The Plame game: over and out

"When one thinks of the oceans of ink and acres of paper that have been wasted on this mother of all nonstories, one wants to weep for the journalistic profession as well as for the trees."

"Robert Novak's July 12 column and his appearance on Meet the Press Sunday night have dissolved any remaining doubt about the mad theory that the Bush administration "outed" Ms. Valerie Plame as revenge for her husband's refusal to confirm the report by British intelligence that Iraqi officials had visited Niger in search of uranium."

The End of the Affair
Novak exonerates the Bushies in the Plame case.
By Christopher Hitchens
Posted Monday, July 17, 2006, at 4:58 PM ET

Beware of 'Vishing' E-mail Scam

"Breaking from NewsMax.com

Experts are warning against the latest Internet scam: "vishing.”

Vishing, or voice phishing, occurs when a scammer sends you an e-mail hoping to get victims to telephone a voice mail box to disclose sensitive financial and personal information.

Many computer users are already aware of so-called "phishing e-mails" linking to counterfeit Web sites that ask computer users to enter account numbers or other personal information.

Many of these scam e-mails look like they were sent from companies like American Express, Bank of America, and other major companies, informing customers they need to update their records.

When they do so, the customer unwittingly provides some criminal enterprise their most sensitive financial and personal information.

Already such phishing scams cost consumers an estimated $929 million.

However, new tools – including software that helps locate phony Web sites – have made the scam more difficult to pull off. But the new "vishing" scam gets around computer safeguards by using the telephone instead.

In a typical case of vishing, customers of a California bank received e-mails informing them that their online banking accounts had been disabled because the bank detected unauthorized access, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The customers were told to dial a telephone number with a local area code, where an automated voice asked them to enter their account numbers, personal-access codes, and other information.

Armed with that data, vishing scammers could access the online accounts and transfer money, or make fraudulent purchases with a stolen credit card number.

These schemes are made possible by Internet telephone services, "which allow computer users to quickly establish phone numbers, often without undergoing some of the verification checks used by traditional telephone companies,” the Journal reports.

"Also, Internet phone companies dole out numbers with a choice of area code, regardless of where in the country – or world – the user is located, which makes it difficult to locate the scammers.”

What’s more, automated voice prompts have become common on customer service lines, "and many people have become accustomed to keying in their account information and other details before being able to speak to a representative,” Adam O’Donnell, a senior research scientist at the online security firm Cloudmark Inc., told the Journal.

The bottom line: Experts stress that customers should never turn over private information based on an e-mail request.

Remember:

--Please forward this email to your friends and family to warn them.

--Secure your identity with this tremendous service praised by the Economist Magazine -- Go Here Now

Technorati Tags: News

Let's have tea!

According to the New York Times, Hillary Clinton recently told the Arkansas Federation of Democratic Women that "we need to get back to building partnerships and alliances, to making friends so we can influence decisions that other people make and have people working with us to stem the tide of terrorism and the threats that we confront."

Maybe she'll even start baking cookies!

All the busy little buzzing bees in Demo land are going to get very busy, busy, busy making friends, building partnerships, forging alliances.

That way, we'll be able to influence their decisions!

Never mind all those countries that hate, really hate Israel. They'll be oh so very, very happy that we are their friends now, they'll want to stop gouging out peoples eyes and sawing off their heads. Why, nobody's going to believe how really sweet these so-called terrorists are once you get to know them. It's only that we pissed them off that they got so mad. Gee whiz, can't we just give them a chance?

And, hey, Hillary's gonna bake some cookies--betcha can't eat just one!

Lie of the Land

By now, just about everyone has heard about Bush's candid remarks caught accidentally (one just has to wonder, though) on tape during a G-8 luncheon:

Mic picks up Bush: 'get Hezbollah to stop this s***'

People seem to be really focused in on the "s" word, too--adults never really outgrow their potty-talk fantasies do they?

But here's something I just had to check out due to the obviously unintended double entendre:

Blair: "I don’t know what you guys have talked about, but as I say I am perfectly happy to try and see what the lie of the land is, but you need that done quickly because otherwise it will spiral."

In this spirited discussion on the UK site The Phrase Finder we discover that 'The lie of the land' means 'the way the land lies' which is grammatically correct. 'The lay of the land' is found in usage too, although 'the way the land lays' is grammatically incorrect. It's a good example of the confusion between the two verbs.

and

From www.bartleby.com: "lie of the land, lay of the land". Both locutions are Standard, meaning "the way things are literally or figuratively positioned with respect to other things," as in "As soon as we get a look at the lie [lay] of the land, we'll decide what to do next."

I also found yet another UK site which definitely convinces me that Blair was speaking in some kind of secret code :)

This site Lie of the Land: The Secret Life of Maps poses some very strange questions like "Do you believe in maps?" or "Do maps lead or mislead?" and "Do maps unite or divide?"

Well, do they???

Replace the United Nations?

"Instead of the responsible, moral and effective leadership promised in 1945, the UN is mired in corruption, an absence of leadership, and an anti-democratic majority that has destroyed its legitimacy."

"...the G-8 - as the institutional embodiment of the responsible world powers - has a narrow window in which to act responsibly, not as a supplement to the discredited UN, but as a replacement."

Very interesting idea! If the G8 guides us through these churning waters into calmer seas, maybe this will be the UN's well-deserved fate.

"Can the G8 succeed where the UN failed?"

It's Always Israel's Fault

This article by Alan Caruba at MichNews.com is a hard-hitting account of blatant double standards and years of U.N. discrimination against Israel.

Alan Caruba writes a weekly column, “Warning Signs”, posted on the website of The National Anxiety Center. In September, Merril Press will publish his newest book, “Right Answers.”

Divide and conquer

It's starting, apparently, in Detroit:

In May, Sterling Heights, Mich., Councilwoman Barbara Ziarko asked the city's attorney to prepare an ordinance requiring businesses with foreign language signs to have identifiers such as "bakery" included, the Detroit News reports.

According to the News, Michael J. Steinberg of the ACLU said the proposal is unconstitutional "because it singles out businesses with signs.”

The American Civil Liberties Union has asked officials in a Detroit suburb to reject a proposal that would require businesses with foreign language signs to add English translations.

Read more

A Detroit News blog reader recently left this comment pointing out the lunacy of the situation:

"Paramedics, police officers and firefighters, who don't happen to read Arabic, Farsi or Hindi, probably are going to have a tough time differentiating which squiggly lined sign is the business in need of an "emergency response"."

Looks like the answer to this previously posed question

Whose Detroit is it anyway?

just might end up with a brand new answer!

The Bifurcation Widens in the Arab World

Posted on WindsOfChange.net
by Yehudit at July 13, 2006 07:29 AM

The first half of this was posted at Kesher Talk by my co-blogger "Alcibiades." I added to it later this evening.

Here are the accounts of what is going on from the posts of a few Arab bloggers, all of whom are opposed to Hezbollah's incursions. These accounts are all very poignant, as the writers are conscious of the idiocy of Hezbollah's long planned attack and filled with details we would not otherwise come across so easily. It is quite sad what Hezbollah has instigated, at this moment, with Lebanon well along in its economic and political recovery.

Read more

Will Senate Amnesty Bill Trump State Efforts To Curb Illegal Immigration?

"Special Report

By Steve Elliott, President Grassfire.org

 

The real impact of illegal immigration is not felt in Washington, D.C. It is felt in the states -- the cities and towns across the nation being forced to foot the bill for the runaway costs and local impact of illegal immigration.

 

That’s why it should be no surprise that, with the Senate and the President pushing through an irresponsible blanket amnesty plan, our state legislatures are taking matters into their own hands. As USA Today and others are reporting, 30 states have passed legislation this year to crack down on illegal immigration. Go here  to see if your state is taking action.

