The Senate Family

The here-to-fore non-politically-ambitious Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg has declared herself a candidate for the Senate seat-to-be-vacated upon the presumed departure of the Hildabeast for the State Department.

She seems to think it is hers for the taking. Because of her name.

New Yorkers, in a monumental act of logic, have decried Mrs. Schlossberg's lack of (political) experience and indeed her whole work ethic. As well they should.

But Mrs. Schlossberg isn't the only one who believes that a US Senate seat is a family entitlement. Her Uncle Teddy has proclaimed that when he dies, he wants his Senate seat to go to his wife, Victoria, so it can "stay in the family". Nevermind what the voters of Massacusetts might want.

And Democrats believe that Ted Kaufman, Joe Biden's longtime aide, newly appointed to Joe Biden's vacant Senate seat, is merely holding it for Beau Biden, son of, you guessed it, until the 2010 elections.

We should be grateful that Obummer does not have a family member eligible for that available Illinois seat.

Here are a couple of thoughts:

_Don't appoint replacements, ELECT them. period.

_Allow candidates to run for only ONE elected office at a time. (In 2004, John Kerry ran for the Presidency and re-election to the Senate at the same time).

_And have the idiot running for higher office resign his/her seat upon clinching the nomination. Like Bob Dole did back in 1996.

I only hope that people remember all this discussion about experience and entitlement when Mini-Me Clinton pops up. And she will.

Fallen Hero: Major John Pryor, M.D.

I found this post on BlackFive which I have copied in part here.

The story of Major Pryor deserves telling as often as possible.

Major John P. Pryor was killed by enemy fire on Christmas.

Major Pryor was a surgeon, and not just any surgeon.
He was the leader of the University of Pennsylvania's trauma team, arguably one of the best in the nation, and was a combat surgeon who operated with frontline units. On September 11, 2001 he raced to Ground Zero to volunteer his services.

From the Washington Post:
Despite what he acknowledged in an undated document left with family was the high personal cost of going to serve, for he felt that family and others did not fully support his decision, he went anyway as he felt it was the right thing to do. This time, he was with the 1st Medical Detachment, Forward Surgical Team in Mosul, Iraq when killed by shrapnel from a mortar round.

In an August 2007 article published in The Washington Post, Pryor wrote:

"In Iraq, soldiers die for freedom, for honor, for their country and for their buddies. Here in Philadelphia, they die without honor, without purpose, for no country, for no one."

Requiescat In Pace, Major

Barky Obummer, Poser

President-Elect Barky Obummer visited Marines at Kaneohoe Bay during his Hawaiian vacation. He spent about an hour at the dining hall, shaking hands and posing for pictures.

Sunlen Miller reports:

"As Obama entered the room, it was absent of the regular fanfare of cheering and clapping. The diners were polite, staying seated at their respective tables and waited for the president-elect to come to them to
stand up."

H/T: Gateway Pundit

It would have been nice if Barky could have found another hour to visit Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu. Tripler is the largest military hospital in the Asian and Pacific Rim region.

Any bets as to whether an aide will have to teach Barky how to execute a salute (ala Bill Clinton)?

Obummer's Xmas Message

The President-Elect, who has NOT been coronated, er inaugurated, yet ... has urged Americans "to put their shoulders to the grindstone".

I'm assuming that the Obummer family will join the rest of us at the grindstone as soon as their Xmas vacation at the $3500-a-day Hawaiian house is over.

Bah, Humbug vs Merry Xmas

Bah, Humbug: My computer died Christmas Eve morning.
Merry Xmas: Santa brought me a new Notebook.

Bah, Humbug: I have to learn all the new buttons and doodads, plus load all my data.
Merry Xmas: I backed up all my data, pictures, music, movies, etc just a few days before.

Bah Humbug: Tooth #3 had to have a rush RTC (root canal) one week before Xmas.
Merry Xmas: It was healed in time in enjoy a delicious Xmas dinner.

Bah, Humbug: My baby boy is in a far-away place this year.
Merry Xmas: As far-away places go, it could be worse; we got a phone call on Xmas Day; and his spirits are very good!

The Abominable Anthonys

This is not about Caylee, the murdered two-year-old whose skeletonized remains were found December 12th, 5 months after her grandmother reported her missing, 6 months after she actually went missing, but rather about George and Cindy Anthony, Caylee's grandparents.

I acknowledge their grief; they obviously loved the child very much.

I don't have much sympathy for anything else about these two.
Their behavior during the ordeal is disturbing, to say the least.

