My once, moderately thoughtful site has now become a hub of football war videos.
Blog entropy?
It would appear so.
Redemption is on the horizon though. Three day weekends always spell "quality blog time."
The left has a "documentary" about President Bush being assassinated.
Gabriel Range directs fake documentaries. You know, like the fauxtographs of the msm. It seems the only brain function liberals are capable of now is to pretend and make believe. Sounds like Hollywood. And of course, the attitude toward those who disagree with their politics is to kill the opponents. That sounds like Islam.
This is the dramatic moment when President George Bush is gunned down by a sniper after a public address at a hotel, in a gripping new docudrama soon to be aired on TV.
Set around October 2007, President Bush is assassinated as he leaves the Sheraton Hotel in Chicago.
Death of a President, shot in the style of a retrospective documentary, looks at the effect the assassination of Bush has on America in light of its 'War on Terror'.
The 90 minutes feature explores who could have planned the murder, with a Syrian-born man wrongly put in the frame.
Of course, it was a nice Presbyterian who did this.
Peter Dale, head of More4, which is due to air the film on October 9, said the drama was a "thought-provoking critique" of contemporary US society.
He said: "It's an extraordinarily gripping and powerful piece of work, a drama constructed like a documentary that looks back at the assassination of George Bush as the starting point for a very gripping detective story.
The film will premier at the Toronto Film Festival in September and was written and directed by Gabriel Range.
It's only "dramatic", "thought-provoking" and "extraordinarily gripping" when it's mayhem and death directed toward a conservative Christian. Can we guess how the left would react if someone made a film about the assassination of Bill Clinton, Hillary, Nancy Pelosi, Ted Kennedy or John Kerry? There would be deafening screams of protest. Endless press conferences. Front page NYT for days on end. Probably would arrest the writer/producer, then make new laws prohibiting such treason. However, the irony is that most conservatives wouldn't step foot in a theater headlining that; the bloodthirst seems to come from the other direction.
I highly doubt Gabriel Range would ever make a fake documentary about the death of a muslim leader. We know what they do to their opponents.
Update: Seems this topic is burning the blogs and airwaves. A commentor on LGF posted Peter Dale's contact info if any are interested in giving him your 2 cents.
As for our cross-town rivals, there's something to be said for legacy. Sure they won a few here and there. Miracles do happen every once in a while anyway.
Story hat tip: Stansbury
Best fans ever. This show's got 'winner' written all over it.
No more personal entries, I promise. Back to the news, things that matter, and issues of Islamic fascism as it relates to human rights and terrorism.
Until football season officially starts on September 16. Then it's crazy Trojan pride from then on out.
CORRECTION: USC Football does officially start September 2 in Arkansas. For those of us who must stay at home that weekend, the season officially starts in LA on September 16.
There. Happy?
Always having been one to bite off more than I could chew, I've decided not to make that decision with my graduate education and have extended my stay in school to two years so that I might actually be a Master of Science in Education. (Apparently my advisor thought I might come out alive next summer after having taken on full time grad units while working full time.)
Part of that mastery entails, as I feared, the theories of Noam Chomsky. I extensively poured over his scientific research when I studied linguistics as an undergrad, but only hoped it would be the last time I had to credit this horribly anti-American professor. Not so.
I guess credit should be given to whom it is due, and he did earn his dues in linguistic study.
But don't think this means you're on my good list, Chomsky.
Not for a second.
:)
A Florida college student called in a bomb threat to Long Beach Airport when he was late for his flight. He had hoped that the scare would delay the flight long enough to give him time to arrive at the airport and board the plane. Little did he know that the POWERS OF STUPID were already working in his favor. The rest of the story can be found here.
Robert Spencer at Dhimmi Watch posts about Islam being injected into classic literature in Turkey. The Turkish Minister of Education, however, is taking those publishers responsible to court.
Minister of Education Hüseyin Çelik has blasted publishers for distorted versions of books included in a reading list recommended for school children and announced the ministry would bring lawsuits against the publishers involved in the scandal.
"If you like Heidi, don't try to Muslimize her; write your own Heidi book," Çelik said in remarks published in some Turkish newspapers yesterday. He said the publishers would be sued because they used the ministry's logo on the controversial books.
