Pious Agnostic

"He imposed on us and I disagree with him coming over here shaking our hands," one Marine said, adding, "I'm 100 percent against [him]."

Via Instapundit, I find this great Power Line post:

And the Democrats' convention was like an American Legion rally--veterans everywhere. Since when do the Democrats like soldiers? Bill Clinton once wrote, "I loathe the military," a sentiment that was undoubtedly shared by a huge majority of the Democratic delegates, many of whom got into politics via the anti-war movement.

As, of course, John Kerry did. Kerry didn't become famous, or initiate his political career, on the basis of his Vietnam service; his ticket to the top was his fame as a leader of the anti-war movement who had denounced his fellow soldiers as war criminals. Kerry's claim to moderation in those years is based on the fact that he voted against a plan to assassinate pro-war members of the U.S. Senate.

So what's going on? The delegates to the Democratic convention adopted a platform that few if any of them believe in, which acknowledges the danger of terrorism and pledges to stay the course in Iraq. It would be nice to think that the Democrats have undergone a transformation. But we know that isn't true; a survey indicated that three-fourths of the delegates advocate immediate withdrawal from Iraq, the opposite of the platform they voted for. And this year there was not even a debate, let alone a fight, about the platform.

It's hard to avoid the conclusion that the Democrats are so desperate for power that they have no compunction about misrepresenting themselves to the American people. This isn't shocking in itself, of course, but how painful must it be for Michael Moore to sing "America the Beautiful" on television? How hard must it be for Democratic delegates to pay tribute after tribute to a U.S. military toward which they have demonstrated nothing but suspicion and hostility for decades?

You speak eloquently and have seemingly read every
book ever published. You are a fountain of
endless (sometimes useless) knowledge, and
never fail to impress at a party. What people love: You can answer almost any
question people ask, and have thus been
nicknamed Jeeves. What people hate: You constantly correct their
grammar and insult their paperbacks.

Pious gratitude to: SITD

Hugh Hewitt has a transcript of Michael Mooron's speach to the DNC Tuesday night.

Yes, I hate this guy with the heat of a thousand suns.

As you probably know, I go to bed early, so I didn't stay up to hear Kerry's acceptance speech to the DNC last night. From excerpts I've heard and from what I read, it was well received by people predetermined to like it, which I suppose should surprise no one.

Lileks, naturally, has a take, which you will get to after you read through today's particularly bleaty Bleat.

"I defended this country as a young man, and I will defend it as President."

This really intrigues me. I agree that Vietnam was a defense of the United States, inasmuch as we were trying to blunt the advance of Communism. So: only Nixon can go to China. (Only Kirk can go to Chronos, for you Star Trek geeks.) Only Kerry can confirm that Vietnam was a just war. This completely upends conventional wisdom about the Vietnamese war, and requires a certain amount of historical amnesia. Why does this get glossed over? The illegitimacy of the Vietnam war (non-UN approved, after all) is a key doctrine of the Church of the Boomers; to say that service in Vietnam was done in defense of the United States is like announcing that Judas Ischariot was the most faithful of the disciples. Imagine if you were a preacher who attempted such a revision. Imagine your private thrill when everyone in the congregation nodded assent. The past was more malleable than you had ever expected.

Update:  Andrew Sullivan describes it as a "very liberal speech."

There was support for protectionism, and for penalizing the drug companies. Government-funded research into stem cells was described as revolutionary. But private drug research that has cured millions and saved my own life must be throttled to placate constituencies like the AARP.

Just in case you can't get enough pseudo-intellectual leftist cant, you can create your own with the Lefterator!

It is quite remarkable that a minority of warmongers and apologists represents the repudiation of international law in order to bring about this calamity brought to us by a horrific onslaught, known as Shock and Awe. So far, Bush’s argument for war leads our attention to the predatory imperialist aims outlined by the crypto-fascist Project for a New American Century. This suggests that the Pax Americana of the future brings forth the seizure of the Iraqi Oil Ministry. On the other hand, the unstated purpose of this war belies justifications given by the world's leading apologists for the end of any possibility of social justice in a reactionary state.

Kerry Iraq Documentary RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie released the following Kerry Iraq Documentary at a press conference in Boston during the Democratic National Convention.

Please go watch it here.

Pious gratitude to: Hugh Hewitt

According to LGF, Muslims Seethe Over Underwear Ad

The British Advertising Standards Authority has ordered an underwear company to remove posters situated near a mosque.

