"Standards of acceptable behavior have been spiraling lower in America as ever baser, more destructive behavior has grown and has been given resigned acceptance as the norm. The moral relativism embraced by elitists in the media, government, universities, Hollywood, and elsewhere has twisted average American's views of acceptable conduct to the converse of what traditionally has been considered acceptable, civilized behavior. Americans are becoming tolerant of everything that is rotten and intolerant of many things that are good, destroying lives and eroding our freedoms as Americans."
--Chris Field

POWER TO INFLUENCE

"You must...understand that the advice you give your children -- whether good or bad -- will be remembered. Your power to influence your family's attitudes about the culture should be seen not as a burden but as an innate quality that is always active. You must never, ever forget that it is impossible to choose inaction on your part in the arena of influence. A decision to go with the cultural flow -- a decision on your part not to fight the culture, to stay away from the conflict and take the easy route, to just lay low -- does not negate the influence you have on your children but results in your influence being a negative one. A decision to not make a decision is still a decision. Inaction, in itself, is an action. In other words, you are not a neutral force in your household; your action or perceived neutrality is a force that will shape your home and the personalities, choices, morals and values of your children for the rest of their lives. ... [Y]our kids don't need you to be just another friend. They need you to be their parents." --Rebecca Hagelin, Columnist for Townhall.com and Vice President, The Heritage Foundation, Communications and Marketing

Hooray!!

It's about time some in the media are starting to get it.

"Today, this editorial board resolves to sacrifice another word -- 'insurgent' -- on the altar of precise language. No longer will we refer to suicide bombers or anyone else in Iraq who targets and kills children and other innocent civilians as 'insurgents.' The notion that these murderers in any way are nobly rising up against a sitting government in a principled fight for freedom has become, on its face, absurd. They drove that point home with chilling clarity Wednesday in a poor Shiite neighborhood. As children crowded around U.S. soldiers handing out candy and toys in a gesture of good will, a bomb-laden SUV rolled up and exploded. These children were not collateral damage. They were targets. The SUV driver was no insurgent. He was a terrorist. People who set off bombs on London trains are not insurgents. We would never think of calling them anything other than what they are -- terrorists. Words have meanings. Whether too timid, sensitive or 'open-minded,' we've resisted drawing a direct line between homicidal bombers everywhere else in the world and the ones who blow up Iraqi civilians or behead aid workers. No more. To call them 'insurgents' insults every legitimate insurgency in modern history. They are terrorists." --The Dallas Morning News

"Even though Republicans have won the war of ideas, Democrats in the short run could win the big political races: the House, the Senate and even the White House. That's because Hillary Rodham Clinton and her fellow Democrats are willing to fight with every weapon at their disposal, while Republicans still act as if they fear rather than cherish their incredible potential strength." --Tony Snow

"A nominee for the court shouldn't be taking stands on political issues precisely because he is not running for a legislative or executive office. Instead he's been nominated for a seat on the highest court in the land, and there is a difference, a big one." --Paul Greenberg

"[J]ihadist terrorism has been carried out from Bali to Casablanca to Madrid to London to New York City to Washington by young Islamic men of North African, Middle Eastern and South Asian origin. This is not a stereotype. It is a simple statistical fact. ... But the overwhelming odds are that the guy bent on blowing up your train traces his origins to the Islamic belt stretching from Mauritania to Indonesia. Yet we recoil from concentrating bag checks on men who might fit this description." --Charles Krauthammer

"Though evidence shows that the terrorists are interested in acquiring nuclear weapons to use against our cities, a learned writer for the New York Review of Books insists that the real weapons of mass destruction are world poverty and environmental abuse. Of course, world poverty is rarely mentioned by terrorists, and those known to be involved have almost all been well fed and are well to do." --John Leo

"[T]he most dishonest argument about security cameras, searches, profiling, etc....is that they won't stop terrorism. Well, no one thing will stop terrorism. But to conclude, therefore, that we shouldn't do anything -- that's not an argument, it's an excuse. And a bad one." --Jonah Goldberg

Do I agree with Pres. Bush on everything? Hell, no! But I do like his decisiveness. He has said on a number of occasions that he says what he means and does what he says. This drives the left nuts. They call him stubborn, hard-headed, inflexible, etc.