 

State laws with teeth

These laws are wide-ranging -- from cracking down on employers hiring illegals to requiring state contractors to ensure that their employees are legal. There are laws against human trafficking, requiring citizenship or legal status to receive health benefits, making English the official language, establishing fines for counterfeiting documents, and more. One law in Texas has real economic teeth -- it prohibits businesses from deducting as a business expense wages paid to illegals.

 

In all, some 57 laws have been passed in these states, with more pending. I believe if left to our own devices, “we the people” would eventually solve this illegal immigration crisis. The 57 laws are evidence of that.  Just one problem....

 

Senate Amnesty Bill Will Trump Your State

If the Senate amnesty bill passes, virtually all illegals  will quickly migrate to some form of legal status, and ultimately the “path to citizenship” that the President is touting. Which brings us to one of the most damaging possible consequences of a federal amnesty bill -- what happens to the state efforts to control illegal immigration.

 

Once an illegal is granted legal status, how can state laws against illegals apply? It is clear that these laws will not apply to the 12-20 million who get legal status, or the tens of millions more who will be coming to our nation under the Senate amnesty plan.

 

Hidden danger of Senate amnesty plan

This is one of the least advertised dangers of the Senate amnesty bill. Yes, the very idea of granting amnesty to millions of illegals is repugnant. Yes, our porous borders are a national security threat. Yes, many communities are literally being torn apart by the influx of illegals. Yes, our hospitals and schools are being stretched to the breaking point.

 

As if these factors were not bad enough, our fearless leaders in the nation’s capital are trying to trump everything we can do at the state level and totally federalize another issue. Undoubtedly, this outrageous amnesty plan will concentrate more power at the federal level. Further emasculate our state and local governments and ultimately result in more taxes and spending at the federal level. Just to make the problem worse.

 

Once again, Washington, D.C., is on the wrong side of an issue, totally out of touch with what most Americans want. If the situation were reversed and 30 states had passed bills supporting amnesty, you can bet that the pressure would have already forced the House to cave in to the Senate amnesty plan. The President and some in the Senate are out of touch. But unless we stand strong, their amnesty plan will trump our state-level efforts to control this crisis.

 

Other resources: Christian Science Monitor - States target employers."

Technorati Tags: News, Health, Taxes

Stop federal overspending now!

"You worked 193 days this year to support the cost of government

This week, Americans for Tax Reform released its annual Cost of Government Day report. The results show that the cost of federal spending and regulation continues to increase faster than the growth of the income produced by American workers. In 2006, the average American worker will need to labor 193 days of the year to pay for the costs imposed by federal, state, and local governments. In other words, you had to work to until July 12th to pay for the costs of government, more than half the year.

The 2006 Cost of Government Day increased 1.4 days compared to last year and is up 12 days since 2000. Federal spending represents 67 percent of the increase in the total cost of government since 2000.

Clearly, reform is needed.

Fortunately, Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) recently introduced legislation called the Stop Over-Spending Act of 2006 which will begin the process to slow the growth of federal spending.

S.O.S will begin to fix this process by instituting new budget reforms which will protect American taxpayers. More specifically the legislation will:

1. Create a line-item veto which will better enhance the President’s ability to root out wasteful spending.

2. Institute new mechanisms which will slow the growth of mandatory spending.

3. Reinstate statutory caps on discretionary spending, enforced with across the board cuts if Congress exceeds the caps.

4. Finally allow analysis of the effectiveness of government programs which enables policymakers to better determine what programs are working and more importantly which programs are not.

Given the large increases in federal spending and the appetite for Congress to continue spending your money, it is vital you contact your member of Congress and tell them to support the Stop Over-Spending Act of 2006."

Support S. 3521 - Sen. Gregg's Stop Over Spending Act ==>Find your representatives and contact them Here

Letter from a friend: Mississippi...before and after

"Hi Linda,

I just wanted to let you know that I'm back from Mississippi, alive and in one piece - although definitely a bit sleep deprived and feeling the backlog of being without an Internet connection for ten days.

I left on July 1st along with two busloads containing adult sponsors and 88 teenagers from our church to see what we could personally do to help the victims of Hurricanne Katrina rebuild their houses and their lives in the area of Mississippi where the eye of the hurricane crossed leaving a path of incredible destruction that is still very visible to this day.

Here is a link to some pictures before and after the Hurricane in the area that we were working in:

http://www.ad-alyzer.com/727/Damage

When you first pull into the area, you think, "There doesn't seem to be as much damage as I expected," but that feeling goes away quickly. 

The church were we camped out at was almost an hours drive from our work site because there were no facilities to handle our group that were closer.

Then as you move closer to the coast, the impact starts to hit.

Finally as you reach what looks like a one lane gravel and sand road -- which you later find out was a 4 lane highway before the hurricane - the first of a series of waves of impact begins to hit you.

We were working in an area the was relatively sparsely populated, but later in the week as we traveled to Biloxi and later New Orleans the massive spread of the damage was overwhelming.

As we approached New Orleans, we pass block after block of buildings that were empty, open sores on the face of the city. 

It literally looked like what you would imagine would be the result if an atomic bomb had gone off.

We were warned before we started that we would be overwhelmed with the great need and the fact that we wouldn't be able to even make a small dent in repairing the damage, but it was impossible not to be overwhelmed.

Over and over again residents told us the "starfish story" in various versions.

The starfish story first appeared in The Star Thrower, a collection of essays by the naturalist and writer Loren Eiseley that appeared in 1978, a year after Eiseley's death.

Variations abound, but here's the basic story:

An old man was picking up objects off the beach and tossing them out into the sea. A young man approached him and saw that the objects were starfish. "Why in the world are you throwing starfish into the water?"

"If the starfish are still on the beach when the tide goes out and the sun rises high in the sky, they will die," replied the old man.

"That is ridiculous. There are thousands of miles of beach and millions of starfish. You can't really believe that what you're doing could possibly make a difference!"

The wise old man picked up another starfish, paused thoughtfully, and remarked as he tossed it out into the waves,

"It makes a difference to this one."

So, over and over throughout the week we tried to "make a difference" to a few of the people that crossed our paths.

We divided our group up into teams.  Some groups did drywalling, some groups did trash removal and general cleanup.

As you can imagine, there are countless people with needs of all kinds, but most of the work fell into two categories.

First, there is a lack of people with select skills like drywallers, electricians, plumbers and roofers. 

If you had those skills you could be gainfully employed for the next 10 years in those areas.

The other need was for trash and debris removal.

Imagine mountains of trash, no tax base to cover removing it and mile after mile of rotting junk that has been sitting there for the last 11 months.

So we tried to do what we could.

The people were incredibly grateful - almost embarrassingly grateful.  You can see that they are worn out to core, but most were thankful that they were among the lucky who lived.  Everyone knew someone that had it worse than they did.

It's with a bit of guilt that I come back to my air conditioned house, swimming pool and 2 minute commute to work.

There is so much more to be done.

I know that there is a lot to be done here too.  I have people counting on me and promises to deliver on.  Forgive me if I've been a little slow getting back to you.

There is so much that I want to do.

The fact is that we are all going to die sometime, so if we are going to do something with our lives, now is the time to do it.

More soon!

All the best,

Ken

No news is no news

Were you listening, by any chance, to KABC radio early in the evening on Saturday, July 8th? Or on Monday night around 8pm or so? Or tonight (7/11)?

If not, then you probably never heard of the march protesting illegal aliens that occurred on Saturdy, July 8th organized by homeless activist Ted Hayes and the founder of the Minuteman Project Jim Gilchrist!

I did hear, on KABC Monday night, that Gilchrist was interviewed on CNN afterwards but I was only able to locate one item on the Internet about this march:

Minuteman Project and Save Our State Immigration Rally and March-Hollywood, CA-July 8, 2006

By now, I really hope you're wondering why the two newspapers in Los Angeles didn't even mention it. If not, you need a wake up call, big time: NEWSPAPERS TODAY HAVE A POLITICAL AGENDA!!!

