Spilled Candy

Bora Bora sharks & rays

2009-07-03T17:59:00.001-06:00

Bora Bora sharks & rays
Originally uploaded by firefly242

Wouldn't you just LOVE to be diving and find this plethora of life? Granted, black tipped sharks are not mild mannered, but they look very placid here.

What happens when we suppress the sex drive?

2009-02-02T13:31:00.005-07:00

We humans are very sexual creatures. The sex drive is there to ensure we continue to reproduce under almost any circumstances. Yet the more the urge is supressed, made 'filthy, unclean', and otherwise disrespected, the more that energy is manifested in a very vicious and dysfunctional manner.

Consider the plight of a Catholic priest, the most visible example in our society today. Here you have a 'lamb of God' who is unable to have any sexual interactions with anyone on the planet; instead, he is to direct that energy into his service of God. Yet over the past millennia, there have been countless examples of rape, infidelity, and genocide on the part of these male church members; priests have routinely engaged in the rape and abuse of children in their flocks; Cardinals were well known to have regularly invited Venetian courtesans into their beds; and members of the Inquisition routinely condemned 'female' witches to burn at the stake-after raping them and ruining their reputation forever.

This type of sexual deprivation and repression creates dysfunction where none ever truly needed to exist. Sexual attraction can never be eliminated, and can actually be intensified in close quarters. Without there being a legitimate sexual outlet for these men, the Catholic Church will be wrestling with the unpleasant matter of its horny priests for many years to come.

Another day, another country

2008-09-03T11:28:00.001-06:00

Gui Machala
Originally uploaded by Escola de Imagem Brasil

This image is one that could exist anywhere in the world, not just in Gui Machala, Brasil.

A woman and her young child travel down a cobbled roadway in late afternoon. The VW hasn't started in some time. The mechanic down the street won't look at it for less than a week's wages. As if lonely and neglected, the car's headlights sadly look down the road, patiently waiting for a buyer or other salvation.

Turkey Ruminations

2005-11-23T09:21:00.000-07:00

Today I get to learn to make a pumpkin pie from fresh pumpkin. Should be utterly fascinating.

The world is as unstable and violent as it's ever been (excepting before written language was invented), but Thanksgiving happens every year, as long as there is an American calendar to celebrate it. My favorite day of the year...better than Christmas! I love Winter Solstice because it means that the days following will begin to lengthen, but Thanksgiving is the 'friends, family, and food' holiday. Everyone gets to enjoy the feast without all the stress of gift wrapping, cards needing to be mailed, kids needing to be pacified, and all the rest of the excess surrounding Christmas.

Enough contemplation for now..I'll have more postings later..gotta get that pie started!

ZT

Wine Hooligans UNITE!

2005-11-10T08:58:00.000-07:00

Ok, now I'm a HUGE fan of Jennifer Rosen (not literally huge, but rather, avid and pious-like in intensity)...and I read her column every chance I get. Today, she lists some hilarious links related to wine, and I am going to share them with you. Even if you aren't a wine drinker, I think you'll appreciate the humor behind these websites. My favorite is the Silly Tasting Note Generator.

Silly Tasting Note Generator

The Red Wine Haiku Review

Wine X Magazine's Jelly Bean Wine Bar

ZT

Getting robbed by your own bank!

2005-10-28T14:03:00.000-06:00

Check this out...boy, am I glad I don't bank with BofA. I have a credit card account with them, but I judiciously look at each and every cardmember agreement change they release. I also scrupulously look at the statements I receive from my checking and savings account bank. When will the extortion end?! I found this article on The Red Tape Chronicles which is located on the MSNBC website.

ZT

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In denial: ATM fee for getting nothing

Posted: Friday, October 28 at 06:30 am CT by Bob Sullivan

We all know it often costs money to get your own money at an ATM machine; but now, you might have to pay up when you don’t get money. Let me introduce you to a fee you've probably never heard of -- the "ATM denial fee." Rejection, it turns out, can be costly.

Some banks are sneaky; their ability to slip itsy-bitsy fees onto your monthly statement proves their creativity knows no end. The death-by-a-thousand-cuts draining of our bank accounts happens relentlessly -- $3.00 check enclosure charge; $2 out-of-network withdrawal fee; $10 for dipping below a minimum $1,000 balance for an afternoon; $13 for new checks. One of those fancy free checking accounts can easily cost $50-$100 a year.

But the denial fee is a new entrant into this game, or at least, it is new to me and many industry insiders. Bank of America, on the other hand, says it's old hat. Either way, here's how $1.50 leaked out of my checking account for money I didn't get, and how it might be leaking out of your account too.

Quick: What's your daily ATM withdrawal limit? If you said $400, you might be wrong. At Bank of America, for example, the limit is $300. The price of making that mistake is $1.50. That's what I found out last month when I tried to grab as much cash as I could before I hopped a plane to cover Hurricane Rita in Texas. Given other reporters’ experiences after Katrina, I decided to bring as much cash as possible. The ATM nearest the plane gate wasn't Bank of America, but I decided to pay the $4 or so in fees for using another bank’s machine.

My first attempt to get $400 was denied and my transaction canceled. That's all I knew. I took my card bank.

Moments later, I tried to withdrew $300, and was warned I'd face fees both from the machine owner and my bank for using the wrong ATM. Duly censured, I accepted the fee. And that, I thought, was that.

It was, until I spied my bank statement a month later. I found that I was charged $2 for the cash I did get, and another $1.50 for the cash I didn't get. ATM Denial Fee, my statement read.

"What is this?" I asked Bank of America's customer service telephone representative. I did not tell him I was a reporter. I was calling as a customer.

The rep calmly explained that it was, in fact, an ATM Denial Fee. I must not have read the latest disclosure statement from the bank, he said. He then explained that Bank of America is charged fees by other banks when a withdrawal is attempted, whether it is successful or not. This bank-to-bank fee can be $5, $7, or even more, he said. He then explained to me that the bank actually eats close to 90 percent of these fees and is just trying to recoup some of the costs.

To be fair, he agreed to wipe away the $1.50 fee when I told him the circumstances of the failed withdrawal. Still, I hung up wondering just how many people have been unknowingly paying these denial fees. I set out to learn more about them.

'A new one on me'
I called Tony Hayes of Dove Consulting, an ATM expert. He'd never heard of ATM denial fees, and he was skeptical that Bank of America would have to pay the $5-$7 that its customer rep quoted me for a failed withdrawal.

Then I tried Greg McBride of BankRate.com, who studies ATM fees. His oft-cited reports are among the most comprehensive in the industry.

"That's a new one on me," he said.

But Betty Reese of Bank of America knew all about denial fees. In fact, she said, there's nothing new about them. The bank had been charging them "for some time." There was no updated notice earlier this year, she said. She also wouldn't discuss the intra-bank fees my customer service agent mentioned, but she did say she had no idea where he got his facts.

Denial fees are spelled out on Bank of America's website.

"The denial fee applies to each request to withdraw funds at a non-Bank of America ATM that is denied because the request exceeds either your available balance or your daily cash limit," the site says. I hadn't read it.

It's unclear how many other banks charge such a fee. Washington Mutual’s Mary Kelley said her bank didn't charge denial fees; A spokesman for Citibank said the bank doesn't charge a denial fee. An Internet search revealed some smaller banks do have denial fees published on their Web sites. Bank of America's $1.50 was the steepest I found, however.

'Wrong ATM' charges cost $4 billion a year
McBride, from BankRate, was surprised to learn of this denial fee, but he did say something that is probably obvious to all of us -- bank ATM fees are at the highest rate ever. In fact, in a report he issued earlier this year, McBride said consumers pay $4 billion each year as a penalty for using the wrong bank's ATM. That's up 44 percent from 1999 levels, his report said.

That's a lot of $1.50 charges. Revenue by 1,000 cuts.

But we’re just trying to run a business, banks protest. In the past, I have heard the following arguments from banks: Consumers have more access to their money than ever before, and should pay a little for that. ATM machines are actually expensive to operate, and most banks lose money on them (see "Are there too many ATM's?"). And banks face fees from each other, so consumers should expect to cover some of that cost when they use the "wrong ATM."

It all makes some sense, except that last point, which is hard to swallow. Banks may well be charging each other indiscriminate fees, but does that mean they should pass those fees on to us?

'Gotcha' capitalism
This is not a fair market. Consumers paying the fees often don’t have a choice. Often, they are forced to pay the fees when facing some crisis or time crunch, like I was leaving for the hurricane. That’s no time to change banks.

This is the first example of a phenomenon we’ll discuss a lot in Red Tape Chronicles, something I call “gotcha” capitalism. You’re in a hurry to catch a plane, you don’t have time to refill that rental car tank – “Gotcha!” Suddenly, a gallon of gas costs $6. Oh, and that ATM transaction will cost you $5.50 -- $2 to the machine, $2 to your bank, and another $1.50 for a typo that made you ask for $400 withdrawal instead of $300.

That’s not to say ATM fees are entirely unfair. Consumers shouldn’t expect to receive something for nothing. The convenience of getting cash from any bank’s machines is worth something. But when banks are charging something for nothing, then we know something is wrong.

Playing Firefighter

2005-10-26T15:53:00.000-06:00

This past weekend I had a chance to play firefighter...my local community has a semi-annual program they call the Citizen's Fire Academy, and it is a humbling experience. I have the utmost admiration for firefighters..they are heroes and everyday people, too. Here are a couple of pictures a friend took of me doing various tasks...one involved me going through a Search and Rescue Maze (that's the 'shed-like' structure behind me--believe it or not it's two levels, and all kinds of obstacles: hanging wires, tangled ropes, holes, exposed joists, the works!)...in total darkness, on my hands and knees! Another involved me learning how to put out a fire, and yet another one required me to learn how to use the Jaws of Life. Enjoy!

ZT

Haiku

2005-10-26T15:50:00.000-06:00

Listen to el Rushbo,
The intellect is soothed;
Common sense on tap.

ZT

Autumnal Musings

2005-10-19T14:44:00.000-06:00

This is a picture taken in a local park. It was cloudy that day, as it is today, too. The smell of Autumn is close and clear.

ZT

I want it my way, and I WANT IT NOW!!!

2005-10-14T15:56:00.000-06:00

Very nicely done, Mr. Sowell!

ZT
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October 13, 2005
Spoiled Brat Politics: Part II
By Thomas Sowell

The idea that what I want overrides what you want has increasingly become part of our thinking, our policies and even our laws. There is literally a federal case before the Supreme Court over the fact that many colleges and universities refuse to allow military recruiters on campus.

Why? Because, as the academics will tell you, they are opposed to the military, either in general or because they think the military are discriminating against homosexuals or for whatever other reasons they have.

These academics have every right to be against the military, for any reason or for no reason.

If they don't like the military, they can stay away from the military, since there is no draft. But what they want is to keep other people away from the military, by preventing students from hearing what the military recruiters have to say, as students hear what recruiters from all sorts of other institutions and movements have to say on campus.

The reason there is a legal issue is that a federal law has been passed, saying that colleges and universities that forbid military recruiters from coming on campus are no longer eligible to receive federal money.

Academics are outraged. They see this law as a violation of their freedom -- including their right to violate their students' freedom. It is classic spoiled brat politics, based on the idea that what I want overrides what you want.

The same principle underlies growing legal restrictions on building anything that existing residents in a community don't want built.

A young "planning consultant" to a local politician in New York says: "These neighborhoods substantially have not changed in 40 years. What we are trying to do is make sure they are recognizable 40 years from now. I don't think there is anything wrong with that. In fact, in many other places in the country, that is celebrated. So why shouldn't we celebrate it here?"

