Pictures From The Cabin Trip

We were treated to a small winter storm Wednesday so it slowed the drive there down but we were greeted by a winter wonderland the next morning. You can sorta make out the cabin through the trees.
The view from the deck in the opposite direction of the picture above taken Thursday morning.

Of course these two kept us busy, they love the snow but hey they are Huskies after all.
Looking out the door.
These are of the creek about 50 feet from the deck and where we get our water. We filter it for bugs and it tastes better than anything in a bottle.

This is the front yard, the creek is in the back yard.

We ate well as we always do when we go up there, roasted fresh free range chicken for Thursday, venison tenderloins with a cranberry reduction sauce for Friday and elk burgers on Saturday. Yes Sarah Palin would be proud of us, we even had some Alaskan salmon along but didn't get to it.

Let it Shine

Today is Rosh Chodesh Kislev, the beginning of the month of Kislev, synonymous with Chanukkah, light, joy and celebration. In the month of Kislev, the Maccabees rededicated the Temple in Jerusalem which had been defiled by the Greeks. This month represents the triumph of the light of Torah, goodness and holiness over the forces of profanity, evil and hatred. During the 8 days of Chanukkah, we merit the return of the Or HaGanuz, the hidden primordial light that G-d created for the benefit of the righteous. The name of the month, Kislev, literally means 'kes'- hidden, 'lev'- 36. 36, equal to the lights of Chanukkah, stands for the 36 hours in which the divine light was on the Earth, until G-d hid it away for future. On the Rosh Chodesh of the month of lights, 5 lights of Torah have been brutally extinguished.

The Torah is a book deeply devoted to life. We are told that we should live by G-d's laws, and not die by them. We refer to G-d as the G-d of Life, the G-d who desires that the wicked not die but that they repent and live. As Jews, we cherish and appreciate life deeply. That is why the gratuitous violence going on in India pains us to our core. When the Greeks ruled Eretz Yisrael, they tried to distance Israel from the Torah and to hide the divine light. That is why we celebrate our renewed independence with candle lighting. We light the Chanukkah candles in our windows, in order to publicize the miracle. We want the light of Torah to overflow all around the world. Not surprisingly, there are Jews willing and committed to spreading such light to the most nether reaches of the globe.

The Chabad-Lubavitch movement has thousands of shlichim who give spiritual comfort and strengthen Jewish communities worldwide. Gavriel and Rivkah Holtzberg were two of those shlichim who moved away from their families in NY and Israel and went to live in India, an extremely remote country with a very small Jewish community, in order to provide food and hospitality to Israeli tourists there. They had little financial incentive to move so far away and to put themselves in danger, yet they chose to do so in order to bring Jews closer to Torah. These two holy people, of blessed memory, were shining examples of the light of altruism, of human kindness and decency. The Chabad center in Mumbai, India, was open to anyone who needed a place to sleep, eat, spend Shabbat or study Torah.

"Gabi and Rivky Holtzberg made the ultimate sacrifice," said Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky, vice chairman of Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch, the educational arm of Chabad-Lubavitch. "As emissaries to Mumbai, Gabi and Rivky gave up the comforts of the West in order to spread Jewish pride in a corner of the world that was a frequent stop for throngs of Israeli tourists. Their Chabad House was popular among the local community, as well as with visiting businesspeople.

"For five years, they ran a synagogue and Torah classes, and helped people dealing with drug addiction and poverty," continued the statement. "Their selfless love will live on with all the people they touched. We will continue the work they started."

These two holy lights were brutally put out, along with hundreds of innocent people, by evil and cowardly murderers, committed to a religion of hatred and violence. In a senseless act commanded by a demonic deity, Islamic terrorists snuffed out the lives of hundreds of innocent people. A religion that desires only death and destruction, which creates nothing but only maims and murders, has spawned tens of thousands of deadly attacks such as this. Whether in New York, Jerusalem, London, Bali or Mumbai, these terrorists brazenly kill innocent civilians. Such an ideology is the complete antithesis of that of the light of Chanukkah, one which cannot coexist with the peace of the Torah. This cruel Islamic belief of war and hatred must be combatted and eradicated.

The sign of Kislev is that of Sagittarius, the archer, keshet. In Judaism, the keshet represents the forces of prayer. As Yaakov said to Yosef on his death bed, "which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow" (Genesis 48:22), meaning with prayer. The power and strength of the Jewish people is our prayer, our keshet. The keshet of prayer is opposite to Yishmael, who is called a roveh kashet, an archer. Only when the Jewish people unite and use our bow and arrow, our collective prayer, can we defeat the wicked archer of Yishmael. Yishmael, as the Torah tells us, is a wild ass of a man, his hand in everything, and everyone's hand against his. He is cruel and violent, a terrorist who murders at will. Without remorse, Yishmael wipes out the lights of the Torah and kills those who uphold and cherish life. He has no guilt, no conscious, but lives only to destroy. Yishmael flies planes into skyscrapers, dances as teenagers are shot to death while learning Torah, beheads captives and dances on the bodies of his victims. He is truly a wild ass of a man, out of control and bent on world domination. Now more than ever must Am Yisrael destroy the archer by using our power of archery, to cry out to HaShem to save us.


Just as the Greeks fell away against the holiness of the Torah, so too will Yishmael not be able to succeed in snuffing out the light so callously. The Chanukkiah is displaying in public so that the light should spread and illuminate the darkness. In these trying times, may we speedily to see a new light shine upon Zion, and the darkness that plagues the world be lifted. May Hashem comfort the families of all those killed by the evil archer in Mumbai among the mourner of Zion and Jerusalem and may we this month be inaugurated upon us for goodness and for blessing, for salvation and comfort.

Cross-posted from For Zion's Sake

Happy Thanksgiving

I will awake tomorrow at the cabin located in the above picture to a dusting of snow. It will be good to get away for a few days with no modern conveniances, no electricity, no running water other than the creek, and the joys of an outhouse in sub-freezing temperatures. It makes you appreciate the things that we take for granted in modern life.

I wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving!

Thank You Sarah Palin

I was a big fan even before McCain tapped her for VP giving her a National stage. I have to say if she and Mitt both run in 2012 I will have a very tough choice to make.

