LifeLike Pundits

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Hate those SUVs!

I remember two or three winters ago when the snow storm and ice storm hit DC. The radio stations were asking for anyone that owned an SUV to volunteer to bring sick and elderly people to hospitals for treatments like dialysis. I thanked God that those people did not become victims of left-wing politics that would ban SUVs.

Now, I am watching pictures of the Boxer Day Tsunami in South East Asia--the destruction looks like an atom bomb hit. And there they are, beautiful construction trucks...the same trucks that the left wanted us to boycott because some silly bitch threw herself underneath a Caterpillar buldozing a terrist family's home in Palestine.

Again, thank God the leftists didn't get their way.

Before the Bodies Are Buried

The left, wacko environmentalists are blaming global warming for earthquakes. The tsunami that killed 50,000 plus people is linked directly to the SUV you drive:

In an interview with the Independent newspaper in Britain, Stephen Tindale, executive director of Greenpeace UK, said: "No one can ignore the relentless increase in extreme weather events and so-called natural disasters, which in reality are no more natural than a plastic Christmas tree." Speaking to the same newspaper, Friends of the Earth Director Tony Juniper pressed the argument home: "Here again are yet more events in the real world that are consistent with climate change predictions." It is perhaps appropriate that the strongest, recent refutation to such feverish assertions may be found in Michael Crichton's new thriller--also about environmental extremists, a tsunami and the myths of global warming.

Read the rest of this WSJ article here.

Fuck the UN

After calling Americans “stingy” because our government is giving so “little” aid to the tsunami victims, we should remind Jan Egeland at the United Nations that we are a charitable people and give our aid through private organizations. This exemplifies how the world misunderstands us AND charity; governments should not rob people of more money through taxes to give aid!

Jan Egeland can be reached at 212.963.1234 and his direct fax number is 212.963.0116. We should let him know his comments are not appreciated—especially since the UN is doing nothing for Iraq, and last time I checked Saddam murdered over a million people. The people in SE Asia who are weeping because the “sea ate their children” could really use the $23,000,000,000 lost in the Oil-for-Food scam.

I could just spit.

Act of God Means there Is no God?

This article uses the logic of a thirteen year old wondering why they must submit to the authority of their parents or that there will be consequences. So because a tragedy befalls the earth, then there is no God (or he is an evil being for exacting such a toll). "How can religious people explain this?" he asks.

He fails to understand that none of us are promised tomorrow and that some disasters are not punishment for sin, but a demonstration to humble an ever increasing arrogance among men--especially environmental freaks who are arrogant enough to believe we can destroy the earth.

Religion already explained THE flood that wiped out the entire population of the planet except for 8 people...so why does he pretend that people of faith cannot reconcile this disaster either?

Entrepreneur Finds Hope

This is a great article about American Society. One should read it unaltered here. However, I have some questions about the article; it seems to not be entirely believable (i.e. it seems written throug a liberal reporter's lense). So here go:

Entrepreneur show comes to rescue of veteran of Iraq war
BY CAROL CAIN
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST

December 27, 2004

Whoever said entrepreneurs are too busy for much else other than worrying about their own affairs should spend a few minutes listening to Matthew McMurray. [THIS SHOULD READ THAT ENTREPRENEURS ARE TOO BUSY THINKING ABOUT MONEY--THE GREEDY BASTARDS THAT THEY ARE]

They'd come away with a different perspective.

First, some background.

Just over a year ago, the 29-year-old Rochester Hills native was serving in Iraq, driving a truck for the Army. One of 16 million self-employed business owners in the United States, McMurray was a one-man business that provided construction and home repairs for clients mostly in Macomb and Oakland counties.

He'd been in the Army 11 years and was called to active duty in Iraq in February 2003. [GOD BLESS THIS HERO]

Unlike some soldiers who left behind jobs with big companies that provided assurances of employment upon their return, as a one-man operation, he didn't have that luxury. When he was gone, so went his business. [SO A GUY WITH A THRIVING SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS THROUGH SELF-EMPLOYMENT IS WORSE THAN SOMEONE IN A MENIAL JOB REPRESENTED BY A UNION]

By the time he returned home in September 2003 most of his customers had hired other contractors to do their work.

It became a recurrent theme as the economy softened. [THE ECONOMY SOFTENED? I AM SORRY, BUT THROUGH THE "SECOND GREAT DEPRESSION" AS THE DEMOCRATS WOULD LIKE US TO BELIEVE WE ARE IN, HOME SALES AND CONSTRUCTION HAVE BEEN GOING THROUG THE ROOF--EVEN IN 2002 AND 2003. SO WHILE THIS GENTLEMAN AND HIS FAMILY MIGHT HAVE SUFFERED FROM THE SOLDIER'S RE-ENTRY BACK INTO SELF-EMPLOYMENT, THIS IS AN ATTEMPT TO BLAME BUSH A SECOND TIME FOR FIRST SENDING HIM TO IRAQ THEN FOR THE STAGNANT ECONOMY THAT CLINTON LEFT HIM] Despite repeated efforts, he couldn't find much business.

