The Bush Tax Cuts - by the numbers

Here are a few FACTS about the President's tax cuts that you need to remember going into election day.

* $14,374,330, 000,000 -- The Total Increase in Household Wealth Since April 2003. That's over 14 TRILLION dollars [A million seconds is less than 12 days; a billion seconds is over 31 years; a trillion seconds is more than 31,000 years, and 14 trillion seconds is over 434,000 years]
* $207,788,000, 000 -- The Reduction in the Deficit in the Past 29 Months DUE TO STRONGER ECONOMIC GROWTH
* 4.6% -- The Continuing Unemployment Rate, Lower than the averages of the 70's, 80's and 90's, Which Continues To Disprove the Media's Template of Economic Pessimism
* 3.7% -- The Average GDP Growth Rate Since The Tax Cut Was Enacted (the long run average is 3.3%), Calculated Quarterly
* $98,600,000, 000 -- The Combined Income Gains for Shareholders From Dividend Increases AND Tax Savings from 2003 to 2005
* $62,000,000, 000 -- The Surplus of Capital Gains Tax Revenue Not Foreseen or Accounted-for by Old School Revenue Estimators
* 23,000,000 -- The Number of Small Businesses Benefiting from Income Tax Reductions
* 6,600,000 -- The Number of Jobs Created Since the Tax Cut Was Signed Into Law
* 164.0% -- The Increase in the Dividend Tax Rate which would occur IF the Income and Dividend Tax Cuts expire as the Democrats want them to
* 123.0% -- The % Increase in Dividend Income and Share Repurchases Since the 2003 Tax Cut
* 91.0% -- The % Increase of Stock Ownership among the Bottom Quintile of Income Earners Since 1995
* 65.0% -- The % of Voters Who Were Investors in the 2004 Elections
* $2,092 -- The Tax Increase for a Family of Four With $50k of Income -- IF the tax cuts are repealed or are allowed to expire, as the Democrats want
* 300,001,643 -- The TOTAL Number of Americans benefiting from the Republicans' 2003 Tax Cut-
-- from http://snipurl. com/zueb and http://snipurl. com/zya8

Now there are other stats at these two websites, but I wanted to hit the highlights!

Remember this when you go into the Polls on November 7. Democrats from Mike Hatch to Amy Klobuchar to Chuck Schumer to Harry Reid have all said that if they get control they WILL work to repeal the President Bush's tax cuts. Is that something the middle class can afford? Not this middle class taxpayer....

Apathy

As we trudge through the final 8 days of October surprises and attack ads, I thought I would remind you what this is really ALL about.

"The future of America is in grave peril. Silent are the voices of those patriots who stand proud while paying homage to our nation's fallen servicemen on Memorial Day.
Absent are the statesmen of a by-gone era when men served their nation with dignity and upheld their oaths to preserve the constitution.
We are currently engaged in fighting a war for our very survival against a cunning, ruthless and implacable enemy - an enemy that is skilled in using against us the rights guaranteed by our own Constitution. "

In this case, the writer is concerned about an apathy toward the looming "Islamist threat", however my fear is an even larger one. More and more voters have grown more and more apathetic about voting and government. Oh they profess to have good reasons for their apathy - there is no difference between the two parties....politicians will say anything to get elected...it doesn't matter because once they get to DC they change...I'm just too busy...my one vote doesn't count....We've all heard them all.

However, reality says something else. There have never been more apparent differences between the two major partys as there is now. One party feels that the best way to fight the global war on terror is with the Army - the other with the police. One party believes that the taxpayer can do more good (for the economy and for charity) with their money than the government can - the other thinks that government knows best. One believes that the Keynesian economic model is the best one to emulate - the other believes that Marxism is better. One believes in the inherent "goodness" of America and the American people - the other believes that we would be better if we were more like Europe and less like America!

The only way to get honest politicians is to elect honest politicians. Don't lament the dirth of honest politicians if you vote for the guy that promises you the most goodies. You will be disappointed.

You say your one vote doesn't count? Tell that to the Rochester City councilman who won BY ONE VOTE. Tell that to Mark Kennedy who won his first Congressional race by 155 votes!

Please, please, please dear readers I beg of you. Take time in the final 8 days to read as much as you can - from multiple sources (not just the mainstream media) about the races in your area. Make the time to find out what candidates share your values and then GET OUT AND VOTE FOR THEM. Too many of our forefathers died for us to be able to live free in this wonderful country. We may not be called to make that sacrifice, but because of their sacrifice we owe it to their memories to get out and vote on November 7!

We are not equipped to handle this...

Just one more, in a long list of reasons, why Coleen Rowley is wrong when she says that the Global War on Terror should be a police action.

"COURTS cannot cope with the large number of terrorist cases coming to trial, the senior prosecutor in charge of counter-terrorism has told The Times.... Miss (Sue) Hemming said: “There are an awful lot of cases and many of them involve multiple defendants. I am not sure our courts were actually geared up for that — with all the security that goes around that — and finding suitable court centres and suitable judges. "

The execution of the war on terror has been a centerpiece of Ms. Rowley's campaign. She has long said that this should be a police action and not a war action. I have commented on her position on the issue in multiple posts.

More and more the facts are bearing out what I have long said...Coleen Rowley is plain WRONG on national security and has no business being in the US House of Representatives.

The little things

A commenter wrote, in a comment to my post here, that I should "try reading Leviticus sometime" as there is (in his words) some "nasty stuff" in there about people being condemned to death for "trivial infractions". So I went back to Leviticus (since I don't have the text memorized) and found some of the more "trivial infractions" he was talking about. According to Leviticus, people should be put to death for:

1) sacrificing (via killing) your children at the alter of a demon
2) commit adultery with another man's wife
3) commits a homosexual act
4) has sex with an animal

In each of these instances both parties of the act (with the exception of number 4) are subject to the death penalty. HOWEVER.....When Christ came, he came to save the world, not to condemn it (John 3:17). As a matter of fact, when Christ comes across a woman who is "living in sin" he forgives her and tells her to "sin no more"! Now THAT is particularly "nasty" isn't it Doug?

