Phoney "Diversity"; Situational Ethics

The paid nutroots contingent over at Raising Dough ... er, "Raising Kaine" has a post about diversity in the Congress, and complaining that the GOP gerrymandered its way into control of the House of Representatives.

Funny, but I don't remember hearing the far Left complaining about the harm to democracy when, in 1984, the reverse was true, and the GOP got a majority of congressional votes cast, but Democrats had a large majority of the House.

Congressional Child Molester Dies

Contrary to my post below, I really can't let this go by without comment.

Contrary to another post below, Gerry Studds is apparently not available.

Jerry says it all.

UPDATE: Here's what the moral conscience of the Democrat Party has to say about an actual Democrat child molester, as opposed to a mere aspiring Republican one.

Light Blogging

Professional obligations have taken me to Sacramento. Haven't seen the Governator yet. Nevertheless, those obligations will probably preclude many posts (though I may still drop a comment bomb here and there). Particularly here.

Another Homosexual Scandal?

So reports Jim Webb's nutroots contingent. That alone suggests taking it with a grain of salt.

Maybe if the dominant GOP would actually attack perversion, and live up to the far Left's stereotype, we wouldn't have to face reports of them practicing their perversion on children.

Marky Mark Bows Out

And I guess the Funky Bunch will have to move on to the next socialist weasel. Actually, maybe it's a good time to revive my appellation for him: the Boyish Governor. I'm told he was aware of it, and didn't like it. Actually, I confess that I attribute it to him with not a little bit of jealousy.

In any case, while the salutation is inaccurate, here is the Boyish Governor's letter to his e-mail list, bowing out of the 2008 race for the Democrat Presidential nomination:

Dear Friend,

Nine months ago, I left the office of Governor in Virginia. I was immensely proud of what we had accomplished. We faced historic challenges and got real results.

Upon leaving office, I committed all my time and energy to Forward Together because we need a new direction in America.

Everywhere I’ve traveled, I found hope that we could turn this country around. That Americans are looking for leaders who at this moment of enormous challenge for our country can actually bring us together and get things done.

I’ve heard that regardless of the depth of dismay at the direction President Bush has taken our country, rank and file Democrats are energized, and want ours to be a party of hope, not of anger.

I am especially proud of the work we’ve done in supporting those kinds of candidates throughout America.

We got a lot done.

Forward Together has contributed more money this year to Democratic candidates and party organizations than any other federal leadership PAC. Our effort raised over $9 million.

I headlined 86 events in 25 states to help raise or directly donate $7.3 million to Democrats this cycle.

And our work is not done—especially at home in Virginia, where I continue to work to help Jim Webb win.

But this has also been another kind of journey—one that would lead to a decision as to whether I would seek the Democratic nomination for President.

Late last year, I said to Lisa and my girls, “Let’s go down this path and make a decision around Election Day.”

But there were hiring decisions and people who’ve put their lives on hold waiting to join this effort.

So about a month ago, I told my family and people who know me best that I would make a final decision after Columbus Day weekend, which I was spending with my family. After 67 trips to 28 states and five foreign countries, I have made that decision.

I have decided not to run for President.

This past weekend, my family and I went to Connecticut to celebrate my Dad’s 81st birthday, and then we took my oldest daughter Madison to start looking at colleges.

I know these moments are never going to come again. This weekend made clear what I’d been thinking about for many weeks—that while politically this appears to be the right time for me to take the plunge—at this point, I want to have a real life.

And while the chance may never come again, I shouldn’t move forward unless I’m willing to put everything else in my life on the back burner.

This has been a difficult decision, but for me, it’s the right decision.

It’s not a decision I have easily reached. I made it after a lot of discussion with my family and a few close friends, and ultimately a lot of reflection, prayer, and soul-searching.

Let me also tell you what were not the reasons for my decision.

This is not a choice that was made based on whether I would win or lose. I can say with complete conviction that—15 months out from the first nomination contests—I feel we would have had as good a shot to be successful as any potential candidate in the field.

