The Office of Homeland Security

DON'T Free the 'Jena 6'

2007-09-21T00:26:00.001-05:00

POST TOMORROW ... STAY TUNED

The Stupidity of Sally Field

2007-09-17T20:17:00.000-05:00

Regrettably I was working last night so I was unable to witness this for myself, though to be quite honest I don’t believe I would have felt compelled to watch the Emmys anyway – I mean, Ryan ‘OUT! Of the Closet’ Seacrest was hosting for Pete’s sake, but there was apparently this whole brouhaha over Sally ‘Flying Nun’ Field’s acceptance speech in which she criticized the Iraq War.

Here is the video of her acceptance speech UNEDITED:

In addition Sally Field commented backstage (audio below) that she was serious of her controversial statement during her acceptance speech …

I am not even going to bother addressing the conspiratorial theories of liberal activists who claim Sally Field’s anti-Iraq War statement was censored because of a calculated assault by the right-wing operated Fox network. Deadline Hollywood points out correctly that Ray Romano was censored earlier in the evening for saying his former co-star Patricia Heaton and Kelsey Grammar were ‘screwing’ in their new comedy series as was Grey’s Anatomy’s Katherine Heigl who mouthed ‘Oh, shit’.

Sally Field’s argument that ‘if mothers ruled the world there would be no goddamn wars’ is the equivalent of the age-ol’ Neo-femi-Nazi argument that men are the source of all wars and death in the world and that if women ruled the world then the world would be a more peaceful place. They say this of course all the while blatantly ignoring Elizabeth I, Joan of Arc, Boudica (queen of the Brythonic Celtic Iceni people of Norfolk in Eastern Britain who led a major uprising of the tribes against the occupying forces of the Roman Empire … yes, I am a Latin geek), and others who led their nations to war. Simply put statements like hers are ignorant, naïve, and just plain devoid of any conscionable thought whatsoever.

I’ll leave you with Keven McCullough and News Busters deconstructing what little support structure there was for Sally Field’s comment last night.

Who's Your Candidate?

2007-09-11T16:16:00.000-05:00

Big surprise! For me it was Fred Thompson, the Republican candidate I am leaning the most toward. While this is certainly far from definitive (you, not a computer program, should decide who you support in the 2008 presidential election), it is fun and should give the more apolitical American citizens a small idea where they might stand in terms of the presidential primaries.

Click here to take the political quiz for yourself.

10:28 am - North Tower of the World Trade Center Collapses

2007-09-11T10:28:00.000-05:00

Where were you when the world stopped turning that September day
Out in the yard with your wife and children
Working on some stage in LA
Did you stand there in shock at the site of
That black smoke rising against that blue sky
Did you shout out in anger
In fear for your neighbor
Or did you just sit down and cry

Did you weep for the children
Who lost their dear loved ones
And pray for the ones who don't know
Did you rejoice for the people who walked from the rubble
And sob for the ones left below

Did you burst out in pride
For the red white and blue
The heroes who died just doing what they do
Did you look up to heaven for some kind of answer
And look at yourself to what really matters

I'm just a singer of simple songs
I'm not a real political man
I watch CNN but I'm not sure I can tell you
The difference in Iraq and Iran
But I know Jesus and I talk to God
And I remember this from when I was young
Faith hope and love are some good things he gave us
And the greatest is love

Where were you when the world stopped turning that September day
Teaching a class full of innocent children
Driving down some cold interstate
Did you feel guilty cause you're a survivor
In a crowded room did you feel alone
Did you call up your mother and tell her you love her
Did you dust off that bible at home
Did you open your eyes and hope it never happened
Close your eyes and not go to sleep
Did you notice the sunset the first time in ages
Speak with some stranger on the street
Did you lay down at night and think of tomorrow
Go out and buy you a gun
Did you turn off that violent old movie you're watching
And turn on "I Love Lucy" reruns
Did you go to a church and hold hands with some stranger
Stand in line and give your own blood
Did you just stay home and cling tight to your family
Thank God you had somebody to love

I'm just a singer of simple songs
I'm not a real political man
I watch CNN but I'm not sure I can tell you
The difference in Iraq and Iran
But I know Jesus and I talk to God
And I remember this from when I was young
Faith hope and love are some good things he gave us
And the greatest is love

I'm just a singer of simple songs
I'm not a real political man
I watch CNN but I'm not sure I can tell you
The difference in Iraq and Iran
But I know Jesus and I talk to God
And I remember this from when I was young
Faith hope and love are some good things he gave us
And the greatest is love

The greatest is love
The greatest is love

Where were you when the world stopped turning that September day

10:06 am - United Airlines Flight 93 Crashes Near Shanksville, Pennsylvania

2007-09-11T10:06:00.000-05:00

We pray today that from the ashes will rise a new spirit of beauty and unity in America. Already, all across this nation our hearts have been knit together into a new tapestry of one America. Because of this tragedy, we have been bound together by a silver chord of hope and brotherhood and sisterhood. What was meant to drive us apart has really drawn us together.

May we always remember.

And so today we ask, God, that you would wipe the tears of all in need of comfort. That you would warm the heart of one who would grow cold from bitterness. That you would lift the head of that one who is bowed down in sadness. That you would touch the discouraged and remind them that love will always conquer hate.

We thank you, God, for making us such a resilient people. We know that we are.

And we pray now for the strength to rise again, to build again, and to live free from fear. We pray that you will help us rebuild our broken lives and mend our broken hearts. We pray that you will give us the courage to face evil and the faith to believe that good will never be defeated.

Hold us close to your heart.

And through our tears, and through our sorrow, may we all see a new vision of a new tomorrow.

9:59 am - South Tower of the World Trade Center Collapses

2007-09-11T09:59:00.000-05:00

Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
Wake me up when september ends

Like my fathers come to pass
Seven years has gone so fast
Wake me up when september ends

Here comes the rain again
Falling from the stars
Drenched in my pain again
Becoming who we are

As my memory rests
But never forgets what I lost
Wake me up when september ends

Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
Wake me up when september ends

Ring out the bells again
Like we did when spring began
Wake me up when september ends

Here comes the rain again
Falling from the stars
Drenched in my pain again
Becoming who we are

As my memory rests
But never forgets what I lost
Wake me up when september ends

Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
Wake me up when september ends

Like my father's come to pass
Twenty years has gone so fast
Wake me up when september ends
Wake me up when september ends
Wake me up when september ends

9:37 am - American Airlines Flight 77 Impacts the Pentagon

2007-09-11T09:37:00.000-05:00

May the Blessed Virgin bring comfort and hope to those who suffer on account of the tragic attack of the terrorists, that last week seriously harmed the beloved American people.

To all the children of this great Nation I direct my heartbroken and heartfelt consideration.

May Mary welcome the dead, console the survivors, support those families who are particularly tried, help all to resist the temptation to hatred and violence, and to dedicate themselves to the service of justice and peace.

May the Virgin Mary nourish in the hearts of all young persons, above all, high human and spiritual ideals and the necessary perseverance to achieve them. May She remind them of the primacy of eternal values, especially in these difficult moments, so that in their daily engagements and activities they may ever continue to be turned toward God and to his kingdom of solidarity and peace.

9:02 am - United Airlines Flight 175 Impacts the South Tower

2007-09-11T09:02:00.000-05:00

Brothers and Sisters, in great dismay, before the horror of destructive violence, but strong in the faith that has always guided our fathers, we turn to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, salvation of his people, and with the confidence of children, pray that He will come to our aid in these days of mourning and innocent suffering.

1. For the Churches of the East and the West, and in particular for the Church in the United States of America so that, though humbled by loss and mourning, yet inspired by the Mother of the Lord, strong woman beside the cross of her Son, they may foster the will for reconciliation, peace, and the building of the civilization of love.