Compare that with Islam. In Islam, you are put to death for:

1) Not being a follower of Islam
2) homosexuality

If you are caught in an act of adultery, the WOMAN is the only one put to death. If a man has sex with an animal, the ANIMAL is put to death - not the man.

I suppose that to a man who doesn't know better, Islam would seem to be an attractive religious option. After all, it's not HIS FAULT he can't control his urges. However, I thought that one of the whole reasons for the "sexual revolution" was to free women from the tyranny of a patriachial society that told them that everything that their man did wrong was her fault and not his. Rape, in Islam, is the woman's fault....adultery is the woman's fault....

Nope - sorry - you can not convince me to go back to that barbaric way of life.

These are the stakes

Never forget that the Democrats (and their willing accomplices in the MSM) know exactly what the stakes are in this election:

"There's one thing pundits agree on, it's that the Republican Party has more to lose in this year's midterm election. An understandable conclusion, but it's dead wrong. It's the Democrats who are more at risk...For Democrats, perhaps the worse fallout from a Democratic failure in the November elections is that it would allow Republicans to justifiably cite the results as a vindication for the Bush record and a rejection of Democrats as a credible alternative.
"If that happens," said Russ Hemenway of the liberal National Committee for an Effective Congress, "Democrats will be out of power for at least another decade." (emphasis mine)

They understand how important this election is. That is why you see story after story about how bad the Republicans are, how they are screwing up everything and how dis-spirited the Republican base is. DON'T BELIEVE THEM FOR A MOMENT! It is all part of a concerted campaign to keep the Republican base at home on Noveber 7. They fear the Republican Get Out The Vote machine. They know how effective it is and they are willing do say and do anything to make sure that it fails. So they send out bogus poll after bogus poll - all in the effort to drive down Republican turn out.

You are not going to fall for that, are you?????

Conspiracies redux!

CBS pumps out an election conspiracy.

"For two months now, gas prices have been in freefall, plunging 81 cents a gallon since August and giving the president some rare good news. Gas prices started going down, CBS News correspondent Anthony Mason reports, just as the fall campaign began to heat up."

Let's take a look at a couple of simple facts.

The weather has been unseasonably warm.
The summer driving season is behind us, further depressing demand.
It has been a quiet hurricane season, so rigs in the Gulf are secure. Refining capacity has come back online.
There have been no successful attacks on major oil facilities in the volatile Middle East.
And the Jack No. 2 well, in deep water 170 miles southwest of New Orleans, recently discovered a field with perhaps 15 billion barrels of oil - a 50% increase in proven U.S. reserves.

Boiling this down to Economics 101 - supply is up - demand is down...all of that equates to lower prices. No conspiracy, just the law of supply and demand at work...but then again, that doesn't sell newspapers or ad space now, does it.

Enforcing the ban

When I heard Dennis Prager talking about this story on his show today, I was certain that I mis-heard what he said, but alas I was wrong.

"Police have issued the order: Report smokers to 911 when Omaha's ban takes effect October 2. The officials who run the emergency communications center are urging people to first call upon their common sense."

Encouraging people to call 9-1-1 to report smokers? Has this country gone so far over the edge that we would really do this?

If cities like Omaha were really serious about stopping smoking they would make cigarettes as illegal as marijuana or cocaine. But they will never do that because they know that they would lose millions of dollars in tax revenue by doing so. So instead of doing it right, they are encouraging people to spy on their neighbors and become snitches. And what happens when the 9-1-1 system is clogged up with calls reporting smokers and a real emergency happens and someone actually DIES as a result?

Is it going to take an accident victim dying for the leaders of Omaha to see how stupid this really is? I certainly hope not!

Lack of posts

Sorry about the lack of posts dear readers. I have been occupied with a family matter. Nothing drastic. My mother is moving into an apartment and we have been helping her downsize the items that she has collected over the last 40 to 50 years.

However, I am back now and will be getting back into the swing again in the next couple of days.

It's a what????

I really don't mean to appear like I am "bashing" Islam as a whole, but there are certain aspects of it that really do deserve to be bashed. It just seems like a large number of those aspects are rearing their respective heads this week. Today's aspect comes from Turkey.

"Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan, in an interview on Monday with The Washington Post, scolded those who link Islam to the terrorism of al-Qaeda and other extremist groups that perpetrate violence in the name of Islam.
“The coinage of such terms as ‘Islamic terrorism' or ‘Islamo-fascism,' these have injured the Muslim people in the world, and it is best to avoid such characterizations,” Erdoðan said."

With all due respect Mr. Prime Minister, what would you call them then? The West is told, day in and day out, that the terrorists don't speak for all practicioners of Islam, but I have yet to hear people like you calling for the jihad against the west to stop! Why is that?

Another question, again with all due respect...if Islamophobia is a "crime against humanity" what would you call flying a jumbo jet into a highrise office building? An act of love?????

Tim Russert tips his hand.

I didn't get a chance to write about this at the time it happened, but I just had to get it done. If you ever had any doubts about Tim Russert's political leanings, it was given away in this exchange from August 27.

" MR. RUSSERT: So the money will get directly to the people, but when they get it they won’t be able to use it on tattoos or guns or condoms-to-go, as was evidenced with Katrina?
MR. PAULISON: I don’t have any control once we give people money. Normally, we put money—either give them a check or wire directly to their bank account. Once they get that money for, for issues the Congress has allowed us to give people money for, how they spend it is out of our control. You know, that’s an individual choice. So if they take that money, waste it on something else and don’t rebuild their home with it or don’t replace a car or don’t pay medical expenses, you know, that’s, that’s a personal decision they have to make. We simply give them the dollars they’re allowed under law, and then they should be spending it on what it’s given to them for, but we don’t have any control once we turn those dollars over to them.
MR. RUSSERT: But then the government has to house them, so how, how could that possibly be fair or responsible?
MR. PAULISON: Well, we don’t give rental assistance and also a housing, like a travel trailer or a mobile home. You get one or the other. If you get rental assistance, then you should be renting money with it, otherwise we’ll give you a travel, travel trailer or mobile home if we have the opportunity to do that.

