Mamamontezz's Mental Rumpus Room

Trick or Treat!

Yes, it's my little Commando. Kinda proud of her choice of costumes, too. She had a blast Trick or Treating with her little buddy Paris, and they made out like bandits in Grandma's neighborhood. She's already counting down to next Halloween.

Kids. Aren't they fun?

You can help

Take a moment and get your wallet then come back. I'll wait...

Got your wallet? Credit card? Good.

Sergeant Joseph Bozik, an Airborne Soldier with the 118th MP Company (Airborne) from Ft. Bragg, was recently wounded. He has lost both legs and an arm from a landmine, is not not conscious and has many medical complications. On Monday, Sergeant Bozik will be flown into Walter Reed from Landstuhl (Germany).

Unfortunately, the family doesn't have enough money to maintain themselves in a hotel (let alone buy food) for an extended period. The Army paid for airfare for 2 family members and Soldiers' Angels paid for airfare for 2 two more. The Angels can cover hotel expenses for only three days. Fisher House is full so they have to stay at a hotel.

I'm sure you see where this is going. Please go to Blackfive and read the rest of the story. Then take the opportunity to help these people rejoin with their son.

Vote

I really do miss Chopping Block. I've gone back to the original cartoon and started my way back through them again. *sigh*

Click on the cartoon to go see more of his wonderfully sick art. I just love his techinque. I'm kinda fond of Butch's technique, too.

Someone I would like to know

This story is one of the reasons I still have hope that this country will survive,
as long as we have people like Michael Brown who are willing to put it ALL on the line.

Heavy Reading -- And Worth It!

This is very good reading for any American, Republican or Democrat. My sister sent me this in an e-mail.

I do not know who the man was that wrote this but he has captured the
problems very well. He is right in that if we lose this war, we lose our country, and WE CAN LOSE it if we do not become united and work together soon.
The Islamofacists will never defeat us militarily, but we will defeat ourselves by not recognizing the world as it is, and not as we wish it to be.

Please pass this on to as many people as you can. It needs to be read by every American. If we do not wake up quick it is going to be too late.

> THE WORLD SITUATION - A LETTER TO MY SONS
>
> This was written by a retired attorney, to his sons, May 19, 2004.
>
> Dear Tom, Kevin, Kirby and Ted,
>
> As your father, I believe I owe it to you to share some thoughts on the
> present world situation. We have over the years discussed a lot of
> important things, like going to college, jobs and so forth. But this
> really
> takes precedence over any of those discussions. I hope this might give
> you
> a longer term perspective that fewer and fewer of my generation are left
> to
> speak to.
>
> To be sure you understand that this is not politically flavored, I will
> tell you that since Franklin D. Roosevelt, who led us through pre and
> WWII
> (1933 - 1945) up to and including our present President, I have without
> exception, supported our presidents on all matters of international
> conflict. This would include just naming a few in addition to
>
> President Roosevelt - WWII:
>
> President Truman - Korean War 1950;
>
> President Kennedy - Bay of Pigs (1961);
>
> President Kennedy - Vietnam (1961); 1
>
> Eight presidents (5 Republican & 4 Democrat) during the cold war (1945 -
> 1991);
>
> President Clinton's strikes on Bosnia (1995) and on Iraq (1998). 2
>
> So be sure you read this as completely non-political or otherwise you will
> miss the point.
>
> Our country is now facing the most serious threat to its existence, as we
> know it, that we have faced in your lifetime and mine (which includes
> WWII).
> The deadly seriousness is greatly compounded by the fact that there are
> very
> few of us who think we can possibly lose this war and even fewer who
> realize
> what losing really means.
>
> First, let's examine a few basics
>
> 1. When did the threat to us start?
>
> Many will say September 11th, 2001. The answer as far as the United
> States
> is concerned is 1979, 22 years prior to September 2001, with the following
> attacks on us: Iran Embassy Hostages, 1979; Beirut, Lebanon Embassy 1983;
> Beirut, Lebanon Marine Barracks 1983; Lockerbie, Scotland Pan-Am flight to
> New York 1988; First New York World Trade Center attack 1993; Dhahran,
> Saudi
> Arabia Khobar Towers Military complex 1996; Nairobi, Kenya US Embassy
> 1998;
> Dar es Salaam, Tanzania US Embassy 1998; Aden, Yemen USS Cole 2000; New
> York
> World Trade Center 2001; Pentagon 2001. (Note that during the period from
> 1981 to 2001 there were 7,581 terrorist attacks worldwide). 3
>
> 2. Why were we attacked?
>
> Envy of our position, our success, and our freedoms. The attacks happened
> during the administrations of Presidents Carter, Reagan, Bush #1, Clinton
> and Bush #2. We cannot fault either the Republicans or Democrats as there
> were no provocations by any of the presidents or their immediate
> predecessors, Presidents Ford or Carter.
>
> 4. Who were the attackers?
>
> In each case, the attacks on the US were carried out by Muslims.
>
> 5. What is the Muslim population of the World?
>
> 25% 4
>
> 6. Isn't the Muslim Religion peaceful?
>
> Hopefully, but that is really not material. There is no doubt that the
> predominately Christian population of Germany was peaceful, but under the
> dictatorial leadership of Hitler (who was also Christian), that made no
> difference. You either went along with the administration or you were
> eliminated. There were 5 to 6 million Christians killed by the Nazis for
> political reasons (including 7,000 Polish priests).
> ( HYPERLINK
> "http://www.nazis.testimony.co.uk/7-a.htm"http://www.nazis.testimony.co.uk/7
> -a.htm). Thus, almost the same number of Christians were killed by the
> Nazis, as the 6 million holocaust Jews who were killed by them, and we
> seldom heard of anything other than the Jewish atrocities. Although
> Hitler
> kept the world focused on the Jews, he had no hesitancy about killing
> anyone
> who got in his way of exterminating the Jews or of taking over the world -
> German, Christian or any others. Same with the Muslim terrorists. They
> focus the world on the US, but kill all in the way - their own people or
> the
> Spanish, French or anyone else.. 5 The point here is that just like the
> peaceful Germans were of no protection to anyone from the Nazis, no matter
> how many peaceful Muslims there may be, they are no protection for us from
> the terrorist Muslim leaders and what they are fanatically bent on doing -
> by their own pronouncements - killing all of us infidels. I don't blame
> the
> peaceful Muslims. What would you do if the choice was shut up or die?
>
> 6. So who are we at war with?
>
> There is no way we can honestly respond that it is anyone other than the
> Muslim terrorists. Trying to be politically correct and avoid verbalizing
> this conclusion can well be fatal. There is no way to win if you don't
> clearly recognize and articulate who you are fighting.
>
> So with that background, now to the two major questions
>
> 1. Can we lose this war?
> 2. What does losing really mean?
>
> If we are to win, we must clearly answer these two pivotal questions.
>
> We can definitely lose this war, and as anomalous as it may sound, the
> major reason we can lose is that so many of us simply do not fathom the
> answer to the second question - What does losing mean? It would appear
> that
> a great many of us think that losing the war means hanging our heads,
> bringing the troops home and going on about our business, like post
> Vietnam.
> This is as far from the truth as one can get. What losing really means is
>
> We would no longer be the premier country in the world. The attacks will
> not subside, but rather will steadily increase. Remember, they want us
> dead, not just quiet. If they had just wanted us quiet, they would not
> have
> produced an increasing series of attacks against us over the past 18
> years.
> The plan was clearly to terrorist attack us until we were neutered and
> submissive to them.
>
> We would of course have no future support from other nations for fear of
> reprisals and for the reason that they would see we are impotent and
> cannot
> help them.
>
> They will pick off the other non-Muslim nations, one at a time. It will
> be
> increasingly easier for them. They already hold Spain hostage. It
> doesn't
> matter whether it was right or wrong for Spain to withdraw its troops from
> Iraq. Spain did it because the Muslim terrorists bombed their train and
> told them to withdraw the troops. Anything else they want Spain to do,
> will
> be done. Spain is finished.
>
> The next will probably be France. Our one hope on France is that they
> might see the light and realize that if we don't win, they are finished
> too,
> in that they can't resist the Muslim terrorists without us. However, it
> may
> already be too late for France. France is already 20% Muslim and fading
> fast. See the attached article on the French condition by Tom Segel. 6
>
> If we lose the war, our production, income, exports and way of life will
> all vanish as we know it. After losing, who would trade or deal with us
> if
> they were threatened by the Muslims. If we can't stop the Muslims, how
> could anyone else? The Muslims fully know what is riding on this war and
> therefore are completely committed to winning at any cost. We better know
> it too and be likewise committed to winning at any cost.
>
> Why do I go on at such lengths about the results of losing? Simple.
> Until
> we recognize the costs of losing, we cannot unite and really put 100% of
> our
> thoughts and efforts into winning. And it is going to take that 100%
> effort
> to win.
>
> So, how can we lose the war? Again, the answer is simple. We can lose
> the
> war by imploding. That is, defeating ourselves by refusing to recognize
> the
> enemy and their purpose and really digging in and lending full support to
> the war effort. If we are united, there is no way that we can lose. If
> we
> continue to be divided, there is no way that we can win. 7
>
> Let me give you a few examples of how we simply don't comprehend the life
> and death seriousness of this situation.
>
> President Bush selects Norman Mineta as Secretary of Transportation.
> Although all of the terrorist attacks were committed by Muslim men between
> 17 and 40 years of age, Secretary Mineta refuses to allow profiling. Does
> that sound like we are taking this thing seriously? This is war. For the
> duration we are going to have to give up some of the civil rights we have
> become accustomed to. We had better be prepared to lose some of our civil
> rights temporarily or we will most certainly lose all of them permanently.
>
> And don't worry that it is a slippery slope. We gave up plenty of civil
> rights during WWII and immediately restored them after the victory and, in
> fact, added many more since then. Do I blame President Bush or President
> Clinton before him? No, I blame us for blithely assuming we can maintain
> all of our Political Correctness and all of our civil rights during this
> conflict and have a clean, lawful, honorable war. None of those words
> apply
> to war. Get them out of your head.
>
> Some have gone so far in their criticism of the war and/or the
> Administration that it almost seems they would literally like to see us
> lose. I hasten to add that this isn't because they are disloyal. It is
> because they just don't recognize what losing means. Nevertheless, that
> conduct gives the impression to the enemy that we are divided and
> weakening,
> it concerns our friends, and it does great damage to our cause.
>
> Of more recent vintage, the uproar fueled by the politicians and media
> regarding the treatment of some prisoners of war perhaps exemplifies best
> what I am saying. We have recently had an issue involving the treatment
> of
> a few Muslim prisoners of war by a small group of our military police.
> These are the type prisoners who just a few months ago were throwing their
> own people off buildings, cutting off their hands, cutting out their
> tongues
> and otherwise murdering their own people just for disagreeing with Saddam
> Hussein. And just a few years ago these same type prisoners chemically
> killed 400,000 of their own people for the same reason. They are also the
> same type enemy fighters who recently were burning Americans and dragging
> their charred corpses through the streets of Iraq. And still more
> recently
> the same type enemy that was and is providing videos to all news sources
> internationally, of the beheading of an American prisoner they held.
> Compare this with some of our press and politicians who for several days
> have thought and talked about nothing else but the "humiliating" of some
> Muslim prisoners - not burning them, not dragging their charred corpses
> through the streets, not beheading them, but "humiliating" them. Can this
> be for real?
>
> The politicians and pundits have even talked of impeachment of the
> Secretary
> of Defense. If this doesn't show the complete lack of comprehension and
> understanding of the seriousness of the enemy we are fighting, the life
> and
> death struggle we are in and the disastrous results of losing this war,
> nothing can. To bring our country to a virtual political standstill over
> this prisoner issue makes us look like Nero playing his fiddle as Rome
> burned - totally oblivious to what is going on in the real world. Neither
> we, nor any other country, can survive this internal strife.
>
> Again I say, this does not mean that some of our politicians or media
> people are disloyal. It simply means that they absolutely oblivious to
> the
> magnitude of the situation we are in and into which the Muslim terrorists
> have been pushing us for many years. Remember, the Muslim terrorists
> stated
> goal is to kill all infidels. That translates into all non-Muslims - not
> just in the United States, but throughout the world. We are the last
> bastion of defense.
>
> We have been criticized for many years as being 'arrogant'. That charge
> is
> valid in at least one respect. We are arrogant in that we believe that we
> are so good, powerful and smart, that we can win the hearts and minds of
> all
> those who attack us, and that with both hands tied behind our back, we can
> defeat anything bad in the world. We can't. If we don't recognize this,
> our nation as we know it will not survive, and no other free country in
> the
> World will survive if we are defeated.
>
> And finally, name any Muslim countries throughout the world that allow
> freedom of speech, freedom of thought, freedom of religion, freedom of the
> press, equal rights for anyone - let alone everyone, equal status or any
> status for women, or that have been productive in one single way that
> contributes to the good of the World. 8
>
> This has been a long way of saying that we must be united on this war or
> we
> will be equated in the history books to the self-inflicted fall of the
> Roman
> Empire. If, that is, the Muslim leaders will allow history books to be
> written or read.
>
> If we don't win this war right now, keep a close eye on how the Muslims
> take over France in the next 5 years or less. They will continue to
> increase the Muslim population of France and continue to encroach little
> by
> little on the established French traditions. The French will be fighting
> among themselves over what should or should not be done, which will
> continue
> to weaken them and keep them from any united resolve. Doesn't that sound
> eerily familiar?
>
> Democracies don't have their freedoms taken away from them by some
> external
> military force. Instead, they give their freedoms away, politically
> correct
> piece by politically correct piece. And they are giving those freedoms
> away
> to those who have shown, worldwide, that they abhor freedom and will not
> apply it to you or even to themselves, once they are in power. They have
> universally shown that when they have taken over, they then start brutally
> killing each other over who will be the few who control the masses. Will
> we
> ever stop hearing from the politically correct, about the "peaceful
> Muslims"?
>
> I close on a hopeful note, by repeating what I said above. If we are
> united, there is no way that we can lose. I believe that after the
> election, the factions in our country will begin to focus on the critical
> situation we are in and will unite to save our country. It is your future
> we are talking about. Do whatever you can to preserve it
>
> hb
>
> ___________________________________
> "IN GOD WE TRUST"

Breaking News

Commissar Rescued In Daring
Early Morning Raid By Pajamahadeen

It was the stuff of big budget action movies today when the Commissar was rescued from himself and from a previously unknow group of Blog Terrorists today in an Entebbe type raid by the Pajamahadeen.

Lead by Kim du Toit, the intrepid group of nightwear-clad bloggers rappelled from a Vietnam War era surplus Huey onto the roof of the Commissar's dacha in an early morning raid timed to catch his guards unaware. It is believed that he was actually sleeping after a night of Pythonesque torture by members of a little know faction of satire-challenged bloggers known as the Axis of the Humorless.

"It was rough," commented longtime rifleman du Toit. "We thought we'd lost him for a bit when he wouldn't respond, but we realized he's just an extremely deep sleeper."

"When we figured out he was just sleeping, the Mrs. and her sidekick Serenity over there just hauled him out and harnessed him up for evac."

The Pajamahadeen, trained and armed by du Toit and John of Aarrgghhh, has shown itself to be a major fighting force, and has begun to build a reputation as both determined and accurate in pursuit of their targets. Recent targets have included Dan Rather, the UKGuardian, Sandy Berger, Michael Moore, and current Democrat presidental ticket. This was their first attempt at a blog-rescue.

