My apologies.

Friends, I'm sorry I haven't been blogging lately. I have recently started a new job and I am still trying to find out how to squeeze in time to blog. Bear with me and I'll try to do better.

Please keep coming back and post comments!

MTV: Saudi Arabia

Not quite like the American version of the music video channel, but closer than they have been before. Saudi Arabia strictly adheres to Sharia and they do not allow normal music videos that might show women in sexy clothing or saying things that might not be congruent with Islamic law.

Obama causing international crisis?

President Musharraf of Pakistan has pondered whether or not to issue a state of emergency for his country due to danger foreign and domestic. Partly due to Barack Obama's statements made a week or so ago. It doesn't look like he will, but he's certainly under a lot of pressure right now.

An interesting editorial details possible issues related to Obama's comments.

Banning the Koran in the Netherlands

Check out this story. If I was this guy I'd be afraid for my life.

Facebook mourners

This is a great piece by Travis Kavulla at the National Review.

I have been faced with a similar situation. It is interesting how the Internet and social networking sites have changed our lives in every facet.

Russia reengages

Russian long range sorties have been resumed...could this be shades of the Cold War? You be the judge. I just wish that Russia would just concentrate on their own country and leave the rest of the world alone.

Bible saves GI

Yeah you heard me right. I'm talking about The Bible. This is one of those stories that you wouldn't believe if it didn't happen. Read and enjoy.

Fake boobs lead to suicide

No, that's not a typo. There is a new "study" that shows that women who have fake breasts commit suicide 3 times more often than women who do not have them.

I thought fake boobs were supposed to make women feel better about themselves. This just goes to show that when men say "you're fine just the way you are," you should probably listen.

Worker status, what does it mean?

I am getting so fatigued trying to figure out all of the terminology associated with illegal aliens and what is politically correct at the time. This WSJ article makes some sense of what is going on in the legislative side of things.

I remember when I was younger living in Northern Ohio my parents would point out migrant workers that used to come all the way up from Mexico to the Midwest to help harvest the bountiful Ohio crops. Then just as soon as they came, they left. There was something about the fact that they traveled so far and long that made you respect those people. What ever happened to migrant workers? I wonder if they still exist.

Iran helping Iraq...yeah right

This is a funny story. It's not meant to be, but it is. Iran has pledged to help Iraq with security issues. Their pledge and the security of Iraq is of course contingent on the "American occupying forces" leaving Iraq (at least, according to Iran).

Iran is so delusional.

Some political tidbits

Some interesting stories from David Miller at CBS News:

The Latest Newt-O-Meter Reading: Every time former House Speaker Newt Gingrich speaks, political observers sift through his words to figure out whether he plans to seek the Republican presidential nomination. Lately, the odds of such a run seem to have fallen. But a Gingrich speech on Tuesday at Washington's National Press Club may set off a new round of speculation.

According to inside-the-Beltway publication The Hill, Gingrich said there's still a chance he will enter the race — and still a chance that the front-runners in the Republican race will falter. "I try to remind people, three weeks before the Iowa caucus in 2004 the Democratic front-runner was Howard Dean. He had raised more money, he had gotten more magazine covers — everybody though he was the front-runner," Gingrich said. "He had the biggest online contributor base."

Gingrich also flatly said he was "candidate material," which is a little more bold than the former speaker has sounded lately. It's possible that the delay in the launch of Fred Thompson's campaign — now expected in early September, less than a month before Gingrich says he'll make up his own mind — and Thompson's reported fundraising and staff troubles have renewed some of Gingrich's vigor.

Sensing An Opportunity: Republican Rep. Ron Paul raised some eyebrows when his second-quarter fundraising put him in fourth place in the money race against his fellow GOP candidates. Now, with the Iowa Straw Poll only days away, the candidate whose libertarian views have won him a significant Internet following is putting that money to use on a more traditional medium: television.

