An Open Letter from a Gold Star Mom to Obama

An Open Letter From Gold Star Mom Debbie Lee To President Obama

It is with a heavy heart for my country that I write to you today. I pray that you will be inspired, challenged, and that you will reconsider decisions that you have made in the past week since you took the oath to preserve, protect and defend our constitution.

Many in my family have taken a similar oath in the military including my sons Kristofer & Marc, my son-in-law Chris, my brother Jim and my Father.

“I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.” They along with every other Veteran have paid for my freedoms and the freedoms of every American. They have given and sacrificed so much. Some have paid the ultimate price as my son Marc Alan Lee did on Aug 2, 2006. He was the first Navy SEAL killed in Iraq. He made the choice to stand up into the direct line of fire three times that day fighting for the rights of those who couldn’t fight and bravely defending the defenseless. He told me we were making a difference in Iraq and he knew it was the right thing to do. He fought the terrorists over in Iraq so that we would not have to fight them on American soil or fear another attack on our homeland.

We have heard the success stories in Ramadi and the Al-Anbar province where Marc fought. He directly impacted the history of the world. My son successfully completed his mission that day but it required the sacrifice of his life to save other’s. He chose to do that, he was a young man who valued others lives more important than his own.

I remember the day I found out I was pregnant with him, just two weeks after a divorce from his abusive Father. I had a 3 year old son and an 18 month old daughter and didn’t get support from their Father. How would we ever survive? I could barely afford food for the two little ones I had, let alone another baby. There were those who told me that abortion was the solution. I already had an abortion at 17 and it would have been easy to do that again, but I had learned the hard way that abortion was taking the life of an unborn child and wasn’t a solution.

As a single parent for most of their life, I struggled - sometimes working 3 jobs to take care of them. It wasn’t easy and there wasn’t any light at the end of the tunnel, but by God’s grace and mercy I have three amazing children.

Can you imagine how different this world would have been without Marc? I still hear amazing stories of lives that have been inspired and touched by this amazing man who gave his life away so that others may live. It could even be your life that Marc spared as he fought the terrorists and brought them the justice they deserved. Marc and others just like him have fought and given you and me the gift of life by defending us against enemies foreign and domestic.

This past week a nation watched as you signed Executive Orders that have horrific consequences.

You didn’t waste any time signing an order to close Guantanamo Detention Camps. My son gave up his life fighting the terrorists so we wouldn’t have to face them in America ever again, and now your actions will bring these vile radical terrorist to American soil and give them the same rights as citizens of America have?

I know any major decisions that I make I get the facts first hand, I research the information, I weigh the outcome or consequences and I have a plan that I implement. You have not even been to GITMO. You have no plan what to do with the terrorists. I just retuned from a trip to Guantanamo. I saw first hand that we are taking the moral high ground. At times the terrorists have more than our brave troops do.

While visiting the detention camps, I looked into the eyes of a terrorist who glared at me while motioning he was going to cut my head off. Please DO NOT bring these self admitted murders to the land of the free and home of the brave. These cold hearted killers willingly confess that they are “still in Jihad.”

You also reversed the Mexico City Policy and in a time of economic disaster in the US are allowing our tax dollars to be sent to international organizations that provide abortions. We are losing our homes, our jobs, and our nation is in financial crisis and you’ve decided to use our finances to kill babies in other nations?? You’re concerned about the higher moral ground with the terrorists who murder for “Allah” and yet you won’t honor and obey Christ and defend the defenseless unborn baby?

My son took a stand and gave up his life defending the defenseless. He knew it was the right thing to do. He made a moral decision and displayed his courage and character and laid down his life for what he believed in. PLEASE Mr. President display courage and a noble character and do what is right! Don’t yearn for the praises of the liberals, the media, or European and Middle Eastern nations, yearn for the praises of the one who created us, our Lord Jesus Christ.

You have taken an oath to defend and protect me and this nation. PLEASE reconsider your decision on closing GITMO and honor our troops by acknowledging that dangerous, terrorists have been captured and try them according to military law in GITMO. Honor the sacrifice of my son and all of those who have given their very last breathe for you and for me.

Protect and value the life of every unborn child, they are a gift from God no matter what the circumstances were at the time they were conceived. They could grow up one day and change the history of the world. I’ve seen it happen before my very eyes through Marc’s life. I have felt God’s forgiveness for the life I took but I often wonder what God had intended for that precious life.

Please know that I pray for you and for this nation. My prayer comes from II Kings 18:

(6)“That you would hold fast to the LORD, that you would not depart from following Him, that you would keep His commandments; which the LORD commanded Moses.”

And Mr. President as a result of doing that;

(7a) “The LORD was with Him; he prospered wherever he went.”

Marc left his indelible mark on the world, and impacted history. Mr. President, what mark will you leave and how will you impact history. What are you willing to selflessly give so that other’s may live?

Standing in the gap,

Debbie Lee

Sign of the Week

Iran to Obama, "YOU ARE WEAK." I knew it!

US President Barack Obama’s offer to talk to Iran shows that America’s policy of “domination” has failed, the government spokesman said on Saturday.

“This request means Western ideology has become passive, that capitalist thought and the system of domination have failed,” Gholam Hossein Elham was quoted as saying by the Mehr news agency.

“Negotiation is secondary, the main issue is that there is no way but for (the United States) to change,” he added.

As Machiavelli wrote, it is better to be feared than loved. Conservatives have known all along that a major reason 9/11 happened started in the Carter administration with his pandering and weakness. Clinton continued those policies and Bush inherited their failure, as did the rest of the United States. I lost a very good friend on 9/11. Melissa Rose Barnes was at the Pentagon that day. I place the blame equally between Carter and Clinton. George Bush has kept us safe all these years. How Iran must be enjoying the spineless Democrats now in power. Terrorists do not honor nor admire weakness and capitulation. Thanks a lot, Obama. It sure didn't take you and your cabinet long to put us right back where we started.

The Stimulus Package - h/t Atlas Shrugs

Just a sampling of SOME of what is included in the stimulus package. I don't know about you, but it sickened me.

$44 million for construction, repair and improvements at US Department of Agriculture facilties

$209 million for work on deferred maintenance at Agricultural Research Service facilities

$245 million for maintaining and modernizing the IT system of the Farm Service Agency

$175 million to buy and restore floodplain easements for flood prevention

$50 million for "Watershed Rehabilitation"

$1.1 billion for rural community facilities direct loans

$2 billion for rural business and industry guaranteed loans

$2.7 billion for rural water and waste dispoal direct loans

$22.1 billion for rural housing insurance fund loans

$2.8 billion for loans to spur rural broadband

$150 million for emergency food assistance

$50 million for regional economic development commissions

$1 billion for "Periodic Censuses and Programs"

$350 million for State Broadband Data and Development Grants

$1.8 billion for Rural Broadband Deployment Grants

$1 billion for Rural Wireless Deployment Grants

$650 million for Digital-to-Analog Converter Box Program

$100 million for "Scientific and Technical Research and Services" at the National Institute of Standards And Technology

$30 million for necessary expenses of the "Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership"

$300 million for a competitive construction grant program for research science buildings

$400 million for "habitat restoration and mitigation activities" at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

$600 million for "accelerating satellite development and acquisition"

$140 million for "climate data modeling"

$3 billion for state and local law enforcement grants

$1 billion for "Community Oriented Policing Services"

$250 million for "accelerating the development of the tier 1 set of Earth science climate research missions recommended by the National Academies Decadal Survey."

