An Ol' Broad's Ramblings
Archive for 12 December 2007
Ann On Books
Joe McCarthy Invented the Internet
The October 2007 Vanity Fair had a long, gaseous article explaining how the pro-Bush bias of the mainstream media cost Al Gore the 2000 presidential election. (For you kids out there too young to remember, Al Gore is a vaguely gay, morbidly obese former Clinton administration official who raised campaign cash from Buddhist monks and claimed he invented the Internet.)
Meanwhile, Republicans can barely remember that just a few years ago, former Clinton crony and current Hillary adviser Sandy Berger stuffed top-secret national security documents in his pants, snuck them out of the National Archives and destroyed them.
But liberals are still fighting the 2000 presidential election — if only to take a break from fighting the 1973 Chilean coup by Augusto Pinochet. They never rest, they never give up, they never stop lying. Liberals lie and lie and lie and then, the moment conservatives respond, they shout: OLD NEWS!
By my rough estimate, there have been one zillion books, movies, plays, allegories, interpretive dances and limericks about the Dark Night of Fascism Under Joe McCarthy (DNFUJM).
The anti-McCarthy oeuvre has zippy titles, such as “The Nightmare Decade: The Life and Times of Senator Joe McCarthy,” “Joe McCarthy and McCarthyism: The Hate That Haunts America” and “How I, Al Gore, Stopped Joe McCarthy’s Hate Campaign” — although that last one may have been made up during the 2000 campaign by a hostile media.
Fifty years later, the only true history book ever written about McCarthy has finally been released: M. Stanton Evans’ “Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy and His Fight Against America’s Enemies.” Liberals have responded with vicious attacks and — naturally — claims the book merely recites “old news.”
So I think I’m entitled to at least a few columns on the book that finally tells the truth about the DNFUJM.
“Historian” Ronald Radosh’s slanderous attack on Evans’ book in the Dec. 17 National Review delusionally claims that Evans used Radosh’s own crappy book, “The Amerasia Spy Case: Prelude to McCarthyism,” as a primary, uncredited source for “Blacklisted by History.”
An Annual Must Swipe!
I LOVE this thing!
H/T: Hobo Springs
Do Islamic Rulers Really Hate Women?
Iran: Women banned from wearing boots
Women have been banned from wearing boots and on the streets of Tehran.
Police chief, General Ahmad Radan, announced the ban on Wednesday saying that boots could only be worn if they were covered by pants.
“If boots are not covered by pants that fall to the ankles, they show the female shape and that is therefore in contradiction with Islamic dress code,” said Radan.
Iranian women can no longer leave home with their pants pushed inside their boots and they can no longer wear hats without a veil.
“A hat is not an adequate substitute for a veil or a hijab,” he said. ” If someone really wants to wear a hat, they can put it on the veil.”
Feminist Rezvan Moghdaddam told Adnkronos International (AKI) that police should be concerned about drug traffickers than street fashion.
“Instead of being busy with women’s hats and boots, the police would be better catching the merchants of death that kill our young people with drugs,” she said from Tehran.
“Our cities are infested by delinquents and security forces are only worried about how women dress, all this is really ridiculous.”
Generale Radan said decision to apply the Islamic code had come from a committee composed of the Revolutionary Guard, the judiciary, police and officials from the intelligence ministry and the ministry of culture and Islamic orientation.
Boots? This is what the Iranian government concerns itself with? BOOTS? Does it snow in Iran? What if the lady doesn’t want to get her pants dirty, wet, whatever? She can’t protect her clothing with boots?
This country has a president, from all indications, that is nuttier than the proverbial fruitcake, threatening destruction of Israel, led by a bunch of women hating old men, who can’t see past the 7th century, and they are worried about whether or not a lady has something other than tree trunks for legs. Jiminy crickets! Insanity!
Show of hands?
Heh. Should have shown her the one finger wave!
The BIGGEST Feckless Weasel
Bush’s latest pardon list does not include border agents Compean and Ramos
The White House released a new list of presidential pardons and commutations this week which did not include two former Border Patrol agents whose case has become a cause celebre among conservatives and groups that advocate tougher border controls
The agents — Jose Alonso Compean and Ignacio Ramos — are serving 12 and 11 years in prison for shooting a Mexican drug dealer and trying to cover it up.
Lawmakers who support the agents were upset that Compean and Ramos were not on the pardon list. They say the agents were wrongly convicted for protecting the United States against criminal intruders.