The scandal concerning translations of the books was uncovered when the daily newspaper Radikal recently published citations from the books included on the "100 Essential Readings" list, comprising children's and world literature as well as Turkish classics recommended to school children.
Some publishers had inserted Islamist ideology into the translations, making alterations in such classics as Hugo's Les Miserables, Spyri's Heidi and Collodi's Pinocchio.
In one translation, Geppetto's little son Pinocchio says "Give me some bread for the sake of Allah," and gives thanks to "Allah" when he becomes an animated marionette.
In Dumas' "Three Musketeers," D'Artagnan while on his way to see Aramis is stopped by an old woman who explains: "You can't see him right now. He is surrounded by men of religion. He converted to Islam after his illness."
For all those compulsive bubble shrink wrap poppers, you can pop your heart out here.
Great way to annoy your co-workers. Or family members.
Manic Mode is best. :)
Tip: NTrask
I feel as though I woke up in an alternate universe. Everybody's sooo happy, thanking the Hamas Palestinians for releasing the hostages.
The pair, who appeared to be in good health, then met with Palestinian officials, including Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. The three men sat in a circle of chairs at the hotel, before the journalists held a news conference, then left for Israel.
"I want to thank everybody. I am happy to be here. I hope that this never scares a single journalist away from coming to Gaza to cover the story because the Palestinian people are very beautiful and kind-hearted," Centanni told reporters. "The world needs to know more about them. Don't be discouraged."
"My biggest concern really is that as a result of what happened to us foreign journalists will be discouraged from coming to tell the story and that would be a great tragedy for the people of Palestine," Wiig said. "You guys need us on the streets, and you need people to be aware of the story."
Wiig's wife, Anita McNaught, thanked Palestinian officials and Fox News for their efforts in getting the men released. The men refused to take questions, then traveled to the northern Erez border crossing and entered Israel.
Anyone else have a problem with this:
In a phone call with Fox News, Centanni said that during his capture, he was held at times face down in a dark garage, tied up in painful positions, and that he and Wiig were forced at gunpoint to make statements, including that they had converted to Islam.
Multi- tiered terrorism will open new vistas in diplomatic discourse; we thank the terrorists for releasing hostages from terrorists working for other terrorists.
Jacob Walles, the U.S. consul-general in Jerusalem, said he had met with Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah and the Palestinian president and his security forces had been helpful in the efforts to free the men. "I expressed my thanks to him on behalf of the American government and the American people," he said.
"We'd like to thank governments and individuals throughout the world who aided in securing their release," he said in a statement. "The entire international community is beginning to realize that journalists should never be hostages or pawns in world events."
Classic Stockholm Syndrome:
"We were forced to convert to Islam at gunpoint," Centanni later told Fox. "Don't get me wrong here. I have the highest respect for Islam, and I learned a lot of good things about it, but it was something we felt we had to do because they had the guns, and we didn't know what the hell was going on."
Would love to hear all the good things about Islam that Mr. Centanni learned while being tortured and forced to convert.
A note to all who are considering enrollment at a university with a top football team, buy season tickets right when they're available. Or else, like me you'll have to grin and bear it and get 'em off of ebay.
Having a team ranked #1 is awesome. Not having tickets? Not so awesome.
The game versus UCLA could bankrupt me. But it's allllll worth it. :)
Amidst relocating, traveling for three straight weekends and starting grad school this week, it's been tough to find a spot to blog. But Sir Thomas More's comment has prompted me to do so regardless. :)
The CRP was a well attended, diverse and exciting event to attend and work. Being in the press room was tremendous fun, but the downside was that I only had one real perspective of the event, as we were all but held captive in that room. (Journalism is apparently a 24/7 thing. Who knew?)
Friday after work, I drove to the beautiful Hyatt Regency Century City where I was immediately whisked away to choose from the plethora of parties going on outside. There was a cigar smoking tent (yes, with handrolled items), a birthday party for some Republican bigwig that all were invited to, and a number of other private and public parties. Republicans do know how to put on an event, I will say that.
Saturday morning started reeeeally early. Too early. All the same, it was a neat experience to meet many of the writers I've read over the years and others I've watched on crossfire type shows since I was a girl. Commentators like Sherry Bebitch Jeffe and Hugh Hewitt sharing the same room for hours on end was also entertaining, to say the least.
