Counter Surge?

In a surge movement that runs almost exactly counter to the strategy which the Obama-Biden ticket ardently argued they would employ in Afghanistan, because they argued that a surge similar to that employed in Iraq would not work, U.S. troops in Afghanistan are set to reach the same levels as that in the Iraqi surge, while operating under similar principles. (I don’t have time to dig up the old footage, but in addition to Obama continuing to put down the Iraqi surge and arguing that a different strategy was needed in Afghanistan, I distinctly remember one Joe Biden chiding Palin in their VP debate for supporting the use of “surge principles” in Afghanistan because certain “experts” said it would not work.)

 

Well, get a load of this: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/02/world/asia/02afghan.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

 

Like many of his policy measures, Obama is of course refusing to admit that he is doing exactly what he said he would not do – in other words, Obama refuses to refer to the current administration’s Afghan strategy as a “surge,” but the facts of the operations on the ground reveal otherwise.

 

As an aside, I would note that our beloved Marine Corps is once again leading the charge in this current operation. Semper Fi.

We are starting to read "The First Four Years"

Some of their homesteads are still standing! We checked out their website!

A LETTER FROM LAURA... Dear Children,I was born in the "Little House in the Big Woods" of Wisconsin on February 7 in the year 1867. I lived everything that happened in my books. It was a long story, filled with sunshine and shadow, that we have lived since "These Happy Golden Years." After our marriage Almanzo and I lived for a little while in the little gray house on the tree claim. In the year 1894 we and our little daughter Rose left Dakota in a covered wagon and moved to a farm in the Ozarks. We cleared the land and built our own farmhouse. Eventually we had 200 acres of improved land, and a herd of cows, good hogs, and the best laying flock of hens in the country. For many years we did all our own work, but now almost all of the land has been rented or sold. For recreation we used to ride horseback or in our buggy - later on, our Chrysler. We read and played music and attended church socials. In 1949 Almanzo died at the age of 92. We had been married 63 years. Our daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, the novelist, now lives in Connecticut. You may be interested to know what happened to some of the other people you met in my books. Ma and Pa lived for a while on their homestead then moved into town where Pa did carpentry. After Mary graduated from the College for the Blind she lived at home. She was always cheerful and busy with her work, her books and music. Carrie worked for THE DE SMET NEWS for a while after finishing high school, and then she married a mine owner and moved to the Black Hills. Grace married a farmer and lived a few miles outside DeSmet. All of them have been dead for some years now. Several years before Almanzo's death he and I took a trip back to DeSmet for a reunion with our old friends. Many of the old buildings had been replaced. Everywhere we went we recognized faces, but we were always surprised to find them old and gray like ourselves, instead of being young as in our memories. There is one thing that will always remain the same to remind people of little Laura's days on the prairie, and that is Pa's fiddle. Every year at a public concert, someone plays on it the songs Pa used to play. The "Little House" books are stories of long ago. Today our way of living and our schools are much different; so many things have made living and learning easier. But the real things haven't changed. It is still best to be honest and truthful; to make the most of what we have; to be happy with the simple pleasures and to be cheerful and have courage when things go wrong. Great improvements in living have been made because every American has always been free to pursue his happiness, and so long as Americans are free they will continue to make our country ever more wonderful.
With love to you all and best wishes for your happiness, I am Sincerely your friend,
Laura Ingalls Wilder

PS Our children said when they die, they want to meet Laura and Almanzo. Me too! : )

Palin biggest threat to Obama?

I’m not a big Palin fan, but this article does provide an interesting viewpoint…

 

http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/06/sarah_palin_the_21st_century_i.html

 

 

Letter to my Senators: Please Vote NO on S.909, the federal "Hate Crimes" bill

Perhaps you have heard about this bill. Already passed by the House of Representatives, this bill would make members of the LGBT community a federally protected class. It is an unconstitutional attempt to stifle open opposition to the gay lifestyle, and is ultimately another step in this administration’s goal to enshrine a perverse lifestyle in federal garb, and to force acceptance of such by all citizens.

 

I am a little behind time with my letter, as the Senate is likely to vote on this soon. Here is the letter I sent to my Senators. Perhaps you may want to write to your as well.

 

Dear Senator,

 

I am writing to ask that you please VOTE NO on S.909, the so called "hate crimes" legislation.

 

This legislation is nothing more than an attempt to federalize unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination across the United States, and is another step designed to force acceptance of a perverse lifestyle upon all U.S. Citizens, all under the banner of federal law.

