Sunday, February 25, 2007

Surge Working Some Say

If it really is working we won't hear much about it in the U.S. But, Ruffini had this to say.

But something interesting is happening on the way to the "new direction." Early
indications are that the troop surge into Baghdad is working. It hasn't been
reported on widely, but murders in Baghdad are down 70%, attacks are down 80%,
Mahdi Army chief Moqtada al-Sadr has reportedly made off for Iran, and many
Baghdadis who had fled the violence now feel it's safe enough to return. The
strategy that Congress is busy denouncing is proving to be our best hope for
victory.


Let's hope this is successful and the effort to establish a free Iraq comes to fruition in short order. We still have people coming home in body bags. And we still have people in and out of our government trying to sabotage success simply because of their hatred of George Bush and their desire for power.

Just an observation.

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Philadelphia Freedom (Of Speech)

Oh yeah. They had a little controversy in the Abington district. This Inquirer article tells the story. It seems a ten (10) year old boy wanted to dress as Jesus in the Halloween parade last fall. Well, it seems that school officials' assholes got real tight over the possibility. It's understandable. Considering the number of lawsuits filed over the years with a passing mention of Jesus or Christianity in a school, most administrators would probably be nervous as hell. I know it doesn't constitute state sponsor or endorsement, but that never has stopped anyone in the past. This time however, roles reversed.

An Abington Township woman and her 10-year old son have sued the Abington School
District, saying that the principal at the Willow Hill Elementary School there
would not allow the boy to wear a Jesus costume, complete with a paper-and-twig
crown of thorns, during a Halloween parade there last fall.


Hmmm. Ol' BC has long maintained that mentioning religion or even teaching about it is a far cry from advocating a religion. This country was founded so there would be no national church, but a freedom of religious expression. That has changed. Maybe it's time the pendulum swings back toward the side of reason.

This is not the first time the Alliance Defense Fund has taken legal action
against a Philadelphia-area school district. Last spring, the group sued the
Downingtown Area School District, saying that it did not allow student to
express their Christian beliefs and their religious conviction that
homosexuality is sinful. That suit was settled late last summer after the
district, without admitting any wrongdoing, changed its policies, making it
clear that students were allowed to express their religious beliefs on school
grounds.


Soooo, what does all this mean? Nothing in the grand landscape, but at least someone has agreed that some freedoms had been trampled around Philly. In the United States, in theory, we don't restrict freedoms because we don't like the message. Now, we need to return that theory to practice.

Just a thought.

Friday, February 16, 2007

Happy Birthday "Cat In The Hat"

Fifty (50) years ago a masterpiece was born. The Cat In The Hat. Yep you all know it. Even if you're eighty your kids and grandkids probably encountered the mischievous cat. Here's some amazing stuff from this article.

But how many poets do you know who can sustain a book-length poem using a
vocabulary list of only 236 words—only one of them more than two syllables and
only 14 with two—and not make it look like a stunt?


Uhhh, Seuss? I guess that's it.

Just a thought.

Freedom Of Speech Takes A Hit

Tim Hardaway spoke his mind and was promptly penalized.

Hardaway, who played in five All-Star games during the 1990s, was already in Las
Vegas to make a series of public appearances this week on behalf of the league.
But after Hardaway said, "I hate gay people" during a radio interview,
commissioner David Stern stepped in.


Hmmmm. Freedom of speech obviously isn't without repercussions.

Just an observation.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Abortion Death Certificates? Huh?

While being in a tizzy about this mandatory new blogger thing, Ol' BC stumbled upon this nutty little article. It seems some GOP folks in Tennessee want to require death certificates for aborted fetuses. What? That's right. Death certificates for aborted fetuses.

Legislation introduced in Tennessee would require death certificates for aborted
fetuses, which likely would create public records identifying women who have
abortions.


Now, I can appreciate the rabid pro-life agenda as easily as the pro-choice one. These are moral choices and in my semi-humble opinion have no place in the legislative arena (or judicial arena for that matter, except for that Roe thing getting pushed through years ago). It occurs to Ol' BC that that usually in this country of certificates and licenses the birth certificate is on record before the death certificate is issued. Not a bad play to bring some attention to the issue though.

Just a thought.

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Polish Still Admire Ronald Reagan

They are erecting statues and wanting to erect more. Ronald Reagan was a beacon of hope to citizens of Poland when they were subjected to life behind the iron curtain.

the staunchly anti-communist Reagan had been a "symbol of liberty," the
Polish news agency PAP reported.

As a result, they said, he deserved to
become the centrepiece of the city's Freedom Square, replacing a monument to the
Soviet troops who drove out the occupying Nazis in 1945.


As the left pushes to take over in the U.S., those who have had to live in a collectivist state under communist rule realize that it absolutely wonderful to be in a free country where opportunity for improvement actually exists. Living so long under communism has left a couple of generations behind when it comes to competing in a free economy. The western Europeans haven't hesitated to slide in and make hay in the old Soviet bloc, however. Russia has one of the fastest growing economies in the world.

The Democrats in the U.S. may have a hard time saying anything positive about Reagan, but people around the world recognize what a hero he was. But then again, the Democrats in the U.S. have a hard time saying anything positive about anything the GOP does. If it doesn't advance socialism the Democrats have very little interest in it or flatly oppose it.

Just an observation.

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Gore, Hillary Lie. Busted Again.

Will they ever learn. Maybe it's calculated. Maybe they feel the impact of the lie will be greater than the consequences of the lie revealed. In some cases that may be true. Now lies are being brought to light Australia. Here's part of a story from the Australian.






She said that Chelsea, her daughter, was jogging around the towers of the World
Trade Centre on 9/11 and she went on The Today Show on national TV and she said
Chelsea was only saved because she ducked into a coffee shop at the last minute
and she actually heard the aeroplane hit the building. And the presenter, Katie
Couric, introduced her and said, "On 9/11 Mrs Clinton was not just a senator,
she was a concerned parent." Chelsea wrote an article four months later that
said she was home in bed asleep and a friend called her and said, "Wake up and
turn on the TV", and she turned it on and saw the plane hit. She was five miles
from Ground Zero, nowhere near there. Why did Hillary make up this story?
And then, when close to you all, she said she was named after Sir Edmund
Hillary from New Zealand who climbed Mount Everest, but he climbed it in 1952
and she was born in 1947. Why does she do that?...


And then,

Bill lies about sex, Hillary lies about everything.


Wow! The Aussies figured it out. Will the press in America ever see the light? And on Al baby.

This is especially interesting since it fundamentally rejects one of the most
harrowing scenes from Al Gore's movie An Inconvenient Truth. In graphic detail,
Gore demonstrated how a 20-foot (6m) rise in the sea level would inundate much
of Florida, Shanghai and Holland. The IPCC report makes it clear that
exaggerations of this magnitude have no basis in science, though clearly they
frightened people and perhaps will win Gore an Academy Award.


They just keep telling their lies. Some day, maybe they'll have to face the music. Wishful thinking? Probably.

Just a thought.

Monday, February 05, 2007

Colts Win. Rudy's In.

After a weekend in Las Vegas for convention and Super Bowl, Ol' BC was heartened to hear Rudy is going to be a candidate. Not that he's the perfect guy, but he passes most of the tests AND he can beat Hitlery. He's not a one issue guy. He'll draw from the middle of the road. All indications are he is a fiscal conservative. We haven't had one of those for way too long.

Just a thought.