't have to.

read more | digg story

Obama at Soldier Field

2007-08-09T10:59:00.001-04:00

Good to see a review of Obama's performance. His take down of Dodd and Clinton was the highlight of the debate, along with Joe Biden's classic answer, "Yes."

read more | digg story

The Soldier Field Democratic Debates

2007-08-08T22:39:00.001-04:00

Another great debate review from Matt. Informative, interesting and amusing read. His take on Dennis Kuchinich being the Dems own Ron Paul seemed just about right. They both seem to have an abundance of passion and energy but Kuchinich I think additionally inhaled some helium causing him to bubble and bounce with grand enthusiasm.

read more | digg story

The Iowa GOP Debate

2007-08-07T22:45:00.001-04:00

Informative (all things considered) and humorous review of the GOP Iowa debate. Each candidates performance is analyzed and I think nailed. Makes one wonder how Ron Paul managed to win the Drudge and ABC polls with such huge numbers.

read more | digg story

Absolutely Absurd

2007-07-26T21:33:00.001-04:00

Alright. It’s official. Dialogue is on its deathbed.It had a grand mal seizure during the rise up to the fiery, factious ‘04 elections and now is dwindling quickly, unable to sustain so much as a whimper without words being snarled into flaccid, sensationalist nonsense.

read more | digg story

Congress Presents 'Hamlet'

2007-07-19T17:10:00.001-04:00

Another insightful and thought provoking article by Matthew Funk.

read more | digg story

Maliki Reads My Blog

2007-07-14T15:29:00.001-04:00

Matt's analysis of Maliki's 'Don't Let The Door Hit You On The Way Out' statement is dead on. Anyone who feels strongly about Iraq one way or the other should read this article. The whole blog in fact. Matt has been prophetic in his dissembling of the news. Great Article. Great Blog.

read more | digg story

Bloody Watercooler Talk

2007-07-13T11:02:00.001-04:00

Democrats and Republicans alike would be resolved that the storming of a mosque that abducted citizens for “re-education” would be a good thing. But after a minute’s discussion, I realized it would be worthwhile to post something about how the West would do well to recognize it as not too good a thing.

read more | digg story

Iraq - Who Passes, Who Fails

2007-07-13T10:11:00.001-04:00

The mixed report on the progress of the Iraq situation coming out of the White House this week has been reviewed by both supporters and critics of the President’s policy with too general a perspective.

read more | digg story

A Long Time Coming Back

2007-07-11T20:39:00.001-04:00

If anyone could explain to me why the US is going back to appeasing North Korea at this point in the ballgame, please do. I can't seem to figure out what is in it for us. Maybe if we are nice to them, they won't use the bombs they claim they don't have? In 50 years have they given us any reason to believe they are sincere in anything they say?

read more | digg story

Iraq Update

2007-07-10T11:25:00.001-04:00

What people must realize is that the mounting dead are not an unexpected byproduct of the Surge, but in many ways the result of it. - Matthew FunkMatt measures the progress in Iraq not by body count but with logic and insight into military strategy and the political process in both Iraq and in the U.S.

read more | digg story

House Votes Itself A Raise

2007-07-09T03:00:00.001-04:00

While media attention was focused on the immigration bill in the Senate, Paris Hilton and the fate of Scooter Libby, the House of Representatives quietly gave themselves a raise. And it is no wonder they were quiet as church mice, given their 14% approval rating. This really isn't a surprise. The real story here is just /who/ are these 14% people?

read more | digg story

If you are here, You should go here next.

2007-07-08T18:21:00.000-04:00

This post marks the official archiving of PJ.

Subpoena Heat Continues To Make Constitution Smolder

2007-07-08T12:26:00.001-04:00

"...that kind of legal twisting makes the logic ligament of the brain twitch.

We can’t sue against a secret programs used against us, because they’re secret.

I would hope even advocates of the program would be wondering, “Well, what recourse do the American people have to challenge such Executive power?”

The short answer? The Constitution." - Matthew Funk

read more | digg story

The Unhappiest Place On Earth

2007-07-06T21:05:00.001-04:00

A sober and heartbreaking look at the reality of childhood in Palestine.

read more | digg story

Peace Takes More Than A Word

2007-07-06T16:40:00.001-04:00

"Israel and its supporters must discern which is the better partner to broker peace with - the one that promises war and acts on it with total authority, or the one that promises peace and exploits its lack of authority to continue a war." Matthew Funk

read more | digg story

Bloody Lambs

2007-07-03T16:22:00.000-04:00

My political sparring partner, Matt, of Driving Too Fast, has inspired me to comment on Bush's commute of Scooter's prison sentence.

If you are going to spare the lamb, spare the damn lamb. Bush comes off like he is trying to appease his critics with a half-assed half-measure. I would rather see him go whole hog, or whole lamb as the case may be.

Matt says, in part..

"You don’t sacrifice the lamb. You just stab it a little.
Who is appeased in that equation? Not the deity waiting for the sacrifice. Not the lamb’s owner. For sure not the damn lamb."

I have read pages and pages of comments condemning Bush. As a people we seem to have so much righteous energy! One of the more popular rants is that Libby is the only person ever to have been pardoned for obstruction of justice.

Before this particular tidbit is accepted as truth by virtue of continuous echo, lets review some recent history.

G.W. Bush Pardons (117)
Clinton's Pardons (456)
Bush Sr. Pardons ( 77)
Reagan's Pardons (406)
Carter's Pardons (566)
Ford's Pardons (409)
Nixon's Pardons (926)

I didn't bother to count how many of these pardons or commutations were for obstruction. I saw several from Clinton's list alone and only scanned the others. Look at the numbers. Can any reasonable person believe that Scooter Libby is more deserving of hard time than the hundreds upon hundreds of other pardons we never hear a peep about?

The news cycle will play this up until some new bloody thing comes along to beat on. They are selling conflict. When are we going to stop buying it wholesale and using our own brains to decide what we are enraged about? Darfur anyone? Now there is a conflict I could get righteously enraged over.

Should we be spending the next couple of months debating the justness of Scooter's already sealed fate, or should we be demanding answers for why things like this are still happening? For the record, the only candidate I have seen showing appropriate passion for resolving the genocide in Darfur is Joe Biden.

I want more from this country. I want more from our press and our leaders. I want to demand outrage and action. I don't want to accept that we can't do more than squabble over our differences. While we are sitting in our air-conditioned living rooms, kicked back in our over-stuffed La-Z Boys, debating pizza or Chinese take-out, while we whine about Scooter not doing hard time; people are being raped, tortured, murdered and starved to death because we can't pay attention long enough to help.

I Made a Widget!

2007-06-28T22:53:00.001-04:00

Driving Too Fast Down The Middle Of The RoadWidgetbox

Ok.. I made two.

One for my step-Dad's recipes - Vito's Meatballs (look down) and one for my favorite author's blog - Driving Too Fast Down The Middle Of The Road (look up). You can download and install it on your blog too. What fun!

Vito's Meatballs

2007-06-28T21:38:00.001-04:00

To The Archives

2007-06-27T15:21:00.001-04:00

Having recently installed WordPress for a friend, I've decided I want it.

I've been writing, admittedly sporadically, with blogger software for the last 4 years or so. I don't have much confidence in blogger exporting successfully to WordPress.

So, after considering the options, and the fact that I have let this site become outdated after the 2004 elections, I think that I might archive everything here and start fresh.

After all, It's almost time to defeat Hilary.. might as well have all my widgets in order.

Feel free to leave objections to this plan in the very rarely used, even by spammers, comment feature below.

Wake The %*^& Up America

2007-04-12T17:56:00.000-04:00

Wait. Can I say that? (Turned out my Mother insisted that I can not.)

Al Qaeda bombs the Iraqi parliament in the middle of The Green Zone during a security crack down, eight people are dead, and what are the American headlines about? An asshat named Imus.

Most Americans do not understand the war, the reasons for it, or the enemy we are fighting. (Here is a great place to start reading up on that: Driving Too Fast Down The Middle of The Road) Why? Because we are too busy worrying about important things like Imus the Asshat. Who by the way was an asshat before he said anything about nappy headed hos, and as an asshat was perfectly within his rights to speak like one regardless of what Asshat Al Sharpton or Asshat Jesse Jackson thinks. See how easy it is to get distracted?

We all need to wake up and start paying attention to what's important. Why are our headlines all screaming for us to read about Imus when we need to be informed about what our enemy is up to and how we are handling the threat? Most of us are not even really sure who we are really fighting in Iraq. Our media needs to pull its collective head out of its collective ass and start telling us the real story.

We need to stop forking over our attention like a bunch of drooling ignoramuses for stories like Imus Is An Asshat and CBS Fired Him or the even more informative one about how Rudy Guliani doesn't know how much a gallon of milk costs. So the hell what? Neither do I. Who buys a whole gallon at a time if you don't have a bunch of cereal eating kids around? Not me and apparently not Rudy. I plan to have my 12 year old conduct a survey on how the average American contacted by random phone calls responds to the same questions. I am betting 9 out of 10 do not have any more of a clue. See? Distracted again.

We are so incredibly spoiled in this country to have the liberty and privilege to sit around groaning and complaining with such idiocy about things that do not matter. We must begin to wake up and understand what is important and worthy of our attention. You can bet that al Qaeda is not debating political correctness or the price of tea in China (or the price of milk in Alabama for that matter). No, they are busy figuring out how to deal the biggest blow to our morale and how to work our own propaganda machine against us. They are paying attention. It is time we did.

Bravo, Nancy, Bravo

2007-04-06T15:30:00.000-04:00

I have been increasingly upset over the divide in this country but this week Nancy Pelosi did indeed prove there is something that America can agree on. Contrary to the nonsensical point she attempted to make this morning, about sending a message of unity to President Assad, we do not agree on the message we want him to receive.

From Breitbart
...the California Democrat said. "It became clear to President Assad that even though we have our differences in the United States, there is no division between the president and the Congress and the Democrats on the message we wanted him to receive."

There is a good deal of division among both parties on what the right message to send is. Words, bombs, diplomacy or isolation, a valid argument can be made for each. What we can agree on, is that it was not her place to deliver any message.

Right or wrong the Commander-in-Chief of the United States has chosen isolation as the means to deal with Syria. Her trip undermines that objective in a clear and serious way. Even asked by the administration not to interfere she chose to do so anyway. Reasonable people on both sides of the aisle are embarrassed by her trip. Even the Washington Post weighed in on the error of Nancy's ways with a scathing editorial.

From: Pratfall in Damascus
...Ms. Pelosi's attempt to establish a shadow presidency is not only counterproductive, it is foolish.

The Wall Street Journal brings up the issue and I am very interested to see how the Logan Act applies to this publicity grab of a trip.

§ 953. Private correspondence with foreign governments.
Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.

This section shall not abridge the right of a citizen to apply himself, or his agent, to any foreign government, or the agents thereof, for redress of any injury which he may have sustained from such government or any of its agents or subjects.

18 U.S.C. § 953 (2004).

The way I read it, Nancy should be thinking about hiring an attorney. In a more perfect world the administration would have the hutzpah to charge her. I don't expect that she will be charged but she damn well should be brought to account for her irresponsible and foolish behavior.

The enemies of this country have and will continue to use her like a pawn for their propaganda and to further undermine the respect and influence of our President. How can we expect the world to respect us and our policies if we do not respect each other?

M.C. Funk at Driving Too Fast Down The Middle Of The Road goes to the heart of the matter with this:

Our allies and enemies abroad don't see the Democrats as the cavalry, rushing in to save the imperilled world from unilateral barbarism. They just see an America split by internal strife, and a hazardous executive with its hands not tied, but merely encumbered. Put plainly, they just see weakness.

When The Washington Post, NewsMax, The Wall Street Journal and USA Today are all on the same page, one has to conclude that maybe there is hope after all. Maybe we can stand together on something, even if it is just telling Pelosi to stand down.

Kerry calls the United States an International Pariah

2007-01-28T14:14:00.000-04:00

John Kerry Slams His Own Country At Davos

Jan 27 2007 7:52PM
http://sayanythingblog.com/index.php

Here’s John Kerry speaking while sitting just a few feet away from Mohammad Khatami, the former President of the Iranian terror state.

Kerry was asked about whether the U.S. government had failed to adequately engage Iran’s government before the election of hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2005.
Kerry said the Bush administration has failed in addressing a number of foreign policy issues.
“When we walk away from global warming, Kyoto, when we are irresponsibly slow in moving toward AIDS in Africa, when we don’t advance and live up to our own rhetoric and standards, we set a terrible message of duplicity and hypocrisy,” Kerry said.
“So we have a crisis of confidence in the Middle East — in the world, really. I’ve never seen our country as isolated, as much as a sort of international pariah for a number of reasons as it is today.”…
Kerry criticized what he called the “unfortunate habit” of Americans to see the world “exclusively through an American lens.”

The Bush administration walked away from Kyoto? Methinks the Senator is revising history:

On July 25, 1997, before the Kyoto Protocol was finalized (although it had been fully negotiated, and a penultimate draft was finished), the U.S. Senate unanimously passed by a 95–0 vote the Byrd-Hagel Resolution (S. Res. 98), which stated the sense of the Senate was that the United States should not be a signatory to any protocol that did not include binding targets and timetables for developing as well as industrialized nations or “would result in serious harm to the economy of the United States”. On November 12, 1998, Vice President Al Gore symbolically signed the protocol. Both Gore and Senator Joseph Lieberman indicated that the protocol would not be acted upon in the Senate until there was participation by the developing nations. The Clinton Administration never submitted the protocol to the Senate for ratification. . . .
The current President, George W. Bush, has indicated that he does not intend to submit the treaty for ratification, not because he does not support the Kyoto principles, but because of the exemption granted to China (the world’s second largest emitter of carbon dioxide). Bush also opposes the treaty because of the strain he believes the treaty would put on the economy; he emphasizes the uncertainties which he asserts are present in the climate change issue.

It was a unanimous Senate (with five abstainers) as well as the Clinton administration who walked away from Kyoto. The current administration walked away from Kyoto as well, but for the same reasons as the Clinton administration. Kerry himself, in fact, voted for the Byrd-Hagel Resolution to keep us out of Kyoto. Yet here he is now, a decade later, dishonestly accusing the current administration of isolating this country from the world on an issue like Kyoto that Kerry himself opposed for the very same reasons the Bush administration opposes it.

Why should we believe anything that comes out of this guy’s mouth? It’s bad enough that he’s sitting next to one of America’s enemies bad mouthing his own country, but he’s flat-out lying in what he’s saying as well.

