Saturday, October 20, 2007
11:08 pm
Daniel J. Summers
Through this post on a blog called “Grouchy's Liberaltopia” (which I found through a blog-of-a-blog-of-a-blog), we get an insight into the left-wing hate machine. Here's the third paragraph (numbers are mine, for further dissection)…
In just the past few weeks, the true derangement of the Bush Christopublican neocons has shown its raving, wild-eyed, insane flap-jawed moron face with (1) Anal Cyst Draft Reject Rush Limbaugh slapping any member of the military, including combat vets, as “phony soldiers” if they don't agree with his chickenhawk war scat; (2) Der Leader-hosen's Loyal Bunker Honey Ann “Mannish Boy” Coulter flashing her anti-Semitic roots by generously threatening to ‘perfect Jews’ by overhauling them into Godless uber-Christians like herself; (3) Ailes' Fox News Brain Trust Billo discovering them mother-effin' darkies up in Harlem can run a restaurant just as well as drunken Irish O'Fays; (4) Corporate Roach Motel Desk Clerk Laura Ingraham unironically and hilariously titling her new colostomy bag of political bile “Power to the People”; (5) various Rightie Jock-Sniffers trying to make their bones by attacking 12-year-old accident victim Graeme Frost and, not satisfied with that wincing scuminess, even going after a 2-year-old girl with heart problems cured by the S-CHIP funds that Boy Bush just vetoed.
Wow - sounds a like a rough few weeks! Let's see what really happened…
First up is Rush Limbaugh. He used the term “phony soldiers” to refer to the people who claimed they were in the military, but were not. There have been at least two of these folks who have been thoroughly discredited. The Senate even decided to get in on the fun, writing Rush's syndication company a letter asking them to censure him. Rush decided to auction the letter on eBay, with the proceeds going to the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation, and he promised that he would match the winning bid, and challenged the 41 signers of the letter to make the same pledge. (At this time, none have.) The auction ended this past Friday, with the letter going for $2.1 million, for a total donation to MC-LEF of $4.2 million!
Second is Ann Coulter. I already linked to Dennis Prager's article about Ann. Since when do liberals care about anti-Semitism - aren't they the ones who are constantly demanding that a sovereign nation give up more and more of its territory to a group who has no claim to any of the land anyway? Saying that Jews would be perfected by converting to Christianity is anti-Semitic no more than someone telling me I'd be better if I grew some hair and lost 20 pounds is anti-Daniel.
Third is Bill O'Reilly. A good summary of the whole flap is up over on the ABC News website. I can't help but feel for Bill in all this. The first two we've discussed are a result of statements taken out of context, so I can't help but believe that this is the same thing. In fact, that's what Bill was saying. He has been at the center of racial issues before - people cried racism when his reporting led to Pepsi ditching Ludacris as a spokeman. One defense given of this horrid, offensive rap music is that its purveyors are “keeping it real”. If you're offended, you're a racist, because it's just reality. How was Bill to know that he wouldn't hear that kind of language in a predominantly black restaurant in Harlem?
Fourth is Laura Ingraham. Her new book Power to the People has done pretty well. In fact, after a quick 7-minute interview on Rush's program, the book went from 61st to 2nd on Amazon.com. I think this one is borne out of envy, but let's see what Publisher's Weekly (via Amazon.com) had to say about it.
Taking an approach that makes mutually exclusive groups out of those “working and taking care of their families” and the “protest culture,” Ingraham's message is loud and clear: “they're coming for you.” Specifically, “they” means the Lifetime network (brainwashing women to “swear off men and family”), the growing ranks of “Team Atheist” (including Dan Brown), “family deconstructivists,” illegal immigrants and Islamic jihadists, among others.
Yep - sounds like something a liberal wouldn't like.
Finally, we have Graeme Frost. The Democrats got this 12-year-old boy to read their address about S-CHIP, and held him up as the example of the people the expanded programs was supposed to help. However, his family is not as needy as they would have us believe. Mark Steyn has some details, and Michelle Malkin has a big round-up. This is yet another issue with symbolism over substance (we're not supposed to look at the details, because it would benefit this poor, pitiful kid), but it had the benefit of exposing the problems with the program - the Frost family, it turns out, doesn't need S-CHIP as much as they sounded.
So, we've got a pretty good week for Republicans, and embarrassment and failure for Democrats. I could see why the liberals would be upset with that. Here's to many more weeks like that! I'll tell you what else we're seeing. Republicans have done everything the other side has asked, and all it gets them is a great big bunch of nowhere. They're no longer worried about apologizing, or who they offend. Get used to it…
Friday, October 19, 2007
7:24 pm
Daniel J. Summers
I saw this in a parking lot yesterday, accompanied by the Marine Corps symbol…
GIVE WAR A CHANCE!
