Obama's Chickens Coming Home to ROOOOST!

A little digital shenanigans for a Saturday afternoon (and a lot of Sunday tweaks).

Use this graphic as you see fit, on your website or blog.

Click on image to see it full size.

Father Michael Pfleger In Blackface: A Parody?

My friends at Infidel Blogger's Alliance likened Father Pfleger's racist rant at Trinity United to Al Jolsen. Al Jolsen was a performer of the 1940's who sang black minstrel songs while in "blackface."

Blackface was when white performers put burnt cork all over their faces to make them look black. However, they steered clear of their eyes and mouth, giving them a look that was an insulting caricature of real black people.

In those racist times, thanks to blackface singers, white audiences could enjoy black songs without having to be exposed to real black people. Perhaps the caricature look was reassuring to white audiences, as it made it obvious that the singer was not really black, but merely playing an obvious role.

Father Pfleger's vicious rant at Trinity United Church in Chicago seemed like a parody of radical black ministers like Jeremy Wright and Louis Farrakhan. Indeed, Pfleger's voice and inflection sound identical to those of Pastor Jeremy Wright. A white performer acting black through insulting stereotypes...Pfleger's "sermon" was indeed a Blackface moment.

Pfleger's racist diatribe was yet another "pastoral moment" for Barack Obama, who seems deeply in bed with hateful extremists, whether they be unapologetic former terrorists or radical priests and ministers.

The videos of Father Pfleger have been posted all over the web. If you haven't seen it, you can watch it below.

Environmentalism: Socialism by Other Means

When I was in college during the 1970's, a member of my YAF group wrote a prescient article for our newsletter. It was about the new fad of environmentalism, then in its embyronic stages. He wrote that, just as the issue of Civil Rights had been used as a sledgehammer against capitalistic society, so would envirnomentalism. He saw environmentalism as an elaborate ruse by which the government would enact more stringent controls over our society and freedom.

I don't even remember the writer's name, but if I did I would call him up and praise him. He was absolutely right. Czech President Vaclav Klaus described it well when he said: "The largest threat to freedom, democracy, the market economy and prosperity is no longer socialism. It is, instead, the ambitious, arrogant, unscrupulous ideology of environmentalism." Charles Krauthammer, writing in the Washinton Post, says:

Predictions of catastrophe depend on models. Models depend on assumptions
about complex planetary systems -- from ocean currents to cloud formation --
that no one fully understands. Which is why the models are inherently flawed
and forever changing. The doomsday scenarios posit a cascade of events, each
with a certain probability. The multiple improbability of their simultaneous
occurrence renders all such predictions entirely speculative.

Yet on the basis of this speculation, environmental activists, attended by
compliant scientists and opportunistic politicians, are advocating radical
economic and social regulation. "The largest threat to freedom, democracy, the
market economy and prosperity," warns Czech President Vaclav Klaus, "is no longer socialism. It is, instead, the ambitious, arrogant, unscrupulous ideology of environmentalism." Read it all here.

Green is the new Red. Don't be deceived by it.

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A Great New Reason to Vote for McCain

McCain is looking better all the time. A great new reason to vote for him surfaced this morning: Susan Sarandon, airhead leftist from Hollyweird has promised to leave the country if McCain is elected.

Oh PLEASE, Susan, don't make promises like that unless you intend to keep them. You get our hopes all up and then crush them when you don't follow through. One recalls that Alex Baldwin promised to move to France if Bush were elected, then broke his promise. I was so disappointed!

Actress Susan Sarandon has vowed to move abroad if Senator John McCain is elected to the Presidency of the United States. Columnist Liz Smith reports that the comely Sarandon, who will be 62 this year, is not pleased at the idea of another Republican regime occupying the White House.

Susan is one of many Hollywood leftists whose IQ is the same as her age.

The Washington Post: "Al-Qaeda Losing the War"

From the Voice of Liberalism, the Washington Post:

Less than a year after his agency warned of new threats from a resurgent al-Qaeda, CIA Director Michael V. Hayden now portrays the terrorist movement as essentially defeated in Iraq and Saudi Arabia and on the defensive throughout much of the rest of the world, including in its presumed haven along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. In a strikingly upbeat assessment, the CIA chief cited major gains against al-Qaeda's allies in the Middle East and an increasingly successful campaign to destabilize the group's core leadership.

While cautioning that al-Qaeda remains a serious threat, Hayden said Osama bin Laden is losing the battle for hearts and minds in the Islamic world and has largely forfeited his ability to exploit the Iraq war to recruit adherents. Two years ago, a CIA study concluded that the U.S.-led war had become a propaganda and marketing bonanza for al-Qaeda, generating cash donations and legions of volunteers.

Read the whole thing here.

