Clinton Murder Plot Revealed!

William Teach over at Pirate's Cove alerted me to this. Former President Clinton has revealed, on camera, his Administration's plotting and attempts, to commit murder! The hatred this man must have for America's Youth is breathtaking!



And you thought I didn't take things seriously, didn't you?

A Meme! Join in!

American Phoenix has a meme on her site that I'm doing. I found it trackbacked at The Anchoress' post about Trader Joe's. I'm not gonna tag anybody with it - it ain't mine, after all - but you might find it a little thought-provoking, as I did. Geography Meme asks you to look at the world around you and choose a few places to think about. Now, her choices/answers are well thought-out, and very interesting. Mine are, as I said in the comments, more pedestrian. Well, that's the way my tastes run. So here goes! My responses to the Geography Meme:

1. A Place You've Visited and Your Favorite Thing there:

Boone, North Carolina. I went here, a central location, to do on-the-ground research for my Revolutionary War novel. I love the town! Nearby are some of the most beautiful scenery I've seen. It's in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and it has stuck with me. I wish I could afford to pull up stakes and move there.


Here's where I get pedestrian. My favorite thing there, aside from all the places to visit and see, is Mike's" Inland Seafood Restaurant. It might be gone by now, but if not, it's the best seafood place I've visited. Yup! A Seafood restaurant in the mountains! The food was wonderful! Tasty and plentiful. For this big eater, and seafood lover, the one place where I could not finish what was served to me. Ohhh, my!

2. A Country You'd Like to Visit and Why:



Ireland. My family name comes from the North, and is older than the earliest English occupation. But our family is Protestant, not Catholic. Ireland is, outside the sectarian insanity, a magical place. I'd like to explore it.


3. A Place From History You'd Like to Visit and Why:



Runnymede, southwest of London, where King John signed the Magna Carta. This was the first feeble step toward representative government in the english-speaking world. And I wouldn't have to learn a new language, would I?

4. A Place You Know A Lot About:



Kings Mountain - a famous Revolutionary War battlefield. Hey, read my novel! It's in there, ya know. *wink*

5. A Place You'd Like to Learn More About:



Bushy Run Battlefield, Pennsylvania. Research I want to do, should my finances ever improve. This battle took place during Pontiac's Rebellion and involved the relief of Fort Pitt. Surrounded, outnumbered, out of water during this hot summer fight, with many wounded soldiers, Henry Bouquet rallied his beleaguered troops to outwit the attacking Indians and win through. Amazing story.

6. A Fictional Place You'd Like to Visit:

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I like the novels! I do! And if this is a fictional place to visit, well, you can't get into Hogwarts unless you are a Wizard or Witch! Magic! Whoo-hoo! Tell me you wouldn't love to learn how to fly on a broom! Heheheee!

Seriously, if you had the choice of any fictional place to visit, what fabulous place would you want to visit? Any of you want to visit Bram Stoker's Transylvania to see Dracula in his European home? What about aboard the Pequod with Ahab in his quest for the White Whale?

So, how about you? Want to try the meme? Go for it! Let's see what sort of travelogue you come up with.

Update! In the comments, love2learnmom wrote this: "Nicely done! My 11 year old son started the meme as part of his Geography Blog. They're keeping track of all the responses there - so much fun to read! He and his friends are very much enjoying the project."

Alright! I like this meme, and I think you all oughta head on over to see the Map Guys at the first posting of this geography meme. Frankly, this is a very fine blog! Surf, friends, surf!

September 23rd, 1846

In 1845, a German Astronomer sent a copy of his Ph.D. thesis to the French Mathemetician, Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier. Johann Gottfried Galle had written his thesis as a discussion of Danish astronomer Ole Rømer's observation of meridian transits of stars and planets on the days from October 20 to October 23, 1706. Yeah, this was heavy stuff, and interesting to Astronomers, and as Galle hoped, to mathemetician's too. Le Verrier answered Galle's letter months later, on September 18, 1846. Galle received it on September 23, 1846.

Now you are thinking, "Well, benning's gotten too dull for me, I think I'll go take a gander at the porn sites," aren't you? Well, hang in there! This gets interesting!

So what did the French mathemetician say in response to the German astronomer's letter and thesis? Le Verrier asked Galle to look at a certain region of sky to find a predicted new planet, which would explain the perturbations (variations in a designated orbit, as of a planet, resulting from the influence of one or more external bodies) of Uranus. Galle had worked at the Berlin Observatory since it's completion in 1831, working as an assistant to the famed Astronomer, Johann Franz Encke. Galle showed the letter to him, and Encke, against his better judgment gave Galle the go-ahead.

So the very same night, after receiving that letter and request from Le Verrier, Galle and his own assistant, Heinrich Louis d' Arrest, began their search. d'Arrest suggested that a recently drawn chart of the sky, in the region of Le Verrier's predicted location, could be compared with the current sky to seek the displacement characteristic of a planet, as opposed to a fixed star. With Galle at the eyepiece of the great telescope, and d’Arrest reading the chart, they scanned the sky and checked that each star seen was actually on the chart. Just a few minutes after their search began, d’Arrest cried out, “That star is not on the map!”

