Ravings of a Mad Tech

FU Iran and FU Barry......

2011-10-12T06:52:00.001-05:00

I was up way too early this morning and flipping around the cable news channels as I did some work before heading off to visit my client today. Now sure what it was that set me off but maybe I have just reached a tipping point like I hope the rest of this country will soon if they have not already. The following rant started out as a tweet but quickly spiraled out of control as my anger/disappointment/outrage/disgust with this Administration and our government as a whole at this point. Enjoy, comment, tell me I am crazy but leave some feedback.

Here's a novel thought, F*CK IRAN!!! They have been smuggling weapons into Iraq and Afghanistan and contributing to the deaths of our servicemen and women protecting this country for years. The sad part is the fact that this weak-kneed Obama Administration will not respond at all. Clearly we should have let the Israelis bomb the f*ck out of Iran back in 2007-2008 when they asked President Bush for "permission". Sorry, but Bush should have given them the green light. Now with Obama screwing around in Libya and weakening our position in the Persian Gulf, we might not have the capacity to even react to this plot by the Iranian government much less protect the troops we do still have in Iraq and Afghanistan What a colossal f*cking mistake this country made with Obama.

Thanks again for making the economy worse and our country less safe Mr. POS Obama. Oh by the way, my kids would like to thank you for endangering their future by the massive expenditures of your administration and I am so glad you also decided to save money by cutting benefits to our veterns after they have served this country faithfully. I am sure my brother who has served us all over the world in the Army for the last 20 years while missing his children growing up really is looking forward to retirement benefits next year that will be less then what was promised when he joined. Not to mention the fact that his sacrifice for our country has not only meant missed birthdays, anniversaries, soccer games and school plays and getting shot at in Kosovo, and Iraq twice but it also cost him his marriage. So f*ck you Mr. Obama if you don't do anything to respond to this threat from Iran. You dishonor the memory of every American that has died in the service of this country on your watch.

Al Ramirez Considering Running for CA. 36th District

2011-02-09T18:56:00.001-06:00

Al Ramirez, who we last saw running in the primary against Cary Fiorina to unseat Barbara Boxer is considering a run for California's 36th District. Many times in the last election I heard Fiorina was the best candidate possible as she had the most appeal to independents and could self fund, which turned out to be poppycock. Fiorina was beaten soundly by Boxer and in fact, statewide elections walloped the GOP here in California.

Why? Several reasons. California has a large Hispanic population, and frankly the GOP cannot win without their support. Al Ramirez brings the support of the Hispanic community. The GOP, as has been pointed out ad nauseum, must also appeal to voters under 50. Al Ramirez is under 50 and will appeal to the demographic. Even though he is under 50 Al Ramirez is just the kind of American Success story the California Republican Party (CRP) should be backing in this race. But more about Al Ramirez and his success story later. The final thing the GOP need to do well here in California is to win in Los Angeles County.

That's a hard thing to do, for several reasons. The county is largely Hispanic for one thing, and Hispanics tend, for some reason, to vote democrat when the vote is for a person and conservative when the vote is for an issue. Witness the last election. Even though democrats stormed Sacramento handily, the propositions on the ballot went heavily in favor of the conservative wishes. The Hispanic vote had a lot to do with that, just like it had a lot to do with Prop. 8 a couple of years back.

As I said earlier, Al Ramirez is the American Success Story. Frank DeMartini over at RedState has worked with Mr. Ramirez and has a great article on this as well here and you can read more about the accomplishments of Al Ramirez here.

Al Ramirez brings is the right person at the right time in the right place. I for one would like to see the CRP throw their weight behind him so we can take back the 36th District and turn this state around.

Follow Al Ramirez on twitter and facebook.

Common Sense

2010-09-07T08:28:00.003-05:00

Limited Government = Lower Taxes = Capitalism = Freedom

Larger Government = Socialism = Obama = Economic Slavery

Choose carefully how you vote in November America!!!

Consider how much of your children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren future you are willing to let Washington piss away in their scheme to spend our way of debt....

Oral Surgey - It's Not For Everyone

2009-09-18T17:20:00.003-05:00

The above picture pretty much sums up my mood after having all four of my wisdom teeth removed early this morning. Kudos to my surgeon and his staff for making the experience as "enjoyable" as possible. Plus, you have to respect a surgeon that does his own IV's. Thank God for sedation.

2996 Project: My Tribute to James M. Gartenberg

2009-09-11T07:39:00.003-05:00

James M. Gartenberg was one of many who worked in the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001 and was murdered. But rather then focus on the act, I want to focus on the man and the life that he lived.

Jim Gartenberg was a husband to Jill, a father to Nicole, a resident of Manhattan, an alumnus of the University of Michigan who loved to travel to the Big House in Ann Arbor to cheer on his beloved Wolverines.

Gartenberg was a commercial real estate broker with Julien J. Studley Inc. He worked on the 86th floor of the north tower.

A Manhattan native, Gartenberg graduated from Michigan in 1987 with a degree in economics. For 12 years, he served as chapter president of a local alumni club. Jim’s two passions were the University of Michigan and his daughter of 2, Nicole. He had taught Nicole to yell “Go Blue” whenever the Wolverines were on television.

Jim spent his last moments calmly describing the scene to ABC-TV from the 86^th floor. Jim leaves behind his wife Jill, his daughter Nicole and another child who was born after his death. I can not summarize the man and his life any better then his friends and family. I have included some of their words below.

“Some of my most vivid and wonderful memories of my childhood include time spent with Jimmy, whether at each other's houses, in the neighborhood or at school ... Rest in peace, Jimmy. Thank you for bringing so much happiness to my life. “ Allison Horn, childhood friend

"When I first met him, he was running the University of Michigan Alumni Club meeting. He was president of the New York City chapter. I was impressed with his leadership skills, how well he was organized, his intelligence, his presence, his ability to negotiate in difficult situations when there was conflict. I said to myself, 'I want to marry him.' " Jill Gartenberg

The University of Michigan has established the James M. Gartenberg Memorial Scholarship Fund in Jim’s name and has a golf outing each year to raise money for the scholarship fund. The website is http://www.jamesgartenberg.com/.

9/11: My Remberance by Todd D. Miller

2009-09-11T07:37:00.001-05:00

The day we know as 9/11 started as just another pleasant fall day in Chicago where I was living at the time. My wife and I had been blessed by the arrival of our son in February and life was generally very good. I was working for a small software integrator and since I had a 10am installation meeting in nearby Skokie I had chosen to go directly from our house on the north side near Wrigley Field rather then fight rush-hour traffic from Hillside.

At about 8:00 CST my service tech called me to let me know that he might be late for our meeting at 10am. I told him that traffic could not possibly be that bad this morning and I was sure he would make the meeting on time. He said to me, “You’re kidding right? Have you seen the news?” I quickly replied that I had not since he had woken me from a dead sleep. He told me that a plane had crashed into one of the World Trade Center towers and the building was on fire. I turned on the television and flipped to CNN just in time to witness the second plane hit the south tower live. I told him I would call him back but we should plan to keep the meeting unless the client canceled or the office called with different instructions.

I hung up my cell phone and dropped to my knees as I watched flame and smoke pour from the towers as if someone had opened the gates of Hell. I sat on the floor in front of the television for about ten minutes struggling to comprehend what I had just witnessed. In retrospect, I can only imagine that my initial reaction was similar to that of the civilian populace that witnessed the attacks on Pearl Harbor at the onset of World War II. I went to awake my wife and she stared at me dumbfounded as I told her that two planes had hit the WTC Towers and that the news was already reporting it as an act of terrorism. She turned on the television in the bedroom and we silently sat and watched for a few minutes. I remember thinking that this must be a dream, we were Americans damn it and this does not happen on our soil. My feelings flowed from anger to disbelief to betrayal back to anger.

My cell phone rang again and it was my supervisor calling. She had been told that the company was going to try to operate as normally as possible but that the client had canceled my meeting at 10am so I should just come into the office to “do whatever” as she bluntly put it. I got dressed quickly and told my wife that once things settled down that it might not be a bad idea to head to her Mom’s house in the west suburbs. She disagreed but agreed to keep me up to date since I did not have a television or radio at my desk, the internet was going to have to be my only information source once I got to the office.

As I drove to the office, I scanned the news talk stations for more information. The first building collapsed as I pulled into the parking lot of our building and I just felt an overwhelming sense of sadness. The original estimates called for almost 10,000 dead and it was clear that morning that no one had a handle on what kind of damage had been inflicted. The President had closed American airspace and the sky became eerily empty of contrails from the many planes coming and going from Chicago. That action was even more apparent for us in the office as we were only a few miles from O’Hare airport and sat directly beneath one of the landing patterns. We sat there in our cubes just numb from the early morning’s events as we desperately tried to get the latest information off various internet news sites.

The news of a plane striking the Pentagon came as a swift kick to the gut. Again, I could not help but wonder how this could be happening to our country. At the time, I was only involved in politics and world events on the same scale as most of America. I paid attention to state and local news and only paid attention to politics when it was time to choose a president. You could say that I was blissfully ignorant of the threats that had been gathering against the United States. As I traded phone calls with my wife and exchanged information, there was a radio or television report that another plane was missing and possibly headed for Chicago. An immediate chill ran down my spine as I was flooded by a feeling of helplessness. I told my wife that she should at least go downstairs to her Grandmother’s apartment if she would not drive to her Mother’s house.

As the day progressed, the rumors gave way to truth and a small sense of security returned to those of us in the Chicago area even as rescue and recovery efforts began in earnest on the east coast. The entire day was surreal as we tried to busy ourselves with work that no longer seemed important or necessary. That evening I spent every moment I could glued to the television for the latest news. In the short span of hours everything we had known changed and I for one was left wondering what was next.

Over the next few days as we learned more about the attacks and why they happen, I kept coming back to a feeling of overwhelming sadness. Not sadness because we were attacked nor sadness at the fact that it appeared our government could not protect us. My sadness was for the innocent civilians that had been murdered, the heroic police and firefighters that had unselfishly charged to the rescue, and most of all for the families and friends that were left behind to question why. It still to this day brings me to the verge of tears when I ponder the enormous loss of potential that all of the victims held. Could there have been a Nobel Prize winner among the dead, a future president, perhaps the doctor or scientist that could have cured cancer or aids, we will never know.

I think the saddest part for me personally is the fact that so many children will not grow up with the love and guidance of a parent due to the selfish act of 19 misguided men who were led astray by a little-minded man hell-bent on creating glory for himself while perverting a religion of the world. There was a recent poll that said about 70% of Americans think about 9/11 at least once a week. I think about it everyday and maybe for me it has turned into an inspiration to lead a better life and follow the American dream as a personal tribute to our most honored dead. I fear that over time this day of national remembrance will fade as many such days in our history have. I challenge each and every American to hold the memories of these slain close to your heart and remember their sacrifice and heed the wake-up call we have been served. We are locked in a battle of epic proportions between good and evil and the day will come when those who in their hearts are riding the fence will have to make a choice.

I hope that the sadness I feel associated with this date and its events will fade over time but I fear that if we are to learn anything from the brutal attacks we will have to carry that pain of loss awhile longer. Remember this could have been prevented. Let us work together as the people of this nation did after Pearl Harbor to make sure it never happens again.

One Month in and What do we have......

2009-02-28T12:20:00.004-06:00

Well how about a string of broken promises (not really a surprise but we were promised change we could believe in) and a plan for a European style Socialist Government where every citizen will be cared for from cradle to grave on the backs of the taxpayers. This is the change that some in America voted for. Let me define why I say some. Of the people that voted for the President, very few knew that the ultimate goal of Obama was to push a socialist agenda that will ensure that more and more people will be dependent on the government and in their gratitude vote Democratic for generations to come. The vast majority that voted for Obama had no idea that this was the intention of their chosen one. Image the shock and horror of all the Hedge Fund managers, and Wall Street type that voted for Obama when he unveiled his budget and its intention to raise the capital gains tax and cut charitable donation deductions. I would say that many are having extreme buyer's remorse.

But Obama does not stop there; he plans on going forward with raising taxes on those making above $200K for individuals and $250K for families as outlined in his FY2010 budget summary. As was pointed out for all to hear during the campaign, many small businesses file taxes not as a company but as the individual owner(s). I believe the figure most sighted was 1 in 4 small businesses file this way and there are about 24.7 million in the US according to 2004 Census Bureau figures. By my rough math, that is 6.175 million small businesses that will see their taxes rise and cope with by either raising the price of their products, stop hiring and/or cut payroll by firing employees, or fail and go out of business. One of the first things learned when studying business and the economics of business is that small businesses create the overwhelming majority of new jobs in any economy. I surely would hope that the President or at least his "Dream Team" of economic advisers would know this. So if that is the effect of the President's plan to stifle small business and impede the upward mobility of every small investor and the entire Wall Street industry, one has to ask why?

The reasons for the President's pushing of a socialist agenda are many and varied but for my money it is the age old reason of class warfare and lack of faith in the American Dream. Obama was on the frontlines of class warfare as a community organizer and learned from such classic class warriors as Jesse Jackson. The cry of the ignorant poor has always been that the system is unfair and rich people get that way but exploiting the poor. "They got theirs, I gots to get mine", Obama suffered from a Robin Hood complex brought on by years of indoctrination of how unfair our economy is to poor people. The truth is that anyone of any economic or social status has more opportunity in this country than any other in the world. The road is not easy but the promise of a better life has always been available if one was willing to work hard to accomplish it. Notice that I said work hard. I choose those words deliberately because no one ever improved their life by sitting around waiting for government check. Unfortunately our new President is Hell-bent on changing that. I submit the old adage, "Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day but teach him to fish and he will eat for a lifetime". Perhaps these are words the President should take to heart.

My humble suggestion is to put more money into job training and education, not throw more money at those already living off the tax receipts of working Americans. If no incentive is given to get off welfare or unemployment then people will stay as long as possible, that is the easiest thing to do, the path of least resistance. Our country is the greatest in the world and if we want to stay that way we cannot go down this path of punishing success and glorifying failure. President Bush was wrong to dump money into companies that had made poor decisions, good money chasing bad results, and we have now seen that some of these companies have not changed their ways. I am not joining in on the piling on of corporate American but rather a realist. Sometimes the best decision a company can make for its future is to enter bankruptcy, clear the debt, restructure, and downsize. This has been the case for decades. And unfortunately sometimes a company has no choice but to just close up shop. This is reality folks, not the rose-tinted outlook that a great deal of people have nowadays. The decisions made by President Obama will be felt for generations to come and I am not just talking about the enormous debt we are incurring, that is another debate for another time. If this stimulus package fails to improve the economy, we will be lucky to endure a "lost decade" like Japan. We cannot continue to print money and throw it at a problem that is simply not the solution. This approach did not work during for President Johnson and it will not work for President Obama. We must take a targeted approach and be wise with the money we spend. I think that most Americans would be uneasy with the fact that China holds $681.9 Billion dollars of US debt (as of 2008 according to US Treasury figures) if they stopped to think about it. One has to wonder about the President's plan for spending when even the liberal bastion the New York Times questions the wisdom of his budget projections.

A targeted approach would cut spending by the Federal Government not increase as Congress and the President are planning. All non-essential spending should be cut or held immediately as this would pay for the increases that will be needed in the areas that will move this economy forward. I am not an economist but I do work for a small business and my customers are small businesses as well so I am very familiar with the reality on the ground so to speak. In a targeted stimulus plan, we would increase spending for infrastructure projects such as roads, bridges, airports, seaports, power grids and such. We would also need increase funding to job-skills programs and education in order to provide skill labor for the infrastructure projects. Rather than simply increase welfare or unemployment benefits, we must provide the tools so that people can work towards a better life. It has been my personal experience that when people are given money, property, even jobs it is not as valued as when those things are earned and I believe that to be a universal truth. These projects will create jobs but not right away, the full impact of these projects will be felt years from now but there are an important part of our economy that we have ignored for too long. We should include green projects as well in order to decrease our dependence on foreign oil imports but not at the cost of jobs and resources available today. What I mean is that we have many millions of oil available within our borders and just off-shore that can be utilized with little or no impact to the environment. Yes folks, our technology is just that good. Hell, we are the United States of America; we can do anything we set our collective mind to. The remainder of any stimulus should be targeted at real job creation and taxpayer relief. Give businesses incentives to expand and hire new employees, incentives to provide better benefits packages, incentives to be the best that they can be. We need to stop punishing successful businesses by applying the second highest corporate tax rate in the world, which stands at 35%. We should cut corporate taxes in half, provide deductions of up to 50% for new capital investment, and a health care deduction of 50% as well for the cost of providing full health care (medical, dental, eye) to employees. This will also have the effect of lowering costs for all businesses and consumers as businesses lower prices in order to complete in the marketplace. As for us lowly taxpayers, the tax credit for dependent children should be at the very least doubled to $2K, provide a tax deduction for all out of pocket medical expenses up to 75%, allow the 100% tax deduction of loan interest on new car purchases for the next 4 years, allow a 100% tax deduction on the down payment amount for new homebuyers (the thought being that if they can deduct 100% of their down payment then people will put more money down on a home and be less likely to buy homes they can't afford), suspension of federal withholding tax for the remainder of tax year 2009 (we would still pay FICA and Medicare taxes). I would also submit that Congress and the President need to take a long and serious look at the idea of a Fair Tax. Now as I said earlier, I am not an economist or an accountant so I honestly do not know how much these proposals would cost but I would be willing to bet one of my paychecks that it would be a great deal less then what has already been spent by this administration and how much they are still planning to spend.

The bottom line comes down to belief in this country and all of the opportunity she has for her citizens. I believe that this country will be great again without massive and wasteful government spending and without going down the road to a European Socialist style government. I am not a rich man but any reasonable standard, just a guy trying to do right by my family so many will say that Obama's tax and spend policies don't impact me. That could not be further from the truth. As I mentioned, I work for a small business that services primarily small businesses. If those customers of mine are squeezed by the government in the form of higher taxes then they have less money to invest in their business by way of purchasing my products and services. This in turn will lead to cost cutting measures by my company as our leadership are very sound businessmen. Those cost cutting measures could include reduction in benefits, elimination of 401K matching, no increase in pay or worse a reduction in pay. If these items come to pass I may be forced to remove my children from the excellent Catholic school they attend and place them in the sub-standard Chicago public school system which could diminish their future opportunities. These are only some of the direct effects upon me and millions of others in this country in similar situations. Those are short term issues and when we turn to long term issues the ugly specter of a lack of Social Security benefits, increasing medical costs, and higher cost of living stares us right in the face.

I am under no illusion that any of the money I have paid into Social Security since the age of 16 will ever find its way back to me and I am actually ok with that. I have planned for retirement by participating in a company 401K when and where available and put money aside in a private investment account. I will be alright because I will not rely on the government to care for me in my golden years. But this President is out to punish every investor regardless of size or scope by raising the capital gains tax from 15% to 20% and the rate goes as high as 39.6% for high income folks. Now, that 5% increase that I am going to see does not sound like much but if the tax rate stays at 20% or goes higher, that will be a large amount of money lost when I cash out in thirty-five years. For example, let's say that I am conservative in my investment approach and I only manage to receive the historical return of 7% (stocks and bonds) on my money. If I had started with $10K and invested it over 35 years, I would have $106,765.80 which at today's capital gains tax would cost me $16,014.87 in taxes but at the higher Obama rate of 20% would cost me $21,353.16 in taxes. That difference of $5,338.29 could be the difference in how I live once retired or how many medications I can afford for myself or my wife, or even whether I can retire when I want to. Did you get the picture? The more money I invest to provide for my retirement the more taxes I could pay if I am successful. Let that sink in a moment. The more successful I am at providing for my retirement, the more I am going to be "punished" by the government in the form of higher taxes. This is at the heart of the issue, punishing success and rewarding failure. I am 100% sure that this role of the government was not intended by our Founding Fathers. Putting aside the fact that a Capital Gains tax is a tax applied to money that was already taxed when originally earned; can you see where this is going? In the President's effort to "punish" Wall Street bankers and Investors, he has used too broad a sword and is applying his malice towards Wall Street to millions of small investors that are just trying to save for their futures. I personally think that capital gains should be completely eliminated for those taxpayers that have another source of income and for those who are only paid in stock options; it should be taxed at their standard rate and that standard rate should be no higher than 25%. Of course this debate is moot if we ever pass the Fair Tax and eliminate the personal income tax.

The path laid out by this President and his accomplices in Congress is not only wrong for this country at anytime much less a recession but is absolutely un-American in its application of deriding success and rewarding failure. Unless we see more protests like the Tea Parties held around this country yesterday and the absolute hounding of our representatives in Congress, we will end up living in a socialist America when government is the leading employer and granter of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness instead of each and every American.

Introducing Bobblehead Mohammed

2009-01-10T21:17:00.000-06:00

It's all over and now the fun begins....

2008-11-04T22:03:00.004-06:00

Fox has just called the election for Obama and while it may take me four years or longer to call him President if ever, I have to pray that we survive this next four years as a country and for that matter as an America that we can recognize.

I can tell this, this event and the sure missteps that are sure to come from this future administration will mobilize the Republican party like no event in the last 30 years and two years from now in the mid-term elections, the Democrats currently planning the demise of this country will be thrown out on their ass.

One other prediction before I get some sleep since I have to work tomorrow unlike many of the Obama kool-aid drinkers in Grant Park tonight. Joe Lieberman will switch party affiliation to the Republican Party shortly after the new Congress is swore in. Sarah Palin will run for US Senate taking Ted Stevens seat and while she kicks ass and takes names for a couple of years, she will be building a base so she can run for President in 2012.

To all the leftist, socialist wackos out there who voted for Obama, enjoy tonight because you will be held accountable for your actions.

Here we go.......

2008-11-04T21:38:00.002-06:00

Reid and Pelosi are already promising that they will act upon their "mandate" from the American people and there will be an end to the partisan bickering of the last 8 years.

You know what? They are right, there will be an end to the partisan bickering because with their majorities they will just ramrod their liberal, socialist agenda down the throats of the American people because Obama will not stand up to them and the Republicans will not be able to stop them. This pair is the scariest part of this election cycle and unfortunately I think that Obama owes too much to the far left of the Democratic Party to govern as a Bill Clinton like centrist. Huffington Post and Daily Kos will eat him alive. On second thought I enjoy Democrats eating their own.

Counting on Moderate Dems......

2008-11-04T21:03:00.002-06:00

It is a terribly frightening thought that we will need to count on moderate democrats in the Senate and House to save us from the crazy Socialist, Liberal agenda that Pelosi and Reid will be pushing on Obama as he learns the job of President from Joe the Biden. Damn, if I did not love this country so much I might do something stupid and predict that I am moving to Canada or another friendly country.

At this point, Fox News has the race as 207 Electoral votes for Obama and 129 for McCain. The McCain campaign is quietly acknowledging that there might not be path to the White House at this point. Whoa, I am having flashbacks to Bush/Quayle in '92. That night sucked and this night is starting to look as shitty.

Boy, Hillary has got to be really freaking pissed off. Now she has to potentially wait until 2016 to run for President again. Nah, she has the balls to run against Obama in 2012 if he sucks as bad as I think he might.

Interesting point, more of registered voters were contacted by the Obama campaign then the McCain campaign. Does anyone think that has to do with the millions of dollars that Obama raised after going back on his word about taking public financing?

One other point before I take a quick break, I am currently in Livingston, New Jersey and not home in Chicago. Frankly I am glad for that considering that I only live 15 minutes from downtown Chicago and it is going to be "off the hook" as one Obama supporter just told MSNBC. I swear that network seeks out the most intellectually devoid people to interview just so it can make their anchors look smarter.

Damn, it does not look good......

2008-11-04T20:30:00.002-06:00

It is not looking good for McCain so far and I have to wonder if Obama does win, are we going to be faced with 4 years of Jimmy Carter politics or are we headed for a centrist type Bill Clinton like 4 years?

I have no idea but I will tell you this, a extremely liberal Senate and House scares me much worse then a possible President Obama. He does not have the balls to stand up to Congress and they will try to ram through all of their leftist agenda. That my friends scares the Hell out of me.

While we are on the topic of what scares me, try this on for size. What do we really know about Obama? What if only half of what the Republicans and John McCain tried to pin on Obama is true? I can already hear a hearty "I told you so" coming from the usual suspects of talking heads.

Stay tuned for more......I have a feeling that this freaking mess is just the thing to push me back into blogging full-time. At least we might have one thing to thank Obama for.

Question?

2008-10-24T07:28:00.001-05:00

Is Obama the Anti-Christ?

Comment at will......

Ken Sherman, 40th District California

2008-05-30T19:43:00.001-05:00

The title of this post is specifically to get it shown at the top of searches on Google so that when people search for Ken Sherman they find it and know why I think he shouldn't be running for the Assembly seat in the 40th District of California which he is seeking.

