The Few. The Proud.

CAMP RIPPER, Iraq

Marines are handed candles as they enter the chapel for a candle light vigil Christmas Eve.






Yesterday evening our dear friends the Wicklines held a dinner party in honor of Marine Corporal Brian Weiss who is preparing to go overseas. Brian told us that he is being posted to Djibouti, Djibouti in Africa. His unit is the Provisional Security Force 4 HOA (Horn of Africa), comprised of about 400 Marines. His detachment received all new weapons (The CO called them Christmas presents).

Brian: I was issued an M4 Carbine; it’s quite the nice weapon… (New guns bring me joy). We have been getting all of our immunizations the last two months and they will continue until we leave. So far I have gotten, Yellow fever, Typhoid, Hepatitis A and B, Rheumatic fever, Anthrax, TB tests, HIV tests, flu shot and some I have probably forgotten. So far the mission seems to be based on security of the American base named Camp Lemonier. We will be doing security patrols and general security for the base. The Marine Corps has been tough but it is bringing me extreme amounts of joy. I have really good leadership and I feel a huge sense of pride serving my country in war time. I’m not at all impacted by all the political junk going on, as I know that the mission is important, and it will keep our country safe in the future. Plus who could complain about a boss that just gave us a raise! Thanks GW.

Special Forces Colonel Dave McCarthy showed us amazing pictures of his duty in Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia. I remember the opulence of Sadaam's palaces against the squalor of the poor Iraqi homes. Most uplifting were the Kurds who were being murdered by Sadaam in large numbers only 15 years ago, but then were protected by the US Air Force until this war started. They looked like a happy people and the town could have been in the American midwest.

The American war on terror came to the Kurdish area when a small Special Forces unit joined several thousand Kurdish Pesh Merga fighters in a lightning blow that left hundreds of terrorists dead and hundreds more running for the jagged, snowy peaks which mark the border with Iran. Dave said that the Kurd soldiers were actually protective of the Americans. When he was ready to leave country the Kurds made him an honorary Pesh Merga warrior and presented him a 1938 British pistol.

Karen's marvelous food and the legendary Wickline hospitality were appreciated by all. We all wished Brian a safe journey and will keep him in our prayers.

Semper Fi Brian.

Liberals Are Dangerous

“I don’t like you, cause you’re gonna get me killed.”

During the 1990s Bill Clinton’s military inadequacies were largely ignored in the euphoria of the economic boom and the distractions of his female problems. Consequently, the first attack on the World Trade Center and the terrorist strike at the USS Cole faded from memory and were not thought of as attacks on fortress-America. September 11, 2001 changed all that.

George Bush’s presidency awoke to the danger. “National-security-minded Democratic politicians fell over each other, voting for all sorts of tough measures. They passed the Patriot Act, approved the war in Afghanistan, voted to authorize the removal of Saddam Hussein, and nodded when they were briefed about Guantanamo or wiretap intercepts of suspect phone calls to and from the Middle East.” (Victor Davis Hansen, National Review Online, 12/30/05)

Then an ugly thing happened within the Democratic Party. They remembered Vietnam and how opposition to that war was a political winner for a string of politicians beginning with John Kerry and Ted Kennedy, who forgot that his brother started the war and made a career of opposing the US military. Howard Dean woke up the anti-war fever swamp types, Michael Moore provided the artistic propaganda and George Sorros the bucks. Democrats followed like liberal lemmings and lost the 2004 election big-time.

One would think that the Democratic Party would have learned the lesson that Americans do not like to be attacked by foreigners. Instead they assailed President Bush for his strategy, calling the war in Iraq a diversion from the main task of defeating al-Qaeda. He was accused of using distorted intelligence about the presence of WMD to invade Iraq. And they are now calling for impeachment because Bush used his war powers to obtain wiretaps on calls between foreign terrorists and suspected American supporters. It’s like history is repeating itself.

Peter Schweizer wrote (Opinion Journal, 12/30/05) about how Franklin D. Roosevelt faced very similar critics during World War II. FDR was criticized on the basis that Germany did not pose an immediate military threat to the United States the way that Japan did. He was accused of purposely ignoring evidence that Japan was going to attack Pearl Harbor. Part of FDR's motivation for defeating Germany first was fear that the Nazis were working on an atomic bomb, whereas it was later revealed that Germany did not have much of a program. And he put over one hundred thousand Japanese Americans into internment camps.

“Bush is in many ways FDR's strategic soul mate. His war on terror is a total global war against a movement comprised of terrorist groups and their state sponsors. By ousting both Saddam and the Taliban, he has removed two important components of the worldwide terrorist movement. And his grand strategy is slowly achieving results.” (Schweizer)

Of course Democrats fail to see the similarities between these two presidents and their wars, as that would cast aspersions on their sainted FDR. But Franklin was one tough son of a bitch. From one of his addresses to the nation he explained his treatment of war protesters: “The best way of dealing with the few slackers or trouble makers in our midst is, first, to shame them by patriotic example, and, if that fails, to use the sovereignty of Government.”

The inevitable tension between protecting the country and maintaining civil liberties goes back to the founding. Lincoln spoke of it during the Civil War:
“Is there, in all republics, this inherent and fatal weakness? Must a government, of necessity, be too strong for the liberties of its own people, or too weak to maintain its own existence?” Lincoln suspended habeas corpus and for the rest of the war, military officers could arrest U.S. citizens and hold them indefinitely without presenting evidence against them. In 1863, Congress passed the Habeas Corpus Act, effectively endorsing Lincoln's earlier suspension of the "Great Writ."

Like the Tory sympathizers in the Revolutionary War, the Northern secessionists of the Civil War, or the “secret agents and their dupes” that FDR dealt with in WWII, the left wing obstructionist Democrats need to be put in a place where they can do no harm. I’d suggest France.

Definition of a Liberal

The great Mark Steyn wrote recently that George Clooney, the matinee idol said that liberal had become a dirty word and he'd like to change that. Fair enough. So I hope he won't mind if I make a suggestion. The best way to reclaim liberal for the angels is to get on the right side of history -- the side the Iraqi people are on. The word liberal has no meaning if those who wear the label refuse to celebrate the birth of a new democracy after 40 years of tyranny.

That's not a bad working definition. I'm sure that FDR, Harry Truman and Jack Kennedy would endorse it.

The great Dennis Prager has a test for liberals on his web site. Dennis writes: "It is my belief that about half of the Americans who call themselves liberal do not hold the great majority of positions held by mainstream liberal institutions such as the New York Times..."