$50 million for repairs to NASA facilities from storm damage

$300 million for "Major Research Insrumentation program" (science)

$200 million for "academic research facilities modernization"

$100 million for "Education and Human Resources"

$400 million for "Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction"

$4.5 billion to make military facilities more energy efficient

$1.5 billion for Army Operation and Maintenance fund

$624 million for Navy Operation and Maintenance

$128 million for Marine Corps Operation and Maintenance

$1.23 billion for Air Force Operation and Maintenance

$454 million to "Defense Health Program"

$110 million for Army Reserve Operation and Maintenance

$62 million for Navy Reserve Operation and Maintenance

$45 million for Marine Corps Reserve Operation and Maintenance

$14 million for Air Force Reserve Operation and Maintenance

$302 million for National Guard Operation and Maintenance

$29 million for Air National Guard Operation and Maintenance

$350 million for military energy research and development programs

$2 billion for Army Corps of Engineers "Construction"

$250 million for "Mississippi River and Tributaries"

$2.2 billion for Army Corps "Operation and Maintenance"

$25 million for an Army Corps "Regulatory Program"

$126 million for Interior Department "water reclamation and reuse projects"

$80 million for "rural water projects"

$18.5 billion for "Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy" research in the Department of Energy. That money includes:

$2 billion for development of advanced batteries

$800 million of that is for biomass research and $400 million for geothermal technologies

$1 billion in grants to "institutional entities for energy sustainability and efficiency"

$6.2 billion for the Weatherization Assistance Program

$3.5 billion for Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants

$3.4 billion for state energy programs

$200 million for expenses to implement energy independence programs

$300 million for expenses to implement Energy efficient appliance rebate programs including the Energy Star program

$400 million for expenses to implement Alternative Fuel Vehicle and Infrastructure Grants to States and Local Governments

$1 billion for expenses necessary for advanced battery manufacturing

$4.5 billion to modernize the nation's electricity grid

$1 billion for the Advanced Battery Loan Guarantee Program

$2.4 billion to demonstrate "carbon capture and sequestration technologies"

$400 million for the Advanced Research Projects Agency (Science)

$500 million for "Defense Environmental Cleanup"

$1 billion for construction and repair of border facilities and land ports of entry

$6 billion for energy efficiency projects on government buildings

$600 million to buy and lease government plug-in and alternative fuel vehicles

$426 million in small business loans

$100 million for "non-intrusive detection technology to be deployed at sea ports of entry

$150 million for repair and construction at land border ports of entry

$500 million for explosive detection systems for aviation security

$150 million for alteration or removal of obstructive bridges

$200 million for FEMA Emergency Food and Shelter program

$325 million for Interior Department road, bridge and trail repair projects

$300 million for road and bridge work in Wildlife Refuges and Fish Hatcheries

$1.7 billion for "critical deferred maintenance" in the National Park System

$200 million to revitalize the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

$100 million for National Park Service Centennial Challenge programs

$200 million for repair of U.S. Geological Survey facilities

$500 million for repair and replacement of schools, jails, roads, bridges, housing and more for Bureau of Indian Affairs

$800 million for Superfund programs

$200 million for leaking underground storage tank cleanup

$8.4 billion in "State and Tribal Assistance Grants"

$650 million in "Capital Improvement and Maintenance" at the Agriculture Dept.

$850 million for "Wildland Fire Management"

$550 million for Indian Health facilties

$150 million for deferred maintenance at the Smithsonian museums

$50 million in grants to fund "arts projects and activities which preserve jobs in the non-profit arts sector threatened by declines in philanthropic and other support during the current economic downturn" through the National Endowment for the Arts

$1.2 billion in grants to states for youth summer jobs programs and other activities

$1 billion for states in dislocated worker employment and training activities

$500 million for the dislocated workers assistance national reserve

$80 million for the enforcement of worker protection laws and regulations related to infrastructure and unemployment insurance investments

$300 million for "construction, rehabilitation and acquisition of Job Corps Centers"

$250 million for public health centers

$1 billion for renovation and repair of health centers

$600 million for nurse, physician and dentist training

$462 million for renovation work at the Centers for Disease Control

$1.5 billion for "National Center for Research Resources"

$500 million for "Buildlings and Facilties" at the National Institutes of Health in suburban Washington, D.C.

$700 million for "comparative effectiveness research" on prescription drugs

$1 billion for Low-Income Home Energy Assistance

$2 billion in Child Care and Development Block Grants for states

$1 billion for Head Start programs

$1.1 billion for Early Head Start programs

$100 million for Social Security research programs

$200 million for "Aging Services Programs"

$2 billion for "Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology"

$430 million for public health/social services emergency funds

$2.3 billion for the Centers for Disease Control for a variety of programs

$5.5 billion in targeted education grants

$5.5 billion in "education finance incentive grants"

$2 billion in "school improvement grants"

$13.6 billion for Individuals with Disabilities Education Act

$250 million for statewide education data systems

$14 billion for school modernization, renovation and repair

$160 million for AmeriCorps grants

$400 million for the construction and costs to establish a new "National Computer Center" for the Social Security Administration

$500 million to improve processing of disability and retirement claims

$920 million for Army housing and child development centers

$350 million for Navy and Marine Corps housing and child development centers

$280 million in Air Force housing and child development centers

$3.75 billion in military hospital and surgery center construction

$140 million in Army National Guard construction projects

$70 million in Air National Guard construction projects

$100 million in Army Reserve construction projects

$30 million in Navy Reserve construction projects

$60 million in Air Force Reserve construction projects

$950 million for VA Medical Facilities

$50 million for repairs for military cemeteries

$120 million for a backup information management facility for the State Department

$98 million for National Cybersecurity Initiative

$3 billion for "Grants-in-Aid for Airports"

$300 million for Indian Reservation roads

$300 million for Amtrak capital needs

$800 million for national railroad assets or infrastructure repairs, upgrades

$5.4 billion in federal transit grants

$2 billion in infrastructure development for subways and commuter railways

$5 billion for public housing capital

$1 billion in competitive housing grants

$2.5 billion for energy efficiency upgrades in public housing

$500 million in Native American Housing Block Grants

$4.1 billion to help communities deal with foreclosed homes

$1.5 billion in homeless prevention activities

$79 billion in education funds for states

USMC Sgt. Nick Popaditch on Red Eye to talk about his book "Once a Marine."

