The Democrat Nay Sayers Just Can’t Help It – Pity Them

On this historic day, when several thousand years of anti-democratic tradition in Iraq has been dealt yet another blow, our leftist friends must feel as though they have been punched right in the nose! After all the experts they trotted out to explain to us that the Iraqi people are incapable of living under a democratic system, and how the “freedom fighters” or “insurgents” or whatever the left is calling terrorists these days would never permit free, fair, elections to take place. That we have failed in Iraq. That our efforts have all been in vain. That America is responsible for nothing but increased violence and destruction in Iraq. We are broken, and must pull out immediately.

Yet there in Iraq of all places –in spite of all the negative drum beating– we see millions of people who have literally risked their very lives to vote. The vast majority of people in Iraq have freely chosen democracy. They defied the terrorists. They defied the news media. They defied all of the leftist experts. And not only did they go and vote, they marked themselves defiantly, –with a purple finger– as if to tell the thugs who would intimidate them, both in Iraq and in the USA, to shove it! How many smug, self-important Americans would go and vote, then dip their finger in ink to prove they have voted, if there was even the possibility that harm would come to them as a result? Very few I’d wager! We usually don’t even have a majority of those who are eligible even show up when there is no danger whatsoever attached! How many less would vote if there were any danger at all involved, however remote? How loud would the leftist democrats scream if somebody proposed we ink our fingers to prevent voter fraud? To prove that we voted, and only voted once, –what a concept? They’d never permit it, discrimination don’t you know!?!

Today’s images of democracy succeeding in Iraq makes the defeatist ranting of Murtha, Kennedy, Reid, and Dean sound particularly hollow, silly and pathetic. They deserve nothing but scorn and derision, –and maybe pity.

As we rejoice with the Iraqi people, we need to stop and remember what a blessing and privilege it is to live in a free, democratic country, where every citizen has the right and duty to vote. We need to remember how many millions would literally die to enjoy this freedom. We need to remember how many millions are living in daily despair of ever enjoying the freedom the Iraqis tasted today. We need to remember how many great people have died to procure it for us. Then we need to humbly give thanks!

Mainstream Media – Still the Five Hundred Pound Gorilla

President Bush gave a very well thought out, very persuasive speech at the US Naval Academy yesterday. It was chock full of excellent points laying out the rationale, strategy, ample evidence and very good reasons why the United States went into Iraq to fight international terrorism. It also contained numerous examples of success in our campaign, and the tremendous progress our effort has achieved to date, detailing the miraculous transformation that has already taken place in a nation and culture which was totally subjected by a brutal dictatorship for 30 plus years and is now an emerging democracy. That is truly a stupendous achievement which virtually no so-called expert on the Middle East was willing to predict. Yet there it is in Islamic Iraq of all places, for all the world to see! And in Islamic Afghanistan as well!

The speech also was accompanied by a 35 page, detailed plan, which has been in place since 2003, which lays out very clearly our strategy for victory in Iraq. This was made available for all to see. The democrat demagogues had been clamoring for just such a speech and plan for many months. They wanted to know what the president’s plan for success was. Democratic Rep. John Murtha insisted that our military is broken and worn out and unable to win a victory. This assertion by Murtha is one of the most outrageous examples of providing aid and comfort to the enemy in all of American history! His words will be used by Islamic terrorist leaders to encourage more terrorist murders. He now has the blood of every additional coalition casualty directly on his own hands! Our military is not broken or worn out. They are doing heroic work and should be getting nothing but praise and admiration from everyone, including democrat hacks like Murtha. He should be ashamed of himself!

President Bush, in his speech, put the lie to all of this nonsense for any fair-minded person to see.

The MSM response? Silence! It was as though President Bush had said nothing at all. Instead of reporting his speech point by point, they went immediately to the nay sayers. The only thing we saw connected to the president’s efforts was a gaggle of silly democrat responses by Pelosi, Kerry, Kennedy, Murtha and the other usual suspects each of whom mouthed outrageous lies about what Bush had said. Kerry, who just a few weeks ago was insisting that we needed many more troops in Iraq, now denied supporting Murtha’s clear call for an immediate pull-out, (which he clearly had done) instead insisting that he was only looking for a "plan for success," which plan Kerry was apparently too dim to understand Bush had just delivered. What a liar! What an idiot! Nancy Pelosi blurted out some unintelligible blather about warmed-over stew, Kennedy accused our troops of failure in Iraq and of causing the insurgency (read terrorism), and yet these and other democrat mouthpieces were allowed to say what they said almost totally uncontested.

Fred Barnes has pointed out that bloggers, conservative talk shows, and to some extent Fox News has countered this trend, but as anyone can see by the polls, Joe Average American still believes the lies he hears every day and night on the MSM. It’s shocking. In Iraq, the Iraqis and US soldiers who are dealing with these terrorists on a daily basis and who are risking their lives, uniformly favor continued US presence by a healthy margin (70%). Why is it then that many Americans do not according to the polls? Could it be the daily, persistent, unrelenting negative drum beat by the leftists and their allies in the MSM? It almost certainly is! Our military and our alies in Iraq have enemies both in Iraq, and maybe even more dangerously, in the Democrat party and leftist press in is this country.

What can be done to stem this tide? The president and all of his spokesmen need to continually make loud noises about all the successes in Iraq, in the economy, in foreign policy world-wide that their policies has produced. Conservative talk shows must continue to point out the hypocrisy of the left wing press and politicians. Bloggers need to redouble their efforts to point out the truth, and expose the lies the democrats are speaking. This is far more important than mere politics, a fact that seems to be lost on all democrats except maybe Joe Lieberman. (Who gets the same treatment from the MSM as President Bush – Silence or contempt!) This fight is all about our eventual survival as a society – make no mistake about it. It is that serious. Blog on!

Nothing to See Here Folks, Move Along

Bob Woodword, the notorious reporter of Watergate fame, has pretty much blown up the case of “junk yard” prosecutor Fitzgerald against Scooter Libby. Woodward belatedly came forward with the revelation that he knew all about Valerie’s job at the CIA weeks before Libby was supposed to be the “first” person to have leaked it. Fitzgerald asserted that as a fact at his press conference indicting Libby for failure to remember all the details of his informal conversations from over two years ago. What else did Fitzgerald get wrong?

Libby’s lawyer now only has to ask the jury: “How many others knew about Wilson and Plame?” The details of her employment seem to have been part of the Washington gossip circuit for quite a while before the alleged “leak” by Libby. Woodward’s revelation has made it that easy. One is left to wonder why the public spirited Woodward didn’t come forward with this information two years ago. He might have saved Fitzgerald considerable time and the taxpayers considerable money!

Additionally, the CIA hardly has clean handsin this whole matter. It is highly doubtful that they will want their officials to testify about how and why they employed Wilson for this mission in the first place since he has no experience or expertise in inteligence. Highly placed, politically connected CIA officials will likely get this whole matter quashed before it ever goes to trial. It will all fade away.

In the final analysis, there was no attempt to “out” anybody. There was no nefarious activity by Libby, Rove, Vice President Cheney or anyone else – excepting maybe Wilson, his wife and the left wing political hacks who employed them to cast doubt on Bush’s truthful statement that British intelligence had reported that Saddam was trying to get nuclear material in Africa, a fact they still stand behind today.

Nice try lefties – Better luck next time.

