I guess they were doing the job Americans won't

"Six undocumented Mexican immigrants were arrested today by U.S. Border Patrol agents at Qualcomm Stadium, after a report that they were stealing food and water meant for evacuees, according to spokesman Damon Foreman." -- Los Angeles Times

"The six thieves admitted that they were indeed illegal immigrants from Mexico taking advantage of a devastating situation." -- Corruption Chronicles

"What they were doing was taking those supplies and selling them.. . ." -- KPBS

The Downward Spiral

A federal court in San Francisco began hearing arguments today on a lawsuit filed by the AFL-CIO, the Chamber of Commerce and the ACLU on behalf of companies that employ illegal aliens.

The Chamber, okay. And the American Crazy Lawyers Union? Both are understandable. But the ALF-CIO?

Why would the biggest union in the country take the side of illegal aliens? Since they'll work for so much less than union labor is paid, isn't the union betraying its membership by helping to driving down wages and making it harder if not impossible for them to find work?

[The roofing company is] having a rough go of it because they're constantly being underbid (on both their commercial and residential sides) by companies whose employees don't speak Redneck.

And can't speak English, either. -- Doyle

From the The Wall Street Journal:

The impending crackdown generates everything "from concern to utter panic among roofing contractors," says Craig Silvertooth, director of federal affairs for the National Roofing Association, based in Chicago, representing 4,300 businesses. "There is no way to run your business if this goes forward."

(Please read the whole thing.)

The "impending crackdown" is part of what we've demanded the Federal government do to begin enforcing our immigration laws.

The Social Security Administration long has mailed out routine letters that inform employers if an employee's name and Social Security number don't match up. Homeland Security wants to insert notices in those mailings warning employers that they must fire any employee who doesn't clear up a no-match situation in 90 days -- or face prosecution. -- The Sacramento Bee

So why, I'm sure you're still wondering, is the AFL-CIO siding with the illegal aliens instead of its members who have and are using their own Social Security numbers? You know, American-born or immigrants who are working here legally?

Again from the Sacramento Bee:

Only 12 percent of the U.S. workforce is unionized today, and while the number of U.S.-born union workers declined 9 percent in the last decade, the number of immigrants in unions grew 30 percent, according to a new study by the Migration Policy Institute, a pro-immigrant research group in Washington, D.C.

Robert Balgenorth, president of the California chapter of the AFL-CIO's Building and Construction Trades Department, pointed out that union strength in the housing-construction industry has waned dramatically as undocumented workers arrived not just from Latin America but also from places such as Ireland, Russia and Scotland.

Allowing workers to earn legal status, and be bolder, Balgenorth said, would help unions replenish their ranks.

The unions provide support to the politicians who are trying every way they can to "regularize" illegal aliens, so that they can then become dues-paying union members, and then the politician get more campaign contributions ...

And then with the DREAM Act and Hilliary Health and her "Baby-Bond," they ALL get to keep living high off the hog, and WE get to pick up even more of the tab than we already are.

I DON'T think so.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran, accepted an invitation to speak at the United Nations next week. Since he's going to be here anyway, good ol' Mahmoud wants to express his condolences for the lives lost on nine-eleven by laying a wreath at Ground Zero.

Trying to let Mahmoud know that he's really not welcome, New York City said they wouldn't help at all with the security he'd need.

Not taking the hint, Mahmoud said maybe it could be worked out anyway and that he was "'amazed' that Americans view[ed] his request to visit the site as insulting."

(Duh!)

The Feds said if Mahmoud still wewwy, wewwy wanted to go to Ground Zero, they'd take care of the security themselves.

New York City has now said that they won't permit Mahmoud to go there.

And rightly so.

Iran sponsors terrorism. It has killed Americans before, is doing so now in Iraq and will continue to do so at every opportunity.

Does anyone really think that the wreath Mahmoud wants to lay at Ground Zero is for those in the Twin Towers who were murdered on September 11, 2001? The passengers and crew of the two planes that were crashed into them?

Not just no, but HELL no!

Sorry about that, Mahmoud, but we're on to you.

