Your Daily Dose of Irony

The person in the news of late with a rare and dangerous form of tuberculosis who, despite being warned not to fly because it could endanger other passengers in the plane, did so anyway....is a personal-injury attorney.

Apparently the code among lawyers is that sharks don't eat their own.

First Nigeria, Now Widows

Based on my email today, the scammers are getting more subtle.

Dear Beloved,

My name is Mrs. Wells Iris I am a dying woman who has decided to donate what I have to charities through you. You may be wondering why I chose you. But someone has to be chosen. I am 59 years old and was diagnosed for cancer about 2 years ago, after the death of my husband who had left me everything he worked for. I have been touched by the Lord to donate from what I have inherited from my late husband to charity through you for the good work of humanity, rather than allow my relatives to use my husband's hard earned funds inappropriately.

I have asked the Lord to forgive me all my sins and I believe he has, because He is merciful. I will be going in for an operation, and I pray that I survive the operation. I have decided to Will/Donate the sum of $10,300,000.00 (Ten Million three hundred thousand Dollars) to charities through you for the good work of the Lord, and to help the motherless, less privileged and also for the assistance of the widows. At the moment I cannot take any telephone calls, due to the fact that my relatives are around me and I have been restricted by my doctor from taking telephone calls because I deserve all the rest I can get.

Presently, I have informed my consultant about my decision in willing this fund to charity through you. I wish you all the best and may the good Lord bless you abundantly, and please use the funds well and always extend the good work to others. If you are interested in carrying out this task, I will inform my consultant, so that he can arrange the release of the funds to you. I know I have never met you but my mind tells me to do this, and I hope you act sincerely. I decided that 20% of this money should be taken by you from the total sum upon the success release of this fund, because I am now too weak and fragile to do things myself because of my cancer.

NB:I sincerely know that a lot has been written about some SCAM coming out of the world, but I assure you that this will never in any way associated with that as you will be given the right to verify this directly with the finance company where the fund was deposited.

I will appreciate your utmost confidentiality in this matter until the task is accomplished, as I don't want anything that will jeopardize my last wish, due to the fact that I do not want relatives or family members standing in the way of my last wish.

Please reply me via this address: mrswells_iris@yahoo.es

Your sincerely,
Mrs. Wells Iris

PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR FULL NAME, ADDRESS, TELEPHONE/FAX NUMBER ON YOUR REPLY FOR EASY AND IMMEDIATE COMMUNICATION WITH MY CONSULTANT.

What burns me the most about this sort of thing is not the fact that it exploits those who don't know any better, but that it makes those of us who do more cynical. It's already too easy to rationalize not acting to help others; this can only make matters worse.

Priorities

Today's latest bit of ACLU leftist lunacy; they are suing Jeppesen Dataplan, a unit of Boeing, because they claim it "assisted the Central Intelligence Agency in secretly abducting suspect foreigners to overseas prisons where they were held and interrogated".

Jeppesen Dataplan makes charts and maps.

Of course, the ACLU makes their case obvious; like petulant teenagers who scream at anyone who is nice to the people they insanely hate, they're trying to punish corporations for selling to the government.

"American corporations should not be profiting from a CIA rendition program that is unlawful and contrary to core American values," Anthony Romero, executive director of the ACLU, said in a statement. "Corporations that choose to participate in such activity can and should be held legally accountable."

Meanwhile, while filing lawsuits roughly equivalent to litigation against a gas station owner for giving people directions, they apparently ignore the kiddie porn and sex chats with twelve-year-olds in which their leaders are indulging.

Priorities.

It Does Matter

A couple of weeks ago, at the event of Jerry Falwell's passing, I posted a piece of classical literature that seemed quite relevant given the response of others.

Particularly famous from that work are these lines.

No man is an island. entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

Which is why I take sorrow in this news.

Cindy Sheehan was exasperating, annoying, melodramatic, and -- on several levels -- hateful. But in perspective, she exemplifies a lot of what is right with America -- our freedom and ability to protest, to stand up for what we think is right, and our belief that we can make a difference.

Seeing that die in her does truly diminish us all. While some might claim this is a won battle, I think it a Pyrrhic victory at best -- and perhaps a reminder that the greatest virtue of our country is that it forgives and heals with and for all of its people.

I wish Ms. Sheehan all the best in whatever she chooses to do next -- and would ask my readers to reflect themselves on their thoughts and attitudes towards her.

For the bell is tolling.

Uh Oh....

Princess got caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

Of course, her response was appropriately outraged that anyone would even THINK she was wasting taxpayer dollars and why she NEEDED the military charter.

Use of military aircraft, while limited, does give us the ability to maximize our schedule and get more done in a shorter amount of time. We flew mostly at night in order to have more meetings during the day. It also allows us to work on the aircraft to further manage the time we are spending away from home.

Yes, because we know there are no overnight flights to Europe and people never work on commercial jetliners.

Meanwhile, if you go to Kayak.com and ask for departures that leave Washington Dulles in the evening and arrive in London in the morning, it will gladly spit back numerous matching flights; indeed, with a one-month advance purchase at the height of the season, a pampered business class seat on union-owned and dominated United Airlines will only set Princess's unlimited account back a paltry $4,500, allowing her and her retinue of ten lackeys to save the American working class (who she claims to represent) over $100,000 dollars on the national security essential of sending her to the mother country for a few hours of work and a few hundred hours of clubbing.