The Iraq War Is Over And We Won

That is what Mike Yon thinks and I believe him more than any other journalist that has covered the war. He has spent far more time there deeply embedded with our troops than anybody else much of it during the very hot times of the war so he can tell the major changes that have taken place. He was back their earlier this month and writes today for Pajamas Media that areas that were incredibly dangerous as little as one year ago are now more peaceful than Barak Obama's Chicago. Mike Totten, another independant journalist I trust, is also now back in Iraq and it will be interesting to see what he has to say.

There are still pockets of terrorist scum here and there but the Iraqi troops are in the lead and cleaning them up in an increasingly efficient manner. The only thing the scum can seem to do is alienate more Iraqis by killing the innocent with the ever rarer and less effective bombings.

We will be able to start pulling our combat troops out now at a slow but steady rate as we concentrate more on training the Iraqi forces till they can stand on their own as they are increasingly able to do. As long as Obama doesn't do anything stupid we we will have another strong ally in the Middle-East and so far Obama seems to be sending the right signals by keeping Gates at DoD, and tapping Jim Jones for NSA and Clinton at State. The nutroots aren't happy so I am cautiously optimistic he won't do anything stupid.

Meanwhile Yon is headed back to Afghanistan where the war on the Af-Pak border is still hot. I am guessing he went to Iraq to pick up all his body armor and other gear he had stored there. This story is spreading around the blogosphere today about a patrol of 30 Marines getting ambushed by about 250 dug in taliban. The Marines kicked their ass killing 50+ and wounding many more while only sustaining some minor injuries. Good shooting boys, OORAH!

“The day started out with a 10-kilometer patrol with elements mounted and dismounted, so by the time we got to Shewan, we were pretty beat,” said a designated marksman who requested to remain unidentified. “Our vehicles came under a barrage of enemy RPGs (rocket propelled grenades) and machine gun fire. One of our ‘humvees’ was disabled from RPG fire, and the Marines inside dismounted and laid down suppression fire so they could evacuate a Marine who was knocked unconscious from the blast.”

The vicious attack that left the humvee destroyed and several of the Marines pinned down in the kill zone sparked an intense eight-hour battle as the platoon desperately fought to recover their comrades. After recovering the Marines trapped in the kill zone, another platoon sergeant personally led numerous attacks on enemy fortified positions while the platoon fought house to house and trench to trench in order to clear through the enemy ambush site.

“The biggest thing to take from that day is what Marines can accomplish when they’re given the opportunity to fight,” the sniper said. “A small group of Marines met a numerically superior force and embarrassed them in their own backyard. The insurgents told the townspeople that they were stronger than the Americans, and that day we showed them they were wrong.”

During the battle, the designated marksman single handedly thwarted a company-sized enemy RPG and machinegun ambush by reportedly killing 20 enemy fighters with his devastatingly accurate precision fire. He selflessly exposed himself time and again to intense enemy fire during a critical point in the eight-hour battle for Shewan in order to kill any enemy combatants who attempted to engage or maneuver on the Marines in the kill zone. What made his actions even more impressive was the fact that he didn’t miss any shots, despite the enemies’ rounds impacting within a foot of his fighting position.

“I was in my own little world,” the young corporal said. “I wasn’t even aware of a lot of the rounds impacting near my position, because I was concentrating so hard on making sure my rounds were on target.”

Now that is what I call making every shot count, what a badass. I guess those villagers got a lesson in who the real strong horses are and who are just maggots.

BCS Turmoil

Holy blowout, OU is up 45-7 over TTech and the third quarter just started. Will the Sooners vault the Gators to take #2? What about Boise and Utah? Both are undefeated. My Crimson Tide will stay up top and if they beat the Gators in the SEC championship game who will they face for the National title? It definitely looks like the SEC and Big 12 have the teams to beat this year and the B12 looks like they have some sorting out to do. Texas beat Oklahoma, Tech beat Texas and now OU is up 52-7 over Tech, WTF must be going through the minds of the BCS officials.

Ouch

That had to hurt.

That is what I call a header, er face ball. There was a time when I could do the handspring throw in.

Mark Begich Takes Ted Stevens' Senate Seat

I hate to lose a Senate seat to the Democrats but Stevens needed to go away and Begich does not sound like a New England liberal Democrat. He wants to open ANWR for drilling and is a proponent of 2nd Amendment rights and may be a needed vote the GOP can peel away from Harry Reid along with other red state Dems to make up for a Collins, Snowe or McCain to maintain a filibuster. MK Ham points to this LA Times article about Begich.

Mark Begich settled in Wednesday as Alaska's newest U.S. senator-elect by doing what almost no other Democrat in Washington would ever do: declaring his support for oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

But this is Alaska, where Democrats are of a different stripe, Begich reminded those who haven't seen many national-level Democrats from Alaska lately.

"I think anyone who knows me knows I'm a different Democrat. I'm from Alaska. I'm a believer, a strong supporter of the 2nd Amendment, a supporter of drilling in ANWR. Alaskans are very liberal [in their belief that] government should not interfere in their personal life," he said.

"I'm definitely different from a New York Democrat -- you can bank on that," he said in response to a question from the New York Times.

Ted Stevens was definitely a cancer to the GOP as one of the biggest porkers in the Swamp and it certainly sounds like Begich may be a maverick on the other side of the aisle. I also understand he has a good working relationship with Gov. Palin. Hopefully the Democrats don't have the mandate or votes to pass their more radical plans. My fingers are crossed.

Sarah Palin Pardons A Turkey

I guess other Governors follow the tradition of the President in pardoning at least one turkey before Thanksgiving. The vegans and PETA types are freaking out about what is going on behind her as she takes a few questions after the pardon at a small turkey ranch. Check out the captions that roll on screen as she talks, yes MSNBC employs gutless wussies. Where the hell do they think those turkeys at Whole Foods come from?

Of course this would not bother Sarah as a life long hunter but it sure is driving the left crazy but then again everything about Sarah drives the moonbats batty. I guess they have no idea where their food comes from or like fruits and nuts they only eat fruits and nuts thus leaving me that yummy meat to eat.

My Thanksgiving Get Away

A week from today I will be headed for my favorite Sierra hang out for four days of disconnection from the outside world, the Lord knows I need it. I can barely wait.

This is the view I will see while enjoying a cigar and a cold beer.

We will be roasting a free range chicken in that 80 year old wood burning stove, yes this goat can and will survive.

