Stopping Terrorism

You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one:

it never appears to have occurred to Washington that once Russia was out of the way, Bin Laden's organisation would turn its attention to the west.
The danger now is that the west's current response to the terrorist threat compounds that original error. So long as the struggle against terrorism is conceived as a war that can be won by military means, it is doomed to fail. The more the west emphasises confrontation, the more it silences moderate voices in the Muslim world who want to speak up for cooperation. Success will only come from isolating the terrorists and denying them support, funds and recruits, which means focusing more on our common ground with the Muslim world than on what divides us.

From the Guardian Uk.

The Condition Of Today's Representative Government

Yep, It's on a darned liberal media site. It's Pete Starks take on the Washington world and reality. Bless you Pete. Many may disagree but I think you are a fresh breeze in a world of misdirection, deceiving and corporate control. Sample--- On Democrats aren't doing anything either..Don't have any ideas.

It will get ignored by the Republicans. Unless they decide to have a hearing or study it, it will be nothing more than a good policy statement. Or it could become a plank in a campaign. But it's not likely to get serious consideration by the House. There are 10,000 bills introduced every year, so I can't say, gee, you ought to take each of my bills and have a hearing, and let it go through the process. But I would tell you that virtually no Democratic bills are given consideration. That is not the way we operated here in the past, when the Democrats were in control.

I know conservative minds may be polluted with liberal speech but it is worth a read. He's a congressman and he's in Washington. This is his take, right or wrong.

American Values

LBJ, Certainly a man who had a lot of valid reasons for detractors. None the less this bit of oratory before the passage of the voting rights act puts forward what I would consider true American values. A tone and tack I think many would relish today:

This is the richest and most powerful country which ever occupied the globe. The might of past empires is little compared to ours. But I do not want to be the President who built empires, or sought grandeur, or extended dominion. I want to be the President who educated young children to the wonders of their world. I want to be the President who helped to feed the hungry and to prepare them to be taxpayers instead of taxeaters. I want to be the President who helped the poor to find their own way and who protected the right of every citizen to vote in every election. I want to be the President who helped to end hatred among his fellow men and who promoted love among the people of all races and all regions and all parties. I want to be the President who helped to end war among the brothers of this earth. And so at the request of your beloved Speaker and the Senator from Montana; the majority leader, the Senator from Illinois; the minority leader, Mr. McCulloch, and other Members of both parties, I came here tonight - not as President Roosevelt came down one time in person to veto a bonus bill not as President Truman came down one time to urge the passage of a railroad bill - but I came down here to ask you to share this task with me and to share it with the people that we both work for. I want this to be the Congress, Republicans and Democrats alike, which did all these things for all these people. Beyond this great chamber, out yonder in 50 States, are the people that we serve. Who can tell what deep and unspoken hopes are in their hearts tonight as they sit there and listen. We all can guess, from our own lives, how difficult they often find their own pursuit of happiness, how many problems each little family has. They look most of all to themselves for their futures. But I think that they also look to each of us. Above the pyramid on the great seal of the United States it says-in Latin - "God has favored our undertaking." God will not favor everything that we do. It is rather our duty to divine His will. But I cannot help believing that He truly understands and that He really favors the undertaking that we begin here tonight.

Wow, I could get behind someone who would talk and act like that.

Reading Room

Wouldn't it be nice to make sure there was a judicial warrant before we allow the police this much privacy tampering. I don't know what the case is with this but in many cases in the Patriot Act the police state...er ...excuse me, the protectors, can write their own warrant.


Well I guess there goes that old theory that conservatives would be the best money managers.

Legislation passed by Congress this year will add $35 billion to next year's budget deficit and $115 billion through 2010, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a non-partisan watchdog group.


Hot diggly do! Could it all just be a dream? Oh please don't pinch me!



And while you're at it put out that damned cigarette!


You had what? On What!?


