Viscount Monckton to Senators Snowe and Rockefeller: "Uphold Free Speech about Climate Change or Resign"

The ridiculous letter that Senators Olympia Snowe and Jay Rockefeller sent to the Chairman of ExxonMobil has drawn a blistering response from Viscount Monckton, who was formerly an advisor to former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

You defy every tenet of Democracy when you invite ExxonMobil to deny itself the right to provide information to "senior elected and appointed government officials" who disagree with your opinion.

Monckton gives a lot of interesting information about the evidence that CO2 emissions do NOT cause global warming and the efforts of the alarmists to suppress this evidence:

The UN's second assessment report, in 1996, had had a 1,000 year graph showing that temperature in the Middle Ages was warmer than today's. But the 2001 report contained a new graph showing no medieaval warm period.

Monckton pulls no punches in his justifiable criticism of the Senators:

I challenge you to withdraw or resign because your letter is the latest in what appears to be an internationally-coordinated series of maladroit and malevolent attempts to silence the voices of scientists and others...

What we need are more courageous men like Monckton to stand up and make their voices heard. Unfortunately, the Lamestream media on both sides of the Atlantic are only reporting what they want to hear.

Tank Johnson's Second Amendment Rights Violated

Chicago Bears football player Tank Johnson was charged with six counts of possession of a firearm without a "gun owner identification card" yesterday. Each charge carries a potential penalty of up to one year in jail. According to the article:

Unless specifically exempted by statute, all Illinois residents who buy or possess firearms are required by law to have a valid Firearm Owner's Identification card. They are issued by the Illinois State Police.

Such a law is clearly unconstitutional. No one should be required to get permission from the state police in order to exercise their second amendment rights. I urge Mr. Johnson to fight these ridiculous charges in court.

Holocaust Denier to be Prosecuted in France

The French foreign minister said today that holocaust denier Robert Faurisson will likely be prosecuted for comments he made during the recent conference of Jew-haters in Teheran.

To deny that the mass murder of Jews occured during WWII is stupid and despicable. There are many eyewitnesses still alive today, including concentration camp survivors, nazi guards, and allied troops who overran the camps during the defeat of Germany. That being said, to prosecute someone for denying the proven facts is not a good idea. It only adds fuel to their fire.

There are certainly valid limitations to freedom of speech and the press. Slander and libel should not be protected. Yelling "fire" in a crowded theater that results in bodily injury should not be protected. A government employee or journalist who leaks classified information should not be protected. But there is no justifiable reason to prosecute someone just because he hurts someone else's feelings.

I hope that the USA never does what the French are doing in limiting free speech. People have a right to their opinion even if it is completely stupid. Think about the idiots who claim that the US government was behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Or think about Bill Clinton and other Democrats who claimed that the Republicans in Congress were trying to cut spending on Medicare even though they were actually increasing it. It is very tempting to try to put a muzzle on such stupidity, but free speech is too important to restrict.

DeLay: 'Hillary Will Be the Next President'

*Insert violent barfing sound here*

The thought of having the Oinkubus in the White House makes me quite ill. Tom Delay predicts she will be elected in 2008. I hope he is wrong.

There does not exist a more corrupt politician in this country. Remember Her Thighness and her husband selling pardons to the likes of fugitive Marc Rich in exchange for campaign contributions? That's just the tip of the iceberg. Her cattle futures trading profits were an elaborate scheme to accept bribes from Tyson Chicken back when Bill was governor of Arkansas. I could go on and on.

Her political ideas are equally abominable. In 1993 she tried to get the federal government to nationalize the US health care system in a bizarre system of agencies, mandates, and taxes that only Rube Goldberg would enjoy. Her proposal was so ridiculous that the Democrats never even brought it to a vote, even though they controlled both houses of Congress at that time.

And of course, whenever a male Republican criticizes the Pig in a Pant Suit, her sycophants immediately accuse him of sexism. How many times did we hear "They are afraid of having a woman in power"? What utter nonsense. If Margaret Thatcher could run for president of the USA, I would vote for her in one second. I would love to see Condoleeza Rice get the job. Or, if you must have a leftwing Democrat, give me Dianne Feinstein. I could trust her further than I would ever trust Hilary.

Wounded Soldiers Need Your Help

From military.com:

Stars and Stripes reports that donations are needed for wounded troops who are patients at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The hospital's Family Assistance Center is seeking shoes, gloves and winter jackets, postage stamps, prepaid phone cards, weightlifting gloves (for wheelchair patients), trousers with snaps or zips along the legs, razors, and prepaid gas or grocery cards. The Center requests that no cash or used items be donated. Donations can be sent to: Walter Reed Army Medical Center; Medical Family Assistance Center; Bldg. 2, 3rd Floor, Room 3E01; 6900 Georgia Ave, N.W.; Washington, D.C. 20307-5001.

These guys and gals have done so much for us. The least we can do is try to make their lives a bit easier.

Don't You Just Love Celebrities?



When they think that their opinions on subjects of politics or economics are of any consequence whatsoever? We are always hearing about how Alec Baldwin or Whoopi Goldberg, or the Dixie Chicks think that President Bush is a lizard who couldn't spell cat if you spotted him the c and the t. What amazes me is that these beautiful people actually believe that anyone is swayed by their opinions. Here we get to read from the Immaculate Alec Baldwin about Jeane Kirkpatrick and how we can defeat terrorism if we simply get rid of the CIA.



The simpleton celebrities seem to think that just because someone likes their acting or singing, that they will vote the way they tell them to. It doesn't occur to them that they don't know any more about these issues than the average Joe on the street.



For the most part, I simply ignore most of what artists have to say about politics, unless it is the ravings of an outright traitor like Hanoi Jane. I actually do like the Dixie Chicks' music and their political rants go in one ear and out the other. But sometimes I listen to their political posturing for pure entertainment value. And if they want to pose nude on another magazine cover, that's fine with me.