Team volcano will be with us of course, Shasta(lft) and Lassen. I will have more pictures coming from the trip,

Conservatism 2.0

Much has been written in the wake of the electoral defeat Nov. 4th about the future of the GOP and the conservative movement and why we lost. We lost because Obama ran a much better campaign and was a more attractive candidate than McCain. We did not lose because the country has shifted to the left, the Democrats that took Republican seats ran as conservatives and Obama himself shifted way to the right in the general election.

Lots of the "conservative" intelligentsia are attempting to place blame on this or that wing of the Republican party and they need to STOP IT right now. Social cons, fiscal cons, and security cons need to get out of the circular firing squad formation and work together once again to rebuild the Reagan coalition that put us in power in the first place. I have a strong libertarian streak that believes government should stay the hell out of our lives as much as possible and that includes morality issues that are best left to the Church not the legislature or the courts. The government is rightly responsible for fiscal and security policies that do affect all of us and is clearly defined in the Constitution.

Glenn Reynolds and Michelle Malkin have a very interesting discussion on PajamasTV about this conservatism 2.0 and it shows that libertarians like Glenn and conservatives like Michelle still agree on far more issues than they disagree. Like Glenn I don't care if gays have civil contracts, if people smoke pot or if abortion remains legal as long as the Constitution is adhered to on the freedoms it does set down, the freedoms of the press, religion, speech, and the right to bear guns etc..

We as conservatives of course need to stand for the values of the Christian right but we also need to move beyond just that to appeal to those that are turned off by the morality chest thumpers. I am a conservative Christian and I am turned off by the likes of the Mike Huckabee types that only focus on the moral issues that really have no place in politics. Governance is not about morality, it is about fiscal and security issues first and foremost. I forget who said it but a government big enough to give you everything is big enough to take it all away. I stand against that armed and ready.

PayPal Password Scam

I don't have a PayPal account but both of my email addresses received an email about a request for my password. This is obviously a phishing scam and an attempt to steal identities so report it or delete it. Why would I request a password I never had? Unless I was a scammer that wanted to rob me. I reported them both times to their ISP and the Feds. I have no patience for these asshats, they need to be staked in the desert sun, covered in baby oil and left to fry hopefully near a fire ant bed.

Some Moonbat Comments On The Post Below About That Zogby Poll

I guess they didn't like being called ill informed ignoramuses so they call people that voted for McCain the least educated knuckledragging rednecks. The truth is having a college degree does not mean you are smart or well informed it means you spent a lot of money and sat through endless lectures about nothing unless you went into the real sciences. I have met plenty of folks with college degrees that are dumb as posts and plenty of folks that entered the workforce instead that are smart enough to easily get a PHD if they had so chosen. The Zogby poll is really more a reflection on media bias and what they chose to report on than on the intelligence of McCain or Obama voters.

Mary had this to say:

But didn't all the most educated people vote Democratic?That's not to say
you can't be both educated and ignorant of certain things, but it's a fact that
only the least educated people voted Republican this year.

Actually Obama won the votes of the most educated and the least educated, McCain won those with some college that were actually well informed about the issues. The Republican voters I know are highly informed and get their information from a wide range of sources, the Democrat voters I know, not so much, relying on the MSM. At least Mary admits that educated people can be ignorant, but all the most educated people did not vote for Obama, he won a small majority of them. I thought blacks were the victims of the poorest educations along with latinos and they voted overwhelmingly for Obama. I voted for McCain and I carried a 3.9 GPA in junior college so there goes her theory.

Shannon had this to say:

YOur little poll is bullcrap and you know it. Universities of people voted for Obama. Your lot voted for McCain only because they painted Obama out as the anti-christ or a terrorist. How bloody stupid is that? Vote for us, the other guy is a terrorist.
YOu won't post this because you are a coward, but I just thought you should know.

Actually I voted for McCain because Obama is a far left liberal Democrat though he did choose as his friends exterrorists, Ayers and Dohrn, and terrorist sympathizers, Rhashid Kalidi, Edward Said and Nahdmi Auchi. I am also a conservative Republican with an IQ far higher than what you demonstrated here. Oh and the youth vote was only up 1% from previous elections and many of them voted for McCain and from what I have seen of reports on recent college grads actual knowledge of the world their practical intelligence is not something to brag about. This redneck barnyard goat can at least find Iraq on a map, knows Illinois borders Kentucky and not Arkansas, that there are 50 states not 57 and that hezbollah is still in Lebanon despite what Biden says. I know that Russia is visible from Alaska, 18 miles separates them at their closest point across the Bearing Strait.

I also know how supremely ignorant the liberal mind is about conservatives but we know how the liberal mind works since the media is dominated by it.

How Obama Won, Voter Ignorance

I kind of expected something like this with all the very biased reporting from the Obamedia but it is disturbing none the less. John Ziegler interviewed a dozen Obama voters after the election and commissioned a poll by John Zogby of 500 Obama voters on a few key things that came up during the campaign. It is a sad indictment of the uninformed/misinformed ignorance of those that voted for The One. They knew about Sarah Palin's GOP bought clothes and the Tina Fey comment about seeing Russia but didn't know what party was in charge in Congress or who Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Barney Frank or Bill Ayers are. They thought McCain or Palin made the gaffes and statements that Obama and Biden made and didn't know Biden ended a previous run over plagiarism charges. To top it off their choice of news media was very telling.

Ed Morrissey has the results from the Zogby survey that demonstrate Obama won from a cult of personality and media bias not from an informed choice by the electorate.

57.4 could NOT correctly say which party controls congress (50/50 shot just by guessing)

81.8 could NOT correctly say Joe Biden quit a previous campaign because of plagiarism (25% chance by guessing)

82.6 could NOT correctly say that Obama won his first election by getting opponents kicked off the ballot (25% chance by guessing)

88.4% could NOT correctly say that Obama said his policies would likely bankrupt the coal industry and make energy rates skyrocket (25% chance by guessing)

56.1 % could NOT correctly say Obama started his political career at the home of two former members of the Weather Underground (25% chance by guessing).And yet…..

Only 13.7% failed to identify Palin as the person their party spent $150,000 in clothes on

Only 6.2% failed to identify Palin as the one with a pregnant teenage daughter

And 86.9 % thought that Palin said that she could see Russia from her “house,” even though that was Tina Fey who said that!!

