Quote of the day - C.S. Lewis

There is, hidden or flaunted, a sword between the sexes till an entire marriage reconciles them.

C. S. Lewis

Quote of the day - Newt Gingrich

I think there are two very simple steps that should be taken [about the Iran hostage situation]. The first is to use a covert operation or a special forces operation to knock out the only gasoline producing refinery in Iran. There’s only one. And the second is to simply intercede by naval force, and block any tankers from bringing gasoline to Iran… I would right now say to them privately, within the next week, your refinery will no longer work. And within the following week, there will be no tankers arriving. Now if you would like to avoid being humiliated publicly, we recommend you calmly and quietly give them back now. But frankly, if you’d prefer to show the planet that you’re tiny and we’re not, we’re prepared to simply cut off your economy, and allow you to go back to walking and using oxen to pull carts, because you will have no gasoline left.

Newt Gingrich [as quoted by Mark Steyn in The Corner]

Thinking Blogger Award

Yesterday, Nurse William tagged me for the Thinking Blogger Award, an award that originated with The Thinking Blog.

I am to pick five blogs that make me think and pass on the award to each of them.
This is a difficult task, as there are many blogs that make me think, but the following provide useful insight and information:

(1) Jerri Ward of Sue Bob's Diary, who provides expertise on various legal issues, including advance directives and big brother's increasing attempts to dehumanize us by euthanizing the sick and the lame.





(2) Debbie Schlussel, who writes a great deal about the ongoing creation of the Islamic terror network in the United States and the political arm of this network (as well as the governments' efforts to appease and ignore the growing threat).





(3) Scrappleface, where you can read what the left and the MSM/DNC really mean.

(4) Pamela at Atlas Shrugs, who remains uncompromising in the face of the growing dhimmitude all around us and who finds new ways to promote the truth.




(5) Blonde Sagacity, who always hosts a lively discussion and always asks the right questions.







I hope that each of them picks five bloggers that make them think and passes the award along. [And yes, the pictures make me think also.]

Quote of the day - Ann Coulter (Duke Cunningham)

Finally, just for the Democrats' mentioning Randy "Duke" Cunningham's name, Bush should pardon him immediately.

Admittedly, in this one case, the Republican was actually guilty of something. Cunningham took bribes – he didn't kill a girl at Chappaquiddick. To put it another way, the only thing Duke Cunningham ever sank was his own career.

And in one glorious afternoon over North Vietnam, Duke Cunningham did more for his country than the entire Democratic caucus will do in a lifetime.

Ann Coulter

I am John Doe; Spartacus; Peg Noonan

Check out the Spartacus PSA.

H/T Michelle Malkin. Here are the most important parts of the manifesto:

I will never forget the example of the passengers of American Airlines Flight 93 who refused to sit back on 9/11 and let themselves be murdered in the name of Islam without a fight.
I will never forget the passengers and crew members who tackled al Qaeda shoe-bomber Richard Reid on American Airlines Flight 63 before he had a chance to blow up the plane over the Atlantic Ocean.

I will never forget the alertness of actor James Woods, who notified a stewardess that several Arab men sitting in his first-class cabin on an August 2001 flight were behaving strangely. The men turned out to be 9/11 hijackers on a test run. . . .
I will not be cowed by your Beltway lobbying groups in moderate clothing. I will not cringe when you shriek about “profiling” or “Islamophobia.”

I will put my family’s safety above sensitivity. I will put my country above multiculturalism.

For those who don't understand the Spartacus reference, check out the movie:


Remember this manifesto the next time you fly or otherwise face a situation in which Muslims act suspiciously. Remember also that the people in skyscrapers won't have a choice as to whether to fight or not. If you back down or cower because you are afraid of being sued by Muslims, you may be allowing terrorists to take over a plane and attack a building. Your backing down may well leave not only your own children fatherless, but you will leave the people in buildings vulnerable. You will prove Michael Moore correct when he blamed "stupid white people" for failing to overcome the hijackers on 9-11.

Those who sue "John Doe" are laying the groundwork for more of this.





In October 2001, Peg Noonan wrote of her regrets at not being more aggressive with individuals that she saw videotaping St. Patrick's Cathedral and Rockefeller Center:

Suddenly to our right, on the sidewalk, we saw two "Mideastern looking men," as we all now say. They were 25 or 30 years old, dressed in jeans and windbreakers, and they were doing something odd. They were standing together silently videotaping the outside of St. Pat's, top to bottom. We watched them, trying to put what we were seeing together. Tourists? It was a funny time of day for tourists to be videotaping a landmark--especially when the tourists looked like the guys who'd just a few days before blown up a landmark.

We watched them. After a minute or so they finished taping St. Pat's and turned toward where we were. We were about 20 feet away from them, and we eyeballed them hard. They stared back at us in what I thought an aggressive manner: a deadeye stare, cold, no nod, no upturned-chin hello.

They stared at us staring at them for a few seconds, and then they began to videotape Rockefeller Center. We continued watching, and I surveyed the street for a policeman or patrol car. I looked over at the men again. They were watching me. The one with the camera puts it down for a moment. We stared, they stared. And then they left. They walked away and disappeared down a side street. . . . .

. . . and I continue to regret not confronting them, questioning them and, if I had to, tackling them and screaming for help. I could have gotten us all arrested. If they had been innocent tourists I would have apologized, begged their forgiveness and offered to buy them a very nice dinner. If they had not been innocent, I would have helped stop some bad guys.

In the past month I have evolved from polite tip-line caller to watchful potential warrior. And I gather that is going on with pretty much everyone else, and I'm glad of it. I was relieved at the story of the plane passengers a few weeks ago who refused to board if some Mideastern looking guys were allowed to board. I was encouraged just last night when an esteemed journalist told me of a story she'd been told: Two Mideastern-looking gentlemen, seated together on a plane, were eyeballed by a U.S. air marshal who was aboard. The air marshal told the men they were not going to sit together on this flight. They protested. The marshal said, move or you're not on this flight. They moved. Plane took off.

Good news: Everything went safely and calmly. Bad news: The two men were probably Ph.D.'s from Yale on their way to a bioethics convention. They made it clear they resented being split up, and I understand their resentment, and would feel real sympathy if they told me about it. You would, too.

