Palm Sunday

Since today is Palm Sunday, I'll start the blogging today with some first graders who are ready to wave their palms.

Thieves!

Matt Margolis at GOP Bloggers gives us this information. Average tax increases under the Democrats' budget:

115 million taxpayers: $1,795
83 million women: $2,068
48 million married couples: $2,899
42 million families with children: $2,181
12 million single women with children: $1,082
17 million seniors: $2,270
26 million small business owners: $3,960

It Makes Me Want To Huff and Puff And Blow Down A Wall!

Now we cannot tell our children the story of theThree Little Pigs because it might offend some Muslims?
Via Blonde Sagacity

These Are The People In Charge of Our Congress?

How do you pass or enforce something that you can't even explain? So asks the questioner from CNN.
Via The Belmont Club

Forsythia Brightens My Day

Although it was not a typically bright Colorado day, the forsythia can be counted on to reassure us that brighter days are ahead!

Kim, Jazz, Shauna,Blackberry, Emma, and Sammy

These are the six Lhasa Apso pups who will be four weeks old on Sunday. Our kids take care of them and sell them for about 350 dollars each, so it is a nice way for the kids to get some spending money. We usually find that there is a bigger demand for females, so this litter should go fast, with five of the six being females.

Fluffy Takes A Break

This is Fluffy, our dedicated mama of six Lhasa Apso puppies who are now four weeks old. When she saw me going out to take a picture of the violas, she inquired as to whether she would be invited to join me. Of course!

Violas Victorious Over The Snow!

Spring Break!

Viola, Violas, Snow, and Yogurt

Today I wanted to post some photos of violas, which have been blooming beautifully this spring. The weatherman had different ideas, and covered the violas with a few inches of fresh snow. So I came back inside where I saw Viola, our foster daughter, happily eating a bowl of yogurt. There is nothing better than dipping your whole face and front bangs into a big bowl of yogurt. So, I had my picture of Viola, but not a very good one of violas.

It has been wonderful to watch Viola thrive. When she came to us in June she cried a lot and refused to try anything new. Now she happily jets around puttering here and there, just like her foster dad. There is a court hearing April 23 to plan for her future. We are considering adopting her, and so is a cousin who is a single mom of a terrific ten-year-old girl. The hearing to consider termination of parental rights is scheduled in June.


I have been inspired to post photos, because I have recently found a wonderful blog called A Work in Progress. Julie C posts vivid photos of animals and flowers there, as well as her own wonderful watercolors.

The True Hero of Britain's Anti-slavery Movement

MizzE at the Gobsmacked Again blog brings to our attention an article in The Mail. It seems that Thomas Clarkson, not William Wilberforce, was the passionate driving force behind Britain's abolitionist movement. If you do not know what I am talking about, go see the movie Amazing Grace, but keep in mind that the truth is that Mr. Clarkson was the one who should be remembered as the foremost champion of the anti-slavery movement that ended the slave trade in Britain.

Is Motherhood No Longer Valued?

Real Clear Politics brings us an article by David Warren in the Ottawa Citizen entitled, "What Happened to Motherhood?" Warren notes that

the idea that motherhood could be at the centre of a woman's being -- that being a mother was an honourable and even glorious condition -- began passing out of the culture

when contraception became popularized and normalized in the 1960s. Warren asserts that

The idea that a woman is "fulfilled" through her children; that her achievement in the world lives on through them, and through their children; that she is worthy of honour as mistress of home and family -- all that has passed.

Warren believes that

This ancient assumption was replaced by the notion that a woman exists to seek personal fulfilment, in and of herself. By the 1970s, when abortions were running at hundred-thousands each year in this country alone, children had become "an option". And moreover, an option that was likely to get in the way of the woman's career, by reducing her competitiveness with men. The emotional insecurities (or more positively, "maternal qualities") that are peculiar to being a woman, founded in nature by concern for the fate of her children, needed suppressing for her to get ahead.

If there is any truth to this assertion, then we really are in big trouble. I am blessed to live with a woman who loves being a mother, loves being a wife, and is a professional who encourages other moms and dads. She holds a place of honor in our family, and always will.

Innocent Victims, or Did They Get What They Had Coming to Them?

The Rocky Mountain News today has a story about a teacher who put scotch tape on a second grade boy who was whistling in class and presumably would not stop when asked. The same teacher also scotch taped the mouth of a second boy, who was laughing about the first incident. The boys were taped for about ten minutes. The second boy's mother portrays him as a victim, and just wants her son to be "the same old DeUndre." It seems that the incident has affected seven-year-old DeUndre in that he does not eat as well, doesn't seem to want to play with his two older siblings, and cries more often. DeUndre's mother did not want to give her last name, but also did not mind posing for this picture with her son.