Galle and d' Arrest had become the first to look at and recognize the newest planet. They had found the last of the great Gas Giants, Neptune. Over the next two days of observations the finding was confirmed. The Solar System now had eight planets! And it happened on September 23rd, one hundred and sixty years ago.

Saturn with her clouds

Successful ... Year After Year

Have you ever heard of the Chelsea Milling Company? Think hard! No? What if I tell you that the company is located in Chelsea, Michigan, and has been there for over a hundred years? Any idea? What about a "Little Blue Box"? Anything yet?

Okay! I'll let you in on the secret. The Chelsea Milling Company makes "Jiffy" Baking Mix, among many other baking mixes. Recognize the "Jiffy" name? I'm very familiar with it. I buy the baking mix regularly, and the Muffin mixes now and then. Why? Because "Jiffy" is a good product! And the price is the best. The first box of "Jiffy" Baking Mix hit the store shelves in 1930. That's a long time.

When I was growing up, my mother would buy Aunt Jemima Pancake Mix, and Bisquick Baking Mix. After a while the Aunt Jemima disappeared since the Bisquick did a fine job at pancakes. But Bisquick was the staple for our family. And that's what I liked ... until I was out on my own. And then, money was a primary concern (not nearly enough money!), and quality was a lesser concern.

So I learned quickly which products were good and which were bad. I learned that my favorite canned String Beans had to be "DelMonte Blue Lake Whole Green Beans". The cut- and french- styles didn't taste right. The store brands didn't taste right. The other name brands didn't taste right! Get the picture?

Now, when I went shopping for "Bisquick", I also saw "Jiffy" Baking Mix alongside. And the price was lower. Now, a box of baking mix is going to last a while, isn't it? So switching brands, even for a single time, is taking a leap of faith, if you will. At the least it's chancy. But I tried it. And guess what? It's as good, if not better, than "Bisquick" to me. So I stuck with it.

And I found the Corn Muffin Mix, too! And that's pretty good. Pie Crust Mix, Cake Mixes, and so on. All of them quality, tasty, inexpensive mixes that are easy to use. And that's important for me. Because I have never been able to afford to just toss a cooking mistake away.

So what's the story here? Is this just benning's pitch for a food?

M & Ms Forever!

*kaff kaff* Ahem! sorry about that!

No. The Chelsea Milling Company is a success story that you should recognize. The Holmes family has owned it since 1901. A former Indy car driver, Howdy Holmes, is the present President and CEO. He's also the grandson of Mabel White Holmes, the lady who invented "Jiffy" Baking Mix in the first place! As she said later, "The mix is so simple, even a man can do it." Yes, I can!

So, what's the secret? Well, for one thing, the company is vertically integrated. Alright, that's probably business jargon, but the meaning is simple: they do it all. As the "Jiffy" web site puts it:

Chelsea Milling Company is a complete manufacturer. We store wheat. We mill wheat into flour. We use that flour for our own mixes. We make our own "little blue" boxes. We do it all-that's why our mixes provide you with the best possible value.

Now you get it. The wheat comes in and is stored at the company, they mill it into flour, prepare the mixes, and package them in the boxes they aslo have made, printed and cut at the plant. So the prices they charge are lower than other manufaturers of baking products.

But there's another reason they have low prices, one you may not be aware of. They don't spend a penny, not a single penny, on advertising. "Jiffy" doesn't advertise! They rely on word of mouth, and name recognition at the store. And, folks, it works! "Jiffy" has captured about 65% of the market for lower-cost mixes, and over 50% of the overall market for such baking products. And all of it on not a single advertisement!

Granted, you may see "Jiffy" products advertised in the weekly store flyer. But that's the store's advertising, not "Jiffy's". They also have a website, and that probably costs the "Jiffy" company a few dollars to run. But aside from their own manufacturing costs, and the cost of transport, they spend little outside the making of the "Jiffy" brand products. Wouldn't it be nice if the Federal and State governments could be that efficient! And it's genesis was so typically American. From the "Jiffy" web site via the Ann Arbor News:

"It all started with one sorry-looking biscuit.

One day, when Holmes' father and uncle where just boys, they brought a friend home for lunch. The lad, who lived alone with his father, left his own sack lunch with Mrs. Holmes. While he dined on the repast she had prepared, she snuck a peek into the boy's lunch and saw the worst looking biscuit she had ever seen in her life.

Right then and there, Mabel Holmes vowed to figure out a way to reduce the art of biscuit making to a task so simple that even a man could master it. After two years of trial and error, she had come up with a solution and decided to call it Jiffy Mix.

"It made sense," her grandson said. "Quick. Easy. That's it.""

