Agnes Attitude Today

Al Gorem

Gary Varvel

Democrats take heed: Your leaders seem to think that if they send the likes of Algore out there to rant and rave the kind of borderline lunacy you want to believe, that it will make you feel better about voting for their Milquetoast candidate who has taken no such positions himself. They are trying to get you Deaniacs fired up to vote for the man you voted and campaigned hard against in the primaries.



In fact the scariest (to Democrats) talk last week was of how close Kerry's positions are to Bush's in the war on terror.

Will you allow yourself to be duped like this? Or vote Nader and tell them to take a flying leap?

Homeland Justice
www.GovExec.com - Threat warning creates confusion over homeland security roles (5/28/04): "People inside and outside government said Friday that the way Attorney General John Ashcroft announced the warning was 'scary,' 'unbelievable' and 'confusing.'"

C'mon people! Anytime Ashcroft opens his mouth, whatever comes out sounds scary. Face it, the man is scary.

There's a whole lot of political positioning going on lately. Democrats have positioned/are positioning themselves to benefit politically from another homeland attack. The administration is aware of the very real possibility of another attack, and announcements like Ashcroft's are designed to head off criticism that we were taken unawares. And every congresscritter from Podunk, Wherever is trying to get their two bits in here and there to make sure he/she/it isn't tarred and feathered if another major attack occurs before November.

There's also a whole lot of armchair quarterbacking going on as well. Tender Mousie Stew is eager to point out all the criticism flying from both left and right. It's all pretty easy to do if you're not actually the one in the middle who is responsible for doing what it takes to reduce the chances of another attack happening. And it's easy to say "I told you so" in perfect 20/20 hindsight if you can squeeze what you said a year ago to fit the facts on the ground today.

In other words there's a whole lot of B.S. flying lately...

Algore Sets Up Demos To Benefit From Terror Attack

Little Miss Attila: Algore

Attila lays out how:

But there's this, and it's serious:

(Algore): "He has exposed Americans abroad and Americans in every U.S. town and city to a greater danger of attack by terrorists because of his arrogance, willfulness and bungling at stirring up hornet's nests that pose no threat whatsoever to us . . . . It's not the central front in the war on terror, but it has unfortunately become the central recruiting office for terrorists."

And that is the part that isn't funny. Because what Algore is trying to do here is prepare us for another terrorist attack. And program us to receive this news, when it occurs--for it almost certainly will--as something that is Bush's fault. We are to accept any terrorism over this long, hot, event-filled summer not as evidence of a flaw in our defenses, but as something provoked by the behavior of the President. Gore wants us to blame George W. Bush for the next attack, just as his political allies blamed Bush for 9/11--against all reason.

There are some in the Democratic Party that hope more dead American bodies will pave their path to the White House.

They are hoping al Qaeda will succeed this summer.

It is disgusting, and egregious. And it brings a new definition to dishonor.

MLK On Unjust Laws
Martin Luther King - Letter from Birmingham Jail

"One may ask: 'How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?' The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the Brat to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that 'an unjust law is no law at all'

Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law."

Kerry to Highlight Foreign Policy Differences

Well this should be interesting. The only problem is Kerry only has process to harp on, not substance, because on substance, Kerry's position is the same as the President's.

"'We can't act like the debate started today,' said (Kerry campaign) communications director Stephanie Cutter. 'It started two years ago. For Bush now to be adopting these steps is problematic because he's ignored our allies for two years"

First of all, if you have to count on people forgetting or having been misled about the degree of involvement of our allies over the last two years, you're in trouble to start with. But what Ms. Cutter is alluding to is that the real difference between Kerry and Bush is that Kerry would be willing to engage in certain kinky french toe-licking that Bush just won't do.

See when these people mean "our allies" they only mean france and Germany, especially france. Never mind the rest of the world...

"A top adviser, who requested anonymity to discuss internal strategy, said the 11-day campaign is designed to clear a big hurdle: convincing voters Kerry has superior ideas for protecting the United States here and abroad and winning the war on terrorism. In the early days of the campaign, this has sometimes proved a more difficult task for Kerry."

