Democratic Schism

Democrat opposition to the war is beginning to split. The usual far left wacko suspects are continuing their unfounded rant of the illegality of the war and bleating about all the reasons we shouldn’t be in Iraq, but the more moderate, sensible, and decent Democrats are finally getting tired of all the deception.

Joseph Lieberman,, one such decent Democrat has recently returned from Iraq with praise for all of the remarkable progress we have made there both societal and regarding infrastructure. He stated that two-thirds of Iraq was doing great and that what he saw heartened him. He also stated how hopeful he was that the Iraqis would be able to take of themselves fairly soon and we would finally be able to start withdrawing troops.

Another Democratic Congressman, whose name I have forgotten and cannot find on the internet, has expressed similar views.

This appears to beginning of a split in the Democratic Party. It coincides quite conveniently with the beginnings of a dramatic upturn in Iraq. It seems it is becoming increasingly less convenient to toe the line of the craziest party supporters, and smart and decent Dems are changing the rhetoric.

What does this mean for the ’06 elections? It’s a sign that the GOP is stronger than the MSM and Democrat talking heads want America to believe. It means that going into the “06 elections there will likely not be such monolithic opposition to everything Republican, and such a split after such a long and protracted unified resistance will almost certainly anger many of the Democrat’s supporters. This could mean some damaging primaries for many Democrat hopefuls.

This split is the right thing to do, but it comes at both an opportune, and an inconvenient time for the Democrats.

Who the Democrats REALLY Love

I just saw a fascinating poll where, out of 16 potential Democratic contenders for the nomination for President in 2008 Hillary Clinton came in 6th. It seems she is less popular among her own party than the Democrats and the MSM would have us believe. Al Gore actually came in first with a commanding lead over his closest challenger . . . Howard Dean!

Apparently pretending to be a moderate is not working out too well for Hilary since the Democratic base seems to prefer far-left greenies like Al Gore, and hate spewing shame mongers like Howard Dean.

Al Gore also won the status of coolest Democrat, garnering a full 48.5% of the vote in a 10 way contest. Howard Dean came in third, just behind Bubba. Hillary Clinton Came in last with only 1%

Please, oh please, oh please, nominate either of these two for President in 2008! The thorough trouncing they would receive in the main election would be simply hilarious to watch.

Thanks to Dan Trabue for providing the link that inspired this posting.

Porn 101

This is an update on a previous article

College Porn and Other Wastes of Time and Money

.

I have recently discovered what the final project is for the Porn 101 class at Wesleyan University. Each student must create a work of pornography.

Excuse me?

What the (Expletive Deleted) Hell is going on here? What kind of (Expletive Deleted) sick, (Expletive Deleted) perverted, classes are they teaching these days? Whatever (Expletive Deleted) (Expletive Deleted) (Expletive Deleted) piece of (Expletive Deleted) fruity retard approved this curriculum needs to be fired, and he needs to be fired now!

Since when is it higher education to have kids produce smut for credit? With reading materials like “Hustler” magazine and various hard-core porn videos being shown in class I can just imagine what it takes to get an “A” on this final project. I can see it now: the professor is grading the final projects, if he stays flaccid you fail, if he gets a chubby you get a “C”, if he gets hard you get a “B”, and if he gets off you get an “A”. So please be as sick your imagination allows! CRAP!

We can’t teach a class on Biblical morals because the ACLU will sue the school, but the school has carte blanche to force our kids to do porn if they want to pass a smut class! Can anybody possibly rationalize this with an intelligent argument? As far as I can figure it the rule of thumb seems to be “If it’s disgusting or evil it’s okay, but if it’s good and moral it’s not okay”. When the (Expletive Deleted) did this happen? Didn’t the exact opposite used to be true in the US? When did we go from being a people who taught morals and good behavior to a people that favor evil over good?

This is not right.

The Biggest 'Tard in America

And the winner is . . .

Michael Newdow!

This was a tough post to write initially just because there are so many ‘tards to choose from. Ted Kennedy, both Clintons, Nancy Pelosi, Michael Moore, Cyndi Sheehan, the entire ACLU, I hardly knew where to start! Then I saw this headline:

Michael Newdow Sues to Have “In God We Trust” Taken Off of US Currency.

That settled it.

The same reject who is about to get his legal clock cleaned at the Supreme Court when his attempt to have the words “Under God” banished from the Pledge of Allegiance is now trying to have OUR NATIONAL MOTTO removed from our currency. The next step, of course, is to try to get the courts to force us to change our national motto to something atheistic just to please a vast minority of Americans.

Not only do some 85% of Americans call themselves Christian, around 95% profess some kind of belief in God or gods. Surprise folks! This makes America a very religious nation! It is only natural that a religious nation SHOULD acknowledge God in some general way, and in a Nation that is 85% Christian it is only natural that this nation would acknowledge God in the Judeo-Christian sense specifically.

Are we not “The nation of the people, by the people, for the people”? Are we not a representative republic designed to reflect the values, opinions, and beliefs of the majority of our citizens? This being the case what gives a fraction of the 5% of the country who are Atheists the right to assault our religious heritage? Not the Constitution, that’s for damn sure!

It was Baptist theology stating that man should have no king other than Jesus as much as it was “No taxation without representation” that sparked and fueled the Revolutionary war. It was the Bible that was referenced, though not directly quoted, when the Declaration of independence, Constitution, and the Bill of Rights were drafted and ratified. It was the Bible, and the Ten Commandments in particular, that was used to give the US our first laws as an independent nation; the laws that named murder, theft, adultery, sodomy, and most of the rest of our earliest outlawed activities. Anyone who says otherwise is either misinformed or a liar.

Michael Newdow is a man on a mission to deny us our heritage, and he is doing mostly on his own, with moral support from organizations like the ACLU.

He had this ridiculous claim to make: “My organization wants to raise funds, but we can’t because we don’t believe in God and ‘In God We Trust’ is printed on our money. That’s discriminating against Atheists.” In almost precisely those words.

WHAT? He can’t have money because his Atheism won’t allow him to have it because God is on it? What an amazing ‘tard!

Wait, it gets better!

HE’S ASKING FOR MONETARY DONATIONS FROM PEOPLE TO PAY HIS LEGAL BILLS THAT HE IS INCURRING BY PERSUING THIS FARCE!

So he can’t raise money because “In God We Trust” is on our money, and that’s discrimination against Atheists, but he’s raising money anyway so he can get our national motto banned? How stupid does he think we are? The fact that he is raising money at all totally invalidates his argument!

Of course, being a Californian, he will almost certainly win his case all the way up to the federal appeals court level. Then he will get smacked down with extreme derision at the Supreme Court. Then again, if the activists judges out in California decide to respect Supreme Court precedent he will get smacked down at every level, and waste all of his time and money fighting the bad fight and losing.

If he comes out of this thing totally broke I won’t be able to contain my laughter.

So, for these reasons I crown Michael Newdow the biggest ‘tard in America, at least until someone even more retarded makes the news.

Debate of the Week 9: SPAM!

Okay, here’s a controversial one. Spam, is it really that bad, or is it all much ado about nothing?

Here’s what I think.

First it is important to distinguish between spam and legitimate email marketing. Email marketing obeys laws, has full corporate disclosure linked to their emails, and is comparatively considerate when mailing the ads. Spam is roguish, skirts the laws and sometime breaks them, and will send the same indiscriminate ads over and over again in the same day. They also ignore requests to be removed from mailing lists, or leave opt-out links out entirely.

So, here is the dichotomy.

Spam is bad. It’s irritating, often vulgar, indiscriminate, and so many other bad words for business. True spammers have no qualms about sending porn ads to children, and even include the occasional “teaser” pic to lure people to their sites. True spammers ignore requests to opt out because they only care about mailing volume so they can make money no matter what. Worst of all, there is great deal of fraud, viruses, and phishing in true spam. All are serious crimes.

Email marketing on the other hand actually has many virtues. They obey all applicable laws. Allow automated opting out. They only mail the same product to the same email address once a day as a general rule. And many email marketing campaigns are actually part of opt-in listings anyway. They also never actively engage in fraud or theft.

However, both of these sales techniques have certain virtues.

1- Spam never rings the phone during dinner, family time, or intimate moments.

2- Spam is private. No one has to know that someone mailed you something offensive and embarrassing. I remember getting a mailer from Playboy magazine at my home when I was 14. I never asked for it. I had never bought porn. I was underage. Let’s just say it was very interesting explaining THAT one to my parents. As an adult I still receive the occasional objectionable mailer, and since my mailbox is down the block I have to walk all the way home with it so my neighbors can see what I got and think and say scandalous things about my character.

3- Spam is easy to dispose of. Just check the box and hit delete. No muss, no fuss.

4- Spam is environmentally friendly. No trees were killed to send you an electronic ad. No petroleum products were necessary to make the fancy packaging to hold the ads. It’s a tree-hugger’s dream.

5- Unlike the post office, UPS, or Fed-ex, your e-mail provider works diligently to filter out as much spam as possible, thereby stopping the bulk of unwanted electronic solicitations from ever cluttering up your mailbox.

