You know, as a North Carolinian, I am required to make jokes about the folks living just south of my home state's border (never you worry, they tell the same exact jokes about us), but today, I have to applaud the good and wise legislators down in the South Carolina House.

The SC House voted 84-27 to agree to the state Senate's bill which allows prosecutors to seek the death penalty for repeat child offenders.  This new law would potentially put anyone convicted of sexually abusing two or more children under 11 on death row.  Of course, opponents accused the legislators of election year pandering.  With an 84-27 margin, it doesn't appear that pandering is necessary, my friends, the ayes seem to hold a pretty clear majority.

Personally, I have to ask, pandering to whom?  I'm guessing most South Carolinians would say the bill is still to soft on perpetrators.  I mean it's a damn fine start but...

. 

Excerpted from the Washington Times, Inside Politics section:

Dean's outburst
    Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean claims to be reaching out to red-state voters, but yesterday, he suggested that opponents of homosexual "marriage" are bigots.
    Mr. Dean was responding to news that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Tennessee Republican, plans to bring to a vote a proposed constitutional amendment that would ban homosexual "marriage."
    "At a time when the Republican Party is in trouble with their conservative base, Bill Frist is taking a page straight out of the Karl Rove playbook to distract from the Republican Party's failed leadership and misplaced priorities by scapegoating LGBT families for political gain, using marriage as a wedge issue," said Mr. Dean, using the abbreviation for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender.
    "It is not only morally wrong, it is shameful and reprehensible," Mr. Dean said.

Interesting - it's now morally wrong for politicians to pander.  "Morally wrong", "shameful" and "reprehensible".  For once Howard and I agree.  But let's get real here for a nanosecond.  If the banning of homosexual marriage is a "wedge issue" for you, you weren't voting Democrat anyway.  This may be a bone, Howie boy, but it's no wedge issue.  In fact, for most head-in-the-sand Americans, it'd be a huge surprise to actually meet a LGBT family.  Want to know why?  Because it is more likely you'll be in a car accident than that you will meet a differently sexual family today.  First off, they aren't getting married, even in the countries where it's already legal.  Secondly, they [homosexual households] are such a statistically insignificant blip on the census that they don't even warrant an honorable mention in the breakdown of family arrangements in the 2000 census.  105,500,000 married hetero couples - 4,900,000 heteros shacking up - 594,000 same-sex couples living together.  That amounts to about half of a percent.

Dean's statement, an obvious bone to the 594,000, is filled with outrage.  And no wonder, The American Family Association, an open advocate of traditional families already has more than 3 million supporters signed up through it's website.  And that's just a drop in the bucket.  Perhaps what Dean really meant to say is "I wish I had a larger base to pander to... waa waa waa."

Dems are still harping on the GOP for creating a "culture of corruption" even while the story breaks of Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev) repeatedly accepting expensive gifts from the Nevada Athletic Commission while pushing for legislation that would have affected said organization.

Reid, D-Nev., took the free seats for Las Vegas fights between 2003 and 2005 as he was pressing legislation to increase government oversight of the sport, including the creation of a federal boxing commission that Nevada's agency feared might usurp its authority.

He defended the gifts, saying they would never influence his position on the bill and was simply trying to learn how his legislation might affect an important home state industry. "Anyone from Nevada would say I'm glad he is there taking care of the state's No. 1 businesses," he told The Associated Press.

So, get over it, Nevada.  Sen. Reid should have been at those boxing matches in Las Vegas.  It was strictly business.  Interestingly, REPUBLICAN John McCain, when invited along with Mr. Reid, refused the free ticket and paid his own way to the tune of $1400.  Yep, those tickets were darn expensive.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., insisted on paying $1,400 for the tickets he shared with Reid for a 2004 championship fight.Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., accepted free tickets to another fight with Reid but already had recused himself from Reid's federal boxing legislation because his father was an executive for a Las Vegas hotel that hosts fights.

Wow!  Those horribly corrupt GOP'ers seemed to recognize the ethical gray area. Even with the media curiosity over Reid's nights at the fights, the Senator denies wrongdoing.

"I'm not Goodie two shoes. I just feel these events are nothing I did wrong," Reid said.

"I'm not goodie two shoes."  Well, he got one thing right.

For more on Senator Reid's flirtations with the limits of ethical violations, read the report over at Fox News outlining the boxing bruhaha and the good Senator's exploits with Jack Abramoff.

Want to know a good reason to be a right winger? Check out this article from Reuters.  My comments are in green.

Pedophiles to launch political party

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch pedophiles are launching a political party to push for a cut in the legal age for sexual relations to 12 from 16 and the legalization of child pornography and sex with animals, sparking widespread outrage. Before you know it, anyone out of diapers will be fair game.

The Charity, Freedom and Diversity (NVD) party said on its Web site it would be officially registered Wednesday, proclaiming: "We are going to shake The Hague awake!" Doubt it. This is yet another case of cooked frog.  (i.e. if you put a frog in boiling water, he jumps out but if you put him in cold water and turn the heat up gradually, he'll be simmered and separating before he knows what hit him...) 

The party said it wanted to cut the legal age for sexual relations to 12 and eventually scrap the limit altogether. And there you have it.

"A ban just makes children curious," Ad van den Berg, one of the party's founders, told the Algemeen Dagblad (AD) newspaper. Children are curious about gas stoves, too, should we let them hold a match to the pilot light?

"We want to make pedophilia the subject of discussion," he said, adding the subject had been a taboo since the 1996 Marc Dutroux child abuse scandal in neighboring Belgium. There's a reason certain things are taboo, dumb a$$. (Sorry about the swear - I'm getting more and more miffed as I read this a second time...)

"We want to get into parliament so we have a voice. Other politicians only talk about us in a negative sense, as if we were criminals," Van den Berg told Reuters. Hmm.  Wonder why the negativism?

The Netherlands, which already has liberal policies on soft drugs, prostitution and gay marriage, was shocked by the plan. Shocked is always the first reaction. Then the debate starts.  After a few roundtable discussions and about 35,000 mentions in the press, tolerance is the byword.  Within a few years, tolerance becomes acceptance and eventually, the behavior is embraced. Want proof?  Watch Will and Grace.

