The Bush Administration has weighed in on the "Under God" case before the SCOUTS. Administration Asks Supreme Court to Support Pledge.

"The reference to a 'nation under God' in the Pledge of Allegiance is an official and patriotic acknowledgment of what all students - Jewish, Christian, Muslim or atheist - may properly be taught in the public schools," the administration argued in its 63-page filing.

I agree. "God" can equally mean Jehovah, Yahweh, Allah, and so on. While God names the One True God, there are many ways and Names to worship Him. Under God means that we recognize that our rights and power as a people come from Him. The rights and power granted by God do not go only toward Americans, but to all who recognize that fact. Too bad there are no other governments that derive their power from the people.

I talked about P E T A in this post, along with the front cover of their "comic." Well, I had heard some extra gross things today about the inside that I wanted to check out.

It turns out that URL to it is now dead. You come up with a placeholder search page. It seems that these people have discovered they bit off more than they could chew. Rather let the world see how truly radical their tactics are, they took it down. Remember, they want to tug on your heartstrings, and they can't do that while showing graphic images to young children.

Too bad. I think everybody should see what they want to show young children.

UPDATE: It was either unrelated down time or a denial of service attack, but it's back up. You can find it through P E T A's website, the obvious page. Sorry but I won't link to them.

This article, Living Wage Law Is Blocked in N.M. City is a sign that reasonable people are trying to stop a stupid law.

Earlier this year, the Santa Fe City Council set a local minimum wage of $8.50 for all businesses with at least 25 employees. The law was scheduled to take effect Jan. 1.

This is plain bad law, and the people who passed it know nothing about economics.

This is a wonderful Liberal idea, to make sure everybody is paid "a living wage" but as always, the reality sharply interferes with the ideal. Why did they stop at $8.50? Why not $10 or $12? When does the number become ludicrous? And why is that number so unreasonable? Why not just pay everybody $17 an hour, which translates out to the average income for the US? Any argument you can make for $8.50 I can make for $17.

I have already written that businesses don't pay taxes, they pass the costs along to the consumers in the price of the product. The same applies here. If these companies are forced to raise their pay level, they will have to either a) cut back on employees to save payroll, b) increase prices, or c) a combination of both.

Wages do not exist in a vacuum. Raising wages via legislative fiat translates into people losing their jobs and price increases somewhere else. It happens every time it's done. Every time the minimum wage goes up, the price of everything goes up a little to reflect the increased cost of doing business.

When will they learn?

From inside the ring:

History lesson House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, in a statement in December 1998 supporting President Clinton's four-day bombing of Iraq:
"Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process. The responsibility of the United States in this conflict is to eliminate weapons of mass destruction, to minimize the danger to our troops and to diminish the suffering of the Iraqi people."

This just shows how two-faced she is. She can support long-range bombing of targets that in the end do nothing, but when it comes time to actually do something about it, she is against it because a Republican is the one doing it.

She can say with certainty in 1998 that Hussein is a direct threat because he is developing WMD, but when President Bush says, "Let's not wait until he actually has them" Pelosi starts crying about where the WMD are. This is standard Democrat rhetoric, against anything Bush is for, just because he is for it.

Just for one day, I would like to see President Bush come out for gay marriage, just to see the Democrats come out against it. It will never happen, but it is a dream I have.

I saw this on Drudge this morning, but he took the link down before I could get around to it. Here it is: Jacko Finds Islam

High-ranking members of the Nation of Islam have been working to bring Jackson into Rev. Louis Farrakhan's flock - and Jackson's conversion is now well-known in the NOI [Nation of Islam] community.

And we all know how reasonable and peaceful Rev. Farrakhan is. I think Jacko is clutching at straws to get him out of the hole he has dug for himself, and this is one more play on the public relations scene.

But then again, there is an old Arab adage that I heard years ago, "A woman for sons, a goat for pleasure, a boy for ecstasy." Maybe Jacko heard of it.

And these guys are planning on handing this out to children going to a Nutcracker performance. Fur flies over flier: P E T A targets "Nutcracker" kids

"And the sooner she stops wearing fur, the sooner the animals will be safe. Until then, keep your doggie or kitty friends away from mommy - she's an animal killer.''