2. For all those who bear the name of Christian, so that, in the midst of many persons who are tempted to hatred and doubt, they will be witnesses to the presence of God in history and the victory of Christ over death.

3. For the leaders of nations, so that they will not allow themselves to be guided by hatred and the spirit of retaliation, but may do everything possible to prevent new hatred and death, by bringing forth works of peace.

4. For those who are weeping in sorrow over the loss of relatives and friends, that in this hour of suffering they will not be overcome by sadness, despair and vengeance, but continue to have faith in the victory of good over evil, of life over death.

5. For those suffering and wounded by the terrorist acts, that they may return to stability and health and, appreciating the gift of life, may generously foster the will to contribute to the well being of every human being.

6. For our brothers and sisters who met death in the folly of violence, that they find sure joy and life everlasting in the peace of the Lord, that their death may not be in vain but become a leaven bringing forth a season of brotherhood and collaboration among peoples.

O Almighty and merciful God, you cannot be understood by one who sows discord, you cannot be accepted by one who loves violence: look upon our painful human condition tried by cruel acts of terror and death, comfort your children and open our hearts to hope, so that our time may again know days of serenity and peace.

Through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

[Pope John Paul II's Address on September 12th, 2001]

8:46 am - American Airlines Flight 11 Impacts the North Side of the North Tower

2007-09-11T08:46:00.000-05:00

Almighty God, the past five years will be indelibly inscribed in our memories.

We looked with horror on the terrorist attacks of September 11th. But we looked with honor on acts of courage by ordinary peoplewho sacrificed themselves to prevent further death and destruction.

We shed our tears in a common bond of grief for those we loved and lost.We journeyed through a dark valley, but your light has led us to a place of hope.You have turned our grief into determination.We are resolved to do what is good, and right, and just.

Help us to remember what it means to be Americans—a people endowed with abundant blessings. Help us to cherish the freedoms we enjoy and inspire us to standwith courage, united as one Nation in the midst of any adversity.

Lord, hear this prayer for our Nation.

Amen.

Muslim Day Parade

2007-09-11T00:02:00.000-05:00

It might just be me but this simply screams inclusive.

Please Sign the 'Support the Mission' Petition!

2007-09-10T23:48:00.000-05:00

McDonald's Employee Jailed for Over-Salting Burger

2007-09-10T23:36:00.000-05:00

Talk about abuse of authority.

Conservative Superhero, Iron Man, Coming to Theatres May 2008

2007-09-10T23:20:00.000-05:00

To think, there was a politically conservative comic-book superhero out there and I wasn’t aware of it. I mean, I know who Iron Man is but I never pictured him as being entrenched in politics. This combined with the mouth-watering (from the perspective of a comic-book geek/movie buff point of view) teaser trailer places the upcoming feature-film adaptation, starring Robert Downey, Jr., among the top films I want to see next summer.

It Makes It Rather Difficult

2007-09-10T23:18:00.000-05:00

Giuliani: Illegal Immigration Not a Crime, Should Not Be

2007-09-09T21:02:00.000-05:00

Well, I was on shaky ground with former-New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani as the GOP presidential candidate before but now, after this interview conducted on Glenn Beck’s radio program, it is definitely looking less likely I’ll throw my support behind him. It’s not ‘John McCain’ bad, but close.

Here’s an excerpt:

GLENN: Right. But isn't illegal immigration a crime in and of itself?

GIULIANI: No.

GLENN: Aren't you saying --

GIULIANI: Glenn --

GLENN: You're protecting criminals by saying that being treated as a criminal is unfair.

GIULIANI: Glenn, it's not a crime. I know that's very hard for people to understand, but it's not a federal crime.

GLENN: It's a misdemeanor but if you've been nailed, it is a crime. If you've been nailed, ship back and come back, it is a crime

........

GLENN: Should it be?

GIULIANI: Should it be? No, it shouldn't be because the government wouldn't be able to prosecute it. We couldn't prosecute 12 million people. We have only 2 million people in jail right now for all the crimes that are committed in the country, 2.5 million. If you were to make it a crime, you would have to take the resources of the criminal justice system and increase it by about 6. In other words, you'd have to take all the 800,000 police, and who knows how many police we would have to have.

Fred Thompson FINALLY Announces Candidacy

2007-09-09T20:37:00.000-05:00

Madison City Council Bush Impeachment Vote Defeated

2007-09-05T13:29:00.000-05:00

Via Michelle Malkin

The sole voice of reason and sanity ...

... Thuy Pham-Remmele, an immigrant from Vietnam, who said she would resign from the city council if it voted to recommend impeachment.

"I have been through war more than any of you can imagine," Pham-Remmele said.

Recounting her premature birth after her mother fell as the family was fleeing the French in 1948, she proceeded to speak of America's exit from the Vietnam War as a turning point in world opinion against the United States.

"It's the part you chose not to look at that should haunt you forever," Pham-Remmele said.
Saying she had not been home in 34 years and characterizing her decision to become a naturalized U.S. citizen as painful, Pham-Remmele said she knew the atrocities of war.

While lauding impeachment advocates' good intentions, she asked, "Do you think Congress will listen to you?"

Looking directly at the spectator gallery, Pham-Remmele said, "It is easy to be like Jane Fonda and walk with the communists … and feel good about it. If you really want to save lives, think of something more concrete."

McCain: "Thanks for the Question, You Little Jerk ... You're Drafted"

2007-09-05T13:17:00.000-05:00

Yes, this was meant in jest but for as much scrutiny as McCain’s campaign has been under, mostly stemming from the right rather then the left, ironically, you’d have thought he’d be smarter then this. Then you examine how his campaign has been run since the get-go and you think to yourself, ‘Man, this guy’s an idiot’. The ‘little jerk’ part was funny but adding the ‘you’re drafted’ part was cocky and biting off far more then he could chew. McCain has success, the tiniest success he has had in months, and he goes and blows it by getting greedy.

MUCR Meeting Tonight at 8pm!!

2007-09-05T13:01:00.000-05:00

Don’t forget, the first meeting of the Marquette University College Republicans, chaired by newly-elected senior John Connors with Lucas Fuller as VP, will be held tonight at 8pm (expect it to last at least till 9pm) in the Alumni Union, Rm. 442. Plans for the new school year will discussed, including Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker’s re-election campaign as well as prospects for a new conservative speaker to be brought to campus.

Hope to see you all there, especially the freshmen!!

Cutting Joe Down to Size

2007-09-05T00:06:00.000-05:00

Another piece of my childhood shrivels and dies. First Kellogg’s bans Toucan Sam and the other cereal-based cartoon characters (the Food Nazis strike again) and now this. It’s bad enough Stephen Sommers, the director of the insufferable Van Helsing and mediocre Mummy franchise, has been tapped to direct the live-action feature film based on the Mattel toy, but now it seems his identity as a symbol of American heroism and bravery will be dropped entirely.

That’s right. G.I. Joe will now be “G.I. JOE” an acronym for “Global Integrated Joint Operating Entity” and ‘Joe’ will no longer be an American soldier but a member ‘international operations team’.

The reason for this decision comes down to two factors – greed and shame. According to Paramount, the studio producing the live-action adaptation, the film would be too difficult to market internationally if ‘Joe’ was an American soldier because of the Iraq war. The international box office receipts are the equivolent of crack to the Hollywood studios. They can release slop which makes only half its money back domestically yet still eke out a profit, more often a pretty decent return, when the world-wide totals come in. This is just the latest example of liberally-biased movie studios who live and work in America and enjoy all the freedoms and comforts it provides being ashamed of being Americans. Let’s not forget when the producers of ‘Superman Returns’ dropped ‘…the American way’ from the famous catch-phrase, ‘Truth, justice, and the American way’.