And what makes this even funnier is how often Princess and her party, especially in Princess's position as head of the Finance Committee, rail against executives and their corporate jets, insisting that the time savings is a waste of money, that executives don't need perks, meeting time, or privacy, and that everyone should be just fine in coach.

Look on the bright side, though; maybe the Brits will keep her. Or we can offer them a trade for a barrister to be named later.

For Those of You Not From San Francisco......

this bit takes a little setup.

First, two humpback whales wandered into the Port of Sacramento.

(Yes, you read that right -- the Port of Sacramento. For the record, that's around eighty miles from the Pacific, through the Golden Gate, up the length of the Bay, through the Carquinez Strait, then along a narrow deep-ship channel. Ask them how it happened.)

Next up, Carole Migden, state Senator, lesbian, and Harpo Marx hairstyle devotee, did a fine imitation of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride on I-80, blaming her erratic behavior and involvement in as many as three accidents on medications she had been taking for the past ten years finally working.

Moving forward, San Francisco City Supervisor Ed Jew is facing questions from the City, his constituents, and the FBI over a series of miracles that have occurred in his presence, including his moonlighting role in recommending "consultants" for whom he then collects the payments, but insists he has no conflict of interests, his magical safe that produces $20,000 in marked bills that he claims are for "park improvements", and the fact that anyone who enters the house that he claims establishes his residency in his district becomes invisible.

And finally, as most people know by now, Gavin Newsom wholly ruined the naughty fantasies of roughly half of the gay community by demonstrating that he is a staunch adherent of the finest in heterosexual traditions -- including philandering.

Enter Don Asmussen, the brilliant cartoonist and social commentator, to tie all of these together in his Bad Reporter comic for yesterday.

Genius. Sheer, unadulterated genius.

Nose on Face Obvious

Brilliant insight from Ace.

Money quote:

Their announcement of a timetable for withdrawal from a fight with a patient opponent in the White House having resulted in catastrophic failure, Democrats went on to immediately call anew for a timetable of withdrawal from a fight with a patient opponent in Iraq.

Clueless ain't just an Alicia Silverstone movie.

Same Coin, Two Sides

It isn't often that I agree with Pam Spaulding on something, but in this case, she's very right.

This, I think, is the statement that best sums up the problem:

There should be no touch of sadness when a healthy baby boy is born into a home with two parents, but in this case, we’re afraid, there is.

While we celebrate new life, we cannot celebrate homosexual parenting –– which involves intentionally denying a child either a mom or a dad. In this case, young Samuel David –– who, as a Cheney, will surely enjoy privileges and comforts greater than most children born in 2007 –– will be missing an irreplaceable one: a father, to have as a loving guide, male authority, friend and role model as he grows from boy into man.

Well, you're not alone, Mr. LaBarbera; there are a whole lot of other people expressing "sadness" over how awful young Master Cheney will have it, given that, according to them, Satan is his grandfather, Medusa his grandmother, and two evil self-loathing and hateful lesbian witches, who have gleefully laughed and clapped their hands as thousands of their helpless LGBT counterparts were marched off to the gas chambers, are his mothers. And oddly enough, they manage to sneak in a shot at the fact that his family is well-off, too.

Granted, you haven't wished him ill yet, but you're probably saving that for your launch of your latest "research" finding confirming that the children of gay parents die earlier.

I do find it more than a bit amusing that two groups of people who supposedly loathe everything there is about each other are both using the excuse of "concern over the baby" for saying rather mean, vile, and vicious things about him and his family.

Perhaps that's because ideology is neither an indicator or deterrent of hate tactics.

The Orientation of Hate

Moonbats, as somehow befits their name, truly are 24/7, all-night, always-open creatures.

Examples have continued to pile up through the sleeping hours and this morning of the verbal bricks, stones, and Molotov cocktails being hurled by the gay left and gay Democrats against their favorite villainesses, Mary Cheney and Heather Poe, and their new baby, Samuel.

Most of them are nothing too new, comparisons to Satan and whatnot, calling them horrible names, mocking the Cheneys, and so forth. But there was one in particular that I thought was both simply, chillingly concise and effective in summing up the desires of the "LGBT community" towards them.

I'm praying for SIDS.

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

Probably the worst, repeat worst, thing that can happen to parents -- to wake up and find a baby that was perfectly healthy the day or night before completely limp, cold, and lifeless.

Wishing a baby dead is bad enough in itself. But SIDS is particularly horrible because the cause of death is so often unknown -- which invariably drives parents downward into a maelstrom of grief, crushing uncertainty, and guilt, always wondering what they had done wrong and leaving them with the specter of a repeat hanging over their decision to have more children.

In short, these people, the "community" that preaches "love", "tolerance", and "support", not only wants Samuel dead; they want Mary and Heather destroyed and devastated in the most horrible fashion with him.

I had previously thought that the Aravosis/Spaulding/HRC/Stonewall Democrats cabal had hit rock bottom with their hopes for Mary's pregnancy and Samuel's birth. But this really, truly, represents the newest, most disgusting low yet.

