still watching

Muse.

2007-06-17T15:08:00.000-06:00

Happy Father's Day to the Fathers of the world. :)

I've been blessed with a wonderful dad who happens to still live and torment me.

I say that in jest, although my poor mother probably felt that we tormented her on a regular basis. We were blessed to understand very little of each other, and yet be entirely too much alike. Which made for interesting vacations, road trips, and life in general.

We went through our spells of teenage angst together, though being a girl, it was harder on me then him - at least I think so.

The importance of a Father-figure and the glaring lack of one that has arisen over the last few decades troubles me. And I know it does him as well.

Men that act like men is a dying breed. Men are no longer the head of the household, or the authority figure in America.

Fathers are demeaned on television, and reduced to nothing more than a bumbling fool while the mother and children know best.

But- is that what God planned? No. His plan for the family was one of love and mutual respect. Not a dictatorship, but rather a partnership.

Children need discipline, they need an authority figure. Without one, they learn that they themselves are all the authority they need.

But, that is simply not true. - Law Enforcement, Bosses, CEOs, in any aspect of their life, they are going to have authority.

Without respect and honor for that position, they will not prosper in life.

Men and Women alike. You cannot believe yourself to be the only authority.

2007-05-28T19:32:00.000-06:00

Happy Memorial Day, everyone.

Today is short and sweet, just remember to thank a service member.

Hello again. :)

2007-05-12T12:34:00.000-06:00

Greetings from the lovely United States.

I'm back home yet again, and loving every minute of it.

Although, I find my self completely baffled by the attitudes of the world around me. I guess I knew how bad it was, but being away from it for nearly 6 months has isolated me.

We are a selfish, corrupt, idiot nation. We blindly follow what we're told and do not think twice about it. We listen to men like Al Sharpton and women like Nancy Pelosi. For, they speak the truth, do they not? We live in a society where racism is alive and well.

We live in a world where we will demand justice because a white radio shock jock will call black females the same name black rappers do with completely different results.

The current Top 10 list of rappers includes a lovely bunch of prose from artist such as Cam'ron.
This is the same man that stated in an interview with Cooper Anderson that he "Would not turn in a serial killer even if he knew that he lived next door to him, because it would violate his code of ethics." What a guy, if he can be called that. A spineless, womanizing, druggie, would be more apt.

Number 3 includes a blurb from Rolling Stone about the album from Mob Deep dropping from number 28 to 44. quote, "I wonder if it had something do to with Prodigy dissing God on 'Pearly Gates?" end quote. I wonder indeed?

This list includes old favorite Chamillionare. Whose 'Ridin' not only flaunted his drug or prostitution habits, but dared anyone in LE to do anything about it.

So, remind me again why Imus was fired? Search any current rap song, and I almost guarantee that you will be given the option of edited version or explicit version. Why?

Why the discrimination? Why do we continue to pay for the sins that occurred decades ago?
We have become a nation with our hands tied.

When will we stand up for what is right? When will it stop? It won't unless we take a stand right now.

2007-03-22T21:26:00.000-06:00

War Protest in Oregon, features a burning effigy of an American Soldier.
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=24853_Leftists_Supporting_the_Troops&only

Aye, aren't they just the epitome of American youth?
Actually, they sicken me.

Are we doomed to repeat our mistakes of the Vietnam Conflict?
Where American Soldiers were spit upon and denigrated? What do kids that barely remember the Cold War think they're doing?
Have we failed to eliminate the Communist influence in our country?
We have raised a spoiled, selfish, ignorant generation.

Our coddling, talking, and new age discipline have created a generation that has no respect. They have no inkling of sacrifice, of the value of the freedoms they have. They are blown with the wind, what ever suits their whim or fancy.

What are we giving our children? What do they kn0w about the value of freedom?
Do they not realize people die? Do they not realize what they are saying when they burn a flag, or an effigy?

What the hell is wrong with people? If you don't mind me asking?

Pictures were also posted on Facebook. Rachael Palinka. Look her up if you get the chance.
Aye, yes, Facebook. The very same school site that was the downfall of some University of Texas students back over MLK day.

So, where's the national outcry over this? Ah, but wait. This wasn't a minority group. It was a bunch of idiot college students who will one day be expected to be responsible adults.

Anyone else scared?

2007-03-20T21:51:00.000-06:00

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8O06EU80&show_article=1

I have one thing to say about this.

It's about freaking time!

W. Thomas Smith Jr.: We're being hamstrung in a war we must win.

2007-03-17T16:46:00.000-06:00

Reprinted from NavySEALs.com

Beyond the DropZone
W. Thomas Smith Jr. Executive Editor

HERE ARE THE FACTS: There were indeed weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) in Iraq (Saddam used them on his own people). There were terrorists moving freely within the borders of Iraq prior to the U.S. invasion. There were conversations taking place between international terrorists and Iraqi officials before 2003. President Bush did not instigate the bombing of the Golden Dome mosque in Samarra last year (thus triggering the new, increasingly sectarian-fighting phase of the war). Iraq is not a lost cause (unless the anti-Iraq War crowd is allowed to have a free hand in war policy). Iraq is not a meatgrinder (I'll get to what is in a moment). What happened at Abu Ghraib and, allegedly, Haditha are not the results of some dark policy initiated by some secret White House inner circle. Unlike the terrorists and guerrillas, targeting non-combatants is not the modus operandi of our soldiers. And anyone who says otherwise is simply fomenting propaganda for political purposes or repeat-mouthing misinterpretations of realities they basically know nothing about.

But they’re doing it, and they’re getting away with it.

Worse, if you disagree with them, you’re considered a crackpot who loves war, “hates all living things,” and has bought into some grand conspiratorial lie.

Recently, I had a conversation with one such person – a friend in fact – and tried to explain to her that I believed the war in Iraq is far more complex than her black-white, right-wrong perception of it.

I was trying to be diplomatic by explaining, without condemning her own opinions, that the war in Iraq – including the counterterrorism and insurgency components; geostrategic issues and regional balances of power; divided political ideologies (there in Iraq and here at home); evolving mission plans; policies; manipulative, self-serving U.S. politicians both Democrat and Republican; historic hatreds in Iraq; twisted interpretations of religious faith; lack of trust; fear; money; oil; alliances; and lives (soldiers and civilians) – is a difficult conflict with multiple shades of gray: Thus, extremely difficult to prosecute, but vital that we do so successfully.

“No,” she snapped back. “It’s about right and wrong.” Period.

Of course, her side is right, and mine is wrong. According to Dinesh D’Souza (The lie that Bush lied, March 12, 2007), the reason the Iraq debate became so “acrimonious,” was because “mainstream Democrats went from accusing Bush of bungling the Iraq war to accusing him of lying to get America into that war. His crime, at this point, became not merely one of error but one of deliberate deception. The basic liberal reasoning is that no weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq, therefore Bush has been misleading the American people all along.”

D’Souza’s assertion is correct. And if anyone were to even hint in 2007 that the reason no WMDs were found was because Saddam had moved them out of the country – perhaps across the border into Syria or even Iran, where he moved the bulk of his air force in 1991 – they would be considered by the Left to be completely misguided or worse.

Yet Middle Eastern terrorism expert Dr. Walid Phares, author of Future Jihad, contends that obvious factors should be our lead.“First, the evidence regarding past possession and use is abundant,” Phares, told me earlier this week. “Second, we have no information as to what happened to these weapons.”

Phares, whose grasp of the dynamics of global terrorism has earned him the respect and audiences of everyone from the U.S. Congress and State Department to CNN, MSNBC, and the FOX News Channel, even the Oprah Winfrey Show, argues that Syria would have been an easy sanctuary.

“Syria’s regime – which opposed the invasion – opened its borders to Jihadists who crossed into Iraq after the fall of Baghdad,” he says. “A large number of Baathists took refuge in Syria; and there are various reports from the Syrian opposition that many trucks crossed the border between the two countries weeks before the invasion began, and days before Baghdad fell. So, are Iraq’s WMDs – or some of them – in Syria? That is a very real possibility.”

Unfortunately, that very real possibility is almost never discussed by anyone – on either side – anymore. It’s so much easier and politically expedient for those on Capitol Hill to give more credence to people who paint their faces and march down streets holding signs proclaiming, “Bush lied. People died.”

Then there are the additional elements of propaganda, like downplaying Iraqi elections (damning the elections with faint praise and practically ignoring the enormous percentage of Iraqis who risked their very lives to vote) and playing up the U.S. casualty figures (without lending any perspective to those figures by looking at the astronomical losses suffered by the U.S. in previous wars) – all for the sake of political hay.

Regarding the latter, so many on the Left without any fair measure of military history, loosely refer to Iraq as a “meatgrinder,” claiming that the losses are numerically enormous and proof of “Bush’s failure.” This is wrongful manipulation.

First of all, every loss is grievous to the nation, particularly to the families of those killed and seriously wounded. But let’s look at the actual numbers for perspective: Nearly 3,200 American servicemen and women have been killed (and more than 23,400 wounded) in Iraq since the invasion, four years ago.

Compare that with 19,000 U.S. soldiers killed and nearly 62,000 wounded in just six weeks of fighting in the Battle of the Bulge (late-1944, early 1945). Some 500,000 American G.I.s were involved in that battle. And though the U.S. Defense Department does not break down the actual number of Iraq veterans from Afghanistan veterans, the number is nearly 1.5 million with the majority having served in Iraq.

Hardly numbers representing a failure or a meatgrinder. But those who hate the current administration, for whatever reason, seem to repeat-mouth what they hear.

Then there is the trend toward blaming the previous year’s surge in sectarian violence on the Bush administration, as if the president had anything to do with the blowing up of the Al-Askari (Golden Dome) Mosque in Samarra (February 22, 2006).

The bombing, which served as a catalyst for the new sectarian fighting, was an al Qaeda operation aimed at destabilizing a tenuous union between Iraqi factions in hopes of bringing down the new Iraqi government. It was a major setback for our efforts in Iraq, though all wars have setbacks. It temporarily strengthened the position of al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), giving AQI an opportunity to claim a temporary victory after being on the ropes (and AQI continues to be on the ropes). It also gave AQI some breathing space by forcing the U.S. to shift some of its intelligence and operational resources from counterterrorism to counterguerrilla operations. It also spawned a wave of factional killings, revenge killings, and more revenge killings which U.S. forces are now struggling to quash: And doing so while trying to develop the country’s economy, standup the military and police forces, secure the government, and continue to press the attack on al Qaeda.

But the anti-Iraq War crowd doesn’t seem to want anyone to wrap their arms around these facts. They want to blame Bush, concede defeat in Iraq, prevent reinforcements from deploying to Iraq (the Left – most of whom don’t understand the particulars of military operations – prefers to refer to reinforcements as an “escalation” of the war), and keep the propagandists mouthing distortions of the facts here at home, manipulating American voters and emboldening terrorists worldwide. And if you disagree with them, you are simply wrong without exception.

Such an atmosphere makes it almost impossible for our country to have any serious, reasonable debate on the critical issues of Iraq and the broader war on terror. And hardest of all truths within these issues is that a failure in Iraq would be a catastrophic blow to our efforts against terrorism around the globe.

The U.S. has no choice but to win in Iraq, and the self-serving political propagandizing of the war must stop if we hope to win in Iraq. “The region will not be stable until Iraq is stabilized,” said veteran newsman Ted Koppel this past week on Meet the Press. “It’s the one thing nobody talks about. Everyone is concerned about the United States being in the middle of a civil war inside Iraq, but they forget about the fact that, if U.S. troops were to pull out of Iraq, that civil war could become a regional war between the Sunnis and Shia.”

Koppel adds, “the idea of pulling out of there and letting the national civil war expand into a regional civil war, [is] something the United States cannot allow to happen.”

That fact should never be up for debate.

— W. Thomas Smith Jr. is executive editor of World Defense Review and a contributing editor at NavySEALs.com.A former U.S. Marine infantry leader, parachutist, and shipboard counterterrorism instructor, Smith writes about military/defense issues and has covered conflict in the Balkans and on the West Bank. He is an award-winning author of four books, the co-author of two, and his articles have appeared in USA Today, George, U.S. News & World Report, BusinessWeek, National Review Online, CBS News, The Washington Times, and many others.W. Thomas Smith Jr. can be reached at editor@worlddefensereview.com.© 2006 W. Thomas Smith Jr.

/Me rant.

2007-03-16T20:02:00.000-06:00

Normally, you find a topic, a link to a webpage and a current event posted here.
Today, you find none of the above. What you will find is a rant against everything I don't think is right. As you may have gathered from previous writings, I'm fairly opinionated and tend to be verbal in my disagreements with popular ideas.

We'll start with my current favorite; racism.
*Disclaimer*
I hold to my 1st Ammendment Right to Freedom of Speech.
I have never called myself a bigot, a racist, or a white power promoter. I have a varied ethnic background that does not include (that I'm aware of) a member of the African-American race.
I have experienced racism myself, from members of the black community, I do not hold it against them, for ignorance must be ignored and will not allow myself to stoop to that level.
I have friends that are Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, Palestinian, and many other Nationalities.

But, why can a black person perform some type of predjudiced act against someone of any other race and be justified, while a white person is labeled a bigot?
From what I understand, a White person can be barred from gaining entry to a "Black Professional Originzation", but one could not keep a black person from any other sort of "Professional Originazation."
They have the NAACP, the ACLU, and the Rev. Al Sharpton, Jackson, and the like.
Other races are not afforded this opportunity, and it is considered "racist" for them to want something of this nature.

President Lincoln once said, "Congressmen who willfully take action during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled, or hanged."

Hillary Clinton. John Kerry. Nancy Pelosi. Ted Kennedy. Harry Reid. John Murtha.
Where is the support of our military personnel? Why do they insist on wreaking havoc among the nation? They have ripped the morale of this country apart, they have promised to do all they can to sabotoge the very means of victory. They have no idea what it's like to live in a tent in the desert. They have no meaning of the word sacrifice. To them, it means choosing the slightly less expensive entree' or riding in a gas-guzzling SUV as opposed to flying to their next press meeting or campaign party. They 'want to do what's right for the country'. Tearing it apart is not the answer. The people of the United States are too impatient, we're the reason we have politicians shredding our dignity. We are a generation of people unused to waiting for anything. We wanted a quick fix in Iraq, just as happened in Afghanistan.
But people fail to remember what precipitated Afghanistan. We had just been attacked. We had just been forced to watch as hundred of our fellow Americans jumped to their deaths from the World Trade Center. We watched in Horror as American flight 11 and United flight 175 crashed into the Twin Towers. We learned later that United 93 had been crashed into a Pennsylvania field and American 77 had crashed into the Pentagon.
We lost 2,973 men, women and children in this attack. We demanded Justice.

In a sense, Iraq was the same; a call for justice, although not our own. Justice for the Iraqi Nation, for it's men, women and children so that they might enjoy the same Freedom we do.

Next up on the agenda; Media.
I cannot say enough about the blatent flouting of justice that has been exhibited by the American Press. They thumb their collective noses at classified information acts, at demands for secrecy and openly display what they know to the world.
The amount of classified information that has passed through the presses, boggles the mind.
I have no respect for anyone that would betray their country for personal gain. I'm not talking about selling secrets to Russia. I'm talking about selling secrets to the New York Times.
Must we tell everything we know? Do we not realize that they read our magazines and newspapers too? We are our own worst enemy. The Freedom of Information means nothing is sacred. When will we understand that some secrets are meant to be kept? That our enemies are real? Did we not learn anything from 9/11?

I'll end up this very long rant with this,

There is nothing wrong with America that the faith, love of freedom, intelligence and energy of her citizens cannot cure. -Dwight Eisenhower

2007-03-13T13:02:00.000-06:00

This in from Fox news. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,258425,00.html

Democrats upset over firings throughout the nation, are calling for the resignation of Alberto Gonzales, Attorney General.

Gonzales has admitted that mistakes were made in the process. But his biggest mistake? Admitting he made a mistake. The Democrats, emboldened by the increasing silence from the GOP and the White House, have raised yet another outrage.
Upset, that the eight attorneys were fired due to GOP pressure in connection with Democratic Voter Fraud, they have set the world afire with their indignation.

Hm, key words here, "Democratic Voter Fraud." Anyone else see the connotation here?
Howard Dean has said Gonzales "ought to be shown the door — he ought not to be in this administration. We have got to end corruption in our government. It is not OK to be corrupt."

I rest my case. God knows if a Democrat can't stand corruption, then the world is coming to an end.
Have we all forgotten when the Clintons took office, that all of the Attorney Generals were kicked out? There was no hew and outcry over that little scheme. And what about the travel firings? There was no one up in arms over that fiasco.

But, the heat is on, the Democrats are calling for blood. But, to his credit, Gonzales has refused to step down.
Quote,"I've overcome a lot of obstacles in my life to become attorney general. I am here not because I give up, I am here because I learn from my mistakes, because I accept responsibility and because I am committed to doing my job and that is what I intend to do here on behalf of the American people," end quote.

Good for him, but let's see some support from all around.

Please... give me a break.

2007-02-08T13:32:00.000-06:00

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2007/02/08/D8N5MJO00.html

Nancy Pelosi is frankly, a big baby.

After being denied her request for a C-32, which is the Military equivalent of the Boeing 757-200. She stated that she preferred to fly commercial if that's what it would take.

She claims this is the only plane that can satisify her security needs, due to the fact that it can fly coast to coast without having to refuel.

Tell me, what have you done that would require you eliminate any fueling stops throughout the US?

It was deemed an extravagance that the taxpayers would find hard to swallow.
You bet they would. Why would I want to pay for her to fly across the country in a jet she doesn't even need, when a smaller plane would work just as well?

Former House Speaker, Dennis Hastert flew on an Air Force commuter-size plane and had no problems at all. Wonder what the difference is? Did I mention he's a Republican?

In an interview with Fox, she claimed the denial was due to her criticism of the war and of Donald Rumsfield. She said, quote, "There are probably those in the Department of Defense who are not happy with my criticism of Secretary Rumsfeld, the war in Iraq, other waste, fraud and abuse in the Defense Department, and I guess this is their way of making their voices heard."

Give me a break and act your age, for pity's sake.

Security Crackdown in Baghdad.

2007-02-07T21:54:00.000-06:00

What has long been needed hopefully is beginning.

Within the last 5 hours, US, Iraqi and Coalition forces have begun a crackdown that will hopefully pave the way for even greater assertion of power.

It's been too long since we've given the insurgents any retribution of substance.
It's been too long since we've given any indication of having any sort of backbone.

We are the most powerful nation on the planet, why have we been made impotent by politicians? Why do people such as Nancy Pelosi, John Murtha and Hilary Clinton feel they have to make our country weak?

We are NOT a weak country, we've have survived since 1620 when the first Englishman stepped off the Mayflower.

We never gave up, even through Valley Forge where George Washington never gave up faith and courage.
In 1776, 56 men put their lives, their comforts, and their fortunes on the line. They signed a document known as the Declaration of Independence.
"We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal."
Words that changed the face of the world, and brought forth the greatest nation on earth.
We survived the slaughter of 500,000 American men for the sake of unity in the civil war.
We lost nearly5 million men in the wars this country has fought.

They were not fighting simply to win honor or glory. They were not fighting be recognized as one of the greatest fighting machines on earth.

They fought for one purpose; to defend their country, their freedoms, and their families.
They fought to protect what is right, the rights to live freely, to speak freely.

They fought so that you can burn a flag. So that you can ridicule them, call them names, spit on them. So that you can throw your freedom in their faces.

Do not give into the Liberal way of thinking.
This country was birthed through war and opposition. Did we turn tail and run?

If everytime something came against us that we didn't like, we would not even exist as a country.

Homosexual's turning the way of the Communist?

2007-02-06T22:35:00.000-06:00

http://www.nwcn.com/statenews/washington/stories/NW_020507WABinitiative957SW.546c6a4d.html

A petition calling for heterosexual couples to prove they can concieve and bear children in order to receive their marriage licsence is being pushing in Olympia, WA.

It calls for couples who do not have children within three years of marriage to have the union annulled and all benefits erased.

Their reasoning? They say that anti-gay activist reasoning for banning gay marriage is linked to the point that homosexual couples cannot have children.

So, they say if we're going to say that they aren't a 'real' marriage because of the lack of procreation, then all other marriages that do not produce children should be null and void as well.

It has nothing to do with whether they can have children or not, it comes down to a point of freedom. Who are they to come into our lives and tell us that we are wrong and that we have to accept them?

Our lives are not to scorn or spite them, our lives are the norm. Don't attack us for being something you cannot be. We excercise our 1st Ammendment right just like you.

Just because you feel like you're a victim doesn't mean you are one.

Is the world full of (oxy)morons?

2007-02-06T21:08:00.000-06:00

A simple definition of oxymoron is two words forming a compound word that have completely opposite meanings. i.e. Civil War, smart blonde, and etc.

It seems to me that perhaps the biggest oxymoron of all is "bipartisan media".

The names I. Lewis Libby, Judith Miller, Valerie Plame and Dick Cheney have saturated the media over the course of the last few months.

People are finding it hard to believe that a White House aide would know the name of a CIA officer. Why do we not find it hard to believe that a New York Times reporter knows the name of a CIA officer? Would one not think that perhaps something is wrong?

How does a woman with no security clearance, no working connection with the State Dept learn the name of a top secret organization's employee?

Yet, a man who has worked in the White House and is an aide to President Bush is being ostracized and put on trial.

Judith Miller refused to give the name of her source, despite Grand Juries and subpoenas, why is she not on trial for obstruction of justice and perjury?

How does a man like Tim Russert get away with asking Libby about Plame on national television? Shouldn't that raise a red flag? Sure, Libby may not have the clearance needed to know Plame's name, but Judith Miller and Tim Russert certainly do not.

Wait, did I mention that Plame's husband, Joseph Wilson is an open critic of the Bush administration? Ah, now we get to the heart of things. Of course it's a cover-up, you know what the liberals are thinking.

They (the White House) has a vendetta against all who disagree with them. Let's turn the tables on them, let's get even with them for being upset about our Op/Ed letters and articles.

Why don't we leak classified information to a reporter, ensure that she does not have to reveal her source, and make Dick Cheney look like a traitor. Oh, and while we're at it, let's take down I. Lewis Libby.

In other news, a former Border Patrol Agent was beaten in prison, according to family and a congress man. Ignacio Ramos was sentenced to prison for shooting an Illegal immigrant and known drug runner while he fled back across the border into Mexico, and then lying about it.

What a world, eh folks?

Ahmadinejad and Liz Cheney speak out.

2007-01-23T20:45:00.000-06:00

Ahmadinejad: Be assured that the US and Israel will soon end lives
Yaakov Lappin
Published:
01.23.07, 22:24
Israel and the United States will soon be destroyed, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday during a meeting with Syria's foreign minister, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) website said in a report.
"Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad… assured that the United States and the Zionist regime of Israel will soon come to the end of their lives," the Iranian president was quoted as saying.
"Sparking discord among Muslims, especially between the Shiites and Sunnis, is a plot hatched by the Zionists and the US for dominating regional nations and looting their resources," Ahmadinejad added, according to the report.
The Iranian president also directly tied events in Lebanon to a wider plan aimed at Israel's destruction. He called on "regional countries" to "support the Islamic resistance of the Lebanese people and strive to enhance solidarity and unity among the different Palestinian groups in a bid to pave the ground for the undermining of the Zionist regime whose demise is, of course, imminent."
Ahmadinejad has threatened the State of Israel with annihilation several times in recent months, and has recently added the US and Britain to the list of countries he says will be destroyed.
Syria's Foreign Minister, Wailed Mualem, accused the US of attempting to carry out a "massacre of Muslims" and of sowing "discord among Islamic faiths in the region."
Mualem called on "regional states to pave the ground for the establishment of peace and tranquillity… while preventing further genocide of the Muslims," the IRIB website said.

Ah, he's at it again. The esteemed President of Iran is fortelling the destruction of America and Israel- still.
Has he qualified for Mullah status yet?

In other news, sweeps in LA netted over 750 illegal aliens. Of the 761, over 400 have already been deported. Can you say progress?

Liz Cheney is speaking out about Hilary Clinton and the war in general. Let me tell you, my jaw dropped when I read this.

Retreat Isn't an Option
By Liz CheneyTuesday, January 23, 2007; A17
Sen. Hillary Clinton declared this weekend, " I'm in to win." Anyone who has watched her remarkable trajectory can have no doubt that she'll do whatever it takes to win the presidency. I wish she felt the same way about the war.
In fairness, Clinton, with her proposal for arbitrary caps on troop levels and hemming and hawing about her vote for the war resolution, has company on both sides of the aisle. Sen. Joseph Lieberman is the only national Democrat showing any courage on this issue. We Republicans -- with help from senators such as Chuck Hagel -- seem ready to race the Democrats to the bottom.
I'd like to ask the politicians in both parties who are heading for the hills to stop and reflect on these basic facts:
· We are at war. America faces an existential threat. This is not, as Speaker Nancy Pelosi has claimed, a "situation to be solved." It would be nice if we could wake up tomorrow and say, as Sen. Barack Obama suggested at a Jan. 11 hearing, "Enough is enough." Wishing doesn't make it so. We will have to fight these terrorists to the death somewhere, sometime. We can't negotiate with them or "solve" their jihad. If we quit in Iraq now, we must get ready for a harder, longer, more deadly struggle later.
· Quitting helps the terrorists. Few politicians want to be known as spokesmen for retreat. Instead we hear such words as "redeployment," "drawdown" or "troop cap." Let's be clear: If we restrict the ability of our troops to fight and win this war, we help the terrorists. Don't take my word for it. Read the plans of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and Ayman Zawahiri to drive America from Iraq, establish a base for al-Qaeda and spread jihad across the Middle East. The terrorists are counting on us to lose our will and retreat under pressure. We're in danger of proving them right.
· Beware the polls. In November the American people expressed serious concerns about Iraq (and about Republican corruption and scandals). They did not say that they want us to lose this war. They did not say that they want us to allow Iraq to become a base for al-Qaeda to conduct global terrorist operations. They did not say that they would rather we fight the terrorists here at home. Until you see a poll that asks those questions, don't use election results as an excuse to retreat.
· Retreat from Iraq hurts us in the broader war. We are fighting the war on terrorism with allies across the globe, leaders such as Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan and Pervez Musharraf in Pakistan. Brave activists are also standing with us, fighting for freedom of speech, freedom of religion, the empowerment of women. They risk their lives every day to defeat the forces of terrorism. They can't win without us, and many of them won't continue to fight if they believe we're abandoning them. Politicians urging America to quit in Iraq should explain how we win the war on terrorism once we've scared all of our allies away.
What about Iran? There is no doubt that an American retreat from Iraq will embolden Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, making it even less likely that the Iranian president will bend to the will of the international community and halt his nuclear weapons program.
A member of Lebanon's parliament recently told me that Lebanese Sunnis, Shiites and Christians are lining up with Iran and Syria to fight against Sunnis, Shiites and Christians who want to stand with America. When I asked him why people were lining up with Iran and Syria, he said, "Because they know Iran and Syria aren't going anyplace. We're not so sure about America."
· Our soldiers will win if we let them. Read their blogs. Talk to them. They know that free people must fight to defend their freedom. No force on Earth -- especially not an army of terrorists and insurgents -- can defeat our soldiers militarily. American troops will win if we show even one-tenth the courage here at home that they show every day on the battlefield. And by the way, you cannot wish failure on our soldiers' mission and claim, at the same time, to be supporting the troops. It just doesn't compute.
I suppose Hillary Clinton's announcement was a sign of progress. In 2007, a woman can run for president and show the same level of courage and conviction about this war many of her male colleagues have. Steel in the spine? Not so much.
America deserves better. It's time for everyone -- Republicans and Democrats -- to stop trying to find ways for America to quit. Victory is the only option. We must have the fortitude and the courage to do what it takes. In the words of Winston Churchill, we must deserve victory.
We must be in it to win.

Hear, hear, Ms. Cheney, I don't think I could have said it better myself!

The ACLU's Plan to save the guilty.

2007-01-20T19:10:00.000-06:00

With the announcement for plans to collect the DNA of illegal aliens, terrorism detainees and those charged but not convicted of federal crimes, the ACLU and EPIC moves to action.

Their cause? Defend the guilty from being databased. Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Sen. Jon Kyl are the major proponents of the bill.

Currently, the FBI's CODIS (Combined DNA Indexing System) is the only DNA database available. The ACLU has jumped on the bill, which is still in it's rough stage, decrying it as invasive. Their main objection? If you happen to be singled out for an airport inspection, you might be added to the database. If you're chosen at a border checkpoint, you might be added to the database. This is too much of a risk to take. We can't take massive steps to protect our borders without possibly stepping on the toes of our spoiled and guilty minded public.

Out of 100 illegal aliens arrested, 70% will be rearrested. The rise of diseases such as leprosey, smallpox, scarlet fever and malaria are on the rise. We're being bled dry by the illegals that come to America and have their babies. Babies which become citizens, thus entitled to the benefits of welfare and tax payer support.

Terrorism has proven over and over that it has no other agenda but to destroy America.
Why on earth would a group called the American Civil Liberties Union want to defend the 'rights' of people that are on the verge of killing everything we stand for and love?

Why not just elimiate AFIS and NCIC as well? Are we wrong to take steps to label criminals and terrorists?

2007-01-17T21:44:00.000-06:00

Eh, missing me yet? I realized yesterday that I haven't addressed the new Iraq strategy that President Bush outlined last week.. perhaps it was two weeks ago, the days tend to run together.

He's sending 20, 000 more troops over there. I do agree with this plan, my only qualm is that there is no increase in the bombing raids. This is due to, of course, the large presence of American and Coalition forces in country.

I believe that was one of our large errors in the onset of the war. During the first Gulf War, bombing runs were conducted around the clock. Giving the Republican Guard and the Iraqi Army little chance to regroup.

This time around, there wasn't (in my opinion) nearly enough strafing runs to break up the pockets of resistance. Fallujah, Tikrit, Baghdad, Mosul, all of these towns should have been bombed regularly for a week.

Drive the resistance underground, or better yet, destroy it and you have less opposition when the ground troops go in.

Yes, I know about collateral damage, I know that innocents die, and frankly, I wish it would never happen.

But unfortunately, it does. People do die. It happens to be a fact of life, you live, then you die.

Anyway, back to my original topic. 20,000 more troops, Good. More funding, very good.
His only opposition there is going to be his Congress and House. Good luck with Pelosi, Mr President.

What I found ironic is while he took the blame for all of the mistakes that happened. He didn't take the credit for all the good things that have happened.

Let's see, the Iraqi's are no longer oppressed by a dictator, have held democratic elections, have a President, a Constitution, and a myriad of other things.

Wonder who is responsible for all of that?

One person made the decision for that to become possible.
This man has been ridiculed, reviled, insulted, mocked, called names, been "disapproved of" and disrespected by millions. Yet, he is a hero in this day and age.

George W. Bush.

Pat Robertson?

2007-01-04T19:48:00.000-06:00

Nutjob or prophet of God?

As a religious person, I'm actually inclined to believe the former. Surprise, surprise.

As for an attack, if we continue on the way we're going, it very well could happen.

We've suspended legitimate, feasible ways of keeping our country safe, we allow national news media to continue to print Classified material, and we just put Nancy Pelosi in as Speaker of the House.

Sure, why not? It's an open invitation to any terrorist group to waltz in and work destruction.
We want to talk and negotiate with them, but what we do not realize is that there is no negotiating with radicals.

We talk, they laugh. Why waste your breath?

Although, for all of his inane rambling, Robertson has given one statement that I agree with..

Assassinate Hugo Chavez.

Superficiality

2007-01-02T19:48:00.000-06:00

I hope I'm spelling it correctly..lol.

Listening to my Ipod last night, I came across a song named "Gallery".
Lyrics following this diatribe.

I can't tell if he's jealous the other guy has the girl, or if he's truly upset that this guy uses girls then lets them go when he's finished.

Why does the girl stay with him for the money? If she's having thoughts about knowing she needs better, why is she there in the first place? Did she have second thoughts?
I guess my question this morning is, why do we place so much emphasis on money, looks, and everything superficial? It won't last. Money will run out, looks will grow old, and superficialness will fade. Things like Honor, love, sacrifice, devotion, and loyalty are things that do not fade.

Don't fall in love with someone just because they happen to be attractive or wealthy or dress well. Fall in love with the person that's on the inside.

God broke the mold,
When he made this one I know
She's breathtaking but so much more
She walks in the room, your lungs closed
Making you never want to breathe again
Her boyfriend has got so much dough
So much ice his neck and wrist froze Is he faithful to her? Hell no
But she chose to be with him, shorty
Tell me is the money worth your soul
Tell me what's the reason that you hold on
When you know that dude has a whole wall of 'em just like you
And girl you're just way too fine
Gotta be treated as one of a kindGirl use your mind
Don't be just another dime

Because I can't take
Seeing you with him'
Cuz I know exactly what you'll be,
In his gallery
It's just not fair
And it's tearing me apart
You're just another priceless work of art
In his gallery

She's so confused
She knows she deserves more
Someone who will love and adore
But his money's hard to ignore
She really doesn't know what to do
Girl it's just a matter of time
Before he finds another more fine
After he's done dulling your shine
You're out the door and he's through with you
Tell me is the money worth your soul
Tell me what's the reason that you hold on,
When you know that dude has a whole wall of 'em just like you

And girl you're just way too fine
Gotta be treated as one of a kind
Girl use your mind
Don't be just another dime

I can't take
Seeing you with him'
Cuz I know exactly what you'll be
In his gallery
It's just not fair
And it's tearing me apart
You're just another priceless work of art
In his gallery

You're a masterpiece
I know that he
Can't appreciate your beauty
Don't let him cheapen you
He don't see you like i do
Beautiful not just for show
Time that someone let you know

I can't take
Seeing you with him'
Cuz I know exactly what you'll be
In his gallery
It's just not fair
And it's tearing me apart
You're just another priceless work of art

New Years resolutions.

2006-12-30T19:35:00.000-06:00

Well, the end of another year is upon us. My, how the time has flown. Seems like it was only yesterday and the world was panicking about Y2K.

We're already well on the way to 2010. Everytime I read a book that happens to be set in the 'future', i.e. 2001, 2005, etc. I laugh.

Because, I'm living in the future, as unfuturistic as it may be. There are no flying cars, at least for general consumption, there are no colonies on Mars, human at least.

My resolutions are simple, timely and are needed for me.

1. Stay in shape.

2. Manage my finances better.

3. Pursue my dreams.

4. Attempt to spread conservative joy and happiness. Well, that might not be feasible, but its a start at least.

Continue to look out for the safety and well-being of my fellow countrymen. Support the men and women of the US Military and Law Enforcement.

Happy New Year, everyone. I pray this finds you well and safe..

Rhys.

It's Over. Or perhaps, it's just begun.

2006-12-29T22:43:00.000-06:00

Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein executed
POSTED: 11:07 p.m. EST, December 29, 2006
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein has been executed, a witness said.
"Saddam's body is in front me," said an official in the prime minister's office when CNN telephoned. "It's over."
In the background, Shiite chanting could be heard. When asked about the chanting, the official said "These are employees of the prime minister's office and government chanting in celebration."
The witness reported that celebrations broke out after Hussein was dead, and that there was "dancing around the body."
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki did not attend the execution, according to an adviser to the prime minister who was interviewed on state television.
The execution was videotaped and photographed, state television reported, and those images will be distributed to the media.
Al-Arabiya television network reported that Barzan Hassan, Hussein's half-brother, and Awad Bandar, former chief justice of the Revolutionary Court, were hanged after Hussein. All three were convicted of killings in the Iraqi town of Dujail nearly 25 years ago.
Earlier, Munir Haddad, a judge on the appeals court that upheld the former dictator's death sentence, and an adviser to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki each confirmed the paperwork needed for Hussein's execution had been prepared late Friday.
At the same time, a U.S. district judge refused a request to stay the execution.
Attorney Nicholas Gilman said in an application for a restraining order, filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Washington, that a stay would allow Hussein "to be informed of his rights and take whatever action he can and may wish to pursue."
Haddad had called Gilman's filing "rubbish," and said, "It will not delay carrying out the sentence," which he called "final."
Haddad wouldn't disclose the location of the execution and said it wouldn't be broadcast live on TV because of human rights issues.
Throughout the day, there were conflicting reports about who had custody of Hussein. Giovanni di Stefano, one of Hussein's defense attorneys, told CNN the U.S. military officially informed him that the former Iraqi dictator had been transferred to Iraqi but that the move in U.S. court could have meant that Hussein was back in U.S. custody.
There had been speculation that Hussein would be executed before Eid Al-Adha -- a holiday period that means Feast of the Sacrifice, celebrated by Muslims around the world at the climax of the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. The law does not permit executions to be carried out during religious holidays.
Eid began Saturday for Sunnis and Sunday for Shiites and lasts for four days. Hussein is a Sunni Muslim.
Meeting with half-brothers
Another defense lawyer, Badie Aref, told CNN that Hussein met with two of his half-brothers in his cell on Thursday and passed on messages and instructions to his family.
"President Saddam was just bracing for the worst, so he wanted to see his brothers and pass on some messages and instructions to his family," Aref said. The half brothers who visited were Sabawi and Wathban Ibrahim Hassan al-Tikriti, he said.
Another of Hussein's half-brothers, Barzan al-Tikriti, has been sentenced to death and is being held in Iraq under the same charges as Hussein.
Aref said the U.S. soldiers guarding Hussein on Tuesday took away a radio he kept in his cell so he could not hear news reports about his death sentence, which was confirmed that day.
"They did not want him to hear the news from the appeals court upholding the sentence," he said. "They gave him back the radio on Wednesday."
Aref said Saddam found out about the appeals court verdict "a few hours after it was announced."
Crimes against humanity
Hussein was convicted on November 5 of crimes against humanity in connection with the killings of 148 people in the rown of Dujail after an attempt on his life.
The dictator was found guilty of murder, torture and forced deportation.
The Dujail episode falls within 12 of the worst cases out of 500 documented "baskets of crimes" during the Hussein regime.
The U.S. State Department says torture and extrajudicial killings followed the Dujail killings and that 550 men, women and children were arrested without warrants.

CNN's Aneesh Raman, Arwa Damon, Ryan Chilcote, Sam Dagher, Jomana Karadsheh and Ed Henry contributed to this report.

He's dead. I'm reminded tonight of the many naysayers and critics of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

"Bush lied." "There are no WMDs." "Too many soldiers have died, it's a failure."

I know I've harped on this quite a bit. But I don't think you people quite understand. It was a living hell over there while he was in power. The misery, torment, oppression; I know it's too much for us to fathom.

That a leader would inflict that type of pain on his own people. But, he is no different than other leaders of this brave new world.

We left the Cold War for a new and darker frontier. The war of Terror. A war where there are no set battle lines, a war where the good, the bad, and the innocent all must die. For what reason, you ask? Merely the fact that you are infidels. You are a threat. A threat to a lifestyle that feeds on the weak, the wounded and the innocent.

Yet we sit in our warm, comfortable homes without a thought for what goes on around us. Yes, I know you're tied up and stressed with running a household in this day and age. With gas prices at recordbreaking highs, the worry that rests in the back of your mind about the safety of your family.

Believe me, I do understand. So, why do we insist on tearing our Country apart? Why is there no support? Why is there no unity? Why must we defeat ourselves?

You give heed to the liberal way of thinking. I say 'liberal' in the general context of the word, not the stereotypical pattern of ridiculous thinking posed by the majority of Democrats and some Republicans.

Protect us, you say. But don't invade our privacy. Give us freedom of speech in order for us to reveal Top Secret documents to the world. The New York times, the Washington Post, Boston Globe, and many others should have no access to files that they have published.

In a matter of National Security, there should be no limit to what the Government can do. Come on, do you honestly think that a nonsexual satellite would have any interest in what you do in your spare time? Perhaps, it's that we as people prefer our anonymty rather than running the risk of someone finding out what we're doing.

"What is done in the dark will be revealed in the light," to paraphrase a Biblical reference.

Merry Christmas.. belatedly as it may be..

2006-12-28T19:11:00.000-06:00

I find myself thoroughly happy that the holiday season is nearly over.
What I don't find myself happy to see leave is our excuse of the holidays.

We now have no reason to treat our fellow man with any sort of compassion.
I had a chance to go into town where I am right now, it was a sight to see.

In a country where any sort of Christmas is non-exsistant, I find myself comparing it to the US during non holiday times. We ignore the needs of others and care only for ourselves.

I know, Americans, the majority of them at least, don't realize how good we have it here.
We don't know what it's like to go without food, without heat, only being able to scrounge enough for your family to eat. Men and women struggle to simply survive over here and in many countries.

Count the number of blankets you have in your house. Count the number of lightbulbs, shoes, or coats you don't wear. Think of a family somewhere in the world, in your state, in your country, in your neighborhood that has none of this.

To quote Dickens, "God Bless us, everyone!"

Which Side are we actually on?

2006-11-30T19:59:00.000-06:00

Happy Thursday everyone....ignore the sarcasm.

Read an article in the NY Times Saturday that annoyed and amused me at the same time.
Gitmo. Okay, if we didn't have PROOF that these guys have terrorist connections, they probably wouldn't even be there. So, I'm reading about these guys only getting to eat bread and water, having to stay in cells and be annoyed by blasting music, and being interrogated while soaking wet in an air conditioned room. Which, they THINK might have been the cause of one's death. And I"m thinking, "Okay, so these guys are responsible for the deaths of hundreds if not thousands. And even our so-called torture methods are a far cry from what they would use if they captured one of us. Um think beheadings, Fallujah, burning bodies...that type of thing.. Come on people use that head God gave you.

There was an editorial in the state paper Friday from this woman bemoaning the fact that they were using bedsheets to hang themselves. She said why doesn't the government provide ropes for them. They're so mistreated and all... read the tongue-in-cheek. Quite funny. Now, I'm not saying that there hasn't been abuse, Abu Ghraib was a disaster in most cases. But, are we suppose to coddle and lovingly ask for information? Are we in the habit of taking innocents and dragging their blackened bodies through the streets?

One more item on the agenda..

Is Iraq worse off then when we took over? Read for yourself and decide.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003073487_webiraq20.html

Two captured U.S. soldiers killed "in barbaric way"
By Kim Gamel
The Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq – U.S. forces on today recovered the bodies of two American soldiers reported captured by insurgents last week. An Iraqi defense ministry official said the men were tortured and "killed in a barbaric way."
Al-Qaida in Iraq claimed responsibility for killing the soldiers, and said the successor to terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had "slaughtered" them, according to a Web statement that could not be authenticated. The language in the statement suggested the men were beheaded.
U.S. Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said the remains were believed to be those of Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, 23, of Houston, and Pfc. Thomas L. Tucker, 25, of Madras, Ore.
He said U.S. troops — part of a search involving some 8,000 American and Iraqi forces — found the bodies late Monday near Youssifiyah, where they disappeared Friday.
Troops did not recover the bodies until today because they had to wait until daylight to cordon off the area for an ordnance team for fear it was booby-trapped, Caldwell said.
The checkpoint attacked Friday was in the Sunni Arab region known as the "Triangle of Death" because of frequent ambushes there of U.S. soldiers and Iraqi troops. Caldwell said troops encountered a lot of roadside bombs and other explosives during the three-day search, including in the area where the bodies were found.
The cause of death was "undeterminable at this point," and the two bodies will be taken back to the United States for DNA tests to confirm the identities, Caldwell said.
The two soldiers disappeared after an insurgent attack Friday at a checkpoint by a Euphrates River canal, 12 miles south of Baghdad. Spc. David J. Babineau, 25, of Springfield, Mass., was killed. The three men were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division from Fort Campbell, Ky.
The director of the Iraqi defense ministry's operation room, Maj. Gen. Abdul-Aziz Mohammed, said the bodies showed signs of having been tortured. "With great regret, they were killed in a barbaric way," he said.
The claim of responsibility was made in the name of the Mujahedeen Shura Council, an umbrella organization of five insurgent groups led by al-Qaida in Iraq. The group posted an Internet statement Monday claiming it was holding the American soldiers captive.
"We give the good news ... to the Islamic nation that we have carried God's verdict by slaughtering the two captured crusaders," said the claim, which appeared on an Islamic militant Web site where insurgent groups regularly post statements and videos.
"With God Almighty's blessing, Abu Hamza al-Muhajer carried out the verdict of the Islamic court" calling for the soldiers' slaying, the statement said.
The statement said the soldiers were "slaughtered," suggesting that al-Muhajer beheaded them. The Arabic word used in the statement, "nahr," is used for the slaughtering of sheep by cutting the throat and has been used in past statements to refer to beheadings.
The U.S. military has identified al-Muhajer as an Egyptian associate of al-Zarqawi also known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri.
The killings would be the first acts of violence attributed to al-Muhajer since he was named al-Qaida in Iraq's new leader in a June 12 Web message by the group. Al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. airstrike on June 7.
Al-Zarqawi made al-Qaida in Iraq notorious for hostage beheadings and was believed to have killed two American captives himself — Nicholas Berg in April 2004 and Eugene Armstrong in September 2004.

Yet another example, US Soldiers and US Contractors have been killed in this battle. US citizens that wanted nothing more than to free Iraq from oppression.

Go back research some of Saddam Hussein's methods of getting people to talk..that will curl your toes. Acid, flaying, beating... if that's any hint...

About.com:
Reprisal Against Dujail.
On July 8, 1982, Saddam Hussein was visiting the town of Dujail (50 miles north of Baghdad) when a group of Dawa militants shot at his motorcade. In reprisal for this assassination attempt, the entire town was punished. More than 140 fighting-age men were apprehended and never heard from again. Approximately 1,500 other townspeople, including children, were rounded up and taken to prison, where many were tortured. After a year or more in prison, many were exiled to a southern desert camp. The town itself was destroyed; houses were bulldozed and orchards were demolished.
Though Saddam's reprisal against Dujail is considered one of his lesser-known crimes, it has been chosen as the first for which he will be tried.

Anfal Campaign
Officially from February 23 to September 6, 1988 (but often thought to extend from March 1987 to May 1989), Saddam Hussein's regime carried out the Anfal (Arabic for "spoils") campaign against the large Kurdish population in northern Iraq. The purpose of the campaign was ostensibly to reassert Iraqi control over the area; however, the real goal was to permanently eliminate the Kurdish problem.
The campaign consisted of eight stages of assault, where up to 200,000 Iraqi troops attacked the area, rounded up civilians, and razed villages. Once rounded up, the civilians were divided into two groups: men from ages of about 13 to 70 and women, children, and elderly men. The men were then shot and buried in mass graves. The women, children, and elderly were taken to relocation camps where conditions were deplorable. In a few areas, especially areas that put up even a little resistance, everyone was killed.
Hundreds of thousands of Kurds fled the area, yet it is estimated that up to 182,000 were killed during the Anfal campaign. Many people consider the Anfal campaign an attempt at genocide.

Chemical Weapons Against Kurds
As early as April 1987, the Iraqis used chemical weapons to remove Kurds from their villages in northern Iraq during the Anfal campaign. It is estimated that chemical weapons were used on approximately 40 Kurdish villages, with the largest of these attacks occurring on March 16, 1988 against the Kurdish town of Halabja.
Beginning in the morning on March 16, 1988 and continuing all night, the Iraqis rained down volley after volley of bombs filled with a deadly mixture of mustard gas and nerve agents on Halabja. Immediate effects of the chemicals included blindness, vomiting, blisters, convulsions, and asphyxiation. Approximately 5,000 women, men, and children died within days of the attacks. Long-term effects included permanent blindness, cancer, and birth defects. An estimated 10,000 lived, but live daily with the disfigurement and sicknesses from the chemical weapons.
Saddam Hussein's cousin, Ali Hassan al-Majid was directly in charge of the chemical attacks against the Kurds, earning him the epithet, "Chemical Ali."

Invasion of Kuwait
On August 2, 1990, Iraqi troops invaded the country of Kuwait. The invasion was induced by oil and a large war debt that Iraq owed Kuwait. The six-week, Persian Gulf War pushed Iraqi troops out of Kuwait in 1991. As the Iraqi troops retreated, they were ordered to light oil wells on fire. Over 700 oil wells were lit, burning over one billion barrels of oil and releasing dangerous pollutants into the air. Oil pipelines were also opened, releasing 10 million barrels of oil into the Gulf and tainting many water sources. The fires and the oil spill created a huge environmental disaster.

Shiite Uprising & the Marsh Arabs
At the end of the Persian Gulf War in 1991, southern Shiites and northern Kurds rebelled against Hussein's regime. In retaliation, Iraq brutally suppressed the uprising, killing thousands of Shiites in southern Iraq.
As supposed punishment for supporting the Shiite rebellion in 1991, Saddam Hussein's regime killed thousands of Marsh Arabs, bulldozed their villages, and systematically ruined their way of life. The Marsh Arabs had lived for thousands of years in the marshlands located in southern Iraq until Iraq built a network of canals, dykes, and dams to divert water away from the marshes. The Marsh Arabs were forced to flee the area, their way of life decimated.
By 2002, satellite images showed only 7 to 10 percent of the marshlands left. Saddam Hussein is blamed for creating an environmental disaster.

From the Boston Globe.
Iraq soccer vagabonds right at home
By Brian MacQuarrie, Globe Staff August 16, 2004
PIRAEUS, Greece -- Instead of playing for their lives under a torturous regime, Iraq's soccer vagabonds played as though they had the time of their lives last night.
Pushing the play relentlessly in front of a delirious partisan crowd, the driven Iraqis struck for a pair of second-half goals to keep their fairy-tale Olympic odyssey alive with a 2-0 thumping of Costa Rica.
The victory advanced the Iraqis to the quarterfinals, a stunning showing for a once-proud program that had been demoralized and brutalized by Uday Hussein, the country's sadistic former Olympic director.
"We're delighted with this victory because we all recognize what that means to our people," said coach Adnan Hamed.
For thousands of cheering Iraqi expatriates who stood throughout the game, the triumph was sheer joy amid a torrent of depressing news from their war-ravaged homeland.
The Iraqi fans laid down an intense, steady drumbeat of noise. They booed every Costa Rican shot on goal, whistled at every collision, and cheered every Iraqi advance past midfield. When an apparent Costa Rican goal was waved off at 53 minutes, the crowd erupted in delight.
And when each Iraqi goal was scored, at 67 and 72 minutes, arm-pumping supporters stormed the field to hug their heroes.
The match clearly was much more than a game to the Iraqis, who for years fielded one of the best squads in the Middle East before Uday Hussein, one of Saddam Hussein's two sons, gave a cruel new meaning to taking one for the team. After a 1997 loss to Kazakhstan in a World Cup qualifying game, for example, the players were badly caned on the soles of their feet.
On another occasion, defeated players were dragged on the pavement until their skin became raw and then were forced to leap into raw sewage. Such was the unhealthy life of an Iraqi soccer player.
Hussain Mohammed, the country's soccer federation president and a star player in the 1970s, pleaded with Iraqis at home to use the triumph as a unifying force for better times.
"We call on all Iraqis to respect this victory," Mohammed said, "and to use it as a platform to perhaps cease-fire and be peaceful about what they're doing at the moment and come back from the brink."
Amir al-Saadi, the Iraqi Olympic Committee's secretary-general, mentioned the bombs that are daily fare near his Baghdad home. But on this night, al-Saadi managed to exhale.
When asked about the reaction in Iraq, al-Saadi replied with grinning understatement: "This victory is maybe making them happy."
Undoubtedly. After the team's startling opening-round victory over heavily favored Portugal, the streets of Baghdad erupted with celebratory gunfire.
The genesis of this team, helped financially by the US Olympic Committee and foreign soccer federations, has been a testament to the desire of the global sporting community to give Iraq something to cheer about.
Forced to roam from their devastated country, the Iraqis played their qualifying matches in Jordan and trained in Germany before arriving here. The team earned a slot in the tournament only three months after its reinstatement by the International Olympic Committee.
Raad Shano, 26, an Iraqi native, guaranteed victory before the match from his front-row seat.
"I am sure of it," he said, an Iraqi flag clenched in his fist. All around him, Shano's fellow expatriates pointed, jumped, and fidgeted with the pent-up excitement of people trying to will something good for their country.
Hundreds of Iraqi flags fluttered in the brisk breeze. Fans proudly wore Iraq T-shirts into the 33,000-seat stadium, which was about one-third full. And a familiar chant from their homeland punctuated the air, but with a starkly different twist.
From both sides of the arena, the excited fans clapped rhythmically as they pledged to sacrifice their souls and blood for Iraq. Until the war, that chant always offered the sacrifice to Saddam Hussein.
Shano noted the difference. A native of Basra, Shano said he fled his country four years ago to begin a nomadic quest for a new home, where peace and stability would be the norm instead of a dream.
Syria, Turkey, and now Greece have been stops on his journey, Shano said. Maybe Canada will be the final destination.
"Sometimes you must end it," Shano said of his decision to leave Iraq. "Because you don't want your children to suffer like you did. Our life there was finished."
But last night, the focus was on sport and on a team unfettered by the cruel whims of a dictatorial regime.
Shano shouted encouragement to the Iraqi players as they emerged, all business, from the locker room. The players pumped their fists, the Costa Rica fans were nowhere to be seen, and the Iraqi national anthem prompted an emotional sing-along from both sides of the stadium.
It was a good night to be an Iraqi soccer player, even if the team might not play an important match on home soil for the foreseeable future.
But to Shano and other Iraqis living in Greece, the sight of them on the field was enough.
"It's a chance to see your flag on another land," Shano said. And for families back home, who Shano said have telephoned to revel in Iraq's performance, the Olympic adventure is a respite from their hardships.

From Sports Illustrated:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Uday Hussein, the murderous and erratic oldest son of Saddam Hussein, controlled propaganda in Iraq and allegedly oversaw the torture of athletes who failed to perform.
The 39-year-old had a US$15 million reward on his head as No. 3 on the list of 55 most-wanted men from the ousted Iraqi regime -- only Saddam and younger brother Qusay ranked higher. The three also were on a U.S. list of former leaders who could be tried for war crimes.
Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of the U.S.-led coalition troops in Iraq, said Uday and Qusay were killed Tuesday during a gunbattle with American soldiers in northern Iraq.
As head of the Fedayeen Saddam paramilitary force, Uday helped his father eliminate opponents and exert iron-fisted control over Iraq's 25 million people. The eldest of Saddam's five children, Uday was elected to parliament in 1999 with a reported 99 percent of the vote, but he rarely attended parliament sessions.
Iraqi exiles say Uday murdered at will and tortured with zeal, and routinely ordered his guards to snatch young women off the street so he could rape them. The London-based human-rights group Indict said Uday ordered prisoners to be dropped into acid baths as punishment.
The Caligula-like Uday seemed proud of his reputation and called himself Abu Sarhan, an Arabic term for "wolf."
But his tendency toward erratic brutality even exasperated Saddam, who temporarily banished Uday to Switzerland after the younger Hussein killed one of his father's favorite bodyguards in 1988.
The bodyguard, a young man named Kamel Gegeo, arranged trysts for the Iraqi president -- notably with one woman who later became Saddam's second wife. Worried that his father's relationship with the woman could threaten his own position as heir, Uday beat Gegeo to death with a club in full view of guests at a high-society party, according to some reports. Other reports said Uday killed Gegeo with an electric carving knife.
Uday had once been a strong candidate to succeed his father, but he was badly injured in 1996 in an assassination attempt by gunmen who opened fire as he drove his red Porsche through Baghdad. The attack left Uday with a bullet in his spine that forced him to walk with a cane. Younger brother Qusay was instead groomed to succeed Saddam, worsening already uneasy relations between the two brothers.
Uday owned Iraq's most widely circulated daily newspaper, Babil, which he used as a platform for regime propaganda, publishing signed editorials full of bombastic rhetoric. He also oversaw Al-Zawra, a weekly published by the journalists union that he headed, and owned the popular Youth TV.
Much of Uday's notoriety abroad stemmed from his position as head of the National Iraqi Olympic Committee, which was accused of torturing and jailing athletes.
The London-based human rights group Indict said the committee once made a group of track athletes crawl on newly poured asphalt while they were beaten and threw some of them off a bridge. Indict also said Uday ran a special prison for athletes who offended him. The International Olympic Committee in Lausanne, Switzerland, said earlier this year that it was investigating the allegations.
One defector told Indict that jailed soccer players were forced to kick a concrete ball after failing to reach the 1994 World Cup finals. Another defector said athletes were dragged through a gravel pit and then dunked in a sewage tank so infection would set in.
Army officers also were fair game for Uday's outbursts of violence. In 1983, Uday reportedly bashed an army officer unconscious when the man refused to allow Uday to dance with his wife. The officer later died. Uday also shot an army officer who did not salute him.
Things were hardly better on the family front, where relations between Uday and his uncles were especially bad. Uday reportedly divorced the daughter of one uncle, Barzan Ibrahim Hasan, in 1995 after she complained of being beaten. Uday shot and wounded another uncle, Watban Ibrahim Hasan. Both uncles were captured after the war and are in the custody of U.S. coalition forces.
While millions of Iraqis suffered dire poverty, Uday lived a life of fast cars, expensive liquor and easy women.
When U.S. troops captured his mansion in Baghdad, they found a personal zoo with lions and cheetahs, an underground parking garage for his collection of luxury cars, Cuban cigars with his name on the wrapper, and $1 million in fine wines, liquor -- and even heroin.
Uday's obsession with sex was evident everywhere: The house was adorned with paintings of naked women and photographs of prostitutes taken off the Internet, complete with handwritten ratings of each.
There were bags and boxes of pills and medicines everywhere -- ginseng sexual fortifiers, heartburn medication, the anti-depressant Prozac -- and an Accu-Rite HIV Antibodies Screening Test Kit was in Uday's office.
Nearby was a domed house believed to be the residence of Uday's concubines, a bastion of bad taste with statuettes of couples in foreplay, couches with fluffy pillows and a swimming pool with a bar.

From Fox News.
Obituary: Qusay Saddam Hussein
Wednesday, July 23, 2003
BAGHDAD, Iraq — Qusay Hussein, Saddam Hussein's younger son, held wide-ranging powers over the nation's ruthless security apparatus that made him one of the most feared men in Iraq.
Qusay was No. 2 on the U.S.-led coalition forces' list of the 55 most wanted men from the former Iraqi regime, behind only his father. He was also on a Bush administration list of regime members who could be tried for war crimes.
The two brothers, who each were sought with $15 million rewards, died in a shootout with American soldiers Tuesday in northern Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of coalition troops in Iraq, announced.
Quiet, handsome and every bit as brutal as Saddam, the 37-year-old Qusay headed Iraq's intelligence and security services, his father's personal security force and the Republican Guard (search), an elite force of 80,000 soldiers responsible for defending Baghdad.
He stayed out of the public eye and led a substantially more subdued private life than his older brother Uday, who collected luxury cars by the hundreds and had a habit of ordering his guards to snatch young women off the street in order to rape them. Iraqis nicknamed Qusay "The Snake" for his bloodthirsty but low-profile manner.
Qusay was far more trusted by his father and appeared to be his heir before the regime crumbled. In televised meetings with top security and military men, Qusay was seated next to his father, wearing well-tailored suits and dutifully noting his father's every word.
An exiled dissident told The Associated Press that only Qusay and Saddam's private secretary, Abid Hamid Mahmud al-Tikriti (search), who was captured in June, were kept informed of Saddam's whereabouts. Uday was thought to be too reckless to be trusted with such information.
Experts do not believe Qusay played a significant role in the Gulf War of 1991 (search). But he was a leading figure of terror in the conflict's aftermath, using mass executions and torture to crush the Shiite Muslim uprising after that war.
Qusay also helped engineer the destruction of the southern marshes in the 1990s, an action aimed at Shiite "Marsh Arabs" living there.
The marshes — roughly 3,200 square miles — had provided the necessities of life for tens of thousands of marsh dwellers for at least 1,000 years. The area was destroyed through a large-scale water diversion project intended to remove the ability of insurgents to hide there.
Qusay also oversaw Iraq's notorious detention centers and is believed to have initiated "prison cleansing" — a means of relieving severe overcrowding in jails with arbitrary killings.
Citing testimony from former Iraqi intelligence officers and other state employees, New York-based Human Rights Watch said several thousand inmates were executed at Iraq's prisons over the past several years.
Prisoners were often eliminated with a bullet to the head, but one witness told the London-based human rights group Indict that inmates were sometimes murdered by being dropped into shredding machines. Some prisoners went in head first and died quickly, while others were put in feet first and died screaming. The witness said that on at least one occasion, Qusay supervised shredding-machine murders.
On another occasion, a witness said, an inmate's foot was cut off in a prison torture room while Qusay was present.
"The amputation had been carried out with a power saw during his torture under the direct supervision of Qusay ," the witness told Indict.
Qusay was made chief of the army branch for the ruling Baath party in 2000, meaning virtually all the army's movements were under his supervision. Just before this year's war began, he was put in charge of defending the nation's capital and heartland.
Qusay was spared any real combat during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, although state television showed him conferring with commanders. He did not do any of the compulsory military service required of most Iraqi men.
Qusay wed the daughter of a respected senior military commander. The couple, who later separated, had two daughters. U.S. officials said a teenager killed with Qusay may have been his son.

From FreeRepublic.com:
Iraqi Foreign Minister: American Soldiers Captured in Iraq to Be Burnt or Beheaded
BAGHDAD, March 18. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has no intention of carrying out the demands made by US President George Bush in his recent ultimatum. As a Rosbalt correspondent reports, this was announced by Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri at a press conference in Baghdad today.
He said that the Iraqi people 'elected Mr Hussein as their leader' and they will lead a fierce struggle against the aggressors under his command. The Iraqi foreign minister added that a horrific death awaits any Americans captured on Iraqi territory. 'They will be burnt or beheaded,' said Mr Sabri.
US President George Bush made an ultimatum to Mr Hussein, giving him and his sons 48 hours to leave the country. If these demands are not carried out, the American army will attack Iraq. The deadline of the ultimatum is Wednesday evening.

Welfare.

2006-11-29T23:20:00.000-06:00

So. I do honestly hate taxes. I honestly do.

I despise working like a dog in order to support people that will not work.

I despise working like a dog so that people that aren't even legal citizens can have access to better healthcare and benefits than citizens.