So Dennis offers up a list of 23 positions taken by liberals such as #3. Murderers should never be put to death; #14. The Israelis and Palestinians are morally equivalent; and #17. No abortions can be labeled immoral. I scored zero for 23 on the test so I must not be a liberal.

Dennis says that his list is a work in progress, so I'd like to offer up my 12 defining characteristics of an American liberal, in no particular order.

1. You feel that things are not going well in your life. (An opinion held by 15% of Americans.)

2. The National Security Agency (NSA) should not be allowed to intercept telephone conversations between terrorism suspects in other countries and people living in the United States. (23% agreed)

3. Global warming is the greatest threat facing the world. (Al Gore says so.)

4. Racism is our worst domestic problem. (Jesse Jackson says so.)

5. We must not drill for oil in the Artic Wildlife Reserve. (We mustn't disturb those caribou.)

6. The environment has been degrading for the past 30 years. (Alternatively, the standard of living of average Americans has been declining.)

7. Multiculturalism is a higher goal than assimilation for immigrants. (Corollary: all cultures are equally moral.)

8. Unions are good for public education and for government work.

9. Government should guarantee basic needs (food, shelter, health insurance) for all people.

10. It is impossible to increase Federal government revenue by cutting taxes across the board. (No Laffer curve for them.)

11. The Constitution contains the right to an abortion. (Disguised as a right to privacy, flowing from the 4th Amendment's protection against unreasonable searches)

12. American opposition to an American war is patriotic. (Believed by the entire moonbat wing of the Democratic Party).

How many of these liberal positions do you hold? Are you a Moonbat, a Lefty, a Progressive....or a Conservative like moi?

10-12: Moonbat (eg Gore, Kerry, Kennedy, Dean, Pelosi)
5-9: Lefty (eg both Clintons, Schwartzenneger)
1-4: Progressive (eg Lieberman, McCain)
zero: Conservative

Katelyn Discusses Evolution

Katelyn at Stand Up and Speak Out (what a great blog for a high schooler) wrote: "I have decided to have a discussion of evolution on my blog, in light of the recent Intelligent Design controversies. While I believe that evolution is at least a possibility, I recognize that atheistic evolution is unreasonable. Something cannot come out of nothing unless someone puts it there."

In just a day, the comments at SUSO have been fast and fascinating. I joined in and hope my friends do too.

I've been writing about the Myths of Evolution (12/17) including Godless Evolution (12/21): "Darwin made it possible to be an intellectually fulfilled athiest."--Richard Dawkins; Darwinism's Ugly Side (12/23): Stalin read Darwin and became an athiest. -- "Landmarks in the Life of Stalin" as noted by Free Agency Rules; and Darwinian Frauds (12/25): "We paleontologists have said that the history of life supports the Darwinian theory all the while really knowing that it does not."-- Niles Eldrege. In the next installment I'll relate the hostility of Drawinists in their dealings with those who believe God played a part.

Here I'd like to say a bit about the pseudosciences that have sprung up in the wake of Darwinian orthodoxy. From Wikipedia we find:

Sociobiology, a synthesis of scientific disciplines that attempts to explain behaviour in all species by considering the evolutionary advantages of social behaviours. Sociobiology contends that genes play a decisive role in human behavior, suggesting there is little we can do to eliminate things like human aggression. Criminals really can't help themselves.

Evolutionary psychology proposes that animal psychology can be better understood in light of evolution. Evolutionary psychology is based on the presumption that, like hearts and lungs, cognition also has a genetic basis, and therefore has evolved by natural selection. Darwin even controls your thoughts.

Parents beware: They are teaching this kind of crap to your kids.

Iron Mike Burghardt

Leading the fight is Gunnery Sgt Michael Burghardt, known as "Iron Mike" or just "Gunny." He is on his third tour in Iraq. He had become a legend in the bomb disposal world after winning the Bronze Star for disabling 64 IEDs and destroying 1,548 pieces of ordnance during his second tour. Then, on September 19, he got blown up.

Mike arrived at a chaotic scene after a bomb had killed four US soldiers. He chose not to wear the bulky bomb protection suit. "You can't react to any sniper fire and you get tunnel-visioned," he explains. So, protected by just a helmet and standard-issue flak jacket, he began what bomb disposal officers term "the longest walk", stepping gingerly into a 5ft deep and 8ft wide crater. The earth shifted slightly and he saw a Senao base station with a wire leading from it. He cut the wire and used his 7inch knife to probe the ground. "I found a piece of red detonating cord between my legs," he says. "That's when I knew I was screwed."

Realizing he had been sucked into a trap, Sgt Burghardt, 35, yelled at everyone to stay back. At that moment, an insurgent, probably watching through binoculars, pressed a button on his mobile phone to detonate the secondary device below the sergeant's feet. "A chill went up the back of my neck and then the bomb exploded," he recalls. "As I was in the air I remember thinking, 'I don't believe they got me.' I was just ticked off they were able to do it. Then I was lying on the road, not able to feel anything from the waist down."

His colleagues cut off his trousers to see how badly he was hurt. None could believe his legs were still there. "My dad's a Vietnam vet who's paralyzed from the waist down," says Sgt Burghardt. "I was lying there thinking I didn't want to be in a wheelchair next to my dad and for him to see me like that. They started to cut away my pants and I felt a real sharp pain and blood trickling down. Then I wiggled my toes and I thought, 'Good, I'm in business.' "

As a stretcher was brought over, adrenaline and anger kicked in. "I decided to walk to the helicopter. I wasn't going to let my team-mates see me being carried away on a stretcher." He stood and gave the insurgents who had blown him up a one-fingered salute. "I flipped them one. It was like, OK, I lost that round but I'll be back next week."

Copies of a photograph depicting his defiance, taken by Jeff Bundy for the Omaha World-Herald, adorn the walls of homes across America and that of Col John Gronski, the brigade commander in Ramadi, who has hailed the image as an exemplar of the warrior spirit.

Sgt Burghardt's injuries - burns and wounds to his legs and buttocks - kept him off duty for nearly a month and could have earned him a ticket home. But, like his father - who was awarded a Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts for being wounded in action in Vietnam - he stayed in Ramadi to engage in the battle against insurgents who are forever coming up with more ingenious ways of killing Americans.

Special thanks to Marine Special Forces Colonel Dave McCarthy for this great story.

