Misc Commentary -- July 25, 2003: Here are some things I wanted to mention that probably weren't quite developed enough to merit their own posts...

-- Kid Rock's American Bad@ss should be playing in the background when these guys are rolling through Iraq...

"...For counter-ambush raid commanders like Sgt Mizell, the goal is to bait the enemy into attacking armoured infantry units, drawing them away from more vulnerable units. 'It's as dangerous as hell,' 68th Armoured's commander Aubrey Garner, 39, said. 'But soldiers are willing to put themselves in danger to kill the enemy.'

'I always tell my wife: The more we get attacked, the closer we are to getting home,' Sgt Gonzalez said."

Our military is helping to build a free society for 24 million Iraqis and making all of us back home safer. They're the best fighting force ever to walk the earth and I have nothing but respect for the work they do.

-- Tom Delay blasted Dennis Kucinich specifically and the Dems in general in RWN's quote of the day...

"Dennis Kucinich, a long-time member of Congress, now calls for legislation -- I love this -- to ban 'mind control' weapons in outer space," DeLay said. "It makes you wonder if at their next presidential debate, the Democrats are all going to show up wearing aluminum foil helmets to protect their brain waves from the mother ship."

-- I could do a pictorial edition of ACPOTI from the pictures you'll see here. If you've been to a taxidermy shop you've seen things this bizarre, but I found the "art" on this page to be strangely disturbing in a way that stuffed deer heads aren't. Don't say I didn't warn you...

-- This is such a ridiculous article...

"Televised images of the bodies of Saddam Hussein's sons shocked many Arabs on Friday, who said it was un-Islamic to exhibit corpses, however much the brothers were loathed.

Another civil servant Hasan Hammoud, 35, said: "America always spoils its own image by doing something like this. What is the advantage of showing these bodies? Didn't they think about the humanitarian aspect? About their mother and the rest of their family when they see these images."

Al-Jazeera has shown graphic images like these plenty of times. It's run of the mill for them. A lot of Americans remember that they showed the corpses of our soldiers during the war on Iraq. But they also showed the corpses of Afghan civilians during that war and they've featured Israeli and Palestinian corpses countless times. Reading about people like Hassan Hammoud acting as if their delicate sensibilities are offended by seeing a dead body on a slab is a joke. It's not the fact that they're seeing a corpse that bugs them, it's who the corpses are. If there were American corpses on those slabs it wouldn't bother them one bit...

-- Ed Gillespie & Matthew Dowd offer a little perspective on Bush's poll numbers...

"To be clear, the President's poll numbers are essentially the same today as there were the day before Operation Iraqi Freedom commenced on March 17. Take the most recent Gallup poll conducted July 18-20th. According to Gallup, the President had a 59% job approval and a 38% disapproval rating. Right before the war began, Gallup showed the President's approval rating at 58% with a 38% disapproval - statistically, the same exact numbers.

...In addition to approval numbers, pundits and Democrats will place an emphasis on re-elect numbers. Again it is important to have an understanding of historical precedent. Throughout 1995 President Clinton's re-elect hardly ever got above 40%. In a Battleground poll in April, 1995, Clinton's re-elect was 21%. The highest point Clinton's re-elect reached in 1995 was 43% in a poll due in December 1995 for Associated Press. In spite of the low re-elect number, President Clinton ending up winning re-election comfortably."

Despite the impression you might be getting from the press, Bush's poll numbers still look fine. If his numbers were to stay at the same level they're at right now on the backside of the African intelligence "scandal", Bush would easily be reelected.

Publicity & Props From Hugh Hewitt, MSNBC, & Michael Graham: Hugh Hewitt said this (among other things) about the interview I did with him...

"My interview with John Hawkins of RightWingNews brought a small surge in purchases of In, But Not Of, driving it back into the top 2,000..."

When Mark Steyn's stenographer told me that "The Face of the Tiger" had a nice little sales bump after I interviewed him, I thought it might be a coincidence. But now that Hewitt's saying the same thing, I'm starting to believe it. In any case, it should make a nice selling point when I'm trying to get interviews.

The Hewitt interview also inspired radio talk show host & author Michael Graham to write in and say that, "I wanted to make sure you knew that, on the Michael Graham Experience, we check in with Right Wing News on a regular basis." By the way, if you go to that link, you can listen to Graham's show in progress from 3-7. It sure would be great if other talk show hosts **cough cough** Cam Edwards **cough cough** put up internet feeds from their show =)

Last but not least, I got another mainstream media mention. MSNBC's Weblog Central discussed the flap that centered around the fact that there were no women on the 20 greatest figures in American history poll that I did last week...

"The other day the Right Wing News drew some attention when it asked like-minded bloggers to list the 20 greatest figures in American History. Participant Meryl Yourish has touched off a tangential firestorm by pointing out that there are no women on the final list, citing, "Sexism in the blogosphere, again."

The last time I saw much significant discussion of sexism in the blogosphere was in the wake of the NY Times piece by Lisa Guernsey last November which generally painted the blogosphere (or at least its A-list) as a man's world. In fact, discussions of the status of women on the blogside between Yourish and her peers predates the New York Times article. The response to the article was mixed, but one result was a greater effort by some to list women bloggers and bring them to the fore."

