2011 - The Year We Take Back Congress and Make Obama's Life Hell!

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

TrekMedic - Blogosphere Icon?

So,..the TrekMedic, being the little narcissistic little s**t that he is, did his occasional check of the Link Popularity Tool and found this:

This is an all in one tool to check the number of pages that link to you in AlltheWeb, AltaVista, Google, HotBot, MSN Search, and Yahoo!, as well as check for your site's presence in DMOZ and Zeal.

A site that has a Link Popularity Score of 1,000-5,000 is considered average. A site with a Link Popularity Score of 20,000 is considered popular. Sites with a Link Popularity Score above 100,000 are Internet "Icons".

AlltheWeb 9,330
Bloglines 987
AltaVista 28,700
Google 4
HotBot 275
MSN Search 4,169
Yahoo! 57,721


Link Popularity Total 101,186


Holy S**t!!

(by comparison - REALLY important blogs, like ALa's Blonde Sagacity @ 295,344, The Jawa Report @ 1,205,116 and Little Green Footballs @ 2,385,295 are light-years ahead!)

Monday, January 29, 2007

Party! Party! Party!


MIAMI — With Fidel Castro seriously ill, the city of Miami is making plans to throw a party at the Orange Bowl when the Cuban president dies.

The city commission earlier this month appointed a committee — whose official job is to "Discuss an event at the Orange Bowl in case expected events occur in Cuba" — to plan the party. Such a gathering has long been part of the city's Castro death plan, but firming up the specifics has become more urgent since Castro became ill last summer and turned over power to his brother, Raul.

(snip)

City Commissioner Tomas Regalado, a Cuban American, came up with the idea of using the venue for an event timed to Castro's demise. The Orange Bowl was the site of a speech by President Kennedy in 1961 promising a free Cuba and in the 1980s it served as a camp for refugees from the Mariel boatlift.

Castro "represents everything bad that has happened to the people of Cuba for 48 years," Regalado said. "There is something to celebrate, regardless of what happens next. ... We get rid of the guy."


The TrekMedic muses:

Ok,..so when are the leftist apologists going to organize an anti-American counter-
demonstration for the same day??

Patience,..Thy Name is Iraq

Somehow, this slipped past the MSM-addicted editorial wonks at the Philadelphia Inkwaster:

Patience lacking

According to your Jan. 25 editorial ("Commander in chief, helmet in hand"): "For nearly four years, Americans gave Bush's Iraq mission chances to work. Time after time, he has disappointed them."

Did the president disappoint Americans when Saddam Hussein fell? Did he disappoint them when the Iraqis held elections, then formed a government and a constitution? Did he disappoint them when schools, hospitals and roads were rebuilt?

Americans are disappointed in President Bush because we are a can't-get-it-fast-enough society. We are a land of instant messages and fast food. How long did our revolutionaries take to ratify a constitution? How many years after WWII were elections held in Germany and Japan? How many millions were slaughtered in the killing fields after we left Vietnam? That is the question to answer when comparing Iraq to Vietnam.

Bush has also told Congress and the American people over and over again that this war on terror would be hard and take a long time. The problem: Americans have changed their definition of "long time" while the president stands firm on his conviction to do the right thing.

Tryst Anderson

East Norriton
trystanderson@yahoo.com

A Philebrity Passes,....


Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro was euthanized Monday in Kennett Square, Pa., after an eight-month battle to regain his health captured the hearts of America in a way that hasn't been seen in the racing world since Seabiscuit and Secretariat.

"His memory will live forever," Alex Waldrop, CEO of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, said in a statement to FOXNews.com. "America’s compassion and love for Barbaro speak to the incredible bond that people share with thoroughbreds and our sport."

Barbaro finally succumbed to complications from his gruesome breakdown at last year's Preakness.

"Certainly, grief is the price we all pay for love," said co-owner Gretchen Jackson at a news conference.

"We just reached a point where it was going to be difficult for him to go on without pain," husband Roy Jackson said earlier. "It was the right decision, it was the right thing to do. We said all along if there was a situation where it would become more difficult for him then it would be time."

A series of ailments, including laminitis in the left rear hoof and a recent abscess in the right rear hoof, proved too much for the gallant colt.


The TrekMedic muses:

A few thoughts:

First - any truth to the rumor that the guys from Pat's Steaks were hanging around the New Bolton Center today?

Second, is Comcast/Flyers/Suxers head man Ed Snider next?

Sunday, January 28, 2007

The Absorbine, Jr. Mouthwash Award Goes to,...

Sen. John "I Was Joking,..REALLY" Kerry (again):

Seems he's following the Ditzy Chicks plan - stay quiet at home, then talk s**t when you get overseas!


(AP) DAVOS, Switzerland Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry slammed the foreign policy of the Bush administration on Saturday, saying it has caused the United States to become "a sort of international pariah."

The statement came as the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee responded to a question about whether the U.S. government had failed to adequately engage Iran's government before the election of hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2005.

Kerry said the Bush administration has failed to adequately address a number of foreign policy issues.

"When we walk away from global warming, Kyoto, when we are irresponsibly slow in moving toward AIDS in Africa, when we don't advance and live up to our own rhetoric and standards, we set a terrible message of duplicity and hypocrisy," Kerry said.

"So we have a crisis of confidence in the Middle East — in the world, really. I've never seen our country as isolated, as much as a sort of international pariah for a number of reasons as it is today."

Kerry said the government needs to use diplomacy to improve national security.

"We need to do a better job of protecting our interests, because after all, that's what diplomacy is about," he said. "But you have to do it in a context of the reality, not your lens but the reality of those other cultures and histories."

Kerry criticized what he called the "unfortunate habit" of Americans to see the world "exclusively through an American lens."



"In Tehran,..you are hero to us, Mr. Kerry! Allah be praised for your autograph!"

Eagles Philliness,...

The TrekMedic received this e-mail from TheFed this morning:


Subject: Fwd: FW: SUPERBOWL

Team owner Jeffery Lurie had put together the perfect team for the
Philadelphia Eagles. The only thing missing was a good
quarterback. He had scouted all the colleges and even the Canadian and
European Leagues, but he couldn't find a ringer who could ensure a
Super Bowl victory.

One night while watching CNN, he saw a war-zone scene in Afghanistan .
In one corner of the background, he spotted a young Afghani
soldier with a truly incredible arm. He threw a hand-grenade straight
into a window from 80 yards away. He then threw another from 50 yards
down a chimney, and finally hit a passing car going 80 miles per hour.

"I've got to get this guy!" coach said to himself. "He has the perfect arm"

He brings the young Afghan to the States and teaches him the great game
of football ....sure enough the Eagles go on to win the Super Bowl.

The young Afghan is hailed as a hero of football, and when the coach
asks him what he wants, all the young man wants to do is call his
mother. "Mom," he says into the phone, "I just won the Super Bowl.

"I don't want to talk to you," the old Muslim woman says. "You deserted
us.You are not my son."

"Mother, I don't think you understand," pleads the son, "I've just won
the greatest sporting event in the world!"

"No! Let me tell you," his mother retorts, "At this very moment there
are gunshots all around us. The neighborhood is a pile of rubble. Your
two brothers were beaten within an inch of their lives last week, and I
have to keep your sister in the house so she doesn't get raped!"

The old lady pauses then tearfully says, " I will never forgive you for
making us move to Philadelphia!"

Going After the Wrong Illegals,....






Delaware County animal control officers will be conducting a "sweep" in March for unlicensed dogs.

Local animal control officers and a state dog warden will check to see whether pets are properly licensed. The fine for having an unlicensed dog can range from $25 to $300.

