Quote of the Week:

This is How Democrats Support Our Troops

Readers will recall when John Kerry made that joke about making good grades in school or you get sent to Iraq (Dem quotes slamming our troops here). Kerry’s “joke” is just the tip of a very large iceberg. And of course those insults from top Democrat leaders create a culture of indifference, even hostility, towards our troop’s achievements and their abilities. For instance, take this cartoon from the infamous troop hater Ted Rall:

No matter how many times we show troop hating lefties this study from the Heritage Foundation which demonstrates higher socioeconomic status among our troops than the average popultion they persist in their insults. No matter how much anecdotal evidence there is of soldiers who are working on advanced graduate degrees, or are graduates of West Point, all serving in Iraq. No matter what the facts are, like so much disinformation in lefty land, truth is the first casualty.

No Surprise: Presidential Candiate John Edwards Would Cut Pentagon Funding!

Considering how Democrats despise the military and denigrate the troops it’s no wonder that Dem presidential candidate John Edwards is adapting that mindset to his presidential campaign.

He is proposing across the board cuts in defense spending including the Missile Defense technology which has shown to be working and desperately needed to deter missile threats from nation’s like Iran and North Korea. He would cut or cancel new advanced weapons systems like the F-22 that may protect us from future threats and he would cut weapons and training and supplies that keep our troops safe and help us fight with less risk to civilians.

Here’s the video of his plan.
Here’s the text.

Edward’s would instead take the money and spend it on health care, education and the usual laundry list of rat hole social spending that still leaves us with the problem, but we feel better knowing we spent trillions. But what good will that feeling be if America is seen to be weak? What good is health care or education spending if America’s children aren’t alive? And aren’t we doing this “for the children?”

Government Sudsidized Health Care for All
So it’s not just “for the children?”

Bonnie Frost, the mother of 12-year-old Graeme Frost who was so vilely used in a transparent Democrat effort to lie about the need for massive new spending on “children’s” health care has now come out of the closet and is actively campaigning for government subsidized adult health care.

Apparently, the Frosts, who live quite well by all reasonable standards choose not to buy health insurance. And why should they when they think they can shame the government into providing it for free.

This reminds me of the line by P.J. O’Rourke cited by Mitt Romney in the Florida Debate: “If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s free.”

Thank God for Joe Wilson!
no, not THAT Joe Wilson… the other one!

it’s a great thing when you have an elected official, a man for whom YOU actually voted that performs his duties in office the way you want him to and the way you would if you were there instead of him.

I’m very pleased to say that Congressman Joe Wilson (R-SC) is my Congressman. Every time I see him interviewed on television or speaking on the House floor I applaud!

Last week he went to the House Floor to assail the smear against Rush Limbaugh by elected Democrats and to praise Rush for turning this nasty episode into a huge positive by auctioning the letter Senate Democrats sent condemning him as “unpatriotic” for $2.1 million and donating it along with another $2.1 million of his own money to the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation.

Joe: I’m glad I voted for you. I’m glad I donated to your first campaign. I’m glad you are my congressman!

Backfire on the Big Lie!
How Democrat’s latest politicization of tragedy blew back in their faces!

Here’s how the big lie works: Whenever there is a tragedy like the California Wildfires you’ll see Democrats knock each other over in a rush to the nearest microphone to say “It’s Bush’s fault.”

That’s exactly what they did when the wildfires broke out in California by making the false claim that if we weren’t in Iraq California National Guard units would be available to help.

Usually, that kind of story line gets some legs and as the quote of the week reminds us, it’s late when the truth catches up, if at all. But by the time President Bush visited the afflicted area it had become clear to all but the most deranged Bush hater that the effort to combat the fires and aid those left homeless was being managed superbly!

This time the big lie failed to work. But that won’t stop Dems from trying again. What else have they got?

Reflect on the Sublime, the Beautiful, the Innocent

With so much violence, anger and hatred in the world it’s sometimes easy to forget why we daily struggle to bring light, peace and justice to the world.

This video I found by way of Sunlit Uplands is a reminder. Do yourself a favor: Watch, Listen:

Read the rest of this entry »

No quote of the week this week. A rare joke instead:

Working people frequently ask retired people what they do to make their days interesting. Well, for example, the other day I went downtown and went into a shop. I was only there for about 5 minutes and when I came out there was a cop writing out a parking ticket.

I went up to him and said, "Come on, man, how about giving a retired person a break"? He ignored me and continued writing the ticket. So I called him a "Nazi".
He glared at me and started writing another ticket for having worn tires. So I called him a "Doughnut eating Gestapo". He finished the second ticket and put in on the windshield with the first.

