Friday, March 31, 2006

Immigration Changes

Don't forget to look for posts re: immigration on Monday, rather than Wednesday. I'll set up all the links later this weekend.

Tags = Immigration

Was there ever any doubt?

I found the following via Alabama Improper. I was so impressed by her blog, I added it to the Blogroll.
Your Blog Should Be Red

Your blog is full of intensity and passion.
You are very opinionated - and people love or hate you for it.
You have the potential to be both a famous and infamous blogger.
Tags = Blogging

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Update on Immigration

I'll be switching to Monday for blogging about immigration. I've decided to join the Guard the Borders blogburst, and that's the day they regularly post. I received an email today with directions about how to modify my template and such, and, when I have a little more time (maybe Friday night?), I'll set it up.

Tags = Immigration

Monday, March 27, 2006

Worth a thousand words

I've been looking at pictures of Mark Warner, VA governor, to see if the questionable image was, in fact, a deliberate attempt to make him look horrible.

Below are some more normal pictures of the Governor. You decide.






He's not a particularly handsome man, a little craggy, and with horsy teeth. But, clearly not as scary as the picture below from the NPR site:



Tags = News and Politics

Friday, March 24, 2006

Stalin

The blog Sheila Variations periodically posts on her current reading. Today, she provides an excerpt from Stalin. Sheila writes:
I cannot cop out and say: "THE MAN WAS NOT HUMAN" because you know what? He was. He was a human being ... and he cannot be written off as a "lunatic" - which is why I find him so scary.
There is no dearth of prose trying to explain Stalin, but I've not found a biography that gets into the skin of the monster.
When push came to shove, the only one who had the guts - the only one who literally had the STOMACH to do what needed to be done - to actually carry out these theories to their logical conclusions was Stalin. ("Okay - you want to destroy the peasant and the Russian village? How 'bout a big ol' honkin' FAMINE? How 'bout that?? How 'bout we starve millions and millions of people to death - and then watch how gratefully they scurry into the kholkhozes - how 'bout THAT?") - Now I'm not sure about that - and these guys were all pretty much cruel people, and ruthless in their minds towards "class enemies" - but being "ruthless in your mind" is different from actually have the GUTS to DO it.

To stand firm and strong while millions of people die? Literally begging for their lives? Entire populations of people starving, screaming for help? To stand firm. To refuse to bend. To stick to the plan.

That takes GUTS. That takes ... well, it's almost like it requires that you not HAVE something (like guts) but LACK something (like compassion). In order to not only allow a famine to occur, but to organize it and make SURE it occurs ... you really have to be seriously lacking in certain emotional departments.
That lack is what we would call sociopathy - the absence of feeling for others.

Sociopaths are different. I've known a few. They may seem a little like you and me, but they are lacking in empathy - the ability to truly understand how others feel. To a sociopath, people are "things". Their suffering doesn't excite the sociopath, it just has absolutely no effect on him. If your existence interferes with a sociopath's plans or desires, then he has no problem with your elimination - permanently.

Which, apparently, was the case with Stalin. What was interesting is how his associates reacted. They went along. Their fears and self-protective actions allowed his monstrous acts to devastate the population, economy, and welfare of an entire country and its possessions.

Tagname = Books

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

This doesn't surprise me

The following is a poll from Slate.com. Not surprisingly, it was found on Doonesbury
Should Dubya be censured?

Yes. Since when did breaking the law stop being against the law? I'm tired of the moral relativism of '60s-types like Bush. Can't we finally have one moment of accountability?
No, impeached. It was good enough for Clinton, who lied about hooking up with an intern. Bush's lies have lead to thousands of deaths, with no end in sight. A proportional response, please.
Neither. If I'm a Democrat, I'm like, why arouse Bush's base just before an election? If I'm a Republican, I'm like, why, what'd he do wrong?

support level

never supported W used to support W still support W
For once, I'm speechless.

Tags = Stupid People

A temporary lull

I've been busy with my husband this weekend, and have been shamefully remiss in planning my posts. What can I say? It was the Sacred Holiday of the Celts.



I'm a long way and time from the Old Country. By my reckoning, it's been well over 150 years since an immigrant was born into my family. Most of my ancestors were in this country well before the American Revolution.

But that's not the reason that I oppose illegal immigration. I've frankly had it with the immigrants who disdain our traditions and take advantage of the hard-working Americans' generosity. Too many come into this country and expect handouts, without any strings. I couldn't get that in ANY country, why should they expect it in mine?

Like it or not, our resources are limited. Abundant, but limited. And, if we're not careful with how they are used, we will run short ourselves. We can't save every person on the planet by allowing them to come in.

