Republican Jen

JKarl on the "Food Police"

2007-10-24T11:31:00.000-07:00

After decades of playing second fiddle, Hardee’s has outpaced the rest of the fast food industry with its new Big Country Breakfast Burrito, joining Halliburton, Big Tobacco, and Global Warming as members of the modern day “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.” If one heeds the visual media, it would seem to appear that Famine, War, Pestilence and Death have been supplanted by them as the primary evils of the land.

This fast food chain’s latest entry, two egg omelets filled with bacon, cheese, hash browns and sausage gravy — all wrapped in a flour tortilla — has already been roundly condemned by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, better known as “Food Police.” That august group’s senior nutritionist, who earlier described Hardee’s Thickburgers as “food porn”, panned this burrito as a “breakfast bomb.”

To read the rest.... http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2007/10/23/hardees-big-country-breakfast-burrito-victim-food-/

Governor Bobby Jindal!

2007-10-21T10:24:00.000-07:00

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20071021/D8SDLUFO0.html

Imposter in our Midst, by Jkarl

2007-10-18T07:52:00.000-07:00

IMPOSTORS IN OUR MIDST

To paraphrase the well known philosopherYogi Berra, "It is déjà vu all over again" in falsifying military service for the purpose of deception. While this malignancy has existed from the very origins of war, it was prevalent toward the end of the Vietnam conflict and has reached pandemic proportions during the military involvement in the middle east.

There is; however, a marked difference in the "creation" of truth in the immediate aftermath of Vietnam and the "invention" of combat experiences by today's fakers. The post Vietnam era for the most part can be described as a period in which the United States military was portrayed, with the tacit or overt support in much of the media, as a collection of war criminals who committed assassinations and brutal atrocities with the approval of their superiors.

To be fair, the shameful massacre at My Lay did occur and remains a stain on our honor; nevertheless, there was no cover-up as those involved were tried and convicted. Unfortunately, My Lay evolved as the yardstick by which our involvement there was measured by those with an ax to grind and little regard for truth.

Among the most publicized of these perversions of integrity were the 1971 "Winter Soldier Investigation," convened in Detroit by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) and Dan Rather's 1991 "The Wall Within." The former was a 4 day rally in which veteran after veteran attested to committing or viewing grisly atrocities while the latter was a CBS special detailing the barbaric actions and resultant trauma of 6 Vietnam veterans.

Subsequently exposed by investigation of military records, the commonality of both was a pattern of fabrication in that most of the subjects had never seen combat, half had never set foot in Vietnam and many had never served in the armed forces. Typical of the "antiwar veterans" was the VVAW's executive secretary and one of the Winter Soldier organizers who claimed to be a USAF Captain and combat wounded pilot. In reality, he was a loadmaster instructor whose records indicate he never left McChord AFB in Tacoma Washington.

Current impostors are an entirely different breed. Ranging from Vietnam era veterans and wannabes to War on Terror pretenders, they are a collection of individuals who have engaged in deceptions ranging from falsifying rank, branch of service, military occupational specialty (MOS), and medals--creating an ersatz service where none exists–all in order to appear a hero or to gain veteran's benefits.

Most of them are abject failures in their subterfuge, especially among bonafide combat veterans who possess an innate talent for recognizing phonies. Those who have served can easily detect inconsistencies in familiarity with tactics, organizations, weapons and service components and actions thereof. An example of a red flag is the oft claimed Navy SEAL, Special Forces or Marine Recon as the specialty of the deceiver–in reality, there are far more cooks, clerks and straight leg soldiers than there are Rambos.

While the impersonation of a Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine and the unauthorized wearing of uniforms and medals may appear relatively unimportant, it is an insult to those who have served honorably and earned that recognition. Pseudo heroes and wannabe veterans are thieves–usurpers of that which has been earned, often at great cost in life and limb by members placed in harm's way.

Impersonations and unauthorized wearing of medals are criminal offenses and are being prosecuted. One of the pioneers in finding and weeding out the fakers is B. G. Burkett, a Vietnam veteran whose book "Stolen Valor" is recommended reading. Additionally, Members of Congress are rallying support for the Military Roll of Honor Act, the aim of which is to establish a DOD data base of persons awarded medals valor in action.

While the honor and integrity of those so viciously besmirched by opponents of the Vietnam War remains an unforgivable blemish on their courageous sacrifice, the pendulum has reversed itself. Today's national defenders enjoy their performance-earned respect, while the frauds are recognized as life's losers.

JKarl, USMC Colonel Retired

Health Care Madness

2007-10-07T13:33:00.000-07:00

The health care debate in the United States has deteriorated into utter madness. Our leaders are pandering for votes, too many of our citizens are looking for the scapegoat and the easy way out, and the media is too lazy or ignorant to actually raise the debate to an intelligent level. The question put forth by all candidates for public office, registered voters, and the members of the media who carry the message should be “do Americans want to be aggressive consumers in the market place or complacent wards of the state?”

There is not a candidate out there, a poll of the citizenry, or a media headline that is even making an attempt to educate Americans to a few of the numerous problems in U.S. health care that are driving up costs. Instead we bash pharmacy companies, envy “rich” doctors, and shirk our responsibility to pay out of our own pocket for goods and services we use. What is brought up, again and again, in this debate is the unquestioned power of the state, and those who run it, to somehow make matters better at no costs to “hard-working-middle-class Americans” and put the burden of paying for their brilliant solutions on life’s winners – citizens that are rich. What is lost in this debate is who gets to define rich? There is only one candidate that is actually bold enough to claim they have the “wisdom” to determine who is rich in America – Hillary Clinton. Those rich citizens are people who make $200k a year or more. I won’t go into how this is blatant class warfare and how $200k means different things to people living in different parts of America with varying family situations. I don’t see, however, anyone else in the media or GOP side arguing this point.

The fact of the matter is that when we, the consumer, are taken out of the free market equation the results are disastrous. I challenge anyone to point to a single case in history where government control over a good or service resulted in an increase of supply and a decrease in costs. The examples of the opposite are staggering and it is maddening how no candidate, or media outlet is educating the voters to this fact. One only needs to look at the former Soviet Union, the sudden abundance of goods and services in parts of the economy of China that are moving toward free markets, and the increase of inflation and scarcity of supply in Venezuela where its leaders aggressively pursue socialism, for examples of markets and government control.