MSNBC then went on to conclude that I was totally right and that it was lucky that I was here to save the blogosphere from women who wanted to distort history. I was surprised he came out that strongly in my favor, but hey, I was right after all wasn't I?

Heh, OK -- I just said that to try to make Meryl, Kate, & Moxie's heads explode =D You 3 know I'm just teasing...

So Which Is It -- Are Our Intelligence Agencies Too Aggressive Or Not Aggressive Enough?: The American left is wildly inconsistent & hypocritical on a number of issues, one of them being how they say our intelligence agencies should have acted before 9/11 & in the build-up to the war in Iraq. Since that has been in the news a lot lately, let's talk about it.

We're told that our intelligence agencies didn't connect the dots before 9/11. Now that we're more than a year and a half out from the actual event and have had the press, our intelligence agencies themselves, & the joint Congressional Committee on Intelligence pouring over every detail leading up to 9/11, it all looks so clear! Why didn't the FBI & CIA put all of this together before 9/11? Sure, Congress may have strangled them with political correctness & inane rules that prevented them from getting decent intelligence sources on the ground, but still, they should have sifted through all the noise and picked out all the relevant details. After all, we can do that in hindsight right? That's seems to be about the general consensus of what I've hearing from people -- on the left and the right -- about 9/11.

Now don't get the wrong idea -- I'm not saying our intelligence agencies are perfect or saying that reforms don't need to be made. I'm just pointing out that our intelligence agencies are being flagellated about 9/11 largely for not connecting the dots.

But then when it comes to Iraq, we have some of the same people who bitterly claim that we should have moved faster and caught on to the 9/11 plot, saying our intelligence agencies jumped to conclusions about Iraq. These people nitpick every piece of evidence that's presented -- as if there's always going to be perfect agreement between the CIA, FBI, NSA, State Department, and the intelligence agencies of foreign governments. I've been at companies where we've had bitter disagreements over where to put the logo on our stationary, yet for example we have people who believe that every analyst at multiple intelligence agencies should reach exactly the same conclusion about whether Saddam Hussein tried to buy uranium in Africa recently. Then when there's any disagreement at all, even over fairly minor issues like that one, it's "We're not sure if the war is justified now -- we need an investigation -- impeachment -- impeachment!" Before 9/11, they wanted us to "throw caution to the wind" to prevent a disaster, but when it came to Iraq it was, "it does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop" (you get bonus points if you know who said that without looking it up).

So what do these people who are complaining want? Do they want our intelligence agencies to inch along at a snails pace and reach a consensus before they do anything -- if that ever happens -- or do they want them to be more aggressive and risk having more disagreement and mistakes? Unfortunately, most of the people on left who are raising a stink about the intelligence behind the war in Iraq care a lot more about finding a way to score political points on the President than our national security. That's why there's no consistency from them now, and why we shouldn't expect any in the future.

U.S. Offers 'Liberty Package' To Nations In Turmoil By Scott Ott: The White House announced today that the U.S. will no longer hand out money or send troops to nations like Liberia, which are torn by internal turmoil. From now on, to get the financial and military support a nation must implement a "Liberty Package" which the U.S. will provide at no extra charge.

The Liberty Package is a "franchise concept" which promises to turn any nation into a capitalist republic. The kit includes a thick manual in a three-ring binder, plus copies of Democracy In America, The Federalist Papers, the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and earlier documents like the the Magna Carta and the Bible.

"We're tired of throwing money down a rat hole," said an unnamed spokesman for the State Department, which developed the Liberty Package. "We give millions of dollars to countries which continue to use failed forms of governance, with inadequate checks and balances. From now on, you follow the franchise blueprint, or you can look elsewhere for money, weapons and troops."

The spokesman said nations which decline voluntary implementation of the Liberty Package may later be subject to mandatory implementation, in which case money, weapons and troops will flow in quite suddenly.

If you enjoyed this satire by Scott Ott, you can read more of his work at Scrappleface.

The Web Really Does Bring People Together...To Eat Each Other: Just when you think the internet can't get any weirder, you see something like this...

"Berlin - "Are you max 30 years old, with a normal body, then you are just right for me. I want to slaughter you and consume your delicious flesh.

It's not the kind of advertisement most people would respond to. But on the Internet, where it was posted, someone did."

Now most people would look at something like that and go, "geeze that's weird" and move on to another topic. But we here at Right Wing News like to go the extra mile for our readers and that's why I actually decided to see if I could find any other people out there looking to eat someone or be eaten themselves...and I hit paydirt. Some of these links aren't safe for work, so don't hit them if you might have a boss looking over your shoulder or if you're easily offended.

Here's someone looking to be eaten alive...

"im a 45 year old white male im five eight weight 170 & have a nice firm body but the best part is i have great legs & thighs.they are firm & shaply & im very seriously looking for a women to cook & eat me alive but if there are no women out there a man would do this is no joke i realley want to be eaten alive by awomen or man.i have no one that will miss me & im very healthy.serious E-MAILS ONLY".

Here's one from someone called footcannibal, predictably looking to eat part of someone's foot...