But you know what? I think we're in the fight of our lives, and I think we're going to need their patience. And I think those who have not yet developed patience are going to have to grow up and get some.

emphasis added

But they will never grow up unless they have to - unless each of us stands up and says, "I am John Doe."
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Visit counter added on March 28, 2007

Quote of the day - Joe Sobran

The Democrats are trying hard to capitalize on
Bush's vulnerability, but they aren't getting far. Though
scads of them are running for president, no leader or
settled message has emerged. Their essential problem is
that liberalism is a dying ideology with an expanding
base: the demographics, especially immigration, favor
them, but they have nothing inspiring to offer. Their
appeal to various minorities is narrow, spiteful, and
venal.

Joe Sobran - (referring to 2004 primaries)

McCain-Feingold five year anniversary; Ryan Sager

Ryan Sager of the New York Sun has remembered the five year anniversary of McCain-Feingold with an editorial that reveals the track record of this law:

Today, American politics is so clean you could eat off it — except for the mud-slinging, back-scratching, favor-trading, influence-peddling, bald-faced lying, indictments, and convictions.

Sager repeats what most of us already understood - that McCain-Feingold is about violating the First Amendment, not about cleaning up politics.

Last but not least — and here we get to the real nub of campaign-finance regulation — McCain-Feingold supporters promised that the bill would curb the scourge of "negative" and "dirty" advertising. "It is about slowing political advertising," Ms. Cantwell said during the debate. "Making sure the flow of negative ads by outside interest groups does not continue to permeate the airwaves."

Of course, curbing and "slowing" speech critical of politicians by "outside interest groups" (a.k.a. "citizens") is in no way a permissible goal under the First Amendment. But, ultimately, the politicians may have failed in this most nefarious goal. And it's not just the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth who showed the way around it.

It is this bill as much as any other factor that prevents me from supporting John McCain for President.

The President should have vetoed this bill instead of hoping for the Supreme Court to declare it unconstitutional. By failing to stand up when it counted, he allowed an unconstitutional law to hamper legitimate campaigning and bring us one step closer to a socialist paradise in which we all shut up, take orders from the government and wait our turn to see a government doctor.

Quote of the day - Will Durant

If man asks for many laws it is only because he is sure that his neighbor needs them; privately he is an unphilosophical anarchist, and thinks laws in his own case superfluous.

Will Durant

Lt. Col. Chase J. Nielsen; Doolittle Raid; Thirty Seconds over Tokyo

Lt. Colonel Chase J. Nielsen died on Friday.

Nielsen was a navigator in one of the most daring air raids in American history, when 16 B-25 bombers took off from an aircraft carrier and bombed Tokyo on April 18, 1942.

Nielsen and his crew -- named "Crew 6," because of the order in which they left the aircraft carrier -- ditched the plane off the coast of China after it ran out of fuel. He then spent more than three years as a Japanese prisoner of war. Nielsen was the only member of "Crew 6" to survive the war.

H/T Utah Aviation Hall of Fame

















H/T Michelle Malkin






bombers lined up on the Hornet awaiting takeoff on route to Japan in April 1942 - H/T KUTV Salt Lake City

Nielsen was mentioned in "Thiry Seconds Over Tokyo." The pilot of another of the bombing crews (Captain Ted Lawson) wrote of the Americans' ordeal after crashing near China following the raid. The crews of the various planes had lost touch with each other. Lawson was informed that Nielsen had been bayoneted by the Japanese, "but there was no way of checking on that." (p. 157).

Quote of the day - Thomas Sowell

Can you cite one speck of hard evidence of the benefits of "diversity" that we have heard gushed about for years? Evidence of its harm can be seen -- written in blood --from Iraq to India, from Serbia to Sudan, from Fiji to the Philippines. It is scary how easily so many people can be brainwashed by sheer repetition of a word.

Thomas Sowell

Notes from around the blogosphere

Michele from New York comments on the true and ongoing cost of 9-11. As bad it was (and is), the next one will be worse.

G-Man posts an update on Hassan Abujihaad. If you don't remember who that is, check out the link.

Uncivil Rights comments on the Boston Globe following the lead of the ladies on The View.

Doug Ross puts the Democrats' war strategy/domestic pork issue in perspective.

The Captain compares Mitt Romney's current positions with his very recent advocacy of leftist causes. The Captain points out that it is no wonder conservatives are still looking toward Fred Thompson.

Hillary; 1984 Apple ad; Big Sister; Obama; Vote Different; Phillip de Vellis

It appears that the creator of the Big Sister 1984 ad was a political consultant that works for a company that works for Barack Obama.



Many commentators have stated that this ad marks some sort of watershed event in campaigning because one individual was able to compete with professional, expensive consultants. This ad has been hailed a breakthrough that will democratize the media and political worlds.

[Here is another video that is a little more specific]:



Those who think that the "Big Sister" video constitutes some sort of revolution ignore the real revolution that has occurred in the new media, talk radio and blogosphere over the past 20 years, particularly since 1998. The MSM/DNC once again ignores history. MSM/DNC ignores Rathergate, which occurred in 2004 and saw the defeat of CBS at the hands of a few blogs. MSM/DNC ignores the role of the new media in bringing down CNN during Easongate and in exposing various fauxto scandals in recent years.

The new media revolution has been described in Hugh Hewitt's book, Blog. An earlier discussion appeared in The Drudge Manifesto. But the same commenters who hail the Big Sister video as a "revolution" have been attacking every new media achievement since Drudge broke the Lewinksy story in January 1998.

The Big Sister video is not a revolution by itself. The video is merely another step in the new media revolution that has been growing since Rush Limbaugh took to the airwaves in 1988.

MSM/DNC intentionally confuses method with content. MSM/DNC is eager to tout any new media event that somehow supports a leftist candidate. MSM/DNC would have us believe that the new media revolution is all about technology. But the new media revolution cannot be separated from the conservative content that has accompanied every true new media accomplishment in recent years. Drudge's revelations about Clinton/Lewinsky revolutionized the news business because a leftist MSM/DNC had suppressed all Clinton scandals. Rathergate was a true revolution because the leftist MSM/DNC had always enjoyed free reign to influence elections through print and television. Rathergate was not merely a case of the MSM/DNC doing the same thing through the internet. CBS could spread every national guard lie it wants through the internet, but the internet would not give those lies any more traction. The internet/blogosphere worked for CBS' opponents because the bloggers' message resonated. The internet worked for Drudge because Drudge's message resonated. Drudge's readers were eager for the unfiltered truth about Clinton. Powerline's and LGF's readers were eager for the truth about CBS. The internet was merely the available outlet for the truth.

The "Big Sister" video worked because it reflected the truth that so many of us have known about Hillary for 15 years. This video, no matter how much technology was involved, would not have worked against a non-Orwellian candidate. I cannot see this ad being effective against a Bob Dole or George Bush (I or II). It worked only because the Democrats are the party of big government, IRS, ATF, etc. The message is effective, not the fact that we watch on Youtube.