The number one example for rising health care costs is the citation of the “millions” of uninsured Americans. Are not people in a free society supposed to be free to choose if they want to buy or not buy a good or service? And the last time I checked insurance was a form of gambling, although legal. The insurance company is gambling that the consumer of their product will not need their services. The consumer is betting that they will use those services and that will justify the high cost of the insurance product. Where in this debate are the percentages cited of uninsured who are young adults, children, elderly, self-employed, etc.? Nowhere that I can tell. Yes, research can be done to discover these numbers, but numbers don’t motivate the candidates, media, or voting public – emotions, however, do. What is disgusting to me is how many people complain about the 20% of health care costs they do have to pay. Since when is medicine and doctor services a God given right? Pharmacy companies take financial risk into research for the development of medicines and technologies. Doctors spend thousands upon thousands for college and training and once they are working in the market place they must spend thousands more for insurance to protect against potential lawsuits. Yet, we are entitled to those goods and services without payment? How is this morally acceptable?

Lost in this debate is the “forgotten man”, to use a phrase used by the President that introduced Americans to socialism – F.D.R. The consumer has been totally lost in this debate and in the spiraling cost of health care. Do we actually get to determine how much we pay for insurance, medicines, or medical services? The answer is no. We sign up for health insurance through our employer without shopping around to verify if it is cheaper elsewhere. Insurance companies, hospitals, doctors, and pharmacy companies actually negotiate and determine the cost of those goods and services. This model plays right into the arguments for proponents of socialized medicine. They get to bash all of these players and play upon our emotions. I, however, would much prefer the current model instead of the socialist solution. I would rather corruption be in the hands of privately held corporations that will eventually go out of business, i.e. Enron, than transfer that corruption to our elected leaders and the state. The state never goes out of business and we don’t get to sue the state for damages, etc. One only needs to look at our current batch of Congressional leaders to find examples of corrupt politicians that seem to get voted back into office year after year. I would rather give my money to corrupt corporations only when I use their services than to be forced to give my money to corrupt politicians on a monthly basis in the form of taxes. This is, of course, assuming that every single employee, CEO, and shareholder of companies in the health industry are as corrupt as politicians and media would have us believe. At least if I don’t go to the doctor and do not owe them anything, I won’t go to jail. If I am not sick, however, and do not pay my taxes I will suffer the wrath of the state. So proponents of socialized medicine conveniently leave out the dangerous effects of the state upon our daily lives yet constantly remind us of the effects of health care on our lives when we need it. So we, the consumer, have been forgotten in this debate. The only consumers involved in the debate are the supposed rich that somehow have a never-ending flow of money that will miraculously pay for all of our problems in the form of taxes. Once it is proven taxing life’s winners won’t cover the costs of making our lives better, we get to be taxed more as well. All the time, remember that the state and not the market place determine who is rich and who is not.

Lastly, how is insuring everyone in America going to drive down health care costs? It would seem that an uninsured patient actually costs the health care system less. Bill the patient, patient pays, and that is it – no costs of paperwork, haggling with insurance companies, etc. Insuring everyone in America does not automatically guarantee that the patient will pay for his or her portion. Once the state insures everyone, who is going to pay for the portion of the costs that a ward of the state cannot cover? The problem isn’t solved through forced enrollment. But it sure seems to allow us to beat up on the scapegoats – the rich, pharmacy companies, doctors, and hospitals.

Proponents of socialized medicine know that forced enrollment into a government policy is not going to drive down costs and increase access to services. It will contribute to scarcity of goods and services and increased costs. This will lead to their ultimate goal of total government control over health care in America once insuring everyone has failed. Surely the government is the last bastion of hope and problem solving? This means the state determines how much doctors and health care workers get paid. The state determines how much a pharmacy company should be compensated for the risks it has taken in research and development of new technologies and medicines. The state determines if and when we, the taxpayer, receive medical services. And ultimately, the state determines how much money is coerced from our paychecks to cover the costs.

Yes, our health care system is broken. No, I do not want to become a ward of the state. Yes, I want the government and people supposedly smarter than me to get out of the business of health care. So Democrat candidates for office get your nose out of my business and let me make my own decisions. GOP candidates for office need to educate people on the real power of the market place and the dangers of state control. The media needs to get off their lazy bottoms and actually research and educate instead of towing some political agenda. Lastly, we the citizens need to quit acting like helpless wards entitled to health care and understand that it is morally correct to actually pay with our own money for any kind of good or service we use or desire.

Mr. Rep J

A Sentiment I can Agree with

2007-10-01T08:17:00.001-07:00

To be perfectly honest with ya, I'd really like to see these people baring it all in Iran.

Yowza, Yowza, Red White and Blue

2007-09-14T14:14:00.001-07:00

Pretty darn cute, huh?

When I signed onto AOL, I wanted to know who the "anorexic duck" was they were talking about. (All I'll say about that is that it wasn't him.) There, I happened upon a pleasantly surprising article about Richie Rich and Traver Rain's "Heatherette" line. It turns out they did a red, white and blue "Americana" collection and it was shown on 9-11 this year. I think it was lovely.

To see the whole collection at Style.com:

Heatherette: Star Spangled Smiles

I Think obl is Dead

2007-09-07T15:12:00.000-07:00

After reviewing this picture of obl over on ABC, I'm pretty certain that evildoer is dead. It honestly just doesn't look like him. What it looks like is someone with heavy Hollywood mask/makeup to look like him.

Jkarl on Opposing Views

2007-08-29T20:33:00.000-07:00

OPPOSING VIEWS DESERVE TO BE HEARD

Contrary to those beliefs espoused vocally in various circles, we as American citizens are indeed fortunate in the avenues available to us to express our opinions without fear of repercussion. For example, in letters to editors, calls to talk show hosts, assemblage in protest or support and as columnists, we are free to convey our approval or disapproval of everything from actions of government, federal or local, to displeasure at our neighbor's penchant for loud music or cluttered yard.

Our freedom of expression is virtually absolute–we are empowered to refer to our leaders as we see fit–all too often in unflattering terms which cross the line of common courtesy and human dignity. And, the Internet has given everyone, from the learned erudite to the intellectually challenged, a platform from which one may provide reasonable discussion of issues or merely launch diatribes of invective and vulgarity.

Reasonable people can agree to disagree whether the subject is war, crime and punishment, education, the economy, politics or on any number of issues–foreign or domestic–substantive or minuscule, as the exchange of ideas is healthy. I believe most of us are properly embarrassed or irritated at the intemperate invective spewed by those who either know or should know better; however, that is the price we pay for freedom.

