Barack Obama compares himself, favorably no less, to Abraham Lincoln in an upcoming special issue of Time magazine. A number of reporters have excerpted it in articles like and this.

“In Lincoln’s rise from poverty, his ultimate mastery of language and law, his capacity to overcome personal loss and remain determined in the face of repeated defeat - in all this, he reminded me not just of my own struggles. He also reminded me of a larger, fundamental element of American life - the enduring belief that we can constantly remake ourselves to fit our larger dreams,”

I think Mr. Obama might be confusing Mr. Lincoln with Mr. John Kerry. The Columbia University and Harvard educated Mr. Obama doesn’t remind me much of the self educated President Lincoln. I think this excerpt improves with my revisions, but maybe it’s just me.

“In (Kerry’s) rise from poverty, his ultimate mastery of language and law, his capacity to overcome (Vietnam) and remain determined in the face of repeated defeat - in all this, he reminded me not just of my own struggles. He also reminded me of a larger, fundamental element of American life - the enduring belief that we can constantly (remarry) to fit our larger dreams,”

Celebrating the bicentennial of the Battle of Trafalgar, the England went so far to appease the French and Spanish governments that they didn’t even name them in the reenactment of the battle. The opposing naval fleets were the red team and the blue team. The great great great granddaughter of England’s commanding officer Admiral Horatio Nelson didn’t think too highly of the political ploy.

I am anti-political correctness. Very much against it. It makes fools of us,” said 75-year-old Anna Tribe.

“I think the idea of the blue team fighting the red team is pretty stupid. I am sure the French and Spanish are adult enough to appreciate we did win that battle,” she added.

Alex Naylor, event historian, didn’t think much of the idea either. I think his words best sum up the political maneuvering at the event.

If you obliterate history for the sake of political correctness, you can’t learn from the past. Nelson thought politicians were cowards. I tend to agree.

Press Release

The proposed development, called “The Lost Liberty Hotel” will feature the “Just Desserts Café” and include a museum, open to the public, featuring a permanent exhibit on the loss of freedom in America. Instead of a Gideon’s Bible each guest will receive a free copy of Ayn Rand’s novel “Atlas Shrugged.”

Clements indicated that the hotel must be built on this particular piece of land because it is a unique site being the home of someone largely responsible for destroying property rights for all Americans.

Karl Rove on Maple Street - I suggested here yesterday that if you start talking about the other party the way politicians did just before the Civil War, you’re out. Senator Byrd? Retire. Senator Santorum? Quit please. Senator Durbin? The analogy was far too over the line to get back. Resign.

And Karl? Start Roving.

Enough with the Nazi references! - In fact, it would be a really good idea, for the sake of the country, and to steer out of this skid of Party First and Country Second that now pervades both sides, if the three distinguished gentlemen resigned, or at least announced they would not run again. Because apologies or not, they are at best, carrying the disease of branding other American leaders - no matter how wrong-headed some of those “others” might seem to you - with the same kind of vitriol that enabled the rise of the Nazis in Germany.

Stop it, stop it now, stop it for good.

Now that’s an idea. Clean all of these partisan morons out. Sure we’d be in the same place in a couple of years, but at least they’d be different partisan morons. I have no problem with differences of opinions, and differences of political ideologies, but this is just stupid. Everyone’s a Nazi, everyone’s evil. What are we going to do when somebody who truly is evil comes along. As I and others have said before, words have meaning. When use them incorrectly and haphazardly, you dilute them, making them meaningless. I think Keith Olbermann has an idea. You try to brand a fellow politician with something like Nazi and your out. Done. Gone. One strike and your out.

Better dead than Fed, PETA says

In a publicly embarrassing situation in North Carolina last week, two PETA employees were charged with animal cruelty. It brought to light the dark side of PETA. Apparently this organization feels it is much better for the animals to be euthanized than to be adopted out to good homes. Why else would they be taking animals from organizations which can and do adopt them out, only to euthanize them immediately.

The Center for Consumer Freedom, which represents the food industry, a frequent target of PETA campaigns, released data filed by PETA with the state of Virginia that shows PETA has killed more than 10,000 animals from 1998 to 2003.

