Friday, August 31, 2007

Pray for these children

Just saw this article on CNN's website about horribly deformed and handicapped children whose condition is a legacy of Soviet-era nuclear testing and contamination.

Please keep them and their caregivers (sadly, the story is mainly about an orphanage), as well as the other untold victims of Communist "peverted science" [ed. note: see masthead quote!] in your prayers.

Gee, and here I was thinking the United States was the center of environmental evil; well, at least that's the impression you'd get from the MSM...

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Say it ain't so, Joe!

ESPN is reporting that Joe Gibbs Racing is going to announce a switch to Toyota for next year's season.  If it's true, then I think they're traitors to the sport and I'm done liking Tony Stewart, even though I've been following him since his sprint car days and we also share the exact same birth date.

In my mind, there's Chevrolets and everything else, but Toyota in NASCAR is an abomination.

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Charles Krauthammer: Brilliant as Usual!

Charles Krauthammer has written a great column entitled "In Defense of Certainty" that is posted on Time Magazine's website. He hits several nails on the head.
What nonsense. The campaign against certainty is merely the philosophical veneer for an attempt to politically marginalize and intellectually disenfranchise believers. Instead of arguing the merits of any issue, secularists are trying to win the argument by default on the grounds that the other side displays unhealthy certainty or, even worse, unseemly religiosity.

And:

Nothing has more aroused and infuriated the sophisticates than the foreign policy of a religiously inclined President, based on the notion of a universal aspiration to freedom and of America's need and duty to advance it around the world. Such liberationism, confident and unapologetic, is portrayed as arrogant crusading, a deep violation of the tradition of American pluralism, ecumenism, modesty and skeptical restraint.

That widespread portrayal is invention masquerading as history. You want certainty? You want religiosity? How about a people who overthrow the political order of the ages, go to war and occasion thousands of deaths in the name of self-evident truths and unalienable rights endowed by the Creator? That was 1776. The universality, the sacredness and the divine origin of freedom are enshrined in our founding document. The Founders, believers all, signed it. Thomas Jefferson wrote it. And not even Jefferson, the most skeptical of the lot, had the slightest doubt about it.

Rock on, brother! (Hat Tip: Matt Kennedy+ @ Stand Firm, original post with comment thread)

"Duh!" of the Day

Stayed in a hotel last night, so of course hanging on my door this morning was my complimentary copy of USA Today. Right on the front page is an article with the following headline:

"PUBLIC vs. PRIVATE - Two years after Katrina"

There are two pictures: one of a firefighter standing in front of scaffolding, and one of a woman standing in a beautifully decorated and equipped kitchen. Before I even opened the fold of the paper to read the article, I knew exactly what it was going to say - that folks who have been waiting on the government to fix or foot the bill for rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina are still living and working in FEMA trailers while those who prepared, had insurance, reserves, or just good old plain American know-how and resolve are back in their homes and businesses.

And you know what, I was right! Read it all here. Here's a clue dear readers, if you're going to wait on the government to bail you out, get used to waiting.

The headline on the web version is "2 years after Katrina, pace of rebuilding depends on who pays". Wait a second, for those who are waiting on Uncle Sam, aren't we all paying?

Two new categories launched by this post: "Duh Moment" and "Public vs. Private"

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Only 9 of 10? Shame on us!

According to this article from Reuters, the United States is the most armed country with enough guns for 90% of the population to have one. That isn't good enough! The Constitution says "keep and bear" folks - let's get on with it!

For my part, I'll arm myself further to pick up some of the slack when I'm able. My Glock 23 is lonely...

Hat Tip: Drudge

Here's the Presidential Endorsement I'd Want!

According to CNN, Fidel Castro has called a Clinton/Obama '08 Presidential Ticket "invincible".

Communists...takes one to know two?

Friday, August 24, 2007

TFH 8/24: Robert Piché and Dirk DeJager

On August 24th, 2001 Air Transat Flight 236 from Toronto to Lisbon developed a fuel leak that turned the Airbus A330 into a 200-ton glider with 306 passengers and crew aboard.

The flight crew, Captain Robert Piché and First Officer Dirk DeJager, kept their cool and landed the aircraft unpowered at Lajes Air Base in the Azores. All 306 souls aboard survived, with just some minor injuries suffered during the evacuation of the aircraft.

Read all about it at Wikipedia.

Robert Piché and Dirk DeJager, August 24th, 2001 was your finest hour!

Thursday, August 23, 2007

TFH 8/23: Staff Sergeant Alvin P. Carey, U.S. Army

From Medal of Honor citations:

*CAREY, ALVIN P.

Rank and organization: Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, 38th Infantry, 2nd
Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Plougastel, Brittany, France, 23
August 1944. Entered service at: Laughlinstown, Pa. Born: 16 August
1916, Lycippus, Pa. G.O. No.: 37, 11 May 1945. Citation: For conspicuous
gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life, above and beyond the
call of duty, on 23 August 1944. S/Sgt. Carey, leader of a machinegun
section, was advancing with his company in the attack on the strongly
held enemy hill 154, near Plougastel, Brittany, France. The advance was
held up when the attacking units were pinned down by intense enemy
machinegun fire from a pillbox 200 yards up the hill. From his position
covering the right flank, S/Sgt. Carey displaced his guns to an advanced
position and then, upon his own initiative, armed himself with as many
hand grenades as he could carry and without regard for his personal
safety started alone up the hill toward the pillbox. Crawling forward
under its withering fire, he proceeded 150 yards when he met a German
rifleman whom he killed with his carbine. Continuing his steady forward
movement until he reached grenade-throwing distance, he hurled his
grenades at the pillbox opening in the face of intense enemy fire which
wounded him mortally. Undaunted, he gathered his strength and continued
his grenade attack until one entered and exploded within the pillbox,
killing the occupants and putting their guns out of action. Inspired by
S/Sgt. Carey's heroic act, the riflemen quickly occupied the position
and overpowered the remaining enemy resistance in the vicinity.

Staff Sergeant Carey, all freedom loving people are forever in your and your comrades' debt. Your gallantry in the face of death and the enemy on August 23, 1944 was your finest hour!

Time Magazine: Amazing, Incredible News

Everybody, and I mean everybody is going to be lining up for gastric
bypass surgery whether they're obese or not! Why, you ask? Look at the
article:
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1655367,00.html?cnn=yes

Headline on the article: "Gastric Bypass Lowers Risk of Death"

Something lowers the risk of death? Incredible, absolutely incredible!
I'm looking forward to never dying, after I have my gastric bypass
operation for such purpose.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

TFH 8/22: An Addendum

The Baltimore Orioles, playing a home game against the Texas Rangers scored the first three runs...and then proceeded to lose the game, 30-3! That is not a typo. The Texas Rangers scored thirty runs! WOW!

TFH: Well, Sort Of...

No Medal of Honor citations for August 22. This is the 232nd anniversary of HM King George III declaring the American Colonies in rebellion, but that hardly qualifies for recognition as a "finest hour". The New York Times' "On This Day" page does list something that may or may not be a "finest hour", but is certainly one of the few good things I can cite about the subject individual:

1996 President Bill Clinton signed legislation
ending guaranteed cash payments to the poor and demanding work from
recipients.

Unfortunately, the mid-90s welfare reform was hardly enough to stem the tide of, in my opinion, unconstitutional social (make that socialist) programs and their bloat on the federal budget and our tax burden.

Let the record show though that Slick Willie has made it on this blog in a complimentary fashion! It may be the only time...

Oh my, it's been six months!

Far, far too long since I've blogged...really need to get back into this!