Kerry's continuing rehabilitation project

This op/ed from R. Emmett Tyrell, Jr. is a great analysis of Sen. John Kerry's current efforts to rehabilitate his reputation with a view toward 2008.

NY Times and Jack Murtha self-destruct (and take US with 'em)

Jack Murtha and the NY Times are not only self-destructing (thankfully) they are taking us (as in U.S.) down with them. Here's a great Boston Herald op/ed on the subject.

"The Evolution of Dance"

I just saw this rib-tickler at another blog (tangledinblue blog): "The Evolution of Dance."

Gore "not planning" a run for President

At a book signing in Nashville Friday, Al Gore was answering, "I'm not planning on it" when asked if he would be a candidate for President in 2008. One of the groupies in attendance had this to say:

Andra McDowell, 39, a teacher from Nashville, said she worked on Gore's presidential campaign in 2000 and asked a photographer with a local newspaper to get a picture of Gore signing her copy of his book.

"I'm excited to see him. I'm a big fan of Gore and his issues. My dad was a soil conservationist, so I grew up as a tree-hugger," McDowell said. "I would like to see him run again. I would vote for him."

I, too, hope he runs, and it is no surprise that he has support among self-described "tree-huggers."

Treasonous Times

Here's a great analysis of the NY Times' disclosure/reporting on a legal means of hunting down international terrorists demonstrates that the Times is practically treasonous.

"Deep thoughts" (about homosexual marriage)

I just came across this post at another blog, Vorticity, and I thought it was worth re-posting:
Thoughts on the Homosexual Marriage Debate

• Monogamous marriage between 1 male and 1 female has been the standard for western society for thousands of years. Those seeking to change the standard are the radicals not those seeking to preserve it.
• The Bible teaches that homosexual behavior is wrong. The Bible also teaches that marriage was established by God to consist of one male and one female. There is no question as to what the Bible teaches on this issue. The only question is whether or not you believe it.
• Opponents of the marriage amendment argue that you should not legislate moral issues. This is silly since all law is based on moral judgments of right and wrong.
• An individual's views of proper marriage are influenced by their standard of morality. As there are different views on moral standards it is an inescapable conclusion that one view will be adopted into law over the exclusions of the others. In our country we have decided to settle such differences by a democratic vote. Advocates of gay marriage insist that prohibition of gay marriage constitutes forcing the view of the majority on the minority. They should admit that if they succeed they would be forcing the view of the minority on the majority.
• Many of the supporters of homosexual marriage take an atheistic, agnostic, or secular view of moral standards, namely that we are free to do what we decide is most fitting. Then they are surprised when theists do what they think is most fitting, insisting that they shouldn't do so.
• It is argued by some that marriage should be abolished as a government recognized contract and instead left merely as a personal religious observance. Yet this would require an establishment of private contracts to protect all the various legal rights and attributes now associated with marriage such as child custody, inheritance and survival benefits, etc. Since all of these items would still exist and would be adjudicated by government courts, marriage would still exist, but just under a different arrangement. The result is that instead of raising homosexual relationships to the level of heterosexual marriage, heterosexual marriage would be lowered to the level of all unmarried relationships. This is a lose-lose proposition for those of us who believe marriage confers significant benefits to couples, children, and society at large that are deserving of special recognition and protection by the government.
• The fact that civil unions which confer all the rights of marriage without calling it marriage is not acceptable to advocates of homosexual marriage is proof that the real issue is to force not acceptance but approval of homosexual behavior on those who believe what the bible says. (see above)
• Opponents of homosexual marriage are accused of being bigoted, intolerant, and attempting to write discrimination into the constitution. But opponents of religious beliefs of millions of Americans who believe the Bible are characterized as being tolerant, enlightened and open-minded.
• The constitution already contains discrimination. It specifies qualifications for various public offices thereby discriminating against those individuals who do not meet the qualifications. All Americans discriminate. Every time we choose to patronize a specific business, attend a certain church, join a civic organization, or go on a date we discriminate against those we did not choose. The question is not whether we discriminate, but rather upon what basis is discrimination justifiable?
• Since this is a democratic country (perhaps apart from the court system) the minority must convince the majority of their position. In light of this, the current strategy of gay marriage advocates to characterize the majority as ignorant, stupid, bigoted, religious, prejudiced hate-mongers seems ill-advised.