Ken Sherman is a piano teacher, which while being a noble and decent profession, in no way qualifies him for a political office.

You can see the first post I did on Sherman here. I explain in that post why he shouldn't even be consider by anyone that considers themselves a conservative, but I want to recap that and tell you why I am posting about this again.

Ken Sherman has posted (and taken down when it was pointed out what he did) anti-semitic videos on his only website, a myspace page. Any candidate for an office higher than Student Council at a high school should have an actual website. I have no idea if Ken is running a campaign on the cheap, he doesn't know any better or he is simply thinking that only a myspace page is good enough, because Ken won't return calls.

Ken has also promoted events sponsored by Move On Dot Org, an extremely far left group. The event he promoted on his myspace page was a candle light vigil against the war, which by default means he is against the troops.

Ken's campaign manager has posted lies about Ken's opponent, Armineh Chelebian, while at the same time failing to divulge his position in the campaign. While it may not be illegal to post comments without divulging your position in a campaign, it is extremely unethical to do so, especially when you are posting comments in favor of your employer and posting lies about your employers opponent.

Theer has been some speculation amongst some activists here that Ken Sherman is a mole from the Democrat party, and is only running to secure the nomination so he can drop out and leave the seat uncontested for the Democrats. If Ken Sherman does win next Tuesday, and drops out of the race I'd like to see the Attorney General of California open an investigation into Ken's finances and those close to him. I'd be willing to bet that if he is a mole, he has a handshake deal with the Dems to get paid for securing the seat for them. But that's just a theory of mine.

I tried several times to speak with Ken, and after reaching him on his cell he said he'd call me later. His steadfast refusal to get together for a one on one so he could present his side of the issues is proof positive to me that he is hoping to ride this out until Tuesday.

So spread the word. Don't vote for Ken Sherman if you live in the 40th district in California. If you do and by some stretch of the imagination he wins you will be getting what you voted for. An unresponsive person of questionable character.

*DISCLAIMER; These are my thoughts only. I am not connected in any official capacity with any campaign for any office.

The Party of Skeletons and How much does America really Hate Whitey?

2008-03-18T21:00:00.002-05:00

The Mad Tech Returns.......

I thought I would weigh in with just a few thoughts as the Dems once again step in it and share a few predictions for the coming months of Presidential Politics. As for those that do not know me or have not read anything I have written I welcome you and encourage to continue on but certainly be warned that this blog is anything but politically correct and is certainly not safe for those that are of the weak knee-ed liberal persuasion. Now before I get started, any comments that accuse me or being a racist or adding fire to the race discussion with be forwarded to my good buddy and the ultimate reverse racist, Jesse Jackson. In fact I am hoping that he will call for a boycott of Google, the parent company of Blogger, and drive the stock price down to where I can buy a few shares. It is also worth noting that I cannot be a racist given the simple fact that my best friend is black, my wife is Hispanic and as a result so are my kids. But what I can be is the guy who has the balls to speak a little common sense, say what you are thinking and point out the obvious to those that need a smack in the mouth every now and then but enough said, on with the show.

As we eagerly await the release of some eleven thousand documents from the Clinton White House detailing what the heck Hillary was doing for eight years in her husband's administration, I will drop a few nuggets on what my least favorite senator from Illinois has been talking about this afternoon. Don't worry I will return to Hill/Bill in a future post since she is by far much more fun to ridicule Obama.

Senator Obama tried very hard today to define the topic of his racist preacher and race in general as off limits in this presidential race. I have read the entire transcript of his speech and in my humble opinion all he accomplished was muddying the water further and certainly not clearing up anyone's concerns. By not outright disowning the comments of Reverend Wright, Senator Obama has acknowledged that he is some small part is accepting of the reverse racism mentality and his feeble justification about that is just how Rev. Wright is and how we need to move past the old guard opinions and work together. The comments of Rev. Wright are no better than the universally accepted racist Louis Farrakhan and yet there is no outcry from the congregation. It is worthy of note that Rev. Wright gave an award named for himself and presented by his church's news magazine to Louis Farrakhan for being a man that "truly epitomized greatness." You can read the beginning of an article from the Nov/Dec double issue here that just falls all over itself in praising Louie.

Putting this association aside for a moment let me pose a question to all of you that do attend church on a regular basis. If you were sitting in church on Sunday and instead of hearing about the teachings of Jesus, you heard about how evil the US Government and how terrible it is to live in a country that is becoming overrun by illegal immigrates and how hard it is to be white in a country that is increasingly being dominated by whiny minorities. Some would write it off as a rant that is not in step with society and some would leave that church never to return. I would be in the latter group and the fact that my children attend a school run by my church would not dissuade me in the least. So given the two scenarios, one based in reality and the other a hypothetical, I would pray that the results would be the same, the church would be punished for it's out of step views by decreased attendance and financial support from the community. It is no more acceptable for a black man/woman to preach racism then it is for a white man/woman or a brown man/woman or any color.

People may write this off as just an older person whose views are tainted by his struggle in a racist America during the 50's and 60's and that would be terribly wrong to do. I've heard today from various news outlets that this type of speech is common in black churches and frankly I hope that is not true for the sake of our country. This is the same mentality that older Islamic imams teach to this current generation of terrorists and we have all seen the results of ignoring that hate speech. Now I am not saying that Rev. Wright and by extension Senator Obama are churning out a new generation of American terrorist but they are certainly extending the same old cycle of some black Americans looking upon themselves as victims of a hateful white America. It is this very mentality that continues to cause race issues in all facets of this country. We certainly do need to move past the same old argument that this country will be forever divided by race and work together to prevent the exact occurrences that Senator Obama outlined in the second half of his speech. But and this is a huge but, I do not agree with one single thing politically that Senator Obama has ever espoused. But that is between he and I and maybe we will have it out next time he is in town and we meet for breakfast.

The item that I do agree on, and pray that most of the country does as well, is that race cannot divide us if we are to move forward as a society. Most Americans under the age of say 35 are much more open in their relationships and views on their fellow Americans then the previous generation. I like many have or have had older family members that are or were flat out racists and they should be condemned by all, regardless of color or ethnicity. I am encouraged by this stance of Senator Obama but I say it is too little too late. He cannot unite anyone if there remains a doubt about his view of white America, who he will need in the general election, and this government. Right or wrong, our form of government is the best in the world and while we depend on it to certain degrees, some more than others, there is enormous opportunity in this country and if one wants to succeed then they will. I will make a prediction in regards to Senator Obama and the recent discovery of his quiet acceptance of the racist and vile comments by his long time preacher, he will not win in Pennsylvania or Indiana or North Carolina and Hillary will once again believe that she can win the nomination. This will only further split the Democratic Party and as a conservative and registered Republican, I quietly will enjoy the side show. We have a long way to go in keeping the White House and I am preparing a heart-felt thank you to the Democrats for once again snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

Sound off if you like but in the meantime I wish you goodnight and good luck.

Some 9/11 Thoughts from an Airport

2007-09-11T09:14:00.000-05:00

As I sit in Chicago's O'Hare airport waiting on a flight to Atlanta this morning, I am struck by an enormous sense of sadness for many reasons. Bear with me and I will explain my thoughts on this sixth anniversary of the largest mass murder of American citizens.

Sadness at the loss of life in this country and around the world since the attacks
Sadness at the seemingly everydayness at which 9/11 has become for some
Sadness at the revisionist history being fed to our children by leftist politicians and public schools
Sadness that the New York Times has the balls to ask how much tribute is enough, did they ask that question 6 years after Pearl Harbor and just 2 years after the end of World War II?
Sadness that people still do not understand what it is that we are fighting for. There is no reasoning with a people that are completely committed to a doctrine that calls for the death of all non-believers
Sadness that sooner then later, there will be another attack on this country because we as a nation have not held our leader responsible for the security of this country

Let me know what you think about the state of this nation and how damn short a national memory and attention span we have.

Never forget what happen on this day........

Enough Already, The Criminal Immigrants Need To Go

2007-06-03T11:37:00.000-05:00

This was inspired by a recent business trip to Southern California, enjoy.

When did we become a nation of law-breakers? If it is ok for those who seek a better life to break the law without consequences where does it stop? I am all for people seeking a better life for themselves and their families but what does it say to that family about their future in the greatest nation on God’s Earth when they start a new life by becoming criminals? I refuse to call anyone who breaks the law to come to America an illegal immigrant any longer; they are simply criminals regardless of where they come from, who they are and why they are here. In this country we for the most part put criminals in jail but unfortunately it is just not that simple. There are many reasons why criminal immigration is tearing this country apart and I will discuss a few as well as my thoughts on how we can right this ship. I am sure along the way I will be called a racist and a xenophobe but I only know what is right and what is wrong, and breaking the law is wrong.

Immigration reform is not only necessary but long overdue. There are many reasons but let us start with the first one that should come to mind for any American taxpayer, the staggering cost of the unrelenting wave of criminal immigrants that flow in to this country every single day. I have documented the 16.5 billion dollars that Arizona, California and Texas spent each year paying for the detention of these criminals, the education of these criminals, as well as the feeding and sheltering of these criminals. Those states along the southern US border represent the flood gate that supporters of criminal immigration would keep open and unsecure. The taxpayers in Arizona, California, and Texas each pay an additional $700, $1,183, and $725 in taxes respectively to support the criminals who come to our country. You can read more about the costs that this country incurs from these criminals here, for we are just a fat sow that is being sucked dry.

Let us now turn to the most troubling aspect of criminal immigration, the insecurity of the southern United States border. It is bad enough that every day we have drug dealers, gun runners and other assorted “regular” criminals crossing our border everyday but now we have groups such as MEChA and La Raza calling for open invasion from Mexico so that their dream of “Reconquista” or the reconquest of the American Southwest can become reality. It is now so bad that the Mayor of Los Angles who is an open member of MEChA has issued an order to LA police that they may not make immigration related arrests even if they can prove the suspect is in the United States illegally. Read more about their open racism here. In case you’re local news has not made mention of this next tidbit, pay attention because you sure as Hell would not have seen this story on any national news. The Mexican army regularly invades the United States and has even traded weapons fire with the United States border patrol, read for yourself here as there are many examples of the blatant disregard by Mexico for the sovereignty of the America’s southern border. In case anyone is not familiar with that term, look it up here. The truth is that the borders are unsecure and we have no idea who is coming to this country each and every day. It could be your common drug mule or gun runner or coyote smuggling another group of criminal immigrants or in the worst case, a group of terrorists looking to murder innocent Americans.

The problem of criminal immigration is spreading across this country faster than a Brittney Spears hit song among the 12-16 years that populate your local shopping mall. The problem that was once limited to the southwest and a few other locations such as Chicago, New York, Boston, Detroit and Miami to name a few, has now spread to every corner of this country. One might be surprised to know that cities such as Cleveland, Charlotte, St. Louis, Northern Virginia and Danbury, CT now deal with the effects of criminal immigration just as any city in the southwest has for decades. In fact the folks in Danbury now “enjoy” a criminal immigrant population of 10,000 to 15,000 in a town of 77,000. That means that 12% to 19% of their population are criminal immigrants, who if allowed to vote illegally could influence the local political scene. Imagine that for a moment, a group of non-citizens who are breaking the law by their very presence in this country continuing their criminal ways and dictating the future of America citizens. You can read more about the plight of Danbury here.

The last component to this overwhelming criminal activity is the traitorous companies that continue to break the law and provide jobs for criminal immigrants while suppressing American wages and denying jobs to those who want to work. You can find just one of many lists of companies that hire criminal immigrants here. This is the only part of Congress’s ongoing debate on criminal immigration that I can agree with. Until we make it so unprofitable to hire criminal immigrants; employers will continue to provide an overwhelming reason for these people to break the law and come to this country. If it was not easy to enter this country illegally and it was easier to come here legally then maybe we would have the needed balance of workers for those companies who feel the need to hire non-citizens but currently that balance is a pipe dream. The fact is that for anyone seeking a better life coming to America is the “easy” way out. Take the country of Mexico, who incidentally supplies the United States with far more criminal immigrants than any other country, Mexico has a history of government corruption that makes Eastern Europe and Russia pale in comparison. If it was harder to come to the United States illegally then maybe these people would stay in Mexico and reform their own country instead of taking the easier path and come to the United States. Now I am not unsympathetic in regards to the many that die in the southwest’s deserts nor the terrible treatment they endure from the human smugglers. I simply point out that many who died trying to enter the United States illegally would still be alive if they had just stayed home. The UN likes to pat itself on the back for helping out around the world in regard to terrible human tragedies but they are strangely silent on the conditions in Mexico. Perhaps if they looked to our neighbor to the south then some real good could come of their actions.

Now that I have laid out what I see as the major components to the criminal immigration problem let me offer a few suggestions towards a better future for both America and the millions of criminal immigrants who are already here.

1) Close the border using the National Guard and Border Patrol as well as specially trained civilian patrols for a period of no less than 18 months. All traffic, civilian and commercial must be searched and cleared of drugs, contraband, and of course criminal immigrants. Put in place a comprehension system of technology and human assets so that after the mandatory 18 months the National Guard can stand down. The only way that any reforms will work is to secure the border and if it means sealing the border to non-essential traffic for a year and a half then so be it. Every public opinion poll in the last two years has the public putting border security at the top, far above other reforms proposed.

2) Require all illegals to immediately register with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and those who do not within 3 months are summarily deported to their country of origin and not eligible for entry to the United States for a period of not less than 15 years. That may sound cruel to many but unless the policy has consequences it will not be followed. Once the registration period has closed, conduct comprehensive background checks of all criminal immigrants who registered and if contact is lost with them during the review process then they forfeit any chance at citizenship for a period of 10 years. If the criminal immigrant passes the background check and can provide proof of an employable skill then they will be considered for citizenship but their application will be placed at the bottom of the list. We must give preference to those who want to come to this the country the right way, the legal way.

3) Reduce the amount of foreign aid to countries in a direct relation to their cooperation on the issue of criminal immigration. We currently give Mexico over 10 billion dollars in foreign aid. The sad but true part of that tale is that Mexico’s economy survives on the money that they receive from criminal immigrants which last year topped 15 billion dollars and was not only greater than our foreign aid contribution but also Mexico income earned through the sale of crude oil and its associated products. If Mexico is truly an ally then now it the time for them to step up and control their side of the border and if they cannot, they our foreign aid must be curtailed. The Mexican drug cartels have long grown fat off of American dollars from the drug trade and now they are earning a living exploiting the weakness of the United States southern border. If we cannot count on the Mexican government to stop these gangs of murders, human smugglers and hard core criminals then we must send at the very least some Special Forces operators to hone their wet work skills south of the border.

4) We must reform the process of coming to America with an eye towards allowing those who truly wish to be citizens and contribute an easier but secure path to the American dream. There are an overwhelming number of criminal immigrants who wish to simply make a better life for their families and contribute to the United States as citizens. These are the ones who we must help come here legally and safely. We are one of the most technologically advanced nations on this planet and yet the process to obtain a green card and ultimately citizenship is horribly outdated. For those who already have legal family and a waiting job we must clear a path for them to contribute and achieve, those are ones who came from all over the world to build this country and they are our greatest strength.

If this great country is to survive to see its 300^th birthday then we must meet this challenge of criminal immigration head on and not be dissuaded by those who would wrongly accuse us of racism or bigotry or worst yet, those would seek to place personal agendas and politics above the safety of all Americans, future and current. We simply must succeed to ensure that America continues to be a country that the whole world envies, that is worth coming to and raising a family. We must push ahead with common sense and a commitment to do what is right for the country no matter how painful or hard it might seem. I for one hope that we do succeed and we reach that balance of legal immigrants contributing while keeping out those who wish us harm. Until that day, I will pray that we do not head down the path of Europe as highlighted by the riots in France by illegal and legal immigrants just a few months ago. We must hope for the best and prepare for the worst while remembering what every Boy Scout knows: Be Prepared. Have a great Monday everyone and God Bless America.

Some Things To Consider........

2007-05-03T22:00:00.001-05:00

As I engaged in working for a living this past May Day/Illegal Rally Day, unlike many who come to this country or are even born here who live off the hard earned dollars of folks like me, I pondered a few things that seem like common sense to me.

People who break the law, any law are criminals. People who break immigration law to come to this country for whatever reason are criminals and should be labeled as such so as to discourage ours from thinking that it is the "right" thing to do.
I find it interesting that the last two years these criminals have held rallies on a traditional holiday for communists and socialists.
And speaking of these rallies, who do these criminals think they are by illegally exercising the God-given rights of America citizens? Specifically I am referring to the Right to Assemble.
When did we become a nation of politically correct wusses? We have many laws in this nation and they are meant to be enforced. Cities are now deciding when and where they are going to enforce federal law and that is simply unacceptable. The last time a government underneath our federal government refused to enforce or follow the laws of this nation we had a civil war. Now if cities such as San Francisco, the heart of the socialist republic of California, and Minneapolis don't feel that they can enforce federal immigration law then I guess they should not reap the benefits of all the federal money they receive.
Along the same theme, it is accepted knowledge that a vast majority of the particapants in any of the immigration rallies are here illegally. If ICE wanted to place the fear of God into these criminals then they should have setup checkpoints along the routes of these matches, screened the attendees, and arrested all illegals.
The claim that recent ICE raids are tearing families apart is a complete sham. The only people that are tearing families apart are the ones coming to this country illegally. They are separating families by leaving loved ones behind in their home countries or by having children once they reach America. By having children here and thus granting them a chance at the American dream they are forever driving a unrepairable rift between parent and child. Think of the shame and embarrassment that these children must have to deal with once they are old enough to realize what their parents have done for them and to them. Imagine if you can for a moment the irony of being taught everyday in school to obey the laws of this nation and going home every night to parent(s) who are criminals?

So there you are, a couple of thoughts to ponder and maybe discuss among yourselves. Until I return, try to remember to use some common sense out there and be nice to one another.

The Mad Tech

I Am Back Baby!!!

2007-05-03T21:49:00.000-05:00

I am back to blogging on a semi-regular basis. The last 18 months have seen dramatic changes in this country and in my own life. I don't really know what the future will hold as I return to writing but I will share my thoughts and opinions willing with all who grace these pages. Strap in and hold on because I am even more jaded and cynical then even if that is possible. Thanks to everyone who phoned, emailed, and otherwise encouraged me to get off my ass and share my non-politically correct views with the world at large. I will try not to disappoint you.

Stay tuned there is more to come.......

The Mad Tech

About Those Christmas Cards For The ACLU

2006-11-30T00:44:00.000-06:00

Crossposted from Stop The ACLU

Its that time of the year again. The time when the intolerant grinches like the ACLU start trying to fill their stockings with your tax dollars in their attempts to secularize Christmas. The ACLU try their best to deny their attacks on Christmas. They call those defending Christmas the well organized extremists out to make a buck in the guise of defending Christmas. This is of course false. The Alliance Defense Fund, just like last year, are offering their services to defend Christmas completely FREE! However, the lies continue again this year as the ACLU denies their attacks on Christmas. However, their actions speak louder than their words. Already the ACLU have began their attacks. They have already been successful in bullying the Berkley City Council into moving their Christmas nativity scene off public property. This, despite the fact that the display also included other religious and secular elements including a Star of David, Christmas trees, a Santa Claus figure, a Santa’s Mailbox, and a “Seasons Greetings” sign. In their latest attempt to censor Christmas they have sued the Wilson County School System outside of Nashville, TN. because their Christmas program includes "Christian themes and songs."

The plaintiffs and the ACLU allege that several kindergarten students role-played a nativity scene of the birth of Jesus—and had the audacity to sing “Away in the Manger” and “Joy to the World.” According to the ACLU, these songs are exclusively Christian in nature because they celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and are, therefore, inappropriate.

The ACLJ is defending the school in this case. The ADF has a long list of attacks on Christmas from the ACLU and its allies dating back from 2002 to the present. Yes, its that time of the year again. The season that I get bombarded with emails encouraging people to waste their money on a stamp for a Christmas card wishing the ACLU a merry Christmas. Don't get me wrong. I understand the sentitment behind the whole thing. I was all on board last year. If you really want them to have a Merry Christmas, or just feel like throwing your money away I won't discourage it. It will be about as effective as barking at the moon. Your Christmas cheer will be tossed in the mail room shredder and never reach any those you intended to send a message to. I propose that your money could be spent in a much more efficient manner. Save the money you would throw away on the stamp for a message destined to fall on deaf ears. There are many organizations out there fighting to protect Christmas and the expression of its true meaning. Why not take the money you would be throwing away on a noble yet ineffective gesture, and put it to real use as a gift to the organization of your choice that is out there fighting the ACLU? Sign the ACLJ's Petition here. Contribute Here. See the Alliance Defense Fund's educational on your rights here. Contribute Here. See the Liberty Counsel's free legal memorandum here (pdf). Contribute Here. Contribute to Thomas More Law Center here. Buy from the Bulldoze the ACLU store for great Christmas gifts.

This was a production of Stop The ACLU Blogburst. If you would like to join us, please email Jay at Jay@stoptheaclu.com or Gribbit at GribbitR@gmail.com. You will be added to our mailing list and blogroll. Over 200 blogs already on-board.

2996 Project: My Tribute to James M. Gartenberg

2006-09-11T08:28:00.000-05:00

9/11: My Remberance by Todd D. Miller

2006-09-11T08:16:00.000-05:00

Double Dose From Stop The ACLU

2006-08-01T22:38:00.000-05:00

A double dose from Stop The ACLU!

First on the agenda....do your part and encourage your senators to pass legislation to put an end to taxpayer funding of the ACLU's anti-Christian agenda!

Second: Celebrate! The Senate just passed legislation to transfer the Mt. Soledad Cross land to the Federal government! A victory sure to be challenged, yet still a huge step in toward victory for freedom!

ACLU Takes U.S. To U.N.

2006-07-19T22:25:00.000-05:00

Crossposted from Stop the ACLU

ACLU Website:

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND -- A United Nations human rights body expressed grave concerns today about the record of human rights in the United States. The American Civil Liberties Union with a delegation of 10 and working with a broad coalition of other groups is in Geneva to monitor the examination of the United States the U.N. Human Rights Committee (HRC).

In a two-day session that concluded today, the committee members pressured the United States for answers on the following issues:

The sentencing of children to life without parole and the disproportionate incarceration of minorities;
The militarization of the border;
The failure to prevent human rights violations and respond in a non discriminatory manner to Hurricane Katrina;
The failure to end racial profiling practices, specifically the profiling of South Asian convenience store employees in Georgia;
Warrantless spying on ordinary Americans;
The abuse of women in prison; and
The indefinite detention, rendition and torture of non-citizens.

“The U.S. should be ashamed of itself,” said Ann Beeson, Director of the ACLU’s Human Rights Program. “The review by the Human Rights Committee was a stark and all too accurate condemnation of the state of rights in America.”

No, the ACLU should be ashamed of itself. The review by the Human Rights Committee which includes member states Cuba, Saudi Arabia and China ,and ensures that violaters are included, is a joke and nowhere near accurate.

Jim Hoft has covered this well.

Religious persecutors, Womens Rights violators, Communist Regimes, and illegal organ harvesters will make up the new UN Human Rights Council.

And this is the organization that the ACLU want to hold the U.S. accountable to? The ACLU, and the U.N. are the two most dangerous organizations in the world. They are both seeking to destroy America’s credibility and soverignty. The U.N. are a corrupt joke when it comes to human rights, and they have absolutely zero credibility to make any judgement on America in that area.

The ACLU, who provided the list called "Dimming the Beacon of Freedom", to this corrupt organization that can't even clean up its own human rights violations are an embarrassement to this great nation. It is shameful that their list included our efforts to spy on the enemy, protect our borders, and several other accusations without evidence. I also wonder if their accusation to "abuse" of women in prison would be not providing them with abortions at the expense of taxpayers.

Besides the issues within our own judicial system and its decay, the ACLU is also turning to international sources to undermine our nation's sovereignty and national security.

For instance, the ACLU filed a formal complaint with the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention against the United States, stating that the United States violated international law when it detained 765 Arab Americans and Muslims for security reasons after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack on our nation. Eventually, 478 were deported. ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero said, "With today's action, we are sending a strong message of solidarity to advocates in other countries who have decried the impact of U.S. policies on the human rights of their citizens. We are filing this complaint before the United Nations to ensure that U.S. policies and practices reflect not just domestic constitutional standards, but accepted international human rights principles regarding liberty and its deprivations." Source

Romero, of course, makes the United States sound like some rogue nation with no regard for human rights, not the beacon of liberty that so many have come to escaping from tyranny and the bonds of oppression.

All of this should concern you. You may think that it doesn't directly affect you in your everyday life, but it will eventually. The ACLU's embrace of international law seeks to hypocritically do the opposite of what the ACLU claim to protect, and the Constitution forbids; prohibit the free exercise of religion.