In the interests of full discosure, I went searching for the offending billboard.

The things I do for my public...

This morning, a skywriter decided to take advantage of the beautiful clear canvas at his disposal to write a message of love and hope.

I was thinking that if this had happened in, say, 600AD, the folks on the ground would have cowered in fear, gaping at the sky like a bunch of primitive screwheads, until Brother Bernhardt, the only literate one in the bunch, would have explained it to them. And today, Brother Bernhardt would be "Saint Bernhardt" the patron saint of scriveners, or something.

Nowadays, depending upon your temperment, you can either take solace in the message and admire the skill of the pilot; or you can shake your fist at the sky and curse John Ashcroft.

Why I Am A Democrat

I am a Democrat because I believe a healthy economy depends on good jobs at good wages. So fork 'em over, you fat bastard boss man.

There's more. Go read.

It's a little late, but worth the wait.

Kathleen Nelson has a stirring defense of the term "cakewalk."

I hereby take the pledge:

In the case that Kerry is elected president, I will refuse to call him traitor, loser, liar, incompetent. He will be my President, my Commander In Chief, the Chief Executive of a great nation, elected by the will of a majority of the electors in these 50 great united States. So even if he does things I disagree with in conducting foreign policy, I will say, "I respectfully disagree with the President's directions, but I will do my best to express my dissent respectfully and hope that I am mistaken and that he has made the proper decisions after all."

But I hope it doesn't come to this. We already know that our opponants in this fight are incapable of making a similar pledge.

But then, we're the grown-ups in this nation.

I was away Friday - Sunday, and I haven't been blogging at all. Today I'm really busy, so not blogging either.

Back soon, I hope.

P.S. Michael Moron is a jerk. Vote Bush just to spite him.

Entire post ripped off from: lgf

Al Franken promotes Vote Fraud!

The most important factor, of course, is the work being done by Ohioans. But those of us in the rest of the nation could tip the balance. As the office of the Ohio Secretary of State notes, only 30 days of residency are required in order to vote in the election. Have you been thinking about moving this October? Move to Ohio!

The post is also full of that sneery, ironic mockery of Ohioans by our political superiors that we've come to know and love. (Yes, I know this is satire; at least, I assume it is. It's hard to tell when they are being serious.)

Remember the Lions in Kenya? Did you have trouble getting that out of your head?

Wait until you hear Magical Trevor

Golly! No wonder they love him in Germany.

Pious gratitude to: Andrew Sullivan

I am putting this post here so that I don't have to look at the dynamic duo down there at the top of my screen any more. I don't really have anything to post. Well, except this:

I heard a story on the radio on the way to work that earlier this week several suitcase nukes were discovered in a "major metropolitan area", one of which had begun its detonation sequence and which had to be rushed out over the Atlantic before it exploded.

Any of you heard about that?

Plus, today is the 35th anniversary of this, which is still the coolest event of my lifetime.

Last seen at: Shot in the Dark

Lileks says this story is making the rounds, but just in case you haven't seen it:

Terror in the Skies, Again?

On June 29, 2004, at 12:28 p.m., I flew on Northwest Airlines flight #327 from Detroit to Los Angeles with my husband and our young son. Also on our flight were 14 Middle Eastern men between the ages of approximately 20 and 50 years old. What I experienced during that flight has caused me to question whether the United States of America can realistically uphold the civil liberties of every individual, even non-citizens, and protect its citizens from terrorist threats.

Read it all.

Mitch poses some purely academic questions:

Do you suppose that with all the bits and pieces of information that are starting to come out about possible Terrorist activities pertaining to the conventions, the Olympics and the election - including a number of terrorist arrests here in the Twin Cities, for crying out loud...

...that the left will someday stop trying to wring maximum too-cool-for-the-room irony from the DHLS' attempts to warn people that there might be trouble, and you might want to be ready for it?

Second academic question: Which group of Americans will be the ones demanding investigations if an attack happens on a day Tom Ridge said was a "Yellow" rather than a "Red" alert day?

