"Latent Homosexuality"

"I think [Bill Clinton's] rampant promiscuity does show some level of latent homosexuality." -Ann Coulter

Saturday QuickHits

Last week, I mentioned my annoyance with Bill Kristol's newest Weekly Standard piece calling for U.S. involvement in the Israeli/Hezbollah war. On Fox News Sunday, Juan Williams shot back, claiming Bill "just [wanted] war, war, war, and [he wants] us in more war!" Pat Buchanan's latest column calls the Weekly Standard's writers and Kristol "hairy-chested warriors" whose "blood lust" was piqued by all the carnage. His piece ends by claiming it's not a war of the United States, but a war of Bill Kristol's. Harsh, yes; but appropriately so, in response to the Standard's irresponsible foreign policy regarding Israel's newest conflict. I rarely agree with Pat and Juan (although, Williams is one of my most respected liberals), but they've hit on some golden truth here. Despite his anti-semitism, Pat's on the spot about Kristol's "blood lust." It's easy to call for wars here, there, and everywhere, when you're pushing troops from a tip of a pen.
UPDATE: Bill calls those who don't agree with him "weak horses." Giddyup.

I was wondering, What font does the New York Times use? I always assumed it was Times New Roman, but it doesn't look like it.

Remember everyone whining about the slow response to aid Katrina victims living in a soupbowl? Where's the praise for the Bush Administration sending troops to evacuate Americans from Lebanon, taking them to Cyprus, and waiving the bill? Anyone? Cricket, cricket.

Michelle Malkin let me in on a weird ritual known as World Jump Day. Apparently, if 600 million people from the western hemisphere jump simultaneously, the reaction would cause the Earth to moveout of orbit, into a new one, and cease global warming. It was originally intended to be a hoax, but the folks over at treehugger.com (I'm not kidding you, that's the site.) took it as truth and encouraged readers to give it a leap.

President Bush vetoed his first bill in five-and-a-half years in office. If passed, the bill would have allowed federal dollars to pay for scientific testing on embryonic stem cells. Funny, the same party who whined about the defecit wants to spend money on something that has provided not one successful result. The prez was right to veto the bill, but he did so on wrong grounds. He should have axed it on fiscally conservative federal funding grounds, not religious ones. Of course, that doesn't rally a far-right base for November.

That's it for today. I'll be on vacation next week.

Quote of the Day

I can't make this up:

"If you think what's going on in the Middle East today would be going on if the Democrats were in control, it wouldn't, because we would have worked day after day after day to make sure we didn't get where we are today. We would have had the moral authority that Bill Clinton had when he brought together the Northern Irish and the IRA, when he brought together the Israelis and the Palestinians." -Howard Dean, DNC Chairman

Sunday's Thoughts

Another day in paradise...

I usually agree with Bill Kristol, but he's way off target on the Isaeli-Arab war. His strategery calls for Bush to leave the G8 for Jerusalem and begin attacking Syria and Iran. This hawk's out of his nest! Kristol claims "It's Our War." You definitely lost some cool points there, Bill.

On the topic of Middle-East violence, outside influence should not play a role. This war of religions needs to come to an end. I've been calling it "The Great War." The teams should fight until the others are destroyed. Winner take all. Grab your popcorn and enjoy the show.

Former super-secret covert operative Valerie Wilson and her Niger-vacationing husband Joe have been parading around town and now they're suing the Vice President and Karl Rove. Their lawsuit says nothing about proof, but I still hope the judge doesn't throw it out. I would love to see C-Span cover the entire circus.

Republicans have been complaining that the DCCC has used flag-draped coffins in a new video to raise money. Democrats are whining that Mike DeWine (R-OH) has used images of the 9/11 towers smoking in his ads. Both claim their parties are morally superior than the other through their own stupid excuses. I honestly don't find anything wrong with using flag-draped anything or smoldering whatevers to raise money. It's politics and ethics be damned. The parties' grumblings are purely political and not rooted in any type of moral code. Be it campaigning while your opponent's father has died or comparing your opponent to bin Laden, all's fair. Get over it.

Charles Darwin's finches have evolved. They're beaks have changed in size to adjust for smaller seeds. This, and this alone, proves that people came from apes (despite the lack of fossil evidence).

She may be a hedonistic slut, but I can't get enough of Paris Hilton's new song The Stars are Blind. Nerina Pallot's new anti-war song Everybody's Gone to War is also addictive. Though, I can't find the latter on iTunes.

Wednesday Roundup

Just a few things for today.

I finished reading Godless and it was well worth the money. The last three chapters on Darwinism were a little hard to follow, but she brings the complexity of evolution down to the idiot's level. Although I disagreed with her on a lot of the religious issues, it was a tremendous book and worthy of anyone's time or dollar. A-

I have been mulling over a responsible someone to replace Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Last night, it popped into my head. The perfect SecDef: Benjamin Netanyahu.

My next read is a combination of three books in preparation for my nonfiction book. They will be: The Dog Ate My Homework, Sham, and To Punish and Protect. I will also be rereading No Excuse Leadership and The Ten Things You Can't Say in America. The topic of my book will be personal responsibility in American life. The Fair-Tax Book is also on my plate, but only for recreation.

