Regular Times

Happy Birthday To KISS's Paul Stanley

2006-01-20T07:37:00.000-06:00

Happy 54th birthday (yikes!) to the BEST frontman/rhythm guitarist ever. The Starchild rocks more at 54 than most people do in one lifetime.

Rock on, Paul!

Jesus WAS A Liberal!

2006-01-18T10:40:00.000-06:00

Thanks to Che, on BlameBush! for the enlightenment.

Of course Jesus was a lybyryl!

His mother had never lain with a man.

His stepfather mounted an ass right before his birth.

He received government subsidies from the three kings from the moment he was born.

He avoided military service.

Recent documents suggest that, while working in construction, he helped found the Local Carpenter's Union after his L&I claims were refused on the grounds that he could just lay hands on himself and be healed.(Side note: The fact that Jesus worked in construction does not mean he would have driven an SUV or pickup. A sheet of 5/8" sheetrock can be carried quite comfortable on top of a Prius at slow speeds. Contractors are expected to be late, anyway.)

He was black like the Clintons.

He was Jewish (But not a Zionist, mind you.) like Babs.

The Jooooos conspired against Him, just like Al Sharpton.

When His friends got the munchies, He was able to turn bread and fish into nachos.

He protected wildlife and healed the leopards, just like Al Gore.

Like Ted Kennedy, He was pulled off amazing feats to avoid drowning.

He made the crippled walk, just like John Kerry.

And Liberals Want To Talk This Out?

2006-01-18T08:00:00.000-06:00

Yeah, these murdering savages will be happy to sit down and talk their troubles out over some tofu and mineral water, I'm sure.

Tequilla Ted Kennedy And Sam Alito

2006-01-13T10:50:00.000-06:00

This is, without a doubt, the best Ted Kennedy description in the history of Ted Kennedy descriptions:

"Quite frankly I was surprised that Alito even showed up for the hearings. Far tougher men and a great deal of women have turned and fled from Ted Kennedy, and wisely so. When a supreme court nominee or Bush cabinet pick first becomes the target of his relentless barrage of well-aimed stutters and stammers, they may believe Kennedy is nothing more than a fat, belligerent drunk. After an hour of questioning, they’re certain of it. It isn’t until they get home and read the New York Times that they learn they’ve been bested by the most brilliant statesman in American history."

(Written by Liberal Larry at Blame Bush!)

Truer words were never spoken, er, written.

Rev. Lusk, part deaux

2006-01-12T13:22:00.000-06:00

This crazy is still not representative of my beliefs.

I believe Christians don't have to "like" everyone, but we should try to get along with everyone. Heck, there's tons of people I don't like, and there's millions more who think I have the social status of a scratched bootleg Milli Vanilli record.

The point is, it's frustrating when some groups, as wacky as they are, seem to get all the press while the good guys are relegated to word-of-mouth. Kinda like the talent level of Green Day versus Porcupine Tree.

But when someone, who shall remain nameless, tries to lump me in with the crazy crowd, them's fightin' words.

Metaphorical fighting words, of course...

I Don't Normally Do Requests...

2006-01-12T13:11:00.000-06:00

After all, I ain't a DJ, and I sure as heck ain't Casey Kasem.

But this one's for JClifford, of Irregular Times fame:

I am posting to make it clear that I do NOT stand with Reverend Lusk?, who advocates killing people who don't believes:

“I want to say, first of all, be careful how you fool with the church. You mess around with the church, something stirs up inside of me! You be careful because the church has surviving power. My friends, you know this and know this well. Don’t fool with the church because the church has buried many a critic, and all the critics that we have not buried, we’re making funeral arrangements for them!”
(taken from Irregular Times without even so much as a nod of permission)

Geez, I can't believe I have to separate myself from this moron. (Lusk, not JClifford.)

Happy, JClifford???

Poor Tookie!

2005-12-13T14:57:00.000-06:00

Not really.

Barbara StreisanD (thanks, Irish!) To Cancel Her LA Times Subscription; Millions Fear The End Of The World

2005-12-09T10:55:00.000-06:00

So Barbara "My Friggin' Nose Is Visible From The Moon" Streisand is cancelling her subscription to the LA Times. (I read this story in the Houston Chronicle and couldn't find a link on their website. So I did search for "Streisand" and "LA Times" for more information. Her website was the first to come up.)

Evidently, Babs is ticked 'cause the LA TIMES ain't liberal enough for her anymore, and the incident she took time out of her busy schedule to complain about was the proverbial last straw. Boo hoo.

The update on the same page shows how the paper condensed her original editorial. This angered the Mighty Barbara, 'cause she's a CELEBRITY ACTIVIST, and her opinions MUST be heard by everyone, evidently. She is incensed they dare censor her comments. (She obviously didn't read the fine print of any editorial section that states the staff can trim the content at their discretion.)

However, the LA Times is considering not ordering donuts for a week each year now that they will be out the $300 or so per year that came from her subscription.

Global Warming... Brrrrrrr!

2005-12-09T08:41:00.000-06:00

Snow in Houston last year on Christmas Eve.

Temperatures not above 39 degrees Farenheit for 3 days in a row in southeast Texas.

Global Warming is a scary, scary thing, kids!

Osama: Terrorist, but Environmentally Conscious

2005-12-08T07:45:00.000-06:00

Congratulations all you Enviro-Wackos! You now have a new ally in the fight to save Mother Earth!

Osama Bin Laden, that misunderstood "freedom fighter," supports your cause. And, he is demanding the U.S. sign your Magna Carta- the Kyoto Protocol!

Glory be! Praise Gaia!

Click here to read about the newest ally in the fight against global warming, er, climate change, er...

CHRISTmas

2005-12-06T13:08:00.000-06:00

It's that time of year again, time for families to come together once again; time for old friends to become reacquainted; time for presents to be exchanged; time for kids to make lists of what they want Santa to bring them; and...

Time for Atheist Liberals to complain about the holiday. They love to scream that they don't want religion shoved down their throats. They claim they are offended to have to "suffer" through endless references to God and Christianity, as if the mere mention of His name causes their skin to boil and their brains to melt.

Well, they might have an argument if not for one tiny detail:

Most of this country is
Christian. (Go to page 55 of 56 for the breakdown.)

As Arnold said in "Kindergarten Cop:" STOP WHINING!

'Twas The Night Before (A Non-Secular Holiday)

2005-12-01T08:54:00.000-06:00

One of my favorite blogs is Blame Bush!, a satirical website that points out, in an ever-so-clever way, the flaws in most Liberal arguments and stances.

A frequent poster, "Che," provided this morsel of Non-Secular Holiday cheer:

'Twas the night before Kwanzaa, and all through the house,
The Chimp's evil tax-cuts still made me pout.
My burkah was hung by my photo of Mao,
While Larry plead guilty to sex with a cow.
My children (Those not sucked out into a sink),
Read Cindy's new book, the only copy, I think.
My wife of ten years, how I wish I'd taught her,
To like other womyn, like Dick Cheney's daughter.
When on the TV there arose such a ruckus,
I hid under the sink and said "What the f*^% was..."

Jack Ryan's husband, named Joe Wilson-Plame,
Was giving a speech and spreading the blame.
"Val's a spy like James Bond! Now everyone knows!"
"It's all Cheney's fault, and Libby, and Rove!"
Next came the words of a ranting Al Gore,
(I only heard two, then started to snore.)

I fell into some kind of drug-induced dream,
Surrounded by the whole progressyve team.
The Senator from Boston named Jaques...? Oh, brain fart...
Not the fat drunk one... But with twelve Purple Hearts.
And there was Al Franken, and there's Michael Moore,
And there's Sweet Joe Biden, the media whore.
And Nancy Pelosi, and of course Bill and Hill.
And even Chuck Schumer and Rangel, the shill.
And most of the people from gay Hollywood,
And Christopher Reeves. Thanks to stem cells, he stood.
We all chanted our mantra. We knew it by heart.
To get rid of Bush, we must all play our part:

Bush duped us all with his fast rush to war.
It's all about oil as gas prices soar.
We didn't have intel. We had not a clue.
9/11 was fake. And I blame the Jooooos.
Pat Tillman's a moron, for so says Ted Rall.
Those big Ranger meanies want to feed him his balls.
Tomorrow Bush plans to reinstate the draft,
If you argue with us, you're a Nazi, and daft!
Only a win in '08 can free us.
A chicken in each pot, in each garage a Prius.
The Shrub stole votes in Ohio! How mean!

And we finished the chant with a shriek like Howard Dean.

I awoke to my daughter calling me "dumass".
I warned, "Have a happy today. Bush wants to make it your last."

My Tribute To PETA

2005-11-18T14:51:00.000-06:00

In PETA's honor, I'm going to eat a whole turkey all by myself for Thanksgiving (not Turkey Day or whatever PC crap is floating out there right now).

Next new thread: Monday, November 28.

I know you all wait in anticipation...

Democratic Hypocracy

2005-11-16T09:08:00.000-06:00

Can you say HYPOCRITES???

Anyone who STILL feels that President Bush mislead us into this war is not only an idiot, but an uneducated one at that.

I'm sick and tired of the ADD syndrome of certain persons of certain political parties who insist on plastering every car, billboard, and blog with "Bush Lied, People Died." Well, if Bush lied then so did others. And don't give me this crap about Bush re-wrote intelligence or what have you.

Do you mean to tell me the other side couldn't figure out the truth in under 8 years??? (Including Clinton's term.) What dolts these people are!

How about we start saying, "Short-term memories equal short-term terms in office?"

Supine And Patricia

2005-11-15T13:51:00.000-06:00

Here's y'all's chance to badmouth me 'till the cows come home.

Supine: Appropriate name, seeing as how you simply lie on your back and take your Liberal medicine like a good lil' boy/girl.

Patricia: Here's your chance to shine! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PROVE TO ME YOU HAVE PROOF THAT I AM A SEXIST! OH, FOR THE LOVE OF GAIA, PATRICIA, I BEG YOU!

Paterno, DeBarry, and Me

2005-11-15T07:59:00.000-06:00

What do all three of us have in common? No, we don't all have the same amount of hair atop our heads, nor do we all prefer The Allman Brothers over Lynyrd Skynyrd.

What we DO have in common is that we are correct on the issue of blacks in sports.

Now, some of the moonbeamers over at Irregular Times will yell and scream and spit 'till they're blue in the face that we are racist because of our (as it turns out) correct deductions as to the reason that blacks are more prominent in sports these days. Oh no; these Lefties would rather believe that everyone is equal and all everyone needs to do is hold hands and sing "We Shall Overcome" by a nice campfire while roasting (organic) marshmallows.

Before I give the bad news to the misguided individuals over on the Left (not all, but those of you who felt a sharp tinge of heat spike upward from your stomach to your throat know I am referring to y'all), let me set the scene: What started out as a debate over Syphillis turned into a debate over race and why or why not blacks were more prominent in sports. I asserted that blacks simply had more talent than whites, and the fact that anyone can turn on any football game, basketball game, track meet, etc., and see for themselves that my OBSERVATION IS CORRECT proves my point. The Liberals, as is their protocol, immediately lit the matches and burned me in effigy, with the obligatory "racist" and "ignorant" comments we Conservatives have come to know and loathe.

Before I go any further, let me point out a simple law of physics: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Taking some liberty with that law, let me put it this way: There is a reason for everything; nothing happens in a vacuum. Whether it be that we eat when we are hungry or we drink water when we are thirsty, there is a reason for every action that happens under the sun. Along those same lines, there is a reason that there are more blacks in sports. And as much as Liberals hate to admit it or even acknowledge it because doing so would bursty their Utopian bubble, the reason is that blacks are more talented. Sure, hard work comes into play; but ask yourself: That engineering student who never studies yet makes a 4.0-- is that due to hard work or natural ability? Another engineering student who busts his butt and studies everyday, yet barely passes-- yeah, you get my point.

What if Newton had simply ignored why the apple fell from the tree? Explain that, Liberals, without using gravity as an explanation. Did the apple fall 'cause it was ready? Did it fall 'cause it didn't know how to fly? Well, some Liberals would have you believe that one of those two reasons is plausible; after all, nothing that doesn't have wings can fly, and a winged creature can't fly until it is biologically ready, right? Therefore (using Liberal logic) the apple either must not have been ready or it simply didn't know how to fly. Just think of the repercussions if Newton had used that logic!

Anyway, here's an article that agrees with my point, Paterno's point, and DeBerry's point-- though the latter will never win the Tact Award anytime soon.

Bay State Banner

This Is Tooo Much Fun...

2005-11-11T08:52:00.000-06:00

Okay, like Bill Clinton to an Intern Convention I am drawn to Liberal blogs. I love to argue. Always have.

And recently, I have been posting again on Irregular Times, that asylum for all things Liberal and whacky. (Sorry for the repitiveness.) Yes, I know I swore I would probably never go back and post (it was my post on Friday, April 8, that read: "Was yesterday's post my final post on Irregular Times? Maybe so, maybe not...
That aside, I guess I should spout the ol' cliche: Never Say Never. KISS had the "Farewell" tour-- the Love Gun still has some bullets in the chamber... Ozzy had the "Retirement Sucks" tour-- 'nuff said... And hey, Hell froze over for The Eagles...

Yep, never say never." See, Peregrin, you incorrectly claimed I said I would never be back. Boohahahahahahaha!

Anyway, one of the more extreme writers, the aforementioned Peregrin Wood, claims that the key to determining morality in a state in America is not the crime rate, nor is it the murder rate (which, I s'pose, falls into the "crime" category). Oh no. It's not even the amount of drug use or the cases of domestic violence. Oh no, my dear reader. It is none of these things.

Brace yourself to be blown away like a john in Vegas after hitting the Jackpot: It's Syphillis.

Yes. Syphillis determines how moral and pure a state is.

According to Wood, Vermont is more desirable 'cause it has less cases of Syphillis than Texas. Yes, folks, never mind that Texas is the 2nd most populous state and Vermont ranks 49th. Never mind that having a larger population ensures a more diverse population, in this case, more "high risk" populations for contracting the disease. Oh no. Facts are mere roadblocks in Peregrin's pursuit of Liberal superiority! According to him and others on the site, population factors are immaterial; they don't count. What counts is that for every 100k people in Vermont, only .2 have Syphillis (.2 of a person... that's creepy!), whereas Texas has 2.6 cases per 100k.

Yes, population numbers and demographics mean nothing when determining the purity of a state, which is why people who want a Porche 911 Turbo often buy a Honoda Civic 4-cylinder, 'cause they're both cars, right? Therefore, they have the same get-up-and-go power, right? And the Civic is usually cheaper both in price for the vehicle and insurance to cover the vehicle.

We might as well say that New York City and Green Bay, WI are similar as far as crime goes 'cause they both have crime right? And, according to these people, size simply doesn't matter. We can compare anything to anything without considering extenuating circumstances and present it as fact, right? Never mind that New York City has 8 million people while Green Bay has around 100,000.

But it gets better...

When I pointed out that blacks have a proportionally higher rate of syphillis according to the CDC report for 2004, I was called a racist. Then, the conversation turned to sports, and I correctly reported that blacks are better at sports and that they have higher participation rates in football, basketball, and track.

To a Liberal, it's racism when you point out facts that contradict their politically correct agenda.

But it doesn't end there...

When I pointed out that Texas has more 'hoods than Vermont, I was also labeled a racist. Why? 'Cause Liberals refuse to acknowledge a couple of facts about the word "'hood'":

1) Rappers commonly refer to where they live/grew up as "the 'hood'." They gave their neighborhood that abbreviated name, I didn't. But when I point that out, I'm racist.

2) Ask anyone who they think of when they here the word 'hood.' Go ahead. Whether that's right or wrong is not the issue, but the Liberals want it to be. The fact is that blacks have disseminated that term so often and with such resonance that it has stuck. It's their "bad," not mine.

And when I point out that because Texas has more blacks (the higher at risk population, remember?) than Vermont and that that is yet another factor why Texas has more cases of syphillis than Vermont, I'm a racist.

Oh, they're argueing mathematical principles and whatnot, but that's utter (slang term for solid waste matter from a bull). You don't need MATH to further your arguement and prove your point when you have COMMON FRIGGIN' SENSE on your side.

Yes, explaining the truth and the reality of life to some Liberals is like giving swimming lessons in Latin to a dead rat from China.

Ooops, is that racist???

The World According To Liberals

2005-11-10T08:18:00.000-06:00

1. It's racist unless it demeans white, heterosexual men.

2. Your money is our money.

3. Disadvantaged populations include everyone EXCEPT the following:
a) heterosexual white males
b) heterosexual white males

4. It's only a lie if a Conservative says it.

5. You can be charged for a crime even if you what you did was not against the law
at the time you committed the act, er, crime.

6. A desk jockey at the CIA is still a covert agent and must be protected at all
costs.

7. Ted Kennedy can swim. It's just the driving over a bridge after a night of
drinking while taking a "date" home he has trouble with.

8. Terrorists are "freedom fighters" and deserve only the coziest of accomodations
if they are captured.

9. Big Tobacco made you smoke those cigarettes that gave you cancer. They forced
you to put those cancer sticks in your mouth, light them up, and smoke them. You
have no willpower, but it's not your fault.

10.Fast-food companies made you supersize your meals and forced you to eat all those
mega-fried foods that made you gravitationally challenged. You have no
willpower, but it's not your fault.

11.Guns kill people but abortions solve an inconvenience or a problem that arises
due to a lapse of judgement.

12.Our soldiers are murdering, torturing rednecks with no mind of their own. But
we support them!

13.The rich are only rich because they stole from the poor and don't pay taxes.
* This only applies to rich Conservatives, not rich Liberals.

14.Mother Nature has been around for billions of years, but she is helpless to man's
destruction arising from pollution from the last 150 years or so.

15.Do as we say, not as we do.

The Roof, The Roof, The Roof Is On Fire...

2005-11-08T13:38:00.000-06:00

It's great to see that France's policy of being nice to Muslims is paying off.

Don't expect us to help your croissant eatin' butts now, France. What comes around really does go around...

Why Most Liberals Are Stoopid

2005-11-04T09:06:00.000-06:00

The following exchange took place on Thom "I am a clueless moron on the pitiful Air America" Hartmann and Dick Morris on Hartmann's "radio" show:

Morris: Did he, did he take the documents out of his socks when he told you that?