The new media revolution has been driven as much by the outpouring of previously suppressed truth as it has been driven by technology. The old media can reassert itself without the benefit of the new technology by simply reflecting the values of middle America and by pursuing the truth without becoming part of the permanent campaign of the Democratic Party.

CBS could substantially increase the viewership of the evening news for Katie Couric's teleprompter by abandoning the MSM/DNC agenda. But the MSM/DNC agenda is more important to CBS [and the other MSM/DNC outlets] than ratings or profitability. The MSM/DNC could have squashed the blogosphere years ago by simply abandoning the leftist agenda. With no leftist media agenda to oppose or counteract, the blogosphere would have had no reason to exist other than for teenage girls to publish their diaries. By surpressing conservative viewpoints, pro-America facts, Islamic terrorism news, etc., MSM/DNC guarantees that those facts and views will find their way into the new media.


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Samantha Burns posts a weekend trackback edition, containing links to some of the best examples of the blogosphere new media revolution.




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Visit counter added March 26, 2007

Quote of the day - Mark Steyn

The civilized world sometimes forgets how thin the veneer of that civilization is: Many venerable, respectable institutions can be hollowed out from within by predators and opportunists. Outwardly, nothing much has changed. But underneath all kinds of other forces are at play, and, by the time you notice, it requires enormous will to reverse it.

Mark Steyn - 3-25-07

I support the "John Does" in their battle with the flying imams

H/T Powerline and Michelle Malkin.

Quote of the day - Ann Coulter

"...a cruise missile is more important than Head Start."

-- Ann Coulter, Nov. 2001 speech rebroadcast by C-Span in Jan. 2002

Quote of the day - Garrison Keillor

I live in a small world — the world of entertainment, musicians, writers — in which gayness is as common as having brown eyes.

Garrison Keillor

Quote of the day - G.K. Chesterton

Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions.

G. K. Chesterton

Communist Party donates records to NYU; Joe McCarthy and history

Blonde Sagacity has posted an interesting item about the Communist Party donating to New York University its own records and previously secret directives from Moscow. She speculates as to whether this information will bolster the historical image of Joe McCarthy. In fact, much of McCarthy's career has already been vindicated by the new media's ability to present the truth and evade the historical filters imposed by leftist historians. But I am glad to hear that more documents and facts will become available. The left hates facts.

Check out any of these books for more info.









The facts have always been available for anyone to read, but now we can spread the word through the new media.

I think it is interesting that an organization that many Americans naively consider to be just another "political party" received secret directives from a foreign power. I wonder what the files of the New York Times would reveal if the Times ever donated its own records to a university or a library. . . .

Ann Coulter; new book; If Democrats Had Any Brains, They'd Be Republicans

This book is due to be released on October 16, 2007

Quote of the day - C.S. Lewis

Telling us to obey instinct is like telling us to obey 'people.' People say different things: so do instincts. Our instincts are at war... Each instinct, if you listen to it, will claim to be gratified at the expense of the rest.

C. S. Lewis

Quote of the day - Joe Sobran

I drifted into a bookstore the other day and found a
recording of KING LEAR, starring the wondrous Paul
Scofield (now over 80, but still in great voice). Also on
audiotape was LIVING HISTORY, by Hillary Clinton. I was
briefly tempted to buy it. It said it was "recorded by
the author," and I was dying to know who wrote it.

Joe Sobran

Equity - end of the real estate bubble

One can tell that a "bubble" is coming to an end when those who profit from the hysteria make ridiculous statements. I recently received this flyer in the mail from a mortgage/real estate company.

too much equity?

The ad wants to know if you have "too much equity" in your home or investment property. Only today, when the real estate bubble has been expanded to the breaking point and when credit has become sweet poison could this question be seriously asked.

The day will come when homeowners can only wish they had equity. Homeowners facing foreclosure or bankruptcy will long for the days when they enjoyed equity in their homes. They will regret every decision they ever made to take equity out of their home. They will regret every line of credit or refinance that enabled them to walk away from the settlement table with cash. They will lose the homes for which they paid top dollar - and receive only some ridiculously low liquidation value that does not even cover their mortgages/lines of credit.

Ads like the one pictured here will seem someday like a cruel joke. They will evoke bitter memories like the ones we try to forget regarding the Clinton stock market bubble of the late 1990's. (It wasn't really Clinton's fault, but I need to counter the Clinton kool-aid drinkers who credit him with the stock market rise of the late 1990's while ignoring the crash that occurred in 2000 while Clinton was still in office.) (Nor do I blame the real estate/ mortgage companies. They are doing only what central banking policy has induced for the past century.)

For those whose only economics education came from a major university or from the folks on PBS, here is a quick lesson: You can NEVER have "too much equity" - especially now when the bubble is about to burst.

Quote of the day - Milton Friedman

The Great Depression, like most other periods of severe unemployment, was produced by government mismanagement rather than by any inherent instability of the private economy.

Milton Friedman

Rosie O'Donnell, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

I have not kept track of the MSM/DNC lies of 2006 or 2007 as I did in 2005. But I sometimes read of a new lie that is so blatant it cannot be ignored.

As noted by Debbie Schlussel, Rosie O'Donnell not only downplayed the confession of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, she lied about his arrest, detainment and crimes. O'Donnell displayed the photo of Mohammed that was taken as he was arrested and claimed that this photo reflected years of torture by American authorities. According to Debbie, "she remarked that he doesn't look very healthy after three years in captivity under U.S. authorities."


photo taken at Mohammed's arrest


Everyone in the world saw this photo when Mohammed was arrested four years ago. As Joe Sobran commented at the time of the arrest - “This face is going to sell a lot of duct tape.” Rosie cannot pretend that she had never seen that photo before or that she believed the photo to be recent or to have been taken after Mohammed had spent time in captivity.

Rosie O'Donnell is lying. She is lying to energize her base - the lunatic/left fringe in this country. She is lying so that ignorant viewers will continue to pressure Washington to surrender in the war. After so many years of America enduring this war, there can be no other explanation and no excuse for such misinformation.

Read Debbie's column for the remainder of O'Donnell's comments on the war, Mohammed's confessions and O'Donnell's attempts to humanize the enemy.