How Gullible Are We?

Yesterday North Korea announced that they would give up their nuclear arms program – sort of. Today they are not so sure. Why do we continue to negotiate with these goons? They are obviously incapable of telling the truth – ever. Lying is their stock in trade.

A very good source of reality ensconced in irony can be found here. (This is a very funny take on a very serious topic and a good source for humorous sanity for lots of political issues).

We have been fooled once, twice, thrice, etc. by this despicable regime that has only one goal: the total destruction of the West, starting with the United States of America. We shouldn’t talk one more minute with them. What’s the point?

The only rational policy for this lot is: Destroy all of you nuclear capacity within 48 hours or face thermo-nuclear annihilation! It sounds harsh, but nothing else will work. And we must mean it and act on it while we still can, and before we lose Japan or South Korea to this lot. And we can’t rely on the UN or France or any other nation to go along with us. We must have the courage to go it alone if necessary. We are the only nation with the power to stop international terrorism. If we don’t stop them now, we will most assuredly be facing them later – after they have grown stronger.

It’s a tough world out there. We must also be tough.

No Shari'a Law For Iraq

If the new Iraqi assembly passes a constitution which establishes this barbaric form of Islamic radicalism as the law of the land, George Bush should announce that he will immediately take one of two actions: 1. Invade with really massive force and destroy all vestiges of Islamic radicalism or 2. Immediately withdraw all America troops and all American financial support. And he should make it abundantly clear that we will actively support any faction in Iraq who opposes this tyrannical law and who instead supports freedom for all Iraqi citizens. In short, we should foment revolution if necessary to prevent another Iran from being formed. We have paid far too high a price to now allow the terrorists to prevail.

This has been our stand from the first day we said Saddam's horrible regime had to go and we shouldn't be shy about holding out civilization and democracy as the only outcome we will support now. When we defeated the imperial Japanese, and forced their "Devine" emperor to tell his people their future depended on adopting a secular constitution, they didn't like it much. In fact many, many of the Japanese fundamentalists were very offended that the Americans were dictating the form of government they had to adopt. American leaders at the time knew that our safety depended on reforming Japan completely. They could no longer allow the religion of "ultra nationalism" to linger in Tokyo or we most certainly would have to fight them again and again. We couldn't tolerate that kind of "freedom." We had to be tough.

This generation of American leaders would do well to adopt a similar attitude. Muslim extremism, as embodied in Shari'a law, cannot be allowed to exist anywhere. One of the side effects of this law, besides allowing the brutal domination and deprivation of rights for women, is the fomenting of anti-American, anti-Jewish hatred and the resultant terrorist activities associated with it. If we allow Iraq to become a fundamentalist Islamic state, it will most certainly devolve into a haven for terrorists who will attack and kill Americans. We should wake up to the stark reality that we can't leave the fate of civilization up to people who saw other people's heads off in the name of religion. Too much is at stake, including all of our lives. It's either got to be true democracy, where all people including women have full rights, or scorched earth. Their choice. We must have the resolve to make it so.

Too Little, Too Late

Muslim leaders in London are speaking out in an effort to convince the world that they don’t support the kind of Islamic terrorism that was likely behind yesterday’s bombings. It’s hard to take them seriously. Why are they doing this now? Where were they when their own Islamic Clergy routinely supported terrorism and denounced western civilization? Why do they expect us to believe that they don’t support terrorism when they support financially the very groups that foment it? Why did they allow the very terrorists who committed this crime to live hidden among them? Why didn’t they denounce these murderers to the authorities before they struck? Their attempt to show indignation now smacks of grandstanding – for sure a case of too little, too late.

It is very hard for any reasonable person to believe that these people didn’t know who at least some of the cell members were; --or where they lived, --or what they were up to. This is a very tight community. They know pretty much everything that goes on in it. When somebody new moves in, or out, they know it. They have representatives on all the major municipal councils in the city of London. They are not isolated from the people and trends that are sweeping through their conclaves. Muslim leaders, more than anyone else, are in a unique position to know who did this.

An attack of this magnitude required many hours of planning. It required many, many people to provide the intelligence, logistics and financial support needed to carry it off. Do the leaders who are protesting really expect us to believe they had no clue anything was up? It is much easier to believe that their demonstrations and protestations against these attacks are more about fostering Islam by currying political favor and cover in the mainstream media. Is it all about fooling us? Is it all lip service? After all, subterfuge is an accepted tactic in the cause of Islam.

Until they start ferreting out and turning in Islamic Terrorists who live in their midst, it will be very hard to put much credence in their demonstrations against the attacks and in their protestations that "true" Muslims don't support this kind of thing. It looks more like a PR ploy than a genuine denunciation. Action speaks louder than words. Until they are willing to take affirmative action to clean out the terrorist cells, heretofore hidden by them or at the very least given a pass by them, their words will have little meaning. A true religion of peace would not tolerate murderers in its ranks. The civilized world will believe them when they act against the terrorists --not just talk against them.

Live 8 Futility

Over the weekend many thousands witnessed a prime example of wrong-headed leftist thinking in action: Millionaire American and European rockers decided the best way to help Africa is to force governments of successful countries to increase taxes on ordinary citizens and give the money to the benighted African peasants. You know, those unfortunate Africans who, through no fault of their own, are poor. At least that’s how they see it, in their drug-dulled thinking. Sir Paul McCarthy and Sir Bob Geldof seem painfully unaware that the vast majority of monetary aid given to Africa does no good at all. This is not to say there aren’t many very reputable charitable organizations who try their level best to do good there. Most of the nation-to-nation aid doesn’t go to these charities because they are religious (read Christian) in nature and we can’t have governments helping any people like that. The money Sir Paul and Sir Bob want to extort would not go to poor people at all. The rockers want to waste it; or more accurately they want to take money from you and me to give to corrupt dictators like Robert Mugabe. Of course, none of the rockers ever give very much to charity themselves. In fact they each were given $12,000 in luxury gift items for their participation in this charity event. Some sacrifice! The hypocrisy of this aside, the worst thing is that they are so painfully wrong about what would really help in Africa. They don’t seem to have a clue about the role of charity. While it’s all well and good to donate money to true charities, to help out human beings who really are incapable of helping themselves, doing that will never help a nation into prosperity. It doesn’t work that way. It never has in the whole history of human kind. Can anyone give an example of a successful civilization built on the charity of another? No! It doesn’t happen. It can’t happen!! That’s not how nations are built. It’s a fine thing to do, to give money to the churches to help Aids orphans, but that’s not what Sir Paul and Sir Elton want. No, the sirs aren’t interested in encouraging people to give money to charity. That’s not really what they’re about. Instead, they are only interested in forcing higher taxes on you and me. An article of faith for leftists world-wide: taxes can never be too high. After all, this isn’t really about helping Africans. This is about punishing Western nations, most especially the United States.