Andrew Sullivan quotes from an article in the Telegraph that reports on Tony Blair's statement yesterday before the House of Commons:

"No one lied. No one made up the intelligence. No one inserted things into the dossier against the advice of the intelligence services. Everyone genuinely tried to do their best in good faith for the country in circumstances of acute difficulty. That issue of good faith should now be at an end ... But I have to accept, as the months have passed, it seems increasingly clear that at the time of invasion, Saddam did not have stockpiles of chemical or biological weapons ready to deploy ... I have searched my conscience, not in the spirit of obstinacy, but in genuine reconsideration in the light of what we now know, in answer to that question. And my answer would be that the evidence of Saddam's WMD was indeed less certain, less well-founded than was stated at the time. But I cannot go from there to the opposite extreme. On any basis he retained complete strategic intent on WMD and significant capability. The only reason he ever let the inspectors back into Iraq was that he had 180,000 US and British troops on his doorstep ... Had we backed down in respect of Saddam, we would never have taken the stand we needed to take on WMD, never have got progress on Libya ... and we would have left Saddam in charge of Iraq, with every malign intent and capability still in place and every dictator with the same intent everywhere immeasurably emboldened. For any mistakes made, as the report finds, in good faith, I of course take full responsibility. But I cannot honestly say I believe getting rid of Saddam was a mistake at all."

Also over at Sully's is his Email of the Day II, which I excerpt a bit here:

Whoa! Wait a second! FMA collapses because of lack of REPUBLICAN support, and you label the Republican Party as exclusionary?

Go read the rest. I like Sullivan quite a bit, but I think this email takes him to task correctly. And to his credit, so does he.

When I was in college, I absolutely loved the band The Who. I still do; they have produced some of the greatest rock music of all time, from their early compilation albums like Meaty Beaty Big & Bouncy to their rock operas like Tommy to my all-time favorite Who's Next

Another fortuitious intersection, then, between two of my favorite topics: Pete Townsend, and Michael Moron.

SitD has the story.

Kathleen’s story yesterday got me remembering my own encounters with ducklings. I have two such stories to share.

A couple of years ago, my wife and I were pulling out of our driveway, when I noticed a tiny yellow something scurrying down the middle of our neighborhood street, in the exact wrong direction away from where he should have been going. I stopped the car, and terrified the little lost duckling as I chased him around and tried to scoop him up. I finally succeeded, and he immediately peed in my hand.

Ducklings are the softest, most delicate thing you will ever hold in your hand. They are endearing even when they pee on you.

My wife then took the wheel, and we drove down to the drainage ditch at the end of the street, where we knew that a little duck family had taken up residence.

I got out of the car with my precious, peeping handful and made my way carefully down the steep embankment. Mama and her little charges were wicking away on the other side of the water, so I got as close as I could without falling in and put the little guy down on the grass.

He immediately made his way towards his brothers and sisters, and I beat a hasty retreat. I don’t really know what happened, of course; I have heard that “human smell” will somehow cause a mama-bird to reject its baby, but I had to chance it because he was a long way from home when I found him, and on his way to disaster.

My second ducky story took place a few years prior to that. Donna and I were down by Lake Eola in Orlando, which has a sizable population of water fowl. We approached the boat ramp there, where the swan boats are drawn out of the water, and I saw this woman with a cardboard box trying to catch some ducklings.

She informed me that the mother duck disappeared many days ago, leaving the flock of little ones orphan, and she was trying to capture them to take them to local facility that cares for such animals. So, I offered to help capture the dozen little ducklings.

Now, these ducklings had gotten it into their little heads that they wanted to get out of the water at the convenient boat ramp, but every time they tried to do so, this woman would charge down on them and they’d scurry back into the water, only to turn around and make another attempt a few minutes later. Between the two of us, the woman and I were able to grab a couple of the little guys, and pop them into the cardboard box, where they peeped and peeped, calling out to their brothers and sisters.

Not daunted by the sudden abduction of two of their numbers, the now reduced flock of ducklings again attempted to take the beach, where they were met by our determined selves. Pop, pop, two more ducklings went into the box, as the rest of the duckies fled back into the water.

Several more times this went on, with the ducklings again and again attempting to reunite themselves with their unseen siblings calling from within the cardboard box, until finally the last little uncaught duckling walked up directly to the box and tried to find a way inside. He was easily grabbed and reunited with the other duckies.

This taught me a lot about how strong the instinct is in ducklings to stay with the group, and to follow each other’s little piping peeps. Even though they’d seen predators (us) snatch up all their fellows, the urge to join them was so strong, that these little ducklings dared again and again to go ashore to be with them, even if it meant their certain destruction. Their own safety wasn’t as important to them as being accepted as one of the group.