"Yes, we understood the risks involved in this and determined that it was time to put it on the line for a fellow co-conspirator," stated Airborne advisor and jump-leader Blackfive. "If our undercover man, George Turner, hadn't intercepted that communique from the insidious Puppy Blender™ to his minions in the DU, we may never have had this window of opportunity. The Commissar would still be under liberal control, or worse."

"It's bad enough constantly fending off DOS attacks, trolls and comment spammers from the Loony Left," continued Lord and Tyrant Spats, "but when they take advantage of a blogger who takes himself hostage, and then torture him in an attempt to drain him of any sense of humor, well, that's where I draw the damned line."

Casualties were light among the Axis of Humorless terrorists who insisted on being called "freedom fighters" when the military police arrived. "We see this a lot with these f*cking liberal sh*ts," stated combatarms instructor and team sniper Slaglerock, as he and his crack tactical team placed them in custody. "No f*cking brains or the sense God gave a goat. Probably not one combined brain between the whole sorry lot of them."

Other members of the Pajamahadeen involved in the raid included TacJammer of Intel Support, Baldilocks of Air Support, Blackjack, Pharmaceutical Expert GOC in Winston-Salem, Bill Faith of Engineering, Natasha of the Accomplished Cussing Division, Velociman from the Sustained Disdain Group, DokRussia on Medical Detail, and former Marine StraightWhiteGuy who spent most of the raid interrogating the female terrorists and asking them to wear bunny ears and fluffy tails.

The Commissar was taken to an undisclosed location for debriefing after the raid, and is expected to return to his dacha within several hours. Also removed from the site were several cases of vodka and one shotglass. No explaination for the seizure was given by the Pajamahadeen.

Christmas is Coming...

...the goose is getting fat. So is the Montezz Posterior, with all of this pre-Halloween quality control in which I find myself forced to participate. Ah, the pains we take for our families, I tell you. It's a never ending job.

Christmas is another of those neverending holidays. Just when you think it's over, it's time to start up again with no rest for the elves. And our friends, the little BDU elves at Keystone Military are looking for a little workshop help right now for the holidays.

Stockings for the Troops could sure use a little assistance right now. If you can sew stockings, send a bunch of necessary niceties, or drop a few coppers in the alms box, they could sure use it. Christmas is coming fast, much too fast in my opinion, and they need to get this tied up and on the sled ASAP.

These are great folks doing great work for our great military personnel. Kick-in with them and make it even better.

October Surprise?

Gaylon Parker reiterates yet once again why John Kerry should be breaking rocks in Leavenworth, not running for President.

John Kerry has worked under the direction of a foreign(enemy) government once; his Senate record shows that he has been on the wrong side of history in the conduct of the Cold War in EVERY vote he has cast, his own statements in the campaign show that he intends to follow the same course he always has.

Do we want a traitor as CiC? I think NOT!

Superstitions

So, conventional wisdom has it that if the Washington Redskins win the game before the national election, the incumbent wins the election. Conversely, if the opposing team wins, the challenger also wins the election. Interesting theory.

To this I have to say-

Osama

Well, apparently I was wrong..Osama ISN'T a grease spot on a cave wall in Tora Bora. He just released a vidio tape that shows that he is still among the living, mores the pity.

It was apparent that he was attempting to sway the American electorate to
vote for John Kerry. I hope that this will again show that he doesn't really understand the American psyche any better than he did pre-9/11.

It should be obvious whom Osama wants to be the next President, and it should behoove all of us wonder exactly why, and thus know that Kerry is not the man to be our next CiC.

There is an excellent piece in the NY Post deliniating some of the reasons that Osama wants Kerry, and why WE shouldn't!

The piece ends with:

Again, for the record: If Osama could have carried out an act of terror, he would have carried out an act of terror.

He can't — and that speaks to the fundamental success of the War on Terror.

THATS what this election is all about people. We are engaged in a world war the likes that has never been seen before... do we want someone who doesn't even ackowledge that we are in such a war ("nuisence", anyone?)
or the person who has reduced the main figurehead of the opposition to ranting on videotape, because he is incapble of committing any physical acts of terror due to the loss of a great part of his network, support system, and financial backing?

As for Me, Lets Roll; FOUR MORE YEARS!

Just a little favor?

The progeny of this marriage, little Anna Emily, turns 10 years old on November 5th. It's a biggie for her, as she believes and will argue to a fine point that this means she is no longer a kid, but a "pre-teen" and darned near an adult. (I've got news for her, but that's another story!)

So I'd like to make a modest request of our readers. It won't cost you much more than a little time and a stamp. We would like you to pick up an inexpensive birthday card or write her a little birthday note, address it to her, and mail it. It can be anything, just something with an out of state address and a "Happy Birthday" on it. She's not going to be getting a lot this year, so we are hoping a plethora of mail will off-set any disappointment. Kids get pretty excited about birthdays, and I hate to see her disappointed.

If you'd like to make her birthday special, please let us know in the comments here that you are willing to mail her a birthday card. We'll email you back with our snailmail address.

Thank you in advance for your kindness. You have all been very kind and supportive to us during these last few difficult months, and I hate to ask for this, but it's something small that would mean a lot to a little girl. None of this has been her fault.

Election v. Revolution

After having read Delftsman's post below on the potential for revolution, I clicked over to Lucianne.com and found a disturbing editorial.

Dan Sernoffsky, writing for the Lebanon Daily News, asks an important question in his editorial, Left ready to derail election process.

Is Kristallnacht coming to America?

If, after reading Delfts' post you believe he was overstating the situation, this should at least give you additional pause for thought. The parallels are obvious and frightening, and it deserves your attention.

The web site MoveOn.org, funded by Soros, made news earlier this year by comparing President Bush to Hitler and attempting to link Bush's family to the rise of the Third Reich. An overlooked irony about that link was that the American left has a much closer tie to the Third Reich. Joseph Kennedy, father of Democrat icon Ted Kennedy, was recalled as the ambassador to England prior to the start of World War II because of his blatant public admiration for Hitler and his unconcealed anti-Semitism.

I know that each of you understands this, but how many of those who vandalize campaign offices or attempt to exercise political speech by driving over a candidate in a Caddy has any understanding of how their actions are a precise mirror image of the events of 1939 Germany?

Even the wife of John Edwards has implied by her answer to a question at a recent rally that there will be riots if his bid for office is thwarted by voters. Today, the wife of John Kerry has proclaimed that any thought contrary to supporting her husband or his ideas is "Neaderthal."

I'm the Brownshirt. I'm the idiot. I'm the Nazi.

But they will be the ones instigating America's Kristallnacht.

Revolution?

Kim du Toit has a post up on the reasons/possibilities for a revolution in this country.

I agree with him that it all depends on the "tripwires" that we as a people have about determining when the government has become tyranical, and it has reached the point where people will decide that their freedoms have been sufficiently abrogated for them to rise up and reclaim them in either a political uprising; or if too stoutly resisted, armed insurrection.

I feel that we may be nearing that point soon...The Left has already begun on both fronts...firing weapons on Republican election headquarters, stuffing voter rolls with illegals/felons/dead people,using Union thugs to intimidate the free expression of politcal views.

It's not an organised effort, or the revolution would be here, but when the hot headed on both sides are at that point, how far behind can the general populace be from a general uprising? All it would take is for the incidents to be of a sufficient seriousness/obviousness to make people risk a comfortable status-quo in favor of defending their individual freedoms for a general uprising to occur.

The first Civil War did not flash into being; it took a slow progression of grievences to build up to the point where a large segment of the people say "enough, and no more" and rose up to try to defend their way of life.

Slavery is touted as the cause, but no one who studies history can believe that it was anything more than a focal point to legitimize the true cause; the struggle between Federalism and States rights.

The problem is that Slavery was an abhorrent enough institution to fight against, when, for the rest, the side supporting it was otherwise correct in their resistance to an ever encroaching Federal abrogation of power.

The Founding Fathers wouldn't recognize our government as it is now as anything akin to what they envisioned, and would probably be calling for the "refreshment of the roots of the tree of Liberty with the blood of patriots and tyrants".

I sincerely hope that the revolution can be done politicaly, and not through armed revolt, but those in power never give that power up easily. The fact remains that we do need a revolution to return to our original ideas of a limited Federal government in place only to protect the freedoms of the individual citizen.

I don't know if the people of today have the intestinal fortitude to take true freedom back into their hands, with all the self responsibility that that entails; too many of us are all too willing to give up some of that freedom for the security of the nanny state. Freedom entails taking risks of personal failure, without a net other than the largess of their fellow citizens to help through the low spots. Right now, that largess is enforced by government, with government holding that largess as the stick to compliance with it's policies. That isn't freedom. That is being a ward of the state.

I am NOT espousing armed revolution...I espouse hoping that the people take back what is their birthright under the Constitution, the freedom to live without of an overreaching government seeking to control all aspects of their lives.

"For your own good" is the most insidious phrase in our political lexicon, and from which enslavement to the state invariably follows. We must all subjegate our personal freedom to some extent to provide for an ordered society, otherwise there is anarchy, but we must always guard those freedoms to the greatest extent possible lest we give away too much and become merely subjects of the state and not free participants in a mutually benificial society.

Trick or Treat?

Personally, since I've seen these prices, it might actually take a little more to really scare me, but not much.

Birds of a Feather...

It doesn't get any better than this:

Jessie Jackson has added former Chicago Democrat congressman Mel
Reynolds to Rainbow/PUSH Coalition's payroll.

Reynolds was among the 176 criminals excused in President Clinton's
last-minute forgiveness spree. Reynolds received a commutation of his
six-and-a-half-year federal sentence for 15 convictions of wire fraud,
bank fraud and lies to the Federal Election Commission. He is more
notorious, however, for concurrently serving five years for sleeping
with an underage campaign volunteer.

This is a first in American politics: An ex-congressman who had sex
with a subordinate...won clemency from a president who had sex with a
subordinate...then was hired by a clergyman who had sex with a
subordinate.

His new job? Youth counselor.

IS THIS A GREAT COUNTRY OR WHAT?

Stolen Honor

Six more days until the election, and I must confess that I am getting a little anxious that there isn't more of a clear-cut lead for President Bush. I just watched Stolen Honor, and I find it unfathomable that the POS posing as a human being is so near to possibly becoming our next President. This dreg of humanity should be tried for treason, and when he's found guilty, Hanged.

I do believe that there would be no paucity of volunteers to spring the trap from under his feet. I know I would gladly perform that service, but there are men far more deserving than I to have that honor.

It's late, and I need to try to sleep...it will be difficult with those images whirling around in my brain.

Humor of the Day

Our Friend Catfish sent us these little tidbits. Just had to share them!

Priestly Humor

A burgular broke into a house one night. He shone his
flashlight around, looking for valuables. As he picked up a
CD player, a strange voice echoed in the darkness saying,
"Jesus is watching you."

He nearly jumped out of his skin, turned his flashlight off
and froze. He heard nothing more. After a while, he shook
his head and promised himself a vacation after the next big
score, then clicked the light back on and began searching
for more valuables.

But as he started to disconnect the
wires of the stereo, he again heard the words, "Jesus is
watching you."

Freaked out, he shone his light around frantically, looking
for the source of the voice. Finally, in the corner of the
room, the beam of the flashlight came to rest on a parrot.
"Did you say that?" the burgular hissed.
"Yep, I'm just trying to warn you."
"Warn me, huh? Who in the world are you?"
"Moses," replied the bird.
"Moses?" the burgular laughed. "What king of stupid person
would name a parrot "Moses'?"

The bird answered, "The same kind of stupid person that
would name a rottweiler "Jesus.'"

*************************************************
GOOD
A Michigan policeman had a perfect spot to watch for speeders, but
wasn't getting many. Then he discovered the problem -- a 12-year-old
boy was standing up the road with a hand painted sign, which read "RADAR
TRAP AHEAD". The officer then found a young accomplice down the road
with a sign reading "TIPS" and a bucket full of money. (And we used
to just sell lemonade!)

BETTER
A motorist was mailed a picture of his car speeding through an
automated radar post in Troy, MI. A $40 speeding ticket was
included. Being cute, he sent the police department a picture of
$40. The police responded with another mailed photo of handcuffs.

BEST
A young woman was pulled over for speeding. As Michigan State
Trooper Officer walked to her car window, flipping open his ticket
book, she said, "I bet you are going to sell me a ticket to the State Troopers Ball.
"He replied, "Michigan State Troopers don't have balls." There was a
moment of silence while she smiled, and he realized what he'd just said.
He then closed his book, got back in his patrol car and left.
She was laughing too hard to start her car

***************************************************

Subject: Pharmacy Lesson

In pharmacology, all drugs have two names, a trade
name and a generic name. For example, the trade name
of Tylenol also has the generic name of acetaminophen.
Aleve is actually naproxen. Amoxil is also amoxicillin and
Advil is also ibuprofen.

The FDA has been looking for a generic name for Viagra.
After careful consideration by a team of government experts,
it recently announced that it has settled on the generic name
of mycoxafloppin.

Also considered were mycoxafailin, mydixadrupin, mydixadud,
dixafix and, of course, ibepokin.

*************************************************

An American is having breakfast in Paris one morning (coffee, croissants, bread, butter and jam) when a Frenchman, chewing gum, sits down next to him. The American ignores the Frenchman who, nevertheless, starts a conversation.

French man: "You American folk eat the whole bread??"

American (in a bad mood): "Of course."

French: (after blowing a huge bubble) "We don't. In France, we only eat what's inside. The crusts we collect in a container, recycle it, transform them into croissants and sell them to the States."

The Frenchman has a smirk on his face. The American listens in silence.

The Frenchman persists: "Do you eat jelly with the bread??"

American: "Of course."

Frenchman: (cracking his gum between his teeth and chuckling). "We don't. In France we eat fresh fruit for breakfast, then we put all the peels, seeds, and leftovers in containers, recycle them, transform them into jam and sell the jam to the States."

The American then asks: "Do you have sex in France?"

Frenchman: "Why of course we do," he says with a big smirk.

American: "And what do you do with the condoms once you've used them?"

Frenchman: "We throw them away, of course."

American: "We don't. In America, we put them in a container, recycle them, melt them down into chewing gum and sell them to the French

**********************************************************

A woman and a man are involved in a car accident on a snowy, cold
Monday morning; it's a bad one. Both of their cars are totally demolished,
but amazingly neither of them are hurt.

God works in Mysterious ways.

After they crawl out of their cars, the woman says, "So you're a man.

That's interesting. I'm a woman. Wow, just look at our cars! There's
nothing left, but we're unhurt. This must be a sign from God that we should
meet and be friends and live together in peace for the rest of our days".

Flattered, the man replies, "Oh yes, I agree with you completely,
this must be a sign from God!"

The woman continues, "And look at this, here's another miracle, My
car is completely demolished but this bottle of wine didn't break.

Surely God wants us to drink this wine and celebrate our good fortune."
Then she hands the bottle to the man.

The man nods his head in agreement, opens it and drinks half the bottle
and then hands it back to the woman. The woman takes the bottle and
immediately puts the cap back on, and hands it back to the man.

The man asks, "Aren't you having any?"

The woman replies, "No. I think I'll just wait for the police...."