The problem in Africa is not monetary. The problem is cultural. Africa will never overcome its poverty problem until it eradicates its corruption problem. This really has been demonstrated over and over and is no longer subject to dispute. Billions and billions of dollars have been thrown at Africa by earnest government do-gooders year after year after year and what is the result? Africa is worse-off now. Welfare as an institution, as has been demonstrated over and over again, will never solve poverty. Only the genuine, self-serving efforts of the African people to help themselves will ever begin to solve their problems. Self interest is the most powerful anti-poverty tool ever devised. That’s how all western countries achieved the wealth and prosperity they enjoy. Unfortunately Mugabe and all other modern African leaders have not followed that path. Instead they have followed the pattern of dozens of their predecessors and contemporaries: start the revolution, overthrow the existing government, and then become even more corrupt and oppressive. This is the continent-wide fate of nation after nation in Africa. The truth about Africa is plain to see for anybody willing to look: Measured in terms of nutrition, health, education, gross national product and general well-being, Africa was far better under the colonial rule of Britain and France than it is now. Painful to say, but nonetheless true. Until Africa realizes that it will have to build itself up, they are doomed to poverty, corruption and failure. And no amount of ageing rockers can make one bit of difference about it.

Some Thoughts on the War Against Terrorism

My brother-in-law, a Vietnam veteran, just left for Iraq. He can’t tell us exactly where he is going, but we know it will be somewhere in the infamous Sunni Triangle. We know it will be very dangerous for him there. We realize that lots of Islamic terrorists are operating in that area. They set up roadside bombs designed to kill soldiers traveling in convoys. They pack cars with explosives and detonate them in places where soldiers are likely to be. They wrap young women in explosives and send them into crowded places to be homicide bombers by killing themselves and as many others who happen to be standing nearby as possible. They employ lots of cowardly tactics such as these. The one thing they won’t do is put on a uniform and face the coalition forces straight up like real warriors would. They really are despicable wretches who have no courage or moral integrity. But, even so, they can, and do kill American soldiers –like my brother-in-law, albeit in a cowardly fashion.

We’re very proud of his patriotism and his dedication to the military which he has chosen to make his career and his life. But we’re afraid for him at the same time. We don’t want anything bad to happen to him. He has a wife, five children and several grandchildren who need him desperately. He is a good man and doesn’t deserve to be killed by some faceless Muslim terrorist in a far off country. We want to be sure that, if the unthinkable should happen, his sacrifice wouldn’t have been in vain. We are desperate to believe that his sacrifice, should it happen, as well as the demise of the other 1,700 Americans who have died in Iraq won’t have been for nothing.

Some people don’t think any cause is worth dying for. The committed anti-war zealots would have us just lie down and let the Muslim terrorists take over. They would have done the same for Hitler. I dismiss them out of hand. They are kooks. Always have been. Far more dangerous are the leftists in this country. They hate Bush and therefore are against this war. All of the reasons they are against this war have to do with hating Bush and his political philosophy. It really is that simple. Ted Kennedy, George Soros, Dick Durbin, the mainstream media and all the rest of them hate the Iraq war against terrorism because they hate George W. Bush and all that he represents. They hate patriotism. They hate true religion. They hate capitalism. They hate freedom. Karl Rove had it exactly right. Conservatives saw the 9/11 attack as an act of war by enemies of freedom and prepared to defend our country. Liberals saw it as a call to be more understanding and tolerant of those who think differently and jumped in to defend the terrorists.

They hate the fact that Bush was president when 9/11 happened. They hate it that George Bush rallied the country in the wake of that attack. They hate the unity and patriotism that swept the country after we were attacked. And they immediately set to work to diminish and destroy the feelings of unity and patriotism the nation was experiencing after the twin towers and 3,000 Americans were destroyed. They started calling 9/11 a “tragedy” instead of what it really was: a craven attack on the United States of America by a foreign power. They refused to show the attack on TV after just a few days. They refused to show people jumping to their death from the towers in desperate attempts to escape the terrorist’s flames. They refused to denounce the street celebrations staged by the radical Muslim community, even in this country, after the attack. They began to second guess the motives behind Bush’s decision to fight terrorism in Afghanistan and Iraq. They predicted tens of thousands of deaths if we attacked the terrorist regime in Iraq. They trotted out every nay-sayer they could find to belittle Bush and his team. They are, to this very day, doing everything they possibly can to cause the American people to loose faith in our efforts against terrorism in Iraq and elsewhere. From the very beginning, Kennedy and his ilk, have been against any effort to destroy Islamic terrorism, –and they are still today. They feel this way because they hate Bush, they hate freedom, they hate liberty, and, sad to say, they hate America.

Right after the 9/11 attack, George Bush made it very clear to all Americans that this war against Islamic terrorism would not be easy. He was resolute and made it very clear that it was going be a long hard slog. He also made it clear that any nation or group who isn’t for America and its fight against radical Islamic terrorism, is against America and the fight against terrorism. Anybody who isn’t for the defeat of evil, embodied in Islamic terrorism, is thus supporting evil –including the left in this country, no matter how much they deny that fact. It has been, and will continue to be difficult. Good men and women have died. Other good men and women unfortunately will yet die. It will take a long, long time and we will suffer many setbacks along the way. Nothing worth accomplishing is ever very easy.

My brother-in-law knows it will be hard and dangerous. But because he loves freedom, liberty and democracy, he is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice. And while that concept seems to be totally lost on committed leftists like Kennedy, Michael Moore, and the rest, hopefully most Americans still believe in it. We will win this war against Islamic terrorism if we can defeat the efforts of the global Islamic terrorists, and their leftist allies in this country. We can only hope that in spite of the massive efforts by the left in this country to discourage us, true Americans will retain the will to win this war against terrorism. If not, the deaths of all the Americans who have died so far in Iraq, in the World Trade Center, in Afghanistan and elsewhere will truly have been in vain. And that would be a great tragedy.

Base Closure Hurts Thune (at least we sure hope so.)

Just in case there is anyone out there who still doubts the existence of bias in the mainstream media, here’s another recent example:

On my commute home, I happened to catch NPR’s “All things Considered” and heard a story about Senator John Thune’s supposed struggle with the announced closure of a military base in his home state of South Dakota. The gist of the story was that Thune failed to keep a campaign promise by “allowing” the base to appear on the closure list.

Of course, the fact that neither Thune, nor any other senator has any say in which bases are targeted by the commission which makes the selections wasn’t mentioned. The commission is, and properly should be, totally independent. The strong inference was given that if Daschle had been reelected, the base would have been spared and now Thune is reeling because he didn’t “have the ear of President Bush.” Of course this is nonsense. Daschle wouldn’t have had any more influence with the Base Closure Commission than Thune and President Bush doesn’t have anything to do with it. For NPR to suggest otherwise shows pure political bias. Their attitude is that the “rubes” in South Dakota are too stupid to understand that a senator can do precious little to avoid the consequences of an independent commission. The independent commission looks only at numbers, facts, and efficiencies in making their selections for base closures, and not at the political consequences. The fact that NPR assumes their listeners wouldn’t already know that shows the utter contempt they have for their audience.

The only real nugget of truth which the story inadvertently brought out, but which was not emphasized at all by NPR, is that, unlike Clinton during the last round of base closures, President Bush had the honesty, and integrity to stay out of the selection process and not pressure the commission to spare bases even in states represented by powerful allies like Thune. Bush let them just do their job. That is something we all should be celebrating. The people in South Dakota should be celebrating it too. They will survive the base closure. It will be good for the country in the long run and the good people of South Dakota know it. If Thune continues to do a good job representing South Dakota, he need not worry about the base closure. Any negative consequences for Thune relating to this event exist only in the minds of Democrat political operatives who hope to exploit the base closure in the next election and their fellow Democrats at NPR.