Denuding of Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth"

Here's a great article providing 25 inconvenient truths ignored or overlooked by Al Gore.

More on despicable FL prison guard

It appears that Ralph Hill really was a great guy, despite the facts, and that he used a personal weapon in the murder:

Attorney Tim Jansen, who represented Hill, said his client's behavior was "totally out of character."

"He had no criminal history or issues of violence in his background," Jansen said.

Officials said the guard fired with a personal weapon - guards are prohibited from bringing personal weapons into prisons but are not screened the way visitors are. Agents from the Justice Department's inspector general's office returned fire, killing the guard. It was not immediately clear who fired the shot that killed Sentner.

Incidentally, from a legal perspective, Hill still committed murder if someone died during his commission of a felony.

Despicable Fla. prison guard

I just read the tragic story of a federal agent who was killed while attempting to make six arrests of corrupt prison guards in a Florida state prison today. The gunman was certainly scummy for engaging in extortion, prostitution and breach of duty as a law enforcement officer, and I understand his shame and desire to end his own pitiful life. But he is despicable for taking the life of someone else . . . someone who was just doing their job.

2008 presidential polling

Updating (sort of) my June 7th post about Algore's chances in a potential 2008 presidential race, this CNN poll shows that 48% of Americans "definitely would not" vote for him and 47% said the same about Hillary Rodham. I had opined elsewhere that Jeb Bush would be a great presidential candidate . . . unfortunately, 63% of those polled said they wouldn't vote for him. Of course, all of these statistics must be qualified in that a relatively small number of those polled are likely to actually cast a ballot.

E.J. Dionne: ignorant or disingenuous?

E.J.Dionne attempts to discredit S.Ct. Antonin Scalia in a 6/20 WaPo article extolling judicial restraint--now that Liberal justices have run roughshod over judicial restraint for 30-some-odd years and can now claim to have "precedent" on their side. While he says some positive things about new Chief Justice John Roberts, Dionne can't resist the knee-jerk malicious comment about Scalia. Dionne writes:

Scalia's theory of "originalism'' holds that the one thing that matters is what the writers of the Constitution "originally'' meant. That often seems to correlate with what conservatives want to do, although Scalia will occasionally ditch his devotion to originalism if he needs another way to get to a conservative outcome. That's what happened last week in a, well, 5-4 decision expanding police search powers. A more libertarian approach, Scalia said, applied "in different contexts and long ago." So much for originalism.

What Dionne fails to realize (or perhaps acknowledge) is that there is no "police have to knock on the door before executing a warrant on a likely armed and dangerous suspect" clause in the Constitution. Frankly, much of judicial reporting or commentary is agonizing to me because of how either disingenuous or ignorant it is.

Nagin requests National Guard!?!

I thought that I was reading a recycled headline (from nearly a year ago) when I read "Nagin requests National Guard Assistance." But it appears that notorious N.O. Mayor Ray Nagin is reverting to old form again: he has reportedly requested that National Guard troops be sent in to N.O. to help maintain order after five teenagers were killed there in a shooting over the weekend. Mayor Nagin, it seems that N.O.--with a greatly-diminished population and billions of dollars thrown its way, should be able to maintain its own police force. This only accentuates the problem that Nagin has, I perceive, in passing the buck when times get tough.

"Fall of the Father of the Year"

Here's an interesting take on the guy who murdered his estranged wife and attempted to kill the judge in his pending divorce case: the author--who did extensive legal work for the "suspect" in the suspect's first bitter divorce, believes the suspect may have been too wrapped up in fatherhood. Uh, I don't think so. The answer to the problem of men killing their estranged wives and the judges attempting to sort through the tangled web of broken marriages is not for more men to sire numerous offspring in jiffy marriages-of-convenience. Keeping one's distance from the pain and heartache of commitment in marriage is not the remedy to the pain and heartache of marriage and parenting. That may seem like the only option when viewed through the lens of a divorce lawyer and Liberal legal pundit, but it is foolishness.

This guy, Darren Mack, is scum. And thankfully his children were protected from his narcissistic perspective of the best possible course of action (which is too often, killing everyone associated with the marriage).