I will be the first to admit that the conditions that these animals are kept under and killed are deplorable. I commend P E T A for wanting to improve the conditions of these animals. But inflicting such propaganda on children is beyond horrendous. It shows that these people have no boundaries at all. This would severely and permanently traumatize a child who is supposedly going to have a fun evening with their parents. It is these kind of people who make me wish that Klingon pain sticks were real. I'd declare open season on these people. The sad thing about it is you can't change the mind of anybody who would hand one of these to a child. These people are sickos and there is very little you can do to them.

On a side note, I'm sure you know these "people" will spray paint anybody who wears fur, destroying the clothing. Well, some people got the bright idea to "go right to the source" so to speak. They decided to start spray painting the baby seals directly, so the seal hunters wouldn't go after them. They got that part of the plan right. The bad news is a baby seal needs that white coat to make it invisible to polar bears. They become easy to see with a large stripe of bright red paint on them, and polar bears know how tasty baby seal is. So the animal is directly doomed to death by their actions instead of having a fighting chance to grow up. So much for well thought out plans.

A while back, I handed out a reading assignment, This Perfect Day by Ira Levin. It was a world where you wore a bracelet with your nameber (Mark GH 7246931) and every time you passed a station, you stuck the bracelet in to have it scanned, so UniComp knew exactly where you were at any given moment.

Of course, back in the 70's when the book was written there was even no concept of Wi-Fi, the Internet, RFID tags or any of the technology that surrounds us today.

This article, Summit group confirms use of ID chip talks about having RFID tags in the security badges used by the attendees.

The technology exists today to track your every movement. The only hurdle is the individualistic notions of the American people. Once that is out of the way, it would be a relatively minor cost to install RFID scanners throughout the country. Then the only thing left is to install the chips in every person. Mark of the devil anyone?

Oops, there goes your freedom. Because if I can track everywhere you go, are you truly free?

Of course, this will start small. Chips in sex offenders and scanners nearby schools to keep them out. Then all criminals and prisons, then in kids (because you've already got the scanners in the schools). Once you get them into the kids, that is the point where everything is lost. Because if you can get the kids to grow up and think nothing is wrong with it, then all the fighting is over. Adults can wail all they want, but if the younger kids accept it, there is no younger generation to carry on the fight.

When missionaries invaded (correct word) foreign lands, the first step to converting the local populace was to teach the missionaries language to the local children. This drove a wedge between the children and the older generations, with their customs. Once that wedge was in place, it was relatively easy to destroy the old culture and replace it with the missionaries culture. It took 20-30 years, but it happened.

That is where a lot of people learned incrementalism. Take small steps when possible, don't give up ground and hope the other side doesn't catch on to what you are doing. That is what Liberals have been doing for the last 40 years and they have been good at it. The bad news is the people of the US is starting to catch on to what the Liberals have been doing.

Let's hope they wake up all the way and combat this incrementalism.

This is shocking. You can read the whole thing here: Gen. Wesley Clark The piece before the transcript is total gushing cotton-candy fluff. Yecch.

General Wesley Clark was on Hardball December 8th and had this to say:

Well, if I were president right now, I would be doing things that George Bush can't do right now, because he's already compromised those international bridges. I would go to Europe and I would build a new Atlantic charter. I would say to the Europeans, you know, we've had our differences over the years, but we need you. The real foundation for peace and stability in the world is the transatlantic alliance. And I would say to the Europeans, I pledge to you as the American president that we'll consult with you first. You get the right of first refusal on the security concerns that we have. We'll bring you in.

"You get the right of first refusal on the security concerns that we have." Wow. If he was in charge, he would surrender the security of this country to other countries that have had a vested interest that is in opposition to our own security.

Let me say that again: He would give the power of deciding what is in the best interests of our country to those countries that have interests in conflict with ours. Countries that would never allow us to respond to attacks upon the US in such a manner so as to make sure they won't happen again.

On 9/11, the terrorists took this fight to a new level. No longer were they concerned about getting the infidels out of their territories, but rather the destruction of as many infidels as possible in their home country. These fanatics will not rest until either they or America is dead. We didn't start this war, and the only way to finish it is to kill all of the terrorists, because surrender is not part of our vocabulary. And Clark is willing to prevent us from doing that because he wants to make nice with France and Germany.

