This Room...

Sign on the hospital door of a recovering Navy Seal:

Quote du jour

...we have a new president-elect. In the spirit of reaching across the aisle, we owe it to the Democrats to show their president the exact same kind of respect and loyalty that they have shown our recent Republican president.

Starting tomorrow, if not sooner.

-Ann Coulter

A Little Saturday Night Music

Danny Boy - Keith Jarrett



Hat tip LGF

Deepak Chopra on the Mumbai Terrorists

"It is not enough for us to worry about Westerners being killed and Americans being killed...every life is precious..."

This is, to a certain extent, a straw man argument. I agree with John Donne, that every man's death diminishes me. But, from a standpoint of public policy, if it appeared that there were a large number of Jews, or Americans, or French, or Australians targeted that it could be considered an act of war, and thus is newsworthy to report. It seems that Chopra assumes the worst, perhaps that which fits his own narrow presuppositions, and then treats it as gospel.

"...it's a global problem. We need a global solution..." Hence the term GWOT: Global war on terror. Where has this guy been for the last seven years?

Then the compassionate Deepak Chopra equates what our soldiers do to root out terror, by targeting terrorists, with the craven, spineless cowards who attack unarmed civilians:

"...our soldiers don't see what's happening and innocent people are being killed...
terrorism is a term you apply to the other."

Thank you for that despicable confession that you are unable to tell the difference between a terrorist and a soldier, even though one wears a uniform and follows a code of conduct and the other hides, sans uniform, amidst a civilian populace and wantonly and intentionally strikes out at unarmed and innocent targets of opportunity. If it wasn't for false equivalence, he'd have none at all!

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, (and keeping this blog PG-13) I will NOT tell you what I think of Deepak Chopra.

Hat tip Gateway Pundit
Cross posted at Say Anything

Quote du jour

"...there are no concealed carry permits in Panama, if you can buy the gun lawfully you can carry it concealed."
-John Lott

(Interesting concept! If it's legal for you to own it, it's legal for you to carry it!)

Post Thanksgiving Friday Night Babe

Thanksgiving is a holiday forever associated with food. Tonight's FNB is known for hot stuff in the kitchen: Rachel Ray

On a Personal Note

I made the big announcement to family and friends over Thanksgiving dinner last night:
The International Headquarters of Proof Positive is relocating to California! Still have about 10,000 miles to cover over the next three weeks or so (7,500 by air).

I will be switching over to a new ISP, which won't put a wrinkle in delivering our regular features, but may limit my ability to add new stuff as I go along.

And, right about the Winter Solstice, the official posting clock will revert to Pacific Time. That means all you folks on the West Coast that used to peek at tomorrow's Quote du jour at 9:01, will now have to wait until tomorrow like the rest of us!

I know I have a set routine for following my favorite sites, so if this upsets yours, I apologize, but I live by the little clock in the lower r.h. corner, so it has to go where I go!

Once again, if posting is a little light for the next three weeks, you'll understand why. The quotes, the babes, the MoH honorees and some music are in the queue, but I may be sans Internet or a little too frazzled to add much more. But, one can always hope!

Speaking of hope, hope you had a grand Thanksgiving, that you survive Black Friday and score a few excellent bargains along the way. Thanks for stopping by. -Proof

Quote du jour

As a matter of practical politics, contemporary liberalism amounts to a coalitional ideology, while conservatism remains an ideological coalition. The Democratic Party is the party of various groups promising to scratch each other’s backs. Gay rights activists and longshoreman coexist in the same party because they promise support on each other’s issues.

-Jonah Goldberg

This Last Week's Poll

This Last Week's Poll: Doom and Gloom in the Economy: Will Your Holiday spending:

Stay the same 25%

Go Up A little (inflation) 0%

Cut back severely- the kids get socks and underwear! 50%

And my personal favorite, channeling Ebeneezer Scrooge:

Are there no poor houses? 25%


Not a scientific poll. Respondents are self selecting. Questions are drawn from fortune cookies, hieroglyphics and tomorrow’s New York Times.

Please make your opinion known in this week's poll.

A Little Thanksgiving Evening Music

"We Gather Together"

One Last Pre-Thanksgiving* Rant

St. Obama the Heterodox

Hot Air posted a quote from an interview with the President-elect, Barack Obama. Only he wasn't President-elect at the time of the interview, he was a candidate. The quote was this:

Obama: There’s the belief, certainly in some quarters, that people haven’t embraced Jesus Christ as their personal savior that they’re going to hell.

Falsani: You don’t believe that?

Obama: I find it hard to believe that my God would consign four-fifths of the world to hell. I can’t imagine that my God would allow some little Hindu kid in India who never interacts with the Christian faith to somehow burn for all eternity. That’s just not part of my religious makeup.”

In some quarters??? Barack Obama is certainly free to believe in the First Church of the Moon is Made of Green Cheese, if he wishes, but here he expresses a clearly heterodox view of Christianity and we're finding out about it...now?

I doubt that Obama's unorthodox views would have cost him the election, but the fact that the supposedly unbiased fourth estate would take sides and hide any potentially embarrassing information until after the election is criminal in my opinion.

If the MSM were lawyers, it would be malpractice!

How many other "in the tank" stories will we hear between now and the Coronation, er, inauguration?