George Stephanopolis, in an interview with Mike Brown (transcript not available online) on the same morning, tried to blame the government for the poor spending choices that recepients of Katrina relief dollars made.

Gentlemen....let me remind you of a simple fact of life in America today. Once you give someone cash, you can NOT control what the spend the money on! It is that simple and that, in a nutshell is the difference between Republicans and Democrats. Republicans will give you a dollar and tell you to spend it wisely and if you don't spend it wisely, will expect you to live with the consequences of your choice! Democrats will give you a dollar, tell you to spend it wisely and when you don't will make excuses as to why you didn't and then demand that the government force you to spend the money on whatever they feel is an appropriate use of the money!

I'm all for accountability, and if the circumstances warrant it, I hope that charges are filed against those who fraudently took Katrina relief money. However, the idea that government can tell you what you should spend your money on is ludicrious. It is also unconstitutional!

Is this what they meant

when they said our troops were torturing the inmates at Gitmo?

" Muslim detainees at Guantanamo Bay entered Ramadan with traditional sweets, dates and honey _ but without a military chaplain to lead them in prayer during Islam's holy month.
Nearly all the alleged al-Qaida and Taliban members held at the detention center in Cuba are observing Ramadan, officials said Tuesday. Meals are offered before dawn and after sunset to accommodate their fasting during daylight hours."

Or maybe it was this?

"A high-calorie diet combined with life in the cell block _ almost around the clock in some cases _ is making detainees at Guantanamo Bay fat.
Meals totaling a whopping 4,200 calories per day are brought to their cells, well above the 2,000 to 3,000 calories recommended for weight maintenance by U.S. government dietary guidelines. And some inmates are eating everything on the menu..."The detainees are advised that they are offered more food than necessary, to provide choice and variety, and that consuming all the food they are offered will result in weight gain," he (Navy Cmdr. Robert Durand) said."

Is that really their idea of torture?

Teacher knows best

At least the Minneapolis School District thinks so. Katherine Kersten, the much maligned token conservative at the Prairie Pravda, wrote a column this week about a situation that happened this school year in a Minneapolis school.

"Gena Bounds, a mother of three, described it this way: "On September 15 I gave my kids a big hug after school, but something was clearly wrong."
Bounds' 7-year-old daughter, Darriell, explained the situation to her mother. "She told me that her teacher had read the class a book about a girl with two moms," says Bounds. "Then he told them that he's gay and that he and his partner are adopting a child, and the child will have two dads. Now Darriell thinks the school is telling her she needs to believe that two daddies or two mommies is the same thing as a mom and a dad."

Dennis Prager just interviewed Ms. Bounds on his program today. Ms. Bounds said that this is not the first time that she has had this discussion with her school. Last year, her eldest daughter (who was in 2nd grade at the time) told her that they were read the same book, "Asha's Mums", and that it made her uncomfortable. She went to the principal and expressed her displeasure with the situation and she said at no time was she advised that she had an option to get her kids out of the indoctrination if she so chose. So this year, when her twins were set to go into 2nd grade at the same school, she went to the teacher (the gay male) and said that she did not feel that her children were emotionally ready for any GLBT teachings and that she wanted to let him know up front that she did not want her twins in any class involving GLBT teaching. According to Ms. Bounds, the teacher went into detail about his "alternative lifestyle" and basically told her too bad her kids were being exposed to the teaching whether she wanted it or not!

That in itself is intolerable, but then you get this letter to the editor in yesterday's Pravda.

"Parents who claim that schools are undermining their authority over their kids need to actually begin doing some real parenting.
Teaching about diversity of sexual orientation is but one of many topics that schools and society must present to all children and, when necessary, parents as well. Parents who feel threatened by topics such as these are themselves victims of narrow-minded, homophobic influences which seem to be all too prevalent.
Society and children are better served by programs like "Families All Matter" than they are by timid school programs that neither challenge the mind nor engage the spirit. AMaze should be a required program in all public schools and parents should read the materials as well as kids. Maybe then we would begin to reduce the hysteria over the present reality of homosexual people who are our neighbors and friends."

Sigh.....I can't even begin to start an answer to this....there are too many options. Even the usually articulate Dementee at KAR had a hard time starting with this...Schools love to lament the "fact" that parents need to be more involved in their childs education. Yet here this parent gets involved and she is basically told to "F'off"! Oh my head....

I continually hear "If you don't like what the public schools are teaching, then go to a private school." The problem is I pay for the public school education that the Junior Logician is getting (in the form of my tax dollars). It is my right as a consumer to monitor what my money is getting me and to complain if it is not of a quality that I expect for the money spent. If I am going to take the Junior Logician out of said public school - then my tax dollars should go with him! The person who is educating my child should get my tax dollars. PERIOD end of discussion!

People like George Hutchinson (the letter writer) love to cram their version of tolerance and diversity down everyone's throats, but the do not see the intolerance of their own position, but then again what do you expect out of a special interest group that feels that they have the right to indoctrinate your children. I find that to be both sad and highly ironic.

Here's a story you won't see on TV

It is not often that you see a conservative blogger out of Minnesota quote Eric Black (unless you are AAA at KvM and you are taking him to task for the latest edition of "Cover your Amy") however, the information in this post could not go unremarked on.