France and Germany are not against us just because they had interests in Iraq, but because they view themselves as being a counterbalance to us. Just like the Democrats are against anything President Bush is for, just because he is for it, so are France and Germany against anything the US is for.

To surrender control of our security to those who work against us is ludicrous. I'm glad he doesn't have a snowballs chance.

These "conservative bake sales" where you are charged according to your sex and skin color are really offensive. To the Liberals. The one thing they can't stand is being made fun of while strictly adhering to the principles they hold dear. Liberals hold disdain, and hatred of them as badges of honor. It (to them) reinforces that they are right. What they can't stand is laughter. Being laughed at offends their sensibilities.

Orwell would be proud, because Liberals believe that some people are more equal than others, namely themselves. In order to assuage their guilt of being more equal, they want minorities to have two bites at the apple to make up for past injustices. So instead of picking the best qualified candidate regardless of skin color for any position, they force unqualified candidates, primarily minorities, into positions where they have little real chance to hold onto what they have been given a shot at.

To put a person, regardless of color, into college when they struggled through high school is an injustice to that person. The chances of them surviving four years in college is very slim. I myself was in a similar situation. When I joined the Navy, I aced the entrance exams. A recruiter looked at me and asked, "How would you like to go to Annapolis?" That is the Naval Academy where you go to become an officer. I turned it down. I knew I would have never made it. I had a 2.8 GPA in high school and someone with that level of studying skills has no place in a high pressure situation like a military academy. Hell, I almost flunked out of my Electronics Technician school twice. If I would have accepted and had been admitted, I would have flunked out quickly and had denied a more qualified person their slot. That should not happen.

In the business world, putting an unqualified person into a position in a company is a dangerous proposition. A company depends on every person doing their job, and if someone slacks off, things don't get done and the company suffers. Normally that person is fired for not doing their job. But if that unqualified person is a minority who was specifically hired to promote "racial diversity," then you're stuck with a big hole that you can't do anything about. You're damned if you keep them, you're doubly damned if you get rid of him.

I'm not saying that you can't take a chance on a person. One of the major things that businesses hire on is potential. But I am saying that if it doesn't work out, then the company should be able to let him go without recriminations.

Terry McAuliffe has gone and been a poster boy for the GOP again, making himself and his party look petty, hateful and spiteful. DNC chairman's school visit sparks anger among Portsmouth city officials.

He was supposed to give a class on democracy and the political process to some social studies classes. The remarks he made were outrageous, silly and just plain stupid.

During the presentation, McAuliffe told students that due to Bush's mismanagement of the country, 70 percent of college graduates will not be able to find a job upon graduation. He also told students that if the war in Iraq continues as it has, there could be a reinstatement of the draft.

The sickening thing of it is, this very stuff is being taught as gospel at a thousand other schools by teachers and is going unchallenged.

The unmitigated and outright lies on our Constitution, our way of life and our president goes on every day, in almost every grade. Get involved with your child's school, learn what the teacher is teaching and refute it with the truth.

"Bill Clinton's dimwitted former secretary of state Madeleine Albright" (FOX words, but I like them) suggested that Bush already had bin Laden and was going to spring him as an "October surprise."

Believe me, dimwitted is a compliment for her. She tries to swim with cement shoes. But she has backtracked, saying she was only joking.

It was a "tongue-in-cheek comment and was not intended in any other way," Albright told Fox News Channel.

"But witnesses to Albright's comment said the ambassador did not appear to be joking Tuesday when she suggested President Bush may reveal bin Laden's capture as an "October surprise" before next November's presidential election," FNC reported. Do you think if everybody ignores her, she will go away? I guess the problem is some news show will ask her opinion, and she will always stick her foot in her mouth doing it.

The Loony Left strikes again. Wash. Congressman Questions Saddam Timing

This sums it up rather well:

Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., told a Seattle radio station Monday the U.S. military could have found Saddam "a long time ago if they wanted." Asked if he thought the weekend capture was timed to help Bush, McDermott chuckled and said: "Yeah. Oh, yeah."