10,000 animals in five years! Good thing they’re saving these animals from the nasty shelters. I’d hate to think what the animal shelters would have done with these animals. They might have given them good homes for God’s sake. The horror.

I personally haven’t had much respect for the organization since the ALF (Animal Liberation Front) lab raids of the early 90’s. I knew people at WSU who had labs damaged in one of those raids. In typical terrorist fashion they vandalized labs which had nothing to do with the research they were protesting, and most of the animals “released” didn’t survive the experience.

My wife is of the opinion that people, by design, have verbal filters. That little something that makes you hesitate before you say something stupid. She is also of the opinion that some people are either lacking this feature, or have trained themselves to ignore it. Recent political discourse would seem to support the existence of these Verbal Filter Challenged. People with this condition apparently just blurt out whatever comes to mind. In severe cases these people even prepare comments which are completely inappropriate without the slightest thought toward the consequences. Here are some examples of this disorder in action.

“If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags or some mad regime ? Pol Pot or others ? that had no concern for human beings” -
Sen. Dick Durbin, June 14

Does Mr. Durbin not realize how absurd his comment is, or how much it offends people who have actually survived the atrocities of Hitler and Pol Pot? By equating atrocities like the Killing Fields of Pol Pot with the discomfort of and unpleasantness of Guantanamo you’re taking away from the true meaning of atrocity.

Some may believe that my remarks crossed the line,” the Illinois Democrat said. “To them I extend my heartfelt apologies.” -
Sen. Dick Durbin, June 21

Mr. Durbin, you need to apologize for your comments, not because people “may believe that my remarks crossed the line”, but because your comments crossed the line. Your “almost an apology” apology showed that you don’t really understand what this controversy is about. There are people alive in your country with Nazi concentration camp numbers tattooed on their arms. Survivors of Pol Pot and Stalin are here too. How do your think they feel about your comparison? Do you think they would agree that a Nazi concentration camp is the same as listening to Christina Aguilera music with the air conditioning turned too low? I doubt they would agree. You should be ashamed of your comment, but you’re not. Engage the filter, or forever be listed as a member of the Verbal Filter Challenged. For the Record Mr. Durbin, the Verbal Filter Challenged are rarely reelected.

A tortuous use of language, by Jay Tea at Wizbang.

Someone once said that a man never agrees with anyone else’s opinion, he just agrees with his own opinion expressed by someone else. (Forgive the butchering, I couldn’t find the source to get it right.) Wizbang expresses my opinion, much better than I ever could, and I’ve tried.

LA Times Points Out Lynching-Apology Hypocrisy
L.A. Times Buries How Senate Obstructed Anti-Lynching Laws
You Mean The Filibuster Isn’t The Center Of The Republic? (Updates Galore)
Rewriting History, One Article at a Time

Don’t you hate it when you don’t get the memo about what to write about? This is just a few of the stories about the poor reporting of the Senate’s apology about anti-lynching laws. Apparently bloggers were all supposed to write about this today and I missed the memo.

I haven’t quite got a grasp on why these laws were necessary… If murder was illegal, and lynching is murder, lynching was OK? Why was it necessary to make a law making one form of murder really really illegal?

NOPD Links To Nation Of Islam Are Disturbing

As the title says, this is disturbing. The Nation of Islam should have no place in the NOPD. They might as well bring in the guys who beat up Rodney King to teach this class. Do we really need our police getting “sensitivity training” from an organization whose leaders say things like “whites are blue eyed devils”.

If this was a Christian organization people would be screaming about the separation of church and state, but the Nation of Islam gets a pass. Where are the protesters here? They’re probably taking an ethics class from Mark Fuhrman.

Court Urged to Overturn Arizona Law Denying Some Benefits to Illegal Immigrants

Lawyers for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund told a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court Appeals the law was a “scheme” to deport illegal immigrants, and argued only Congress can adopt immigration laws.

I’ve often wondered if most of the problems in our country couldn’t be solved by the participants all speaking a common language. Apparently the lawyers for Mexican American Legal Defense and I don’t agree on the definition of illegal. Maybe we speak very similar, but different languages. I grew up speaking Washingtonian English, while they learned some dialect of Californese English. If we are in fact speaking the same language, then they must be suggesting that enforcing federal law is in some way bad. How exactly can it be a bad thing to enforce the law? I would think (I’m a little naive I know) that lawyers would, as a group, be in favor of enforcing the law. No?