An opinion poll published Tuesday showed that 82 percent wanted the government to do something to stop the new party, while 67 percent said promoting pedophilia should be illegal. Those are roughly the same figures that opposed gay marriage 5 years ago - now there is a slim (single digit) majority against legalization of homosexual unions. Think about it!

"They make out as if they want more rights for children. But their position that children should be allowed sexual contact from age 12 is of course just in their own interest," anti-pedophile campaigner Ireen van Engelen told the AD daily.   Ya think?  Of course, the next arguments will include "it's natural",  "there is evidence of premature sexual activity in the animal world"  and "there may be a genetic predisposition"...Sound familiar?

Right-wing lawmaker Geert Wilders said he had asked the government to investigate whether a party with such "sick ideas" could really be established, ANP news agency reported.  Can I just ask where the hell these "right-wing lawmakers" were when the Dutch society first got thrown into the pot of cool water???

Kees van deer Staaij, a member of the Christian SGP party, also demanded action: "Pedophilia and child pornography should be taboo in every constitutional state. Breaking that will just create more victims and more serious ones."

The party wants private possession of child pornography to be allowed although it supports the ban on the trade of such materials. It also supports allowing pornography to be broadcast on daytime television, with only violent pornography limited to the late evening. Have they never seen soap operas?  I'd say we already lost this battle - notice they want VIOLENT PORNOGRAPHY available in the evenings - they aren't even talking about pay-per-view here.  They wanted it piped into everyone's homes.

Toddlers should be given sex education and youths aged 16 and up should be allowed to appear in pornographic films and prostitute themselves. Sex with animals should be allowed although abuse of animals should remain illegal, the NVD said. Toddlers - that's the 2 and under crowd. Got it?  Usually, not even potty trained yet.  Bestiality is apparently okay also so long as the poor beast doesn't get hurt - how thoughtful.

The party also said everybody should be allowed to go naked in public and promotes legalizing all soft and hard drugs and free train travel for all. 

And there you have it, folks.  The next step.  Don't convince yourself that this movement is a fringe or that it is only going to impact loose-moraled European nations.  America is only a few steps behind Europe with respect to social libertarianism.  For some reason we believe in regulating businesses but allowing individuals to completely debase the species. 

Lately, I feel like Lot, only instead of men beating down my door to defile those under my roof, the sickos are piped right in through the internet, television and radio.  They are marching in our streets and force feeding their propaganda to our children through the public school system.  And they are slowly leading people away with flattery - selling the idea to the masses and the younger generations that the pinnacle of intellectualism is tolerance of the most intolerable acts. 

As concerned citizens, we must stop the erosion of the most basic values of human decency.  We must speak out.  We must climb out of the simmering stew and reclaim our freedom from degradation.  The slope is slippery and it begins with the acceptance of anything less than traditional marriage as a legitimate union of consenting adults.  Call your senators.  Write to your representatives.  Demand that they vote in favor of the Marriage Protection Ammendment.

According to the UK's Daily Mail, "The ethical storm over abortions has been renewed as it emerged that terminations are being carried out for minor, treatable birth defects."  Babies with minor deformations like club foot, webbed fingers, and extra digits are being killed in late term abortions.  In one case, a 28 week old child was aborted because the babe had a cleft palate.  28 weeks old.  Old enough to smile, flinch in pain, yawn. 

From the article: "Pippa Spriggs from Cambridge, whose son Isaac is celebrating his second birthday in July, was dismayed when as scan showed her baby had a club foot.

'Abortion certainly was not openly advised but it was made clear to me it was available,' she said.

'In fact he has been treated and the condition has now slowed him down at all.'

Julia Millington, of the Alive and Kicking Campaign, said: 'It is all about our perceptions of perfection.

'Increasingly things are moving along the lines where nothing is good enough.

'It seems we can no longer tolerate any imperfection.

'Babies are at the mercy of ultrasound scans and what they may disclose.'"

There can be no denying that the sadness and sense of disillusionment at discovering one's baby is imperfect is real and painful.  Another harsh reality is that no matter how perfect your newborn's body may look on an ulltrasound, they will still be imperfect.  They, like us, are mortal and full of human frailties.  And while the initial awakening to that fact may be disheartening, there is also an overwhelming hope that fills us when we realize that in spite of imperfections, or maybe because of them, we love our children even more than we ever thought possible.  Attempts to design your family by eliminating the weak is no more than "culling the herd"  and it reduces you from parent to ranch hand.   It also shortchanges you of one of the most exalting of parental experiences - loving the child that is hard to love.  If you are can't feel enough love for a child with a club foot to let him live, what will you do with a teenager who rebels and screams "I hate you"? 

Designing families through selective abortion may create a great Christmas photo but it also devalues human life.  And it leaves one to wonder if, like so many designer items, the babies that make the cut to and are born to parents who've selectively aborted in the past, will end up as merely decorative trinkets instead of adored treasures.

It's a brave new world out there, folks.  And the name of that world is Gattica.

Oh no!  Not the blue-eyed boy, he'll clash with my handbag!

Alrighty Campers, it's time to round up this weekend's freaks and geeks. 

Freaks:  Yesterday, Moscow endured its first ever Gay Pride parade.  Actually, that is a bit of an overstatement.  The flaming festivities were disrupted by riot police and protesters.  Homosexuality was decriminalized in 1993, but the skinheads, orthodox Christians and radical nationalists who shouted the marchers down must've missed the news report.  The whole event can only be described as downright strange - I mean, who knew there were skinheads in Russia?  LOL.

Here's the best part of the article in my humble opinion...

Police also stood by as skinheads crowded around Beck and Scott Long of U.S.-based Human Rights Watch, who had unfurled a rainbow flag.

How revealing that Human Rights Watch was there not only to observe ad document civil rights violations but to push an agenda.  Notice that Scott Long unfurled a rainbow flag - an act that hardly speaks to his objectivity.  Remember that HRW also publishes Torture: A Human Rights Perspective, a compilation of essays about how the US is abusing detainees and violating international law with inhuman torture practices.  Hmmm. One has to question the bias of a "watch" group that stops watching and becomes a participant...

