Polls Finds Iraqis Overwhelmingly Favor Elections

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Jan. 19, 2005 – As coalition and Iraqi forces continue to kill and capture insurgents (they're called TERRORISTS! - koko) bent on disrupting or preventing Iraq's national assembly election, a new poll shows Iraqis overwhelmingly believe it's important for them to cast their ballots Jan. 30.

According to a public opinion survey in Iraq taken in early January, more than 90 percent of Iraqis believe it is important to vote in the election. A total of 82.9 percent said it was "very important," and 9.4 percent said it was "somewhat important."

The breakdown along religious lines shows 70.1 percent of Sunnis listing very important and 15.9 percent listing somewhat. A total of 86 percent of Sunnis, therefore, believe the election is important to the future of Iraq.

Sunnis make up about 20 percent of Iraq's population. They were the dominant group under the former regime. Some Sunni groups have called for Sunnis to boycott the election, but this poll seems to show that the calls are not effective.

In Shiia communities – the largest in Iraq, with about 60 percent of the population – 91.1 percent believe the election is very important and 5.5 percent say it is somewhat important. Shiia leader Grand Ayatollah Sistani has called on all Shiia to vote in the election. He has a slogan, "Vote or Die" that has struck a chord with the Shiia population.

The survey contacted almost 2,000 Iraqis from all parts of the country. An Iraqi company conducted the poll, which has a margin of error of plus or minus three points.

On the all-important question of whether they will vote or not in the election, 87 percent said they were very likely or somewhat likely to vote on Jan. 30.

Along religious lines, almost 80 percent of Sunnis said they were likely to vote, and more than 90 percent of Shiias said they would go to the polls. Roughly 10 percent of the sample said they would not vote, and the rest didn't know.

The survey showed that 63.6 percent of Iraqis believe there will be free and fair elections in the country, with 17.8 percent responding they do not believe the elections will be free and fair. The rest listed don't know or not applicable. Overall, more women said they believe the elections would be free and fair than men – 65.1 percent to 62 percent.

Along religious lines, just over half – 50.5 percent – of Iraqis who list themselves as Sunni Muslim believe the elections will be free and fair, with 29.1 percent disagreeing. Among Shiias, 72.1 percent believe the elections will be free and fair, with 11.2 percent disagreeing.

Other interesting facets of the survey show that almost three quarters of Iraqis have at least some confidence in Iraq's interim government. A third of the people have some confidence, 29.5 percent have a lot of confidence and 10.8 percent have a little confidence. Only 15.8 percent have no confidence in the interim government.

Overall, more than 54.1 percent of Iraqis said they believe the country is headed in the right direction, with 28.1 percent saying the opposite. The Sunnis are almost evenly divided, with 42.6 percent 41.3 percent, respectively. Among Shiia Iraqis, the percentages are 61.1 and 21 percent.
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Interesting note...they're alot more optimistic than the Americans are about the United States! You can thank the MSM for helping that optimism.

UPDATE: From Captain's Quarters blog:

This was released on January 19th -- and according to Technorati, the only links to this story are from Kokonut Pundits and Cool Blue Blog. A Google search on the title and one on the reporter's name shows no mainstream media links. One would think that the news of a potential 80% turnout for the upcoming parliamentary elections might be major news, especially for an American public bombarded by doom-and-gloom stories from Iraq.

==========

I think the key to instant or dramatically increased exposure is through a blog site such as this one which is owned by Google. That way, any news will certainly get cached almost immediately by Google's search engine. With key words such as "Iraq" and "poll" would be enough to circle around the globe enough times to warrant a much closer (and celebatory) look.

When People Get the Wrong Idea....again.

It's amazing. Do a simple sign. And another country goes nuts thinking it means one thing when it was not case. I write a blog piece with a link about a nutty liberal's email (an actual bonafide email!) throwing epithets all over the place and people think it's about a particular person but never bothered to look at the link in the first place! Now it's highlighted in bright, bright blue for those who were blind to miss the underlined brown-colored hyperlink in the first place.

America's lesson of the day, don't jump the gun. Look around first. Breathe in...breathe out... breathe in....

My lesson of the day....color the hyperlink other than leaving it brown. That way, people won't hyperventilate when they miss a link and start thinking it's all about them.

By the way, recognize this person? He fiddled with his stick and blamed Christians for all his problems. The picture shows this "famous" person all "bronzed" up in a pasty kind of way. Maybe it's just the marble? The head is nothing but all rock?

A Funny Little Clip

A VW Polo car ad...an explosive moment for a really dumb terrorist in a short television clip. If you can't open it, go here.


Thumbs up...5 stars! Nothing but raves!

GOP Bloggers Is Now Officially Up.

GOPbloggers is now officially up in celebration of President Bush inaugural address. A grand day for all Conservatives and Republicans.

Be sure to check out the full blog roll to see where bloggers are from. I'm listed under "New Mexico," of course.

AIRBUSTED! European Pride and Joy.

I was listening to the radio talk show on my home from work today and the subject on Airbus came up. Seems like Europe is having a big ego trip tripping over themselves about this Airbus, jumbo mumbo airplane to take the world by storm. Yet the number of planes ordered so far is 149 when 250 is needed to make a profit. Yet also a number of companies have dropped or delayed their orders simply because airports will have to make the needed but very expensive changes in order to accomodate the behemoths. Airports want to make money, too, not lose money. While I listened further on the radio the radio host made an important point. A good significant portion of the materials, equipments and machinery comes from the United States. And yet it's people like Jacques Chirac of France, Tony Blair of Britain, Gerhard Schroeder of Germany and Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero of Spain who praised the costly development project as a pinnacle of European technology. Wowza! European pride. Who knew it existed?

When we look at this monument of human achievement, we see that Europe can't be stopped," Zapatero told the crowd. "We're capable of being a leader in science and technology when we are highly determined."

Highly determined? A leader? America is already one. And yet they (the main stream media ) make these sickening accolades with comments like this:

With British-built wings spanning up to 80 meters, Spanish titanium, Rolls Royce engines, and German and French engineering and assembling, the plane is regarded as a symbol of European cooperation.

Oooh...a "symbol of European cooperation." Funny how MSM and Europe do not want to mention America as being one of the biggest contributors and cooperators on parts made in America shipped over to Europe for the Airbus.

Here's the irony when Europe and most of the mainstream media want to make sure you don't know. Half the aircraft parts, by value, are built by American companies. About half the engines will be made by General Electric/Pratt & Whitney Engine Alliance. B.F. Goodrich is building the landing gear. Honeywell is making cockpit electronics and an environmental surveillance system, which integrates weather radar, traffic alert and collision avoidance and a ground-proximity warning system.

Airbus has suppliers in 44 U.S. states, and spends more than $5.5 billion a year on aircraft parts built in the USA, and that number is expected to rise significantly when A380 production goes into full gear. Each A380 Airbus plane cost approximately $270 million dollars.

More money for the United States to make. So much for European independency. This where y'all American Liberals can scream about outsourcing. Now is a good time. Europe is outsourcing nearly half of the work to the United States. Scream all you want about outsourcing a la' Howard "Scream" Dean style. Scream louder so that deaf people can hear ya!!

The "Gay Bowel Syndrome"?

Diarrhea. Everybody at one time or another gets it. Nasty stuff. What I didn't know was the "Gay Bowel Syndrome" until somebody reminded me about tacos and spicy food. And so I did some checking from what I have heard about it earlier in the past. Yep, nasty stuff. The "gay bowel syndrome" is a common problem of homosexual patients in the emergency department.

"Sexually transmitted bowel and rectal diseases are common in gay men and are caused by a wide variety of infectious agents. Each of the entities implicated in the gay bowel syndrome is considered separately and epidemiologic considerations responsible for the appearance of such a syndrome are examined..."