Impact and integrity of Mega-churches

I'm up late (it's 2:23 am, Louisville time) with an serious heartburn, but thankful for the world wide web as one's window to the world. Here's an interesting article (from the Weekly Standard) about so-called mega-churches and their increasing cultural influence/impact. There's little in the article to be defensive about (being a member of Fellowship Bible Church, a mega-church in a Nashville exurb), but I'm encouraged by these conclusions of the author:

The average income of a mega-church is $6 million. According to the Hartford report, mega-churches do not emphasize money, as skeptics might imagine, though worshippers are encouraged to tithe. The mega-churches are more than simply Sunday extravaganzas and have "high spiritual expectations and feature serious orthodox beliefs and preaching." Contrary to liberal notions of Republican manipulation, most mega-churches are not overtly political and internalize a separation between the church and the politics of the worshippers. And most mega-churches intentionally attempt to be racially and economically inclusive.

What do we expect from bureaucrats with mega dollars to dole out?

Now we hear that an estimated $1.4 billion was paid out in fraudulent claims for Katrina and Rita relief. This shouldn't surprise us given the "outcry" (from the MSM) about "Bush not caring about [fill in the blank]" or FEMA not responding quickly enough to the demand for funds. As my dad used to say (too often in reference to my mother) "can't win for losing."

McKinney "cleared"

"McKinney Cleared" shouts the headline, but I'm eager to see the video footage of the encounter--that'll be more significant than any indictment ever would be and voters can judge for themselves how to view the incident. From all reports, McKinney hit an officer who properly sought to ascertain the identity of someone entering the U.S.Capitol whom he didn't recognize. The story asserts that McKinney "took to the House floor to apologize" after the incident, and I just had to note that McKinney never apologized for what she did . . .

Detail I missed about Fightin' Harold Ford . . .

Reading reports (here) of the debate and vote on fighting to win in Iraq, I learned this detail about the now-famous challenge to Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) concerning his proposal to cut and run in Iraq . . . apparently Harold Ford, Jr.--the likely Democrat Party nominee for U.S. Senate in Tennessee, charged a "fellow" female congressman in response. Yikes, Junior, rein it in.

It was last fall when Murtha announced that he believed the administration should begin planning to bring the troops out of Iraq. On the floor of the House, freshman Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio) sparked chaos as she recounted a phone call she had just received from a colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve.

"He asked me to send Congress a message: Stay the course. He also asked me to send Congressman Murtha a message — that cowards cut and run, Marines never do," said Schmidt, as Democrats booed and shouted at her and Rep. Harold Ford (D-Tenn.) charged across the aisle.

Another interesting tidbit from the article . . . Sen. John Kerry (who, you may not know, is a decorated Vietnam veteran) is leading the way for the Left in the U.S. Senate:

In the Senate, Republicans sought to embarrass divided Democrats by offering Sen. John Kerry's troop withdrawal amendment as their own. The amendment was rejected, 93-6.

Rather goes down, er, twisting . . .

Here's an interesting account of Dan Rather's inauspicious exit from CBS; it's interesting because it tries to put the best possible spin on Rather's departure, from quoting every imaginable fan of Rather's to describing the situation that precipitated his removal as his,

". . . vigorously defending his flawed 60 Minutes II report in September '04 that questioned President Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard, even after the authenticity of the documents used in the piece could not be proved."

It also said that the only reason that he was leaving CBS is because he is too hard of a worker to accept a lessened role at the network and so indifferent to his reputation that he doesn't care about a graceful exit. Yeah, right.

Corker--Sundquist connection

Here's a clever web-movie (entitled "Broke 'cause of Taxes Mountain") about the relationship between Bob Corker--who is vying for the GOP nomination to replace Bill Frist, and former Tenn. Governor Don Sundquist who broke a campaign promise and tried to ram through a state income tax in his second term.

Soros' ill-gotten gains

Perhaps this is how Georgie Soros made his riches. I guess we all could be rich if we were willing to cheat investors and shareholders.

"Religious fanatics" in gov't

Some people are balking at the premise of Ann Coulter's new book, Godless: The Church of Liberalism, that is, Liberalism has more or less become a secular religion.

This op/ed from John Stossel is pretty close to concrete evidence of that supposition.

Ann Coulter's appeal

I just read a great op/ed from David Klinghoffer about Ann Coulter's latest book, Godless. At the risk of seeming to encourage contemptuousness, I offer this excerpt from the op/ed:

. . . What is most valuable about Coulter is the trademarked contempt that she breathes forth. It’s why her books sell better than pretty much any other conservative’s do. Obviously, dispassionate analysis should be expected most of the time, from most of us. But let’s say a word in favor of rollicking disgust poured out upon liberal pieties. There is the constant danger of inhaling too deeply from the fumes of the respect you insist on giving to those you disagree with. The result can be a subtle assimilating of some of their values.