But I think this quote describes him better:
"I like a person who knows his own mind and sticks to it; who sees at once what, in given circumstances, is to be done, and does it." --William Hazlitt (1778-1830), author and political writer.

"I am glad that I paid so little attention to good advice; had I abided by it I might have been saved from some of my most valuable mistakes."
---Gene Fowler

"Vision is the art of seeing things invisible."
---Jonathan Swift

"You vote yourselves salaries out of the public funds and care only for your own personal interests; hence the state limps along."
---Aristophanes

"The self-sufficient man is the richest among humans."
---Menander

BLOGGING WILL BE......................

LIGHT.

I will be leaving town tomorrow, Friday morning, for most of the weekend to participate in a fund raiser for the American Cancer Society and then to visit family.

Therefore, blogging will be light to non-existant in the next couple days.

"[N]either the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt." --Samuel Adams

"Nevertheless, to the persecution and tyranny of his cruel ministry
we will not tamely submit - appealing to Heaven for the justice
of our cause, we determine to die or be free...."

-- Joseph Warren (American account of the Battle of Lexington,
26 April 1775)

More of the Same

As I said in another post today (different topic, but same underlying problem) we sure know how to waste our money.

Citizenship often not checked for Medicaid
A majority of states don't verify claims of U.S. citizenship by those seeking Medicaid, which creates the potential for illegal aliens to access the health care program, an inspector general's report has found."

Late, But The Right Thing To Do

European nations oust imams
Countries across Europe are working to expel radical Islamic clerics who glorify and condone acts of terrorism, in hopes of stemming the tide of extremism among impressionable Muslim youth.

Alabama limits eminent domain
Alabama yesterday became the first state to enact new protections against local-government seizure of property allowed under a Supreme Court ruling that has triggered an explosive grass-roots counteroffensive across the country.

Portland Jailblazers

Interesting article (with not so surprising results) by Chris Lydgate in WSJ's Opinion Journal. We, in this case it's Oregonians, have no trouble finding ways to waste money. Build a prison and then let it stand empty, makes little sense, does it?

In Oregon, criminals run free while a prison stands empty.

PORTLAND, Ore.--Last month, Multnomah County Sheriff Bernie Giusto gritted his teeth and released 391 inmates from the county jail, including legions of drug dealers, drunk drivers, burglars, car prowlers, identity thieves, check forgers and assorted rip-off artists.

This spectacle has become numbingly familiar in Portland, a laid-back city that is suffering from an acute shortage of jail beds, a surge in property crimes, and a spike in methamphetamine use that led the state Legislature this week to pass a law requiring a doctor's prescription for cold and allergy medicines that could be used to make "meth." So far this year, Sheriff Giusto has sprung more than 2,700 inmates--and a town that prides itself on its progressive image is confronting a crisis in public safety."

This is a Good Thing

Millions all over China convert to Christianity

Chinese are embracing Christianity in a social revolution that is spreading through town and countryside to the point where Christians already may outnumber members of the Communist Party of China."

I say this is a good thing because modern day Christianity is not spreading evil, killing in the name of religion, etc, etc. Christianity would be a threat to the continuation of a "Red China". It would be the seedlings of a democracy to Communist China. And a democratic China would be much less of a threat to its neighbors as well as the U.S.

If it is to ever be, it will take a very long time.

If You Don't Like it, Leave

Muslims who hate us can get out, says Tory

MUSLIMS who resent the British way of life should leave the UK, regardless of whether they are citizens or not, a senior Conservative said last night in comments that have heightened already tense community relations.

I'm quite certain this will ruffle more than a few feathers. But, quite frankly, HeavyHanded agrees. We will be accused of racism, blah, blah, blah. Of course, it's not. Not at all. What it means is simply, don't migrate (illegally or legally) to another country to spread hate, violence, and try to to change the country you just migrated to. That's all. Quite simple actually. And not racist.