Silencing Opus

2007-09-04T22:52:00.000-05:00

Originally posted on Cox and Forkum on August 30th, 2007

The Washington Post and several other newspapers pulled the August 26th and the September 2nd edition of the Sunday comic-strip 'Opus' because of a storyline which publishers thought would offend radical Islamists.

Below is the August 26th edition of the comic-strip:

You know there is something wrong with the PCers of the world when they beginning to silence the more liberal commentators of the world.

Rats!

2007-09-04T16:07:00.000-05:00

Okay, this article has very little, if anything, to do with actual politics (Hollywood politics, yes, but not in the way many of you might be thinking it as) but I thought since this is my first post after being absent from the political rant/soap-box/blog scene for several months now I would start off slow and steady.

With that said, let’s move on. In spite of the large amount of time I spent over the summer either at work or in school I was able to see a fair number of movies, though significantly less then I had anticipated. Ratatouille, the latest computer-animated marvel from Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios, however stood out as my personal favorite for the summer season, if not the entire year so far. At first I wasn’t as enthusiastic for it as the rest of my family was – I still thought as good as it was it was still behind the quality of The Incredibles and Toy Story 2 – but after another viewing I recanted on my original judgment and considered it to be the best feature film the computer animation studio had produced to date. It is one of those rare films, animated or otherwise, that improves, at least in your mind, after each successful viewing. It is even more amazing to see how well put together this production is considering it has been in the pipeline since 2000 and that its original director Jan Pinkava, who directed the Pixar animated short, Gerri’s Game, was replaced very late in the game by Brad Bird who scrapped practically the entire original storyline for the one seen in the film today.

So what does this have to do with anything? As Stewie from Family Guy would say, “Hey ……. Shut-up” … kidding, I’m getting there kids.

There’s a gossip-ragger Jim Hill who primarily focuses on the house that Walt built. He likes to think he knows a lot more then most Disney insiders, that he is able to predict what Disney is going to do in terms of theme park attractions, movies, etc., and that he has ‘inside’ sources at the Mouse House. He has gotten on the nerves of me and every other Pixar defender ever Disney purchased Pixar back in January 2006. He riled on and on last summer about how Cars was (at the time) Pixar’s lowest grossing film to date (ignoring all the while that Cars ended up not only being the highest grossing animated film of the year but the third highest domestic grossing film of the year as well and continuing to remain blind to the fact that merchandise for the film still flies off the shelf more then a year after it was released) and that Disney paid too much for Pixar. All this of course after the fact and after he had been hammering then-Chairman/CEO Michael Eisner for not purchasing Pixar in the first place, prior or immediately after the release of Toy Story in 1995. This summer he has been beating the same tired ol’ drum, only this time it involves Ratatouille.

First things first, Jim. Numbers, in particular box office numbers, aren’t everything. Ratatouille is one of, if not THE, best reviewed film of the year so far. Out of a possible one-hundred and sixty-eight reviews, one-hundred and sixty-one were positive leading to a ninety-six percent fresh rating. Chances are Ratatouille will be nominated for Best Animated Film of the Year at the Academy Awards and will likely win, unless by chance the Academy decides to get political (again) and give the award to an undeserving competitor. Yes, I am still peeved that Cars was robbed last year.

Yes, Ratatouille is now ranked fifth in the list of slowest movies to reach the two-hundred million dollar mark. But, as the Disney Enquirer correctly points out, that category isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Just look at the list itself. Back to the Future is number one (two sequels were produced), Home Alone, and Superman Returns (which already has a sequel in the works).

Second, while Ratatouille has been ranked fifteenth in the list of slowest movies to reach the two-hundred million dollar mark, the category is a bit deceiving, as the Disney Enquirer correctly points out. Just look at the list itself. Back to the Future is number one (two sequels were produced), Home Alone, and Superman Returns (which already has a sequel in the works). Far be it a list of losers.

Let’s examine the articles themselves, shall we?

As one Jim Hill Media reader points out, Jim in an earlier article stated without hesitation that he believed The Simpsons Movie seemed poised to surpass Ratatouille in terms of domestic receipts which at the time of this article’s publication stood at $188.2 million. Not only has The Simpsons Movie failed to achieve this task within Mr. Hill’s specified time-frame (three weeks), it seems now that the 20th Century Fox animated film will likely never accomplish this task having been knocked out of the Top 10 as of this past Labor Day weekend. There are other idiosyncrasies in this article to consider as well. For one the fact that executives at Disney would be naïve enough to assume that just because The Simpsons Movie in spite of the handicap of being hand-drawn rather then computer-animated was successful means The Princess and the Frog, Disney’s first real attempt to return to the field of traditional animation, will have a better chance of succeeding at the box office when it is released in 2009. The Simpsons has been on television for nineteen years and has a tremendous built-in audience. The only real surprise for analysts during its opening weekend was how many would show up given the dramatic erosion of the program’s target audience following 1997, the year many fans consider to be the beginning of the decline in the quality of the show. Or how about the fact that Mr. Hill while lavishing praise on The Simpsons Movie for beating out Ratatouille in terms of opening weekend numbers while conveniently failing to mention that The Simpsons dropped sixty-six percent vs. the thirty-eight percent drop Ratatouille had in its second frame. Further more, while The Simpsons Movie has a considerable head-start vs. the ‘Rat’ in the area of international receipts, the Brad Bird-directed flick has yet to open in major territories such as the United Kingdom, Australia, and Germany and while it may not seem probable for Ratatouille to beat out The Simpsons in this particular field it is certainly far from impossible.

And isn’t it amazing (if I were speaking this of course would be the place where the emphasis on sarcasm would be) that for as much as Jim Hill has riled on and on about how Ratatouille has failed to meet “Wall Street’s expectations”, as if those are now the standards from which we should all base our way of life on, he never once, not once, notes how Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End failed miserably to meet expectations set not only by Spider-Man 3’s returns earlier in the summer but by the franchise’s predecessor, Dead Man’s Chest, last year. Furthermore, while most analysts were predicting Pirates 3 to take the silver medal this box office season, with the final numbers tallied it has failed to achieve even bronze status, losing out to Michael Bay/Steven Spielberg’s Transformers.

And while Pixar has been far from perfect, let alone consistent in terms of the box office receipts their feature films bring in, you can’t argue with their success – eight-for-eight. As another Jim Hill Media reader pointed out that in terms of Disney’s own recent animated film history (traditional and other-wise) you’d have to go back as far as 1994 (The Lion King) to find a single film of their that grossed over, let alone close to, two-hundred million dollars. Not even Walt Disney himself enjoyed this level of success in the early hey-days of his animation studio. Not even close. Following the tremendous success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Disney had a string of box office failures – Pinocchio, Fantasia, and Bambi – and while World War II could be blamed for the international numbers, that still doesn’t speak entirely for their underperformance domestically, particularly since the United States wasn’t actively, or at least publically, involved in the war until December 1941. It took till Cinderella in 1950 for animation studio at Disney to get out of their funk and even then they were sacrificing quality for quantity.

More importantly, in a year in which (so far) nineteen films have grossed over one-hundred million dollars (the Universal comedy-flop Evan Almighty and the low-budget Superbad are the most likely candidates to join this club), eight have brought in two-hundred million, and four have made three-hundred million with only two out of those nineteen films being truly original productions without a built-in fan base (300 and Ratatouille), executives at Disney should be estatic it did as well as it did in spite of the saturated market and piss-poor marketing job they did.