Hartmann: Come on Dick, uh, do you want me to talk about, uh, hookers with you? Come, come on Dick.

Morris: Okay, well thanks very much for the interview. Bye-bye. (hangs up)

What the hell did hookers have to do witht the discussion? Nothing, that's what. Typical Liberal response: When you see your ship sinking, point out the flaws in the rescue boat.

Let's turn this around. Let's put John Kerry in Morris's place, and Rush Limbaugh in Hartman's place:

Kerry: So you see, I feel that tax cuts for all are fair and I have the perfect plan to administer these cuts.

Limbaugh: So John, what about all that dope you smoked in Vietnam? C'mon, come clean Johnny! You "just said, 'Yeah!', didn't you?

You see, it's playground politics. No wonder most Conservatives can't take Liberals seriously.

It's makes me sad; well, a little giddy that Liberals show their true agenda/colors, but it's still sad to see an "adult" behave like a 5-year-old.

U.N. Gets Tough

2005-11-01T11:38:00.000-06:00

So the United Nations Security Council has passed a resolution demanding Syria stop obstructing an investigation into the assasination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.

Yeah buddy! When I think of tuff guys and gals who mean bizznazz and who don't take no (slang term for poo poo), I think of the U.N., specifically the U.N. Security Council. If you doubt my words, just ask Saddam Hussein... Oh wait. Never mind.

The U.N. is about as effective as a "Just Say No" booth at a Grateful Dead concert.

I can almost hear the Council now: "Syria, if you don't cooperate with us we'll pass ANOTHER RESOLUTION telling you to cooperate with us! And don't think we won't; WE WILL!"

What a joke.

Aim High With Black Football Playaz

2005-10-27T14:27:00.000-05:00

Apparently, the PC goons are running around like chickens with their heads cut-off over recent comments by the coach of the Air Force Academy's football team, Fisher DeBerry.

Mr. DeBarry's heinous crime is pointing out the obvious. He said, after a 48-10 loss to TCU: "...(TCU) had a lot more Afro-American players than we did and they ran a lot faster than we did. It just seems to me to be that way. Afro-American kids can run very well. That doesn't mean that Caucasian kids and other descents can't run, but it's very obvious to me that they (blacks) run very well."

If you don't believe Mr. DeBarry, ask yourself: When is the last time Harvard made the top 25 in football? Hell, when is the last time they cracked the top 100??? (If you don't understand my point, go check out a picture of their Varsity football team. Any year, doesn't matter.)

Mr. DeBarry may not be the smartest guy in the world, and he may not have the best tact in the world, but come on: When you think of football players, you think of black guys. Geez, look at any football game outside of Suburban America and you will see melatonin-enhanced individuals running around with either a ball or attempting to tackle the guy with the ball.

It's not being racist; it's being observant. Get over it.

People Who Kill People Who Kill People

2005-10-19T13:48:00.000-05:00

I visited a website, www.hammeringnailsandspeakingintongues.com, and read a thing or two on it. Interesting stuff for sure, but when I scrolled all the way to the bottom, I found a picture that reads:

Why do we kill people who are killing people to show that killing is wrong?

The answer? Simple. If we don't stop them from killing, they'll keep killing. And how bad would we look if we simply turn away and ignore them and hope they'll go away? Yeah, since ignoring them has worked so well thusfar.

Get a grip, hippy!

Who are you, Anonymous?

2005-10-17T11:43:00.000-05:00

I'm back. I'm sure all of you are thrilled to death.

Anyways, there is someone who has made note of my extended absence. He/she neglects to leave their name, so I am unable to give proper credit for such riveting critcism as this:

see you've kept your lazy pen on the desk much longer than Rita. Oh well, not much original here anyway.

14 October, 2005 14:19

Oh, kind sir/ma'am, would that you reveal yourself! My days and nights are spent in uneasy wonderment just wanting to know who you are!

But I don't use a pen when writing for my blog; I use what are known as fingers! I type my information on a keyboard with my fingers! And I take issue with there not being anything original; most everything on here is my thoughts and ideas. But that must seem sooooooooo uninspirational to such an obviously gifted poet as yourself!

Riding (Rita) Out

2005-09-21T10:19:00.000-05:00

Well, until Rita decides to leave I'll be absent from my posting duties. I know that concerns about two people who actually read the tripe I write, but oh well. It's my blog, and I'll write whatever the heck I feel like.

Here's cool link to follow the path of Hurricane Rita

Top 10 Songs For The Upcoming Hurricane:

10) Blowin' In The Wind- Jonie Mitchell
9) Rock You (Like A Hurricane)- The Scorpions
8) Prayers For Rain- The Cure
7) Ballad Of Hurricane- Bob Dylan
6) Here Comes The Rain- The Cure
5) Ridin' The Storm Out- REO Speedwagon
4) When The Levee Breaks- Led Zeppelin
3) Flood- TOOL
2) Dam That River- Alice In Chains
1) Like A Hurricane- Neil Young

Hopefully, I'll still be alive after Rita has come and gone.

Cheers!

Free Speech For The Dumb

2005-09-14T08:06:00.000-05:00

(with apologies to Motorhead)

The following are some quotes made by morons who, God bless'em, are actually alive and breathing, and are rumored to actually be able dress and feed themselves.

Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (D-Georgia) said that the evacuees were "mostly African-Americans... (and) as I saw families ripped apart, I could only think about slavery. [The evacuation centers in New Orleans] look like concentration camps".

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, a black man, organized the evacuations. Evidently he has fallen victim to the whims of his White Slave Masters.

***********

Mary Landrieu, D-Louisiana, on the September 4th edition of ABC's "This Week," threatened to physically attack the President. Landrieu said to host George Stephanopoulos, "I might likely have to punch him — literally, if he or members of his administration made any more disparaging remarks about local authorities and their pre- and post-Katrina efforts. Some are and were family."

Never mind that over the five years of the Bush administration, Louisiana has received more money — $1.9 billion — for Army Corps of Engineers civil works projects than any other state, and more than under any other administration over a similar period.

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

Ted "Let's Go Swimming" Kennedy

"She's a wonderful, wonderful person, and we're looking forward to a happy and wonderful night -- uh, life."

""Keep your tax-cutting, greedy hands off our medicare." - Ted Kennedy

"We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking and developing weapons of mass destruction."

Oh wait, that was BEFORE the Democrats changed their minds. Sorry!

************
Marion Barry, mayor of Washington, D.C.

"If you take out the killings, Washington actually has a very low crime rate."

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

John Kerry

""I actually did vote for the $87 billion, before I voted against it."- on voting against a military funding bill for U.S. troops in Iraq

ENCORE:

"You bet we might have." --Sen. John Kerry, asked if he would have gone to war against Saddam Hussein if he refused to disarm

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

Jesse Jackson:

"Capital punishment turns the state into a murderer. But imprisonment turns the state into a gay dungeon-master."

WARNINNG: ATTEMPTING TO DECIPHER THE MEANING BEHIND THE QUOTE ABOVE MAY CAUSE BRAIN ROT.

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

Billy Clinton:

In a post-State of the Union speech in Buffalo, NY on January 20, 1999, Bill Clinton was asked why not a tax cut if we have a surplus. Clinton's response:
"We could give it all back to you and hope you spend it right... But ... if you don't spend it right, here's what's going to happen. In 2013 -- that's just 14 years away -- taxes people pay on their payroll for Social Security will no longer cover the monthly checks... I want every parent here to look at the young people here, and ask yourself, 'Do you really want to run the risk of squandering this surplus?' "
Source: Washington Times, January 21, 1999

Evidently, he feels he can spend our money BETTER than we can spend our money.

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

Louis Farrakhan

"I don't think that Saddam Hussein is deliberately starving his own people. I would think that a man who gets 99 percent of the people to vote for him in an election and the people love him so much, how would they love a man that is starving them?''

99% of the vote in a "free" election... geez, what were we thinking???

"There, in the middle of this mall is the Washington Monument, 555 feet high. But if we put a one in front of that 555 feet, we get 1555, the year that our first fathers landed on the shores of Jamestown, Virginia as slaves." - Louis Farrakhan

For the record, Jamestown was founded over 50 years later in 1607.

Finger Pointing: A New Low

2005-09-09T08:05:00.000-05:00

Am I the only one who has had it up to here (I'm pointing to a point approximately one foot above my head) over the political debate along party lines drawn in the wake of Katrina?

The following too place on a blog I sometimes visit, www.wordsonapage1.blogspot.com:

(The following is a paste of the post I offered under a Katrina discussion thread, and I'm referencing some banter between Chris (a Conservative) and Wanda (the webmaster of the site and a Liberal).)

All of this fingerpointing is emblematic of the larger problem here.

For example, Wanda says "(f)irst of all the troops that are there may or may not be Christians. But they aren't there because they VOLUNTEERED. They are there because they were ordered there." This is true, Wanda; they were, in fact, ordered there. But to insinuate that they don't want to be there is erroneous.

THEN, Chris comes back and says they were ordered, and most of them are Christinas.

THEN, Wanda comes back and offers hypothetical "yeah, but..." and so on and so forth. Not necessarily wrong, but pure conjecture.

Then, out of left field, the argument over whether it's okay to shoot people comes by, and Chris says it's not okay to shoot people who are trying to save you, and Wanda says, "I am saying it's okay to shoot at people who bring along their own firefighters for photo opps and who are there to further their own political agenda."

Since when is a photo-op a crime, Wanda, much less one punishable by death???

Like I said, this argument can and probably will go on and on and on, surviving by cleverly placed semantics and phrases- not necessarily by facts.

Geez, has our country stooped this low that a tradgedy becomes a politically polarizing issue?

God, take me now if this is where we are headed.

Thar She Blows: Katrina And The Blame Game

2005-09-08T15:02:00.000-05:00

This was taken from Weather Underground:
Very enlightening; very enlightening, indeed.

Katrina Fiasco: Another view
Posted By: DoxieLover1 at 11:51 PM GMT on September 07, 2005
Updated: 12:04 AM GMT on September 08, 2005
My friend sent me this, thought you'd enjoy reading it. :)

Greg Richy is an attorney in Northern California.

This is a very long piece I wrote earlier today to help organize a lot of the information and arguments I have been using against the Bush haters this week (and here in Marin county, they are out in force, let me tell you.) Feel free to use any of this if is interesting or useful. Attribution not necessary.

Since I appreciate his efforts and agree with most of what he says, I'll go ahead and attribute it to him anyway. Thanks, Greg!

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

SPEAKING TRUTH TO HYSTERIA
The rains from Katrina's aftermath had barely begun to taper off before the utterly predictable, knee-jerk, blame-Bush for everything hysteria began to rage. The attacks are loud, strident and given top billing by the media, who have shamelessly and blatantly added their own negative, anti-Bush spin without investigating the facts or questioning the political motives of the critics.. It seems, those of us who look to the actual facts before we draw our own conclusions are forced to endure a hurricane of rhetoric, speculation, and just plain nonsense. So don your waders, as there are some actual facts amidst all the debris. Let's start with the tin-foil hat stuff.

THE THEORIES OF THE LUNATIC FRINGE: THE DEMOCRATS AND THE MEDIA.

CLAIM: Global warming is Bush's fault and global warming caused Katrina.

First, of course, hurricanes in the US have not in fact been increasing in number or intensity since the supposed onslaught of global warming. As this schedule from the national weather service ( http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pastdec.shtml) shows, both the number and intensity have actually decreased in recent decades, and were generally much more severe in the first half of the century.

More to this point, however, let's accept the global warming alarmists on their own terms, and assume global warming caused Katrina without inquiring too closely into what caused all those other hurricanes. Had Al Gore been elected President in 2000, and the day after his inauguration managed to get the US Senate (who had rejected the Kyoto Protocol
95-0 during the Clinton administration) to ratify and then fully implement its provisions in the US immediately, and had every other major country in the world also done so, the projected decrease in global warming after 20 years was projected, by its own proponents, to be only 0.7 degrees centigrade. In the first few years, that is, by now, even if it had been implemented in 2000, the supposed decrease would be essentially zero. So there is simply no conceivable scenario in which Bush's policies could possibly have had an impact on hurricanes. These claims, retailed widely in major US newspapers and by German and other European politicians, are nothing but despicable political posturing.

CLAIM: The Iraq war has dangerously depleted our National Guard Resources,and that's why help took so long to arrive.

Facts can be your friend. There are roughly
1,000,000 army personnel in the US, including active duty, National Guard and reserves. A bit over 100,000 or 10% are in Iraq (the rest of the forces over there are from the other branches of service). The Pentagon has agreed with the states that it will not mobilize more than 50% of the National Guard from any state, and only about a third of Louisiana's National Guard is on active duty. The National Guard units that have been mobilized for active duty in Iraq are for the most part heavily armored combat units, not the more lightly armed military police and search and rescue units that are the primary source for domestic disaster support.

You might never know this if you watched network news, but the Commander-in-Chief of each state's National Guard is the governor of the state, not the President, unless and until the National Guard units are called by the Department of Defense to active duty. It is also worth noting that it is against federal law, the long-standing Posse Comitatus law, for active duty troops to be used for law enforcement-the only National Guard troops that can be used this way are those commanded by state governors. There has been some talk since 9/11 of repealing or amending the Posse Comitatus law, but the changes were strongly opposed by groups from both the left and right.

Would it also be crass to point out the undeniable fact that by Sunday, September 04, 2005, the massive presence of National Guard units arriving from all over the US clearly shows that there are plenty of domestic units still available domestically? The Pentagon says there will be 30,000 guardsmen deployed, fully equipped, by Monday, September 5, only one week after the hurricane hit. These troops didn't come back from Iraq. QED, the war in Iraq didn't deplete our NG reserves. There are serious questions about why units of the Louisiana National Guard weren't in downtown New Orleans a lot earlier, but any claim that the troops weren't there because they were in Iraq is demonstrably false, as can be seen by turning on any news channel and watching the troops in action.

Finally, I will note that National Guard regulations provide for 72 hours notice for reporting to allow the troops to get their personal affairs in order before showing up. Many respond faster, but planning for use of the National Guard has to allow for the full 72 hours to begin deployment. After that, they can't magically teletransport to where they are needed. Moving major military units with all their equipment, supplies and material is a not inconsiderable operation. It takes a bit longer than landing a five-person TV crew, who can then stand there and shout about why the troops haven't arrived.

CLAIM: Bush cut funding for Army Core of Engineers and that's why the levee's failed.

Dozens of Democrats and media types have made this claim. A Washington Post's headline today reads "Critics Say Bush Undercut New Orleans Flood Control." Read a bit further, however, and you note that even these Democratic critics all admit that even at the highest level of funding, NONE of these projects would have been completed in time to have helped. And none of them would have upgraded the levees to withstand a Cat 4-5 hurricane. As one commentator put it, a more accurate headline would have been "No Government Plan Would Have Prevented Flood, Democrats Still Blame Bush." In other words, this is another flat out lie, given widespread distribution by the media.

It is also perhaps inconvenient to point out that major flood control projects that could have been completed by now were in fact cut-by the Clinton administration. From the New Orleans Times-Picayune in 1995 (isn't the Internet fun?): "The Clinton administration is holding back a Corps of Engineers report recommending that the $120 million project proceed. .Without the improvements - a flood gate in the Harvey Canal and raised levees along the Intercostals Waterway - a tidal surge produced by a hurricane 'could result in the catastrophic loss of life and property damage,' corps officials reported." Not that the Bush administration stepped in to do more since, but given the time these projects take - one item of ACOE funding that the Bush Administration cut was for a study about upgrading the levees, and the study wouldn't have been completed until, I believe, 2008. (As a side note, the Internet also lets us discover that the New York Times, now on its Olympian high horse condemning the irresponsibility of the Bush administration's funding cuts for the ACOE, in fact, last April bitterly condemned the very same legislation as an expensive boondoggle. The paper thundered that "the bill would shovel $17 billion at the Army Corps of Engineers for flood control and other water-related projects - this at a time when President Bush is asking for major cuts in Medicaid and other important domestic programs." Ah well, no one ever expects to hold them accountable for anything.)

The city of New Orleans over the years has managed to find hundreds of millions of dollars for other projects, from building the convention center and a variety of other typical municipal pork projects, millions of which seem to have disappeared into the maw of perhaps the most corrupt local government in the country, but they found nothing to fund their own flood control. Couldn't pass a bond measure to upgrade their decrepit sewers and pumping system, though.

LEADING UP TO THE DISASTER

We have now established that despite all the histrionics and feverish rhetoric, nothing Bush did before the hurricane caused the hurricane itself, depleted the National Guard or contributed to the failure of the levees. So let's go back to the days before Katrina struck. Better yet, let's start with an overview of the responsibilities of the numerous entities involved in hurricane and disaster relief.

The City of New Orleans.

One might think that most reasonably well-informed and rational people would understand that the primary and initial first response to any disaster is the local government. This fact has apparently escaped most of the media, but let's see what the city of New Orleans' own disaster plan says. (The whole thing is, remarkably, still available on line at http://www.cityofno.com/portal.aspx?portal=46&tabid=26.) I suppose it would have been too much to expect anyone at any of the major news outlets to have bothered to read this.)

One of the major criticisms repeated constantly over the last few days is that no one seemed to be in charge, a fact that was visibly apparent to anyone watching. Who was supposed to be in charge? According to the city's own plan: "The lead agency responsible for coordinating recovery operations following a natural or man made disaster is the Office of Emergency Preparedness. The Director of the Office of Emergency Preparedness shall serve as the initial contact with the Louisiana Office of Emergency Preparedness for the coordination of recovery efforts." You may have seen the New Orleans director on television complaining that no one was in charge, but you might not have noticed him doing anything else. Perhaps he didn't read the city plan either. That Director is, I believe, now styled the local Homeland Security Director; in any case, his name is Terry Ebbert. We heard a lot from him last week pointing the finger at everyone else, especially Bush, but next to nothing of what he, the actual designated front line official in charge, managed to accomplish, if anything. We have a few choice quotes from him below.

