RIP, William F. Buckley, Jr.

As a little kid in the late 1970s, I will always remember the time I was surfing our four channels, and I checked what was on PBS (probably hoping it would be Sesame Street). Instead of Big Bird, the show that was on was called Firing Line, and on the screen was a rather disheveled looking man who was talking with an accent that to my young ears, sort of sounded British... but not quite. I remember asking my mother who this guy was, and she told me his name was William Buckley. I asked her if he was from England, and she said, "No, he's from New England." At the time, I don't think I knew where New England was located, so I was just further confused about the way this man spoke.

Years later, I would purchase a subscription to National Review, and I am the better informed because of it. I have William Buckley to thank for his overwhelming influence; not only on my politics but on the body politic of this nation.

For more tributes to this great man, the obvious place to visit is National Review Online.

Good Day to You, Sir

If you can't find the bigotry, create the bigotry

I made the mistake of watching T.V. the other night. ABC News ran a program called What Would You Do?. It's a lot like Candid Camera, where actors are sent out to create certain situations, and then we watch the reactions of passersby: Do they get involved? Do they keep on walking?

There was one scenario in a public park where some "mean girls" are verbally picking on a dorky girl. Would passersby come to the aid of the dorky girl? Another scenario had a woman damaging another car as she parallel parked, and then walked away from the accident. Would passersby stop her, or take down her license number, or keep on walking?

Then there was the Muslim in the Waco, Texas bakery. On one side of the counter you have an actress in a hijab playing a customer. On the other side of the counter, you have an actor playing a clerk/cashier. The clerk refuses service to the Muslim customer and uses every corny anti-Muslim cliche in the book: "Get on your camel, and take your Jihad outside." "How do I know you're not a terrorist? Dress like an American!" Reactions from other customers varied. Some defended the clerk, others defended the Muslim customer, and most didn't get involved.

ABC did this to show what racist bigots we Americans are. To make matters worse, they used the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as their collaborator in this little venture. Never mind that several staff members of CAIR are in prison for terrorist activities, and spokespeople for CAIR have expressed their wish that the United States operate under Sharia Law instead of our Constitution.

What bothers me most about this "refuse to serve the Muslim customer" scenario, was that in order to make it happen, ABC had to hire actors. Last year, NBC sent a group of Muslim men in typical Muslim garb to a NASCAR event in southern Virginia with the obvious assumption that them yokel local rednecks would give thaim Moooslems the what-fer. Much to NBC's chagrin, nothing happened, and the Muslim men enjoyed a peaceful time watching some cars speed around in a circle.

I am not saying that no anti-Muslim bigotry exists in this country; incidents happen. But not very many, and in fact, since September 11, 2001, incidents have dropped big time. The following graphic comes from Investor's Business Daily:

What I take from these numbers is that Muslims in the United States have little of which to be afraid. Jews on the other hand? I have an idea for another experiment: Let's send an actor dressed as an observant Jew - complete with beard and yarmulke - into a business in, say, Dearborn, Michigan. Let's put a Muslim actor behind the counter and have him refuse to serve the Jew and throw insults at him. Let's watch the fun as we wait for the customers in the establishment to come to the aid of the Jew.

Now that I think about it, I don't think this experiment could be done. While the Muslim actress may have been merely inconvenienced at the bakery in Waco, the Jewish actor could be in real danger in Dearborn.

Good Day to You, Sir

A stupid way to attack the Son of Cain

If you read this blog with any regularity, you know I have very few positive things to say about John McCain - or "Son of Cain" as I prefer to call him. However, the stories that the New York Times are running in an attempt to hurt his candidacy are simply pathetic. First there was the non-story about McCain's rumored dalliance with female lobbyist, and now, the Times is floating the non-story that McCain could be ineligible to run for president, because he was born in Panama. I feel somewhat idiotic by even addressing this issue, but in my zeal to stick it to the Times, here is my layman's opinion on the matter:

Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution says the following:

No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President....

Please note that the wording says natural born Citizen, not native born Citizen. Natural born means that you were born a citizen of this country; you weren't born as a citizen of another country and became naturalized. I haven't checked, but I do believe the Son of Cain was not a Panamanian citizen first, and became an American citizen later. He was born to U.S. Navy parents in the Panama Canal Zone.

What amuses me most about this whole non-story is that while the Times is wringing their hands about Son of Cain's citizenship status, let us not forget their editorial opinion about the citizenship status of children born in this country to parents who are here illegally. Ohhhh, you bet the Times welcomes those children as full-fledged citizens of the United States. But a baby born to American parents who are involuntarily serving overseas with the American military? In that case, the Times is not so sure about the Son of Cain's citizenship status.

There are plenty of reasons to not want the Son of Cain to be the President of the United States. The status of his birth to American parents in a foreign country should not be one of them.

Good Day to You, Sir

Someone is always willing to be the example

At work today, I watched a most amusing exercise in stupidity. With the weather getting warmer - in the low 70s today and yesterday - our students have already broken out the water bottles, and are drenching each other. Just before the end of school today, our vice principal got onto the campus-wide P.A. system and announced to the student body that the water bottle attacks would not be tolerated, and that a first offense would be worth two detentions, and a second offense would warrant a suspension. Additionally, the V.P. announced to the teachers that she would like them all standing outside their doors right after the final bell rang. When the bell rang, I dutifully walked out my door and began scanning the usual chaos as students made their way across the quad to the bus lines. And then my misbehavior radar got a lock. About 50 yards away, I watched "Devonte", one of our school's frequent fliers, water bottle in hand, running up behind another student. I began to yell his name, but it was too late: Devonte dumped the entire bottle of water on the student's head, squeezing the bottle as hard as he could to get every last drop onto his target.

My first thought was, "You frickin' idiot." After that entire production that had just been announced over the entire campus; after hearing the V.P. ask that all teachers stand outside their doors, Devonte threw caution to the wind and made himself the example. I ran over and had Devonte throw the bottle away, then shooed him toward the bus line. I then walked to my classroom and called his mother. Five minutes later, I was handing a completed discipline referral to the Vice Principal.

You have to wonder what goes through (or doesn't go through) the minds of some of our students. Wouldn't it be fascinating if, instead of walking in their shoes for a day, we could occupy their brains for a day and see the world as they think they see it?

Good Day to You, Sir

Why is Africa such a mess?

One reason is not colonialism. Quite often, the after-effects of colonial rule by the Europeans are blamed for many of Africa's woes. In his latest column, Dr. Walter Williams lays waste to the colonialism argument, as well as enlightens us about other aspects of Africa's despair. Here is what Dr. Williams has to say about colonialism:

African leaders, and many people on the left, blame Africa's problems on the evils of colonialism. They sometimes blame the violence on the borders colonialists created that ignored ethnicity. Many African nations have been independent for four decades. If colonial borders were a major problem, how come they haven't changed them? And, by the way, colonialism cannot explain Third World poverty. Some of today's richest countries are former colonies, such as: United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong. Some of today's poorest countries were never colonies, such as: Ethiopia, Liberia, Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan. The colonialism argument is simply a cover up for African dictators.