Daniel Clark; Global warming, environmentalism and gender politics

Daniel Clark has connected the dots and showed the relationship between the global warming hysteria and gender politics:

Many environmentalists believe that the earth is a living organism, personified by the Greek goddess Gaia. Conveniently, it turns out that Gaia is a shrew, who demands that her men be reduced to henpecked, metrosexual noodles. Manliness makes Gaia angry, and we wouldn't like her when she's angry, because she'll turn into a green monster and start smashing everything to bits. Hell hath no fury like an earth goddess exposed to excessive cattle-produced methane emissions.

Clark exposes the left's excessive reliance on imagery and emotions:

Images of global destruction being more powerful than images of normalcy and stability, Gore and friends are bound to win the competition for people's emotions. Hence, they are now deterring any analysis of the issue, by calling skeptics "global warming deniers," a not very subtle comparison to neo-Nazis. If we succumb to this intimidation like a bunch of namby-pamby rice cake eaters, the debate will be lost for good.

This is why I have responded with endless posts and photos about the Winter of 2007, in the hope that remembering its bitterness will counter the emotional appeal of the global warming kool-aid.
Clark's conclusion reminds us of where we are headed with the "global warming" hysteria:

In this chicken-and-the-egg scenario, the success of the global warming movement is both the cause and effect of our society's emasculation. It would have never gotten this far if the "Nineties Man" hadn't paved the way. When "I feel your pain" became a successful presidential campaign slogan, we should have known that charcoal-grilled steaks would soon be on the endangered list.

Read it all.

Quote of the day - Mark Steyn

For the First Lady [Hillary Clinton], New York has become a kind of Panderer’s Box: the minute you open it all kinds of competing identity groups fly out demanding you kiss up to them and you can never get the lid back on again.

Mark Steyn - March 16, 2000

Al Gore lied - motorists died

From the Philadelphia Inquirer:

The even-nastier-than-expected late-winter storm iced the region with several hours of stinging sleet yesterday, closing roads and schools, and causing innumerable accidents - including a head-on collision in Gloucester County that left three men dead and eight seriously injured.

These deaths are in addition to previous deaths from the bitter cold earlier this year.

Queens 3-16-07




Meanwhile, the story that 2007 has been the warmest winter ever has reached "meme" status. That phrase is beginning to appear in every story about the weather, no matter how unrelated. Check out the chill map from early February, remember that these conditions persisted for weeks, and resolve to immunize yourself from MSM/DNC memes in the future.
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update - hundreds of travelers stranded at JFK.

Quote of the day - Thomas Sowell

I must confess to a tinge of envy when I saw Jean-Francois Revel's obituary. His death meant that he would be spared seeing the ultimate result of the confusion, degeneracy, and cowardice of the west, which he had written about -- and which I might not be spared seeing.

Thomas Sowell - 8-29-06

Quote of the day - Ann Coulter

During the Vietnam War, New York Times scion Arthur "Pinch" Sulzberger told his father that if an American soldier ran into a North Vietnamese soldier, he would prefer for the American to get shot. "It's the other guy's country," he explained.

Now, as publisher of the Times, Pinch does all he can to help the enemy currently shooting at American soldiers.

Ann Coulter

Winter of 2007 keeps on going; Winter of 1994

It appears as if the Winter of 2007 is not yet through rebutting Al Gore:

from "Accuweather" today





We are expecting colder temperatures and "a significant late-winter snowstorm in the Northeast."

Also, on this day in 1994, a snowfall record was set:

.9 inches of snow on this day brought the seasonal snowfall total at Binghamton, New York to 123.2 inches -- the city's snowiest winter ever.

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update - 3-16-07
JetBlue has cancelled 215 flights due to the snowstorm. The East is being pounded with another 4 to 18 inches of snow, depending on the location.
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update - Friday evening 3-16-07
Airlines have cancelled 2,000 flights due to the storm.

Lancaster, PA

Quote of the day - John Lennon

Where do people get off saying the Beatles should give $200,000,000 to South America? You know, America has poured billions into places like that. It doesn’t mean a damn thing. After they’ve eaten that meal, then what? It lasts for only a day. After the $200,000,000 is gone, then what? It goes round and round in circles. You can pour money in forever. After Peru, then Harlem, then Britain. There is no one concert. We would have to dedicate the rest of our lives to one world concert tour, and I’m not ready for it. Not in this lifetime, anyway.

John Lennon - December, 1980 - Playboy interview - H/T Mark Steyn

Quote of the day - Camille Paglia

What is this morbid obsession that liberals have with Fox? It's as if Democrats, pampered and spoiled by so many decades of the mainstream media trumpeting the liberal agenda, are so shaky in their convictions that they cannot risk an encounter with opposing views. Democrats have ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, the New York Times, Newsweek, Time and 98 percent of American humanities professors to do their bidding. But no, that's not enough -- every spark of dissent has to be extinguished with buckets of bile.

Camille Paglia

Storm of the century anniversary - March 13, 1993

Today is the 14th anniversary of the "storm of the century." A description appears at Intellicast:

the "Great Blizzard of '93" clobbered the eastern US on this day and produced perhaps the largest swath of heavy snow ever recorded. Heavy snow was driven to the Gulf Coast with 3 inches falling at Mobile, Alabama and up to 5 inches reported in the Florida panhandle, the greatest single snowfall in the state's history. 13 inches blanketed Birmingham, Alabama to set not only a new 24 hour snowfall record for any month, but also set a record for maximum snow depth, maximum snow for a single storm, and maximum snow for a single month. Tremendous snowfall amounts occurred in the Appalachians. Mount Leconte in Tennessee recorded an incredible 60 inches. Mount Mitchell in North Carolina was not far behind with 50 inches. Practically every official weather station in West Virginia set a new 24 hour record snowfall. Further to the north, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania measured 25 inches, Albany, New York checked in with 27 inches, and Syracuse, New York was buried under 43 inches. The major population corridor from Washington, DC to Boston, Massachusetts was not spared this time as all the big cities got about a foot of snow before a changeover to rain. A rather large amount of thunderstorm activity accompanied the heavy snow. Winds to hurricane force in gusts were widespread. Boston recorded a gust to 81 mph, the highest wind gust at the location since hurricane Edna in 1954. Numerous cities in the south and mid Atlantic states recorded their lowest barometric pressure ever as the storm bottomed out at 960 miilibars (28.35 inches) over Chesapeake Bay. 208 people were killed by the storm and total damage was estimated at 6 billion dollars -- the costliest extratropical storm in history.

More information appears at the sometimes unreliable Wikipedia. Pictures can be found here.