The plan is also very specific about who is in charge and who is supposed to do what. "The person responsible for recognition of hurricane related preparation needs and for the issuance of an evacuation order is the Mayor of the City of New Orleans." The Mayor is charged to: "[i]nitiate the evacuation" and "[r]etain overall control of all evacuation procedures via EOC operations." The Office of Emergency Preparedness, led by the above Director and reporting to the Mayor, is charged with the various details including the responsibility to: . Activate EOC and notify all support agencies to this plan . Coordinate with State OEP on elements of evacuation. . Assist in directing the transportation of evacuees to staging areas. . Assist ESF-8, Health and Medical, in the evacuation of persons with special needs, nursing home, and hospital patients in accordance with established procedures. . Coordinate the release of all public information through ESF-14, Public Information. . Use EAS, television, cable and other public broadcast means as needed and in accordance with established procedure. Request additional law enforcement/traffic control
(State Police, La. National Guard) from State OEP . As established by the City of New Orleans Charter, the government has jurisdiction and responsibility in disaster response. City government shall coordinate its efforts through the Office of Emergency Preparedness

Another fun fact is that: . "the City of New Orleans has established a maximum acceptable hurricane evacuation time standard for a Category 3 storm event of 72 hours. This is based on clearance time and is the time required to clear all vehicles evacuating in response to a hurricane situation from area roadways.

So, we know now that the designated leader for the recovery effort was a local official reporting the Mayor. It should go without saying, or needing to be said, but since the media in fact seems to go without saying it, I will point out that the first-responder units are the local police and fire departments. You may have noted the absence of the President of the United States from the above list.

It is also worth noting that Louisiana has its own disaster plan. It states that the "primary means of hurricane evacuation will be personal vehicles. School and municipal buses, government-owned vehicles (emphasis added) and vehicles provided by volunteer agencies may be used to provide transportation for individuals who lack transportation and require assistance in evacuating." The need to use school and municipal buses is interesting in light of this now well-known photograph showing the status of the buses the City government in fact had available to it.

The City plan is also very clear about the responsibility of the local transit authorities, who report to the Mayor. The regional transit authority is directed to: . Supply transportation as needed in accordance with the current Standard Operating Procedures. . Place special vehicles on alert to be utilized if needed. . Position supervisors and dispatch evacuation buses. . If warranted by scope of evacuation, implement additional service

The State of Louisiana.

As you know now, but may not have before if you relied on, say CNN for your news, the Commander-in-Chief of the Louisiana National Guard is Governor Blanco. You also now know that the President can not use active duty troops, regardless of whether they are regular army or mobilized NG units, for law enforcement. Given the state of our country's education system, it is not surprising that neither the average citizen nor the average broadcast journalist know the first thing about the relative roles of states and the federal government in our federal system, but the 50 states are in fact still sovereign entities, and the Federal government cannot simply step in and take over.

Overall, the State of Louisiana is the second-responder, especially regarding deployment of the National Guard.

FEMA.

FEMA is, if you will, the third responder, intended to support and assist, not supplant, the state and local authorities. It has relief supplies cached around the country. Its purpose is to provide assistance and support to state and local governments upon their request. FEMA cannot and is generally not expected to be able to respond immediately. Although supplies and equipment are stored all over the country, FEMA takes some time to deploy its resources hours. FEMA also has to depend on local coordination and control to know where to send supplies and direct other aid. In previous hurricanes, the major relief efforts generally started flowing 3-5 days after the initial disaster.

US Military.

The US military, especially the Navy, Coast Guard and Marines can provide immediate support, in large part because they work in the air and water, rather than on the ground, unlike the US Army. We of course saw all three service branches in action 24 hours a day almost as soon as the hurricane passed by and air rescue could begin.

In short, in the days leading up to and immediately after a disaster, the person in charge was the Mayor, and the agencies reporting to him had first-responder responsibility, including the fire and police departments, the office of emergency preparation and the regional transit authorities. If the police are overwhelmed, the second line of defense is the state National Guard. The first responders have to hold the line until FEMA can bring in disaster relief supplies. The US Military will provide search and rescue support and security; law enforcement and maintenance of order has to remain a state and local responsibility.

KATRINA APPROACHES

By Friday, August 26th, Katrina began picking up strength and heading for the gulf coast. By Saturday morning, Katrina was blowing at 115 mph and headed towards New Orleans. Governor Blanco got off to the right start by declaring a state of emergency and requesting the same from Bush. The term "state of emergency," by the way, is not merely descriptive, but a legal term that grants the Governor extensive authority.

At Blanco's request, Bush promptly stepped in. He declared a state of emergency in advance of the actual disaster, which gave FEMA the authority to begin moving and storing supplies. Ironically, when Bush did the same thing last year in advance of hurricane Ivan hitting Florida, he was naturally accused by Democrats and the media of grandstanding and attempting to pander to Florida voters. Thankfully, he ignored the carping then and again this time.

Later on Saturday, Nagin and Blanco held a news conference to urge residents to take the storm seriously, but stopped short of ordering a mandatory evacuation. Nagin also announced that the Superdome would be a shelter of last resort, but thoughtfully noted that residents needed to bring their own food and water. The city, of course, had not arranged for supplies. He did, finally, order a "voluntary" evacuation at 5PM. At this point, it was roughly 30 hours until the expected landfall-when the city's own plan called for 72 hours notice for a mandatory evacuation. According to the Times-Picayune and other published accounts, Nagin claimed, incredibly, that he hesitated because he was concerned about the city's legal liability to the hotels if he ordered a mandatory evacuation. It strains credulity beyond the breaking point to believe that this issue had never occurred to anyone in New Orleans before and that no one had ever considered the legal ramifications of issuing a evacuation order. Whether they had or not, as a lawyer myself, I can hardly conceive of such liability when faced with a Category 4 or 5 hurricane poised for a direct hit on a city that knew it couldn't take the blow. Even giving Nagin the benefit of the doubt and granting that he and his legal teams were in fact the complete idiots they seemed to be claiming they were, it still means he put those concerns ahead of the lives of his constituents. Far more probable, however, is that in the cesspool of corruption that is New Orleans, Nagin simply didn't want to risk offending powerful local business interests. Apart from the evacuation, there were many other critical preparatory steps that needed to be taken, but there is no evidence that the Mayor Nagin had done anything else. He obviously did nothing to stock the Superdome, mobilize the available transit resources or request National Guard assistance.

Apparently, Governor Blanco too did nothing to call up and mobilize any more than a few National Guard troops or otherwise exercise the powers and responsibilities she had assume by declaring a state of emergency. If, as many rightly claim, the post-hurricane breakdown in public order could and should have been foreseen, it might have been wise to begin the call for full mobilization on Saturday. This was not a federal decision or responsibility, but lay squarely on the shoulders of Blanco and Nagin. They failed.

Staying on top of the situation, Bush, however, noted that Nagin still had not ordered a mandatory evacuation and even took the extraordinary step of placing a personal call to the Mayor to urge him to do so. Another federal official, the National Hurricane Center Director, also called Nagin at his home Saturday night to plead with him to "get people out of New Orleans." This is not normal procedure, the locals are supposed to have the brains to figure this out for themselves. Not in this case, apparently.

Finally, on Sunday morning, with Katrina now a category 5 hurricane and heading straight for the city, barely 24 hours before landfall and far past the 72 hours timeframe required by the city's own plan, Nagin finally issues the order, far too late by any standard. A few RTA buses were sent out to pick up people to take them to local shelters, but, as the heart-breaking picture of flooded buses shows, most of the available buses just sat there, and none were used for the evacuation. The plans, noted above, to mobilize the local buses and the regional transit authority for evacuation simply didn't happen.

Nagin had declared that the Superdome was to be opened as a shelter of last resort, but little or no effort had been made by anyone to stock it with food, water or medical supplies, or to provide security or medical care. As residents began flowing in, they now heard from Terry Ebbert, the local official supposed to be in charge. He sends all the people with medical problems to one side of the Superdome, everyone else to the other side, and announces to the latter that "those arriving on this side. are expected to fend for themselves." Nice.

As was expected, the wealthy and middle class whites mostly managed to get out. The poor, largely black population was left behind.

Thanks to Bush's advance declaration, the Coast Guard moved into place closing the port and positioning 40 aircraft and 30 boats in position.

The Louisiana National Guard, although hardly fully mobilized, managed to deliver water and food in an amount intended to supply enough MREs to, in theory, for 15,000 people for 3 days. There are, however 26,000 people already there, as best as anyone can tell. The Louisiana senators sent a joint letter to the President thanking him for his help so far.

Abandoning the poor black population to their fate, the Mayor decamped to Baton Rouge.

President Bush had done what he was supposed to do, all in fact he could do. The mayor, however, was criminally negligent in having completely failed to fulfill their responsibilities to prepare for the disaster that was bearing down on them-or, rather, on the people the Mayor left behind.

LANDFALL
Prior to landfall, the head of the Louisiana National Guard said troops were deployed and ready to move into the city using high water vehicles. Four thousand more guardsmen were supposedly mobilizing in Memphis. FEMA Director Michael Brown reported that he had medical teams, rescue squads and supplies in place outside the city. Everyone at the local, state and federal level seemed to think the situation was reasonably under control despite the obvious fact that tens of thousands of residents hadn't evacuated. Those who had neither evacuated nor moved to the Superdome were simply waiting it out, out of sight and, it seems, out of mind. Some were apparently just waiting for the extra-curricula acquisition opportunities they expected to arise.

At 8:00AM Monday morning, Katrina struck.

Initially, however, it appeared that New Orleans had somehow, miraculously, yet again dodged the bullet squarely aimed at its low-lying head, protected by Category 3 levees against a Category 4 hurricane. Then, the brief sense of relief evaporated as the levee broke at 17th street and the city began filling up like a punchbowl.

Almost immediately, Bush declared the states of Louisiana and Mississippi major disaster areas, another legal description that authorized even more major relief efforts and funding. At the same time, widespread looting began to break out. The ever delightful Director Ebbert declared that "everyone who had a way or wanted to get out of the way of this storm was able to." Well, too bad for them, apparently. There were quite few locals to whom this news might come as a surprise, assuming they survived.

By the end of the day, air rescue operations by the Coast guard and Marine units were in full swing. The Red Cross said it is had a thousand volunteers in place, and many more coming in. Mayor Nagin said he has talked to FEMA and was told to give them a list of their needs and he would get what was needed. Details of subsequent conversations between Nagin and Brown on these points have not yet been revealed, but will surely prove interesting if they come out.

THE AFTERMATH

By the end of the day Monday, both officials and the public were just beginning to get an idea of how extensive and widespread the destruction really was. We all have since all seen the scope of the disaster, although television cameras can not possibly convey the sheer extent of the devastation. Slowly, the scope of the disaster was beginning to unfold; an area nearly the size of the British Isles was devastated. Cities and communities across three states simply ceased to exist. Roads, communications, power were wiped out. All levels of government were overwhelmed by a level of disaster never seen before in American history. Within hours, the recovery efforts began to break down, and the blame game began in deadly earnest.

By Tuesday morning, the waters were rising all over the city, and officials seemed helpless to stop it. Later that week, Bush was to be lambasted in the media for stating that such a large breach was not contemplated in the disaster planning. Of course, the talking heads said, everyone had known about this possibility for years, his dumb statement just proved yet again how much of an idiot Bush is. He was in fact correct and was clearly repeating the precise information he had been given. The most recent, and publicly available, plan contemplated that the levees would overflow in a category 4 or 5 storm, but not that they would themselves collapse, and that two city blocks of levee would simply disappear into the maelstrom. The section that collapsed had also been recently repaired and upgraded, so the various claims that somehow the breach was attributable to Bush's "reduced" funding (that is, less than the maximum local officials might have ever requested) are, again, simply false. But this fact does explain why there weren't contingency plans for conducting a massive levee repair operation immediately after the breach open. And even if there had been, with the roads nearly impassible and destruction spreading for miles, there was no way to bring in heavy equipment, and not much that could be done anyway until the rushing water subsided.

A Pentagon spokesperson issued a statement that the affected states had plenty of National Guard capacity, with 6,500 troops available in Louisiana alone, that the National Guard units of the four victim states were providing support to civil authorities as well as generator, medical and shelter, with approximately 7,500 troops on State Active Duty. That means that they were called up by the state governors for domestic deployment, not by the Pentagon. It also noted that the National Guard was augmenting civilian law enforcement capacity; not acting in lieu of it. Note, Bush-bashers, the phrase "State Active Duty." These troops were not under federal command.

The question we all want answered is: "where were these troops and what were they doing?". They were not, in any case, in downtown New Orleans. Everyone wants to know why, but remember who their Commander-in-chief was and still is. Hint: it's not a Texan.

By the end of the day Tuesday, the federal response included the following: . FEMA had deployed 23 Disaster Medical Assistance Teams from all across the U.S. to staging areas in Alabama, Tennessee, Texas, and Louisiana and was then moving them into impacted areas. . Seven Urban Search and Rescue task forces and two Incident Support Teams had been deployed and positioned in Shreveport, La., and Jackson, Miss., including teams from Florida, Indiana, Ohio, Maryland, Missouri, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. Three more Urban Search and Rescue teams were in the process of deployment. . FEMA had begun moving supplies and equipment into the hardest hit areas including water, ice, meals, medical supplies, generators, tents, and tarps.

. The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) had dispatched more than 390 trucks that were beginning to deliver millions of meals ready to eat, millions of liters of water, tarps, millions of pounds of ice, mobile homes, generators, containers of disaster supplies, and forklifts to flood damaged areas. DOT had helicopters and a plane assisting delivery of essential supplies.

These supplies, however, do not yet seem to be reaching the Superdome, and it is not at all clear why. The idea that Bush was somehow deliberately starving poor black people because they voted Democratic is despicable, and there isn't the remotest hint or a shred of evidence to support the claim. The theory therefore immediately becomes the accepted explanation among the left, black activists and race-hustlers and elite Europeans.

Now, where exactly is Bush at fault in this so far? He had done everything he was supposed to do, authorized everything necessary to support Federal support, and, despite being on what passes for a vacation for a President, was in regular contact with the governors of the affected states. Without a doubt, Bush was too slow to make a more public response, and the criticism he received from all sides about his poor public relations efforts were well-deserved. He should never have gone to a political event in California on Tuesday. But it is a huge and utterly unfounded step to go from his failure to cancel a public appearance and make more public statements to blaming him directly for the consequences on the ground.

First and foremost, the blame has to start with Mayor Nagin, who failed to take even the most basic steps before the storm hit. Apart from the looting, this collapse greatly hindered the ability of the rescue teams, and a lot of the deaths will surely be directly attributable to this. The New Orleans police department is famously corrupt, under funded and understaffed. To meet intense pressure for more minorities on the force in a city nearly 70% black, the force had even taken on convicted criminals, which may explain some apparent instances of looting by the police themselves. Many officers simply fled. Those who stayed complained of a complete lack of direction or leadership. They had no communications, no plans, no direction and no support. Some National Guard officers have already said that their deployment plans did not contemplate the almost immediate and total collapse of local police control, which is at least one plausible explanation for why they weren't there quickly.

It remains to be seen who is primarily responsible for the initial collapse of any police authority in the city, but the one party who cannot be held responsible is President Bush. Where was the Mayor? The Police Chief? And, then, after things started to south in a big way, where was the Louisiana National Guard? And then where was the Louisiana National Guard. Even if they didn't originally plan for the police collapse, once it occurred, why didn't rather quickly move to plan B? Who was making the deployment decisions? Hint: it still wasn't Bush.

The fire department was not much better than the police. Turns out the entire department had only 3 boats, and 2 of them were inoperable. This, for a city where flooding has been a known risk for centuries. It gets worse. As of Friday [September 3rd], nine stockpiles of fire-and-rescue equipment strategically placed around the country to be used in the event of a catastrophe were still sitting unused. According to CNN: "Department of Homeland Security spokesman Marc Short said Friday the gear has not been moved because none of the governors in the hurricane-ravaged area has requested it. A federal official said the department's Office for Domestic Preparedness reminded the Louisiana and Mississippi governors' offices about the stockpiles on Wednesday and Thursday, but neither governor had requested it." This is Bush's fault somehow, I suppose, but I can't see it. Then again, the receptors in my dental fillings have been out since the last full moon. I'm sure Bush's racism fits is somehow involved. So now where were we? Efforts to repair the levee had failed. The real problem, however, occurred when the last pumps keeping water out of the city are submerged by rising water and fail. As a result, the waters began to rise much more quickly and soon 80% of the city was under water.

It is only speculation, but it seems likely that this took most of the residents still there by complete surprise. They had survived the hurricane, the sun was out, and things were looking up. They had no power or access to information. They must have expected that everything was about to get a lot better, and thus were completely blindsided by the flooding. I suspect many didn't have a chance. A horrible tragedy, but one that only adequate evacuation plan could have prevented in the circumstances. The city had one, and it could have saved countless lives. It wasn't implemented. Criminal negligence by someone, but Bush's fault? How?

By the end of the day Tuesday, as both the staggering extent of the disaster and the completely inadequate response to it was becoming apparent, Bush announced that he was ending his vacation early and headed back to Washington. Starting Tuesday afternoon, a human flood of shell-shocked residents began heading towards the Superdome to escape the rising waters.

By Wednesday morning, the full scope of the disaster began to unfold in front of TV sets around the world, revealing a city collapsing into anarchy and chaos. At this point, Governor Blanco seemed herself shell-shocked. Later on Wednesday, for the first time she finally requested assistance from other states National Guard under a mutli-state support agreement. She does manage, however, to break down and cry on television, and blame Bush and the federal government. She orders the evacuation of the Superdome, but has no idea how to do it, or at least doesn't manage to communicate any plan to anyone. In the city itself, abandoned to the gangs and criminals, Police and fireman were not only not stopping the looting, but many were engaged in it themselves; we saw the uplifting site of a New Orleans policeman wheeling a computer and a TV out of a store in a cart. But also within hours, the blame-it-all-on-Bush meme began.

In the meantime, Texas, led by an functioning and competent Governor, announced it would provide for the evacuees from the Superdome in the Astrodome in Houston. Texas managed to get the Astrodome set up with food, cots, medial supplies and staff, and, blessedly, lot of toilets, in less time that the Mayor of New Orleans had to (not) prepare the Superdome before the hurricane. With most of the local New Orleans buses underwater, thanks to Mayor Nagin, FEMA arranged for 475 buses, but they took some time to assemble and arrive. Governor Blanco did finally exercise a bit of her executive authority and order the Louisiana National guard to commandeer whatever functioning school buses they could still locate.

