Let's Celebrate Iraqi Liberation Day

When my son, Michael, left for Iraq, America was united in our determination to defeat the terrorists. We all supported the mission. Sadly, some Americans - fueled by a steady diet of media negativism - seem to have lost our resolve. Michael died on January 24, 2005 fighting for a cause he believed in. I know for a fact that he believed the cause was honorable because he told me so when he wrote a personal credo that explained, "I want to carve out a niche for myself in the history books. I want to be remembered for the things I accomplished. I sometimes dream of being a soldier in a war. In this war I am helping to liberate people from oppression. In the end there is a big parade and a monument to immortalize us in stone. Other times I envision being a man you see out of the corner of your eye, dressed in black fatigues, entering a building full of terrorists. After everything is completed I slip out the back only to repeat this the next time that I am called. I might not be remembered in that scenario, but I will have helped people."
The mainstream media may have lost faith in the mission, but I haven't forgotten that Michael - who's friends called him Shrek - died to "liberate people from oppression."
I am hopeful that the media will use Iraqi Liberation Day on April 9th to remember all of the good things Michael and our troops have done in Iraq.

I believe that if enough of us join together and speak out we can make sure that our servicemen and women abroad today know just how much we support them and their mission. Please visit http://ga3.org/ct/4pSC78p19X53/ and forward this letter to your friends; April 9th is just around the corner, so please act now.
Sincerely,
Merrilee Carlson, Shrek's Mom
Gold Star Mother and Chair of Minnesota Families United
St. Paul, Minnesota

The Laugh is on CNN

It's 6:34 pm CST out here in "fly-over land" and I just watched the most ridiculous report on CNN that probably has EVER broadcast over television (or probably any other media).

It seems William Buckley said that Hillary Clinton is a "political phenomenon." CNN interprets that as praise and did a whole 5-minutes on Buckley praising Clinton. Anyone who understands the English language, however, and who knows Bill Buckley (as CNN should since he's been around longer that CNN has) understands exactly what Buckley meant by that comment.

According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a phenomenon is 1. an observable event (nothing remarkable there -- everyone knows who the senator from New York, ex-first lady -- well, maybe not a lady in the true sense of the word -- is). Definition #2 says a phenomenon has to do with sensory perception and is therefore not applicable in any sense here. Definition #3 (which is obviously what Buckley meant) is that it is a rare or significant fact or event.

The first woman in history running a serious campaign for President of the United States quite obviously fits that last definition. And there is no praise for her in that statement, nor is there criticism. Most certainly it's not a comment worthy of an entire feature implying that Buckley supports Clinton's candidacy or that he said anything nice about her at all.

Truth is, the statement was pure pablum. Neither criticism nor praise.

I'm glad Buckley got the attention, though. I'm sure he's used to that kind of sheer stupidity (Wolf Blitzer certainly is not one of the nation's greatest intellects by a long shot) and I imagine he's rather amused at it.

Meanwhile, it gave his fans a chance to see that, in his 80s, he's still around and doing great. And it gives us a good laugh at CNN's expense.

I Don't Care, I Don't Care. . .

The following letter is Pam Foster of Pamela Foster and Associates in Atlanta. She's been in business since 1980 doing interior design and home planning. She recently wrote a letter to a family member serving in Iraq Read it!

WHAT'S ALL THE FUSS?

"Are we fighting a war on terror or aren't we? Was it or was it not started by Islamic people who brought it to our shores on September 11.2001? Were people from all over the world, mostly Americans, not brutally murdered that day, in downtown Manhattan, across the Potomac from our nation's capitol and in a field in Pennsylvania? Did nearly three thousand men, women and children die a horrible, burning or crushing death that day, or didn't they?

And I'm supposed to care that a copy of the Koran was "desecrated" when an overworked American soldier kicked it or got it wet? Well, I don't. I don't care at all.

I'll start caring when Osama bin Laden turns himself in and repents for incinerating all those innocent people on 9/11.

I'll care about the Koran when the fanatics in the Middle East start caring about the Holy Bible, the mere possession of which is a crime in Saudi Arabia.