Did Disney pay too much for Pixar? To quote Rev. Lovejoy from The Simpsons, “Oh, short answer Yes with maybe, long answer No, with a but”. Yes, Disney did overpay for Pixar considering they could have gotten them much cheaper back in 1995 if Eisner had had a brain and picked them up instead of signing them to an extension of their picture contract. BUT the question you have to ask is whether Pixar would have been as successful as they were had they been picked up right away by Disney. Would Michael Eisner have been micro-managing Pixar as he did everything else at Disney and driven it into the ground as he did traditional animation or would Steve Job’s presence on the board have forced the company’s hand to oust Michael Eisner out earlier then he was? Rick Aristotle Munarriz at The Motley Fool argues that neither side really needed each other. I disagree with that. Disney clearly needed Pixar, if not John Lasseter, more then Pixar needed Disney. It is still a little early but Lasseter has re-energized Disney’s role in traditional animation (two or three 2-D animated films are in the works and there has been talk about putting new Mickey Mouse/Goofy/Donald shorts like in the ol’ days) as well as the theme parks (critics of Disney’s California Adventure will be particularly happy with the plans Uncle John has in store to revamp the fledgling California counterpart). Did Pixar save Disney? Far from, Disney would have survived without Pixar, though they would not be enjoying as much success as they are now. To all the Jim Hills of the world, shut-up! This isn’t about short-term gains, especially considering that the short-term gains they argue about aren’t as bad as they make them out to be, but long term ones and in the end Disney and fans of both Disney and Pixar are better off for it.

I'm Back!!

2007-09-04T15:50:00.000-05:00

The title I was going to originally go with was, “Your Staunch Conservative Savior Has Returned!”, but I thought that might be over doing it … just a little bit.

Yes, after an absence of four to five months, depending on when you start counting, I return to posting regularly, or semi-regularly, on this site. The reason(s) for my absence are simple … work and academics. I was working the entire summer at one of the campus cafeterias and I was taking two summer courses as well, one of which I desperately needed to do well in so I spent a lot of my focus and time on that. Now, with the summer over and a return to a relatively routine schedule (twenty hours per week of work and 15 credits at school), I have just enough time on my hands to post at least once per day on this site again. I have slowly over the Labor Day weekend started rebuilding the site and bringing it up to speed. I still have a lot more to do, so please be patient during this (hopefully) brief transition period.

I am excited and look forward to returning to this site. In the upcoming months focus and time will be spent on Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker’s campaign for re-election and the 2008 presidential election, so please stay tuned for further updates.

From Iran With Love

2007-04-11T17:37:00.001-05:00

Originally posted on Cox and Forkum on April 5th, 2007

Syriana

2007-04-11T17:36:00.000-05:00

Originally posted on Cox and Forkum on April 3rd, 2007

The Snuke

2007-04-03T13:11:00.000-05:00

In case you missed it last Wednesday, South Park parodied Hillary Clinton and the hit drama series 24. As The Hillary Project notes, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of South Park, went rather easy on her, though you can’t help but laugh at her ass being three times larger then her head.

I did however disagree strongly with the episode’s message, that we should not be suspicious of just one race of people, "because actually, most of the world hates us”, as Kyle points out. However, in this day and age, in the post-9/11 world, who is more likely to carry a bomb onto an airplane? Racial profiling may not be a desirable end but if it keeps us safe then I say use it.

McCain Can't Catch a Break, Can He?

2007-03-28T22:19:00.000-05:00

Here is what happens when you are a presidential candidate whose campaign does not give credit where credit is due. As Michelle Malkin said, lesson learned. All I have to say is that McCain has learned a lot in the past few months.

Fred Thompson on Supporting the Troops

2007-03-28T22:13:00.000-05:00

That's Retarded!

2007-03-28T22:07:00.000-05:00

Add one more to the list of retarded university professors.

Though he does not directly state that Vice President Dick Cheney orchestrated the 9/11 attacks, Professor of Sociology Dr. Hassan A. El-Najjar at Dalton State College does heavily suggest it when he questions why Cheney’s office coordinated between three and five war games on the morning of the terrorist attacks.

From your check books right into their pockets. Don't you love how the tax system in this country works?

Determined

2007-03-28T21:57:00.000-05:00

Axing For It

2007-03-28T21:37:00.000-05:00

Originally posted on Cox and Forkum on March 22nd, 2007

Silly Ol' Bear, You Should Die

2007-03-20T13:31:00.000-05:00

Animal rights activists in Europe are calling upon the Berlin Zoo to kill Knut, a baby polar bear who was abandoned by its mother (pictured left), via lethal injection because by their logic it is better for the animal to be dead then to be ‘brought up suffering the humiliation of being treated as a domestic pet’.

Tenn. Mine Enriched Gore, Scarred Land

2007-03-19T02:30:00.000-05:00

Wow, Al Gore just can’t get any love from his home state of Tennessee. First, they failed to vote for him in the 2000 presidential election then the Tennessee Center for Policy Research the day after he won two Academy Awards for his global-warming ‘documentary’ An Inconvenient Truth releases a report condemning the former vice-president’s energy conservation hypocrisy and now Tennessean.com is reporting that Al Gore “received more than $500,000 in royalties from the owners of zinc mines who held mineral leases on his farm near Carthage, Tenn … [which] emitted thousands of pounds of toxic substances and several times … into nearby rivers [and] had levels of toxins above what was legal”.

Mating Ritual of the North American Moonbat

2007-03-19T02:25:00.000-05:00

Pictures from ‘anti-war’ demonstrations in Los Angeles and Manhattan to mark the five year anniversary of the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

That Ain't No Woman! It's a Man, Man!

2007-03-18T03:11:00.000-05:00

Honestly, if it wasn’t for an interview conducted with this woman (sadly, it is a woman – a very ugly woman, but indeed a woman) which I caught on Headline News I would have sworn this was a man in drag. Seriously, this woman must have been beaten with a 2X4.

That goes the same for the woman wearing the pink in the background.

Define Irony

2007-03-18T03:09:00.000-05:00

A group of Massachusetts religious leaders walking through a weekend snow storm from Northampton to Boston to raise awareness about global warming.

Or, better yet, a North Pole expedition meant to bring awareness to global warming was called off because one explorer got frostbite.

All this after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released a report that this has been the world's warmest winter since record-keeping began about a century ago.

Let’s ignore of course the clear and obvious fact that the last century is nothing – no more then a drop in a bucket – when you consider that the planet is 4.5 billion years old.

Gore Spreads Manbearpig Awareness

2007-03-18T03:06:00.000-05:00

Former Vice President Al Gore said on his website Friday that he has collected three-hundred thousand electronic signatures “asking Congress to take action on global warming”.

Why does this seem strangely familiar?

“I'm spreading manbearpig awareness. Here, each of you kids take a pamphlet and a bumper sticker. I hope now you boys see that this is totally serial. The next time, it could be the "real" manbearpig. Can I just get you to sign the awareness sheet? Just your name and phone number and where you first heard about manbearpig?”

Stretching the Truth

2007-03-17T03:16:00.000-05:00

Originally posted on Cox and Forkum on March 13th, 2007

Clash of Civilizations

2007-03-17T03:10:00.000-05:00

Originally posted on Cox and Forkum on March 11th, 2007

With Apologies to Jesse Jackson

2007-03-08T13:32:00.000-06:00

The first episode of the eleventh season of South Park aired last evening. I caught an encorepresentation of it as I was watching the Marquette Warriors beat St. John’s in the Big East Tournament.

Let me just say that I laughed but it wasn’t as funny as it could have been. I do have to admit that seeing Cartman wrestle with a midget was hilarious. Here’s hoping the season gets better.

P.S. Cut Randy some slack. There is no plural form of the word ‘Nagger’. So ‘Naggers’ does not exist.

P.P.S. If you think the federal government banning the use of the word ‘n*gger guy’ sounds ludicrous, it is actually based in the realm of reality. The New York City Council, which also banned trans-fats, took the term ‘nanny state’ one-step further by banning the term ‘n*gger’, a resolution which of course is unenforceable.