Can you really imagine ANY newspaper in years past that wouldn't cover this? It's news! The were hundreds of counter protesters, people got arrested, a policeman even got hurt...and not a single news story.

Do you feel well-served by your local newspapers?

Good books that discuss bias in the media

Surprise, surpise

On December 8, 2005, Secretary of The Treasury John Snow delivered his "Prepared Remarks to PricewaterhouseCoopers’ 2005 Global Tax Symposium."

"In just the last week, we've learned that GDP growth was a robust 4.3 percent in the third quarter. That's strong growth for any time, and it happened when the country faced devastating natural disasters."


"We also learned on Friday that 215,000 jobs were added to the payrolls in November. Job creation is the reward of strong economic growth, and November's employment report brings the total of jobs created since May of 2003 to four and a half million -- with 1.8 million new jobs created this year alone."


In today's surprising New York Times article "Surprising Jump in Tax Revenues Is Curbing Deficit" there is a fleeting reference to the fact that "contrary to a popular assumption, a disproportionate [emphasis mine] share of income taxes is paid by wealthy households"--something that runs counter to the prevailing "wisdom" on the left--and, as the sharp Power Line analysis of this article points out, this chart (see below) that John Snow also presented last December directly contradicts the Times' statement that overall revenues have "barely climbed back to the levels reached in 2000."


"But that's not the Times' only blooper," states Power Line's John Hinderacker!

Read more

Windows

Fooled ya! You don't realize your mind has beenre-programmed do you? Traditionally, windows were, well, windows! This one's in Greece.


So's this one. I want to crawl through one of them into that world I see. One without computers and Windows. But how long would it take for me to start looking at my watch? Before I'd be trying to crawl back into that Window so I could log onto Windows? Which Window is real?

Iraq Was Hiding Chemical Weapons Facilities in 1999

"The conventional wisdom about Iraq's WMD programs is that they were moribund after the First Gulf War, and the hundreds of chemical weapons that have been found in Iraq are merely detritus which was most likely lost or forgotten by Saddam's government. That narrative flies in the face of a great deal of physical and documentary evidence, much of which we have discussed on this site. But a newly-translated Project Harmony document, CMPC-2003-00011084-HT-DHM2A.pdf, provides some of the most definitive evidence yet that Saddam's government continued its illicit weapons programs long after the conclusion of the Gulf War."

Read more

Animator vs. Animation

Click Here to watch "Animator vs. Animation."

(it's safe to watch!)

Happy Birthday Mr. President

Forget Cyrano

Remember the 17th Century Parisian dramatist Cyrano de Bergerac? He loves the beautiful Roxane, but Roxane loves the handsome Christian de Neuvillette because, unfortunatley, Cyrano's nose is too big! But Cyrano can communicate so well, that Christian uses him to woo Roxane...or so the 19th Century French poet Edmond Rostand wrote in his play about Cyrano.

Truth be told, Cyrano was a gay science fiction writer with a small nose.

Be that as it may, and in the spirit of the play, I want to point out that there is now a modern, more automated, system you can use and you have your choice of David, William, Frank, or Lawrence.

Phone Trick

Although you'll have to compose your own message (unless you have a friend as gifted as the legendary Cyrano) someone else will deliver the goods.

Or, you could have Diane, Emily or Millie deliver the message.

There's even the opportunity for French, German, Spanish or Italian!

But here's a real nice trick for deaf and hard of hearing people that lets them place relay calls over the Internet between locations in the United States called "Sprint IP Relay."

Future thinker as he was, I'm sure Cyrano would be pleased.

Is there a Psychologist in the house?

I remember when I used to draw clothes for my Mom to make for me--fancy stuff too, not your everyday junk--and then later, in fashion design school in downtown Los Angeles (7th and Broadway) making patterns from scratch or draping fabric over my very own Dress Form.

I so wanted to be able to afford to buy the beautiful clothes coming out of Paris just like the beautiful stars in Hollywood always wore. Haute couture in the 1950's and 1960's was something to aspire to, to dream of, to covet.

But, sadly, it is not that anymore. What it is seems to be an indulgence of the designer, in this case British designer John Galliano for French fashion house Dior and not something to dream about or aspire to.

But hey, if someone's making money from this stuff, someone's got to be shelling out the dough for it! (God, wouldn't you love to know who the heck these people are and if they look as weird as these clothes?)

Our troops deserve better than a Vietnam-era press

"The Buffalo News’s denigration of patriotic — what the News calls “pro-war” — veterans reminds me of a media-military symposium that took place some years ago in the aftermath of Vietnam and went a long way toward cementing the military’s negative image of the press. The moderator of a panel that included Peter Jennings of ABC News, Mike Wallace of CBS, and Marine Col. George Connell, offered a hypothetical scenario: In wartime, you are invited to accompany an enemy unit that says it will prove that an ally of the United States is committing atrocities. While accompanying the enemy patrol, you find yourself in the midst of preparations for an ambush that may very well cause the death of Americans. Do you try to warn the Americans?

After hesitating, Jennings replied that he would try to warn the Americans. But Wallace responded that he would regard it as just another story and that he would not feel a “higher duty” to warn the Americans. Col. Connell watched this exchange in what can only be described as a cold rage. When asked to comment, Col. Connell said of Wallace, “I feel utter contempt. Two days later those same two journalists [could be] caught in an ambush and are lying 200 yards from my position, and they expect that I’m going to send Marines to get them. They’re not Americans. They’re just journalists.”"

Read more

Technorati Tags: News

Speaking of autocrats

Thinking of how Kim Jong-il, who obviously has a very high opinion of himself, is brutally raping the people he forcibly rules, I was reminded of a proclamation by Howard Dean recently:

"We know that no one person can succeed unless everybody else succeeds."

Since this is observably not true, we must assume that he simply wishes it to be true, and that, like Karl Marx, he would be in favor of a government that would see to it (by whatever means necessary) that it becomes true.

In Howard Dean's ideal world, therefore, no one would be allowed to succeed unless the government decided it was ok and how, for God's sake, would they determine that and enforce that?

If I were you, I'd think real hard before electing anyone to public office that Howard Dean endorses.

Independence Day!

The flag code composed in 1923 and adopted by Congress in 1942 states:

"The flag represents a living country and is itself considered a living thing."

I was immediately reminded, of course, of the mystical doctrine of "transubstantiation" in the Catholic religion:

"...by the consecration of the bread and wine a change takes place in which the entire substance of the bread is changed into the substance of the Body of Christ our Lord, and the entire substance of the wine into the substance of His Blood."

Rather than get into any debates, I simply wish to celebrate the miracle of our great country and it's truly unique history and purpose in the world today as a beacon for everyone who believes in freedom (people wouldn't die trying to come here if that weren't true).

The defeat of the recent "flag burning amendment" certainly proves that not everyone believes our flag is actually a "living thing" but do not think that the desecration of this symbol means nothing either: it means that those who desecrate do hate what it stands for and of those, some will actively seek to end this country as we know it.

Is that a good thing? Unfortunately, we hear the voices of many in this country who believe it is. But then someone should tell all those people who die trying to come here not to bother.

Whose Side Is The Left On?

"Have we reached the point where the greatest threat to the lives and safety of civilian populations may be--not the increasingly clumsy operations of the terrorists--but sabotage by internal opponents of counter-terrorist operations?"

Yes.

More Gore

WSJ Opinion Journal: Don't Believe the Hype
"Al Gore is wrong. There's no "consensus" on global warming."
Richard S. Lindzen (Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Atmospheric Science at MIT) Sunday, July 2, 2006 12:01 a.m. EDT

First, nonscientists generally do not want to bother with understanding the science...

Secondly, given that the question of human attribution largely cannot be resolved, its use in promoting visions of disaster constitutes nothing so much as a bait-and-switch scam...