The highlight of the pressroom was hearing all the journalists rag on Phil Angelides. They certainly didn't "hold back" on how they felt about a press conference (by phone) that he held immediately following Governor Schwarzenegger's speech, given at Saturday's luncheon. While most of the writers tend to veer far left in their bias, you can take my word for it when I assure you they're not exactly on the Angelides team.
But the highlight of the entire weekend was Governor Mitt Romney's speech at the sold out dinner event on Saturday evening. The young up-and-comers had told me that Gov. Romney was a captivating speaker, but when I heard that he'd have a 45 minute block to speak, my response was, "No one's that captivating."
Wrong.
Governor Romney had me in tears. Twice. The man's a brilliant orator, lover of America and tried and true Republican. And he only took 20 minutes, which made me like him even more.
Many pundits have speculated that his biggest hurdle in his race for the presidency will be the fact that he's Mormon. But for all I've seen, he is the most charismatic, truly Republican candidate that we have so far, and I wouldn't feel uncomfortable in the slightest voting for him. Especially after thoroughly understanding all he's accomplished in his business life and his political career. You've got to hand it to a man who's a Republican governor of an entirely liberal state and legislature. (Quick aside: Romney mentioned that he's vetoed somewhere around 17 different initiatives that would cost the state of Massachusetts over $458 million. His legislature overturned every one of his vetoes, but he's committed to keep vetoing to show that he's for fiscal responsibility.)
I'm sure I could drum up a copy of his speech, but it wouldn't do him justice. He truly was a riveting personality and I'm now greatly anticipating the excitement of the '08 election.
That's all for now. Hope it made sense. :)
Well, it's official: Pluto has been downgraded. The once noble dog is now a puppy, and the odd little planet that was, is now just an orbiting "dwarf" or "minor planet", according to an astronomy symposium consisting of 2,500 scientists from over 75 countries. Well, at least they have a sense of humor...
"It could be argued that we are creating an umbrella called 'planet' under which the dwarf planets exist," she said, drawing laughter by waving a stuffed Pluto of Walt Disney fame beneath a real umbrella.
But alas, their nerd-dom could not be avoided...
Now, two of the objects that at one point were cruising toward possible full-fledged planethood will join Pluto as dwarfs: the asteroid Ceres, which was a planet in the 1800s before it got demoted, and 2003 UB313, an icy object slightly larger than Pluto whose discoverer, Michael Brown of the California Institute of Technology, has nicknamed "Xena."
The rest of the story can be found here.
Because a certain somebody just loooooves this show.
Not the Sesame Street. The L&O.
She loves that one.
I find endless metaphors, both spiritual and practical, whenever I garden; the latest being a visual example of that dryness of soul we all experience from time to time.
It was rather miraculous that we didn’t lose one rose bush when our landscapers transplanted over forty roses from one side of the yard to the other in sweltering heat about a month ago. The roses went into severe shock, but were nurtured every day by giving them this super-duper tonic that kept them going. They are now in the midst of thriving, with an explosion of new leaves, buds and blooms.
I did have two casualties. Not fatalities, but close. The landscape architect that drew up our plans called out a maytenus boaria, a beautiful weeping tree from Chili. Very hard to find, so when I did locate a nursery that had two Mayten trees, I drove right out and purchased the most beautiful one of the two. It was doing fine until the heat spell. Then its leaves began to yellow and dry out. Thinking I had killed it, I frantically called the nursery -- they said to very carefully scratch the top layer of the trunk. If it’s bright green under the bark it’s still alive and simply “conserving”. If it’s yellow under the bark, it’s dead. To my relief, it was bright green underneath.
The second casualty was my 20' Lady Banks climbing rose. We waited until the very last minute to transplant it until the fence and arbor were up around the rose garden. It looked great for about a week, and I even blogged about it. Then slowly it began to do the same as the Mayten; from lush green leaves to being completely dried out and brown. Knowing the little trick from the nursery, I scraped a layer off the trunk and it, too, was bright green.
Our backyard is becoming a verdant landscape with brand-new dwarf fescue and nature-loving flowers -- delphiniums, baby's breath, coneflowers, black-eyed susans, lamb's ears, lavender, yarrow, daisies; to one side there's the rose garden in full bloom. Add to that butterflies, bees, dragonflies and hummingbirds. And right smack in the middle of all this life is a dead-looking 10' Mayten and a dead-looking Lady Banks clinging to the arbor.
