Down 'n' Dirty only because I just finished packing for my trip to Orlando (and did you sign Daddy's birthday card???), and I need to get this done and myself in bed sawing logs - I've got to wake up at 5 a.m., and the Kat is NOT a morning person...
D.J. (of Right Wing Liberal) is rightly taking Obamarama-ding-dong to task for his assertion that Hamas and Hezbollah have "legitimate claims." You know, the Hezbollah and Hamas which are terrorist organizations...
Hamas has “legitimate claims”? Excuse me?
Perhaps the Senator didn’t notice, but Hamas “claims” all of Israel as Palestinian territory Under their “claims,” Israel does not exist. How is that “legitimate”?
As for Lebanon, unlike Brooks’ fawning assertions, Obama is actually quite ignorant about what is happening there. An unknowingly intellectual (which describes Obama to a “t” on a number of issues) would look at the Syrian-backed terror groups political propaganda and blithely assume they’re must be something to it. Thus Obama breezes on about the Lebanese government supposedly ignoring the country’s Shiite population.
Then D.J. swings right into Virginia's Junior Senator, Jim Webb (... don't make me go there; I think Webb's an embarrassment) with the latest exhibit of Webb's severe foot-in-mouth disease:
What makes this especially painful is that it is nearly the exact opposite of what he thought about Communist China before he became a Senator. In fact, Webb’s resolute anti-Communism in his life before holding office was one of his most admirable qualities. To see him take his years of thoughtful analysis and drop it in the trash like that is especially disappointing to those of us who have maintained our concern about the dangers of the Communist Chinese regime.
Webb further goes on to discuss his GI Bill (and to claim that anyone who opposes it has no respect for the military), and becomes one of the very few Democrats to get corrected by Tim Russert (Ouch!)
"OUCH" indeed!
Next up is Leslie Carbone, one of the true Ladies of Virginia, with high praise for the Tennessee Republican Party's action in bring the issues up and throwing them in the face of the Democrats and the do-nothing-sweetness-and-light Republican National Party:
Last week, the Tennessee Republican Party released a web video showing Michelle Obama declaring during a campaign speech, "[F]or the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country."
By contrast, the GOP's video also shows several Nashvillians talking about why they are proud of America.
She gives a beautiful, succinct, slap-down to Obama's whining, too!
Another brother of mine, Mike at the Write Side of My Brain, just piles on Obama for whining that his wife ought to be "off-limits:"So we can’t talk about Obama’s faith, his middle name (although I think Hamas says that’s okay now), we can’t talk about his record (because it’s virtually non-existent), we can’t talk about his children (even though he’s the one who made them an issue), and now we can’t talk about his wife???
We’re supposed to believe she’ll have no influence in an Obama Administration?
Well sure, Mike... I mean, Obama's not a crying baby who needs wifey to wipe his... Ah. Nope, I'll keep this somewhat friendly...
Then my blog sister, Jane - that's Virginia Jane - writing at Bearing Drift, promotes the cause my Cotillion sister, Jane Novak, is fighting for:
Jane Novak, suburban homemaker, blogger, fighter for freedom of the press, and the bane of Yemen’s government’s existence (mostly due the aforementioned fighting for freedom of the press).
And... Have you signed the petition to free al-Khaiwani? His sentencing has been moved to next week - I'm sure the Yemeni government hopes that America will forget all about this in the meantime... After all, we have the attention span of a gnat (er... actually, that's pretty insulting to gnats!)...
On *MY* bookshelf this week, and on the same topic, is a Cotillion sister, the Conservative Belle, who has posted a scathing condemnation of America's complacency and laziness which is worth taking very much to heart:
Are we so arrogant, lazy, selfish and apathetic that we cannot take 30 seconds to click and sign this petition for a man who is willing to be separated from his family or even worse, possibly die for journalistic freedom and truth? How can the Yemeni government possibly be intimidated by a petition if Americans don't even appreciate the very freedoms we have by signing it?
We have this huge population. We have people willing to fight and die to protect our freedoms and provide them for others. There is safety in numbers in this affluent nation of ours. The number of signatures on this petition should be overwhelming just based on our population. Why aren't they there?