Geeks:  Parked outside the history department's academic facility this morning was a car with a "John Kerry 2004" bumper sticker on it.  Can someone tell this loser that we're halfway through 2006?  But I guess if John Kerry can't let it go then how can one poor psuedo historian?  That's right.  John Kerry is still miffed about the Swift Boat ads and he has hired a researcher to comb the naval archives to prove that he was indeed in Cambodia on 12 Feb 1969.  You know what this means, don't you?  We're going to be seeing Yugos with Kerry/Edwards on the bumper for years to come.....

Freaks:  Did you think that only the military followed the "never leave a man behind" ethos?  Not so.  Apparently, drunk NBA stars share the creed.  Two Washington Wizards stars were tripping the light fantastic down in Florida when they got carried away and were arrested. 

As Arenas was being arrested, according to reports, he said, ``You can't arrest me. I'm a basketball player. I play for the Washington Wizards, and I'm not going to leave my teammate.''

Police clearly understood his concern and proceeded by arresting both Gilbert Arenas and his buddy Awvee Storey. After which, both players were then taken to jail for processing.

Geeks:  John J. Miller over at National Review has compiled a list of the top 50 Conservative Rock Songs in an article due out in the Mags June 5th issue.  Have they got nothing better to do over there at the NR?

Feel free to add your own freak or geek in the comment section. 

(thanks Dugg for the fun link)

So the Prez stopped by for a chat today.  And the kids got to see Marine One take off.  Not much to say about his speech - it was focused on the GWOT and was well-received.  We listened to the CIC but left before the traditional hat toss and walked down to see "Daddy" where he was working off-site.  There were protestors out the front gate but I haven't heard any stories about their antics.  Usually, protestors outside the gates don't make much noise.  Because they are barred from coming on post, they don't get much attention from anyone but the press. 

(Photos were copied from the USMA website - I had my hands too full of a 16 month old to get any good pics.)

Sadly, this is our last big West Point event - the movers will be here in a matter of days and we will be off to a new life as a former Army/ newly civilianized family.  (smiling through tears...)

Just thought some of you might be interested to know that I'll be meeting with George in the morning.  It'll be a nice intimate affair of a few thousand.  LOL.   I'll be the one in the black tea length dress & bolero jacket struggling with four young children.  The LTC will be working so, even though he'll be present technically, he won't be with the family.  Watch for us on t.v. if you get a chance.  I'll get some photos if the kids are cooperative.

In a press conference being cast throughout the media as a public apology for mistakes in the Iraq war, George Bush and Tony Blair acknowledged missteps in the battle for a democratic middle eastern state. 

"Despite setbacks and missteps, I strongly believe we did and are doing the right thing," Bush said Thursday evening in a White House news conference with Blair. "Not everything has turned out the way we hoped."

For his part, Blair said he left a meeting this week with Iraq's new prime minister "thinking the challenge is still immense, but I also came away thinking more certain than ever that we should rise to it."

The men also recognized the toll of the war on their respective nations.

Both leaders were asked about the toll the war has taken on their popularity.

"There is no question the Iraq war has created a sense of consternation here in America," Bush said, noting daily images on television of innocent people dying.

"It affects the mentality of Americans," he said. But he said a more important question now is, "Can we win? That's what they want to know."

Blair urged both those who agreed with toppling Saddam and those who didn't to "just take a step back" and look at the larger picture.

"They want us to stay until the job is done," he said of the new democratically elected Iraqi government.

Without question, however the words that should be ringing in our ears after today are the word's of Prime Minister Blair.  Siad Blair,

"Those people fighting us there know what is at stake. The question is, do we?"

With the war being used for political advantage at home and abroad, and shameless partisans pandering to anti-war constituents (even though they voted for the war) there can be no doubt that the burden of action in Iraq weighs heavily on the shoulders of both of these two men.  And yet, the truth remains that insurgents, foreign and domestic, in Iraq are so afraid of democracy that they are kidnapping and beheading strangers.  They are bombing mosques and killing innocents - women and children.  Why?  What could possibly make good and honest men fear freedom?  The answer:  Good men don't fear freedom.   But tyrants and oppressors do.

In another move aimed at undermining any opposition, the president had a journalist locked up for mocking his latest state of the nation address.  It's totally unbelievable - the kind of repression heaped upon... Russians.

MOSCOW -- Prosecutors are investigating a journalist for publishing an article mocking President Vladimir Putin over his call to pay Russian women to have more children, an official said yesterday. The article was published by Vladimir Rakhmankov, editor of the online newspaper Kursiv in the central city of Ivanovo, said Andrei Galchenko of the regional prosecutor's office. The piece poked fun at Putin's recent state of the nation address, in which the president called for economic incentives to boost the country's plummeting birth rate. Russian media reported that the publication suggested that animals at a local zoo had already heeded Putin's call and increased their mating. Rakhmankov could not be reached for comment yesterday, and his website had been shut down. Galchenko said the investigation was launched because the article ``contained phrases of an insulting nature aimed at the president." If convicted of insulting a representative of the authorities, Rakhmankov faces up to 12 months of corrective labor or a fine, Galchenko said. (AP)

So the next time a liberal whines about a government data bank that monitors incoming phone calls from known terrorists, offer them a free trip to Moscow where they can enjoy a life free from intrusion, hell, probably free from phone service...

Did you think that boycotting Ford over their advertisement and promotion of homosexuality was a little over the top?  Were you thinking, perhaps, that the boycott was simply sponsored by wild-eyed Christian homophobes?  Check again:

You Will Absolutely Not Believe What Ford Has Done Now

Ford's magazine sponsorship now includes promotion of repugnant activity

When Ford responds to those who write concerning their promotion of homosexual marriage, the response they get from Ford's Customer Relationship Center says their support "is a strong commitment we intend to carry forward with no exception." For Ford, that support also includes homosexual polygamy.