Lastly, there is a clear attempt to establish truth not by scientific methods but by perpetual repetition...

Read more


AP INCORRECTLY CLAIMS SCIENTISTS PRAISE GORE’S MOVIE

The June 27, 2006 Associated Press (AP) article titled “Scientists OK Gore’s Movie for Accuracy” by Seth Borenstein raises some serious questions about AP’s bias and methodology.

AP chose to ignore the scores of scientists who have harshly criticized the science presented in former Vice President Al Gore’s movie “An Inconvenient Truth.”

In the interest of full disclosure, the AP should release the names of the “more than 100 top climate researchers” they attempted to contact to review “An Inconvenient Truth.” AP should also name all 19 scientists who gave Gore “five stars for accuracy.” AP claims 19 scientists viewed Gore’s movie, but it only quotes five of them in its article. AP should also release the names of the so-called scientific “skeptics” they claim to have contacted.

Read more

Porker of the Month

Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) has named Senator Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) Porker of the Month for his legacy as the “King of Pork,” as he became the longest-serving Senator in U.S. history this month. Sen. Byrd has sat on the Appropriations Committee since 1959, his first year in the Senate. Since 1991, West Virginia has received $2.95 billion in pork, $1.2 billion allocated in the Senate. The state has ranked among the top four in CAGW's pork per capita every year since 2001 and became the first state to reap $1 billion in parochial projects in 1999, earning Sen. Byrd the CAGW-bestowed moniker, “King of Pork.” Despite the senator’s beneficence, justified on the premise of his state’s poor economy, decades of raiding the federal Treasury have failed to improve the lot of West Virginians, who now suffer from the third-lowest personal income per capita in the country. For his legacy of narcissism and waste, CAGW names the “King of Pork,” Sen. Robert Byrd, Porker of the Month for June 2006.

Read more

Why Kerry Can't Win

"There are his Purple Hearts that his officers deny authorizing. There are the missing medical records needed to substantiate his decorations. There are the questions the Swifties raised about his honorable discharge, a mysterious discharge not issued until several years after he was out of the Navy and then only issued by President Jimmy Carter in the midst of his amnesty program for draft dodgers. And there is all the controversy about young Mr. Kerry's dealings with the North Vietnamese in Paris while the war was going on and he was still in the service. Doubtless there are more indelicacies to be examined. Frankly I doubt the American electorate will gain any higher opinion of a presidential candidate who in 1971 appeared before Congress to claim that American soldiers "raped, cut off ears, cut off heads" and otherwise mistreated the Vietnamese."

Read more

US Military vs. French media — who will win?

Don't shop at Borders...and read this post by journalist Michael Yon:

"Service members have been complaining for years that they get a bad rap in the press. This is a moment of truth. Our service members, veterans and their families could topple a spin-staggered French mega-heavyweight that denigrates them with Shock, while seducing them with Car and Driver, Road and Track, Woman’s Day, Flying, Boating and others. If our people are willing to kick HFM off the bases, the world media is watching. US Military vs. French media — who will win?"

Superman Returns - Movie Review

Reviewed by Jason Apuzzo

Earlier today I had my first opportunity to watch a $260 million film. I've never seen a $260 million film on the big screen, and so I was a bit curious as to what the experience would be like.

"Superman Returns" - which is not to be confused with "Batman Begins" or "Spider-Man Reborn" or "The X-Men Get Rolling" or whatever other comic book movie has been out there lately - clocks in at about 2 1/2 hours - while feeling twice that long. It represents an attempt by Warner Brothers to restart what is thought to be the ultimate comic book franchise.

Whatever I or anybody else says about the film, the Superman franchise has definitely been restarted. When a studio pumps $260 million into a film, there is basically no point standing athwart the tide of history yelling "Stop!" The franchise is going to happen. Sequels must be made, video games must be sold. What does it matter what anybody thinks about it?

And yet it does matter what people think. All of us as audience members have our pride, and at least some of us remember when movies were better - a great deal better, actually. Some of us are romantics, you might say. And so, for what it's worth, here's what I think of director Bryan Singer's $260 million "Superman Returns":

I think it stinks. I think it's a complete waste of your time and money. I think it's a film made by idiots, for idiots - a film made for people whose standards have dropped so far they don't even remember what a good film was like.

Saying these things, I recognize that I run the risk of being called cranky or even crazy. Comic book movies these days seem to survive every market trend in Hollywood, every downturn, and so I have no doubt that "Superman Returns" will open to a massive, $100 million-or-more weekend. The people who always see these films will go see it, lots of people will leave the theater with placid smiles on their faces, so why complain? Who cares? Hey - what did Brandon Routh ever to do you?

Nothing, of course. But Brandon Routh isn't really the problem with "Superman Returns" - he's merely a symptom of it. Granted, he looks to be about ten years too young for the role, but I think Bryan Singer got what he wanted out of him. Routh comes across as a pleasant, bland, affectless Superman who will play well in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Thailand, Ecuador - or wherever else this film plays. Have you ever heard Muzak playing in an international airport lounge? That sort of vague, synthesized, colorless music that lulls you into a pleasant stupor as you wait for your next flight? That's our new, generic Superman.

Supposedly Nicolas Cage was at one point attached to this film as Superman. Personally I think that would've helped matters enormously, because if nothing else Cage has what is quaintly referred to as a personality. But this is obviously not the direction Bryan Singer wanted to go. Why? I think because personalities are funny, unpredictable things. They have rough edges. They lead people in unexpected directions. And you really can't base a $260 million franchise film on a "personality," can you?

No, you can't. Executives at Warner Brother would find that fiscally imprudent, and so what do we get instead with "Superman Returns"? We get bland, affectless actors like Kevin Spacey (playing Lex Luthor). Experts have been telling me for years that Kevin Spacey is a bona fide Hollywood "star." Really? Well, it's funny because I remember Gene Hackman playing this same role years ago, and Spacey's flat performance is an embarrassment in comparison.

You also get people like Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane. Actually, you get Kate Bosworth as hard-bitten, Pulitzer Prize-winning, mother-of-a-5-year-old Lois Lane, a role Bosworth might've been suited to if she were ten years older and a bit more careworn in the face. The problem is that Bosworth is 23, and although she might've looked great in a bikini in "Blue Crush," she doesn't have much of a personality.

Anybody sensing a pattern here?

Our new Superman, incidentally, doesn't even stand for "Truth, Justice & The American Way" anymore. Playing Daily Planet editor Perry White, Frank Langella tells us that Superman stands for "Truth and Justice . . . " and leaves it at that. The "Superman Returns" press materials tell me that Superman now stands for "truth, justice and all that is good." "All that is good" is apparently the phrase of choice when "The American Way" sounds too . . . what? Imperialistic? Jingoistic? Symptomatic of Bush-style militarism? I'm not sure, exactly.

All I know is this "American Way" stuff is now apparently too edgy and controversial for a Warner Brothers product shipped to Peru, Pakistan and Malaysia. Don't want to offend anyone!

I would normally pause at this point and discuss the "Superman Returns" plot, but characters and plotline really aren't very important here. Like most summer films, "Superman Returns" exists in order to provide one violent and spectacular FX sequence after another.

For whatever reason, incidentally, most of these sequences involve Kate Bosworth getting thrown around like a rag doll. There was a more civilized time when violence against women was kept to a minimum on screen; not anymore, apparently. Mr. Singer likes it rough.

"Superman Returns"' FX tend to be on the hyper-detailed side, and impressive. Clearly about $200 million of the film's budget was spent on FX, but after a while the visuals cease to be compelling. You just want a character, some recognizably human personality to hang on to.

You can't make a 2 1/2 hour film and not have characters - but that's basically what Singer's done here. He expects you to be 'blown away' so much that you don't notice what's missing: humanity, emotion, personality. Superior filmmakers like George Lucas and Peter Jackson use visual effects to create worlds, new environments. Singer does none of that - his New York looks no different from Spider-Man's New York, no different from any other New York - just louder and a lot more violent.