Nevertheless, it is not all "fair and balanced" on the street of equal access to communication. There are unfortunately a few topics to which the window of debate has been shuttered despite evidence that the data used is both incomplete and inconclusive as the manner in which it was gathered is was subject to obvious bias, regardless of how well meaning the intent.

One of these is found in the crusade against second hand smoke. It is a known fact that smoking is clearly a health risk, resulting in increased cancer and cardiovascular disease. It is also not a secret that second hand smoke is an unwelcome invasion of the eyes and nose of others, particularly irritating to those of us who do not smoke.

Consequently, a host of studies have made some startling conclusions, several of which claiming second hand smoke is even more hazardous to the bystander than to the user. The Surgeon General and many health agencies assert that second hand smoke increases the risk for heart disease and lung cancer by 30 and 25 percent, respectively. Any discussion of this issue has been effectively silenced with little opposition as smokers are considered social pariahs.

These claims are alarming–but do studies actually support them? These "facts" are based on estimates of the sum of second hand smoke doses inhaled by non smokers over a lifetime. That this is impossible to equate should be apparent–how is it possible to quantify the concentrations of second hand smoke in the air, differentiating that from emission of carbon monoxide from auto exhausts and impurities discharged by industrial plants?

Global warming has also also achieved sacred cow status in that any disagreement as to its cause and effect is somehow immoral, anti intellectual and unscientific. We are inundated with graphs, charts and computer models advertising melting of the polar ice caps and the ensuing flood and famine which will obtain unless we park our SUVs and cease the burning of fossil fuels.

Never mind that the temperature has increased but six-tenths of a degree in 125 years and climatic change occurs naturally without regard to human activity–I don't recall any reference in Geology 101 to fossil fuels contributing to the end of the Pleistocene Era (ice age).

There is nothing wrong with dissent; however, we need to hear both sides. To stiflle debate by burying the opposition under flawed or incomplete science is dangerous. The world has experienced this phenomenon–a perfect example was the premature banning of DDT, the consequence being the recurrence of Malaria in epidemic form.

JKarl USMC Retired

Constitution Rewrites

2007-08-25T08:41:00.001-07:00

I just happened to stumble on this video of legislators in Bolivia coming to blows and punches. Bolivia is where Hugo Chavez's big buddy, Evo Morales, has taken control of the country and is trying to bring it down the same dangerous path that Chavez is taking Venezuela.

From what I can tell, the argument is about Morales trying to take control of the judiciary, and it just smells to high heaven, IMO.

What else do Morales and Chavez have in common? They've decided to rewrite the country's constitution to fit their desires. Interesting, eh? Apparently, Lindsey Lohan's drug problem is more important, though. Nice little distraction for the left wing press, there. Please, avert your eyes from the coming racist and socialist tide rising from South America...

BBC: Fights Erupt in Bolivian Congress

History Channel Completely Debunks 9/11 "Truther" Conspiracies

2007-08-21T09:49:00.000-07:00

A couple of years ago, some young people decided that 9/11 was an inside job and made a video to try and prove their point. The conspiracy theories did not start there, but the video sure did escalate the hysteria.

Luckily, the History Channel decided to do their own investigation and they completely debunked "Loose Change" and other wild conspiracies about 9/11 being perpetrated by people other than Osama bin Laden and the 19 hijackers. The name of the show is 9/11 Conspiracies: Fact or Fiction. They interviewed some Popular Mechanics guys who already did a lot of the debunking in their magazine, too.

I watched the two-hour episode last night and it was GREAT! When you get the chance, you should watch it, too. It will be on again this Saturday at 8:00 Eastern and Sunday at 6:00 Eastern, so set your VCRs! I have the whole thing on tape already. So far, I could not find it on YouTube, but I wonder if eventually you would be able to buy it from the History Channel on DVD.

I gotta say that my favorite part of the debunking (there were many fav parts) was the part where the truthers tried to say that a missle must have shot down the plane in Shanksville because there was wreckage all the way in another town that was supposedly 6 miles away. Somehow that proves the plane was shot up because wreckage does not fly that far when a plane hits the ground. Sure, it's six miles away if you ask Mapquest, but wreckage flies in straight lines and does not follow the roadways! The place was actually less than 2 miles away and fits into normal parameters for said wreckage finds. ::roar::

If you are looking for another interesting video, the BBC did one called "The Great Global Warming Swindle". That one is already on the internet!

"The Great Global Warming Swindle"

Popular Mechanics: Debunking the 9/11 Myths

LGF: Troofer Smackdown Commences

MyPetJawa: 9-11 Trooferspanking on History Channel Tonight

Chavez is Dictator for Life

2007-08-17T15:53:00.000-07:00

I really don't have much to say right now about this issue. All you have to do is read the article. He is most definitely a dictator and how long before my prediction of his attacking Venezuela's neighboring countries comes true? Oh, he needs all those machine guns, submarines etc, etc, etc for peaceful purposes. Sure, we believe you. Kind of reminds me of a certain "Mars Attacks" movie scene...

Telegraph: Hugo Chavez to Make Himself President for Life

The Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez has anointed himself president for life by proposing sweeping changes to the country's constitution.
Setting out his plans for completing his socialist revolution in the oil-rich Latin American nation, he proposing radical constitutional reform which has at its centre indefinite re-election for himself.

"We have broken the chains of the old, exploitative capitalist system," said Mr Chavez. "The state now has the obligation to build the model of a socialist economy."

While the president was talking about "the death of capitalism" in Venezuela, the opposition were lamenting what they called the death of democracy.

A key strut of the new constitution will be a six-hour working day, which will hit Venezuela's already wobbly private sector, battered by expropriations, nationalisations, price fixing and currency controls - which have already affected British investment in the country.

The armed forces, which have already adopted the salute "Fatherland, socialism or death", will have their mission enshrined as being "patriotic and anti-imperialist" in their defence of Venezuela against the United States, which considers Mr Chavez a threat to its influence in the region.

Tropical Whatever Erin

2007-08-16T07:41:00.000-07:00

Whooop....deeee.....do.

I think when something tropical comes along, I'll post some images from my backyard. If it gets really exciting, I'll drive around with camera in hand.