The Anthony mantra "You need to be out looking for our granddaughter!", was usually delivered from their front yard following confrontations with non-believers (those who suspected the child was not kidnapped). Although George did drive around with a huge billboard on a trailer, that's not exactly searching. Why he felt the need to do that when the local news coverage was non-stop and wider-reaching (and free), I don't know.

They opened a trust fund: "Help Find Caylee". Twice. The original fund had been closed after the bank administering the fund received allegations of charity fraud.

They also accepted donations at a local Publix. I don't know if this money found its way into the trust fund.

Cindy is the one who called 911 to report Caylee missing.

She told the dispatcher about the smell of a dead body in her daughter's car. Now she wants us to believe it was rotting pizza. Not so, says the Body Farm.

Cindy also intentionally gave investigators the the wrong hairbrush when they requested Caylee's. Can we say obstruction of justice?

After the child's remains were found, the Anthonys announced they were accepting donations to pay for their granddaughter's burial.

Apparently they received a lot of feedback about that, as the family said a few days later that they would not seek donations.

I really hope these people are not planning ask for donations to pay for their lying, party-girl, daughter's defense.

Faster Than Instantly

One of our local television reporters *cough* Steve Barrett *cough* , reporting from the scene where the remains of murdered child Caylee Anthony were found, said that the crowd of on-lookers "appeared instantly, some being there even faster".

Faster than an instant?

Even though there apparently is a unit of time faster than an instant (a quinstant), people not living in a star trek universe do not travel this way.

Except for the local news.

The Latest Radical Chic

It seems to me that something is very wrong in this country when the so-called Best Defense goes to those who are trying to destroy it rather than to those who are trying to defend it.

Within the ranks of our leading law schools, law firms and legal centers, it would be hard to find a cause more popular than the detainees of Guantanamo Bay. Every lawyer wants his own detainee or detainee group. The result is that dozens of the world's most dangerous men now have their own legal Dream Teams.
- Op-Ed from WSJ: Gitmo Lawyers Are the Latest in Radical Chic

H/T: The Jawa Report

So It Begins

Hope and Change?
Nope.
Same old politics as usual.

President-elect Barack Obama's staff has declined to respond to even basic questions about an internal investigation into what conversations Obama's aides and advisers may have had with Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.

Didn't take long, did it?

Soldiers' Angels Need Some Angels!

The good folks at Soldier's Angels have sent lots of packages to our troops for Christmas, and they have lots more to send, but, alas, no more funds for postage.

Please, please, go HERE and help them out!


H/T: The Jawa Report

Xmas Lights

You have to give the guy points for attitude.

Abbey, Meredith, and the US Post Office

I was sorting through some old e-mail that I had saved and came across a "Dear God" letter.

Now, I'm not a religious person, but I don't have a problem with people who are, except for those In-your-face-believe-as-I-do-or-die-fanatics, but I digress.

Since the news these days is full of people doing horrible things to other people, I thought it might be the right time for a post about the kindness of strangers.

Have a clean sleeve handy.

POSTAL SERVICE COMES THROUGH

Our 14-year-old dog, Abbey died last month.
The day after she died, my 4-year-old daughter, Meredith, was crying and talking about how much she missed Abbey.

She asked if we could write a letter to God so that when Abbey got to heaven, God would recognize her. I told her that I thought we could, so she dictated these these words:

Dear God,
Will you please take special care of our dog, Abbey? She died yesterday and is in heaven. We miss her very much. We are happy that you let us have her as our dog even though she got sick. I hope you will play with her. She likes to play with balls and to swim. I am sending some pictures of her so when you see her you will know that she is our special dog. I really do miss her.
Love, Meredith

PS: Mommy wrote the words after Meredith told them to her

We put the letter in an envelope with two pictures of Abbey and addressed it to God/Heaven. We put our return address on it. Then Meredith pasted several stamps on the front of the envelope because she said it would take lots of stamps to get the letter all the way to heaven. That afternoon she dropped it into the letter box at the post office. For a few days she asked if God had gotten the letter yet. I told her that I thought He had.

Yesterday there was a package wrapped in gold paper on our front porch addressed "To Meredith" in an unfamiliar hand.

Meredith opened it. Inside was a book by Mr. Rogers titled, "When a Pet Dies". Taped to the inside front cover was the letter we had written to God in its opened envelope. On the opposite page was a picture of Abbey & Meredith taped under these words: "For Meredith".