If you visit the "Jiffy" web site you can order a free recipe booklet, arrange to tour the plant, find some recipes! There's a page where you can find which stores in your area carry which products. If you haven't tried the "Jiffy" products before now, why not give them a shot? Why, they even have a Brownie Mix!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Visit the following links for some interesting reading!

From the Michigan History Magazine: Mabel's Magic Mixes
From the Detroit Free Press (1967): She Discovered How to Make A
Fortune in a "JIFFY"
From the Michigan is Amazing website: Learn about the Chelsea Milling Company in a Jiffy

A Jew In The Woodpile!

Well, it seems as though the Media, in its relentless pursuit of the "Truth" had outed a Republican candidate for the U.S.Senate. Yes indeed! It seems that they discovered that he may be a Jew! Why has he kept that tidbit of information hidden? Is this one of those Jew Conspiracies? Who is paying him to run for re-election to the Senate, some Jews?

Senator George Allen, of Virginia, was questioned by a reporterette during a debate with challenger James Webb, a former Ronald Reagan aide. Peggy Fox asked, "'It has been reported,' said Fox, that 'your grandfather Felix, whom you were given your middle name for, was Jewish. Could you please tell us whether your forebears include Jews and, if so, at which point Jewish identity might have ended?'"

Babe Ruth used to get 'tarred' with the brush of black blood, by some less than savory individuals, owing to the shape of his nose. The phrase used then, one which has long been used as a stick with which to beat an opponent, is "a nigger in the woodpile". Sound nice? Reporterette Fox has just tarred Senator Allen with that old brush, using another ethnicity as the stick. And for what possible purpose?

Obviously, as a part of the leftist media agenda, to hurt the Senator's chances. How, you may ask?

Well, what are the immediate implications of Fox's question? Why are you hiding your Jewish blood? How long have you known about it? Are you ashamed of being a Jew? Is your support of Israel because of your Jewishness? There are some others, but let's look at these.

Why are you hiding your Jewish blood? ~ This is a tactic to alienate Jewish voters. Allen is hiding being a Jew because he's ashamed of being a Jew. Because Jews are evil to Republicans. Also, he's hiding his Jewish blood because he wants to remain a stealth-Israeli candidate. In one stroke, Fox can make Jewish voters angry with Allen, and make anti-semites - Isareal-haters - abandon him.

How long have you known about it? ~ Why have you been hiding this, Senator? To fool the voters? This also is a part of that first question. Anti-semites will be suspicious, as will Jewish voters.

Are you ashamed of being a Jew? ~ How does he answer this? "Have you stopped beating your wife?" The implications are many. He hides the 'truth' because he's embarrassed by being a Jew. He's ashamed of being a Jew because Jews aren't people/good/loyal Americans/likely to vote for a self-hating Jew. Go ahead, pick one!

Is your support of Israel because of your Jewishness? ~ Because everybody knows that nobody would support Israel unless they were at least part-Jew. So he must be in the pocket of the pro-Israel Lobby. It can't possibly be because Israel deserves support, can it? No, of course not.

What do these things accomplish? Why ask such an ignorant question? To destroy Allen's chances, with what the media sees as a hillbilly electorate, in Virginia. No self-respecting Southerner would ever support a Jew, would they? Fox, and the MSM, can destroy Senator Allen's candidacy with his supporters (because thay are all racists anyway), and at the same time invalidate his reputation with his opponents (Allen must be an anti-semite if he has hidden his Jewishness, because he is a racist).

This is a feeble, and nasty, example of the MSM "Gotcha!" moment. Senator Allen's religion is well-known. He's a Christian. Born into a Christian family, raised as a Christian. He's not a Jew. Why? Because his mother was not a Jew. His grandfather was. Anyone with the slightest knowledge of Judaism knows that the "Jewishness" of a person depends on the Mother's line, not the father's - or the grandfather's. If your parents are Buddhist and Jewish, and your mother is a Jew, then by Judaic Law you are considered a Jew. If your father is a Jew but your mother is not, then under Judaic Law you are not a Jew.

Senator Allen is not a Jew.

This is merely a shibboleth to paint him as a sneaky, racist, unpalatable to Jew and Gentile alike.

But, beyond the question of his religious or ethnic heritage, why does this even matter? Why would any 'respectable' reporter even ask such an ugly question? Imagine if Senator Allen had mentioned at a press conference that he'd been looking into his family history and discovered that he had a Jewish grandfather. What would the press reaction be? Do you think they would fawn over him as they did with John Kerry, or Madelaine Albright? Of course they wouldn't! They would have pilloried him for 'politicizing' his religion.

Allen, as a Republican, cannot be right about anything in the eyes of the press.

And how did Allen respond? Like this:

Allen recoiled as if he had been struck. His supporters in the audience booed and hissed. "To be getting into what religion my mother is, I don't think is relevant," Allen said, furiously. "Why is that relevant -- my religion, Jim's religion or the religious beliefs of anyone out there?"