To show those supporting traditional marriage they mean business, Ford sponsored the June 6 issue of the homosexual publication The Advocate. The cover reads: "Polygamy & Gay Men. Dirty laundry or sexual freedom? How gay men handle multiple partners." The article promotes homosexual polygamy.

Ford sponsored the publication with a full page back cover advertising Ford Motor company product Volvo and a full page ad for all Ford brands with the line: "Ford Motor Company. Standing strong with America's families and communities."

Ford's support for the magazine's promotion of homosexual polygamy leaves no doubt that Ford means to continue pushing the homosexual agenda, even including homosexual polygamy.

To see the front cover, the contents page and the ads for Ford and Volvo, click here. I must warn you, it will be offensive to many. The pages show the contents of the magazine which Ford helped sponsor with two full-page ads, but I felt we must include the proof. If you don't want to see it, please don't click the link.

At their stockholders meeting on May 11, Ford voted 95% of the ballots cast to continue their support of the homosexual agenda rather than be neutral in the cultural battle.

The letter posted above is an American Family Association action alert.  If you feel that Ford is abandoning your values, check out www.boycottford.com

Last week, Jack Cafferty gave a short report on CNN's Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer.  I don't usually watch the news (I prefer to read) and I never watch the Communist News Network because the bias is apparent it is an insult to my intelligence.  Here is the text of Cafferty's comments:                                                                                                                                               

Wolf, Today’s lesson in hypocrisy comes to us courtesy of the Senate Judiciary Committee. They met in a different private room behind closed doors today and approved a Constitutional Amendment banning gay marriage. at one point the thing got pretty ugly. A shouting match, between the Republican Chairman Senator Arlen Spector and Democratic Senator Russ Feingold, who said he was against the Amendment as well as Spector’s decision to hold the vote in a private room out of the public’s view.

These guys are shameless. Feingold eventually stormed out telling Spector “I’ve enjoyed your lecture Mr Chairman. See ya.”

Senator Spector in a real show of courage, says that he is “totally opposed to the Amendment”, but he voted for it anyway saying that it deserves a debate in the Senate. Majority Leader Bill Frist says the full Senate will now debate a Constitutional Amendment which has absolutely no chance of passing. Frist hopes to have a vote by June 5th.

This is all being done by the republican majority in an effort to appeal to Right-wing nuts in the Republican Party ahead of the upcoming mid-term elections. Ignore all of the pressing issues facing the country, and instead go grovel at the feet of the lunatic fringe. Senator Frist should be very proud of himself. That’s leadership. Here’s the question: Is now the time for the Senate to consider a constitutional Amendment on gay marriage?”

You will notice the fair and balanced treatment given to conservatives on CNN.  Nice.  Definitely, no liberal media bias there...(eye roll)  Here's a fact for Mr. Cafferty, the "lunatic fringe" on the right outnumbers Gay Americans to the extent that your left fringe has to subvert democracy through activist judges to get social approbation.  Let's get real here, Jack!  For a group so enthralled with protecting the disenfranchised, you are perfectly willing to ignore the votes of the large majority of Americans who recognize homosexuality as the social illness that it is.

The simple truth here is this:

This Judiciary Committee approval comes two days after Georgia Superior Court Judge Constance C. Russell single-handedly invalidated the Georgia Marriage Protection Amendment, which was passed by 76% of Georgians at the ballot box. Social engineers of the activist judiciary movement want to remake our nation in their preferred image and they are disenfranchising every voter that disagrees with the far left's anything goes system of ethics and morality.  Click here to speak out for family values.

and I'm no exception!  My first experiment with MS Paint...

Voted "most likely to lose his virginity posthumously in a funeral home scandal", Jessie Macbeth was always a young man who skulked around the fringes of society. As a child, young Jessie was well known by the county sheriff's department as "that brown haired kid" because his parents frequently forgot he existed and left him at the mall, local parks and even at dentist office once when he was having a cavity filled. Never a stand out, Jessie was determined to finally make a name for himself and in 2004 he flew to Hawaii to audition for Fox's American Idol. Just as Jessie was about to audition for Simon, Paula and Randy, fate again intervened when the hotel lobby's HVAC unit turned on and blew the paper number right off his back! At that moment, Ryan Seacrest, mistook Jessie for a member of the hotel staff and enlisted him as a doorman, again derailing his quest for fame. With his shot at Hollywood gone, Jessie drifted from one pointless pursuit to another, living in his uncle's 1978 Pinto and wearing a used Army desert camo uniform that he purchased for $9.17 at an Army/Navy Surplus store.

As it turned out, that purchase would be the single act that propelled Jessie to infamy. Read the rest of Jessie's story here.

Disclaimer: This biography is almost as untrue as Jessie's claims of military service... almost.

The military bloggers are all over this one!

IVAW (Iraq Veterans against War) are quickly distancing themselves from Jessie Macbeth, the self-described Army Ranger who claimed he was ordered to gun down Iraqi women and children in a mosque.  He also swears he killed more than 200 innocet Iraqis and that he wouldn't kill for Bush any more.

Fascinating stuff for the anti-war left who literally giggled with glee when Macbeth presented himself as a penitent worshipper at the altar of We-hate-Bush.  Unfortunately, Macbeth is being revealed as a liar.  He can't seem to remember when and where the unit he was supposedly assigned to was even stationed and he claims to have been in Cambodia - no wait!  that was John Kerry - in Fallujah when it was actually the Marines who were there....

Oh!  Why can't he keep his story straight?!?

Check out the facts behind the fraudlent face:

Mudville Gazette has so much and it is worth scrolling down and reading every last bit.

Just Citizens reports that the Army has no record of a Jessie Macbeth....

And of course, Michelle Malkin has coverage of the whole sordid affair. (again, scroll down, there's plenty to read)

and even information clearinghouse is running for cover. They've pulled the video (finally) even though this guy was exposed literally within hours of the start of his "15 minutes".