Not Your Grandma's Air Force

These Air Force troopers did what their Grandmothers couldn't do!

The 376th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron, flew an ALL FEMALE KC-135 Stratotanker air refueling mission over Afghanistan. Early on Jan. 31,2005 a KC-135 Stratotanker took off from Ganci Air Base, Kyrgyzstan, carrying more than 180,000 pounds of fuel and an all-female crew - both pilots, a navigator and a boom operator. The event marked the first all-female crew to fly an air refueling mission into Afghanistan. Capt. Heather, and the rest of the crew are assigned to the 99th Air Refueling Squadron at Robins Air Force Base, Ga. (Hugh P. Young, Contracting Officer, KC-10/KDC-10, Tinker AFB, OK)

Thanks for this story to Nancy (NanaBananas) by way of TexasJudy.

Icons of Evolution

"Science is the search for the truth," wrote chemist Linus Pauling, winner of two Nobel prizes. Like all scientific theories, Darwinian evolution must be continually compared with the evidence (the truth) found in the fossil record and elsewhere. If a theory does not fit the evidence, it must be reevaluated or abandoned--otherwise it is not science, but myth.

In the last post (Darwinian Frauds) I related some of the claims used by Darwinists to support their theory. It is regrettable that every case was a scientific fraud. On that subject, Israeli statesman Shimon Peres wrote: "You don't have a scientific lie, and you cannot lie scientifically. Science is basically the search of truth."

The frauds that have been perpetrated in the name of evolution are so numerous that one would need a book to describe them all. Indeed, several books have done just that and a good one is Icons of Evolution by Jonathan Wells (Regnery, 2000). Following are some excerpts.

When asked to list the evidence for Darwinian evolution, most people--including most biologists--give the same set of examples, because all of them learned biology from the same few textbooks. The most common examples are (The first two examples were discussed in my 12/25 post):

1. Pictures of similarities in early embryos showing that amphibians, reptiles, birds and human beings are all descended from a fish-like animal;

2. Archaeopteryx, a fossil bird with teeth in its jaws and claws on its wings, the missing link between ancient reptiles and modern birds;

3. A laboratory flask containing a simulation of the earth's primitive atmosphere, in which electric sparks produce the chemical building-blocks of living cells;

4. The evolutionary tree of life, reconstructed from a large and growing body of fossil and molecular evidence;

5. Similar bone structures in a bat's wing, a porpoise's flipper, a horse's leg, and a human hand that indicate their evolutionary origin in a common ancestor;

6. Peppered moths on tree trunks, showing how camouflage and predatory birds produced the most famous example of evolution by natural selection;

7. Darwin's finches on the Galapagos Islands, thirteen separate species that diverged from one when natural selection produced differences in their beaks, and that inspired Darwin to formulate his theory of evolution;

8. Fruit flies with an extra pair of wings, showing that genetic mutations can provide the raw materials for evolution;

9. A branching-tree pattern of horse fossils that refutes the old-fashioned idea that evolution was directed; and

10. Drawings of ape-like creatures evolving into humans, showing that we are just animals and that our existence is merely a by-product of purposeless natural causes.

These examples are so frequently used as evidence for Darwin's theory that most of them have been called "icons of evolution." Yet all of them, in one way or another, misrepresent the truth. Some of these icons of evolution present assumptions or hypotheses as though they were observed facts; in Stephen Jay Gould's words, they are "incarnations of concepts masquerading as neutral descriptions of nature." Others conceal raging controversies among biologists that have far-reaching implications for evolutionary theory. Worst of all, some are directly contrary to well-established scientific evidence.

A "science" supported by lies, half-truths and obfuscation that needs judicial protection from public scrutiny in the educational system is a myth. Evolutionary Biology really needs to clean up its act.

Darwinian Frauds

Our Evolution Myth #3 contends that Darwinism, being a science, is firmly grounded in empirical methods. In fact, the history of Darwinian evolution is founded on a speculation about the origin of species, has been perpetuated by some of the most egregious frauds in the history of science, and to this day hides its many deficiencies. We will see that the Darwinian’s eagerness to prove what they believed was a dangerous prescription for fraud.

Ernst Haeckel (b1834) was perhaps the most embarrassing of the Darwinian liars. Darwin believed that early embryos “show more or less completely the condition of the progenitor of the whole group in its adult life.” Darwin argued in The Descent of Man that since all vertebrate embryos look alike in early development, one “ought to admit frankly to their community of descent.”

Haeckel drew pictures comparing embryonic development of fish, reptiles, birds, mammals and humans to illustrate this so called “Biogenetic Law.” Over a century later, nine out of ten high school and college biology texts use the Haeckel drawing to make the case for Darwinian evolution. The 1994 edition of Molecular Biology of the Cell by National Academy of Sciences president Bruce Alberts states that “evolution explains why embryos of different species so often resemble each other in the early stages, and as they develop seem to replay the steps of evolution.”

Unfortunately, Haeckel’s drawing was a patent fake and the biology community had rejected the idea that cross-species embryos look alike over a century ago. Finally, in a 1995 issue of Science magazine was an admission: “The Haeckel illustration is turning out to be one of the most famous fakes in biology.” In the March 2000 issue of Natural History, revered scientist Steven Jay Gould admitted that he had known that “Haeckel faked his drawings for more than 20 years.” Then why did all these noted scientists perpetuate the lie in generations of school books?

In 1909 the “Piltdown Man” was discovered in England and proclaimed to be the missing link between ape and man. It was not until 1953 that the British Museum took the time to run a chemical analysis on the bones. The results showed that the skull was that of a 20th century human, the jaw was pure orangutan, with teeth that were deliberately filed to look human, and the remains were stained to appear ancient. Another fraud!

In Nov. 1999, National Geographic Magazine breathlessly announced the discovery of a fossil called archeoraptor. What might be termed “Piltdown Bird” was billed as the missing link between dinosaur and bird. Chinese paleontologists, who seem to have less reverence for Darwinian evolution than their American colleagues, examined the dino-bird and discovered that some rascal had merely glued a tiny dinosaur tail onto the body of a bird.

Fraud in the name of Darwin even finds its way into the arts. “Inherit the Wind” is a play that purports to tells the story of the Scopes “monkey trial.” Unfortunately the play and the movie that followed are full of lies and half truths about Christian opposition to science.

What motivates these egregious falsehoods in the name of science?

