The Mulatto Advocate

Ah is leavin' the plantation

2003-10-27T15:06:00.000-08:00

I took xrlq's advice and left blogger. I still have to get my domain set up, but for now, you can visit me at my new site:

The Mulatto Advocate

Please update your bookmarks.

Slow day

2003-10-22T15:53:00.000-07:00

Whatever this crap is, I DON'T WANT IT!!!

Feels like someone shoved a balloon up my nose into my sinus cavity and started inflating it. I'm supposed to be writing up a set of technical specifications for a project I'm working on and I cannot focus for crap with this balloon in my head.

Yet another example

2003-10-21T13:38:00.000-07:00

Thomas Sowell shows once again what happens to black folks who fail to drink the kool-aid.

You'd think that the party that supposedly supports affirmative action and set asides for black folks would be glad to add another black judge to the bench.

Power in Numbers

2003-10-21T13:25:00.000-07:00

I am proud to announce my membership in the Bear Flag League.

For those unfamiliar with the league, we are a group of bloggers from up and down the Great State of California. There are a lot of very smart people in the league, so if you have the time, try to give them all a read.

Don't be so sure

2003-10-21T09:03:00.000-07:00

The TSA says no more box cutters will make it on to planes. Yeah right. In the meantime they want to make an example of Nate Heatwole by charging him with a crime. The TSA should face facts and admit that this guy embarrased them. Instead of prosecuting the guy they should hire him.

Who you callin' crazy?

2003-10-20T10:19:00.000-07:00

Roger Clegg writes an interesting treatise on the state of black education.

I'd be interested to see how and if this dovetails with Properwinston's post on a similar subject last week.

I think Clegg makes an interesting point about the higher prevalence of conspiratorial beliefs among more educated blacks. I think he exposes the general source of exposure to these theories, but doesn't really expound on it.

"Blacks and whites alike are exposed to a lot of left-wing nonsense in the academy, but for some reason African Americans seem to take it more seriously than European Americans do. I suspect there are two reasons for this.

First, blacks are exposed to more of it, because they are more likely to study in areas (for instance, sociology and African American Studies, versus chemistry and mechanical engineering) where political correctness is at its most virulent. Incidentally, this may also explain why, while generally education correlates with conservatism for nonblacks, this breaks down for those with postgraduate degrees.

The second reason, however, is just as important, namely that for a variety of reasons African Americans are more predisposed to believe this nonsense."

The first reason Clegg notes is absolutely correct, in my opinion. I think any cursory examination of the course syllabus for a good number of "(insert subject here) studies" classes in most universities will expose the liberal or leftist bias that exists in the humanities these days. It would be interesting to see how many teachers of African American Studies were once campus radicals back in the day.

Clegg fails to give us a good explanation for reason number two. The article makes it sound as if black folks have some sort of hard-wired disposition to believe nonsensical conspiracy theories. The reason that black folks are more predisposed to believe conspiracies is that many black children are told from cradle to grave about how "the man" or "the system" will always try to keep him down, even though he or she has yet to experience it. Say it enough times to an impressionable young mind, and they will believe it. All throughout their youth, they are fed images and sound bites of racism, both real and perceived. But to the young mind, it's all real, because mommy and daddy told you so, or Jessie Jackson said so and mommy and daddy look up to Jessie, so it must be true. Black children fail often times because they are never told that they can succeed. They are told that no matter what they do, it wil never be good enough. What black parents don't realize is that many children don't see this as motivation to succeed in spite of their circumstances. Some will, but what happens most often is that their children will stop trying. This reasoning is further reinforced by the paternalistic (more patronizing) behavior by left-leaning politicians to provide ever increasing entitlements with the reasoning that since blacks can't succeed on their own, they need help. How insulting.

Clegg does touch briefly on additional reasons why many black children fail in education, like single parent households, etc.; but even more important, he touches on the peer pressure that forces many black kids to either "keep it real" or be castigated for "tryin' to be white". (Having experienced this personally, I can tell you it is not a recent development, either.)

Clegg makes a good suggestion when he says that someone should compile the writings of conservative black thinkers like Booker T. Washington and Frederick Douglas. The problem is exposure. Afro Studies teachers pretty much won't touch the stuff, except to criticise it as being atypical of the black experience.

This may change as black children are exposed to more positive role models like Colin Powell, Condi Rice, etc. Black conservative expression needs to reach a critical mass before it will be taken seriously.

I wish I had written this

2003-10-16T10:41:00.000-07:00

Bob Parks tells the truth about how liberals and more specifically black liberals treat any one who fails to toe the line.

So which is it?

2003-10-16T08:31:00.000-07:00

Properwinston gives an interesting insight as to why black children lag behind academically. He delves into an interesting philosophy concerning the mindset of "oppressed" peoples and their failure to take responsibility for elevating themselves.

Interesting insight into the cult of victimhood. Give it a read.

Must have hit a nerve... Correction

2003-10-15T15:27:00.000-07:00

Apparently, I was mistaken about the page containing a certain slur against me. The insult actually remains public.

That's fine with me, since it only proves my point that race pimps treat any person with black ancestry who refuse to drink the kool-aid as a sell-out or uncle tom.

Thanks to Prometheus 6 for proving my point for me.

Must have hit a nerve...

2003-10-15T14:46:00.000-07:00

Here is the cached version of a page where I get referred to as a "crakka-ass-cracka" for defendining Rush Limbaugh's comments about Donovan McNabb.

How Creative.

Of course, leaving this statement out in the open would have only reinforced my very public view that blacks are just as racist as whites, so the page was edited.

Either your comments stand on their own or they don't. In either case, calling me names doesn't change the fact that you lack a coherent argument for your position.

Amen, brother

2003-10-15T10:54:00.000-07:00

Ward Connerly writes this column about how Prop. 54 was doomed almost from the start.

Ward, the words of a famous prophet from our past says it all:

"There is a class of colored people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs and the hardships of the Negro race before the public... Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs -- partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs."
- Booker T. Washington

Yet again, the REAL reason they oppose vouchers

2003-10-15T10:21:00.000-07:00

Thomas Sowell relates his experience in Washington discussing school vouchers. The following statement is scary:

During a recent visit to Washington, I was told by a high official there that he had posed this question to Democrats: "Why are you so opposed to vouchers?"

The reply: "We aren't going to give you guys a victory."

Now that's scary. Rather than help the children, they'd prefer to win a fight. This gives the lie to the Liberal mantra "for the Children".