French Female Blogger Criticizes France, Defends America

One of my favorite French blogs is "Le Blog de Lisa," or Lisa's Blog. That's her on the right. She wrote a great post that I have translated into English. It is posted below.

Blue, White but Most Especially, Red

Nearly twenty years after the fall of the Berlin wall and the end of communist dictatorship, the French mentality continues to be suffused in Marxist and communist ideology.

The red flags of the CGT [Confederation Generale de Travail, or General Confederation of Labor] and other labor unions regularly invade our streets. With cries of "It is the struggle," we are again plunged into class warfare; the poor enslaved proletarians confront the bastard shopowners with multiple strikes. The unions, clearly aligned with the left, regularly hold the country hostage. The Internationale floats in the air. The country is paralyzed.

Besancenot, spokesman for the Communist Revolutionary League, attends each strike to encourage the working class. Invited on the popular Michel Drucker TV show "Vivement Dimanche" [loosely, "Looking Forward to Sunday"], he has inflamed the audience. Drucker's red sentiments make those of the French public seem pale by comparison. On many a Sunday afternoon viewers are treated to an insane furor that is anticapitalistic, anti-american, anti-business, but pro Marx and pro Che Guevara. Besancenot has described the latter as "a source of inexhaustible inspiration."

France is Red. Slowly, the French public has been subverted to Marxist thought. In weekend TV variety shows, during prime time, people dance to and applaud the voice of Natalie Cardonne, who sings [in Spanish] "Here rests the bright light of your dear presence, Commandant Che Guevara..." In the street, young people display a tee shirt with the likeness of the revolutionary who massacred thousands in the name of his ideology.

Yes, France is Red, but not only that. It is also cowardly and arrogant. The French are dense and cowardly, starting with Jaques Chirac and Dominique de Villipin. Two individuals who planted a knife in the backs of the Americans, our allies of yesterday. In 2003, Jacques Chirac, President of the Republic, opposed the war in Iraq and placed France in principal opposition to the United States. The America of George Bush needed us, and we shut the door in their faces, with a minister of foreign affairs (De Villipin) who used his veto in opposition before the Security Council of the U.N. Except for a few brave people like Bernard Kouchner and Andre Glucksman, no one in France dared to criticize the French opposition.

The fact that points to our cowardice is that we never took the time to listen, to give them the attention they deserved. We didn't even have the intelligence to question them on the reasons for the war, or the general reasons why America would ever go to war. They fight for liberty and democracy against all dictators. On a certain June 6, 1944, baptized "D-Day," we were quite happy that they came to liberate us from German troops.

During the Cold War, they fought and vanquished a despotism that ravaged the nations of the East: Communism. Today they fight against a murderous tyranny, one of religious fanaticism, (and especially, of power and blood), which menaces freedom and democracy in the 21st century. And it is a cowardice of the worst sort that renounces they who fight those who want to impose their will on the world through violence and death. France is opposed to the war, but has never proposed any alternative. We had a president for twelve years who was a mere puppet, who did nothing in his years at Elysee [the French presidential palace] but puff on his cigars in his armchair while lecturing others.

Anti-american, the French have, for sport, preferred to view the United States with deep contempt and prejudice. People with the strongest opinions tend to be those who never set foot there. The French anti-americans disparage Americans for their petroleum politics. But what hypocrisy! Because we have no need of gasoline in our daily live, perhaps? This petroleum, our access to which is secured by the United States? Unemployment, marginalization, poverty, all the maladies of the earth are attributed solely to the United States by the French. It is easy to forget that we have the same problems, sometimes in worse proportions (an example is unemployment, which is 8% in France, compared with 4% on the other side of the Atlantic.) But the French are only content to preach to others, while never sweeping the dirt in front of their own door.

This cowardice and anti-americanism become most outrageous when, each day, young American soldiers are dying. Even while people call the United States names and attribute to them all earthly defects and after having cowardly abandoned them, fathers of American families are risking their lives, far from their wives and children, to defend our freedom for us, and allow us to continue living in a free world. I saw, on the beach of Santa Monica, near Los Angeles, a memorial dedicated to all the soldiers who died for liberty. I saw on this beach dozens of crosses planted in the sand, and dozens of coffins covered with the American flag, to remind us that America is a country at war. I saw a little girl of 5 or 6 years of age, who placed a little note saying "I love U Dad" on a white cross, where a photo was attached, of her papa who died in combat.

During my time there, the only worry for a young French woman was to know who was going to win the Star Academy, while United States citizens were praying every day for their father or their brother in combat. I felt shame before this memorial, which reminded me that France pukes on the United States, turn their backs on it, but without ever having to endure a day like September 11. It's so easy that way.

The French have thus caused France to become a country off course. Awash in Marxist thought, they are egotistical cowards in meditation upon their navels. As long as they can have their LDA ("Lay Down Always!!), take five week vacations and watch Besancenot on Drucker's show, the rest of the world does not interest them, they are quite able to do without it.