*It was on the West Coast when I wrote it...

What Are You Thankful For?

'Tis the season, here in the States, at least, that folks time time out from their day to day lives and consider what they have to be thankful for. It is not exclusively a religious tradition, atheists and agnostics are grateful in their own way.

In looking back through the blog in the last few (lean) days, I'm thankful for the unbroken line of patriots, from Sam Adams to Lt. Charles P. Murray, Jr., to the brave American men and women serving in the Middle East today. People with the courage of their convictions, who are willing to lay their lives on the line, if necessary, to uphold their beliefs.

I'm thankful for this forum and for the folks who take the time to visit, from dozens of countries all over the globe.

On a more personal note, I'm thankful that escrow finally closed on my new house in California. After many hurdles and some seemingly insurmountable obstacles, I finally have a house to move into (which becomes very helpful once you move out of another!)

I'm thankful that I live in the USA. For my friends abroad, this is not mere chauvinism. The US is in a unique position to preserve and promote freedom and economic opportunities around the world. Whether or not we achieve our great potential, time will tell and history will surely judge.

I, myself, will spend this day in the company of my family: my children, my brother's family and my sister. I will try not to eat too much, but will have to fend off seconds and thirds proffered by my sister-in-law. Because I haven't moved yet, I will be able to beg off taking leftovers home with me (I'm thankful for that! ) : )

I hope that wherever you are, whether or not you observe a "Thanksgiving" day in November, that you take a moment to reflect upon the things for which you are thankful. Too often, we focus on the immediate at the expense of the important.

For, what do you have that is not a gift?

Take time to smell the cranberry sauce! Have a happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Quote du jour

"Freedom is not a gift bestowed upon us by other men, but a right that belongs to us by the laws of God and nature."

-Benjamin Franklin

The Medal of Honor

First Lieutenant Charles P. Murray, Jr.

Citation:
For commanding Company C, 30th Infantry, displaying supreme courage and heroic initiative near Kaysersberg, France, on 16 December 1944, while leading a reinforced platoon into enemy territory. Descending into a valley beneath hilltop positions held by our troops, he observed a force of 200 Germans pouring deadly mortar, bazooka, machinegun, and small arms fire into an American battalion occupying the crest of the ridge. The enemy's position in a sunken road, though hidden from the ridge, was open to a flank attack by 1st Lt. Murray's patrol but he hesitated to commit so small a force to battle with the superior and strongly disposed enemy. Crawling out ahead of his troops to a vantage point, he called by radio for artillery fire. His shells bracketed the German force, but when he was about to correct the range his radio went dead. He returned to his patrol, secured grenades and a rifle to launch them and went back to his self-appointed outpost. His first shots disclosed his position; the enemy directed heavy fire against him as he methodically fired his missiles into the narrow defile. Again he returned to his patrol. With an automatic rifle and ammunition, he once more moved to his exposed position. Burst after burst he fired into the enemy, killing 20, wounding many others, and completely disorganizing its ranks, which began to withdraw. He prevented the removal of 3 German mortars by knocking out a truck. By that time a mortar had been brought to his support. 1st Lt. Murray directed fire of this weapon, causing further casualties and confusion in the German ranks. Calling on his patrol to follow, he then moved out toward his original objective, possession of a bridge and construction of a roadblock. He captured 10 Germans in foxholes. An eleventh, while pretending to surrender, threw a grenade which knocked him to the ground, inflicting 8 wounds. Though suffering and bleeding profusely, he refused to return to the rear until he had chosen the spot for the block and had seen his men correctly deployed. By his single-handed attack on an overwhelming force and by his intrepid and heroic fighting, 1st Lt. Murray stopped a counterattack, established an advance position against formidable odds, and provided an inspiring example for the men of his command.

Lt. Murray: We humbly salute you and thank you for your service.



Hat tip Home of Heroes




http://www.homeofheroes.com/moh/living/living_war_wwii.html

There are over a hundred living MoH recipients today. Their names and their stories should not be forgotten. My mission is to honor one of those heroes here each week, and salute them for their courage and sacrifice.

Retreads

They might require "change"! Heh.

Quote du jour

You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.

-Mark Twain

Quote du jour

God cannot alter the past, though historians can.

-Samuel Butler

Quote du jour

"If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen."

-Samuel Adams

Quote du jour

Everyone is a genius at least once a year. The real geniuses simply have their bright ideas closer together.

-Georg C. Lichtenberg

A Little Saturday Night Music

Alison Krauss and Jerry Douglas - In My Mind I'm Going to Carolina

Obama: Cockamamie Bamboozler-In-Chief

"Cockamamie idea= straw man" Nowhere does Bush say that "the Executive branch does not need to obey the Constitution". I still can't believe this guy bamboozled enough people to get elected President! Note the diss on Bush from Obama AG nominee Eric Holder near the end of the video. Hat tip Gateway Pundit Cross posted at Say Anything

Bi-coastal, Redux

If the blogging seems a little light, it's because I continue to be bi-coastal (which, appropriately enough sounds a little like a combination of "bipolar" and "postal"!)

The end is in sight, but I foresee at least three more cross country jaunts between now and year's end, one being a "road trip".

So, for all of you who stop by to see the quotes, (and the babes), and the political commentary, there will be at least a little something here everyday. (From me, also Chris Muir's excellent Day By Day at the bottom of the page!)

