The Conservative Zone

Well, Liberal after Liberal has politicized Hurricane Katrina, and RFK Jr. has picked up the flag and ran with it. "For They That Sow the Wind Shall Reap the Whirlwind".

In his article, he lays the blame of Katrina squarely on the shoulders of Haley Barbour, Governor of Mississippi. He even quotes fellow loony Pat Robertson as saying, "hurricanes were likely to hit communities that offended God."

RFK states that because Barbour convinced Bush... you read it. It's too crazy for me. And that's saying a lot.

Posted by Mark at 10:42 AM | Permalink

Fox has reported on the number of people without health insurance. 45.8 Million in U.S. Now Lack Health Insurance.

This number is inflated all out of proportion. It counts people who, moving between jobs, have lost coverage for as little as one day. It also includes people who voluntarily opt out of any health coverage. There is a difference between can't and won't.

This is been talked about again and again and still the MSM trots out this number again and again.

Sheesh.

Posted by Mark at 10:19 AM | Permalink

Mike has come up with an interesting question: Should we even rebuild New Orleans?

With the city underwater, levees failed, the expense of draining the city and fixing all of the damage could be prohibitive.

It's a question worth asking, and answering.

Posted by Mark at 10:05 AM | Permalink

The Zone's server was down or something because I could not call up the web site nor login to the control page. I had to go into work so I couldn't wait around until the site came back up.

I'll post something tomorrow. Right now I have to get 5,000 points of Orks ready for battle tomorrow.

TTYL.

Posted by Mark at 7:07 PM | Permalink

I watch the Sunday news shows for information. Some of the blatant bias sickens me, but still it's informative.

Yesterday, Fox News Sunday had a pair of moms who had lost their 19 year old sons in Iraq. One was pro-war, one anti-. You can read the transcript here.

What struck me was the anti-war moms strict adherence to talking points. Ignoring the facts that WMD was found, just not recognized by the Fifth Estate. For all of those who didn't think we found any WMD, here's what we have found to date:

-500 tons, that's 1 million pounds of yellow cake uranium. It was found at Saddam's nuclear weapons facility (yup...he had one of those too.)

-1.8 tons of partially enriched uranium found at the same place. You know, the stuff you need to make nukes.

-Hidden centrifuge parts and blueprints.

-Two dozen artillery shells loaded with Sarin and mustard gas.

And the contacts between Al Qaeda and Iraq's intelligence service has been documented multiple times in the press, albeit on page B22.

I can't say Ms. Porchia was lying, but she has certainly ignored facts.

My sympathies goes out to both women.

Posted by Mark at 10:05 AM | Permalink

AlphaPatriot found a clip from a Bob Hope movie, which proves some things never change. Here is the link to the post.

Watch it and enjoy!

Posted by Mark at 10:01 AM | Permalink

Either Fridays are slow news days or it's me and my moods. I think this is at least the third Friday in a row that I have no news to comment on. I just don't have the energy to do it this morning.

Sorry.

Posted by Mark at 10:00 AM | Permalink

Wow. What a battle.

Mike and I were planning on trying out my new Ork army last night, and we had some friends show up interested in playing Epic. So we made it a 2 on 2 player game. It was the Black Sun Legion and Dark Angels against Orks and Ultramarines, in a 5,000 point battle.

We were battling over three objectives placed in the middle of the battlefield, with the rules being very simple: Whoever controlled 2 objectives at the end of any turn, won.

I had two 1,000 point Warbands that I parked on top of two objectives, while terminators and other support forces fought over the third objective. When the Dark Angels teleported three units of Terminators onto the third objective, we (Orks and Ultramarines) decided to move our forces toward the one truly contested objective, the one on our right flank. The other guys had managed to close combat and break the Warband on the right flank and chase them off. But they rallied (Orks get bonuses for rallying when they have more than 10 left in a unit, that's because that's more stands than they have fingers. Orks aren't very smart) and managed to make it back into the fray, contesting the objective. Using concentrated firepower from every source we had, we managed to break and drive off every Black Son Legion unit in the area, securing that objective and winning the game!

It was a hard fought battle, with fortunes going both ways at times. The Orks were surprisingly accurate with their fire, despite needing 7's and sometimes 8's to hit their target. How do you roll a 7 on a six sided die? Simple. Roll a 6 the first time around, then roll at least a 4. To hit an 8, you need a 6 then a 5.

Despite me having a 2700 point army of Orks, in order to "round them out" and have more of a combined arms force, I still have a lot left to paint. Once I have that done, I'll be able to field about 5,000 points, which is where I want to be. While you can, you don't want to field more than that, as the higher the point values go, the exponentially longer the games take and the more slogging you need to do. Kind of like "Are you smoking more and enjoying it less?"

That's about it, I promise to post pictures of my Boyz when I get the force done.

Posted by Mark at 10:04 AM | Permalink

For those of you who are concerned about my well-being, I had mentioned that I had a medication check appointment on Monday. This was important because this was the first one under the new Tennessee formulary that limits me to five medications, only two of which can be name-brand.

I am currently on three name-brands, Wellbutrin XL, Abilify and Trileptal. We had agreed that mood stability was the priority, so Wellbutrin would have to go.