I’ll resist drawing comparisons between their behavior and the behavior of Liberals. Oops! I guess I couldn’t.

Kathleen Nelson has a story about my favorite of all creatures in the animal kingdom:

President Bush Discusses Progress in the War on Terror
Remarks by the President on the War on Terror
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Oak Ridge, Tennessee

If the President can deliver speeches like this during the campaign, he'll win the election without a doubt.

40 Reasons To Vote For George Bush Or Against John Kerry

To paraphrase Casablanca (and if anyone can find the exact quote, please comment) "Maybe some of these reasons aren't that important, but look a the number of them."

Pious gratitude to: Hugh Hewitt

Bill sent me this toe-tapping link

Thanks, Bill! It kind-of sums up the next few months for us.

Update:  Well, I'm seeing it in all the usuall places, so I guess this isn't a scoop. But it's darn funny.

Update2: Well, it's become so popular that the site is (temporarily?) off line. Hope it comes back.

That's what makes some Americans turn away from mainstream sources in disgust. Why in the world is there any need for the news writers to wrap themselves in impartiality when the story makes Islamic militants look bad, but when the story is about our own secretary of defense, he gets slapped around from the first paragraph on?

This "neutral" approach to a terrorist attack on Americans and other westerners working for American companies in Saudi Arabia is one reason why Fox News is triumphing. Fox makes it clear that they're on America's side, that what happens to Americans abroad is happening to "us"--in short, they feel our pain because they are part of us.

This Cartoon is perhaps the most disturbing thing I've read in a while.

It's not political. It's not dirty (unlike much of S*P*). But it's pretty dark. And pretty funny.

I'm checking my wallet.

Update:  Oops, I guess it is a little dirty: It drops an F-bomb right in there. Funny how I don't notice these things any more....

On Saturday, I went to my friend Ryan's birthday party. He is five years old, and it was a pool party for his friends and classmates from day-care. Among the many little boys was one girl, J.C.

Mostly, I sat inside with the parents and let the kids alone; I don't have any children of my own, and I was there in support of Ryan's father and mother, who are long-time friends. The kids made an awful racket, swimming, running, and tracking pool water through the garage to the front yard, where a big inflated Moon-walk jumpy-thing had been erected.

After pizza, after cake, and after presents, most of the party-goers had left, but a few still hung on. I took a turn watching over the kids in the pool, and at this time, there were only two swimmers: J.C. and her neighbor Griffin.

As soon as I appeared on the porch, J.C. wanted to know something: Why didn't Ryan like her?

I dodged the question: "Why do you think Ryan doesn't like you?" I asked.

"He told me that I wasn't one of his 'Best Buddies,'" she insisted.

Ah, tragedy. How to explain to a little girl the inner workings of a five-year-old boy; to explain that girls hold a terrible fascination for them, a fascination that he will work desperately to hide, lest it be discovered and the girl in question be branded as his “girl-friend,” which, as we all know, is a fate worse than death!

As it was, Griffin, who had been friends with his next-door-neighbor J.C. since as long as he can remember, quickly and preemptively disavowed her quicker than Peter during the Passion, telling me that she “just happened” to live next door, by way of explanation as to why he was playing alone with her in the pool without any other boys around.

I decided that the best strategy was, of course, to confuse the issue. I also took the opportunity to impart one of those life lessons that I feel girls should learn early and often as they grow up.

“Well,” I said, “you can’t always believe what boys tell you.” I figured I was on safe ground with this one.

J.C. looked at me for about 2 seconds, and then demolished my argument completly.

“But, you’re a boy!” she said, dismissively, and went back to hitting Griffin with the floaties they were dueling with.

This girl is going to be D.A. some day.

Ok, now this is getting scary...

Hugh Hewitt makes a convincing case that there is a definite difference between the modern Democrat and Republican parties.

This poison is not distributed evenly within the two parties. There is no Michael Moore, no John Mellencamp within the GOP fold. Sure there are partisans --I am one, and as the title of my new book makes clear, I think the stakes are very high, and that the Democratic Party will cheat if it can, just as it has for two hundred years. And I think it is inevitable that the Democrats would mismanage the war on terror to such an extent as to leave us vulnerable to massive attacks.