That young man probably has a bright future in politics, where the ability to confuse the issues is a highly rewarded talent. "Everybody is doing it" is a very effective political argument, requiring neither facts nor logic, and widely accepted in this era of dumbed-down education. Focusing on the benefits to some and ignoring the costs to others is another tried-and-true political tactic.

Since people who are already in a community are the ones who vote, making what they want override what other people want is a winner in spoiled brat politics.

At one time, courts took seriously the 14th Amendment's guarantee of equal rights for all, regardless of where they lived and voted. Courts even enforced the 5th Amendment's guarantee of property rights.

In other words, local voters and local politicians could not arbitrarily deprive other people of the right to come in and buy and use property as they saw fit, simply because some planning consultants or planning commissions preferred that they do otherwise. But Constitutional protection of property rights is no longer "in the mainstream" of fashionable legal thinking.

Let's go back to square one. The people who bought homes in a neighborhood 40 years ago did not buy the neighborhood, nor did they pay for a guarantee that the neighborhood would stay the same for 40 years, much less in perpetuity.

The only way the government can give current residents such a guarantee is to take away other people's property rights, which exist precisely in order to keep politicians at bay.

Buying a chance and asking the government to turn that chance into a guarantee has become a common occurrence under spoiled brat politics.

When you buy a home with a great view of the ocean, you do not pay for a guarantee that nothing will ever be built between you and the ocean. You ask politicians to give that to you, at someone else's expense.

Some people even call that idealism because you are "preserving" something good. But preserving it from whom? And why is what you want more important than what they want?

It's Friday, and Beer-thirty is nigh!!!

2005-10-14T13:04:00.000-06:00

Here is a little ditty about one of my favorite vices...BEER!!! (Delicious, dark porters carefully crafted in microbrewery, preferably)

ZT
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In some of my songs I have casually mentioned
The fact that I like to drink beer
This little song is more to the point
Roll out the barrel and lend me your ears

(chorus)
I like beer. it makes me a jolly good fellow
I like beer. it helps me unwind and sometimes it makes me feel mellow
(makes him feel mellow)
Whiskey's too rough, champagne costs too much, vodka puts my mouth in gear
This little refrain should help me explain as a matter of fact I like beer
(he likes beer)

My wife often frowns when we're out on the town
And I'm wearing a suit and a tie
She's sipping vermouth and she thinks I'm uncouth
When I yell as the waiter goes by

(chorus)

Last night I dreamed that I passed from the scene
And I went to a place so sublime
Aw, the water was clear and tasted like beer
Then they turned it all into wine (awwwwww)

I like beer. it makes me a jolly good fellow
I like beer. it helps me unwind and sometimes it makes me feel mellow
(makes him feel mellow)
Whiskey's too rough, champagne costs too much, and vodka puts my mouth in gear
Aw, this little refrain should help me explain as a matter of fact I love beer
(yes, he likes beer)

(Tom T. Hall)

The Liberal Half of our Country WILL Destroy the USA

2005-10-11T15:52:00.000-06:00

This article from The Rant website should be re-titled: "Half our nation stuck on SELF DESTRUCT" (and it ain't the half that voted for BUSH, thank the gods!)

Enjoy!

ZT

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Half of Our Nation Is Stuck on Stupid
War on Terror/Lt. Col. Michael Burkert, US Army (ret.)

October 8, 2005 - I was reminiscing this morning about how wonderful our past 4^th of July was. In Germany, it was just another workday for the Germans, but not for us. Our U.S. Forces celebrated with not only military pomp, but also pride in their hearts. I saw this; it made me proud to be an American.

Back in the United States, there were the normal 4^th of July parades in cities and towns. Proud soldiers, sailors and marines stood at rigid attention when our flag past, and rendered snappy salutes in memory of all the fallen Americans who fought and won our many wars. The old World War II heroes, their slightly younger Korean War compatriots as well as us Vietnam guys stopped and remembered those we lost in far off places. Our current heroes who fight in far off Afghanistan and Iraq were represented as well. Their memories are not as distant as ours are, yet they stood the 4^th of July parade this year as proud as any of their predecessors. No doubt the same pride I witnessed here in Germany.

Yet sadly, there is another element in our nation. An element that could care less about the 4^th of July and thinks that service men and women are all chumps, thugs and losers. The exception is when liberals can use a service member or in the case of that nutty woman, the mother of an American hero. That nutty woman turned left on her hero son’s very grave! She’s now the darling of America’s leftist anti-war morons, who use her as a means to damage our country. She’s a pawn in the left’s efforts to sow doubt, deception and defeatism.

This is an element deceived by dark forces. Dark forces that are bent on the very destruction of our nation, the United States of America. That element would rather burn our flag, than to salute it. They would rather desecrate our flag and not honor what it stands for.

That deceived element of our country assumes we are not a war. That element still clings to the notion that Islam is a religion of love, peace, understanding and tolerance. They believe that terrorism is a police problem, and that the police need to arrest perpetrators, and insure that their “rights” are observed. Many liberals view terrorism as something the American people deserve. To some liberals, terrorism is just a mater of “Abdullah, Mohammed and the boys exercising their rights.”

Why should they believe we are at war? Much to the credit of our president, and the combined efforts of our government and military, we’ve suffered no new attacks on our nation since 9/11. There is no rationing of commodities, no air-raid sirens and drills, no reminders to conserve material for the war effort. No, there are no reminders of the WORLD WAR we are in. Our partisan media even refuses to show us film footage of the Twin Towers collapsing. It might “offend” some goat herder in Trashcanistan.

No doubt the liberals in our country would welcome additional attacks on our nation and our people. Anything harmful or destructive for America is perceived as admirable for liberals and the advancement of their anti-American causes.

Much of the “assumption of peace” is generated by our partisan news media. Their approach is to celebrate the losses of our soldiers and marines as if they were keeping score at a sporting event. They simply do not get it! They have for so long taken the approach that the ills of the world are due to the United States. All fault in the world lies at our door. Even in their description of Muslim terrorists, you hear the use of “militants, insurgents, activists,” and yes, even “freedom fighters.” You almost never hear the word “terrorist,” in the mainstream media. I suppose we might “offend” CAIR, or other Muslim anti-American organizations.

The partisan media in our nation and Europe as well, has completely failed to comprehend the insidious threat that Islamic terrorism poses in our world today. The threat posed upon the United States and other nations is the most shocking destructive force in the world as I write.

We as a nation are not facing this threat realistically. Our liberal, biased media assumes that “engagement,” or pacification is possible with the Islamic movement. IT IS NOT! Political correctness, careless assumptions, unfounded emotions and the desire for peace all serve to obscure the reality of the situation in a smoke screen. Assuming that Islam is a religion of love, peace, understanding and learning is dangerous beyond description!

The “disloyal opposition” in our Congress is so concerned with maintaining the status quo on abortion rights, promoting gay ideals, concerned with “animal rights” and other liberal causes that they are completely deceived and blinded to the reality at hand. The are more interested in destroying George W. Bush, than they are in destroying the mortal enemies of our great country. Some liberal “journalists” have even taken to using forged and fantasy-inspired documents in efforts to ruin our president. Liberals have demonstrated over and over that they will lie, cheat, distort and dummy-up anything that they must, in order to further their agenda.

Iran will soon be a force to be reckoned with. Nuclear Iran will soon be the new “mean kid” on the block. The destruction of the United States is the primary goal of the Mullahs, Imams and Ayatollahs of Iran. If you think otherwise, you are living in a dream world.

Muslim clerics look at the United States in disgust. Why shouldn’t they? Our nation has sunk to unbelievable lows in morality, honesty, courage and conviction. All one has to do is to watch television during “family hour,” and it’s obvious why the Ayatollah’s hate our nation and our way of life.

It will not be too far off, that Islam is united against all others. Chances are that a Grand Ayatollah will come to power and unite the Shia, the Sunni, the Wahhabi and other lesser sects of Islam, for the coming battle with the non-Islamic world. The restoration of the Caliphate, a worldwide-recognized successor to prophet Mohammed is in the works.

The Islamic enemies already know how to destroy the United States. They can never meet us on the battlefield and prevail; yet they can defeat us economically. Coordinated suicide attacks in multiple populated areas can in one day, devastate our economy, remove us from the world as an economic player, and reduce our nation to poverty, desperation and hopelessness. You can bet that plans to accomplish just those goals are in the offing now.

The outlook for our ultimate victory over Islam seems somewhat grim. It’s not that we don’t have the best fighting forces in the world. We most certainly do have the best. What we lack, the one thing that is an absolute must, if we are to win the war, is unity and resolve!

In the past few years, we as a nation have launched off into some weird fantasy that multiculturalism and diversity are strengths. This is idiocy! These very liberal notions are serving to tear us down as a nation. Sadly, it appears to be working but then that is the ultimate goal of American liberals…tear down the USA.

Is it possible that the current World War with Islam will be the curtain call for us? If we are attacked by a serious deathblow, nuclear weapons for example, can we as a nation expect aid and assistance from the French? Or maybe the Germans? Realistically, the answer is most likely no. The entire purpose of the current European Union is to supercede the United States in all aspects.

Not too far from my residence sits a Mosque. It’s a Sunni Mosque and has been the scene of some extremely disturbing rhetoric shouted to the faithful by esteemed and learned “holy men.” These “holy men” are some of the most hateful, spiteful and violent men on earth today! This reminds me everyday that we are at war with a most devious, vicious and cunning enemy.

If it comes to pass that millions of Americans lie dead and rotting in the gassed, nuked or otherwise destroyed streets of our major cities, liberalism will have won the final round. If our destruction is perpetrated by the likes of Osama bin Laden, or the EVIL Islamic Empire of Iran, there will be dancing in the streets in Cairo, Amman, Riyadh, Baghdad, Tehran and others. Make no mistake about it; there will be dancing in the streets of Paris, Berlin and Rome as well!

The Pathetic Sensitivity of Islamofascists

2005-10-09T23:06:00.000-06:00

I love this article from The Rant.

ZT

Things that Offend Islam
War on Terror/Barbara Stock September 30, 2005 - Burger King will be withdrawing and changing the logo for its ice cream cups because, if one looks very closely and has a good imagination, the logo appeared to some Muslims to look sort of like the word Allah in Arabic if it was viewed from just the right angle. Not wanting to offend, Burger King caved in to the constantly complaining and whining Muslims who seem to find some offense in just about everything these days. One has to wonder just how many Western Muslims can even read Arabic.

The Taliban found offense in the ancient statues of Buddha in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, and blew them to bits. These Muslims also found offense in several smaller and much easier to destroy ancient clay and wood-carved statues at the same location. All of these irreplaceable pieces of history were destroyed because some Muslims found them “offensive.” Should the great pyramids of Egypt be destroyed if someone finds them offensive?

The Taliban also found music, flying kites, dancing of any kind, women leaving the house without a male family member, and balloons offensive. Any woman leaving the house without being covered from head to toe was so offensive that she risked being beaten to death.

Strict Islamics find the human female body offensive and feels every woman should be covered from head to toe. Muslims will tell you that they cover their women out of modesty and respect but this simply isn’t the case. Strict Islamics believe a woman is born in sin and is just one living, breathing sin that needs to be covered at all times so that the public cannot see her shame. If a woman crosses a man's path while he is praying, he must begin anew because the woman is offensive to Allah.

An incomplete list of people Islamics also seem to find offensive is: all Jews, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, ex-Muslims, and all non-Muslims.

These days, it seems that Sunni Muslims find Shia Muslims to be offensive as well.

Also offensive is any reference to the Quran by non-Muslims that does not expound on how every word is perfect and written by God himself. Anything less than complete agreement is an offense that often carries a death sentence. Just ask Salman Rushdie, author of “Satanic Verses,” who had to hide for years to stay alive, and Theo Van Gogh, who paid with his life for speaking the truth about Islam.