In spring 2003, a group from the United Nations Human Rights Commission, of which former ACLU officials Paul Hoffman and John Shattuck are a part, met and discussed a resolution to add "sexual orientation" to the UNHRC's discrimination list. Homosexual activists at the meeting called for a "showdown with religion," clearly intending to use international law to silence religious speech that does not affirm homosexual behavior. Source

The ACLU's actions are a direct threat to our very freedom of speech, religious exercise, security, and soverignity. In some countries, laws are being pushed, and in some cases, enacted that essentially criminalize forms of religious speech and activity that does not affirm homosexual behavior.

If we are going to turn the interpretation of our laws to international jurisprudence, and decisions of foreign courts, judges, and legislatures, the question begs...why did we fight a war of independence? If the ACLU are successful in their agenda for international law, the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution will eventually become irrelevant documents. More and more of America's freedoms, and our very soverignty will be sacrificed for international law. Our freedoms will vanish. The ACLU's vision of freedom that includes the public sale of child pornography, the silencing of churchs and ministries, and unlimited abortion and euthanasia will replace them. To many Americans, these sound more like human rights violations than anything on the ACLU's list.

On October 27, 1787, Alexander Hamilton predicted that a “dangerous ambition” would one day tyrannize the gangling young American Republic, all the while lurking “behind the specious mask of zeal for the rights of the people.” It could almost be said that Hamilton had a prophecy of the ACLU.

This was a production of Stop The ACLU Blogburst. If you would like to join us, please email Jay or Gribbit. You will be added to our mailing list and blogroll. Over 200 blogs already on-board.

Zarqawi Bites The Dust

2006-06-08T09:06:00.000-05:00

Crossposted from: Stop The ACLU

Iraqi Prime Minister Al Maliki and General Casey have announced that it is official that Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi has been killed in a US Air raid. He has been positively identified by finger prints. Also killed in the raid were 7 of his henchmen.

FoxNews reports:

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Al Qaeda-linked militant who led a bloody campaign of suicide bombings, kidnappings and hostage beheadings in Iraq, has been killed in a U.S. air raid north of Baghdad, Iraq's prime minister said Thursday.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said al-Zarqawi was killed along with seven aides Wednesday evening in a house 30 miles northeast of Baghdad in the volatile province of Diyala.

"Today, al-Zarqawi was eliminated," al-Maliki told a news conference, drawing loud applause from reporters as he was flanked by U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and U.S. Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq.

Al-Maliki said the air strike was the result of intelligence reports provided to Iraqi security forces by residents in the area, and U.S. forces acted on the information.

"Those who disrupt the course of life, like Al-Zarqawi, will have a tragic end," he said.

Khalilzad added "the death of Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi is a huge success for Iraq and the international war on terror."

The Jordanian-born militant, who is believed to have personally beheaded at least two American hostages, became Iraq's most wanted militant, as notorious as Usama bin Laden, to whom he swore allegiance in 2004. The United States put a $25 million bounty on his head, the same as bin Laden.

Iraqi Police were first on the scene after the airstrike. And it has been reported that Jordanian officials were invoved in pinpointing his location based on some recent video tape.

Reports out of Baghdad state that information to Zarqawi's location came from local residents tipping off the Iraqi Police and Security forces. One report even says that it was a member of Zarqawi's inner circle that gave the key information.

Zarqawi was holding a meeting inside a "safe-house" about 30 miles north of Baghdad.

It is ironic that Zarqawi has been killed less than 20 miles from where Saddam Hussain was found hiding in that spider hole.

It is hoped that with the death of Zarqawi that the insurgency will start to fall apart and the differing sides in Iraq will finally come together and solve their problems.

Fox is reporting that long standing ovations and cheering at the announcement of Zarqawi's death. Even the press corps!

There is speculation that also killed in the attack was Zarqawi's #2 Sheikh Abdul Rahman. Rahman you may remember was the center of the initial insurgency.

The airstrike took place at about 1815 (6:15 pm) 7 June Baghdad time. Official announcement of Zarqawi's death didn't come until 0900 (9am) 8 June Baghdad time suggesting that there was no rush to judgement on the identification of Zarqawi's body.

Bush Congratulates the troops.

President Bush said Thursday that the death of al-Qaida leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is "a severe blow" to the al-Qaida terrorist network and a decisive victory in the U.S.-led war against terorrism.

"Now Zarqawi has met his end," Bush said in the White House Rose Garden. "And this violent man will never murder again."

Bush listed some of the most visible terror operations that Zarqawi led or masterminded including the bombing of the U.N. headquarters in Iraq, the beheading of American hostages and the assassinatio of a U.S. diplomat in Jordan.

Bush praised the work of the U.S. military and Iraqi allies in killing Zarqawi, but was careful to point out that this singular development will not end terror attacks in Iraq.

But not everyone is celebrating. Nick Berg's father is saddened.

ACLU To Board Members, STFU!

2006-05-24T11:10:00.000-05:00

Crossposted from: Stop The ACLU

This is the kind of hypocrisy that Conservatives and most reasonable liberals can agree that the ACLU needs to some house cleaning on. Via NY Times….

The American Civil Liberties Union is weighing new standards that would discourage its board members from publicly criticizing the organization’s policies and internal administration.

“Where an individual director disagrees with a board position on matters of civil liberties policy, the director should refrain from publicly highlighting the fact of such disagreement,” the committee that compiled the standards wrote in its proposals.

“Directors should remember that there is always a material prospect that public airing of the disagreement will affect the A.C.L.U. adversely in terms of public support and fund-raising,” the proposals state.

Given the organization’s longtime commitment to defending free speech, some former board members were shocked by the proposals.

Read the whole story at Stop The ACLU

Enough Already, The Criminal Immigrants Need To Go

2006-03-26T23:25:00.000-06:00

When did we become a nation of law-breakers? If it is ok for those who seek a better life to break the law without consequences where does it stop? I am all for people seeking a better life for themselves and their families but what does it say to that family about their future in the greatest nation on God’s Earth when they start a new life by becoming criminals? I refuse to call anyone who breaks the law to come to America an illegal immigrant any longer; they are simply criminals regardless of where they come from, who they are and why they are here. In this country we for the most part put criminals in jail but unfortunately it is just not that simple. There are many reasons why criminal immigration is tearing this country apart and I will discuss a few as well as my thoughts on how we can right this ship. I am sure along the way I will be called a racist and a xenophobe but I only know what is right and what is wrong, and breaking the law is wrong.

Immigration reform is not only necessary but long overdue. There are many reasons but let us start with the first one that should come to mind for any American taxpayer, the staggering cost of the unrelenting wave of criminal immigrants that flow in to this country every single day. I have documented the 16.5 billion dollars that Arizona, California and Texas spent each year paying for the detention of these criminals, the education of these criminals, as well as the feeding and sheltering of these criminals. Those states along the southern US border represent the flood gate that supporters of criminal immigration would keep open and unsecure. The taxpayers in Arizona, California, and Texas each pay an additional $700, $1,183, and $725 in taxes respectively to support the criminals who come to our country. You can read more about the costs that this country incurs from these criminals here, for we are just a fat sow that is being sucked dry.

Let us now turn to the most troubling aspect of criminal immigration, the insecurity of the southern United States border. It is bad enough that every day we have drug dealers, gun runners and other assorted “regular” criminals crossing our border everyday but now we have groups such as MEChA and La Raza calling for open invasion from Mexico so that their dream of “Reconquista” or the reconquest of the American Southwest can become reality. It is now so bad that the Mayor of Los Angles who is an open member of MEChA has issued an order to LA police that they may not make immigration related arrests even if they can prove the suspect is in the United States illegally. Read more about their open racism here. In case you’re local news has not made mention of this next tidbit, pay attention because you sure as Hell would not have seen this story on any national news. The Mexican army regularly invades the United States and has even traded weapons fire with the United States border patrol, read for yourself here as there are many examples of the blatant disregard by Mexico for the sovereignty of the America’s southern border. In case anyone is not familiar with that term, look it up here. The truth is that the borders are unsecure and we have no idea who is coming to this country each and every day. It could be your common drug mule or gun runner or coyote smuggling another group of criminal immigrants or in the worst case, a group of terrorists looking to murder innocent Americans.

The problem of criminal immigration is spreading across this country faster than a Brittney Spears hit song among the 12-16 years that populate your local shopping mall. The problem that was once limited to the southwest and a few other locations such as Chicago, New York, Boston, Detroit and Miami to name a few, has now spread to every corner of this country. One might be surprised to know that cities such as Cleveland, Charlotte, St. Louis, Northern Virginia and Danbury, CT now deal with the effects of criminal immigration just as any city in the southwest has for decades. In fact the folks in Danbury now “enjoy” a criminal immigrant population of 10,000 to 15,000 in a town of 77,000. That means that 12% to 19% of their population are criminal immigrants, who if allowed to vote illegally could influence the local political scene. Imagine that for a moment, a group of non-citizens who are breaking the law by their very presence in this country continuing their criminal ways and dictating the future of America citizens. You can read more about the plight of Danbury here.

The last component to this overwhelming criminal activity is the traitorous companies that continue to break the law and provide jobs for criminal immigrants while suppressing American wages and denying jobs to those who want to work. You can find just one of many lists of companies that hire criminal immigrants here. This is the only part of Congress’s ongoing debate on criminal immigration that I can agree with. Until we make it so unprofitable to hire criminal immigrants; employers will continue to provide an overwhelming reason for these people to break the law and come to this country. If it was not easy to enter this country illegally and it was easier to come here legally then maybe we would have the needed balance of workers for those companies who feel the need to hire non-citizens but currently that balance is a pipe dream. The fact is that for anyone seeking a better life coming to America is the “easy” way out. Take the country of Mexico, who incidentally supplies the United States with far more criminal immigrants than any other country, Mexico has a history of government corruption that makes Eastern Europe and Russia pale in comparison. If it was harder to come to the United States illegally then maybe these people would stay in Mexico and reform their own country instead of taking the easier path and come to the United States. Now I am not unsympathetic in regards to the many that die in the southwest’s deserts nor the terrible treatment they endure from the human smugglers. I simply point out that many who died trying to enter the United States illegally would still be alive if they had just stayed home. The UN likes to pat itself on the back for helping out around the world in regard to terrible human tragedies but they are strangely silent on the conditions in Mexico. Perhaps if they looked to our neighbor to the south then some real good could come of their actions.

Now that I have laid out what I see as the major components to the criminal immigration problem let me offer a few suggestions towards a better future for both America and the millions of criminal immigrants who are already here.

1) Close the border using the National Guard and Border Patrol as well as specially trained civilian patrols for a period of no less than 18 months. All traffic, civilian and commercial must be searched and cleared of drugs, contraband, and of course criminal immigrants. Put in place a comprehension system of technology and human assets so that after the mandatory 18 months the National Guard can stand down. The only way that any reforms will work is to secure the border and if it means sealing the border to non-essential traffic for a year and a half then so be it. Every public opinion poll in the last two years has the public putting border security at the top, far above other reforms proposed.

2) Require all illegals to immediately register with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and those who do not within 3 months are summarily deported to their country of origin and not eligible for entry to the United States for a period of not less than 15 years. That may sound cruel to many but unless the policy has consequences it will not be followed. Once the registration period has closed, conduct comprehensive background checks of all criminal immigrants who registered and if contact is lost with them during the review process then they forfeit any chance at citizenship for a period of 10 years. If the criminal immigrant passes the background check and can provide proof of an employable skill then they will be considered for citizenship but their application will be placed at the bottom of the list. We must give preference to those who want to come to this the country the right way, the legal way.

3) Reduce the amount of foreign aid to countries in a direct relation to their cooperation on the issue of criminal immigration. We currently give Mexico over 10 billion dollars in foreign aid. The sad but true part of that tale is that Mexico’s economy survives on the money that they receive from criminal immigrants which last year topped 15 billion dollars and was not only greater than our foreign aid contribution but also Mexico income earned through the sale of crude oil and its associated products. If Mexico is truly an ally then now it the time for them to step up and control their side of the border and if they cannot, they our foreign aid must be curtailed. The Mexican drug cartels have long grown fat off of American dollars from the drug trade and now they are earning a living exploiting the weakness of the United States southern border. If we cannot count on the Mexican government to stop these gangs of murders, human smugglers and hard core criminals then we must send at the very least some Special Forces operators to hone their wet work skills south of the border.

4) We must reform the process of coming to America with an eye towards allowing those who truly wish to be citizens and contribute an easier but secure path to the American dream. There are an overwhelming number of criminal immigrants who wish to simply make a better life for their families and contribute to the United States as citizens. These are the ones who we must help come here legally and safely. We are one of the most technologically advanced nations on this planet and yet the process to obtain a green card and ultimately citizenship is horribly outdated. For those who already have legal family and a waiting job we must clear a path for them to contribute and achieve, those are ones who came from all over the world to build this country and they are our greatest strength.

If this great country is to survive to see its 300^th birthday then we must meet this challenge of criminal immigration head on and not be dissuaded by those who would wrongly accuse us of racism or bigotry or worst yet, those would seek to place personal agendas and politics above the safety of all Americans, future and current. We simply must succeed to ensure that America continues to be a country that the whole world envies, that is worth coming to and raising a family. We must push ahead with common sense and a commitment to do what is right for the country no matter how painful or hard it might seem. I for one hope that we do succeed and we reach that balance of legal immigrants contributing while keeping out those who wish us harm. Until that day, I will pray that we do not head down the path of Europe as highlighted by the riots in France by illegal and legal immigrants just a few months ago. We must hope for the best and prepare for the worst while remembering what every Boy Scout knows: Be Prepared. Have a great Monday everyone and God Bless America.

The ACLU's Hypocrisy Legacy

2006-01-25T23:13:00.000-06:00

Crossposted from Stop The ACLU

Convincing liberals that the ACLU is leading us down a dangerous path is about as productive as talking to a rock. Perhaps this is because I mostly deal with far left liberals who share the same insane views and have the same radical agenda as the ACLU. Anyone who believes that the ACLU is there to purely defend the Constitution is naive at best. Surely there are some moderate liberals out there that can concede that the organization is in need of reform.

A balanced society can not survive resting in the fringe. A Nation only concerned with security will drift toward a police state, and one that follows the absolutist views of liberty like the ACLU will drift toward anarchy.

The ACLU proudly display a banner that states, Keep America Safe and Free, but any honest person will admit that the ACLU have done nothing for the safety of America. As a matter of fact, all evidence leads to quite the opposite. The ACLU are always ready to put the security of America at risk in the pursuit of its absolutist views of liberty.

Many of the ACLU's former leaders have noticed the irresponsible shifting of the ACLU away from true civil liberty protection into a much more dangerous agenda. For example take the words of this former Executive Director of the ACLU

The right to express unpopular opinions, advocate despised ideas and display graphic images is something the ACLU has steadfastly defended for all of its nearly 80-year history.

But the ACLU, a group for which I proudly worked as executive director of the Florida and Utah affiliates for more than 10 years, has developed a blind spot when it comes to defending anti-abortion protesters. The organization that once defended the right of a neo-Nazi group to demonstrate in heavily Jewish Skokie, Ill., now cheers a Portland, Ore., jury that charged a group of anti-abortion activists with $107 million in damages for expressing their views. Gushed the ACLU's press release: "We view the jury's verdict as a clarion call to remove violence and the threat of violence from the political debate over abortion."

Were the anti-abortion activists on trial accused of violence? No. Did they threaten violence? Not as the ACLU or Supreme Court usually defines it, when in the context of a call for social change.

The activists posted a Web site dripping with animated blood and titled "The Nuremberg Files," after the German city where the Nazis were tried for their crimes. Comparing abortion to Nazi atrocities, the site collected dossiers on abortion doctors, whom they called "baby butchers." ...

This is ugly, scary stuff. But it is no worse than neo-Nazi calls for the annihilation of the Jewish people, or a college student posting his rape fantasies about a fellow coed on the Web, both of which the ACLU has defended in the past.

None of the anti-abortion group's intimidating writings explicitly threatened violence. Still, the ACLU of Oregon refused to support the defendants' First Amendment claims. Instead, it submitted a friend-of-the-court brief taking no one's side but arguing that speech constitutes a physical threat only when the speaker intends his statement to be taken as one.

...Before anti-abortion zealots started getting sued, the ACLU had much more tolerance for menacing speech. Few of the 20th century's great social movements were entirely peaceable. The labor, civil-rights, antiwar, environmental and black-power movements were an amalgam of violence, civil disobedience and highly charged rhetoric. But to gag fiery speakers who call for harm to the establishment because others in the movement pursue their political goals with fists, guns or bombs would do terrible damage to strong, emotive pleas tot social change. It is something neither the ACLU nor, thankfully, the courts have countenanced in the past.

That's why in 1969 the ACLU helped defend a Ku Klux Klan member who had called for violence against the president, Congress and the Supreme Court. At the ACLU's urging, the Supreme Court ruled that speech advocating violence was constitutionally protected unless it incited imminent lawless action and was likely to produce such action. This case was later used to defend the speech of black militants.

The ACLU also applauded a 1982 Supreme Court decision that found that speeches promising violent reprisals were protected by the First Amendment. During the civil-rights movement, a leader of the NAACP called for "breaking the necks" of blacks who violated a boycott of white-owned businesses in Mississippi, and published a list of those who did. Some of the boycott violators were beaten. The court ruled that despite the atmosphere of fear, all the speeches and lists were part of a debate on a public issue that needed to be "uninhibited, robust, and wide-open."

I would argue that the Constitution doesn't protect all of these extreme positions of the ACLU, but that isn't the point he is trying to make. The issue is the ACLU's curious commitment to "uninhibited, robust, and wide-open" free speech when it involves things such as virtual child pornography, but not when it involves a something like a boss making racially offensive statements.

Unfortunately, there are some people who are so hypnotized by the ACLU's absolutist views and of the ACLU's campaign for pedophilia and child pornography that they are prepared to defend an organization that has become a shadow of its former self--a group that lets its idealistic and skewed understanding of the establishment clause trump freedom of religion and freedom of speech.

Stop the ACLU had the opportunity last year of interviewing a former ACLU lawyer. He was concerned with much of the same things.

The ACLU played a helpful role in the civil rights movement defending these people, and I can’t turn my back on that. I have to give credit where credit is due.” “But….that being said, what they have done in the past is completely eviscerated by what they do in the present. The ACLU has become a fanatical anti-faith Taliban of American religious secularism.”

“The ACLU is involved in the secular cleansing of our history. This is not just a fight about free exercise, but about the protection of our American history. The ACLU want to deny America the knowledge of their Christian heritage.”

It seems that the many of the ACLU's greatest critics came from their very ranks. The division within the ACLU will continue as long as the ACLU continues on the irresponsible, hypocritical path it is on. America needs a civil liberties union, sadly the ACLU isn't doing that job. If the ACLU succeeds in the dangerous direction it is steering America, they will ironically be putting in jeapordy the very liberty they claim to protect.

This was a production of Stop The ACLU Blogburst. If you would like to join us, please email Jay at Jay@stoptheaclu.com or Gribbit at GribbitR@gmail.com. You will be added to our mailing list and blogroll. Over 115 blogs already on-board.

Guard The Borders? Why Bother? We Can Hire the Mexican Military to Do It For Us!!!!

2006-01-23T16:21:00.000-06:00

Why not? They are already getting familiar with the terrain on our side of the border anyway. But you can read about that in a bit.

First I wish to point out a little known front in the battle against illegal immigration. It is linked in the title, and tells the story of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, or CNMI.

Go read that for the history of the CNMI, and to understand the ramifications of my next statement.

Anyone that is under the impression that an "amnesty", or a "work visa program" or any program under any name that gives the criminal aliens a pass for the crimes they have already committed by breaking into the US and working illegally should consider carefully the current status of life in the CNMI.

Never mind the fact that the original inhabitants of the CNMI, or "the natives" seem to have taken to heart the socialist ideals of the democratic party, to the point of creating a system that actually caused this to happen;

The corrosive effect on the work ethic and morals of the American citizens is so bad that, in 1995, the government actually had to issue a directive prohibiting welfare recipients from hiring foreign maids.

As the article said "Free-market success," indeed.

With that said, here is today's officially sanctioned, posted all over the web Guard The Borders BlogBurst:

Last week, those of us who keep an eye on border issues noticed that several mainstream media sources had featured articles about the regular Mexican military incursions over our borders and into our country. This is nothing new, as the Border Patrol has documented hundreds of such illegal incursions by an armed Mexican military over the past decade, and our government has done nothing to curb these incursions. In fact, it seems our government has looked the other way. While I'm relieved that this information is getting out into the mainstream, I have little confidence that our governement will actually do its job and secure our borders.

Some confrontations between the Mexican military troops and our own Border Patrol agents have become violent as Mexican soldiers have fired their weapons at the Border Patrol. It's a mystery why our government refuses to acknowledge these hostile invasions. They surely know about it, and the Mexican Embassy in Washington D.C. has gone so far as to publicly deny that the Mexican soldiers are hostile, but rather there to "patrol for illegal border jumpers". Contrary to that public statement, however, most of the Mexican military troops on the border are moonlighting as security escorts for drug smuggling gangs the coyotes who are running large groups of illegals across the border.

T.J. Bonner, a 27-year Border Patrol veteran who heads the National Border Patrol Council [said], "Intrusions by the Mexican military to protect drug loads happen all the time and represent a significant threat to the agents. "Why else would they be in the area, firing at federal agents in the United States? There is no other explanation," said Mr. Bonner, whose organization represents all 10,000 of the nonsupervisory Border Patrol agents.

He also challenged reports that Mexican military units had crossed mistakenly into the United States, saying, "Every country's military has a [global positioning system] nowadays, including the Mexicans. "If the border is so poorly marked, why don't the thousands of Border Patrol agents working 24/7 along it ever seem to get lost, and none of us have been issued a GPS," he said.
[...]
Attacks on Border Patrol agents in the past few years have been attributed to current or former Mexican military personnel. U.S. law-enforcement officials have long thought that current and former Mexican soldiers are being paid to protect drug shipments bound for the United States.

Several agents said the attacks have escalated in the past two years as U.S. security efforts on the border have increased -- including the July shooting of two agents in an ambush near Nogales, Ariz., by assailants in black commando-type clothing, who fired more than 50 rounds. Authorities said the gunmen used military-style cover-and-concealment tactics to escape back into Mexico. No one has been arrested.

Without any federal commitment to secure our borders, the Minutemen, a volunteer citizen's group, has performed an invaluable civic service in patrolling our borders to document and verify the location of illegal border crossers. They, too, have encountered Mexican soldiers on the WRONG side of the border. The video clip below comes directly from the Arizona Minutemen who told the Mexican soldiers, when confronted, they were there as "media" to document the border situation. It is incredibly important to note that there is no reason why American citizens should EVER be required to justify their lawful activities on American soil to a FOREIGN military presence. That is anathema to our rights as American citizens!

(SCOTTSDALE, AZ) January 20, 2006 – The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps ("MCDC") announced the release today of video footage of an incursion by a unit of the Mexican army across the U.S. border in Arizona.

Chris Simcox and a group of Civil Defense Corps volunteers encountered a squad of approximately eight armed Mexican soldiers about 500 yards inside American territory. The Mexican soldiers started running back through the brush to Mexico when they realized they had been spotted.

The video shows a uniformed Mexican soldier climbing through a barbed wire fence on American soil to return to the Mexican side of the border as he races to catch up with the other Mexican soldiers who had also climbed back through the fence as they retreated back into their country.

A group of armed Mexican soldiers then returned to the barbed wire fence (on American soil) and confronted Simcox and the volunteers. A discussion in Spanish ensued, with the agitated soldier 'in charge' saying the Americans had no business being there.

Simcox and the volunteers did not budge. The Mexican soldiers left and drove off. Judging from earlier activity observed at the ranch that morning, Simcox is of the belief that a trafficking operation had been disrupted by the volunteers.

The footage, filmed in 2004, was sent to then Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge. His office did not respond. The video has remained in the Minuteman video archive and is being released in response to recent news reports that over 200 cross-border incursions by the Mexican army have been documented since 1996.

__________________________

This has been a production of the Guard the Borders Blogburst. It was started by Euphoric Reality, and serves to keep immigration issues in the forefront of our minds as we're going about our daily lives and continuing to fight the war on terror. If you are concerned with the trend of illegal immigration facing our country, join our blogburst! Just send an email with your blog name and url to euphoricrealitynet at gmail dot com.