Just after midnight Wednesday, the first buses began arriving in Houston. Supplies and volunteers are flooding the Astrodome.
(Thank God, because I can't take anymore of Geraldo's hysterics.) Bush and his convoy arrive on the scene on Thursday. US military units are arriving in force, as are National Guard units from other states. The adults are in charge of the asylum, and things are getting a lot better quickly. By the end of the day Thursday, all but a couple of thousand evacuees were gone from the Superdome.

Meanwhile the despicable white, racist, bigot, rednecks of the Christian Right in Texas are volunteering at the Astrodome, to the extent that they have to be turned away. Food and donations are pouring in. Church groups are particularly active in all phases. Within a couple of days, Texas would be providing for over 200,000 evacuees.

Yet the political wrangling continued. Despite the blame heaped on Bush and her shrill requests for more federal help, on Friday Governor Blanco still refused to federalize the the recovery operation. But the early days of hell were clearly coming to an end. The finger-pointing and the hate-filled, venomous attacks on Bush, however, were just getting into high gear.

WHO'S AT FAULT?

It would be nice to think that is this hour of crisis that as a nation we would postpone the blame game, at least until things calmed down. President Bush and his team have followed this high road. Chertoff when confronted with a nearly insane Tim Russert screaming for his head, barely hinted that perhaps some of the problem might have been due to a wee breakdown at the local level before the feds could get in. On the other side, however, the road led straight to the gutter and has stayed firmly mired there from the start. No accusation has been too vile, no theory too slanderous to get national news coverage.

We have already seen that, at least through Tuesday, there is nothing whatsoever that can be reasonably be laid at the President's feet. But after that, things did in fact go really wrong, and it is fair to ask what and why.

There were two separate, major failures. First, adequate supplies of food, water, medical supplies and police security did not show up at the Superdome and, perhaps more important to the blame game, on the Highway overpass where most of the TV reporters were. It is false to claim, as many reporters did, that no food or water arrived, and, as noted above, there were MREs and water inside the Superdome, but it was obvious to everyone that nowhere near enough arrived prior to the evacuation.

The nation and the world were treated to the heartbreaking and deeply embarrassing display of thousands of poor, mostly black Americans lined up on a highway overpass without food or shelter. The TV coverage was hysterical and overblown, and despite claims that the people there had been there without food and water for many days (on Thursday, I heard 5 or 6 days from Geraldo), most of the folks on the highway arrived Tuesday, after the rising water forced those who had chosen not to go the Superdome out of their homes. Most were forced to spend 2-3 days on the overpass. Those who arrived in the Superdome on Sunday, the first day it was opened, and left Thursday, spent 4 nights in the Superdome with at least limited shelter and some food in the first couple of days. It must have been horrible, but not quite as horrible as the splenetic coverage tried to make it out. And, of course, the vast majority of them should have never been there in the first place, they should have been evacuated before the storm.

The other major complaint voiced on the news broadcasts was the lack of information-no one apparently bothered to tell the poor, suffering victims what was going to happen to them. I am not sure why the Mayor wasn't out there, or the execrable Mr. Ebbert, but I am also not sure why communication to his constituents should be the responsibility of the federal government, still less so that of the President.

Nonetheless, someone needs to answer for not getting those folks help sooner. Neither I nor anyone else knows at this point exactly what happened. It may well be that FEMA was charged with the primary responsibility and failed to do so. Again, it is hard to fault Bush directly for that. He issued the appropriate orders well in advance to authorize and instruct FEMA to begin.

The one legitimate source of blame for Bush will come if it turns out that FEMA's focus on preparing for possible terrorist disaster scenarios significantly reduced its ability to respond to natural disasters, and that that reduction was what caused the delay. If so, then Bush bears some responsibility. But then, so does the Congress that wrote and passed the legislation creating Homeland Security and placing FEMA under its jurisdiction, along with the bipartisan committee that proposed and recommended the wholesale reorganization. But it seems much more likely at this point that the real problem was that the Mayor and the entire local government simply collapsed and utterly failed to perform its most basic duties, and the Governor failed to step in.

I note that the relevant date for the start of the real disaster in New Orleans was when the pumps failed and the majority of the city began flooding. This really started on Tuesday. The hurricane on Monday largely spared the city, but the media nonetheless clocks the failure from landfall Monday morning, rather than from the widespread flooding a day later, in order to make Bush and FEMA look worse. But the truth is that, prior to the flooding, the major disaster areas were further east and mostly in the other states. Absent the levee breach, by Tuesday afternoon, not only would the desperate local residents not have been streaming en masse onto the highway overpasses, but those holed up in the Superdome would have begun heading home-the hurricane itself did not cause widespread property damage, and most of their homes would have still been as there, perhaps a bit battered, but mostly standing and as habitable as they had been before they left (which was not very for a lot of them, but that is another story). With the staggering scope of the calamity, it would have certainly made sense for FEMA to initially concentrate on getting supplies to the other, harder hit areas, rather than plan for a major airlift operation into New Orleans, an operation it couldn't have known would be needed until early Tuesday. We need answers, but putting all the blame on Bush even before we get the basic details about what went wrong is absurd.

The second major failure was the effective loss to the thugs, gangs and looters of what little of New Orleans remained more or less habitable after the flood. The National Guard needed to be brought in much sooner than it actually arrived. The Louisiana National Guard was and remains under the command of Governor Blanco. We know that it had
6,500 troops available for state active duty, and that the claims that Iraq deployments fatally weakened troop levels completely false. We have already seen that she failed to anticipate any of these problems and fully mobilize the guard in advance. But once she did, what happened to them? Where were they in those early days? We have heard that no one expected the police to lose complete control of New Orleans, and it possible that the Guard was initially deployed to what everyone thought were the harder hits areas to the east. Louisiana also undoubtedly expected to call on guard troops from neighboring states if it needed more troops than it could provide for itself, but of course those in Mississippi and Alabama were otherwise engaged. No one at any level seems to have contemplated a disaster so broad that it required National Guard deployments to 4 states. But it also doesn't appear that Governor Blanco requested units from other states not hit until Wednesday. In the meantime, New Orleans descended into anarchy and destruction, rescuers were shot at, hospitals put under siege. Remember, law enforcement is by law the responsibility of state and local government. Both the mayor and the Governor have a lot to answer for.

To be fair, it is still far from clear that Bush and the federal government are blameless for the breakdown in law and order. We don't know if the Department of Defense failed in some way. There is no evidence so far that they did, and despite the keening from the left, the mere absence of the National Guard on the ground in New Orleans did not establish that it was somehow the federal government's fault in general, much less Bush's personal fault. No matter. The near hysterical chorus is screaming for Bush's blood over this before anyone really knows what happened, while at the same time almost completely ignoring the parties whose responsibility was clear and whose near total failure is undeniable.

There will undoubtedly be congressional hearings and more thorough investigations by journalists beyond the shrill, ignorant rantings that pass for news reports. Like everything else in this country today, it will continue to be biased, partisan and politicized. But I strongly suggest that the state and local officials so frantically trying to blame Bush for their failings have a lot more to fear from a full expose of the facts than does the President.

After 9/11, Rudy Giuliani established a standard for conduct in the face of disaster and adversity. Jeb Bush led Florida superbly through 4 hurricanes in row last year. Despite the fact that Mayor Nagins is suddenly the darling of the left because he has viciously attacked their arch nemesis, can anyone possibly believe that the actions, or, mostly inaction, of Mayor Nagin and Governor Blanco even began to live up to the standard set by Rudy? I don't think so, and no matter how much the left may hate Bush, they know it too.

Greg Richey September 4, 2005

I hope I didn't bore you!

Still Here

2005-09-07T09:08:00.000-05:00

For my millions of minions who hang on my every word and who have been waiting with baited breath to lather themselves in the cleansing soap that is my knowledge, let me assure you all that I am still here and I still have a few things to say about a few things.

Just busy at work, that's all.

More to come, and I know you all care one bit.

Shhh! Don't Tell Al-Qaida The Troops Are Gone!

2005-09-01T08:46:00.000-05:00

According to some on the Left, our nation is helpless right now. With all the military might busy in Iraq, our poor nation is vulnerable to any attack. And this is all coming to light because of Hurrican Katrina.

You see, some Libs believe that the relief effort is hampered by the "fact" that most of the available military reservists are knee-deep in the sands of futility in Iraq.

But here's the truth, free of charge.

To all you who are whining that the guard is AWOL in Iraq:

There are two distinct types of guardsmen, one segment is for fighting/defense, while the other is for, well, other stuff.

Let's also do a simple math lesson:

The National Guard consists of 1/3 of the 150,000 soldiers in Iraq. Hmmm, that's roughtly 50,000. But, according to the military, the Army Reserve National Guard consists of approximately 350,000 troops, while the number of active troops in the US Army Reserves is approximately 200,000. I'm no math major, but is not 500,000 (the total of ARNG and USAR troops minus the 50k currently deployed in Iraq) GREATER THAN 50,000?

Also, the Army National Guard offers a large selection of occupations throughout a range of skills divided into three major categories: Combat (Infantry, Artillery, Armor, Aviation, Air Defense), Combat Support (Engineer, Chemical, Military Police, Signal, Military Intelligence, Civil Affairs) and Combat Service Support (Finance, Public Affairs, Personnel, Supply, Maintenance, Transportation).

TRANSLATION: Not all guardsmen/reservists are sent to combat, nor is our country rendered helpless right now. Duh! Just like not everyone in a car factory works on engines, not all army people go fight.

Besides, there's not much anyone can do, other than rescue survivors, until the flood waters start receding. Period. No building can occur, no demolition of note, nor any repairs that can make much of a difference.

The Weatherman, My Friend, Is Blowin' In The Wind

2005-08-29T14:50:00.000-05:00

Why do weather reporters feel a need to give a report while a hurricane is in full force? Do they think we don't believe them, that we don't believe there is a hurricane?

Darwin, where art thou?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GENE SIMMONS

2005-08-25T08:09:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
You like to breathe fire,
And you spit some blood, too!

56 years and still rockin'...

Sheehan Heavy, She's A Mother

2005-08-23T08:45:00.000-05:00

The media frenzy surrounding the Left's new "Rosa Parks" (as she has been deemed by some media publications), has reached the point of ludicrous. This protest is, according to some, echoing the sentiment that surrounded the Vietnam war. Yeah, it's just like it, folks: except the music sucks and we have debilitated the enemy. Before you say, "But what about nightly news reports? They don't tell the same story!," let me say: Good news doesn't sell advertising these days; in addition, if we all went by what seconhand accounts say about the world around us, we'd probably still believe in leaching and that the Earth is flat.

But I digress... Here are just some examples of why I have a hard time jumping on the Sheehan Bandwagon:

Cindy says, in a letter to ABC'S Nightline:

"Am I emotional? Yes, my first born was murdered. Am I angry? Yes, he was killed for lies and for a PNAC Neo-Con agenda to benefit Israel. My son joined the army to protect America, not Israel. Am I stupid? No, I know full well that my son, my family, this nation and this world were betrayed by George Bush who was influenced by the neo-con PNAC agendas after 9/11. We were told that we were attacked on 9/11 because the terrorists hate our freedoms and democracy … not for the real reason, because the Arab Muslims who attacked us hate our middle-eastern foreign policy."

WOW! And here I thought we were fighting terrorism. No wonder everyone is so upset-we are fighting for the Jews!

But it doesn't end there: Here's a nice little piece from thereporter.com, of Vacaville, CA, where the Sheehan's are from:

Since learning in April that their son, Army Spc. Casey Sheehan, had been killed in Iraq, life has been everything but normal for the Sheehan family of Vacaville.
Casey's parents, Cindy and Patrick, as well as their three children, have attended event after event honoring the soldier both locally and abroad, received countless letters of support and fielded questions from reporters across the country.

"That's the way our whole lives have been since April 4," Patrick said. "It's been surreal."

But none of that prepared the family for the message left on their answering machine last week, inviting them to have a face-to-face meeting with President George W. Bush at Fort Lewis near Seattle.

Now I know why she and the other Lefty's are so ticked off- Bush didn't bother to send a singing telegram! He arranged the meeting VIA ANSWERING MACHINE! What, he couldn't text her, or email her? Answering machine- that's SOOOOOOO 20th Century!

But the same story goes on:

"The trip had one benefit that none of the Sheehans expected.

For a moment, life returned to the way it was before Casey died. They laughed, joked and bickered playfully as they briefly toured Seattle.

For the first time in 11 weeks, they felt whole again.

"That was the gift the president gave us, the gift of happiness, of being together," Cindy said.

Damn. If Bush had just been a little more giving in the meeting, perhaps Sheehan wouldn't have the same negative opinion of the experience.

But- drum roll, please- is the pizza resistance! (Please excuse my butchered French):

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=45800

Yep, that Bush is one cold, heartless, SOB.

Iraqmire

2005-08-19T13:32:00.000-05:00

The title is in reference to an article by "kissfan" on his blog, truespeak.

Interesting post by someone named "dork" on rightwingnews.com, regarding the supposed Iraq quagmire:

"A quagmire is when no progress can seen or is being made.

Iraq - Dictatorship removed, support for terrorist groups abolished. Under self-rule and moving towards self-defense.

Afghanistan - Taliban removed, support for terrorist groups abolished. Under self-rule and moving towards self-defense.

Lebanon - Vocal in demanding self-rule and end to occupation by Syrian forces, and also to ending support for terrorist groups.

Saudi Arabia - Held minor elections which are leading to greater effect in democratization.

Iran - Forced to deny its nuclearn weapons program and scale back operations. Increasing pressure from young generation for democracy.

So accross the board, the terrorist cause and message is being rejected.

This has all happened thanks to our actions. I'd say that's really damn good progress--especially considering our enemy is terroism. This stuff isn't an accident. It didn't just happen. If we hadn't removed that Taliban and freed Iraq, this stuff wouldn't have happened! So don't try to tell me there is no reason for this war. Don't try to tell me that this war isn't worth it. Don't try to tell me that there is no progress. Don't try to tell me that this war does not protect us. The world is a much better place thanks to us and the other countries willing to fight."

Just some food for thought...

Some Questions I Want Answered

2005-08-19T08:18:00.000-05:00

I've been thinking recently about some issues that seem to be making the rounds in news circles, most of which end up being Bush's fault in one way or another.

1) Why wasn't the health care crisis dealt with during the Clinton administration? What, did it only suddenly appear after Bush's innaugaration?

*****

2) Why is Bush being chastised- heck, being called Evil Incarnate (real KISS fans get the reference)- for proposing a solution to Social Security? No one- Clinton, Bush Sr., Reagan, et al.- went this far to attempt to fix the impending mess. Maybe Bush's solution isn't the best, but where are the other solutions? Huh?

*****

3) Halliburton- Not much else makes me more sick than hearing that Bush is sleeping with Halliburton, that Halliburton has only gotten government contracts because Bush is an oil man, and Cheney is/was a higher up in the company. But protesters of this company seem to forget a few things:

a) "During the Vietnam War, Halliburton was awarded a government contract and took part in building approximately 85 per cent of the infrastructure needed by the Army. Although Vietnam War protesters often referred to the company as "Burn & Loot," Halliburton never reached the notoreity it now has in 2005." (from globalsecurity.org) Uh, who was President back then???

b)"The Clinton administration made the same calculation in its own dealings with Halliburton. The company had won the LOGCAP in 1992, then lost it in 1997. The Clinton administration nonetheless awarded a no-bid contract to Halliburton to continue its work in the Balkans supporting the U.S. peacekeeping mission there because it made little sense to change midstream. According to Byron York, Al Gore's reinventing-government panel even singled out Halliburton for praise for its military logistics work." (from townhall.com) What I want to know is: Did Mr. Bill get Halliburton involved in the Balkan situation to put a few extra dollars in Halli's gold-lined pockets, similar to what protestors are screaming now with regards to the war in Iraq???

*****

4) Oil prices- There are many who believe that Bush The Evil Overlord controls every aspect of gasoline pricing. There are also some who believe that the Iraq war is being fought only to bolster Bush's oil buddies' profits. There are still some who believe that, if Bush wanted to, he could lower gas prices to nearly nothing but he won't do that for fear of ticking off the oil people they accuse him of, uh, giving oral pleasure to. Please, try to pay attention 'cause I'm only gonna write this one time: Oil prices are determined by a myriad of factors, none of which directly involves anything Bush has the power to do or not do. OPEC raises prices if a dog farts in Gary, Indiana, and some people want to blame the stench on Bush? Factors such as demand, world supply, refining capacity, political unrest (which, I'll give you the Iraq war on that issue, but if you believe that is the main factor pushing oil prices higher, then I've got a bridge to sell you), and many others determine how much we pay at the pump.

****

5) Why is rap so popular? I hate it; therefore, it's not music at all. There's only so much bragging on how much money one has, or how much one spent on one's ride, or how many times one has been arrested, or how many ho's one has at one's disposal that I can take.

And if I see another "grill" of gold, I'm gonna go postal. (Would YOU hire someone wearing that mess?) It makes someone with an already low IQ look even dumber.

A Funny Email

2005-08-12T10:41:00.000-05:00

I received this in my work email today. Just some food for thought...

After being interviewed by the school administration, the eager teaching prospect said:

Let me see if I've got this right....

You want me to go into that room with all those kids, and fill their every waking moment with a love for learning. And I'm supposed to instill a sense of pride in their ethnicity, modify their disruptive behavior, observe them for signs of abuse and even censor their T-shirt messages and dress habits.

You want me to wage a war on drugs and sexually transmitted diseases, check their backpacks for weapons of mass destruction, and raise their self esteem. You want me to teach them patriotism, good citizenship, sportsmanship, fair play, how to register to vote, how to balance a checkbook, and how to apply for a job.

I am to check their heads for lice, maintain a safe environment, recognize signs of anti-social behavior, make sure all students pass the mandatory state exams, even those who don't come to school regularly or complete any of their assignments.

