Bella The Dog

2007-04-22T14:26:00.000-07:00

Finally riding weather. Went Charlestown, Swampscott, East Boston, Revere, Everett, Sommerville, Charlestown. 36.5 miles. To tell the truth that's a hell of a lot further than I had planed on going, but the detour through East Boston wasn't on the schedule...

I think this is the first time I have been out on the bike since my life got all crazy last fall. I knew I missed it, but how much I enjoy being on the bike was kind of lost in the distance a bit. Something about just letting the miles tick by, you see people and places and all the time you just keep the legs turning over.

So, the situation is not nearly as bad as I expected. After a winter of heavy partying, drinking, no sleep, and the plague I can still ride a bike, and feel pretty damn good doing it. Obviously can't race, or do endurance events, but hey, gotta start somewhere.

Lord, what a horrible picutres, but it proves I made it from Charlestown to the beach.

All Grown Up

2007-02-25T16:12:00.000-08:00

Wow, must admit Avril's music has always been a bit of a guilty pleasure. Not often one for teen pop, but she has a neat hook. Lately she has been trading singing for modelling, and sk8r chic for high fashion.

Nice...

Egyptian blogger sentenced to 4 years

2007-02-22T08:08:00.000-08:00

From fox news an Egyptian court has sentneced Kareem Nabil to 4 years in prison for insulting Islam and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

The silence of the left on this and other human rights abuses by islamic governments is astonishing. Of course the violence in places like Dafur is awful, but in their zeal to distance themselves from President Bush, they are increasingly siding with groups who are a much worse threat to human rights.

Somewhere along the line people forgot the meaning of fascism. It is a nice trendy word to throw around these days, but really. Which is the bigger threat, a country where everyone is able to proclaim Bush is the reincarnation of Hitler with impunity, or a seemingly progressive muslim country where a college student can be imprisoned for 4 years because he criticises the stranglehold religion has on government and advocates democratic reform?

Amnesty International Gets One Right

2007-02-19T08:17:00.000-08:00

Not often Amnesty International and I are on the same side of an issue, but their call for the immediate and unconditional release of egyptian student and blogger Karim Amer is spot on.

I am often amazed how the wholesale disregard of basic human rights in Sharia justice gets whitewashed by the US media. For more background see www.freekareem.org

Kobe Bryant to defend Michael Jackson

2005-02-14T16:20:00.000-08:00

Kobe - Jackson

"Michael Jackson's lawyer told a court on Monday he planned to call a star-studded list of witnesses to defend the singer against child molestation charges, including basketball's Kobe Bryant..."

You know, I am not so sure that is gonna work out real well for you Michael.

Trouble with the pledge

2004-12-14T09:33:00.000-08:00

Poway Rejects Request For Alternative Patriotic Activity

A local school board has rejected a plea from a parent to have an alternate activity for children who do not want to say the pledge.

I am glad finally see someone standing up to these yahoos.

From the parent in question:
Cornwall told the Union-Tribune that other options should be offered to children who wish not to be present during the pledge and want to avoid being singled out in front of their peers.

Here is a solution, send her to school in Cuba. You'll have no problem with God or the pledge. Might go a little hungry, and have no shoes, but you won't have to worry about that pesky God character.

3

2004-12-11T21:36:00.000-08:00

I watched the ESPN movie "3", the biography of Dale Earnhardt. Let's get the obligatory made for TV movie stuff out of the way; Cheesy - yes, bad acting - yes, really bad fake mustache - yes, all that and then some. Still, it was worth the two hours.

The reason it was worth it is that it tells a story that more people need to hear. It tells a story those of us "in the know" (or those of us ignorant enough to have known who Dale Earnhardt and what NASCAR was before he died) have known for years. Dale was an american success story. A high school dropout, coming from a less than humble beginnings who drove to the pinnacle of his profession.

You know when you sit around and think who you would like your children to grow up to be? Dale Earnhardt for me. Would I have them make the mistakes he made? Drop out of highschool, ruin 2 marriages? Of course not. But I want them to have his determination and innate sense of self worth. Dale always believed in himself, not in a way that made him arrogant, but in way that allowed him to accept his greatness without questioning it.