In an effort to encourage Delaware County residents to license their dogs, the state Bureau of Dog Law is sending out a mailing this month to remind all residents that the yearly Jan. 1 deadline has passed. Last year, according to state officials, Delaware County sold 12,245 tags. More than 100,000 dogs are estimated to live in the county. For more information in Delaware County on how to buy a tag for your pet, call 610-891-4276 or go to www.co.delaware.pa.us/treasurer/dog.html.


OK,..the locals are willing to spend that much time and effort to ferret out unlicensed dogs, but they can't expend the same energy tracking down illegal immigrants?? What's wrong with this picture??

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Can Someone Explain This One,...?

NEW YORK (Jan. 24) - Embattled "Grey's Anatomy" star Isaiah Washington has enrolled in a counseling program, according to a statement from his rep, Kelly Mullens, given to The ShowBuzz on Wednesday.

The 43-year-old actor has been under fire since he used an anti-gay slur at a Golden Globes press conference last week after the hit ABC drama received an award.

"With the support of my family and friends, I have begun counseling. I regard this as a necessary step toward understanding why I did what I did and making sure it never happens again. I appreciate the fact that I have been given this opportunity and I remain committed to transforming my negative actions into positive results, personally and professionally," the statement said.

Life and Style magazine reported on its Web site that the actor entered a residential rehab facility.

Shonda Rhimes, the executive producer of "Grey's Anatomy," said in a statement that she applauds Washington's realization that he needs help.

"We've been working within the Grey's family as well as with ABC and Touchstone Television to address the issue in a way that underscores the gravity of the situation while giving us all a foundation for healing. We applaud and encourage Isaiah's realization that he needs help and his subsequent choice to seek immediate treatment for his behavioral issues," the statement said.

Washington opened old wounds when he answered a question about an October on-set argument with co-star Patrick Dempsey. During the argument, he allegedly referred to cast member T.R. Knight using an anti-gay slur.

"No, I did not call T.R. a 'faggot,' " Washington told reporters in the Golden Globes press room. "It never happened."

Last Friday, ABC issued a statement that said the network was dismayed at the actor's "inappropriate language."

Rumors have been swirling that the network may fire the actor.

The TrekMedic is flummoxed:

Whiskey,...Tango,...Foxtrot?? What kind of rehab facility teaches you not so say the word "faggot" in public? Do they do some kind of "1984"-like rat cage torture? Insert a chip in your brain that delivers a 50-volt shock everytime you say it? WHAT?? For that matter, what about "the n-word?" The TrekMedic bets the rehab center would be jam-packed if they could cure that one! This is just insane!

And, BTW, no - Washington won't get canned from the show unless ratings drop precipitously. Why? He's a minority himself and Hollyweird gives them more slack than the rest of us.

The REAL SOTU Speech?

From Duane at Pennsylvanian in Exile:

From Jules Crittenden.

Don’t bother standing up or clapping, any of you. I already know who won the election, and I know how you feel.

I come before you tonight not to make amends, not to make it good, curry any favor or find any middle ground.

I am, more or less, a lame duck. You’ve had your 100 hours of party time. I know. I won’t get any legislation passed without some major bottom-kissing. Maybe something on illegal aliens. That health insurance thing I’ll be talking about later tonight is pretty much for show. I know it isn’t going anywhere. A proposal to raise middle-class taxes for a healthcare plan you don’t even want? What was I thinking?

None of that really matters. Not now. Those are peacetime issues we’ve been bickering about for a long time, and I don’t expect we’ll resolve them anytime soon.

So what is the best thing I can do tonight? I can tell you the truth. What none of you want to hear. What you’ve been stopping your ears to. The ugly truth.

The State of the Union is a disaster. I did my best, but I made mistakes, and my best wasn’t good enough.

We went to war without building up our army, and now, I am trying to make up for that.

But that is not the disaster.

The disaster is that you, Congress and the American people, do not care to fight.Faced with a fundamental challenge to our own security, to everything we believe in, to the world order to peace and security for which we and our parents fought so hard for so many years, you now want to pretend like none of these threats are real. You want to surrender to the evil I have been telling you about. An evil that, unchecked, can consume large parts of the world and threatens to usher in a dark age.

You didn’t like it when I talked about evil. Sounded too simple, too uncompromising, too moralistic. Too … biblical.

I don’t know what else you call people who fly passenger jets into office buildings; who rape women in front of their husbands and children, and execute their opponents in acid baths; who seek to spread tyrannical and archaic religious regimes that enslave women and stifle fundamental freedoms. Who want to dominate the world’s primary oil fields with nuclear weapons.

I call it evil. Works for me.

I’ve heard all the comparisons between Iraq and Vietnam. George Bush’s Vietnam. The myopia is astonishing, even for me, George Bush, who you all think just isn’t that smart. But I learned something in school: People who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

Didn’t you learn anything from Vietnam? Didn’t you see what happened when your predecessors in Congress, disgruntled and responding to public opinion polls just like you are, voted repeatedly to undermine an ally that was fighting for its survival and making headway against evil? There, I’ve said it again. Millions of people were murdered or imprisoned.

And then, those who wished us ill … the evil-doers … evil, evil evil … took advantage of our weakness.

The Soviet Union, evil personified, invaded Afghanistan, knowing we’d do nothing about it. Iran defied all international norms, took our sovereign embassy and held our people hostage for 444 days. They knew we’d do nothing about it. It was a massive humiliation we have been paying for with our own precious blood ever since.

Where do you think this war we are now engaged in started, anyway? Just ask Osama bin Laden, veteran of the Afghan war against the Soviets, what lesson he learned from two decades of American appeasement and withdrawal in the face of provocation.

Now, you want to negotiate with two of the world’s primary sponsors of terrorism, who are directly involved in support of the terrorists who murder our soldiers. You want to make an arrangement by which we will exit Iraq, and leave it to them. To loot, to murder, to fight over, while the rest of the world’s evil regimes look on, see our weakness, and plot their own moves.

You can try that, with resolutions, by cutting spending for troops in the field, as you seek the short-term satisfaction of withdrawal. But I remain President of the United States, and as long as I am, I will be no lame duck in this fight.

I will engage evil directly where I find it, in Iraq and in Iran. With an aggressive and ruthless new strategy and a plan to build our army as we should have a long time ago, I will show the American people that we can fight and we can win. I expect that the American people, though misled by their press and many of their elected representatives, will see results and will get it. Because the American people are a people who in the end don’t give up, don’t stop fighting, refuse to lose, and will choose to win. I have faith in them.

Oh, there’s another one of those words you don’t like.

A nation that is not willing to fight for what it believes in, for its place in the world, is not worthy of its own ideals. But that is not America. I now intend to help America restore its faith in itself. By fighting this necessary fight that we cannot afford to lose.

So … are you with me, or against us?

Did Dick Cheney Give Wolf Blitzer's Balls Back to Him Yet?



WASHINGTON — Vice President Dick Cheney told a reporter Wednesday that he was “out of line” after repeated questions about his gay daughter, Mary, who is pregnant.

Mary Cheney and Heather Poe, her partner of 15 years, are expecting a baby in late spring.

Cheney said he was “delighted I’m about to have a sixth grandchild” during the interview with a cable news network. But asked about his reaction to a statement by Focus on the Family, the organization led by James Dobson, Cheney stared down his questioner, CNN's Wolf Blitzer.

“Mary Cheney’s pregnancy raises the question of what’s best for children. Just because it’s possible to conceive a child outside of the relationship of a married mother and father doesn’t mean it’s best for the child,” Blitzer read, quoting the organization.

Asked if Cheney wanted to respond, the vice president paused and stared at Blitzer before saying, "No, I don't."

Blitzer, seemingly spooked by the chill that pervaded the room, tried to smooth the ruffled feathers by offering his opinion of Mary and her older sister, Elizabeth Cheney.