Tags = Immigration

Monday, March 20, 2006

WWYD?

I've been following the story of the Christian man being tried for his renunciation of Islam. He's in Afghanistan, and the courts want to put him to death.

I searched for a picture of him, but, although there are many with the name Abdul Rahman, none seem to be him. I wanted to put a face on the story.

The real question is, What Would YOU Do? Would you calmly refuse to re-convert? Would you risk death to affirm your God?

I can't even imagine it. Most of us would want to be that stalwart, but I doubt most of us would manage.

Please pray for him.

Tags = News and Politics

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Immigration thoughts - Wednesday

I'm thinking we, who oppose illegals trespassing in our country, ought to start trying some protest action, ourselves.
  • Take the trash left by the illegals, dump it on the lawn of those organizations that support "illegal rights".
  • Send collection agencies to board members' houses to collect the money for the education and health care.
  • Distribute flyers with the agencies' employees' addresses, inviting the illegals to stay as long as they like, at the agencies' expense. Have pizzas delivered.
Tags = Immigration

Immigration thoughts - Wednesday

I found a new blog, euphoricreality.net, where I found an interesting post about immigration and the rally in Chicago. It's part of a blogburst called Guard the Borders. I'll be linking to them weekly. Some observations from the rally (long, but worth it):
I came upon a bank where most of employees had gathered on a raised brick planter to watch the march pass by. A gentleman in his mid-thirties stood nearest the end where I hopped up to join him.

I asked him his thoughts on the march. He replied that he thought it was great, that these people definitely deserved to hold a march like this. He was waxing quite eloquent when he uttered an oopsie. He went on to say that we should welcome everybody.

I queried, somewhat astonished, everyone on the planet? It was fascinating to me to watch his facial expressions cycle through surprise to astonishment. I honestly don’t think he’d ever thought it through before, that we can’t welcome every person on the planet no matter how much the president might want to. My interviewee had just bumped nose first into a hard reality. I noticed over and over how many people merely recited cant whenever you asked them questions about immigration, nation of immigrants, immigration has always been good, etc., etc., etc.

Yet if you followed up and began asking hard questions such as “well, should we just allow a couple of billion people to move here then?” Their eyes would get big and they’d stammer for a bit before saying no. I’d ask, so where do you draw the line? They never had a cogent answer.

I think that really sums up the public debate on immigration in America today. We want to be a nation of immigrants, yet realize this may no longer be possible as it was in the past.

A young black gentlemen provided a slightly different take. When I asked him his thoughts on the march he at first tried to avoid answering but I kept at it and finally he allowed that he thought it was a good thing. Again, that they should be allowed to march, then he uttered his own oopsie. He said he thought they should be allowed to march because they came from a poor country. When I pointed out that in terms of the whole world Mexico was actually a fairly rich country with a decent standard of living compared to many countries he was literally dumbstruck.

If today’s march taught me anything it was just this. In terms of the average Jane and Joe American, the two biggest enemies proponents of sane immigration policies face are rank ignorance and romantic notions.
That's what I'm trying to do with these weekly updates - make people think about the consequences of their actions (or lack of actions). We can't get so wound up in the romance of "The American Dream" that we destroy it.

Where should we stop? When we've allowed in so many people with no stake in our values that they decide to eliminate them? People who will ignore inconvenient laws? People who only interact with their own "tribe"? People who will take what they want, no matter whose it is? People who have no loyalty to the US?

If we allow our health system to be wrecked by illegals (as is currently happening in CA and other parts of the Southwest), where will YOU go when sick?

If we allow our educational system to be broken by the weight of educating all the ESOL students, who will provide the skilled workers of the future?

If we allow our communities to be overrun with trespassers across their own land, leaving behind trash and crime in their wake, our country is the poorer. Every "humanitarian" step that has been taken to prevent illegals' deaths in the desert has been used to increase the flood of entrants. The government of Mexico even printed, at GOVERNMENT expense, a guide to the best and safest crossing sites. They only recalled the pamphlets when a pro-alien group pointed out that the anti-alien groups could use it as a way of blocking their entry.

It's not just people crossing the border - vast quantities of drugs and other contraband are making their way over.

The bedrock basis of the US is the fact that the law applies to all - it isn't just for the rich, or the well-connected. The guy on the lowest rung of the economic ladder has access to the same rights as the guy at the top. We cannot allow the laws to be trampled in the name of compassion.

We have to win this fight. In the old days, when people were fleeing other countries, there was always the US to escape to.