What do you think? Is this a case of inappropriate humiliation and traumatization of innocent victims, or do we applaud the teacher for giving the boys consequences for their inappropriate conduct?

Photo by Steven R. Nickerson of the Rocky Mountain News

Al Qaeda: The Epitomy of Male Chauvenist Pigs?

Leave it to Al Qaeda in Iraq. They have issued the following rules governing women drivers in Iraq: "The driver will not be younger than 30 years of age.

"[She may drive only] with the consent of her guardian.

"She must have a license from the Women's Driving Education Center.

"She must dress modestly, without [jewelry or makeup].

"She may drive only in the city… not in the suburbs or in rural areas.

"Women may drive only Saturday to Wednesday, 7 AM-8 PM, and Thursday and Friday, 12 PM-8 PM.

"The driver must carry a [mobile] phone in case of emergency.

"In case of problems or a malfunction in the vehicle, she must call the Women's Traffic Center.

"Upon receiving her license, [the driver will] pay a predetermined sum… [entitling her] to auto repair [services]…

"A Women's Traffic Department will be established…

"There will be Women's Traffic Centers in various parts of the city, supervised by senior clerics…

"A [woman's] driver's license is subject to annual renewal…

"[If a woman commits a traffic violation], the representative of the [general] Traffic [department] will contact the Women's Traffic [Department, whose employees will be the only ones authorized] to write her a ticket or to communicate with her at all.

"Anyone violating these rules will be punished, without exception, since any violation offends the [women's] honor and jeopardizes state security.

"Penalties:

"Anyone talking to a woman driver will be sentenced to no less than one month in prison and will be fined; anyone found guilty of pestering, teasing, or pursuing a woman driver will be sentenced to no less than eight months in prison and will be fined…

"If a woman driver is found guilty of immoral or illegal conduct, she will incur the following penalties: on the first offense, her license will be revoked for no less than six months; she will be fined 500-1,000 riyals; she will submit a guarantee to the Women's Traffic [Department] promising never to repeat the offense, and her guardian will receive official notification of the offense."

Thanks to MEMRI

The Origins of Pathology

There is a psychologist in the blogosphere who really has profound things to say. He goes by the name of Gagdad Bob on the blog named One Cosmos. I really need to stop by his place daily.

For example, today he talks about a person who was

not safely ushered into the human community by benign parental objects, but was excessively frustrated or traumatized, leaving them deeply alienated and cynical.

That so accurately describes the two little two-year-old foster boys we have taken in to our home in the last few years. Most psychologists have no idea what Bob is talking about, and the leftist attorneys and social workers who are the guardians of the child welfare system surely do not have a clue.

First, he will spend his life "in search of the lost entitlement." This is because there is a time in our lives when we are entitled to the ministrations of omnipotently powerful caretakers who indulge our every whim. This period of time is called "infancy," and it is entirely appropriate that the infant should be granted this largesse, because it becomes the very foundation of the personality. All of us have a "foreground" self, but it is superimposed on an unconscious "background object" of infancy.

In fact, the word "object" is misleading, for the proper phrase would be something along the lines of "the background subject of primary maternal identification," coined by Dr. Grotstein. If you have ever wondered about the "dream substance" in which your self exists, this is it. This is why it is such a challenge to raise a baby, because this is precisely what good parents are trying to provide the baby -- not just food, warmth, and love, but a loving, predictable and "containing" psychic environment that the baby internalizes.

Importantly, the baby must do this in such a way that he believes that he himself is the creator of this benign psychic universe. A baby really does need to believe that his cries magically convert hunger into food, or fear into soothing, or psychic fragmentation into containment. In the mind of the omnipotent baby, he creates the parents, not vice versa. How could it be otherwise?

In other words, in the normal course of events, we are all born of magic. Only later are we gradually dis-illusioned to discover what is called the "reality principle." This means, paradoxically, that the psyche of a normal person rests on a foundation of benign magic. He lives in a trustworthy universe in which he is confident that his needs will be met, in which he can find love and give love in return, and where he can enjoy a generative creativity in the magical "transitional space" between brain and world.

For it is within this transitional space that the thing we call "reality" occurs. This is why there are so many arguments over what constitutes reality, for it really depends upon the nature of your transitional space. A generative person will see one thing, whereas a person whose transitional space has been foreclosed by trauma or disappointment will experience something entirely different.

That's Swell!

Do You Think Maybe We Have Been Brainwashed By The Media?

Would you be surprised if the U.S. Military had lost more troops during the Clinton presidency than under Bush? Gateway Pundit provides us with this graph.