P.P.P.S. Anyone else see the blatant hypocrisy of Comedy Central censoring the image of Mohammed but allowing this episode which utters the word ‘n*gger’ forty-two times to air unaltered?

Van Hollen Not for McCain

2007-03-08T13:18:00.000-06:00

Daniel Suhr of GOP3.com is reporting that the current Attorney General for the State of Wisconsin, JB Van Hollen, despite being in Washington DC this past weekend, did not join seven other state attorney generals in announcing their support of Senator John McCain at the National Association of Attorney Generals conference. As if I needed any more reasons not to support Senator John McCain.

I Call Mulligan!

2007-03-08T13:07:00.000-06:00

Which is more offensive – Ann Coulter’s quip at CPAC about John Edwards being a f*ggot (for the record, I love her books – she may be a bit brash about how she presents her arguments but she’s right on the money regardless – but she has gotten to the point where she is doing things like this because she’s, pardon the phrase, an attention whore) or Bill Maher’s crack that the assassination attempt on Dick Cheney failed?

Both videos are posted below. You decide.

Rudy on Non-Binding Resolutions

2007-03-08T13:05:00.000-06:00

Social Conservatives, Rudy Giuliani, and the End of the Litmus Test

2007-03-07T20:53:00.001-06:00

Noemie Emery of The Weekly Standard makes a compelling argument about why social conservatives will buy into former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s campaign for the presidency of the United States in terms of the Republican nomination.

To sum it all up it comes down to four points – the war against terrorism (his leadership amidst the aftermath of 9/11 and his fervent support of the Bush’s administration agenda in regards to this issue is the reason why he is the frontrunner now in the Republican primaries), he’s a pro-choice Republican furthest from being a liberal (in terms of law and order), the shape of the field (McCain is the only Republican candidate right now with the best pro-life record but a lot of conservatives – myself among them – hate him for a variety of reasons), and abortion has become a non-issue as of right now (it hasn’t been outlawed but neither has it become an unequivocal civil right with the new Democratic majority now in power in Congress). I don’t agree entirely with each of his premises but I understand where he is coming from and it makes sense.

Doyle Backer Indicted on Money Laundering Charges

2007-03-07T20:42:00.000-06:00

Another Doyle backer bites the dust.

No wonder the current Wisconsin governor is saying he won’t run for re-election in 2010. The way things are going he won’t have any high rollers left to line his political pockets.

The Banana Republic of Madison

2007-03-07T20:34:00.000-06:00

Anyone who enjoys the idiosyncrasy of governmental bureaucracy (whether it is at the state or federal level, or both) as much as I do will appreciate this story.

The Great Global Warming Swindle

2007-03-07T20:25:00.000-06:00

A brand new documentary (one you won’t likely see in local movie theatres or winning Academy Awards) explores the idea “that the theory of man-made global warming has become such a powerful political force that other explanations for climate change are not being properly aired”.

Click the banner above to visit the documentary's website and watch the trailer.

Symptomatic

2007-03-07T20:22:00.001-06:00

Originally posted on Cox and Forkum on March 6th, 2007

Conspicuous Consumption

2007-03-07T20:18:00.000-06:00

Originally posted on Cox and Forkum on March 4th, 2007

Rudy McRomney

2007-03-03T15:00:00.000-06:00

Advertised (via a sticker) at CPAC this weekend. The site isn’t active yet (there is currently just the teaser image below) but it will be something to pay attention in the future.

McCain Announces on Letterman, Says U.S. Lives 'Wasted', Spurns CPAC Invite

2007-03-02T21:24:00.000-06:00

UPDATE: Hot Air now has video of Senator John McCain’s ‘unofficial’ official announcement on The Late Show.

UPDATE (Part II): Take a look at the rather clever flyer being handed out at CPAC …

Arizona Senator John McCain announced on The Late Show with David Letterman that he will indeed run for the presidency of the United States in 2008 on the Republican ticket. I found it particularly cheesy, but then again I am biased against him. He is a Republican (in name) but I don’t trust him. Let’s not forget – McCain-Feingold and what a disaster that was. Or, better yet, remember how he was considered as a potential running mate for John Kerry in 2004? In any event, McCain won’t ‘officially’ announce his candidacy until April but based on his appearance on The Late Show it is a done deal.

Here are some things to think about as McCain revs up his campaign …

During his 'informal' announcement on Letterman, McCain said, “Americans are very frustrated, and they have every right to be … We've wasted a lot of our most precious treasure, which is American lives”.

Sound familiar?

Also, CPAC, the nation’s premier gathering of conservatives, is this weekend - GOP3.com will have exclusive coverage on their site (with mid-terms and the BIG basketball game this weekend, I was unable to attend) but Senator John McCain spurned an invitation, making him the only Republican candidate to do so. As others have clearly noted, this shows where his priorities are. This will only further damage his weak standing among conservatives.

Obama-La-Land

2007-02-28T18:15:00.000-06:00

Kent State Professor Supports Bin Laden's Victory Over U.S.

2007-02-28T17:43:00.000-06:00

It’s like watching the theory of evolution right before our eyes! From Kevin Barrett we get Steven Jones which then produces Julio Pino, “a Muslim convert who teaches at Kent State University” and promotes Bin Laden’s victory over the United States in Afghanistan. How little of a percentage difference do you think there is between the DNA of these three? Less then the one-percent difference between humans and monkeys? And what exactly is the next step in the de-evolutionary chain?

Bill Would Mandate 'Nicer' Term for Illegals

2007-02-28T17:37:00.000-06:00

You say ‘illegal’, I say ‘undocumented’ … let’s call the whole thing off and fix the damn system rather then trying to PC the Hell out of everything so we can allude the problem a bit longer.

This is My Personal Favorite

2007-02-28T17:21:00.000-06:00

Visit the Cox and Forkum: Café Press Store for more items like this!

Inconvenient Truth, Happy Feet Make Academy Awards 'Green' Night

2007-02-26T22:05:00.000-06:00

For the third year in a row I was at home studying and not watching the Academy Awards presentation on ABC. From what I have read online it was a complete bore. Sure, like any awards presentation it had its moments, but Ellen DeGeneris was reportedly flat. The end result was a 42 share in the ratings which would make this year’s presentation the third lowest rated ceremony in television history.

First, the Academy’s choice in hosts over the past years has reeked of desperation. I mean, last year you had Jon Stewart of The Daily Show and the year before that you had Chris Rock. People see this and rather then tuning in as the Academy would expect are instead turned off by this. The second reason, something of which applies prominently to this year’s presentation, is that the Academy Awards have become too politicized. I am studying for a major in political science/history at Marquette University, I am active in the College Republicans on campus, I run this site, I write editorials for the Marquette Tribune … I deal with political discussion on a daily basis. I don’t want to come home, sit down, turn on the television and hear some actor/actress being paid ten million dollars (or, in some cases, much more) per picture spout out his/her mouth about their opinion on national politics as if they knew what they were talking about. If a person like me who is use to being heavily involved in political discussion doesn’t want to be preached at during the Oscars, what are the chances the average Joe with no real standing (left or right) opinion toward national politics is going to want to do the same?