I would love to see Africa; the continent just has to be absolutely amazing. Unfortunately, you couldn't drag me to any location there that I can think of. That's a shame, because I would love to see it.

Good Day to You, Sir

And the Oscar for most tepid applause of the evening goes to...

the segment during last night's Academy Awards where some U.S. soldiers and marines stationed in Baghdad announced the nominees and the winner of the Oscar for best documentary. It started out with Tom Hanks coming out on stage and introducing the service members, who were projected on a huge screen behind him. When Tom Hanks handed the duties over to the members of our military on the screen, you should have heard the crickets chirping in the audience, along with a smattering of lukewarm applause.

But don't question their patriotism!

So, in the end, these Hollywood lefties and all the other lefties out there can utter the tired old mantra of hating the war but supporting the troops all they want. Last night was a clear example of just how exactly the lefties feel about those troops who they claim to support. I'm just glad there was an audience running in the hundreds of millions who had the opportunity to witness this unpatriotic display on live television!

Good Day to You, Sir

When crying "Rape!" can be crying "Wolf!"

Heather MacDonald has an excellent article in City Journal Magazine (see blogroll) called The Campus Rape Myth. MacDonald deconstructs the oft-repeated claim that one in four female college students have been raped or sexually assaulted at some point during their time in college. As MacDonald points out, the violent crime rate in Detroit works out to only 2.4% of the residents being victims, so you can imagine how far-fetched is the possibility that 25% of all college coeds have been rape victims. What the vast majority of these claims of rape turn out to be are actually pangs of regret for getting drunk, getting naked, and "hooking up" with a guy. As MacDonald explains it:

But suggest to a rape bureaucrat that female students should behave with greater sexual restraint as a preventive measure, and you might as well be saying that the girls should enter a convent or don the burka. “I am uncomfortable with the idea,” e-mailed Hillary Wing-Richards, the associate director of the Office of Sexual Assault Prevention and Women’s Resource Center at James Madison University in Virginia. “This indicates that if [female students] are raped it could be their fault—it is never their fault—and how one dresses does not invite rape or violence. . . . I would never allow my staff or myself to send the message it is the victim’s fault due to their dress or lack of restraint in any way.” Putting on a tight tank top doesn’t, of course, lead to what the bureaucrats call “rape.” But taking off that tank top does increase the risk of sexual intercourse that will be later regretted, especially when the tank-topper has been intently mainlining rum and Cokes all evening....

All these false claims of rape/sexual assault accomplish is to trivialize the actual rapes that sometimes take place on or near college campuses.

Good Day to You, Sir

Real music for your weekend

Now that I given you my negative opinion of Amy Winehouse, I thought it only fair to demonstrate what I would listen to if someone asked me to recommend some jazzy British music. You can't go wrong with Mark "Thunderthumbs" King and Level 42. Mark King is one of the best bass players in the world, and this clip shows you what I mean, as he does one of his specialties, which is a technique known as "slap bass":



Speaking of Level 42, if you are a fan of '80s music like I am, take this opportunity to transport yourself back to 1986 and listen to one of the best songs of that stellar decade:



They just don't make songs like that anymore.

Good Day to You, Sir

Time for Barack Obama to break out the duct tape

As far as material for my blog is concerned, Barack Obama's wife and her big mouth is the gift that keeps on giving. Once again, Michelle Obama has stepped in verbal doo-doo, although she actually made the following statement a couple weeks ago, and it is just now getting traction. Try scraping this one off your shoe, and yes, she really, really said this:

Barack Obama will require you to work. He is going to demand that you shed your cynicism. That you put down your divisions. That you come out of your isolation, that you move out of your comfort zones. That you push yourselves to be better. And that you engage. Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual, uninvolved, uninformed.

Uh, CREEPY!!! If you want to hear Mrs. Obama say that zinger in person, Hugh Hewitt has it on audio. Cue the clip to around 8:40.

Good Lord, the last time I read or heard a speech like that was when Snowball the pig was addressing all of Orwell's farm animals.

Good Day to You, Sir

The Empress has no clothes

Instead, she has a beehive hairdo, a bunch of nasty tattoos, some weird little black curly things painted onto the corners of her eyes, one hell of a drug habit, and the crappiest music this side of Macy Gray.

I rarely, if ever, talk about pop culture on this blog, but I have to throw in my two cents on this Amy Winehouse character. After hearing her name bandied about in the media for the last several months - both for her drug-induced antics and her supposedly spellbinding music - I listened to some samples of her music, including her biggest hit entitled - appropriately enough - Rehab. Her so-called music is just awful; especially Rehab, which is supposed to be her best song so far.

I wasn't surprised when Amy Winehouse won five Grammy awards the other night. The Grammys became a farce quite some time ago.

My apologies to any Amy Winehouse fans out there if I have cut you off at the knees, and my condolences if you continue to listen to her "music."

Good Day to You, Sir

Costs vs. Benefits

One of the things that fascinates me about the field of economics is trying to quantify what you don't see. Economics professor Walter Williams gives a wonderful example of this challenge by questioning how much spending is too much when it comes to stopping any possible terrorist attacks in... Wyoming?

Let's apply cost versus benefits to anti-terrorism expenditures. Wyoming has two major cities: Cheyenne, its capital, with 53,000 population; and Casper, with 50,000. Federal and state homeland security anti-terrorism expenditures in 2007 totaled $6,673,910. What is the risk of Wyoming being a terrorist target and, if so, what is the expected cost in terms of human lives and property...?

The effect of spending too much is less obvious because the victims are invisible. For example, purchase prices for new dump trucks for snow and ice removal range between $140,000 and $160,000. How many Wyoming lives could have been saved had some of the anti-terrorism expenditures been spent on additional dump trucks to clear streets and roads of snow and ice...?

The rest of the article can be read here.

It can be very difficult for my puny brain to think in that many dimensions. I'm glad Dr. Williams is around to help me out!

Good Day to You, Sir

Now die already!

Due to failing health, 81 year-old Fidel Castro is ending his 50+ years of rule over the basket case known as the country of Cuba. Talk about taking a bowl of ice cream and turning it into shit - that is what Castro (and Che Guevara) did to Cuba. The best thing Castro can do is get it over with and join the Church Triumphant (oh wait, he's probably an atheist).

Do you think I'm being too harsh wishing death upon a fellow human being, even if it is Fidel Castro we're talking about? At his blog The Autonomist (see blogroll), Rocco Di Pippo posted an excerpt from an article about Castro's Cuba that appeared in Time Magazine in 1963. By all means, give it a read:

Two and a half years ago, the Organization of American States' Commission on Human Rights started gathering the pieces from relatives and friends of prisoners, and from many ex-prisoners themselves. The OAS report, now published, is the most comprehensive and authoritative study yet put together on Communist
Cuba's treatment of political offenders.