Complicating matters, he used his personal credit to take out loans to buy products and items for his company, and those loans were coming due. [AGAIN, THIS IS AN ATTEMPT TO DRAW SYMPATHY THROUGH PHRASING (LYING). A SELF-EMPLOYED PERSON, OR EVEN THE MAIN SIGNOR ON AN INCOPORATION, ALWAYS (REPEAT ALWAYS!!!) USE THEIR PERSONAL CREDIT FOR BUSINESS LOANS. WHO IS THIS AUTHOR TRYING TO FOOL? LIBERALS]

McMurray, who is married with two daughters, ages 5 and 7, had little money coming in. [REDUNDANT, WE KNOW HE HAS LITTLE MONEY COMING IN]

His wife, Marilou McMurray, 35, had a particularly difficult time adjusting to his absence. She suffered major depression and left her job as a medical technologist. [AH HA! MAJOR DEPRESSION. THEREFORE, SHE HAD EVERY RIGHT TO LEAVE HER JOB. HER SADNESS IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN FEEDING HER CHILDREN. THIS IS SO SELFISH AND THE EPITOME OF LIBERAL THOUGHT. MY MOTHER FACED A POSSIBLE LUPUS DIAGNOSIS AND WOULD CRAWL INTO MY BED CRYING AT NIGHT BECAUSE MY FATHER WAS IN DESERT STORM AND SHE THOUGHT HE WAS GOING TO DIE AND SHE WOULD BE LEFT ALONE, BUT SHE GOT HER ASS OUT O BED EVERY MORNING AND WENT TO WORK!] Her father, Rufino Cruz, who lived in the Philippines, had been ill for some time and died in October. [EVERYONE'S PARENTS DIE AND USUALLY DO SO AT THE "MOST INCONVENIENT TIME". THAT'S A TOTALLY HORRIBLE WAY TO PHRASE THE LOSS OF SOMEONE SO IMPORTANT TO HER, BUT THAT'S WHAT THIS AUTHOR WANTS US TO BELIEVE...THAT ONLY IF HER FATHER DIED WHILE THE HUSBAND WAS EMPLOYED. BOTH MY PARENTS ARE ALIVE AND I PRAY THEY LIVE FOR DECADES MORE, BUT THE AUTHOR IS IMPLYING THAT, GOD DAMMIT, HER FATHER DIED AT THE WRONG TIME].

Enter the Sloan brothers, Jeff and Rich.

The two brothers host a weekly radio show devoted to entrepreneurs called "StartupNation'' (www.startupnation.com). It airs on WJR-AM (760) Saturdays 7-8 p.m. Their program, which includes segments on how to help people grow their businesses, also features a "Save the Day" feature, in which people with particularly difficult situations talk about their issue in hopes of getting ideas [UM, CAPITALISM???]

"Rich, I am at the end of my rope," McMurray wrote Rich Sloan in an e-mail. "My options are grim at this point. We don't have any money for Christmas, and we haven't been grocery shopping since September with the exception of milk, eggs, bread and fresh vegetables. Our food supply is getting low and we have no money or credit to purchase any. [WHAT HAPPENED TO THOSE LOANS YOU HAD TO TAKE OUT ON YOUR PERSONAL CREDIT???]

"I did manage to get myself a road-kill deer, though. The deployment in '03 had devastated us. My wife's Dad died Oct. 17 in the Philippines [HIS DEPLOYMENT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH HIS FATHER-IN-LAW'S DEATH], and we had to use the rest of our cash and credit to go. I have no other options. Please advise me. What would you do? I know that you don't know me, but I'm lost here."

The brothers immediately invited McMurray to appear on their Dec. 4 radio program to talk about his dilemma.

"The focus of our show is to talk about opportunities and improving your life by starting your business," Rich Sloan says. "It's a fundamental we enjoy here in the U.S.A. Those freedoms are protected by people who put their lives on the line, people like Matt who are putting their lives on the line for the people in Iraq." [AMEN, AMEN, AMEN. THIS IS A PERFECT STORY WITHOUT THIS REPORTING USING SELECTIVE QUOTING AND WRITING IT THROUGH HER LITTLE PRISM OF WORLD VIEW]

The outpouring from listeners was overwhelming.

"I was a little choked up," McMurray says. "People were reaching out to lend their word of praise for serving in the military and to give me ideas on what to do, and even job offers."

Off the air, McMurray was contacted by a former employer, Don Lukemire, who had heard him on the program. Coincidentally, both men had served in the same 4th Infantry Division, though 30 years apart (Lukemire served in Vietnam).

Lukemire offered him a job, complete with benefits and security that his 30-year-old company, Anytime Inc., (www.anytimeinc.com) would provide. McMurray will concentrate on helping build up the company's new division, which officially launches Jan. 1 and will focus on residential and commercial contracting projects. [WHY DIDN'T HE CONTACT THIS GUY BEFORE??? THE ARTICLE SAID THAT EVERYONE HE WORKED FOR FILLED THE POSITION. WHY DID HE NOT PLEAD WITH THIS PERSON??? ANYTIME SOMEONE COMES BACK FROM BATTLE UNEMPLOYED, HE/SHE GOES BACK TO EVERY EMPLOYER TO SEE IF THEY HAVE WORK. WHILE I DON'T FAULT THE GUY FOR THINKING EVERYTHING THROUGH, THIS SHOULD BE THE LESSON OF THE RADIO PROGRAM--DON'T BE TOO PROUD TO BEG TO OLD EMPLOYERS IF YOU'RE OUT OF WORK. IF YOU DID A GOOD JOB, THEY WILL HAVE YOU BACK.]