I laughed when I read this later on in the article:

One of the tragedies of the public schools is that they have become so enmeshed in bureaucratic rules and constrained by court decisions that they can do little to prevent a handful of classroom clowns and hoodlums from making it virtually impossible to educate other students in many ghetto schools.

Nor can public schools get rid of even a grossly incompetent teacher without administrative and legal processes that can drag on forever and cost tens of thousands of dollars. Public schools are also trapped in rigid hiring rules that keep out highly qualified people who have not suffered through enough mind-numbing education courses to be called "certified."

Private schools, and to some extent charter schools, escape these rigidities. Teachers' unions and others in the education establishment say that it is "unfair" that public schools have to compete with other institutions that do not have these and other bureaucratic and legal handicaps.

Hello!?!?! It was the Teachers' Unions that fought to have those very same bureaucratic and legal rules put in place to protect their jobs from the very competition they now face. That's like saying it's not fair for me to have to take the same vision test as the next guy because I poked my left eye out.

It also exposes a stunning denial of what makes private schools so effective. Teachers in private schools are typically subject matter experts, not "credentialed" teachers. A history teacher in a private school is more likely to have a history degree than a public school teacher in the same subject. So even though the private school teacher isn't "credentialed", who do you think is more qualified to teach the subject? But the teachers' union kept that very qualified person out because they required them to jump through flaming hoops to earn a dubious "certificate" saying that they can teach.

For years, the teachers' unions cried that they needed more money and smaller class sizes, and looser standards of accountability if they were going to teach effectively. Well, they got all that and more, and the results remain the same. Actions speak louder than words, that's why their words in opposition to vouchers ring so hollow. We know better now. Look at some job ads, you'll see that more and more companies are requiring degrees for even entry level positions. Of course, part of that is that they know a recent grad will work for damn near slave wages just to get employed, but the bigger part of it is that a good proportion of recent college grads have the equivalent of what I got as a high school education 16 years ago.

What the media isn't telling us

2003-10-13T12:45:00.000-07:00

The Dissident Frogman writes today on the successes of the Coalition's rebuilding efforts in Iraq.

He has some pretty impressive stats:

1500 schools are now reopened
12,000 tons of medical supplies
22,000,000 (yes, that's six zeros) vaccinations given
14,000 km of irrigation canals cleared
100,000 jobs created

Read the whole thing

Leaving the Plantation

2003-10-13T11:36:00.000-07:00

Raoul Contreras writes about the Latino backlash against Grey Davis in the recall election.

Anyone who think they can take the Latino vote for granted now is a fool.

College Dems Gone Crazy

2003-10-13T10:51:00.000-07:00

Correction: I have been informed that Ashley Bell is a male. As such I have removed my reference to him as "hon". thanks to Mary for the correction.

Today's FrontPage has a good example of how Democrats will see the speck in the eye of the conservative, but fail to see the 2 x 4 in their own. It's also a pretty good view of how they honestly think of us uppity colored people who think for ourselves and refuse to stay on their plantation.

Here's the text of the memo in question:

We have less than a month before we convene in New Orleans at the biggest CDA Campaign Invasion in History. Registration has already exceeded South Dakota and our numbers are ahead of last years convention this far out to the event.

On Saturday - we nominated Kathleen Blanco the Lt. Governor to be our nominee to take on Bush's personal "Do Boy" Bobby Jindal. Jindal is Arab American and the Republicans token attempt to mend bridges long burnt with the Arab American community. With your help Blanco will be the first women Governor of Louisiana an already rarity for the Deep South. Blanco is a great example of our Parties ability to nominate great candidates without bowing to tokenism.

She fought off tooth and nail the southern good ole boy network in our own Party to pull together a winning coalition of women and minorities to place her on the verge of history.

The Lt. Governor is counting on us! As Jindal calls in the Bushes - she is calling on us the progressive foot soldiers of the Democratic Party - to take it to Bush and show Republicans what can happen when College Democrats get mobilized! Its not too late to sign up for the invasion - but because of overwhelming reservations we had to move hotels to the La Quinta Inn on the West Bank - a great location down town that can accommodate our entire army of activists. Details and directions to the new location will be on the website shortly - no price change what so ever.

Get excited - Less than a month to GO!!

See you in Bayou!!

Ashley D. Bell

CDA President

OK, let's start with the grammar and spelling. This is a college student?!?! Better go back to high school. To be fair, Mr. Bell did issue a correction stating that Mr. Jindal was in fact Indian, not Arab. But why bring it up in the first place? It's apparent that Mr. Bell thinks of Mr. Jindal as the Indian equivalent of a "house nigga", even though he does not express it in so many words. His description was to call Bobby Jindal "Bush's personal 'Do Boy'". Interestingly enough another student had this to say:

Kapil Sharma, an Indian-American and a Democrat told Talon News, "If that's what a token candidate is, I'll go out and support token candidates." He continued, "A token candidate would not have the impressive credentials that Jindal has."

Sharma added, "For us as Democrats to play the race card goes against everything we stand for."

Mr. Sharma, I applaud your first statement as it shows that you at least have a mind of your own. However, the last statement betrays either a complete denial or a stunning lack of ignorance about the very character of your chosen political party. The Democratic Party has done nothing but play the race card for the last 30 years either by portraying it's opponents as racists, or by attempting to scare colored folks into voting for them by raising the specter of the return of Jim Crow if they don't.

These monkeys should run for office

2003-10-10T08:31:00.000-07:00

Welcoming Infinite Monkeys to my blogroll. You should too.

Recall Madness

2003-10-10T08:23:00.000-07:00

James of Infinite Monkeys suggests recalling black leaders. Too bad they're not elected, I bet it could work. Hat tip to Calblog for the link.

Zero Tolerance run amok

2003-10-09T16:03:00.000-07:00

Boy lands in trouble for lending his asthma inhaler to a friend.

If you have children in school and they are asthmatic, ask your doctor to specify that he or she carry on their person the inhaler on the prescription.

Gray Davis' Cop-Killing Gun Law

2003-10-09T13:06:00.000-07:00

Richard Poe exposes the latest bit of insanity from the People's Republic of California.

Why you shouldn't make assumptions

2003-10-09T09:59:00.000-07:00

Matt Welch writes on how equating people's politics with their skin color can be dangerous can be dangerous to your political ambitions.

It's easy to understand why both parties take certain voting blocs for granted. The images we're constantly bombarded with in the media would seem to reinforce the notion that people think and vote in lockstep with one another based on race or ethnicity. In reality, we know it ain't true.