This is a lesson that is often unlearned by the youths of today. Nelson Mandela once said "Our biggest fear is not that we are inadaquate, our greatest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure". Too many people fail to realize their true potential because our politically correct society has discouraged them from excelling so as not to upset the sensibilities of those less gifted.

Earnhardt can teach us many life lessons, but the ability to overcome your present circumstances is the greatest. An illustration of this can be found in Dale's approach to restrictor plate racing. Earnhardt hated restrictor plate races. I can't count the number of times I heard Dale say "This ain't racing" when interviewed after such a race. Yet Dale Earnhardt dominated RP races; he was to restrictor plates what Wayne Gretzky was to hockey. This sums up Dale Earnhardt for me. Give me lemons and I am gonna make lemonade.

I am glad I happend in front of the television when "3" was starting. I haven't reflected on Dale for awhile and it is nice to have his memory recalled. The world needs more Dale Earnhardts.

Leading Atheist Philosopher Concludes God's Real

2004-12-09T17:52:00.000-08:00

Leading Atheist Philosopher Concludes God's Real

I am glad he is coming around. Of course he is only now seeing things at 81 years of age that have been apparent for thousands of years to the layman.

What holiday exactly?

2004-12-02T16:41:00.000-08:00

Michelle Malkin rummages up the latest attack on all things Christian. Please join her in the "Lump Of Coal Campaign".

Church Group Can't March In Holiday Parade

Organizers say the parade is about the holidays, not Christmas

Huh? What are the holidays without religion? In fact, what are "the holidays" anyway? "The holidays" of course is a slurring of the term "holy days" and as it is usually defined here in the US, the holiday season runs from Thanksgiving, through Christmas, to new years.

Thanksgiving; giving thanks; giving thanks to who? God. Christmas, Christ, as in Jesus Christ what is wrong with you people? If you don't agree with what the holidays are all about, don't participate, don't come to the parade. Don't try to cheapen or adultrate the deep feelings of religious people during this very special time of ear.

The celebration of Christmas and the holidays is about setting aside a small part of the year to give thanks and to remeber the sacrifice of Gods son on earth.

Declaration of Independence Banned at Calif School

2004-11-24T19:24:00.000-08:00

Declaration of Independence Banned at Calif School

This is getting ridiculous. There is a vast movement out there that is hiding under the anthem of separation of church and state. They want nothing more than to remove all reference to God from out society. It has nothing to do with church and state and everything to do with the promotion of atheism. Ironically, by removing all references to God they are attempting to impose their atheist beliefs on us.

Separation of church and state precludes a state sanctioned church to prevent the abuses the forefathers saw in the Church of England. It is not a principle which they intended to be used to remove God from our culture. The term itself does not even appear in our constitution. Many people falsely believe it is part of the first ammendment which reads:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;...

I'll get back to the origin of "separation" in just a sec, this is important. The first ammendment ensures that congress will not establish a National Church, as well that it will make no law prohibiting the free exercise of religion. Handing out copies of the Declaration of Independence in a classroom does not create a government sponsored national church, and it does infringe on the free exercise of religion. Any question as to the intent of the first ammendment in this case can be answered simply by looking at the Declaration and the Consitution; the founding fathers had no problem invoking God in either of these documents. It is clear to anyone without an agenda that the intent of the consitution was to provide tolerance not a totally secular nation.

Where did the concept of separation of church and state come from? It first appears in a letter from Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist Association of Connecticut. The assiciation had heard rumors the Congregationalists were to become the national religion. Fearing the types of oppression suffered under the Church of England they were alarmed. Jefferson wrote:

I contemplate with solemn reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church and State.

The wording of "wall of separation" is clearly used in the context of confirming the first ammendment. Jefferson would be appalled by the twisting of his words to effectively remove the Declaration of Independence from our classrooms, the cross from the seals of our cities and states, and any religious monument from public lands.

More pictures from Iraq

2004-11-21T19:22:00.000-08:00

I got a lot of feedback on the "An email from Iraq" post. One reader sent me some more photos of good things going on over there [Thanks Karen!].

Well, it's over. At least for now

2004-11-21T18:38:00.000-08:00

Yahoo! News - Votes In -- Murphy Re-Elected

Still a lawsuit withstanding, but it looks like this mayors race is finally in the books. Mayor Murphy owes Donna Frye for his re-election. Even tough the battle is between thos two at this point, if she hadn't been in the race, illegally I might add, country supervisor Ron Roberts would have walked away with this election.

