Very well delivered, strong, potent speech. I’m glad he made it. The need to shore up support here at home and to reassure the troops was extremely crucial. Doubtful it will calm the usual suspects but nevertheless I think he said what needed to be said: There will be no timetable, times are tough but we will persevere, our support for the mission and the troops is vital, and as soon as Iraqi forces have been fully trained and equipped our troops will be coming home.

Here’s the website the President mentioned that you can visit in order to help support our fighting men and women. And a personal thank you from yours truly, who supports you all the way. God bless.

I could say more but Cavalier X pretty much sums it up for me. Make sure to read the whole thing.

6/25/05 UPDATE: Gov. Pataki seems to have the situation covered. Bravo!

Rangel has compared Iraq to the Holocaust. Kennedy has compared the Abu Ghraib incidents with the slaughter of hundreds of thousands under the rule of Saddam Hussein. Amnesty International said Guatanamo Bay is a modern day gulag. Now, there’s Senator Dick Durbin (emphasis added by me - link opens as a PDF file):

On one occasion, the air conditioning had been turned down so far and the temperature was so cold in the room, that the barefooted detainee was shaking with cold. ….. On another occasion, the [air conditioner] had been turned off, making the temperature in the unventilated room well over 100 degrees. The detainee was almost unconscious on the floor, with a pile of hair next to him. He had apparently been literally pulling his hair out throughout the night. On another occasion, not only was the temperature unbearably hot, but extremely loud rap music was being played in the room, and had been since the day before, with the detainee chained hand and foot in the fetal position on the tile floor.

If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime–Pol Pot or others–that had no concern for human beings. Sadly, that is not the case. This was the action of Americans in the treatment of their prisoners.

Are the Dems in destruction mode?

This is a big pet peeve of mine: changing the meaning of a word via faulty comparisons so much that the true meaning of the word gets diluted. An example, to me, would be of comparisons of Bush or Clinton to Hitler. Neither are remotely close the being like the worst dictator we’ve seen in modern history. Yet people on both sides of the aisle still routinely make the claim.

Another term thrown out there recently who’s meaning is becoming diluted in nature is the term “gulag” as applied to Guantanamo Bay, the ‘infamous’ US prison for some 540 detained suspected terrorists. This term was used recently by Amnesty International’s secretary general, Irene Khan, to describe what AI feels is happening there. William F. Schulz, executive director of Amnesty USA, who - among other top brass at AI - supports Democrats, was recently interviewed by Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday. Howard Kurtz from the Washington post describes it with a brief transcript:

The substantive debate over the conditions at Gitmo and elsewhere, the treatment of the Koran and the use of interrogations techniques that approach torture is an important one to have, for it shows that Americans are willing to confront flaws in our system. But now the argument seems to be about an inflammatory word that conjures up a very different political system.

In short, if you’re going to toss a loaded grenade of a word like gulag, you’d better be able to back it up:

Which is why the “Fox News Sunday” interview of Amnesty’s U.S. chief, William Schulz, was quite revealing.

CHRIS WALLACE: Mr. Schulz, the Soviet gulag was a system of slave labor camps that went on for more than 30 years. More than 1.6 million deaths were documented. Whatever has happened at Guantanamo, do you stand by the comparison to the Soviet gulag?

SCHULZ: Well, Chris, clearly this is not an exact or a literal analogy. And the secretary general has acknowledged that. There’s no question. . . . In size and in duration, there are not similarities between U.S. detention facilities and the gulag. People are not being starved in those facilities. They’re not being subjected to forced labor. But there are some similarities. The United States is maintaining an archipelago of prisons around the world, many of them secret prisons into which people are being literally disappeared — held in indefinite incommunicado detention without access to lawyers or a judicial system or to their families. And in some cases, at least, we know that they are being mistreated, abused, tortured and even killed. . . .

WALLACE: Is it possible, sir, that by excessive rhetoric or by your political links, that you have hurt, not helped, your cause?

SCHULZ: Chris, I don’t think I’d be on this station, on this program today with you if Amnesty hadn’t said what it said and President Bush and his colleagues haven’t responded as they did. If I had come to you two weeks ago and said, “Chris, I’d like to go on FOX with you just to talk about U.S. detention policies at Guantanamo and elsewhere,” I suspect you wouldn’t have given me an invitation.