Robert Novak, king of Conservative column dissapointment, has revealed the evil Karl Rove as a source for his identification of CIA officer Valerie Plame. I'm sure people will continue to bang on the dusty bones of this dead horse, but can someone please name one covert mission she went on? Or perhaps who she met with on a covert mission when she was covert?

Cindy Sheehan's fast for the withdrawal of forces from Iraq, Afghanistan, New Orleans, and America is going well. On her blog, she says she's had some help from smoothies, ice cream, and coffee. I'd go on her fasting diet too, but I'm sure it'd all go to my ass.

Let's Play 50 Questions!

Bob Elisberg over at HuffPo has fifty questions he'd like to ask Republicans. Though I dare not claim to be one, I tend to vote that way and thought I'd give the questions a whirl to pass some time.

1. What are the Top Seven best things that the Bush Administration has done? Here is where I should insert the top seven bad guys nabbed and killed as a result of the Administration's foreign policy, but I'll go with tax cuts, pushing for earmark reform, a rational border policy, pushing for private accounts, letting Congress lapse on the Brady Bill, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Not in that order, and it's unfortunate he only asked for seven.

2. Is the Iraq War is going well? It's all relative, but I'd argue that at least it's going and we haven't given up the fight.

3. After three years thus far, when do you think Iraq might be able to "stand up" so that America can "stand down"? When they do.

4. For his part in the event, how would you rate the job the President did protecting New Orleans from devastation? I'd give him a C. An average job. I'd rate him higher, but he should have vetoed the quick bill giving 60 billion to the victims.

5. How do you think the rebuilding of New Orleans is going? Don't know. Don't really care.

6. When Dick Cheney and the oil company and energy executives met in private to plan America's energy policy, how much of their goal was to benefit consumers? Wow, that's not a slanted question! But for fun, I'd say they didn't want to benefit the consumers. Following the meeting, Cheney turned into a bat and flew away.

7. Do you believe in the President's call for an Era of Personal Responsibility? I haven't heard of it, but I would definitely support people supporting themselves.

8. Since Republicans control the White House, Senate and House of Representatives, how personally responsible are they for conditions in America today? Just as much as the people who voted them into office.

9. Why do you think they haven't been able to find anyone who can verify that George Bush ever showed up for National Guard duty in Alabama? Because they're being held in a hanger in New Mexico with the passengers on flight United 91.

10. Would you want Donald Rumsfeld to plan your daughter's wedding? Nope.

11. Are you aware that no government in the history of civilization, other than the Bush Administration, has lowered taxes during a war? I know! Isn't that awesome! And the defecit is shrinking too!

12. Are you married? Happily.

13. Do you personally feel threatened by gay marriage? Nope.

14. Since getting elected, do you think the President has been more a uniter or a divider? Once again, it's all relative, but I'd say neither.

15. How do you explain the President's approval rating going from a high of 90% to the current mid-30%? People rally around their leader and nation in a crisis. And war.

16. Do you like the government collecting personal data on you without a warrant? I just hope they don't find the nude pictures of Jeff Gannon on my computer.

17. How much money do you have in your bank account, stocks and investments? Around 32,000.

18. What's your partner's favorite sex position? You'd have to ask him.

19. If you have nothing to hide, why aren't you answering? Ah, you got me. My entire argument is crumbling, crumbling, CRUMBLING!

20. Should we build a wall along the Mexican border? No, Communists build walls.

21. Why isn't anyone building a wall along the Canadian border? See above.

22. Does that terrorist gang arrested in Canada count as a threat? Sure does.

23. If you shot someone in the face while drinking, how fast would the police show up to arrest you? I'd hope it would be pretty fast. But, I'm glad I went out with a drink in my hand.

24. If Donald Rumsfeld had planned your daughter's wedding three years ago, would the guests still be there? A Navy Lieutenant advised a buddy of mine never to answer a question with a question, but, if John Kerry halted my daughter's wedding while she was walking to the alter, would the couple have been married?

25. Even if no laws are broken, do you think it's okay to reveal the name of a covert agent? No, if the person is truly covert.

26. During your lifetime, approximately how often have you changed your mind? Once, when I stopped hating America and started voting against Democrats.

27. Why shouldn't people dismiss you as a flip-flopper? Because I'm not trying to win an election that would place me in the most important position in the world (minus Bono).

28. Where do you think the Weapons of Mass Destruction might be? 20 bucks say some went to Syria.

29. Where do you think Osama bin Laden might be? On the Paki-Afghan border.

30. Is it fiscally responsible to cut taxes, increase spending and create a $9 trillion federal debt? Yes. No. Not really.

31. Are you glad liberals passed such programs as Social Security, Medicare, the Civil Rights Act, women's suffrage, federal deposit insurance, unemployment compensation, rural electrification, child labor laws, minimum wages and the 40-hour work week? Woah, woah, woah. Let's take this one at a time: At the time, yes, now no; No; Yes (however, the question misleading); Yes; Don't know; Nope; Yup; Nope; Nope. I hope that clears things up.