I don't envy any of them to tell the truth, the city has so many problems right now that whoever is elected sure has their hands full.

An email from Iraq

2004-11-19T19:16:00.000-08:00

Update: More good stuff sent from another reader. "More pictures from Iraq".

Email from a friend of a friend. Good stuff going on over there that you are never hearing about.

Hello Everyone,

I hope things are going well back home. Sorry I haven't been keeping my e-mails coming your way very often. It's been busy here lately but everyone in my unit is doing fine.

I've been putting in some long days. With our ongoing missions and all the administrative duties that I have to do, there doesn't seem to be enough time in the day to do all I need to do.

Everyone is watching the news and wondering what's going to happen in Fallujah and that area. I am not directly involved with that operation so I really don't know what is going to happen. I'll watch it on the news like everybody else.

There has been a lot of enemy activity in the city. A lot happens in Baghdad as you can see on the news. We see some of it but none of the bombings or killings has affected anyone in my unit. We continue to be fortunate. There is an angel in our company that has been with us on all our patrols. I think you recruited her with your prayers. If I could get her name I would put her in for a medal.

Here are some of the latest things that aren't making the news....

The girls in this picture were a few of the students we recently visited at schools in my zone. We gave away bookbags and school supplies. The kids were very excited to receive the gifts. We gave away 1,500 book bags at 4 schools. It was a lot of fun and a huge success. Ever since that day we see the kids walking to and from school and our backpacks are everywhere. We have about 6,000 bags on the way and we will go out again in the coming weeks to hand them out. Everybody wins on those days. The kids get something they need and enjoy and we really have fun seeing the kids having a good time. It helps us keep things in perspective when we get to see the good we are doing first hand.

We continue to keep working on our Civil Affairs projects in my zones. They keep us busy and with each one we get completed we are helping improve the quality of the lives of the citizens here. We have several sewer improvement projects that we are working on. There are a few communities in my zone that need lots of help in that area and we are having some success. We are also working on building 3 health clinics and improving several others. Schools continue to be on our hit list of improvements and the students here are very appreciative of that.

We completed a water project recently that brought running water to one community. It is the first time many in that village have ever had water running in their homes. That was a big accomplishment for us. Lot's of good things continue to happen here in spite of all the bad things the insurgents are trying to do to disrupt things.

We also had a new experience here last week. Rain. It rained (sprinkled) for 3 days which is the first rain we've seen rain since April. For a few minutes I really enjoyed seeing the rain but then all the dust turned to mud. Then I realized that I like sunshine more than rain and the excitement wore off (or washed off).

It is Fall here and temperatures are in the 80s. This city gets about 6 inches of rain annually and just about all of it falls in November, December and January. We have our ponchos ready.

I'll shoot you another e-mail soon. Take care and write back.

Sincerely,

Joel

P.S. Feel free to forward this e-mail to whomever you like. You've been doing it so far and I appreciate you spreading the word throughout the U.S. and the world (literally) that we aren't wasting everyone's time here in Iraq (as some would have you believe), but we are doing lots of good things in a difficult environment.
Thanks!

CPT Joel Lynch
Commander
A/3-153 IN, 39th BCT, 1CD
Baghdad, Iraq

Michael Ledeen on Machiavelli & War

2004-11-18T07:44:00.000-08:00

Machiavelli is commonly taken to be saying that the ends always justify the means, but he does not believe that. Quite the contrary. He simply recognizes the reality that there are times when a leader must accept dreadful responsibility in serving the common good.

We all know this to be true. Consider the story of Henry Tandey, a British infantryman in the Duke of Wellington Regiment in the First World War. On September 28, 1918, Tandey participated in an attack against enemy trenches near the small French town of Marcoing. The British carried the day, and as they advanced, Tandey Cautiously peered into a trench. He saw an enemy soldier, a corporal, lying bleeding on the ground. It would have been easy for Tandey to finish off his enemy, as he had killed many that day; Tandey had played an heroic role in the battle and later was awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest wartime decoration, for his great courage. But he felt it was wrong to shoot an injured man, and he spared the corporal's life.