I can recall that the day prior to the storm was very mild, sunny and warm - just like any other nice day in which alarmists might warn us that global warming would soon destroy the Earth. But the events of the next day (forgotten though they may be today) would provide mute testimony that winter weather remains a deadly reality. We had been warned about this storm for several days - and the predictions proved to be correct. I noticed a great many seagulls gathered near my home that day. We never see seagulls that far inland. I have often wondered since that time about the connection between the unusual seagull migration pattern and the following day's storm. Are seagulls better predictors of weather events than today's global warming "experts"?

North Carolina

Pennsylvania

Obama campaign ad - Hillary Clinton - Apple ad knockoff

I saw Barack Hussein Obama's campaign film about Hillary Clinton at Pam Geller's website the other day.



This commercial says more about Obama and the other Dems than it does about Hillary. We already knew that Hillary was the walking epitome of 1984. We already knew that her supporters were the equivalent of mindless drones who surrendered all pretense at individuality. We already knew that a Hillary presidency would mean conformity on steroids, as we rush headlong into a negative utopia that would make Orwell, Huxley, Rand, Bradbury et al proud.

But now, with the appearance of this commercial, we know something else. We know that Obama and other Democrats know it too. In fact, they have known it all along. The Democratic establishment has known exactly what Hillary was all about for years. But they kept silent. In fact, they defended her and her husband and curried favor with her. They willingly made themselves into the drones that appear in this video. Only when she appears vulnerable do they turn against her.

This was not a typical commercial - one that criticizes an opponent for lacking "the experience" or for some vote or statement in the past. This commercial goes to the very core of Hillary. That so many Democrats would hide this knowledge for so long tells us that the Democrats have sold their soul a long time ago. They knew exactly what they were supporting and they didn't care. The Democrats can sell out to Hillary as easily as they have sold out to Saddam, Iran, global jihad, or anyone else that they view as a Bush enemy. They view foreign enemies just as they view would-be domestic dictators. The Democrats will join with either one so long as the alliance will help them wrest power from the Republicans.

The Democrats are not excused merely because some of them have abandoned Hillary when it appears to be convenient.
----------------
update - If you are interested in the real Hillary, read this.
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update - 3-19-07
Apparently, Obama is denying responsibility for the ad. If Obama did not produce or authorize the ad, that is worse than the scenario I addressed above. I theorized that Obama and his supporters were opportunists for turning on Hillary only when it became convenient after years of "1984" type behavior from Hillary. But if Obama did not produce the ad, then he has yet to rise to the level of "opportunist." If he cannot endorse the message of this Apple/1984 ad, then he is little more than one of the drones in the ad's audience. Obama does not escape responsibility merely because he now campaigns against her - especially where he fails to identify "Hillary's" essence.
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update 3-21-07 - just released yesterday


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visit counter added March 26, 2007

Quote of the day - Joe Sobran

The steady diminution of property rights -- their practical divorce from "civil rights" -- is one good measure of the modern state's growing control over the material necessities of life. It has been forgotten that one of the purposes of abolishing slavery was to enable its victims to cease being owned property and to become property-owners.

Joe Sobran

Classics of Conservatism - Part XVIII - Dr. Meg Meeker - Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters

While I have neglected "Classics of Conservatism" for many months, it is never too late to start again.

Click here for a previous edition.

This month's classic book selection is Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters, by Dr. Meg Meeker. Dr. Meeker draws on her years of experience as a physician and counselor for families in crisis. In particular, Dr. Meeker has counseled many teenage girls suffering from eating disorders, sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy, etc.

Dr. Meeker






The one unifying theme with most of the cases involving teenage girls is the girl's relationship with her father. Dr. Meeker draws the connection between strong, active fathers and strong, self-confident, safe, successful daughters. Dr. Meeker also draws the connection between weak, overindulgent, absentee fathers and daughters that end up in trouble.

Dr. Meeker explores such issues as eating disorders, teen pregnancy, infidelity among parents and STD's.

She relates the difference between Princesses and Pioneers - and how a father can make the difference between a daughter becoming one instead of the other.

Dr. Meeker makes the point that a strong father might not realize the effect of his parenting until some day when the daughter faces a crisis. If the father has shown strength, the daughter will call on him in her moment of trouble.

Most importantly, Dr. Meeker points out that a father does not need to change who he is in order to be a good father. A father does not need to become "sensitive" or "politically correct" or "in touch with his feminine side" etc. in order to raise his daughter effectively. Simply spending time, enforcing the rules and providing a good example will give his daughter the guidance and strength she needs.



The book is an easy read, with concrete advice mixed with numerous examples and anecdotes. The book is generally good news for anyone who has a daughter and has been anxious about raising her in a world that often preys upon children. As the book reminds us, the world is not child friendly. Popular culture tries to lure our children into sexual promiscuity without regard for consequences, into habits of reckless spending and away from God. But the solutions are much more basic and do-able than I ever imagined.

Quote of the day - Czech Republic President Vaclav Klaus

"Environmentalism is a religion."

Czech Republic President Vaclav Klaus - March 9, 2007

Quote of the day - Ayn Rand

When I disagree with a rational man, I let reality be our final arbiter; if I am right, he will learn; if I am wrong, I will; one of us will win, but both will profit.

Ayn Rand

Quote of the day - C.S. Lewis

The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate deserts.

C. S. Lewis

Quote of the day - Milton Friedman

Only government can take perfectly good paper, cover it with perfectly good ink and make the combination worthless.

Milton Friedman

Quote of the day - Michael Savage

"Wherever Muslims get control, chaos ensues and murder follows."

Michael Savage - 3-7-07 - commenting on the Muslim takeover of Thailand.

Scooter Libby convicted by jury that did not know what he was accused of

This article [from yesterday morning] has gotten lost in the Libby spin:

Juror notes in the CIA leak case suggest some jury room confusion about what exactly former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby is accused of doing.

. . . .

In their questions, which were released Tuesday morning, jurors seemed confused about what Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald was alleging. Were prosecutors saying Libby knew that Plame worked for the CIA by the time of his FBI interview, jurors asked, or does the government believe Libby's account of the Cooper conversation was untrue?

The jurors listened to the entire trial without knowing what the prosecutors had accused Libby of. This confusion was reported yesterday - the day that the verdict was announced - day ten (10) of deliberations.

This is a case where the prosecutors convicted a man for no reason other than political considerations. Wilson/Plame can now point to something concrete that came of the scandal that they invented and flogged over a period of three years.

As Ann Coulter wrote last month:

So why is there a trial [in the Libby case]? Because there is no penalty for using the threat of imprisonment as a political weapon against conservatives. Ask Tom DeLay or Rush Limbaugh.

