MSNBC - Terri Schiavo's 2002 CT scan

MSNBC - Terri Schiavo's 2002 CT scan

I have deliberately avoided blogging about Ms. Schiavo simply because it is such an expansive and complicated case, I do not feel I am qualified in any real way to comment, except to express my opinion.

To that end, I have always believed that it would be appropriate to remove the feeding tube if it were indeed true that Terri simply was not longer "home" and had no chance to regain any level of consiousness. This article seems to put the argument to rest for me. Terri died in 1990 - her organs were simply sustained by the most basic levels of brain function.

May all involved find peace.

China-Taiwan balancing act jeopardized by EU

China-Taiwan balancing act jeopardized by EU

What is stunning to be about the EU dropping the ban on arms sales to China is that it either shows an incredible lack of respect for the threat China poses to the stability of the Far East, or it shows their total willingness to play a very dangerous game of "let's balance the 'US Threat' by making China an even more powerful military threat".

This approach uses the same logic they have been using with the Islamists in Europe, much to their peril. China has done nothing to earn a dropping of the weapons ban. And European ignorance and arrogance is making the whole world a more dangerous place to live!

Daily Dozen 3/23/2005

The Union of the Snake - Al Qaeda planning and possibilities. By James Robbins, NRO

There Are Signs the Tide May Be Turning on Iraq's Street of Fear By JOHN F. BURNS, NY Times

Hopes and Fears Evident as Nations Mull Rival Security Council Proposals By Patrick Goodenough, CNSNews.com

Mexican State Issues 'How To' on Border Jumping Fox News

End election-law nonsense By Brian McNicoll, townhall.com

Bush Should Talk Up Social Security Reform for Poor - Mort Kondracke, Roll Call

Kofi Annan's Idea of "Reform" is More of the Same - Claudia Rosett, WSJ

Arctic Drilling Makes Sense, But Don't Expect Miracles - USA Today

McCain-Feingold Online - Wall Street Journal

RADICALS ON THE ROCKS By AMIR TAHERI, NY Post

After All Its Denials, U.N. Admits It Paid Oil-for-Food Program Aide's Legal Fees BY BENNY AVNI, NY Sun

The law is failing Terri By Charles Krauthammer, townhall.com

Daily Dozen - 3/22/2005

EU Plan to End China Arms Embargo Controversial in Europe By Eva Cahen, CNSNews.com

House of Hate By Stephen Brown, FrontPageMagazine.com

China Threatens U.S. Alliances By Dana R. Dillon, Fox News

Social Security reform threatened by elitist liberals By Star Parker townhall.com

Disorder in Our High Court - Gary Bauer, USA Today

Call Senate Democrats' Bluff - Senator George Allen, Washington Times

The Strange Death of the Liberal West - Mark Steyn, Daily Telegraph

Bush's Shake-Up-the-World View - Fred Barnes, Wall Street Journal

Another First Amendment Landmark Case? - It's Rachel Ehrenfeld vs. Sheik bin Mahfouz, a Saudi sheik who has successfully sued the American writer for defamation--in England. Journalists, says Floyd Abrams, "should line up and support the lawsuit." By Thomas Lipscomb, Editor and Publisher

Vet strikes back Sound Politics Blog

Energy policy foundation By Dick Armey, Washington Times

Defending missile defense By Peter Huessy, Washington Times

Daily Dozen - 3/21/2005

2 Years Democracy In Iraq Blog – Was it worth it??

Sticking It to Congress By Patrick Hynes, American Spectator

Rice Attends Church in Country Where Religious Freedom is Relentlessly Restricted By Patrick Goodenough, CNSNews.com

Kites key to Mideast peace? - Group brings together Israeli, Palestinian children, will fly 10,000 By Aaron Klein, WND

Hillary's Election Scam Bill By Byron York, The Hill

How Liberal Foundations Fooled Congress on McCain-Feingold - John Fund, WSJ

We Must Take Closer Look at Nuclear Energy - Stanley Crouch, NY Daily News

Beijing's 43 Bentleys - George Will, Newsweek

Weapons of Mass Disinformation - Richard Rahn, Washington Times

Will E.U. Choose Collectivism Over Individualism? Will We? - Pete du Pont, WSJ

Pew Has Some Explaining To Do - New York Post

Retirement Debate is About Fairness to Young - San Diego Union-Tribune

Why did Bush win in November ? A picture is worth a thousand words!!