In 1940, during the Nazi bombardment of Coventry, when Tandey worked as a security guard at the Triumph automobile factory, he gnashed his teeth. "Had I known what that corporal was going to become! God knows how sad I am that I spared him." The corporal was Adolf Hitler. Tandey's human gesture had led to the deaths of millions of people and, in a bitter irony of military destiny, had placed his own life at the mercy of the monster whose life he could have taken.

Murder is surely evil, yet every reasonable person will agree that the cause of good would have been greatly advanced if Henry Tandey had killed Hitler in that trench. History abounds with examples of good actions furthering the cause of evil...

A tail of two cities

2004-11-17T21:11:00.000-08:00

Yea, it's like that...

Power Line: A Marine Writes Home

2004-11-17T15:10:00.000-08:00

This should be mandatory reading.

Power Line: A Marine Writes Home

I think there is a groundswell of support for this kid out there. There are just too many of us former military people out there that won't stand for this witchhunt.

We will continue to follow this story very closely.

Even a dog can do it

2004-11-17T07:35:00.000-08:00

Bella the dog passed her "Canine Good Citizen" (CGC) test last last evening. CGC is an AKC program designed to promote responsbile behavior in both animal and owner.

"CGC is a certification program that is designed to reward dogs who have good manners at home and in the community. The Canine Good Citizen Program is a two-part program that stresses responsible pet ownership for owners and basic good manners for dogs"

We are quite proud of her acheivement. She is on her way to being a pleasant and productive member of society.
Now if only they could come up with something like this for Democrats. I'm kidding, come on! Seriously though, if you are a dog owner, I encourage you to do basic obedience with your pet. A well behaved dog has a much happier life.

For more info see:
Canine Good Citizen Program

Hey, how about this for a headline

2004-11-16T22:11:00.000-08:00

Yahoo! News - Shooting in Iraq Mosque Angers Muslims

Maybe the AP could find time to run these stories:
Shooting of innocent women aid workers pisses off Marines.

Soldiers upset with continued Geneva violations committed by "insurgents".

Militant shoots at Marines from mosque, gets boot in his ass.

I won't hold my breath.

Update: Speed Of Thought has another article on this hypocrasy.

Somebody finally gets it

2004-11-16T21:54:00.000-08:00

Power Line: Fallujans Welcome Liberation

Power Line has a post detailing the joy of Fallujans at being rescued by our Soldiers and Marines. The source appears to be the London Times. Frankly I am surprised any regular media outlet would report on the good deeds we do over there. I still can't help but notice the source wasn't a US media outlet. Maybe there is hope.

I love this take on the Marine dispatching the vermin in the mosque:

Regrettably, one of the hideous, twisted beings who had tormented Fallujah's residents survived the Marines' initial assault on a mosque day before yesterday. Fortunately, he was killed by a Marine who arrived the following day and, seeing that the terrorist was still alive, finished him off. More on this later.

Don't Question The Troops

2004-11-16T15:32:00.000-08:00

Captain's Quarters and LGF are all over this one as well.

Update: Froggy has a no BS look at this one. Bleeding hearts probably should not go here.

Military Probes Shooting of Prisoner

The smoking paragraph:
Sites reported a Marine in the same unit had been killed just a day earlier when he tended to the booby-trapped dead body of an insurgent.

Every soldier is taught from basic training on how dangerous a wounded enemy combatant is. We are all taught the lesson of the Japanese from WWII and Viet Cong who would booby trap dead bodies, or whose injured soldiers would hold hand grenades only to detonate them to kill the american soldiers who came to their aid on the battlefield. From the report filed by Mr. Sites, we learn the terrorists in Fallujah are using the same abhorrent practice.

These types of action are illegal by the Geneva convention, but soldiers are taught from day one that none of the enemies we face will adhere to it anyway. Nations that value such things don't run afoul of the US. Also of note is we are not opposed by a regular fighting force of a nation state. The terrorists of Fallujah are not protected by the articles of the Geneva convention to begin with. In fact, they are expressly stated to not be entitled to these protections because of the manner in which they conduct themselves.

NBC reported that the Marine seen shooting the wounded Iraqi had himself been shot in the face the day before, but quickly returned to duty."