Blogs already on board:

Euphoric Reality
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Cao's Blog
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Counselman Says No To ACLU Prayer Censorship

2006-01-11T23:48:00.000-06:00

Crossposted from Stop The ACLU

It is happening all across the nation. The ACLU sue city counsel after city counsel over praying in Jesus name. They don't sue to stop all prayer, but in every case the target has been Christian prayer. They even fought for the right of a Wiccan to pray at a counsel meeting. Many times it doesn't even take a lawsuit. They just type up a threatening letter and that does the trick. This was the case in Fredericksburg. But one man isn't taking things lying down.

Fredericksburg City Councilman Hashmel Turner has filed suit against his fellow council members, saying the council’s newly adopted prayer policy violates his constitutional rights.

Turner is being represented by the Rutherford Institute, a nonprofit group that advocates for free expression issues.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Richmond, asks the court to rule that the city’s prayer policy is unconstitutional, and to order that Turner be allowed back into the council’s prayer rotation.

The council voted 5-1 in November to adopt a policy of offering non-denominational prayers devoid of any Christian or other specific religious references.

Turner abstained from that vote, and Councilman Matt Kelly voted against the policy.

The vote came after Turner had been excluded from the council prayer rotation for more than a year. The council got a letter from the American Civil Liberties Union in July 2004 saying that the civil liberties group would file suit if Turner continued to invoke the name of Jesus Christ in his prayers.

Turner, who is pastor at First Baptist Church of Love in Fredericksburg, had always closed his prayers before council meetings by invoking the name of Jesus Christ before the ACLU complaint.

On the same night of the November vote for the nondenominational prayer policy, Turner asked to be put back into the prayer rotation, and to give the opening prayer before the Nov. 22 council meeting.

Mayor Tom Tomzak said today he asked Councilwoman Debby Girvan to give the prayer at that meeting instead of Turner, because, “I did not want to unleash a 1,000-pound gorilla-the ACLU-on the City Council.”

However, Tomzak said he does believe Turner’s rights are being violated, and the suit filed today is “a lawsuit that I probably agree with.”

“He’s a very passionate man, a man of faith and a man of principle, and he believes his rights have been violated,” Tomzak said of Turner.

Neither City Council members nor City Attorney Kathleen Dooley had seen copies of the lawsuit earlier today.

The suit calls the new prayer policy “an unlawful attempt by the City Council to prescribe the content of prayers given at City Council meetings by Turner and other members of City Council.”

John Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute, said Turner approached his organization last fall, saying he believed his rights were being violated. “All he wants is to say Jesus Christ at the end of the prayer,” Whitehead said. “He’s not asking for any money. ... It’s a very simple suit.”

One would think that it would be simple, yet the ACLU don't seem to get that. Religious expression in America is under attack. It is a shame that an organization that claims to protect our rights are the number one censor of Christian religious expression. If they were trying to get rid of all prayer at counsel meetings, we would have a different argument, but they are targeting Christian prayers and individual expression. It is good to see this man is standing up for his rights. More people should do so.

Currently there is legislation, introduced by Representative Hostettler that could put a stop to these ridiculous lawsuits. Hostettler’s proposal would amend the Civil Rights Attorney’s Fees Act of 1976, 42 U.S.C. Section 1988, to prohibit prevailing parties from being awarded attorney’s fee in religious establishment cases, but not in other civil rights filings. This would prevent local governments from having to use taxpayer funds to pay the ACLU or similar organization when a case is lost, and also would protect elected officials from having to pay fees from their own pockets.

SIGN THE PETITION TO STOP TAXPAYER FUNDING OF THE ACLU

This was a production of Stop The ACLU Blogburst. If you would like to join us, please email Jay at Jay@stoptheaclu.com or Gribbit at GribbitR@gmail.com. You will be added to our mailing list and blogroll. Over 115 blogs already on-board.

No Post Today

2006-01-07T15:36:00.001-06:00

Today is my Birthday so yeah to me and thus I will eat, drink and be merry for I am half way to my dirt nap.
Seriously though, I am jet-lagged and tired so no post. I may post tomorrow about the poker/party tonight so enjoy your day for it's the weekend and we live in America.

The Unsung Heroes

2006-01-03T21:42:00.000-06:00

I have been lax in my postings as of late, mainly due to the requirements of my new job and family. But rest assured that all changes today. I was without Internet for most of the day due to traveling but I did hear about the Abramoff case and I will comment on it shortly. Today I want to talk about the unsung heroes of our military and how they do their job without expectation of glory or riches. They just do their job and make something of their lives like countless of others before them have done.

In my new job I will have an opportunity to travel across this great national and meet all kinds of people. Every time I travel and cross paths with a member of our military, I do a couple of things. I ask them where they are headed and spent a few minutes talking to them about their service and most importantly, I thank them for their service to this nation. I thank them on behalf of my family and friends, and I thank them on behalf of the freedoms that we all enjoy. Hell, I even thank them on behalf of each and every person who seeks to trivialize the sacrifice that they and their family make every day.

Can I tell you that without exception every single service member that I have spoke to over the last 60 days simply tells me that they are just doing their job and it’s not a big deal. Not a big deal? I humbly beg to differ. It is an enormous deal to leave family and friends and serve your country in the defense of the ideals that it was founded upon. Of course our thoughts turn to service members that are directly in harm’s way in Iraq and Afghanistan, but every member of the military from the Marines guarding the United States embassy in France to Air Force Technicians in Alaska keeping an eye on the North Koreans deserve our thanks in equal measure as their brothers and sisters who serve in combat zones.

You might ask what brought on this glowing praise of the military; well I am going to tell you faithful reader. Two reasons spurred me to place fingers to keyboard this evening, the reaction of fellow travelers when I stop and thank members of the military for their service and the cowardice of one Jack Murtha as chronicled here. Most people either through their own shame or just not wanting to interact with their fellow Americans turn away or display looks of confusion when I thank service members and spend a few minutes speaking with them. That reaction literally breaks my heart because I know that most people are grateful for the service of our brave men and women in uniform but lack either the courage or moral conviction to act upon their innermost feelings. We used to be a nation of people who stuck to our beliefs but that seems to be passing as the Dodo bird passed from the Earth. We timidly accept the erosion of this countries core beliefs and look the other way as those who seek our destruction run rampant. Folks I have to say that enough is enough. Stand up and do what is right regardless of the consequences.

If you think we should honor and thank our military for their service then let them know when you come across them in your daily travels. If you think that the military is overrated and the war in Iraq and Afghanistan is wrong then speak your mind but do not ever forget where that right came from. Our right to free speech did not come from a journalist who broke a story or an ACLU lawyer who bullied a local, state, or federal government branch with a trivial lawsuit. That right is paid for in the blood, sweat, and tears of our brave men and women in uniform and it continues to be paid by the young and old of today’s service members. So if Jack Murtha wishes to express his self shame about a life of government service that includes honorable service in the United States Marine Corp then he should do so. He illustrates the freedoms that the military strives to protect and ensure for all Americans. So if Jack Murtha no longer has the moral courage to suggest military service then we need to know that since he serves at the pleasure of the folks from the great state of Pennsylvania. I will predict that Murtha will not run for another term but will instead retire before his constituents can vote him on his ass. I would also say that since Mr. Murtha does not feel that military service is no longer honorable in his opinion then perhaps he should just retire now and save everyone the trouble of having to like to his incessant whining. But he is more then entitled to his opinion and while he has lost his moral courage, I still thank him for his service to this country as a Marine and as a Congressman. I do think I am quite a bit more generous then his fellow Marines.

Folks, do this country a favor and thank someone for your freedom. Here’s a hint, the people to thank are the ones in uniform who quietly go about their business and do not seek publicity. Have a great day everyone and God Bless our men and women in uniform and this great country.

No More Tax Dollars For The ACLU

2005-12-28T01:49:00.000-06:00

Crossposted from Stop The ACLU

One of our contributors, Craig McCarthy, set up a petition to stop taxpayer funding of the ACLU, quite a while ago. We are trying to help Craig reach at least 25,000 signatures. We are not that far away.

Just two days ago, I put up as one of Stop The ACLU's best posts of 2005, my interview with former ACLU lawyer, mr. Reese Lloyd. I had no idea it would be such great timing.

Mr. Reese strkes again in a podcast with Congressman Hostettler.

Rees Lloyd made the comments in an online podcast hosted by Rep. John Hostettler, R-Ind., in which the two discuss the congressman's legislation, the Public Expression of Religion Act, or PERA (H.R.2679). The bill would prohibit judges in civil suits involving the First Amendment's Establishment Clause from awarding attorney's fees to those offended by religious symbols or actions in the public square – such as a Ten Commandments display in a courthouse or a cross on a county seal.

Lloyd, a California civil-rights attorney, is an officer with the American Legion who wrote a resolution passed by the national organization supporting Hostettler's bill.

As WorldNetDaily reported, Hostettler's proposal would amend the Civil Rights Attorney's Fees Act of 1976, 42 U.S.C. Section 1988, to prohibit prevailing parties from being awarded attorney's fee in religious establishment cases, but not in other civil rights filings. This would prevent local governments from having to use taxpayer funds to pay the ACLU or similar organization when a case is lost, and also would protect elected officials from having to pay fees from their own pockets.

Hostettler says some organizations have created a new civil liberty – a right to be protected "from religion, which is found nowhere in the Constitution, nowhere in the Bill of Rights." The Indiana congressman blames "a very select group" for "perverting" the original statute, including the ACLU, People for the American Way and Americans United for the Separate of Church and State.

"They use this statute to extort behavior out of individuals," the congressman said, citing the Indiana Civil Liberties Union threatening local educators. The group sent a letter to officials saying they would be sued and be forced to pay attorney's fees should any graduation prayers be offered at commencement ceremonies. The threat sent the message, Hostettler said, that individuals tied to school districts could be impoverished personally.

Said the lawmaker: "When officials see the potential threat of a lawsuit, they stop allowing children to write papers for English class – when they're asked to write about the most important person in their life and they decide to write about Jesus Christ."

Hostettler's bill would allow cases to move through the courts without public officials worrying about being held personally liable for thousands in attorneys fees.

"Let's let these cases go forward; let's let the courts decide what's constitutional and what's not, and let's not leave it up to the ACLU," he said.

Hostettler explained that while government entities can pay attorney's fees charged to individual elected officials, they don't legally have to, which puts the politicians on the hook.

Saying most taxpayers are in favor of allowing public religious expression, the congressman noted the irony of those same taxpayers being forced to pay the ACLU to sue their local governments.

"The current threat to public officials is very real; it's ongoing," Hostettler stated. "It's been the case for several years that public officials are scared to death to suggest any type of public recognition of our Christian roots. It's a problem that needs to be addressed in Washington, D.C."

PERA would prohibit damages, court fees and attorney's fees from going to plaintiffs in establishment-clause suits while keeping the original purpose of the civil-rights law, Hstettler says, to provide a means for those whose religious liberties have been blocked to find justice.

The congressman wonders why the ACLU would oppose his legislation since it still provides for "injunctive relief" – e.g., a court can rule in the ACLU's favor and force the removal of a Ten Commandments display – but takes out the monetary incentive for lawsuits.

"If they're not out for the money but are really out to preserve our civil liberties … then the ACLU should not be opposing my bill," Hostettler commented.

In the podcast, Lloyd decried the "terrorizing litigation tactics of the ACLU."

Said Lloyd: "Not only can the ACLU brings these suits and compel taxpayers to pay them to destroy the public display of our American history and heritage, but so can Islamist terrorists or Islamist sympathizers in our midst.

"All they have to do is walk into court, make their claim that they're offended by the sight of a cross or other religious symbol, and they're going to win the case because judges follow one another under stare decisis," or deference to precedent.

The judges would then order that fees be paid to the Islamists, Lloyd contends.

Lloyd said this issue came into focus for him when he witnessed the fight in San Diego, Calif., over a cross on a veterans' memorial on public land in the Mohave Desert.

"For me, that was the one step taken too far," Lloyd said. "Now, for the first time, the ACLU was attacking the very veterans who secured their freedom."

A civil-rights activist since the '60s, Lloyd worked with the ACLU in the '70s and was "very supportive" of the 1976 Civil Rights Attorney's Fees Act because it was a "noble attempt to assure that people who had legitimate civil-rights violations and injuries could secure legal representation."

Stated Lloyd: "The ACLU has perverted, distorted and exploited the Civil Rights Act … to turn it into a lawyer-enrichment act."

Lloyd says the American people are "oblivious" to how many millions of dollars in taxpayer funds are going to the ACLU each year.

The attorney pointed out many attorneys in cases brought by the ACLU are volunteers, so the fees the group is awarded normally do not go to reimburse an attorney but rather directly into the organization's coffers.

Hostettler's bill, which was introduced first in 2003 without success, currently has 35 co-sponsors in the House of Representatives and sits in the House Committee on the Judiciary.

The Center For Reclaiming America claims that they have over 100,000 signatures backing this bill. Honestly, I don't know what they are waiting on. If we can up our petiton from 19,000 to 25,000, I will personally take the signatures to Congressman Hostettler myself....I promise you. I only live two hours from D.C.

SIGN OUR PETITON TO STOP TAXPAYER FUNDING OF THE ACLU ....and spread the word as far and wide on this petition as you can!

CONTACT YOUR CONGRESSMAN AND TELL THEM TO SUPPORT PERA

Some Thoughts For The Season

2005-12-22T20:46:00.000-06:00

I had originally thought I might write about the coming collapse of the Democratic Party and its departure from the national scene, but as it is three days before most Americans celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ I thought I would share some of my hopes for the New Year and my thoughts of this Christmas season.
I have had many things to be thankful for this year and while the MSM would have many believe that this year was a terrible one, it was one to look back on and revel in our success’s and comfort each in the sorrows’. The President that has kept good on his promise to defend this nation was re-elected and started the year with a noble agenda. While he has stumbled along the path this year, he has succeeded overwhelming in his primary duty, the safeguarding of this nation. We have not had a domestic terrorist attack since 9/11 and while we still have an incredible amount of work to do, we have made progress. Our economy has proven how strong it is even with rising fuel costs and the expense of the terrible 2005 hurricane season and home ownership is becoming more and more a reality for everyday Americans.
While we have faced difficulty in Iraq over the last year, the success has been simply amazing. The Iraqis in the short span of a year have elected a representative government and ratified a constitution. They have made these historical steps towards a free democracy quicker then even our own great county. The road will be a long one and it will not be without sacrifice but it is worth the blood, sweat and tears that our brave men and women and their families will endure. They are our greatest examples of the selfless ideals that this country was founded on. They deserve our daily thanks and a permanent place in our prayers.
Looking forward to next year we can only guess what might be in store for this country and each and every one of us. I offer a simple prayer of thanks and wish goodwill towards all including those who through direct or indirect action seek the destruction of our way of life.

Dear Lord,
I thank you for the health and happiness of my family and friends and ask for your continued blessings on all of your children who count you as our Savior. Please continue to watch over those who serve this nation and protect it from harm and their families as they cope with the absent of their loved ones. Help those who have strayed from your path to return to the flock so that might know your love. I thank you for the honor of counting all the Wide Awakes as dear friends and continue to bless them and their families as well. Bless the President as he faces the most difficult time of his life. Bless the members of Congress and please grant them wisdom to do what is right for this country. Thank you Lord, Amen.

Is there a War on Christmas or Has the Right Learned to Use the Left’s Tricks?

2005-12-19T05:12:00.000-06:00

From Dispatches from the Culture Wars comes an interesting observation regarding the "War on Christmas", questioning if such a war exists or if another event is taking place. The other event being that "social conservatives have learned the power of victimhood."

There is an old saying that goes "just because you are paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you". The claim that "there is no 'War on Christmas', you are simply playing at being a victim" falls into the same category.

Whether you believe there is a "War on Christmas" or not is immaterial to this one fact;

If the Right has taken a wellworn page from the Left's playbook and started a "Christian Victims of Secularist Plots" group that will, if the typical victimized subgroup plan is followed, start demanding "protection" and special advantages under the law then the left get what they deserve.

Never use a weapon you aren't willing to have used against you.

So if there is no "War on Christmas", conferring a false victimhood on Christians will eventually get them, and Christmas, "protected" status under the law, (sorta' like a religious affirmative action), and if there is a "War on Christmas" the same outcome is very likely.

How pissy is the left going to be when they realize that they already lost this one?

Pelosi Hails Democrats' Diverse War Stances

2005-12-17T01:55:00.000-06:00

That headline above almost tells the truth and for the Washington Post that is a scary thing. The Dumbocrats have asked Nancy Pelosi to come up with an issue agenda for the 2006 Mid-Term Elections. Wow, doesn't anyone at the DNC see what a colossal mistake that is going to be. Besides joining her fellow Dummycrats in their daily, strike that, hourly displays of hypocrisy she is without a moral or ethic compass.

I think the main reason that she does not plan to include a stance on Iraq in the 2006 issue list is a very simple one. They can't make up their minds and are constantly trying to read tea leaves in order to try and do what is best politically for them and not what is best for this country or even the Iraqis. It will be interesting to see their reaction to the President's speech later today. When he speaks plainly on the topic the American people respond if any polls are to be believed.

Let me leave you with this following tidbit from Pelosi and ponder whether the Dummycrats really have a chance in Hell of returning to the status of a national party.

Nancy Pelosi is once again calling for withdrawal from Iraq. Didn't the House just vote on this recently? Perhaps Pelosi forgot she voted against the resolution calling for an immediate withdrawal of our troops from Iraq. Was not that resolution defeated 403 - 3? Is there some thing in the water that has given Pelosi some memory issues? Today, Nancy Pelosi endorsed withdrawal from Iraq. Courtsey of Sailor in the Desert

ACLU's Opposition to Patriot Act Conflicts Its Own Agenda

2005-12-14T23:48:00.000-06:00

Crossposted from Stop The ACLU

ACLU: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WASHINGTON - The American Civil Liberties Union today expressed disappointment with the failure of the House to protect the liberty and freedom of innocent Americans when that body adopted flawed legislation to reauthorize the Patriot Act. The White House and its allies had placed enormous pressure on lawmakers to adopt the proposal that now heads to the Senate.

The ACLU noted that the conference report fails to require individualized suspicion before people's financial, medical or library records can be gathered by the FBI, as unanimously adopted by the Senate.ACLU Website

This is nothing more than feeding unnecessary paranoia for those who live in a state of Orwellian fear. First of all, I can’t understand why people are so afraid of someone seeing their library records. If it's a public library, it's a public record. That includes any library that accepts public funding, which means virtually all college and high school libraries as well. There is a check and balance involved, because before someone’s records can be obtained only after being approved by a federal judge. It would be a total waste of time for the FBI to care what someone is looking at in a Library, unless some other act of theirs puts up a flag that an investigation should be warranted. The ACLU are using scare tactics, creating the fear of Big Brother invading the libraries, when in fact investigators in ordinary criminal cases have been able to gain access to library records long before 9/11. The Feds already had these tools for cases in domestic criminal activities, the Patriot Act only extends these tools to investigators to use against terrorists.

Alberto Gonzales writes in the Washinton Post

Those who voice concern that Congress is rushing to reauthorize the expiring provisions fail to recognize the oversight it has conducted. In 2005, Congress held 23 hearings focused on reauthorization and heard from more than 60 witnesses. The Justice Department was pleased to provide witnesses at 18 of those hearings, with more than 30 appearances by our experts. I testified three times, explaining the importance of the act, responding to concerns and directly addressing the act's critics. My testimony was informed not only by the successes of the act but also by my personal meetings with representatives from groups such as the ACLU and the American Library Association. During the reauthorization discussion, I asked that certain provisions be clarified to ensure the protection of civil liberties, and Congress responded.

For example, Section 215 of the act permits the government to obtain records on an order issued by a federal judge. I agreed that the statute should allow a recipient of such an order to consult a lawyer and challenge it in court. Further, I agreed that Congress should make explicit the standard under which such orders are issued: relevance to an authorized national security investigation. In 2001 one prominent Democratic senator agreed that the "FBI has made a clear case that a relevance standard is appropriate for counterintelligence and counterterrorism investigations, as well as for criminal investigations."

The president has said that our number-one priority is preventing another catastrophic terrorist attack. Congress must act immediately and reauthorize the Patriot Act before the men and women in law enforcement lose the tools they need to keep us safe.

It isn't suprising that the ACLU would be against this, after all we are talking about an organization that thinks Gitmo detainees have the right to remain silent when interrogated. However, for the ACLU to pretend they care about people's privacy is a joke. The ACLU have been against the Patriot Act since it was first introduced. There have been no verified civil liberties abuses in the four years of the act's existence. Where privacy matters are concerned, the ACLU's record is much more tainted.

Just last year, the ACLU came under fire over privacy concerns.

The American Civil Liberties Union is using sophisticated technology to collect a wide variety of information about its members and donors in a fund-raising effort that has ignited a bitter debate over its leaders' commitment to privacy rights.

Some board members say the extensive data collection makes a mockery of the organization's frequent criticism of banks, corporations and government agencies for their practice of accumulating data on people for marketing and other purposes.

Daniel S. Lowman, vice president for analytical services at Grenzebach Glier & Associates, the data firm hired by the A.C.L.U., said the software the organization is using, Prospect Explorer, combs a broad range of publicly available data to compile a file with information like an individual's wealth, holdings in public corporations, other assets and philanthropic interests.

The issue has attracted the attention of the New York attorney general, who is looking into whether the group violated its promises to protect the privacy of its donors and members.

"It is part of the A.C.L.U.'s mandate, part of its mission, to protect consumer privacy," said Wendy Kaminer, a writer and A.C.L.U. board member. "It goes against A.C.L.U. values to engage in data-mining on people without informing them. It's not illegal, but it is a violation of our values. It is hypocrisy."

The organization has been shaken by infighting since May, when the board learned that Anthony D. Romero, its executive director, had registered the A.C.L.U. for a federal charity drive that required it to certify that it would not knowingly employ people whose names were on government terrorism watch lists.

A day after The New York Times disclosed its participation in late July, the organization withdrew from the charity drive and has since filed a lawsuit with other charities to contest the watch list requirement.

The group's new data collection practices were implemented without the board's approval or knowledge, and were in violation of the A.C.L.U.'s privacy policy at the time, said Michael Meyers, vice president of the organization and a frequent and strident internal critic. Mr. Meyers said he learned about the new research by accident Nov. 7 in a meeting of the committee that is organizing the group's Biennial Conference in July.

He objected to the practices, and the next day, the privacy policy on the group's Web site was changed. "They took out all the language that would show that they were violating their own policy," he said. "In doing so, they sanctified their procedure while still keeping it secret."

The ACLU has no room to talk. They need to sit down and shut up. The Patriot Act is a vital tool for law enforcement to keep us safe. The Senate does not need to let this important legislation expire.

This was a production of Stop The ACLU Blogburst. If you would like to join us, please email Jay at Jay@stoptheaclu.com or Gribbit at GribbitR@gmail.com. You will be added to our mailing list and blogroll. Over 115 blogs already onboard.

The Bill of Rights (ACLU Style)

2005-12-10T23:58:00.000-06:00

Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, but we will sue like hell everytime we feel that Christianity is daring to show its' ugly, exclusionary and morally indignant head. Further, we shall demand that tax payers cover our court costs.

AmendmentII
A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed, but we don't really care and won't defend this amendment one bit, however we swear to work towards giving the criminals that prey on law abiding citizens more consideration.

Amendment III
The death penalty shall not be enacted upon those born and legally convicted of a crime. The unborn and citizens being preyed upon by criminals deserve less consideration than the victims of our uncaring Republican controlled world.

Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized, no matter what circumstances may arise, and this applies especially to people that the government believes may be acting against the safety and security of these United States and its' citizens. This really, REALLY applies in the case of people suspected of trafficking in child porn or acting in support of "terrorist" organizations.

Amendment V
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; ~~nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation~~, unless that person is George W. Bush, then he shall be tried for War Crimes in the public arena using false information. Further, this Amendment shall extend to any person on the whole of the Earth that wishes to accuse the Bush Administration of any number of wild allegations such as claiming to have been captured by the CIA and held in Afghanistan.

Amendment VI
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense,especially when we can use the trial for publicity. Further, people convicted should not only retain the ability to cast votes in elections, but should also be afforded those things which honest citizens must work hard to pay for, such as cable television and workout equipment.

Amendment VII
Child Porn, while being a heinous crime, should be, once created, a protected form of free speech, and should not be used as evidence.

Amendment VIII
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted, unless such fines are levied upon rich corporations that have been sued by our ideological bretheren in the militant enviromental movement. Cruel and unusual punishments include no cable TV, being forced to sleep on a floor, and being deprived of pornographic material.

Amendment IX
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people, unless those "rights" need to have a new definition placed upon them due to changing social mores, chief among them being the Right to Not be Offended, ever.

Amendment X
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people, unless we feel it imperative to override the states right to choose and take an issue to the Supreme Court of The United States, thereby making a states right into a federal decree. In fact, the rights of the state are of little concern to us, as we believe that achieving our goals through judical activism is the only way we will ever get our purely seditous agenda enacted in this country.