Yahoo News Story About TD Erin

Surprising AOL Poll

2007-08-12T17:55:00.000-07:00

All the News that Really Isn't - by JKarl

2007-08-09T05:49:00.000-07:00

One development I have noticed in my perhaps not so gracious advancing years is the growing plethora of news reporting which appears to lack a corresponding increase in relevant information or any apparent endeavor to seek out meaningful alternatives. Television's three major news channels, the several cable networks, the print media and the Internet seem to be engaged the reporting and rehashing of that which is sensational or trendy but woefully lacking in substantive value.

In recent examples, we have been subjected to a diet of all Brittany Spears, Anna Nicole Smith, Paris Hilton, Lindsey Lohan or Al Gore III all the time. Much of this is relatively harmless blather, the only real danger being that such obsession with trivial matters may camouflage or actually discourage any interest in truly significant activities affecting us.

Unfortunately, some of this preoccupation with the activities of celebrities or their often bewildering offspring is too often an unhealthy invasion of privacy, resulting in additional anguish and embarrassment to individuals or families already overburdened with more than their share. A case in point is the example of young Al Gore whose sole claim to fame is being the son of our former Vice President.

Every day, thousands of people, young and old–famous and not famous, are stopped for misdemeanor offenses and duly reported on page 1, page 12 or in arrest report statistics, depending on the circumstances. Why should the social standing of the individual, regardless of political affiliation, make this a cause celebre to be dwelt upon for days in the various media at the expense of individual privacy/grief?

However, the most egregious example of irresponsible journalism and political chicanery is resident in the discussion of wartime casualties, particularly by those who have neither credibility nor experience in that arena. This is very evident in the issue of Corporal Pat Tillman, the Army Ranger and former football player who unfortunately was a casualty to friendly fire.

Every combat death is a tragedy and is rendered even more anguishing by the fact that it was caused by friendly or unintended fire. Regardless of how terrible it must seem, in the combat environment involving human beings acting under uncommon stress in situational reactions this is an inevitable consequence of war. To those who have experienced such an incident, the troop reaction is obvious–no one on the scene wants to believe it nor report it as such–it is an accident too horrible to comprehend.

Additionally, in the heat of battle, individual recollections are often clouded by uncertainty–it is not abnormal for the investigation to determine the facts to take several days. Accordingly, the ongoing and unhealthy obsession by the media and those with a political ax to grind to affix blame at the highest level possible for a "cover-up" of what, unfortunately and sadly, is not unique to war is abominably disgraceful.

As one who has lived this "up close and personal," I guarantee that no one in the chain of command wants to report a combat death as a friendly fire incident for no other reason than to spare the next of kin additional suffering. It is both tragic and a travesty that field commanders are being punished and reviled for acts of mercy--those who use it for headlines or political gain are shameful creatures indeed.

I have long advocated that all deaths sustained in a combat zone be attributed to enemy action. The knowledge that the cause of death was accidental will but add unnecessarily to the pain and suffering of the family--compassion may often trump truth.

JKarl Colonel USMC Retired

A Little Personal History - by PForz

2007-08-07T18:24:00.001-07:00

My very first memory is of Kristallnacht and the day after - at age 3! I've always wondered why. We lived in the downtown area of Pforzheim, Germany. Across the street was a Jewish owned department store, and there were many small Jewish shops in the immediate area. I remember waking up to the sound of glass breaking and people shouting. I rushed to the window and saw people being herded together, screamed at and beaten up on by brown shirted people in the street below.

My mother immediately pulled me away from the window, warning me not to go to the window again. The next day my mother took me with her to the weekly open food market. On the way back I noticed people on top of a church, tearing it up. I asked my mother what these people were doing. She grabbed me, jerked me down the street, and told me to shut up and keep moving. (I now know that it was a synagogue, that was being destroyed.) Obviously I'm not Jewish, or our place would've been destroyed, too.

My family was middle-class, on my mother's side being "lesser" nobility (von Roßwags) and farmers from the Black Forest area. My mother and grandparents were the only ones of her immediate family still in Germany, with most of her family having emigrated to the US and Venezuela between 1870 and 1900, including 2 of her 3 sisters who had come to the States right after WW I. My father's family originally came to Germany from France. They were Huguenots, and got kicked out of France.

They were artisans and artists, and most males of my father's family, including my father, were gem engravers. (I don't have a better word for it. It's engraving coats of arms, monograms, etc., into the gems of very expensive rings, i.e. like rubies, emeralds, etc.). There were only 3 of that profession in Germany at the time of my father's death.

Two of my father's great-uncles emigrated to Wisconsin in 1856 to get away from the Prussian draft. One of them was the founder of a large family branch in Wisconsin, and got rich, the other got killed at Gettysburg. I only had a total of 3 cousins (from 8 uncles and aunts) - 2 male and one female cousin - from both sides of the family. (Stick with me, there is a reason to this maybe boring history.) One cousin was KIA in Russia in 1942, the other was drafted into the US Army in 1950.

My female cousin married a Czech in 1941, after big problems to get permission from the Nazis to get married. They were both (involuntarily) assigned to work at the Volkswagen plant. He, of course, had been "imported" from Czechoslovakia, as many other people from Nazi occupied countries who were brought into Germany as laborers for the Nazi war machine. My father was KIA, also on the Eastern Front, in 1/45. Our home and everything we owned, as well as the whole city, was destroyed on 2/23/45, 6 weeks (!) before the city was occupied by the Allies.

When the war ended, my sister was in a KLV camp in the BlackForest, my mother and younger brother ended up close to theGerman/Austrian border, and I, a few days short of 10 years old, ended up ata farm on Lake Constance (Swiss/German border) all by my lonely self after also having been sent to a KLV camp in 1/45. My mother thought it was much safer for my sister and I to be in a KLV camp than in Pforzheim. But we were still lucky -we had survived.

WWII starts:

Right after it got dark I could hear people talk loudly and all excitedly in the streets. My parents were in a loud discussion with several neighbors. The radio was playing military music, special announcements were coming on, and excitement was in the air. Hitler had invaded Poland. WW II had started.

We had recently moved from the downtown area into a more upscale part of town into a large, two apartment house. A beautiful city park was right in front of the house, and the city's main Protestant Church was next to the park. The houses in the area were all spacious apartment type houses, 2 or 3 stories high. About a 100 yards to our left and right was a scenic river. They combined into a large river about 200 yards downstream from our house. Behind us was the city's hydroelectric powerplant, which blended into the residential area in such a way that you really couldn't tell it was a power plant, as all of the water was coming underground from the two rivers into the plant. Little did I know then that the beautiful spire of the church and that power plant would have such a profound impact on our lives.