No one in the media seems to understand what is going on over there. I think it stems from the fact that probably none of them have ever been shot at. Well I have, and I can tell you it ain't any fun. Combat is stressful, and these kids are doing the best they can.

Presented with the tactics of the terrorist, the stress of already being shot, and having a commrade killed in a similar situation, I can see why this Marine pulled the trigger. I would have pulled the trigger. If it was the morally correct thing to do can be debated, the fact that it was justifiable can not.

Here is a question I would like the media to answer, how are the terrorists in Fallujah treating our boys when they are injured or captured? Anyone not know the answer to that?

Rice 'likely' to succeed Powell

2004-11-15T13:02:00.000-08:00

White House adviser Rice 'likely' to succeed Powell

I think this would be a great move. Condoleeza Rice's personal positions on foreign policy are much closer to the president's than those of Colin Powell. Secreatary Powell is a great american and really went to bat for us in the UN running up to the Iraq war, but it is obvious he has very different opinions from the president in several key areas (see Powerline - The Cabinet Empties.)

Mrs. Rice has exceptional qualifications and I hope she is offered the position.

Pro Choice or Pro Death?

2004-11-14T19:05:00.000-08:00

Michelle Malkin: DON'T FORGET CONNER

Michelle has an interesting piece about the Peterson case. I posted a few thoughts on that case earlier, but something she points out in her article really jumped out at me.

When talking about 31 states that have protections for unborn victims and the new federal law known as the "Laci and Conner law" she makes the following observation:

the Federal Unborn Victims of Violence Act, also known as Laci and Conner's Law, was signed into law by President Bush earlier this year. Planned Parenthood and other pro-choice groups opposed the legislation.

How can you openly oppose a law that makes it a crime to attack a women and kill her unborn child? Where is the right to choose there? Are we to suppose the woman was going to have an abortion anyway so no harm, no foul?

Ridiculous.

Why We Serve part II

2004-11-12T17:52:00.000-08:00

Update: Captain's Quaters has more coverage of the atrocities in Fallujah.

Yahoo! News - US marines find underground prison, bodies in Fallujah:

"FALLUJAH, Iraq (AFP) - US marines uncovered an underground prison in Fallujah containing at least two bodies and two emaciated brothers who were still alive"

What is to be gained by capturing and torturing two mentally retarded brothers? What great social cause is being advanced? What unimaginable wrong has been done that this attones for?

Can there be any question what we are dealing with? These are not enemy combatants, they are not insurgents, at this point they fail to rise even to the lofty level of terrorist. They are evil incarnate. There can be no alternate course but complete and total victory. No peace can be reached with such a beast, no armistice that could be respected. They must be hunted down and exterminated. Anything less would be to cower in the face of evil.

For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world's rulers of the darkness of this age, and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Therefore, put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having done all, to stand.

Stand therefore..

Stand Tall guys. If I could be, I'd still be there, right beside you. We're behind you all the way. God Speed.

Update: More Bella on Fallujah here, here, and here

Once you open the spigot

2004-11-12T10:46:00.000-08:00

3 Women Challenge Frye's Write-In Candidacy

You had to know that once the first lawsuit was cast it would open the floodgate.

Oh the humanity!!!

2004-11-12T10:33:00.000-08:00

Derailment Spills 20,000 Gallons of Beer

Tiny minority of extremists world map

2004-11-12T10:15:00.000-08:00

Jihad Watch: Tiny minority of extremists world map

If you haven't seen this map by Robert Spencer at Jihad Watch you should check it out. Be sure to read a few of the comments as well to really grasp what the map tells you.

They're all cowards

2004-11-12T09:48:00.000-08:00

Zarqawi Eggs On Fallujah Fighters

Why is it that all these Zarqawi, Bin Laden, Arafat types encourge their followers to stand tall and fight to the death while they bugger out at the earliest opportunity? Why isn't Zaq right there with his guys taking it up the ass in Fallujah? See the post title in case you missed it.

What the hell is wrong with these people??

2004-11-12T09:42:00.000-08:00

Peterson Judge to Make Announcement

How hard is it to find 12 sane people in America these days? Get in the damn room and come out with a verdict. It's a binary operation, Guilty, Not Guilty. Pick one and move on with your lives.

