The Declaration of Independance

A Transcription

IN CONGRESS,

July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:
[Column 1]
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton
[Column 2]
North Carolina:
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton
[Column 3]
Massachusetts:
John Hancock
Maryland:
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton
[Column 4]
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean
[Column 5]
New York:
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark
[Column 6]
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Massachusetts:
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire:
Matthew Thornton
From the Historic Documents archive published online by The Patriot Post at http://patriotpost.us/.

Give Me Liberty

To imagine the echo of the words booming inside that hall in Philidelphia on this day as debate raged over the Declaration of Independence gives shivers to my spine and tears to my eye as 50 odd men swore their lives, wealth and honor to the birth of this nation. My favorite speech leading to that day is by Patrick Henry and seldom printed in its entirety, as we prepare to celebrate our founding read this speech and think also of the present and future of America, Land of the Free and Home of the Brave.
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Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death!
March 23, 1775
By Patrick Henry
No man thinks more highly than I do of the patriotism, as well as abilities, of the very worthy gentlemen who have just addressed the house. But different men often see the same subject in different lights; and, therefore, I hope it will not be thought disrespectful to those gentlemen if, entertaining as I do opinions of a character very opposite to theirs, I shall speak forth my sentiments freely and without reserve. This is no time for ceremony. The question before the house is one of awful moment to this country. For my own part, I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery; and in proportion to the magnitude of the subject ought to be the freedom of the debate. It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at the truth, and fulfill the great responsibility which we hold to God and our country. Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings.
Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the numbers of those who, having eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth, to know the worst, and to provide for it.
I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past. And judging by the past, I wish to know what there has been in the conduct of the British ministry for the last ten years to justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace themselves and the House. Is it that insidious smile with which our petition has been lately received?
Trust it not, sir; it will prove a snare to your feet. Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with those warlike preparations which cover our waters and darken our land. Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled that force must be called in to win back our love? Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the implements of war and subjugation; the last arguments to which kings resort. I ask gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission? Can gentlement assign any other possible motive for it? Has Great Britain any enemy, in this quarter of the world, to call for all this accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, she has none. They are meant for us: they can be meant for no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains which the British ministry have been so long forging. And what have we to oppose to them? Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten years. Have we anything new to offer upon the subject? Nothing. We have held the subject up in every light of which it is capable; but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication? What terms shall we find which have not been already exhausted? Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves. Sir, we have done everything that could be done to avert the storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament. Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne! In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and reconciliation.
There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free--if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending--if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained--we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of hosts is all that is left us! They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength but irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. The millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable--and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come.
It is in vain, sir, to extentuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace--but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!
From the Historic Documents archive published online by The Patriot Post at http://PatriotPost.US.

Hey, Its Almost Friday

A long weekend for many is arriving as we get ready to celebrate the greatest nation on earth and its birth. I for one place alot of stock in our Declaration of Independance, Constitution and Bill of Rights as a constitutional federalist and backed by the Federalist Papers. I recently replied to a detractor that I found credit agencies distribution of our information a much more egregious erosion of my privacy than g-men sniffing around for jihadis that want to blow us up. Anyway heres a couple of good reads . I know this one be by Debbie Schlussel will draw some interesting comments as will Annie's latest.
I agree we with Debbie, our State Dept . needs to turn Israel loose, she goes after Bush and rightly so on this issue.
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"That's how the country got itself into the position it is in. It constantly makes empty deals with terrorists with Uncle Sam demanding it. And never learns its lesson, nor does its U.S. taskmaster, which continues requiring more from the tiny besieged State. Imagine if our country released all terror suspects at Guantanamo, plus most of those in U.S. Prisons--including the Blind cleric who was involved in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing--as a goodwill gesture to Bin Laden" D.S.

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Go Annie Go!
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"Maybe treason ended during the Vietnam War when Jane Fonda sat laughing and clapping on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun used to shoot down American pilots. She came home and resumed her work as a big movie star without the slightest fear of facing any sort of legal sanction.
Fast forward to today, when New York Times publisher "Pinch" Sulzberger has just been named al-Qaida's "Employee of the Month" for the 12th straight month.
Before the Vietnam War, this country took treason seriously." A.C.

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Annie is who she is and you can love her or hate her but you won't change her.I would pay good money to see a debate between Ann and Maureen Dowd, spinstress of the NYT. I know we have our fair share of fair ladies on the GOP side of things. I will take Michelle Malkin over Susan Estrich anyday, brains, wit, beauty and talent, what more could a guy ask for? The left has some lookers till they open their mouths and expose what they lack, brains, some call them celebrities.

Two Cents For Tuesday

I am Tahoe bound tomorrow to finish some custom work in a prominent Sactown citizen's ski chalet, life is good. I like the rich, they pay us well and I/we return in service. The trades in america are hurting for young folks willing to learn to be a craftsman in a trade that will provide for them and a family always. I started at minimum wage some twenty odd years ago and now I am a master tradesman/journeyman currently doing work for some of the wealthiest people in California. My point is our youth need to understand the value of a trade as opposed to sales/retail, white collar or warehouse. The trades pay far better but you have to start at the bottom, with some break for experience. You get to sweat, get dirty, and play with power tools all day, you know, Tim the Toolman, LOL.
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Tonight's must read comes from the OPJ, actually they have two , here and here. The following is from the second link.
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"It is certainly true that learning about evils perpetrated in other times in other countries can too easily lead to a comfortable sense of moral superiority. That can, in its own way, undo what might otherwise be a teaching moment. All the same, however, things are not all the same. If the Gulag is interesting only as a means of turning a mirror on the injustices of our own penal system, it is arguably not interesting at all. The Gulag was, and is, a reductio ad absurdum of sorts of the Soviet system itself. It was where "counterrevolutionary" elements were sent to learn the virtues of work and of collectivism, but the lesson was predominantly that of man's inhumanity to man. All prisoners were slowly starved to death, and those too weak to work were starved faster than the strongest. Thus the weak grew weaker and the strong stronger. The overwhelming impression at the heart of the Gulag exhibit is just this--that cruel and arbitrary power lay at the heart of a system that purported to redress inequalities but instead etched them in stone."
Brian Carney

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Read them both.
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The New York Times and any other MSM agent that prints or otherwise damages our war effort should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, that is my opinion of the latest "disclosure" by the Time, dispicable. I knew this program existed, why broadcast it to the enemy?