Sometimes that’s exactly how it is with us. Circumstances throw us into severe shock; we feel surrounded by life but inside we feel dead and dry and barely able to hold on.
King David knew distress of the soul very well.
Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God. -- Psalm 42:11
I'm thankful we serve a God who is gentle with us when we are "conserving", going through desert periods in our lives. Nothing is blooming, no fruit, just feeling barren. Our prayers feel like they bounce off the ceiling, reading the Word every day is rote, and instead of sensing His presence, there is silence. This is when we truly walk by faith.
It may be silent, but He is there. He is not tapping His foot, expecting us to snap out of it. He patiently cares for us, nurturing us, feeding us with His special tonic even though we may not immediately feel the effects of it. He knows in time the desert in our soul will turn green and bloom and we will thrive again.
A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench.-- Isaiah 42:3
The Wall Street Journal recently figured out that liberals are not making enough babies. Yes, you heard right. Babies.
...liberals have a big baby problem: They're not having enough of them, they haven't for a long time, and their pool of potential new voters is suffering as a result.
According to the 2004 General Social Survey, if you picked 100 unrelated politically liberal adults at random, you would find that they had, between them, 147 children. If you picked 100 conservatives, you would find 208 kids. That's a "fertility gap" of 41%.
So, what we're seeing here is that liberals are spending way too much time picketing, campaigning, and well, whining and moaning about the ills of the world, so much so that they're not getting enough "quality time" with the Mrs...or Mr....
And of course, the last line is a keeper:
Democratic politicians may have no more babies left to kiss.
The audacity of these terrorists never ceases to amaze; after all the revelations of doctored and staged photographs, they're still at it! Andrew Bolt exposes yet more faux propaganda pictures.
Thanks to commenter Mark V, I checked out Scrappleface. Here's a great hunting parody. You make up your own ending.
Laughing is good for the soul.
I'm in the press room of the CRP convention in sunny Los Angeles, where many well known reporters are currently typing away, most likely bashing the Governor who just spoke at a luncheon.
Quite a stir was just created when the CRP press secty said that someone from Comedy Central is walking around interviewing people. The actual reporters became quite giddy asking hundreds of questions. Sherry Bebitch Jeffe was among those the most excited, whispering in my direction, "The Daily Show is the only news show I watch."
I didn't have the heart to tell her, "it's not real." :)
In other news, my co-press aide (and the woman responsible for me sitting here) Shira got all a fluster when Joel Stein told her she's the most exciting thing happening right now. He's currently wandering around, desperate to find Claude Parrish.
More to come.
I'm gone this weekend...at the CRP convention. I'm told that Bob Mulholland likes to sneak into the press rooms at each of these events, and have subsequently been asked to keep an eye out for him, as he's 1.) not credentialed in the slightest and 2.) not welcome. What a joy that would be to tell that man to exit the premises.
I'm sure I'll have many republican anecdotes and Middle Eastern heart sob stories to tell as my life settles down. Tune in...at an indefinite and uncommitted time. :)
Thanks to this judge we can no longer use wiretapping to uncover terrorist plots.
The next election is critical - if Democrats take over, we can expect the red carpet to be rolled out for the Islamic terrorists, because, well, apparently their rights trump ours.
How fitting that Mutti would blog about rest prior to my entry. I've had my own blogging sabbatical, forced albeit, due to an intense and slightly frenetic schedule. I'll have my head screwed back on straight come September.
Unfortunately, I don't foresee much blogging going on until then. I did have a fantastic weekend in our nation's capitol not a few weeks ago. I was invited to a conference on Middle Eastern affairs and issues of human rights in that region. Quite an experience meeting the amazing people that I did, almost all of whom are in exile from their native countries--Iran, Syra, Iraq, Egypt, and the list goes on. Truly a humbling experience to have been the blonde American at the table whose only experience that could possibly compare to living in exile would be homeschooling.
I do plan on blogging about that as it will become a decent part of my life, finally. Middle Eastern human rights campaigning has always been a passion of mine.
In the meantime, I'm settling in, starting my grad program, switching job positions and playing international hostess to a dear friend.
All this to say, I'm not anticipating a lot of activity from "Portia." Just thinking about writing is overwhelming to her.