I'd like to stop the review here and make a suggestion to the powers that be in Hollywood. Hollywood spends a lot of its time and seemingly all of its money these days making superhero movies about guys with special powers. "Superman," "Spider-Man," "Batman," "X-Men," "Daredevil," "Hulk," "Fantastic Four," etc., ad nauseam. And here's the rub: I don't remember guys like Humphrey Bogart or Gary Cooper or James Cagney or John Wayne or even Harrison Ford having "special powers."

The only special powers those guys had were their fists, their wits, and their character - their substance as human beings. Most of us in life don't have 'special powers' to brood over. We're just regular Joes trying to get by, and we have a hard time relating to wonderboys like Brandon Routh or Tobey Maguire because their problems seem extremely trivial, and because while they probably look great in Zegna suits on the cover of GQ they don't look like they can take a punch. Nor do they seem to stand for much. I know what Gary Cooper stood for in his films. I have no clue what today's boyish little superheroes stand for, other than their own narcissism.

Just think this over, folks, because this comic book thing is getting really old.

"Superman Returns" opened on June 28.

Reprinted here with permission from the author.

Technorati Tags: Movies

Getting ready to change

"Dear friends,

What a strange and strangled week it has been.  The tension was building and building and for a long while there was no outlet for the increasing pressure.  But this morning, thankfully, the bubble popped and the tension began to finally relax.  The energy has been ratcheting up over the last weeks to a whole new intensity.  We are, as a group, getting ready to change.  Change can feel confrontational in that it asks us to be different.  Change isn't bad, but it surely brings up our stuff, things maybe we haven't looked at, or would rather not look at, but always, change is asking more of us.

These are powerful times we are living in.  The power of our thoughts, our word and actions are increasingly important.  This is a time to be responsible to ourselves, to keep our word, to do what we say, to walk our talk, to be congruent, knowing it's a practice and a privilege to be able to do this, or even to be conscious that we have a choice about it at all.

When we become tight, we can practice letting go.  When things become frantic, we can be calm.  When life gets complicated, we can be more simple.  

During times of change, return to the things that you know.  Go back to the basics, using the tools that you know work -- eating right, resting enough, asking for help, staying present, meditating, and any other powerful tools you know.  By taking care of yourself in these most fundamental ways, you are bringing a bit of order into the confusion. 

All of this buys you time, and it will help you sustain through the changes and keep your head up and out of the mire.  It will keep you clearheaded and openhearted.  And sooner than you think, by your simple practice, you can find your balance again.

And then simple becomes genius.

Diana Lang
THE WEATHER
©2006 by DIANA LANG

Please feel free to pass these letters along, they are a gift and a service.
If you wish to be added to or deleted from the mailing list, please let me know.

You can see archives of these reports on Diana's blog at: the WEATHER from Diana Lang

Diana Lang
from the City of Angels
818/888-7319
www.DianaLang.com

"Everything you do right now ripples outward
and affects everyone." - David Deida"

The New York Times Is Endangering My Life

As published 6/28/2006 in Bear to the Right by Gary A. Aminoff

And it's endangering your life, your children's lives, your parents lives, your grandparents lives--everyone who lives in the United States has been placed in grave jeapardy by this once-great newspaper.

The NYT Suicide Bombs Our National Security according to Maryland attorney Peter Byrnes, another outraged citizen...and there are thousands of us, if not more, rising up in protest (the New York Times has already lost thousands of subscribers over this blatant breach of national security).

The public schools in this country have produced a generation of Zinnified (and I used to like Thomas Merton) self-hating zombies who have no real compass points to follow in this dangerous world and who will, if left to their own devices, take all of us over a cliff with them.

It's a Bird...It's a Plane...

...It's a Bush!

I have a relative that can't go a day without mentioning President Bush. It doesn't matter what the subject is or what the particular activity or event, it always includes or ends with a rant about president Bush (and it is, of course, always a negative). I will be so glad when we have a new President simply to stop the endless Bush babble--it's like water torture, the endless drip, drip, drip of poison.

I was raised by a Republican (my Dad who was a self-employed marketing consultant) and a Democrat (my Mom who, like many women, was a talented multi-tasker and creator of beautiful knitwear). I remember their respect for the President of the United States of America and their pride in their country (no wonder they were called "the greatest generation").

Today I read that President Bush's approval rating has gone from 33% to 38% this month but you'd never know it from reading Al Gore's recent fund-raising email charging that Bush broke the law!: "In my view, a president who breaks the law poses a threat to the very foundation of our democracy."

What law did President Bush break?

The law of being the most powerful man in the world, natch!

After all, hasn't he been responsible for just about everything bad that happens on Planet Earth?

Forget Blofeld, Dr. No, or Goldfinger, George W. Bush and Bush alone is responsible for the hurricanes that have devastated the coast of Florida, for inflation, deflation, stagnation and stagflation, for disease and unease, for global warming (along with Jesus who, it was reported last week, was the last powerful figure to walk the earth when it was the warmest until George Bush was President), and for the actions and atrocities of all the most brutal terrorists in the world today (imagine controlling these guys--whew, how does he manage to fall asleep every night)!

There's a secret part of me that is proud to have the most powerful man in the world as MY president. The Power and The Glory for ever and ever man.

But, I suppose, all this will end in a couple of years when control is restored to us mere mortals on Planet Earth and we will all return to our normal state.

Part of me is sad.

You're on a boat

You're on a boat.

You and a few other people decide you don't like the Captain of this boat. But not only do you not like him, you hate him! In fact, you hate him so much you start planning to sink the boat in order to get rid of him.

Crazy?

Welcome to the USS America.

"The New York Times is doing one heckuva job underming U.S. national security."

"Al Qaeda has long worked to manipulate the media in its favor. It can disband that operation now, knowing that, unbidden, America's most powerful newspaper is looking out for its interests."

"I am outraged that the newspaper [Los Angeles Times] revealed classified details of a successful anti-terror operation.

"Dear Mr. Keller: Thank you for continually contributing to the deaths of my fellow soldiers."

"...what's so infuriating about this is the smugness of Bill Keller in overriding the judgment of all of our elected officials, really, and just single-handedly providing this information to terrorists, and to everyone else."

"For the second time in seven months, the [New York] Times has exposed classified information about a program aimed at protecting the American people against a repeat of the September 11 attacks. On this occasion, it has company in the effort: The Los Angeles Times runs a similar, sensational story."

You're on a boat.

Some people who don't like the Captain are trying to sink the boat in order to get rid of him.

What do you do about the people who are trying to sink the boat?

What will you do when they finally sink the boat?

If you believe in Justice, you believe in an afterlife

It's really very simple:

Justice is one of the most profound and valuable concepts ever conceived by the human mind but I knew a wonderful man who liked to say that justice was only found in the dictionary.

If you've lived long enough, you'll relate to that sense of frustration as you see time and time again that terrible people die calmly in their sleep (Stalin) or never get punished in this lifetime (al-Zarqawi).

So, here's the dilemna for those intellectual giants who don't believe in God (and usually look down on the rest of us who do):

Justice is either arbitrary (and therefore not justice at all) or there is an afterlife where justice completes itself.

You choose.

It's easy for me.

Clinton/Carter cabinet members want preemptive strike against N. Korea

This is very interesting--isn't preemption a dirty word these days?

Former V.P. Walter Mondale, and former Secretary of Defense William J. Perry have both advocated preemption against North Korea.

"This is such a legitimate thing for the United States to do...the nature of the threat is so serious that I think we should knock it out right there if they won't stop."

"...if you're getting ready to fire this, we'll take it out."

Both Perry and Ashton B. Carter (former Assistant Secretary of Defense during Clinton's first term) want Bush to launch a preemptive strike against N. Korea because "diplomacy has failed."

