Radio KFNX "Voices of Freedom" On Tonight!

Last week Pam Geller hit a home run in her first hour-long hosting of a live radio program. Tonight she is followed by Always on Watch and W.C. of The Gathering Storm. They will interview Nonie Darwish, a former Muslim who is now a Christian and author of books exposing Islam for the violent and intolerant ideology that it is.

You can listen to the radio program by clicking the "Voices of Freedom" ad in the left sidebar and clicking on the "listen" link at KFNX. Online radio is very clear and a delight to listen to, so if you haven't tried it before, try it tonight.

Or, you can just click on this link and it will bring up the streaming audio.

Remember, the show starts at 8 PM on the West Coast and 11 PM on the East Coast.

Update: The radio show went smoothly; both Always on Watch and W.C. were cool and professional. Their guest, Nonie Darwish was interesting. If you missed the show, you can download the audio file here.

Offshore Oil Rigs Good for the Environment

This morning on KSFO Radio, Brian Sussman interviewed Humberto Fontova, a Cuban emigre who now lives in New Orleans, Louisiana. Fontova is a fishing and skin diving enthusiast. According to Fontova, the oil platforms off Louisiana don't harm the environment, they actually have improved it.

The oil platforms serve as artificial reefs for marine life, and as a consequence fishing there has greatly improved as the fish have proliferated and their numbers grown.

Fontova says he regularly hitches his boat to oil platforms so he can fish near the rigs.

A Marine Biologist from California called into Sean Hannity's show today and said the same thing about the oil platforms off of Santa Barbara. The rock fish there have also greatly proliferated due to the presence of the platforms, and the rigs also help prevent natural oil seepage onto beaches by relieving pressure from the oil dome beneath the seabed.

Want to help the environment? Support offshore oil drilling!

Is Obama the Anti-Christ?

Brian Sussman of KSFO radio has the moonbats in a snit tonight. He said that Obama's recent trip to Germany reminds Sussman of the AntiChrist. Sussman mentioned Obama's talks implying a one-world government, one-world religion, etc, as reminiscent of the AntiChrist prophecied in the Bible.

Do I think Obama is the AntiChrist? No, I think that honor belongs to Muhammad, the most perfectly evil representation in the history of religion. Clearly, Obama is not the AntiChrist, he is the AntiBrain. Not only does he not have a brain, he has an AntiBrain, a kind of intellectual black hole between his ears into which all common sense, logic and humility are sucked and transmogrified into hot air, which is then expelled through his mouth as political speech.

I tried to look up AntiChrist on the net, and found the topic as arcane and involved as advanced calculus. Since I'm not that interested, I decided not to pursue it.

But what about this guy Barack Obama? Is his election in November a done deal? I don't think so. The more I watch and listen to this poser, the less I am afraid that he will actually be elected. He has absolutely nothing to offer except the fact that he's young and cute. If those are the primary traits we need in a President, let's elect Miley Cyrus. At least she doesn't hang around Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn.

When I studied rhetoric in college, I learned about a political speech called "the glittering generality." The GG is a high-sounding speech that says absolutely nothing. It is purposely ambiguous so the listener can read into it anything he wants. Obama gave a number of glittering generality speeches in Europe. He said totally vacuous things like, "the walls between Muslims, Jews and Christians cannot stand....we must tear down these walls."

My goodness, it's so simple! Why didn't anyone in prior millenia ever think of this before? I am sure Ahmadinejad in Iran probably shed a tear or two and put on a yarmaluke and a skull cap to show his solidarity with the principle. Jews and Palestnians embraced in Gaza, joined arms and began to sing "Michael Row the Boat Ashore." (Bet you thought I was going to say "Kumbaya.")

If there is ever strife and discord in the world, all we have to do is tear down the walls between the combatants. Then they will be able to more easily get their hands around each other's throats. If you are someone with acute allergies and can't stand cigar smoke, well then, let's tear down those walls between allergic people and cigar smokers! Hey baby, when you finish blowing your nose and coughing, do you think you could lend me a match?

Barack Obama...proving that even people without a brain can run for President. I think I'm misting up so I will just sign off.

Must See TV: Honor Killings In America

If you do nothing else today, be sure and watch the Fox News presentation "Honor Killings in America." It tells the story of Sarah and Amina Said who were murdered by their Egyptian father Yaser Said in Texas on January 1st of this year. It does more than that, though, it tells of other honor killings committed in America.

I have a link to where it can be watched online, but will only publish it after it has aired on television. Check your local listings for the time it will air in your area.

Islam is a sick religion that has spawned a very sick and pathological culture. It deserves our deepest contempt. Hearing young women screaming as they are stabbed or shot by their parents is quite disturbing; however, it is necessary to understand the nature of this evil culture.

Link to the Fox News Program: Watch it here.

A Soft, Summer Night with Dagny

I'm sitting here in the backyard at night, puffing on a cigar and listening to the crickets. I spent the day studying economics for a course I am to teach at DeVry on Monday evening. It is kind of interesting, if GDP, GNP, supply and demand, monetary policy, inflation and deflation and that sort of thing grabs you. No? No wonder people run from me at cocktail parties. I'm lying -- I never go to cocktail parties.

The rhythmic chirping of the crickets takes me back to childhood in Missouri, where there were great big, green metallic June bugs, and 17 year cicadas, and my favorite bug, lightening bugs, or fireflies if you prefer. There was something magical about these tiny hobgoblins, emerging silently from the grass with their tiny blinking lanterns to flit about the yard while I watched in wonder. We don't have fireflies in California. All the good stuff lives somewhere else.

I am learning Poser 7. I bought Poser 5 four years ago, installed it, found out how hard it was to use and learn and never touched it again. This week, however, I had a reason to learn, the need to replace Pamela's figure on her blog. The new owners of Poser do a better job of documentation, like including a tutorial and reference manual. So I have created the woman from stock models in the Poser libraries and she looks pretty good so far. She's naked, but that's because I haven't yet learned how to dress her. I will though. We named her Dagny, after the famous heroine of Atlas Shrugged (the novel). Here's a preliminary look. She will get better as I learn to add realistic effects.

Here's a closeup of her face. She's kinda cute.

Atlas Shrugs: Latest Proof of Obama Birth Certificate Forgery

Pam Geller has a fascinating post today on the latest evidence that Obama's Birth Certificate, released by the Daily KOS, is a forgery. A forensic digital media expert, Techdude, provides overwhelming evidence. Read it here.

Someone was very upset with Techdude for analyzing and publishing the results of his investigation. They vandalized his car and left a dead and mutilated rabbit on his front porch.

Obama may very well have been born in Hawaii and may refuse to release his birth certificate for other reasons. It has recently come to light that his parents weren't married and perhaps that fact is indicated on the birth certificate. But this is speculation on my part.

