Cindy and her son

The New York Times has an article on Cindy Sheehan.

It's a typical background story save for two interesting paragraphs.

1) It seems as she is the only person in her entire family that has gone off the deep end. Not even her husband, separated from her "as a result of the war, and of her activism." And even though they are both Democrats, she is "more radicalized." Her husband "agrees with the philosophy...but not the intensity." That's code for he thinks she's gone off the deep end.

and 2) a soldier came to "challenge her view that there is nothing good about the war." In the end, she said that they both wanted "the troops to come home as soon as possible...the difference is our definition of 'soon.'"

And really, that's the the most interesting part of the article, isn't it? A soldier telling a woman who's protesting to bring soldiers home that it's worth it.

It's about choices

In a complete rebuttal of Morgan Spurlock's over-hyped and exaggerated (pun intended) Super Size Me, Merab Morgan of Raleigh, North Carolina, proves that it's possible to lose weight eating at McDonald's.

Merab ate at McDonald's 3 times a day for 90 days and lost 37 pounds by limiting herself to 1,400 calories a day. She essentially skipped eating fries and mostly ate salads and burgers. She said that she "had to think about what [she] was eating", and that she understands that people don't like watching what they eat, but "that's part of the problem." Congratulations, Merab for striking a blow against our growing culture of victimhood.

And she's not alone. I, myself, used to be extremely overweight. At my worst, when I was between 10 and 14, I stood 5'1" and weighed over 160 pounds. I lost some of that weight because of puberty, but during my senior year at college, I hit my peak at 5'7" and 185 pounds, significantly aided by alcohol. During that time, I would say that I had rolls of fat on my stomach (I was a size 34 pants, large shirts), and early on, I was working on a double chin. When I turned 22, I changed jobs and moved to Boston. At that point, I made a promise to myself that I would lose that weight. At first, I started by eating less and using my company fitness room. I still drank, but drank less (albeit still a significant amount). In the first year, I was down to 163 pounds. When I realized that my company fitness room wasn't good enough, I joined a neighborhood gym and worked my way down to my present weight of 147 pounds, where I've been for the past 3 years.

It's about personal responsibility, focus of mind, and dedication.

Framing the issue

The Daily Kos has an interesting call to arms regarding Cindy Sheehan. In it, Dataguy opines that the liberals are not framing Cinday Sheeham in the right light. He offers some suggestions, including calling her "Mother Sheehan" and using the word "sacrifice" a whole lot.

Weird. What's even weirder is that Dataguy thinks that liberals shouldn't mention Casey Sheehan's name, because he's more important as a symbol than a person.

How touching.

While at home

My mom is doing okay. There are days when she's more alert and energetic than others, and today was one of those days.

It's weird. I love her so very much, and I still haven't been able to deal with the thought of her dying.

At home

Not too much blogging for the past couple of days, as I've been at home in the grand state of New Jersey, off exit 4 on the Pike.

I've been cleaning my mom's house like a demon for the past 2 days, as it was a bit on the crappy side. All in all, the quality of life in the house has improved, IMHO. The outside, though, could use a little work. I hope that my brothers get their acts together and get a landscaper or something, because the lawn is a mess.

So France, what about Sudan?

I had no idea that France, self-proclaimed savior of Africa, contributes less than 1% ($2 million) of the aid to Sudan, while the United States contributes $468 million, double Sudan's GDP.

Amazing. And they say that we hate Muslims.

Scientists' Belief in God Varies Starkly by Discipline

I find it amusing that the study inquiring whether scientists believe in God includes political scientists.

Rice University sociologist Elaine Howard Ecklund initially thought that social scientists would be less likely to practice religion than natural scientists, though the numbers were exactly the reverse. Hmmm, let's see. Why in the world would non-scientists be less likely to practice than real scientists?

On another related note, I wonder if the study also included Christian Scientists?