Then he started writing a third ticket. This went on for about 20 minutes. The more I abused him, the more tickets he wrote.

Personally, I didn’t care. I came downtown on the bus and the car that he was putting the tickets on had a bumper sticker that said "Hillary in ‘08."
I try to have a little fun each day now that I’m retired. It’s important to my health…..

Hillary to Return SOME Tainted Campaign Money

It all depends on what the meaning of the word "return" is!

In the wake of the latest Clinton funny money scandal, Hillary Clinton’s campaign has said it will give to charity the $23,000 that fugitive Norman Hsu gave to the campaign. It’s unclear whether Hillary would eithe return or donate to charity the money given in bundles of campaign cash put together by Hsu including the palooza pile of Paw bucks Hsu collected from the family of a California mail carrier. It was the sudden, huge contributions from this middle class family which sparked the initial inquiries.

More questions continue to be raised regarding the timing of the release of Senator Craig’s June 11 arrest on disorderly conduct and possible Clinton connections to Chinese communist agents.

President Bush Celebrates Katrina Rebuilding

For the second anniversary of the Hurricane Katrina disaster President Bush returned to New Orleans and Mississippi to get a first hand look at the progress.

President George W. Bush helps hang a flag outside the new home of Gen White, Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2007, at a new housing development in New Orleans, during President Bush’s visit to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region on the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Alphonso Jackson is seen at left. White House photo by Shealah Craighead

Federal Contributions to Katrina Victims Larger than Marshall Plan for Reconstruction of Postwar Europe

Katrina collects a bundle
By Audrey Hudson and Sean Lengell
Washington Times
August 30, 2007

The flow of federal dollars to the Gulf Coast two years after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated the region already exceeds what the U.S. spent on the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe after World War II.

President Bush and Congress have committed more than $127 billion in resources and tax relief for the region — significantly more than inflation-adjusted $107.6 billion directed to 16 countries in Europe between 1947 and 1951.

"We dumped billions into Europe, but it was prepared to deal with it and used it to create a viable new economy," said Fred L. Smith Jr., president of the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

"At the moment, Louisiana’s economy is very regulated and politicized; it’s like pushing stones uphill while molasses flows downhill," Mr. Smith said. "The challenge is to make sure aid to Louisiana is matched or surpassed by their own self-help efforts, the need to incentivize and liberalize its economy and political rules."

Meanwhile, fraud continues to be a major obstacle to greater progress!

Illegal Alien with Tuberculosis to be Deported

Another strong reason for sound immigration control is to protect the public health. History buffs will recall that one of the primary purposes of Ellis Island was to prevent spread of communicable diseases from immigrants. That system no longer exists and now we’re paying the price.

Teen Jailed Over TB to Face Deportation
Associated Press
Aug 30, 2007

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. (AP) - Officials started taking steps to deport a Mexican teenager who was jailed after refusing treatment for tuberculosis.

Francisco Santos, 17, has acknowledged to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents that he is in the country illegally, Gwinnett County Sheriff Butch Conway said Wednesday.

County health officials jailed Santos last week after he refused treatment for an active, contagious case of tuberculosis and threatened to travel to Mexico, a move that could expose more people to the potentially fatal disease. Santos, who lives in Duluth, has since started taking medicine, but he will remain jailed at least until a Sept. 5 hearing.

Conway said Santos’ condition and age could further complicate a deportation process that can take months. Because he is a minor, officials would have to make sure he has family in Mexico or that the Mexican government would take a role.

Four people who had been living with Santos have also tested positive for tuberculosis, health officials said Wednesday.

The problem is compounded by the fact that many of these illegals share overcrowded dwellings where disease is more easily passed along.

More Good News from Iraq

Thanks Imam Wordsmith for graphic finds!

Shi’ite leader declares cease-fire
By David R. Sands
Washington Times
August 30, 2007

Anti-American Iraqi Shi’ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr yesterday ordered a six-month "freeze" of activities by his Mahdi Army militia, a force accused of attacking U.S.-led coalition forces and operating "death squads" targeting the country’s Sunni Arab minority.

U.S. officials greeted the announcement with caution, but the move could provide a significant boost for the security "surge" now under way in Baghdad and other parts of the country. Aides to Sheik al-Sadr confirmed the young cleric’s order included a ban on all attacks on U.S. and coalition forces in the country.