Why the anonymity, Mr. Top Adviser? You don't want the world to attach your name to the desperation you feel? So...all you can really do is carp that the President is moving closer to your positions, when he is just getting around to doing certain things that were planned all along?

Good luck, Mr. Top Adviser...

Partisan Press to Campaign For Kerry?

I'm beginning to sense what the Democrat strategy is turning out to be.

Kerry steadfastly refuses to take a serious position on just about anything. His "firm positions" have the consistency of soft putty. Even on the old staunch Democrat standby position, Kerry manages to find some mushy "nuance" room when discussing Supreme Court appointments and Roe v. Wade. He has been unable to gain any traction on virtually any issue. His campaign's sense of timing seems atrocious.

This all looks like general incompetence, but I'm beginning to see the glimmer of a strategy. The Democrat party knows they have a dud in Kerry. And they know from long experience that they cannot run on their true liberal positions. Liberalism is a losing platform, and a national candidate who espouses liberalism is a losing candidate. Therefore it appears to me that there is a strategy to keep Kerry blathering harmless inanities, taking positions that upon closer examination either straddle an issue, or have no real contrasting differences from the current administration.

In the mean time, the partisan press is running a relentless smear campaign against the President, the war in Iraq, and the general war on Islamofascist terror. There may not be a "coordinated strategy" between the Kerry campaign and the press (though it would not surprise me if some high-level meetings have taken place), but the Kerry campaign knows what the press will do, even without coordination.

So while Kerry blathers on about how "I. Will. Bring. LEADERSHIP. To. Washington!" (how inspiring...), the press runs their smear campaign against Bush. Kerry says "I. Will. Be. SMARTER. In the War. On. Terror." (real good, and what's your plan again?), while the press is furiously shoving Abu Ghirab into our faces over and over.

The Democrat strategy is to allow the partisan press to run against Bush, while Kerry remains milktoast lukewarm in his positions. Their plan is to campaign AGAINST Bush, without campaigning FOR their own candidate or by espousing any meaningful contrasting positions. Witness even this speculation that Kerry won't even speak at the Democrat convention.

This is, in part, the result of campaign finance reform.

In the last 60 days before a general election, it is now illegal for independent organizations to campaign against a candidate. With that threat out of the way, the power of the partisan press has been elevated to an incredible degree. There will be no legal way to answer the relentless campaign that they continue to wage against the President. Meanwhile Kerry will continue to bloviate his inanities, while the left chants "ANY-one but Bush!"...

Kerry: Bush Policy Driving Up Gas Prices

Excite News: ""What about the Saudi-George Bush gasoline tax that we're now paying because OPEC wasn't pressured to lower the prices by producing more?" Kerry asked Tuesday during a stop in Portland, Ore. "They could've produced more before now. And America's paying an enormous penalty as a result of that and all of our economy gets hurt as a result of that."

Bush campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt said Kerry has opposed legislation that would reduce dependence on foreign oil.

Kerry opposes Bush's energy bill in part because he does not support drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. While Bush wants to tap domestic sources of oil, Kerry wants to divert temporarily oil being used to fill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and bring it to market to help reduce prices. He says his administration would demand that other oil-producing nations increase supply.

(And they can demand than Kerry take a flying leap.)

Kerry, noting his nearly 20 years on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he has met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah and Jordan's King Abdullah II, among others in the region.

Schmidt said Kerry creates a false impression by repeatedly referring to his relationships with foreign leaders as if they were ongoing.

'During this campaign, John Kerry has repeatedly referenced his support from mysterious, unnamed foreign leaders that he says he meets in restaurants in New York City,' Schmidt said. 'But his assertions seem to lack any basis in fact.'"

Y'know, for a minute I thought I would actually be reading a substantive critique by Kerry when I saw the headline of this article. What was I thinking?

Kerry's solution to rising gas prices: "Don't You Know Who I AM?!"

HA!

Haha!