"I am looking to buy a pretty female toe from someone 40 years of age or under. I will pay cash. "

I also ran across some more posts about cannibalism on the forums of cannibals.com. Interestingly enough, it looks like the people who run that page are just a large group of partygoers who call themselves "the cannibals". But because of the domain name, they're apparently drawing real (or at least poseur) cannibals to their forums.

Here's a sample post from their forums about eating a cornea sandwich...

"My eyes I thought had deceived me as I swayed in a drunken stuper. It was my unknowing initiation into cannibalism, that precious cycle of flesh feeding flesh. Flailing about as a seasoned drunkard, I scrambled with hunger, thinking I was assembling a hamburger, with a fine slice of onion - though it was her cornea that glistened like an onion, but for I was drunk, so I continued stabbing, before I was through, it was an awful sight, I am so thankful that the alcohol had blined me to what I had done, to what I had become. Needless to say, it was the finest burger I had ever enjoyed, and she was not to be the last."

Then there's this young lady who wants to be devoured and someone did ask her to contact them if she's serious...

"I Want to be your dinner!!!!!!!!!
From: sue brooks

I'm 37, 5,1 and 168lbs. I have alot of meat for you. I don't want to live anymore, but I don't want my body to go to waste. I would love for a group of people to enjoy me. I'll come to you. I have been trying to get fatter for your enjoyment. PLEASE RESPOND, PLEASE EAT ME."

Then there's this...

"Dear Sirs,

Matthew"

Are they serious or just people goofing around? Got me, but were I in law enforcement, I'd be interested in trying to find out.

Hat tip to Electric Venom for finding the original article about the German cannibal.

Misc. Commentary: Here are some things I wanted to mention that probably weren't quite developed enough to merit their own posts...

-- Judging by these numbers, Germany is nation full of raving moonbats...

"Almost one in three Germans below the age of 30 believes the U.S. government may have sponsored the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington, according to a poll published on Wednesday.

And about 20 percent of Germans in all age groups hold this view, a survey of 1,000 people conducted for the weekly Die Zeit said."

I know someone whose teenage son just moved back to the states from Germany and I asked him if his son had heard this sort of thing over there. He told me that yeah, not only had his kid told him about this before, but a lot of German kids also believe we never went to the moon. Well, better that they spend their time talking about conspiracy theories than rampaging across Europe...

-- I've been an Arnold Schwarzenegger fan for a long time and I've followed his career fairly closely. So, I have to tell you that I'm a little surprised that he'd consider running for political office. I say that because I've always gotten the impression that there are a lot of skeletons in Arnold's closet. There have been rumors that he has had affairs with married women, that he has cheated on his wife, and there were even accusations that Arnold used to have gay patrons who paid him well for his company back in his bodybuilding days. All of this is commonly known in bodybuilding circles, so any political opponent who ran against Schwarzenegger would definitely be aware of these rumors and would try to confirm them. Furthermore, the media would love nothing more than to plaster any scandal related to Arnold all over the front pages. Were I in Arnold's place, I think I'd be VERY reluctant to drag some this stuff out into the public eye by running for office -- that is if any of the rumors are true.

-- Stephen Green explains that what we're seeing in post-war Iraq is not unusual...

"World War II ended in Europe in May of 1945. But the fighting, on several fronts, lasted for years. Italians battled Yugoslavs around Trieste, Greeks and Turks fought their own, there was a practical mini civil war in France against collaborators, French colonial forces found themselves at war in Indochina, the denazification of Germany was sometimes bloody (much like what we're seeing in Iraq today), and more. "It's a little-known fact, Diane," that partisans in the newly-annexed western Ukraine kept fighting against their Soviet overlords well into the '50s.

Probably the only reason the occupation of Japan went so smoothly is that the Emperor had commanded his people not to fight - and decades of deified imperial rule had accustomed them to do as they were told. Well, that and getting nuked twice has the single decent side effect of reminding the survivors to mind their manners."

-- Daily Whispers is claiming that Condi might be forced out over the 16 true words in the SOTU speech that the Democrats and their allies in the mainstream press have been incessantly harping on...

"As White House officials try to control the latest fallout over President Bush's flawed suggestion in the State of the Union address that Iraq was buying nuclear bomb materials, there's growing talk by insiders that National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice may take the blame and resign. For most insiders, it's inconceivable that Rice, touted as a future secretary of state, California governor, and even vice president, would go, but the latest revelations that her shop and deputy Stephen Hadley mishandled CIA warnings have put the NSC in the bull's eye of controversy."

In my opinion, that's a complete load of horsecrap that was probably leaked by someone in the administration who doesn't like Condi or heck -- I always doubt the veracity of controversial quotes from anonymous sources -- maybe Daily Whispers just pulled a Jayson Blair and made it up. The worst of that "scandal" is already over. Even Bill Clinton said it wasn't a big deal and he wouldn't have done that if he thought this whole thing had any life left in it. There's no way Bush is going to reignite this whole thing by jettisoning Condi, especially since she has a bright political future and is wildly popular with the GOP base. Even firing her aide, Stephen Hadley would be dumb because it would be tantamount to admitting that something "big" went wrong instead of the minor error (and they shouldn't have gone that far) that the Bush administration is portraying this as. If there was no lie (and there wasn't), why make the public suspicious and hype up the press by firing someone -- especially someone like Condi? It doesn't make sense and it's not going to happen...