I promise there will be more, just as soon as I can flog my perpetually jet-lagged corpus into compliance... Thanks for stopping by!

November 22, 1963 - In Remembrance

Today marks the 45th anniversary of the passing of a great man. One who left his mark on his country and his culture. One who is still quoted to this day. On November 22, 1963, the world little noted his passing in the shock and outpouring of grief over the assassination of JFK. That man was Clive Staple Lewis…oddly enough, like JFK, ”Jack” to his friends.

C. S. Lewis, author of The Screwtape Letters, Mere Christianity and The Chronicles of Narnia, was a contemporary and friend of J. R. R. Tolkien. He was also an atheist who came to Christianity, in his own words, “kicking and screaming”, who became one of its strongest apologists.

You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England.

-Surprised by Joy

His books have been translated into dozens of languages and sold millions of copies over the years. Anthony Hopkins portrayed him in the movie Shadowlands (1993), the story of his romance with American poet Joy Gresham, who died of cancer a mere handful of years after they met.

His life was rich and varied. His sorrows deep and vast. His legacy is enduring.

In our remembrance of those who passed this day, one might do well to remember what can be accomplished with just a pair of Jacks!

Cross posted at Say Anything

Quote du jour

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

-John F. Kennedy

Obama's Daughters to Attend Sidwell Friends School

Because nothing screams "education reform" like sending your own kids to a pricey private school!

The more things "change" the more they stay the same. Looking more and more like the Clinton years warmed over, Obama chose to put his daughters in the same pricey private school that Chelsea Clinton attended: Sidwell Friends.

Now, I have nothing against anyone exercising choice when it comes to their children's education. It would be nice if the Party of "Choice" were not so adamantly against people of low income and moderate means exercising the same types of choices currently enjoyed by wealthy politicos and members of the teachers unions.

Cross posted at Say Anything

Friday Night Babe

Tonight's FNB is star of Firefly and The Terminator Chronicles: Summer Glau.











And of course, parts of her are simply
out of this world!

Quote du jour

"Courage is fear holding on a minute longer."

George S. Patton

This Last Week's Poll

This Last Week's Poll: Now that William Ayers has admitted to being a close friend of Obama, the fallout will be:

What fallout? He's a politician. 20%

What fallout? He's a Democrat. 60%

What fallout? The election's over. 60%

Obama's credibility will be damaged. 10%

Not a scientific poll. Respondents are self selecting. Questions are drawn from fortune cookies, hieroglyphics and tomorrow’s New York Times.

Please make your opinion known in this week's poll.

Quote du jour

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."

-Abraham Lincoln

The Medal of Honor

Technical Sergeant Vernon McGarity

Citation: He was painfully wounded in an artillery barrage that preceded the powerful counteroffensive launched by the Germans near Krinkelt, Belgium, on the morning of 16 December 1944. He made his way to an aid station, received treatment, and then refused to be evacuated, choosing to return to his hard-pressed men instead. The fury of the enemy's great Western Front offensive swirled about the position held by T/Sgt. McGarity's small force, but so tenaciously did these men fight on orders to stand firm at all costs that they could not be dislodged despite murderous enemy fire and the breakdown of their communications. During the day the heroic squad leader rescued 1 of his friends who had been wounded in a forward position, and throughout the night he exhorted his comrades to repulse the enemy's attempts at infiltration. When morning came and the Germans attacked with tanks and infantry, he braved heavy fire to run to an advantageous position where he immobilized the enemy's lead tank with a round from a rocket launcher. Fire from his squad drove the attacking infantrymen back, and 3 supporting tanks withdrew. He rescued, under heavy fire, another wounded American, and then directed devastating fire on a light cannon which had been brought up by the hostile troops to clear resistance from the area. When ammunition began to run low, T/Sgt. McGarity, remembering an old ammunition hole about 100 yards distant in the general direction of the enemy, braved a concentration of hostile fire to replenish his unit's supply. By circuitous route the enemy managed to emplace a machinegun to the rear and flank of the squad's position, cutting off the only escape route. Unhesitatingly, the gallant soldier took it upon himself to destroy this menace single-handedly. He left cover, and while under steady fire from the enemy, killed or wounded all the hostile gunners with deadly accurate rifle fire and prevented all attempts to reman the gun. Only when the squad's last round had been fired was the enemy able to advance and capture the intrepid leader and his men. The extraordinary bravery and extreme devotion to duty of T/Sgt. McGarity supported a remarkable delaying action which provided the time necessary for assembling reserves and forming a line against which the German striking power was shattered.

T/Sgt. McGarity: We humbly salute you and thank you for your service.



Hat tip Home of Heroes




http://www.homeofheroes.com/moh/living/living_war_wwii.html

There are over a hundred living MoH recipients today. Their names and their stories should not be forgotten. My mission is to honor one of those heroes here each week, and salute them for their courage and sacrifice.

Old Glory Restored

Newly restored flag dedicated today at Smithsonian Museum of American History



A labor of love started under the Clinton Administration, the restoration of Old Glory, first photographed in the Boston Navy Yard (above), was helped along with a $13 million contribution from designer Ralph Lauren.