So in a way, I’d actually rather deal with spam than with telemarketers or junk mail. Not that I don’t welcome phone solicitations from organizations I support or businesses I work with. And not that I mind getting those nifty coupon books and catalogues in the mail. But potentially objectionable stuff is just so much more pleasant to get via email so I can simply delete it in private.

Also, as a former telemarketer myself, and the brother of a legitimate email marketer (An opt-in guy, you will never hear from him unless you asked for it. Please don’t hate him, or me for being his brother.) I have an understanding and appreciation for the advertising and sales business that surpasses most people’s experience. I’m still not a fan of either form of irritation, I mean marketing, but the incredible aggression that is directed at these people is a bit much for my sensibilities.

What do you think?

Dante’s Inferno Test

Talk about polarized. Not much middle ground for me.

The Dante's Inferno Test has sent you to Purgatory!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Extreme
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	High
Level 2 (Lustful)	Moderate
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	Very Low
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Very Low
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Very Low
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Very Low
Level 7 (Violent)	Low
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	Low
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Very Low

Take the Dante's Inferno Hell Test

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! And an especially happy Thanksgiving to all of you who are such loyal readers that you are actually reading my blog on Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is uniquely American (I’m including Canada because I am speaking about all of North America here) holiday where we spend an entire with family and friends, reflect on the blessing in our lives, and give thanks unto the Lord for caring for us and blessing us so richly. It is also a tribute to both the religious traditions that America was founded on, and the fact that we are a very traditional people as whole. If this were not so Thanksgiving would never have become a national holiday from its humble roots that first autumn after the Pilgrims landed in Massachusetts.

To celebrate, I am listing what I am most grateful for on this day.

1- Jesus. He’s my Lord and Savior, and without Him I would be lost.

2- My family. I have been blessed with a wonderful and loving wife, loving and attentive parents, and 4 very close brothers. I am truly blessed.

3- My job. Not only does it put food on the table and a roof over my head, it serves a greater purpose. HOOAH!

4- My Church. Muldoon Community Assembly of God is a wonderful church home. Its focus on the Bible, missions, and local outreach are above reproach. The teaching is sound, the community is close, and the missions are passionately supported. This is one excellent Church.

5- Being an American. There truly is no greater country in the world today.

6- My God-given talents and abilities. They line up with my interests, and I am able to do so much with them, like writing this blog.

7- Being in Alaska. I really do believe it may the greatest state in the Union, but that could just be my love of nature talking. This is such an incredibly wild and beautiful state.

8- My Christian brothers and sisters around the world. 200,000,000 of them are being actively persecuted right now and may die for their faith. In spite of this they are praying for me because, as an American, they believe I am in danger from weakness of faith that they see as typical among American Christians. I am praying for them too that they may be kept safe and prosper.

9- YOU! My regular and occasional readers, especially the ones who comment make writing this blog worthwhile. It gives me hope that I may yet reach the world with the truth.

There are hundreds of other things to be grateful for in my life, but these top the list for me, and do so every year. Take some time to reflect and decide what you are most grateful for today, and give the appropriate thanks.

The Democrat’s Disgusting Double-Standard

State Sen. Lisa A. Gladden, a black Baltimore Democrat, said she does not expect her party to pull any punches, including racial jabs at Mr. Steele, in the race to replace retiring Democratic U.S. Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes.

"Party trumps race, especially on the national level," she said. "If you are bold enough to run, you have to take whatever the voters are going to give you. It's democracy, perhaps at its worse [sic], but it is democracy.

"Delegate Salima Siler Marriott, a black Baltimore Democrat, said Mr. Steele invites comparisons to a slave who loves his cruel master or a cookie that is black on the outside and white inside because his conservative political philosophy is, in her view, anti-black.

"Because he is a conservative, he is different than most public blacks, and he is different than most people in our community," she said. "His politics are not in the best interest of the masses of black people."

Okay, so racism is perfectly okay as long as it directed at conservatives. Oh yeah, and Democrats know what’s best for minorites. How balatantly, utterly, disgustingly racist can one party be? I swear, this lady sounds exactly like the slave owners of old, claiming to know what’s best for black people, living under delusions of supremity, even a sick kind of beneficience that tears minorities down.

What gets me is that there are so many minorities, especially black people, who actually BELIEVE this crap! Remind me, who opposed freeing the slaves? Oh Yeah, the Democrats! Who opposed the civil rights movement until Bobby Kennedy realized it could be used to create a large bloc of loyal voters? The Democrats! It was Republicans who ended slavery in America, and it was Republicans who were the earliest supporters of the civil rights movement. Of course, to listen the Democrats you would never guess this to be true. Remember, when the south was balatantly racist and segregated it was a Democrat stronghold. It turned Republican with the civil rights movement.

I forget the author of this quote, but it from the book Black and Right.
“The old racism said that all black people look alike. The new racism says all black people think alike.”

This being the case, as percieved by members of the black community, the Democrats sre horrible racists, and more aligned with David Duke, a Democrat and former KKK leader who continues his racist crusade to this day, than with Joseph Lieberman, a decent Jewish liberal. It’s no wonder they are supportive of the welfare system that keeps minorities poor and breaks their families. It’s no wonder they so viciously support abortion, which is singlehandedly responsible for the negative population growth among the US black population. It’s no wonder because THEY HATE MINORITIES!

Democrats talk a lot about civil rights, but then they turn around and support programs that actually destroy these same rights. They talk about equality, then they support programs that create inherent inequality. They talk about a lot of things, but what they do is almost never in line with what they say. This is called hyppocrisy people, and I, for one, simply won’t tolerate it.

College Porn and Other Wastes of Time and Money

Some colleges are now offering courses on pornography. They are ostensibly studying the effect of porn on modern society, but in reality seem to be little more than porno promo classes. Mandatory reading includes such jerk-off magazines a “Hustler”, none of which demonstrate any redeeming value (I know because I have seen such magazines as a teenager). I can see it now, a student’s review of the class: “We read titty mags and watched porno flicks every class, then those of us who didn’t leave to go beat off discussed the philosophical points of what we had just seen.” Oh yeah, real higher learning.

This is just the most recent in a series of colossal wastes of time and money being perpetrated in the name of “diversified learning” at our universities. There are social science classes that do nothing but have the students review episodes of “The Simpsons” and write about the social relevancy of what they have seen. There are various craftwork classes where people learn such marketable skills as wickerwork. There are so many classes that barely apply to anything educational or vocational it’s a wonder college students ever get a useful degree.

This is all just part of the greater trend of the failing education system. Gone are the days when we learned social responsibility and government in high school civics class. Gone are classes about the Constitution, at least as it is written rather than simply on the ways to philosophically apply any meaning you want to the document. Gone are the days when being a high school, or even a college graduate meant you could read.

I remember my first year of college. I had to take so many classes that were just repeats of everything I had already learned in grades K-12 that I didn’t bother to apply myself out sheer boredom. Of course, while I was busy doodling in science, math, and grammar classes, other students were busy building bottle rockets . . . AS PART OF A COLLEGE CLASS! How did we get so low so as to require the recycling of grade school projects to demonstrate the exact same basic concepts in college? And this at an engineering university! (UCCS)

On the college level though, I think the real problem with waste of time courses is the combining of liberal arts and the sciences in the same colleges. The very nature of the people who go into the liberal arts is vastly different from the nature of the people who go into applied sciences, research, and vocational training. The sciences people really have no need to learn art appreciation, the need mathematics, biology, chemistry, and physics. The vocational people don’t need to learn how to review old movies. They need the courses that directly apply to their chosen field. At the same time, what is an art major going to do with algebra? Geometry maybe, but algebra? What does a sculptor need with cellular biology? And what the hell does ANYONE need with porno studies?

Our education system is seriously flawed from top to bottom. We need to push for a massive overhaul, not just of how things are taught, but what is taught and who gets to teach it. I say we start with the fruitcakes who are getting rid of the important classes and replacing them with worthless crap like “Studies in Pornography”.

Democrat’s Dream

This following is a comment from

The Impeach Bush Coalition

With a few spelling corrections made.

First things first!Unseat as many Repugnant Congressmen and Senators as possible in Nov 06.If the Dems can take the House, they can impeach....but only if they can get the act solidly together. Has to be done quickly, but thoroughly.If the Dems have a two or three seat majority in Senate they can quickly convene to hear the Articles of Impeachment (and, if necessary invoke Frist's "nuclear option").Cheney takes the oath and the Dems in Congress begin the action......Like dominoes . . . like dominoes.

len

This is the great hope of all of those people who are still upset that 52% of the country voted to keep Bush in office. Apparently ultra-liberal crybabies know better than the rest of us what is good for the country. They believe that since they lost the election they MUST get enough Democrats elected into Congress to impeach Bush, then Cheny, then anyone else affiliated with the current administration who takes on the role of President. Their great hope is to abuse the political system in a way never before seen in America so they can smear conservatives and force their private agenda on the rest of us.