**************************************************************

WMD's and Terrorism

Sailor in the Desert has a great post that should finally put to rest the meme that Saddam wasn't a threat to our security. Read it and think again before you pull that lever on Tuesday.

Fair Tax

I believe that the tax system in the United States is broken. When a Person like TeRAYza Kerry can end up paying only 14% on an income of $5MILLION; it gives the demagogues the ammunition to institute a class-warfare argument that, at best, is disingenious, and at worst plays on the real fears of an ignorant (in economic terms) electorate.

What is the solution? I belive that the best proposal I have seen is the "Fair Tax"(HR-25). It would eliminate ALL of the present tax code and replace it with one simple national sales tax.

No more taxes hidden in the cost of items we buy, artificially raising prices.

No more worry every year if we kept the proper records.

No more asking advice from three different agents of the IRS and getting three diametrically opposed answers.

No more having to prove to the IRS that we fairly submitted ourselves to the annual accounting of our finances, where we are guilty untill we have proven ourselves innocent.

Just one tax that everyone pays at the same rate, regardless of our income level.

A tax that allows us to keep ALL that we earn, and allows us to determine what we pay through our choice of purchases. It would also raise the standard of living of the "working poor"; they would keep ALL that they earn and receive a monthly refund based on the regular tax costs on the necessities of life, effectively giving them a 10 to 15% raise in pay.

Want to know more? I put an thumbnail explanation of the Fair Tax by Neal Boortz in the extended entry. Follow the link and add your name to the growing number of people that want a truly FAIR way of taxation to fund the government.

LET'S DEMAGOGUE THE FAIR TAX

Perhaps you noticed that in quite a few congressional races around the country Democratic candidates have been attempting to frighten voters into believing that the evil Republican candidate is going to burden them with a horrible new tax. More specifically, the wicked Republican is going to add a 23% federal retail sales tax on everything they buy .. and this is in addition to all the other taxes they're already paying!

Effective politics? You bet! Can you imagine how frightened some middle or lower income American would be at the prospect of paying another 23 cents on the dollar for everything they bought? If I believed that a Republican was going to do such a thing ... hell, I"D vote for the Democrat. And there aren't many things that could cause me to vote for a Democrat. A threatened beheading might do it, but I'm not even sure about that.

The big problem with this particular Democratic campaign charge is that it is simply not true. It's a lie. Not only is it a lie, but every single Democrat who has made this charge against their Republican opponent knows it to be a lie. In the Boortz book, that makes these Democratic candidates, and that includes Congresswoman Denise Majette running for the U.S. Senate in Georgia, and Inez Tenenbaum who is running against Republican Jim DeMint in South Carolina, bold, intentional, premeditated liars.

I've been studying the Fair Tax proposal in its various forms for 20 years. I am convinced that this plan to replace virtually all personal and corporate taxes with a national retail sales tax would bring a period of transformation and economic growth to America such as has never been seen before. On top of that, it would be a financial boon to the poor and the middle class.

First ... A Brief Overview

You can learn all of the details of the Fair Tax play by clicking on this link. In case you don't have the time, here's your brief overview.

The Fair Tax (HR-25) would eliminate all personal corporate and personal federal income taxes. It would eliminate all federal payroll taxes, including Social Security and Medicare. The Death Tax ... gone. Capital gains taxes ... gone. Gift taxes ... gone. Excise taxes .. gone. In the place of all of those taxes we would have one national retail sales tax on all purchase at the retail level. This means you would get 100% of your paycheck. The amount you place into an investment .. not taxed. The amount you put into a savings account .. not taxes. Money you give to your kids ... not taxed, neither to you nor to them. You make a consumer purchase, you pay the federal sales tax.

One more thing. The Fair Tax plan calls for the repeal of the 16th Amendment. That's the Amendment that brought us the federal income tax.

When the Fair Tax plan was first being developed it was believed that in order to be revenue neutral ... that is, to make sure that there is no decrease or interruption in the flow of tax revenue ... the national sales tax would be around 23%. I'm led to understand that soon-to-be-released research will show that the actual tax would be around 20% or slightly less. Since I've already run the numbers, we'll stick to the 23% figure for the purpose of this essay. Call me lazy.

So ... let's get on to the Democrat's charges that these evil, wicked, mean and nasty Republicans are plotting a financial Armageddon for poor and middle income Americans.

What Happens to Poor and Middle Income Americans?
OK ... let's put on our sensitivity hats for a few minutes here and think of the consequences of the Fair Tax Act on our nation's poor, poor, pitiful poor. After all, they can hardly afford a 23% sales tax when they're living paycheck-to-paycheck in the first place, right?

Remember ... right now, for the most part, those whom we define as "poor" aren't paying any income tax anyway. In fact, many of them are getting checks from the government. The absurdly-named Earned Income Tax Credit, for example. So, how can these people survive if suddenly they're paying a 23% retail sales tax?

There's no doubt that any implementation of the Fair Tax would fail in short order if nothing were to change except that the poor would be paying today's prices for a gallon of milk or a loaf of bread, plus a 23% sales tax. But ... that would be far from the reality under the Fair Tax. Under the Fair Tax the poor won't only survive, they'll positively thrive! The Fair Tax could turn out to be the best poverty-fighting tool devised in this country since the concept of hard work.

Let's begin by considering two realities.

First, remember, please, that the poor, along with everybody else, will no longer have Social Security taxes or Medicare taxes withheld from their paychecks. Whatever they earn, they get on payday. For most of them this means an immediate 10 to 15% increase in their earnings.

Second. There's that 22% in imbedded taxes buried in the cost of all consumer goods. This isn't my figure; it comes from respected economists. That 22% is sitting there in virtually everything Americans have to buy.. and that includes poor Americans. As soon as the competitive forces of the free market work their magic, and they always do, consumers, including the poor, will be paying at least 20% less for virtually everything they buy, including the basics of food, clothing, shelter and transportation. Yes .. they'll have to pay the new national sales tax, but when you factor in the lower prices caused by the disappearance of the embedded taxes you'll see that the total price paid for consumer goods will remain very nearly the same.

So ... just considering these factors, the Fair Tax delivers a winning hand to people living in or near to what we call poverty. They get every penny they earn on payday, and when you factor in the Fair Tax and the lower prices, they're actually spending less of their money for a retail purchase than before.

A practical example: Let's pull out the calculators. Let's say that a single mother with two children spends $45 a week on groceries. The removal of the 22% embedded tax would bring the price of those groceries down to $35.10. The sales tax would be $8.07. This brings the total price to $43.17. That's less than our poor mother would have paid under today's tax system. This single mother, whom we'll consider "poor," has just received a 10% to 15% increase in her weekly paychecks, and she's paying less at the grocery story for her basic necessities! Does that sound like such a rotten deal to you?

At this point you should be thoroughly convinced that the Fair Tax would actually benefit, rather than harm the poor. But, then again, maybe not. Perhaps you were educated in government schools, or you're just hard to convince. Sit down. Here's where I close the sale.

The Rebate

The folks who wrote the Fair Tax plan knew that burdening the poor with a 23% retail sales tax would doom the plan from the outset. They decided to devise a way were nobody, rich or poor, would ever have to pay the sales tax on the basic necessities of life. So, under the Fair Tax plan every consumer will receive a credit to their checking account or to a debit card equal to the sales tax that person would be expected to pay on the purchase of the basic necessities of life for that month. The size of the monthly payment will be based on the government's published poverty levels for various sized households. Considering the number of checks and financial transactions of this type the feds undertake every single month, this is entirely "doable."

Here's an example of how the rebate payments would have worked in 2003.

You are now a married couple with two children. The Fair Tax Act sets forth a formula for computing the poverty level, based on government figures, which negates any marriage penalty. Under the Fair Tax Act in 2003 you would have been granted an annual consumption allowance of $24,240. This is what the government would assume you would have to spend during that one year to buy the basic necessities of life for your family. The sales tax on this amount would equal $5,575. The government will rebate this amount to you in 12 equal monthly installments of $465. It's clear .. you're better off, MUCH better off, under the fair tax plan.

But what about a single woman with one child? Her monthly rebate in 2003 would have been $232. The lowest rebate payment would be to a single person with no dependents. That person would receive $172 per month.

Now ... bear in mind, this rebate isn't only paid to the poor. It is paid to everyone, rich and poor alike. The purpose here is to make sure that no American has to pay the Fair Tax sales tax on the basic necessities of life. Unlike the present income tax system, the Fair Tax treats each and every person in this country exactly the same. This, of course, presents somewhat of a problem to politicians who like to use the tax code to foment class distrust or outright warfare.

OK ... let's add it up for America's lower income citizens:

They get their entire paycheck.
Even with the sales tax, and considering the drop in prices, they'll be paying essentially the same for everything they buy.
They get a check from the federal government every month to rebate any sales taxes they had to pay.
Though their tax returns aren't that complex, let's also include the time these the poor (all of us, really) will save by not having to keep tax records or file tax returns.

If you're looking for some reason to oppose the Fair Tax plan, you're going to have to find a better excuse than its effect on the poor.

The Democrats who are using sponsorship of the Fair Tax proposal against their Republican opponents know the real story. They also know that for the most part the media doesn't understand the plan and will make no effort to learn the truth. Print this, copy it, spread it among your friends. Expose the lies of Denise Majette and Inez Tennenbaum and other like them. This tax reform idea is simply too good to allow it to be destroyed by desperate campaign lies.

Just My Rant Today

While perusing through my Nephews blog the other day, he had a post asking why Kerry could tout his faith in one instance and forgo the tenents of that faith in some matters of public policy. That is an interesting discussion, but what struck me was one of the comments to that post....

z"Faith shouldn't guide anything in our system. Separation of church and state. Seperation of one mans beliefs, from another."

I believe that this shows one of the problems that we are experiencing in our political life today, namely that an underlying core of faith that all of our greatest leaders have had in the past has been replaced with a pandering to an evershifting popular "PC" set of non-judgemental values; a belief that there are no absolutes, there is no black and white; just a vast expanse of grey.

Ask anyone who makes such a statement just where in the Constitution it says that faith and government can not co-exist...there is only the provision that the government can not force one religion over, or to the exclusion of, any other on we the people. Religion was always meant to be part of our public life, indeed it was belived by our Founding Fathers that only men of good moral faith were capable making our form of government workable. Without that moral core, the government becomes our master, and not our servant.

Our rights do not come from the largess of the government, they come from a higher power. We allow our government that power needed to guarentee that those individual rights will not be trampled upon by a ruthless majority in the transient interests of the moment. Without a moral code and a belief in some higher authority, those rights become meaningless.

This lack of a moral core has led to the "politics of the moment"...what works for now, without regard to the eventual result that always comes from unintended consequences.

Do NOT misinterpret this to mean that I believe that a litmus test of belonging to a certain,or any,religion is necessary to serve in government. That is not my intent. I do believe that a person can be have a moral code without belonging to any formal religion, what IS important though, is that a person seeking to be a representative of the people HAVE a moral code...a set of core beliefs of right and wrong, irrespective of whatever is the popular political fad of the moment. This lack of a moral core seems to be all too common today.

You may ask "how do we determine if a would be office seeker is a moral person"?

Membership in a church/synagog/mosque is not necessarily indicative...I would say that it behooves all of us as responsible citizens to do our homework and check out a candidates past record in his dealings with others to determine if he or she is worthy of the public trust.

It isn't easy and we must allways be wary of false slurs put out by the opposition...don't take ANY statement at face value, do the homework and check out the facts surrounding any questionable incidents.

It does take work..it takes real thought, and yes, it takes some education of how our system of government, and how our economy, works. Our schools have been co-opted to be little more than indoctrination centers, they no longer teach basic civics and economics, all in the cause of the latest social theory that happens to be hot at the moment. There IS such a thing as right and wrong, good and evil; but these concepts have been lost in a morass of situational ethics and feel good non-judgmental instruction designed to raise self-esteem of the students.

Patriotism? I remember saying the pledge of alliegiance every morning before class. Not PC anymore however...

The "Golden Rule"? Heavens NO! that smacks of religion, can't have THAT!

"Geography"? Thats been replaced with "social studies"...and woe to any teacher that might suggest that the problems experienced by any other country just MIGHT be the result of a socialistic,despotic or rigid theocratic regime ruling said country...All cultures are equally valid, you know. If their results are less than satisfactory, you may rest assured that ,somehow, the United States will be found as the root cause of the problem, either by commission or ommission.

We have lost something precious, and our nation can not stand as the bulwark of freedom unless we can find it again. We must all try to transcend partisan politics and find that inner moral core; that sense that right is right and wrong is wrong, or we will not last as a free people.

I certainly don't presume to know all the answers, I don't think one single person does, it takes a dialogue and discourse among all of us to arrive at a concensus, and hopefully that common core of faith will re-emerge to be a beacon to the truth.
Every right carries a responsiblity, we have become a people that clamors for our rights, but attempting to shirk our responsiblities. This is not a situation that can be sustained. If we do not take back those responsiblities soon, we will no longer have those rights.

ADDEND:

One of the commenters on this post made a comment that read, in part:

"However, confusing moral faith with religious faith is a problem in our country. I do not believe in organized religion and I have a hard time believing in any god."

I felt that I had to reply to this to clarify just what I feel:

I tried to make that point in the post Rob...I'm not confusing a moral faith with a religious one.
Of the two, a moral faith is the more important, but I think that as you grow older, you'll find that a religious faith tends to encourage and strengthen a moral faith.

A morality system "from on high" tends to be stronger than a human system of "because I want it to be so", because it isn't beset by the doubts inherant in any human system. All religions boil down to the same basic tenants, it doesn't matter whether your Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, or even Buddist or Moslem, only the forms are different, the basic message is the same.

I don't believe that religious faith is a problem in our country at all; the fact that we can each believe as we wish is the greatest strength that we have. It's freedom FROM religion that we need to fear, because in the end, every human based system breaks down to "I believe this way because I choose to", and with no higher authority, all it takes is one strong willed individual to form a cult of personality to lead us down a road to destruction. Look at history and you'll see it in Germany, Russia, China,Japan, and every other truly evil regime.

I come from a Catholic background, but have not practiced in my faith for most of my life, I do find myself returning to it as I grow older, but I hardly consider myself as a staunch religionist. Maybe it's a function of growing older and facing one's own mortality. A return to the familiar to make sense of the experiences of life.

For many years,I too,didn't believe in any god, but the older I get, the more I find myself believing in some sort of a higher power...otherwise, all existence seems pointless; even if there is no god, higher power, or whatever you want to call it, I think there is a human need to believe; if for no other reason than to try to make some sense out of what we call life.

Our minds are so constructed as to try to make some sense of order in the scheme of things, with a beginning, a middle, and an end; hopefully with a rebirth to follow the end. Religion is merely the way we express this need for order.

The Islamofacists have replaced the "true word" of Allah with a human system,just using the forms of Islam as a framework, but replacing a human judgement on the "word", and we can all see the results.

So that's my clarification on what I feel, I hope I didn't muddy the waters even further....

Who's next on the soapbox?

Posted by Delftsman3 at 01:16 AM | Comments (6)

Joke of the day

An old Italian Mafia Don was dying and he called his grandson to his bed.

"Grandson, I wannna you lisin to me. I want for you to take my chrome plated 38 revolver so you will always remember me."

"But Grandpa, I really don't like guns---how about you leaving me your Rolex watch instead?"

"You lisina to me boy! Someday you goina be runna the business, you goina have a beautiful wife, lotsa money, a big home, and maybe a couple of
bambino.