Rep., Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., said that President Bush’s list of pardons includes “eight drug dealers†but not the “unjustly imprisoned Border Patrol agents.â€
Members of Congress — including Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas — have asked President Bush to pardon the agents or commute their sentences. Last week, a bi-partisan group of House members introduced a resolution asking for the immediate commutation of Compean and Ramos.
The prosecutor in the case, U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton of the Western District of Texas, has staunchly defended the case.
At a press conference, Rohrabacher said: “The President’s heartless ignoring of the fundamental miscarriage of justice in the case of agents Ramos and Compean…is a snub to the families and a slap in the face to millions of Americans who have pleaded with the president to show some mercy for Ramos and Compean… Instead he turns around and shows mercy to drug dealers and other criminals and leaves Ramos and Compean to suffer in solitary confinement.â€
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino was asked about the agents on Wednesday. This is what she said: “Well, there’s processes in place for pardons, and those two individuals, if they want to seek a pardon, they can go through the process, as well.â€
The president granted 29 pardons and 1 commutation this week. Since the beginning of his administration, he has granted 142 pardons and 5 commutations, according to the White House.
Bush just hit the bottom of my list. As a once staunch supporter, he has sunk lower and lower. This was the last straw! Yes, I know, many hit that point long ago, even on the right. Well, I’m a patient person, and I kind of like to give the benefit of the doubt. Well, I doubt no more. He really IS selling the country to Mexico!
NOT a Good Idea!
Wal-Mart Yanks Pink ‘Credit Card’ Panties Off Racks
Suggestive pink Santa panties targeting young girls are being removed from Wal-Mart stores after parents objected to the offensive undergarments.
The panties, which were sold in the juniors department, seemed to suggest that girls don’t need money, they just need a sugar daddy — in this case Santa Claus.
The hipster briefs — carrying the slogan “Who needs credit cards …” on the front and “When you have Santa” on the derriere — caused an uproar among parents, who called for the $2.96 drawers to be pulled off the racks.
“We have directed our stores to remove this merchandise from our shelves,” Linda Brown Blakely, a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart, told FOXNews.com Wednesday.
Ya know, Jr and I were in WalMart yesterday and saw these things. I was fairly surprised. Even Jr remarked it was fairly tacky. And for her, that’s a pretty serious condemnation.
I have to ask…..who thought this was a good idea to market such a thing to young girls?
Sad News
Nick is reporting that the news isn’t good for Triticale.
I talked with Triticale’s wife last night during Drinking Right. She phoned to tell us that although chemotherapy had helped the Leukemia, they discovered that he had significant cancer in the brain today, and that he only had a few days left. I offered her the prayers of the entire group to Tom and his entire family, and I ask my readers to do the same. A more gentle, thoughtful man, is hard to find.
My most heartfelt prayers added to those already given. May the Good Lord be with the family at this most difficult time.
CNN
When I clicked on this headline “Immigration fight may dominate GOP debate” in my Google thingamajig, I got this:
GOP candidates face off in crucial Iowa debate
You have to read way down into the middle to even find a mention of “immigration”:
Romney has sharpened his attacks on Huckabee, particularly on immigration, the issue the Romney camp views as one of his rival’s biggest vulnerabilities, after the Arkansas Republican began rising in the polls. Huckabee was only at 12 percent in Iowa in September, according to the McClatchy-MSNBC poll.
While Iowa’s population is overwhelmingly white, the state’s agricultural industry is attracting an increasing number of both legal and illegal Hispanic immigrants. The influx of these new workers has created a backlash among certain segments of Iowa’s electorate, and is a hot button issue in the Republican presidential nominating contest.
Now, I hate to point out to CNN the obvious, but I will anyway. First off, immigration isn’t the problem. ILLEGAL immigration is. Second, if you are going to give a teaser headline, make sure it’s the same headline that is actually attached to the article. I kept going back and checking, thinking I had accidentally clicked the wrong thing.
I Missed This One :(
So much has been going on around here in my tiny part of the world, I haven’t really been keeping up with the outside.
Teacher Who Praised Columbine Killers on Blog Won’t be Charged
Prosecutors in Wisconsin on Wednesday decided not to press charges against a teacher who praised the Columbine High School shooters in a blog comment intended to make conservatives look bad. The decision drew praise from the conservative blogger the teacher had hoped to smear.
Washington County (Wisconsin) District Attorney Todd Martens announced Wednesday he would not pursue a case against James Buss, who posted comments on the blog Boots and Sabers that were laudatory of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who carried out the 1999 shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado, in which 12 students and one teacher were killed and 23 people wounded.