Duke rape case -  The NC Central student, mother of two and exotic dancer now claims that the second stripper paid to dance for the Lacrosse boys was actually in the bathroom wen she was raped by the 20 white males (oops! scratch that, 3 white males, she changed that part of her statement, too)  The second stripper responded to this claim by offering the following comment to the press.  "Nuh-unh!" 

Natalee Holloway - Yesterday another Aruban dude was arrested in the Netherlands for possible links to Natalee's disappearance.  His attorney offered the following defense. "Lots of guys in Aruba have white cars and besides my client is gay, what would he want with a young girl?"  That's right!  A gay defense. How exactly do you prove that in court?  And what does murder have to do with sex?  They aren't always linked - y'know! 

Congressman William Jefferson(D-La) - This guy'll be in cuffs by July the FBI predicts on charges related to bribery and corruption.  'Bought time one William Jefferson was held accountable for his crimes...

An interesting report is making the rounds about Google and it's CEO being in bed with the political left and the DNC.  Not that this is news.  Corporations pick and choose where to spend their money and politics is, after all, politics. HOWEVER, when you are the number one search engine in the world and millions of people use your news crawler to find varied and unvarnished information and opinions, injecting political bias into your business venture requires reprisal.

Sites posting the sordid story of Google's policy of "disappearing" conservative online magazines and news sources are Elmer's Brother, Sixth Column, Democracy Frontline, People's Cube, and Newsbusters, who originally broke this story back in March. 

As for reprisal, I have posted below a list of search engines that may serve as adequate substitutes for the Google/Gore/Gestapo conglomerate.  How about we take Google down a few notches by searching with some of these other engines:

Dogpile    Ask.com    Mamma    Hog Search    All the Web    Wise Nut    Altavista    Yahoo

DMOZ    Excite    Lycos    Kanoodle    ixquick    NBCi    MSN   

And if none of those work for you, try searching the Search Engine Colussus, an international directory of, you guessed it, search engines.  I will be anxiously awaiting your opinions and tales of your experiences with other search engines as I have not tried most of them personally and will also be experimenting with a Google free virtual world. 

The Dixie Chicks are at it again. 

I've made a point of being understanding about Natalie Maines' comments about the President even though I hate it when celebs are given special treatment for having an opinion.  She's allowed to disrespect the President. That is not only allowable under the law but it's a freedom that I believe is God-given.  The right to public dissent is the keystone of a free society.

Throughout American history, during times of war, sedition acts have made such public speech illegal.  The President that Maines berates has not called for such legislation, though there is clearly historical precedent to justify it. 

What really annoys me about the Chicks latest round of political tirades is the following comment by group member Martie Maguire. 

"I'd rather have a small following of really cool people who get it, who will grow with us as we grow and are fans for life, than people that have us in their five-disc changer with Reba McEntire and Toby Keith," Maguire said. "We don't want those kinds of fans. They limit what you can do."

From those words, I'm not sure if these gals want fans or a cult of personality.  Apparently, we are to infer that "really cool people who get it" don't listen to Toby Keith or Reba McEntire.  "Really cool people" clearly respect the rights of the Chicks to be blowhards but don't respect the rights of other celebrities who may disagree with the Natalie Maines school of political thought. Huh?!?  Sounds really cool to me...not.

Furthermore, if you have a five-disc changer and a playlist that the Chicks didn't handpick for you, they don't want you to be a fan.  According to Martie, people who like their music limit them?  Like how would that be?  People who like their music and have filled their bank accounts limit what?  Their ability to buy property in Guyana and pass out Kool-Aid? 

I'm trying really hard to figure this out because I can't for the life of me see how my $17.99 (for a CD that's selling for less than a dollar in China) is imposing artistic limits on the girl band - They didn't consult me before they made the last 4 CDs and I still forked over my cash.  They weren't complaining then...

It's clear that the girls are concerned about the bucks they know they're likely to lose on this CD and they are making comments before the release and the flurry of news reports about lackluster sales.  Ironically, this sort of a "preemptive strike".  And it is definitely, sour grapes.

The Des Moines Register reported last week that students at the University of Iowa were outraged after a professor read excerpts of historical writings that contained racial slurs.  One of the sources was a prize winning biography of LBJ and the other was a 1964 speech by Fannie Lou Hamer, a black sharecropper.  The materials were contextually appropriate to the course "which focuses on the power of language".  While I don't condone or commend racist rhetoric of any sort, it is absurd to think that you can't have an intellectual discussion within the confines of a classroom where historical writings are introduced that present viewpoints or language we may not like.  This wasn't a 2nd grade class, remember, these are adults and near-adults educating themselves on the powerful use of words, and some walked out of the lecture, offended.  How can you address an issue if you are afraid to hear a frank discussion about it.  Sex, politics and religion are discussed ad nauseum in this nation and there is no shortage of people willing to say the most vile things in the most vile ways about any number of important issues the world faces.  And yet, at the U of I...

Of course, professor Gerald Wetlaufer issued an apology.  While he admits he should have warned students before reading the offensive words, he stands by his use of the materials as relevant to the class.

"These were not words I used to oppress anyone in the class or promote anyone else's agenda," he said. "This word appears 49 times in 'To Kill a Mockingbird.' I don't think I have crossed some line here."

Naturally, the Black Law Association of the U of I has launched an all out attack on the "racist policy" of the school.

"Nelson, the Black Law Students Association president, said there have been other instances in which students or professors have made insensitive comments.

In another case, a student brought up the idea of reinstating slavery, and the professor, whom Nelson would not name, did not contradict the notion, he said."

It appears that it is not enough to put racial material into the right historical context, professors are now responsible for comments uttered by the adult students in their classes. Apparently, now it is the duty of academics to not only present material but also to define the moral parameters within which the students should ingest their education.

You remember how this goes, right? Just in case you missed the memo:

Abortion good.  Motherhood bad.  Breeding out the human race through homosexuality - good.  Tradtional family, monogamy and fidelity - Good Lord, no!  Referring to race in a historical context and within the parameters of a college course - boo, hiss evil!  Blaming white people who were born 200+ years after the Emancipation Proclamation for every issue facing minorites in America - ahh, that's more like it.  And of course, my personal favorite, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Scientology, Astrology and Palm Reading - all praiseworthy pursuits.  The Bible - banned in the public square, disparaged continually through art and fiction, and its adherents treated condescendingly in all intellectual debate. 