Aging Moonbat Gore Vidal Slams Bush, Praises Cuba

You can always count on moonbat octegenarian author Gore Vidal to heap praise on those who would take our freedom away and criticize those who would defend us. Now we hear, courtesy of the "unbiased" Associated Press, that Vidal has traveled to Cuba and slammed American foreign policy. Notice how the AP writer refers to the dork as a "Celebrated American writer".

Vidal has lived the plush life of a limousine liberal for decades here in the USA. He can thank good old Yankee capitalism for his wealth and celebrity. Yet he approves of the slavery and poverty that the people of Cuba have had to endure for the last 47 years. He is willing to visit Cuba and meet with their Culture Minister and Foreign Minister, and be led around like a sheep on tours of museums and a ballet school. But he is not willing to give up his opulent lifestyle in the USA and live like an ordinary Cuban.

Gore, have you ever stopped to think of what it would be like to live in fear every day of your life, not knowing whether the next knock on the door would bring men to your home to take you away, never to see anyone you loved again? Have you ever thought of what it would be like to resort to catching stray cats and killing them to avoid starvation? Have you ever thought of what it would be like to see someone you love die for lack of health care, because you are not a member of the Cuban nomenklatura and not eligible for such luxuries?

I am sure that he hasn't. This leftwing piece of human excrement does not give a damn about anyone except himself.

Is the Presidential Primary System Fair?

We just finished the midterm elections and already we're hearing about the 2008 races for the presidential nomination. I wonder why I should even bother to follow them at all? I have never been able to vote in a presidential primary where the outcome of the eventual nominee was in doubt. It was already decided by the time they got to my state.

I was very eager for Phil Gramm, then a senator from Texas, to be the Republican nominee in 1996. But I never got to vote for him, because he dropped out of the race before my state held its primary. If a candidate does not do well in Iowa and New Hampshire, their chances of securing the nomination are slim.

Why do we allow the people of those two states to decide who our nominees will be? Let's change it to a single, nationwide primary. Or perhaps do it a few states at a time, but rotate the order that they vote every four years, so that the people in every state get a chance to decide.

This is an issue that voters in both parties might agree on. This bizarre system where the voters of two small states get to pick the nominees often results in nominees for whom very few voters are enthusiastic. Bob Dole was given the Republican nomination back in 1996 because it was "his turn", if that makes any sense. Never mind whether or not he would campaign effectively for the presidency. Never mind whether or not he would make an effective president.

The worst product of the current primary system came when the nation elected Jimmy Carter president in 1976. Carter had very little experience (only one term as governor of Georgia) but came from out of nowhere to win the Democrat nomination by focussing his efforts on Iowa and New Hampshire. Most people in the USA had never heard of him before 1976. He beat Gerald Ford in the general election because the Republicans were still reeling from the Watergate scandal. And the result was Carter was probably the worst president in the history of the country. Even though the Democrats had huge majorities in both houses of congress, he was unable to get almost any legislation of any significance passed, good or bad. And his record on foreign policy was sheer disaster. We are still dealing with the repercussions of his foolish decision to appease islamic terrorists and negotiate with the Khomeini regime in Iran, after they seized our embassy and kidnapped 52 American diplomats for 444 days. Henry Jackson, who was defeated by Carter for the Democrat nomination in 1976, would have made a much more effective president.

Jeane Kirkpatrick: An Ambassador of Distinction

Jeane Kirkpatrick has left us and she will be sorely missed. She served as ambassador to the UN during the Reagan administration.

She was a very brave and outspoken woman. She had no qualms about facing down the communist thugs of the Soviet Union in the narrow corridors of the UN and did so without batting an eye. It is quite easy to imagine that the Reagan administration's victory over totalitarianism was due in no small part to her skillful and eloquent diplomacy. Here is one of her better speeches.

She was one of a handful of truly great ambassadors that the USA has sent to the UN. The others who come to mind include Patrick Moynihan and John Bolton. Unfortunately, the Democrats squashed the appointment of Bolton to the UN and we are worse off without him.

Rest in Peace, Jeane. You will always be remembered as an American hero.

Remember Pearl Harbor

Sixty-five years ago this day, thousands of servicemen gave their lives for our country. We should never forget them, especially those who perished on the battleships USS Arizona and USS Oklahoma.

This poster comes from the National Archives, via Little Green Footballs. I can just imagine if someone were to make a similar poster today concerning our war with the islamofascists, the lefties would be calling them "racist, sexist, and homophobic" and probably calling for them to be prosecuted for a "hate crime".

It is sad but true. Most of the left do not believe that we should defend ourselves against those who wish to do us harm. Such people do not belong in a Free society.

Thomas Sowell: A Man of Brilliance

Thomas Sowell, an economist at the Hoover Institute, has been writing insightful and thought-provoking commentary on political and economic issues for decades. His columns can be read at Townhall.com and he has another good one today entitled Hollywood economics. He takes to task the critics of Walmart who feel they are underpaying their employees:

Apparently Wal-Mart does not pay its employees as much as third-party observers would like to see them paid. But obviously it is not paying them less than their work is worth to other employers or they probably would not be working at Wal-Mart. Moreover, third parties who wax indignant are paying them nothing.

I have written before about limousine liberals like Greg Mankiw, Robert Rubin, and John D. Rockefeller IV who don't practice what they preach. And what about all those people who want Walmart employees to be paid more? Have any of them offered any Walmart employee a higher-paying job? I doubt it. The only thing they want to do is get the government to stick a gun in Walmart's face and force them to pay their employees more.

An Open Letter to Senators Rockefeller and Snowe

December 5, 2006

Senator John D. Rockefeller
531 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Senator Olympia Snowe
154 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510


Dear Senators Rockefeller and Snowe:

I am writing to you to formally protest the abuse of your position as United States Senators that you showed in your letter to ExxonMobil Chairman Rex Tillerson dated October 27, 2006. It is not appropriate for two such politically powerful people to use their authority in order to attempt to stifle research and dissent on the very important issue of global climate change.