This past week, Governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts suggested that since virtually every terrorist attack around the world has been carried out by Muslims, it might behoove us to listen in on what is being preached in American mosques. Just as a reminder, the 1993 World Trade Center bombing was planned with the assistance of Muslim cleric, Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, better known as the “Blind Sheik.” As expected, the Council of American/Islamic Relations (CAIR) went ballistic. To no one’s surprise, CAIR did not claim that Islamic governments don’t eavesdrop on Christian churches. Of course, Islamics don’t do that; Islamic governments just burn churches down, occasionally with the people still in them.

Strict Islamic countries find women wearing white socks sexually provocative and offensive. Pictures of humans or animals are offensive and men who shave their faces are offensive. Card playing is offensive. Girls attending school and receiving an education are also offensive. Women who vote are also offensive.

A woman daring to leave her home without permission even to rush her sick child to a doctor is offensive. Of course, female doctors are offensive so any woman requiring medical care can’t receive it because all the doctors are men.

Islamics also seem to be offended by: America, Great Britain, Poland, Israel, Australia, Spain, Italy, Japan, Russia, and New Zealand, just to mention a few countries. Interestingly, Islam doesn’t seem to be as offended by France or Germany.

In fairness, what Islam doesn’t find offensive should be examined. Many Muslims did not find the murder of 3000 people on 9/11 offensive. Saddam Hussein, responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands fellow Muslims, was not offensive. Forbidding the practice of other religions in an Islamic country is not offensive while daring to question what might be going on inside a mosque in America, is terribly offensive.

The murder of thousands of Iraqi Muslims doesn’t seem to offend Islamics, as long the killing is being done by other Muslims. If an American soldier kills a Muslim trying to kill him, that is offensive. The beheading of helpless prisoners by “freedom fighters” is not offensive. Putting mass murderers in a prison camp that provides good food, allows time to pray, provides copies of the Quran and prayer rugs, gives medical and dental care, and allows Islamic clerics to provide the prisoners with religious council, is offensive.

The Quran touching the floor is offensive but urinating on or burning the Bible is not. Profiling people from Islamic countries that support terrorism is offensive but imprisoning Christians for wearing a cross is not.

Teaching people about Islam is encouraged, but teaching Christianity is a beheading offense.

Islamics are not offended when Omar Ahmad, co-founder of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, declares that it is the goal of CAIR to replace our Constitution with the Quran and is incensed if Americans are offended. After all, that is being disrespectful of the Quran. Any American who does not want the Quran replacing the Constitution and who speaks out against Islam is immediately labeled an “Islamaphobe.” When Islam is involved, there is no freedom of speech.

Another thing that doesn’t seem to offend many Muslims is the killing of a ten-year-old rape victim. She must have been “asking for it.” The little vixen soiled the family name and was probably wearing white socks. Also not offensive is the stoning to death of women who are merely suspected of “being with a man not their husband.” Hanging college students who dare to speak out against oppressive and cruel ayatollahs isn’t offensive to many Muslims either.

Muslims are not offended by the age-old Islamic tradition of forcing their young daughters to marry their 60-year-old uncles. Girls as young as 12 are forced to marry their cousins and occasionally even their half-brothers. This is done to keep the family money in the family. However, this practice also produces the genetic defects caused by constant inbreeding.

What Americans should find offensive is how the media, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), CAIR, and American leftists recoil in horror if a cruel word is said about Islam as they all set about the business of destroying our own Christian-based society. As socialists and atheists slowly remove all traces of God from America, Islamics are standing ready to fill the void with Allah and Islamic law. Any American who doesn’t believe that we are war with Islam isn’t paying attention.

Americans need to wake up from their liberal-media and television-induced stupor. CAIR and the ACLU do not represent American culture but they are both being allowed to destroy it. That offends me. It should offend you.

Mama Moonbat Soiree!!

2005-10-06T11:51:00.000-06:00

Ok, as the little green footballs blog warns, put your drink down before reading this party invitation. It is absolutely priceless....

ZT

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Sent: Wednesday, October 05, 2005 1:11 PM
Subject: [actionla] Saturday October 8th - OCCUPY THE OCCUPIERS 2: Concert to Drive Out the BUSH REGIME! - Westwood Federal Building - 1PM Until AFTER Dark

OCCUPY THE OCCUPIERS 2: Concert to Drive Out the BUSH REGIME!

THIS Saturday October 8th

Westwood Federal Building

1PM Until AFTER Dark

From New Orleans to Bagdad to AiDs Ravaged Africa to the Border of Mexico: It is Time for Them to GO! Saturday October 8th at the Westwood Federal Building.

Join us for an all day music and cultural event to Drive the Bush Regime from Office. Bring your tents decorated with slogans, your artwork, your information tables and most important just yourself!

Get juiced up! Get organized! Now is the time. We can change the world!

War- Hatred - Greed : NOT IN OUR NAME!

Contact Xochitl at redxochi@yahoo.com to get involved!

Need big help with outreach, tabling, fundraising, inviting bands, sound equipment! LA Not In Our Name ... Email notinournamela@hotmail.com

ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE, AND WE PLEDGE TO MAKE IT REAL!

www.la.notinourname.net

Confirmed Performers

error collective
Mas O Menos
The Crux
Natural Cause
Buen Estar
Chicano Secret Service
Mezklah
Panda Panda
Holly Burton and The Patriot Acts
Shoshana Vogel
Reactance
The Aesthetic Crew
Dissnfranchised
Nathan Payne Memorial Service
DMZ//38
Playing In Traffic
Hollywood 78
Intro5pect
Blood Sugar

We Whites are the OPPRESSORS

2005-10-05T16:03:00.000-06:00

Here's a lovely column from Wendy McIlroy. She and her ifeminists contingient really know how to address the 'race' issue, which really isn't an issue. Her points are spot on. YOU GO GIRL!!!

ZT

Muslims are going too far this time

2005-10-04T16:11:00.000-06:00

I don't believe it. Read this article on CNN: "Race Fears Spark St. George Ban". Absolutely OBSCENE. Now they want the Brits to change their damned FLAG?!

Here's the the article, in case it disappears or otherwise becomes unavailable on CNN:

LONDON, England (CNN) -- British prison officers who wore a St. George's Cross tie-pin have been ticked off by the jails watchdog over concerns about the symbol's racist connotations.

The pins showing the English flag -- which has often raised hackles due to its connection with the Crusades of the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries -- could be "misconstrued," Chief Inspector of Prisons Anne Owers said in a section on race in a report on a jail in the northern English city of Wakefield.

The banner of St. George, the red cross of a martyr on a white background, was adopted for the uniform of English soldiers during the military expeditions by European powers to recapture the Holy Land from Muslims, and later became the national flag of England.

A section on race relations in Owers' report said: "We were concerned to see a number of staff wearing a flag of St. George tie-pin.

"While we were told that these had been bought in support of a cancer charity there was clear scope for misinterpretation, and Prison Service Orders made clear that unauthorized badges and pins should not be worn."

As one of her formal recommendations Owers said: "Staff should not wear unauthorized badges or pins."

Chris Doyle, director of the Council for the Advancement of Arab-British Understanding, said Tuesday the red cross was an insensitive reminder of the Crusades.

"A lot of Muslims and Arabs view the Crusades as a bloody episode in our history," he told CNN. "They see those campaigns as Christendom launching a brutal holy war against Islam.

"Muslim or Arab prisoners could take umbrage if staff wore a red cross badge. It's also got associations with the far-right. Prison officers should be seen to be neutral."

Doyle added that it was now time for England to find a new flag and a patron saint who is "not associated with our bloody past and one we can all identify with."

____

That the Muslims are demanding that this change occur is beyond galling. It is insulting. Who are THEY to demand that non-Muslims change ANY part of their national heritage? Their 'sensitivities' be damned. These people will never stop at trying to guilt us into removing our symbols, our identity, our humanity. I hope that the Brits figure that out before it's too late.

____

ZT

The NYT Spins it again!

2005-09-30T12:21:00.000-06:00

Leave it to the New York Times to spin an offensive idea into a shrill cry against censorship. Thanks to the Little Green Footballs blog for bringing this to my attention.

________________

Leveling the Freedom Center
Published September 30, 2005

To almost no one's surprise, Gov. George Pataki banished the proposed International Freedom Center from ground zero on Wednesday, a day before he announced plans to build a half-million square feet of retail space at the World Trade Center site. Any orderly, open process for creating a vibrant, meditative space there has been discarded. Mr. Pataki killed the Freedom Center a few hours before a public forum on its fate was scheduled to be held. He killed it before the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation had a chance to vote on it.

Since late June, it has been clear that Mr. Pataki would no longer support the Freedom Center, except on terms that would render it meaningless. His argument is that the center's plans are simply too controversial, a notion that was also endorsed by Senator Hillary Clinton earlier this week. It seems to have made no difference that this was an idea Mr. Pataki supported early on, or that the Freedom Center's plans are almost precisely what the development corporation proposed in its outline for a cultural presence at ground zero. Nor does it seem to have mattered that the protest against the Freedom Center - or, more truthfully, against any cultural presence at the World Trade Center site - was based on false information and a profound fear of free speech.

At the root of that vitriolic protest was one question: "Why here?" Why imagine creating an institution that would celebrate freedom and foster discussion of its meaning, and the meaning of 9/11, within the memorial quadrant of ground zero? Wouldn't that dishonor the dead? We have never thought so. We believe that the site is sacred to more than death. It is sacred to life and to the principles - as well as the people - attacked there on Sept. 11, 2001. We believe that this country can be made stronger only by free speech. We believe that the power of that site should be used to consider what happened that day and to see what lessons we can derive from it, not only to mourn the dead.

___________________

Hello?! Am I the ONLY one furious at the ignorance displayed by the NYT? There is no censorship going on here. Ground Zero is sacred ground for those who DIED and those affected by the tragedy. It is NOT a place to discuss how the US responded to the terrorist attacks, whether it was correct, etc.,. The free speech argument is nothing but a straw man. An equivalent issue would be turning the Vietnam Memorial into a Freedom Center...debating the validity of the war and 'discussing' the oppression of others in countries the world over, due to the warmongering of the USA! Undoubtedly, there would be a huge outcry, and possibly a riot on the part of the Vets who survived that conflict, as well as the families affected by it. Ground Zero is a memorial, not a political platform. LEAVE IT ALONE. Let those who would build the Freedom Center buy some land NEARBY and build it there. But not on Ground Zero. That would most certainly dishonor the dead, and disrespect those left behind.

Ah, the view from the OTHER side...

2005-09-27T16:14:00.000-06:00

This was an image I found on Rush Limbaugh's website. He found it on the Little Green Footballs blog. Absolutely hilarious. The photo on the left is cleverly composed. The angle is perfect as it includes the White House and perfectly omits the dearth of protesters behind the figure. The photo on the right is the REAL picture...the one of the 'mainstream media' pissing all over themselves to take "THE PICTURE". Reminds me of the staged photo with Mama Moonbat and Al Sharpton taken a few weeks ago. These salivating simpletons keep pulling out more rope with which to hang themselves--for our amusement, perhaps?!

ZT

The new grading system: beginning, established, consolidating or emerging, solid, comprehensive

2005-09-26T14:29:00.000-06:00

Ok, this is just the HEIGHT of idiocy and PC language inanity. Check out this article located on Australia's On Line Opinion website. I can't imagine a child getting even remotely comprehending their performance based on the nebulous meaning of the words given as grades.