Someday, you goina coma home and maybe finda your wife in bed with another man.

What do you do then? Point to your watch and say TIMES UP?!"

The battle for more than the presidency

Listening to Drudge this evening, and he quoted a poll which stated 56% of persons polled want the Electoral College disbanded. Can you imagine the implications of this in future elections?

All future presidents would be picked, essentially, by the urban areas on each coast. We in the fly-over states would be "disenfranchised" by such a move. Rural states, smaller urban areas in the heartland would completely lose their voice in national politics.

Scary? You bet. I, for one, do not relish the thought of losing my voice to persons in regions who have no clue about what vast segments of this county need as representation.

If your senators or congressmen are in favor of such a move, it behooves you to make sure they are not given the opportunity. This is, afterall, more than a presidential race. Fully a third of the Senate and all of the House of Representatives is fighting for their seats, and this is your opportunity to make sure their seats are filled by persons who will represent their constituants.

Yes, it's important to make your vote count in ways you cannot imagine. But you must.

This is priceless.

While cruising Luicanne.com tonight, I found a link to this hysterical new ad by film director David Zucker.

You remember David Zucker? Airplane, Naked Gun, Scary Movie 3? Pee-your-pants funny? Well, he's made possibly the funniest commercial of the political season, and you can see it at the link above.

Great job, Mr. Zucker. Loved it.

Couldn't help myself

Wow, TTLB has some really great submissions linked. The list just keeps on growing. Run on over and check out a few.

Is that all?

Okay, I'm going to ask a stupid question. Chalk it up to my being a hysterical woman, prone to the vapors, unstable because of my hormones. But I'm going to ask anyway.

You've all heard about Ann Coulter's brush with cowardly pie-throwers in Arizona. It made the news, and lots of blogs have covered it as well.

Seems these hooligans got off pretty easy. Sure they got charged with a felony for damaging a backdrop at the venue. But all of the charges directly related to their assault are misdemeanors. Misdemeanors? Seriously?

Let me break my thoughts down on this. Two men assaulted a woman. They assaulted a tiny woman on stage during a presentation of her political beliefs. The woman was assaulted because she holds political beliefs contrary to theirs. They hate her political beliefs and acted out that hatred by assaulting her.

If they had been some Aryan Nation types throwing things at a hippy-chick, it would have been a hate crime. So where is this different?

Is it different because her cause is the unpopular one? Is it because it's acceptable to hate conservatives and their politics? If people are going to demand that hate crime be prosecuted as such, then don't they have to include acts like this as hate crimes?

When is hate not reallly hate? I really don't have to ask, because deep down, I already know the answer.

BlogFamily

*sigh* I finally purged the blog-family rolls of those poor unfortunates who had their blogs at that evil Mblog. Gladly, I was able to replace a couple with new Blog-City addresses, and they have carried on their blogging in their new digs.

Make sure you update your blogrolls with the new addresses for Murdock and Catfish. And be sure to welcome the newest member of the family, Neil Vaneerde at Blog-Gig, also known as LCNeil in the comments at Misha's. Oh, and don't forget LCMikenchi, who's blogging at GrumpyOldWarrior.

It has been fun having Delftsman3, aka Spousal Unit, posting here, but he is getting mighty fidgetty and ready to break free. Seems I keep getting credit in comments for the posts he wrote, and, well, you know how we bloggers are.

It's in the works. It's just a matter of time. Until then, tell Delfts when he's written a good one, but make sure you leave my name out of it. (sheesh, men are so sensitive!)

Kerry's Gaffe?

If you don't read Tech Central Station at least once a week, you're missing some of the most intelligent commentary on the web. No, it's not just scientific articles and tech pieces, but includes great, thought provoking pieces like this one:

Who, or What, Grants Us Our Rights?

To quote James K. Glassman,

Kerry believes that the United States government, through the Constitution, "affords" rights to Americans. My dictionary defines "afford," in this context as "give, grant, confer." In other words, we fortunate, benighted Americans have a country, a government that grants us rights.

That's an utterly inaccurate reading of the great documents of the founding of this nation. Our government does not grant us any rights at all. On the contrary, Americans start off with rights, and it is we who grant the government certain limited powers to protect those rights.

Frightening prospect, isn't it?

Link this guy!

Bill Faith over at Small Town Veteran has something you should see.

I stole borrowed this from Grouchy Old Cripple in Atlanta As he said: Semper Fi!

Go Marines!; Kick Ass and don't bother taking names, let Allah sort them out.

Misha

Our most Illustrious Emperor Misha 1 has sent out the word, and the word is HELP.

I know what a blow to his pride it must have been to have to request this help, but I feel confident that the blogging community can dig deep into their collective pockets and help a true friend in need.

I have been in the Emperor's shoes and know the devastation that his situation can cause; please,if you have a little to spare , put it in the Imperial tip jar.

It behooves us to come to the aid of one of our own in need, if everyone can pitch in just a little, it can mean all the difference.

Petition

In the extended entry is a copy of a letter that the Federalist Patriot group has sent in regards to Sen. Kerry's past record. I was one of more than 180,000 Americans to sign this petition. I sincerely hope that the powers that be take heed and follow through.

The Constitution provides for the redress of grievences by the general population against their government, or members of that government. It's time that this issue was laid to rest without power and money winning out against the fair revue of the questionable actions of one who exercises power on behalf of the citizens of the United States.

Should you wish to add your voice go here and make YOUR voice heard

Honorable John D. Ashcroft
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001

Honorable Richard B. Cheney
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Honorable William H. Frist, M.D.
United States Senate
461 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Honorable J. Dennis Hastert
United States House of Representatives
235 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

18 October 2004

Hon. John D. Ashcroft, Attorney General of these United States:
Hon. Richard B. Cheney, President of the United States Senate:
Hon. William H. Frist, M.D., Majority Leader of the United States Senate:
Hon. J. Dennis Hastert, Speaker, United States House of Representatives:

On behalf of more than 180,000 Americans who have attached their names, including my own, hereto ("Petitioners"), I respectfully submit this request for investigation and indictment of Senator John Forbes Kerry (D. Mass.) for acts of treason in connection with the proffering of counsel and assistance to enemy agents in time of warfare ("Petition for Investigation and Indictment").

Specifically, Petitioners request the United States Department of Justice open or renew an investigation of Mr. Kerry's actions of "giving aid and comfort" to Communist North Vietnam, particularly in regard to his meetings with enemy agents in Paris on multiple occasions between 1970 and 1972 while still an officer in the United States Navy. Such counsel and assistance to enemy agents in time of warfare is in direct violation of UCMJ (Article 104 part 904), U.S. Code (18 USC Sec. 2381 and 18 USC Sec. 953) and other applicable laws and acts of Congress.

Some of Sen. Kerry's anti-American activities and protests in association with Vietnam Veterans Against the War and other subversive groups may have been subject to pardon by President James E. Carter's Executive Order 4483 of 21 January 1977, which provided general amnesty for draft evaders and other war protesters. However, it is the considered opinion of legal scholars that acts of treason in connection with providing aid and comfort to the enemy in time of warfare are not covered by EO 4483.

Though Sen. Kerry claims to have received an Honorable Discharge at the conclusion of his military service, he refuses to sign a Standard Form 180 authorizing the release of his complete military records in an effort, we believe, to conceal his separation from the military by a Dishonorable Discharge or, at best, an other than honorable discharge. This assertion is supported by the fact that Sen. Kerry's discharge was subject to review after EO 4483 by a board of officers acting under Title 10, U.S. Code Section 1162 and 1163 in reference to involuntary separation from the service. Those records are critical to the disposition of this Petition for Investigation and Indictment.

Additionally, in connection with a Dishonorable Discharge, the Department of Defense revokes all pay benefits, allowances, medals and honors. Here Petitioners note that upon becoming a U.S. senator in 1985, Mr. Kerry requested that all his medals be reissued, and, more recently, that he received a revised DD-214 listing an Honorable Discharge.

Why are we requesting that John Kerry be investigated and indicted now?

In October 2003, Mr. Kerry chose to make his Vietnam War record the centerpiece of his campaign for the presidency; this has been especially true since his Democrat Presidential primary victory in March 2004. Outraged by this and in response, the more than 180,000 signatories of the above-referenced Petition for Investigation and Indictment chose to make Mr. Kerry's war record the centerpiece of their campaign to disqualify him from public office.

In doing so, Petitioners cite the Constitution's Fourteenth Amendment, Section 3. The pertinent language states: "No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President ... having previously taken an oath ... to support the Constitution of the United States, [who has] engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof."

Of note, there is no statute of limitations on treason.

It is not Petitioners' intent that this Petition for Investigation and Indictment be acted on prior to the 2 November election as this would be disruptive to the election process. Such action by the Justice Department would only be viewed as "political" in nature. It is, however, Petitioners' intent to ensure that Sen. Kerry's actions are subject to investigative review in order to conclusively determine whether he is legally qualified to hold any future office in accordance with the Constitution's Fourteenth Amendment.

Regardless of the outcome of Sen. Kerry's campaign for president, be it known that Petitioners remain committed to holding Sen. Kerry accountable for his actions.

Respectfully submitted,

Mark Alexander
Executive Editor and Publisher,
The Federalist Patriot

A Heartfelt Letter.

Neil Ernest Vaneerde, a man who needs a real blog, took the time to gather and put down these thoughts in a letter that he shared with his friends, thoughts that I felt needed to be shared more widely than a few emails. Please take the time to read this, and pass it on to those who may need to read it.

Friends Romans and Countrymen,

I know many of my friends think I am too the right of Ghengis Khan ,and you may be right.

But I don't kick dogs or want to cripple children to fight a war.

I belive from the bottom of my heart, that security must come before many other things in the priority list. Its like paying bills. The electric bill trumps the DTV bill. The insurance for Home, car and Life trumps having dinner out. Gas for the car to get to work beats my tall boy on the way home, no matter how much I am craving it.

Formula for my son beats anything on the list.

We all have priorities and Waging the war on terror beats a lot of priorities the esteemed and usually missing senator from Taxechussets has consistently voted for or against.

http://www.carlisle.army.mil/usawc/parameters/04summer/peters.htm
Some of those things [he voted against],The MX missile, Stealth Bomber, M-1 tank, The funds to press the war in Iraq.

He implies that Iraq would be better off if we had not invaded.

Would the world be better off if we had not invaded Germany and Japan in the 40s?

How many dead and tortured innocents does it take to trip the wire? Do you think he really believes all the people put in shredders are of no value?

Remember Clinton and Koffis action in Rwanda? Nothing, and thousands of innocents dead.

How about Sudan today?

How come Germany and France don't pick up the slack there, while we battle the Islamists swarming to Iraq?

And don't tell me that because we can't solve all the problems in the world that we cant pick and choose. You have to start somewhere.

I am open to suggestions from anyone left or right about what to do in Hati.
What nuanced response can save that hell hole, other then shooting anyone with a gun?

Kerry also derides the Coalition our President has assembled, insulting our allies Great Britain, Poland, Italy, Australia to name a few.

Yet he still voted against Gulf War 1 because it still did not meet his test.

Do we really want to ask the UN for permission to protect us from our Enemy?
When Sudan sits on the Human rights council, I have a problem with that.

The President takes an oath of office to the Constitution not the UN.

And look at the Kerry Supporters: Yassir Arrafat, The Communist Party, Mike Moore, The Hollywood Left. That is a coalition of evil if I have ever seen it.

That being said I am sending this out for you to read and digest. Its a bit long but describes what we are up against in detail.

I belive what I belive, and have been consistent since Reagan was President. Kerry has no core values other then a lust for the office, and the redistribution of every ones wealth except his.

Turayzuh paid 12% in Taxes.

Even i pay more then that.

And if he cares so much about helping people, how about a refund for the past year, him and The breck girl's last year of non service to their Constituents.
They have both missed tons of important votes while chasing the white whale.
I mean White House.

Look at Kerrys record. It's a joke. Where is all the Legislation he has passed to help? The guy uses his Senate pay as allowance but he does nothing to earn it. And hiring an ambulance chaser to reform health care seems like a brilliant plan to me.

That coupled with slamming us while abroad during the 60-and 70s is beyond the pale.

I don't care if anyone wants to dissent. You have the right but do it here amongst us. Don't pander to our enemies while abroad. That is bullshit in my book.

The communists in the 40s 50s and 60s killed more people then the US ever has. Look at Germany and Japan. Who would have believed we could transform those societies in the days of WW 2?

And are we lording over them?

They were against the Iraq war because they were getting kick backs from Saddam in the oil for UN diplomats program. These are the people Mr Easter Island head, wants to ask for permission?

We are in this for the long haul and even if you want a dialogue with the enemy, you can not have dialogue with people who just want to kill or convert you. And that is the face of radical Islam.

Cheers to all and even if you disagree with my views I respect yours. And I doubt if Bush wins that Ashcroft's Flying Monkeys will come take you away for dissent. I mean how many people are in the gulag for speaking against our President?

Dont try to tell me it is brave to dissent here. We allow anyone to be an idiot.

I met a man in Berlin who had scars on his body and arms from the torture inflicted in the name of the Fraternal order of East Germany. He understood dissent better then any American. John Kerry or Mike Moore. He sits at the Brandenburg gate every day reminding people.

And by the way, history lesson for Jimmy Carter who was quoted yesterday saying we did not need the Revolution to free us from the Brits. He said that the Revolution was the bloodiest war in our history. Sorry to tell you Jimbo, you're hanging with Mike Moore too much. The worst war in terms of casualties was the Civil war by far. Try reading a history book once in a while.

I guess I am writing this to urge you to Vote for the President. He is not perfect but he is better then the alternative in my not so humble opinion.

Neil Ernest Vaneerde

Scum for Kerry

Mama's had a good time with the photoshop and doing the heroes for Bush; I thought I'd be a little different and do the Scum of the Universe for Kerry, same thing, but just going from the opposite tack. See the prior post for my modest effort.

Who do YOU think would go for Kerry/Edwards?

Equal Time

Just to give the enemy equal time.....

"Just Damn." -Dax Montana

In the eternal words of the great and wonderous Dax Montana, yesterday was a great big "Just Damn."

To begin with, MuNu had what appeared to be a big, freaking DNS problem, and I couldn't read any of my Munuvian brothers and sisters, nor could I post anything. Here I sat, a full of brilliance and esoteric gobbledeegook and no way to post.

Then, about an hour later, after logging off and napping for a bit, I hear this bellow like a wounded animal from the computer desk. "Aaaarrrrhhh! %@#!!" Seems the phoneline was dead, both voice and DSL. Tempers flared. Accusations flew. The car was packed and off we flew to the Parental Units' home to call SBC to find out what had happened.

A repair was requested, and we were told it might be 3pm Friday before we get service back again. Well, they beat that time by about an hour.

*sigh* At least now I can post. Sadly, though, all that brilliance is gone. Must have been that last trip to the bathroom.

So to quote the Mighty Dax, "Just damn."

Pilots for Bush

Yes, Zoomies stick together.

Now, go check out all the great stuff at Truth Laid Bear. Many excellent examples of Heroes for Bush.

Damn, this is fun. I may have to make a few more of these.

Ted? or Chomps?

Who'd have thought it?

Republican Dog

Gosh, even dead canine movie stars back Bush. And Rinny was a veteran. Can't get any better than that.