Where will the oppressed escape to, if we no longer have the freedoms?

Tags = Immigration and Guard the Borders

Sunday, March 12, 2006

Re-writing History - becoming an "un-site"

I just checked out Misha (Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler) and he alerted me to the fact that a critic of Google's censorship policies in China has apparently been eliminated from the Google database. In effect, The People's Cube has become an "un-site". No longer exists. Move along, proles, there's nothing to see here.

I'm anti this kind of power-flexing, so I've added the Cube to the Blogroll. I'm urging everyone I know to bookmark it or blogroll it, and spread the word.

Tags = Blogging

Saturday, March 11, 2006

A real good soldier poll - even better than Zogby!

Just caught up on Mudville Gazette's Dawn Patrol, and was inspired to better Zogby's efforts.

I just spent hours minutes making THE DEFINITIVE POLL FOR SOLDIERS that will clarify just when they want to leave. Go to Bzoink, and take it. I guarantee the results will be amazing.

And, if you're still not convinced that the troops are desperately eager to leave, right now, take the follow-up survey. You'll see.

I seem to have a career in this field.

Tags = News and Politics

Fun with blogs

I did something silly just for fun.

I followed an Instapundit lead, and went to the new John Edwards blog. While I was there, I noticed an invitation to submit my blog for the blogroll.

So, I did.

Hey, I'm always looking for more links. And, what do you want to bet he'll get a higher Ecosystem rating than I?

I received the message:
Your blog submission was successful, and will be reviewed by our online volunteers. Once they give your blog the green light, we will add you to the blogroll.
Green light! You didn't mention any green light! What's going on? I thought all I had to do was sign up!

I'm waiting now to be validated. What do you want to bet that they change that open invitation to add some restrictions?

Can I sue if they don't add me? I think I'm still a registered Democrat.

Tags = News and Politics

Moron Alert

Again, found on Ankle Biting Pundits, former journalist and current phone sex operator sounds off on a variety of topics. Now, I'm not one to say that you should be defined by your occupation, but...

I found multiple posts to criticize:
  • The Home Abortion Manual - Read it, but ONLY if you have a strong stomach. This woman is not only sick, but stupid! If anything could help people understand what is at stake in the protection of life, this could. I really can't believe that she would lay it all out so straight-forwardly.
  • The "why is our government not supporting science" (because they want to limit access to potential weapons).
    Science is not a criminal enterprise. Science and knowledge should not have to be taken underground, or only demonstrated by people with the money and determination to acquire federal licenses. If this government insists on continuing to treat scientists and teachers like terrorists, the free exchange of ideas and information will be at risk in every field.

    When thinking is outlawed, only outlaws will think. Make yourself more knowledgable -- and dangerous -- today. Get yourself a brand new chemistry set and start to experiment. You'll be surprised at how many of the demonstrations are still fun today, how much entertainment you'll be able to derive from combining the world's chemical building blocks. Let's hope the next generation of children is still able to experience the same wonder and joy.
    Look, moron, the people who need to have access to dangerous chemicals already do - that won't change. But if the government isn't allowed to oversee the buying and transport of potentially dangerous chemicals, you can bet the next generation of terrorists will decide to take a hobby other than jet aviation - like maybe amateur chemist?

    I am a chemistry teacher. I am not now, nor will I ever be, limited in access to chemicals, other what good common sense or district policies suggest. I can teach without restriction, and this regulation won't affect me. But it could keep chemicals out of the hands of nefarious types.
  • How Office Depot $ 49 chairs broke - 2 of them, right at 6 months. OK, I had some sympathy for this one, at least until I read the next post.

    She wears a size 24. And is annoyed that the t-shirts that say "This is What a Feminist Looks Like" don't come that large. In her words:
    XXL gets a small nod in a non-fashionable "unisex" t-shirt, clearly designed with the lines of a man's body and not a woman's in mind. But if you want the cute, feminine shirt that looks fashionably fitted? Forget it, sister.
    Hey, I'm not exactly Lindsay Lohan. I'm larger than I've been in years. But an XL fits, with room to spare. In size 24, you probably weigh a little more than 300 pounds. That would be large, even for a man. At that size, nothing is "fashionably fitted" - it just needs to not put every bulge and roll in plain sight.

    Hon, at that weight, I'm no longer surprised that the chairs broke. Hell, I'm surprised they lasted that long.
Tags = Stupid People

Their Slip is Showing

Ankle Biting Pundits has a post on the sagging Bush poll numbers. It's a pretty good take-down on the skewed nature of the sample.