Another Barack Obama "Hope" Banner

I saw a similar poster at the pro-American French Blog Le Blog DRZZ. It was so good I promptly stole it. Use as you see fit.

Memorial Day 2008: Photos from Friends

The pro-American French blog Support American Soldiers pays tribute to the American military. They ran the two pictures immediately below. The first is most appropriate for Memorial Day, as it honors a fallen soldier.

These French allies of Support American Soldiers remind me of the spirit of the Marquis de Lafayette, who was a friend of General Washington, and whose support of the American Revolution preserved its success.

The Second Photo below shows American troops in St. Mere Eglise, France, after parachuting there during the invasion of Normandy in 1944. Perhaps they, like World War I American soldiers in France, shouted "Lafayette, Nous Voici!" (Lafayette, we are here.)

The third graphic below is from my friend Carol of NoSheeplesHere. Thanks Carol, I value our growing friendship!

Paul McCartney on Bill Black's String Bass

I love string bass (electric bass too) and I have been a fan of Paul McCartney since 1964. I have been an Elvis fan since 1957. In the early days of his career, Elvis had a great guitar player named Scotty Moore and a string bass player named Bill Black. The electric bass guitar was not widely used yet (Fender introduced the Precision Bass in 1951), so Bill Black used the old-fashioned acoustic, stand-up bass (still preferred for jazz and orchestras).

Paul McCartney somehow came into possession of Bill Black's old bass and demonstrates it in this video.

Smokin' Dope: the Appeal of Barack Obama

So many Democrats believe that the most important factor in picking a president is racial/gender inclusiveness. So many people will be voting for Obama because he's black. Throw in the fact that he's young and energetic and goodlooking and he really tickles their fancy. So many just don't care what the guy actually believes or how damaging his policies will be when he gets to the White House. They just want to feel good about themselves by supporting the first black president.

I see Barack as dangerously naive. His recent series of gaffes and crazy statements scare me, e.g., that Americans should please the rest of the world by not air conditioning our homes, not driving SUV's or eating our fill. He remarked that since we are only 3% of the population we should not be using 25% of the world's energy supply.

It was an incredibly stupid remark - we are far more productive on a per citizen basis than any other country, so we use more energy. We pay for that energy through our productivity. In order to reduce our energy usage to 3% (to match our population) we would essentially become a third world backwater and be living in poverty. The rest of the world would suffer for it too, since we export a lot of goods, services and food to other countries.

I don't care about the color of Obama's skin, I care about the color of his politics, and they are a flaming socialist red. His friendships and associations with radicals and extremists, his membership in a racist church, his obvious lack of affection for the country he wants to lead (the flag pin and refusal to salute the flag), his brazen ignorance of the most basic economics, all indicate a stealth radical.

He is far from a mainstream candidate. With Obama in the White House you can expect the following:

1. Higher taxes and a damaged economy.
2. Lower defense spending, demoralization and a weakening of the armed forces by shifting defense appropriations to new entitlement programs.
3. Higher energy prices as new oil refineries will not be built, new oil drilling will not be allowed -- instead, oil companies will be greatly taxed, more closely regulated and their productivity reduced.
4. A further weakening and defunding of our intelligence agencies, i.e. the FBI and the CIA.
5. Recognition of and granting prestige to radical and terrorist leaders worldwide, e.g. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Hugo Chavez and Kim Jong Il.
6. A precipitous pull out of all troops from Iraq, emboldening terrorists to continue attacking our interests around the world.
7. Increased attacks on Israel and greater Israeli deaths, as terrorists know that Obama will do nothing to stop them.
8. Proliferation of North Korean nuclear arms to terrorist states.
9. A plethora of new government laws regulating private personal behavior, including what we eat, drink, drive and wear, "for our own good."
10. Increased flows of illegal immigrants into the United States, further draining public resources.

Normally, Republicans could mobilize to thwart Obama's initiatives, but Republicans will most likely be in the minority and unable to override Obama's vetoes. A lot of damage will be done before a disgruntled populace awakens to turn the Dems out.

There is a chance that McCain can defeat Obama, especially since Obama's radicalism and inexperience are beginning to alarm more and more people. That would be a victory for the country but would also have unpleasant side effects. A thousand new conspiracy theories will emerge to explain the loss; many people will imagine racists pulling secret levers and repressing votes and stealing the election. Will race riots follow? Considering how polarized this country has become, it is entirely possible.

Al-Qaeda Admits Defeat in Iraq

Nibras Kazimi is a Visiting Scholar at the Hudson Institute in Washington DC and a contributing editor for the New York Sun. On his blog he writes:

Fascinating: The Jihadists Admit Defeat in Iraq
A prolific jihadist sympathizer has posted an ‘explosive’ study on one of the main jihadist websites in which he laments the dire situation that the mujaheddin find themselves in Iraq by citing the steep drop in the number of insurgent operations conducted by the various jihadist groups, most notably Al-Qaeda’s 94 percent decline in operational ability over the last 12 months when only a year and half ago Al-Qaeda accounted for 60 percent of all jihadist activity!