A Good Start

Here are some quotes courtesy of the Federalist Patriot to start your week of right, pun intended, like Duh.
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"With hearts fortified with these animating reflections, we most solemnly, before God and the world, declare, that, exerting the utmost energy of those powers, which our beneficent Creator hath graciously bestowed upon us, the arms we have been compelled by our enemies to assume, we will, in defiance of every hazard, with unabating firmness and perseverance employ for the preservation of our liberties; being with one mind resolved to die freemen rather than to live as slaves."-- John Dickinson and Thomas Jefferson
(Declaration of the Cause and Necessity of Taking up Arms, 6 July 1775)Reference: Documents of American History, Commager, ed., vol. 1(95)
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"A free people [claim] their rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate." —Thomas Jefferson (ed:Could this apply to the GLBT agenda, to propogate through the court system rather than the naturally impossible?)
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"It is not bigotry to insist that there is a good reason why marriage has existed in every known human society, and why it has always involved the uniting of men and women. It is not bigotry to acknowledge what reams of scholarship confirm: Family structure matters, and children are more likely to suffer problems when they are not raised by their married mothers and fathers. It is not bigotry to resist the dishonest comparison of same-sex marriage to interracial marriage—skin color has nothing to do with wedlock, while sex is fundamental to it. And it is not bigotry to fear that a social change as radical as same-sex marriage could lead to grave and unintended consequences, from the persecution of religious institutions to a growing clamor for legalizing polygamy." —Jeff Jacoby
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"[T]he Marxist vision of man without God must eventually be seen as an empty and a false faith...first proclaimed in the Garden of Eden with whispered words of temptations: 'Ye shall be as gods.' The crisis of the Western World, Whittaker Chambers reminded us, exists to the degree in which it is indifferent to God. 'The western World does not know it,' he said about our struggle, 'but it already possesses the answer to this problem—but only provided that its faith in God and the freedom He enjoins is as great as communism's faith in man.' This is the real task before us: to reassert our commitment as a nation to a law higher than our own, to renew our spiritual strength. Only by building a wall of such spiritual resolve can we, as a free people, hope to protect our own heritage and make it someday the birthright of all men." —Ronald Reagan
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"[T]he most significant portent for the Dems may not be their stupendous flopperoo in the California special election nor the death of Zarqawi nor the non-indictment of Karl Rove—though, taken together, they render pretty threadbare the Democrat strategy of relying on Republican immigration splits, bad news in Iraq and the GOP's 'culture of corruption.' No, the revealing development is Joe Lieberman's troubles in Connecticut. Six years ago, he was the party's beaming vice presidential nominee. Two years ago, he was an also-ran for the presidential nomination. This summer, he's an incumbent senator struggling not to lose in his own primary to a candidate who's the darling of the anti-war netroots left. What's the senator done to offend the base? Nothing—except be broadly supportive of the Iraq campaign and other military goals in the war on terror. He's one of a very few Democrats who give the impression they'd like America to win. But in today's Democratic Party it's the mainstream that gets marginalized. Forty years ago, George Aiken recommended that in Vietnam America 'declare victory and go home.' Today, the likes of Jack Murtha, John Kerry and Ted Kennedy have come up with their own ingenious improvement: Declare defeat and go home." —Mark Steyn
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Have a good week!
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It seems the moonbat gang-bangers can't handle the Barnyard as they cut and ran even after I threw them a few hot links. Beyond the occassional smart ass(banned and deleted), they seem rather voiceless and stuck , even their attacks on me on their sites hold no water. What's Up?
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The recent WMD story is old news, I blogged on it months ago. If you pay attention and know where to look being months ahead of the MSM and even the Pols is not hard to do. I may be a small time blogger but I ingest a huge amount of info before voicing an opinion as ascerbic as it may be. I predict the left is toast, stale melba toast.

Sunday Grill

I got a hankering for some ribs so I slow smoked a rack and shared with the neighbors. It made your tongue slap your ears to get every bit. I can brag about few things but my ribs I will standup against anybody.
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I will be on radio with Lorez tonight between 10 and 11 to discuss the GWOT and the coverage by the MSM, the blogospere and other alternative media. Who do you believe? I use a wide range of sources, many MSM, brought to my attention by alternative media. The Fourth Estate still has a valuable role to play, they just have a growing legion of fact checkers and analysts keeping an eye on stupid agenda driven journalism, ie; Rathergate.
Some of my favorite analysis of big stories comes from the blogosphere, not the ranters but those like Hugh Hewitt, Powerline, Captain's Quarters, Belmont Club and many milbloggers that deliver insider thought. I also find what my lesser known friends have accomplished, interesting, the fact I have return readers amazes me. Information gets moved between strangers on a level never seen before and it will only advance and get faster as time goes by. Get on board or get be left behind!
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Oh boy, Sen . George Allen is on Road to the Whitehouse, he is better than I remembered, he is great, he and Mitt Romney will be unstoppable. Newt also taking the Contract back on the road will also help deliver GOP success. Sen. Allen does face a tough challenge from one of my favorite authors and former Navy Sec., James Webb. I highly recommend his book "Born Fighting"

Its a Heat Wave

It takes trained sheepdogs to keep the flock together.
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It got hot here today, the yard is mowed, a side job is complete and I am beat. I have to say somebody really likes me or hates me at some site called Norbizness. I haven't figured them out yet though very libertarian seems the bend. I could be called a libertarian Conservative, for example , I have zero problems with medical marijuana and would vote for it again. I am center right not hard right except on issues previously listed, God, Country, Family, Guns, and Gays.
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I do not like the cut/paste/comment style of debate as employed by several of my liberal friends. I am capable of engaging in conversation without my words being repeated. Copy and paste with an attached snide, inane comment is not debate, it is toss and snicker. Please do comment and bring something when you do. I love to learn and am a political and developing history junkie, I admit it. I lean to the right, center right, you know common sense not socialism and I must say I find the left quite entertaining with their conspiracy theories and victomhood methodology. I am willing to carry on a conversation not a copy/paste/snipe fest. I welcome the comments, just use a more journalistic readable style. I won't curse you or call you names other than moonbat or derivatives and I am an admitted wingnut redneck. Post away just be civil, the only person ever banned supported child sex and he will remain banned and deleted upon contact
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Tonights must read.

A Strange Quiet

My calender at work proclaims June to be Gay Pride month and I have to wonder at the notable abscence of gay "events" or press coverage. I am not complaining, I am wondering if they got our message? What they do in their bedrooms is their business, once it comes onto the streets and into policy it becomes the public's business. It seems sexual degenerates are still not welcome in polite society. In highschool we studied how the moral bankruptcy of the Greek and Roman empires brought them down. Wealthy men had enuques, castrated boys, as play things so as not to risk impregnation of their wives. Orgies were common in the baths of Rome, how ironic Rome became the center of Christian power. I rarely comment on the homosexual issues but I had to note their relative silence during their "Pride" month.
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The Liberals have become so cloistered that they believe we all think as their clique does, sorry , it doesn't work that way. Those of us that don't frequent the coffee shops of Seattle, San Fagcisco or New York have a slightly different perspective on life and it is good. When you aren't crowded into concrete canyons the world is less dismal, and alot more open, with trees and meadows even. I guess if I lived in a big city I would be neurotic as well having lived in LA and San Jose. LA was alright as I lived just blocks from the National Forest, I hated San Jose as an urban nightmare though the coast range and Castle Rock SP are gorgeous. There is also some great wine tasting to be had around Saratoga and Los Gatos.
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Speaking of wine , the bottle of the evening is a Luchesi 'Masque', a Bordeoux blend and very big, it could sit for a while. This is a Nevada City winery and one of the best of the foothill makers, all their wines are very big and will age very well.
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Tom McClintock is the CaGOP bright star and is Arnie's running mate and our conservative voice while Arnold has to walk a political tightrope which he has done an enviable job of. I do believe if anybody can revive the GOP here in Ca. it is Tom. He has no national aspirations , he wants to help fix California and he has a plan to do it. They collectively took about 60% of the vote in the recall election, could the GOP be regaining a footing through California's eastern red counties with rapid developement?

Mitt Romney, The Talk of The Town.

Welcome Iowans for Romney, you will find many like minded individuals here as we have been promoting Mitt for a while now. Hopefully my Boston counterpart will recover from her Carribean daze to comment soon, we have been discussing Mitt for a few years now and if you are a fan, you are at the right place, post away.
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I remain convinced the DNC can't touch the GOP majority as long as we stay active and positive with our message and don't get discouraged by a negative MSM reporting which tilts heavily to the left.
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Do they really want us to fail in Iraq just so they can get power back? The DNC as run by Howard Dean seems bent on that track, does GOP failure actually equal votes for a defeatist agenda of cut and run chickens and donkeys? I don't think so as recent votes in congress held the line.

So

What am I to believe as a a loyal conservative when the moonbats won't answer a simple question as posed in my previous post . Does the left really want to follow a Marxist socialist trend? This article may be of interest by Armstrong Williams.
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What most people don't know is that Marx was an out and out racist and anti-Semite. He didn't think much of Mexicans. Concerning the annexation of California after the Mexican-American War, Marx wrote: "Without violence nothing is ever accomplished in history." Then he asks, "Is it a misfortune that magnificent California was seized from the lazy Mexicans who did not know what to do with it?" Friedrich Engels, Marx's co-author of the "Manifesto of the Communist Party," added, "In America we have witnessed the conquest of Mexico and have rejoiced at it. It is to the interest of its own development that Mexico will be placed under the tutelage of the United States." Much of Marx's ideas can be found in a book written by former communist Nathaniel Weyl, titled "Karl Marx, Racist" (1979).