ZT

_______________

Report card fails postmodern student assessments
by Kevin Donnelly--posted Friday, 23 September 2005

Australians love competitive sport and the idea of winners and losers. Australian parents also want to know how well their children are travelling against others at school and whether they have passed or failed.

Unfortunately, this is the very thing parents are denied. As noted by a federal report evaluating school reports and student assessment, entitled Reporting on School and Student Achievement:

Parents understand how difficult it may be for teachers to convey bad news, but nevertheless they indicate that they want a fair and honest assessment, in plain language, on the progress of their children.

There is a lack of objective standards that parents can use to determine their children's attainment and rate of progress. Many parents specifically asked for information that would enable them to compare their children's progress with other students or with state, territory-wide or national standards.

Since the early 1990s, as a result of state and territory education systems adopting fads, such as outcomes-based education, traditional forms of assessment have been replaced by what is called 'formative assessment'.

Teachers committed to formative assessment are against ranking students and using letter grades or percentages. It's assumed that failing is bad for self-esteem, that all students, given enough resources and time, will succeed and, as learning is personal, students cannot be compared.

Formative assessment also embraces a developmental approach to learning, based on the argument that "students develop and learn at different rates and in different ways" and "the rate of individual development and learning can vary enormously and students may achieve a particular standard at different age levels".

The result? Instead of pass or fail, student progress or lack of progress is clouded by such politically correct terms as beginning, established, consolidating or emerging, solid, comprehensive (emphasis mine).

Instead of students facing regular examinations with consequences for failure, as do those students in stronger performing education systems overseas, students are automatically promoted from year to year, even though many have not mastered the basics.

While parents want an end to politically correct reports, the same cannot be said for those seeking to control our education system. The Australian Education Union, in addition to opposing statewide literacy and numeracy tests, is totally opposed to competitive, graded assessment, where students are ranked against one another or against set, year-level standards.

Not only does the AEU argue that competitive assessment is socially unjust, as some groups in society tend to be better than others, the union also argues that collaboration is better than competition as everyone should be able to experience success.

Such is the influence of the postmodern on education that the Australian Council of Deans of Education, in New Learning: A Charter for Australian Education, also argues against testing students on the basis that some will pass and some will fail.

The deans argue that there are no absolutes, as knowledge is always tentative and shifting and, as a result, there are no right or wrong answers. Pass-fail and traditional approaches to learning are considered obsolete: "The essence of the old basics was encapsulated simply in the subject areas of the three Rs: reading, writing and arithmetic - it was a kind of shopping list of things-to-be-known - through drilling the times tables, memorising spelling lists, learning the parts of speech and correct grammar.

"There is no way that a curriculum based on factual content or straightforward right and wrong answers can anticipate the range of life alternatives any one student is likely to encounter across a lifetime."

The Australian Association for the Teaching of English is also opposed to the more traditional forms of assessment. In the jargon much loved by educrats, the AATE's policy, entitled Assessment and Reporting English, states: "The use of decontextualised, standardised tests for monitoring the performance of students and of schools is unhelpful. In the past such tests have been more frequently employed to attack good teaching than otherwise. Students have come to see the test as part of the curriculum because teachers feel compelled to teach to them."

The flaws and contradictions inherent in formative assessment are many. First, research tells us that before children can attempt higher order thinking, they have to master the basics, including times tables, mental arithmetic and knowing the structure of a sentence.

As noted by Jean Renoir, when he asked his father the secret of his success as an impressionist painter, success was based on years of hard, often repetitive work in the academy learning the basics of drawing and perspective.

Creativity requires structure and discipline; it does not happen by accident. As such, there is nothing wrong with teachers teaching and then testing whether students have mastered what is required; teaching to the test can be beneficial.

Second, in the real world there are right and wrong answers and consequences for failure. The next time you fly, pray that the pilot knows the correct way to take off and land. While there is some truth in the proposition that learners construct their own understanding of the world, there are also objective facts related to the established disciplines of knowledge that teachers need to teach and students need to learn.

The next time you drive across a bridge, hope that the engineers knew and respected the laws of physics and that their understanding was not at the "beginning" or "emerging" stage.

While there is an element of truth in the proposition that students learn in different ways and at different rates, there is also the reality that those children who fail to master the basics in the early years of primary school are destined to failure in later years.

A related point is that not all students have the same level of ability or motivation to succeed. As a result of never being told they have failed, many students leave school with an inflated and unrealistic sense of their own ability and worth.

Third, formative assessment is very wasteful, time-consuming and overly bureaucratic. One only needs to see the hundreds of vague outcome statements that Australian primary teachers have to monitor and report against to understand their frustration and despair.

Not only does formative assessment promote a checklist mentality that weakens the integrity of particular subjects by seeking to quantify everything, learning is reduced to what can be measured, but time and energy is diverted from the joy of teaching.

Finally, one of the most damaging myths associated with formative assessment is that it is impossible, as they do in overseas countries, to clearly define standards, either by ranking students one against the other or by setting objective levels of performance that measure student ability.

The result? Not only do students in Japan, Singapore and the Netherlands regularly outperform Australian students in international maths and science tests, but thousands of Australian students enter secondary schools illiterate and innumerate.

On the basis that there is no such thing as pass-fail and all students experience success, underperforming schools are also allowed to continue unchallenged.

To date, states and territories allow failing schools to continue unchecked and parents are kept in the dark about how schools compare. The Australian situation is unlike that in Britain and the US where underperforming schools are identified and given additional resources and expertise in order to improve.

During last year's federal election campaign, one of the policies the Howard Government put forward was a return to plain-English report cards. Instead of fuzzy, new-age reports, students would be graded A to E and placed in quartiles against other members of the class.

To date, NSW, Western Australia and Tasmania have agreed to both aspects of Education Minister Brendan Nelson's request for plain-English report cards. While Victoria and South Australia have recently agreed to implement A to E letter grades, parents will not automatically be given information about quartiles. The other states and territories have yet to respond.

The benefit of the more traditional federally inspired approach is that parents will be given a succinct and easy-to-understand measure of student performance. Better still, where individual students are ranked against classmates, parents will be in a position to more realistically judge their child's ability and, if needed, to help improve performance.

Something Stinks in the State of Louisiana

2005-09-23T10:28:00.000-06:00

Well, just more fun news coming out of Louisiana....found this lovely AP headline at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer website.

Storm donations found at official's home

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Police found cases of food, clothing and tools intended for hurricane victims at the home of the chief administrative officer for a New Orleans suburb, authorities said Wednesday.

Officers searched Cedric Floyd's home because of complaints that city workers were helping themselves to donations for hurricane victims. Floyd, who runs the day-to-day operations in the suburb of Kenner, was in charge of distributing the goods.

Police plan to seek a charge of committing an illegal act as a public official against Floyd, and more charges against other city workers are possible, police Capt. Steve Caraway said.

The donations filled a large pickup truck four times. "It was an awful lot of stuff," Caraway said.

The donated materials must be processed as evidence but eventually will be distributed to victims. "We have lots of families that are begging for these supplies," said Attorney General Charles Foti, whose office assisted in the investigation.

Attempts to reach Floyd were unsuccessful at home numbers listed under his name in Kenner. His office number went unanswered after business hours.

Philip Ramon, chief of staff to Kenner Mayor Philip Capitano, has said city officials were investigating the alleged pilfering but added that many employees were themselves hurricane victims.

Mama Moonbat (The Sheehan Zone)

2005-09-22T09:38:00.000-06:00

Here's an interesting quote from the Mama Moonbat I found on the Little Green Footballs blog:

"I don’t care if a human being is black, brown, white, yellow or pink. I don’t care if a human being is Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, or pagan. I don’t care what flag a person salutes: if a human being is hungry, then it is up to another human being to feed him/her. George Bush needs to stop talking, admit the mistakes of his all around failed administration, pull our troops out of occupied New Orleans and Iraq, and excuse his self from power. The only way America will become more secure is if we have a new administration that cares about Americans even if they don’t fall into the top two percent of the wealthiest."

She so clearly exposes her backside the more she opens that orifice called a mouth. It's such a beautiful thing.

Here's another cleverly orchestrated PR orgy from Mama Moonbat, also found on Little Green Footballs. The article, however is located on the Washington Post website.

Sheehan, Supporters Descend on The Capital
--(ZT: Yeah, all three dozen of 'em!)

Three weeks after leaving their dusty outpost in Crawford, Tex., and touring the country, several dozen families brought their antiwar message to the U.S. Capitol and the White House. They plan to join thousands of protesters Saturday at a march and rally on the Mall. “Not one more!” they chanted as they walked up the West Lawn of the Capitol, referring to the number of U.S. soldiers dying in Iraq.

The “Bring Them Home Now” bus tour was born at Camp Casey, the makeshift encampment that blossomed around Cindy Sheehan when she decided to plant herself outside President Bush’s ranch and demand that he talk with her about why her son, Army Spec. Casey Sheehan, 24, was killed. He died April 4, 2004, in Baghdad.

One of the buses stopped in Baltimore yesterday morning so the families could address a crowd of supporters gathered at Timothy Dean’s Bistro on Eastern Avenue. People wiped away tears as they listened to soldiers’ parents rail against the war that had claimed their children’s lives — or threatened to do so.

When Sheehan stepped to the microphone, the crowd pushed away from the table and stood, applauding the woman who camped in the Texas heat for 25 days.

“When I fell on the floor screaming on April 4, screaming for my son, screaming for my loss, it was too much for a mother to bear. I had skin in the game,” Sheehan said.

“We love our country,” she continued. “If we didn’t love our country, we could pool our resources and buy an island and get away from our country.” --(ZT: I wish someone would get out their checkbooks and their boats and ship these people to some leftover "Survivor" island set...anyone for barbequed rat?!)

When the group arrived on Capitol Hill in the early afternoon, dozens of reporters encircled Sheehan.

________________________________

Well, that's all the fun fit to print for today. Enjoy and stay he hell outta Rita's way, she's mad and she's BAD!!!

ZT

Race regarding Rita

2005-09-22T09:06:00.000-06:00

I haven't seen it yet, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time: pundits, MSM outlets, and other blathering lefties riding the 'Well, Galveston and Houston are mostly white cities' train to explain why Bush says he's learned from the mistakes of Katrina and is more prepared to respond in the wake of Rita. Of course Shrub is ready: there's more to lose, more white wealth in Houston and Galveston, et. al. It'll be very interesting to see how much the race card is played once Rita makes landfall, and the destruction begins, no matter which city or cities are hit.

"Oh, New Orleans is mostly black, President Bush doesn't care about blacks, hell, he even deliberately destroyed the levees in the black sections of town to ensure that the white areas were protected." Read the Poor Mojo Newswire for a rather entertaining story detailing the conspiracy behind the levee breaks. Conspiracy Planet has posted comments and transcripts from people who say they heard explosions, and watched twenty rapes a night in the Superdome. Shame on those individuals who obviously couldn't be bothered to intervene to save a six year old girl from being raped!

ZT

The Declaration of Independence

2005-09-21T22:21:00.000-06:00

In honor of the elections in Afghanistan, I thought I'd publish the Declaration of Independence, lest we forget our own humble and fragile beginnings.

ZT

______________________

The Declaration of Independence

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The Declaration of Independence

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America. When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed - That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

Senator Mary Landrieu, you are an insult to females everywhere

2005-09-19T21:11:00.000-06:00

Senator Mary Landrieu,

The reason the Secret Service has ignored your idiotic threat to punch the President is because you are lower than a belly crawling wharf rat. Your 'threat' is meaningless to them because you are nothing. I feel sorry for your constituents, because they elected a MORON.