So Mokie Al Sadr, who fled to Iran when the surge began is now trying to take the heat off? Hmm… wonder if it has anything to do with President Bush targeting Iranian agents in Iraq?

Bush to American Legion: U.S. Military Authorized to Confront Iran’s "Murderous Activities" in Iraq

It’s another in a series of speeches on this important topic that deserves to be read in full

President Bush Addresses the 89th Annual National Convention of the American Legion
Reno, Nevada
White House transcript
August 28, 2007

…Shia extremists, backed by Iran, are training Iraqis to carry out attacks on our forces and the Iraqi people. Members of the Qods Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are supplying extremist groups with funding and weapons, including sophisticated IEDs. And with the assistance of Hezbollah, they’ve provided training for these violent forces inside of Iraq. Recently, coalition forces seized 240-millimeter rockets that had been manufactured in Iran this year and that had been provided to Iraqi extremist groups by Iranian agents. The attacks on our bases and our troops by Iranian-supplied munitions have increased in the last few months — despite pledges by Iran to help stabilize the security situation in Iraq.

Some say Iran’s leaders are not aware of what members of their own regime are doing. Others say Iran’s leaders are actively seeking to provoke the West. Either way, they cannot escape responsibility for aiding attacks against coalition forces and the murder of innocent Iraqis. The Iranian regime must halt these actions. And until it does, I will take actions necessary to protect our troops. I have authorized our military commanders in Iraq to confront Tehran’s murderous activities.
…
We’ve conducted operations against Iranian agents supplying lethal munitions to extremist groups. We’ve targeted Shia death squads and their supply networks.

President Bush hugs veteran at American Legion in Reno. If only the lefties could feel the love!

Latest GOP Presdidential Straw Poll

Has Fred Thompson waited too long to get in?

Here's a few of the interesting stories I've run across in the blogosphere today:

The Real Ugly American interviews Mary Katherine Ham:

TUA: So it’s a much more free format blogging than vs. hard news in an MSM setting at least.

MKH: I think so and a lot of you know what a lot of obviously liberal journalists run in to ; is that they do have these beliefs and they are not acknowledging them where as when I am writing about the news at least I’m telling you listen this is where I stand. So if it colors the way I am covering this you will know up front this is where this comes from. I think that’s important.That’s one of the things that pushed me to get out of newspapers was the whole; It felt dishonest to me because everyone was acting as if there was no slant at all in my newsroom but at the same time I stuck out like a sore thumb. I was like if I am the only conservative you guys have ever met then there’s a problem.

A Blog For All writes about Lieberman:

From supporting his opponent in the primary election to undercutting him at every turn, even Lieberman's supposed ally is suggesting that he run as an independent.

Why should Joe have to do any such thing? Oh wait, it's because the Democrats have moved fully to the far left of Lieberman and he's not tacking to the left with them. Lieberman supports the war in Iraq and the general war on terror, much to the chagrin of the anti-war left, and this is all part of their revenge. There is no big tent for Democrats - you either are an anti-war candidate, or you're going to suffer the consequences. Never mind that Lieberman has been to Iraq and has seen first hand teh reconstruction and hard work done by the US Armed Forces unlike say Rep. Murtha, and has supported the military time and time again, the anti-war types want him gone.

All Things Beautiful on the left's anger:

The Left knows how to dish out but can't ever take it. As Ann Coulter pointed out in her latest book, the form of attack favored of late, is to bring an array of victims out on display "to give their political points credence" and further their cause.

And the root cause for such ironically domineering attitude, as it has been shown time and time again in the Left's campaigning style and content, is that the vast majority of its base is driven in their personal lives by destructive emotions such as envy, resentment, bitterness and most of all, pure and gut-wrenching hatred which, like any pressure cooker under too much heat, needs to release its steam through the emergency valve.

 The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler on the Gorebots:

LC & IB Michelle Malkin suggests that “Gore to train 1,000 to spread word about climate” might qualify as Scary Headline of the Day.

His Majesty is not one to readily or easily disagree with the Lady Malkin, he likes to be right every once in a while, and she does undeniably have a point. The mere thought of a thousand Gorelets touring the nation is enough to induce narcolepsy in a hummingbird on methamphetamine, so we’ve banished it from our minds, lest this website fall into a death-like stupor while his Majesty’s family tries to keep the health care system from convincing the courts that his comatose self would be better off dead.

Personally, however, His Sithness was more concerned when it was reported that the Algore had, jokingly we hope, suggested that he might make a nude appearance in his next “movie”, for lack of a more accurate word for whatever he decides to waste celluloid on.