"Honesty, that's all," questioner Fox answered, looking a bit frightened.

"Oh, that's just all? That's just all," the senator mocked, pressing his attack. He directed Fox to "ask questions about issues that really matter to people here in Virginia" and refrain from "making aspersions."

From Newsmax.com:

Allen, a Republican seeking re-election in a close race, denounced the reporter's question as "reprehensible" and irrelevant and said he only recently learned that his maternal grandfather was Jewish.

"Whenever we would ask my mother through the years about our family background on her side, the answer always was, 'Who cares about that?'" Allen wrote in the statement.

[...]

On Tuesday, Allen said his mother, Henriette "Etty" Allen, grew up in the Christian faith. She is a French-speaking native of Tunisia.

Allen and his siblings also were raised as Christians. He said he became aware only recently that his grandfather, Felix Lumbroso, who had been imprisoned by the Nazis, was Jewish.


"I embrace and take great pride in every aspect of my diverse heritage, including the Lumbroso family line's Jewish heritage, which I learned of from a recent magazine article and my mother confirmed," Allen said in the statement.

Can you imagine what would happen if the Republicans went after every Jewish Democrat candidate about their support, or lack thereof, for Israel? What would the reaction be? What would the Media say? What would the Democrats say?

"Day By Day" Chris Muir 9/20/06

Well, the silence from the Democrats now is deafening. And expected. After all, everybody knows that Republicans are racists. So why speak up and berate a member of the press for this unwarranted and nasty attack? And why would the MSM take Peggy Fox to task for doing what they do every chance they get? She's just following the template, parroting the agenda.

Hey, look! There's a Jew in the woodpile!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

See also: Captain's Quarters
Woman Honor Thyself
Little Green Footballs
Sister Toldjah

A Tribute To Gary H. Lee: 2,996

From D.C.Roe:

In the interest of readership I encourage anyone who has their posts ready early to go ahead and post them. In the next few days 2,996 may (it's all up in the air right now) receive a good bit of publicity. This means more people on the 2,996 site, and more people clicking over to your blog. I see this as a great opportunity for more and more Americans, people, bloggers, whomever, to read about the amazing people we all lost that day.

So go ahead and post your tributes. If you know how, keep them at the top...sticky posts, future dating, whatever your blog trick is. You've already pledged your victim a single day, why not give them a little more?


And, I'd like to once again thank each and every one of your for joining in. I had an idea, that's all. Based on the tributes I've had the honor to read so far, no one will be able to blog on 9/11 without remembering those we pledged to never forget. The research I've witnessed is amazing. Until I started this, I didn't realize how deeply we all still felt the loss of 2,996 innocent people.

And so, my tribute, on a separate blog site, has the following ...

From the Tribute to Gary H. Lee:

If you've read the posts so far, you have some idea of what Gary Lee was like. He was one of two-thousand nine-hundred ninety-six known victims of the 9/11 attacks. Cantor Fitzgerald, the company that Gary worked for, lost over 600 of its employees. These were people with family and friends, co-workers, neighbors and acquaintances. People who were loved, liked, whose presence was enjoyed, jokes laughed at.

Gary Lee was a mentor to some, a friend to many. Imagine the loss, not only to his family, or even to Cantor Fitzgerald, but to his country, of this man who had so much to offer. So many people, with dreams, hopes, problems, loves and hates, and limitless futures, were cut down without warning, slaughtered without mercy, for no other reason than an unreasoning hatred of a Nation, and a People, who believe in Freedom.

Please visit my Tribute blog and learn a little bit about Gary H. Lee. Celebrate his life, mourn his passing, say a few words if you wish. The Tribute is about the victims of 9/11, not about those giving tribute to them. We are remembering, and hope you will remember, too.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Below are the Tributes I have read:

Sues Views: Diane Marie Moore Parsons

Demediacratic Nation: Jill Marie Campbell
Now Posted!

NeoCon Command Center: Lee S. Fehling

Freedom, Gunz, Glory, and EBYJO: For Sara...

A Rose By Any Other Name: Daphne Ferlinda Elder

truth is freedom: 9/11 Tribute for Gilbert Granados

Born Again Redneck: Lee Charles Ludwig

My Republican Blog: Anil T. Bharvaney

Snow Trapped Southern Girl: Edward Raymond Vanacore

ABFreedom: Captain Daniel Brethel

It's A Dog Life: Felicia Traylor-Bass

EBYJO: Claudia Suzette Sutton

GUNZ: Sara Elizabeth Low

Gawfer: William (Bill) Robert Godshalk

Gulf Coast Huricane Tracker: John J. Tobin

Suzy Snapper: Manette Marie Beckles

Planck's Constant: Terrence E Adderley

lynda's lullaby 2: Carl Asaro

2 Point Zero: Joseph A. Mascali

Sister Toldjah: Peter Edward Mardikian

The Phoenix Real Estate Guy: Harry Ramos

Uncommonly Sensible: Jeanette LaFond-Menichino

Wizbang: John T. Gnazzo

Day By Day: Kyung (Kaccy) Cho

GINA COBB: Amenia Rasool

Always On Watch: Steven Lawrence Glick

Anna: Davis Grier “Deeg” Sezna, Jr.