What a guy. He makes me proud and I am so very grateful to men and women like Sgt. Popaditch.

Condi Rice on "The View"

If ever there existed a more venous bog of eternal stench than The View, I seriously doubt it. A panel of Bush haters with one quasi-conservative. Yet, Condi Rice shone above them all. Not, not one congratulation on the fact that Condi Rice accomplished so very much in her lifetime. Were she a black liberal, she would have been worshipped. Therein lies the rub. The black community has shunned and ridibuled black Republicans, among them Thomas Sowell, Clarence Thomas, Condi Rice, Michael Steele, Ken Blackwell and other conservatives such as Larry Elder. That is an absolutely shame.

Thunderous Applause for President Bush and Lara

President Bush and Laura attended a basketball game in Texas between Baylor and Oklahoma yesterda6. I was rooting for Oklahoma but it was wonderful to see the President and Mrs. Bush so relaxed and at home. After the way they were treated exiting the White House, this had to feel good. God Bless you President Bush and Laura. Thank you for keeping us safe.

Ashton Kutcher hypocrit

Just days ago, Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore released a video of themselves and other celebrities joyfully proclaiming that they pledged to be better people now that Obama was president. Aside from the obvious, i.e., we should all pledge to be better people NO MATTER WHO IS PRESIDENT, it was a cheap political ploy to put themselves in a favorable light. Obama fever. This week, it appears Ashton was subjected to construction noise when he was trying to sleep. In what had to have been a Kelso moment, he decided to video tape it and put it on his blog. Here is a snippet of his temper tantrum:

“It’s 7:30 a.m. and I get to wake up in my bedroom to my f---ing jacka-- neighbor doing this next to my porch,” the actor said. “Right up there, that’s my bedroom. This is where my d---weed neighbor has decided to be building a house at 7 a.m., pounding on steel and welding right next to my frickin’ house.”

“I woke up this morning to pounding welding steel,” he said looking down at the construction from his backyard. “I’m gonna lose it on this guy, I’m gonna lose it! It’s been going on for four months now. This guy has another thing coming.”

“Jack a-- 7 a.m. building a g--- d--- fort next to my house f’in up my view and noise polluting… this a-- clown has another thing coming… I’m gonna kill my neighbor!” Kutcher wrote.

“The neighbor doing consruction with six guys pounding hammers against steel at 7 a.m. is no way to wake up! … baby keep it together there should only be another 5 months of this… calm and gentle baby you can pull out the paint gun later!” Moore wrote.

Not only was all of this against the sentiment of the video, Demi has young children in the home (not including Kutcher). Maybe a good diaper change, pacifier and a bottle would have calmed Ashton down. Just sayin'.

We are Republican

The vote in the House this week, a unanimous vote by the Republicans against Obama's stimulus package, has certainly given the Republicans I know, myself included, a boost. I do feel the Republican party has lost its way. Though I am an admirer of President Bush, I was deeply disappointed in the big spending that occurred during his two terms and his stance on immigration. This video is really very good and talks about what people expect of the Republican party and what it means to them.

Macho Sauce Productions - I Pledge

An answer to Ashton, Demi, Toby, Sean, et al, regarding there ridiculous and ludicrous I Pledge video. Why in the world would you wait for the right president to start doing good things. How hypocritical is that? Good grief. This answer video is spot on. I have a list, too and I just keep adding these useful idiots. The list of movies I can see is getting shorter, but at least the money they spend on their liberal agendas is not coming from me. I can live with that.

Movie Recommendation: Fireproof

Fireproof Trailer http://teaser-trailer.com
by wolverine-movie

WorldNetDaily gives this synopsis: SYNOPSIS

At work, inside burning buildings, Capt. Caleb Holt lives by the old firefighter's adage: Never leave your partner behind. At home, in the cooling embers of his marriage, he lives by his own rules.

Growing up, Catherine Holt always dreamed of marrying a loving, brave firefighter...just like her daddy. Now, after seven years of marriage, Catherine wonders when she stopped being "good enough" for her husband.

Regular arguments over jobs, finances, housework, and outside interests have readied them both to move on to something with more sparks.

As the couple prepares to enter divorce proceedings, Caleb's father challenges his son to commit to a 40-day experiment: "The Love Dare." Wondering if it's even worth the effort, Caleb agrees-for his father's sake more than for his marriage. When Caleb discovers the book's daily challenges are tied into his parents' newfound faith, his already limited interest is further dampened.

While trying to stay true to his promise, Caleb becomes frustrated time and again. He finally asks his father, "How am I supposed to show love to somebody who constantly rejects me?"

When his father explains that this is the love Christ shows to us, Caleb makes a life-changing commitment to love God. And with God's help he begins to understand what it means to truly love his wife.

But is it too late to fireproof his marriage? His job is to rescue others. Now Caleb Holt is ready to face his toughest job ever...rescuing his wife's heart.

Wow, a movie I can actually take kids and grandkids to see. How refreshing is that! Personally, I love Kirk Cameron and admire him for the work he has done in Jesus' name.

You Won't Believe What's in the Stimulus Bill

Perhaps the biggest crap sandwich ever to be served to the American people, and we didn't even get a kiss. The Wall Street Journal reports:


"Never let a serious crisis go to waste. What I mean by that is it's an opportunity to do things you couldn't do before."

So said White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel in November, and Democrats in Congress are certainly taking his advice to heart. The 647-page, $825 billion House legislation is being sold as an economic "stimulus," but now that Democrats have finally released the details we understand Rahm's point much better. This is a political wonder that manages to spend money on just about every pent-up Democratic proposal of the last 40 years.


We've looked it over, and even we can't quite believe it. There's $1 billion for Amtrak, the federal railroad that hasn't turned a profit in 40 years; $2 billion for child-care subsidies; $50 million for that great engine of job creation, the National Endowment for the Arts; $400 million for global-warming research and another $2.4 billion for carbon-capture demonstration projects. There's even $650 million on top of the billions already doled out to pay for digital TV conversion coupons.

In selling the plan, President Obama has said this bill will make "dramatic investments to revive our flagging economy." Well, you be the judge. Some $30 billion, or less than 5% of the spending in the bill, is for fixing bridges or other highway projects. There's another $40 billion for broadband and electric grid development, airports and clean water projects that are arguably worthwhile priorities.

Add the roughly $20 billion for business tax cuts, and by our estimate only $90 billion out of $825 billion, or about 12 cents of every $1, is for something that can plausibly be considered a growth stimulus. And even many of these projects aren't likely to help the economy immediately. As Peter Orszag, the President's new budget director, told Congress a year ago, "even those [public works] that are 'on the shelf' generally cannot be undertaken quickly enough to provide timely stimulus to the economy."