Darwinist Richard Lewontin of Harvard: We take the side of science in spite of the patent absurdity of some of its constructs, in spite of its failure to fulfill many of its extravagant promises of health and life ….. because we have a prior commitment to materialism. … materialism is absolute for we cannot allow a divine foot in the door.

While acknowledging “the extreme rarity of transitional forms in the fossil record,” Steven Gould admited that this potential major embarrassment “has been held as a trade secret of paleontology.” As Niles Eldrege sums up: “We paleontologists have said that the history of life supports the Darwinian theory all the while really knowing that it does not.”

Or, in the words of Darwinian bulldog Richard Dawkins: “The theory is about as much in doubt as the earth goes around the sun.” Yeah, RIGHT.


References

Hoodwinked by Jack Cashill
For the Glory of God by Rodney Stark

Bush Admits Role in Climate Conspiracy

New York, 24 Dec. 2005: In a blistering speech to the United Nations General Assembly, UN Secretary General Kofi Anon accused the United States of a massive, multifaceted conspiracy to change the global climate. Anon laid out his claims in a speech entitled “The US Conspiracy: Clear Skies, Christmas and Emperor Penguins.”

The climate protection community has long chastised the United States for an unwillingness to trash its economy through adherence to the terms of the Kyoto Protocol. Anon noted that the cost to the US economy, $650B per year (5% of GDP) and 6,000,000 jobs, is a reasonable price to pay for a 0.15 degree F (estimated) temperature decrease by 2050.

The conspiracy claims were further strengthened by a report out of Australia (“The Hidden Cost of Christmas”) that documents the environmental impacts of producing many popular Christmas gifts and goodies. The impacts were measured in terms of water use, land disturbance, greenhouse pollution, and material flow (defined as the “mass of all solids extracted from the earth” including timber and livestock).

As the most Christian developed country, the US is clearly the biggest culprit in this abuse of the environment. Anon hinted that New York Mayor Bloomberg’s agreement to settle the transit worker’s strike that was costing the City $400 million per day in Christmas related sales was a piece of the puzzle.

Another facet of the conspiracy was revealed in pictures of the melting South Pole where polar bears have to swim for miles to reach the rapidly decreasing ice sheet. At his Crawford, Texas ranch, President Bush finally admitted to his role in the multifaceted conspiracy. With tears welling in his eyes, Bush recalled seeing the March of the Penguins movie and his decision to do something about it.

“Watching those moms and dads having to walk over 70 miles to reach their breeding grounds, it just broke my heart. Laura, the Twins and I decided we had to use the might of America to shorten their journey. I mean, those dads having to stand over those eggs and wait for months for the moms to return from the sea, well it was too much to bear.”

After consultation with Interior Secretary Gale Norton, Bush concocted the strategy. He would promote the heck out of the Clear Skies Initiative, the most significant step America has ever taken to improve air quality throughout the country. According to Anon, this was the most insidious part of the conspiracy.

In a move lauded by environmentalists, Bush reduced emissions causing temperatures to 'rise' because the air is too clean. It seems that the air pollution reduces the amount of the sun's radiation that reaches the Earth's surface thereby cooling the Earth. In research to be published in the journal "Nature,” reductions in airborne particle pollution as air quality is improved will amplify global warming.

Democrats are calling for Impeachment.

MERRY CHRISTMAS dear friends.

Darwinism's Ugly Side

On its face, Darwinian evolution is a simple theory about the changes that occur to biological species over the millennia as their members adapt to the demands of competition for limited resources. The survival of the fittest and their progeny is a reasonable foundation for understanding the changes (within a given species) that are observed in the fossil record.

Myth #2 is that Darwinism is and always has been the purest of sciences. But something horrible happened when this beautiful scientific theory was embraced by 19th and 20th century political philosophers who saw it as a way to remove God from the moral equation.

The materialist view is that all events are caused solely by the operation of mindless physical laws. A corollary embraced by many materialists and some with political motives was that “there are no inherent moral or ethical laws, no absolute guiding principles for human society.”

But the philosophical structure that supports liberal democracy hinges on the existence of ''natural rights'' emanating from a superior being. If the premise of God's existence disappears, the foundation of natural rights is eliminated and the door is flung open to all kinds of abuses.

Marxism, which denied the existence of natural rights, deprived millions of people of their property, executed and imprisoned millions of others because they were class enemies. Stalin, Pol Pot, Mao Tse-Tung, Kim Il-Sung and other murderous Communist despots were unencumbered by God or His natural rights.

Nazism, which also did not believe in natural rights, exterminated six million Jews and one million Gypsies and other minorities because there was no moral or philosophical impediment to curb it. Hitler’s ideology of a death struggle between superior and inferior races was based firmly on Darwin’s survival of the fittest and was widely echoed by Darwinist scientists, philosophers and ethicists.

Without inalienable rights and with no inherent moral or ethical laws, anything goes and might makes right. Fidel Castro and Kim Jong Il are continuing examples of the type.

In his classic Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis argued that the idea of right and wrong is universal among people, a moral law they "did not make, and cannot quite forget even when they try." Unfortunately there are those who do try to forget in the name of moral relativism, the evolutionary descendent of social Darwinism.

Believers contend that one man’s evil is another man’s kindness; it all depends on one’s point of view or the viewpoint of society. They see a moral equivalence between terrorists and those who fight against them; between Palestine suicide bombers and Israeli soldiers; between al-Qaeda killers and American heroes.

Viva la Global Warming

Proof of Global Warming

Montreal Dec 22, 2005: The weather forcast for the Christmas - scratch that - Winter Holiday - scratch that - Winter Party season appears to be a continuation of the warm spell caused by the recently completed United Nations Climate Change Conference. Climatologists note that the hot air created by the thousands of global warming blowhards caused a welcome thaw that may amount to a permanent change in Montreal weather patterns.

On the political front, the Quebec Islamist Foundation published the above picture of women's swimwear as proof that global warming has led to the degradation of Western society. Feminists, too, are outraged.

The spokesman for a feminist environmental group accused men of being the biggest contributors to human-caused global warming and lamented that women are bearing the brunt of the negative climate consequences created by men.

"Women and men are differently affected by climate change and they contribute differently to climate change," said Ulrike Rohr, director of the German-based group called "Genanet-Focal point gender, Environment, Sustainability."

"To give you an example from Germany, it is mostly men who are going by car. Women are going by public transport mostly," Rohr said.

But the United Nations has already begun to take the issue of global warming -- and the roles men and women play in it -- seriously, according to the Gender and Climate Change website. It is important for the U.N. "to integrate gender sensitivity into all mechanisms, policies and measures, and tools and guidelines within the climate debate," according to the website.