Plus, I am to make sure that all of the students with handicaps get an equal education regardless of the extent of their mental or physical handicap. And I am to communicate regularly with the parents by letter, telephone, newsletter and report card. All of this I am to do with just a piece of chalk, a computer, a few books, a bulletin board, a big smile AND on a starting salary that qualifies my family for food stamps!

You want me to do all of this and yet you expect me...... NOT TO PRAY???

Score Two For Common Sense

2005-08-10T11:07:00.000-05:00

"Staying here carries with it a duty. That duty is to share and support the values that sustain the British way of life. Those who break that duty and try to incite hatred or engage in violence against our country and its people have no place here."

- Tony Blair, British Prime Minister, in reference to foreign-born Muslim clerics who glorify terror on British soil

I'm sure there will be some who say this measure will only lower the British to the level of terrorists through what Irshad Manji calls "neo-McCarthyite hectoring," ... "that they would make the British less distinguishable from the violent, hateful and unforgiving theocrats, our democracy undermined from within in ways that the suicide bombers could only have dreamed of.

But Manji goes on to say, "But if these anti-terror measures feel like an overreaction to the London bombings, that's only because Britons, like so many in the West, have been avoiding a vigorous debate about what values are most worth defending in our societies."

Bravo, Ms. Manji. It's about time someone stand up and say, "Look, we don't care who you are, what you do, or where you do it as long as you obey the law and respect the values of our country. By following those simple guidelines, you are free to live as you please in our country, free of persecution."

Is that so hard? According to some people, we should embrace those who wish to kill us. We should be asking ourselves, according to these people, what did WE do to upset the radicals? These nutjobs believe that only by recognizing what WE did to INFURIATE them (terrorists) will we begin to live in peace.

Bullcrap. These terrorist wackos don't care if we love them or not; they don't care whether we understand their motives or not; what they DO care about is spreading their hate and violence unto the world for their own selfish gain.

I say its time to grow a pair and defend what we hold sacred and stop kowtowing to bloodthirsty radicals, whether they be Islamic terrorists or petty thieves.

With Representatives Like These, Who Needs Enemies?

2005-08-10T08:15:00.000-05:00

In yet another display of selflessness, the Texas Senate has voted to increase judges' salaries, their first "meaningful" raise in seven years, according to Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, in a story in today's Houston Chronicle.

Before you go buy a thank you card for your representative, consider that "lawmakers' pensions have been tied to judicial salaries since 1975. The bill would raise lawmakers' pensions by 22 percent," the story says.

According to the Chronicle, "(t)he Senate suspended a series of rules allowing the bill to be voted out of a committee and receive the required two floor votes in a matter of minutes." Yet, the school funding crisis has loomed for years.

You know, with a school funding crisis that is reaching epic proportions it's nice to see our reprensatives here in Texas have their priorities in the right place.

Score One For Common Sense

2005-05-26T08:35:00.000-05:00

In a rare display of intelligence and common-sense thinking, the Texas Senate passed House Bill 107, also known as the "Cheeseburger Bill," that prevents fat people (no PC in this blog) from suing fast food restaurants for their being fat.

"You as an individual make your own choices, and it's not the restaurants' responsibility how you choose to eat," said Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, the bill's sponsor. "This just places responsibility where it belongs." (taken from today's Houston Chronicle)

Great job for once, guys.

But what about the tobacco lawsuits? What happened there? Is tobacco so powerful it renders the general populace powerless against its seductive charms?

And by the way, we citizens of Texas are still waiting for that financial windfall from the victory over Big Tobacco...

Now They Are Their Parents' Problem

2005-05-26T08:12:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was the last day for the students at the junior high I teach at to attend classes. Today is a go-through-the-motions workday for the staff. It's amazing that the school year, while not decreasing in actual clock hours, seems to get shorter and shorter every year.

What do I have planned for the summer, you ask with sublime wonder? First off, I am re-visiting Sabine Pass Battleground on the Texas/Louisiana border with my girlfriend. I used to go fishing there every summer with my Papa and my brother, and I haven't been there since he died in 1995. We'll only be there for maybe a couple of hours, but it's important for me to go and "hang-out" and revisit old ghosts for awhile.

In July, I will be a counselor at a church camp for mentally retarded adults. I worked with Life Skills kids for 4 years, and I loved (almost) every minute of it. I am looking forward to having a great time and learning how to REALLY enjoy what all of us have. I've often said that I believe *retarded* people are the *normal* ones, and we, as *normal* people have the disorder. Spend any amount of time with a mentally retarded individual and you will see what I mean.

Other than that, I'll be tutoring and saving up for a big trip to Colorado in September.

Does Abu Have A Boo Boo?

2005-05-25T08:39:00.000-05:00

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, one of the most wanted terrorists in the world, is reported to have been injured, according to an Arabic website.

I surely hope this is true; he deserves to suffer the pain of thousand deaths for all the hurt and death that have befallen innocents at his wretched and soiled hands. (Please, don't even compare his attrocities- beheadings, ordered suicide bombings, assasinations, etc.) to Bush or the war on terrorism. There is simply no parallel between Abusie's evil and Bush's fight against terror.

I have a feeling the military knows more than they are saying (they are neither confirming nor denying the reports) because, as you know, whatever we, the American public know, the enemy does, too.

Hopefully, these injuries turn out to be real and they become infected with gang green that slowly but surely eats this bastard alive, bit by bit, as his insurgent homies tuck tail and run like the cowards they are.

Here's hoping the "virgins" that await him in HELL ('cause this *choirboy* ain't got a spot in the tenor section in the Great Cathedral upstairs, that's for dang sure) are all pigs with syphlittic-ridden genitalia and a penchant for having their salads tossed.

And I hope he has to pose for naughty photos, too, atop a pyramid of his naked and dead partners-in-crime.

Skewed Priorities

2005-05-24T08:12:00.000-05:00

The Texas House is addressing problems with the Teacher Retirement system. According to them, the way it is set up now retired teachers won't be able to receive a raise for the next 10-15 years. It also raises the retirement age from 55-60. (And all of you who moan and groan about the early retirement age for teachers, I invite y'all to spend one semester teaching a classroom full of students. We'll talk about the pros and cons at the conclusion of your teaching stint.) It also attempts to stop early retirement incentives for teachers.

It's a little sad that the state of Texas has no problem funding multi-million dollar sports complexes, but when it comes to the people responsible for the education of its children, the piggy bank is mysteriously empty. Heck, even school districts are being given 20+ million dollar sports facilities!

Maybe if all teachers donned pads and a helmet, they'd get the attention and respect from politicians they so aptly deserve.

I See Dean People

2005-05-23T12:57:00.000-05:00

Let me see if I understand this correctly: Howard Dean wants Tom Delay to go straight to jail:

Addressing the Massachusetts Democratic convention in Lowell, Dean declared: "I think DeLay ought to go back to Houston where he can serve his jail sentence down there courtesy of the Texas taxpayers." Dean would jail DeLay without trial, without indictment and without accusation of any crime. - from cnn.com

but he wants a fair trial for Osam bin-Laden?

"I've resisted pronouncing a sentence before guilt is found," Dean said. "I still have this old-fashioned notion that even with people like Osama, who is very likely to be found guilty, we should do our best not to, in positions of executive power, not to prejudge jury trials. So I'm sure that is the correct sentiment of most Americans, but I do think if you're running for president, or if you are president, it's best to say that the full range of penalties should be available. But it's not so great to prejudge the judicial system."

I say Dean For President, 2008! With a dingbat like that on the other side, Woody Woodpecker could run on the Republican ticket and win.

Houston Summer

2005-05-20T07:57:00.000-05:00

It's that time again in Houston, time for the air to become more like a wet bathing suit than a colorless entity blowing along the landscape. Yes, it's summertime in Houston! (Well, technically it's still spring, but when I go outside in the morning and I start sweating almost immediately, it's summer, dangit!)

Here in Houston, we have two seasons: winter and summer; there's really no in-between. The winters here are actually quite mild, more reminiscnet of fall or a cool spring than winter. Only rarely does the temperature dip into heavy coat territory, and when it does it rarely lasts more than 2 or 3 days. This past winter, I wore a heavy coat one time, and that was on Christmas Eve, when it snowed. That day was cold, man! The temperatures were hovering just above the freezing mark, and the wind was blowing enough to rustle more than just the leaves on the ground.

Summer, however, is an entirely different beast.

I've never gotten used to the summers in this part of the world; I don't know how anyone could or does, for that matter. When the air around you causes your clothes to stick to your skin and your hair to fall limply along your skull (even someone sporting a flat top, it seems), there's simply no way to get accustomed to that.

What really gets me about summer here is not the temperature. Hot I can handle, even though I am hot-natured; but when you throw in that dreaded humidity factor, well, that's when things get nasty. Sweating is supposed to cool our bodies. As it evaporates and the air around us comes in contact with it, it acts as a rudimentary air conditioner. In dry climates, this works perfectly. It's hot, you sweat, you're more comfortable. (Last year around this time I went to Big Bend with my girlfriend, where the temperature in the lower elevations averaged close to 100 degrees during the day, but since the air was dry, it was quite bearable-- especially in the shade.) But here in the swamp of Houston, sweat has nowhere to go because the air is already saturated with moisture. Thus, sweating only serves to make you more miserable.

And the misery will last until October...

As If The Teen Years Weren't Hard Enough...

2005-05-19T09:11:00.000-05:00

First, it was getting cigarettes. Then, it was getting booze. Now, let's add abortions to the list of things that may be difficult for teens to get.

Texas is considering a bill that will require parental consent for a girl (yes, a girl ladies and germs, NOT a woman) under 18 to receive an abortion. Needless to say, some citizens are up in arms about this intrusion on a "woman's" right (their term, mind you-- but when a juvenile commits murder, that juvenile is not a man or a woman in these same people's eyes; rather, in THAT instance they are boys or girls!) to choose what is best for their body.

I'm not saying I am for or against abortion; I've never been confronted with that decision, so I really can't say how I would handle it.

But what I DO have a problem with is that some people cry foul when a girl is to be required to have consent from her PARENTS to terminate a pregnancy.

But what if the parents don't care? What if the parents are to blame (incest, etc.)?
Well, that's why laws are a little FLEXIBLE people; we'll cross that bridge when we get to it!

But let's assume the majority of girls confronted witht this decision come from good families, and statistics say they do. It is a parent's RIGHT to know what is going on with their child. End of story.

I have a problem with people crying injustice with parental consent in abortion cases when it is on the books as being wrong to admit minors under 17 to a rated 'R' movie. Geez, let's see here... which should be harder to do: see a rated 'R' movie, or have an abortion?

Minors can't drive a motor vehicle by themselves (at least those born after a certain year; I can't quite recall the cut-off year.) until they are 18, so what makes people think they are capable of making the decision to abort a baby without their parents' input?

And don't even bring up "This (having a baby) could ruin her life!" Well, what was she (or he, in the case of the father) thinking putting themselves in that position to start with? After all, if you don't drink alcohol, you won't get drunk.

It's a little sad that some people don't see the irony in their position, given what is currently illegal for minors to do.

Now I'll Sleep Better

2005-05-18T07:50:00.000-05:00

In a shocking move, the Texas Legislature boosted their pensions in a vote Monday.

The Houston Chronicle writes, "Legislators used a nonrecorded voice vote Tuesday to sweeten their retirement pay as they quietly passed a bill raising judicial salaries, the base used to calculate lawmakers' pensions... Long-standing laws (from 1977) link judicial salaries to legislative pensions and pay for some local elected officials. When judges get a raise, those who benefit include retired lawmakers and former governors as well as current district attorneys and Houston city officials."

With all the pressing issues facing Texas (education finance and reform, road construction, and health care), it's a miracle these hard-working individuals found a moment to boost their own pensions. It's a miracle I tell ye, a Christmas miracle in May!

Nothing gives me more satisfaction as a Texan than knowing our elected officials, despite not being able to agree on many issues─ teacher pay raises, adequate education funding, and affordable health care, rising gas prices─ found a common ground on a cause that affects all of us. (Well, if all of us were a member of the Texas Legislature or a member of one of their families.)

So what if Texas teachers are earning less than the national average? Our legislature will now earn the average teacher salary (roughly) for 5 years experience as a pension, which is $34,500!

Who cares if our classrooms lack adequate supplies, such as textbooks, workbooks, lab equipment, audio/visual equipment due to inadequate state funding now that our Legislatures will now have a better pension to collect at age 50 after 12 years of service!

Who cares if teachers and other state employees pay more for health care now than they ever have, and many Texans can't afford the high cost of health insurance? Our faithful Legislators will continue to have FULLY FUNDED health care insurance for themselves and their families, and they don't have to wait for retirement to receive it!

I don't mind driving on roads that look as if they were assembled in a war zone as long as these guys and gals can sleep better knowing they're taken care of during their twilight years. And driving on these roads using gas that requires a bank loan to purchase because of a lack of refining capacity to make enough gas is a small sacrifice to make knowing these elected officials will have the money to pay for a fill-up on their SUVs.

I, for one, will sleep much better knowing that perhaps now with this huge monkey off their shoulders, the Texas Legislature can focus on other problems facing Texas.

I Will Quote You On That

2005-05-17T10:51:00.000-05:00

A poster who identifies himself as Liberal AND Proud, had this to say regarding my entry in a Condoleeza Rice photo caption contest ont the website crooksandliars.com in which she is depicted as being in a helicopter/plane and smiling:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Reading all these captions posted by Liberals makes me smile! I wonder what other clever insults they can come up with next!
Wilderness Fox | Email | Homepage | 05.17.05 - 10:18 am | #

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hey...we'll never top you guys.

George Bush as President is an insult that will stand unchallenged throughout history.Liberal AND Proud | Email | Homepage | 05.17.05 - 10:22 am | #

Will history confirm that statement? Stay tuned!

Pitt Of Despair

2005-05-16T09:40:00.000-05:00

Here it is, folks: What's wrong with this country in a nutshell.

In a Knight-Ridder newstory released today, Brad Pitt admits he doesn't understand the meaning of "until death do us part." He says, "The idea that marriage has to be for all time - that I don't understand."

Let me help you, Brad, and I'll do it slowly so even you can understand: The phrase "until death do us part" means that you and your spouse will remain together until one of you dies. Do you understand that concept?

Pitt the philosopher goes on to say this about his now-defunct marriage: "It's talked about like it failed, I guess because it wasn't flawless."

Bradley, it's talked about as a failure because, and here's the kicker, IT FAILED. YOU ARE DIVORCED. Su casa no es Jennifer's casa.

If someone claims that eating green beans will cure cancer and it is found not to, Brad, this rememdy is deemed to be a failure. But I really don't fault your view all that much, given that it is now against the law for children to fail in school. You are simply a product of your education.

News To Me

2005-05-16T08:17:00.000-05:00

So the "Koran Down The Krapper" from Newsweek scandal has been exposed as a fabrication.

According to the story, US soldiers flushed Islam's Holy Book, the Koran, down a toilet during interrogations with Islamic terrorist prisoners. This flushing of the Koran infuriated Islamic clerics, angering them so much they resorted to bombing and killing innocent civillians on both sides of the war.

Am I the only one here who is a little puzzeled as to where the outrage by Islamic clerics is over thugs like bin-Laden and al-Zarqawi, who have used Islam to kill and torture (REAL torture, Liberals, not kinky photos) innocent people?

Maybe if the aforementioned Islam bastardizers would just FLUSH THE KORAN DOWN A TOILET, that would draw the ire of the clerics. And they now have toilets to flush them down, thanks to the US and their allies in the war.

Just A Minute, Man

2005-05-16T08:00:00.000-05:00

So, Sheila "Where Da Foto Op At?" Jackson-Lee (D-Houston) has had her feathers ruffled because of interest in starting a Minute Man project over here. She is calling for "further studies" to get more information as to how serious the problem is and finding solutions other than Minute Man volunteers to solve the problem.

Whoah, how LONG has illegal immigration been a problem along the US border? How LONG has the US Border Patrol been ineffective in stopping the problem? How effective have the Minute Men been in stemming the tide of illegal immigration in Arizona, at least until reports of the Border Patrol demanding a cease to illegal immigrant arrests?

And we need "further study?" This is typical government: We need to study the problem further (read: We need to funnel more money to agencies that we created and have no intention of replacing... EVER!).

According to the Houston Chronicle: "Jackson Lee said she sees it as the 'dereliction of duty' by the federal government not to have improved staffing in customs and the border patrol." Geez, and that's all we've needed to do all this time?!! Pure genius, Jackson-Lee!

"She said she will advocate that money be increased to hire more workers to patrol the borders (along the Texas border)." I thought we already tried that, but oh well. Never mind the Minute Men will WORK FOR FREE; let's throw more money toward the problem and hope it magically goes away !

Happy Birthday, Eric Singer

2005-05-13T09:28:00.000-05:00

KISS drummer and a nice guy who is living every KISS fan's dream- working with the band you grew up listening to!

=^=

2005-05-12T08:16:00.000-05:00

Couldn't have put this any better myself, even if I knew what I was talking about.

From today's Houston Chronicle's editorial section:

How GM Bond Ratings Went Bad

The national news services are gleefully reporting that GM had its bond ratings reduced and is in trouble because it makes big SUVs that Americans don't want. Yet, GM is selling plenty of cars and doing well on the revenue side of its balance sheet. The problem is on the expense side under two headings, pension and retirees' health care.

GM's troubles stem from a pension plan fund that was funded with GM bonds. Adding to the problem is a retiree health plan funded from current operating income.

All economists, including GM's, know such a plan is not economically sound. It will only work if GM can double its young, healthy work force and double its income every few years.

This came about because employees' demands for benefits were more than GM had the courage or will to resist; it bought employees' loyalty with money it did not have.

At the time, GM did not have the money to fund pensions, so it just wrote itself an IOU and sold bonds to cover the debit. It thought it could manage the medical care or pass the costs off to someone else when they came due.

Save this explanation for 2020 and then substitute the U.S. federal government for GM and voters for employees and you will understand what has happened to Social Security and Medicare.

CHARLES AKINS,
College Station

Coinkeydink?

2005-05-11T12:56:00.000-05:00

First, a homemade bomb goes off in front of the British Embassy in New York. Now, a private plane comes within three miles of the White House, ignoring warnings of restricted airspace violations.

Are these incidents related? Are they anything to get alarmed at?