...it is reasonable to say that with the possible exception of the White House, the Statue of Liberty and the Washington Monument, the Star-Spangled Banner – the mammoth American flag that in 1814 inspired Francis Scott Key to write the poem that became the national anthem – may be this country's most precious icon of nationhood.

Frank Van Riper gives the history of the flag here.

The optimistic goal of the restoration project, was that the flag should last another 500 years. May the Republic for which she stands last that long!
Thank you, Mr. Lauren, for helping to preserve that which inspires us. Long may she wave.

Cross posted at Say Anything

Quote du jour

The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving.

-H.U. Westermayer

I Absolutely Regret the Thing I Didn't Do - Bill Ayers

...but if I had to do it again, I would! Here's the video:



Oh, and by the way...let's abolish all prisons, too! Yeah! This is the guy I want teaching my children's teachers!

Hat tip Gateway Pundit

Quote du jour

If God is just, I tremble for my country.

-Thomas Jefferson

Alan Keyes Sues Over Obama's "Natural Born" Status

Tilting at windmills, again!

Alan Keyes, former long shot candidate for President, former long shot candidate for the US Senate has filed suit in California Superior Court questioning the status of Barack Obama as a “natural born” citizen. I won’t comment on the merit of the suit, but many years ago, when I was living in California, I actually voted for Keyes for President. The nomination had long since been clenched by another candidate and mine was a protest vote more than anything else. (Yes! I was the other one who voted for him!) Having previously voted for a black man for President, I hope you realize, that to paraphrase Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:

I was judging Barack Obama, not by the color of his skin, but by his lack of character!

Since then, though I’ve come to realize that Keyes does not have the temperament to be President, it would certainly be ironic, if after having been brought in as a carpetbagger to run against Barama after Chicago dirty politics eliminated the stronger opponent Jack Ryan, it would be Alan Keyes to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat and send Barack Obama back to a somewhat smaller community to organize.

Hat tip Gene
Cross Posted at Say Anything

The Australian Sex Party...

...is apparently not what you ask the concierge for at the Melbourne Hilton!



Who knew?

Hat tip Jammie Wearing Fool

The Second Amendment (for people like K.O. who may not have read it!)

"A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed."

- The Second Amendment to the Constitution

Note how it says: "the right of the people". Funny how smack dab in the middle of a Bill of Rights guaranteeing individuals protection from the overreaching hand of government, there are individuals who want to claim this is some right of the "states" rather than an individual right. Ironically, many who make this claim are dyed-in-the-wool federalists who would like to ignore the Tenth Amendment as often as possible!

As noted below, superficial fools who want to make the Second Amendment obsolete because of changes in firearm technology are not willing to apply the same restrictions to the First Amendment (nor should they) and restrict political speech to pamphleteering with hand cranked presses and cranks shaking hands in the public square! (Maybe the Keith Olbermann types would like to trade their teleprompters for quill pens?)

So, the argument "the Founding Fathers never envisioned semi-automatic weapons" holds as much water as "the Founding Fathers never envisioned television or high speed presses."
Which is to say, none at all.

What part of "shall not be infringed" don't you understand, K.O.?

Quote du jour

You remember the Second Amendment: "A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." Despite years of fog created by the NRA and right-wing organizations, that isn`t very complicated: For the purposes of forming a state militia, you're entitled to keep and bear arms. Obviously, those would have to be the kind of arms in use in 1791, when the Bill of Rights was passed -- the musket, the wheel-lock, the flint lock, the 13th century Chinese hand canon. Stuff like that. Scalia, of course, simply decided that the militia part of the Second Amendment is some sort of quaint anachronism that he could happily ignore.

-Keith Olbermann
- speaking thanks to that quaint anachronism, the First Amendment, on TV, decidedly NOT using the kind of mass communication technology in use in 1791! -Proof

Sen. Byron Dorgan on Fox News Sunday Today

Byron Dorgan (D- ND)on the Automobile Industry bailout

"It was the financial institutions that drove America into the ditch..."

Hmm. I wonder if Congressional oversight (or the absence thereof) had any part to play in that? Senator Dorgan was strangely silent on that point!

The proposal is to give the automakers $25 Billion (with a "B") dollars. Senator Dorgan minimizes this by saying that it's "less than 3%" of the $700 Billion bailout for financial institutions. His math skills are a little weak: $25 Billion is a little over three and a half percent of $700 Billion. "Half percent?" That adds up to real money really quickly when you're talking about $700 Billion dollars!

A better argument would be based on what principle the bailout is based on, rather than what percentage of a bad deal might be spent on a worse deal. Senator Dorgan's mantra is we do it for "the jobs", rather like the liberal's shibboleth: "It's for the children"

Dorgan's is a band-aid approach that in no way seeks to cure the systemic problems of the economy. But, it's sure to play well to the UAW and Dorgan's base.

Update: During the roundtable discussion, Charles Krauthammer made the point that any automobile bailout, that did not require significant restructuring, would prevent restructuring and maintain the current inefficient and unsustainable structures in the auto industry as they are today. In other words, a complete waste of money.

Cross Posted at Say Anything

Quote du jour

It is with words as with sunbeams. The more they are condensed, the deeper they burn.

-Robert Southey

Fix is In in Minnesota: Secretary of State in Tank for Franken - Caught Lying on Video

"Vote counting by David Copperfield!"