The climate of the earth has indeed been warming very slowly over the past 100 years. There are some like you who believe that the source of the warming has been carbon dioxide emissions. There are others who believe that the warming is caused by other factors, possibly including variations in the amount of radiation that the earth receives from the sun, which is the source of all of our heat. Clearly what is needed is more research and debate on the issue, not less. ExxonMobil’s sponsorship of groups who want to look at alternative explanations can only be a positive contribution.

In your letter, you claim that ExxonMobil’s strategy has “damaged the stature of our nation internationally”. Nothing could be further from the truth. One of the greatest sources of the strength and stature of the United States is the fact that we allow and encourage dissent in our country. In many other countries, dissent is frowned upon or even proscribed by their governments. For two government officials to use their authority and privilege in an attempt to stifle dissent constitutes an abuse of power that is not consistent with the proud tradition of the United States.

Senator Rockefeller, I am dismayed by the sheer hypocrisy shown when you suggest that ExxonMobil devote “at least some of the money it has invested in climate change denial pseudo-science to global remediation efforts.” You are a very wealthy and privileged man. The source of your wealth is money inherited from your family, passed down from your great-grandfather and namesake: John D. Rockefeller I. Your great-grandfather was the founder of Standard Oil which was subsequently split up into several companies, one of which was Standard Oil of New Jersey, which is now known as ExxonMobil. Instead of asking the current stockholders and employees of the company to pay the bill for research into your personal theories concerning climate change, why don’t you use some of your own immense wealth and pay for it yourself?


Sincerely,




James Ross McCown
Professor of Economics

Cc: Mr. Rex Tillerson

Once Again, the Left Tries to Stifle Dissent

Is the planet earth warming? The answer is yes. But there is no consensus as to the reason why the warming is occuring. Some claim it is caused by emissions of carbon dioxide, and others cite different reasons, including variations in the radiation received from the sun, which is the source of all our heat.

But whatever the reason, it is clear that we must consider the many different points of view. The Left have almost unanimously adopted the CO2 emission theory, because it gives them another reason to regulate both industry and people's personal lives and activities. And since they are a group of narrow-minded people who can't stand it when someone expresses an opinion that disagrees with their view of the world, this attitude has manifest itself again in a letter sent by Senators Jay Rockefeller (D - West Virginia) and Olympia Snowe (R - Maine) to the Chairman and the Board of Directors of ExxonMobil. In the letter, they criticize the company's support of some of the groups who are skeptical of the CO2 emission theory.

However, we are persuaded that the climate change denial strategy carried out by and for ExxonMobil has helped foster the perception that the United States is insensitive to a matter of great urgency for all of mankind, and has thus damaged the stature of our nation internationally. It is our hope that under your leadership, ExxonMobil would end its dangerous support of the "deniers."

Are you afraid of something, Jay and Olympia? Perhaps you are afraid that the "deniers" may be correct?

...we share the goal of the Royal Society that ExxonMobil "come clean" about its past denial activities, and that the corporation take positive steps by a date certain toward a new and more responsible corporate citizenship.

In other words, you esteemed Senators believe that sponsoring dissent is irresponsible, and that ExxonMobil should "come clean" about their nefarious activities.

A study to be released in November by an American scientific group will expose ExxonMobil as the primary funder of no fewer than 29 climate change denial front groups in 2004 alone. Besides a shared goal, these groups often featured common staffs and board members. The study will estimate that ExxonMobil has spent more than $19 million since the late 1990s on a strategy of "information laundering," or enabling a small number of professional skeptics working through scientific-sounding organizations to funnel their viewpoints through non-peer-reviewed websites such as Tech Central Station.

Isn't that awful! ExxonMobil is enabling dissent on the internet! I'm sure that Senators Rockefeller and Snowe will do something about that. We can't have anyone expressing an opinion on the internet that does not agree with the geniuses of the left. Now notice the implied threat:

We would recommend that ExxonMobil publicly acknowledge both the reality of climate change and the role of humans in causing or exacerbating it. Second, ExxonMobil should repudiate its climate change denial campaign and make public its funding history.

And we save the best for last:

Finally, we believe that there would be a benefit to the United States if one of the world's largest carbon emitters headquartered here devoted at least some of the money it has invested in climate change denial pseudo-science to global remediation efforts.

Hmmmmmmm..... I wonder where Jay Rockefeller got his great wealth? His full name is John D. Rockefeller IV, the great-grandson of John D. Rockefeller I, Founder of Standard Oil, which was subsequently busted up into several pieces, one of which was Standard Oil of New Jersey, which eventually changed it's name to...... ExxonMobil!

The hypocrisy of the limousine liberals knows no limits.

The Story of One Victim of Terrorism in Northern Ireland

Our "mainstream media", with their usual bias, have always painted the war in Northern Ireland (Ulster) as a war of liberation fought between irish catholics and the British army. Nothing could be further from the truth. The irish have been fighting a war against the Ulster Scots, most of whom came to Northern Ireland over 400 years ago.

The IRA are one of the bloodiest, most inhuman groups of terrorists in the world. They have often allied themselves with other terrorists worldwide, including the PLO, al Qaeda, and Baader-Meinhof. Many of them celebrated the atrocities of 9/11 and 7/7.

Unfortunately, many Americans do not understand what has been happening in Ulster and have unwittingly provided financial and moral aid to the terrorists. In order to try to fight against the ignorance, I have asked my friend "Alice", who is a fellow Ulster Scot from Belfast, to tell me her story.

I got to know Alice a few years ago over the internet when she graciously offered to help me with the research of my Ulster Scot ancestors. She was born in Belfast and was forced to flee to England in 1981 when she was targeted for assassination by the IRA.