ZT

_______________

Here's the story that started it all, thanks to the intrepid folks at NewsMax.com (the article can be found here:

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/9/17/94602.shtml

Sen. Mary Landrieu: I'll Still Punch Bush

Sen. Mary Landrieu refused on Friday to withdraw or apologize for her threat to punch President Bush if he criticized Louisiana officials - despite Bush's magnanimous speech Thursday night and a federal downpayment of more than $60 billion dollars to rebuild her state.

"I do not take it back, I don't apologize for it. I said I would punch anybody, including the president," she told the Chicago Tribune.

"Though threatening the president is a crime," the Tribune noted - "the Secret Service took it as a joke and the White House brushed off her remarks."

Standing in the Capitol, however, Landrieu made it clear she wasn't joking.

"These local officials were heroes," she contended, before saying she meant every word of her threat.

Appearing on ABC's "This Week" four days after Katrina's floodwaters swamped New Orleans, Landrieu complained: "If one person criticizes [Louisiana], or says one more thing, including the president of the United States, he will hear from me - one more word about it after this show airs and I - I might likely have to punch him - literally."

After saying she stood by her ugly comments, the Louisiana democrat also offered praise for the president on Friday, saying the Katrina reconstruction plan he outlined in his speech was "innovative and bold."

Governor Blanco is a TWIT

2005-09-15T13:04:00.000-06:00

It's official! Louisiana Governor Blanco is a moron. Watch her perform beautifully (moron-style) on camera on the Political Teen website. This video is just beautiful.

Also, check out the story on Louisiana Congressman William Jefferson on the ABC News website. Seems the man has single-handedly tied up resources better utilized to save people who actually NEED rescuing. They should have left him behind.

ZT

A Black Man's Rant

2005-09-13T12:54:00.000-06:00

This is priceless. FINALLY, some ELSE is getting mad at all the mayhem down in New Orleans. An old friend found this commentary on the Jamaica Online Star website. Enjoy!

ZT
________________

The dark side of black people

LET ME START by saying that if I had my life to live over a thousand times, the one thing I would not change would be my race. I am proud to be a black man. There are times however, when I wish that certain people and I did not share that trait.

For the past few days, the whole world ... well, at least those who have access to satellite and cable television, have been seeing pictures of the virtually total devastation of the cities of the U.S. Gulf Coast by Hurricane Katrina. An estimated 90 per cent of homes in New Orleans have been destroyed by flood waters and more than 100 people have been confirmed dead.

We see people standing on the roofs of their submerged homes desperate to be rescued, others being airlifted to safety, and we have heard tear-jerking stories of families losing their loved ones. But in all of this, we have also seen the really dark side of black people.

The day after the hurricane passed, there were reports of looting but network reporters had been saying that people were looting out of desperation, in search of food and water. A lot they knew.

The pictures I have been seeing are of people - black people - stealing shoes, diapers, and television sets. Not food and definitely not water. Not unless the armfuls of clothing, shoes, and appliances I see people wading through the streets with count as food and water.

Now, if all the looters were looting out of desperation, how desperate were the guy and girls I saw toting several boxes of size 13 Nikes? How desperate was the fellow with the stack of diapers? What, is it that he has several babies at home suffering from loose bowels? What am I talking about, what home? Everything is under water and what isn't, has been totally destroyed.

Plasma TV?

And just what are those guys stealing the plasma television sets going to be watching when there is no power in the entire city?

Desperation? Yeah, right. I am beginning to believe that black people, no matter where in the world they are, are cursed with a genetic predisposition to steal, murder, and create mayhem.

The entire firearm department at a Wal-Mart department store, for example, was cleaned out and the looters used the stolen weapons to rob people. How low is that? Everybody is suffering and the black people would seek to rob people who are suffering just like themselves.

No white looters?

And it has nothing to do with poverty. Where are the white people in all this? I am sure there are poor white people living in New Orleans, Biloxi and the other towns affected by what has been going on. Is it that the media are not showing pictures of them looting and robbing? Or is it that they are too busy trying to stay alive, waiting to be rescued, and hiding from the blacks.

And you know what? Even if the poor whites were looting and robbing, wouldn't it be nice if the blacks could have made them the only ones doing it

Just once, I would like for us blacks to take the high road in situations like this, where instead of showing our darkest side, we put our best foot forward. But I guess that would be too much to ask, too much of a case of wishful thinking.

The Pentagon WAS Ready for Hurricane Katrina

2005-09-09T09:17:00.000-06:00

Just in case those left-wing kooks on their blogs need a reality check (and most of them do, they are just so shrill and nothing else), here's an article from the WSJ about how the Pentagon was ready for the hurricane. And that Louisana Governor Kathleen Blanco has some explaining to do.

____

Who Calls the Cavalry?
The Pentagon was prepared for Hurricane Katrina.

BY DANIEL HENNINGER
Friday, September 9, 2005 12:01 a.m. EDT

"When you fly over the Gulf, it looks like a WMD exploded," Assistant Secretary of Defense Paul McHale told me this week. "Katrina very nearly approached the operational requirements of a WMD event; this was the first test of the high-end capability envisioned by the strategy."

The "strategy" is a three-month-old document called "Strategy for Homeland Defense and Civil Support." It describes the Defense Department's plans to defend the U.S. from a WMD attack or deal with the rubble and mass casualties of such an attack. Traditionally DoD has always helped civil authorities contend with the ruin of natural disasters. That Katrina's massive scale mirrored a WMD attack, obliterating a city, is a coincidence. But it raises the question of whether the states, or relatively vulnerable states like Louisiana, are up to the job of being "first responders" to a WMD attack or its natural equivalent. If they are not, we need to change some laws.

The popular impression left the past week-- that the government was wholly unprepared for Katrina--is not true. Significant U.S. military assistance was on alert throughout the week prior to Katrina's landfall. Why those highly trained and drilled assets did not move into New Orleans sooner is a question that should now sit at the center of a debate over who should have the authority--the states or the federal government--to be the "first mover."

According to accounts provided by several sources involved with preparations for Katrina, the Pentagon began tracking the storm when it was still just a number in the ocean on Aug. 23, some five days before landfall in Buras, La. As the storm approached, senior Pentagon officials told staff to conduct an inventory of resources available should it grow into a severe hurricane. Their template for these plans was the assistance DoD provided Florida last year for its four hurricanes.

And a week earlier than this, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld issued an executive order delegating hurricane decision authority to the head of the Northern Command, Adm. Timothy J. Keating. Four days later, as the tropical storm soon to be named Katrina gathered force, Adm. Keating acted on that order.

Before the hurricane arrived in New Orleans, Adm. Keating approved the use of the bases in Meridien, Miss., and Barksdale, La., to position emergency meals and some medical equipment; eventually the number of emergency-use bases grew to six. And before landfall, Adm. Keating sent military officers to Mississippi and Louisiana to set up traditional coordination with their counterparts from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. As well, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England ordered the movement of ships into the Gulf.

By the Pentagon's account, it carried out these preparations without any formal Katrina-related request from FEMA or other authorities. The personnel behind the massive military effort now on display in Louisiana--airlift evacuation, medical, supply, and the National Guard--was on alert a week before the hurricane. According to Assistant Secretary McHale, "The U.S. military has never deployed a larger, better-resourced civil support capability so rapidly in the history of our country."

So where were they on the two days of globally televised horror? Why, for instance, didn't DoD fly all this help close to New Orleans as soon as it saw Katrina coming? The answer, in military argot, is that you don't deploy troops beneath a bombing run; Katrina predictably would have wiped out any help put in her uncertain path, just as she rolled over the Big Easy's wholly unprotected "first responders."

Then there's American history, tradition and law. Once disaster arrives, several federal laws designed to protect state sovereignty from being swept aside by a Latin-American-style national police force dictate that a state's officials, specifically the governor, is supposed to phone the federal government and describe what they need. If asked by Homeland Security, DoD will send in the cavalry. But this is one audible at the line even Don Rumsfeld doesn't get to call.

Post-mortem investigations will surely re-create, minute by minute, how Louisiana Gov. Blanco and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff idled away their time last week. But it appears now that Gov. Blanco did not make that crucial, early, legally mandated call to the President. Absent that, Fox and CNN became the call to the White House. The media message was "do something!" In fact, the president does have "do something" authority. It's called the Insurrection Act, which is what John Kennedy used in 1963 against Gov. George Wallace, ordering the governor's own National Guard to turn against him and forcibly integrate the University of Alabama. As to the looters, who were breaking no evident federal law, the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 explicitly forbids using the military (unless a governor uses her National Guard under "state status") in a domestic police function.

The question raised by the Katrina fiasco--and by the Pentagon's new Homeland Defense Strategy to protect against WMD attack--is whether the threat from madmen and nature is now sufficiently huge in its potential horror and unacceptable loss that we should modify existing jurisdictional authority to give the Pentagon functional first-responder status. Should we repeal or modify the Posse Comitatus Act so homicidal thugs have more to fear than the Keystone Kops? Should a governor be able to phone the Defense Secretary direct, creating a kind of "yellow-light authority" and cutting out the Homeland Security or FEMA middleman? Should presidential initiative extend beyond the Insurrection Act?

Instinct says the answer is forever no. Survival suggests we had better talk about it.

Mr. Henninger is deputy editor of The Wall Street Journal's editorial page. His column appears Fridays in the Journal and on OpinionJournal.com.

______

Jim Crow in the 21st Century

2005-09-09T09:12:00.000-06:00

I am aghast at the obstructionism displayed by Big Education anymore. It just amazes me that they are so self-absorbed with their precious unions and whatnot that they cannot see fit to ensure that kids don't wander into a filthy bathroom.

I'm so glad I decided to homeschool if I ever had kids. This is the stuff of nightmares. Read on:

_________

Parents Disgusted by Unsanitary Conditions at Detroit School

By Val Clark
Web produced by Sarah Morgan
August 29, 2005

Parents were appalled Monday when they took their kids to school and found filthy bathrooms at Detroit’s Rosa L. Parks Middle School.

"Kids don’t know how to do as we as adults do. The toilets are filthy, the walls are filthy, the floors are filthy and just the stench in the building alone is enough to take anybody out of here," said Delores Toney, a concerned parent.

Parents who bought toilet paper and cleaning supplies were allowed to bring it into the East Side school. Since custodial crews at the school are supposed to handle cleaning they were not allowed to clean up the mess themselves.

Some parents, especially those whose children have asthma, have taken their children back home.

Friday the district told Channel 7 that the cleaning crews within the district’s 230 buildings had cleaned 32 million square feet. Parents have made the school district aware of the problem at Rosa L. Parks Middle School and are awaiting comment. On Monday at noon the school district still had not replied.
_______

Here's what Rush Limbaugh had to say about this story:

Jim Crow

September 8, 2005

Last week, parents were fit to be tied when they took their kids to school - the Rosa Parks Middle School in Detroit. One parent described what she encountered, "The toilets are filthy, the walls are filthy, the floors are filthy and just the stench in the building alone is enough to take anybody out of here." Sounds like what I'm reading about the Superdome after the hurricane down there.

Anyway, the parents took matters into their own hands... or at least they tried. Armed with cleaning supplies they purchased, and essentials like toilet paper, they went to the school. They were allowed to bring the supplies inside, but officials forbade them from using them. You see, custodial crews are entitled to clean the building - not parents - no exceptions. This would never happen in schools in, say, Chappaqua, New York, or Hyannisport, Massachusetts, would it? But children attending the Rosa Parks School, named for the civil rights icon who defied the racism of her era, are now trapped in a system that echoes life before Brown v. Board of Education. It's a world of low expectations and outright neglect. Like Democrat-run Louisiana.