Last night’s Oscar telecast was dubbed ‘Green’ Night at the Academy Awards as the main political issue hanging over the ceremony like a dark rain cloud was the myth of ‘global warming’. Don’t believe me? What won for Best Animated Film? Not Disney/Pixar’s Cars which by all means should have won (it was the first winner of Best Animated Feature Annie Award not to win at the Academy Awards) but rather Happy Feet, a motion-capture performance animated feature with a global warming message. Conservative critics like Michael Medved, Neil Cavuto, and Glenn Beck have chastised the producers of Happy Feet for using children to promote a liberal agenda. I have not seen the film so I can not comment personally. This would not surprise me however as Hollywood has done this sort of thing before. Remember Hoot? Then there’s ‘rock-star’ Al Gore’s Inconvenient ‘Lies’ which won not one, but two Academy Awards last night – one for Best Original Song (Melissa Etheridge’s ‘I Need to Wake Up’) and one for Best Documentary, which was as far from a surprise as you could possibly be. Hot Air has videos of the awards ceremony last evening.

But check this out. Via The Drudge Report, the Tennessee Center for Policy Research, “an independent, nonprofit and nonpartisan research organization committed to achieving a freer, more prosperous Tennessee through free market policy solutions”, issued today this press release condemning former-Vice President Al Gore’s hypocrisy in regards to energy conservation. This is nothing new, of course. Conservatives have known about this for some time. It just goes to show you once again that when liberals say, ‘Do as I say’ they actually mean ‘Do as I say (Not as I do)’.

It wasn’t all gloom and doom though. Personally, I was satisfied. The movie I wanted to win for Best Picture (The Departed) won – though to be honest I would have been just as happy if Little Miss Sunshine won. And FINALLY Martin Scorsese won an Oscar for Best Director. That it took him five tries just to receive one in his extensive career is evidence to the fact that the Academy is so out of touch with the real movie-going public.

La-La Land

2007-02-26T20:24:00.000-06:00

Originally posted on Cox and Forkum on February 22nd, 2007

Crossroads

2007-02-26T20:20:00.000-06:00

Originally posted on Cox and Forkum on February 18th, 2007

Vindication?

2007-02-14T13:17:00.000-06:00

As if one article profiling the ‘courage’ of the martyrs of free speech, the Dixie Sluts, wasn’t enough, the New York Times writes that the trio’s five Grammy awards on Sunday evening amounted to vindication (because they were so isolated in liberal Hollywood) for the band after three ‘long’ years.

Notice how even the New York Times is admitting that the voting process for the Grammies is based on politics, not the quality or substance of the music itself.

There is a ‘however’.

The NYT writer Leed cites Green Day and their anti-war rock opera ballad (in spite of its left-wing political bias, clearly evident in only a few songs, namely the title song, it is a personal favorite of mine) ‘American Idiot’ failing to win ‘Album’ and ‘Record of the Year’ awards as a ‘prime example’ that the Grammies aren’t ‘necessarily’ [blogger’s emphasis] left-wing biased. Here’s the thing though: Green Day has never been on the oust with their original fan-base which has primarily been left-leaning. Hell, their name is a reference to marijuana.

ABC News’ coverage of the Chicks’ five Grammy wins is even more ridiculous. Get this: “The standing ovations the Chicks received Sunday illustrated how much the political climate has changed regarding the Iraq war, and even Bush”. So let me get this straight … the music industry, based primarily in Hollywood, which is synonymous with left-wing politics, awarded a musical-trio who, basically, said ‘f*ck you’ to the President of the United States right before the invasion of Iraq began in a foreign country, knowing full well they were playing to the anti-war sentiment of the country, but that demonstrates a ‘shift’ in the political climate? Remind again when Hollywood has ever been for the Iraq war. Oh, right, never.

Obamanation

2007-02-14T12:53:00.000-06:00

Remember this little gem? Well ‘Osama’ Obama is desperately trying now to remove the foot he put so willingly into his mouth, without much success. In fact via The New York Times he’s making the situation much worse. According to the Illinois Senator what he ‘meant’ to say was of course that ‘our civilian strategy has not HONORED [blogger’s emphasis] their courage and bravery’, because HONOR and WASTED are so closely related to one another.

Now YOU Can Be Gov. 'Diamond' Jim Doyle!

2007-02-14T12:23:00.000-06:00

Check out the Veto Matic: The Automatic Frankenstein Veto Generator and you too can feel what it’s like to have the most powerful partial-veto pen in the nation!

I Decided Not to Run for President Before I Decided to Run

2007-02-12T22:32:00.000-06:00

Targeted Blogger Quits Edwards Campaign

2007-02-12T22:19:00.001-06:00

But I’m afraid the damage is already done. Not that John Edwards hasn’t been doing a fine job himself of running his second attempt at the Democratic nomination (the presidency is a little too high of a bar for him right now) into the ground.

Barack Obama: Each and Every Service Member Who Served and Died in Iraq Wasted Their Lives

2007-02-12T22:13:00.000-06:00

Dixie Chicks: Movin' to the Left

2007-02-12T22:10:00.000-06:00

The Dixie Sluts … of course I mean Chicks (cough) were awarded by their liberal peers over the weekend with five Grammy awards (don’t think the American public, the people who actually pay for music, voted for them) including Best Song of the Year (Not Ready to Make Nice) and Best Album of the Year.

The New York Times couldn’t help but gush about how the musical-trio were free speech martyrs (in name only in my opinion – oops, let’s totally forget that interview in which the ladies were ‘weeping’ because they upset their ‘fan-base’ in country music) and Matt Lauer opened the TODAY Show this morning saying that the Dixie Chicks got the last laugh on the president.

Believe me when I say I am not the only who thinks this is politically motivated. As Michelle Malkin said, even the little troll who sings lead (Natalie Maines, the one who made the comment back in 2003 which started the whole controversy) thinks it was.

Bullsh*t - Getting Hippies to Ban Water (Environmental Hysteria)

2007-02-12T21:34:00.000-06:00

We're the Govt. -- You're Not (Homeland Security Parody)

2007-02-12T21:22:00.000-06:00

Remember This Photo When Hillary Runs in 2008

2007-02-07T14:14:00.000-06:00

Patriquin Plan: How to Win in Al-Anbar

2007-02-07T14:04:00.000-06:00

Hillary and Rice Featured on Runway

2007-02-07T13:52:00.000-06:00

There was link on the Drudge Report not too long ago to a story about Hillary Clinton’s face (that ugly mug) being featured on a fashion designer’s skirt.

In the picture below you can see it in the very back:

The press must have ‘inadvertently’ glossed over another skirt, this one with a picture of Condoleezza Rice’s face on it.

Notice anything different as opposed to the Hillary skirt? Yep, she’s made to look demonic (fire surrounding her face) and the model sporting the skirt is wearing a tank-top that says PEACE.

Hmmm … pure coincidence I’m sure. Nothing subliminal about that.

Michael Savage: Candidate for President?

2007-02-07T13:41:00.000-06:00

I wish this were some kind of sick joke but sadly it’s not. He doesn’t stand a chance but since every else and their mother have jumped into the race so far, why not him?

I don’t have an opinion on this either way because for some reason I never quite got into Michael Savage.

Rudy Ready for Prime Time?

2007-02-07T13:19:00.000-06:00

I have already stated previously why I am a bit uneasy about giving the 2008 GOP Presidential Nomination to former-New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani. I, like nearly every else in this country, appreciate what he did in light of September 11th but his more liberal stances on abortion, gay marriage, and immigration make me a bit nervous to say the least about him.

The following have been making the rounds on the blogosphere:

First we have that cover photo of Rudy and his wife on the New York Post …

I swear he has to be one of the only politicians in this country to pull something like that off without an uproar. And might I say that his wife looks stunning for her age (the New York Post states that she is fifty-two).

The other little tidbit making the rounds is the interview on Hannity and Colmes (divided into two parts on YouTube) where he discusses the main political issues of the upcoming presidential campaign.

I must admit, despite my reservations, he will be a tough candidate to beat in the Republican primary. I would imagine McCain might be the only other candidate who would have the capacity to challenge him for the nomination. More importantly however he might be our best and only shot at beating Hillary for the presidency. Personally, I am of the opinion that ‘Osama’ Obama, the media darling, is the Howard Dean of this campaign and that his candidacy will flounder going into Iowa.

