Ward Churchill, in his own words.

“Is he an Indian? Do we really care?” he said, quoting those he called his “white Republican” critics.

“Let’s cut to the chase; I am not,” he said.

His pedigree is “not important,” Churchill said: “The issue is the substance of what is said.”
From “Churchill attacks essay’s critics” By Craig Gima

No, the issue is integrity. This is the point he’s missing. The right words can be priceless, but when they are spoken by someone who has no integrity, they are worthless. He has based his whole lifestyle and philosophy on his Native American roots. He has spoken frequently and at length on how he has been oppressed as a Native American. What else is he lying about?

The Star Bulletin seems to be retracting their quote on this. I’ll update when the dust settles a little. While I may be wrong on this quote, my opinion of his credibility stands. His statements of his ancestry have changed repeatedly over the years.

Humvee Tragedy Forges Brotherhood of Soldiers

This is the type of reporting our guys in Iraq should be getting. Treat the soldiers and the Iraqi people like the heros they are.
Story by Steve Fainaru - Washington Post Foreign Service

Hat tip to Blackfive

Popular Mechanics debunks most of the 9/11 myths. Very well done. It’s about time someone started putting together something complete like this. I’ve seen pieces of this information around, but never anything so complete. Very well done indeed.

Myths debunked

Random thoughts by Thomas Sowell

Mr. Sowell is as clever and articulate as ever. I particularly like:

How can you be an “insurgent” in someone else’s country? Yet despite the fact that the wave of terrorism in Iraq is led by an outside terrorist who is murdering Iraqis, our media still calls his terror campaign an “insurgency.”

Though this is good too:

People who oppose the privatization of Social Security call it “a risky scheme.” But is anything more risky than turning money over to politicians and hoping that they won’t spend it before you retire?

Carter, Democrats Asked Soviets to Stop Reagan. Some politicians showing their true colors.
Hat tip to Power Line

Kyoto protest beaten back by inflamed petrol traders
I’ve been laughing about this since I saw it on instapundit. Greenpeace is shown that their actions do in fact have consequences.

On ‘Moderate Republicans’ & Other Pigwash blogfromonhigh is clever as always.

The Blogs Must Be Crazy A great journalist speaking out for bloggers.
Hat tip to Little Green Footballs

Dems Circle Wagons Shoot Inward
I would like this post for the title alone, but the post is good too.

“Academic freedom”?

I wish I had half the writing talent of Mr. Sowell. Hell, I’d settle for twenty five percent, maybe even ten. He has a gift for saying what he wants completely and clearly. I have trouble achieving either of those goals. Read what he had to say on “Academic freedom”? I particularly liked the passage:

Too many people — some of them judges — seem to think that freedom of speech means freedom from consequences for what you have said. If you believe that, try insulting your boss when you go to work tomorrow. Better yet, try insulting your spouse before going to bed tonight.

I’ve seen that very same hypocrisy for years, but been unable to articulate it, and he sums it up in these few paragraphs perfectly. I always been surprised by the people who can shout censorship out of one side of their mouths, while simultaneously telling somebody to shut up out of the other. Freedom of speech is just that, you don’t have a right to be paid to speak. And when fruitcakes like Churchill are speaking, I have a right not to listen.

Lawyers for Omar Khadr allege Canadian teen abused in U.S. prison camp

I don’t see what the fuss is here. He is an enemy combatant, nobody seems to be disputing that. He is guilty of throwing a grenade that killed an Americans medic, nobody seems to be disputing that either. As far as the records show, his whole family was in Afghanistan trying to kill American soldiers family vacation?). His father and one brother have paid a severe price for their beliefs, while this young man only went to prison. Granted, it’s not a nice prison, but it’s better than the alternative. If soldiers had shot him after he threw the grenade, it would have been a minor footnote on a minor page of history that nobody would have ever seen.

Canada seems to be following his case closely, and doing everything in their power to help this young man. They aren’t getting any cooperation in the states, but that isn’t exactly their problem. We aren’t cooperating with anyone right now.

The fact is that he should be happy to be alive, because it is by the good graces of the US that he is. At any other time in history, or in just about any other place, he wouldn’t have been so lucky. Can you imagine what the Russians would have done to him in the 80’s if he was caught in Afghanistan killing their soldiers? How about if he was caught by the opposing side in Sudan right now? The only reason his accusations are making any headway at all is that we are enlightened enough to feel guilty. Yes he wasn’t treated well. Yes we should improve, but they are the enemy, and only because of our mercy is he alive to complain.

My daughter and my dogs have been doing a tag team on me for the last few weeks. Some nights my daughter sleeps through the night, most nights at least one of my dogs does too. The problem is that between the three of them, one wakes me up three or four times every night.

Sometimes its little things, one of them cries out in their sleep, sometimes it’s full out screaming tantrums (the daughter). Until they start sleep through the night at the same time, I think I’m screwed.

Extremely busy, but I’ve been following the CNN Easongate scandal and needed to pass this petition link on.

Keep up the good work guys.

I’m still upset about the unemployed German waitress who has to go to court to keep her unemployment benefits. I’m not a big fan of welfare in general, but this is wrong. Making prostitution a legal profession is one thing, but putting someone in the position of having to choose between prostitution and poverty is sick. I realize that people are put in this position every day, but not usually by their government.

I’ll bet a lot of people were happy when prostitution was made legal (no humor intended). They were proud of their charity; after all they’d made a whole class of people into responsible, legal, upstanding citizens by just abolishing a crime. I wonder how many of these people are going to find themselves on the wrong side of this new conflict. Can you imagine their awakening?

“I’m a good person; I helped poor women by making prostitution legal. I’m a good person; I helped pass laws forcing deadbeats to get a job. What do you mean my daughter has to work in a brothel?”

Make no mistake, when a culture or a country gives up its link to God and morality, this is the path they choose. If there is no sin, no morals, then everything is moral and good. If nothing is sacred, then anything is fair. If nothing can be wrong, then everything must be OK. Tell that to the waitress, I’m sure she’ll understand.