Oh, and stopping off to give an autograph to a guy who supports executing gays for being gay is a real nice touch. But don’t expect any of the gay rights groups to hold Kerry accountable for that, though.

~~~

If you have a really strong stomach, you can watch the video here.

Before and After

2007-01-18T12:17:00.000-04:00

Before Bush announced troop surge:

"We have to consider the need for additional troops to be in Iraq, to take out the militias and stabilize Iraq, I would say 20,000 to 30,000." House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Rep. Silvestre Reyes in an interview with Newsweek on Dec 5.

Sen. John Kerry,told NBC's "Today" show that the borders of Iraq "are porous" and said "we don't have enough troops" there.

Sen. Joseph Biden Jr., appearing on ABC's "Good Morning America,"
"I'm going to send him the phone numbers of the very generals and flag officers that I met on Memorial Day when I was in Iraq, There's not enough force on the ground now to mount a real counterinsurgency."

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid on ABC's "This Week" Dec 17, 2006: "If it's for a surge, that is, for two or three months and it's part of a program to get us out of there as indicated by this time next year, then, sure, I'll go along with it,"

Nancy Pelosi in her pre-Speaker days on May 30, 2004, on Meet The Press:

MR. RUSSERT: Would you send more American troops in order to stabilize the situation?

REP. PELOSI: Yes.

After:

""We don't have the capability to escalate even to this minimum level" Rep. Silvestre Reyes to the El Paso Times hours after Bush's speech.

Source

Isn't This News Worthy?

2007-01-09T17:54:00.000-04:00

Press Release

Did the 9/11 Commission receive all the documents it requested? Davis Releases Berger Report

January 9, 2007

By David Marin (202)225-5074

Washington, D.C. – Oversight and Government Reform Committee Ranking Member Tom Davis (R-VA) released the following statement today on a committee report that sheds important new light on Sandy Berger’s theft of classified documents from the National Archives. The report makes it clear that the full extent of Mr. Berger’s document removal can never be known, and consequently the Department of Justice could not assure the 9/11 Commission that it received all responsive documents to which Mr. Berger had access.

“My staff’s investigation reveals that President Clinton’s former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger compromised national security much more than originally disclosed,” Davis said. “It is now also clear that Mr. Berger was willing to go to extraordinary lengths to compromise national security, apparently for his own convenience.

“The 9/11 Commission relied on incomplete and misleading information regarding its access to documents Mr. Berger reviewed. No one ever told the Commission that Mr. Berger had access to original documents that he could have taken without detection.

“We now know that Mr. Berger left stolen highly classified documents at a construction site to avoid detection. We know that Mr. Berger insisted on privacy at times to allow him to conceal documents that he stole. One witness with a very high security clearance believed he saw Berger concealing documents in his socks.

“Mr. Berger’s review of documents did not conform to the usual requirements for reviewing classified documents in a secure facility and under strict supervision. The Archives staff’s failure to contact law enforcement immediately and their contacts with Mr. Berger about the missing documents compromised the law enforcement effort.

“The compromised law enforcement effort contributes to reduced confidence that the 9/11 Commission received all the documents it requested. The execution of a search warrant before Mr. Berger knew there was an investigation would have either located additional documents or enhanced confidence that he stole no others than those he admitted to taking.

“The public statements of the former chief of the public integrity section, Noel Hillman, were incomplete and misleading. Because Mr. Berger had access to original documents that he could have taken without detection, we do not know if anything ‘was lost to the public or the process.’

“The Justice Department’s assertion that Mr. Berger’s statements are credible after being caught is misplaced. One wouldn’t rely on the fox to be truthful after being nabbed in the hen house. But the Justice Department apparently did.”

###

Staff Report- Sandy Berger's Theft of Classified Documents: Unanswered Questions (PDF)

A message from Col. George E. "Bud" Day

2006-10-25T10:44:00.000-04:00

POWs LAWSUIT COULD FORCE KERRY TO COME
CLEAN ON VIETNAM ‘WAR CRIMES’ CHARGES

When John Kerry slandered an entire generation of men who fought in Vietnam he branded them as "war criminals." Today, much of the same thing is being said about our young men and women in Iraq.

Now, a lawsuit filed in Philadelphia’s Court of Common Pleas will test the very foundation of Kerry’s anti-war persona for the first time. It isn’t dubious medals or Kerry’s disputed service record in Vietnam that is being called into question. This time Kerry may finally be forced to answer for the events that launched his public career, one that made him an anti-war hero for many American liberals and a turncoat for millions of Vietnam veterans.

The lawsuit challenges the basis, the factual accuracy of then Lt. (j.g.) Kerry’s acrimonious testimony before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1971. It was there Kerry’s public career was catapulted with his now ubiquitous portrayal of American soldiers as murderers, rapists and torturers "who ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam . . . [and] razed villages in a fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan."

For the anti-war, anti-American protesters, the American soldiers are the "terrorists," and the enemies are the victims of a barbaric U.S. military which tortures and murders defenseless civilians.

That false premise, one of the most vicious and enduring smears spawned by Kerry 35 years ago, will also be put to the test once Kerry’s true "Band of Brothers" are put under oath in a Philadelphia courtroom.

The background to this lawsuit is long and complex, but even a condensed version is rich in irony and poetic justice.

It had it roots in 2004 with the documentary Stolen Honor: Wounds that Never Heal. Many may recall the film, although it is probably best known for not being seen, suppressed after Sinclair Broadcasting Company courageously announced it was going to air the documentary in its entirety. Thanks to Kerry and his liberal colleagues in the Senate and their enablers in the mainstream media, Sinclair was browbeaten into withdrawing the film, its broadcast license threatened by a Kerry campaign manager in 2004. The film’s producer, Carlton Sherwood, a Pulitzer Prize and Peabody Award-winning investigative reporter, interviewed former POWs for the documentary.

I was among those whom Sherwood, a decorated Marine combat veteran himself, asked to participate in Stolen Honor. I was a POW for nearly six years, held in North Vietnam prison camps, including the notorious Hanoi Hilton, a place of unimaginable horrors — torture, beatings, starvation and mind-numbing isolation. When Kerry branded us "war criminals," he handed our captors all the justification they needed to carry out their threats to execute us. Thanks to Kerry, Jane Fonda and their comrades in the anti-war movement, our captivity was prolonged by years. The communists in Hanoi and Moscow couldn’t have had a better press agent to spread their anti-American propaganda.

To guarantee Stolen Honor would never be seen by anyone — not even theatre-goers — the producer was slapped with a libel and defamation lawsuit.

That lawsuit was filed by a long-time anti-war disciple of the Massachusetts Senator. He was one of Kerry's key war crimes "witnesses," one of several on whom Kerry claims he based his Senate testimony.

The lawsuit put a unique spin on the definition of defamation, claiming that Stolen Honor had damaged the public reputations of himself, Kerry and others by simply quoting their own words and criticisms of America during the Vietnam war!

The POWs and the wives of POWs who participated in Stolen Honor refused to abandon the facts conveyed in the film. For some of us, it was the first time since our release by the Communists in 1973 that we were able to have our voices publicly heard, to tell our stories about the consequences of Kerry’s treachery. In 2005, we formed a nonprofit organization, the Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation (VVLF), to gather records, documents and other materials to form a fact-based, educational repository for students and scholars of Vietnam history and to tell the true story of the American soldiers in Vietnam. The VVLF’s mission is "to set the record straight, factually, about Vietnam and those who fought there."

For our efforts, we were promptly sued by two long-time anti-war Kerry followers and VVAW members. It was clear that Kerry not only wanted to punish us for Stolen Honor; he intended to use surrogates to sue us into permanent silence and financial ruin.

Forced to spend huge sums to defend ourselves from these frivolous lawsuits, we have filed a countersuit against these Kerry surrogates and intend to reveal the truth about the lawsuits and their sponsors. We believe that we can prove that the purpose of nearly two years of litigation was to protect John Kerry, to drain us financially and spiritually, and to prevent us from setting the record straight.

At stake is ultimately nothing less than the integrity of the American military in Vietnam, the honor of the men who served their country, the nobility of those who gave their lives, and the truth of America’s history in Vietnam. Until or unless we do correct the existing record, the American military may never be free of the myths and smears of Vietnam, its honor and integrity cleansed as it fights to defend freedom at home and around the world.

Our mission is hardly over. We hope you will join us in fighting this battle . . . for our soldiers, then and now. For more information about Vietnam, the foregoing litigation, or to make a donation, please access the VVLF website now — Go Here Now.

Col. George E. "Bud" Day
Director and President,
Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation

Col. George E. "Bud" Day, USAF (Ret.,) was a POW in North Vietnam for five years, seven months and 13 days. He served in three wars (WWII, Korea, and Vietnam) and earned the Medal of Honor. He is the Air Force’s most decorated living veteran. He is the Director and President of the Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation, Inc., an organization created to better educate and inform the public about the Vietnam War, its events, its history, and the men and women who sacrificed to serve their country. Please go here to read Col. Day’s statement in its entirety.

Kerry says he will "Kick Ass" in 08

2006-09-14T18:48:00.000-04:00

Swift Boat Leader Responds to Kerry

by John O'Neill
Posted Sep 14, 2006

John Kerry recently volunteered that he was prepared to “kick [the Swift Boat Veterans’] ass from one end of America to the other” and that he would “demolish” us. He ought to take a Christmas cruise to Cambodia to calm down. Maybe he could take a side trip to tour “Genghis Khan” ruins.

It is a little difficult to imagine Kerry (“I voted for it before I voted against it”) kicking the most decorated living serviceman, Bud Day, a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, or our salty commander, Adm. Roy Hoffman, anywhere. Perhaps Kerry had in mind using a “Rice Fanny Grenade” as he did by mistake on himself shortly before leaving Vietnam. If so, based on the record, he is in far more danger than anyone else.

Kerry and his friends certainly seem to show much greater anger and hatred toward us than toward the murderous al Qaeda terrorists. This is actually a positive thing. Based on his record of switching to adopt the North Vietnamese position in 1971 and (after voting to send our kids to Iraq) proposing to cut and run in Iraq, it is likely that Kerry will be endorsing our positions by 2008 and (in his words) “Swift Boating” himself. If not, it is OK. After living for 34 years with his claim that our comrades, living and dead, were like the army of Genghis Khan, we will always remember and be grateful for the support of the American people in 2004. Nothing he will ever say can demolish that or will speak nearly so loudly.

Mr. O'Neill is a Houston attorney who clerked for Chief Justice William Rehnquist during the Supreme Court's October 1974 term. Last year he authored the New York Times #1 bestseller, Unfit for Command.

Ann's Latest

2006-07-04T17:07:00.000-04:00

June 28, 2006

WHEN WILL NYT REVEAL ONE OF AL QAEDA'S SECRET PROGRAMS?
By Ann Coulter
Legal Affairs Correspondent, Human Events

In the latest of a long list of formerly top-secret government anti-terrorism operations that have been revealed by the New York Times, last week the paper printed the details of a government program tracking terrorists' financial transactions that has already led to the capture of major terrorists and their handmaidens in the United States.

In response, the Bush Administration is sounding very cross -- and doing nothing. Bush wouldn't want to get the press mad at him! Yeah, let's keep the media on our good side like they are now. Otherwise, they might do something crazy -- like leak a classified government program monitoring terrorist financing. Continued...

Sleep Last Night??

2006-01-29T00:15:00.000-04:00

Bed a little lumpy...

Toss and turn any...

Wish the heat was higher...

Maybe the a/c wasn't on...

Had to go to the john...

Need a drink of water...

Yes... It is like that!

Count your blessings, pray for them, talk to your Creator and

the next time when...

the other car cuts you off and you must hit the brakes,

you have to park a little farther from Walmart than you like,

you're served slightly warm food at the restaurant,

you're sitting and cursing the traffic in front of you,

or the shower runs out of hot water,

Think of them.

Live and Let Spy

2005-12-24T21:54:00.000-04:00

by Ann Coulter
Posted Dec 21, 2005

Apart from the day the New York Times goes out of business -- and the stellar work Paul Krugman's column does twice a week helping people house-train their puppies -- the newspaper has done the greatest thing it will ever do in its entire existence. (Calm down: No, the Times didn't hold an intervention for Frank Rich.)

Monday's Times carried a major expose on child molesters who use the Internet to lure their adolescent prey into performing sex acts for Webcams. In the course of investigating the story, reporter Kurt Eichenwald broke open a massive network of pedophiles, rescued a young man who had been abused for years, and led the Department of Justice to hundreds of child molesters.

I kept waiting for the catch, but apparently the Times does not yet believe pedophilia is covered by the "privacy right." They should stop covering politics and start covering more stories like this.

In order to report the story, the Times said it obtained:

-- Copies of online conversations and e-mail messages between minors and the creepy adults;

-- Records of payments to the minors;

-- Membership lists for Webcam sites;

-- Defunct sites stored in online archives;

-- Files retained on a victim's computer over several years;

-- Financial records, credit card processing data and other information;

-- The Neverland Ranch's mailing list. (OK, I made that last one up.)

Would that the Times allowed the Bush administration similar investigative powers for Islamofacists in America!

Which brings me to this week's scandal about No Such Agency spying on "Americans." I have difficulty ginning up much interest in this story inasmuch as I think the government should be spying on all Arabs, engaging in torture as a televised spectator sport, dropping daisy cutters wantonly throughout the Middle East, and sending liberals to Guantanamo.

But if we must engage in a national debate on half-measures: After 9/11, any president who was not spying on people calling phone numbers associated with terrorists should be impeached for being an inept commander in chief.

With a huge gaping hole in lower Manhattan, I'm not sure why we have to keep reminding people, but we are at war. (Perhaps it's because of the media blackout on images of the 9/11 attack. We're not allowed to see those because seeing planes plowing into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon might make us feel angry and jingoistic.)

Among the things that war entails are: killing people (sometimes innocent), destroying buildings (sometimes innocent) and spying on people (sometimes innocent).

That is why war is a bad thing. But once a war starts, it is going to be finished one way or another, and I have a preference for it coming out one way rather than the other.

In previous wars, the country has done far worse than monitor telephone calls placed to jihad headquarters. FDR rounded up Japanese -- many of them loyal American citizens -- and threw them in internment camps. Most appallingly, at the same time, he let New York Times editors wander free.

Note the following about the Japanese internment:

1) The Supreme Court upheld the president's authority to intern the Japanese during wartime;

2) That case, Korematsu v. United States, is still good law;

3) There are no Japanese internment camps today. (Although the no-limit blackjack section at Caesar's Palace on a Saturday night comes pretty close.)

It's one or the other: Either we take the politically correct, scattershot approach and violate everyone's civil liberties, or we focus on the group threatening us and -- in the worst-case scenario -- run the risk of briefly violating the civil liberties of 1,000 people in a country of 300 million.

Of course, this is assuming I'm talking to people from the world of the normal. In the Democrats' world, there are two more options. Violate no one's civil liberties and get used to a lot more 9/11s, or the modified third option, preferred by Sen. John D. Rockefeller: Let the president do all the work and take all the heat for preventing another terrorist attack while you place a letter expressing your objections in a file cabinet as a small parchment tribute to your exquisite conscience.

I Never Knew His Name

2005-11-16T11:38:00.000-04:00

The true face of Muslim martyrdom.
November 11, 2005, 8:22 a.m.

By Chaplain Carlos C. Huerta

Mosul, Iraq — It is October 11 as I write this, the day before Yom Kippur. The Day of Atonement is supposed to be a day of fast, reflection, and prayer for the Jews: a time when I reflect on my own actions and intentions from the previous year. But the images I carry into my fast are sad ones, of someone else’s child, a Muslim child. There is blood spattered on my uniform despite the fact that I haven’t been hit or wounded. And yet it is B-positive blood, my own blood, mixed with the blood of a nine-year old Iraqi boy who was observing his fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Today there was a terrorist attack at a place most people have never heard of. Unless you’re a soldier stationed here, the name Tal Afar would probably be insignificant to you. But Tal Afar means a lot to me.

Today some terrorists decided to kill some Iraqi citizens — good Muslims — in order to discourage them from voting on Saturday on the new constitution. These terrorists called themselves Muslims and claimed that what they did was for Allah. But their connection to Islam is about as true and strong as Timothy McVeigh’s connection to Christianity. What they did is so contrary to the holy teachings of the Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) that to say their name in the same breath as Islam is considered sacrilege.

I was at the Combat Support Hospital — known as CASH — when the call came: Terrorists had hit, no American casualties, but 22 Iraqis wounded, five of whom were children under the age of twelve. I stood on the tarmac watching as the MEDEVAC choppers came in one at a time to deliver the wounded. Many of the wounded had no legs, or deep chest, head, and abdominal wounds. I noticed the children, two in particular who had severe head trauma. I followed them into the ER and then watched our physicians struggle in the OR to stabilize them. After the physicians did what they could, the children were taken to the ICU. I helped carry their stretchers into the ICU and stood by to see if I could help. I had a serious conversation with G-d and pleaded with him to take care of these kids — kids who should be playing soccer, or doing their homework for school the next day, or helping their parents get ready for supper. Both of these children had skulls so badly shattered that their heads needed to be bandaged to keep their brains in. I watched as the nurses and medics gave them pint after pint of blood and as their head bandages turned from white to red. I held the youngest one’s hands, reassuring him to the extent I could.

As they were giving the youngest his third pint of blood, I heard the nurse say that they were running low on O Positive, the universal donor, and that due to the tremendous internal bleeding, this child would need more. I asked what blood type he was, and it turned out both children were B Positive, my own blood type. I went to the head nurse and asked if I could donate blood for the youngest child and they quickly hooked me up and took a pint. After giving it, I went back to see him; he already my blood hooked up to him and surging in his veins.

I held his tiny hand and watched as the monitors told the story: His heart was in trouble owing to the brain trauma. I watched as he fought for his life, fighting to breathe. But I knew he was dying and there was nothing I could do. This innocent Muslim child, who had been observing Ramadan the way a child does, was now dying despite the fact that my blood was moving though his veins, despite the fact that I pleaded with G-d to do what I thought was right, to keep him alive. But G-d had other plans.

I didn’t want this boy to die hearing the strange sounds of a hospital and a foreign language. I wanted him to be comforted by the last sounds he heard, by words that were close to his heart, words that spoke of home and faith. I started to recite the Holy Koran to him.

My close friend, a fellow clergyman, Imam Burgos, the imam for the United States Military Academy, had helped me learn Surahs of the Holy Koran, and I chanted these out to the boy in Arabic. As I chanted, I heard the monitor go flat-line. I held his little hand, as my blood moved through his tiny pure heart that could no longer bear the evil of this world.

I held his hand and cried — cried for a boy whose name I didn’t know, for an innocent Muslim child who gave his life for his G-d, Allah, for his country. He was the true face of Muslim martyrdom. With tears streaming down my face, I looked down and noticed blood on my uniform. His blood, my blood, our blood had dripped from his open head wound onto my uniform.

An hour or so later I walked away into the waiting area as they prepared his body for transport. There I met Chaplain Mark Greschel, a Catholic priest. He looked at me and knew that I was in trouble. He sat with me, somehow knowing that the pain we felt was best not mixed with words. He quietly put his arms around me, and we both sat there in silence. I thought to myself, isn’t this the kind of world we are fighting for — a world where an Imam teaches a Rabbi words from the Holy Koran to comfort a young Muslim boy, and that rabbi himself is comforted by a Christian, a Catholic priest.

On this day before Yom Kippur, the Jewish Fast Day, the Day of Atonement, I ask myself: What is Ramadan all about? Is it about killing, or is it about seeking out G-d through fasting and prayer? For those of us who choose not to carry hatred and prejudice in our hearts, the answer is simple. For the holy Islamic community, Ramadan is a time of introspection, of hope, of belief that if we all work together, we can truly build a better world for all our children, even those whose names we don’t know. There is so much that we can learn about faith and G-d through other religions; there is so much that our Muslim brothers and sisters can teach us about our Creator, about personal sacrifice and selfless service. But if we consider their faith only with mistrust, hatred, and indifference, then this nine-year-old angel with his faith in G-d means nothing. Then we have diminished our own faith in G-d. If we objectify the Muslim people as well as those who don’t share our exact views on the nature of G-d, if we see them as less than our brothers and sisters, then we as a human race are lost.