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The left lavishes its praise on Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro, what else am I to think about their Marxist afflictions? Why are they so afraid to admit it? I am not ashamed to admit I am a constitutional federalist, after all we are a constitutional republic with an elected representative democracy. I wonder why they, the moonbat left that is, keep getting out voted on election day? Could it be that American's are not into Marx, (read USSR, aka. Russia) ? This is why the GOP will pick up not lose seats this year and next cycle as well.
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The gauntlet is thrown, how will the the left respond? I bet they shoot for the victimhood methodology they are so fond and adept at. It has also grown very tiresome on the electorate that does not play that game, just works hard everyday and wants their hours worked to reflect it through lower taxes. I am for abolishing the IRS and having a consumption tax as supported in the Federalist Papers. Tax me on what I spend not what I earn or own (property taxes) or pass to my heirs.
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It never hurts to pass the evening with the likes of Ottmar Liebert, Armik, Al DiMeola and Jesse Cooke either, that is if you enjoy incredible latin jazz guitar. Oh, I could name many more as it is possibly my favorite music genre along with the metal classical fusion of Yngvie Malmsteen.
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New Mitt Romney fans visiting , we are a Mitt friendly site as my co-blogrette is a Bostonian Mitt activist and GOP hack working for the party. She is still recovering from her vacation in the Carribian, apparently.

I Ask You

So lefties , please explain, since I saw a few Evan Bayh supporters about. Welcome to the Barnyard, I might add, we discuss policy among other things here and all I ask is a semi-polite rancor, no cussing or blatant name calling (ie; loonbat and wingnut are ok, references to the Third Reich, racism, or any other namecalling by the left will be dealt with by deletion, or having their words edited for humorous purposes). Howard Dean talking points will be taken down with a zeal. I don't discourage variant thought, I strongly discourage impolite discourse and strongly encourage such varying opinion, just be civil. Inane drivel will not be responded to and may be deleted, so be relevant or informative.

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Does this sign represent the Democratic Party, as the DNC seems to have embraced the people that carry these signs? If this is the direction they have chosen , they can kiss their political donkey's ass goodbye. Two of our soldiers were just brutalized by savages and the left wants to whine about women's panties and standing still as torture, let alone their catcalls about 'Gitmo. I guarantee those prisoners ate better than I did over the last two years as a first time home owner. Thanks to the alternative media the left is finally exposed for what they are, power hungry socialists that could care less about America as long as they are in charge, free to install euro-socialism. Need they be reminded that Europe is falling behind thanks to socialism, and they want those same failing policies here, PsssHaaawww.

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I am glad to see Newt Gingrich out stumping for the GOP as he carries our policy message extremely well considering he led the '94 charge. I am a firm believer conservatives can wrestle victory away from the limp spined DNC if we show our backbone. The left wants to make the election about executive incompetence while winning a war with a strong economy intact. We are taking the election to home court and if we follow Newt's formula we should be able to add to our majority not lose it as the MSM so desires. Yes it does come down to God, guns, gays, property rights, freedom from terrorism and a right to life though all we really need is less taxes and a smaller less intrusive, less controlling government. I am a firm believer in the free market and its ability to control pricing through supply and demand.

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Mitt Romney is still my man with George Allen as running mate, Mitt's religious leanings mean nothing to his abilities as a fiscal genious and other awesome qualities. This is the '08 combo I will work hardest for, as it is our strongest ticket. I will break the mold and predict a contest against Evan Bayh and Barack Obama or Hillary. Hillary can't win, poll after poll shows at least 45% of the electorate would vote against her just because she is Hillary Clinton. If the GOP can actually control spending they will have no problem with retention, that is a big IF.

Weekend Rambler

On Politics, I am listening Evan Bayh speak on Cspan and in my opinion he smokes the rest of the Dem speakers I have heard. He and Barack Obama are both good but this guy is very good, very Kennedyesque in the JFK mold, it will be between he and Hillary for the center left vote, Kerry and the rest will run left. I also just heard Karl Rove addressing a conservative crowd and I do believe the GOP is on a track to maintain if not advance our majority and he laid it out quite concisely and he is free from indictment worries to proceed with election year politics and platform building.
I know in two special elections to maintain GOP seats here in liberal Ca. the GOP put two reform conservatives in the house. I am actually excited for this year as we get a little rumble going in prelude to "08", exposing the left will be fun. Fellow conservative's all we have to do is remember the lesson's of the '80, '92, '94, '98, '00, '02, '03(Ca. recall), and '04. We can win as long as we remember those lessons.
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Update:
Don't miss this fascinating interview with Victoria Nuland on Cspan's Q&A, transcript, video., She is our Ambassador to NATO and sharp as a tack, check it out.

Weekend Rambler

What a brutal layout at Winged Foot for the US Open, it was an ugly final round. Michelson lost the tournament on the last hole with a double bogey he could have avoided by playing safe and keeping the ball in play so he gave the Title to Ogilvy at +5. That is the highest score I can remember in a Major for a while, nobody wanted to win it. The pack was tight and nobody was able to bring in a great round to take the Cup, I'd say the course won this Open.
I went and played a really nice mature layout hidden nearby today and my two years off showed. I putted well and the rust will quickly polish off the rest of my game. It was nice to be back out on the course after that long a lay off. I have played very little since I moved to Ca. preferring to go play in the mountains instead and the extremely high greens fees kept me away. Now that I have found Plumas Lake nearby with a reasonable price and a great layout I will be chasing that little white ball around a bit more again. It is fairly open and inviting to big hitters with a creek and many big oaks coming into play on many holes. Small bent grass greens and ample bunkers make play on and around the greens interesting, requiring an ample bag of tricks. I love this game of golf and was quite good before I moved, me Pops and I played every chance we got, often riding around for 54 holes or more.
Pops was really good, near scratch and a HS coach, and tought me how to play the game not just hit the ball. Hitting the ball is the easy part, managing your game against the course is the hard part and if money is involved, your temper. That is the part Pops tought me, management of my game, I wish he could have been with me today, he would have enjoyed the course. I will miss him always.
I did play with a couple laddies out with their pops, I would guess about 12 and 15 and they were good, very good. The 15 yr old is capable of playing in the 70s and is long and the 11yr old was longer off the tee than many men I have played with. We played from the white tees and both beat me easily and I didn't play to badly, we had alot of fun. I was not put off by their ability at all but excited by it and thouroughly enjoyed playing with them. I expect to see both these boys on the tour in a few years. It was heartening to see so many young faces on the course today playing so well, turns out there is a youth tournament next week. The lad behind us shot a 69, he looked about 17, that is a good score on this course. I also heard rumblings of an 11yr old young lady with a near flawless game getting ready for the tournament, it seems Tiger's coattails are proving strong and so is the future of golf's stars.
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Thanks to Dads

The Lady and the Tramp

Such a classic cartoon by Disney, I happened upon it tonight as they are promoting the sequel. I enjoyed it as a kid and I am thouroughly enjoying it now. The lessons of young adult hood are replete with the draw of freedom and the consequences of responsibility for abusing that freedom. I would bet on the sequel doing well at the box office, with an adorable Scamp son of Tramp taking the lead on his adventure.
Probably my all-time favorite of the great disney movies of that era is "The Jungle Book" which of course led me to more Rudyard Kipling, Zane Grey, Jack London and beyond. "The Swiss Family Robinson" runs a close second especially for the adventurous free spirit and self reliance. I have to wonder why more movies are not made of that caliber anymore since they make good money.

Friday Night View

There are reasons why
we may travel barren ground in the venture, to reach great heights requires effort.
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I am on the way to that view.
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Palisades region, the High Sierra.
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The Barnyard's first anniversary has past on the 15th, hard to believe, eh.?
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For a good laugh this is worth a click over, from a random reader.

