This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Author: Jonn Lilyea

  • Democrats target 12 GOP seats

    Democrats are planning for failure in Iraq, but if their misinformation campaign that they’re waging against our natonal security doesn’t work after they get the report from the Pentagon next month, they’ve targeted 12 Republicans in vulnerable districts with another misinformation campaign. Washington Times’ Sean Lengell writes;

    “This August we’re going district by district to urge Republicans to stop obstructing progress and work with us to end the war in Iraq,” said Rep. Chris Van Hollen, Maryland Democrat and DCCC chairman. “Republicans who continue to vote in lock step with the President Bush’s failed Iraq policy will be held accountable.”

    Well, Chris Van Hollen, my Congressman, I’m holding you accountable for every American death in Iraq for voting and making statements that are in lockstep with Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Mookie al Sadr, Iran’s Mikey Dinnerjacket, Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro and the rest of the anti-US crowd of clowns.

    In fact, I’m seriously considering a run at your seat – in a heavily Hispanic district, I have a shot at beating you and your lily-white country club, Prius-driving crowd, too. If the Army decides they don’t want me back. So you might worry about your own seat.

    The ads are running in the districts of Reps. Christopher Shays of Connecticut, Mark Steven Kirk of Illinois, Joe Knollenberg of Michigan, Jon Porter of Nevada, Mike Ferguson of New Jersey, Heather A. Wilson of New Mexico, James T. Walsh of New York, Deborah Pryce of Ohio, Phil English, Jim Gerlach and Tim Murphy of Pennsylvania, and Dave Reichert of Washington.

    They’re underestimating Jim Walsh, my former Congressman. He has alot of support in conservative Syracuse.

    The koolaid-drinking doesn’t end with Bethesda hippie/yuppie Van Hollen;

    “The American people want a new direction in Iraq yet President Bush and his Republican allies are stubbornly supporting a policy that is making America less safe,” DNC Chairman Howard Dean said.

    Americans want to win in Iraq, Howie. Your problem is that you get all of your information from the internet, not from the American people. Just because those fat cows dressed in Pink are the most vocal, doesn’t mean they represent anyone except themselves.

    The Democrats are going to pay a huge price for listening to the hairy-armpitted women and the pony-tailed bald guys – just like Howard Dean paid a huge price for thinking the internet Left represented the Democrat Party before Iowa in 2004.

  • TNR back from vacation with their Scott Thomas excuses

    I guess the editors of The New Republic are back from their vacation and trying to explain their journalistic shortcomings by blaming it on the Army in their newest A Scott Beauchamps Update;

    Although the Army says it has investigated Beauchamp’s article and has found it to be false, it has refused our–and others’–requests to share any information or evidence from its investigation. What’s more, the Army has rejected our requests to speak to Beauchamp himself, on the grounds that it wants “to protect his privacy.”

    At the same time the military has stonewalled our efforts to get to the truth, it has leaked damaging information about Beauchamp to conservative bloggers.

    Well, I guess that’d be their perogative wouldn’t it? After all, you stonewalled when the dustup first began. Oh, and Beauchamps is now government property – he signed the papers fully knowing that would be the result.

    Earlier this week, The Weekly Standard‘s Michael Goldfarb published a report, based on a single anonymous “military source close to the investigation,” entitled “Beauchamp Recants,” claiming that Beauchamp “signed a sworn statement admitting that all three articles he published in the New Republic were exaggerations and falsehoods–fabrications containing only ‘a smidgen of truth,’ in the words of our source.”

    Here’s what we know: On July 26, Beauchamp told us that he signed several statements under what he described as pressure from the Army. He told us that these statements did not contradict his articles. Moreover, on the same day he signed these statements for the Army, he gave us a statement standing behind his articles, which we published at tnr.com. Goldfarb has written, “It’s pretty clear the New Republic is standing by a story that even the author does not stand by.”

    Well, your boy Beauchamps lied to you about the melted-face contractor, at least on one “small” point about the geography and the chronology, why do do you still cling to him as a source? If the New Republic had a shed of journalistic integrity, they should at least say that their support for this fabulist is on hold – that they don’t stand behind him until new proof comes to light.

