Hanging it up

Like many before me, I'm hanging up the keyboard and taking my place on the sidelines. This is a familiar spot for me as I have always been a pretty mediocre dude. The most exceptional thing in my life is my beautiful wife and our incredible daughter. I consider having them in my life to be my only successes.

I could use this space to give you a bunch of excuses as to why I'm not going to be posting anymore, but instead I'll just leave you with a warning: our government has gone too far and will continue to erode America unless we stop them. If you're reading this, likely you already know, but just in case....

We need to stand up and fight. If I were a single man, I'd probably already have been in the news and possibly in jail. I know the government is telling you otherwise, but dissent is patriotic. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that dissent is our duty as American citizens. A duty that's required of us in order to maintain the freedom we have come to know and love. You are not free if you do not have the freedom to say NO. Do you want to be spied on? Do you want to pick yet another fight with yet another middle-eastern country in the name of "democracy"? Do you want Americans locked up with no trial for years to be "rendered" silent? Do you want "free speech zones"? What about internment camps? Death squads? How 'bout a president with no sense of propriety? You can say no to all of these things, but it's not democracy unless your voice carries weight. You can say no to all of these things, but if you can still be sent to jail for it, it's not freedom. It's something else. And that something is what America is becoming.

Like I said before, I'm a pretty mediocre dude, and my words are probably not going to be sufficient to inspire the emotion required. If you are reading this, I urge you to stand up for America. Don't just write letters and tap away on your keyboard. Stand out in front of your county courthouse with giant blown-up pictures of dead Iraqi children. Stage sit-in's at your local governmental institutions. If you've got the money, take out advertisements in the classifieds or on your local tv stations. Inform the masses. Freak out the squares. DO SOMETHING GODDAMMIT. America can't affoard to wait much longer.

Here we go

Government in secret talks about strike against Iran

The Government is to hold secret talks with defence chiefs tomorrow to discuss possible military strikes against Iran.

Get ready for world war 3 guys and gals. Russia is not going to sit on their hands while we destroy the hard work and money they've put into that reactor. Not to mention all the Russian scientists working in it who will likely be killed.

Here's something else to consider: Sadaam was a pushover. He'd been under several years of oppressive sanctions. His people were about to revolt, and his army was a collection of untrained malcontents who gave up when the war started. Iran, on the other hand, has had no problems getting what they want. Has no morale issues with the people or the military. Has a huge navy and a decent airforce. Oh and the government actually has the support of it's constituency.

If you need any more evidence that this is folly, just scroll down and check out this post.

Perspective

I read an article just now about how Cincinnati passed an ordincance that protects the civil liberties of the LGBT community. Reading the article, I couldn't help but think, "God we are still fighting this fight? What is wrong with us? Why is this still an issue? Why is bigotry still so prevalant and acceptable? I thought this was the 21st century."

So, I thought I'd do a little word replacement with the article, so we could get a different perspective on the situation. Here's the article with some words replaced:

An amendment to Cincinnati's human rights ordinance that offers protections to blacks, hispanic and asian people was approved Wednesday by City Council.

The amendment passed by an 8-1 margin. Chris Monzel, who had introduced an ordinance granting "equal rights to all Cincinnatians," was the only council member to vote no.

The amendment, sponsored by Vice Mayor Jim Tarbell and council members David Crowley, Chris Bortz, Laketa Cole and John Cranley, was approved by Council's Law and Public Safety Committee Tuesday.

Under the human rights ordinance as amended, blacks, hispanic and asian people can't be fired from a job or evicted from an apartment, for example, because of their skin color.

Council approved a similar amendment to the human rights ordinance in the early 1990s, but opponents placed a charter amendment on the ballot in 1994 that banned the city from passing any ordinance protecting people of color. Voters overturned that amendment last year, after a campaign spearheaded by community leaders and business groups.

What year is this again?

Civics Class

Glenn has another magnificent post up. Go check it out!