Thank heavens for the new age of tolerance....

If you are ever ill enough to be hospitalized in Australia and want some spiritual comfort while you're laid up, make sure to bring your own Bible.  The Border Mail is reporting on a new trend in the multiculturalist movement:  Bible banning...

You know the good thing about waiting to comment on a particular issue is that often some jackass will come right out of the woodwork (or in this case, out from under a rock) and prove your point for you. 

I've been giving some thought lately to the lack of intellectual capacity of some people who, determined to support a cause, often any cause whether or not they actually believe in it, do the most bizarre things to get attention because they can't seem to put together a choerent thought on the issue at hand.

We've seen Mexican farmers parade naked for immigration. 

We've seen more boobs than you can shake a stick at in support of the anti-war effort.

We've seen people dressed in costumes and condoms.  As puppetistas and prophylactics. 

We've seen our president burned in effigy and our flag flown upside down.

We've seen the denigration of religious icons and the destruction of property.

All in the name of one movement or another.

What boggles the mind is how immature these acts are.  None of them win converts to the cause.  None of them convince the non-like minded to strip bare and form big human letters for an aerial photograph.  These acts are not motivated by a true desire to change the world - you change the world by reaching people, not offending them.  You don't win influence over others by mocking their values and deriding their devotion.  You speak intelligently and bring solutions to the table.  Anything less is pure exhibitionism and exposes self-absorbtion and a lack of sincerity with respect to the cause you claim to espouse. 

The latest assault on President Bush is quite frankly an assault on all that makes us human.  There is no correlation to politics in the perversion on display in Shortbus, a film debuting at the Cannes Film Festival.  The news report speaks for itself and I refuse to address the details of this debasing depiction of subhuman behavior on my blog. Suffice it to say that if you have to undress and have sex for pay to make a political statement worth hearing, you need a refresher course in human communication.  Get a dictionary, get a keyboard, and get a life.

Remember the "Culture of Corruption" charges leveled at the GOP by Dean's DNC.  Today's headlines reveal yet again that the GOP doesn't corner the market on integrity issues.

Rep. William Jefferson D-La was caught on tape in an FBI sting accepting $100,000 from an FBI informant.  Talk about having a hand in the cookie jar... From Breitbart:

A congressman under investigation for bribery was caught on videotape accepting $100,000 in $100 bills from an FBI informant whose conversations with the lawmaker also were recorded, according to a court document released Sunday. Agents later found the cash hidden in his freezer.

At one audiotaped meeting, Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., chuckles about writing in code to keep secret what the government contends was his corrupt role in getting his children a cut of a communications company's deal for work in Africa.

Looking for a good time?  Fed up with 1-900 numbers that are always busy?  Your favorite get rich by selling real estate guru not hawking a new program on QVC?  Well, look no further for a lineup of the most interesting posts in the blogosphere...

Empty your bladder and spit out your gum because you are not going to be able to read this post without choking on or wetting something!  Last Wednesday (10 May) over Jauhara: Live from Infidelphia  "the management" published a list of metaphors gathered from high school English students across the nation.  I can't remember the last time I laughed this hard. Check it out at: I only wish I could write like this

If your sides have recovered from all the laughing then you are ready for another hard-hitting online gem.  On Tuesday, Brian J. Noogle posted a link to the funniest tax commercial ever.  Note to male viewers:  Prepare to wince.

And Seawitch posts another video that would be funny if it weren't so true.  I actually didn't laugh much at this one...It hit too close to home.  See for yourself.  Doesn't it feel like you're living in an alternate universe some days?  Like when you visit Daily Kos and realize that no one can articulate a rational argument... In some neighborhoods common sense has gone the way of Latin.

Anyway, just thought I'd mention some fun pitstops on the information superhighway.  Enjoy!

********************** WARNING ******************* 

This post refers to some highly offensive images and contains descriptions of those images using frank and graphic language.  Included below is the text of a letter being distributed by the American Family Association regarding sexual depictions of Jesus Christ.   

More college kids gone wild - and it's not even Spring Break. 

The following is a letter distributed from the American Family Association.  I am posting it unedited because I am too disgusted to make any commentary other than to simply say that while the First Amendment does allow such speech, Ms. Jessica Brown and her cohorts over at the University of Oregon Insurgent had better get down on their knees tonight and give thanks to that fellow they're mocking that they live in America where we suffer fools instead of another part of the world where they are still sliced and diced or firebombed.  Furthermore, you'd think there would be a legal delineation between free speech and the pornographic imagery used in these cartoons and certainly, students should not be forced to subsidize a publication that intentionally incites and offends their sensibilities. The links in the letter are inactive but you can make your voice heard via the AFA website by clicking here.

"May 19, 2006

Oregon student newspaper runs pictures of Jesus as a homosexual. It is time to speak out!

Dear Cate,

 The Associated Students of the University of Oregon (ASUO) has refused to apologize for an obscene anti-Christian assault in the campus newspaper Insurgent.

The March edition of the Insurgent ran one of the strongest attacks on Christianity I have seen. The paper ran graphics depicting Jesus as a homosexual. One was a depiction of a naked Jesus on the cross with an erection; the other, titled Resurrection, showed a naked Jesus kissing another naked man, both sporting erections.

(To see the graphics, click here. We warn you that they are extremely offensive. We have pixilated out the private parts.)

When asked for an apology by Students of Faith, ASUO refused to give one saying that "there are no grounds for demanding an apology from Insurgent." The ASUO went on to defend the publication saying that the newspaper contributes "to the cultural and physical development of the university community."

The Insurgent would never show a naked graphic of the Rev. Martin Luther King kissing another man, both sporting erections. But offending Christians was of no concern to the Insurgent or to University President Dave Frohmayer.

The ASUO Women's Center tolerates no defamation against gays and lesbians. Three years ago, ASUO demanded that the university radio station, KUGN, drop Michael Savage (a conservative talk show host). The university promptly discontinued the program. But depicting Jesus as a homosexual is perfectly OK.