Your idea of a photo op -- that will be shown by Al Jazerra, CNN International and other terrorist-supporting outlets as soon as the pictures are taken -- laying a wreath at the site to honor ten hi-hackers IS a bit much.

Screw you.

FYI

Happy Constitution Day and Citizenship Day!

Whazzat?

In 2005 and . . .

. . . pursuant to legislation passed by Congress, educational institutions receiving Federal funding are required to hold an educational program pertaining to the United States Constitution on September 17 of each year.

Meanwhile . . .

Just three months after the Senate immigration bill met its well-deserved end, amnesty advocates in the U.S. Congress resumed their efforts. Recently, Senator Richard Durbin (D–IL) announced on the Senate floor his intention to offer the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act as an amendment to the defense authorization bill. -- Human Events Online

(I can sure understand how that amendment ties in with the defense authorization bill. Yep! Sure can. That's how the Dems FINALLY got the hike in the minimimum wage passed. By amendment, they tied it to military funding for our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. But let's not EVER criticize their patriotism, okay?)

Read the Human Events article and as you do, perhaps you can think of a way to help me with a problem.

I've been trying to figure out how Constitution and Citizenship Day is taught in classes filled with illegal aliens, who aren't even asked to learn to speak English.

And I can't.

Sacrilege

People who know me know that I'm not much of a cryer. They know if tears begin to well in my eyes, it's usually because I'm angry. So angry it's best to get as far away from me as possible as fast as possible, because if those tears actually fall . . . well. It's not good.

When I first read about it at Michelle Malkin's, my initial reaction was disbelief. Then, as I followed the links she provided, I could feel the tears beginning to build. Even now they're this close.

Have you been to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D. C. If you have, you know. If not, let me try to describe it to you.

It's frequently been described as powerful. It is, but that's only part of it.

From the distance (and in most photographs) it looks quite small. It's only as you walk closer that its length and height become increasingly obvious. Then, just as slowly, you begin to notice something mars the entire shiney black. You know what it is, but until you get close enough you keep telling yourself it can't be. Maybe it's the light . . . or something else making it look that way. But while you're trying to convince yourself that's what it is, you still know.

It's the names of the over 50,000 men and women who were killed in the Vietnam War, or to this day remain missing.

Some say it's powerful. To me, and Da Kid who was with me, it was overwhelming.

"So many," he whispered. Half question, the other half . . . I don't know what.

There, people whisper to each other. Maybe because it knocks the breath out of you.

Here and there in front of different panels might be a flower someone left for a person named on it. A small American flag. A book or toy.

A man about my age stood silently in front of one panel the entire time we were there, staring at it, tears running down his cheeks.

The pages in the directory was yellow and torn, but I found the names of the three I knew: The older brothers of two high school friends, and one I'd gone to high school with. And managed to find their places on The Wall.

If people need an anti-war symbol, they should forget the pink bunny ears some have worn and stupid signs they carry. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial and all the names engraved on it carries a far more powerful message.

But no. Instead, the Lefty Loons decided that the way to get their "message" across, was to vandalize The Wall with an oily substance.

Now if you'll all excuse me, the tears are right there again.

I'd better go.

LATER: In an update, Human Events Online reports that the National Park Service is "Walking on Eggshells."

“The United States Park Police is investigating the matter. Until this investigation is completed, it is premature to speculate whether any intentional act was committed,” is the official statement.

But . . .

Bill Line, NPS Communications & Tourism Officer for the National Capital Region adds that although crews have been working since Saturday to remove the substance, they don’t even know what it is, much less who splattered it on the memorial.

But one thing is certain. Despite the claims that were later retracted when discrepancies were noted, the incident most certainly does NOT appear to have been caused by an accidental spill of cleaning fluid by a park ranger. Park rangers are not involved in cleaning or maintenance of the memorial, Line confirmed.

The Park Service is hopeful, but not certain, that when the material is finally removed it will not have left any permanent damage.

I haven't seen a darn thing about this on the news. Heck, I guess they're just too danged busy covering O. J.