Terminally Ill Patients in UK Could Be Starved to Death
(CNSNews.com) - An appeal court has denied a terminally ill British man the assurance that his wish not to be starved to death once he becomes incapacitated will be respected to the end. Full Story

NEWS FROM THE LEFT COAST

California Court Rules Clubs Must Extend Benefits to Same-Sex Couples
(CNSNews.com) - California's highest court ruled Monday that country clubs must offer homosexual members who register as domestic partners the same discounts given to married ones, a decision that could apply to other businesses such as insurance companies and mortgage lenders. Read News on the Web

Report: More Democrat than Republican Operatives Involved in Voter Fraud
(CNSNews.com) - A report by a voting rights group regarding allegations of voter fraud, intimidation and suppression during the 2004 presidential election has found that "paid Democrat operatives were far more involved in voter intimidation and suppression activities than were their Republican counterparts during the 2004 presidential election." Full Story

China and Russia joint exercises to strengthen ties

Nearly 10,000 troops are to take part in unprecedented joint military exercises by China and Russia this month aimed at strengthening ties between the armed forces of two powers that were once bitter foes.

Chinese state media said yesterday the “Peace Mission 2005” exercises would be held from August 18-25 in and around the Russian far eastern port of Vladivostok and the Chinese coastal province of Shandong.

The scale of the exercises, which will involve land, air, naval, paratroop and marine forces, underlines the determination of Beijing and Moscow to expand a military relationship that has blossomed over the past 15 years.

Good News......

CNOOC Withdraws $18.5-Billion Bid for Unocal

Chinese energy company CNOOC Ltd. today pulled out of the running for Unocal Corp. after its $18.5-billion bid for the California oil company triggered a U.S. political backlash against China.

CNOOC, whose bid was significantly higher than a rival proposal by Chevron Corp., said it would have sweetened its offer if it were not for "unprecedented political opposition."

It's a Fact, Jack..................Part 3

UNITED STATES COURT of APPEALS - 11th CIRCUIT
October 18, 1993
Chabad-Llubavitch of Goergia v. Miller

"Because the religious speech is communicated in a true public forum....the state, by definition, neither endorsed nor diapproves of the speech. By permitting religious speech in a public forum - whether in the heart of a core government building, in the Georgia's Govrnor's mansion, or in the outer reaches of some state-owned pasture - the state simply does not endorse, but rather acts is a strictly neutral manner toward, private speech."

It's a Fact, Jack..................Part 2

The Bible was found to have contributed directly to 34% of all the quotes by the Founding Fathers. This discovery was made after studying 15,000 items which included newspaper articles, books, pamphlets, etc.

The other main sources that the Founding Fathers quoted were, Montesquieu, Locke, Blackstone, Pufendorf, and others, who in turn, themselves, took 60% of their quotes directly from the Bible.

Therefore, the majority of the quotes (both direct and indirect) of our Founding Fathers have their origins from the Bible.

It's a Fact, Jack..................

Alexander Graham Bell died today in 1922. Born in 1847 in Edinburgh, he developed into a great inventor. Besides developing the telephone, he worked in the aviation field and the nautical field as well. He emigrated to Canada as a young man and then eventually to the US. Because of his spending time in all 3 countries, he is looked upon in all 3 countries as one of their "greatest" citizens. To read about his inventions (excluding the telephone) go here.

Bomb suspect was fake asylum seeker

THE ease with which the eldest member of the 21 July terror cell bluffed his way into Britain was exposed yesterday, as Italian police said he secured a UK passport simply by posing as a Somali asylum seeker.

James Taranto of "Wall Street Journal's" Opinion Journal seems to concur with me on this earlier post of mine as he suggests that it is possible, " Bolton will do a perfectly creditable job, but the U.N. is unreformable."

WE NEED MORE OF THIS..........

Anti-gang initiative leads to 582 arrests

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have arrested 582 street gang members and their associates in the past two weeks, nearly half of whom are foreign nationals with criminal convictions in the United States.

I'm sure this kind of aggressive behavior by law enforcement is looked at in some circles as not being politically correct. After all, this is America where we are all free to do whatever we want. Heavy-Handed applauds these strong-arm tactics and wishes for more.