neo-neocon: Glenn Wilkinson

The Anchoress: Matthew David Garvey

Sparks from the Anvil: David Reed Gamboa-Brandhorst (age 3)

One Crazy Chick: Debra "Debbie" Paris

Mike's America: Deborah Kaplan

Skye at Ex-Donkey Blog: Marcello Matricciano

Katey's Kafe: Joao A.D. Aguiar

Tubby's Comments: LaShawana Johnson

Sundries: Angel Perez

Red Coyote: Jerome Dominguez

A Star Who Fell

On August 26, 1961, in a small Los Angeles apartment reportedly strewn with empty vodka bottles, a woman was found dead. Her death was attributed to an alcohol-induced heart attack. Looking middle-aged due to the effects of years of alcoholism, the woman was a mere 36 years old. She had been an actress once, a woman of rare beauty whose stage-fright and overwhelming shyness had led her to still her nerves with liquor. She was Gail Russell.

Here, a confession: I fell in love with her the very first time I saw her on the big screen (actually the little T.V. screen, but you understand, I'm sure), and she remains one of my favorite film stars.

I first saw Gail Russell in a John Wayne film called, "Angel and the Badman", a western with such film luminaries as Harry Carey Sr, Bruce Cabot, and John Carradine. She was the most beautiful woman I think I had ever seen. She had a delicacy of look and movement that was captivating, a sweet voice. What I didn't know was that her delicacy was not an act. Gail Russell was fragile woman, already falling apart from her growing reliance on alcohol to steady her nerves.

Russell was a Chicago girl, a Windy City native until the age of 14, when her family moved to Santa Monica, California. No 'pretty face' alone, Gail was an above-average student. But she was, indeed, a pretty face, too. So pretty that upon her graduation from Santa Monica High School, Gail Russell was signed to a contract by Paramount Studios. She was painfully shy and had no acting experience, but she photographed well enough for Paramount to offer the standard seven-year contract.





There was about her a sweet quality, a girl-next-door aura, that belied a natural acting talent and hid her problems. On-screen, this young woman had little of the power of Joan Crawford, none of the blatant dangerous sexuality of Jane Russell. Those things were not her screen persona. And they were not a part of her private personality either. Privately she was insecure, frightened, depressed. For her alcohol became the crutch, the prop, the confidante. And alcohol betrayed her, as it will do to anyone who relies on it for answers.

From Newt's John Wayne Site:

"John Wayne had been made a producer at Republic. This was how Herbert Yates, head of the studio, placated his superstar as he watched him being courted by the other studios. James Edward Grant, who now began a long association with Wayne, was to write the screenplay of the first John Wayne production for Republic, he was also to direct it. Gail Russell, a voluptuous young actress with dark hair and an aura of powerful grace played the Quaker girl who converts John Wayne, a gunfighter and criminal, to a peaceable life. She may or may not have converted him to other activities as well. Wayne did not want to play Quirt Evans. He tried to get Gary Cooper and Randolph Scott but they had other commitments, so he had to do it himself.


During the filming of Angel and the Badman , Duke's young co-star developed a full-blown crash on her leading man. Duke tried to help her as he had helped other novices, by being gentle, patient, and kind. He loaned her the down payment on a car while she waited to collect her first check. When he realized she'd fallen in love with him, he asked his secretary, Mary St. John to "set Gail straight. Make sure she understands how I feel, but do it gently," he said. "The poor kid's having a tough time." Within a few months she had recovered from her school girl crush and married someone else. She and Duke remained friends and they co-starred in Wake of the Red Witch in 1949. She was a raven-haired beauty whose fragile appearance mirrored an even more fragile psyche. She started every day's shooting weak with terror, throwing up in her dressing room before appearing on the set. Like many other performers over-whelmed by stage fright, Russell began to find courage in a bottle.


John Wayne's wife at the time was, Esperanza "Chata" Bauer, a former Mexican actress. She convinced herself that Duke and Russell were having an affair. The night the film Angel and the Badman wrapped there was the usual party for cast and crew, and Duke came home very late. Chata was in a drunken rage by the time he arrived, and she attempted to shoot him as he walked through the front door. As the bullet whizzed past his head he suddenly saw Chata as she really was, not as he'd hoped she'd be. Instead of marrying the heroine of his romantic fantasies, he realized he'd married the woman whom Ray Milland had labeled, "a Mexican whore."