Subhuman, Ruthless Killers in Iraq

The ruthless killers in Iraq are using children as decoys. The latest example saw the adults be allowed to travel through the checkpoint because children were in the backseat. The bastards then parked their car, opened the doors and fled, while the children were in the backseat as the carbomb detonated. On another occasion the carbomber sped into a crowd of children who were being given candy by our soldiers.
Via Greyhawk

Scientists Warn of Cannibis Time Bomb

If you smoke pot, you double your chances of developing mental illness. One in four new cases of schizophrenia are triggered by smoking cannibis. Regular users of marijuana are six times more likely to develop schizophrenia. Because there has been an increase in cannibis use, scientists expect an increase in mental illnesses.

Michael Moore's Fraud

The Daily Gut is one of many blogs covering the latest uncovering of the fraud that is the film work of Michael Moore.

"As documentary filmmakers, Debbie Melnyk and Rick Caine looked up to Michael Moore.

Then they tried to do a documentary of their own about him - and ran into the same sort of resistance Moore himself famously faces in his own films.

The result is "Manufacturing Dissent," which turns the camera on the confrontational documentarian and examines some of his methods. Among their revelations in the movie, which had its world premiere Saturday night at the South by Southwest film festival: That Moore actually did speak with then-General Motors chairman Roger Smith, the evasive subject of his 1989 debut "Roger & Me," but chose to withhold that footage from the final cut...

The fact that Moore spoke with Smith, including a lengthy question-and-answer exchange during a May 1987 GM shareholders meeting, first was reported in a Premiere magazine article three years later. Transcripts of the discussion had been leaked to the magazine, and a clip of the meeting appeared in "Manufacturing Dissent." Moore also reportedly interviewed Smith on camera in January 1988 at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York.

Since then, in the years since "Roger & Me" put Moore on the map, those details seem to have been suppressed and forgotten.
As documentary filmmakers, Debbie Melnyk and Rick Caine looked up to Michael Moore.

Then they tried to do a documentary of their own about him - and ran into the same sort of resistance Moore himself famously faces in his own films.

The result is "Manufacturing Dissent," which turns the camera on the confrontational documentarian and examines some of his methods. Among their revelations in the movie, which had its world premiere Saturday night at the South by Southwest film festival: That Moore actually did speak with then-General Motors chairman Roger Smith, the evasive subject of his 1989 debut "Roger & Me," but chose to withhold that footage from the final cut...

The fact that Moore spoke with Smith, including a lengthy question-and-answer exchange during a May 1987 GM shareholders meeting, first was reported in a Premiere magazine article three years later. Transcripts of the discussion had been leaked to the magazine, and a clip of the meeting appeared in "Manufacturing Dissent." Moore also reportedly interviewed Smith on camera in January 1988 at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York.

Since then, in the years since "Roger & Me" put Moore on the map, those details seem to have been suppressed and forgotten."

Soros Buys Haliburton Stock!

I know I am behind in catching up on the news, but did you hear? George Soros, the number one financial backer of the Democrats, purchased over sixty million dollars worth of Haliburton stock at the end of last year! I can't wait to hear his explanation! The stock purchase was revealed by the blog of Foreign Policy Magazine, FP Passport, which is reason enough to add it to my blogroll!

A Long, Quiet Nap!

It has been an especially busy day at our house. We have made a bid on a house with a horse barn and some land, and we will hear tomorrow as to whether or not our bid has been accepted. So, we are busy getting our present house ready to rent. Time passed quickly, and finally Colleen asked if our two-year-old foster son had gotten up from his nap yet. We looked at our clock and realized he had been napping for four hours! So we went up to his room. All was quiet. We opened the door, and there he was, practicing his new skill: quietly spreading his feces all over the carpet, walls, and his toys. That will be the last room we show to prospective renters! And it will be the last time we forget to check on him when he is taking an unusually long nap!

Quick, Sign My Petition Now! Ban This Stuff! It's Everywhere!

Via Pajamas Media

Rube Goldberg 2008

Click Here for more great videos and pictures!
Via Pajamas Media

It Is All Relative

Our five-year-old said to my wife today, "Mom, what are you going to do about the fact that you are turning forty-five tomorrow?" She replied, "Well, son, I guess I will just cope the best that I can!" Of course, then I immediately chimed in with, "I'd be happy to be only forty-five tomorrow! But I would have to subtract twenty-one years in order to get there!"

Can I help it if it took me twenty-one years to reach a level of maturity such that my wife would consider taking me on as an equal partner?

And I will do everything possible to make her birthday a really positive day she will look back on with fond and happy memories.

Child Abuse: The Eternal Excuse For Everything We Choose To Do?

One of the big stories in the Denver area at present is a recent murder of a woman. Her own teen daughter is a suspect. Of course the liberal columnist Diane Carmen for the Denver Post has already decided that the true victim here is not the murdered woman, but the teen. Now that she is dead, the woman can obviously not defend herself against charges that she was an alcoholic. But, of course, the columnist was able to find a forensic psychologist and defense attorney who say that these murder cases are always really about child abuse that was missed by child protection workers.