The Democratic congressman went on to say, "There's too much by happenstance for it to be just a coincidental thing." I think we should have held onto the news for a couple of days. Intelligence recovered with Saddam is bearing fruit, but the roaches are scuttling for cover. If we had sat on him for a couple of days, we would have had a better chance of getting some of these insurgents. Then again, hindsight is always 20/20.

It has already been expressed that if we hand control of the Iraq government to local control on June 30 as promised, Saddam will be executed on the 1st of July. I'm sure he will get a fair trial. Just as fair as the ones he gave to his people.

Of course, his family wants an international court. That alone is reason enough not to do it.

I'm not for torturing the man, but I hope the method of execution is feet first into the wood chipper. A close second would be a firing squad. On live TV of course. We want to make it clear that he is not coming back.

Saddam Hussein has been captured! The news programs are full of wall-to-wall coverage over this.

The democracy of Iraq just got pulled off the respirator. He can no longer come back to threaten his former subjects.

The chance of the Ba'athists coming back to power after (if) the US leaves has dropped by 50-70%, and I am glad.

The only work left to do is wipe out the cockroaches that still survive. That is all we can do, they will not surrender or go away.

Good news today, all-in-all.

This article isn't outrageous, it's plain stupid. Nursery rhymes put kids 'at risk', where it talks about 'first responders' to Humpty Dumpty. Indeed.

These "Canadian Researchers" need to go and find something better to do. These nursery rhymes were written several hundred years ago and reflected contemporary themes. Humpty Dumpty referred to a king who had fallen from power. I don't remember who or when. The part about the kings men and horses meant they couldn't return him to power. "Ring around the rosie"? That referred to bubonic plague. And so on.

To try and bring a modern context to these tales is ridiculous. They are historical similes to talk about terrible events and nothing more. They are songs or short stories that have lost their meaning in the sands of time and it should stay that way. If a child is very inquisitive on the subject, look it up together on the internet. I'm sure the answers are easily Googled.

Of course, I have my browsers home page set to my blog. Well, this morning I had an interesting link in the ad area that I clicked through on and I'm glad I did. The Black Conservative is a web site of essays by, believe it or not, black conservatives.

I have only had time to read two essays so far, but they were clear, concise and an interesting read. Well worth your time to investigate.

A talk-show host is trying to force-feed Christmas to the ACLU. The Anti-Christmas ACLU has got me fired up.

This is what he wants:

If you agree with me that it's time to stand up to the ACLU, feel free to send me as many Christmas cards as you can. Some listeners have sent me 25 or 50 at a time. Remember, make sure each one is hand-written by you and contains a message to the ACLU. Send your Christmas cards to:

Mike Gallagher's "Merry Christmas, ACLU!" c/o The Mike Gallagher Show 6400 N. Beltline Rd. Irving, Texas 75063

Please donate to this worthy cause, if only to piss the ACLU off. I'm buying a card for them tomorrow when I go shopping.

I think the headline says it all: Saddam's European and Canadian Allies Furious They Can't Profit From War They Opposed

I don't understand these people. I guess they really don't understand us. We act decisively in favor of our own security, and all they had to do was stay out of the way. They decided to do a Jane Fonda instead, and now they are uncomprehendingly upset about why we are still not playing with them. Their own short memory does not recall our own long memories. Americans as a people remember who are friends are. This past year has shown us that we had some fair-weather friends, and some friends we didn't know about.

These people back the wrong team, then want a piece of the pennant when they lose.

The funny thing is the rules only go so far. It only prohibits these companies from being primary contractors on US money. They have $13 billion from other sources to bid on as primary contractor, and they can be a subcontractor on the US money.

But of course "We are all friends." Yeah, right.

UPDATE: It is clear to the world that American friendship is valuable; it must be equally clear that American enmity is expensive. That way we encourage other nations to cooperate with us. - Steven Den Beste

The SCOTUS has upheld restrictions on the First Amendment. The details are unimportant, all you need to know is there are now restrictions on your right to free speech.

This is not the first time the Constitution has been directly violated.

Back about 1997, Clinton signed into law the "Domestic Violence Act," another bad law. For years, you had your right to bear arms taken away from you only when you committed a felony (served more than one year in jail). Misdemeanors were okay. Not anymore. This law made this particular misdemeanor grounds to take away your Second Amendment rights.