Bush vs. Kerry - the photos tell the tale!

I laughed so hard, tears are still flowing. These photos tell the tale between a genuine, loving, caring and forceful man running for President and a wanna be. You choose which is which.

Enjoy!!

Bill

Daily Dozen - 3/19/2005

Judicial Activism’s Perfect Storm - Thomas Lifson, The American Thinker

Bush Gets Radical - John Podhoretz, New York Post

Ukraine says exported long-range missiles to Iran By Reuters and Haaretz Service

“Little Eichmanns” and “Digital Brownshirts” - Deconstructing the Hitlerian slur. By Victor Davis Hanson, NRO

First Judge Showdown - Specter asks, ’Can we agree to disagree?’ Democrats say no. By Byron York, NRO

America Spreading Democracy - Diana West, Washington Times

Shiites Protest Suicide Blast in Baghdad By SAMEER N. YACOUB, AP

Here's How Bush May Win By Losing - Peter Brown, Orlando Sentinel

The ACLU is Out of Line - Anil Adyanthaya, Boston Globe

WHAT IT WAS FOR By AMIR TAHERI, NY Post

EU Constitution opposition surges By Hugh Schofield, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

The Fire in Iran By Michael A. Ledeen, AEI

Daily Dozen - 3/18/2005

"Live" with TAE - An interview with John O'Neill The American Enterprise

Pinewood Derby Pile-Up - Film At 11. By Dave Konig, NRO

Nuclear Musical Chairs - Who will be the last standing? By Henry Sokolski, NRO

Marines snub UAW olive branch - Reservists will park elsewhere, although union admits mistake banning nonunion cars, Bush stickers. By Eric Mayne / The Detroit News

Winning Numbers? - What the Social Security numbers say. By Byron York, NRO

Senators pledging to help Boy Scouts - Introduce bill to protect organization from legal attacks by ACLU, others WND

Fear and Intimidation at Harvard - What do academic women want? By Harvey Mansfield, Weekly Standard

Vindicated By Charles Krauthammer, townhall.com

Lebanon's Meaning in the Wider Arab Context - Rami Khouri, Daily Star

Campaign Finance Reform Has Been an Immense Scam - Ryan Sager, NY Post

Liberals Should Welcome Bush's Social Security Plan - N. Gregory Mankiw, TNR

Chinese Play a Different Game - James Pinkerton, Newsday

Daily Dozen - 3/15/2005

Why Rathergate and Easongate Are Still Open - If the mainstream media can't investigate their own screw-ups, no wonder they don't understand why the public increasingly doesn't trust them to investigate anything. By Thomas H. Lipscomb, Editor and Publisher


Calif. Judge Strikes Down Ban on Same-Sex Marriage By Randy Hall, CNSNews.com

GOP sees momentum in ending judicial filibusters By Charlie Savage, Boston Globe

Scalia Slams 'Living Constitution' Theory Fox News, AP


Doubt aired on safety of Boston's I-93 tunnels - Engineer cites leaks, damage, lack of data By Sean P. Murphy and Raphael Lewis, Boston Globe

Which Privileges for Islam? By Daniel Pipes, FrontPageMagazine.com

Supreme Court 5 runs roughshod over will of the people By Phyllis Schlafly, townhall.com