Bible-thumpers win back Kansas

It looks as if the Bible-thumpers have won back Kansas. So-called Intelligent Design supporters have persuaded the Kansas Board of Education to encourage teachers to "discuss various viewpoints" and "eliminate core evolution theory as required curriculum."

This is embarrassing. As I've said before, the theory of evolution is far from perfect or perfectly understood, but its predictions are right 99+% of the time. Its mechanics are always open to debate and change should it be proven wrong, and that's proper scientific method. ID, on the other hand, is closed to debate. The source of everything is God, martians, or something all-powerful. It's a joke of a 'science', and it's a dark day for the United States when it becomes somehow legitimate.

Political correctness gone haywire

Apparently, even when the Seminole Tribe supports FSU, it's not enough for the NCAA, which banned the use of American Indian mascots and symbols in post season events.

It reminds me of how so-called 'disadvantaged minorities' castigate their own when they don't toe the racial line by claiming that they don't know any better.

The article regarding Cindy Sheehan

Regardless of how she feels about the war, the statements Cindy Sheehan made that Bush treated their meeting like a party and that he couldn't remember her son's name are completely refuted by the original article. Also, she had admitted that the President was "sincere about wanting freedom for the Iraqis", but now she doesn't know "what the noble cause is."

Hmmm...it looks pretty bad for this mom here. No wonder its becoming more and more a non-story.

A mirror in the face of the Left

Nick Cohen writes a scathing piece about the Left who believe that 'freedom is for me, but not for thee', and that those who disagree with them are deceptive and not simply just disagreeing on principle.

Read it.

You're not helping your cause

NARAL isn't helping their cause any by airing a commercial riddled with outright lies. Factcheck.org does an excellent job of tearing the ad apart.

The ad will only serve to inflame those who are already zealots and will lose those who have the patience to see through the falsehoods. Roberts deserves confirmation, and lies won't stop it.

For CNN to air the ad, however, is even more unforgivable. The ad clearly is false on the face and is deceptive. I wonder what their rationale is.

UPDATE:

It seems that NARAL has decided to pull the ad after facing complaints from even pro-choice advocates such as Senator Arlen Specter. I loved the double-talk apology from NARAL president Nancy Keenan, regretting that "many people have misconstrued our recent advertisement about Mr. Roberts's record."

I think the only way people could have misconstrued that bag of lies is believing it to be true.

Chavez: U.S. will 'bite the dust' if it invades

Hugo Chavez reminds me of the former Iraqi Minister of Information Muhammed Saeed al-Sahaf, aka Comical Ali.

Good news from Iraq

The situation in Iraq isn't all doom and gloom, either, as Bill Crawford has a summary of some good news from Iraq.

The situation in Iraq is tenuous, but with all the ever-negative news coming from the MSM, you'd think that nothing good ever happens in Iraq.

Good news from Afghanistan

Read Arthur Chrenkoff's excellent blog for good news from Afghanistan.

Covering Afghanistan has become passe among the MSM, and whatever information we do get is always negative. So, for a dose of democracy at work, head on over and be cheered a little.

Two Jackson jurors planning book deals; say Jackson's guilty

Cha-ching!

Congress might intervene in steroid testing program

Where in the world does Congress get off thinking that they should involve themselves in conducting steroid tests on MLB players? How is this in the government's purview? What's most embarrassing is that Republicans are also pushing the issue.

Ridiculous.

Bush, GOP Labeled 'Thieves' Who 'Need to be Locked Up'

It was just yesterday when I wrote that the moderate Left was being pulled by too many extremist views. It's people like Harry Belafonte who calls blacks in the Bush administration "black tyrants", Reps. Nancy Pelosi and Barbara Lee calling both Presidential elections stolen who only reinforce the idea that Liberals are completely hysterical.

Oh, and does Jesse Jackson know that his use of the term "race baiters" has him as the definition? What an idiot.

