Gun Show or Parking Lot?

According to Fox News

SAVANNAH, Ga. – Authorities say a U.S. man is recovering after accidentally shooting himself in the leg at a gun show.

Police say 26-year-old Charles Lake was leaving the Georgia gun show Sunday when he discharged a round into his leg while reloading his pistol.

Savannah-Chatham police spokesman Julian Miller says Lake bought the pistol at the gun show Saturday and had returned Sunday to buy another.

Police say he was reloading the pistol in the parking lot because loaded guns weren't allowed inside the gun show.

The Savannah Morning News reports Lake's injury was not considered life-threatening.

Would I have clicked on the link to their story if the headline had been

"Police: Man accidentally shoots self in parking lot"?

Probably not....

But then most folks probably wouldn't. As a general rule the only news I listen to on TV is Fox News. But occasionally something like this pops up and reminds me that even though they may not be as biased in their reporting as all the other news agencies, they are still a main stream media outlet, and you have to keep that in mind with everything they publish.

Who Am I?

This has flashed through my email several times in the last couple days.

Who Am I?


I am under 45 years old,
I love the outdoors,
I hunt,
I am a Republican reformer,
I have taken on the Republican Party establishment,
I have many children,
I have a spot on the national ticket as vice president,
I have less than two years experience in the governor's office.


I am Teddy Roosevelt in 1900.


And he ended up on Mount Rushmore

Influential Rino

The UK Daily Telegraph's Washington correspondents compiled a list of the 100 most influential liberals in America.

I was perusing their list of influential conservatives when out of morbid curiosity I clicked on their list of top 20 liberals. Imagine my shock when I got to number 8 on the list.

8. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER
Governor of California

That's right our REPUBLICAN Governor made the top 10 list of most influential liberals in the United States. To those of us who have lived here and watched Arnold the Rino repeatedly cave to the whacko left wing nutjobs in our state legislator this is not really a surprise.

Eco-anxiety

The Rutland Herald is reporting:

Melissa Pickett, an eco-therapist with a practice in Santa Fe, sees anywhere from 40 to 80 eco-anxious patients a month. They complain of panic attacks, loss of appetite, irritability and unexplained bouts of weakness, sleeplessness and "buzzing," which they describe as the eerie feeling that their cells are twitching.

So how does one go about becoming an eco-therapist anyway. I don't remember seeing that degree offered in any of the college catalogs I ever looked at. I'm also pretty sure that it wasn't one of the job's that our high school placement tests recommended.

So how do you treat eco-anxiety anyway?

Pickett's remedies include telling patients to carry natural objects, like certain minerals, for a period of weeks. Making environmentally friendly lifestyle changes can also prove therapeutic

Yep that's what I do when feeling anxious about things I don't understand I wear hemp and carry around rocks. It usually doesn't help my anxiety, but the chaffing and sore muscles give me something else to worry about.

So what causes eco-anxiety?

The fears of the eco-anxious are fueled by abundant media coverage of crises like global warming, collapsed fisheries and food shortages. The Oscar-winning documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" warns that only 10 years might remain to avert a major environmental catastrophe.

There's your answer folks, the eco-anxious have to stop lugging around rocks and start sueing Al Gore. Afterall anyone diabolical enough to invent the internet probably wouldn't think twice before inventing eco-hysteria.

There is one bit of rational tought mentioned in this article:

Dr. Gavin Schmidt, who studies climate variability at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in Manhattan, is concerned about carbon dioxide emissions unnaturally warming the planet, but he hasn't succumbed to eco-anxiety yet. He attributes the rise in eco-anxiety to a naive public.

"The fact that people don't have a good grasp of how science thinking works," Schmidt said, "means they don't have a good grasp of what they should be skeptical about."

In other words stop listening to the media and Al Gore and start reading and listening to people who study the envirnoment for a living. And don't listen to just one side, listen to both, then use your brain for something other than keeping your head from imploding. Make a calm rational decision on what you should do or worry about.

"There's a scientific reason to be concerned and there's a scientific reason to push for action," Schmidt said, "but there's no scientific reason to despair."

Purge?

Recently the Attorney General Alberto Gonzales fired eight United States Attorneys. These firings have the liberal wackos in Congress and the antique media all in a tizzy. They are all frothing at the mouth over this “purge” by George Bush.

Funny I don’t remember any hue and outcry from the antique media and the dimocrats in Congress when in 1993 Bill Clinton demanded the resignation of ALL 93 U.S. Attorneys. Now that is a purge. You have to give old Slick Willie credit. He knew how to purge an organization.

Maybe the media would be happier if George Bush’s had fired all the U.S. Attorneys instead of just getting rid of a few idiots. I doubt it. George Bush could hold a press conference tomorrow and announce that he was bringing all the troops home from Iraq tomorrow, banning internal combustion engines and supporting Hillary for President and the antique media would find a way to slam him for it.