Survey: Many Germans Believe U.S. Sponsored Hitler By Scott Ott: About a third of young Germans believe the United States attacked itself on September 11, 2001, and that Adolf Hitler was a Cleveland-born foreign exchange student sponsored by the FBI.

The survey of 1,000 people for the weekly Die Zeit (The Pimple), also showed that most Germans believe the following:

-- The U.S. paid the Emperor of Japan to attack Pearl Harbor in hopes it would lead eventually to more fuel-efficient cars.
-- The U.S. has sponsored four of the last five San Francisco earthquakes.
-- David Hasselhoff really drives a talking car and is the greatest rock and roll singer of the past 100 years.
-- CNN and MSNBC are American news organizations

If you enjoyed this satire by Scott Ott, you can see more of his work at Scrappleface.

10 Books That Had An Impact On Me While I Was In High School & College: I was (and still am) a voracious reader and I thought it might be interesting to share some of the books that really stuck with me as I was growing up. Keep in mind that I wouldn't necessarily recommend all these same books today...

The Autobiography of Malcolm X: Despite the fact that I disagreed with Malcolm X's rhetoric, as a kid I was very impressed with his dedication and determination to make a difference. So much so that I would have listed Malcolm X as one of the people I most admired when I was a teenager. At the time and even today, I found Malcolm's story to be inspirational even if I disagreed with many things he said...

An End To Innocence: This book focuses on seeing the world as it is instead of how you think it should be. As an adult that seems self-evident to me, but this book was eye-opener for me as a teenager.

Atlas Shrugged: Ayn Rand's masterpiece had a significant impact on my personality and my philosophy of life -- which is a bit unusual given that it's a work of fiction. I still consider this book to be one of the few "must read" books that everyone should read at least once in their life (I've read it twice).

Awaken the Giant Within: I was a psych major in college and toyed with the idea of getting a PHD and becoming a professional psychologist. This book got me interested in neuro-linguistic programming and helped shape the way I view my day to day life. I'd still highly recommend it.

How To Win Friends And Influence People: To put it simply, this book teaches you how to make people like you. Given that I had all the personality of a wet sponge when I was 15 or so, this book turned out to be a godsend. If you don't think you're a likable person, read and absorb the lessons in this book and you will become one.

In the Belly of the Beast: Letters From Prison: This is a book about prison life written by Jack Henry Abbott, the Mumia Abu-Jamal of his day. I knew nothing about the controversy surrounding Abbott when I read the book. But, I was gripped by his riveting style of writing and his vivid description of the horrors of spending life in jail.

Winning Through Intimidation: This is a difficult book to explain without writing extensively about it because it really isn't about as the title suggests -- intimidating people. It's about how people's actions are determined by things that truly aren't relevant to the situation at hand. The best way I can sum it up is being saying that you shouldn't let yourself be intimidated into doing things that you know you shouldn't because it's PC, you want to be polite, society says that you should, etc.

Naked Lunch: This is a bizarre book about the fantasies of a heroin addict that I suspect I would detest if I reread it. But when I was a teenager, it seemed to be tremendously creative and outrageous and I thought it was a phenomenal book.

The Way Things Ought To Be: This brilliant work by Rush Limbaugh ideologically cemented me in on the right. America would be a better place if every kid in read this book before they went to college and their professors started filling their minds with left-wing drivel.

Will: The Autobiography of G. Gordon Liddy: G. Gordon Liddy is one of the most fascinating people I've ever read about -- he's like a modern day Spartan in some respects. He talks about conquering his fear of a rat when he was a child by killing and cooking it, his experiences in a DC prison, burning his own flesh away to convince a man he was loyal to Nixon, etc, etc. Whether you like Liddy or not, he has led a fascinating life and he has a from typical way of viewing the world.

The Hugh Hewitt Interview: I did a phone interview with Hugh Hewitt yesterday. For those of you who are unfamiliar with his work, Hewitt is a regular columnist for World Net Daily & the Weekly Standard. He also has a syndicated radio show that currently runs on 42 stations. Hugh is one the up and comers in talk radio and he's one of the very few big name conservatives who truly gives the blogosphere its due. We talked about a variety of things including the 2004 election, the war on terrorism, & the blogosphere. Hope you enjoy the interview (Cont)

Iraq Today Vs. Postwar Germany: James Taranto found something I've been looking for all over the web, info about casualties and resistance in post WW2 Germany. Contrary to what the hysterical anti-war lefties would have you believe, the fact that we're seeing resistance is nothing new. Here's some info on the Nazi Werewolf guerilla movement that you probably haven't heard before...

"The Werewolves specialised in ambushes and sniping, and took the lives of many Allied and Soviet soldiers and officers -- perhaps even that of the first Soviet commandant of Berlin, General N.E. Berzarin, who was rumoured to have been waylaid in Charlottenburg during an incident in June 1945. Buildings housing Allied and Soviet staffs were favourite targets for Werewolf bombings; an explosion in the Bremen police headquarters, also in June 1945, killed five Americans and thirty-nine Germans. Techniques for harassing the occupiers were given widespread publicity through Werewolf leaflets and radio propaganda, and long after May 1945 the sabotage methods promoted by the Werewolves were still being used against the occupying powers.