They need our help

2004-11-12T07:25:00.000-08:00

Update: Michelle Malkin has links for another program to donate phone cards to the troops.

The Marine Hospital here in San Diego is in need. If you can help, please do.

Not only is Balboa Naval Hospital receiving our injured heroes but the medical facilities at Camp Pendleton are also at near No Vacancy populations. In the latter case it’s not money that is needed for our wounded Marines at Pendleton but stuff. Here’s why and what they need: At the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom, some of the spouses of the deployed Marines put together hundreds of recovery baskets in anticipation of wounded Marines arriving at our military hospitals. The purpose behind these baskets was to provide the wounded with personal items to be used during their hospital stay and to help fill up their days while being confined in the hospitals. However, due to the higher than anticipated numbers of wounded, they are all but out of the supplies to outfit these baskets. They are in need of the following items: nonperishable food (snacks and candy), DVDs, all sizes of batteries, phone cards, Game Boy games, books and magazines, Domino's Pizza gift certificates (they deliver on base), towels and wash cloths, and hygiene gear (razors and shaving cream). These items can be sent to MSgt William Bonney, Office of the Division Inspector, 1st Marine Division Rein FMF, Bldg 1413 Room 200, Box 555380, Camp Pendleton, CA 92055-5380.

CBS Interrupts CSI to broacast Arafat's demise

2004-11-11T13:11:00.000-08:00

CBS Apologizes for Interrupting CSI

Took borrow an LGFism, CBS hits bottom, digs.

Why We Serve

2004-11-11T10:58:00.000-08:00

Troops find captive chained to wall in Iraq - Nov 11, 2004

De Oppresso Liber

2004-11-11T10:02:00.000-08:00

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

Trackback Problems

2004-11-11T09:34:00.000-08:00

On a couple of articles now I have had troubles with my trackback service sending dupicate pings to sites I trackback to. I apologize if you get sent here twice by mistake. I'll try and be more careful in the future.

We Will Prevail

2004-11-11T09:08:00.000-08:00

On the occasion of Veterans Day, the Marine Corps birthday, and our continued battles in Fallujah I am reminded of events from my own past and the lessons they taught me about the struggles of the left and why a sixth grader from Rhode Island ensures their defeat.

The current rash of anti-Bush, anti-war, anti-anything republican demonstrations and even violence are nothing new. They are simply another incarnation of an entity that has been with us since our nation’s birth. Be it the Torries of the revolutionary period, the proponents of secession in 1812, the 60’s counter culture, or today’s MoveOn.org crowd, the agenda is the same, hatred of our ideals and rejection of the fundamental principals that guide our nation.

The cry from today’s left that you can be patriotic and not support the war has a hollow ring. Though they may actually believe this about themselves, when you understand that their predecessors have been on the wrong side of every major issue we have faced to build this great nation you see that if their viewpoint were to conquer there would be nothing left for them to be patriotic about.

In late 1990 I was an artilleryman with the 1^st Armored Division (Old Ironsides for you historians) waiting to be deployed to the Middle East to fight the first gulf war. The 1^st AD was stationed in Germany, which then, as today, was full of anti-American sentiment. During this time soldiers were constantly bombarded with phone calls to our homes, mail, demonstrations, and even television commercials imploring us to desert the US military and telling us there were German “safe houses” we could desert to and they would help us. Thankfully, and not surprisingly actually, none of us did. We all deployed to Saudi Arabia and then on to Kuwait, and Iraq.

During this same time, against a backdrop of protests at home, a Democratic congress, including Senator Kerry, which refused to support Bush 41’s plan to liberate the Kuwaiti people, a constant barrage of media reports on the certain doom we faced by taking on such a formidable opponent as Saddam Hussein, a sixth grade girl from Rhode Island named Christi Balch wrote a letter to “Any Service Member, Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm” and dropped it in the mail. Out of the hundreds of thousands of soldiers in the gulf, that letter ended up in my hands.

Christi wrote just to tell someone out there they were thinking of us back home, and how very proud they were of us. She told us they appreciated our service and the sacrifices we were making to protect them. Christi was one of millions of people that wrote those “Any Service Member” letters and only one of many that I personally received. But hers was the one that touched me, even to the point I remember her to this day.