New Student Paper at UW-Milwaukee

2007-02-07T13:04:00.001-06:00

The way The Warrior is floundering (in my eyes) here at Marquette University (it’s mostly fluff) I have to give props to Front Page Milwaukee, the new independent student newspaper at UW-Milwaukee.

Gore: Bush Admin. Paying Scientists to Dispute Manbearpig

2007-02-06T23:23:00.000-06:00

He’s super cerial but no one will listen to him and he’s cerial.

Violence of Super Bowl Ads a Reflection of War?

2007-02-06T23:08:00.000-06:00

If this were come from any other source then the New York Times I would be surprised. Sad to say I am not in this instance.

Pre-Order the Final Harry Potter Book Today!

2007-02-06T22:07:00.000-06:00

You can either stand in line at midnight and hope to get a copy or you can pre-order one right now from this website (remember, I’m a poor college student) and be guaranteed one. It’s your choice.

I’ll stop trying to gouge you now.

Save the 9/11 Memorial

2007-02-06T21:47:00.000-06:00

The latest travesty to befall the 9/11 Memorial is the news that New York Michael Bloomberg (how this son of a bitch call himself a Republican is beyond me) has announced a plan in which the 2,400 victims of the World Trade Center attack would be listed on the memorial in ‘no discernible order’. In other words “there will be nothing to indicate who they were, where they were and how they were connected to each other. ... None of the names will be in alphabetical order; they will appear random”.

If you are as upset by this as many other people are, please visit Take Back the Memorial and Save the 9/11 Memorial. Don’t forget to sign the petition!

War Power

2007-02-06T21:45:00.000-06:00

Originally posted on Cox and Forkum on January 30th, 2006

Super Bowl XLI

2007-02-06T21:30:00.000-06:00

I won’t say much about the Super Bowl (I caught the very end of it and that was about it) as I had no stake in it. It wasn’t a matter of who I wanted to win but rather who I hated less (or more, depending on your perspective). As a loyal Packers’ fan (something the fair-weather Chicago clearly don’t understand – I amazed that the city was so supportive of the team going into this weekend in light of the fact that five-thousand people who bought tickets to the Bears’ first playoff game this season didn’t show up for the game) I automatically hate the Bears so I’m just elated that they lost, though I do despise Payton Manning in some respects as well.

Time to Become an American Hero!

2007-02-06T21:25:00.000-06:00

I was watching a Family Guy marathon on Cartoon Network Sunday night and I noticed the following clip. I’m in a Kennedy Assassination course right now so I thought it was pretty funny.

Don't Believe Media Hype About Global Warming!

2007-01-31T14:04:00.001-06:00

I have about had it with this ever growing global warming hysteria. I know this has been building up for some time now but I feel it is time for me to slap some people in the face and wake them up from this delirious paranoia. I mean we have the NFL planting trees in Miami “tackle the [Super Bowl] game's heat-trapping gas emissions” and European beatniks (the equivalent of the American hippie but in a separate sub-species of free-loaders and unemployed losers) spending five minutes in complete darkness pretending it will make a difference – while at the same time trotting around campus with their iPods and all other forms of electronic gizmos.

Read the following and get educated …

24 Criticized by CAIR

2007-01-31T11:17:00.000-06:00

I am a huge fan of the FOX drama series 24. I have missed only one episode so far this season and that was because I was on my way back from Washington DC where I attended the March for Life event (photos of which will be posted on this site shortly). That is why any significant news related to the show I jump on immediately.

I found it particularly ironic that the hit-show 24 was coming under fire (figuratively) for supposedly “fuelling anti-Muslim prejudice with its latest storyline” from CAIR, a Muslim advocacy group which has been vastly criticized for its terrorist ties and support of terrorist organizations.

For example:

Nihad Awad was quoted by the Muslim World Monitor as saying that the 1993 World Trade Center bombing trial was "a travesty of justice," and suggested that "there is ample evidence indicating that both the Mossad and the Egyptian Intelligence played a role in the explosion'".

December 2001: Rabih Haddad, a CAIR fundraiser, was arrested and deported “because he was the executive director and co-founder of Global Relief Foundation, a terrorist front organization that for financing Al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations.

The Washington Times pointed out “‘unsettling connections between certain CAIR officials and extremist groups’ continued to exist and that CAIR's defense of high-ranking members convicted of terrorism amounted to a ‘dishonest campaign to create the sense of a widespread inquisition against Muslims and Arabs in America that simply doesn't exist’”.

In December 2004 CAIR was named as a defendant “in a class-action lawsuit relating to the 9/11 terror attacks”. The complaint alleged that CAIR was and is a “front organization for Hamas that engages in propaganda for Islamic militants," and "manipulate[s] the legal systems of the United States and Canada in a manner that allows them to silence critics, analysts, commentators, media organizations, and government officials by leveling false charges of discrimination, libel, slander and defamation”.

CAIR alleged that there were seven million Muslims living in America when in reality a University of Chicago survey in 2002 found that 1.89 million Muslims were living in the United States as of 2000 and a 2001 survey conducted by the Graduate Center of the City University of New York found that only 1.1 million Muslims lived in this country.

CAIR has been accused of doctoring a press conference photo so that all women, Muslim or non-Muslim, were seen wearing the hijab.

Disney Discriminating Again with Year of a Million Dreams Campaign?

2007-01-31T11:07:00.000-06:00

This is the second is what is expected to be a series of spats against the Walt Disney Company’s Year of a Million Dreams campaign developed for their theme park division.

Lisa and Jim Fouch of DeWitt, Michigan and their two children, Brad and Hannah, were the first ‘randomly’ selected family to spend a night in the Cinderella Castle suite. Notice how nearly identical the Fouch family is to the Spangler family which in October 2006 won the Magic Kingdom theme park all to themselves, much to the displeasure of fellow guests unaware of the event that day. The perfect middle-class suburban white nuclear family: two parents (a man and a woman) and two dotting children (a boy and a girl respectively). Is this conspiracy paranoia? Perhaps, I am in a Kennedy Assassination course but this is more based in common sense. I have no doubts that those selected from here on out for the rest of the Year of a Million Dreams campaign for the Cinderella Castle suite will be from a wide range of backgrounds and ethnicities but I find it particularly suspicious that the first families selected for these prizes (the Castle suite and the day in the park) were ‘randomly’ selected and both turned out to be, as I said previously, the perfect nuclear family. I’m no math expert but I bet the odds of that happening are astronomical when you consider the variety of individuals who visit Walt Disney World every day of the year.

But here’s the thing that really gets me. In my last post criticizing Disney’s Year of a Million Dreams campaign I jokingly commented how the media conglomerate was discriminating against ugly people. This time however I am not joking. Disney really is discriminating against groups of individuals, namely pregnant women, those with disabilities, heart conditions, and young children under a specific height limit.

According to the promotional rules you can win a night stay in Cinderella’s Castle on a medical and/or height restricted attraction. This “means all you people who are pregnant, have back or neck injuries, can't transfer from your wheelchair” or are not tall enough to board a certain attraction are left out of the loop in terms of winning the big prize(s). Not only does this go against the spirit of winning but it is down-right unlawful in the state of Florida.

Florida law states: “(2) It is unlawful for any operator: (a) To design, engage in, promote, or conduct such a game promotion, in connection with the promotion or sale of consumer products or services, wherein the winner may be predetermined or the game may be manipulated or rigged so as to: … 2. Allocate a winning game or part thereof to a particular period of the game promotion or to a particular geographic area; (b) Arbitrarily to remove, disqualify, disallow, or reject any entry”.