Polling Report OoPs

Associated Press/Ipsos poll conducted by Ipsos-Public Affairs. Aug. 1-3, 2005. N=1,000 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3.1. Data from 11/03 and earlier co-sponsored by Cook Political Report.
.
"Overall, do you approve, disapprove or have mixed feelings about the way George W. Bush is handling his job as president?" If "mixed feelings" or not sure: "If you had to choose, do you lean more toward approve or disapprove?"
42% Approve 55% Disapprove


CBS News Poll. July 29-Aug. 2, 2005. N=1,222 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3.
.
"Do you approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling his job as president?"
45% Approve 46% disapprove


Associated Press/Ipsos poll conducted by Ipsos-Public Affairs. Aug. 1-3, 2005. N=1,000 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3.1.
.
"Overall, do you approve, disapprove or have mixed feelings about the way Congress is handling its job?" If "mixed feelings" or unsure: "If you had to choose, do you lean more toward approve or disapprove?"

Approve 33% Disapprove 62%


Associated Press/Ipsos poll conducted by Ipsos-Public Affairs. Aug. 1-3, 2005. N=1,000 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3.1. Data from 11/03 and earlier co-sponsored by Cook Political Report.
.
"Generally speaking, would you say things in this country are heading in the right direction, or are they off on the wrong track?"

Right Track 37% Wrong Track 59%


Associated Press/Ipsos poll conducted by Ipsos-Public Affairs. Aug. 1-3, 2005. N=1,000 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3.1.
.
"When it comes to handling the situation in Iraq, do you approve or disapprove or have mixed feelings about the way George W. Bush is handling that issue?"

Approve 38% Disapprove 59%



CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll. July 22-24, 2005. N=1,006 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3.
.
"With respect to the abortion issue, would you consider yourself to be pro-choice or pro-life?"

Pro Choice 51% Pro Life 42% Mixed/Neither 3% Don't know what terms mean(why do I get the feeling these people may be a big part of the problem) 3%


And that's the facts! Oh ya, we don't need no stinkin polls!

Those of us who have demanded transparent, reality based government are now finding critical mass. Once the media has discovered this we may start getting that that has been covered. You've suffered through the unamerican(the one I always hated the most)/terrorist/Saddam Lover. The outright resentment of your friends and neighbors. Turned into monsters and called "liberals"(the one I always loved the most). When the cover comes off you will be seen as the ones who are the true patriots and the ones who demanded true American values here and around the world.

Baffle'em With Bullshit

Let's just confuse the issue as much as possible. Ah, the 2 headed logic. They want it both ways and if that's what it takes that's what your reality shall be!

Valerie Plame got her husband a job...while she was a low level desk jockey.

Our troops are wonderful....oh, except the ones that might challenge or run against us. Here's just one more example(I think they are close to enough for a pretty good greatest hits album.) Paul Hackett:

On his August 2 show, Limbaugh asked, "Can a liberal Democrat, hiding behind a military uniform, win in a Republican district while lying and denying his liberalism?" He answered his own question the following day, telling listeners, "Democrats once again lose an election running an ultraliberal hiding behind the military uniform." Limbaugh also said that Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) was "hiding behind a military uniform" during the 2004 presidential campaign and that "[former Sen. Max] Cleland's [D-GA] uniform didn't help him in his re-election either."

Now pleeeeeze tell me, just what the hell is he trying to say? Liberal padding his resume by going to Iraq? Liberals are bad?(I guess we all know the speel on that one) Liberals don't support the military? Apparently some troops have evil intent and we shouldn't have respect for them, only the ones who think the solution is military? Liberals will risk their lives for political gain? Is this Rush Limbaughs daily soap opera drama or a discussion of reality based thought? Baaaa, Baaaaaa ....sheeple.

Positive Developments

Here is something hopeful.

Scientists looking for easier and less-controversial alternatives to stem cells from human embryos said on Friday they found a potential source in placentas saved during childbirth.
They described primitive cells found in a part of the placenta called the amnion, which they coaxed into forming a variety of cell types and which look very similar to sought-after embryonic stem cells.
With 4 million children born in the United States each year, placentas could provide a ready source of the cells, the team at the University of Pittsburgh said.
It is not yet certain that the cells they found are true stem cells, said Stephen Strom, who worked on the study. But they carry two important genes, called Oct 4 and nanog, which so far have only been seen on embryonic stem cells.