Several sprees of vandalism through stocks of art and antiques, stored by the Berlin Museum in a flak tower at Friedrichshain, caused millions of dollars worth of damage and cultural losses of inestimable value...."

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

"Wimpiness" Vs "Machismo" In 2004: Is it just me or are the Democrats really coming off as an even bigger group of weenies than usual lately? On Sunday, we had the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Jay Rockefeller who voted for the war responding the question "in your view, in hindsight, was the war justified" with...

"Was it justified? I think that's hard to say at this point."

Boy, that's the sort of manly decisiveness people look for in a leader isn't it?

Then we have Charles Rangel whining because we killed Uday and Qusay Hussein...

We have a law on the books that the United States should not be assassinating anybody," Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., told Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes."

"We tried to assassinate Castro and we paid dearly for it," Rangel contended. "And when you personalize the war and you say you're killing someone's kids, then they, in turn, think they can kill somebody."

Sure, they may be murderous, psychopathic, rapists who're probably leading resistance against us, but maybe we shouldn't have killed them because it might make somebody mad.

Then we go to the man with the momentum, Howard Dean. Here's one of things he said in reaction to the deaths of these diehard enemies of our country...

"I think in general the ends do not justify the means."

That fills you with confidence doesn't it? Maybe we should have only allowed our troops to use stun guns and rubber bullets in the firefight so as not to upset Howard Dean's delicate sensibilities.

Then there are my favorite comments from a Dem recently...

"Foreign policy isn't a John Wayne movie, where we catch the bad guys, hoist a few cold ones and then everything fades to black," Gephardt told a crowd of 300 at a meeting of the Bar Association of San Francisco. "No matter the surge of momentary machismo -- as gratifying as it may be for some -- it is shortsighted and wrong to simply go it alone."

"President Bush may have won the support of a lot of Democrats -- including me -- for his war effort there, but in his dissembling and mishandling, he's steadily losing every ounce of bipartisan support he once had," said Gephardt."

First off, unless you're wearing a dress you should be embarrassed to complain about "machismo" -- especially during a war on terrorism. Moreover, Gephardt sounds like a Frenchman complaining about John Wayne movies.

What people like Gephardt, Dean & company seem incapable of understanding is that we don't want to make the terrorists and their allies love us, we want to kill them. Furthermore, it's to America's advantage to have what Lee from Right-Thinking From The Left Coast calls a "gun-toting batsh*t-crazy Texan" in the White House who says things like "bring them on" & talks about wanting Osama "dead or alive". Terrorists and the pro-terrorist Islamo-fascists in the Middle-East need to be convinced that we're willing, capable, willing -- did I mention willing --- to inflict staggering damage on them at the drop of a ten gallon hat. Generating that sort of fear among your enemies in the war on terrorism is worth infinitely more than fancy speeches, international aid, & trying to understand why they hate us. The Democrats running for President (other than Lieberman) don't seem to get that and that fact alone makes them unfit for the Presidency in a time of war.

Saddam to Offer Eulogy at Sons' Funeral By Scott Ott: Saddam Hussein may deliver the eulogy at a state funeral for his sons, Uday and Qusay, who died suddenly today in Mosul. The elder Hussein was invited to speak at the funeral by the commander of allied ground forces in Iraq, Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez.

"We understand the emotions triggered by the death of one's sons," said Lt. Gen. Sanchez. "So, we want Mr. Hussein to stand up there on the podium, in clear line of sight, and tell the world how special his boys were. We aim to give Saddam the respect due a leader of his caliber. I can assure you that he will have the full attention of many of our finest men."

The allied commander said Mr. Hussein's remarks would last "roughly 7.5 seconds, after which the former Iraqi leader, doubtless with a heavy heart, will return to an underground bunker."

If you enjoyed this satire by Scott Ott, you can read more of his work at Scrappleface.

Post Of The Day From The Democratic Underground -- I Wish Queasy And Duh-day Were Still Alive: Although there was a mixed (mostly negative) reaction to this statement on DU, I really wonder if this was a relatively common reaction among the hardcore anti-Bushies that they're too embarassed to admit in public...

thermodynamic: Doesn't a part of you wish that Queasy and Duh-day were alive?

I'll admit they're scum and rightfully so, but anything that lands as even more humiliation on W's grotesque shrivelled face is that much the better.

It's sad, really, that as despicable as they are, Saddam's family seems to be the lesser of two evils when you compare them to the wretched little b*stard* occupying the White House and destroying America in the process..."

Ding Dong -- Saddam's Boys Are Dead!: Straight from a Centcom press release, here's the latest from Iraq....

"On Tuesday, July 22, forces associated with the 101st Airborne Division and Special Operations Forces conducted an operation against suspected regime figures at a residence in Mosul, Iraq. The site is currently being exploited. Four Iraqis were killed in the operation. We have confirmed that two of the dead were Saddam's sons Uday and Qusay."

