Degree of Madness

I am a "Real Alabamian"

Are you?  Take Dan's test.  I was born in Alabama and have lived here most of my life and according to the test I'm 70%.  I got tripped up on: the tornado question (I head to the basement), I never thought the lake was the ocean, I've never learned to shoot a gun (and now that I think of it, I don't multiply so well either, that could have been a wash), to name a few of my "misses".  Of course I didn't have to take the test to know the answer but since I've been asked more than once (usually by a Yankee on the telephone) if I'm from Texas I thought I'd take it anyway.  I'm still disappointed, though.  I should have done much better.  Next time I'll study first.

via:  A Bama Blog and Don's email!

MICHELLE OBAMA!...Rock star soccer mom

This is getting (more) ridiculous.  A 40 year old "shrieking like a teenager" and she wants Michelle Obama to sign her Bible:

The fan's voice is urgent, her eyes wild. She is 40 years old but shrieking like a teenager.

"SIGN MY BIBLE! Can you sign my Bible?" Nzati Mbengi begs, waving the book over her head as she and the crowd surge forward.

The star is unrattled, flashing her dazzling smile, clasping the fans' outstretched hands with her perfectly manicured fingers. She snatches the book and scribbles her initials.

Mbengi lifts the Bible up and wails, then plants her lips on the cover. She has an autograph from ... MICHELLE OBAMA!

Yes, Michelle Obama. The 44-year-old soccer mom, whose appeal is centered squarely on her plain-talking, keepin'-it-real persona, has become a rock star.

Wails and kisses her Bible?  Dear Lord, what in the world is wrong with these people?

Sgt. Matt Maupin, RIP

An American hero comes home:

Sgt. Matt Maupin is dead, the parents of the missing Clermont County soldier said today.

Maupin's remain were found in Iraq, nearly four years after he was captured by insurgents, his parents said. An Army general visited them today and gave them the news, they said.

"Matt is coming home. He's completed his mission," his father, Keith Maupin, said.

Rest in Peace.

Saddam's Oil for Food cash pays for three Democrats' trip to Iraq

Iraqi Satellite Channel Television, September 27, 2002:

"Three U.S. Congressmen arrived in Baghdad this morning on a visit lasting several days. The delegation will hold several meetings with Iraqi officials and members of the Foreign Relations Committee at the National Assembly. They will also visit hospitals to see the suffering caused by the unjust embargo and the shortage of medicines and medical supplies. Congressman Jim McDermott told reporters upon arrival at Saddam International Airport that the delegation members reject the policy of aggression dominating the U.S. administration."

The video then showed McDermott talking, with a voiceover translation in Arabic. Here is what Arabic-speaking audiences heard from McDermott:

"We are three veterans of the Vietnam War who came over here because we don't want war. We assert from here that we do not want the United States to wage war on any peace-loving countries. As members of Congress, we would like diplomatic efforts to continue so as not to launch any aggression. We will visit children's hospitals to see the negative impact of the sanctions imposed on Iraq. We hope that peace will prevail throughout the world."

The three "Baghdad Democrats" were David Bonior, Jim McDermott, and Mike Thompson.  And according to a federal indictment their trip was paid for by Saddam Hussein:

Federal prosecutors say Saddam Hussein's intelligence agency secretly financed a trip to Iraq for three U.S. lawmakers during the run-up to the U.S.-led invasion.

An indictment in Detroit accuses Muthanna Al-Hanooti of arranging for three members of Congress to travel to Iraq in October 2002 at the behest of Saddam's regime. Prosecutors say Iraqi intelligence officials paid for the trip through an intermediary.

In exchange, Al-Hanooti allegedly received 2 million barrels of Iraqi oil.

Al-Hanooti is a former official with the Muslim Charity Life for Relief and Development and ALSO the former head of the Detroit chapter of CAIR:  a Muslim civil liberties and advocacy group. CAIR’s vision is to promote justice and mutual understanding. CAIR’s mission is based on 3 core goals – enhancing understanding of Islam, promoting justice and empowering American Muslims.  Empowering them to do what?