Get Out of Jail Free Child

The Boston Globe is reporting that last Tuesday Federal agents raided a leather company in New Bedford Massachusetts. The agents arrested 327 illegal aliens in the raid. But by wednesday they had released 60 of them so that they could go home and take care of their kids.

Karin Fernandez had problems in Honduras.

She was two months pregnant, and the baby's father was gone. She had only a ninth-grade education and no work.

But her aunt in New Bedford offered a solution: Come to Massachusetts. Have the baby here. Work in the leather goods factory where it's easy to find a job.

"I was in a really ugly crisis," said Fernandez, 19.

In late 2005 she paid a smuggler $4,500 to bring her over the border. She made it to New Bedford and to the factory where the managers were said not to care if their employees' documents were fake.

She started at $7.50 an hour, no benefits, cutting material for special military backpacks.

She followed the factory's strict rules, including a ban on snacking at work stations. Working at Michael Bianco Inc. was tough, but she was grateful for the job. She couldn't come close to making $300 a week in her homeland. Here she had money to feed her daughter, now 9 months old, and to send half her salary to her mother in Honduras.

...

She was one of 327 workers picked up at the factory that morning, unable to prove they were in the country legally.

"I cried," she said. "I begged them to let me go because I have a daughter."

She was held until 7 Tuesday night, then released to care for her child.

By yesterday afternoon, 60 of the workers taken into custody at the factory Tuesday had been released on humanitarian grounds, for example, if they had children with nobody else to care for them.

I have several questions about this. First off, this pregnant young woman who could not make anywhere near $300 per week in Honduras managed to scrape together $4500 to pay a smuggler to help her break our laws by entering our country illegially? If she could get $4500 why didn't she stay in Honduras and keep working that job?

Secondly, she is let go to take care of her daughter. Where the heck is the dear auntie who encouraged her to become a criminal in the first place. Also if she had no one to take care of her child, who was taking care of the child while she was at her illegial job.

Since when did a child become a get out of jail free card or a green card? We need to stop coddling these foreign invaders and start charging them with child endangerment if they try to use a child as an excuse to stay here. My dear wife and I have three children. I am under no illusion that if we were arrested for anything that we would be released to care for our children. Besides our personal belief system that laws should be obeyed, we stay out of trouble so that we will be here to care for our children. That is what good parents do.

If I were to take a child with me to a robbery, or a murder, or even a high speed chase through town once I was caught and charged you can bet that child endangerment charges would be added onto my list of offenses. But an illegal alien brings a child with them while partaking in an illegal invasion of the United States and we treat them like that child makes them special.

If the illegals who were arrested last week are worried about their children then reunite them with those children on the boat home. Or place the kids in a foster home while the parents do time to pay for their crimes. If her baby doesn't recognise her when she finally gets out, tough. She made the decision to break our laws. She even went so far as to pay someone to help her break our laws and she put her child into a dangerous position because of those choices. Now that she has been caught she wants special treatment. Sorry honey, that is the price you pay for being a criminal.

Daily Independent Changes

The Daily Independent, our local "daily" newspaper had been going through changes lately. Several months ago they decided that we no longer needed color Sunday comics. So they replaced them with black and white versions that were added to the weekly television listings section of the paper. Since this section of the paper is a different size than the rest of the paper, in order to make the Sunday comics fit they had to be shortened. So all the characters in the comics were distorted. Additionally they dropped several of the comics that they usually carried. I hated this decision. I have enjoyed reading the Sunday color comics since I was old enough to read. Also my father taught me that the best gift wrapping paper in the world is the color Sunday funnies. Now I have to use just plain old wrapping paper.

The next big change happened this week. The paper changed their delivery schedule from Tuesday through Friday evenings and Sunday mornings to Monday through Saturday mornings. I like the idea of getting a "daily" paper six days a week instead of only five. But I don't like not getting a Sunday paper and getting a morning paper is a total waste of time. The paper claims that this change will provide better customer service because the news will be more timely. Their example was instead of having to wait until Sunday morning to find out who won the Friday night high school football game we can find out on Saturday morning. My response is that they could have solved that problem years ago just by offering a Saturday paper. However I suspect that changing to paper from evening to morning delivery will not get the news to most people any earlier. I think many folks will be in the same boat we are. Our news has just been delayed an additional 9 hours not sped up at all. Since I don't have the time to read the paper before going to work in the morning, the paper either lays on the kitchen cupboard or on the driveway all day until we get home in the evening. Then we get to read about everything that happened the day before. At least with the evening paper we could sometimes read about things that had happened that morning. Now all our news is at least 24 hours old.