"Here’s a story you may not see on the evening news
Between Sept. 7 and Oct. 6, researchers at the University of Wisconsin taped, dissected and measured the evening news broadcasts (early and the late) in nine Midwest markets, including the Twin Cities and calculated the average amount of time spent on election coverage, and then broke that coverage down into categories of types of political coverage.
The good news: The Twin Cities stations were above average in the the time they devoted, on average, to election coverage.
The bad news:It was 50 seconds per 30-minute show (compared with 36 seconds for the nine markets overall.
If you’re curious of the other markets, Madison, Wisc. led the league with 65 seconds of political news per 30-minute news show. The basement was occupied by the Detroit stations, at 22 seconds.
The research also showed that local news programs is by far the single biggest source of news for Americans.
Of the 50 seconds of political news in an average 30-minute Twin Cities broadcast, 76 percent of the time covered strategy or horserace aspects of the campaign, while 12 percent focused on issue positions of the candidates. By my calculations, that would be an average of six seconds per half hour on issues.
For comparison, the average 30-minute program (in the Twin Cities) in included:
Commercials. 10 minutes, 5 seconds (10:05.Sports and weather: 7:26.Crime news: 2:29.Election coverage: 0:50.Election issue coverage: 0:06.
p.s. As I write this, I’m listening to a conference call rolling out the results of the study. I believe I just heard them say that if you go to the website and register, you can get access to the actual tapes of all the stories."

50 seconds????? Out of a 30 MINUTE broadcast????? Is it any wonder that the electorate, hungry for information about politics and political races are turning to the internet and political blogs with greater frequency? Is it any wonder that the market share of the nightly news is trending ever downward?

50 seconds of election coverage versus 10 minutes 5 seconds of commercials...versus 7 minutes 22 seconds of sports and weather...versus 2 minutes 29 seconds of crime coverage...Woe is us as a country when we can only spare 56 seconds out of a 30 minute news broadcast to talk about the important issues of the day.

ROB the Vote

Do you remember all of the claims that the 2000 and 2004 elections were stolen? Remember the comments by Cindy Sheehan and RFK Jr about how President Bush stole the election? Well facts being the funny, stubborn things that they are, we are already seeing who is really trying to steal the election (would you like a hint as to who it is???)

"ST. LOUIS - Election officials say hundreds of potentially bogus registration cards, including ones for dead and underage people, were submitted by a branch of a national group that has been criticized in the past for similar offenses.
At least 1,500 potentially fraudulent registration cards were turned in by the St. Louis branch of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, leading up to Wednesday's registration deadline for the Nov. 7 election, said Kim Mathis, chairwoman of the St. Louis City Board of Election Commissioners."

ACORN.....an organization that has well known links to George Soros and MoveOn.org and we all know what party THEY support.....

The St Louis Post Dispatch has more detail on the story, including this shocking revelation!

"Statewide, ACORN has turned about 40,000 new voter registrations in recent weeks, Mellor said. About 15,000 were collected in the city of St. Louis and 5,000 in St. Louis County. The rest were primarily in the Kansas City area." (emphasis added)

40,000 new registrations??? Have that many people really moved into the area? Are there that many new citizens or just turned 18 year olds in St. Louis County??? Maybe not...

"The latest batch of questionable cards tied to ACORN included one that attempted to register Miya Hinton, who is listed as a 20-year-old residing at an address in the 4800 block of Sacramento Avenue. It turns out that Hinton is 16 and lives at a different address in that block.Her mother, Monique Hinton, alerted the Election Board after the family received the board's standard letter confirming the new registration. Hinton says she became concerned about how someone had obtained some of her daughter's personal information, such as the correct month and day she was born."Her rights are being violated," Hinton said. Miya Hinton's signature appears to have been forged on the voter registration card, Leiendecker said." (emphasis added)

But wait! It get's better!!!!!

"Whelan and Mellor also disputed a separate controversy, ignited by a local political blog, pubdef.net, where a former ACORN employee alleged that she and other voter-registration workers had been told to promote the candidacy of state Auditor Claire McCaskill, a Democrat running for the U.S. Senate against Republican incumbent Jim Talent."

Do you need any further reasons why it is imperative that these people not regain power in DC???? They will do anything for power.

It's not just St. Louis either. ACORN is working in many other states including Minnesota. I wonder how many fraudulent registrations are going to show up in Minneapolis and will the County Attorney plea bargain them away like Amy Klobuchar did the last time?

For continuing coverage of this, bookmark Gateway Pundit who carried the story of the 2004 fraud that ACORN foisted on the citizens of Missouri!

It's that time of year again

No not Halloween, but the season for the banning of Christmas and Christmas celebrations in schools and the public square. Whether it is banning red and green from "Winter Celebrations" to Christmas carols to renaming Christmas lights secularists have long sought to remove Christ from Christmas. This year the play "A Penguin Christmas" was cancelled by a Port St. Lucie elementary school school because it contained the word Christmas!

"For more than a week, Mary Anne Bender helped her 10-year-old daughter learn her Christmas pageant lines and daydream about what costume she'd sew for the after-school play at Windmill Point Elementary.
But on the second day of practice, fifth-grader Kayla Vance was told she can't play Mrs. Claus in A Penguin Christmas because the principal has axed any mention of the word "Christmas" in holiday festivals."

Organizations like the Rutherford Institute have long been fighting such unconstitutional acts of censorship in the public square. Berkley Michigan got a reminder this year of the Constitutionality of allowing Christmas displays.

Hal Moroz, a lawyer, judge and law professor wrote the following for an article. It was sent to me by a mutual friend and I am reprinting it here for your enjoyment.

"Legally Recognizing the Christmas Holiday Hal Moroz

Christmas is the most celebrated and treasured of American holidays. It is a time of celebration, gift-giving, festive decorations, and, as of late, growing controversy and confusion. The latter is based on legal challenges as to how Americans may publicly commemorate the central meaning of the holiday, that being the birth of Christ.

Secular organizations like the ACLU have challenged various expressions of recognition of the Christmas holiday, alleging that they violate the Establishment Clause of the Constitution and the notion of a separation between church and state.

Traditional organizations have countered by arguing that religious expressions designed to commemorate the season are an important historical part of America’s cultural heritage, and that the Establishment Clause was created to protect the free exercise of religion.