Odd that all the missing and undercounted ballots favor Franken two and a half times as much as Obama and 100% more than Coleman. (More than 100% if you count the votes taken away from Coleman) This stinks like three day old fish!

Hat tip John Lott
Cross Posted at Say Anything

A Little Saturday Night Music

Aly Bain - Bonaparte's Retreat

Obama is "Destroying Liberalism" ---Criticism From the Left!

No matter how far left you are, there's always someone leftier!

Mark Steyn describes John Pilger as "the fanatically anti-American Aussie leftie". Here's a sample:

Returning to Texas, I am struck again by those so unlike the redneck stereotype, in spite of the burden of a form of brainwashing placed on most Americans from a tender age: that theirs is the most superior society in the world, and all means are justified, including the spilling of copious blood, in maintaining that superiority.

That is the subtext of Barack Obama's "oratory". He says he wants to build up US military power; and he threatens to ignite a new war in Pakistan, killing yet more brown-skinned people.

Wow! Like BDS, only crunchier!

...Two years ago, this anti-war vote installed a Democratic majority in Congress, only to watch the Democrats hand over more money to George W Bush to continue his blood-fest. For his part, the "anti-war" Obama voted to give Bush what he wanted.

Obama is a hypocrite. Move along! Nothing to see here!

...Obama's first two crucial appointments represent a denial of the wishes of his supporters on the principal issues on which they voted. The vice-president-elect, Joe Biden, is a proud warmaker and Zionist. Rahm Emanuel, who is to be the all-important White House chief of staff, is a fervent "neoliberal" devoted to the doctrine that led to the present economic collapse and impoverishment of millions. He is also an "Israel-first" Zionist who served in the Israeli army and opposes meaningful justice for the Palestinians - an injustice that is at the root of Muslim people's loathing of the US and the spawning of jihadism.

Okay! So, the guy is off the conspiracy wacko charts! He'd still fit right in any Kos/Move-On/NYT Editorial board meeting!

The Observer, which supported Bush's war in Iraq, echoing his fabricated evidence, now announces, without evidence, that "America has restored the world's faith in its ideals". These "ideals", which Obama will swear to uphold, have overseen, since 1945, the destruction of 50 governments, including democracies, and 30 popular liberation movements, causing the deaths of countless men, women and children.

None of this was uttered during the election campaign. Had that been allowed, there might even have been recognition that liberalism as a narrow, supremely arrogant, war-making ideology is destroying liberalism as a reality.

Hear that, libs? Obama is destroying liberalism as a reality! Even the MSM didn't see that one coming! Heh.

If you would like to read the rest of Mr. Pilger's rant, you can find it here.

Hat tip The Corner
Cross Posted at Say Anything

Quote du jour

"The best index to a person's character is (a) how he treats people who can't do him any good, and (b) how he treats people who can't fight back."

-Abigail Van Buren

Wonder if Barack Will Say the Surge Worked Now?

Fewer bullet holes than Detroit from the looks of the video!

Hat tip Ace of Spades HQ

Friday Night Babe

Tonight's FNB is Australian actress and six time Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover girl Elle Macpherson:

ABC Finally Gets Around to Investigating Obama's Connection to Bill Ayers

The pattern is clear: Just like the press didn't want to investigate Bill Clinton's relationship with Jennifer Flowers until after the election, here's ABC with a "hard hitting" exposé after the election.

"Hard hitting" exposé? Or puff piece? We report, you decide! Hat tip Jammie Wearing Fool Cross Posted at Say Anything

Quote du jour

Liberal Democrats are going to wake up from their sadomasochistic, anti-Palin orgy with a very big hangover. The evil genie released during this sorry episode will not so easily go back into its bottle. A shocking level of irrational emotionalism and at times infantile rage was exposed at the heart of current Democratic ideology — contradicting Democratic core principles of compassion, tolerance and independent thought. One would have to look back to the Eisenhower 1950s for parallels to this grotesque lock-step parade of bourgeois provincialism, shallow groupthink and blind prejudice.

-Camille Paglia, on how Democrats treated Gov. Palin

Hat tip Sister Toldjah

Bill Ayers Admits Friendship With Obama - Irony Abounds

Ayers before meeting "family friend" Obama

In a Chicago Tribune story, William Ayers came clean about his relationship with Barack Obama. But in typical leftie style, blamed Barama's "political enemies" of being dishonest!

In a new afterword to his memoir, 1960s radical William Ayers describes himself as a "family friend" of President-elect Barack Obama and writes that the campaign controversy over their relationship was an effort by Obama's political enemies to "deepen a dishonest narrative" about the candidate.

Let me see...Ayers and Obama were close friends, lied about it and their opponents are the ones deepening the dishonest narrative. Riiiiight! And I've got a bridge I'd like to sell you! America has purchased the proverbial pig-in-a-poke. And very few of us are going to be living high on the hog!

Hat tip Gateway Pundit
Cross Posted at Say Anything

This Last Week's Poll

This Last Week's Poll: President-Elect Barack Obama:

Inspires Confidence - The Dawn of a New Era! tied with

Barack who??? with one vote each

Scares me a Little - I'm going to Hunker in the Bunker got the lion's share with 77%

Not a scientific poll. Respondents are self selecting. Questions are drawn from fortune cookies, hieroglyphics and tomorrow’s New York Times.