As for my family, Lisa and our three girls have always had a healthy amount of skepticism, but would have been willing to buckle down and support the effort. I love them all and appreciate their faith in me.

So what’s next?

First, I know that many friends, staff and supporters who have been so generous with time, ideas, energy, and financial support will be disappointed.

My decision does not in any way diminish my desire to be active in getting our country fixed. It doesn’t mean that I won’t run for public office again.

I want to serve, whether in elective office or in some other way. I’m still excited about the possibilities for the future.

In the short-term, I am going to do everything I can do make sure Democrats win in 2006. It’s an exciting year to be a Democrat. I leave shortly to go to Iowa to support folks running for state and congressional office. Hope they are still excited to see me.

I want to thank the thousands of Americans who have donated to Forward Together, hosted me in their homes, shared their ideas, and given me encouragement.

I also want to thank all of the staff and key advisors at Forward Together who have created a great organization. If we had chosen to go forward, I know they had the skills, talent, and dedication to take us all the way.

And finally, as I have traveled the country, I have been amazed at what pent-up positive energy for change exists.

In my speeches, I always acknowledge that what disappoints me most about this administration in Washington is that with all the challenges we face . . . and the tragedies we have experienced, from 9-11 to Katrina . . . that the President has never rallied the American people to come together, to step up, to ask Americans to be part of the solution.

I think a number of our party’s potential candidates understand that. I think, in fact, we have a strong field. A field of good people. I think they’re all hearing what I heard: that Americans are ready to do their part to get our country fixed. I wish them all well.

And I want to say thanks to all who’ve been part of this effort.

Mark Warner

Contary to what some are suggesting, much said here would make it difficult for Warner to accept the Democrat nod for Vice President.

'Course, he lied about taxes ....

Shacking Up?

Steve Minor reminds us that living in sin is still illegal in the Commonwealth of Virginia. No word on whether just visiting is also illegal.

Steve also laughs at those who worry about the Marriage Amendment affecting their rights. Not sure if it's for the same reason that I do. After all, there's still that pesky Fourth Amendment protecting perverts from the prying eyes of the State.

That is, of course, if they keep their private perversions private.

McCain Calls For Independent Investigation

Apparently, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) has called for an independent investigation into the Foley/House Page scandal. I heard on the radio on the way home that he has suggested that it be conducted by retired House Members.

I hear Gerry Studds and Dan Crane are available to serve as co-chairmen, or co-chairs, or whatever.

Someone Should Be Fired Over This

While I've been unable to yet find a link, an item in today's Potomac News caught my eye. It was a letter to the editor, with a headline which flatly stated that Democrat Senate candidate Jim Webb had been Reagan's Navy Secretary for four years.

Now, as anyone knows, authors of letters and op-eds are not responsible for headlines; editors are. And to be sure, the letter's author stated the facts accurately: that Webb served for four years in the Reagan Administration, but only for ten months as Navy Secretary.

So the question arises: Why would a Potomac News editor inaccurately state Webb's credentials? I can think of many reasons, but it is highly doubtful that "it was just a mistake" is the most likely, even if the possibility will probably be enough to allow the individual in question to keep his or her job.

If, indeed, the publisher of the Potomac News even cares.

Sun Rises! Film at Eleven

Well, this little news item is right up there with this morning's sunrise as a newsworthy event. Teachers unions endorse a Democrat. What next? Talk about phoney news.

In a related story, the New York Times expresses surprise that keeping criminals in jail lowers the crime rate.

Mark Warner --- Out of the Liberal Closet

Well, advocates for the radical homosexual agenda report that former Governor Marky Mark is supporting their efforts with his filthy lucre, a $25,000 donation to the "Commonwealth Coalition." No word on the activities of his funky bunch.

With this donation, Warner demonstrates either that he supports queer "marriage," or is too stupid to recognize the specious nature of the "unintended consequences" nonsense.

And this guy thinks he's presidential material?!?!

North Korea Claims To Have Conducted Nuclear Test

Kim Jong "Mentally" Il, Maximum Leader of Communist North Korea, claims to have conducted an undergound nuclear test, officially making that country a member of the nuclear "club."