Kind of make sense in how these types of condition get manifested. However, be noted that this condition is NOT exclusive to homosexuals. Heterosexuals can get it just that there is a higher prevelance and risk of homosexuals in getting these conditions. The "gay bowel syndrome" is a misnomer and falsely labels people that way. Mislabeling and mis/disinformation are not the smart way to go. Go to Amazon and get this book. Still the prevelance of such a condition is real among homosexual males. One study stated that:

A clinical pattern of anorectal and colon diseases encountered with unusual frequency in these homosexual patients is termed the gay bowel syndrome. The clinical diagnoses in decreasing order of frequency include condyloma acuminata, hemorrhoids, nonspecific proctitis, anal fistula, perirectal abscess, anal fissure, amebiasis, benign polyps, viral hepatitis, gonorrhea, syphilis, anorectal trauma and foreign bodies, shigellosis, rectal ulcers and lymphogranuloma venereum.

Ye gods! Half of them I don't even know what the heck they are. Good thing we have the internet to look them up and learn something for a change. The photos are pretty graphic. Ewwwww. Looking through I didn't see anything about diarrhea until I came across the Prufer-Kramer L. study on "Gastrointestinal manifestations of AIDS. 1: Basic considerations and viral infections" where it states that:

Fifty to eighty per cent of patients with AIDS-related complex or AIDS have gastrointestinal symptoms, the most common being dysphagia, diarrhea, orperianal lesions. The symptomatology varies from a mild "gay bowel syndrome" to a severe "diarrhea wasting syndrome."

And that was from a 1991 study. I don't reckon much has changed since then. Diarrhea isn't funny. People have died from severe bouts of diarrhea as a result of AIDS. Dysentery is even worse such as it was a common occurrence during the Civil War. Dysentery is having ultra-diarrhea 24/7 where you will dehydrate in a hurry and you go into shock. It's not funny. AIDS is not funny.

Anyway, it's true what they say about playing with fire. You get burned eventually. Play it smart and not act stoopid by being a potty mouth.

I Jib, You Jab...check out JibJab!

The latest JibJab's animation that pokes fun at Democrats AND Republicans is out. It is a riot to watch it. Although, not captioned (you can see the lyrics here) but you can watch an earlier clip a few months ago called "It's Good to Be in D.C." that pokes fun at Bush and Kerry, and everybody else, during the election time. It's "captioned" with a bouncing ball that follows to the singing. What's funny in this clip is the gay part. You'll have to see it to understand. Nobody is immune in these funny animated clips. N...o...b...o...d...y! From President Bush, Gore, Ashcroft down to Kerry.

Ahem, BTW, John Kerry lost the presidential election. The funniest thing I ever witnessed.

Anyway, check it out and watch the animated clips. The JibJab guys (two brothers) were on the Jay Leno show and now their website is getting to be very popular because these clips are so damn funny in how these characters sing. The music is good, too. None of that rock and roll screaming. Great political satire.

People need to have a sense of humour. Some people just don't get it.

President Bush Inaugural Address

Well, President Bush’ inaugural address starts tomorrow. Also a day to remind people that John Kerry lost the election no less. Still we have our group of extremists who wish ill death on President Bush during the inaugural address hoping to see a repeat performance like President William Henry Harrison who spoke for one and half hour in a snow storm only to die of pneumonia a month later. People who wish such ill will or death upon any Presidents whether a Republican, Democrat, Green Party, Libertarian or what have you are simply kooks and deserve to be treated as one. And when people who clap their hands over the news of Reggie White’s death, laugh at people who take delight in seeing other people who were raped, or wish or hope death of certain American leaders are certainly none other than extremists. Those who insist that they’re not extremists (e.g. Liberal extremists) and are not bitter people but continue to do these things are simply not fooling people. They belong to the same class of people seen in the Vonage television commercials of idiots jumping off roofs thinking they’re a kiddie comic book hero who think they can fly like the wind. How little do they know the laws of Physics and gravity.

It is your American civic duty to keep an eye and ear open for any suspicious activities aimed at causing damage, injuries, or deaths during the inaugural event (and any and all future inaugural events, too) need to report their findings to the FBI or police immediately, especially specific death threats.

I will be watching.

Scattered Words...an interesting blogsite.

Scattered Words. Here's a blogsite where one guy is a gay, Christian, Washingtononian trying to blog his way out of homosexuality. I don't know if this is a first but certainly the first I've come across. But what struck me is the people's sheer cruelty by laughing and reveling at this blogger's demise who, supposedly so, experienced a rape by another man. Good grief! Whether or not if this blogger actually exist or made up, how is such a traumatic experience be made easier when people make nasty comments such as

"Hahahaha. Such a poetic justice."
or
"Someone want to donate a shotgun to this guy?"

Hmmm?

Boggles the mind when people actually take delight in other people misfortunes, or deaths of people who have never laid a hand on anybody by saying "good riddance." Here's a site that did an article on Scattered Words. An interesting piece.

Other people have made comments about the blogsite on their blogsites.

Gay or straight, it is never right to take in delight of other people's extreme misfortunes by saying that they "deserved it" just because of their sexual orientation. Neither is it right to take advantage of other people's misfortunes just to further an agenda or goal, including religion. It is just downright ugly to see people who think rape is funny. Let's hope they don't experience the same thing themselves someday. We can see how these people are really smarmy and cruel. An echelon higher than pedophiles.



Hey, don't like my blog article? Just click on the little "x" at the top right hand corner of your browser screen. Problem solved. Have a nice day.

Kiddie Comic Books and Clinton's Inaugural Address

Some people insist on wanking publicly without thinking first while at the same time read kiddie comic books for jollies is enough to question their sanity. Why should they complain about the cost of President Bush upcoming 2005 inaugural party just because of fat cats buying a bunch of the 2005 inaugural tickets, or even decry that tickets are not affordable? Yet, people weak on history easily and conveniently forget Clinton's own inaugural party and fat cats? How nice.

Maybe a clue is in order to check out Clinton's donor's list for a change? How about the 1993 list? Ring a bell? Ok. How about the 1997 list with over 2400 listed names? Ok, now you're complaining that I didn't put Bush's current 2005 list? Here it is so far. Oh, and yet during President Bill Clinton's 1997 inauguration, ball tickets cost $150 each while Bush 2001 inaugural tickets cost $125. But for 2005 ball tickets it will cost $150 dollars each. Not much difference from Clinton.

What? You people still complaining??

Get a friggin clue people. And stop that wanking while you're at it. It's bad enough to witness a bunch of "Captain Wankers" in blue capes and spandex tights running around trying to save the day using the power of empty intellect alone. The picture just doesn't seem quite right.

Continuing Saga of Lauri's Discrimination

You know Lauri. She's the Deaf woman who was denied by the CISS/Deaflympics to compete in the Deaf World Golf Championships that was held in Stockholm, Sweden in 2004 only because she wore her hearing aid at the U.S. Deaf Golf Championships in Pinehurst, North Carolina. This U.S. Deaf Golf Championships abide by the rules/regulations of the CISS/Deaflympics even though they tentatively allowed Lauri to wear her hearing aid.

Lauri's audiogram confirms that she is eligible to play in any CISS/Deaflympics games in the United States (and elsewhere). According to their regulations Lauri must have an average 55 dB loss in BOTH ears to play in their games. And for her to play she must remove her hearing aid in her right ear, unless the regulations are changed to allow hearing aids and cochlear implants. For any CISS/Deaflympics related games in the United States with the regulations unchange seems to be in violation of the U.S. current Social Security regulations and Americans With Disabilities Act (which also prohibits segregation).

(SSAregulations, Appendix I, Subpart P, for adults over age 18): Hearing Impairments (criteria for Legal Deafness), Section 2.08, using best available acoustic hearing aids). There are two requirements to determine how one is to be "legally deaf" :

A . Average hearing loss at 90 dB or greater in both ears (Laurie meets this criteris for her Left Ear, but not for her Right Ear, thus she is not "legally deaf" under this section);

OR

B. Speech discrimination scores of 40 percent or less in the better ear,with maximal use of acoustic hearing aids (In Lauri's audiogram report it says that "Speech discrimination testing could not be performed" meaning that Lauri cannot distinguish any sounds of speech in her left ear OR in her right ear (even with her hearing aid)).