One of the biggest problems I have with polling is the sloppy way questions are often worded:
Generally speaking, would you say things in this country are heading in the right direction, or are they off on
the wrong track?
I can think of several ways that could be interpreted:
  • Bush is leading us in the wrong direction
  • Bush is leading us in the right direction, but not fast enough.
  • Bush is leading us in the right direction, but those !@#$%^&* in Congress are blocking every move.
  • Bush is leading us in the right direction, but those !@#$%^&* in the Main Stream Media are blocking every move.

Although I was a History major in college, I specialized in data crunching - collection and analysis of quantitative data. Fortunately, my offbeat interest captured the attention of my advisor, Dr. Ramos, and another number-cruncher, Dr. Wheeler. They nurtured my interests, and I learned a lot about how numbers can be massaged and fondled into submission.

Tags = News and Politics

Desperate Housewives

My husband loves Desperate Housewives. His reasons are low, and carnal.



I don't think he really wants a cumpulsively neat obsessive alcoholic; I think the attraction is the red hair and a really great body. I've got that body - and more.

Which is why I'm joining Curves.

But, I digress.

I really started this post to show this funny picture, found on Curmudgeonly & Skeptical. If it isn't on your Blogroll, it should be.



Tags = Humor

I thought MY kids were funny!

I really do love that BlogAdSwap thingy on the sidebar. Every time I click it, I get sent to a really good site. The only trouble is that my Blogroll is growing out of control - I keep adding stuff to it.

Today's addition is ArmyWifeToddlerMom. I don't have twins, but I can relate to the situations. My own kids, 3 of them, were born in a span of 4 years. So, there was always a crowd and a lot of excitement.

However, I never encountered this situation. Go read it, it's the funniest thing I've read in a while.

Tags = Blogging

Friday, March 10, 2006

What idiotic reasoning!

In a rather snidely headlined post "Delete Us, the Fetus" in Slate Magazine, a commenter spews a truly twisted and ignorant comment.
What liberals take issue with when Saletan calls abortion "bad" and hopes that we reduce the abortion rate is the fact that this has at its core the "sex is bad" morality. Why do we think that abortion is shameful, such that women who are faced with that choice feel guilty about choosing to have an abortion? Because on some level the "sex is bad" morality tells us, to put it crudely, "bitch shoulda kept her legs closed."

If you don't think that zygotes are fully formed human beings [...], the only way that abortion would be a tragic choice is within a society which tells women that sex is bad and that giving birth is their societal duty.
I would have commented on the site, but you need to have a Passport (MicroSoft) account, and, on principle, I won't give the Evil Empire the information needed.

"Sex is bad"?

Not my perspective. I like it all - procreative sex, non-procreative sex, playful sex, too-late-and-too-tired sex, really steamy make-up sex - it's all great. As the joke goes, even when the sex is terrible, it's not bad.

Of course, I'm biased, since all of the above took place between my husband and myself. And, to my way of thinking, that's the best basis for great sex - a committed relationship of many years.

"Giving birth" is a "societal duty"?

No, sweets. Giving birth is a great thing. But, if you're not prepared to face the possibility, perhaps having sex is not a good idea at this time. The grief many women feel is a natural response. Let's face it, not every child on this Earth was conceived as a conscious choice. Some of them were "whoops" conceptions.

Before Roe v. Wade, the overwhelming majority of women (and men) made their peace with the occurrence. While they may not have been thrilled to be parents at that time, they adjusted. They tightened their belts, hauled out the baby clothes, and changed their vacation plans. Did their lives change?

Absolutely. But they made mature decisions. They acted like adults. They accepted their responsibility for the situation, and got over it.

I remember one of the first issues of Ms. magazine. It had several pages of names of women who admitted they had had abortions. At the time, I was impressed by the number of women who had been affected by laws against abortion. I decided to get on board with the trend.

I don't mean that I did it because it was trendy. I had been persuaded by the arguments (later to be exposed as false by a recanting Dr. Bernard Nathanson). I will regret that to my dying day, as I will regret influencing others to support abortion rights.

Over time, I've learned more about the issue from a variety of sources. Today, I would support a ban, except in very limited cases. Down's Syndrome isn't one of them. The deliberate elimination of these vulnerable members of our society is a heartbreaking thing. Whatever is on the mind of people who would "get rid" of an imperfect child? Do they feel they "deserve" a perfect child?

Lots of luck. I've had 3 kids and 3 grandkids. Trust me on this one, NO kid is perfect.

But, they are very precious.

Tags = Abortion

Mohammed cartoons

Below are the cartoons. Sorry for not posting them earlier, my connection to Blogger was giving me a tempermental fit.





