The worst part of this is the change to our Sunday routine. My dear wife and I loved to drop the kids off at Sunday school after church, get ourselves a donut for breakfast and go home, curl up in our chairs, and read the paper while enjoying a quiet breakfast together. Now without a Sunday paper, we find ourselves watching the news on TV instead.

This has been some pretty drastic changes to a newspaper that only really needed to hire a some reporters to collect more local news and start publishing a "daily" paper everyday.

I had already paid for my annual subscription before all these changes had been made. But I have to ask the staff at the Independent one question. You have been making a lot of changes lately and I don't like any of them. Now what are you going to do to convince me to continue my subscription when it comes due later this year?

A Mandate from the People?

Yeah, I know that the election was a month ago. I haven’t written much about it. I didn’t have much trouble accepting the fact that the Democrats will take over control of the House and the Senate when they reconvene in January. I’m even resigned to inevitability of higher taxes, more entitlements, open borders, a cut and run philosophy in the Global War on Terror and an all out effort to put liberal activist judges on the bench as American spirals down into the cesspool that is Nancy Pelosi’s vision of America. I comfort myself with the thought that maybe two years of trying to get a grab on the porcelain as we spiral downward will convince voters and candidates that the elections in 2008 must have different results.

What I am already sick and tired of is the blatant hypocrisy of our politicians and the antique media outlets. I have had my fill of hearing Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid demand a bipartisan atmosphere in Washington. Where was their talk of bipartisanship the last 6 years when they have been filibustering, obstructing and interfering with the day to day business of Congress? They demand bipartisanship when they are in charge, but when they are not in charge they whine and cry like spoiled children who when forced to share their toys chose to grab a critical part of the game and go pout in the corner with it so no one else can play either.

I am sick and tired of the Democrats thinking that they took over control of Congress the day after the election. But mostly I’m sick and tired of the Republicans treating them like they are already in charge. Our president started out kiss democratic butts the day after the election. Congress reconvened right after the election and the Republicans who should still be in charge until the winter break caved on every issue in favor of the Democratic vision.

Finally what peeves me the most is the unflagging belief by both parties and the media that the last election represented a Mandate from the People of the United States.

Why is it when Republicans won the last two close elections we became a divided nation? But when Democrats win this last close election it is seen as a mandate from the people?

A quick synopsis of several congressional races around the country showed that Democrats had to defeat incumbent Republicans in 15 total seats to take control of the House of Representatives. The Republicans actually lost 29 seats. But it only took 15 to swing control of all Congressional Committees from the Republicans to the Democrats. As shown below 15 of the seats Republicans lost were very close races that would certainly make them anything but a mandate from the people kind of election.

Arizona District 05 – Mitchell (D) defeats Hayworth (R) 73,762 to 67,830 Margin – 5932 votes
California District 11 – McNerney (D) defeats Pombo (R) 88,835 to 78,223 – Margin – 10,612 votes
Connecticut District 2 - Courtney (D) defeats Simmons (R) 121,148 to 121,165. Margin – 83 votes
Florida District 16 - Mahoney (D) defeats Negron (R) 115,832 to 111,415 Margin – 4417 votes
Florida District: 22 - Klein (D) defeats Shaw (R) 108,688 to 100,663 Margin – 8085 votes
Georgia District 08 - Marshal (D) defeats Collins (R) 80,614 to 78,881 Margin – 1723 votes
Georgia District 12 – Barrow (D) defeats Burns (R) 71,651 to 70,787 Margin – 864 votes
Indiana District 09 – Hill (D) defeats Sodrel (R) 110,185 to 100,503 Margin – 9682 votes
Iowa District 02 – Loebsack (D) defeats Leach (R) 107,097 to 101,386 Margin – 5711 votes
Kansas District 02 – Boyda (D) defeats Ryun (R) 111,759 to 104,128 – Margin – 7631 votes
Kentucky District 03 – Yarmuth (D) defeats Northup (R) 122,425 to 116,535 – Margin – 5890 votes
New Hampshire District 01 - Shea-Porter (D) defeats Bradley (R) 100,899 to 94,869 – Margin 6030 votes
New York District 19 – Hall (D) defeats Kelly (R) 94,524 to 90,269 – Margin – 4255 votes
Pennsylvania District 08 – Murphy (D) defeats Fitzpatrick (R) 125,667 to 124,146 Margin – 1521 votes
Wisconsin District 08 – Kagen (D) defeats Gard (R) 141,598 to 134,990 Margin – 6608 votes

Total Margin of Victory in these 15 Congressional seats was 79,044 votes. There were 68,057,591 votes cast in congressional races nationwide. That means that 0.116 percent of the voters determined control of the House of Representatives. In what universe other that the delusional one that our Democratic leaders and the mainstream media live in does little more than one tenth of one percent constitute a mandate from the people.