Thus, not only is America defeating Al-Qaeda militarily in Iraq but it is also squashing the grand jihadist vision for a caliphate that the Islamic State of Iraq stood for. This point is critical: in this ideological war, victory can only come about when the ideology of the opponent is negated and proven unworkable. The fight in Iraq is doing just that.I’m not saying that the jihadists won’t keep trying to find a workable formula for the caliphate elsewhere, but for now they have been dealt a severe demoralizing blow. Put that in your pipe and smoke it all ye calling for a hasty withdrawal.

Read it all here. Hat tip Gates of Vienna.

Obama: Hope or Hype?

I found this nice image of Obama on the web and changed one letter in the world "Hope." I think it's much more appropriate to the man. If you agree, feel free to download and use the image as you see fit.

Funny Video: Everyone Loves Allah

I came across this funny video dramatizing the meeting of Muhammad with Gabriel. It then accurately has Muhammad quoting actual verses from the Qur'an and the Hadith which are pretty funny all by themselves. I was laughing out loud it was so funny!

This and other videos are available from a website called "Investigate Islam."

If the authors lived in Holland they would most likely be in jail by now.

Note:  the YouTube video is no longer available, but you can view it here on the Investigate Islam site.

Poking Holes in the Theories of Militant Atheism

This past week I read David Berlinski's book, The Devil's Delusion: Atheism and Its Scientific Pretensions. Berlinski is a secular Jew with a PhD from Princeton in Philosophy and completed postdoctoral fellowships in mathematics and molecular biology at Columbia University. He has taught philosophy, mathematics and English at various universities.

Berlinksi came to my attention after spanking John Derbyshire at National Review Online over Derbyshire's erroneous and unfounded attack on Ben Stein's movie, "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed." The article referenced "The Devil's Delusion," so I bought it.

In the book, Berlinski discusses major scientific theories like Newtonian mechanics, the theory of the electromagnetic field, special and general relativity and quantum mechanics. All of these theories are valuable and useful, but all contain gaps in our knowledge as well, which Berinski calls "the God of the gaps." Much of scientific theory employs supposition, inference, and what molecular geneticist Emile Zuckerlandl calls "unobservable entities": universal forces, grand symmetries, twice-differential functions as in mechanics, Calabi-Yau manifolds, ionic bonds, and quantum fields." Berlinski notes "Why physicists should enjoy inferential advantages denied theologians, Zuckerlandl does not say."

In other words, much of scientific theory is based on faith, not verifiable hard data. Berlinski notes: "If religious belief places the human heart in the service of an unseen world, the serious sciences have since the great [scientific] revolution of the seventeeth century done precisely the same thing." Science often answers questions as to the how and why of natural phenomena, and almost always creates even more questions in the process.

We open one door to find many more. There is a vast amount of what we do not know, and perhaps cannot know. Scientific atheism has its own kind of faith, that everything in the universe will eventually be explained by mathematics or other sciences. That, however, assumes the human mind is adequate to perceive all questions and comprehend all possible solutions. This ignores the probability that we can no more fully comprehend the cosmos than a boll weevil can understand quantum mechanics.

Underlying the dispute of science versus religion is a determination by scientific atheists to never admit the possibility of a Creator. As geneticist Richard Lewontin remarked, "We cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door."

Berlinski notes many facts that make atheist physicists uncomfortable. Some of these are as follows:

1. The Big Bang theory. Scientists once believed that the universe must have existed from "everlasting to everlasting," that it had no beginning and no end. Now there is substantial evidence that the universe appeared suddenly about 14 billion years ago, i.e. it had a definite beginning. What created it? Scientists do not know and cannot explain it. Perhaps it is unexplainable in human terms.

2. The existence of life. Science has described no mechanics by which life emerged from inert matter. What created it? We don't have a clue.

3. The universe appears to be "a put-up job," that is, appears to have been created intelligently and fine-tuned to support life. Various scientists have admitted this, including physicist Paul Davies, who observed "Scientists are slowly waking up to an inconvenient truth - that the universe looks suspiciously like a fix. The issue concerns the very laws of nature themselves. For 40 years, physicists and cosmologists have been quietly collecting examples of all too convenient 'coincidences' and special features in the underlying laws of the universe that seem to be necessary in order for life, and hence conscious beings, to exist. Change any one of them and the consequences would be lethal." Physicist Leonard Susskind observed: "Without any explanation of nature's fine-tunings we will be hard pressed to answer the Intelligent Design critics."