What, no child has ever grown up in a family where one or more of the parents were alcoholics? Murdering her mother was her only option? When children grow up with alcoholic parents or especially stepparents, they may entertain fantasy thoughts of murder, especially if they see such fantasies acted out on televison shows and movies. But, fantasizing and actually doing it are two very different things, one would hope. More likely, the child decides, "I don't want to be like that when I am an adult!" Granted, it may take that child a little longer to mature, to handle adversity without taking it out on others or oneself. And, sadly, it often happens that the child grows up to make the same choices or worse choices as the parent who abused her! The point is that it is a choice!

How about talking about children who somehow get the idea that whatever they want should be given them? That they should not have to follow any rules, do any chores, handle any responsibilities? I dare say that phenomenon is at least as common as child abuse not dealt with by the system.

Whether they want to or not, parents have to be leaders, and children have to be followers. Being a true leader for your child means correcting your child when they develop erroneous ideas that the world owes them, that they have "rights" to watch whatever televison program they want, or go anywhere they choose to go with whomever they choose to go with. It means risking that your child may get angry at you when you calmly assert yourself as parent, as the one who sets limits and provides structure for the child. Children must be expected to obey reasonable limits, and they must be given consequences when they disobey. Parents must have zero tolerance for disrespect and disobedience. Don't smile and say "Oh, he's all boy," or "She just has a mind of her own."

Renigging on that responsibility is what I see the modern parent doing all too often. And the longer that goes on, the more likely you are to have a child who grows up and feels entitled to act out her anger in whatever way she wants, especially toward a stepparent who dares assert herself as a parent and hold the child accountable.

Speaking Truth to Power

Feminist Protest Gender Apartheid
Uploaded by kzkz

Some very brave Iranian women in a 2005 protest of the Iranian system of gender apartheid. Via Roger L. Simon

Bumper Stickers

If you can read this, thank a teacher.
If you can read it in English, thank a soldier.

To err is human, to forgive divine.
Neither of which is the policy of the US Marine Corps
Via Jonah Goldberg at The Corner

Bushes, Clintons, Kennedys: One Big Happy Royal Family?

Did you hear President Bush in Mexico praising Teddy Kennedy as "one of the best legislative Senators there is?" Our President never sounded more pitiful, more ignorant, more weak. I am deeply saddened and disappointed. Meanwhile, back at the ranch in D.C., Senator Bighead was blasting away at the President of the United States, no doubt pleasing his supporters among the anti-American left. Then, of course, we have Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush happily traveling the world together. It is just one big happy royal family!

Yuppies Versus Rednecks

Our Redneck neighbors have had a tough time of it lately. First, the Yuppie neighbors behind them sued them because they had about a dozen cars blocking the Yuppies' views of the mountains. The Yuppies took them for every last penny. Now the Rednecks are in foreclosure. They were supposed to move out in February, but no one from the city ever came out to make them move, so they are still there. Mr. Redneck's plan is to travel from Walmart parking lot to Walmart parking lot in his newly purchased mobile home. There is one small problem: the Yuppies have strategically placed boulders all around the mobile home, so Mr. Redneck cannot get the mobile home out! Stay tuned.

I wonder if the Yuppies realize that the Rednecks have a pet rattlesnake.

U.S. Military Forward Force Protection!

Via Flight Deck

Move It!

Via Flight Deck

Pump It!

Via Flight Deck

Need Help Getting Going Today?

Via The Flight Deck

Our Lives Are Sacred

The following was sent to me from my stepson in an email. I am sorry that I do not know to whom to attribute it. But my stepson wanted me to post it on my blog, and I am happy that he is thinking about such things.

Mommy
I am only 4 inches long
but I have all my organs.
I love the sound of your voice.
The sound of your heart beat
is my favorite lullaby.



Month Two

Mommy
today I learned how to suck my thumb.
If you could see me
you could definitely tell that I am a baby.
I'm not big enough to survive outside my home though.
It is so nice and warm in here.





Month Three

You know what Mommy
I'm a boy!!
I hope that makes you happy.
I always want you to be happy.
I don't like it when you cry.
You sound so sad.
It makes me sad too
and I cry with you even though
you can't hear me.




Month Four

Mommy
my hair is starting to grow.
It is very short and fine
but I will have a lot of it.
I spend a lot of my time exercising.
I can turn my head and curl my fingers and toes
and stretch my arms and legs.
I am becoming quite good at it too.




Month Five

You went to the doctor today.
Mommy, he lied to you.
He said that I'm not a baby.
I am a baby Mommy, your baby.
I think and feel.
Mommy, what's abortion?




Month Six


I can hear that doctor again.
I don't like him.
He seems cold and heartless.
Something is intruding my home.
The doctor called it a needle.
Mommy what is it? It burns!
Please make him stop!
I can't get away from it!
Mommy! HELP me!