Even worse, in my opinion, are the gay enablers who, rather than throwing open the windows and airing out this hideous and dark underbelly of the gay community, are blithely papering over the slime by claiming comments are "positive", or worse, arguing that Mary, Heather, and Samuel somehow deserve this because of who her father is and his relationship to the Bush administration.

Let's call this what it is, people....sick.

It is sick that someone could wish a child dead.

It is sick that they hope his parents are thrown into the worst sort of misery.

And it is beyond sick that someone could argue that these are somehow justified because of who the parents' families are and their political affiliations.

That is what gay pundits like John Aravosis, Pam Spaulding, and Andy Towle preach and support. That is what gay "moderates" enable. And that is what represents the gay community to the world -- the idea that it is perfectly acceptable to wish a baby dead and his parents crushed by the worst kind of grief on the basis of their political affiliation, and get away with it because you are gay.

UPDATE: Now "sean", a regular Democrat and liberal commentor on GayPatriot, has added a new wrinkle; they don't want the kid to die, but that's just so he can get beat up later.

No, the kid can’t die of crib death!! He has to go to school and get ridiculed and bullied and punched by the offspring of Christianists…and have no recourse to protections afforded to children of heterosexual couples. Then Dick Cheney will see what he has wrought.

So again, we have people wishing physical harm on a baby on the basis of his family's political affiliation -- which they think they can get away with because they are gay.

Blood Oaths

I thought it had been a while since we'd had controversy over this.

Gay men remain banned for life from donating blood, the government said Wednesday, leaving in place — for now — a 1983 prohibition meant to prevent the spread of HIV through transfusions.

The Food and Drug Administration reiterated its long-standing policy on its Web site Wednesday, more than a year after the Red Cross and two other blood groups criticized the policy as “medically and scientifically unwarranted.”

I must confess, I was curious about how they suddenly got around the HIV issue...until...

In March 2006, the Red Cross, the international blood association AABB and America’s Blood Centers proposed replacing the lifetime ban with a one-year deferral following male-to-male sexual contact.

Oh yes, you're going to find a lot of gays who will defer all sexual contact for a year just for the thrill of a needle stick with a juice-and-cookies chaser.

Of course, the reason why the FDA is being so cautious is elegantly laid out elsewhere; put bluntly, gay men, despite comprising a miniscule fraction of the population, constitute 58% of ALL HIV-infected individuals in the United States (and 74% of those in California).

Given that no one seems to be complaining about the ban on prostitutes and intravenous drug users, which are the next two groups most likely to be HIV-positive, I fail to see why the FDA should be compelled to give up a screen that, when put into effect, theoretically reduces the risk of HIV-infected blood entering the national supply, or exposing the people and equipment who collect it, by well over half.

In my opinion, the risk to others outweighs concerns for political correctness.

Having a "Little" Problem

Michael Demmons of GayOrbit, on why he was compelled to post a ten-point diatribe ridiculing Christians, albeit merely one of a recent string:

Sorry, I’ve just been on an atheist reading kick of late. It'll pass.

Personally, it reminds me of an old gay adage; people who are constantly telling you how ugly other people are invariably suffer by comparison when looked at themselves.

Or, put differently, those with big dicks don't have to tell you how small everyone else's is.

Quiet, The Baby Is Sleeping!

Congratulations to new moms Mary Cheney and Heather Poe.

And of course, the moonbat squad is already out, obviously pissed that their desire for a deformed baby and Mary screaming in agony, as well as other pleasant outcomes, hasn't come true.

And they wonder why none of us wants to play ball with them.

Yes, we will be tracking the response from the usual suspects. Stay tuned.

Update #1: Feel the love from gay leftist organization Family Pride -- courtesy of Pam Spaulding, who we encourage to let loose and tell us how she's really feeling.

Update #2: Pam's commentors are picking up the slack nicely. Don't forget to keep checking Family Pride and Aravosis Land, where the vitriol wishing horrible things on Mary and the new baby is now being delivered by the 55-gallon drum. Meanwhile, Towleroad, another example of a blog where fine tolerant and non-hateful Democrats hang out, is starting up.

Update #3: GayOrbit joins in the anti-Mary bitch fest. Sweet!

Update #4: I found something which, quite honestly, deserved its own post. See above.

Expect Bad Grades When the Teacher Hates You

To no one's surprise, Amnesty International's report released today exhibited the organization's usual commitment to fair and objective analysis.

While Amnesty International has highlighted rights issues that have erupted since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States, little of the 337-page report dealt with the terrorist threat itself or attacks linked to the al-Qaida terror network.

I particularly like the response of the US State Department.

In Washington, Deputy State Department spokesman Tom Casey said the report reads more like a political document than an honest review of human rights around the world.

"It's pretty clear that Amnesty International thought that we'd make a convenient ideological punching bag," he said.

Most Americans have figured out by now (thankfully) what Israel knew years ago; trying to ingratiate yourself with organizations that would love more than anything else to see you fail is an instant recipe for self-destruction.

But I doubt that will stop Congressional Democrats from shrieking about this report as a means of slipping tongue to their European allies, who could use it; their countrymen are starting to forget that the United States is the primary threat, rather than their sclerotic and dysfunctional economies.

One Word......

Duh.

While We Were Out......