There ya' have it. Any suggestions?

Democrats Prove Themselves Liars Again

2005-11-22T22:00:00.000-06:00

The Democrats tell us that they are the true moral compress of this nation. They cry about the injustices that the American people are subjected to on a daily basis by the Republican Party and its evil leader, President George W. Bush, but offer no ideas or vision only constant complaining and petty bitching. Well, I am going to lay out the case for why the Democrats have forgotten their roots and serve no one but themselves and as a result of selfish path they walk, they are actively working to destroy this country for all.

The Democrats were handed a golden opportunity last Friday by a Republican led House of Representatives that honestly was out to embarrass them. But as they have done time and time again they showed exactly how weak they are, how without any core values they are, and how desperate they are to stay elected, they simply took the bait like a good rat and died the proverbial quick death. I will explain this opinion in depth shortly but let’s detail the overwhelming position of Democrats on the war in Iraq.

The Democrats “believe” the following when discussing Iraq:

1) We should never have gone to Iraq in the first place, no threat existed.

2) The Iraqi WMD program was shut down through sanctions and did not exist at time prior to the war.

3) The President lied and manipulated pre-war intelligence to make the case for the war stronger.

4) No terrorist ties existed between Iraq and any terrorist organization.

5) With our presence in Iraq, we are creating the next generation of terrorists.

6) The war in Iraq is a complete failure and we are risking our men and women in uniform needlessly.

If I am leaving out any leftist talking points I am sure that I will be corrected in short order by those that practice drive-by commenting. Let me take these talking points one by one and show how the Democrats never mean what they say and most certainly do not believe anything they tell us.

I am going to address points one and two together, no threat from Iraq existed and Iraq’s WMD program was non-existent before the war. During the Clinton administration, Bill Clinton ordered attacks against Iraq multiple times during his administration for continued violations of the United Nations sanctions against the Iraqi WMD program. Here are just a few instances of those violations during that time period.

September 25, 1997

· UNSCOM inspects an Iraqi "food laboratory". One of the inspectors, Dr. Diane Seaman, enters the building through the back door and catches several men running out with suitcases. The suitcases contained log books for the creation of illegal bacteria and chemicals. The letterhead comes from the president's office and from the Special Security Office (SSO).

UNSCOM attempts to inspect the SSO headquarters but is blocked.

October 1997

· UNSCOM destroys large quantities of illegal chemical weapons and related equipment. Iraq admitted that some of this equipment had been used to produce VX gas in May, 1997.

February 1998

· US President Bill Clinton remarks "(Hussein's) regime threatens the safety of his people, the stability of his region, and the security of all the rest of us. Some day, some way, I guarantee you, he'll use the arsenal. Let there be no doubt, we are prepared to act." Senate Democrats also passed Resolution 71, which urged President Clinton to "take all necessary and appropriate actions to respond to the threat posed by Iraq's refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs."

Spring 1998

An UNSCOM inspection team discovers a dump full of destroyed Iraqi missiles. Analysis of the missile parts proves that Iraq had made a weapon containing VX.

July 1998

· UNSCOM discovers documents, at Iraqi Air Force headquarters, showing that Iraq overstated by at least 6,000 the number of chemical bombs it told the U.N. it had used during the Iran-Iraq War. These bombs remain unaccounted for.

August 26^th, 1998

· Scott Ritter resigns from UNSCOM, sharply criticized the Clinton administration and the U.N. Security Council for not being vigorous enough about insisting that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction be destroyed. Ritter also accused U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan of assisting Iraqi efforts at impeding UNSCOM's work. "Iraq is not disarming," Ritter said, and in a second statement, "Iraq retains the capability to launch a chemical strike."

September 28^th, 1998

· The United States Congress passes the "Iraq Liberation Act", which states that the US wants to remove Saddam Hussein from office and replace the government with a democratic institution.

November 30^th, 1998

· Butler meets with US National Security Advisor Sandy Berger to coordinate timelines for a possible military strike against Iraq

December 13^th, 1998

· US President Clinton secretly approves an attack on Iraq.

December 16^th-19^th,1998

UNSCOM withdraws all weapons inspectors from Iraq.
Saddam Hussein's failure to provide unfettered access to UN arms inspectors led Washington and London to hit 100 Iraqi targets in four days of bombing as part of Operation Desert Fox. The US government urged UNSCOM executive chairman Richard Butler to withdraw, and "[a] few hours before the attack began, 125 UN personnel were hurriedly evacuated from Baghdad to Bahrain, including inspectors from the UN Special Commission on Iraq and the International Atomic Energy Agency."

Ok, I know that it’s a little bit of over kill but I wanted to show how the Democrats in most cases during the Clinton Administration and the run up to the current war in Iraq made a better case for war against Iraq then quite a few Republicans. Now the only thing that has changed from that time period of 1997-2000 is that a Democrat is no longer in the White House and they have lost control of the Senate along with the House. The information has not changed only the will of the Democrats to do what is right to protect this nation. Personally I don’t think they ever had the will to do the right thing. One little side note, with the exception of the attacks of 9/11 all the terrorist attacks that this country has suffered have happen on the watch of a Democrat President. How did we react? We bombed a tent city in Afghanistan and an aspirin factory in the Sudan. When 9/11 occurred this Republican President did not bite his lip and shed a tear, he stepped up and took the reins of leadership as he acted decisively.

Point three, the President lied about the pre-war intelligence and overstated the threat so as to “trick” the American people, Congress, and our allies into going to war when no valid reason existed. I have to say that this Democrat “talking point” is my favorite, not because it is the most repeated and some leftist have practically tattooed it to their foreheads but because it is the most obvious, outright, and complete falsehood in the entire Democrat arsenal of revising history. The same intelligence data that they claim the President lied about is the same intelligence data that Democrat after Democrat used to justify their votes to give the President the ability to wage the war. The constant revising of history to suit their needs is nothing more than a symptom of their collective inability to stick to a belief or an ideal. This behavior is simply the high of hypocrisy and should not be tolerated by the American people regardless of the politician’s political affiliation.

The fourth talking point by most Democrats is that no terrorist ties existed between Iraq and any terrorist organization. Again this is a complete falsehood and another attempt to change facts that do not fit their twisted version of the world. The world has known for more than 15 years that Saddam Hussein and his government had been paying Hamas and other Palestinian homicidal bombers families about $20,000 dollars to help ease their loss and thank them for their “noble” sacrifice for the cause. If Hussein and corrupt government were willing to support Hamas and others against Israel, can we subscribe to the naiveté notion that he would not support others groups that might be willing and able to hit his most hated enemy, the United States of America? It makes me wonder if anyone in the Democratic Party ever took a critical thinking course in college, or high school, or grade school because they sure don’t act like it. Now I know the old argument about Saddam was from this tribe and the terrorists are from another tribe. To those who pin their hopes for safety and security on that myth I say this: keep dreaming. When you have someone who is willing to kill his own countrymen and even members of his own family then anything is possible.

It just occurred to me that as I address these leftist “talking points”, they mostly likely are culling more from the wonderful people over at Democratic Underground. The work of the righteous is never done, on to point five. Our presence in Iraq is creating tomorrow’s terrorists. I am sorry but I don’t know any other way to say it but that is complete and utter bullsh*t. If we are creating more terrorists in Iraq it is only because al- Qaeda has found enough suckers to replace all of the Islamofacists that we have already introduced to Allah. If the terrorists are only in Iraq because they are joining up to fight us how on God’s green Earth does that explain the attacks in Spain, London, Thailand, and India? The terrorists who have hijacked the Muslim faith are all over this planet including right here in the United States.

Of the world’s current armed conflicts, over 80% of them involve radical Islam. Why is it that we must bend to the deranged view of these radicals when clearly they cannot even live in the same country as others of a different faith? Furthermore, why is it the platform of the current Democratic Party to try and understand and treat these murderers with respect? I for the life of me cannot figure it out. Let me lay this nugget on you. If a dog of any breed attacks anyone in that liberal stronghold of San Francisco, the dog is put to death. There is no attempt to understand the dog and why it attacked, it is simply executed and the issue is closed. That is the exact policy we need to take with the terrorists who seek to kill or convert every single person on the planet who does not share their perverted vision of the world.

The sixth “talking point” is that we are a complete failure in Iraq and we are needlessly wasting American lives. Obviously the left is reading too many of their own press clippings. The entire MSM is a complete failure as legitimate news gathering organizations. The fact is that there is good news out of Iraq; it is just not being reported at the MSM level in the United States. Everyday men and women of our armed forces are making a difference in the lives of Iraqis who previously had only known the brutal reign of Saddam Hussein. More people have access to electricity, clean water, education, and economic opportunities than ever before in the long and storied history of not only Iraq but the entire region.

Now that I had taken the Democrats to task over their much beloved Iraqi “talking points”, let’s address their latest example of how they hold no core beliefs and simply don’t even believe what they tell the American people. On Friday after many weeks and months of bitching and moaning about how there is no exit strategy, the Democrats were given a golden opportunity to show the world of exactly how they felt about the war and how soon we should leave Iraq. Contrary to the MSM reporting, the issue was not about Congressmen Murtha; it was about whether or not we would finish the job before us and give the Iraqi people the gift of freedom or cut and run as many in the Democratic Party think. Well when given the opportunity to express the opinion that many have been pushing on the MSM news programs and in Op-Ed pieces in leftist newspapers, they blinked. If they truly believed that we should leave Iraq as soon as possible then they certainly did not show it. There are two reasons for this I think. The first reason is a simple one, they know that their views are out of touch with the rest of America and many of their own constituents and they don’t want to be voted out of office the next time they are up for reelection. The reason is equally as simple; they would rather toe the line while staying in the shadows, spouting their treasonous speech. They will continue speaking out of both sides of their mouth and not believing a word from either side so why should we?

Guard Our Borders Blogburst

2005-11-21T09:00:00.000-06:00

Our porous borders are not as benign as many people think. I'm originally from Wisconsin, and if anyone had told me stories about the southern border today, I would've assumed they were talking about the Old Wild West - until Kalishnakovs and AK-47s entered the story, that is. Today's American/Mexican border is a wasteland of trash, human waste, and ruined land criss-crossed with heavily traveled dirt highways. It doesn't matter that the land is privately owned, or that Americans living on the border live in a constant state of armed alertness, 24/7 - it's the Wild, Wild West, 21st century-style.

As he careered along the rock-strewn gulley towards his silver mine deep in the Sonoran desert of southern Arizona, Roger McCaslin first checked his bowie knife, then his pistol, and finally his Kalashnikov. From the road, he had already noticed that something was wrong.

"The gate's broken and the door on the trailer's open. They've been here, I know it," he said ominously. "I just hope they've moved on - for their sake."

Under the harsh sun, Mr McCaslin's black cowboy hat cast a shadow over his droopy moustache and a face so deeply creased that it resembled cracked saddle leather.

Welcome to the Wild West 2005, where modern-day cowboys still guard their land from interlopers - but using AK47s and four-wheel drives instead of Winchester rifles and horses.

Heavily armed Mexican gangs use the network of trails across McCaslin's land to smuggle humans and vast quantities of drugs into the United States. There is no one to stop them, except one man. And in today's society, even he runs a steep risk of prosecution for protecting his own property from foreign invasion. Knowing this, the Mexican gangs have gotten extremely aggressive, violence has erupted, and life on the border has become fraught with peril.

Notoriously porous, the border has reached new levels of lawlessness this year as smugglers, known as "coyotes", have become increasingly brazen, willing to fire on anyone - from border patrols to the likes of Mr McCaslin - who gets in their way.
[...]
He recounted several gunfights with the "coyotes", including one occasion when he and his business partner came under fire at dusk as they barbecued steaks. "They started the war when they started shooting at us."
[...]
From his vantage point at the mine, he has watched long lines of illegal immigrants traipsing north through the desert, leaving their detritus as they passed. Discarded everywhere, in disused mines and beneath bushes, are the cheap clothes and bags that they abandon to travel faster and less conspicuously. Empty water bottles litter the landscape.

Once Mr McCaslin found a 300lb stash of marijuana hidden in a hollow. "I called up the border patrol who came and took it away. Then that night I sat up here and watched the car lights of the coyotes as they searched and searched for the stuff. Boy, they must have been mad," he said with a satisfied grin.

I posted a story months ago about families living on the border, and the stories they recount so matter-of-factly, are horrifying to outsiders. Theirs is a life dominated by self-defense lessons, family practice drills to huddle in the master bedroom, obligatory two-way radios for kids who walk to school, and a handgun on the hip for mom.

"The diversity of those who are coming across has grown and their desperation has definitely heightened," she [Mrs. Garner] says. "Years ago, they would politely ask you for water outside. Now you come home and someone is in your house, eating your food, trashing your bedroom, stealing your stuff, and leaving garbage everywhere."

While public outrage is growing, our government has been slow and ineffectual with dealing with the lawless border. In a post-9/11 world, prudence would've dictated that the border be tightened up and patrolled regularly - especially since al Qaeda has made it public knowledge that they are working with Mexican gangs. In October, three known al Qaeda suspects were caught crossing the border into Texas. And the Border Patrol estimates that 1 in every 10 border jumpers is Arab.

...it is more dangerous and pernicious...with a growing number of people of different nationalities coming across the border, including from the Middle East, India, and Afghanistan.

The evidence of that comes in Islamic prayer rugs found in the desert dust, Arabic literature left by still-warm campfires, and Afghani head garb caught on cactus quills.

Public support for a 2,000 mile steel wire fence along our southern border is rapidly gaining popularity among Americans. Considering the incredible success of San Diego's 14 mile fence, which has reduced illegal border jumping to 1/6th of its previous levels, the argument in favor of a fence is strong. However, the Bush administration has inexplicably stated that a fence would be a "waste of money". That argument is entirely unsupported, since illegal aliens cost our economy hundreds of billions per year, whereas the fence construction would cost $8 billion - and pay for itself within the first year of its construction!

The fact that life on our own borders is a surreal throwback to the lawless days of the Wild West is something we cannot ignore just because it's happening to someone else. American citizens should not have to live in a no-man's land of unchallenged drug smuggling and human trafficking. By leaving our borders unprotected, our federal government has abdicated its control of our national security, and our President has betrayed his sworn oath to protect and defend our people and our land.

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Blogs already on board:

Stop The ACLU Blogburst

2005-11-16T23:43:00.000-06:00

Crossposted from Stop The ACLU

In conjunction with the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the ACLU has lobbied hard against Arab-profiling at airports for years. “Profiles are notoriously under-inclusive,” says ACLU legislative counsel Gregory Nojeim. “Who knows who the next terrorist will appear as? It could be a grandmother. It could be a student. We just don’t know.”Source

The airline industry’s fear of such lawsuits is based on solid historical precedent. In 1993, for instance, the ACLU joined forces with the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) to sue Pan American World Airways for having detained a man of Iranian descent during the first Persian Gulf War.

So, the ACLU says political correctness trumps common sense. They block that route of securing ourselves from being blown up. What to do? Hmmm.. I've got it! Lets do random searches!

ACLU Files Suit Over Random Subway Searches.The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), the New York chapter of the ACLU, has announced that they intend on filing a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan today. The suit claims that the random bag searches before boarding the subway system is unconstitutional.

City lawyers have noted that an al-Qaida training manual advising terrorists to avoid police checkpoints gives the city some justification for its random searches of bags entering the subway system.

Ok, so the ACLU says no profiled searches, and no random searches. What about searches across the board? Nope. Raymond James Stadium tried it, and the ACLU sued. So, where does that leave us with searches? I think we can conclude that the ACLU are against all searches. Is this because they stand by the principle of the fourth amendment? The irony and hypocrisy here is that, the NYCLU HQ has a sign warning visitors that all bags are subject to search. Apparantly their war against searches is not based on principle.

But searches are not the only that brings criticism on the ACLU on the topic of National Security.

The ACLU and CAIR have actually taken up quite a number of cases together. In 2003, the Ohio chapter of the ACLU awarded its yearly “Liberty Flame Award” to the Ohio chapter of CAIR “for contributions to
the advancement and protection of civil liberties.” This same Ohio chapter, in August of this year, refused contributions from the United Way, as to not complete a required counterterrorism compliance form.

But it isn't isolated to one rouge chapter.

In October of 2004, the ACLU turned down $1.15 million in funding from two of it’s most generous and loyal contributors, the Ford and Rockefeller foundations, saying new anti-terrorism restrictions demanded by the institutions make it unable to accept their funds.

“The Ford Foundation now bars recipients of its funds from engaging in any activity that “promotes violence, terrorism, bigotry, or the destruction of any state.”

The Rockefeller Foundation’s provisions state that recipients of its funds may not “directly or indirectly engage in, promote, or support other organizations or individuals who engage in or promote terrorist activity.

What is this all about?

Although its website proclaims that it does not receive “any government funding,” it does get money from a program that allows federal employees to make charitable contributions through payroll deductions. Last year it got $470,000 from the program. (The ACLU’s 2002 annual budget, the most recent available, was $102 million.)

Now it had a choice: give up the money, or sign a promise certifying that the ACLU “does not knowingly employ individuals or contribute funds to organizations found on” government watch lists of suspected supporters of terrorism.

Trouble was, the ACLU had strongly opposed the lists, saying they were often inaccurate and violated the constitutional rights of some people.

But it really hated the idea of giving up the money.Source

So what did they do? Well, at first they decided they would try to trick the government. They decided to keep the money, AND keep hiring anyone they pleased, by what Nadine Strossen called a “clever interpretation.” Their solution was that if they remained ignorant of who was on the list, then they couldn’t “knowingly” hire anyone on the list. Anthony D. Romero, the ACLU’s executive director, tells the New York Times: “I’ve printed [the lists] out. I’ve never consulted them.”

To make a long story short, when The New York Times outted them, they caved in. But they didn’t cave in to the government, they just decided to forgoe the money, so they could still ignorantly hire people on the government watchlist. Isn’t that nice?

However, this isn't the end. The American Civil Liberties Union and 12 other national non-profit organizations successfully challenged Office of Personnel Management’s Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) requirements that all participating charities check their employees and expenditures against several government watch lists for “terrorist activities” and that organizations certify that they do not contribute funds to organizations on those lists. This is something the ACLU finds worthy of celebrating. In my opinion this is reason to be suspicious of what the ACLU does with its funds.

It isn't a far fetched idea to wonder if the ACLU uses its funds to support terrorism. The ACLU's history is tainted in this arena.

In 1985 Samuel L. Morrison, an employee of the Naval Intelligence Support Command was convicted and sentenced for stealing classified spy satellite photographs from his office, cutting off the “secret” designation and selling them to a foreign publication. The ACLU claimed that Morrison had the right to steal and sell these classified documents and the under the First Amendment.

Positions like these might be easier to understand if we look at ACLU Policy #117. They title this policy “Controlling the Intelligence Agencies”. ”

Limit the CIA, under the new name of the Foreign Intelligence Agency, to collecting and evaluating foreign intelligence information. Abolish all covert operations. Limit the FBI to criminal investigations by eliminating all COINTEL-PRO-type activity and all foreign and domestic intelligence investigations of groups or individuals unrelated to a specific criminal offense.

Prohibit entirely wiretaps, tapping of telecommunications and burglaries. Restrict mail openings, mail covers, inspection of bank records, and inspection of telephone records….”

The ACLU Defends the P.L.O.

“I’m afraid even the good guys on civil liberties are going to be against us on this one.” Those are the words of ACLU Executive director Ira Glasser on the ACLU’s decision to represent an agent of Yassir Araftat’s Palestine Liberation Organization.
I wonder if his definition of “good guys” meant American citizens who care about their country and are not willing to grant sworn terrorists complete freedom within our borders. If so, he is absolutely correct. We are against that one.
“Arafat’s group of ruthless murderers had set up an “information office” in Washington D.C, only a few blocks from the White House.

The ACLU Defends "Mad Dog" of Libya, Muammar Qaddafi.

“In 1985, the ACLU learned of an alleged plan by the CIA to engineer Qaddafi’s overthrow. Outraged, they put together a “strenuous” public protest against this proposed action.

In a letter fillled with self-righteous indignation, Morton Halperin, Director of the ACLU Washington office, expressed his opinion of that plan to Sen. David Durenberger, Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, with copies to everyone imaginable.

And to make sure no one was left out, the ACLU also issued a press release trumpeting it’s opposition to any attempt to oust Qaddafi.”

The ACLU has also shown itself a willing tool of the terrorists, waging a massive anti-anti-terrorism legal campaign. This pillar of the legal Left denounced the government’s requirement that men aged 16-25 holding “temporary visas” from nations with known ties to terrorism register with the INS; represented Sami al-Arian, the North American fundraiser and co-founder of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (filing a brief upholding his inalienable right to fresh briefs!); rallied on behalf of convicted al-Qaeda benefactor Maher Mofeid Hawash; urged local communities not to cooperate with federal anti-terror investigations; and opposed the FBI’s monitoring Islamist mosques. As David Horowitz notes in his book Unholy Alliance, radical Center for Constitutional Rights lawyer Ron Kuby notes the “passionate…identification” most lawyers feel with their clients, such as that of convicted terror enabler Lynne Stewart for World Trade Center bomber Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman. Given her aid for international Islamic terrorism, the government is right to keep a watchful eye on those who perpetually side with the enemy. Front Page Magazine

They have fought hard for the release of Abu Ghraib images depicting sickening torture of our enemies, further inflaming the propaganda war on the side of the enemy. The ACLU also submitted a 37-page report to the United Nations Human Rights Committee describing specific U.S. breaches of the political and civil rights covenant.

The report included sections on “Excessive Government Secrecy”; “Racial Profiling of the U.S. Arab, South Asian, and Muslim Communities”; “Criminalization of Political Protest”; “Increased Surveillance Powers”; and “Random Searches.”

Recently the ACLU have decided to represent two detainees who claim the U.S. Military threw them into lions dens. Somebody is lion alright. They have also accused the U.S. military of outright murdering 21 detainees. They have even advised the majority of the prisoners at Gitmo that they did not have to answer questions from military interrogators.

Actions like these have enraged groups like The American Legion, and Christians for Reviving American Values, who are asking Congress to investigate the ACLU. The American Legion is already mobilizing its members to fight the ACLU over issues such as the Boyscouts. The sympathy for the enemy also has them fired up. To many of these groups, and to many Americans, the perception is that The ACLU cares more about terrorists than it does about America.

As you can see, balancing national security interests with a respect for civil liberties is not the goal of the ACLU. Its goal is the absolute pursuit of civil liberties, without regard for its consequences. Gone are the the carefully worded policies that guided Union thinking during World War II. Gone, too is any kind of talk about the enemies of the United States. It is hard to imagine a person vile enought, or a crisis serious enough, to shake the ACLU from its absolutist position during wartime. The tragedy is it is not just the nation's security that stands to lose as a result, it is the cause of liberty itself.

This was a production of Stop The ACLU Blogburst. If you would like to join us, please email Jay at Jay@stoptheaclu.com or Gribbit at GribbitR@gmail.com. You will be added to our mailing list and blogroll. Over 115 blogs already onboard.

Stop The ACLU's Interview with Glenn Reynolds

2005-11-14T23:23:00.000-06:00

Check out Stop The ACLU's Interview with Glenn Reynold's, the Instapundit.

Top Ten Reasons To Stop The ACLU

2005-11-09T23:52:00.000-06:00

Crossposted from Stop The ACLU

Stop The ACLU was started on February 9th, 2004. We started with high hopes, and we realized we were facing a goliath. There were many reasons why we thought the ACLU needed to be countered, and they are numerous. We wanted to provide a way to inform the public of the ACLU's agenda, as the MSM sugar coated it. We wanted to be a central database for people to gather, exchange ideas, and get actively involved in real ways of stopping them. It is a monumental task, exhausting, time consuming, and often frustrating. But it is a fight worth fighting.

We would be nothing without our supporters. To all of you, we appreciate the continued support. We have called you to action and you have answered. We raised $2,500.00 for an ad in the Washington Times, and I want to announce at this time that the check is in the mail as of Wednessday, Nov 8th. The ad should appear within the next two weeks. When it does, it will be scanned, and put up at Stop The ACLU for all to see. We will call you to action again, and again, and it is good to know that you will answer the call because you believe in this cause.

The ACLU have been laying low lately, but that is no reason to grow complacent. It is now that we should prepare to counter them. The Christmas season is around the corner, and the ACLU will be full force. Get involved in Operation Nativity.

There are many reasons to stop the ACLU. For this blogburst I decided to list my top ten list.

10. The ACLU was founded by Communist, with communist ideals, communist goals, and they continue to impose a Communist like agenda on America daily. The founder of the ACLU, Roger Baldwin stated clearly...