Here is what Insurgent Student Editor Jessica Brown had to say about the graphics. "I have to say it is really fun to offend people. It is fun to break the rules. If it pi--es people off…good that's the point!!! It has here in this office. So read, get pi--ed and talk about it."

Incidentally, the University forces all students, including Christians, to pay student dues of $191.00 per term, part of which goes to support the Insurgent.

Sincerely,

Donald E. Wildmon, Founder and Chairman
American Family Association

P.S. Please forward this e-mail message to your family and friends!"

Back to me... for more info on the student perpetrators of this assault on Christianity, check out the commentary on the blog of the other school paper, The Oregon Commentator. 

"This amendment is racist. I think it's directed basically to people who speak Spanish".  Nope, those words didn't come from Cynthia McKinney, they were the utterance of Senate Minority Leader, Harry Reid on the floor of the Senate yesterday.  The "amendment" in question declares English the official language of the American nation. Reid quickly realized he'd crossed a line and amended his own statements to clarify that he was not suggesting anyone was racist - but that some people might conceivably, under some circumstances, possibly come to the conclusion that perhaps the wording was a teensy tiny bit, um, over the top... (that's a paraphrase)

The whole point of Reid's idiocy is moot anyway since this largely symbolic bone is being thrown to flag-waving Americans, we can surmise, in a vain attempt to calm the furor over illegal immigration.  Apparently,  folks on the hill failed to get the memo that conservative Americans weren't impressed on Monday night with President Bush's 'dust off the welcome mat' speech.

With respect to Reid's charge that demanding liguistic assimliation is racist well, here's what I think:

(Una mensaje para mis amigos que hablan Espanol)  Los Democrats creen que Uds. son tan idiota que no pueden aprender el ingles.  Ellos saben que continuar a no poder comunicar en el idioma de este pais les mantendran como ciudadanos de clase segundo.  Los Democrats no quieren que Uds. progresan dentro del sistema Americano porque si Uds. se educan y ganan mas dinero ya no van a ser "victimas" sino que una gente exitosa.  Los Democrats necesitan victimas para mantener su poder politico. 

(A message for my friends who only speak Spanish:  The Democrats believe that you are too stupid to learn English.  They know that to continue to be unable to communicate in the language of this nation will keep you second class citizens.  The Democrats don't want you to progress within the American system because if you educate yourselves and earn more money you will no longer be victims but instead a successful people.  The Democrats need victims to maintain their political power.)

There I was, downstairs flipping channels and trying to find an interesting televised distraction so that I could avoid thinking about the cruel and unusual torture of the elliptical when I was forced to face the dreary reality that all of my favorite channels are suffering from Dan Brown Mania!  It's like I've crossed over into bizzaro world.  A&E, SciFi, Discovery Channel (several of them) are all airing critiques of Brown's novels or some variant of an expose of his woeful inadequacy as a researcher.  Geez. I almost feel sorry for the guy... almost.

Angels and Demons, The DaVinci Code - like it or not, Brown is laughing all the way to the bank.  He's a novelist. He can get away with making stuff up.  Or can he?  It isn't like he's Jayson Blair pulling a fast one over at the New York Times.  Actually, if he'd just left out that first page of DaVinci where he lists the "facts" upon which the novel is based, he probably wouldn't have even merited a raised eyebrow.

So here I go thinking again...  Could he be sued for presenting information as historical fact that can be readily disproven?  I'm not offering that as a suggestion, I'm just wondering aloud.  After all, even though the novel is fiction he has made public claims as to the accuracy of the historical framework around which he hung the meat of his story.  He presents as factual, information about pieces of art, historical locations and edifices.  Not to mention the implications about Opus Dei and the Catholic church.  Just food for thought. 

When the lines between fact and fiction are blurred in this age of instantaneous information - should there be a higher level of accountability for accuracy?  Just another one of those things that make you go hmmm....

        A lot more in common that you might think....

You know the old saying, "the truth will set you free".  Well, it appears that the truth will be setting Dr. Ward Churchill free of employment.  That's right.  The University of Colorado professor whose anti-American statements made headlines after 9/11 now finds himself under fire for more prosecutable acts. 

University: Ward Churchill Committed Research Misconduct

"University officials said they expect to decide Churchill's fate by June 8.

The professor touched off a firestorm with an essay relating the 2001 terrorist attacks to U.S. abuses abroad. The essay referred to some World Trade Center victims as "little Eichmanns," a reference to Adolf Eichmann, who carried out Adolf Hitler's plan to exterminate European Jews during World War II.

University officials had earlier determined Churchill could not be fired for his comments about the terrorist attacks, but they launched an inquiry into allegations about his research.

The committee's 125-page report said Churchill falsified, fabricated and plagiarized some of his research, did not always comply with standards for listing other authors' names and failed to follow accepted practice for reporting results."

Panel members found Churchill guilty of deliberate falsification, fabrication, and plagiarism in his work on the history of Native Americans and called him, "disrespectful of Indian oral traditions."

Are we supposed to be surprised by this?  At its core revisionist history is fabrication. It is invention.  With a surplus of historians researching and analyzing the same data to tell the story of man, there is only so much truth that you can publish and still term "groundbreaking".  After you've got 5179 corroborating accounts of Lincoln's death, what more can one write?  The trend of revisionist history is merely a reflection of the fact that too many people are paid to be chroniclers.  A problem which, in Churchill's case, seems nearly remedied.

After doing a little research on Code Pink's website for another post, I was hit with the sudden realization that my deeply held belief about the abortion issue was misguided.  The following ad for a new CP publication really brought the point home and I got thinking...