Less Than a Week

So, how long did it take Democrats to break their promise of no filibusters in exchange for the capitulation of seven weak-kneed Republicans? Less than a week! In fact they filibustered the first nominee they had the chance to vote on. They filibustered John Bolton. And their reaction when this is pointed out? What else? They simply lied about it. Harry Reid, the shameless Democrat minority leader said: "We're not here to filibuster Bolton..." What? When you prevent an up or down vote on one of the president’s nominees by requiring a 60 senator majority to allow a vote, it’s a filibuster! Then he had the gall to add: "It is not the fault of the Democratic Senators..." Oh no? Let’s see: 40 votes to filibuster were cast by Democrats. That's all it takes to make a filibuster stick. Sure seems to me that it is the fault of the Democrat senators. The Democrat MINORITY stopped Bolton from being confirmed. No other way to look at it.

If that doesn’t let all Republicans, and everyone else in America, know the true nature of Democrats, nothing will. Simply put, they can’t be trusted. They will lie about this and every other political thing. They can only be defeated and it looks we’re going to need to replace any weak-sister Republican who insists on playing nicey-nice with them. It appears to be the only solution. Toss them out!

Making a Deal With the Devil

The gang of seven did it. Seven liberal Republican Senators thwarted the will of the Senate majority. Since this bunch is totally convinced that they know better than the other 48 Republican senators, they went behind closed doors, and without the consent of the president, or Senator Frist, they cut a deal with the devil. Oh, to be sure the devil promised that he would behave, and only would make mischief if extraordinary circumstances exist. (Read that to mean they will filibuster anybody they damn well please.) News Flash! Democrats don’t keep their promises. Especially their political promises given to Republicans. Just ask George Bush Sr.

Most conservatives are rightly outraged by this treason. Some are looking for a silver lining in the deal. At best it is a disgusting example of political chicanery. It is also a further example of how Republicans don’t know how to be the majority.

The big loser in this deal, besides the American people, is Bill Frist. He had the rug pulled out from under him in a big way. I can’t see how he can recover even a sliver of his chances of being the GOP nominee in 2008. Politically, he looks to be finished.

We now wait with bated breath to see if the Republican leadership, from the president on down, will demonstrate the courage to make sure these mavericks get some consequences. They deserve to be spanked for their temerity. I, for one, will not be holding my bated breath until punishment is administered.. I have been disappointed far too many times in the past.

What a revolting development this turned out to be.

Republican Senators Have no Spine.

Watching the spectacle of milquetoast Republican senators like Voinovich ineffectively dithering, cowering, quailing and quaking, in the face of the partisan rantings of ideologue Democratic senators like senator Biden reminds me of why Republicans are never likely to get anything accomplished in this term, or ever. These guys have no guts. They allow themselves to be swayed by these Democrat lawyers. They turn into Jell-O and melt down in the face of any attack by the opposition. And they are the majority!? They simply don’t how to be the majority and they cede all power to the Democrats as soon as things heat up to any degree at all. They have no courage, they have no pluck, they have no self-respect. What good are they?

You must ask yourself, why? The answer: no consequences. Voinovich, Snowe, Chafee, Hagel, and McCain repeatedly defect, chicken out, run for the hills, and otherwise fail to support the party that elected them to their precious senatorial seats and they do it because they can get away with it!! Every time!! As a party, Republicans are very poor enforcers. They don’t punish these mavericks at all. McCain stabs the president in the back on Meet the Press, --no problem, no repercussions. He still is treated like royalty by the very Republicans he betrays. This happens over and over again. It’s very frustrating!

Another factor: These wavering Republicans seem to have an insatiable desire to be liked, --by their Democrat colleagues, by the leftist press, by all the inside-Washington swells. They measure their self esteem by which "A" list soirees they are invited to. They don’t seem to understand that all of these Democrats and “beautiful people” don’t really like them! They are just stringing them along as “useful idiots.” As long as they play ball with the Democrats, the Dems will pretend to like them. So they cozy up to the Democrats, and vote with them, and against their own party, again and again. Yet inexplicably the Republican leadership continues to welcome them back to the fold time after time after time.

Contrast that with how the Democrats treated retiring senator Zell Miller when his conscience wouldn't allow him to remain silent about the leftist capture of the Democratic party. As soon as he let it be known that he was going off the reservation, he was shunned, cut out, excluded, ridiculed, and written off by the Democrats. Now any Democratic senator who may want to vote against his party is afraid to do so because they don’t want similar treatment as Miller. The Democrats always vote in lock-step. Republicans, on the other hand, are always all-too-willing to side with the democrats and their leadership is all-too-willing to forgive and forget. No outrage is too great to be ignored. They let bygones be bygones. While they may win the “nice guy of the year" award, this benign attitude towards Republicans who stray will not allow them to win any political battles. The Democrats will eat their lunch. The American people elected these Republicans to get things done. If they continue to be conciliatory to a fault, they deserve to be turned out, --quick! They need to be fearless in their efforts.

We can’t stand any more do-nothing congresses; no matter how well they get along with the Democrats.

The Heights of Hypocrisy

The Democrats have descended to a new low, even for them, in their witch hunt against Tom DeLay. They accuse him of "ethical" impropriety for doing the same thing they have been doing for years. Harry Reid is one of the worst abusers in the practice of feathering his own nest (registration required) and that of his family members by using his influence as a powerful politician to place his sons in cushy jobs. There are dozens of other Democrats who are doing the same thing,– while at the same time wagging their finger at Tom DeLay. Why? They have no shame that’s why! It has become increasingly clear that they, with the cover provided by a compliant leftist press, can make any charge and smear anybody they get in their sights and seemingly suffer no consequences for their words and actions. At least that’s the way it used to be. Maybe things are starting to change with the advent of the blogger’s army.

Is favoring your family members by getting them into jobs an unseemly thing to do? Yes, without question. Is it a widespread practice among politicians? Of course, and it has been for a very long time. But the fact remains that it is much more common on the part of the Democrats than the Republicans. The fact that the mainstream media has been forced to point that fact out is a very important portrayal of the new power of the bloggoshpere.

Why the hypocrisy? The Democrats are shamelessly trying to bring down DeLay because he is a powerful and effective opponent. It’s dirty politics at its worst and Democrats are very good at dirty politics. Fair-minded Americans need to shed the light of day on this tawdry smearing at every opportunity. Now that the Democrats don’t have a strangle hold on all press outlets, the truth has at least a chance of getting out.

Tom DeLay is not as pure as the driven snow when it comes to using his influence to help family members. But he is a piker when compared to many to those who are accusing him the most vociferously. We can’t let them get away with it.

Sobering Thoughts

I am in favor of the right to die with dignity. I think living wills are a great idea. I think people should have the absolute right to refuse extraordinary medical intervention. I support all of these ideas, –for terminally ill people. When it is abundantly clear that you are approaching death, and you are in great discomfort, and there is no hope for recovery, you should have the right to die. No problem. But it must, unambiguously, in writing, no questions asked, be your true will. Not someone else’s hearsay opinion. If there is any doubt, you must be allowed to live.