Heh - maybe we could have a rally. Instead of Woodstock, New York, we'll gather in Woodstock, Georgia. :) We could have some long-haired folk singer start singing "What the world… needs now… is war… this war… Our freedom is the thing… that al-Qaeda's dyin' for…" (my apologies to Jackie DeShannon)
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
8:34 pm
Daniel J. Summers
There just isn't enough time in the day to do everything I want to do. Sadly, one of the casualties is original content for my blog (although I am working on something that I hope to have ready in a few days). Until then, here's another round-up of interesting things I found scattered around the web.
First up, from the American Thinker, we have Randall Hoven with “Media Dishonesty Matters.” In this tome, he details 101 incidents of plagiarism, failure to disclose conflicts of interest, and instances of journalists creating news out of thin air. This should probably count as three or four links, but we'll keep pressing on.
Next up, LaShawn Barber asks Barack Obama this pointed question - “What Faith Is This?” He has claimed that his faith guides his public life, yet he voted against the ban on partial-birth abortion. That's a good question.
Moving on, Dennis Prager of TownHall.com (among other places) asks another, somewhat rhetorical question - “So What?” In it, he, a devout Jew, explains why he is not offended in the least over Ann Coulter's latest statement that Jews need to be “perfected” by accepting Christ. He also explains why labeling her statements as anti-Semitism does a disservice to the efforts to eliminate anti-Semitism.
Finally, I usually wrap up with some humor - but this one will inspire a different emotion. I may be the last person in the world to find out about this song, but I've got to share it. Tim McGraw's “If You're Reading This” is a tribute to men and women in uniform, and is a tear-jerking classic.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
5:46 pm
Daniel J. Summers
Today, I'm trying something new. One of my friends, Nick, will be joining the blog authoring team (well, I guess that would be creating a team, since it's been a solo effort up to this point). He'll be putting thought-provoking information from a viewpoint other than that of us in the VRWC.
I'm sure you lurkers will welcome him the same way you welcome me. And remember too - this is my house. G-rated language and civility on both sides will be unapologetically enforced. :)
Saturday, October 6, 2007
1:21 pm
Daniel J. Summers
Last night, I was out for an evening run. I usually run in the mornings, or if not then, in the afternoons before supper. However, I hadn't gotten to it yet, and I needed to run, so I did it. I was struggling - but I was making it. I ran past these two kids playing around a stop sign, and as I passed, I heard one of the kids say…
Wow, look at him go!
I started to feel better… until the reply came from the other kid…
Well, he's not going that fast.
I know I'm not the fastest runner - I'm not even in the top 70%. But… darn it, the kid could have waited until I was out of earshot. :P
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
1:00 pm
Daniel J. Summers
Another busy time, another installment of “Plagiarism Is the Sincerest Form of Flattery”. See, when we re-blog here, we're honest and up-front. :)
First up is an article about the cost of illegal immigration for Los Angeles County for one month, from radio talk show host and author Neal Boortz. The numbers are staggering.
Next up, a link to a pundit I never thought I'd link to, except as a set up to refute. However, Susan Estrich and I agree on this issue, which she details in "A Weak Moment for Women in Banning Larry Summers". (I don't agree that what he originally said was wrong - but the rest of it is spot-on.)
Via Morgan Freeberg, we have reports that "A Quiet Triumph May Be Brewing". Could it be that we've come up with a way to get most remaining al-Qaeda in the same place, then send them to their 72 virgins (or raisins, depending on the translation)?
And finally, we wrap up with some humor. Rachel Lucas learned to make thought and speech bubbles in PhotoShop, and produced a masterpiece she calls "Three Men and a Hillary". (Language warning in effect for the comments on that post…)
Friday, September 28, 2007
1:13 pm
Daniel J. Summers
If you've ever been here before, you'll notice that it looks quite a bit different. I like this new theme - the city is alive! :) (Watch the image for a while…) There are still a few tweaks left, but I think it's about 95% ready.
Also, seeing how potent Akismet is, I have changed the configuration to no longer require a registration to leave comments. If spam starts seeping through, I'll lock it back down, but for now, if that's what's been stopping you, have at it. In fact, you can practice by leaving your comments about this new theme on this post!
Update (28 Sep / 1936 MDT) - I know the sidebar looks weird in IE6. Upgrade or change is my advice. :)
Update (28 Sep / 1945 MDT) - On the sidebar, there is now a section called “Choose Your Theme.” This will allow you to view the new theme (NightLight Idea), the old theme (Pool), or the two default themes that come with WordPress. You can still tell me in the comments which one you prefer. I made sure the theme switcher appears on all the themes, so you can switch back and forth at will. (Pool and NightLight Idea have been customized, while the others have not - so some features may not appear on the default themes.)
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
11:16 pm
Daniel J. Summers
If any of you are interested, I have converted the “Verse of the Day” on my sidebar from a theme hack to an actual WordPress plug-in. The details (and the download) are over on my tech blog. I plan to convert the category and archive drop-down lists to plug-ins as well - they will all be detailed in the “Programming » WordPress » Plug-Ins” category.