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.