Terri Schiavo was not terminally ill. She was handicapped, and on a feeding tube. She couldn’t walk. She couldn't Talk. She could only waive her arms about and make unintelligible noises, –just like the Pope. And since her true will regarding her medical care was not known, a civil court granted her ex-husband the right to kill her by starvation and dehydration. Her ex-husband, who had essentially abandoned her some time before, and had been in a relationship which produced two children with another woman, and clearly would benefit from Terri’s death, was granted a license to kill her via Florida Law. The law not only allowed him to kill her, it provided deputies to prevent others from committing the great crime of giving her a sip of water. The law, as Mr. Bumble famously said: "is a ass, a idiot." Terri’s ex-husband is a murderer.

Judge Greer followed the law scrupulously –as he saw it. And he saw it very narrowly. His jurisprudence also killed Terri Schiavo. Judge Greer, like the law he punctiliously upheld, is likewise an "ass, a idiot." He is judicial tyranny embodied. He cannot escape the blood of this poor handicapped woman any more that her ex-husband can. What happened may have been "lawful", but it was not right. And it can never be justified.

The cult of death, Hemlock Society, crowd is exemplified in the lawyer Felos, who gave political contributions to Judge Greer, and served on the board of directors at the hospice where Terri was sent to be killed. He is the lawyer who "won" the right for Terri's ex-husband to kill her. He is the very definition of evil. He will do or say anything to promote his view that all "inconvenient" people should be allowed to be killed, –oh for their own good, you understand. Starvation and dying of thirst, after all, is a peaceful and gentle way to go. Here’s hoping he "goes" that way very soon.

Of course, none of this will ultimately mean anything. America is already letting this horrific event slip into the ethers of the past. We’ll soon stop talking about it altogether, and go back to the really important things, – like the Michael Jackson circus trial. Baseball season is about to start. The NBA playoffs will soon be here. How about the "Final Four"! ... Terri who?

Untold Tax Outrages

Many of us are busily crunching numbers at this time of year, feverishly trying to get our taxes done. Most of us only become aware of the large amount of federal income taxes we pay if we're required to dig deep into our pockets and write out a check for an amount on top of all the thousands of dollars already withheld by our employer and send it in with our tax returns. Ouch! That really hurts a lot! Withholding doesn't seem to hurt as much. It's a great scheme they've got. The politicians have lulled us to sleep by requiring our employers to withhold taxes from each paycheck. That way, we tend to focus only on our net pay, an we don't even notice how much we are actually paying. In fact, many of us are euphoric when we find out that we are getting a small "refund." We are blissfully unaware that this "refund" is only a result of an over-payment of taxes in the first place! It's not free money from heaven. If each of us had to sit down each payday and write out four checks, –one for federal income tax, one for federal social security tax, one for federal medicare tax and one for state income tax we would probably be outraged enough to take action to get this confiscatory system reformed! But since we don't have to write such checks, we're all too happy to pay through the nose. We hardly even notice it.

The "payroll withholding" system which FDR slipped into the IRS code in the 1940s has served as the biggest single "opiate" which deadens the pain of taxes and blinds us to the real tax burden we all pay. That, along with the fiction of corporate taxes, which each of us as consumers really pay in the form of higher prices, hides the onerous cost of our bloated federal bureaucracy. It keeps us from noticing how much government really costs us. We go blissfully along, ignorant of the true cost. In reality our tax burden, in all of its forms, takes every penny we earn clear up to late April or May! It's an outrage!

Another outrage most of us do not even know about: The Earned Income Credit (EIC). This is a welfare program set up by the leftists which really has nothing to do with taxes. It has one purpose: –to take money from those who produce it and give it to those who don't. Under EIC, people who have qualifying children can get up to $4,300 in gratis, free, bonus cash from their fellow Americans. Yippee! This really is like free money from heaven! Only it isn't from heaven. It's paid by you and me. If you had a federal tax obligation last year of more than $4,300, likely a neighbor down the block got your money in the form of an EIC check. How would you react if that same neighbor had showed up at your house and pilfered the $4,300 out of your piggy bank? You'd call the police! You'd scream bloody murder! You wouldn’t stand for it! Oh really?. Well, you are standing for it, –every year, year after year, after year, after year. Many, many of these welfare takers are hardly poor. You needn't pity them. Let me explain: If Bill Gates' mother lived with him in his billion dollar mansion, and earned $14,000 per year, she could get a $4,300 check from the poor sucker taxpayers by claiming 2 of his children for the EIC benefit. And he could still claim the same two kids on his own tax returns as dependents! It sounds hard to believe, but it's true. The law allows a direct relative to claim children for EIC benefits regardless of the total family income!! It’s true! Millionaire families all over America are getting EIC credits year, after year, after year! It's an outrage!!

Yet another outrage. The EIC is a potent disincentive to marriage. You do much better tax-wise in many cases as two single people than you would as a married couple. Let me Illustrate:

Ronald and Mary Jones are a married couple with a couple of kids. Ron makes $75,000 per year. Mary makes $14,000 per year. At normal withholding rates, and by filing a joint return with two dependents deductions, they get a tax refund of $1,794, –a pretty typical American taxpayer story. Now, let’s look at the same family in a different way. Ron and Mary are not married. Everything else is the same. They live in the same house, and have the same kids, jobs, withholding, but they’re not married. Ron would file as head of household, taking both children as dependent deductions, but now his tax situation has changed considerably. Instead of getting a refund of $1,794 he only gets $256. “No fair” he cries, “married people get all the breaks.” But wait. Now Mary can file her taxes as a single person and claim both children for an EIC. As a result, she gets, –are you ready, a whopping $5,192 refund check from Uncle Sam which is to say from you and me. That’s right!! By not being married, this couple benefitted to the tune of $3,654!!! The marriage penalty is $3,654!! And this goes on, perfectly legally, all over America, year after year, after year, after year. It’s an outrage!!!

It is time for America to wake up to these and other outrages in our tax system. It’s time to enact a fair tax system for all. It’s time to enact The Fair Tax. It would eliminate these outrages, and many others. Check it out. The time has come to write your senators and congressmen. Let’s pass the Fair Tax!

Politically Correct Equals Four Dead People

The mainstream media is blithely skirting the real issues regarding the murders in Atlanta committed by the violent criminal who was escorted to court yesterday by a single, elderly, female deputy. This large, athletic criminal was not handcuffed or shackled. He was allowed to be right next to the lady, enabling him to overpower her, take her gun, kill three people including the judge, and escape into the streets of Atlanta, where today he killed another person. How could have this happened!? It sounds too bizarre to be real.

The liberal press, of course, is getting it all wrong. (Now there’s a shocker!) They are blaming the deaths on the fact that the courtroom was not fitted with bullet proof shields due to lack of funds. They are trying, indirectly, to lay it on the Bush administration! They are claiming it is a result of budget cuts. Bunk! That’s not the reason at all! They are also claiming that it was because police officers had guns in the courthouse!! Now that’s really absurd.

None of this needed to happen. This violent criminal should have been accompanied to his court appearance by two beefy male deputies. He should have been in his orange jump suit, shackled with leg irons and handcuffed to a chain around his waist. If he had been, none of the four people would have been dead today. Think of that! The families wracked today by horrible wrenching grief because of the death of their loved ones could have, and should have, been spending an ordinary Saturday enjoying life. If this creep had been properly restrained, he would have been prevented from overpowering the little old lady, and getting her gun in the first place. He would have been hustled into and out of court in a totally routine fashion.