My chief aversion is the system of greed, private profit, privilege and violence which makes up the control of the world today, and which has brought it to the tragic crisis of unprecedented hunger and unemployment…Therefore, I am for Socialism, disarmament and ultimately, for the abolishing of the State itself…I seek the social ownership of property, the abolition of the propertied class and sole control of those who produce wealth. Communism is the goal."

9. The ACLU do not belive in the Second Amendment.

ACLU POLICY “The ACLU agrees with the Supreme Court’s long-standing interpretation of the Second Amendment [as set forth in the 1939 case, U.S. v. Miller] that the individual’s right to bear arms applies only to the preservation or efficiency of a well-regulated militia. Except for lawful police and military purposes, the possession of weapons by individuals is not constitutionally protected. Therefore, there is no constitutional impediment to the regulation of firearms.”ACLU Policy #47

#8. Their outright hatred of the Boyscouts. They are currently doing everything in their power to hurt this organization. They attacked their free speech right to exclude gays, and are threatening schools, and fighting in court to get their charters shut down. The oppose the military supporting them, and will sue the pants off any school that attempts to charter them.

#7. The ACLU are pro-death. Not only is the ACLU Pro-abortion, it's the ACLU's top priority. It most definitely takes a backseat to free speech for the ACLU. As a matter of fact, the ACLU has fought against the free speech rights of those that oppose it. If its abortion or euthanasia, as long as its pro-death you can count on the ACLU to support it. The only exception to the ACLU's pro-death stance, is if it is a convicted criminal; in this case they are against death.

#6. The ACLU advocate open borders. Not only have the ACLU opposed the Minute Men, a group who are simply exercizing their freedom of speech, protesting and stepping up where the government is failing, but they have helped illegals cross the border.

#5. The ACLU is anti-Christian. The list is endless on this one. Under the guise of "seperation of Church and State", the ACLU have made a name for theirself on being rabidly anti-Christian. This is one area where they are most hypocritical. The oppose tax exemptions for all churches, but fight for them for Wiccans. They are against Christianity in school, but oddly remain silent as our children are taught to be Muslims. Whether its baby Jesus, ten commandments, or tiny crosses on county seals, the ACLU will be there to secularize America, and rewrite our history.

#4. The ACLU Opposes National Security. The ACLU have opposed almost every effort in the arena of national security. From the bird flu to bag searches, the ACLU have been against it. No matter what kind of search someone tries to do to protect people, the ACLU have proved they are against them across the board. Its kind of ironic that they don't practice the principles they preach.

Take a walk into the NYCLU’s Manhattan headquarters - which it shares with other organizations - and you’ll find a sign warning visitors that all bags are subject to search.

#3. The ACLU Defend the enemy. They have a long history of this one. They defended the P.L.O. in 1985. They defended Quadafi in the 1980's. And they continue today. They have told Gitmo detainees they have the right to remain silent, as in not talking to interrogators. One issue that really disturbs me is their refusal of funds from organizations such as the United Way that were concerned the money would be used to support terrorism.

In October of 2004, the ACLU turned down $1.15 million in funding from two of it’s most generous and loyal contributors, the Ford and Rockefeller foundations, saying new anti-terrorism restrictions demanded by the institutions make it unable to accept their funds.

“The Ford Foundation now bars recipients of its funds from engaging in any activity that “promotes violence, terrorism, bigotry, or the destruction of any state.”

The Rockefeller Foundation’s provisions state that recipients of its funds may not “directly or indirectly engage in, promote, or support other organizations or individuals who engage in or promote terrorist activity.”

#2. The ACLU supports child porn distribution and child molesters like NAMBLA.

As legislative counsel for the ACLU in 1985, Barry Lynn told the U.S. Attorney General’s Commission on Pornography (of which Focus on the Family President Dr. James C. Dobson was a member) that child pornography was protected by the First Amendment. While production of child porn could be prevented by law, he argued, its distribution could not be.

There is no doubt the The ACLU are perverting the Constitution.

#1. The ACLU fufills its agenda using my tax money. What more can I say on this one?

There are countless reasons the ACLU needs to be stopped. So don't just stand by and complain, do something. Get involved. Here are some ways you can get involved to help us stop the ACLU.

Support and donate to organizations fighting them in Court. Here are the ones at the forefront.

ACLJ
Alliance Defense Fund
Thomas More Law Center

Join the Stop The ACLU Coalition

Help us write Churches to get involved.

Tell your Congress to support the Public Expression of Relgion Act of 2005. This legislation seeks to limit attorney's fees in Establishment Clause cases to injunctive relief only.

SIGN THE PETITION TO STOP TAXPAYER FUNDING OF THE ACLU

This was a production of Stop The ACLU Blogburst. If you would like to join us, please email Jay at Jay@stoptheaclu.com or Gribbit at GribbitR@gmail.com. You will be added to our mailing list and blogroll. Over 115 blogs already onboard.

The UN, Panhandler to the World

2005-11-09T03:14:00.000-06:00

The UN is saying, as they say about everything, that the H5N1 virus, better known as the Bird Flu, could be stamped out if they simply had more money.

"We just haven't spent enough money,"....."It can be contained in domestic birds. It can be eliminated in domestic birds, but at the current level of money, it cannot be contained."

Damned socialists. Every single problem can be solved with more money.

They say they need about 500 million. The Oil-for-Food Scandal netted somewhere in the neighborhood of 3 billion dollars plus.

Let them use that money.

Guard Our Borders Blogburst

2005-11-07T18:00:00.000-06:00

The biggest incentive for illegal aliens to come to the United States is to find work. If there are no employers willing to hire the illegal aliens, then the flood of illegal aliens will subside. To that end, a new website has been established whose purpose is to expose "alleged" employers of illegal aliens. The website is We Hire Aliens. There are currently 297 employers from 33 states listed on WeHireAliens.com that "allegedly" hire illegal aliens.

Stordahl and Mrochek, both of San Bernardino, stood at 21st Street and Lincoln Drive on Monday near the Home Depot here, snapping pictures of employers who stopped to pick up laborers, many of whom are Mexican immigrants.

Their plan is to post the photos on the Web site, which features a "Hall of Shame," listing names, phone numbers and other information about businesses that reportedly hire undocumented immigrants.

Mrochek believes a majority of the workers who line the sidewalks here every morning have entered the country illegally, though it would be difficult to know for sure, he said.

He quoted a study conducted by UCLA's Center for the Study of Urban Poverty, which shows that less than 6 percent of day laborers have entered the country with documentation.

"That's strong enough (proof) to have us come out here," he said.

Mrochek is the co-founder of the Federal Immigration Reform and Enforcement Coalition, which operates the Web site.

I think this is a very useful tool. With widespread dissemination of this resource, more people across the country can register companies they know hire illegal aliens. It will literally be a Hall of Shame. And a good dose of embarressment for employers who break our laws. For instance in Texas, there are already listed three very well-known and popular Mexican food chains: Chipotle, Don Carlos, and Casa Ole. Here's one example of the restaurant reports filed on the website:

I was a waitress for one year, and witnessed false documents and social security numbers being used. The American manager even signed a false name to documents so that he would not be responsible in the event of a raid. The entire kitchen/bus staff consisted of illegals who spoke little to no English, and had no desire to learn it.

Another Texas company, Sunbelt Express, is a trucking company. Read this report, and pay special attention to the last sentence:

This company operates tractor-trailers on routes between Texas and California. They do not have any company trucks, but only lease on owner-operators. They are a team operation, meaning always two men to a truck. They have a fleet of about 50 trucks and 100 drivers. Out of that 100, there are only about 6 American drivers. The rest are all Hispanic, with the exception of one team of Iraqis. Few of them speak any English. Many of the trucks are owned by owner-operators who own multiple trucks. Those owner operators provide drivers for their trucks, and the company puts them through cursory training to qualify them to drive for the company. I was in the office one day when one of the larger owner operators brought in several drivers for the company to hire to drive his trucks. None of them could speak any English. The banter in the office was asking the owner operator if he was sure these guys would not get caught at the state scales and be deported. That has happened with some of the drivers they have hired in the past. When the Iraqi team was hired, their first trip out to California was what is called a dry box load. Their return trip, they hauled hazardous materials, a truck load of paint thinner.

Another Texas example is Pilgrim's Pride, a poultry products company, which has about an 80% illegal alien employment rate. Ironic, considering the name of the company, don't you think?

In California, another trucking company, Carrasco Trucking, has been reported:

Jose Carrasco had asked me several times if the corner check point on I17 in Arizona was open. When I asked him why, he replied that some of his drivers don't have green cards or valid CDL's. This occured when I was an employee of Carrasco trucking taking oversized loads of tires from Long Beach Harbor to Bisbee, AZ.

Lennar Homes, a nationwide home builder, was reported in California:

I was having a home built by Lennar in Hemet California and had to cancel it due to shoddy workmanship done by illegal aliens. The Assistant project manager even admitted it. To quote him, "all builders in California use illegal aliens"

I think that's pretty much common knowledge - it's the same in Texas. All builders use illegal aliens. And the work shows it.

Now, here's a winner! U.S. Immigration hired illegal aliens!

I worked for the Immigration & Naturalization Service for 11 Years. During that time, we came to find out that INS had hired 3 Undocumented Aliens presenting counterfiet Birth Certificates. All 3 were terminated but that just goes to show you how good the background checks the INS provides are.

Amazing. What cahones those illegal aliens had to actually apply for employment with INS! Maybe they figured it's safer to hide in plain sight.

If you browse the companies listed at We Hire Aliens, you'll soon notice that MANY of the jobs are jobs that any qualified American would be glad to have. I saw listings for hospital staff, trucking (a lot!), landscaping, state employees, and tons of restaurant chains like Quizno's, Subway, etc. The wages for Americans in similar jobs are being driven down as a result.

You'll also notice many reports of office managers who process the employment paperwork, knowingly accepting false documents, falsifying the documents themselves, or giving the illegals a few days to get "other phony docs they can use for verification".

With shady employment practices like this, a tool like We Hire Aliens, is unique and with nationwide participation can become a real force for change! Should you feel strongly enough about it, the website lists the employer's contact info and invites you to use one of their pre-written form letters to let the business know that you disapprove of their illegal hiring practices and won't patronize their business.

The hispanic illegal aliens believe that they are being targeted unfairly. I find this absurd! What part of illegal don't you understand?!

Some of the laborers waiting to be picked up Monday said they felt they were being unfairly targeted.

Illegal immigration foes want only to show people with brown skin, said Roberto Arreola, 29, who said he's in the country illegally from Mexico.

"Why don't they go to the Canadian border and harass them?" he said. "Why focus just on the Latinos? There are other illegal immigrants from other countries. My question is why? Because of my appearance?"

Arreola questioned who would work the jobs immigrants perform if all the workers here illegally were deported.

He said he doubts Americans would do the work he does, which often involves landscaping and concrete work, for the wage he's willing to accept. Employers will pay between $10 and $15 an hour for some tasks, he said.

What we used to think of as "cheap labor", isn't really so cheap. Ten to fiteen dollars an hour is nothing to sneeze at - especially if you're an unskilled laborer, college student, or unemployed. You can't tell me that an out-of-work American wouldn't be relieved to get a $15/hour job.

We Hire Aliens has also started a database of jobs with Patriot Companies - businesses that only hire Americans. All in all, this resource can grow to become an incredibly useful tool. I know I have a few solid reports to file, both of companies that knowingly hire illegals, and of companies that only hire Americans. DO your part, and help spread the word.
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The Devolution of France, or Pride Goeth Before the Fall

2005-11-07T17:34:00.000-06:00

The ongoing and apparently uncontrollable riots in France, which claimed their first life today, would appear to be hordes of disaffected youths unhappy with their lot in life in the "French Model" of civilization, and that would be partially correct.

For more in depth analysis one would have to understand the "French Model", socialism, True Freedom, racism, arrogance and "French Pride".

At one time, the French had a sparkling country, full of possibility and True Freedom. That time was directly after the French Revolution, an historic event that showed the raw power of the people unleashed, when hordes of French Citizens took back the country from an elitist government that kept them poor and subservient. I am proud to say that the French Revolution was inspired by the American Revolution, when the Patriots who founded the United States of America tossed off the yoke of oppression imposed by the British Crown and undertook the grandest experiment in the history of the world by creating a government BY the PEOPLE, FOR the PEOPLE, and OF the PEOPLE.

But then the French cocked it all up. With the grand cry of "liberty, equality, fraternity", the French strove to create a country of true equality, where color didn't matter, and creed was a matter of personal belief, never once understanding that the world doesn't work that way, no matter how badly one wishes for it.

Creating a false level playing field through socialist policies that have taken deeper root after WW2, the French refused to believe that their system wasn't thought out well enough, or that "liberty, equality, fraternity" could not be legislated into life.

What we are seeing with the riots in France are the failures of the French Model. There are some people in France, thankfully, that see this failure and are willing to buck the system of "political correctness" and appeasement t point it out.

One such man is the French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, who has said;

France's "republican model" falls short and that the U.S. or British "melting pot" approach could help break the cycle of minority exclusion, unemployment and revolt.

He may very well be one of the last honest and intelligent Frenchmen left in that country, although he is not alone. Michel Wieviorka, one of France's leading sociologists, has stated the riots indicated;

"the decline -- perhaps historic -- of the so-called French model of republican integration".

The fact is that the French are racist, but they don't use color as a barometer for their racism, but rather country of origin, economic status and even skill sets. Take for example this article, which states:

Such factors include attempts by France to protect its own particular brand of welfare state at the expense of new entrants to the job market, particularly those belonging to ethnic minority groups, who tend to be poorly educated and low-skilled and therefore less employable. Relegating poor minorities to the outer suburbs hardly make fermenting problems go away, as the current violence has shown.

By the above one can see that the French Model, and it's resultant socialism, simply is NOT working. Add in the factor of inherent racism on the part of the French, especially White French citizens, and a dangerous situation has been created over decades that is not going to go away when the riots end. These issues are going to need to be addressed once the city streets are quiet again, and it is going to be a painful process.

About now you may be asking what does "arrogance" and True Freedom have to do with this, Kender? And what about that "French Pride" you spoke of earlier? To that we need to understand first what True Freedom is, why the French don't possess it, and how their pride is going to keep them from rising to anything but a shadow of the greatness they once knew.

It is no secret that the French are arrogant, to the point that they cannot admit their mistakes. America can be arrogant at times, but that arrogance is fleeting. Never mistake Pride for arrogance. American's are a proud people, because they realize the inherent superiority of their system, and realize that it needs to be tweaked from time to time. The American Way is an ever changing system that evolves with the times, rooting out injustice, albeit sometimes slowly, and making the necessary changes to bring about the values that America was founded on.

Those values include the knowledge, (note; I did NOT use the word "belief", because it is NOT a "belief" but is FACT) that "All Men Are Created Equal". (note for the feminists out there; the use of the term "men" means "mankind", so just shut up about it).

Americans know that all men are CREATED equal, but also realize that life isn't fair, so not all men END UP equal. To that end the American Way allows one to use their brains, ambition, and sometimes luck to create a better set of circumstances for themselves and their family, which carries over naturally into their community.

This gives rise to True Freedom. True Freedom is socio-economic mobility, which means that one can moves through the strata of society (the "socio" part) through economic success (the economic part) and that your lot in life is NOT tied to your birth circumstances, but rather on your ABILITY as a human to be successful or not. At this point I want you to think about this tidbit, Capitalism is Economic Darwinism.

Under a socialist society, with policies of resource redistribution (i.e. THEFT) you cannot rise above your socio-economic status, as in the interest of "parity" you are taxed at ever increasing rates once you attain a certain income level, using the justification that you only need so much to live on, and since another guy only makes so much money compared to what you make, he is going to need more help to stay close to you economically. That is the antithesis of True Freedom. A socialist government decides what level you can attain by the level of society as a whole, thereby stealing not only your earnings, but your Freedom to Succeed, all because there are people that may not be as capable or driven as you are.

French Pride causes the majority of French people, whether in the street or parliament, to believe that their system is perfect the way it is, and only needs to be applied more forcefully. In this article is a very telling sentence:

When Sarkozy says the best social system is the one that produces jobs and that the French model is not doing that, his comments are met not with approval but retorts that the French model is fine and needs only to be better applied.

Proof positive the French cannot admit failure. Indeed, French animosity towards the U.S. is legendary, and I suppose throwing it in their faces that we kept them speaking French and not German twice doesn't help, but the fact remains that the French are regarded on the world stage as has-been's, a joke, a country of people too fearful to stand up for themselves or what is right for fear of "offending" somebody.

That the French have not been able to see clearly for decades is, of course, no surprise, and I suppose with their appeasement of radicals that these riots are simply the expected results of failed policies in the French government, but insight is provided not only to the French incapability to understand True Freedom, but the inability of the French to understand America.

What catches many French leaders in a bind is their belief that the alternative to their strong state intervening to ensure colour-blind equality is the cut-throat capitalism and ethnic segregation they say prevails in English-speaking countries.

In America, ethnic segregation does not exist as the French understand or interpret it. In America segregation is self imposed, as people tend to stick within their comfort zone, which is generally with people like themselves. Segregation is America is also, by and large, not predicated on color, religion or national origin, with the exception of the above mentioned caveat, but rather is an economic indicator. Any segregation in The U.S. is based in Economics, as people that can afford to move to better neighborhoods where the houses are bigger, the average income higher and mainstream values of hard work are evident by the success of the area are free to do so.

If anything America has replaced the old system of social strata by birth or lineage, where one could not move between classes due to long standing traditions or societal taboos, with a new system based on economics, and in the process has always worked to assure that the possibility of attaining that socio-economic mobility is there for anyone that has the ability and drive to reach for it.

French Pride keeps them from realizing that they have a system based in the noblest goals of creating a utopian paradise which will never work, and have hewed to a system born of idealism, without regard to reality.

An honest assessment of the Capitalist system of the United States of America will show that even with all of the faults we have here, we continue to march ever forward into the future with one eye on the past, to learn from our mistakes, and remembering that we must stay grounded in the fact that life is not fair, and we can only address real inequalities, not imagined wrongs and pipe dreams.

XPOSTED@Kender's, Cao's and Conservative Angst

2018 A.D.

2005-11-06T19:11:00.000-06:00

I thought with the riots in Francistan that "aren't" occurring right now that it would be timely to repost this little gem. When I first wrote this people said "It'll never happen"......guess what?

It has started!!!

The elections in France have led to a surprise, and a radical imam of the Paris Mosque has been elected President of France. Within weeks the France the world knew for so long is gone, destroyed by a dark vision of the future justified by "the will of the people and Allah the Merciful".

The Islamic Caliphate of Francistan is newly established, and the purges of artists, free-thinkers, public arts and anyone non-muslim is in full swing.

The Louvre has been looted and her collected works destroyed after the newly elected President of Francistan issued orders that all graven images are forbidden. Every museum in France falls before the "Moral Police" and their "Enforcement Squads". Anyone caught trying to smuggle art out of the country is summarily beheaded.

Decrees go out across the land that Burkahs are now mandatory, men cannot shave, and the borders are closed as a precaution. Dhimmitude is the order of the day.

Any that are not devout muslim find them selves being fired from jobs and land taken from them. They are forced into camps and told that they would be found housing as soon as possible, but the squalid camps deteriorate quickly with the coming of winter, and the Red Cross and Red Crescent are denied passage to check the status of those in the camps.

Europe cowers in the shadow of a radical islamic caliphate that is now in possession of nuclear weapons, as the UN attempts to negotiate with the new leaders of Francistan. The UN's power in the world waned tremendously after President Jeb Bush followed the advice of his Secretary of State John Bolton and withdrew from the corrupt organization and threw them out of the country.

From their new offices in The Hague the still attempted to sway world events, but any clout they had was lost when Moammar Khadaffi was made Secretary General. Ever since the were seen as a nuisance with no real authority and were ignored more often than not.

The government of the US watched carefully the developments in Francistan, and indeed was finalizing plans at that very moment to destroy all of Francistans nuclear capabilities at the first sign of trouble with a secret space based weapon that was in a geo-synchronous orbit over Europe. (In actuality they had 6 of them).

It was at precisely that moment that a delegation walked up to the White House gate and asked to see the President.

It was the old government in exile of old france that had been ordered put to death for daring to speak against islam and demand a return to the tenet's that had made france a great country once.

They were asking to see the President.

A secret service agent walked into the room and whispered into the Presidents ear. Grimly the President stared at the floor and nodded, mumbling "I see".

Straightening up he looked the secret service agent dead in the eye and said, "In honor of the many years of friendship that Old France showed the United States, and in the same spirit of that friendship, I won't be meeting with the delegation from the Old French Government, and send my condolences about the current situation their with the radical muslims. Be sure to express my shock that a group as peaceful as Jihadists would even dream of destroying cultural works of art and beheading people for simply wanting to be different than the muslims would, and ummm, Joe?"

The secret service agent looked up with a sparkle knowing what was coming....."Send them out some cake" said the President.

"Of course President Bolton." Came the Reply.

XPOSTED@Kender's, The Wide Awakes, Cao's and Conservative Angst

One of My All Time Favorite Songs

2005-11-04T01:09:00.000-06:00

Click on the title and sing along.

XPOSTED@Kenders' and Cao's

Some Truth....

2005-11-03T01:03:00.000-06:00

We are told that we face a terrible and unwavering enemy in the Islamofascists that attempt to strike out at everything non-Muslim in the world. Well, I happen to agree with that assessment of the radicals and anyone with half a brain and time to read the news from around the world will also agree. Every week Islamofascists murder innocents around the world and yet the weekly death toll gets no mention in the major media outlets around the world.

We have been told for years that we are hated for our lifestyle and constant meddling in to affairs of the Middle East. We have been told that our presence in Saudi Arabia is such affront to Islam that all Americans, military or civilian must pay with their lives. If we accept for a moment that these reasons are valid then what is the explanation for the recent Islamofascist attacks against the people of India and Indonesia? There is no reason other then the people of those countries are not Muslim. The radical version of Islam that is sweeping the world is far closer to the original intent of the false prophet Muhammad. In truth Muhammad was nothing more then a greedy sinful man who seized an opportunity to subjugate his fellow men and set many of them on a path of personal destruction.

I recently heard a phrase on local talk radio, “Not every Muslim is a terrorist but every terrorist is a Muslim.” Now while that is a very broad generalization, it does hold more then a wee bit of truth. We need to stop pandering to the left and their terrorist allies like CAIR and ditch the political correctness in favor of profiling and other methods that will prevent future attacks and save American lives.

I had planned a little more on the offenses that sleeper organizations like CAIR perpetrate on the American people but I thought the sacrifice of these four heroes deserved to be told since the MSM focuses only on the bad news out of Iraq. Less then two months into the unit’s second tour in Iraq, the Screaming Eagles of the 101^st Airborne have suffered the loss of four good men.

The four soldiers were members of Company A, Second Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, and 2nd Brigade Combat Team and had just arrived in September. Sgt. 1st Class Jonathan Tessar, 35, of Simi Valley, California was an 18-year veteran who had joined the 101^st in July of 2004. Spc. William J. Byler 23, of Ballinger, Texas had served with the 101^st during their first tour in Iraq and could have accepted a medical discharge but choose to reenlist to stay with his soldiers. Pfc. David J. Martin, 21, of Edmond, Oklahoma came from a family with a history of public service, his younger brother was also in the Army and his two older brothers are police officers in Edmond. Pfc. Adam R. Johnson, 22, of Clayton, Ohio was fulfilling a life long dream by serving with the 101^st; it was something he always wanted to do according to his father, Randy Johnson.

These four men gave their service to this country and asked for nothing in return, they were simply doing their job. What many people fail to realize is that these men and their families are the true heroes of this country. My thoughts and prayers go out to their families, friends, and fellow soldiers as we grieve the loss of four more outstanding Americans. Thank you all for your service and may God Bless you.

UPDATE: The 101st lost another 3 men to an IED yesterday as I wrote this post. That is 7 men in two days. Details to follow.....

Some Thoughts for the Jackasses at MoveOn.org

2005-10-31T19:17:00.000-06:00

The President picks his guy for the Supreme Court,

True conservatives and constitutionalists cheer,

The jackasses at MoveOn.org cry and jeer,

But he's not our guy they cry,

Damn it he's not even a gal,

Just another Bush pal.

Some words of advice for the intellectually challenged over at Hate Bush.org,

Cry and weep for you and yours are at the bottom of the heap,

On that November day, the America you hate spoke loudly and strongly,

And told you to F*ck Off!!!

I know it does rhyme or have meter but it gets the job done.

Today's Words of Wisdom

2005-10-31T05:45:00.000-06:00

Not all Muslims are terrorists but all terrorists are Muslim.

Beware of CAIR and the catering to the American Muslim.