4. The human mind. Berlinski notes "We do not have a serious scientific theory explaining the powers and properties of the human mind. The claim that the human mind is the product of evolution is not unassailable fact. It is barely coherent."

5. Weaknesses in the theory of evolution. Berlinksi devotes a lot of space to evolution. One of his most persuasive arguments against it is that the fossil record does not support the theory of gradual emergence of new species from old. He quotes scientists themselves to support his argument. Robert Carroll, a committed evolutionist, noted that "most of the fossil record does not support a strictly gradualistic account" of evolution. Scientist Eugene Koonin published a peer-reviewed paper in 2007 titled "The Biological Big Bang Model for the Major Transitions in Evolution." He concluded: "Major transitions in biological evolution show the same pattern of sudden emergence of diverse forms at a new level of complexity." So much for the theory of "natural selection."

Berlinski believes, as I do, that scientific atheism is based on arrogance and immaturity. He describes the feelings of many when he writes "Indeed, they [scientific atheists] are widely considered self-righteous, vain, politically immature and arrogant." One example he gives of this is militant atheist Richard Dawkin's remark: "It is absolutely safe to say that if you meet somebody who claims not to believe in evolution that person is ignorant, stupid or insane."

Militant atheism, however, is its own kind of faith, and as Berlinski notes "And like any militant church, this one places a familiar demand before all others: Thou shalt have no other gods before me."

My conclusions are simple: People of faith have nothing to fear from science or militant atheism. Considering how little scientists actually know, the religious views of creation are as good as any to explain the origins of the universe and life on earth. Or, to quote an older book, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."

Honoring the Brave on U.S. Armed Forces Day

A French friend of ours has published a tribute to U.S. Armed Forces Day (which is today, May 17, 2008). To show our appreciation, we have reprinted it here in English. See the original in French here, along with some great pictures of American women serving in the U.S. military.

Support American Soldiers blog posts the following:

President Harry S. Truman led the effort to establish a single holiday for citizens to come together and thank our military members for their patriotic service in support of our country. On August 31, 1949, Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson announced the creation of an Armed Forces Day to replace separate Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force Days. The day is celebrated on the third Saturday in May. The single-day celebration stemmed from the unification of the Armed Forces under one department -- the Department of Defense.

On this day of dedication, our blog wishes to recognize and support the American women who serve with courage in the armed forces. They represent 15% overall, and many are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Experiment with Animated Graphics

This is just a test. I am experimenting with animated graphics.

Pretty cool, hey?

Bush Gets It Right...and Wrong on Islamic Extremism

President Bush gave a speech to the Israeli Knesset yesterday and spoke great words of truth and of comfort to the besieged Israelis. As Powerline aptly points out, President Bush shows that "he gets it" on some issues but not on others.

Where he doesn't get it is revealed in these words:

This struggle is waged with the technology of the 21st century, but at its core it is an ancient battle between good and evil. The killers claim the mantle of Islam, but they are not religious men. No one who prays to the God of Abraham could strap a suicide vest to an innocent child, or blow up guiltless guests at a Passover Seder, or fly planes into office buildings filled with unsuspecting workers. In truth, the men who carry out these savage acts serve no higher goal than their own desire for power. They accept no God before themselves. And they reserve a special hatred for the most ardent defenders of liberty, including Americans and Israelis.

Bush continues to push the erroneous theory that Muslim extremists want to kill us because we are democratic and stand in the way of their lust for power. He continues to believe, wrongly, that the terrorists are not being true to "the real Islam." All that is, is crap.

The terrorists are indeed adhering to the true Islam and the example and commandments of its false and evil prophet. Their ideological struggle is based on their violent, intolerant and lethal religion...a religion that has no connection whatever to the "God of Abraham."

Where he does get it is shown by these words:

The fight against terror and extremism is the defining challenge of our time. It
is more than a clash of arms. It is a clash of visions, a great ideological
struggle. On the one side are those who defend the ideals of justice and dignity
with the power of reason and truth. On the other side are those who pursue a
narrow vision of cruelty and control by committing murder, inciting fear, and
spreading lies.

And that is why the founding charter of Hamas calls for the "elimination" of
Israel. And that is why the followers of Hezbollah chant "Death to Israel, Death
to America!" That is why Osama bin Laden teaches that "the killing of Jews and
Americans is one of the biggest duties." And that is why the President of Iran
dreams of returning the Middle East to the Middle Ages and calls for Israel to
be wiped off the map. There are good and decent people who cannot fathom the
darkness in these men and try to explain away their words. It's natural, but
it is deadly wrong. As witnesses to evil in the past, we carry a solemn responsibility to take these words seriously. Jews and Americans have seen the consequences of disregarding the words of leaders who espouse hatred. And that is a mistake the world must not repeat in the 21st century.

Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along. We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: "Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided." We have an obligation to call this what it is -- the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history.