Why was he not properly restrained? Why was grandma sent to guard him? Political correctness!! Oh yes, to be sure, it was all about political correctness. Here are two false assertions by leftist liberal, politically correct idiots which costs these four people their lives:

1. Men and women are equal and should be given the same jobs.

Police departments, fire departments, and the military have been forced by liberal politicians to give physically demanding jobs to girls who just aren’t able to do them. It sounds rash to say it, but it is nonetheless true. In the sacred name of equal opportunity, these agencies have sacrificed the safety of the public and that's a fact. Ask yourself; if you were trapped on the 2nd floor of a burning building, you were unconscious, and you weighed 240 lbs, would you want a 110 lb firelady sent up to get you out? The question answers itself! Men and women, –newsflash– are different! That’s not a bad thing. Each can do certain things better that the other. Among the many skills women possess in rich abundance, great upper body strength is NOT one of them. Duh! Yet we are forced by politically correct idiots to allows girls to pretend to be equal in ability for jobs where this upper body strength is absolutely vital. How absurd!!!!

2. Having accused prisoners, especially minorities, appear in court handcuffed and shackled prevents them from getting a fair trial.

How? If every person who has been accused of a violent felony is required to appear in court, handcuffed and manacled how it that unfair to any of them? It’s very hard to believe any jury would say: “well the state didn’t present any evidence, and the witnesses weren’t believable but boy that orange jump suit and those handcuffs sure made him look guilty. So we voted guilty!” Again, how absurd! How ridiculous! And how sad for the four people killed and for their families!

Some politician or government bureaucrat is responsible for the fact that this killer was permitted to commit multiple murders. They approved the policy that criminals need not be restrained when going to court. They condoned and mandated the idea that an elderly female deputy is capable of controlling an athletic, young male criminal. Some political hack or hacks unknown has the blood of these four people on his or her hands. Shame on them! Here’s hoping they lie awake at night and ponder endlessly the horrible wrongs their politically correct decisions have caused. Here’s hoping these needless deaths haunt them a lot.

But it won't happen. Unfortunately this kind of scum won’t take the responsibility that is rightfully theirs. Instead they will hide behind the liberal leftist press –who is blaming the Bush administration of all things! Again, how absurd!

Don’t Be Fooled by the Hillary Chameleon

Hillary Clinton wants to be president of the United States. Hillary Clinton is a committed, life-long, left-wing, socialist ideologue and always will be. Hillary Clinton knows she must deceive a sizeable portion of the US population regarding her true nature or she will never be elected president of the United States. Hillary Clinton, of late, has become a chameleon.

Just like the little animal which possesses the ability to change colors in order to blend into whatever background it finds itself, Hillary, only very recently, has begun to mouth conservative sounding platitudes. Of course she really doesn’t believe any of the things she as been saying. She has NO intentions of doing anything that would result in the actual implementation of any of these conservative ideas. She is just pretending to be finding sudden interest in preventing abortion, cleaning up music and literature, and supporting President Bush’s Iraq policy. She didn’t even mean it when she voted to confirm Condoleezza Rice. It’s all just a cynical ploy on her part. It’s part of her long-term strategy to gain power.

Make no mistake! This is all a fraud. Hillary Clinton, if elected, will make government bigger and more intrusive. She will raise taxes. She will gut the military and do everything in her power to turn over our national security to the United Nations and The World Court. She will sign fraudulent international environmental treaties that will sap further the strength of our nation’s economy. She will do all in her power to increase welfare, and every other wasteful government program. She will resume her crusade to nationalize the health care industry. She will appoint extremely liberal judges who will further their goals of dismantling the constitution of the United States, by taking away basic guaranteed rights such as the right to bear arms and practice religion.

Hillary Clinton must be opposed vigorously by every clear-thinking U.S. Citizen. She is, by far, the biggest threat to this nation and to the American way of life we have seen in many years. The fact that she has the ability and inclination to change her spots, --to hide her true nature, only makes her all the more dangerous. Hillary Clinton wants, with every fiber of her being, to be president of the United States. By fooling some of the gullible, she might just achieve her goal! Heaven help us if she succeeds.

Silver Lining for the Bush Bashers?

The recent incident involving the Italian journalist who was allegedly injured by allied gunfire while escaping her terrorist captors reveals more about the leftist western press than it does about American foreign policy. The anti Bush press has been having a very bad time of late. What with the successful Iraqi election and the outbreak of democracy fever that has broken out all over the Middle East, and all this following hard on the heels of the Kerry/press coalition election defeat in November was almost too much for them to endure. They were looking for something, anything, to bash Bush about. Just about when they were about to get totally desperate, here comes Ms. Guiliana Sgrena to the rescue. Yes, the same America hating communist reporter who was in Iraq trying to get material to bash American with. What luck! The wicked American soldiers attack a peaceful Italian motorist. Of course, we all know the American love nothing better than killing innocent Italians tourists in Iraq! But that's what the world believes. They're quite prepared to believe virtually anything. Of course facts don't matter to them. The whole story doesn't pass the smell test.

It’s really hard to conceive of any so-called intelligence officer, Italian or not, who wouldn’t know that it is a very bad idea to go speeding up to a check point on the road to the airport in Iraq. Since one of the most favored tactics of the terrorists is to race a car full of explosives and homicide bombers near enough to our soldiers to do damage, it boggles the mind that this reporter and intelligence officer wouldn’t know that. So our guys fired on the speeding car and the rest is history. Presto! The press got what they wanted. A new political club to use against Bush.

How did it really happen? Nobody really knows yet. One thing you can bet the house on though. It didn’t happen the way CNN, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and NBC are saying it happened. In fact, as with most things on those networks, if you believe just the opposite of what they’re saying, you’d be closer to the truth. Another thing to bet the house on is when all the facts come out, and it turns out the checkpoint troops did fire warning shots, –and were ignored, the lefties will drop the story like a hot potato.

Ever was it thus in today’s topsy-turvy world of so-called journalism.

The Looming Battle

Harry Reid and his leftwing cohorts are girding themselves up for single combat against all of president Bush’s major judge nominations. They plan non-stop filibusters against them all. In an effort to see if the GOP is up to the fight, Hugh Hewitt has posed the following question: Does the Senate GOP Go McClellan or Grant if Harry Reid "Goes Gingrich?"

Some might have preferred a different analogy. Something like does the senate GOP go Neville Chamberlain or Winston Churchill? Given the general lack of knowledge about US history, I’m not too sure that many people know who McClellan and Grant are, but more importantly, just as with the rise of Hitler and the appeasement proposed by Chamberlain, the fate of the whole world could very well rest on the actions of our senate re the confirmation of these important federal judges. Getting these judges confirmed is perhaps the most important thing president Bush could ever do during his remaining four years.

Arlen Specter and his ilk, in a totally misguided effort to appease the hard-core Democratic senators, will make it much more likely that strict-constructionist judges will never get confirmed. What does that mean to all of us? The leftist collection of judges who currently populate the federal bench are much more likely to be soft on terrorists. They are much more likely to make it difficult for our intelligence agencies and law enforcement departments to do their jobs. They are much more likely to allow Islamic terrorists to range freely among us, plotting their next devastating, economy-crippling, morale sapping attack. Such an attack would make us much less able to fend off the Islamic terrorists and their proclaimed ambition of world dominance. And these leftists judges know it, --and don’t care.

