WE Blog

Anyone read the article in todays paper about the food for kids program? I’m sure the Republican bloggers here are getting a good laugh. After all, in past blogs, they have stated that a kid without food probably has parents that spend their money on adult toys, as hungry children just cant happen here.

Surprise: it does happen, and happens way more than people think. And the republicans think they know whats best for this country?

J M Walker, you have got to be kidding. Are you really blaming Republicans for the existence of hungry kids?

And you think someone (Republican, Democrat, or anything else) is laughing because some parents cannot feed their children. Maybe you need to dig a hole, crawl in, and pull the top over you.

Hungry kids, no matter what the cause, is not a laughing matter for anyone.

Look at this!!! Man is there a corrupt 3rd. World Element to the Clinton campaign:
Link: http://www.nypost.com/seven/02162008/news/regionalnews/obama_robbed_in_ny_97932.htm
Link: http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080216/D8URLU1O0.html
Link: http://youdecide08.foxnews.com/2008/02/16/top-clinton-adviser-says-superdelegates-will-decide-election-obamas-victories-irrelevant/

Hey JM…you must have missed something. A few posts on a blog do not comprise party policy..either Democratic or Republican. And I seriously doubt people are laughing about hungry children. That is a pretty low accusation.

The anti-clinton posts have become scroll over areas for me, because I know you won’t find much substance behind them, if you find any.

Herbert, everyone here knows I am very liberal.

“More guns on campus?”

Common sense may be sinking in.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/112174/page/1

Ah, TODAY I officially become an old man – my little boy, that I have had custody of since his second birthday, turns 21 today.

I am so very, very proud of him, he is a solid citizen, no drugs, alcohol or criminal activity, smarter than a whip and still tells his Daddy every day that he loves him.

Time flys so quickly – it seems like just yesterday that I held my new born little boy and called him by name for the first time.

But damn, I FEEL old today!

“But wait until you have grandchildren.”

I have two, the lights of my life. I have two older daughters – damn I am REALLY old – one 29 and one 33.

My oldest daughter has given me two wonderful grandkids, one seven and one fifteen months.

Funny, even though I never preached liberal values, just tolerance and a sense of fairness, my kids are all very liberal and open minded.

My grandkids – I live in Kansas because of them – are an absolute joy. I babysit whenever I can, just so I can spend even more time with them. Funny, I still haven’t got my $0.50 an hour for the babysitting service.

And………………

“It also intensifies my political resolve.”

Yeah, me too. I see our future in my grandchildren and I really want to leave a better world for them.

Gus=Guns

I would like to thank the Starbucks employee who not only sanctioned my purchase of Radiohead’s “In Rainbows” but paid for my hot chocolate as well.

The altruistic young man was wholly correct: This CD is a gem of sparkling sound explosions – I’m a new fan of this great band. Unlike most groups, Radiohead saved the best two songs for last: tracks #9 and #10 are wonderful. I can’t get them out of my head today.

And thanks for the hot chocolate, too. If this is your idea of walking an old woman across the street, it’s OK by me.

RD,

So exactly what test do you think would stop these public shootings?

You were talking about wanting to impliment something like that before a gun purchase.

Seems like your link would dispel the notion that there would be some test able to weed out those who would commit such atrocities.

Nathan,

I posted several links yesterday, so I’m not sure which link you’re referring to. Help me out on this one, will ya? I’ve slept since then.

I believe I posted more questions than answers, Nathan. I don’t have the answers, therefor I asked.

What I have is concern that there appears to be an escalation in school shootings. I can’t completely agree that the answer is changing the gun ban on campuses, but I don’t completely disagree either. And that only qualifies for college campuses, not grade schools or middle schools or high schools. Should teachers be armed? Depends on the teacher, doesn’t it?

Having more people carrying guns around doesn’t necessarily make me feel safer.

That’s as honest as I can be about it. Sorry if that doesn’t answer your question.

” Look for sponsor Sen. Ted Kennedy to stab sponsor Sen. Brownback in the back and funnel most of the taxpayer funds to Planned Parenthood or other abortion mills.”

You mean how you funnel all that abstinency only ed money to your make believe crisis clinics?

“Gerardo Flores stomped on the abdomen of his pregnant girlfriend at 20-21 weeks of gestation and caused the twin boys to be born dead two days later. Flores was convicted in district court in 2005 on two counts of capital murder and received a life sentence. Wednesday the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals unanimously upheld a second conviction for the homicide of an unborn child under Texas’ Prenatal Protection Act.
Stomping abortions are illegal in Texas.”