Stop The ACLU Interviews Alan Sears

2005-10-26T20:30:00.000-05:00

Crossposted from Stop The ACLU

Crossposted from Stop The ACLU

First of all, I want to thank you on behalf of Stop The ACLU, all of our contributors, and supporters. It is an honor to have this interview with you. We appreciate the Alliance Defense Fund does for America by fighting the ACLU, and protecting life, and liberty.

1 Could you tell us a brief summary of how ADF came about?

Enough was enough. Dismayed by years of the erosion of liberty through activist courts in1993, thirty-five leaders of various Christian ministries came together to discuss the growing legal threats to religious freedom, the sanctity of life, marriage, and the family and the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) was born. ADF’s purpose was to develop sufficient means to win - through training, strategy, coordination, and funding to support litigation. In just eleven short years, ADF has trained over 850 allied attorneys, 405 law students, and provided funding for over 1,500 cases, including twenty-six victories at the Unites States Supreme Court.

2. What inspired you to write your new book, The ACLU vs. America?

In December 2003, I appeared on the O’Reilly Factor to discuss the ACLU’s legal attacks on the public celebration of Christmas. During that interview, Bill O’Reilly asked, tongue in cheek: “Isn’t the ACLU an organization that started out with good beginnings, but has just gotten off track over the past decade?” There was no way to answer it in a 25-30 second sound bite. Craig Osten (my-co-author) and I pondered O’Reilly’s question and realized that most Americans believe this myth that the ACLU had good roots. We knew that the truth had to be told: that the ACLU had a completely different agenda for America right from the start, an agenda that sought to legally undermine every American institution in order to reshape our nation as the ACLU and its founders saw fit.

3. What would you say to those people who say that just because the ACLU was founded on Communism does not mean that they still have communist goals?

Baldwin fastidiously claimed he was not a communist, and in fact, purged the ACLU board members who actually belonged to the party when Stalin and Hitler linked arms in 1939. Despite this, Baldwin had repeatedly expressed admiration for the Soviets and had many communist and socialist allies. In an interview a few years before his death, ACLU Founder Roger Baldwin said to Peggy Lamson (a former ACLU board member): “The Communists say, we don’t care what the majority says, this minority is right, and if we can impose our will on the majority, we will do so.” This type of self-image sums up the modern-day ACLU, which has demonstrated, time and time again, blatant disregard for the will of the people and the democratic process. For example, the ACLU has filed or supported lawsuit after lawsuit to either block public votes on constitutional amendments affirming traditional marriage, or to overturn the results (which have yet to be in the ACLU’s favor). When Alaskan voters passed a constitutional amendment in 1998 affirming marriage as between one man and one woman, the ACLU’s former executive director said: “Today’s results prove that certain fundamental issues should not be left up to a majority vote.”

4. I have read in your book that the ACLU filed a brief in favor of legalizing child pornography. When I wrote about this, many people wanted solid proof. Where can one see in the record how the ACLU defended this?

There are several examples. The files at the U.S. Supreme Court are a good starting point. In 1983, the ACLU submitted a friend of the court brief in the case of New York v. Ferber, arguing that the distribution of child pornography is protected by the First Amendment. The ACLU Policy Guide states: “The ACLU believes that the First Amendment protects the dissemination of all forms of communication. The ACLU opposes on First Amendment grounds, laws that restrict the production and distribution of any printed and visual materials even when some of the producers of those materials are punishable under criminal law.” (i.e. child pornography).

In the mid-1980s, when I serving as the Director of the Attorney General’s Commission on Pornography, the then-legislative counsel of the ACLU testified that it was the ACLU’s position that once child pornography was produced, there should be no government restriction on its sale and distribution.

5. Recently a judge in California ruled that the Mt. Soledad cross was unconstitutional despite the majority of San Diego voters supported keeping the cross. What are your thoughts on judicial activism in America today? Should judges be using international law in interpreting the Constitution?

In his biography by Peggy Lamson, Roger Baldwin said: “I placed my faith in the courts…” What he meant by that was that he knew the ACLU could not achieve its aims through state and federal legislatures or by taking their case to the people. He knew that the courts would be the most useful method of imposing the ACLU’s agenda on the people. The outgrowth of that strategy is the judicial activism we see today, where the ACLU and its allies are using the courts to deny the expressed will of the people and to impose new laws via judicial fiat. In the Mt. Soledad case, the ACLU attorney James McElroy expressed his disdain for the majority when he said after the vote: "It still doesn't mean a damn thing. Voters should have never voted on it."

ADF believes that judges should interpret the Constitution as written and consistent with its original meaning. It is not an “evolving document” with emanations from penumbras as judicial activists’ state.

As far as international law, this is just another example of how the ACLU has tried to change the rules to get their way. They came to the realization that the Constitution can only be stretched in so many ways, that they are eventually going to reach a limit with how far they can advance their agenda with domestic laws and courts alone!

I think Chief Justice John Roberts said it quite eloquently during his confirmation hearing when asked about international law. He said: “Looking at foreign law for support is like looking out over a crowd and picking out your friends. Foreign law, you can find anything you want. If you don't find it in the decisions of France or Italy, it's in the decisions of Somalia or Japan or Indonesia or wherever." He went on to state that international law was a misuse of legal precedent and we would wholeheartedly agree.

Nevertheless, the ACLU, along with its former counsel Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, have been the biggest proponents of using international law as precedent to undermine our national sovereignty, which millions have sacrificed and died to defend and preserve.

6. What do you find is the biggest threat to liberty in our society today? How can we counter this?

The biggest threat to liberty today is the agenda of advocates of homosexual behavior, which Craig Osten and I detail in our previous book, The Homosexual Agenda: The Principal Threat to Religious Freedom Today. The ACLU has helped develop much of this agenda and has worked very closely with these advocates. The ultimate goal of many homosexual activists is to progressively silence and punish any dissenting viewpoints when it comes to homosexual behavior. In places such as Sweden and Canada, people with sincere religious objections to homosexual behavior are facing fines, loss of employment, and even imprisonment for expressing their views.

How can we counter this? First of all, we can show up. When ADF and its allies have shown up against legal advocates of homosexual behavior in the courtroom, with the training, strategy, and coordination to win, we’ve been successful in defeating the agenda of homosexual advocates, including same-sex “marriage.”

Secondly, it will take resources. The ACLU and its allies, including radical advocates of homosexual behavior, have tremendous financial resources at their disposal. The ACLU Foundation has $175 million in assets. The Gill Foundation, whose mission is to push the homosexual agenda, has spent millions of dollars to achieve its aims. The Human Rights Campaign, Lambda Legal and Defense and Education Fund, and Planned Parenthood, all have massive amounts of funds, including millions from corporate America, to spend.

Thirdly, Americans need to become educated on the threats to liberty, and that is why we wrote the ACLU book, as well as our previous book on the homosexual agenda, to awaken the majority of Americans who still respect the values of life, liberty, and family that made our nation great.

7. Is it possible to reform the ACLU? Can they be changed, or is countering them the only option?

It’s not a public company and is controlled by a private board. It’s tough to “reform” an organization that had a very different agenda for America right from the beginning. In addition, they have had eighty years to build the legal precedents that they have used to advance their agenda, and even if the ACLU went out of existence today, those precedents would still be in place. Therefore, it is going to take a long-term, strategic effort to reverse those legal precedents, and put new ones in place that affirm religious freedom, the sanctity of life, marriage and the family.

8. What is your strategy in fighting the ACLU? Are there other ways people can get involved?

ADF has a four-fold plan to fight and eventually defeat the ACLU. That plan is training, coordination, funding, and direct litigation. Our goals include training at least 5,000 allied attorneys over the next ten years to take on the ACLU and its allies and building an in-house attorney mentoring program - to train and equip the next generation of attorneys. But you train all the attorneys you want, and if they do not have a coordinated plan of action, it is not going to make much of a difference. That is why ADF focuses on strategic coordination to make sure that we are working in unity towards a common goal of reversing the legal damage inflicted by the ACLU and its allies on our nation, rather than working against each other. Thirdly, we make sure that when our allied attorneys show up in court to take on the ACLU, that they have the necessary financial resources to win. ADF has funded over 1,500 grants for legal cases and projects in just eleven years. Finally, ADF wants to grow litigators, lawyers on our staff who are actively involved in defending religious freedom, the sanctity of life, marriage, and the family.

9. Currently there is legislation in the House by Congressman Hostetler that is asking to reform the attorney’s fees act in the Civil Rights Act to not apply in Establishment Clause cases. Does ADF support this?

We talk about the need to reform this in our book, as it has become a financial cash cow for the ACLU and one of their weapons in their campaign of fear, intimidation, and disinformation to force public officials to bow to their agenda. While ADF does not delve into legislative issues, we hope this effort by the congressman passes to fix this loophole which the ACLU has exploited for years to bully towns and municipalities into compliance.

10. Do you support grassroots efforts like Stop The ACLU.Com and Stop The ACLU.Org in informing the people of the ACLU’s actions and other civil liberties groups? How can we motivate others to get involved? What would your advice be in helping our organization’s success?

ADF is thankful for any efforts that raise awareness of the ACLU’s dangerous agenda for America and encourages citizens to get involved in combating it. I believe that the American people are increasingly rejecting the ACLU’s agenda as more and more of it is brought into the light. Keep on doing what you are doing, highlighting the ACLU’s most recent outrageous statements and positions, and I am sure your efforts will be successful.

This was a production of Stop The ACLU Blogburst. If you would like to join us, please register at Our Portal, or email Jay at Jay@stoptheaclu.com. You will be added to our mailing list and blogroll. Over 115 blogs already onboard.

A Thought to Ponder

2005-10-24T08:52:00.000-05:00

Question: How do you tell the difference between Democrats, Republicans and Southern Republicans?

The answer can be found by posing the following question:

You're walking down a deserted street with your wife and two small children.

Suddenly, an Islamic Terrorist with a huge knife comes around the corner, locks eyes with you, screams obscenities, praises Allah, raises the knife, and charges at you.

You are carrying a Glock cal .40, and you are an expert shot.

You have mere seconds before he reaches you and your family.

What do you do?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Democrat's 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 9-1-1?

Why is this street so deserted?

Why isn't he happy playing nighttime basketball?

We need to raise taxes, have a paint and weed day and make this happier, healthier street that would discourage such behavior.

This is all so confusing! I need to debate this with some friends for few days and try to come to a consensus.

Can I call Howard Dean or John Kerry and see what they think I should do?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Republican's Answer:

BANG!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Southern Republican'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

Daughter: "Nice grouping, Daddy! Were those the Winchester Silver Tips or Hollow Points?"

Big Hat tip to Raven over at And Rightly So.

My Heroes Have Always Been Camelboys (with apologies to Willy)

2005-10-22T22:26:00.000-05:00

My friend Seth inspired me to this, so blame him.

The only music I could find for you to listen to while reading this, (if you so wish to do that) was here and it is a bit faster than the normal version. Open the link in a new window and sing along.

And please feel free to offer up better lyrics than I pumped out in the last ten minutes. I changed a few words to go better with the faster version. And the end of the tune is cut off at the end.

Ladies and Gents, lads and lassies, I give you;

My Heroes Have Always Been Camelboys

I grew up a dreamin' o' bein' a camelboy
And lovin' the goatfu**in ways
Pursuin' the life o' my implodin' heroes
I burned up my childhood days
I learned all the rules of a suicide bomber
Don't ya press down the button too soon
Just take a short bus ride, or go to a disco
Go out with a scream and a boom

My heroes have always been camelboys
And they will be till I die
Sadly adhering to eighth century ideals
And a bunch of ragged old lies

Camelboys are spreadin their own brand of misery
By wiping their ass with their hands
Some will die from a bomb in a safe house in Baghdad
To be dropped in a hole in the sand
Pickin at sand fleas while down on their damned knees
And cryin to Allah each day
Dirty pajamas an' diapers on their heads
With their leaders a-hidin' in caves

My heroes have always been camelboys
And they will be till I die
Sadly adhering to eighth century ideals
And a bunch of ragged old lies

Sadly adhering to eighth century ideals
And a bunch of ragged old lies

XPOSTED@Kender's, Cao's and The Wide Awakes

Well no wonder the Muslims think they are the only ones that are in with Go...I mean Allah

2005-10-20T23:43:00.000-05:00

From a report of a speech given in a synagogue by the director of a branch of CAIR in Florida comes this snippet;

"He told a story about how the prophet Mohammed was told by God to pray
50 times a day. Then Mohammed met Moses, who pointed out that Jews pray
only three times a day. After some negotiating, God agreed to let
Muslims pray just five times a day."

Mo was kickin with the big boys and NEGOTIATED with God.

No other religion, as far as I have found out, has a prophet that NEGOTIATED with God.

I can just see that now;
(wavy flashback lines)

Mo: Fifty times a day God? But I will live on my knees and have no time for conquering the infidels who should be on their knees to make beheading them easier.

GOD: I am sorry Mo, but I feel that the Jews aren't pious enough, and that whole "chosen people" thing that they have claimed is going to make your run at a worldwide caliphate much harder. You simply MUST be much more pious than them.

Mo; I understand your wish for a more pious group of believers, but we have very little. We are poor tribesmen that wander the desert, and without a lifelong campaign of conquest and subjugation we will never rise to power in your name.

GOD: Well, Mo, actually everyone can come to me if they simply believe in their hearts. I have to tell you that you really don't have a lock on this whole heaven thing.

(Moses whispers in God's ear)

GOD: Mo, how about this, since the Jews are praying three times a day, why don't you guys pray five times a day? That would make you 66% more pious than a Jew.

Mo thinks it over, and discusses it with his closest advisor, Aii'l Su' Ya' Quik'li, (who happened to be the first ever islamic lawyer), and looks up with that famous glint of negotiation in his eyes.

Mo;, Can we still pervert your words and lie about our goals to convert or kill those that won't follow our ways?

GOD: I would prefer you didn't. You know, if you get too radical, Lucifer may invoke certain rights under the Good Vs. Evil clause and it would be out of my hands.

Mo; I can take that chance, what is the word of Lucifer against my thousands of Warriors dedicated to Jihad?

GOD: Mo, I don't believe you are completely understanding the whole concept of these visions, I really...

Mo; Yeah yeah, contracts and obscure Holy Laws....I get it. Let me ask you, if I kill ten thousand Jews and send them your way do i get a commission?

GOD: A commission? What would make you think that I would condone killing ten thousand people of any tribe? I want you to make people get along with each other and help create peace on earth. What is with all of this killing nonsense?

Mo; Well, if people don't not believe that I have spoken to you then they will not adhere to the Holy Ways you have revealed to me. I am going to need proof.

GOD: Mo, did you ever stop to think that the near starvation you are experiencing, coupled with those mushrooms you found, may be causing hallucinations or that I could be Lucifer in disguise trying to capture gullible human souls for the final battle?

Moses hits "God" in the arm and whispers harshly "Shut up!!!! The mushrooms are becoming less intense, get this over with before he sobers up"

"GOD": I'll tell you what, along with the praying only five times a day, anyone that dies in Holy service to me by killing infidels will get 70 virgins in paradise. Deal?

Mo;, OK deal, but I may wish to renegotiate once I am able to stand up....why do you suddenly look like my camel?

(wavy flashback lines)

And there ya have it folks, the "truth" about Mo's "talk" with Moses and God.....hey, it's about as true as that book Mo had a hand in creating.

XPOSTED@Kender's and Cao's

Stop The ACLU Radio

2005-10-20T12:17:00.000-05:00

We've got a double treat for you today folks! Nedd Kareiva, founder of our parent site Stoptheaclu.org will be on the radio! But first we'll be having a live stream of Alan Sears, the president of the Alliance Defense Fund debating Barry Lynn of Americans United for the Seperation of Church and State.

Alan Sears will be on Barry Lynn's radio show Culture Shocks from 5 to 6pm Eastern Time, 2 to 3pm Pacific time. He will be discussing issues such as the the ACLU's policy to legalize child porn, their defense of sexual predators, and their positions on sick organizations like NAMBLA. If you haven't heard of Alan Sears take a look at The Alliance Defense Fund's website. They are one of the biggest forces out there fighting the evils of the ACLU. You can also check out his interview with Bill O'Reilly, or his interview with Frontpage magazine.

If you want to listen, tune in from 5 to 6pm Eastern Time, 2 to 3pm Pacific using KCAA's live MP3 feed. Choose between the free iTunes or Winamp players to listen.

If you want to talk to call in live on Culture Shocks, call them at 1-800-259-9231. Don't forget to mention Stop The ACLU.COM!

You can also hear Culture Shocks weekdays on your radio station, including KCAA 1050AM in the Los Angeles area, WCBR in Tennessee, KGGM in Louisiana, WASN in Youngstown Ohio and Newcastle, PA, and WARL in Providence RI. I wouldn't encourage listening to this guy's station everyday, but definitley tune in today. I'm thinking Alan will rip him apart.

And now, for the good news about our movement!!! I put this last because it will be later in the night, but our own Nedd Kareiva of Stop The ACLU.Org will be on WRWL Radio with Pastor Ernie Sanders to discuss the ACLU and our plans to cripple them. Pastor Sanders has the longest running radio show in Ohio (28 years per his site), has been in court with the ACLU over 20 times and not paid one dime to them. He fiercely opposes the ACLU's agenda and he is looking forward to speaking with him. He will be taking your calls so let's show Ohio and America we mean business against the ACLU. He will be on as long as they wish. He will be discussing similar issues on the ACLU's support for child sexplotation, and also focus on its war against Christianity. He will mention the blog, so everyone try to call in and talk to Nedd.

TIME: 9:30 PM EST, 8:30 CST, 7:30 MST, 6:30 PST

TOLL FREE ACROSS AMERICA: (888) 677-9673, LOCAL: (216) 901-0933
LISTEN: Via Crusader Radio live Internet feed or WRWL stations at its home page.

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Crossposted from Stop The ACLU

"No good, I've known too many Spaniards"

2005-10-19T12:17:00.000-05:00

A big tip o' me tam to jcrue for this one.

Back in August I pointed out that Italy was supporting terrorism. They proved then they are not a true ally of the U.S., joining such other faux allies as france and germany.

It should come as no surprise then that Spain has decided to join the club.

It seems that a Spanish judge has decided to issue arrest warrants for three American soldiers in regards to the death of a Spanish journalist and his Ukrainian cameraman during the Iraq war.

The U.S. military has investigated the incident, and have stated that the soldiers believed they were under attack when they fired a round from their tank into The Palestine Hotel where several reporters were staying to cover the war.

First off, let me say that a war zone is inherently dangerous. If you wander into a war zone you take your life into your hands, and really shouldn't be surprised if you end up dead.

Secondly, what kind of moron would sit on a balcony of a hotel in the middle of a raging battle surrounded by people shooting at each other from all sides and have the stupidity to lift a camera onto their shoulder and point it at a tank? Especially an American tank? The Abrams tank is one of the deadliest fighting machines ever unleashed on the world, and the crews that man them are highly trained soldiers. One of my best friends happens to be a tank driver, and his descriptions of the capabilities of that vehicle are awe inspiring.

Let's forget for a moment about the Fog of War, and focus instead on the Spanish law that says "a crime committed against a Spaniard abroad can be prosecuted here (in Spain) if it is not investigated in the country where it is committed."

The Spaniards have requested interviews with the soldiers and have been turned down, as well they should have been. It is not the place of the Spanish government to interrogate American soldiers that were engaged in battle, protecting themselves and their fellow soldiers and doing what they were trained to do.

It was the responsibility of the journalist and his cameraman to report the war and stay alive. Pointing things at American tanks tend to make that last job a bit hard, even when it is just a camera.

It boils down to this; In the middle of a heated battle a cameraman pointed his camera at a tank that had been taking fire from buildings, unfortunately for him, and his reporter, he was spotted by a tank crew and that crew, believing they were about to be fired on yet again, took defensive action.

If another tank crew goes through this, and sits wondering if what is being pointed at them is a camera or a weapon and their hesitation causes them to die, can we sue the Spanish government for causing our soldiers to die because they were worried about being arrested for doing their jobs?

So now we must add the Spaniards to the growing list of "allies" that are actually unfriendly to us. That's ok though. I haven't trusted the french for years, I certainly don't trust the germans, the russians or italy anymore.

Remember, it was these cowards that buckled to terrorists when their subway was bombed right before an election and voted in a bunch of appeasing weaklings. So should we continue to trust the spanish?

I believe the Dread Pirate Roberts said it best when he said "No good, I've known too many Spaniards".

XPOSTED@Kender's and Cao's

Talk about working in theory.

2005-10-18T01:22:00.000-05:00

Go here to read about a school where the final exam, if they can find someone to perform a final exam on, must be strictly pass/fail.

I wonder if one would get extra credit for taking projectile vomit to the head?

XPOSTED@Cao's and Kender's

Windows Vista Build 5231 Reviewed

2005-10-18T01:05:00.000-05:00

Well, I have been running Windows Vista Build 5231 since last Monday and I have a few observations. I will basically tie my comments to the screenshots. One thing I will mention is that the dream of a 15-20 minute install is a joke. It took about 65 minutes to install Vista on a box running a P4 2.6Ghz, 1Gb of Ram, with a ATI 9600XT. I think that the install time will come down as we approach the actual release of the software. My hunch is that quite a bit of the install is the hard drive being indexed after the OS is installed. How else could the search function work so quickly right out of the box? Just my 2 cents anyway. If you click on the title link you will be taken to the torrent for downloading this build of Vista. Enjoy everyone! For those from Digg.com, thanks for coming by.

Vista Version

The version information for people who care about this sort of stuff.

New and Improved Start Menu

I don't know how new and improved this is in reality. The structure is almost exactly the same as Windows XP but instead of popping open a list of programs that could take up your entire screen if your still runnning at less then 1024x768 but rather an extended grouping of programs within the structure of the Start Menu. Notice the text box directly above the Start button? It is a search box for just the Start Menu. Start typing and it will guess what your looking for.

Some Interesting Processes in Task Manager

There are quite a few new processes running in the background on Vista. I believe most are related to the new intergrated search feature that is now available from each and every window in Vista.

Vista does P2P

Windows P2P goes by the name of Windows Collaberation in Vista. I could not get this feature to work so I guess they turned it off after talking flak for having it enabled by default in Beta 1.

Windows Calender

Microsoft has now seen fit to include a calender client in Vista which one can share, like Hotmail's calender, or publish, like an Outlook calender, or just use on the computer like Outlook Express. Actually anyone using Outlook Express for email should be forcefully removed from their keyboard and beaten about the head with it.

Windows Digital Gallery

Vista now sports a "Digital Gallery" feature which in my humble opinion is a direct rip-off of Picasa.

The Windows Explorer

Notice the ever-present search box in the upper right corner? Search is everywhere in Vista including the Start Menu as I mentioned above. The sort options have been expanded and the metadata pane has been moved from the lower left side of a typical window in XP to the bottom band of the window in Vista. The new Windows Explorer was fairly intuitive but I can see new users stuggling to adjust, especially if they come to Vista from Windows 2000 or earlier.

TMI: Windows Style

Microsoft has seen fit to include and display metadata everywhere in Vista including the status dialogue when moving an item.

The New My Network Connections

My Network Places has been replaced by the Network Center which includes some diagnostic tools to troubleshoot a network connection and addtional information about your broadband connection.

Some New Games eh?

Finally some new games for network admins to lock down from bored users. The new games are Chess, Shanghai Solitare (a version of Mahjong), and a kids games called Purbie Place. Screenshots below...

Shanghai Solitare

Microsoft's version of Mahjong

Purbie Place

My son, age 4 1/2, liked this game and found it pretty easy to learn, enough said I guess.

A Kinder, Gentler Control Panel

For those who know where to find things, the classic view is still available.

A little something new in User rights.

I don't know if the Authenication Manager will be included in any release of Vista but the Enterprise and Ultimate editions but the idea is kinda neat. AM will allow the system admin to mark a user with standard admin rights or with super-admin rights which are designed to be used by developers.

Tablet Programs

Since the Ultra Edition is a superset of all future Vista versions there are both Tablet PC programs included as well as Media Center.

Media Center

I don't know what if anything has changed in Media Center since the test computer I installed Vista on is not a Media Center machine. Somebody let me know what has changed if you don't mind.

Windows Media Player

This new interface is nice and they have changed some of the terms used by WMP but at this stage it looks like a very early version of WMP11

Media Library Sharing in WMP11

The Basic Library Sharing options are just that basic but....

Advanced Library Sharing in WMP11

One has to wonder what the RIAA might think about WMP11 encouraging users to share their media. It appears that the options will only let you share across a home network but I am sure someone will figure out a way for this to use the Vista P2P and I predict that Microsoft will be sued by the RIAA and removed this feature before Vista is released.

IE7

First looks is misleading, but it does look very slick.

Default IE7

As it appears when first launched, the only change I had made at this point was to change the homepage.