 

Violent crimes are already severely punishable in all 50 states. Legislators or special interest groups who attempt to circumvent the 10th Amendment BAR to such vicious legislation do so without any real proof that such crimes are not already prosecuted to the full extent of the law, or that such extents of the law fail to reach far enough.

 

To claim that sexual "orientation" requires special protection or ought to be a congressionally mandated suspect class is a travesty of justice and logic, and is an affront to the intelligence of the average American.

 

That the House of Representatives has already succumbed to this socially engineered nonsense frankly scares the heck out of me, and I hope and pray that I can count on my U.S. Senators to act with some intelligence and maturity in refusing to pass this nonsensical, unconstitutional drivel that is designed, not for protection, but instead is designed to attack and undermine the moral values upon which this country was built.

 

The moral foundations of this society are eroded enough. Enshrining the consistent dribbling of such acid upon our moral footings in federal law is dangerous and irresponsible. Please VOTE NO on S.909.

 

Sincerely,

 

Clifford A. Arthur

Good books! & Good insight!

As our family reading book we have been reading "the little house on the prarie" series. I have really enjoyed them! and my children have really enjoyed them also! : )

We have been reading "Farmer Boy". Which is the third book in the series. It gives such good insight of how it was back in the 1870's and 1880's. I would like to share one of my favorite quotes... "Haste makes waste, but a lazy man'd rather get his work done fast than do it himself. ... All it saves is time, son. And what good is time, with nothing to do?"

I have been thinking about that quote and our daily tasks, ie: loading and unloading the dishwasher, etc. If I would just wash the dishes I could use them right away versus if i put them in the dishwasher I have to wait for three hours before they are done.

The other thing I have thought about in this book is that the cobbler (shoe maker) would come to your house and stay with you and make you shoes to fit your foot perfectly or the school teacher would live with each of the students families for two weeks and rotate through the whole class. Then the term would be over. It was a different lifestyle. But I like it more than our disconnected society now. I don't even see my neighbors and they are just a hop skip and a jump away.

How to use unwanted fabric : )

I have been wrestling with what to do with immodest clothing that is given to us. Which is normally girls clothes. : (

Sometimes, if there is enough fabric, I am able to alter them and make them into something modest. But if I couldn't alter them. I didn't feel right passing it on to someone else. Nor did I feel right in donating them or destroying them.

But finally I was given insight to make a quilt with them! I will post pictures when I complete it.

A Russian Perspective on World Events

I don’t agree with everything this cat says, but he is thought provoking…

 

http://mat-rodina.blogspot.com/

 

 

California Supreme Court Upholds State Constitutional Same Sex Marriage Ban

Sort of…

 

Apparently the amendment was legally sufficient, but the 18,000 same sex “marriages” that occurred between the time California courts struck down the previous statutory same sex marriage ban and the time the State Constitutional Marriage Amendment was passed remain valid. Huh?

 

While many may see this as a sign that the California courts finally got something right, what has really happened here is the planting of the seeds for the eventual popular overturning of prop eight. No way would the California Supreme Court ever have the guts to strike down the State Amendment, even though its substance would purportedly violate the “reasoning” (and I use the term loosely) upon which the earlier statutory ban was struck down (the court at that time relied primarily on the U.S. Supreme Court case of Texas v. Lawrence, which heinously struck down Texas’ sodomy laws). What the California court did have the guts to do was uphold those 18,000 marriages that occurred in the interim.

 

Unless Californians find a way to invalidate those purported “marriages” as well, I give the state no more than 5 years before prop 8 is overturned by popular vote. The reason is simple. Homosexuals in California, although temporarily stupefied by their own hatred and intolerance, are not stupid. They’re simply passionate about wanting to force their lifestyle on the rest of society. Here is what will happen now, they will lie low for a few months, and then they will slowly and quietly begin a subtle marketing campaign that can be explained in one simple statement: “See, our marriage does not affect you.” They will patiently and quietly run this campaign until the polls reflect a societal acceptance great enough to overturn prop 8. Then, and only then, will they seek to exert their influence to force acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle on the rest of California. That is when things will finally get “ugly,” for those who understand the essential nature of and support true marriage, but by then it will be too late because the majority of Californians will have already become blind to the danger.

 

Sounds a bit apocalyptic, I know. Probably sounded a bit that way to the residents of Sodom and Gomorrah as well. 5 years. Unless Californians are vigilant, I give it five years.

Race and Gender and the U.S. Supreme Court Bench

Just a quick thought on Obama’s recent nomination of a Hispanic female to the U.S. Supreme Court. Every article I see and every string of comments I see about this on the web includes some comment about the historic nature of appointing the first Latino and the third ever woman to the U.S. Supreme Court. I even noticed one article titled “Latinos Rejoice in Sotomayor Nomination.” available at http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/.