In the B section LAURI IS IN FACT LEGALLY DEAF UNDER SECTION 2.08B of the Social Security regulations, which are the regulations of the United States federal government for determining legal deafness.

Despite her use of the hearing aid has not at all changed her status as a Legally Deaf person.

Lauri's rights have surely been violated according to U.S. Federal laws and regulations.

You can read past blog pieces and related links regarding Lauri and other similar discriminatory practices.

http://members.aol.com/deafcultureinfo/notepage.htm

http://kokonutpundits.blogspot.com/2004/12/when-political-correctness-goes-too.html

http://kokonutpundits.blogspot.com/2005/01/canada-to-prevent-discrimination-at.html

http://kokonutpundits.blogspot.com/2005/01/will-6th-deaf-world-golf-championships.html

http://kokonutpundits.blogspot.com/2005/01/disqualified-russian-wrestler-was-not.html

http://kokonutpundits.blogspot.com/2005/01/deaflympics-chinese-player-forgot-to.html

Surreal, ain't it folks?

Hate Crime Against Christians

Four days ago an Egyptian Christian family of four murdered in Jersey City Heights.

The New York Post reports today that the father was an outspoken critic of Islamist:

Hossam Armanious, 47, who along with his wife and two daughters was found stabbed to death in his Jersey City home early Friday, would regularly debate religion in a Middle Eastern chat room, one source said.

Armanious, an Egyptian Christian, was well known for expressing his Coptic beliefs and engaging in fiery back-and-forth with Muslims on the Web site paltalk.com.

He "had the reputation for being one of the most outspoken Egyptian Christians," said the source, who had close ties to the family. The source, who had knowledge of the investigation, refused to specify the anti-Muslim statement. But he said cops told him they were looking into the exchanges as a possible motive.

The married father of two had recently been threatened by Muslim members of the Web site, said a fellow Copt and store clerk who uses the chat room.
"You'd better stop this bull---- or we are going to track you down like a chicken and kill you," was the threat, said the clerk, who was online at the time and saw the exchange...

Armanious’ fervor apparently rubbed off on his daughter, Sylvia — who would have turned 16 yesterday. “She was very religious and very opinionated,” said Jessica Cimino, 15, a fellow sophomore at Dickenson HS.

A family member who viewed photos of the bloodbath said Sylvia seemed to have taken the most savage punishment. “When we saw the pictures, you could tell that they were hurt really, really bad in the face; especially Sylvia,” said Milad Garas, the high-school sophomore’s great-uncle.

The heartless killer not only slit Sylvia’s throat, but also sliced a huge gash in her chest and stabbed her in the wrist, where she had a tattoo of a Coptic cross. The Newark Star Ledger has more on the Egyptian Copt community's outrage:

"This was a terrorist attack," said Amgad Zakhari, 32, a real estate investor who has known the Armanious family since their arrival in the United States. "It was to make an example of Egyptian Christians, to silence them. It has to be a religious motivation."

Friends also provided more details on Armanious' online debates: Relations between Muslims and Coptic Christians have historically been tense. Copts are a minority in Muslim-dominated Egypt, and Coptic Web sites contain numerous accounts of persecution at the hands of the government and the nation's residents.

In Jersey City, the heart of New Jersey's Coptic community, Copts and Muslims share an uneasy peace, residents say.

Armanious, a banquet waiter known as a very devout man, did not intentionally slight Muslims when he visited Internet chat rooms, friends said.
"He was trying to tell people about Christianity," Zakhari said. "He was a good Christian. He was trying to use the Internet to help the community. He was trying to give the Christian word."

Armanious was so involved in the Internet talks that he became an administrator in one of the chat rooms, reached through an instant-messaging portal (www.paltalk.com).

The friend, who recounted the threat against Armanious and who requested anonymity, said the slain man had been engaged in the hobby for about five years. The altercation that unfolded two months ago started when another user of the site took offense to Armanious' comments about Islam, telling him to "shut up."

"I can say whatever I want," the friend said Armanious responded. "I live in America..."

Will the patriotic leaders of CAIR--always quick to jump on the hate-crimes bandwagon when it fits their agenda--join the Egyptian Christian community in condemning the vicious Armanious slayings? If this is any indication, not likely. But of course, some of the more militant Liberal idiots would never put in their ounce of sympathy (or condemnation of such an act) even though the Egyptian Christian family voiced their beliefs strongly only because the United States gave them their freedom of expresssion, and speech. In essence, they'll go as far as saying that they "deserved" it putting them on par with those terrorists who believe in the same thing. And that would be you do not have a right to express your own viewpoints, no matter how extreme. Acting on murder is not a form of freedom of expression. Just goes to show their extreme insecurity about themselves. And it all starts with name calling, which is a sign of insecurity to compensate for what they already lack.

May the Armanious family rest in peace. They're in God's graces now.

Hat Tip to Malkin.

Michael Moore - A High School Reject

Michael Moore is not getting much respect at his old high school which is good news. He has been rejected all four times to be nominated for Davison High School's Hall of Fame. No doubt Moore can get the award "Hall of Shame" without much problems.

From a high school student at Davison High: "I haven't talked to anybody yet who's for him. The word to describe Michael Moore is embarrassing. He embarrasses everybody."

No kiddin? Michael Moore? Embarrassing? Too kind. Let's hope Michael Moore continues to enjoy his big macs, shakes and fries like every living red-blooded Americans. Even I enjoy it, too.

It's Da Love Bomb for Terrorists

A project was revealed today by the Pentagon made me laugh and, heck, even made the best sense to use these non-lethal chemical bombs described by the Pentagon in the already released de-classified documents. One of them is the "Love Bomb" would cause other enemies to have lusting desires by making them sexually irresitible to each other. If a chemical can be made to do this it would simply be a deeply and humiliating blow to the enemies morale. Wonder what would happen if Zarqarwi and Osama were in the same area and the "Love bomb" was dropped? If you thought that putting panties over the heads of prisoners was bad and a form of torture (uh, let me laugh for a sec...ha ha...hey, frat brothers did this all the time during the good old hazing days) then this chemical "aphrodisiac" bomb would be the Mother of all Humiliation bomb. Hey, I'm all for it!

The peaceniks have always been saying "Make Love, Not War." Well, this "Love Bomb" is the sure fire answer. Just don't drop it in NYC.

When A Liberal Goes Nutty

This is from an actual email from a rabid Liberal militant with nothing much between the ears with the typical fashion of wishing people from the opposite political party to die, even gruesomely. Anybody care to guess who? I think deaf ears need to see this and learn not to mimick such lout behaviors.

F** you. I hope you get cancer & die a horrible painful death all alone, with your collegues shunning you and the rest of us reading how wrong you are AND WHAT A CRUMMY WRITER YOU ARE.

Before you say anything, read the link for once before you make an ass of yourself and assume something which is not the case.

Disqualified Russian Wrestler Was Not Exactly Hearing

A Russian wrestler has been thrown out of the Deaflympics after it was discovered that his hearing was better than the allowable level for competitors.

Sergey Iankovsky was disqualified during the heats of the Greco-Roman wrestling after Iran launched a protest, claiming that he was responding to instructions from his coach during a bout against an Iranian wrestler last week.

All Deaflympic athletes must remove hearing aids before competition and an International Deaflympic Committee-sanctioned test conducted after the appeal found that Iankovsky had a 48-decibel hearing loss in his good ear, whereas the Deaflympic rules state that competitors must have not less than 55-decibel loss.

Well, the story is a little more clear now. The Russian wrestler was not at all a hearing person.

Click here to see more updates on the idiocy of CISS/Deaflympics officials disqualifying two other deaf/hh competitors for wearing a hearing aid. For the love of Zeus, you can't get any kookier than that.