These people don’t know their history. Impeachment proceedings backfired on the Republicans, and one of America’s greatest leaders, Newt Gingrich, was taken down by them when they failed. This kind of unhinged hostility will only further the schism in America between conservatives and liberals. Rest assured it will result in more people turning to the right, and voting Republican.

Conservatives celebrated a great victory when we voted President Bush into office for a second term, beating out the traitor John Kerry by millions of votes. Had the Iraq war not so galvanized the people opposed to Bush he would have won in a giant landslide. As it were, war has proven to be a definite motivator of people who oppose the current power structure.

This said I want to emphasize the importance of the 2006 elections. Be sure to vote for the best candidates during the primaries. Fight against the election of ultra-liberal wackjobs that are sure to be put up by the far left base of the Democratic Party. This shouldn’t be too hard since the far left tends to favor people who are repulsive even to moderates Democrats. Still, be vigilant, work hard, vote right.

Oh, and don’t be shy. Feel free to stop by the Impeach Bush Coalition and tell them exactly what you think of their lies.

6,000 Years of Global Warming

Though am passionate about environmental concerns, it was a posting by

Sycorax

that got me off my duff, or rather on my duff since this on the computer, to speak up about global warming.

Misinformed eco-activists have been screeching about global warming for a couple of decades now. Before that they were all bent out of shape about global cooling. What they are apparently ignorant of, at least I hope their ignorant since the alternative is evilly deceitful, is that we have been experiencing global warming for about the last 6,000 years.

That’s right folks. Long before man had the ability to “destroy the environment by spewing tons of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere” this little blue ball of a planet has been getting steadily warmer. At times we have experienced short periods of global cooling, only to have it replaced with the current warming trend.

This said, global warming is a given, the question, however is; is it really our fault, and if so how much of it is? In answer to the first part, 6,000 years of global warming would seem to indicate that the answer is a resounding “No!” In answer to the second part, we have no way to know how much warming can truly be attributed to human activity even if we did know for sure.

Here are a few global warming facts:

1- Many of the temperature readings that are used to show global warming are taken in urban areas that do show as much as a 10 degree rise in temperature over the last 200 years. However, outside of these areas the average temperatures have remained almost completely stable, with some even dropping.

2- The Antarctic ice is actually thicker now than it was even just s few decades ago, and is still getting thicker. The ice shelf on the fringe has broken off large icebergs, yet even with these losses there is more total ice every year.

3- All studies done within proper scientific methods and ethics show zero net rise in ocean levels despite the supposed doom of the melting icecaps and glaciers. Wait, Antarctica is getting more ice, so that means it’s not melting away. I forgot that little detail.

4- While some glaciers ARE receding, others, nearly an equal number, are advancing. The result is a miniscule net loss of total glacier ice in the last 200 years.

5- There really is more carbon dioxide in the air now then there was 200 years ago. However, since the Earth has a magnificent ability to adapt itself, it has compensated with more photosynthetic organisms, not additional ones, but a greater biomass of existing ones. This is why the increase in carbon dioxide levels has been exceedingly slow, much slower than should have happened without additional biomass of plants and algae. Interestingly, this same additional food for plants has actually benefited the food chain by increasing the abundance of producers.

6- The recent warmer seas in the Gulf of Mexico are part of a natural 40-60 year cycle. In another 40-60 years the seas will be cool again and the hurricanes will be infrequent and weak.

7- Warmer air means more evaporation of seawater. More evaporation of seawater means more rain and snow in something like 80% of the world. Last I knew we were having concerns about water shortages and droughts. It would seem that increased rains would solve this problem for everyone. Woe be it to you if you were foolish enough to build your house on a flood plain.

So, it seems global warming is a more complex issue than “greenhouse gas emissions are bad and will destroy the world”. Even so, continuing in a 6,000 year tend leaves me strangely unconcerned. The globe got warmer without our greenhouse gasses, it’s still getting warmer, and it will continue to get warmer until the next ice age. Personally, I find a new Ice age far more frightening than global warming because it would make a great deal of the world virtually uninhabitable, bury vast tracts of productive farmland under massive glaciers, and condense some 6,000,000,000 people into an area roughly half to four-sevenths that which we now occupy. This is a recipe for starvation, war, and pestilence on a previously unheard of scale.

Of course, the eco-activists need a boogeyman like global warming to keep bilking people out of their money and justify their existence. Don’t expect them to listen to either reason or science.

Debate of the Week 8: Evolution and God

This is a fascinating topic to me. There are a great many people who point to evolution as proof that there is no God. There are also a great many that point to God as proof that evolution is false. Then there are those in the middle. So the question here is; where do you stand on the issue?

Here’s my stance.

To say that evolution proves there is no God is absolutely ludicrous. Let’s ignore the scientific flaws in evolution, and yes, there are many. I will go over these flaws in an upcoming series called “Dismembering Evolution”. I will not deal with any of them in this particular debate. The concern here is whether science has the ability to prove or disprove God. It does not, and it cannot.

Science is way of understanding the natural world, even the entire universe in all of the glory God created it with. What mechanisms God chose to use to make it all happen are irrelevant in theological arguments. The odds of everything working the way it has simply by chance INDICATE that there must be a God who directed it all, but do not necessarily prove it. The exceedingly slim chance that all of the universe came into being just the way it is by mere chance also does not prove that there is no God. So evolution in no way disproves God even if it is true.

Does the existence of God disprove evolution? Not necessarily. Being an evangelical Christian who takes the Bible very literally I am inclined to be a “Young Earther”, or someone who believes in a literal six day creation with man being created on the sixth day. As a lover of science I remain open to other explanations, and have found theories that actually support both or scientific understanding of the world, and the Judeo/Christian theological understanding of the world. I will detail some of these in the aforementioned series on evolution I will be posting.

So while I am critical of evolution, it is actually for scientific reasons rather than theological ones. I am critical of theological arguments based on evolution for theological reasons, and very few scientific ones.

So I am on the edge of the middle sitting squarely on the line between science and theology in this argument. I have a strong theology, and I am inclined to think that science not only shows us how God’s creation works, but also strongly supports the existence of God while falling just short of being absolute proof. I have a strong scientific background (most nerds do) and do not readily discard science simply because I have certain theological notions.

What do you think?

Soldier Test

Pretty darn cool.

You scored as Special Ops. Special ops. Your sneaky, tactful, and a loner. You prefer to do your jobs alone, working where you don't come into contact with people. But everyonce in a while you hit it big and are noticed and given fame. Your given the more sensitive problems. You get things done, and do what has to be done. "VULCAN NECK PINCH!!!" "owww.......(slump)" Special Ops 81% Combat Infantry 75% Officer 69% Support Gunner 63% Medic 56% Engineer 50% Artillery 44% Civilian 6% Which soldier type are you? created with QuizFarm.com

Darn, blogger won't show the picture that goes with this.

Welcome Back and Goodbye

First the good news. Haximus over at

The Red Ink

is back online and blogging again after roasting two hard drives. It’s great when good blogs come back.

The bad news is that it’s official

Nedreck Milhunky

is most definitely out of blogging. Don’t bother clicking the link, he deleted his blog. It’s a shame really. I had hoped he would at least leave his existing work online so people could enjoy his archives. He was a most excellent blogger who both funny and insightful. Since his blog no longer exists in any way I am removing my link, which I had left up so people could still access his old work.

Such is life, some happy situations, some unhappy ones, some good, and some bad.

The Pullout Vote

Should we bring our troops home now? This question was posed today in Congress, and it faced an official vote. After much angry debate the results are 3y-403n-6p. (Thanks to

Inside Larry's Head

for the info)

Great. Now SHUT UP!

Seriously. The Democrats have been very vocal in their demands that we bring our troops home now in defference to their far left lunatic base. Notice how once they actually have to go on record only 3 had the guts to stand by their words? What a bunch of spineles whiners!

This is proof that the Democrats don’t actually stand for much are only doing what they think will gain them more power. They say one thing to demonize the Republicans, then vote the opposite way to save their jobs. This means that they know that, despite what they have been spewing, America isn’t really buying it as a whole.

If anyone couldn’t see right through the Dems before then this should seal the deal. The whole Democratic party has just pulled a John Kerry and flip-flopped when their own actions and rhetoric became inconvenient.

The conservatives are so going to crush them.

Post-Hunt

As you can see there is no picture of me smiling next to a dead moose. My primary access route to the hunting zone was supposed to be a frozen river, Fish and Game had said the river was frozed a foot thick, what they failed to metion was that in spite of this, the channel of the mile wide Nenana River was completely open. I could not cross. As a backup I travelled an additional 200 miles to get to a trailhead that bypassed the river and went into the hunting zone. Unfortunately, I was ill equipped to haul a dead moose over 20 miles to get it back to the truck. With the equipment I had it would have taken 2 days to cart the moose out. I had to call off my hunt early.