Time to start Talking California

The CaGOP has put together a strong ticket this year and by putting forth their worst candidates for the gubernatorial seats the Dems showed themselves for what they are. Phil Angelides may be a super-liberal but he lacks any curb appeal, where as Arnie is Mr. Curb Appeal. Arnold is smart and IMHO has done a good job with a screwed up legislature. I would say that very much like Mitt Romney, Arnold Schwartzeneger knows money and has spent alot of time talking with Mitt and others about big money management.
The interesting part was the Dems passed on a shoe in for Lt. Gov. in Jackie Spier for another far lefty I can't remember now. This gives Arnie's running mate, Tom MacClintock, our top conservative voice, a better chance and offers a pull to bring conservatives out to vote. In the recall election if you combined Tom's and Arnie's winning tally it was close to 65% of the vote, all hope is not lost in California for the GOP.
We have a message and marketing machine now assembled with much thanks to Arnold, think "Predator" marketing, a Master truelly leads. Here is a little tidbit as well, eastern Ca is gaining in population and is conservative while the gay bay and LA are losing it, legal tax-payers that is. Angelides is an amnesty supporter and so is his running mate, he also seems to have a bit of a MeCHista La Razaish varnish to him after I heard his speech at one of the amnesty rallies in LA. He doesn't stand a chance, he will get the leftist vote but not the huge libertarian indepedant vote out here that killed the last two tax initiatives. We want fiscal responsibility on the State and Federal level, there is plenty of money now, remove the bloat, trim the union fat and eliminate a few hundred government programs that private industry does far better.
I have to say the only tax I can support is a sales tax or consumption tax with zero income taxes what-so-ever. I earned my money, its taking is unconstitutional, however I have no problem paying a tax on what I spend. I see this along with private health and SSI accounts as being a far better alternative than the socialist model. I have far more faith in a free market than I do any government beauracracy to actually know how to use money wisely.
We don't win by sitting on our hands but by booting those that don't place their nose to the grindstone and by replacing them in the primaries and then working to elect that person in the general election. The GOP has gotten increasingly better at that and the results are starting to show.
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(ed. previous error in first paragraph corrected, thinking faster than typing)

Lets Get Ready To Rumble

Happy Birthday Army! Thanks!
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"The name of American, which belongs to you, in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of Patriotism, more than any appellation derived from local discriminations."-- George Washington (Farewell Address, 1796)
First, I must link some great articles from today's Townhall by Ben Shapiro, Brent Bozell, Kathleen Parker and , of course, Michelle Malkin.
I have to find the most entertaining aspect of the "Kossack" conference was their tin-foil hat contest, they are proving us right. If that was their intention, well, it worked. Conservative talk radio has miles of soundbites ready just from the last week from the moaning left. If they really want a slugfest this off-year election, I believe the GOP is more than ready.
I am in a safe district so all I can really do is campaign here for those that need a little help. I know the CaGOP is getting alot of traction after a couple taxbills were shot down by voters. The left keeps wanting to ram the "gay life-style" down our throats under the guise of special rights. I feel Ca.'s huge independant voting base moving right, not left as we are bouncing back from the previous leftward trend as nature equalizes all things .The left is trying to ram three different bills through that advocate indoctrination of children into the gay agenda of normalcy.
Thankfully they won't make it past Arnie, vetoes are promised. The GOP actually has a very strong statewide ballot and the next few months could prove very interesting.

The Lowing in the Distance

For those that don't know about cows, lowing is the sounds a large herd makes at night and was a cowboy's tool to tell the nature of the herd. In this case the sound is the moaning from the loony left since Patrick Fitzgerald didn't deliver them Karl Rove on a stick, and their favorite freedom fighter Zarcman found a couple 500 lb Jdams on his noggin. To top it off Iraq's freely elected government is complete and President Bush paid a surprise visit to congratulate Maliki and the Iraqi people. The roar from the troops was enormous when he gave them a job well done slap on the back. I would say their morale is through the roof right now and it should be.
I hope the moonbats raise the shrillness an extra notch, a few more naked bike rides will help. A few more deniac screams would help as well, some more Cindy Sheehan exposure by the MSM would be nice. Please show America more of the true ass that represents a once great party, the donkey is their mascot and they are demonstrating why.
I don't mourn for them, I say keep it up. I would like to increase our majority and their platform almost guarantees it. Time to mount up conservatives, we have a race to run and win for America.

Only In San Francisco

I thought there were laws about exposing yourself in public, called public indecency laws. LGF brought this disturbing bit of news ( hattip:Zombie) and it was apparently OK with the city council to ride around town on bicycles while nude. It was some sort of BDS(Bush Derangement Syndrome) protest of course. These people have no morals what so ever, there is one picture where a little girl gets the total view, these are not office ok pictures, it is porn in public so be caucious about where you open the second link. A previous demonstration of nudity was called "Breasts not Bombs" , what was this Dicks not Sticks? I am hard to disgust and have been a denizen of nude beaches, for the rock climbing, not for glimpses of fat hippie flesh, not a pretty site, trust me. This was on the streets of San Francisco, in the Market district during the day. I seriously doubt they won any supporters in fly over country. What say you?
I am pretty disgusted with San Fagcisco!

Hmmmm?

It sometimes becomes a problem when there is so much to write about that deciding becomes an issue, I am at that stage. The Barnyard's one year anniversary is coming up in a few days and I find it hard to believe how much I have typed and how quickly the time has gone. I have learned an enormous amount over the last year while researching to stay informed, really over the last three years since I got a computer. So I thought I would tell the story of where the Barnyard came from and how I became Goat Gruff. The Goat definately came before the Barnyard.
I had just gotten my first laptop as a gift from my dad so we could stay in touch easier through email, I loath talking on the phone. Anyway, I finally got online, watching "The Factor" at the time, I went to Bill O'Reilly's as the first site I went to online and discovered his message board shortly thereafter. I became an avid participant being an opinionated person and made a name for myself, Goat Gruff, given by friends and enemies alike, for my propensity for running headon into loonbat trolls and winning the confrontation. One of them was a homophobic nuthouse, so I was well appreciated on both sides of the table. I was an independant voter though conservative, so I started an open thread called Care to Enter the Barnyard in the politics section. It soon became the one stop shop for the political issues of the day and the only place I posted. I learned the HTML code so I could put in hotlinks and researched the hidden news from the war and elsewhere. It and another thread of mine were doing very well and Hugh Hewitt had just come out with "BLOG" so I said what the heck and opened this site based on the popular thread I had set up there. I was almost immediately booted from the FBZ(Feedback Zone as it was called then) and my thread deleted as it was approaching a record number of comments. I took on everybody, I won some, I lost some and kept it respectful the wholetime.
That brings us to to what you see today, my archives track that story but comments from then have been lost. Nearly thirty conservative commentors in the FBZ were booted about the same time as I was and many of them are still with me today and they are who have helped give me the strength to drive on. They have prayed for me and encouraged me, ladies and gentleman, you know who you are. I thank you sincerely!
Now we got work to do and lots of it, why are you still sittin' there? I said we have alot of work to do. We have holes to fill, fences to be mended and built, and property to be protected. I am speaking literally and figuratively, now get to it.

BOOM BOOM

That was the sound of a couple 500 lb jdams landing on the Zarkman's head, we got the SOB. Video of the hit and all pertinent information can be found at USCentCom. It appears to be an isolated compound in a vast orchard with an aqueduct nearby so stories of collateral damage are bogus.The response from the left has been amazing, conspiracy theories are abuzz, and all the usual flak. I am beginning to see an electorate move and its not to the left as a result of their off the wall retoric. The negative spin on this milemarker by the MSM is proof of their bias and their total succuming to "Bush Derangement Syndrome" that nothing in his favor is good. With the results from our primaries here in California I am heartened for the conservative vote, I am sure Arnie and our conservative stalwart Tom McClintock can defeat our far left opponents, Phil Angelides and John Garemendi. Jackie Spier at Lt.Gov. for the dems would have been a tougher row to hoe for us. She is smart and a very tough moderate voice for the dems here. Arnie and Tom will run a clean campaign about California's future and how to fix it. I expect a very dirty campaign from Angelides judging from his primary run, from the pro illegal alian socialist side.
To view Ca. as a political map it can be defined as east of the coast range is GOP dominate and west of it is liberal. Considering a population of 35 mil. 75% live in The LA Metro or Bay Area, liberal hotspots, typical of big cities and urban zones. A study of our voting patterns can reflect what can happen nationally and two liberal tax bills were defeated handily as were numerous other local tax bills.
I feel a siesmic shift and the loud and loony left won't like it. This is why they will get shriller and louder for the next few months. The gag I love the most is to claim to be a conservative and your going to vote DNC to teach a lesson, it is an obviously bogus ploy by the lefty seminars. Radio callers that do this or commenters in forums show themselves immediately to be frauds and are quite hilarious to us true conservatives and don't fool us one bit.
I am a member of Arnie's team and with Tom as running mate I will be pushing hard for this ticket, a winner for California.