I know the Obama trolls that left comments here definitely had the moonbat talking point lies down pat but were extremely short on any any actual facts.

Hillary Clinton For Secretary Of State?

That is the rumor going around while the Guardian is reporting it as a done deal, I tend to doubt it for a couple reasons. The first being why would Hillary tie herself to the Obama administration if she still has designs on the top spot? The second being why would she leave her Senate post where she can rise to position of much influence and power? The SoS is a position of high regard but they are basically the lackeys of their boss the President when it comes to policy and have little real influence on that policy.

I do think Hillary could do a decent job in that position since her name does carry some weight around the world and she can be quite hawkish minded at times. I just don't see why she would accept the position in what could very well be a failed and catastrophic administration and basically ruin whatever legacy she could have as the lioness of the Senate.
Allahpundit, Ace and even Peter Beinart are sceptical for the same reasons I am.

Obama Appoints Man Who Defended Reagan's Attempted Assassin

Obama appointed Greg Craig to be White House counsel, this is the man who represented the guy who shot Reagan, John Hinkley Jr, and got him off on an insanity plea. He also defended Clinton during impeachment and Elian Gonzales father and by extension Castro along with several more reprehensible individuals. It makes one think Obama is planning to be involved in criminal proceedings as his fundraising may lead to along with the rest of his other shady dealings in the past. Ed Morrisey has a more complete list of some of Craig's clients over the years that should disturb most Americans as well as more background.

*Elian Gonzalez’s father - Craig represented the father who demanded the return of his son after his estranged wife died trying to take Elian to freedom. Most people saw this as a thinly-veiled publicity stunt from Fidel Castro, attempting to embarrass the US. The dispute got resolved when Janet Reno ordered an armed assault on the house where Elian’s family in the US provided him a home.

*John Hinckley, Jr - Craig presented and won the insanity defense that allows Ronald Reagan’s would-be assassin to spend weekends with his family now.

*Kofi Annan - The former Secretary-General of the UN hired Craig to defend his interests in the Volcker Commission probe of the Oil-for-Food scandal, which put billions of dollars into Saddam Hussein’s pockets while providing cash for Annan’s son, his deputies, and some allege Annan himself.

*Pedro Gonzalez Pinzon - A Panamanian legislator wanted for murdering an American soldier in 1992. The Dallas Morning News demanded that Obama force Craig to drop the case during the campaign, but no report of whether he did is easily available.

This is a disturbing appointment to say the least.

Phishing Scammers Find A Mark

As the saying goesthere is a sucker born every minute, an Oregon woman lost $400,000 to a Nigerian scam as they have come to be known. I kind of feel sorry for her since she mortgaged their payed for house, took out a lien on their payed for car and squandered her husband's retirement savings. I also kind of don't since those things are so easy to check through google or even explorer and her family, friends and banker all pleaded with her that it was a scam.

Let's see just today I won three lotteries, got a couple business offers, a couple pleas from widows whose husbands left them millions they don't know what to do with and another offering me millions to start a muslim orphanage named after mohammed, hahahaha lmao. That is a pretty typical daily influx of scam email to my junk box not to mention the bank accountants that need a proxy for inheritance funds they intend to share with me. I of course report all of them to the sending ISP and to the Feds. I think I have won every freaking scam lottery that is floating around out there. These criminals if they are not out to scam you directly out of your money are out to steal your identity. They deserve to be staked over a fire ant bed and covered in honey.

Killing Black Widows And Splitting Firewood

That's how I spent my day and I'm beat. I finally got to a pile of walnut I've had sitting around for a few months and the black widows had set up housekeeping and got smashed for their efforts. I know to wear gloves and keep my eyes open around here, they are simply too common to ignore. I am not afraid of them but have a healthy respect for them. A local man was bitten on the foot a while back and it practically crippled him. Anyway I managed to get a few days worth of good wood split for the stove and I still have about half the pile to go as well as some olive that still needs to be cut up.

Reading the Manual

"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that change darkness into light, and light into darkness; that change bitter into sweet, and sweet into bitter!"

Like any good product creator, G-d provided His world with a blueprint for successful and happy lives. G-d gave us His holy Torah so that we should live lives with more meaning and more blessing. The Torah is the path to reaching G-d and safely maneuvering through life's obstacles. As the Sages teach, "delve into it and continue to delve into it, because everything is in it". The secret to overcoming every problem and mishap is contained in G-d's Torah. In even the most seemingly trivial verse, there is eternal and divine wisdom for all ages. Whether we are dealing with ancient halachic problems or modern controversies, the answer lies in the Torah.

If a person buys a new gadget but neglects to read the instruction manual, he will quickly find that he has trouble working the device. A person may only watch basic cable because he never took the time to learn how to install satellite TV. When we ignore what the instructions tell us, we barely use a minimum of our potential, simply because we never knew that more existed. G-d says of His Torah: “The Torah I give you, is a good acquisition; don’t abandon it.” (Proverbs 4:2) What is a good acquisition? The Torah is the path to reaching G-dliness, to rising above the emptiness and materialism of the world and elevating the mundane into the holy. Torah enable us to find holy everywhere, to invite G-d into our lives and to become worthy of His Presence. When we follow the Torah, we can see clearly with divine intuition. It enables us l'havdil, to differentiate, between right and wrong. It is the key to a moral society, which is why all people and nations have adopted at least aspect of the Torah. Only a society based on the Torah-notion of ethical monotheism, of a G-d who demands morality and justice, can flourish and prosper.

Unfortunately, when we abandon the Torah, we abandon our moral compass. In the portion of Haazinu, Moses calls the nation of Israel a "foolish people and unwise" (Deut. 32:6). In his rebuke of Israel, he warns them that if the disobey G-d, they will be stricken with "the blindness of Egypt". What was Egypt's great blindness? In their stubbornness, their resistance to listen to G-d and their persistence in their wicked ways, they brought down their great civilization. When we have no Torah to guide us, we are empty and cannot effectively label right and wrong.

Today, we are in precisely this situation. Due to our rejection of the Torah and our insistence of following the foibles of our own heart, we have subjected ourselves to a catastrophe of our own doing. The greatest tragedies of the modern era, Nazism, Communism and the rise of Islamic fascism, all go to demonstrate what happens when man forgets the moral G-d of Abraham. The former show the dangers of a man-made morality which will eventually lead to moral relativism and wholesale slaughter, while the latter represents the evil of religion without "thou shalt not murder". It is in this sick and twisted world that murderers who shoot teenagers studying in yeshiva or rain rockets down on schools are called 'militants' while denouncing as 'disproportionate' those who seek to defend themselves.