My Grandfather owned a block of five houses in Belfast, one was my family home and Grandfather lived next door. The other three houses he eventually sold off. The house next door to me {they had adjoining walls} was sold to a catholic family and their son-in law put a bomb in it that brought down our house. My Mum, my two sisters and me were out that night but my step-dad was at home with my 9month old baby brother when the bomb went off. My step-dad lifted my brother from his pram and ran outside when he heard a low rumble and a crack ran up the wall, seconds later there was nothing left of our home but rubble.
The Military police brought me home in an army landrover to find I had no home and for a while I didn't know if my family had been killed. We were left with nothing but the clothes we were wearing that night in March 1972.
We were declared homeless and were given emergency public housing. We had to live there for years until we could get financially back on our feet. The only reason that bastard bombed our house was because that catholic family couldn't get it sold quick enough. My Mum was always a good neighbour to them and often had them in for tea! He didn't care if we had been all killed.
From 1969 when the present round of IRA rising broke out, my life was a constant stream of avoiding car bombs and sniper fire going about daily life. One day coming home from school IRA snipers started firing on the Army and a soldier grabbed me by the neck over the barbed wire barricades to safety. The barbed wire ripped open my leg {I still have the scar} but I didn't even feel it or know the blood was poring from the wound through fear.
I eventually married a British soldier and in February 1981 I kept getting phone calls asking what time he would be home. At 5pm the police arrived to give me a gun guard as they had caught an IRA gunman on his way to murder us. On police advice we had to leave Ulster for England within 72 hours as that was how long they could hold the gunman in custody. I never even got time to see goodbye to any of my family and ended up as a refugee in England.
I have a cousin in the police and the IRA found out where he lived, he moved 14 times and they always found out. He was shot and injured one Sunday morning coming out of Church. He eventually blew his head off as they drove him mad.
I could tell you loads more things about things that have happened and people I know who were murdered or injured by the IRA. Never mention my surname as once on a death list your life is always under threat. The IRA don't close their execution book. It always hurt that so many Americans did and still do finance IRA/SinnFein but they have got what they wanted as the Labour Party are also with them all the way and we the Ulster people are the true victims. SinnFein seem to have won the propaganda war against us. Please be careful what you say about them.

This is what this "liberation movement" is up to. They want to murder a young woman in cold blood just because she has the wrong religion and wrong ethnic background.

UN Ambassador John Bolton Resigns

John Bolton has been an excellent ambassador for the USA to the UN. He has stood up to the islamofascists and their servants in europe who want to blame Israel for every bad thing that has ever happened in the world. He has stood up against corruption in the UN. He has been an eloquent spokesman for the USA.

But the Democrats, in their desire to appease the islamofascists, have refused to allow his nomination for UN Ambassador to come to a vote. He would easily be approved by a majority of the senators, but the clowns in the senate foreign relations committee have refused to allow his nomination vote to go to the senate floor. We can also thank Lincoln Chafee, the RINO senator from Rhode Island for conspiring with the Democrats. I am glad he was voted out last month. He might as well be a Democrat.

The tactic that the Democrats are using is the same one they used to prevent many of Bush's judicial appointments. Filibuster the nomination in committee and don't let it go to the floor. And of course, their allies in the media have done little or no reporting on this underhanded tactic.

The Penny Black

The Brits graced us with the first postage stamp in 1840. It was black, cost one penny, and bore the portrait of the young Queen Victoria. The stamp in this pic is the first one added to my collection. It is from plate 10, position I-I. There are a total of twelve plates that the blacks were printed from and each had 240 plate positions. Thus, a complete collection of penny blacks would comprise 2,880 stamps.

Since decent examples from plate 11 cost about $1,000 each, and those from the other plates start at about $100 each, I only need about half a million dollars to complete my collection! Anyone who wants to help me would be most welcome.

The Terrorists of Northern Ireland

The IRA and Sinn Fein are every bit as bad as any islamofascist group, and they are active supporters of the murderers of 9/11 and 7/7. These cowards and baby killers have been taking their problems out on the Ulster Scots of Northern Ireland for the past 400 years. Some useful idiots here in the USA have been supplying the irish catholic terrorists with money and moral support. His Lardness Michael Moore is one of the most prominent supporters of the terrorists.

From IsraCast, we learn that Hamas is adopting the tactics of the IRA. For more information about the continuing atrocities of the IRA, see http://www.victims.org.uk/ and also http://www.upmj.co.uk/ and http://www.iraatrocities.fsnet.co.uk/ .

Ulster Scots Wha Hae!

Brrrr....It's Cold

Winter has descended upon us. My employer is closed today and the roads are too icy to go anywhere. There's nothing to do but blog and laugh at the lunacy of the socialists.

Hey stupids, this cold weather must have been caused by global warming, right? And what about the mild hurricane season. Can we also blame that on CO2 emissions?

At any rate, this weather must be Bush's fault. If only he hadn't stolen the 2000 election, we would be basking in warmth right about now.

More Psychobabble from the Left

Ana Nicolaci da Costa of Reuters has blessed us with a socialist brainfart: Gifts from rich highlight plight of world's poor . Here are just a few of the gems she lays on us:

Analysts say the huge numbers of workers coming into the market through globalization in China and India have driven down wages in rich countries by making their workforce compete with much cheaper labor elsewhere.
At the same time, the upside for wages in poor countries is capped by an infinite pool of labor to choose from.
This helps explain the numbers in the 2005 U.N. Human Development Report, which show the richest 50 individuals in the world have a combined income greater than that of the poorest 416 million and that the unequal distribution of income worsened within many countries in the last 20 years.

First of all Ana, how does driving down wages in rich countries while simultaneously hiring "huge number of workers" in China and India cause the distribution of income to be more unequal? And second of all, where do you get the idea that there is some "cap" on wages in poor countries? Have a look at the Deloitte research report referenced in this article: Rising wages likely to blunt India's BPO edge: Deloitte .