A result of this controversy is confusion in the minds of the general public over what is a legally acceptable religious _expression during the Christmas season. Although the legal battles continue, our high courts have provided some answers to questions regarding your rights during the Christmas season. Here are a few questions and answers:

(1) May public schools and local governments call the December school and work breaks “Christmas Vacation”?

Yes. The Supreme Court has approved the longstanding recognition of religious holidays, including Christmas, by public schools and local governments [Lynch v. Donnelly, 465 U.S. 668, 676 (1984)]. Even Congress has declared Christmas a legal public holiday [5 U.S.C.A. § 6103(a) (2003)].

(2) May saying “Merry Christmas” be banned in public squares or schools?

No. All Americans enjoy the constitutional right of free speech in the public square. In addition, the Supreme Court has ruled that teachers and students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or _expression at the schoolhouse gate.” [Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, 393 U.S. 503, 506 (1969)].

(3) May Christmas carols be sung by students in public schools?

Yes. Even Christmas carols with references to Jesus Christ may be sung by students without violating the Constitution. Singing these carols in choirs, Christmas programs, and at other events is permissible. [Florey v. Sioux Falls School District, 619 F.2d 1311, 1319 (8th Cir. 1980)].

(4) May students in public schools study the historical origins of Christmas, including biblical accounts of the birth of Christ?

Yes. The Supreme Court has stated that “the Bible may constitutionally be used in an appropriate study of history, civilization, ethics, comparative religion, or the like.” [Stone v. Graham, 449 U.S. 39, 42 (1981)].

(5) May local governments sponsor Christmas displays?

Yes. Public officials may authorize the display of Christmas symbols, such as a nativity scene depicting the historical origin of the holiday, without offending the Constitution. To determine the constitutionality of a particular display, the Supreme Court established the three-pronged Lemon Test, in which the court inquires “whether the challenged law or conduct has a secular purpose, whether its principal or primary effect is to advance or inhibit religion, and whether it creates an excessive entanglement of government with religion.” [Lynch, 465 U.S. at 679 (citing Lemon, 403 U.S. at 612-613)].

With that said, the bottom line is that recognizing Christmas is still legal. And during this time of celebration, let us remember and acknowledge the men and women of our Armed Forces who paid the ultimate sacrifice to provide us the blanket of freedom to celebrate this most special holiday season.

Merry Christmas, America! God bless us, every one!"

Yes indeed - God bless us every one!

Womens rights and the Veil

My parents, to their eternal credit, raised their daughters (my younger sister and I) to be independent, self-sufficient women. Whatever we set out to do was doable if we worked hard and believed in ourselves. We would never have to rely on anyone to provide for us. Oh yeah - and we (like our parents) are never shy about sharing our opinions on the issues - something my poor liberal mother now regrets and she now has 2 very conservative daughters!

Needless to say, as a result of our upbringing, I look at religion - especially Islam - from a decidedly feminist point of view! That is one reason why this column resonated with me.

"The clothes that women wear, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, are a powerful political statement about where they're at; about the amount of freedom, self-esteem or independence they possess."

That is a very true statement. All I have to do is to look at my own wardrobe over the years - as I struggled with my own self esteem issues. When my self esteem was at it's lowest, I wore lots of dull drab colors and clothing that allowed me to "blend in" with the world around me. As my self confidence grew, I started wearing brighter colors and designs - clothing guaranteed to capture the attention of passers-by. My clothing choices have never been immodest, by any means, but I do dress to impress when needed. All that said, I agree 100% with the statement;

"The veil, and the full-length gown, the jilbab, is a form of dress that deliberately makes women undesirable by hiding their form and their features. It desexualises and disempowers; worse still, it implies that women must cover up to prevent tempting men, thereby removing from men any need to take responsibility for their actions."

I know that there are many who claim that they have "chosen" to wear the jilbab, but if it were a true choice, then we would not have the honor killings of girls who choose to not wear traditional garb or those who try to leave Islam, would we?

I think author Salman Rushdie says it best (in response to the Jack Straw controversy);

"Speaking as somebody with three sisters and a very largely female Muslim family, there's not a single woman I know in my family or in their friends who would have accepted wearing the veil.
"I think the battle against the veil has been a long and continuing battle against the limitation of women, so in that sense I'm completely on [Straw's] side. "

The discussions that we are having are long overdue. If we are going to live in a "peaceful" world, then the followers of Islam need to pick sides. You need to cast your lot with the radicals or with the West. If you choose to cast your lot with the West, then you need to speak up (as Mr. Rushdie has done many times) against those that wish to return the whole world to their version of paradise - a 1st century paradise where men ruled and women were chattel.

The tolerance of the left - in action again!

Just when you thought that the left couldn't be more intolerant, they prove you wrong...

"Grist Magazine’s staff writer David Roberts called for the Nuremberg-style trials for the “bastards” who were members of what he termed the global warming “denial industry.”
Roberts wrote in the online publication on September 19, 2006, "When we've finally gotten serious about global warming, when the impacts are really hitting us and we're in a full worldwide scramble to minimize the damage, we should have war crimes trials for these ba**ards -- some sort of climate Nuremberg.” (emphasis mine)

War crimes trials for those who are skeptical of their apocolyptic vision of global environmental disaster? A climate Nuremberg??? To say that this statement is "over the top" is to minimize the fanaticism of the environmental/animal rights lobby. People like this worship at the alter of environmentalism and are worse than the Islamic fascists that threaten us. The reason that I say they are worse (I do not make this claim lightly) is because of how mainstream environmental "studies" have become. The last 3 generations have been taught that mankind is the worst thing to happen to Mother Earth ever and that we are the sole cause of every damage that has ever been done to the Earth. Now I would not be so impertinant as to suggest that mankind has not done damage to the environment, but I will say that we are not the sole cause of all damage. Remember Mt. St. Helens last eruption? The damage to the area surrounding Mt. St. Helens was catastrophic and ash from the eruption was deposited in 11 states (ash was found as far away as Minnesota). Mudflows from Mt. ST. Helens killed millions of fish when their hatcheries were destroyed by the debris. Elk and deer were killed and crops were lost. Was all of this caused by man? No - it was a natural act. It is said that the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in AD79 was even larger and it did even more environmental damage. I can guarantee you there were no internal combustion engines in AD79!

