I received this email last week and I've been pondering its implications for days.  Do I care?  Sometimes I do.  Sometimes I don't.  Does that make me less "American" or less supportive of every GI who stands guard over us?  No way. 

"Are we fighting a war on terror or aren't we? Was it or was it not started by Islamic fanatics who brought it to our shores on September 11, 2001?

Were people from all over the world, mostly Americans, not brutally murdered that day -- in downtown Manhattan, across the Potomac from our nation's capitol and in a field in Pennsylvania? Did nearly three thousand men, women and children die a horrible, burning or crushing death that day, or didn't they?

And I'm supposed to care that a copy of the Koran was "desecrated" when an overworked American soldier kicked it or got it wet? Well, I don't. I don't care at all.

I'll start caring when Osama bin Laden turns himself in and repents for incinerating all those innocent people on 9/11.

I'll care about the Koran when the fanatics in the Middle East start caring about the Holy Bible, the mere possession of which is a crime in some countries.

I'll care when Abu Musab al-Zarqawi tells the world he is sorry for hacking off Nick Berg's head while Berg screamed through his gurgling, slashed throat.

I'll care when the cowardly so-called "insurgents" in Iraq come out and fight like men instead of disrespecting their own religion by hiding in mosques.

I'll care when the mindless zealots who blow themselves up in search of nirvana care about the innocent children within range of their suicide bombs.

I'll care when the American media stops pretending that their First Amendment liberties are somehow derived from international law instead of the United States Constitution's Bill of Rights.

In the meantime, when I hear a story about a brave marine roughing up an Iraqi terrorist to obtain information, know this: I don't care.

When I see a fuzzy photo of a pile of naked Iraqi prisoners who have been humiliated in what amounts to a college hazing incident, rest assured that I don't care.

When I see a wounded terrorist get shot in the head when he is told not to move because he might be booby-trapped, you can take it to the bank that I don't care.

When I hear that a prisoner, who was issued a Koran and a prayer mat, and fed "special" food that is paid for by my tax dollars, is complaining that his holy book is being "mishandled," you can absolutely believe in your heart of hearts that I don't care.

And oh, by the way, I've noticed that sometimes it's spelled "Koran" and other times "Quran." Well, Jimmy Crack Corn and ---- you got it ----- I DON'T CARE!

You'll have to answer this for yourself ....

source: http://www.rasmussenreports.com

  December 2, 2005--Confidence in the War on Terror is up sharply compared to a month ago.  Forty-eight percent (48%)  Americans now believe the U.S. and its Allies are winning. That's up nine points from 39% a month ago and represents the highest level of confidence measured in 2005.

Just 28% now believe the terrorists are winning, down six points from 34% a month ago. The survey was conducted on Wednesday and Thursday night following the President's speech outlining his strategy in Iraq.

Huge partisan divisions on questions dealing with Iraq remain. Seventy-four percent (74%) of Republicans believe the U.S. and its allies are winning. That's up from 64% a month ago.

Just 28% of Democrats believe the U.S. is winning while 45% of Nancy Pelosi's party believe the terrorists are winning. Even that is a more optimistic assessment than last month when just 19% of Democrats said the U.S. was winning.

Among those those not affiliated with either major party, 40% now say the  U.S. and its allies are winning. Thirty percent (30%) take the opposite view. A month ago, unaffiliateds were evenly divided.

Makes one wonder what the CBS poll would have shown if pollsters hadn't manipulated the sampling ....

Thomas Sowell. 

Ever read his "Random Thoughts"? 

Here are selections from his latest. 

Bumper sticker in Berkeley: "Animals are little people in fur coats."

 My tastes must be behind the times. When I see women in "before" and "after" advertisements, I often think they looked better before.

 What enables ex-President Jimmy Carter to be taken seriously is that millions of people are too young to remember what a disaster the Carter administration was. He lost his bid for re-election in a landslide for a reason.

Who would have dreamed that "Merry Christmas" would become a controversial phrase? But increasingly schools and other institutions avoid it like the plague, in order to be politically correct.

 Is there something about being rich that makes some people go off the deep end? The limousine liberals among the Democrats and the country club Republicans are the most unrealistic people in each party.

 Cartoons in "The New Yorker" magazine used to make me burst out laughing but those in recent years don't even produce a smile. Could it be that political correctness makes it impossible to see and portray the humor in the many absurdities all around us?

 Nightmare for the 2008 Presidential election: Hillary Clinton versus John McCain. I wouldn't know whether to vote Libertarian or move to Australia.

 It apparently does not occur to some engineers who design products that most of the people who will be using those products are not engineers.

 We are so much more rational about sports than we are about politics. No one considers it "unfair" that Tiger Woods does so much better than the average golfer, or resents him for it, or accuses him of "gouging" when he collects big bucks.

 One of the many affectations of the political left and the intelligentsia is to disdain crass material things. But it is the increased production of crass material things which has released hundreds of millions of human beings from the curse of grinding poverty and endless toil, and given them longer lives.

 British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher gave the best definition of "consensus": Lack of leadership.

 A liberal can be found standing over a dead body with a smoking gun in his hand and the media will remind us that everyone is innocent until proven guilty. But the same media have for months been hyping insinuations that Karl Rove is guilty of something he has not even been charged with.

 It is usually futile to try to talk facts and analysis to people who are enjoying a sense of moral superiority in their ignorance.