The next day Chata begged him to forgive her. She swore she would change, stop drinking, and start acting like a real wife. She spent the following week weeping and moping around the house. Duke was helpless in the face of all those tears, so he agreed to a reconciliation. Chata kept her promise as long as she could. Then her old habits reasserted themselves and she began to drink heavily with her mother, who lived with them. Duke banished Chata's mother to Mexico, sobered his wife up, and asked for a divorce. Chata turned on the tears again. Now the marriage had a pattern, one Duke couldn't seem to break. Chata would go on a binge, she and Duke would fight, they'd make up, and Chata would celebrate their reconciliation by having a few drinks and then a few more, and the whole cycle would begin again.

Like so many of his pictures Wake of the Red Witch had off-screen implications even more dramatic than the film story. When Chata found out that his co-star was once again to be Gail Russell, one can imagine that the stormy seas on the home front matched or exceeded those threatening the ship Red Witch on the screen. Looking at Miss Russell's delicate beauty, it is easy to believe that in the story she becomes fatally ill and welcomes death as a release from a tormented marriage. It is not as easy to accept that, in real life, she was even then caught in the throes of personal uncertainties and demons that would lead to her death from alcoholism in 1961."

The sad thing about her is that she had talent, and the promise of a great film career. And lost it to an addiction; an addiction she did not choose, nor probably grasp until it was too late. Her fight to free herself failed. She made too few films to be ranked among the greats of Hollywood. I prefer to remember Gail Russell as a Star, one who fell hard, and disappeared. The loveliest actress to ever grace the screen.

Gail Russell: Sep. 21, 1924 ~ Aug. 26, 1961

We All Can Use A Smile ...

Judy Rose at Writing English (also at Rose Petals), has a fun post that had me sitting there, giggling. Even after I had finished reading, gone to the kitchen to pour myself some Iced Tea, I was still chuckling. She posted The 25 Funniest Analogies (Collected by High School English Teachers) on her site, saying,

"I have to share these “funniest analogies” with you. They came in an e-mail from my sister. She got them from a cousin, who got them from a friend, who got them from… so they are circulating around. My apologies if you have already seen them."

Among these analogies are such literary gems as:

1. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a ThighMaster.

3. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.

9. The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn’t.

12. Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair after a sneeze.

I could post all of them, but then you might not visit Judy Rose. If you could use a big smile, and some laughter, hit the link and go visit! You won't regret it.

Yeah, I'm still giggling!

Five Years Ago ...

Five years ago, I awoke, made a pot of coffee, and hopped online. I was taking a free Writing Class and went to the School Bulletin Board to see what folks were doing, and intended to check the classrooms to see what exercises had been posted and what responses my own lesson had garnered. But the comments I began to read on the Bulletin Board were confusing.

My first action was to simply scroll down to the beginning of the unread posts. And I began to read requests for information from my fellow students to other students. "Are you okay?" "Where do you live?" "Do you know anybody in New York?" "Has anyone heard from ....?"

I scrolled up and found an "updating" post. It related the story from the start to the present and I was transfixed. What the hell had happened, I wondered? I read the headers until I found some of my own classmates' postings. The World Trade Center had been hit by an airliner. An accident?

I turned and flipped on the television and switched to ABC (I preferred Peter Jennings to the other Anchors), then watched. This was not an accident! Clear, blue skies meant there was no way an airliner blundered into the giant tower. As I watched I saw what had happened only moments before. An airliner passed behind the smoking building and slammed into the second. Flames and debris spewed from the building.

I turned and began checking the updated postings and began seeking answers myself. I connected with a few of my fellow students and we began looking for others, updating each other as we posted. My fellow students came from around the US, and also from around the world.

Postings of concern appeared from India, Singapore, Ireland, New Zealand, Great Britain, Germany. Voices seeking their friends, asking what was going on? Letting us know what was happening in their own countries, their own states. Voices offering support and solace.

News of the Pentagon attack soon appeared, then the unbelievable news of the Airliner that had crashed into a Pennsylvania field. And now the posts were taking on the emotions of anger, and also of resolve.

Now, five years later, the resolve of all too many Americans has waned. The anger wavers and refocuses onto the American President, the supporters of the War On Terror, the Republicans, the Conservatives, the Christians and the Jews. What had been a unifying horror has become a dimly remembered moment. A moment that has become a tool for the politicos, on both sides, to brand their opponents while serving neither the people of America, nor the Parties they represent.

After the Second World War, many oddballs excused the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor by the Imperial Japanese Navy as an excusable action. Why? Because we, America, made them do it. Never mind the rape of Nanking, the subjugation of Asian peoples. No, because the USA was alarmed by the militarism of Japan, and worked against them on the economic and political field, these fools were content to claim we - America - had it coming!

And just so with the dastardly and cowardly attacks of 9/11. We had it coming. Were these the voices of the usual suspect thinkers of Europe, Asia, and such, who would care? We have never cared what the Old World thought of us. But many of these 'thinkers' are our own fellow Americans. They run the gamut from some of your work-a-day neighbors, to College Professors, elected officials, religious leaders.

Five years later, and we should all be wondering what the hell happened? What actually happened that warped so many supposedly free minds into the hate-filled myrmidons of today?

