I fisked Hillary, now it is Obama's turn.

Let me begin by saying thanks to all you who've traveled, from far and wide, to brave the cold today.

We all made this journey for a reason. It's humbling, but in my heart I know you didn't come here just for me, you came here because you believe in what this country can be. In the face of war, you believe there can be peace. In the face of despair, you believe there can be hope. In the face of a politics that's shut you out, that's told you to settle, that's divided us for too long, you believe we can be one people, reaching for what's possible, building that more perfect union.

What this country CAN be? You mean socialist? Politics has shut WHO out? The lefties? Women? Who? Let's see, just exactly whose voice is being shut. Conservatives maybe? Anyone who does not toe the "global warming" cannard? And let's not even take the Intelligent Design route.

That's the journey we're on today. But let me tell you how I came to be here. As most of you know, I am not a native of this great state. I moved to Illinois over two decades ago. I was a young man then, just a year out of college; I knew no one in Chicago, was without money or family connections. But a group of churches had offered me a job as a community organizer for $13,000 a year. And I accepted the job, sight unseen, motivated then by a single, simple, powerful idea -- that I might play a small part in building a better America.

You come from a wealthy family, dude. You always had connections and your connections from college. You were looking to play a small part to parlay that into the Presidency.

My work took me to some of Chicago's poorest neighborhoods. I joined with pastors and lay-people to deal with communities that had been ravaged by plant closings. I saw that the problems people faced weren't simply local in nature -- that the decision to close a steel mill was made by distant executives; that the lack of textbooks and computers in schools could be traced to the skewed priorities of politicians a thousand miles away; and that when a child turns to violence, there's a hole in his heart no government could ever fill.

I call crap. Those big, mean corporations have no heart. Of course, they employ people, but let's not talk about that. Closing plants? Do you really think that the decision to close a plant was easy or done without careful planning? The lack of textbooks and computers is TRACED to politicians? And exactly what was that path? Children turn to violence there is a hole in his heart? Are you kidding?

It was in these neighborhoods that I received the best education I ever had, and where I learned the true meaning of my Christian faith.

But he does not discuss that faith here. Why doesn't he explain the linkage of his faith, education, and impact on his life here, now that he brought it up?

After three years of this work, I went to law school, because I wanted to understand how the law should work for those in need. I became a civil rights lawyer, and taught constitutional law, and after a time, I came to understand that our cherished rights of liberty and equality depend on the active participation of an awakened electorate. It was with these ideas in mind that I arrived in this capital city as a state Senator.

What work? What job has he mentioned? A community organizer? What the heck is that exactly?

It was here, in Springfield, where I saw all that is America converge -- farmers and teachers, businessmen and laborers, all of them with a story to tell, all of them seeking a seat at the table, all of them clamoring to be heard. I made lasting friendships here -- friends that I see in the audience today.

Springfield? Isn't that where the Simpsons live? Oh, and of the groups he mentioned, aren't they all unionized? So at what table are they "seeking a seat"?

It was here we learned to disagree without being disagreeable -- that it's possible to compromise so long as you know those principles that can never be compromised; and that so long as we're willing to listen to each other, we can assume the best in people instead of the worst.

Where? Where is the "here" you mention? I smell a campaign slogan "I can compromise on principles that cannot be compromised." Doesn't that feel a bit familiar?

That's why we were able to reform a death penalty system that was broken. That's why we were able to give health insurance to children in need. That's why we made the tax system more fair and just for working families, and that's why we passed ethics reforms that the cynics said could never, ever be passed.

He fails to mention specifics. Or his role in the "fixes".

It was here, in Springfield, where North, South, East and West come together that I was reminded of the essential decency of the American people -- where I came to believe that through this decency, we can build a more hopeful America.

A more hopeful America. Sheesh. Lot's of pretty words, no substance. Dems do all in their power to destroy hope and promote defeat.

And that is why, in the shadow of the Old State Capitol, where Lincoln once called on a divided house to stand together, where common hopes and common dreams still, I stand before you today to announce my candidacy for President of the United States.

And your credentials would be....?

I recognize there is a certain presumptuousness -- a certain audacity -- to this announcement. I know I haven't spent a lot of time learning the ways of Washington. But I've been there long enough to know that the ways of Washington must change.

Uh, no. You haven't. Not nearly long enough. You have already insulted a partner in the war on terror. Niiiiiiiiiiiiiice for a man who would be President.

The genius of our founders is that they designed a system of government that can be changed. And we should take heart, because we've changed this country before. In the face of tyranny, a band of patriots brought an Empire to its knees. In the face of secession, we unified a nation and set the captives free. In the face of Depression, we put people back to work and lifted millions out of poverty. We welcomed immigrants to our shores, we opened railroads to the west, we landed a man on the moon, and we heard a King's call to let justice roll down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.

Dates please of when the "Empire" was brought to its knees? We simply dissolved our relationship with England. Captives? I suppose you mean slaves? Why not use the word? Welfare lifted millions out of poverty? And what is the gibberish at the end? Heard a King's call? Oh I get it now. King is Martin Luther. These references do not relate to one another. If he is trying to be an orator like Dr King he is failing, and he is not a preacher by any stretch.

Each and every time, a new generation has risen up and done what's needed to be done. Today we are called once more -- and it is time for our generation to answer that call.

What call? Justice? What civil rights violations? He has lost me completely. This is not the 1960's where black people are hosed.

For that is our unyielding faith -- that in the face of impossible odds, people who love their country can change it.

Faith again. Now it is not faith in God but faith in, what, Obama? People who love their country can change it? Is he implying that those who oppose his liberal ideas do NOT love their country? I think so.

That's what Abraham Lincoln understood. He had his doubts. He had his defeats. He had his setbacks. But through his will and his words, he moved a nation and helped free a people. It is because of the millions who rallied to his cause that we are no longer divided, North and South, slave and free. It is because men and women of every race, from every walk of life, continued to march for freedom long after Lincoln was laid to rest, that today we have the chance to face the challenges of this millennium together, as one people -- as Americans.

But you do not give President Bush the same consideration in Iraq. He has his setbacks but through his will millions are now free there. Will you not admit that? Ha! Hell will freeze over before Obama would give President Bush his due.

All of us know what those challenges are today -- a war with no end, a dependence on oil that threatens our future, schools where too many children aren't learning, and families struggling paycheck to paycheck despite working as hard as they can. We know the challenges. We've heard them. We've talked about them for years.

And we have dealt with them. Employment is at a high, home ownership is at a high, and children are not learning? Why would that be? Could it be the multi-culti people like you keep them back? And just exactly HOW did a "struggling" man, as you try to portray yourself, get YOUR education? A war with no end? When do wars EVER have a prescribed end? And this war has been on going for 1400 years. Let's see what you suggest.

What's stopped us from meeting these challenges is not the absence of sound policies and sensible plans. What's stopped us is the failure of leadership, the smallness of our politics -- the ease with which we're distracted by the petty and trivial, our chronic avoidance of tough decisions, our preference for scoring cheap political points instead of rolling up our sleeves and building a working consensus to tackle big problems.

Failure of leadership? Yup, President Clinton was a wonderful leader. Not. President Bush, with all his faults, leads our military with confidence. Distracted by the petty? Now who is petty? Who beat the macaca crap to death? Chronic avoidance of tough decisions? BWHAHAHAHAHAHA! Nancy Pelosi's FIRST act was one of SUCH courage! Raising minimum wage! Whoo hooo, that's telling us!

For the last six years we've been told that our mounting debts don't matter, we've been told that the anxiety Americans feel about rising health care costs and stagnant wages are an illusion, we've been told that climate change is a hoax, and that tough talk and an ill-conceived war can replace diplomacy, and strategy, and foresight. And when all else fails, when Katrina happens, or the death toll in Iraq mounts, we've been told that our crises are somebody else's fault. We're distracted from our real failures, and told to blame the other party, or gay people, or immigrants.

Mounting debt
Rising health care
Stagnant wages
Climate change
Ill-conceived war
Katrina

And as people have looked away in disillusionment and frustration, we know what's filled the void. The cynics, and the lobbyists, and the special interests who've turned our government into a game only they can afford to play. They write the checks and you get stuck with the bills, they get the access while you get to write a letter, they think they own this government, but we're here today to take it back. The time for that politics is over. It's time to turn the page.

Turn the page in YOUR book where you mention you love to fly. On the lobbyists dime.

We've made some progress already. I was proud to help lead the fight in Congress that led to the most sweeping ethics reform since Watergate.

Ethics? What ethics? Raise the minimum wage, except where it will hurt Nancy Pelosi's profits. Ethics? Jefferson re-elected?

But Washington has a long way to go. And it won't be easy. That's why we'll have to set priorities. We'll have to make hard choices. And although government will play a crucial role in bringing about the changes we need, more money and programs alone will not get us where we need to go. Each of us, in our own lives, will have to accept responsibility -- for instilling an ethic of achievement in our children, for adapting to a more competitive economy, for strengthening our communities, and sharing some measure of sacrifice. So let us begin. Let us begin this hard work together. Let us transform this nation.