The last sentence above is particularly accurate.

Iranian Insect Meets Jewzilla

The Iranian reports of Israel's demise appear somewhat exaggerated. Click on image to see it full size.














Well we can at least hope it turns out this way! And it will as long as Israelis continue to believe in themselves and the worth of their culture, traditions and nation -- the very things the neoliberals want so desperately to destroy.

All of the efforts of the neoliberal elite seem to be pointed at one goal: to destroy the West's (and more specifically, Israel's) will to survive. Never, never give into this. Israel must survive.

As for Ahmadinejad, he is more cockroach than human. His bones will have turned to dust long before Israel submits to Muslim tyranny and genocide.
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Uncle Sam Says "VOTE"... or Not

Last night I created a Photoshop picture of Uncle Sam holding a gun to his head. Pam Geller requested it for her blog Atlas Shrugs and you can see it here.

I used the before (pre-photoshopped) picture and the photoshop in a cartoon to show the before and after effect. It's at the left of the screen. Click on it to view the full sized image. Enjoy.

It Was My Last Cigar

I'm all out of cigars. Whenever that happens I think of a poem I learned in sophomore English in high school. It was called "My Last Cigar." I haven't seen that poem in 40+ years, but sure enough, I found it on the internet.

Here it is.

My Last Cigar

‘Twas off the blue Canary Isles, a glorious summer day,
I sat upon the quarter deck and wiff’d my cares away
And as the volumed smoke arose, like incense in the air,
I breath’d a sigh to think in sooth, it was my last cigar

I lean’d against the quarter rail, and look’d down in the sea,
E’en there the purple wreath of smoke was curling gracefully;
Oh, what had I at such a time to do with wasting care?
Alas the trembling tear proclaim’d it was my last cigar.

I watch’d the ashes, as it came fast drawing t’ward the end,
I watch’d it as a friend would watch beside a dying friend;
But still the flame crept slowly on, it vanish’d into air,
I threw it from me – spare the tale – it was my last cigar.

I’ve seen the land of all I love fade in the distance dim,
I’ve watch’d above the blighted heart where once proud hope hath been;
But I’ve never known a sorrow that could with that compare,
When off the blue Canary Isles I smoked my last cigar.

****
This poem was composed by a naval officer on duty off the coast of Africa before the Civil War, when the United States kept a patrol there to guard against the slave trade.

Great Video of Barack Hussein Obama

Can the West be Saved? A Speech by Serge Trifkovic

The Gates of Vienna has published a speech by Serge Trikovic on the nature and the answer to the Islamic threat on western civilization. It is one of the most powerful and accurate descriptions of the problem that I have ever read. It is a must read -- go here now to read the whole speech.

The first book I ever read on Islam was Trifkovic's "The Sword of the Prophet." It really opened my eyes to the history and beliefs of Islam and its violent, totalitarian legacy.

Trifkovic spoke at the latest of a series of Counterjihad meetings, “Defending Civil Liberties in Europe,” which convened over the weekend in Vienna, Austria, and has just concluded. He made an advance copy of his speech to Gates of Vienna. Trifkovic takes the neoliberal elite to task and writes:

Topping the list is elite hostility to all forms of solidarity of the
majority population based on shared historical memories, ancestors, and common
culture; the consequences are predictable:

1. the loss of a sense of place and history among Europeans and North
Americans;
2. rapid demographic decline, especially in Europe, unparalleled in
history;
3. rampant Third World (and in Europe, overwhelmingly Muslim)
immigration;
4. collapse of private and public manners, morals, and traditional
commonalities; imposition of “diversity,” “multiculturalism,” “sensitivity”;
and
5. demonization and criminalization of any opposition to any of the
above.

The end-result is the Westerners’ loss of the sense of propriety over their
lands. Before 1914, both the West and the Muslim world could define themselves
against each other in a cultural sense. The neoliberal elite insists on casting
aside any idea of a specifically “Western” geographic and cultural space that
should be protected from those who do not belong to it and have no rightful
claim to it. The elite insists that our countries belong to the whole
world.

I repeat: this is a must read. I am moving Gates of Vienna to my "Must Reads" list and demoting Little Green Footballs to the blog roll.
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Little Green Footballs: Group-Think at Work

Charles Johnson just can't leave the evolutionist-heretics alone. At Little Green Footballs today he has a very poor poem by one of his readers (Winslow) called "Once Upon the Internet." In it the "poet" writes verses such as these:

And then, with logic so perverse it hurts to render it in verse, The charge was made that atheism is religious faith.

And even Orwell would be awed by language so profoundly flawed, For logically, religious faith is therefore non-belief.

To try to cast theology as natural philosophy Is clearly what Intelligent Designers have in mind.

Their documented strategy to wedge their way to victory Speaks volumes on the nature of Intelligent Design.