Thanks, Russ, for the link. Get on over to Truth Laid Bear and check it out.

Home Brewing

Well, I've spent the better part of an hour or so looking online for plans for making stills and making, er, Home Made Wine. Damn, some of those set-ups are pricey! So I kept on looking and found an interesting plan using plastic buckets and such.

Over on the right hand side, it has a place to click for still-building instructions. Pretty interesting, if you ask me. I can't imagine how that might work, since it's my understanding that you have to steam off for a while to get rid of the methanol.

Hmmm... I might just have to give that a shot.

Intimidation

Okay, everyone. Let's put on our thinking caps for a minute and see if we can remember something.

Does anyone remember any theaters cancelling screenings of Michael Moore's F911 movie when it premiered? Does anyone remember any open acts of intimidation by anyone other than those by supporters of the film against those who made the mistake of wearing a Bush/Cheney button, or who stood in the parking lot in protest? I sure do remember some anti-F911 folks taking a punch, but I sure don't remember reading about any form of violence directed toward the persons supporting and viewing the film, do you?

Seems Free Speech only extends in that direction, though. The entire screening of Stolen Honor was cancelled because of threats against the theater owner? Seriously? What sane person would try to deny a conservative their first amendment rights?

Well, I think we have our answer, don't we?

Ohio voter fraud

Absolutely none of this should surprise you, if you've been paying half a wit of attention to the run-up to the election over the last several weeks.

Thousands of voter registration cards are being returned to county election boards across the state of Ohio, as the new registrants are either missing or simply nonexistant.

State GOP records, confirmed by Williams, show that through Oct. 4, Hamilton County mailed 63,403 cards to new registrants, and 4,152 were returned - a rate of 6.6 percent.

The number was third-highest in the state behind Cuyahoga County's 14,461 and Franklin's 6,917, according to GOP records. In Butler County, 255 cards mailed to new voters were returned, while 24 were returned in Warren County, according to GOP records. Clermont County numbers were not available.

Tim Burke, chairman of the Hamilton County Democratic Party and the county elections board, said an updated number of cards returned is 5,808 out of 150,000 mailed not only to new voters, but also to those changing addresses, for a return rate of less than 4 percent.

4 percent of these cards are potentially fraudulent, many of them made out for persons named Dick Tracy and Mary Poppins. They list non-existant addresses. And the vast majority of them were completed and submitted by PACs loyal to the DNC, whether openly or not.

Think of the implications of 4 percent for a moment. That's the margin of error in most polls. That's enough to rob the legal voters of a county, a state, an entire nation of their legal choice for elected officials.

This is why all polling places need to require identification. I don't mean simply your voter registration card, either. I mean your Driver's License, or a work ID with your photo. Demanding this of a person is not intimidation by any stretch of the imagination unless you're some criminal trying to vote illegally.

I received this year voter registration update mailers for no less than three persons who do not live at this house, nor have lived at this house for at least 5 years. I have, at each election to this point, given the poll workers the names of these people to remove from the books, and every subsequent year they are there for the next election.

This situation in Ohio, I'm afraid, is not isolated. It is an excellent argument for a complete purge of the voter registration rolls, and the prosecution of those who would try to subvert the system, regardless of party affiliation. Wrong is wrong. Illegal is illegal.

Oh, No! Not again!

As an enemy of the state, I'm forever in trouble. I wonder if Acidman will send me what's left of that bottle of red nail polish so I can be suitably decked-out for my trial?

I report, You decide

Two more foreign sources endorse Kerry:

Yasser Arafat

AND

Al Jazeera

So..the voices of terrorism want Kerry? doesn't it tell you something about the effectivness of Bush's WoT?

Blogtoberfest Roundup

Well, I've slept (a lot) and had a chance to recharge and try to remember some of the weekend. Got my Cigar lit, my diet Pepsi on the desk, and my brain cranked up a little. We'll see what I can recall...

After the Goat Rodeo of Friday, which was entirely my fault I must add, things settled into a very agreeable groove. Everyone had been sitting and talking and inbibing for a while, and much music had been played by Acidman, Jim, Denny, and all. I missed all of that, but we still ended up in my room talking for hours. And Geoffrey and Gordon brought me a jug of THE GOOD STUFF! Real New England Maple Syrup! And not that pale stuff either. The good dark stuff with all the deep, rich, earthy flavor. You can keep that Grade A Pale stuff. Give me the Medium Amber or even darker!

Acidman, Dax, Catfish, Geoffrey and Gordon and I sat there and talked until almost 5am. Shot the shit, drank peach wine and then shots of bourbon on ice, smoked a few cigarettes and got to know each other. Compared firearms, even. Eventually it got to the point of pitching them all out to get some sleep. This old woman gets grumpy if I don't get at least an hour or two of sleep each night.

Saturday, Catfish volunteered to keep me company, so he and I went walking through Helen, window shopping and enjoying the really beautiful day. It was warm and sunny and just gorgeous. It was so nice of him to walk through town with me like that. It's no fun to shop alone with no one to talk with when you see funny things or crazy people walking around. And he taught me to flick my cigarette butts out into the street. "You can't be biker trash if you can't flick a cigarette butt." Apparenly I'm a natural! We got a good laugh out of that.

We found a little bakery with fresh apple strudel and hot cocoa. We shopped in a great leather shop with really beautiful holsters, all hand tooled and sturdily made. Then we went back to the Kristy to meet Laughing Wolf, who didn't stay long enough, and find the rest of the gang involved in a game of Half Rubber. It seems the balls I found at the dollar store were just exactly what they needed! Now we know that if you want to play Half Rubber, you need Hoosier Balls.

Georgia regaled us with her superior Bullwhip Cracking Skills using the whip that Velociman brought. Don't ask. I didn't. I really enjoyed Rick and Georgia. I wish I had more of an opportunity to get to know them. She and Kim/V-man went above and beyond, and I don't know how I will ever be able to repay their kindness.

Several of us spend the late afternoon watching Dax sleep on the balcony walkway while we drank Boone Farm wine and talked some more. Key and Kelly came, and you'd be hard pressed to find two prettier, nicer women. Then it was off to dinner.

Paul's Steakhouse, apparently one of the best places in town, had a 90 minute wait. I agree with Catfish, there's no food worth a 90 minute wait. So we had Wendy's. And it was good. No crowd, no fuss, just a good sandwich and a cold drink and time to gather our wits for the evening. We went from there to the package store, picked up a couple of things, then walked the mile or so back to the hotel.

We had the Great Gift Distribution, thanks to Sam of the Briar Patch, in Acidman's room, whereupon he asked Georgia to paint his fingernails. As soon as they were dry, he got out his guitar and began to play. He and I dueted on "Please come to Boston" and he and Eric did a great Jimmy Buffet song. Eric then did a hysterical Robert Service poem with Jim on guitar for the mood music background.

I think it was at this point that someone broke out the Home Made Wine. I don't know what I was expecting, but I was very pleasantly surprised. It was really pretty smooth, didn't have a bad flavor at all, and kicked like a pissed-off downtown cross-dressing hooker.

I remember taking maybe five pulls from that jar... I remember taking one healthy pull from the mason jar of Apple Brandy that Dax brought. Just Damn. I remember being unable to wipe the smile from my face. I remember everything getting warm and hazy and even old Acidman was starting to look pretty damned tasty so I looked at Catfish, found my ability to put a few words together and announced, "Take me to my room. I'm Dizzy."

At 8am, I was up, moaning into my styrofoam cup of coffee, wandering into the shower, getting dressed, and trying to get repacked. I felt like I was on a small boat in choppy waters. My legs absolutely refused to cooperate with me in any way whatsoever. But by 8:30 or so, when Jim and Ken knocked on my door, I was ready to go. Didn't want to leave. Wanted to stay. *sigh*

We had a good trip back into Atlanta and found a bite of lunch at the airport. Jim and Ken are great guys and I thank them both for taking me back into Atlanta. The conversation was great. I'd be hard pressed to find two nicer guys in New Jersey.

I know I met more people. I remember other faces, but damned if I can remember who they were. If I've forgotten you, blame it on the 'shine.

Update: Oh, Damn! I forgot Zonker! He was so nice, and I didn't get to meet him until Saturday evening late, after I had been sipping on high class wines in colors like Blue and Neon Green. And a huge Guinness stout. And the apple wine. And, I believe my first pull from the mason jar... But I remember he was a Doll. What a cutie! Next time, Zonker, I'll be more fun. I'll try to be more sober.

**Disclaimer: Absolutely no bloggers were killed or injured during the making of this post. All resemblance to actual bloggers was highly intentional and intended for educational purposes only.**

A Texas Declaration!!!!

What if...Just what IF....wonder how I apply for citizenship?

People,
I would think about this strongly. Texans are a different
breed of people. They won't take nothing from nobody. This could very well be serious.......or not........we just better pray the right man gets in the White House so we don't have to find out.

Ha!

Subject: A Texas Declaration!!!!

[Please note that Texas is the only state with a legal right to
secede from > the Union.
(Reference the Texas-American Annexation Treaty of 1848.)]

We Texans love y'all, but we'll have to take action if Kerry wins over Bush.

We'll miss you too. Texas has given all those complainers plenty
of time to get used to the results of the last election. After seeing
the whiners along the campaign route, the folks from Texas are
considering taking matters into their own hands.

Here is what will happen:

#1: If John Kerry becomes President of the United States, Texas
will immediately secede from the Union.

#2: George W. Bush will become the President of the Republic of
Texas.

So what does Texas have to do to survive as a Republic?

1. NASA is just south of Houston, Texas. We will control the
space industry.

2. We refine over 85% of the gasoline in the United States.

3. Defense Industry--we have over 65% of it. The term "Don't
mess with Texas," will take on a whole new meaning.

4. Oil - we can supply all the oil that the Republic of Texas
will need for the next 300 years. Yankee states? Sorry about that.

5. Natural Gas - again we have all we need and it's too bad about
those northern states. John Kerry will figure out a way to keep them
warm....

6. Computer Industry - we currently lead the nation in producing
computer chips and communications--small places like Texas Instruments,
Dell Computer, EDS, Raytheon, National Semiconductor, Motorola, Intel,
AMD, Atmel, Applied Materials, Ball Semiconductor, Dallas Semiconductor,
Delphi, Nortel, Alcatel, etc, etc. The list goes on and on.

7. Medical Care - We have the largest research centers for cancer
research, the best burn centers and the top trauma units in the world,
as well as other large health centers. Dallas has some of the best
hospitals in the United States.

8. We have enough colleges to keep us going: University of Texas,
Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Rice, SMU, University of Houston, Baylor, UNT
(University of North Texas), Texas Women's University, etc. Ivy grows better
in the South anyway.

9. We have a ready supply of workers. We could just open the
border when we need some more.

10. We have essential control of the paper industry, plastics,
insurance, etc.

11. In case of a foreign invasion, we have the Texas National
Guard and the Texas Air National Guard. We don't have an Army, but since
everybody down here has at least six rifles and a pile of ammo, we can
raise an Army in 24 hours if we need one. If the situation really gets bad, we
can always call the Department of Public Safety and ask them to send over Chuck Norris and a couple of Texas Rangers.

12. We are totally self-sufficient in beef, poultry, hogs, and
several types of grain, fruit and vegetables, and let's not forget
seafood from the Gulf. Also, everybody down here knows how to cook them so
that they taste good. Don't need any food.

This just names a few of the items that will keep the Republic of
Texas in good shape. There isn't a thing out there that we need and don't
have.

Now to the rest of the United States under President Kerry:
Since you won't have the refineries to get gas for your cars,
only President Kerry will be able to drive around in his big 9 mpg
SUV.

The rest of the United States will have to walk or ride bikes.
You won't have any TV as the Space Center in Houston will cut off
satellite communications.

You won't have any natural gas to heat your homes, but since Mr.
Kerry has predicted global warming, you will not need the gas.

Signed, The People of Texas

P.S. This is not a threatening letter - just a note to give you
something to think about...

BEFORE YOU VOTE THIS NOVEMBER.

SLEEP WELL TONIGHT.

A Poster for our times!

I believe this to be true...it IS that important! VOTE!

Islamofacists: 0, Bradley: 1

Seems that a member of the "Religion of Peace", Fanatic Division, decided to gain entry to Paradise by using himself as an anti-tank mine...the results are obvious.

If only they would all go to their just deserts so futilely!

Thanks to LC Paratus for the link...go to see more military photos at:strategypage.com

Another one sees the light!

Yeah, I think it's a photoshop, but still, nice to dream isn't it?

Quote of the day

"Marines die. That's what we're here for. But the Corps lives forever...this means you live forever."
R Lee Ermey

Blogtoberfest Goat Rodeo

Let me begin by saying that the Goat Rodeo of Friday did not ruin my Blogtoberfest experience one bit! Those people worked their asses off to save my sorry ass from the airport in Atlanta and get me there after a miserable 6 hours of not knowing what I was going to do to get there.

See, when I got to Charlotte 8 minutes before my boarding time of 10am, I misread my boarding pass and ended up at the wrong gate. Then I had to lug my kazillion pound carry-on bag all the way from E concourse to B concourse. From the FAR end of E concourse to the FAR end of B concourse. On knees with no cartlidge in them. And lugging my own extra baggage of over a hundred pounds of hard earned pudgy. See where this is going? Yes, I got there, no plane.

So the USAir guy at the podium at that gate set me up in a first-class seat on a puddle-jumper that left at 12:30. Of course, being an Air-Travel Virgin, I had no clue how to let anyone know I was going to be delayed. Customer Services said they could do nothing, someone at the podium at my new gate would have to call Atlanta for me. Uh, yeah. Right. There was such pandimonium at that gate I was lucky to get my boarding pass. She tried to tell me the flight was oversold and I had no seat. "No, it's already in there, the other guy took my old boarding pass and told me to tell you I was in A1, whatever that means." so she looked again, actually asked my my name, verified my seat and printed my new boarding pass. Phone call? Fat chance. She was dealing with a bunch of bratty intoxicated college kids in Abercrombie & Fitch duds who kept wanting to help her behind the podium, a bunch of old folks who were being bumped, and...well, you get that picture too.

So I get on my new flight, land in Atlanta at sometime between 2:30 and 3:00, and start looking for my bags. I'd been told to go to the North Terminal to meet Acidman and Catfish, so I follow the signs and end up in a tunnel underneath the airport that was 90 degrees, humid as a sauna, and 2 1/2 miles long. Did I tell you before that I'm chubby and have crappy knees? Well, at the time I had no idea how big this place was or how long the tunnel was, so I decided to forego the train and walk. And walk. And walk. Past bad sculpture. Past photos of African savannahs (I think that was why it was so hot. They wanted you to have the WHOLE continental experience). In and around, and past and through, and I thought I'd never find the damned North Terminal. But there, like a beacon in the night, was the sign pointing me to an elevator to the Promised Land of Luggage Retrieval and my ride to Helen.

Well, not really.

My ride was not there. I retrieved my bag and thought, "I'll just stay right here at the carousel and wait, because if they're in the bar having drinks, I'll never find them, they can just find me here."

An hour later, I began to make inquiries. The only way to get anyone paged in the Atlanta airport is to hoof it to the South terminal and ask Delta to do it. But, the volunteers at the Information Desk said, Don't tell them you didn't fly Delta or they won't do it. What? There's no main PA for the airport unless you fly Delta?