See, when you want to replace a sitting president, you have to present a credible alternative to what the current president is doing. Kerry seems to think nothing more than his excess of hot air will be able to magically transform the current situation. He seems to think he has the "gravitas" to merely speak a new reality into being.

What an egomaniac!

Cox & Forkum

This says it well.

Tinfoil Hat Material or Cutting Edge Geology?
WorldNetDaily: Sustainable oil?: "Similarly in the Middle East, where oil exploration and extraction have been underway for at least the last 20 years, known reserves have doubled. Currently there are somewhere in the neighborhood of 680 billion barrels of Middle East reserve oil.

Creating that much oil would take a big pile of dead dinosaurs and fermenting prehistoric plants. Could there be another source for crude oil?

An intriguing theory now permeating oil company research staffs suggests that crude oil may actually be a natural inorganic product, not a stepchild of unfathomable time and organic degradation. The theory suggests there may be huge, yet-to-be-discovered reserves of oil at depths that dwarf current world estimates.

The theory is simple: Crude oil forms as a natural inorganic process which occurs between the mantle and the crust, somewhere between 5 and 20 miles deep. The proposed mechanism is as follows:"
Click to read the rest.

Wouldn't this just FROST the energy crisis alarmists if this turns out to be true? Heh!

Thanks to Dadcat for the link

Women In the (Iraq's) Military...

Serenity's Journal

"I believe it is extremely important for women to learn how to handle and shoot firearms. I believe they should be taught about calibers, ranges in addition to how to take one apart, clean it and put it back together. I believe women all over the world should learn these lessons and understand and respect guns.

That should come as no surprise to anyone who has read this site for any length of time.

In Iraq, some women are doing just that in an effort by the United States to have them take up roles as security forces within their own country."

click the link above for the rest.

Mean-Spirited Democrats

Kerry pokes fun at Bush mishap - The Washington Times: Nation/Politics - May 24, 2004: Democrat John Kerry joked about President Bush's weekend bicycle accident by comparing the president to a child, Internet newshound Matt Drudge reported yesterday.

"'Kerry told reporters in front of cameras, 'Did the training wheels fall off?' ' Mr. Drudge reported on his Web site, www.drudgereport.com.

Interviewed by The Washington Times yesterday, Kerry spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter would say only that the words Mr. Drudge reported were 'off the record.'

Mr. Drudge said the debate among reporters over the on-camera 'training wheels' remark has been 'whether to treat it as on or off the record.' "

What you won't hear is the President cursing his Secret Service detail and blaming them for it. He who lives in a glass house...

Turkey Guts to End World Oil Crisis: "The blood, guts, skin, feathers and bones, called turkey offal, are being converted into oil at the plant in Carthage, about 50 miles west of Springfield. Owners of the plant announced this week that they have begun selling between 100 and 200 barrels of the oil per day.

The plant is operated by Renewable Environmental Solutions, based in Downer's Grove, Ill., which is a joint venture of ConAgra Foods Inc. (CAG) and Changing World Technologies, Inc.

A method called Thermal Conversion Process converts the offal from turkeys at a nearby Butterball plant into oil, fatty acids, natural gas, minerals and carbon.

The process can convert any carbon-based form, essentially by speeding up the method the earth uses to break down dead plants and animals into petroleum hydrocarbons. Using specific heat, pressure and water, the feedstock's long molecular chains are broken into gas that is recycled to run the plant, water that is returned to municipal water streams and the other products that are sold."

Enviro-lefties be damned. We'll MAKE our own oil when it comes down to it. Today turkey guts. Tomorrow the "world" of organic waste!

Senator Rips Bush on Iraq, Terrorism: "Also Saturday, Lugar blamed the Bush and Clinton administrations for not adequately funding the foreign affairs budget, noting that the military's budget is more than 13 times what the nation spends for diplomacy. "

Well DUH! Senator...

Diplomats go yakkity yak--how much money does that take? Versus military units that actually accomplish something...

Flippity-Flippity Flop!
New York Post Online Edition: news: Democrat John Kerry yesterday did a backward somersault and retreated from his suggestion just one day earlier that he might appoint right-to-life justices to the Supreme Court as long as the majority stayed pro-choice.

