An Ol' Broad's Ramblings
Archive for 21 January 2008
Just a Thought
The Mr and I just watched Life After People. Needless to say, it was quite interesting. It got me to thinking, the whackos are still wrong! The earth will survive, with, or without us. We are fairly insignificant, as I’ve often said, so thinking we can change the planet is pretty absurd.
You, moonbat, aren’t that important!
100% Preventable
Blogs for Borders Video Blogburst at Freedom Folks
Rush Agrees With ME!
From Rush 24/7:
The Drive-By Media think that their chosen candidate, John McCain, beat Rush in South Carolina. Wrong. McCain got less of the vote than he did in 2000. It is telling, however, that liberal newspapers and the liberal media are ready to coronate McCain as they did Huckabee, but Romney, Thompson, and Rudy are always finished. Don’t let the media pick your candidate, folks.
Exactly what I have been saying! Folks are letting the media choose a candidate for them, without bothering to investigate for themselves! If people can’t be bothered to find the answers for themselves, they shouldn’t be voting!  
Read! Learn!
THIS is good stuff! And well worth your time to read!
Yeah? So, What’s the Problem!
MLK and Gen. Lee Honored Monday in Ark.
While the nation honors the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday, three states celebrate another man as well.
In Arkansas, Alabama and Mississippi, the slain civil rights leader shares a state holiday with Robert E. Lee, commanding officer of the Confederate Army.
The two figures seem to coexist in the very fabric of the Arkansas’ capital city, where streets bear each of their names.
And? I honestly think some folks need to do some serious research before they start spouting of on the subject.
The complete misconception that the Civil War was fought over slavery is seriously starting to piss me off! It wasn’t even a minute portion of the reason for succession. Yankees wanted control of the country to be centered in D.C. Southerners did not! It was a very states rights oriented war, that ballooned into a slavery issue. The majority of the soldiers fighting in that war did NOT own slaves, did not WANT to own slaves, and thought the practice was barbaric.
General Robert E. Lee, commander of the Southern Armies, did NOT own slaves. General Ulysses S. Grant, DID own slaves.
Martin Luther King, Jr. fought for equality for the blacks after the Southern Democrats continuously denied them their right to vote, putting up road blocks at every turn.
The South has been recovering, and suffering, from that centralized gubmint ever since.
Honestly, if people would pay closer attention to REAL history, instead of the slanted version so many seem to take as gospel, this country would have moved along in it’s progress many years ago!
BUG OFF!
Homeschoolers to nosey bureaucrats: ‘Bug off!’
By Olivia St. John
Anti-homeschool pundits are on the attack after a Washington, D.C., mother, Banita M. Jacks, brutally murdered her four children several months after pulling them out of public school. The children’s godmother claimed that they were to be “homeschooled,” but so far there has been no evidence that this ever happened.
While the horror of this terrible tragedy causes many of us to grieve, media and government bureaucrats have begun using the story to call for more state intrusion into the family home.
The New York Times editorialized that lax homeschool regulations afforded this mentally ill mother the power to keep her children from the “prying eyes of teachers, social workers and other professionals who otherwise might have detected signs of abuse and neglect of the girls.” But while it is important for adults to be aware and able to respond to any child in need, does a government school teacher’s job description include the use of “prying eyes”?
An associate professor at New York University, Mitchell L. Stevens, was quoted by the New York Times as saying that school officials are “society’s best watchdogs of how parents treat children.” Stevens stated that “home schooling removes children from a lot of that surveillance.”
Surveillance? Of families? By government school officials?
To his credit, Stevens spoke the truth in acknowledging that the majority of families home educating their children are “overwhelmingly trustworthy people who place a very high value on parental autonomy.” But he added that the Home School Legal Defense Association is largely responsible for “getting the law to favor parental rights.”
Responsible for “getting the law to favor parental rights?”
Since when did the Constitution not favor parental rights?
In response to Jacks’ murder of her children, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty of Washington vowed “to establish better tracking and monitoring of homeschool families.”
Is this a government official promising to secure “better tracking and monitoring of homeschool families?”
Is this America 2008? Or is it Germany 1936?
Constitutional ignorance aside, this tragic event and the succeeding media/academic/governmental pontificating bring up a valid point – Are home-educated children in greater danger of violence than public-schooled children? Let’s look at the evidence.