That's not the bad news.What violated the Constitution was the "retroactive" part, meaning if you were convicted of domestic violence 20 years ago, you lost your SA rights today instead of being "grandfathered" in. This caused a number of police officers to lose their jobs, because they could no longer carry firearms.It says very clearly in Section 9 paragraph 3 of the Constitution, "No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto [after the fact; retroactive] Law shall be passed."

We have taken the second step of violating the Constitution. There will be a third step soon, then a fourth. Soon it will become a walk, then a trot, then a run.

We must stop this, and now. Urge your Congressman and Senators to repeal the Campaign Finance law, to take away this stain on the First Amendment.This ruling makes me scared that they will strike down the "Under God" in our Pledge of Allegiance. Please don't let that happen.

...for the wrong reasons. The Cost of Doing the Right Thing points out something that will come back to bite the GOP in a couple of years.

"One more such victory and I am lost." -- Pyrrhus

Conservatives once cheered at the idea of controlling both houses of Congress and the White House. But unless we base our reform on true conservative principles, we're going to fail. If all we do is expand the size and influence of government in our lives we, like Pyrrhus, will eventually find that our legislative "victories" have destroyed everything we've worked so hard to accomplish. The GOP sacrificed a major principle to make a minor tactical victory. Pyrrhus' words ring true more than ever. They could lose control of Congress over this as soon as '06, but I think it will be more like '08 when the next president is elected. If Hillary takes the White House, she could take both houses with her, and I am sure she will hammer the GOP over this very same Medicare bill.

Alpha Patriot has a good blog entry on The Steely Truth

A lot of people decried the president's actions when he placed import tariffs on steel in 2001. So why did he do it?

Read the whole thing, it's important.

I watched Meet the Press yesterday, but missed Face the Nation (I didn't know it was on at the same time). I don't care for George, so I watched Fox News Sunday instead.

But what I did see made Hillary sound almost reasonable. She admitted that the intelligence of the UN and Bill Clinton was wrong. Of course we still should not have gone in, but at least we were wrong the right way.

I'm sorry, but when someone uses chemical weapons, that's proof positive they have them. When tens of thousands of American lives are at stake, 97% sure he doesn't have any more doesn't cut the mustard. He had them, he's willing to use them and just because you haven't found any doesn't mean they aren't there. To assume that there aren't any can kill a city.

She also pushed the "We need to be multilateral" saw again.

I quote from USS Clueless:

A lot of those nations, both Gang-of-8 and Vilnius-group, are in Iraq, helping us: Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, and Spain have boots on the ground. I was particularly surprised by how large the Netherlands contingent was (and I offer my thanks).

Of course, the UK has the second biggest presence after our own. Australia's not listed, but they were there for the invasion. But I'm surprised and pleased to see that New Zealand's there. (Maybe there's hope for the anglosphere yet. Hello, Ottawa? Care to get back into the game and make it five of five?)

Also Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua (!) are in, collectively providing some 1140 troops who are operating with the Spanish.

You also got Azerbaijan, Moldova, Georgia, Kazakhstan, the Philippines, South Korea, Thailand, Macedonia, Ukraine.

The largest contingents come from Italy (3000), Poland (2400), Ukraine (1640), Spain (1300) and the Netherlands (1106). All told it's more than 15,000 troops, in addition to those sent by the US and UK.That's 30 countries by my count, a full brigade of troops, how could that possibly be unilateral?

She also poo-pooed her running in '04, and I believe her. She would rather run when she doesn't have an incumbent to fight, so she's got her eyes on '08 and is doing everything she can (including showing up on three Sunday news programs) to steal the oxygen from any Democrat hopeful to make sure they lose. Hillary is smarter than she looks. She has a long term plan and it's a good one. She scares me and the Republicans better have a plan and a candidate that can outdo her.

Senator Frist isn't one of them. He is seen as too timid right now and Hillary will eat him alive. Unless he gets a total makeover starting now, he won't survive. Hillary is running for '08 now, somebody on the GOP side better start now as well.

This article, Cincinnati Mayor Wants Stun Guns is going to get a police officer killed.