Isn't that what we want already? You want to transform TO what you described? Or transform AWAY from that?

Let us be the generation that reshapes our economy to compete in the digital age. Let's set high standards for our schools and give them the resources they need to succeed. Let's recruit a new army of teachers, and give them better pay and more support in exchange for more accountability. Let's make college more affordable, and let's invest in scientific research, and let's lay down broadband lines through the heart of inner cities and rural towns all across America.

More pay for teachers? Sounds nice but... Recruit a new army of teachers? Who? What scientific programs do you mean? Are you suggesting that the GOVERNMENT install broadband lines?

And as our economy changes, let's be the generation that ensures our nation's workers are sharing in our prosperity. Let's protect the hard-earned benefits their companies have promised. Let's make it possible for hardworking Americans to save for retirement. And let's allow our unions and their organizers to lift up this country's middle class again.

Share in the prosperity? Oh that has worked GREAT in Europe. Socialism. Yup, that's the message I want to hear. More unions? I do not think so.

Let's be the generation that ends poverty in America. Every single person willing to work should be able to get job training that leads to a job, and earn a living wage that can pay the bills, and afford child care so their kids have a safe place to go when they work. Let's do this.

Great. Just great. A worker's paradise. So, Obama, you envision all adults working and the STATE raises the kids? I hear nothing about supporting traditional families in your Obamaspeak.

Let's be the generation that finally tackles our health care crisis. We can control costs by focusing on prevention, by providing better treatment to the chronically ill, and using technology to cut the bureaucracy. Let's be the generation that says right here, right now, that we will have universal health care in America by the end of the next president's first term.

Ok, let's fix health care by applying good old fashioned capitalism to it.

Let's be the generation that finally frees America from the tyranny of oil. We can harness homegrown, alternative fuels like ethanol and spur the production of more fuel-efficient cars. We can set up a system for capping greenhouse gases. We can turn this crisis of global warming into a moment of opportunity for innovation, and job creation, and an incentive for businesses that will serve as a model for the world. Let's be the generation that makes future generations proud of what we did here.

How about drilling in Alaska? Drilling in the Gulf? Crisis of Global Warming? Feh, already debunked that one. And the economy?

Most of all, let's be the generation that never forgets what happened on that September day and confront the terrorists with everything we've got. Politics doesn't have to divide us on this anymore -- we can work together to keep our country safe. I've worked with Republican Senator Dick Lugar to pass a law that will secure and destroy some of the world's deadliest, unguarded weapons. We can work together to track terrorists down with a stronger military, we can tighten the net around their finances, and we can improve our intelligence capabilities. But let us also understand that ultimate victory against our enemies will come only by rebuilding our alliances and exporting those ideals that bring hope and opportunity to millions around the globe.

It is you and your party dividing. We were tracking the terrorists down until the NYTimes blasted the program on their front page.

But all of this cannot come to pass until we bring an end to this war in Iraq. Most of you know I opposed this war from the start. I thought it was a tragic mistake. Today we grieve for the families who have lost loved ones, the hearts that have been broken, and the young lives that could have been. America, it's time to start bringing our troops home. It's time to admit that no amount of American lives can resolve the political disagreement that lies at the heart of someone else's civil war. That's why I have a plan that will bring our combat troops home by March of 2008. Letting the Iraqis know that we will not be there forever is our last, best hope to pressure the Sunni and Shia to come to the table and find peace.

This paragraph absolutely CONTRADICTS what he just said. This effort is going to take years, and most of us know that.

Finally, there is one other thing that is not too late to get right about this war -- and that is the homecoming of the men and women - our veterans -- who have sacrificed the most. Let us honor their valor by providing the care they need and rebuilding the military they love. Let us be the generation that begins this work.

It is so insulting for him to insinuate that this has NOT been done.

I know there are those who don't believe we can do all these things. I understand the skepticism. After all, every four years, candidates from both parties make similar promises, and I expect this year will be no different. All of us running for president will travel around the country offering ten-point plans and making grand speeches; all of us will trumpet those qualities we believe make us uniquely qualified to lead the country. But too many times, after the election is over, and the confetti is swept away, all those promises fade from memory, and the lobbyists and the special interests move in, and people turn away, disappointed as before, left to struggle on their own.

Yup, and I am sure your constituents are just LOVING that you will not be in the Senate, doing the job you were elected to do, but running around the country, trying to convince us you are qualified.

That is why this campaign can't only be about me. It must be about us -- it must be about what we can do together. This campaign must be the occasion, the vehicle, of your hopes, and your dreams. It will take your time, your energy, and your advice -- to push us forward when we're doing right, and to let us know when we're not. This campaign has to be about reclaiming the meaning of citizenship, restoring our sense of common purpose, and realizing that few obstacles can withstand the power of millions of voices calling for change.

In fact, it IS all about you. Reclaiming the meaning of citizenship? Then close the borders and enforce the law. Few obstacles can withstand the power of millions of voices calling for change? How about Roe v Wade?

By ourselves, this change will not happen. Divided, we are bound to fail.

But the life of a tall, gangly, self-made Springfield lawyer tells us that a different future is possible.

He tells us that there is power in words.

He tells us that there is power in conviction.

That beneath all the differences of race and region, faith and station, we are one people.

He tells us that there is power in hope.

As Lincoln organized the forces arrayed against slavery, he was heard to say: "Of strange, discordant, and even hostile elements, we gathered from the four winds, and formed and fought to battle through."

That is our purpose here today.

That's why I'm in this race.

Not just to hold an office, but to gather with you to transform a nation.

I want to win that next battle -- for justice and opportunity.

I want to win that next battle -- for better schools, and better jobs, and health care for all.

I want us to take up the unfinished business of perfecting our union, and building a better America.

Blah blah blah. Building a crescendo. Trying to align himself with Abraham Lincoln. It doesn't work. We see through you.

And if you will join me in this improbable quest, if you feel destiny calling, and see as I see, a future of endless possibility stretching before us; if you sense, as I sense, that the time is now to shake off our slumber, and slough off our fear, and make good on the debt we owe past and future generations, then I'm ready to take up the cause, and march with you, and work with you. Together, starting today, let us finish the work that needs to be done, and usher in a new birth of freedom on this Earth.

Can you just hear the strains of "Impossible Dream" swelling as he is laying it on thick and heavy? Pretty words that mean nothing.

Landmark Legal Foundation Nominates Rush Limbaugh for 2007 Nobel Peace Prize

"Rush Limbaugh is the foremost advocate for freedom and democracy in the world today," explained Levin. "Everyday he gives voice to the values of democratic governance, individual opportunity and the just, equal application of the rule of law -- and it is fitting that the Nobel Committee recognize the power of these ideals to build a truly peaceful world for future generations."

How did I miss this? I guess with all the kerfuffle over this gasbag.

"A prerequisite for winning the Nobel Peace Prize is making a difference, and Al Gore has made a difference," Conservative Member of Parliament Boerge Brende, a former minister of environment and then of trade, told The Associated Press.

I know who I would pick.

Camilla and Marion Strong

OK, I had to do this. I have been thinking about this since she sunk her claws into a royal member.

Now for the Lucy angle.
Lucy tells the truth plot summary

Lucy is caught in a white lie and Ricky and the Mertzes have had just about enough of her fibbing. People only believe you when you lie, Lucy asserts, but don't believe you when you tell the truth. Putting Lucy's theory to the test, Ricky and the Mertzes bet Lucy that she can't go one day without lying. Lucy picks up the gauntlet, even though the next day she and Ethel have their weekly bridge game with Carolyn Applebee and Marion Strong. Lucy tells Carolyn what she thinks of her new Chinese modern furniture (a nightmare you'd have after eating too much Chinese food) and clobbers Marion for her giddiness [and her HAT! editor] and Ethel for blabbing incessantly. Fred is a tightwad and Ricky is a ham. The real test comes when Lucy auditions for a television show -- can she get the part without lying or will she lie to get the part, at the 23rd hour?

Ok, here is the hat that Lucy says is the "silliest looking hat" she ever saw, and it is "horrible".

And now for Camilla's BIGGER version:

I report. You decide.

Obama's "Debunking" of Islamic Background Raises More Questions

More important, in his own two autobiographies, Obama writes that his teacher at the school sent a note home to his mother that Obama made trouble by making faces while the class was studying the Koran. Uh, sorry, but public schools DO NOT study the Koran. Islamic schools do.
...
And finally, there is the glaring red flag on Obama's attendance at Fransiskus Assisi, a Catholic school.

AP reports this:

At first, Obama attended the Catholic school, Fransiskus Assisi, where documents showed he enrolled as a Muslim, the religion of his stepfather.