    In fact, it is our understanding that Beauchamp continues to stand by his stories and insists that he has not recanted them. The Army, meanwhile, has refused our requests to see copies of the statements it obtained from Beauchamp–or even to publicly acknowledge that they exist.

    Scott Beauchamp is currently a 24-year-old soldier in Iraq who, for the past 15 days, has been prevented by the military from communicating with the outside world, aside from three brief and closely monitored phone calls to family members.

    Again, the Army has that right – TNR has not been a rational actor in all of this. Their rush to print fables and fairie tales has not given the Army any confidence in their ability to report the truth, so why should the Army cooperate.

    We once again invite the Army to make public Beauchamp’s statements and the details of its investigation–and we ask the Army to let us (or any other media outlet, for that matter) speak to Beauchamp. Unless and until these things happen, we cannot fairly assess any of these reports about Beauchamp–and therefore have no reason to change our own assessment of Beauchamp’s work. If the truth ends up reflecting poorly on our judgment, we will accept responsibility for that. But we also refuse to rush to judgment on our writer or ourselves.

    Good. That’s the captain’s job – go down with the ship, then.

    The best line from this whole story comes, unsurprisingly, from Charles Krauthammer;

    We already knew from all of America’s armed conflicts — including Iraq — what war can make men do. The only thing we learn from Scott Thomas Beauchamp is what literary ambition can make men say.

    Personally, I’m tired of the whole story. But that’s what the editors of TNR want – like al Qaeda – they want to run out the clock and hope everyone forgets about the story or just gets weary of the whole thing. But I’m here until the bitter end. But, even AP is piling on TNR.

  • Tax ’em ’til they croak

    I’m like many of you; I use all of those “email your congressional representative today!” automated emails – I know they don’t read them, and they don’t care about what I think, but I like the idea of some goofy pimpled-face intern answering all of the email. It must be the ROTC TACNCO in me that likes to see college kids do useless stuff.

    But anyway, one of my communist Senators, Barbara Mikulski, possibly the ugliest woman to ever darken the doorways of the Senate chambers, had one her interns answer my form letter with her own form letter;

    Thank you for contacting me about your concerns about raising federal cigarette taxes. I appreciate hearing from you about this amendment.

            I appreciate knowing of your opposition to taxing cigarettes. Unfortunately, we disagree on this particular issue.

     I am very concerned about the health hazards of smoking. According to the Centers for Disease Control, cigarette smoking is responsible for one out of every five American deaths. It also costs our society billions of dollars each year, adding to our skyrocketing health care costs. I have, for these reasons, supported a cigarette tax because research has shown that it decreases smoking.

           I believe that investment by the federal government in health care is extremely important. New breakthroughs in health care and disease treatment have been made because of the federal investment in medical research. Federal programs in preventative health care and education are also very important in making people healthier and decreasing insurance costs.

            I want you to know that I support cutting taxes whenever possible, but only when the tax cut is responsible and fair. I do not support cuts that are paid for with funds from the budget surplus until we safeguard important domestic programs for future generations. America needs to stay on the course of fiscal responsibility.

          On August 2, 2007, the proposal that would increase funding for public health programs by increasing the federal cigarette tax by $0.61 the Senate overwhelmingly passed this legislation by a vote of 68-31.

     Again, thanks for contacting me. Please let me know if I can be of help to you in the future.

    Sincerely,
    Barbara A. Mikulski
    United States Senator
    P.S. If I can be of further assistance in the future,
    please visit my website at http://mikulski.senate.gov
    or call my Washington D.C. office at 202-224-4654

    In other words; I love taxes, they’re wonderful and I’ll use any excuse I can to raise taxes. Just for the record, she says that she supports cutting taxes in most cases, just not this case – Barbara Mikulski, possibly the ugliest woman to ever darken the doorway of the US Senate chambers, has never, in her 31 years in Congress, voted FOR a tax cut and she has never voted AGAINST a tax increase.