Read the whole comment string. It's hilarious.

Weighing in, while tempting, would be worse than wasted effort on my part.

Gone Drinkin'

Off to Sonoma for the weekend. Talk amongst yourselves; we'll commune again once the Cabernet wears off.

Blaming the Dead for the Stupidity of the Living

While looking through the responses over on Ex-Gay Watch to the death of Jerry Falwell, this particular rant raised itself to consciousness.

Ronald Reagan’s electoral success in the 1980’s was in part due to Falwell’s mobilization of the Religious Right in this country. The Reagan Administration’s abysmal response to the AIDS crisis was probably related to their electoral reliance on the Religious Right.

This seems to be one of the most popular and enduring mythos in the gay community; the idea that Reagan and other Republicans stood by and laughed evilly as poor, innocent, helpless gays sickened, withered, and died.

However, what no one has ever explained is what, exactly, could they do?

Rule number one of epidemiology: when confronted with a disease you can't cure and which is spreading like wildfire, your priority should be focused on one thing -- removing the pump handle.

The Reagan administration took immediate steps to eliminate the vectors it could control -- the blood transfusion supply, infected needles, and so forth. But when a Democrat mayor did what she could to remove the largest pump handle -- closing the San Francisco bathhouses where unprotected sex most readily spread the disease -- she was almost run out of town on a rail.

The gay community has spent upwards of twenty-five years trying to deny what people knew millenia ago from studying prostitutes; those with the most partners invariably have the most problems. Despite the best efforts of gay leftists to make, to force it to be otherwise, the simple fact remains; HIV/AIDS is a sexually-transmitted disease, no different than the others that came before it.

What that means is simple; the people who could have done the most to control the AIDS epidemic were, not Falwell or Reagan or Feinstein, but the ones who were having the unprotected sex. They chose to have it. They chose to do it without using protection. And they were the ones who chose to, rather than restrain themselves, point the finger of blame at someone else. It is no surprise that, in a quarter of a decade, our infection levels have continued to merrily perk along at Third World levels, affecting both the young and old, and adding the delightful accompaniments of what were once medical anachronisms like gonorrhea and syphilis.

As I have said before, one's serostatus is emphatically a matter of personal choice. However, it infuriates me beyond belief that people are blaming others for supposedly not reacting -- when the only meaningful reaction was opposed tooth and nail by the same people demanding action.

Lessons Not Learned

I was more than amused by this post discussing the gay lacrosse coach at the University of Missouri who recently lost his job -- supposedly because he was gay.

Why, according to the poster?

I remember lacrosse players in high school and college as male, white, affluent, and extremely homophobic (your experience may differ of course).

Two words: Mike Nifong.

But of course, the reason for all of these assumptions and accusations against the Missouri lacrosse team is obvious:

Missouri is a state where it is aok to be fired for being gay. If legal protections for LGBT people existed there (via state laws or ENDA), employers would be less likely to pull nonsense like this.

Yes, because we know, as in the case of Bonnie Bleskachek, the only reason gays are ever criticized or have negative actions taken against them for poor job performance and on-the-job behavior is "homophobia" and "sexism".

In contrast, if you are a "privileged" straight white male CEO, you can be canned for carrying out a private, consensual affair with a coworker -- and no one raises a single word of protest.

This leads me to believe that most gay liberals don't want equality in the workplace; they want guaranteed employment regardless of behavior or job performance.

Sorry, Lori......

but I can't agree with you on this one.

Nobody but a first-rate assclown can sit there with a straight face and criticize people for speculating (as so many of us are) as to the sort of reception Falwell might be getting from the Maker he now has to meet.

Or someone who's seen this in person.

And as to why, here's The Man Himself:

"But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

"If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful."

Luke 6:27 - 36

I can think of no better person on which to put that into practice than Jerry Falwell.

Put Simply......

Nunc lento sonitu dicunt, morieris.

Sick, Sick, Sick

Again, not surprisingly, this piece of news is driving the usual suspects to new heights of orgasm.

It's at times like these when Matt's description really hits home -- and scares the hell out of you when you realize that this person is CNN's go-to gay when it comes to telling the world what our community supports.

UPDATE: Of course, there are people who don't take to heart the things written on their own blogs -- and those who are willing to do even worse.

On several levels, this is morbidly entertaining. It's almost become a contest to see which gay person can be the most scummy first.

Thought For Today

Glad to see that the people who are in favor of harvesting humans for parts are taking steps to control doing the same with animals.

I think it shows our priorities well as a society and a species that we can demand equal human rights for animals, but can casually dehumanize as "parasites" or "tissue" and kill our own children -- just because their timing is inconvenient.

I thought I was jaded on this matter a long time ago. But it still astounds me that killing the egg or the embryo of an animal protected under the Endangered Species Act is the same as killing an adult.....but taking another human's life because you chose to have unprotected sex is merely a lifestyle choice.

The Air is Thin Up On Their Mountain

Not surprisingly, Pam Spaulding of Pam's House Blend is pitching a hissy fit over the fact that a child's grandparent and legal guardian filed a complaint and a lawsuit over her eighth-grade class being shown Brokeback Mountain.

Remember that, folks; it is now evil, homophobic, and antigay to complain and file lawsuits about twelve- and thirteen-year-olds being shown R-rated movies, by a teacher, in a public school, without parental notification or consent, attendance required.