Cindy Sheehan changed story

I had a gut feeling that something didn't sit right with her story on how Bush treated her poorly in her meeting with him, and I wish I had been bold enough to write thusly.

According to Drudge, Cindy Sheehan's story back in 2004 was a 180 degree turn from her current story. Indeed she goes from 2004, where she says that Bush gave her "the gift of happiness, of being together" to now, where Bush thought of that she "should be happy that [her son]...died for his misguided policies."

If true, she has done more to dishonor her son than Bush ever could. She's a disgrace of a human being.

UPDATE:

Maybe I was being intemperate earlier. Perhaps deceit isn't truly in her heart, but as Michelle Malkin says, that "her heart and mind were poisoned by the professional grievance-mongers who claim to be her friends".

War Plans Drafted To Counter Terror Attacks in U.S.

Attention moonbats! Please refrain from 'Bush is taking over America' rants when referring to DOD plans for using the military in order to respond to terrorist attacks inside the US.

Aw, heck. Who am I kidding?

Soldier's mom digs in near Bush ranch

Even though I sincerely doubt that anything Bush says will change Cindy Sheehan's mind, I think that George Bush should meet with her. Ignoring her only gets her publicity from the media.

Oh, and Barbara Boxer is an idiot. Is Vietnam the only war she's heard about?

A Rising Yuan Won't Lift All Boats

A surprisingly anti-protectionist article from the New York Times regarding the cost of the yuan against the America dollar. Its basic premise: a rising yuan won't necessarily help the American economy, and, in some cases, like the housing and construction industry, will hurt it. At its heart, as well, is that the manufacturing industry is dying because other countries, namely developing ones, whether by hook or by crook, simply can make the same product more cheaply.

It's time for the manufacturing industry, and its employees, to realize we're in a changed economy. They just need to adapt to it and not hold onto what's already lost.

Deportation not fair, says extremist (on benefits)

The title says it all. British national Sheik Omar Bakri, an advocate of terrorism, who called the 9/11 terrorists "magnificent" and called on his followers to kill non-Muslims "wherever, whenever" is in line to be tossed out of the country, should Blair's proposed crackdown be passed into law. He's calling it not "fair".

Oh, by the way, did you know that he has $55,000 Ford Galaxy supplied by the British government due to disability, a $355,000 home, and gets paid $530 a week in benefit payments?

Good riddance.

Rich Liberals Vow to Fund Think Tanks

Haven't they tried this before?

Marc Buell, a Democracy Alliance board member trying to create a Democratic message, tries to explain why Democratic interest groups fail, saying that they "are without a voice."

But that's not really what it's about. Democrats are comparable to schizophrenics: there are so many voices that they can't figure out what they stand for. The Democrats likes to claim that the Republicans cater to the fringe elements: the Bible-thumpers. But that's the only, albeit powerful, group the moderates have to deal with. The moderate Left has a multitude of crazies: from the "Terrorists are Minutemen" Mooreheads, to the "Republicans are evil" Deaniacs, to the protectionist labor unions.

Due to their losses in every branch of the government, moderate Democrats are pulled off message by the desire to distinguish themselves from the Republicans, and with so many crazed voices pulling the moderates in every direction, the Left continually confuses the public by saying one thing one day, only to change its message the next. Eventually, the whole thing devolves into 'Bush is Hitler' chants, which is not a message at all.

It'll be interesting to see what happens in the 2006 interim elections and the 2008 Presidential elections. Can the Left eventually make peace with itself and stay on message? My gut says "no".

Photographer shot by hillbillies

Well, it was probably Britney and Kevin, but that's the same thing, really.

Hamas celebrating Gaza pullout as 'victory'

Hamas is having a poster contest celebrating the Gaza pullout, which must have as its theme a defeat of Israel.

You know, sometimes I wish that the Western world were far less civilized, so we could show those terrorists what real defeat would be. But then I realize that I would never want to live in the Stone Age of barbarism.