Returning to the swimwear, there are some in the conservative community who are quietly saying ... viva la carbon emission ... let's go to the beach.

Godless Evolution

Darwinists claim that Intelligent Design is really a religious agenda “dressed up in a cheap (scientific) tuxedo.” I believe that Darwinism is a scientific perversion in service of an anti-God social agenda.

In “Myths of Evolution” (12/17) I outlined the lies, frauds and coercions that have transformed the science of evolution by natural selection into political scientism. The first myth is that Darwinism is not hostile to the concept of God the Creator. In fact, it is now understood that Darwin wrote On the Origin of Species not primarily to introduce the concept of evolution (that was long known in scientific circles) but to “debunk the concept of supernatural intelligence.”

The budding Enlightenment disciples, naturalists and Marxists who were burdened by the restraints of the Judeo-Christian God now had their “get out of jail free card.” Darwin provided the “creation story” and its philosophical essence was scientific materialism. To the Darwinians nothing existed except matter, the laws of physics and blind chance.

The scientific fraud employed to support Darwinism and its employment for bloody, ruthless political purposes will be described in future posts. Here I’ll use the words of leading Darwinists to demonstrate the hostility of Darwinism to any belief in God.

Thomas Huxley who was Darwin’s friend and chief apologist invented the word “agnostic” and regarded humans as mere conscious automata. Today, the penchant to make evolution the intellectual linchpin of a wholly atheist outlook is manifest in the writings of Richard Dawkins, professor of public understanding of science at Oxford, "whose public understanding of human beings is that they are survival machines for genes."

When Friedrich Nietzsche in 1882 proclaimed the “death of God” he was announcing the world-shaking fact that God no longer played any role or had any influence in the lives of educated Europeans. Darwin taught them that mankind is not a special creation but merely the end result of millions of years of evolution.

American educational reformer John Dewey whose Manifesto launched the Humanist movement in 1933 decreed that the final demise of religion would usher in a new era of scientific and social progress. (Soon, Hitler and Stalin provided stunning examples of godless man’s progressive capabilities.)

Julian Huxley, honored speaker at the centennial celebration of Origin in 1959, noted that “in the evolutionary pattern there is no longer either need nor room for the supernatural.”

The Nobel laureate James D. Watson, co-discoverer of the molecular structure of DNA, declared that "one of the greatest gifts science has brought to the world is continuing elimination of the supernatural."

Then there are these truly remarkable statements by Cornell Biology Professor William Provine:

“Modern science directly implies that the world is organized strictly in accordance with mechanistic principles. There are no purposive principles in nature. There are no gods and no designing forces that are rationally detectable.”

“Modern Science directly implies that there are no inherent moral or ethical laws, no absolute guiding principles for human society.”

“Finally, free will simply does not exist.”

Among the intellectual elites in the National Academy of Sciences, 95% of biologists are materialists and therefore atheists. Those at the top of the profession have a profound influence on what is taught in the schools.

Is there any doubt that these “proponents of evolutionary biology go well beyond science to claim that evolution both manifests and requires a materialistic philosophy that leaves no room for God, the soul or the presence of divine grace in human life.” No wonder many parents are legitimately concerned about what their children are learning.

To many religious conservatives, Darwinists are “hell-bent on cramming atheistic materialism down the throats of impressionable children, in the guise of science, thereby robbing their children of the faith that has saved Western civilization from the fate of godless nations.”

Still the village atheists are shrill and aggressive for the simple reason that the successive revolutions in thought that have furthered their cause—the Enlightenment and Darwinism—have been popular busts. Polls regularly show that at least 90% of Americans believe in God; more than 80% agree that the deity is regularly performing miracles in today’s world; more than 80% also believe in an afterlife and Heaven.

On the other hand, no less a religious authority than the late pope, John Paul II, said that evolution is more than just a hypothesis. It is a thrilling theory that has demonstrated its explanatory power. Michael Behe explains that Christians believe God could make life in any way He saw fit and if He chose the mechanism of natural selection then who are we to tell Him otherwise? “Christians should be thoughtful and follow the evidence where it leads, confident that the truth of nature does not contradict the truth of God.”

This is the guiding principle of Intelligent Design.

References:

Phillip Johnson, Darwin on Trial
Jack Cashill, Hoodwinked
Michael Behe, First Times Magazine, Dec. 2005
Kenneth Woodward, New York Times, 10/1/05

Lefty Economics

I generally find the lefty blogs to be vitriolic and devoid of humor, nothing like our Scrappleface.

But this piece sent by my geophysicist friend Jackie Floyd from a lefty site called Fafblog ("This is the good blog. This is the best blog. It is the Fafblog.") is amusing.

Nature's Harmonious Money Cycle.

Money starts out in Congress where it rains from Senatorial clouds in the form of torrential tax cuts. It collects in rivers and flows downhill into billionaires and large corporations where it is evaporated by lobbyists and rises into the air in the form of campaign contributions which condense in the atmosphere (Congress again) which rain the tax cuts and start it all over again and the wheel of life rolls on.

Can you find yourself in the Money Cycle?

That's right! You're the tiny microscopic planktony thing about to get eaten by the octopus! You're right next to the leprechaun with the magical pot of pixie gold who's gonna pay down the national debt.

So dear righty friends. Did you get your tax cuts? Are you rich? Do you eat planktony things? I thought so!

Baby Brother's Birthday

The Middle Wife by an anonymous 2nd grade teacher

The best birth story I know is the one I saw in my own second-grade classroom a few years back. This little girl, Erica, a very bright, very outgoing kid, takes her turn and waddles up to the front of the class with a pillow stuffed under her sweater.
She holds up a snapshot of an infant.

This is Luke, my baby brother, and I'm going to tell you about his birthday. First, Mom and Dad made him as a symbol of their love, and then Dad put a seed in my Mom's stomach, and Luke grew in there. He ate for nine months through an umbrella cord.

She's standing there with her hands on the pillow, and I'm trying not to laugh and wishing I had my camcorder with me. The kids are watching her in amazement.

Then, about two Saturdays ago, my Mom starts saying and going, 'Oh, oh, oh!' Erica puts a hand behind her back and groans. She walked around the house for, like an hour, 'Oh, oh, oh!' Now the kid's doing this hysterical duck walk holding her back and groaning. My Dad called the middle wife. She delivers babies, but she doesn't have a sign on the car like the Domino's man.