WALLACE: So you’re saying if you make irresponsible charges, that’s good for the cause?

SCHULZ: I don’t believe that they’re irresponsible.

Excuse me, but did Schulz say that it’s okay to unleash words like “gulag,” even if it’s not an “exact or literal analogy,” because it gets him booked on Fox News? Is that the new standard? Yes, Chris, I called the president a war criminal because it was the only way I could get on Hardball?

There ye have it, folks. Show him da money!

How, you might ask? Why, you make the Iraq war morally equivalent to the Holocaust, that’s how!

Powerful lawmaker Charlie Rangel has provoked the ire of the Anti-Defamation League by likening U.S. military action in Iraq to the Holocaust of World War II.
The Iraq war “is the biggest fraud ever committed on the people of this country. … This is just as bad as the 6 million Jews being killed,” the 74-year-old Harlem Democrat insisted during a Monday radio appearance on the WWRL-AM morning show with Steve Malzberg and Karen Hunter. “The whole world knew and they were quiet about it because it wasn’t their ox being gored.”

When interviewer Malzberg challenged Rangel’s analogy, the congressman replied: “I am saying that people’s silence when they know things terrible are happening is the same thing as the Holocaust.”

Yesterday, after Malzberg sent me an audiotape of Rangel’s appearance, ADL President Abraham Foxman responded: “It is so outrageous that a leader of Congress would compare one thing to the other. Sometimes we say it’s ignorance. Charlie Rangel is not ignorant. Charlie Rangel has been there.”

To make matters more, uh, interesting and on the heels of ‘comedian’ Bill Maher’s “low lying Lyndie England fruit” comment about our military recruits, Rep. Rangel had this gem to add:

On the radio show, Rangel also suggested that proponents of military action - namely Vice President Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Rumsfeld’s former deputy Paul Wolfowitz and Pentagon adviser Richard Perle - don’t worry about the Americans in Iraq because they’re “black and poor white soldiers” from “the lower economic class.”

“They had a plan to put our kids in harm’s way long before 9/11,” Rangel said. “Because it’s not their kids … that’s exactly why. They go and pick a fight, and then say, ‘I’ll hold your coat.’”

What a low, lying fruitcake.

Sorry to have to keep them on moderation, but there are still those evil little spammers out there who want to post junk on this blog I will continue to moderate and post your comment as soon as I get to it, which is usually same day if I’m not too busy. If you think I’ve accidentally deleted your comment from the moderating stack, please email me to let me know.

Thanks!

The Republicans couldn’t ask for a better man to head the DNC. Here’s a rundown of his latest words of wisdom and also the effect they are having on the Democratic party:

“I hate the Republicans and everything they stand for, but I admire their discipline and their organization,” the failed presidential hopeful told the crowd at the Roosevelt Hotel, where he and six other candidates spoke at the final DNC forum before the Feb. 12 vote for chairman. -January 30, 2005
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“We’re going to use Terri Schiavo later on … This is going to be an issue in 2006, and it’s going to be an issue in 2008 because we’re going to have an ad with a picture of Tom DeLay saying, ‘Do you want this guy to decide whether you die or not? Or is that going to be up to your loved ones?’ ” -April 15, 2005 at a gay rights group’s breakfast in West Hollywood.
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But he did draw howls of laughter by mimicking a drug-snorting Rush Limbaugh. “I’m not very dignified,” he said. “But I’m not running for president anymore.” In fact, as part of his commitment to lead the party for the next four years, he has sworn not to seek any office until after 2008. I’m not running for president anymore.” -April 20, 2005 (Star Tribune link no longer works, so I’m providing an alternate source) at a benefit for the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota
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Dean’s 25-minute speech to the Campaign for America’s Future annual gathering was interrupted frequently by applause, but his line about Republican work habits also produced an undertow of ”oohs” and ”aahs.” Asserting that some Florida voters stood in line for eight hours in November, Dean said that was a hardship for people who ”work all day and then pick up their kids at child care.” But, he said, Republicans could stand in eight-hour lines ”because a lot of them have never made an honest living in their lives.” -June 2, 2005, in a 25-minute speech to the Campaign for America’s Future in Washington, DC
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Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) and former senator John Edwards (D-N.C.) distanced themselves over the weekend from remarks by Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, who is facing criticism for the pace of the party’s fundraising. ….. Asked whether Dean is doing the party any good, Biden said, “Not with that kind of rhetoric. He doesn’t speak for me with that kind of rhetoric. And I don’t think he speaks for the majority of Democrats. . . . I wish that rhetoric would change.”