“Weve (sic) got to get in back of the kids who have had enough of lazy, no good teachers and are fighting back,” the commenter “Observer” said in a response to a post about teachers’ salaries. “Kids like Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold members (sic) of the Young Republicans club at Columbine.”
“They knew how to deal with the overpaid teacher union thugs. One shot at a time!,” the commenter said. “Too bad liberls (sic) rip them; they were heros (sic) and should be remembred (sic) that way.”
Police, tipped off to the comment by a West Bend School District employee, traced the Internet Protocol (IP) address assigned to “Observer’s” computer and arrested Buss on Nov. 29.
I know a lot of folks were dismayed when the police got involved, but looking at the recent events in Colorado, and the postings made by the very disturbed gunman, I can’t say as I blame them at all.
Owen Robinson, operator of Boots and Sabers, praised the decision even though he had been the target of Buss’ satirical comments. Buss told investigators his goal “was parroting anti-teacher statements he has heard on radio programs to see if any anti-teacher readers would agree with him.”“For me, the arrest is kind of dubious,” Robinson told Cybercast News Service Thursday. “I am happy that the DA decided not to press charges against him.”
“I believe in robust speech, robust debate, and I think that if we start going around arresting people because they engage in poorly thought out parody and ridiculous speech we’d have to arrest pretty much half of America and that’s not a place we want to be,” Robinson said, calling Buss’ comment “idiotic and offensive.”
“Now that we kind of know the whole story and what he was trying to accomplish I think, again, what he did was stupid, but I’m fairly certain the First Amendment doesn’t delineate between stupid and intelligent speech,” Robinson said. “It protects it all.”
Very well put Owen! Anyone who runs a blog knows you are going to get the occasional loony toon and feckless weasel. Most are harmless, just ignorant. Sadly, there are those who give all the warning signs, and we are afraid of over reacting. How can we tell which is which?
Paulistas
Taking ‘airhead’ to a whole new level.
Yup! BIG impact!
Hildebeast
Praying for the Stupid
TN school board rejects settlement over prayer lawsuit
A Tennessee school board has voted against accepting a settlement with parents whose lawsuit alleges that a Wilson County elementary school promoted Christianity.
According to court papers, a group called the Praying Parents met regularly at Lakewood Elementary School to pray for the school, teachers and students.
The plaintiffs claim the only way to protect their child from Christian proselytizing at the school was to withdraw him from Lakewood and school him at home.
Alliance Defense Fund attorneys for the Praying Parents say the settlement that was rejected by the school board displayed “clear hostility toward Christians.”
So, a group of parents met at an elementary school to basically pray for the school, and someone had a problem with this? Were the parents in the classrooms while school was in session? Yes? Then perhaps they had a legal issue. No? Then no one was proselytizing. First, I’m wondering why they’d want to settle. Second, why would the school board reject said settlement?
When I was a young sprout, we attended a fairly ‘young’ church that had no building. We met, every Sunday, in an elementary school.  No doubt, the anti Christians of today wouldn’t allow that to happen. Sad. Very sad.
Morning Coffee 12/12/07
Lebanon: Presidential crisis imposed by Syria and Iran, says analyst
The escalating political crisis in Lebanon over the election of a new president has been imposed on the country by its neighbours Iran and Syria, according to Lebanese defence and strategic analyst, Kassem M. Jafaar.
It is “a crisis imposed from outside”, which does not have its roots in Lebanon, but instead was “imported” into the country from Syria and Iran, according to Jafaar.
The London-based defence analyst and commentator on Middle East affairs was speaking at a conference entitled “Fighting for Democracy in the Islamic World” in the Italian capital, Rome.
Oh, now there’s a shocker. (sarcasm)
Fed, other central banks to provide funds to markets
The U.S. Federal Reserve said Wednesday it will provide liquidity to short-term funding markets jointly with other central banks in a bid to cope with a global credit crunch.
The U.S. central bank said in a statement it has reached an agreement with the European Central Bank as well as the Bank of England, the Bank of Canada and the Swiss National Bank to address “elevated pressures” in the markets.
In Tokyo, the Bank of Japan welcomed the measures and pledged to continue to conduct money market operations appropriately so as to maintain market stability, including supplying sufficient funds over the year-end.
The Fed said it is establishing a temporary auction facility to make funds available to banks. The Fed plans to sell $40 billion in December and hold more auctions in January.
I don’t know much about the banking business, but I have a bad feeling. What happens to the countries if these guys decided to demand payment in full on all these ‘loans’?