 Since neither the creationists nor the evolutionists were there when the world began, why are our schools teaching either set of beliefs, when there are so many hard facts that the schools are failing to teach?

 A recent e-mail from a man who says that my writings have changed his mind notes that this has not been all to the good. He says he was perfectly happy as a liberal but now he is frustrated when he hears the kind of nonsense that he used to accept without having to think about it.

 Someone once said that the most important knowledge is knowledge of our own ignorance. Our schools are depriving millions of students of that kind of knowledge by promoting "self-esteem" and encouraging them to have opinions on things of which they are grossly ignorant, if not misinformed.

 I have long suspected that there is a part of the male brain -- perhaps most of it -- which automatically shuts off at the sight of a good-looking woman.

 Popularity can change very quickly in politics. During the boom times at the end of the 1920s, when Herbert Hoover was President, there were several times as many baby boys named Herbert as there were named Franklin. But just a few years later, after the stock market crash and the beginning of the Great Depression, there were several times as many boys named Franklin as were named Herbert.

I like this fellow Tarheel.  And Tiger Woods. 

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Garrison Keillor is one of my favorite humorists.  

(In his waning years <a little older than moi, btw>, I sometimes question his selection of daily poems.  His recent choices remind me of an aging uncle -- just enough sexual undertone to make you feel a tad uncomfortable -- know what I mean?)

Today he marks the birthday of another American favorite ....

It's the birthday of Mark Twain, (books by this author) born Samuel Langhorne Clemens, in Florida, Missouri (1835), who wrote Life on the Mississippi (1883), The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), and his own favorite, The Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc (1891). He was cynical and irreverent, but he had a tender spot for cats. There were always kittens in the house, and he gave them names like "Sin" and "Sour Mash." "Mamma has morals," said his daughter Suzy, "and Papa has cats." He swore constantly and without shame. His streams of profanity broke his wife's heart on a daily basis. One day he cut himself shaving, and she heard a string of oaths from the bathroom. She resolved to move him to repentance, and she repeated back to him all the bad words he had just said. He smiled at her and shook his head. "You have the words, Livy," he said, "but you'll never learn the tune." After he published The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, he found himself awash in cash, which he invested in a typesetting machine that was very complicated and very ingenious and demanded more and more investment and in the end would not work. He had to declare bankruptcy, and he decided to go on a worldwide lecture tour, the proceeds of which he would use to pay back all of his creditors. His visits to Africa and Asia convinced him that a God who allowed Christians to believe that they were better than savages was a God he wanted no part of. He was a funny man and is remembered for his humorous sayings. He said, "It is better to keep you mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt." He also said, "Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life."

Keillor's characterization of Twain reminds me of his own character! 

 What if, in each of us, others also saw an historic characterization .... Who would others see in you?  What famous characterization do you see in someone close to you?

Christie Whitman's Party Poopers ......

There is, indeed, a battle going on for the "soul" of the Republican Party these days.  The RINOs are an endangered species in the GOP, and that's not really a bad thing.  They aren't "moderates." They're liberals.

If they were consistent "libertarians" with divergent views on various social issues, I'd say OK. There's definitely a place for them at the limited-government/leave-us-alone table.  But these Whitman Republicans aren't cut from that cloth.  They are government activists with little or no solid grounding in the constitutional principles of our Founders.  They're all about "doing good," not protecting rights.  For example, about the only thing IMP-PAC advisory board member Shays is known for as a congressman is his authorship of the House version of the anti-First Amendment McCain/Feingold law.

With "Republicans" like that, who needs Democrats?

Food for thought .....

Dare you. 
It's safe.

Thanks to a soldier, so are you.


                                                                                

           
IMAO performs an exercise in humor to explain WHY some liberals forget that they once thought Sadaam has WMDs .....

Subtitled:  What Americans Need to Hear

MSM is not going to tell us anything that will detract from their anti-Bush position.  The President must take the truth to the American people.  Joe Q. Wilson's editorial speaks to what needs to be said.

 

 

According to an editorial in the Washington Post this weekend, a recent poll indicates that the majority of Republican and Democrats "see through" MSM and Democrat criticism as having a negative effect on troop morale AND public opinion.

Democrats fumed last week at Vice President Cheney’s suggestion that criticism of the administration’s war policies was itself becoming a hindrance to the war effort. But a new poll indicates most Americans are sympathetic to Cheney’s point.

Seventy percent of people surveyed said that criticism of the war by Democratic senators hurts troop morale — with 44 percent saying morale is hurt “a lot,” according to a poll taken by RT Strategies. Even self-identified Democrats agree: 55 percent believe criticism hurts morale, while 21 percent say it helps morale.

The results surely will rankle many Democrats, who argue that it is patriotic and supportive of the troops to call attention to what they believe are deep flaws in President Bush’s Iraq strategy. But the survey itself cannot be dismissed as a partisan attack. The RTs in RT Strategies are Thomas Riehle, a Democrat, and Lance Tarrance, a veteran GOP pollster.

Their poll also indicates many Americans are skeptical of Democratic complaints about the war. Just three of 10 adults accept that Democrats are leveling criticism because they believe this will help U.S. efforts in Iraq. A majority believes the motive is really to “gain a partisan political advantage.” 

Send an email message or make a donation to a chartible organization serving soldiers and their families at the THANK A SOLDIER project sponsored by TownHall.com, beginning December 19 ....

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