Here's another lu-lu: Congress wants to spend $600 million more for the federal government to buy new cars. Uncle Sam already spends $3 billion a year on its fleet of 600,000 vehicles. Congress also wants to spend $7 billion for modernizing federal buildings and facilities. The Smithsonian is targeted to receive $150 million; we love the Smithsonian, too, but this is a job creator?

Another "stimulus" secret is that some $252 billion is for income-transfer payments -- that is, not investments that arguably help everyone, but cash or benefits to individuals for doing nothing at all. There's $81 billion for Medicaid, $36 billion for expanded unemployment benefits, $20 billion for food stamps, and $83 billion for the earned income credit for people who don't pay income tax. While some of that may be justified to help poorer Americans ride out the recession, they aren't job creators.



Oh, and don't forget education, which would get $66 billion more. That's more than the entire Education Department spent a mere 10 years ago and is on top of the doubling under President Bush. Some $6 billion of this will subsidize university building projects. If you think the intention here is to help kids learn, the House declares on page 257 that "No recipient . . . shall use such funds to provide financial assistance to students to attend private elementary or secondary schools." Horrors: Some money might go to nonunion teachers.

The larger fiscal issue here is whether this spending bonanza will become part of the annual "budget baseline" that Congress uses as the new floor when calculating how much to increase spending the following year, and into the future. Democrats insist that it will not. But it's hard -- no, impossible -- to believe that Congress will cut spending next year on any of these programs from their new, higher levels. The likelihood is that this allegedly emergency spending will become a permanent addition to federal outlays -- increasing pressure for tax increases in the bargain. Any Blue Dog Democrat who votes for this ought to turn in his "deficit hawk" credentials.

This is supposed to be a new era of bipartisanship, but this bill was written based on the wish list of every living -- or dead -- Democratic interest group. As Speaker Nancy Pelosi put it, "We won the election. We wrote the bill." So they did. Republicans should let them take all of the credit.

Read the entire article here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123310466514522309.html

I totally agree with the last paragraph. Let the Democrats have it. Of course, 10 Republicans voted with the Democrats, one of them the worthless Voinovich who hails from Ohio. Thank God he is retiring. Hopefully we can find someone with testicles next time around.

Businesses are closing all over the place here - Pier One, Michael's, Ruby Tuesday's, Fire Mountain, rumors are that Target is giong to go, several factories are closed and rumors are that the GM plant will go soon. It only has a skeleton crew working now. Oh, and how about that "we won" phrase used over and over. I don't know about you, but that was old the first time I heard it from the "O." It's twice as old now.

Geert Wilders interview by Jesse Petrilla and Tom Trento of UAC

Jesse Petrilla and Tom Trento of United American Committee interview Dutch Member of Parliament Geert Wilders about the Islamization of Europe and its implications on America and the entire Western world

Liberal Scare Tactics

This is actually an Australian ad, but it could just as well have been one the Democrats here in the good old USA used as an example. Priceless.

Things You Have to Believe to be a Democrat Today

Things You Have to Believe to Be a Democrat Today

CLICK TO READ

Something Monstrous (H/T Hot Air)

Aired On Jan 26th,WARNING : Disturbing Holocaust Footage : Egyptian Cleric Amin Al-Ansari Justifies the Holocaust, Airs Footage, and Declares: "This Is What We Hope Will Happen But, Allah Willing, at the Hand of the Muslims"

Tell me again about that "religion of peace" part. It just doesn't seem to be sinking in.

William Ayers

William Ayers and wife are back in the game! Now playing near you, yet another ad nauseum speech about how The Weather Underground never hurt anyone, yada yada yada, blah blah blah, and how he is a good person, etc., etc., etc. I actually think he is enjoying all of this while appearing to be just so very damaged by it. Him and his corduroy jacket with the elbow patches and the shoulder pads, the thinning hair and the earrings. Oh, such a specimen of academia be he. Puke. He and Bernadine should have been tried and convicted but a technicality got them off. As the cartoon says, and now he teaches are children. It is really any wonder so many kids are screwed up?

Ronald Reagan Rendezvous with Destiny

How we could use him now, and how we loved him and love him still.

Gitmo

Bill Balsamico of Casa d' Ice does it again!

The Unending Spending of B. Hussein Obama

And he hasn't even been in office a week. Already, every conceivable public entity has asked for a bail out. This from political commentator George Will:

"[M]ore than any predecessor except the first, the 44th president enters office with the scope of its powers barely circumscribed by law, and even less by public opinion. Obama's unprecedented power derives from the astonishing events of the last four months that have made indistinct the line between public and private sectors. Neither the public as currently alarmed, nor Congress as currently constituted, nor the Constitution as currently construed is an impediment to hitherto unimagined executive discretion in allocating vast portions of the nation's wealth. He acquires power just as the retreat of the state has been abruptly reversed." --columnist George Will

James Madison said "I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on the objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents." --James Madison

Nancy Pelosi Says the Death of Millions More Babies will Help the Economy

My God, this woman is second in line to the Presidency after the Vice President. Even George Stephanopolous looks incredulous, it not disgusted. Let's kill those babies that might cost us money. She is a freaking loon! It's like she is making it up as she goes along! H/T to the Drudge Report for the following in quotes.

"Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi boldly defended a move to add birth control funding to the new economic "stimulus" package, claiming "contraception will reduce costs to the states and to the federal government."

Pelosi, the mother of 5 children and 6 grandchildren, who once said, "Nothing in my life will ever, ever compare to being a mom," seemed to imply babies are somehow a burden on the treasury.

The revelation came during an exchange Sunday morning on ABC's THIS WEEK.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Hundreds of millions of dollars to expand family planning services. How is that stimulus?

PELOSI: Well, the family planning services reduce cost. They reduce cost. The states are in terrible fiscal budget crises now and part of what we do for children's health, education and some of those elements are to help the states meet their financial needs. One of those - one of the initiatives you mentioned, the contraception, will reduce costs to the states and to the federal government.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So no apologies for that?

PELOSI: No apologies. No. we have to deal with the consequences of the downturn in our economy."

She is also a Catholic, for whom abortion is, or used to be before people like Kerry, Kennedy and Pelosi reinstructed, against the beliefs of the church. Give me a break. I have a new term for them, the anti-Catholic Catholics. Whatever they feel is politically expedient suddenly becomes more important than their faith. They are soulless wraiths. Well, if you live your life as if there is no God, you had better be right.

Jimmy Carter Says Hamas Can be Trusted

Good Lord, will this piece of garbage ever go away? Why does he matter? Maybe in God's eyes, but I just don't see how.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

"Welcome to Obamaland, the Socialist Paradise", by James Delingpole

Got this in an e-mail from Human Events. If you aren't on their mailing list, you should be!

Dear Fellow Conservative:

If the inauguration of President Barack Obama fills you with dread rather than elation, you're not alone.

In fact, you're exactly at one with James Delingpole -- who knows exactly where America is heading: into a morass of sprawling government that will slowly start suffocating our economy, our liberties, and our culture.