140 students from FSDB to Perform at Superbowl

Five-time Grammy award winning artist Alicia Keys is scheduled to perform during the Super Bowl pre-game show at Alltel stadium.

Keys will be joined by 140 students from the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind in St. Augustine." The kids are very excited," said Jill Storey, a spokesperson for the school. Keys has been tapped to perform, "America the Beautiful".

The students will sing and sign the song with Alicia Keys. The students are already practicing.

For those who don't know Alicia Keys, she's one cool beautiful chick and was raised as a classically trained pianist! She now performs Rhythmn and Blues, and Soul music. Go to Amazon and you can listen to several of Alicia Keys music samples. As always, I'll keep to my own Ragtime and early Jazz piano playing for myself to enjoy and listen as I practice them.

BTW, one of my good friend who lives in Miami went to FSDB, and then later to Gallaudet University where I met him there.

The First Trillionaire...guess who may be one someday?

Ah, billionaires...they're all over the place. But we haven't seen the first trillionaire and that may come about several years from now. Check it out how Bill Gates could possibly become the first trillionaire.

When a Stupid "Burglar" Does the Colossal

Former Clinton aide Sandy (aka "Burglar") Berger is under U.S. grand jury investigation for the removal (i.e. stuffing them into his socks, pants and jackets) of top secret documents while in the (closely monitored) screening room of the National Archives.

Berger admitted he removed as many as 50 top-secret documents from the archives, calling it an an "honest mistake." Er..let me laugh for a second...ha ha (weakly).

The stolen documents were for the Sept. 11 commission's inquiry into the terror attacks on New York and Washington. Sandy "Burglar" removed them solely to try and reduce any embarassment for the former President, Bill Clinton. He had a lot of embarassments, eh no?

Sandy Burglar also said he destroyed some of the documents, but claimed it was an "accident." Oops, there it is again, another "accident" comment made by Sandy the Burglar. Kind of like Bill Clinton's own little, "mind yer business", "accident" with Lewinsky. They just couldn't help themselves. Totally impossible. A force of nature to reckon with. Oops...had to have a little fun in the stalls at a bathroom stop off of the highway. Can't help it. Oops...just said the "F" word. Can't help that either. Maybe Hillary Clinton will "accidentally" find a way into Bill Clinton's bed for a change? Don't bet on it. She's one calculating little b...

Anyway, Sandy the Burglar pilfered (i.e. "stolen") documents were classified "Code Word," the highest security classification, above Top Secret! Wow. Sandy the Burglar had to sign his name and leave any kind of containers such as briefcases behind before entering the screening room to review any Top Secret documents in the National Archives. So, there is no way for him to forget where he was and to "accidentally" take these top secret documents stuffed into his socks and pants in beyond believability.

Anybody who believes otherwise has rocks in his head. You know who you are.

Three things...

1. Sandy the Burglar knew the place contained top secret materials.
2. Sandy the Burglar knew that the only way to get out undetected with the copied documents was to stuff them down into his socks, pants and jackets. That's 50 top secret documents! Now you know what a scarecrow feels like.
3. Sandy the Burglar knew what he threw away at home was Top Secret.
4. Sandy the Burglar knew what he was doing.

Ok..that was four things.

Bill Clinton knows the Burglar! John Kerry, too. He even bragged about it. Hmmm...and all this happened before the election, too. Could it be to try and help John Kerry's election? It wouldn't have helped anyway. Oh, btw, John Kerry lost the election.

"What information could be so embarrassing that a man with decades of experience in handling classified documents would risk being caught pilfering our nation's most sensitive secrets? Did these documents detail simple negligence, or did they contain something more sinister?"

Yeah, I wonder about that, too. Let's jail Sandy the Burglar for stupidity, and breaking the law, too. It's only fair. Just don't bend over while in jail.

BTW, Martha Stewart will be leaving her jail cell soon....completely rehabilitated...and a billionaire, too. Now, isn't that the ultimate Americana? Leave jail and be even richer?

Indoctrination into ASL at Gallaudet University

Many new students arriving at Gallaudet University attend the New Signers Program where for four weeks prior to the beginning of classes they learn only ASL and not PSE or SEE. They do not have that choice since Gallaudet University does not offer those choices to begin with. Even though it is well known that many professors, incidentally hearing, tend to sign more of a PSE signing than ASL. But still soon-to-be professors or teachers must pass the ASL-equivalency skill test before they can teach at Gallaudet University. Suppose a student wish to continue using SEE because of the continued use of correct grammatical English order whether it comes down to signing, speaking or writing English and do not want to learn ASL? What legal grounds can SEE, CUED, SimCom, non-ASL users have in the classes of Gallaudet University should Gallaudet University refuse such accomodations? Just thinking outloud here.

Deaf or hard of hearing students who are unfamiliar with sign language do not have to use sign language but can request note-takers, CART, or oral translators (e.g. CUED speech or verbal) according to the ADA law regarding equal access for students with disabilities. Unless they have thick skins and have the gumptions to take on the derisiveness from students and staffs, they can legally choose that route in classes at Gallaudet University, or elsewhere such as NTID. It's no different than requesting the same support mechanism in other universities or colleges. Why should it be different at Gallaudet University?

Students should have the right to decide which communication route they'd prefer and not be left with only one option...ASL. Bottom line is that there should be a choice. If a deaf or hard of hearing student chooses ASL, all the kudos for him. However, if not, and want to continue, for example, using SEE then he should have that right. Gallaudet University should make every efforts to accomodate his communication needs rather than to try and convert him into signing and learning ASL only. After all, Gallaudet University is a college for deaf and hard of hearing students by catering to their communication needs which are many. It's not about catering to ASL only.

The $240,000 Question....

Paid bloggers? Now, that should not be a new concept noting the fact that many of the well established and much visited blogging sites such as Powerlineblog, Little Green Footballs, The Daily Kos, Instapundit or Michelle Malkin do their bloggings out of the interest of their own hearts. But the latest flap over a paid blogger can be seen in the Armstrong Williams's final column for Tribune Media Services. In the article Armstrong's conflict of interest in secretly accepting money from the Department of Education brings about his apology to the masses. That's fine but he ought to return $241,000 belonging to the taxpayers. And he ought to stop spinning his apology which only makes him a bit more, well, of an imbecile than an honest person recanting only because he got caught. So, who got the bright idea to spend a quarter of a million dollars of taxpayer money to bribe one journalist? It was the Department of Education that paid him, and not President Bush (note to Bush ranters, nice try but no dice but keep it up...makes ya look real dumb). It was Rod Paige, Education Secretary, who suggested this payment but, alas, he's leaving. Go figure. This smacks of something illegal. More will need to be done to look into this for the improper spending of American tax-dollars just to push a political agenda.

Too bad most Liberals will continue to defend Dan Rather's faked "CYA" Memo and would rather, ahem, do so just to preserve their Liberal Fantasyland in a world reminescent of Neverland of wanting to play with little boys and justify their actions. Quite disturbing. That won't cut it. Yet, Conservatives and Republicans alike are going after William's bribery pay and hypocrisy. There's outrage from the Republicans, alright, but certainly not lopsided like the Liberals screaming for the need of an equal outrage as did the Conservatives and Republicans to Dan Rather's major faux pas with the 100% fake cBS "CYA" Memo solely to undermine President Bush' re-election.

Now, that's funny!

UPDATE: Looks like the White House confirms that this was an isolated incident.

Remember, it's "Making a mountain out of a molehill" is how you would say it correctly for those who insist on screeching like ET. Learn the English idioms, please! But in this case such screechings would be a lot of hand waving, signing and opinionated gestures instead. That alone could be considered as obscene. Whatever floats your boat.

A Gay Pedophile to Get His Dues in Court?

This guy likes to play with little boys' nether region, give them wine, porno mags and videos and ask them if they have seen any of their "white stuff" come out while he does *it* for them. See the lurid in details in a now unsealed court document. He need to be castrated. He's done enough on his face already.