Democrats vow not to take out anger on Roberts

This should be laughable:

Congressional Democrats yesterday called President Bush's recess appointment of John R. Bolton as U.N. ambassador an "abuse of power," but said any ill will would not affect the prospects of his Supreme Court nominee, Judge John G. Roberts Jr."

But this kind of behavior and "logic" has become so common place with the Democratic party that one cannot even laugh anymore at the insanity.

The Constitution allows recess appointments, but is deemed an abuse of power by the Dems. There is no provision in the Constitution to fillibuster Presidential appointees, which is of course is what the Dem's did in the Bolton appointment; but interestingly, this is not an abuse of power. Go figure.

Forget that request; there's no figurin' to it.

Why are some Democrats so eager to give up in Iraq?

The Cut-and-Run Caucus

"The interesting question is where this is all heading for Democrats. There's no election this year, so not much to lose in the short term by opposing the war and plenty of money to be raised by appealing to the Angry Left. But this isn't a cost-free political strategy. One thing that the diminished coverage of the Iraq War indicates is that the U.S. is now making headway and is on the path to winning. Maybe the voters will forget who stood where once the war is won--much the way they did in electing Bill Clinton in 1992, after the Cold War. But that's not a sure bet, nor is it even likely.

One trap Ms. Waters, Mr. Kerry and quite a few Democrats fell into was the idea that the war in Iraq was somehow separate from the war on terror. The American people never really believed that, as polls showed in the run up to the war that many believed Saddam Hussein had something to do with the Sept. 11 attacks. President Bush never made that direct of a connection. Instead the reason for the war in Iraq has long been to transform the politics in the Middle East in our favor."

Bolton to the U.N.
Washington gets the ambassador it needs--and so does Turtle Bay.

"Senators Biden and Dodd ostentatiously demanded that the Administration let them see confidential intelligence intercepts relating to Mr. Bolton's testimony on Syrian weapons of mass destruction. These same Senators agreed that Mr. Bolton's testimony was accurate. And they knew that intercepts had been reviewed by the Intelligence Committee's two ranking Senators, who said they showed nothing of import. But this reality check didn't stop them from pressing a filibuster."

Muslims sound alarm over schools

The teacher could not believe what he overheard. The “visiting” imam was launching into a tirade against the Jews and Americans that bordered on the ludicrous.

But then came the clincher, he recalled. “The imam told the students that the Jews were putting poison in the bananas and they should not eat them.”

The imam was told to ease up on the inflammatory language after staff objected.

Werribee College is from all accounts an Islamic school with a difference. According to former staff it was a longstanding practice of the school principal, Omar Hallak, to have Muslim staff sleep on the premises after big international terror attacks such as those in Bali and the London tube bombings to prevent retributive attacks.

The Sunday Age has been told that Werribee College appears intent on exporting its particular brand of Islam to Indonesia, an achievement made possible by generous commonwealth and state grants — estimated to be in excess of $3 million a year.

Canberra’s big spending laissez-faire approach to non-government school funding, intended by former education minister David Kemp to boost the numbers of Christian schools, has fuelled an increase in community-based Islamic schools across Australia which qualify for the same subsidies."

No Appeasement

"It is never politically popular - though strategically smart - to deal with a threat when it is still small. But it's difficult to see how making concessions will not make the threat increase, that is how withdrawing Western presence from everywhere in the Middle East and the Muslim world broadly speaking, and giving Al Qaeda a free hand to subvert and overthrow all the current governments, which it considers heretical and treasonous, is going to make us in the West safer. There is indeed, a civil war going on within the Islamic community, and if you think that we don't have any stake in the outcome, just wait until the bad guys win. But by then it will be too late."
---Chrenkoff

"People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought which they avoid."

---Soren Aabye Kierkegaard (1813-1855) Postmodernist, Existentialst, Thinker and Writer

This could explain alot with our liberal friends.

Bush appoints Bolton as U.N. ambassador

"President Bush sidestepped the Senate and installed embattled nominee John Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations today, ending a five-month impasse with Democrats who accused Bolton of abusing subordinates and twisting intelligence to fit his conservative ideology."