If his parents weren't married, it isn't a reflection on Obama and should not be a source of shame to him nor would it be a legitimate political argument against his candidacy. However, the only way to clear up the question surrounding his birthplace (to be eligible to run for President) is to release his actual, authentic birth certificate. He should do so at once.

THE PROOF OF FORGERY: Techdude points out that the KOS released Certificate of Live Birth (COLB) does not line up when overlayed with a COLB that is known to be genuine. Different fonts are used. When two genuine COLBs are overlayed, they line up perfectly, e.g. the Date of Birth title on one document lines up and perfectly covers the Date of Birth title on the other genuine document. When a genunie COLB is overlayed with the KOS COLB, the titles do not line up -- in fact, you get two of the same title, one above the other. The same is true for Island of Birth and other titles on the documents. I have outlined the pertinent sections of the COLBs in red in the graphic below to help you see the difference.

Techdude also points out that the security border around the peremiter of the KOS COLB is one that is not used by the State of Hawaii. The KOS border is faint and blurry, but a genuine border is laser printed when a genuine COLB is produced by the State of Hawaii, and is sharp and clear. Techdude thinks the blurred one could be due to the use of solvent to erase data from a genunine COLB so that its blank paper could be used for a forged document. The border simply fails to erase completely. Here are two of Techdude's graphics with my comments and red circled areas. Click on the image to see it full size.

Charles Krauthammer Dissects Obama

The Germans say "NO" to Obama's desire to use the Brandenburg Gate as a political prop; Charles Krauthammer explains why.

UPDATE: Readers' comments to this post are all about the existence or non-existence of black Confederates in the Civil War. If that interests you, read the comments.

Songstress Jo Stafford Dies

I have always loved the music of Jo Stafford. Her song "You Belong to Me" was my favorite. Ms. Stafford died last Sunday at the age of 90.

The Los Angeles Times has her story:
Jo Stafford, a singer who was a favorite of GIs during World War II and whose recordings made the pop music charts dozens of times in the 1950s, died Sunday of congestive heart failure at her home in Century City. She was 90.

Jo Stafford had a series of hits in the 1950's and I remember listening to them as a child and loving them all. They included I'll Walk Alone, I'll Be Seeing You and I Don't Want to Walk Without You.

Powerline has the best summary of her accomplishments and a description of why she was so special.

Ms. Stafford leaves behind a legacy of great music. Below is a video of her singing "You Belong to Me," followed by the words.



YOU BELONG TO ME

See the pyramids along the Nile
Watch the sun rise on a tropic isle
Just remember darling all the while
You belong to me

See the market place in old Algiers
Send me photographs and souvenirs
Just remember when a dream appears
You belong to me

I'll be so alone without you
Maybe you'll be lonesome too
And blue

Fly the ocean in a silver plane
See the jungle when it's wet with rain
Just remember till you're home again
You belong to me

I'll be so alone without you
Maybe you'll be lonesome too
And blue

Fly the ocean in a silver plane
See the jungle when it's wet with rain
But remember darling, till you're home again
You belong to me

Obama's Phony Trip Abroad

Fox News is saying this morning that Obama's swing through Europe may elevate his "rock star persona to new heights." Obama, being one of the youngest and most inexperienced candidates ever to run for President, is hoping to "burnish his foreign policy credentials."

What credentials? Barack Obama has no credentials and this short trip won't give him any. What it really is, is a meaningless photo-op, so the mainstream Democrat media can create an illusion by posing their candidate in front of the historic Brandenburg Gate, built in 1791, or at the Berlin Victory Column, built in 1864 to commemorate German victories in war. If standing an airhead next to historic European monuments will turn him into a wise and learned diplomat, than by all means, do it. Being older and crotchety and terribly cynical, I have my doubts as to the efficacy of the monument-osmosis method. But that's just me.

But if it works, let me know. I will turn myself into a cigar-chomping version of Arnold Schwarzenegger by posing in front of Gold's Gym; or acquire Bill Gates' fortune by standing next to Fort Knox while Mrs. Chomper takes pictures.

I think, however, that there is a better explanation for Obama's European posing and posturing. That is the political rule that perception trumps reality every time. If Obama looks wise, presidential and sagacious beyond words, this means that he is presidential and sagacious, and holding an election is just a necessary legalism to ratify what the Press has already accomplished in the hearts and minds of the Sheeple. Never mind that Obama couldn't even spell Europe, let alone find it on a map.

Accompanying Obama on his foreign adventures are all three of the network news anchors, one from ABC, CBS, and NBC. Do you suppose they will also accompany McCain anywhere? No. That's because they are all voting for Obama and supporting him, as they have with every other Democrat candidate stretching back into the misty recesses of history. One can only wonder whether Katy Couric will wear her old cheerleader outfit ("Give me an O, give me a B, give me an AMA.") When we say the mainstream media is Democrat-biased, it is an understatement. The three major networks are an arm of the Democratic Party. They passed bias on their way to devotion some time ago.

Photos: Top - a photo of Ronald Reagan speaking before the Brandenburg Gate in 1987. Bottom Left: the Berlin Victory Column; Bottom Right: Katy Couric in her cheerleader days.

..

See also Charles Krauthammer's column on Obama's trip, "The Audacity of Vanity."

Update: See Charles Krauthammer discuss this issue on Fox News.

A Real Alternative to War With Islam

According to Brian Sussman, one of my favorite talk radio hosts (KSFO, 640 AM, San Francisco), the United States is sitting on more oil than all the Middle East countries combined. Whether that's true or not, I don't know, but it is clear we have tremendous, untapped reserves. The Democrats are doing everything they can to ensure those reserves never enter our gas tanks.

We are in an odd situation here. The western nations buy billions of dollars of oil from Muslim countries who hate our guts and want to kill us. We ship untold wealth to them, enabling them to build armies, weapons and nuclear power plants and ultimately, nuclear weapons to use against us and Israel. Iran is threatening to close the Strait of Hormuz, cutting off 20% of the world's daily oil production. No doubt they will use this threat to deter intervention when they finally attack Israel. Our dependence on Middle Eastern oil has made us into economic hostages and ensured the next war, should Iran make good on its threats.

If we could greatly reduce this wealth transfer to Muslim nations, we could defund their evil plans. We wouldn't have to fight these people. We could just starve them economically and isolate them so that they could not harm us.

Achieving energy independence would be the greatest plan we could have for preserving the peace. Of course it would have to include greatly restricting immigration from Muslim nations. We were attacked on 9/11 by Muslim immigrants who used our hospitality against us. We need to curtail both the internal threat as well as the external, and we need to be realistic and not idealistic about the nature of our enemy. If we can't win their hearts and minds, then we should concentrate on stopping their oil revenue and preventing new opportunities for domestic terrorism.