And Ana, in her socialist brilliance, says that economic growth is to blame for the poverty:

Analysts have also said an overriding concern with raw economic growth measures, at the heart of widely accepted business-friendly economic policies, risked widening wealth gaps.

So you think that if we put a brake on economic growth, that will help the poor, right Ana?

The main thing that is holding back the poor of the world are stupid raving moonbats like you, Ana.

Winter Looms on the Horizon

The forecast calls for cold, wintry weather, later this week. It's about time that the season changed and we had a visit from old man winter. Such occasion gives us more time to reflect on the stupidity of the left and those who would take our freedoms away from us.

Don't think for one minute that the USA will always be a free country just because it has been so for 230 years. Freedom requires continuous vigilance and the recognition of the necessity to fight for our liberty.

Those who prefer security over liberty can get themselves and their stupid ideas out of here. They will end up with neither.

Rustic Chic

I found a really cool antique store in Cunningham, Kansas. Bought the old wagonwheel and a copper milk can. It would be really neat to decorate my entire house and grounds with this kind of stuff.

My house sits on 11 acres about halfway between Edmond and Guthrie. My Ulster Scot friend Amy suggested that I call the place Rossdhu of Guthrie.

Let's Take the Word Liberal Back

The word "Liberal" used to mean someone who favored individual liberty and a minimum of government intrusion into people's lives. Now it means someone who favors government control of the economy, restrictions on freedom of speech and religion, government-mandated racial and gender discrimination, and eminent domain expropriation of private property.

Hillary Clinton, Michael Moore, Al Gore, and other moonbats consider themselves "liberals" even though they are about as liberal as the National Socialist German Workers Party. Their use of the word is similar to their use of other Orwellian phrases like "affirmative action".

It's time that those of us who truly believe in liberty take our word back.

PETA: The Ultimate Moonbat Society

The name of the group "People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals" sounds really nice, but like many names it is misleading. PETA are a group of terrorists with ties to even more radical groups including the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) and the Animal Liberation Front (ALF). The raving moonbats made another appearance in the news today by threatening a church in Alaska.

Here are just a few of the things that PETA want to do:

(1) Outlaw all medical experimentation and testing of lifesaving drugs on animals
(2) Outlaw keeping animals as pets
(3) Outlaw all fur and leather clothing
(4) Outlaw all hunting and fishing
(5) Outlaw all animal husbandry and consumption of meat

And their ultimate in lunacy came when their president Ingrid Newkirk said she wanted a foot and mouth epidemic here in the USA.

I wonder how many member of PETA are Republicans?

Democrats to Pick Crooked Former Judge to Head Intelligence Committee

U.S. Congressman Alcee Hastings (D-Florida) will soon be appointed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi to chair the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Hastings was a U.S. District Court judge, nominated by Jimmy Carter. He solicited bribes from mafia hoods in exchange for light sentences. He was impeached by the House and convicted by the Senate in 1988 by near unanimous votes.

For the Democrats to put Hastings in such a sensitive, important position would be perfectly in character for them. The jackass will probably sell intelligence information to the highest bidder, even if it meant the death of U.S. servicemen or civilians.

The Democrats have been claiming that they will fight corruption in Washington, but their track record on the subject is dismal. Remember Whitewater, Hillary's cattle futures trading, the numerous violations of the campaign finance laws, and the sale of pardons? Democrats are only interested in fighting corruption if it concerns Republicans. It's ok if they do it.

Isn't This Rich?

Marc Chandler, who claims to be global head of currency strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman and associate professor at NYU, advocates appeasement of the islamofascists in his article An Islamic bond would be a golden opportunity for the US, in yesterday's Financial Times:

The US Treasury should consider issuing a dollar-denominated Islamic bond or sukuk - an act that would signal respect for Islamic law and people and implicitly acknowledge the limitations of military and political strategies.

And here is some of this weasel's rationale behind this ludicrous proposal:

Fund managers in the growing socially responsible investment arena may also be attracted to the high ethical standards that sharia requires.

High ethical standards of sharia? You mean like when they throw a woman in prison or stone her to death because she has been raped? Or when they cut off a baby girl's clitoris with scissors? Or when they ban the practice all other religions, as they do in Saudi Arabia? I would hate to see what this loser Chandler thinks constitute LOW ethical standards.

And by the way, Mark, what about the highest law of the land here in the USA?

Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Wouldn't this suckup,....er, sukuk be in violation of the First Amendment? Or is sharia more important to you?

Please excuse me, I need to run to the restroom before I vomit all over my keyboard.

Got a Problem? Get the Government to Fix It!

Now that the socialists are back in power, we hear that one of the first things they want to do is raise the minimum wage. If some people don't earn enough, all we have to do is have the government force their employers to raise their wages, and voila, no more poverty, right?

The beautiful country of Denmark has one of the highest minimum wages in the world at close to $12 per hour. One of their most popular exports are the Legos toys, which many of us had great fun with in our early years. And now Legos is moving all of their manufacturing to the Czech Republic and Mexico.

So, go ahead Democrats. Raise the minimum wage here in the USA. Raise it high enough, and more American jobs will be outsourced to the third world. Or, more illegal aliens will be hired here in the USA. People who are often willing to work off the books for cash, at wages below the minimum.

But why stop at $12 per hour? Why not make it $100?

The Mighty Mite

My niece Amber is the shrunken one on the right. She is only 5' 2" tall but packs a wallop.

Amber recently completed her DDS in San Antonio and is now doing her residency in New York. I am glad that someone is willing to be a dentist, because I would not care to do it.

Like her sister, Amber has had to deal with the tragedies that struck her family in recent years. She handled them with courage and grace.

Their mother and father left this world, way before their time. But they left us with two very talented, intelligent, and determined daughters.