The Sloans say McMurray isn't alone and that the impact of the Iraqi war on businesses - big and small - has been far-reaching. Another show they aired last summer on extended tours of duty definitely hit a chord. [AGREED]

"From businesses waiting for reservists to return, to people like Matt whose businesses are destroyed due to atrophy. It's a reality we have to deal with," says Jeff Sloan.

Though he's given up on the idea of running his own company for now, McMurray feels things will work out.

"I feel secure that I will be successful and at least be able to restructure my life and manage what I have," says McMurray. "I've never been one to throw in the towel." [ALTHOUGH THIS REPORTER MAKES YOU LOOK PATHETIC, I HOPE YOUR BUSINESS THRIVES AND THAT YOU AND YOUR FAMILY BECOME MEGA RICH, SERIOUSLY]

America the Wonderful

Washington Times has a great piece on the pre-eminence of America across the globe. Check it out here.

Another Red State, Value Voter to Be Hated

Associated Press

Published December 21, 2004

ANTHON, Iowa -- Home and business owners in this northwest Iowa town of 650 people were a little shocked at the Christmas gift they got from retired farmer Richard Hamann and his wife, Donna.

The Hamanns doled out $25,000 to pay the town's electricity bills - all due on Dec. 25.

Hamann, 75, sees the gift as returning a good deed.

``The Lord has been very good to us and so have the people of this community, so I always thought we ought to be doing something in return if we could,'' he said Monday.

Residents said they were surprised and grateful.

``I just thought it was great,'' said Beulah Sands, 64, a clerk at a local convenience store. ``I haven't talked to anyone who didn't appreciate it. It was a wonderful thing for him to do.''

Sands said the Hamanns' gift saved her more than $50.

A stack of thank you cards and letters sits in a bundle on Richard Hamann's desk in an office at his home.

One letter came from Joyce Sevening, who wrote that her sister, Fay Miller, is an Anthon resident who has been in poor health in recent months. She said news of the gift brought a tear to her eye.

``It makes me proud that such people as you exist in small towns in Iowa,'' wrote Sevening, who provided no return address. ``It makes me feel good that someone would go out of their way to help another in any way possible.''

© Copyright 2004 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.

Republican Carols

From the Alpha Patriot we get this great new diddy:

W, the Republican reindeer
Had a very political nose.
And if you ever met him
You'd be amazed at what he knows.

All of the Democrat reindeer (and liberal media)
Used to trade snickers and nudges.
They never let poor W
Appoint any conservative judges.

Then one contentious election year,
W came to say,
"Vote for me 'cause Kerry's a louse."
And W won, including Senate and House.

Then how the people loved him,
As they shouted out with glee:
"W the Republican reindeer,
You'll go down in history."

AP: More Liberal than Letterman

Drums, please!

Here are 2004's top 10 stories, as voted by AP members:

1. U.S. ELECTION: After vanquishing Howard Dean, John Edwards and other Democratic rivals, Kerry seemed to have a strong chance of ousting Bush. But the Massachusetts senator struggled to explain his stance on Iraq, underestimated the sting of negative ads and - in the end - narrowly lost the pivotal swing state of Ohio after a campaign in which Bush, over and over, insisted he was best qualified to be commander in chief at a time of complex challenges to national security.

2: IRAQ: Throughout 2004, Iraq was a striking mix of bloody turmoil and tantalizing promise. Anti-American insurgents wreaked havoc with car bombings and videotaped beheadings of hostages; the death toll for U.S. military forces passed 1,300, and the toll of Iraqi civilians was many times higher. Yet Iraq's interim leaders doggedly proceeded with plans for national elections early in the new year.

3. FLORIDA HURRICANES: Four major hurricanes - Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne - devastated Florida and other southern states in August and September, killing 117 people in Florida, destroying 2,500 homes and causing more than $22 billion in insured losses. Not since 1886 had one state been hit by four hurricanes in one season.

4. ABU GHRAIB SCANDAL: Photographs came to light showing U.S. military guards at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad forcing naked Iraqi detainees to pose in humiliating positions. Prosecutions ensued, and the scandal fueled anti-American sentiment in the Muslim world.

5. SEPT. 11 REPORT: After painstaking research and dramatic public hearings, the commission formed to investigate the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, issued its report. It concluded that America's leaders failed to grasp the gravity of terrorist threats before Sept. 11 and recommended creation of a national intelligence director to oversee civilian and military intelligence agencies.

6: GAY MARRIAGE: From coast to coast, gay marriage was a volatile topic throughout the year. Massachusetts became the first state to have legal, same-sex weddings, and local officials in several places - including San Francisco and Portland, Ore. - also wed gay and lesbian couples before courts intervened. However, each time the issue reached the ballot - in 13 states in all - voters decisively approved constitutional amendments banning gay marriage.