This began the hour long crying jag. Yes, Mama the Strong, Montezz the Invincible, had a case of the vapors. I admit it. I am secure enough in my womanhood to admit it. I had lost all sense of decorum and sat on that Group W bench with the hooker and the two Indian women and the the weird patchouli-stinking yuppy, and just lost it. I was thinking, do I just go back home? Do I try to make contact with the people at Helen and beg for help? Do I go hijack the Hertz Rental Lot-Shuttle and make it take me? So I called Delfts.

Well, he called Helen, then they had a confab. Then they started making calls. I can stay in Atlanta overnight with Kelly or Key and ride up with them. Or I can stay in a hotel and someone bring me in Saturday. Or we can rent a car and drive. Then we find out that there's a shuttle from the airport to Gainsville, about 30 minutes from Helen. So it's decided. I'm to dash out and catch the AAA shuttle to Gainsville. I ran out to Ground Tranportation, asked where to go, was misdirected, and missed my shuttle. That was at 6:30.

Then they told me there was another one at 7:00. Again, I make the mad dash to the right place and there's no shuttle. It broke down.

Did I mention that I hadn't eaten anything since noon on Thursday? Thinking that might have a little bit to do with my rapidly deteriorating mental state, I decide to eat. Luckly I found one of those $3 airport carts for the Carry-on from Hell so I don't have to drag it anymore. I went back into the terminal. I found a Wendy's, broke my $10 bill (all my money in the world, I might add), and bought a Cheesburger Kid meal.

Then, after checking back in with Delfts, the Helen Gang called me again at the payphone and at 8:00 told me the shuttle was leaving at 9:00. So I ran out again to the slot they told me, and there was a shuttle with the hood up. I thought to myself that another one had broken down and I was out of luck again. But as it was, he was just checking the oil. And to make sure I didn't miss this one, at 8:10 I boarded the shuttle, strapped my ass in, and waited IN THE VAN until it left at 9:00 to make sure I was on it.

At 10:30 we finally reached Gainsville, and he pulled into a Best Western motel. What? Why is he dropping me at a Motel? I figured I would be dropped at maybe a coffee shop or some place like that, but I'm at a motel. So I walk in, drop the Carry-On from Hell, and approach the desk.

They knew exactly who I was and directed me to a telephone where I made what was probably my 20th collect call of the day. Georgia and Catfish were on their way.

I hit Helen at 11:58. I made it to Blogtoberfest on the 15th. And it all went uphill from there.

No harm, no foul. Goat Rodeos just happen sometimes. All made well by beautiful people going above and beyond to rescue me from a night at the airport and get me into the welcoming arms of people I consider now to be not just blog-buddies but genuine friends. I love you all.

Kaspar Vs Soros

Ray D. of Davids Medienkritik had an interesting exchange of views with George Soros. Mr. Kaspar came out the clear winner in my opinion.
Go read it and judge for yourself. It is a long piece, but well worth your time.

Random Thoughts, late at night

Sometimes it's difficult to put into words exactly how we feel. The Flag/Eagle above just represent the symbols of what I feel. DUTY--HONOR--COUNTRY

I have the great honor to have been accepted as a citizen of this nation by my own merits, and not just an accident of birth. I proudly served in her Armed Forces to try to repay just a little of what this country had given me.

That is one reason I am at a loss to explain how anyone could honestly say they WANT to vote for John Kerry.

Lets look at the record:

1) In almost twenty years in the Senate, Mr. Kerry has yet to author a single major piece of legislation.

2) Mr. Kerry's attendance record in every major sub-committee he has been a part of is less than 30%

3) Mr. Kerry has voted FOR every tax increase, and AGAINST every tax cut.

4) Mr. Kerry, while still an active reserve Naval Officer attended meetings with an enemy leader while in time of war....This is proscribed, prosecutable, activity by both the UCMJ(Article 104 part 904) and the US Constitution (Article 3, Section 3 of the US Constitution,and US Code 18 U. S. C. 953 ). He actively promoted the enemies 7 point peace plan thereafter, this could be construed as aiding and abetting the enemy in a time of war, punishable by up to death under the UCMJ. In the same period of time he attended a meeting of VVAW that voted on assassinating members of the US Senate.

5) Mr. Kerry voted against an appropiations bill that funded our troops actively engaged in a battle zone. Yet he claims that he supports our troops!

6) Mr. Kerry publicly demeaned our allies in a time of war as "coerced and bribed" and yet maintains that he can forge "new and wider alliances with foreign nations" Interesting stragedy...demean allies to grow an alliance and gain new allies....does anyone truly believe that this works?!?

7) Mr. Kerry publicly stated that "any military action must pass the global test" to be legitimate. He did say that no President can let any foreign nation determine wether to go to war in our national defense. So which is it?
Sovereign decision or Global permission?

8) There is now some doubt as to Mr. Kerry's original type of discharge from the Navy IF it could be proven that his discharge was less than Honorable/General, Mr. Kerry was elected to the Senate in a fraudulent manner, as he would have been ineligable to even run for said office. Mr. Kerry's publicly shown discharge wasn't issued until March 12, 2001...although by the public records, his TOS should have ended on July 1,1972... He fraudently requested an "early out" in Nov.1969 by stating that his TOS was due to end in Dec. of that year, when in fact, he had untill July 1972.
Mr. Kerry refuses to sign form DD180, as president Bush did to quell the "Awol" rumors...I will not speculate why he refuses to sign, I just ask you to consider the above information and let you draw your own conclusions.

9) Mr. Kerry professed to being a war criminal on national television, and condemned the military and the USA, during a time of war. (yes, I know that was 35 years ago...yet his Senate record on military appropiations AND intelligence funding shows that he has remained consistant with his views in 1972 for the duration of his Senate terms in office)

10) Mr. Kerry says "he has a plan" for almost every issue, yet the details of those plans are never forthcoming. "trust me folks, I know what to do"
Tell us what you want to do, and WE"LL be the judge if you know what your doing.

Those are my top ten reasons I believe that Kerry should be unelectable. Kool-aid drinkers, show me where I'm incorrect. And don't give me blather about why you hate Bush. This is your guy we're talking about, and his fitness for office, not why Bush is unfit.

Paul Harvey; Good Day

Paul Harvey has always been one of my favorite commentators. Here's what he had to say he would wish for the young of America, and I must say he's spot on, as usual.

Paul Harvey Writes:

We tried so hard to make things better for our kids that we made them worse. For my grandchildren, I'd like better.

I'd really like for them to know about hand me down clothes and homemade ice cream and leftover meat loaf sandwiches. I really would.

I hope you learn humility by being humiliated, and that you learn honesty by being cheated.

I hope you learn to make your own bed and mow the lawn and wash the car.

And I really hope nobody gives you a brand new car when you are sixteen.

It will be good if at least one time you can see puppies born and your old dog put to sleep.

I hope you get a black eye fighting for something you believe in.

I hope you have to share a bedroom with your younger brother/sister. And it's all right if you have to draw a line down the middle of the room, but when he wants to crawl under the covers with you because he's scared, I hope you let him.

When you want to see a movie and your little brother/sister wants to tag along, I hope you'll let him/her.

I hope you have to walk uphill to school with your friends and that you live in a town where you can do it safely.

On rainy days when you have to catch a ride, I hope you don't ask your driver to drop you two blocks away so you won't be seen riding with someone as uncool as your Mom.

If you want a slingshot, I hope your Dad teaches you how to make one instead of buying one.

I hope you learn to dig in the dirt and read books.

When you learn to use computers, I hope you also learn to add and subtract in your head.

I hope you get teased by your friends when you have your first crush on a boy\girl, and when you talk back to your mother that you learn what ivory soap tastes like.

May you skin your knee climbing a mountain, burn your hand on a stove and stick your tongue on a frozen flagpole.

I don't care if you try a beer once, but I hope you don't like it. And if a friend offers you dope or a joint, I hope you realize he is not your friend.

I sure hope you make time to sit on a porch with your Grandma/Grandpa and go fishing with your Uncle.

May you feel sorrow at a funeral and joy during the holidays.

I hope your mother punishes you when you throw a baseball through your neighbor's window and that she hugs you and kisses you at Hannukah/Christmas time when you give her a plaster mold of your hand.

These things I wish for you -- tough times and disappointment, hard work and happiness. To me, it's the only way to appreciate life.

Written with a pen. Sealed with a kiss. I'm here for you. And if I die before you do, I'll go to heaven and wait for you.

We secure our friends, not by accepting favors, but by doing them.

The PERFECT Couple

(Mamamontezz: forgive me, Jack MADE me do it! )

THE PERFECT COUPLE

Once upon a time, a perfect man and a perfect woman met. After a perfect courtship, they had a perfect wedding. Their life together was, of course, perfect.
One snowy, stormy Christmas Eve, this perfect couple was driving their perfect car along a winding road, when they noticed someone at the side of the road in distress. Being the perfect couple, they stopped to help.
There stood Santa Claus with a huge bundle of toys. Not wanting to disappoint any children on the eve of Christmas, the perfect couple loaded Santa and his toys into their vehicle.
Soon they were driving along delivering the toys.
Unfortunately, the driving conditions deteriorated and the perfect couple and Santa Claus had an accident. Only one of them survived the accident.

Question: Who was the survivor?

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Answer:

The perfect woman survived. She's the only one who really existed in the
first place. Everyone knows there is no Santa Claus and there is no such
thing as a perfect man.

**** Women you can stop reading here, that is the end of the joke.

**** Men keep scrolling.

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So, if there is no perfect man and no Santa Claus, the woman must have been
driving. This explains why there was a car accident.

**** Women, if you have read this too... stop reading here, this is REALLY
the end of the joke.

*** Men keep scrolling

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By the way, if you're a woman and you're still reading, this illustrates
another point :

WOMEN NEVER LISTEN!!!

Stem Cells and the Polititians that love them

Charles Krauthammer has an excellant op-ed piece on the way that the Kerry/Edwards duo has once again lied about the current administration, and used a fine man's memory in an utterly shameful way.
Are there no depths to which these two will sink? Once again they prove their
unfitness to lead by the hubris they display.

Mama's on her way

I dropped Mamamontezz off at the airport at 6:10 this morning to get her started on her little adventure to attend the Jawja Blogfest in Helen, Georgia.
I think it will be an interesting experience for everyone involved.

I'd like to publicly thank Acidman and Catfish once again for affording her this opportunity, guys, you just don't know how happy you've made one chubby Hoosier housewife; she REALLY needed this break from the stress that's been the rule around here as of late. THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart.

Update: Mama just called me from Atlanta; her flight had been delayed in arrival in NC and she had missed her first connecting flight and had to take the next one, so she was late in arriving at Atlanta, and when Acidman and Catfish asked after her at the US Air counter, they said they didn't have her listed, so they went on to Helen. What kind of airline doesn't know about the passengers that are flying with them?
Her name was on the ticket, they were, or should have been aware of the delay, and the flight she was switched to.

All this drama could have been avoided if the damned airline had done it's job properly in the first place. US Air has lost a customer for it's poor service.

Georgia and Kim are doing they're best to secure her alternate transportation.

Someday this will be a great adventure that will be laughed at over a few beers, but not tonight.

Subject: The truth about Kerry. .??

This is an e-mail I just got from my sister...it demonstrates the REAL
John Kerry:

Hi! Received this from a very good friend in PA. she wants everyone to know what she saw.

Good Tuesday morning! John Kerry brought his "front porch meeting" to our Canonsburg, PA neighborhood on Labor Day morning. Since you will never hear the truth from the TV or print media I thought that you should know from someone who was `almost' there.

The residents who live on the street where the event took place were not allowed to attend.

Kerry shipped in approximately 90 invitation only VIPs. In addition, there was a hard luck case who was about to lose her job at USAIR and another was an elderly woman who was having health care problems. Neither one was from this neighborhood. The street was closed to all traffic the night before and all residents on the street were REQUIRED to remove their Bush/Cheney signs.

The sympathetic police officers on duty told us that Kerry used "imminent domain" to claim the street for his purposes. Residents who have homes within the perimeter (approximately 1 full block) were kept behind a line away from the partisan crowd. The rest of us were not allowed within the 1 block cordon. A neighbor from across the street came to the line where we were being kept and asked us to come onto his property.. The police told us that we could stand on this mans FORMERLY private property! This was set up so that Kerry's views could be heard - but not the neighbors.

About 30 people's (mostly neighbors) shouts echoed down the street "Let the neighbors in".

We could barely hear Kerry speaking with his microphone because press buses were used to block us off from view! This morning's papers are reporting hecklers tried to interrupt Kerry as he spoke to the neighborhood gathering, but he turned our chants to his favor by calling us rude. Even though most of the media was there to record our stories of not being included in the neighborhood forum, not one of them printed or aired the truth. This is what America will look like if Kerry becomes president.

Get registered and get all of your friends registered to vote if they have not already. Kerry thinks that he is better than the rest of us and he has the media on his side to make him out to be what he is not! Finally, last night as I drove down the street where the rally was, I was shocked to see Bush/Cheney signs in almost every yard on the street!

LET FREEDOM RING!

Update: an alert reader sent me this from a local paper, which casts some doubt over the veracity of the letter. I think it's become a he said/she said where the truth probably lies in the middle. Thats the beauty of the blogosphere, with all of us out fact-checking each other, the truth will come out in the end and quicker than most politicians would wish. Kerry is bad enough without ascribing something he didn't do to him.

Tip of the hat to JMflynny for the catch!

Engineers

Just as a slight, friendly, jab to George Turner, the one genius I know:

Understanding Engineers - Take One

Two engineering students crossing the campus when one said, "Where did you get such a great bike?" The second engineer replied, "Well, I was walking along yesterday minding my own business when a beautiful woman rode up on this bike. She threw the bike to the ground, took off all her clothes and said, "Take what you want." The first engineer nodded approvingly, "Good choice; the clothes probably wouldn't have fit."

Understanding Engineers - Take Two

To the optimist, the glass is half full. To the pessimist, the glass is half empty. To the engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

Understanding Engineers - Take Three

A pastor, a doctor and an engineer were waiting one morning for a particularly slow group of golfers. The engineer fumed, "What's with these guys? We must have been waiting for 15 minutes!" The doctor chimed in, "I don't know, but I've never seen such ineptitude!" The pastor said, "Hey, here comes the greens keeper. Let's have a word with him." "Hi George! Say, what's with that group ahead of us? They're rather slow, aren't they?" The greens keeper replied, "Oh, yes, that's a group of blind firefighters. They lost their sight saving our clubhouse from a fire last year, so we always let them play for free anytime." The group was silent for a moment. The pastor said, "That's so sad. I think I will say a special prayer for them tonight." The doctor said, "Good idea. And I'm going to contact my ophthalmologist buddy and see if there's anything he can do for them." The engineer said, "Why can't these guys play at
night?"

Understanding Engineers - Take Four

What is the difference between Mechanical Engineers and Civil Engineers? Mechanical Engineers build weapons and Civil Engineers build targets.

Understanding Engineers - Take Five

The graduate with a Science degree asks, "Why does it work?" The graduate with an Engineering degree asks, "How does it work?" The graduate with an Accounting degree asks, "How much will it cost?" The graduate with an Arts degree asks, "Do you want fries with that?"

Minority Rights

In this election season the DemocRats are using scare tactics to keep the minority vote in lockstep with the Party line. It never ceases to be a cause of wonder to me that they usually succeed in doing so...other than the fact that a great majority of their voters are held by the public largesse rather than actually agreeing with many of the party's platform stances...school vouchers,higher marginal tax rates, etc.