There's only one truly appropriate response to that sort of rapturous good news and that's a SNOOPY DANCE!

While it might also have been enjoyable to watch those two murdering psychopaths do a perp walk with two marines holding each them while angry Iraqis showered them with garbage, knowing that they're both room temperature suits me just fine.

PS #1: I'm going to be interested to see the negative spin that the left tries to put on this -- and yes there will be negative spin. If Bush said he liked "fluffy kittens," the left would claim that his comment was really a slight to dog owners, that we invaded Iraq to steal their kittens, and that Bush should be impeached for lying about how he actually feels about fluffy kittens.

PS #2: Just in case anybody complains about my mocking the death of the Hussein boys since I tore into people for using Strom Thurmond's death as an excuse to attack him, let me remind you of something I said back then...

"I could understand being pleased at the death of our country's enemies, but if you're all jazzed up because someone who you dislike politically passes away, then I think it says something about you as a human being -- something not very pleasant."

I am indeed "jazzed up" and when the day the put a bullet in Saddam's head I will be even happier...

No More 'Catch & Release' For Illegal Aliens?: Our country is not and has not been serious about fighting illegal immigration. We don't devote adequate staff and resources to patrolling our borders, we haven't cracked down on businesses that hire illegals, many states coddle illegal aliens and their children by giving them benefits that should only go to American citizens, & we make almost no effort to get rid of the illegals who are already here.

But recently we have started to get more serious about border security because of the war on terrorism and if this bill were to become law, it would make a big difference as well...

"A drunken driver who lives illegally in the United States and is stopped at a Southwest Florida intersection by a police officer could face deportation under a bill recently introduced in Congress.

The job of immigration agents could become easier if police agencies were given similar extra duties, contend advocates of the bill, including Southwest Florida law enforcers."

Having the police catch & and release illegal immigrants whose very presence in our country is against the law has never made any sense. If they're not here legally then **duh** of course they should be deported -- right after we find out where they work so we can hit their employer with a stiff fine and look for other illegals who may also be working there. How are we ever going to get rid of the illegal aliens we have in this country if we're not even going to deport them when we catch them?

But of course, some people have an issue with this sort of common sense approach to illegal immigration...

"David Correa, a member of the Collier County Hispanic Affairs Advisory Board, said he favors equal protection of all Americans. But he has reservations about the potential effects if federal immigration enforcement powers are granted to local law enforcement agencies.

Correa added: "The country has to be secure - let's be clear on that. But if they're going to stop every person who has brown skin or everybody who has an accent, I don't know how they're going to pass that law."

I'm sorry, but there aren't hordes of paperless Taiwanese refugees descending into Michigan to work as street sweepers or loads of Russians border jumpers flooding into Alaska to shovel snow. However, there are plenty of Mexicans coming across our Southern border to get employment as "farmworkers." So should we not focus on areas where many illegal immigrants actually work?

Moreover, nobody is suggesting "stop(ing) every person who has brown skin or everybody who has an accent." All this bill is going to do is make sure that illegals who are busted by the police are deported instead of released. Given that they're not supposed to be in this country in the first place -- what is the problem supposed to be with that?

I for one am thrilled to see a bill like this getting attention in Congress and I can only hope our elected representatives will do the right thing and sign it into law.

Is History Sexist?: Meryl Yourish (among other people) got a bit huffy because no woman ranked in the top 20 Greatest Figures In American History article that went up yesterday. Here's some of what Meryl had to say...

"Notice also that there is not a single woman on the list of the "greatest figures in American history." There is one honorable mention of a woman: Harriet Tubman.

Yeah, there's something wrong with that picture. Sexism in the blogosphere, again."

This probably won't sit well with Meryl and some other people, but it needs to be said; the reason why there are no women on the list is because none of them deserved to make it.

For example, who should be taken off the list so Eleanor Roosevelt can get in the top twenty? Her husband? Thomas Paine? Ulysses S. Grant? Come on -- get serious. Should we yank Alexander Hamilton or Teddy Roosevelt so Rosa Parks can get on the list? Do you think any of the women who didn't make it were more significant than men like Andrew Jackson, Douglas MacArthur & Alexander Graham Bell who also didn't make the final cut? You've got to be kidding me.

American history has nothing to do with "fairness", sexism, or "a boys' club" -- it "is what it is" -- like it or not. If it chafes you that more women didn't make the top 20, well, then I suggest that you accept history for what it is rather than trying to force it to fit into your agenda.

***Update***: Whoops! Looks like I made some people mad when I said, "the reason why there are no women on the list is because none of them deserved to make it." In our comment section, Alli writes...

"Geez, I never thought that I'd quit coming to this site. I agree with your choices John because that's just the way history is, but why the nasty remark, "because none of them deserved to make it."? It's one thing to think it but to put it that way? That kind of thought should have been kept to yourself and not printed as the basis for your reason. Great, now I'll be weary of visiting the site now. Thanks"

Venomous Kate was so angry over this that I thought she was writing parody for a moment...

"To which I say: Bullsh*t, John. What. Absolute. Bullsh*t.

Mark Twain wrote some great yarns."