We are a nation of privilege and we don't even realize it. We have such protection of our freedoms here that we forget how important they are. But unless you are a veteran or a member of our Armed Forces, how many of you would be willing to put your life in jeopardy or on the line to stand up for those freedoms? We love the new media - the blogosphere. We love the access to the Internet. But how would we feel if suddenly our site was banned from access to the public by our own government? Have you forgotten how good you have it? Privileged we are, indeed.
God forbid that it takes something far worse than 9/11 to bring us to our collective senses and motivate America to return to our foundation of pragmatic personal responsibility and independence!
Mike returns to the lineup again with two entries: Just why shouldn't Hillary hear the Gospel in church? (I wasn't aware that it was an issue: I expect proper churches to preach the Word of God without apology) and a lovely take-down of Reunion.com, which loves to spam the address books of everyone who signs up:
I was horrified when I realized what had happened. I tried to go through Reunion.com to correct the matter, but only made it worse by sending those same 500 people a message that I’d updated my account. What I discovered is that you can’t email the people in your own dang inbox from Reunion.com if you don’t “upgrade.” And there are NO refunds.
Beware of what you click...Many people have been taken in by this. And SHUN Reunion.com and sites like it!
D.J., too, returns to the Journal with praise for Bush's veto of the bloated and fiscally irresponsible Farm Bill (hooray!)... But apparently, Congress made a little boo-boo, and Dub-ya just might to get to veto it again! Woot! For a President who has used his veto power less than 15 times during a two term tenure, this is a GOOD veto!Now it is my pleasure to point you to another Lady of Virginia, one who is relatively new to me with her recent entry to the Jeffersoniad blog-group: the Crystal Clear Conservative. First up, she discusses McCain and judicial nominees:
McCain has to stand strong for conservative values, if he expects to gain more support come November. His record as a Senator shows that he would rather be a maverick than adhere to the values on which our party was built.
... and then she sends a lovely zing over to the Ranting Kooks (the Blog Formerly Known as Raising-Kaine-get-yer-own-link), who have disavowed their darling guv'nah, and she has also managed to give Guv'nah!Timmy a stunning Jethro Slap in the same post! If Timmy! reads her short rebuke, he'll be left blushing in embarrassment for his idiocy ;-)
Scott points me over to Below the Beltway for a discussion on the woes and ailments of the GOP - which ain't so grand anymore, since they decided to trash the party's foundational tenets. Scott says:
Party loyalty makes it difficult to look oneself in the mirror and say "It’s screwed up." Patriotism requires it. No, I’m not saying the GOP is unpatriotic nor am I saying the Democratic Party is unpatriotic. But I am saying that the way this country has gone, under the general direction of George W. Bush is bad. And for us, as a party (or any party) to ignore the failures and shortcomings of this administration would be unpatriotic.
A very good point (he says several good things - make sure you read it all)! And Doug at Below the Beltway (whose post prodded Scott) says:
To make a long story short, Republicans, from the nominee on down, need to completely and totally disassociate themselves from a President who is on the verge of going down in public memory along with men like Herbert Hoover and Richard Nixon. And it needs to be done not only personally, but philosophically.
Good points, very worthy of serious consideration and action. However, if I may, I'll insert another thing I came across today which might offer a different perspective. Patrick Ruffini, one of the very intelligent and thoughtful writers in the rightosphere, posted this last week:
President Bush is a lame duck. His term expires in eight months. Politically speaking, John McCain is the leader of the party. Bush’s term will overlap that of the 111th Congress by a whopping 17 days. Why should Republican Congressional candidates take the bait by positioning themselves vis a vis someone who will be a political non-factor once they take office? If they embrace President Bush, it’s political poison. If they make a fuss of distancing themselves, it guarantees headlines with Candidate X and Bush in close proximity, and looks politically motivated. Don’t take the bait.
What do you think, guys?
Anyway, I'm going to let y'all debate it and evaluate the posts for this week's Jeffersoniad Journal I'm fried; I spent FAR more time writing this up than I should have, and I'm going to sleep!!! ;-)