In an even closer event the control of the Senate shifted from the Republicans to the Democrats on the basis of one lost senate seat. In the Virginia Senate Race - Webb (D) defeated Allen (R) 1,175,606 to 1,166,277. That is a margin of 9329 votes or 0.398 percent. Nationwide, there were 60,727,769 senate votes cast. Which means that the control of the Senate changed parties because of 0.015 percent of the voters.

79,044 votes have been declared a mandate from the people and put Nancy Pelosi a pretzel and a heart attack away from the Presidency of the United States.

So out of 300 million Americans of which less than 70 million voted, 79,044 changed the control of the House of Representatives, 9329 people changed the control of the Senate, and combined those approximately 90,000 Americans convinced the White House to change their focus from winning the War on Terror to appeasing the new Congressional Leadership.

This was not by any stretch of the imagination a Mandate from the People and I’m sick and tired of hearing the Democrats, The media and the White House call it that. It was another close election and we are still a divided nation. Nancy Pelosi needs to learn that almost half the voters in this country do NOT agree with her philosophy and her dreams of America and she does NOT have a Mandate from the People.

All Ernesto All The Time

I was flipping through the various news channels this morning but apparently there is nothing going on in the world today except tropical storm Ernesto.

That's right folks Tropical Storm Ernesto!

According to the news channels Ernesto is "storming" ashore. It is also "slamming" into Florida. Ernesto and it's sustained winds of 45 mph is expected to dump 10 inches of rain on Florida before it passes on.

Excuse me? 45 mph and 10 inches of rain? 45 mph winds don't slam or or storm anywhere. 45 mph winds just move a lot of sand around. When the wind reaches 45 mph around here it doesn't even make the local news. At 45 mph the sand that blows around in the wind here won't even start peeling exposed skin off your body. It might abrade exposed skin turning it a little red and sore.

We could not handle 10 inches of rain very well here in the desert. But this storm is hitting south Florida. If they are not equiped to handle 10 inches of rain or 45 mph winds then it is time for them to move to a mountainous area. We don't want them here, we already have too many people living here that panic when water starts falling from the sky.

Fox News just said that the Broward County officials are worried that since this storm is turning out to be just a lot a rain that many folks will take a cry wolf attitude and won't take the next storm warning seriously.

Gee maybe the people there will take a "cry wolf attitude" because you are crying wolf!

Why is this tropical storm being covered on any channel other than the weather channel?

KRAJ

KRAJ was an oldies FM station here in Ridgecrest. They claim that their broadcast area is Ridgecrest, Antelope Valley and Johannesburg. I liked this radio station. It played just oldies. This was the radio station that I listen to in the car and that my dear wife listens to at work.

This week KRAJ changed their format from oldies. The now call themselves the Party Station. So instead of 50s, 60s and 70s oldies we get rap, hip-hop, etc.

I think along with the format change KRAJ should have changed their call letters to KRAP. Because that is what they are playing these days - Crap.

A note for the merchants who used to advertize on the oldies station. You just lost two potential customers. My Dear Wife and I used to pay attention to the ads for the local businesses on the radio. We won't be listening any longer.

Fortunately I got a iPod for my birthday and I have a cable to play it though the stereo in my truck. I guess I'll have to depend on it for music from now on. At least I know that I can depend on it for my daily Supremes/Four Tops/Temptations fix.

-----------------

A letter to the editor of the local paper explained that the oldies format has been moved over to KLOA-AM. Well that doesn't do me any good. The AM band on my radio in the truck works just like several other parts of my 19 year old junker - it doesn't. My Dear Wife says that the AM station doesn't come at her office.

More Immigration Protests

Yesterday there were more immigration protests in several cities across the United States. These protests were much more organized than the protests last week. This week most of the people marching in the streets were wearing white tee shirts and carrying American flags. If someone showed up with a Mexican flag they were told to put it away.

Regardless of the better job of clothing the protestors and wrapping them up in red white and blue the message of the protest was the same as last week. All the window dressings will not change the fact that what we saw was hundreds of thousands of people who are not American citizens demanding the same rights and privileges as American citizens. Except that they don’t want to accept the responsibilities of being an American citizen.

As an American citizen I enjoy all the freedoms granted me by the Constitution of the United States and it’s associated laws, rules and regulations. But along with these cherished freedoms I have several responsibilities that I am expected to live up to as a good citizen of the United States. In exchange for my freedoms I am expected to

• vote,
  
• support my nation (even when I don’t agree with it),
  
• pay my taxes and
  
• obey the laws, rules and regulations that govern the way we live.
  

What I saw marching in the streets yesterday were hundreds of thousands of people demanding the same rights and freedoms I enjoy yet by their very presence in this country they have shunned one of the most basic tenets of American citizenship – obeying the laws of the land.