There are many Americans who ask why we’re here. Why are we sacrificing so many American lives and placing so many in harm’s way? What is the purpose of it all? Well, I don’t really know the big picture. But from my small sector of the battlefield, the reason I am here is to give “the least of these,” my children over here, a shot at “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” — just like my other children living in America.

I didn’t give birth to him, but on this fast day in Ramadan, on this day before Yom Kippur, I lost a son, someone who had my blood coursing through his body. And for him, I choose not to hate, I choose to follow the path that the great Sheik Ibn Arabi followed when he said, “Love is my Faith and my religion and wherever its caravans take me, that is where I shall follow, for love is my religion and faith.” Let us join hands with our Muslim brothers and sisters and let this be the message of Ramadan that we carry in our hearts and take with us. G-d has a new Muslim angel in Paradise. I hope to tell you his name one day when I meet him again.

— Chaplain Carlos C. Huerta is Jewish Community chaplain in Mosul, Iraq.

From Iraq The Model

2005-09-11T15:20:00.000-04:00

Iraqi soldiers donate to Katrina victims:
(Hat tip:ITM reader).

“On behalf of myself and all the People of Tadji Military Base; I would like to console the American People and Government for getting this horrible disaster. So we would like to donate 1.000.000 Iraqi Dinars to help the government and the People also I would like to console all the ASTs who helped us rebuilding our country and our Army. We appreciate the American's help and support. Thank you".

These were the words of Colonel Abbas Fadhil, commander of the Taji military base.
The donated money is little, less than 700 $ and it can do practically nothing but the spirit and and words mean quite a lot.
- posted by Omar @ 23:51

Update

2005-06-29T18:45:00.000-04:00

I have not posted in months now because I am totally frustated with the idiocy that has become our political system. I had not planned on posting again anytime soon, however today I read a post by an Iraqi that I wish every last war critic and arm chair general would read.

From Iraq The Model

Wednesday, June 29, 2005

Talk less, think more and do more.

It's visible to everyone that debates over the war in Iraq, war on terror, invasion or occupation or whatever you may name it are at peak levels right now.

The process is being questioned, criticized and discussed more profoundly than at any time in the last two years but you know what? That's not happening in Iraq; you can find such discussions and accusations in America but you can't find them in Iraq.

As a matter of fact there are some similar debates here in Iraq but at very limited levels; in the National Assembly there are 83 members who signed a declaration where they accused the government of treason because it asked the multinational troops to remain for another year in Iraq and they said that the government ought to demand a timetable for withdrawal and they're also planning to organize protests and rallies to put more pressure on the government.

However, on the streets, such demands are not popular among everyday Iraqis who are more concerned about finding solutions for their daily life problems whether the solutions came form the government, the Americans or from Martians. As for the other 192 members of the Assembly, they find such demands irrational and inconvenient at least for the time being.

Those 83 Sadrists and Fadhela party members as well as some other Islamists want to embarrass the government and use slogans that sound great and patriotac to undermine the public support the current government enjoys.

This reminds me of the communists and the pan-nationalists back in the 1st half of the 20th century when they demanded the ousting of British troops and the result was a disaster; all they wanted was power and the deterioration didn't end since then.

The truth is that with very few exceptions, most people and politicians here have thrown this argument behind their backs long time ago; whether they're supportive of the war/liberation or against it and whether they want the coalition to stay forever or they want the troops to leave now, they are now living and discussing the present and planning for the future trying to get the best results possible out of the current situation, each party from it's own perspective.

We're living through probably the most critical phase of this conflict; a phase where firm decisions and clear stands are needed more than ever, while sterile arguments can do nothing but weaken our position against our common enemy; the global terrorism.

I wasn't in touch with media and blogs when the September attacks happened but I heard a lot about the great sense of patriotism and the beautiful unity that grew among different political trends in America at that time and this is a time where such unity must be revived.
This is not the right time to argue about "why we went to this war".

It is time to think together for a way to win this war which none of us can afford to lose.

It doesn't really matter if Saddam had connections with Al-Qaeda prior to 2003 or not and it does not matter if he had the ability to attack the west with WMDs or not. What really matters here is how to protect the world from terrorism. Al-Qaeda is present and active in Iraq today; we all know this and this terror group's lethal power cannot and must not be underestimated.

Yesterday for example, interior ministry in Saudi Arabia uncovered a new list of wanted Al-Qaeda members with 36 names on it, 21 of who are believed to be residing in Iraq right now.

Can anyone tell me how can these terrorists be stopped from moving their zone of action to other countries if they weren't intercepted right here and right now? There's no doubt that once Iraq falls in their hands they will start looking for other battle grounds and they will search for the "greatest Satan" in other places.

It is the American existence in Iraq that attracted them to a great extent and when there are no Americans in Iraq Al-Qaeda will not simply drop their weapons and start a normal life, they will seek other places where they can find, and kill Americans.

What I want to say here is that it is our fate to fight terrorism on our own land and we (the majority) have accepted to challenge this fate the day we abandoned Saddam and welcomed our freedom but that's not the case for you in America. Actually we've got no other choice but to fight and keep fighting until we win over the terrorists because otherwise we'll have to submit to their will and the damage would be irreversible.

Fighting terrorism for us in Iraq is a matter of life or death so we have no choice but to keep fighting until we kill or lock in jail every one of them and we're doing this whether the world supported us or not but in case we failed, the consequences will not be confined by Iraq's borders. You (the west) can step back and wait for the terrorists to knock on your doors at any minute or you can put your s*** together and fight them while they're thousands of miles away.

This is war, it's not a picnic and don't think that we're enjoying it and we're not expecting you to enjoy it either. By quitting now some might think that needless losses are going to be avoided but that's-in my opinion-is a very shortsighted way of thinking because quitting now will only expose America and the rest of the world to a much greater threat.

I was talking about this to one of my friends and he described this war in an interesting way, he said "this war is much like a fierce boxing match; you punch and you get punched but even if you're stronger than your opponent you should not allow him to catch his breath at any round because he might then give you a surprising punch when the next round begins and knocks you down".

So my advice to the American politicians on both sides but especially those on the left side is: grow up, this is not the time to seek political wins and it's not the time to use other's mistakes to get some publicity.

We're facing very tough times so use your skills to find solutions.
Bottom line is, talk less, think more and do more.

He's Hoping Nobody Noticed?

2005-03-03T14:13:00.000-04:00

Watchdog Asks Kerry To Keep His Word To American Public

WASHINGTON, D.C., Feb. 2, 2005 – Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, today asked Sen. John F. Kerry to keep his word to the American public and sign a Standard Form 180 (SF 180), “Request Pertaining to Military Records.” On Sunday, Jan. 30, 2005, during an appearance on the NBC News show “Meet the Press,” moderator Tim Russert asked Sen. Kerry (three times) if he would sign an SF 180 and release all of his military records. On the third attempt Sen. Kerry answered Mr. Russert plainly:

MR. RUSSERT: Would you sign Form 180?

SEN. KERRY: Yes, I will.

In a letter hand delivered to Sen. Kerry’s Capitol Hill office, Judicial Watch asked him to execute the SF 180 immediately and thereby put to rest the controversies surrounding his service as a U.S. Navy officer.

Judicial Watch requested Aug. 2, 2004, release of Sen. Kerry’s military service records under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act. Navy Personnel Command withheld 31 pages of documents because Sen. Kerry refused to sign an SF 180, releasing them to the public. The records pertained to: “Personnel service jackets and service records; and correspondence and records in both automated and non-automated form concerning classification, assignment, distribution, promotion, advancement, performance, recruiting, retention, reenlistment, separation, training, education, morale, personal affairs, benefits, entitlements, discipline and administration of naval personnel.”

Much of the information concerning Sen. Kerry’s questionable awards for valor and allegations concerning his actions both on active duty and as an inactive Naval Reserve officer was detailed in the best-selling book Unfit for Command, by John E. O’Neill and Jerome R. Corsi, PhD.

“Sen. Kerry has yet to come clean with the American people,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “We hope he will finally keep his promise to release his military records.”

[To read the "Meet the Press" transcript, click here. To view the letter from Judicial Watch, click here (for html version, click here).]

Judicial Watch is a non-partisan, educational foundation that advocates transparency, integrity and accountability in all aspects of government, politics and the law.

COMPLAINT FILED AGAINST JOHN KERRY

2005-03-03T14:07:00.000-04:00

WITH FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION OVER LOAN AND REPORTING VIOLATIONS

John Kerry for President, Inc. Failed to Report Contribution of Mrs. Teresa Heinz Kerry

(Washington, DC) Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) against John Kerry for President, Inc. for failing to report a campaign contribution that appears to be in excess of legal limits.

A review of the reports John Kerry for President, Inc. (the Committee) submitted to the FEC indicates that the Committee received $850,000 in unsecured loans from the candidate, including $100,000 identified as personal funds. The Committee also reports receiving $5,539,965.80 from the candidate in proceeds from secured loans.

A loan guarantor is considered a contributor, subject to campaign contribution limits, until the loan is repaid. (See: 11 C.F.R. 100.52.) This regulation applies to a spouse as well as any other related or unrelated individual. A Boston Herald news article published on February 25, 2004, reports that the official City of Boston property assessment value of the home John Kerry shares with his wife is $6.6 million as of January 1, 2003. The Committee received $5,539,965.80 in loans secured at least in part by the value of the Kerry family home, of which Mr. Kerry could at best have an undivided interest of approximately $3.3 million, depending on the form in which the property is held.

This evidence suggests the Committee failed to report a campaign contribution from Mr. Kerry�s spouse, Mrs. Teresa Heinz Kerry, to the extent that her property rights in the Kerry family home or any other jointly held property are pledged as collateral for any or all of the secured loans received by the Committee. It also suggests that her contribution is in excess of the $2,000 maximum aggregate campaign allowed by law.

Quite simply, Senator Kerry's loan raises questions and the FEC needs to investigate, stated Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.

A copy of the complaint is available by clicking here (Adobe Acrobate Reader Required)

Applause in the Airport?

2005-03-03T10:45:00.000-04:00

Beyond the Beer Commercial

By Matt Friedeman, PhD
February 10, 2005

(AgapePress) - Rick from Winona, Mississippi, called my state-wide talk radio program this week. Sometimes, you get a phone call that ought to be read in the broader market.

On the program that day we were discussing the report that some Europeans were disgusted with the Super Bowl commercial of American soldiers getting applause in an airport. The critics thought it too extreme in its patriotism and a possible incitement to further war.

At any rate, Rick (he asked us not to use his full name) called to talk about his experience coming back recently from the fields of war. His words (and they are worth your time reading, only lightly edited):

"I heard you talking about the Super Bowl commercial. I'm a Marine, a re-con Marine. I just got back from overseas, the second week of December, actually. I was injured overseas, so that's why I'm home now.

"But the whole time I was [there, in recovery] we watched the news to see what's going on. And we saw the protests, and we saw what the media was saying about what's going on, and we were worried about what we were actually going to face when we came home. We didn't know what to expect, to be honest with you. From the news media we were seeing, the whole country was basically telling us we're a bunch of jerks.

"I thank God that the troops that are there don't see the news coverage. I thank God every day, because there'd be ten times the number getting killed, just because it would so un-motivate [sic] them.

"Back to the story: there were seven other soldiers that came home with me that day. We flew into JFK, and we were talking on the way back: What's going to happen? What will we be facing? Is it going to be like the Vietnam era, are there going to be people spitting at us?

"We didn't know. We had that much trepidation about it.

"We get into JFK, we step out of the breezeway into the main terminal, and directly in front of us was an elderly gentleman carrying a bag. And he immediately stopped, set his bag down, and the first thing we all thought was, 'Oh, Lord, here we go already.' He just stopped and looked at us for a second, and then tears came to his eyes and he saluted us.

"And -- I'm breaking up now [editor's note: with tears] -- every one of us just started crying like babies. Everybody in the terminal -- I kid you not, at least two to three hundred people -- just started clapping, spontaneously. To me, it was so much worth what we were doing, to realize that people over here actually get what we were doing. We weren't over there because it's fun. We're over there doing a job.

"When I saw the Super Bowl commercial, I just started bawling like a baby again because that was something totally unexpected. We had no idea that people actually appreciated what we're doing, from what we see on the news. We thought we were going to come back and get eggs thrown at us. It was so refreshing to know that what we were seeing on the news is just a bunch of garbage that's being concocted by the media, that 99.9 percent of the country doesn't believe that way.

"I have a couple of more months of recovery. I got hit with a concussion and have some internal damage, but I'm feeling up, doing well, and hopefully I can get back over there with my boys."

It caused some tears in this talk show host's eyes to know there were tears in his. Appreciation, smiles, handclaps -- they can go a long way when a nation is at war, regardless of what the media and some Europeans might think.

From Alaa, an Iraqi blogger

2005-03-01T16:29:00.000-04:00

"Finally, we heard the speech of President Bush Loud and clear. He, and the American people and their British and other valiant allies have much to do with this event. All I can say is that this man has all the essential traits of character that distinguishes the great men of history; the insistence and utter conviction and the perseverance and steadfastness in the face of all doubters and detractors. This was no ordinary election, and it was not simply to elect a constituent assembly. It was the answer of the people, what they really thought about the liberation, what they really thought of the ideas preached by the president. This was a message by the Iraqi people to the American people and their great president. It was the heart of Iraq answering the heart of America that voted to give the President the mandate to finish the task; it was the answer that the common people of Iraq gave by braving danger and exposing their life and that of their children and families to death, this was their way to make their voice heard.

Well, thank you Mr. President, we heard you; and I am sure you also heard us."

I TOLD YOU SO

2005-02-25T01:52:00.000-04:00

I'd just like to remind you all that I TOLD YOU SO. Remember when I said this?

Sunday, September 19, 2004

Stock Tip of the Day:
The art of picking a winning stock is a very fickle thing, however, there are some rules of thumb that can help avoid the common mistakes. One of those is doing a little research to check how much stock the board of directors and the CEO personaly own. If the people running the company are dumping stock, a reasonable person may conclude there is trouble on the horizon.

So I was walking through the financials today and low and behold what do I see? Viacom's chairman and CEO dumps stock, no doubt in response to the memo I sent him (in 14 pt Times New Roman) telling him my plans to boycott all viacom companies and C-BS sponsers.

Now I'm not an expert, I havn't got a clue what I am talking about and I am in fact anti-Viacom biased but none the less you should take my advice and dump every single share of Viacom sooner than soon.

No insider trading here. No Siree.

Uhhuh so today I read this.. (click here for the whole article)

Viacom's already depressed stock fell 73 cents, or 2 percent, to $35.44 this afternoon on the New York Stock Exchange. The $18.4 billion net loss translated to $10.99 a share. In the comparable quarter of 2003, Viacom posted a net loss of $385.4 million, or 22 cents a share.

Check back for the next Pajama Journal Stock Tip. They are obviously worth waiting for.

Swiftvet author threatened with lawsuit

2005-02-25T01:45:00.000-04:00

Kerry fund-raiser angered by new book on nuclear Iran

Posted: February 23, 2005
9:19 p.m. Eastern

By Art Moore
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

Picking up where he left off with best-seller "Unfit for Command," author Jerome Corsi once again is entering a maelstrom with the impending publication of a book that blows the whistle on U.S. politicians and activists allegedly on the take from Iran's radical Islamic regime.

New York Daily News columnist Lloyd Grove plans to report tomorrow that Iranian-American activist Hassan Nemazee, a figure Corsi criticizes in his upcoming WND Books title "Atomic Iran: How the Terrorist Regime Bought the Bomb and American Politicians," has threatened the author with a $10 million defamation lawsuit.

Corsi, a WND columnist, was the co-author with John O'Neill of "Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry," regarded by many political analysts as a crucial factor in the 2004 election after it reached the top of the New York Times list.

Nemazee is a New York investment banker and former board member of the pro-Tehran lobby American-Iranian Council who served as Kerry's chief Iranian-American fund-raiser during the recent presidential campaign.

Corsi, whose book is scheduled for a March release, told WorldNetDaily the multi-million-dollar threat does not concern him.

"Why so little?" is his response, Corsi said, pointing out one of his sources already has been sued by Nemazee for $10 million, Aryo Pirouznia, leader of the Student Movement Coordination Committee for Democracy in Iran.

"I'll say the same thing as I said to John Kerry – I'll send him the Federal Express package and save him the trouble," Corsi said.

REPUBLICANS, BLOGGERS AND GAYS, OH MY!

2005-02-25T00:05:00.000-04:00

by Ann Coulter
February 23, 2005

In response to the public disgrace and ruin of New York Times editor Howell Raines, CBS anchor Dan Rather and CNN news director Eason Jordan, liberals are directing their fury at the blogs. Once derided as people sitting around their living rooms in pajamas, now obscure writers for unknown Web sites are coming under more intensive background checks than CIA agents.

The heretofore-unknown Jeff Gannon of the heretofore-unknown "Talon News" service was caught red-handed asking friendly questions at a White House press briefing. Now the media is hot on the trail of a gay escort service that Gannon may have run some years ago. Are we supposed to like gay people now, or hate them? Is there a Web site where I can go to and find out how the Democrats want me to feel about gay people on a moment-to-moment
basis?

Liberals keep rolling out a scrolling series of attacks on Gannon for their Two Minutes Hate, but all their other charges against him fall apart after three seconds of scrutiny. Gannon's only offense is that he may be gay.

First, liberals claimed Gannon was a White House plant who received a press pass so that he could ask softball questions — a perk reserved for New York Times reporters during the Clinton years. Their proof was that while "real" journalists (like Jayson Blair) were being denied press passes, Gannon had one, even though he writes for a Web site that no one has ever heard of — but still big enough to be a target of liberal hatred! (By the way, if writing for a news organization with no viewers is grounds for being denied a press pass, why do MSNBC reporters have them?)

On the op-ed page of The New York Times, Maureen Dowd openly lied about the press pass, saying: "I was rejected for a White House press pass at the start of the Bush administration, but someone with an alias, a tax evasion problem and Internet pictures where he posed like the 'Barberini Faun' is credentialed?"

Press passes can't be that hard to come by if the White House allows that old Arab Helen Thomas to sit within yards of the president. Still, it would be suspicious if Dowd were denied a press pass while someone from "Talon News" got one, even if he is a better reporter.

But Dowd was talking about two different passes without telling her readers (a process now known in journalism schools as "Dowdification"). Gannon didn't have a permanent pass; he had only a daily pass. Almost anyone can get a daily pass — even famed Times fantasist Maureen Dowd could have gotten one of those. A daily pass and a permanent pass are altogether different animals. The entire linchpin of Dowd's column was a lie. (And I'm sure the Times' public editor will get right on Dowd's deception.)

Finally, liberals expressed shock and dismay that Gannon's real name is "James Guckert." On MSNBC's "Hardball," Chris Matthews introduced the Gannon scandal this way: "Coming up, how did a fake news reporter from a right-wing Web site get inside the White House press briefings and presidential news conferences?"