Please make your opinion known in this week's poll.

"Do You or Any Members of Your Immediate Family Own a Gun?"

Inquiring President-elects want to know!

President-elect Barack Obama has a brief, seven page, sixty-three question questionnaire for any prospective cabinet members or high office holders. Apparently, ideological purity is a rigid requirement to be a part of the Obama administration. One of the deal killer questions I suspect, has not been a problem for past administrations that respected all the rights of the Constitution:

"Do you or any members of your immediate family own a gun?" (page 7, question 59).

Obama doesn't want any closet gun owners sneaking into his administration. Only true believers need apply!

Hat tip Best of the Web
Cross Posted at Say Anything

Quote du jour

As you know, President-elect Obama promised his daughters a puppy if they moved to the White House. He’s already getting advice on what the best breed of dog to get. For example, today Bill Clinton told him that the Oval Office is a great place for a husky female.

-Jay Leno

Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes? (Who Watches the Watchers?)

New Democrat Crosscut Ballot Box

Most of us remember with disdain, the irregularities surrounding Ohio’s Secretary of State’s reluctance to verify thousands of possibly fraudulent voter registrations. I remember thinking at the time, that conservatives and other responsible voters needed to pay more attention to the supposedly "non-partisan" offices in state government.

Rob Port at Say Anything wrote about Jennifer Brunner, Ohio's SoS, about two weeks ago: “Ohio Election Official: Law Doesn’t Require Me To Actually Check For Voter Registration Fraud”

He ended his piece :

Oh, and by the way, Brunner has extensive connections to both ACORN and the Obama campaign.

Turns out ACORN and the Obama campaign are not the only ones with ties to the Ohio Secretary of State...and she's not alone!

In Minnesota, where news of irregularities in the vote count in the Coleman/Franken Senate race are appearing daily, comes this gem from the WSJ:

This entire process is being overseen by Democratic Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, who isn't exactly a nonpartisan observer. One of Mr. Ritchie's financial supporters during his 2006 run for office was a 527 group called the Secretary of State Project, which was co-founded by James Rucker, who came from MoveOn.org. The group says it is devoted to putting Democrats in jobs where they can "protect elections."

Protect the elections from honest vote counts? So, a Move-On-dot-organ grinder co-founds the Secretary of State Project specifically to put the foxes in charge of the henhouses? The SoS Project brags of two of its "successes". You guessed it! Jennifer Brunner and Mark Ritchie.

Reform-minded Secretaries of State - like SoS Project success stories Mark Ritchie in Minnesota and Jennifer Brunner in Ohio - are running on platforms that specifically reject this kind of double dealing. But unfortunately SoS Project values are in the minority among today's Secretaries of State.

Also from the Journal piece:

Mr. Ritchie is also an ally of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or Acorn, of fraudulent voter-registration fame. That relationship might explain why prior to the election Mr. Ritchie waved off evidence of thousands of irregularities on Minnesota voter rolls, claiming that accusations of fraud were nothing more than "desperateness" from Republicans.

The SoS Project piously intones:

"you can't be both a player and a referee"

Now if they would only practice what they preach! Until then, I think we need to keep a sharper eye on Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? (Who watches the watchmen?)

Cross posted at Say Anything

The Medal of Honor

Technician Fifth Grade Robert D. Maxwell

Citation:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of life above and beyond the call of duty on 7 September 1944, near Besancon, France. Technician 5th Grade Maxwell and 3 other soldiers, armed only with .45 caliber automatic pistols, defended the battalion observation post against an overwhelming onslaught by enemy infantrymen in approximately platoon strength, supported by 20mm. flak and machinegun fire, who had infiltrated through the battalion's forward companies and were attacking the observation post with machinegun, machine pistol, and grenade fire at ranges as close as 10 yards. Despite a hail of fire from automatic weapons and grenade launchers, Technician 5th Grade Maxwell aggressively fought off advancing enemy elements and, by his calmness, tenacity, and fortitude, inspired his fellows to continue the unequal struggle. When an enemy hand grenade was thrown in the midst of his squad, Technician 5th Grade Maxwell unhesitatingly hurled himself squarely upon it, using his blanket and his unprotected body to absorb the full force of the explosion. This act of instantaneous heroism permanently maimed Technician 5th Grade Maxwell, but saved the lives of his comrades in arms and facilitated maintenance of vital military communications during the temporary withdrawal of the battalion's forward headquarters.

Robert Maxwell: We humbly salute you and thank you for your service.



Hat tip Home of Heroes




http://www.homeofheroes.com/moh/living/living_war_wwii.html

There are over a hundred living MoH recipients today. Their names and their stories should not be forgotten. My mission is to honor one of those heroes here each week, and salute them for their courage and sacrifice.

Quote du jour

The modern definition of 'racist' is someone who is winning an argument with a liberal.

-Peter Brimelow

"Reveille"

A touching salute to our veterans and their friendly inter-service rivalries.

Hat tip Rounds Out

Video Tribute to Veterans

Hat tip The Jawa Report

Armistice Day Quote du jour

IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

-Lt. Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

Liberal Tolerance on Parade- Clerk Fired for Obama Joke

Sense of humor need not apply. (At the Cuyahoga Co. Recorder's)

Developing- Story not online- WOIO- Channel 19 News reports that a seven year employee of the Cuyahoga County Recorder's office was fired for telling a co-worker an Obama joke.

