On the Bright Side...

How "Chad Davis" Celebrated Memorial Day

This Memorial Day, while people across the country were paying their respects to our fallen soldiers, liberal troll "Chad Davis" found time to visit my blog and remind us all why "liberal" is still a dirty word.

In response to my posting on soldiers being harassed on D.C. public transit "Chad" wrote:

Oh no. Thugs who murdered innocent civilians are being verbally abused while riding a train. Too bad they can't make them pose in shameful ways and strip them of their civil rights.

May 26, 2008 9:50 AM

While Chad is to be commended for getting out of bed before noon, his sentiments are obviously repulsive.

Of course there's always a chorus ready to whine: "But that's just one person. He's not indicative of the rest of us!" Perhaps your everyday liberal shouldn't have to answer for somebody like "Chad's" particular hissy fits, but they still need to answer for this fact: While most liberals don't hate America or our troops, most people who hate America or our troops are liberals.

How many negative correlations do you suppose it takes before decent everyday liberals and Democrats begin to question how they could have so many allies who also happen to be adversaries of civil society.

As a liberal or Democrat today you know that:

-Nearly everytime you see somebody on the news rioting with a bandana over their face (or rioting period), they're on your side.

-Nearly everytime somebody is caught illegally soliciting votes from incarcerated felons, they're on your side.

-Nearly everytime somebody physically assaults or shouts down a speaker on a college campus, they're on your side.

-Nearly everytime someone's "political speech" entails a public sex act, they're on your side.

-Nearly everytime a Hollywood star enters rehab, or otherwise sets a new low for human behavior, they're on your side.

-Nearly everytime someone burns a political figure in effigy, they're on your side.

-Nearly everytime someone files a nuisance lawsuit against Christmas displays, they're on your side.

-Nearly everytime somebody defaces a military recruiting office, they're on your side.

-Nearly everytime a foreign dictator expresses their preference in an American presidential race, they're on your side.

-Most of the time (70%) when military personnel and their families step into the voting box, they're not voting for your side (Based on '04 presidential race).

I don't know about you, but any one of those would make me think twice about such an association.

On the Bright Side...

This week's On the Bright Side... is a real quick, but beautiful video (as always let it download a few seconds first):



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More of the Left Supporting The Troops

Via Little Green Footballs below I've got a letter sent to military personnel in the D.C. area from the DOT's Transit Administration regarding the harassment of members of the military on D.C. transit.

How pathetic that this happens in our nation's capitol. Even more pathetic though is that fellow passengers would let something like this go on without responding in such a way as to make national news. I'd like to see a headline like: LOCAL ACTIVIST THREATENS SOLDIER, IS STRIPPED NAKED AND BEATEN WITH NEWSPAPERS BY SUBWAY MOB

One of the incidents involved a female member who was berated on the train and again on the platform by an activist. Assuming it was a man who did this I wouldn't think twice about putting him down. As for the repercussions of that, do you really think a jury wouldn't understand?

Here's the letter:

Washington D.C.
Dept of Transportation Federal Transit Administration sends:

Recently, there have been local incidents in which military personnel have been verbally assaulted while commuting on the Metro. Uniformed members have been approached by individuals expressing themselves as anti-government, shouting anti-war sentiments, and using racial slurs against minorities.

In one instance, a member was followed onto the platform by an individual who continued to berate her as she exited the metro station. Thus far, these incidents have occurred in the vicinity of the Reagan National Airport and Eisenhower Ave metro stations on the yellow line, however, military members should be vigilant and aware of their surroundings at all times while in mass transit.

Should you be approached by any individuals expressing anti-government/anti-war sentiments, or any other types of direct verbal assault, immediately notify your local police jurisdiction. If riding metro, exit the train at the next stop, distance yourself from the individual, and notify the Metro Transit Police Department. ...

Here are a few friendly reminders of personal protective measures that can help you to stay safe:

- If possible, do not commute in uniform (military members)

- Do not display DoD building passes, “hot cards”, or personal identification in open view outside of the workplace

- Do not discuss specifics about your occupation to outside solicitors

- Always try to remain in well lit, well populated train cars if traveling via metro

- Be vigilant at all times!