We have a documented process for legal immigration into the United States. Granted it is a long, confusing, frustrating, nightmare of a process. But it is the legal law of the land. So if you want the rights of an American citizen, then follow the law, go through the process and legally immigrate to the United States.

While watching Fox News last night I heard several different liberal illegal immigrant excusers, including Alan Combs, use the analogy that if we are going to start enforcing the laws and deporting all the illegal immigrants then we have to start arresting everyone who drives over the speed limit.

This seems to be the justification of the week. Equate illegal invasion of the United States with speeding. Well I have a definite problem with that analogy. Everyone I know whom a law enforcement officer has stopped for speeding has been punished for that offense. Can the invasion excusers say the same thing about every illegal immigrant who has been detained by a law enforcement officer? No, they can’t.

Why is it okay to charge me a monetary fine, add penalty points to my drivers license, possibly require me to attend traffic school, and maybe even have to pay higher automobile insurance rates for speeding but illegal immigrants get released?

The last couple weeks we have heard Congress debating offering some sort of amnesty program for the illegal immigrants. Continuing to use the liberals favorite analogy - If you give amnesty to immigrants who entered this country in violation of our laws, then the next time I am stopped for speeding, I want to be given a special license plate that lets all law enforcement officers know that since I have been speeding for quite some time now, I am now exempt from the speeding laws in this country and can drive as fast as I want from now on.

So once Congress gets their lazy butts back to work in a couple weeks, what do I want to see them do?

• I want a resolve to enforce our laws as they stand. If you are caught in this country illegally, then you have to go home.
  
• I want our borders secured. We are being invaded from the south on a daily basis. If you doubt that fact, just look at the HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of people who marched in protest yesterday just because Congress is talking about making them go home.
  
• I would like to see it be a felony to enter this country illegally. This is not a deal breaker by any means. We can properly punish misdemeanor crimes as effectively as felonies.
  

What do I not want from Congress and the President? Amnesty, of any sort or kind. If you broke our laws entering this country, then you have to leave. Now!

If a person wants to come to this country to make a better life for themselves or their family then all I have to say is “Welcome to America”. That is why we allow legal immigration. Sign the guest book, fill out your naturalization papers, get a job, pay your taxes, vote and start acting like an American. You do those things and you can march in the streets complaining about any damned thing you want to.

But if you want to sneak across our borders just to get a job, an education, see a doctor or collect a welfare check, then go home and march in the streets there protesting to improve your own country. Oh, wait, you’re not allowed to do that there, are you?

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Immigration Protests

Immigration Protests

I thought that protests were supposed to be about change.

So how come all the protests around the world this week are protests against change. In France kids are protesting trying to maintain the status quo. France has an unemployment rate over 10% and they want to keep it that way.

In America there are hundreds of thousands of people marching and protesting in the streets trying to maintain the current status of America’s immigration laws. The House and Senate this week are debating changes to our immigration policy. Just the thought that the current laws may be enforced or maybe changed has outraged the illegal immigrant population and their supporters in this country.

I have been trying to sort out the words to describe my feelings on this subject for several days now. Then this morning I saw this picture on Michelle Malkin’s Blog.



Suddenly I wasn’t that interested in writing a well thought out, organized treatise on immigration. I was pissed off. I was sickened. This picture got my attention, which is what I’m sure the perpetrators of this act wanted. They wanted to get our attention and to make a point.

Well they succeeded. But not in the way I’m sure they intended. Until this morning I have been a staunch advocate of securing our borders. I have always wanted to see the tide of illegal immigration stopped. But when it came to dealing with the illegals that were already here I was conflicted. I was not opposed to some sort of amnesty program if they would take the proper steps to become American citizens.

I have been uncomfortable for years when I would go to Los Angeles or Orange County and see huge neighborhoods that seemed like they were trying to recreate Mexico here in America. There are areas where you can drive for blocks and if you can’t read Spanish you will only be able to read the street signs. I have walked into shops where I could not communicate with the person behind the counter because no one in the store could speak English. I actually had one clerk who spoke just enough English to me to tell me that if I couldn’t speak his language I should shop somewhere else. Which wasn’t really a problem, after all you can buy a Pepsi and a snickers bar almost anywhere. I wondered as I walked out of that shop if one of the signs on the door that I couldn’t read said “No Shirt, No Shoes, No Spanish, No Service.”

I have been skeptical of how stubbornly the Mexican immigrants (legal or illegal) here hold onto their national heritage. But I was always willing to give them the doubt as long as they put the interests of the United States first. Well that has changed.