Everything you ever wanted to know about how our government and media work

This Feingold Censure Resolution is unmasking the hideous underbelly of almost every Washington institution as vividly as anything that can be recalled. Each of the rotted Beltway branches is playing so true to form that the distinct forms of corruption and dishonesty which characterize each of them are standing nakedly revealed. As ugly of a sight as it is, it is highly instructive to watch it all unfold.

Fantastic insight to the current democratic dilemma.

Reason #1

If you ever start to wonder if maybe invading Iraq was the right decision, or if you ever start to doubt your convictions about opposition to war, take a good hard look at this picture. This is exactly why war is bad.

These children were killed by Americans. How does that make you feel? Does it make you proud to be American? Does it make you want to support the troops? Does it make you want to congratulate the president for a job well done?

It makes me cry.

Booga Booga!

FBI: No Credible Threat, but Be Vigilant

Thanks for the tip, FBI!

The FBI said Friday there is no specific, credible threat of a terror attack aimed at college basketball arenas or other sports stadiums, but acknowledged alerting law enforcement to a recent Internet posting discussing such attacks.

"We didn't have anything to do, so we looked around on the internets and drummed this bullshit terror alert up.

Reminder

The OMNI Center for Peace is hosting a march and rally for peace tomorrow at 2pm. We're going to gather at the Walton Arts Center parking lot and march to the square. Check out bringhometroops.org for more information.

Bring a couple bottles of water so you don't dehydrate. I'm going to do my best to be there; if I do make it my wife will be absent, since she just had oral surgery. I'm going to bring my baby girl too, so I'll probably not be right in the thick of the crowd.

Hope to see you there.

Mission Accomplished!

Official: Iraq may still seek WMDs

A former top CIA official said Thursday that despite the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, Iraq is likely to be looking for weapons of mass destruction within the next five to 10 years.

Heckuva job, dipshit.

The Real Reson for Sabre Rattling

Here's a good article by Dr. Elias Akleh. The Iranian Threat: The Bomb or the Euro? He does a good job of summarizing in the first paragraph:

Iran does not pose a threat to the United State because of its nuclear projects, its WMD or its support to "terrorists organizations" as the American administration is claiming, but rather in its attempt to re-shape the global economic system by converting it from a petrodollar to a petroeuro system. Such conversion is looked upon as a flagrant declaration of economic war against the US that would flatten the revenues of the American corporations and eventually might cause an economic collapse.

Go read the rest. It's worth it.

DHS Gets Serious About Crime

FEMA critic's shirt gets him tangled up in ticket

He was cited by a group of
Homeland Security officials for selling a T-shirt on federal property - in this case, near a FEMA center in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart in Chalmette, La.

Barisich, 49, says he didn't sell the shirt, which said: "Flooded by Katrina! Forgotten by FEMA! What's Next, Mr. Bush?" He says he gave it away.

The government is sticking to its guns. "If we ignored this violation, you could have potentially 20 to 30 people standing out in front of the (FEMA) center, obstructing things," says Dean Boyd, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesman. "We've got a duty and a job under the law."

So, wait... let me get this straight; it's illegal to sell things near federal installations, or on them? I think just about every square foot of populated land in America is near a federal building or other property. Ignoring the slippery slope fallacy, this is just about the most rediculous thing I've read all day.

Barisich says he was ticketed after six DHS officers gathered at his truck. Boyd says he can't confirm the number. Barisich says he was told he would be arrested if he did not take the ticket. "I said, 'Do you really want to arrest me? Am I the only one here who thinks this is asinine? You're harassing a person who just lost everything.' "

Those DHS officials must be really bored.

Ferocious Yawn

Ferocious Yawn
Originally uploaded by The War President.

This dude can yawn with the best of them. Watch out you don't get sucked into that gaping maw of his. He could swallow small children whole.

Friday cat blogging has never been so dangerous.