Reporter David Shuster then gave a report on "the phony alias Guckert used to play journalist" — as opposed to the real name Shuster uses to play journalist. (You can tell Schuster is a crackerjack journalist because he uses phrases like "phony alias.") With all the subtlety of a gay-bashing skinhead, Matthews spent the rest of the segment seeing how many times he could smear Gannon by mentioning "HotMilitaryStuds.com" and laughing.

Any day now, Matthews will devote entire shows to exposing Larry Zeigler, Gerald Riviera and Michael Weiner — aka Larry King, Geraldo Rivera and Matthews' former MSNBC colleague Michael Savage. As a newspaper reporter, Wolf Blitzer has written under the names Ze'ev Blitzer and Ze'ev Barak. The greatest essayist of modern times was Eric Blair, aka George Orwell. The worst essayist of modern times is "TRB" of The New Republic.

Air America radio host and "Nanny" impersonator "Randi Rhodes" goes by a fake name, and she won't even tell people what her real last name is. (She says for "privacy reasons." That name must be a real doozy.) As Insideradio.com describes Rhodes, she refuses "to withhold anything from her listeners" and says conservatives "are less likely to share such things." How about sharing your name, Randi? We promise not to laugh.

Democrats in Congress actually demanded that an independent prosecutor investigate how Gannon got into White House press conferences while writing under an invented name. How did Gary Hartpence, Billy Blythe and John Kohn (Gary Hart, Bill Clinton and John Kerry) run for president under invented names? Admittedly, these men were not reporters for the prestigious "Talon News" service; they were merely Democrats running for president.

Liberals keep telling us the media isn't liberal, but in order to retaliate for the decimation of major news organizations like The New York Times, CBS News and CNN, all they can do is produce the scalp of an obscure writer for an unknown conservative Web page. And unlike Raines, Rather and Jordan, they can't even get Gannon for incompetence on the job. (Also unlike Raines, Rather and Jordan, Gannon has appeared on TV and given a series of creditable interviews in his own defense, proving our gays are more macho than their straights.)

Gannon didn't write about gays. No "hypocrisy" is being exposed. Liberals' hateful, frothing-at-the-mouth campaign against Gannon consists solely of their claim that he is gay.

A Letter From Terri Schiavo's Father

2005-02-24T13:17:00.000-04:00

Help Save My Daughter From Starvation!

By now you have probably heard about a young woman who is threatened with starvation in Florida.

That young woman is my daughter, Terri. In 1990, through circumstances which are shrouded in mystery (and may involve a criminal act by Terri's estranged husband), my daughter was left severely brain-damaged.

But before I go any further, I must put an end to the lies and misinformation that are circulating around the country through the media concerning my daughter's condition.

Contrary to anything you may have heard, Terri is NOT brain dead; Terri is NOT in a coma; she is NOT in a "persistent vegetative state;" nor is she on ANY life-support system.

Terri Schiavo responds
to her mother's touch

Terri laughs, Terri cries, she moves, and she makes child-like attempts at speech with her mother and me. Sometimes she will say "Mom" or "Dad" or "yeah" when we ask her a question. When I kiss her hello or goodbye, she looks at me and "puckers up" her lips.

This may not seem like much to you, but it means everything to Terri's mother and me. It tells us she is still here, she still knows us, and with therapy and time she can have some level of recovery.

I know that there are some hard hearted people who believe that due to my daughters condition, she is better off dead. Words cannot describe the pain and anger such sentiments cause us. This is our daughter, our little girl, and even in her disabled condition, she still has the right to life and the right to be loved and cared for by her family.

Why, you may ask, is Terry in danger of death by starvation?

It is a long and outrageous story, but I'll give it to you as briefly as I can.

After the "incident" that left Terry in this condition, her husband Michael Schiavo sued various members of the medical community for money, saying that they did not treat or diagnose her properly at an early stage, and that he needed this money to provide for Terri's therapy and rehabilitation and care.

After lengthy court battles, he finally won upwards of $1.7 million under the guise of caring for our daughter, and then to our horror, he immediately began spending the money on himself and his Playboy lifestyle.

Terri's estranged husband Michael Schiavo has been living with another woman for years, and has two children by her. He is determined to see Terri dead. Why? We believe it's because he gets to keep whatever money is left... and he may have even darker motives than that.

To add insult to all of this injury toward my daughter, Michael Schiavo is still her "legal husband" and therefore is her "guardian." And since they are not legally divorced, he controls whatever health care she will and will not get. We are not even allowed to know if she is getting aspirin.

In 1993 my family initiated litigation against Michael Schiavo solely for the purpose of acquiring medical, physical and neurological assistance for our daughter Terri. The litigation escalated in 1998 when Michael Schiavo petitioned the court to stop Terri from receiving food and water, thereby starving her to death.

In filing this legal action, he retained the services of a high profile euthanasia attorney and the financial backing of powerful euthanasia organizations. He also used Terri's medical rehabilitation money to underwrite much of the legal expenses associated with his effort to starve our daughter to death.

We know that he has spent nearly $500,000 of Terri's money in attorney's fees for just one attorney trying to obtain a court order to have Terri starved to death. The very money that was supposed to be used for Terri's rehabilitation is being used to have her killed.

We very quickly discovered it was impossible for us to compete with the abundance of financial and legal resources the pro-death organizations were providing Micheal Schiavo in their effort to kill Terri. They are pouring time and effort into her starvation because they want to use this case to further the agenda of legalized euthanasia.

My wife and I are not wealthy people. Throughout those years, we did not have any large organizations trying to help rescue our daughter. Consequently, we had to rely on the generosity of attorneys who were willing to offer their legal expertise at no cost or at reduced fees.

The bottom line is that we are in the final weeks or months of our struggle to rescue our daughter from an untimely death by starvation. Death by starvation is very slow, and extremely painful. As you must know, it is against the law to deliberately starve an animal to death. There are members of the Florida court who would not treat a dog the way they plan to treat my daughter.

At this point we must pull out all the stops in our fight to rescue our daughter.

As parents, we are desperate to save our daughter's life. As people who love life, we are determined to deprive the euthanasia advocates of successfully legalizing this form of homicide. We believe that their efforts to kill Terri are designed to set a precedent for the future eradication of defenseless disabled human beings. I was alive when Americans fought the Nazis; I do not want my daughter to meet the same fate of thousands of disabled people in Nazi Germany, and I do not want our country to go down that same dark path.

Friend, though we have never met, I'm asking you for your help. We desperately need your financial assistance to help our family continue the battle to keep our daughter from being starved to death. There are so many expenses in a case like this it is mind-boggling and overwhelming. Please click below to make a contribution now:

https://secure.cartlight.com/merchant/terri/?afid=maxb

Our adversaries believe that by our family's financial attrition and difficulties, they will attain their objective of killing our daughter. Presently, Terri's starvation may only be a few weeks away, unless we find the financial resources to prevent this atrocity from becoming a reality.

I implore you to please help us. We are writing to you, because we believe you have a heart for justice and mercy. I'm asking you to put yourself in my shoes, and then do whatever you can to help our family. Whether it is $10 or $1000, we are desperate for the resources to fight this battle for our daughter's life at this critical juncture.

Please do whatever you can, and forward this e-mail to any friends or family that you have who you think might be interested in saving Terri's life.

I thank you for your time, your concern, and I solicit your prayers for Terri and our entire family. These have been very trying times for us all.

Sincerely,

Bob Schindler Sr.

GO HERE TO CONTRIBUTE NOW!

To submit a donation by check, please make check payable to "Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation" and send to:

The Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation
c/o NewsMax
P.O. Box 20989
West Palm Beach FL, 33416

Iraqis, on Voting

2005-01-30T10:54:00.000-04:00

Baghdad's mayor was overcome with emotion by the turnout of voters at City Hall, where he said thousands were celebrating.

"I cannot describe what I am seeing. It is incredible. This is a vote for the future, for the children, for the rule of law, for humanity, for love," Alaa al-Tamimi told Reuters.

From Reuters

I walked forward to my station, cast my vote and then headed to the box, where I wanted to stand as long as I could, then I moved to mark my finger with ink, I dipped it deep as if I was poking the eyes of all the world's tyrants.

I put the paper in the box and with it, there were tears that I couldn't hold; I was trembling with joy and I felt like I wanted to hug the box but the supervisor smiled at me and said "brother, would you please move ahead, the people are waiting for their turn".

from Omar at Iraqthemodel.com

The man replacing the mayor of Baghdad — who was assassinated for his pro-American loyalties — says he is not worried about his ties to Washington.
In fact, he'd like to erect a monument to honor President Bush in the middle of the city.
"We will build a statue for Bush," said Ali Fadel, the former provincial council chairman. "He is the symbol of freedom."

from The NY Post

Have you ever seen anything like this? Iraq will be O.K. with so many brave people, it will certainly O.K.; I can say no more just now; I am just filled with pride and moved beyond words.

from Alaa at The Mesopotamian

Our thanks go to George W Bush who will enter the history as the leader of the freedom and democracy in the recent history! He and his people are our friends for ever!

At this moment the voting closed and we will see the results then!

God bless Iraq and America.

from Hammorabi

It will be a day forever remembered. My voting was only a simple act, I went, I identified myself, got my finger stained, filled out a ballot, and dropped it in a box. It is not a complex or grand process to the eye, but it is one that I will forever remember and will recount to my children, and their children. And God willing it will be remembered through the ages.

from Husayn

They and the ING guys were so polite and gentle. I cast my vote and got out, not in a rush at all. This is my Eid and I felt like a king walking in his own kingdom. I saw the same look of confidence and satisfaction in the eyes of all people I met.

... I'm stil overwhelmed with thoughts and emotions that I don't know what to say more. The only things I can feel so strongly now are hope, excitement, pride and a strange internal peace. I have won my battle and I'm watching the whole Iraqis winning their battle too. I'll try to write to you later my friends.
A'ash Al Iraq, A'ashat America, A'ash Al Tahaluf. (Long live Iraq, long live America and long live the coalition)

from Ali

Prayer For Iraq

2005-01-29T13:00:00.000-04:00

Today a nation will be reborn,
please bless her people.

Today a nation will reject tyrany and oppression,
please protect her from evil.

Today a nation will defy terror,
please give her courage.

Today a nation will begin a long journey,
please give her resolve.

Today a nation will be free,
please, hold her up as an example to the world.

God Bless the People of Iraq.

Amen.

A Sign of The Times

2005-01-27T01:12:00.000-04:00

Holy Hillary

2005-01-22T23:53:00.000-04:00

from NewsMax.com

Holy Hillary: I Always Prayed

Borrowing a page from President Bush, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton told a Boston audience this week that prayer has always played a meaningful role in her life - though accounts from her days as a student radical suggest that's probably not true.

"I've always been a praying person," Clinton told a crowd of more than 500, including many religious leaders, at Boston's Fairmont Copley Plaza.

According to the Boston Globe, the newly religious former first lady "invoked God more than half a dozen times" as she urged society to accommodate religious people who "live out their faith in the public square."

Though she was raised as a Methodist, Clinton's open embrace of God, along with her insistence that she's "always been a praying person," has to come as a shock to those who remember her college days.

Back then, Clinton was far more likely to be seen reading, not the Bible, but the writings of Marx and Mao - and had close associations with unabashed Communists for whom the mere mention of religion was heresy.

One was Robert Treuhaft, who, as noted in the late Barbara Olson's Hillary biography "Hell to Pay," had "dedicated his entire legal career to advancing the agenda of the Soviet Communist Party."

In 1972 Treuhaft offered the future Senator a summer internship at California's Berkeley University. Clinton accepted, immersing herself in Truehaft's brand of radical Stalinism. When she returned she was, according to Olson, "a budding Leninist."

If Sen. Clinton was "a praying person" back then, she must have kept it well concealed from her radical mentors.

Stolen Gems

2005-01-17T22:06:00.000-04:00

I am stealing this from Everything I Know is Wrong who stole it from TKS (formerly The Kerry Spot)... well, because it's good and I'm feeling lazy.

Dan Rather: All Hat - No Cattle

Jim Geraghty, at TKS, pins Dan Rather to a board like a butterfly. Jim is so right I... stole the whole thing.

TKS
You'll see more on this subject in the future on NRO, but for now, a few sentences of summary: How revealing is it that Dan Rather — the face of CBS News, widely described as "a newsman's newsman" — was not at the anchor desk the day the report is released, and the next day issued only a brief statement to his coworkers?

What does it say that this man, the embodiment of a generation in television journalism, chose to not do a press conference, and wasn't willing to sit down for a hard-hitting interview? So far, he has clammed up and avoided the press like… well, like the corporate or government officials who are usually the targets of “60 Minutes” investigations.

Keep this in mind when Rather retires in March, and commentators fall all over themselves offering gushing praise for his character, his toughness, his guts, and his sense of honor.

TKS is the new name for The Kerry Spot, and it's still one of the best political blogs going.

From Iraq The Model

2005-01-07T20:16:00.000-04:00

A translated report about an election poll from Al-sabah.

Thanks to Ladybird for the translation.
Actually I've heard about this poll few days ago but couldn't have the time to translate it.
The headlines of this poll were:

The poll was of 4974 Iraqis living in and around Baghdad.

Will the security problems cause you to?
Not come out and vote the day of elections = 18.3%
Come out and vote the day of elections = 78.3%
No opinion = 3.4%

Do you support military action against the terrorists?
Yes = 87.7 %
No = 11.1%
Don’t Know = 1.2%

If these were the results that appeared after taking samples from in and around Baghdad which is considered to be the most dangerous area in the country (and inhabited by lots of Sunni Iraqis by the way!), then what would the results look like if the samples were taken from Basra or Erbil??

- posted by Omar @ 01:14

Hillary's Campaign Finance Director Indicted

2005-01-07T19:53:00.000-04:00

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's former finance director in hot water. Hillory puts on her best shocked look.

David Rosen's indictment was unsealed in Los Angeles today. The charges charges of causing false campaign finance reports to be filed with the Federal Election Commission focus on his fund-raising for an Clinton gala in LA in August of 2000. Hillary was first lady at the time.

more

Stealing Thanksgiving

2005-01-05T13:10:00.000-04:00

Where did turkeys go?

Gleaners asks if Conyers' staff helped needy people

January 5, 2005

BY JOEL THURTELL
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

The director of a Detroit food bank wants to know what happened to 60 turkeys -- 720 pounds of frozen birds -- that his charity gave to members of U.S. Rep. John Conyers' local staff two days before Thanksgiving to give to needy people.

Conyers' Detroit office promised an accounting of any turkey distribution by Dec. 27, but the Gleaners Community Food Bank had received no paperwork as of Tuesday, said the charity's director, Agostinho Fernandes.

Fernandes said he became suspicious that the turkeys didn't get to poor people after hearing from a friend that a federal court worker had said he was offered free turkeys from a member of Conyers' staff.

more..

What are Kerry aids saying these days?

2005-01-03T13:55:00.000-04:00

"Did he whine?" was the first question one senior Kerry aide asked of the NEWSWEEK reporter who had recently been to see Kerry.

"He thinks he's the front runner for '08 without recognizing that he needs to do some soul-searching. If he wants to come back, he'll have to come back as a different candidate, not the stiff who plays it safe and takes four sides of every issue." - A member of Kerry's foreign-policy team.

It's My Party Too - Review

2005-01-03T13:26:00.000-04:00

Kimmymac's view on the latest Bush bash book.

"It's my party too, wah wah wah, and I can cry if I want to, boo hoo" Ye GADS! Not another cry baby loser? Is there no end to it? Who said "moderates" can't be part of the Rep party? No one is kicking them out. It is a fact, however, that the heart, soul, and energy of the Republican party has always come from the conservatives. Anytime the GOP nominated "moderates" they lost. Need examples? Dole. Ford.

I am sure there are many others. Look, Todd-Whitman can go screw herself. I am sick of the whining. They don't like where the party is headed? Then work the system, just like we beleaquered conservatives have done since Goldwater's defeat in '64. If the middle of the road ideologists have the strength of their convictions, let them get out there and work at the grass roots like conservatives did. Let them get off their duffs and come out of their ivory towers and work the phones, walk the precincts, stand up and speak at meetings. Otherwise: Let them shut the hell up, and not use their former position (one that was given to Whitman-Todd by Bush, who was trying to reach out to the Moderate republican btw) to write kiss and tell books the media lap dogs will lick up. It is as predictable as the sun coming up in the east tomorrow morning.

Reagan's nomination and election in '80 were hard fought victories, and I still, all these years later, savor the sweetness of them. I was just a 19 year old kid back then, but I knew the Rockefeller reps had to go; they were no-where, and stood for no-thing. Moderates=middle-of-the-road. Middle-of-the-road = road-kill. Conservatives wrested control of the party away from the Eastern establishment republicans (like Bush 1, actually) then, and I am not about to give back the GOP to them.

Hey! Whitman-Todd! You two-faced, back- stabbing wench! Call me! Let's talk! We can discuss how your traitorous actions will lead to a McCain/Whitman ticket, and I'll help deliver the Texas GOP conservatives to your fold. NOT! Bwa ha ha!

One thing Mzzzzz Whitman-Todd needs to remember: Conservatives have long memories. Most of us are students of history, after all--that's why we are conservatives. That, plus a real stubborn streak, leads itself to real problems for the pro-abortion, pro-activist judges, anti-business "moderate" wing of the GOP.

Go join the Dem party, Whitman-Todd--you have the whining part down cold.

Her subtle and diplomatic manor gives me warm fuzzies. I <3 u Kimmy!

Stingy Americans Send Husbands, Fathers, Brothers and Sons to help tsunami victims.

2005-01-03T01:04:00.000-04:00

From Stars and Stripes
U.S. military hauling food, water, clothing, manpower to Southeast Asia

By Vince Little, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Saturday-Sunday, January 1-2, 2005

Greg Tyler / S&S
Sailors from the USS Fort McHenry load boxes of goods that were donated by the base community for victims of the killer tsunamis in Southeast Asia onto the ship Thursday at Sasebo Naval Base, Japan. Anticipating the departure of the Fort McHenry for the affected areas Friday, the base community donated eight pallets of goods for the relief effort.

Greg Tyler / S&S
Sasebo Naval Base's Religious Ministries Department donated a van full of goods for victims of the killer tsunamis in Southeast Asia. The boxes were delivered to the USS Fort McHenry.

Bennie J. Davis III / Courtesy of U.S. Air Force
Airman 1st Class William C. Glidewell of the 613th Security Forces Squadron, 613th Contingency Response Group from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, receives a mandatory flu vaccination before boarding a KC-135 headed for Utaphao, Thailand, as part of a 52-member team in support of the relief efforts in southern Asia.

Bennie J. Davis III / Courtesy of U.S. Air Force
Col. Rod Gregory of 13th Air Force, Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, watches as the last load of cargo is loaded aboard a KC-135 headed for Utaphao, Thailand, along with a 52-member team in support of the relief efforts in southern Asia.

Greg Tyler / S&S
A sailor from the USS Fort McHenry loads boxes of goods donated by the base community onto the ship Thursday at Sasebo Naval Base, Japan.

Aid by the pound

Donated items from Sasebo include five tri-walls of clothing and three plastic-wrapped pallets containing almost 3,300 lbs. of food. The pallets of food include:

¶ 180 lbs. of dry milk.

¶ 717 lbs. of fruit cocktail.

¶ 405 lbs. of diced peaches.

¶ 125 lbs. of assorted crackers.

¶ 173 lbs. of assorted granola bars.

¶ 1,342 lbs. of instant white grits.

¶ 144 lbs. of prepared dried coconut.

¶ 165 lbs. of peanut butter.

— Stars and Stripes

U.S. military officials in the Pacific continued pouring resources into Southeast Asia on Thursday, preparing for large-scale humanitarian and relief operations in the 11 countries rocked by last weekend’s massive earthquake and ferocious tsunami.

Army Lt. Col. Vi Strong, a Pacific Command spokeswoman, said three disaster-relief assessment teams and a forward command element are on the ground in Utapao, Thailand.

Aid packages were unloaded Thursday from six C-130s that flew in from Yokota Air Base, Japan. KC-135 aircraft from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, and Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, also arrived in Thailand and Sri Lanka, carrying assessment teams and material needed to establish the command, control and communication structure for Joint Task Force 536, which is being headed by Lt. Gen. Robert R. Blackman, commander of the Okinawa-based III Marine Expeditionary Force.

A Marine spokeswoman on Okinawa said a schedule for sending additional personnel to the disaster areas would not be set until the advance teams that departed earlier this week report back.

A disaster-relief assessment team also will gauge the situation in Indonesia, Strong said.

“Now that the forward element is there, we have an opportunity to see what is required,” she said. “Then, I think we’ll have a better handle on which way to go — and how to best use our resources.