Hmm...Now that I count them, they seem to be 2 short. Whatever. I'll add them later, and put a Permalink on the sidebar when I do.

Just in case someone wants to send the Jihad Brothers to lay a little retribution - you know where I am.

Tags = Mohammed cartoons

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

New blogs to discover

I've been exploring new blogs, using the new addition to my sidebar - the Blogads button. New blogs pop up randomly - they appear to be selected with some rationale, but they're just different enough to appeal to me. That's how I found the Crime Scene Blog. I suggest you try it out - I've not been disappointed with the selection.

So nice HE'S being protected!

Found on Crime Scene Blog.
The California Supreme Court today declared that a 22-year-old man who received oral sex from a 16-year-old girl should not have to register for life as a sex offender.

The state’s top court found that California denied Vincent Hofsheier equal protection under the law because those having intercourse in such circumstances would not be forced to register as lifetime sex offenders.
Now, you may be saying, I know some 16-year olds who don't look it - "

That's true, but there's more:
It is also worth noting the manner in which he found his “date.” He managed to lure her to a beach and got her drunk after meeting her in an Internet chat room.
I truly don't understand the culture that uses kids as sexual objects (and OBJECTS is what they are - not people). Maybe it's the change from a culture where most adults are parents, and act like adults, to one where many are not parents, by choice, and are really not adults. (And, sometimes, are parents, but act like they aren't fully grown up).

I know people my age (54) who still think of themselves as not truly grown up. And, in fact, they aren't. But they should be.

One reason I liked The Patriot was that scene where Mel's son shouts "I'm not a child!", and Mel answers back, "You're MY child!" I feel that his extensive experience as a parent was coming through there. No matter how mature-looking the teen, they are still not fully grown. We can't argue for them to be protected from the full consequences of their actions if we aren't willing to treat them as though they need some protection against predation.

Tags = Culture

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Immigration thoughts - Wednesday

I hate to call a fellow member of my church a moonbat; that's especially so if that moonbat is a Cardinal. I'd been raised to respect the office, if not the man. It's just that some clergymen make that respect hard to deserve. From TMH's Bacon Bits
Controversial liberal prelate Cardinal Roger Mahoney of Los Angeles, a top dog at the often left leaning, U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops, has essentially called for treating the USA’s borders as if they were the Berlin wall. One could almost hear him demanding “Mr. Bush, tear down that wall!”

This open-borders, leftist-leaning cleric is directing his priests to violate immigration law and to encourage illegal immigration, thereby encouraging other Catholics (the illegals) to violate Church law, which clearly requires Catholics to recognize the rights of politicians to establish immigration law.

His directives also fly in the face of required Roman Catholic behavior. A Catholic — be he citizen, priest, illegal, or cardinal — is required, under pain of sin, to submit to civic authority and follow all civil laws, with the rare exception being serious moral wrong, as in performing or assisting at an abortion.
Sorry, I don't agree that it's immoral to keep out those who have no right to enter our country.

We're pretty generous with citizenship in the US. Not only do we take in refugees, but we also treat them just like the home-grown citizens. Not for us the European attitude of bringing in guest workers, then treating them like unwelcome invaders when they no longer serve our purposes. We've even elected many newly-made citizens to high office.



But, this welcome is clearly a privilege, not a right. It is offered, first to those who have skills or education our country could use. Then, as we have the ability to absorb the newcomers into our country, we allow a certain number a year. Our experience is that limits are needed - too many flooding in from a single country or region, and they will have difficulty assimulating. So, the numbers are rationed.

Meanwhile, the CDC has issued a report:
Overwhelmingly, the study found, those immigrants have lower rates of obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure; have less disability; and are less likely to acknowledge having mental health problems.
Yeah, starving is so good for the figure!

Found via WorldNewsDaily, a story about illegal immigration in the Financial Times:
The number of illegal immigrants in the US has continued to grow by nearly half a million each year in spite of US efforts to increase security at the country’s borders, according to a survey released on Tuesday.

The study, by the Pew Hispanic Center, said that the population of unauthorised migrants reached between 11.5m and 12m last year, accounting for nearly a third of the foreign-born population in the US. That number is up from roughly 8.4m in 2000.

The continued rise was driven primarily by the strong demand for low-skilled work in the US. “What we’re seeing is a labour migration that is tied to employment opportunities,” said Jeffrey Passel, the study’s author.