Video to 61,000 Public Schools to Promote "Family Values"

In an unprecented move to promote "family values" in a sort of quasi "religious-tolerance" training video aimed at 61,000 public schools to receive "We Are Family" lesson plan.

The cast of characters appearing in the video are from award-winning shows including "Arthur," "Bear in the Big Blue House," "Blue's Clues, Bob the Builder," "The Book of Pooh," "Clifford the Big Red Dog," "Dora the Explorer," "Jimmy Neutron," "JoJo's Circus," "Kim Possible," "Little Mermaid," "Madeline," "The Magic School Bus," "The Muppet Show," "Rugrats," and "Sesame Street."

"While we want everyone to respect other people's beliefs, we do not consider it appropriate for children's television to be used in an effort to indoctrinate children...," said AFA researcher Ed Vitagliano.

The distribution will coincide with the video's broadcast on major television and cable stations on March 11 in celebration of the proposed National "We Are Family" Day.

More information can be found at World Net Daily - a pro-religious family value site.

Now, children will see these cartoon characters and get the message of "family values." What would you say if somebody says "Well, it's about time!" ??

When People Do Dumb Things.

Now, why should a company try and get the FCC to order Fox station to air their $1.2 million dollar television advertisement for the next Super Bowl ad?

McDowell says he has been in talks with Fox since August about the 15-second spot, for which he planned to pay $1.2 million, 10% of the Carmel, Calif.-based company's annual ad budget. "We're disappointed and angry," says McDowell, 42. And while he admits that he hoped to create "buzz," McDowell thinks Fox is being "overzealous in their policing of the airwaves."

David Rice, McDowell's lawyer, sent a letter Monday to the Federal
Communications Commission, arguing the ad is "amusing and entirely appropriate for broadcast" and urging the commission to issue an order directing Fox to broadcast it.

An FCC spokeswoman said Thursday that the commission would never make such an order. The agency responds to complaints after material airs.

After all, Fox station is a private company. It is they who decide what to air and what not to air. If they want to risk getting fined, then that is their prerogative. McDowell is the over-zealous person trying to get the government to do his bidding.

Deaflympics Chinese Player Forgot to Remove Hearing Aid, Team Disqualified

In the Deaflympics Australia vs China women basketball game at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre in Melbourne, Australia, the Chinese womens basketball team got disqualified today, five minutes into the game, because one Chinese basketball player forgot to take off her hearing aid.

9.8. Hearing Aids: The use of hearing aids is strictly forbidden during the time of match.

Just goes to show the absurdity of the regulations in the CISS/Deaflympics rule book. That's a serious infraction for the whole team because of one hearing aid? Can we say "poor sportsmanship" from the CISS/Deaflympics committee?



Awaiting further confirmation of this travesty of an incident......

UPDATE: Although not a confirmation but more idiocy from Deaflympic officials (well, they can't help but follow idiotic regulations by the CISS/Deaflympics) on disqualifying a deaf/hh tennis and track player for wearing a hearing aid. Gassspppp! You can almost hear a truck drop on the ground for the crowd to hear. Yep, that's cheatin' folks. Gives you a big edge over the other deaf tennis player whackin' that little green/yellow ball over the net back and forth, back and forth... Frankly, you don't have time to listen to anything to give yourself an advantage over the other player. You couldn't even cheat any more so running a track race, too, cause you're running man! Not listening. Lots of UNcommon sense by the CISS/Deaflympics rule books. Just like the U.N....UNcommon sense.

Kudos and congrats to the winners of Deaflympics! Hard work is well earned.

Thumbs down to CISS/Deaflympics officials and their kooky rules over the prohibition on the use of hearing aids and cochlear implants during a game and penalizing the whole team for one player's mistake for wearing a hearing aid so small and light you'd forget you have it on. What's next? Ban deaf/hh players who may one day wear self-powered, implantable hearing aids? That would be interesting to see.

Ya see folks...it's all about common sense. If they don't have it, well, then they don't have it.

Will the 6th Deaf World Golf Championships Violate Lauri's Right in 2006?

Now, since Lauri is an American Deaf golfer she cannot file a complaint to the Canadian Human Rights Commission regarding the illegal discrimination that will soon take place in Edmonton in 2006 at the World Deaf Golf Championship. But Deaf, deaf and hard of hearing Canadian golfers can do so in order to help correct this oversight by the people of the World Deaf Golf Championships Committee.

If you are interested in seeking legal counsel from a lawyer regarding the upcoming Edmonton 2006 World Deaf Golf Championships you can contact him. Be sure to inform the lawyer that in the 2006 World Deaf Golf Championships official website they specifically expressed a rule forbidding the use of a hearing aid during the tournaments.

The rule states:

“It is not allowed to wear hearing aids during the tournament.”

This could also include cochlear implant according to the CISS/Deaflympics regulations.

“Athletes taking part in the Deaf World Championships shall be forbidden from using any hearing aids or cochlear implant aids during competitions.” - Deaf World Championships regulations (updated March 2003).

Who can file a complaint?
A Canadian citizen or a person who is legally present in Canada can file a complaint. Usually the person who has suffered from the discrimination files the complaint but, in certain cases, it may be filed by a third party, such as a relative or a collective bargaining agent. A human rights complaint can be filed with the Commission if:

• It is filed within one year of the alleged events.
• The discrimination is based on one of the eleven prohibited grounds.
• The situation is considered a discriminatory practice under the Canadian Human Rights Act.


The 2006 World Deaf Golf Championships will be the 6th hosted event to be held in Alberta, Canada. Let’s make sure they do not get away for the 6th time by violating Canada’s Human Rights for Deaf, deaf, and hard of hearing golfers who may prefer to use their hearing aids or cochlear implants in Deaf, deaf, hard of hearing related sports events.

Lauri, who is Deaf, made the top five and therefore qualified to represent the U.S. Women’s team at the Deaf World Golf Championships but problems arose when she wore her hearing aid at the U.S. Deaf Golf Championships. She would have played in Stockholm Sweden in July 2004 but was denied the 2004 World Deaf Golf Championships in Stockholm, Sweden. She was not qualified to enter in the eyes of the Deaf World Golf Championships committee. Although the World Deaf Golf Federation was formally established to oversee and sponsor the biennial world deaf golf championships under auspices of the International Committee of Sports for the Deaf (CISS), this does not give them the right to discriminate Lauri's right to play in the 6th 2006 World Deaf Golf Championships in Edmondton, Canada. The Canadian Human Rights Commision will make sure of that only if they are made aware of the blatant rules and regulations by the CISS/Deaflympics organization against Deaf, deaf, and hard of hearing players who may prefer the use of their hearing aids or cochlear implants during their games.

Lauri has every right to be allowed to compete in the 6th annual World Deaf Golf Championships game in Edmonton, Canada. Your help is needed to bring this to light.

UPDATE: The president of Canada Deaf Golf Association (CDGA) and its associated members have been informed of this travesty. An email was received from the president of CDGA that they will look into this legal matter as soon as possible. The president states that

"....in all deaf sports championships on national and provincial levels, we let our members compete with hearing aidsand/or CI. "

Watch here for further updates....

Canada To Prevent Discrimination at Deaf Games

“Athletes taking part in the Deaf World Championships shall be forbidden from using any hearing aids or cochlear implant aids during competitions.” - Deaf World Championships regulations (updated March 2003).

"It is not allowed to wear hearing aids during the tournament." - rules for 2006 World Deaf Golf Championship in Edmonton, Canada.

Breaking...just received a letter from Lauri who was discriminated and prevented to play in the Deaf World Golf Championship in Stockholm, Sweden because she wore a hearing aid in the U.S. Deaf Golf Championships (July 2003) after she protested that she be allowed to wear it. The email letter sent to her was from the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) who read her letter of complaint regarding the unfair discriminatory practices she had to endure from the CISS/Deaflympics. To put it succinctly and confidently, the CHRC will make sure that such discriminatory practices will not spill into Canada where the World Deaf Golf Championship will take place in Edmonton, 2006. Even WRAD is understandably upset and perplexed by these rules and regulations under the CISS/Deaflympics guidance.