The campaign is airing its first ad in Iowa this week. The spot notes that Paul has never accepted a congressional pay raise, never voted to raise taxes and is running to "protect our liberties and save our Constitution."

It's unlikely Paul would spend money on the ad if he didn't think he had a chance of pulling off an Ames surprise. Conventional wisdom says that if anyone is going to benefit from the bickering between Sam Brownback and Mitt Romney, it will be former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. But for now, Paul is the only Republican candidate, aside from Romney, on TV in Iowa. It's possible it's too late for the ad to have any impact on the poll results, but it shows that Paul is a candidate who deserves attention heading into this early test of GOP strength.

The truth from Newt

I hate the current presidential campaign process. I don't hate many things in life, but I hate how the campaign process works. It is the most convoluted, corrupt and unhelpful period of time in American politics.

Newt Gingrich spoke to this recently at a National Press Club event. Read, enjoy, understand.

We need major campaign reform. The sooner the better. The US government cannot function much longer the way it is right now. Do you realize that we elect people on how they look and what they said in 10 second soundbites? We are in serious trouble.

The check's in the mail

Fewer Mexicans are sending money back to Mexico from the Estados Unidos. Some say it's because of increased border security, some say it's because of anti-immigrant sentiment, some say it's because they are unsure of their futures.

I don't know what it is, but it's an interesting trend.

Shiite pilgrimage to Baghdad

The Shiite pilgrimage in honor of an 8th Century Imam is pretty much over and there were no real terrorist attacks. Could this be a good sign?

The reason why I write about these events is because I want to let everyone know that there are positive things going on in Iraq. I am optimistic and I will continue to be that way because our troops and our country deserve that from American citizens.

Newark murders

You have probably heard about the execution-style murders of three college kids in Newark, NJ. They have arrested a 15 year old that was picked out of a line up by the lone survivor of the attack. This is an awful chain of events.

The thing that surprises me the most out of this whole thing is that some of the residents of Newark are not that surprised. Remind me not to live in Newark.

McDonald's tastes better than...

A "study" has just come out that shows that children prefer food from branded fast food restaurant packages rather unbranded. The study put the same food in bags that had logos on them and then in other bags that had no logos. The kids thought the branded food tasted better.

No wonder our kids are fat. We need to start branding some Brussels sprouts or something.

Rudy, Barack and Caroline

In case you haven't heard the big news Caroline Giuliani was once a supporter for Barack Obama on Facebook. OH NO! Since it was reported, she has left the Facebook group and changed her profile, but apparently the damage has been done.

You do know this means nothing to his campaign of course.

The UK state of mind

As I wrote about before, it seemed as though the United States and the UK were going to be getting along quite well in the Gordon Brown era. This continues to be true, but Mr. Brown continues to try to distance himself from the USA and his predecessor.

The UK government just asked the USA to release some of the detainees at Guantanamo who were not citizens, but legal residents of the UK prior to their capture on the field of battle.

This has also allowed UK liberal MPs to start talking about what an egregious breach of democracy Guantanamo is. I hope this is not the beginning of something more.

Sean Penn, just plain awful

Wow, this guy is just pathetic. He has on more than one occasion visited our enemies and turned his back on our country. Now he's meeting with Hugo Chavez. I wrote about the American traitor in Al Qaeda, well Sean Penn is skating on thin ice. Apparently, libs in Hollywood are also thinking what Penn is doing is wrong. That says a lot. Thank goodness no one takes this guy seriously. It's just too bad that our enemies can use him as a propaganda tool.

The truth about Al Qaeda in Iraq

This Michael Yon article was also featured in Glenn Reynolds' blog Instapundit.com, but I figured I would link it here as well (for those of you who do not frequent his site). It is a graphic and seemingly truthful picture of what Al Qaeda is capable of and willing to do in Iraq to try to defeat freedom.

I will echo Mr. Reynolds' sentiments: read the whole thing.

Why drinking is good before you are shot into space

This Charles Krauthammer column is just plain hilarious and it makes sense. Read it.