 

Excitement over the race and gender of a Supreme Court nominee is all well and good, but how about a balanced dialogue about her qualifications and her approach to the role of a judge in the American Common Law system – particularly about her understanding of the role of the judiciary in interpreting and applying the U.S. Constitution?

 

Contrary to President Obama’s misguided rhetoric, those qualifications do not and should not have anything to do with the current nominee’s “compassion” and “feelings” – two words with dangerously variable interpretations and applications that have nothing to do with interpreting and applying the U.S. Constitution, and everything to do with individual perspective and preference. Of course, Judge Sotomayor already understands that. As she explained in a 2001 speech, “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experience would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life." Bill Mears & Robert Yoon, CNN, Sotomayor: Gender, ethnicity should influence judges, available at http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/. Wow. Frankly, I prefer Chief Justice Roberts’ explanation of his role in the judiciary. When visiting the B.Y.U. School of Law about a year and a half ago, a student asked how Justice Roberts’ judicial philosophy affects his role on the bench. The reply? “When a case involves a statute, I begin by reading the statute and discovering what it says.”

 

And how about the strength of her opinions that have been reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court? Of the at least eight opinions authored by Judge Sotomayor that have been reviewed by the U.S. Supreme court, 6 have been overturned, one is currently on review (in that case Judge Sotomayor held that a firefighter promotion test was invalid because not enough minorities passed it), and in the one that was upheld, “Sotomayor’s legal reasoning was panned in the opinion signed by the entire court.” Robert Yoon, CNN Research Director, Past Sotomayor rulings faced tough crown on high court, available at http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/.

 

Feelings? Yeah, I’ve got a feeling, and it’s not a good one, but what do I know about the judicial role in upholding the rule of law in these United States? I’m just a white male. I’ve never “lived that life.”

 

They're here, they're queer, and even if we're used to it we must continue to prostrate ourselves lest we cause hurt feelings.

To elaborate a bit more...

"Political correctness has replaced religion from our schools to our courtrooms to our beauty pageants. One must not ever been seen to give offense, even if to do so is to offend one's self. And an argument can be made that the so-called "gay agenda" isn't so much about equality as it is about superiority. They're here, they're queer, and even if we're used to it we must continue to prostrate ourselves lest we cause hurt feelings. This means Miss Prejean's faith and mores are less valuable to American society as those of Mr. Hilton."

Couldn't have said it any better myself, sad as it is to say...

Obviously, the post is about Carrie Prejean. You can read the rest of the article at: http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-3339-Republican-Examiner~y2009m4d22-Carrie-Prejean-Its-not-about-free-speech

I did not click on the link of Mr. Perez's picture (and I don't recommend you do either). I for one have seen all I ever need to see about how his mind works. Juvenile to say the least...

You Can't Make This Stuff Up!

The case involved an insured who was driving her automobile when it ran

out of gas. A friend of the insured drove her to a service station where they filled a gallon jug

with gasoline. While attempting to pour the gasoline from the jug into the tank of the car,

some of it spilled on the insured's feet and also on the friend from the waist down. The insured

used a towel from her car to catch the spilling gasoline and then, in an attempt to dispose of

the gasoline-soaked towel, ignited it with a cigarette lighter and threw it onto the ground.

When the friend saw the burning towel, she moved toward it in order to stamp out the fire, but

instead received substantial burns.

Almany v. Nationwide Ins. Co., 1987 WL 4745, cited in Allstate Ins. Co. v. Watts, 811 S.W.2d 883 (1991).

Ireland admitted that she did everything she could to avoid becoming a believer in pro-life...

Yet she has still changed her former "pro-choice" views as a result of her conversion to Christianity.

 

"I called Planned Parenthood and begged them to give me their best argument and all they could come up with that it is really just a clump of cells and if you get it early enough it doesn’t even look like a baby. Well, we’re all clumps of cells and the unborn does not look like a baby the same way the baby does not look like a teenager, a teenager does not look like a senior citizen. That unborn baby looks exactly the way human beings are supposed to look at that stage of development. It doesn’t suddenly become a human being at a certain point in time," Ireland argued. "I’ve also asked leading scientists across our country to please show me some shred of evidence that the unborn is not a human being. I didn’t want to be pro-life, but this is not a woman’s rights issue but a human rights issue." available at http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,518087,00.html

 

You go Kathy...

This really happened...