Parents who want better for their children are met at the schoolhouse door by powerful forces: unions, administrators, and politicians who ignore their desire for school choice and who could care less if their kids grow up without the benefit of a good education in a clean, safe environment. This is the blue state education, better known as 21st century Jim Crow. "Did he really say that?" Uh, yeah, better known as 21st century Jim Crow.

__________________________

ZT

The Plot Thickens..and so does the mud

2005-09-06T14:28:00.000-06:00

I found a rather interesting editorial regarding FEMA's role and response requirement in Louisiana. It's not pretty.

Enjoy.

ZT

Craig Martelle: FEMA is not a first responder

Don't be so quick to pillory the federal response in New Orleans. Immediate emergency management is primarily a local and state responsibility

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

As one who has received training by FEMA in emergency management and also training by the Department of Defense in consequence management, I believe that the federal response in New Orleans needs clarification.


		Craig Martelle, retired as a major in the U.S. Marine Corps, lives in North Huntingdon. He recently launched the Strategic Outlook Institute, a public-policy organization.

The key to emergency management starts at the local level and expands to the state level. Emergency planning generally does not include any federal guarantees, as there can only be limited ones from the federal level for any local plan. FEMA provides free training, education, assistance and respond in case of an emergency, but the local and state officials run their own emergency management program.

Prior development of an emergency plan, addressing all foreseeable contingencies, is the absolute requirement of the local government --and then they share that plan with the state emergency managers to ensure that the state authorities can provide necessary assets not available at the local level. Additionally, good planning will include applicable elements of the federal government (those located in the local area). These processes are well established, but are contingent upon the personal drive of both hired and elected officials at the local level.

I've reviewed the New Orleans emergency management plan . Here is an important section in the first paragraph.

"We coordinate all city departments and allied state and federal agencies which respond to citywide disasters and emergencies through the development and constant updating of an integrated multi-hazard plan. All requests for federal disaster assistance and federal funding subsequent to disaster declarations are also made through this office. Our authority is defined by the Louisiana Emergency Assistance and Disaster Act of 1993, Chapter 6 Section 709, Paragraph B, 'Each parish shall maintain a Disaster Agency which, except as otherwise provided under this act, has jurisdiction over and serves the entire parish.' "


	Phil Coale, Associated Press Flooded school buses in a lot, New Orleans, Sept. 1. Click photo for larger image.

Check the plan -- the "we" in this case is the office of the mayor, Ray Nagin who was very quick and vocal about blaming everyone but his own office. A telling picture, at left, taken by The Associated Press on Sept. 1 and widely circulated on the Internet shows a school bus park, apparently filled to capacity with buses, under about four feet of water. If a mandatory evacuation was ordered, why weren't all the taxpayer-purchased buses used in the effort?

Who could have predicted the anarchy resulting as a consequence? The individuals who devolved into lawless animals embarrass the entirety of America. (I worked in a U.S. Embassy overseas for a couple years and I can imagine what foreign diplomats are thinking.) What societal factors would ever lead people to believe that this behavior was even remotely acceptable?

The folks in New Orleans who are perpetrating the violence and lawlessness are not that way because of low income or of race, but because they personally do not have any honor or commitment to higher ideals. The civil-rights leaders should be ashamed at playing the blame game.

The blame is on the individuals. The blame is on the society that allowed these individuals to develop the ideal that the individual is greater than the national pride he is destroying. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was very clear in her comments that she was offended at those who suggested the suffering in New Orleans was prolonged because of race.

As a retired Marine, I hang my head in shame to see my fellow Americans degenerate so far. I spent so many years in the Corps helping the citizens of other countries rise to a higher level of personal responsibility to ensure that in case of emergency, anarchy did not necessarily follow. When people are held to a higher standard of personal responsibility and they accept that, then they will do the right thing when the time comes.

It seems that the mayor of New Orleans is leading the effort in not taking responsibility for his actions. The emergency managers for the state of Louisiana do not have much to say either. The failure in the first 48 hours to provide direction for survivors is theirs to live with. When FEMA was able to take over, it started out behind and had to develop its plan on the fly. Now the federal government has established priorities -- rescue the stranded, evacuate the city, flow in resources and fix the levee. It appears that now there is a plan and it is being systematically executed.

Hurricane Katrina was a national tragedy -- not just in the number of lives lost or the amount of physical damage, but also in the failure of people to do what is right when no one is looking.

_______________________

The DEA's short sighted advocacy of Prohibition

2005-09-05T18:52:00.000-06:00

I absolutely cannot believe what I just found on the Instapundit blog....it was posted that the DEA is now supporting PROHIBITION. Oh yeah, that idea really worked the first time....made ma and pa kettle criminals for the simple act of fermenting grains. Lovely idea. Read the rather arrogant statements bandied about on the DEA's Think Twice website. Absolutely mind boggling.

ZT

The Fertile Earth

2005-09-05T14:57:00.000-06:00

Here is a picture of some of the Van Gogh sunflowers I have growing in my vegetable garden. I use them as a barrier against rabbits and other vermin. The honeybees and bumblebees just love these flowers. Unfortunately, so do the hornets. Seems they have a sweet tooth this time of year. I'll be glad when the first frost kills them. Ugh.

Today I saw one of the most exciting things any gardener could wish for...a praying mantis! Not just any praying mantis, mind you, this lovely was almost three inches in length. I picked it up and she went into her beautiful defensive posturing, flaring her wings and hissing. She looks well fed, which means that my garden is being tended by the best and the biggest. I also saw several large daddy longlegs, too. Nice to have these insect predators on my side!

Went to the Taste of Colorado yesterday with several friends. One of my friends was standing around while others in the group were getting 'tasting' tickets. All of a sudden, a bee landed squarely on his nose. It was hilarious! His girlfriend just freaked, though. She was ready to swat the critter, but of course, that's the last thing you want to do. He just stood there, trying to look at the bee, getting cross-eyed in the process. I moved closer to get a better look, and it just flew away. It was a riot looking at that silly, furry bee on his nose!

Well, hope everyone had a safe and fun holiday weekend. More politics tomorrow!

ZT

Islam is NOT a Peaceful Religion--THE TRUTH

2005-09-01T09:16:00.000-06:00

Check out this editorial column from The Rant. I don't often agree with James Atticus Bowden, but on this point, I do!

ZT
_______________

Muslims Censor American Speech
War on Terror/James Atticus Bowden September 1, 2005 - Right after 9-11 Muslims insisted on being called Muslims. Woe unto the American who used the former name. Recently, the Mohammedans won a coup getting a conservative talk show host, Michael Graham, fired from WMAL-AM, an ABC Radio affiliate. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), otherwise known as the ‘Corrupting America for Islamic Rule’, will expand bias bullying to censor the truth on other stations and generally throughout public speech.

Graham said, “Because of the mix of Islamic theology that—rightly or wrongly—is interpreted to promote violence, added to an organizational structure that allows violent radicals to operate openly in Islam's name with impunity, Islam has, sadly, become a terrorist organization. It pains me to say it. But the good news is it doesn't have to stay this way, if the vast majority of Muslims who don't support terror will step forward and reclaim their religion."

He added, “If the Boy Scouts of America had 1,000 scout troops, and 10 of them practiced suicide bombings, then the BSA would be considered a terrorist organization. If the BSA refused to kick out those 10 troops, that would make the case even stronger. If people defending terror repeatedly turned to the Boy Scout Handbook and found language that justified and defended murder – and the scoutmasters in charge simply said ‘Could be’ – the Boy Scouts would have been driven out of America long ago.”

That cost Graham his job. Over 15,000 protest calls to support him didn’t help. The Muslims got Graham for telling the truth. It’s going to get a lot worse. More Americans must speak in public with a lot more of the painful truth of Islam. This historical truth is so politically incorrect it shouts down the public pandering from the President down to not dare offend oh-so-sensitive Muslims.

Like, Islam is a (or do they insist it is ‘the’?) Religion of Peace. If Islam is a Religion of Peace then Aztec Paganism was the Religion of Mercy. Muslims are behind the Communists, but ahead of the Nazis, for mass murders, individual martyrdom and religious war killing. Roman Catholicism’s Spanish Inquisition is cited as a counter-vailing Christian horror, but it’s nothing (estimates of 32,000 deaths, but the actual records indicate about 2,000 deaths) compared to body count that begin when Mohammed ordered the massacre, genocide, of a Jewish tribe just 5 years after starting his religion (627 A.D.)

Muslim armies killed, raped, and destroyed more in their conquests against Christians, Pagans and Hindus than all the Crusades put together. Even during the ‘Golden Age’ of Islam of the 10-13^th centuries, there was mob violence, forced conversions, mass murder and expulsions against Christians and Jews from Spain to Iran. Ask the Armenians about Muslim tolerance in the 2oth Century. With this century in its infancy, how many hundreds of thousands of Christians have been killed in the Sudan, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Kosovo, Iraq, Egypt, Pakistan, Philippines and Indonesia? What religion did the child murderers of Beslan, Russia proclaim last September? Have Americans no eyes, no ears, no memory, no history of facts?

If Graham was fired for lightly grazing the truth about Islam, who will get a microphone or camera to tell these greater truths?

Like, Islam is NOT an Abrahimic religion equal to Judaism and Christianity. Muslims will say they’re people of the ‘Book’ and point to Koranic verses to support the claim. But, Muslims have other verses and teach to the contrary. Moreover, why would the God of the Jews and Christians dictate in the Koran that Muslims should persecute, kill or make the Jews and Christians pay taxes and be second class citizens?

And Islamic Civilization is 800 years behind Western Civilization. By any measure that you mark Islam is as far behind the West as the Germanic Tribes were behind Rome. Islamic Civilization is barbaric compared to West. Truth isn’t Islamophobia.

Claiming the Koran is more than the truth, that the very pages are holy, fits a religion that borrowed from the paganism of Baal - from the black stone Ka’aba to their old moon god symbol and name of Allah. It’s what you expect when an illiterate Mohammed makes up a religion/state/society from what he hears of paganism, Judaism, and Christianity.

History must be ‘outed’, like Mohammad consummating the marriage of his last additional wife when she was 9 years old. Pedophile for Prophet? Islam is the peace of submission for followers, the enforced peace of suppression, and the final peace of the dead victims.

We Reap What We Sow

2005-08-29T11:35:00.000-06:00

Anyone want to speculate about how Hurricane Katrina will affect oil prices? If you do, go to Hugh Hewitt's blog and read the entry titled "Can Anyone Say $4 a gallon gas?" The enviro-nuts have had their way, hope they have a reliable 80 mpg scooter to get them through this fuel squeeze.

Check out the very funny blog Caption This! Love the imagination some of those people have regarding the pictures.

_____________________

Here's a link regarding 9/11:

LGF has a site named "Never Forget" concerning all matters relating to 9/11. But this one particular thread concerns a video that was made by a Czech immigrant who captured the image of the first impact into the World Trade Center towers on 9/11/01. The name of the thread is "9/16/2003: A New 9/11 Video Surfaces" . Please watch the video, it's very compelling, even if it is located on the NYT website.

___________________

"Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it."
--William Arthur Ward

Today is Monday...ARGGGH!