While I was hunting I spent a lot of time thinking. At first I was outraged at my situation. They justify this mess by saying I say the wrong thing at the wrong time and equate that to a mental disorder. At the same time we have a civillian employee who turns evry conversation to one of the following: sex, solving the unemployment and welfare problems through slavery, conscripting the children of poor families for forced military service, executing everybody in prison, using nukes or neutron bombs to wipe out all life in Iraq so we close out this war, assaulting religion, and killing women who get abortions. He says he does it because he enjoys "stirring the pot". I am always arguing against this lunacy when he says it to me. He gets in no trouble, but I got in trouble for saying that I was very glad the Partial Birth Abortion Bill finally passed the senate. It would appear he suffers from "personality disorder" but no one cares. Pinning such a silly label on me and trying to boot me from the service is absolutely insane in light of this difference of treatment.

When the rage passedI planned my defense, which is too extensive to detail here. Then finally, I started to make plans for the future if the worst should happen. My intention, as it now stands, is that if I should loose this fight, I will immediately go to the Alaska Highway Partol office and become a policeman. I have taken law enforcement couses in college, and I have done a great deal of military correspondence education in law enforcement. I have always like and admired policemen for the essential service they provide for us all. If I cannot serve my country as a soldier then I will serve it as a cop. Perhaps the first public office I run for will be Sherriff. I may opt for Anchorage City Police instead of the Highway Patrol. My wife is suggesting I apply to the Department of Fish and Game. Fortunately, someone with my education and work experience has many excellent options available to me.

On a side note, once I considered this course of action I began to have fantasies of being the one to bust my commander and/or my NCOIC on a traffic violation. It was . . . satisfying.

My other course of action, since this type of discharge almost universally results in an honorable discharge is to simply go straight to the Army Recruiter's office and enlist again for the Chemical Corps anyway, which is something I can do after just 3 months. In a roundabout way I can still win this battle even if I loose it.

DadOBot mentioned something very insightful that I myself have considered in the past. He suggested that perhaps I have grown so used to constantly fighting that I fight battles I need not fight. Considering how poorly I have chosen some of my battles I am inclined to think he may be right. Considering how out of sorts I feel, apprehensive even, when all is well and there are no fights to be won, I am even more inclined to think he's right. I'm a fighter through-and-through. I know this, and I know that I must channel that energy into a place where it is needed. The military is a natural choice for this since we train hard for, and fight wars. Law enforcement is another natural choice. Politics is another. All fields that I am drawn to as it is.

I have been praying, and I thank all of you who have kept me in your prayers and in your hearts and minds. I have reached a point of peace regarding my situation. I have the strangest feeling that whatever happens is for the best and will serve me well in the long-run. They say that when the Lord closes one door He opens another, better one, though it may not be apparrent at first. I trust that this is the case for me.

Thank you all for you kind words and your support. It means a lot to me.

Sometimes Life Sucks

It seems like my whole life has been one long battle against things that are bigger than me. My parents divorced when I was four. I never backed down fom bullies, and got beat up sometimes for it. I was picked on for being a nerd. A series of ear infections left me hard of hearing for a few years as a child. I nearly lost my leg to a vicious infection. I nearly lost an eye the same way. I was raised for years by an abusive stepmother. I was physically assaulted in my home by a very large renter. I was arrested on bogus weapons charges. I have had lifelong friends vanish without a trace. I have been hungry for weeks on end, and I have been homeless. All of this happened before I even turned 21.

By the time I was 22 I had my heart broken so badly it took me a year to recover. A series of personal issues and tragedies drove me from my faith in anger and despair, thankfully to return again, but not before betraying certain tenents of the Christian faith I hold so dear.

By the time I was 24 I had starightened out my life, married my wonderful wife, and was well along in a rewarding military career.

Now, the very purpose I have set my life to is under assault. Due to conflicts I have had with people in the past, and changes in the way the Army does business I have become a dinosaur. I even got in trouble for dropping a Private (making him do push-ups) when he got out of line. This is not the Army I joined, but I still love it because of what it stands for. It stands for love of kin and country. It stands for courage. It stands for dedication and service of an ideal greater than yourself. I have dedicated my life to the service for these reasons, and I do love it so.

However, the Army is changing, and I have been failing to adapt. Consequently I have had bad run-ins, and been in trouble for things that I grew up in the Army knowing as normal. This trouble adapting . . . this utter failure has convinced my command to consider putting me out on a mental discharge. This trouble, and my strong opinions, and ultra-defined sense of right and wrong that you all read here are considered abnormal. It has been defined as "Personality Disorder", which has been explained to me as simply not knowing when to shut up. If that is the definition then I am guilty as charged. And yet, despite all of this my command saw fit to promote me to sergeant because I am the best damn worker it has.

I have been fighting my whole life. From early on to this very day. It is what has given me the patience and tolerance to deal with people who have views that are stridently opposed to my own. It has given me the strength to weather storms that have inspired suicides. When I see wrongdoing I instinctively oppose it. I effortlessly draw on reserves of aggression without so much as a thought, and non-violently seek to right what is wrong.

I have seen so much sillines in eight years of service that just thinking back about it makes my blood boil. I long for the simpler days, before the Army was transformed into a beaureaucratic machine where paper matters more than deeds, where words speak louder than actions. I have been slogging through a PC nightmare, and I have done it willingly, and joyfully because I have been serving my home, and protecting my countrymen in some small fashion.

Now I have yet another fight ahead of me. I am fighting for the career I hold so dear to my heart. Once again my opponent is far larger than me, and the odds are stacked against me. Once again I go into the fray headlong, screaming "Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!" because it is the only choice I can see. I refuse to fade gantly into the night when what is being done is so wrong.

Yes, I am fully engaged in battle. I am fighting for the priviledge of continued service to my beloved country. I don't know if I will win, but I must fight, for the love of my country I must fight.

But first I am taking a break to collect myself. I am distressed right now, and probably not thinking too clearly. Who could be when they have just found out their whole life is being attacked? So I am going hunting. Nothing like killing and eating poor helpless 1600 pound animals to make a man feel better. Yes, I am hunting Moose. If I get one quickly enough I just might try to get a bear, and I will definitely get in some bird hunting. There's just something about shooting guns that is theraputic.

As for the people who complain about being dealt a bum hand in life, I'm one of you, and I refuse to surrender and make excuses for my failure. I suggest you do the same.

Boy have I been rambling. That's never a good sign. See you all in a few days. Keep me in your prayers.

Jeez what a way to get blindsided at the beginning of the week. And things were going so well too. Oh, well. It never lasts.

Considerations on Allowing Mexico into the Union

Ever have a really brilliant idea or dream only to realize after further consideration that it’s actually rather hair-brained? I floated one such idea recently, and after receiving mixed reviews from both sides of the aisle I took every comment under careful consideration, analyzed the angles, and reached some sobering conclusions.

First for the good news. A “statehood or you’re on your own” policy towards the current US territories is very reasonable. Puerto Rico, Guam, the US Virgin Islands, and Samoa all receive monetary benefits, welfare, and subsidies from the US government right now, but are not expected to contribute to the pot they are drawing from. The people are considered US citizens. No additional national funds or bureaucracy would be necessary for them to be states, and they would actually start contributing tax revenue and lighten the welfare burden on every other state in the Union. This entitlement without taxation situation is the primary motivator among the territories for continuing non-statehood. This must end, and if they don’t like it they are free to be their own country and have nothing to do with the US.

While it is unlikely that any Canadian province that splits off from the rest of Canada to escape the socialist system would initially want to join the US they may find it beneficial to do so at a later time. These are generally English speaking people who are familiar with our culture and have an electoral and educational system in place that is similar to our own. Assimilation as a state would be very easy if they choose to join us, and I for one welcome them wholeheartedly.

Mexico, on the other hand, is where the whole idea got rather hair-brained.

Mexico has over 200 million people last I knew, and the vast majority are poor by US standards. This means there would be an instant, massive influx of welfare recipients that would suck up a disturbingly large chunk of the national budget. If Mexico were to join the US as several states it would have to barred from receiving welfare benefits for maybe several decades. Or, and this is the silver lining, it could be a really good reason to strip or eliminate the welfare system in its entirety.

How on Earth would we handle the money situation? What will we give them for all of their Pesos that wouldn’t leave them, us, or both in the poorhouse when we were done? Unifying our monies could single-handedly destroy our entire monetary system and wreck our whole economy. I have no idea how to avoid this.

Many Mexicans are uneducated, or poorly educated. It is one reason why so many of them become laborers when they come to the US. They have no other marketable skills, and their education has not prepared them to compete in the US economy. This could be no problem if we have enough unskilled labor jobs to employ all of these people, but right now I don’t think we do.

Skilled professionals like doctors and lawyers from Mexico would be screwed. The way they do things there is so vastly different from the way we do them here that many of these people would be forced to go back to school to learn to do it our way, or they would be forced to become laborers.

The Mexican police and military operate under different laws and standards. Integration, while not impossible, would be exceedingly problematic, and would be met with strong resistance by top officers who would almost certainly be forced out and replaced with US officers. This is a formula for armed revolt.

Organized crime in Mexico is powerful beyond what American criminal scum have been able to achieve. They are well armed, well organized, very well funded, and highly integrated into Mexican life, society, and government. They will not go down easily, and they will most certainly fight openly. We could take them out if we use the military to destroy them as part of the war on drugs, but it will most certainly cost lives.