“We’re still determining what is most needed. We’re doing the immediate things, taking care of basic human needs. In the days to come, I’m sure there’ll be a lot more things to be identified that we can help with.”

The gruesome aftermath of last Sunday’s devastation has been staggering, with more than 114,000 confirmed dead in the region. More than half a million people reportedly were injured.

The U.S. military’s response has come from all parts of the Pacific. It’s part of a widespread relief campaign that includes the State Department, U.S. Agency for International Development, host nations and various humanitarian relief agencies — all pitching in to identify requirements and coordinate assistance efforts.

On Friday, the USS Fort McHenry was slated to leave Sasebo Naval Base, Japan, while Yokota Air Base officials also planned to dispatch additional troops and supplies for the disaster-relief effort. Air Force 1st Lt. Warren Comer, a 374th Airlift Wing spokesman, said Yokota’s “ongoing operation [would] continue into the foreseeable future.”

The anticipated departure of the Fort McHenry, an amphibious dock landing ship, led Sasebo residents to fill eight pallets with donations, which were brought to the ship Thursday morning.

“Fort McHenry is prepared and ready to provide humanitarian assistance to the disaster-relief effort ongoing,” said Capt. Alan R. Moore, deputy commander of Commander, Task Force 76.

Representatives of Sasebo organizations involved with the collection of relief items said the Fort McHenry was set to leave Friday for Thailand. However, Navy officials would not confirm a date for the ship’s departure or say where it will operate after arriving.

“Amphibious ships, such as the Fort McHenry … are uniquely compatible for such missions, and regularly train to react to humanitarian assistance,” Moore said.

In early December, the Fort McHenry participated in humanitarian-relief efforts for victims of violent storms and mudslides in the Philippines, along with more than 600 Marines, sailors and airmen from Okinawa. The ship returned to Sasebo on Dec. 23.

Community contributions added to the Fort McHenry on Thursday include more than 10,000 pounds of clothing and food, according to Jerry Havens, Sasebo Navy League Council president.

Cmdr. Harvey Ranard, Sasebo’s command chaplain, thanked base leaders for their “thoughtfulness … and for the work in staging the supplies for transport.”

“May our prayers be that these supplies touch both the hands and hearts of those who need them the most,” he said.

At Kadena, two KC-135 Stratotankers took off early Thursday for Utapao with six pallets each of water and Meals, Ready to Eat, said Maj. Mike Paoli, an 18th Wing spokesman.

“Also, a C-130 Hercules from Yokota left here about 9:30 a.m. loaded with heavy equipment,” Paoli said. A third KC-135 departed Okinawa on a refueling mission.

Andersen officials planned no additional troop movements Thursday after sending 52 airmen to Thailand a day earlier as part of the Air Expeditionary Task Force, the Air Force component of Joint Task Force 536.

“They’re getting things set up to begin airlift operations,” said Tech. Sgt. Bryan Gatewood, a 36th Air Expeditionary Wing spokesman at Andersen. “We’re always ready to go and assist if we’re called upon, but I haven’t heard anything more going on just yet.

“Our main goal is to be as expedient as we can to help lessen the suffering of the people over there. We want to help marshal the cargo coming in to make sure the supplies are getting to the right spots.”

Prior to the deployment, Andersen servicemembers were briefed about mission conduct and the grave situation that awaited them in earthquake and tsunami-ravaged areas, according to the Pacific Daily News. Maj. Greg Woodbury, an Andersen chaplain, tried to prepare the group.

“It’s hard to deal with the death and destruction. It breaks the people, and if you’re not prepared for it, it overwhelms you,” he told the paper. “The sights and smells stay with you forever.”

Misawa Air Base, Japan, had committed no assets to the humanitarian campaign on Thursday but officials said they awaited the call.

“Misawa Air Base stands ready to provide assistance to the affected region, but we haven’t received an execute order yet,” said 1st Lt. James Lage, a base spokesman.

Strong said six more Navy P-3 Orion aircraft from Kadena will be sent to Utapao in coming days. They’ll join the three already in Thailand to expand search-and-rescue efforts.

PACOM officials also have summoned eight maritime propositioning ships — large cargo vessels packed with food, fresh water and other relief supplies — to the impacted areas. They should arrive in a week to 10 days from Guam and Diego Garcia.

“These are commercial ships that have been leased to the Military Sealift Command,” Strong said, “and they serve as floating warehouses for our expeditionary forces.”

They can carry up to 450,000 gallons of fresh water and generate up to 90,000 gallons of potable water each day, she added. They also haul heavy transport and relief equipment such as bulldozers, generators, five-ton trucks, amphibious vehicles and Humvees.

Two forensic teams from the POW Account Command will arrive in Utapao this weekend, with additional units standing by. Strong said they’ll help in recovery and identification processes.

No lengths have been established for most of the deployments, officials said.

“U.S. forces will remain only as long as necessary in order for affected nations to conduct sustained disaster-relief operations on their own,” Strong said. “Our primary concern is to rapidly reduce the further loss of life and human suffering.”

The U.S. military’s disaster-relief campaign won’t adversely affect PACOM’s obligations in the global war on terrorism, she added.

“We’re structured to rapidly respond to any crisis around the globe,” Strong said.

Greg Tyler, David Allen and Jennifer H. Svan contributed to this report.

Mohammed's New Year Resolultions

2005-01-02T19:18:00.000-04:00

I've taken this from www.iraqthemodel.com because I think that Americans continue to forget how spoiled rotten and blessed we are. The Iraqi people are counting on us to see this thing through. How can any of us consider doing less?

Happy New Year.
I couldn't decorate my tree with lights
Because I don't have enough electricity to do that
I decorated it with candles…….and it looks more romantic this way

Yes, we still celebrate the arrival of a new year
And we still exchange hugs and wishes
And we still dream of a better new year
Sorry, pessimists, we didn't lose hope in Iraq yet
And we didn't decide to surrender
The churches still ring their bells and the car bombs couldn't stop my people from going there and hold their prayers
We just placed a block on the street
To stop the terrorists, not the visitors

A lady from New York asked me.
Do kids go to school in Iraq?
Yes ma'am; millions of them and every day
We still read and learn and we still hunger for knowledge

Yes we have our fears and who doesn't have fears
But our love for life is stronger
Yes we still hope that the coming year will be a better and a safer one
Yes we still care for others' pains and sufferings
And we feel sad for the world's disaster
Our concerns didn't stop us from praying for all the people of the world
Our coming year will be better, trust me
I see this crystal clear

We've placed signs of challenge in the streets instead of the New Year's decorations;

"DON'T WORRY ABOUT IRAQ….WE ARE THE SONS OF IRAQ AND WE WILL PROTECT IT"
"I WILL VOTE FOR A BETTER TOMORROW FOR MY CHILDREN"

We still dream of a democratic Iraq ruled by the law
And this is something we deserve…this is the land of the first law in history
I still find my home in Iraq… it's still the best place in the world in my eyes
I will not waste a minute listening to the pessimists
Instead, I will add a brick to the house we're building
And I will write a word….and pray

I will pray for the ones who fought for the Iraqi freedom
I will pray for the hundreds of thousands who won't spend the night with their families, staying awake on the front line to keep me safe
I will pray for the ones who gave their lives for the sake of others' wellbeing
I will pray for those who went through all the pains
And never lost hope
I will pray for a free and democratic Iraq
I will pray for the world's peace

Happy New Year.

Mohammed.

Socialized medicine, Michael Moore, Tsunami Victims, and the UN

2004-12-30T21:17:00.000-04:00

By: Kimmymac

Two areas I will touch on in this piece: the first being the planned Michael “The Blob” Moore’s planned expose crapumentary in the style of Farenfraud 9/11, this one a hit piece aimed at the health care industry. One can only assume it is being made in order to create the perceived need to socialize medicine in this country, thereby giving the next Democrat candidate for president an “issue” to run on, since “I hate Bush” will no longer be viable as an “issue” in 2008. I would remind my dear friends out there in cyber land that Hilary “Stand by my man, providing it is expedient to do so” Clinton’s big issue was socialized medicine.

The second issue is UN Jan (short for “Janice”) Hageland’s remarks that the US is “stingy” in our initial pledge of 35 million dollars in aid for the tsunami victims.

So, let’s look at these issues, somewhat in parallel, shall we?

In response to the tsunami disaster: Drug makers and medical companies are responding with shipments of medical supplies and cash donations. Pfizer Inc. announced plans to donate $10 million to local and international relief organizations, including Save the Children and the International Rescue Committee, and said it would contribute about $25 million of its health-care products to the relief efforts.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. is sending antibiotics and other supplies, in addition to a $100,000 donation through the American Red Cross.

Abbott Laboratories' charitable fund has donated supplies, including nutritional supplements, valued at $2 million, as well as an additional $2 million in cash.

Merck & Co. is making an initial cash donation of $250,000.

Johnson & Johnson, in addition to contributing $2 million in cash, will match employee donations to the Red Cross.

Greedy Americans. Evil big business. Selfish capitalists. How dare these companies make a profit on the products they develop and market? What gall! The government should be regulating them so profits are kept within government guidelines; why, any Socialist will tell you that is the only humane way to go...then maybe we could be like China, who is giving a *whopping* 2.6 Million. Yes. 2.6 Million. With an "M". I mean, what the hell--China profited 2.6 million this past Christmas shopping season alone, on junk sold through the Wal-Mart down the road from me.

I'm sorry...what did the Prune Danish over at the UN say about American stinginess?

And the drug companies are not the only businesses sending aid.

General Electric has given 1 million to the American Red Cross and another 100,000 dollars to UNICEF.

The retailer Amazon.com set up a solicitation on their home page. So far they have garnered 3.4 million dollars from a total of 54,000 donors.

Coca-Cola and Pepsi Co. have both sent thousands and thousands of cases of bottled water.

American owned airlines are giving free air transportation to aid workers.

Americans have so far contributed 18 million to the American Red Cross for tsunami relief, plus an additional 3.5 million to CARE USA. The ARC reports it is the largest outpouring of private donations since 9/11, when it was Americans helping Americans. Now Americans have once again opened their hearts and wallets for people half way around the world, never once considering that if the shoe were on the other foot it is highly doubtful they would respond in kind, even if they were able. Which they are not, because they are the victims first of European colonization, and then for much of that area at least, they are the self-made victims of ignorance--which always leads to poverty.

Except for leftists weasels, who seem to dodge the bullet of poverty by parasitically attaching themselves to host economies.

But I digress.

So, Jan “My name is not Janice, stop calling me that” Hageland, Internationalist Weasel Mouthpiece for the UN, and professional America basher at-large; do the math: I calculate that the partial list of private corporations and American citizens is more than any single donation of a European country.

Surprise, surprise.

NOT!

ACHOOOOOOOOO!

2004-12-30T15:45:00.000-04:00

They walked in tandem, each of the ninety-two students filing into the already crowded auditorium. With rich maroon gowns flowing and the traditional caps, they looked almost as grown up as they felt. Dads swallowed hard behind broad smiles, and moms freely brushed away
tears.

This class would not pray during the commencements ----- not by choice but because of a recent court ruling prohibiting it. The principal and several students were careful to stay within the guidelines allowed by the ruling. They gave inspirational and challenging speeches, but no one mentioned divine guidance and no one asked for blessings on the graduates or their families.

The speeches were nice, but they were routine.......until the final speech received a standing ovation.

A solitary student walked proudly to the microphone. He stood still and silent for just a moment, and then, it happened. All 92 students, every single one of them, suddenly SNEEZED!!!!

The student on stage simply looked at the audience and said, "GOD BLESS YOU, each and every one of you!" And he walked off stage.........

The audience exploded into applause. The graduating class found a unique way to invoke God's blessing on their future with or without the court's approval.

This story has been circulated by email but actually happened at the 2001 graduation ceremonies of Washington Community High School in Peoria, Illinois.

Moral of the story: When you feel like you need God's blessing, Sneeze.

2004: Highlights And Lowlifes

2004-12-30T14:01:00.000-04:00

Ann's POV... Who could not love this woman?

December 29, 2004

The single biggest event of 2004 was the Election Day exit poll, which, like John Steinbeck's "The Short Reign of Pippin IV," made John Kerry the president for a few moments. But in a move that stunned the experts, American voters chose "moral values" over an America-bashing trophy husband and his blow-dried, ambulance-chasing sidekick.

The second biggest event in 2004 came on Sunday, Dec. 26, when The New York Times referred to an organization as a "liberal research group." (I think it may have been the Communist Party USA, Trotskyite wing, but, still, it's progress.)

CBS eminence Dan Rather was driven off the air in disgrace after he tried to take down a sitting president by brandishing Microsoft Word documents he claimed were authentic Texas Air National Guard memos from the '70s. By liberals' own account, the pompous blowhard was exposed by people sitting around their living rooms in pajamas.

John Kerry's meal ticket, Teresa Heinz, continuously made remarks that were wildly inappropriate, such as when she strangely referred to the "seven-year itch" in relation to herself and John Kerry, creating at least three images I didn't want in my head. On the other hand, for any voters who considered the most important campaign issue to be whether the first lady was an earthy, condescending foreigner who had traveled extensively and spoke several languages, Teresa was a huge asset.

Surprisingly, Teresa never became a major campaign issue. It turned out that supporters of a phony war hero who preyed on rich widows were also OK with the notion of a first lady who might use the F-word during Rose Garden press conferences. By the same token, anyone who was put off by the not-so-affable Eva Peron of American politics already didn't like John Kerry -- thanks largely to John O'Neal and the Swiftboat Veterans.

Like the archers of Agincourt, John O'Neill and the 254 Swiftboat Veterans took down their own haughty Frenchman.

Meanwhile, San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom is nipping at O'Neal's heels as the man second-most responsible for Bush's re-election. Thanks largely to Newsom's hard work, gay marriage was big news all year.

In retrospect, the Democrats would have been better off if they had found every gay guy in America who actually wanted to get married and offered each one a million dollars in exchange for the Democrats not having to talk about gay marriage. (Finally -- a problem that could have been solved by throwing money at it!)

On the basis solely of media coverage, Abu Ghraib was the biggest story of 2004, maybe the biggest story ever. And for good reason: An American soldier was caught on film not only humiliating Iraqi prisoners -- but smoking!

The New York Times even had to drop its coverage of Augusta National Golf Course to give Abu Ghraib due prominence. Only the Rumsfeld autopen scandal was big enough to knock Abu Ghraib off the front page.

I personally haven't been so singularly disturbed by an atrocity since I had to sit through all of "The Matrix: Reloaded."

By contrast, the least important story -- again, judging by media coverage -- was the peculiar development of a Clintonite caught trying to get into his own pants. Sandy Berger was spotted by National Archives staff repeatedly stuffing top-secret documents into his undergarments in preparation for defending the Clinton administration's record on fighting terrorism before the 9/11 Commission. If you happened to take a long nap the day the Berger story broke, you would have missed it entirely.

On the bright side, The New York Times has adopted an all-new standard for covering the extramarital affairs of public figures. With no fanfare, the Times quickly abandoned its earlier position that a U.S. president molesting White House staff -- including while on the phone discussing sending troops into battle -- is not news. The new rule rolled out for Bernie Kerik makes extramarital affairs major front-page news deserving of nonstop coverage, even after the public figure has withdrawn his name from consideration for any government office.

American hero Pat Tillman won a Silver Star this year. But unlike Kerry, he did not write his own recommendation or live to throw his medals over the White House fence in an anti-war rally.

Tillman was an American original: virtuous, pure and masculine like only an American male can be. The stunningly handsome athlete walked away from a three-year, $3.6 million NFL contract with the Arizona Cardinals to join the U.S. military and fight in Afghanistan, where he was killed in April.

He wanted no publicity and granted no interviews about his decision to leave pro football in the prime of his career and join the Army Rangers. (Most perplexing to Democrats, he didn't even take a home movie camera to a war zone in order to create fake footage for future political campaigns in which he would constantly palaver about his military service and drag around his "Band of Brothers" for the media.)

Tillman gave only an indirect explanation for his decision on the day after 9/11, when he said: "My great grandfather was at Pearl Harbor, and a lot of my family has gone and fought in wars, and I really haven't done a damn thing as far as laying myself on the line like that." He said he wanted to "pay something back" to America.

He died bringing freedom and democracy to 28 million Afghans -- pretty much confirming Michael Moore's view of America as an imperialist cowboy predator. There is not another country in the world -- certainly not in continental Europe -- that could have produced a Pat Tillman.

On the anniversary of D-Day, as Americans like Pat Tillman risked their lives to liberate 50 million Iraqis and Afghans, in a year when Americans poured into theaters to see a movie about Christ and reaffirmed their support for moral values at the polling booth, America's greatest president died. Ronald Reagan appealed to what is best about America and so transformed the nation that we are now safe to carry on without him.

Susan "Pepe" Sontag dies at 71

2004-12-29T15:08:00.000-04:00

Eulogy by Kimmymac:

She died at Sloan-Kettering? Isn't that one of the leading CANCER hospitals of the "self-proclaimed super power" United States? Why didn't she go to pFrance and die in the Yasser Arafat/Uday Hussein wing? What's the matter? The treatment there not as good?

Are you telling me that the woman that declared the white race was a cancer died of....cancer?

Ooohhhh, the irony. God has quite the sense of humor. Remind me to pray I am never subject to it.

Maybe she poisoned herself. Maybe she was so full of vitriol her genes actually mutated. Hmmm....I wonder if I could get a couple of million dollars in grant money to study the correlation between weaselness and cancer in bitter white people...

I thought maybe she died at home; I figured she would be pfornicating with Michael Moore in her Manhattan loft, and he rolled over on her in his sleep. Now that! would be true suffering.

So long, Sontag. Good riddance. And hey! You even wear your hair like a weasel.

Who was she supposed to be, anyway? Frickin' Pepe Le Peu?

What's Next For John Kerry?

2004-12-26T17:44:00.000-04:00

Swift Boat Vets To Get Courage Award

2004-12-16T23:27:00.000-04:00

WASHINGTON — For one night only, it'll be spitballs and Swift Boats together on the same stage — a who's who of Sen. John Kerry bashing.

The American Conservative Union on Thursday announced it has tapped Sen. Zell Miller, D-Ga., to present the "Courage Under Fire" award to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth at the Conservative Political Action Conference's Feb. 16 banquet.

Miller and the group of Vietnam veterans were behind perhaps the campaign's two fiercest and most memorable attacks on Kerry's unsuccessful presidential bid.

Miller, who is retiring next month, scorched Kerry in a Republican National Convention keynote address in which he suggested the four-term Massachusetts Democrat had voted to cut so many weapons systems, it appeared he wanted to send the military to war with only spitballs.

The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ran ads after the Democratic convention questioning whether Kerry was in fact the decorated Vietnam War veteran that he claimed to be.

"The swift boat veterans performed an invaluable service to America," Miller said in a statement. "These veterans took a lot of undeserved criticism for daring to speak the truth."

Official military records and even statements from Swift Boat veterans in Navy documents raised questions about their largely unsubstantiated claims, but the political damage had been done. At a post-election forum Wednesday in Boston, Mary Beth Cahill, Kerry's campaign manager, said she regretted underestimating the impact of the Swift Boat ads.

Roy Hoffmann, the retired Navy rear admiral who founded the Swift Boat group, said he didn't know much about Miller but was pleased with the honor. The real goal, he said, was to ensure that Kerry didn't become commander in chief.

"We achieved our goal," Hoffmann said. "That was our primary concern, and we are pleased someone recognized the effort — or at least the impact — we had on the election."

Richard Lessner, executive director of the American Conservative Union, said Miller had spoken at a previous banquet and "lit up the crowd."

Democrats shrugged off the choices of both honorees and presenter.

"It seems fitting that a Republican in Democratic clothing is recognizing the work of Republican agents, namely the smears that the Swift Boat veterans launched against John Kerry," said Jano Cabrera, spokesman for the Democratic National Committee.

How Kerry whistleblower suffered for truth

2004-12-02T01:30:00.000-04:00

BY MARY LANEY

http://www.suntimes.com/output/laney/cst-edt-laney29.html

This is the story of a military veteran whistleblower. He spoke out against someone he thought was dangerous for the nation, talked to local newspapers, and appeared on talk shows. In return, he was vilified by reporters, threatened by a political operative, fired by his company, and now he's broke.

His name is Steve Gardner. He's also known as "The 10th Brother," as in Band of Brothers. He's one of two members of Sen. John Kerry's 12 Vietnam swift boat crew members who refused to stand with Kerry at the Democratic Convention. The other man remained silent.