Edwards, the party’s vice presidential nominee last year, said at an annual party fundraising dinner Saturday in Nashville that he disagreed with Dean’s comment. “The chairman of the DNC is not the spokesman for the party,” Edwards said, according to the Associated Press. “He’s a voice. I don’t agree with it.” - June4 & 5, 2005
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One hundred days into his tenure as the high-energy, higher-decibel chairman of the Democratic Party, Howard Dean is in trouble with party moneybags. The former Vermont governor seems to be doing a better job flaying the Republicans than bridging the cash chasm between the parties. Given Dean’s 2004 run as a populist crusader, moderates were never wild about his takeover of the Democratic National Committee. So some big donors are sitting on their wallets.

Dean wowed the faithful in ‘04 with his Web-based fund-raising magic. But major business donors still count, and in his new role as party honcho, the feisty doctor seems to be struggling to connect. After achieving money parity with the GOP in 2004, Democrats have fallen far behind. According to the Federal Election Commission, the DNC raised $14.1 million in the first quarter of 2005, vs. the Republican National Committee’s $32.3 million. Dean drew about 20,000 new donors, while his rivals picked up 68,200. The bottom line: Republicans have $26.2 million in the bank vs. $7.2 million for the Dems. - June 6, 2005, Business Week Online
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Three top fundraisers at the Democratic National Committee have resigned at a time when its chairman, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, has come under fire from fellow Democrats for controversial comments and his Republican counterpart has raised more than twice as much money. - June 6, 2005
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Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean, unapologetic in the face of recent criticism that he has been too tough on his political opposition, said in San Francisco this week that Republicans are “a pretty monolithic party. They all behave the same. They all look the same. It’s pretty much a white Christian party. …. “We have to be rough on the Republicans. Republicans don’t represent ordinary Americans and they don’t have any understanding of what it is to go out and try and make ends meet.” -June 6, 2005

Any questions?

This is an update to an earlier posting of mine, where I quoted an opinion piece Chuck Colson wrote about protests to President Bush’s commencement address to the Calvin College graduating class of 2005. The mainstream media wanted you to believe that there was a massive amount of Calvin College students, faculty, and alumni who didn’t want the President there.

But that wasn’t the case.

As usual, the media trumped up the amount of protesting and dissent, specifically because this was a Christian college, and any Christian who disagrees with the President is immediately looked upon favorably by our partisans in the so-called ‘unbiased’ press. Here was the real deal, directly from the pen (typewriter) of Calvin College’s president, Mr. Gaylen Byker:

However, some faculty members chose to express their dissent in an open letter placed in the Grand Rapids Press on Commencement Day. The letter’s intent was to articulate their convictions and urge President Bush to reconsider several policy matters on the basis of a shared Christian faith. The open letter was itself the center of campus debate. While some felt strongly that making these statements was a matter of Christian conscience, a majority of the Calvin community feared that the media and media audiences would construe the statement as disrespectful protest and a challenge of the President’s Christian faith. Yet, about 120 of the nearly 700 people who work at Calvin (along with a few emeriti) signed the letter. (Before the statement was even in print, two professors appeared on a confrontational political television show, which many also saw as sure to be interpreted as merely about protest and disrespect.)

In the same May 21 edition of the Press, an opinion piece written by Calvin communications professor Randall Bytwerk also appeared, articulating his view that President Bush should be welcomed without dissent — and his confidence that despite the debate, the Calvin community would put its differences aside and welcome the President with enthusiasm. Yet another column was printed that same morning, penned by the religion editor of the Grand Rapids Press, which praised Calvin for being a college “that likes to mix it up on a firm platform of faith.”