I'm 5th generation American. My 1st generation American ancestors were Norwegian immigrants who did not sneak into the United States. They left their native country to legally make America their home. They settled the untamed Dakota Territories, they filed land grants and became farmers, they worked in shops in town and they stayed home and raised the next generation. While they struggled themselves, they made sure that their children learned to speak English. My maternal Grandmother (the third generation) was very proud of being full-blooded Norwegian yet she could not speak more than about 10 words of Norwegian. She could read even less. Her brother would say a table blessing in Norwegian but we are pretty sure most of it was just Norwegian sounding gibberish that he made up. Five generations later we are still proud of our Norwegian heritage. My home includes family heirlooms that reflect our Norwegian heritage. We still have our names (Kari, Karen, Ole, Karl, etc), our holiday customs and the jokes and stories told by our previous generations. My immigrant ancestors did not come here and expect America to be just like Norway. They were looking for something better. They were willing to take great risks to find it. They were willing to work hard to make sure that their life here would be better than the one they left in Norway. They did not come here to be Norwegian-Americans. They came here to be Citizens of the United States, you know – Americans!

So today we have an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants living in America. They tell us that they come here to make opportunities for themselves. They come to work. They come to have an opportunity to better their lives. Well that’s just great. Welcome to America. Now, fill out your paperwork, learn at least enough English to be able to speak the Oath of Naturalization. Get a job, pay your taxes, vote, teach your kids why you left Mexico, start acting like an American and insist that your children do so also.

"I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the armed forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God."

If you have a grievance, write a letter, write an e-mail, write a blog, call someone, tell someone, run for office, put up signs, get on television or march in a protest. But do these things as Americans. You will not convince your fellow Americans to come over to your way of thinking by disrespecting our Country and our Flag. Waving a Mexican flag will not make your point. Unless your point is that you don’t belong here. This is America. Your Mexican flag belongs on the wall in your home or handed down to your grandchildren as a reminder of where you came from. It should not be flying on a pole in public view. This is America, not Mexico. If you want to run that Mexican flag up a flagpole then head south until you pass a United States border patrol agent who thanks you for visiting America. Once you pass him, you can proudly run that flag up any and every pole you can find.

Michelle Malkin also had on her blog a picture of young girl being shouted at for carrying an American Flag at one of the immigration protests. She also included a quote from the young lady.

“My heart is with the Mexican flag and Mexico but I’m standing on American ground and I’m Mexican-American” - Michelle Marquez

Michelle Marquez – Congratulation for having the guts to carry that American Flag to that protest and the brains to know that carrying a Mexican flag would not have furthered your cause. But I have three questions for you. Why do you call yourself Mexican-American? Do you have dual citizenship? Finally if your heart is truly with the Mexican Flag and Mexico then what the hell are you doing in the United States? If Mexico is where your heart is then go live in Mexico.

I can’t find a better way to end this tirade than with a quote by Teddy Roosevelt from 1907:

In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the man's becoming in very fact an American and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag, and this excludes the red flag, which symbolizes all wars against liberty and civilization, just as much as it excludes any foreign flag of a nation to which we are hostile...We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language...and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.

Thanks to Rob Port for the quote.

So if you want to immigrate to America come ready to become an American. If you plan on being a hyphenated American we don’t want you. If you are already here and insist on being a hyphenated American then we can’t afford to trust you or let you stay – start packing. You’re either an American or you are something else and if you chose the something else then it is time for you to go home.

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More Immigration Protests

Impossible Questions

I was getting ready for work this morning and had FoxNews on the television. I wasn’t looking at the screen I was just listening to the talking heads on the screen as they were talking about the 3rd anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq War.
Then I heard some twit say, “What still amazes me is that we are 3 years into this war and the President is still giving speeches trying to defend his policies in Iraq.”

Of course the President is still giving speeches defending his policy on Iraq. He has to do this because clowns like him never stop using every second of airtime they can get to attack the President’s policy on Iraq.

Then this nitwit goes on to explain that asking questions should not be considered unpatriotic. He felt that loyal Americans have the responsibility to keep asking questions like: When will this war end? When are we bringing our troops home? and How many more will die before we bring them home?

I didn’t hear, and wasn’t able to see the screen to see who this nitwit was but I’m going to answer his three impossible questions. But then I would like him to answer three questions for me.

When will this war end?

Planning a specific date to end a war is only possible if you are the side that surrenders. Because until one side either surrenders or is completely eliminated the war cannot end. Since we cannot predict when our enemy is going to surrender or be completely eliminated. Then we can only assume that as a “loyal American” you are asking when we are going to surrender.

When are we bringing our troops home?

Our combat troops will come home when the job is done. We will have other troops stationed in Iraq for probably decades. Our last war with Germany ended on May 8, 1945. We still have over 70,000 troops in Germany. Our war with Japan ended on September 2, 1945. We still have over 8000 troops in Japan. Our war with North Korea ended on July 27, 1953. We still have over 20,000 troops stationed in South Korea. Our war with North Vietnam ended on April 30, 1975. We don’t have any troops stationed in Vietnam. Vietnam was the only war that we lost. At any one time we have about 200,000 troops stationed on foreign soil. If history is to be believed, the only way we will bring all our troops home from Iraq is to lose the war. As to when that will happen, see your first question. The only side that can accurately schedule the end of a war is the losing side.