"They said I had a political agenda. I had no and have no political agenda whatsoever. I saw John Kerry on television saying he was running for the Democratic nomination for president, and I knew I couldn't ever see him as commander in chief -- not after what I saw in Vietnam, not after the lies I heard him tell about what he says he did and what he says others did."

Gardner explains he was sitting at home in Clover, S.C., when he first saw Kerry on television. It was before the primary races. For 35 years, Gardner says, he hadn't talked about his tour of duty in Vietnam. But when he saw Kerry talking about running, he says he got up, called the newspaper in town, called radio stations and "talked to anyone I could about why this man should never be president." Eventually he got a call from Adm. Roy Huffman, who had been in charge of the coastal division in Vietnam, reunited with other swift boat veterans, and the rest is, as they say, history.

Gardner's story is one that bears telling. He volunteered for the Navy, enlisting on his 18th birthday in February 1966. After training, he was shipped to Vietnam and served for two years as a gunner in the swift boat division. His superior, for four months, was none other than Lt. j.g. John F. Kerry.

"I had confrontations with him there. He nearly got us rammed by the VC one night because he wasn't watching the helm. I heard the motor coming close, turned on the spotlight, and the boat was only 90 feet away, coming fast. The VC was aiming an AK47 at us. I shot him out of the boat. We pulled a woman and a baby off the boat. Kerry wrote it up that we captured two VC and killed four more on the beach. None of that was true. The only thing true on Kerry's report was the date. The woman was catatonic and wouldn't call her baby VC and there were no VC on the beach. If we had seen that report before Kerry sent it up the chain of command, he would have been court-martialed and never allowed to run for office. And that's just the San Pan incident. There was much more. He is a self-aggrandizing bold-faced liar. I believe he caused the extension of that war."

Gardner told this story and others to radio stations and he wrote a piece for the local paper. Then, he says, he received a phone call from John Hurley, the veterans organizer for Kerry's campaign. Hurley, Gardner says, asked him to come out for Kerry. He told Hurley to leave him alone and that he'd never be for Kerry. It was then Gardner says, he was threatened with, "You better watch your step. We can look into your finances."

Next, Gardner said he received a call from Douglas Brinkley, the author of Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War. Brinkley told Gardner he was calling only to "fact check" the book -- which was already in print. "I told him that the guy in the book is not the same guy I served with. I told him Kerry was a coward. He would patrol the middle of the river. The canals were dangerous. He wouldn't go there unless he had another boat pushing him."

Days later, Brinkley called again, warning Gardner to expect some calls. It seems Brinkley had used the "fact checking" conversation to write an inflammatory article about Gardner for Time.com. The article, implying that Gardner was politically motivated, appeared under the headline "The 10th Brother."

Twenty-four hours later, Gardner got an e-mail from his company, Millennium Information Services, informing him that his services would no longer be necessary. He was laid off in an e-mail -- by the same man who only days before had congratulated him for his exemplary work in a territory which covered North and South Carolina. The e-mail stated that his position was being eliminated. Since then, he's seen the company advertising for his old position. Gardner doesn't have the money to sue to get the job back.

"I'm broke. I've been hurt every way I can be hurt. I have no money in the bank but am doing little bits here and there to pay the bills," he said.

All the millions of dollars raised by Gardner and his fellow Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, and all the proceeds from John O'Neill's book, Unfit for Command, go to families of veterans, POWs and MIAs.

And, even though Gardner is broke and jobless for speaking out, the husband and father of three says he'd do it all over again. He says it wasn't for politics. It was for America.

More Bad News For John Kerry

2004-11-27T13:17:00.000-04:00

From NewsMax email service:

'Unfit for Command' Author Considers Challenging Kerry in Senate Race
John Kerry's nightmarish challenge by his Swift Boat veterans and their allies may not be over.

NewsMax recently chatted with Jerry Corsi, the co-author with Swiftee John O'Neill of "Unfit for Command" – the runaway New York Times best seller that torpedoed Kerry's presidential campaign.

Attending a conference in the suburbs of Washington recently, Corsi let it be known that he is actively considering a run against Sen. Kerry when his term is up.

Corsi is not a Massachusetts native, but says he has already scouted for property to declare his residence there.

He appeared excited about the challenge. Federal law allows him to declare his candidacy at any time and open up a full fusillade against the Senate's most liberal member.

Corsi thinks his criticisms of Kerry will be well received in the state that elected Republican Mitt Romney. Even Bush fared better in Massachusetts in 2004 against its home state candidate than he did against Gore in 2000.

Corsi also notes that his Italian-Irish ancestry will give him an edge in a state given to ethnic voting. Kerry is neither Irish nor Italian, Corsi notes.

As word has circulated about a possible candidacy, Corsi says he has been flooded with e-mails of support.

Corsi said he has read news reports that Kerry is considering a lawsuit against him, O'Neill and the Swift Boat Vets.

Presumably the suit would be for defamation. The New York Post's Page Six quoted a top aide to Kerry saying the senator would need to file such a suit if he has any prayer of making a presidential bid in 2008. Incredibly, Kerry is said to be considering such a run.

Corsi said he and O'Neill have discussed the possibility of the lawsuit, and both said they might offer to pay Kerry for the FedEx charges to serve them with any court papers.

"Quote me: Bring it on!" Corsi said with a chuckle.

Editor's Note:

Get your copy of "Unfit for Command" Freee! Go Here Now

Get the documentary "Stolen Honor" Freee! Go Here Now

An Iraqi's Thanksgiving Story

2004-11-26T13:31:00.000-04:00

This story really gave me chills and made me appreciate what we take for granted in the United States. It's a reminder of one thing we have to be thankful for stated by someone who hasn't yet learned to take it for granted.

A failed revolution.

In the past in Iraq (and till now in all arab and Muslim countries except for very few, and since Trotsky came up with his idea of the “Everlasting revolution”), any attempt to change the government or even part of it was considered as a “conspiracy against the revolution” and an act of treason that no one would imagine a more horrible crime and a worse punishment for.

In Iraq for a long time a revolution seemed to us to be the only way to overthrow Saddam and achieve our dreams in freedom, justice and democracy. There’s always something fascinating about revolution especially for people like us who suffered for a long time under a very brutal dictatorship. I used to watch the injustice that’s happening allover the world and the people’s silence about it and think that the only thing that’s going to save us is a wide revolution that spreads through Iraq to the neighboring countries, as the only thing the people of the advanced world seemed to be interested in was delivering fast aid to areas in most need for it, to make our suffering less terrible but not to deal with the primary cause that was continuously causing such crisis. It’s a noble and generous effort but it wasn’t enough, as we didn't want to just live, we wanted to live as human beings.

On the other hand the governments of the advanced countries were concerned only with their interests interfering only when those interests were threatened, while some governments openly and without feeling any shame supported these dictatorships even with knowing that they were participating greatly to our continuous suffering.

We thought we couldn’t and shouldn’t depend on anyone but ourselves. Many Iraqis fought Saddam and his regime with outstanding bravery even with understanding the horrible fate that was awaiting them and their families. Others, like us kept trying to gather support, encourage people to take a stand and educate them about their rights, that they should be the ones who decide the way their country is run. However in each time we tried to organize a larger group than just us and our closest friends, we failed to gather the support of more than 5-10 people.

Trusting others was almost impossible and very risky. We had to consider that we were not only risking our lives but also the lives of our family, close friends and relatives and the future of our relatives to the 4th degree! One of these days at Saddam’s time some friends were gathering in our house. We were just chatting and having fun. Our neighbor who is a Tikriti and worked for the intelligence knocked on the door and when I opened he asked me about the cars outside our house. I told him that these were our friends’. He said to me, “You know that gathering is against the law and if it wasn’t for the fact that you’re my neighbor and I respect your family, I would’ve sent you behind the sun. Be careful, as I understand but other people may not” He said it in a warning tone not as an advice!

However, one of these days we decided that we could never accept such life and decided to gather support and confront the government in a long awaited revolution no matter what happens. We were prepared for the worst and it seemed to me that my dream of becoming a true martyr was about to come true.

We contacted some friends and people who believed in the same principles we believe in and we told them about our plan. Some people didn’t like it but we still managed to gather more than 800 people who stated that they are not afraid of saying in public that they want to overthrow the government and do whatever it takes. We heard about other groups trying to do the same and we decide to unite our efforts with theirs but first we had to make the first step alone. The group chose me, my brother Mohammed and a friend of ours to go to the authorities and talk to them, as we were still hoping to do this peacefully without unnecessary bloodshed unless they refused. We knew of course that it might well lead to our death but then the rest of us would carry on using the hard way.

We reached the government main headquarter and entered without much difficulty. We went to one of these offices as we didn’t know were to go as this was our first time there. One of the government employees asked us what was our need. We said our prayers and told him that we want to change the regime. He asked us to wait until he call for the man in charge and I said to myself, “that’s it, they’re calling the Mukhabarat” the guy came back with another man who, after greeting us asked about our group. We handed him a file that contained our goals and a list of the people who supported us. He took it and told us to come back in 3 days after they study it.

“Study it!?” I said to myself “ they’re not going to hang us? Maybe they are letting the small fish to capture the large one?” anyway we went back and spent 3 difficult nights full of worries and nightmares.

On the 3d day we went back to the same place and another man was waiting for us, “are you a representative of this group” the man asked Mohammed, “no, I’m their leader” (man, that was brave of Mohammed! Now he’s gone and I won’t have the honor of being the first martyr in the group!).

“Pleasure to meet you Sir! Have a seat please” said the man to Mohammed and the rest of us with a broad smile. ( a trap! Ok so be it!) Our friend was encouraged by this gesture and asked for tea! They brought us tea and some cockies! (Maybe a last wish grant) After few minutes the guy looked into a computer and asked us about the name of our group. We told him the name and the guy said “Congratulations! Your demand has been approved and you’ll have a chance to layout your plans in public and if enough number of people agree with you, the current government would step down and let you among others take the lead”

“What!? These people are so easy! are they wimps or what? They can kill us just like that, and no one would dare to do anything about it. Alas! There won’t be any revolution and I won’t be a martyr!” such questions were on my mind as we left the place wondering why would someone who has all the power and control in his hands hand it to another one without a fight and without the slightest objection!

That was not a dream, it’s for real and it didn’t happen in the “free and independent” Iraq at Saddam’s time, it happened 3 days ago in “occupied Iraq”.

To summerize it and although many of you know that already but I would like to announce that the party we have formed, the Iraqi pro-democracy party is now officially registered and will have the chance to compete in the upcoming elections.

You can’t imagine the thrill and happiness I felt when I held the document that state that the “Iraqi pro-democracy party” is registered and Approved as a political entity that has the right to participate in the upcoming elections! This was a dream to us, and with the help and support we received from all our friends, the readers of this blog, the dream has now became true. We still have a battle to fight and we’re more than willing to go all the way.

You can find a complete list in Fayrouz blog here.
And by the way, Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

-By Ali.
- posted by Omar @ 01:57

Dropping the anchorman

2004-11-26T13:17:00.000-04:00

From The Economist print edition

Dan Rather's retirement marks a welcome change in American journalism

For conservative America, it just keeps on getting better. A mere 20 days after the Republicans' clean sweep of the White House and Congress, the American right celebrated the retirement of one of the hated grandees of liberal journalism, Dan Rather. “It's as if the voters just keep on voting,” says one conservative. “And our side just keeps on winning.”

The right has been after Mr Rather's scalp for decades. The CBS veteran made his name beating up Richard Nixon in the Watergate era and has kept CBS News on the liberal straight-and-narrow as its longstanding news anchor. (Accuracy in Media, a conservative-watchdog group, first started its “Can Dan” campaign 16 years ago.) Mr Rather's career highlights include a shouting match with George Bush senior over Iran-contra and an interview with Saddam Hussein shortly before last year's American invasion. Now the 73-year-old has announced that he will be retiring from his anchoring job next March.

more..

You Will Never Catch Me Doing This

2004-11-26T13:02:00.000-04:00

Is Declaration of Independence unconstitutional?

2004-11-24T13:37:00.000-04:00

School district sued for censoring founding documents, state constitutions
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com

In a season typified by lawsuits against manger scenes, crosses and even the words "Merry Christmas," a California case is taking the "separation of church and state" one step further – dealing with whether it's unconstitutional to read the Declaration of Independence in public school.

Attorneys for the Alliance Defense Fund filed suit Monday against the Cupertino Union School District for prohibiting a teacher from providing supplemental handouts to students about American history because the historical documents contain some references to God and religion.

"Throwing aside all common sense, the district has chosen to censor men such as George Washington and documents like the Declaration of Independence," said ADF Senior Counsel Gary McCaleb. "The district's actions conflict with American beliefs and are completely unconstitutional."

More..

Someone Tell Me Why

2004-11-22T22:04:00.000-04:00

Why are French troops slaughtering civilians in The Ivory Coast? What is the threat to the French from these people? Where is the UN Mandate? What are they even trying to do there? Why isn't the world rallying against Chirac?

Warning: DO NOT CLICK on the links below if you have a weak stomach upset easily. This is bad. Very bad.

Why am I not hearing a single word about THIS and THIS in the news?

An Iraqi Vents on Chirac

2004-11-20T20:08:00.000-04:00

I have not had much to say about things in the news lately because I am frustrated and angry with the press and saturated with politics. This will pass and I will continue to rant here when it does. Meantime, I'd like to pass on the things I come accross that I think express best the things I would like to if I were in a ranting mood.

Ali, from Iraq The Model, wrote a rant the other day about the comments made by Chirac. He nails it.

Stupid British!
I heard what Mr. Chirac said few days ago and read about it everywhere I turn my head to. At first, it was something I felt I shouldn’t even bother to listen to. It was something like what Al Jazeera keep showing us or what Arab leaders say all the time. But again this was a president of one of the most advanced and civilized countries in our times. It wasn’t Kaddafi or Assad and it made me sad and furious.

The French government keep surprising me with their intentionally stupid and vicious arguments and I don’t know what to say about it or if it’s even necessary to say something at all. But then I’m an Iraqi citizens and these people are taking about Iraq and usually how the war brought nothing good to Iraq or the world, and I just can’t stay silent about it. I know there’s almost no chance that you’ll read my words Mr. Chirac, but it doesn’t matter, as I’m not writing for you anyway. You live in a different world.

In the past, I used to swallow my anger and frustration because I could get killed if I messed up with one of Saddam’s personal friends, but now Saddam is gone and I’m not afraid and I won’t stay silent anymore. This is a difference Mr. Chirac, and it’s a great one, probably just to me and the rest of Iraqis but not to you, and you just have to understand that it’s not all about you and your European dream which no one want to steal from you by the way.

The world is certainly not a better place after the war Mr. Chirac, but that’s your world, while our world, Iraqis as well as tens of millions of oppressed people everywhere who are dying for some help, is certainly MUCH better now, and I’m sure the Americans and the British world as well as most countries (including yours) is better and safer and will keep getting better. However I agree with you, as your world, your own personal world, the world of your fellow corrupt politicians in France, Russia, Germany, China and the stinking UN, your fortune and your influence is definitely suffering. I’m even surprised that you ‘saw’ that Saddam’s departure was positive “to a certain extent”, and I can’t wonder why is that! Is it because it left you with some bills you don’t have to pay?!

Is my language too offensive?! Not as half as offensive and irritating as yours and I will NEVER apologize, not even after you apologize and pay the Iraqis back all the money you have stolen from us in return for supporting your partner, Saddam and keeping him in charge for few more years.

You see, your problem and what separate you from men like Tony Blair is that you look only for what you might gain, and again “you” is not the French people, but rather you in person and the bunch of hypocrites that so sadly control the French people and manipulate them through lies and silly arguments. You never cared what would happen to Iraqis and the rest of the world had Saddam stayed in power, while Tony Blair did. Do you know why? Because he and the British government with all the brave British people live in our world, while you don’t.

Stupid British! Why should they care for us, America or their own kids when they can do exactly like you; take advantage of America’s need, blackmail her, support Saddam without taking much risk and gain billions of dollars.

Stupid British!Haven’t they learned from WW2 when you got your country back and even decided the fate of other nations on victory even though half of you made peace with the Nazis!? You certainly don’t owe the British and the Americans anything for that, as it was just their own stupidity not to do the math and see how much would they gain. Their lands weren’t invaded and the Nazis were trying to make a peace with them, yet they refused and fought as hard as men and women can fight to free your country for you, so that your troops could march victoriously in Paris! And you dare say that the US doesn’t repay favors!??

If you don’t like the world after Saddam, and if you miss him that much, you can keep living in your own world and we won’t bother you...at all.

-By Ali.
- posted by Omar @ 02:41

E-Mail Fun

2004-11-20T16:16:00.000-04:00

What do you do when your trying to defeat a presidential candidate? For one thing, you sign up for his mailing list so you know what his rehtoric of the week will be. Even though the election is over and Johnny got trounced, he seems to be starting his 2008 campaign early. Here is his latest email to supporters with commentary from friend of mine (a really cool guy who leads moths to flames and lambs to slaughter in his spare time), in bold.

Dear Monica,

Nice to know you're on a first-name basis with the enemy....

I want to thank you personally for what you did in the election

If he only knew...

-- you rewrote the book on grassroots politics,

Ain't that a fact!

taking control of campaigns away from big donors.

Like George Soros and Michael Moore, for example?

No campaign will ever be the same.

Nostalgia isn't what it used to be. either....

You moved voters, helped hold George Bush accountable,

Well, yeah. But, it wasn't hard, since he has moral clarity and takes responsibility.

and countered the attacks from big news organizations such as Fox, Sinclair Broadcasting, and conservative talk radio.

Not to mention *burning* Dan Rather, CBS Broadcasting, the NYT, WaPo, ABC and Koppel, and NBC. We'd have taken care of liberal talk radio, but Air America only had what? Three stations? And none of them was really an issue. Al Franken? Oh, PUH-leeze!

And your efforts count now more than ever. Despite the words of cooperation and moderate sounding promises,

We'll deal with the moderation as soon as we can get a Supreme Court that isn't left-leaning. Give us time...

this administration is planning a right wing assault on values and ideals we hold most deeply.

You figured that out all by yourself? We don't really *like* communisism, socialism, or the "European model" of government. Which is why you lost. Outside of the minor detail that you lie like a Persian rug.

Healthy debate and diverse opinion are being eliminated from the State Department and CIA,

Pardon me? When did the CIA become a debating organization? They gather intelligence, you moron. And the State Department was littered with leftist leftovers from the Clinton administration. They were dead weight, anyway.

and the cabinet is being remade to rubber stamp policies

Similar to the way you rubber stamped the liberal agenda as the junior senator from Massachusetts for 20 years?

that will undermine Social Security, balloon the deficit, avoid real reforms in health care and education, weaken homeland security, and walk away from critical allies around the world.

Haven't you figured out that none of that is true? Except for the critical allies part. France is NOT our friend. Neither is Germany. Neither is Russia. Neither is Saudi Arabia. Nor Palestine. Nor Syria. Nor Iran. The list is rather long. They may be allies of YOURS, but most certainly NOT allies of the United States.

Regardless of the outcome of this election, once all the votes are counted -- and they will be counted

Hello? Earth to Kerry. They WERE counted. You lost. You lost HUGE. Big-time. Landslide.