The findings come as the Senate is set to take up on Wednesday legislation aimed at stemming the flow of illegal immigrants coming to the US. The Senate judiciary committee is launching a three-week effort to produce a bill that the committee’s chairman, Republican Arlen Specter, hopes will create new legal channels for foreign workers in the US.

Transport chiefs in warning on ports takeover
Click here

The proposal, outlined by committee staff on Monday, would allow those illegally in the US to apply for renewable two-year work visas, and would create a new guest worker programme to allow new workers to come to the US legally.

That contrasts with legislation that passed the House of Representatives late last year and would toughen enforcement against illegal aliens but would not allow for new guest workers. Differences between the House bill and the Senate version would have to be resolved later this year.

The Pew survey underscored the substantial presence of illegal workers in the US labour market. It estimated about 4.9 per cent of the US labour force, or 7.2m workers, was composed of unauthorised migrants.
That's a figure, in case you hadn't figured it out, that's just over (by .2%) the unemployment for the US.

Now, to be fair, "full employment" is around 3% or so. That leaves a little slack for people interested in changing jobs. Really full employment is, contrary to popular belief, not all that good. It means that it's hard to fill jobs (and those that are employed are working extra hard).

Frankly, I'm not all that crazy about "guest workers". That's a little like holding out a treat, then taking it away. Talk about noblesse oblige!

I'd rather see us raise the numbers of legal immigrants into the US. That requires more planning and foresight. But, it also means that we don't callously use the temporary worker as disposable "things".

That's too European.

Tags = Immigration

Monday, March 06, 2006

Group-Think

There are those who seldom make a move without first ascertaining what the majority (or at least the IMPORTANT ones) thinks. In grade school and junior high, I noticed that many of my classmates seldom expressed their thoughts without first checking to see what the "correct" thought was, first. Even when voting on insignificant issues (preferred dates for events, or whether to bring in treats for Halloween), those timid souls darted cautious and wary glances around, to make sure they weren't expressing unacceptable opinions.

I rarely fell into that category. Not that I was brave, just stupid. I generally shot my mouth off before finding out that my opinion was in the minority. Chalk that up to living in a family that never feared expressing their thoughts, however ill-informed or wrong-headed. When my reasoning didn't match up to my father's expectations, he had no hesitation in helping me to understand it's inferiority. But, nicely, not as though I were an idiot.

Reading about the Oscars made me think of those days. Hollywood and other media outlets are filled with those cautious souls, who fear to buck the established wisdom. Liberal to a man, woman, or trans-person, they march in lockstep. I suppose that's why I really enjoy the outlaws. The people who really don't give a rat's a$$ what you think about them.



Tags = Entertainment

Sunday, March 05, 2006

Just like having a liberal right on your blog

Via Mike's America, I found this wickedly funny new toy on Sean Gleeson's site.



Tags = Entertainment

As Ben Franklin said...

In a post, The Intellectual Activist
it is necessary for every newspaper and magazine to re-publish those cartoons, as I will do in the next print issue of The Intellectual Activist. Click here.

This is not merely a symbolic expression of support; it is a practical countermeasure against censorship. Censorship—especially the violent, anarchic type threatened by Muslim fanatics—is effective only when it can isolate a specific victim, making him feel as if he alone bears the brunt of the danger. What intimidates an artist or writer is not simply some Arab fanatic in the street carrying a placard that reads "Behead those who insult Islam." What intimidates him is the feeling that, when the beheaders come after him, he will be on his own, with no allies or defenders—that everyone else will be too cowardly to stick their necks out.

The answer, for publishers, is to tell the Muslim fanatics that they can't single out any one author, or artist, or publication. The answer is to show that we're all united in defying the fanatics.
That's why we HAVE to publish the cartoons again - for our own good.

I well remember the 60s. Brave speakers and writers openly dared the government to act to suppress their freedoms. The vulgarities littered every publication, open defiance of the status quo and any attempt to stifle their freedom of expression.

Where the hell are those guys now?

Where are the voices raised in defiance of ANYONE who would dare to tell a writer what he could write? What a cartoonist could draw? What a publisher could put into print and distribute?

Defiance was hunky-dory when the only one who threatened you was the US government and its agents. When the threat comes from people who have demonstrated they can, will, and HAVE killed to back up their threats, suddenly they're all wussy-boys. Or in the words of Schwarzenegger, "girly men".

If we won't fight for our freedoms, we won't have them.

I haven't yet put the cartoons on my blog, but I think it's time. I will not be the one who lets those brave men and women stand alone.

Let's make this Friday be Freedom Friday, when every blogger and online publisher re-prints the pictures. That gives us a couple of days to find a copy of the pictures, upload them to a site, and link to them on that day.