Apparently some lawyers do speak my particular English dialect. Arizona Deputy Attorney General Mary O’Grady made perfect sense when she:

“urged the court not to tinker with the law that denies monthly general assistance payments, assistance in paying utility bills and help with vision benefits. The measure also prohibits illegal immigrants from registering to vote.”

She told judges the law is not pre-empted by Congress.

“This isn’t a regulation of immigration,” she said. “We are simply verifying eligibility.”

I also thought the closing paragraph was oddly humorous.

Villagra said Friendly House* was being injured because it was besieged by illegal immigrants too afraid to seek government assistance.
*plaintiff

I see no reason these people shouldn’t seek government assistance, I admit I agree with the plaintiffs attorney’s on that subject. Where we differ is that I think these people should contact their own government.

Hat tip to The Imperial Torturer of The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler for Border Problem? What Border Problem?

A long shot in more ways than one Hat tip to Michelle Malkin

They took his bloody chainsaw, and sent him on his way. Now that’s just creepy. Hat tip to Patterico.

To answer Patterico’s question Proper procedure for anybody who looks like this: First you taser him, several times. Then you ask for ID. If he answers or moves, taser him again because anything this guy does will look threatening. If he doesn’t move, he’s resisting… You can probably guess the next step.

And a humorous Take the quiz post from A Warded Neuron. I was an F-15. A heartfelt thanks to Hamm172 of A Warded Neuron for the comment (my first comment) on Painting a room in 30 seconds or less. The picture I regret missing the most is what must have been the look on my face when the dining room turned red. (I happen to know what I said when this happened [unprintable], because my two year old repeated it several times for me.)

I posted a few days ago about the Political theft of the 9/11 Memorial. While I didn’t have the time to comment further then, I’ve come up with a few links for anyone wanting to know more about it.

The 9/11 Memorial is in in danger of being (or has been) taken hostage by political organizations who are unfriendly to the United States. It’s been in the a key topic for Michelle Malkin’s NO GUILT COMPLEX AT GROUND ZERO and BATTLE AT GROUND ZERO: THE IFC RESPONDS, as well as The Great Ground Zero Heist Will the 9/11 “memorial” have more about Abu Ghraib than New York’s heroic firemen? BY DEBRA BURLINGAME. Many others have hit this topic and with good reason.

The controversy has even inspired president of the International Freedom Center, Richard Tofel to respond.

Please go to the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation site to post a comment about this tragedy. Michelle Malkin has also posted the new Take Back the Memorial website as a place to comment

If this isn’t the dumbest story I’ve read lately, I don’t know what is. How much do you want to bet they only polled Americans in the Major cities of the East and West Coasts. I’m guessing mostly LA? The guy they picture in the article would get his ass kicked so fast in any of the central states he’s never know what (or who) hit him.

Girly men are probably making this crap up.

THE SOROS-IZATION OF GROUND ZERO - A Michelle Malkin post on the Lefts efforts to redirect the 9/11 Memorial into a politically correct monstrosity.

Debra Burlingame, sister of Charles F. “Chic” Burlingame III, pilot of American Airlines fight 77, which terrorists crashed into the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, has blown the whistle on George Soros and other human rights zealots who are trying to turn Ground Zero into a blame-America monument.

The Washington Post has a story on the Al Gore’s recent United Nations World Environment Day Conference speech. The Post, as expected, is wildly supportive of Mr. Gore and his views on Global Warming. While they go on in great detail about Mr. Gore’s reasons for supporting the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, they sum up President Bush’s lack of support as:

The Bush administration opposes the treaty because officials believe it would raise energy prices and cost 5 million U.S. jobs.

As should be expected from this newspaper, they ignore entirely any possibility of ulterior motives on both sides of the political aisle. It escaped their notice that a significant number of countries that ratified this treaty have nothing to loose by signing. They ignored any reference to countries like Russia, that not only have nothing to lose by signing, but stand to gain financially by signing.