2,996 innocent people died on 9/11. They died in their places of work, they died on airliners, They died in unimaginable fear, agony, hope. So many people acted with intrepid bravery, risking their own lives for others, knowing there was a good chance they would not survive. Some brave men died in the WTC because they chose to stay and comfort folks who could no longer make it down the stairwells, could no longer walk, could no longer see hope. Those brave men stayed, knowing full well they were now going to die.

Five years after the 9/11 attacks, do we honor the dead? Do we honor the promise of those who gave their all for their fellow Americans? Five years later have we succumbed to fatigue and hopelessness? Are we ready to surrender to the same rabid filth that took 2,996 lives for the simple fault of living in a free land?

I pray to GOD that we are better than that, stronger than that. I pray to GOD for our success in the fight against the terrorists and their supporters. May GOD watch over each life lost to us on that day, and may HE watch over us all our live-long days.

GOD Bless America!

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Angel, at Woman Honor Thyself looks at “This DaY” …Sept. 11, and says, "Sweet friends.
I will be at Ground Zero on “this day”.
I promise to visit all your enlightening, heart warming sites upon my return.
If you wish, I will say a special prayer for y’all." Take a look!

Brooke, at NeoCon Command Center posts 9-11: A Day Which Shall Live In Infamy, asking, "Where were you?

Do you remember what you were doing, what you were feeling?" Have an answer for her?

neo-neocon has her own view with Looking at 9/11, half a decade later. She says, "Yes, 9/11 seems a long time ago. But in other ways 9/11 seems fresh and recent--and especially so on the anniversary, when documentaries revisit the pain and open old wounds." A good read.

Judy Rose at Rose Petals, relates in I Will Never Forget, "It was just about time for me to get up. My husband was already busy watching the early stock market reports on TV. As I was contemplating whether I could sneak another ten minutes, he came into the bedroom and said, 'You won’t believe what just happened. A plane hit the World Trade Center.'" Go read the post!

Tom at Tom's Common Sense said, in his post Remembering 9/11, "Where was the next attack going to happen, and when? Everyone struggled to make sense of the madhouse that the country had become. Nothing was the same, nor would it ever be again. And the skies went silent except for the roar of fighter jets on patrol."

Siggy at Sigmund, Carl and Alfred, takes a look at 'Little Eichmanns' And Real Martyrs. Visit!

March Hare has a stunning look at her memory of September 11, 2001. Don't miss it.

A Memorial For 9/11's Victims

Moved to the top until 9/10 - scroll down for new posts, please!


Latest News!
Cloud 2,996
Blogged in Progress by D.Challener Roe Monday August 28, 2006
On August 28, 11:19 PM EDT the 2,996th name was assigned.

Howard (Barry) Kirschbaum, age 53, a resident of New York, N.Y., will be honored by El Rider at the blog Flying Debris.

There will be more to come. But every name will be honored. It took exactly 90 days, and more hours than I’d care to count–and not just from me.

But for tonight I’ll take this victory and sleep well.

We're there! Well done, all of you bloggers! Thanks, Anna, for the update!
Hey! We have 2,996 bloggers to give tribute to the victims of 9/11. Now we'll see how well we all can do. Write on, Fellow Bloggers!

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Common Sense And War

Michael Medved, at Townhall.com, writes about the folly of seeking proportional damage in War. His article, Why seek "proportional" warfare? calmly tears apart the absolutely bankrupt idea that those attacked should only inflict the same amount of damage and casualties on the aggressor. In doing so, he notes,

"These critics of current conflicts, however, rarely refer to the example of World War II; surely one of the most outrageously disproportional conflicts in all human history. The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and killed 3,000 Americans, virtually all of them military personnel; in the US response, some 3 million Japanese lost their lives, more than 500,000 of them civilians. In their surprise attack on Hawaii, the Japanese easily could have devastated the unprotected population of Honolulu but they pointedly avoided doing so, while the United States ended the war with atomic attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki that claimed mostly civilians, as well as the even more devastating fire-bombing of Tokyo (that destroyed sixteen square miles of the city, with one fourth of its buildings, leaving at least 100,000 dead and more than a million homeless). By contrast, the Japanese never succeeded in inflicting any civilian casualties on American victims on American soil. The comparative death toll of noncombatantss on native ground, in other words, stands at 500,000 to zero."

The appalling carnage of World War Two was the direct result of the use of overwhelming force to bring the aggressors to their knees. Negotiated settlements may work in local conflicts between rational opponents, but they are suicidal between opposing ideologies. One needs only look at the negotiated Peace of Versailles, ending World War One, that led directly to World War Two. The Imperialist, and Expansionist, aims of Germany under Kaiser Wilhelm, was in direct counter-point to the Western Alliance of England, France, and later the United States of America.