Given that Mother Nature has done just as much damage to Mother Nature as mankind has, wouldn't you say that this kind of rhetoric is uncalled for?

Most important is this. The organization that employs the person calling for Nurenburg style "war crimes" trials for the global warming skeptics is supported by former Vice President Al Gore and PBS pundit Bill Moyers! These two are supposedly representatives of the modern Democratic Party. This means, this could come to fruition should the day come when their wing of the Democratic Party regains power in Washington DC. Are you ready to give them the reins of power?

The other shoe drops....

Much has been said in the last week about the unfortunate matter of former Rep. Mark Foley. Everyone, on both sides of the blogosphere, has written extensively about the issue. Many have speculated on the motivation of the timing of the release of the emails and the IM's. Well all of a sudden, word is coming out.

"Two of the news media's sources of Mark Foley's sexually explicit instant messages to former House pages said this week that they came forward to expose the Florida congressman's actions, not to help the Democrats in the midterm elections.
But there are indications that Democrats spent months circulating five less insidious Foley e-mails to news organizations before they were finally published by ABC News late last month, which prompted the leaking of the more salacious instant messages. Harper's Magazine said yesterday that it obtained the five e-mails from a Democratic Party operative, albeit in May, long before the election season." (emphasis mine)

Democratic operatives were shopping this around for how long?????

What is even more insideous is this.

"Homosexual activist Mike Rogers said he will reveal the identities of homosexual Republicans on Capitol Hill each day "for hypocritically opposing gay rights for political reasons when they themselves are gay."

AND this:

"We're getting into very dangerous territory, and I've warned my colleagues to be careful." That's what a Democrat leadership aide was saying on Wednesday, as word circulated about David Corn's blog posting that revealed that a list of gay Republicans congressional staffers was circulating through emails.Such a list has been talked about for months, if not years, by more militant homosexual activists, who have threatened to out Republican congressional staffers or even congressmen if they take positions counter to their gay lifestyle."

Remember back in the 2004 campaign - when the Kerry/Edwards campaign felt obligated to point out that Mary Cheney was gay? These people are supposedly the champions of gay rights and yet it is apparent that they have no qualms with trampling those rights as long it helps them to retake power in DC. It is well past time for all people of good will to see the Democrats for what they are...people who will say and do ANYTHING in order to get elected and retain power!

News flash for the Dems

TAX CUTS WORK!!!!! That is the news today out of DC and St Paul.

"The U.S. recorded a budget deficit of $248 billion in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, $48 billion less than the government predicted in August and the narrowest spending gap since 2002. "

The Prairie Pravda had this to say about the good news.

"The federal budget deficit, helped by a gusher of tax revenues, fell to $247.7 billion in 2006, the smallest amount of red ink in four years.
The deficit for the budget year that ended Sept. 30 was 22.3 percent lower than the $318.7 billion imbalance for 2005, handing President Bush an economic bragging point as Republicans go into the final four weeks of a battle for control of Congress. "

WCCO had this bit of even better news (HT to AAA at Residual Forces):

"A strong budget report released Tuesday -- showing $524 million in unexpected tax collections since February -- is boosting the likelihood finance officials will predict a budget surplus when a comprehensive economic forecast is issued Nov. 30.If the current trends hold, the surplus would trigger an obscure law forcing state leaders to consider a tax rebate, much like the checks taxpayers got when Jesse Ventura was governor."

Deficit lower than expected or forecast...state revenues so high that it is likely to trigger automatic tax rebates...it just doesn't get any better...unless you are Mike Hatch or Amy Klobuchar or Patty Wetterling or any other Democrat that is running on a "repeal the tax cuts" platform! Karl Rover couldn't have planned it better than this if he tried!

Coming to a neighborhood near you...Sharia law?

Here is a grand case of pot meet kettle!

"Isfahan/Tehran - The Islamic conference in Isfahan in central Iran ended Sunday with a final statement in which the Muslim scholars called on the United Nations to adopt legal steps against religious insults. "

The same people who regularly insult Jews - decpicting them as hook-nosed shylocks who routinely drink the blood of Muslims - want the UN to adopt legal steps against religious insults? Guys - you are aware that this will backfire on you, aren't you? For if we are to make insulting RELIGION illegal, then every time you refer to Christians, atheists and Jews as "infidels" you will be breaking the "law" that you pushed for!

However, as we learned with the latest set of "negotiated" cease-fires between Islamic groups and Israel, we know that these Islamists chose to only adhere to these laws when it suits and benefits THEM! The mullahs are not interested in freedom for anyone. They are only interested in growing sharia law, by force if necessary. The sad thing is, we are falling for it! Whether it be the taxi issue in Minneapolis (see this Daniel Pipes column for an expert's take on the issue...and it IS sharia law!) or the Jack Straw veil comments or the riots in France (and Britain and Sweden and others) we are falling over backwards to placate people that do not want to be placated. There must come a time for freedom loving people across the globe to stand up to the fascists that want to take away our rights. Will we do so or will we simply lie down and be dictatated to? This Lady will not!

Feudalism in Congress?