"U.S. Rejects Suggestion to Strike N. Korea Before It Fires Missile"

But...what if this intelligence turns out to be incorrect??? After all, we found out about the wretched state of the intelligence community the hard way didn't we? Why, Mondale and Perry would then be called liars would they not? If I were them, I'd just wanna safeguard my reputation for posterity; I'd just keep my big trap shut! I mean, who wants to be called a liar? Not me! Screw protecting the damn people of the United States! Hell, most of 'em are here illegally anyway.

Where is the fucking outrage!!!

You've heard the endless clamor over "possible torture" at Gitmo, the "rights" of terrorists, the poor child rapists, the this and the that. So many hands that are wringing, so many worried and furrowed brows, so much fucking concern.

E.D. Hill at Fox News has a response, following the UN-godly mutilation-torture of two young servicemen recently kidnapped, tortured and killed in Iraq:

"So what do they say when torture OBVIOUSLY occurs? How do they react when two U.S. servicemen — in Geneva Convention-approved uniforms — have their hearts cut out, their testicles cut off, their penises cut off and stuffed in their mouths, arms contorted and eyes gouged? THIS is torture."

An attorney in Maryland has written something you--and every Amercian--must read if you need ANY clarification of this issue:

Silence on Butchery, Whining at Guantanamo

May their souls be at peace and their eternal home be in the true paradise where decent human beings are welcomed: Army Pfc. Thomas Tucker and Pfc. Kristian Menchaca.

A Sadist's God

Would a sadist's god be a sadist or a masochist?

A sadist's god would have to be a sadist because torture, cruelty and sheer terror are worshipped by a sadist.

So, what do you s'pose the sadist's god will reward his sadist worshipper with after the sadist dies???

72 virgins or...?

If you really loved me, you'd call me on your cell phone

"I know that 999 out of a thousand cell phone conversations are totally unnecessary. Who am I, you ask, to decide which calls are necessary and which aren't? Easy. A necessary call is one made to the auto club, letting them know you've run out of gas on the Hollywood Freeway, or a call to let someone know you're running a half-hour late because you got stuck behind some idiot who ran out of gas on the Hollywood Freeway. Otherwise, what's so urgent? As you see them posing all over town with their tiny phones, their brows furrowed in feigned concentration, pretending to be oblivious to everything around them, you can almost pity the poor souls. Who do they think they're fooling with their little charades? Are we supposed to assume that President Bush just called, wanting to know what to do about the Middle East peace talks, or that [Ben Bernanke] phoned, wanting to know if he should raise or lower the prime rate?... The fact is, none of us are buying the routine. We all know that you're just gossiping with your cousin Shirley or lying about your golf score or yakking incessantly about 'The Apprentice'. There's no harm in it... It just seems so darn goofy. The real mystery remains, why would anybody want to pack around a telephone? Is it possible that I am the only person in the world who doesn't want to be reachable 24 hours a day?" —Bert Prelutsky

Do you know what every father wants this Father's Day?

"If you are a dad, like me, you'll feel that your kids are one of the most important factors of your life. One of a father's greatest joys is to hear the words from your son or daughter, "I love you Dad." These are special moments that you keep and cultivate forever.

However, if you've gone through divorce, you will know the anger, grief and Loss that comes from the experience. You might not even get to see your kids as often as you like, or at all. And your friends don't know how to treat you, nor your former partner.

Moreso, loneliness is a thunder that depletes your inner core. As a result of many years of life without friends, you may feel unloved, and sometimes even desperate for a friend. Even worse, how do we go about making friends, once again?

When we were kids, we didn't need to worry about life and relationships. These things "just happened" along the way to adulthood.

Finally, we arrived at an age where we are recognised as being an "adult". That is, we were legally allowed to drink, drive, marry, vote. We were expected to pay our bills and keep our morals high.

However for many fathers, and men, this reality becomes too much to handle. Every day is a crisis. Work is a bore. Your family situation is a complete mess. You desperately want it all to end - but you know you can't get off the treadmill.

Your finances to keep your family alive are tied to your job. And so is your sense of satisfaction - though that also has disappeared. Which leaves you feeling trapped and emotionally void.

This can produce angry arguments that flare up at home. And just one situation can blow your credibility with family and neighbours.

Next thing you may have police turn up on your doorstep and question you. You may spend hours down the station answering their belittling questions. Being fingerprinted and photographed with your records on file. "I'm not even a bad person!" you moan.

Now let me come back to my first question:

"Do you know what every father wants this father's day?"

For most men, they want:
- to be told that they are loved
- to know that they are appreciated
- to be forgiven
- to be given the right to start over, once again
- to know that the past can be forgotten
- to feel the warmth of a loving partner
- to know ... that it is all worth it

If you want to do one thing for your dad this weekend, then prepare yourself and do this:
- give your dad a phone call
- talk about what has hurt him most
- listen to his story, just listen
- tell him how much that meant to you to hear his story
- tell him you forgive him
- tell him you want to start a new chapter
- tell him that you believe it will work
- thank him for being there for you all your life

This is the process of change that can dramatically impact your dad's life. Your relationship with him can start afresh.

It is not enough to struggle through life and hold on to our hurts, our grief and our pain. We need to deal with the issues that we picked up early in life. Get our lives back in control again.

This is a free-ing experience.

We become free to love, to laugh, to smile, to forgive. The past is forgotten, and the future isn't written yet. "The future is what you make it." (Doc, Back to the Future III)

If you have lost your dad, then you can still take action. Sometimes a person who has died can rule our lives even more than when they were alive.

Do you think that your dad is still controlling your life from the grave?

Then forgive him.

Put away the past. Move on. Create a new tomorrow.

It is time to start a new chapter. Keep your dad in mind this fathers day.

===============================================
Copyright (c) 2006 Bradley Smith www.easterjvgiveaway.com
You may freely reproduce this article though you must keep the resource box with it.
===============================================

Technorati Tags: Love

"I don't see why people care about patriotism."

"The entire country may disagree with me, but I don't understand the necessity for patriotism," Maines resumes, through gritted teeth. "Why do you have to be a patriot? About what? This land is our land? Why? You can like where you live and like your life, but as for loving the whole country… I don't see why people care about patriotism."

--vocalist Natalie Maines of The Dixie Chicks.

Well, because, for one thing, so many, many people have died in order to give you the freedom to open your big, empty head and emit communications about things you know nothing about (history, geopolitics) and, for another thing, you would not be able to do what you do and earn what you earn in, say, for example, Saudi Arabia (where women can't even drive) or, say for another example, even be able to expose that head in order to emit these ideas because you would be forced to observe hijab, or purdah.

Duh.

Technorati Tags: Politics

Shameless and Irresponsible

"Unlawful command influence..."

Congressman Murtha did not say which Marine commanders told him that our boys were guilty of murder as he busied himself with prejudicing the jury in advance, but he may soon be required to do so in court.

One of those boys has a lawyer that's not going to let the fact that a Corps' top officer may, if Murtha is telling the truth, have ruined their chances for a fair trial.

Murtha, as we only just discovered, has grand political illusions which requires him to step over the dead bodies of all his fellow marines on his way to the top, but what would be the motive of the commandant? Or was Murtha lying about that too?

Marine may call Murtha as witness
By Rowan Scarborough
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
June 15, 2006

Read more

"Why I Left The Left"

"I used to be a liberal. I was in one of the first "open" classrooms growing up in very progressive Great Neck, New York, in the 1960s. In 1971, when I was 11, I wrote vitriolic letters to President Nixon demanding an end to the Vietnam War. My first vote, in 1980, was for Independent John Anderson, followed by Mondale, Dukakis, and Clinton-Gore."

Seth Swirsky, "songwriter, author, recording artist and memorabilia collector" cast his first Republican vote in 2004 and he REALLY tells it like it is!

I challenge any Democrat to read this article!