'I want to make myself clear,' said a Kerry statement issued by his campaign. 'I believe that a woman's right to choose is a constitutional right. I will not appoint anyone to the Supreme Court who will undo that right.'

On Wednesday, Kerry sparked a brouhaha by telling the Associated Press he might appoint an anti-abortion judge to the Supreme Court, but not if it had just a narrow 5-4 pro-choice majority.



Poor Democrats. They have to be gnashing their teeth in agony about now...

Hee hee!

Absinthe and Cookies?
Or just absinthe, triple sec and orange juice on the rocks?
Sebor Absinth - buy original absinthe from the Martin Sebor distillery

Most wonderful stuff it is. :) :) :)

Mister Creosote Goes To Cannes


Rachel Lucas: Fatass Moore
"They're cheering him in Cannes, oh yes, because they are artists and, as a wise man once said to me, "Art is for assholes."

But I bet someone could make millions (well, maybe thousands) if they took that photo and made it into poster-size shooting targets."

Myself, every time I see this image, I have an urge to blow the image up to poster size, mount his head over my wastebasket, and cut out his mouth to serve as a huge target for trash.

ANYONE But Bush!

CUBA: Castro leads anti-American demonstration "HAVANA - Chanting 'Down with Fascism!' and carrying posters depicting President Bush as Adolf Hitler, hundreds of thousands of Cubans on Friday protested the measures announced last week by the White House aimed at bringing democracy to this communist state."

Looks like Fidel Castro's been campaigning for Kerry. This sounds an awful lot like a US anti-war demonstration. The usual tripe...

Four arrested over beheading of US businessman in Iraq

"Four people have been arrested over the beheading of US businessman Nicholas Berg, whose killing was shown earlier this month in a video on an Al-Qaeda linked website, a senior Iraqi source said."

None of the four is al Zarqawi however.

More Where That Came From?
Shell raises fears of other chem weapons

"Former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's government had disclosed binary sarin testing and production after the 1995 defection of Iraqi weapons chief Lt. Gen. Hussein Kamel al-Majid, Saddam's son-in-law. But Saddam's government never declared that any sarin or sarin-filled shells still remained.

For that reason, the U.S. government considers the discovery of the sarin shell as significant, the U.S. official said.

'What is of concern is that that there may be more of them out there,' the official said.

The existence of a sarin-filled munition thus could become the first indication that Saddam's regime had not destroyed all banned weapons."

Right. No kidding Sherlock But you wouldn't know this talking to the left.

"What, what? Just a little sarin gas. Old old! One shell! Whoopee! No WMD! No WMD! Bush lied! It's all about oiiiiiiiiil!!! The Jooooz! ACK!!"

Now Why Didn't I Think Of That?
No Watermelons Allowed
1) All political parties seek to enlarge their constituencies.
2) The Democrats are the party of the poor.
3) Ergo, the Democrats want to make more of us poor. John Kerry's wife and Ted Kennedy's family have theirs, Jack, and they need servants like you.
4) The Republicans are the party of the rich
5) Ergo, the Republicans want to make more of us rich. How else can you afford to buy Bush's buddies' baseball tickets and oil?

Now really - what more do you need to know?

So...vote Republican if you'd rather be rich than poor. :D

Weapons of Mass Destruction Found in Iraq!

FOXNews.com - Top Stories - Sarin, Mustard Gas Discovered Separately in Iraq

Yeah yeah, whose hands did you think they'd end up in? At least the terrorists who got them are incompetent enough not to know how to properly detonate them.

Teh Eval Glenn Fakes a Horse?!

Instapundit.com -

Does anything about that photo just look "wrong"?

First the lighting on the horse. It doesn't match the rest of the photo. Then look at the scale of the horse, versus the fence in the background. The horse looks to be about the size of a large dog!

Now the question is, why on earth would the Instapundit post a fake horse photo? Does he really not have a sister living out in the boonies?

Is his name really "Glenn Reynolds"?

