I Got Nothin'...

So take this! Feel free to copy it for your collection. I'll always remember Time In New England with a slight ache. Bette Midler is the best!

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Visit 360CITIES and zoom into the city.

This is amazing technology. Enjoy.

The Religion of ...

While the apologists for Islam continue their campaign of lies and deceit, the practitioners of Islam continue their 1,400 year old campaign of murder and terror against those who do not acknowledge the supremacy of their child rapist prophet.

On October 31, Al-Qaeda attacked a church in Baghdad, killing at least 58 people. Since then, two more attacks have been carried out on Christians in Iraq’s capital city. The increased persecution of Christians in the Islamic world is partly motivated by fear: Christianity is making major inroads among Muslims who have become disillusioned with their faith. [emphasis mine~sig94]

The Islamic State of Iraq, a front for Al-Qaeda, declared responsibility for the church massacre. “All Christian centers, organizations and institutions, leaders and followers, are legitimate targets for the mujahideen wherever they can reach them,” the terrorist group declared. Eyewitnesses say that the gunmen said, “We are here to avenge the burning of the Qurans and the jailing of Muslim women in Egypt!” However, one hostage said another gunman stated, “We will go to paradise if we kill you and you will go to hell.” Make no mistake about it: The gunmen attacked because they have been indoctrinated into believing it is Allah’s command to do so.

Nearly half of Iraq's 800,000 Christians have fled their homeland in the last seven years. At one time the nation of Lebanon was 75% Christian. Since the Syrian incursion it is now down to 39%. Much of Iraq's Christian community has fled to Lebanon. Many are now in the U.S.

In the Palestinian territories, the story is not much different. Bethlehem is now almost entirely Muslim as Christians have departed their historical city. When I visited the West Bank, a church told me of how a close relative had been brutally murdered for preaching Christianity. His church is frequently threatened and attacked and he said the Palestinian Authority police was uninterested in protecting them. In the Gaza Strip, where there are 3,500 Christians, some have been forced to help Hamas. After the terrorist group took over, Christian graves were dug up so the bodies could be burned so the Islamic land would be pure.

I have missionary friends who tell me that there are surprisingly successful evangelism efforts throughout the Near East and Africa. As a Muslim can be murdered for leaving his faith, it is not surprising that many conversions are not publicized.

Look to see more violent reactions against Christians as the mask continues to fall off the Religion of Peace. As much of the world's evangelism is funded by Christians in the U.S., perhaps we shall see some of this same violence perpetrated against our own churches.

Business? Life? The process may be the same.

“You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end — which you can never afford to lose — with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”
—Vice Admiral James Stockdale (1923-2005)

James Stockdale was a naval aviator shot down in Vietnam and held captive at the “Hanoi Hilton” for seven years. Repeatedly beaten and tortured, at the same time he was a leader to other prisoners in helping them cope with their captivity, treatment and uncertainty.

The above quote, which is known as “The Stockdale Paradox,” was originally referenced in James C. Collins’ book Good to Great. It is a lesson that has been shared with me by more than a few role models in my time. When Collins asked Stockdale about those who were least likely to make it, his answer was (ironically) “Oh, that’s easy, the optimists. Oh, they were the ones who said, ‘We’re going to be out by Christmas.’ And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they’d say, ‘We’re going to be out by Easter.’ And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart.”

So many of us these days who are rebulding are also struggling with mere survival. The loss of jobs, the reduction of business revenue and holding on through seemingly endless sales cycles can be enough for any one of us to give up. Indeed, as a close friend and financial advisor once told me, the biggest challenge to beginning any business or career endeavor is most often “Surviving the drip.” It’s having just what you need to get by for TODAY, so you can make it to the next.

Stockdale’s profound obvervation, in my opinion, is far less a paradox and much more about balance. I know one person in my life who always said she was not an optimist, but a realist. Being an optimist is simply setting yourself up for failure and disappointment. Unfortunately for her, being a realist was to surrender to defeat, self pity and pessimism…to give up. She had no faith.

The Stockdale Paradox recognizes the need for faith in an ultimate outcome, while accepting what IS–our current reality. Faith in an ultimate outcome does not pretend to predict the future. It is about accepting the NOW as it is, and realizing deep down that the one thing that does NOT change in God’s universe is the law of impermanence. Indeed, everything changes sooner or later.

If you find yourself distracted by worries projected into tomorrow, next week, next month or even next year, bring yourself back to center, to today. In sales, there is the common rule of “under-promise and over-deliver.” Yet how many of us do just the opposite with ourselves?

(More...)

Crotch Salute

Just so we don't forget the type of man that 52% of voting Americans thought was worthy to lead our Nation.