“We like your daughters. Believe me, I’m very, very sympathetic to Liz and to Mary. I like them both. That was just a question that’s come up and it’s a responsible, fair question,” he said. (TM - Typical Wolf Blitzer/CNN liberal bulls**t - always show support for gay rights)

Cheney said he, too, thinks the world of his daughters and added, "I think, frankly, you’re out of line with that question. ... I just fundamentally disagree with your perspective.”

Asked about the legitimacy of the questions posed to Cheney, Roberta Sklar, a spokeswoman for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, said they were "completely appropriate," and she could find no reason why they shouldn't be discussed.

"It would seem that it would be valuable and earnest to speak directly and clearly to the public about it," Sklar said.

Tim Graham, director of media analysis for the Media Research Center, said the question was fair but it was designed to draw an angry reaction from Cheney.

"I think Cheney clearly understood this was a trouble-making question," Graham said. "It's a fair question but not a kind question."

Last month, Lynne Cheney, the vice president's wife, said she and the vice president are looking forward to the coming birth and also dodged questions about the appropriateness of gay parents.

"Well, I think that it's just very lucky for me that I enjoy being a grandmother and I get to do it for the sixth time," Cheney said in an interview on "FOX News Sunday."

"Dick and I [are] both very much looking forward to this new baby," Lynne Cheney said, adding that their daughter will be a "great mom."


The Trekmedic adds:

What isn't reported here is that on both occasions, Wolf Blitzer's questions about Mary Cheney's sexual orientation had absolutely no relevance to the reasons why Dick and Lynne were on CNN in the first place. (Dick responding to the State of the Union and the Iraq War; Lynne publicizing her children's book.) Clearly, Blitzer is attempting some sort of payback for Chris Wallace's emasculation of Bill Clinton on rival Fox News.

Consequently, Wolf Blitzer is an a**hole and a complete loser. Just STFU, OK?

We DID Win World War II, Didn't We?

Time to delve into an area the TrekMedic generally leaves to brain-dead "Jerry Springer" addicts:

Some time ago, noted actor and director Clint Eastwood developed a story based on the Battle of Iwo Jima. The original concept was to tell the story from both combatants' points-of-view. That turned out to be too much, so he wisely broke the story down into two separate movies. Designed to be companion pieces, Flags of Our Fathers told the story of the American battle to take Iwo. The second movie, Letters from Iwo Jima, told the story from the Imperial Japanese perspective.

Now, the TrekMedic has seen both movies (albeit with so few others in the theatre he could count them on one hand!). They were both outstanding!

Then along comes Leftywood's annual "Pat Ourselves on the Back" Awards (normal people call them "Oscars.") Can you guess which one got nominated for Best Picture?

Well,....it wasn't the one showing the United States' WINNING! That's right,...GOD FORBID the Hollyweird crowd ever gets behind the Americans and supports our military!


**That's My Opinion and You're Entitled to It!**

Monday, January 22, 2007

You Can Take Your Stinkin' Mats and Shove 'Em!

Major HT to Webkitten for this one. Please copy it and pass it along,...

Absolutely Disgusting.

I saw this posted over at Rose's blog and I'm copying what Betty did and posting it. This is sickening and I can imagine how demoralising this was to a troop over there giving his all. Shit like this really makes me angry and people should know when it goes on.

I'm going to email this company and tell them what to do with their mats.

I don't care what you think of the war, the fact remains that the men and women serving in the military did not start this war and they deserve nothing but respect and gratitude for risking their asses to be in the military.

Why don't you join me?

Read on.


http://www.snopes.com/politics/war/apo.asp

APO'd

Claim: A U.S. Army soldier received a rude response from an on-line retailer after inquiring about shipments to APO addresses.

Example: [Collected via e-mail, 2007]

Below is an email exchange between a friend of mine's husband and a company that sells different types of mats. He is stationed in Iraq and was inquiring as to whether or not the company ships overseas. He wanted to get the troops better gear to sleep on. This is the companies response. I am floored. I am floored as a military wife and as an American. Please repost this so that this company will hear us loud and clear that we do not stand for this. Whatever your view is on this war - these troops are just following orders. Most are passionate about what they are doing. You can disagree with the war without disrespecting our troops.


From: SGT Jason Hess
Sent: Tue Jan 16 3:25

Do you ship to APO addresses? I'm in the 1st Cavalry Division stationed in Iraq and we are trying to order some mats but we are looking for who ships to APO first.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: contact@discount-mats.com
Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2007 9:44 PM
Subject: Re: Feedback: from discount-mats.com

SGT Hess,
We do not ship to APO addresses, and even if we did, we would NEVER ship to Iraq. If you were sensible, you and your troops would pull out of Iraq.

Bargain Suppliers
Discount-Mats.com



Origins: APO (Army Post Office or Air [Force] Post Office) and FPO (Fleet Post Office) addresses are part of a military mail system used for exchanging mail with U.S. personnel stationed outside the United States, generally at the same domestic rates charged for sending mail within the U.S. Military personnel, their families, and others who have had occasion to order merchandise for shipment to troops stationed overseas have generally learned to first check with the vendors to ensure that they will indeed send product to APO/FPO addresses. Because shipments sent to APO/FPO addresses require extra processing (e.g., they must be sent via USPS, mailed from a post office, and accompanied by customs forms) and involve additional mailing restrictions, not all businesses are willing to accept orders intended for APO/FPO destinations.

The e-mail exchange reproduced above took place in January 2007 between a U.S. Army soldier serving with the U.S. 1st Cavalry Division in Iraq and online retailer Bargain Suppliers Discount Floor Mats of West Allis, Wisconsin, with the former inquiring about whether the latter would ship floor mats to APO addresses. Not only did the retailer reportedly respond in the negative, but they couched their turn-down as the rude statement that "We do not ship to APO addresses, and even if we did, we would NEVER ship to Iraq. If you were sensible, you and your troops would pull out of Iraq."

Discount Mats didn't respond to our inquiry, but Sgt. Hess wrote back to us and confirmed that the correspondence was real:


This is all fact and true what happened. I'm with the 1st BCT 1st Cavalry Division in Iraq just trying to find someone to send supplies that we needed.



Last updated: 18 January 2007

The URL for this page is http://www.snopes.com/politics/war/apo.asp


Addendum for 1/23/2007:

FOX News has picked up the story here!

Hu-go First, Mr. Chavez,.....


CARACAS, Venezuela — President Hugo Chavez told U.S. officials to "Go to hell, gringos!" and called U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice "missy" on his weekly radio and TV show, lashing out at Washington for what he called unacceptable meddling in Venezuelan affairs.

Sunday's comments by the fiery leftist were in response to Washington's criticism of a measure to grant Chavez broad lawmaking powers. The National Assembly, which is controlled by the president's allies, is expected to give final approval this week to an "enabling law" that gives Chavez the authority to pass laws by decree for an 18-month period.

On Friday, U.S. State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said Chavez's plans under the law "have caused us some concern."

Chavez rejected Casey's statement in his broadcast, saying: "Go to hell, gringos! Go home!"

He also attacked U.S. actions in the Middle East.

"What does the empire want? Condoleezza said it. How are you? You've forgotten me, missy ... Condoleezza said it clearly, it's about creating a new geopolitical" map in the Middle East, Chavez said.

In typical style, Chavez spoke for hours Sunday during his first appearance on the weekly program in five months. He extolled the ideals of socialist thinker Karl Marx, sent his best wishes to the ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro, his close ally and friend who has been sidelined since intestinal surgery last summer.

The TrekMedic chuckles:

Oh,..you mean when he said "Go to hell," he wasn't doing a promo spot for the Venezuelan Tourism Board??

On a harsher note, somewhere in California, that spinning sound is Ronald Reagan's grave, again!

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Grab the Barf Bags, Folks!


Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has made it official, announcing "I'm in" for the 2008 presidential race on her Web site. (TM - Always thought she'd be the first to say "I'm out," but that's a whole other story, right , Rosie?)