Time will tell, but I sure hope some Liberals who joked about "flower pot terrorism" aren't laughing so hard now.

With Heroes Like This...

2005-05-06T12:42:00.000-05:00

Ahai Raj. Remember that name- you might see his smiling mug plastered on tshirts and posters in the spirit of Che Guevera someday, if some Liberals stick to their guns (metaphoric guns, of course!) and canonize this brazen young man.

The setting is the University of Texas (ssss....!), a bastion of Liberal thoughts and ideas; a mecca to the segment of society who would rather make love, not war. The scene takes place in the LBJ library, during a Q/A session with Conservative columnist/talk show host Ann Coulter.

What this youngster did was he asked Ms. Coulter her views on sex behind closed doors. Innocent enough, right? Well, it goes further than that. He asked her about a particular kind of sex, particularly that of the anal variety. Gettting a little risque, yes, but this is a college campus where the hard questions (no pun intended) are asked. Well, it seems this kid never outgrew the vocabularly most commonly associated with junior high school locker rooms. He asked Ann Coulter how she felt about marriage where a man f**ked his wife up the a**.

Real mature there, Ahai. Real mature.

He was arrested. He is now being hailed as a hero among the fringe Lefties.

I'm all for this nutjob having his right to free speech, but he needs a lesson in maturity. There is a smart way and a dumb way to get one's point across. Asking a speaker at a forum at a UNIVERSITY about her views on anal sex is one thing, but using slang and obvious malicious intent is beyond stupid.

The kid (and he is a kid until he grows up, which might be awhile judging by his actions during and after the incident) has a lot to learn about socially acceptable protest.

No one is saying this kid can't disagree with whatever he wants to; what his problem is-- and apparently this problem is very pervasive among the Liberal camp, judging by the responses in his favor he has gotten not just for protesting, but FOR THE REPULSIVE TERMINOLOGY HE USED TO DO IT-- is that he thinks that free speech gives him carte blanche to say whatever he wants, whenever he wants to whomever he wants. Well, that is simply not true; it never has been, and it never will be. Think: yelling "Fire!" in a crowded theater.

This kid needs a big bar of soap to wash out that filthy little mouth of his.

National Day Of Prayer

2005-05-05T14:49:00.000-05:00

Today is the National Day Of Prayer.

Wow, I knew we had one but I didn't realize it was today.

Geez, according to some Liberals this "problem" they call religion is so pervasive that we are held at the mercy of religious leaders until we confess our sins and give our complete allegiance to God. They believe that a massive conspiracy to convert all Americans to Christianity is afoot.

So far, however, irregulartimes.com has not made mention of it. But I can't really fault them on that accord; after all, I'm a Christian and I didn't realize that today was the National Day Of Prayer.

So, exactly what agenda is being shoved down the throats of Americans?

What Are Democrats Afraid Of?

2005-05-03T07:54:00.000-05:00

So the Democrats want to filibuster the judicial nominees. Interesting. Suppose I, as a teacher, refused to review my students for the state test in Texas (the TAKS)- what then? Surely you don't think I wouldn't get a few phone calls from a few irate parents, not to mention a few reprimands from my superiors, correct?

I ask you: Why then is it okay for Democrats to SHIRK THEIR JOB DESCRIPTION WHICH IS TO VOTE FOR THE PEOPLE THEY REPRESENT, TO PREVENT THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS FROM TAKING PLACE? It's simple: They are scared. They are out of touch with what the MAJORITY* of America wants. They are a sinking ship of thousands with only a 10-person life raft to escape the inevitable.

All Conservatives are asking is for the Democrats to do their damn job, plain and simple. (Then again, the Democrat's mantra is "less work, more pay!") A simple vote, up or down. The Democrats are not being asked to perform a mime routine. They are not being told to recite a soliloquiy from "Hamlet" in Latin. All they are being asked to do IS- drum roll, please-DO THEIR DAMN JOB

*Yes, it is true that Democrats have the majority in the Senate. Some, ahem, Liberal websites claim this is proof that America is Liberal and Conservatives are evil. Baaaaaaaaaaaaloney. It proves Democrats were elected the majority in ONE DIVISION OF ONE BRANCH OF GOVERNMENT. Lest the Liberals forget the facts: Conservatives control the House AND the Presidency AND, well, you get the idea. This "revelation" is simply a newly discovered life vest floating in the ocean surrounding that sinking ship of the Democrats.

It's Nice To Be Remembered

2005-05-02T09:40:00.000-05:00

I'm glad to have made at least one impression along the road that is my life. It seems the folks over at Irregular Times have remembered me. Though I'm not named personally, I am 99.9% sure it is I who they speak of. Consider:

We used to have someone who would drop by Irregular Times and remark, every few weeks, that we were all getting “hyper” about the erosion of religious and intellectual liberty in the United States. “Just give me one example,” this visitor would write, “of an instance in which religion was shoved down the throat of some public school kid. Just one! Come on! You can’t do it, because it doesn’t happen in this country.” So we’d give him an example, and then he’d be quiet on the subject for a few weeks, and then he’d issue the same challenge again.

Well, he’s apparently moved on, but unfortunately the fundamentalists have not. So let me without prompting share with you an example of what’s going on in our nation’s public schools. This example comes courtesy of the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina Legal Foundation:

In mid-February 2005, the ACLU-NCLF was contacted by the concerned parents of a fifth-grade student in a public elementary school in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Troy Smith informed the ACLU-NCLF that his daughter, Ashlee Smith, a student at Sunnyside Elementary School in Fayetteville, had repeatedly been assigned schoolwork that clearly violated the First Amendment’s prohibition against government endorsement of religion….

In late 2004, Mr. Smith complained to the principal of his daughter’s elementary school about certain classroom assignments he believed violated the First Amendment. Although initially questioning Mr. Smith’s concern over the assignments by asking Mr. Smith whether he and his family went to church, the principal of the school, along with a school administrator, later assured Mr. Smith that there would be no more classroom assignments similar to the ones he had brought to their attention.

However, in early February 2005, Ashlee Smith advised her parents of yet another classroom assignment that, to Ashlee, seemed contrary to her family’s discussions of science. Following a reading passage about animals’ ability to camouflage themselves to avoid predation titled, “Clever Disguises,” one question asked, “These clever disguises are a result of ________?” Ashlee had, according to her teacher, answered this question incorrectly in marking the answer, “chance.” According to her teacher, the correct answer was “God’s master design.” Upon learning of this, Ashlee’s father Troy Smith called the ACLU-NCLF.

These lessons were taken from a text published by “A Beka Book,” a provider of Christian books sometimes used in religious schools and home schooling environments….

If the ACLU of North Carolina had not gotten involved and filed an injunction, the Fayetteville Public Schools would still be engaging in religious proselytizing. This sort of protection from government-sponsored religious zealotry that the ACLU provides through its local and national chapters is what makes the fundies hate the organization so. It’s what makes me a card-carrying member of the ACLU. Got a dollar in change to spare? Make a donation to the ACLU today, and help them keep up their liberty-protecting work.

So, one instance proves that religion is becoming pervasive and intrusive? That's like saying getting sick from one hot dog means all hot dogs are bad for you. Or, if we discover one burned out star it's the signal of the end of the universe. Or, sneezing one time in a field of flowers means you're allergic to flowers. Or, well, I could go on, but you get the idea. C'mon guys, y'all can do better than that!

But Tom Delay is the BAD GUY...

2005-04-28T09:06:00.000-05:00

I, for one, am sick of the pomposity and arrogance of these high-and-mighty Liberal Congresspeople (there's my PC label for the day) who think their poo poo don't stink, when they're the ones who cause bathrooms to be evacuated after a mid-morning bowel movement. How dare these jerks-- yes JERKS-- sit on their cushy little thrones and degrade and belittle others with ridiculous accusations that they themselves are just as guilty of doing. Here's a sample of what I am so fumed about:

(I swiped this from www.gargaro.com)

CLINTON CONVICTS LIST (4TH EDITION)
Thanks to FreeRepublic for this information
Below is an updated list of Clinton-related friends, colleagues, associates, and related business entities, who have been convicted of crimes, updated through April 14, 1998. Forty names, and counting. The format of the list is that the names are allocated to the various investigative categories, with each individual/entity named and accompanied by a brief description of the relevant crime(s) and a source of the information.

VARIOUS ARKANSAS:

1) Roger Clinton: Bill Clinton brother; drug trafficking conviction (Wall Street Journal "The Foster Test" January 14, 1994)

2) Dan Lasater: governor Bill Clinton contributor and state contractor: drug trafficking conviction (Wall Street Journal "The Foster Test" January 14, 1994)

3) Dan Harmon: Arkansas Seventh Judicial District prosecuting attorney and Bill Clinton friend and political ally: five federal racketeering, extortion, and drug distribution convictions (Wall Street Journal "Arkansas Justice" June 13, 1997)

4) Bill McCuen: Bill Clinton political ally: former Arkansas Secretary of State; bribery, tax evasion, kickbacks convictions (Wall Street Journal: Whitewater: "The Prosecution Rests" May 7, 1996)

WHITEWATER:

5) Webster Hubbell: Bill Clinton friend and political ally; Hillary Clinton Rose Law Firm partner: embezzlement; fraud; two felony convictions (Wall Street Journal "Whither Whitewater?" October 18, 1995)

6) Jim Guy Tucker: fraud; three felony convictions (Wall Street Journal "Second-Term Stall" February 11, 1997; Associated Press "Tucker Pleads Guilty to Cable Fraud" February 20, 1998)

7) William J. Marks Sr.: Jim Guy Tucker business partner; one conspiracy conviction (Associated Press "Whitewater Defendant Pleads Guilty" August 28, 1997)

8) Jim McDougal: Bill and Hillary Clinton friend, banker, and political ally: eighteen felony convictions (Wall Street Journal "Immunize Hale" May 29, 1996)

9) Susan McDougal: Bill and Hillary Clinton friend; former wife of Jim McDougal: four felony convictions (Wall Street Journal "Immunize Hale" May 29, 1996)

10) David Hale: Bill and Hillary Clinton friend, banker, and political ally: two felony convictions of conspiracy and mail fraud (Wall Street Journal "The Arkansas Machine Strikes Back" March 19, 1996)

11) Chris Wade: Whitewater real estate broker; two felony convictions (Wall Street Journal "Hard Evidence From a Federal Investigator" August 10, 1995)

12) Stephen Smith: former Governor Clinton aide; one conviction (Wall Street Journal "Hard Evidence From a Federal Investigator" August 10, 1995)

13) Larry Kuca: Madison real estate agent; fraudulent loans (Wall Steet Journal "Hard Evidence From a Federal Investigator" August 10, 1995)

14) Robert Palmer: Madison appraiser; one conspiracy felony conviction (Wall Street Journal "Hale Predicts Hillary Conviction" October 21, 1996)

15) Neal Ainley: Perry County Bank president; embezzled bank funds for Clinton campaign; two misdemeanor convictions (Wall Street Journal "Arkansas Bank Shot" May 4, 1995)

16) John Latham: Madison Bank CEO; bank fraud conviction (Wall Street Journal "Smoke Without Fire" January 12, 1996)

17) John Haley: attorney for Jim Guy Tucker; misdemeanor guilty plea; tax fraud (Associated Press "Tucker Pleads Guilty to Cable Fraud" February 20, 1998)

18) Eugene Fitzhugh: Whitewater defendant, pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of trying to bribe David Hale; is appealing a ten month prison sentence (The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, "Whitewater Defendants" February 22, 1998)

19) Charles Matthews: Whitewater defendant, pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of bribery, served fourteen months of a sixteen month prison sentence (The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, "Whitewater Defendants" February 22, 1998)

ESPY:

20) Tyson Foods: guilty plea; $6 million federal court fines and investigative costs (Washington Post "Tyson Foods Admits Illegal Gifts to Espy" December 30, 1997)

21) Sun-Diamond Growers: $1.5 million fine for illegal campaign contributions to Espy's brother (Associated Press "A Look at Mike Espy Investigation" August 27, 1997)

22) Richard Douglas: former Sun-Diamond Growers official; several bribery convictions and guilty pleas(Washington Post "Tyson Foods Admits Illegal Gifts to Espy" December 30, 1997; Associated Press: "Lobbyist Pleads guilty in Espy Case" March 17, 1998)

23) James H. Lake: Sun-Diamond Growers lobbyist; three convictions regarding illegal campaign contributions to Espy's brother (Associated Press "A Look at Mike Espy Investigation" August 27, 1997)

24) Ron Blackley: Espy's chief of staff: financial fraud conviction; twenty-seven month prison sentence (Washington Post "Tyson Foods Admits Illegal Gifts to Espy" December 30, 1997; Associated Press: "Judge Sentences Espy Aide to Jail" March 18, 1998)

25) Smith Barney: improper payments to Espy; $1 million-plus fine (Associated Press: "A Look at Mike Espy Investigation" August 27, 1997)

26) Crop Growers Corporation: $2 million fine for money laundering to Henry Espy's campaign (Associated Press: "A Look at Mike Espy Investigation" August 27, 1997)

27) Brook Keith Mitchell Sr. (with his company Five M Farming Enterprises: four counts) for fraud (Associated Press: "A Look at Mike Espy Investigation" August 27, 1997)

28) Five M Farming Enterprises (with owner Brook Keith Mitchell: four counts) for fraud (Associated Press: "A Look at Mike Espy Investigation" August 27, 1997)

29) John J. Hemmingson, former head of Crop Growers Corporation: three counts relating to illegal campaign contributions to Henry Espy (Associated Press: "A Look at Mike Espy Investigation" August 27, 1997)

30) Alvarez T. Ferrouillet, Jr., Louisiana lawyer and Henry Espy campaign finance head: ten count conviction (Associated Press: "A Look at Mike Espy Investigation" August 27, 1997)

31) Municipal Healthcare Cooperative: Ferrouillet-related company; perjury, bank fraud, money laundering convictions (Washington Post: "Tyson Foods Admits Illegal Gifts to Espy" December 30, 1997)

32) Ferrouillet & Ferrouillet: Ferrouillet-related company; perjury, bank fraud, money laundering convictions (Washington Post: "Tyson Foods Admits Illegal Gifts to Espy" December 30, 1997)

CAMPAIGN FINANCE:

33) Michael Brown (Ron Brown's son): money laundering; misdemeanor conviction (Los Angeles Times, "Ron Brown's Son Pleads Guilty to Illegal Donation" August 29, 1997)

34) Eugene Lum: Clinton/Gore campaign contributor and colleague; felony conviction; money laundering (Los Angeles Times, "First Fund-Raising Sentences Meted Out" September 10, 1997)

35) Nora Lum: Clinton/Gore campaign contributor and colleague; felony conviction; money laundering (Los Angeles Times, "First Fund-Raising Sentences Meted Out" September 10, 1997)

36) Johnny Chung: Clinton/Gore campaign contributor and colleague; many visits to Clinton White House and Oval Office with mainland Chinese associates; several illegal campaign contributions, money laundering, tax fraud, and bank fraud guilty pleas (Associated Press: "Democrat Fund-Raiser Pleads Guilty" March 17, 1998)

37) Roger Tamraz: Clinton/Gore campaign contributor and colleague; many visits to Clinton White House and Oval Office; fugitive from Lebanon embezzlement convictions; target of French government financial investigation; BCCI connections (The Wall Street Journal: "Integrity of the Institutions" March 20, 1997, et. al.) CISNEROS:

38) Linda Jones: Henry Cisneros mistress; conspiracy, bank fraud, money laundering, and obstruction of justice federal felony guilty pleas; sentenced to three and one-half years in prison (Associated Press: "Cisneros Ex-Mistress Sentenced" March 25, 1998)

39) Patsy Jo Wooten: Linda Jones sister; one conspiracy guilty plea (Associated Press: "Cisneros Ex-Mistress Sentenced" March 25, 1998)

40) Allen Wooten: Linda Jones brother-in-law; one conspiracy guilty plea (Associated Press: "Cisneros Ex-Mistress Sentenced" March 25, 1998)

Happy Birthday, Ace Frehley!

2005-04-27T09:00:00.000-05:00

The bestest, most greatest lead guitarist of all-time, Ace Frehley (the former Space Man in the bestest band ever...KISS) turns 54 today.

Happy Birthday, Ace!

Rising Oil And Rising Tempers

2005-04-27T08:18:00.000-05:00

If you're like 99.9% of Americans out there, you are ticked when you see a higher number on the gas toteboard. It seems everyday the price of gas rises faster than the mercury in a thermometer on a Houston summer day. Who to blame for these rising prices? OPEC? Our government? Or, how about groups like Greenpeace and EarthFirst?

If you're like me, your first instinct is to blame OPEC for rising gas prices; after all, they control most of the oil in the world, and if they wanna raise prices, who's to stop them? What are your alternatives to their product? Ride a bike? That's fine if you live in, say, New York City, where most people neither have nor need a vehicle. But for those of us that live in a sprawling commuter metropolis such as Houston, with its combination of astronomical distances between A and B and stifling heat and humidity, refusing to buy gas is simply not a viable alternative-- unless one wants to ride a bike or walk 15 miles one way in 90+ degree temperatures in air so thick with moisture you can practically drink it. Yeah, showing up to the office looking like you just got back from the gym is REAL conducive to a successful career.

However, after reading an article in the Houston Chronicle on Monday, April 26, I have a new perspective on this seemingly hopeless situation with high fuel costs: Blame the environmentalists. Yes, those quacks at Greenpeace, EarthFirst, etc., are mostly to blame for our ills. Not that OPEC can't share a little blame, but let's consider this, according to Adel al-Jubeir, foreign affairs adviser to the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, who states in the Chronicle article: "'There is no shortage of crude oil in the world today... it will not make a difference if Saudi Arabia ships and extra... 2 million barrels... If you cannot refine it, it will not turn into gasoline..."

And why doesn't oil magically turn into gasoline? Well, Mother Nature didn't program it that way; it has to be REFINED. And where, boys and girls, is oil refined? Yes! In a REFINERY! But...

According to Hil Anderson, of the Washington Times, "no new refineries have been built in the United States since 1979..." and there are no plans in the works to build any anytime soon. Why?