Kerry-McCain ticket touted as way to unite US

Either this is an indication of how far left our "Republican" Senator from Arizona has slid, or it's an indication of how desperate and precarious the Democrats view their position to be, with Kerry at the top of the ticket.

"Unity" government?! Criminy...

DrugWarRant.com


This message brought to you courtesy of Billion$ of U.$. Taxpayer Dollar$

This Says It All


Jeff Koterba, The Omaha World Herald

Good News!
...um...yeah.

Daisycat passed the riding test for her scooter license. She's excited. I'm happy for her, (plus having a new perma-worry and a few more gray hairs...)

In Iraq -- Killing of American Berg changed the subject

"Political psychologist Stanley Renshon of City University of New York said it was 'a matter of strategic stupidity' for the terrorists to release the Berg video now."

That's what I said.

HERE IT IS!
Abu Musab Al Zarqawi beheading video. (I don't have the Daniel Pearle video, sorry.)

OK, ya sick bastids. You're coming here looking for it, so there it is. Click away.

(UPDATE: Or not...some of the links below appear to be down at the moment.)

video: Beheading of an American man in Iraq by Moslem Fanatics

Wizbang: The Video Wizbang has the most complete list of alternate sources I have seen so far HERE. Almost a dozen sources, updated regularly.

Northeast Intelligence Network This site is trying to keep it up across multiple servers. Patience...

Direct Link If it's up, it'll download. If not, try later.

Another link to try

And another

Command Post has a link to more locations here, as well as some still shots (ugh! I didn't need to see those...)

Last resort. This is a zip file containing the video in .swf format. This is my own webspace with very limited bandwidth. I expect this to blow up soon, so get it while it's here. So far so good, (no nastygrams from the ISP yet), but please use this as your last resort if everything else is down.

I haven't seen it and don't want to. I'm already angry enough about it, and also the sick self-serving politicos and partisan pundits in this country trying to draw a moral equivalence between this and the Abu Ghirab abuses, FOR THEIR OWN GRIMY POLITICAL GAIN!! "Cycle of Violence", my furry ass! This is the standard modus operandi for these monsters. They've been doing this for a very a long time. Have we forgotten Daniel Pearle? Abu Sayyaf?

Given how the Abu Ghirab photos were plastered across every outlet of the mainstream media over the last couple weeks, I do support your right as an American to see the other side of the story however. Go look at the video if you must, if you need a reminder of who it is we are fighting against. Ask yourself this question: If they are willing to commit an act this horrendous, what would stop them from using chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons if they could get their hands on them? They are evil. They are monsters. And they must be stopped, stamped out and destroyed.

And I am sick to death of the handwringing and pants-pissing on the left. These are Islamofascists of the worst sort. They cannot be placated. Their message is "Apology Rejected!!" Their goal is global Shari'a and they don't care how much destruction they wreack in their quest for it. There is no choice. This generation cannot shirk the duty placed before it to stand between them and the destruction of our civilization.

Go already. Get the fill of your morbid curiosity.

More reaction here: NY Times -- American Voices

Exploiting Abu Ghraib--A new excuse for terrorism.

Erick Stakelbeck on Abu Ghraib on National Review Online:
"Contrary to the videotaped boasts of his killers, the gruesome beheading of 26-year-old Nicholas Berg had nothing to do with the Abu Ghraib prison scandal and everything to do with the barbaric, pathologically anti-Western nature of militant Islam."

Click for the rest

Rachel Lucas: big moth creature

I hatched one of these when I was a kid. It was a caterpillar when I found it, and spun it's cocoon in the jar I kept it in. Months later, it emerged. It took quite a long time after emerging to get up to strength to fly. The weather was still cool outside, but I couldn't bear to keep it indoors after it was ready to go, so I released it.

I still have a picture of it somewhere.

Well Isn't This Just Hilarious?

Dr. Unheimlich's Disease Registry : Desert Catosis

Doctor Unheimlich has diagnosed me with Desert Catosis
Cause:	hot weather
Symptoms:	face swelling, grimacing, squawking, hovering
Cure:	drink two glasses of water with meals
Enter your name, for your own diagnosis:

Thanks to Ith for the link.