This was the woman who couldn’t afford a real abortion, so she asked her boyfriend to cause her to have one. Yeah, that’s something to celebrate there. Good going Parkay. You pos. That’s 2 lives that would be a lot better off right now had this woman been able to safely obtain her abortion. She risked her own life. And now he’s in prison. Yeah I feel like that’s taxmoney well spent. NOT.

“The leading cause of death among pregnant women is still homicide”
Thats about the only honest thing you’ve said today. But by all means, give her NO choice, how many more women will be killed? Sicko.

“Drug addict Vanessa Robinson, 22, of Pakota, IN was acquitted of murder but convicted of neglect in the death of her newborn son, found dead in a beer carton in her basement. She had concealed her pregnancy and initially denied giving birth. She faces 20 to 50 years in prison at her sentencing on March 5.”

Another good example of a wasted women’s life because she was unable to obtain a safe abortion. This is how important safe and legal abortions are. Sometimes pregnancy IS that traumatic.

- – -

Congressman Silvestre Reyes, Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, sent a letter to President Bush regarding the ongoing battle over warrantless wiretapping.

Text of the letter follows below.

President George W. Bush

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW

Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

The Preamble to our Constitution states that one of our highest duties as public officials is to “provide for the common defence.” As an elected Member of Congress, a senior Member of the House Armed Services Committee, and Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, I work everyday to ensure that our defense and intelligence capabilities remain strong in the face of serious threats to our national security.

Because I care so deeply about protecting our country, I take strong offense to your suggestion in recent days that the country will be vulnerable to terrorist attack unless Congress immediately enacts legislation giving you broader powers to conduct warrantless surveillance of Americans’ communications and provides legal immunity for telecommunications companies that participated in the Administration’s warrantless surveillance program.

Today, the National Security Agency (NSA) has authority to conduct surveillance in at least three different ways, all of which provide strong capability to monitor the communications of possible terrorists.

First, NSA can use its authority under Executive Order 12333 to conduct surveillance abroad of any known or suspected terrorist. There is no requirement for a warrant. There is no requirement for probable cause. Most of NSA’s collection occurs under this authority.

Second, NSA can use its authority under the Protect America Act, enacted last August, to conduct surveillance here in the U.S of any foreign target. This authority does not “expire” on Saturday, as you have stated. Under the PAA, orders authorizing surveillance may last for one year – until at least August 2008. These orders may cover every terrorist group without limitation. If a new member of the group is identified, or if a new phone number or email address is identified, the NSA may add it to the existing orders, and surveillance can begin immediately. We will not “go dark.”

Third, in the remote possibility that a new terrorist organization emerges that we have never previously identified, the NSA could use existing authority under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to monitor those communications. Since its establishment nearly 30 years ago, the FISA Court has approved nearly every application for a warrant from the Department of Justice. In an emergency, NSA or the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) may begin surveillance immediately, and a FISA Court order does not have to be obtained for three days. The former head of FISA operations for the Department of Justice has testified publicly that emergency authorization may be granted in a matter of minutes.

As you know, the 1978 FISA law, which has been modernized and updated numerous times since 9/11, was instrumental in disrupting the terrorist plot in Germany last summer. Those who say that FISA is outdated do not understand the strength of this important tool.

If our nation is left vulnerable in the coming months, it will not be because we don’t have enough domestic spying powers. It will be because your Administration has not done enough to defeat terrorist organizations – including al Qaeda — that have gained strength since 9/11. We do not have nearly enough linguists to translate the reams of information we currently collect. We do not have enough intelligence officers who can penetrate the hardest targets, such as al Qaeda. We have surged so many intelligence resources into Iraq that we have taken our eye off the ball in Afghanistan and Pakistan. As a result, you have allowed al Qaeda to reconstitute itself on your watch.

You have also suggested that Congress must grant retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies. As someone who has been briefed on our most sensitive intelligence programs, I can see no argument why the future security of our country depends on whether past actions of telecommunications companies are immunized.

The issue of telecom liability should be carefully considered based on a full review of the documents that your Administration withheld from Congress for eight months. However, it is an insult to the intelligence of the American people to say that we will be vulnerable unless we grant immunity for actions that happened years ago.

Congress has not been sitting on its hands. Last November, the House passed responsible legislation to authorize the NSA to conduct surveillance of foreign terrorists and to provide clarity and legal protection to our private sector partners who assist in that surveillance.