Mutti and NasaNerd are always here and at your service. Please feel free to give them an 'at-a-boy or 'at-a-girl. We all need that every once in a while. Especially we bloggers.
Ciao for now. See ya soon.
Several months ago I was listening to Dennis Prager on my way to the store as he was discussing the Sabbath. A caller asked whether he was observant and Dennis went into a lovely description of why he keeps the Sabbath.
Midweek, he said, his heart rate actually increases at the thought that Friday is coming and that means Shabbat; it means time with family, friends and loved ones; good conversations, and rest. Turn off the computer, the television, and any distracting things in order to connect with those you love. And he can count on it taking place every week. He then talked about how healthy it is, how restful for one's spirit soul and body.
People who do not observe Shabbat think of it as a day filled with stifling restrictions, or as a day of prayer like the Christian Sabbath. But to those who observe Shabbat, it is a precious gift from G-d, a day of great joy eagerly awaited throughout the week, a time when we can set aside all of our weekday concerns and devote ourselves to higher pursuits.
Shabbat is primarily a day of rest and spiritual enrichment. The word "Shabbat" comes from the root Shin-Bet-Tav, meaning to cease, to end, or to rest. Shabbat involves two interrelated commandments: to remember (zachor) Shabbat, and to observe (shamor) Shabbat.
The above quotes are taken from Judaism 101 on Shabbat. It sounds almost verbatim in how eloquently Mr. Prager described his experience with the Sabbath.
The sad fact was, as I listened I felt a twinge of envy. When I think of Sunday, I don't equate it with rest. Our Sabbath entails going to church, then afterward being involved in ministry related activities; my husband and I stopping at Costco on the way home from church in the afternoon, unloading groceries, doing little chores around the house, laundry, taking a nap, perhaps having dinner with the kids and their friends - if they're home at the same time (but rarely because they're all involved in evening activities at our church).
So basically, my Sabbath never seemed restful, or purposed as a Sabbath. I am attracted to the idea of beginning a Sabbath with a common meal, and having the same ritual followed each week. Perhaps it's this new season in my life, or maybe I'm returning to my childhood Catholic roots. I'm not sure what it is, but I miss liturgical ritual (an emphatic redundancy) and I yearn for Sabbath celebrations.
I was musing to a friend that we Protestants take tithing very seriously (as we should) but why is it that we don't have that same seriousness about a day of rest? Although there is teaching about tithing and giving from the pulpit, I have no recollection of teaching on how to observe the Sabbath and making it celebratory beyond church attendance.
I shouldn't generalize. My experience may simply be unique to the circle we are in; that other Christians do have their Sabbath rituals. If so, I would love to hear about them.
All that said, my husband and I decided to begin taking a Sabbath on Saturdays. No work on the house, gardening, mopping floors, vacuuming. It isn't anywhere near the Jewish observance, but so far it has been refreshing and restorative. I no longer mind all the activity on Sunday and don't feel that rest-deficit on Mondays. It's a start.
An American producer and a camerman from Fox News were kidnapped in Gaza.
The witness said two vehicles blocked the journalist's transmission truck in the center of Gaza City and a masked man put a gun to the bodyguard's head, forcing him to the ground.
Similar incidents in the past in Gaza have ended with the release, usually within hours, of kidnapped foreign journalists or aid workers.
So far as I can tell, no explanations have been given for the 11 missing students.
The students were to attend a monthlong program at Montana State University in Bozeman, Mont. A group of 17 students arrived in New York on July 29. Six reported to Bozeman on time.
The students were ostensibly here for a cultural exchange program in which they would learn about the history of America and Montana, then stay with a local family.
And of course, the ubiquitous cairful disclaimer found at the end of every article I googled:
None of the students is considered a terrorism risk.
So the obvious question would be, why was there a nationwide alert if these guys posed no terrorist threat?
AP reports that the TSA has eased up on some of the new air travel restrictions. However, included in the list of banned items is now mascara. Great.
I am typically a carry-on only traveler. I can't stomach waiting for my luggage at the always slow baggage claim. I even managed to travel through Europe for five weeks with two small carry-on bags.
So, for people like me, this new list is really bad news. It means that we either have to begin traveling with checked bags that contain our liquid and other banned materials. Or, we still travel carry-on and simply buy all new items once in our destination. Of course, then we'd have to leave them there upon departure.