Check out Amber's new blog: Dental Jam.

You Knew This Was Coming

Last week, the voters of Michigan overwhelmingly passed a measure to ban the racist and sexist so-called "affirmative action" programs. And now, of course, the racist scumbags who opposed the measure are trying to get around it, showing once more that the left does NOT believe in democracy.They believe that the opinion of some unelected, racist judges should predominate over the will of the people.

How Precious is Freedom?

My recent posts about Friedman and Hayek have led me to think again about just how precious and fleeting freedom really is. I am very fortunate to have been born in the USA and to be the benefactor of the genius of the founding fathers in establishing a sound democracy based upon capitalism and individualism.

And we are also fortunate to live in one of the very few countries that does not have a government-run health care system (for the most part). Of course the socialists believe that is a terrible thing but they don't bother to look at one simple fact: Many people throughout the world are trying to move here, and very few Americans want to leave. I recall when the PIAPS tried to institute a national socialist health care system in the USA. Many of the cowards and idiots in Washington were afraid to stand up to her at first, except for Phil Gramm and Richard Armey. But when it became obvious that her plan was completely ludicrous, even her own party rejected it. The Democrats controlled both houses of Congress in 1993 but they never even brought her proposal to a vote. I can just picture one of the first things that will happen if we ever do adopt a socialist health care system. Minorities will be given preference and white men will be pushed to the end of the line.

We must continue to be vigilant, for there are many both inside and outside of the country who want to take our freedoms away. Freedom is like a beautiful, delicate woman who must be protected and cherished at all costs. We must not allow ourselves to be intimidated by the islamofascists. We cannot allow the socialists to wreak their havoc on our economy. We must fight the PC crowd who want to place restrictions on our freedom of expression.

These thoughts remind me of a tribute that Ayn Rand, the novelist-philosopher, made to the USA in her excellent book, Atlas Shrugged

From its start, this country was a threat to the ancient rule of mystics. In the brilliant rocket-explosion of its youth, this country displayed to an incredulous world what greatness was possible to man, what happiness was possible on earth. p. 1061.

Milton Friedman, R.I.P.

One of the greatest economists of the tentieth century left us today, and he will be sorely missed. Milton Friedman was a very small, slightly built man, only 5' 3" tall. But he feared no one and left his mark on the world. He was always outspoken with his ideas and was not one to mince words. Like anyone who questions the wisdom of the left, he was harshly criticized and yet that did not disturb him in the least.

His academic contributions to economics were enormous, including the permanent income hypothesis of consumption, and his advances in monetary economics. His work challenged the Keynesian orthodoxy of the day and he lead the charge of a number of free-market economists of the "fresh water" universities of Chicago, Minnesota, and Rochester, including Thomas Sargent, Robert Lucas, and others, who brought a new approach to economic research that was lacking at the "saltwater" universities of Harvard, MIT, and Berkeley.

But his most important contributions to economics were delivered to laymen. His popular books such as "Free to Choose: A Personal Statement" and the PBS series by the same name brought his theories to people who don't have PhDs.

One of my favorite quotes of Friedman comes from his introduction to Hayek's The Road to Serfdom:

Surely that is one answer to the perennial mystery of why collectivism, with its demonstrated record of producing tyranny and misery, is so widely regarded as superior to individualism, with its demonstrated record of producing freedom and plenty. The argument for collectivism is simple if false; it is an immediate emotional argument. The argument for individualism is subtle and sophisticated; it is an indirect rational argument. And the emotional faculties are more highly developed in most men than the rational, paradoxically or especially even in those who regard themselves as intellectuals.

During the period from roughly 1930 to 1980, socialist and other types of collectivist thought reigned supreme throughout the world. If it were not for a handful of brave individuals, such as Friedman, Hayek, and Rand, who stood up against the onslaught of lunacy, we would be living in a third world hellhole this very day.

F. A. Hayek: An Economist for the Ages

Hayek was a Nobel prize-winning economist, originally from Austria. One of his greatest works was the book The Road to Serfdom, in which he explained most eloquently how socialism is incompatible with democracy. Here are a few of my favorite quotes from the book:

We can rely on voluntary agreement to guide the actions of the state only so long as it is confined to spheres where agreement exists. But not only when the state undertakes direct control in fields where there is no such agreement is it bound to suppress individual freedom. We can unfortunately not indefinitely extend the sphere of common action and still leave the individual free in his own sphere. Once the communal sector, in which the state controls all the means, exceeds a certain proportion of the whole, the effects of its actions dominate the whole system.

p. 68

It is the price of democracy that the possibilities of conscious control are restricted to the fields where true agreement exists and that in some fields things must be left to chance. But in a society which for its functioning depends on central planning this control cannot be made dependent on a majority's being able to agree; it will often be necessary that the will of a small minority be imposed upon the people, because this minority will be the largest group able to agree amoung themselves on the question at issue. Democratic government has worked successfully where, and so long as, the functions of government were, by a widely accepted creed, restricted to fields where agreement among a majority could be achieved by free discussion; and it is the great merit of the liberal creed that it reduced the range of subjects on which agreement was necessary to one on which it was likely to exist in a society of free men. It is now often said the democracy will not tolerate "capitalism". If "capitalism" means here a competitive system based on free disposal over private property, it is far more important to realize that only within this system is democracy possible. When it becomes dominated by a collectivist creed, democracy will inevitably destroy itself.

p. 77 - 78

To which I say Amen.

My House is Falling Down!

This is an old farmhouse on highway 33 just to the west of Guthrie. It is such a work of art that I had to share the photos. I peeped in the front door and took a pic but I knew better than to go inside.

You can see an old bookcase and what is left of a mattress. I wonder what books were once on the shelves. I wonder who lived there, and how they felt about global warming, Israeli hegemony over the Palestinians, and National Health Care.