Initially, other than the fact that my father was drafted and gone within a week after Hitler invaded Poland, I didn't notice much difference in our lives. There were no shortages of food or other supplies. That all came later. My father was taking infantry basic training at age 37 at a local Kaserne, and due to his age, I guess, was stationed close to home. I got a brother in '42. My father got a safe job transporting horses on rail all over Europe. That must have been quite a job for an artist and city-slicker to be on a freight train taking care of horses. We did see him frequently until 1943, when he was assigned back to the infantry as they were running out of younger bodies.

I started school in '41. We watched a victory parade of German troops returning from France. I started to read the daily newspapers and propaganda books by the end of the first school year, listened to the daily news on the radio, watched propaganda movies of the "glorious and victorious" German Army and "genius" of the Führer and "justness" of the Nazi cause. He became an idol to us kids. I followed the daily military situation (front lines, etc,) on sand models and maps displayed in public buildings and stores. Hitler's pictures were everywhere. In every home, in every restaurant, office, store, public building. You name it, and it was there. Swastikas were all over. Everybody was wearing a uniform of some type, from the local Nazi official, to the ten year old (and up) boys and girls doing their "duty" as organized Hitler Youth groups, to the various military and paramilitary organizations.

We became completely brainwashed. It's hard to explain to somebody from the USA how there was such complete control of the people's daily lives by the Nazi machine, and the total population control imposed on the people. The same population control, of course, existed or still exists in all of the various Communist countries, and in most cases in an even worse form or shape. I noticed many people wearing yellow stars. Actually, we had a family with those stars living across the street from us. I noticed the abuse those people wearing stars had to take from everybody. I thought that it was right and just! The constant bombardment of the Nazi propaganda against the "dirty, filthy, traitorous Jews and enemies of the State" had done it's job well. They had no civil rights, no police protection from the abuse. Several of us kids even participated in harassing the 3 kids of the Jewish family living across the street from us.

One day my mother took me and my older sister aside and asked why we were acting so nasty and mean with those poor kids. She explained how unfortunate they were. We were ashamed, and stopped the spitting and hitting, and actually played with them at times when their parents thought it was safe to let them out of the house. My mother actually had taken a big risk by talking to us. Had she been reported to the officials, she could've been in big trouble. We had already been drilled into our little heads that the Führer and the State was more important than our parents, and anything mentioned that could be construed as being inflammatory against the State must be reported, even if it was your parents you had to report! And I, and all my friends believed in that!

By that time every house, every block had an informer and an official party representative (a warden) whose job it was to report anything of that nature to the Nazi officials. Then, in the spring of '44 police vans showed up all over the city, and the family across the street was loaded on a van. We never did see them again, or any more yellow stars in our city from then on. We all know now what happened to those people!

Our school day started with a good "Heil Hitler" to our teacher, and then with a good patriotic Nazi song. I think it was the "Horst Wessel" song, paying tribute to a low-life with a criminal past who got himself killed in a brawl with a bunch of other criminal elements of the Communist persuation. That made him a martyr for the cause. He was typical of the other criminal elements who found a home in the Nazi Party. That song was also played every time in a public place or restaurant after a radio announcement of a Nazi "victory" or a speech by Hitler or other Nazi officials. Everybody had to stand up, give the Hitler salute and pay homage to the Fuehrer.

Every teacher at the school was a member of the Nazi Party. They had to be. If not, they would've been on the Eastern Front or digging ditches. Discipline was tough, but we learned our ABCs well, along with what the Nazis thought was important for us to learn. The school dove-tailed with and expounded the daily doses of propaganda. Germans were the smartest, most noble, honest people in the world. Germans had invented everything of note in the world, from cars to medicine, from electricity to poetry. They had the best soldiers, the most intellectual people. Everything the Germans had or did was better, not to mention that anything but Aryans were scum. Everybody from Eastern and Southern Europe was inferior (including German Allies like the Italians, Rumanians, Hungarians, etc.), especially Russia, not to mention Africa or other continents, and without even mentioning the trashbin of humanity - the Jews.

I guess only the Northern Europeans along with the people of Saxon or Viking descent in England and in America counted, even though we were at war with them. Strange, though, most of the propaganda to scare the people to fight and support the War effort was against Russia and the Communists, not the US or England. They only called those two "Terrorist Bombers". Yes, that was pounded in our heads, and soon we believed it. Soon we thought Hitler and his disciples were supermen, always right, and we came to adore them as the gods who could do no wrong. We, certainly I, were ready to lay down our lives for the noble cause. We certainly greeted everybody we meet with "Heil Hitler", and certainly let them know if they didn't come back with Heil Hitler that they must! I know that some of us kids turned in several adults to the ever present Party members - every house, every block had one to keep the people straight - if they didn't use the Nazi greeting, plus other crimes against the Fuehrer, such as saying that the war would be lost, or anyother derogatory comments against Adolf.

We started school real early in the morning, but we finished at 1 PM. But every Wednesday and Saturday afternoon we had to go collect herbs in the woods or fields for the war effort (used to make medicine), or we had to go to farms to pick the potato bugs off potato plants. That was for the kids under 10 years old. Everybody over ten, boys and girls,had to report for "duty" with their organized Hitler Youth groups (Jungvolk), doing military drills and games, marching in parades, or doing other things for the Fatherland. That was compulsory at age 10.

After age 14 everybody became part of the real Hitler Youth (HJ), with real serious military training, war effort work like digging shelters and fortifications, and of course at the end of the war came the active and crazy military duty for those 14 year or older ones - if they weren't already on active military duty! Your parents got into big trouble if you didn't do your "duty". My sister skipped a couple of days one time, and my mother got a visit from the police and local Party official.

All of the kids on "duty" wore pretty uniforms, which, of course, the parents had to buy. I and my friends loved to see those uniforms. And we loved the "duty", marching, and games these 10 year olds were playing. As these groups took volunteers younger than 10, I pestered my mother at age 8 to buy me a uniform so I could join them. At first she countered that she had no clothing coupons to buy me a uniform. However, after they let me join without a uniform and let me march in civies, she relented and bought me a uniform, and let me officially join. I was one happy kid then, and proudly marched for the Fuehrer. But the hardship of war, including the killings and horror from the bombing as in the big cities and industrial areas, had not really reached our area yet. But it would catch with up with us soon.