Ben Franklin is remembered for his prescient words at the signing of the Declaration of Independence:

We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.

Tags = Freedom of Speech

This is something to contemplate

I was taking a break from grading (I really do catch up at times, I just avoid it a lot), and found a really procative post:
Celebrities are our young peoples' mentors now? Actually, as long as parents give in and give in and kowtow, celebrities rule. Fashion, music, behavior. . . . .besides, many kids nowadays see celebrities more frequently than they see their parents. Kids spend long hours home alone in front of the tv, and lifestyle examples are rampant all over the networks. All of them look like more fun than their parents' lifestyles.

You know, just like us, when we were their age.

Celebrities are out there everywhere. There are more celebrities than regular people, in some areas. Celebrities, wearing g-strings and two styrofoam egg carton sections, carrying french bread in a mesh bag, talking on a cell phone and frowning at the ten thousand photographers who are following them. Celebrities, making babies and abandoning them like so much dross. Celebrities, walking out on pregnant wives or girlfriends that they might take up with yet another celebrity and impregnate them, too. Studly celebrities with high sperm counts, going from flower to flower like King Mongut. Celebrities, unmarried but reproducing like crazed ferrets, dancing on top of talk-show furniture and spouting philosophy that any sane and educated person would laugh at, but which an un or under-educated person might ostensibly fall for. And it is my firm belief that many of our young people are at the very least, undereducated.
Mamacita goes on to relate this all to the Seven Deadly Sins, a subject I hadn't thought about in some time.

I mean, like many people, I sort of thought of them as, you know, QUAINT. Not important anymore, in this luxury-filled world of ours. I think I've been wrong about that for some time now. Although the Sins and the corresponding Virtues are based on a particular religious belief, I think they have meaning for many today.

Tags = Culture

Saturday, March 04, 2006

An Art Start

 

This is a picture of some sketches I made today. I know they're not good, but the thing is, I was drawing for the first time in perhaps 45 years or so. I was using my new markers, and sketched a cup and the cover of my journal. And a flower.

I decided that, even if I am terrible at drawing, I used to like it. So, I gave myself permission to be a really horrible artist.

I don't care what anyone thinks, I enjoyed it. Posted by Picasa

Great Black & White Movies

Oh, Boy! I have strong feelings about THIS!

I have fond memories of old movies. In the lates 60s and early 70s, Channel 19 was new to Cleveland. They would regularly broadcast the movies of the 30s and 40s (known as the Golden Age of Movies). They created Friday night retrospectives, focused on the best films of a particular star. Bogart, Wayne, Cagney, Hayworth, et al. My dad used to go to bed early, right after supper, then rise again, just to have the opportunity to see films he was too poor to see the first time. Sometimes, my brother, Mike, or I would join him.

Surprisingly, although I saw many of the Bogart films, I never did manage to be home and awake when Casablanca was on. I was over thirty when I first saw it. Another film I never finished - Bridge Over the River Kwai. I tried to stay awake, but invariably fell asleep before the end.

This last year, thanks to one of the Classic movie channels (probably Turner), I finally stayed awake long enough. Well worth the wait.

Why don't you make your list of the 5 Best old movies to watch? They don't have to be film masterpieces, just those films you'd gladly stay up late to watch again and again. You can add them to the comments, or email me the list.

My Five:
  • Key Largo
  • Casablanca
  • Any Cary Grant movie - but especially Notorious and Suspicion
  • The Magnificent Seven
  • Any of the Road pictures

As I said, not GREAT films, just fun to see again.

Tags = Entertainment

This is useful - Cheap Gas Prices

I found the above link on Bad Example. You enter your zip code, and find the cheapest gas prices as of the night before. It won't protect you against a sudden change that morning, but it gives you a starting point. And if, like me, you fill up infrequently, it could save you a lot. I find that I lose track of the price if I've been able to avoid stopping in a few weeks (yes, I said WEEKS - I live just over a mile from work, and, except for fresh foods, I do a lot of online shopping).

Tags = Money

Whoops! Forgot to credit

I got the inspiration for some of the changes below from The Alliance post on Speeding Up Your Blog.

Tags = Blogging

Cleaning up

I finally got disgusted with the speed of my page loading, and decided to go in an clean up:

  • Got rid of the Stickam Player. I didn't really have much time to work with it, and may in the future on another page, but the bottom line is that it took too long to load, took up too much space, and didn't deliver anything I needed that badly.
  • Cleared out some old links I never used.
  • Trimmed some redundant code.