How many more will die before we bring them home?

This is war, soldiers die. We don’t like it. We will do everything we can to minimize the number of American deaths. But the only way to absolutely assure that no more troops die is to end the war and bring them all home. But that gets us back to your first two questions and like them the only way to satisfy your question is for the United States to lose this war.

So there is the answer to your three impossible questions.

Now I get my three questions:

Do you still beat your wife?

What is the airspeed of an unladen African swallow?

Deep down in your soul you are really a disloyal, unpatriotic American who wants us to lose this war or you are truly so stupid and misguided that you think we can pack up and go home and the terrorists will just leave us alone. Which is it?

Thrown?

I was watching President Bush's speech at the Grand Old Opry this morning on Fox News. They had a news ticker crawling across the bottom of the screen. One of the news tidbits that scrolled across the screen right at the end of the President's speech was an short blurb about how British Prince Harry who has joined the armed forces in Britian may be sent to Iraq next year.

The 21 year old third in line for the thrown will serve in the ...

Suddenly I don't feel so bad about the spelling errors I make blogging here.

Did Senator Jay Rockefeller Admit to Treason?

Last Sunday on Fox News Sunday, Chris Wallace was interviewing Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller. Senator Rockefeller is the Vice Chairman of the Senate Intellegence Committee.

Most of the interview was based around the old lie that George Bush manipulated intellegence to drag the United States into an illegial war with Iraq.

I could rant and rave about a lot of what Senator Rockefeller had to say. But one thing really jumped out at me.

Chris Wallace had just played a video clip from October 2002 where Senator Rockefeller says that "Iraq poses an imminent threat."

Then Chris Wallace tried to get the Senator to admit that he was hyping intellegence even more than he has blamed the President for doing.

Senator Rockefeller's replied this way:

No. I mean, this question is asked a thousand times and I'll be happy to answer it a thousand times. I took a trip by myself in January of 2002 to Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria, and I told each of the heads of state that it was my view that George Bush had already made up his mind to go to war against Iraq, that that was a predetermined set course which had taken shape shortly after 9/11.

What I heard in this answer was that a United States Senator went on a trip to a known foreign enemy - Syria, and told Syria's head of state that the United States was getting ready to attack one of their allies - Iraq, before that attack ever took place.

Now I may be a bit naive but that smacks of treason.

Did Bush Lie?--Just Google It

Bryan Preston from Junk Yard Blog has a posting on Michelle Malkin's Blog. Bryan, among others is getting tired of the left trying to sell us on the lie that Bush lied. This is especially objectionable since there is so much proof out there that the politicians who are now claiming that they were misled knew exactly what they were voting for when they voted for the war in Iraq.

The latest buzz phrase in the blogoshpere is "Just Google It!" So here is a link to click on to see for yourself if President Bush lied about pre-war intellegence on Iraq. Bryan wants us to spread this around and trackback to see how far it spreads. So I'm just doing my part.

The link to the search is:

http://www.google.com/search?q=clinton+iraq+1998

Bryan encourages us to swipe his graphic and use it with one small restriction:

Don't hotlink it, but feel free to swipe it and post it on your own bandwidth.

Sounds like a good idea to me.

Media aiding and abetting the enemy.

LTC Tim Ryan is the Commander of Task Force 2-12 Cavalry, First Cavalry Division in Iraq. He led troops in Fallujah late last year and is now involved in security operations for the upcoming elections.

The inaccurate picture they paint has distorted the world view of the daily realities in Iraq. The result is a further erosion of international support for the United States' efforts there, and a strengthening of the insurgents' resolve and recruiting efforts while weakening our own. Through their incomplete, uninformed and unbalanced reporting, many members of the media covering the war in Iraq are aiding and abetting the enemy.

Read the whole thing.

Fox News Sells Out

I was sitting here this morning watching the Hurricane Rita coverge on Fox News. Then I was assaulted by a paid advertizement by a group calling themselves Families for Peace.

This commercial troops several women claiming to have lost sons in the Iraq war. They blame President Bush for lying to the nation, for waging a personal illegial war, and for killing thier sons for his own evil purposes.

This is the kind of crap that I expect to see on CNN, which is why my family hasn't watched CNN for over 3 years.

I found an E-mail address to send a complaint to and sent it off.

Comments@foxnews.com

Here is the message I sent:

Fox News has been my family's main news source for several years now. But this morning while watching the hurricane Rita coverage I saw an advertisement that just turned my stomach.

The ad from familesforpeace.com was a nothing more than a pack of lies and misleading emotions.