When man does not use the Torah to guide him, he is prone to moral relativism. It is this relativism that creates a culture of permissiveness, where 'intolerance' and 'being judgemental' are the greatest slurs. It is a society in which two men are allowed to marry, where the sanctity of life is constantly under attack, whether for infants, the elderly or the disabled. It is a society that will allow anything at any time and that refuses to call people to task for their actions. In this dangerous moral void, people cringe at the word 'evil', or laugh derisively at at, considering it archaic and unenlightened. People prefer to hide their heads in the sand rather than confront terror and hate. Honour killings and female genital mutilation are tolerated in the name of "cultural diversity". Tyrants and despots are lauded as freedom fighters and human rights activists. A leader who calls for the destruction of another state and its people is cheered before the assembled nations of the world. Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil, that cannot draw any lines, who allow evil to fester and spread.

G-d gave mankind free will and in doing this, He abdicated Himself from responsibility. That is one of the most frightening and empowering concepts in the entire Torah. "See, I have set before you today life and good, and death and evil. I have commanded you today to love Hashem your G-d, to walk in his paths, and to keep His Commandments, Decrees, and Laws. You will then live and flourish, and Hashem your G-d will bless you... But if your heart turns astray, and you do not listen... I am warning you today that you will be exterminated... I call heaven and earth as witnesses. Before you I have placed life and death, the blessing and the curse. You must choose life, so that you and your descendants will live." (Deut. 30:15-19) G-d commands us to choose life, to embrace His Torah and to perfect His world. The choice is stark: either Torah and moral clarity, or be condemned to emptiness and vanity, blindness and triviality. G-d laments: "If they would have abandoned Me but kept My Torah, its inherent light would have brought them back to Me." The power is in our hands. We need to read the instruction manual.

Cross-posted from For Zion's Sake

Democrats Charged With Child Pornography

A senior aide to Sen. Barbara Boxer(D, Ca.) and counsel for the Senate Environment and Public Works committee was fired from his position this week after being charged with possessing child pornography, mostly prepubescent boys, sicko. This comes on the heals of one of Sen.Maria Cantwell's(D, Wa.) aides being sentenced last month for the same thing after being picked up in a sting last year. I guess its inevitable when they include sexual deviants and groups like NAMBLA in their coalition. Congrats to the WaPo for not playing guess the party for once as they usually do when a Democrat is caught doing something wrong.

I don't blame the Senators for the actions of their aides but you could bet good money that if they had been Republicans you would be hearing calls for resignations and an attempt to tar the whole party with it. There are many things I disagree with Senator Boxer on as a constituent but she has always been a strong advocate for women and children and unfortunately homos. I do find it ironic that two of the most liberal women in the Senate had aides get busted for child porn.

Meanwhile the the homo rage against the protection of marriage act that passed last week continues apace with protests planned for this weekend. They have been attacking Mormon and Catholic churches out here all week and even calling blacks the dreaded "N" word for overwhelmingly supporting Prop.8. I am sure hurling racial epithets and threatening to burn down churches is a good way to convince their opponents to unite behind them. Homos out here already have civil rights but they want more and more, as I have said before they don't want equal rights since they already have them, they want special rights. They want the right to force their agenda down our throats whether we like it or not as SF Mayor Gavin Newsome said.

The Ice That Burns

Really, its called methane hydrate and is methane gas trapped in ice crystals and is a vast new form of potential energy reserves found in the earth's crust and once again Alaska has it in abundance. It is natural gas locked in a previously unexplored form and the potential is there for there to be far more of it than any other form of conventional oil or gas. This is fascinating stuff and I am surprised I had not heard of it before today, thanks to Ed Morrisey I now have. The commenters also left some very interesting links to government sites about the ongoing R&D into this resource, this one in particular.

Natural gas burns much cleaner than traditional gas or coal and requires less expense to refine for consumption with a far higher energy return. Traditional internal combustion engines can be converted over to run on natural gas. T. Boone Pickens' plan dovetails nicely with this as it called to convert much of our auto fleet to natural gas and that would work if we also move to nuclear power for the bulk of electricity production and not wind as his plan suggested. Heck if France can generate 70% of its electricity with nuclear power then why can't we?

The energy sector alone can generate hundreds of thousands of new high paying jobs and keep hundreds of billions of dollars in our economy instead of sending them overseas. The best way to stimulate our economy would be to set the energy sector free and remove the tax of high energy prices from the producers. We can do this and take care of the environment at the same time.

Michelle Rips McCain For Not Defending Sarah Palin: Updated

Michelle has never been very fond of John McCain to begin with and she's right that McCain was quicker and more forceful in defending his opponent than his own running mate, shameful. I am not convinced those anonymous smears even came from the McCain camp and the media is more than willing to parrot any smear of a Republican regardless of the validity of the smearer. That however does not excuse McCain from not coming out with a vigorous denunciation. Here is Michelle with Neil Cavuto discussing McCain's appearance with Jay Leno on how nonchalantly McCain dismissed it, via Hot Air.

I was going to vote for McCain as a Nobama vote till he chose Palin and then I voted for her. He would not have been our nominee if the GOP in some states did not allow indies or Democrats to vote in our primaries. To me McCain was always next to last on my list just barely ahead of Ron Paul. I am convinced that Mitt Romney was our strongest candidate and would have been able to handle the economic message so much better than the incoherent McCain.

Update: The New York Times of all places even confirms the Palin smears came from a fake "source". This actually a pretty good piece from the Times, I guess they are trying to regain some of their lost credibility.

It was among the juicier post-election recriminations: Fox News Channel quoted an unnamed McCain campaign figure as saying that Sarah Palin did not know that Africa was a continent.
Who would say such a thing? On Monday the answer popped up on a blog and popped out of the mouth of David Shuster, an MSNBC anchor. “Turns out it was Martin Eisenstadt, a McCain policy adviser, who has come forward today to identify himself as the source of the leaks,” Mr. Shuster said.

Trouble is, Martin Eisenstadt doesn’t exist. His blog does, but it’s a put-on. The think tank where he is a senior fellow — the Harding Institute for Freedom and Democracy — is just a Web site. The TV clips of him on YouTube are fakes.