The most troubling aspect of Specter’s actions and the milquetoast Republican senators who agree with him is that all their efforts to curry favor with the Democrats, and with the leftist press will fail. The leftists are hard-core ideologues. They will never, never, ever compromise their anti-American pro-terrorists stance on all these issues. They may invite Specter to their cocktail parties, and they may have him on their news programs, but he will never be truly accepted by them. He is merely a “useful idiot” for them. Why he can’t see this, when everybody else can clearly see it, is hard to understand.

It’s clearly time for Senator Frist to engage. He must present a resolution that all federal judges who have been voted out of committee must be voted on by the whole senate immediately. They must be presented for confirmation as a group if necessary. Let the filibuster go on for a day or so, then pass a new rule that cloture of a filibuster can be achieved with a simple majority. The American people want this done. The senators must get the courage to make it so or face their wrath in the next election. The sooner they realize this, the better.

Harry Reid Sets the Obstructionist Tone

Harry Reid, true to form, has set the stage for yet another protracted Democrat led filibuster over the appointment of federal judges. President Bush has re-nominated each of the candidates who were prevented by the Democrats from getting an “up or down” vote by the senate last term. Shamelessly, Reid says they have been “rejected” by the senate. Of course, he knows they have not been rejected by the senate, but instead, never have been considered for approval by the full senate due to Democrat led political chicanery. He also knows that if they are given the chance, each will be confirmed by a majority of the senate.

Senator Reid appears to be unaware that one of the reasons Tom Daschle is no longer a senator is because he led the obstruction of President Bush’s nominations, -and the people of South Dakota held it against him. The people of Nevada will do the same, and Senator Reid will hopefully become former Senator Reid.

One thing needs to happen right away. The senate needs to pass a rule that cloture of a filibuster can be achieved by a simple majority vote of the senate. There really is no reason to allow 40 misguided senators to hold up the people’s business. Senator Frist needs to get it done – now.

Kennedy Shows the Democrat's True Colors

On Tim Russert today we saw a very revealing picture of what leftists always propose as a solution to every issue and as remedy to every national problem --tax increases! When pressed by Russert for the Democrat's solution to the Social Security problem Kennedy demanded Bush raise taxes. He specifically said:

MR. RUSSERT: So you would roll back the president's tax cuts.

SEN. KENNEDY: That's a possible--for one-third, he wants to make it permanent. You can roll back just one-third of it and solve the Social Security problem. ...

No other way to paint what he said. He proposed raising taxes. Russert even acknowledged it. And anyone who thinks he only wants back one third of the Bush tax cuts doesn’t know Senator Kennedy very well. He wants continuous, huge tax increases to fund the laundry list of socialist programs he has promised his left-wing core constituency ranging from socialized medicine to government guaranteed so-called “living” wages. It's the only solution to every problem in the democrat play book. It's the first thing they think of. It's what they suggest every time. They go right to it, --raising taxes almost is a Pavlovian response. You sound a whistle, they scream "raise taxes." Of course, raising taxes never works. Throwing more money at a social problem never works as a solution. They threw billions at poverty during LBJ's War on Poverty. The result: more poverty. Throwing more money at problems by raising taxes only accomplishes one thing: It provides more money for Democrats to spend on their pet programs. They buy votes with this tax revenue. That's why they always oppose tax cuts and always support tax increases. Higher taxes is their life blood. It’s how they survive.

Fortunately, the American people are no longer buying it. The "raising taxes" solution has largely fallen out of favor with the majority of Americans. The past two presidential election cycles demonstrates that fact. Bush campaigned on cutting taxes twice, and was elected --twice. He therefore has a clear mandate to cut taxes, not raise them. Kennedy can urge higher taxes all he wants. He’s unlikely to get them.

Raising taxes won's solve the Social Security problem any more than it solved the war on poverty problem, or the horrible inner city schools problem. The more taxes and spending are increased, the worse these problems get. Throwing more taxpayer money something accomplishes only one thing: --It wastes a lot of taxpayer money. The only solution that will work to "fix" Social Security is to abolish it. Bush has proposed doing exactly that --incrementally. Hopefully, within this century, Social Security will consist of what it should –each individual taking care of himself and his own family, and donating funds through charity to take care of those who truly can’t take care of themselves. Having government dipping its fingers into the administration of charity is always a bad idea. Expecting people to care for themselves and their families is always a good idea. Bravo Mr. Bush!

The Supremes Got it Right

The recent Supreme Court decision allowing drug sniffing dogs to be used for finding illegal drugs during routine traffic stops is a refreshing breath of fresh air in an era of “soft”, criminal-friendly decisions by the same court. One is almost tempted to hope that they have had a sea-change in their philosophy in the wake of the recent presidential election. The “red state” tidal wave makes it clear that most Americans are in no mood for nonsense when it come to crime and criminals. The court couldn’t have avoided noticing that.

The decision basically says Americans have no “right” of privacy to violate the law. If you buy a dime bag, you have already committed a crime by that very act. The crime occurred when you got the drugs, not when the police caught you during a traffic stop. And law enforcement is not engaging in an unreasonable search when they let their dogs sniff your car. Police dogs, as law enforcement officers, have the right to “observe” you. They do that by sniffing.

Of course, not every action of law enforcement is reasonable. Nobody would approve of letting law enforcement officers wrestle you to the ground, strap a rubber hose around your arm, and draw a syringe of blood while you are strolling peacefully through the public park, even though that activity might catch a few drug users. That would be an invasion of your privacy –to say the least. However, this decision was limited to traffic stops only. It should have been taken further. For example, if while walking their dog through the parking lot at Wal-Mart, the dog signals you have illegal drugs, --you’re busted! Why couldn’t that be justified as follows: An “officer” of the law, using his specialized powers of observation, had reasonable cause to suspect a crime had been committed? In other words, the dog smelled your drugs. Wouldn’t the same officer be within his rights as a law enforcement agent if he visually observed something illegal in your car? Why not if his dog, -also a law enforcement officer, “observed” the same thing.

If you don’t want to be subject to such, don’t buy illegal drugs, --and if you do, don’t take them to Wal-Mart or anywhere else with you. You might get stopped for a broken tail light. If you do, you have nobody to blame except yourself when you get caught with the drugs.
The Supreme Court has said so.

Freedom of Speech? And Equality for All?

Leftist liberals are all frothing at the mouth about George W. Bush’s inauguration. They claim he is spending too much money on it; that it is unseemly during a time of war, that using the Bible and saying “so help me God” violates the first amendment. Of course this is all just a part of the newest leftist craze –bashing religious people like Bush. It’s now OK to bash Christians apparently. It is even OK for some so-called Christians to bash other Christians, as long as the other Christians being bashed are not the darlings of the left. In fact there is a blatant double standard which is very well illustrated by two similar events in the past couple of years.

In December of last year, four so-called Christian preachers were bound over for trial in Philadelphia for “preaching” at a gay-pride event. Most Christians wouldn’t call the confrontational style the “preaches” were utilizing a very prudent or effective method of evangelizing. They are not likely to win many converts among the homosexual community by calling them sinners with huge signs while yelling at them through bullhorns. In fact, they were disrupting the event. They were certainly not expressing the Golden Rule Jesus preached. They were obnoxious, loud, disruptive, and confrontational. But so what? In this country, don’t they have the right to be obnoxious and disruptive on the public square? It’s called free speech. The “gay pride” people were equally loud, vulgar, boisterous and obnoxious. So –we have a standoff of jerks yelling at each other. But that’s not the way the leftist activist judges saw it. They had the obnoxious “preachers” arrested and bound over for trial for exercising their free speech. They face up to 47 years in prison for exercising their free speech! The gays got off Scott free! The obnoxious homosexuals were allowed to escape without consequences! Double standard anyone? Where is the ACLU? Don’t they come to the aid of groups who get into trouble for free speech? That’s what they claim. Why aren’t they supporting the “preachers” this case?