All told, the OAS commission studied 1,350 case histories. It is estimated that there are some 75,000 political prisoners (one out of every 94 Cubans) behind bars. The commission found that they have no human rights, that they are treated in a "humiliating, oppressive and despotic manner," and that the Cuban prison system seems openly designed to degrade its victims to the level of animals.

Verdicts in Advance.

Arrests are almost always violent and without warrants; arresting officers rarely show proof that they are agents of the law, but burst into their quarry's home at night, brush off his explanations, wreck his belongings, pocket his valuables and hustle him off to jail in his underwear. Verdicts, said one court stenographer who took part in many of the trials, are "by remote control," the judge's opinion often written in advance.

In old colonial fortresses, says the commission, dungeons flooded by
underground seepage and infested with rats have been reopened for political prisoners. A former judge testified that "special-punishment prisoners are put into cells too small to lie down in, where they can never bathe and their physiological functions must be performed on the floor." At a huge prison on the Isle of Pines, off Cuba's south coast, 10,000 prisoners live in a space for 5,000. Those consigned to solitary are dropped naked into pits and regularly drenched with water. Says one Isle of Pines prisoner, confined to solitary for six months: "An individual can't go on being naked. It's really terrible, for one becomes an animal." The place has also been mined—to kill the prisoners in
case of invasion.

Even in 1963, Time wasn't exactly known for being a right-wing rag, so don't use that line of defense. Castro was and is a monster. Except now, he is an old and decrepit monster who needs to call it quits and shuffle off this mortal coil. While he's at it, he needs to take his 76 year-old brother Raul with him, now that Raul is officially running the show.

Good Day to You, Sir (and good riddance!)

Michelle Obama steps on another rhetorical landmine

After telling me last week that I need to elect her husband to the presidency so he can fix my broken soul, Michelle Obama this week let everyone just exactly how she feels about the good ol' US of A.

Speaking to a crowd in Wisconsin, Mrs. Obama said the following:

People in this country are ready for change and hungry for a different kind of politics and … for the first time in my adult life I am proud of my country because it feels like hope is finally making a comeback.... (Chanman's emphasis)

This graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School, this woman who was 16 when the U.S. Olympic Hockey Team defeated the Soviets, who was 25 when the Berlin Wall came down, who was 27 when the U.S. won the Gulf War, who was 37 when flags were flying everywhere in the aftermath of September 11, 2001 is now finally proud of her country because the Democrats seem poised to nominate her husband. Michelle Obama was born the very same year that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was signed into law. During the ensuing 44 years, she has had a front-row seat to history as she has witnessed the erasing of color barriers and the enormously increased opportunities for blacks in this country, and yet, she is only now proud of this country because her husband is in the running for President. What a sickening statement to make.

Yes, yes, Mrs. Obama has already attempted to clarify her remarks, but I suggest you re-read her original statement, and she makes it pretty clear how she feels. Me thinks Mrs. Obama's time at her two prestigious Alma Maters was spent absorbing leftist anti-American drivel from her professors.

Good Day to You, Sir

I've been wondering the same thing!

Radio talk host and columnist Dennis Prager has a few questions about these shootings we've been seeing lately at our nation's universities. Here is the first one:

Question 1: Why are murderers always counted in the victims tally? The day after the mass murder of students at Northern Illinois University (NIU), the headline in the closest major newspaper, the Chicago Tribune, was: "6 Dead in NIU Shooting."

"6 dead" included the murderer. Why wasn't the headline "5 killed at NIU"? It is nothing less than moronic that the media routinely lump murderers and their victims in the same tally.

This is something entirely new. Until the morally confused took over the universities and the news media, murderers were never counted along with their victims. To give a military analogy, can one imagine a headline like this in an American newspaper after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor: "2,464 Dead in Pearl Harbor Attack"? After all, 55 Japanese airmen and nine Japanese crewmen also died in the attack....

That reminds me of a controversy in the aftermath of the Columbine massacre in 1999. An ad hoc memorial was set up not far from the school, and the nitwits who set up the memorial wanted to include the two murderers - Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold - because after all, they were students at that school too. Sick, sick, sick.

Good Day to You, Sir

First you need something to "think" about

One of the trendy catch-phrases in education is "critical thinking". For years, traditionalist educators have been shaking their heads in frustration as constructivist educators have tried to get students to "think critically" while simultaneously condemning the memorization and understanding of factual content. For instance, how is one supposed to think critically about the deeper underpinnings of the Civil War without knowing the years it was fought, where it was fought, who was fighting it, and how it was fought? I challenge any of you to walk up to a young person under the age of 25 and see how often they can answer that information correctly.

The Washington Post has an article out today that talks about the challenges of teaching students how to think critically when there is not even an agreed-upon definition of "critical thinking", and there is definite disagreement over whether critical thinking should supplant content memorization or complement it.

As a traditionalist educator who believes that today's students are starved for general knowledge that could help them be more successful in their educational endeavors, I was pleased to see the following passage in the Post article:

Other cognitive psychologists question how effectively critical-thinking skills can be transferred from one subject area to another. They say such skills are developed, in large part, in relation to the content area in which they are acquired.

"You can't do it without the content knowledge," said Robin Lanzi, assistant professor in the Department of Human Science at Georgetown University.

"You may have these fabulous critical-thinking skills, but you don't know when they are appropriate," Willingham said.

"If you think of thought as having two components, you have factual knowledge that you know and the processes that manipulate those facts," he added. "Everyone understands that half is no good when that half is knowledge. People don't seem to understand that it works the other way. Having processes alone doesn't work, either. You can't acquire these processes in the absence of facts."

Now if we could only get these constructivism-worshipping education professors, K-12 teachers, and K-12 administrators out there who refer to the memorization of "mere facts" as "drill and kill" to heed these words.

Good Day to You, Sir

Who are the world's worst dictators?

Parade Magazine has come out with its annual list. If you want to find out more details about these despots, then click the link. If you are in a hurry, here you go:

1. Kim Jong-Il - North Korea
2. Omar al-Bashir - Sudan
3. Than Shwe - Myanmar (formerly Burma)
4. King Abdullah - Saudi Arabia
5. Hu Jintao - China
6. Robert Mugabe - Zimbabwe
7. Sayyid Ali Khamenei - Iran
8. Pervez Musharraf - Pakistan
   
9. Islam Karimov - Uzbekistan
10. Isayas Afewerki - Eritrea

My quick observations:

All the countries are located in either Africa (3) or Asia (7). Of the 10 dictators, 6 of them lead Muslim countries, with the other countries being either communist or formerly communist. The average age of these men is 70 years old, with the oldest being 84 (King Abdullah) and the youngest being 62 (Afewerki). That is quite a group of grumpy old men!

The best part of this Parade feature is that my 8th graders are currently studying the concept of all-powerful vs. limited governments as part our lessons on the Constitution. This list of dictators and descriptions of their evil misdeeds will be required reading tomorrow for all my 8th graders - many of whom are unaware that the whole world is not like the United States.

Good Day to You, Sir

These scientists need to heed the movies

Haven't these scientists and inventors seen The Terminator and/or The Matrix?