Treason

Any American citizen who joins up with Al Qaeda should be found and tried for treason and then given the maximum punishment for treason during wartime. Death. This guy, Adam Gadahn, who is also known as Azzan al-Amriki should be found and put to death. By the way there's a $1 million reward...so go out and get 'em.

Where is my AK?

Well apparently the US Government doesn't know either. There are 190,000 weapons missing from the arsenal bought for the Iraqi military. Umm that can't be good.

Shuttle launch...with shades of the past

The Space Shuttle Endeavor will be heading up to space this Wednesday and will carry with it a school teacher. I think it is great that once again NASA will be sending a teacher into space. The Astronaut Barbara Morgan was the backup for Christa McAuliffe who was the teacher who died in the Challenger disaster.

Ms. Morgan is finally getting her chance to go to space. Even though Americans are no longer enamored with the space program it still provides a very useful service to our country's science community. And I am personally proud of the brave men and women who explore the Final Frontier.

Godspeed to our astronauts.

Lebanon and the future

Lebanon has for many years been a melting pot of sorts in the Middle East. A country that has as its citizens members from many different religious and ethnic groups. And for the most part they have lived together in relative harmony. This is to say that it was not the citizens that were starting the wars, but politicians in Lebanon and Syria.

Now Lebanon is facing an interesting and potentially dangerous future. While Iraq and Israel and the Palestinian Authority are making progress, Lebanon is teetering tenuously on the edge of breakdown. A series of political assassinations have led to political unrest and a shift in power. Half of the country is pro-Syria, the other half is anti-Syria. Even the Christians in the country (who were at one time a group of great solidarity) are starting to split into groups.

Lebanon could be a great ally in the Middle East if they would just get their act together. President Bush has issued a warning to those that might interfere with Lebanese politics and I can only hope that the country that used to be one of the most visited and beautiful countries in the world can return to its former glory during my lifetime.

Peace in the Middle East?

Not yet, but as far as I can tell Israel and the Palestinian Authority are meeting together without a direct request or help from the USA. This is extraordinary development and is good news for both sides.

Good things are happening in Iraq (on the military side) and good things are happening in the Holy Land (on the political side). If only both sides were working in both places.

Killing their own

It is just morally confusing to me to see what is going on in Iraq right now. There was a bombing this morning that killed 19 children. The fact that the followers of the "religion of peace" are killing their brethren is somewhat disturbing. What I don't think they understand is that it is not the US Military bearing the brunt of casualties anymore, it is the Iraqi people, and they are starting to get fed up with being killed by their own countrymen.

Political progress is needed now more than ever.

Just stop eating food

There is nothing left that is safe. Now it's green beans. I happen to like green beans and now I have to worry about getting botulism. Great, just another thing to worry about. At least this doesn't have to do with China...yet.

Space travel is still cool

Traveling to Mars was, is and continues to be cool. Well NASA is going to send a new probe to Mars to study the polar region there. And that is awesome.

Money in freezer

Louisiana Rep. William Jefferson, the guy that was keeping money in his freezer just got some good news. Apparently, when the FBI took a bunch of files out of his office on Capitol Hill it was against the law because executive and legislative branches are supposed to run equally without being intimidated by law enforcement run by the other branch.

Okay fine, I understand that, but the best part of this Reuters story is what Jefferson's lawyer said at the end of it..."We are confident that as this case moves forward, and when all of the facts are known, we will prevail again and clear Congressman Jefferson's name". HOW DO YOU CLEAR THIS GUY! He has been accused of accepting bribes and they found $90,000 in HIS FREEZER!!! What person keeps money in his freezer in different food boxes and foil. This guy is SO GUILTY.

As you can see, I feel pretty strong about this. I hate corruption and there is no shortage of it in Washington...Democrats and Republicans are both guilty.

21st Century voter fraud

Just what we need...voting machines that are susceptible to virus attacks. This is what "hanging chads" got us. 'Nuff said.

Iraqi political failure?