We turned to the back cover and there was the other picture of Abbey and this handwritten note on pink paper:

Dear Meredith,
I know that you will be happy to know that Abbey arrived safely in heaven. Having the pictures you sent to me was a big help. I recognized Abbey right away.
You know Meredith, Abbey isn't sick anymore. Her spirit is here with me just like it stays in your heart. Abbey loved being your dog. Since we don't need our bodies in heaven, I can't keep your beautiful letter. I am sending it to you with the pictures so you will have this book to keep and remember Abbey.
One of my angels is taking care of this for me. I hope the little book helps.
Thank you for the beautiful letter and thank your mother for helping you write it and sending it to me. What a wonderful mother you have. I picked her especially for you.
Love, God

Verified True by snopes.com: Abbey

Not Forgotten: Pearl Harbor

On December 7th, 1941 the Japanese launched a surprise attack against the U.S. Forces stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. By planning the attack on a Sunday, Japanese commander Admiral Nagumo hoped to catch the entire fleet at Pearl Harbor, but the aircraft carriers and one of the battleships were not in port.

When it was over, the U.S. losses were:

US Navy: 2,008 KIA, 710 WIA

US Army: 218 KIA, 364 WIA

USMC: 109 KIA, 69 WIA

Civilians: 68 KIA, 35 WIA

TOTAL: 2,403 KIA, 1,178 WIA.

Battleships at Pearl Harbor, December 7th:

USS Arizona - Total loss when a bomb hit her magazine; 1,177 lost

USS Oklahoma - Total loss when she capsized and sunk in the harbor; 429 lost

USS California - Sunk at her berth.

USS West Virginia - Sunk at her berth.

USS Nevada - Beached to prevent sinking.

USS Pennsylvania - Light damage

USS Maryland - Light damage

USS Tennessee - Light damage

USS Utah - Sunk

The USS Arizona:

The USS Arizona sank in nine minutes and burned for over two days.

There were 1.4 million gallons of fuel on the USS Arizona when she sank.

Over 60 years later, approximately two quarts of oil a day still surface from the ship.

Pearl Harbor Survivors refer to the oil droplets as “black tears.”

There were 37 sets of brothers assigned to the USS Arizona on December 7, 1941.

The majority of the USS Arizona’s crew members went down with the ship: 1,177 perished, 337 survived.

This was the greatest loss of life on any U.S. warship in American history.

Chutzpah: Flagrant Boldness

And in LOLspeak, they haz it!

Barky Obummer, who raised MILLIONS of dollars during his campaign, is asking his vast list of donors for MORE money to pay off Hillary Clinton's "massive" campaign debt.

Obama asks donors to pay Clinton campaign debt

In other words these two personal millionaires are sticking it to the American people. Again. Get used to it.

Is This Guy Kidding?

William Ayers, UNREPENTANT DOMESTIC TERRORIST, is now calling himself an 'extreme vandal'.

"We did carry out symbolic acts of extreme vandalism ..."

Symbolic? You set bombs off in public places.
And you would have blown up US soldiers and civilians at Ft. Dix in 1970 if the bombs intended for them hadn't detonated early, killing the 3 'extreme vandals' who happened to be assembling them. Recovered in the rubble were four 12″ pipe-bombs filled with dynamite, using roof nails as shrapnel designed to add lethality to the blast, and more than 50 sticks of dynamite, some of it fused in eight-stick bundles that could level entire buildings.

Extreme Vandalism?
This must be the politically correct term for domestic terrorism.

According to Merriam-Webster's OnLine dictionary:
Terrorism - violent or destructive acts (as Bombing) committed by groups in order to intimidate populations or government.

"I was cast in the “unrepentant terrorist” role.."

You were, and are, unrepentant.

"I don't regret setting bombs. I feel we didn't do enough."

You were a terrorist.
And you got away with it because of a technicality.

This unrepentant "extreme vandal" is teaching your kids.

No, he's not kidding.

Read all of his pretty, serving-serving words here.

I'm surprised this guy is not calling himself an 'overly aggressive pacifist'.

H/T: Hot Air

Another Losing Loser

Thanks to the low standard set by Al Gore's 2000 Presidential campaign, Al Franken has been contesting the Minnesota US Senate election results, filing 600+ challenges and demanding a recount of 'newly discovered' ballots and absentee ballots.

Whatever you may say about Richard Nixon, he exhibited a modicum of class in 1960 when he put the nation's good before his own ambitions and did not contest the presidential election results when Kennedy squeaked out a victory by just 0.1 percent.

What Really Stinks

“In the summer because of the heat and high humidity, you could literally smell the tourists coming into the Capitol."

Senator Harry Reid (NV/D), ever the eloquent class act (NOT), insulted millions of Americans whose tax dollars not only paid for the brand-new, very expensive, Capitol Visitors' Center - also pay his salary.

Here's the video clip from Breitbart

What really stinks in the Capitol are the 100 asses in the Senate and the 435 asses in the House.