Well, I saw a new med nurse this time and she realized that Wellbutrin SR is now available in generic, so we switched me to it. The same medication, just a little shorter acting. This means I have to take it twice a day for the same effect, instead of just once with the XL.

This has put my mind at rest concerning my medications, at least for the moment. Until they change the rules again. But I'm not making the evening news tonight.

Posted by Mark at 9:55 AM | Permalink

Tuesday was a firestorm when Pat Robertson on Monday's 700 Club suggested that the United States assassinate Hugo Chavez, the ruler of Venezuela. It was all over every news source that I use. I didn't report it because it was old news. I mean, how could he top himself after suggesting that we nuke our own CIA?

The Bush Administration quickly distanced itself from such kooky right-wing remarks, something that a Democrat Administration would have a hard thing doing, because Democrats try to enamor themselves with their kooky fringes.

Well, even Pat Robertson has seen the light and apologized for his remarks. He is backtracking off his remarks, as he should.

I bring this up now as a clear example that you should think about what you are saying before you say it anywhere that other people can hear it. It saves yourself a lot of trouble later.

Posted by Mark at 9:43 AM | Permalink

Well, there's an old joke that goes, "If a firefighter fights fires, and a crime fighter fights crime, what does a freedom fighter fight?"

I ask this because Cindy Sheehan has called the terrorists in Iraq "freedom fighters." Here are her own words:

"You know that the president says Iraq is the central front in the war on terrorism, don't you believe that?" asked Mark Knoller of CBS, surrounded by a host of other reporters.

"No, because it's not true," Sheehan replied. "You know Iraq was no threat to the United States of America until we invaded. I mean they're not even a threat to the United States of America. Iraq was not involved in 9-11, Iraq was not a terrorist state. But now that we have decimated the country, the borders are open, freedom fighters from other countries are going in, and they [American troops] have created more terrorism by going to an Islamic country, devastating the country and killing innocent people in that country. The terrorism is growing and people who never thought of being car bombers or suicide bombers are now doing it because they want the United States of America out of their country."

Here are some other words, not carried by the MSM.

We have no Constitution. We’re the only country with no checks and balances.

...we are waging nuclear war in Iraq, we have contaminated the entire country.

This is a woman who is out of her mind from grief. And she is susceptible to the left wing loonies who are feeding her grandiose conspiracies, which fit their paranoid delusions.

And she is being selectively covered by the MSM, so she doesn't sound like the loony tool she is.

Too bad.

Posted by Mark at 9:50 AM | Permalink

You read me ranting yesterday (in fact, the prior post) about Michael Graham and how his First Amendment rights were violated.

Well, he now has a job offer from KFI in (I think) LA. Good luck to him and may all of his rants be approved by higher management.

Posted by Mark at 9:43 AM | Permalink

I found this article and wanted to share it with you. D.C. Radio Host Fired for Anti-Islam Remarks.

I am brining this up, not because he is right or wrong, but because he lost his way concerning the First Amendment, which he claims his was infringed by this firing.

The First allows you to speak your mind, whatever is on it. However, it does not guarantee that anyone actually listen to what you say, nor does it force someone to allow you to use their equipment to say what you are trying to say.

The radio station is perfectly within its rights in regulating what the host has to say. They are paying for the equipment and air time, and they have to sell advertising time during these shows. If advertisers are skittish about such speech, then the station has to reign in the program to keep the advertisers.

So this guy losing his job is not a First Amendment issue. It's a case of him being stupid. I don't care if he was right or not, he was stupid.

Posted by Mark at 9:54 AM | Permalink

Please excuse the thump, thump, thump you hear. That's just me banging my head into the wall. I've got a lot to do today, and it's got me wound up. As Jerry Reed sings, "We've got a long way to go and a short time to get there." Not to mention that I don't have an air conditioner for my living room and it's hot as hades in here. None of this is good for my condition.

I have to go and hide. See you later.

Posted by Mark at 8:51 AM | Permalink

Cindy Sheehan is a classic case of a left-wing nut job. I do not know who is feeding her this stuff, but she is saying that we are using nuclear weapons in Iraq, and that Bush and the White House is controlled by a "secret Jewish cabal." Cindy has lost her son in Iraq, and her family and husband over her anti-war crusade. She originally promised to stay on this crusade until she got a second meeting with Bush, or he left his ranch in Crawford, Texas. She is now promising to set up camp in Washington, D.C. to continue her 15 minutes of fame as long as possible.

Her stories, as they are with all Liberal distortions, have more holes and inconsistencies than a bowl full of lumpy batter. Every statement she has made has either been untrue on it's face, or she has had to "revise" once the truth came out.

So, I, as an Evil, heartless, cruel Nazi Republican and Conservative, give her my thoughts, prayers and good wishes for a complete recovery of her mother who just had a stroke. Cindy left her Texas vigil to go and be with her mother, vowing to return. I wish her and her mother well.

Posted by Mark at 9:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Back last month, I made the Washington ComPost with one of my posts. It created a firestorm of comments on that one post. I did a post a couple of days later rebutting all of the comments made by then. It seems Bonnie has come back for more. At least I think it's the same Bonnie, she doesn't leave a real address for me to talk to her.

Bonnie Writes: (My previous writing is preceded by the ">>")

>>The main reason to invade Iraq was not for oil, not for WMD, not even for stopping the thousands of executions a year by the Ba'athists. It was to get rid of terrorists.