The former first lady acknowledged her plans to take the first step of forming a presidential exploratory committee.

"I'm not just starting a campaign, though. I'm beginning a conversation with you, with America," Clinton says in her web message. She announced that she will be holding live, on-line video conferences with Americans starting Monday.

"Let's talk about how to bring the right end to the war in Iraq, and to restore respect for America around the world," she said.

Click here to watch Clinton's announcement.

Clinton also doesn't shy away from her widely criticized role in the ultimately unsuccessful push for universal health care.

"Let's definitely talk about how every American can have quality, affordable health care," she said in the message.

Early in her husband Bill's presidency, Clinton led a task force to transform the health care system. The policy was never enacted. (TM - 'cause smart people still ran the Congress)


And to make this a little more palatable, BobG posted this great cartoon:


Friday, January 19, 2007

Failure, Truly, is NOT an Option!

So says Victor Davis Hanson:


Most Americans accept that if the United States cannot stabilize Iraq, and, in frustration and acrimony, withdraws in defeat, crises follow. The only disagreement is over how bad they will be.

Some point to the aftermath of Vietnam and, mirabile dictu, think the world eventually went on pretty much the same. In this rosy view, the preordained end of the Cold War made the communist postwar Vietnamese increasingly entrepreneurial, and thus more pro-American than friendly to their erstwhile Chinese patrons.

Others, more soberly I think, recall instead in the interval the million-plus of boat-people, exiles, the executed, and detained — and the aftershocks that killed millions more in Afghanistan, Cambodia, and Central America, once it was established that the United States would not, or could not, thwart Communist aggression. The Iranian hostage-taking and the rise of radical Islam itself were predicated on the idea that a post-Vietnam America would not intervene against terrorists, whether in Tehran or Lebanon. And Vietnam, of course, today is no South Korea, as millions there without freedom could attest.

The Ripple Effect
Be that as it may, we sometimes forget that there are also more insidious ripples that can emanate from Iraq. I can think of three for starters, all with post-Vietnam echoes.

The first will be the effect on the Democratic party itself, now riding high in its antiwar invective. Yet for a quarter century after Vietnam its antiwar hysteria warped its stance on issues such as the military, retaliation abroad for attacks on America, and the use of force in general.

Jimmy Carter’s paralysis during the hostage taking, the sending of Ramsey Clark to beg Tehran for a reprieve, Bill Clinton’s half-hearted responses to the attacks from the first World Trade Center to the USS Cole, all this, rightly or wrongly was seen as the legacy of the party that had imploded after Vietnam.

Now again we have gone from sizable majorities in the Congress warning about Saddam all during the 1990s and voting to remove him in October 2002, to essentially a single Joe Lieberman sticking through the messy reconstruction. Instead Howard Dean’s once-pathetic yeehawing has now infected the likes of Senators Boxer, Durbin, Kennedy, Kerry, and Rockefeller, who have respectively rebuked Condoleezza Rice for childlessness, compared our troops to Pol Pot, Nazis, and terrorists, assured that our soldiers are no different from Baathist killers at Abu Ghraib, and suggested that things in Iraq were once better under Saddam.

All that may, like Vietnam-era street theater, play well to the media. But eventually Iraq, also like Vietnam, will be over — while the protocols and culture of hysteria and derangement, like low-lying marsh gas, will linger and smell. A Henry Jackson or JFK would have had nothing to do with a Michael Moore, who now has entrée with the Democratic elite. If the Republicans were once embarrassed of the Buchanan Right, and the Democrats of the Cindy Sheehan Left, now the Democrats have apparently both of them in their antiwar camp. Good luck…

Much also has been written about the post-Vietnam War military, as it struggled after the draft, the drugs, and the odor of defeat. I worry in the same vein about a similar loss of confidence in our ground forces. Before Iraq, wild-eyed reformers talked of a new military paradigm of sanitized war, following from wins in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kosovo, Panama, or Serbia. Bombing from on high with GPS ordinance and a few paratroopers or special forces were the supposed future — not old fashioned, everyday artillery, armor, and infantry.

That either/or dichotomy was, of course, absurd. But if we withdraw defeated from Iraq, like it or not, there will be the charge made that the United States should not commit sizable Army and Marine forces abroad on the ground — period, under any circumstances, at any time.

Vietnam and now Iraq will substantiate in greater detail what we tasted in Lebanon and Mogadishu — the impossibility of using large conventional forces in chaotic conflicts that will inevitably turn asymmetrical and terrorist. In that regard, an army on the shelf will fossilize, as we lose confidence that it can ever achieve anything worth its losses. Generals will promise victories in the sort of rare conventional wars they can easily win, and decline the more common messy ones they cannot.

In contrast, stabilize Iraq under horrific conditions, and the world is reminded that there is nothing that a brilliantly led and highly trained American infantry cannot accomplish. Win in Iraq, and there will be fewer future calls on the Army and Marines to repeat their victory; lose — and there will be far more need to do what they cannot.

George W. Bush, True Democrat
Third, there is a weird furor growing, on a bipartisan basis, at the Iraqis in general and the Arab world in particular. Prior to Iraq, there was some American guilt over past realism, whether stopping before Baghdad in 1991, playing Iran off Iraq, cozying up to dictatorships, or predicating American Middle East foreign policy solely on either oil or anti-Communism. Read the liberal literature of the 1990s and it was essentially a call for what George Bush is now doing — and being damned for. Then the liberal bogeyman was not Paul Wolfowitz, but Jim Baker (“jobs, jobs, jobs”/”F—- the Jews”). Now the latter is the model of Republican sobriety.

Arab intellectuals and much of the Western Left once decried Bakerism and called for a new muscular idealism that put us on the side of the powerless reformers and not with the entrenched authoritarians. But if we fail in Iraq, then again, fairly or not, the verdict will be far more sweeping than simply the incompetence of the Bremer proconsulship or the impotence of the Maliki government.

Rather, the conventional wisdom will arise that an infantile Middle East ipso facto — whether due to Islamism, tribalism, gender apartheid, sectarianism, engrained dictatorship, or corruption — is simply incapable at this time of consensual government. Anyone who seeks such reform, whether in the Gulf, Palestine, Lebanon, or Egypt, is to be written off not only as naïve, but as reckless as well. A Libyan dissident, a feminist writer in Egypt, or an Iraqi intellectual who decries Western indifference to their plight or American tolerance of regional dictatorships will be told to quit whining and get a life, by a been-there/done-that American public.

Both carping hothouse Arab intellectuals and Western liberals should be put on notice of this change to come. However imperfect, however flawed, however improperly explained our efforts in Iraq were, they nevertheless represented a costly American about-face to offer something in the Middle East other than theocracy or dictatorship — something we are not likely to see again in our lifetime.

Democrats and liberals should likewise realize that for all their hatred of George Bush and the partisan points to be gained by coddling up to the libertarian and paleo-conservative Right, George Bush’s embrace of freedom was far closer to their own past rhetoric than almost any Republican administration in history. And such an effort to foster democracy was in the long run smart as well, since ultimately a free Iraq would be the worst nightmare of the Islamic jihadists — as we read repeatedly in the rantings of Dr. Zawahiri.

In short, the next Democratic president who wishes to do something about the genocide in Darfur or another mass murderer in the Middle East, will find no support from Republicans, or — in no small part due to liberals’ slurs against the war they voted for — from the country at large.

Yes, we may see thousands killed, displaced, and maimed if the United States flees from Iraq. And that tremor in the foundations of American power may embolden everyone from Hugo Chavez to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

But that is only the half of it.

Leaving Iraq prematurely will also damage the credibility of the Democratic party, the reputation of American ground forces, and the idealism of American foreign policy — just those principles that the critics of the war oddly claim they will be saving by fleeing.