BBC article: Machines will achieve human-level artificial intelligence by 2029, a leading US inventor has predicted.

Yikes! There is even an accompanying pictorial rendition of a tick-like creature the size of a red blood cell that is fighting disease among the blood cells.

Good Day to You, Sir

For your summer reading list

Crime novel author Robert Ferrigno has written a series of novels that are set in an America that has been conquered by Islam. The first in the series is called Prayers for the Assassin; the second is called Sins of the Assassin.

A review of the books in Pajamas Media describes the book series as a thriller set in the not too distant future where Islam dominates the globe, and the United States is no more, either as a superpower or even one nation, riven by a cold civil war between the Islamic Republic of America and the recalcitrant Bible Belt.

I have a backlog of unread books about three feet thick, but I am going to have to find a space somewhere for this series of books. If you are in to alternate history novels, another author you should check out is Harry Turtledove. The first book of his that I read was The Guns of the South, which tells the story of some South African white supremacist types who time travel to the Civil War and offer a supply of AK-47s to Robert E. Lee and his army. Lee goes along with it and wins some very one-sided battles and ultimately the war against the Union Army. But then Lee discovers the true intentions of the South Africans.

Happy reading!

Good Day to You, Sir

Could the Goracle still ascend to the presidency?

According to highly-annoying uber-leftist Eleanor Clift, Gore could still swoop in for the Democrat nomination if enough of the delegates of the Kleptocrat Party look to find a way out of the deadlock between Obamamania and the Shrew.

How could so many people be so attached to such a stiff, robotic, dense, corrupt, elitist, wrong-headed... you get the point.

If you care to try following Clift's reasoning, click here.

Good Day to You, Sir

I checked the Declaration and the Constitution, and its just not there

I was listening to Hugh Hewitt as I was driving home from work on Friday afternoon. He was playing a series of disturbing sound bites of a speech from Michelle Obama, wife of Barack. I now give a hat tip to another Michelle (Malkin) for providing a transcription of the most tongue-clucking part of the speech:

We have lost the understanding that in a democracy, we have a mutual obligation to one another — that we cannot measure the greatness of our society by the strongest and richest of us, but we have to measure our greatness by the least of these. That we have to compromise and sacrifice for one another in order to get things done. That is why I am here, because Barack Obama is the only person in this who understands that. That before we can work on the problems, we have to fix our souls. Our souls are broken in this nation. (Chanman's emphasis)

First of all, this country is not, nor has it ever been, nor was it ever intended to be a democracy; subject to the hot-headed passions of mob rule. Our country is a Republic; subject to the level-headed deliberation of a representative body that has no power to take away our rights which were blessed to us from God. Now, let's address this business about fixing our broken souls. As the title of this post blared, fixing our soul is not the job or the business of our federal government (or any other level of government for that matter). Fixing my soul is a matter between my Creator, my wife, and me.

Michelle Malkin stated her feelings about the hypocrisy of Michelle Obama's statement pretty well:

When Republicans talk about broken souls in the context of civil society, the nutroots start screaming about the obliteration of the church-state line.

When the Obama campaign uses the same rhetoric to get him elected to the White House, everyone swoons.

Good Day to You, Sir

For a "net" gain of lives saved, there is no substitute for DDT

I caught an ad on TV the other day for an organization called Nothing but Nets. This organization raises money to buy bed nets for people in Africa so they can sleep while protected from mosquitoes that cause malaria.

In their mission statement, Nothing but Nets defines the threat:

Malaria, from the Medieval Italian words mala aria or “bad air,” infects more than 500 million people a year and kills more than a million— one person dies about every 30 seconds. The disease is particularly devastating in Africa, where it is a leading killer of children. In addition to being home to the deadliest strain of malaria and the mosquito best equipped to transmit the disease, many areas in Africa lack the proper infrastructure and resources to fight back.

There is so much tragedy behind this paragraph, one could write a book on it. Until about 35 or 40 years ago, malaria had been practically eradicated in most of the world - including Africa - and the worst part is that the people who are most responsible for allowing malaria to reinfest Africa, are the same people who do their best to keep Africa from gaining the "proper infrastructure and resources to fight back." If you read about the history of how people have controlled the spread of malaria, Nothing but Nets should be raising funds to purchase and distribute DDT, not bed nets. These nets make a small difference, but the fact remains that at some point during the day, you are going to have to come out of the protection of your net and live your life. DDT on the other hand, goes after the mosquito where it lives and sleeps, and after all these years, no pesticide has yet been found that is as effective and as inexpensive as Dichloro-Diphenyl-Trichloroethane.

I have spoken many times of the difference between intentions and results, and the penchant for leftists to care more about the former, and conservatives to care more about the latter. The intention of the usually-leftist environmental movement in the 1960s and 1970s (and all the way up to today) was to get rid of what they saw as a dangerous carcinogen that could give people cancer and soften the shells of bird eggs. Instead, the result was to kill more people than this movement ever could have imagined possible, and they did it by banning the use of DDT, thus condemning millions of people to death or disability in the malaria-prone and poverty-stricken countries that needed DDT the most.

In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency totally banned the use of DDT in our country in 1972. Most of the rest of the world followed our lead, or were strong-armed into giving up its use by such international organizations as the World Bank and the World Health Organization. As soon as the use of DDT was stopped, malaria began to rear its ugly head, and once again, hundreds of millions of people contracted the disease every year. For years, the mere mention of DDT would send reactionary shivers down the spines of many people, but through the writings of cool-headed scientists and free-market thinkers, the reputation of DDT began to slowly and surely be rehabilitated.

This rehabiliation became apparent on September 15, 2006 when, stunningly, the WHO reversed its policy and called for spraying DDT in peoples' homes. Naturally, environmental groups had a cow, but WHO director Arata Kochi expressed his reasoning in language against which the environmentalists would have trouble dissenting:

"We are asking these environmental groups to join the fight to save the lives of babies in Africa... This is our call to them."

This plea exposes a side of the environmental movement that is rather disturbing. It always seems that once the wealthy countries obtain their piece of the pie, environmentalists don't seem to want to see the same success for poverty-stricken countries that tend to be full of minorities. Once the use DDT eradicated malaria in North America and Europe, the rest of the world was shut out of the pesticide's benefits by environmental activists from those two relatively wealthy continents. And how many times have I heard people from the Church of Global Warming react with horror when the suggestion is made that people in dirt-poor countries of Asia and Africa should have access to free-market economies so that they might enjoy the same standard of living that is enjoyed in western Europe and the United States? The answer from the CoGW is always something akin to, "Are you kidding? If so much carbon dioxide is being produced just by the West, imagine if the entire continent of Africa was doing the same thing!" Thus, these environmental busybodies are either intentionally or unintentionally condemning millions of people to death by way of poverty, starvation, and yes, malaria.

Good Day to You, Sir

Beware the "Youthquake" for Obama

Producer Russell: If I may, speaking from a producer-director standpoint: Kids can relate to this show. These guys aren't phonies. Kids can spot phonies; they're very smart.