Democratic Thoughts Run Through the Arab Land - Youssef Ibrahim, Gulf News

China's course parallels old Germany's By James P. Pinkerton, Newsday.com

U.S. Youth Need History Lesson in Freedom Of The Press - K. Parker, USA Today

Buy Off Churchill Now to Save CU - Paul Campos, Rocky Mountain News

Anti-War Left Still Standing In Freedom's Way - Amir Taheri, The Australian

The Daily Star - Lebanon News - Demo plans go ahead despite warnings

The Daily Star - Lebanon News - Demo plans go ahead despite warnings

Once the lamp of liberty is lit, it is very hard to extinguish. These are truly heart warming and hopeful signs. Imagine the courage of these people. After their 30 year nightmare, they deserve peace, prosperity and, above all, liberty.

Jihadpundit: Fanatically opposed to Islamic fanaticism

Jihadpundit: Fanatically opposed to Islamic fanaticism

Do you think people will ever get the idea that we are all "Australian" or "American" if we live in a country, accept its ideals and work for a common good?? This guy takes an interesting approach to confront bigotry head on.

'I believe God brought him to my door' | ajc.com

'I believe God brought him to my door' | ajc.com

There are times I wonder what my purpose is. Surly God placed me here for some reason. It is stunning when you can see His hand at work so powerfully. What an incredibly powerful woman. It is hard not to believe God placed her in this man's path to stop the killing and to change his life's direction.

Daily Dozen 3/14/2005

"I don't think US should be the leader of the world" -- An Exclusive Interview with the Washington Post Managing Editor Philip Peoples Daily, China

Looting at Weapons Plants Was Systematic, Iraqi Says By JAMES GLANZ and WILLIAM J. BROAD, NY Times

Marines driven out of UAW lot - The union says Marines in foreign cars, displaying Bush stickers unwelcome. By Eric Mayne / The Detroit News

"I Don't Do Carrots" - The big-stick diplomacy of Bush's nominee for U.N. ambassador. By Stephen F. Hayes, Weekly Standard

Hotel Darfur: Now showing at the U.N. By Paul Greenberg, townhall.com

Democrats are out of gas By Michael Barone, townhall.com

What FDR Really Said About Private Social Security Accounts - John Fund, WSJ

The Missing Proposal - Sebastian Mallaby, Washington Post

The Tyranny of the Minority - Cathy Young, Boston Globe

French Perfidy Must Be Challenged - Taipei Times

Not Whether Bloggers Are Journalists, It's Which Are - D. Rogers, SF Chronicle

New Signs on the Arab Street - Thomas Friedman, New York Times

Damn - I'm READY FOR SPRING!!!!!

Conservative Outlook

I am really ready for warm weather camping!! Nice weekend with the Scouts. Night got pretty chilly though ( 15 degrees last night ). This is the first campout for our new scouts, those just moving up from WEBELOS. So, we go to a local cabin donated to our county by a judge. It gives us the option of the young guys sleeping indoors - which they usually do, along with most our "seasoned" scouts. However, it is unheated this time of year, so still well below freezing last night!

A campout always helps center me. Something about 36 hours out-of-doors that really recharges the old batteries! The guys took a 4.2 mile hike, worked on firebuilding (new scouts mainly - did it with one match), skills with the saw and ax, and, of course, their main focus - FOOD!!! Pretty good selection: hotdogs and mac and cheese, hamburgers, stew, apple pie, chocolate cake, breakfast barritos, pancakes, bacon and the usual snacks!! A good time had by all! Here are a couple of photos:



David showing the proper use of a saw to Payton, one of the new guys. They sawed a mountain of wood, and we burned it all. I could sit all night and stare at an open fire. Such a warm, comfy activity!!



Some of the guys and their "camp gadget", a table. Good practice for lashings. They kept it up for lunch, but the cold got to them and it added its warmth to the fire throughout the night.



Breakfast for the adults this morning - pancakes and bacon. Greg did a fine job - I stopped at 7!! We have long since learned not to let the kids cook for us!!