Therein lays the reason the left is doomed. With all of it power and might it tried, they protested, used the media, obstructed us in the Senate and in the House, they used every trick they had and yet could not even prevent a 10 year old girl from seeing the righteousness of our cause.

For over 200 years America has been a beacon of hope to the world. We have provided opportunity, comfort, and freedom from oppression to millions across the globe. Often we are reviled even by the recipients of this generosity; still we stand strong in our beliefs, never wavering. The reason we have stood for so long is that our cause is just. Freedom is always better than tyranny, self determination than oppression. Liberty is the most basic need of the human spirit and because of this fundamental truth, the forces that gather against those ideals will never prevail.

After all, Christi is watching.

Update: for more excellent Veterans Day commentary:
PowerLine
La Shawn Barber
The MUSC Tiger
Winds Of Change

Update 2:
On a couple of articles now I have had troubles with my trackback service sending dupicate pings to sites I trackback to. I apologize if you get sent here twice by mistake. I'll try and be more careful in the future.

Conspiracy theories about presidential election flood Internet

2004-11-11T07:36:00.000-08:00

Conspiracy theories about presidential election flood Internet

They are still at it. I guess they figured out that 59 million people can't all be stupid, so now the story is those 59 million people simply don't exist.

There is the one about more ballots cast than registered voters in the big Ohio county anchored by Cleveland. There are claims that a suspicious number of Florida counties ended up with Bush vote totals that were far larger than the number of registered Republican voters. And then there is the one that might be the most popular of all: The exit polls that showed Kerry winning big weren't wrong — they were right.

Is this FINALLY it??

2004-11-10T20:34:00.000-08:00

Palestinian Leader Arafat Dies at 75

My favorite paragraph

He was to the end a man of many mysteries and paradoxes — terrorist, statesman, autocrat and peacemaker.

Someone feel free to explain to me what is so mysterious about this. They caught it in the first word of the list. Terrorist. That precludes the others, and that is it.

UPDATE: This pretty much sums it up.

The exit polls were right?

2004-11-10T13:50:00.000-08:00

Votergate 2004; We Don't Need Paper to Prove Fraud, But We Do Need Money and Leadership, NOW.

Let me get this straight, the few thousand people that were sampled were correct, Kerry really won. It was the 59 million people that voted that were in fact, the problem.

Grow up people.

Update: The Cassandra Page takes a good look at this and other democratic "October Surprises"

It's like Florida, only farther left

2004-11-10T11:23:00.000-08:00

Mayor's race lawsuit hinges on contrary codes

The city of San Diego is poised on the edge of political disaster. A city code that conflicts with the city charter, a write in candidate that should never have been allowed on the ballot appears to have a plurality of the vote, a city attorney and county clerk who failed to do their job in studying the legal issues of allowing a write in candidate on the ballot, and now lawsuits. Couple all of this with an ongoing federal investigation of the cities finances, specifically the retirement pension fund, and you have a recipe for disaster in the nations 6th largest city.

I really was on the sideline of this, I obviously didn't vote for Donna Frye, but failed to do much research into the race. I know her politics from her time on the city council so I thought it was a shrewed move to only jump into the race with 5 weeks until the general election. She is not well known and this gave the other candidates no time to expose her as the extreme liberal that she is. What I didn't know before hand was that allowing her on the ballot was illegal. Illegal in same form as something being unconsitutional. The city charter, which is the city's equivalent of a consitution make a very clear case that no write in or thrid candidate will be allowed in a runoff election, as this was. The intent is obviously to ensure the winner has a majority, not a plurality.

"All elective officers of the City shall be nominated at the municipal primary election. ... In the event no candidate receives a majority of votes cast as aforesaid, the two candidates receiving the highest number of votes for a particular elective office at said primary shall be the candidates, and only candidates, for such office and the names of only those two candidates shall be printed upon the ballots to be used at the general municipal election."
(Article II, Section 10)

Even more amazing are the non actions of our city attorney, Casey Gwinn, who failed to issue any guidance to the city clerk on this issue because "his office was not asked to do so". This is a remarkable dereliction of duty. I assume no one asked him about the legality of the errors in our pension system either.