If Libby were a Democrat, we would know the sexual proclivities of everyone in Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's office, Judith Miller would be portrayed as a "stalker," Tim Russert's cat would be dead, and the public would know about every toupee at MSNBC.

Republicans don't have to kill cats to bestir themselves to defend their own from rank partisan persecution. But it never happens.

People who attack conservatives never have to worry about their own dirty laundry coming out. All they have to worry about is whether People magazine will use a good picture of them in its "Sexiest Man Alive" issue.

emphasis added.

Pam Geller [Atlas] on the radio

I called in to Pamela's radio broadcast last night to support Ann Coulter [not that Ann needs my support]. You can listen to it here.

Pamela has a great program and is a great host.

Pamela

Winter fatigue; Winter of 2007

I know you are as tired of this winter as you are of reading my comments about it, but you will be glad to have my chronicle when the global warming drumbeat resumes soon.

These are the temperatures we are dealing with in Pennsylvania today as snow continues to fall:
H/T WHTM










It is snowing in Philly and closing schools and in Central PA.
-------------------------------
update
Drudge has linked to the announcement of today's "global warming" hearings in Washington, D.C. and how today's snowstorm may interfere yet again.
-------------
snow near Pittsburgh this morning

Quote of the day - Thomas Sowell [Ann Coulter, Dorothy Parker]

Dorothy Parker's sharp-witted writings used to cut through a lot of nonsense. Ann Coulter is the Dorothy Parker of our time -- an industrial strength Dorothy Parker.

Thomas Sowell - 8-29-06

Dorothy Parker 1893-1967

Ann Coulter; "faggot" comment; Open letter to Michelle Malkin

I write this piece in reference to Ann Coulter's "faggot" comment over the weekend at CPAC. [See also Atlas' excellent vlog today.] I write in response to the conservatives who have criticized and distanced themselves from Ann in response to Ann's comment.

I specifically address these comments to Michelle Malkin because she has been the target of necklacing and vile attacks over the years. I preface my post by saying that I don't think Michelle is a Rino. It is because I respect her greatly that I address her among all of Ann's critics. I will continue to be a fan and reader of Michelle Malkin regardless of this incident. [And I will continue to troll for links from Michelle whenever I can get them.]

Yesterday, Michelle quoted approvingly the comments of Captain Ed, who wrote the following:

If one wants to change the tone of political discourse, then one has to start with one's self, and hold one's own side accountable for their incivility.

These comments followed Michelle's own commentary that was highly critical of Ann Coulter's remark.

I ask Michelle the following questions. Has it worked? Will it work? Will criticizing or even banning Ann from CPAC and other events soften the tone from the left? Or will it embolden the left? Have we changed the tone of political discourse? Does the left now recognize that you are somehow "fair" or "civil", thus causing them to stop their attacks on you? Will they stop using the "c" word in reference to you? Will they stop publishing your home address in the hope that your family will be harrassed and attacked? Will they stop making ping pong ball references? Will they stop placing cropped photos of your head on top of bikini clad college girls?

I am guessing "no" to all of the above questions. I am guessing that they will continue their personal attacks against you. They attack you not because some conservative said the word "faggot" or because they really care about gay rights (or any other rights), but because you are an effective voice for conservatism, America, free markets, etc.

They attack you because they mimic Bill Clinton's philosophy that it is hard for their opponent to speak while they have their fist in his/her mouth. They do it because they can. They do it because the attacks energize their base. The attacks serve as a rallying cry for those who would use the government to destroy all of the freedoms for which America has stood for generations. They will continue to attack you with even more ferocity if Ann Coulter is silenced or marginalized - for they will have one less enemy in that instance.

These attacks come for the same reason that conservatives face prosecution on false charges - so that conservatives can be silenced despite, like Scooter Libby, having done nothing wrong.

There is a reason that Islam is known as the "religion of peace" while Christianity is reviled for homophobia, racism, intolerance, etc. That reason is fear. Islam saws off heads while the Christian churches welcome gays into the clergy. The more gays Christianity welcomes into positions of power, the more the Church will be known as "homophobic." The more heads Islam saws off, the more the western media will declare that Islam is peaceful.

The more we distance ourselves from Ann Coulter, the bolder the left will become.

The left will never give us credit for criticizing Ann.

Winter of 2007; Toronto

The Toronto Star reports that February was the coldest February in Toronto since 1979:

If you thought February was particularly cold, you were right. Frigid conditions made the month the coldest February in 28 years, according to Environment Canada’s senior climatologist David Phillips. Not since 1979 has February dished up such bone-rattling conditions.

Toronto 3-1-07

------------------------------------











update

The Winter of 2007 shows no sign of letting up as frigid temperatures continue in Central Pennsylvania:

Strong winds along with some very cold temperatures will make it feel frigid around the Midstate Today; in fact, wind chills will be below zero at times This Morning!

H/T CBS 21 TV

Quote of the day - Joe Sobran

Jesus was killed for words he spoke, and his words still anger people. One reason I believe in him is that he is still hated after 2,000 years. The world forgives Nero and Caligula, Attila the Hun and Genghis Khan, but not gentle Jesus. Just as he predicted, the world hates and persecutes his followers as it did him.

Joe Sobran

Quote of the day - Camille Paglia - Hillary Clinton

For the New York Times (in a lead editorial last weekend) to call on Hillary to end her "bunker mentality" is hilarious, since both the Times and the Washington Post let her get away with that for years, including during her Senate campaign, when she appeared only on entertainment shows with fawning hosts and evaded real questioning in a hard-news format. If only Margaret Carlson, whose scathing critique of Hillary appeared in the Feb. 5 issue of Time, would fully admit the role she and other liberal woman journalists played in the creation of the "St. Hillary" cult of the mid-1990s. It was because she was so pampered and coddled by her cooing apologists that Hillary is now disastrously ill-prepared for public life. Stripped of her White House entourage last month, she began her Senate committee work looking like a bug-eyed, droopy derelict flushed out of a train tunnel.

Camille Paglia - 2-7-2001

China military buildup continues

According to an AP article linked today by the Drudge Report:

China will boost military spending by 17.8 percent this year, a spokesman for the national legislature said Sunday, continuing more than a decade of double-digit annual increases that have raised concerns among the United States and China's neighbors.