We need an effort comparable to the Marshall Plan to build new oil refineries, fund oil exploration on our own continent and off our own coast lines, and build new nuclear power plants. Solar and wind energy could add to the effort, but only as supplementary sources. We are not going to replace our energy needs with windmills. Any viable alternative energy sources are probably a century or more in the future. We don't need any more asinine pollyanna wishful thinking about switch grass, methanol or solar panels.

The Democrats' attitude towards energy independence is strange and unworkable. Bring up the subject and they start talking about "renewal energy sources" and massive funding of research in those areas. Whether this would produce any significant sources of alternative energy is highly doubtful, at least in our lifetimes. I almost get the impression that the Democrats are either dangerously naive or intent on destroying our economy, or that they enjoy seeing Americans suffer. They simply do not live in the real world.

McCain could exploit this very real problem by campaigning for increasing domestic energy sources and blaming our high prices, rightfully, on the Democrats. He could win with such a strategy; but will he use it? Probably not. McCain seems to have razor sharp instincts for how to lose this election.

Pamela Geller, Pastorius & Others on Phoenix Radio Tonight

Pamela Geller, Pastorius, the Gathering Storm, Always on Watch and Cassandra USA will host a broadcast radio show on KFNX, 1100 AM in Phoenix. You can call in at 602-277-KFNX.

You can listen live over the intenet.

I had trouble getting the stream earlier, but it's working now. The bloggers will host a broadcast radio show at 8 PM tonight, PST. Listen online here.

I will add the KFNX link to my radio list in the left sidebar.

UPDATE: I am listening to the show and it is coming in very clear. Online transmissions of radio programs are actually clearer and better than actual radio -- there is no static.

Pamela is in rare form. The show is lively and enthusiastic.

UPDATE: I called into the show and asked Pamela about what she will be doing as an official blogger at the Republican National Convention. She gave a great answer.

PODCAST HERE Download 1st_show_17_July.mp3 - listen to tonight's debut show and my clever questions and repartee (not).

American Indians Designate Obama as "Walking Eagle"

Barack Obama has been given the honorary Indian name of "Walking Eagle" by a group of New York Native Americans. No Sheeples Here has the story.

Now that's my kinda Indian! (The one on the right, not Obama.)

"Ransom Payment" for Colombian Hostages Proven False

Freeing the Colombian FARC hostages: The originator of the "Ransom Payment" rumor has been traced to a Swiss mediator and shown to be false.

The German newspaper Die Weltwoche has the story:

The Swiss mediator Jean-Pierre Gontard played a role in the hostage rescue in Colombia, albeit unknowingly and involuntarily. The false report concerning a supposed ransom payment originated from his milieu. With it, Swiss diplomacy has lost its last trace of credibility.

Hat tip: French Blog 5 Years Later

The German news article gives a lot of details about the extensive preparations for the Colombian military raid that freed Ingrid Betancourt and other hostages from the FARC communists. Apparently, the ransom rumor was picked up from a single source, not verified, and was rapidly dessiminated throughout European media.

.

The article describes preparations for the raid as follows:

For months, Colombian elite troops had planned the operation and rehearsed it again and again down the last detail. Psychologists, martial arts and meditation trainers, and even an acting coach prepared them for their roles. Television images of an analogous hostage release that took place last January under the patronage of the Venezuelan caudillo Hugo Chávez served as model. Even the red and white Russian-built Mi-17, with place for two dozen passengers, corresponded exactly to the scenario of the January operation. Only the Red Cross insignias were missing.The aircraft had barely taken off when the members of the “humanitarian” delegation overpowered the two FARC commanders. As Ingrid Betancourt later reported, the hostages were so overjoyed by the unexpected turn of events that the helicopter starting rocking from their jubilant celebration. Colombia had awakened from a nightmare.

Read the article here.

Saber Point reported the emergence of this rumor before it was widely known.

Burn a Candle for Victims of Islam? No, BURN A QUR'AN

Atlas Shrugs has an article about a couple of Afghani women in Burquas moments before their murder by the Islamic thugs of the Taliban. The women were accused of prostitution or associating with Americans or whatever. The pictures are disturbing, particularly the "After" photo showing the crumpled bodies with a stream of blood running into the sand.

She also has an article about the return of Israelis who were kidnapped and murdered. Their bodies were exchanged for some living Palestinian terrorists.

When the Israelis opened the coffins of their slain comrades, they were shocked at the degree of torture and mutilation that had been visited upon their murdered countrymen. I hate Islam and I make no bones about it. Sooner or later, the civilized world must find a way to end this barbaric and lethal ideology.
.......

Such news is commonplace in the Muslim world. Whenever I hear of such atrocities in the future, I plan to accompany my comments with photos of a burning Qur'an. You know, the hateful little book of the world's vilest religion, started by a false prophet and starring the non-existent god named Allah.

So here are some photos of burning Qur'ans. Enjoy, you Muslims.

And if this make you very angry, well then, we're even. Watching Muslims murder people makes me angry; watching lifeless paper and ink burn makes you angry. Which of us is nuts?

The Wild One Lives: the Hollister Biker Rally

The Hollister, California biker rally takes place this weekend, and the rumble of thousands of Harleys can be heard in the streets. Bikers come from all over to attend the Hollister biker rally, some traveling hundreds of miles.

The biker rally in Hollister started in 1947 in what is now referred to as "the incident." Thousands of bikers descended on the town for the 4th of July celebrations, got roaring drunk, covered the town about three feet deep in empty beer bottles, beat each other up, beat townsfolk up, belched a lot, slept on people's lawns, rode their bikes into restaurants and broke the furniture, and made general nuisances of themselves. The police were outnumbered and finally had to bring in police forces from neighboring towns to push the bikers out, like squeezing toothpaste out of a tube.

"The Incident" led to a short story about bad bikers, which led to the movie "The Wild One," starring Marlon Brando. The movie was released in 1954 and starred Brando and Lee Marvin as a rival motorcycle gang leader. Here's how a biker website, Custom Motorcyles, describes the incident:

History of the 1947 'Battle for Hollister'
The town's mythical status as a July 4 refuge for the 'one-percenters,' outcasts, and outlaw biker misfits began on July 4th, 1947, when some 4,000 bikers, led by the 'Boozefighters Motorcycle Club' and the 'Pissed Off Bastards of Bloomington,' descended on the town for a three-day drunk-fest, during the AMA sponsored 'Gypsy Tour' race held outside of town.

At the request of the Hollister police department's seven deputies, the California State Highway Patrol imposed martial law. Over a three day period, approximately sixty people were injured in the malay.

Of the 1947 incident, Life Magazine described the event as a "cyclist's holiday," but the subtext of the article showed a darker side, telling of outlaw bikers "racing their vehicles down the main street and through traffic lights," as they "rode into restaurants and businesses, breaking furniture and mirrors."