Dear Osama,

"[B]urning living beings is forbidden in our religion, even if they be small like the ant, so what of man?!" -- Osama bin Laden in his latest video.

~~~~~

How 'bout women, Osama-baby? Children?

After reading the transcript of your latest video, I really think you've been hitting Daily Kos a bit much.

By the looks of your new "do," you definitely need to get out more, too. Let the professionals take care of your hair coloring. They do so much better a job than those in-cave dye jobs that come in a box.

If your beard looks that bad, (it's a lousy cut, too) I can only imagine how badly the hair on your head turned out. No wonder you're wearing that hat to hide it. Good move, but trust me on this. The Jackie-Kennedy-pillbox style you're wearing went out of fashion 45 years ago.

I know it goes with the bathrobe you're wearing, Osama-baby, but you need ditch that, too. I realize clothes shopping's been difficult for you, but how many times are you going to wear that ol' thing? You were wearing the same one the last time we saw you!

(I know, I know. It's comfortable. I really do understand. I have a bathrobe just like yours, except mine's baby blue.)

I'm sure no one wants to tell you this, Osama-baby, but no matter how many "wives" you have at your beck and call, you're really not "Hef." Just 'cause he runs around his mansion in his pj's 24/7 doesn't mean you should.

He has Bunnies and a mansion! You, a cave! See the difference?

Anyway . . . "write" again soon, Osama-baby.

We've missed you.

You don't say . . .

The Houston Chronicle reports that President Felipe Calderon of Mexico isn't happy with the Senate vote yesterday that stopped -- for now, anyway -- the No-Illegal-Alien-Left-Behind bill.

"It's a mistake," Calderon said. "First, because it's a problem that's not being confronted. And with this evasive action the U.S. Senate is making it worse.

"Secondly, by closing the door on legal immigration, the only thing the Senate does is open the door to illegal immigration."

Isn't this the same joker who said previously that Mexico has absolutely no responsiblity for stopping the illegal drugs being smuggled across the border from Mexico into the United States?

The responsiblity, I'm sure you'll agree with President Calderon, for stopping the drugs being smuggled into the United States by the Mexican drug cartels rests solely on the United States, in the form of stopping the DEMAND for their drugs within our borders.

More than a tenth of Mexico's 103 million people now live in the United States, many of them illegally.

And . . .

Calderon . . . continues to oppose a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border which was approved by Congress last year.

Of course he does. Although the American people -- you know, the ordinary folk who inhabit this country legally -- disagree. Besides, where the heck do you, President Calderon, get off telling US what we should or should not do? Who the HELL do you think you are, Ted Kennedy?

"The American economy could not prosper or advance without the labor of both Mexican and Central American migrants," Calderon said.

If the "labor of both Mexican and Central American migrants" is so valuable to our economy, why are you, President Calderon -- considering the sad state of Mexico's economy -- so intent on us taking them?

(Blogger's acting up again today. Can't edit a damned thing, so here it flies.)

Interesting headlines . . .

. . . today at the Washington Times. Actually, I think the word fascinating would be far more accurate.

One headline reads US Airways seeks imam-suit dismissal. You know the story behind it, I'm sure.

After a Muslim conference, a group of Imams made a big show of doing their required prayers before all boarded the same plane. Once on board, they pretty much acted like jackasses demanding that they be allowed to sit where they wanted to rather than in their assigned seats, would not stay seated, and some demanded seat belt extensions they had no need for or intention of using. Their actions spooked the passengers and flight personnel so badly that takeoff was delayed so that the Imams could be ordered off that particular flight for questioning. Although allowed on a later flight, the Imams filed a law suit charging discrimnation.

I remember wondering when I read the initial coverage if the Imams were just trying to see how much they could get away with on the plane. Were they testing the waters, perhaps, to provoke a response and see what security measures might be in place.

Sounds far fetched, I know, but then again so did a 2004 story about 12 Middle Eastern musicians and their manager and the disruptions they caused on their flight. The passengers were called hysterics by officials because it was just musicians, after all, including one that was frequently likened to Elvis Presley in several, subsequent news reports.