Month Seven


Mommy
I am okay.
I am in Jesus's arms.
He is holding me.
He told me about abortion.
Why didn't you want me Mommy?



Every Abortion Is Just . . .



One more heart that was stopped.
Two more eyes that will never see.
Two more hands that will never touch.
Two more legs that will never run.
One more mouth that will never speak.

"Still, if you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than live as slaves.

Winston Churchill

Newt Gingrich on America Becoming a Serious Country Again

Via THIRDWAVEDAVE

Need to Protect Your Cash?

What won't they think of next? Just as the Democrats want to put Congressman William Jefferson on the Homeland Security Committee, a new product hits the market. Remember Congressman Jefferson? He's the guy who had $90,000 in very cold cash hidden in a freezer in his house.
Via FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog

America Is At The Mall

Gay Patriot posted this photo. I think it is accurate, as well as thought-provoking. What do you think?

Ms. Potty Mouth Runs For President

Maggie's Farm has a compilation of quotes straight from the potty mouth of Hillary Clinton. Very Nixonian!

Do-Gooder Legislation

Have you recently tried to purchase Sudafed or Claritin D? Well, then you know the procedure. You must go humiliate yourself back at the pharmacy counter: show your picture I.D., give your address, and prepare to have all your purchases of psuedophedrine documented for at least two years!

Who sponsored this do-gooder legislation that so eggregiously violates the privacy of cold and allergy sufferers? Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Joseph Biden, to name just a few presidential contenders. Why? Ostensibly to stem the flow of methamphetamine production. Have they succeeded?

Well, apparently the U.S. production has been hampered, but guess what? The Mexican drug cartels now control 80 percent of the U.S. market! They produce it consistently and dependably for their U.S. distributors, and bring it across the porous border along with the humans they smuggle in to the U.S. Meth use is up, especially "ice," which can be smoked. Thanks Barack! Thanks Hillary! Thanks Joe! We will remember you as we sneeze our way to the polls in 08!
Via Bridget Johnson's article in the Los Angeles Daily News updated February 3, 2007 in the Salt Lake Tribune entitled

Pseudophedrine Restrictions A Boon To Mexican Cartels

thanks also to Instapundit and Reason Magazine. Sorry, Blogger is not allowing me to link tonight.

More "Wasted Lives"

John McCain, playing to the Letterman crowd, has joined Barack Obama in using the term "wasted lives" to describe the American soldiers who have died fighting terrorists in Iraq. I will be sure to remember that when I participate in the caucus and Republican primary next year. I will also remember McCain as the person who co-authored the legislation that forbids me from paying for an ad criticizing a member of Congress within 60 days of an election. I will also remember him as the man who joined Teddy Kennedy in sponsoring legislation ensuring the continuation of a porous, weak, insecure border with Mexico and a steady supply of cheap labor for those employers who do not want to pay Americans a living wage.
Via Riehl World View

Steven Levitt: The Freakonomics of Inner-City Gangs

Via Classical Values

"Tonight, Tonight, Won't Be Just Any Night"

Tonight is Al Gore's night. Also nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, tonight he may win an Oscar for his slide show about global warming. As he flies around the world spewing carbons from his private jet, he has become a rock star to the left and gullible college students. He plans on simultaneous rock concerts on all seven continents with one hundred of the world's most popular musical acts this summer. What do you want to bet that he will not be the one in Antarctica?

Today's Washington Post notes that he

has attended premiers in Edinburgh, Helsinki, Oslo, Stockholm, Sydney, Hong Kong, Amsterdam, Zurich, Brussels, Berlin and Tokyo. In France, he not only attended the film opening, but presented his 90 minute Apple Keynote lecture to the National Assembly. He did the slide show at the United Nations, the American Geophysical Union, and before conservative activist Grover Norquist's regular Wednesday meeting.

Although none of the stars have yet sold their Malibu mansions to escape the rising ocean, I predict they will honor Mr. Gore tonight with an Oscar.

While I am driving around Denver in my Chevy Metro, one hand on my wallet, I will give thanks for Al Gore. I am especially thankful that he is not President of the United States. Even though he is obnoxiously boorish, he has managed to find a real niche for himself, and has become immensely popular. My prediction is that he will enter the Presidential fray after his rock concerts this summer, and after Hillary and Bill finally self-destruct. If he is elected President, then the world truly will be faced with a nightmarish catastrophe.

Update via Instapundit:
AN INCONVENIENT UTILITY BILL: "Gore’s mansion, located in the posh Belle Meade area of Nashville, consumes more electricity every month than the average American household uses in an entire year, according to the Nashville Electric Service (NES). . . . The average household in America consumes 10,656 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year, according to the Department of Energy. In 2006, Gore devoured nearly 221,000 kWh—more than 20 times the national average. Last August alone, Gore burned through 22,619 kWh—guzzling more than twice the electricity in one month than an average American family uses in an entire year. As a result of his energy consumption, Gore’s average monthly electric bill topped $1,359."