Canadian's Human Rights laws prohibits the discrimination and targeting of people just because they are different. This includes those who want to wear their cochlear implants or hearing aids over those who do not.

There was a similar incident that took place during a Deaf baseball tournament where players were ordered to play without their hearing aids. The letter to Lauri explained further that, of course, an uproar ensued and after the dust settled the teams were eventually allowed to let their players keep their hearing aids on. The on-going atmosphere in the CISS/Deaflympics organization is creating more conflicts, disharmony, elitism, and discriminatory practices among those who wear hearing aids and cochlear implants. Not everybody read lips well. Not everybody signs or signs well. Not everybody rely on sounds for communication. Different strokes for different folks.

The player's hearing aid or cochlear implant is the player's responsibility when it comes to taking care of it. And if it becomes damaged, then it is the player's responsibility to pay for it. A player has choice. He or she can wear it or not. It is not up to the Deaf Sports organizations to decide for the players.

Check out the British Columbia Deaf Sports Federation website.

If you have similar stories worth sharing please contact Kokonut Pundits.

The UN's DERT and SCHAT Teams

Somehow acroynyms seem to show what the U.N. is really made up of and their actions shows it in the worst possible ways.

From the Diplomad:

The post below reports on the impending arrival of Ms. Margareeta Wahlstrom "United Nations Deputy Emergency Relief Team Cordinator (for Tsunami victims - koko) and the Secretary-General's Special Coordinator for Humanitarian Assistance in Tsunami-affected-countries."

Hmm, the UN's own "dirt" and "scat" teams. Even a flower bed need dirt and manure for it to blossom. But this is the U.N. were talking about.

Ok. Ok. So I added "Team" to DER...but this is about the DER "team" helping Tsunami victims. Eh no?

When Racism Rears Its Ugly Head at UVA

This is what we don't need in America when it comes assaulting people who are simply different. At University of Virginia an article recounts an assault on one of their students:

On February 26, a 19-year-old biracial student named Daisy Lundy claimed she had been attacked by a white man. Her story: as a candidate for Student Council president, she had decided to go out for “a little late-night campaigning at the library.” She walked to her car at around 2:00 a.m. to get her cell phone. The white attacker approached her, grabbed her by her ponytail and pushed her head against the car. During the assault, she claimed, the attacker said:
“No one wants a nigger to be president.”

This action is completely uncalled for. People who are self-serving do this by calling racist names and assaulting people (whether verbally or physically) are all but boorish, immature, unfeeling, and unthinking people. Daisy has every right to run for student council without fear of reprisals or attacks. But some people simply do not get it.

When people think they are special who believe they have every right to verbally assault everybody based on incongruities as justification for their behaviors, then that's when they run the risk of being extremists and that's dangerous.

Off the subject but if you read at the bottom of the UVA story link, I disagree about UVA's attempt to prosecute frat students for wearing blackfaces at a Halloween party when we have the film industry supporting this type of movie. What the frat brothers have done may be tasteless or even boorish but that's why we are protected by the first amendment. If somebody want to dress up like Bill Cosby to the hilt and act like him because he admires the guy, it should be taken as a compliment without fear of being singled out. This is true for those who want to dress up like Bill Clinton (minus the stained blue dress). But, a blackface is a different story that even Whoopi Goldberg laughed when Ted Danson did it but he got the short end of the stick by the public.


BTW, UVA Cavaliers lost to Wake on Sunday. The Cavaliers not only dropped their 10th straight ACC opener, but lost a precious home game. :-)

Life is good.

Please visit Hero Bracelet.

Visit Hero Bracelet and buy one in memory of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq (and Afghanistan).

Our goal is to help memorialize these brave men and women, and in doing so, help raise money to support their families. Every bracelet purchased ($8.50) will allow a minimum of $2 to be donated to the Fallen Heroes Fund, a non-profit, non-political fund instituted to provide aid to these families.

Each HeroBracelet is engraved with the name, rank, hometown and date of death of an American soldier lost in Iraq. It is engraved on black anodized aluminum and can be easily fitted to any wrist.

I am in support of this organization. They have so far produced 18,000 of these bracelets.

My cousin, Maj. Gregory Stone (see link for complete story and updates), was killed in the Camp Pennsylvannia grenade tent attack in 2003 in Kuwait. Like so many other soldiers, the attack left behind a fiance', his son, and family.

"Stingy" Commentators Eat Own Feet

U.S. to the rescue. Where's the U.N.?

Let the U.N. worshippers, the Norwegian Jan Egeland fans, the anti-American and anti-Bush bloggers, NY Times fans and Liberal Op-Eds eat this for a change by none other than the Associated Press. They keep putting their feet in their mouths, time again and again, in the most discombobulating way solely because all they have is an agenda to smear President Bush (and America) and nothing else. Pathetic. This is why some these people simply do not think but with their feet in their mouths. Their actions pretty much fit the "Crab Theory" but on a massive international and political scale.

U.N. attempts to take credit for USAID's work.

Doesn't suprise me how the United Nations (UN) is trying to take credit for what USAID is doing to get the job done for the tsunamis victims.


Saturday, January 01, 2005
UN Death Watch . . .

Well, we're heading into Day 7 of the Asian quake/tsunami crisis. And the UN relief effort? Nowhere to be seen except at some meetings and on CNN and BBC as talking heads. In this corner of the Far Abroad, it's Yanks (that means the United States of America - kokonut pundits) and Aussies doing the hard, sweaty work of saving lives.

Check out this interview (on the UN's official website) with Sec. Gen Annan and Under Sec. Gen Egeland shows:

Mr. Egeland (that's your favorite Norwegian Jan Egeland - link provided by Kokonut Pundits): Our main problems now are in northern Sumatra and Aceh.<...> In Aceh, today 50 trucks of relief supplies are arriving. <...> Tomorrow, we will have eight full airplanes arriving. I discussed today with Washington whether we can draw on some assets on their side, after consultations with the Indonesian Government, to set up what we call an “air-freight handling centre” in Aceh.

Tomorrow, we will have to set up a camp for relief workers – 90 of them –which is fully self-contained, with kitchen, food, lodging, everything, because they have nowhere to stay and we don't want them to be an additional burden on the people there.

I provided this to some USAID colleagues (link by Kokonut Pundits) working in Indonesia and their heads nearly exploded. The first paragraph is quite simply a lie. The UN is taking credit for things that hard-working, street savvy USAID folks have done. It was USAID working with their amazing network of local contacts who scrounged up trucks, drivers, and fuel; organized the convoy and sent it off to deliver critical supplies. A UN “air-freight handling centre” in Aceh? Bull! It's the Aussies and the Yanks who are running the air ops into Aceh. We have people working and sleeping on the tarmac in Aceh, surrounded by bugs, mud, stench and death, who every day bring in the US and Aussie C-130s and the US choppers (link provided by Kokonut Pundits); unload, load, send them off. We have no fancy aid workers' retreat -- notice the priorities of the UN? People are dying and what's the first thing the UN wants to do? Set up "a camp for relief workers" one that would be "fully self-contained, with kitchen, food, lodging, everything."

The UN is a sham!
http://diplomadic.blogspot.com/


U.S. aircraft carrier reaches Sumatra, Marines head toward Sri Lanka
JAKARTA, Indonesia – One of the biggest U.S. military disaster relief missions in history kicked into high gear Saturday as an aircraft carrier battle group arrived off the shores of tsunami-battered Sumatra and began launching helicopters laden with supplies.

A flotilla carrying Marines and water purifying equipment was heading for Sri Lanka, meanwhile, and a former staging base for B-52 bombers in Thailand roared with the takeoffs and landings of giant cargo planes.