Kudos due when they are deserved even to the NYT, as they say go read the whole thing.

Heres To You Veterans

Thank You and God Bless America!!!

Newt Gingrich For RNC Leadership: Updated

Update: It looks like Newt is withdrawing his name and backing Michael Steele and has been working with him behind the scenes to craft a new conservative message that will resonate with American voters. I know Mr. Steele is a highly charismatic speaker and really got the crowd going at this years GOP convention as well as coining the "Drill Baby Drill" chant that was prominent through out the rest of the campaign. I think he would be an excellent choice and one would go a long way to dispelling the myth that the GOP is racist. We need folks like him, Ken Blackwell, Thomas Sowell and quite a few others to be our point people to reach out to minority communities that are largely conservative but shy away from the GOP because of the lies they have been fed all these years. Blacks helped pass Prop.8 protecting marriage here in Ca. by a 70-30 margin. The GOP is the party of Lincoln who freed the slaves, Eisenhower who pushed for Civil Rights and the party that believes in individual liberty. The Democrats are the party that fought Civil Rights, the party of George Wallace and Bull Connor, and KKK Kleagle Robert Byrd.

Last Wednesday I wrote that I would love to see him in that position since he is our premier idea guru and architect of the Contract With America that lead to the GOP retaking Congress in '94 after decades in the minority. He has thrown his hat in the ring along with Michael Steele. Mr. Steele is a great guy but he isn't at the forefront of new policy ideas like Newt is with his work on American Solutions. I think Newt would be awesome in this position and would be able to recruit a new slate of fresh GOP candidates for the 2010 elections which is where we need to concentrate our energies and forget about 2012 till then. We can comeback and I think Newt is just the man to do it as head of the RNC.

That McCain "Aide" Leaking Smears About Sarah Palin Is A Fraud

I had a feeling it would turn out that way. It seems some jerk that was using the pseudonym Martin Eisenstadt from a fake policy center is behind the whole thing. He fooled Fox's Carl Cameron, The New Republic and MSNBC. TNR seems to have a thing for falling for frauds out for a little fame, remember Scott Beauchamp, and MSNBC likes any dirt they can get on Republicans whether its substantiated or not but Cameron is a surprise. Allahpundit and Shakesville have the story along with further links if you want to follow the story.

Kristallnacht: See No Evil

Tonight is the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the most severe pogrom of the century and the beginning of the end of European Jewry. On November 9-10, 1938, SS officers and German mobs destroyed Jewish property throughout the Reich. Over 90 Jews were murdered, 26,000 Jews were sent to concentration camps, close to 200 synagogues were burnt or razed, and almost 7,500 Jewish businesses were destroyed.

While Hitler claimed that the pogrom was a spontaneous outburst following the assassination of German official Vom Rath by Jewish boy, Hershel Greenspan, the attacks were methodically planned. Kristallnacht marked the transition from discriminatory and racist measures to physical violence and terror against Germany's Jews. Despite the violence against Germany's Jews, no country was willing to open their doors to them. As Germany's Jews sought refuge from Nazi hatred and persecution, the world was closing the ways of escape. Paltry protests notwithstanding, the world was largely silent in the face of the orgy of hate that was Kristallnacht. By not heeding the warning signs, 6 million Jews were murdered as the world stood idly by. As half of the world collaborated with the Nazis to exterminate the Jews, the other half closed their eyes and ears to the evil.

If the Holocaust is commemorate once a year on Yom HaShoah, why do we mark Kristallnacht? On Yom HaShoah we mourn the 6 million Jews murdered by the Nazis. We contemplate the barbarity of the Final Solution, the death camps, the killing fields, the gas chambers and ovens. Kristallnacht, however, marks the beginning of the end. Yom HaShoah marks the end product while Kristallnacht is all about the process. Holocausts do not begin with deportations or gas chambers. They begin with words, with demonizations and delegitimization, accompanied by silence.

It is incredible to think that 70 years after Kristallnacht, the world has scarcely learned this lesson. A month and a half ago, the President of Iran spoke before the United Nations, an international organization founded in the wake of the genocide of Europe's Jews, and repeated all of the classic anti-Jewish canards and myths to the applause of world leaders. He told the assembled representers of the world's nations that the current financial crisis is the fault of the Jews. This man put his anti-semitism in vivid display as he repeated the lies of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. He denies the Holocaust while planning a second one. His hatred for the Jewish people goes ignored by the world leaders, who chose to honour him with a dinner at the Hyatt Hotel. He has called the State of Israel "a stinking corpse", "a rotten tree" and many other vile things. He pledges to finish Hitler's mission and wipe the Jewish state "off the face of the Earth". He funds terror groups around the world and incites his people to genocide. And the world is silent.


This satanic silence during the Holocaust has no better symbol than that of Pope Pius XII. Currently on the road to sainthood, the wartime Pope said and did little to protect Europe's Jews. A man whose word commanded millions of Catholics worldwide and carried moral authority, was not able to clearly condemn the Nazi atrocities against the Jews. When the Jews of Rome were rounded up from right under his window, literally, and send train-bound to Auschwitz, the Supreme Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church held his tongue and allowed the damned to suffocate in the gas chambers. Today, the Vatican seeks to exonerate him from his complicity in mass murder and raise him to the level of a saint. Instead of dealing with its tragic and cowardly history, the Church prefers to whitewash the events of the past.

As the witnesses to this most dark era in human history die out, it is our duty to remember those who died at the altar of hate because the world looked away. Today, the fires of anti-semitism in the Islamic world, Europe and North America burn brightly. The most insidious hate hides behind humanitarian pretenses and seeks to delegitimize the Jewish State. The UN is getting ready for the Second Durban hate-fest. A neo-Nazi leader in Austria was given a state funeral and full miliatry honours, his death having been blamed on the Mossad. On this eve of Kristallnacht, the first nail in the coffin of European Jewry, it is the duty of every moral and decent Jew and non-Jew to protest anti-semitism and hatred in all of its various forms. Otherwise, we do a disservice to the memory of the 6 million, and invite disaster upon ourselves once again.