It took a Freedom of Information request by the Washington Times to finally learn that the inspector general's report confirms terror dry run, and reveal the clusterfuck that the government was trying to hide.

Oh, and those 12 Syrians and their Lebanese-born manager, some of whom were already on watch lists, were all here on expired visas.

Also on the front page, is an image of Dubya in Glynco, Georgia, yesterday where he gave a speech on immigration reform before future U.S. Border Patrol Agents at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center.

A lot of Americans are skeptical about immigration reform primarily because they don't think the government can fix the problems.

Gee, I wonder why. A lot more Americans don't trust it to, either.

Ain't she just so speshul!

"The office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is pressing the Bush administration for routine access to military aircraft for domestic flights, such as trips back to her San Francisco district, according to sources familiar with the discussions." -- Washington Times

Actually, I don't have a problem with that so long as the trips are to conduct government business. She is, after all, next in line after the Vice President if something happens to Dubya and with the way things are, I think the added security makes sense.

Buuuuut let's remember, this is Nancy Pelosi we're talking about.

Speaker Pelosi! The champion of minimum-wage workers everywhere . . . except in Samoa where StarKist -- in which whose parent company, Del Monte, she and her husband have stocks valued at $7 million -- is the primary and pretty much sole employer.

Speaker Pelosi! The champion of working stiffs and their right to organize . . . except in the restaurants and vineyards she and her husband own, who are precluded from union membership as a condition of employment.

Speaker Pelosi! . . .

Okay, I'll stop. You get my drift.

Madam Speaker doesn't want "on demand" military flights just for her own travel, you see.

The sources, who include those in Congress and in the administration, said the Democrat is seeking regular military flights not only for herself and her staff, but also for relatives . . .

I realize none of them would ever want to lower themselves and fly commercial and risk the possibility of <Eeeeew!> sitting next to any of the lower classes -- like you or me -- but these folk are millionaires many times over. If they don't already have their own private jet(s) (How much you wanna bet they do.) let 'em lease one. Or rent one when they need to zip around to who knows where, when, or for whut.ever reason. Let the Pelosi "family" pay for its own travel.

. . . and for other members of the California delegation.

Well, hell! Why stop with just the California delegation? Let's have free (to them since the lower classes -- you and I -- are paying the bill), military flights for all Blue-state Congresscritters! And their staffs. And families, too!

A knowledgeable source called the request "carte blanche for an aircraft any time."

And what about the environment? Kyoto? Our "carbon footprint"? All this zooming around by everybody . . . Oh, that's right. I keep forgetting. When the elites talk endlessly about everyone needing to make sacrifices for the common good, they never mean themselves. They're not "everyone."

They're speshul.

What ticks me off more than anything about this, though, is the way Madam Speaker obviously sees our military in this.

The planes she wants made available at every whim not only to herself but her entourage, her family and chronies, too, aren't military aircraft. They're nothing more than taxi cabs to her.

The personnel on them she wants at their constant beck and call aren't highly-trained specialists. They're servants who have nothing better to do, than serve Madam Speaker, her entourage, her family, and her cronies.

LATER: Nancy Pelosi is Drunk with Power, Part II

Asshole

I can't wait to see how John "Effin'" Kerry tries to pass off his latest comments.

Wait. I forgot. His comments indicating that in his opinion our military personnel were stupid? Well, he really didn't mean that he later tried to explain repeatedly. He was really poking fun at Dubya, but we dummies just weren't bright enough to catch his new-anced punch line.

Well now John-boy has gone on over to Davos, Switzerland, (where Ter-RAY-suh, his much-moneyed wife, probably has a another mansion) to attend the World Economic Forum.

I don't know what the World Economic Forum is but it seems to me, that it's an annual excuse for rich political hacks from different countries to get together, stay in expensive hotels and eat fancy food, so they can talk into cameras to slam the United States and its people.

Whatever global problems they -- these attendees -- perceive or imagine, it's automatically OUR fault. And I don't mean they are blaming just the United States as a country, but each one of us as individuals.