The three Democrats claim they had no idea Hussein was paying for their propaganda trip.  The intermediary was Shakir al Khafaji, Stephen F. Hayes reported in 2004:

On January 25, 2004, a daily newspaper in Iraq called al Mada published a list of individuals and organizations who it says received oil from the now-deposed regime. Among those listed is Shakir al Khafaji, an Iraqi-American from Detroit, who ran "Expatriate Conferences" for the regime in Baghdad. Al Khafaji also contributed $400,000 to the production of Scott Ritter's film "In Shifting Sands." Finally, al Khafaji arranged travel and financing for the "Baghdad Democrats"--Jim McDermott, Mike Thompson and David Bonior--last fall. Following the trip, al Khafaji contributed $5,000 to McDermott's Legal Defense Fund.

Here is a little background on why ethically challenged McDermott needed a legal defense fund.  He returned the $5,000 in April, 2004.

John Hawkins:

Why would a genocidal, pro-terrorist butcher, who hates America and everything it stands for, want to pay to have three American Congressmen flown over to his country?

Simple: because he obviously thought that they were useful idiots who were so morally deficient that they would boldly, publicly take his side against their own President and their own people while the world was watching.

Boy, did he have them pegged right.

The trip was inexcusable, regardless of who paid for it, but Saddam Hussein knew he would get his money's worth from these three tools.  Fortunately Hussein is no match for our military and the "Baghdad Democrats" couldn't save him.  Maybe his money would have been better spent finding himself a better spider hole.

Melanie Morgan has more on Mike Thompson who represents the First District of California here.

Hillary Clinton's minor blip

You know, I just believed she lied and, you know, got caught.  You know?

"No, I went to 80 countries, you know. I gave contemporaneous accounts, I wrote about a lot of this in my book. you know, I think that, a minor blip, you know, if I said something that, you know, I say a lot of things -- millions of words a day -- so if I misspoke, that was just a misstatement."

A minor blip?  Poor  Hillary, she's not used to getting called out on her lies minor blips.

Problem is she repeated the lie minor blip, even after comedian Sinbad contradicted her.  He's a comedian, you know.

And millions of words a day?  Millions?  Maybe she should cut that in half and she wouldn't misspeak so many misstatements.  You know?

Hillary Clinton "misspoke" when talking about her Bosnia trip

How about she just out and out lied?  From The Caucus:

The Clinton campaign says Senator Hillary Clinton may have “misspoke” recently when she said she had to evade sniper fire when she was visiting Bosnia in 1996 as first lady.

She has been using the episode as an example of her foreign policy bona fides.

“I certainly do remember that trip to Bosnia,” she said last week.  “There was a saying around the White House that if a place was too small, too poor, or too dangerous, the president couldn’t go, so send the First Lady.

“I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base.”

There's a saying around the Green House, believe half of what you see and none of what you hear, when it comes to the Clintons.  In this case, I'll believe all of what I see and none of what I hear:

No sniper fire in this video either:

Well, you know, it depends on the meaning of "sniper fire".  Or "Bosnia". 

Stupid poll on polls

So some guy calls you on the phone.  He doesn't know you from Adam's House Cat.  He asks you a few questions about very important matters.  You answer him.  And now our elected officials should make critical decisions based on your answers?  Well, sure, according to...a NEW POLL! 

U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney says he doesn't listen to public opinion polls; public opinion polls say Dick Cheney (and other politicians) should listen to public opinion polls. But how do you convince a politician that he should -- according to the people -- listen to public opinion polls when he doesn't believe in them?

In an interview aired March 19 on ABC News, Cheney said he did not listen to public opinion polls; however, a new poll finds that an overwhelming majority of Americans believe government leaders should pay attention to public opinion polls and that the public should generally have more influence over government leaders than it does.

This latest poll conducted by WorldPublicOpinion.org is part of a larger international research project managed by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland. The study was conducted Jan. 18-27 on a total of 975 Americans by Knowledge Networks. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.2 percentage points. Here's what they found:

When it comes to making an important decision, 81 percent say government leaders "should pay attention to public opinion polls because this will help them get a sense of the public's views." But that is assuming government leaders really care what the public thinks, especially when they are not up for re-election.

While I certainly agree our representatives, including the President, should LISTEN to what we have to say, deciding policy based on anonymous polls is just plain stupid.  Calling, writing, faxing, and emailing our representatives are all very effective ways to let them know how we feel.  That usually involves stating our case which lets them know we have some sort of clue what we're talking about.  It certainly worked during the immigration debate.  Of course that requires pro-action, not just sitting around the house one day and answering the phone.  pomom's comment at Lucianne sums it up nicely:

Why would you run a Government of over 200 million people based on what 1200 goobers tell you over the phone? 