V/R,
National Operations Center

A Dynamite Rebuke of the Democrats by One of Their Own

Check out Joe Lieberman's round denunciation of his former party's foreign policy in today's Wall Street Journal.

He puts the evolution of their current defeatism in a timeline that begins with the strong stances of Roosevelt, Truman, and Kennedy, then ends with the appeasment mentality of Barack Obama.

That he called out Obama by name in the Wall Street Journal is no small sidenote. That he then went on to praise McCain drives the nail further.

Let's See How Much Press This Press Release Gets

ADVISORY: Dr. Arthur Robinson (OISM) to Release Names of over 30,000 Scientists Rejecting Global Warming Hypothesis


May 15, 2008 12:39 PM EDT


Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine (OISM)


Who: Dr. Arthur Robinson of the OISM


What: release of names in OISM "Petition Project"


When: 10 AM, Monday May 19


Where: Holeman Lounge at the National Press Club, 529 14th St., NW, Washington, DC


Why: the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine (OISM) will announce that more than 31,000 scientists have signed a petition rejecting claims of human-caused global warming. The purpose of OISM's Petition Project is to demonstrate that the claim of "settled science" and an overwhelming "consensus" in favor of the hypothesis of human-caused global warming and consequent climate damage is wrong. No such consensus or settled science exists. As indicated by the petition text and signatory list, a very large number of American scientists reject this hypothesis.


It is evident that 31,072 Americans with university degrees in science - including 9,021 PhDs, are not "a few." Moreover, from the clear and strong petition statement that they have signed, it is evident that these 31,072 American scientists are not "skeptics."


CONTACT: Audrey Mullen, +1-703-548-1160, for the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine


/PRNewswire-USNewswire -- May 15/


SOURCE Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine

Ridiculous Abuse of Power by Child Protective Services

I realize that Child Protective Services are necessary to protect children from parents who are chronically irresponsible and perhaps criminally minded. However I also realize that sometimes the providers of such services can get so caught up in the righteousness of their intentions that they actually make things worse.

Here is one instance where it sounds like that was the case:

In April a University of Michigan archaelogy professor took his seven year old son to a Detroit Tigers game and ended up forcibly removed from his chid, wife, and home. If it sounds strange, that's because it is.

During the game the man made the honest mistake of buying his son a Mike's Hard Lemondade from the refreshment stand. He said he had never heard of the brand before and had no idea it contained 5 percent alcohol.

After a security guard spotted the boy with the bottle and notified the father, the two were rushed to the hospital via ambulance. If that sounds like overkill, that's because it is. Still the boy was cleared as being in normal health.

Unfortunately a police supervisor recommended the case be turned over to the Child Protective Services. The CPS came to the hospital and took the child, keeping him in their custody for three days before a judge ordered him returned home to his mother (also a U of M professor) against CPS's requests.

Still the judge set the condition that the father must leave the house. He was forced to live in a hotel and not allowed to see his family until things were finally settled five days later.


I call gross misuse of power on the police supervisor, the CPS, and the judge here.

Obama Caught Fibbin

One News Story, About Ten Arguments Against Liberalism

Sometimes a story comes along where you don't even need to say anything to make your point. This is one of those stories.

You can read all the details here, but here's the short version:
Afghan guys hijack a plane. They fly it to England and threaten to kill passengers unless granted asylum. England jails them then releases them. English government gives them roughly $300,000 a year to live on. British Airways hires one of the men to work at Heathrow Airport.


"Thank you for choosing British Airways"

On the Bright Side...

This week's On the Bright Side... brings you to sunny Florida where the Marlins have found themselves with the poorest fan attendance in major league baseball.

Their latest attempt to turn that around has also turned a lot of heads.
Check it out:


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Yesterday Was Perfect

George Will had a great article yesterday which made a great point.