IMAO: In My World: When Stranglers Attack

Did. I. Not. Call. This?!

Hoo hoo! Thanks Frank J for coming through!

But As Long As You Mention It...
Qaeda Leader Beheads U.S. Civilian

Ya think Al Qaeda timed this a little badly? Nothing will distract us from our self-flagellation quite so effectively as another graphic reminder of the nature of the monsters we are actually fighting against.

Abu Musab al Zarqawi?

For some reason I'm being hammered today with folks searching for "Abu Musab al Zarqawi beheading video"? Bizarre. I have not discussed it or linked to it.

As long as you're here folks, why don't you read some of the rest of the site. Why do you want to see this video anyway?

UPDATE: Day two of this, and my hits are through the roof. I thought there were a lot yesterday... Criminy, talk about morbid curiosity! I don't dare host this file myself--it'd explode my bandwidth in a matter of minutes.

Only Serious Progressives Should Read This

Good advice here for Principled Progressives for the 2004 election.

Air America: Unfair to Conservatives

More Air America Radio Top Execs Bail
"Air America also missed its payroll this week by one day, for what insiders called technical reasons."

Ok, I've seen this sentiment expressed in several places now, (including Here), but I have to add my voice to the chorus.

First of all, why would socialists worry about being paid anyway? I thought they did nothing from a profit motive. Get back to work you lazy commies! You'll get pay enough when the revolution comes.

Second, this turn of events is profoundly unfair to conservatives. We were just barely getting warmed up to poke relentless fun at Franken and his lackeys and now the whole shebang is collapsing under it's own weight without any of our help.

Franken, you have no right to deprive us of our jollies this way! You better keep this thing going, otherwise we'll be forced to return to poking fun at imaginary liberal radio talk shows.

"To-om DASCHLE!!" Hee hee hee >>snrk!<< hee hee!

Rumsfeld Responds to His Critics



via Little Tiny Lies

Michael Moore is a Big Fat Stinking Liar

Michael Moore Lied About Disney Ban


Update: Michael Moore made a big stink earlier this week when he accused Disney of pulling the plug on his latest film, "Fahrenheit 911". He decried Disney's decision not to distribute the film as politically motivate censorship. However, Moore was crying wolf. He admitted in a CNN interview that he knew almost a year ago that Disney would not distribute the film, according to a report from independent.co.uk.

The lightning rod film producer claims that he had a contract with Disney for distribution, but according to independent.co.uk, a source close to Miramax (the subsidiary involved in the film) said that the deal was for financing, not for distribution.

This publicity stunt may backfire. If Moore will take a year old event and use it to drum up publicity, it might lead to questions regarding the credibility of some of the issues covered in his film and the spin Moore puts on them. Especially when you look at how he spun his statement with the "according to today's New York Times..." line and selectively quoting from that article, making it sound like the Times writer had uncovered this information, when the accusations actually came from quotes the Times writer received from Moore's agent.

"...questions regarding the credibility..."

No! Really?! Ya think THIS will damage his credibility? Oh perish the thought!
Nothing can damage the already non-existent credibility of this foul piece of human excrement...

Rumsfeld Testimony

Lieberman and Sessions got it right. But there are no sound bites from their statements on current media reports--only the inflammatory statements from Kennedy and Levin.

There is one reason alone for the hue and cry from the press for Rumsfeld's resignation. Rumsfeld has regularly humilated the members of the press and left them naked and shamed on the floor of the press briefing room.

It seems to me, it is time for the return of the mysterious "Rumsfeld Strangler".

Opportunity Reaches Endurance


Way cool! Click on the image for the story and larger versions of the panoramic photo.

Rachel Lucas

Ok, so her disappearance from the blogosphere predated my appearance, but her reputation is larger than life. And now, as the echoes boom about the 'sphere, "SHE'S BAAAACK!!", I figure I ought to go pay attention.

Aw heck, forget it. Just put her on the blogroll already, ok?