    So apparently, in her 31 years in Congress, she’s never seen a tax cut that “is responsible and fair. I do not support cuts that are paid for with funds from the budget surplus until we safeguard important domestic programs for future generations”. Which means that she thought the 70% marginal tax rate on upper income people in the 70s (when she was in the House) was completely fair.

    And apparently, she was absent when Congress didn’t give a tiny rat’s ass that federal spending was out of control in the 80s.

    And she must’ve been a Republican in the 1990s because they were the only ones talking about budget surpluses until Clinton and company discovered it was such a great campaign tool.

    And that “budget surplus” line must be left over from the 2001 tax cut battle – update your from letter, ya old cow. 

    You’ll notice, she believes that Federal government is the answer to all of society’s ills and taxes will cure heart disease and cancer. Shortsighted, communist that she is.

    Sorry, I’m just in an ranting mood today.

  • Child education is a nasty business

    I swear, it’s rare when get this mad. I just got done reading this story from the Washington Post about a low-life, scum sucking, pig kisser who bilked DC taxpayers (read that; all US taxpayers) out of $647,000 in just three years;

    Belton, 61, admitted to U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina that she steered about $446,000 in seven no-bid contracts to friends and a cousin and stole $203,000 by paying school funds to a fictitious company she controlled. At the same time, she received $180,000 in illegal payments and kickbacks from friends she helped with school business. The crimes took place from March 2003 to May 2006, prosecutors said.

    Where does DC find these “public servants”? We all know the story about Marion Berry – the crack smoking whore-monger who has dodged jail for tax evasion for the last two years.

    Well, a couple of years ago, they had a fire chief whom they hired while he was being investigated in Augusta, Georgia for skimming funds – and surprise! – funds were missing when DC government finally decided to let him go.

    The manager of the teachers’ pension fund got caught stealing about a million bucks to buy herself a new car, fur coats, and such – and she gave some of the money to friends and her fricken chauffeur. See, that’s what happens when you give a public employee a fricken chauffeur.

    One of the charter school principals they hired turns out to be a sex offender.

    The list goes on. It seems that every week I get to read about how some public employee in the District is caught with his/her hand in the till. And they get a little handslap and sent to the corner to think about what they’ve done.

    What fate awaits Brenda Belton, thieving bitch? She gets a whooping 3 years in jail;

    During sentencing in November, Belton will face a likely term of 30 to 37 months in prison for theft and tax evasion charges. She has agreed to pay restitution of $383,000, most of which will go back to the school system.

    See, that’s why they keep being criminals. She doesn’t have to pay the District all of the money she cost them, or even all of the money she bilked – just the portion that she kept. I call bullshit! If I’d robbed a damn bank without a gun, I’d get at least 10 years – how is this different from robbing a bank?

    And what the Hell is this bullshit about “most of [the money] will go back to the school system”. Where else is that money going? Lemme guess – to pay lawyers and the court system. Every damn penny should go back to the schools. If the lawyers and judges want some damn money, get it from the bitch who robbed the taxpayers, ya fricken blood sucking leaches. 

    I swear, it’s like living in a third world country.

  • Guess life in Iran isn’t quite so rosy

    From reading the international press I got the impression that life in Iran was like living in a paradise (OK, I kid). Reading stuff that comes out of Chavez’ forays into the Ahmadinejad’s Islamic wonderland (or vice versa) like this from Truthout;

      “Venezuela and Iran have demonstrated that together, out of the reach of hegemony and American imperialism, they can work and improve,” Ahmadinejad said at the oil well in southeastern Venezuela.

        “For all the people who want to live free and independent, the message is that we can achieve this kind of victory. We are at the beginning of the path and we must know each other,” he said.

        During Ahmadinejad’s visit, Venezuela’s leftist president renewed his support for Iran’s disputed uranium enrichment program, which the United States and other Western countries fear would be used for the development of a nuclear bomb.

        The United States is pushing for sanctions to force Tehran to stop producing enriched uranium, which can be used both for nuclear power and atomic weapons. Iran insists that it seeks peaceful nuclear power to meet its energy needs.