They got my Mom to lie down in bed like this. Then Erica lies down with her back against the wall. And then, pop! My Mom had this bag of water she kept in there in case he got thirsty, and it just blew up and spilled all over the bed, like psshhheew! This kid has her legs spread and her little hands are miming water flowing away. It was too much!

Then the middle wife starts saying 'push, push, and breathe, breathe.' They started counting, but never even got past ten. Then, all of a sudden, out comes my brother. He was covered in yucky stuff they all said was from Mom's play-center!; so there must be a lot of stuff inside there.

Then Erica stood up, took a big theatrical bow and returned to her seat. I'm sure I applauded the loudest. Ever since then, if it's show-and-tell day, I bring my camcorder, just in case another Erica comes along.

Thanks to Tom Reidt for this little gem.

Myths of Evolution

The theory of the evolution of biological species through the mechanism of natural selection (survival) of beneficial genetic variations has stood the test of time.

However, much of the hype and lore that have evolved around this elegantly simple hypothesis have done irreparable harm to the scientific ideal and to the moral culture. The ideology of Darwinism, a branch of Scientism (not science), has transformed Darwinian evolution into a godless religion.

What I call the Myths of Evolution are the profound lies, frauds and coercions that began with Darwin and persist to this day. In this post I will merely list the issues as I understand them. Future posts will examine these myths and the damage that they have done to society.

Myth #1. Darwinism is not hostile to the concept of God the Creator. In fact Darwin wrote On the Origin of Species not primarily to introduce the concept of evolution (that was already known) but to “debunk the concept of supernatural intelligence.”

Myth #2. Darwinism is pure science, as opposed to Intelligent Design, for example. In fact two of Darwin’s early disciples, Ernst Haeckel and Otto Ammon, taught that “Darwinism had to become Germany’s new religion,” a concept that was warmly embraced and utilized by Hitler.

Myth #3. Darwinism, being a science, is firmly grounded in empirical methods. In fact, the history of Darwinian evolution is founded on a speculation about the origin of species, has been perpetuated by some of the most egregious frauds in the history of science, and to this day hides its many deficiencies.

Myth #4. Darwinism, being an intellectual endeavor, is dispassionate. In fact, believers many times become angry, denouncing the mildest challenges to the faith as unspeakable heresy. It has happened to me.

There are other Darwinian myths and sub-myths, but these will suffice. I’ll close this post with a note about a current biological crisis that parallels many of the issues facing Darwinism.

The newspaper headline (12/16/05) read: “Top Scientist Accused of Faking Stem Cell Findings.” (See also The Roughstock Journal, 12/15/05)

"South Korean scientist Hwang Woo Suk rose to international prominence for his breakthrough research creating the first embryonic stem cells tailored to individual patients" that could lead to cures for spinal cord injuries, strokes and diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

Now Hwang has been accused by his collaborators of fabricating the results in his landmark study. "I just did what he told me," said a visibly nervous researcher at Hwang’s lab. None of Hwang’s work has been replicated by other researchers, though many have been trying.

Lee Wang Jae, a dean at Hwang’s university, said that nine of the 11 cell lines did not exist and that the validity of the other two was in doubt. "We can declare today a day of national infamy" he said to the media.

"If it's true, it's going to go down as probably the biggest scandal in science," said Insoo Hyun, a bioethicist who spent a summer in Hwang's lab.

This is what can happen when enthusiasm for an idea overcomes ethics. Just wait until you hear about the frauds in the inglorious history of Darwinism.

Defeatocratic Demagogues

Well the Congressional Defeatocrats have done it again. A Senate vote to close debate (and end the filibuster) on the US Patriot Act extension was defeated largely along party lines. Key aspects of the legislation that is critical to our National defense (and strongly supported by the 9/11 Commission) is scheduled for Dec. 31 expiration.

The cloture vote (52-47) failed to achieve the 60 votes needed to end the debate. The 47 nays included 43 Democratic votes, 3 more than needed to sustain the filibuster. As a caller to the Hugh Hewitt show put it: The Senate Democrats have gone Ahab. Their hatred of Bush has forced them into an obsessive rage that has clouded their judgment even about their --and the nation's-- survival.

Sadly, 4 Republicans joined the Defeatocrats: Senators Craig (ID), Hagel (NE), Murkowski (AK) and Sununu (NH). These morons deserve to be defeated in their next elections. On the other hand, 2 brave Democrats voted with 50 Republicans to end the filibuster: Senators Johnson (SD) and Nelson (NE) deserve our thanks.

But their Party leaders have gone over the edge with an irrational fear of their own government that exceeds their fear of Islamofascism. Did they forget 9/11 already? And what a feckless bunch they are!

House Defeatocratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said yesterday that Democrats will produce an issue agenda for the 2006 elections but it will not include a position on Iraq. There is consensus within the party that President Bush has mismanaged the war and that a new course is needed, but House Democrats should be free to take individual positions, she said. How pathetic!!! Do these people think that America will ever again trust them with our National defense?

It must be that the Defeatocrats save all their good ideas for domestic matters. Pelosi, again, said Democrats scored significant victories recently, the biggest coming on Social Security, on which Democratic opposition to personal accounts blocked Bush's hopes to fix the long term solubility of the retirement program.

"Not only did we take him down on that, but we took down a lot of his credibility as being somebody who cared about people like me, " she said.

People like her?? That woman is delusional. She is proud that her Party saved the Social Security program from a long term fix, figuring that the grandkids can take care of that little problem. Her grandkids?? Pathetic squared!!!

Independence Day

Reports from Iraq the Model on the historic election.

From our friend W.A in Baghdad

Last night was really tough and long because we spent it under the pressure of the Arabic MSM terrifying the people and spreading Zarqawi threats that it would be a bloody day. On the other hand a rumor spread out in the middle of the night telling that the water is poisoned, well I guess the "antihuman" wanted to poison our election day.

Muhaisin Bidairy Abdullah who was born in 1900 and I think he is the oldest amongst the voters came leaning on his grandsons and could hardly breathe with tears visible in his eyes…

From our correspondent in Najaf, A.S

From the early hours of this morning thousands of Najafi’s walked down the streets heading to the polls in a true carnival of practicing our democratic right.