Environmental regulations are strangling oil refining, making it gasp for air and almost suffocate from all the rules imposed upon it. In other words, these oppressive regulations are driving gas prices higher due to the increased difficulty of refining the "right" blend of gasoline. According to knowledgeproblem.com, "Petroleum refiners in the US must meet the EPA’s federal fuel oxygenate requirement from Title II of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, which mandates a 2% oxygen content in fuel in ozone non-attainment urban areas." We must also take into account the different "seasonal blends" that refineries are required to produce. What, you thought all gas was the same? Think again. Knowledge.com goes on to say that "...seasonal fragmentation... exacerbates the balkanization of fuel markets, because of the 40+ fuel formulations in effect." Summer mixtures of gas must meet more stringent environmental restrictions than winter. These requirements are like asking McDonald's to make hamburgers during the winter, and then turn around and offer steak in the summer; steak, of course, is more expensive than hamburger meat.

The EPA is also to blame. Take the their Tier 2 sulfur requirements, as published in their fact sheet regarding these new rules: "Beginning in 2004, the nation’s refiners and importers of gasoline will have the flexibility to manufacture gasoline with a range of sulfur levels as long as all of their production is capped at 300 parts per million (ppm) and their annual corporate average sulfur levels are 120 ppm." In other words, you can have any car you want-- as long as it's black.

Also to blame is the Not In My Backyard syndrome, or NIMBY. Who the heck wants a refinery behind their house? After all, they're ugly, they stink, and they make a lot of noise. What's the solution? We need to designate unsightly areas as refinery zones. What constitutes an "unsightly area?" Why, an ugly area! Let's not be politically correct here; some areas of this country are about as scenic as my armpit on an August afternoon spent working in my garden. I hereby nominate eastern Texas/western Lousiana for starters, plus the area around the Texas/New Mexico border near Clovis, New Mexico. Just thinking about these areas makes me feel unclean.

Sure, it's easy to blame the historically bad guys for the mess that is buying gasoline. But if you REALLY want to point fingers, look for those whose thumbs are a bit greener than the rest of us...

Usernames and Passwords

2005-04-20T09:48:00.000-05:00

Am I the only one who is just about to reach the boiling point? Am I the only one fed up with having to know 10 trillion different usernames and passwords to log-in to various accounts I have?

Aaaaargh!

Gotta Love The ACLU!

2005-04-19T09:54:00.000-05:00

From the Houston Chronicle:

"ACLU opposes voting bill
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

The ACLU of Texas held a press conference Monday to oppose a bill that would require voters to present both a photo ID, or other approved IDs, and a voter registration card before being allowed to vote. HB 1706 by Rep. Mary Denny, R-Aubrey, permits voters to cast a provisional ballot if unable to present adequate identification. HB 1706, which the ACLU labeled "clearly unconstitutional," is set for House debate today."

What a surprise! The ACLU opposes the requirement that VALID ID be shown to determine the direction of our country, our states, our cities, etc. How is requiring someone to provide a PROOF of LEGAL IDENTITY to VOTE a violation of Constitutional rights?

Are my rights being violated when I must present ID to rent a video at Blockbuster or Hollywood? Are my liberties threatened when I must provide proof of my person to conclude a credit card/check transaction? Of course not, but don't tell the morons in the ACLU that-- you might be labeled a racist or a xenophobe, for starters.

Some idiots claim the requirement will prevent/discourage the poor, minorities, and the disabled from voting. Excuse me? How is making a requirement to furnish IDENTIFICATION preventing ANYONE, except those who are trying to vote illegally, from voting?

Oh, wait! The Democratic party sees these downtrodden rule-breakers as potential votes! Historically, the poor/minorities/disabled have voted Democrat. It all makes sense now! I wonder if they (the ACLU or Democratic party) would feel the same if an affluent white man from the suburbs were asked to present ID at the voting booth and was denied voting privileges because he failed to produce proof of his person? Doubt it. Why? 'Cause affluent white men from the 'burbs traditionally vote Conservative/Republican.

You see, the ACLU is against this because illegal aliens frequently vote Democratic. Without that "base," the Democratic party is in jeopardy, as most people are voting Conservative (as evidenced by the last election in which MORE people voted than in any election previously.) And with an estimated 30 million illegals in this country, you're damn straight the ACLU (and some Liberals) want that voting bloc. Plain, simple, signed, sealed, and delivered.

It's a sad day when the ACLU holds more regard for illegal votes than legal votes. It's pathetic that one must possess a valid driver's license to operate a motor vehicle and present that identification to an officer if requested to do so, but ask the same of voters at the voting booth and the ACLU and some Liberals get into a tizzy.

Here, as presented in another Houston Chronicle article today, are some of the illogical arguments (the exact Chronicle text is in italics) presented by those opposed to the ID requirement:

"'As Texans we have the right, we have the responsibility, and as Texans we should be able to vote with our voter registration card,' said Ana Yanez-Correa, spokeswoman for the League of United Latin American Citizens."

Hey, Ana Hyphen-Latina: No one is saying anyone, who is legally able to vote, will not be able to vote. Got ID AND a voter registration card? Get on in the booth!

"This simply adds another layer of requirement, bureaucracy and red tape to that whole system," said Deece Eckstein, director of People for the American Way.

Oh, the horror! As if we don't have enough to keep track of already, we would now have to- gasp- make sure we have ID, something every LEGAL US citizen over 18 should have anyway! Aaaaargh! Now, if one was required to walk 10 feet on one's hands in order to vote, that might be a barrier to raise a fuss over.

Rep. Alma Allen, D-Houston, said the proposal conjures memories of poll taxes and tests meant to drive away minorities from polling places before the 1965 Voting Rights Act assured all Americans' ability to cast a ballot.

Uh, last I checked I, too, had to purchase a driver's license for the same $25 as every other driver in the state of Texas that is good for the same amount of time as everyone else (over 18)? Also, last time I checked a valid state ID was the same cost for everyone, irregardless of race, gender, etc.

Does anyone wonder WHY this country is becoming increasingly Conservative? With dolts like the ACLU, LULAC, and other acronym-identified Liberal organizations in your corner, should there be any doubt?

Ouch! The Pain Of Lethal Injection

2005-04-14T08:02:00.000-05:00

A story in today's Houston Chronicle claims that "(a)s many as four of every 10 prisoners put to death in the United States might receive inadequate anesthesia, causing them to remain conscious and experience blistering pain during a lethal injection."

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/topstory2/3133867

OH NO! A convicted, cold-blooded murderer feels pain during an injection? Please, say it ain't so! Someone, please, CALL THE ACLU!

This can't go on, and it must be stopped immediately. We can't have *angels* like Jose Medelllin (TDECU Death Row Inmate #999131), who helped kidnap, rape, beat, strangle, and murder Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pena during a gang initiation in the summer of '93, feel ANY discomfort when his punishment is meted out, now can we? Heaven forbid this young man feel any slight tinge of hurt after he brutally and savagely ended the lives of two young ladies whose only crime was being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I'm sure, however, these girls were made to be completely at-ease during the whole ordeal. I'm almost positive they faded away sans suffering or any kind of discomfort-- in fact, I bet it was downright pleasant!

According to the story, " 'I approached this as a physician,' said the study's lead author, Dr. Leonidas Koniaris, chairman of surgical oncology at the University of Miami. 'We were asking: Is there a possibility of awareness during an execution? Is there a large degree of pain and suffering associated with it? And I think the answer we found is yes.'"

Oh, the inhumanity!

I know I speak for the surviving family of such victims as Twila Busby, who was bludgeoned to death with a wooden axe handle by the choir-boy Henry Watkins Skinner (TDECU Death Row Inmate #999143), when I say that pain has no place in executing murderers. I know I also speak for the surviving family of Monsignor Watkins' other vicitms, Randolph Busby and Edwin Caler (who were each stabbed to death with a kitchen knife), when I say that any discomfort felt by the perpetrator is cruel and savage.

Are we no bettere than animals? Are we no more consciencious than the Nazis?

Dr. Koniaris goes on to say, "If that's the case, as a society we need to step back and ask whether we want to torture these people or not," he said." (For the record, Dr. Koniaris "does not oppose the death penalty," according to the article.)

Amen, brother! What we need to do is give these upstanding gentleman a nice, cozy recliner, a flat-screen plasma tv, and soothing music from, say, Beethoven, during their final moments.

As to how they arrive at the proverbial end of the road, I suggest we abolish the death penalty altogether- let's let these guys, these selfless charity workers, live out their final days reflecting on their crimes, as Nature takes its course- but in the utmost comfort.

Cat Fight

2005-04-13T10:56:00.000-05:00

So Wisconsians wanna be able to shoot ferrel cats? Fair enough.

I'm not a cat person, but I don't hate cats. I'm not a hunter, but I respect the right of others to do so.

But hunting cats? Wild cats? Makes sense to me.

In my 'hood (and it IS a 'hood), ferrel cats are everywhere-- on the sidewalk, on the tops of cars and trucks, on a/c units, on railings, etc. Not only are the cats lounging around the area, but their turds and pee do, as well. And if you've ever smelled cat tinkle on a hot, humid day (which is 95% of the time in Houston) or stepped in a pile of dung in the middle of the night, you know from where my ire originates. But not only do they leave their lovely trinkets of digestive throwaways, they drive my dog nuts. My 73 pound dog, who is very strong and has a low center of gravity, goes ballistic over the site of these wretched hobos with fur and whiskers.

I don't know if you've ever been deep sea fishing, but if you have you know how difficult it is to reel in a fish whose weight far supersedes those of your backyard pond variety. My dog is a hard catch, especially when he smells a kitty. I have the bulging muscles to prove the frequent battles fought between his need to chase a feline and my determination to keep him at bay.

Besides, cats are too much like the antithesis of the kind of personality toward which I gravitate. They are cold, independent (meaning that you giving them attention is more of a chore on their part for taking it than you giving it), and too quick to anger. They are ambivalent to any complement or sign of affection paid to them-- and 99.9% don't even know their dang name or, if they do, don't have the time nor the desire to acknowledge it when it is spoken.

Some people up yonder are scared that their precious little arrogant rock with fur and whiskers will be mistakenly shot. Huh? What the heck are your cats doing outside anyway? Cats, unlike dogs, don't need to go outside. (Except for my mom's cat; she goes outside. But then again, she is part of the .01% of cats that know their name.) Cats are perfectly content to stay inside, 24/7, 365 (366 during a Leap Year). I'm afraid the Prophets Of Doom are in the midst of a mass marketing campaign to frighten all cat owners to the *imminent* danger of bloodthirsty backwoods rednecks with double-barrel shotguns kicking down every door of every house in every neighborhood in search of a booty of Garfield's cousins.

I wonder what the bag limit will be...

All Good Things Must Come To An End...(?)

2005-04-08T07:51:00.000-05:00

Just yesterday, I announced my intent to refrain from posting the Liberal forum known as Irregular Times. I have been posting on this blue-stained site since November of last year.

Looking back, I see my time with that forum as representative of a life cycle in many respects. I'll explain: When I started posting, I was the "mad Conservative" who took no prisoners in my explanations of my positions. I called anyone and everyone out, without regard to how muddled or ridiculous my tone/expression was. In other words, I was a child.

Next, came the slight maturation in my posts, much akin to adolescence. I slowly began to see less and less harshness and criticism in my expressions, and slowly but surely a more refined approach to stating my position. Not that I didn't muck it up at times, but for the most part the sea was a bit calmer underneath my vessel.

After this "growing" stage, I was at a point where I was relaxed in my approach with disseminating my views. I felt a sense of confidence, knowing that what I said was what I meant and I was ready for hell and high water in return for making my stance known. And believe me, there was plenty of fire and brimstone as well as flood water waiting in the wings. Yes, adulthood had set in.

Finally, and this came all of a sudden, I decided I'd had enough. I simply had a feeling that it was time to bid them (the Irregulars) a final adieu. Call this stage what it is: death. My desire to post had wained, and my thoughts and focus were more toward my own personal endeavors.

What started out stemming from a Google search for the term "George Bush Is An Idiot" blossomed into a book idea ( a Conservative "living" among Liberals- any book publishers out there???), and culminated in a greater sense of what I stand for and what I believe in.

I'd like to thank MOST of the Irregulars:

J.Mattew: Somewhere, somehow, our spirits sat at a table in some bar and had a beer. Don't ask why I feel that way, but I do. You're a good guy. Good luck.

Peregrin Wood: I believe that I had a fist-fight with you as a child. You are the kid in school who never ceased to irritate me just by virtue of you being there and looking irritating. You are the kid I constantly daydreamed kicking your butt. But in the end, we would be thrown together by fate (maybe a class project or something) and be forced to work together. We may not have been the best of friends, but at least we (hypothetically) worked things out and agreed to disagree.

J.Clifford: Not much I can say about you other than I enjoyed your posts. To me, you always seemed to dwell in the shadows, contemplating your next post.

HareTrinity: From across the pond, we started out a bit hostile but ended up on civil terms in the end. Sort of reminiscent of the history of our two countries, eh?

Tracy: Nice young lady with whacky opinions! (hehe) Good luck in med school, and should our paths ever cross in a hospital, you have my permission to pull the plug on me.

Anyone named "Anonymous": You were all jerks with nothing more than blabbering juvenile diatribes directed at what you thought was your peer equal. Idiot. (And yes, I'm well aware that, at times, I inadvertently posted as such. Blah, blah, blah.)

Anyone who ever accused me of being sexist: Still waiting for you proof... Still waiting...

Anyone I missed: If I liked you, you knew it from my writing. If I didn't, you knew it from my writing.

Was yesterday's post my final post on Irregular Times? Maybe so, maybe not. Maybe what I need is a mental vacation; after all, putting yourself out there as the lone dissenting opinion DOES take a mental toll on you, I don't care who you are or how strong you THINK you are. As my dog Buster would say, "It's ruff!"

That aside, I guess I should spout the ol' cliche: Never Say Never. KISS had the "Farewell" tour-- the Love Gun still has some bullets in the chamber... Ozzy had the "Retirement Sucks" tour-- 'nuff said... And hey, Hell froze over for The Eagles...

Yep, never say never.

The Waiting Is The Hardest Part

2005-03-29T09:12:00.000-06:00

I've been lagging in my blogging duties lately. I'd apologize, but why should I? It's my blog, and I will write when I want to! Hmmph!

Anyway, I've decided to list some things I'm still waiting for, as of today:

1) A military draft
2) Government goons to show up at my door to make sure I'm a patriotic American
3) The ozone layer to expand and fry me alive
4) Liberals to admit that Bush is doing exactly WHAT HE SAID HE WOULD DO. Evidently,
Liberals have a problem with someone who actually sticks to his word...
5) OJ to find the real killers. Last I heard, he had ruled out all golf courses in Florida.
6) Alec Baldwin to move to Canada. (Oh, wait-- see #4 above. Silly me!)
7) "Air America" to be the bastion of free thought and salvation of the repressed Liberal
minority that it marketed itself as. Either the Liberals are still being repressed,
or the commentators suck. With ratings just under 2%, you draw your own conclusions.
8) A hybrid vehicle that doesn't look like a rejected Hot Wheels car.
9) That "devastating" hurricane that global warming has been purported to be causing
10)Antarctica to become a popular beach destination
11)A Star Wars prequel worth the admission price
12)Al Franken to just go away. Far away. REEEEEAAAAAL far away.
13)OPEC to admit that they have us by the you-know-what's and that they can charge
whatever they want, whenever they want, for however long they want, for whatever
REASON they want. After all, what the heck else our we gonna use to fuel our vehicles?
14)Bill Clinton to tell me what the definition of "is" is.
15)The religious brainwashing that Liberals are so convinced is happening in our public schools.
16)Peregrin Wood to accept my challenge pertaining to #15. Oh wait- again I'm reminded of
#4...

Still No Response

2005-03-21T12:30:00.000-06:00

As of today, no response from Peregrin Wood. Shame, I was hoping to show him the error of his faulted views on the "threat" of religion in public schools.

Maybe he saw the light- only in a metaphorical sense, of course. I certainly wouldn't want to offend Peregrin with any religious insinuation...

Interesting View Of The U.S.

2005-03-19T09:38:00.000-06:00

A fellow RateBeerian, cathcacr, posted an interesting summary of the current situation the U.S. finds itself in right now with the rest of the world (the ungrateful portion, that is):

www.ratebeer.com

Quoting in full, NOT MY WORDS, a post from Usenet:
> That is an evasion. You neither accept nor reject my assertion. And I
> am not blaming US for everything , only for being complicit in the rise
> of the Taliban. I am a great admirer of the US in general , by the way,
> and this critque is not from the leftist point of view.

I’ve heard it all before, for years now, from hundreds of people--we just don’t even listen anymore: "I love denim jeans and Coca-Cola, and I don’t even disapprove of your destruction of Hitler, I merely condemn [insert whatever the current or recent US action is]." And it’s *always* "I’m not a leftist, but the leftists have a point when they say [insert mindless leftist dogma]." "You have to look at 9/11 from the freedom fighters’ point of view." Etc. etc. Guess what? Your critique is full of shit. You’re saying that it is the United States’ fault that the Afghani people destroyed Afghanistan. You know what? It isn’t. For all x, when x destroys x, it is x’s fault that x destroys x. Next question. Be worried: people like you have driven us over the brink, and now we really *don’t* fucking care what happens in the rest of the world except insofar as it furthers our interests. A century of hectoring, whining and ingratitude, with 9/11 to cap it off, has made us mad, has made us change our tune. We have decided that we might as well be the big bad fucking monster, since that’s how we’ll be regarded anyway. Think I’m just some crank on Usenet? Yeah, me and millions others like me put someone just like me in the fucking White House. Now you and your whining billions will just have to deal with it. "

-end quote-

Interesting, is it not?

Good Heavens!

2005-03-18T15:06:00.000-06:00

A blogger on Irregular Times, Peregrin Wood, insists that the religous right is infecting the fragile minds of innocent school children through mandatory prayer, mandatory recognition of God and Jesus, and host of other nonsensical, hallucinatory allegations that are, I suppose, intended to rally the Liberal troops against the Evil Conservative Nazi Movement.

I think he's full of (slang term for poo poo).

I am a teacher.

I work in a public school.