-- we will continue to challenge this administration.

Well, yeah. Unpatriotic obstructionists have a long history of that sort of thing.

This is not a time for Democrats to retreat and accommodate extremists on critical principles -- it is a time to stand firm.

Now don't squirm while the concrete sets around your feet.

I will fight for a national standard for federal elections that has both transparency and accountability in our voting system. It's unacceptable in the United States that people still don't have full confidence in the integrity of the voting process.

It's even worse when the lack of confidence is caused by dead people, convicted murderers, and illegal aliens voting.

I ask you to join me in this cause.

I bet you do.

And we must fight not only against George Bush's extreme policies

Name one. Just one. Outside of favoring open borders. That's got to stop.

-- we must also uphold our own values.

Redistribution of wealth, tax-and-spend, "Work Will Set You Free"...

This is why on the first day Congress is in session next year, I will introduce a bill to provide every child in America with health insurance.

And how do you propose to PAY for that, Senator?

And, with your help, that legislation will be accompanied by the support of hundreds of thousands of Americans.

Yeah, well. I've got news for you. For every 100,000 you find to support it, a million will oppose it, once they see the cost and implementation of social medicine for their kids who are ALREADY insured.

There are more than eight million uninsured children in our nation.

That's a bogus number and you know it. If a kid is uninsured for ONE DAY, he counts as "uninsured" in that statistic. It doesn't matter that the other 364 days they WERE insured.

That's eight million reasons for us to stay together and fight for a new direction. It is a disgrace that in the wealthiest nation on earth, eight million children go without health insurance.

We are NOT the wealthiest nation on Earth. Actually, I think that title is held by Luxembourg (average salary of $53,780 per capita) Then Norway. Then Switzerland. THEN the US (about $35K per capita).

Normally, a member of the Senate will first approach other senators and ask them to co-sponsor a bill before it is introduced

That's the way it's worked for 225 years. You have a problem with that?

-- instead, I am turning to you.

Hello? You are a senator. From a small state. Before this election, NO one even knew who you were.

Imagine the power of a bill co-sponsored by hundreds of thousands of Americans being presented on the floor of the United States Senate.

Yeah, a bill to force you to sign the SF-180 would be pretty cool, doncha think?

You can make it happen. Sign our "Every Child Protected" pledge today and forward it to your family, friends, and neighbors:

Oh, fine. Spam my friends? I don't think so.

This is the beginning of a second term effort to hold the Bush administration accountable and to stand up and fight for our principles and our values.

Yo, haven't you been paying attention? We ARE fighting. There are kids who have more time in CHOW line in Iraq than you spent in Vietnam during your "two tours" of "duty".

They want you to disappear; they are counting on that.
Hardly. We tend to hold our friends real close, and our enemies closer.

I'm confident you will prove them wrong, and you will rewrite history again.

And I'm confident YOU will rewrite history. Again. Just like before. Remember Cambodia?

Here is what I want you to know. I understand the strength, commitment, and passion that are at the core of what we built together -- and I am determined to make our collective energy and organization a force to be reckoned with in the weeks and months ahead.

Dream on. What are you going to DO with a Lame Duck congress in a couple of months? Get over yourself!

Let's roll up our sleeves and get back to work for our country.

Speaking of rolling up your sleeves, can I see that war wound? Please?

Thank you,

John Kerry

What? No "F"? Where the heck did the "F" go? I knew JFK, and senator, YOU are no JFK.

Locusts from North Africa Swarm Through Cairo

2004-11-17T21:03:00.000-04:00

My biblical prophecy is a little rusty.. ok a lot rusty.. but this makes me wonder if those crazy liberals will be blaming Bush for the second coming soon.

Apparently they are PINK locust. Which seems like it might be kind of pretty if it wasn't for the whole plaque thing.

Those Funny Liberals! (+ gratuitous French bashing)

2004-11-16T14:08:00.000-04:00

The Ant and the Grasshopper

Old Version

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.

Moral of the Story:
Be responsible for yourself!

The Ant and the Grasshopper

New Version

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.

CBS, NBC, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.

America is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper, and everybody cries when they sing, "It's Not Easy Being Green"

Jesse Jackson stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, "We shall overcome." Jesse then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake.

John Kerry and John Edwards exclaim in an interview with Dan Rather that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his "fair share." Rather displays documents, verified by "experts", proving this.

Finally, the EEOC drafts the "Economic Equity and Anti-Grasshopper Act," retroactive to the beginning of the summer. The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the government.

Hillary Clinton gets her old law firm to represent the grasshopper in a defamation suit against the ant, and the case is tried before a panel of federal judges that Bill Clinton appointed from a list of single-parent welfare recipients.

The ant loses the case.

The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ant's food while the government house he is in, which just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around him because he doesn't maintain it.

The ant has disappeared in the snow.

The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood.

Moral of the Story:
Be Glad Kerry Got Stomped

Q. What's the difference between a newborn baby and a Liberal?
A. Eventually the baby is gonna' stop whining and crying and pissing it's pants.

BWAAAAAAHAAA

Q: How many liberals does it take to change a light Bulb?
A: At least ten, as they will need to have a discussion about whether or not the light bulb exists. Even if they can agree upon the existence of the light bulb they still may not change it to keep from alienating those who might use other forms of light.
and - or
A:None. Liberals wouldn’t actually change the light bulb, but they would show compassion for it by talking a lot about how terrible it is in the dark and more funding is needed to improve dim, 60 watt bulbs up to bright and productive 100 watt bulbs.
and - or
A: Let George Bush fix it! It’s his fault it’s dark anyway!

TeeHee

How do you tell the difference between Democrats, Republicans, and Texans? Read the following:

You’re walking down a deserted street with your wife and two small children. Suddenly, a dangerous looking man with a huge knife comes around the corner, locks eyes with you, screams obscenities, raises the knife, and charges. You are carrying a Glock 40, and you are an expert shot. You have mere seconds before he reaches you and your family.
What do you do?

Democrat Answer:

Well, that’s not enough information to answer the question. Does the man look poor or oppressed? Have I ever done anything to him that would inspire him to attack? Could we run away? What does my wife think? What about the kids? Could I possibly swing the gun like a club and knock the knife out of his hand? What does the law say about this situation? Does the Glock have appropriate safety built into it? Why am I carrying a loaded gun anyway, and what kind of message does this send to society and to my children?

Is it possible he’d be happy with just killing me? Does he definitely want to kill me, or would he be content just to wound me? If I were to grab his knees and hold on, could my family get away while he was stabbing me? Should I call 911?Why is this street so deserted? We need to raise taxes, have a paint and weed day, and make this a happier, healthier street that would discourage such behavior. This is all so confusing! I need to debate this with some friends for a few days and try to come to a consensus.

Republican Answer: BANG!

Texans’s Answer: BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! click….(sounds of reloading). BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! click.

Har

Paris(AP). The French Government has announced that, in light of the Madrid bombings, France has raised the level of its terror alert from “Run” to “Hide.” The only two higher levels under the French system are “Surrender” and “Collaborate.”

Touche!

A friend of mine is an officer in the naval reserve.

A few weeks ago, He was attending a conference that included admirals in both the US and the French navies.

At a cocktail reception, my friend found himself in a small group that included an admiral from each of the two navies.

The French admiral started complaining that whereas Europeans learned many languages, Americans only learned English.

He then asked. "Why is it that we have to speak English in these conferences rather than you having to speak French?"

Without even hesitating, the American admiral replied.

"Maybe it is because we arranged it so that you did not have to learn to speak German."

Quote of the Day

2004-11-15T22:10:00.000-04:00

The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant: It's just that they know so much that isn't so. - Ronald Reagan

The Last Battle of Vietnam

2004-11-15T20:47:00.000-04:00

It never occurred to me, ever before,
That our Navy would win the Vietnam War.
When they took to their boats in this year of elections,
With the mission of making some major corrections
I shared their belief, John should not be elected,
And their view overdue, truth should be resurrected.
Yet I questioned the course they’d set themselves for,
Knowing how John was loved by the media whore.

Ignored and dismissed by the media queens
Being shrewd, savvy sailors they still found the means
To reach out to the people, to open their eyes
To a phony John Kerry and his war story lies.
With their very first ad, they torpedoed his boat,
A Cambodian Christmas would no longer float.
His heroics unraveled, his stories fell flat,
Especially that one ‘bout his magical hat.

John called on his lawyers and media whores,
And threatened the Swiftees with vile legal wars.
But these warriors kept charging back into the fire,
And made the folks wonder, “Is Kerry a Liar?”
Till the question of whether he’s telling the truth
Was still in their minds in the election day booth.
So the brave Swiftees gave us what we’d not had before,
They gave us our victory in the Vietnam War.

Those brave, stalwart sailors, falsely labeled as liars,
Stood firm and stood tall, kept directing their fires,
Steadfast, unrelenting, they served once again,
And defeated John Kerry, these honorable men.
All Vets can take pride, yes all, not just some,
That we won the last battle of Vietnam.

It took far too long to bring an end to our war
But we did, November Second, Two Thousand Four.

To our Brothers, forever on that long black Wall,
You’ve been vindicated now, one and all.

Russ Vaughn
2d Bn, 327th Parachute Infantry Regiment
101st Airborne Division
Vietnam 65-66

One Canadian's Opinion on US Immigration

2004-11-14T14:12:00.000-04:00

Stay home, you pathetic, whining maggots!
- Ian Robinson, in an article for the Calgary Sun.

This is one great read. Just when you thought there was no intelligent life beyond the northern border comes this beacon of light and hope!

The author points out some of Bush's lesser quoted accomplishments..

How anybody can be unhappy with the president's re-election is beyond me.

Bush has my admiration in no small part because he manages to simultaneously annoy France and Germany, not to mention those renowned deep, geopolitical thinkers, the Dixie Chicks, Bruce Springsteen, P-Diddy or whatever he's calling himself now, Gwynneth Paltrow and Ben Affleck.

Then indulges in some France bashing, which is always fun.

(Interesting note about France: America invades Iraq without UN approval and America is portrayed as a barbarian striding across the world stage. Recently, France essentially invaded the Ivory Coast to protect its interests there ... without asking the UN squat. Just pointing out the hypocrisy.)

and another reason to hate France..

Plus, let's face it: France deserves to be annoyed by as many people as possible, as often as possible, if only for encouraging Jerry Lewis by telling him that he was a genius.

and another..

Not to mention for exporting snotty wine culture across the Atlantic so that otherwise reasonable North Americans have turned into cork-sniffing oenephiles -- although the word sounds like an exotic perversion, it just means wine-nerd -- who can actually say with a straight face: "This is a full-bodied Cabernet, rich with a full body tasting of plum, blackberry and leather cooked on an oak plank."

Next, he takes on the Americans that threaten to move to Canada because Bush won the election...

Anyway, the day after the U.S. election, 115,628 Americans checked out the site and those numbers haven't fallen off very much.

Before the election, some U.S. celebrities and numerous other Democrats vowed that they'd move to Canada if Bush were re-elected.

I hope I'm not alone in gently suggesting to those considering coming to Canada: Stay home, you pathetic whining maggots.

And the Baldwin brothers and Barbara Striesand..

Canada has suffered enough without having to put up with any of the Baldwin brothers or -- heaven forfend! -- Barbra Streisand.

And Michael Moore..

And frankly, I don't know if we can afford to feed Michael Moore.

The draft-dodgers..

Bad enough that Canada became a haven for the gutless wonders of the 1960s who fled the Vietnam draft. I sometimes think that the draft dodgers welcomed by the Trudeau government were a political virus that invaded our body politic, and we still suffer the lingering effects of that illness.

The pacisfists and the UN ..

Our nation's preposterous pacifism, belief in nonsense such as "soft power" and fidelity to a morally bankrupt United Nations overrun with tin-pot dictators and other left-wing idiocies, may well be traceable back to the influx of thousands of the testosterone-challenged whose allegiance to country was superceded by their allegiance to smoking dope while trying to figure out the inner meaning of Beatles songs.

Then he puts our American political squabbling in prospective.

We have immigrants coming to this country who have been hunted from the air by murderous Islamofascists in Sudan.

Some new Canadians survived the atrocities in Rwanda or old Europe's final convulsions of genocide in the former Yugoslavia.

We have physicians from some parts of the world who are willing to throw away their prestige and power in their homelands for the privilege of driving a cab in Moose Jaw.

As a nation, we ought to welcome our share of people fleeing genuine oppression, and those willing to gamble everything to secure a safe and decent future for their families.

But welcome a bunch of spoiled brats willing to abandon their very nation because they don't like the man elected to be their leader for the next four years?

Geez, in my entire lifetime, there was maybe one prime minister I'd trust to run a street-corner hot dog stand -- the rest of them weren't fit for much more than compost -- but it never occurred to me to emigrate.

And finally offers a solution:

If we close our borders to anybody, it should be these fools. They'll be easy to screen out.

They'll be the ones who are whining.

Who is this guy? I think I love him.

Fallujah, Kofi Annan, and Elections in Iraq

2004-11-13T01:38:00.000-04:00

By Joseph Ghougassian

From May 1, 2003 to August 31, 2004 I worked as a high ranking US official on the reconstruction efforts in Iraq. My last assignment was in the rebuilding of Iraq higher education, comprised of 20 universities and 48 technical institutes and colleges. I restarted the Fulbright Program in Iraq that brought the first 25 scholars to American Universities in February 2004 after a 14 years hiatus. I traveled extensively throughout Iraq visiting the campuses, meeting with administrators, faculty and students.

I lived in Saddam Palace with more than 3000 military and civilian personnel where the Coalition Provisional Authority had set up its offices.

In my trips to the various cities of Iraq, I did not encounter any significant antagonism towards the US people, US forces or US Government. Majority of Iraqis were supportive of our liberation policy and were grateful for the sacrifices our men and women in uniforms and civilians were doing to improve their new freedom, civil liberties, quality of life, economic prosperity, and educational opportunities.

Their complaints were centered around basic necessities such as uninterrupted electricity, instant availability of gasoline, job opportunities and above all their personal safety from criminal elements and organized crimes.

Of all the 19 provinces, Anbar was problematic from the start; and of all the Iraqi cities, Fallujah had remained a bastion for Saddam’s loyalists. Since April 2003 Fallujah has been the floodgate for foreign mercenaries, terrorists, and Baathists insurgents to come and go. It was the favored escape route for the enemies of Iraq and Iraqis leading to Syria.

It has always been my belief and perception that Fallujah mirrored the heart and mind of Saddam. While Saddam, the person, is physically incarcerated, his persona, anima, mind, and heart reverberates till today in Fallujah.

Last April right after the savaged killing and desecration of the bodies of the 5 Americans, I recommended to the Pentagon to lay siege of Fallujah and fight the insurgents until the city turned in those who killed the Americans, turned in all their weapons, and submitted to the rule of law.

For a short while we conducted mopping operations in Fallujah. We were quite successful in our battle against the insurgents and terrorists. Regretfully, the UN, French, Germans, Iranians, Russians, Chinese and the Arab opinion labeled our activities as a massacre of innocents. We caved in to their opinion and stopped our military marches to clean Fallujah of the criminals. Then came Zarkawi and his band of beheaders.

They escalated the attacks on the Iraqis, Americans and foreign workers. Their evil actions threatens the national security of Iraq and hampers the US national interests in Iraq.

On November 8, 2004, the Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi rightfully realizing that there could be no political or diplomatic solution with the insurgents in Fallujah, he ordered the Iraqi armed forces to storm Fallujah and he called upon the coalition forces to assist.

Allawi and the majority of Iraqis, including a great number of Fallujan citizens know that the Zarkawis and the Iraqi insurgents must be eliminated in order to pave the way for a successful and democratic election process in January 2005.

Under no circumstances should the January national election be postponed. Not only will this be the first ever transparent election in the history of Modern Iraq, but also, in the Middle East. The Iraqis, the US, Britain, Italy, Poland, and the other members of the coalition have invested a lot and sacrificed a lot to make this election a historic reality that might revolutionize the Middle East at its core.

In the week leading to the American election, the Secretary General of the U.N., Kofi Annan remarked that Fallujah should not be resolved through military action but through a political process. Diplomacy is not a magic wand; it has its limitations. The communication language of diplomacy is dialogue. What we have seen in Fallujah since April 2003, is the language of monologue. The Iraqis and the good citizens of Fallujah have paid and are paying now dearly for having held false hopes that the insurgents and terrorists could carry a dialogue.

Once again, Kofi Annan is on the wrong side of the Iraqis. The Iraqi-American military operation must continue to the bitter end of ridding Fallujah of the extremists and enemies of Iraq, and thereby slay once and for all the anima of Saddam.

Dr. Joseph Ghougassian was US Ambassador to Qatar and Advisor in CPA/DoD.
His email is Zena92029@yahoo.com

Reprinted with Permission of the Author
Hattip -MILNET

Abortion, the Shame of Our Time

2004-11-12T11:32:00.000-04:00

By: A Middle American Concerned about Values.

As you may have guessed I am “pro-life”. (as compared to pro-death) I am also pro-choice but the choice should be made before the decision requires killing another person. I am a woman and had the choices available to women in this time and place. If I did not want children I could choose abstinence, birth control, or as a last resort giving up the unwanted child for adoption. Choices to be made and consequences to be taken on. Those choices should never include killing.

There are so many arguments rationalizing this killing. When does life start? This is absurd. If the “little clump of cells” were not alive they would not be dividing. I will not discuss “ensoulment” as this is not about religion and there would be no possible way to read God’s mind as to when that might occur in any case. Our laws regarding abortion are absurd as well. Its OK to do it at this stage but not later. Unless there are different circumstances that make it OK . You can do it this way but not that. This time but not that. If you do it in the wrong way for the time at hand and the child that was supposed to die is born alive do you go ahead and kill it outside the womb? If so, how? In fact, in my experience in the medical profession, this child, once outside the womb now has rights he did not have 2 minutes earlier and will now be subject to all we have to offer in the way of life saving techniques. If he is saved he will more than likely suffer extensive disabilities for all of his life. I am not a crazy fanatic, I have actually seen and cared for these unfortunates. Babies that survived the procedure. One was born alive after saline amniocentesis. In this procedure a needle is inserted into the uterus and some of the amniotic fluid is removed and replaced with sterile saline. It is supposed to kill and almost always does. The little one I cared for was born quickly after this procedure and was alive. His skin was blistered and coming off all over his body. He had to be treated somewhat like a burn victim. He lived several weeks during which he suffered through more medical procedures than most of us have to endure in a full lifetime. He may have been the person that was destined to find the cure for cancer. We will never know.

I call this, “sliding scale morality”. In some cases it is OK to kill up to 24 weeks gestation but in others its 32 or 36 weeks. 20 to24 week babies that are born prematurely can and frequently do live. They feel pain, they cry, they kick and wave their arms about. Their blood pressure and heart rate go up. Do not believe, ever, that they do not feel pain.

With a great sadness I write this; I think (rather, I know) Roe v Wade should be repealed but I do not think it will be any time soon.. Abortion is a big money business. Many doctors are not very dedicated to explaining what they are about to do to the babies or to the mothers. Most doctors will not regulate themselves. If we are going to allow this disgusting and immoral practice it must be regulated by law. It must be mandatory that it be done very early, perhaps before 12 weeks. Three months should be adequate for this “choice” to be made. And there should be some reason other than inconvenience.