B-U-L-L-S-H-I-T. I believe that you believe that, but I also believe that's the lie BushCo has told the true believers like you because they need you to think they're doing something good to cover up the fact they're doing something horrific. No terrorists were in Iraq before we invaded it. Why didn't we invade Saudi Arabia, where almost all the 9/11 hiackers came from?

What I mean by getting rid of terrorists is to create conditions that preclude the formation of terrorists, not to draw them out and kill them. Although if the first way doesn't work, we are foced to resort to the second.

>>And there is two ways we are doing that. First, we are killing terrorists wholesale.

I find your bloodlust disgusting. We are killing human beings wholesale. That is why so many of us are against this war. We've killed 100,000 human beings in Iraq. We make such a BFD about 9/11, but 9/11 was peanuts compared to the human life we've wasted in Iraq and Afghanistan. And most of the people we're fighting are not terrorists, they're Iraqis fighting against a foreign occupier. Yes, a lot of them are also monsters who kill their own people with car bombs. But they never would be fighting us if we didn't go there and kill 100,000 of them and sell off their entire economy and leave them jobless with no electricity and clean water. If China invaded us and you grabbed a gun and fought back, would that make you a terrorist?

You think 9/11 was a BFD, but they started it, and we are going to finish it, because nobody of any sense of decency wants anybody to go through that again. I'm sorry we have to kill anybody, but there are times it must be done. I do not have a bloodlust, but I will protect myself, proactively if need be. We are killing terrorists. The terrorists are killing the people of Iraq with their car bombs. So every time a terrorist kills a civilian, you blame it on Bush? The terrorists are purposefully trying to destabilize the Iraqi democratic process, which the Iraqi people want.

The reason why there is no electricity is because the infrastructure is in tatters. Tatters from years of no maintenance, when Saddam was building palaces instead of taking care of his people. The same thing with the water. The infrastructure has not been maintained, and that's on top of the terrorist attacks that are disrupting the flow of water to the civilians.

If I was a Canadian who slipped into the US to kill American civilians, then yes I would be a terrorist. You seem to have this picture of a terrorist as a noble, self-sacrificing Iraqi who is against the US. Most (if not all) of the terrorists are coming in from places like Iran and Syria. They are intent on making Iraq an Islamic Theocracy rather than a secular democracy.

>>And as long as they focus on Iraq, they can't mount operations in America. Where would you rather have the next suicide bomber? Baghdad or Boston?>We are building a stable democracy in Iraq,

We are? Looks to me like we've created one of the worst hells on earth. How did they do it in Germany and Japan after WW2? I have no idea, but whatever they did right then, they're certainly doing it all wrong now.

You truly do not know your history. A group of SS, known as the Werewolves, performed terrorist attacks against German civilians and US forces as late as 1952. That's 7 years if you don't have enough fingers to count that high. And now Germany is at least a nominal friend. It took years for Japan to become the stable democracy and friend it is today. What, you think we did it in 6 weeks?

And if "they" are so powerful with their sneaking terror attacks, why has there not been another attack in America? The attacks in Spain and Britain, while tragic and shocking, do not have the same impact (pun intended) as 9/11. I am convinced that we will have another attack on US soil, and this time it will be nuclear, but I hope we can do everything possible to prevent it.

>>in the middle of tribal sheikdoms and Islamic theocracys. If we can complete this task, the other nations around Iraq will ask, "Why can't we have that?"

That's a lovely dream, but how realistic is that? It seems like a longshot to me considering most arab muslims hate the United States and all it stands for. Why not flip that around... say Al Q'aida invades mexico and takes it over and tries to turn it into a Muslim theocracy in the hopes that the U.S. and Canada will say, "Why can't we have that?" and become Muslim theocracies too. Seems about as likely to happen. A pipe dream seems like a pretty flimsy reason to murder 100,000 human beings and destroy millions of lives.

Okay, I'll give you a choice. You can live as an independent female, able to vote and hold a job, or you can climb into a burka and walk three steps behind your husband or brother, unable to read, hold a job or vote. Sure, why can't we have that?

>>That, being freedom and a healthy, stable economy.

Have you seen the executive orders by Paul Bremer in the early days of the occupation, selling off their entire economy to foreign corporations and allowing them to then take all their profits out of Iraq? Why didn't we hire Iraqis to rebuild their own country instead of paying westerners $10,000 a week to do it? Because all the war profiteers wouldn't make as much money. Do you see the word Halliburton and think "good"??

I must at least partially concede this point because I don't know the reasoning behind the actions, but I can not believe that Haliburton or any other company did it out of war profits or anything like that. There were reasons as to why it was done like that, but I don't know what they were, and neither do you.

>>If we can find jobs for the 18-24 year old Muslim men, they will have a reason not to become suicide bombers.

The lead 9/11 hijackers were middle class and well educated and I would imagine had jobs before they went nuts with their religion. Unemployment isn't what drives a suicide bomber.

No, not by itself, but when a young man finds his life empty and without meaning or purpose, then it makes it easier for the radical Imams to recruit them with dreams of 72 virgins.

>> The radical Imams will have lost their grip and hopefully an Islamic Martin Luther will come about.