I think Klinghoffer has nailed the basis for Ann Coulter's appeal.

"Daisy" joins the family

It has been a week since we adopted our new Golden Retriever, "Daisy," from a Kentucky pound--after more than a year since our 14-year-old golden, "Kelsey," passed away. We had thought now and again about replacing our dear Kelsey, because we believe that dogs can play an important companion role in a home. Well, invariably over the past seven days I have had the distinct impression that there was a dog hair in the back of my throat; however, any and all inconveniences that sensation represents in my mind were negated last night by something said by our middle daughter, who has been perhaps the slowest to bond/meld to Daisy.

My wife had purchased new toothbrushes for the kids yesterday, and my daughter had left hers in the minivan, so when it came time to brush teeth, she asked if she could go get her toothbrush from the van which was in our basement garage . . . our dark, spooky basement garage. I was impressed by her seeming newfound courage but kind of expected her to soon call out for someone to accompany her on her mission, but the call never came. After a few minutes, she appeared in the bathroom with Daisy in tow. "Daisy could tell it was scary to go down to the car," my daughter shared, "so she followed me all the way down there and we got my toothbrush together; I think she likes me."


This is a little bit of an aside, but our visit to the dog pound left a distinct impression on me. I love animals, though I consider them to be property and a resource which God expects us humans to wisely steward. I think there are definite advantages to buying a puppy that has been bred; however, I encourage you to look first at a pound/shelter before purchasing a bred puppy. And after you get any kind of pet, I urge you to spend the relatively small amount of money to have it spayed or neutered, unless you plan to responsibly breed it in the future. Here is a link with more information on this type of thing. And here is the site where we found our forever four-footed friend.

Death Penalty holdings from S.Ct.

Lame holding of U.S. S.Ct. on death penalty--trying to litigate from the bench what they prefer the laws regulating the Death Penalty should be. The AEDPA (Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act) effectively protected against wrongful administration of the DP.

And it is absolutely laughable that some believe it is "cruel and unusual punishment" (and thereby "Constitutionally prohibited") to use lethal injection because of the mere possibility that a murderer may feel a stinging in his arm before the pain medicine kicks in and he fades off to sleep and death.

To Dems: Don't knock Wal-Mart

At the risk of warning Dem candidates about a potential political landmine, I would like to draw attention to this poll gauging the effectiveness of an anti-Wal-Mart plank. The reason I will risk helping the Dems is to show the degree to which the Democrat party/moveon.org base is out of touch. In reality, though, we all benefit if the Liberal, godless folks running the Dem Party are forced to loosen their strangle hold.

Stupid essay of the day.

I came across this essay --entitled, "What I don't get about Gay Marriage," tonight on googlenews (amazingly, given it's stupidity, it was at the top of a googlenews section, which means a lot of people are reading it). It perfectly demonstrates that there is even a "gay" tone in writing, but it also demonstrates how intellectually wobbly the gay movement is.

I could waste a lot of time responding to each fallacy in his lengthy article, but two points will suffice, I think.

First, much of his article presupposes that homosexuals (and the Left) have truly convinced a majority of American voters that their behavior is based on an inherent trait; they haven't.

Second, Americans get to decide which, if any, social relationships/institutions they want to set apart as special, and nowhere near enough American voters have been persuaded that homosexual "marriage" is beneficial to society.

Does suicide count?

News today that three fellows being held at Gitmo committed suicide this weekend . . . does rank suicide count as martyrdom? I'm sure it does . . .

Come on Jefferson . . . you're stepping all over our Campaign meme!

Dem leaders are frustrated that Rep. William Jefferson is refusing to resign his seat pending a federal investigation of him. Don't you hate the DC "culture of corruption"? Go Jefferson, go; your actions are speaking louder than their words.

Father of beheaded American (and some Democrats) decry killing of Zarqawi

The father of slain American contractor, Nicolas Berg, has spoken out against the killing of Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi by a U.S. Air Force precision bombing strike. He happens to be running for Delaware's lone House seat, and said that the death of Al-Zarqawi (the person who actually wielded the knife against Berg's son) won't "bring him closure."