In the article, the only explanation for the rowdy behavior came from one of the participants, stating: "we like to show off."

'One-Percenters'
A San Francisco Chronicle reporter photographed the iconic (but allegedly staged) shot of a drunken biker teetering on his Harley Knucklehead bobber, surrounded by broken beer bottles. In response this indelible negative imagery, the AMA responded with the explanation that the mayhem was not committed by the 99% of mainstream cyclists" who are law-abiding citizens, but by the last "one percent."

Hollister and 'The Wild One'
The town's mythical status as a July 4 refuge for the 'one-percenters,' outcasts, and outlaw biker misfits was codified in the 1954 Marlon Brando, Lee Marvin movie 'The Wild One.'

One of the scenes I liked best in the movie has a pretty girl asking the Marlon Brando character "What are you rebelling against?" He replies, "What've you got?"

Nowadays the bikers are a lot more polite. The city welcomes them. You see signs for "Biker Breakfasts" put up by restaurants and "Welcome Bikers" signs in the roads approaching town. Motorcycle manufacturers bring in their latest models for display; streets are closed downtown to all but foot traffic and motorcycles; booths are erected everywhere to sell food, bike gear, accessories and clothing. The streets are lined with thousands of Harleys, their gas tanks painted in bright colors and impressive art. Biker chicks walk around in plunging necklines. You can even buy hand-rolled cigars, rolled while you wait. Hey, these last two items always pique my interest.

More important, the bikers are largely a patriotic lot. Bikes with American flags or POW-MIA stickers are common.

This year the city decided to hold the rally on the weekend following July 4th, to save money on overtime pay for the police. What started out as a drunken brawl 61 years ago has become a commercial street fair. And it ain't half bad.

Cancer Claims Tony Snow; Tony's Faith in the Face of Death

Tony Snow, the handsome and affable conservative reporter for Fox News Sunday and later, President Bush's Press Secretary and White House spokesman, died today. He lost his battle with colon cancer at the age of 53.

I liked Tony Snow the first time I saw him on Fox News. I was most impressed by what a gentleman he was; he never got angry or personal or mean when arguing a point with a liberal.

May God bless and keep him in a better world than this.

Picture: Tony Snow (left) with President George W. Bush.

.

UPDATE:

Tony's faith in the face of death was wonderfully expressed byTony himself. NoSheeples has the best article on Tony that I have seen yet. Read Tony's own inspiring words of faith, hope and courage here.

..

And here's a great video tribute to Tony.

Fun With Photoshop: the Iranian Missiles

The Iranians released an obviously altered photograph of their much criticized missile launch this week. They apparently copied one of the missles and then pasted it into the picture to make their three missiles look like four missiles. I have posted their fake photo here (1) with the obvious copied parts outlined in red.















The second photo is the first one re-Photoshopped by myself. It took me five minutes to disguise the copied smoke plume, but apparently the Iranians aren't smart enough to do that themselves. Had they done so, their fake photograph might have escaped detection. See Photo 2.


















The third photo shows the actual launch as it happened. The Iranian missiles are flying off course because of their seriously deficient guidance systems! Well actually, this one is another Stogie photoshop. But don't tell the Iranians.

Feel free to reprint these photos if you wish.

Click on the photos to see them actual size.

Lawrence Auster Draws Fire from Atlas Shrugs

There's an interesting post over at Atlas Shrugs today. Lawrence Auster of "View from the Right" (which is included in my list of "must reads" sites), is being heavily criticized by Pam Geller and others for attacking Robert Spencer on Auster's website.

I like Lawrence Auster, and I think Fjordman does a great job of explaining Auster's worth to the blogosphere. He writes:

In this respect, Lawrence Auster is very different. Whereas LGF is a link blog which produces virtually no ideas of its own, Auster debates ideas. He questions every assumption of the ruling ideologies, and he does so under his own name, which takes guts to do. He deserves credit for that. The problem with the Western world today, and the reason why we have an Islamic threat in the first place, is too much ideological censorship and conformism. In such a situation, I can definitely see the value in having a website such as Auster's, which is contrarian as a matter of principle and leaves no ideological stone unturned.

However, Auster often attacks prominent conservatives that I like, including Robert Spencer, Mark Steyn and Jonah Goldberg. I am of the opinion that these attacks are borne of professional jealousy, an emotion most unworthy of someone of Auster's talent.

In my post of June 13, I defended Lawrence Auster from Charles Johnson's silly claim that Auster is a fascist. I wrote:

I don't always agree with Lawrence Auster; I think he is unnecessarily antagonistic towards some conservatives I really like, like Jonah Goldberg and Mark Steyn. Larry and I have had our arguments. But Larry is no fascist or Neo-Nazi or racist. He is a traditional conservative and one of the best critical thinkers I know. He routinely defends Israel.

Nevertheless, Pamela Geller is right in pointing out Auster's unwarranted antagonism towards Spencer. Lawrence Auster would be more effective by building alliances with other conservatives rather than attacking them. (It's okay to disagree and hold them accountable.) But by continually attacking them, he only shoots himself in the foot.

Rare Photo of Katharine Coman, Colleague of Katharine Lee Bates

When I was researching my July 4th post about the song "America the Beautiful," I became interested in the life and poetry of Katharine Lee Bates (1859 -1929), the author of the great hymn.

Bates graduated from Wellesley College, an all-woman college in Falmouth, Massachusetts, in 1880. Wellesley would have many famous graduates in the years ahead, including Mrs. Chiang Kai-Shek and Hillary Clinton. Bates moved from student to professor, as she taught English literature at Wellesley throughout her working life.

One of Bates' colleagues, a fellow teacher at Wellesley College, was Katharine Coman (1857 - 1915), a distinguished economist who wrote books on history and economics. Wellesley named a professorship in her honor.

Both Katharines were close to the same age, became fast friends and lived together for 25 years, until Coman died of breast cancer in 1915. Neither Bates nor Coman ever married, and it is debated whether or not they were lesbian lovers. Personally, I don't care, as it does not detract one iota from my respect and admiration for either woman. Others, however, contend that they were only "Boston wives," a term given to women and widows who lived together to share household chores and expenses. Many women of the time did this, particularly widows who lost their husbands in World War I.

Both Bates and Coman graduated from college in 1880 -- a rare feat in those days, even for men. By becoming great scholars and career women (at a woman's college yet) they substantially reduced their chances for marriage. In those days men did not want to marry women who were more educated or who made more money than they did. Many if not most men preferred women who would be mothers and homemakers, and in those days where modern conveniences were lacking, it would have been very difficult to be both homemakers and professors. So it is not surprising that the two women lived their lives single, regardless of whether they were heterosexual or not.