Just how offensive was this joke? Judge for yourself:

"How can they expect one black man to run the White House when it takes eleven to run a White Castle?"

Dumb? Yes. Tasteless? Pretty much. Firing offense? Seems a bit extreme to me... Look for an unlawful firing lawsuit over this one!

Meanwhile two state troopers who lost their jobs over a prank with a KKK outfit, just got their jobs back!



UPDATE: The video is up here.

Lillian Greene, the Cuyahoga County Recorder herself, did the firing.

UPDATE II: This is a tasteless Obama joke:

The most cynical jokes tend to relate to the idea of this identikit saint who visits his dying granny to win the votes of the elderly in Florida, and then makes sure of an extra sympathy vote the day before election day by having her life support machine turned off.

Cross Posted at Say Anything

Quote du jour

I belong to no organized party. I'm a Democrat!

-Will Rogers

Michael Crichton RIP

Last May, I started a post on Michael Crighton's contribution to the environmental debate. Not sure why, but I never got around to finishing it. He was an impressive man with an impressive intellect. Crighton passed away recently, much too soon: A great loss to reason, literature and the culture. Mark Steyn, far better wordsmith than I, put it thusly:

Michael Crichton was a man of formidable intelligence and boundless curiosity. The two don't go together quite as often as they should. For years, when I picked up his latest novel, I'd find myself sighing, "Of course." The books had the inevitability of all the truly great ideas - as if they had not been cooked up in his study but had always been lying there, like truffles out in the woods, and he'd just been the first hound to get to them and snuffle them out. But, of course, he got to them again and again, for over 30 years. To be sure, the characters and the prose didn't always rise to life, but the concept, the premise, the hit title usually saw him through. The critics were snippy about Crichton, but then he had the measure of the media far more than they had it of him.

Belatedly, I bring you what I started, but never finished, of Crichton detailing how beliefs, particularly beliefs in junk science, are impervious to facts:

Noted author Michael Crichton has spoken out with a very clear voice on Environmentalism and the Environmentalist Wackos that have tried to co-opt the movement. Here are some excepts from a speech he gave in 2003:

I have been asked to talk about what I consider the most important challenge facing mankind, and I have a fundamental answer. The greatest challenge facing mankind is the challenge of distinguishing reality from fantasy, truth from propaganda. Perceiving the truth has always been a challenge to mankind, but in the information age (or as I think of it, the disinformation age) it takes on a special urgency and importance.

Today, one of the most powerful religions in the Western World is environmentalism. Environmentalism seems to be the religion of choice for urban atheists. Why do I say it's a religion? Well, just look at the beliefs. If you look carefully, you see that environmentalism is in fact a perfect 21st century remapping of traditional Judeo-Christian beliefs and myths.

Read the entire speech. His words do him greater justice than I could ever do.

RIP, Mr. Crichton. You'll be missed.

"Obama Won a Progressive Mandate"

...according to John Podesta on Fox News Sunday

When asked, "Did Obama win a 'mandate' on election day, John Podesta, co-chair of the Obama-Biden transition team, answered yes.

His reasoning, was that since Obama had campaigned in the progressive tradition, his win should be construed as a mandate. The fact that nearly half the country voted for his opponents tends to belie any claim of "mandates".

Mr. Podesta, President and Chief Executive Officer of American Progress, former Chief of Staff to William Jefferson Blythe Clinton, intimated that there would be a flurry of executive orders from President Obama shortly after taking the oath of office.

Fasten your seatbelts, folks! It's going to be a bumpy ride!

Update (from the transcript) :

WALLACE: Does Mr. Obama feel he won a mandate in this election?

PODESTA: I think he feels like there was a strong vote for change. And I think that if you look at that from the perspective of where he won across the board, his appeal to independents, to Republicans, which I think will be reflected in the kind of government he builds — and you saw not just red states turning blue.

You saw red counties turning blue. You saw young people embracing the Obama presidency in great numbers, a lot of people going to the polls and then voting for President Obama. Again, across the board, across the country, Democrats, independents and Republicans...

WALLACE: But the question...

PODESTA: ... voted for him. So I think that he feels like he has a real mandate for change. We need to get off the course that the Bush administration has set.

WALLACE: But the question, of course, is what kind of change. I want to put up something that the liberal economist Paul Krugman wrote in a column in the New York Times this week. Let's put it up.

He wrote, "This year's presidential election was a clear referendum on political philosophies, and the progressive philosophy won." Do you agree?

PODESTA: Yes, I do. I think that the program that that — again, that was — that — that the Obama-Biden ticket put forth in the campaign focused on providing opportunity for everyone, focused on the common good.

And I think that's in the progressive tradition in this country. It was alive and well in both parties. It sort of got extinguished in the Republican Party over the course of the last couple of decades, but I think that that progressive vision of providing opportunity for people who work hard, providing for the common good, to helping people succeed in their own lives — I think was what he laid before the American people.

It's in that great tradition of progressive politics in this country. And it's a tradition of reform. And I think he'll deliver on all those elements.