Noah Vanderhoff: Kids know dick. I watch 'em in my arcades. They stand like lab rats hitting the feeder bar to get food pellets.

--Wayne's World, Paramount Pictures (1992)

This revealing exchange from an otherwise juvenile movie comes to mind when I watch everyone oooh and ahhh over the spectacle of many of our nation's youth wetting themselves with excitement over the presidential candidacy of Barack Obama. Sure, there are young conservative youth who support conservative and Republican candidates as well, and I have to admit, I am not too enthused with their input either.

Time Magazine had a cover-story article about the role of our youth in this election, and most of the article dedicates itself to talking about the youth movement for Obama, because quite simply, that is where you see most of the youth action: our youth love Barack Obama. I have previously posted about the overwhelming support for Obama among my 8th grade students, even though they couldn't articulate why they supported him, beyond the fact that Obama is black.

Please don't misunderstand, I am not saying that youth should not get involved in politics - As a young Reagan supporter, I fondly remember the political sparring I had with my Mondale-loving 7th grade history teacher in the in the fall of 1984. What I object to is this insistence (mostly from the left) that we must give so much weight and credence to what our youth have to say. The simple fact that the youth are falling all over themselves for Obama tells you a lot. I appreciate the famous quote that has been falsely attributed to Winston Churchill: If you're not a liberal when you're 25, you have no heart. If you're not a conservative by the time you're 35, you have no brain. It still makes a lot of sense to me, and that is why our youth tend to lean to the left. They are still in the naive and utopian mindset of "Let's pretend". Let's pretend that money grows on trees and that we can save every poor person out there if we just cut them a check; Let's pretend that we can raise and raise taxes, and it will have no negative effect on people's financial behavior; Let's pretend that we can pass laws telling employers that they can't fire handicapped employees, and it will have no effect on the hiring of handicapped people in the first place; Let's pretend that we can enact draconian environmental laws and it will have no effect on our health and prosperity.

The Time article brings up the last time that youth had a major role in a presidential election:

Frustrated by feckless Washington, energized by the unscripted, pundit-baffling freedom of a wide-open race, young people are voting in numbers rarely seen since the general election of 1972 — the first in which the voting age was lowered to 18.

What the article fails to mention is who the youth in the 1972 election overwhelmingly supported: George McGovern! The most leftist candidate (short of Norman Thomas or Gus Hall) to ever run for president.

Being excited about the youth's participation in the political process is all well and good, but attention does have to be paid to whom the youth are supporting - and who they are supporting is a socialist, partial-birth abortion-supporting, neophyte one-term Senator with some rather disturbing racial beliefs, judging by the Afro-centric church he attends in Chicago.

I would say that I hope that Barack Obama is as successful in his campaign for president as George McGovern was in his, but that would leave us with the Son of Cain in the Oval Office instead. What a messed up election this is shaping up to be.

Good Day to You, Sir

Instalanche!

This is what happens when one of the uber-blogs - In this case, Instapundit (see blogroll) - links to yours. He decided to link to my photo of the job posting at JC Penney for bilingual Spanish speakers. For a small blog like mine, having my daily ticker showing over 6,000 visits today, rather than the usual 55 or so, is sweet to say the least! Also, 35 comments for one post is another record for me as well, and for once the comments weren't mostly composed of a running battle between myself and donalbain. Thank you Glenn Reynolds!

Good Day to You, Sir

Governor: Pennsylvania too racist to elect Obama

So says Ed Rendell, Democrat governor of Pennsylvania. He thinks that there are white voters who will not vote for Barack Obama just because he is black.

Since Obama cleaned up in tonight's primary in the District of Columbia - a District that is 60% black - Rendell's statement begs a serious question: If it is racist to vote against a candidate simply because he is black, does that mean it is also racist to vote for a candidate simply because he is black?

The same scenario applies to the candidacy of Hillary Clinton. We have heard quite a bit from the left-wing pundits out there who excoriate us men for being afraid of a strong woman, and not liking Hillary's aggressive personality because it's unlady-like (never mind the fact that its her leftist/Marxist politics and her slimy corruption that we hate). So, if it is sexist to vote against Hillary Clinton simply because she is a woman, what do we say about all these starry-eyed ladies out there who are pulling the lever for Hillary simply because she is a woman? Are they any less sexist?

I will keep harping this point, because the important feature of a candidate is not the skin color or the plumbing; it is his (or her) political ideology and personal integrity that matter the most.

Good Day to You, Sir

New "Jena 6" victim was... drumroll please:

Yes I know - in today's racially charged and hypersensitive environment, it's considered ill-mannered and, well, racist to bring up such things, but I thought it only proper to follow up on the story I posted the other day about Bryant Purvis, one of the "Jena 6" thugs, who was arrested the other day on a new assault charge, this time in his new home in Texas.

If you remember, the members of the "Jena 6" were arrested for beating a white student, Justin Barker, at Jena High School in Louisiana. Once Barker was unconscious on the ground, the 6 students began kicking his limp body, especially in the head. When I read that young Mr. Purvis had been arrested for a new assault at his new school, I couldn't help but wonder about the color of his victim, Christopher Jones. Here you go:

I don't know about you, but I think I am starting to notice a definite pattern.

Good Day to You, Sir

"Che chic" joins the Obama campaign

Everyone is tripping over himself trying to distance the Obama campaign from this image, but the fact remains that supporters of Barack Obama opened a campaign office in Houston, Texas, and adorned a wall in their office with the image of that Communist butcher, Che Guevara - superimposed on a Cuban flag to boot.

If you click here, you can watch the original news story that was run by a local Houston affiliate where the scene in the Che-adorned office takes place. Of course, right under where you click to watch the video, a disclaimer has been posted that says:

The office featured in this video is funded by volunteers of the Barack Obama Campaign and is not an official headquarters for his campaign.

Well that makes everything all better! You see, the office is not an official headquarters. I'm sure if an unofficial campaign headquarters for a right-wing candidate had, say, a Nazi flag with Hitler imposed on it, the mainstream media would have ignored that story like they have essentially ignored this Che-flag flap. Of course they would have! Once again, were it not for the alternative media and the blogosphere, this story would have been swept under the rug.

The Obama campaign may be pulling the "know-nothing" routine regarding the Che flag, but this tells you bucketloads about the kind of people who support his politics, and perhaps it gives you more insight into his politics as well. People like these Che groupies wouldn't be adoring supporters of Obama if he was the least bit centrist; it's not like he is the only left-wing Democrat from which to choose. If you want to support a Marxist, Hillary Clinton is sitting right over there, and after the outcome of the Potomac primaries tonight, she could use the votes.

Good Day to You, Sir

Mere English speakers need not apply

**2/13/08 7:03am PST - Welcome Instapundit readers! Glad to have you here on my humble blog. By all means, feel free to click around the site and find out what else I have to say.