All this to say, leave it to a few Muslim fanatic, fascists to ruin it for the rest of us.
This link will bring hope and encouragement for any who think even terrorists cannot change. Dennis Prager, Michael Medved and Larry Elder have all had Walid Shoebat on their radio prgrams and he is a riveting speaker.
There is hope. Although his site does not definitively speak of his Christian conversion, he was very clear about it on the Larry Elder show sometime ago.
The power of the Gospel message; one of life, restoration, redemption and love.
This is a great film overview of all the msm deception.
A great teaching tool for high school or college students on propaganda. My favorite is the Lebanese Pieta.
Every editor that rubber stamped these pictures should be fired.
This is journalism? "Wallace dismissed the common perceptions of Ahmadinejad."
"He's actually, in a strange way, he's a rather attractive man, very smart, savvy, self-assured, good looking in a strange way," Wallace said. "He's very, very short but he's comfortable in his own skin."
Let's see, common perceptions of Ahmadinejad:
--He's a madman, a former exterminator, executioner and torturer in Evin Prison. Thousands of dissident students were executed by his hand. But Mikey likes him!
--He's determined to exterminate, annihilate Israel. Wallace has dismissed this as a common perception, I believe. No big deal.
--He loves Hitler. But I think Mike Wallace would have loved him as well had he the opportunity to interview him. 1939 NYT headline: "Wallace dismisses common perceptions of Hitler".
--He supports and funds terrorism. Wallace would call them heroic freedomfighters.
--Doesn't believe the Holocaust happened. Perhaps neither does his friend, Mike Wallace.
This is by no means a comprehensive list. I am thinking Wallace has got his eye on a Pulitzer, Walter Durante style.
Source: Drudge
First of all, I love Japan. Just needed to get that out there....
Now here's my problem: A few "fauxtographers", as they're called, are using doctored or staged photos to support their views that Israel is the real bad guy in this little war. I leave for two weeks and almost all heck breaks loose in the Graphics area of the world. I am ashamed at my profession! (yeah, so I'm not a real graphic designer, I just sit in front of a desk doing simple publications and flyers. Not the most glorious of jobs, but hey, I have my reasons.)
I'm sorry, but this just goes to show how low the Left will stoop to put their agenda ahead of the truth. I'm a little surprised that they would alter photos, but I did have to remember that this is coming from a long line of lying, cheating politicians (not to say that the Right doesn't have its fair share of liars and cheaters, we just don't alter cold hard truth...like saying a pile of burning tires and garbage is a downed Israeli fighter jet...)
(Hat Tip: LGF and Michelle Malkin)
Next on my "Rant-Targetting-Scopes": The stupid spam commenters. I hate them with an intense passion. I had to delete three "comments" today, all within about 5 minutes. The worst part about it? I have to rebuild the site for their comments to be deleted properly. It makes me want to become a hacker and screw with these companies....yeeeeessssssss......MUAHA-HAHAH-HAHAHAA—**Thud**
(Yes, I'm a bit jet lagged. A 10 hour flight back in time can take it's toll on people. Considering I had about the longest Tuesday in personal history, it's not too far fetched that I would be exhausted, especially since I was up until at least 3 a.m. this morning for no good reason other than my stupid brain wouldn't shut up. Now I can't really get it to keep going. Must keep moving for fear of falling asleep...)
Massive air attack, dry runs, exposed.
Anyone else wondering what those missing Egyptian students were up to?
One more was arrested at O'Hare.
Massive terror plot to blow up multiple airplanes foiled by British.
FBI treats this story as a big yawn:
Three missing Egyptian students now in custody.
The mainstream media has willingly been the mouthpiece of Hezbollah. Blinded by their hatred of Bush and Israel, they risked their credibility -- and lost:
"Lebanese Pieta" is a must-read at Michelle Malkin's site.
On the homefront-- old news, but good news:
Gore's lifestyle belies his doomsday message.
For someone who says the sky is falling, he does very little. He says he recycles and drives a hybrid. And he claims he uses renewable energy credits to offset the pollution he produces when using a private jet to promote his film. (In reality, Paramount Classics, the film's distributor, pays this.)