Primary Results

Picture courtesy of longtime reader GT. California liberals have bloody noses right now, Oh Yeah. This is my idea of a GOP future if we work for it. Conservatism wins votes, now is not the time to shy away.

Primary Tuesday

We had our primaries today, as well as local elections and initiatives. I cannot overstate the importance of voting, it is vital to the rule of law and good governance.
I used a touch screen booth today for the fist time and it was very simple and it had a print out paper record. I had to approve my vote four times with ample ability to change it, I would give it a B+. My problem comes down to the encoding of the card and the person entering the data, only a moron could screw up their vote.

"Pull Me Under"

" I am not afraid." the refrain from one of my favorite songs by Dream Theater. I have my Lord, the Lord Christ, and I am here to help carry His cross. I take the Crusader's Cross in the world of the blogosphere, I will not relent. Remember the spirit of Christ, the sinner is accepted, not the sin.
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" I am a viking going out to war" from my favorite group of all time, Rising Force. Think about it.

Weekend Roundup

It seems there has been much squawking in the MSM and left wing rant pages about Haditha and an alleged rogue Marine or two killing civilians in cold blood after being bombed and then attacked during initial actions to secure an AQ and Baathist stronghold. There are multiple reports of children throwing grenades at troops and firing on them in some of those towns. AQ is even known to booby trap injured children. There are many circunstances that must be considered before a guilty verdict like Murtha's can be handed down. The Marines take their honor very, very seriously and will get to the bottom of this quickly and if guilty the perpetrators will get the harshest of penalties. If true this is not an act our military deals with kindly nor seeks to coverup. The Marines have a code in which honor plays a huge part and the investigation will reflect that and if guilty so will the punishment.
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Uncle Jimbo at Blackfive has taken the Milblogger lead on this, here and here and Greyhawk expounds.
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Michael Totten has some more photo essays posted of Lebanon, and Beirut, pretty spectacular in beauty.
My other favorite reporter, on scene, on the middle east, Bill Roggio, is posting from Afganistan for the Counterterrorism blog. They also have much on the terror cells recently busted in Canada and the UK. The ones in in Canada had three times the explosives used in the Ok City bombing while the ones in the UK are playing with chemical vests.
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If you can't find accurate information or detailed analysis on the world's problems and triumphs you are either ignorant, brainwashed or both and that goes for both parties as well as the fringe wannabees, independants and loyalists.

Weekend Rambler

Hmm, I was just perusing my sample ballot for the primary election here and there are seven parties represented so when I hear third party talk I get a bit confused. I joined the GOP because their platform is nearest to my beliefs and none of them are religious, they are political reasons, being a small 'l' libertarian by nature fearful of big government. Lets see we have . The American Independant party(not true independants), the DNC, the Greens, the Libertarians, Natural Law(no candidates), the Peace and Freedom party (here 'party' can be taken the other way), and the GOP .

It appears that we Californians have ample "third" parties to choose from if we so choose. I chose a Reform party candidate twice and in doing so helped affirm a Bill Clinton victory. I am a fiscal conservative first and foremost when it comes to matters of government and the GOP comes closest to that in their platform and conservative candidates have shown they can win through the GOP machine, all the others are perennial losers of late.

I live in the deep red part of Ca., it is safely in conservative hands at the state and federal levels. This is a wild state to live in if you are a political junky like myself. I am voting "NO" on all ballot measures on tuesday.

Thursday Thinking

Many thanks to Karen , the Barnyard Bible Study is up and running again. We are working our way through Mose's Law as written in the Torah. I urge all to join the discussion as I am somewhat a maverick from traditional views and can guarantee a lively discussion, while Karen puts down a wonderful traditional viewpoint. A few others have posting priviledges and I hope they use them. I love theological debate, my other favorites are boring, economics, taxes and government over regulation, so if you want religious debate visit me there. This must however be relevant to the chapter in review, we are on Gen.11 at the current time. I hope to see you there!
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Bill O'Reilly's latest column is worth a read, I agree.

Wednesday Wanderings

Garden duties are such a delight as they begin to show their colors, my first glads have set their blood red tempo as the massive trumpets of amaryllii set the understory. I have so many glad bulbs put down and they are doubling that I should be graced by their beauty for a long while. I am building a perennial garden trending towards the vast array of bulbs and begonias available, even petunias will over winter here. I have rimmed my veggie garden in butterfly and hummingbird favored wild flowers hoping to boost my yield by bringing in more pollinators, besides it looks nice.If anybody has tips on dividing gladioli, let me know.

Memorial Day

"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman."-- Thomas Paine (The American Crisis, No. 1, 19 December 1776).
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"War is an ugly thing but not the ugliest of things; the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feelings which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself." —John Stuart Mill
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I remember it as "Decoration Day", a brief church service and then a potluck picnic, best fried chicken anywhere, and walks through the cemetary as we celebrated all that had passed before. We searched for our ancestors graves and decorated them and learned the history of that small farming community in the deep south.
My uncle followed Gen. Patton's 3rd Army from Italy to Berlin and all I really know is that he thought "Ole Blood and Guts" was a fitting nick-name for Gen. Patton. My mom tells me there is a box with Silver and Bronze stars in it as well as a full rack, with the blood of Purple Hearts.
I never knew to say thanks before he was gone. I would like to say" Thank You!" now, Uncle Foster, and the millions more that have so served our country.
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Thank You
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PS: We have been kickin' taliban/aq tail and in a big way, more later.

More Heros

MURPHY, AUDIE L.
Rank and organization: Second Lieutenant, U.S. Army, Company B 1 5th Infantry, 3d Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Holtzwihr France, 26 January 1945. Entered service at: Dallas, Tex. Birth: Hunt County, near Kingston, Tex. G.O. No.. 65, 9 August 1945. Citation 2d Lt. Murphy commanded Company B, which was attacked by 6 tanks and waves of infantry. 2d Lt. Murphy ordered his men to withdraw to prepared positions in a woods, while he remained forward at his command post and continued to give fire directions to the artillery by telephone. Behind him, to his right, 1 of our tank destroyers received a direct hit and began to burn. Its crew withdrew to the woods. 2d Lt. Murphy continued to direct artillery fire which killed large numbers of the advancing enemy infantry. With the enemy tanks abreast of his position, 2d Lt. Murphy climbed on the burning tank destroyer, which was in danger of blowing up at any moment, and employed its .50 caliber machinegun against the enemy. He was alone and exposed to German fire from 3 sides, but his deadly fire killed dozens of Germans and caused their infantry attack to waver. The enemy tanks, losing infantry support, began to fall back. For an hour the Germans tried every available weapon to eliminate 2d Lt. Murphy, but he continued to hold his position and wiped out a squad which was trying to creep up unnoticed on his right flank. Germans reached as close as 10 yards, only to be mowed down by his fire. He received a leg wound, but ignored it and continued the single-handed fight until his ammunition was exhausted. He then made his way to his company, refused medical attention, and organized the company in a counterattack which forced the Germans to withdraw. His directing of artillery fire wiped out many of the enemy; he killed or wounded about 50. 2d Lt. Murphy's indomitable courage and his refusal to give an inch of ground saved his company from possible encirclement and destruction, and enabled it to hold the woods which had been the enemy's objective.
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The site appears to be down probably overloaded