If my original comments really irritated you, what I'm about to say now probably isn't going to make it any better, in fact it may make things worse, but I thought I should elaborate a bit anyway. While I stand by everything I said in the first post, let me make it clear that if we went say -- a 100 deep (actually, that might be something cool to do this week-end) there would be more than a few women who would make the list. Right off the top of my head, I'd say that Susan B. Anthony (who would have been the first woman I ranked -- somewhere in the thirties probably), Harriet Tubman, Elizabeth Stanton, Amelia Earhart, Ayn Rand, & Dorthea Dix would make the list...**sigh**...I really didn't help myself much by coming up with that few women out of a hundred did I?

But hey, I'm sorry -- I don't consider Eleanor Roosevelt to be terribly significant, Gloria Steinem is a lefty who wouldn't make a top 10,000 list of mine, and I think Rosa Parks is totally overrated. She wasn't the first woman to refuse to give up her seat on a bus, she was just the woman the NAACP chose to use for a legal challenge. Who even knows the names of the other women who came before Parks? I don't see anyone singing their praises although they had even more courage than Parks because they weren't guaranteed to have the full power of the NAACP backing them up. So personally, I don't think Parks is in the same class as men like Fredrick Douglass, Malcolm X, or Martin Luther King.

All that being said, women haven't been given the same opportunities as men throughout our history. As RWN reader Geoff says in the comments section...

"I'll go out on a limb here and suggest that there were no women on the 'final' 20 Greatest Figures In American History list because for most of America's history, women weren't allowed to *do* anything. Isn't that kind of obvious?"

Yes, it is. So don't take what I'm saying personally or think that it's some sort of dig at women because it simply isn't. I'm just looking at history and calling it like I see it. If that makes people angry -- well so be it. I'm not going to pretend that a woman should have been on the list just for the sake of political correctness...

The Top 25 American Athletes Of All-Time: The Bloggers Select The 20 Greatest Figures In American History article that I put up yesterday was such a blast that I've been considering doing some sequels. I thought about getting blogger opinions on the greatest American athletes, entertainers, songs, & movies of all time. I'm actually leaning towards doing the movies one later this week, but I have no time frame on the others -- if I do them at all.

However, since I already prepared my list of the "Top 25 American Athletes Of All-Time," I thought I'd go ahead and post them....

-- Muhammad Ali
-- Lance Armstrong
-- Larry Bird
-- Jim Brown
-- Wilt Chamberlain
-- Ty Cobb
-- Babe Didrickson
-- Julius Erving
-- Kareem Abdul Jabar
-- Magic Johnson
-- Michael Jordan
-- Carl Lewis
-- Joe Louis
-- Willie Mays
-- Joe Montana
-- Jack Nicklaus
-- Jesse Owens
-- Arnold Palmer
-- Jerry Rice
-- Jackie Robinson
-- Babe Ruth
-- Deon Sanders
-- Lawrence Taylor
-- Jim Thorpe
-- Cy Young

***Update***: It turns out that Gordie Howe was a Canadian -- I know, I know -- a Canadian who plays hockey -- who would have ever thought? So I'm going to yank him and add in Babe Didrickson. She was a great athlete in her day.

I noticed some people have asked about why I included Deon. In my opinion, he's the best cornerback ever to play the game (even if he wasn't a big hitter), he was an incredible kick returner, he played a little wide receiver and he was even able to make it to the big leagues in baseball. A lot of people don't like his flashy personality, but he was just an incredible athlete who I think will grow in stature over time.

Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Klingons...: Arcadia couple Joyce and Daryl Sickafoose didn't say "Na-nu, Na-nu," "May the Force be with you" or even "Live long and prosper" Saturday when they renewed their wedding vows.

Married in 1990, the couple renewed their vows Saturday in a traditional Klingon wedding service at the Children's Science Center in Cape Coral."

I have one comment about this and one comment only; "Friends don't let friends dress up like Klingons to renew their wedding vows!"

A Quasi-Movie Review Of '28 Days Later': There were two things that jumped out at me about '28 Days Later' -- a film right out "Night of the Living Dead" school of horror.

The movie starts off with some animal rights whackos breaking into a lab and freeing a virus infected monkey. That monkey then proceeded to maul one of the whackos, thereby giving her a deadly virus and starting a chain of events that leads to almost every living person in Britain being wiped out. Can't you just see someone in PETA or ALF being dumb enough release some disease ridden monkey of death into the world?

On the other hand, I have to admit I did enjoy watching the monkey pound the animal rights nut. In fact, can I make a suggestion to the people at FOX? Put together an entire show filled with nothing but people who are into animal rights being attacked by animals. Just imagine a long narrow hallway with a litter full of baby wolverines on one end, an angry mother wolverine on the other and someone from the Animal Liberation Front in the middle.Then FOX could have a saucy British host who said things like, "It looks like that wolverine gave you a little nip, eh governor? I guess she didn't get your last newsletter. That'll teach you to be such an animal rights wanker!" We might not be able to get by with creating a show like that in the states, but they could do it Japan and call it "The Happy Crazy Animal Irony show". Wouldn't you tune in to see what happens? I know I would.