Unfortunately, there are large groups within ethnic communities that do take the attitude that one party is good and the other bad. Now they complain when the party that they've pledged their blind allegiance to treats them like a two-bit whore. What they fail to see is that by refusing to vote for any other party, they've put themselves into that position. By giving their votes in exchange for favors and handouts, they have, quite frankly whored themselves.

To top it off, they denigrate anyone who refuses to buy into the identity politics that they so faithfully espouse. This story seems to give me some hope that people are finally starting to wake up and understand that what's good for the goose isn't necessarily good for the gander.

There's a quote from Clarence Thomas that sums it up best:

"I knew who I was and needed no gimmicks to affirm my identity, Nor, might I add, do I need anyone telling me who I am today. This is especially true of the psycho-silliness about forgetting my roots or self-hatred." "I assert my right to think for myself, to refuse to have my ideas assigned to me as though I was an intellectual slave because I’m black."

Ouch.

Truth Hurts

2003-10-08T08:57:00.000-07:00

Hugh Hewitt takes the editor of the Los Angeles Times to task for the paper's lack of journalistic integrity in today's WorldNetDaily

The plot thickens...

2003-10-06T16:02:00.000-07:00

Clayton Cramer has this bit about one of the LA Times' sources on the groping charges being leveled against Arnold Schwarzenegger. Turns out that she has close conections to Grey Doofus and his enforcer, Bob Mulholland. Interestingly enough, while the Times was all to happy to report her allegations, they were a little more reticent about profiling her background.

Anyone who still believed that the Times was impartial has sure found out what the rest of us have known for years. In my opinion, they should have their press credentials revoked.

The return of personal accountability?

2003-10-06T09:10:00.000-07:00

Finally, someone is held accountable for their actions.

From the story:

"McKnight's lawyers say there is no proof her cocaine use caused the child's death. "

Get real. The woman was a crack addict who admitted that she knew she was pregnant, but continued to use anyway.

Tell us something we didn't already know...

2003-10-03T10:33:00.000-07:00

This is a story that didn't make the news last night.

And we all know why.

There may be hope after all...

2003-10-03T10:20:00.000-07:00

Deroy Murdock reports that California voters may not drink the kool-aid that the race pimps are serving up and that Prop.54 (Racial Privacy Initiative) has a fighting chance.

Every morning for the past week I have heard the ads in opposition almost non stop. And it tweaks me that Ward Connerly and company have not stepped up to counter the outright lies that are being used to defeat the initiative.

Opponents claim that the measure will prevent doctors from collecting racial data - this is patently false. Prop. 54 specifically allows for the collection of racial data for medical purposes. One black proponent of the measure summed it up perfectly on the evening news the other night when he said in a nutshell that doctors opposed it because they would now have to collect the data themselves instead of being able to get it for free from the government.

And of course, the race pimps want it defeated because it puts another nail in the coffin of the industry that they've created. Booker T. Washington said it most eloquently many, many years ago:

"There is a class of colored people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs and the hardships of the Negro race before the public…. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs -- partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs."

I couldn't have said it any better...

Let the Character Assassination Begin...

2003-10-02T09:10:00.000-07:00

Fox news reports that ugly allegations of illegal use of prescription drugs are being leveled at Rush Limbaugh by the New York Daily News.

This should serve as an abject lesson to anyone who should question the politically correct orthodoxy of the left.

This probably would have come out sooner or later, as Rush is one of the Left's biggest targets. Regardless of whether or not the allegations are true, the timing of this report is extremely suspect. If they are true, Rush has my sympathy and support. I've personally known quite a few people who got hooked on prescription drugs for one reason or another, mostly because of some sort of injury. It's not an easy thing to deal with.

I'll reserve judgement until I hear something a little more credible than a possibly disgruntled former employee claiming she was his pusher. It's no secret Rush had cochlear implants done, and of course it would be normal to have painkillers prescribed for the post-op recovery. I'd sure want them after having my head cut open.

Sorry, the maid's story doesn't quite wash. Somehow I don't think going to Walgreen's to pick up his prescription makes you his pusher, lady.

Oh - almost forgot Donovan McNabb is overrated.

Children's Crusade

2003-10-01T13:35:00.000-07:00

Here is a really good story on the real reason day care is "preferred" for working parents.

Mrs. Mulatto prefers to stay home with the little ones, thank you very much. And I will do whatever it takes to make her happy.

Earned, Never Given

2003-10-01T08:57:00.000-07:00

One more reason why our marines are the best warriors on planet earth.

Insert 2 Coins to Play

2003-10-01T08:38:00.000-07:00

The coin operated governor is at it again.

Put up or Shut up

2003-09-22T09:26:00.000-07:00

Ronald Bailey nails the fearmongers on biotech foods. My favorite part of the story:

"Activists on both sides of the global war over crop biotechnology claim to care about the poor. But in this case, it was the pro-biotechnology side that brought the food. The Friends of the Earth came empty-handed, bearing only dishonesty and fear."

'nuff said.

Matt Cox on Teachers' Union & Charter Schools on National Review Online

2003-09-17T12:29:00.000-07:00

Matt Cox exposes the real reason the teacher's unions oppose education reform.

Taking freedom - one little bit at a time

2003-09-17T12:19:00.000-07:00

Joseph Farah tells us about the effort to bring back the Fairness Doctrine.

Like the Assault Weapons ban, this is something that should just die quietly.

In defense of Marriage

2003-09-15T16:04:00.000-07:00

David Kupelian writes from the Christian perspective on why gay marriage is a bad idea.

It's a long read but as excellent a defense as I have ever read.

Back at last...

2003-09-15T16:03:00.000-07:00

After laying a backyard of sod, building two gates, cleaning the pool and performing most of the items on my "honey-do" list, I can finally get back to blogging.

Now I just have to deal with my real job, where I had one server down, and my development workstation is hosed and the tech from SUN won't be out 'til tomorrow to look at it. And to top it off, one project that passed 3 different quality assurance runs has now failed on it's fourth and I can't get a hold of the guy who did the first three runs.

reality intrudes...

I don't recall...

2003-09-09T12:13:00.000-07:00

A great line from a reader at Indigo's Mailbox.

"Bill Clinton is getting $12 million for his memoirs. His wife Hillary got $8 million for hers. That's $20 million for memories from two people who for eight years repeatedly testified, under oath, that they couldn't remember anything."
Greg
Ayden, NC

I love it...