I'll care when Abu Musab al-Zarqawi tells the world he is sorry for hacking off Nick Berg's head while Berg screamed through his gurgling, slashed throat.

I'll care when the cowardly so-called "insurgents" in Iraq come out and fight like men instead of disrespecting their own religion by hiding in mosques.

I'll care when the mindless zealots who blow themselves up in search of nirvana care about the innocent children within range of their suicide bombs.

I'll care when the American media stops pretending that their First Amendment liberties are somehow derived from international law instead of the United States Constitution's Bill of Rights.

In the meantime, when I hear a story about a brave marine roughing up an Iraqi terrorist to obtain information, know this: I don't care.

When I see a fuzzy photo of a pile of naked Iraqi prisoners who have been humiliated in what amounts to a college hazing incident, rest assured that I don't care.

When I see a wounded terrorist get shot in the head when he is told not to move because he might be booby-trapped, you can take it to the bank that I don't care.

When I hear that a prisoner, who was issued a Koran and a prayer mat, and fed "special" food that is paid for by my tax dollars, is complaining that his holy book is being "mishandled," you can absolutely believe in your heart of hearts that I don't care.

And oh, by the way, I've noticed that sometimes it's spelled "Koran" and other times "Quran." Well, Jimmy Crack Corn and -- you guessed it, I could not have said this any better myself! I DON'T CARE!

And I don't care whether this is a real letter or not; or whether there is such a person as Pam Foster and her design company. I DO care that someone wrote this and I agree with every word.

I also don't care what Europeans think of us -- not one little bit. They've never liked us, so why should I care what they think?

I don't care what Cindy Sheehan says or does and I don't feel sorry for her. Her son volunteered to serve; if she chooses not to honor his service, that's her problem. I'm a grieving mother, too, but I'll be darned if I'll use that grief to garner pity for myself and destruction for the Middle East.

I don't care that the French hate us. My Father served in France in WWI and came home with an intense dislike of the French -- so intense that he discouraged me from traveling in that country and couldn't understand why I would want to learn the language. It took me a while do discover that, indeed, Father Knows Best.

I don't care about the Democratic Party. Although I've worked for Republicans most of the time throughout my adulthood (mainly because as a group they are more intellectual and nicer people to be with), I have voted for Democrats. They have made such political fools of themselves lately though, with their lies and half-truths and frantic attempts to destroy efforts to pass worthy legislation that I suspect I've become a "yellow dog" Republican.

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE 1930s, 40s, and 50s

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us.

They took aspirin (and gave it to us), ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.

Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because......

WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned

HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

And YOU are one of them!

CONGRATULATIONS!

All this was probably possible for my generation because the grownups were too busy fighting and winning a war against terror -- WWII. They concentrated on it, sacrificed for it and it never occurred to them to whine like babies and cowards and Cindy Sheehan.

Let's face it -- they were a better generation than we -- a generation who .

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!

The Difference Between Republicans and Democrats

From "Issues in Kansas" by Lance Kinser

For those of us who spend a good part of our time and energy engaged in
the political life of our state and nation the apparent apathy of some
toward all things political can at times be a source of frustration.
While there are numerous reasons that people recoil from political
involvement one significant factor is the sense that such involvement
has no real connection to day to day life. Indeed, there is a feeling
among many that no matter who is elected, be they Republican or
Democrat, things will pretty much go on as they always have because at
root all political parties, and by extension all politicians, are
largely the same.

With this in mind one of the chief tasks of those who are politically
active must be to articulate the reasons why politics matter. From my
perspective as a Republican this includes helping to uncover the core
presuppositions that distinguish us from Democrats. Of course with any
entity as large and diverse as political parties, hard and fast rules
are difficult to apply. That having been said it is my belief that one
core distinction that makes a difference between Republicans and
Democrats is a differing understanding of the concept of community. The
desire for community is common to the human race; we all desire the
sense of purpose, membership and continuity that comes from living in
community.