His point is that those who drink the global warming Kool-Aid and those who are screaming bloody murder about the housing "crisis" both make one huge assumption. The huge assumption is that they can identify when things were perfect.

Temperatures around the globe have been in constant flux since the beginning of time, but the rabid environmentalists are of the opinion that the temperature we just passed was perfect. People in Siberia might not agree.

There's pluses and minuses of any climate change. Higher rates of tropical disease may come with rising temps, but cold weather also stresses the immune system as people stay indoors more.

Some coastal areas might have to retreat from rising tides, but usable land will emerge from beneath ice sheets in places like Canada or Greenland where melting ice has revealed signs of former civilization.

Likewise, those people reporting lower housing prices with ever more grave expressions completely rule out the possibility that home prices were too high to begin with.

The Economist reported back in '05 that worldwide home prices had been growing faster than they ever had in history and that we should prepare for

Will asks whether a young couple looking for their first house would consider the lower prices to be a "crisis".

It's slightly ironic that the left has made such hay from falling home prices while simultaneously proclaiming themselves the champions of the poor. Every dollar the average home price drops is -to borrow their terminology- one step closer we come to universal "access" to home ownership.

Tom Wolfe On Bush and Reagan

Here's an interesting clip of iconic author Tom Wolfe being interviewed about his opinions on America and Presidents Bush and Reagan.

He makes some rather obvious points that you're unlikely to hear many other people of his prestige in the literary world (though there might not be any of those living) making.

Watch it here

More of the Wright Stuff

Here's some more Reverend Jeremiah Wright quotes from the past via The Weekly Standard. Considering that Wright warned Obama his church might be too perceived as too radical and now that it's public knowledge Oprah left because of such rhetoric, it's going to be hard for Obama to weasel out of the horrible judgement charge:

--"White supremacy is the bed rock of the philosophical, ideological and theological foundations of this country."

--"Some analysts would go so far as to even call what [the United States, the G-8, and multinational corporations] are doing [in Africa] genocide!"

--He referred to the "sick and myopic arrogance called Western History."


--"We need to educate our children to the reality of white supremacy.

We need to educate our children about the white supremacist's foundations of the educational system.

When the levees in Louisiana broke alligators, crocodiles and piranha swam freely through what used to be the streets of New Orleans. That is an analogy that we need to drum into the heads of our African American children (and indeed all children!).

In the flood waters of white supremacy ... there are also crocodiles, alligators and piranha!

The policies with which we live now and against which our children will have to struggle in order to bring about "the beloved community," are policies shaped by predators.

We lay a foundation, deconstructing the household of white supremacy with tools that are not the master's tools. We lay the foundation with hope. We deconstruct the vicious and demonic ideology of white supremacy with hope. Our hope is not built on faith-based dollars, empty liberal promises or veiled hate-filled preachments of the so-called conservatives. Our hope is built on Him who came in the flesh to set us free."

Hey, at least he said "empty liberal promises". Maybe he's only 90% crazy.

On the Bright Side...

This week's On the Bright Side... is a video journal shot and narrated by the father of a baby born with serious health problems. What will strike you is the amazingly positive outlook the parents maintain in the face of such trying circumstances:


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What Say the Environmentalists About This?

Here's some pictures from the Arizona desert after a group of immigrants moved through:

Former Gitmo Detainee Commits Suicide Attack in Iraq

A former Guantanamo Bay detainee recently released by the Kuwaiti government was found to have committed a recent suicide bombing in Iraq.

Apparently 36 other released detainees have been found to be fighting against us already. I just read that a few more than 200 prisoners have been released so far making it almost a 20% "recidivism" rate. 20% is pretty bad when you're dealing with terrorists rather than petty criminals.

Did Farrakhan Admit Nation of Islam's Responsibility for Malcolm X's Death?

Please forgive me for being about 13 years late on this point, but if I'd never heard such a thing before then I suppose there's a good chance many of you didn't either.