The document required that each student choose one of five state-sanctioned religions when registering _ Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Catholic or Protestant. Gibbs said he wasn't sure why the document had Obama listed as a Muslim.

Gee, if he wasn't a Muslim, but a Catholic, why would a Catholic identify as a Muslim in a Catholic school? He and his parents were trying to hide his Catholic background from a Catholic school?

Taqiyyah. I cannot trust Obama.

Hunter Makes Candidacy Official Thursday

According to a statement released Tuesday, Hunter will make his announcement at the Marriott Renaissance Park hotel in the South Carolina city of Spartanburg — located in the state’s overwhelmingly Republican northwestern region. The breakfast event is titled “America: The Strength of Freedom,” which also is Hunter’s campaign slogan.

As I get an official Web page or updates, I will add them.

UPDATE: Duncan Hunter for President

House Resolution 78

Emphasis mine.

Closing statement: In 1970 Tom Foley was quoted as saying that it was very clear that a Constitutional Amendment would be required to do this. It's backhanded, duplicitous, and dishonest of the Democrats to bring this forward and it's an attempt to try to get these delegates voting rights down the road.

Democrats' Unconstitutional Power Grab

To add insult to injury, non-members would be able to vote to raise taxes on the American people but would not have to pay them. Yes, that is not a misprint—non-members would have the ability to take more from your paychecks and not be held accountable for their actions. Residents of Guam, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and Puerto Rico do not pay federal income taxes, yet the Democrat plan will allow them to hike taxes on Americans that do. It does not take a math whiz to understand that this logic does not add up.

Ethical Congress indeed.

Write your representative

Hillary How fast can you compromise

Hillary, You expect god fearing self respecting people to vote for you??? Can you really expect anyone to respect someone that has no self respect and puts up with a cheating husband just to further her own political career? Your compromise only goes to show that you will will sacrifice anything to to further yourself. Do you really think that this will help the country? The last thing we need is for some self-serving political tree climber to get to the top and crap on the rest of us. We need someone who will work FOR and WITH THE PEOPLE that pay the taxes and enable the rest to survive.

....and you all wonder why I sign my posts White Knuckles??

Let's fisk Hillary's announcement, just for my own pleasure because I am in a bad mood

I'm in. And I'm in to win.

Yeah, there's a big surprise.

Today I am announcing that I will form an exploratory committee to run for president.

...and crush and humiliate Obama in the process.

And I want you to join me not just for the campaign but for a conversation about the future of our country -- about the bold but practical changes we need to overcome six years of Bush administration failures.

Six years where he had to fling the dung you and your husband left not only on the Constitution but to replace the "W" on all the White House keyboards. How childish can you be?

I am going to take this conversation directly to the people of America, and I'm starting by inviting all of you to join me in a series of web chats over the next few days.

Where I will take no hard questions, or criticism of any kind.

The stakes will be high when America chooses a new president in 2008.

I agree with you. Did Hell just freeze over?

As a senator, I will spend two years doing everything in my power to limit the damage George W. Bush can do. But only a new president will be able to undo Bush's mistakes and restore our hope and optimism.

You had EIGHT years to let terrorism fester! Do you think we need to give you any more time?!? Undo what he has thankfully restored in many ways? Oh and by the way, when Bush speaks, I DO feel optimism. When you speak, I hear fingernails on a chalkboard. And you know what I am talkin' about.

Only a new president can renew the promise of America -- the idea that if you work hard you can count on the health care, education, and retirement security that you need to raise your family. These are the basic values of America that are under attack from this administration every day.

DO NOT "Mommy" me! I make the decisions for my life, THAT is the value of America, the individual, not YOU making my decisions.

And only a new president can regain America's position as a respected leader in the world.

Then why are people going through hoops to get here, if they didn't want to be here? Our position is not in jeopardy, except by the jihadists. And it seems to me I have seen pictures of you and your daughter in hijabs.

I believe that change is coming November 4, 2008. And I am forming my exploratory committee because I believe that together we can bring the leadership that this country needs. I'm going to start this campaign with a national conversation about how we can work to get our country back on track.

You are no leader, I will not follow, and George Bush has gotten this country more on track.
Oh the horror of life under the Bush Debacle!

Let’s see, last time I checked,
1. The stock market is at an all-time high, thus
2. Retirement accounts are at last recovering.
3. Unemployment is at a 25-year low,
4. Taxes are at 20-year lows,
5. Federal revenues are at all-time highs,
6. The Federal deficit is down almost 50%,
7. Real estate values have soared,
8. Inflation is at a 20-year low,
9. There have been no successful attacks since 9/11,
10. Al Queda is being taken apart, one body at a time.
11. U.S. and British Intelligence have thwarted a number of attacks.
12. The terrorists are flocking to Iraq to be killed, instead of boarding planes for this country.

This is a big election with some very big questions. How do we bring the war in Iraq to the right end? How can we make sure every American has access to adequate health care? How will we ensure our children inherit a clean environment and energy independence? How can we reduce the deficits that threaten Social Security and Medicare?

Good gravy woman! You TRIED HillaryCare and guess what? NO ONE WANTED IT!!! Bush tried to fix Social Security and you OBSTRUCTED it's measures! And how do we win in Iraq? Crush islamism. But you do not get that.

No matter where you live, no matter what your political views, I want you to be a part of this important conversation right at the start. So to begin, I'm going to spend the next several days answering your questions in a series of live video web discussions. Starting Monday, January 22, at 7 p.m. EST for three nights in a row, I'll sit down to answer your questions about how we can work together for a better future. And you can participate live at my website. Sign up to join the conversation here.

Oh yeah. I will be right there. NOT.

I grew up in a middle-class family in the middle of America, where I learned that we could overcome every obstacle we face if we work together and stay true to our values.

Who cares where you grew up? Why aren't you THERE representing them instead of foisting yourself on MY home state where you are not wanted?

I have worked on issues critical to our country almost all my life. I've fought for children for more than 30 years. In Arkansas, I pushed for education reform. As First Lady, I helped to expand health care coverage to millions of children and to pass legislation that dramatically increased adoptions. I also traveled to China to affirm that women's rights are human rights.

Ummm, hello? Anyone there? As First Lady you cannot PASS anything! (except maybe kidney stones). Oh and the phrase "lady" does not apply to you. From dictionary.com "lady=a woman who is refined, polite, and well-spoken". You are NONE of those things, oh PantSuited One. And explain to me, WHY were you in China? On the taxpayer's dime? Where you authorized? We have a STATE DEPARTMENT for that. Or don't you understand constitutional separation of powers? And they edited your book, doncha know. You were probably in violation of the Logan Act, but then trifles like the law do not bother you.

And in the Senate, I have worked across party lines to get billions more for children's health care, to stop the president's plan to privatize Social Security, and to make sure the victims and heroes of 9/11 and our men and women in uniform receive the fair treatment they deserve. In 2006, I led the successful fight to make Plan B contraception available to women without a prescription.

ok, you are a nut. First, you say you want to fix Social Security and then you cop to stopping the fix. You say you want to give fair treatment to the victims of 9/11 but where was your voice denouncing the Crescent of Embrace memorial? And birth control is a fight? Are you saying women are too stupid to know who to bang and who not to bang? We know you certainly couldn't manage your own home, so stay out of ours.

I have spent a lifetime opening opportunities for tens of millions who are working hard to raise a family: new immigrants, families living in poverty, people who have no health care or face an uncertain retirement.

A lifetime of open borders and picking the pockets of people who have worked hard for their money to redistribute it? Thanks a bunch.

The promise of America is that all of us will have access to opportunity, and I want to run a 2008 campaign that renews that promise, a campaign built on a lifetime record of results.

Your results suck. Someone is going to have to come behind you and scrape up the muck you have left.

I have never been afraid to stand up for what I believe in or to face down the Republican machine. After nearly $70 million spent against my campaigns in New York and two landslide wins, I can say I know how Washington Republicans think, how they operate, and how to beat them.

BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! You couldn't even "face down" Ann Coulter. You made a half-hearted comment against her Jersey Girls harpie remark, and she spit back, yeah well tell Hillary to talk to her husband about Juanitta, then we will talk, and you never opened your mouth again, and NEVER faced her. And what a stupid remark: campaigns in NEW YORK will help me in WASHINGTON. No, you have your attack dogs out now on your competitors. They need to watch their backs.

I need you to be a part of this campaign, and I hope you'll start by joining me in this national conversation.

Oh yes indeed, if only to keep you out of the White House and the Senate.

As we campaign to win the White House, we will make history and remake our future. We can only break barriers if we dare to confront them, and if we have the determined and committed support of others.

What barriers? Name them please. So you can be the FIRST woman president, I guess. Frankly my dear, you are no Margaret Thatcher. Or Jeanne Kirkpatrick. Spare us.

This campaign is our moment, our chance to stand up for the principles and values that we cherish; to bring new ideas, energy, and leadership to a uniquely challenging time. It's our chance to say "we can" and "we will."