Father, Husband and Man First

Bush pauses to comfort teen.

"This girl lost her mom in the World Trade Center on 9-11."

Bush stopped and turned back.

"He changed from being the leader of the free world to being a father, a husband and a man," Faulkner said. "He looked right at her and said, 'How are you doing?' He reached out with his hand and pulled her into his chest."

Faulkner snapped one frame with his camera.

"I could hear her say, 'I'm OK,' " he said. "That's more emotion than she has shown in 21/2 years. Then he said, 'I can see you have a father who loves you very much.' "

"And I said, 'I do, Mr. President, but I miss her mother every day.' It was a special moment."

It is these little moments of unvarnished genuineness that are responsible for the very great esteem I hold this man in, and my high degree of trust in his judgement.

Despite his domestic political agenda, displeasing to conservatives and anathema to libertarians, I will not abandon him at the polls this fall. And I will continue to bristle at those who continue to attempt to ascribe "evil" to him, based on their disagreeement with his policies--this intractable absolutism that conflates his insufficiently conservative or libertarian policies with genuine spiritual evil.

It would be difficult to find a better man for the Oval Office for these times.

Thanks to Serenity for the heads-up.

The Limbaugh Echo Syndrome

Who's echoing whom?

Sometimes I'd swear that someone from the EIB is sneaking a peek here from time to time. Rush was on a roll today regarding the Iraqi terrorists and Baathists so-called torture in prison. In my "Cats and Warm Fuzzies" post below I referenced my non-plussedness about this hubbub, and my lack of ability to join the chorus of outrage. I'd swear some of what he said was riffing off this.

Nonsense, of course. But it goes to show that Rush is a reflection of us, not the other way around. I've seen it with other conservative bloggers as well. We'll all have the same take on a story almost simultaneously. On this particular story it seems there is a conservative split, primarily between those who have served in the military and feel the "abuses" are a gross breach of military protocol (probably is, and the guilty will get their due), and non-military conservatives who see this as almost nothing in comparison to what has been done to us, done to ordinary Iraqis under Saddam, and was depicted in graphic, gruesome photos just a month ago, when US contractors were burned alive and dragged through the streets of Fallujah.

Go back to my April 1 post (click the April archives at left) if you've forgotten the horror of those images. Then compare them to the embarrasing, but largely stupid photos of Iraqi thugs and terrorists, who are being nothing more than humiliated at the hands of our soldiers.

If you still need some help, try to envision what it would look like while these same thugs fed ordinary Iraqis feet first into a wood shredder--imagine photos of them screaming in agony as their legs and torsos are shredded into hamburger before they finally die. Imagine what the photos of the rape rooms would look like--imagine the horror on the faces of the husbands and family members forced to watch as their wives and daughters are brutally violated. Try to imagine what photos of someone being boiled alive in oil would look like.

Just try.

I'm sorry, there is no comparison. And those who are attempting to conflate the two I find to be of "highly dubious motivation" (read: despicable!). Daschle? Pelosi? The Sudanese?!

I still refuse to join the chorus.

Amazing Garden Bulb Cures Diseases, Lowers Cholesterol, Fights Cancer, Tastes Great in Many Dishes...and Even Repels Mosquitoes!

I'm talking about garlic, of course!

Recent research into this bulb is simply astounding. If this was some new exotic plant from the Amazon, the health world would be stunned at the recent findings. I'm not going to get into the health aspects. Just do a Google search (Here: Garlic Research)

But what I'm really excited about is the mosquito-repellent properties of the bulb.

See, I'm a native Minnesotan. Other than the severe winters, the state is known for it's population of massive swarms of mosquitoes that infest every backyard, ballfield, woodlot, lakeshore and swamp, once the snow finally melts and the weather warms. Sitting on the deck in the evening in the summer in Minnesota is like flashing a huge neon sign advertising an "All-You-Can-Eat" buffet for the bloodsuckers. Within minutes you'll be retreating to the indoors, or slathering thick layers of repellent spray on every square inch of your body.