Otherwise, we might have to criticize idiotic behavior that is obliquely associated with a so-so movie that has a mixed portrayal of homosexuality, and heaven knows, we can't do that.

Are We Terribly Surprised?

Now tell me again......why, exactly, did the "gay community" choose to support the ACLU?

Given their repeated attempts to get NAMBLA off the hook, did we ever think about the fact that the reason they're so willing to bring us aboard is because we provide a convenient cover for what THEY'RE doing?

And, while we're on the topic of making stupid choices, meet the new top candidate of the UN to lead its Commission on Sustainable Development -- the Environment Minister of Zimbabwe.

Then again, he may be the ideal choice to implement the liberals' population control demands.

(h/t V the K)

UPDATE: But wait, there's more!

On three separate occasions between September and October 2004, Cunningham chatted online via his home computer in Jersey City with a person he believed to be a 12-year-old boy, officials said. In reality, it was an undercover Passaic County investigator.

During the sessions, Cunningham "described, in lurid detail, certain sexual acts that he hoped to perform on the boy," court papers said.

"He also described sex acts that he hoped to teach the boy to perform on him, inviting the child to 'get together in New York,'" according to the documents.

And what did this guy do for a living?

I Couldn't Resist

Matt of The Malcontent:

"I’m supremely ill-suited for grudge-bearing"

In that case, I take more than a little pride in raising his game considerably.

And, while we're here, relative to Chirac, it was pretty simple; you expect the French to be traitorous, backstabbing, ungrateful bastards, and he paid out in spades.

Ah, The Entertainment

Read this. It's a hoot.

My personal favorite is where he says, "I don't want people to click into my comments section and discover a foul-mouthed chat room there".......and then proceeds to come up with all sorts of amusing names for me that I doubt he'd use in the presence of his mother.

To what this is all in response, of course, is my comments over yonder, in which I pointed out that this individual, Jerry Maneker, is more than willing to call gay conservatives and Republicans "ignorant and/or mendacious and/or traitorous" for supposedly supporting a party and politicians that support Federal and state marriage amendments, pander to evangelicals like Pat Robertson, and claim marriage is between a man and a woman......but seem to have nothing to say about gay Democrats like Pam Spaulding, John Aravosis, HRC leader Hilary Rosen, and DNC Treasurer Andrew Tobias publicly supporting, giving money to, endorsing, and exhorting others to vote for politicians and political parties who support state and Federal constitutional amendments, pander to evangelicals like Pat Robertson, and claim that their party and party platform says "marriage is between a man and a woman".

Not surprisingly, both Jerry Maneker and Stuffed Animal are claiming all sorts of things about what I said. However, given their demonstrated inability to read or recognize the obvious, such as Stuffed Animal's claim in this comment thread that Jerry had never called gay Republicans and conservatives "ignorant and/or mendacious and/or traitorous" despite clear evidence to the contrary, one might wish to consider their accuracy carefully -- especially since they have conveniently deleted the comments in question.

Again, though, this isn't surprising. What I've noticed is that the world, and especially the Democrat Party, is filled with people like Jerry Maneker; they love gays -- as long as they do exactly what they're told and don't talk back. Or ones like Stuffed Animal, who claim to practice tolerance and respect for the opinions of others and oppose hate speech -- unless they happen to be the ones using it.

It's a pity, too, because I actually agree with them on several things, especially the misuse of Scripture by the "gay activist" group "Faith in America". But, simply put, they chose to censor and ban my remarks because I questioned their assertions.

I, personally, believe that gays come in all religious, political, social, national, racial, and other colors....and that being gay is no guarantee of being any specific one of any of those. Indeed, in my opinion, the fundamental key to gay acceptance is when people finally realize that gays DO come in all colors, as it were; being gay does not require you to be antireligious, liberal, hateful, sex-crazed, pro-abortion, anti-American, pro-Palestinian, pro-labor, anti-business, anti-immigration laws enforcement, and the veritable galaxy of other unpopular leftist causes and actions for which our sexual orientation has been misappropriated as an excuse.

That's also why the only comments that will ever be redacted or removed on this blog are death threats against others -- and even they may stay if possible, if for no other reason than as a reminder to the depths of depravity to which people will fall. If you cannot love your enemies, you can at least have the respect to grant them the dignity of airing their opinions.

Discovering the Painfully Obvious

Imagine that.....terrorist groups taking advantage of a situation.

The CIA singles out the Mexican border as an especially inviting target for Hezbollah operatives. “Many alien smuggling networks that facilitate the movement of non-Mexicans have established links to Muslim communities in Mexico,” its Counter Terrorism Center said in a 2004 threat paper.

“Non-Mexicans often are more difficult to intercept because they typically pay high-end smugglers a large sum of money to efficiently assist them across the border, rather than haphazardly traverse it on their own.”

Just like the three terrorist suspects arrested yesterday who were illegal immigrants.

But of course, what are Nancy Pelosi and her Democrat Party doing about it?

Mayor Gavin Newsom vowed Sunday to maintain San Francisco as a sanctuary for immigrants and do everything he can to discourage federal authorities from conducting immigration raids.