Clinton’s lead vanishes in New Hampshire: poll
Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton’s lead over rival Barack Obama in New Hampshire has vanished a month before the state’s nominating primary in the race for the White House, a poll showed on Wednesday.
The WMUR/CNN poll showed the U.S. senator from New York leading Obama 31 percent to 30 percent in New Hampshire, which on January 8 holds the first primary in the run-up to the November 2008 presidential election. The survey had a 5 percentage point error margin.
I wonder what she’d do if it turns out she doesn’t get to be ‘Queen of the Universe’? Blame the ‘SwiftKids’? Heh.
Romney Says Attacking Religion ‘Goes Too Far’ After Huckabee Questions Mormonism
Republican presidential hopeful Gov. Mitt Romney answered rival Mike Huckabee’s upcoming published comments about Mormonism, declaring Wednesday that “attacking someone’s religion is really going too far.”
In an article to be published Sunday in The New York Times, Huckabee, an ordained Southern Baptist minister, asks, “Don’t Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?”
What an odd question for Mikey to ask. Was he serious? 
I reckon Huckabee has now lost any Mormon support he might have had.
General Killed in Bomb Attack in Lebanon
There was no immediate claim of responsibility but the officer, Brig. Gen. François al-Hajj, was closely involved in the army’s fierce offensive over the summer to clear Fatah al Islam, a militia group inspired by Al Qaeda, from a refugee camp north of Tripoli. During the weeks of fighting, seven car bombs went off in Beirut.
The general was also one of several candidates to succeed Gen. Michel Suleiman, the army’s chief of staff, who is being considered as the country’s next president.
Seriously, do we actually need concrete evidence of who is responsible?
Thousands stuck with worthless car warranties
Some 137,000 people across the United States and Canada — including more than 11,000 Minnesotans such as Lashbrook — may be holding worthless car warranties from Ultimate Warranty Corp. The Ohio-based company has all but disappeared, leaving $15,000 in a loss fund to cover an expected $48 million in claims, according to South Carolina regulators who are investigating the company.
I see some seriously pissed off people in their future.
ID thieves single out new methods
Identity thieves have a new trick up their sleeve: Some are taking one or two credit cards and leaving a purse or wallet otherwise undisturbed.
Then, the suspect goes on a shopping spree, but the victim may not find out until a sky-high statement shows up in the mail because the absence of one card had gone unnoticed.
Detectives and consumer advocates say this is one trick among many polished by increasingly sophisticated criminals who favor the bustle of the holiday shopping season.
Never, EVER, set down your purse, or wallet, or whatever. People too lazy to get a job, and EARN what they want, need to be horse whipped. In public. Naked. I have a special disdain for thieves, liars and cheats!
FBI may have been warned about rampage
Joe Istre, president of the Association of Former Pentecostals, which operates the site, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he and other forum participants had grown familiar with the frequent and disturbingly dark poetry and obsessions of one participant, whose nickname was nghtmrchld26.
But when that same author – believed to be Murray – left at least 11 posts on the day of the twin shootings warning that he wanted to kill Christians, a forum participant immediately contacted the FBI, Istre said.
“I’m coming for EVERYONE soon and I WILL be armed to the @#%$ teeth and I WILL shoot to kill,” one threat posted by nghtmrchld26 said.
One case when a commenter SHOULD have been dealt with before hand. Sadly, you never really know if the person is serious, or just blowing smoke.
U.S. House okays resolution recognizing Christianity, Christmas
Thanks to the efforts of an Iowa congressman, Christmas and the Christian faith are receiving the same congressional recognition afforded other religions.
Representative Steve King (R-Iowa) is pleased that his Christmas resolution, recognizing the importance of Christmas and the Christian faith, was able to pass on Tuesday night with bipartisan support. H. Res. 847 passed on a 372-9 vote, all “nay” votes coming from Democrats. Ten House members (nine Democratic) voted “present.”
Well, isn’t that nice of ‘em, to recognize Christianity AFTER Islam and Hinduism.
Voting NO:
Ackerman
Clarke
DeGette
Hastings (FL)
Lee
McDermott
Scott (VA)
Stark
Woolsey
Teens, 14 and 15, suspected in car thefts
Two Milwaukee police officers working from a hot car sheet while on patrol captured two teens in a stolen car, which led to the discovery of other reportedly stolen autos at one of the suspect’s homes on Tuesday.
Didn’t the kids’ parents notice there was a strange car at their home? Assuming, of course, the parents actually give a happy crap what their kids do. Apparently, not in this case.