Off on our monthly Scout campout

Troop 47 Website

Every month we venture into the boonies for a camping adventure. Rain, shine, snow, sleet, hail - kinda like postal delivery people! This month is no exception. This is the month we take our new scouts, usually in 6th grade, on their first camp out. It is quite a process to see them go through this first outing. Everything from no gear, to big bird sleeping bags to the new gadget that the scout's dad knows his son can't live without!

This is the month we teach the newbies fire saftey, the safe handling of saws, axes and knives, how to light a camp stove, build a fire - a truly busy and fun weekend.

So, blogging will be non-existant. I will post a few photos upon my return Sunday night to give you a flavor of the weekend.

Have a good one!

Bill

Sterile Thunder: In Defense of Terrorism?

Sterile Thunder: In Defense of Terrorism?

I wonder how proud his parents would be, arguing for the justified killing of inocent men, women and children. And we, as parents, should pay universities to "educate" our children because . . . . . ??

Hostage Shot By US Was Careless - Italian Minister

News: World News: Hostage Shot By US Was Careless - Italian Minister: "Hostage Shot By US Was Careless - Italian Minister"

Had our soldiers really been as incompetent as Giuliana reports, her car would have been filled with holes instead of the 2 or 3 holes found. And, if they had meant to kill her, she would be dead. A belt from a SAW or a couple 40mm rounds would have taken care of it.

This woman purposely placed herself in jepordy thinking since she was anti-American she was safe, she played on the emotions of her country to be ransomed and then she got a security agent killed. For what??? What an ignorant, arrogant bitch.

Three Shot Dead at Ga. Trial; Gunman Flees

My Way News

Three things come to mind while reading this story.

1: Unless the female guard escorting this dirtball was 6'2" and 200 pounds, what the hell was she doing in such a position?

2: Given this was his third go around, why wasn't he in cuffs and shackels?? Is this a natural result of the promotion of a criminal's rights? Are more judges going to have to die before a criminal going up for his third trial is treated like . . . well . . . a criminal?

3: With the advent of 3 strikes and you are out laws, are criminals, going down for the 3rd count, more likely to give escapes like this a try if there is not a death penalty looming over their heads. This guy was facing life, why not kill a few people and try to escape trial and prison? This guy certainly deserves to be shot, hung, injected - what ever - to send him on his way to hell without taking a dime of taxpayer money.

Yahoo! News - UK Terrorism Debate Rages, Suspects to Go Free

Yahoo! News - UK Terrorism Debate Rages, Suspects to Go Free

It seems that the UK will have to undergo its own 9/11 before the fully realize the lethal threat they are under. I have read about the internal debate the parliament has been having about the "rights" of these folks and the danger presented to the people of the UK by holding them - all the while ignoring the warning of their own security agency saying releasing these animals will endanger the country. Truly an instance of politics creating insanity.

Our trip photo journal.

Bellefontaine 2005

Simply click on the first photo and you will be taken to the slide show. This will give you some idea what the conditions/villagers/country was like.

Bassin-Meado 05 - My complete journal of my Haiti trip.

Bassin-Meado 05

It is difficult to find all the words to describe my Haiti trip. So, I won't try. Here is my journal. It is rather long, but one topic that came up again and again during our stay at Baddin-Meado was that the people there did not want to be forgotten. So, in their honor, here is the whole thing. All 8 days, all activities, all thoughts. It was quite an experience. And, the beginning of an enormous project that will easily take years to complete. Enjoy the read.

Daily Dozen - 3/11/2005

End Judicial Nomination Filibusters - Senator Orrin Hatch, Congressional Record

Expect Foes of Freedom to Stage Violent Counterattacks - M. Kondracke, Roll Call

Fighting 'Occupation' Does Not Legitimize Terrorism, Annan Says By Patrick Goodenough, CNSNews.com

A Year After Madrid, Counter-Terror Cooperation Among EU States Questioned, By Patrick Goodenough, CNSNews.com

Russia in Crisis By Ariel Cohen, FrontPageMagazine.com

Muzzled by Muslims By Joel Mowbray, FrontPageMagazine.com

Mullahs preparing to make nuclear bombs By Jerome Corsi, WND

Years of living dangerously By Clifford D. May, townhall.com

Thou shalt have no others gods before the ACLU By Mona Charen, townhall.com

CIA Right to Ship Terror Suspects Abroad - Michael Scheuer, New York Times

Those Subtle Chinese - Robert Kagan, Washington Post

Honoring a True Martyr For Freedom in Iraq - James J. Na, Seattle Times

Chrenkoff's Great Interview with Victor Davis Hanson

Chrenkoff

VDH is one of my favorite bloggers/authors/commentators. He brings his clarity of thought to a wide range of issues facing the US, Europe and the world at large - a worthy read.

The Death of a Muslim Woman: "The Whore Lived Like a German" - International - SPIEGEL ONLINE

The Death of a Muslim Woman: "The Whore Lived Like a German" - International - SPIEGEL ONLINE

This story has popped up all over the net over the past few days. I have listed it twice in my Daily Dozen. The thing I find most disquieting about this is that there is, in reality, no solution to this problem. Germany, and much of Europe, have held open the door to people who have no intention of becoming German, they simply wanted to leave the oppression of their homeland. Their customs and beliefs are not being shed infavor of more liberal and democratic western ideals, they are in fact hardening their old world stance.

Europe is very very close to a tipping point where they will be unable to reverse the Islamofication of their society. I am not sure they have the will to stop this process. Time will tell, but time is very short I fear.

Off to NYC

My lovely wifee and I are headed to NYC in the morning. Rather thhan luging my notebook along, I will be taking mt Toshiba e755. It has full wiireless features and I have been very happpy with its performance in the past. This post was done with it to wring out the process, seems to work fine!

Daily Dozen - 3/2/2005

A Bold and Brave Advance - President Bush’s second inaugural has given the American proposition planetary scope. By Michael Novak. NRO

2,000 Demonstrate at Iraqi Bombing Site By RAWYA RAGEH, AP

Same Old Story on Judicial Nominees -- for Now By Susan Jones, CNSNews.com

First Lebanon, Now Syria By Rhonda Roumani, Washington Times

Berlin's Honor Killings By Sonia Phalnikar, Deutsche Welle

U.N. influence on court's juvenile execution ban - In 5-4 case, majority ruling based on global treaties, foreign opinions WND

Wahhabis, Go Home - Confronting Saudi evangelism in Kuwait, Europe, and the United States. By Olivier Guitta, Weekly Standard

The War's Silver Lining - Jonathan Freedland, The Guardian

What Europe Wishes for in Iran - Reuel Marc Gerecht, Financial Times

Burying Good Economic News - Lawrence Kudlow, Kudlow's Money Politics

About That Quagmire - New York Post

Imagine: 500 Miles Per Gallon - Fareed Zakaria, Newsweek

Daily Dozen - 3/1/2005

Putting the fear of God into Holland By Brian Moynahan, Times Online

Big ideas . . . By Donald Lambro,Washington Times

SYRIA: W'S NEXT WIN? By PETER BROOKES, NY Post

A blinkered view from the Baghdad Hilton By KATIE GRANT, The Scotsman

OPINION: The Making Of A 9/11 Republican By Cinnamon Stillwell, SFGate.com

Palestinians Pledge to 'Put House in Order' By Julie Stahl, CNSNews.com

U.N. shuffles on rape cases - Annan claims 'very firm measures' amid continuing sex-abuse scandal WND

Wake-up call for my fellow Muslims By Kamal Nawas, townhall.com

Higher Compliance One Benefit of Flat Tax - Bruce Bartlett, Creators

Mideast Climate Change - New York Times

A Surefire Path to a Nuclear Iran - Wall Street Journal

The Arabs' Berlin Wall Has Crumbled - Mark Steyn, Daily Telegraph