That would be a wonderful thing. I totally agree with you there. But as long as they are attacked by the great satan, that's only going to give those nutty imams more followers. Iran was on its way to liberalizing itself before we started threatening it. They just voted in a conservative president. Being attacked strenghtened our resolve, why don't you think it strengthens theirs when they're attacked and threatened?

>>Does that help, or are you even listening?

Yes, that helps, and yes, I'm listening loud and clear. I watch Fox news for as long as I can stomach it, and I'm halfway through Sean Hannity's book. I see very clearly this complete blueprint of reality that's dictated from the white house through corporate news and Bill O'Reilly and down to you, the good German. The whole rest of the world sees it and half of America sees it. But I can scream the truth right into your face and it'll blow right past you, because you want to believe the fairy tale that we are the Good fighting the Evil. And the violence you support will escalate, and more terrorists will join up, and they'll kill us and we'll kill them and you'll masturbate to Shock and Awe XIV on CNN and the economy will go down the toilet and America will be ruined BECAUSE OF PEOPLE LIKE YOU WHO REFUSE TO SEE THE TRUTH!!!! AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

I do not "masturbate to Shock and Awe." I do not take pleasure in the killing of anybody, or anything. But this does not stop me from doing what needs to be done. I get my news from the people working and fighting on the ground. You get your news from the reporters who are too afraid to leave the hotel.

I have a question, if Gore had won in 2000, and 9/11 happened, and Gore did the same exact things that Bush has done, would you be saying the same words now? I don't think so. I would, but you probably wouldn't. You'd be agreeing with Gore and his reasons.

While we aren't perfect, we are the closest damn thing we have to Good in this world. If you don't believe that, then get the hell out of this country and go where your views are more appreciated. And you can sure as hell believe that the other side is Evil, because they want to suppress everybody, you and me included, into a 13th century Theocracy. If suppressing me into something I don't want to do isn't Evil, I don't know what is.

Write back soon. I enjoy our conversations.

Posted by Mark at 9:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Here's a case of real recycling: Warship built with steel from Twin Towers.

In tribute to victims of the 9-11 attack on New York City, the U.S. Navy is using ten tons of steel from the World Trade Center to build a new warship that will help defend the nation from terrorism.

I can't think of a better use for this steel than to put it into a warship and send it off against the foes of this country.

How about you?

Posted by Mark at 9:29 AM | Permalink

Nothing really out there to comment on that I'm interested in. I'm not feeling quite right and will probably go down in flames this afternoon when I play Epic with Mike.

I am working on a second army for Epic, one that I am keeping secret for the moment until I play Mike with it for the first time. I can't even drop any hits because Mike reads this regularly. Depending on what I can get from the Battle Bunker today will depend on how quickly I can field my force. I already have a little over 2,000 points worth of forces, but it's all infantry. I need some other support to make a good combined arms force.

That's about it for now. I'll post some pictures after the first battle with my new army.

Posted by Mark at 8:57 AM | Permalink

Well it seems that everybody in Cindy's family has deserted her on this crusade to exact revenge on President Bush for the death of her son.

First came the letter from Casey's Aunts, Uncles and Cousins, declaring that Cindy does not represent them with her views. Now this: Protesting Mom's Husband Wants a Divorce.

Don't worry. Cindy has all kind of new friends that will stand with her. Until her notoriety wanes at least. Then her "friends" will latch onto the next grieving mother who blames Bush for the death of her baby.

EXTRA STUFF: Here's what Cindy didn't want you to see. Google cached these pictures of President Bush giving a peck on the cheek of Cindy, in consoling her on the death of her son. Not quite the unfeeling bastard she wants you to believe he is.

Cindy, I'm sorry you didn't get what you wanted out of that meeting, but how many people rate a second audience with the President? Not even many heads of state rate a first audience unless something important is going on with them that interests the US. You got your five minutes with the President, he personally thanked you for your son's service and sacrifice. Whatever more you want you're not going to get. And it is precisely the anti-war stance you have taken that is preventing you from seeing the President again. If he does meet with you, it would quickly turn into a debacle and the press would have a field day with it.

Which is why it will never happen.

Posted by Mark at 9:27 AM | Permalink

You can tell when Bill Clinton is lying, its' whenever his lips are moving. Clinton: I Would Have Attacked Bin Laden.

He continues to try and revise history, by showing that he would have been tougher on bin Laded given the chance. Let me just remind you that it was his administration that put up "the wall" (thanks to Jamie Gorelick, Assistant AG) between the FBI and CIA, preventing them from sharing intelligence.

It was also the Clinton Administration that tried to treat terrorism as a law-enforcement issue instead of a national security crisis. It was Clinton who turned down bin Laden's head on a platter because "We didn't have anything to charge him with."

Now he says this:

"I desperately wish that I had been president when the FBI and CIA finally confirmed, officially, that bin Laden was responsible for the attack on the U.S.S. Cole," Clinton tells New York magazine this week. "Then we could have launched an attack on Afghanistan early."

[...]

"I always thought that bin Laden was a bigger threat than the Bush administration did," he told New York magazine.

Oh, please. If you thought that, why in the hell didn't you do anything about it? You attacked Al Qaeda training camps with cruise missiles only to knock Monica's name and stained dress off the front page.