To see these women stating that the war on terror was illegial, that it was personal crusade of the President and that President Bush lied was an insult.

This is the kind of trash that I expect to see aired on CNN. Which is why we don't watch CNN.

I understand that this was a paid advertisement and may not be the opinion of Fox News. But it is airing on your network and therefore reflects badly on your network.

My wife has changed the channel on our television to the weather channel as I write this. If this is the kind of broadcast we can expect to continue to see on Fox the you will have lost a loyal viewer.

I'll try Fox News again, maybe tomorrow, but if this advertisment is still showing we will change the channel and remove Fox News from our channel listings. We have choices on what to watch, we have chosen Fox News in the past. But that can change.

I have blogged about my disgust for this trash you are airing at http://ridgecrest.blogspot.com I would welcome an opportuntity to post a response from you.

If you have seen this trash that Fox is airing then let them know what you think. If enough people object maybe they will get the message that taking advertising money to broadcast lies isn't worth the loss of viewers.

Don't Get Stuck on Stupid

During a press conference this afternoon New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin started losing control of a media pool. Lt. Gen. Russel Honore stepped in and took over.

The General was telling the reporter that there would be bus transportation from the civic center for anyone who needed it to evacuate before Hurricane Rita could cause any further damage to New Orleans.

One reporter wasn't satisfied with the plans for dealing with the current potential crises. He wanted to keep harping on the old crises. His question was"

General, a little bit more about why that's happening this time, though, and did not have that last time...

The General's response is one that should be learned and used by anyone who has the unfortunate task of briefing the press.

You are stuck on stupid. I'm not going to answer that question. We are going to deal with Rita. This is public information that people are depending on the government to put out. This is the way we've got to do it....

I love it. I think the General may have really hit on something here. "You are stuck on stupid" could become the next fad catch phrase. Start looking for it on bumper stickers, tee shirts and blogs all over the internet.


Hugh Hewitt would like to see more of the same.

The Vodka Pundit says Ladies and gentlemen, we are witnesses to a rare and wonderful moment: a new catch phrase has been born.

Radio Blogger has the whole transcript and the audio mp3.

CNN - The National Inquirer of Cable News

This weekend my family and I were sitting in our motel room in Anaheim eating breakfast and getting ready for a day of fun filled adventure at Disneyland. The television channel selection was limited. I was flippin through the channels looking for some news when I discovered that the only news channel available to me was CNN.

I don't normally watch CNN but I figured it couldn't hurt for a few minutes. Boy was I wrong. So while we waited for the kids to finish dressing we watched CNN do a special on the couple different relief organizations that were working in Louisiana to help rescue any lost or displaced pets in the area. The showed people rescueing cats and dogs, donating pet food, and cleaning up rescued. My twins ohhed and ahhed over the cute kittens and the puppies that they saw. My eldest daughter's liked the kittens too but she wanted to know what about the people who needed help?

Well CNN answered her question because with only a two miniute commercial break as a segue the left the topic of rescueing animals to showing us several graphic pictures of several of the dead bodies in New Orleans. The first shot was of two bodies lying end to end and the announcer had to verbally call our attention to the massive cranial damage suffered by both victims. Then, while I'm trying to simultaneously set down my hot coffee, yell at my kids not to look, and grab the remote to change channels they show an elderly woman in a wheel chair with a blanket tossed over her.

Thanks CNN, just the kind of news coverage we need to see over breakfast. The only thing that saved us a lot of questions from our kids was that we left for Disneyland a couple minutes later and the forgot all about the TV.

This was truely trash journalisim at it's worst. CNN did a whole segment on rescuing animals and didn't show a single dead pet. Whats' wrong CNN couldn't find that suitable bloated corpse of a beagle to start your morning show with? But when CNN is done talking about pets and decide to move onto talking about humans do we see video of people helping each other, No. So we see pictures of of people trying to get by in horrible circumstances, no. Do we see the thousands of volunteers who have set aside their normal lives to help those who need it, No. Do we see engineers working on pumps, or firemen putting our fires, or police patroling neighborhoods, No. We get to see dead bodies.

I know that death and dying are a part of disasters like huricane Katrina. I have seen my share of dead bodies in person. I don't choose to see them on television and I certainly don't choose to have my children exposed to such dispicable tabloid journalism.

CNN's rating have been plummetting for a couple years now. If they would like to know why they can stop blaming Fox News and start looking inside. They have become the National Inquirer of Cable News.

Then today I find out that CNN filed suit in U.S District Court to make sure that they get access to the body recovery efforts in New Orleans. So get ready folks CNN looks like it is going to become the Corpse News Network.

Thanks to Confederate Yankee for the tip on the CNN lawsuit. He also has a link to a CNN feedback for if you want to let them know exactly what you think of their trash journalism. I did.