He won't salute the flag or respect our time-honored traditions, but he will bow to heathen Saudi princes.

Maggot...

San Francisco shows how Democrats stimulated the economy and created jobs...

The stimulus money generated in Washington that came to San Francisco was used entirely to subsidize the pensions of city employees.

The stimulus money: Found.

Have you wondered what happened to the three quarters of a $trillion in stimulus funds over the past two years?

I am able to look at San Francisco’s use of the funds and you should not be surprised at what I found.

Of the three quarters of $1 trillion in government stimulus one quarter went to invisible subsidies of mortgages, tax credits for children, tax credits for college expenses and extension of our unemployment insurance. Of the remaining half the bulk was simply written in the form of money given to state and local government’s.

So I looked at the quarter of $1 billion given to San Francisco over a two-year period. What I found was that the stimulus money came with a long list of projects to be funded. What I saw in the results was that none of the departments that were supposed to receive money showed any increase in their budget in either last year or the previous year. In fact many departments that were to receive funding showed decreases in their operating budgets.

What happened is that the entire quarter of $1 billion was used to close the budget deficit. The budget deficit was caused by rapidly rising employee pensions.

The stimulus money generated in Washington that came to San Francisco was used entirely to subsidize the pensions of city employees.

Does anybody wonder why the stimulus did not generate new jobs?

Thank Allah for Little Girls

This video is lifted from a wonderful blog: Anglican Samizdat

The Pull of Pelosi

By: NATE BEELER

Examiner Cartoonist

It's Far From Over

In an article written for The American Thinker, Robert Simmons Jr. details ten reasons why conservatives should not be celebrating last weeks election.

On November 2, 2010, the liberals suffered a defeat at the hands of the people over their policies implemented over the last two to four years. As a result, Many Republicans and Tea Party supporters are jubilant in their celebration, and even the often morose Glenn Beck has been heard to be excited about what he calls a turning point. However, the cold, hard reality is that liberalism suffered a defeat but not a crushing one, and the war is far from won. In the past, victories in these minor skirmishes have resulted in people becoming complacent. The battles that are not making the headlines in the war on freedom continue to rage despite the victory.

The problem is this, we are in a war that cannot be resolved solely through the election ballot. The many-layered incursions against our freedoms have not been limited to legislation; much damage has been done through administrative fiat - much like a ukase - an Imperial Russian proclamation issued by the Tsar. Millions of pages of regulations have been rammed down the throats of American taxpayers, without a single vote other than Congress authorizing the creation of another regulatory agency. Instead, hearings are held in places where it is only convenient for lobbyists and bureaucrats to meet and discuss.

Mr. Simmons identifies ten distinct hurdles that must be addressed in order for our nation to return to a semblance of self-governance.

10) The aristocracy is still there in Washington.
09) The bureaucracy in Washington has never been more powerful.
08) The Federal Reserve still remains unchecked.
07) The spending obligations are still there, and the economy is still bad.
06) The unions still have control of the government.
05) The Republican Party hasn't become conservative yet.
04) They still are neither reading nor writing their own legislation.
03) It is still impossible to obey the law.
02) There is no animal quite as dangerous as a lame duck.
01) The socialists and Marxists still have your children.

More

I believe Simmons is right, we have a lot of work ahead of us.

"Shellacking" ...

has been nominated for one of the Top 10 Words of the Year to be Used by or About Our Adversaries.

Congratulations to "Shellacking."

What is the rest of the Top 10?

Pray on it and get back to us in the comments ...

Freedom isn't free...

I watched the flag pass by one day,
It fluttered in the breeze;
A young Marine saluted it,
And then he stood at ease.

I looked at him in uniform,
So young, so tall, so proud;
With hair cut square and eyes alert,
He'd stand out in any crowd.

I thought... how many men like him
Had fallen through the years?
How many died on foreign soil?
How many mothers' tears?

How many pilots' planes shot down
How many died at sea
How many foxholes were soldiers' graves
No, Freedom is not Free.

I heard the sound of Taps one night,
When everything was still;
I listened to the bugler play,
And felt a sudden chill;

I wondered just how many times
That Taps had meant "Amen"
When a flag had draped a coffin
Of a brother or a friend;

I thought of all the children,
Of the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons and husbands.
With interrupted lives.

I thought about a graveyard
At the bottom of the sea,
Of unmarked graves in Arlington.
No. Freedom is not Free!

- Kelly Strong

10 Nov 2010

Happy Birthday to current and former Marines the world over ... and to all who love them, share their love of country, and are claiming both foreign and domestic beachheads in defense of liberty.