April 1, 1944. We were up in the attic of our house watching a formation of US bombers flying back to their base in England after an air-raid on Munich. There were five of us. My sister, who carried my almost two year old brother, two other kids my age who lived in the house, and myself. It was a beautiful day with great visibility. We could see each plane and the long condensation trails of the planes. I was counting the planes aloud. "One, two, ..., twenty-nine, -- look, there is something coming out of those planes!" It sure was. It looked like tiny sticks at first, but then they got bigger and we heard a terrible, screaming noise. We knew then what was coming.

We ran down the stairs to get into our air-raid shelter in our cellar. We heard a big bang, and glass from the windows in the stairway was coming at us. Plaster from the ceiling was falling on us. Actually, it was a miracle that we all reached the shelter without a scratch, even as it seemed to be an eternity before we made it into she shelter!

A 500 lb bomb had hit about 20 or 30 yards in front of our house and the big church, putting a huge crater into the road. It had missed the house! However, It did knock several holes into the wall of one of our bedrooms, as well as into our living room. A big piece of bomb shrapnel was lying flat on top of our piano, but did not damage it! All of the windows in our house, as well as in the church and neighboring houses were blown out. The roofing tiles on the church and on our house were also gone.

From that day on we would practically live in our air-raid shelter until we (my family) left the city, while most of those living in our house who didn't leave would die in that shelter. Actually,the planes were only getting rid of some bombs which they couldn't drop on Munich that day.

Up to this day we had scarcely paid attention to the air-raid sirens, as the planes always flew by or over without dropping any bombs. At night we went back to sleep once the sirens woke us up. Sometimes on a clear night, we would go outside to watch the planes, especially if they were caught in air-defense searchlights.

In the daytime we would always watch the formations of bombers fly over us as we did on 4/1/44. They always came to bomb some other place. We didn't think our small city, without any war industry, would be a target. Sure, Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and all those places where they were making tanks, ammo, planes, etc,. but not Pforzheim! But that changed, starting with that day. As soon as the sirens sounded we now made it down to our shelter.

By the end of '44 we basically lived and slept in the shelter. We had a very sturdy, fairly safe, well constructed air-raid shelter. The city now got bombed almost daily, day or night, by (usually) planes on their way home as a secondary target. Damage in the city was not extensive, nothing like the big cities, but the bombs were falling all over town, and especially close to our neighborhood as the (small) city power plant was a secondary target. I remember that on Christmas '44 we had a bunch of nuns staying with us, as their monastery was destroyed on Christmas Eve. After July '44 the bombings intensified as the Allies established air bases in France which were within short range of us.

Often planes would sneak into the city without an alarm being sounded. One day as we were playing in the park in front of our house we suddenly heard the sound of a fighter bomber (you can't miss that sound), diving in our direction. We ran into our house, trying to get down into the shelter before the expected bomb would hit. We were running through the house lobby when we heard the sound of the bomb whistling towards our house. Miraculously the bomb didn't explode, but came through our roof, penetrated the wall of the adjoining house, and landed on a bed as a dud!

In September '44 the schools closed for good due to the dangers of the air-raids, not to be opened again until the Fall of '46. In January '45 my mother made a decision that would probably save our lives. She decided to move to our grandparents' house in the outskirts of town, and with access to a very safe, concrete, above ground bunker available to all the residents of the little subdivision.

On the night of 2/23/45, about 7 weeks before the Allies captured the town, the city of Pforzheim was completely destroyed by 500 British Halifax bombers in a 25 minute air-raid. An estimated 28,000 people of an estimated city population of about 60,000 at that time died. In my house, 19 people died. Only 2 kids and one adult came out alive of those who had been in the shelter. Although the house took two direct hits, the shelter was still intact. They died of smoke inhalation as apparently the airtight constructed doors had not been closed properly when some people from next door came into our shelter once the bombing started.

The suburb where my grandparents lived was not touched.

KLV = Kinderlandverschickung. They sure tried to make good little Nazis out of us. Our age group, in our camp in the Black Forest, was from 9 to 14. In 4/45 (!) they evacuated us to Lake Constance (Bodensee) to wait for the "Endsieg", and to get away from the Allies. It took us a week to get there. Part on foot, train, truck, and horse-drawn wagons. And taking cover in ditches and tunnels during strafings.

About a week after we got there (Hagenau), of course the French got there, too. Our leaders (all Party members) departed, and left us stranded there. I walked back home to Pforzheim on my own, after staying with farmers for a couple of weeks. Got back home with just the clothes I had on my back, about a month after my 10th birthday. A pair of shoes, no socks, a short pair of pants, and a long-sleave shirt. Amen. But that was the easy part. How does that sound for a fun adventure? But good training for US OCS later on! Just think, how many millions of lives could've been saved had somebody gotten rid of Hitler before at least by 1938!

What Some Liberals Have to Say About the Bridge Collapse in Minnesota

2007-08-01T18:27:00.000-07:00

On AOL, when you go to their news stories, there is sometimes a comments section. Check out these comments from the article about the bridge collapse....

sundvl1968 09:28:38 PM Aug 01 2007
What a sad story. It's sort of sad that our country's infrastructure is crumbling while our tax money goes to build those of countries like Iraq.

CindyMann1 09:23:34 PM Aug 01 2007
Crumbling national infrastructure is a greater threat to ordinary Americans and the US economy than terrorism.

CindyMann1 09:22:03 PM Aug 01 2007
This is what happens when the top 2% tax bracket is given tax cuts, rather than using said resources to maintain infrastructure.

CindyMann1 09:20:41 PM Aug 01 2007
Too bad some of the $450 billion wasted in Iraq couldn't have been used to maintain our own infrastructure.

blamethechimp 09:19:29 PM Aug 01 2007
BUILT WITH CHINESE STEEL AND MEXICAN DAY-LABOR. THANKS, BUSH.!!!

(p.s. from Rep J: The bridge is 40 years old)

jacobjg1 09:18:43 PM Aug 01 2007
Our nation is in need of approximately $1.5 TRILLION in infrastructure work. We've already TOTALLY wasted half of a trillion dollars in Iraq, along with about 3,500 deaths of our fighting men and women. King George II and Darth Cheney are ensuring a bankrupt future for our country along with a world that looks at us as the enemy.

ncsuemp 09:16:04 PM Aug 01 2007
Instead of taking care of our nation's infrastructure, we destroy that in other countries so that we can spend our tax dollars rebuilding Iraq, etc. Does that make sense?

tomofyork2 09:22:05 PM Aug 01 2007
ANOTHER FINE MESS BY CHENEY/ BUSH MAFIA CONTRACTOR BUDS ... HEY, BUT KEEP SENDING MONEY TO RE-BUILD AND RE-BOMB BAGHDAD, AND FORGET ABOUT REBUILDING AMERICA'S INFRASTRUCTURE, RIGHT??IMPEACH- AND ARREST WH FOR 9/11 TREASON, CIA LEAK TREASON... AND THE LIST GOES ON

ssc8080 09:16:02 PM Aug 01 2007
global warming is to blame. You will see more like this its just too hot out side.

