streiff at Redstate has the must-read details of the latest Democrat lie regarding funding for our troops. The President has warned Democrats that if they don’t get him a ‘clean’ supplemental bill to sign by April 15th, that Congress will in effect be shortchanging the military and not giving them what they need to fight the war. Democrats, in turn, are saying that they have until the end of May to sort out the supplemental, which is complete horsecrap (to put it delicately), as strieff explains:
The fact is, funds do start to run out on April 15, just as Secretary Gates said. The fact is that while reprogramming authority will allow combat operations to proceed, the bill payer will be just what Secretary Gates said: quality of life expenditures for troops and their families, equipment repair, real property maintenance, and procurement. And while a later supplemental can restore budget authority what it can’t restore is the lost time.
Of course it doesn’t matter to them if barracks, family quarters, and hospitals can’t be maintained. It doesn’t matter to them if equipment needed to train troops for deployment or to support disaster relief operations domestically isn’t repaired. It doesn’t matter to them if training for troops deploying to combat have their training curtailed. The “slow bleed” is what they are after.
He characterizes what the Democrats are doing as a “misdirection.” I call it outright lying.
There’s an old saying here in North Carolina, especially amongst Tarheel fans, that God’s favorite college basketball team must be Carolina because He painted the sky “Carolina blue.” As a Duke Blue Devil fan - Carolina’s biggest rivals - I, and other Duke fans, usually laugh it off everytime I hear it.
But not this week.
As you probably already heard by now, the UNC Tarheels mascot Rameses, whose real name was Jason Ray, died on Monday after head injuries he sustained after being hit by a man driving a Mercury Moutaineer in Fort Lee, NJ just hours before last Friday’s Carolina NCAA tourney game against USC. Jason was 21.
At UNC-CH, he majored in business administration and pursued a minor in religious studies. He also was active in the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and played in a band for Thursday worship services.
[…]
He was the lead singer of 9PM Traffic, a rock band with some friends from back home that occasionally played on campus. He signed e-mails with phrases from current pop songs, closing with lines like “Bringing Sexy Back, Jason Ray.” He laughed hard, waiting until everyone else in the room finished their laughter to throw his head back and let out his own.
[…]
His strong personality could at first be a little intimidating, said Adam Miller, a UNC-CH sophomore who was in the Bible study group Ray and Humphries led. But Ray was willing to show vulnerability. He shared his doubts about his business major with his Bible study group and his fears that a 9-to-5 job might leave him feeling empty.
“He was very open with what he was struggling with,” said James Jolley, a UNC-CH senior. “He was able to share common struggles … to show that I was not alone.”
”Jason believed in organ donation and in the sharing of the gift of life,” Allen Ray says. “His organs will be donated to the Sharing Network of New Jersey. We hope that Jason’s gift will be able to help up to 50 people in critical need of transplant.”
The viewing and visitation were held tonight at Concord First Assembly. I work in Concord, and this morning I passed by the street Jason used to live on, and noticed that many of the mailboxes had pale blue and white ribbons and bows on them in his memory.
In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that donations instead be made tothe Jason Kendall Ray Memorial Fund, Concord Christian Church, 3101 Davidson Highway, Concord, NC 28027.
Jason, suiting up for a game.
Jason, hamming it up for the crowd.
Final Four mascots for both the men’s and women’s teams will wear armbands in memory of Jason for the remainder of their respective tournament games.
Rest in peace, Jason. I’m sure your spirit will live amongst Tarheel fans for years to come.
————–
On a more personal note, I found out last night that a friend of mine (who I will call “L”) who lived in Maryland had passed away unexpectedly Monday night from acute liver failure. She had suffered from a form of leukemia, and the last she and I had talked over email, she was doing good, even though she hated taking the medication. It was a co-worker of hers who emailed me to tell me the news, as she had gone through some of L’s emails in an effort to make sure people she knew from the I’net would know what happened. L and I didn’t converse every day over email. In fact, we’d go weeks without an email to each other, so it’s not like I would worry if I hadn’t heard from her in a couple of days. I spoke with her co-worker last night, and then spoke to L’s mom a short time later. I couldn’t talk to her long, as I didn’t want to upset her when eventually I figured I’d start crying on the phone.