This is also “sliding scale morality” and is equally disgusting as our existing laws but it could be a start in the right direction. Remember, nothing is static. If the scale does not move in the right direction it will be moved in the wrong. Perhaps its OK to abort any baby at any stage for any reason. (this is almost where we are now) Well then, why not make it OK to kill the baby after birth if it has a problem, or maybe looks funny, or if the mother just changes her mind. What is the difference, really? The child has not yet reached the age of reason after all. And there could be some money to be made doing this procedure. OK then maybe the 2 or 3 or 5 year old has become a real drag on his family, or ill behaved or inconvenient. After all, the last I heard the age of reason was 7. Of course a lot of people over 7 might qualify for legal murder. The mentally deficient adults, the elderly, the very ill. And who decides. Beware of sliding scale morality! YOU may be the inconvenience to someone.

Women have the right to choose when to have children and they have a responsibility to make that choice before they become pregnant. Abortion is not a new idea and neither are women’s rights.

Consider this quote: Elizabeth Cady Stanton, 19th century feminist commenting on abortion said, "When we consider that women are treated as property, it is degrading to women that we should treat our children as property to be disposed of as we see fit."

One last thought as it always is the response to any anti abortion statement. How about cases of rape or incest? I ask another question. Does one crime justify another? Has the victim of any crime been treated fairly? Is life always fair? No, no and no. The mother AND the baby are victims of a crime. Punish the criminal and help the victims, both of them.

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

2004-11-12T02:56:00.000-04:00

1. How many steps does the guard take during his walk across the tomb of the Unknowns and why?

21 steps. It alludes to the twenty-one gun salute, which is the highest honor given any military or foreign dignitary.

2. How long does he hesitate after his about face to begin his return walk and why?

21 seconds for the same reason.

3. Why are his gloves wet?

His gloves are moistened to prevent his losing his grip on the rifle.

4. Does he carry his rifle on the same shoulder all the time and if not, why not?

He carries the rifle on the shoulder away from the tomb. After his march across the path, he executes an about face and moves the rifle to the outside shoulder.

5. How often are the guards changed?

Guards are changed every thirty minutes, twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year.

6. What are the physical traits of the guard limited to?

For a person to apply for guard duty at the tomb, he must be between 5' 10" and 6' 2" tall and
his waist size cannot exceed 30."

Other requirements of the Guard:

They must commit 2 years of life to guard the tomb, live in a barracks under the tomb, and cannot drink any alcohol on or off duty for the rest of their lives. They cannot swear in public for the rest of their lives and cannot disgrace the uniform {fighting} or the tomb in any way.

After two years, the guard is given a wreath pin that is worn on their lapel signifying they served as guard of the tomb. There are only 400 presently worn. The guard must obey these rules for the rest of their lives or give up the wreath pin.

The shoes are specially made with very thick soles to keep the heat and cold from their feet. There are metal heel plates that extend to the top of the shoe in order to make the loud click as they come to a halt. There are no wrinkles, folds or lint on the uniform. Guards dress for duty in front of a full-length mirror.

The first six months of duty a guard cannot talk to anyone, nor watch TV. All off duty time is spent studying the 175 notable people laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery. A guard must memorize who they are and where they are interred. Among the notables are: President Taft, Joe E. Lewis {the boxer} and Medal of Honor winner Audie Murphy, {the most decorated soldier of WWII} of Hollywood fame. Every guard spends five hours a day getting his uniforms ready for guard duty.

ETERNAL REST GRANT THEM O LORD, AND LET PERPETUAL LIGHT SHINE UPON THEM.

In 2003 as Hurricane Isabelle was approaching Washington, DC, our US Senate/House took 2 days off with anticipation of the storm. On the ABC evening news, it was reported that because of the dangers from the hurricane, the military members assigned the duty of guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier were given permission to suspend the assignment. They respectfully declined the offer, "No way, Sir!" Soaked to the skin, marching in the pelting rain of a tropical storm, they said that guarding the Tomb was not just an assignment, it was the highest honor that can be afforded to a serviceperson. The tomb has been patrolled continuously, 24/7, since 1930.

We can be very proud of our young men and women in the service no matter where they serve. God Bless and keep them.

What is a Vet?

2004-11-11T10:27:00.000-04:00

He is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn't run out of fuel.

He is the barroom loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks, whose overgrown frat-boy behavior is outweighed a hundred times in the cosmic scales.....

by four hours of exquisite bravery near the 38th parallel...

She is the nurse who fought against futility and went to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years in Da Nang.

He is the POW who went away one person and came back another.

- or didn't come back AT ALL.

He is the drill instructor who has never seen combat...
but has saved countless lives by turning slouchy, no-account rednecks and gang members into fighting men(and women), and teaching them to watch each other's backs.

He is the parade-riding Legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and medals...

with a prosthetic hand.

He is the career quartermaster who watches the ribbons and medals pass him by.

He is the three anonymous heroes in The Tomb Of The Unknowns, whose presence at the Arlington National Cemetery must forever preserve the memory of all anonymous heroes whose valor dies unrecognized with them on the battlefield or in the ocean's sunless deep.

He is the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket - palsied now and aggravatingly slow...

who helped liberate a Nazi death camp and who wishes all day long that his wife were still alive to hold him when the nightmares come.

He is an ordinary and yet an extraordinary human being - a person who offered some of his life's most vital years in the service of his country, and who sacrificed his ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice theirs.

He is a Soldier, an Airman, a Sailor and a Marine; a savior and a sword against the darkness, and he is nothing more than the finest, greatest testimony on behalf of the finest, greatest nation ever known.

For you Vets of my father's generation, and the others before my time, THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!

Lonevoice
2/75th Rgr. Btn.
Hoooah!!!!

Email Gem's from .::geo::.'s Mom

2004-11-11T01:22:00.000-04:00

Bill, Hillary and Kerry are flying on Kerry's wife's private jet. Bill looks at Hillary, chuckles and says, "You know, I could throw a $100.00 bill out the window right now and make somebody very happy."

Hillary shrugs her shoulders and says, "Well, I could throw ten $10.00 bills out the window and make 10 people very happy."

Kerry says, "Of course then, I could throw one-hundred $1.00 bills out the window and make a hundred people very happy."

The pilot rolls his eyes, looks at all of them and says to his co-pilot, "Such Bigshots back there.....I could throw all of them out the window and make millions happy.

Little Melissa comes home from first grade and tells her father that they learned about the history of Valentine's Day. "Since Valentine's Day is for a Christian Saint and we're Jewish," she asks, "will God get mad at me for giving someone a valentine?"

Melissa's father thinks a bit, then says "No, I don't think God would get mad. Who do you want to give a valentine to?"

"Osama Bin Laden," she says

"Why Osama Bin Laden," her father asks in shock.

"Well," she says, "I thought that if a little American Jewish girl could have enough love to give Osama a valentine, he might start to think that maybe we're not all bad, and maybe start loving people a little bit. And if other kids saw what I did and sent valentines to Osama, he'd love everyone a lot. And then he'd start going all over the place to tell everyone how much he loved them and how he didn't hate anyone anymore."

Her father's heart swells and he looks at his daughter with newfound pride.

"Melissa, that's the most wonderful thing I've ever heard."

"I know," Melissa says, "and once that gets him out in the open, the Marines could blow the sh*t out of him."

The Vietnamization of Iraq

2004-11-10T23:46:00.000-04:00

By: Kimmymac

When my dad (a Marine) was in the Pacific theater of World War II they would come across these pamphlets dropped by the Japanese that depicted the Marines with cartoonish bloody dripping fangs, and told the Japanese villagers that the Marines were trained to eat children.

I read an article by our own lovely AP in this Sunday's paper about some games the Marines in Iraq had organized to relieve some of the tension before going into Fallujah, and it made the Marines out to be ignorant, animal abusing monsters. One step above what the Japanese propaganda said.

Watch for the OLM to drop all pretense of supporting our troops now that they have failed in their bid to install Kerry in the WH. They will be looking to completely demoralize us wrt Iraq and Afghanistan, and they are looking for us to lose so they can destroy Bush's presidency.

The real battle has begun: The War to Prevent the Vietnamization of Iraq.

Battle stations, everyone.

(spliced not edited)

The media is playing an interesting game; they delight in reporting how "easy" the victories are (the fall of Baghdad, reaching the center of Fallujah) and after that has percolated they begin with the "...but why is Iraq still out of control? Why can't Bush get it under control when we are so powerful?"

The reporting of the "easy victories" followed by the growing sense of "US military impotence", functions like a line of coke--a quick artificial high, followed by a hell of a hangover.

It is important that the American people understand how fluid the situation is in Iraq, and how fragile whatever stability we do manage to acheive is. We need to maintain our long term commitment, and not get high on military successes, only to get hung-over at the fluidity and instability. Guerilla warfare is the most dangerous type, and urban guerilla warfare is a nightmare of epic scale. We must all be committed to stay the course, come hell or high water, and not play the media's game.

They are trying to set us up--let's not allow it. If we fail in Iraq we are done in the Middle East. If we lose now, we can chuck it all in. This fight against the spin is as important as the defeat of Kerry was; for our servicemen and women, for our future, and for the future of freedom throughout the world.

Call, write, email the media outlets. Let them know you are on to the game. Be polite, concise and on point. Monitor the squawk box, and make notes of specific points of spin. Be on their @$$ like white on rice.

War is hell--let's make sure the OLM understands just how much like hell it can become for them. Spread the joy.

Slaughter Houses Found

2004-11-10T11:43:00.000-04:00

Iraqi National Guard is said to have discovered "hostage slaughter houses" as they moved into Fallujah.

Iraqi troops have found "hostage slaughterhouses" in Fallujah where foreign captives were held and killed, the commander of Iraqi forces in the city said Wednesday.

Troops found CDs and records of people taken captive in houses in the northern part of Fallujah, Maj. Gen. Abdul Qader Mohammed Jassem Mohan told reporters.

"We have found hostage slaughterhouses in Fallujah that were used by these people and the black clothing that they used to wear to identify themselves, hundreds of CDs and whole records with names of hostages," the general said at a military camp near Fallujah.

more..

Alawi Family Members Kidnapped

2004-11-10T10:20:00.000-04:00

Breaking News from Hammorabi.. let's hope this report is wrong. I am not finding any information on it anyplace else yet but I'd tend to think Hammorabi has good info.

Three members of Iyad Alawi's (Interim Prime minster of Iraq) family have been kidnapped according to sources in Iraq.

First cousins of IA, a cousin of his wife and another relative have been seized in their home in Baghdad and taken out be armed men.

Update:
Fox just reported Alawi's cousin and his cousin's wife were kidnapped. The terrorists are threatening to behead them unless Alawi stops the seige on Fallujah.

The Enemy Starts to Collapse

2004-11-10T01:44:00.000-04:00

Enemy resistance in Fallujah is starting to collapse, with US forces deep inside the city and fighters pulling back to their ultimate stronghold in the Jolan district. There is no more room to retreat with the Euphrates to the west and American forces on every side.

more..

Forget Fox, CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, The NYT, WAPO and the rest. Forget all your usual sources for news. If you want to know whats going on in Fallujah and understand it, go read Belmont Club.

Fahrenheit 9/11 Denied by Globe Awards

2004-11-09T17:22:00.000-04:00

Globes say no Moore
By: Timothy M. Gray

"The Passion of the Christ" will be considered for Golden Globe awards, but "Fahrenheit 9/11" won't.

"Passion," which Newmarket released domestically, is eligible in the foreign-language category as well as other races, such as direction and script (though not in the drama-film or comedy/musical-film categories, which are for English-lingo pics).

The Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. does not give out awards for docus, so it does not consider the genre in any other race, which KO's "Fahrenheit," released domestically by Lions Gate, IFC Films and Fellowship Adventure Group.

more..

Email Gem of the Day

2004-11-08T23:29:00.000-04:00

Republicans and Democrats

A Republican and a Democrat were walking down the street when they came to a homeless person. The Republican gave the homeless person his business card and told him to come to his business for a job. He then took twenty dollars out of his pocket and gave it to the homeless person.

The Democrat was very impressed, and when they came to another homeless person, he decided to help. He walked over to the homeless person and gave him directions to the welfare office. He then reached into the Republican's pocket and gave the homeless person fifty dollars.

Now you understand the difference between Republicans and Democrats

Survivor: Texas-Style

Network TV is reported to be developing a "Texas version" of "Survivor," the recent popular TV show.

Contestants must travel from Amarillo through Fort Worth, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and back to Amarillo, through San Marcos and Lubbock. Each will be driving a Volvo with a bumper sticker that reads: "I Voted for Kerry, I'm gay, and I'm here to take your guns."

The first contestant to complete the round trip is the winner.

Clinton and the Genie

Bill Clinton was walking along the beach when he stumbled upon a Genie's lamp. He picked it up and rubbed it and lo-and-behold, a Genie appeared. Bill was amazed and asked if he got three wishes.

The Genie said, "Nope...Due to inflation, constant downswing, low wages in third world countries, and fierce global competition, I can only grant you one wish. So...What'll it be?"

Bill didn't hesitate. He said, "I want to be remembered for bringing peace to the Middle East, instead of that other stuff with Monica, and Jennifer, and the rest of those women. See this map? I want these countries to stop fighting with each other."

The Genie looked at the map of the Middle East and exclaimed, "Jeez, Fella! These people have been at war for thousands of years. I'm good, but not THAT good. I don't think it can be done. Make another wish."

Bill thought for a minute and said, "You know, people really don't like my wife. Even though she got elected, they call her a carpetbagger. They think she's mean, ugly, and pushes me around. I wish for her to be the most beautiful woman in the world and I want everybody to like her. That's what I want."

The Genie let out a long sigh and said, "Lemme see that map again."

Hillary Clinton Meets God

Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, and Al Gore were in an airplane that crashed. They're up in heaven, and God's sitting on the great white throne. God addresses Al first.

"Al, what do you believe in?"

Al replies, "Well, I believe that the combustion engine is evil and that we need to save the world from CFCs and that if any more freon is used, the whole earth will become a greenhouse and we'll all die."

God thinks for a second and says "Okay, I can live with that. Come and sit at my left."

God then addresses Bill. "Bill, what do you believe in?"

Bill replies, "Well, I believe in power to the people. I think people should be able to make their own choices about things and that no one should ever be able to tell someone else what to do. I also believe in feeling people's pain."

God thinks for a second and says "Okay, that sounds good. Come and sit at my right."

God then address Hillary. "Hillary, what do you believe in?"

"I believe you're in my chair."

Triumph of Hope

2004-11-07T21:03:00.000-04:00

President Bush's re-election gives the free world a second chance.

BY JOSE MARIA AZNAR - Former Prime Minister of Spain
Sunday, November 7, 2004 12:01 a.m.

Hope has triumphed.
I know that some may be surprised to read this, but I am convinced of the fact.

Hope has triumphed, and with it the confidence of the American people in the values and principles on which our shared civilization on both sides of the Atlantic is based. George W. Bush decided to respond to totalitarian terrorist attacks with a return to basic principles. He could have chosen appeasement. He could have opted for mere rhetoric. He decided not to do so. He decided to oppose brutality with steadfast conviction. Now a wide majority of his people has backed this policy. It has confirmed that there is hope in our way of life, a form of hope that derives its strength from its essential convictions, a hope that is manifested in the desire to defend freedom above all else.

more..

Hope For World Peace

2004-11-07T13:11:00.000-04:00

India gets it. Someone tell the Moore-ons.

Iraq Began Voter Registration LAST MONDAY

2004-11-06T13:46:00.000-04:00

What?

“Today voter registration is starting all over the country,” said Farid Ayar, the spokesman for Iraq’s Independent Electoral Commission. “It is going well up until now.” - Khaleej Times

Not a word from CBS, ABC, NBC, CNN or even FOX? This wasn't news worthy? I've heard about Ashley Simpson having acid reflux at least a dozen times. I heard for 6 days straight every conceivable slant to the missing explosives that were not there to be missing to begin with story. But Iraqis registering to vote for the first time was not worthy of a mention?

Wonder what else is happening over there. I'll do some digging.

Iraq Begins Voter Registration! Hattip: Mudville Gazette

Re-Education Camp - Lesson 1

2004-11-06T01:28:00.000-04:00

By now we should all be aware that the version of history presented to us on a daily basis for the last 30 years by the likes of Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw and Ted Koppel is corrupt and in many cases ignores honest, blunt, truth in favor of blatherisms, spin and out right lies if it furthers the media's agenda.

For instance, we know now that the Vietnam War was not what they sold us. They fed us Hanoi's propaganda version of the war. Piped it right into our living rooms night after night until we fell in step with their cause. We know now, or should know after 3 million souls were slaughtered by our enemies, that the truth is that Vietnam was a just war. A noble cause. A cause we lost because of misinformation.

I am going to undertake here, in a series of articles, to re-examine history and search out the blunt truths we were not told.

Lesson 1 - Pajama Journal Re-Education Camp
Iran- Contra

Good evening, class.

(Your instructor tonight is Kimmymac.)

Iran-Contra came about because leftist bastards in the senate like JOE BIDEN (a kerrorist--Biden was Kerry's foreign affairs advisor) had pushed through an AMENDMENT to the US Constitution Exclamation which meant to severly restrict the Executive powers. (Presidential) It was meant to keep Reagan (then President) from fighting the communists, such as the Sandinista government of Nicarauga.

This amendment was a clear usurption of power and totally violated the founding father's vision of three balanced branches of power within the government (Executive, Legislative, Judicial) but the Democrats were able to pass this amendment because they were very much the majority at the time.

So in an attempt to fight communism in Latin America, Oliver North and others higher up devised a plan to siphon funds and funnel them to the Contras, American friendly, pro-democracy freedom fighters trying to overthrow Daniel Ortega and the repressive, hostile Sandinista government, which, despite Jiminy Karter's give away of millions and millions of dollars to them, openly mocked the US and reneged on all their promises to restore human rights.

When Reagan came to power you remember that the hostages in Iran were released immediately. Can't talk about all why, but just know that a deal was brokered. It isn't always pretty, doing diplomatic deals with @$$holes, but it saved a lot of American lives.

When Biden and his Bastards (Kennedy featured prominently in this coup, btw) pushed through the amendment, Ollie North et al had to go underground to fund pro American groups like the Contras.

Some @$$hole ratted out the program, and of course Biden and his Bastards jumped all over it, with the aiding and abetting of the OILM (not yet OILM) and attempted to bring down the Reagan Administration, ala the Nixon Administration.

Ollie North stood his ground, and it was his testimony in front of the snarling toga wearers in the Senate and House that turned public opinion. Thousands and thousands of telegrams of support for Col. North swamped Capitol Hill, and the Democrats were forced to beat a hasty retreat.

Fawn Hill, who another poster referenced, was Ollie's young secretary. The press tried to insinuate their was something illicit between she and the married Colonel, but it was just the jackals trying to spread gossip. Ollie's wife is a very nice person, and she and their daughters were hurt by the OILM's nasty and baseless gossip. Fawn Hill got freaked and admitted attempting to destroy documents at the request of Colonel North, an admission which made me very angry at her. This was a case when it truly is okay to "lie" and break the law, as clearly there was a greater good, and the "law" was an extra-constitutional kangaroo bravo sierra law, at that.

The Biden amendment, btw, was later repealed. It was so shockingly out of bounds that the GOP finally succeeded in getting rid of it. Even Ted Kennedy was shamed into voting it out. If you know anything about how difficult it is to rescind an amendment, then you have some idea.

Thank you class. Have a great evening.

There you have it. Stay tuned for the next installment of Correcting History at the Pajama Journal Re-Education Camp.

THE SKY IS FALLING!

2004-11-05T13:27:00.000-04:00

Those damn Republicans are ruining everything. Obviously.

Success!

2004-11-04T20:38:00.000-04:00

There, we are settled in on the new server. Hopefully there will not be so much lag.

Since the election is over I am busy digging out from under the clutter than has built up over the last couple of months. I mowed my grass, and I use the term loosely being as there were definately some trunks involved, weedwacked, used the blower and generally cleaned up outside today. My neighbors came out and formed a small group on the corner. They stared. When I finished the broke into spontaneous applause. I bowed.

Tonight I will try and find the dog and the cat and start IV feeding.

Moving Day

2004-11-04T17:52:00.000-04:00

Switching servers because Free doesn't always = better. Blogger has been very sluggish and it's annoying the hell out of me so we are moving over to www.pajamajournalist.com.

Click here and don't forget to update your bookmark!

So What Now?

2004-11-04T01:41:00.000-04:00