Producing Nothing
U.N. agency says may have to halt Gaza food handout
A U.N. agency said on Monday it would have to suspend food distribution to 860,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as early as Wednesday unless Israel eased the border blockade it imposed on the Hamas-controlled territory.
Other international groups said that Gaza hospitals would run out of drugs and generator fuel in a few days unless Israel allowed goods through border crossings closed on Friday in what Israel said was a bid to make militants stop rocket attacks.
“Because of a shortage of nylon for plastic bags and fuel for vehicles and generators, on Wednesday or Thursday we are going to have to suspend our food distribution programme to 860,000 people in Gaza if the present situation continues,” said Christopher Gunness, spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
Do they not have fields in Gaza? Can they not grow food? Do they know what a plow is? Seed? Irrigation? Is it just a whole area on welfare, looking for handouts, instead of being self supporting?
Heh!
Barack Obama Blasts Bill Clinton for Lying
Now THERE’S a shocker of a headline! Â 
Morning Coffee 01/21/08
Israeli blockade deepens hardship in Gaza
Gaza hospitals will run out of drugs and fuel for generators within a few days unless Israel eases the border blockade it imposed on the Hamas-controlled territory, international organisations said on Monday.
The European Union, which funds fuel for Gaza’s now-idle main power plant, said it understood Israel’s need to defend itself against cross-border rockets but called the restrictions “collective punishment” and said they should be lifted.
If those in Gaza would stop trying to murder Israeli citizens, this problem would never have come about. If those in Gaza weren’t so busy trying to kill Israelis and actually produced something, other than murderers, again, problem could be rectified. While I sympathize with the ordinary person, who just wants to work and raise their families, maybe they should blame their ‘leadership’ for their plight?
Pentagon Weighs Top Iraq General as Chief of NATO
The Pentagon is considering Gen. David H. Petraeus for the top NATO command later this year, a move that would give the general, the top American commander in Iraq, a high-level post during the next administration but that has raised concerns about the practice of rotating war commanders.
(…)
The question of General Petraeus’s future comes as the Pentagon is looking at changing several top-level assignments this year. President Bush has been an enthusiastic supporter of General Petraeus, whom he has credited with overseeing a troop increase and counterinsurgency plan credited with reducing the sectarian violence in Iraq, and some officials say the president would want to keep General Petraeus in Iraq as long as possible.
I won’t hold Bush liking him against him….I like Petraeus.
Inmates in Mo. want executioners named
Lawyers for five death row inmates are pressing Missouri to identify members of its execution team after a newspaper revealed that a nurse on the team was once accused of stalking.
The lawyers filed papers last week in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, arguing that the executioner’s criminal record raises questions about his “temperament and suitability” to help with executions.
NOT a good idea!
A University of Memphis team stumbled into international renown two years ago when it unearthed a 3,300-year-old chamber in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings.
But when the team leader, Dr. Otto Schaden, returns there in a few weeks to continue research, he will no longer be affiliated with the university.
The U of M did not renew its contract with Schaden last June due to a contentious relationship between him and university staff. On-site altercations and apparent tussles for control were covered in the January issue of Harper’s magazine — tales of yelling, crying, fuming and abruptly getting up from the lunch table to sit elsewhere.
“We would get back (from the dig) and sometimes we wouldn’t even order lunch. We’d go to our room and fume,” Schaden said.
Sounds like ego trumps common courtesy.
Obama takes on question of faith
Barack Obama is stepping up his effort to correct the misconception that he’s a Muslim now that the presidential campaign has hit the Bible Belt.
(…)
“I’ve been to the same church — the same Christian church — for almost 20 years,” Obama said, stressing the word Christian and drawing cheers from the faithful in reply. “I was sworn in with my hand on the family Bible. Whenever I’m in the United States Senate, I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. So if you get some silly e-mail … send it back to whoever sent it and tell them this is all crazy. Educate.”
From what I’ve read about that church, Christian is questionable. It may not be Muslim, but it does seem extremely divisive all the same.
Opponents of abortion mark high court ruling
The discord over national abortion sharpened in Central El Paso Sunday afternoon as hundreds of people participated in a rally, prayed and marched peacefully to express their opposition to the Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion Jan. 22, 1973.
Supporters of the landmark decision said preserving the ruling is extremely important at a time when the country is becoming more conservative.