32. What are the Top Ten best things that conservatives have given to America? Ten? Ok. Personal responsibility, Bill Bennet, Christopher Hitchens, tax cuts, blogs, cell phones, open talk radio, border control, a defense to liberalism, and the pro-life movement. I wish I could go on.

33. If you were on life support, would you want a doctor you'd never met making a diagnosis about you via remote television? I wouldn't care if he's not making the decision. Would you want a judge making the decision?

34. Do you think man-made greenhouse gases have anything at all to do with depleting the ozone layer? As much as the hot air that emits from Al Gore.

35. If Donald Rumsfeld had planned your daughter's wedding three years ago, and guests were still there, how many factions would they now be split into? I'm ignoring this question on GP.

36. How good is it that the terrorist Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi was killed? If you're implying that it wasn't good, I'd love to hear your argument. I would say it's very good. Very very good.

37. Are you aware that in 2002 the Pentagon knew where al-Zarqawi was and presented three separate plans to kill him, but the Administration refused to act each time? Yup. Are you going to ask me about the numerous times the Clinton Administration had Osama in its grasp but failed to act or just bombed an aspirin factory? Thought not.

38. Is George W. Bush the kind of guy you'd want to sit down and have a beer with? No. He's an alcoholic.

39. When he started talking about being a Born Again Christian, would you want to stay or leave? Saying I would have a beer with him, I'd stay and hear his argument.

40. Is Ray Romano the kind of guy you'd want to sit down and have a beer with? Yeah, he's a funny guy.

41. Would you want him to be President? No. But I see where you're going. Once again: Ah! You got me! My argument is CRUMBLING!

42. Does the Administration have an environmental policy that benefits the environment? Nope. But since when is the environment more important than people?

43. Since George Bush campaigned for President strongly against nation building, in what ways are our actions in Iraq not nation building? It's nation building, plain and simple. Bush campaigned on that prior to Islamic radicals ramming planes into our buildings.

44. What's the maximum amount of time you'd want to spend alone with Dick Cheney? I'd probably get tired after about 16 hours. Do I get bathroom breaks?

45. After dismissing Saddam Hussein's old Iraqi army, was it a good idea to let them keep their rifles? It wasn't a good idea to disband the normal Iraqi army. The Baath Party, however was a good call.

46. Would a policy that allows torture be something that makes you proud as an American? Preach anti-torture, but practice otherwise.

47. Has the Mission been Accomplished? I'm sittin' here, ain't I? By the way, how many missions are there in a war?

48. Do you feel comforted that Dick Cheney is a heartbeat away from being President? This question bores me.

49. If Donald Rumsfeld had planned your daughter's wedding, and guests started fighting and were killed, would you expect to be allowed to view the caskets when they were returned home? Good lord, enough of the Rumsfeld questions. They're just not logical analogies.

50. How glad do you think George Bush is that he's no longer active in the National Guard? Seeing that he just hit 60 (forced retirement age) and he's a leader of a nation, I'd say he's pretty glad.

Observations Of A Crumbling Nation

In my latest piece, I explained how the definition of “patriotism” has been perverted to become synonymous with what used to be “sedition.” Here are a few more observations.

I guess we now what is and what is not considered acceptable in today’s America. The preteen magazine Cobblestone recently published a fun story on what it’s like to survive Basic Combat Training, stories of hometown heroes, and actions children can take to have military recruiters speak at their school. It seems harmless enough – being that the magazine is a children’s American history magazine which teaches children about “famous battles of the Civil war, … the Gold Rush, [and] the Korean War.” To the contrary, teachers and parents are in an uproar over the thought that a magazine may influence a child’s desire to join the armed services. A sixth-grade English teacher whined that the guides that suggested children invite a recruiter to the classroom looked eerily familiar to Army pamphlets distributed to high-schoolers. When it used to be noble to save metal for troops fighting Krauts in Germany, it is now a controversy for a magazine to promote the idea of selfless service to your country.

Congruously, according to dwellers of the far Left camp, enlisting in the military is not one of the fifty ways to love America. Last year, I rolled my eyes through MoveOn.org’s 50 Ways to Love Your Country. Their ways to demonstrate your love included “attend[ing] a rally,” “defy[ing] city hall,” and performing in any action that was anti-Republican. The book included many letters from people who switched to the Democratic party and was against Operation Iraqi Freedom. What was not included in their book was: Enlist in the Military, Donate to Wounded Service-Members, Build a Family Readiness Group for a Local Reserve Unit, or Throw a Parade for Troops Returning from Battle. Of course, what liberals have in mind for loving their country does not include showing appreciation to those who give so much to keep it free and safe.

Finally, on the celebration of America’s 230th birthday, 25 Californians took to the streets to celebrate their freedom. How? Their recipe for patriotism: matches, burn barrel, and Old Glory. To these patriots, “[i]t seemed like a good idea to burn some flags just because we can.” True, burning a symbol of our nation is legal, as it should be, but it doesn’t make it right. It’s also legal to participate in sodomy with gonorrhea-infested men and huff glue till you pass out, but unfortunately, they aren’t celebrating those freedoms.