Mr. Ali Hassoon al-Badri said “everyone must realize that electing our representatives is a basic right for everyone and it is not a gift from anyone and that it draws the line between freedom and tyranny…”

A report from Babil from our correspondent A.T

The first voter was a disabled man, Jasim Hameed (65) he attended at 6:30 am and insisted on being the first one to vote. When he put the paper in the box said "I'm here at this early hour to challenge the terrorists who want to kill the democratic process in Iraq and I want to encourage the healthy people to vote.”

The first report from Kurdistan

The carnival of elections has begun in Erbil under strict security measures; the Peshmerga, police and “Asayesh” security corps are doing a great job in providing a safe environment for the voters. Voters flocked to the polling stations to democratically elect a four-year government for the first time in Iraq’s modern history.

The people still flocking to the polling centers eagerly willing to vote and feeling extremely happy with the purple finger they get after voting calling it the ink of freedom and democracy.

Some voters marked their choices with blood by pricking their fingers in a demonstration of patriotism.

Iraq the Model Election Coverage

Pajamas Media and Iraq the Model will be hosting extensive coverage of the parliamentary elections in Iraq. Eight correspondents based in eight different Iraqi provinces will be submitting several waves of election updates and photos exclusive to Pajamas Media. The correspondents' names will be hidden and only initials will be used for reasons concerning their personal safety. Journalists and reporters in Iraq had been targeted by the terrorists many times. Stay tuned!

Science versus Scientism

From the First Things web site: Physics Professor Stephen Barr relates the story about philosopher Daniel Dennett’s lecture entitled “Darwin, Meaning, Truth, and Morality.” Dennett claimed that Darwin had shredded the credibility of religion and was, indeed, the very “destroyer” of God. But then U. Delaware philosophy professor Jeff Jordan made the following observation to Dennett: “If Darwinism is inherently atheistic, as you say, then obviously it can’t be taught in public schools.” “And why is that?” inquired Dennett, incredulous. “Because,” said Jordan, “the Supreme Court has held that the Constitution guarantees government neutrality between religion and irreligion.”

What you will not learn in school is that Darwinism is inherently atheistic. The majority of grade and high school teachers do not even realize that truth. In the Dec. 2005 issue of First Things magazine, Michael Behe tells of his own Catholic school education and its blasé treatment of evolution. “In the end,” warns Behe, “the ability of a Christian to see the hand of God in nature – not in some gauzy, emotional sense, but as a deduction from the physical data – is finally considered illegitimate.”

The ideology of atheistic Darwinism has led to a blasé disregard of truth among the very scientists who dedicate their lives to its search. In a rare revelation, the distinguished biologist and atheist Richard Lewontin wrote in the New York Review of Books: “Our willingness to accept scientific claims that are against common sense is the key to an understanding of the real struggle between science and the supernatural. We take the side of science in spite of the patent absurdity of some of its constructs, in spite of the tolerance of the scientific community for unsubstantiated just-so stories, because we have a prior commitment, a commitment to materialism.”

This tolerance of fantasy in the name of science is called scientism. In the 1998 encyclical Fides et Ratio, Pope John Paul II wrote that “scientism relegates religious, theological, ethical and aesthetic knowledge to the realm of mere fantasy.”

You decide which is the fantasy.

Freedom Fingers

Iraqi voters show the purple finger of freedom...

Betty Dawisha showing her purple finger said it best:

“Anybody who doesn’t appreciate what America has done and President Bush, let them go to hell”

See Betty's video here:

DOWNLOAD - .MOV

eHarmony Palos Verdes

Ann Coulter


Dori Medina

Response to my Conservative Babes post was so spirited that I decided to follow-up and share some pictures of my favorite conservative babes.

Dori Medina is a regular blog reader and commenter who plans to be making a conservative splash soon…God willing. Dori is a cutie and smart to boot.

Ann Coulter (#1 on the Top Ten Conservative Women list) is not yet a PVBlog reader but I can always hope. Ann is single and funny as a crutch.

Laura Ingraham is a talk radio host (AM870, 6:00-9:00AM) and author of the best selling Shut Up and Sing. Laura is single.

Star Parker (#8 on the list) is the author of a Uncle Sam's Plantation the story of her own rise from welfare mom to success. Star is single.

Ralph said Did you forget Condi Rice? Beautiful, football fan, single, .... Secretary of State ....

Now, to moi, babes are babes, ya know, women. Guys are just guys, beer drinkers, not interesting.

But Blogette asked "If the Republican women are so hot, how come all the Republican men are so goddam ugly?

Well! Zone bridge buddy Texasjudy to the rescue: Hey!! I have never seen a sexier man than Dick Cheney in the top ranks of Republican men. I started drooling over him when he was with the first President Bush. He is hunk gorgeous!!!

Judy signed Bloggette Number One!!!

You know what? This is fun! Perhaps PalosVerdesBlog has a future as a dating site for conservative singles, dedicated exclusively to helping quality singles build lasting relationships, a comfortable virtual Christian dating service filled with thousands of Christian singles, a place to find people who share your cultural, political and religious values...

Just don't go to the taliban dating service ... Not our kind of place!

Conservative Babes

I've noticed that (outside of Hollywood) most of the hot looking women in the public eye are conservative? I start of course with Laura Bush, then Peggy Noonan, Dr. Laura Schlessinger (showing my age here), Michelle Malkin, Laura Ingraham, all the Fox News babes, lawyer/blogger Carol Platt Liebau, ... so many beautiful women, so little space.

Will Franklin called our attention to this phenomenon in a great blog piece called The Babe Theory of Political Movements, which holds that where there are hot babes, an exponential number of men will be present. Will notes that there is something fundamental and universal about a beautiful woman. He calls this the universal sign language of babealiciousness.

I remember a lot of good looking hippies and peace activists in the 60's but in recent years as the left's electoral success has diminished, the concept of "hot left-wing chicks" has gone from a nostalgic abstraction to a flat-out laughable oxymoron.

I believe that Will has nailed it. Now, just in time for Christmas, the Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute has offered it's 2006 Great American Conservative Women Calendar. In conjunction with this hot babe calendar, the Institute has just published it's list of the Top 10 Women in Conservative Movement. Here are the winners.

1. Ann Coulter
The author of four New York Times best-selling books, a television and radio commentator, attorney, Human Events legal affairs correspondent, nationally syndicated columnist, and the most popular campus speaker in the country.

2. Phyllis Schlafly
Defeated the Equal Rights Amendment by mobilizing millions of women, founder and president of Eagle Forum, author of more than 20 books, attorney, syndicated columnist, campus lecturer and debater, mother of four sons and two daughters.