I want Iraq to succeed. I want Iraq to be a successful Arab state in the Middle East. I want Iraq to act as a beacon and a template for what other Arab states can achieve. I understand that making this happen is not an easy task. Defense Secy. Gates just came back from a tour of the Mid East and was not too impressed with the progress of their government.

When you compare what is going on in Iraq to what happened in the USA prior to independence and the ratification of the Constitution, you can get a true feeling for how (politically) difficult what they are doing really is. Admittedly, I am not that informed on what is going on over there, but I can see why there would be problems. These are people who have different ideas on how Iraq should be run post-Saddam. This is a revolutionary process. These politicians are having to create from scratch a secular Arab state that still adheres to Islamic principles. No easy task given the Islamic whack jobs killing each other and civilians all over their country.

He's been called a wunderkind

This story is the same old, same old from the Congress witch hunt on the US attorney firings, an "investigation" that seems to continue on with no end. This guy, J. Scott Jennings is a 29 year old White House staffer and he was called in yesterday to participate in the hearing. He of course refused to answer certain questions and invoked executive privilege on several occasions.

I just think it's crazy that these young people (many of those who have testified have been young) are so involved in what is going on. Or it might be that they are allowed to testify because they're not that involved. Who knows. What I do know however, is that firing US attorneys is something that the President can do at anytime for any reason because they serve at his discretion.

Two very rich guys

Presidential candidate and former senator John Edwards has attacked Rupert Murdoch and his company News Corporation for becoming too powerful. Edwards thinks that the acquisition of Dow Jones by Murdoch's News Corp. is media consolidation gone too far.

So Senator Edwards has challenged his fellow presidential candidates to refuse and return any money they might have received from News Corp., or their employees. Edwards was even quoted saying that he would never ask or accept money from Rupert Murdoch.

So why is it that Mr. Edwards took money from Mr. Murdoch's publishing company HarperCollins? In fact he took $800,000 from HarperCollins for his 2006 coffee table book "Home: The Blueprints of Our Lives".

Now this whole thing has been blogged out of control (evidenced from two of the links above (NYT and D.C. Post), so I'm not going to go too overboard on this, but this is hilarious. Is he clueless or does he just not care. For a guy who made MILLIONS as a weasel trial lawyer (don't get me started on tort reform), you'd think that he would be pretty smart. So he must not care right?

To come out and rip on Senators Clinton and Obama for taking money from News Corp. execs...that might be a little hypocritical. Now I understand he was being paid for his book and not for his campaign, but he said "John Edwards will never ask Rupert Murdoch for money — he won’t accept his money". So that is where the hypocrisy comes in play. Poor Edwards can't catch a break.

Chinese toys not so fun

Mattel the toy manufacturer we all remember from our childhood, has announced they are recalling 83 types of preschool toys that were made in China. No kidding. Something made in China that isn't up to USA standards. That is so rare.

My sarcasm drips from this post, but we really need to get involved in this epidemic. Stuff from China is just not really working out for Americans recently. There needs to be some sort of oversight of imports from China and it needs to start now.

Lead based paints on preschool toys...umm are you joking? What is the first thing little kids do when they get a toy? They try to eat it. Lead paint on preschool toys...not a good idea.

Whoopi on "The View"

I don't care about this, but it's an FYI for when you're around the watercooler. Whoopi Goldberg has joined female chat show "The View". I'm sure that someone somewhere will mention this to you and you will not care, but at least you will know. Yay.

The Sunni saga continues

Today the Islamic Dawa party, the party of Iraqi PM Maliki issued a statement asking the Sunni majority party the Accordance Front to reconsider their withdrawal from the cabinet.

This is starting to get interesting and I am truly curious to see whether or not Maliki and the others in the Iraqi government can convince the Sunnis to come back to the cabinet. If they do, it could signal a positive move toward some serious legislation and political improvement. If Maliki fails things will either stay status quo or disintegrate into complete political gridlock.

