Sue the Bastards!

I'm probably the least easy person to insult that I know. When I said that at a gathering of friends and acquaintances once, a man I'll call Bob (cuz that's what he calls himself) told me that's because he hasn't figured out which button to push yet. I replied that, especially in his case, I have no buttons. This is NOT to say that I don't get red-faced furious over the antics of some people, sometimes. But really, it's so seldom I take offense that I might be a pushover, if I didn't have standards.

I also don't believe we've done the right thing by becoming such a sue-the-bastards society.

There are exceptions.

The following is one of those, sent to me by an Air Force Veteran in Colorado. Thanks, Merlin!

Federal Lawsuit Filed Against Janet Napolitano Over Homeland Security’s Rightwing Extremism Policy Thursday, April 16, 2009 ANN ARBOR, MI – The Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, announced today that it has filed a federal lawsuit against Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. The lawsuit claims that her Department’s “Rightwing Extremism Policy, ” as reflected in the recently publicized Intelligence Assessment, “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment, ” violates the civil liberties of combat veterans as well as American citizens by targeting them for disfavored treatment on account of the political beliefs.

Read the whole thing at the Thomas More Law Center website.

From GlennBeck.com - "I don't care if it rains or freezes, I am safe with my plastic"...nope, not "Jesus!"

GlennBeck.com - check out his store for this great item! Loved his show from the Alamo on Wednesday. Ted Nugent and Janine Turner were on, it was inspirational. NOT like this, though!

Dashboard Obama You can now make Obama your co-pilot with this miniature bobblehead version of our great leader! Put dashboard Obama in front of a teleprompter and it will make just as many inexplicable decisions as the real thing. The Estimated Delivery date is July 1, 2009. ONLY $12.95 Size: Overall Height (including the spring): 5 inches

Napolitano defends report that calls me a terrorist

From The Washington Times:

No surprise here -
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Wednesday that she was briefed before the release of a controversial intelligence assessment and that she stands by the report, which lists returning veterans among terrorist risks to the U.S.

Is he the only one who's "dumbfounded?"
"This report appears to raise significant issues involving the privacy and civil liberties of many Americans - including war veterans," said Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, in his letter sent Tuesday night.
...
Ms. Napolitano insisted that the department was not planning on engaging in any form of ideological profiling.

"Let me be very clear: We monitor the risks of violent extremism taking root here in the United States. We don't have the luxury of focusing our efforts on one group; we must protect the country from terrorism whether foreign or homegrown, and regardless of the ideology that motivates its violence," Ms. Napolitano said.

"We are on the lookout for criminal and terrorist activity but we do not - nor will we ever - monitor ideology or political beliefs. We take seriously our responsibility to protect the civil rights and liberties of the American people, including subjecting our activities to rigorous oversight from numerous internal and external sources."

Never thought of myself as a Rightwing Extremist, being more libertarian-leaning than that...but it looks like I may get away with being a Domestic Goddess Terrorist...

"Watch out, France and co., there is a new surrender monkey on the block."

Jack Kelly column at JewishWorldReview.com - which was updated before the start of the last set of Passover holy days.

President Pantywaist? HA! That's what columnist Gerald Warner of the London Telegraph called the Commander-in-Chief after his little jaunt on the Continent...sheesh...

THEN, almost miraculously, a bunch of scum kidnap an American ship's Captain after failing to seize the vessel itself.
As the crisis dragged on, and the lifeboat containing the pirates and their hostage drew ever closer to the Somali shore, many — myself among them — feared the president's reluctance to use force would result in another humiliation for the United States, akin to that we suffered when Iranian Islamists seized our embassy in Tehran during the Carter administration. But the president had authorized the use of deadly force if the on scene commander should determine that Captain Phillips' life was in " imminent" danger.

You could get dizzy from the spin!
After the fact, some Obama aides and his sycophants in the news media are pretending the president was more actively involved in the rescue than in fact he was.