Cross Posted at Say Anything

Quote du jour

Ignorant people think it is the noise which fighting cats make that is so aggravating, but it ain't so; it is the sickening grammar that they use.

-Mark Twain

A Little Saturday Night Music

Jeff Wahl: Freedom

Quote du jour

Don't be afraid to take a big step if one is indicated. You can't cross a chasm in two small jumps.

-David Lloyd George

Friday Night Babe

Tonight's FNB is Gil Grissom's own Lady Heather: Melinda Clarke*












*Ms. Clarke was originally scheduled to be next week's FNB, but upon learning that she was due for yet another appearance on last night's "CSI", I determined that her appearance here would be more topical, and we always strive for the topical over the gratuitous.

Hope, Change and Wishful Thinking

A lot of hyperbole going up after Tuesday's election, and a lot of it from the Left sounds pretty ridiculous even to the untrained ear.

I've heard a lot of language as to how the Conservative/Republican/ "Neo-Con" (choose one) movement is dead and a lot of lefties are lined up to dance on its grave. Markos Moulitsas, of the Daily Kos, said before the election:

I've been making the case the last couple of weeks that we can't just focus on winning in November, but that we have an imperative to take advantage of a historic opportunity to break the conservative movement's backs and crush their spirits.

I pointed out that “Kos and the Kidz did not have their "spirits crushed" when Al Gore lost by a hanging chad in Florida, or when John "Reporting for duty" Kerry, Mike "Snoopy in a tank" Dukakis, Walter Mondull or any one of a long rogue's gallery of rejected liberals lost.

Yet the wishful thinking on the part of the Left continues apace. George Will noted that Goldwater, the Au standard for conservatism for many years, “…won sixteen fewer states and 122 fewer electoral votes than McCain…”, yet conservatism seemed to survive somehow.

To paraphrase the late, great Mark Twain: Reports of Conservatism’s Demise are greatly exaggerated! Anything else is simply "wishful thinking". Heh.

Cross posted at Say Anything

Quote du jour

Indeed, shocking as this may be to people naive enough to believe that a woman with no executive experience, no security clearance, no significant successes under her belt, who was catapulted to presidential prominence solely because her husband treated her like a cautionary tale in a country-music song, was nonetheless a co-president for eight years: It turns out that the Bride of Clintonstein was an awful chief executive. Infected by her husband’s passive-aggressiveness, she stood paralyzed as the HMS Hillary took on more and more water, until even the string quartet on the deck was leaping for the flotation devices.

-Jonah Goldberg

This Last Week's Poll

This Last Week's Poll: If Barack Obama Wins Next Tuesday,
Will You Purchase A (nother) Firearm Between Now and Inauguration?

62% Yes
37% Already bought one

Good choice! Keep your powder dry, folks. Remember: Never point it at anything you don't want destroyed.
And anything worth shooting is worth shooting twice!


Not a scientific poll. Respondents are self selecting. Questions are drawn from fortune cookies, hieroglyphics and tomorrow’s New York Times.

Please make your opinion known in this week's poll.

Quote du jour

You don’t evolve past being a cowboy. Being a cowboy is the pinnacle of evolution. Once you’re at cowboy, there’s nowhere to go but down. Cowboys don’t look for fights, but they don’t run away from them either. They do what they have to do, when they have to do it. And they usually have to do it alone, because everyone wants Black Bart’s gang out of town, but no one wants to walk down the street alongside the sheriff and get shot doing it.

-Bill Whittle

The Medal of Honor

Pvt. Arthur J. Jackson

Citation:
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving with the 3d Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on the Island of Peleliu in the Palau group, 18 September 1944. Boldly taking the initiative when his platoon's left flank advance was held up by the fire of Japanese troops concealed in strongly fortified positions, Pfc. Jackson unhesitatingly proceeded forward of our lines and, courageously defying the heavy barrages, charged a large pillbox housing approximately 35 enemy soldiers. Pouring his automatic fire into the opening of the fixed installation to trap the occupying troops, he hurled white phosphorus grenades and explosive charges brought up by a fellow marine, demolishing the pillbox and killing all of the enemy. Advancing alone under the continuous fire from other hostile emplacements, he employed similar means to smash 2 smaller positions in the immediate vicinity. Determined to crush the entire pocket of resistance although harassed on all sides by the shattering blasts of Japanese weapons and covered only by small rifle parties, he stormed 1 gun position after another, dealing death and destruction to the savagely fighting enemy in his inexorable drive against the remaining defenses, and succeeded in wiping out a total of 12 pillboxes and 50 Japanese soldiers. Stouthearted and indomitable despite the terrific odds. Pfc. Jackson resolutely maintained control of the platoon's left flank movement throughout his valiant 1-man assault and, by his cool decision and relentless fighting spirit during a critical situation, contributed essentially to the complete annihilation of the enemy in the southern sector of the island. His gallant initiative and heroic conduct in the face of extreme peril reflect the highest credit upon Pfc. Jackson and the U.S. Naval Service.

Private Jackson: We humbly salute you and thank you for your service.



Hat tip Home of Heroes




http://www.homeofheroes.com/moh/living/living_war_wwii.html

There are over a hundred living MoH recipients today. Their names and their stories should not be forgotten. My mission is to honor one of those heroes here each week, and salute them for their courage and sacrifice.