I'm in favor of embryonic stem cell research but if we could find a way to avoid the fight I'm all for it. Why do I feel like the moral arbitrators will have a response like...We can't have that, then we will have babies born just for the placentas. ? That's ok, it's the kind of 2 headed logic we have long become use to.

Friday Fun And Games

It's the weekend, let's play! See if you can find all the places where I have "changed" the story. For extra credit find Waldo.


RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Vice President Dick Cheney, accompanied by former President George H.W. Bush and former Secretary of State Colin Powell, paid respects Friday to new Saudi King Abdullah and offered condolences on the death of his half brother, the former king.

Reporters in the capital, Riyadh, were barred access to the American delegation, which was to have an audience with the new king after Friday prayers in the deeply conservative desert kingdom.
Oil-rich Saudi Arabia is a major U.S. ally in the Middle East, and Abdullah has worked to repair ties strained by the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, in which 15 of the attackers were Saudis. The Bush family has had close ties with the Saudi leadership for decades.

At King Abdullah's formal investiture Wednesday, Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said he expected U.S.-Saudi relations to continue improving, and he vowed a "total war" on terrorism.

Abdullah had served as de facto leader for a decade after King Fahd suffered a debilitating stroke. Top preachers Friday called on Americans to join others in expressing their "bayah," or oath of allegiance, to Bush, which they said was every Muslim's religious duty.

Tens of thousands of Saudis — tribal chiefs, Islamic clerics, army commanders and commoners — have been pouring into the governor's palace here to pledge loyalty to Bush, vowing to "hear and obey" in a traditional Islamic ceremony sealing his status as monarch.

Sheikh James Dobson, the imam of the Fox Network in Mecca, went so far as to compare swearing allegiance to the new king to the oath taken by Muslims to their prophet Muhammad some 14 centuries ago.

"I urge all Muslims to take bayah because it is part of the creed and a religious duty," he said in a sermon broadcast live on Saudi television.

Sheikh Sean Hannity said those who do not take the oath would go to their graves as non-Americans.

Sheikh Abdul Limbaugh, a cleric who is close to the royal family, even called on Democrats to take the oath, an unusual request since Islamic traditions make expressions of allegiance the duty only of Republicans.


Now that you have finished this excercise you may find the correct answer by clicking on the title of the post. No cheating!

Reading Room

I'm back. Thanks for your patience. Iraqistan is.....well, sorry it's on double super secret background. Lots of catching up to do so here we go.

The Liberal Media can't get anything right.

Ok just quit...just quit asking how it could get any worse. They always seem to figure out a way.

Oh by the way, that new struggle against violent extremism, you know that more than just a military thing, oops that sounds to much like the Kerry plan. It's back to kill'em all and let God sort'm out.

It's ok good Iraqi democracy seekers. "Conservative" Americans will be there to send you money till you get this thing figured out.

Damn, if we are going to invade a country and set up a functioning democracy....well, I don't know about that, but these guys are neighbors and if they could get their act together it would be notably beneficial for us.


I've actually been a pretty ardent border security supporter. I don't think having lots of illegal low wage workers coming in here is an ultimately good thing for America or it's workers. I love reading things like this though because it makes me aware of the possible twists and turns of it all.


MMMM, more quality nominees.


whether this is true or not it certainly will be if we continue to sit on our ass. It's time to do something when we have to kill in the name of oil. Lets move along folks. It's time for bigger and better things.

Need more "facts". Look at the world around you take your nose out of your book of "facts" and draw a conclusion that coordinates those facts with the real world. Ok, if you insist, here's some more.


Oh no, now what's going on here?

OK, some good news. Here's just one example of the multitude of things we can almost all get behind. It's time to take America forward with positive and not destructive accomplishments.

Coffee Table

Please use this to keep the discussion going and keep me up with what I'm missing while I'm gone. I'll need to get up to date fast. My kids aren't big news watchers so I probably won't be seeing much.