Institutional corruption is so rampant in Mexico it makes our own government look like Mother Theresa by comparison. We would have to sweep away every vestige of the current government, military, and law enforcement Mexico currently has and install new, hopefully uncorrupted people into these positions. The people who are swept away may very well decide they want their power back, and many have the weaponry to put up a stiff resistance, and there are enough small, remote towns in Mexico that they could easily use one of them as a base of operations to conduct guerilla warfare against the US. NOT good. Not good at all.

Finally, and this is from my wife (she’s such a smart lady). While it is very likely that the poor and oppressed masses of Mexico would vote to join the US, and may even do so under VERY strict requirements for integration out of a desire to share in our freedom and prosperity, there is an excellent chance they will not choose to integrate once they join us. These people are very proud of their heritage and national identity, and they will not give it up easily. It goes beyond national holidays. It goes to their language, personal conduct, belief systems, methods of education, business practices, and attitudes that are so different from ours despite the mutual familiarity that it could be a recipe for the balkanization of the US. This is not good.

I must admit that I have dreamed of a unified North America for many years now. I must also admit that it is a dream that cannot happen at this time. Mexico is not a good risk for the US to take on right now.

I look to Mexico and I see the oppression and poverty, and I am heartbroken. I look to their lush farmlands and vast oil fields, and I see poorly utilized wealth. I look to our current border and then I look at southern Mexican border and I see an easily defended tiny strip of land. I look at the people and I see their dreams and their willingness to work hard to achieve them that is one of the core behaviors that has made our own country great until we decided we deserved what we have not earned and grew to expect the government to take of our needs if we don’t do it for ourselves. I have known Mexican immigrants, both legal and illegal, and they are generally the hardest working people I have ever had the privilege of knowing, and I think of what our own entitled youth could learn from their strong work ethic. It is these positive qualities that I know will make admitting Mexico into the US as several new states eventually serve to bring us all up and make us a better nation. Unfortunately, the obstacles are great, and I have no idea how to overcome them without ruining us in the process.

Mexico cannot join the US. It pains me to say it, but they cannot. They need to fix their own problems, and we need to get that border tightly secured, and we need to do it now.

Debate of the Week 7: Welfare

I had planned on doing a debate about homosexuality this week. However, I have just wrapped up debating this topic on another blog for the third time this month, and hundreds of comments later I have said all that I care to say, and have grown tired of it for now.

Therefore this week we shall debate Welfare, good or bad?

Here’s what I think: Welfare is good only in very limited situations, and only for a limited time. Other than that it does far more harm than good.

By giving greater entitlements to single moms that to married couples with the same income t has served to undermine the American family and has raised three generations of fatherless children.

It keeps the poor impoverished by stripping them of the urgent need to work for their own betterment. Who needs to work when the government will feed, clothe, and shelter you anyway? We now have third generation welfare recipients. By third generation I mean never worked at all in three generations.

Since it keeps the poor poor, and a disproportionate number of American poor are minorities, it is a racist system that keeps minorities under the feet of the wealthier whites, and dependent on deceitful politicians for their livelihood.

It encourages a sense of entitlement that is contrary to the American way of life, and to the American dream. We earn our way in the world. By handing out for nothing that which should be earned we create a generation of people who think they deserve everything they want, and are upset when they don’t get it. Just look to the massive crime rate in poor, welfare ridden neighborhoods. These people are filthy rich compared to the rest of the worlds poor, and even when compared to much of the world’s middle class, but they still want more enough to steal, sell drugs, or engage in other crimes to get it.

On the other hand, a housewife with children whose husband dies unexpectedly without insurance, or whose husband leaves her suddenly needs help to get on her feet. She needs money, vocational training, and a job so she can care for her family. In this situation I think welfare is most justified as a temporary measure to give a truly needy person a leg up to self sufficiency.

What do you think?

The Colbert Report

One of my guilty pleasures is watching the Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Comedy Central. I find him funny, decent, and just plain all right. I don’t agree with his liberal views, but he makes fun of anything rather than just viciously attacking conservatives, and sometimes he actually makes a good, funny point. Stephen Colbert was a funny and integral part of the show who added a whole dimension of funny to the mix.

So I decided to give his new show, The Colbert Report a chance. Here’s what I think:

He’s having a tough time of it. I am finding that while he is knee-slappingly funny in small doses, Stephen Colbert gets monotonous, and even annoying at times in large ones. His style of spoof-reporting runs thin after getting a full dose.

His show is loosely modeled after the O’Reilly Factor, covering the news from topic to topic with his talking points at the beginning and guests later. Unlike the O’Reilly Factor, this show starts strong and ends weak.

It seems that Stephen Colbert is having trouble finding enough news stories to fit his particular style of mockery. I have seen him visibly struggle to keep going, and watched him anger his guests. I have also seen him run a smooth, hilarious commentary and play perfectly off his guests. I have seen both in a single episode. Only time will tell if he will sparkle, or fade to black. In the meantime, I’ve quit watching.

Veteran’s Day Drunken Musings

I decided to celebrate Veteran’s day by drinking one glass of wine for every war America has ever fought, and I have found that, being only an occasional drinker, our wars are more numerous than my tolerance is capable of handling. I had to quit at WW I.

“Why Alcohol?” you may ask. I’ll tell you. It has been the second greatest morale booster behind sex any army has ever used. Considering that we are in a war right now, and the men and women who are deployed cannot have alcohol, I thought it would be appropriate to drink as a symbol of the privileges they are sacrificing for our security, and for the freedom of the Iraqi people.

As I drank, I considered the sacrifice our veterans of every war have made for the American people. I considered not only the blood they lost from wounds and mortality among our own ranks, but also the effect of slaughtering other human beings on the psyche of these brave warriors. Hunters have spoken of the difficulty and guilt involved in shooting gorillas due to their resemblance to humanity. I can only imagine the greatly amplified level of guilt heaped upon men who have had the misfortune of being forced to kill other human beings in armed combat.

During the civil war there were men who checked the weapons left on the battlefield. They found guns with full loads packed one on top of the other all the way to the top of the barrel of the rifles. These weapons belonged to men who, while brave enough to fight for the principals they believed in, could not get themselves to actually squeeze the trigger and kept reloading without ever having fired a single shot. They could risk their lives for their country, but could not take the lives of other human beings.

The survivors of our wars come home scarred. The come home with the horrors of combat permanently etched in their minds. They tell stories of watching their best friend get his brains blown out as he stood beside them. They tell stories of the pain of taking a human life. They tell stories of being immersed in a bloodbath where only the lucky survived and, they are amazed that we actually managed to win the battle. They come home from the warzone permanently scarred and sometimes damaged beyond repair.

Prior to Vietnam the psychological effects of war went largely ignored. Mental damage was seen as a weakness. Only relatively recently have we come to truly understand the terrible effects war has on those who must experience it.

History is riddled with tales of men who return from war changed. They have seen horrors no man should be subjected to. It affects people. It leaves a permanent mark, and even those who seem unaffected are usually just hiding the pain within.

I cannot begin to offer a solution to the problem of how war veterans are damaged. I can only offer sympathy and my greatest respect. Men and women who risk their lives for a cause, OUR CAUSE, deserve every bit of honor we can heap upon them. I don’t care whether you agree with our current war or not. I care that you honor our soldiers, both living and dead. I care that you stand behind our brave service men and women for as long as this war must go on until this war is won. Whether you disagree with this war or not we are committed to victory. Rally behind our troops and show them your love. Give them a reason to come home. Show them all how much you love them by supporting their efforts and letting them know that you eagerly await their victorious return.

The protestors who demand our immediate withdrawal are sympathetic to the enemy. In my mind they are traitors who deserve banishment at best. By opposing our fighting men and women they are giving hope and solace to our enemies who would see us all dead. I call upon all who are opposed to the war to shut up and debate the validity of this conflict when it is over. We are fully engaged now and every protest you hold encourages the very people who are killing our soldiers and Iraqi civilians. By opposing us you support them. Show your country how much you love it by honoring the living as well as the fallen among our ranks. Divert your efforts from protests to demonstrating your love of the lives of our people. Send care packages to the warzone. Donate to the Army Emergency Relief Fund. Donate to the Wounded Warrior Project. Do something constructive for a change. I beg you, show our troops you support them even if you disagree with the mission they cannot change.

Veteran’s Day is a day of honor for our soldiers, airmen, sailors, and marines. It is a fine day to change from opposition to support for those who may die any day, and to show your patriotic love to the families of the fallen. Do it, please. Our brave warriors need it, and they appreciate it more than you can know.

This is Sergeant Levesque, singing off and desperately hoping to honor those wo have sacrificed by joining them at war. Remainig safe in a dental clinic, preparig those who must face death for war without risk to myself is simply disgraceful. I long to join those who are actively engaged in the Army's mission: defending the homefront and destroying our enemies. Four years of of honor-free safety is too much for me to bear. I have signed paperwork to switch the chemichal corps. It is an understrength, combat related job. As soon as I complete my training in Decembe of 2006 I will volunteer, once again, to go to war, and, finally, I will not be denied. I cannot bear to to spend this entire war in safety while so many have sacrificed so much. It makes me feel like litle more than a draft dodger, avoiding the risk, waiting for it to be safe once again. I must do my part.