"A person not employed by the insured entered the store with a rifle and ammunition. Several

of insured's employee's helped him to set up a target against a basement door which opened

onto a public street. They took turns firing at the target. One of the bullets penetrated the door

and killed a passer-by."

Grand Union Co. v. General Accident Fire & Life Assurance Corp., 254 A.D. 274, 4 N.Y.S.2d 704,affirmed 279 N.Y. 638, 18 N.E.2d 38 (1938).

 

The best stories in the world are found in legal cases. If I miss anything after leaving the practice of law, it will be the wild stories that are sprinkled throughout the drudgery of it all...

Fully Automatic Handgun

You can check it out here. http://shock.military.com/Shock/videos.do?displayContent=188154&ESRC=dod.nl

 

Seriously, though, I have to ask - what's the point? Really.

"Honesty is great," Hilton said. "However, in an interview this morning, she said that the audience and the judges expected her to be politically correct. Yes. I do expect Miss USA to be politically correct."

This from a recent interview of Mr. Hilton on the "Larry King Live" Show.

 

Translation: "Regardless of what a person believes, success should depend only upon that person's ability to tell people what they want to hear."

 

Wow.

 

I'll take a politically incorrect individual with integrity any day over an individual who simply parrots what another wants to hear for fear of censure or for personal gain.

 

Mr. Hilton went on to explain:

“Do we want a Miss USA that's politically insensitive, that's politically offensive? No,” Hilton said. “So I didn't disagree with her not believing in the right for gays and lesbians to good evening equal under the law. I disagree with how she answered the question because Miss USA should be all inclusive. She should be my Miss USA and when she answered that question that way, it was instantly divisive and alienating to gays and lesbians and friends and supporters.”

 

Really? It seems to me that the divisiveness here stems from requiring everyone to conform to a radical viewpoint rather than seeking open and honest dialogue about how people really feel and why they really feel that way.

 

Mr. Hilton went on to invite Miss. California out for coffeee to explain his views to her and to disabuse her of her own viewpoint. Ironic, eh? Her viewpoint is not acceptable, yet she should provide Mr. Hilton with an intimate setting in which to further express his own.

 

Memo to Mr. Hilton: openly censuring and hurling vitriolic remarks at an individual is NOT an effective way to open a dialogue - but that's just the point, isn't it? Mr. Hilton is not interested in dialogue. Facism seems a better fit for him.

 

I recognize the Larry King is not known for asking the "tough" questions, but c'mon Larry! How could you let this guy off on this point? If you are going to extend the credibility to interview on your show, you ought to at least have the personal and journalistic credibility to call Mr. Hilton on his blatant, intolerant hypocrisy.

 

You can read more about the Larry King interview here: http://www.cultureandmediainstitute.org/articles/2009/20090421084915.aspx

 

Oh, and BTW, Mr. Hilton, Miss. California was neither insensitive nor offensive. Fact of the matter is, the truth hurts anytime it cuts against a personal position. If Mr. Hilton was so sure about himself and his position, why the anger? Why the foul references? Bully for Miss. California. She's the one who took the high road here, and the evidence continues to show it.

 

Planned Fraud?

In city after city across the U.S., a group of young California students, led by a very young looking twenty year old, are exposing just exactly what kind of "planning" planned parnthood is engaged in.

Time after time, while posing as a 14 year old impregnated by a 30+ year old man, Lila has been explicitly counseled to lie about the age of the "father" to avoid legal ramifications, including being told to lie to a judge to legally avoid any requirement of parental consent or parental notification prior to receiving an abortion.

The site is worth checking out. Spread the word.

http://www.liveactionfilms.org/


BTW: your tax dollars are paying for this wonderful "planning."

Intolerant?

I really don't have time to elaborate, but in a country where those who support maintaining the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman are increasingly labeled as intolerant, recent events surrounding Miss. California's response to the "same sex marriage" question from Mr. Hilton are a good, anecdotal illustration of wherein the real intolerance lies - vitrulent intolerance at that.

Whatever you do, Miss. California, please do not qualify your statement or your position. You have nothing to be ashamed of.

Why do we "judge" a book by its cover?

I watched the youtube clip of Suzanne Boyle from "Britain's got Talent". I was surprised at how the judges and the audience notably were "against" her before she sang. This was even stated by the judge. Because of her looks she is suppose to be hated or mocked! How sad! She is a child of God. She has feelings. Thankfully she was "successful" so that she did not walk off the stage with tears and a worst self esteem. This is the reason why I do not watch these types of shows. You can never draw bees with vinegar only with honey. What if these shows had a different approach? Maybe those "Suzanne Boyles" would be more, because they would feel supported soon as they came on stage NOT attacked OR "the enemy" just by how they look.