Just remember that he will say (but not actually do) anything to make you believe that he had a perfect presidency.

Posted by Mark at 9:04 AM | Permalink

My boss says my affect has changed. This means the way I carry myself, the way I act, the way my face looks has changed in a marked way.

And I suppose it has. I missed posting even an apology Friday, and I have nothing but this today.

I have a lot on my mind as well. Maybe that is what is holding me down. My major concern right now is the upcoming change to my cocktail when I see my medication nurse next week. I will be coming off my Wellbutrin XL because I am now limited to two name-brand prescription drugs, and we have decided that mood stability is more important than my manicness or depression. It's a dangerous tight rope I am walking, and if I fall off it means my life.

Which is one of the reasons why I feel it is important to post something, 5 days a week. If I go without posting for more than a couple of days, I need somebody to start looking for me. Call my landlord and have them open my apartment. I may be raising quite a stink by then. Unless I've done myself in in a public and spectacular manor, earning a place in the Evening News.

Let's get this straight. I have no intention of hurting myself. But the last time my medications were dicked with, I ended up in the dark screaming like I was being tortured. I wanted to bust my head open because I could feel my brain undulating under my skull. These medications when used properly can save someones life. Used improperly, they can drive someone to end their own life to get away from the feelings that drown you.

Let's hope it never comes to that.

Posted by Mark at 10:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Well, it took about a year, but I just watched the series finale of Babylon 5. I have all five seasons and I've been watching 1-3 episodes a week, usually on my weekdays off. It has taken a year because I have been unable to afford buying the complete set, or a new season when I finished one.

B5 is, in my never to be humble opinion, the second greatest Sci-Fi series ever, second only to the present Battlestar Galactica. A close third was the canceled Firefly.

Now that I'm finished with the series, I think I'll get the movies so I can get the complete B5 experience (rattling the tip jar). Then I'll start all over again. It's a good series that doesn't deserve to rot unwatched.

Posted by Mark at 11:09 AM | Permalink

It looks like one of our SCOTUS Justices is starting to see the light. Justice Breyer: 'Not all our decisions are right'.

Looking to foreign laws and rulings for their own makes SCOTUS look rather stupid. Especially the ruling Kelo vs. The City of New London was so blatant against our Constitution that two Justices are facing actions against them under this very ruling.

Here's your daily dose of Bull droppings to keep your BS meter calibrated:

"We're not bound by any foreign law," Breyer said, "but this is a world in which more and more countries have come to have democratic systems of government with documents like our Constitution that protect things like free expression. And there are judges, and the judges have a job somewhat similar to mine, and so why not sometimes, on unusual occasions probably, look and see what they said if it's relevant. Maybe we can learn something. I mean they're human beings, too."

There is no country like ours in the world. No other country was founded by the People, with the Constitution being a limiting document upon the federal government. No other country puts the freedom of the People first, and government second. That is, those countries that even have some sort of Constitution. Most countries don't have such a document. The government is just in power and can do whatever they want to do.

To look to other countries for rulings on Americans is just plain wrong. I don't expect other countries to use our rulings to affect their law, and I sure don't expect the same from our SCOTUS.

Posted by Mark at 10:50 AM | Permalink

This is certainly a twist. TV Ad Attacking Court Nominee Provokes Furor.

I reported in the post below that NARAL is paying for a rather misleading ad. Let me rephrase that. A nasty personal attack that has no basis in reality.

Well, it looks like at least some Democrats think that the NARAL ad crossed the line:

Within the larger liberal coalition of which Naral is a part, there was considerable uneasiness about the advertisement, although leaders of other groups generally refused to speak on the record. One who did, Frances Kissling, the longtime president of Catholics for a Free Choice, said she was "deeply upset and offended" by the advertisement, which she called "far too intemperate and far too personal."

Ms. Kissling, who initiated the conversation with a reporter, said the ad "does step over the line into the kind of personal character attack we shouldn't be engaging in."

She added: "As a pro-choice person, I don't like being placed on the defensive by my leaders. Naral should pull it and move on."

Walter Dellinger, a former acting solicitor general in the Clinton administration and longtime Naral supporter, sent a letter on Wednesday to the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and its ranking Democrat, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, respectively. Mr. Dellinger said he had disagreed with Mr. Roberts's argument in the Bray case but considered it unfair to give "the impression that Roberts is somehow associated with clinic bombers." He added that "it would be regrettable if the only refutation of these assertions about Roberts came from groups opposed to abortion rights."

If this continues, I may have to retract my prior statements about at least some Liberals. It does seem that there is a line for some of them that they won't cross. Good for them.

Posted by Mark at 10:39 AM | Permalink

From Drudge:

CNN has reviewed and agreed to run a controversial ad produced by a pro-abortion group that falsely accuses Supreme Court nominee John Roberts of filing legal papers supporting a convicted clinic bomber!

The news network has agreed to a $125,000 ad buy from NARAL, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned, for a commercial which depicts a bombed out 1998 Birmingham, AL abortion clinic.

The Birmingham clinic was bombed seven years after Roberts signed the legal briefing.

The linking of Roberts to "violent fringe groups" is the sharpest attack against the nominee thus far.

However, the non-partisan University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Factcheck.org reviewed the NARAL ad and found it to be “false.”