L was so young (40), and had so much life and love to give, which makes all of this especially tragic. She and I knew each other for about seven years, as we had a common bond of enjoying some of the same TV shows and theater dramas. As our friendship went on, I began to wonder if we’d ever meet, because I could never get up to Maryland and L was so busy there that it was hard to get a free minute to visit NC. But finally, we did get to meet, when she came to Charlotte, NC for some training related to her new UMUC job promotion within the last year.
She was so excited about her job promotion, too. We talked and laughed and had a great time while she was here. She also got to take a tour of my townhouse, which I had not yet been in a year when she saw it. I’m so glad she did get to see it, because she knew of my struggles in trying to land on my feet and be in a place I could call my own, and she was very happy for me. That was always how L was, concerned about the well being of others more than herself, even though in the last few years she started paying more attention to her own needs, as she should have.
We never know what God has in store for us, but when I am feeling pain from a loss – whether expected or unexpected – I try to console myself with the knowledge that God is great, and that God had a greater plan for L in heaven, than here on earth. And I bet she is there now, feeling great and smiling down on us all. Heaven now has another angel in L.
I dedicate this song to you, L. God speed. I will miss you.
Lyrics to “In The Arms of The Angel”
by Sarah McLachlan
Spend all your time waiting
For that second chance
For a break that would make it okay
Theres always one reason
To feel not good enough
And its hard at the end of the day
I need some distraction
Oh beautiful release
Memory seeps from my veins
Let me be empty
And weightless and maybe
Ill find some peace tonight
In the arms of an angel
Fly away from here
From this dark cold hotel room
And the endlessness that you fear
You are pulled from the wreckage
Of your silent reverie
Youre in the arms of the angel
May you find some comfort there
So tired of the straight line
And everywhere you turn
Theres vultures and thieves at your back
And the storm keeps on twisting
You keep on building the lie
That you make up for all that you lack
It dont make no difference
Escaping one last time
Its easier to believe in this sweet madness oh
This glorious sadness that brings me to my knees
In the arms of an angel
Fly away from here
From this dark cold hotel room
And the endlessness that you fear
You are pulled from the wreckage
Of your silent reverie
Youre in the arms of the angel
May you find some comfort there
Youre in the arms of the angel
May you find some comfort here
Hey, if Sanjaya Malakar - who is widely known as the guy who no one thought would make it past the first round - can make it into the top 10, I think Rove would have a shot at it, too! Simon Cowell, of course, would be brutal on “McBushitler’s Brain”, but I think el Rovo aka “MC Rove” could give it right back to him.
Pelosi: (Thinking) I may be third in line for the presidency, but that won’t stop me from acting like I AM the president.
Actual caption: U.S. President George W. Bush (R) reacts as
he listens to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) during the annual
Radio and Television Correspondents Association dinner at a hotel in Washington March 28, 2007.
REUTERS/Jason Reed (UNITED STATES)
Yes, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, she who represents the military-hating, Bush-loathing, cut and run crowd in San Francisco, is going to Syria as part of a “Congressional delegation” - even though the US has broken off ties with high-level contacts in the Syrian government:
The visit will make Pelosi the most senior U.S. official ever to meet with President Assad.
Pelosi will be traveling to Syria has part of Congressional delegation. On the trip, she also plans to visit several other countries in the region, including Israel, where she will deliver a speech to the Knesset.
Pelosi’s visit to Syria would come as the United States has severed high-level contacts with Assad’s government.
The administration recalled the U.S. ambassador to Damascus after the February 2005 assassination of Rafik Hariri in Lebanon. There has been very little high- or mid-level U.S. contact with Syria since then.
Last December, a delegation of four Senators visited Syria, a trip that was made over the objections of the Bush Administration. At the time, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice criticized the trip as unhelpful.
Traveling with Pelosi will be Congressmen Keith Ellison (D-MN), Nick Rahall (D-WV), Tom Lantos (D-CA), Henry Waxman (D-CA), and David Hobson (R-OH).
Now, that sounds like a winning team if I ever heard one.
Not.
My question is: Why not send Senator Jay Rockefeller? He’s already admitted to visiting Syria at least once since Bush has been president, back in January 2002, in order to alert the Syrian ‘head of state’ of his belief about the President’s war plans as they related to Iraq. Hell, he can’t do any more damage this time around than he already has, and he certainly can’t do any worse than the current bunch who will be heading over there next week.