I had Monday off in honor of Lincoln's birthday, so I thought I would do something productive and get the car washed. I was on my way back home and had just turned from Fair Oaks Boulevard onto El Camino Avenue when I spotted the sign pictured above. I was so flabbergasted by the audacity of what was posted on the sign that I drove on home, got the digital camera, and drove back so I could obtain a photographic record of this travesty of a job posting.

For years, people have been bothered by the Press 1 for English; Press 2 for Spanish nonsense, but at least you had a choice of which button to push. Prospective employees who might want to work for JC Penney don't have a choice - they must be able to speak Spanish if they want this job... and this job is located in the United States; a suburban area of Sacramento to be exact.

Unfortunately, that picture represents our future. Just today, the media - both mainstream and alternative - was buzzing about a report that said by the year 2050, the population of the United States will have ballooned to 438 million people, with the number of Hispanics in this country tripling from its current level, and the percentage of our Hispanic population doubling. And the million dollar quote from the article stated:

The projected growth in the U.S. population — 303 million today — will be driven primarily by immigration among all groups except the elderly.

Naturally, they didn't specify if that would be legal or illegal immigration, but I'm sure you can figure that one out on your own.

I realize that JC Penney is a private company, and if they want Spanish-speaking employees, then as a private company, I believe they have the right to follow this wrong-headed employment requirement if they wish. However, as a consumer who is free to shop anywhere I please, I am under no compulsion to do business with JC Penney, and I am likewise perfectly free to criticize JC Penney for a company requirement that is fundamentally wrong. From now on, I'll buy my t-shirts and dress shoes elsewhere.

Good Day to You, Sir

Obama gives Hillary something to truly cry about

Obama may be an empty suit, but he is beginning to give Hillary Rodham Clinton the spanking she so richly deserves. OK, maybe that was a bad choice of words.

Good Day to You, Sir

No good deed....

For the last 8 years or so, I have given blood almost like clockwork. You are eligible to give every two months, and I have tried my best to stick to that schedule. In fact, when I gave blood last October, I received a pretty nice looking desk plaque in honor of the fact that I had given a total of 3 gallons of my lifeforce.

In the years that I have given blood, I became used to the rigmarole I had to endure each time as soon as the person who in-processed me found out that I spent two years in Germany with the Army. Because of the Mad Cow Disease scare that gripped Europe, one of the red flags for would-be donators is if a certain amount of years was spent in just about any European country. Every time you give blood, you must mark down if you have spent a significant amount of time in Europe, and every time my mark was noted, the blood person would pull out the binder, and follow the flow chart to determine whether or not I was eligible. I saw that flow chart on so many occasions and at different blood locations, that I became an expert on it.

Imagine my surprise this morning when I went in to give my routine blood donation, and I was denied by a rather indignant representative of BloodSource. The flow chart had changed, and whereas before, the dates I had spent in Germany hadn't disqualified me from giving blood, now the dates have changed, and I am now indefinitely ineligible to give blood. I had a slightly heated conversation with the blood lady, not because I was trying to talk her into letting me give blood, but because she was under the impression that all the other blood people who had served me before had messed up. She kept shaking her head and expressing her wonderment that I had been allowed to give blood all these years, not realizing that she was insulting me as well, because I'm not stupid - I can read their flow chart too, and for years it said that I was eligible. I told her that I have given blood dozens of times at three different locations in the Sacramento area, and each and every time, they pulled out that binder when they found out I was stationed in Germany. They didn't screw up - the rules had been changed.

I walked out of the bloodmobile with my certificate for a free Round Table Pizza and a major case of the ass, having been rejected from doing something I have had no problem doing for almost the last decade. I couldn't help but wonder, if my blood is not acceptable now, what about the three gallons I have given up to this point? I'll tell you one thing, if you have ever seen the questionnaire you must fill out every time you give blood - with an affirmative answer on any of the dozens of questions disqualifying you from giving blood - I am starting to wonder if there is going to be anyone left who qualifies.

The height of absurdity is that while they make the requirements for giving blood more and more stringent, the phone calls I get from the blood people every other month make it clear that they are constantly desperate for donations. Good luck to them.

Good Day to You, Sir

...shall not be infringed... as long as you're well connected

In the Metro section of the 2/6/08 edition of the Sacramento Bee, they ran an article with the headline: Judge tosses gun permit suit. The first paragraph of the story reads as follows:

A federal judge threw out a civil rights lawsuit Tuesday that alleged the Sacramento Country Sheriff's Department had showed favoritism in granting concealed gun permits

The fun part is when you reach the ninth paragraph of the article and find that,

A Bee review of concealed weapons applications, published in December, showed that more than 70 past and current permit holders had collectively contributed at least $200,000 to [Sheriff] Blanas' campaigns...

Here is how the racket works: In many states, they have what is called a shall-issue law. This means that unless you have a criminal record or you have a background of mental instability, you cannot be denied a license to carry a concealed handgun. Then you have anti-gun states like California, where your right to carry a concealed handgun is decided by the whim of the county sheriff. In some counties in the extreme north part of the state, such as Shasta County, getting a CCW permit is not as difficult. I believe El Dorado County is even a shall-issue county. In the urban counties however, such as in the Bay Area, and yes, Sacramento, you can forget about ever getting a CCW permit. Unless that is, you have connections (rulings to the contrary by federal judges be damned), and the easiest way to get those connections is to give a big fat campaign contribution to your local sheriff, or to be a local politician or celebrity. My favorite example is an outgoing California state senator named Don Perata. He earned the moniker "Pistol-packin'" Don Perata from talk radio after it came to light that he had a permit to carry a concealed handgun, even though he opposes the right of us common folk to carry one as well.

This is the problem with requiring the acquisition of a permit or license in order to exercise what is supposed to be a God-given right. In the end, I don't care if Sheriff Blanas was showing favoritism or not - I should not have to depend upon his benevolence if I want to carry a handgun while walking with my family along K Street, downtown. I don't even agree with shall-issue laws, but as a matter of pragmatism, they are much preferable to what we have in California, and that is the fact that if I want to protect myself and my family if we are away from the house, I have to become a criminal in order to do so.

Good Day to You, Sir

Cry me a river!

Oh good Lord, there she goes again. I'm sure Kim Jong Il, Ahmadenijad, Putin, and all the rest of the proverbial wolves of the world would be quaking in their boots with you as Prez, Hillary. Someone needs to hit the gong and then get the hook for the wife of Monica Lewinsky's ex-boyfriend.

Good Day to You, Sir

Shep Smith serves up a smackdown

Ever heard of Naomi Wolf? She is an author turned political strategist who is most famous for being hired by Al Gore in order to turn him into an "alpha male" for the 2000 presidential campaign. Her advice: wear earth tones.

I have seen her in interviews before, and she comes across as this smarmy, condescending bitch who, in the words of Allahpundit from Hot Air (see blogroll), has a perpetually "creepy, vacant, beatific smile." This segment from an interview between Wolf and Shep Smith of Fox News shows off these descriptions of her in spades. The funny part, is that Shep is having none of it!