***

God full of mercy who dwells on high
Protector of widows and father for the fatherless
Please be not silent and show no restraint
on behalf of the Jewish blood that has been spilled like water.
But grant perfect rest on the wings of Your Divine Presence
In the lofty abode of the holy, pure and valiant
who shine as the brightness of the heavens
to the souls of our brothers and sisters
Six million Jewish
men, women and children
Who were put to death, slaughtered, burned,
starved, buried alive
Or who suffered other forms of unnatural death
at the hands of the accursed Nazis
and their associates - may their name be wiped out!
In Auschwitz, Treblinka, Maydanek, Malthausen
and in other death camps in Europe
And who gave up their lives in order to Sanctify God's name.
Because we are at one with their memory
and we pray for the elevation of their souls
Their resting place shall be in the Garden of Eden.
Therefore, shall the Master of mercy care for them
under the protection of His wings for all time
And bind their souls in the bond of everlasting life.
O Earth! Do not conceal their blood
and let there not be a resting place for their cry
In their merit shall the remnant of Israel
return to its rightful place
And as for the holy ones, their righteousness
shall be in front of the Lord as an everlasting memory
They will come in peace and will rest in peace
They will meet their rightful destiny at the end of days
and let us say Amen.



Cross-posted from For Zion's Sake

I Am Totally Burned Out But The Tide Keeps On Rolling

I have been blogging hard for the last year or so and now I just feel burnt out at least my Crimson Tide is giving me something to be excited about. We have not been ranked number 1 for twenty eight years even our last National Championship we were not the top ranked team, Miami was and we were the heavy underdogs going in. Today we pulled out a tough away game in Baton Rouge against LSU in overtime. This is always a bruising SEC match up and we did what we needed to do which is win a tough road game. The next two are at home and both against teams that always come ready to play, Miss. St. and our perennial cross state foe Auburn them we face Florida for the SEC Title. Yeah I know I live in Ca. but I am from Al. and I hate Ca. teams.

Swing Voters Don't Want Big Government

This is an encouraging poll taken by Pat Toomey and the Club for Growth and the numbers mirror those taken by Newt's American Solutions. This is still a center right nation no matter what the Democrats might think about their wins on tuesday and if they overreach they are going to fall off the pedestal they are on. This was a classic throw the over spending bums out election as Toomey points out. Go read the whole thing to get a little cheer back in your heart, it made me feel better.

Although currently held by Republican congressmen, all but one of these 12 districts we surveyed flipped to Democratic control Tuesday night. Collectively, President Bush carried these districts in 2004 with 53%. They are nearly evenly split in party affiliation: 40% Democratic, 37% Republican and 19% Independent. The poll surveyed 800 voters with a margin of error of +/- 3.46 percentage points.

Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco district will always support universal health care, and Jeff Flake's Arizona district will always support less government. But the 12 districts we surveyed represent the political middle of the country, and in this cycle their partisan allegiances changed. The question is, have their opinions on the issues changed as well? The answer is emphatically no.

Consider the most salient aspects of Mr. Obama's economic agenda: the redistribution of wealth through higher taxes on America's top earners; the revival of the death tax; raising the tax on capital gains and dividend income; increased government spending; increased government involvement in the housing crisis; a restriction on offshore drilling and oil exploration in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR); and "card check" legislation stripping workers of their right to a secret ballot in union elections.

On each of these issues, swing voters stand starkly against Mr. Obama. According to the Club's poll, 73% of voters prefer the federal government to focus on "creating economic conditions that give all people opportunities to create wealth through their own efforts" over "spreading wealth from higher income people to middle and lower income people." Two-thirds of respondents prefer to see the permanent elimination of the death tax, and 65% prefer to keep capital gains and dividend tax rates at their current lows.

I have little doubt Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Barack Obama are going to overreach on taxes and spending and leave the door wide open for the same type revolution Newt led in '94 when the GOP retook control after 40 years. Though Bill Clinton gets the credit it was the policies the the Newt Gingrich led House pushed through that had a direct effect on the economic expansion that ensued not anything Clinton did though he did govern from the center.

The GOP should take this information to heart in the reshuffling that is going to take place within its leadership and from what I am seeing they are with the elevation of some great new faces like Eric Kantor, Paul Ryan, Mike Pence and Jeb Hensarling. Plus we have the young reformers like Sarah Palin and Bobby Jindal serving as Governors of states important to our energy issues. I would love to see Newt take the RNC chair and direct the next Gingrich revolution built on solid ideas to advance America into this new century. Newt has more good ideas between a bite on a doughnut and the next sip of coffee than any liberal has had in 40-50-70 years.

Get your heads up my fellow conservatives its time to mount up and fight even harder, George Washington didn't give up and neither should we.

So Obama Won

Well now it will be up to him and his Democrat majorities to govern and they will hold the responsibility for whatever they do. Obama ran one of the dirtiest, most opaque, most corrupt campaigns I have seen with ACORN, fraudulent fundraising and bold faced lies. He did it, he got elected despite all that with the help of a very disorganized weak McCain campaign. Sarah Palin was the only bright spot in a very disjointed effort that never had a clear focus or consistent message.

Will Obama govern from the center alla Bill Clinton or will he with the push from Pelosi and Reid try to drive the country hard left? If they do it would be a huge mistake and will shorten their hold on power. I don't think they will be able to push through massive new spending programs as many of their newer members ran on a fiscally conservative message and beat Republicans that had seemingly lost those principles. Clinton in his first couple years pushed through a tax increase and in '94 lost the House to a Newt Gingrich lead takeover with his Contract for America that focused on a half dozen key issues.

To regain power the Republicans will need to pick a half dozen popular issues that are supported by a vast majority of the people and run hard on them. Newt Gingrich is still our premier idea guru and his Platform for the American People is a great place to start. We also need to recruit more folks like Sarah Palin and Bobby Jindal, young bold reformers with fresh ideas.

We also need to stop allowing non-party members from voting in our primaries because independents and Democrats that vote in them invariably go for our weakest candidate, thus we ended up with John McCain. He lost by some 7 million votes and Obama won with less than 1 million more than John Kerry got. Where did those 7 million Bush voters go? They sat on their hands because they did not like John McCain, they didn't go to Obama. They may have gone to the polls and voted but left the presidential slot blank.

I am not going to descend into Obama derangement syndrome like the moonbats did over Bush but I will oppose his policies when they are wrong and applaud them when they are right just as I did President Bush and McCain over numerous issues. Obama will be our next President and I will respect that position but he enters office already under an ethical cloud that will not go away. Life will go on and I will be part of the loyal opposition to socialism, remember dissent is patriotic.