At least nine Seahawk helicopters from the USS Abraham Lincoln began flying badly needed relief missions, supplying material for temporary shelters into villages along Sumatra's devastated northwest coast.


Here's President Bush' January 1, 2005 radio address.


And a final note about the whereabouts of the United Nations in all this mess (of theirs):

We have US C-130s flying in and out of here dropping off heaps of supplies; US choppers arrive today; USAID is doing a knock-out job of marshalling and coordinating US and local resources to deliver real assistance to real people. The Aussies have planes and troops delivering stuff; even the Indians have goods on the way. The UN? Nowhere to be seen. OK, I'm not being fair. Last night they played host to a big "coordination" meeting of donors to announce that the UNDP has another large "assessment and coordination team" team arriving. Our USAID guys, who've been working 18-20 hrs/day, came back furious from this meeting saying everybody would be dead if the delivery of aid waited for the UN to set up shop and begin "coordinating."

The UN types are upset with the US, Ms. Short, dear, not because we're undermining them but because we're showing them up as totally inept.

And the people who want to rant about the "stinginess" ("too little, too late") on the United States part can simply ram it up where the sun doesn't shine.

While PRESIDENT Bush is getting things done in a very big way rather than go through the "I feel your pain" empathy route a la Bill Clinton by biting his lower lip, Bill Clinton need to learn to stop showboating and taking the spotlight just to feed his delusional political purposes (hoping to have them transferred over to his dear Senator Hillary Clinton) by taking advantage of an international disaster of epic proportion. But that's Bill Clinton. Right?

You guys get my drift, yet? Get in there and help for a change!

Questioning Kwanzaa.....

While some think celebrating Kwanzaa is "cool" but like me, and others, have deep reservations about the so-called "holiday."

Frontpage Magazine has provided an article about the Kwanzaa celebration and its curious history, which is disturbing.

When once asked why he designed Kwanzaa to take place around Christmas, Karenga explained, “People think it’s African, but it’s not. I came up with Kwanzaa because black people wouldn’t celebrate it if they knew it was American. Also, I put it around Christmas because I knew that’s when a lot of bloods would be partying.”

Even among the some of the Deaf black community they celebrate Kwanzaa. They have every right to celebrate their cultural recognition. However, seeing how Kwanzaa represents can only cause me to question it further. I still remain open but reserve the right to see things differently, and rightly so.

However, Kwanzaa celebration consists of seven "principles." They are Umoja (unity), Kujichagulia (self-determination – code for "buy black"), Ujima (collective work and responsibility – groupthink), Ujamaa (cooperative economics – socialism), Nia (purpose) Kuumba (creativity), and Imani (faith – in man, not God).

To provide a symbol of his seven "principles," Karenga used the menorah from Judaism with Kwanzaa’s colors (red, black, and green), and re-named it the "kinara."

One thing though, for December 25, I certainly won't be saying happy Kwanzaa but Merry Christmas. Even though I'm a "white dude" I certainly have an opinion in this. So do black ministers from all over the United States.

Rev. Peterson said: "Kwanzaa is an anti-God, anti-American, and anti-white holiday created by a black felon. Kwanzaa only serves to further separate blacks from God and America. Black Christians should stop celebrating this pagan holiday-instead, they should stand up for Christmas. "

But sadly some of them are incorporating Kwanzaa into their Christmas program noting that "Imani" and Faith in God are an oxymoron. You cannot have both and be celebatory. Reverend Peterson makes that clear.

You make the call with your conscious.

Day by Day cartoon

If you like political cartoons then check out the Day by Day cartoon by Chris Muir. Think of Doonesbury but reverse that political line of thinking. :)

BTW, don't bother whinning to me about political cartoons. Either you love 'em or hate 'em.

Deaf scuba diver survives tsunami

Tsunami survivor describes underwater horror
By Karen Kaufman

"Our boat was lucky. We saw a cruise liner stuck near the islands with three people dead," said Londoner Naomi Hayim from her boat off the coast of Phuket yesterday.

Hayim, who is deaf, and 13 other people (including another deaf person) were diving at Richelieu Rock, a collection of submerged pinnacles renowned for its visiting whale sharks north of the Surin Islands (about 60 kilometers off the west coast of Phang Nga province) when the tsunami hit. "We realized that the wave went right over us as we were diving," she said yesterday via SMS messaging on her cell phone.

She said the giant wave created a whirlpool with incredibly strong currents. The divers were swept under, completely losing each other and severely hampered by poor visibility. All 14 eventually surfaced and found each other, though an exhausted Hayim could not be certain yesterday how long they had actually been submerged. Luckily all 14 were unharmed.

Hayim, 26, was brought up in London's Maida Vale and is a divemaster and marine biologist. She also studied clown fish and sea anemones at the Institute of Marine Biology in Eilat in 2000. A battle with meningitis when she was just a baby left her deaf. She has never, however, let this stop her from doing anything she put her mind to and graduated from Queen Mary, University of London with a degree in marine and freshwater biology.

Hayim is part of Worldwide Dive and Sail, a company that offers seven-day sailing and diving trips aboard a 21-meter yacht. Her ability to lip-read and sign enables her to teach deaf and hard-of-hearing people how to dive. The yacht left Phuket on Friday for what was supposed to be a week-long underwater adventure for holiday-makers who joined from Britain, the Netherlands and Austria. There were no Israelis on board - as Naomi put it "I'm the only Jew here."

Yesterday afternoon, the boat and its passengers turned back toward Phuket, but by early evening they were instructed to stay out at sea for fear of aftershocks and because the port at Phuket had been ruined. Hayim said that they are now waiting to hear from the Thai authorities when they will be able to go back to land. As the trip was due to last a week, the boat still has enough food and equipment for several more days.Hayim's group was one of several diving excursions that were at sea when the tsunami struck. "We are very lucky that nothing terrible happened," she said last night.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/519302.html

Sticks and Stones....

"His mother should have abort him, though.
LOL. R-"

Actually, its "His mother should have aborted him, though." Kind of how I feel about Michael Moore. Though that would be unfair of me to say that since I know better. I shall keep this quote for posterity sake as a reminder of how people use their freedom of speech and expression. Thank God for the United States of America.

Reaching out to those who may need serious help.

Read below
=========

What's the matter? Don't you have a sense of humor?Were you ever bullied, humiliated, harassed, or treated with contempt? Were you ever called names, such as fatso, baldy, geek, retard, or ugly? When you tried to fit in at a new school, job, or neighborhood, did someone or some group make racial slurs, belittle your religion, make fun of your appearance, ridicule your opinions, mock your speech, or deride your beliefs? When you tried to express yourself, did they show appreciation or show disdain? When you arrived, did they cheer or jeer? Did they celebrate you or denigrate you?

If you spoke up after being taunted, did they try to blame you, the victim, by saying, "What's the matter? Don't you have a sense of humor? Don't be so sensitive, I was just kidding. Don't be a sissy!" When you complained to your boss, parents, or teachers, did they help? Instead of doing so, they may have compounded the problem by brushing it aside and saying something like, "Don't let it get to you. You've just got to learn how to get along with people!" I wonder which is worse, to be made the brunt of jokes or to have one's pain trivialized?

Intimidation of others takes many forms. It could be physical violence or verbal abuse. You may be prevented from doing what you want to do or forced to do what you don't want to. You may be shunned, ostracized, or given the silent treatment. The abusers may steal your property or your reputation. You may be criticized, insulted, or threatened. The result of it all is considerable emotional and physical pain.

What can we do about such abuse when it happens to us? First, we can learn to understand the causes. Once we do, that may be enough to, if not end the pain, at least lessen it. Understanding the causes will also point out options and possible solutions. So, why are some people so belligerent?

They ACT tough because they're WEAK. They have little or no confidence. They feel like losers. They feel unsuccessful and incompetent. They feel that they have no power over their lives and are desperately looking for a method of filling this vacuum. Then along comes you. If, somehow, they can make you feel bad; if they can control your emotions, they will have redeemed themselves, for now at last they will have some CONTROL and POWER. True, it is destructive rather than constructive power, but any power is better than none. Granted, it is control over the lives of others rather than over their own life, but, again, some control is better than no control.