Kerry's most-often quoted statement, the one making all the headlines is:

"So we have a crisis of confidence in the Middle East -- in the world, really. I've never seen our country as isolated, as much as a sort of international pariah for a number of reasons as it is today," Kerry is quoted as saying. -- CNN International

Overlooked, however, is this:

Kerry criticized what he called the "unfortunate habit" of Americans to see the world "exclusively through an American lens."

Well . . . dang. "Americans"? That's . . . uh. Well, that's you and me!

So, how are we supposed to see things? What other "lens" are we supposed to use that might be found acceptable?

"[through] the reality of . . . other cultures and histories."

But what about our own culture and history? Should that be minimized or totally abandoned? Is it any less real than another?

Apparently so, according to Kerry and others like him.

What we need to do to be found "acceptable" is to look through the lens of those cultures that hate what we've worked for. We must -- if we are to see ourselves through that lens -- hate ourselves. Then work with single-minded purpose toward our own destruction.

Somehow, though, I don't imagine Kerry and his ilk see themselves affected in any way, by any of this.

Without interruption they will continue to go windsurfing while wearing ugly sunglasses and funny-looking outfits, and then jet on over to distant locations for all-expense-paid socials.

A peeve

Blogging has been sporadic and will probably continue that way. Sick Horse. The older of the two ancient Quarter horses. Leg problems, then the veterinarian said he may have foundered but then the same vet later said he hadn't. Next came the wound on his neck that the other vet in the practice said was a bite from a venomous brown recluse spider. I don't even know what a brown recluse looks like (all spiders look alike when you're screaming, running in the opposite direction) and had never seen anything like the wound before but let me tell you something. It's nasty, and then it gets worse. And then it gets really bad.

"Asshole" wasn't out of trouble yet but he was vastly improved, until Sunday when I began calling the vets' answering service without a call back. Two calls Sunday, four Monday and one yesterday morning when first one of them finally called me back, then the other. The "Leg Vet" was out yesterday afternoon; he'll be back out tomorrow with x-ray equipment to see if "Asshole" did, in fact, founder after all. The horse is also on antibiotics, again, because he's developing some type of upper respiratory thing or an infection from the spider bite. (Or he could be having a reaction to some of the other meds he's on.).

As you might expect I'm not particularly pleased right now, especially with the vets. Unfortunately when it comes to horses there aren't many here from which to choose. This, however, is not the focus of my peeve. It's the background.

With all the telephone calls I've been making to the veterinarians these last few weeks I've been running to the phone each and every time it's rung. In almost every instance (except when it's been someone actually calling) if I pick up the receiver as its beginning the fourth ring I get a click on the other end. If I manage to grab the receiver before that, I'm treated to a recording of voice telling me why I should vote for them or the candidate on whose behalf they are calling.

Between the two, we've probably been getting ten of these types of calls a day. It's this bad already and it's not even close to the elections yet.

Wondering if perhaps the vet had called and hung up before I'd been able to pick up the receiver, I've star-69ed the hang-ups. They are either "no phone number available" or, "The last number . . . was area code zero-zero-zero, zero-zero-zero, zero-zero, zero-zero." I don't know for certain that they're automated political calls, programmed to hang up on the fourth ring to avoid time- wasting answering machines. Still, I figure the odds are in my favor.

If I were in a better mood when I've gotten to the phone in time to hear a recordings, I might listen just long enough to find out which asshole (not to be confused with Asshole, the horse) is doing this — most if not all are, I'm fairly sure — so that I could call them, their campaign headquarters or their party to tell them exactly what I think of them. But I'm in no mood right now, especially now since the time spent might keep the vet from getting through.

We're dealing with a sick horse. In the larger scheme of things that's nothing when you think about how many people are jumping up to grab the phone each time it rings for other, far more important reasons: a child or other family member who's not home when they should have been or perhaps word about a sick or injured loved one.

It makes no difference to the politicians whether anyone listens to their telephone "spam" or is inconvenienced by it. They don't care. I wonder, though, if they realize how many people they're ticking off with their harassment.