Blackfive is calling for a boycott of Car & Driver:

Well, it's come to this.  Hopefully, you either visited Michael Yon's site to get the latest or heard him on Pundit Review Radio telling the story of how HFM agreed to stop using his image and make a donation to Fisher House, and then changed their tune.

I work with a few photographers in my civilian job.  They all warned me to tell Mike that magazines run roughshod all over photogs because a photographer will not engage in a huge legal fight over a picture that is only worth a few hundred dollars.  So, in the normal operation of their businesses, magazine publishers tend to get away with a lot of nonsense at the expense of photographers.

HFM really misjudged Mike Yon.  They tried to placate him long enough to get by, and then changed the deal and tried a strongarm tactic on Mike.  So, how can we help?

We already might have done in Shock, but that's not enough…

So I am calling for a boycott of HFM's flagship magazine Car and Driver.  Boycott's are legal.  Contact your clubs, friends, family, work groups, professional organizations, etc.  You have more influence here than you might think. 

 Villainous Company takes a reporter to task over Guantanamo:

In today's Washington Post, David Ignatius excoriates the leadership at Guantanamo Bay for insensitivity in the wake of three coordinated detainee suicides

[...]Mr. Ignatius should follow his own advice. Has he ever been to Guantanamo Bay? What personal experience (other than writing a forward to a book written by a recently-released radical Islamist) does he have with Islamic jihadists, their ideology, or their behavior? Well, no matter. He is a pundit, you see. His comforting distance from messy reality lets him indulge his sense of outrage without the bothersome necessity of taking real world circumstances into account.

Ignatius derides the military's tendency to view jihadists "as if they inhabited a different moral universe", but two of the defining characterists of radical Islamists are their deliberate slaughter of innocent non-combatants and their continuing use of suicidal attacks on their enemies. Where exactly, one can't help but wonder, does deliberately killing innocents (not to mention suicide attacks) fit in the West's "moral universe"? His failure to "view the detainees as individuals" and "make distinctions" leads him to assume the detainees view the world through the prism of Western values, an act of cultural chauvinism that is hard to square with an ideology which views sawing the heads off still-living non-combatants as morally justifiable.

New England Republican on John Kerry's new but old "Cut and Run" policy:

Now is the time to turn our tails and run? Yes, the Iraqi’s are ultimately responsible for their fledgling democracy, and we want our soldiers back home as soon as possible. But conceding defeat with an artificial deadline is not an option.

Preaching the gospel of defeatism launched John Kerry’s political career during the Vietnam era and now he hopes it’ll launch him into the White House. Give him some credit though because at least we know where he stands. Gone are the days of flip-flopping Kerry saying things like, “I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it.”

What Kerry always failed to grasp is winning is the most important goal. He fought for defeat in Vietnam. He fought for defeat during the Cold War. And now he fights for defeat in Iraq. Imagine the chutpah of voting for the War in Iraq, but then refusing to fund it. Maybe one of these days he could put a little effort into helping us win.

Mike's America on Pelosi's recent admission that the "culture of corruption" mantra wont work anymore:

Well how about that? That whole "culture of corruption" thing backfired so badly with the misdeeds of Dems like Harry Reid, Patrick Kennedy, William Jefferson and Cynthia McKinney and Francine Busby, among others, making headlines for months.

And now the Dems are going to tell us what they stand for? Easy: 1. Surrender in Iraq, 2.Gut the Patriot Act, 3. Raise everyone's taxes, 4. Feed every whacko lefty special interest group in sight with endless obstruction of everything that Bush stands for. Pretty much business as usual.

Iraq The Model on the Baghdad Operation:

Baghdad looked tense today as the city witnessed the launch of the new massive security operation "Forward Together". The feeling here ranges from anxiety to hope which I saw clear in the voice and looks of the people I met; in addition to the understandable anxiety that accompanies every new military operation I saw a lot about hope that this new operation may be able to stop or even reverse the deterioration of security in the capital.

Well maybe this is our best chance to achieve some progress security-wise and there's a growing feeling (I won't say dominant but it's here and it's visible) that the new government has the real and serious desire to end this tragic chapter of Baghdad's history. 