Thank you, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.

UPDATE: The United States Geological Service reports a 4.2 magnitude tremor resulting from the test.

A Little Family History From Alaska

My Aunt Nancy was just contacted by this young man, working on an Eagle Scout project of particular interest to my family. Here's the Anchorage Daily News story:

Scout's effort honors bomber crewman

HERO: Plaque placed on wreckage explaining how man saved others.

By JOSEPH DITZLER
Anchorage Daily News

Published: August 9, 2006
Last Modified: August 9, 2006 at 03:34 AM

WASILLA -- Nearly 50 years on, Staff Sgt. Calvin K. Campbell still looks like a hero.

A flight mechanic, Campbell, 34 at the time, of San Antonio, Texas, was awarded the Soldier's Medal for his deeds on Nov. 15, 1957. A TB-29 Superfortress in which he was a crewman crashed in the Talkeetna Mountains 15 miles north of Wasilla that night. The plane had lost its way while southbound over the Susitna Valley and plowed into the mountains in bad weather.

Six of 10 aboard died outright. Campbell, the only crewmen unhurt, pulled the three other survivors to safety, and then wrapped them, some seriously injured, in sleeping bags and parachutes to keep them warm until rescued the following day.

Campbell's crewmen credited his quick response with saving their lives. In the process, Campbell incurred a shoulder sprain and frostbite.

"If it weren't for him, we wouldn't be here," Tech. Sgt. Manuel Garza told the Anchorage Times shortly after the crash.

The aircraft wreckage still rests on what since then has been known as Bomber Glacier. A tough four- or five-hour hike to reach, it gets little casual tourist traffic.

But since July 22, anyone who visits the site will know the story behind the wreckage, and how Campbell became a hero to his surviving crewmates.

An Anchorage Boy Scout working on his Eagle rank service project erected a bronze plaque on the bomber itself. The plaque, placed by Tyler Adams, 17, also lists the names of the bomber crew and backers who made the project possible.

Adams, encouraged by his father, Steven Adams, an accountant with NANA Development Corp., over the past year planned, researched and, with the help of four friends and numerous backers, hauled the 24-by-18-inch, 47-pound plaque to the site. J&T Foundry and Design of North Pole made the plaque, Tyler said.

He plans to deliver a copy of the plaque to the Alaska Veterans Memorial at Byers Lake, 28 miles north of Talkeetna. That way, more people will read the crash story and appreciate Campbell's story, he said.

Adams, who graduates in 2007 from Bartlett High School, said he got the idea for the memorial plaque during a hiking trip to the site, situated on a glacier at 6,600 feet above sea level and just over the northeast ridge above the Reed Creek drainage.

"I was just hiking around ... and thinking of an Eagle Scout project," he said. "It is a really amazing story."

Inspiration proved the easy part, he said.

He set about researching the crash, first on Google, the Internet search engine; then in the archives of the Anchorage Daily News; and in the office of historian at Elmendorf Air Force Base, where the plane was based.

Adams said he learned the surviving crewmen had all died in the intervening years. He still hopes to locate members of their families in time for a service dedicating the second plaque.

Adams and four fellow Scouts from Troop 25, sponsored by the Chugach Foothill Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, rode with the plaque to the bomber, courtesy of a helicopter flight supplied by Security Aviation.

The plaque, said Steven Adams, troop scoutmaster at the time, was "designed so a couple kids could hump it in and take care of business. But by the time everybody got their words in, we were sure glad there was a helicopter."

The Scouts -- Adams, Jordan and Jared Bisby, Dan Novakovich and Nick Bilak -- also hoisted 10 American flags at the site, flags that U.S. Rep. Don Young of Alaska provided. The flags had all flown over the Capitol in Washington, D.C., and Adams would like to present them to the families of the crewmen.

"We're hoping to get word out to the families of these folks," his father said.

The more immediate search, door-to-door and phone-call-by-phone-call, was for backers to underwrite the cost of the plaques, about $2,000.

"That was the hardest and longest part of this project," Adams said.

Success came bit by bit, either in the form of money or services rendered. Everyone he approached, "from a car maintenance shop to Alaska Airlines," gave something.

He said he learned something about the art of persuasion through this project, as well as presentation. "I was learning a whole new degree of professionalism," Adams said.

I spoke with Tyler this evening, and gave him a little relevant family history. My uncle and namesake, 1st Lieutenant William James Schreffler (also an Eagle Scout), was one of the pilots on the flight, but did not survive the crash. A Life magazine story about the crash appeared at the time, because the hero of the affair was a black airman who helped save his fellow crewman, a newsworthy happenstance in 1957.

What a fine young man. God bless the Boy Scouts.

So Far Gone It Makes Me Optimistic

Never mind that she's too stupid to know the difference between a cannon (a weapon) and a canon (a set of ideas): Howling Latina demonstrates that she's really too ignorant to be taken seriously about ... well, much of anything. Too ignorant to understand the link between socialism and communism; too ignorant to understand that Mao and Lenin flow inexorably from Marx and Engels. Just, well, too ignorant.

It's pathetic, but juxtaposes with a refreshing honesty from Greg Bouchillon.

UPDATE: Poor Howling Latina doesn't like criticism. 'Course, when you misspell something once, it's a mistake. When you do it twice, it's ignorance.

Perhaps she should change her name to "Howling Idiot."

Asinine WaPo Comment of the Day

From Eugene Robinson's caricature-fest, "GOP Bigotry That Backfired":

The Republican Party has gone to such lengths to demonize homosexuality that it must pain the leadership to reveal that such a thing as a gay Republican congressman could even exist.

Does the Washington Post even require its writers to have taken a history course? It's not "the Republican Party" that has "demonize[d] homosexuality"; it's 5000 years of civilized society that has condemned it. Of course, that millenia of human experience condemns homosexuality stands as a rather strong counterpoint to the radical homosexual agenda is a fact that tends to militate against adoption of that agenda.

And never mind that the open secret that was Congressman Mark Foley's perversion never seems to have harmed his standing among his GOP peers until he there was evidence that he apparently started preying on underage Pages.

Another fine example of a far Lefty trying to have it both ways. And that the radical homosexual agenda isn't about tolerance; it's about legislating acceptance and validation. And while intolerance might be categorized as "bigotry," refusing to validate homosexual behavior assuredly is not.

Democrats Don't Win? Must Be A Stolen Election!

More insanity from Alice Marshall and her far Left moonbats.

Boldly Stacking The Deck

It seems that Alice Marshall has a link to a site which boldly proclaims its intention to stack the deck for people seeking information about Joe Lieberman on the Internet, "with a little concerted effort."

Far Left Moonbats: Orwellian to the core.

Translating Liberal-Speak

Well, it seems that KathyinBlacksburg has offered Shawn O'Donnel's "12 Core Values of a Democrat." However, since so many Democrats couch their Socialist agenda in obscure or even dishonest language, or meaningless buzzwords, it is important to understand what they really mean. Therefore, I offer O'Donnel's list (with spelling errors), and a translation guide:

Belief in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights as a Living Document of inclusion not exclsuion
Since our Socialist agenda is contrary to the Constitution and the desires of a still-freedom-loving electorate, and we lack the courage to actually try to amend the document (like getting rid of that pesky Second Amendment), we need unelected judges to re-write the fundamental law to achieve our unpopular goals.

Life, Liberty and the Persuit of Happiness for All
... except for the unborn, and those who actually achieve, who are cows to milk to fund our Socialist agenda.

Fairness and Equal Opportunity for All
Of course, "fairness" means whatever we want it to mean, and whatever happens to be expedient on any particular day. Substitute "outcome" for "opportunity."

Protection of the Environment
Remember that part about the Constitution? Well, forget about it as far as your property is concerned. It's particularly important that we have judges who treat it as a "living" document, since we need to read all of its protections of property out of it.

Quality Public Education
Of course, by "quality" we mean "mediocre." And by "public," we mean "government" and "teachers-union" controlled.

Economic Justice for All
Except for those nasties who build a better mousetrap and make obscene profits, who are cows to milk to fund our Socialist agenda. And if you believe "economic justice" means "each getting his dues,i.e., getting paid what he is worth in a free-market economy," then you just haven't been paying attention.

Living Wage Jobs
Read: government-mandated (but not -funded) welfare for people too stupid and/or lazy to take advantage of the wonderful opportunities available in a free-market economy. Of course, we want to get rid of the free market.

Social Security
Read: government-dependency for old people, who vote. Remember, because this is important: He who robs Peter to pay Paul can always count on the support of Paul.

Fiscal Responsibility
Read: Higher taxes.

Workers' Representation and Collective Bargaining
Read: forcing elitist union bosses on workers who are too stupid to know that they need a union, and making them pay for the privilege. And after all, if we can't have union bosses extracting forced dues for politics under the guise of worker "representation," how else are we going to fund our unpopular politicians?

Affordable Health Care, Housing, Utilities and Food
Read: Ridiculously higher taxes.

Homeland Security and Strong National Defense
Always last on our agenda. And, of course, secondary to virtually every preceding item. And every problem in the world can be traced to America. It's our fault. Blame America first. We have so much for which to atone.

Just to make sure that you understand 'em.

At Least He Recognizes The Irony

Greg has some comments about blogosphere trashings of Susan Allen.

I can't say I disagree with him --- I've known the Allens for years, and believe that George is wise to recognize her as his greatest political asset --- but this line pretty much sums up Greg's credibility to speak to the issue:

When I have to step up and clean up the trash in the blogosphere, something is seriously wrong.

Sanctimony is always unattractive. Particularly when it's unsupported --- or, indeed, is contradicted (particularly funny on a blog started pseudonymously was the complaint about someone "who lacked the courage to confront me") --- by a record.

Precious Moments

I guess for some, the GOP is not sufficiently suspicious of homosexuals.

Actually (H/T to Jerry), the Wall Street Journal has it just about right:

[I]n today's politically correct culture, it's easy to understand how senior Republicans might well have decided they had no grounds to doubt Mr. Foley merely because he was gay and a little too friendly in emails. Some of those liberals now shouting the loudest for Mr. Hastert's head are the same voices who tell us that the larger society must be tolerant of private lifestyle choices, and certainly must never leap to conclusions about gay men and young boys. Are these Democratic critics of Mr. Hastert saying that they now have more sympathy for the Boy Scouts' decision to ban gay scoutmasters? Where's Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on that one?

Of course, in Foley's case, we're talking about perverse fantasies, not actual practice. It's appropriate to remember how Democrats reacted to actual perversion:

This is harsher treatment than was meted out in the past to some Members of Congress who crossed another line and actually had sexual relations with underage pages. Democrat Gerry Studds of Massachusetts was censured in 1983 for seducing a male teenage page, but remained in the House for another 13 years and retired, according to the Boston Globe, with a rich pension.

Jerry has written another good post about the whole imbroglio, as well, noting the utter confusion of the far Left, in whose circles homosexual behavior is supposed to be acceptable.

Thankfully, we have the New York Times to makes these fine distinctions between acceptably perverse behavior, and unacceptably perverse behavior.

Congratulations to Delegate Frederick and Wife Amy

Just opened my e-mail to receive this good news:

It's a girl! ... well, you may have already known that, but I'm very pleased to let you know that Grace Amira Frederick has finally arrived!

Gracie was born at 12:06am on Friday, September 29th. She was an even 8 pounds, and 20 inches long. Praise God, baby and mom are doing great -- happy, healthy, grateful, and incredibly blessed.

Amy and Gracie checked out of the hospital Saturday afternoon with a clean bill of health (but lots of recovery for Amy) and came home to a great welcome surrounded by family.

Thanks to so many of you for all of your prayers, love, support, friendship, and well wishes. We look forward to seeing you soon and introducing you our beautiful gift from God.

-JMF.

Heartfelt congratulations to Jeff, Amy, and little Grace.