Complicating the picture further, a full-page ad appeared on Friday, May 20, in the Grand Rapids Press. On this page, 823 Calvin alumni and others expressed their views, without the benefit of the weeks of campus discussion that preceded the faculty statement. Calvin College had no part in that more harshly worded ad. Unfortunately, media reports confused the alumni ad with the faculty statement, fueling the charges of campus disrespect.

In fairness to the entire Calvin community, perhaps we should put those numbers in context. There are 53,600 members of the Calvin Alumni Association. Of those members, less than 700 participated in the “alumni and friends” letter — and, on the other side of the spectrum, it should be known that a “calvin4bush” website collected 1,754 alumni and friends names for a supportive statement in a matter of a few days.

Hat tip to the media relations department (specifically Phil) at Calvin College for alerting me to this media discrepancy.

On top of the PC nonsense going on in the Guilford County, NC School System with the “confronting racism” workshop is this story from McKinney, TX about a parent complaining about what she sees as a “racist” logo for the school district’s preschool program. What’s so “racist” about it?

A Mckinney ISD parent is calling a new logo symbolizing the district’s preschool program a form of racism.

The logo depicts a fair-skinned child doing a cartwheel in front of the earth. But Leslie Moore, a McKinney teacher whose child is in the preschool program, took exception.

“It sends the wrong message,” Moore said. “It’s telling me that every other ethnic race other than Caucasian is inferior to the Caucasian race.”

Moore sent an e-mail to preschool director Kristina Perez, who wrote back, “The intention was never to make any ethnicity feel left out.”

Perez also wrote, “T-shirts are already in print, along with bags for the children. We have also designed letterhead. At this point, I don’t think it would be feasible to make changes.”

“I would like to see that every child is being represented on the logo,” Moore said. “That they are worthy of making the face of a t-shirt.”

McKinney ISD administrators told News 8 they have stopped all printing of the logo. They’ll meet with Moore next week to discuss other options, including another logo that depicts diversity with three children.

This is the alleged “racist” logo. This is the proposed alternative.

Methinks somebody has too much time on their hands.

Happening right here in good ol’ North Carolina:

Diversity and anti-racism training are not new to Guilford County Schools, but the philosophy of a group offering such training during this academic year has raised concerns.

About 300 teachers and community members have gone through anti-racism training with Chicago-based Crossroads Ministry since August.

Participants are taught that history is written from the perspective of whites and that laws and policies benefit whites while putting minorities at an immediate disadvantage.

The district paid Crossroads Ministry about $45,000 for training through mid-November, a district spokesman said. More current costs were not available.

Superintendent Terry Grier wants to spend $500,000 next year on teacher training, including anti-racism sessions from groups such as Crossroads.

Seven teachers from Andrews and Southwest high schools, who went through training recently, said they are losing precious class time on training that, at best, they have received before. And at worst, they said, the training is more opinion than fact and has no relevance they can see to making them better teachers.

Who is “Crossroads Ministry”, you might ask? This should help:

Why is war in the Middle East and North Korea racist war?Since the beginning of re-ignited conflict in the Middle East, anti-racists have worked to expose racism in our foreign policy–especially with regard to Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel, Palestine, and North Korea–and to connect the racism in our foreign policy to domestic racism here in the United States. As the inevitability of war looms closer, we call on all our anti-racism partners to oppose this war, to work for peace, and to make anti-war movements anti-racist peace movements.

US racial and cultural imperialism abroad are fundamentally based on white supremacy at home, founded on the belief that only White Europeans and White Euro-Americans should set the world’s agenda and control and distribute the world’s resources. Economic imperialism imposed by capitalism knows no boundaries in the world today, all is there for the taking.

If you live and Guilford County and are opposed to this absolute nonsense, I urge you to write your school board and tell them respectfully but strongly how much you are against this “workshop.” I cannot believe that valuable public education tax dollars would be used towards something like this. We hear complaints all over the place about how there is “hardly any money for the books” yet our educators use that money for a “workshop” that essentially tells educators that white people are racists and then these educators are supposed to, in turn, teach that to our children?