I know what goes on in a public school, and I sure as hell know that delegating religion to school children is a no-no. I know that teachers have more (and better) things to worry about other than what religion Johnny is or isn't.

To put it frankly, most teachers could give a (slang term for poo poo) what religion their students are or aren't. I know I could care less.

We are adult professionals, Peregrin. We have more integrity than to worry over what school children do or don't do on Sundays.

Maybe it disturbs you, Perry, but not those of us with a life.

Bring it on.

Writer's Block

2005-03-16T09:21:00.000-06:00

I seem to be having an acute case of the phenomenon known as "writer's block." Ideas abound in my brain, yes, but they seem to be lost in transit somewhere along the path to my fingers... Maybe it has something to do with my heroin habit, which has resurfaced threefold since last week. I dunno.

Anyway, I've heard every remedy under the sun for this "disease," from the "just write it out" solution to the "stop writing for awhile" offering. I've even considered kicking the heroin habit, but then the shakes comeback after about 15 minutes and well, let's just say I'm not ready to go cold turkey just yet.

So, here I sit feeling like my brain is all full of useless mush (what other kind is there?) and I have nothing to say, nothing to argue, and even if I did, seemingly no way of expressing anything remotely coherent. Even my posts to Irregular Times , that bastion of liberal thought that I love to play around with, have suffered. Not that I ever offered anything earth shaking before, but now the soil seems especially sedentary. Perhaps this will pass; perhaps I am losing what little literary talent I had before this onset.

Then again, maybe I need to reprioritize my life. Maybe I need less technology and more nature. Maybe more time reading a book instead of a computer screen. After all, my life before the internet wasn't much different than my life now-- except I actually had to work to obtain information instead of a quick Google search on any topic I choose. Now, it seems because of this newfangled ability to retrieve information, I have become lackadaisical in my pursuit of knowledge- even slighty atttention deficit, if you will. (Gosh, I hate that term.) Maybe I never really had any ability at all to learn. Maybe I'm stupid after all.

Maybe this self-flagellation is good, maybe it's bad.

Maybe I need more sleep.

Maybe a deal with the Devil (it worked for Robert Johnson and Green Day, right? Well, at least the former had real talent to start with; the latter, well, let's just say there may have been some, ahem, *sexual* favors thrown into the deal. "American Idiot?" Look in the mirror, guys.)

Maybe I need to move West, like Colorado or Arizona or even the Texas Hill Country or Trans-Pecos region.

Maybe I need a new job. Anyone in the aforementioned areas hiring? Huh? Are you?

Time will tell, I s'pose.

I'm Back

2005-03-14T08:22:00.000-06:00

After a week on vacation, I return to my seat at the helm of truth (or at least my version of it). Just found out that Pat, from Brainster's Blog, has added me to his blog roll. Coool! Thanks, Pat!

I spent a week camping and hiking, without (more or less) a cell phone, a newspaper, a weather report, a television, and internet/email.

I didn't really miss any of them, to tell you the truth. I could've gone a lot longer without them. But, here in the real world, we all have bills to pay and a job to do. Maybe that is the function of a vacation-- to make one appreciate the simple things in life, to allow one to really prioritize the importance of enjoying what God has given us versus what society has bestowed upon us.

Maybe there IS something better than having the latest gadgets or the newest vehicle. Maybe in the end, all we really need is food, water, and a place to sleep at the end of the day.

MoveOn Should Do Just That

2005-03-02T14:40:00.000-06:00

MoveOn.org, an exercise in failure.

Millions of dollars raised, but Bush STILL got re-elected with MORE VOTES THAN ANY CANDIDATE IN HISTORY.
A candlelight vigil to stop a war with Iraq that STILL happened... and resulted in Saddam's overthrow from power AND the first free elections in years AND... oh well. You get the idea.

In Rolling Stone, MoveOn's twenty-four-year-old executive director, Eli Pariser, declared in an e-mail. "We bought it, we own it and we're going to take it back." BOUGHT IT??? And this organization condemns millionaires for "buying" the government? Can you say, "Hypocracy???"

Also, in the same Rolling Stone article: Tom Matzzie, MoveOn's twenty-nine-year-old Washington director, says the ads are aimed at the president, whom he bluntly calls a "son of a bitch."

Wow. That's REEEAL mature there, Matty boy!

MoveOn.org.

Please take your own advice...

Juveniles On Death Row

2005-03-02T09:03:00.000-06:00

The Supreme Court has once again let the American people down by denouncing the execution of people who committed murder as juveniles.

The case that constantly comes to mind is the Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pena case, where Peter Cantu, 19, and Derrick Sean O'Brien, 19, Joe Medellin, 19, and Raul Villarreal, 18, and Efrain Perez 17 (ages at the time of their crime) brutally raped, beat, and murdered these two INNOCENT girls whose only crime was picking the wrong shortcut home.

These animals lost all rights when they decided to commit this horrible and senseless act. A juvenile is no longer a juvenile when he or she decides to take another human life. Plain and simple.

I made a lot of mistakes as a kid (and as an adult); but I never made the decision to take another human's life. That separates me and millions of other innocent people from these s**theads.

I searched for these thugs' names on the internet to see what I could find. Two of them, Efrain and Raul, have "pen pal" websites that BEG for someone, ANYONE to write them. What a joke. These two pricks have the audacity to cry out for attention when their victims lie buried under the ground because of your deeds???

Funny how life behind bars isn't as glamorous as y'all thought it would be, eh boys? Now that Efrain and Raul are no longer on Death Row, they better be careful in the showers; might want to invest in some soap-on-a-rope...

My heart goes out to the families of Jennifer and Elizabeth; each day is a reminder that their precious girls are no longer able to laugh, learn, and love.

I sincerely hope each and every one those barbarians suffers to the nth degree for the rest of their putrid lives for taking away two beautiful and innocent girls.

A Little Bit O' Humor

2005-03-01T11:32:00.000-06:00

From Spacemonkey, at http://imao.us

Indicator You May Be Left Of Liberal By Spacemonkey
10. You never could throw your full support behind John Kerry once you found out his first name is found in the Bible, of all places.
9. One of the few reasons you couldn't bring yourself to assasinate the president is you'd have to actually buy a gun.
8. Your opinions and values carry more weight than those that oppose you, because you care.
7. To save money you bought an effigy of Bush made of asbestos. You later returned it when you realized 'the bush burned with fire, but the bush was not consumed.' is ALSO found in the Bible.
6. You believe the death penalty should be abolished...after it's applied to those that support it.
5. You believe that any news service that doesn't keep 'Bush is EV1L Incarnate' as its lead story is undeniably linked to a Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.
4. Four years later and you are STILL protesting outside the Broward County Courthouse for Gore-Lieberman 2000.
3. You have made a sign which you carry to every protest that just says 'NO!'. It's written in your own blood from when you carved 'I'm Sorry, World' on your forehead.
2. You acknowlege the 'Vast Right Wing Conspiracy' exists and is inherently evil but often lose sleep at night worrying there are smaller 'Widespread Right Wing Conspiracies' that need to be stamped out too and aren't getting the attention they deserve.

And the number one Indicator You May Be Left of Liberal....
1 You strongly believe cannibalism is wrong. Not because it takes a human life but because it's...meat.

Ask An Ye Shall Receive (A Response)

2005-02-28T13:06:00.000-06:00

On the infamous "Irregular Times.com" website, a couple of questions were posed directly to me regarding George Bush and the right-wing approach. These questions were asked by a somewhat frequent poster who goes by the handle "HareTrinity," and lives across the pond, I believe.

The questions are:

1) ... would you say that the Bush administration’s getting worse for your country?

2)... purely out of interest, what would you say the actual right-wing approach by them should be at the moment?

I'll answer the first question, uh, first:

No, I don't think the Bush Administration is bad for the country. I think what we have is a leader who has the balls to call out a problem, offer a solution, and solve the problem. We, as Americans, have become far to complacent and willing to accept the typical rants and raves of politicians (from both major parties) who are long on promise but short on action. I think this approach of Bush's, the "action AND words" approach scares people. People are wary of someone who, surprise!, does exactly what he says he will do. Bush said we must fight terrorism. BAM! We're fighting terrorism. Bush says we need to fix Social Security. BAM! He proposes a solution.

On a side note- many people say Social Security ain't in trouble, and that everyone should just take a valium and relax. Guess that makes Clinton and all his predecessors liars, eh?

Okay, back to the question. Bush is a leader in the truest sense of the word. He is not a "yes" man who simply shakes hands and smiles for the cameras. He is a strong person; hell, he has to be to take all the criticism heaped upon him EVERYDAY.

Do I agree with everything Bush has done? No, of course not. But Bush has outlined a course of action, and he has "stayed the course." I support him. I think he is the right man for the job at hand. I shudder to think what Kerry would have done to our country- he can't make up his damn mind half the time. We need a leader who follows through with promises, not changes his stance based on opinion polls. Bush is that leader.

QUESTION #2:

The correct approach by the right wing? Well, I believe the right-wing needs to go back to believing in less goverment. It seems lately the role between what Liberals feel about government's role in Americans lives should be and what Conservatives feel that role should be has switched. This concerns me. I support less intrusion by ANYONE in my personal life, especially the government. Reminds me of a sign I have stored in a box somewhere in my apartment, er, flat:

ANYONE WHO FEELS THEY CAN TRUST THE GOVERNMENT TO IMPROVE THEIR LIVES SHOULD TAKE A LOOK AT NATIVE AMERICANS.

I believe the right-wing approach has strayed from its original intent. Maybe that's because Republicans are now the controlling party in the U.S., and the old adage "Power corrupts" rings true in this instance.

I think the worst thing the right-wing could do is to cave in to wackos on the fringes of both parties. I think the right-wing needs to bring their platform more to a slightly right-of-center position.

All Teachers Left Behind

2005-02-24T09:12:00.000-06:00

Ah, the "NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND" bill...

As a teacher, I have first-hand knowledge of the intricacies of these bill, NCLB (pronounced “Nickleby” by my school district). I can attest that the intention behind the bill is a noble one, but the road this bill was built on is full of potholes.
The worst part of the bill, aside from the lack of funding, is the “highly qualified teacher” requirement. Let me explain.
For instance, Life Skills teachers (teachers that instruct mentally retarded students) get the worst of it. As some of you may know, a Life Skills student is FAR below grade level; a high school student in Life Skills may only be at a 3rd grade level, for example. Now, under “Nickleby,” the Life Skills teacher must be “highly qualified” at teaching math, reading, english, spelling, social studies, and science at the 3rd grade level. How does one become “highly qualified?” Well, one takes a competency test- not just ONE test, but a test FOR EACH SUBJECT. Mind you, this is a teacher that already has a Bachelor’s degree and is already certified to teach Special Education. But, no matter your experience (doesn’t matter if you’ve been teaching for 20 years), you have to shell out $75 per test to stay “highly qualified.”
But that’s not even the worst of it.
I spent 4 years working with Life Skills kids in a classroom, and I can tell you that 99% of the kids in any given classroom are on a different grade level. The Life Skills room I was in last year (at a junior high) had a student at a 3rd grade level, at a 4th grade level, at a pre-K level, at a 1st grade level, and a 5th grade level. Two others were considered “profoundly retarded,” which meant they were unable to move/think/react on their own.
Do the math. That’s a lot of competency tests. That’s a lot of money.
As an AB teacher (Adaptive Behavior- instruction for emotionally disturbed students), if I have to “self-contain” a student- that is- confine the student to my room for instruction- I become that student’s “teacher of record,” meaning- you guessed it- I must become “highly qualified” in each subject that student is in. Lord help me if I have to self-contain two or more students on different grade levels…
Now, this all goes into effect at the end of the 2005-2006 school year, so there is still time to work out the kinks. And work out the kinks the powers-that-be better, or there may be a major teacher shortage at that time.
Anyone out there in the private sector (particularly in the Denver area) hiring???
Comment by Kevin — 2/24/2005 @ 10:08 am

Politics, A Feisty Misstress

2005-02-18T12:26:00.000-06:00

On a site I regularly complain to, an article by a dude known as J.Matthew appeared today concerning some comments made by Britt Hume regarding FDR's intention to include private investments in Social Security. Some Democrats say that Hume deliberately truncated the actual speech to reflect his belief that FDR wanted to add private investment to Social Security. The article can be viewed here, along with my expert opinion:

http://irregulartimes.com/index.php/archives/2005/02/17/the-brit-hume-hullabaloo/#comments

In a nutshell, some Democrats are accusing Hume of lying, saying that "Roosevelt was not advocating that the present system of guaranteed Social Security benefits 'ought to ultimately be supplanted by self-supporting annuity plans.' Rather, he was proposing that both mandatory contributions and voluntary annuities would eventually eliminate the need for a different fund which was established to provide pension benefits to Americans who were already too old in 1935 to contribute payroll taxes to the Social Security system."

J.Matthew states that the very people who are accusing Hume of lying (and calling for him to be fired) are engaging in the same "clever truncation" that Hume is accused of doing. J. Matthew says, "Now here’s what Hume said:
In a written statement to Congress in 1935, Roosevelt said that any Social Security plans should include, “Voluntary contributory annuities, by which individual initiative can increase the annual amounts received in old age,” adding that government funding, 'ought to ultimately be supplanted by self-supporting annuity plans.' ”

J. Matthew is a self-professed liberal/progressive, but I won't hold that against him. Like me, he has occasional flashes of sanity- although his occasions probably outnumber mine 3 to 1. Nonetheless, this got me thinking about the sorry state of politics, how it has boiled down to nothing more than children argueing on a playground, engaging in pseudo-shoving matches, accusing each other of talking (slang term for poo poo) about them.

Ridiculous.

I am hereby advocating that, in the interest of progress, we the People place all of these whiny politicians, both Republican and Democrat, in a large stadium. Hey, the Astrodome in Houston isn't being used right now; let's do it there.

These cry-babies won't be allowed to see any light other than the artificial incandescent lights of the Astrodome until they reach an agreement on how to act civilized toward one another. I'm not saying they should be friends; just try to act civil.

It makes me sicker and sicker to my stomach with every "Republicans want this," or "Democrats want that," and so on and so forth. There will always be disagreements between political parties, and that won't change, nor am I advocating a complete cease fire.

But like I tell my Adaptive Behavior students when I give them the "Treating Others With Respect" lesson: Do YOU like it when others yell at you? Do YOU like it when others call you names?

To paraphrase the seat belt advocacy commercials, you could learn a lot from junior high students...

New Blog

2005-02-18T10:21:00.000-06:00

I have a new blog entitled "Tales Of The Deaf Mule." The title? A good buddy of mine, Ryan, once told me, while he and I and other of the "Male Bonders" were on Spring Break in Big Bend National Park, that I was "as blind as a deaf mule."

What does that mean? I dunno. One has to have a few Lone Stars in them to understand, I s'pose.

Anyway, it's an ongoing collection of bizarre stories and observations from the dark recesses of my putrid mind.

Tuck the kids into bed, turn out the lights, and have a hanky ready...

The State Of Music

2005-02-18T09:47:00.000-06:00

Music is one of the most powerful influences in our lives. It defines, to an extent, who we are, how we dress, and who we "hang out" with.

Remember back in the glory days of education when every school had the New Wavers, the Punks, the Metal Heads/Head Bangers, the Kickers (country music fans, for those of you not familiar with the term), and the Rappers? Remember that? We associated ourselves with peers who, for the most part, listened to the same stuff we ourselves did. Each group had its own set of social mores. For instance, the Punks were expected to wear torn-up jeans, and faded jean jacket with a sewn-on band design on the back, various band pens attached strategically on the front, hair spiked, etc. The New Wavers, on the other hand, were expected to wear predominantly black clothing- black shirts, black pants, etc. A "Wavers" hair was usually moussed (remember that stuff) to the max, going in all different directions. If possible, the Waver also looked as if the sun was as deadly to him/her as it would be to a vampire. Occasionally, an abundance of make-up was worn- by both sexes.

Those were the days, indeed. Music was UNIQUE; it had a purpose, whether or not one liked it. There was something there, something intangible and indefinable- talent, maybe?

Fast forward to the early 90's. Hair metal was king, rap was on the rise, and brush poppers were running rampant. It was a time of confusion, a time of uncertainty. Where was music headed? Talent pools from rock and country, as well as New Wave, were slowly drying up, as if they were transferred from the tropics of Florida to the deserts of Arizona.

Then, the bomb dropped, and this bomb was not an A-bomb. It was an N-bomb, as in Nirvana.

Everywhere one turned, teen spirit stunk up the airwaves. It was unavoidable, and perhaps inevitable. Backlash from the hormone-infested hair bands and squeaky-clean pop princes and princesses. A voice was seemingly given to the kids who DIDN'T cheer at the pep rallies... the ones who stood silent beside the bleachers. With the lights out, it was, indeed, less dangerous.

But, like the government says, why build one when you can build two? Clones of this new "grunge" style popped up overnight, armed with flannel shirts, ripped jeans, Doc Martens, and guitars that sounded like they had been removed from the lint bin of a dryer. Some were talented- Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, Stone Temple Pilots. Some were not- Silverchair, Everclear, Cracker, etc.

And, like the cliche says, too much of a good thing is too much. It seemed grunge faded faster in favor than any other form of music (except for electronica, but that was never very popular to begin with... I remember MTV touting it as the "new thing" in '96... by the begining of '97 what little electronica there was out there faded, mercifully, back to the shadows) in recent memory. Perhaps this was due to its enema-like emotional outpouring. Lyrics that brooded on and on about how crappy life was, and about how much pain these people had in their lives. Perhaps it was due to the increasing attention deficit of our times. Perhaps it was because the crappy bands outweighed the good. Perhaps Clear Channel Entertainment really is Satan.

Now, here we are. Stuck in quagmire of rap, garage wannabe's (The Strokes, The Vines- you name your own "The {blank} band), pop stars that masquerade as punk bands (Good Charlotte, New Found Glory, etc. Remember, boys- those tattoos are permanent!), and Usher.

Music is on life support. Music has a terminal case of suckititis. How else does one explain that, at least at the junior high I teach, most of the kids who wear band shirts are wearing Pink Floyd? Led Zeppelin? AC/DC? Ozzy? You know, the bands WE grew up with? Why? Because music now sucks. It sucks really bad.

Is there a doctor in the house?