OhfertheluvvaGod, you'd think he chose the men personally AND cleaned their weapons for them, giving instruction all the while...
All Mr. Obama did was to assent to standard operating procedure, procedure that every American president save Jimmy Carter and perhaps Bill Clinton would have followed.

Credit where due...
Mr. Obama did not stand in the way of the use of deadly force, as Jimmy Carter might have.

Thankfully, President BarryO also kept his umming mouth shut while negotiations were ongoing. Yay. Will he remember for more than one news cycle?
Cmdr Castellano and the SEAL snipers have presented Mr. Obama with an invaluable gift. God willing, he will use it wisely.

I won't hold my breath.

Report from SwampWoman

SwampWoman, who blogs at A1A South, posts this report on the Tea Party at Jacksonville Landing. -envious sigh-

Some excerpts:
...
There were Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, and Independents. There were current military and retired veterans, lots of small business people, cubicle dwellers, and parents worried about the debt load on their small children. The speakers were of all ages (high school students, college students, 20-somethings, Navy wives, a “professional” blogger, and retirees). There were a lot of Fair Tax supporters in evidence.
...
The difference between a “right wing potential domestic terrorist” protest and a left wing protest of any kind: No references to genitalia, sexuality, no nekkid sagging boobs or scrotums, and the signs were spelled correctly.
...
Whenever I lowered my arms, I elbowed the people around me. Good thing that they were all nice people. Of course, I’m sorry that ACORN organizers didn’t show up (where I could see them, anyway) so that I could take pictures from beside THEM. I hate accidentally bruising nice people.
...
“We Are All Domestic Terrorists Now”

Right beside ya.

Thanks for all you do, Swampie.

By the way - I'm a Domestic Goddess Terrorist, as I'm sure Swampie is.

UPDATE: Paco has some wonderful pictures and witty commentary from the Tea Party in HIS neck of the woods - aka Washington, D.C. (in case you didn't know).

Mental Floss

Are We Lumberjacks? had a link to this quiz.

Ben & Jerry's Flavor or Pottery Barn Paint Color?

I got 50%!

Enjoy!

Tax Day Tea Party!

USA! USA! USA!

I won't be able to attend the local tea party today, and I am pretty bummed about it. Will follow online to the best of my ability, AND I sent Dopey, Dopey, Dopey and Dopey virtual tea bags, with an online post card and tea bag I found at El Campeador's blog.

YOU can send one, too!

I love this, particularly because after September 11, 2001 and the anthrax scare(s), it may take months for a real teabag to be received by my Elected Officials in Washington. And I'm not so sure ANY envelopes, containing ANY substance, are passed through to the CongressWeasels in D.C.

On a personal note, eleven years ago today I began my own personal Boston Tea Party - I began the fight to stop smoking. So far...so good. Marlboro Lights box were $4.25 at Albertson's in Poway, California at that time. I decided not to pay that tax anymore, and have been not paying it ever since.

Words mean things

Words mean things. But the thing does not change, just because we use a prettier word, a word to make a thing more acceptable.

Thomas Sowell says, "Some of our biggest political fallacies come from accepting words as evidence of realities."

"Investment." "Rich." "Stimulus." "Rent control." "Gun control." "Nuclear free world."

Remember the lipstick on a pig comment on the campaign trail? Same difference. "That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." On the other hand, you can call it a landfill if you want - it's a garbage dump all the same.

I have a friend that gets kinda peeved at me on a regular basis because I ask her to explain the meaning of the words she uses. She might think I'm being overbearing and know-it-all, but what I'm REALLY trying to do is understand the language she speaks. Y'see, 'progressive' and 'communist' and 'socialist' mean pretty much the same thing in my mind, when used in the context of what we want (or don't want) from our government. She wants 'progressive,' 'fair' government by intelligent, educated people. I want Constitutional government, of the People, by the People and FOR the People...not just certain people.

See what I mean? Words MEAN things!



(thanks, Swampie and Robert D)

Kinder, Gentler Pirates

John in Carolina (thanks, Paco!) remarks on Secretary of Defense Gates' blather about the Somali "teenagers" who were responsible for the kidnapping of Captain Richard Phillips and attempt to seize the Maersk Alabama.