Senator Dodd said, Bolton was "damaged goods" and shouldn't be representing the United States as ambassador to the UN. So let's see, you can drag a man and his reputation through the mud, block the Senate from having an up or down vote, and then turn around and say he's damaged goods. Good Lord, Sen. Dodd, the only thing that is damaged is your brain cells.

Near as I can figure, he's only "guilty" of being a conservative, and maybe he's a "little too mean" for your liking, Mr. Dodd. Oh, and he's not the right man to "patch up" our relationships with the countries of the UN.

We don't need a group hug Mr. Dodd. The UN needs tremendous reform and even then it is extremely doubtful that it can be an effective body. Certainly, more back slapping won't do it.

Ukrainians souring on new president

KIEV -- Six months after President Viktor Yushchenko rode to power atop a wave of international good will and approval, many Ukrainians are starting to ask whether his administration is any different than the one it replaced.

Fueling the re-evaluation is a growing media buzz about the lavish lifestyle of Mr. Yushchenko's 19-year-old son, Andriy, who has been seen speeding around Kiev in a BMW M6 that retails for $120,000 and who reportedly received a pricey Vertu cell phone as a gift from a friend.

Mexican mercenaries expand base into U.S.

A renegade band of Mexican military deserters, offering $50,000 bounties for the assassination of U.S. law-enforcement officers, has expanded its base of operations into the United States to protect loads of cocaine and marijuana being brought into America by Mexican smugglers, authorities said.

The deserters, known as the "Zetas," trained in the United States as an elite force of anti-drug commandos, but have since signed on as mercenaries for Mexican narcotics traffickers and have recruited an army of followers, many of whom are believed to be operating in Texas, Arizona, California and Florida.

Working mainly for the Gulf Cartel, one of Mexico's most dangerous drug-trafficking organizations, as many as 200 Zeta members are thought to be involved, including former Mexican federal, state and local police. They are suspected in more than 90 deaths of rival gang members and others, including police officers, in the past two years in a violent drug war to control U.S. smuggling routes.

"Ideally, judges should respect both the Constitution and the legal precedents, for the same reason -- people rely on the law as it exists when they make decisions and commitments in their lives. Telling people after the fact that the law is now different from what it was when they made their decisions creates problems for people who acted in good faith. Even a Justice who thought that the 1803 case of Marbury v. Madison was wrongly decided is unlikely to want to overturn two centuries of precedents based on it. On the other hand, some of the precedents created by judicial activists more recently have gone so completely counter to the Constitution that it is a judgment call whether all of those precedents should continue to be followed. Judges take an oath to uphold the Constitution, not to regard all precedents as set in stone forever. Respect for the separation of powers should apply to all three branches of government. Senators have no right to try to extort a pledge from a judicial nominee to vote a particular way on cases he has not heard -- and that is what Senators are doing when they talk piously about a 'right to privacy' or other buzzwords."
---Thomas Sowell

Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand.

We Grow 'Em Tough Here In Minnesota .....

And now news from my home state:

ANIMAL KINGDOM
Bear mauls Minnesota woman.
50-year-old tries to fight creature with fists, slashed on leg, back, stomach, shoulder.

Munn says she hit the bear with a stick but it broke the second time she hit it. She also punched the bear in the nose.

Details

REBUILDING IN THE GULF

Islam likely main basis for Iraqi law
Some fear new constitution could lay groundwork for fundamentalist rule
--Associated Press

Jimmy Carter Running Off at the Mouth - Again

Iraq war 'unjust,'says Carter abroad
On foreign soil, ex-president claims it gives terrorists excuse to attack

© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

Former President Jimmy Carter said today, while in Birmingham, England, the detention of terror suspects at the Guantanamo Bay Naval base was an embarrassment and had given extremists an excuse to attack the U.S.

Carter also criticized the U.S.-led war in Iraq as "unnecessary and unjust."