But I don't think Kerry and Edwards are murderers or thugs or treasonous plotters; and I don't know of any high profile Republican who thinks they are either, or that they are stupid oafs. It is true that Edwards has taken millions from plaintiffs' lawyers in a disturbing warning that his policies are very likely to favor this bunch of rascals and their job destroying and cost-exploding courtroom shakedowns, but no one is accusing Kerry or Edwards of making a personal fortune off of corrupt deals. In short, there is no counterpart within the GOP to this pulsating hate within the Democratic Party, its MoveOn subsidiary, or its Hollywood money headquarters.

Naturally, it's by VDH:

At a time when tens of thousands are risking their lives to end the barbarism that has spawned a quarter century of worldwide terror, the New York Times wishes us to know that its columnists can properly pronounce Iraq and really do remember that freedom "rings" more often than "reigns."

Update:  Robert the Llamabutcher has more thoughts:

Personally, I think VDH is digging a hole in the ocean here. The NY Times, George Soros, Billy Chrystal, Michael Moore - they don't really give a single, solitary damn one way or the other about the fate of Iraq. What they are interested in is the destruction of George Dubya, no matter what the consequences. That's the real triviality Hanson is talking about - putting petty domestic political squabbling ahead of critical global issues. And no amount of explanation - even in words of one syllable - is going to change that.

Unfortunately, he's probably right.

Andrew Sullivan fisks a Kerry speach over at TNR:

This paragraph is so vapid, so empty of any meaning, it almost defies commentary. It's about "fairness." What unfairness is he describing? We don't know. But we do know that this candidate is very much in favor of people being able to go to work and pay their bills. I'm sure he's also in favor of afternoon naps, ice cream, and new cars. Then he says that his campaign is about people being "able to be fair." So now the government is not only in favor of fairness; it's in favor of fairness "ability." You can hack away at this kind of verbiage for a very long time and the weeds of blather just keep growing back.

My favorite writer takes on my favorite topic.

Pinch me! I must be dreaming!

Mitch says that this has been making the rounds, but I hadn't seen it before.

Celsius 250: The Temperature at which Fat Burns

Blogger was down when I looked for it yesterday, but it's back up today.

Round  Three!

Reviews to follow....

Update: It has been excessively diverting to read the arguments on both sides, and also interesting how at times the arguments center on the characters of Elizabeth Bennett and Emma Woodhouse; and at other times, the virtues of the novels themselves are the point of discussion. Character, plot, and setting all are so intertwined that it is difficult to discuss one separately from the other.

Novels are usually described as being “plot-driven” or “character-driven” and are usually a combination of the two. Both Emma and Lizzie are memorable characters, and we will have to agree that they both have their charms to recommend them. I believe, however, that of the two, Ms. Bennett is the superior, due to her better intellect and wit; her interactions with other characters never devolve to farce due to her lack of understanding.

The various plots of Pride and Prejudice and Emma are both intriguing, but again, I prefer the depth of the former to the appeal of the latter.

I think that both Kathleen and Robert gave stentorian efforts on behalf of their girls, but it all comes down to taste, I believe. Even the rare flaws in Kathleen’s arguments (sorry, chief) and the good points in Robert’s horribly one-sided Moorean polemic are unable to shake my faith in the natural superiority of Miss Elizabeth Bennett.

I came across an unfamiliar word in a column about Robert Fisk: traduce. According to Merriam-Webster Online:

1 : to expose to shame or blame by means of falsehood and misrepresentation
2 : VIOLATE, BETRAY <traduce a principle of law>

Considering all I've been reading about Michael Moron recently, I'm surprised I hadn't run into this word before.

Tim Blair discusses a new technology that might help Kerry win the presidency!

"Let me tell you something: When I was a kid, this 'kid from the East' had an aunt and uncle who crewed for Lynyrd Skynyrd, and one of my greatest joys in life -- in fact, I was a member of Skynyrd. My parents, when we lived in Massachusetts, we were in the band, and I learned my first guitar solo sitting on a stage with the guy who was playing it."

Your weekly Victor Davis Hanson fix is available.

According to Fox News, John Kerry has chosen John Edwards as his running mate.

John Edwards is a youthful and charismatic politician, and is viewed as a good "balancing" candidate for the somewhat boring and somnolent Kerry.

In 1987, when George H. W. Bush chose Dan Quayle as his running mate, the major news sources reported that Quayle had been chosen solely because his youthful good looks would appeal to “women voters.”

Don’t hold your breath for such an insulting and condescending opinion to be aired widely this year.