I'm sorry to hear that, and I hope this doesn't screw up his campaign photo op, but we weren't trying to catch/kill Al-Zarqawi to bring closure to Michael Berg. We were trying to prevent future murders of other folks' children by Al-Zarqawi or his Jihadist minions.

And along the same lines, here's a statement from a paranoid genius in the U.S. House:

"This is just to cover Bush's [rear] so he doesn't have to answer" for Iraqi civilians being killed by the U.S. military and his own sagging poll numbers, said Rep. Pete Stark, California Democrat. "Iraq is still a mess -- get out."

Ebert's over the top review

I just read this quote from a movie ad for An Inconvenient Truth:

"In 39 years, I have never written these words in a movie review, but here they are: You owe it to yourself to see An Inconvenient Truth. If you do not, and you have grandchildren, you should explain to them why you decided not to." --Roger Ebert

Give me a break . . . obviously Ebert hasn't been to a public school in a couple decades. The substance of An Inconvenient Truth has been part of the core curriculum being taught to children since the 70s (right after Ehrlich changed his prediction from catastrophic global cooling catastrophic global warming). Rather, you need to be prepared to explain to your children why you didn't take to heart the movie Silent Scream.

Impressive video "game"/experience about Darfur

This is an interesting site that simulates the daily experience of living in wartorn Darfur.

What does this say about his presidential possibilities?

Drudge is reporting that Paramount has removed Algore's name from posters advertising his new movie . . . a studio exec says that market research showed that people weren't interested in seeing a movie starring Al Gore. Hee hee hee.

Media's script for reporting on Marriage Amendment

The media will react predictably, I predict, to Congress' consideration of a Federal Marriage Protection Amendment this week. Dennis Prager (at RealClearPolitics.com) has a great article on the subject. Good quote:

This is part of the larger liberal view of Republicans and conservatives: They are not merely wrong; they are either phonies or bad. It is inconceivableto most liberals that a Republican politician can sincerely oppose redefiningthe most important social structure of society. And if that Republican'sopposition to redefining marriage is deemed sincere, it is inconceivable to mostliberals that the person is anything but a bigot.

Also,

As for the liberals' view that gas prices are more important than society's definition of marriage, it is so self-incriminating that no response is needed.

More on Kerry's hero rehabilitation campaign

I posted over a week ago about John Kerry's renewed efforts to salvage his pre-2004 hero persona, but here's a great rebuttal to the original NYT article on the rehabilitation effort.

The GWOT is Trumanesque

Michael Barone (of USNews and World Report) articulates the best defense yet to the Lefty critics of Bush's GWOT, comparing Dubya to Harry Truman:

We're lucky we had then, and have now, a president who takes bold action and braves vitriolic criticism to defend our civilization against those who would destroy it.

Grand idea (or Modest Proposal): Sexual Orientation Protection Amendment

Dennis Byrne's "Modest Proposal" for a Sexual Orientation Protection Amendment lays bare the hypocrisy of the Homosexual Left Lobby's complaints about debating the Marriage Protection Amendment. From the article:

So, if you don't like my suggestion for a Sexual Orientation Protection Amendment, here's another: Pro-family activists will stop campaigning for the supposedly unnecessary federal and state constitutional amendments and referenda to protect traditional marriage if pro-gay groups will stop asking the courts to impose homosexual marriages on America.

"How gay is superman?"

"How Gay is Superman?" asks the homosexual journal, The Advocate in a recent edition. I thought "gayness" had to do with who you want touching your private parts, not whether you use hair gel and tights.

Another reason we don't want homosexual marriage

Here's a comprehensive article describing the causal link between approval of homosexual marriage in Holland and the diminishment of traditional marriage (as evidenced by increases in out-of-wedlock births).

Frustrating (for voters) practice in Tenn. legislature

Here's a Tennessean article discussing a practice in Tennessee where legislators cast votes for other legislators who are not in the chamber. Of course, several legislators assure us, this is only done on "uncontroversial" votes, but "controversial" is in the eye of the beholder. Many votes which you and I consider controversial may not ever be known to us. And you can bet that a legislator will be quick to distance himself from a shadow vote if that vote later becomes "controversial."

And you gotta admire the reference in the article to Speaker Jimmy Naifeh (D) ignoring a member's effort to be recognized for a legitimate motion.