As a result, I speeded up the loading process about 300%. Well worth my time.

Sorry it took so long - my allergies have been kicking up (the down side of a temperate climate), and I've been holding together just long enough to get through work, then come home and crash.

Tags = Blogging

New Additions to the Blogroll

I'm still on the fence about Blogrolling (I've experienced instances in the last month of Blogrolling not loading, sometimes for extended time periods), but, for now, will continue with it.

I'm adding some new links

Tags = Blogging

Friday, March 03, 2006

At Last! At least, I think so....

I've been trying to get Blogger to admit me to create a new post for the last 15 minutes.

Nada, nothing, no way. Blogger is just hanging there, the little dotted circle of Firefox circling around endlessly, but the page won't load.

So, you won't see this until the problem clears up. At least, I think you won't. I may try posting by mail. The last time I did that, I had to go back in to edit the post, and get rid of all the funky misformatting that resulted.

Lord, I wish I had a cold scotch and soda right now.

What I'm going to do for now is to break up any posting into small chunks - maybe then, I'll be able to get them online.

Tags = Blogging.

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Again with the Canaries

Cassandra, of Villainous Company, writes about a phenomenom that is becoming more obvious every day.
In his Sun Times column, Mark Steyn used a phrase which caught my eye. He called the Jews of France "canaries in history's coal mine". It caught my eye because in November, during the French riots, I wrote a piece called Canaries in the Mineshaft, about the migration of French Jews to Israel, Montreal, and the United States.

Canaries in the mine shaft. It is an ugly image. A terrifying image, almost an archetypal one: instantly recognizable to all of us. We know what it means. We know what is being asked of us, whether we want to recognize it or not. Because it is not birds, but people who we are using in this manner. And this is a historical pattern which would truly be unimaginably horrifying if it were to come to pass.

What kind of civilization shrugs its shoulders and turns away from something like this?
A society that has lost its guts. Or, to put it another way, Europe.

I've been yammering about this for some time. I can't believe that, after all the incidents of synagogue descration, on-the-street harassment of identifiable Jews, and several murders, it took over a week to speak the name - antisemitism.

Tags = antisemitism

The Minutemen strike again - in MD

The Minutemen have expanded their efforts beyond the Southwest, and rightly so. The problem of illegal immigration goes further than that. What's infuriating is that many local governments, in their soft-headed "compassion", block efforts to enforce the law that bars employment of non-citizens, in most cases. In fact, too many local politicians eager for more voters, encourage their employment, at taxpayer expense.
"The good news is that these Minutemen are yet another in the long line of radical fringe groups that will die of their own weight in Montgomery County because they don't speak for Montgomery County," said County Council member Tom Perez (D-Silver Spring). About 40 percent of the county's 930,000 residents are foreign born.

The Minuteman Project began attracting national attention when members initiated civilian patrols of the Mexican border in an effort to inhibit border crossings. The opening of a day-laborer center in Herndon last year galvanized the group and its opponents in Northern Virginia.

Montgomery has become a battleground in the debate because of its efforts to expand services to immigrants, regardless of their legal status. The county-funded centers in Silver Spring and Wheaton -- as well as the temporary site in Takoma Park -- are run by CASA of Maryland, a nonprofit advocacy group.
Tags = Immigration

Immigration thoughts - Wednesday

Arizona lawmakers have an interesting proposal for paying for a proposed wall to keep illegal aliens out of the US:
Mexican immigrants and nationals working in the U.S. sent $20 billion back to Mexico in 2005, according to the Federal Reserve Bank in Dallas. The proposed ballot question would assess a new 8 percent tax on international money transfers from Arizona. Those funds would be used construct the wall and pay for other border security efforts.

The measure is under consideration by the state Legislature and has the support of Republicans in favor of tougher border security and immigration controls. GOP sponsors include State Reps. Russell Pearce and Rick Murphy and state Sens. Dean Martin, Ron Gould and Thayer Verschoor.
I like this idea - the wire transfers are coming from those people who have money. It's aimed at the people who are sending money back to their home country. Most other countries have ways to take a cut of money leaving their country, so why can' we?

I applaud AZ legislators for taking the lead in this fight. The state is the major jumping point for illegal border-crossing, and that includes drug smuggling. It's not just keeping out Pedro and Maria, eager for a new life in freedom - all the illegal activities are wreaking their economy, their culture, and the medical, legal, and educational services to have to absorb all the extra people.

Tags = Immigration

Lies of the Left

This COULD be a lengthy post. But, I'll try to winnow it down to a reasonable length. The CA Parent Bribery 'Scandal' - the 1...