The Medal of Honor

Our highest military award, I will offer a few of their stories this weekend starting with our most recent and then some famous, some random Patriots of the highest honor.
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Iraq
*SMITH, PAUL R.
Rank and Organization: Sergeant First Class, United States ArmyFor conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty:Sergeant First Class Paul R. Smith distinguished himself by acts of gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action with an armed enemy near Baghdad International Airport, Baghdad, Iraq on 4 April 2003. On that day, Sergeant First Class Smith was engaged in the construction of a prisoner of war holding area when his Task Force was violently attacked by a company-sized enemy force. Realizing the vulnerability of over 100 fellow soldiers, Sergeant First Class Smith quickly organized a hasty defense consisting of two platoons of soldiers, one Bradley Fighting Vehicle and three armored personnel carriers. As the fight developed, Sergeant First Class Smith braved hostile enemy fire to personally engage the enemy with hand grenades and anti-tank weapons, and organized the evacuation of three wounded soldiers from an armored personnel carrier struck by a rocket propelled grenade and a 60mm mortar round. Fearing the enemy would overrun their defenses, Sergeant First Class Smith moved under withering enemy fire to man a .50 caliber machine gun mounted on a damaged armored personnel carrier. In total disregard for his own life, he maintained his exposed position in order to engage the attacking enemy force. During this action, he was mortally wounded. His courageous actions helped defeat the enemy attack, and resulted in as many as 50 enemy soldiers killed, while allowing the safe withdrawal of numerous wounded soldiers. Sergeant First Class Smith’s extraordinary heroism and uncommon valor are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, the Third Infantry Division “Rock of the Marne,” and the United States Army.
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Somalia
*GORDON, GARY I.
Rank and organization: Master Sergeant, U.S. Army. Place and date: 3 October 1993, Mogadishu, Somalia. Entered service at: ----- Born: Lincoln, Maine. Citation: Master Sergeant Gordon, United States Army, distinguished himself by actions above and beyond the call of duty on 3 October 1993, while serving as Sniper Team Leader, United States Army Special Operations Command with Task Force Ranger in Mogadishu, Somalia. Master Sergeant Gordon's sniper team provided precision fires from the lead helicopter during an assault and at two helicopter crash sites, while subjected to intense automatic weapons and rocket propelled grenade fires. When Master Sergeant Gordon learned that ground forces were not immediately available to secure the second crash site, he and another sniper unhesitatingly volunteered to be inserted to protect the four critically wounded personnel, despite being well aware of the growing number of enemy personnel closing in on the site. After his third request to be inserted, Master Sergeant Gordon received permission to perform his volunteer mission. When debris and enemy ground fires at the site caused them to abort the first attempt, Master Sergeant Gordon was inserted one hundred meters south of the crash site. Equipped with only his sniper rifle and a pistol, Master Sergeant Gordon and his fellow sniper, while under intense small arms fire from the enemy, fought their way through a dense maze of shanties and shacks to reach the critically injured crew members. Master Sergeant Gordon immediately pulled the pilot and the other crew members from the aircraft, establishing a perimeter which placed him and his fellow sniper in the most vulnerable position. Master Sergeant Gordon used his long range rifle and side arm to kill an undetermined number of attackers until he depleted his ammunition. Master Sergeant Gordon then went back to the wreckage, recovering some of the crew's weapons and ammunition. Despite the fact that he was critically low on ammunition, he provided some of it to the dazed pilot and then radioed for help. Master Sergeant Gordon continued to travel the perimeter, protecting the downed crew. After his team member was fatally wounded and his own rifle ammunition exhausted, Master Sergeant Gordon returned to the wreckage, recovering a rifle with the last five rounds of ammunition and gave it to the pilot with the words, "good luck." Then, armed only with his pistol, Master Sergeant Gordon continued to fight until he was fatally wounded. His actions saved the pilot's life. Master Sergeant Gordon's extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest standards of military service and reflect great credit upon him, his unit and the United States Army.
*SHUGHART, RANDALL D.
Rank and organization: Sergeant First Class, U.S. Army. Place and date: 3 October 1993, Mogadishu, Somalia. Entered service at: ----- Born: Newville, Pennsylvania. Citation: Sergeant First Class Shughart, United States Army, distinguished himself by actions above and beyond the call of duty on 3 October 1993, while serving as a Sniper Team Member, United States Army Special Operations Command with Task Force Ranger in Mogadishu, Somalia. Sergeant First Class Shughart provided precision sniper fires from the lead helicopter during an assault on a building and at two helicopter crash sites, while subjected to intense automatic weapons and rocket propelled grenade fires. While providing critical suppressive fires at the second crash site, Sergeant First Class Shughart and his team leader learned that ground forces were not immediately available to secure the site. Sergeant First Class Shughart and his team leader unhesitatingly volunteered to be inserted to protect the four critically wounded personnel, despite being well aware of the growing number of enemy personnel closing in on the site. After their third request to be inserted, Sergeant First Class Shughart and his team leader received permission to perform this volunteer mission. When debris and enemy ground fires at the site caused them to abort the first attempt, Sergeant First Class Shughart and his team leader were inserted one hundred meters south of the crash site. Equipped with only his sniper rifle and a pistol, Sergeant First Class Shughart and his team leader, while under intense small arms fire from the enemy, fought their way through a dense maze of shanties and shacks to reach the critically injured crew members. Sergeant First Class Shughart pulled the pilot and the other crew members from the aircraft, establishing a perimeter which placed him and his fellow sniper in the most vulnerable position. Sergeant First Class Shughart used his long range rifle and side arm to kill an undetermined number of attackers while traveling the perimeter, protecting the downed crew. Sergeant First Class Shughart continued his protective fire until he depleted his ammunition and was fatally wounded. His actions saved the pilot's life. Sergeant First Class Shughart's extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest standards of military service and reflect great credit upon him, his unit and the United States Army.

Some Quotes to Start Memorial Weekend

"Do not squander the time given to you by God or the freedom preserved by this Marine's life." —Rev. Michael Dolan
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"I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure that it will cost to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the gloom I can see the rays of ravishing light and glory. I can see that the end is worth more than all the means..." —John Adams
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"Beyond those monuments to heroism is the Potomac River, and on the far shore the sloping hills of Arlington National Cemetery with its row on row of simple white markers bearing crosses or Stars of David. They add up to only a tiny fraction of the price that has been paid for our freedom... Under one such marker lies a young man—Martin Treptow—who left his job in a small-town barbershop in 1917 to go to France with the famed Rainbow Division. There, on the western front, he was killed trying to carry a message between battalions under heavy artillery fire. We are told that on his body was found a diary. On the flyleaf under the heading, 'My Pledge,' he had written these words: 'America must win this war. Therefore, I will work, I will save, I will sacrifice, I will endure, I will fight cheerfully and do my utmost, as if the issue of the whole struggle depended on me alone'." —Ronald Reagan (Read Ronald Reagan's tribute, "The boys of Pointe du Hoc.")
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"War is an ugly thing but not the ugliest of things; the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feelings which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself." —John Stuart Mill
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"Contemplate the mangled bodies of your countrymen, and then say, 'What should be the reward of such sacrifices?' Bid us and our posterity bow the knee, supplicate the friendship, and plough, and sow, and reap, to glut the avarice of the men who have let loose on us the dogs of war to riot in our blood and hunt us from the face of the earth? If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen!"—Samuel Adams
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Concord Hymn
Ralph Waldo Emerson

By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April's breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood
And fired the shot heard round the world.

The foe long since in silence slept;
Alike the conqueror silent sleeps;
And Time the ruined bridge has swept
Down the dark stream which seaward creeps.

On this green bank, by this soft stream,
We set to-day a votive stone;
That memory may their deed redeem,
When, like our sires, are sons are gone.

Spirit, that made those heroes dare
To die and leave their children free,
Bid Time and Nature gently spare
The shaft we raise to them and thee.

Sometimes All You Have Is Faith

Belize Sunset

I am easily lost in the beauty and colors of the sun.

You Can Always Count On the Sun

I recently returned from a trip to Honduras and Belize.
I am prone to sometimes taking off to strange places far away where I can get lost. The one thing that is constant, however, despite all of the cultural differences, is nature, particularly the daily rising and setting of the sun. This shot was taken in Honduras.

An Opportunity To Help The Troops

There is grassroots activity going on to help make sure our troops get a better night's sleep in the hot climate of Iraq. They need twin sheets and pillows. All goods are hand delivered to troops by this gentleman. If you can help, please do by sending a care package to:

The Charge of the Sheet Brigade
MSG Mark A. Kane
HHC 2BCT 4th ID
Unit #40501
APO AE 09312-40501

Feel free to spread the word and link to other sites with this information.

Wednesday Wonderings

If an underage girl gets an abortion or gives birth, why isn't the father tracked down and subjected to the law?
Why are fathers of children of of-age women held to a different standard?
Why should fathers be kept out of the loop of feminist socialism?
Why does the left want to destroy the most innocent, abortion , and preserve and defend the life and liberties of avowed murderers?
Why is a minivan different than an SUV in the left's eyes, is it the big tires?
I have many questions, does the left have any answers?
Do they really think their ideas resonate with the American public, more taxes, gay marriage, defense of partial-birth abortion and outright lies and obfuscation on the GWOT?
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I think the left is in for a serious smackdown in '06 elections, I am in the Hugh Hewitt camp on this, if some serious work gets done between now and November:
Win the war
Confirm the judges
Cut the taxes
Control the spending
Secure the borders
Safeguard marriage
We can win this November and increase our majority if we are active, meaning us conservatives not just party loyalists . I am not just blowing hot air either, we can do this with our message, their obstructionist messageless campaign has lost them the last two elections, just being of the opposing party is not enough if your ideals are juxtaposed to America's.