In closing watch this video of a speech by Newt on how we can take America forward and not backwards to the failed ideas of the past. It is about a half hour long but is very interesting.

Did You Vote Today?

I did at about 11:00 pac. and there were no lines but it was busy, I do live in a small town though. I really doubt Obama will get many votes around here since this is a deep red district with a major Air Force base nearby and I have not seen any Obama signs. I don't think McCain can carry California but his internals have shown it to be very close and he is very popular out here winning the primaries fairly handily. Independents decide things out here and helped us get Arnie elected twice.

I don't believe or follow exit polls but I find anecdotal evidence interesting about very high turnout in deep red districts and states. I wonder what the PUMA turnout will be. Will the youth vote Obama is depending on show up to vote? Anecdotal evidence I have seen around the web suggests that it isn't. Will they not bother to show up and vote thinking Obama has it in bag? Remember getting somebody to register doesn't mean they will actually show up to vote.

I remain optimistic that McCain/Palin can pull this out.

What are you seeing in your district?

Scam IRS Phishing Spam

There is an official looking email that hit both my inboxes today that appears to be from the IRS but it is not. It originated from Europe and China as a quick check of the sender's IP address showed. It is a phishing scam DO NOT FALL FOR IT!!!!!

Obama The Flip Flopper

Mary Katherine Ham put together this compilation of just a few of his many flip flops and as Jim Geraghty says all of Obama's statements come with an expiration date.

I am not going to make any predictions about how this will turn out all I can say is get out there and vote for McCain/Palin. I do remain confident that the Maverick and the Barracuda can and will pull this out as the silent majority rises up and says NO to Obama and his socialist, job killing, no energy agenda.

PS: I am going to join Rachel Lucas with a bottle of Wild Turkey to wash my beer down.

Sarah Palin Hits Obama/Biden On Energy From Coal

We need to use our vast coal reserves as a ready reliable source of energy to power our economy for many years to come. Technology is improving rapidly on cleaner technology to reduce pollution from coal fired power plants and has for the last few decades. We are the Saudi Arabia of coal and we need to use it to free us from dependence on foreign sources of energy not non-existent pipe dreams of some miracle power source, well nuclear could be that source.

I got this comment from some Obama troll on the post below this one about Obama wanting to bankrupt the coal industry with the tapes Sarah mentions in her speech.

The two videos that I watched were both edited and were not complete. While I understand that the point is to push one side of the agenda I would like to say as someone who is from Coal Mining Country in Appalacia I find the post lacking in qualitative data to prove your point.

Having traveled overseas and to Africa myself I have seen coal fired power plants that are not regulated and they are awful.

We cannot sit by and destroy this planet the way we have been for the last fifty years. At some point we all have to be responsible and take ownership for this planet. Otherwise the earth will not be there for your kids...

First we are not talking about coal fired plants in Africa, we are talking about clean coal here. I don't buy into the man made global warming/climate change clap trap anyway while being anti-pollution for the right reasons. Plus those are Obama's own words and his attempt to walk them back are very weak

Second America is far cleaner now than it was even 20 years ago, I am from a coal and steel producing region, B'ham Al., so I know the difference and what liberal policies did to the industry there.

Third carbon dioxide is not a pollutant, it is a vital natural gas that plants depend on like we do oxygen and it is NOT a greenhouse gas unless you mean the greenhouse that keeps us alive. Vegetation uses the carbon and produces the oxygen we need. I have to wonder if the troll is also opposed to dihydrogen monoxide since it is a far more serious greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide is, yeah I paid attention in chemistry and biology classes. It amazes me that when liberals try to act so smart they come across as complete dunces but I am just a dumb redneck bitterly clinging to my guns and religion that happens to love science especially geology, paleontology, chemistry, and physics.

Obama Wants To Bankrupt The Coal Industry And Skyrocket Energy Costs

This from an interview at the beginning of the year to a San Francisco newspaper. He wants to bankrupt coal fired electricity plants which will in turn bankrupt coal producers. He also wants to use price signals on energy from DC as a means to control or change the behavior of people.

Here is the part about causing electricity rates to skyrocket from the same interview, this would do incredible harm to the economy and cause prices on everything to go up. The guy has insane policy proposals.

Here he is in 2007 talking about using price signals in order to force people to change their behavior. The people this will hrut the most of course will be the poor and middle-class the very people he claims he wants to help.

He has said he wants to reduce electricity usage by 15% but how can we do that with increased usage of electric vehicles and continue to grow the economy? A vote for Obama is a vote for higher taxes, higher prices on everything and deep depression that will destroy this country as we know it. Is that the change we need? I think not, vote McCain/Palin for more energy and a growing economy.

Fred Thompson Talks About What An Obama Presidency Would Mean

*** This post will stay up top for at least a week so scroll down for newer ones***

Take a few minutes and listen to what Fred has to say and pass it along to anyone you know that might be sitting on the fence or is planning on sitting on their hands Nov. 4th. I know some conservatives don't like John McCain and stupidly believe an Obama term will serve to reignite the conservative movement. It might but it would take years and be nearly impossible to reverse or end the programs that Obama , Pelosi and Reid have planned. We still have not recovered from the flawed policies of Johnson, Carter or even FD Roosevelt. Now is not the time for complacency even if you live in a blue state as I do, don't listen to the media or pay attention to the polls, get out there and vote for McCain/Palin and work for your down ticket GOP Representatives and Senators at the State and Federal level.

College Football Chaos

Wow Texas Tech upsets the Longhorns in one of the best games I have ever watched with a last second touchdown. I was of course rooting for Tech since my Crimson Tide was sitting at number 2 behind Texas. Yes we are number 1 for the first time in a very long time at 9-0 with three tough games left to go before we face off for a National Championship.

I am sure we can handle LSU and Auburn but Florida in the SEC Championship game will be tough though we beat the team that beat them. Nick Saban has brought us back with a bruising running game and the suffocating defense that we love in SEC football

Once again the BCS scoring system is thrown in to complete disarray, that is why I support a playoff system with the top eight teams. We can keep all the various bowl games with the top five rotating the championship game and it would only add one more game to the schedule. I am sure fans would not mind that and it would eliminate all the second guessing that goes on post season.