The Trekmedic also adds:

For all the bulls**t in the Coalition of the Cut-N-Runners (the 110th Congress), and Squeaker of the Mouse Nancy Pelosi's "Six in '06" 100-hour upending of our country, the best the Dems can do is pass a "non-binding" resolution denouncing the President's 21000-strong troop surge?? WTF?? Could it be because, as was pointed out frequently to a blinded-by-Colgate smiles public back in late 2006, that the Dems HAVE NO F**KING COUNTER-OFFER (beyond the oft-repeated "Your Republican plan sucks!") for the surge and that ANY ideas proffered by the Democratic Party will, indeed, fail???

Owww-w-w-w!

The first of several salvos are already being fired in the 2008 Presidential Race.

Jonah Goldberg weighs in with this gem:


This is the new era of bipartisanship. I know this because I hear it on TV all the time, so it's got to be true. Therefore, I call on all patriotic Americans to seize this golden opportunity for real change by speaking with one clear voice to Washington:

Don't let John Kerry run again.

Yes, yes, it's true: I am biased. I have never been kind to Brahmin Lurch. After his "botched" joke suggesting that American troops are uneducated losers, I wrote that Kerry "is an awful politician, a human toothache with the charisma of a 19th-century Oxford Latin tutor." Countless readers wrote in to complain I'd been unfair to Latin tutors.

But balancing out my personal animosity is my professional self-interest. As a conservative columnist, I should want nothing more than to see Kerry whack his forehead against the concrete wall of history one more time. Why? Because attacking Kerry is always good copy. And if my North Star were the GOP's good fortune, I would light a candle every night at my Lee Atwater shrine in prayer that the Kerry baloney leap once more into the grinder. After all, he's the most beatable of Democrats. His political instincts are duller than a prison-cafeteria spork. And never in my lifetime have we seen a presidential candidate with a more thumbless grasp of the way average Americans talk or live.

Which brings me to the really salient point: Disliking John Kerry isn't just for right-wingers anymore. It's as American as apple pie. Despite enormous name recognition; despite the kind of sympathetic coverage that only alleged victims of the "Republican attack machine" get; despite constant efforts to stay in the news and a stockpile of cash from his wife and his last campaign; and despite enormously impressive hair - he is near the bottom in all the important rankings of serious candidates. And when I say near the bottom, I mean, if he claws his way up a bit, he'll be at the bottom.

In November, Kerry came in dead last in a Quinnipiac poll asking respondents whether they had warm feelings for various prominent politicians. Kerry came in around "arctic." The National Journal asked its brain trust of political insiders (consultants, graybeards, et. al.) to list their top 10 Democratic prospects for '08. Kerry came in behind Sen. Chris Dodd - and Dodd came in 10th. All Kerry got was footnote status as an also-ran.

Even more damning was the informal poll conducted by Kerry himself. The windsurfing William Jennings Bryan gathered together his team of moneymen, activists and consultants at his posh Georgetown pied-À-terre as part of his effort to get the band back together for '08. He opened the dinner conversation by asking his "loyalists" if he should run again. Normally, you'd expect Kerry's closest backers to say "yes" just out of politeness alone.

But Kerry was greeted with the sort of total silence reserved for questions that shouldn't be asked, like "Does this make me look fat?" So, according to an account in the New York Post, Kerry proceeded to tell everyone present why he should run again.

The simple fact is that John Kerry never should have gotten the nomination in 2004 anyway. He stumbled into it after tripping over the crater left behind by Howard Dean's self-destruction. Democrats figured Kerry was the most "electable," forgetting that electability is often cover for spinelessness and, in voters, is usually based on the hope that someone else will like the guy even if you don't.

Quick: Ask yourself what Kerry has accomplished after more than two decades in the Senate. Kerry himself couldn't even come up with a good answer to that. Even former Democratic National Committee chair Terry McAuliffe labels the Kerry campaign a case of "political malpractice."

In 2008, the election won't be a referendum on President Bush, and without Kerry's advantage of being "not Bush," re-nominating a dull-witted, gormless Boston aristocrat would be malpractice on the order of picking an accountant as your heart surgeon.

Democrats convinced themselves that Kerry was a war hero slandered by the Swift Boat Vets for Truth and by Karl Rove. Fine, he served honorably in Vietnam. Good for him. But he returned home to disparage the troops and the United States and build a lifelong political career, not on his service abroad, but on his protest at home.

And, of course, the Democrats can still be the antiwar party without nominating an antiwar fossil. But if the Democrats want to throw us all on that briar patch, I can assure you Lee Atwater will be smiling somewhere.


Jonah Goldberg (JonahsColumn@aol.com) is a nationally syndicated columnist.

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Again,...Who's Side Are They On???

Title co-opted from an opinion piece by US Congressman Judge Ted Poe (TX-o2)

As reported by BobG at Sweet Spirits of Ammonia, and a thousand other right-minded places, two US Border Patrolmen, Jose Campean and Ignacio Ramos, have been thrown under the bus by their very government they've sworn to uphold.

And the drug-smuggling loser who crossed our border and shot at them? He got immunity in exchange for testimony against these two heroes!

Where's the outrage?? Where IS the outrage??

A Worthy Read (Again)


Now They Call Me Infidel
Why I Renounced Jihad
for America, Israel,
and the War on Terror
By Noni Darwish


Sentinel. 258 pp. $23.95

Reviewed by Leonard Boasberg



I wasn't sure I wanted to read this book. It comes accompanied by a battery of blurbs by several right-wing luminaries, including recently (and involuntarily) retired Sen. Rick Santorum. Still, you can't always tell a book by its blurbistas, and Noni Darwish's Now They Call Me Infidel might, I say just might, indicate something astir in the Islamic world: women in rebellion.

Darwish tells the story of her journey - her hajj, as it were - from the constricted world of Islam to the open society of the West. Her father was a shahid, a martyr. Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser had chosen him to lead the first fedayeen unit to conduct guerrilla operations inside Israel, in the early 1950s. Two weeks before he was to return to Cairo, he was killed. Darwish, one of four daughters, was only 8 years old.

"As a child," Noni Darwish writes, "I was not sure what a Jew was. I had never seen one. All I knew was that they were monsters. They wanted to kill Arab children, some said, to drink their blood."

Today, some 50 years later, she writes articles and gives speeches against Arab terrorism. She has spoken to Hadassah. She is an American citizen, a Christian, and a Republican. She has visited Israel and is a passionate defender of its right to exist, and its democracy.

What happened to explain this transformation of a Muslim girl, the daughter of a shahid, raised to fear and despise Jews?

It might have had something to do with a natural against-the-grain mentality. Even as a child she could not accept "a culture that was willing to orphan its own children in its obsessive hatred of Jews."

In 1964, at 16, she became a student at the American University in Cairo, where, she writes, she obtained a new perspective - a respect for knowledge and truth that she found lacking in Muslim society. She came to America in 1978 and married her Coptic Christian boyfriend, who converted to Islam, but the marriage foundered. She remarried an American.

Darwish is unsparing in her condemnations of Islamic and Arab culture. She denounces the anti-Semitism propagated in schools, in mosques, in the Arab media and the persecution of Christians, especially Copts in Egypt. She tells of an Arab society infected by the inferior status of women, with polygamy still widespread. Marriages, she writes, are arranged between families; a girl can't even risk being seen with a boy she's not married to, lest her reputation be ruined.

If, as some assert, Islam is a religion of peace, why, Darwish asks, is teaching hatred, violence and jihad tolerated in Muslim schools? Where is the outrage over terror against civilians? Where is the outrage, in the Arab street and media as well as among Arab Americans, over such barbaric acts as the beheading of Daniel Pearl and the murder of Margaret Hassan, the British woman who for 30 years labored to help Iraqi women?