Go for it, getting to the top is not easy but it can be a whole lotta fun.

(me at Parker Bluff in the Kern River valley on "Takin' It Easy", a fun climb. I am on the sharp end of the rope.)

Weekend Rambler

Tonight's must read, more on Jesus and Mohammed.
Wow am I wooped, taking care of a spring yard gone crazy is alot of work, grass to mow, trees to prune and weeds to pull, a labor of love. My dutch Iris are being replaced by ameryllii and gladioli while begonias and gardenias are trying to take over, much to be done still. I have a new roof and electrical work starting next week to bring my little cottage up to date, life is good. My truck is paid off, my credit cards are paid off, two deadweights are gone from the shop and business is kicking, life is good.
This is why I fail to believe all the negative polling that fail to show the questions asked so, so that many may be influenced by the few actually polled. My readers and myself are political junkies that are well informed for the greater part and conservative with a couple of moonbats for diversity's sake. I like their conspiracy theories.
If asked how I would categorize the direction our nation is going I would be neutral as their are very good and very bad aspects as is the yen and the yang. The economic reports are continually very good despite a world war and natural disasters wrapped in women's names, Katrina and Rita and Lord spare us Hillary .
We are doing exceedingly well in Iraq and Afganistan, spring brought the taliban termites out to be exterminated, we aren't the Red Army of Moscow's oppression we are the bringers of freedom, liberators and thus we have the people's support increasingly as Iraq has its first freely elected government in decades and in Afganistan first ever, life is getting better with a "soft parade" of hope. Would you enlist with the taliban if the attrition rate against you was about 100-1, they think they can attack an A-10 Warthog supporting a SOps sweep with a few lunatics on horseback, yea right. We are taking names and kicking ass.

Plan to attain great heights and you will!

Vacation Over

It was nice to pull back and visit with my Mom and gain perspective. We worked in my gardens and most of it is sprouting vigorously, with lots of organic fodder mixed in, guano. Lots to blog about , I'll be back in force tomorrow meanwhile read these two pieces from Amir Taheri on Iraq and Iran.

There is a lot of this in California if you look, this is oh about twenty minutes south east of Sacramento.
A better shot of the Tahoe region, this is a view on the job, well at the end of the street to keep my facts straight for PL.
Grapes in the fore, the "crystal range" just visable on the left, this is Rancho Seco, now quiet.

This is more what the high country looks like right now and we had more snow this year than the one in the picture. This is from the summit of Mt. Dunderburgh on July the 4th 1998 after the big El Nino in "97", looking west into Yosemite high country.


Temple Crag also on the trail into the high country and home to one of the longest rockclimbing routes in the Sierra, Dark Star, straight up the nose. It is a beautiful granite fin with superb rock for climbing, yet a dream for me.

Seek beauty in the Lord and it will find you.

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On the trail into the Palisades region this valley displays its grandeur with the "Thumb" featured and South.Palisade in the far background.

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PS: These are open comment threads, if you have an issue feel free to bring it up. I have time to comment just not for lengthy posts with multiple links.

Obstacles are feats of the mind and can be overcome with faith in Him.
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The south eastern face of Lone Pine pk. (For PL's sake note the ubiquitous thumbtack scar in the top center)

When faith in yourself relies on Him, there is strength unknown to your spirit.

Once we accept His hand, this is our path, it ain't meant to be easy , and oh the joys of those hidden valleys that only one travelling with Him would know.

Hmmmm?

I rarely post on education, thinking of my late father and the private high school campus I grew up on and went to compelled me tonight. The state of our public educational system is abysmal. I noted this twenty odd years ago when I got booted from said high school for drinking on campus two days prior to the end of the junior year and thus got to enter the public school system, one of the best in the southeast at the time, mom made sure she lived in the best district after the divorce. I made honor roll and slept through class and maintained a 3.75 gpa. They barely caught up with my eighth grade year and this was my senior year.
My math and reading skills don't come from the schools I went to they came from my parents, dad, a Marine Sgt, math teacher and a largely homeschooled southern farm girl mom. I learned digits and dirt, english and mechanics, hard work and responsibility and most importantly how to stand proud for America. With the money we spend we can do far better than we are doing, the teacher's unions and the gay/socialist agenda are now forcing the indoctrination of your children (I have a precious neice) into acceptance of their lifestyle.
I don't know , I come from an era when we figured out differential equations on paper in class to pass calculus or actually were required to know something about the Crusades or Peloponysian War or even where Iraq was on the globe to get a grade. I wonder can we stick to reading, writing,math, science and unvarnished history. I had the luck of having two of the best history teachers american highschools had to offer at the time, one still active. I would love to sit in on a few of Dr. Cooper's classes today, he could easily teach at a top university.
Untill we remove the beauracracy of unions and government from our schools we will continue to slide backward on the world scale. We need to be pushing that scale up notches not falling behind. Our teachers need to educate not indoctrinate our kids, all this self esteem garbage and feminist BS needs to be thrown out the window. Kids need to compete on the merits of their own strenths inorder to find out what those strengths are so they can make a better choice for the future. They need to develope an I am good at this attitude and excell in it.
Yea at onetime I wanted to be a world class soccer star which moved to rock musician ,my trade has lasted through all those and now I am very good at my chosen trade, own my house in California and work for a top firm.My point is, we desparately need to bring back trade schools at our highschool level, they are in demand and pay well, tradesmen that is and apprentices.
If you are interested in a top notch college prep school for your youngens, email me or comment and I will mail you some info. This is a private campus worth considering especially if you are in the south east. A slice of Alabama heaven bordering a State Park, my neice will go there.

Updates

Don 't forget, Lores is on the radio tonight at 10:00 pac. on KRLA870, it can be streamed, She has been putting together some great shows check it out and hit the tip jar if you are able. I am a fan of conservative talk radio and she is good, really good, tune in and help out.
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If you don't have google earth on your computer yet, you should, this is one awesome geographic tool for free, especially if you have kids in school. Plus it is fun to ba able scan the globe.

Military Appreciation Month

We need to appreciate them as this brutal killing shows yet again what we are fighting, Mudville Gazette and numerous other blogs have mentioned it.
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The Killing of Atwar Bahjat
Greyhawk
Warning: The following contains a graphic description of a brutal murder - probably exceeding what you imagine one human being could do to another. However, it is typical of the work of Islamic terrorists. Read on only if you want a bit of insight into the nature of the enemy in this global war. If not, please skip to the final paragraph.

Shortly after the bombing of the Samarra shrine, an Iraqi journalist covering the aftermath was kidnapped and murdered. Her story was mentioned briefly in the western media, but was covered extensively in the Middle East.

Now a video of the brutal murder has surfaced, apparently made with a mobile phone with video capability.

Two men drove up in a pick-up truck, asking for her. She appealed to a small crowd that had gathered around her crew but nobody was willing to help her. It was reported at the time that she had been shot dead with her cameraman and sound man.

We now know that it was not that swift for Bahjat. First she was stripped to the waist, a humiliation for any woman but particularly so for a pious Muslim who concealed her hair, arms and legs from men other than her father and brother.

Then her arms were bound behind her back. A golden locket in the shape of Iraq that became her glittering trademark in front of the television cameras must have been removed at some point — it is nowhere to be seen in the grainy film, which was made by someone who pointed a mobile phone at her as she lay on a patch of earth in mortal terror.

By the time filming begins, the condemned woman has been blindfolded with a white bandage.

It is stained with blood that trickles from a wound on the left side of her head. She is moaning, although whether from the pain of what has already been done to her or from the fear of what is about to be inflicted is unclear.

Just as Bahjat bore witness to countless atrocities that she covered for her television station, Al-Arabiya, during Iraq’s descent into sectarian conflict, so the recording of her execution embodies the depths of the country’s depravity after three years of war.