How does Delingpole know? Because he's seen it all before in Great Britain.

You might as well call it socialism, says Delingpole, because that's what it is. In Britain it came in under the smiling face of Tony Blair, and has left the British bulldog castrated, whimpering, and sick. In America it's coming under the vibrant, youthful guise of Barack Obama.

But the result will be same: The brave, independent American eagle will become the American turkey, oven-basted by the nanny state of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid.

Now, in Welcome to Obamaland: I Have Seen Your Future, and It Doesn't Work, Delingpole -- whose laugh-out-loud wit has made his fame as a British political commentator -- tells us how bad things could really get.

"Think of me as the hero of H.G. Wells's The Time Machine, bursting into your present, my clothes all tattered and torn, and on my face an expression of dire horror and impending doom," writes Delingpole. "For I am afraid I have a terrible message to impart. I have just seen the future. Your future. And I'm sorry to say it sucks."

Hilarious, witty, impassioned, and perceptive, Welcome to Obamaland will have you laughing through your tears and taking courage from the eternal truth of conservative principles.

Order the book at: https://members.humaneventsonline.com/order.php?offer=1500

McCain and the GOP.

McCain was never my choice for president. Not only is he not a true conservative, I have grave issues with his stance on immigration. He ran a lackluster campaign and he did not handle Sarah Palin correctly. HER I like. It's time to get back to true conservative values. Hopefully, in the next four years, the conservatives will find a candidate who truly does represent us.

What Islam is Not.

Budweiser Commercial Welcomes Troops Homes

This one is a tear jerker. Wouldn't it be nice if we could unite together as a nation, the way we did in World War II. It will never happen again, though it actually did briefly after 9/11. I saw Gary Sinese on TV today. He was talking about how after 9/11 he remembered George Bush talking about coming together as a nation, volunteering, doing all we could. He said he made up his mind to do just that. Since then, he has made countless trips to Iraq to entertain the troops and to thank them. God Bless Gary Sinese. He is a great American.

The Welcome Home that they deserve

All over the United States, groups of people get together to welcome home the troops. These people, most of them, don't have relatives returning. They just take the time and make the effort to say thank you to those who keep us safe. I say there are all kind of heroes and these people are in a class of their own. God bless them and God bless our troops. This is in Dallas-Fort Worth.

Peggy the Moocher Believes in Obama

Sad to say, I don't think people like Peggy are rare. Obama is the one he has been waiting for. He will take from us the need to ever worry about putting gas in our cars or paying our mortages. All hail, the Obamessiah!

The Liberal Media Annoints Obama as God - Yes, It's Official

Using this image as a "wrap-around" in their newspapers, the LA Times again shows the nonpartisan reporting and unbiased slant that they have always maintained. No wonder they are bankrupt. Hat tip to Newsbusters.

The other image is added just for general purposes. In case you have been living in a cave, Obama actually uttered the phrase "I won" when speaking to his fellow politicians, as if they needed to be reminded.

Where Was the Hate

Dr. Paul Kengore wires on Front Page Magazine: "Watching the inauguration of President Barack Obama, I was impressed by the graciousness and civility by the two presidents at the platform during the transition. To tepid applause, Obama began his Inaugural Address by thanking George W. Bush for his service. As the camera panned to Bush, the 43rd president seemed non-responsive, sad.

After the ceremony, the Obamas and Bushes slowly descended the Capitol steps together, almost arm in arm—two presidents and two first ladies, two couples, four Americans, four people. They chatted quietly, amicably. The Obamas escorted the Bushes to the helicopter. They hugged, shook hands, George Bush gave Michelle Obama a kiss on the cheek. The helicopter flew away.

Graciousness. Civility.

I watched this on MSNBC. It was all so moving that it threw me for a loop when, as the Bush helicopter gradually disappeared from sight, the camera fixed on an Obama supporter carrying a giant sign that read: “BUSH GO TO HELL.” (I’ve since learned that such rude gestures were more common than I had realized, including the crowd chanting at Bush, “na na na na … hey, hey, hey, goodbye. Click here.)

My mind immediately raced back to the inauguration of George W. Bush in January 2000. On that other January day, Bush used his Inaugural Address as an opportunity to call for unity after the terribly divisive 2000 presidential election. “Unity,” he said shortly into his speech, “is within our reach, because we are guided by a power larger than ourselves, Who creates us equal in His image.” He spoke of the need for compassion, character—and civility.

He defined compassion as the work of a nation. He interjected one of his favorite Biblical stories—the account of the Good Samaritan. He made a “pledge” in those first presidential minutes: “When we see that wounded traveler on the road to Jericho, we will not pass to the other side.” Though no one could have foreseen it, Bush would later (April 2003) invoke that same parable in explaining to a shocked White House press corps why he was about to take the unprecedented step of spending $15 billion on African AIDS relief in a period of record budget deficits and amid a major war in Iraq—and with tens of billions more yet to follow.

The benediction at the 2000 inauguration was done by Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell of the Windsor Village United Methodist Church, an African-American congregation in Houston that Bush addressed as governor. Caldwell, who described himself as politically independent but a “spiritual supporter” of Bush, urged forgiveness: “Almighty God, the supply and supplier of peace, prudent policy, and non-partisanship, we bless your holy and righteous name. Thank you, O God, for blessing us with forgiveness.”

Read the rest of the story here: http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=003497B0-AD0C-4B3B-B6D0-90D4CC6C9914

My thoughts are had the roles been reversed, President Bush would have immediately counseled the bitter naysayers in the audience and given them a lesson in humility, civility, and decency. It's it funny that the left seems to care so very much what other nations think of us, yet they behave like this at perhaps our most important public event.

Cartoons for Sunday

Nothing really funny about them, either.

The Ugly Side of the Inauguration - A Missed Opportunity

Sherman Frederick of ReviewJournal.com writes:

"Ironic that on Inauguration Day, when President Barack Obama told Americans it was time to take personal responsibility and "grow up" as a country, some of his supporters behaved like spoiled children in booing George W. Bush.

And, sadly, neither Obama nor any leader in the public spotlight that day seized the moment to admonish the boorish behavior.

It would have been nice had Obama had the presence of mind in his inaugural speech to not only allude to scripture in saying it's time to put away "childish things" but to also have told the boo-birds that their behavior was inappropriate and the embodiment of those "childish things."

He might have said: "Isn't it enough to be just happy for me? When you boo the former president, you fail to understand what this solemn event is all about -- the peaceful transition of power. This is not a football game. Nor is it a Third World bloodless coup. This is American democracy at work. If you can't respect that, then leave. Now."

But no one mustered the courage to say that. While I thought Obama's speech was otherwise thought-provoking and worthy, he missed an opportunity to call out these boors and chastise their behavior. By not doing so, I am afraid that Obama essentially condoned this kind of mob intolerance. There is already a hateful mean streak among some Obamamaniacs. Left unchecked, it can fester into something quite un-American and un-democratic.