Technorati Tags: Politics

Scientists respond to Gore's warnings of climate catastrophe

"Carter does not pull his punches about Gore's activism, "The man is an embarrassment to US science and its many fine practitioners, a lot of whom know (but feel unable to state publicly) that his propaganda crusade is mostly based on junk science.""

Click Here to read more!

It's Flag Day!

Betsy Ross with the first flag

On 14 June 1777, the Marine Committee of the Continental Congress adopted a resolution, which gave birth to our National Flag. The resolution read: "Resolved that the Flag of the United States be made of 13 stripes, alternate red and white, that the union be 13 stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation."

"This flag, which we honor and under which we serve, is the emblem of our unity, our power, our thought and purpose as a nation. It has no other character than that which we give it from generation to generation... Though silent, it speaks to us—speaks to us of the past, of the men and women who went before us, and of the records they wrote upon it." —Woodrow Wilson

‘Amnesty John' McCain

"Senator McCain has never been a friend to rank-and-file Border Patrol agents," says the union. "He routinely ignores correspondence from Border Patrol agents and often gives the impression that he is just too big and too important to deal with us. He attempts to undermine our mission at every turn and actively supports the criminals who violate our laws. He always tries to downplay the fact that illegal aliens knowingly and willingly violate our laws."

I liked it, I really liked it!

I just read this review (because I just discovered rottentomatoes.com -- NOT to be confused, at your own peril, with rotten.com !!!):

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/shopgirl/

Having had to listen to my husband proclaim his intense dislike for this movie, and having to respond to his not-too-subtle disdain for my approval, I decided to invent a new rule for movie reviews:

Like it

Didn't like it

Period.

Forget the oh-so-eloquent and oh-so nose-in-the air reviews. Oh God, please spare us all!

Just say:

"I liked it...I really liked it!"

or

"I didn't like it...I really didn't like it."

That's all that matters, really...the rest is fluff and bullshit!

What does it cost?

May 29, 2006
Peninsula News
Palos Verdes, CA 90274

Dear Editor,

I have read articles and letters in the Peninsula News about illegal immigrants and I understand that the construction industry and the produce industry can charge us lower prices because they employ illegal aliens. But what do illegal aliens cost us for medical care and welfare, crime, education, translators, etc.? We can’t be expected to make wise decisions about illegal immigration until we know what it costs. I spent some hours on the Internet looking up statistics and I will share with you what I found. Illegal Aliens are costing American taxpayers:

$21 billion a year for medical services.

$20 billion a year for welfare.

$7.4 billion a year for schooling (and half of the Hispanics do not graduate).

$27 billion a year for translators and printing of documents in other languages.
$68 billion a year for “resettlement of illegal immigrants.”

$1.6 billion a year in upkeep for illegal aliens in prisons. (I haven’t found any figures yet on how much their legal expenses are, or what the extra police who try to protect us from gang activity cost, or the costs of the losses incurred by the victims).

$80 billion a year for the “war on drugs” plus drug dealers take $120 billion in American money back to South America (75 per cent goes to Mexico).

$133 billion a year in displaced American workers who can’t find jobs because employers are hiring cheaper illegal aliens.

$56 billion is the amount of American money that illegal aliens send home to their families each year.

The number of illegal aliens will double in the next 3 to 4 years. The amount of taxes that we pay to support illegal aliens will also double. There are 4,000 more crossing the border each day, and 300,000 women a year coming here pregnant and having their babies on American soil – they are called “anchor babies” because under current laws, they have American citizenship and make the family eligible for more benefits. The costs of anchor babies are not included in the above costs since they are not illegal.

Amnesty/citizenship would increase the costs since the former illegal aliens would qualify for more benefits, including Social Security. They are 95% unskilled workers, and the taxes they would start paying would amount to a fraction of the new benefits they would start getting.

Our national debt is $7,384 trillion (as of Nov. 2004) and the United States is borrowing $1.6 billion daily from foreign banks.

These numbers came from Cornell University and the U.S. Center for Immigration Studies National Research Council.

Sincerely,

P. F. Bacon

Bedwetters Lament

Responding to the recent arrest of terrorists, Canadian columnist David Warren includes 5 points that I believe need to be understood by us here in America as well:

(1) Pretending it's not happening, or that it will stop happening if we meet some fanciful demands (such as withdrawing from Afghanistan, or surrendering Andalusia), does not change the reality.

(2) Intrinsic to the threat against the West is not terrorism, alone, but terrorism in combination with legal efforts to use the more fatuous provisions of our "human rights" codes to subvert our defences.

(3) Do not listen to the nonsense that will be argued, increasingly, by the bed-wetters of the Left in our academic and media establishments, who blame the terror not on its perpetrators, but on their own domestic political opponents.

(4) Accept, that we are going to be in this for a long time.

(5) The threat -- both international and local -- is real, large, and growing. We remain at the point of deciding whether to defend against it with "sensitivity", or with vigour. "Both" is not an answer.

Defend with Vigour, Not 'Sensitivity'

Baby killers at the L.A. Times

The Los Angeles Times did a big cover story yesterday about the children:

When Children Are 'Collateral Damage'
"The U.S. military says a house it raided in Iraq held rebels; neighbors disagree. Indisputable, though, is the resulting political fallout."
By Megan K. Stack, Times Staff Writer
June 8, 2006

Today's L.A. Times had this headline:

U.S. Tracks Aide to Zarqawi's Doom; Bush Says the War Is Far From Over
By Solomon Moore and Greg Miller, Times Staff Writers
June 9, 2006
"Zarqawi died inside the house, U.S. officials said, along with at least five other people, including Rahman, a woman and a child of unspecified age."

Later today, the Times published this story online:

Bush Sees Zarqawi's Death as a Help, But No End to Violence
By Johanna Neuman, Times Staff Writer
10:00 AM PDT, June 9, 2006

There was no mention of a child in this story!

If you want to know the truth about the children you'll have to get if from The Washington Post or The New York Times because neither of them had done a whole cover story based on the alleged death of a child (or children) in this magnificent raid that took out one of the world's most violent and disgusting criminals.

Zarqawi Did Not Die Instantly, U.S. General Says
By William Branigin and Debbi Wilgoren
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, June 9, 2006; 3:48 PM
Including Zarqawi, Caldwell said, "there were six people that were killed in that airstrike: three males, three females." Contrary to initial reports that a child was among those killed, the general said an "after-action review" he read does not mention any children.

*************************************************************************************
US Says Zarqawi Initially Survived Bombing
By REUTERS
Published: June 9, 2006
Filed at 11:43 a.m. ET
He said only two of the six killed in the raid have been positively identified: Zarqawi and his spiritual adviser Sheikh Abdul-Rahman. Caldwell said ``three males and three females -- no children'' were killed. The military said on Thursday one child had died.

Al - Zarqawi Lived Briefly After Attack
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: June 9, 2006
Filed at 4:38 p.m. ET
Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, had said four people, including a woman and a child, were killed with al-Zarqawi and Abu Abdul-Rahman al-Iraqi, the terrorist's spiritual consultant.

Caldwell said it now appears there was no child among those killed.

A Good Day's Work

So eloquent, so true:

"If we had withdrawn from Iraq already, as the "peace" movement has been demanding, then one of the most revolting criminals of all time would have been able to claim that he forced us to do it. That would have catapulted Iraq into Stone Age collapse and instated a psychopathic killer as the greatest Muslim soldier since Saladin. As it is, the man is ignominiously dead and his dirty connections a lot closer to being fully exposed. This seems like a good day's work to me."

Christopher Hitchens is a columnist for Vanity Fair.
Click Here to read the whole article

PS: This was the answer to one of my prayers and such a happy, happy day for so many people ( except for Democrats!)