Whatever the case, the two women loved each other as family, and this love is obvious in Bates' poetry following Coman's death. Bates nursed Coman for three years after her diagnosis, during a difficult time of decline, and grieved deeply when Coman died. Bates wrote a book of remembrance, of poetry, dedicated to Coman. The book was called "Yellow Clover," after the flower they identified with each other. It was published in 1922.

The poetry is lovely and fresh and original. It speaks to all humans who have grieved over the loss of a loved one, regardless of their orientation.

I found a copy of "Yellow Clover" at the Googles Books website, where they release out-of-copyright books into the public domain, as pdf files. I downloaded the book and discovered that one of the first pages bore a photograph of Katharine Coman. I made a copy of it with screen capture, then enhanced it and cleaned it up with Photoshop. Since photos of Coman appear to be rare if nonexistent on the web, I am releasing it here for anyone who might be interested. Use it as you see fit.

These two great American women led incredibly productive lives and contributed to the education of hundreds of women during their careers. They deserve to be remembered.

2nd French Blog Features Saber Point! Une Vision Neoconservatrice

The French blog Une Vision Neoconservatrice has featured Saber Point today. My circle of French friends is growing and I couldn't be happier. The article is called Le blog de notre ami Stogie : Saber Point.

Right now my wife is watching "An American in Paris," a musical film made some years ago. She is Filipina and for many years I have had to listen to her yak away in another language, unable to understand her. When we were in Paris, I had my first real French conversation with a lovely young woman in a pharmacy, and for the first time, the tables were turned! My wife had to listen to me converse in another tongue without her comprehension. It was delicious!

Thanks to my friends at Une Vision Neoconservatrice -- I am honored.

Here in America we always hear about the French who hate us, but rarely do we hear about the French who love us, and they do exist. There is a French Right, and it is articulate, intelligent, educated and informed. They are our allies. We fight the same battles.

And, they have such great taste in American blogs! :)

A-Qaeda's Last Stand in Iraq

The Times of London reports what the American media won't: Al-Qaeda is on the verge of extinction in the War in Iraq.

American and Iraqi forces are driving Al-Qaeda in Iraq out of its last redoubt in the north of the country in the culmination of one of the most spectacular victories of the war on terror. After being forced from its strongholds in the west and centre of Iraq in the past two years, Al-Qaeda’s dwindling band of fighters has made a defiant “last stand” in the northern city of Mosul. A huge operation to crush the 1,200 fighters who remained from a terrorist force once estimated at more than 12,000 began on May 10.

Operation Lion’s Roar, in which the Iraqi army combined forces with the Americans’ 3rd Armoured Cavalry Regiment, has already resulted in the death of Abu Khalaf, the Al-Qaeda leader, and the capture of more than 1,000 suspects.

Read the whole thing.

Colombian Rescue: Leftist Rumor Mongering Right on Cue

Exactly as Le Blog Drzz predicted, leftists claims that the Colombian rescue mission was "staged" are right on cue.

The U.K. Mail Online headline for Monday, July 7 screams:

Freed hostage Betancourt returns to France amid claims Colombian rebels were paid a £10 million ransom

At the Puffington Ho, one reader noted that McCain was present in Colombia at the time the raid was carried out. "This has 'staged' written all over it," she said.

An MSNBC spokesman wondered on TV if "the Colombian hostage rescue was a ruse by McCain." See video clip at this link.

It's interesting how good news is bad for Democratic and leftist politicians, so they have to suppress it or at least color it with doubt and suspicion. If good news is bad for your party, maybe you're in the wrong party. If your political success relies so heavily on propaganda, what does that say about your politics? Think about it kids.

Saddam Hussein's Nuclear Weapons Program- Proved!

There is a breaking story on American Thinker and also on Une Vision Neoconservatrice, about the fact that Saddam Hussein did indeed have a nuclear weapons program. American Thinker writes:

The media have been telling us for years that Saddam had no WMD, so "Bush's War": was based on a "lie." And those who believed Saddam did have WMD or WMD programs were delusional or worse. But today, on July 6, 2008, the Associated Press reports that Saddam Hussein had a nuclear program At the Tuwaitha nuclear complex just south of Baghdad, which included 550 metric tons (over 1.2 million pounds) of "yellowcake", or concentrated uranium and multiple devices that could be used in a nuclear weapon.

Read it all here.

No doubt the Congressional Democrats will want to convene a special session of Congress to express a formal and deeply profound apology to President Bush, then resign their seats to go home and get honest, productive jobs. Maybe something they're actually good at.

..

As for that yellow cake, it looks good! Might need some vanilla icing, though.

Misuse of The Black National Anthem

From the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

When a jazz singer last week substituted the lyrics to the "Black National Anthem" for those of the "Star-Spangled Banner" at a ceremony, she not only surprised her Denver audience. She focused attention on a song little known outside the black community.

***

The jazz singer, Rene Marie, was supposed to sing the traditional National Anthem at the ceremony in Denver. She sang the "black National Anthem" instead, without announcing it in advance. This has angered a lot of people.

..

Here are the words to the "Black National Anthem," which was written as a poem in 1899 by James Weldon Johnson:

"Lift every voice and sing Til earth and heaven ring.

..

Ring with the harmonies of Liberty.

Let our rejoicing rise High as the glistening skies, Let it resound loud as the roiling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us.
Sing a song full of the faith that the present has brought us.
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun
Let us march til victory is won."

The words are not offensive in themselves. In fact, they are inspirational. Singing them would be appropriate in the right context, particuarly if Rene Marie had announced in advance that she was going to sing them, and had she invited the audience to share with her the hope and inspiration that the words convey. Then she would have been applauded to the skies. Shared experience does much to glue a community together.

The anger comes from the impression that the song was not sung for cultural pride or inspiration, but for use as a cultural wedge, a tool to underscore division rather than unity.

Rene Marie said the traditional National Athem "does not represent me." Okay, Rene, we get it: you don't like white people, and what better way to say it than to denigrate the National Anthem that is sacred to so many Americans.

You don't identify with America or the rest of us who live here too. We can never be friends, for how can the oppressed be friends with the oppressor? So no cinnamon rolls over coffee in the morning for us. No backyard barbeques, no car-pooling together to the football game. It wouldn't work. For you it's endless, burning, smoking anger, and for us, eternal shame, endless mea-culpas, and nonstop apologies like supplications from a Tibetan prayer wheel.

You want to emphasize your separateness, to underscore your eternal victimhood, your unrelenting oppression, your eternal hostility to white America, the fact that white society will forever owe you deference, apology and probably endless monetary reparations as well.

The black grievance industry is getting a bit tiresome these days. We are sick of hearing your endless song of woe. There can never be racial healing while many prominent blacks choose to nurse their sense of grievance and resentment. Think about that, Rene.