In case you missed it, when President George W. Bush was announced to the crowd, some booed loudly, shocking even the commentators on the official Obama network, MSNBC. One section of onlookers sang, "Nah nah nah nah, hey hey hey, goodbye." And, finally, as Bush left the White House, one deep thinker took the opportunity to give the "one-finger salute," thus saying more about himself than anything else.

This from a movement that fancies itself all about peace, love and global karma."

Please read entire article at: http://www.lvrj.com/opinion/38291659.html

My thoughts on the matter are these. Jimmy Carter was the worst president in my lifetime. Not for a second did I consider standing outside the White House as he left to boo him or give him the one finger salute. The same goes for Clinton. It never even entered my mind and here we define the true depth of Bush Derangement Syndrome. Even when he took the high road and never said an unkind word about Obama, even when he and Laura and their two girls embranced Obama's family, even when Bush said that Obama was a good man, Obama could not find it in himself, nor could his "followers" to take the higher ground and act as adults.

It wasn't just booing and finger salutes either. Some nimrod had a blow-up effigy of President Bush and people were throwing shoes at it. How old were these people. I am ashamed to say they were adults, some of them not so short in the tooth. BDS is a disease and we now have a president who seems to cater to it. I hope I am wrong on that point, but I certainly have not heard a word from him or anyone on his staff condemnig it either. That speaks for itself.

Obama Snubs Vets, Does not Attend Heroes Ball, No Time for Sargeants

It seems Obama is set on setting new records...just not the kind the average American agrees with.

Drew Zahn of World Net Daily writes "Since its inception in 1953, every new president has attended The Salute to Heroes Inaugural Ball – until now.

The ball was created for President Dwight Eisenhower's inauguration to honor recipients of the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military award. The event is sponsored by the American Legion and co-sponsored by 13 other veteran's service organizations, including the Paralyzed Veterans of America and the Military Order of the Purple Heart.

And while 48 of the nation's 99 living recipients of the Medal of Honor attended the event, reports the Cleveland Leader and various self-attested attendees of the ball, newly sworn-in President Barack Obama became the first president in 56 years to skip out on the ceremony."

He also writes: "According to the blog, the Legion's media relations manager Craig Roberts wrote, "President Obama was invited but did not attend. Vice-President Joe Biden did appear, however, and was very warmly received. The new President's absence was understandable considering the unprecedented logistical challenges presented by the vastly increased number of visitors to this inauguration and the necessary attendant security measures. The American Legion, as an organization, does not feel offended or 'snubbed.'"

That's nice. Then how about I feel offended and snubbed for the veteran heroes. Does that work?

Full article can be viewed here: http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=87049

Abortion Goes Global - Thank you Oh Mighty One, Obamessiah

Huge Right to Life Rally in San Francisco!

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 24 /Christian Newswire/ -- More than 30,000 pro-life supporters filled the boulevard along San Francisco's waterfront for more than a mile in the 5th Annual Walk for Life West Coast today, walking behind a 10-foot- long "Abortion Hurts Women" banner.

The Walk came four days after President Barack Obama's inauguration and one day after Obama reversed the Bush administration's ban on federal funding of international groups that perform abortions or provide abortion information.

"We shall overcome!" Frank Lee of Asian Americans Against Abortion, said, addressing the crowd in English, Mandarin and Cantonese. Lee joined Walk organizer Eva Muntean to urge opposition to the proposed Freedom of Choice Act which would eliminate all restrictions on abortion.

"Women deserve better, men deserve better - we all deserve better than abortion," Feminist for Life speaker Karen Shablin, an African American, told the crowd. Shablin, a former member of the National Abortion Rights Action League who had an abortion in her 20s, said that 37 percent of abortions are done on black women--who make up just 13 percent of the population.

"President Obama puts a face on black genocide," declared Rev. Clenard Childress, a Baptist pastor and founder of BlackGenocide.org who has spoken at the Walk since its inception in 2005. "President Obama is the fulfillment of what the abortion industry always wanted and that was a black face to validate abortion."

But Childress said that Obama's election is not the end of the pro-life movement--to the contrary.

"We thank God today for this moment. You're not going away, I'm not going away. This is our moment," Childress said.

Also speaking at the event were Diana Nagy, a singer who placed her son for adoption after becoming pregnant at 15, and Sister of Life Mother Agnes Mary. "We've made a lot of progress," Nagy said, noting that 36 years after the Roe v. Wade decision, "abortion is at an all time low."

"Let us pass on the love," Mother Agnes Mary said. "Let us tell the truth, let us change the world."

The Walk was founded in 2005 by a group of San Francisco residents to reach out to women who have had abortions and to show support for them and for women in crisis pregnancies.

Vatican Rebukes Obama for Arrogance

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5igKGopxWlT9SgXvlsDg_2zKcNlrw

ROME (AFP) — A senior Vatican official on Saturday attacked US President Barack Obama for "arrogance" for overturning a ban on state funding for family-planning groups that carry out or facilitate abortions overseas.

It is "the arrogance of someone who believes they are right, in signing a decree which will open the door to abortion and thus to the destruction of human life," Archbishop Rino Fisichella was quoted as saying by the Corriere della Sera daily.

Fisichella is president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, one of a number of so-called pontifical academies which are formed by or under the direction of the Holy See.

"What is important is to know how to listen... without locking oneself into ideological visions with the arrogance of a person who, having the power, thinks they can decide on life and death," he added.

Obama signed the executive order cancelling the eight-year-old restrictions on Friday, the third full day of his presidency.

The so-called "global gag rule" cut off US funding to overseas family planning clinics which provide any abortion services whatsoever, from the operation itself to counselling, referrals or post-abortion services.

"If this is one of the first acts of President Obama, with all due respect, it seems to me that the path towards disappointment will have been very short," Fisichella said.

"I do not believe that those who voted for him took into consideration ethical themes, which were astutely left aside during the election debate. The majority of the American population does not take the same position as the president and his team," he added.

The order won Obama praise from Democratic lawmakers, family planning and women's rights groups but drew angry condemnation from pro-life organisations and Republicans.

More than 250 health and human rights organisations from around the world sent Obama a letter, thanking him for ending a policy "which has contributed to the deaths and injuries of countless women and girls."

Geert Wilders, Man of Courage

Lance Fairchock wrote about Geert Wilders on the American Thinker. In this article, he said "When Geert Wilders released the film FITNA it terrified the government of the Netherlands who hoped to minimize any violent reaction by its restive Muslim immigrants and refugees by loudly condemning it. The film is a 15-minute indictment of Islamic radicalism intended as a warning of the unchecked radicalism infecting European Islam. Now Mr. Wilders is being prosecuted for "inciting hate" a charge unlikely to be leveled at the Imams that preach hatred and violence in that small country.