Not surprisingly, the house fell down just a few weeks after I took the first pics. When the farmers who own the land finally tear down what is left of the house and haul off the scrap lumber, I can't help but think if anyone will remember who once lived there.

Time for Republicans to do Some Thinking and Reflecting

The elections did not go well. Why have we lost power in Congress? Could it be that we did not appease the terrorists enough, as the Democrats and their allies in Europe want to do? Or could it be that we did not spend enough on pork or socialist welfare programs that benefit almost no one except a few narrow interests?

Try as hard as we might, we can never outspend the Democrats. If we can add $500 billion to the federal budget for absolutely useless programs, they can add $700 billion. And we can never suck up to the Europeans like they can. The euroweenies hated George Bush well before the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, even way before 9/11. As for appeasing the islamofascists, what good will it do to nominate our own version of Keith Ellison Muhammed to Congress? As low as some of the Republicans might stoop to try to gain favor with the jihadists, the Democrats will stoop even lower.

The Republican majorities in the House and Senate forgot what Newt Gingrich and Richard Armey did to get them there in the first place. The Contract with America was not a promise of a roast of pork in every pot. And even though Bush has done a credible job in fighting terrorism, he has never vetoed a single spending bill. It's time we put the brakes on government and made it focus its attention on protecting the country from our enemies, both foreign and domestic.

We need to sit back for a moment, reflect, have half a wineglass full of orange juice, and remember what got us back to majority in 1994 from all those years in the wilderness in the first place.

Robert Rubin Wants to Raise Your Taxes!

Mr. Rubin was Secretary of the Treasury in the Clinton administration. Prior to that, he was senior partner at Goldman Sachs, an aristocratic Wall Street firm. Now he is one of the top dawgs at Citigroup. He has degrees from Harvard and Yale. Not surprisingly, he believes that he knows how to spend our money better than we do, so he is proposing to raise our taxes!

Far be it from us to question the wisdom of such a man of the people. But I wonder if he has considered sending the US Treasury a personal check from his own fortune, rather than forcing the rest of us mere mortals to pony up the bucks on his behalf.

What about those of us who never got to go to college, Robert? Or what of those of us who went to blue-collar universities like Wichita State or Baylor, instead of your elite alma maters? Do our opinions count as much as yours?

And what of those of us who work for Walmart as a cashier or work for a Chrysler dealer as a mechanic in the service department? Should the upper crust silk stocking crowd that you hang with have the right to tell us what to do with our meager incomes? Do you know how to spend them better than we do?

And why is it that your Democrat party claims to be the party of the little people, when it is run by the likes of you, John Corzine, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, and so on? People with Ivy League degrees and multi-million dollar fortunes.

Better yet, why don't you get your greedy ass out of government and leave us alone?

For Once, the WaPo Gets It Right

Here is what Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post has to say about us:

Conservative commentators were bloodied but unbowed yesterday.

That's exactly how I feel at the moment. There's no way I'm going to sit back and let scum like Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry, or Hillary Clinton turn the USA into a third world hellhole. I predict that those of us who believe in freedom, personal responsibility, a strong national defense and a government that will use it when necessary, will win in the end.

And in the unlikely event that we are defeated, I for one will never give up. I will go down fighting, kicking, and screaming to my last breath.

Mercury in Transit Across the Sun

See the little dot on this pic? That's the silhouette of the planet Mercury as its orbit took it directly between the sun and the earth earlier today. The disparity in size becomes even greater when one realizes that the sun was approximately 30 million miles further away from the earth, than Mercury was at the time.




Doing research on the planet has always been difficult for astronomers, due to Mercury's small size and proximity to the sun. This is an old map of Mercury drawn by the Italian astronomer Eugene Antoniadi, early in the 20th century. He drew the map while peering at the planet through a telescope. At that time, they thought that Mercury always kept one face to the sun at all times, just as the moon always keeps one face to the earth.

Subsequent research found that that was not true. The planet rotates on its axis three times for every two revolutions around the sun. Therefore, this map was not of much use!

In 1975, the interplanetary probe Mariner 10 flew by Mercury and took some photos. This is what it really looks like. Not too different from the moon.

Rumsfeld Steps Down as Secretary of Defense

Donald Rumsfeld resigned today, I think upon the request of President Bush in a concession to the Democrats. I know that many have been calling for his head for some time. Let's go over his record as defense secretary:

(1) Rumsfeld, with General Tommy Frank, commanded the military that made short work of the Taliban in Afghanistan. Al Qaeda no longer has a safe harbor in that country.

(2) Likewise, Rumsfeld and Frank made short work of the regime of Saddam Hussein and his sons in Iraq.

(3) The USA has had zero, as in none, zilch, nada successful terrorist attacks since 9/11.

(4) The leftoids claim that Rumsfeld's policies have increased terrorist activity in Iraq. But I see no evidence that the total number of terrorists worldwide have increased. Instead they are attracted to Iraq where our military can deal with them. Better that than having them sneak into the USA to attack civilians.

The "resignation" of Rumsfeld reminds me of when Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones fired coach Jimmy Johnson. Johnson had just brought the team from a 1 - 15 season to two consecutive superbowl victories, and he got fired!

I want to say thank you to Donald Rumsfeld. He has done a magnificent job.

Election Results Are a Disaster

There's no other way to put it. The results of yesterday's congressional elections are a victory for big government and high taxes. A victory for appeasement of terrorists. A victory for illegal aliens swarming our country in ever larger numbers. The Democrats elected Keith Ellison to the US House from Minnesota. Formerly known as Keith Ellison Muhammed, he is a muslim terrorist and former member of the nation of islam, and has called for the destruction of Israel.

But we are not like the Democrats who whined and cried and threatened to leave the country and take their toys with them when they lost in the 2004 elections. We are going to put our noses to the grindstone and get back to work fighting for what is right. We're not going to leave, nor even threaten to do so.