What I find amusing is that the Democrat Party has been screaming that every single cargo container coming into the country needs a twenty-minute inspection and draconian examination as a prevention against attacks, businesses and sanity be damned......but relaxes standards and does everything to make existence safer and easier for people who can plan, build, and detonate them.

Even more lovely in that is the presence of Mark Leno and Carol Migden, both of whom, along with gay "labor organizers" like Cleve Jones and new Gay Pride Parade Marshal Robert Haaland, are proudly and blithely linking "gay rights" with blocking immigration enforcement -- while other clueless Democrats are pushing, on the very day the Jersey terrorist story broke, for an expansion of the Mack-truck-sized "marry an American, get a free entry" loophole in our current laws to cover "permanent partners".

In my opinion, the United States needs four changes that would do wonders for our immigration system.

1. Eliminate all but two forms of work/residency visas -- those sponsored by a business and those sponsored by an individual -- and use the same process for all of them. No freebies for marriage.

2. Double the current number of visas issued per year.

3. Enforce the laws against illegal immigration as they exist now, no ifs, ands, or buts.

4. Create economic incentives for businesses to use unskilled and low-skilled American labor.


And, while we're talking about improving peoples' lots, how about suggestions for what we do with party whores gays who use homosexuality as an excuse to shill for unrelated and unpopular leftist causes?

Oh, This Is Even Better.......

as far as Dems fibbing about disasters and trying to blame them on President Bush goes.

Then again, given the source of his information......

Even Worse Exploitation

I mean, the Small World ride was bad enough....but this is even more sick.

But remember, kids, these are the people who we keep being told are committed to "peace"......

Digging Way, WAY Down In the Barrel

The witch hunt being conducted by the Senate Judiciary Committee has gotten to the level of being, not just ridiculous, but downright hilarious.

But Ty Clevenger, a former Justice Department employee, said Schlozman ordered him to remove information identifying him as a Republican from his paperwork when he applied for a job.

Gee, just as we ask people to remove marital status, age, and anything else that is not relevant to the hiring process from their applications. Does that mean I'm trying to hire only older, single men with a thing for redheads?

Among those raising concerns is Joseph Rich, a 36-year veteran of the department, who left in 2005 after serving as head of the Civil Rights Division's section that deals with voting rights.

"The whole hiring process had been changed to put the decision-making in political appointees' hands, and it was clear it was being politicized in that manner," Rich told CNN......

Rich now works for the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, a nonprofit organization that held a March forum on what it called the politicization of the Justice Department. He said he never saw Schlozman make decisions based on partisan factors -- but he said hiring was increasingly concentrated in the hands of political appointees.

So, in other words, Democrats believe that no one who is a political appointee should be allowed to hire Federal employees, since it would be "politicization".

That means every single Cabinet secretary, the Attorney General, the entire diplomatic corps of ambassadors, the various undersecretaries and Department leaders, and anyone else in the Federal government who was chosen by an elected official to serve in their position is not allowed any input into who works for them.

And finally, this is my favorite:

But leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday asked Schlozman to answer questions about his handling of voter-fraud cases, including a lawsuit he pursued after his predecessor refused to support it. The committee's chairman, Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy, and ranking Republican, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, said the case was dismissed by a federal judge who found "no evidence" to support it.

"We believe the committee would benefit from hearing directly from you in order to gain a better understanding of the role voter fraud may have played in the administration's decisions to retain or remove certain U.S. attorneys," they wrote.

Yes, because heaven forbid that US attorneys actually consider investigating voter fraud; that's too "politicized". They should be spending their time investigating "hate crimes" against privileged minorities, rather than looking at minor Federal issues like faking voter registrations.

News We Can Use....For Our Own Purposes

Interestingly enough, given the ongoing debate over hate-crimes legislation, this article popped up on CNN and other sources today.

Hits all the right buttons, doesn't it? Red state, "cowboy town", "effeminate" professor, allegedly found "burned and bound", and so forth. Just what is needed to convince everyone that, by gum, we need to codify into law that local law enforcement is too underfunded, incompetent, and bigoted to do their jobs properly, and we need the Feds to step in and nail those homophobic bumpkins.

Problem is this.....the case has been open for a while. Since December, actually -- and people have been speculating on it for months.

Now, on some levels, I do understand why this tripped the wire; there is a press conference scheduled today on the case whose announcement doubtless caught someone's eye, somewhere (and yes, we will carry the news as we receive it).

But the simple fact of the matter is that this was going way under the radar of anyone caring about it until someone had the bright idea, in my opinion, that it would help explain why hate-crimes laws are allegedly needed. The fact that a man had vanished and died under suspicious circumstances concerned no one nationally for months, appearing only at a time when it provided convenient "proof" for what Democrats and the minorities to which they pander wanted.

To me, that explains the whole purpose of this proposed legislation: ideology.

If the point is to expand resources available to local law enforcement and to allow the Feds to step in when necessary, that should be done based on the crime, not on whether or not it was the result of a specific motivation.

But that doesn't make sexual orientation special, does it?

UPDATE: Weird, very weird.

JV Democrat Antics

I love how Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, like a good little Democrat minion, tries to blame President Bush for the devastation caused by a massive tornado over the weekend.