3. Dr. Laura Schlessinger
A radio talk show host with more than 20 million listeners daily who “preaches, teaches, and nags” about morals, values, and ethics, best-selling author of seven books, married for 20 years, and mother of one son (a soldier).

4. Bay Buchanan
President of The American Cause, conservative television commentator, treasurer of the United States under President Ronald Reagan, campaign chairman for brother Pat Buchanan’s two presidential campaigns, campus lecturer, and mother of three sons.

5. Michelle Malkin
Author of two best-selling books, Invasion and In Defense of Internment, and soon-to-be-best-seller Unhinged (Regnery), runs one of the most popular conservative blogs in America, campus speaker, married for 13 years, and mother of a son and a daughter.

6. Marji Ross
President and publisher of Regnery Publishing, which has published 24 New York Times best-selling books during her tenure, her decision to print John O’Neill’s Unfit for Command changed the course of history in 2004, married for 16 years, and mother of three daughters.

7. Michelle Easton
Founded Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute to mentor young women for conservative leadership, served 12 years for President Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, president of Virginia State Board of Education for then-Gov. George Allen, attorney, married 31 years, and mother of three sons.

8. Star Parker
A former single welfare mother who reformed her life and became founder and president of the Coalition on Urban Renewal and Education (CURE), author of two books, powerful campus speaker, television and radio personality, and mother of two daughters.

9. Sally Pipes
President of Pacific Research Institute, tackles tough issues of health care, pharmaceuticals pricing, and strategies for consumer-driven health care, former assistant director of Canada’s Frazer Institute, debater, speaker, and frequent television and talk-radio commentator.

10. Elaine Donnelly
Founder and president of the Center for Military Readiness, former member of the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Service on President George H. W. Bush’s Commission on the Assignment of Women in the Armed Forces, married and mother of two daughters.

I just ordered a calendar. Now I must learn more about these remarkable conservative women.

Torture Test

So a huge and horrible terrorist breaks into your home. In a flash you draw your trusty Glock 9mm and order him to stop right there. Osama, believing you to be a chicken hearted infidel son of a camel, gives an ultimatum: In 10 seconds he will kill you, your pregnant wife, your little girl ... and your dog. What will you do?

Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, 5 seconds left, tick, tick,...

(a) Shoot the SOB

(b) Try to reason with the guy

(c) Nothing

If you are one of those fools who believes that terrorists are subject to the protections of the Geneva Convention, your answer is (c). No mind therapy allowed, just name, rank and serial number. Adios Amigos.

If you are a liberal, you think that everyone has a good side and you feel it's your duty to appeal to his .... Your answer is (b). You will sleep with the fishes.

If you have half a brain and the guts to protect your family, your answer is Hasta La Vista baby: BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, click, click..

Wife Lee: Dear, you must get a silencer for that thing. Baby John is kicking up a storm.... just look at my belly.

Little Carolynne: Dad, you should get the 16 shot clip for your Glock.

So, the next terrorist tells you that he has planted a dirty bomb that will blow up a grammar school in one hour. What will you do?

American Identity

About a decade ago, when he was vice president, Al Gore explained that our national motto, e pluribus unum, means "from one, many." This was a sad day for knowledge of Latin among our political elite -- and after all those expensive private schools that Gore had been packed off to by his paterfamilias.

That passage from a recent article by Charles R. Kesler exemplifies what I love about The Clarement Review of Books. It draws one in to a serious intellectual discussion about a matter of national importance with a humorous anecdote about a gaffe by a Democratic Party leader that was burried by the main-stream media. And poking fun at Algore is a treasured national pastime.

Though Gore's translation was literally backwards, it does reveal one of the deepest held tenets of modern liberalism. Multiculturalism holds that all cultures are equally good, be it Roman, Chinese, Arabic, European, American, or other. And Americans are wrong and bigotted if we believe that our culture is any better.

At a time when America is under attack by Islamofascists, world government organizations, so called allies in Europe and leftists at home, it is important that we have a really clear understanding of what it means to be an American.

Kessler discusses two books by Harvard University Professor Samuel P. Huntington:
Who Are We? The Challenges to America's National Identity and
American Politics: The Promise of Disharmony.

In Huntington's view, America is undergoing an identity crisis, in which the long-term trend points squarely towards national disintegration of culture and institutions. The culprits, what Huntington calls "disorders" are three: multiculturism, transnationalism and the Hispanization of America.

Against these threats are arrayed the sources of American identity, first the American creed, our ideology of individual rights and government by consent; and second, the American culture that includes our English language, religious practices, liberty and work ethic. On the last point, Kessler refers to Ben Franklin's immigration pamphlet (1784) that cautions Europeans that America was the "Land of Labor." Franklin said that America was not the kind of country where "the Fowls fly about ready roasted, crying, Come eat me!"

Huntington and Kessler both worry about multiculturalism as destructive of civic unity. Kessler notes that the multicultural ethic has turned civics on it's head: Robert's Rules of Multicultural Order allow peremptory objections against, say, the Catholic Church, that are denied against such as the Taliban. Scratch a multiculturalist, then, and you find a liberal willing to condemn all the usual cultural suspects.

So what are we up against? Kessler warns that modern liberalism has done its best to strip natural rights and the Constitution out of the American creed. In place of the actual Constitution, a legal contract binding on all generations of Americans, liberals would have the "living constitution" expressing their own contemporary values.

Even the Islamic threat is no more dangerous to our American way of life than the attack on the Constitution aided and abetted by the activist courts. The battle to confirm Justice Samuel A. Alito is a crucial front in this war.

Fun Stuff

Republican Baby

One of the great things about my new Western Alliance connection is finding all the fun stuff posted by my colleagues. The fab Hillary picture comes from Craig DeLuz at The Home of Uncommon Sense.

It appears that attempts by Hillary Clinton to reinvent herself are not working out as planned. As she moves to the right by straddling the Iraq war fence and co-sponsoring legislation to make flag-burning a crime, voters on the left are hopping mad and voters on the right aren’t falling for it.

Continuing with the fun, here is a picture from the newest RNC commercial "Retreat and Defeat." When it comes to leading Democrats and Iraq, we've seen it all. First, they voted for the war; then they claimed it was a lie. Now, some of the Democrat leaders have taken their most extreme and dangerous position yet; predicting the defeat of our troops in Iraq.

Howard Dean

Now there's a fun guy. But to Republicans he's the gift that keeps on giving. Long live Howie.