Public records reveal that as Gore lectures Americans on excessive consumption, he and his wife Tipper live in two properties: a 10,000-square-foot, 20-room, eight-bathroom home in Nashville, and a 4,000-square-foot home in Arlington, Va. (He also has a third home in Carthage, Tenn.) For someone rallying the planet to pursue a path of extreme personal sacrifice, Gore requires little from himself.
Then there is the troubling matter of his energy use. In the Washington, D.C., area, utility companies offer wind energy as an alternative to traditional energy. In Nashville, similar programs exist. Utility customers must simply pay a few extra pennies per kilowatt hour, and they can continue living their carbon-neutral lifestyles knowing that they are supporting wind energy. Plenty of businesses and institutions have signed up. Even the Bush administration is using green energy for some federal office buildings, as are thousands of area residents.
But according to public records, there is no evidence that Gore has signed up to use green energy in either of his large residences. When contacted Wednesday, Gore's office confirmed as much but said the Gores were looking into making the switch at both homes. Talk about inconvenient truths.
Here's the big question:
Gore has held these apocalyptic views about the environment for some time. So why, then, didn't Gore dump his family's large stock holdings in Occidental (Oxy) Petroleum? As executor of his family's trust, over the years Gore has controlled hundreds of thousands of dollars in Oxy stock. Oxy has been mired in controversy over oil drilling in ecologically sensitive areas.
Living carbon-neutral apparently doesn't mean living oil-stock free. Nor does it necessarily mean giving up a mining royalty either.
Humanity might be "sitting on a ticking time bomb," but Gore's home in Carthage is sitting on a zinc mine. Gore receives $20,000 a year in royalties from Pasminco Zinc, which operates a zinc concession on his property. Tennessee has cited the company for adding large quantities of barium, iron and zinc to the nearby Caney Fork River.
The issue here is not simply Gore's hypocrisy; it's a question of credibility. If he genuinely believes the apocalyptic vision he has put forth and calls for radical changes in the way other people live, why hasn't he made any radical change in his life? Giving up the zinc mine or one of his homes is not asking much, given that he wants the rest of us to radically change our lives.
Mr. Gore, we're waiting for a response.
Contrary to popular conspiracy theory, I'm still alive. I haven't moved to a foreign country either. Though some might call my new location completely foreign. (And they'd be right.)
I'm not dead but I am buried in all manner of obligations--housing, vocational, educational and social. It's fun to be busy, but it means blogging takes the back, back seat.
I'll come around sometime soon. No promises on when. You'll just have to increase my blog traffic by checking back every few minutes to find out exactly when I've returned.
WSJ has an excellent article by Lanny Davis about his own party's intolerance and depth of hatred. The left aren't waiting to debate the other side of the aisle, they're too busy cannibalizing their own.
I came to believe that we liberals couldn't possibly be so intolerant and hateful, because our ideology was famous for ACLU-type commitments to free speech, dissent and, especially, tolerance for those who differed with us. And in recent years--with the deadly combination of sanctimony and vitriol displayed by the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and Michael Savage--I held on to the view that the left was inherently more tolerant and less hateful than the right.
Apparently Mr. Davis never heard the wild rantings of Al Franken, Randy Rhodes or Janine Garofolo on their radio programs.
One Sunday morning on C-Span I debated Nation editor Katrina vanden Heuvel on the Lieberman versus Lamont race. Afterwards I received a series of emails--many of them in ALL CAPS (which often suggests the hyper-frenetic state of these extremist haters)--that were of the same stripe as the blog posts, and filled with the same level of personal hate.
But the issue is not just emotional outbursts by these usually anonymous bloggers. A friend of mine just returned from Connecticut, where he had spoken on several occasions on behalf of Joe Lieberman. He happens to be a liberal antiwar Democrat, just as I am. He is also a lawyer. He told me that within a day of a Lamont event--where he asked the candidate some critical questions--some of his clients were blitzed with emails attacking him and threatening boycotts of their products if they did not drop him as their attorney. He has actually decided not to return to Connecticut for the primary today; he is fearful for his physical safety.
Neither party is lily white when it comes to political chicanery, but I cannot recall anytime a prominent Republican or 'celebrity' Republican voiced a desire to kill, maim or torture a Democratic opponent. If there are such cases I would heartily denounce them and expect others in the Republican party to do so as well.