She has a beautiful voice. I hope she succeeds and still remembers who she is. : )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY&feature=related

Working on Gomorrah

Apparently the Vermont Senate (from that state that recently passed legislation that redefined marriage to include unions between persons of the same sex) just passed legislation that would make "consensual" "sexting" by teenagers no longer a criminal offense.

Because the penalties for youth who send pornographic pictures of themselves via cell phones are apparently too harsh, the Vermont Senate has determined that the act should not be criminal at all.

Hey, why shouldn't two "consenting" 13 to 19 year olds feel perfectly free to snap and send portraits of their privates to each other?

In related news, Vermont is considering a permanent name change to Sodom & Gomorrah...

A Tax Thought on Tax Day...

While I don't necessarily agree with the CATO Institute's push for a flat or sales tax based system (the "all of Europe" is doing it so we should too argument is actually insulting to anyone of even average intelligence, as are the somewhat misleading policy reasons offered for a flat or sales tax), I am in total agreement with this one truth implied in the clip: our U.S. Tax system ought not to be used as a vehicle for implementing federal policy. As a matter of fact, if we really wanted to simplify the tax code, while maintaining our current system of taxing on a sliding scale, all we have to do is simply quit taxing based on policy directives. Period.

A Bit of Foreign Policy Perspective

"As I was sitting in church waiting for the start of the service, my grandpa came walking towards me pointing his finger.  No matter how old I get, and no matter how long he's been out of the U.S. Navy, that's still an intimidating sight.  As he approached me, his voice quivered as he said, "We saved that continent twice...how dare my president apologize for this country's arrogance."  My grandpa is right.  Americans need not apologize to the world for their arrogance; rather, Americans should apologize to their forefathers for the arrogance of their president."

From Peter Heck.

 

Full article available at: http://www.onenewsnow.com/Perspectives/Default.aspx?id=488996

"Passionately adhere to the guideline that it is better to tell an R-rated truth than a G-rated lie." Really?

The article is probably a bit long to read, but the gist of it is that the fellow who made God's Army and some of those other early commercial "LDS" movies left the church. (Actually, the article is a couple of years old, but I'm slow...) The irony in it, if you read the article, is that some of the very approaches to filmmaking that Mr. Dutcher proposes current LDS filmmakers embrace appear to be some of the direct reasons why he is now choosing to leave the church.

 

http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/217694/

 

While the art of LDS filmmaking has certainly exuded a disproportionate amount of cheesiness in the past, encouraging LDS filmmakers to "Passionately adhere to the guideline that it is better to tell an R-rated truth than a G-rated lie" not only expresses a wickedly false dillemma, but also belies Mr. Dutcher's expression of continued support for the LDS church notwithstanding his leaving it. Encouraging a generation of artists to trade their souls for their craft in the name of a false dillemma is hardly support, and is defenitely not any defense of the gospel, but is instead a subtle, backhanded betrayel of those very values Mr. Dutcher purports to simultaneously publicly acknowledge & personally reject.

 

Joseph Smith expressed it the best when a Brother Behunan (sp?) once stated that if he ever left the church he would leave it alone and would go somewhere where he would not interfere with the work. The prophet's response? "You do not know what you would do." He explained that if you leave the church it can only be under the influence of the evil one, whose sworn purpose is to destroy the work of God.

 

I for one am confident that faithful members of the LDS church can and will produce film and other art of the utmost quality that is also wholesome. I for one am confident that G rated truth is a noble goal. Shouldn't those two words, "quality" and "wholesome" really be synonymous anyway?

Leftist students have learned from leftist administrators that they have an absolute right to be intolerant in the name of tolerance.

Interesting reading...

 

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Perspectives/Default.aspx?id=464908

 

The Great Distributor

For all of you who think that somehow Obama is going to create a fair distribution of wealth in the U.S., check out this Milton Friedman clip:

Are you male or female?

The citizens of Gainesville, Florida, are set to do battle over a gender-identity ordinance passed by the city council.

The ordinance passed by the civic leaders defines gender as follows: "An inner sense of being a specific gender, or the expression of a gender identity by verbal statement, appearance, or mannerisms, or other gender-related characteristics of an individual with or without regard to the individual's designated sex at birth."

Gives new meaning to being in touch with one's "feminine side," eh?

See the whole story at: http://www.alligator.org/articles/2008/07/15/news/local/080715_ordinance.txt