The only thing you value is yourself. You don't care who or what brings you to power. Including the Saudis, who financed your husband's pathetic library. We can and we will stop you.

Let's go to work. America's future is calling us.

You are right about that! We are saying STFD, STFU, go home and get out of politics. And take your husband with you.

Rosie O'Donnell and 'The View' blast 'Idol' judges and producers

The View chicks discussing American Idol:

"It's like the new freak show really," said Behar. "There's an appetite for it out there in the public. People want to watch it."

Pot. Meet Kettle.

And they really cannot see the irony.

Duncan Hunter

Ok, I keep hearing this name for President.

COULTER: Yes, Mitt Romney. I mean, I love Duncan Hunter.

An Interview With Duncan Hunter

John Hawkins: Would you like to see Roe v. Wade overturned?

Duncan Hunter: Yes. You know, I'm the author of the personhood-at-conception bill which right now has over 100 co-sponsors ...that would define personhood as moment of conception, so, it would allow us to have a reversal of the effects of Roe v. Wade without a constitutional amendment.

John Hawkins: Drilling ANWR.

Duncan Hunter: Yes

Peace Through Strength

Enemy At Home The Cultural Left and Its Responsibility for 9/11

TH: Why is the cultural left so reluctant to fight the terrorists and export “a more liberal set of values, such as self-government, minority rights, and religious tolerance?” How have cultural relativism and multiculturalism affected this reluctance?

DSOUZA: It might seem at first glance that the cultural left should be in the forefront to fight radical Islam. The reason is that Bin Laden and the Islamic radicals are so illiberal. They despise women’s rights and gay rights. I think we all know what they would do with Hillary Clinton or Barney Frank. Even so, the cultural left has shown itself extremely reluctant to support Bush’s war on terror. They aren’t just against the Iraq war, they are against the Patriot Act, and the telephone surveillance program, and the invasion of Afghanistan, and the sanctions proposals against Iran’s nuclear program. In short, they want Bush’s war on terror to fail. And this means that they want the Islamic radicals to succeed.

Why? The reason actually has nothing to do with cultural relativism or multiculturalism. It has everything to do with domestic politics. Basically the left hates Bush more than it hates Bin Laden. Bin Laden is a foreign threat, but Bush is a domestic threat. In the last couple of decades the left-wing agenda has become increasingly dominated by social and sexual concerns. So who threatens abortion rights in America? Not Bin Laden, Bush. Who is blocking gay marriage? Not Al Qaeda, Bush’s court appointees. While Bin Laden wants sharia in Baghdad, Bush and the religious right are, in the leftist view, trying to impose sharia in Boston. Consequently the left is quite willing to ally with the lesser evil, the Islamic radicals, in order to defeat the greater evil, Bush and the conservatives.

REad it all.

51% of Women Are Now Living Without Spouse

Oy. From DrudgeI found a link to this pathetic article. Let's begin shall we? Emphasis mine throughout.

51% of Women Are Now Living Without Spouse

So a man isn't a man, but a spouse? Women are women but men are no longer men.

For what experts say is probably the first time, more American women are living without a husband than with one, according to a New York Times analysis of census results.

Women are not wives but men are husbands. Got it.

In 2005, 51 percent of women said they were living without a spouse, up from 35 percent in 1950 and 49 percent in 2000.

Ok we get it, we GET IT. Men are unnecessary.

Coupled with the fact that in 2005 married couples became a minority of all American households for the first time, the trend could ultimately shape social and workplace policies, including the ways government and employers distribute benefits.

How so? Why should the government intrude? Ohhhhhhhh so we can accommodate a variety of "lifestyles"? Government benefits? Why would single people require that? Single, free, unfettered people not hindered by that evil of evils, marriage?

Several factors are driving the statistical shift. At one end of the age spectrum, women are marrying later or living with unmarried partners more often and for longer periods. At the other end, women are living longer as widows and, after a divorce, are more likely than men to delay remarriage, sometimes delighting in their newfound freedom.

Partners? Are they men or women? Perhaps cats? And why add the qualifier "delighting in their newfound freedom"? Widows are free? If my husband passed away I would be grieving not delighting.

In addition, marriage rates among black women remain low. Only about 30 percent of black women are living with a spouse, according to the Census Bureau, compared with about 49 percent of Hispanic women, 55 percent of non-Hispanic white women and more than 60 percent of Asian women.

And what does this tell us, breaking down the statistics by race? The authors just throw this in for no apparent reason or provide further analysis.

In a relatively small number of cases, the living arrangement is temporary, because the husbands are working out of town, are in the military or are institutionalized. But while most women eventually marry, the larger trend is unmistakable.

Military or insane asylum? Is that what the authors are saying? Goes right along with the liberal theme of joining the military ONLY if you are crazy. Or lazy. Or stupid.

“This is yet another of the inexorable signs that there is no going back to a world where we can assume that marriage is the main institution that organizes people’s lives,” said Prof. Stephanie Coontz, director of public education for the Council on Contemporary Families, a nonprofit research group. “Most of these women will marry, or have married. But on average, Americans now spend half their adult lives outside marriage.”

Marriage. (Insert Peter Cook's voice from The Princess Bride here.) "The legal union of a man and woman as husband and wife." This is one of the definitions from the American Heritage Dictionary. Marriage organizes our lives? Yup. That is why I married my husband, to get organized. And the first half of that expression is "most women" and then right after, Americans. What about most men? How do they feel? Do they want to get married or does this group only research the horrifying effects of marriage on women. The first link from their website goes to Alternatives to Marriage Project. This group is studying not just families but contemporary families. What is that? What is that definition? Well, the esteemed Professor offers this nugget of advice:

How to stay married
Stephanie Coontz
As married couples become a minority, our correspondent argues that the best way to keep a marriage strong and healthy is to retain a close network of friends

No mention of family, church, God, or anything resembling a traditional marriage and family.

Professor Coontz said this was probably unprecedented with the possible exception of major wartime mobilizations and when black couples were separated during slavery.

William H. Frey, a demographer with the Brookings Institution, a research group in Washington, described the shift as “a clear tipping point, reflecting the culmination of post-1960 trends associated with greater independence and more flexible lifestyles for women.”

Without marriage we have greater independence? Where is that written? How does that work?

“For better or worse, women are less dependent on men or the institution of marriage,” Dr. Frey said. “Younger women understand this better, and are preparing to live longer parts of their lives alone or with nonmarried partners. For many older boomer and senior women, the institution of marriage did not hold the promise they might have hoped for, growing up in an ‘Ozzie and Harriet’ era.”

Yes, when I want an informed opinion on marriage, the first group of people I am going to go are young, inexperienced, unmarried women. Perhaps these women have been indoctrinated by people like these authors.

Emily Zuzik, a 32-year-old musician and model who lives in the East Village of Manhattan, said she was not surprised by the trend.

“A lot of my friends are divorced or single or living alone,” Ms. Zuzik said. “I know a lot of people in their 30s who have roommates.”

Ms. Zuzik has lived with a boyfriend twice, once in California where the couple registered as domestic partners to qualify for his health insurance plan. “I don’t plan to live with anyone else again until I am married,” she said, “and I may opt to keep a place of my own even then.”

Linda Barth, a 56-year-old magazine editor in Houston who has never married, said, “I used to divide my women friends into single friends and married friends. Now that doesn’t seem to be an issue.”

Sheila Jamison, who also lives in the East Village and works for a media company, is 45 and single. She says her family believes she would have had a better chance of finding a husband had she attended a historically black college instead of Duke.

“Considering all the weddings I attended in the ’80s that have ended so very, very badly, I consider myself straight up lucky,” Ms. Jamison said. “I have not sworn off marriage, but if I do wed, it will be to have a companion with whom I can travel and play parlor games in my old age.”

Carol Crenshaw, 57, of Roswell, Ga., was divorced in 2005 after 33 years and says she is in no hurry to marry again.

“I’m in a place in my life where I’m comfortable,” said Ms. Crenshaw, who has two grown sons. “I can do what I want, when I want, with whom I want. I was a wife and a mother. I don’t feel like I need to do that again.”

Similarly, Shelley Fidler, 59, a public policy adviser at a law firm, has sworn off marriage. She moved from rural Virginia to the vibrant Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington, D.C., when her 30-year marriage ended.

“The benefits were completely unforeseen for me,” Ms. Fidler said, “the free time, the amount of time I get to spend with friends, the time I have alone, which I value tremendously, the flexibility in terms of work, travel and cultural events.”

Not one currently married woman quoted, not one man. Not one opposing example.

Among the more than 117 million women over the age of 15, according to the marital status category in the Census Bureau’s latest American Community Survey, 63 million are married. Of those, 3.1 million are legally separated and 2.4 million said their husbands were not living at home for one reason or another.

That brings the number of American women actually living with a spouse to 57.5 million, compared with the 59.9 million who are single or whose husbands were not living at home when the survey was taken in 2005.