There were a few silver linings in the cloud. In Michigan, a referendum to ban racist and sexist "affirmative action" policies passed overwhelmingly, in spite of the fact that both the Republicans and Democrats opposed it. There were also numerous state referendums to ban the practice of legalized theft called eminent domain. Every one of these passed with flying colors.

More on How the Euroweenies Want to Spare Saddam's Life

I wasn't the only one who noted the Europeans' stance against the death penalty for that great humanitarian, Saddam Hussein. James Lewis in "The American Thinker" has an excellent essay on the subject:

We have protected Europe for a century with our blood and treasure. Under our protection they have constructed a Disneyland for adults, one that is utterly unable to defend itself. Instead, they have imported tens of millions of ideologues who want nothing more than to take over Europe.
Yet Europe is obnoxiously ready to preach morality to the decent nations of the world who are not as deluded as they are. True to their endless imperialistic arrogance, they are now exporting yet another world-conquering ideology, a fuzzier version of communism, aiming to actively hog-tie the United States through a hundred international treaties.

It's time that we called a spade a spade and acknowledged the fact that most Europeans are not our allies. Here's a rundown of the countries in Western Europe:

UK - may be an ally. Tony Blair has been a faithful friend but there are many in Britain who feel the same way the Frogs do

Denmark - probably an ally. They have supported the liberation of Iraq and have courageously resisted the islamofascists' attempts to curtail their civil liberties.

Netherlands, Italy, Portugal - maybe

France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, Luxemburg, Austria, Greece, Switzerland, Ireland -- hell no. With "allies" like these, who needs enemies?

Eastern Europe -- difficult to say. Many of them supported the liberation of Iraq but since then have backtracked on the issue. These countries are still in the process of carving out their identities after leaving the Soviet sphere of influence.

Many if not most Europeans do not favor free enterprise and do not cherish civil liberties such as freedom of speech. Why should we care about their opinions? I say we do what we think is right and quit worrying about what they want. If the current trends continue, much of Western Europe will become a socialist hellhole with most citizens dependent on the government. And once their muslim populations grow to a critical mass, they will probably adopt sharia and become a third world nightmare.

CNN: Lackey for the Democrats

I am quite proud of myself for having watched a bit of CNN this evening without losing my lunch. Their bias in favor of the Democrats knows no limits. Wolf Blitzer just came on with the headlines and went over all the Republican Senate seats that might go Democrat, but did not make any mention of the two Democrat seats that might go Republican!

CNN has devoted almost the entire evening to singing the praises of the Democrats and criticizing or ridiculing the Republicans. They had great fun with Cheney's plans to go hunting tomorrow, bringing up his hunting accident in Texas last season. They showed all kinds of cartoons making fun of Cheney and also showed a cartoon where Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Rice went on a hunting trip together and ended up shooting each other.

CNN is not a news organization. They are a political advocacy group.

Michael Moore Mouths Off Again

For some reason, our old friend Michael Moore has been fairly quiet lately. So has he shut up for good? No chance. His Lardassness has quit stuffing his fat face with donuts and pizza long enough to exort his troops to action for the election tomorrow. I was worried that he might become a nonfactor in the political scene after his command performance during the 2004 election.

Michael, whatever you do, please, PLEASE make a movie about whoever is the Republican nominee for President in 2008. Your selfless act of dropping your pants and showing the entire country the ugly ass of the Democrat party was one of the deciding factors of the 2004 election.

Gun Control Advocates Turn Down My Free Offer!

Almost two weeks ago, I made a free offer to all gun control advocates. Scroll down this page to see it. I offered to give each and every one of them a decorative sign, free of charge, so that they could show their social conscience and declare to all onlookers that their household has none of those evil guns.

To my complete astonishment, I have had no takers! Could it be that these good people just don't want to burden me with the cost of providing all the signs? Or could it be that they are merely hypocrites such as gun control advocates like columnist Carl Rowan and movie producer Spike Lee, who have been caught by the police illegally possessing a gun while they lobby the government to ban all guns? Or perhaps they are like that shapely friend of mankind, gun-hater Rosie O'Donnell, who has her children protected by armed bodyguard? Perish the thought.

Euroweenies Oppose Saddam's Execution

Our "allies" in Europe don't want to see poor Saddam Hussein's neck get stretched. Here's what the EU said:

"The EU opposes capital punishment in all cases and under all circumstances, and it should not be carried out in this case either," Finland, current holder of the rotating EU presidency, said in a statement.

And even Tony Blair , who showed great political courage by backing the USA during our invasion of Iraq, is shuddering at the thought that that humanitarian Saddam should meet such an untimely end and has spoken against the execution.

I guess it's ok for the Europeans to coat everything with sugar and spice and everything nice, but that's because they have George Bush and the USA to do their dirty work for them. And it's quite ok for French, Germans, etc. to exclaim how outrageous it was for the USA to invade Iraq (with a little help from the Brits and a few others) because that way they get to have their cake and eat it too. Allah forbid that they should have to dirty their cultured, sophisticated hands with the terible task of making war.

But just imagine if the USA didn't exist, or if we were again in a strict isolationist mode. Would the euroweenies still find it wise to act like a herd of sheep unaware that they are about to be attacked by a pack of hungry wolves? Or would they find it necessary to fight against the islamofascists, and often take preemptive action, as we did in Iraq?

Perhaps the Europeans should just go ahead and convert to islam to appease the terrorists. At least most Americans are still in possession of their family jewels. I for one do not care to become a muslim. I prefer to see women wearing thong bikinies rather than burqas.

Season Opener

The dogs and I had a gas on the first day of pheasant season. I feared that the drought of the spring was going to diminish the number of pheasants hatched, but there were quite a few birds out today. The farmers are just beginning to harvest the milo in the region I was hunting, so most of the birds are probably still in the milo fields. Here is Daphne with our first pheasant of the season.