This came to my attention via this Christopher Hitchens article in Slate today. The article primarily asks how sure we are that Michelle Obama isn't a rather radical influence on her husband. He cites her college thesis announcing how influenced she was by the definition of black "separationism" put forth by Stokely Carmichael and Charles Hamilton.

What jumped out at me though was his reference to a 1995 film called Brother Minister in which a secretly taped Louis Farrakhan says to a group at the Nation of Islam Temple in Chicago: "Did you teach Malcolm? . . . Did you clean up Malcolm? . . . Was Malcolm your traitor or ours? And if we dealt with him like a nation deals with a traitor, what the hell business is it of yours?"

This seems to me like something so explosive that it would have become common knowledge immediately, much less after 13 years. Half of America knows who uttered "Hymietown", but few seem to know about this?

This also turns Reverend Jeremiah Wright from a loudmouth idiot into a much darker character once his close affiliation with Farrakhan is considered.

Was anybody else aware of this?

Some of the More Hysterical Reactions To Hillary's New Ad

Hillary recently sent out a mailer raising questions about Barack Obama's anti-gun rhetoric. You can't help but laugh at some of the responses.

Click on this link to read a couple Obama supporters unbelievably petty comments on the ad.

Gitmo The "Worst In History"?

So I was glancing through my Yahoo homepage when I saw a headline saying a freed Sudanese cameraman declared Gitmo the worst jail in history.

My first thought was why in the world would Yahoo make such an obviously egregious exaggeration one of their five or six headlines? Though in retrospect I suppose I know the answer. The second thought I had flashed back to "Midnight Express".

Let's get this straight: This man is from one of if not the lowliest country in the world; a country in which slavery still exists and in which a full fledged mass genocide has been going now for years. Still it is "news" when he decides to denounce the Taj Mahal of prisons as history's worst.

I decided to do a search for info on Sudanese prisons for comparison's sake and here is what I found from the BBC:

-Firstly the Sudanese govt. has long refused any international inspection of their prisons, which is certainly not a good sign.

-The Sudan co-ordinator of Justice Africa states that "inmates are treated like slaves".

-There are no beds and no clean drinking water while many prisons lack showers or toilets.

-On top of all that there are no roofs on the prisons, so inmates are exposed to the African sun with the only relief coming from sheets.

It appears there really is nothing so ridiculous that it can't be overlooked by liberals when making America look bad is at stake.

Yahoo should really think a little harder about the intelligence of their readers before trying to pass this stuff off.

**Thanks to Weasel Zippers for linking to this post.**

Who's More Generous, Liberals or Conservatives?

Check out this ABC News video on charitable giving patterns. Would you think the compassionate liberals or the cold-hearted conservatives give more of their income to charity? How's about donating blood?
Watch and find out:

On the Bright Side....

For this week's "On the Bright Side..." I've got three cases of autistic individuals who will blow you away. You've just got to see them to believe it.

While these are uplifting stories, the sad part is that there's still people who think even the possibility of an autistic or otherwise disabled child is cause for an abortion (Heck, many of them think you shouldn't even have to have a reason). Even worse some of these people think that's a compassionate stance and that they're somehow "saving" them the pain of their existence.

Luckily the tide of public opinion has been turning against abortion as people's eyes are opened up to more and more stories like this about human resiliance.

Here's Derek Paravicini, a blind and severly autistic piano player who can perfectly play any song by ear that he's ever heard:


You'll be amazed by Stephen Wiltshire, an autistic man who can draw anything he sees from memory in amazing complexity:


And there's no way I can go without adding the story of the now infamous J-Mac, the autistic high-school basketball manager who the coach decided to put in in the last quarter of the last game of the season:

Immigration Tensions Rise Around The World

Turns out it's not just "bitter" gunslingers and bible thumpers that are uneasy with generally unrestricted immigration from third-world countries.

This past month has seen several stories in international papers about growing frustrations with lax immigration policies. Americans would be smart to pay attention as these countries are are the "progressive" models that stateside liberals strive so much to emulate.