The proper course is now to conference the House bill with the Senate bill that was passed on Tuesday. There are significant differences between these two bills and a conference, in regular order, is the appropriate mechanism to resolve the differences between these two bills. I urge you, Mr. President, to put partisanship aside and allow Republicans in Congress to arrive at a compromise that will protect America and protect our Constitution.

I, for one, do not intend to back down – not to the terrorists and not to anyone, including a President, who wants Americans to cower in fear.

We are a strong nation. We cannot allow ourselves to be scared into suspending the Constitution. If we do that, we might as well call the terrorists and tell them that they have won.

Sincerely,

Silvestre Reyes
Member of Congress
Chairman, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence

Fundamentalism in the military? OUR military? Chilling…

Since his last combat deployment in Iraq, Jeremy Hall has had a rough time, getting shoved and threatened by his fellow soldiers. The trouble started there when he would not pray in the mess hall.

“A senior ranking staff sergeant told me to leave and sit somewhere else because I refused to pray,” Hall, a 23-year-old US army specialist, told AFP.

Later, Hall was confronted by a major for holding an authorized meeting of “atheists and freethinkers” on his base. The officer threatened to discipline him and block his re-enlistment.

“He said: ‘You guys are being a problem and problems can be removed,’” Hall said. “He was yelling at us and stuff and at the very end he says, ‘I really love you guys, I want you to see the light.’”

Now Hall is suing the major and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, accusing them of breaching his constitutional rights. A campaign group, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, is waiting for the Pentagon to respond to a lawsuit filed in a Kansas federal court on Hall’s behalf.

It alleges a “pernicious pattern and practice” of infringement of religious liberties in the military.

The group’s founder, former Air Force lawyer Mikey Weinstein, said he has documented 6,800 testimonies by military personnel — nearly all of them Christians — of sometimes punitive or humiliating attempts to make them accept a fundamentalist evangelical interpretation of Christianity.

“I am at war with those people who would create a fundamentalist Christian theocracy in the technologically most lethal organization ever created by our species, which is the United States armed forces,” he said.

He plans to add extra charges and possibly other lawsuits this month.

“It violates title seven of the US code for an employer to push their Biblical world view on an employee,” he said. “But it’s a trillion times worse when that is not just your shift manager at Starbucks but that is your military superior.”

He singles out one of the major Christian groups in the military, the Officers Christian Fellowship (OCF).

The group represents 15,000 US military personnel around the world, according to its director, retired Air Force general Bruce Fister.

“It is not the position of OCF to try and coerce people to believe what we believe,” Fister told AFP.

OCF’s aim, as stated on its website, is to achieve “a spiritually transformed military, with ambassadors for Christ in uniform, empowered by the Holy Spirit.”

It professes belief in “the eternal blessedness of the saved; and the everlasting, conscious punishment of the lost.”

Fister emphasized the group’s work to support families of soldiers deployed in the “global war on terror.”

“People make mistakes. There’s probably been some instances where people have wrongly spoken,” he added. “We’d like them not to, but that’s life.”

“Our checks within our equal opportunity channels identified fewer than 100 formal complaints over a two-year period,” said Pentagon spokeswoman Eileen Lainez.

Army spokesman Paul Boyce told AFP: “The Army places a high value on the rights of its soldiers to observe tenets of their respective religious faiths.”

The MRFF’s constitutional complaint “is a matter of the courts system to address and resolve,” he added.

“The joint standards of conduct for the Armed Forces and military equal opportunity policies address the freedom of religion, avoiding discrimination because of religion.”

But Weinstein argued that most personnel are “too terrified” to speak out.

“When you actually fight against them, they make your life hell,” said Hall, adding he has been passed over for promotion since launching his lawsuit. “I can’t get a leg up no matter what I do.”

A former military chaplain of a prestigious US military college reported being prevented from leading worship after disagreeing with the fundamentalist stance of other officials.

“I am not ready to say that if someone does not profess Christ as their savior that they are going to hell … That got a lot of people angered,” the minister told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation against a spouse who is a senior officer.

“The leader of the youth group that ministered to the teens (at the academy) said that Catholics were not Christians and that Muslims hated Christians, and that created a lot of tension,” the ex-chaplain added.