        “We are with you president, we will defend the rights of the Iranian people,” Chavez, who has visited Iran several times, told Ahmadinejad.

    Do you mean rights like this from Kamangir:

    A new pro-polygamy bill has just been sent to the parliament by the cabinet. The bill eliminates the necessity of the wife’s permission for the husband getting married again. Labyrinth mocks the aspect of the bill which replaces the wife’s permission with only economic power [Persian].

    Or this one from Molten Thought:

    Taheri reports that, according to the head of the Contractual Workers’ Union, more than 25,000 members have been fired in the last four months, and more than 1,000 workers are being purged every single day. This is part of the mullahs’ vicious campaign against every possible source of open dissent against the regime. As you would expect in such circumstances, more and more workers are dying in “accidents,” some of which are not at all accidental, but cover-ups of assassinations.

    Or this little tale (from Saudi Arabia not Iran – but, well you know) from Confessions of a Closet Republican:

    Speaking to Arab News on phone from his cell in the Malaz prison, Mohammed said that after the woman received treatment and after he returned to Riyadh after three days in the Western Region, he was arrested after checking up on the woman’s health. In the woman’s apartment were three other women related to her.“I was glad to note that the lady was making steady progress,” he said. “While we were chatting, there was a knock on the door. When this lady opened the door, four or five Saudis, whom I had seen outside the building before, barged in. They accused me of being alone with the woman unrelated to me and suspected my intention behind this visit to her apartment.”

    Or perhaps this one from Zaneirani.

    Maybe Chavez would like to follow Iran’s example and order state-registration for bloggers?

    So exactly what rights are left for Iranians that Chavez can help defend from evil-assed America? The only “rights” that Chavez wants to defend is the right to oppose George Bush and the right to blame America for all your ills.

  • More “One America” ranting

    OK, Obama got my juices flowing on this one with that idiot “One Struggle” the other night in Miami. Now I run across this from the Wall Street Journal;

    All the major Democratic presidential candidates-and none of the Republicans-will be in Los Angeles tonight for what was billed as a nonpartisan forum on issues important to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans. The televised event showcases the status that gays’ votes and money have earned them in the Democratic Party, but also the continued controversy of their cause.

    So what? I know I wrote about this event a few weeks ago and mentioned that Democrats debating about gay rights is just useless – each trying to out-gay the next candidate. There’s nothing to debate – the Demorats will bend over (figuratively) for anything the Gay community wants. So what’s to argue about?

    But in the article, gays complain that “Republicans have walked off the field” in the arena of gay rights. Well, maybe because Republicans don’t believe in gay rights…or women’s rights, or animal rights or any of those other special rights that seem to crop up from time-to-time. Republicans believe that we all have the same rights and that to endow a group with special rights is just unconstitutional. Period. Why discuss something that doesn’t exist except in the minds of certain politicians pandering for votes?

    As for Republicans, Patrick Sammon, president of the gay political group Log Cabin Republicans, says he remains optimistic that his party won’t always be opposed to gay rights. “Our party, to be a majority, has to get independent voters. And using antigay politics is a sure way to turn those voters against it.”

    This is all just mindless drivel – more adherence to the Leftist pseudo-victimization of totally manufactured groups. Go ahead and pour your disposable income into the Democrat Party – all it’ll you buy is promises. Empty promises.

  • Ban ki-Moon; Hope at last for Haiti

    The UN’s Secretary General Ban ki-Moon wrote a piece this morning in the Washington Times celebrating that there’s “Hope at last for Haiti“. I hate to remind the new Secretary that there’s always been a lot of hope for Haiti, but not much progress. Ban writes;

    There may be worse slums in Haiti, but none so infamous for its violence and grinding poverty as Cite Soleil in the heart of the capital city, Port-au-Prince. Drinking water is scarce, public sanitation nonexistent. Most of its 300,000 residents have no electricity; fewer have jobs. The neighborhood’s mayor was blunt when I met him during my visit to Haiti last week. “Here,” he said, “we need everything.”