Semper Fidelis.

Playing With Pancakes

Question: What do you get when you add a wristwatch, a model bulldozer and a Strawberry Shortbrain doll?

Answer: It's time to play with your Jehadi Jane action toy set with KillerJooos Remote Control!

This photo was actually in last Sunday's New York Times with the following caption.

A lawyer for the Corries pressed the bulldozer operators with props, arranging a plastic toy bulldozer, an orange lump of putty and a Raggedy Ann doll.

The Corries are in the midst of a civil trial against Israel for the death of their activist daughter, Rachael Corrie, who was run over by an Israeli Caterpillar D9 armored bulldozer in 2003.

Books, plays, videos and even an aid ship to Gaza have been dedicated to her memory and spirit, her focus on human rights and the plight of the Palestinians.

And don't forget the yummy pancake syrup too.

The day that Ms. Corrie was killed, her fellow activists sent two photographs of her to news agencies that were then transmitted around the world. The first one showed her standing in an orange jacket with a bullhorn addressing an approaching bulldozer, and the second showed her crumpled on the ground, near death. The clear implication was that the two pictures were sequential, whereas the first was shot hours earlier with a different bulldozer.

The Israeli Army investigation found that the drivers of the bulldozer that killed her did not see Ms. Corrie because she was standing near a high mound of dirt as it approached. The drivers, it said, had limited lines of sight inside their heavily armored vehicle, and that by placing themselves in the bulldozer’s path as human shields, the eight activists bore primary responsibility.

Pay Back

The Washington Post (of all things) produced this apocalyptic opinion piece on the fate of the Democrats.

There's really no gentle way to say this, so I'm just going to be blunt: In some ways, the political situation post-Nov. 2 is even worse for the Democrats than it may appear. And I am not just referring to the colossal losses they experienced in state legislatures -- a 650+ seat swing in favor of the GOP that has left the Dems in control of the fewest state legislatures since 1928. The resulting pro-GOP gerrymandering may lastingly blunt the demographic advantage Democrats could otherwise expect to reap from population trends such as the growth of Hispanic America.

There is a double whammy that Herr Lane is referring to. It is the loss of Democratic electors in the Electoral College.

No, what's really bad for President Obama and his party is the likely impact of the 2010 Census and ensuing House of Representatives reapportionment on the distribution of votes in the 2012 Electoral College. We can talk all day about whether a majority of voters would support Obama for re-election or not, but what really counts in presidential elections is the Electoral College. Each state's electoral vote equals its number of representatives in the House plus two, for its Senate delegation. And since the U.S. population continues to flow South and West, reapportionment will probably add House seats in red states and subtract them in blue states. Thus, the Census looks like a setback for Democratic chances to win the 270 electoral votes necessary to become president.

The Electoral College was established in Article II of the US Constitution and is now comprised of 538 "electors". Let's cut to the chase.

[...] Removing Ohio, Florida and Nevada from the analysis, because they are too unpredictable, it looks like Republicans can pretty much count on an additional 7 electoral votes (Arizona, Georgia, South Carolina, 4 in Texas, and Utah, minus the loss of one vote in Louisiana) in 2012, while the Democrats can count on 7 fewer (losses in Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Minnesota, offset by a gain in Washington).

As of January 2011, there will be seven fewer Blue State electors who will be picked up by Red States. Using the 2008 Presidential campaign where McCain (a weak candidate) grabbed 22 states for a total of 173 electoral votes, the Republican bottom line may be about to grow to 180. The magic number of 271 can be had by just holding on to six states that more often than not have swung Republican: Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, Indiana, Virginia and Nevada.

As it happens, all six of these states, except for North Carolina, will have Republican governors next year, and all six, except for Nevada, will have Republican state legislatures.

Get that fork ready. It may be that the Dems are finally done. And we can thank Obama, Reid and Pelosi for marinating their members, preheating the oven and selecting the spices. Even now they just can't figure out how to turn off the gas and cool the rheotric.

Life Imitates Elections

The wind blew and the Red Carpet flew.

Obongo's departure from Mumbai was marred by high winds that played havoc with the red carpet laid out for him in front of Air Force One. After several failed attempts to secure the misbehaving carpet, a decision was reached by the Presidential party to remove it. Employees at the airport promptly nicknamed the carpet, "Sahib Tea Party."

GNN EXCLUSIVE!

BREAKING NEWS

ONLY HERE AT GNN!

Just released by the White House Press Secretary:

There was a completely unexpected benefit to the removal of the carpet. The Presidential delegation was rife with worry that the unruly red rug made the First Lady's ass look big. They are still worried.

And now, for your listening pleasure: