Hiatus

It’s been a couple months since I’ve posted anything at all really and while there were many times I had some things I wanted to comment on, I simply never found the time to do so. I know, excuses are like…..well, you know. However, I really have been swamped.

For example, in the last month

• I left the company I’ve been with for roughly 3 years and become a dreaded “consultant” <insert GASP>.
• One of my longest and closest friends became a father for the first time.
• We changed parishes.
• I bought a new truck and sold my old truck to my dad.
• I missed a really nice buck during the opening hours of rifle season.
• No to mention the often times difficult but amazing responsibilities of being a husband and father of 3 (all under 4 years old).

So now that we’ve gotten back to a semi-normal schedule (is life ever really normal?), I hope to begin posting again on all manner of things, both interesting and not ;-)

Anagram of the Day

Google Larry Page Sergey Brin = Prelabor Geysering Gargoyle

Help a Hero In His Time of Need

Came across this story about SPC Reid Stanley today.  Although I wish that the Stanley family wasn’t going through this horrible ordeal right now, I am always thankful for the opportunities that God puts in front of me to give back to those who have so selflessly give to me and mine.

I don’t know the Stanley family from Adam, but I am thankful that this one man and his family sacrificed so much to serve voluntarily in our armd forces.  Regardless of whether or not you agree with the particulars of this war or any other, we should all remember daily that our men and women who serve do so of their own free will, and yet in doing so they are not afforded the luxury of determining for themselves which battles they fight in and which they sit out.  No, the price of a volunteer army is the sacrifice of each and every individual that chooses to make such a selfless decision; the sacrifice of accepting the decisions of our elected leaders to fight on whatever stage and in whatever conditions they deem necessary.

I urge everyone to dig deep to help this family out in their time of need.  Dig deep and remember that people like this do what they do not for the money (obviously), fame, power or thrill….but because they believe in something greater than themselves. They believe in this great nation and they believe in providing you and I with the freedoms we so much enjoy.

Donate here.

Michael J. Fox

Looks like Michael J. Fox is at it again.  Now don’t get me wrong, it’s a free country and the man can do any ad he wants to do.  But these political stunts by public icons to further specific agendas of the Democratic (or Republican for that matter) party are beyond sick.  Just like it was when Christopher Reeve tried it.

Disagree with me if you may, but this brings up an interesting point.   I have the utmost sympathy for people like Fox and Reeve, who have had to suffer the trials of their various debilitating illnesses.  I honestly do feel for them.  But I cannot shake the feeling that being so close to the suffering that their situations bring is actually a hindrance to their being open and honest about the elephant in the room: stem cell research, and specifically embryonic stem cell research.

The irony in all this is that of all the research being done with stem cells, it is the adult stem cells which have provided all the gain….all the promise of success in defeating such illnesses.  Meanwhile the embryonic research (which necessarily kills the embryo used to harvest the cells….effectively murdering a human being) has proven virtually meaningless, wrought with complications.

And yet we continue to be bombarded with ads like these, in this case showing a beloved Canadian-born Michael J. Fox twitching from the effects of Parkinson’s disease while advocating that we vote “his” way (i.e. anti-Republican) because apparently the candidate he favors is all for such research.

Those sick Republican bastards who don’t want to help poor Marty McFl….I mean, Michael J. Fox.  Appealing to emotionalism instead of using reason to determine such weighty issues is the way of the Democratic party.   Always has been, always will be.

Who cares what the underlying science says, much less the ethical and moral issues surrounding such research.  As long as they can make everyone think that the Republicans hate Michael J. Fox….well, that’s enough for them.

France’s Problem

While the Foley debacle is fast becoming a lesson in why one should never trust “the news” anymore, back at the ranch there is some disturbing news coming out of France which the MSM will not talk about.

Muslims (and not just “youth” anymore) are waging a veritable civil war against French police on a daily basis. Naturally the politicians are trying to downplay the reality of what is going on while the officers on the ground know exactly what the threat is:

Senior officers insisted that the problem was essentially criminal in nature, with crime bosses on the estates fighting back against tough tactics.

The interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, who is also the leading centre-Right candidate for the presidency, has sent heavily equipped units into areas with orders to regain control from drug smuggling gangs and other organised crime rings. Such aggressive raids were “disrupting the underground economy in the estates”, one senior official told Le Figaro.

However, not all officers on the ground accept that essentially secular interpretation. Michel Thoomis, the secretary general of the hardline Action Police trade union, has written to Mr Sarkozy warning of an “intifada” on the estates and demanding that officers be given armoured cars in the most dangerous areas.

He said yesterday: “We are in a state of civil war, orchestrated by radical Islamists. This is not a question of urban violence any more, it is an intifada, with stones and Molotov cocktails. You no longer see two or three youths confronting police, you see whole tower blocks emptying into the streets to set their ‘comrades’ free when they are arrested.”

All I know is that the Europeans had better wake up fast. Regardless of how much the Islamists hate America, they hate you too and your decades long “plan” of appeasement is only giving them more time to breed you out of existence.

Republicans Gone Wild

So one of the young men who was engaged with Foley in explicit instant messages and emails has been outed by a republican blogger.  I won’t call him conservative because it’s apparent that such principles do not apply to him.   Rather, yet another Republican has stooped to the level of mob mentality typically reserved for the Democrats.

I’m not ashamed because long ago I realized that while I must be affiliated with a party in order to affect change in this country, neither party really has my interests or view in mind.  But I am ashamed for the conservative movement that we must put up with wannabe hacks like this who have neither the integrity or the intellectual honesty to do the right thing.

Foley Just the Tip of the Iceburg

With the current “talk of the town” over on the Beltway being saturated by the Foley scandal, I figure it’s my duty as a blogger to at least make mention of it. So unlike my Democratic friends I will not defend nor try to deflect consequences from this scandal: Foley deserves everything that has happened to him and more. Good riddance and goodbye. I hope they send his ass to jail.

Now, having said that I do have issues with the Democrats on this. One being the timing of releasing this information so close to an election. Two being that it appears (though not proven yet) that the ABC reporter who broke the story, along with several others I would imagine, had this information months ago yet failed to cover it. If the rhetoric about “protecting the kids” was authentic, one would think that information like this should have been broken the minute corroborating sources had been found. It wasn’t.

Finally, I think it is a joke that the Democrats are pretending to stand on the moral high ground. They are really interested in what Republicans knew and when. They are not interested in what Democrats (and their friends) knew and when. They are quick to cast the first stone at Foley, yet were staunchly against even considering picking up the rock when their Congressmen engaged in similar (or in some cases far worse) scandals. Here are a few to jog our collective memories:

10. Sen. Daniel Inouye. The 82-year-old Hawaii Democrat was accused in the 1990s by numerous women of sexual harassment. Democrats cast doubt on the allegations and the Senate Ethics Committee dropped its investigation.

9. Former Rep. Gus Savage. The Illinois Democrat was accused of fondling a Peace Corps volunteer in 1989 while on a trip to Africa. The House Ethics Committee decided against disciplinary action in 1990.

8. Rep. Barney Frank. The outspoken Massachusetts Democrat hired a male prostitute who ran a prostitution service from Frank’s residence in the 1980s. Only two Democrats in the House of Representatives voted to censure him in 1990.

7. Former Sen. Brock Adams. The late Washington Democrat was forced to stop campaigning after numerous accusations of drugging, assault and rape, the first surfacing in 1988.

6. Former Rep. Fred Richmond. This New York Democrat was arrested in 1978 for soliciting sex from a 16-year-old. He remained in Congress and won re-election—before eventually resigning in 1982 after pleading guilty to tax evasion and drug possession.

5. Former Rep. John Young. The late Texas Democrat increased the salary of a staffer after she gave in to his sexual advances. The congressman won re-election in 1976 but lost two years later.

4. Former Rep. Wayne Hays. The late Ohio Democrat hired an unqualified secretary reportedly for sexual acts. Although he resigned from Congress, the Democratic House leadership stalled in removing him from the Administration Committee in 1976.

3. Former Rep. Gerry Studds. He was censured for sexual relationship with underage male page in 1983. Massachusetts voters returned him to office for six more terms.

2. Former Rep. Mel Reynolds. The Illinois Democrat was convicted of 12 counts of sexual assault with a 16-year-old. President Bill Clinton pardoned him before leaving office.

1. Sen. Teddy Kennedy. The liberal Massachusetts senator testified in defense of nephew accused of rape, invoking his family history to win over the jury in 1991.

I would never trust my child in the care of any Republican Congressman, but even more-so I damned sure wouldn’t entrust them to Democrat either. The bottom line is that while both sides continue this charade of pretending that they are morally upright and the “other” is decadent and evil….it should be readily apparent to anyone with two brain cells to rub together that our Congress has become a house of debauchery and sin, not a house of reasoned debate where the peoples’ interests are taken seriously.

Mark Foley is a sick SOB who should never have been in Congress. I am glad he is gone. But if the Democrats think anyone takes their outcries seriously, then my response is this: Nobody wants a house-cleaner who’s own place is the filthiest of them all.

Update: Fordham resigns as well.

[Part of the Beltway Traffic Jam]

Reverse Boycott: Patronize Dunkin Donuts & Applebee’s

It appears that the open borders people are boycotting Dunkin Donuts because they won’t break the law. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m all for legal immigration and lots of it. I think that without the vast numbers of legal immigrants coming into this country, we’d be in a far worse position economically than we could imagine. Historically speaking even more-so.

But the extremist open borders crowd has shown it’s true colors on this one. This isn’t about the illegals hoping for a better life for them. It’s political. And in this country we have laws for a reason. So instead of boycotting these companies for do what is proper, we should be proudly congratulating them on being models for other companies to follow.

The funny thing is that this “boycott” has actually spurred me into being a patron of a place I normally wouldn’t frequent. I’m not much of a donut guy but maybe I’ll just have to become one.

Muslims Kill Nun, Threaten Pope

The Byzantine Emperor that Pope Benedict XVI was quoting was Manuel II Paleologus, who said:

“Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.”

What, like shooting a nun in the back 3 times who dedicated her life to helping the poor and needy in Somalia or saying the Pope must die?

I think this about sums up the idiocy of not only Muslim radicals hellbent on war, but of reporters who are so blind that they actually write something as asinine as this:

One top Islamist source told Reuters there was “a very high possibility” the attack was linked to controversy over a recent speech by Pope Benedict which angered Muslims who thought it showed their religion to be innately violent.

So the message is that you shouldn’t defame Islam by saying that it is inherently violent, or else Muslims will murder you.

Religion of Ignorance

So previously we couldn’t say or do anything to insult Islam or its prophet Mohammed.  Now, one can’t even quote someone from the 14th century who does as such without instigating a global fatwa against the Pope and by extension those which follow Christianity.

What is intersting is that in the cartoon flap, that sort of pitted Europe’s notion of free speech against Islam.  Islam won of course because most newspapers and media wouldn’t republish the cartoons.  Europe essentially rolled over an played the dog and pony game of appease the fascist again.  Now, I suspect that Benedict’s statement was not merely an accident (I mean, I know the man is brilliant but who really quotes 14th century Byzantine emperors concerning Islam without doing a bit of research??), but intended to bring to the fore the underlying conflict between Christianity and Islam.

Even though Europe has become heavily secular in practice, there is still a deep seated notion of Christian identity.  What will be interesting to see is whether Europe gives up its identity as easily as it gave up its free speech.

On a related note, it appears that the Pope’s trip to Turkey is not being cancelled in light of the recent uproar.  However, via Michelle Malkin I saw what was on the best-seller there:  Papy’ya Suikast (“Attack on the Pope”), which just so happens to predict that he will be assassinated in Istanbul.  How “moderate” indeed.