Since 1990 the economies of most countries in the former Soviet Union have collapsed, as have their greenhouse gas emissions. Because of this, Russia should have no problem meeting its commitments under Kyoto, as its current emission levels are substantially below its targets. Indeed, it may be able to benefit from selling emissions credits to other countries in the Kyoto Protocol, which are currently using more than their target levels of emissions. - Answers.com

They turned a blind eye toward any possible motive the USA could have had other than financial. The US’s contention that this miracle of model science and diplomacy called the Kyoto Protocol only effects Industrial Nations, but almost entirely ignores developing countries escapes their notice as well.

It goes without saying that any scientist who disagrees with the Mr. Gore’s theory will get no mention. One of the more outspoken critics of this Protocol, Philip Stott, emeritus professor of biogeography at the University of London had a few well chosen words on the subject.

The authors challenge the key contradiction at the heart of the Kyoto Protocol, the global climate agreement - that climate is one of the most complex systems known, yet that we can manage it by trying to control a small set of factors, namely greenhouse gas emissions. Scientifically, this is not mere uncertainty: it is a lie.

There are a few other points that are never mentioned about Al Gore the Kyoto Protocol. in June of 97, before the Kyoto conference, the United States Senate voted 95-0 against signing protocols just like this. Mr. Gore signed anyway. While President Clinton and Vice President Gore were in office for more than a year after signing this Protocol, they never submitted the protocol for ratification . It would seem on face value that while they very much wanted to make a statement by signing, they had no intention of having it ratified. There is, of course, always the possibility that rather than having this “oh so important” protocol completed, they wanted to save it as a political bargaining chip for later. Hard as it is to believe that Mr. Al “I invented the internet” Gore would say or do something for purely political reasons, that is probably the real answer.

On June 25, 1997, before the Kyoto Protocol was to be negotiated, the U.S. Senate passed by a 95-0 vote the Byrd-Hagel Resolution (S. Res. 98), which stated the sense of the Senate was that the United States should not be a signatory to any protocol that did not include binding targets and timetables for developing as well as industrialized nations or “would result in serious harm to the economy of the United States”. Disregarding the Senate Resolution, on November 12, 1998, Vice President Al Gore symbolically signed the protocol. Aware of the Senate’s view of the protocol, the Clinton Administration never submitted the protocol for ratification. - Answers.com

Had a little home improvement mishap today. I was actually cleaning the kitchen when I knocked something over. I’m still not sure what it was, but I do know that it knocked my power drill off the back of the counter into the dining room. That drove the Phillips head screw driver tip right through the side of an aerosol can of red primer. A hiss, a rattle, and a cloud of dust later, and my toolbox is red. The carpet is red. My new end table is red. The walls and part of one kitchen cabinet are red. And my DeWalt drill is red (That’s just wrong, if I’d wanted it red I’d have bought a Milwaukee drill).

Mineral spirits took most of the paint off my end table. The walls and cabinets will have to be primed and repainted. The carpet is shot, but it was scheduled to be replaced anyway. I think my drill is unfortunately red for good.

I learned my lesson though… Never clean the kitchen.

An American Soldier
“I want to be remembered for the things I accomplished.”
By Michael C. Carlson

This is the American soldier the media never sees. The True American Soldier. This young man paid the ultimate price, not because somebody sent him to Iraq against his will, but for his beliefs. He wanted to serve others. He served and died as he wanted. In the service of others.

I want to live forever; the only way that one could possibly achieve it in this day and age is to live on in those you have affected. I want to carve out a niche for myself in the history books. I want to be remembered for the things I accomplished. I sometimes dream of being a soldier in a war. In this war I am helping to liberate people from oppression. In the end there is a big parade and a monument built to immortalize us in stone. Other times I envision being a man you see out of the corner of your eye, dressed in black fatigues, entering a building full of terrorists. After everything is completed I slip out the back only to repeat this the next time l am called. I might not be remembered in that scenario, but I will have helped people.

He will be remembered. For his heroism, for his dedication, and for his service. Sgt. Michael C. Carlson, you will be remembered.

Sgt. Carlson, of St. Paul, Minn., was killed on Jan. 24, 2005, when his Bradley fighting vehicle overturned in Mohammed Sacran, Iraq. He was 22. This is adapted from a “credo paper” he wrote in 12th grade, on May 11, 2000.