Fun Survey

In this politically charged environment it is interesting to see how various politicians measure up against each other. This said; tell me, who you would rather vote for?

1- Ronald Regan or Franklin Roosevelt? (Do you like how I pitted the greatest Republican and the greatest Democrat of the 20th century against each other?)

2- George W Bush or Jimmy Carter? (Similar problems, handled differently)

3- John F Kennedy or Ted Kennedy? (Two brothers, both Democrats, VERY different.)

4- Bill Clinton or Richard Nixon? (Impeachment is the similarity here.)

5- Hillary Clinton or Condi Rice?

6- Jimmy Carter or me?

7- G.W. or me?

8- Ted Kennedy or me?

9- Dick Cheny or me?

I just had to poll myself in this one since I plan on running for President. Note: I do not dare compare myself to the greats since I am unproven as a President, so far.

My answers: 1- Regan, but it’s close. 2- Bush, easy. 3- John, any day. 4- Nixon. 5- Condi! 6-8- Do you even have to ask?

Why on Earth Would I want to be President?

There are three reasons people go into politics. The first two suck, but are the most common, and then there is the third.

1- Power. Let’s face it. Power is alluring as all get out. There are people who crave it, need it as if they are not complete without it. It’s like a drug knowing you hold the fate of others in your hands. In truth, they really aren’t complete without it. They become amazingly miserable really fast when it’s gone. One has only to look at the high suicide rate among military retirees who reached the top ranks on the enlisted and officer sides to see evidence of this.

2- Money. There is still money in politics. For some they seek to make their fortunes through the high salaries politicians draw, others through bribes, kickbacks, and graft, and others through a combination.

Before I go any further I just want to share a quote from one of my favorite authors.

“Three things drive people: power, sex, and money. Power is sexy, sex is powerful, and money will buy you both.
Robert Heinlein

So true for so many. So sad really. Just look at President Clinton for evidence of this.

3- To make a difference. This is where I fall. I look at this country, my home that I love, and I see so much that is wrong and so much that could be made better. It is my dream to bring America to greater heights of glory, power, peace, prosperity, harmony, and tranquility. I want to preserve what is good while replacing what is bad and fixing what is faulty. I want to do it for my family and myself, of course, but also for everyone living in the US, and all who dream of living here. There are few legacies for a life that I can think of that are better than leading a country to greatness even the most optimistic never hoped to see. I know this dream is unlikely to happen, but it is mine and I will work for it. I AM working for it.

I know. The most common rebuttal to this is that the dreamer is really just selfishly trying to be remembered by history. Personally, I couldn’t care less. I am a man like any other, and as such am as forgettable as everyone else no matter what I do. How many Presidents, no matter how great, are commonly known anyway? Most people would be hard pressed to name five from before their time.

Being President is indeed a thankless job subject to much cruelty and unfair criticism. But I am willing to subject myself to that if it means I can do a great service for my country. The only true uncertainty here is; will the American people choose me, of all people, to do this? I would consider it a great honor if they did.

Delayed Alito Hearings

Judge Alito will not begin the confirmation process before the New Year. This is troubling, and not just because it means the Democrats managed to successfully delay the process, I couldn’t care less about that.

What makes this delay troubling to me is the fact that between now and when he is confirmed, and he will be confirmed, the Supreme Court will hear some key Constitutional cases regarding abortion and freedom of religious expression. With Judge Alito on the Court we can rest assured the Majority vote will be the right one. However, with Sandra Day O’Connor still on the Court every case is a coin toss.

The Democrats are counting on this last-minute, last ditch effort to use the Supreme Court to swing the nation more to the left against the Voter’s will.

On top of that, the verdicts for several cases that were badly decided that Sandra Day O’Connor was the deciding vote on will be read. With her still on the Supreme Court these decisions will be final. If she were no longer a sitting judge her vote would be nullified and there would be a tied decision which would require a retrial after Judge Alito is confirmed, and most, if not all of these cases would be decided the other way as a result.

The Democrats do not want to let this happen.

So this delay in the confirmation process is a great victory for the Democrats, and a great loss for America. Congratulations, Dems, on screwing up our home just a little bit more.

Telling Elections

Two Governor’s races were won by Democrats who face very strong Republican candidates. One of these races was in the very Republican state of Virginia. This can only mean one thing: The Republicans are being punished by the voters for their failures.

In my writings I rarely talk about the failures of the Republicans simply because I don’t want to be the one to give the liberals any good ideas. However, today I shall make an exception.

The Republicans have become no better than the Democrats at spending restraint. In other words, they have none right now. The Republicans have done nothing to secure the southern border despite the outcry from the American people. The Republicans have refused to answer the attacks of the Democrats with truth and retaliation. The Republicans have not been giving the military the leeway it needs to wipe out every terrorist in Iraq, and has cost us lives as a result. The Republicans have allowed themselves to be criminalized by Democrats who do exactly what the Democrats are accusing them of doing, and they have done it, until now, without bothering to expose the criminal Democrats.

These are HUGE failings on the part of the Republicans. As a result the people, despite the conservative majority, are becoming disillusioned with the party we placed in power to serve our conservative interests. As a result the voters are kicking Republicans out of office in favor of something different, in this case Democrats.

The good news is that these early, odd year losses should wake up the GOP to what is going on and get them back on their A-game both politically, in policy, and in practice. If not there will be a new Democratic majority in both houses of Congress in 2006.

Expanding the US

This may sound imperialistic, and maybe it is, but am I the only one who wants to se the US get geographically bigger?

Before you go haywire let me explain. The US has several territories that get all of the welfare benefits of being part of the US, but pay no taxes and have no representation in our government. Puerto Rico in particular has had several votes on whether or not to become a state, and it is always voted down because the people enjoy all the rights and benefits of a US citizen, but pay no federal taxes. I firmly believe that these territories need to either become states, or we kick them out and quit letting them drain our tax dollars.

Also, as a second generation American descended from a Canuck (Grandpa is originally from New Brunswick) I happen to have a special affinity for Canadians. Not those separatists from Quebec, but the main population. However, full integration of Canada would be foolish since the nation has very nearly gone socialist. Rather, I would welcome those provinces who are tired of their government mucking up their lives. If they vote to cede from Canada and join the US I say we welcome them with open arms.

The big prize is Mexico. The way I figure it, since so many Mexicans want to be Americans we should give them a chance to let their entire country become part of the US, broken down into several states, of course, probably by province or region. This will instantly solve the border problem, and we can sweep out their corrupt government entirely, replace corrupt military and police officials, and fold the rest into our own. The language problem could be solved by making English a mandatory subject in grammar school, and the only language used in middle and high schools, while offering free English classes to adults. All living Mexican citizens would immediately be considered naturalized US citizens, and all Mexicans born after they join the Union would be native-born citizens. There would be enormous challenges, but with work and dedication, and the willing joining of the Union on the part of the Mexican people it can be done. Done correctly it can be a win-win for all since they get improved schools and services along with greater freedoms and better law enforcement. We get improved national security, a smaller national border, and vast tracts of excellent agricultural land and oil fields.

I am not one for conquest. But the way I see it every state in the Union voted and applied for statehood. I see no reason why this practice has to end just because we have 50 states. Imagine this: the states of Puerto Rico, Guam, Samoa, Virgin Islands, and possibly several Canadian provinces and numerous Mexican provinces all as states. All doing so willingly and with a general desire to integrate into American culture. Before this can be done right however we need to decide on a national language. Since every American citizen speaks it I nominate English.

The Black Awards

I just learned about a new awards show called the Black Movie Awards. Before I get started on this rant let me make it known that to all that I don’t really care what ethnicity wants to do what for its own, just as long as every ethnicity gets the same privilege.

This is the latest in the ongoing rounds of ethnocentric organizations, awards, and clubs. Now, while I fully understand that people want to recognize the achievements of those in their own community, and am fine with that, I don’t like the way it is being imposed in such an overtly racist manner.

How you say?

Answer me this; where are the White Movie Awards? What about the National Association for the Advancement of Non-Colored People? How about the United Cracker College Fund? They don’t exist, and they will not exist because they are “racist”.

Is it just me, or does the term “racist” only seem to apply to white people, and white men in particular? Years ago I was called a racist because I said I didn’t think I could marry a black woman (Boy did I ever miff THAT one up. Guess what color my wife is.) Exclusively white clubs were all branded as racist and either diversified or disbanded. (I’ll get to the REAL racist groups later.) All male clubs and organizations were sued into including women. Eventually we wound up with almost nothing but a healthily diversified mix nearly everywhere.

So now what happens? All black organizations, awards shows, clubs, and funds are everywhere, but if white people try to do the same thing we would instantly get branded as racists. By this definition every one of these all-black groups is racist. Something doesn’t add up here.