The crucial question from a political perspective is where we go to
find the source of community. In my experience the different ways in which
Republicans and Democrats tend to answer this question marks a
significant point of distinction between the parties. In particular
Democrats are inclined to follow any mention of the term community with
a discussion of the importance of the role of government as the focal
point for community action and identity. In taking this approach
Democrats have infused the State with roles and responsibilities once
inherent to families, churches and voluntary associations. For
Republicans community is the product of deeply enmeshed bonds of
interpersonal connection that develop naturally within society from the
bottom up. From this perspective the role of government, while vital,
is also limited. A crucial aspect of this limitedness stems from the
fact that true community can not be imposed from the top down.

These differing perspectives on the nature of community have
significant practical importance. In particular, the 'Republican" view of
community provides policy makers with a natural check against the fallacy that
every good idea can be made better by turning it into a government
program. Rather, Republicans understand that community building
institutions must be left to operate with substantial freedom within
their proper spheres, less they become brittle and anemic. Even the
best intentioned government actions can have negative social impact if
they serve to hobble the bonds of true community that are so necessary
to a vigorous, diverse and humane social order.

The differences that matter most between Republicans and Democrats are
then quite fundamental. They involve a different conception not merely
of mundane political questions, but of the very role and purpose of
government and its connection to those institutions most necessary to
nurturing a life well lived.

The 3/5 in Iraq

My dear cousin Ben is serving with the Marines in Iraq -- his third tour of duty there since the war bagan. Here's an article published about his unit The story is by Cpl. Mark Sixbey

CAMP MERCURY, Iraq(March 28, 2006) -- Marines with 3rd Civil Affairs Group joined with Marines here carrying a few items not normally seen in a Marines’ gear bag. Take for example, cute, cuddly, soft stuffed animals.

The Marines aren’t lacking discipline, though. They’re taking their mission to the kids in Fallujah, the first project since they arrived here recently.

The 3rd Civil Affairs Group, Detachment 2, Team 3, hit the ground running when they attached to 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment by delivering school supplies and toys to the Al Ahid School in the town of Zawia March 27.

“It’s nice to get out and see the school and the kids excited to see us,” said Lt. Col. Dan Tripp, a 39-year-old 3rd CAG governance officer from Milwaukee. “It’s very rewarding work, not like the stuff you see on the news.”

The team assumed responsibility for several projects started by the last CAG team, as well as planning new contracts for various water, road, medical and school projects in the area. The mission today, however, was delivering support from American benefactors to children in one of Fallujah’s poorest neighborhoods.

“I feel it was a huge success,” said Cpl. Erik Deleon, a civil affairs noncommissioned officer. “It’s good helping out the kids who are less fortunate.”

Scott Clark, a teacher at Gibraltar High School in Fish Creek, Wis. coordinated the drive to collect school supplies from the community to send to children in Iraq.

“It started out as a class project, then the whole community got involved,” said Maj. Julie Schaeffer, the departing director of the Fallujah Civil Military Operations Center and resident of Sister Bay, Wis. “It’s awesome, the support we get from back home to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people.”

Altogether, Fish Creek residents filled 55 boxes with new clothes, beanbag stuffed animals, jump ropes, candy, notebooks, pencils, markers, safety scissors, paper, folders, tape, glue and staplers mailed them to Iraq. A short while later the Iraqi children were lined up to receive their gifts. Each one of them wore a smile in anticipation.

The now-departed 6th Civil Affairs Group, Detachment 4, Team 3 visited the Al Ahid school several times during their months with Darkhorse, contracting nearly $30,000 to refurbish the school’s wiring, exterior and windows. They later contracted a 10,000-gallon water tank to give the students fresh drinking water.

Capt. J.R. Rinaldi, the battalion’s civil affairs team leader said the unit “has a long and glorious history as one of the premiere battalions in the Marine Corps. I feel proud to be a part of the … mission, to contribute to the fight any way I can.”

Deleon volunteered for his second tour in Iraq to join the civil affairs mission, like many of the Marines of 3rd CAG.

“I felt in my first deployment I didn’t contribute enough,” said the 25-year-old from Blue Springs, Mo. “When I found out what 3rd CAG was about, how it’s a different kind of mission, I thought it was great. I’m definitely glad to be here.”