(p.s. from Rep J: Did he see manbearpig there, too?)

pirahna131 09:15:50 PM Aug 01 2007
MAYBE TAX DOLLARS SHOULD BE SPENT BUILDING AND REPAIRING OUR OWN INFRASTRUCTURE!!!!!!!! INSTEAD WE HAVE A S*** FOR BRAINS CHIMP PRESIDENT THAT DIVERTS THE WAR ON TERROR TO DESTROY IRAQ NOW TAX DOLLARS GO FOR FIXING IT WHO KNOWS HOW MANY YEARS

newdawn70gpm 09:15:06 PM Aug 01 2007
It's not terrorism, but that won't stop the crazed neocons in the Bush Administration from blaming Syria or Iran. After all, Bush needs an excuse to start World War 3.

... These are just a peckin' on the surface...

http://news.aol.com/story/_a/interstate-bridge-falls-into-mississippi/20070801194509990001

JKarl's View

2007-07-30T19:12:00.000-07:00

A TRAVESTY OF MISINFORMATION

I am continually amazed at the torrent of political misinformation fed to us, much of which by syndicated columnists secure in their knowledge that their loyal and gullible readership won't bother to look for evidence to the contrary, regardless of its ready availability. There is no better example of this public malaise than exists in the seemingly interminable soap opera involving the former Vice Presidential advisor, Scooter Libby and his conviction for perjury and obstruction of justice.

I will not comment on his guilt or innocence of these charges inasmuch as I was not present at the proceedings nor will I weigh in on the comparison of pardons or commutation of sentences by Presidents Bush and Clinton. I will leave those comparisons to the two Houses of Congress which will inevitably convene hearings to enable the members of the party not holding the White House to preen, pontificate and threaten dire action to curb runaway executive power. Once again, it will be an exercise in theatrics–the power of the President to pardon is absolute regardless of political party.

Nevertheless, in the Libby case, there is a question which has yet to be answered, one which has been largely ignored in the media feeding frenzy. Why was Mr. Libby subpoenaed by the Special Prosecutor at all?

In researching this question, one has but to look at the facts–all of which have been available for some time. First, Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald was appointed by the Justice Department for basically two reasons, to discover if a crime had been committed in compromising the identity of a covert CIA agent (Valerie Plame) and, if so, who was guilty of leaking that information?

By law for this to have been a criminal offense, the agent had to have been actually covert and that status had to have been known to the person who "outed" said agent and that compromise must have been committed maliciously with intent to do harm. For an agent to fit the legal definition of covered or covert status, that person must have served in that capacity in a foreign nation in the preceding 5 years.

Ms. Plame did not meet this criteria in that she had not served in this capacity for 6 years and was employed by the CIA as an analyst, a fact which was advertised as general knowledge by members of the Washington, D. C. media. Moreover, her husband, a former State Department official had listed her as a CIA employee in his "Who's Who in America" Biography.

Next, a damaging truth found the light of day, long after the countless subpoenas and the interrogation of witnesses when it became known that the prosecutor, Mr. Fitzgerald, knew at the beginning of his investigation that Ms. Plame's identification was leaked to the media by State Department official Richard Armitage rather than by Vice President Cheney or by Karl Rove much to the chagrin of those holding Pavlovian hopes for their respective scalps.

Consequently, it was evident from day one that no crime had been committed. Valerie Plame was not covert; accordingly, no one could have outed her either with malice aforethought or for political gain. Secondly, since it is also a matter of record that the source naming her as a CIA employee was known to the Mr Fitzgerald before he subpoenaed anyone, why did he not end the investigation and report those findings?

This is an enigma. Was the appointed prosecutor so enamored of his importance that he failed to see the forest for the trees? Or, was it a failed witch hunt, necessitating a scapegoat? Mr. Libby may have been guilty of no more than a faulty memory as were several prominent media witnesses in their testimony but--the real travesty was to place him in that position in the first place.

JKarl Colonel USMC Retired

Tillman Update

2007-07-29T21:29:00.000-07:00

After all I've read about the Tillman incident in Afghanistan, I finally read an article that made everything make more sense to me. Why did 'friendlies' shoot Tillman and why did they think it was by enemy fire? Seems there was some confusion on the battlefield to say the least. I picked up a little tidbit in this Army Times report that I am pretty sure I haven't noticed before. See if you can pick it out, too.

"O’Neal said Tillman, a corporal, threw a smoke grenade to identify themselves to fellow soldiers who were firing at them. Tillman was waving his arms shouting “Cease fire, friendlies, I am Pat (expletive) Tillman, damn it!” again and again when he was killed, O’Neal said."

Did you catch it? Tillman threw a smoke grenade, and I have a feeling that may have added to the confusion even though it was to lessen it somehow. Just some speculation on my part. Anyway, if you're in the mood for some truthsoup, read this article of the interview of Sgt. Bryan O'Neal who was standing right next to Tillman when he was shot.

Army Times: Soldier Next to Tillman Disputes New Info

P.S. Liberals, don't even bother reading it. You don't believe anything, anyway. Why waste your time?

Proof of Torture in the Phillippines

2007-07-28T07:17:00.000-07:00

Surely they should close down Gitmo after this disaster!

Hate Makes the Left Act Like Nuts

2007-07-27T19:27:00.000-07:00

People who hate an individual as completely as the nutroots hate George W. Bush will believe and say anything as long as it justifies their hatefulness and subsequent obnoxious behavior. It's like trying to justify a drug habit.

Please, excuse my sick sense of humor while I laugh at people making idiots of themselves...

LGF: Daily Kos Kestrel Swoops In

MPJ: Kos: Tillman Murdered for Chomsky Admiration, Antiwar Views

Pat Tillman was executed by McChimpeachable because he was going to meet with Noam Chomsky? This is just inexcusable slander against the war dead and just about the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Good Gawwwwwwwwwwd! It's almost as entertaining as "The Bad Girls Club".