Because that's exactly what it is: harassment.

Rita approaches shore, and a rant

If this offends anyone out there please accept my apologies in advance. I'm sick of hearing about New Orleans and Louisiana.

Rita is coming in and there's more attention being paid to New Orleans and Lousiana than any others who will be affected.

I've never been to New Orleans or Louisiana but I have a couple of friends whose roots are there. I also have friends and family in Houston. They're fine and will be especially since Rita won't be hitting them directly. That doesn't mean they won't be affected. And now that they're out of the crosshairs I'm not saying that they should be the focus, either.

Where Rita hits and the people who are there should be.

But when NOLA began flooding again this morning that's all the coverage was.

IT'S EMPTY FOR GAWD'S SAKE!

Or it should be.

It wouldn't have been if someone hadn't gotten through to Ray "I'm the Mayor!" Nagin (I wonder who it was.) and convinced him to terminate and reverse the re-entry of New Orleans residents he was having news conferences about every ten minutes.

Funny thing, I haven't seen him at all today. I wonder if he's spending the weekend with his family, in the new home he bought for them outside of Dallas.

Oh, but Goobernor Kathleen Blanco was out there. In her stumbling press conference this afternoon she announced "Task Force Rita" is ready to . . . uh, do something.

They're positioned just outside of the storm area, she said, and will ride out the storm . . .

Wait, which is it?

Not shown in the transcript is her hesitant, uneven delivery or where she confused Katrina with Rita, and then had to start that part of her prepared statement again from the beginning.

Rita's coming in, but . . .

"Let me take a moment away from discussing our preparations for Rita to focus on the recovery from Katrina.

Yeah, New Orleans is under water again. And Blanco wants more money from the Federal government.

"In another effort to help our local governments, today, I asked President Bush to change the rules and allow FEMA to pay the base salaries of our police, deputies, firefighters and other government workers."

What about Louisiana picking up the tab, Goobernor? How much is your state kicking in to help to support its own communities?

Oh, and . . .

"The announcement from HUD and Homeland Security today about rental assistance and housing vouchers may address the needs of our friends in Alabama and Mississippi . it does little for Louisiana citizens who want to come home."

While I don't live in Alabama or Mississippi if I may be so bold (and I can do any darned thing I want here 'cause this is my blog) I'd like to speak on their behalf for a moment.

Up yours.

Rental assistance and housing vouchers are okay for them. But for Louisiana, Blanco wants "FEMA to speed up the purchase of hotels and motels where we can provide complete services for our evacuees where we can provide complete services."

The purchase? Ain't she just so speshul!

I don't think so.

I have little doubt that while Blanco wants our dollars to be used she expects what's bought with them to either be put into Louisiana's name OR run under their management.

And "Naggin" Nagin wants any and all rebuilding dollars pledged for NOLA to go through his local and state government, with only local and state businesses allowed to do the work.

Somehow, I don't think that's going to work.

At least it doesn't work for me considering indictments for missing FEMA funds, misspent funds for evacuation planning and growing indications that the levees gave way not because of lack of funding, but substandard design and materials once the locals got their mitts on it.

I wonder if the reason Blanco seemed so shook today was that she was imagining herself in the near future, clothed in always slimming, vertical stripes.

LATER: I turned to FoxNews for Rita coverage last night and who was jolly on the spot but Geraldo. I looked at Hubby, he looked at me. I nodded and he zapped the remote to a different station. Then another one and another one after that. Each one had a fearless reporter or reporterette braving the storm to provide the same breathless live coverage that it was extremely windy and very rainy and would be getting worse. So, we watched the Sci-Fi Channel instead. This morning, Fox's coverage included replays of Shepard Smith getting knocked on his ass last night by the wind, and also last night from ABC, one of their dingbats chasing an overturned planter around an empty hotel lobby to show viewers just how windy it was.

Bumped up from comments, a link to Joe from Attaboy's commentary on the evenhanded and uplifting reporting being done by the Associated Press.

I'm pissed