Why have I not heard of this guy before?

2003-09-09T10:17:00.000-07:00

Erik Rush is a man after my own heart. In today's WorldNetDaily he explains how we're all slaves.

I was just telling Mrs. Mulatto the other day that I felt that the social programs the Left pushes are the most pernicious form of racism. The Left has worked for the last 40 years to create a permanent underclass with people of color as it's core.

Keep 'em dumb and feed them and they will vote for you. That's essentially the politics of the Left.

We need more people like this

2003-09-09T10:07:00.000-07:00

Yet again, the older generation has something to teach us.

Suprise, Suprise

2003-09-09T09:58:00.000-07:00

Well, it would seem that drilling for oil in Alaska might not be such a bad idea after all. The BBC reports on a Smithsonian study that says that oil development and nature can coexist.

Personal Choice

2003-09-09T08:56:00.000-07:00

Wendy McElroy lays out the real erosion of freedom..

One Man's Stand

2003-09-05T09:38:00.000-07:00

Clayton Cramer is boycotting Amazon.com because they have refused to stop selling the book "Understanding loved boys and Boylovers" In his blog, When presented with the question of how Amazon would vet books for such offensive material, Clayton says:

"I'm not interested in hearing from any of the 160,000 people that bought Boylovers and want to convince me that they are just like you and me. My mind is closed on this subject. Pedophiles need treatment, not support. If caught in the act, they need to stop, submit to arrest, or die."

Sorry Clayton, I gotta disagree with you on this one. I believe the only treatment a pedophile needs is a 9mm slug to the back of the head. Sorry if that seems neanderthal to some of you, but I will kill or die to protect my 3 cubs if need be.

It's the democracy, stupid

2003-09-05T09:24:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Samizdata.net for this story on what we are fighting in Iraq.

I just hope we have the guts to pull the trigger if it ever came time to use nukes...

Finally, someone gets it

2003-09-04T15:54:00.000-07:00

Reuters reports that Yahoo! News - Universal Music is cutting CD Prices.

From the story:

"Our research shows that the sweet spot is to sell our records below $12.98,' said Universal Music president Zach Horowitz. "We're confident that when we implement this we will get a dramatic and sustained increase."

Well, duh.

What will be most interesting is to see what effect this price cut has on artist advances. Here's a good link to some of the more spectacular contract signings. Keep in mind that a lot of this money gets paid to the artist before they record a single note; which in effect, asks the consumer to subsidize their gambling habits. Well, the consumer balked. They downloaded and copied to their heart's content. They refused to pay for crap. They refused to pay for a CD containing one good song and a lot of fluff. The consumer spoke, but the recording industry didn't listen. Granted, keeping the recording industry flush in money does guarantee to a small extent that some worthy artists will get some exposure. But the sad reality is, NARAS execs and the blockbuster artists are going to see the bulk of that cash. On top of it, a good chunk of the money we spent on CDs got kicked back to retailers for promotional subsidies. There was a bit of a stink a while back when some retailers tried to cut prices. The industry was forced to end this practice.

The industry cried, "But we are representing the artists!" This was a load of BS because anyone who knows anything about the business knows that artists make the majority of their money by touring and endorsements. Unless you are a big name artist, you can expect to collect little more than a pittance in terms of royalties. It's really rather sad because I have some CDs that are really great, but the artist didn't "sell", so they didn't get a new contract. And they get pennies on the dollar in terms of royalties. This is why a good number of big name artists start their own labels. Just to name a few:

Label/Artist
Maverick/Madonna
Paisley Park/Prince
Def Jam/Russell Simmons (formerly of Run DMC)
Bad Boy/Sean "P-Diddy" Combs

The problem is, ya gotta have a lot of money to do that. Most artists don't. My examples are probably not very good ones, since these were once small artist labels that have grown into big labels. But there are many more out there that are less well known.

Janis Ian has a two part article that she wrote on this. I came across the article while reading a story about music downloads on Tech Central.

Here's the links:
Part 1
Part 2

After reading this, it's hard to feel sorry for any record company execs. Damn, they might actually have to keep the Mercedes longer than 2 years...

Not that I'm trying to justify downloading music, (I majored in Broadcast Communications, for goodness sake) but when you see artists getting 8-figure advances and NARAS execs with $2,000,000 annual salaries, it's kind of hard to swallow the line that the record business is hurting because of piracy. Then you read about how they try to screw the artists via legislation and changes to copyright law.

I saw that Seal's new album comes out next week. Warner is allowing folks to download the first single for $1.49. This is a good step in the right direction. Is Warner seeing the light also? That remains to be seen.

Kudos to Universal for listening and responding to the consumer. The rest of you, take note.

Over my head...

2003-09-04T14:21:00.000-07:00

Man, sometimes life gets downright crazy. Trying to get some time to blog is....

Mrs. Mulatto has been trying to get me working on the website for our new business.

I just cured the swimming pool of a case of algae. If you think this is no big deal, try living in San Bernardino County with three kids in the dead of summer with no pool.

I spent way too much time diagnosing a hard drive problem on my Linux workstation at home last night. The drive is 6.4 gigs but I couldn't use anything beyond 2.1 gig. I just about wanted to chuck the thing through the window when I discovered the issue. Damn Fujitsu hard drives... Why can't they only require one jumper like Maxtor or Western Digital or Seagate?

My older two just started back to school.

I've been putting in 10 hours a day at my regular job churning out a friggin' ream of documentation for the systems management project we're putting in place. They should change my job title if this crap keeps up. Instead of a programmer, I'm a damn tech writer. No slight intended to tech writers intended, I just happen to like writing code, not documentation.

Finally got a chance to wash the inch thick coat of dust off of my poor Mirage.

In the meantime, my baby sister is going to the friggin' Bahamas in two weeks. Ain't life grand?

Giving Props

2003-09-04T13:43:00.000-07:00

Check out the updated blogroll. Good reads, all worthy of attention.

Let No One Forget

2003-09-04T13:41:00.000-07:00

Pejman has a great thought for the upcoming anniversary of the Sept. 11 2001, terrorist attacks.

I was watching FOXNews the other night when they were reporting that some of the families were protesting the fact that the towers were being rebuilt. They apparently want the footprints left undeveloped as a memorial to the victims.

To those people I say:
Your relatives are part of what made this country great. They led productive, fruitful lives. They paid taxes and raised families. Empty ground symbolizes none of that. The best tribute we could build to the memory of your loved ones is a new pair of towers.