A shortage of trucks, helicopters and other equipment -- all sent to the war in Iraq -- has hampered recovery in a U.S. town obliterated by a tornado, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said on Monday.

"There is no doubt at all that this will slow down and hamper the recovery," Sebelius, a Democrat, told Reuters in Kansas, where officials said the statewide death toll had risen to 12 on Monday.

"Not having this equipment in place all over the state is a huge handicap," Sebelius said.......

The governor said Kansas lacks about half the large equipment it could use for recovery efforts and debris removal, including dump trucks and front loaders.

While this is an amusing attempt by someone who is obviously aspiring for higher office, it forgets one thing; those of us who grew up in Kansas are more than aware of the fact that, spread across the numerous hills, dales, and road systems of the Sunflower State are a series of large Quonset huts, usually distinguished by a large pile of gravel or salt nearby.

They're called KDOT spots -- Kansas Department of Transportation storage points. They have, at minimum, dump trucks and front-end loaders, both of which are used in the process of maintaining roads and, in winter, putting down traction-enhancing materials.

None of them have been sent to Iraq.

All of them are under the governor's control, and can be deployed immediately as she needs them. Indeed, the major KDOT locations in Wichita and Hutchinson, which are stuffed to the gills with equipment, are barely two hours away.

Does she really think we're this dumb? Or does she, like all Democrats, really believe that she can lie, spin, and pander with impunity because it helps her own ambitions?

Today's Bit of Hilarious Irony

Jerry Maneker, who is supposedly a "supporter" of LGBT rights, is today upset concerning the fact that so many people associate being gay with sex, which he rebuts in these ringing words:

We are not defined by the sexual dimension of our lives but, rather, our sexuality is but one part of a whole complex of who we are as human beings.

And yet, when a few gay people actually have the temerity to suggest that their sex lives are NOT the primary drivers of their existence, he condemns that in even harsher terms:

As I posted on my own blog today, "As far as I'm concerned, these people are either ignorant and/or mendacious and/or traitorous. In any case, they're pitiable!" Log Cabin Republicans betray the movement for full and equal civil rights for LGBT people and their families.

So the fact that people associate gays with sex is hurting the gay-rights movement....but gays who make it clear that they're about more than sex are pitiable traitors who are betraying the cause.

Warning to All Gay Conservatives and Republicans

Express your opinion like this......

David Keeton, a small-business owner in Dallas, and his partner, Rob Schlein, said they supported Giuliani because of his record as New York mayor and his response to the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

"I'm an American first, then a Republican second, and gay falls in third or fourth," said Keeton, who wore a Ronald Reagan pin on his lapel.

and expect a wonderful and loving response from the community which you supposedly belong and forever are encouraged to support, regardless of their opinions, because you share their sexual orientation.

Not that this is in any way unexpected; it's just a good reminder of the fact.

Welfare FOR, Not TO, Work

Fellow blogger V the K pointed me to this interesting piece discussing, interestingly enough, the high correlation between economic freedom and happiness -- or, more interestingly, that less economic uncertainty tends to create more unhappiness.

At first blush, this would seem rather odd. We Americans are taught, especially by the French, that we are soulless workaholics, slaves to the machine, helpless drones who take no time to enjoy life, smell the roses, etc. As cited in the article, Segolene Royal, potential new President of France, was seemingly mystified by the fact that writer James Traub was not guaranteed continued employment. When I talk to European acquaintances, they seem to be mildly appalled to the fact that my offer letter specifically states that it is the company's prerogative to discontinue my employment wherever and whenever it chooses; they wonder how one can possibly function with this sword of Damocles hanging ever overhead.

However, an insight into the why can be found (of course) in the blogosphere -- in the writings of fellow blogger Chad over at Cake or Death? discussing his recent relocation and subsequent events:

The move itself went well, aside from the couple snow squalls we had to drive through. The subsequent month and a half of unemployment, however, was not quite as entertaining. It plays havoc with ones psyche. You start getting depressed. You drink the previous tenant's (who also happens to be the landlord) stash of liquor. Sleep a lot. It's hard. After learning the recent criteria for "life-scarring", I'm confident in saying that the entire ordeal of being without a job has indeed scarred me for life.

Unemployment or underemployment is devastating. As I can tell you from personal experience, there is nothing worse than walking outside in the morning to pick up the paper, seeing everyone freshly-scrubbed and shaved, headed for work -- and know that you aren't.

Really, I wasn't technically unemployed; I was stitching together temporary gigs here, contracts there, and DJ'ing at night. I was making enough to cover necessities and the occasional luxury here and there; it was tight, yes, but really, I had all I needed and a decent chunk of what I wanted as well, including extra time at home and to go out and do things (let your mind wander at this point).

But I was, on several levels, miserable. Just like Chad describes. You start to doubt yourself so much; after all, everyone else has a job. Every day you don't get an offer, every day the phone doesn't ring, every day the diplomas and certifications in their tidy frames stare back at you when you have nothing to show them, makes you question whether you're worth the oxygen you're consuming. After one month, you understand far more fully why so many people drop dead so quickly after retiring.