7: ARAFAT DIES: For three decades, Yasser Arafat was a hero to most of his fellow Palestinians but considered unreliable - or worse - by leaders in the West and Israel. His death in November, at age 75, triggered emotional mourning among Palestinians but also sparked hopes of a breakthrough in efforts to end their long, bloody conflict with Israel.

8: REAGAN DIES: Alzheimer's disease had kept Ronald Reagan out of the public eye for a decade. But when the nation's 40th president died in June, at 93, Americans responded with an outpouring of affection and respect. His stately funeral in Washington brought the country together at least briefly in a year otherwise marked by bitter partisan divisions.

9: RUSSIAN SCHOOL SEIZURE: Even in a world grown all too accustomed to terrorism, the drama in the Russian town of Belsan was shocking because children were so clearly prime targets. A band of terrorists, believed led by a Chechen warlord, took more than 1,000 people hostage at a school in September. When the seizure ended, amid explosions and gunfire, more than 330 hostages had been killed - most of them children.

10: MADRID BOMBINGS: Another stunning terrorist strike occurred in March, when 190 people were killed after bombs hidden in backpacks exploded on four commuter trains during Madrid's morning rush hour. Soon after the attack, which was blamed on Islamic militants, angry voters unseated Spain's pro-American conservative government in favor of the Socialist Party, which promptly withdrew Spanish troops from Iraq. Hmmm...I wonder why people think (when putting a terrorist thug with NOTHING TO SHOW FOR HIS LIFE above the death of Ronald Reagan who defeated Soviet Communism for news stories of the year) there is a liberal media bias.

MSNBC Hates Blacks

It's almost like I am living on another planet! How does a magazine find the nerve to criticize Bill Cosby by quoting a bunch of LOSER, SKANK, SELFISH, CUNT BITCHES saying that Cosby doesn't know what he's talking about:

Does Cosby Help?
He's railed at black kids for choosing bling over books. What they think—and what Cos must do to reach them
By Ellis Cose
Newsweek

Dec. 27 / Jan. 3 issue - You would think the story would have died by now. What's the big deal, after all, about Bill Cosby's blasting a bunch of poor kids and their parents? While the initial salvo was fired months ago, the aftershocks are still being felt. Columnists continue to harp on Cosby's statements, and the comedian has gone on a crusade, sermonizing across the land—and being received like a revered Biblical prophet.

"It is not all right for your 15-year-old daughter to have a child," he told 2,400 fans in a high school in Milwaukee. He lambasted young men in Baltimore for knocking up "five, six girls." He tongue-lashed single mothers in Atlanta for having sex within their children's hearing "and then four days later, you bring another man into the house." "The audience gasped," reported The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

People have been gasping since May, when Cosby blasted "lower-economic people" for "not holding up their end," for buying kids $500 sneakers instead of "Hooked on Phonics." His words (and tone) set off a raging discussion over whether Cosby's comments make sense and whether they can do any good—over whether the problem resides in the poor people he criticized, or in forces largely beyond their control. No group has a larger stake in that debate than the poor urbanites Cosby presumably is trying to save. Yet they don't exactly seem to be rushing to Cosby's church.

Kenny, 17, a onetime stick-up man, puts it plainly. "Cosby is ... talking about me holding up my end of the bargain. Listen ... I robbed 'cause I was hungry. If he's going to put food on my table, if he's going to give me time to pursue education vigorously, then fine. But if he's not, then I'm going to hold up my end of the bargain and make sure I get something to eat."

Kenny was one of several young offenders called together, at NEWSWEEK's request, by the Fortune Society, a nonprofit that works with at-risk youths and ex-cons. None saw salvation at the end of Cosby's crusade.

April, a 16-year-old Latina from the Bronx, scoffed at the notion that poor mothers were buying $500 shoes. The only people she knew with such pricey sneakers were those "on the block pitching [dealing drugs]." "Times are different" than in Cosby's heyday, said Sonia, 20. "Back then even if [men] worked at a factory they'd get up every day and go to a job in a suit. Nowadays ... most black males don't have good enough jobs."

But even the most hardened delinquents don't dispute that there is some truth in Cosby's message. When young black males (15-24) are murdered at 15 times the rate of young white males, something is seriously wrong. Cosby, to his credit, has said no to complacency.

In "Code of the Street," sociologist Elijah Anderson wrote eloquently of the war in inner cities between "decent" values and "street" values. That is the war into which Cosby has leapt mouth first—and into which Ameer Tate was born. "I grew up in a bad neighborhood ... and I always had to fight... My grandmother was on crack ... Both my uncles were pimps. My father was never here ... [I remember] being beat up as an 11-year-old by this 36-year-old fresh out of prison just because he wanted to put his hands on my mom," recalled Tate, an 18-year-old San Franciscan.

Telling people born into such circumstances to shape up is not much of a plan. Combating "a history of inequality and disadvantage" requires "systematic solutions," argues Stephanie Bell-Rose, president of the Goldman Sachs Foundation, which funds programs targeting achievers in poor communities. She believes Cosby has an obligation to be "more thoughtful.