Because of the complexity of life, there is not one explanation of hostility, but many. However, there is a commonality. In all cases the aggressor is weak. He or she may wear their belligerence as a shield. They may be afraid of being laughed at because of their own incompetence, so they lash out at others in a preemptive attack. Also, because of feelings of worthlessness, they seek ways of becoming the center of attention and ways of gaining popularity. After all, if Jay Leno can earn millions and win respect by insulting the President of the United States, why can't they become a local `hero' by making fun of you?

Other reasons for indulging in malicious behaviour include peer pressure, jealousy and envy, not knowing any better, and the glorification of violence on TV and in the movies and video games. The instigators themselves may also be victims. Perhaps they're being abused by a sibling, a parent, or a neighbor and are now striking out at others to release some of their pent up hostility. Politicians sometimes exemplify yet another reason for insulting others: manipulation. Candidates running for office with a weak platform will often slander their rivals to divert attention from their own lack of ideas.

It is also helpful to understand that the pain we feel when insults are slung our way, is not caused by the insults themselves, but our internal reaction to them. This important lesson, (that it is not outside events, but our reactions to them that causes our suffering), is a major tenet of modern psychology. Yet, this teaching is hardly new. Nearly 2,000 years ago, the Greek philosopher Epictetus taught,

"It is not he who gives abuse that affronts, but the view that we take of it as insulting; so that when one provokes you it is your own opinion which is provoking."

We may not be able to change the abuser, but we can change our mind. We can decide that the frail attempts of a weakling trying to hurt us can be ignored. What better revenge can you enact than to deprive the abuser of the satisfaction of seeing you get upset?

Another point to ponder is a harasser cannot change the truth. A shrill little man may call Luciano Pavarotti "fatso," but does that diminish in any way the quality of Pavarotti's voice or his magnificent accomplishments? Of course not. Here's how Samuel Johnson (1709 ~ 1784) advanced the same argument,

"A fly may sting a stately horse and make him wince; but one is but an insect, and the other is a horse still."

So, why let the pathetic attempts of an insecure person irritate you?

Did you know that Harrison Ford, Mel Gibson, Tom Cruise, and Michelle Pfeiffer were all bullied in school? Who's laughing now? Doesn't this demonstrate that things change? Just because you're in an unpleasant circumstance today, doesn't mean that it will remain that way indefinitely. Also remember that bullies are not really attacking you, but attacking events that occurred in their lives.

Can anything positive be said about insults? At least it is far better to have someone hurl insults at you than to stone you to death! Which is why Sigmund Freud wrote, "The first human being who hurled an insult instead of a stone was the founder of civilization." Changing from physical abuse to verbal abuse may be a step in the right direction, but it offers little consolation to those suffering mental anguish. Aren't there other things that can be done to eliminate or lessen the impact of bullying? Yes, there are, but I'm afraid I ran out of space! So, tell you what, I'll share the second half of this article with you next week. - from the Personal Development website.

http://personal-development.com/chuck/index.html - lots of goodies to read.

Hey, I'm a pretty happy guy.

Sticks and stones......well, you know the old saying. But I do need a laugh once in a while. This one was a knee slapper. Really.

Oh, by the way, check out Ski Apache cam...the southern-most ski resort in the United States on Sierra Blanca (12,003 ft high). Can't wait to get my ski board and join my buddies for some cool shushing!

The "stinginess" bandwagon...a dangerous ride

It's incredible that people have the gall to call the U.S. initial contribution of $35 million as being "stingy" or not enough to help with the tsunami victims of Asia. First it was $15 million, beating out all other countries for their initial contributions and then later the amount went to $35 million as more information came in noting the gravity of the situation where over 100,000 were killed and millions displaced over 11 different countries. That alone is a logistical nightmare rather than one just one country affected by a disaster.

And since the disaster struck four days ago the initial $35 million will undoubtedly go into the billions of dollars from the U.S. Government support and help. Not only cash, but expertise and equipments such as C-130 cargo planes and Navy carriers.

"Moving a carrier strike force and a Marine expeditionary unit within 72 hours should not be considered dillydallying," State Department spokesman J. Adam Ereli said. "The planes are on the ground in Indonesia tonight." Rice and water-purification equipment have been unloaded in some stricken areas for distribution, U.S. officials noted.

Name a country who is sending out a Naval carrier, cargo planes, boats filled with supplies, food, medicine, tents, equipments and armed personnel to help with the disaster? Moving a Naval carrier is not cheap and would easily surpass Spain's contribution of $60 million dollars.

The United States is also assisting in ways not covered by the $35 million, including sending Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials to the region to help protect residents from diseases that some experts worry could double the number of victims.

The administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, Andrew Natsios. Ambassador Natsios responded about Jan Egeland's "stingy" comment:

ANDREW NATSIOS: I have written books on this. I've been doing this work for 15 years. Jan Egeland is a friend of mine; we're the biggest donor to fund his office and his staff.

I called him and said, Jan, what are you talking about? He's talking about development assistance, not disaster relief. For disaster relief, it's simply nonsense. He doesn't know what the data shows.

If he did, he wouldn't have made that comment. He told me he was misquoted and he was speaking about development assistance.

What he did not know is that President Bush has arranged the largest increase in development assistance since Harry Truman.

The budget when Bill Clinton entered office for ODA, Official Development Assistance, which is an international formula used by 27 countries that are donor governments, was 10.6 billion dollars. In 2003, it was $24 billion.

You've had a 140 percent increase. We're well beyond what the president committed at Monterey and at Johannesburg. There is a huge effort to combat HIV/AIDS, the millennium challenge account. My food aid budget has been increased hugely.

GWEN IFILL: So you're saying even when talking about development assistance, that those numbers don't add up?

ANDREW NATSIOS: Those numbers don't add up. What they do is they use a European formula, which we've never used in the United States in 55 years, which is to use a percentage of our Gross National Product.

The reason that people quote that is because in Europe it's been used as a standard, but our economy grows so much faster than the Japanese or the European economy that we would never catch up.

No matter how much we do, we could never be... if we did, we would dominate the entire world and overwhelm everybody with the amount of money but a 140 percent increase in three years is a massive increase in development
assistance.

And in clarification of what Jan Egeland's "stingy" comment:

"I never said anybody had been stingy over the tsunami,'' Egeland said. "I understand very much the president's answer" because the United States is the biggest donor to humanitarian and disaster relief.

Egeland, who was a journalist for 10 years, said he realized "10 seconds'' after making the "stingy'' comment on Monday that it wasn't clear and was open to misinterpretation. "And I immediately then started to correct it ... I was not pressured by anybody. I took the initiative myself,'' he said.

How true. The United State spent $2.4 billion on disaster relief aid so far in 2004, far, far more than any other nation. U.S officials predicted the biggest-ever U.S. response to a natural disaster will be in the weeks ahead where the resulting cost that may last several months (and years in certain areas) to go over easily into the billions. Your tax dollars at work for DISASTER RELIEF. Don't bite the hands that feed you.

Bob Stenehjem - a Seattle native with a heart of gold.

Bob Stenehjem. He's a Seattle native in Washington state. A merchant seaman who was vacationing in Thailand when the tsunami hit there. Bob is an example of what one man can do to help ease the pain and misery of those who were injured or lost loved ones. The Seattle Times produced his email message describing what he did to help with the tsunami tragedy.

The lobby was chaos. I went up to a long table full of phones and people and asked what they needed. The people at the table looked majorly overwhelmed. The lady asked what languages I spoke, and I told her a little Spanish, fairly good American Sign Language and English. She said sit here and answer phones.

And that was just a start. Read the rest of his email and you'll see why Bob Stenehjem is a man whose heart is made of gold. He just want to help like everybody else. Who wouldn't?