I really lost it when she used that "Let's get our babies out of Iraq" line. That idiotic quote was addressed quite nicely by Shep Smith in the clip, but also by a commenter on Hot Air:

Yeah, Naomi - Saddam, Hitler, Pol Pot and Stalin were someone’s babies too.

FWIW, I happen to be 41 and have two kids of my own. I also happen to be an Army field grade officer on my second deployment in three years. All without my binky.

Whether you agree or disagree with the Iraq War, denigrating and infantilizing our troops like that is ludicrous. Good for everyone who calls out that quintessential leftist, Naomi Wolf, for uttering something so idiotic.

I also loved Wolf's throwaway line about "three white guys" when describing the frontrunning Republican nominees. Wasn't it just four short years ago that the Democrats were offering up John Kerry (white guy), Jonathan Edwards (white guy), and Howard Dean (white guy)? That was even in the 21st century! What a tool this woman is.

Good Day to You, Sir

She's just getting warmed up

Ann Coulter has more to say about the travesty that is the "conservative" candidacy of the Son of Cain. You can read the whole column here, but I will skip to the punchline:

If Hillary is elected president, we'll have a four-year disaster, with Republicans ferociously opposing her, followed by Republicans zooming back into power, as we did in 1980 and 1994, and 2000. (I also predict more Oval Office incidents with female interns.)

If McCain is elected president, we'll have a four-year disaster, with the Republicans in Congress co-opted by "our" president, followed by 30 years of Democratic rule.

There's your choice, America.

Good Day to You, Sir

Just one more question, Senator

In his weekly column, self-described "Republitarian" Larry Elder has ten questions he would love to ask Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama at a debate. Here is an example of what he would ask Obama:

Sen. Obama, the church you attend, according to its website, pursues an Afro-centric agenda. Your church rejects, as part of their "Black Value System," "middleclassness" as "classic methodology" of white "captors" to "control … subjugated" black "captives." Your pastor, Jeremiah Wright, recently called the Nation of Islam's Minister Louis Farrakhan – a man many consider anti-Semitic – a person of "integrity and honesty." What would happen to a Republican candidate who attended a Caucasian-centric church and who praised David Duke as a man of "integrity and honesty"?

Here is an example of what he would ask the Shrew:

Sen. Clinton, you want universal health care coverage for all Americans – every man, woman and child. When, as first lady, you tried to do this, 560 economists wrote President Clinton and said, "Price controls produce shortages, black markets and reduced quality." One economist who helped gather the signatures explained, "Price controls don't control the true costs of goods. People pay in other ways." Are those 560 economists wrong?

To read the rest of the column, click here.

Good Day to You, Sir

What was that about "greedy" corporations?

What was it Hillary Clinton said about the oil companies? "I want to take those profits...."? I think the federal government is already doing an admirable job. While the bottom 50% of all of our country's individual taxpayers contributed about $27 billion dollars in income taxes last year, the amount paid just by Exxon Corporation was - are you ready? - $30 billion dollars. Just think, that was but one corporation. Think of all the big corporations out there; think what Microsoft pays.

Just keep that in mind the next time someone tells you the tired line that "the rich don't pay their fair share" of taxes.

Good Day to You, Sir

Welcome to New Orleans! Here is your complimentary bulletproof vest!

What a waste of a good city. My wife and I spent a couple days in New Orleans about five years ago, and there are parts of that city that are so wonderful: the buildings and homes in the French Quarter and the Garden District, the D-Day Museum, Jambalaya, the Big Muddy, the music... siiiiggghh!

Then there's the corruption, the anti-white racism ("Chocolate City" anyone?), the poverty, the dependence on government, and worst of all, the murder rate. It is only the first week of February, and New Orleans has already seen 21 murders this year, and keep in mind that the city has still not reached its pre-Katrina population, so we are talking more murders per capita. During the just-finished Carnival season, there were four murders and twelve shooting injuries in just five days.

To hear the finer details of the murder spree going on in Big Easy, here's your news article right here.

Good Day to You, Sir

No! Really? I mean, really?

Here's a shocker: Bryant Purvis, one of the members of the "Jena 6", was arrested for assault at the school to which he transferred in the wake of all the publicity from the racial brouhaha in Jena, Louisiana.

The last time we heard from Bryant Purvis was when he was one of two knuckleheads who were rewarded for their violent ways by being given a standing ovation when they took the stage as presenters at a Black Entertainment Television (BET) awards show. I blogged about this BET travesty when it happened back in October of last year. Here is young Mr. Purvis in his more cocky times. I believe he is the knucklehead on the left? I can't tell, what with the "stunner" shades and the cap on sideways.

It's sad to see that in the wake of the violence in Jena that started all this, young Mr. Purvis would have learned that there are better ways to settle disagreements with others. On the other hand, seeing as how beating a kid unconscious previously netted Purvis a standing ovation, you can probably see why he thought participating in another beatdown would be advantageous.

Good Day to You, Sir

Happy Birthday, Mr. President

The greatest president of the 20th Century was born 97 years ago today.

As the years pass by, the accomplishment for which I see Ronald Reagan remembered more and more is his speech in front of the Berlin Wall in June of 1987. In that speech, against the advice of his weeny advisers in the state department, Reagan demanded to Mr. Gorbachev: "Tear down this wall!"

The Soviets weren't used to our presidents standing up to them, and when Reagan came along, they were at a loss of what to do. Collapsing and disappearing was a good way to go!

Good Day to You, Sir

Clinton vs. McCain?

It's still too early yet to make it official, but after tonight, the prospect of the Son of Cain taking on the Wife of Monica Lewinsky's ex-boyfriend is looking more and more like a done deal. Man, talk about a lose-lose proposition.

God help our Country.

Good Day to You, Sir

Is this man "African-American"?

Not according to many of my black middle school students. Because today is Super Tuesday, I dedicated the first half of each period with my 8th graders to talking about the Primary/Caucus process. By the way, for future reference, when teaching students about this process, just use the word primary and forget caucus, because giggles abound due to the "cock" sound in caucus. Sometimes, I really can't stand my students.

Inevitably, my students wanted to have a mock vote to see who they supported for president, and overwhelmingly, in every one of my 8th grade periods, my students supported Barack Obama for president. When I needled them a little bit by asking for reasons why they supported him, it quickly became apparent that they were pulling for Obama simply because he is black.

Naturally, I turned it around on them. I asked them how they would feel if I told them that I was supporting McCain or Romney simply because they were white. In a classic case of cognitive dissonance, my Obama supporters didn't like my white-based support scenario very much, but they remained unapologetic about supporting Obama based solely on the color of his skin. They see it as an opportunity to "stick it to the man."