“It’s rewarding to us as Marines to see we can make a difference in the lives of children,” added Rinaldi, from Vancouver, Wash. --end--

I find it utterly hilarious that the Dems and the media fault Republicans and Conservatives for complaining about the mainstream media. The above report is a primary example of one reason those complaints are very much in order and most appropriate. We haven't seen this kind of thing on CNN and the network news. Even Fox is lax in this respect.

Does no one care about the truth anymore?

Amnesty, No

This is what protestors did to the flagpole at Montebello High (Calif.) flagpole. Why should we give amnesty to those who have no respect for our laws and our country?

This closed and settled the discussion for me. Go home, illegals. Stay there.

To put the Bush presidency in perspective

By Jack Cashill

To put the Bush presidency in perspective, one need only reflect back on the state of the world in the year 2000.

On Easter Saturday of that year, the Clinton Justice Department displayed its zeal for civil liberties by seizing Elian Gonzalez at gunpoint and shipping the boy back to Castro.

Beginning in May 2000, Nasdaq tanked harder than any major American market ever – yes, including the stock market crash of 1929.

In June 2000, Mohamed Atta casually entered the United States and began plotting his evil mischief.

In June 2000, California endured the first of its rolling blackouts. That same June the World Bank paid off Enron for still another Clinton-Enron deal gone sour, this one in Java.

In September of 2000, Palestinians turned thumbs down on Pax Clintonia and launched an intifada. In October 2000, al-Qaida blew up the U.S.S. Cole in Yemen, once again with impunity.

In January 2001, President Clinton put the cherry on his eight-year sundae of corruption by pardoning fugitive Marc Rich and a host of other scalawags. So outrageous were the pardons that they moved even Sen. Chuck Schumer to denounce them as a "mockery" of justice. Six weeks later, the United States lapsed into recession.

This was the Washington that George Bush inherited – minus, of course, the "Ws" on White House keypads, spitefully snatched by the outgoing administration. Needless to say, the events of September 11 almost unraveled an economy already under siege.

What turned the economy around were two factors above all others. The first, economists describe as "a stimulative fiscal policy." In English, this translates into "the Bush tax cuts." These semantics allow the media to deny credit where credit is due, but there is no denying 16 consecutive quarters of solid growth, an average unemployment rate lower than that of Clinton's first five years and a current Economic Freedom Index better than any year in the Clinton era.

The second and perhaps even more important factor is security. Four and a half years after September 11, the United States has not suffered a terrorist attack of consequence anywhere in the world save for the battlegrounds of Iraq and Afghanistan. There has been no Mogadishu, no Oklahoma City, no Riyadh, no Khobar Towers, no TWA Flight 800, no Olympic Park, no Embassy bombings and no U.S.S. Cole. In the fall of 2001, who would have thought this possible? Not I.

I know this could all end tomorrow, but in the meantime, does not someone somewhere in the government deserve at least some credit? The Bush administration could not have even entertained the Dubai deal had not the United States become more secure. Nor would the Democrats have bothered with Dubai if they had had a handy terrorist attack they could blame on the Bush administration.

The claim that such success was accomplished at the expense of our civil rights flirts with self-parody. When people who turned a blind eye at Waco and cheered the use of RICO statutes to silence abortion dissent can only complain that their library books might be monitored, one understands just how free this country is. Indeed, in any less civil time or place, treasonous frauds like Michael Moore and Noam Chomsky would be hanging from a lamp pole.

Lacking a blameworthy attack on America or its liberties, the Democrats and their media allies have had to scrounge for anything they could find: a port deal, a hurricane, a rogue lobbyist, an impolitic leak, a common-sense surveillance strategy, all of which would have passed unnoticed in the deeply troubled years of 1993-2001 when rogue lobbyists came not from K Street but from Bejing.

Still, for all this felicitous transformation, I did not initially support Bush in the 2000 primaries. I have always been suspicious of "compassion" in the hands of the state. The more compassionate the government, the more likely it is to mete out its largesse in five-year plans and measure its impact in body counts.