I HATE MSNBC NOW! WORDS CANNOT DESCRIBE MY ANGER! HOW DARE THEY! HOW FUCKING DARE THEY QUOTE STUPID MOTHER FUCKING CHILDREN THAT KNOW NOTHING BUT MTV BULLSHIT AND ACT LIKE THEY HAVE A VOICE. OH MY GOD I WANT TO SHOOT SOMEONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Keep the Government Out of My Mouth!

Excellent little ditty from Rush on Friday:

Because that's what you think of your own country, and you believe it when it comes to global warming. You may believe in global warming for other reasons as well, just because you're a coward. You may actually hear all this doom and gloom and you may actually think, "Oh, my gosh! I'm going to die!" You may actually believe all this. You may actually think that all of this is about you. You may think of yourself as powerless, and you're nothing but a victim. If you're on the left, that probably pretty much describes you. You're a victim of everything. You're a victim of fossil fuels. You're a victim of evil corporate capitalists. You're a victim of tax cuts for the rich. You are a victim of global warming. You're a victim of the pharmaceutical companies. You're a victim of Ken Lay. You're a victim of Enron. You're a victim of Bush. You're a double and triple victim of Rumsfeld. You are a victim of practically everything. Everybody's out to getcha.

The rich corporate capitalists who themselves don't care if they breathe dirty air, don't care if their kids get burnt to a crisp with global warming, you think all they want to do is get rich. While they themselves die, along with you from all of these horrible things. So I know you believe it. I know there are a number of you in this audience that believe this global warming tripe, because I know that human nature, that people will bond to doom and gloom faster than they will bond to hope and salvation. People will bond to this. It's a puzzling thing to me, but it nevertheless happens. So whatever the latest doom -- I mean, if you hear that oat bran will clog your arteries, you will stop eating it. You will not even think about it. If someone wacko geek that has anorexia gets on television and tells you that you are going to die from Big Macs, you will believe it. Without examining who this anorexic geek is. You will not examine the motives. You will not stop it ask, "What could this anorexic geek care about all this? Why would this anorexic geek try to actually get in my mouth?" You have to understand you people on the left how contradictory you are. This is how we look at you.
On the one hand, you run around and you have made a career and you have tried to identify yourselves by saying, "Keep the government and everybody else out of my womb!" and in the next sentence, you want in everybody's mouth by telling them what they can't put there. You want everybody out of your womb, but yet nobody should eat cheeseburgers; nobody should eat Big Macs; nobody should eat this or that. As long as you keep up with these contradictory statements, you will become more and more marginalized and more and more kooky and you will only affirm similar emotions and thoughts within your little group but you're not going to persuade others. This global warming thing is a great example. I think global warming is almost a hoax. I think it's almost a hoax but it's so easy to believe because anecdotally people can look out there when it's a hundred degrees in July and say, ''Man, I don't remember it ever being this hot, and even if it has been, I don't remember it feeling this hot. Gee, there's got to be global warming," and bam, everybody believes it just because it's a hundred degrees in July, when it's always a hundred degrees in July.

Or you may have the weird weather front where it's 60 degrees in January. "See? It's global warming!" So it's easy to fall for this. For those of you who know it, you believe these wacko experts that say it, the same wacko experts who say it have conceded that Kyoto will have no impact on them. Yet they believe in Kyoto. "Despite the fact the green groups at the U.N. climate summit in Buenos Aires called President Bush immoral and illegitimate for not supporting Kyoto, the groups themselves concede the protocol will only have symbolic effect on climate because they believe Kyoto's too weak. Kyoto is international treaty, seeks to limit greenhouse gases of the developed countries by 2012," but China's exempt from it and China is on its way to becoming the #2 greenhouse gas producer. China's exempt. Tell me what Kyoto is all about, then -- and so the keyword in this paragraph is "it will only have symbolic effect." Symbolic effect is all the left is interested in terms of persuading people. We are never to ask the results of their work, only their intentions. We're never supposed to dig deep to find out how their ideas work or fail.

Cult of Phil

For once, I agree--mostly--with a writer at the New Republic:

Oh, where to begin? For starters, [Phil] McGraw relies on much the same exploitative freak-show format as Jerry Springer or Jenny Jones, with everyone from drug-addicted housewives to love-starved transsexuals spinning their tales of woe for a salivating audience. But to help himself--and his audience--feel less icky about their voyeurism, Dr. Phil exposes America's dark side under the guise of inspiring hope and change. In Dr. Phil's formulation, cheating couples who air every nauseating detail of their sex lives on national television aren't shameless media whores, they are troubled souls courageous enough to seek help. Even in cases so marginal as to have no bearing on 99.9 percent of viewers--such as parents struggling with a child exhibiting homicidal tendencies--Dr. Phil reassures us that the publicity is beneficial to other families because these problems occur "on a continuum": A six-year-old with low-grade behavior problems today could, if left unchecked, turn out to be a serial killer down the road.

Check out the entire article here; subtract the nonsense about how conservatives like this guy--they DON'T!

Can Someone Crunch These Numbers?