This comes as no surprise to those of us who have blogged the Chinese military buildup and who have identified the Clintons' role in that buildup:

If this scandal bears fruit in the form of some future disaster, at least those of us that blogged it can claim to have warned the rest of us of the coming danger. It is a virtual guarantee that China will grow in power and influence in the coming years. It is also a guarantee that repression, threats, bluster and the risk of war will accompany China's rise for the foreseeable future. It has yet to be seen whether we can avoid the worst potential consequences of the Clintons' sellout. Keeping our heads buried in the sand is no way to achieve that goal.

Previous - Panama Canal - Chinese control
China moves on Africa,
Varyag, June 2005 post.

Hillary's Wellesley thesis - the MSNBC whitewash

Click here for my earlier description and speculation about Hillary Clinton's Wellesley thesis - the Rosetta Stone.

In my original post from June 2005, I cited numerous sources that attributed a confrontational philosophy to Hillary's thesis in a way that would explain much of the history of Hillary's activities during the 1990's:

Alinsky [Hillary's mentor] defined "obtaining power" as a key tactic of organizing his "mass jujitsu." His formula for attack: "Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it and polarize it."

citation omitted

A series of hard-Left mentors introduced Hillary to the brass-knuckle realities of revolutionary activism. As a Wellesley undergraduate, she met and interviewed radical organizer Saul Alinsky, whose Machiavellian tactics she admired. Hillary's senior thesis supported Alinsky's call for class warfare.

citation omitted

class warfare mentor Saul Alinsky











I detailed some of the efforts that Hillary and her allies had made to keep this thesis concealed since she had entered the national stage.

Over the past few days I have noticed a great deal of traffic flowing to this blog from people looking for Hillary's college thesis. I have received small but steady traffic for months from individuals looking for this thesis. Apparently, the word has spread in some circles that this thesis would be worth finding. This happened without the benefit of any MSM/DNC recognition or acknowledgment. But over the past three days, the Wellesley thesis traffic has multiplied greatly. The only explanation I could find is the MSNBC whitewash piece found here. This piece mentions, but does not explain, most of the material found at my earlier post without linking to or crediting that post. One could read the MSNBC piece without ever learning what the original Rosetta Stone actually is or seeing the word "Egypt."

That MSNBC has labored to whitewash this document indicates that Hillary still commands the loyalty of much of the MSM/DNC, despite the Obama-induced defections of the past few weeks.

While the MSNBC article discusses Saul Alinksy in some detail and gives some biographical information about Hillary's early career, the article misses the point. It is obvious that we are in for a whitewash from the beginning when we see a picture of the thesis' (1969) cover page superimposed with a picture of Hillary from 1965 with the notation that she had led the college republicans. One can never expect the MSM/DNC to be very accurate with context or chronology, especially when it tries to apply the "moderate" lipstick on some leftist pig. But fauxto-games have become commonplace in the MSM/DNC.

Barbara Olson - author of "Hell to Pay" - provides some of the limited information we have on Hillary's thesis






The point of the MSNBC whitewash appears in this question on page three of the MSNBC piece:

Must Wellesley’s 2007 seniors scour their term papers on global warming for phrases that could derail their presidential ambitions in the year 2046?

This question appears amid numerous references to the 1969 Hillary as an "idealist" who has since become a "pragmatist." The image MSNBC presents is one of naive college idealists writing papers that slick political operatives will use against them in their future political careers by taking phrases out of context.

In fact, we are not inerested in "phrases." We are interested in the overall point of the thesis. We want to know what philosophy has motivated Hillary in her forty year quest for power. We want to know what she will do to us if she becomes President. She has already given us a blueprint. The least we can do is read it - or pressure Wellesley into making copies available.

Jack Anderson was denied access to the thesis in the early 1990's









Hillary did not simply write a few idealistic phrases. She advocated confrontational politics. She outlined a program for dealing with her enemies. [She provided the kind of advance warning that Billy Dale could have used before he sufferred his ruin at Hillary's hands.]

The larger point is that the American people [or at least many of them] are sick of confrontational politics. Many of the so-called "undecided" voters simply refuse to get involved because they hate the partisanship. Many of these voters have gravitated to the so-called "maverick" "outsiders" over the past 15 years (Ross Perot, Colin Powell, John McCain, etc.) until those "mavericks" descended into the electoral wars or removed themselves from the competition. Hillary herself pays homage to this trend everytime she decries "the politics of personal destruction." The last thing Hillary wants is to have her empty phrase destroyed by the release of her thesis, in which she advocates the very personal destruction that she pretends to oppose.

This thesis also appears to be consistent with the Clintons' use of Terry Lenzner and general treatment of political opponents during the 1990's.

no doubt lamenting "the politics of personal destruction"













I will close with my comparison from another earlier post:

Can you imagine if Dick Cheney had written a senior thesis on the future of Halliburton and its relations to the U.S. government? Or if Bush had written a thesis on how to bring the United States into war? We would hear no end to calls for its exposure.

Hillary's thesis was no casual document or weekend paper. If the reports are true, it reflects a comprehensive strategy that Hillary has implemented, with great success, ever since the document's creation. It reflects a bitter, combative philosophy that is repugnant to most of the voters. Most importantly, the Clintons have labored mightily to conceal (and now downplay) this document since her entrance onto the national stage.

Instead of the limited access that Wellesley now grants to those seeking to read this document, Wellesley should simply make copies available online or to the public in general. Judging from my traffic since Thursday, there are at least thousands of people who would rather see for themselves than accept MSNBC's story.

Quote of the day - Mark Steyn

So, aside from a basic cable subscription to cheer himself up watching U.S. senators talking about "exit strategies" on CNN 24/7, the terrorist mastermind doesn't deplete a lot of resources.

Quote of the day - Mark Steyn - March 4, 2007

Ann Coulter, John Edwards, faggot, Dr. Thomas Szasz, Billy Sol Estes; Free Isaiah Washington!

Ann Coulter commented yesterday at the CPAC convention to the effect that she could not discuss John Edwards because those who use the word "faggot" are sentenced to "rehab." The Dems have rushed in to defend their favorite constituency. Michelle Malkin has more.












But no one has questioned the underlying reference. No one has raised concerns over a major television star that has been required to undergo rehab because he used the word "faggot":

Grey’s Anatomy star Isaiah Washington has entered a residential treatment facility in an effort to quell the controversy surrounding his anti-gay remarks — and save his job, Life & Style has learned exclusively.

According to an insider, Isaiah, who issued an apology for his statements on Jan. 18, agreed to undergo a psychological assessment after talks with ABC executives.

See also USA Today.