Catholic "Schoolgirls" Against the War protest during Easter mass

For one thing, these thugs are not "schoolgirls", three of the six aren't even "girls":

The protesters were all charged with felony criminal damage to property and two counts of simple battery for squirting the blood around the auditorium and onto worshipers’ clothes, authorities said. Chicago police identified the six arrested as Donte D. Smith, 18; Ephran Ramirez Jr., 22; Ryane Ziemba, 25; Mercedes Phinaih, 18; Regan Maher, 25; and Angela Haban, 20.

They are criminals:

Six people were arrested at Holy Name parish's auditorium Sunday  after disrupting an Easter mass to protest the Iraq war.

The group—whose female and male members identified themselves as Catholic Schoolgirls Against the War—stood up at the beginning of Cardinal Francis George's homily and shouted their opposition to the conflict, which marked its fifth anniversary last week. As security guards and ushers tried to remove them from the service, the demonstrators squirted fake blood on themselves and parishioners dressed in their Easter finery.

The red substance, which one protester later described as "stage blood," initially drew gasps and a few terrified yelps from the 600 worshipers at the mass. The shock, however, quickly transformed into anger as people booed the six while they were escorted from the parish auditorium.

Can I get a witness?

"If Cardinal George is a man of peace and is walking the walk and talking the talk, he should have confronted George Bush and demanded an immediate end to the war," said Kevin Clark of International Solidarity Movement, who attended the service to serve as a witness for the protesters.

Gateway Pundit identifies the International Solidarity Movement:

...a Palestinian organisation that calls on civilians from around the world to participate in acts of non-violent protests against the Israeli military in the West Bank and previously the Gaza Strip(?)

Charles Johnson, Another Pathetic Antiwar Tantrum in Chicago:

This time it’s our old friends in the International Solidarity Movement, the left-wing pro-terrorist group that spawned Rachel Corrie...

Here is the website for Illinois Coalition For Peace and Justice, Catholic "Schoolgirls" Against the War is a member organization (via Gateway Pundit):

Catholic Schoolgirls Against the War is a humorous, political street threatre group composed of college students and young adults. The group was formed in October of 2006 and meets twice per month.

Humorous?  Schoolgirls?  How about a pathetic bunch of losers.

Discover the Networks has more on the International Solidarity Movement.

Ed Morrissey:

...Why is a sponsor of the Palestinian cause sponsoring or at least offering apologetics for an attack on a Catholic Mass? One might expect the news media to ask that question, and to ask whether this is just an anti-war attack or whether it is an anti-Catholic, anti-Christian hate crime.

If that’s not clear enough, let me ask readers what kind of coverage this would have provoked had it been conducted against the worshipers at a mosque. If a group of anti-terrorist protesters had broken into Friday prayers at a Chicago mosque to spray stage blood all over Muslims in protest of al-Qaeda and the Taliban — a little stronger connection than that between the Catholic Church and the war in Iraq — the newspapers would have trumpeted it as a hate crime against American Muslims, followed by weeks of human-interest, anecdotal accounts of how terrible America is to its Muslim citizens.

No doubt CAIR would call in the FBI and a lawsuit would quickly follow.  Which, now that I think about it, might not be a bad idea.  Maybe a few lawsuits filed against the "schoolgirls" would knock a little humor out of their "street threatre".

The Lord is risen, alleluia

God our Father,
by raising Christ your Son
you conquered the power of death
and opened for us the way to eternal life.
Let our celebration today raise us up
and renew our lives by the Spirit that is within us.
Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Gospel According to Saint John 20:1-9

And on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalen cometh early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre: and she saw the stone taken away from the sepulchre. She ran therefore and cometh to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved and saith to them:

They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre: and we know not where they have laid him.

Peter therefore went out, and the other disciple: and they came to the sepulchre. And they both ran together: and that other disciple did outrun Peter and came first to the sepulchre. And when he stooped down, he saw the linen cloths lying: but yet he went not in. Then cometh Simon Peter, following him, and went into the sepulchre: and saw the linen cloths lying, And the napkin that had been about his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but apart, wrapped up into one place. Then that other disciple also went in, who came first to the sepulchre: and he saw and believed.

For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead.

Why don't these America haters just LEAVE?

Barack Obama's pastor (and mentor) has some fans out there:

Zombie found another one:

There are plenty of other countries out there.  Why don't these people go find one?

via:  Michelle Malkin