HISTORICAL FACT:

In the twenty-six major civil rights votes since 1933, a majority of Democrats opposed civil rights legislation in over 80 % of the votes. By contrast, the Republican majority favored civil rights in over 96 % of the votes.

Source:congressional Record ................So who is the party for the powerless minorities?

Many of the inroads on racism wouldn't have taken place without the GOP fighting the Democratic party on higher principles. So to the minority voters; the next time you pull that lever, stop and think for a moment who really put you there in the booth, without fear of Jim Crow.

Yeah, BUSH "lied"

I was going through some old mail, cleaning out the cache, when I came across this:

Re: This "man with no ability to harm us" meme
(Anonymous)
2004-02-19 00:21 (link)
Dr. Elioff: "In your heart, can you honestly say you thought Saddam Hussein was an immediate threat to your life, liberty, or pursuit of happiness?"

Ah, cleaning your desk can unearth such delightful things... Yesterday I found a constituent letter dated 10/15/02 that argued that Saddam Hussein posed no threat to the US.

"As a member of the [Senate] Intelligence Committee, as someone who has read and discussed and studied the history of Iraq, the record of obfuscation and the terror Saddam Hussein has sown, one comes to the conclusion that he remains a consequential threat. ... Saddam Hussein's ability to use his chemical and biological weapons against us is not constrained by geography - it can be accomplished in a number of different ways - which is what makes this threat so real and persuasive. ...... Disarming Iraq under Saddam Hussein is necessary and vital to the safety and security of America..."

and summarized

"There can be no doubt that Saddam Hussein and his arsenal of chemical and biological weapons pose a real and persuasive threat to the safety and security of the United States, the Persian Gulf, and the Middle East."

Signed... California's oh-so-liberal Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein.

Dr. Elioff, your & my own senior senator would have to answer your question "Hell yeah."

Let's learn from our mistakes and critique our failings, but let's not rewrite history in the process. "Saddam is a threat" was indeed the consensus: left/right, Dem/GOP, US/Euro.

***************************************************************
Too bad that the DemocRats have spent so much time and energy trying to smear President Bush with the "he lied" meme, when they're own words are cached in a number of places, showing that when THEY examined the same intelligence the President had to go on, they agreed with his assessment. For them to now go with the smear tactics just shows that there is NOTHING the DemocRats won't go to in the name of Partisian politics, and demonstrates that they're words are untrustworthy.

Joke of the day

Marty wakes up at home with a huge hangover. He forces himself to open his
eyes, and the first thing he sees is a couple of aspirins and a glass of water
on the side table. He sits down and sees his clothing in front of him, all
clean and pressed. Marty looks around the room and sees that it is in perfect
order, spotless, clean. So is the rest of the house. He takes the aspirins and
notices a note on the table

"Honey, breakfast is on the stove, I left early to go shopping. Love you."

So he goes to the kitchen and sure enough there is a hot breakfast and the
morning newspaper. His son is also at the table, eating. Marty asks, "Son, what
happened last night?" His son says, "Well, you came home after 3 A.M., drunk
and delirious. Broke some furniture, puked in the hallway, and gave yourself a
black eye when you stumbled into the door." Confused, Marty asks, "So, why is
everything in order and so clean, and breakfast is on the table waiting for
me?" His son replies, "Oh that! Mom dragged you to the bedroom, and when she tried to take your pants off, you said, "Lady, leave me alone, I'm married!"

A self-induced hangover - $100.00
Broken furniture - $200.00
Breakfast - $10.00
Saying the right thing - priceless

Bill Whittle's latest

I KNOW I'm late in linking this, and I can only plead being in the midst of a personal s**tstorm and the loss of my own site as an excuse, but the closer we come to the election, the more vital that we disseminate this essay as far and wide as possible. Bill has laid out what's at stake in this election as only he can.

Print this out and give it to your liberal friends, it may just give them a nudge to doing what is necessary, rather than what the Kool-aid Kommanders would like them to do.

Deterrence:
Part 1
Part 2

Fallujah under attack

It's about time! The Marines are putting the hurt on al-Zarqawi's holdings in Fallujah.
This was long overdue. Diplomacy is a fine thing, but sometimes you have to forgo it in favor of the "rough men".

What is this? Birthday Week??

So, tonight is Eric's birthday, and BC the Imperial Torturer's birthday, and Saturday is Jim's birthday.

Hippo Bird Deer, Two Ewes.
Hippo Bird Deer, Two Ewes.
Hippo Bird Deer, Eric, BC and Jiiiiiiiiiiiimmm.
Hippo Bird Deer, Two Ewes.

BC, I'll have to owe you a spanking. But I'm getting Eric and Jim at Blogtoberfest. I'm like the Paladin of Birthdays. Have Paddle, Will Travel.

WooHoo!

I'm packed.

I'm stoked.

I have my camera, my copy of Phantom Warrior for Recondo32 to sign, my copy of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil for Catfish to sign, and I Have The Balls.

I'm ready to get this show on the road, and my plane doesn't leave until tomorrow morning at 7am. Which bites. Big'uns. Twice.

Blogtoberfest promises to be more fun than being in the middle of the "riot" at Purdue the night before the OSU game lo, those many years ago, and that's saying a lot.

I had originally planned on bringing the antique laptop and blogging about it from my room, but I decided that was just unacceptable. Hell, I might miss something if I was in my room blogging! Can't have that.

And anyway that might keep people up, what with the lights and keyboard tapping and all. Logistics being what they are, and with the chance of people just showing up and being too, er, loose (?) to drive back home, I might have lots of roomies before this is all said and done. As long as they don't mind sharing the room with a naked, redhaired, female version of the Michelin Man who snores like a pneumatic hammer, they're welcome to pull up some floor space.

If that site-picture disturbs you in anyway, go sleep with Acidman.

Still the "wrong War" Mr Kerry?

BC over atThe Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiller has a link to the story behind the latest mass grave found in Iraq.

This grave is different from the others...It contains only women and children...several of the women were pregnant, others were still holding their babies in their arms.

In 1947 the United Nations was formed with the main refrain of the Holocaust as it's main goal.."Never Again" ...well, it's happened again, and worse, from all the evidence comeing out of the FFO program, several of the Security Counsell members and indeed, top officials of the UN itself are complicit in keeping the regime that did it in power, against all evidence that said regime was deserving of utter destruction.

Subject: I'm confused

I got this e-mail from a friend of mine, thought it put some things in perspective.

This was passed to me, but I can't understand it. Maybe you can. I'm trying to get all this political stuff straightened out in my head so I'll know how to vote come November. Right now, we have one guy saying one thing. Then the other guy says something else. Who to believe. Lemme see, have I got this straight?

Clinton awards Halliburton no-bid contract in Yugoslavia - good...
Bush awards Halliburton no-bid contract in Iraq - bad...

Clinton spends 77 billion on war in Serbia - good...
Bush spends 87 billion in Iraq - bad...

Clinton imposes regime change in Serbia - good...
Bush imposes regime change in Iraq - bad...

Clinton bombs Christian Serbs on behalf of Muslim Albanian terrorists- good...
Bush liberates 25 million from a genocidal dictator - bad...

Clinton bombs Chinese embassy - good...
Bush bombs terrorist camps - bad...

Clinton commits felonies while in office - good...
Bush lands on aircraft carrier in jumpsuit - bad...

No mass graves found in Serbia - good...
No WMD found Iraq - bad...

Stock market crashes in 2000 under Clinton - good...
Economy on upswing under Bush - bad...

Clinton refuses to take custody of Bin Laden - good...
World Trade Centers fall under Bush - bad...

Clinton says Saddam has nukes - good...
Bush says Saddam has nukes - bad...

Clinton calls for regime change in Iraq - good...
Bush imposes regime change in Iraq - bad...

Terrorist training in Afghanistan under Clinton - good...
Bush destroys training camps in Afghanistan - bad...

Milosevic not yet convicted - good...
Saddam turned over for trial - bad...

Ahh, it's so confusing!

Every year an independent tax watchdog group analyzes the average tax burden
on Americans, and then calculates the "Tax Freedom Day". This is the day
after which the money you earn goes to you, not the government. This year, tax
freedom day was April 11th. That's the earliest it has been since 1991. It's
latest day ever was May 2nd, which occurred in 2000. Notice anything special
about those dates?

Recently, John Kerry gave a speech in which he claimed Americans are
actually paying more taxes under Bush, despite the tax cuts. He gave
no explanation and provided no data for this claim.

Another interesting fact: Both George Bush and John Kerry are wealthy men.
Bush owns only one home, his ranch in Texas. Kerry owns 4 mansions,
all worth sever al million dollars. (His ski resort home in Idaho is an old barn
brought over from Europe in pieces. Not your average A-frame).

Bush paid $250,000 in taxes this year; Kerry paid $90,000. Does that
sound right? The man who wants to raise your taxes obviously has figured out
a way to avoid paying his own.

Mbloggers Unite!

If you were caught by the demise of Mblog and lost everything you'd built up,
Murdock the Crazy has a petition page for you to check out. We feel it is unconscionable for a company, even if it was a free hosting site, to not give prior notice of termination of services; and to charge a $35. fee for return of our archives is tantamount to blackmail.

Aside of being forced to pay for our own intellectual property, how could we trust a company that would take such actions to honor the agreement and return our archives, even were we to pay the ransom?

Bitten once, shame on you, bitten twice shame on me!

If you were caught in this fiasco and wish to add your voices to ours, contact Murdock at: mailto:burt_gummer_uzi4u@yahoo.com or send your information to me at: delftsman3@sbcglobal.net, and I'll see to it you get added to the list.

Blogfest Update

Ah, what are the Jawja Bloggers doing tonight...

Seems Velociman is packing and busy with our accomodations.

Kelly is busy making a list and filling her dance card.

Eric is being social and enjoying a little alcoholic lubrication.

Adam? Well, he's so busy being single and preparing for Helen, he's not even posting. Must be having some fun.

Jim's got his new strings on and is blogging like a madman.

Key's getting everyone all fired up and anxious!

Gordon has been working on defending himself as the token Yankee, and is doing some range time, apparently. Or maybe these are his bodyguards. I can't tell.

Denny? Well, you tell me.

Dax has become a defense contractor. Sweet, Dax. I mean, Just Damn.

Poor Catfish is homeless. I hate that. Damned MBlog.

And Acidman is making sure we all get to try the Boiled Peanuts, understand that it's Home Made Wine, and generally stirring up the crap. Pretty much situation normal over there.

And me? Hell, I haven't even begun to pack yet. But I sure am excited about going. I have dibs on a stogie.

Two More Days. Hell, only one if you don't count Friday. WooHoo!

Gratuituous Debate Post

Kerry should be ashamed of himself for dragging Cheney's daughter into the debate again tonight. There was absolutely no reason for it. It was another desparate attempt to alienate voters who otherwise support Bush. It was shameful and had no place in this forum.

That's all I'm going to say about the debate tonight.

Bad, bad Bill

You know, I never liked Bill O'Reilly. Really. I always found his interviewing style offensive and boorish, and never understood why anyone would submit themselves to his rude, overbearing nonsense.

And strangely, as much as I believe that an awful lot of these suits are meritless and petty, after reading the documents at The Smoking Gun I have a pretty strong hunch that her complaints are valid.

The timing of them? Oh, I also have no doubt that this was timed to damage him before the election, to make yet another "anti-liberal" personality into an object that the particularly vocal faction of the left can point to as an example of how evil conservatives are.

And for some weak-minded undecideds, it will work even though Mr. O'Reilly is hardly what I would consider a typical conservative.

How to Make People Happy

Democrats!, Gotta wonder about them....

Bill, Hillary and Kerry are flying on Kerry's wife's private jet.

Bill looks at Hillary, chuckles and says, "You know, I could throw a $100.00 bill out the window right now and make somebody very happy."

Hillary shrugs her shoulders and says, "Well, I could throw ten $10.00 bills out the window and make 10 people very happy."

Kerry says, "Of course then, I could throw one-hundred $1.00 bills out the window and make a hundred people very happy."

The pilot rolls his eyes, looks at all of them and says to his co-pilot, "Such Bigshots back there..... I could throw all of them out the window and make millions happy."

Roll that Plane!!

Wednesday Stuff

Tonight is the final presidential debate, and it could prove to be interesting. I sincerely hope that two things are evident to the American public. I hope that it is shown inconclusively how one man shamelessly wasted 20 years of legislative potential for his constituency and ultimately for this nation. I additionally hope that the undecided voters see that the only consistency of his campaign has been his nay-saying negativity about not only his opponent, but about this great country and her people.
************

Gracious appreciation for the tremendous response to Spousal Unit's blog situation. We are overcome with gratitude for the amazingly kind offers of all manners of assistance and hosting and support both emotional and cyber. He is just stunned at the number of offers. To each and every one of you, our profound thanks and sincerest hopes that if any of you is ever in a place where you need help, we are able to return as much as we have received.

The good news on this is that barring complications, he will be joining the mad and merry Munuvians as Pixy Misa's time and resources permit. In the meantime, he will be occupying the fold-out couch here in the Rumpus Room, eating Cheetos and drinking Diet Pepsi until he gets the keys for the newly built and improved Emigre. If he'd just quit hiding the remote!

Saint Pixy Misa, I will light a candle for you.
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Beatrice, a co-worker at the hospital, told me about a way of potentially retrieving his archives through a site called the "Wayback Machine." We can look at their main page, but can get no further. Heck, it's probably jammed up with thousands of other former Mbloggers trying to get their stuff back. If any of you is familiar with this site and how it works, let me know.
************

I will be laundering and packing the essentials for the Jawja Blogfest tonight. Just two more days until I step off that plane into the Atlanta airport to meet Acidman in person. All that man in one place...I hope I remember how to act in public.

Let's see...Clothes...Toothbrush...Token of appreciation...Red nail polish...Handcuffs... That should about cover it.
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I want to say one more time. You readers are the best. Thank you again.

Heartsick

To all my blogchildren or fellow bloggers who were hosted at Mblog:

Murdock at Blogging at 20,000 Feet,
Cafish at Catfishblog,
Darth at Sithmonkey,
Bill at Small Town Veteran, and most of all
Delftsman at Emigre with a Digital Cluebat,

I am so very sorry. If I had any idea that there was a problem with that host, I would have never placed your blogs there.

I can try to set you up with another free host if you want, as long as it's not Blogsnot. Your banners are all safe in my drive, as well as in a graphics host I use for the URLs. I believe your archives may be lost, but maybe not. I have a lead on something that might help.

This just makes me heartsick. I feel so bad for all of you.

Don't give up. We'll find a way to get you back up and blogging.

What kind of heartless bastards do that to people and then stretch out their hand for $35 just to get your own work back?

Rot in Hell, MBlog. I hope Movable Type eats you alive for whatever it is you did to cause this.

Evicted from my Blog-house

Mamamontezz is graciously allowing me to guest post here until I can find some new digs.

Last night at 7PM, I had my own digs with over a years worth of posts with my observations on politics, social issues, jokes and just my general blatherings.

AT 12:04 AM, I accessed my log-in page and found that I am now homeless in the sphere. No warning, just a notice that mblog had found it necessary to cease offering it's web hosting service, and that due to a number of requests from users, that it would be possible to access archives for a nominal fee and limited time. It didn't elucidate exactly what the fee was to be, or how long the archives would be available..... I entered my blog's name as instructed and found my self directed to a PayPal log-in page, with the sum of $35. placed in the amount due box....no other information.

