screw my self-imposed ban, this is too important

Ok, I found this on a blog called captins quarters, I haven't even read the Downing Street Memos, (I plan to later today) and I will do some investigating of my own to see if there is any credibilty to this. You know FACTS (such a dirty word eh liberals?) to back up STATEMENTS. Smells like Rathergate II though...

http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/
June 19, 2005

The media and the Leftists have had a field day with the Downing Street memos that they claim imply that the Bush administration lied about the intelligence on WMD in order to justify the attack on Iraq. Despite the fact that none of the memos actually say that, none of them quote any officials or any documents, and that the text of the memos show that the British government worried about the deployment of WMD by Saddam against Coalition troops, Kuwait and/or Israel, the meme continues to survive.

Until tonight, however, no one questioned the authenticity of the documents provided by the Times of London. That has now changed, as Times reporter Michael Smith admitted that the memos he used are not originals, but retyped copies (via LGF and CQ reader Sapper):

The eight memos — all labeled "secret" or "confidential" — were first obtained by British reporter Michael Smith, who has written about them in The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Times.
Smith told AP he protected the identity of the source he had obtained the documents from by typing copies of them on plain paper and destroying the originals.

The AP obtained copies of six of the memos (the other two have circulated widely). A senior British official who reviewed the copies said their content appeared authentic. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the secret nature of the material.

Readers of this site should recall this set of circumstances from last year. The Killian memos at the center of CBS' 60 Minutes Wednesday report on George Bush' National Guard service supposedly went through the same laundry service as the Downing Street Memos. Bill Burkett, once he'd been outed as the source of the now-disgraced Killian memos, claimed that a woman named Lucy Ramirez provided them to him -- but that he made copies and burned the originals to protect her identity or that of her source.

Why would a reporter do such a thing? While reporters need to protect their sources, at some point stories based on official documents will require authentication -- and as we have seen with the Killian memos, copies make that impossible. The AP gets a "senior British official" to assert that the content "appeared authentic", which only means that the content seems to match what he thinks he knows.

This, in fact, could very well be another case of "fake but accurate", where documents get created after the fact to support preconceived notions about what happened in the past. One fact certainly stands out -- Michael Smith cannot authenticate the copies. And absent that authentication, they lose their value as evidence of anything.

Besides, as the AP report makes clear, the two governments sincerely worried about the deployment of WMD despite the allegations of those who fixate on one sentence of one memo. The latest issue coming from the memos, according to its proponents, is the alleged statement by Blair that WMD programs had not progressed. However, it also points out why 9/11 made all the difference in the approach to Iraq:

The documents confirm Blair was genuinely concerned about Saddam's alleged weapons of mass destruction, but also indicate he was determined to go to war as America's top ally, even though his government thought a pre-emptive attack may be illegal under international law.

"The truth is that what has changed is not the pace of Saddam Hussein's WMD programs, but our tolerance of them post-11 September, " said a typed copy of a March 22, 2002 memo obtained Thursday by The Associated Press and written to Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.

"But even the best survey of Iraq's WMD programs will not show much advance in recent years on the nuclear, missile or CW/BW (chemical or biological weapons) fronts: the programs are extremely worrying but have not, as far as we know, been stepped up."

All of the Western nations had intelligence that matched with the Bush/Blair determination that Saddam had not disposed of his WMD stocks. Prior to 9/11, the Western approach of waiting Saddam out appeared adequate. After 9/11, the existence of those WMD stocks clearly was intolerable, given Saddam's involvement with terrorist groups in the past -- including hosting an al-Qaeda convention, of sorts, in 1999.

Even if these memos could be authenticated, they're still meaningless. They could only excite the kind of idiots that would hold mock impeachment hearings with four witnesses and no authority whatsoever.

baseball, the great american pasttime...

Today, for fathers day I went to go see a Twins game with my dad. It was awsome we got to see Johan Santana pitch (best pitcher in baseball) and we won this thing called the 'row of fame' where we got free hot dogs for being in the correct row. We lost 5-1 but it was still fun, and once again made me proud to be an American. Nothing restores your faith in this country or the people in it when you see 31,00+ people singing the National Anthem or God Bless America (liberals, of course, would want to change it to God Bless the World, but I digress...). Anyone else do something cool for Fathers Day?

PETA employees charged with animal cruelty

Man this story would be very funny if it wasn't so sad and true (ironic too if I might add) the story from CNN.com PETA employees charged with animal cruelty. Now this is the ultimate form of irony, and hypocricy for that matter. Shouldn't PETA not want to euthanize animals? But apparently I'm too dumb to understand the inner workings of this thorughly retarded (and mentally disabled) group. Oh by the way hippies I just had ribs and 1.5 lbs of a rib roast. Suck on it.