Still, the choice in the general election was not between George Bush and Ron Paul. It was between George Bush and Al Gore, and later John Kerry. Given the choices, I posted yard signs both times. The president has never gotten credit for holding all of us in the fractious Republican coalition together. No other Republican could have beaten Al Gore in 2000.

So, despite Medicaid drug plans and No Child Left Behind, an undisciplined budget and a wobbly border policy, I do not feel "betrayed" by the president. I wasn't promised Reaganomics and didn't expect it. The Bush policy, for all its flaws, is part of his sincerely Christian character. That character has also helped him to endure the most relentless slander any president has faced since Lincoln, and to his credit, he has done so with surprising grace.


As history will duly record, the Democrats haven't behaved this badly since the Civil War. The steady document drip from Iraq may be undercutting the "Bush lied" libel, but it is only aggravating their frustrations. Indeed, if Iraq turned into Iowa tomorrow, and al-Qaida converted en masse to Unitarianism, they would not abandon their rage. They have too much emotional equity invested to let it go.

In the absence of power or a worthwhile cause, spite and paranoia are just about all that our progressive friends have to amuse themselves. As is evident – "V for Vendetta," anyone? – they have the means to communicate both. If their propaganda goes unanswered, as Lenin reminds us, it becomes the truth.

We know that it's not, and we should say so. Loudly. George W. Bush may not be Ronald Reagan, but Washington is such that not even Ronald Reagan could always be Ronald Reagan.

The president's truly impressive resolve in the war on jihadism, his steady defense of traditional values, his tax cuts, his appointment of Judges like Alito and Roberts, and his restoration of decency to the White House deserve something better than what we've been giving.

Prayer Request

Please take a moment to pray for this man. He wears shoes few of us are called to wear. He is brutally criticized at every turn. Although he is prayerfully doing his best, few recognize this and even fewer have thanked him.

Few know the extent of the burden he bears; and this is as it should be. He needs to know far more than anyone else in the world and must make decisions based on information the rest of us should NOT know.

Thank God that he is a praying man, and pray that God continues to give him the guidance he needs to do his job effectively.

Pray that he knows the sympathy and support that reasonable people send to him and that he feels the comfort of our prayers.

"Blessed are you when men shall revile you, and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you, for my sake."

God Bless You, Mr. President.

FairTax Tidbit

I heard on the Neal Boortz radio show recently that Congressman John Linder was told (I'm not sure who it was, the CEO or other ranking corporate official of an unnamed national retail outlet) that if the FairTax is ever passed, they would begin advertising that they would reduce their prices by 22% on January 1, the day that the FairTax goes into effect.

Now, I don't know what national retail coporation this was, but let's play a little game here. If, for example, Wal-Mart, were to announce that they were reducing prices by 22%, do you think that it's competitors would continue to charge the same prices they are currently charging? Hardly. It's called competition, it's part of capitalism and free-trade and it's a good thing.

Seven states do not have a state income tax. They operate on a state sales tax and it works. I know this to be true because my state of Florida works under a state sales tax - there is no state income tax. And it works so well that Governor Bush wants to give every homeowner in the state a $100 bonus this year. It's being debated; some want to put the money back into the state in the form of roads and infrastructure. Perhaps a noble endeavor, but I think the state would be better off giving me $100 than putting it into a highway project.

I don't know about you, but if I got an extra $100 I would spend it. It would go back into the economy and generate more revenue for the State. Yes, fixing the roads is a good thing, but it won't return money to the State coffers like giving it to the citizens would. You see, chances are I won't spend just $100 at (name the retailer of your choice). More than likely, I would spend another $50 to $100 or more.

During the tax holidays (hurricane preparation items and back-to-school), the state makes money. Not on those items that are excluded from taxes during that period, but on items that are not exempted. Have you ever gone to a store and bought exactly what you planned and no more? Sure it happens, but I believe it's rare.

So the bottom line, as far as I'm concerned: FairTax? It's a good thing.
by Deborah Carlock