We will show the world that the spirit that your loved ones embodied lives on. We refuse to wallow in grief and impotence. We will build two new towers, taller and stronger than the ones destroyed. This will be their tribute.

I'm sorry if you disagree, but I just don't see how an empty piece of ground symbolizes anything but grief and defeat.

I love this guy...

2003-09-04T12:34:00.000-07:00

If you havent checked out Kim du Toit's blog, check it out.

Truth is a @#%!^ isn't it?

2003-09-03T11:02:00.000-07:00

Pejman with the help of Tacitus debunks the excuses and obfuscation surrounding Cruz Bustamante's link to MEChA. There are lots of links to back up the arguments.

It's a long read, but it's worth it.

Yet another reason...

2003-09-03T10:20:00.000-07:00

InstaPundit links to a story that shows why the Second Amendment is still relevant in today's society.

I plead the First...

2003-09-02T12:33:00.000-07:00

David Limbaugh shows how those who claim to defend our rights actually violate them.

The Difference

2003-09-02T12:25:00.000-07:00

Joel Mowbray shows us the difference between Israelis and the Arabs who seek to destroy them.

Frankly, the Palestinians don't deserve a country of their own until they can act with peace and civility instead of hatred and violence.

Who are they REALLY for?

2003-08-29T12:15:00.000-07:00

ABC reports that hispanic groups are unhappy with Arnold's support of making English our official language.

Here's a guy who came to the US with squat, and now he's rich and running for Governor. I think he understands the value of learning the language.

Considering that a large proportion of poor immigrants are also those with the poorest grasp of English, you would think that any Latino advocacy group would support an emphasis on English education as a way to open the door to higher paying jobs.

Yeah, that's it - keep 'em dumb, poor and dependent. Once again, liberals trying to keep folks on the plantation so they can protect their jobs.

Call Daisy for a good time...

2003-08-29T11:40:00.000-07:00

Indigo has a hilarious post about a personal ad.

Speaking of people who don't learn...

2003-08-29T10:40:00.000-07:00

I caught Bill Maher on Larry King Live last night. In a nutshell, Bill claims that California is in such a mess because the people have abused the initiative process.

Well Bill, I got a wake up call for ya. California is in this mess because Grey Davis has acted like an absentee husband while our state legislature was his shopaholic wife with a platinum card.

Sorry, but your card has been declined...

Some people just don't learn...

2003-08-29T10:35:00.000-07:00

Cruz Bustamante says he would work to regulate gasoline supply and prices on FOXNews.com.

Some people just don't learn. Remember Cruz? Grey Davis tried this with electricity, now we pay more than it's worth.

OK, OK, you were right...

2003-08-27T19:10:00.000-07:00

Took my sister out to lunch today, so I got to talk to Justene of Calblog today. (For the uninitiated, my sister works for Justene.) I told her that I was throwing my support behind McClintock since Simon dropped out of the recall race.

Justene, didn't anyone tell you it ain't nice to say "I told you so"? ;-)

The Passionate

2003-08-27T19:06:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth Farah of WND talks about the most offensive film ever made

Personally, I can't wait to see it.

Facing Hard Facts

2003-08-26T11:42:00.000-07:00

Jed Babbin has insightful look on why our mission in Iraq could fail.

Will diplomacy trump common sense? Only Time will tell.

Thou Shalt Not...

2003-08-25T14:09:00.000-07:00

It looks like one more go around in Alabama regarding the Ten Commandments display.

One Methodist churchgoer was quoted as saying, "It was forced down our throats... This has taken the focus off of God and put it on a man."

What I want to know is, if you are a churchgoing Methodist, what problem would you have with the Ten Commandments being displayed anywhere? Might it be because you don't want be reminded that you're sinning six days of the week? If that's the case, then I'd say this person needs to stop pretending to be a Christian and just quit church altogether. Secondly, it wasn't the monument that "has taken the focus off of God and put it on a man"; it is the ACLU and the other Secular organizations that oppose any public references to God that put the focus on a man.

Here's an interesting lesson in the treatment of the Constitution:

Liberal attorneys want to stamp out public displays of religion, thus they have no problem citing Jefferson's wall of separation" letter as a demonstration of the "Intent of the Founders". The "Intent of the Founders" is a buzz phrase for liberal attorneys to sum up a fallacious argument that the Constitution is a "Living Document", that somehow changes meaning depending on the current social condition of the country. Somehow in my readings of the Constitution, I must have overlooked the part where it says that the meaning of the law changes based on peoples' feelings, silly me. In any case, Jefferson's letter has no legal force, but in matters pertaining to the First Amendment, it somehow gets treated as though it were the law. The 1st Amendment is as follows:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

Now, lets focus on the pertinent part of the amendment:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."

So, let's examine the facts. First, Congress didn't pass a law placing the monument there. Secondly, it was paid for by Judge Moore himself. Wouldn't removing the monument actually be a violation of the First Amendment? Judge Moore chose to express his religious beliefs (and those of most Alabamans) in the rotunda of the State courthouse. Forcing him to remove the monument would violate his right to free expression. The propriety of expressing those beliefs in a public building is not expressly dealt with in the Constitution. The language of the Constitution is not vague, the meaning is clear, and the ACLU is dead wrong.

Now contrast this to their efforts to deny us our rights under the 2nd Amendment. The Second Amendment says:

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." (emphasis added)

Somehow to the liberals, the clear meaning of the 2nd becomes cloudy, despite the fact that Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Virginia Constitution:

"No free man shall be debarred the use of arms within his own land."

or George Mason:
"I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people, except for a few public officials."

or Patrick Henry:
"They tell us...that we are weak--unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger?...Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house?...Three million people, armed in the holy cause of liberty...are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us."

These statements make clear the "meaning" of the 2nd Amendment, thus fulfilling the liberals need to determine the "Intent of the Founders". But yet, in their zeal to deprive us of our rights, they conveniently ignore them.

In both of these cases, the rights enshrined in the Constitution are being violated. And we are letting it happen. Rights once lost, are seldom regained without armed revolution.

Just a thought.

Racial Politics

2003-08-25T13:13:00.000-07:00

Why doesn't it suprise me that the Dems now want to play the race card in the Recall?

Anytime racial identity trumps what's best for the state, I know we're in trouble.

Arnold Picks Up Steam

2003-08-25T13:03:00.000-07:00

Arnold seems to be picking up a lot of support now that Bill Simon is out of the race FOXNews.com has the story.