9/11 conspiracy show recap...

Well, last night from 12-5am (CST) was probably some of the most entertaining hours of talk radio I have listened to since I started listening back in 1998 (yes I'm an addict). Before I go into detail I will do a quick background of the 4 participants there were last night. Some of this is courtesty of Coast to Coast AM click here to see what I am talking about.
Peter Lance and Mike Levine David Ray Griffin and Alex Jones were the participants.

Alex Jones, a documentary filmmaker and political researcher, pointed towards a "shadow" government above Pres. Bush as orchestrating the attacks. The hijackers, he suggested, were government trained operatives, who believed they were part of a drill on September 11th and not on a suicide mission. The planes themselves, he continued, were flown by remote control into the WTC towers. Jones created a special page to accompany the discussion, which includes a video clip from his latest work Martial Law 9-11. For Alex's sites click here and here.

Peter Lance countered that Jones' theories were preposterous, and that by blaming a "shadow government" the effectiveness of al Qaeda is underestimated. Lance does believe that the U.S. government was negligent in its failure to detect the plot, and criminally culpable in its subsequent cover up of the facts. To see Peter's site click here

Radio host Mike Levine said there is enough evidence to put people in front of a grand jury, to face charges related to the deceptions and ineptitudes perpetrated by governmental agencies. Specifically he cited a case where the FBI stopped Joe Weber, head of the Houston office of Homeland Security, from investigating al Qaeda fundraising efforts. Mike's site can be found here

David Ray Griffin, Professor Emeritus at Claremont, argued that there is much that is disprovable about the official story of 9-11, and that a number of the government's explanations over specific events have changed over time. He noted that the Bush administration has referred to 9-11 as an "opportunity," and that the attacks could have been organized by them as a way of subsequently securing funding for such programs as the trillion-dollar weaponization of space. For David Ray Griffin's book (he does not have a site) click here

This was a very interesting argument and I wish you all could sit down and hear what I heard. George Noory, (and me) was most surprised by the fact that dispite all their different views that they all said SOMETHING WAS VERY WRONG WITH 9/11! Weather it be cover-up, incompetence, or full-blown responsibility. Mike Levine even said multiple times that it was a matter of WHEN not if nuclear bombs explode in our cities. And not just one, 5-6 at ONCE! That, everyone, kept me up most of the night.

dickheads driving...

Spending about an hour on the highway today it occured to me, people in Minnesota are complete jackasses when their driving on the highway. Not only jackasses but dangerous ones; the ones that if your not paying attention will run you off the road (literally) if your not paying attention. Even though you might expect me to be one of these dangerous people on the road I'm not. I am "nice" on the road, granted I do usually flip the bird to at least one car per highway trip and I yell at people as I'm letting them merge but that's still better than 80% of the drivers here in this goddamn state. I believe in karma, you know what goes around comes around, so I figure if I'm good to people on the road something good will happen to me in another aspect of my life sometime in the future. Also I listen to a show called Coast to Coast AM every night from 12-4 and there is a roundtable discussion on weather or not 9/11 was a conspiracy, I will post with the main points from both sides tommorow and comment on it.

big game tommorow, I mean later today...

Well I got 10 hours until the state tournament starts for the BSM boys baseball team. It should be fun, it's being played at the St.Paul Saints stadium. It's called Midway Stadium and it's on by the state fairgrounds. On a slightly different note I will be doing a major shift to try and do things that are local in the MSP area. I know this may be annoying to most (if not all) of you but I'm trying to possibly get in the circle of local bloggers and bring in more readers.

One last post before bed...

Ok, this will be the LAST political related post I will put up for 7-10 days, during that time I will talk about sports, news, videogames, and anything else I can find that doesn't have to do with politics. Even I get burnt out after a certain point, there is only so much that can be said before you want to scream and punch something/someone. With that said here I go. Reasons to boycott Chinese goods:

China's labor practices encourage outsourcing and drive down American wages. Aren’t you tired of manufacturing jobs leaving the US? #1 way to slove outsourcing, stop buying Chinese goods! Cut off their lifeline that keeps them going.

China has an atrocious human rights track record, including its illegal occupation of Tibet. This occupation has been marked by religious oppression of Tibet’s proud Buddhist population, political imprisonment, torture and murder. Yes see us conservatives have a heart too people. Were just not rabid at the mouth about freeing them.

China is a threat to regional stability, and threatens to destroy and takeover peaceful Taiwan, if Taiwan ever sought independence, because we all know that this can't possibly happen...

Why contribute to the rapid military buildup of a violent and abusive Communist regime that is secretly trying to destroy us, don't laugh people they want our top spot. Let's keep it away from them buy buying products made in the USA!