Update Two:

The 4,000-square-foot house is a model of environmental rectitude. Geothermal heat pumps located in a central closet circulate water through pipes buried 300 feet deep in the ground where the temperature is a constant 67 degrees; the water heats the house in the winter and cools it in the summer. Systems such as the one in this "eco-friendly" dwelling use about 25% of the electricity that traditional heating and cooling systems utilize. A 25,000-gallon underground cistern collects rainwater gathered from roof runs; wastewater from sinks, toilets and showers goes into underground purifying tanks and is also funneled into the cistern. The water from the cistern is used to irrigate the landscaping surrounding the four-bedroom home. Plants and flowers native to the high prairie area blend the structure into the surrounding ecosystem.

No, this is not the home of some eccentrically wealthy eco-freak trying to shame his fellow citizens into following the pristineness of his self-righteous example.... This is President George W. Bush's "Texas White House" outside the small town of Crawford." (Common Dreams)

Who Voted For These People?

Via Blue Star Chronicles

So, Could You Please Repeat Those Instructions?

I identify with the guy in this video, because this is how I feel when I try to learn some new computer technology. What would we do without those help desk guys and gals?
Via Boing Boing

What Would Happen If Hollywood Made A Cartoon Depicting Islamofascists Negatively?

Boing Boing brings us an old Disney cartoon about Hitler and the Nazis. Is Hollywood coming up with similar cartoons for today's Nazis, the Islamofascists? Watch Disney's cartoon here.

Rush and Ann: Too Good To Be True?

Just watching this video gave me a peaceful feeling. Wouldn't it be fantastic if it were really true?

$1.1 Trillion Dollars a Year!

BizzyBlog has today's best quote. According to a recent study conducted for the Small Business Administration, federal regulations are a hidden tax on the American consumers and economy to the tune of $1.1 trillion dollars a year. That is about the same as the federal government collects in income taxes every year.

The Nays Have It

Via Flopping Aces

They Are Getting It!

Via Flopping Aces

This Says It All

Via Flopping Aces

"Wasted Lives?

Senator Barack Obama, the "articulate" Democrat, really blew it on his first day of campaigning after announcing his candidacy for the office of the President of the USA. Saying that the three thousand U.S. soldiers who have died in the cause of freedom had "wasted" their lives, Obama revealed that he is unfit to be considered as a serious candidate. These soldiers who have volunteered to protect us by fighting the terrorists in Iraq have died in the most unselfish manner: giving their lives so that others may live free. Not.Ready.For.Prime.Time.

Forget Corn, Plant Prairie Grass!

The Futurist has an amazing story about how the lowly termite may possess the answer to our dependence on foreign oil, greenhouse gas emissions, and the trade deficit! The post points out that

a termite's ability to digest wood is due to certain microbes in the digestive tract, which contain a gene that can be extracted and harnessed into processes to create cellulostic ethanol out of agricultural waste for a fraction of the current cost.

He's Not As Dumb As He Looks!

ABC is reporting that Al-Sadr has fled Iraq to Tehran! This is fantastic news for the people of Iraq, and for President Bush, and for America! Captain Ed has some wonderful observations about this great news.

How Not to Make A Good Impression

Today we had a visitor come to the house...someone on whom we needed to make a good impression. The teenagers have been sharing their favorite tunes with the younger children, who, of course, immediately memorize all the words to the raunchier songs!

Five-year-old to the rather large guest: "My favorite song is the Big Butts song!" I guess he thought since she had a big butt, she would appreciate his choice of a favorite song. The smile on her face quickly vanished, and the blood appeared to drain from her face. She looked at me, and was suddenly at a loss for words.

Sometimes as a parent, you just need to go with the flow.

What is Happening to China's Girls?

While orphanages in China have as many as two million children, only about ten thousand are being adopted annually. China has put forward stringent new rules for adoptive parents. These rules go into effect May 1, 2007. Many American prospective adoptive parents, who adopt 80% of the children who are adopted from China, are upset about the new rules. Is it better for a child to grow up in an orphanage or with a loving adult or adults in a family?

Can we now focus on the thousands of children available for adoption right here in America? We have two in our house! There are myths that must be confronted. People think it is more expensive. Not true! People think that there is more bureaucratic red tape. That may no longer be true either. Come on people, let's take care of our own orphans!

Ever Hear a Baby Panda Sneeze?

via The Anchoress

The Best Super Bowl Commercials from 2006

One blogger who can be counted on to bring us great videos is Texas Rainmaker. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

Would The New York Times Purposely Keep Us in the Dark?