Kerry keeps claiming he supports the Second Amendment because he supports hunting. Uh, John, the Second Amendment has nothing to do with hunting.

Then, of course, there's this.

The engaging story of one man's encounter with the greatest president of all time:

I had looked forward to this day for months. There were so many things I wanted to say to the greatest president in American history. We owe him so much gratitude for giving ordinary people a voice, if not a very reason to live. Thank you, Mr. Clinton, for a lifetime of compassionate and selfless service. Thank you winning the peace, for securing the freedom we so cherish. Thank you for curing AIDS, and taking arsenic out of the drinking water. Thank you for a living, breathing Constitution, and for a woman's right to choose. Indeed, thank you for granting women their dignity, and leading the feminist movement into the 21st century.

No, seriously, you should read it.

Hat tip: Florida Cracker

A letter from Chaplain John Morris:

All,

Thank you to those of you who have written inquiring about my welfare, whereabouts and why I haven't been writing.

I am at FT Bragg, NC preparing to return to Iraq in August.

I am in good health. So good, in fact, that my application packet is in for Airborne School. I met all the physical requirements. If selected I hope to go to FT Benning, GA for the training prior to redeploying to Iraq.

The reason I haven't been writing is, simply put, Garrison life seems pretty tame after Iraq. Not to say there aren't many inspirational things that happen here regularly, there are. It is just that I'm still recouping, emotionally/spiritually from my experiences and I haven't had the drive to write.

Now here are some thoughts for you as you head out to celebrate the 4th of July, Independence and Freedom.

I will take my place, as a spectator, on the Main Parade Ground at FT Bragg, on the 4th of July, to witness all the military pageantry and the fireworks. I'll go, this year, out of duty, rather than desire. It's tough going to public gatherings, as a single guy. It reminds me of how lonely this mobilization is. The 4th of July, particularly is tough, as we have a grand family tradition of gathering at a big fireworks display, often with friends, and enjoying the evening together.

This year, our oldest, Amy, is in Basic Training with the Air Force and I am here, with the Army. The 4th will remind me of how much I am missing at home.

But I'll go because I want to celebrate our Freedom. Freedom, which this year, I cherish more than ever. Freedom which I have seen with my own eyes, is longed for by so many people. I will never forget the passionate discussions,with Iraqis, about their desires for freedom. I saw them and many, many Americans, pay for that freedom with their lives. I have a renewed sense that freedom is a gift; a gift from God paid for by the shed blood of brave men and women.

So, as I take my place on the sidelines of the parade field, my thoughts will turn not only to home, but to Iraq and Afghanistan. I will be thinking about men and women there, who like me, would very much prefer to be home watching cosmetic fireworks, not hunkered down avoiding real hostile fire.

I will think of SSG J, in Fallujah, who lost three men in a mortar attack and who witnessed the death of his translator. He is soldiering on under the sweltering Iraqi sun, in that unhospitable town, for the freedom of Iraq and for our freedom.

I will think of Corporal C who I visit regularly at Womack Hospital on FT Bragg. He was wounded in Iraq in April. He is literally full of shrapnel. He has lost feeling in his feet and has difficulty walking as a result. He is in constant pain.He has months, if not years of surgeries ahead of him.

I will think of MAJ S, near Tikrit. He had his HMMVV blown up from underneath him in an IED ambush. He survived, rattled, shaken and surprised. He soldiers on, traveling in harms way everyday trying to influence the events in Iraq, for the positive.

I will think of LTC C in the Green Zone, in Baghdad. He's been deployed for over a year. He came home on leave for 14 days..but the Army needed him for 7 of those. He's survived mortars, rockets and IED's. I never heard him complain.

I will think of the young SF SGT who is humping the ridgelines of northeastern Afghanistan, pursuing Al Qaeda and the remanants of the Taliban. He's on his 4th deployment since 9-11. He has been home a total of 6 months in the last 30.

I will think of the thousands of Army National Guard soldiers training at Camp Shelby in Mississippi in preparation for their year in Iraq. Men with families in Wisconsin. Citizen-soldiers, uprooted from the comforts of home and transplanted to the southern humidity before shipping to the desert hell of southern Iraq.

Finally I will think of the thousand Army reserve special operations soldiers I'll join, during the month of July, for a combined training exercise, prior to our deployment to Iraq.This Fourth of July they will be with friends and family. Next 4th of July they will be overseas.