SecDef Gates is another in a long line of embarrassments here. These pirates are, like their forebears, thugs who terrorize and murder and steal anything civilization holds valuable. They should be treated as such - sink their vessels, confiscate their "treasure" and send 'em to Davy Jones Locker. Yes, I've said that before. I think I'll continue to say it - so many pirates, so few yardarms.

"Good Girl" makes me cry

I took my Pixie to the doctor today for her 18 month vaccinations. Grandpa drove. I fed her pretzels and we laughed and chatted like old friends. Waited a long time in the office, but she was angelic the whole time, not getting bored till more than an hour into the wait. That's understandable, she had other people to listen to and watch, she likes doing that - a real sociable, observant child.

Finally, the nurse was ready and we prepped for FIVE innoculations, so every limb would be poked. How I dread these trips, the ones with her mother used to tear my heart out, though SHE never knew that (I told her when she was older). My BEEootiful little granddaughter cried as though her heart would break, great gulping sobs after the second stick. Poor baby!

Finally, we were done, and I stood with her cuddled in my arms, holding her with her blanket bunched in front of her...and she stopped crying, smiled through her tears at the nurse, clapped her little hands together, and said, "Good girl."

I burst into tears when I told Grandpa about it outside.

What a little trooper she is.

UPDATE1: SwampWoman, SwampMan, congratulations to both of you on 32 years of wedded sometimes-bliss. You have my admiration...and I'm hoping I make it that far myself! Sa-LUTE!

UPDATE2: The little blond angel is happy as a clam today, you'd never know she'd had a rather trying time yesterday afternoon! No fever, no grumpy, just not real happy with rain and storm that keep us inside most of the day. For that matter, I'm not thrilled with losing internet/tv/house phone for 5 hours either, but it COULD be worse, so I'm ok with it.

So THAT'S it!

Better than a Harvard basket-weaving degree, more prestigious than Community Thug-I-mean-Organizer, more ego-stroking than a wife with a $300,000 "job" - the icing on BarryO's cake is a Nobel Peace Prize???

Bert Prelutsky:
At a time when Iran, not to mention North Korea, is shaking a nuclear-armed fist at the world, Obama is telling Russia he’d like to dismantle our nuclear weapons. I’m afraid that, as a means of providing America with a viable national defense, his approach verges on the suicidal. On the other hand, if it’s his intention to join the likes of Kofi Annan, Yasser Arafat, Al Gore, Le Duc Tho and Jimmy Carter, as Nobel Peace Prize winners, it’s an absolutely brilliant strategy.

It does makes frightening sense, when you think about it...

Happy Ending

I am SO proud of these unsung Heroes..., from Pauline Jelenik at Townhall.com.

Military officials were widely praising the snipers for three flawless shots, which they described as remarkable, coming at night and from the stern of a ship on rolling waters.
...

The Navy released images of the scene from an unmanned drone, Scan Eagle. It showed that the snipers had positioned themselves on the fantail of the Bainbridge. The snipers fired simultaneously. One of the pirates was in the pilot house.

The SEALS arrived on the scene by parachuting from their aircraft into the sea, and they were picked up by the Bainbridge, a senior U.S. official said.

Thank you, SEALS, and crew of USS Bainbridge. You are Finest Kind.

And no, in my heart and mind, the BarryO Administration gets NO credit here. None. Zip. Zero. Zilch. Nada. If our nose-in-the-air/ head in the sand/ Ivory Tower-dwelling government had done the right thing in the FIRST place, pirate scum wouldn't feel free to terrorize the seas as they do. These animals understand one thing - Power. FIRE power. Sink their ships, confiscate their loot, and send 'em to Davy Jones Locker. I want that bumber sticker that says "So Many Pirates, So Few Yardarms."

Our Marines and Sailors have been fighting this scum since the first breath of this Nation. We CAN either wipe out it out or at the very least make it a rare thing tried by a stupid few.