From Michael Fumento:

Scientifically, all embryonic stem cells tend to become cancerous; they require permanent, dangerous, immunosuppressive drugs because the body rejects them as foreign; and they are difficult to differentiate into the needed type of mature cells. Non-embryonic stem cells, however, do not become cancerous; they are far less likely to cause rejection (especially the youngest, including umbilical cord and amniotic/placenta); and they have been used therapeutically since the late 1950s (originally for leukemia) because they have the amazing ability to form the right type of mature cell merely upon being injected into a body that needs that type of cell.

And...

Given the growing number of state initiatives that fund embryonic stem cell, but not non-embryonic stem cell, research and given that overall National Institutes of Health funding increases are unlikely anytime soon, is it truly moral to take away funds from a technology that's been saving lives for half a century in favor of another technology that promises nothing but "promise"?

And finally,

It's part of an ongoing effort at the Grey Lady to keep readers in the dark about the wonders of non-embryonic stem cells and the diseases they cure and treat while exaggerating any advance (or non-advance) in the embryonic variety.

Read the whole thing!
via Instapundit

Are We Fighting "Insurgents" or Al Qaeda in Iraq?

Nibras Kazimi writes today in the New York Sun that "the Sunni insurgency is being whittled down to Al Qaeda's activity in Iraq. It's that simple."

Then why is the press not telling us about that? Because they realize that Americans would respond far differently if we knew we were fighting Al Qaeda than "insurgents." Al Qaeda refers to itself in Iraq as The Islamic State of Iraq. They do not use the name Al Qaeda. Their leader is Abu Omar al-Baghdadi. Read the whole article here. Via Instapundit

Update: Dr. Rusty Shackleford has more at the Jawa Report. He points out that six Al Qaeda leaders and dozens of Al Qaeda members have been killed in the last 48 hours in Iraq. One of those captured is a key aide to Abu Ayyub al-Masri, who Dr. Shackleford asserts is the real leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, replacing Abu Musab al Zarqawi. Remember, though, read about it here, because the print media has the agenda referred to above.

Also via Instapundit

"Our Goal is To Manage the Transition from Print to Internet"

New York Times Publisher Arthur Sulzberger makes the above statement in a conversation with Haaretz.com at the Davos summit. He also says,

"I really don't know whether we'll be printing the Times in five years, and you know what? I don't care either."

Drudge links to Haaretz here.

A Lot to Forgive

Columbine High School killers Harris and Klebold left fellow student Mark Taylor with bullet wounds in his chest, thigh, side and leg. Filmmaker Michael Moore, in town to film Bowling For Columbine used him, lied to him, promised him the moon, and discarded him. Taylor has written about it in a new book entitled I asked, God Answered: A Columbine Miracle. Alan Prendergast has written more about Taylor here.

Just In Time For Valentines Day

How about this one for a Valentines Day story. Drudge brings us this story from the Daily Mail. Two lovers have been locked in an embrace for 5000 years. Archaeologists digging in northern Italy announced the find yesterday.

Will She Be Held Accountable For These Remarks?

Third Wave Dave has video of Hillary Clinton making a proposal to the Democratic National Committee. It is not actually an original idea. Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Castro and Chavez have actually beat her to the punch on this one.

How To Fix MSM reporting From Iraq

Daniel Holt writes a very thoughtful piece here in Publius Pundit. It is about the mainstream media, what is wrong with it, and a suggestion as to how it could be fixed, especially as regards reportage from places like Iraq.

The New Cuba

While we are talking about dictators, let us not forget the man who has become dictator of formerly free Venezuela, Hugo Chavez. Publius Pundit wonders why the West, including the United States, has been so timid about this thug's takeover of Venezuela. Gateway Pundit notes that the takeover by Chavez missed by one day the anniversary of Hitler's takeover in Germany.

Only Bill Clinton Gave Longer Speeches

Fidel Castro, Cuba's ailing leader, has begun speaking his final 750,000 words. The Onion has the exclusive story here.

Two Americas

Democratic presidential candidate, former Senator John Edwards, he of "Two Americas" rhetoric, has built a new house on 102 acres near Chapel Hill North Carolina for his family. The main living area is only a little more than ten thousand square feet! That is connected by a heated walkway to another six thousand square feet area that includes a basketball court, a racquetball court, and a pool. There are twenty-nine thousand square feet altogether. Edwards sold his home in Raleigh in a development called "Country Club Estates" for 1.4 million dollars. He also recently sold his mansion in the Georgetown area of Washington D.C. for just a little more than five million dollars. Of course he also owns an oceanside vacation home in a gated community. The gate, presumably, is to keep out us "other Americans."

The Democrats: Combatting AIDS, Or Cowtowing To Left Wing Pressure Groups?