If

""If gay activists really wanted freedom, as opposed to advancing a particular political agenda, they would be hard at work moving government control out of areas of our society that limit their (and everyone else's) freedom. They should be fighting for nationwide school choice, so they can send their children to schools that teach what they want. They should be fighting for private social-security accounts so that they could stop complaining about discrimination in survivor benefits. They should fight for private health-care accounts and getting corporations out of the benefits-providing business so they could stop complaining about discrimination in benefits toward gay couples. Unfortunately, this is not happening. From what I see, despite the hijacking of the language of freedom, rights and discrimination, this movement is about sleight of hand and political power." —Star Parker"

Technorati Tags: Health

Why you MUST be married in the Church!

Soup or Salad?

After listening to Doug Wilson tonight (co-author of "Getting America Right") I now realize that this is a metaphor for the choice we face in America right now! He pointed out that a salad is a combination of ingredients that always remain intact (until eaten, that is) while a melting pot (I call it soup) starts off with the individual ingredients and ends up a tasty blend of all of them as they gradually meld together...

E pluribus unum "out of many, one."

Ok, so what do YOU want: soup...or salad?

Demand the Media "Tell the Truth!"

"In my opinion he [Dan Rather] was guilty of journalistic malpractice,” former CBS News president Ed Joyce.

This week's "Leftmedia Buster" Award: "I never read The New York Times anymore for information. I read The New York Times only to find out what the left-wing slant on stuff is." —Morton Kondracke

"This guy, who I will never talk to again from New York magazine who is something of a snake, he took my quote and I think perverted the meaning of it to indicate in some way that I was insensitive to news from one of the five major continents in the world," Gibson told Chicago radio station WVON

Already, the media's bias is distorting the Supreme Court vacancy crisis. The media are doing everything in their power to demonize conservatives and force a so-called "moderate" Justice on our nation.

We must take a stand. Thanks for joining with me.

"As a concerned citizen, I am deeply troubled by the mainstream media’s liberal bias. For too long, the mainstream media have used their resources and influence to present an extremely biased view of the news. For too long, citizens across this nation have stood by in silence and endured the media’s half-truths.

I am joining with the Media Research Center and citizens across the nation to call for a new level of accountability, responsibility, and truth in reporting. I want, and demand, truth. I demand the news media to strive for objectivity at all times. I demand balance. I demand fairness, and I will settle for nothing less."

Click here sign this petition now

Technorati Tags: News

Blindsided on the Left

"Shhh, don't tell anyone I said that!" said John you-know-who during an "off the record" meeting with members of the liberal blogosphere (right after a speech in Los Angeles to the Pacific Council on International Policy).
Shhhh, click here

But it gets even better!

"The Truth, John Kerry, and the New York Times":
"It is time for Kerry to stop alluding to "records" and start producing them. And it is time media assigned reporters with military experience or the resources to analyze this record and see just who is lying about what."


But who is fiddling while "Rome" burns?

Not the next "king of the world":

"He is neither rational nor irrational, but non-rational. His messianic strain of Shi'ism drives him to believe in a world catastrophe in which the Twelfth Imam will arise and take control of the entire world. Everything Ahmadinejad does is completely understandable in this context."

Gore's Hot Air

NEW YORK POST MOVIE REVIEW:

By KYLE SMITH

May 24, 2006
AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH

A Flaky Flick That Suffers from Truth Decay

Click Here to read why many of his assertions are simply “absurd” and worse, “frequently contradict each other!”

French company steals photo to slander US vets

Arrogance should no longer be a part of the French lexicon after what we witnessed during the last year in their country. I mean, would you ever want to live there? Johnny Depp changed his mind too.

But no, here they go again:

Click Here to learn about this shameless ploy--and all for money...guess it's not just the United States that is all about money, eh?

Press "1" for English

Methamphetamine

""Who wouldn't want to use it? You lose weight and you have great sex." -- Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Laymon"

Enter at your own risk --This ain't the "sixties" anymore.

"Eighty percent of meth comes from Mexican drug cartels operating in the desolate expanses of central and southern California..."

Wow...I just can't get over how generous Mexico has been to us: all those people who clean our toilets; all these people who make our Meth...jeez!

Positive Proof of Global Warming

Bin Laden family gave $1 million to Carter

Former President Jimmy Carter's center in Atlanta received more than $1 million from the family of Osama bin Laden, according to an investigative report:

Click Here for full story

According to Melanie Morgan, WorldNetDaily columnist, this "connection between Carter and the bin Laden family is exactly the kind of charge leveled by Michael Moore against President Bush in the film "Fahrenheit 9/11."

But, and let's take a poll, will you ever hear about this in the news?

Cool Signs

Sign over a Gynecologist's Office:
"Dr. Jones, at your cervix."
*************************************

In a Podiatrist's office:
"Time wounds all heels."
*************************************

On a Septic Tank Truck in Oregon:
"Yesterday's Meals on Wheels"
*************************************

On a Septic Tank Truck:
"We're #1 in the #2 business."
*************************************

At a Proctologist's door:
"To expedite your visit please back in."
*************************************

On a Plumber's truck:
"We repair what your husband fixed."
*************************************

On a Plumber's truck:
"Don't sleep with a drip. Call your plumber.."
*************************************

Pizza Shop Slogan:
"7 days without pizza makes one weak."
*************************************

At a Tire Shop in Milwaukee:
"Invite us to your next blowout."
*************************************

On a Plastic Surgeon's Office door:
"Hello. Can we pick your nose?"
*************************************

At a Towing company:
"We don't charge an arm and a leg. We want tows."
*************************************

On an Electrician's truck:
"Let us remove your shorts."
*************************************

In a Nonsmoking Area:
"If we see smoke, we will assume you are on fire and take appropriate action."
*************************************

On a Maternity Room door:
"Push. Push. Push."
*************************************

At an Optometrist's Office:
"If you don't see what you're looking for, you've come to the right place."
*************************************

On a Taxidermist's window:
"We really know our stuff."
*************************************

On a Fence:
"Salesmen welcome! Dog food is expensive."
*************************************

At a Car Dealership:
"The best way to get back on your feet - miss a car payment."
*************************************

Outside a Muffler Shop:
"No appointment necessary. We hear you coming."
*************************************

In a Veterinarian's waiting room:
"Be back in 5 minutes. Sit! Stay!"
*************************************

At the Electric Company:
"We would be delighted if you send in your payment.
However, if you don't, you will be."
*************************************

In a Restaurant window:
"Don't stand there and be hungry, Come on in and get fed up."
*************************************

In the front yard of a Funeral Home:
"Drive carefully. We'll wait."
*************************************

At a Propane Filling Station,
"Thank heaven for little grills."
*************************************

And don't forget the sign at a Chicago Radiator Shop:
" Best place in town to take a leak."
*************************************

Wild Divine!

Dr. Andrew Weil recommends their program. If you can, check them out here:

We will be at the International New Age Tradeshow (INATS) in Denver from June 24-26. Our booth is number 549 and, as always, we would love to have you stop by!

Fast Times

"Dear friends,

The energy is fast out there right now. 

It can range from dynamic to frenetic,
depending on how you are wielding it,
but it's fast, no matter whether you are wielding it or not.

Feel yourself slow down.
Neither resist it, nor be flung about by it.
Just take a deep breath and find your center.
Become quiet and notice this inhalation, this exhalation.

Breath by breath, normalizing and acclimatizing
to this higher, faster frequency.
It's not going to slow down.
We are being boosted, amplified, accelerated,
brought to a higher vibration, closer to the light.

The energy is like mercury, silver lightning.
There are lots of changes, very quickly.

Let everyone whir around you,
while you hold even more still.

This is the power of this time.

in the silver center of it,
Diana Lang
THE WEATHER
©2006 by DIANA LANG

Please feel free to pass these letters along, they are a gift and a service, but do so without charge or alteration.  If you wish to be added to or deleted from the mailing list, please let me know.

Diana Lang
from the City of Angels
818/888-7319
www.DianaLang.com

"Everything you do right now ripples outward
and affects everyone." - David Deida"