Some of those situations, which the census identifies as “spouse absent” and “other,” are temporary, and, of course, even some people who describe themselves as separated eventually reunite with their spouses.

Over all, a larger share of men are married and living with their spouse — about 53 percent compared with 49 percent among women.

Ok, so are they saying the more men than women are married? How does THAT compute?

“Since women continue to outlive men, they have reached the nonmarital tipping point — more nonmarried than married,” Dr. Frey said. “This suggests that most girls growing up today can look forward to spending more of their lives outside of a traditional marriage.”

Pamela J. Smock, a researcher at the University of Michigan Population Studies Center, agreed, saying that “changing patterns of courtship, marriage, and that we are living longer lives all play a role.”

Who is changing the patterns and why, pray tell. Who benefits from this change?

“Men also remarry more quickly than women after a divorce,” Ms. Smock added, “and both are increasingly likely to cohabit rather than remarry after a divorce.”

I cannot imagine why. Maybe the men know something these clueless people do not. That marriage works.

The proportion of married people, especially among younger age groups, has been declining for decades. Between 1950 and 2000, the share of women 15-to-24 who were married plummeted to 16 percent, from 42 percent. Among 25-to-34-year-olds, the proportion dropped to 58 percent, from 82 percent.

“Although we can help people ‘do’ marriage better, it is simply delusional to construct social policy or make personal life decisions on the basis that you can count on people spending most of their adult lives in marriage,” said Professor Coontz, the author of “Marriage, a History: How Love Conquered Marriage.”

Oh that book sounds like a real page turner.

Besse Gardner, 24, said she and her boyfriend met as college freshmen and started living together last April “for all the wrong reasons” — they found a great apartment on the beach in Los Angeles.

“We do not see living together as an end or even for the rest of our lives — it’s just fun right now,” Ms. Gardner said. “My roommate is someone I’d be thrilled to marry one day, but it just doesn’t make sense right now.”

Ms. Crenshaw said that some of the women in her support group for divorced women were miserable, but that she was surprised how happy she was to be single again.

“That’s not how I grew up,” she said. “That’s not how society thinks. It’s a marriage culture.”

And so now you are counter-culture? Hip and cool?

Elissa B. Terris, 59, of Marietta, Ga., divorced in 2005 after being married for 34 years and raising a daughter, who is now an adult.

“A gentleman asked me to marry him and I said no,” she recalled. “I told him, ‘I’m just beginning to fly again, I’m just beginning to be me. Don’t take that away.’ ”

“Marriage kind of aged me because there weren’t options,” Ms. Terris said. “There was only one way to go. Now I have choices. One night I slept on the other side of the bed, and I thought, I like this side.”

She said she was returning to college to get a master’s degree (her former husband “didn’t want me to do that because I was more educated than he was”), had taken photography classes and was auditioning for a play.

“Once you go through something you think will kill you and it doesn’t,” she said, “every day is like a present.”

Imagine that. Women gleefully cheering having no man in their lives. Did it ever occur to one of these women that no man would have such harpies?

Well, how about an OPPOSING point of view, just for kicks.

The American founders were also very intent on the idea of the self-governing couple raising children to be self-governing citizens. To this day, marriage and wealth are interconnected. Married men make more money than unmarried men, controlling for race, education, and just about every widely measured variable. Seventy percent of American households own their own home; most of them are married couples.

According to a study comparing married couples and divorced and single individuals, the average net wealth of married couples increases 16% a year; after 15 years, their net worth is 93% higher than divorced and singles. That's why I say that marriage - the social institution, rather than the personal relationship - helps us understand disturbing trends in inequality and immobility.

...

But there is also no doubt that the unmarriage revolution was in large measure a product of dubious ideas. Idealists of the 1960's imagined that if you could free individuals from traditional modes of being and traditional institutions, they could experience life more directly, more "ecstatically" as Hillary Clinton put it in her famous Wellesley graduation speech. Adding to the anti-marriage movement was the belief among feminists that marriage was the source of female inequality.

As for me and my house, we will keep our marriage, thank you. I do not want your "freedom".

Today has been a depressing day.

From Barking Moonbat Early Warning System

Raising Taxes
I for one am completely surprised. Surprised, that is, that it took the Democrats a whole fifteen days to get around to raising taxes. Then again, they had to take care of those pesky Republicans first and make sure they couldn’t stop the greedy tax-and-spend bullshit that is coming.

Yep, the Donks rolled over the Republicans and repealed the rule that requires a super-majority to raise taxes first. Now they have a free hand and that hand is headed for your and my wallet.

Don’t blame me. I didn’t vote for a single Democrat in the last election. Welcome to the new “cut-and-run”, “tax-and-spend”, “redistribute-the-wealth” Socialist People’s Republic Of America. Are you happy now?

And now from The Radio Equalizer

Hush Rush Rerun?
Don't look now, but one of the first items of business for congressional Democrats, now in the majority, is to reinstate the free- speech stifling Fairness Doctrine. Once used in an attempt to achieve "balance" on the airwaves, the policy remained in force until the 1980s.

Its Reagan- era repeal, of course, paved the way for talk radio as we know it today. But now, according to AllAccess, the so- called "hush Rush" law could once again rear its ugly head:

Great. Just great. This is going to be a very bumpy two years. Higher taxes and MORE liberal crap on tv and radio.

We are in deep doo doo now.

"Obama's life story is vastly different from the one he portrays. My point: if he will lie about his mother and father, what else is he lying about? Can we expect 'bimbo eruptions?'

"Fiction: Obama stated in his Convention speech: 'My father … grew up herding goats.' The 'goat herder' claim has been repeated endlessly. It is a lie.

"Fact: Obama's grandfather, Hussein Onyango Obama was a prominent and wealthy farmer. His son, Obama's father, was a child of privilege, not privation. He was an outstanding student, not a herdsman.

"Fiction: Obama was given an 'African' name.

"Fact: Obama is a Muslim who has concealed his religion. I am a strong supporter of the Muslim community, and I believe Muslims have been scapegoated. Obama has a great opportunity to be forthright.

I am reaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllllllllllyyyyyyy over this guy.

Her Imperial Majesty and Green Helmet Guy

Frankly, I do not see much difference in the PR of these two images. Both are exploitative.

I predict she will go down in flames in some real (not imagined or trumped up "vast right wing conspiracy) scandal. It is destiny. Just as Green Helmut Guy was exposed as a fraud, so shall she.

Reining in the CAIR Treatment

From Gates of Vienna

This story has been all over the place: Rep. Virgil Goode, Fifth District of Virginia, sent a letter to some voters in his district attacking Minnesota Representative Ellison’s plan to use the Koran as the scripture by which he will be sworn into office for the coming Congressional term. According to Goode, his letter was a response to his constituents expressing concern that Keith Ellison, the CAIR boy, is going to be serving in Congress at all. If you remember, back in October, Gates of Vienna posted on Mr. Ellison’s somewhat checkered past, including his extreme anti-Semitism and the fact that CAIR had underwritten his campaign.

......

Finally, Mr. Bowman ends with this:

However, there is a small Muslims of America community in western Charlotte County. In recent weeks, members of an organization calling itself the Christian Action Network have sought to have changed the name of the main road, Sheikh Gilani Lane, that runs through the African-American community.

Here is the letter (edited slightly for this post) that I sent to Mr. Bowman about his news report—

Mr. Bowan:

Your article on Rep. Goode’s letter had this quote:

“However, there is a small Muslims of America community in western Charlotte County. In recent weeks, members of an organization calling itself the Christian Action Network have sought to have changed the name of the main road, Sheikh Gilani Lane, that runs through the African-American community.”

Sir, with all respect, this group of people swear their allegiance to a Pakistani terrorist, Sheikh Gilani, who is not permitted in this country, and who is thought to be the mastermind of several assassinations in this country, not to mention the death of Daniel Pearl.
- - - - - - - - - -
Here is the first of several articles we researched and wrote on this group:

“Jamaat al Fuqra in Virginia”:

A snip:

“But first: some background on Jamaat ul-Fuqra. The group was founded in New York by Sheikh Gilani in New York in 1980. Its current headquarters is in Hancock, New York, and it has various compounds, or Jamaats, scattered throughout the United States and Canada, notably in Colorado, New York, Tennessee, Georgia, and Virginia. Most of the adherents are reported to be American-born Black Muslims who follow a strict Islamist ideology.

Sheikh Gilani, you may remember, is the cleric with whom Daniel Pearl had arranged an interview back in January of 2002. Unfortunately, Mr. Pearl was betrayed by his sources, and then abducted and beheaded. Sheikh Gilani was arrested later that month and languishes in Pakistani custody.

So this is the kind of people we are dealing with here. They launder money, smuggle firearms, plan and carry out assassinations and bombings, and conduct intense Islamist indoctrination, including inside American prisons.”
______

The South Asia Terrorism Portal is a wealth of information on this group and its goals.