The Democrats have just killed a $30 million dollar grant program to fund universal AIDS testing for newborns. That reminds me of the unsuccessful requests we made to have our adopted daughter tested prior to our adoption. We were told that we could not do that, even though her birthmother was a prostitute, because it would violate the "privacy rights" of the birthmother.

The editors of the National Review say this. "The real reason Democrats killed the program is that an assortment of left-wing groups oppose "violating the privacy" of mothers by encouraging them to get tested and mandating testing for their newborns — even though such efforts in New York and elsewhere have dramatically reduced the number of infants born with AIDS. That the Democrats would defund this program is disgraceful; that they would defend their action as part of the fight against earmarks is even more so."

Fortunately for our beautiful daughter, though she was born with illegal drugs in her system, AIDS does not appear to be one of her problems.

Can It Be? Liberals, Insensitive?

This week has been notable for two liberal presidential wannabees who made insensitive, possibly bigoted comments. Senator Joe Biden was amazed that Barack Obama is both black AND clean! Now we have Wesley Clark saying that rich Jews are going to force our politicians to go to war with Iran.

It's True! They Do Get Better As They Age!

Instapundit links to this article about how the Dove soap company is going to be featuring the fact that women just get better as they get older. It's about time. I have proof right here in my own home!

Here Colleen is nursing a baby goat owned by a rancher who left the doeling out in freezing weather. This baby is the only triplet who survived the series of snowstorms we have had for the past seven weeks. Colleen got up early in the mornings to drive to the ranch, and again late at night to make sure the baby got the supplements she needed, because the doe rejected her.

Also pictured is our two-year-old foster child, who absolutely loves being outside with the animals (and hates being cooped up inside, as he has had to be during this frigid winter). The good news is that the weather forecast is for temperatures in the forties and fifties this week, so we will see the snow melt everywhere except the north side of properties.

Who is Winning the Battle of the Sexes?

Instapundit links today to an article in the Guardian by Boris Johnson. I found these facts interesting:
In the early 1990s females made up 29% of medical students in Britain. Now they make up 66%!
If a man's I.Q. raises by 16 points, the likelihood that he will marry increases by 35%. If a woman's I.Q. raises by 16%, the likelihood that she will marry decreases by 35%!

Anybody care to speculate on why either of these facts are true, or what this all means for men and women?

Shuttle Launch As Seen From Above!

A fantastic photo of a shuttle launch from Florida via NASA's high altitude research plane.
Via Strategy Page

Hey Mullahs, Are You Awake?

Back in June, during "Valiant Shield 2006," the largest joint Exercise in recent history, held off Guam, three carrier strike groups posed for the camera, something that had not occurred in some 20 years. These shots, taken on June 18, 2006, show the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) in the foreground, with the USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63), and, in the background, the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), while 17 aircraft from the Air Force, Navy, & Marines fly overhead. Altogehter 28 ships, 300 aircraft, and some 22,000 personnel from the Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard took part in the exercises. Official U.S. Navy photos by Chief Photographer's Mate Todd P. Cichonowicz
Via Strategy Page

Osama, Can You Hear Footsteps?

January 17, 2007 An Afghan civilian, Pfc. Willem Schauer and Sgt. Andrew Knauf, from the 102nd Infantry Regiment, look out over Dingak, Afghanistan, Jan. 3, searching for possible enemy activity. Photo by Staff Sgt. Michael L. Casteel

Via Strategy Page

On top Of The World: Radar To Protect Us

From Strategy Page a beautiful photo of antiballistic missile defense radar in Greenland protecting us.

Ten Myths About The Iraq War

Strategy Page has ten myths about the Iraq war here.

Do We Have A Crisis of Courage?

Arizona Senator Jon Kyl has an excellent piece here on what he alleges is America's crisis of courage. He quotes at length from a speech given by Alexander Solzhenitsyn to Harvard graduates in 1978: "Should one point out that from ancient times decline in courage has been considered the beginning of the end?" He lamented that "[N]o weapons, no matter how powerful, can help the West until it overcomes its loss of willpower."

Kyle states, "At stake in the war on terror is nothing less than preserving Western civilization, as Solzhenitsyn sensed almost 30 years ago: "The fight, physical and spiritual for our planet, a fight of cosmic proportions, is not a vague matter of the future; it has already started."

Kyl believes that the "fate of future generations depends on how we answer the enemy's challenge today. To do that, we must clearly understand the nature of the threat we face – and we must marshal the courage and character necessary to prevail."

Hat tip Austin Bay

What Are You Going to Be When You Grow Up?

I am in the kitchen scrubbing some pots and pans. Three-year-old Sara, five-year-old Greg, and six-year-old Jon are at the kitchen table talking about what they want to be when they grow up. Greg summarizes the results of the discussion. "When Sara grows up she is going to be a mom. I am going to be a policeman. Jon is going to be a cowboy. And I have no idea what Dad is going to be!"