If only from 1992 to 2000, a right thinking American had inhabited the White House and had been willing to use a reasonable amount of force when Saddam's Iraq was shooting at our pilots in Northern ad Southern Watch.  If only, a strong and steady right thinking American had hunted down Osama in response to the bombing of the USS Cole, the barracks in Riyadh, the first Trade Center bombing and other Al-Qaeda attacks, we wouldn't be in the war we are in now.  If only a left leaning American hadn't decided to send troops unprepared and under equipped into Mogadishu then run whimpering with his tail between his legs and instead had committed the nation to a course in Somalia and held steady, we could have destroyed Al-Qaeda long before thousands of innocents had to die.   If only, a liberal draft dodger hadn't sent the clear message to the world that America was willing to be a victim abd wouldn't stand up and defend herself.  If only a president, truly concerned with the nation's welfare instead of his poll numbers had been living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue when it became apparent that Al-Qaeda was a clear and present danger and that Saddam was gassing his own people and feeding them through a wood chipper.  If only... If only...

And so may I suggest that Code Pink subtitle it's book in the following fashion:

Stop the Next War Now: Abort sniveling, weak kneed leftists out of existence

The soon-to-be 2008 Democratic presidential candidate has diagnosed the true cause of abortion in America.  Casual sex?  Lack of personal responsibility?  Disregard for human life?  No. No. No.  It's that darn vast right wing conspiracy again...

Playing desperately to the Christian lukewarm and the confused political center, Hillary proclaims the plague of baby-killing is a direct result of "a small group of extreme ideologues who claim the right to impose their personal beliefs on the overwhelming majority of the American people".  The junior Senator from New York claims that there is a movement, spearheaded by socially conservative fanatics to deny contraceptives to poor women.  "Low-income women, denied access to contraception, are having more unwanted pregnancies - four times as many as those for higher income women. And almost half of all unwanted pregnancies end in abortions."

Pandering pill pushing Hill's logic leaves a lot to be desired since abortion rates continue to skyrocket in NYC,  the city that put her into office, where candy-flavored condoms are distributed freely by high school nurses.

According to a January report in the New York Daily News:

"For every 100 babies born in New York City, women had 74 abortions in 2004, according to newly released figures that reaffirm the city as the abortion capital of the country ... That means 40 out of 100 pregnancies in the city ended in a planned abortion - almost double the national average of 24 of 100 pregnancies in 2002."

If there's a silent war being waged against contraceptives, the former first lady and her pal Chucky Schumer had better explain why they aren't defending the rights of their own constituents to kill all 100% their young.  Are these Senators really pro-choice, or what?!

And now, as Paul Harvey says, the rest of the story:

The simple truth is that even with abortion pills sold over the counter and condoms readily available,  abortion numbers aren't dropping.  In other words, this factual evidence provides proof that 99.9% of abortions are purely elective.  They are not the results of rape, incest or abuse.  And even with free preventive measures, a huge segment of our society has become convinced that personal responsibility is just too much effort when planned parenthood can get you out of trouble at tax-payer expense.  And with the abortion issue all but a lost cause for the political right, Hillary and her cohorts have to devise a new enemy to rally the troops and breed enough hate (the one thing they believe in breeding) to drive stupid and fearful women to the polls.  After all, if abortion is legal and readily available, and there's no real issue to scream about - what excuse will they give for going topless and forming huge human letters to spell out F- - - Bush?  Yep, this is politics. Unadulterated and unashamed.  And the charges are unsubstantiated and unrealistic.  No doubt this will rally the pro-abortion lemmings, especially those college aged young women who believe that the Emancipation Proclamation is just another name for Roe V. Wade. 

But, politics is a dirty business these days and nobody ever expected Hillary Clinton to suddenly grow a conscience and become the poster child for integrity.

Ten days ago a CH-47 Chinook crashed during combat operations in Afghanistan but it wasn't until flipping through the Army Times tonight that we recognized a friend among the fallen.  Tragically, this accident took the lives of ten American soldiers.  Our hearts go out to Kristen, Lauren and all of those who've been left behind.  You are in our prayers. 

Lt. Col. Joseph J. Fenty, Jr., commander of 3rd Squadron, 71st Cavalry Regiment, 10th Mountain Division (LI) was killed in Kunar Province, Afghanistan May 5, 2006 while conducting combat operations in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Click here to read the enws report from the Fort Drum Daily

Add Jodies Foster to the long list of celebrities who think we give a damn about their political opinions.  In Foster's defense, it should be said that she needed to do something to garner first a headline after FlightPlan.  And, after all,  this was a university commencement ceremony, an absolutely appropriate forum for Bush bashing... it wasn't like she was jumping on Oprah's couch, y'know.

According to the news blurb, U of Penn students were initially underwhelmed with the selection of Foster as a speaker.  Kids today - they have no appreciation for the child actors of yesteryear! 

While I appreciate Foster's freedom to express her views and I can respect that, all jokes aside,  this was actually a more appropriate forum to discuss national events and politics,  the fact that her statements gained nationwide attention is more evidence that celebs and the media believe they should be shaping politics.  And they think that you and I are poor saps who need to be educated by a bunch of 'discovered' former waiters and waitresses. That's right - never forget that in spite of being paid an unholy amount of cash for repeating lines and posing for the camera - these are just average joes and janes like the rest of us... only they refuse to admit it.

My previous comment remains my only comment.  "Ouch!"

"CANNES, France May 16, 2006 (AP)— "The Da Vinci Code" drew lukewarm praise, shrugs of indifference, some jeering laughter and a few derisive jabs Tuesday from arguably the world's toughest movie crowd: critics at the Cannes Film Festival.

..."I kept thinking of the Energizer Bunny, because it kept going and going and going, and not in a good way," said James Rocchi, a film critic for CBS 5 television in San Francisco...

...One especially melodramatic line uttered by Hanks drew prolonged laughter and some catcalls, and the audience continued to titter for much of the film's remainder.

...Some people walked out during the movie's closing minutes, though there were fewer departures than many Cannes movies provoke among harsh critics. When the credits rolled, there were a few whistles and hisses, and there was none of the scattered applause even bad movies sometimes receive at Cannes."

Ouch! And all that uproar for another mediocre Hollywood production... sounds like the boycott should've been for bad acting!

For everyone wrapped up in the craziness of Dan Brown's Davinci Code and its exploitation of ignorance. Godspy:Faith on the edge (what a great tagli