Charles is obviously offended by those who do not believe the theory of evolution is a proven fact, hence his daily arrows against them. A couple of days ago he linked to another dismissive post, this one on Zamblog by Zombie (whom I've praised several times in posts). Zombie was also highly critical of the evolutionist nay-sayers and gave a link to John Derbyshire's essay knocking Ben Stein's movie ("Expelled") on the subject. Derbyshire attacked the film as a piece of creationist "porn" and "a blood libel on our civilization." Zombie said he agreed with Derbyshire.

In the piece, however, Derbyshire admitted that he hadn't even seen the movie. His criticisms of it were merely what he imagined its content to be. Wow, what scholarship! This is similar to all those liberals at Amazon.com writing vicious reviews of conservative books that they've never read.

A better scholar, David Berlinski, also writing at National Review Online, takes Derbyshire to task and rips him a new one at this link.

The truth is, Charles Johson is no conservative, and neither are some of his slavish ass-kissers. They are dismissive of Christians and other religious folk, and assume, smugly and arrogantly, that their atheistic beliefs are "truth."

Group-Think is an ugly thing and it has always turned me off. It's even worse in an atmosphere of implied threat, i.e. that the host will ban you from his forum if you dare to disagree. LGF is one of these, where the Great Leader pontificates and his minions bow and scrape to support his prejudices and beliefs, lest they be summarily ostracized from the community. It's similar to what you might see at any college or university today -- the mindset is liberal and leftist, and the social ostracism, intimidation and poor grades reserved for the brave few who speak out against it. That's not for me. I think my days as a Lizard are over.

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As for Winslow's lame verse above, atheism is, in fact, a form of faith, just as theism is. Atheism is simply a kind of negative faith. One person looks at the cosmos and decides there must be a higher power and a higher purpose. He has a positive, optimistic kind of faith. Another looks at the cosmos and decides it must be a meaningless accident with no purpose whatsoever. He has a negative, pessimistic kind of faith.

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Whereas both observers have faith (i.e. belief that is not based on provable facts), the latter believes his faith is factual knowledge (or "science") and that he is very deep thinker and brainy sort. As a corollary, since he is so brainy and brilliant, the optimist observer must necessarily be superstitious and ignorant, and laughably so.

The truth is, the latter observer (the pessimist/atheist) is rather shallow. Sort of like Winslow and a plethora of other CJ butt-kissers at Little Green Footballs.

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Stogie Helps Atlas Shrugs on Mother's Day

This morning the lovely and gorgeous Pam Geller of AtlasShrugs posted a photo of a painting of her mother, who passed away in December 2006. Looking at the picture, it was easy to see where Pam got her looks. Her mother was drop-dead gorgeous.

I noticed the photo picked up the reflection from the glass covering the portrait, giving it a streaky and uneven look. So I downloaded the photo and, using Photoshop, took off the glare. Then I deepened the colors of the picture to make it brighter. I emailed it to Pam. She loved it and immediately replaced the original with my Photoshopped copy.

See it here.

I love doing graphics for fun. Repairing photos is fun and satisfying -- taking an old, yellowed photo with creases and tears and restoring it to its original appearance can be very satisfying. I can also colorize black and white photos (in many cases).

If you have a graphics need, let me know. If I have time I will try to help you -- no charge for fellow conservatives.

Bernie Ward Cops a Plea

Bernie Ward, former Catholic priest and confessed child-porn distributor, pleaded guilty to a Federal judge the other day. He's likely to serve at least five years.

Ward was also a talk-show host for KGO radio in San Francisco. Called "the Lion of the Left," he was a spokesman for extreme leftwing causes. Ward at first claimed the child porn he collected was research material for a book, but it appears he was "lyin' on the left."

ABC News did some research and found out that Ward was groping some of his young girl students when he taught high school. He plied them with marijuana and liquor and tried to get them to make out with him. They complained to high school officials but Ward was not prosecuted.

See the ABC news report and video here.

What To Do About High Gas Prices

On Leaving Islam

I read a good book last week, "Why We Left Islam: Former Muslims Speak Out." It is a compilation of personal stories of both women and men apostates and why they decided to leave their religion.

Leaving Islam can get you killed, since Islam suffers no lack of excuses for murder. Those who wrote and compiled this book are therefore under some danger; however, they wanted to tell their stories to help other doubters make the right decision, i.e. to leave this violent religion.

The women who write generally speak of violence and abuse at the hands of their husbands or fathers. One woman bore a Muslim man three daughters; upset at the lack of a son, he beat her severely, causing internal injuries that required removal of her uterus. The husband visited her in the hospital to inform her that he was divorcing her since she could not now bear him a son.

Other women had the courage to leave their abusive husbands. One called a taxi cab and fled with her children. She writes of throwing her hijab out the window of the taxi in celebration.