Seems that mblog still wants our trust that they'll deliver what they promised. I don't know what to about getting those archive files...There are over a year's worth of my posts in there and I don't have the money to pay jack to the kidnappers, or any of the other associated expenses that come with moving onto a new server/hosting service.

A lot of people would day, "so what", it's only a small blog that was only now starting to get a great core cadre of loyal readers...well... I had just obtained my first resident Moonbat coming in on a regular basis, I had achieved the rank of "adorable rodent" in the TTLB ecology.

I thought I had finally arrived as a blogger.

Now I have nothing but a set of templates, posts, and comments, and those are being held by the old landlord slumlord so he can squeeze the last drop of pride , dignity, and money. I may be able to muster.

I have been unable to work for the last 2 ¼ years, due to a heart condition.....My blog was the only thing that kept me sane on some of the days when my medications just weren't working as they should. It has been the best therapy that I have received, at least as far as my mental state.

However, none of that is Germain to this situation.

Mblog was a department of a business. It had generated too much red ink (and possibly licence troubles), so the decision was made to close the service. Too bad, so sad, that's life; but then some beancounter in the dark depths came up with the brilliant idea that "hey, lets charge for the members archives and recoup some of the red ink from the books", and have the added bonus that perhaps only a percentage would do so, making tech support a place where the operator/techier would fear that the end of the reductions were not near to completion.

I just wrote this post to vent some of the anger and frustration I am feeling right now towards mblog in an effort to lower my blood pressure back down to an acceptable level. Thank you for bearing with me. I hope I didn't seem dis-jointed and made just a little sense. I found this very difficult to type, my B/P is through the roof, the Adrenalin from the righteous anger made it impossibe to sleep. (DON'T even ask about the domestic ramifications of that!)

I had already had this trouble for several weeks, and after having gone 32 hrs on only 5 ¼ hrs sleep, I finally had a full nine hrs on Sunday night, and thought I had reached a state where I could sleep every night.

But then the eviction came and I've been up all night yet again, not with the clear head of a manic/depressive on a manic cycle that I had experienced prior, but with the nodding-off-because-of exhaustion-but-not-quite-making-it confused muddle of a mind such that being near the keyboard and posting probably isn't a good idea, the only thing is it's the safest alternative to stumbling around the house and possibly falling and cracking my fool head open.

This too shall pass, as do all woes and sorrows, and I know it's of major importance only to me; others are experiencing much worse.

Good day and may God bless.

Update I wish I had seen thisforum a couple of days Ago!
At least I could have saved my archives to disk....Even if I had the money, it's an unknown factor if mblog would live up to their promise to retrieve the archives....could sue them than, though, since they would have taken money for a service not performed. GRRR! I still have a RCOB!

Goodbye Superman

Christopher Reeve's struggle is finally over. No longer is he
dependent upon tubes and machines and the efforts of others to provide his
breath, his sustenance, or attend to his every physical need.

He sustained is injuries at what should have been the middle of a
successful career, doing something he apparently loved. And he was one of
the lucky ones, if that can be said of anyone in his situation.

Reeve had an extensive support network and the resources to provide him
with a level of care quite possibly second to none. He remained a
public figure, bringing the world's attention to the cause of spinal cord
injuries and charities supportive to persons with these injuries.

He made some extremely popular movies during his abbreviated career,
including but certainly not limited to the three Superman movies.
Perhaps one of his more memorable performances was in the much more intimate
"Somewhere in Time."

Reeve also stretched his comedic legs in the very adult comedy
"Deathtrap" with Michael Cain. Admittedly, this murder-mystery-farce is
probably my favorite of his movies.

This was not a man who should be mourned. Rather, his was a life that
should be celebrated for the things he was able to accomplish in spite
of what could have been a life ending injury, and one which is
certainly life shattering at best.

Smack-down due

SlagleRock's Slaughterhouse has a story up now taken from Stars and Stripes that bears some attention.

I hope like hell this isn't true. No reserve military personnel should ever have to worry about their employment. When you're deployed, the laws are there to protect you from that, and these companies need to be held accountable for their actions.

You hear all of the good things that companies like Home Depot do, but then someone like Pep Boys steps out and shows their true colors. It's sickening, to think that they would find an isolated incident, a non-termination one at that, to fire what had been a good employee.

I'll buy my parts at AutoSource, thank you. Pep Boys is cheaper, but so is their treatment of Reservists and Guardsmen to this point.

Now, in all fairness, GOC in Winston Salem at Obnoxious Droppings is delving deeper into this story to make sure it is not an urban legend. As it stands now, however, I tend to believe what is put out by Stars and Stripes. If this is bogus, I'll issue an apology. If not, then Pep Boys needs to be prosecuted.

A touch of good news.

We just got excellent news today from the Indianapolis Public Schools.

Anna, the prettiest girl in the house, was approved for free textbooks this year. Seems they reviewed our finances and decided we were qualified. And believe me, that's a good thing. Books are almost a hundred dollars for her this year, and it was due by the end of the month.

I never thought I'd live to see the day I'd be happy to receive assistance, but I am.

Welcome, Drinking Fans

Yes, tonight is the second presidential debate. For anyone who needs the Presidential Debate Drinking Game rules, you can pull them up right here. It's a bi-partisan game, so even you Dems can play this one and have a great time.

Break out the beverages, find a shotglass and have fun. Just be responsible. Keep 911 on the speed dial, and a designated sober person near.

Peeves and Curiosities

One more day until the next debate. Economics this time will be the topic although we all know how quickly that can and will change.

I will be watching, and I just may try to keep track of how many times that happens and just who initiates it. Too bad I’ll be at the parentals’ as there is no beer in that house for the drinking game. Maybe I’ll substitute Oreo Cookies… nah, too many calories, as the cookie count could mount quickly. I’ll have to give this some thought.
************
Is it just me, or is anyone else curious about who owns the factcheck.com domain name? Of course, Soros denies all involvement. Still, I’d love to know who dashed out and bought that up and put together that redirect to Soros’ blog. I mean, that wasn’t just fast. It was almost prescient.
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And another curiosity: have there been any incidents of violence against Kerry/Edwards campaign offices? I only ask because as of last night, there have been two drive-by shootings, and two cases of rioting protestors invading and trashing offices in Orlando and Milwaukee. Add to this the burglary and theft of three laptop computers from a campaign office in Washington state. How long will it be before some one is seriously hurt by these thugs?
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I want to go on the record by stating that if I had been Cheney, and the hair model had brought up my daughter like he did, I’d have hardly been as polite about it in my response as Cheney was in his.
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While I’m on that, one of the great unasked questions of the VP debate: “Mr. Edwards. Mr. Cheney has stated and it is part of the record that he applied for and was given deferrals to avoid being drafted into the military during the Viet Nam war. You, however, neither volunteered for service like the President or your running-mate, nor can you provide any record of deferrals. What exactly did you do to avoid the draft or military service at a time when few were able to do so?” I don’t know about you, but I want to know how he did it. His number was called, and persons much further down the list went when called and served. Technically, one of them went in his place when you come right down to it, and possibly died in his slot. Don’t you think we as the voting public deserve to know, particularly in light of the snipe-hunt conducted by his own party regarding Bush’s TANG service?
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Since I seem to be stuck on the debates, let me make one point abundantly clear. I will be reduced to a screaming mad harpy if I hear our magnificent men and women of the military called Children one more time.

Just. One. More. Time.

These are proud, skilled, brave, intelligent, driven, duty-bound men and women. They serve because they stepped into an office, assessed their chances, tested high enough to be qualified, signed on the dotted line, passed an intense and rigorous training program, and graduated to a unit of other well-trained personnel. Do not demean them or their service by calling them Children. It is an insult and an afront to every one of them, to every man or woman who served before them, and to the parents to raised them to be the men and women they are.
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Well, I'm sure something else will erupt from my grey-matter later. I'll keep you posted.

A Letter worth reading.

BunkerMulligan has a particularly interesting piece up that merits your attention. Please take a look at this and pass it on.

Blackfive-O-Lanche

One of my favorite reads is and has been Blackfive. He's incisive, he supports those who put their lives on the line for us in crappy conditions and hostile situations, and he's a prolific poster.

You're not going to find fluff on his blog. You get stories you won't get anywhere else that need to be told. If you're not reading his blog, you'd best plead ignorance, because that's the only reasonable excuse I can come up with right now.

Currently, he has linked me in a post which has much more important content than my little song. Go there. Read it. You need to be aware of this petition. Also, be sure to follow his link to Dean Esmay's interview with Swift Boat Vet Van Odell. Excellent interview.

And thank you, Matt, for your continued support of this little old lady's blog. I kinda like the way you write, too. I wish I could be as direct and strong in my posts as you are.

BlogtoberFest

I am counting down the days to my trip to Helen, GA for this year's BlogtoberFest, and the excitement it mounting.

Eric at StraightWhiteGuy may be convinced to recite the Cremation of Sam McGhee live at the gathering, and after hearing him do it on his site, I'm really looking forward to it. For all of you who will not be in attendance, I really recommend you go listen to it at his site. You won't be disappointed.

Acidman has promised to bring many impliments of musical delight, not to mention the one inside his head. Seems he can make up songs on demand (among other things we won't mention here), and that always makes for a fun time.

Jim from Parkway Rest Stop is also bringing music and mirth with him from the wilds of Joizey. I wonder if the clean mountain air will cause irreparible damage to his body? We may need a paramedic on hand to make sure he doesn't suffer from some sort of withdrawal.

Kim/Velociman... Uh, I've been told all sorts of things about that one. Of course the fact that he's been just hysterical in email only makes me more excited to meet him. I bet he's even more irreverant in person than he is on his blog, and that's saying something.

And I get to meet a Blog-Son for the first time, too! Catfish is planning on being there with Acidman to snag me at the Atlanta airport. What a great guy. He's a good man.

Sure, this is just a partial list, but trust me, I'm just as hyped about meeting the rest of the folks who will be there. They're all listed over on the right, just under my picture (the one that seems to drive liberals mad and make them mean, don't ask why, I haven't figured that out). Go read and support them.

Blogtober fest! And it's just 10 days away! WooHoo for me!

Bullets Fired into Campaign Headquarters

This is an example of the mentality encouraged by the rhetoric of the Kerry Kamp.

Sure, it could have been a diversion for a robbery that took place directly across the street from the headquarters, but please, if you're going to draw the police to another place for a moment of opportunity, wouldn't you do it across town?

I'm a Swift Boat Commander

I'm a swift boat commander
and I fought the Viet Cong,
patrolling muddy rivers,
in a tour just four months long.
I have a band of brothers
even though I did them wrong.
I'm a swift boat commander
and I fought the Viet Cong.

The draft was getting closer
I couldn't get deferred
so I got in line,
signed the dotted line
for the branch the rich preferred.
I would be a Reserve Sailor
and protect Nantucket Bay
but they called my name
And it's not the same
off the coast of Cam rahn Bay.

I'm a swift boat commander
and I fought the Viet Cong
patrolling muddy rivers
on a tour just four months long.
I have a band of brothers
even though I did them wrong.
I'm a swift boat commander
and I fought the Viet Cong.

I cruised along the river
blew-up rocks with an RPG
got a Purple Heart
and a real good start
on my trip back o'r the sea.
I knew I was on to something
I had nothing left to fear!
It was pretty slick.
Got two more real quick.
And they shipped my ass back here.

I'm a swift boat commander
and I fought the Viet Cong
patrolling muddy rivers
on a tour just four months long.
I have a band of brothers
even though I did them wrong.
I'm a swift boat commander
and I fought the Viet Cong.

I'm a reg'lar Steven Spielburg
just a cinematic fool
and I sure look great
on my Super-8
And the rifle sure is cool.
Gonna be a politician
Like my neighbor, JFK.
Find a wealthy wife,
Golly, what a life!
That's the Rich American Way!

I'm a swift boat commander
and I fought the Viet Cong
patrolling muddy rivers
on a tour just four months long.
I have a band of brothers
even though I did them wrong.
I'm a swift boat commander
and I fought the Viet Cong.

(spoken) Hello, Muffy? It's me.
I'm back from that horrid jungle
and all those uncouth poor people.
Oh, the little tiny indiginous people
were horrible too.
You doing anything next weekend?
Really? You want to meet Barbarella?

I'm a swift boat commander
and I fought the Viet Cong
patrolling muddy rivers
on a tour just four months long.
I have a band of brothers
even though I did them wrong.
I'm a swift boat commander
and I fought the Viet Cong.

Show Trial #10

I have escaped the gulag in the past, but I may not be so lucky this time. It seems the Commissar has indicted me again for another state Show Trial, and this time, I may not get away with it.

At least I will have good company in the cage Defense Holding Area, so we will all sit together, consume tins of smoked sprats, and take hits from each other's hidden flasks of Stoli. I hope someone thinks to bring some ice...

Well, maybe not ice. They don't heat the courtrooms, and it's starting to get cold at the Kremlin already. I understand that is to acclimate us for the open-slat cattle cars through Siberia.

Haiku

Pull me to your den
of crisp sheets and aching want.
Sweet, tender release.

Dr. T?

Apparently now the New York Times has decided that an affection for cruciferous vegetables is a presidential qualification. Please. Spare me.

We all know this stems back to the Bush41 admission that he did not like broccoli and would not eat it. We all know how this alienated the Broccoli farmers and the Cruciferous Veggie base. So now T'ray-za wants to make sure that they're all on board with her kept man husband and ready to vote his way for the sake of their florets, heads, and medleys.

I have one thing to say to Madame about this silliness: Quit trivializing this election. There are more important matters than whether or not he purees his soup, or if he is allowed a chocolate chip cookie binge once in a while. If you're going to talk about something homespun and personal about the two of you, why don't you start with a discussion of the servants slaves your dad kept in Mozambique to work in the estate for your privilege family? I'm sure that the American public would love to hear about that and how he justified it.

Now that would be a meaty campaign news item.

Send Mama to Blogtoberfest 2005

You know, I got to thinking (always a dangerous thing) and a thought came to me.

Remember how successful Aaron's BAG Day drive was? Through the generosity of his legion of readers, he was able to purchase a beautiful firearm on Buy A Gun day last April.

Well, I know I don't have near the readers that Aaron has, by a long shot, but I'm going to try the same thing here. I know this will be an exercise in humility, but I'm going to do it anyway.

Want Mama to join the Wild Bunch in Georgia next year? Just click that paypal button and tell me just how much you'd like me to go. Think of it as a way to ensure her mental health and well being!

The 2004 Blogtoberfest was held in Beautiful Helen, Georgia on the banks of the Chattahoochee river. Next year? Well, we're still working on that, but my vote is for someplace with sand and palm trees. There are plenty of places in Georgia that fit that bill, and I'm sure between the members of the Wild Bunch we'll be able to find a great one.

As I figure it, the flight down will cost about $150-$200 on one of the discounters, and the room will depend on where we end up hanging our hats. Off-season rates will apply if we do the beach thing, so they could be as low as $75 a night for the room.

If you can't drop a little coin, then copy the button onto your gutter and link to this post. Maybe some of your readers will take pity on this old reprobate. It could happen.

Send Mama to Blogtoberfest 2005. Click on that Paypal button.