The author's own outrage at Western media is somewhat overdone. Where does she get the idea that reports are "often intertwined with messages of blaming America first" and "smearing Americans who wanted to alert the American public to jihad in America by calling them bigots and alarmists." Examples, please. None provided.

Now They Call Me Infidel is Darwish's personal story - provocative, repetitious, and not too well organized, Still, she asks some pertinent questions:

"Why is the Muslim world threatened by Israel? Why are they obsessed with hating it? What is the Muslim world afraid of? Is it afraid of Israel, or is it that they are afraid of comparing themselves with it and seeing reality?"

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Just Who's Side Are They On???

Once again,..the US gets screwed by its own Ninth Circuit Appellate Court:


SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appeals court on Tuesday threw out the sentence of a man who was convicted of plotting to bomb Los Angeles International Airport at the turn of the millennium.

Ahmed Ressam was arrested near the U.S.-Canadian border in December 1999 after customs agents found 124 pounds of explosives in the trunk of his car.

Prosecutors said he was intent on bombing the airport on the eve of the millennium. The arrest raised fears of terrorism attacks and prompted the cancellation of millennium celebrations at Seattle's Space Needle.

Click here to read the court's decision (pdf).

Ressam was sentenced to 22 years in prison after being convicted off all nine charges. On Tuesday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco reversed his conviction on one of the charges and sent the case back to a lower court to issue a new sentence and explain the rationale behind the original 22-year term.

Monday, January 15, 2007

Its Not the Heat,....

Its the stupidity,....

Someone want to explain global warming to these people:




ST. LOUIS — A storm blamed for at least 39 deaths in six states spread into the Northeast on Monday, coating trees, power lines and roads with a shell of ice up to a half-inch thick and knocking out power to more than half a million homes and businesses.

Ice-covered roads cut into Martin Luther King Jr. holiday observances from Albany, N.Y., to Fort Worth and Austin, Texas, where officials also canceled Gov. Rick Perry's inauguration parade on Tuesday because another round of ice was expected during the night.

Click here for FOXNews.com's wicked weather photo essay

The weight of the ice snapped tree limbs and took down power lines, knocking out electricity to about 135,000 customers in New York state and New Hampshire.

Even in Maine, a state well-accustomed to winter weather, a layer of sleet and snow on roads shut down businesses, day care centers and schools.

In hard-hit Missouri, the utility company Ameren said it would probably not have everyone's lights back on until Wednesday night. Overnight temperatures were expected to drop into the single digits. As of Monday afternoon, about 312,000 homes and businesses still had no electricity

Mark This Date!

Its very, very, rare that the Trekmedic agrees with a Signe Wilkinson editorial cartoon, but today's was worth it:





Unfortunately, we have the other end of the spectrum and this unbelievably misguided letter:

London safer than Philly? Could be the guns

Having recently returned from spending eight months abroad, I occasionally feel as if I'm seeing my home with an entirely new set of eyes.

I've gained a new appreciation for things I took for granted, and discovered that some things I accepted as commonplace are rather strange local or national quirks.

For example: I spent six months in London, relying entirely on public transportation, and never once felt remotely unsafe while traveling by subway or bus. Any time I saw someone carrying a weapon, the carrier was a police officer.

After having been home for about a week, I took the Speed Line into Philadelphia with a friend for a night out.

On our way home, the passenger sitting in front of us rose to leave the train as it approached a station, and proceeded to drop a handgun, which landed directly beneath my seat.

If one wanted to read a bit into this moment of reverse culture shock and gain some context for it, one could consult statistics on violent crime.

London is by leaps and bounds safer than Philadelphia, and it is nearly impossible to have a handgun there. One must explain why such a weapon is necessary.

Charlotte Gunn-Golkin

Cherry Hill

The TrekMedic ponders:

The TrekMedic guesses Ms. Golkin never heard of the term "Nanny State" before! Anywhere can be "safe," so long as you're willing to give your privacy and personal rights over to the government. They, in turn, watch your every move and make decisions about your lifestyle for you.

Some source material for you:

MI-5 (a/k/a "Spooks")

1984 (book and movie)

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Something Smells Fishy in Congress Already,...

Its Nancy Pelosi and Matt Hurley at Weapons of Mass Discussion says so:

Our good friend Bizzyblog has done some additional research into the whole TunaStench controversy we covered earlier today on WMD. It seems that Nancy's husband is heavily invested in DelMonte/Starkist.

From Bizzy:

Doing my own research, however, I’ve discovered that the impropriety is much deeper. Speaker Pelosi’s husband Paul, it turns out, owns something to the order of $17 million in Del Monte stock (noted in Wikipedia and not otherwise verified — Ed.)! I wonder if he stands to benefit should StarKist avoid an additional $2 hike in hourly wages… (actually, for the Samoans, it would be a $3.99 hike from $3.26 to $7.25 — Ed.)

Follow the money trail a little further and Speaker Pelosi may have a sympathetic accomplice in the US Senate. It turns out that the H.J. Heinz Company owns nearly 75% of Del Monte’s stock. Heinz, of course, is the company owned in large part by the H.J. Heinz family of whom Teresa Heinz is a major heir as the widow of H.J. Heinz the III, the late Senator from Pennsylvania. And who did Mrs. Heinz marry shortly after her late husband’s passing? Senator John Forbes Kerry of Massachussetts!


So, in other words, Nancy was being totally self-serving, seeking to give a firm she invests in a competitive advantage in terms of not having to pay minimum wage increases. And John Kerry's wifemeal ticket might be a huge benefactor if such a thing went unnoticed. Of course, thanks to bloggers, as well as some who still have integrity in the media, this has been outed and Pelosi has said she will see to it that the proviso she had added in will be removed and Samoa will see the same rate as the rest of the US.

However, doesn't this smell of a culture of corruption? I think so. Regardless of whether it actually went through, this is unethical behavior and should be reprimanded. I demand an investigation! Lie after lie after lie...Big Tuna (and no, I wasn't talking about the stench from Hillary's pantsuit).....Big Ketchup!

Bye! Eagles! Bye!




NEW ORLEANS - Andy Reid punted.

With his Eagles' fifth NFC championship game appearance in six years on the line, the head coach chose not to go for a first down on fourth and 15 with less than two minutes on the clock last night.

Even though, once upon a time, the Eagles won a playoff game by converting on fourth and 26.

Even though, on the previous play, Hank Baskett caught a pass that would have been good for a first down. That catch was negated by a false-start penalty on the Eagles, setting up the fourth-and-10 situation. (The first, and ONLY, false-start of the game, committed by a rookie - the Superdome "crowd noise" was a non-factor - TM)

Even though the Eagles' defense had been completely unable to stop the New Orleans Saints' offense throughout a wild divisional playoff game at the Superdome.

Reid punted and so the Saints will play in their first NFC championship game next Sunday. They continued their feel-good run under first-year head coach Sean Payton by beating the Eagles, 27-24, exactly the same score as the Saints' regular-season victory here in October.

It was a thrilling, entertaining game from start to finish, a contest played at a pitch every bit as high as the stakes. The game deserved Reid's best gamble on fourth and 15, not a white flag.

The Saints gladly took the punt and ran out the clock.

"In hindsight, I guess maybe we should have [gone for it]," Reid said, "because we didn't get the ball back. I thought we would be able to get the ball back."

"You can't put the coach in that situation, where it's fourth and 16 or whatever the yardage was," center Jamaal Jackson said. "That's an impossible position."

The Eagles only had that last chance because the Saints made their lone error of the night. They were driving toward another score and, just as important, running time off the clock, when quarterback Drew Brees' pitch went over running back Reggie Bush's head. Darren Howard, a former Saint, recovered.

This was the miracle moment. This was the chance to steal a victory. Reid banked on getting another one, and he didn't. Given the wild nature of the game, the big plays and the heroics, fourth and 15 was the best the Eagles could do.