Here are a few genuinely racist groups: The KKK, the Black Panthers, all Neo-Nazi groups everywhere, the Nation of Islam, and every street gang in America of any ethnicity. How do ethnic awards and clubs equate to these foul groups?

In short; they don’t.

There is nothing inherently racist is people forming ethnic clubs and whatnot, it only becomes racists when the IDEOLOGY of exclusion and hate pops up and starts to shape the direction of the group. Let people celebrate themselves. Let them have pride in their ancestors and their community. But also let them have this same pride in the greater community and our diverse history as a nation. It is good for people to have heroes they can identify with. I greatly admire Harriet Tubbman, but my ancestors worked with her, they weren’t freed by her, so what she means to me is by nature going to be something less than what she means to a black person. The same goes for all of the great civil rights leaders of the past. Rosa Parks, to me, is a woman who simply asserted her right as a human being. What she did, and the revolution she sparked did not do for me what it did for the Black community. The jerk who insisted on taking her seat is, to me, not just a racist, but a man who lacks chivalry since he had the GALL to insist that a woman get up so he could take her seat and not the other way around. To the black community he is a symbol of hundreds of years of white oppression that has finally been set right, or mostly right. It’s just differences. I see no reason why we can’t celebrate these differences from all sides while also celebrating our similarities. We’re all the same inside after all.

Female Sex Slaves

How come we rarely hear anything about the slave trade as it exists today? It’s as if our caring liberal media is more concerned with the latest high profile murder than with the freedom and well-being of women worldwide. For those of you who did not know about the market in female flesh worldwide let me fill you in.

The female slave trade is now one of the three most profitable criminal industries in the world, right up there with drugs and arms dealing. Every year tens of thousands of girls and young women are duped, kidnapped, and forced to become sex slaves. No nation is immune. Every year it is estimated that at least 15,000 women are smuggled into the US alone and forced into sexual slavery as prostitutes, primarily from Mexico and South America. Iran, supposedly a severely religious nation has at least 84,000 women and girls being prostituted in sexual slavery in Tehran alone. In Thailand no girl is immune from the threat of sexual slavery as it is very common for parents to sell their daughters to pimps for a few hundred US dollars. Russian women are constantly being duped into sexual slavery by responding to ads and agencies that claim to be getting them legitimate jobs, only to have them kidnapped and forced into prostitution, mostly in Europe.

Once these women are kidnapped/trapped they are forced into prostitution against their will, and are submitted to any degrading and abusive act the customer pays for. They are routinely raped by both pimps and customers. They are routinely beaten by both pimps and customers. When they get diseases they are frequently denied medical care. When they get pregnant they have forced abortions performed on them. When they get non-sexual illnesses they are refused medical care. When they are injured, and they all get injured, they are refused medical care. These women and girls are subjected to the most abusive, degrading, inhumane existence possible, and the media and our own government remains silent.

Am I the only one outraged by this?

When Natalie Holloway vanished from Aruba I predicted that they would never find her body because there was no body to found. I figured that she was kidnapped and sold into sexual slavery since an attractive American woman is a great prize to the filth who engage in this atrocity. She will be billed as an American whore, and she will be subjected to the “affections” of men who hate America and will take out their hatred on what innocent victims they can. It would be better for her if she were dead. I sincerely hope I’m wrong, but then they still haven’t been able to determine if she’s actually dead.

There are some organizations dedicated to fighting this scourge on humanity. I was unable to locate them on the internet because any search that has the words “sex slaves” in it turns up news articles, a band, and lots of porno, so much so that I gave up my search. However, I do have some very informative links for you.

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=11791
http://www.insightmag.com/main.cfm/include/detail/storyid/163052.html
http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/03/08/women.trafficking/
http://english.pravda.ru/accidents/21/97/384/12384_slavery.html
http://www.slate.com/id/2094414/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3019838.stm
http://thinkprogress.org/2005/09/23/bush-sex-slaves/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/10/01/nslave01.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/10/01/ixhome.html

Disgusting.

Muslim Riots in France

Every time Muslims are in the news they are either engaging in horrible violence, or defending the ones who are. Am I the only getting sick of this?

For 12 days now Muslims have been rioting in France because two retards got themselves electrocuted while running from the cops. It wasn’t even the cop’s fault! So now these people think they have the right to riot for weeks on end, burn people and property, terrorize communities, and murder innocents. Some religion of peace.

What gets me is that these retards are being allowed to do this horrible stuff. This situation makes me glad we have the right to bear arms in America, because unlike the French, we can fight back. If these idiots were doing all of this in my neighborhood I would go to the gun shop, but that Tommy-gun I’ve been admiring and an extra ammo drum, load up both 100 round drums, grab it, my .44 magnum Smith & Wesson pistol, my .338 Win-mag rifle and go up on my roof. From there I would proceed with a sniper action, blasting the violent rioters with my .338, and switching to the Tommy-gun as soon as they decided to come for me. The streets would be littered with the dead bodies of murdering arsonists, and I would not stop until they leave or they are all dead.

I don’t care that they are Muslims engaging in this riot. I would do the same thing to any mob that threatened my home.

Once upon a time I actually had a positive view of Muslims. It was Saladin that was responsible for that. He was an honorable man and a hero; very much worth admiring. All that changed for me when I found out about the new crop of warriors Islam has raised, starting with the father of modern terrorism himself, Yasser Arafat. Now we have Bin-laden and his cronies, Al-Zarqawi and his cronies, and various other terror groups and random mobs who perpetuate a cycle of indiscriminate violence everywhere they go. These murderers receive moral support from at least half of the worldwide Muslim community. Is it any wonder that when someone expressed disbelief at the French riots I could only respond with “What do you expect? They’re Muslims.” And what’s worse, he instantly nodded and spoke his agreement, and then everyone else in the room responded in kind.

Keep it up Muslims. You’re pissing of the whole world more and more with every idiotic bit of violence you engage in. Not every nation is as ethical as the US. If you piss off the Chinese you can expect a war of genocide the likes of which has never been seen, and it just may be the US that puts a stop to it, NOT because we like you, but because we are opposed to genocide and consider it the worst of crimes.

Debate of the Week #6: Class Action Lawsuits

Back to the serious stuff. Class action lawsuits, for or against?

Here’s what I think:

Against, against, against! Evil I say! Horribly, despicably evil!

Greedy scumbag lawyers recruiting as many so-called “victims” as possible into a massive lawsuit designed exclusively for the purpose of squeezing the biggest judgment possible out of the defendant so they can get rich while tossing the scraps to their hundreds or thousands of clients. After a class action is won by the offending lawyer he/she takes at least a third of the settlement as the personal fee, then up to another third to cover “legal expenses and personnel” the remaining third or less is what finally gets spread around the many clients who joined in the lawsuit. The lawyer makes millions, even tens of millions and the clients get hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars in return.

The vetting process for joining in class action lawsuits is weak to nonexistent. It’s this way for a reason: so the lawyers can slap as many people on the plaintiff list as possible to get the highest payout possible. Many people have fraudulently joined class action lawsuits simply because they were asked if they wanted in on it.

The lawyers do recruit as many people as possible too. Who among us hasn’t seen a commercial that’s part of a nation wide campaign asking people to join in a class action lawsuit? How about the same on the radio? How about getting letters in the mail asking you to join a lawsuit against a company that provides a product you have never used? What about the same in you email? These are expensive ad campaigns, and they are being paid for because the lawyers prosecuting the case know that if they win, and they usually do, they will reap personal financial rewards far greater than their initial investment, not because they actually care about their clients in any way.

We all pay for this travesty. We pay for it in the form of higher prices for goods that companies must charge just to stay afloat after being robbed of millions or hundreds of millions, or as in the case of Big Tobacco, billions of dollars. We pay for it in needed drugs and other products that never hit the market because despite the essential purpose they serve the risks involved for the company are too great when compared to the payout. Imagine hearing this from Merk “Sure, we developed a cure for AIDS ten years ago, but we couldn’t release it because it kills one out every thousand people who takes it. AIDS has a 100% mortality rate, but we still would have been sued out of existence by the families of the people who died from the drug. So rather than saving 999 out of every thousand AIDS victims we just had to let them all die.” Don’t think crap like this hasn’t happened.

What do you think?

Democrats Attack!

It’s always such a treat to listen to Howard Dean and his fellow Deaniacs. They say such CUTE things.

To be honest, he said so much so much fast that I couldn’t possibly remember it all. What stands out after the buzz and static of his loony ranting is the following:

1- The wild, almost manic look in his eyes, speaking of a tempestuous nature begging to be set free.

2- The rage and hatred slithering out in his voice, rounding it out into a seething ball of poison.

3- The constant, jerky head movements; like a tourretts sufferer barely keeping his words under control and expending the energy through physical twitches.

4- The angry look on his face, adding visual substance to his vitriolic voice. Turning his face into a trollish mask of evil suppressed.

Of course his warp-speed rant about corruption in the Bush administration, the war in Iraq being wrong, and how much he hates the fact that Judge Alito was nominated to the Supreme Court, bouncing back and forth between each topic without warning or logic stands out too. It was just so fast and incoherent that I can’t remember his exact words.