The many terror attacks the world has suffered in the years since 9-11 were not perpetrated by Lutherans, Catholics or members of the Dutch Reformed Church. The politically correct stubbornness found in western democracies insists it is not Islam, just a tiny minority of misguided radicals that perpetrate violence. However, saying something does not make it so, no matter how endlessly it is repeated. It is not a matter of "interpretation," of the Koran, it is a matter of evidence and truth; Islam too often brings violence."

Please go to http://www.americanthinker.com/printpage/?url=http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/01/geert_wilders_european_islam_a.html for the rest of the article. Mr. Wilders has a lot of courage and is presently being tried. He has had numerous death threats from the Muslims, those of the "religion of peace." My prayers are with him and for a nation refusing to stand up and realize what is happening to them. Please note that the preview of FITNA is an edited one because the original, though true, was considered too inflammatory to be shown.

The American Form of Government - Republic or Democracy

This is an excellent explanation of the differences in the way nations rule, including our own. I urge you to show this to your children and grandchildren. It's a wonderful education. Hat tip to Manly Rash from his website.

Obama Goes After Rush Limbaugh and Rush Fires Back - IT'S ON!

I adore Rush Limbaugh. Never has the TRUE conservative voice had such a champion of our belief system. Obamba warned Republicans in a meeting that they needed to stop listening to Rush. In other words, Obama is the leader, the only one, in fact THE ONE. Evidently, Rush didn't take it very well, which those of us who have listened to him for two decades knew he wouldn't. Here's a part of Rush's response:

"To make the argument about me instead of his plan makes sense from his perspective. Obama's plan would buy votes for the Democrat Party, in the same way FDR's New Deal established majority power for 50 years of Democrat rule, and it would also simultaneously seriously damage any hope of future tax cuts. It would allow a majority of American voters to guarantee no taxes for themselves going forward. It would burden the private sector and put the public sector in permanent and firm control of the economy. Put simply, I believe his stimulus is aimed at re-establishing "eternal" power for the Democrat Party rather than stimulating the economy because anyone with a brain knows this is NOT how you stimulate the economy. If I can be made to serve as a distraction, then there is that much less time debating the merits of this TRILLION dollar debacle."

Saul D. Alinsky, also known as the father of American radicalism, wrote a book entitled Rules for Radicals. He had developed strategies and tactics that take the enormous, unfocused emotional energy of grassroots groups and transform it into effective anti-government and anti-corporate activism. Activist organizations teach his ideas widely taught today as a set of model behaviors, and they use these principles to create an emotional commitment to victory - NO MATTER WHAT. Rule #12 reads:

RULE 12: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it." Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions. (This is cruel, but very effective. Direct, personalized criticism and ridicule works.)

It appears that Obama is familiar with the book and the techniques and that leads me to believe his administration is going to use these dirty underhanded methods in days to come. I can hardly wait. (sarcasm intended)

Silent Day

On October 20th, 2009 people from all over this nation will give up their voices for a day in solidarity for these children. Red arm bands and duct tape will identify them as taking part in the Pro-life Day of Silent Solidarity. They will carry fliers explaining why they are silent and educate others about the plight of the innocent children we are losing every day. Are you willing to give up your voice for a day for those who will never have a voice? Please visit http://www.silentday.org/ and join the voices of others who have made it our cause to end abortion forever.

The Bush Girls Write a letter to the Obama Girls - Just Beautiful

What class the Bush family has.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Can You Believe - It's all in English A blast from the past

Click on picture to enlarge. My friend, Carrie, sent me this. It's a menu from Woolworths from 1950.

Obama Reinstates Murder at Taxpayer's Expense

In his third day on the job, Obama has reinstated federal funding for abortions. I knew it was coming. I guess I just hoped I would be wrong.

President Barack Obama will sign an executive order later Friday ending the ban on federal funds for international groups that promote or perform abortion, officials said.

It is a move certain to please liberals and other abortion-rights advocates, and the reversal was expected in the Democrat’s first week as president.

The so-called “Mexico City policy” has been reinstated and then reversed by Republican and Democratic presidents since Repulican President Ronald Reagan established it in 1984. President Bill Clinton then ended the ban, but President George W. Bush re-instituted it in 2001 as one of his first acts in office

A Dark Anniversary. 36 years of Roe vs Wade

I am posting this video again, because, among others, some of the "reasons" for abortion are quoted on here. This is a brilliant ad by The Catholics and really drives home in a very small amount of time, just exactly what potential greatness has been killed by abortion.

And I say GIVE THEM THE BLOODS, THE CRIPS TOO.

I am so glad someone wants to take these terrible gangs...oh, wait. That isn't what they meant. Too bad. They belong together.

Latinos for Palestine. I am NOT kidding.

6+6+6 equals 666???? Huh

I had to post this because this is the same guy nominated below. What a dufus. I mean, get real. Tell me, rocket scientist, exactly how does one add up letters? It has to be some secret Hamas code or something.

What Do You Think the Catalyst Would Have to Be Before These Police Officers Were Slaughtered

As the crowd advances menancingly, spoiling for a fight, I think they are an inhalation of air away from murder. What do you think? Same crowd, LA, anti-Israel pro-Palestians.

Heil Hitler!

Okay, now this sign, uh...Israel plus Bush equals Hitler. Uh...no it freaking doesn't you cone-head idiot. Why do we let these people come here! I demand we stop letting them come here!

Just Gimme an Old Hippie Who Can't Pass Up A Rally

And I'll give you the unwashed, unshaved masses. Good Lord. This is the same anti-Israel, anti-US rally. This guy heard there would be drugs there. I guess no one told him drugs are forbidden to Muslims. Oh, well, he got to wear this really cute shirt and hang out with his babe of a girlfriend. Viva the Old Days!!!

Anti-Israel rally in L.A. - Idiot of the week award

No words are necessary. Jesus, king of the Jews, is going to avenge the Palestinians and kill all the Jews. And this guy actually wrote that on paper bad spelling and all. Oh, and Jesus is the terminator. Right. I never knew that/sarc off.

What If...

The Catholics put out a very powerful ad and throw down the gauntlet to B. Obama.

The President is Home and Taking the Higher Ground

Bush has been nothing but helpful in his attitude towards Obama. Never have I heard or read a word of negativity from President Bush. Yet today, which I suppose is a day of celebration for some, Obama not only denigrated Bush in a speech, the White House website lambasted Bush for Katrina. There is a higher ground but evidently, it's a road Obama and crew have never traveled. Why am I not surprised.

That aside, President Bush got to utter those 6 words he has been waiting to utter. He has given much for this country and has endured horrible things in return. The Bush Derangement Syndrome that consumed the left like a cancerous tumor shows no sign of stopping or diminishing. He stood it all with grace and sometimes perplexity. He could not understand that he had done to bring this kind of vile behavior from people. I must admit, I don't understand it myself. Even while I loathed the Clintons, I did not come close to what has become of the left. They have their Messiah now. I sincerely hope, for the sake of America, that things improve here.