No one seems concerned that we are treating opinions as a mental illness in a fashion reminiscent of the Soviet Union. This is not an isolated incident. In February 2000, Joe Sobran wrote the following:

Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig has ruled
that Atlanta Braves pitcher John Rocker must undergo
psychological testing for his recent disparaging remarks about
New York City. Among other things, Rocker said: "Imagine
having to take the 7 train to the ballpark, looking like
you're [in] Beirut next to some kid with purple hair next to
some queer with AIDS right next to some dude who just got out of jail for the fourth time right next to some 20-year-old mom with four kids. It's depressing." Rude, yes. And Rocker
apologized. It should have ended there, but the Diversity
Gestapo is demanding his head for his thought-crimes, and
Selig, taking a leaf from Soviet psychiatry, is treating them
as symptoms of mental illness. Rocker wouldn't be in trouble
if only he'd spewed a few normal jock obscenities. As things
now stand, he may be on his way to Siberia. Under baseball's
Schott-Turner rule, only Christians may be insulted with
impunity.

* * *

Meanwhile, Al Gore has announced that if elected
president, he will make favoring homosexuals in the military a "litmus test" for his appointees to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Nobody is demanding that Gore be subjected to psychological examination.

* * *

A Maryland judge, Durke Thompson, has given a 24-year-old
man a sentence of 18 months for the statutory rape of an 11-year-old girl whose mother found him hiding in the girl's
closet at 2:30 AM with his trousers around his ankles.
Thompson explained the light sentence with the adage that "it takes two to tango." Yes, some of these pre-teens are just begging for it. However, nobody is demanding that Thompson be required to undergo psychological examination. Liberalism is not yet recognized as a form of mental illness.

It is not secret, except among those who learned history from the MSM/DNC, that the Soviet Union used the "mental illness" card as a weapon against enemies of the state. The mental illness label often served as a prelude to brainwashing.

As long as those who hold unpopular opinions are at risk for compulsory psychological treatment, the rest of us should stand in solidarity with them, even to the point of using their terms. We cannot fear words, or else the establishment will criminalize more words. The point of the PC enforcement is not really to protect the actual "faggots", but to create more thought crimes so that ordinary citizens can be kept in line. The inevitable result is that even members of the MSM/DNC are not immune to thought crime enforcement:

The latest forced grovel has been extorted from NBC's Tom Brokaw, who, after stepping over "homeless" people on the way to an interview on the Today show, quipped on the air: "You feel great sympathy for them. But you also envy the extra hour of sleep that they're getting."

How insensitive! The joke police swung into action. Tom apologized, profusely. He had momentarily forgotten the first article of the liberal creed: Women and minorities never have a nice day. That goes for all the other expanding categories of victims, which include the "homeless," as we're instructed to call them.

When natural reactions are unnaturally suppressed, they often insist on sneaking back into view, frequently in the form of humor. Freud called this "the return of the repressed."
. . . . .

One of the traits of the good old days was that you could call a guy who slept in the street a "bum" without getting flayed. In fact, "bum" was the word even liberals used, shamelessly, for guys who slept in the street, which may have had something to do with the fact that hardly anyone slept in the street in the good old days.

Joe Sobran - March 31, 1999

I believe that Washington was not actually placed into rehab by the government, but he had no choice if he was to keep his job. The old alleged military-industrial complex has been replaced by the government/media/entertainment complex, with the entertainment/media wing exercising broad powers to enforce the PC taboos. You can work in Hollywood or otherwise become a public figure, but if you violate the PC code, you will either give up the good life or receive psychological treatment.

The "mental illness" card is not new in the West, as it was used against those who blew the whistle on the Billy Sol Estes grain elevator scandal in the 1960's and has been used in other contexts. J. Evetts Haley wrote about those who were placed in mental institutions when they refused to be silent about the grain scandal -



1964






The same matter was also discussed by Senator Williams (R. Del.) on the Senate floor as he demanded the release of those who had disappeared.

Dr. Thomas Szazs has written about the misuse of psychiatry and mental illness against innocent people:



[I have not read most of Szazs' book, so I cannot give it an unqualified endorsement.]

The bottom line is that I believe we all have a duty to use the taboo words until the PC police agree to leave us alone and abandon the psychiatry card. Much like Ann Coulter's use of "raghead" last year, our freedom may depend on our ability to say "faggot".
















-----------------------------------------------------------
update - 3-4-07 Michelle Malkin comments further and misses the larger point.

Passionate American is keeping score.

Pam at Atlas Shrugs weighs in - Pam is the only one I have seen to point out Kerry's outing of Dick Cheney's daughter during the 1994 2004 debates. I can recall Edwards doing the same thing during the Vice-Presidential debate.

Winter of 2007 - Des Moines/ Iowa blizzard - Interstate 80 shut down

This Winter, we have seen the Eastern and Northern U.S. crippled by the St. Valentine's day blizzard. We have seen rail and airline disruption, frozen rivers, and, even before St. Valentine's day, record cold temperatures. We have seen closed highways and stranded motorists. Buildings have collapsed.

Now, in March, we see a continuation of this bitter weather in Iowa:

Ice and blowing snow continued to cripple Iowa's highways Friday, leaving hundreds of motorists stranded and littering major roads with abandoned trucks and cars.

Hundreds of miles of highway were declared impassable, even for rugged four-wheel-drive vehicles.

State transportation officials said they couldn't remember a blizzard that closed so many roads for so long. This one started Thursday, less than a week after an ice storm caused one of the biggest electricity failures in state history.

The latest storm was blamed for a fatal traffic accident in eastern Iowa and for uncounted school closings and other interruptions.

Many of the worst problems were in western Iowa, where conditions turned so bad Thursday night that National Guard Humvees could not make their way onto Interstate Highway 80. Instead, volunteers on snowmobiles plucked people from their stranded cars, then ferried them up to eight miles to a relatively clear area, said Cass County Sheriff Bill Sage. The rescued motorists then boarded Humvees and local officials' trucks, which were escorted into Atlantic by snowplows.

I hate to be redundant about any topic, but this year's severe weather requires constant repetition because the bad weather will end and the "global warming" issue will heat up conveniently just as the temperatures begin their annual rise in Spring and Summer.

road conditions in suburban Des Moines - Des Moines Register







The Winter temperatures have human consequences that cannot simply be brushed away like so many other facts and issues that fall victim to the MSM/DNC memory hole. The best way to rescue facts from the memory hole is to remember those facts in stark terms, with photographs that evoke images of the bitterness that characterized the events in the first place.

Stranded truckers in Iowa on March 2nd - Des Moines Register






This summer, as the global warming propaganda rages, review these and other photos from the Winter of 2007.