Okay, I am still confused about our military organization and numbers. The Old York Times had another hit piece today saying the national guard is 30% below it's expected recruitment. This is to be expected because the national guards appeal is for people who do not want to be deployed for more than 12 months at a time (the regular army expects at least 4 years, one being a hardship tour to South Korea if you do not see active duty).

In the article, they say that the reserves and National Guard make up 40% of the troops in Iraq. So out of 150,000 troops only 90,000 are regular army.

Our current full-time military personnel force is 1.2 million. Now if you divide that by four for the four services (this is being very generous to the Air Force, Navy and Marines) you have 300,000 full time Army personnel. 90,000 are in Iraq and 10,000 in Afghanistan.

Where are the other 200,000? And why is everyone claiming we are stretched too thin??

Remember, I am only talking about ARMY! And if you look closer, the standing National Guard is 350,000 as stated here. So that means that only 60,000 are in Iraq (less than one fifth)--so we have 290,000 National Guard folks in our force structure. In any war situation we would also have the Air Force and Navy and such. These numbers are just not adding up for me; I do not understand the claim that if we were attacked we would be up a creek without a paddle because "all our forces are in Iraq." Can someone who knows shed some light on this?

From my outlook, we have 200,000 full time army personnel and 290,000 national guard personnel NOT IN IRAQ. I said before that I don't believe we only have 150,000 people in Iraq...and so it could be the case that we have many more soldiers in Iraq that the military is not telling us.

But if I am wrong, then where are we getting this, "the army is stretched TOO THIN!" argument?

Listen to the Soldiers

That means that Ghost Dansing cannot critique since he/she has never been in Iraq.

Question Authority
What the media got wrong about Spc. Wilson and Secretary Rumsfeld.
_______________________________
BY JOHN R. GUARDIANO
Wednesday, December 15, 2004 12:01 a.m.

To the media, it was a dramatic revelation of Bush administration hypocrisy and incompetence: A lowly American GI courageously speaks truth to power, thus showing that the emperor has no clothes. But to this Marine veteran of the Iraq war, the hullabaloo over Army Spc. Thomas J. Wilson's question reveals far more about media bias, prejudice and ignorance than it does about the U.S. military and Iraq.

Spc. Wilson asked Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld why, nearly two years after the start of the war, his unit still has too few "up-armored" humvees. The media were surprised that an enlisted man would ask so direct and pointed a question of the Pentagon's highest official. I wasn't.

I enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve after Sept. 11, 2001, and served in Iraq in 2003. Throughout boot camp, combat training and subsequent preparation for war, my instructors always stressed the importance of independent thinking and initiative. Obviously, when you're in the middle of a firefight, you cannot--and must not--second-guess split-second command decisions. However, when preparing for war, thoughtful and considered questions are not only tolerated; they are encouraged--even demanded, I found.

As one of my combat instructors told us: "Marines, you're more likely to die from someone doing something stupid than because the enemy is skilled and ingenious. So make sure you've thought things through and that everyone's on the same page. Be polite. Be tactful. But don't be afraid to ask questions."

I soon discovered that this command to think and to ask questions wasn't mere rhetoric. I was serving with the First Battalion, Fourth Marine Regiment at an abandoned pistol factory in Al Hillah, about 60 miles south of Baghdad. Every three weeks or so, we were visited by Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis, who was then commanding the First Marine Division in Iraq.

Gen. Mattis is a Marine's Marine, a true warrior who speaks bluntly and candidly, without being bound by the constraints of political correctness. For well over an hour, on a routine and regular basis, the general would gather together his Marines and field questions. Nothing was out of bounds. The event was entirely democratic and thoroughly American--though marked by standard military etiquette and respect for rank. Thus, newsmen and commentators who fear "retribution" against Spc. Wilson haven't a clue as to what the U.S. military is all about. Spc. Wilson asked a tough but fair question; however, for any U.S. serviceman who's ever been to war, this was hardly surprising.

Nor does his question demonstrate, as some have argued, that the Iraq war was ill-conceived or poorly planned. War is, by its very nature, surprising and unpredictable; it forces us to adapt and to be innovative. Armchair "experts" notwithstanding, the fact is no one anticipated the Baathist-Sunni insurgency, certainly not the U.S. military. We all expected to knock off Saddam Hussein and his elite Republican Guard and then head home in time for the July 4 celebrations. That's why, when I deployed to Iraq in 2003, I traveled throughout the country in a standard canvas humvee with no special armor. Nor did I have any special body vest or protection.

I thought nothing of this at the time and still don't. My team went as far north as Baghdad, but we were situated mainly south of the Sunni Triangle, in predominantly Shiite Iraq. Throughout our entire time there, the Iraqis welcomed us as liberators. We were well prepared for the threat as it then existed and as we understood it.

But when my old Marine Corps reserve unit redeployed to Iraq in September, it did so with fully armored vehicles, new sappy plated vests and special goggles--all designed to protect against shrapnel and improvised explosive devices. That's because the unit was deploying to Fallujah, and the threat there was different from what we had faced in southern, Shiite Iraq.

This type of change and adaptation has occurred in all wars from time immemorial. It reflects not poor planning but the unpredictable nature of war. That's why the Defense Department has been moving quickly to up-armor its humvees, producing nearly 400 such vehicles a month, up from 30 a month in August 2003, according to Army Lt. Gen. R. Steven Whitcomb.