IE7 with Favorites Sidebar open

The Favorites Sidebar now contains your subscribed feeds and history as well. The normal menu toolbar is hidden by default.

IE7 with an active RSS feed plus new right-click option

IE7 handled the flash of ESPN right out of the box(as it should) and lights up and beeps when a valid RSS feed is detected on a webpage. As expected the right-click menu now includes the open in a new tab option but if your trying to open a favorite from the sidebar, forget it. You can not open a favorite from the sidebar in a new tab unless the tab is already open and selected.

Adding a new RSS feed

To add a feed, you have to click on the orange RSS button which opens the feed as an xml document in IE7. You then have the option to subscribe by clikcing on the yellow plus sign on the right side of the toolbar above the document.

IE7 Anti-Phishing Filter

IE7 not has a phishing filter that checks whether the website your visiting is the real website or one doctored up to fool people into giving up personal information. In my screenshot that is the real CNN.com, I assure you or IE7 does.

IE7 Quick Tabs

IE7 does have a neat feature called Quick Tabs. The feature can be accessed either through Ctrl+Q or the little four square icon in the upper left corner of the "tab"bar next to the favorites star icon. Of course the more tabs you have open the smaller the previews in the quick tabs screen.

Overall Vista is rather polished for a pre Beta 2 release. I like that Microsoft is going to release an updated build every month for the forseeable future. The drivers for many devices are not available but that should change pretty quickly. The only programs I could not run and that crashed the shell were Google Earth, and Activesync 3.8. I did try to manually update the drivers for my video (ATI 9600XT), my sound (Audigy 2) and my Canon i860 usb printer. I was able to install without problem, Office 2003, Skype (latest version), iTunes 6.0 with QuickTime 7.0 Pro, MSN Messenger 7.5, and Microsoft Anti-spyware beta. I could not find a anti-virus program that would install and run even after AVG ran perfectly in Beta 1. I could not even get Windows OneCare Beta to install, go figure. Well that is the review of Vista for this month, look for a review of next month's build as soon as it becomes available. Remember, the title link goes to a torrent so you can download Vista and enjoy all of it's fun.

Anybody Want a Free Video iPod?

2005-10-17T22:46:00.000-05:00

Well for those who don't wish to spend the money for a new video iPod, I have a deal for you. Click here, complete an offer and pass your link on to your friends, family, and complete strangers and after you complete one of the many offers that will cost you nothing, you too will have a new video iPod.

Once you sign up and get your referral code, send it to me in an email from the address that you signed up with and I will add your link to a rotating link banner that I am crafting for the sidebars of this site. So go ahead and click here for your new video iPod. Thanks.

FREE VIDEO IPOD

Just a quick question....

2005-10-17T22:07:00.000-05:00

Do people with large bug eyes have better peripheral vision?

Forget Vampires and Werewolves, The Left and the ACLU are the New Undead!!!

2005-10-17T14:26:00.000-05:00

Yes I said it.

Actually what caused me to come to this conclusion was posting a comment over here at Jay's to a moronic moonbat. Come to think of it, all moonbats are moronic, so I repeated myself there.

Anyway, let's compare the classic undead, such as vampires and werewolves to the american left and especially the ACLU.

Classic Undead;
Vampire;

A soulless creature that cowers at the sight of a crucifix and lives by sucking the blood of other creatures that it ambushes in the dark. Cannot be seen in a mirror's reflection.

American Left Undead;
ACLU Lawyer;

A soulless creature that cowers at the sight of a crucifix and lives by sucking money from the government suing Christians it ambushes. Refuses to be seen in any media interview, since the glaring light of truth shone upon the world through an honest question is the ACLU Lawyers equivalent of a mirror.

American Left Undead;
Liberal Whiner;

A soulless creature that cowers at the sight of a crucifix causing an immediate call to it's brethren at the ACLU and wants everyone to live in a dream world by sucking hardearned money away from those with drive to coddle those with no drive. Can usually be seen braiding pit hair in San Francisco or following Cindy Sheehan like a slavering moron.

Classic Undead;
Werewolf;

A diseased creature that appears normal during the day but changes hidiously during certain times of the month into an unrecognizable creature of destruction.

American Left Undead;
ACLU Lawyer;

A diseased creature that appears normal until they enter a courtroom, where they immediaately turn into a creature with hypnotic powers over judges that twists reality to attempt to switch the world to their dreamland version of reality, an example of which is the European Union. This version of reality is failing miserably.

American Left Undead;
Liberal Whiner:

A diseased creature that appears normal when you talk to them in polite company but readily becomes a raving madman at the mention of Bush, the Global War on Terror or Rush Limbaugh.

Classic Undead;
Zombie;

A soulless brain eating creature that wanders through the land randomly attacking people to further it's agenda of destroying people to consume their brains. Unable to think for itself.

American Left Undead;
ACLU Lawyer;

A soulless, brainless creature that wanders through the land looking for other brainless creatures to further it's agenda of of destroying the U.S. by brainwashing it's gullible inhabitants. Unable to think for itself.

American Left Undead;
Liberal Whiner;

A soulless, brainless creature that wanders through the land looking only at the liberal slanted media and believing that up is down, the palestinians and radical muslims are peaceful people and the war in Iraq is illegal. Unable to think for itself.

As you can see, just my cursory look at the New Undead has opened my eyes, and I am sure, your eyes also.

The only question remains is this;

Do we use stakes through the heart, silver bullets or beheadings to protect ourselves and our country?

I vote for silver bullets. A stake through the heart means you must get within their reach, and I am leaving the beheadings to the "peaceful radical muslims".

Now, how many more can you come up with?

XPOSTED@Kender's and Cao's

Guard Our Borders Blogburst Roundup (sorta)

2005-10-17T08:38:00.000-05:00

Linked in the title is
Kit's post at The Wide Awakes.

Kit started the Guard Our Borders blogburst to point out why we need to secure our borders and to bring more attention to the fact that our borders are basically open.

She has a story up about 14 illegal immigrants gang-raping a woman in Florida, go rad that.

Some others in the blogroll to help save our country are:

The Mary Hunter over at his little slice of correct thinking cyber-heaven. Go read what he has to say about the idiots that opened the floodgates to the American Dream and actually have done more damage with their short-sighted goals and pandering policies. Don't be surprised when you see that the Democrats were behind this one.

Over at Cao's we get a short reminder that the mexican government publishes comic books on how to sneak into the U.S. Let me ask you, do you really want people coming here, illegally or not, who have the comprehension level it takes to read a comic book? Me either.

GMRoper over at Social Sense has a post up wondering why so many people don't seem to care about our border's security. Damned good question my friend.

Go visit more of those signed up for this blogburst. At this writing (early AM) many people haven't had time or been awake long enough to get their nickel's worth in yet.

XPOSTED@Kender's

Militant Environmentalists and Wind Power (or, Let's all go live in caves and dress in leaves and grasses)

2005-10-16T12:05:00.000-05:00

Linked in the title is a story about environmentalists that are now fighting wind farms.

Seriously.

Apparently these wind farms are allegedly responsible for the deaths of some predatory birds that use it the land they are on as a feeding ground.

Environmentalists claim that they aren't against wind farms, but that their locations should be chosen more carefully, so as to avoid having an impact on wildlife. I am wondering just where that place may be.....Mars? Mars has wind. How about in the middle of the city? NonononononoNO......pigeons live there, and we wouldn't want any precious little pigeons getting their stupid asses whacked by a windmill now would we?

Oh wait....how about out at sea? Yeah, there is plenty of wind at sea, and peoplel have been harnessing that wind for thousands of years, so that would be ok to build wind farms at sea right? What?

WTF do you mean no, building it offshore would not only endanger seabirds but would be an eyesore to beachgoers?

OK FINE!!!!!

You know what? I give the hell up. Let's just go do what this guy here has done and be done with it.

But just know that if you bitch about one little worm losing his home I am so gonna kick your ass!!!!

XPOSTED@Kenders

Been a Little Busy

2005-10-14T00:49:00.000-05:00

I have been a little busy with the new job and life in general but I should return shortly to my regularly scheduled rants. I am working on a full blown review of Windows Vista Build 5231 with a ton of screenshots so check back in a couple of days for that. Thanks to all the new visitors from Digg.com and everyone who linked to me based on the Kahuna post. I do write a lot of political posts but every now and then an actual tech post sneaks in.

One request before I head off to an all too short night of slumber. My brother returned to Iraq with the rest of the 101st Airborne about 3 weeks ago and as they, our coalition allies and Iraqi army and citizens prepare for the Constitutional vote on Saturday please say a prayer for their safety and continued success along the path to freedom and democracy. Thanks, talk to you soon.

Todd

KOS is a Wuss

2005-10-12T15:38:00.000-05:00

A tip o' me tam to R'Cat.

Many people are writing about this today, after all, as Chris Muir pointed out, Kos was supposed to have taken the DLC to task, promising;

No calls for a truce will be brooked.

Wow.....a liberal calling for a no surrender fight? How very unfrenchmanlike. Frankly, most of today's liberals calling for war is almost a joke. Even the war of idea's and solutions is being lost by them, but then it is very hard to fight a war without ammunition, and even the libs realize they have nothing left but to throw their empty weapons over their shoulders as they run away.

If the libs want to take the DLC to task they had better have a better plan than the DLC has right now, which is nothing. They spew such goofy sentences as;

The right course now is neither to give the terrorists a victory by withdrawing, nor to continue Bush's failed policies.

Hhhmmm...and exactly what does that mean? Since I have your attention I will proceed to highlight some bits from the "progressive" ideas put forth by the DLC and explain just WHY those ideas are idiotic.

First bit; (emphasis mine)

First, we should formally disclaim any interest in permanent U.S. military bases in Iraq;

Sounds good huh? It will happen. Yes, we are building bases over there, but we aren't going to live in tents for the next few years while we beat back these goat-shagging sheet-heads, and the Iraqi's are gonna need bases eventually.

clearly shift the primary responsibility of defending the country to the Iraqi military (with embedded Coalition troops), and adopt a joint military strategy based on proven principles of counterinsurgency.

First off, the Dems understand proven principles of counterinsurgency? I doubt it. I know they understand the French Principle of Counterinsurgency, which is make sure the counter is clean when the insurgents come into your lil' bistro for dinner, but seriously, the next statement shows the idiocy behind their derailed train of thought;

The last point means abandoning Vietnam-style "search and destroy" missions against the insurgency, and instead focusing on progressively securing territory where reconstruction can proceed and normal civic life can resume.

Now, let us follow this convoluted line of thinking. Don't chase the "insurgents" down and kill 'em, just keep 'em out of the neighborhoods where you are rebuilding, then move on out of your "secured" territory, to "secure" more territory, and watch the "insurgents", who happen to work at blending in with the local populace, and sometimes ARE the local populace, wander back in to destroy the buildings you just finished, along with killing some civilians and maybe a soldier or a few cops.

Good plan? HELL NO!!!! You can see from the bit above that the DLC really has no clue who they are dealing with in Iraq, and have their heads firmly implanted in a place of dreams and utopian ideals. It is no coincidence that the liberals dreamland is such a ball of shit, because that is exactly where their heads actually are....up their asses.

Let us continue with this dissection of the "progressive policy of incompetence" shall we?

Paragraph two; (again, emphasis mine)

Second, we should launch a new political strategy aimed relentlessly at winning Sunni support for the new government, and at isolating jihadists.

First they want to abandon hunting terrorists, now they want to isolate them. The best, proven method of isolation for a terrorist is to isolate them in a hole in the ground, either by chasing them to the ends of the earth and keeping them penned up in a cave or by tossing them in a hole with a load of shrapnel or bullets in them. I prefer the latter method. As for gaining Sunni support for the new government, that will only come over time, as the Sunni's are (rightfully) leery of the Shia's (and after centuries of inter-tribal warfare wouldn't you be? I mean, these people have looooong memories and hold grudges that are generations removed from the offenders), and I am still not convinced that the Shia's won't decide to revive old grievances.

We still have considerable leverage among Shi'a and Kurdish leaders; we should use it to push for confidence -- building measures like the integration of communal militias into the Iraqi army and police forces; a blanket amnesty for former Baathists not implicated in atrocities; and for intensified talks with Sunnis on supplemental protocols to the proposed constitution that would ensure a viable central government and minority rights.

As I said above, I am not sure if the Shia's and Sunni's will ever completely get along. But we will see won't we?

Paragraph Three; (same disclaimer as above)

Third, we should muster all our diplomatic resources to create a more supportive international environment for the new Iraqi government. It should not be that hard to establish a UN-authorized international contact group to coordinate political support and economic assistance

This is one of my many MAJOR problems with the DLC, and in fact, the american Left, (at least those in power). They are always ready, willing and able to run to the UN whenever the first little hiccup occurs or they feel that "someone should be in charge".

They treat the world like 6 year olds, and bow to the UN as the parents of everyone. As for it not being that hard to establish a UN-authorized international contact group? It isn't that hard to get the UN to establish any group.

It's getting the UN to actually do anything, (except send pedophiles as peacekeepers, or take kickbacks and bribes), that borders on the miraculous.

So there ya' go KOS, you apparently chickened out, or got too busy rubbin' your nub, or probably realized that to take the DLC to task, (especially in a take no prisoners fashion), that you would be expected to actually have ideas that would work, and realizing that the only ideas that even have a chance of working right now are firmly considered "conservative idea's", you decided to give up and take a drubbing for talking such big shit.

S'ok though KOS, you can always get a glass belly button or a cranial-rectal-otomy and defect to the side that knows what the hell to do besides whine about it, but then, where would we get our laughs?

Banned 'Toons and a Great New Toon Campaign!!!!

2005-10-12T01:09:00.000-05:00

With a great tip o' me well worn tam to Duncan at Parrot Check (just how does one cash one of those anyway?) who gave a hat tip to Rusty at My Pet Jawa, do I bring you today's musings.

It's funny really, that this happened across my desktop when it did, as at the time I was reading about banned cartoons. You know those old greats from when we were kids and cartoons were only on, for the most part, on saturday morning.

We would get out of bed (eventually) and scarf down some Frosted Flakes or Capt. Crunch, or any of a dozen other sugary treats just chock full of vitamins and minerals and drowning in **gasp** WHOLE MILK while sitting in front of the TV, (which most likely did NOT have a remote) and get a full days serving of sarcasm and innuendo and never once realize that we were actually getting a wonderful foundation for our adult years, (where we would need a lot of sarcasm and innuendo), while laughing madly at Bugs Bunny making a fool of Yosemite Sam or secrectly rooting for Wile E. Coyote to finally catch that annoying little bastard of a bird.

Remember this?

"Yipa yipa, andele arriba".

?

Yep. Speedy Gonzales.

This should bring back memories.

"How many lumps do ya want?"

"Oh three or four."

"BAMBAMBAMBAMBAMBAM"

"Oh, sorry, one lump too many."

Or how about this one?

"Listen to me, I say, listen to me boy. Do ya think I'm just talking to hear my lips flap?"

and these classics;

"Goldarn Rabbit", Beepbeep", "Sufferin' succotash"

Yeah, good memories.

I was getting a bit old when the Smurfs hit the U.S. I hated the smurfs. My little sister loved the smurfs. I hated them, And that little bitch Strawberry Shortcake. And the whole Hello Kitty thing I never got either.

Give me the good old cartoons anyday of the week. Few cartoons have measured up in recent times. Ren and Stimpy, The Animaniacs, Beavis and Butthead (though I will admit they are a guy only thing for the most part), Southpark. I am probably forgetting a few, but the point is well made that few new cartoons even approach the old days.

However, a new cartoon may have come out that I completely have been ready to enjoy for many years. Unfortunately it is an ad campaign for UNicef.

UNicef, for those of you with your head under a rock, is the United Nations Childrens Fund. Being against the UN in general I am of course not enamored of UNicef, or any offshoot of that most corrupt organization.

However, is it really wise for UNicef to use funds that are supposed to go to saving children for a cartoon showing that war is bad? We all know war is bad, but also sometimes necessary. And as a fund raiser to boot?

Of course, most libs probably have a great memory of the Smurfs, and seeing them bombed into oblivion, (where they belong, BTW, I always rooted for Gargamel) will probably get them to send money to UNicef so it can be misappropiated, misspent or doled out to lawyers defending the UN's African Rape Corps.

But I say Good Riddance to the Smurfs. I am glad they got bombed. Papa Smurf, (a dirty old man that used Smurfette as a sex slave before the ACLU stepped in at NOW's urging and demanded that Papa Smurf take picture's of his debauchery to sell or share her with all the Smurfs, hey, fair is fair), is rumored to be in league with, and possibly related to OBL. Look at the facts. They both have a beard, they both wear a funny hat, they both have a huge nose, they both have followers that do as they say with a blind obedience and they both live where nobody but those followers can find them. In fact, they both live in a place that one needs their permission to enter.

So, good, bomb the Smurfs. Damned blue little bastards.

Good riddance to 'em.

While we're at it can we take out Dora the Explorer, Barney, Spongebob and all the other nitwits and please bring back some actual cartoony goodness?

That's all I want.

Bugs, Daffy, Marvin the Martian, Yosemite Sam, Wile E. Coyote, Foghorn Leghorn and the rest.

I miss those old days.

I say kill most of the current crop of crap 'toons and bring back the classics, but it has to look legal.

Bush Finally Gets OBL

2005-10-09T15:18:00.000-05:00

The following is a piece of speculative fiction or satire, take your pick but you had better get a freaking Mommy Note to read it. As for those moonbats who happen to miss this disclaimer, take out a loan for your therapy now because if you comment in the style of those clueless wonders over at DU, I will not pay your shrink bills and you will run crying from the computer when I am finished with you. Enough said, enjoy the piece.

After four years of hunting OBL, the President finally got his man...maybe. Seems the region of Pakistan that was hit by an earthquake recently is also the place that OBL is suspected to be hiding. The Pakistan government knows he is there, the Afghanistan government knows he is there, but more importantly the United States government knows he is there.

The President at the urging of Karl Rove, Dick Cheney and others decided to dust off the United States Earthquake Generation Machine or USEG. Since it is trials during last December were so successfully analysts predicted it would be only a matter of time before USEG became a standard option in the United States arsenal. Due to recent software refinements (i.e.: not using Microsoft products), the target zone was able to be smaller then in previous deployments of the weapon.

While the human cost will certainly be very high to Pakistan and India, this "reporter" has learned of a secret handshake agreement between the leaders of the United States, Pakistan and India. It was decided just hours before the quake that OBL and his al-Qaeda network proved to too dangerous to the entire planet and that he should be eliminated post haste.

Once the agreement was in place, an executive order was issued and the command given to the USEG team to begin planning for the seismic attack. Rumor has it that President Bush and Vice-President Cheney had to flip a coin to decide who would press the fire button. As they say, “It’s better to be lucky then good” and the President won the best of three coin flips. The Vice-President tried unsuccessfully to argue interference by the table on the final and deciding flip but was quickly overruled by the Joint Chiefs of Staff members present.

Once the weapon was fired and the 7.6 earthquake rumbled across the region spy satellites quickly zoomed in to provide a ringside seat to the destruction. While the President will surely take some major criticism for the attack, it was pointed out by the White House spokesperson Scott McClellan that often in history it is the case that many may die in pursuit of a greater goal. While most news organizations have been too shocked to comment on this turn of events there is one group that is surprisingly supportive.

Al Jazeera praised Bush for finally having a pair of testicles and compared his actions to that of the prophet Mohammad. “He saw a way to slay his enemy and did not concern himself with the cost of innocent lives. Mohammad took the same actions in his pursuit of an Islamic Empire,” said spokesperson Ali Akbar. Akbar also added, “The streets of America will run red with the blood of innocents in response to this action,” in my humble opinion this confirms that you just cannot please some people.

It remains to be seen how this will affect the United States standing in the world but I will predict that our enemies and pretend allies (yes I am talking about France and Germany) will be quite a bit more cautious in their dealings with this country.

"Kahuna" aka Homail Beta Pictures

2005-10-08T23:07:00.000-05:00

Enjoy the pictures of the new hotmail below and welcome to all Digg users. The new hotmail is meant to compete with Gmail directly and claims to have even better spam protection. The beta is still largely private, mostly Microsoft employees, and in my humble opinion if it's going to compete with Gmail it still has a long way to go. I will say this, it is very stable and for additional email to backup a primary email it could be a good choice. Read on and comment if you feel the need.

The new Today screen is pretty bare mainly becuase I am sure it will be the last thing the development team works on.

Picture 1

The vertical design is a nice break from Gmail and the preview pane is an obvious pull from Microsoft Office directly.

Picture 2

The Menu to the right is very similar to what Gmail has already in place.

Picture 3

The Calender options are not very improved over the existing calender options in the current version of Hotmail.

Picture 4

Deconstructing Miers

2005-10-05T02:07:00.000-05:00

As you well know by now, the blogosphere, and the Right, especially the right, have exploded in punditry and opinionated comments, posts, rants and diatribes regarding the selection of Harriet Miers by President Bush for a seat on the Supreme Court of the United States to step in for a retiring Sandra Day O'Conner.

I haven't said anything on this subject yet, because unlike some people, (and like my friend Kit pointed out about some of those people), I am not going to sound as if I have been living across the street from her family for twenty years.

I, like most of you out there, had no idea this woman existed until Bush nominated her. I had heard her name, but paid so little attention that I may as well have not heard of her at all, so as I said, I really had no idea that she existed.

Now, Time Online has a sampling of Ms. Miers writings.

Before I get to that I wish to point out that The Washington Post had it right on September the 28th when they wrote that some expected Bush to tap Miers to replace O'Conner.

Now, we have all heard that Miers was with a big law firm when they got embroiled in a ponzi scheme, (paid subscription needed for access to original article, so I linked to one of a very few bloggers that were willing to pay for it), and it makes me wonder, since she was a managing partner of the firm at the time, just how much she knew about it.

We have also heard that she donated money to Gore and The DNC, but even Reagan was a democrat once upon a time, and unlike the left, those folks in and of the Right have always shown a remarkable ability to forgive the past transgressions of those that were once a Jackass!!!

Has anyone out there even stopped amidst all of this hysteria to ponder if perhaps this leopard changed her spots, as so many have before her?

Here are some of the things that Time Online have dug up from some of the things that Miers has written;

"The same liberties that ensure a free society make the innocent vulnerable to those who prevent rights and privileges and commit senseless and cruel acts. Those precious liberties include free speech, freedom to assemble, freedom of liberties, access to public places, the right to bear arms and freedom from constant surveillance. We are not willing to sacrifice these rights because of the acts of maniacs."

I want you to pay very close attention to that last sentence.

We are not willing to sacrifice these rights because of the acts of maniacs."

I don't know about any of you, but I like that sentiment.

Let us not forget this gem either;

"Punishment of wrongdoers should be swift and sure. Only then can the criminal justice system serve as an effective deterrent. Those who would choose a rule of man rather than the rule of law must not escape fitting penalty......

Now I can't decide which of these two quotes I like better.

However there is always some darkness with the light, and Harriet provides us a small glimpse into that darkness that lurks in the hearts of dems everywhere;

"We all can be active in some way to address the social issues that foster criminal behavior, such as: lack of self-esteem or hope in some segments of our society, poverty, lack of health care (particularly mental health care), lack of education, and family dysfunction."

Let me highlight a very important phrase in that quote;

"....the social issues that foster criminal behavior, such as: lack of self-esteem...."

She wrote that in 1992, when she was President of the Texas State Bar. That was after she gave money to the Asses on the left, but long before she joined Team Bush.

It is hard for me to pin down when she broke ranks with the left, but it appears that she has, and the fact of Harry Reid (D-NV) seeming to like her has me wondering what he may know that we don't.

Of course, this could be a ruse from the Left, however I doubt it. They have rarely, if ever, missed a chance to rail against Bush and frankly, even with all the education and degrees that the left brag about notwithstanding, I don't think they have the collective intelligence to pull something so spectacularly devious out of the bag on such short notice. The Left, after all, relies on division, race-baiting and diversion to accomplish their longterm goals of socialism, and have been shown to be incapable when it comes to pulling a fast one out of the hat, if I may mix metaphors. To sum that up, the left don't think very well on their feet. In fact, I believe they do their best thinking sitting down and clearing their heads, so to speak, while on the commode.

Now, I don't know if Miers is going to be confirmed, and am very interested in what the Dems will do once they have her under the gun. If they go too nice on her, and don't try to give her the grilling they tried to give Roberts, then suspicions on the Right will heighten that Bush sold us down the river or gave in to cronyism. If, however, they try to crucify her and vote against her, then I will surmise that Harry Reid was being nice, and that the Dems were trying to pull a fast one on us after all.

Where does the Right fall in all of this?

Good question.

I guess we will have to see how they vote now won't we?

XPOSTED@Cao's and Kender's