Done with Doctors

I wonder how anyone survives. Oh, first of all, in case you didn't know (or I didn't know either)...I'm fat. It's official. Today, I was to see the rheumatologist because of my markedly elevated C-reactive protein (CRP) and antinuclear antibodies (ANA). My FNP referred me when the lab came back. I was really lucky to get in to see this guy so quick. So I get in there and he doesn't have the lab my primary was supposed to fax. They called three times to get the labs faxed. They never faxed them. He decided to x-ray my knees and neck while I was there and still waiting. So no surprise, I have severe osteoarthritis of my knees and a compressed disk at C5-6. What else is new. But I am there for the CRP and the ANA, not something I already knew...oh, and that I am fat. Two hours later, no labs. Writes me a prescription for physical therapy for my knees and says that's all he can do without the labs. I was furious! I came home and called my primary. I don't like them anyway because they absolutely will not take a message for any reason and you simply can never talk to the nurse for any reason. They also never call to tell you that you have abnormal labs. I had a creatinine of almost 4 and didn't find out until my followup visit in 6 weeks. Anyway, the receptionist said she was busy when the rheumatologist called three times (gee, did she not get the hint that they REALLY REALLY wanted the labs). So she said she faxed them at noon. I left at 11:50 a.m. I had been there since 10:00. Then I called the hospital because I needed them to fax lab work from 5 years ago when I had a normal ANA because the rheumatologist said I was probably carrying an abnormal ANA because my mother had scleroderma. Only it wasn't abnormal until now. After much looking, the hospital can find that I had an ANA done. They just can't find the value for it. So I called the doctor's office where I was going at the time the first lab was done (their office is notorious for not sharing medical records. My doctor has requested my medical records several times and they just won't give them up), and I said I needed some lab work that was done in 2003 faxed to my doctor and she said "okay, will do." Only she never asked me which doctor and she never asked me which lab. So I knew she wasn't going to do it. I mean I KNEW IT. I'm done. I get it why I was done before and I am done double this time. I am freaking DONE!!!!

The Last Goodbye

God Speed, President Bush. Thank you for keeping us safe these last 7 plus years. I will miss you and Laura.

Day by Day by Day

Day by Day

Dear God, Four Years of THIS....

Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Sentence Commuted by Bush

I have to say I am disappointed. I was involved in a letter writing campaign to the president to pardon these two men, accused of shooting an unarmed drug smuggler as he crossed the border. The agents testified that they felt sure he was armed. In the aftermath, they failed to report the shooting to their superiors. Here's the story:

On Feb. 17, 2005, he responded to a request for back up from Compean, who noticed a suspicious van near the levee road along the Rio Grande River near the Texas town of Fabens, about 40 miles east of El Paso.

Ramos, who headed toward Fabens hoping to cut off the van, soon joined a third agent already in pursuit.

Behind the wheel of the van was an illegal alien, Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila of Mexico. Unknown to the growing number of Border Patrol agents converging on Fabens, Aldrete-Davila's van was carrying 800 pounds of marijuana.

Unable to outrun Ramos and the third agent, Aldrete-Davila stopped the van on the levee, jumped out and started running toward the river. When he reached the other side of the levee, he was met by Compean who had anticipated the smuggler's attempt to get back to Mexico.

"We both yelled out for him to stop, but he wouldn't stop, and he just kept running," Ramos told California's Inland Valley Daily Bulletin. Aldrete-Davila crossed a canal.

"At some point during the time where I'm crossing the canal, I hear shots being fired," Ramos said. "Later, I see Compean on the ground, but I keep running after the smuggler."

At that point, Ramos said, Aldrete-Davila turned toward him, pointing what looked like a gun.

"I shot," Ramos said. "But I didn't think he was hit, because he kept running into the brush and then disappeared into it. Later, we all watched as he jumped into a van waiting for him. He seemed fine. It didn't look like he had been hit at all."

The commotion and multiple calls for back up had brought seven other agents – including two supervisors – to the crossing by this time. Compean picked up his shell casings, but Ramos did not. He also did not follow agency procedure and report that he had fired his weapon.

"The supervisors knew that shots were fired," Ramos told the paper. "Since nobody was injured or hurt, we didn't file the report. That's the only thing I would've done different."

Had he done that one thing differently, it's unlikely it would have mattered to prosecutors.

More than two weeks after the incident, Christopher Sanchez, an investigator with the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General, received a call from a Border Patrol agent in Wilcox, Ariz. The agent's mother-in-law had received a call from Aldrete-Davila's mother in Mexico telling her that her son had been wounded in the buttocks in the shooting.

Sanchez followed up with a call of his own to the smuggler in Mexico.

In a move that still confuses Ramos and Compean, the U.S. government filed charges against them after giving full immunity to Aldrete-Davila and paying for his medical treatment at an El Paso hospital.

At trial, Assistant U.S. Attorney Debra Kanof told the court that the agents had violated an unarmed Aldrete-Davila's civil rights.

"The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled it is a violation of someone's Fourth Amendment rights to shoot them in the back while fleeing if you don't know who they are and/or if you don't know they have a weapon," said Kanof.

Kanof dismissed Ramos' testimony that he had seen something shiny in the smuggler's hand, saying that the agent couldn't be sure it was a gun he had seen.

Further, Kanof argued, it was a violation of Border Patrol policy for agents to pursue fleeing suspects.

"Agents are not allowed to pursue. In order to exceed the speed limit, you have to get supervisor approval, and they did not," she told the Daily Bulletin.

Those shell casings Compean picked up were described to the jury as destroying the crime scene and their failure to file an incident report – punishable by a five-day suspension, according to Border Patrol regulations – an attempted cover up.

The Texas jury came back with a guilty verdict. Conviction for discharging a firearm in relation to a crime of violence has an automatic 10-year sentence. The other counts have varying punishments.

"How are we supposed to follow the Border Patrol strategy of apprehending terrorists or drug smugglers if we are not supposed to pursue fleeing people?" said Ramos, who noted that he only did on that day what he had done for the previous 10 years. "Everybody who's breaking the law flees from us. What are we supposed to do? Do they want us to catch them or not?"

He also noted that none of the other agents who had responded to the incident filed reports that shots were fired and, besides, both supervisors at the scene knew they had discharged their weapons.

"You need to tell a supervisor because you can't assume that a supervisor knows about it," Kanof countered. "You have to report any discharge of a firearm."

"This is the greatest miscarriage of justice I have ever seen," said Andy Ramirez of the nonprofit group Friends of the Border Patrol. "This drug smuggler has fully contributed to the destruction of two brave agents and their families and has sent a very loud message to the other Border Patrol agents: If you confront a smuggler, this is what will happen to you."

The moral: ILLEGAL ALIEN DRUG SMUGGLERS HAVE MORE CIVIL RIGHTS THAT U.S. CITIZENS. THEY GET BETTER HEALTH CARE, TOO.