I know it may be hard but I will commit myself to trying to buy as many American goods as possible, even if it means spending a little bit more for that good. I mean don't you hate American flags that say "Made in China" or "Tiawan". I cringe whenever I see "Made in China" on a product our family has or about to buy. Do everything in your power to buy American!

A little quiz for you all...

This is taken from the book I just recently finished reading, it is called Winning The Future: a 21st century contract with America, by Newt Gingrich. It is 10 questions, put 10 if you strongly agree and 1 if you strongly disagree and 5 if you're neutral. I will also show how the American people feel, results are taken from recent polls.
1. We should be allowed to say "one nation under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance (91% of Americans agree)

2. Able-bodied people on welfare should be required to work (87% agree)

3. Men who assault pregnant women and kill the unborn child should be prosecuted for assault and murder (84% agree)

4. The US should put its own interest first and cooperation with international organizations second (73% agree)

5. Believe in God (92% agree)

6. Proud to be an American (91% agree)

7. Schoold should teach new immigrants about American values (88% agree)

8. Everyone should learn English (81% agree)

9. Personal injury lawyers should get no more than 15% of ANY reward (75% agree)

10. It is possible to use new techonolgy and new science to devlop clan, renewable energy that protects the environment and the economy (88% agree)

I scored a 98, the only one where I didn't put 10 was #3, I'm still not entirely sure about that.

at least liberals are entertaining...

They're just so entertaining. They got spanked in the last election and my goodness I knew they were sore losers but they've officially gone above an beyond what I would have suspected from them after this last election.

Examples:

"Voter Fraud Conspiracies" .........Wahhhh... Boo Hoo.... Wahhhh

"Bush is Hitler" ................. Wahhhh.... Boo Hoo.... Wah

"No Blood for Oil and gas prices are too high" (I know, I don't get this one either) "Blame Bush!!!" Wahhhhhhh... Boo Hoo...

"Tax cuts for the rich (and everyone else) that have helped the economy, Bush Sucks..." Wahhhhh...

"Bush can't say nuclear properly... Impeach him!!" Boo Hoo..

"Bush was a 'C' student... so was Kerry, but he's not Bush... Bush is dumb... Sign my petition."

"Gas prices are high, Blame Bush and don't drill in the vast wasteland of Alaska." Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa....

"I'm a liberal, I don't know what I'm talking about most of the time so I'll just tell you to go to this 'link' which proves I'm right although the 'link' is about as reliable as Dan Rather doing a story that involves a memo." Boo Hoooooo

"The Downing Street Memo... read it... it proves Bush 'fixed' the intelligence on Iraq in 2002. See what I did there in my vast liberal wisdom... I took the work 'fixed' that is used in the memo and took it out of context (see... I'm not going to tell people that the British use of the word 'fix' is not the same as the way we use it in America. Even Tony Blair said this... but hey, what would someone from Great Britain know about his culture, right?) and now everyone will think that the intelligence was fixed (as long as they don't read the whole memo, of course.)" Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa....

well here's my response to part of the essay..

By Richard Rahn
If you spent more each month than you made and got deeper and deeper into debt, but had an asset equal to your debts, like a big expensive boat you never used, what would you do? If you were rational, you would sell the boat.

The U.S. government has spent more than it receives in tax revenue for most of the last 75 years, and, as a result, the national debt and the associated interest payments have gotten bigger and bigger. But what is not well known is that the U.S. government also has many trillions of dollars of assets, which may exceed the value of the debt. I say "may" because, in fact, no one knows because the government has no accurate balance sheet of what it owns and what it owes.

For instance, the federal government owns somewhere between 600 and 700 million acres of land, or over 30 percent of all U.S. land. But again, no one knows for certain if the federal government owns 630 million acres or 670 million acres or some other amount. Private companies are required to produce accurate balance sheets for their stockholders, and, if they do not, their executives might be sent to jail.

We American citizens and taxpayers are the "stockholders" of our government, and hence we should expect and have the right to receive accurate accounting statements. It is a bit tiring to hear sanctimonious and hypocritical public officials say corporate managers should be punished for deliberate or even accidental accounting mistakes, when the most important legal entity for most Americans -- the government -- produces financial information so incomplete and inaccurate it would embarrass even an Enron accountant.

This issue of proper government accounting is important for many reasons. As one example, the current debate about Social Security involves whether the government will raise taxes or cut benefits. The current system is a Ponzi scheme in which the taxes from the workers have been spent on both the current retirees and other government programs, and hence there is no money in the "trust fund."