As I enjoy the spectacle of the fireworks display, I'll say a prayer for all those I've mentioned and more. I'll thank God Almighty for their sacrifice and their service. I'll thank God that I was privileged to be born in the United States and taste the beauty of freedom. I'll give thanks that I have had the privilege of wearing the nation's uniform. And I'll pray for my family, and yours.

God bless you this 4th of July, and may God bless America!

I know that I've been talking about Michael Moron's movie an awful lot. (I also know I've been poaching from LGF and awful lot today as well.)

But this column, by a 9/11 witness and survivor, says something we need to hear:

On Sept. 11, 2001, I stood across the Hudson River, watching the Twin Towers burn, knowing that if the plane had struck at 9:46 a.m. instead of 8:46 a.m., I would be dead. As a survivor and witness to the attack on the World Trade Center, I am more than insulted by this film. I am outraged. This film is based on conjecture, hearsay and propaganda. At a time when this country desperately needs to rally in support of our brave soldiers and our strong leaders, Moore is content to spread discord and divisiveness. The base of his argument is that the Bush administration had strong ties with the bin Laden family. However, sound facts are conspicuously absent from this "documentary."

To coin a phrase, read it all.

Israeli scientists develop radar system to see through walls

"There's no way those sons of pigs and dogs can find us in this hidden room, Ahmed Abu-D'ipsh'it. We're perfectly safe, unless they use their super-Jew powers on us."

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,....

Read it all, and remember those who pledged their "Lives, Fortunes and sacred Honor."

Rasputin, the Mad Monk, had a way with the ladies.

Over at the Command Post they are having a Photoshop contest with the following picture from the recent Saddam appearance at his competency hearing:

Allah, creator of worlds, has taken up the challenge; be warned: strong language, but well worth the risk.

Kerry tweaks message to reach rural America

"Hey, you, on that tractor! Can you let us over? We'd like to change lanes. I've got to yack at a bunch of hicks at the next off-ramp, then it's back on my luxury land-yacht for caviar dreams and champagne wishes."

Via: Florida Cracker

Does Michael Moore eat so much because if he loses weight he’ll resemble the photo-fit of some guy in Michigan who maybe kidnapped Girl Guides back in the '60s and, like, sold them to Charles Manson? For slavery purposes?

I'm too busy to read, so my comments will be forthcoming.

For now, get a head start on me: Round Two!

(Slightly later): Robert writes:

The unquestionably good heroine, a rebel within her own home, uses her wit, wisdom and strength to protect her weak and clueless friends and family, foil the villainous plots of The Establishment, and cause the God-like rich and handsome hero to pay for his early haughtiness, go through a period of penitent anguish and, in the end, worship her on her own terms. Not to be unkind about it, but these are the fantasies of the young – self-centered, simple and idealistic. Austen spent many years working on Pride & Prejudice before it was finally published. I believe the characters and plot never quite escaped their youthful origins.

Hmmm...not content to castigate Elizabeth Bennet, Robert now slings the mud at Ms. Austen herself. Grrr.....good point, though.

Meanwhile Kathleen concludes:

Elizabeth’s faults, in presupposing Mr. Darcy’s guilt in Wickham’s situation, lie in relying too strongly upon the products of her own sense and intellect; Emma’s faults lie in not having enough sense to know better. One gets the impression that Mr. Knightley will forever be correcting his wife; if Emma has truly learned the errors of her ways, why should this be the case? Pride and Prejudice is a satisfying novel because of the character of its protagonists, who will take the lessons they have learned to heart. Can we say the same of Emma?

The image of Knightley correcting Emma's behavior with a buggy-whip is simply too wonderful! (OK, so I added the buggy-whip.) Overall, Kathleen's prose is lilting and lively, and her arguments convincing.

Round Two goes to: Lizzie!

(Am I welcome back in the posse now?)

Go read Love In A Time Of Danger

The war on terror isn't some make believe idea. It's real. And I say this as somebody who knows firsthand just how real it is.

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I ordered a copy.

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Andrew Sullivan has a collection of Michael Moron's lies.

Go read, and arm yourself against fools.

Why wasn't this around when I was single? Or having trouble with my FireLite firewire external hard drive?

I like the way the girls are described as "sarcastic" and "snarky". Hey, I like girls with spirit as much as the next guy; I married one.

But if I were a lonely, painfully shy techno-nerd with intimacy issues, I think I'd want a girl that didn't make me feel too inferior, if you know what I mean.