Will Hillary Make Babysitting Illegal?

2007-07-23T20:33:00.000-07:00

"Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) recently unveiled a proposal for a new $10 billion federal program to offer government-subsidized preschool for all children across the country. Under her plan, states that offer such programs would be eligible to receive federal funding if they agree to follow federal guidelines on matters such as teacher training requirements and curriculum guidelines."

Let us all remember that part of her plan for socialist healthcare was to make it ILLEGAL AND PUNISHABLE BY JAIL to go outside the government healthcare system.

You think she won't make babysitting illegal?

Hillary Clinton: No 4 Year Old Left Behind

Clinton's Hostile Preschool Takeover

Global Warming Crisis! Flooding in Britain! Alert! Alert!

2007-07-23T07:58:00.000-07:00

What's wrong with this picture?
1. Water isn't even knee high.
2. Six people are pulling four in a floating sled.
3. What are they wearing the helmets for? Is it hailing?

Don't get me wrong. I always appreciate rescuers and first responders, but this seems like a waste of their time to me. Have the British ever considered wading out of the flood waters? After seeing people on their rooftops in New Orleans with flood waters up to their eaves, these pictures just don't have much of an effect on me. Check out the next one.

I'm sorry, did you say something? Flooding is terrible, but Houstonians deal with it all the time. Does anyone remember this scene from 2006?

That's the Houston YMCA at 1960 with people on the rooftop. And yes, there is flooding! Good God, what is Houston coming to!? The media went nuts over this little thunderstorm, and it looks like the flooding in the two pictures is about the same.

Okay, I'll give you this one. This flooding looks several feet high and does warrant rescue. I wonder if Britain has helicopters and trained rescuers for this type of event.

This is how we handle flooding in Houston. The ATV isn't outlawed yet, and we know how to use them. We know that all flooding isn't due to global warming, although the new PM of Britain has decided that it does. Oh no! Large scale weather! Global Warming! Yeah, right.

I'll leave you with this final picture which I've dubbed "Can I splishy splash, too?"

This Is London
Humanitarian Crisis as Thousands Face New Evacuation Alert

CBS: Torrential Rain Floods Houston Area

An Interesting Truth

2007-07-19T19:09:00.000-07:00

A man, whose family was German aristocracy prior to World War II, owned a number of large industries and estates. When asked how many German people were true Nazis, the answer he gave can guide our attitude toward fanaticism.

"Very few people were true Nazis “he said, “but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come. My family lost everything. I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories."

We are told again and again by experts and talking heads that Islam is the religion of peace, and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace. Although this unqualified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant. It is meaningless, meant to make us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the spectre of fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam.
The fact is that at this moment the fanatics rule Islam.

It is the fanatics who march.

It is the fanatics who wage any of 50 shooting wars worldwide.

It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave.

It is the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder and 'honor' kill.

It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque.

It is the fanatics who zealously demand the stoning and hanging of rape victims and homosexuals.

The hard quantifiable fact is that the "peaceful" or "silent majority" is cowed and extraneous.

Communist Russia comprised Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of over 20 million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant.

China's huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering 70 million people.

The average Japanese individual prior to World War II was not a war mongering sadist. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an orgy of killing that included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese civilians; most killed by sword, shovel and bayonet.

Who can forget Rwanda, which collapsed into butchery. The majority of Rwandans were "peace-loving".

History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt, yet for all our powers of reason we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points:

Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence. Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don't speak up, because like my friend from Germany, they will awake one day and find that the fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have begun. Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Serbs, Afghans, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many others have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late.

As for us who watch it all unfold; we must pay attention to the only group that counts; the fanatics who threaten our way of life.

Lastly, at the risk of offending, anyone who doubts that the issue is serious and just deletes this email without sending it on, can contribute to the passiveness that allows the problems to expand.

So, extend yourself a bit and send this on and on and on!! Let us hope that millions, world wide, will read this, will think about it, then send it on.

Revoke the Peace Prize from Betty Williams!

2007-07-12T09:16:00.000-07:00

Little Green Footballs is covering one of the Nobel Peace Prize's hypocrits giving a speech and making nutty statements.

Betty Williams, one of the founders of the Northern Ireland Peace Movement, said this...

“Right now, I could kill George Bush,” she said at the Adam’s Mark Hotel and Conference Center in Dallas. “No, I don’t mean that. How could you nonviolently kill somebody? I would love to be able to do that.”

Um hum. LGF also points out that she made this very same statement to SCHOOL CHILDREN!

Are we absolutely sure she wasn't involved with the violence in Ireland? Her true feelings sure seem to be coming through now.

LGF: http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=26226_Nobel_Peace_Prize_Winner-_I_Could_Kill_George_Bush#comments

Sir Salman Rushdie

2007-07-11T15:04:00.000-07:00

I have followed the numerous stories on Sir Rushdie and his tale is one of courage, to say the least. He has a fatwa hanging over his head for writing "The Satanic Verses", a critical look at Islam and Muhammed. However, he doesn't let this death sentence deter him from speaking what he believes is the truth. He seems to have a lot more guts than many other public figures who have capitulated when faced with lesser threats from the terror bullies who practice Islam.

al-zawahiri had a message for Britain...

"As for Blair's successor, I tell him the policy of your predecessor has brought you catastrophes and defeat in Afghanistan and Iraq, and even in the center of London," says al Zawahri in reference to the July 7, 2005, London suicide bombings. "If you did not learn the lesson, we're willing to repeat it for you, God willing, until we are assured that you've fully understood it,"he says in the 20-minute audio statement found on the Internet today.

Al Zawahri criticizes Britain for awarding author of "Satanic Verses" Salman Rushdie the title of knighthood and considers it a "clear message" to Muslims."

I seem to think that "clear message to Muslims" is that Britain will not stop fighting Islamo-fascists and that self-reflection on one's beliefs is not a bad thing. Or maybe Blair was sending this message to bin Laden and al-zawahiri... "No, we're not going to convert to Islam no matter how many times you bomb us. And NO, we're not going to make women wear burkas just because you say so. And NO, we're not going to pull out of Iraq because you want to start the Islamic caliphate there. And NO, certainly we will never squelch free speech because you don't know how to act when someone else questions your superstitions. That's all your own problems, and if you make it ours... we'll fix it."

God save Sir Salman Rushdie.

ABC Blotter: http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/07/al-qaeda-no-2-m.html