The men who write of their reasons for leaving Islam also follow a common theme: one of morality and humanity. Since the majority of Muslims have never read the Qur'an or the Hadith, they don't really know what their Prophet was like - what he believed or what he did after declaring himself "the messenger of God." Some of the men wrote that they had doubts about the harsh practices of Islam and sought reassurance by turning to their religious texts. Instead of being reassured in the faith, they were shocked and disgusted by what they found. Reading the Qur'an only hastened their departure from Islam. They learned that the Muhammad of the Qur'an and the Hadith was a far different person than the shining example of morality and peace claimed by popular culture.

One of the apostates lauds the internet as an irrepressible medium of educating Muslims as to the truth about their faith. He urges all apostates to create their own blogs or websites. They need not attack Isam, merely let it be known that they are apostates who have rejected Islam. That information alone, he argues, will be enough to open (by a small crack) the minds of many Muslims. It will let them know that it is possible to leave Islam, something they now believe to be impossible. A good example of an apostate's blog is here; a good example of an apostate website is here. If you are a Muslim with growing doubts about your faith, check out these sites. You are not alone.

The book concludes with an afterword by Gregory M. Davis. Davis's conclusions regarding Islam are compelling and expertly argued. He writes:

The hypersensitivity of the West today -- especially in Western Europe -- to anything invocative of national pride or civilizational identity has crippled its ability to assert the legitimacy of its own traditions against those who would destroy them.

The West must awaken to the fact that it is facing nothing less than the resurgence of the greatest war machine in world history: an ideology that holds the killing of others, the plundering of their wealth, the conquering of their lands, the enslavement of their people, and the destruction of their institutions to be among the highest virtues and the stepping stones to salvation.

John McCain Sings Barbara Streisand

John McCain sings Barbara Streisand songs. He shows he has a sense of humor and makes a great point while doing it.

Beware the Angry Immigrant Vagina

Michelle Malkin has an interesting story of the latest "Illegal Immigrants on Parade" rally in Seattle. One young woman, apparently an illegal immigrant, carried a picket sign reading "My Immigrant Vagina is Angry."

I'm not sure of the meaning of this. Can separate body parts be angry? If her vagina is angry, how does her butt feel about it? Or her nose or her elbow? Did she consult her big toe?

Is this picket sign an implied threat? What's her angry vagina going to do? Can vaginas "go postal"?

It's a scary thought for sure.

Read the whole thing here.







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Back from L.A. - Wife Bumps Into Simon Cowell

Mrs. Chomper and I just returned from Los Angeles -- Studio City, to be exact. We were visiting friends there. On Friday evening, just after we arrived by car, Mrs. Chomper and Mrs. Friend walked over to the Long's Drugstore a block away to get some things. While there they ran into Simon Cowell, the meanest judge on the American Idol television show. Mrs. Chomper heard him talking to his girlfriend in his well-known British accent. Simon and his blond girlfriend were buying magazines and gum. Mrs. Friend stopped in her tracks and pointed (how rude) at Simon. He smiled and waved to the ladies and continued his shopping.

Mrs. Chomper said she thinks Simon is very handsome, but was surprised to see how short and thin he is in person.

I've been to L.A. and Hollywood and environs many times but have never spotted a celebrity. Who would I like to spot? Kellie Pickler. She's my kinda gal. Southern, unvarnished and darned good looking. Mrs. Chomper would hit me over the head with a rolling pin, but it would be worth it.

Ayyyye chee wa wa!

I don't really have an "Infidel Babe of the Month" like Infidel Bloggers does, but if I did, Kellie would be my first pick.

As for most other Hollyweird celebrities, you can keep them. They are generally an anti-American lot anyway.

Photos: above right, Simon Cowell, Judge on American Idol; below left, Kellie Pickler, former contestant on American Idol..

Another "Honor" Killing in Iraq

A 17 year old girl was recently murdered by her father in Iraq. Her name was Rand Abdel-Qader. Her father killed her for falling in love with a young British soldier. He wasn't prosecuted for the crime because honor killings are legal in Iraq and other Muslim countries.

According to Atlas Shrugs, her father and uncles spit on her corpse as she was placed in her grave. She had "dishonored" the family by falling in love, obeying the dictates of nature, being a normal young woman. Falling in love is not generally a wilful act; when it happens we don't have anything to say about it. We are so programmed by our hormones and our humanity. Falling in love for a 17 old girl is as normal as flowers blooming in spring and the bees that buzz around them.

However, things that are natural and good and normal and wonderful are not allowed by Islam, the Religion from Hell.

What a vile religion that calls falling in love dishonorable and murder a way to restore honor. What a sick and disgusting ideology.

FUCK Islam.

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I am leaving for a road trip to Los Angeles this morning and will return on Sunday. You'll just have to live without my rants until I return.