Things really got interesting when some of my black students turned on some of my black Obama-supporting students, not because the Obama supporters were pulling for him based only his skin color, but because to these other black students, Obama wasn't "black" enough. One girl insisted that Obama wasn't even "African-American." I couldn't let that one go. I asked her why she didn't consider him to be "African-American", and she told the class it was because his mother is "white." I told my students, "This is why I can't stand it when people use the term 'African-American' to describe someone's skin color." I walked over to the big world map on the back wall and continued, "Obama's father was from Kenya," I pointed to Kenya, "What continent is that on?" "Africa!" I then pointed to the United States and said, "This is where Obama's mother is from; she is American. Hence, that makes Obama... class?" "African-American!"

What was also amusing was when a bunch of girls favored Obama over Hillary Clinton because "Clinton is pro-abortion." "Well ladies," I said, "You best check Obama's position on that issue, because he believes the same way Clinton does." This is why kids their age are not allowed to vote. The problem is that there are adults out there who are undoubtedly just as clueless.

Good Day to You, Sir

Brutality beyond belief

Headline from Fox News:

Witnesses provide description of mall gunman who killed five women in clothing store

Tinley Park police have said a manager of the Lane Bryant store and four customers were herded into the back room and shot to death in a robbery attempt shortly after opening on Saturday.

The suspect was described as a black man with thick braided hair and a receding hairline, Sgt. T.J. Grady said Monday at a news conference. One braid was adorned with four light green beads and was hanging over the right side of his face at cheek level, he said...

The dead have been identified as Connie R. Woolfolk, 37, of Flossmoor; Sarah T. Szafranski, 22, of Oak Forest; Carrie H. Chiuso, 33, of Frankfort; Rhoda McFarland, 42, of Joliet; and Jennifer L. Bishop, 34, of South Bend, Ind....

Although I know it to be true, I still sometimes have trouble coming to grips with the fact that there are people in this world who can be that evil.

Good Day to You, Sir

Now that's what I call a prayer!

Several days ago, I told you about a Muslim Imam who offended quite a few folks in the Iowa state legislature with his prayer in which he asked God (Allah to him) for victory over "unbelievers". One of my oft-dissenting commenters sent me a link to the following prayer from a Christian minister - who was praying before the Kansas state legislature - presumably in an effort of moral equivalence that would show that those crazy Christians are just as wacky as those Muslims. Let's see what you think about this dastardly prayer:

Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask Your forgiveness and to seek Your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, "Woe on those who call evil good," but that's exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values.

We confess that:
We have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your Word and called it pluralism.
We have worshipped other gods and called it multiculturalism.
We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle.
We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.
We have neglected the needy and called it self-preservation.
We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.
We have killed our unborn children and called it a choice.
We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.
We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem.
We have abused power and called it political savvy.
We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition.
We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.
We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.

Search us, O God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent to direct us to the center of Your will. I ask it in the name of Your Son, the living Savior, Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Good Day to You, Sir

Sieg Hillary!

Try as she might to stifle her socialist leanings, sometimes Hillary Rodham Clinton just can't help herself. In a Reuters article from today, Hillary was talking about her "universal" health care plan for our country, and said, "My objective is to get everybody into this system". No kidding - If you are wondering how she expects to get everyone into her health care system, then just cue this quote from an AP article:

In a day dominated by familiar stump speeches, Hillary Clinton made news by saying she might allow workers' wages to be garnished if they refuse to buy health insurance. She has criticized Obama for pushing a health plan that she says would not require universal coverage.

Pressed on how she would enforce her mandate, Clinton said: "I think there are a number of mechanisms" that are possible, including "going after people's wages, automatic enrollment." (Chanman's emphasis)

The gall of this woman never ceases to floor me, even though I expect it at every turn.

In other Hillary news, it appears that she figures since it worked the first time, maybe it will work on gullible voters once again. Just hours before the start of the New Hampshire Primary (which polls showed she was losing to Obama), Ice Queen Hillary had a sudden case of the tears during a televised interview. Her popularity among female voters shot upwards, and she pulled out a win in New Hampshire. Fast forward to today. With polls again showing Obama leading her in many races just one day before 24 states vote in Super Tuesday, Hillary's waterworks mysteriously erupted once again.

On a visit to Yale University in Connecticut, Clinton's eyes glistened during an introduction recalling her law school days there. It was an echo of her emotional display before the New Hampshire primary, credited with helping turn the tide for her eventual victory in the state.

"Well I said I wouldn't tear up," the New York senator said. "Already we're not exactly on the path."

Naturally, Hillary's myrmidons would give me a big Harumph for my mere suggestion that her tears are not authentic, but c'mon folks, we've been down this road before. Let's just see if there is any kind of turn around in the polls in any of these previously Obama-leaning states; especially among the female voters. Not that I want Obama to get the nomination, for he is a bigger leftist than even Hillary Clinton. How tough it is get enthused about a presidential election when you detest the frontrunners of both parties.

Good Day to You, Sir

Don't smack your monitor...

...the colors and fonts really have changed. I am warning my regular readers to be patient for the next couple weeks. I have now taught myself just enough knowledge of HTML to be a royal pain in the ass. I couldn't stand my bright-orange standard Blogger template a moment longer, so the fiddling and tweaking has begun.

The template may continue to change in the near future, but not my hard-hitting and riveting prose! Heh.

Good Day to You, Sir

How objectionable is John McCain?

You know it's pretty bad when Ann Coulter says that if the Son of Cain is the Republican nominee, she will vote for Hillary Clinton - yes, you heard that right!

I implore you to watch the following 3+ minute segment from Hannity and Colmes where Coulter is doing such a job defending Hillary Clinton over the Son of Cain, that Alan Colmes decides to cool his heels while Ann Coulter does his job for him. It's hilarious!



I'm sure the knee-jerk reaction of many of you might be the horror that any conservative or Republican would vote for a megalomaniacal, totalitarian, Marxist nanny-stater like Hillary Clinton. However, if you think it through, you would come to the same conclusion as I have (and Ann Coulter as well), and that is, what does it matter if in the end, the Republican nominee is the same as the Democrat? Actually, the situation is even worse, because Republicans in Washington have this sheep-like mentality where they will go along with a high-ranking Republican's political scheme, no matter how leftist or hare-brained it is, and they will go along with it because they don't dare stand up to their fellow Republicans. Ask yourself: Do you think George W. Bush could have gotten away with half of his shenanigans over the last seven years if he wasn't a Republican? Example: Republicans complained up and down about what a big spender Bill Clinton was, and they made every effort to stop him. Then George W. Bush comes along and signs more spending bills than Bill Clinton ever dreamed of. Where's the comparative outrage from the right? Can you imagine if it had been Bill Clinton who signed the McCain-Feingold Bill into law instead of George W. Bush? The Republicans in Congress would have been outraged. But, since it was GWB who signed McCain-Feingold, you heard nary a peep from the Grand Old Party.

The bottom line is that at least if Hillary Clinton were elected, the Republicans in Congress would be compelled to attempt to thwart her Marxist machinations. If McCain were elected instead, the Republicans would fail to put up a fight approaching anywhere near the same intensity, yet in the end, the legislation that McCain would sign would essentially be the same as you would get from President Hillary. There is something to be said for good ol' fashioned partisanship!

Good Day to You, Sir