“As a soldier, many times you want to believe you’re fighting on the right side. It’s easy to kill someone if you believe that they’re going to hell and that they are religiously opposed to you.”

http://www.breitbart.com/article.ph…;show_article=1

Something for you Tara (maybe for linda too)

Prayer of the Evangelical Agnostics, by Susan Werner, on the album, “The Gospel Truth” –

Thy Kingdom Come,
in every nation;

Thy Will be done,
In everything we do;

Lord lead us not
Into temptation;

But deliver us
From those
Who think they’re You!

– Susan Werner –

I just heard on the news that Ashok Bajaj and his wife were killed in a plane crash in Butler County. He was both my and my husbands cardiologist. The best doctor I have ever met. His gentle words and demeanor will be greatly missed by many.

Tara,

A pure personal experience, but in my 11 years in the Marine Corps I have never seen any kind of actions taken against those of opposing faiths.

The military is very politically correct when it comes to religion, so much so, it is almost sickening.

What If . . . . If the US had not declared war on Japan following the Pearl Harbor sneak attack on December 7, 1941, then according to present congressional liberal left wing thinking the following would have happened: Japan would have withdrawn all their troops from Manchuria, from China, from the East Indies. Germany would have withdrawn from Poland, the Sudetenland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, France, Holland, Belgium, North Africa, Russia, the Balkan states; the Crimea. Italy would have withdrawn from North Africa, Ethiopia, Albania, etc., etc., etc., and we would have had peace in our time (c.1938) just as Neville Chamberlain predicted.

One might even say it was all our (the United States) fault that World War II occurred, which could possibly be a current topic for a class in our public screwlls. After all, it was the United States that declared war on Japan on December 8 and then those nasty Nazis declared war on the United States a day or so later. We should have thought that through more than we did for the unintended consequences, but FDR asked Congress for a declaration of war and Congress “blindly” went along with it, except one Congresswoman from Montana (whose name escapes me at this time). Perhaps we acted impulsively in declaring war on Japan, or perhaps our intelligence was all screwed up then too (FUBAR/SNAFU).

I can see how that same lame logic would work today – we “re-deploy” our troops, on a “phased basis” of course, and not cut off military funding but “re-direct” military funding to some pork barrel project in Pelosi’s state of Sad Francisco, or Murtha’s state of Denial or to Hillary’s state of Confusion.

It sounds as if these left-wing loony-bin escapees really think that the vast majority of Americans really believe their lines of B.S. from them and Code Pink. Moreover, they probably do now since the lies have been told for so long by their shallow-minded sycophants, the elite media, and the war on terror has gone on too long. Whatever happened to the Neutron Bomb? For that matter, the war on drugs has dragged on even longer and seems to be going nowhere but resulting in a few drug-lords becoming very wealthy (reminiscent of the days of Prohibition isn’t it?).

That concept of the first 100 hours of Pelosi’s monarchy means that I will live for another 10,000 years much to the chagrin of the Social Security Administration. Well, it’s late and I have to go put my tooth under the pillow for the tooth fairy to visit and leave me some money or a tax rebate. I’m not sure what has happened to the Easter Bunny or Santa Claus . . . I do hope it is not serious . . . perhaps they are being sued by the ACLU.

In my 11 years in the Marine Corps I have yet to see a chaplain ever even mention the name Jesus except for in closed quarters or in a Christian service.

Every prayer I have ever heard by a chaplain is always some very general and bland reference to some non-specific “God.”

If the military were any more politically correct it would be sickening.

I have to take classes every year on Alcoholism awareness, driving safe, drinking and driving, wearing my seat belt, Protecting the Environment, Sexism, equal oppurtunity, suicide prevention…etc…etc…etc…

I always joked that if I ever went to war I wouldn’t be able to do anything other than help an enemy with his alcoholism or correct him on his sexual harrassment in the work place.

What about those turtles on the beach in North Carolina?

Can’t do amphibious operations or training near them either.

Well, obviously I’m not in the military, so I don’t know how it is.

But the article did chill me, so I thought I’d post it. If its true, then this is sickening. If this is an isolated case, then I hope Jeremy Hall gets a massive payout and his superiors are kicked in the rear, because of all the fields of employment in the US, the military should be the LAST place for religious discrimination.

If you say it’s not widespread, then I believe you. I definitely want to believe that.

http://www.wen2k.com/tell.php?Id=1897 This article could save your life. Herb West III west.herb@yahoo.com http://www.wen2k.com

Check out this story on how the Marines are (not?)taking care of their own:

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080218/dobie

Proof of something about Dowd:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/17/opinion/17dowd.html?_r=1&oref=slogin