The other thing that jumped out at me was that when the main protagonist (Jim) wakes up 28 days after the initial infection, there's barely an uninfected person in all of Britain -- and no wonder. If the infected people bite you, or get blood in your mouth, eyes, or in a wound, you're done for. So it's of the utmost importance that none of them get near you. However, the Brits have no guns so they're fighting these things with Molotov cocktails, bats, & machetes. No wonder they all died!

Now if this movie would have taken place in America, Jim would've woken up 28 days later and this would have happened...

Jim: What's going on?

Nurse: You were unconscious for 28 days.

Jim: Really? Did anything important happen?

Nurse: Oh yes! There was this horrible infection going around that turned people into living dead killers! One bite and you're raving madman with red eyes -- desperate to kill everyone around you!

Jim: OMG! Is anyone left alive or is America nothing but a giant ghost town?

Nurse: Oh no -- things are fine -- everyone who was infected was quickly shot to death. It killed less people than the flu did last year. Terrible thing though.

See what I'm saying? There wouldn't have been a movie if this had taken place in America. Of course, no nation in the world has a populace better prepared to survive an assault by zombies, the living dead, or virus infected psychos than the United States -- so you Brits shouldn't feel bad.

Oh -- and the movie wasn't too shabby either-- it was scary & cool and...ehr...stuff. Thumbs up!

Know Thy Enemy -- North Koreans By Frank J: I just realized I've never done a Know Thy Enemy(tm) segment on the North Koreans. If we ever have to fight them, it's likely my brother, Joe foo' the Marine, will have to go out there. I don't want him to get killed, because, if he does, it will be on my honor to avenge his death, and my schedule is just too busy for vengeance. So, I got my crack research staff to find all the important information one needs to know to fight the North Koreans.

FUN FACTS ABOUT NORTH KOREANS

* Remember, it's the North Koreans who are the evil Commies while the South Koreans are the ones who give us cars with really good warranties and animate The Simpsons. The West Koreans are mysterious loners who will work for the highest bidder.

* North Korea got its name from being North of South Korea. I don't know how South Korea got its name.

* North Korea is said to be the last Stalinist state, which means it's like an extra evil Commie country. I mean, people are escaping to China for a better life; that's pretty damn Commie!

* I believe we once fought a war with North Korea, and I think we won, too. There's precedent for you!

* They call the area between North and South Korean the Demilitarized Zone, even though it's filled with mines. With that much armaments, you'd think they'd call it the "Really-Millitarized Zone." Anyway, if you're walking through the RMZ, make sure someone is walking ahead of you.

* I've heard rumors that the Koreans eat dogs. That's just like cannibalism! Except, instead of eating people, they're eating dogs.

* North Koreans are probably armed with Russian hardware like most evil people, because who would have sold weapons to evil people other than the Russians? Oh, they might also have French and German weaponry.

* Tae Kwan Do is a martial art that comes from Korea, so I would assume that every North Korean knows it. The martial art is characterized by its high kicks meant to knock riders from horses. So, when fighting a North Korean, duck low so his kick goes over your head, then counter with an uppercut.

* North Koreans are vulnerable to silver bullets... and any other bullets.

* Supposedly the North Koreans have nuclear missiles that could reach all the way to California, but let's find out which part of California before we get too panicked.

* I'm pretty sure ninjas are either Chinese or Japanese, but I can't guarantee that the Koreans don't have any. So, when fighting them, bring a samurai sword just in case since ninjas dodge bullets.

* If you find yourself attacked by a North Korean, stop, drop, and roll.

* The North Korean government keeps their people starving, oppressed, isolated, and ignorant, and they are all taught that Americans are evil. Still, if having to invade their country, just toss the people some Fun Size bag of Fritos and I bet they'll think you're the second coming of Christ.

* Just like the llama, the North Koreans need a constant intake of oxygen to survive; thus, they are susceptible to strangling.

* If a North Korean bites you, you become one.

* In a fight between the North Korean military and the Flash, the Flash would run away really quickly to a tropical resort in Thailand and drink a Mai Tai.

* I'm sorry, but I'm running out of jokes about Aquaman.

* Okay, one more: In a fight between Aquaman and the North Koreans, Aquaman could splash Kim Jong Il messing up his poofy hair and humiliating him. The North Koreans would then hit Aquaman with so much artillery that the Justice League wouldn't even be able to identify him by his dental records.

* If you kill a North Korean, be careful! His body will explode into deadly poisonous gas... or maybe I'm getting them confused with the enemies from some videogame.

* Their leader, Kim Jong Il, has extremely poofy hair, and our inaction will not make it any less poofy.

If you enjoyed this satire by Frank J., you can read more of his work at IMAO.

Bloggers Select The 20 Greatest Figures In American History: Out of all the titans in American history -- Presidents and generals, inventors and entrepreneurs, reformers and revolutionaries -- have you ever wondered who the best of the best were? Well, we here at RWN wondered about that too and that's why we decided to email more than a hundred bloggers to get their opinions. 49 bloggers responded.

All bloggers were allowed to make anywhere from 1-20 selections. Rank was determined simply by the number of votes received. Also, it's worth keeping in mind that this was a fairly Conservative group of bloggers and their selections reflected that. Well that's enough about the rules -- without further adieu, the greatest figures in American history are as follows (Cont)