Also see The Politics of CP, whose research is extensive. Since he is harder to track down than we are, I insisted that my fellow-blogger pass any further information to this man, who has the most complete and current information on JF in America. I am concerned for our own safety if we do much more on the subject.

Before further stories and predictable quotes about Rep Goode’s “Islamophobia” are distributed, I think a look into Jamaat al Fuqra is warranted. It is this kind of group to which Goode is saying “enough.”

We live in rural Virginia, but I might add that Richmond is not exempt. It is thought that the Beltway Snipers went to ground (for rest and refuge) at several JF compounds about 45 minutes from Richmond, in “rural Virginia.” That kind of thing could happen again.

Make no mistake, Mr. Rowan, these people loathe us. They are heavily armed, their girl children do not go to school, and the compounds are run-down and unkempt. This is mainly because most of their welfare money goes to the guru in Pakistan — who lives like royalty, by the way. We have received emails from disaffected members about visiting Pakistan and becoming disillusioned at the great chasm between their lives and his.

It is ironic, but not unusual, that American taxpayers are indirectly supporting a known and dangerous terrorist. “Jamaat al Fuqra” means “Community of the Impoverished” and that name certainly describes the adherents of this cult in this country.

I’m glad Rep Goode spoke up. It’s time to turn back immigration, both from the Middle East and Mexico. I voted for him precisely because Goode sees that our culture, any culture, cannot assimilate people that quickly. And in the case of many Muslims and Mexicans, assimilation is not in their plans. You have only to listen to what they say or see what they do to know that this is the case.

I plan to work as hard as I can to prevent in the US the tipping point Europe has reached. This is not easy when one is fighting Saudi-financed mosques and groups like JF. The infiltration in our country continues apace. And one of the hotspots is our Commonwealth.

I realize this message is anathema in Charlottesville and environs. However, it wouldn’t be if Jamaat al Fuqra set up a compound in, say, the Belmont area. But, of course, it won’t. Stealth operations don’t work that way.

One wouldn’t expect a reporter to risk himself personally exploring this group. Believe me, it’s an unsettling experience. But I would ask that you do whatever research you can online. We have. People write us — from places like Georgia and Hancock, NY, and Tennessee who are really scared about what they see — including the heavy duty weapons.

If you do the research, sir, Rep Goode’s remarks won’t seem “Islamophobic.” In fact, I believe it was his sudden introduction to the problem by a Lynchburg group — who showed him a photo of the Sheikh Gilani Lane street sign, a state-named road — that may have been the catalyst for his response.

As for Rep. Ellison, you have only to look into his record to know he is bought and paid for by Saudi/CAIR money. Here’s my take on it:

“Will Minnesota Send the First CAIR Muslim to Congress?”

Personally, I don’t care if he swears on the Koran or on a James Joyce novel, or — as some office holders do — on nothing at all. I’m not interested in what he says, only in what he does. And what Ellison has done so far is pretty alarming. His cheap publicity stunt making sure everyone knew he was going to use the Koran to be sworn into office is just that: politician sleaze publicity.

Dymphna
Gates of Vienna

Note to readers: Strictly speaking, the Koran is the Constitution of Islam, so by placing his hand on this book, Mr. Ellison is implicitly repudiating the American Constitution. That’s what I mean by words versus deeds.

Emphasis mine. This post sums up my feelings exactly. And much more eloquently.

islam, politics

Sen. Clinton talks of holiday traditions

"We've never had a mother who ever ran for or held that position," the former first lady told the all-female cast of ABC's "The View."

Oh really?

Does this woman EVER do any homework whatsoever? And just who really does want her for a Commander-in-Chief? I know that I do not.

politics, president, hillary, woman

Dear Muslims: Which "House" is America to you?

Excellent post by Amil Imani on American Thinker. Some significant excerpts (emphasis mine):

People are familiar with Islam's classification of the world into the Dar-ul-Solh, the house of peace, meaning the house of Islam-and the Dar-ul-Harb-the house of war, meaning the house of non-Islam. Ironically, the self-proclaimed house of peace, from its early years, has waged war against the house of war.

Also there is a little-known third "house" according to Islam-Dar-ul-Aman, the non-Islam house of safety where Muslims find refuge.

The democratic rule of Dar-ul-Aman is not a void system invented by the infidels, as your devious self-serving theocrats leaders claim. Democracy is the best product of humanity's caring and decent people: the rule of the people, by the people, for the people.

America is not perfect. No human enterprise ever is. Yet, America is the closest country to a true Dar-ul Aman in the broadest sense. And it is Americans, overwhelmingly "infidels", who make America what it is. While America opens its doors to the poor, the hungry and the oppressed of the world, Americans open their hearts to the less fortunate people of various lands by their unsurpassed generosity. No nation gives more aid to international charities, as percentage of its gross domestic products, than the American people.

This "Refuge," a nation of all nations called America, is indeed the harbinger of the not too far away world of the future. A future world where liberty rules supreme and fascisms of all forms, including Islamofascism, will be remembered as horrific impediments to humanity's ever-forward-march toward the goal of making this presently darksome village earth a reflection of heaven.

politics, islam

OJ Simpson

OMG
OJ Simpson is not only being paid to speak publicly but is also publishing a book on the murders of his ex-wife(the mother of his children) and Ron Goldman!!! How sick and demented can he be? To profit from the death of the mother of your children???
Have we as a society become so complacent that we accept whatever is thown at us? I for one would burn in hell before I supported such an act. Oh, I wonder why his daughter Sidney, has problems? Think about it. Aw gee it wasn't because she was born with money, it wasn't society, it was because she is affected by her father and his lack of reasoning, lack of remorse and lack of morality and human decency. How we let him get away with it and profit from this is beyond me....

Michelle Malkin on Michael Moore

I thought I would fisk for fun.

Moore: A Liberal's Pledge to Disheartened Conservatives
Me: Dear dismayed conservatives:

WhatAMaroon: A response to deluded lefties

Moore: I, and my fellow signatories, hereby make these promises to you:
Me: I hereby make these promises to you.

WhatAMaroon: Just me, and me alone, am commenting here on your thoughts to conservatives.

Moore: Should a mass murderer ever kill 3,000 people on our soil, we will devote every single resource to tracking him down and bringing him to justice. Immediately. We will protect you.
Me: We will protect your lives and livelihoods.

WhatAMaroon: Our military has been protecting you for years. Not just since Nov 7 2006. And conservatives consistently support them and their mission.

Moore: We will always respect you for your conservative beliefs.
Me: We will listen to and respect your beliefs.

WhatAMaroon: Respect us for our beliefs? Since when? How many books have been written bashing conservatives? Let's see, you mean like Stupid White Men? or Worst Person? or Lying Liars? to name just three. Or how about the movies like Death of a President?

Moore: We will respect your religious beliefs, even when you don't put those beliefs into practice. // We will let you marry whomever you want, even when some of us consider your behavior to be "different" or "immoral."
Me: We will never try to force you to change your religion, sexual orientation, or first language.

WhatAMaroon: Oh really? Captain Fantastic and Gandalf disagree.

Moore: We will never stick our nose in your bedroom or your womb. What you do there as consenting adults is your business. We will continue to count your age from the moment you were born, not the moment you were conceived.
Me: We will do our best to reduce the number of abortions in our country.

WhatAMaroon: EEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't want that picture in my head!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Get it out!!!!!! Michael Moore's nose in someone's womb!!!!!!!!!!!! Either way, empty promises. Abortion on demand at taxpayer's expense. I guess they missed the part in the Constitution where the people decide those issues, and who pays for what. The debate was never engaged, just foisted on the American people by an activist Supreme Court. And does Michael Moore think he is a god, who is HE to determine when life begins? Let's see he says in one breath we will respect conservative's opinions, but not on this issue?

Moore: We will not tolerate politicians who are corrupt and who are bought and paid for by the rich.
Me: We will have no tolerance for corruption and cronyism, even in our own party.

WhatAMaroon: Let's just start with Clinton, shall we? Let's not even get into Carter, Pelosi, Murtha, Kennedy, et al.

Moore: And we promise you we will go after the corrupt politicians on our side FIRST.
Me: ESPECIALLY in our own party.

WhatAMaroon: See above.

Moore:We will never, ever, call you "unpatriotic" simply because you disagree with us. In fact, we encourage you to dissent and disagree with us.
Me: We will never tell you that you are unpatriotic. We will never tell you that your opinion doesn't count.

WhatAMaroon: Disagree? You think treasonous behavior is simple disagreement?

Moore: When we soon bring our sons and daughters home from Iraq, we will bring your sons and daughters home, too. They deserve to live. We promise never to send your kids off to war based on either a mistake or a lie.
Me: We will never waste your lives for power.

WhatAMaroon: Neither a mistake nor lie this war be. How is fighting terrorism a war for power? How about thinking of this a war as a struggle for EMpowerment? Thank you.