Is Disney violating the law? You be the judge!

Science Damn You!

2007-01-17T16:38:00.000-06:00

Classes for second semester were going well up until late-afternoon today. I took Human Evolutionary Processes to fulfill the biological science requirement for political science majors. I disagree politically and personally with Darwinism and believe thoroughly in the theory of intelligent design. I am by no means a ‘Bible Thumper’ (as a college student I have chosen personally to take a break from organized religion though I am certainly biased toward Roman Catholicism simply because that is what I raised as). I took the class (1) out of necessity – another science class I planned to take had already filled up when I registered for classes – and (2) in the hopes that I would able to get through it in spite of my personal convictions. You do have to know your enemy after all. But after this afternoon’s introductory class I am having doubts whether I will be able to get through the semester without a serious ulcer, let alone maintaining my sanity. Professor Norman Sullivan who teaches the class made it known that he was a devout Darwinist (apparently it is an organized religion among atheists … I mean, scientists I suppose) and proceeded to compare creationists or believers in the theory of intelligent design to people who believe the world is flat. He then identified the entire concept of intelligent design as (direct quote) ‘crap’. Talking to him after class he defined creationists or those who object to the theory of natural selection as people who believe that ‘the world was created five-thousand years ago’.

Golden Globe Predictions

2007-01-15T02:45:00.000-06:00

Best Television Series (Drama) - 24

As much as I want to pull for LOST, I have to give it up to 24. It was their best season yet and it deserves the win.

Best Performance By An Actor (Drama) - Kiefer Sutherland

Best Performance By An Actress (Drama) - Ellen Pompeo

Grey's Anatomy seems to be the 'IT' thing. Personally I hate it because it is way too soap-opera-ish for my tastes.

Best Television Series (Musical or Comedy) - The Office

This is a guess because I don't watch any of these shows.

Best Performance By An Actor (Musical or Comedy) - Alec Baldwin

I hate to be cynical but this is the foreign press we are talking about here. They'll award him for his 'brilliant' opposition to the war in Iraq and the global warming.

Best Performance By An Actress (Musical or Comedy) - America Ferrera

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Best Motion Picture (Drama) - The Departed

I have not seen any of these movies, so this is a total shot in the dark.

Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy) - Little Miss Sunshine

Best Performance By An Actor (Drama) - Forest Whitaker

Best Performance By a Supporting Actor - Eddie Murphy

Best Performance By An Actress (Drama) - Helen Mirren

Best Performance By a Supporting Actress - Jennifer Hudson

Best Performance By An Actor (Musical or Comedy) - Johnny Depp

Best Performance By An Actress (Musical or Comedy) - Meryl Streep

I just want to see her give another hilarious drunken anti-American rant like she did last time. It would make my evening.

Best Foreign Language Film - Letters to Iwo Jima

Best Animated Picture - Cars

Not Pixar's best work to date (it is likely their second-to-worst just ahead of A Bug's Life is my opinion) but even on an off day their work is above everybody else.

Kid Got Tig-owned!

2007-01-15T02:39:00.000-06:00

This video is a follow-up to a story this site ran on January 7th and is presented purely in jest (because the kid is a douche-bag), so enjoy!

Jack is Back!

2007-01-14T18:29:00.000-06:00

Yes! Finally! The sixth season of the Emmy Award-winning series 24 premieres tonight (and tomorrow – four hours in all) on FOX. For the past two weeks I have been watching the fourth and fifth season of the action-drama series on DVD, so I’m really pumped for this evening.

I’ll be back late tonight (I slept most of the day – the last time I will be able to since school at Marquette University begins this Tuesday) with a ton of updates, including my predictions for the Golden Globes on Monday.

The Bears Still Suck

2007-01-14T18:28:00.000-06:00

Damn you, Coach Mike Holmgren! Damn you to Hell!

Sorry, ravings of a frustrated Packers fan.

At least Philadelphia (a team which in my opinion is highly overrated, along with their quarterback) is out of the picture. Could this be New Orleans’ year? And, more importantly, if they win the Super Bowl then will the Saints’ owner get his long desired wish to move the team to another city?

Is FOX Set to Blow the Nukes on 24?

2007-01-14T18:10:00.000-06:00

Source: Drudge Report

Tonight and tomorrow the action-drama series 24 will make its sixth season debut on FOX. More importantly, not to mention controversially, the storyline for Day Six will be ripped straight from the headlines as it raises concerns pertaining to Guantanamo Bay, the Patriot Act, Muslim rights in the United States, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and, above all, the threat this nation faces from low-charge nuclear attacks, a scenario which was played out in a recently released CIA report.

Condoleezza Rice Loves Fox News

2007-01-12T02:11:00.000-06:00

How dare the secretary of state speak positively of the FOX News network! Proof Hillary’s ‘vast right-wing conspiracy’ exists!

I suppose if we had a liberally-biased media in this country this would count as news … oh, wait!

Please Contribute Donations or Service to Mitt Romney's Exploratory Committee

2007-01-12T01:38:00.000-06:00

Nazi Pelosi Bans Smoking in the House

2007-01-12T01:22:00.000-06:00

The smoke-filled room look is out; the $1,000 per plate dinner with Hollywood celebrities is the more appropriate and ‘ethical’ image for Democrats to schmooze with those pesky House lobbyists.

The Democrats are back!!

Alec Baldwin Sees Link Between Global Warming and War in Iraq

2007-01-12T00:38:00.000-06:00

Actor Alec Baldwin has said some flat-out stupid stuff ever since he got the paranoid delusion in his head that American society care about what he thought in relation to this country’s foreign policy or that it mattered critically to the direction this nation was moving toward but this is one for the books. In his latest rant at the Huffington Post the actor said, “All around us are signs of global climate change. And this administration's response is to send in more troops. If you don't think there is a link between the weather and Iraq, you are wrong”.

So let’s get this straight – we’re losing the war in Iraq because Bush should never have put us there in the first place (it’s called cut-and-run) and as a result out planet is suffering under the effects of global warming because our federal government is focusing too much attention on national security and the war against terrorism then a hypocritical environmental theory (let’s not forget ‘global cooling’ in the 1970s – I suppose the Vietnam War was to blame for that).

A Hope, A Chance

2007-01-12T00:18:00.000-06:00

While once again this has nothing to do with politics fans of Marquette University’s Men’s Basketball team will be glad to know that their Warriors snapped UConn’s thirty-one home game winning streak with their victory on Wednesday evening. It was Marquette University’s first win in the Big East Conference this season.

The 800-Pound Guerilla

2007-01-12T00:15:00.000-06:00

Originally posted on Cox and Forkum on January 11th, 2006

Cut and Run

2007-01-12T00:14:00.000-06:00

Originally posted on Cox and Forkum on January 9th, 2006

Madame Speaker

2007-01-12T00:07:00.000-06:00

Originally posted on Cox and Forkum on January 4th, 2006

Genocidal Logic

2007-01-12T00:02:00.000-06:00

Originally posted on Cox and Forkum on December 17th, 2006

Dire Global Warming Image Presented on The Simpsons

2007-01-09T14:41:00.000-06:00

I have said before but I will say it again, the long-running FOX animated series The Simpsons has over stayed its welcome on television. It use to be funny but now that it has become stuck-up on its political messages – take for instance their overtly on-the-nose criticism of the US-led invasion of Iraq in their last Halloween special – it has grown increasingly old.

The latest example of this comes from the program’s first new episode of the new year in which Marge and Lisa after entering an oceanographic institute come across a display which shows a model of New York City flooding within three years as a result of the effects of Global Warming – complete with dead people floating on the top of the water.

Click the picture to the left to watch the video clip.

And Have You Seen Obama Walk on Water?!

2007-01-08T16:33:00.000-06:00