Complete political gridlock...where have I heard that before...oh yeah, right here in the USA.

Democrats stalling

The Democratic leadership in Congress is holding off on votes for spending bills until after their traditional summer break. President Bush unloaded on Congress today explaining his side of the story.

The bottom line is that the Democrats are being just as bad as the Republicans have been at playing partisan politics and "surprise!" nothing is happening in Washington. Yet another example of our representatives ignoring what the American public wants.

Honest to everyone?

I saw this guy on Fox News Channel the other day and I was really intrigued. The theory of Radical Honesty is interesting, whether or not it works has yet to be seen. Apparently it works for Brad Blanton, Ph.D. and I think it is worth looking into (if for no other reason than curiosity).

I think that being completely honest all of the time could be quite liberating. The problem I see with it is that if the people you are around are not being completely honest...then you're in trouble. In that case the, "Yes honey, you look great in that dress" comment should be a trusty stand-by in your arsenal.

Important step for Darfur

The commitment of 20,000 UN troops to the Sudan is an important step to try to stop all of the killing there in Darfur. It is also interesting to note that it is African countries committing a large amount of troops to help in the effort.

This kind of help is something that the African continent has been trying to focus on for many years. African nations have been trying to to break the bonds of colonialism by dealing with continental problems "in house" if you will. I believe that this is a positive way of doing things and that the increased communication and help between African nations will be good for the continent as a whole.

Rummy sticking up for himself

I think we can all admit that former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has not always had the best of luck. Nor has he always made the best decisions. But I think that ultimately he is a pretty decent guy. A US House panel questioned Rumsfeld along with some other generals involved in the Pat Tillman screw-up yesterday.

According to accounts, Rumsfeld was pretty calm during the whole thing except when Rep. Kucinich (D, OH) decided to accuse him of a "cover up". That seemed to upset Mr. Rumsfeld, who adamantly denied any such accusations.

It was indeed a big screw up with the whole Pat Tillman situation. But dragging this out as long as it has been is starting to tarnish the memory of a great patriot.

Bridge collapse

I don't believe that you can turn on the news today without seeing something about this story. The bridge in Minneapolis, MN that collapsed yesterday evening has killed anywhere from 4-11 people so far (according to preliminary reports). Unfortunately, authorities are expecting to find more as today's recovery effort continues. This is truly a tragedy. We can only hope that it was a structural problem and not a terrorist attack.

Sunnis in...and back out

Sunni members of al-Maliki's cabinet have "withdrawn" from their posts. This means that there are now no Sunni members of al-Maliki's cabinet. This is not a good thing, but it is not the end of the world either. The 44 Sunni members of the Iraqi parliament are going to stay on. It is good that the parliament is staying intact because it was not so long ago that I wrote about the Sunni representatives rejoining the legislature after their "protest".

We shall see if this government defection snowballs and creates a problem (both in Iraq and here at home). I believe that this issue will come to a head in September when the progress report on Iraq is due.

Obama's tough talk

Grrrr...says Barack Obama. In a speech today Senator Obama announced that he would not hesitate to attack terrorists in Pakistan if the situation warranted. Okay, I'm with him there, I think that is a good idea...in theory.

But as you have most likely heard the act of invading Pakistan in pursuit of terrorists would be devastating to the Musharraf presidency. And with the few allies we have in that area of the world, it would probably be best to keep the current moderate regime in place. The conventional wisdom says that Obama is talking tough to Pakistan to try to take a strong stance in foreign affairs, an area he has recently been criticized as being unqualified.

Castro's Cuba...that's Raul Castro

Fidel Castro, despite his lack of public appearances claims that he is still consulted on "every important government decision". Umm...news flash Raul is the new boss of Cuba. There must be something very wrong with the health of Fidel to keep him sidelined for more than a year now. His days must be numbered.

The question now turns to what will happen to Cuba after Fidel's death. Will Raul open up the government? Or will he continue in his brother's footsteps leading Cuba further into despair.