MuD & PHuD

I hope everyone out there had a wonderful Independence Day Weekend! I certainly did.

As usual, a ton of interesting and important stuff has gone on since last Friday, and I'm afraid that I don't have time to get to it all. So, let me get this out of the way and start with a little shameless self-promotion.

Upon my return to the Digital World I found an email informing me that my most recent Useless Knowledge article has been featured on A.M. Siriano's Good News! (Just below Cosby's picture and to the right.) I thought this was pretty cool and I would like to publicly thank whomever made this happen.

Where Have All The Heroes Gone?

Oh, they're still around. We just can't seem to see them anymore. Rich Lowry points out this very fact in his recent column. Here's a bit:

In March of last year, Chontosh was a 29-year-old Marine lieutenant. He was leading his platoon on Highway 1, just outside Baghdad, when his troops came under heavy fire. He ordered his vehicle to head directly for the enemy trench, jumped out and began firing with his rifle and pistol, before running out of ammunition. The citation for Chontosh's Navy Cross picks up the narrative: "With complete disregard for his safety, he twice picked up discarded enemy rifles and continued his ferocious attack.... When his audacious attack ended, he had cleared over 200 meters of the enemy trench, killing more than 20 enemy soldiers and wounding several others."

This civilian has nothing to add except to say: Thank you Lieutenant Chontosh.

Deceits of Fahrenheit 911

Everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) should read Dave Kopel's recent article Fifty-nine Deceits of Fahrenheit 911 (soon to be published at NRO). He goes to great pains to document Moore's many attempts to skew, bend, twist and outright ignore the Truth concerning, well...just about everything.

Bush on September 11
Deceit 9

Fahrenheit mocks President Bush for continuing to read a story to a classroom of elementary school children after he was told about the September 11 attacks.

What Moore did not tell you:

Gwendolyn Tose’-Rigell, the principal of Emma E. Booker Elementary School, praised Bush’s action: “I don’t think anyone could have handled it better.” “What would it have served if he had jumped out of his chair and ran out of the room?”…

She said the video doesn’t convey all that was going on in the classroom, but Bush’s presence had a calming effect and “helped us get through a very difficult day.”

“Sarasota principal defends Bush from ‘Fahrenheit 9/11’ portrayal,” Associated Press, June 24, 2004. Also, since the President knew he was on camera, it was reasonable to expect that if he had suddenly sped out of the room, his hasty movement would have been replayed incessantly on television; leaving the room quickly might have exacerbated the national mood of panic.

Moore does not offer any suggestion about what the President should have done during those seven minutes, rather than staying calm for the sake of the classroom and of the public. Nor does Moore point to any way that the September 11 events might have turned out better in even if the slightest way if the President had acted differently. As the previous item, people may differ about whether this segment should be considered deceitful, or perhaps just a very cheap shot.

Read the whole thing.

If you must watch this movie, at least have the decency to read this article also. People are always laughing at Fox for their Fair and Balanced line. Is it too much to ask that we, as Citizens of the United States of America, try to be Fair and Balanced in our own lives?

John Kerry Supports Murder

I am absolutely sickened by this little gem I found via Drudge just this evening. Apparently, Presumptive-Supposed-Likely-Almost-For-Certain Democratic Presidential Nominee John Kerry (did you know he served in Vietnam?) has made the following statement:

I oppose abortion, personally. I don't like abortion. I believe life does begin at conception. (bold, italics and underlining, added)

John Kerry has consistently voted against any sort of restrictions on abortion...and now he tells us that he is personally opposed to abortion?! If life beings at Conception then anything done after that point to end a pregnancy IS MURDER. There are no two ways about it. There is no way to reconcile John F. Kerry's voting record with the personal belief that life begins at Conception! There is no Separation of Church and State issues here. None. Is that unclear to anyone? I don't care what religion you happen to ascribe to. I don't care what color your skin is. I don't care what sort of accent you do or do not speak with. You simply cannot make this argument. The only possible explanation is that Kerry is waiting for the men in white coats to come take him away. I just cannot understand the 'logic' (except that he will do and say anything to get elected...I suppose I should keep that firmly in mind, huh?).

Marine Released?

I can only pray that this is true.

More Of Saddam's Buddies With Death Wises

It looks like some of Saddam's family might also have death wishes. This also makes you wonder...if men and money from Iraq ended up in Syria, might some other stuff as well? Humm...did I hear anyone say WMDs? Just wait, they'll surface one of these days. I just hope they do so in Syria and not in Manhattan.

Dissolve The US-Mexican Border?!

When I first saw this story the other day I was pretty pissed. The idea that a Mexican official would suggest ridding ourselves of the border between our two countries is almost too much to believe. My mind has, however, been eased since by Wizbang's brilliant insight into the potential benefits that such a move might afford us. Check it out:

And let’s not forget the fact that roughly one-half of Mexico’s population lives below the poverty line. What better way to help them and ourselves by sending them all our surplus social workers, social engineers, social scientists, and the like (but I repeat myself – “surplus” is entirely redundant in this context) and let them “help” the poor? I figure if we ship them all off and give them, say, half the money we seize above, we ought to be free of them for at least a couple generations.

What good is breathing if you can't laugh, right? =)
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