When someone gives a gift, the last thing they should expect is ridicule from some dingbat way out in left field that it's not enough. But that's exactly what Jan Egeland, UN undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, did.

After a pledge by the U.S. of an initial $15 million in disaster aid to those affected by the earthquake in the Indian Ocean and resulting tsunamis, Egeland responded in typical U.N. manner:

"There are several donors who are less generous than before in a growing world economy," he said, adding that politicians in the United States and Europe "believe that they are really burdening the taxpayers too much, and the taxpayers want to give less. It's not true. They want to give more."

(Doncha like the word, "donors"?)

Thanks for the slam, Mr. Egeland. Neither the United States nor its taxpayers have ever been "stingy" when it comes to helping those in need. And I sure as heck don't appreciate your idea that you feel that you have the right to reach into my pocket and take what you want. That's what you're really saying. You want my government to confiscate more of my hard-earned money, in order to hand it over to you upon your demand.

I don't think so.

"If, actually, the foreign assistance of many countries now is 0.1 or 0.2 percent of the gross national income, I think that is stingy, really," he said. "I don't think that is very generous."

Generous? Who the heck do you think you are, you bloated bureaucrat, to decide whether or not someone else is being generous enough?

"It bothers me that we -- the rich nations -- are not becoming more generous the more rich we become."

The average rich country gives just 0.2 percent of its national income to international solidarity and international assistance, he said.

"We keep 99.8 percent to ourselves, on average. I don't think that's very generous," he said.

It bothers you? That's just so speshul.

You know what's really hysterical? (A quick disclaimer: I'm not minimizing the horrendous nature of the Asian disaster.) We had a couple of problems here in the U.S. this year, Mr. Egeland. Definitely not the massive loss of life, thank God, but we still have tens of thousands of our own that still need help after the hurricanes and wildfires.

I can't speak for any other part of the United States, but the only member state nation I know of that came to our aid down here in Florida was Canada, sending truckloads of power crews and equipment that traveled from up there to even farther south than I am, to help restore electrical services when millions were out.

Perhaps I missed it, but I don't remember the U.N. doing a darned thing.

Well, now the U.S. has just pledged another $20 million with assurances that more will come. That doesn't include the military flights filled with relief supplies that are already on their way . . .

(But that's the U.S. government, not the non-governmental organizations that American citizens are donating to strictly on their own, without hesititation. You didn't mention that, Mr. Egeland. Did you. Of course you didn't. Why?)

Then again, this isn't the first time the U.S. has been called "stingy" and it won't be the last.

"In one of the first signs of the effects of the ever tightening federal budget, in the past two months the Bush administration has reduced its contributions to global food aid programs aimed at helping millions of people climb out of poverty." Nowhere in this page 3 article does the New York Times reporter Elizabeth Becker place these cutbacks in context.

The Times does not tell readers that the United States is the world's largest food aid donor by far. In 2004, the United States provided $826,469,172 -- almost a billion dollars -- to the United Nations World Food Program.

We here in the U.S. have kind of gotten used to it, Mr. Egeland, when it comes to the U.N.

They still don't get it.

The "They" I’m referring to is the lunatic fringe on the left that some mistakenly refer to as Democrats. The LL (Lunatic Left) are the reason why I no longer am one — a Democrat, that is — and another one of the reasons behind Dubya’s almost 4 -million-vote win over Kerry.

Some like Zell Miller, author of A National Party No More (The Conscience of a Conservative Democrat) , crossed party lines openly to vote for Bush. Ohers did, too, but with much less fanfare or simply skipped that race entirely when the voted.

You’d think with the handwriting so clearly written considering the games played leading up to this election and its results, that the LL would realize the majority of voters don’t share their madness. In fact, we are repulsed by it.

We neither want nor need media elites or pseudo-intellectuals lecturing down to us. We don’t like being lied to once much less repeatedly, and we’re sure not so stupid that we don’t know when it happens. In fact, we’re not stupid at all. The engineers behind years of character assassination don’t seem to understand it speaks volumes more to us about them than the person that they’re desperately trying to smear.