Factcheck.org found "in words and images, the ad conveys the idea that Roberts took a legal position excusing bombing of abortion clinics, which is false."

The Republican National Committee is preparing to send a letter to television stations asking them to pull the spot, according to sources.

The RNC’s letter claims: "NARAL's ad is a deliberate misrepresentation of the facts that has no purpose but to mislead the American people."

Who said this is to be a civil and respectable discussion? Why the Left. And when it comes right down to it, this is their method of civil discourse.

"We can say anything we want, while you can only say we want you to say."

Yeah, right.

Posted by Mark at 9:41 AM | Permalink

You should watch this: Planned Parenthood Golden Gate.

Just remember, Planned Parenthood was founded by Margaret Sanger, a rather vile racist that thought the Black race should be exterminated. How better to do so than to have as many black abortions as possible. How much do you want to bet there aren't any abortion clinics in the better part of town where all the White folk live?

Showing opponents to abortion as evil looking people who should be dealt with violently (drowning them in a trash can, blowing them up) is an abomination. Imagine the uproar if the pro-life people put out a similar cartoon from their prospective...

And why is the murder of a pregnant woman a "double homicide" while the abortion of the fetus is a choice? If the fetus has standing under the law to be counted as a person in one right, why not in both cases?

I am not against the choice, but I am against abortion being the first choice. I always hope that the choice should be for life and to give the child up for adoption.

Watch this cartoon. Listen to what the "heroine" is actually saying. Understand the dodges this "cartoon" makes.

Notice particularly the part where the "evil" pro-life man (who gets drowned in a trash can) who asks, "What about STD's? Those Birth Control methods don't prevent STDs." Then one of the teenagers says in typical teenager fashion, "Well, I don't plan on getting any STDs." The man then says, "No one ever plans to get one..."

Watch it. And be disgusted.

Posted by Mark at 9:46 AM | Permalink

Well, it looks like Judge Mathis isn't a very good judge. Bush, GOP Labeled 'Thieves' Who 'Need to be Locked Up'.

Here are some remarks from the esteemed Judge Mathis:

"They all need to be locked up because they are all criminals and they are all thieves," said Judge Greg Mathis, the star of the syndicated television program "The Judge Mathis Show."

[...]

"[The] Supreme Court was an accomplice to the biggest election crime in history in 2000. And I call it a crime because indeed that is exactly what it was," he said to applause.

[...]

"They shot and missed when they enslaved, segregated and oppressed our people. They shot and missed when they stole the past two presidential elections. They shot and missed when they denied our right to vote," Mathis said.

The judge is not very cognizant of the law, nor of the decisions passed by SCOTUS over the 2000 elections.

Just to recap, with Florida so close in votes, Democrats wanted to recount just 5 or so counties, all of them heavily Democrat. The Florida Supreme Court and the SCOTUS ruled that you need to recount all of the counties. And it seems to have escaped his notice, but the MSM bought about a dozen recounts of Florida, and Bush won every one of them. How's that for ignoring the facts?

And need I bring up which side of the aisle was for Jim Crow? It sure wasn't the Republicans. What side was against the Voting Rights act of 1965? The Democrats. What present presidency put multiple Black people in high ranking positions? What recently former presidency didn't put any minorities in high ranking positions? I'll let you find out the answers by yourself. If you don't know by now, you need to do the research yourself.

I think what they mean by "denying blacks the right to vote" was denying them the "right" to vote multiple times under different names, lying about ID so they can get provisional ballots in multiple districts, etc., etc., etc..

These people are full of bull droppings. What they say has no congruence with the truth.

Posted by Mark at 9:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Howard "The Scream" Dean, in charge of the Democrat National Committee, thinks that they aren't getting their message out. Dean Says Democrats Must Take Offensive.

I hate to tell you this Howard, but your message is getting out. You are the party for higher taxes and more Welfare. You believe the State should be raising your kids because you're too stupid to do it yourself. You are all for class warfare. When the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was on the floor of the Congress, Democrats opposed it. You stand for Abortion on demand and gay marriage.

Too bad that's not what most of America believes in. Oh, you're message is getting out, and it is repulsing more voters than you could ever hope of reeling in.

So you're going to have to lie to get voters. Very, very few people want more taxes, so you're going to have to say, "I'm against taxes" while campaigning, then raise taxes and say, "It's necessary" while in office.

Good Luck with that message thing. You'll need it.

Posted by Mark at 8:55 AM | Permalink

It seems that today is a rather slow news day. The dominant coverage is the death of Peter Jennings, news anchor for ABC for many, many years. He died of lung cancer after years of heavy smoking.

I can't seem to get going this morning, which is the reason why this late post. I got up 90 minutes late, then crawled back into bed for another two hours.

Have fun throughout the day, I have lots of errands to do today.

Posted by Mark at 10:11 AM | Permalink

What a day! 10 straight hours of wargaming, almost as good as a MidSouthCon! Mike, my son and I attended. Mike played with some of my forces, I played with the rest and my son played his Tau forces on the side of Disorder.

Mike and I warmed up with a small game of Epic. It got called at the end of turn 2 due to it was time for the Mega battle. I'm glad, as I was getting my butt handed to me for once.

This was an unlimited point battle, bring everything you have as tricked out as you can, but you need to adhere to a Force Organization Chart, which limits how many of the different types of units you can have.

We got the Mega-Battle started up about 3pm. Instead of one big table with a slugfest, this was three different tables, with each table affecting the others. One was a space hulk with a planetary bombardment cannon. Another table had planetary defenses, large bombardment cannons that were aimed at the last table where the main action was taking place.

I was elected team captain for the Forces of Order, the more-or-less good guys (In this universe, there are no "good" guys, only bad and not-so-bad).

With all pictures, click for a full size picture.

Here is the Forces of Order set up and ready to go. We still have all of our mounted troops and other vehicles off the board in reserve.

Here is the main fortress, where the Forces of Order must hold on. As you can see, one wall has already been breached and Forces of Disorder (the bad guys) are already pouring into the fortress. If this is lost, we lose the table!

Here is a view of the defenders of the Planetary Defenses table, you can see Ork bikes in the distance advancing toward the guns.

This was the easiest victory of the day. This is the space hulk table, with the victorious Forces of Order controlling the gun. This comes down on the main table later in the game.

Here is the battle in the advanced stages. Things are not looking good for the Forces of Order. We are being swamped by Tyranids and Chaos demons.

Battle of the Titans. On the left is a Tyranid Bio-Titan, the right is an Eldar Titan. These two slugged it out without a winner before the game was called.

We got to fire the planetary defenses 4 times. We had to guess the distance from one table to the other. I guessed 25 feet the first time and fell well short. The rest of the shots landed pretty much on target, but failed to do any permanent damage.

Also on turn 4 we got to fire the weapon from the space hulk. When we deal with template weapons, we are talking normally about palm sized or CD sized templates. For this weapon, we used the lid to a 25 gallon trash can, about 2 1/2 feet in diameter. Devastating is not descriptive enough to detail the carnage unleashed by this orbital strike.

When we had a glimmer of hope after the devastating space hulk strike, but then the last nail of the coffin was nailed in. Chaos takes over planets by corrupting the citizens of the planet and turning them against the Imperium. One player on the Forces of Order, our biggest point player, changed sides and started attacking us! He didn't do it willingly, he was told by the store staff when he walked in that he would be playing the traitor. He didn't have a choice in the matter.

By the end of turn 4, the Forces of Disorder had the main table well in control, but the space hulk and Planetary Defense tables were still in Imperium control.

It turned out we held the Forces of Disorder to a tie.

To be continued next month after the next Mega-Battle. The results of this action will carry over into the next one.

Posted by Mark at 10:10 AM | Permalink

I had to get up early this morning to do some chores, and I'm just not up to the task of blogging this morning. I did want to comment on Robert Novak getting a few days off, but I just don't have the vitriol right now.

I also have to get my troops ready for a 40k Mega Battle tomorrow, I just need to finish the shoulder pads, glue them on and then finish the backpacks and glue them on as well. It may not sound like a lot, but when you have to spend 5-10 minutes detail painting each one and there are ten or twenty of each, your time gets eaten up quickly.

Caffeine. Must have caffeine....

Posted by Mark at 7:26 AM | Permalink

Well, my schedule change hasn't happened yet so Mike and I met for one last Wednesday (hopefully) before we start gaming on Saturdays.

Mike and I played a 4,000 point battle, a little bit of a pullback from the 6,000 point slugfests we have been playing. It was a somewhat weird feeling limiting yourself after several weeks of bringing everything you have.

Mike started out by surprising me. He deployed a detachment of Terminators in front of his Blitzkrieg objective. Normally they are teleported into battle where they are needed most, but this one time they started out on the board. This almost immediately convinced me to give up going after that objective, which was his plan.

He also deployed his objectives inside of the city that we had set up, guaranteeing a close and bloody firefight.

I immediately deployed two tactical detachments to guard the two objectives on my side of the board, while keeping my third group of tacticals guarding my Blitzkrieg. Mike started pecking away at my tacticals holed up in the buildings, while I moved up other assets, including my titan, to counter and drive him off.

I landed my Thunderhawk, loaded down with assault troops and devastators, and took out his Supreme Commander unit, which was a "Break Their Spirit" point for me. Dontchaknow he needed that SC re roll a couple of times later in the game, but didn't get it because his SC was dead. That's all right, my SC died under a whirlwind barrage about the same time.

Turn two opened with one of his bike units assaulting my tacticals guarding my Blitzkrieg. By a margin of 1, he managed to drive off the tacticals, They didn't rally until the end of turn 4. He also forced both of my tacticals off their defensive positions by assaulting them. He broke one and wiped the other one out completely.

I scrambled around, trying to keep contesting his objectives, which I managed to do, but barely.

Turn 3 opened with another Thawk strike, this time at his bikes holding onto my Blitzkrieg. I managed to wipe them out, but at the expense of smashing a fly with a sledgehammer. I could have used that elsewhere, but nothing else could do the job.

Mike was now the desperate one. He flung remnant after remnant of his forces against my titan and its support forces, only to get swept away. Things were changing. We ended the turn with the score 1-0 in my favor.

Turn 4. Mikes forces were committing suicide against my titan, trying to slow it's inexorable progress. He would block it's path, the titan would sweep them aside. By the end of the turn, Mike was barely holding on, contesting one objective, keeping me from my second point. Turn 4 ended with another 1-0 margin for me.

Now the rules state that each player roll a die, and if the die rolls are the same, you fight a fifth turn. Well, we both rolled a 6. We abbreviated this turn, as Mike conceded I would be able to knock his last contesting force out of the way, and we did a quick see on how the titan would fare against the Terminators guarding his Blitzkrieg.

I offered a draw and he heartily accepted. A magnificent battle, I just wish the batteries worked in the camera so you could have seen it.

Posted by Mark at 8:53 AM | Permalink

ACT -America Coming Together- has lost it's cash cow. Soros-Backed ACT Fades.

ACT, which attempted to register as many Democrat voters as possible for John Kerry, has closed all of it's national efforts and is concentrating on voter research in Virginia.

Soros and Peter Lewis, the other deep pocket left-wing rich guy, poured over $38 million into ACT. But with so many bogus voter registrations, (nee Ohio) the tsunami of Democrat voters they "registered" never materialized and Kerry lost to a record setting George Bush.

Now the cash has dried up and ACT is withering away. Good riddance.

Posted by Mark at 8:41 AM | Permalink

Here you go. Another reason that sounds good rather than a good, sound reason. Lawmakers Consider Stamps on Bullets.

Krazyfornia is at it again. They want someone to invent a gun that stamps a serial number on every bullet it fires, so that they can trace the bullet back to the gun owner. Anything else is considered "unsafe."

As with any technology, it can be circumvented or deactivated. I thought up 5 different ways to get around this stupid idea just writing this post. Imagine how many ways I could figure out around it by really thinking about it.

Anyway, this is just another way to get guns out of the hands of law-abiding citizens, not the criminals. The criminals don't care if you can trace the gun, they probably stole it (thus rendering any tracing ineffective) and they will throw the gun away after the shooting.

I'm glad I don't live there any more.

Posted by Mark at 8:23 AM | Permalink

Somebody, quick, get a sponge!

Posted by Mark at 8:18 AM | Permalink

It was today, August 2nd, 1990. I was at work at my job, stationed at NAVCAMS WESTPAC in Guam. I answered the phone and it was my wife, who told me that Iraq had invaded Kuwait. I hung up the phone and yelled to everybody in the room, "WE'RE GOING TO WAR!"

Two wars, 9/11, think of all the things set in motion by this one eventful day. Pray that the ramifications have ended.

Posted by Mark at 9:21 AM | Permalink

AlphaPatriot has something good to say about Nathan Bedford Forrest, a rather infamous character here in Memphis. Erasing the Confederacy.

He talks about Forrest, who the Left wants to delete, as a rather complex individual. Before the War of the Great Rebellion (that's the Civil War to you Yankees) he was a slave owner. But after the war, he was a champion for Blacks rights. Read his post, it's enlightening.

Posted by Mark at 9:14 AM | Permalink

I've been keeping up on this, and you should to. The plan to nuke at least 7 American cities as soon as this Friday will be devastating unless it is stopped. Nuke terrorists' favorite dates.

The after effects of such an attack will be devastating to the entire world. If even one American city goes up under a mushroom cloud, American missiles will fly. We will unleash carnage 10 fold upon the Muslim peoples of the world. I would not be surprised for the President, whomever he or she may be, to unleash the command, "kill them all."

bin Laden has not learned from his mistakes. He toppled two buildings, we toppled two governments. He nukes 7 American cities, we will nuke 70 Muslim cities. If push comes to shove, Islam loses, because we will exterminate any followers of that religion. Exterminate with extreme prejudice.

Posted by Mark at 8:59 AM | Permalink

That was an old marketing phrase back when smoking was not considered the hazard it is today. Another step has been taken with tobacco, well kind of...First smokeless cigarette to go on sale.

Both of my parents smoked, and it killed them. I hated long trips in the car because they would light up all the time and not crack the windows unless I said something.

This new device will let you get your nicotine fix without having to offend other people with your smoke. Good riddance. At least you can kill yourself without bothering anybody else. It might even be better than smoking, since you don't get all of the carcinogens that you find in tobacco smoke.

Posted by Mark at 8:51 AM | Permalink

Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it. — George Bernard Shaw

Posted by Mark at 10:35 AM | Permalink

If you ever get into an accident and get taken unconscious to the hospital, emergency workers must page through your wallet or purse, looking for the one piece of information they need to treat you: Who to contact in an emergency.

Well, a paramedic in Britain has come up with a plan.

It's simple and only takes a minute, simply put ICE -In Case of Emergency- in front of the persons name you want emergency workers to contact. I've already done it with my cell phone, and my Day Planner.

So should you. Your life may depend upon it.

Posted by Mark at 10:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I have already written about Justice David Souter and the efforts to claim his home under Eminent Domain to build a hotel.

Now, Justice Stephen Breyer joins his fellow Justice on the chopping block. Eminent domania!.

Efforts are to convert Justice Breyers property into a "Constitution Park," featuring displays of the US and New Hampshire Constitutions.

Also, the efforts are stalled on the "Lost Freedoms Hotel," The Selectmen of the town won't even consider the motion. So, the author of the effort, Logan Darrow Clements is now trying to oust the Selectmen from office.

Just thought you'd like to know.

Posted by Mark at 10:01 AM | Permalink