Liberal policymakers and politicians are under the impression that what makes unemployment hideous is financial strain; hence, they believe, by simply upping the unemployment benefit and the welfare payments, you can solve the problem. But what that ignores is a crucial fact that employers have known for years; employees quit most often, not because they're underpaid, but because they're under-appreciated and under-purposed. In Silicon Valley, everyone overpays; the lure for skilled engineers and staff is not cash on the barrelhead, but the chance to contribute, for their work to have a purpose, to have a reason to get up in the morning. My friends in San Francisco who work for nonprofits make pennies compared to what they could get in the "real world"; however, the sense of value they get from contributing, from seeing what they do affect other people, is what they care about the most.

France, Democrats, et al. think that by surrounding people with welfare bubble-wrap and removing all uncertainty from their lives, you can buy them into happiness, just as indulgent parents think that this toy, this Disneyland vacation, this designer bedroom furniture will ensure their cherubs' idyllic childhood. But what they seem to have forgotten is that, if money and never having to worry about it bought you happiness, Us and People would fold overnight. The need for purpose -- and the need to take risk to achieve it -- is as imimical to the completeness of the human psyche as is the love and the acceptance of others. A life without danger or a reason for existence is a life unsatisfying, no matter how much one has financially.

One of the ironies of the Democrat Party to me is that, even though they started it, they've completely forgotten the lesson of the New Deal; namely, that government CAN ask for something in exchange for its checks, and in the process, vastly and extraordinarily improve things for everyone. The beautiful frescoes at Coit Tower here in San Francisco, the Cotton Bowl and the State Fair buildings in Dallas, the country roads I used to drive on across the Midwest -- all of those were built with WPA labor and funding. The government put the unemployed to work, gave them a purpose, taught them new skills -- and in doing so, improved our infrastructure immensely and completely restarted the country's main economic engines.

In contrast, had they simply mailed out welfare checks, it is almost a certainty that the United States would have been unable to mobilize in sufficient time to prevent World War II attacks on its own shores -- and would likely not have had the capacity necessary to supply Great Britain with the planes and materiel she needed to fight off Hitler. The infrastructure and economic improvements garnered from the massive public works projects of the WPA period made all of those possible -- and in the process, quite likely saved the world from global fascism.

Something to keep in mind, n'est ce pas?

Why The "Hate Crimes" Bill Should Be Vetoed

Because this doesn't qualify as one.

Sorry, but if you walk onto a school bus with a knife intending to stab someone, then go ahead and do it nineteen times, there's a significant amount of hate involved there somewhere.

The "hate crimes" bill is claimed by Democrats and leftist gays to be necessary because we are at the mercy of a system of law enforcement, judges, and juries that Democrats and leftist gays claim is so underfunded, incompetent, and prejudiced that it cannot render verdicts correctly.

Therefore, the Federal government should fund investigations, the Feds should prosecute these cases, the Feds should demand minimum sentences, and the Feds should, at their discretion, re-prosecute a case if they think the first verdict or sentence wasn't good enough -- or, to use language directly from the bill, "left demonstratively unvindicated the Federal interest in eradicating bias-motivated violence."

Except in this kid's case, where he gets none of those -- because he's not a member of a protected class.

I don't think it's going to cost Pemiscot County any less to prosecute this because he's not. I don't think it's fair that his lack of membership in a protected class means there's no guarantee of a minimum sentence, or that the Feds won't intervene if the sentence or investigation isn't up to snuff.

And I especially don't think it's in any way fair that the Federal government has an interest in eradicating violence against members of protected classes....but not against him.

Exploiters Of The World, Unite!

And here we go again.

“The first thing I thought of was the children,” Mr. Mancía, who is fighting his own deportation order, told the visitors gathered in his second floor walkup apartment in New Bedford a couple of weeks ago. “The future we imagined for them, it all collapsed.”

Well, at least that's more subtle than what's going on today in Fresno:

In Fresno, organizers planned a rally focusing on children whose parents had been deported.

As I mentioned a month ago, this falls well outside "humanitarian" and well into "crass exploitation".

And of course, the usual suspects are all for it.

The reason why is simple; illegal immigrants are a large, easily-exploited group that can be tapped for under-the-table cash and workers. This is an election year for Newsom, and Migden and Leno are poised for a knock-down-drag-out fight for voters for next year's California Senate elections.

Of course, the fact that it screws the rest of us who do pay taxes, are here legally, and are getting rather tired of providing billions in freebies to people who are not paying taxes, who are forging official documents to get employment when they do pay taxes, and who are knowingly breaking the law and doing the equivalent of holding their children up to the camera with a knife to their throat to keep us from enforcing it, concerns none of them.

An Oily Mess

Well, this is interesting.

Peculiar, even.

That's all I'll say for now. But believe me, the temptation to indulge in all sorts of nasty puns related to petroleum distillates and what "BP" really stands for is immense.

Tastes Like Crow

Remember physics and metallurgy as taught by Rosie O'Donnell a few weeks ago?

"I do believe that it was the first time in history that fire has ever melted steel," O'Donnell said when questioned on whether she thought the government was behind the collapse of WTC 7. "I do believe that it defies physics for the World Trade Center tower 7, which collapsed in on itself -- it is impossible for a building to fall the way it fell without explosives being involved. Miraculously, the first time in history steel was melted by fire," she said.

We are quite amused.

Or repelled, when one thinks about the fact that this nitwit is held up as a shining example of our community.