The American people may not agree with everything that Bush has done, but I’ve always felt that the majority do respect him. Even more, we respect the office he holds and what it represents. Then there’s that good old-fashioned common sense that those of the ultra-sophisticated persuasion denigrate, demean, despise and deny even the existence of.

I read something this morning written by an acquaintance, someone that I know is not only a gifted writer but who has worked and worked hard to improve his craft, who is finally having some success. I think it’s gone to his head because of all the fancy words he used, I guess to show everyone how much of an intellectual and pseudo-sophisticate he now is compared to the rest of we stupid-dumb folk.

And like other LLs who’ve blown their gaskets because of the number of voters behind Bush’s win, I think he’s just flat-out lost his mind.

Paraphrased to take out all the fancy stuff and to reduce his several-hundred word rant down to its essence:

Screw the voice of the public! The public has spoken before and they’re failures! Look at all of the evil (insert Lefty talking-point list that covers . . . 40 years?) that has resulted! The public don’t know what’s beneficial for them! WE are the only ones who do!

No, they still don't get it. Then again, the Lunatic Left doesn't have to now that they've grabbed control of the Democrat Party's bullhorn.

Kerry, you're screwed . . .

. . . big time.

If you notice John Kerry stumbling even more than usual, it’s because after the third debate he now only has one foot to hop around on. The other one, the missing one, he jammed up his own butt.

Unless you’ve been living in a cave, it’s not a revelation that one of Dick and Lynne Cheney’s daughters is gay. It’s not something that they have tried to hide nor have they publicized it. She’s one of their two daughters, period.

Yet both Edwards in the VP debate and Kerry in last one, chose to bring her sexual orientation into their answers.

Why? Were they hoping to somehow damage Bush and Cheney in the eyes of some conservative voters? Oh, horrors! A gay daughter? Well, then I’ll have to vote for the other guys! That intent was made clear after the debate, when Kerry Campaign Manager Mary Beth Cahill described Miss Cheney as "fair game."

Later, "Dad" spoke up:

"You saw a man who will say and do anything in order to get elected. And I am not speaking just as a father here, though I am a pretty angry father, but as a citizen."

And so did "Mom":

Now, you know, I did have a chance to assess John Kerry once more and now the only thing I could conclude: This is not a good man. Of course, I am speaking as a mom, and a pretty indignant mom. This is not a good man. What a cheap and tawdry political trick.

In response to Lynne Cheney expressing displeasure at having one of her daughters reduced to a cheap political ploy, Elizabeth Edwards, John Edwards’ wife and herself a mother replied:

"She's [Lynne Cheney] overreacted to this and treated it as if it's shameful to have this discussion. I think that's a very sad state of affairs.. . . I think that it indicates a certain degree of shame with respect to her daughter's sexual preferences.. . . It makes me really sad that that's Lynne's response."

"Preferences"?

And no, dim bulb. Since you’re too dumb, too ambitious, or too brainwashed to understand, let me clarify the actual issue for you. It’s really quite simple.

It has nothing to do with Miss Cheney. There is no justification whatsoever for using someone else’s child for your self-serving purposes. Ever. Smack each other around all you want, but leave the kids out of it.

But they brought her up only as positive, the KerryKrew has been saying since. To show how the gay issue can be handled in a positive manner like the Cheney family has done, with tolerance!

I rant some other time about my intense dislike of the word "tolerance," but does anyone really believe in the middle of each debate the intent was to show either Bush or Cheney in a favorable light?

Pollsters and pundits yammer endlessly guessing who mothers will vote for in Presidential elections, using such convenient labels as "Soccer Moms" or "Security Moms."

With the Demorats trying to use another mother’s child for their own gain, I suggest that there’s one that hasn’t yet been considered when it comes to the November 2 vote. It should be.

It crosses all states, political parties, races, creeds, religions, and national origins.

It’s called PISSED.

UPDATE: Jim Geraghty at Kerry Spot may not be someone's mother and he's much nicer than I was, but he shares my sentiments.

UPDATE: Former NYC Mayor Ed Koch, changed his mind. Instead of Bush beating Kerry by 8 points, he's now predicting 10.

Are you ready for tonight's final debate?

I am.

I have a bucket.

A bucket?

Yes, because I know I'll need it.

Each time Kerry says, "I have a plan!" I know I'm going to puke.