Somehow I doubt BarryO believes that would be something worth fighting for. Well, I don't think he has ANYTHING on his list of Things Worth Fighting For, to tell you the truth. No standards, no patriotism, no nuthin. Suit of clothes, looking for an Emperor (gleefully and gratefully swiped from Paco). And he gets more like that stupid, ignorant, arrogant Emperor strutting his stuff in his birthday suit EVERY day he's in office. His Advisors tell him he's good, and he's good with that.

Makes me wanna puke.

So, as my Aussie friends say, GOOD ON YA, NAVY! Thanks for making this another GREAT DAY, in spite of you-know-who!

UPDATE: El Campeador covers this quite nicely, with a bit of clarification from his commenter.

Good Monday Morning!

I LOVE Mondays! Picked up my Pixie, put some gas in my BroncoII, now she's flinging Cheerios all over the dining room with unnatural glee and I hope I get everything linked and posted before she gets bored.

Before I'm even fully awake, I find David at The Empiricist mentions a book on global not-warming and un-man-made climate change even I'd like to read. The review is by Paul Sheehan at the Sydney Morning Herald.

I love the title of Sheehan's column - Beware the climate of conformity. To quote Mr. Sheehan's column: What I am about to write questions much of what I have written in this space, in numerous columns, over the past five years. Perhaps what I have written can withstand this questioning. Perhaps not. The greater question is, am I - and you - capable of questioning our own orthodoxies and intellectual habits? Let's see.

ChangerBelievers are NOTHING if not conformists, aren't they, requiring conformity - or silence - from UnBelievers and Skeptics.

A downer of a read from Caroline B. Glick at JewishWorldReview.com makes me just sick(er) at heart for my country.

Jonah Goldberg. George Will.

Back later!

Jax Air News

The Navy base has a newspaper called the Jax Air News. We've been reading it since our first set of orders here in 1985. It's a pretty decent little paper, and one of the columns is just about my favorite thing to read locally all week long. Sarah Smiley has an always-interesting and mostly humorous look at all things to do with Navy Wife and Navy Family. This week she took a serious look at that ridiculous idea of BarryO's administration that thinks medical care for veterans wounded in combat should be billed to third party insurers. Please read, even though that proposal has been tabled...for now. With this bunch, the idea won't go away, they'll simply wait for a more opportune time. You knew that, didn't you?

Sarah says:
When I was a military dependent of my active-duty Navy dad in Portsmouth, Va., I broke my leg jumping off my piano teacher’s front porch.

I was taken to Portsmouth Naval Hospital (the old hospital, where tales of health care – and especially labor and deliveries – are legendary).

On this particular day, there was a shortage of the lightweight fiberglass material used in modern medicine to stabilize broken bones. In its place, Navy doctors wrapped my leg in plaster of Paris, which is the same material used to make some walls. Unlike its sleek fiberglass counterpart, plaster of Paris casts are thick, bumpy and somewhat chalky. I left the hospital with what felt (and looked) like a 10-pound chunk of wall on my leg. “But hey, it was free,” I said laughing when I explained the situation to my high school government class.

“Your cast wasn’t free,” a boy in the back of the class said. “All of our tax dollars paid for it.”

I was a knobby kneed teenager who still cared about what her peers thought. I didn’t come up with a good comeback until the class bell had rung and I was hobbling on crutches to my locker.

Free? My health care isn’t “free,” I thought. What does that punk know about “free” anyway? The next day, I told my classmate how “expensive” my health care really is. My dad had paid for it when he was halfway across the world, in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, when his first daughter was born. He paid for it when he didn’t meet me until I was seven months old. He paid for it with every missed piano recital, Christmas, and birthday.

He accumulated 11 years of sea duty by the time I was 22 years old. Our family also paid in ways most people would consider unacceptable and too “costly.” Imagine: instead of paying a monthly premium, your insurance company requires you to be at their service, at any time, in any place, even if it means that you will miss half of your child’s childhood.

Oh, and you might have to put your life on the line, too. True, my classmate and his parents had also paid in part for my health care, but then, they never had to deal with deployments either.

Read the whole thing!