I for one will throw my hat in for McClintock.

The difference

2003-08-22T12:10:00.000-07:00

Nissan Ratzlav-Katz shows us the difference between Israelis and those who seek to destroy them.

Double Standards

2003-08-21T11:35:00.000-07:00

Michele Malkin helps expose the difference in treatment between Schwarzenegger and Bustamante in today's WorldNetDaily.

Arnold's dad was a Nazi, Arnold was not. Bustamante was a member of a patently racist organization, Arnold was not. Yet Arnold gets hammered for his dad's affiliation while Bustamante gets a pass.

You have got to be kidding...

2003-08-20T14:53:00.000-07:00

Robert Scheer agrees with Warren Buffet that Californians aren't paying enough taxes on their property.

Let the fisking begin...

First, Mr. Scheer claims that Prop. 13 "gutted the core funding source upon which every other state relies to provide public services."

Wrong in TWO ways. First, Prop. 13 capped property taxes at 2% and limited reassessments. This did not "gut" anything. It simply put an end to unrestrained spending by local governments. The people put their municipalities on a diet. Fund only what's necessary and no more, and there shouldn't be a problem, should there? It's only when government exceeds it's mandate or plans poorly that funding problems arise. Secondly, property taxes in California are the source of income for counties and municipalities, not the state. Here in California we have the ability to raise money for our cities when we need it. In fact, the community where I live passed a bond 2 years ago to help fund our school district. To pay the bonds, a property levy of $130 a year was added to our property taxes. The reason this works is that the municipalities have to justify the increase to the community, and if the community doesn't think it's a priority, then it doesn't go. We the people have the final say.

In the column, Buffet makes the ridiculous comparison in the property tax rates between his homes in Nebraska and California. Supposedly, the taxes on his $500,000 house in Omaha went up $1920.00 this year.
Well, Mr. Buffet, I have news for ya, $1,920.00 is only .38 of one percent of the assessed value of your home. The average Southern California homeowner who bought their home within the last year will pay more than that every 6 months. Also, Nebraska has a population less than half of the city of Los Angeles. California has a population of almost 40 million. A little perspective helps, huh?

In fact Scheer undermines his own argument in the 6th paragraph when he brings up the fact that Californians were able to take advantage of low interest rates and the rising value of their homes by leveraging the untaxed equity to buy things and make improvements. He even goes so far as to say that it helped the state from falling into a recession. News flash - the state is in a recession, despite the increased consumer spending. What tax-and-spend liberals need to realize is that every dime spent got taxed in some fashion, thus producing more tax revenue, and kept people employed, which helped keep income tax revenues stable. (Never mind that it is taxation that is driving jobs out of the state, thus reducing tax revenue)

He further claims that the capital gains exemption that people get produces a gap in class division. Well, that's too bad Mr. Scheer, some of us worked hard to get where we're at. Why in the world would I have toiled in college and worked hard to advance at work if I couldn't live better than a janitor or a waiter? Oh, and guess what? Most homeowners could not be considered "rich" by any stretch of the imagination.

Mr. Scheer claims:

"Hard-line ideological Republicans have tried for three decades to strangle the money supplies of states and municipalities to force cuts in services: public schools open to every child, even the disabled; public transit and roads; clean air and water; public safety and health; emergency preparedness; a functioning judicial system; recreation areas and parks."

Republicans have fought not to strangle funding, but to restrain it. The strangulation sound you hear is the government struggling to grow beyond what is healthy. Any cuts in these programs have come because some municipalities have chosen to place their priorities elsewhere, doing a disservice to their residents.

Finally Scheer opines that, "We don't need to recall Davis, who is not the problem. We do need to re-create a political culture where the role of government is respected and properly funded."

No, Mr. Scheer, we need to create a political culture that places limits on what our government does on a daily basis, because they have consistently shown that they do not represent us. We need to create a political culture that rejects the ever increasing reach of government into our daily lives...

and our bank accounts.

Slowing Down for Simple Pleasures

2003-08-20T12:19:00.000-07:00

I've been so damn busy lately. I was in the garage looking for a tool when I ran across a dusty box of CDs I hadn't opened since we bought the house 3 years ago. Well, what should I find but one of my favorite Joe Sample Albums.

I had to listen. It was like being reunited with an old friend after years apart...

Those Darn Rich People

2003-08-20T11:27:00.000-07:00

Donald Luskin gives the NYT's Paul Krugman a thorough fisking in today's NRO.

Krugman claims that tax cuts for the "rich" provided less revenue for the Government to use to fix the power grid, thus causing the blackout shenanigans we saw on the east coast.

Whatever grip Krugman seems to have had on reality has now slipped. I got a tax cut, I am not rich. And to clarify, there's a difference between rich people and high earners. Liberals and Democrats obviously can't tell the difference, since they love to tax the hell out of anyone making more than $60K a year.

I can tell you, $60K a year in California doesn't go very far, at least if you have a family. It may be fantastic money in the midwest, but here, after state and federal taxes, sales taxes, car taxes, property taxes and the like, you're actually living on something approaching $40K

It was the Reagan tax cuts and deregulation that paved the way for the prosperity bubble of the 90's. Because of those tax cuts, the middle class could, for the first time, become serious players in the stock market. Some won, others lost. The whole thing collapsed because a few folks got greedy and started cooking books, not because the Republicans cut taxes.

But I digress - what is painfully obvious is that Krugman and other professional Bush haters have ignored the fact that the President actually warned folks about the issues facing the power grid early on in his Presidency, and no one moved to fix it. So now, who's to blame?

Here in CA, we faced rolling blackouts and outages for years because our Leftists in Sacto kowtowed to the radical environmentalists and refused to OK the startup of any new power plants for almost 15 years, and in fact began the decommissioning process at the San Onofre Nuclear Plant. During last year's energy fiasco, there apparently were four new gas fired plants ready to come on line, but were strung up in red tape. So now, who's to blame?

If you look at energy problems and public infrastructure problems in general, and you dig deep enough, you will usually find a liberal/green policy at the root of it. Mr. Krugman, did you ever stop to consider that here in California, the cost of providing services for illegal immigrants for just one year could build a power plant?

It ain't about rich people, Mr. Krugman, it's about priorities.

Get Well Soon

2003-08-20T10:27:00.000-07:00

Editor Binyamin Jolkovsky of Jewish World Review is in the hospital. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

Recently Discovered

2003-08-19T13:02:00.000-07:00

The Hobbesian Conservative is now one of my guilty pleasures. A Conservative after my own heart.