An illegal can come to the US, have a baby, that baby in turn is a legal citizen. Yet, their illegal status deems them qualified for medical attention, money, groceries, etc.

Yet, only citizens that meet a certain requirement can have access to these benefit.

Where does the line between abuse and need blur? Where does the seperation occur? Oftentimes, it doesn't.

We have limits on the amount of daycare the government or rather taxpayers will pay. That doesn't stop people from living together and having a joint income. These people will have a maximum of 230$ a month to pay in childcare. That's one months worth of co-pay. When the average parent, not on welfare, will pay that in a week.

Yes, people that don't need it use it. People that are perfectly capable of working use it. People that have two incomes use it. Where do we stop the merry-go-round?

How much longer will I have to look at my check stub and sigh over the amount of money I gave to Social Security? Until something is done about the system, we simply have to do it.

Social Security is a Communist idea.

com·mu·nism (kmy-nzm) KEY NOUN:
A theoretical economic system characterized by the collective ownership of property and by the organization of labor for the common advantage of all members.

Communism
A system of government in which the state plans and controls the economy and a single, often authoritarian party holds power, claiming to make progress toward a higher social order in which all goods are equally shared by the people.

The Marxist-Leninist version of Communist doctrine that advocates the overthrow of capitalism by the revolution of the proletariat.

Quote: "A system of government in which the state plans and controls the economy and a single, often authoritarian party holds power, claiming to make progress toward a higher social order in which all goods are equally shared by the people."

All goods are equally shared by the people..

So, is this what we are attempting to do? Let those that work support us all?

I think not.

Air Travel..

2006-11-27T22:03:00.000-06:00

I flew home today after spending nearly a week at my parents house for the holidays.
As someone that flies quite a bit, I have no trouble pulling off my shoes and submitting to being scanned.

Two connecting flights, 4 hours worth of layovers and 2 hours worth of security isn't that big of a deal. One makes sure they're there early, wear comfortable clothing, easy to remove shoes and Voila'! Its much simplier.

They are called security measures for the precise reason to keep us safe. Ah yes, they constrain us, crimp our style and make us late. But, at the cost of being blown out of the sky, I would think we should be grateful for them.

We have not had an attack on domestic soil in 5 years. We have completely revamped our airport security, our customs, and our approach to passenger check in.

So why am hearing the bitter complaints of people not being allowed their whims?
Why does the general public care so little about their own safety?

They demand to be kept safe, yet they buck at any attempt to do so. They complain, they whine, they act mostly like spoiled children.

Shape up America, it's not all about you.

Black Friday, Christmas madness.

2006-11-25T13:28:00.000-06:00

Happy Holidays everyone!...

Happy Kwaanza..Happy Haunakah...Merry Christmas..

The time has come that those words will become a mainstay.
But before all that, let me take time to reflect on the monstrosity known as "Black Friday".

Yesterday, myself and six members of my family woke up at an ungodly hour, drove an hour and a half, and braved the crowds, all for the love of the sale. Granted, they were very good sales. but sales none the less.

We heard the rumors. "Don't go to Best Buy! People are knocking people over and fighting." We saw the lines. A line in a well known department store that stretched completely around the store and out into the parking lot.

Luckily, we didn't have to join the unfortuntate souls in that line. Why do we embrace consumerism so much? What drives us to buy as much as we can?

Next subject: Christmas madness.
It makes me laugh when I see people dreading the holidays. To me, they can be "the best of times or the worst of times", to quote Charles Dickens.
I shall attempt to expound on that subject more in the future.

Discipline.. why most 18-25 year olds prefer corporal punishment.

2006-11-22T21:43:00.000-06:00

Strange isn't it? That the young adults of our world favor corporal punishment for their children.
What happened to the belief that we negotiate our problems? That we 'talk' and 'reason' with our children?

Maybe we have seen two or three generations disciplined this way and the result scares us to death. We're raising a irresponsible, disrespectful, undisciplined generation. A generation that believes that they should be handed everything on a silver platter. That their every whim should be catered to inexplicibly.

Most of the 18-25 year olds were raised with some form of corporal punishment. Whether we were spanked, swatted or smacked. We learned quickly that what our parents said -they meant.

Yes, I am fully aware that there are lunatics that take punishment to despicable levels. They shouldn't be allowed to have children ( or animals). But, to my knowledge, I've never had the urge to beat someone (that didn't deserve it) for no explainable reason. I've never felt as though I was abused, neglected or abandoned. In fact, (shocker) I felt rather loved and taken care of. Spankings included. I learned to respect my parents, elders and those in authority. I learned that there are consequences for my actions. Something many children lack now days.

But what can one do? In a world where children are left to their own devices, with little or no parental guidance.

I also learned to take responsiblity for my actions. I don't blame someone else if I get into trouble or do something I'm not suppose to. I eat everything on my plate and don't whine that it isn't McDonalds. I'm not a terribly picky eater. Another outcome of a lack of discipline.

No, I'm not saying force your child to eat things they honestly don't like. But don't make them turn up their nose at anything they think doesn't look right. Teach them to count their blessings. Teach them that yes, there are children that don't have what they have. Even here in our on country. Give them the oppurtunity to give back to the community. Give them the chance to make a difference. Even if it's something as small as raking leaves for their neighbors or baking cookies for the mailman. Give them a chance to give rather than get all the time.

I recently spoke with a woman who's grandchildren were raised through talking, timeouts, and a 'hands off' method. They were polite, they were well behaved and generally nice children. There's nothing wrong with that, I'm glad that they turned out the way they did.

But what do you do with a ten year old that has already been suspended twice for bringing a knife to school? Can you reason with him? Or perhaps he needs to be shown some 'tought love'? He thinks it's glamorous to have a record. I had a chance to speak with him. I told him, "you don't want to go to juvie. You don't want to go to Rader (local youth incarciration facility). You think you're tough? They would beat the crap out of you and worse." Hopefully, he understood.

With all that said.. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you..

Remember to be thankful.. Count your blessings.. Etc.

I'm currently setting in an airport awaiting my connecting flight..

Over sexed?

2006-11-21T19:12:00.000-06:00

Reading through a popular magazine today, I was disturbed at how sensualized our world has become.

Everything from shoes to perfume it can't be sold any other way but through sex. Is the only way to make money is through blatant exposure of the human body?

What kind of ideal is that? Are we so insecure in ourselves that we have to become something we're not? Are we so tired of reality that we have to escape to surrealism?

What does this tell our children? What do they think when they see our attempts to be something we're not? Does this create in them the same insecurities? The same beliefs that the 'real' us isn't good enough? We have to plasticize ourselves in order to measure up to the ungodly standards of models, ad, commercials and Hollywood. But, I'm tired of having to be plastic, I'm tired of being told that my body isn't right. That the only way I'll ever measure up is to be an oversexed, plasticized barbie.

Modesty is something that isn't wrong. It's something that allows us basic human dignity. There's nothing flattering about exposing ones self to the world. Do you really think we want to see it in the first place? The term, 'TMI' (too much information) was coined for a reason.

Death. On why they hurt nearly a year afterward.

2006-11-20T20:29:00.000-06:00

The 1st anniversary of my grandmother's death won't be until January 11. 2007.
But, experiencing firsts this year is going to be difficult.

My grandmother died at the hands of an incompetent surgeon or physicians assistant. To this day we're still trying to learn the truth.

My birthday is in 4 days. It will be the first without her. Thanksgiving is in 3 days. It will be the first without her.

I received a check in the mail today from my grandfather. I'm not sure what hurt the most? Seeing the check that she always signed. Or only seeing his name on the check header. Then, it will be Christmas, then New Years. Then, the anniversary of her untimely death. She was 66, not old. Not unhealthy. A wonderful lady that loved all of her grandkids and spoiled them all.
I was the oldest grand-daughter. After having 4 sons and 4 grandsons, I finally made an appearance. It was interesting, being the first girl. Although, a bit challenging as well. It's funny when the emotion hits you. It comes from nowhere, you're never expecting it. But it can be something as simple as a check. Or something as powerful as a picture.

One thing is for certain, death never let's us forget.

With the Holiday season upon us, I always marvel at the ability of people to care about their fellow man, then turn it off as though it was a faucet.

Why must we only care during certain times of the year? I know this is a cliche' idea. But, it's one that's worth repeating.

I spoke with a woman tonight, her group is adopting two families in the community. Their biggest problem was trying to surreptitiously procure the sizes of the children in the families.
So, why can we not do the same? Lack of time? Lack of money? What about a lack of heart? Yes, granted, there are people out there that abuse the system, that are perfectly capable of going out an getting a job.

But what about the man that was laid off? His wife, used to being at home with the kids, is now making minimum wage at the grocery store. They can barely pay their bills, let alone buy frivolous presents. Their spirit wouldn't be frivolous, but why buy your kids presents and not buy them food?

What about them? Or perhaps, the elderly couple down the street. Both live on Social Security, although, that's just enough to get by on. What would it hurt, to buy an extra pumpkin pie, buy one extra can of cranberry and take it to someone in need?

Or do something daring. Go volunteer this Thanksgiving, in a homeless shelter or soup kitchen.

Not quite brave enough? Just remember, every little bit helps.