Random Musings

I've promised my legions of readers (or reader!) random musings, & here are some:

Senate Immigration - don't call it amnesty, though it is - bill is trying to be revived. I received - along with many others - an email from Lamar Alexander's office that he will vote NO on cloture, which means he's listening to those who support him. That is a good thing.

In Iraq Operation Arrowhead Ripper is in progress, Michael Yon is there telling the story. Now that the full troop strength is there for the surge & they are focusing on eradicating the Islamist insurgency cells, I pray they are successful & can turn the day to day security over to the Iraqis very soon.

The lovely Michelle Malkin has a great story on her website detailing the horrors of the Iranian cultural thug police. I join her in calling on the so-called human rights organizations to decry this outright evil repression. I hope that soon a blockade of Iran is put in place so that the people of Iran will overthrow the mad mullahs & their stooge Ahmadinejad.

Recently a very ugly incident happened in Nashville that did not involve Adam "Pacman" Jones. A deer was mortally injured & a police officer refused to shoot the animal to put it out of its misery. The story is found at this Tennessean article. From the article, the officer didn't want to deal with the paperwork involved with discharging his firearm, so a road crew tried to kill the deer with a shovel, then someone thought to use a sledgehammer. Being a deer hunter & student of deer, this makes me cringe. When I hunt, I will not take a shot unless it's certain the deer will die quickly & yes, humanely.

Personally, I've been very busy @ work helping train new representatives - little time off however I'm not complaining! Training & teaching are things I love to do; helping others succeed is what I'm here for! We're also getting ready for our first grandchild - little early for this @ 40, but God has decided it's time.

"Immigration" Bill Pulled, Now What?

The "grand compromise" immigration reform bill that would have granted amensty to millions of illegal aliens was pulled Thursday night. Sen. Majority Leader Reid said they would move on to more matters if there were not enough votes for cloture - there was not even a majority.

Now what? If one thinks that enforcing our laws & not rewarding illegality is a good thing, this was a win for the good guys. Will the bill be brought up again? There are many very intricate forces & situations at work. The republican party "bigwigs" have to know now that this is poison for them. The reaction from the base, of which I am part, supposedly "stunned" some. It's hard for me to comprehend how out of touch one would have to be to be truly "stunned." I believe it's mostly spin.

As of today there are still border patrol agents in prison, put there for doing their jobs. They were put there at the behest of the Mexican government. This is a terrible injustice all the way around, & these men should be pardoned & their convictions removed. The influence of the Mexican government should be investigated; this is something tangible that congress can look into regarding the Bush Administration.

Will we be forced again to beat back the amnesty bill? I am not sure. While many democrats want this bill in the hopes of new, malleable voters, I'm not sure their animus against Bush will allow them to give him a victory in anything - in this case it would be good for the country.

Can those of us who simply want our immigration, border security, & employment laws enforced make any headway while Bush is president? Sadly, I don't believe so; however, it is still the right thing to do to press for this & can set the stage for 2009 & beyond.

I'm an unabashed & up-front Fred supporter. He is right on this issue. Even Fred has been silent on the true apex of this problem, which is those who knowingly employ illegal aliens. It's fraught with political "danger," as many politicians fear losing the big money from those who knowingly employ illegal aliens. I believe that we can make a difference in letting our elected representatives know that the money they "may" lose from those knowingly employing illegals will in no way make up for the lost votes & on-the-ground support they would lose from their true constituents.

In all this, the operative word is "ILLEGAL." We have made a great difference in banishing the spin & obfuscation of this issue, & it is my hope we continue.

Talk About "Sicko"

Great piece from Rafael Salinas in today's New York Daily News. Do take the time to read this, though a great quote from this is:

As usual, Moore's logic needs a checkup. The man stretches his argument
into caricature and discredits himself by cherrypicking facts. To assume that
Cuban citizens are getting the medical attention they need because a party of
foreigners got treated decently is akin to praising prison food because you got
offered a nice spread of cold cuts after the warden took you on a
tour.

The Eyes of Our Soldiers

One has to click on this to experience it.

Million Word Picture

Words do not exist that do this picture justice. The story from the Tennessean is very touching.

Please note that you may donate to this young man's future, as well as to the children of other fallen heroes.

To donate to a memorial fund benefiting Christian Golczynski, go to any Pinnacle bank branch office or send a check to: Pinnacle National Bank, 114 W. College St., Murfreesboro, TN 37130. Checks should be made out to the Christian Golczynski Trust Fund.


Instead of a donation to the Golczynski Trust Fund, Heather Golczynski has asked those wanting to help to make a donation in Marc Golczynski's name to the Children of Fallen Soldiers Relief Fund. If you would like to contribute by mail, please make your checks payable to: Children of Fallen Soldiers Relief Fund and mail your check to: CFSRF, P.O. Box 3968, Gaithersburg, MD 20885-3968.

One may also go to Hannity's Freedom Concert site to donate so that the children of slain soldiers will have their education paid in full.

Remembering

Great commentary from Fred D. Thompson. Of all the failings of our education system, the teaching of history is one of the more egregious.

One can read the entire commentary by clicking above or listen to it here.

I excerpt these tidbits as teasers, though great points abound!

I remember when I was a kid; one thing was clear to me. The more I learned about the rest of the world, the luckier I felt just having been born in America. The more I learned about America, the more I appreciated what those who came before us built; and how exceptional they were.

Over the years, a lot of people have tried to talk us out of feeling about America the way we do. Instead of pride in what America has done, they want us to feel guilty — generally because we have so much more than rest of the world. Of course, it wouldn’t help the rest of the world one whit if we had less — either of freedom or of prosperity. On the contrary, it’s our liberties that have made us prosperous and there’s no reason the rest of the world couldn’t be just as well-off — if they embraced freedom as well.

This is our quandary. Memorial Day is about remembering. It’s about remembering those who died for our country; but it’s also about remembering why they believed it was worth dying for. Too many Americans, though, have never been taught our own history and heritage. How can you remember something that you’ve never learned?

Cindy Sheehan's Goodbye Letter

Found on her kos diary entitled "Good Riddance Attention Whore."

Excerpted in part:

The first conclusion is that I was the darling of the so-called left as long as I limited my protests to George Bush and the Republican Party. Of course, I was slandered and libeled by the right as a "tool" of the Democratic Party. This label was to marginalize me and my message. How could a woman have an original thought, or be working outside of our "two-party" system?

However, when I started to hold the Democratic Party to the same standards that I held the Republican Party, support for my cause started to erode and the "left" started labeling me with the same slurs that the right used. I guess no one paid attention to me when I said that the issue of peace and people dying for no reason is not a matter of "right or left", but "right and wrong."

I think this excerpt pretty much tells the story. I hope she finds true peace & is finally able to work through the death of her son. Unfortunately, she also has so much after his death, being a willing foil for the anti-US crowd, that she would need to confront & atone.