Ann has a point

I know most of you probably don't read Ann Coulter. Well, I do and her column this week is the kind of thing we should be hearing from the media in light of Duke, Natalie Hallowell, et al. But we won't. In this age of moral relativism, we can't comment on the actions of others. For the most part, this article is non-political. She does take a couple shots at liberals, but I think it is worth reading. So, before you spout off about her political bias (which I freely admit) and send me links to liberal columns or Sojourners, read it and see for yourself.

I'm sure we're all very surprised

Yet another suicide bombing by a Palestinian nut job against a civilian Israeli target was carried out earlier today. Although Islamic Jihad claimed responsiblity, Hamas leaders (the official Palestinian government as of 2 1/2 weeks ago) called it "a legitimate response to Israeli 'aggression'". Doesn't that just give you a big warm fuzzy? A government sanctioning the murder of men, women and children whose only "crime" is being a Jew ought to raise alarm bells all over the world. But what will we hear from the "mainstream" media? That Israel deserves it, the poor Palestinians are just defending themselves and so on ad nauseam.

Terrorists who abusively invoke Islam who until recently were Islamic terrorists

The phrase "Islamic terrorist" is becoming taboo. "Terrorists who abusively invoke Islam" is the new phrase that officials in the EU are pushing for. This is the important work that the EU is busy with--making sure that news reports and government communications can refer to Islamic terrorists in a "non-emotive" way. I'm sure this will change everyone's outlook on terrorism. I for one will certainly no longer have any emotional reaction whatsoever the next time I see a news story that a terrorist who abusively invokes Islam has blown up yet another school or that a terrorist who abusively invokes Islam has beheaded more captives. Look for the EU Newspeak lexicon due out later this year.

Islam: The religion of peace

How much longer are we going to be fed this "Islam is a religion of peace" crap? This is yet more proof that Islam is definately not a religion of peace. Threatening to riot because one man converts to Christianity and isn't killed for it doesn't speak volumes about the peaceful leanings of Muslims in Afganistan. What's next, rioting if the weather isn't what they want?

A win for the good guys redux

In light of Casey's comment, perhaps some clarification is necessary. First, I have the utmost respect for anyone, regardless of their orientation, who desires to serve this country in the Armed Forces. I think the military's don't ask, don't tell policy is a good one. Soldiers have to trust their fellow soldiers with their lives. One of the concerns behind don't ask, don't tell is how openly gay soldiers could potentially prevent that trust for forming. I'm not saying that is a certainty, but it presents enough of a concern that the policy exists.

To answer Casey's question, I don't think this is a victory for people who are "anti-gay" or a loss for institutions that support anti-discrimination policies. It's a win against the elitist intellectuals who think they are entitled to the government's (read taxpayers') money while thumbing their noses at the government by preventing the military from recruiting on campus because they disagree with the military's policy on gays. They are not entitled to my money or Casey's money or any other taxpayer's money. The government doles out grants for research and such to colleges and universitys. If said money comes with some strings attached, the institutions don't have to take the money if they don't want to deal with those strings. My guess is that, even though these professors and the institutions they represent are arguing based on their "principles", not a single one of them will take a stand and refuse to accept government money in order to continue to keep recruiters off campus in occordance with their "principles".

A win for the good guys

It's nice to see the liberal law professors take it for a change.

Israelis join the fray

Several Israelis have decided to up the ante on the Iranian sponsored anti-semitic cartoon contest. The prizes being offered should draw cartoonists from all over the world.

My boy

The proof is in the pudding, as they say. Here is the pudding. This is one of the ultra sound pictures we got last night showing definative proof that we are in fact having a boy.

Warped Christianity

The Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church has recently gained nationwide infamy with their despicable displays at the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq. The signs that these people hold and the messages they are presenting are beyond indecent. As repugnent as their demonstrations are, they are regretably within their First Amendment rights to demonstrate. An unfortuante problem with the First Amendment is that people seem to forget that their rights end where the rights of others begin. In this case, whose rights trump whose? I would say that the families whose loved ones have given their lives for this country have the right to a bury their family members in a solemn ceremony free from the invectives and hatred of these protesters. The First Amendment defines one of our most basic freedoms. It should be tempered though with common sense and consideration of others. Someone will always find a way to be offended by the speech of others and we should not limit free speech because of that. But this is quite different. I would contend that this constitutes hate speech. If we're going to have those ridiculous hate crimes in the books, we may as well put them to good use. Charge these protestors with a hate crime and lock them away.

The saddest part of this whole affair is that, inevitably, these sewer rats will be held up by the media as "mainstream" Christians. This just adds fuel to the fire of those who view Christians with derision. Every whacko that claims to be a Christian is paraded before the country as a typical right-wing religious zealot. So instead of all the good things that Christians are and represent, we are shown only the nuts that constitute the smallest fraction of those who claim to be Christian. One has but to look at how these people conduct themselves to see that they're anything but. Somehow, I have a hard time seeing Jesus at one of these protests holding a sign that says "Thank God for dead soldiers".

Islam is indeed a religion of peace

We've been hearing this tripe ever since 9/11. Islam is a religion of peace. Those who promote violence are just a fringe extremist element. So what then is the reasoning for the violent protests and calls for vengence over the cartoons that were published recently in several European papers? Must be a lot more Muslims in the fringe than we all thought.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,183686,00.html

Free Drugs

The story at the link is about a program being implemented in Canada (big surprise). With socialized health care, it was only a matter of time before tax payers had to fund the habits of junkies.

Free Drugs!

The Palestinian Persuasion

With the recent elections in Palestine, the general mood of the Palestinian people has been finally uncovered, as if most of the world didn't know it already. Hamas is now the majority party in parliment. Hamas, whose stated goal is the destruction of Israel. Hamas the terrorist organization. Both the United States and Israeli governments have already said they will not work with a Palestinian government controlled by Hamas. And nor should they. If Hamas can prove that they can function like a normal, civilized govenment and assume the functions of such a governement--diplomacy, co-existence with neighbors, trade, etc.--then at that point we should explore normal relations with them. Until then however, they (Palestine) should continue to be viewed as nothing more than a terrorist group/state. The people have spoken and have basically said, "We're terrorists."

Put a gun to my head please

The absolute worst part of my job is serving as a subject matter expert for technical documentation. I'm currently sitting in a technical review meeting. I would rather stick needles under my fingernails than be forced to take part in these meetings. Non-technical people writing about extremely technical aspects of the system sucks. Some of the questions posed to me indicate such a fundamental lack of understanding about how the system works, it's amazing that these people are even able to write about it. That's obviously why documentation for our product is crap.

If you haven't seen Underworld 2, go see it. Kate Beckinsale gets two hands in the air.