An Apple a Day...

2003-08-19T10:04:00.000-07:00

A Doctor writing in the Washington Dispatch has an excellent commentary on why Universal Health Care is a very bad idea.

Personally I have known quite a few Canadians with some great horror stories to share about their experiences in the Canadian Health Care System.

Straight Talk

2003-08-19T09:40:00.000-07:00

Former CA Governor Pete Wilson talks straight with Rich Lowry on NRO

Note Pete's words on Prop 187. I only wish he had come right out and said what everybody knows - the courst overstepped their constitutional authority when they struck it down. Yet one more case of judicial legislation subverting the will of the people.

Fixed

2003-08-18T18:20:00.000-07:00

Apologies to all of you who suffered through reading right justified text. I fixed the page.

The Equality Equation

2003-08-18T11:04:00.000-07:00

Adam Abraham has a very good commentary on the Racial Privacy Initiative (Prop 54) pending here in CA.

< rant >

There are those who would try to scare folks into thinking that this will somehow spell doom for their chances to get decent jobs, homes and an education, but in reality that's all a smokescreen. What they are really interested in protecting is not the interests of people of color, but their own cushy jobs in the race pimping business. There is no good reason for the state to collect racial data.

The race pimps and their buddies in the Democratic Party have created a new plantation; one that folks are all too happy to stay on because they believe their needs are being met. As long as a few jobs and spots in school are set aside, everybody's happy. What a joke.

The sad reality is, the "glass ceiling" exists because of the so called "civil rights" advocates, not in spite of them. The politically incorrect and unspoken reality is that many people of color - very capable people of color; cannot advance because of the perception that they got their positions due to lowered standards. This in effect creates the impression that they are not qualified because they didn't have to meet the same standard that a white or an asian person did. Just because a black or latino kid doesn't get into UCLA or USC doesn't mean he's being denied an education, it just means that maybe he or she should go to a Junior College first. In fact, by allowing people of color to enter University without meeting the required standards means one of two things:

Standards will have to be lowered to allow that person to "succeed", thus providing said person with a substandard education,

- OR-

You will increase the chances that person will fail, which in turn increases the likelyhood that they will drop out and never gain that education.

It seems likely to me that the first option is the route that has been taken. I have had the chance lately to have a civil debate with some recent college students and grads. To a one, they seemed to lack the necessary critical thinking skills to frame a coherent argument, lapsing instead into lame, pathetic diatribes about racism and the ephemeral "white privilege". One had the audacity to claim that the SAT and high school exit exams were racist, and she was white! When I asked her to explain to me how asking a child to solve a math problem or form a paragraph using standard english (with correct puctuation and spelling) was racist, she just looked at me with a blank expression. All of the propaganda she had absorbed during her academic career didn't have an answer for reason and logic. She muttered something halfway intelligible about children of color getting an inferior education. Never mind that a lot of them reject that education because they want to "keep it real" or don't want to "act white".

The terms, "Social Justice" and "Civil Rights" have become nothing more than euphemisms for equal results without equal effort.

Booker T. Washington was a prophet. He and Ward Connerly have a lot in common I think. Unfortunately, they both are seen by the civil rights establishment as Uncle Toms and sellouts.

But Booker was dead on when he said:

"There is a class of colored people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs and the hardships of the Negro race before the public... Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs -- partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs."

< /rant >

Strange Behavior

2003-08-15T15:50:00.000-07:00

Since my last post, Internet Exploder seems to be right justifying all of the text, while in Firebird, it works just fine.

Strange....

Time to settle the issue

2003-08-15T14:10:00.000-07:00

Jon Dougherty at WorldNetDaily reports on the current 2nd Amendment fight brewing. At issue is whether the Constitution supercedes state law. As some of us recall with much sorrow, California passed the most comprehensive "assault weapons" ban in the nation. I use quotes around the words assault rifle because obviously, our "enlightened" leaders in Sacto have no bloody idea of what an assualt weapon actually is.

An assault weapon is defined by the military as a weapon having selective fire capability; meaning, that it can fire in no fewer than two of the following ways:

Semi-Automatic:
one round is fired for each pull of the trigger
Burst:
several rounds (usually 3) are fired for each pull of the trigger
Automatic:
rounds are fired for the duration of time that the trigger of the weapon is depressed. (this term is usually incorrectly interchanged with semi-automatic)

By federal law, none of the guns available for civilian ownership meet this definition. The only way to legally own a real assault weapon is to obtain a federal firearms permit, which very few people have done, as it is an expensive and lengthy process.

Assault weapons bans are actually very silly as they are what I like to call "scary-looking" weapons bans. For instance, here in California, you cannot legally own a rifle that has a any of the following:

folding stock
pistol grip
bayonet lug

Now if anyone who actually has experience with firearms can intelligently prove how these things increase the lethality of a weapon, you will have convinced me that they should be banned. I can tell you from my own experience (I've been shooting for over 20 years) that they don't. Trust me, I can do more damage with this weapon, which is legal in CA, than I can with any of these weapons, which are not.

The Ninth Circuit recently ruled that the right to keep and bear arms is not an individual right, which totally ignores previous rulings by the Fifth Circuit(US v. Emerson, which by the way is an excellent history lesson) and by the SCOTUS in US v. Miller.

The difference being in the Miller case, the issue was never about whether Mr. Miller had the right to keep and bear arms, but the type of arms he possessed. In this case, it was a sawed-off shotgun, which the court ruled (in my opinion, correctly) was of dubious value to a militia member.

Since the Miller ruling is considered vague by many; and the ruling is over 60 years old, the time has come for a definitive ruling by the SCOTUS.

My only fear is that if SCOTUS rules that the Constitution does not mean what it says, our Republic is truly dead.

Inspiration

2003-08-15T11:13:00.000-07:00

Why have I not seen this before? Capitalistchicks.com rocks! Now that my wife is in business for herself, things like this really serve to inspire, especially when the inevitable doubts start to creep in. "Will I succeed?"

CapitalistChicks says, "YES!"

Check out the "Steamrollers" section. Truly inspirational women who succeeded - before feminism.

How much is enough?

2003-08-15T10:48:00.000-07:00

Just when you thought California had the monopoly on stupid economic policy, along comes Santa Fe NM. Apparently the "living wage" folks have gotten their hands on city policy and introduced a living wage measure that will kill businesses and jobs in the city. A small business owner lays out the consequences in City Journal.