Moore: We will go after any elected leader who puts him or herself ahead of the people.
Me: We will hold our leaders to a high ethical standard and when they succumb to lust for power, WE WILL HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE.

WhatAMaroon: See above.

Moore: If we fail to do this, we need you to call us on it.
Me: If we forget this, please, please, please, remind us.

WhatAMaroon: You have already failed. I am reminding you. Note to Dems: Murtha is a BAD choice for House Majority leader. Failure one. Failure two: Calls to defund the war.

Moore: You are every bit as American as we are.
Me: We need you to do this. You are America as much as we are. Let's go.

WhatAMaroon: Prove it. So far, you haven't. Don't ask again.

Michael Moore, politics, DU

My Thoughts on your thoughts of Nov 7

Ok my take is everyone better play nice together and make our country united and strong otherwise we are in for a world of hurt. Thinking that hopefully they will all realize that our military is in desparate need. No more cuts there please!
And Hillary, if you put up with that crap from Bill when he was in office keep your mouth in check and play nice. Good lord and you all have to ask why I have whiteknuckles???

My thoughts on the events of Novemeber 7 you ask?

Well, I will tell you.

My mom has said that Republicans shoot themselves in the foot, and we all know Mother is always right.

How does this bode for us? For me,(bearing in mind that I have moonbats in my belfry, meaning my house is full of them, I am the lone conservative voice) there will be a lot of gloating.

Having read many analyses so far this morning, here is my take:
1. Dems will overplay their hand and over-estimate this slight take over as a win for themselves, rather than a loss for the Reps.
2. Conservative initiatives, for the most part (gay marriage etc) won well.
4. Conservative leadership? See ya'!
5. Welcome to the new Mommy State!

As a corollary to the new mommy state, we now have TWO moms - Nancy and Hillary. The sandbox is not big enough for both of them, so let's wait and see when the catfights begin. Hillary does not play well with others.

What the heck is in the water in NY?

The move to ease the requirements for altering one’s gender identity comes after New York has adopted other measures aimed at blurring the lines of gender identification. For instance, a new shelter policy approved in January now allows beds to be distributed according to appearance, applying equally to postoperative transsexuals, cross-dressers and “persons perceived to be androgynous.”

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority also agreed last month to let people define their own gender when deciding whether to use the men’s or women’s bathrooms.

In New York, the proposed change comes after four years of discussion among health officials, an eight-member panel of transgender experts and vital records offices nationwide.

“It’s based on an arbitrary distinction that says there are two and only two sexes,” she said. “In reality the diversity of nature is such that there are more than just two, and people who seem to belong to one of the designated sexes may really belong to the other.”

Are they kidding? Diversity of nature? Where? What is the data on which they based this assumption?

This sounds like the pseudo-science that was waxed poetic in the LA Times:
When Man Mated Monkey.

Do these people EVER take into account the law of unintended consequences? And what about the majority of us who are NOT transgendered? We don't have a say in this policy change? EIGHT people are dictacting policy to the rest of NY, eight people with their own agenda to promote?

And as hot air points out:

All this time same-sex couples have been trying to make the law conform to their gender.

Now they can make their gender conform to the law...

Evolution, science, NY, transgender, New York

Halloween at the University of Pennsylvania

Little Green Footballs Wacademia Watch
The Pictures
Michelle's take
Hugh Hewitt and contact information
The creep's web site and his obsessions
Amy Gutmann's bio
Soooooooooooo a student wears a suicide bomber costume to his college president's Halloween party and holds his "toy" gun to people's heads while holding koran. Real funny. And did I mention he takes trips to Syria?

Yup, college kids study hard and do well so that they do not end up "stuck" in Iraq. What are the odds this kid could wind up there, although probably not in the manner in which Kerry was referring? Or maybe that WAS what he meant?

Her bio includes this little nugget:

In 2005, she was appointed to the National Security Higher Education Advisory Board, a committee that advises the FBI on national security issues relating to academia.

This kid and his enablers - I don't even have the words. I think I might have the pictures though.

The OTHER Rachels
Rachel Thaler, aged 16, was blown up at a pizzeria in an Israeli shopping mall.

Sgt. Rachel Levi, 19, of Ashkelon, was one of 8 Israelis killed when a Palestinian crashed a bus into a crowded bus stop at Azor junction, south of Tel Aviv.

Rachel Levy, 17, of Jerusalem, was one of two people killed when a female suicide bomber blew herself up in the Kiryat Yovel supermarket in Jerusalem.

My solution is to send this kid back to his country of origin, and replace this disgusting broad with Larry Summers.


Amy Gutmann, Gutmann,GUTMANN,Pennsylvannia, Bush

The Kerry Press Conference

Well, he spoke. What does it mean? He is living in the past. I think some of these politicians do not realize that the Internet has a very long memory.

He fails to realize that we have all heard his comments. He was not taken our of context.

He learned the wrong lesson from how he handled the Swift Boat veterans and their efforts to block him from the White House. He chose to ignore them. He thinks he should come out swinging now, which he failed to do then. I am sure some misguided fool advised him to "fight" back. A few people might be persuaded by this shabby performance, but then they probably suffer from BDS anyway. (I have met one.)

Kerry's True Colors:
Arrogant
Elitist
Smug
Rude

More colors:

John Kerry, Criminal

Just as Fonda’s critics turned out to have been correct about their gut feelings regarding her treasonable actions in North Vietnam, so, too, Kerry’s critics—who feel strongly that his trip violated the law, without quite knowing why—are correct.

The explanation of Kerry’s criminal behavior in Paris is some thirty-four years overdue.

Our major premise—the legal one—is that one federal statute makes it a crime for American citizens to have “intercourse” with the “enemy,” while another federal statute similarly prohibits “intercourse” with “any foreign government.”

Our minor premise—the factual one—is that John Kerry confessed to engaging in exactly that proscribed conduct.

Therefore, John Kerry is a criminal.

Kerry’s Logan Act

Then on Tuesday, during his grilling of Dr. Condoleezza Rice at her confirmation hearing, Kerry repeated the story, but peppered in an assertion that Arab nations wanted in, as well.

"Every Arab leader I asked, do you want Iraq to fail, says no. Do you think you will be served if there's a civil war? They say no. Do you believe that failure is a threat to the region and to the stability of the world? Yes; same with the European leaders. But each of them feel that they have offered more assistance, more effort to be involved, want to be part of a playing field that's more cooperative, and yet they feel rebuffed."

Bear in mind this was not an official trip to Europe and the Middle East. Kerry was not visiting as a representative of the United States Government. He was in no way commissioned by the executive branch to negotiate alliances with foreign countries. So what was he doing there? In an e-mail to 3 million political supporters in which he also calls for the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Kerry said, "After several months consumed by the campaign trail, I wanted to make contact with our soldiers on the ground there."

In short, his trip was, essentially, a very public vacation. One in which Kerry seems to have run afoul of the Logan Act, which reads:

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.

Kerry, Bush

Thank you John Kerry for assuring a Republican win in November

Michelle Malkin: The MSM is AWOL
Hot Air: John Kerry on America’s lazy, uneducated military; Update: McCain demands apology
Newsbusters: John F. Kerry Thinks US Soldiers Are Uneducated

Unbelievable. He has done it again. First, our troops were terrorizing women and children. Now, they are stupid.

Does he have ANY clue how much these people have to know to do their jobs? How much training is required? These men and women are not grunts, but highly skilled and trained individuals. How do I know? As a contractor, I worked on a team that was developing the training for Apache helicopter maintainers. To fly and maintain JUST those machines, not to mention the vast amount of highly technical planes, ships, submarines, weapons, that require advanced skills to use and maintain boggles the mind that a Senator and former presidential candidate and he cannot grasp this basic fact?

He wanted to be the Commander-in-Chief?

Kerry, Bush

Air America Bankrupted, by George!

Air America filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy today. They vow to valiantly remain on the airwaves in case somebody accidentally tunes in, but I fear it’s only a matter of time before they hang up their microphones for good. It is truly a sad day for Free Speech in this country.

Air America was a vital educational resource, so it should have been completely taxpayer-funded instead of forced to compete for listeners on the open market. Once again, the GOP has used capitalism to silence the lone liberal voice in the conservative-dominated radio wilderness. Now all we progressives have left to counter the Right-Wing Noise Machine is ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, TBS, NPR, CNN, BBC, HBO, HSN, MTV, VH1, Showtime, The Abortion Channel, Gore TV, Reuters, The Associated Press, Time Magazine, Newsweek......

Go read the rest. It's a hoot!
Humor, Bush

Thank you Crimsonfisted

Here we go, I am about to open a can of worms but I am really looking forward to hearing and reading some replies....As the holiday season will be upon us shortly(life goes by so fast) Should we really be complaining about the "Christmas Tree," the Star of David, Menorah and such? As far as I believe it is a free country under God. (and there are complaints about that, too.) With life being so short wouldn't it be easier to help one another learn to be more tolerant of others beliefs, and not force our beliefs on those that differ from ours? What would Sunday dinner conversation be like if we all agreed on everything and knew every thing? Crimsonfisted thank you so much for the welcome....