I was sent the following John Tierney op-ed from the New York Times (registration/payment required):

"Your Page, M'Lord - John Tierney - NYT

Suppose Nike’s founder, Phil Knight, asked taxpayers to subsidize a program for 16-year-olds to leave their homes to become “squires” running errands at Nike headquarters.
Or suppose, before his death, Sam Walton had asked Congress to build a dormitory in Arkansas to house teenage “serfs” spending a semester away from their schools to work on a Wal-Mart loading dock.
These executives would become national jokes. They’d be denounced for trying to revive 19th-century child-labor practices and 12th-century feudalism. There would be no public money appropriated for Knight’s Squires or Sam’s Serfs.
Yet Congress sees nothing strange about dragging teenagers from their families and schools to become pages, one step below a squire in the feudal food chain.
They’re not being forced to wear Prince Valiant haircuts, but they have to do scut work that’s probably even less useful than what they could learn at Nike or Wal-Mart.
Congressional pages spend much of their time hand-delivering documents, a job that’s done electronically in most 21st-century institutions. When educators talk about preparing youth for jobs in the Information Age, they’re not talking about training messengers.
The justification for the page program is that it gives teenagers an insider’s glimpse of how Congress works. But why disillusion them at such a tender age?
If they stayed in school, they could maintain their innocence by reading the old step-by-step textbook version of how a bill becomes law. By going to Capitol Hill, they see how the process has changed:
1. A bill is introduced to build highways.
2. A congressman receives a donation from a constituent who wants to open a go-kart track.
3. The congressman persuades his committee chairman to slip in a $350 million “earmark” for an “alternative sustainable transportation research facility” in his district.
4. The chairman quietly adds similar earmarks for all members of the committee.
5. The bill is passed unanimously.
6. The president complains about the “wasteful spending” but signs it into law anyway.
7. The congressman attends a fund-raiser at the new go-kart track.
What lesson has the page learned? That Congress is the closest thing in modern America to a medieval court: an enclave governed by arcane ancient rules of seniority, a gathering of nobles who spend their days accepting praise and dispensing favors to supplicants.
They’re so secure in their jobs, and so used to being surrounded by groveling minions, that they assume the privileges of feudal lords when dealing with pages and other lieges. Which is why, on occasion, they try to exercise the droit du seigneur.
Unlike previous scandals, in which members were censured for having sex with pages, the current one so far doesn’t involve physical contact. But it features lewd messages from Representative Mark Foley to a teenager asking about his sex life and requesting a picture.
When you are chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, as Foley was, this does not qualify as research for your job.
Even if you could somehow quell Congressional libidos, even if this scandal taught members of Congress not to hit on teenagers, the page program still wouldn’t be worth paying for.
It should be eliminated, as Representative Ray LaHood has proposed, for the sake of both Congress and the pages. They need to be spared not just from lustful congressmen but from the chief lesson taught by the program: that success is all about making the right connections.
To get into the program, you (or your parents or their well-connected friends) have to find a member of Congress to sponsor you.
Once in, the supreme goal is to ingratiate yourself with someone powerful enough to help you move up the Washington hierarchy. As Rachel Swarns reported in The Times, Foley was a favorite of the pages because he offered them the gift of access.
“If a congressman was talking to you, it was the best thing in the world,” said one former page, Patrick McDonald.
Spend enough time as a page, and you can easily believe it’s not what you know, it’s who you know — and whom you flatter.
Granted, toadying can be a useful skill in most lines of work. But it’s not a lesson teenagers need to study for a whole semester, especially when it’s being taught in text messages from a lord on Capitol Hill. John Tierney/NYT"

I think that Tierney's piece trivializes the page program. The page program is a chance for young people to learn about the nuts and bolts of the political and legislative process. No one ever said that politics was pretty and heaven knows there have been abuses of the system, but there are many who have nothing by positive experiences within the page program.

"For both Minnesota pages, their stint with Congress was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to don ties, gray slacks and navy blazers and get a sneak peak at the backstage of history, sometimes before it was made.
"It was probably the best experience of my life," said Schilmoeller, now a law student at Tulane in New Orleans."

Let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater. In an age where American school children are exposed less and less to civics and how our government works, we need something to our children about how the system works...warts and all.

Is your childs school teaching religion?

They can't be, you say....what about "seperation" church and state? Well apparently that only applies to Christianity and not Islam.

"NYSSA, Ore. -- Officials at a public school in Oregon are defending a seventh-grade social studies unit on Islam that included students dressing in traditional Islamic dress.
Kendlee Garner of Nyssa told the Ontario Argus Observer that she objected to the amount of time dedicated to the unit on Islam -- four weeks -- as well as the wearing of religious garb and the lack of parental notification. She said her son told her about the activity, and when she objected, he got an alternate assignment in the library"

The school district feels that teaching about Islam is not teaching about a religion. Hmmmm.....I wonder if they would feel the same way if a teacher dared to try to teach a 4 week unit on Christianity and it's effect on feudal Europe? I mean it is the same idea.....

What is sad (and a bit frightening) is the fact that this is not the first case of such a class. In the first case (that I know of), the parents sued the school district and appealed the case all the way up to the Supreme Court, however the Court refused to hear the appeal. In this case the children were forced to "worship" as a Muslim would. The school district argued that it was an education exercise, to which the Courts agreed. My argument is, would they say the same thing if someone tried to teach a course on evangelism? Maybe I should try that in the Junior Logician's classroom...

Nothing is certain exept....

Here is one thing that Amy Klobuchar, Patty Wetterling, Coleen Rowley and the rest of the ladies in the DFL will NOT tell you this year.

"The IRS recently released official tax statistics by income group for the 2004 tax year, and the new data show that despite what some critics of recent tax policy have suggested, all income groups have witnessed their effective federal income tax rates fall, including lower- and middle-income taxpayers." (emphasis mine)

Let me repeat that - slowly for those of you who can't quite grasp the fact...A-L-L income groups have witnessed their effective federal income tax rates fall as a result of the Bush tax cuts. Not just the "rich"...A-L-L! Let that sink in...A-L-L income groups. The group with the highest percentage in decrease? The top 1%, top 5%.....nope - the group with the highest percentage decrease in their effective tax rate are those who make $20,000 to $25,000 a year. The poverty line is $18,000 a year folks - just for reference.

So the next time a Democratic candidate tells you that the rich got the lions share of the tax relief and that their tax increases will only affect "the rich", ask them if they think that someone making $25,000 a year is rich and then point them to this article.