The U.S. military ultimately wants 8,100 up-armored humvees versus the nearly 6,000 such vehicles that it has currently, Gen. Whitcomb told reporters last week. Moreover, according to the Army vice chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Richard A. Cody, the military long ago embarked on a "Manhattan-like project" to remotely jam IEDs with radio sensors.

If you're an American soldier or Marine whose life is on the line now, clearly that's not good enough. On the other hand, it simply isn't true that U.S. military leaders have callously ignored the troops' request for up-armored vehicles and other protective equipment. In fact, most of our troops in Iraq have up-armored vehicles, and units there take force protection quite seriously.

Delays ought to be blamed on the military bureaucracy, which Secretary Rumsfeld has been trying to reform. Indeed, that's what military transformation--a Rumsfeld priority--is all about. Yet, many of the same people who are most vociferously denouncing the lack of up-armored humvees in Iraq also fight military reform tooth and nail.

Example: When the Army decided last winter to cancel development of its Cold War relic Comanche helicopter, Sen. Christopher Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, immediately took to the barricades. "It simply doesn't make sense to pull the plug on the Comanche," Mr. Dodd said. "Obviously, this will not be an easy fight, but I intend to work with other members of the Connecticut congressional delegation to seek to retain the Comanche as part of our military arsenal."

It didn't seem to matter to Mr. Dodd that the Comanche was a $39-billion boondoggle that the Army didn't want because the aircraft isn't suitable for 21st-century urban warfare. Nor did Mr. Dodd seem to care that much of the displaced Comanche money would be used to equip existing Army helicopters with new countermeasure systems necessary to neutralize the ubiquitous threat posed by rocket-propelled grenades, shoulder-fired missiles, and man-portable air-defense systems, all of which are omnipresent in Iraq.

Yet Mr. Dodd, who has never been a champion of big defense budgets, now has the chutzpah to lecture Mr. Rumsfeld about the need to "spare no expense to ensure the safety of our troops, particularly as they confront a hostile insurgency and roadside bombs throughout Iraq." Mr. Dodd says Mr. Rumsfeld's response to Spec. Wilson--"You go to war with the Army you have"--is "utterly unacceptable. Mr. Secretary," he writes, "our troops go to war with the Army that our nation's leaders provide."

Quite true--and Mr.. Dodd is one of those leaders.

Nor does the entire hullabaloo concerning up-armored humvees show, as some commentators contest, that U.S. troops lack confidence in their military and civilian leaders. The reality is that troop morale is consistently high.

Of course, American soldiers and Marines yearn to come home; it is not in our nature to colonize or occupy a country. By the same token, however, most U.S. troops take understandable pride in a job well done. They are pleased to have the historic chance to serve and to practice, in a real-world operation, that which they have been training for all these many years. That's why re-enlistment rates are high.

As U.S. Central Commander Gen. John Abizaid told Tim Russert on "Meet the Press" Sept. 26: "The constant drumbeat in Washington of a war that is being lost, that can't be won, of a resistance that is out of control, simply does not square with the facts on the ground." In fact, the vast majority of Iraq is not a war zone; it is peaceful, tranquil and doing surprisingly well. I refer specifically to the Shiite south. The Kurdish north, too, is doing relatively well, despite the recent upsurge of violence in Mosul.

"So is this fight in the Middle East worth fighting?" the general asked Mr. Russert. "Absolutely," he said. "In my mind, and in the minds of our young people that are out here fighting and sacrificing, it's absolutely worth it."

Of course you won't hear any of this in many news articles or broadcasts. The media long ago decided that its job was to put a negative slant on all things Iraq. Truth is, as they say, the first casualty of war.

Mr. Guardiano is an Arlington, Va.-based journalist who served in Iraq in 2003 as a field radio operator with the U.S. Marine Corps' Fourth Civil Affairs Group.

Copyright © 2004 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Why I Am Mad at Democrats

For forcing me to root for Jerry Falwell on television! Grrrr! To be honest, I can barely make it through the 700 Club (although they have very good reporting from the Middle East). I think that Pat Robertson is a brilliant writer, but his show makes me cringe--not because of his belive in Jesus the Christ, but because he is soooo corny and I cringe at how that must turn people off.

But the ACLU (see below in X Marks the Spot) is creating this culture war--not Bush.

Ownership Society

A great piece here on the success of private retirement accounts in Chile.

About.com

I've discovered some of the great things at About.com--especially how put a lot of great information in one place. Here is their 25 funniest quotes of 2004:

#25: "Well, there was no sex for 14 days." —California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, on getting the cold shoulder from his wife after backing President George W. Bush at the Republican Convention

#24: "If I could only go through the ducts and leap out onstage in a cape — that's my dream." —Ralph Nader, on crashing the presidential debates

#23: "The only politician in America I know with a mandate is Jim McGreevey." —Democratic strategist James Carville

#22: "It's been a little tough to prepare for the debates, because he keeps changing his positions, especially on the war. I think he could spend 90 minutes debating himself." —President Bush, on Sen. John Kerry

#21: "The big hang-up was George Bush wanted to get life lines, you know, so he could call somebody." —Sen. John Kerry, on negotiations over the presidential debates, during an appearance on "Live With Regis and Kelly."