So when I moved to Arizona, I fully expected to be living on the doorstep to heaven. Mild winters, dry climate, and no mosquitoes! Much to my dismay, I discovered that, while there may be no mosquitoes out in the desert, there were certainly plenty of havens for mosquitoes to breed and proliferate in town. What with pools, fountains, ponds, dog water dishes, tin cans and other containers left in the corners of yards, plus the shade and shelter provided by irrigated trees and shrubbery, there are plenty of the nasty buggers, especially once the summer monsoon (rainy season) gets underway. Not to mention the diseases they carry! Encephelitis, and now West Nile Virus have recently made their way to our town, riding in the bellies of their mosquito steeds.

I bought one of those fancy-dancy Mosquito Magnets last year. They do work, but because my yard is so small, it was difficult for me to find a location for it that was far enough away from the patio areas. The mosquitoes are drawn to it, but they hang out for a while nearby before finding their way into the machine to be destroyed. And if they smell a nice juicy human body a short distance away, they'll abandon their quest to find their demise with the machine, and come check me out instead!

A few years ago, the local hardware store carried a garlic based spray that was supposed to repel mosquitoes. I tried it, and it actually worked quite well! Not only did it drastically reduce the number of skeeters in the yard, but it completely cleared up a whitefly infestation in my garden. Completely! Not a single whitefly remained on any of my plants by the next morning. So you can imagine that I was dismayed when they stopped carrying the product. I tried creating my own spray using rehydrated dried garlic powder, but to no effect.

What I really need now is a way to chase the mosquitoes from the patio and toward the Mosquito Magnet, where they'll be sucked in and destroyed. I planned on using citronella candles whenever I was outside. But they only have limited effectiveness, and I'd need to light them far enough in advance of my using the patio for them to chase the little buggers away. And then if it rains, it always ruins the candles if I forget to take them in.

So I was really excited today when I found a source for "garlic juice" that is specifically made to repel mosquitoes. Not only does it repel them effectively, but it actually kills any mosquitoes that happen to be in the yard at the time the spray is applied. For virtually all other beneficial insects, plants, pets, birds, etc. it is quite safe and non-toxic. All I do is mix up a spray canister and coat the yard. From my previous experience I know that the faint garlic aroma will fade after a short while, leaving a virtually undetectable garlic residue. Now mosquitoes have a sense of smell that is 10,000 times more sensitive than the human nose. They smell it, and they hate it! That's why there are never any mosquitoes in a garlic field. And it lasts several weeks, which means I'll only have to repeat the treatment 2 or 3 times throughout our long Arizona summer.

Now I can look forward to long, peaceful evenings on my patio, watching the goldfish swirling beneath the trickle of the fountain, or enjoying a leisurely conversation with Daisycat while we enjoy grilled steaks and cervezas at sunset. No more quiet evenings cut short by the prickling sensation of skeeters about the ankles. No more nasty sprays or smelly candles just to be able to work or relax in my garden!

Here is the product I found:
Mosquito Barrier.
The best part about it is that a quart of the concentrate is only $22.45, which is enough to treat an acre and a quarter. This is less expensive than the stuff I was using years ago, and with my little place, a quart will last me all year!

I just placed my order, and I can't wait for it to arrive, so I can blast those buzzing bastards back to the oblivion they so richly deserve!

Cats and Warm Fuzzies

Sorry for the dearth of posts of late. I've temporarily run out of outrage--or perhaps more accurately, I've temporarily exhausted my ability to blog about the outrages that are surely continuing out there. Iraqi terrorists forced to pose nude? BFD. I refuse to join the chorus. Kerry falls down again? Hee haw, what a buffoon. Rumsfeld "under fire"? Yeah, the press is obviously in full election-year mode.

Perhaps I need to take a page from Laurence Simon and blog about my cats, my garden, or the latest household trivia for a while.

Nervous As A Cat With Kittens

Whew! Busy weekend reassembling Daisy Cat's scooter with the new frame. The frame was bent after she crashed. Now she is out trying it out again.

Uh oh...

Praying that it (and she) comes back in one piece...