I have nothing against Donna Frye personally. I doubt she has the qulaifications to handle the duties of mayor, especially with the financial difficulties the city faces. Her main qualifications for this task seem to be that she owns a small surf shop. This hardly qualifies as a prerequisite for running the nations sixth largest city, but I digress. I think she followed the rules to the best she knew how, the city attorney and clery were the major failures in this case. However, if Donna Frye wants to be mayor, she should have subjected herself to the primary process. She should have been subject to the same scrutiny of her policies and positions as the other candidates.

Bush revives bid to legalize illegal aliens

2004-11-10T08:03:00.000-08:00

Bush revives bid to legalize illegal aliens

Had to see this one coming. More to follow, no time to disect this right now.

How Tax Cuts Work

2004-11-09T16:26:00.000-08:00

This was forwarded to me the other day and it takes a simple and entertaining look at a complex subject.

Tax Cuts - A Simple Lesson In Economics by David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of Economics; 536 Brooks Hall, University of Georgia. This is how the cookie crumbles. Please read it carefully.

Let's put tax cuts in terms everyone can understand. Suppose that every day, ten men go out for dinner. The bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh $7.
The eighth $12.
The ninth $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that's what they decided to do.

The ten men ate dinner in the restaurant every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. "Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily meal by $20." So, now dinner for the ten only cost $80. The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes.

So, the first four men were unaffected. They would still eat for free.
But what about the other six, the paying customers? How could they divvy up the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share'?

The six men realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being 'PAID' to eat their meal. So, the restaurant owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so:

The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% savings). The seventh now paid $5 instead of $7 (28% savings). The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings). The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings). The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings). Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to eat for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.

"I only got a dollar out of the $20," declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man "but he got $10!"

"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar, too.
It's unfair that he got ten times more than me!"

"That's true!!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when got only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!"

"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!"

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn't show up for dinner, so the nine sat down and ate without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money among all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up at the table anymore.

There are lots of good restaurants in Europe and the Caribbean.

Thanks David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of
Economics, U of Georgia

Ashcroft Resigns

2004-11-09T16:17:00.000-08:00

from Fox news Ashcroft, Evans Resign From Cabinet.

Ashcroft has taken a beating from the left, and I am not surprised in the least to see him tap out at this point. I think he has done a good job during an exceptionally difficult period and I would like to thank him for his service during these times. I wish him the best in all of his future endeavors.

Update: Michelle Malkin has a nice entry on this one. WANTED: A MASOCHIST FOR ATTORNEY GENERAL

Worse Than It Looks, or is it?

2004-11-09T15:35:00.000-08:00

James Ceaser has an interesting piece at the Weekly Standard today. He attempts to debunk the democratic theory that Bush won re-election on the back of a flood of religious and conservative voter turnout Worse Than It Looks.

"The Republican edge is attributed mostly to increased turnout of evangelical voters in the Red states."

He presents an argument that the Kerry ticket lost ground and Bush gained ground in several key states compared to the 2000 result.

Perhaps the best way to appreciate this change, however, is not to focus on Bush's share of the vote, but instead to compare the percentage of the vote received by the Left Coalition of Gore-Nader in 2000 and Kerry-Nader in 2004. It is revealing to focus on this coalition, because it represents the real opposition to the Republican party.

While this is an interesting theory, the reality is that increasing the turnout of republican voters will necessarily decrease the perecentage received by the democrat ticket. The numbers Ceaser quotes very well may prove his hypothesis, but they could just as easily disprove it.

Take, as one of the most conspicuous examples, John Kerry's home state of Massachusetts. Kerry slightly outpolled Al Gore. But this point is hardly as relevant since in 2000 Gore and Nader combined to receive 66 percent of the vote. Without Nader on the ballot in Massachusetts, Kerry was still only able to poll 62 percent--a notable decline, even with the added pull of a favorite son on the ballot.

On the surface this is a powerful statistic, however democrats could argue it proves their argument. If there was a groundswell of republican voters this election cycle, it would water down the democratic vote and the raw percentage of the vote they received would be less.

One would hope his argument were true, but I would caution conservatives not to bask in their glory for long. It is yet to be seen if the republican GOTV campaigns continue to be as sucessfull in the years to come, although a Howard Dean chairmanship of the DNC could ensure just that.....