#20: "I think it was his battery. I think tomorrow, before the debate, John Kerry ought to pat him down." —Sen. John Edwards, after Jay Leno asked him about Bush's mystery bulge during the first presidential debate, which some speculated might have been a radio transmitter to feed him answers through an earpiece

#19: "Is he hot? Yeah. Is he hung? Yeah. Is he [she waved her hand to suggest bisexual]? Not unless you can give a better [she mimicked eating a banana] than me." —Court TV's Kimberly Newsom, at a gay rights fundraiser, on her husband, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom

#18: "Can't you see it now? Cheney saying, 'You need me on that wall! You need me on that wall!' And me saying, 'You can't handle the truth!'" —Sen. John Edwards, after "Regis & Kelly" host Kelly Ripa suggested Tom Cruise could play Edwards in a movie of the 2004 campaign

#17: "I guess the president and you and I are three examples of lucky people who married up. And some would say maybe me more so than others." —Sen. John Kerry, during the third presidential debate

#16: "This is the man who wants to be the Commander in Chief of our U.S. Armed Forces? U.S. forces armed with what? Spitballs?" —Sen. Zell Miller, attacking Sen. John Kerry in his GOP convention speech

#15: "Well, here's an update. Since the election, that gay couple I knew in the red states? They've moved back to the blue states." —Sen.-elect Barack Obama, joking about his Democratic Convention speech, in which he said that "we coach Little League in the blue states and we have some gay friends in the red states"

#14: "I would like to apologize for referring to George W. Bush as a 'deserter.' What I meant to say is that George W. Bush is a deserter, an election thief, a drunk driver, a WMD liar and a functional illiterate. And he poops his pants." —Michael Moore

#13: "You know what's interesting, though? You're as big a dick on your show as you are on any show." —Jon Stewart, bitchslapping Tucker Carlson during an interview on CNN's "Crossfire"

#11: "They said I wasn't being funny. And I said to them, 'I know that, but tomorrow I will go back to being funny, and your show will still blow.'" —Jon Stewart, on his sniping match with Tucker Carlson and Paul Begala on "Crossfire"

#11: "Kerry said about Tora Bora, 'I think we've been smart. I think administration leadership has done well, and we are on the right track.' End quote. All I can say is that I am George W. Bush, and I approve of that message." —President Bush

#10: "People tell me that Senator Edwards got picked for his good looks, his sex appeal, and his great hair. I say to them, 'How do you think I got the job?'" —Vice President Dick Cheney

#9: "I had hoped to be back here this week under different circumstances, running for re-election. But you know the old saying: you win some, you lose some. And then there's that little-known third category. I didn't come here tonight to talk about the past. After all, I don't want you to think I lie awake at night counting and recounting sheep. I prefer to focus on the future because I know from my own experience that America is a land of opportunity, where every little boy and girl has a chance to grow up and win the popular vote." —Former Vice President Al Gore, at the Democratic Convention

#8: "If Barbara gets her hands on John Kerry, he might get another Purple Heart." —Former President Bush, on the political attacks on his son

#7: "It really gets me when the critics say I haven't done enough for the economy," he said. "I mean, look what I've done for the book publishing industry. You've heard some of the titles. 'Big Lies,' 'The Lies of George W. Bush,' 'The Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them.' I'd like to tell you I've read each of these books, but that'd be a lie." —President Bush, at the White House Correspondents Dinner

#6: "I forgot out there on the stage to thank my cast. So if I could do that now, I want to thank Mr. Bush, Mr. Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz and Donald Rumsfeld. I thought the love scene between Cheney and Rumsfeld brought a tear to my eye." —Michael Moore, after winning the top prize at the Cannes film festival for his documentary film "Fahrenheit 9/11"

#5: "I wanted to say to Governor Dean, don't be hard on yourself about hooting and hollering. If I had spent the money you did and got 18 percent, I'd still be in Iowa hooting and hollering." —Rev. Al Sharpton

#4: "The candidates are an interesting group, with diverse opinions — for tax cuts and against them, for NAFTA and against NAFTA, for the Patriot Act and against the Patriot Act, in favor of liberating Iraq and opposed to it. And that's just one senator from Massachusetts." —President Bush

#3: "Did the training wheels fall off?" —Sen. John Kerry, after being told by reporters that President Bush took a tumble during a bike ride

#2: "To those critics who are so pessimistic about our economy, I say, Don't be economic girlie men!" —California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, at the Republican convention

#1: "I spent several years in a North Vietnamese prison camp, in the dark, fed with scraps. Do you think I want to do that all over again as vice president of the United States?" —Sen. John McCain

~Compiled by Daniel Kurtzman

Bless You!

Kitty is feeling under the weather. Wish her a quick recovery here!

Vast Western Conspiracy

Right out of the Clintonista playbook, we have Kojo Annan is calling the investigation into the disappearance of some $20,000,000,000 dollars a (are you sitting down?): a "witch hunt."

Tip from Drudge.