Say whut?! More conservative? Where did they get their crack? One thing this country is NOT, is ‘more conservative’! Once these yahoos figure out it is murder, perhaps we will seen a more conservative trend, but it ain’t happenin’ yet!
‘It’s not safe to walk the streets after dark’, admits Home Secretary skewered in kebab farce
Jacqui Smith suffered a barrage of criticism yesterday after admitting she would not feel safe walking the streets after dark.
Opposition MPs said the Home Secretary had made an “admission of failure” to the millions of shift-workers who have no option but to brave the threat of violence.
Aides of Miss Smith compounded her gaffe with a desperate attempt to undo the damage by claiming she had recently popped out in the evening to “buy a kebab in Peckham”.
In fact, she has round-the-clock police protection.
(…)
“Instead of putting large amounts of money into an ID scheme which is not going to tackle crime, I think they should be putting that money into getting more police on the streets.”
Or better yet, allow the citizens to protect themselves!
Is this the end of Fred’s run?
While other Republican presidential candidates turned their focus to Florida on Sunday, Fred Thompson turned his attention to his ailing mother and his ailing campaign.
Thompson’s run for the White House may have hit a wall after suffering a stinging setback Saturday in South Carolina, where Thompson had essentially moved his entire operation and needed a strong finish, which he did not get.
I sure hope not, but if his mother is ailing, then she is the first priority!
Historians Fear MLK’s Legacy Being Lost
Nearly 40 years after the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., some say his legacy is being frozen in a moment in time that ignores the full complexity of the man and his message.
“Everyone knows – even the smallest kid knows about Martin Luther King – can say his most famous moment was that ‘I have a dream’ speech,” said Henry Louis Taylor Jr., professor of urban and regional planning at the University of Buffalo. “No one can go further than one sentence. All we know is that this guy had a dream. We don’t know what that dream was.”
You can thank the so called black leadership, and the liberal style education, for that! Heaven forbid that folks should actually look past skin color! What crutch would the Jesse Jacksons or Al Shaprtons use?
Losing Power Over You
It’s quite disturbing to hear many “leaders” on both sides of the aisle bowing at the alter of the Goracle. If you REALLY value your freedom, you might want to rethink your choices next November.
Global Warming: The All-Purpose Farce to Control Your Life
Democrats say they want government to stay out of your bedroom.
Actually, they want government in every room of your house and in the ventilation system as well.
By now, you’ve probably heard about the proposal of the California Energy Commission to require that all new homes in the state be outfitted with a “programmable communicating thermostat,†an Orwellian device which would allow the government to control the temperature inside your house. Imagine: a government bureaucracy along the lines of the Department of Motor Vehicles or the U.S. Postal Service controlling the comfort level you are allowed to maintain inside your own home!
You may have read the elitist article in the New York Times which dismissed opponents of the plan as technophobic rubes.
And you might have done a high-five in your mind’s eye when you heard that the Commission was forced to table the idea after an avalanche of protests driven by the internet and talk radio (my talk radio audience was furious). A day later, the Commission dropped the idea entirely.
But this isn’t Yorktown, it’s the Battle of Lexington and Concord, and many hard years of struggle lie ahead.
The Democrats (a.k.a. global warming wimps) have found the rhetorical weapon they will use for at least the next decade to decrease your liberty while increasing their power, and that weapon is the hysteria over global warming.
If you think the interstate commerce clause of the Constitution is interpreted too broadly, if you think governments grab power by regulating anything with a budgetary effect, if you think the notion of public health has become an invitation for bureaucrats to tell you what you can eat or drink, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
Band-Aid Fix
Martin Luther King, Jr.
When I was a young sprout, there was a man who’s skin was a different color from mine. My dad didn’t care much for him. He was of the Old South. Growing up in the south, there wasn’t a lot of interaction between blacks and whites, and those “White Only” signs were prevalent. I was one of those young folks who actually listened to the man’s words, not just this particular speech, but all of them I could.
I honestly wish his words would resonate with all people…
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
Character – 2 a: one of the attributes or features that make up and distinguish an individual b (1): a feature used to separate distinguishable things into categories; also : a group or kind so separated
Something that seems to sorely lacking in today’s America. Maybe we can learn, maybe there are those who refuse to learn from the past. If people do not pull together, and stop playing the ‘race card’…live as one, strength in numbers…we will find ourselves subjugated to those who will not be so understanding.