A large man dressed in military fatigues, boots and cap approaches from behind and covers her mouth with his left hand. In his right hand, he clutches a large knife with a black handle and an 8in blade. He proceeds to cut her throat from the middle, slicing from side to side.

Her cries — “Ah, ah, ah” — can be heard above the “Allahu akbar” (God is greatest) intoned by the holder of the mobile phone.

Even then, there is no quick release for Bahjat. Her executioner suddenly stands up, his job only half done. A second man in a dark T-shirt and camouflage trousers places his right khaki boot on her abdomen and pushes down hard eight times, forcing a rush of blood from her wounds as she moves her head from right to left.

Only now does the executioner return to finish the task. He hacks off her head and drops it to the ground, then picks it up again and perches it on her bare chest so that it faces the film-maker in a grotesque parody of one of her pieces to camera.

The voice of one of the Arab world’s most highly regarded and outspoken journalists has been silenced. She was 30.

Other gruesome details from a family friend: She had nine drill holes in her right arm and 10 in her left, he said. The drill had also been applied to her legs, her navel and her right eye.

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This is what we are fighting and why we fight, for it is a truelly evil ideollogy that we must destroy. Our men and woman serving in our Patriot Armed Forces deserve our full support and appreciation. It seems the moonbats want us to abandon the Iraqi people to these savages when the savages have said what they intend to do many times. It is time to fight and fight like we have never had to before. The words of Patrick Henry and Samuel Adams ring so clear today as they did then perhaps their huge recent popularity shows that.

Weekend Rambler

Sorry I've been slow on posting, my mom is coming out for a visit and I needed to clean my cave up a little besides the sun is out and who wants to sit in front of a computer and type. That is a skill set I sorely lack, typing that is, I could go on a rant and have her transcibe it,hmmm.
In my morning ramble around the net I made the observation that the conservative base is not backing down and is itching for a political fight on every topic from guns to gays to Iraq to taxes and fiscal responsibility and the 'nanny state'. The judiciary being of prime concern and if Bush and this congress has done one thing very well, that is put strong constitutionalists on the bench. Bill Frist may be growing a spine finally and is bringing several nominees up for a vote that have been languishing for years.
Conservatives are the largest voting bloc in america and have been for many years, though it had never really congealed till the Reagan/Gingrich revolution. We know we can win elections and lose elections, I voted for Perot twice and helped elect Bill Clinton. I stll believe the country should be run like a business and not a charity organization with mandated contributions or jail. This is one major reason why I like Mitt Romney so much, he has a brilliant mind for business and fiscal matters, congress must reign in the out of control spending on pork and fluff programs or run us into bankruptcy, if we don't get overrun by illegal aliens first that is. We know how to win elections and do it with clout, we can do it till the moonbats have aborted themselves out of existance and are seen as the morally depraved sexual deviants and socialists they are. I wonder how many elections the Heritage Foundation has helped win as compared to MoveOn or even Hugh Hewitt over the Daily Kos. To their great anger we have become Jim Morrison's "Soft Parade" and not them with their loud angry marches and demonstrations with accompanying wierdos in their psycho get-up. We just say oh shut up and do something productive instead of whining and suing for your money. The marches have become nothing but socialist theatre, a laughing-stock, that they actually believe a majority of us actually buy their nonsense, more irritating than drawing americans to their cause.
I agree with Hugh Hewitt and the topic of his latest book "Painting The Map Red", we can actually increase our majority if we play our cards right and turn out to support and vote for the best candidate, in the primaries and general election. We can remove the RINOs and possibly get a couple upsets and maintain what we have, I am glad Newt is out touring the country speaking in that respect.. We simply cannot let the Democrats get power back unless we want to see AlQuaeda and Hamas invited to Camp David for tea with the mad mullahs of Iran and Hillary.
Rant over have a good weekend remaining!
Don't miss this article at The American Thinker
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This is also must reading at the Belmont Club here and here
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From the American Thinker, this article will give you pause for adjustment, an absolute must read about Jesus and Mohamed

Nothing is Easy if it is Worth it

NBA Playoffs

I rarely pay attention but the Kings have come from worst in the west to giving San Antonio a run for it. The acquisition of Ron Artest really boosted the Kings in their late run. The Kings have tuned into fighters finally, playing hard and not quitting, though they better kick it up a notch midway through the second. Go Bonzi Wells !
Update: Well, well we have the lead going to the locker room. I am not an NBA follower other than sports news which I pay attention to.Sacramento ismytown so I will root and watch game five. Bonzi and and Ron are fired up, Go Kings!
Update: Kings have made it a ballgame, coming back from 14 down to tie it up late.
Update: Oh well they blew the chance., Bonzi was hot, back to Sac'to.

Monday Must Read

For my fellow supporters of Israel this is a must read by W. Thomas Smith at Townhall.
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Ten years ago, as a journalist covering the Israeli-Palestinian clashes on the West Bank, I found myself on patrol with an Israeli Airborne squad in the ancient town of Hebron. As we moved down a narrow alleyway littered with stones and a few shell casings from a previous clash, one of the young paratroopers turned to me.

"So, were you in the American Army?" he asked.

"Well, not exactly," I responded. "I was in the U.S. Marine Corps."

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Let the conspiracy theorist nutters have fun, I am glad we are working closely with the Mossad and the IDF. Those guys have their intelligence together, their survival depends on it. We should use more of their profiling techniques here in many ways. I pray we don't have to lose many thousands more before we wake up. All three of the jihadi leaders released messages recently, their goal is clear, kill us and Israel into submission. That will not happen as long as we stand firm,for liberty.
Michael Totten,has a great piece up on a trip into Israel, and here. His site is worth taking the time to explore, many awesome photo essays from the middle east, some riveting tales as well. Victor Hanson also has a couple excellent reads up. here and here .Don't miss this little doozy at Opfor, one of my favorite milblogs.
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Reporting in
By Maj P

Thanks to John and Charlie for letting me guest-blog. John posted a REMF-ish picture of me lifted from my wife’s website, so I’ll try to find a more-warlike one of me.

I am a mobilized Marine Corps reservist, an artilleryman by trade, and at the moment a field historian with the small detachment at Marine Corps history division. It is our mission to go forth and document Marine Corps operations as they happen. The reason I took this job is that, at the time (late ’03), it was my only quick ticket out of town and into Iraq. I’m glad I did it.

Iraq. We can debate, if you like, the why’s and wherefore’s, but I’m not sure we’ll get too far. Instead, I’d like to address the nature of the campaign there, and why we need to stay in this fight and win it. This is how I saw it when I was there, and how I still see it today.

What’s at stake here is the need to break the cycle of radicalism and militancy in the Middle East by offering one country, Iraq, the opportunity to make of itself a functional, healthy state. A state that neither menaces its neighbors nor threatens world peace, a state that stands on its own two feet with a working economy and positive future. This is how we can build peace and stability in the whole region. Unfortunately it took a violent campaign to overthrow the old regime, and it is taking another campaign to reconstruct the country. We might all wish that it could have been done by other means, but there it is.

If you’ve ever heard the expression, “three steps forward and two steps backward,” you’ll appreciate the advances we’ve made in Iraq. In a post on my blog, I pointed out that it’s really nine ugly steps backward and ten painful steps forward. But that Tenth Step, or more accurately the series of small Tenth Steps being scored all across the country, will win the campaign. No single unit is going to strike a war-winning blow during its eight- or twelve-month tour in Iraq. But they do endure the nines steps taken backwards and then deliberately but purposefully resume the advance. Those small victories lead to greater ones. Greater ones will lead to a complete victory, and to our forces coming home.

My great concern is that the American public doesn’t understand that this is a long war, and the campaign in Iraq is but one part. Our famously short attention span could prove our undoing if we lose sight of what we’ve done and how far we still need to go, especially as elections draw near. The men and women overseas are certainly doing their part, but we can support them from here by letting our elected officials (and candidates) know that sustaining the fight in Iraq is the right course of action, a painful necessary part of defending the nation, and meeting and defeating our enemies.

In the next few weeks I hope to introduce you to some of the people who are bearing that burden now, old and valued friends.

MTF (more to follow).

jpp

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