Blog Fight! French Right vs. French Left (in English)

My post on "Eva Perron" somewhere below has attracted a fierce debate between the French Right and the French Left, who are arguing in French in the message section. However, the debate is rather interesting and provides insight into the thinking of both sides. I have decided to translate it here.

America Home of the Brave :
Eva is part of the Mitterand generation that refuses to die, even though its history is already past, proving that they can’t offer anything better than failed Socialism. And I am not even talking about the failed Socialism throughout Europe and the rest of the world. By her words, her lies and the terrorist causes she defends, Eva strives for the ruin and destruction of Western Civilization.

My dear Stogie, it is useless to talk to Eva. She represents the worst of France, both politically and morally.

Eva:
I don’t support terrorism, I am a Gaullist of the left, I oppose the world terrorism of high international finance, the unrestricted trade that is devastating to the people but which has enriched the multinationals and impoverished populations, one example of which is the agriculture of the Southern countries, RUINED, in order to satisfy multinationals of the food industry (agriculture for export instead of feeding families). This ideology is of the devil! De Gaule, the great Charles, distrusted money, this golden calf, this American idolatry of moola! God and dollar? No, you must choose between them, as it is written in the Bible “You cannot serve both God and Mammon.”

It isn’t condescending charity that the world needs (like that my Russian family provided a century ago, EVERYTHING belonged to the community but only the crumbs of this wealth was distributed to the poor), but it is the structure of society that must change, it must become HUMANIST (with emphasis on the word human).

Your society (the jungle, the strong dominate, crushing the weak) is not the one God wants, I have seen a great deal of life in the U.S., I have seen a society in two striking contrasts, one of great wealth and one of great poverty, without social protection, violent etc; my humanist and religious beliefs condemn all that. Your society inevitably leads to the horror film Soylent Green, and to nuclear and biblical apocalypse. I leave you, God bless you, Eva.

America Home of the Brave:
And without this economic freedom, Eva would not know the joys of blogging or the Internet. She would still be engraving in stone, and it would be God’s fault!

It’s obvious that, in the countries who reject economic freedom, there is no hint of an obscene inequality! And what would the great Charles have been without the American economy? Probably nothing, but surely nothing great. This much is certain, that Eva would follow Hitler if he [De Gaulle] did. And on her blog, in place of the diabolical Bush/Hitler theme, there would be something about Herzl/Lenin. It’s all the same, as these totalitarianisms that need to accuse others [of evil] closely resemble each other.

In France, it is necessary to be wary of people who claim to be humanists. They are too often the opposite of what they say that they are. And the true humanist does not need to tell himself how human he is. He testifies to it by the meaning he gives to his life.

The gold Mitterandian rose that Eva wears in her hair isn’t so much humanist as it is Guevarian [Marxist]. It’s not the same thing at all.

Eva:
I won’t answer you anymore. It’s no use to discuss anything with people like you, extreme, dishonest, fanatical, etc. As for my rose, I have all colors of them. I wear Spanish dress, and when I dance the Flamenco with my Gypsy friends, they have every kind of rose. I am immersed in Spanish culture, and all your beliefs smell bad – your intention to continue idolizing criminal America who sets up dictatorships everywhere, makes wars in order to steal the resources of others; on the one hand, who campaigns against abortion, on the other hand, who kills hundreds of thousands of children (Oil for Food in Iraq, war, etc); who kills hope (Allende), all popular governments, who supports its multinationals, etc; who loves the Golden Calf, etc; this can be discussed with everyone who wrote here, but not with you.

Eve

Annika weighs in:
... and Eva also said that America 'killed' hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children through the program of oil for food... (geez, wasn't that the United Nation's program?!). Anti-americanism is alive and well in France; no-matter-what America may do, America is evil by definition. You thought Betancourt's liberation would change those deeply held misconceptions? Mainstream French press utter a word of grace for American and Israeli's contribution? gasp! Instead of thanks, or at least recognition, Europeans are now publishing articles about this whole rescue operation having been a hoax...Annika

America Home of the Brave:
Eva speaking about fanaticism -- it's as if “the hospital made fun of charity," to use a very French expression. [Stogie: the appropriate English expression might be “the pot calling the kettle black.”]

I am happy to see what is happening on the blog of my friend Stogie. To all my American friends, see what we must put up with in France. An insane anti-Americanism, nourished on conspiracist banality, Marxism and other mental delusions!

When Eva speaks about fanaticism, she is only describing herself. Her blue-collar mindset is narrow-minded and ridiculous. She detests me because she knows that I know well this shameful mentality, which is internalized but not outwardly expressed.

American friends, even though we are not the majority in France, we fight for your values, which are also ours, because they are universal, even though they displease the simple-minded like Eva.

The rose of Mitterrand is decidedly withered and dead! --Nghia NGUYEN

[Stogie's note: Nghia Nguyen of "America, Home of the Brave" (a French blog) is a son of parents who were Vietnamese boat people, who escaped that Communist hell-hole in boats on the open sea. His family came to France where they now live, and Nghia was born in France. If anyone knows the evils of socialism, it is Nghia.]

Le Blog Drzz Honors Saber Point

Le Blog Drzz, my favorite French blog, has honored Saber Point, or as Miguel Garrote (a writer for Drzz) refers to it, "Le Blog de Stogie," with a post. See it here.

Drzz writes:

Stogie is a friend and faithful reader of le blog drzz, who publishes his blog in English. He participates in our battle by sharing information from le blog drzz with our English-speaking friends. Thank you Stogie!

I replied:

I am honored. You are one of my favorite authors on the internet and I value our growing friendship!

Dang, now this is the fun way to learn French! In practical application. I'm gonna wow 'em next time I'm in France!

FARC Communists Lying About Colombian Rescue Operation

The FARC Marxists of Colombia, embarrassed by having high level hostages snatched from beneath their noses, have launched a propaganda offensive through leftist blogs and websites.

They are claiming that the Colombian military's rescue operation this past week was "staged," not real, fake. Tell that to French citizen (and Colombian Presidential candidate) Ingrid Betancourt, three Americans and a number of Colombians who were freed by the raid.

According to the leftist Swiss Roman Radio, the FARC communists were offered 20 million dollars to release the hostages and agree to the staged rescue operation. But for what purpose? Obviously, to make Colombian President Uribe look good so he can be reelected. However, Uribe is limited by the Colombian constitution to two terms and is in his second term now.

Miguel Garroté reports that this false story is being supported by leftist journalists in Colombia and elsewhere, who will report the story as fact. Tomorrow, Sunday, July 6, the Colombian weekly "Semana" is going to publish an article about the rescue operation, claiming it was actually a ransom situation camouflaged as an audacious commando operation by the Uribe government.

Clever, these Marxists. Like most leftists, they are good at spinning the facts and creating new conspiracy theories. It's an effective technique. No matter how absurd or far-fetched, such alternative explanations of world events will be believed by many. The effect will be to dampen the public outpouring of support for Uribe, reducing him from a hero to a fraud and even a villain.