Davis wraps up his piece with this:
Mr. Lamont and all other liberal Democrats should remember the McCarthy era and not fall into the trap of the hypocrisy of the double standard--that it's not OK when Ann Coulter dispenses her venomous hatred, but it is OK when our side's versions of Ann Coulter do.
This is a good start.
Still holding down the blog while Portia is in D.C.; she'll have a full report upon her return. She had a layover in Minnesota and said it was hot there, which goes along well with this story:
Apparently 1930 was a sweltering year for heat waves. So where does this fit in with Al Gore's global warming theory? Not very well.
People sweltering from a heat wave in the Mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. might find cold comfort in the fact that the temperatures of the past few days are not the hottest on record. That "honor" belongs to a summer 76 years ago -- decades before the controversy over "man-made global warming" began.
"From June 1 to August 31, 1930, 21 days had high temperatures that were 100 degrees or above" in the metropolitan Washington, D.C., area, Patrick Michaels, senior fellow for environmental studies at the libertarian Cato Institute, told Cybercast News Service. "That summer has never been approached, and it's not going to be approached this year."
There are other more practical factors explaining why cities are getting hotter.
"Big cities are getting warmer -- with or without global warming -- because the bricks and the buildings and the pavement retain heat," Michaels added. For that reason, he prefers to compare temperatures in nearby rural areas. "There's been very little change" in those areas, "so we trust the record to be a reliable indicator of base climate."
Unfortunately Pat Robertson is now a "convert".
Although the recent heat wave have not convinced Michaels that "global warming" is a severe problem, it was apparently enough to make a "convert" out of conservative Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson.
"We really need to address the burning of fossil fuels," Robertson said during his "700 Club" broadcast on Thursday. The high temperatures in some regions of the U.S. East are "the most convincing evidence I've seen on global warming in a long time," he added.
Tip: Drudge
Along the lines of the fox guarding the hens, Barney the Doberman pinscher was supposed to be guarding 1 million dollars' worth of bears at a children's museum.
One of the bears had belonged to Elvis Presley as a child.
Mabel, the teddy bear once cuddled by Elvis, is all chewed up.
A Doberman pinscher named Barney ripped Mabel's head off at the Wookey Hole Caves children's museum near Wells, England. Barney was supposed to be guarding hundreds of rare bears, but the museum's general manager Daniel Medley said "he just went berserk."
Barney chewed up all the bears, worth nearly $1 million.
Medley has spoken to the man who donated Elvis' bear to the collection and he said the man is "not very pleased at all." The bear was made in 1909 by the German manufacturer Steiff.
A security guard at the museum, Greg West, said he spent several minutes chasing Barney before wrestling the dog to the ground.
What's in a picture is not always the truth.
For the last few days, the blogosphere has been burning up over pictures of dead children in Lebanon that apparently have been staged. I will not put them up here, but they're out there if you want to do your own homework. The same guy shows up in multiple pictures. Be warned that they are disturbing and graphic.
The attack on Qana is beginning to look more like a Hollywood sound stage operation, and knowing how Hezbollah uses human shields, it makes perfect sense. The war on terror has taken not a surprising turn, with the theater of war now including a very willing media as a propaganda tool for Hezbollah.
Anti-Syrian elements in Lebanon openly point finger at Hizbullah as guilty of killing of dozens of civilians in order to curtail plans for disarming group. 'Hizbullah has placed rocket launcher on building's roof and brought invalid children inside in bid to provoke Israeli response,' they write
The Lebanese website LIBANOSCOPIE , associated with Christian elements in the country and which openly supports the anti-Syrian movement called the "March 14 Forces," reported that Hizbullah has masterminded a plan that would result in the killing of innocents in the Qana village, in a bid to foil Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's "Seven Points Plan", which calls for deployment of the Lebanese army in southern Lebanon and the disarming of Hizbullah.
There is a very important point which we know to be truth: Islamic terrorists, whether Hezbollah, Hamas or Al Queda, do not value life. Period. They raise children up and then recruit them to be suicide bombers. They think nothing of blowing innocent women and children to smithereens in Israel, Beslan or Indonesia. Isn't it ironic that when they kill people it's justified, but if (because the jury is still out on Qana) the Israeli's are alleged to have killed children, well, you see these same terrorists wringing their hands and pulling the world into their outrage.