Also, exactly what are Pelosi and co. planning on discussing with Assad? Maybe when Rep. Hobson leaves the meeting for a restroom break, the remaining group who are all Democrats will work to undermine the Bush administration’s policies towards Syria in the same manner as Howard Dean is attempting to do with other ‘world leaders’?
Can we question their patriotism now?
Watching Democrats try to assume the role of ‘most diplomatic’ is like witnessing a room full of cats in a barking class trying to make it through the first day. Except in this case, the participants are not even remotely funny.
Update: Why won’t Nancy Pelosi allow a proposed resoultion on the House floor that would condemn Iran for the capture of the 15 British troops still being held hostage, and call for their release? Via AP:
Pelosi’s spokesman Brendan Daly said the speaker was reluctant to weigh in on the incident without knowing that such a message would do more good than harm. Daly said the British government had not asked Congress to try to pressure Tehran.
“The leadership discussed it and agreed that inserting Congress into an international crisis while ongoing would not be helpful,” Daly said.
Right. Pelosi doesn’t mind interfering in the US’ business with Syria, but she won’t allow the House to bring to the floor for a vote a measure condeming Iran and calling for the release of the 15 captured British soldiers.
Who’s giving you advice on foreign policy, Speaker Pelosi? Cindy Sheehan?
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba - The prison sentence of an Australian detainee who pleaded guilty to a terrorism-related charge would be limited to seven years under terms of a plea bargain, a military judge at Guantanamo Bay said Friday.
The judge, Marine Corps. Col. Ralph Kohlmann, revealed the terms of the agreement at a hearing Friday on whether to accept David Hicks’ guilty plea.
It was not immediately clear whether the maximum sentence accounts for the five years Hicks has already spent at Guantanamo Bay. Under an agreement between the United States and Australia, Hicks will serve any sentence in Australia.
Now, I wonder where all the apologies are from the anti-war/hate Howard fanatics who rushed to Hicks defense not so much because they believed in his ‘innocence’ but more because they were using him as a symbol for all the things they ‘hate’ about ‘evil wars’?
Wondering, watching, waiting …
Update: Aussie Tim Blair had a little fun speculating earlier what kind of bargain would be reached. Heh.
PM Update: All but nine months of Hicks’ sentence has been suspended as part of the ‘deal.’ Unfreakingbelieveable!
I read a few days ago at The Politico that Democrats had set their sights on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell as he faces re-election next year, and thought to myself that it figures they would, because he’s been a hell of an effective leader against a lot of the moonbattiness that goes on in the Senate, and knows how to run rings around Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Just how will the ‘bats attack Senator McConnell? John Hawkins found today that one gay-baiting blog is already on the march to try and ‘out’ the Senator as a gay man who hasn’t yet come out of the closet. Here is what the blog - which John links to - has written about Senator McConnell:
“With Kentuckians growing more and more restless with their senator’s role in perpetuating the Bush Regime’s pointless “Stay The Course” agenda in Iraq, Mitch McConnell is facing a tough re-election battle next year. This has been exacerbated as it becomes more and more known that he has been a closeted gay man for decades while pushing an anti-gay agenda. He must be breathing a sign of relief today as the progressive group Americans United for Change has made its plans known that they will be tackling McConnell only on his role in advancing the Bush Regime’s war policies.
[…]
The spot, which makes no allusions to McConnell’s sexual status or the fact that he was kicked out of the military for molesting young soldiers, primarily show him making false statements on the Senate floor about progress in Iraq.”
Sound familiar? It should, because certain Nutroot lefties tried the same thing against Senator Larry Craig (R-ID) last October. Craig wasn’t up for re-election last year, but that didn’t matter to certain Democrats who get off on throwing out serious personal accusations which they oftentimes cannot back up. They’ll do anything to hurt their political “enemies” - honesty and integrity to these socially repugnant creeps is an alien concept.
"[...] I'm certainly interested and excited by the hope that Barack Obama is inspiring," [Penn] said, but went on to accuse him of a "phenomenally inhuman and unconstitutional" voting record. "I hope that he will understand, if he is the nominee, the degree of disillusionment that will happen if he doesn't become a greater man than he will ever be." - Actor Sean Penn at the Cannes Film Festival - 5/14/08 Must read: Maybe We Can't -
The black case for Obama-skepticism