It is similar to what the left did to George W. Bush: instead of allowing him to be presented as the heroic President fighting back at an Islamic attack on America, they claimed that he was actually a vile traitor who had staged 9/11 for his own political gain. Instead of giving him credit for attacking Iraq to prevent it from using weapons of mass destruction, they accused him of lying about such weapons in order to start a war for oil.

Such leftist techniques are by now well known and to be expected.

The Barking Moonbats of Europe

Yesterday Miguel Garrote of Le Blog Drzz reprinted an article from a Swiss weekly that is published in French. The article was crazy, as in barking moon-bat crazy. It implied that the rooftops of America are swarming with trigger-happy assassins waiting to kill Barack Obama; that American society has its dark and sinister element, the same hidden cabal of conspirators who staged the inside job called 9/11, assassinated President Kennedy, and did who-knows-what-else? Miguel, a responsible journalist, was aghast and found the article totally loony. He reproduced the article on his blog as an illustration of the left's increasingly slippery grasp on reality.

But then he began to hear from the barking moonbats of France, namely, one Eva (Le Blog D'Eva), a French conspiracy peddler with a rose in her hair (Why not her teeth? Why not with castanets?) Eva, who seems to think she is the reincarnation of Eva Peron, said she reprinted the article on her blog too, but with the title, "Hooray for the Swiss!" (for printing such trash).

Eva then went on to explain that the recent military operation by Colombia to free hostages held by the Communist FARC rebels was all staged. She insists that Colombia actually paid FARC many millions of dollars to free the hostages, and all the Colombian military did was go and pick them up.

So now we have a new moonbat theory, to go along with the "controlled demolition" of WTC 7, the moon landings that were actually staged in the Arizona desert, and the Airforce shoot-down of the benevolent aliens in Roswell, New Mexico who were only trying to bring us a cure for cancer while establishing world peace.

The barking moonbats of the Far Left never need worry about their lot in life. They can change their reality at will, inventing a new one in the face of emerging events.

"America the Beautiful" the Story of the Song

The great American hymn "America the Beautiful" has an interesting history. Here are some facts about it from Wikipedia.

The words are by Katharine Lee Bates, an English professor at Wellesley College. In 1893, Bates had taken a train trip to Colorado Springs, Colorado, to teach a short summer school session at Colorado College, and several of the sights on her trip found their way into her poem: The World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, the "White City" with its promise of the future contained within its alabaster buildings.

The wheat fields of Kansas, through which her train was riding on July 4.

The majestic view of the Great Plains from atop Pikes Peak.

On that mountain, the words of the poem started to come to her, and she wrote them down upon returning to her hotel room at the original Antlers Hotel. The poem was initially published two years later in The Congregationalist, to commemorate the Fourth of July. It quickly caught the public's fancy. Amended versions were published in 1904 and 1913.

Several existing pieces of music were adapted to the poem. The Hymn tune composed in 1882 by Samuel A. Ward, was generally considered the best music as early as 1910 and is still the popular tune today. Ward had been similarly inspired. The tune came to him while he was on a ferryboat trip from Coney Island back to his home in New York City after a leisurely summer day, and he immediately wrote it down. Ward died in 1903, not knowing the national stature his music would attain. Miss Bates was more fortunate, as the song's popularity was well-established by her death in 1929.

Stogie's comment: I once saw the story of this great American hymn on the History Channel. What was so amazing was that Samuel Ward's tune was adapted to the poem to create the song, and fit the words perfectly! Yet Bates wrote her poem and Ward wrote his tune completely separate from one another.

Here is one of the best renditions of that song ever sung, by Ray Charles, followed by the words.



AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL

O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassioned stress
A thoroughfare of freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!

O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife.
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain divine!

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for halcyon skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the enameled plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till souls wax fair as earth and air
And music-hearted sea!

O beautiful for pilgrims feet,
Whose stem impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till paths be wrought through
wilds of thought
By pilgrim foot and knee!

O beautiful for glory-tale
Of liberating strife
When once and twice,
for man's avail
Men lavished precious life!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till selfish gain no longer stain
The banner of the free!

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till nobler men keep once again
Thy whiter jubilee!

Obama's Birth Certificate - a Forgery After All?

Atlas Shrugs is peddling a new theory that Obama's birth certificate was indeed forged, and that a leftwing blogger has admitted it. Oh sure. First this Geller character says the certificate released by the Daily Kos didn't have a state seal of Hawaii to prove its authenticity. So we contacted the Daily Kos and they said there was a digital error in the original release, and they have issued a corrected version, the true and authentic version, of Barack Obama's birth certificate proving that he was indeed born in the State of Hawaii and therefore eligible to run for President of the United States.

The truly authentic and real birth certificate is published below, showing it does indeed have a seal of Hawaii in the lower right hand corner. Will this ridiculous right-wing skepticism ever cease?

Click on image to see it full size.

Independence Day: Images of the 4th of July

Some of the best images of July 4th and some of the greatest praise for the USA come from an unexpected source: French blogs.

Of course, I have been seeking out the pro-America, pro-Israel, pro-liberty French resistance for some time, so such sources are not unexpected to me. Here are some of the images. The lady with the star-spangled hat is from Le Blog Drzz, as is the "God Bless America" image to the right.

The images below are from "America, Home of the Brave." The men who man that blog are already better Americans than many who were born here. God blesses America when He blesses her with friends like these.

A painting of Washington observing the first American flag. On the right, a graphic of that flag, with 13 stars.

And finally, the modern flag, gloriously unfurled to the breeze!

Jesse Helms Dies, Is Slimed by the Media One Last Time

I have always been tormented by the great metaphysical questions. For example, is there sex after death? How about cigars? Can I trade in my heavenly harp for a bass guitar? Now I have a new question: does media bias continue after death?

Jesse Helms, former Republican Senator from North Carolina could answer that last one, and it is YES, definitely.

Jess Helms died today at age 86. Here's how MSNBC described him:

The blunt-talking Helms was known as "Senator No" for opposing just about
anything that obstructed his conservative view of the world.

The meaning is purposely ambiguous and pejorative, to imply, of course, that Helms was narrow-minded and selfish, saying "No" to progress. There are lots of things I would say "no" to: No to illegal immigration, no to socialized medicine, no to the global warming hoax, no to Marxism, no to appeasement, no to anti-Semitism. And definitely no to Barack Obama and the Democratic Party who represent all of the above.