Inside the Superdome, you could follow the action with your eyes closed. The record crowd of 70,001 rocked the building with waves of thunderous noise when the Saints were on the march. When the Eagles scored, the crowd went so silent you could almost hear live jazz from the French Quarter.

The Eagles scored on the longest run, the longest pass and the highest leap in team playoff history. During the third quarter, the Saints broke their team record for total yards in a postseason game - a record they set against the Reggie White-led Eagles in 1993.

Every time the game seemed to settle into a pattern, something happened to amaze and confound.

When it looked as if Jeff Garcia just didn't have it, he suddenly chucked a ball with all his might. It settled into the arms of wide receiver Donté Stallworth, who had gotten beyond the defense. Stallworth, traded from the Saints to the Eagles last summer, turned it into a 75-yard touchdown. He punctuated it by finding a group of fans in Stallworth's No. 18 jerseys and tossing them the football.

When it looked as if the Eagles' running game just wasn't working - they had a total of 12 yards on the ground in the first half - Brian Westbrook exploded off right tackle and kept right on going for a 62-yard touchdown. He carried the ball and Saints defensive back Josh Bullocks the final 5 yards.

It wasn't even Westbrook's most exciting run of the game. He needed about a foot to score the Eagles' second touchdown of the game. He got it by vaulting clear over his offensive line and a pair of Saints linebackers, landing 3 yards beyond the goal line.

Payton, meanwhile, deployed his array of skill players brilliantly. Even without injured veteran wide receiver Joe Horn, the Saints' offense is an embarrassment of riches.

The Eagles simply couldn't stop powerful running back Deuce McAllister. He broke long runs, running over some Eagles and dragging others. Like Westbrook, though, his most impressive run was short. McAllister scored from the 5-yard line, driving the entire pack the full distance. It may have been the slowest 5 yards ever gained.

When the Eagles did seem to stop lightning-fast Reggie Bush, he would suddenly pop out, cut to the other side of the field and disappear. Bush wiggled out of trouble for a 25-yard run in the first half. He scored the Saints' first touchdown by tearing himself loose from the Eagles' defense and sprinting around the right side.

The game was filled with big plays and great play calling.

Until the very end.

The Eagles had handled the Superdome noise superbly all game. They were not called for a single false-start penalty until the game's most important offensive play. And then it was called on guard Scott Young, who was playing only because Pro Bowl starter Shawn Andrews had injured his neck.

And the TrekMedic opines:

This was a team that was given up for dead at 5-6. With an aged back-up QB that hadn't proved his worth. And a running back left on the sidelines, twiddling his thumbs.

All-in-all, it was a hell of a ride. We can second-guess Big Red's decisons in New Orleans all we want, but then we can also say "If only we hadn't been beaten by the Giants;" "If only we hadn't been beaten by the Saints;" "If only a 63-yard field goal by a no-name kicker on a lousy Tampa Bay squad hadn't made it!"

If only,.....

Good teams overcome the "if onlies." Really good teams make it to the playoffs. Great teams make it to the big dance. We were 6-10 last year. With a few tweaks and more offensive command decisions given to Marty Morninwheg, we can become a great team next season.

Saturday, January 13, 2007

And So it Begins,...


DETROIT — The Motor City is rolling out the welcome mat and it's doing so en español.

An enclave known as Mexicantown on the city's southwest side is putting the final touches on a $17 million welcome center that will greet travelers crossing north from Canada into the United States with a warm "bienvenidos."

"We really want to dispel the myth or the stereotype that people have of Mexicanos or Mexicans, and you do that through culture, through education or edutainment," said Maria Elena Rodriguez, the president of the Mexicantown Community Development Corporation.

Friday, January 12, 2007

Everystoned Must Get Body!

Whiskey,...Tango,..Foxtrot?????



Pass the bimbo from the left-hand side,....

Quick! Someone Find a "Way-Back" Machine!

In what is quickly becoming a daily occurrence, a Democratic legislator opened her mouth and stuck her foot in it, again - this time,..straight up to the ankles!


WASHINGTON — The White House fired back Friday at Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer's verbal slap at Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, calling the California Democrat's caustic comments about Rice's family life "outrageous."

Boxer lit into Rice on Thursday with bitter diatribe during a heated line of questioning before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee looking into Iraq policies. At one point, Boxer turned to the broad question of who pays the ultimate price for war. Rice has never married and has no children.

"Who pays the price? I'm not going to pay a personal price. My kids are too old and my grandchild is too young," Boxer said. "You're not going to pay a particular price, as I understand it, with an immediate family. So who pays the price? The American military and their families."


The Trekmedic opines:

Isn't it odd that a representative of the party that promotes self-empowerment of women, even at the cost of a family life, would mock the most powerful woman in the Unites States for doing just that??

God,...can we go back to November and have a do-over?? The Republicans would win in a landslide!

WHAT?????


THE "VOICE of the African-American Community" was silenced yesterday when all employees of WHAT (1340-AM) were fired from the talk-radio station.

Inner City Broadcasting did the firing.

The company had sold the longtime staple of black issues in Philadelphia to Havertown's Marconi Broadcasting Co. for $5 million in November, as the People Paper's Jonathan Takiff reported at the time of the sale.

Marconi has not disclosed its programming plans for the station, which has been the home for decades to popular morning personality Mary Mason, who could not be reached for comment.

Mason was on air yesterday morning, as was midday host Al Butler, but at 1 p.m., as Daily News columnist Elmer Smith's show was to begin, a staff meeting was held and management informed the on-air hosts, office staff and salespeople that they were no longer needed, Smith said.

General manager Christopher Squire told employees that they could return to work today to receive their severance checks and that they were welcome to apply for jobs with Marconi for the new station, which may take over as early as today, Squire said.

Marconi CEO Tom Kelly last night said he couldn't comment on whether the format would be talk or music.

"We do plan to keep it very local," said Kelly, who also owns Kelly Music Research, which helps stations decide what to play by surveying listeners. "We're going to serve Philadelphia, not use satellite feeds from other markets.

"I wish I could tell you more but I really can't," Kelly said, declining to say whether Mason or any of the other WHAT hosts would serve a role with his new station. He did say Marconi was "putting in some new equipment in the studio in Manayunk and also improving the radio towers."

Butler had the last show on WHAT yesterday.

"I wish there would have been more of a goodbye for hosts, especially Miss Mason," he said, adding that he hopes a similar format pops up.

Tom Taylor, editor of Inside Radio, an industry newsletter, said that WHAT was ranked 29th out of 30 local stations in overall listenership in the most recent ratings book but that "the numbers don't always tell you everything."

"It wasn't big, but it was a loyal audience," Taylor said. "Mary had a longtime fan base. The station served a role in the African-American community as a distinctive voice."

Squire calls his staff "some of the most talented people working in radio today."

"We're a small radio station with incredible impact in the community," he said. "Our impact was not measurable by the numbers. WHAT got results."

Smith said there was not much reaction to the announcement. "After the sale, we all saw this coming. It's the nature of the business. It's been a great ride for me," said Smith, who has spent 14 months as afternoon host at the station.

The Trekmedic grabs for the ice-cold Jagermeister, laughs maniacally, and spews:

Its about f***ing time someone shut Mary Mason's reverse-racist, anti-Semitic mouth! If guys like Michael Smerconish, Glenn Beck or any other white talk-show host said about blacks and Jews what "Queen Mary" passed as "the truth," the FCC would have pulled WPHT's license years ago!

"Nuff said!

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Maybe a Little Less Philliness....?

Fumo told he's target of probe

The Phila. Democrat was warned last summer that he may be indicted. Charges could be nearing.

By John Shiffman, Mario F. Cattabiani and Craig R. McCoy
Inquirer Staff Writers

Federal prosecutors last year sent a formal warning to State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo that he may be indicted, according to sources familiar with the investigation.