    And yet I also saw hope in Cite Soleil. At the mayor’s offices, a new local government is putting down roots in a community it long ago abandoned. Across the street, I toured a newly refurbished school. Youngsters greeted me, excited by the prospect of resuming their education. Nearby, young men played soccer.

    Good for them. I truly mean that, but whatever happened to the hope we had back in 1994?

    The day after former President Jimmy Carter helped negotiate the agreement to avert a U.S. invasion of Haiti, The Los Angeles Times described him as a person with “a preternatural patience and an unshakable faith in his fellow man.”

    But in the eyes of President Carter and The Carter Center, another factor was at work. The situation in Haiti exemplified how nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) like the Center can work with a government to prevent violent conflict and to promote peace and human rights.

    “President Carter was able to help the U.S. avert a war in Haiti because of the Center’s long history of involvement there,” said Marion Creekmore, director of programs at The Carter Center. “We try to be available to assist countries that are struggling to build democracy.”

    Thirteen years ago, the Carter-Clinton cabal negotiated away millions of US taxpayer dollars to pay off General Cedras and his cronies and they promised us that they would fix Haiti. Within months, Haiti fell off the media’s radar screen and our failures there never saw the light of day.

    No one published pictures of the hundreds of Haitians imprisoned on Guantanamo Naval Base in worse conditions than the current population enjoys. No one has bothered to mention the hundreds more that have landed on our shores in the ensuing years (the reason we were given for getting involved there in the first place).

    But not to worry, the UN has finally figured it out. I’m so relieved.

  • I thought we were all Americans

    See, I must be a fool. In 1963, I heard Martin Luther King, Junior say;

    I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

    Well, I thought the civil rights movement was about making Americans ONE PEOPLE, and I bought into it. I thought it was about everyone being equal totally disregarding the level of melanin pigment in their skin color. I married a woman who was of Black, Asian, European and Indian extraction – because I believed (and still believe) that skin color and heritage didn’t make the person who they are.

    Now, here we are 44 years after Reverend King’s speech about his dream, and we’re still consumed by this skin pigment thing – an accident of nature, something has nothing to do with anything.

    Today, the Washington Post runs a sceeching headline that people with less melanin in their pigmentation are outnumbered by people with more melanin in the DC Metro area;

    Fueled by an explosion of jobs attracting immigrants to the nation’s suburbs, the percentage of minorities has dramatically increased in six local counties — including Prince William, where the share of minorities grew from 35 percent in 2000 to 48 percent in 2006, according to census estimates to be released today.

    In addition, Manassas Park was one of eight jurisdictions nationwide that shifted to majority-minority status in 2006, bringing the total number of counties in which minorities outnumber whites to 303 — nearly one in 10 of the nation’s 3,141 counties.

    […]

    Locally, Charles County in Maryland and the Virginia counties of Prince William, Loudoun and Stafford, as well as the city of Manassas, remain majority-white, but the proportion of minorities increased at some of the fastest rates in the nation.

    In 2000, minorities accounted for 33 percent of Charles’s population. By 2006, they were 45 percent. Similarly, Stafford’s share of minorities grew from 20 percent to 29 percent, and Loudoun’s share increased from 20 percent to 32 percent.

    So what? Can anyone explain to me what this has to do with the price of tea in China? Why should it matter that there are more people of color in this area? Apparently they’re all working – that should be the good news. Shouldn’t it?

    Yesterday I wrote in the post below this one about Barack Obama declaring, to a group who calls itself “The Race” that Black Americans and Brown Americans are engaged in “One Struggle”. Against who? For what?

    I’ll bet you money if Rush Limbaugh was addressing a group of melanin-deficient people who called themselves “The Race” and declared that we were all engaged in One Struggle, that would make the evening news and probably start a war between melanin-deficient people and melanin-loaded people. Over what?

    Guess what? We’re all engaged in One Struggle – the terrorists who are trying to kill us are colorblind. They want to kill us all because they lump us all into One Culture, even though we ourselves don’t. And we do have a shared culture – a culture of peace, ingenuity and prosperity.

    If the people trying to eradicate us, along with that culture of peace, ingenuity and prosperity, recognize that, why can’t we? Â