Non-lethal options sound good on paper, but there are real-world circumstances that make NLO's dangerous to the police.

First of all, tasers can be defeated by clothing. In Cincinnati right now, it's colder than the devil's heart. People are wearing heavy jackets. You would have to get a successful hit in the legs to subdue a perp, but there's a high chance that at least one of the darts will miss the legs. Besides, police are trained to go after the center of mass.

Tasers work by overloading the nervous system. Talking with someone 15 feet away in a quiet room is easy. That's the normal operation of your nervous system. Trying to talk with the same friend the same distance away in the middle of a rock concert is impossible. That's what the Taser does. But if your nervous system is already at rock concert level due to drugs like meth or PCP, then the Taser isn't as effective. It may hurt the perp, but it won't disable him. Remember, people hopped up on PCP can lift cars. They will cause massive damage to themselves doing it, but they can do it and feel no pain.

I hope the police regarding NLO's are first option only with multiple officers on the scene. Because the lone officer who tries a Taser first against someone in this situation will be killed. He won't have time to use his firearm after he realizes that the NLO is ineffective.

When I carried my weapon, I had a 25 foot zone around me at all times. If someone with a weapon would have entered that zone, I trained myself to shoot first and tell them to drop it later. Why? Because if they were in that zone, they were in under my reaction time and could get me before I could get them. Even though I could draw and shoot twice in less than 3/4 of a second, someone with a drawn weapon could cross that 25 feet in the same amount of time and get me first. Even if I had my weapon drawn, normal response time to assess the situation, decide on the action and carry it out is still about 1/2 a second. Still plenty of time to get me.

I brought this up because I wanted to illustrate the kind of distance you need for safety. Police often work in contact with the perps, so they are way under response time. They have to read intentions over a second in advance so they can break contact and get far enough away to draw their weapon.

NLO's are a wonderful Liberal thing. It looks good on paper, nobody gets hurt, sometimes it works and when it doesn't the defecation really hits the rotary oscillator.

Hat tip to American Realpolitik for this quote:

"No one is more victimized by the failures of America's government-run school system than the children of the urban poor, and those children are usually black. Stuck disproportionately in schools that don't work, blocked from the escape hatch of private or parochial school, black children routinely perform far below average in every subject. Sixty-three percent of black 4th-graders, for example, cannot read. The average black high school senior is about as well educated as the average white middle school student. There are many ways to ruin someone's life, but few are as effective as ignorance. And ignorance, by and large, is what public schooling guarantees for children from America's poorest and blackest neighborhoods." --Deroy Murdock

I see the results of such a system every day I drive through the worst parts of Memphis. Please make them stop.

I've already written about the rabid environmentalists, who fully ascribe to the religion of environmentalism, here's another breed of rabid people: P E T A. The website is the obvious one. I'm sorry, but I don't want to provide a backtrack to my blog. I may be crazy but I ain't stupid. These people blow up who they don't agree with.

I bring this to your attention because I found an article, Consumer Group Takes on Animal 'Rights' Activists. Here's the 7 things you didn't know about P E T A.

Just like their tree-hugging cousins, these people have no limits on their consciences and actions and will do anything to 'liberate' animals, including property damage via bombs. To my knowledge they have not killed any humans in any of their 'liberations,' but I wouldn't put anything past them.

Environmentalists don't care about loggers, because they purposefully drive spikes into trees, which will kick a chainsaw back into the operators face. I don't think P E T A's 'activists' care about staff when they place their bombs.

Of course, the official position of the organizations are to disavow these radicals, but they do so with a wink and a nod.

These guys do a good job of tugging at your heart strings, including mine. Yes there is animal suffering. Yes we should do our best to do something about it. But don't fall for their claptrap. While their cause is noble, the limit of their goals is extreme and the execution of their agenda is violent.

Just as a side note, I remember the Thanksgiving episode of the Rush Limbaugh TV show. They had a nice banquet spread out on the set. Rush went over and filled a pita pocket with turkey and went into the audience with it. He gave it to a young man wearing a "P E T A" shirt. You could tell he was burning over the insult and was itching to do something. I suppose a combination of off-camera security and a camera in his face talked him out of trying to disrupt the show.