Not that the so-called “street preachers” always get prosecuted for their hateful, obnoxious behavior. It seems to depend on which group they are attacking. If they are going after left-wing icons like the homosexuals or abortionists, they’re in big trouble. They effectively have no first amendment rights. However, if they go after Mormons, well that’s another story. When that happens, the Mormons get arrested and the “street preachers” get off. Their free speech rights are assiduously protected by the left.

Each April and October, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ( Mormons) hold their General Conference in Salt Lake City. Tens of thousands of the faithful flock to Salt Lake to attend these conferences. Conference also attracts the “street preachers”, who exhibit obnoxious, loud, rude, hateful and despicable behavior with the huge signs, bullhorns, etc. For example, they openly mock the religious, sacred religious vestments Mormons use in their private worship services by wearing them in public to hold them up to ridicule. They frequently accost young Mormon brides who are exiting the Temple on their wedding day to take pictures and greet well-wishers. They call these newlyweds harlots, whores, and other vulgar names. No matter how confrontational, hateful and disruptive their behavior, the leftist judges in Salt Lake City exonerate them totally, saying they are only exercising their constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech. But when an outraged member of the Mormon church was moved to snatch away an article of sacred clothing a “street preacher” was waiving about and mocking, he was arrested and jailed. Nobody claimed the “preacher” had incited him to riot. No judge would ascribe any wrong to the “preacher” at all.

If this isn’t an example of a double standard, it’s hard to know what would be. The same obnoxious “street preachers” who are arrested for exercising free speech in Philadelphia, get off without so much as a reprimand while harassing Mormons in Salt Lake City. And the ACLU remains silent. Go figure.

The CBS Forged Memo Report

CBS still doesn’t get it. The much anticipated Forged Memo report has been released, finally, by Viacom’s internal investigators. The report is a whitewash. While they did throw a couple of executive producers to the wolves, they totally ignored the real kernel, nub, heart and soul of what happened. Instead, they twisted and spun the report to avoid the most important thing that caused Dan Rather, Mary Mapes and all the others to air forged memos in the first place. This report covered up the real story, --hushed it up, --and papered it over.

The events that occurred are quite simple: Rather, Mapes and 90% of all CBS News associates are left-wing, Bush-hating liberals. They are continually looking for anything which may tend to discredit the President. They were fed a very inflammatory, damning set of memos which purported to be authentic but were, in fact, crude forgeries. Rather and Mapes wanted to believe the content of these memos so much they were willing ignore mountains of evidence which told them the memos were fake, including the opinions of several of the document experts they hired to look at them. They had such an active animus against George W Bush, they were willing to totally set aside any hint of journalistic ethics they may once have had, and they simply ran with a story that they knew, or they should have known was a fraud.

The report goes to great lengths to lead us in every direction and to every conclusion, in its search for an explanation for this lapse in journalism, except to the real and obvious one: Rather hates Bush. That is what blinded him and allowed him to ignore all the red flags, ranging from the experts’ opinions, to the checkered background of the source of these memos. He just threw caution to the wind. No other explanation makes any sense at all.

One other factor is also very important. CBS, Rather and all of his main-stream media colleagues, in all of their arrogance, have most certainly misunderestimated the power of the blogosphere. They have been accustomed to being the only source of mass information for many years. They simply weren’t prepared for the possibility that Web sites such as Little Green Footballs, and others would uncover these forgeries within minutes of their publication. They didn’t understand the reach and power these Blogs have at all. This episode, more than any other in recent history, shows the decline of the main stream media and the rise of the blogosphere. Hugh Hewitt’s new book, Blog, points this out in great detail. Dan Rather and his ilk can no longer rely on the power of their “one source, one-way” media empires. There will always be a hoard of independent media critics in the blogosphere checking and re-checking everything they say. They just can no longer get away with false and biased reporting. No wonder so many of them have retired. It’s no longer fun for them.

Will this change the fundamental nature of the establishment press? No, they will remain virulently left wing, and anti-Bush. But maybe they will be at least a little more circumspect about letting us all see their true colors. We can all hope so.

More Roadside Bombings?

The US has the best trained, best equipped military in the history of the world. Yet, inexplicably, they continue to be the victims of so-called roadside bombings on an almost daily basis. This, more than anything else, continues to sap the will of the American public. It is becoming increasingly difficult for many to support the concept of staying the course in Iraq. This military failure (there is no other way to put it) also leads to a very frank and unblinking question: Why!? Why on earth do we continue to lose troops to this relatively crude form of attack? Why, after almost two years, haven’t we figured out a way to stop them!? This stuff is not rocket science. What gives?

Roadside bombs, which are really land mines, are often detonated by wireless remote control. Hasn’t anyone been able to come up with a way to jam the signals? Roadside bombs are put in place by people, presumably at night. Don’t we have patrols with night vision equipment sweeping the supply corridors in Iraq? Somebody knows who is building and placing these bombs. Don’t we have any intelligence sources who can tell us who? when? where? Roadside bombs have to be placed near enough to our convoys to cause a direct blast effect. Don’t we have “secure” supply routes which are off limits to anyone other than our own people? Don’t we patrol these corridors with helicopters and other aircraft? Don’t we make it perfectly clear to all Iraqis that for the duration of our stay there, these corridors are “off limits” to anyone, and anybody who goes there will be presumed to be a terrorist and shot? Since our supplies pretty much go to the same places over and over again, why can’t we secure the supply routes? It’s a very basic requirement of warfare and has been for centuries.

When we have to deviate from our supply corridors are we in the habit of taking the same route over and over? It seems we are. That the roadside bombers would be able to know in advance where we are likely to travel suggests we are stupidly being predictable! Why? We have equipped our army with combat vehicles which are capable of going anywhere. If you travel off road, you’ll never be hit with a roadside bomb! Why would we make it easy for our enemy by taking the same route everyday? It’s hard to explain.

Drive-by suicide bombers are another problem. Why haven’t we made it perfectly clear to everybody in Iraq that any vehicle which approaches within 200 yards of any US Military vehicle will be presumed to be hostile and will be destroyed? We should put out the word that if you see a US military vehicle, you should turn around and drive the other way—or you’ll be shot at. It seems to be easy enough to understand that if the bad guys can’t get close to you, they can’t harm you. Why don’t our forces understand it?

Most Americans are still in favor of staying the course in Iraq. Most Americans understand that unless we stay the course and prevail against these terrorists, the consequences will be intolerable. What most Americans don’t understand is why, it seems, we are making it too easy for our enemies in Iraq to pick off our troops. Our leaders had better figure out a way to mitigate this situation, and quickly, or they may very well have to face the very thing they fear the most: A collapse in the will of the American people resulting in an embarrassing withdrawal from Iraq. The left around in this country and the world would dance in the streets at that outcome. We must take steps, now, to see that it doesn't happen.