This is yet another case where people are trying to impose "social justice" (read socialism) by legislating it. Equal results without equal effort. Why should a janitor or a busboy make as much as a secretary or an office clerk? The whole idea of a free market society is that you get paid according to the skills you possess. The more skills or education you have, the more you make. This is the incentive for folks to get an education so that they can jump out of dead-end jobs.

The shadow of 187

2003-08-14T13:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I mentioned the third rail of CA politics - Illegal Immigration, and whether or not Arnold would have the guts to touch it. Now that Pete Wilson is one of his advisors, he may have to.

The LA Times shows a rare fit of impartiality by printing this story on how the Democrats may try to use Prop 187 against Arnold.

By trying to kill his campaign with this issue, they may end up killing their own. The irony in this situation is that 187 is also the CA Penal Code section for murder...

Truth Hurts

2003-08-13T16:56:00.000-07:00

Kudos to Dubya for making the recess appointment of Daniel Pipes to the board of the US Institute for Peace. Finally there will be a voice in public policy that doesn't toe the weak State Department line and is willing to tell some very hard truths about the Middle East Conflict.

David Frum lays it out nicely in today's NRO.

Total Recall

2003-08-13T16:46:00.000-07:00

The Mulatto endorses Bill Simon for Governor.

And the winner is...

2003-08-13T16:45:00.000-07:00

My prediction is that Arnold will win the California Recall, however I do not endorse him.

I examined very carefully the various platform positions (or lack thereof) of the major candidates.

Arnold is very charismatic, but he has not "officially" articulated any clear positions on any issues. We can deduce from news reports that:

He voted in support of Prop. 187, which effectively killed Pete Wilson's career. But does this mean that he will touch California's political third rail and address illegal immigration? I highly doubt it. I don't really know how this will hurt him as I think Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante will have a solid majority among Latino voters delivered by the endorsement of the politically influential Sanchez sisters.

Last year he sponsored the proposition to provide $500 million to after school programs for California's kids.

He has publicly come out as being pro-choice.

He favors some kind of gun control, although he hasn't been real specific on that.

In short, a fiscal conservative, but social liberal. A "moderate" Republican as the Left would describe it.

McClintock has come out on four very big issues so far:

Repeal of the Vehicle License Fee (or "car tax")

Reform of the State Workman's Comp system; which is badly needed. California's WC premiums are among the highest in the nation. It's ridiculously easy to claim workman's comp here, which has driven costs WAY up.

Fighting government waste by requiring state agencies to perform an audit and eliminating anything unneccesary. (c'mon Tom, do you REALLY expect them to be honest?)

Voiding the energy contracts signed by Gray Davis in his bid to rein in energy prices last summer. This is a big issue for some folks, especially this time of year when the temps are hitting the low 100's.

Simon articulated his campaign positions during his run for Governor last year, and has stuck to those positions. They are almost identical to McClintock except that Simon has come out clearly opposed to abortion and gun control, which makes him an "extremist" in eyes of the lefties in Sacto.

The simple fact is, Arnold is the only Republican who can win in California.

Burning Down the House

2003-08-12T13:21:00.000-07:00

Today's frontpagemag.com has a scary story about the new face of eco-terrorism.

What makes this so maddening is that these folks want to actually dictate what gets built, when and where. If it doesn't conform to their idea of what's good for the earth, then they're opposed to it. If we all subscribed to their vision of nature, we'd be subsisting on nuts and berries and wiping our butts with tree bark.

They need to realize that we all have choices, and with those choices come consequences. For these folks, the consequences are going to be quite severe. The Government is in no mood to play around after 9/11/2001. Their right to free expression ends at someone else's property line. If Mr. Rosebraugh advocates violent struggle in his vision to protect nature, he'd better be prepared for the inevitable possibility that some people like myself will resort to deadly force to protect our property from him and those like him.

Low Maintenance

2003-08-12T11:32:00.000-07:00

Sorry for taking a few days off. I had a lot to catch up on both at work and at home.

Sniff, Sniff

2003-08-08T10:14:00.000-07:00

Mrs. Mulatto came down with whatever crud is coming around right now. I actually feel bad because I'm the one that gave it to her. Oh well, I'll telecommute today and play nurse.

Complain, Complain, Complain...

2003-08-07T12:26:00.000-07:00

Al Sharpton is upset because the "white" media aren't giving him and Carol Moseley-Braun enough attention. I guess it's easier to blame your problems on racism than to admit that you don't have a snowball's chance in hell of winning.

Ironically, Al has a very good argument when he describes the way that Democrats treat black voters. Al says:

"The Democratic Party acts like we are their mistress that they have to hide, like we're some political scarlet whore rather than their respected partner." "Either we're going to have a healthy marriage or we're getting a divorce and marrying someone who will respect us. We will no longer allow ourselves to be screwed by the Democrats."

Got a pint for a soldier?

2003-08-07T12:12:00.000-07:00

WND reports that the military is facing a blood shortage. They especially need Type "O" donors.

Give 'till it hurts...

Firebird Rocks!

2003-08-07T12:08:00.000-07:00

For some crazy reason, I keep getting publishing errors when I update this thing using IE 6. Switched to Mozilla Firebird and all is well. I knew there was a reason I kept two browsers on my PC...

My kind of Guy

2003-08-07T11:54:00.000-07:00

Rachel Lucas has a really cool story about why the Second Amendment is still relevant even in today's society.

What'$ in a name?

2003-08-07T11:01:00.000-07:00

Lowell Ponte has an interesting idea about the current flap about naming hurricanes on frontpagemag.com.

My question is, with the current complaints about all of the negative stereotyping of Black Americans, why would a black congresswoman of all people want "Black" names associated with something negative?

Get your scorecards ready...

2003-08-07T10:31:00.000-07:00

Here's the preliminary list of candidates in the California Recall.

Care to throw your hat in the ring? $3500 and 65 signatures will get you in.

You call that hot?

2003-08-06T17:06:00.000-07:00

Seems the folks in England are having a hard time beating the heat. Sorry for my lack of sympathy, but here in sunny Southern California, it's been pretty much above 90 all summer. In fact, it's been downright mild so far.

Hello World!

2003-08-06T16:25:00.000-07:00

Being a programmer by trade, I've seen my fair share of "hello world" exercises. Well, I'm saying "hello world!" with my first solo attempt at blogging. My previous ramblings can be seen over at calblog