The issuance of a so-called target letter from prosecutors to Fumo, one of Pennsylvania's most powerful politicians, is a significant milestone in the four-year investigation, which appears to be in its final stages.

The target letter was sent to Fumo last summer, around the time two of his computer aides were charged with destroying evidence to thwart the investigation, sources said. The Inquirer learned of the letter this month. A lawyer for Fumo yesterday declined to comment.

Typically, prosecutors send target letters to people who are likely to be charged, as a warning and as an invitation to testify before the grand jury. It's an offer that the targets usually refuse.

"It is the rare case, in my experience, that you can talk a prosecutor out of charges once a target letter is issued," said Lawrence S. Lustberg, a Newark lawyer who defended one of the Commerce Bank executives convicted in the 2005 City Hall corruption trial.

However, the delivery of a target letter, part of a secret grand jury process, is no guarantee that charges will be filed.

Before prosecutors present a potential indictment in such a high-profile case, they often consult with senior Justice Department officials in Washington. Also in such cases, defense attorneys are likely to be afforded the opportunity to meet with top officials, including U.S. Attorney Patrick L. Meehan.

The Fumo investigation is focused on whether Fumo used funds from a multimillion-dollar South Philadelphia charity for personal or political benefit - and whether Fumo and staffers destroyed evidence to try to thwart the FBI.

Again,..the Question Becomes,...

This is What the Majority Wanted??





HT to Wyatt at Support Your Local Gunfighter for this Gem:

Today we honor an idiot of the highest order. The capo de tuti capi of nerds everywhere. I give you Representative David Wu (D-ORk)

"This president has listened to some people, the so-called Vulcans in the White House, the ideologues. But you know, unlike the Vulcans of Star Trek who made the decisions based on logic and fact, these guys make it on ideology. These aren’t Vulcans. There are Klingons in the White House. But unlike the real Klingons of Star Trek, these Klingons have never fought a battle of their own. Don't let faux Klingons send real Americans to war." (H/T - Rush)

Justa Reminder,...

Some of the BS we paramedics face every day:

A Voice of Sanity in the Leftist MSM

The Trekmedic normally doesn't waste the $0.50 each day on the Inkwaster anymore. But occasionally, pearls like this letter to the editors shows up:

Bush like Lincoln

Is it possible that editorial cartoonist Tony Auth, always anxious to paint our president in the worst possible light, is unaware that Abraham Lincoln would undoubtedly applaud George Bush's resolve in the face of relentless and vicious attacks from the opposition party and a compliant one-party media?

These were exactly the circumstances facing Lincoln during the Civil War when things weren't going well for the North. Instead of caving, the politically expedient course, Lincoln showed courage and wisdom in firing his ineffective generals and pursuing his convictions - just as George Bush is doing.

There's no way to know whether the results of this president's resolve will be as salutary as was Lincoln's, but Bush would be wise to ignore snipings from the usual arm-chair, peanut-gallery pacifists at a time when a major show of strength is called for.

John de Carville

North Coventry

lecomtedec@yahoo.com


The TrekMedic tips his hat to you, Mr. deCarville!

Fools,...Money,..Soon to be Parted


SAN FRANCISCO — Apple Computer (AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs on Tuesday made the company's long-awaited jump into the mobile phone business and renamed the company to just "Apple Inc.," reflecting its increasing focus on consumer electronics.

The iPhone, which starts at $499, is controlled by touch, plays music, surfs the Internet and runs the Mac OS X computer operating system.

Jobs said it will "reinvent" the telecommunications sector and "leapfrog" past the current generation of hard-to-use smart phones.

Monday, January 08, 2007

Separated at Birth??

Our Defenses are Being Tested,...

So says BobG at Sweet Spirits of Ammonia, and the TrekMedic agrees:

Here's a little more on that story about the routing of the National Guard in Arizona by what seems to have been armed aliens.

The Border Patrol is trying to determine who these men were and what they were doing. The Guard outpost in question sits on a hillside overlooking the border. The Washington Times reports that some agents believe the incursion may have been made to find out what the Guard troops would do if they were confronted by drug or alien smugglers. The paper quotes a veteran agent as saying, "I guess they got their answer. When in doubt, the troops will run."

That is so sad. According to the Times, earlier this year several Border Patrol agents said they had been assigned to guard National Guard personnel, given standing orders to be within five minutes of the troops deployed along the border. The agents, who referred to the assignment as "the nanny patrol," said most of the Guard troops are not allowed to carry loaded weapons, despite a significant increase in violence directed at Border Patrol agents during the past year.

The deployment of unarmed cooks and mechanics by the National Guard has done nothing to help secure our borders and protect us from terrorism. Bush and the rest of the government, both Republican and Democrat have made a mockery of the sovereignty of this nation. From the Guard all the way up to the President the response to the attacks on America seems to be running away. Why are we worrying about Iraq, Iran and Korea when we cannot and will not defend our own homeland.

And the Arizonan border isn't the only pinprick against our defenses:




MIAMI — A suspicious device was found Monday at the Port of Miami, and later detonated, according to officials.

Officials later gave the "all clear" sign for the area.

A spokesman for the Miami-Dade Police said the bomb squad located some sort of instrument that tested positive for C-4 — a type of plastic explosive. After the detonation, it was discovered the package turned out to be sprinkler parts for renovations aboard Royal Caribbean's Majesty of the Seas cruise ship, which was docked at the port.

The ship and its 2,356 guests and 812-member crew is scheduled to leave Monday night for five days.

WSVN also reported that flight restrictions were placed over Port of Miami for a time.

(Why would sprinkler parts test positive for C-4? And sprinkler parts?? The TrekMedic doesn't traffic in conspiracy theories or paranoia, but,...)


As well as this:


MIAMI — A judge Monday dropped all charges against three Middle Eastern men whose miscommunication with guards at the Port of Miami had sparked a terrorism scare.

Officials initially said that the three men were caught trying to slip past a security checkpoint in a cargo truck on Sunday and that the driver had said he was alone. Federal investigators and a bomb squad were called in, and authorities eventually determined the freight was harmless.

Even though Miami-Dade Police said the problem was a miscommunication, driver Amar Al Hadad, 28, was still charged with resisting an officer without violence, and his passengers, Hussain Al Hadad, 24, and Hassan El Sayed, 20, were charged with trespassing.

Court records show a judge dismissed all the charges on Monday and the men were released.

The three are permanent U.S. residents from Iraq and Lebanon who live in Dearborn, Mich.

Miami-Dade County police declined to comment on the judge's decision. Authorities said no federal charges were expected.

The scare started when a port security officer became suspicious because the truck's driver couldn't produce proper paperwork during a routine inspection to enter the port Sunday morning, said Miami-Dade police spokeswoman Nancy Goldberg.


"Harmless freight" means the whole thing was a test to see if our ports' security was actually doing its job.

Semper Vigilis is the watchword, folks!

What's in a Name?

Was it the Judean People's Front, or the People's Front of Judea?

Either way, Yasser Arafat was behind it all:


Time for world to admit it was duped to the tune of billions of dollars


http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Yasser Arafat was a master of the big lie. Since he invented global terrorism with the founding of the Fatah terror organization in 1959, Arafat successfully portrayed himself as a freedom fighter while introducing the world to passenger jet hijackings, schoolhouse massacres and embassy takeovers.


To cultivate the myth of his innocence Arafat ordered his Fatah terror cells to operate under pseudonyms. In the early 1970's he renamed several Fatah murder squads the Black September Organization while publicly claiming that they were "breakaway" units completely unrelated to Fatah or to himself.


The article is fairly long and damning of Arafat's duplicity. Read it for yourself in its entirety.

And HT to John Galt at ThreeSources for the original posting.