2005-08-29T10:45:00.000-06:00

Ok, today is a rant about assholes. Like the last asshole I had the displeasure of working for, Ramoutar Bhagwandass..even his last name has ASS in it. He was the vilest, sneakiest, dishonest, and UGLIEST boss I've had in my entire life. The man used to create plots involving co-workers that were beyond outrageous, they were asinine, almost criminal. And his boss, the Director, followed him around like a little puppy dog, believing every single line, as if we helicopter mechanics were out to trick and deceive poor little Ram every chance we got. Well, we did, but only after putting up with his tomfoolery for six months or more. His little lackey in the maintenance hanger was Jeff Bakker. What a charmer, that one. If you made conversation with him about a hurricane, he'd tell you, "Well, I hope all those poor stupid bastards can all swim real well!" Always complained about Colorado, about his co-workers, and told Ram-bo everything he suspected was going on with his 'beloved co-workers, not bothering to actually tell him the truth. I stood up to his bullying ways, and was accused of being violent. At my age (late 30's), this is the only time I ever stood up for myself at work, and paid dearly for it. I got fired, but I did manage to get unemployement because the bastards at Air Methods couldn't support their accusations. It sucks to work in an at-will state sometimes, but now I know better than to deal with conniving creatures such as Jeff and Ram. I'm smarter; they, however, are just angrier. I couldn't be happier.

Oh, and the latest asshole I've had the displeasure of encountering..a discussion group participant that makes Hitler look like nothing more than a disgruntled socialist! I put him in his place, though, told him he mistakes my replies for actual interest in the drivel he posts in the discussion group. He gave up after two days of me not playing by his rules..I never got mad! Aw..too bad. Some boys just can't handle women who outwit them. That's what I'm hear to do...destroy the dimwits!

________________

"The fact that no one understands you doesn't make you an artist. "
- Unknown

The Mission to Harass the Wounded

2005-08-29T10:39:00.000-06:00

This just blows my mind...those shallow-brained twits that comprise Code Pink are just showing the rest of the country how obtuse and hateful they are. Check out this link: Anti-War Protests Target Wounded at Army Hospital .

Here's an editorial by a man whom I respect, even if I don't agree with him, from The Rant.

Anti-War Protesters: Hateful and Ignorant
The Fifth Column/Frank Salvato, Managing Editor August 26, 2005 - If there is one thing that I have come to know through all of my years working in politics it is that liberals will always accuse their opposition of precisely the actions they are undertaking. I suppose this could be viewed as some sort of convoluted effort to inoculate the issue which they are attempting to manipulate but the fact remains, if liberals are accusing a group of doing something chances are they are doing it themselves; the louder they protest, the more they are involved.

Recently my sister, a good hearted, open-minded city-dweller, forwarded an email to me she had received from an acquaintance. This email cited a left-wing web site that called the “femanistas” to arms over the “fact” that the new Iraqi government had ceded all elements of women’s rights to the rule of Islam and that the Bush Administration had endorsed the move. Of course, this propaganda is about as accurate and truthful as Scott Peterson’s story about going fishing.

The truth of the matter is that the new Iraqi government is still struggling to achieve a draft of their new constitution so there haven’t been any laws passed or any rights rescinded. In fact, one of the stumbling blocks keeping the new Iraqi government from achieving the goal of a new draft constitution is the role of Islam in their new government, an issue directly related to women’s rights in that country. The issue of whether Islamic Law should be a component of government is a contentious topic among the Shiite, Sunni and Kurds, not to mention that there are quite a few elected women sitting in the new Iraqi congress, the very body creating the draft constitution.

I noted these facts when I replied to my sister and added that if her “friend” really wanted to help the women of Iraq preserve and perhaps increase their rights under the new Iraqi system of law, she would have a better chance of doing so if she pried her ass out of the couch at Starbucks, stopped laying blame at the feet of our government for what other sovereign governments are doing and started her journey to Baghdad to protest outside of the Iraqi Congress where her mouthing off would be more apropos.

The reply I received to my comments was typical of the liberal mindset. It completely ignored the truths that were presented in rebuttal and ignored the fact that not one statement posited in the initial email was based in truth. Instead it addressed my “hateful tone.”

The irony that a self-righteous demagogue armed with half-truths and innuendo, who was herself spreading what can only be described as hate-filled speech about our country and our president, was pointed. It added credence to my theory about liberals accusing their opponents of doing exactly as they are. The reality of the situation is that this disingenuous and inaccurate message is out there, adding to the misinformation that is fueling the partisan atmosphere in which we currently exist.

Until recently I was fairly comfortable believing that the disinformation campaign of the liberal left, at its highest levels, was well organized and conceived by a keen and intelligent, albeit deceitful foe. Whether the target was the War on Terror, judicial nominations, the economy or whether a fetus feels pain, I felt confident that the assassination of the truth for political gain being perpetrated by the Carvilles, Begalas, Clintons, Exleys, Ickes and Neas’ of the world was a conflict that could be quelled by tactics of a cerebral nature, a high-stakes game of political chess, as it were.

Silly me, it looks like we’re playing checkers.

The radically-leftist, femi-Nazi group Code Pink Women for Peace – the same group that supported the inane shrieking of Cindy Sheehan – has taken to sponsoring anti-war protests directly outside the front doors of the Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington DC. Walter Reed is a primary destination for those who have been wounded in battle and home to many soldiers who have suffered life-altering injuries. It is a place for healing and transition, at least it was before Code Pink decided to exploit wounded soldiers for political gain.

The anti-war activists of Code Pink assemble every week with their props and propaganda to literally harass those who have given of themselves to provide the very freedoms that those of Code Pink use to hate. They assemble with signs that read, “Maimed for Lies” and “Enlist Here and Die for Halliburton.” They line up fake caskets draped with American flags just outside the doors to the medical center tormenting soldiers who have lost brothers in arms. They chant slogans like, “George Bush kills American soldiers,” while recuperating soldiers and their families enter and leave the facility.

One protester, too much of a coward to give his real name, said to a CNS News reporter, "We know most of the George Bush supporters have never spent a day in uniform, have never been closer to a battlefield than seeing it through the television screen." Evidently this stunted intellect, who probably has never worn a uniform except perhaps that of the International Union of Socialist Youth, hasn’t the cognitive skills to recognize the very real and overwhelming support for the president that exists in the Armed Forces, both active and retired.

That a group of people can be so narcissistic and narrow in their thinking as to invade a medical facility to abuse and mentally torture soldiers recuperating from the damages of war is despicable. But even more pathetic is the blind hatred that burns deep within their souls. The ruse that the liberal left is displaying anger based in superior morality and intellect has been “outed” as the hate-filled ignorance it is. The tolerance of the left is dead.

So, if I had the chance to add one last thought to the comments I offered my sister’s “friend” it would be this: The glory of freedom is not based in hate, it is based in opportunity. If you want to change the world, here’s your opportunity, don’t waste it promulgating lies.

____________________

"Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy. "
- Albert Einstein

The War on Raw Milk....and other battles

2005-08-25T12:27:00.000-06:00

I found this lovely blog named Power Line today. Located on this blog is an article titled, "Some Thoughts on Casualties in Times of War and Peace" that I thought most thought provoking. It clearly explains why the Left wants to continue to emphasize only the losses, and not the strategy, regarding the war in Iraq. The lefties do NOT want President Bush to win, and in order to assure that he doesn't, all they scream about is "BODY COUNT! BODY COUNT!"--as if that means how well or how badly the war is being fought.

I am also a die-hard advocate of drinking unpasteurized, unhomogenized milk from drug-free cows who only graze on grass or hay, and are unconfined. I've been drinking this elixir for about six months now, and it's amazing how much better I feel, and how it affects my cravings (or lack thereof) for less nutritious foods. It amazes me, nevertheless, when I find links like this one, from people who believe that 'raw' milk (meaning, milk in its natural state, the way people have been drinking it for THOUSANDS of years!) is poisonous, like playing 'russian roulette' with one's health! This is a paper written by Alex Sundstrom as part of a course requirement at Harvard Law School. It's obvious this guy has NEVER drank 'raw' milk! The name of the paper is "Moo-nshine: Resistance to FDA Regulation of Raw Milk". It's long, but the tone of the paper is very clear...burning milk until it is flavorless, nutritionless, allergenic, and with a shelf life of SIX MONTHS at room temperature is the only way to drink your milk!

ZT

A Warning From an Apostate of Islam

2005-08-24T16:21:00.000-06:00

Even if you aren't Republican, anti-choice, or even right of center, I BEG of you, read this message. It will scare you to the core. And it is TRUE.

A Warning to the Free World from an ex-Muslim

ZT

The USS Iowa Kerfluffle

2005-08-22T20:18:00.000-06:00

I am at a loss...suffice to say I sent an e-mail to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors stating that since they obviously do NOT want anything military within their precious city limits, I most certainly will never visit again...I won't drive over the bridge, I won't patronize their merchants, and I won't fly into their airport. I hope that's what they wanted.

ZT

_____________________________

By BRIAN SKOLOFF, Associated Press WriterSun Aug 21,12:49 PM ET

The USS Iowa joined in battles from World War II to Korea to the Persian Gulf. It carried President Franklin Roosevelt home from the Teheran conference of allied leaders, and four decades later, suffered one of the nation's most deadly military accidents.

Veterans groups and history buffs had hoped that tourists in San Francisco could walk the same teak decks where sailors dodged Japanese machine-gun fire and fired 16-inch guns that helped win battles across the South Pacific.

Instead, it appears that the retired battleship is headed about 80 miles inland, to Stockton, a gritty agricultural port town on the San Joaquin River and home of California's annual asparagus festival.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., a former San Francisco mayor, helped secure $3 million to tow the Iowa from Rhode Island to the Bay Area in 2001 in hopes of making touristy Fisherman's Wharf its new home.

But city supervisors voted 8-3 last month to oppose taking in the ship, citing local opposition to the Iraq war and the military's stance on gays, among other things.

"If I was going to commit any kind of money in recognition of war, then it should be toward peace, given what our war is in Iraq right now," Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi said.

Feinstein called it a "very petty decision."

"This isn't the San Francisco that I've known and loved and grew up in and was born in," Feinstein said.

San Francisco's maritime museum already has one military vessel — the USS Pampanito, an attack submarine that sank six Japanese ships during World War II and has about 110,000 visitors a year.

Officials in Stockton couldn't be happier. They've offered a dock on the river, a 90,000-square-foot waterfront building and a parking area, and hope to attract at least 125,000 annual visitors.

After the Korean war, the Iowa was decommissioned and placed in reserve in a Philadelphia shipyard for three decades. In 1984, it was recalled to duty and, four years later, escorted oil supply ships in the Persian Gulf. In 1989, 47 sailors were killed in an explosion that tore through a gun turret during a training exercise.

The warship, decommissioned by the Navy in 1990, is currently anchored with a mothballed fleet in Suisun Bay, near the mouth of the San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta.

San Francisco's rejection of such a storied battleship is a slap in the nation's face, said Douglass Wilhoit, head of Stockton's Chamber of Commerce.

"We're lucky our men and women have sacrificed their lives ... to protect our freedom," Wilhoit said. "Wherever you stand on the war in Iraq ... you shouldn't make a decision based on philosophy."

Rep. Richard W. Pombo, R-Calif., has sponsored legislation authorizing the ship's permanent move to Stockton. Feinstein has countered with a bill to open bidding to any California city.

The two versions will have to be reconciled by a House-Senate conference committee considering the Pentagon spending bill.

Dearest Terra Madre..THANK YOU!

2005-08-22T17:24:00.000-06:00

I am in awe..it has been in incredibly bountiful summer. I have dozens of tomatoes (of all kinds)...yellow plum, heirloom black, patio reds...carrots just literally busting at the seams, scallions, string beans that are coming BACK into bloom, and eggplant vines producing juicy purple fruit the likes of which I've never seen. And most of these productive plants are in POTS!!! Everything is tasting so wonderful, sweet, fresh, and REAL!