A big welcome to a new contributor!

Let me welcome aboard a new contributor to WhatAMaroon - Whiteknuckles!

Hoo Rah!

WhiteKnuckles is my oldest (meaning in length of time known, not age!) and our families go waaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyy back together.

Whiteknuckles will provide a nice balance to my (admittedly) ultra conservative opinions and writes with a wonderful prose style.

I hope you enjoy this addition to WhatAMaroon as much as I do.

Welcome!

why I have whiteknuckles

Ok So I am new to this, that is one reason I have white knuckles...I am enjoying life and along for the ride....But the real reason I have white knuckles is from sitting back and watching a majority of our young Americans...No belief in God, No responsibility and God knows No Respect. Where on God's green earth are we headed without God responsibility and respect? Gimme Gimme Gimme and right now might I add. Hand it over do what has to be done in a minute or less. When will people realize the world doesn't revolve around them and it isn't McDonalds????

OK, What is wrong with NY transit?

From Drudge:

Girls' room his, too

Men who live as women can now legally use women's rest rooms in New York's transit system under an unprecedented deal revealed yesterday.
....
"I would not like that," said Gloria David, a retiree from Connecticut. "I have nothing against gay men or drag queens, but they can use the men's room. I just don't want to go to the bathroom next to a man."

One rider feared predators might dress as women and lurk in the women's room. [emphasis mine]

I have no doubt of this. Dateline on (ugh MSNBC ugh guh) has a segment Catch a Predator. Why should I think that the transit bathrooms would be any safer than a predatory man coming into MY home thinking there is a 12 year old child (boy OR girl) there alone?
Safety, NY

A bit more about the veil.........

From This is London online:

Female students at a new Islamic school will be made to wear head scarves regardless of their religion, it was revealed yesterday.

From Dr Sanity's article "A Religion Of Narcissistic Entitlement And Borderline Behavior", she quotes Ann Applebaum in the Washington Post

..at a much simpler level, surely it is also true that the full-faced veil -- the niqab, burqa or chador -- causes such deep reactions in the West not so much because of its political or religious symbolism but because it is extremely impolite. Just as it is considered rude to enter a Balinese temple wearing shorts, so, too, is it considered rude, in a Western country, to hide one's face. We wear masks when we want to frighten, when we are in mourning or when we want to conceal our identities. To a Western child -- or even an adult -- a woman clad from head to toe in black looks like a ghost. Thieves and actors hide their faces in the West; honest people look you straight in the eye.

Truer words were never spoken. Dr Sanity continues with her own analysis:

Let's face it. These Islamic narcissists don't want to be tolerated by the society they live in and free to practice their religion even in the most multiculturally sensitive nations; they want the society or nation they live in to completely submit to their values and religious practices and to acknowledge their obvious superiority--or else.

My take? Dr Sanity verbalizes what I could not. The veil and these other "accoutrements" are indeed symbols of superiority and, in my opinino, do not lead to piety. Yvonne Ridley says as much. Although I do not see the link for the report on Hannity and Colmes from the woman who was suspended from British Airways for wearing a one inch cross over her cravat on her uniform because it is against the uniform policy, whereas Muslims can wear their masks headgear, and so can the Hindus. Only Christians and Jews are targeted in this manner, to remove their religious symbols. (When I find the link to H& C, I will provide it.)

I do not like the sound of Amerabia, nor of dhimmitude, nor of jizya, nor of burkas.

America Alone indeed.

Islam, politics, War

October 23 1983

Anniversary of Beirut Marine Barracks Bombing

Little Green Footballs reminds us.

Memorial Site


Islam, politics, memorial

Follow-up questions for Byron Calame and the Times' Bush-bashing allies

From Michelle Malkin:

She is really all over this:

"Now, I have a follow-up question, which I have e-mailed to Mr. Calame. His e-mail address is public@nytimes.com. As I noted yesterday, Calame's lame rationalization for his blindness is that the Bush administration engaged in "vicious" attacks on the Times:

I fear I allowed the vicious criticism of The Times by the Bush administration to trigger my instinctive affinity for the underdog and enduring faith in a free press — two traits that I warned readers about in my first column.

What, exactly, is Calame referring to when he criticizes "vicious criticism?" Yesterday, I hyperlinked a June 27, 2006 Washington Post story on the Bush administration's response after the Times blabbed about the banking surveillance program. Let's take a closer look:"

Read it all. She examines how the left and right reacted to this betrayal by the NY Times and all the visciousness comes from, you guessed it, the left. Big surprise.

The press may be free, but it is not above the law.

NY Times, politics

What She Needs is a Good Stoning

From Gates of Vienna
I was reading Gates of Vienna and came across this piece. The following are selections from that article:

'A schoolgirl at the Jean Mermoz college [secondary school] in the eighth district of Lyon was pelted with a hail of stones on Wednesday morning in a playground where she was eating a snack. The theory that the act was related to the non-observance of Ramadan has been confirmed by the prosecutor in Lyon on the strength of the earliest results of the investigation.

The forum said the girl was Christian, but the newspaper story seems to imply that she was Muslim and had raised the ire of her persecutors by appearing to be breaking the dietary laws re Ramadan. Perhaps she could wear some sign which would allow others to know that she is menstruating so they wouldn't stone her. No shame in that for an adolescent girl, right?

However, here is what this sane Muslim (safely out of Saudi Arabia) thinks about the fundamentalists in his native country who have spread their poisonous message world wide:

[It is] the full spectrum of institutionalized insanity that the House of Saud and their friends with long beards have created.


That “full spectrum” includes stoning a kid for eating. Jesus would’ve suggested that before they pick up a rock they examine their own souls to see if they were without sin…an admonition that probably doesn’t make sense in a tribal, warrior culture burdened with shame.

Gates of Vienna is the only place to get this kind of information I have found. This is not the first of this kind of horror I have seen documented here. The case of the pregnant girl who was chased and the boys tried to kill the baby inside her. She crawled for help. This is just over the top for me. Starving children for "religion"?

Dr Sanity sums up the shame culture in the article: Shame, The Arab Psyche, and Islam

Children who live with constant hostility and criticism learn to defend against the bad feelings and shame within; and to externalize blame onto others. Projection and paranoia, which are both external assignments of blame, are psychological defenses against shame.

Often this excessive shame is dealt with by humiliating someone perceived as weaker or more worthless than the shamed person (e.g., the family pet, women, Gays, or outside groups serve this function for both individuals and cultures).


Guilt is an emotion that rises after a transgression of one's own or cultural values. Guilt is about actions or behavior; while shame is about the self. There is an important psychological difference in saying to someone that their behavior is bad; as contrasted with saying that they are bad. The former leads to guilt; the latter to shame.

The purpose of guilt is to stop behavior that violates a self, family or societal standard. Guilt keeps score on excesses or deficits of behavior deemed undesirable and is expressed in regret and remorse.

And this all dovetails nicely into the recent piece on the mask veil
How much of a moron can I be?

In Islam, superiority is achieved through piety -- not beauty, wealth, power, position or sex.

Well, I think that idiot notion has been debunked pretty well, through the links here and at many other sources. And is "superiority" the goal of any religion? Not mine.

islam, politics

The Islam Conundrum

Suggested Reading at The American Thinker by Amil Imani

The contempt for free inquiry is encapsulated in the statement of Muhammad,

“Al-elmo noghtatan katharoho al-jaheloon”—Knowledge is only one dot, expanded by the ignorant.

...
There is no reason to believe that Muslims have inferior intelligence. Their state of existence is strictly a function of the doctrine of Islam: a doctrine of nihilism, ignorance, and violence that denigrates this life and fixes the starry eye of the faithful on the next life. A case in point is the Islamic madressehs in places like Pakistan. Never mind the girls. Girls are not in the calculus—women are incidental in Islam. Consider boys. Millions of young boys are enrolled in madressehs—religious boarding schools—learning very little beside memorizing and reciting the Quran. This is a case of total submission: Islam at its best, as championed by the oil-money-flushed Saudi patrons of the Wahabi sect.

This got me thinking of the 60 questions article. Two questions from the list:

Koran 5:116, represents Christians as worshipping Mary which is a historical error. Given the fact that the pagan Arabs did worship Mary’s idol in the Kaba, and that history records no group of Christians had ever worshiped Mary at this time, my question is would you please name the sect of Christians who worshiped Mary at the time of Muhammad?

Acts 19:23-41 mentions a religion that worshipped the great goddess Artemis and her meteorite which fell down from heaven. Taking note that this religion centered around a meteorite, my question is: is it possible that this is a pagan corruption of the Black Stone and meteorite that fell at the foot of Adam and that at the time of Christ the Black Stone was actually in Ephesus Asia minor?