Vanishing civil rights

The next time one of the leftie screechers gets in your face about all of the civil rights we have lost under the Bush "regime", please point them to this;

"An opera company in Berlin has cancelled a Mozart production of his work Idomeneo fearing a scene in which the prophet Mohammed's decapitated head is rolled on stage could trigger an Islamic backlash.
The decision by the Deutsche Oper, one of the world's most celebrated opera houses, shows how deep-rooted the fears now are in Europe's artistic community about offending Muslim sensibilities."

or this;

"A London gallery has decided not to show some works of art because it fears they would upset Muslims, a curator said on Friday, a week after a German opera house canned a Mozart production for the same reason."

or this;

"An Egyptian professor has stirred up a hornet's nest among his fellow Muslims by comparing the Koran with a supermarket where you can find whatever you are looking for.
Hassan Hanafi's remarks, made at a seminar organized by the Alexandria Library, have sparked a fierce response, from demands that he retract them to suggestions that he might be mad."

or this;

"News reports over the weekend, including in the New York Times of September 30, recounted developments in France involving Robert Redeker, an article of whose in Le Figaro of September 19 on Islam elicited death threats which have forced him into hiding.
Redeker has been described as a high school teacher in Toulouse, which is true. He is also the author of some ten books and numerous article publications, listed on his c.v. He has written for Le Monde as well as for Le Figaro (so he cannot be cast simply as conservative); indeed he is an editorial board member of Les Temps Modernes. "

or this;

"Last week a book publisher told Nancy Kobrin, a psychoanalyst and lecturer on counter-terrorism, that they were withdrawing the publication of her book, The Sheikh’s New Clothes, because they were afraid of fundamentalist repercussions, according to Kobrin."

I'm not saying that our free speech rights aren't in jeopardy, I'm just saying that President Bush isn't the cause of the erosion. The sad thing is, even in asking "Is the West being silenced by Islam?" The UK Independent not only excuses the bad behavior, it tacitly implies that we in the west might be responsible for the Muslim's constant state of agitation!

What is it going to take for the West to wake up to the fact that our very way of life is under attack by a religious group that wants to take everyone in the world back to the 1st century? We need to wake up soon, or it just might be too late.

An endangered free press?

Our traditional free press is becoming an endangered species. If they are not shooting themselves (and their credibility) in the foot by running with incomplete/incorrect stories (like the TANG documents or it seems the Foley follies) they are being gunned down by drug runners and organized crime!

"MEXICO CITY Freedom of the press lost ground in the Western hemisphere in the last six months because of legal restrictions and open threats by governments, impunity for wrongdoers and the violence of organized crime, especially drug traffickers, the Inter American Press Association concluded Tuesday.Nine journalists were killed in the last six months — 53 since the newspaper organization began tracking such murders in 1982 — including three from Venezuela, three from Colombia, two from Mexico and one from Paraguay. Particularly worrisome is northern Mexico, where drug traffickers operate freely, the group said." (emphasis mine)

Particularly worrisome is northern Mexico, where drug trafficers operate freely....let that sink in for a moment in the context of the current illegal immigration debate. How can we honestly make blanket statements about the honesty of those people who break our immigration laws?

It's about time!

Some states and counties across the country are stepping up to do what the federal government refuses to do!

"CHARLOTTE -- Police here operated for years under what amounts to a "don't ask, don't tell" policy toward illegal immigrants.
As elsewhere in the United States, law enforcement officers did not check the immigration status of people they came into contact with, and in the vast majority of cases, a run-in with the law carried little threat of deportation.
But that accommodation for the burgeoning illegal population ended abruptly in April, when the Mecklenburg County sheriff's office began to enforce immigration law, placing more than 100 people a month into deportation proceedings. Some of them had been charged with violent crimes, others with traffic infractions."

While the usual suspects are making the usual claims of discrimination, the Mecklenburg County Sheriff reminded them of the one nagging little fact that can not be ignored.

"When any of them cross that border without proper documentation, they've violated the law -- however insignificant it may seem to some people," he said."

I have heard all of the claims (from the immigration advocates) that the illegals are all honest, hardworking, law abiding citizens. However that is a totally dishonest statement to make about people whose first act in coming to this country was to do so illegally! The advocates seem to need to be reminded of that.

That is grace!

The story of the shooting of the Amish school girls in Pennsylvania was tragic, however there is a light and a lesson in the story.

"Families of some of the children murdered in rural Pennsylvania have reportedly invited the wife of their killer to the funerals.
As vigils were held to remember the five Amish schoolgirls murdered in their classroom and pray for the five seriously wounded, the healing process began in the deeply religious community."

Now I am a Christian, but I just don't know that I could do that. I realize that the wife had nothing to do with the killings of those girls, but.....

These families showed what real grace and mercy is. They knew that the wife of the man who killed their children was hurting too and they reached out to her in love. There is indeed a lesson for all of us in this story.

TAXI!

Don't call for a taxi at the Minneapolis airport if you are carrying alcohol or you could find yourself walking home.

"Cabdriver Muhamed Mursal doesn't wear his Muslim beliefs on his sleeve, but he soon may broadcast them via a light on top of his cab.
Mursal and hundreds of other Muslim cabdrivers at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport refuse to take travelers they know are carrying alcohol. No one is searching bags, but a Napa Valley wine box or a see-through bag from the duty-free store can be enough to leave a fare waiting for the next cab. Airport officials estimate that happens at least three times a day."

The editorial board at the Prairie Pravda think that is wrong. Now before you go get the wrong idea (like maybe they got in touch with their "inner capitalist") let me reassure you that they have a true "progressive" reason...there are not enough hispanic drivers...not enough diversity in the drivers ranks

More importantly was this take on Fox 9 News this morning (video clip) . According to the clip, the Muslim drivers routinely refuse to give riders to people carrying alcohol, gays and blacks! Now I do not recall hearing the NAACP or any of the gay rights groups screaming about that, do you?

The last I looked, discrimination based on skin color or sexual orientation was illegal in this state. Will we hear any breathless editorials from the Pravda