GOP Bloggers on the latest Murtha idiocy:

While Murtha is a useful idiot of the Democratic Party, advocating a cut-and-run strategy in Iraq, as Majority Leader, he'd no longer be an asset, but rather a liability to the Democratic Party. If Murtha started campaigning for the post now, he'd contribute to the image of Democrats being weak and soft on terror — which is already true, but he'd just contribute to it more — and he'd probably spark an internal debate within the Democratic Party about Iraq… which is the last thing they want. As of right now, Democrats have no unified position on Iraq. They have their outspoken critics of the war who either support finishing the job, or cutting and running. A lack of a unified position insulates them from offering a plan for Iraq, which clearly they haven't the foggiest idea how to come up with a plan. Democrats can't risk exposing their incompetence before the 2006 election. They need to be elected and given power before they can start pretending they know what they're doing.

Lastly we have Dr. Sanity on the mental derangement of the left:

I suspect that even after a contentious 2000 election, Bush never imagined for one moment that he would be so completely abandoned by the opposition party during one of the greatest challenges ever imposed by historical forces upon the United States and liberty.

Why should he? Until the last 15 years or so, the underlying insanity of the left has been relatively dormant as they have quietly readied themselves under the cover of a Democrat president and the "end of history"; they patiently waited to make their next move in the international chessboard, wallowing in their victimhood–promoting it, even. Having slowly and almost effortlessly inserted the doctrines of political correctness and multiculturalism –two of the most obvious postmodern talking points of the left–into all aspects of the wider culture and its media, they awaited the perfect moment to unleash the awesome destructive power of their fully-armed and operational "death star" at America and its fundamental values.

Check them all out, great reads for your Wednesday afternoon. 

Here are a few blog posts I found today that I highly recommend reading:

Big Lizards:

It took a while for the penny to drop, but I finally understand why the Democrats argue the way they do. And if you’ve read up to this point, then you’re probably way ahead of me: clearly, it is now the Democrats who operate under the same false dichotomy: Democrats have convinced themselves that the only alternative to George Bush is Harry Reid…

Blogs For Bush:

The reason for Mexico needing the illegals’ money is that in spite of a few, half-hearted attempts at reform, Mexican society is corrupt from top to bottom - there is no political activity which will happen absent bribes, and there is no economic activity which can happen without bribes being paid not only to government, but to union goons and others on the take.

Bookworm Room:

On July 15, 1944, after having spent exactly two years in hiding from the Nazis, Anne Frank wrote her most famous words:

Bookworm Room:

On the face of it, there seems no logic to the Left’s various positions. To paraphrase P. J. O’Roarke, to adopt a view that killing unborn babies is okay but killing mass murderers is bad requires years of therapy.

Don Surber:

The filibuster is the Tool Of Racism.

Gay Patriot:

Just over four months ago, when Instapundit linked a piece where I asked ?If Iraq is like Vietnam, how come the rallies keep getting smaller?, we received a record number of comments ? and not just from those who agreed with the post. We attracted a number of critics, many of whom expressed their disagreement in less-than-civil tones. And I saw an uptick in the amount of hate mail I received. The same thing happened again last week when Glenn linked my post on the Canadian elections. We got a lot more comments and I got a little more hate mail.

Ace of Spades HQ:

* Mike is dumber than a sack of retards.

* Mike is known to have satisfied thousands of women, simply by never meeting them. “I’ll never know what I missed out on,” said one woman calling herself “Claire.” “And I think it’s better for both of us that way.”

WMD:

Communist war crimes are rarely the subject of conversation at cocktail parties, especially among the Left. Why? The answer lies in the worn-out dogma that still prevails amongst those who can afford to be sympathetic to Castro, the Islamists, et. al. ? anything that represents ?opposition? to the supposed colonialist aspirations of America, all driven by ?capitalist greed.?

Newsbusters:

Remember the good old days, when Democrats and their friends in the MSM would regularly bash Republican administrations for doing business with less-than-democratic, even unsavory foreign governments and their leaders?

Rightwing Nuthouse:

Pity poor Nancy Pelosi. She, like the rest of her Democratic colleagues, has huge problems when it comes to criticizing the NSA intercept program in order to make political hay. On the one hand, they can?t be seen as soft on national security so you never hear them calling for the program to be terminated. On the other hand, they have to pander to their cockeyed base of support so you never hear them saying that the program was necessary.

It?s almost enough to make a Republican giggle.

Newsbusters:

If there was any doubt that the New York Times thoroughly despised President Bush, the last shreds were erased this morning. In an editorial entitled ?Spies, Lies, and Wiretaps,? the Times presented a case against the Bush administration with similar gusto as it might attack an organized crime family and it?s Mafia Don. Assuming it had already received an indictment, the Times then?prosecuted its case, and acted as both judge and jury to seal a conviction.