Mr. Carter you were a failure as President. You have been an embarrassment to the U.S in recent years. The fact that you think terrorists need excuses to commit acts of terrorism, shows your complete lack of understanding of what we are dealing with. For a man with such a reportedly high IQ, your naivete is rather frightening.
*****************************************************
"The scale, properly speaking, does not permit the measure of the intelligence, because intellectual qualities are not superposable, and therefore cannot be measured as linear surfaces are measured."
--- Alfred Binet,French psychologist (1859-1911) a pioneer of intelligence testing
*****************************************************

Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river.
--- Nikita Khrushchev

GLOBAL JIHAD

Iran's new president promotes suicide squads
Glorifies 'martyrdom,' recruiting volunteers to target Americans

In the second TV appearance since his election victory, Iranian President-elect Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad spoke in praise of "the art of martyrdom" as volunteers continued to mobilize for suicide squads aimed at U.S., British and Israeli forces.

The day after the appearance, the London Arabic-language daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat published a report about the new leader's spiritual advisor, Ayatollah Mohammad Misbach Yazdi, who told Iranians how to volunteer for the regime-sponsored "martyrdom squads," according to the Washington, D.C.-based Middle East Media Research Institute, or MEMRI.

The report mentioned an Iranian women's volunteer group dedicated to carrying out martyrdom operations against U.S., British, and Israeli forces.

The subject of Iranian martyrdom seekers also was the topic of a recent program on Al-Arabiya TV.

In Ahmadi-Nejad's July 25 segment on Iranian Channel 1, he praised martyrdom operations and declared Islam will conquer the world.

Referring to martyrdom, he said, "We want art that is on the offensive. Art on the offensive exalts and defends the noble principles, and attacks principles that are corrupt, vulgar, ungodly, and inhuman."

The president elect declared, "Art reaches perfection when it portrays the best life and best death. After all, art tells you how to live. That is the essence of art. Is there art that is more beautiful, more divine, and more eternal than the art of martyrdom? A nation with martyrdom knows no captivity. Those who wish to undermine this principle undermine the foundations of our independence and national security. They undermine the foundation of our eternity."

Ahmadi-Nejad said, "The message of the [Islamic] revolution is global and is not restricted to a specific place or time. It is a human message, and it will move forward.

"Have no doubt ... Allah willing, Islam will conquer what? It will conquer all the mountain tops of the world."

The spiritual adviser Yazdi called on the Iranian people to volunteer for an Iranian organization of martyrs.

See entire article here.

We French are pathetic losers, says ad chief

The President of one of the world's biggest advertising agencies has issued a damning state-of-the-nation assessment that describes France as being in steep decline and his countrymen as "narrowed and stunted".

Maurice Lévy, the head of the media giant Publicis, whose company owns Saatchi and Saatchi and has offices in 100 countries across six continents, said France had failed to get the 2012 Olympics because the world now saw it as a nation of perdants - "losers".

For good measure, he described the 35-hour week as "absurd" and the wails of complaint that followed Paris's loss of the Games to London as "pathetic".

See entire article here.

THIS LAND WAS YOUR LAND

Eminent domania!
Another Supreme home scoped for confiscation.

Call it eminent domania.

Public outrage over the recent Supreme Court ruling allowing governments to seize private property and give it to another private party has spread to a second justice whose home is now targeted for confiscation.


New Hampshire home of Justice David Souter

Justice Stephen Breyer has joined his high-court colleague David Souter in feeling the wrath of the public, specifically the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire, which wants the city of Plainfield, N.H., to seize Breyer's 167-acre vacation retreat by eminent domain.

In its place, Libertarians hope to see a "Constitution Park" featuring monuments celebrating the U.S. and New Hampshire constitutions.

"The point is: What goes around, comes around," party spokesman Mike Lorrey told the Concord Monitor. "This is a way of saying, 'You're going to be held to your own standard.'"

Lorrey told the paper that Edward Naile, president of the Coalition of New Hampshire Taxpayers, has already recruited some town residents to seek signatures for the petition regarding Breyer's land.

"We just started it up the other day," Lorrey said. "We're just getting going."

See entire article here.
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"Every man has by nature the right to possess property as his own."
---Pope Leo XIII, 1891

Pakistani held for praising bomber

A Pakistani who led a mass prayer ceremony for one of the London suicide bombers at his ancestral village in the Punjab has been arrested as part of President Pervez Musharraf's anti-terrorism clampdown.