This is the face of the Democratic Party? I knew there was I was a reason I became a Republican.

Phantom, Where Are You?

As many of you probably know Phantom_Driver stopped blogging and commenting across the blogoshpere without warning a week ago. Now his profile and his blog appear to have been deleted. He is an old man, his son is in Iraq and I am worried about him. Any news on his condition would be most welcome.

Random Thoughts

1: Does not caring what happens to people who bomb children at school, murder women and babies, and behead people for not belonging to their religion make me a monster too?

2: Does having Benelli as my favorite (non-assault) shotgun make me an elitist?

3: Is it normal that I get I little thrill every time I get to fire an automatic weapon or blow something up with a rocket or hand grenade?

4: Is it twisted that I can forgive Osama Bin Laden for his crimes but still kill him on sight for having committed them?

5: Am I the only one here who became a Republican just because the Democrats ticked me off?

Hateful Schill

Ranando Said . . .

{"Would I sacrifice my son to free Iraq? I’m somebody’s son, and I am willing to sacrifice myself."
Well, what are still doing here? Get with it, go sacrifice yourself.}

Okay. Out of everybody who has ever posted a comment on my blog this guy is the first to truly cross the line with me.

I have been called insane for my views on evolution.

I have been called a liar (on another blog) for stating what I know of American History.

I have been called misinformed in many ways by people who do not agree with me.

I don’t mind any of these things because they are borne of either a difference of opinion, or a difference of education. Even if some malice was contained it is negligible in my opinion and must be reasonably accepted by anyone engaged in active debate.

I have several liberal readers, and some libertarian readers. They actively debate with me on this, and on their own blogs (those that I visit). I respect their views even when I don’t agree with them, and rarely find cause to dismiss anything they say out of hand. The debate helps keep me sharp, informed, and allows me to keep my finger on the pulse of the other side of the aisle. While I am a staunch conservative, and am ideological on many points, I am also ideological on the free exchange of ideas. Such an exchange has a welcome place on my blog. All are welcome to participate be you conservative, liberal, moderate, or something else.

Ranando however crossed the line by telling me to go die. It is this kind of hateful, thoughtless spew that, for me at any rate, has come to characterize the leftists and their organizations. It is schills like this that are out there talking about how great a man Saddam Hussein is, and openly admire Castro, Stalin, and Mao. People who hate America and our way of life so much they wish all of the people fighting for what is right would just die and get out of their way.

It is people like this who scorn the noble, kind, and courageous among us. These are the Cyndi Sheehans of the world. So selfish they cannot see the nobility of sacrifice; so wrapped up in their own misery that they want the rest of us to be miserable as well. And so filled with hate I shudder to think that they have a legal right to vote, though I would not deny it to them. These are the Ted Kennedies of the world, people who will never build anything because they only know how to tear things, and people down. Who complain loudly about what they think others are doing wrong while being so blinded by their own wrongdoing that they cannot conceive of any way to actually make things better and are ultimately reduced to mouthpieces for the craziest among their constituency. It is these people that even the left must scorn for their basic lack of empathy and human dignity.

To all of these people I say this: Join the military and learn what it is to serve something bigger than your own ego. Believe you me; it will be a formative experience if you survive.

UPDATE: Renando has apologized and syas that what he said and what he meant didn't quite line up. This is is a good and honorable action on his part. I have offered to remove this posting, but he wants it to stay up. I fully apoligize for jumping the gun and blasting him personally without first seeking a mutual understanding.

It's a great thing when two people can take a problem and resolve it amicably.

The Pandemic Plan

President Bush has outlined a $7 billion plan to prepare for a pandemic. I must admit that the first thing that went through my mind was “How on Earth are going to pay for yet another multi-billion piece of big government spending?” It was only that something very important dawned on me.

Wrapped into this proposal was shoring up our decimated domestic vaccine production capability, and lawsuit reform. ALL RIGHT!

It’s about dang time someone addressed the problem of us being dependent on foreign vaccines. Like oil, vaccines are an absolute necessity, and being unable to produce them domestically is a national security problem. Unlike oil, the reason we have so little domestic vaccine production capability is those dang ambulance-chasers who live to sue good companies so they can get rich while tossing the scraps to their clients. You know the kind, the same lamo rats who are doing their best to do the same thing to our drug manufacturing companies. To solve this problem we need to rein these greed-kings in and stop them from continuing their assault on our way of life.

A short aside, if the FDA approves a drug the manufacturer should not be able to be sued unless it can be proven that the drug was approved through fraudulent means.

Lawsuit reform is needed for everything, unfortunately. People are only too happy to sue other folks over the silliest things. I bought a house and its 1 square foot smaller than was advertised. I took the lid off my coffee while I was driving, set it in my lap, and got burned when I spilled it on myself. I broke into your house to rob you and hurt myself in your kitchen. I refuse to return your finger so you can try to get it reattached because I think I can win a big lawsuit if I keep it. GIVE ME A FREAKING BREAK! It’s idiotic lawsuits like these actually being won by the moron plaintiffs that has exacerbated the lawsuit problem that makes people so greedy for a windfall through suing someone that they won’t even give a guy back his own body parts so he can try to get them reattached, leaving the poor guy maimed for life. If you’re laughing at this paragraph thinking I’m being facetious stop. Everything in this paragraph is from a real life case. This lunacy must stop!

Realizing this I believe that $7 billion is a small price to pay for the betterment of America. Our security and our economy will be better off for it.

War Speech

The following is the speech I intend to give if I ever have the great misfortune of taking our country to war.

“I come to you, the American people to ask you to make a great sacrifice. To uphold the noble spirit that has marked our nation since its’ founding. To suffer loss and celebrate heroism.

“Our nation is under attack. Everything we hold dear is being threatened by our enemies who have sworn to defeat us, to destroy us, and by the allies that offer them aid and comfort in this foul endeavor. They will accept no outcome save for total victory, and we can accept nothing less from ourselves.

“I do not ask this lightly of you. War is nothing if not brutal, cruel, and violent beyond imagining. We will suffer losses. Some of our very finest citizens will die; others will live, but will be crippled or mutilated. Parents will lose children, children will lose parents, and siblings will lose siblings. The pain of each and every death will be felt to the core of those they most affect, and the rest of us can only share init on the most superficial level.

“We will have heroes. Brave men and women who fight and sacrifice for the good not just of this great nation, but for the men and women they fight beside. More than any idea or love of a nation or an ideal it is the love of our families and for the ones we fight with that drives our brave soldiers to heroism. By placing others before themselves these heroes will save lives, kill the enemy, and defend the American from the tyranny of our enemies.

“It is not just the tragic loss of life that will strain our nation. War strains resources. It breaks the budget and diverts materials from other useful, necessary means. More than that it saps the spirit of any people. As the death toll mounts and our prosperity suffers some among us will lose the will to fight. Some will even turn on our soldiers and demand that the sacrifices they, and we as a people, have made be made pointless by prematurely ending the war, by capitulating and appeasing the ones who would see us destroyed. When this happens I can assure you my resolve to see this through to victory will not be shaken.

“I ask you now to consider carefully what you want for yourselves, your children, and your children’s children. Once you have done that you need to decide if what you want is worth fighting for and protecting with your own life if need be.

“War is the most trying and tragic task any nation can undertake. It has been thrust upon us by our enemies, and with your permission I will see it through to final victory.”

This is not exactly the usual motivational “let’s kick ass and take names” war speech Presidents usually give, but then again it’s not supposed to be. War sucks no matter how you cut it. It is one of those unfortunate necessary evils the world thrusts upon every nation from time to time, and when it comes the only choices are fight or be destroyed/conquered. It is never a thing that should be entered into lightly for any reason. These are PEOPLE we will be killing and losing on the battlefield. Nothing is more anathema to me than such a tragic waste of life, but it is a sacrifice we cannot always avoid.

When war is thrust upon us we must honor the heroes, especially the fallen ones. Their sacrifice should strengthen our resole to prevent their lives from being wasted for nothing. We betrayed the fallen heroes of the Vietnam when we pulled out and let the communist north overrun the south. It was a great forfeit on our part that only emboldened our enemies and is pointed at to this day as an example of how weak our resolve becomes when American lives are lost. I can’t help but wonder whether 9/11 would have ever happened if we had stuck it out crushed the North like we were so capable of doing. I can’t help but wonder what further atrocities await us if we pull out of Iraq prematurely and hand it over to the terrorists who are busy killing soldiers and civilians right now.

I hate war, and I would just as soon never fight one. However, I hate terrorists even more, and I will never give in to them so they can think they can come to my home and kill my brethren. I will not allow it to happen if I have any ability to prevent it. We are at war now, and I am willing to fight it out to completion. It’s not just my duty as an American citizen; it’s my duty as an American soldier. If I die in this war then I die knowing that I am doing a good thing for not only my own people, but for the Iraqi people who have not had a taste of freedom in decades.

Would I sacrifice my son to free Iraq? I’m somebody’s son, and I am willing to sacrifice myself.