From the UK's Daily Mail we read:

Almost two-thirds of British residents fear race relations are so poor that tensions are likely to spill over into violence, the BBC has found.
Of 1,000 men and women polled, 59 per cent said the UK had too many immigrants and almost half - 49 per cent - wanted foreigners to be encouraged to leave.

and:

The findings are very close to those of other recent polls. Earlier this month, a YouGov survey found four-fifths of the population - 83 per cent - considers there is an "immigration crisis".

That poll, carried out for Channel Four's Dispatches, found 69 per cent of the population thinks special treatment of immigrants causes British people to "lose out".

Another Daily Mail article states:

One in every five murders or manslaughters in England and Wales is committed by a foreigner, police figures revealed.

In one area of London, the figure is one in three.

This is despite the fact that foreigners represent only around one in 16 of the general population.

Among the most high-profile cases was that of Roberto Malasi, an 18-year-old Angolan asylum seeker who shot dead a 33-year-old woman as she cradled her baby niece at a christening in south London.

Malasi went on the run and two weeks later stabbed to death an 18-year-old pastor's daughter who he felt had "disrespected" him.

From Canada's Globe and Mail we read:

A majority of Canadians say their country bends too much in trying to make visible minorities feel at home, even as voters pat themselves on the back for being a welcoming society.

According to the poll, 61 per cent of those surveyed believe that Canada makes too many accommodations for visible minorities. In Quebec, 72 per cent of those surveyed feel that way.

So there's nothing uniquely American about our hesitancy to open our doors and entitlement rolls to just anybody. On the contrary we take in more immigrants every year than the rest of the world combined.

Conservatives Are Happier Than Liberals

As I've noted before, conservatives have reported being happier than liberals in each of the past 35 years that such data has been collected by the General Social Survey. If it was just "most" years then there might be room for argument on the merits, but 35 straight years? Nope. Sorry, there's no arguing here.

Today this article in the Economist goes into detail about why this is the case.

They question Arthur Brooks, a Syracuse professor, regarding his book "Gross National Happiness". He finds that parenthood and religiosity are both strongly correlated to happiness and are more likely among conservatives.

He also goes on to hypothesize that conservatives are more likely to be optimistic about the future and feel more in control of their lives. Liberals on the other hand tend to associate themselves with one victim group or another and are depressed as such.

These findings were also recently reinforced by the finding that gun-owners were happier than their unarmed peers. Gun-owners are also more likely to consider themselves self-sufficient and in control of their own destinies.

This all makes perfect sense to me, but some people still can't get over the idea of conservatives as "bigoted", "intolerant", "angry", etc.. Projection anybody?

Professor Brooks also found that liberals are quite a bit more likely than conservatives to say that they not only don't like opposite points of view, but that they don't like the PEOPLE who hold those views.

This also makes sense as you don't read about liberal speakers being hit with pies, shouted down, or physically attacked. Last week an unhinged Bush basher actually punched a wheelchair bound girl during a protest. These stories are rather familiar to conservatives, but don't often make it into the mass media.

Think we're going to see any marches against liberal intolerance anytime soon?

What's the funniest about all of this though has been the comments by liberals on the Economist website and sites like Digg regarding this article.

One reader brought up the "fact" that people in Mexico and El Salvador are happier than American. That seems highly unlikely considering how many of them are trying to move here. This happy liberal reader's handle was "jeff666". Go figure.

Another happy liberal reader writes: The verdict is in and you're guilty as charged: Conservatives are happier for two reasons: 1. Because secretly they don't give a shit about America and 2.) You're just too stupid to see when something is wrong. You know. Like Iraq. All you motherfuckers thought that was a great idea. And look how well that went.

Another compassionate, happy liberal writes: So are Down's Syndrome people(happy)

More: "I don't have to be married and go to Church to be happier..
I'm quite fine with the occasional Vegas trip and hooker motif!",

"This could just as easily have been titled "Why stupid people are happier than smart people."

"Bottom line, conservatives are more likely to lie and imitate a happy person."