But oh, making stock is the pinnacle of the bountiful harvest. A friend cooked a turkey last Saturday, and I took home the carcass. I have a broiler chicken just freshly slaughtered, but was allowed to roam free on a local farmer's acreage...and carcasses from other chickens and turkeys I've accumulated over the months, waiting for the perfect time to start more stock. Today was the day. Put the carcasses into the 5 gallon pot, added my freshly picked carrots, a Walla Walla onion from a local organic produce co-op, and some celery from Whole Foods, along with a bit of Apple Cider Vinegar. After it boils, I'll add fresh Thyme (from my garden), then, 10 minutes before it's all done, I'll add some Italian Parsley (more gifts from my herb garden)..but that's not for another 24 hours yet.

Right now, with the entire concoction working up to a boil, the ENTIRE house has been blessed with the intoxicating scent of turkey and chicken cooking..even the cats are going nuts.

Absolutely amazing what a person can be given with just a mere 10'x10' garden plot!

Must...get..back..to...stock...

ZT

The Shuttle and The Fight

2005-08-19T11:48:00.000-06:00

Ok, I don't care about Cindy Sheehan. Her remorse over her dead son is, thankfully, her problem. 'Nuff said.

I have recovered from my blood donation fury. It's just frustrating to want to donate, to give that opportunity for life to someone in desperate need for it, and to be denied that ability forever.

Discovery is returning home today...see NASA's wonderful website detailing her trip back to Florida:

http://www.nasa.gov/returntoflight/main/index.html

Speaking of pictures, I'm posting one of the most beautiful pictures of the shuttle (any orbiter, for that matter) taken during the mission that just ended. Absolutely breathtaking.

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Here is an interesting article from World Magazine worth noting. It shows that there are still people who do want to serve their country by joining the military. I know I did when I joined back in 1986.

Unusual recruits

IRAQ: Comedians and peace moms take note: even as the casualty list grows, Ivy Leaguers and honor students are signing up to serve | by Lynn Vincent

As you're reading this, National Honor Society member Caity Swanson, 18, of Audubon, N.J., is likely cranking out one . . . more . . . pushup . . . under the stern eye of an Army drill sergeant at Ft. Leonard Wood, Mo. Princeton University senior Ross Williams, 21, is finalizing his plans to check out of the Ivy League and into the Marine Corps. And Congressional Award winner Asher Strassner, 18, just shipped out from his home in Houston to Navy boot camp in Great Lakes, Ill.

When Mr. Strassner signed up to begin basic training in August, he had no way of knowing the month would prove a brutal one in Iraq. American forces so far this month have lost at least 63 souls, including three Tennessee National Guard soldiers from the 278th Regimental Combat Team, who died Aug. 14 in a rocket-propelled grenade attack.

Families of the fallen grieve, some bitterly, like Cindy Sheehan, who since Aug. 6 has staged a mini war-protest outside George W. Bush's Texas ranch. Others, like Gary Reese of Ashland, Tenn., grieve proudly. His son, Sgt. Gary Lee Reese, 22, of the 278th, "is the only one from the town to die in the war," Mr. Reese told the Chattanooga Times Free Press. "He is someone I'm really proud to be the father of."

Mr. Reese believes "bad-mouthing" the war dishonors the dead. Meanwhile, even as casualties mount, thousands of young people are still signing up to serve, with only the Army and National Guard now falling short of recruiting goals. When widespread shortfalls made news earlier this year, comedian Bill Maher used the occasion to reinforce the stereotype that America scrapes its military from the bottom of the population barrel.

Quota-missing Army recruiters had, Mr. Maher quipped, "done picked all the low-lying Lyndie England fruit. And now we need warm bodies."

Ms. England, of course, is accused of abusing prisoners at Abu Ghraib. And Mr. Maher isn't the first person to suggest that the U.S. military is mainly a refuge for the depraved or desperate. In a May 2003 graduation speech at Rockford College, New York Times reporter Chris Hedges said the nation's fighting forces are made up mostly of "poor kids from Mississippi or Alabama or Texas who could not get a decent job or health insurance and joined the Army because it was all we offered them."

Is the military stereotype accurate? Karl Zinsmeister doesn't think so. During three stints as an embedded reporter in Iraq—the most recent in May 2005—the American Enterprise editor-in-chief met farm boys, poor boys, and boys escaping dead-end blue-collar towns. But he also encountered Cornell grads, Ph.D. candidates, and high-tech wunderkinds, and wrote about them in his 2003 book Boots on the Ground.

It was love, not desperation or a lack of prospects, that propelled honor student and all-state vocalist Caity Swanson into the Army: love of language. As a junior, Caity's 3.9 GPA qualified her for the National Honor Society, while A's in Spanish earned her acceptance into the Spanish National Honor Society. She realized she wanted to pursue foreign-language translation as a vocation, and she began exploring colleges that offered a major in linguistics. But though her parents earn a good living—dad Chuck works in the pharmaceutical industry and mom Andria is an R.N.—good programs were too expensive.

Then as a senior, Caity, like thousands of American high-school students, took the military entrance exam. An Army recruiter saw her score—93 out of 99—and called her last December. That's when she learned about her dream school: The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center (DLIFLC) in Monterey, Calif., the largest foreign language school in the world.

After careful discussion with her parents, Caity enlisted. She's now looking forward to learning a new language by immersion, packing two weeks of traditional college instruction into each day during the year-long course, and learning from native speakers. "The way they teach a foreign language is the way I want to learn it," she said.

She doesn't know which language yet—the military assigns that based on a student's ability and the government's need. But it's likely to be a tough one: Caity blew away the Defense Language Battery, qualifying her to learn any language the Institute offers, including those considered most difficult, like Chinese or Arabic.

With the war on terrorism, and Middle Eastern languages high on the Defense Department's wish list, is Caity worried she'll wind up in Iraq? "Wherever the Army sends me, I'm fine," she said in a June 30 phone interview, five days before heading out for boot camp. "God is in control. Whatever He wants for me, that's what I'm going to do."

Houston homeschool graduate Asher Strassner feels the same way. In February he enlisted in the Navy as a hospital corpsman and signed up for Fleet Marine Forces (FMF) training, a school he hopes will land him a job as a combat medic in Iraq.

"When other people ask me how scared I am, I tell them not at all," he said. "That might seem like the typical teen who thinks he's invincible. But if it's my time to die, I will, whether it's in Iraq or crossing the street. . . . If God wants me to live only 18 or 19 years—or to be 100—it's up to Him."

Asher told WORLD his job is to glorify God, not himself. He seems to have been busy about that task, chalking up high grades and high scores on college aptitude tests. In June, he earned the Congressional Award, an honor Congress established in 1979 to recognize initiative, achievement, and service in young people.

To win it, Asher completed a two-year program: He volunteered for 450 hours in a Houston hospital, learned horticulture and landscaping, became a top-ranked junior golfer, and organized a camping expedition that followed the Texas Independence Trail.

Not exactly your Maher-style military down-and-outer. So Asher surprised even himself when he decided to join the Navy. "Weeks before I enlisted, I never would have considered the military," he said. "My friends were surprised . . . but I didn't think I was ready for college. I thought if I went to college in the fall, I'd end up goofing off and getting bad grades."

Bound for boot camp this month, then corpsman and FMF training, Asher could touch down in Iraq late next year. He's hoping that's where he winds up.

"I have a friend in the Army who just got back and he's always telling us that the negative stuff we hear in the media [about American progress in Iraq] is 99 percent made up," Asher said. "He tells about all the Iraqis who love the Americans. . . . I think that's very interesting. I'd like to see that myself."

Ross Williams would like to see it, too, which is why the Princeton senior chose the Marine Corps, a ground force, instead of a more high-tech but remote branch like the Air Force or the Navy. "It's more personal. You interact more with the culture you're protecting," Ross said. "I didn't want to go into the service looking for a spot where I'd feel more comfortable. I wanted to choose the spot I'll get most out of."

If his resumé is any indication, Ross, 21, will give as much as he gets. At his high school in Oyster Bay, N.Y.—a small town he describes as "close enough to New York City that you could smell September 11"—he served as student body president and graduated third in his class with a 4.0 GPA. He also earned all-state honors in vocal competition and made the all-county team as a long-distance runner.

Now a Princeton political science major who rows for his school's nationally ranked crew team, Ross had originally been accepted to West Point. "But I was told by a couple of cadets that if I wanted any sort of academic college life, I should go to a different school."

After completing his degree next spring, Ross plans to attend a 10-week officer training course in Quantico, Va., then accept a Marine Corps commission. His grandfather served as a Marine during World War II, and Ross said he also feels a call to serve his country, to do "something I'd enjoy looking back on, something I could be proud that I'd done."

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Copyright © 2005 WORLD Magazine
August 27, 2005, Vol. 20, No. 33

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Here is a parting reminder of why we fight, and will continue to fight, until we have won...

http://911.navexpress.com/blackday.gif

ZT

Blood Donation Madness

2005-08-18T01:08:00.000-06:00

I am absolutely furious!!! The Red Cross and Bonfils are screaming for more blood donors because of the shortage. It's no wonder...the list of disqualifications is staggering! I used to donate every two months when I was in the service and long after I got out, just until I was disqualified for LIFE. Why?! Because I had the misfortune of being stationed in the UK at an Air Force installation for over three months between 1980 and 1996. They are trying to ferret out possible risks for Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease in the donor pool, since they cannot check the blood supply for the prions. Now I'll never be able to donate again, and it just makes me so angry. What's the point of remaining healthy sometimes if you cannot pass on that health to others? I cannot ever even be an organ donor, either!!! It's maddening.

Does anyone else feel this type of frustration? I just ache when I see these organizations desperate for blood, and the FDA does NOTHING to help curb the crisis in a reasonable fashion.

ZT

2005-08-17T22:38:00.000-06:00

This is just a breathtaking view from the bombadier's seat on the B-17 "Fuddy Duddy" in flight. Talk about a wild ride!!!

2005-08-17T22:37:00.000-06:00

Closeup of an SNJ prop at the Centennial Airport mini-airshow on 06-25-05

2005-08-17T22:36:00.000-06:00

It's been a hard day at the office, time for this little worker bee to sleep off the stress.

2005-08-17T22:35:00.000-06:00

I'm trying to grow a cat out of a coffee pot, it just might be working!

2005-08-17T22:34:00.000-06:00

An incredible picture of an F-15 with afterburners hot at the Air & Sea Show in Ft. Lauderdale on 04-30-05.

2005-08-17T22:33:00.000-06:00

One heck of a THRILL flying in B-17 "Fuddy Duddy" on 06-27-05 from Centennial Airport in Englewood, CO, to North Platte, NE!

Introduction

2005-08-17T19:48:00.000-06:00

Today, it is time to enjoy some spilled candy...to make a mess, to play with your food, and engage in vigorous debate.

I do not fit any major party's mold. I eat meat, wear fur, practice environmental activism at the local level, kill animals for food, drink unpasteurized milk, support President Bush in the War against Terrorism, despise agricultural welfare, distrust the FDA, and cannot stand excessive charity begging.

On the positive side, I am a certified aviation mechanic (Airframe and Powerplant), a WWII aircraft and history buff, love the great state of Colorado, where I love, absolutely am passionate about wine and wine dinners, and enjoy sharing those times with my wonderful husband and three cats (as much as you can share time with cats...)

I am active in political issues, meaning, I write my mayor, governor, representatives, and congressmen when something raises my ire or my interest. Recently I wrote to Representative Bob Beauprez expressing my concern about the impending change to women's role in the military. While I do not support his social conservatism (I'm more libertarian in that area, myself), he quite quickly responded that he agreed that reducing women's role in a war that has no front would be a disaster. Nice to know they sometimes DO listen, or at least, take the time to write their constituents.

Well, 'nuff rambling for now..I'll post more in the coming days! Thanks for reading!

ZT

PS: Ask me what my last name means, and I might tell you...