Germany was devastated, but England and France were no better off at the time of the Armistice. Yet, Germany was not utterly defeated. Instead it negotiated a Peace; a peace that held only until 1939. Why? Because the German people, Nazi or no, regarded the Treaty of Versailles as a betrayal of Germany rather than a defeat of its aims and its ideology. Thus Germany remained an Imperial, Expansionist land, now seething with anger and resentment.

Had the Allied Powers advanced into Germany, as they would do 27 years later, and defeated the Germans utterly, perhaps the Second World War would never have been fought. The devastation of "The Great War" was tremendous, and never once involved 'proportional' damage or casualties. The idea was to bleed the Germans white.

Move on to the Second World War and we see the silliness of 'proportional' War. There was none. And the Left had nothing to say after the Soviets were invaded by the Nazi German Army. The Germans practiced Total War. The Soviets did the same. Once the United States entered the War we did the same. Total War. Bring the enemy to its knees. Unconditional Surrender was the only choice given to Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan. And the Allies and their Axis enemies fought with everything they had. And that included the race to develop an Atomic Weapon.

What was the result of total war in Europe and Asia? The total defeat of the aggressors, unconditional surrender, and the astonishing devastation of the Warring nations, as well as the Occupied nations. Only the United States and a few others escaped the horrors of War on their own territory.

Proportional? No. Who would have been so insane or suicidal as to demand no Civilian casualties? Who would have balked at the firebombing of Tokyo and Dresden? What was the point of those attacks? To bring the Germans and Japanese to their knees.

And it worked. Incremental War - proportional war - would have the left the world fighting for more years than it did. Instead the Allies fought from 1940 (after the 'Phony War') until 1945. Millions of civilians died. But the aggressors lost. They surrendered unconditionally. And the next global menace began its grasping for world domination.

If the United States and Israel succumb to the "folly" of proportional conflict we will be destroyed by the enemies of Freedom. If you doubt it, you have no understanding of History, nor of Human Nature.

Read Medved's article, and see what you think. I think it's a great piece of writing.

Mike's America & Let Freedom Reign

Mike's America reminds us today that

'Labor Day marks the end of summer and the official start of the political campaign season. 2006 may be a watershed moment in American politics. While all the conventional wisdom that predicted doom and gloom in 2002 and 2004 was wrong, who knows? The punditocracy might get it right this time and we find ourselves dealing with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the defeaticrats in charge of the legislative portion of the federal government for the final two years of the Bush presidency.'

In his post, Playing at a Polling Place Near You: "Revenge of the Peace Fascists" he takes us for a short, appalling look at nasty happenings during the last few elections and warns of why they may happen again.



The assault against private property is only the first step in that long, slow slide to fascism. The next step is illustrated here during the 2004 election when pro-Kerry union thugs surrounded 3 year old Sophia Parlock as she sat on her father's shoulders and tore the Bush/Cheney sign from her hands and shouted at her and her father as Parlock's 11 year old son looked on in horror.



Peace Fascists claim that President Bush and conservatives threaten their civil rights and would curtail dissent. Yet here we have a 3 year old girl subjected to the true character of those who are imbued with what they claim is an "absolute moral authority.

Don't ignore the need to vote, folks!

At Let Freedom Reign, Brian wonders, 'Are Conservatives More Generous?', and complains,

"Two weeks ago on my own blog, At Home in Hespeler, I put up a plea for donations to my Terry Fox Run on September 17th. That plea generated 1 donation, and 1 link from the blogosphere. That link generated one more donation, for a total donations from Conservative Bloggers who visit my site and Blue Blogging Soapbox $120. Later, Blue Blogging Soapbox put up a $500 challenge to his readers, to a great yawn."

His post resonates, as it should, at a time when the Libs demand that all of us show our warm-heartedness by allowing the government to steal our money for things the Libs support. The Libs usually use your money to show their warm-heartedness.

My finances being stressed beyond the breaking point I am adding the link to my sidebar, poste-haste. I will also confess that I have responded to two donation requests in the past year - online requests by respected bloggers - that taxed me. But they also made me feel good. Good that I could donate, regardless of the paltry amounts, good that I could help, even in such a tiny way. Good, because it was my choice, and not the choice of some do-gooder in the government.

Please read his post, give if you can, link if you cannot. Heck, link no matter what! It is a good cause.

Let's give Brian a reason to have faith in us, okay?

Update: Well, I voted! I always vote. If you don't vote, then your complaints about the government are meaningless. Oh, you have the right to voice your opinion, but who really cares what your opinion is? Don't vote? Keep your yap shut.

And don't give me that, "My vote doesn't really count," garbage. When there are illegal votes being cast, every legitimate vote is important. In primaries, it could be your meager vote that puts a good candidate on the ballot in the General election. Aren't registered? Then go to the local library and get registered! It's become so easy to register to vote that no excuse is legitimate!

As far as I know the polls throughout the country are open until 7PM. They are open at 7AM. That's 12 hours in which you can vote. Don't tell me you didn't have time. Don't tell me you got off work too late. There is no excuse to not vote! So vote!