Bush's Resignation Speech

BUSH'S RESIGNATION SPEECH The following 'speech' was written recently by an ordinary Maineiac [a resident of the People's Republic of Maine]. While satirical in nature, all satire must have a basis in fact to be effective. This is an excellent piece by a person who does not write for a living. The speech George W. Bush might give:

Normally, I start these things out by saying 'My Fellow Americans.' Not doing it this time. If the polls are any indication, I don't know who more than half of you are anymore. I do know something terrible has happened, and that you're really not fellow Americans any longer. I'll cut right to the chase here: I quit. Now before anyone gets all in a lather about me quitting to avoid impeachment, or to avoid prosecution or something, let me assure you: There's been no breaking of laws or impeachable offenses in this office. The reason I'm quitting is simple. I'm fed up with you people.

I'm fed up because you have no understanding of what's really going on in the world. Or of what's going on in this once-great nation of ours. And the majority of you are too damned lazy to do your homework and figure it out.

Let's start local. You've been sold a bill of goods by politicians and the news media. Polls show that the majority of you think the economy is in the tank. And that's despite record numbers of homeowners, including record numbers of MINORITY homeowners. And while we're mentioning minorities, I'll point out that minority business ownership is at an all-time high. Our unemployment rate is as low as it ever was during the Clinton administration. I've mentioned all those things before, but it doesn't seem to have sunk in. Despite the shock to our economy of 9/11, the stock market has rebounded to record levels and more Americans than ever are participating in these markets.

Meanwhile, all you can do is whine about gas prices, and most of you are too damn stupid to realize that gas prices are high because there's increased demand in other parts of the world, and because a small handful of noisy idiots are more worried about polar bears and beachfront property than your economic security.

We face real threats in the world. Don't give me this 'blood for oil' thing. If I were trading blood for oil I would've already seized Iraq's oil fields and let the rest of the country go to hell. And don't give me this 'Bush Lied; People Died' crap either. If I were the liar you morons take me for, I could've easily had chemical weapons planted in Iraq so they could be 'discovered.' Instead, I owned up to the fact that the intelligence was faulty. Let me remind you that the rest of the world thought Saddam had the goods, same as me. Let me also remind you that regime change in Iraq was official US policy before I came into office. Some guy named 'Clinton' established that policy. Bet you didn't know that, did you?

Now some of you morons are considering another and more evil Clinton for president !!!! Go figure that one!! She wants to take your kids away and let the 'Whole Village' raise them! i.e. governmental indoctrination . Look this one up you dumb asses! The rest of you morons want to be led by a junior senator with no understanding of foreign policy or economics, and this nitwit says we should attack Pakistan, a nucular ally. And then he wants to go to Iran and make peace with a terrorist who says he's going to destroy us. While he's doing that, he wants to give Iraq to al Qaeda, Afghanistan to the Taliban, Israel to the Palestinians, and your money to the IRS so the government can give welfare to illegal aliens, who he will make into citizens, so they can vote to reelect him. He also thinks it's okay for Iran to have nucular weapons, and we should stop our foreign aid to Israel.

Did you sleep through high school? You idiots need to understand that we face a unique enemy. Back during the cold war, there were two major competing political and economic models squaring off. We won that war, but we did so because fundamentally, the Communists wanted to survive, just as we do. We were simply able to out spend and out-tech them.

That's not the case this time. The soldiers of our new enemy don't care if they survive. In fact, they want to die. That'd be fine, as long as they weren't also committed to taking as many of you with them as they can. But they are. They want to kill you, and the bastards are all over the globe. You should be grateful that they haven't gotten any more of us here in the United States since September 11. But you're not. That's because you've got no idea how hard a small number of intelligence, military, law enforcement, and homeland security people have worked to make sure of that. When this whole mess started, I warned you that this would be a long and difficult fight. I'm disappointed how many of you people think a long and difficult fight amounts to a single season of 'Survivor.' Instead, you've grown impatient. You're incapable of seeing things through the long lens of history, the way our enemies do. You think that wars should last a few months, a few years, tops.

Making matters worse, you actively support those who help the enemy. Every time you buy the New York Times, every time you send a donation to a cut-and-run Democrat's political campaign, well, dang it, you might just as well FedEx a grenade launcher to a Jihadist. It amounts to the same thing.

In this day and age, it's easy enough to find the truth. It's all over the Internet. It just isn't on the pages of the New York Times, USA Today, or on NBC News. But even if it were, I doubt you'd be any smarter. Most of you would rather watch American Idol or Dancing with Stars. I could say more about your expectations that the government will always be there to bail you out, even if you're too stupid to leave a city that's below sea level and has a hurricane approaching.

I could say more about your insane belief that government, not your own wallet, is where the money comes from. But I've come to the conclusion that were I to do so, it would sail right over your heads. So I quit. I'm going back to Crawford. I've got an energy-efficient house down there (Al Gore could only dream) and the capability to be fully self-sufficient for years. No one ever heard of Crawford before I got elected, and as soon as I'm done here pretty much no one will ever hear of it again.

Maybe I'll be lucky enough to die of old age before the last pillars of America fall. Oh, and by the way, Cheney's quitting too. That means Pelosi is your new President. You asked for it. Watch what she does carefully, because I still have a glimmer of hope that there are just enough of you remaining who are smart enough to turn this thing around in 2008. So that's it. God bless what's left of America. Some of you know what I mean. The rest of you, kiss off.

PS - You might want to start learning Farsi, and buy a Koran.

Happy Anniversary of Pickett's Charge

Pickett's Charge was 145 years ago today. We lost, but what the heck, it was worth a try. If the Dems win in November we may give it another go.

I was SO ready for this three day weekend. It was hard seeing my work all day, with one eye glued to the clock and all. Kind of made me dizzy. But now I am ensconced in my backyard gazebo, a fresh cigar to titillate my taste buds, a bottle of Diet Lipton green tea at my side. The weather is cool and mild and lovely.

Tomorrow at this time, my small, rural town of Hollister, California will sound like a small war and I will be able to watch spectacular fireworks displays from my backyard. Not ones put on by the city, ones put on by my neighbors. Fireworks are still legal in Hollister and people buy their own arms caches from Mexico or other places where they make serious ordnance.

It's been a few years since Bro and I first celebrated the 4th of July. It was on our uncle's farm near Dallas, where we learned that cherry bombs under a can created a pretty cool rocket, and also made great big holes in cow pies. Then there was the cherry bomb in an empty beer bottle, flung as high as possible in the air! Ahh, the shrapnel was thrilling. Strangely enough, we emerged from childhood unmaimed and still alive. Please don't try this at home, we were trained professionals.

Lately I have been enjoying Alfred Hitchcock with my evening cigar. I found a site that has all of the "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" television shows from 1955 through 1957. You can watch them from your computer screen and they are very clear. Hitch was really funny in his opening introduction and closing remarks. You have to watch three very short commercials for each episode, but it's worth it. The link is here: http://www.hulu.com/alfred-hitchcock-presents.

As Hitch would say, "Goooood Eeeeeevning."