If a private businessman set up such a scheme, he would (rightly) go to jail for fraud. Like all Ponzi schemes, the time on this one has run out as Americans live longer and have fewer children. To prevent this type of fraud in the future, Americans must move to individual trust accounts that cannot be raided by the politicians, whether managed by the government, or privately or some combination.

In the meantime, there is the multi-trillion-dollar problem of the "transition" (or more correctly, replacing funds taken from the trust accounts by the politicians) from the current fiscally unsound to a fiscally sound system. To take care of this "transition," there may be an alternative to either reducing benefits or increasing taxes, and that is for the government to begin selling assets, like land. However, before you can begin to sell your assets in a responsible manner, you must know what they are, which requires a correct government balance sheet.

The federal government owns less than 5 percent of the land in the Eastern and Middle Western states but about 57 percent of the land in the Western states (this does not count all the land owned by state and local governments).

Some environmentalists believe the government should own all of this land (because they have yet to figure out socialism does not work); but, in fact, only a small portion of it is needed for parks, environmentally sensitive areas, and military bases. I live in Virginia where we have many fine federal, state and local parks, and several very large military bases, but the federal government owns less than 5 percent of the state. Yet we are able to protect our environment.

There are hundreds of well-researched studies that clearly show it is a myth that the government better protects and manages the land than the private sector. Land prices have been driven up in the West because of the artificial shortage created by government ownership, making housing less affordable, which is particularly hard on low-income people. Most government land has not been put to its highest and best use -- or any use -- thus negatively affecting the economy and the environment.

Selling 1 percent or 2 percent of land the government holds per year over the next 50 years might well cover the Social Security transition problem (or at least greatly reduce it), thus avoiding either tax increases or benefit cuts. How much the government can obtain for land sales, of course, depends on what land is sold, and when and how. But the future value of such sales cannot even be reliably estimated until the government has an accurate inventory of what it owns.

Ask your family and friends if they would prefer the government to: (a) Increase their taxes; (b) cut their benefits; or (c) sell surplus government land.
I personally would take c, this doesn't mean we get rid of all the park land, just 5-10% of it. Still probably more than those damn hippies would like.

Jackson trial ending

They will read the verdict at 3:30 pm CST. I will post once I hear it. I can only pray that he will get to have a chance to have Charles Mason as a closeby cellmate in the very near future. JACKSON IS GUILTY, they let a black guy off (OJ) and a white guy (Robert Blake) they will NOT let off a black guy that has turned white over the years.

wonderful news!!!!

I have an anti-blog now. Of course these unoriginal libs copied what I "patented" with ih8liberals, they have ih8conservatives, wow way to think guys! Here's a Q&A
Q: What is conservatism?
A: Conservatism is the domination of society by an aristocracy.
Q: What is wrong with conservatism?
A: Conservatism is incompatible with democracy, prosperity, and civilization in general. It is a destructive system of inequality and prejudice that is founded on deception and has no place in the modern world.
hmmm... let me try one of my own
Q: what is liberalism?
A: Liberalism is a person who has become so open-minded that their brains have fallen out; also see mental disorder
Q: What is wrong with liberalism?
A: Where to begin, it creates a welfare state where citizens rely only on the government and don't want to be a part of a free market, it always expects the best from citizens, espically those who have raped, killed, and tortured other human beings, and finally at this point it is borderline socialist and we all know how well socialism works; see Soviet Union (oh right you can't they broke up).
This should be fun everyone

the difference in my side...

I was watching American Dad earlier tonight and I realized something. That conservatives have more of a sense of humor than liberals. Note: The show American Dad makes fun of both sides but I laugh at ALL the jokes, that is the problem with liberals today they are so uptight and anal that they can't laugh at themselves, they have almost no sense of humor. I can make fun of myself and my side because I'll admit that some people can be over the top sometimes but when an over the top liberal is made fun of, most if not all liberals won't laugh. They need to lighten up and get a sense of humor, you can even read my posts on my chruch sign to see what I'm talking about.

interesting conversation...

Well I had 5 grad parties today but one of them stood out in my mind. I was at a friend who I have went to school with since 4th grade and when I said hi to one of his uncles I noticed 2 unusual tattos, they happened to mean that he was once part of the USN (United States Navy) from 1970-1980. He was in Vietnam in 1970-1972 and was almost part of WWIII in 1973. Apparently we were at DEFCON 2 (for those of you who don't know DEFCON 5 means nothing is going on and DEFCON 1 is WWIII, I'm not sure if they use it in the post-cold war era though) for 48 hours straight. He was on a nuclear submarine that had missiles pointed at every key soviet site (Moscow, St. Petersburg, etc.). Apparently there was good intel that there might be a pre-emptive strike on Israel and back then a nuke on Tel Aviv was equal to nuking Chicago or NYC. So that's how close we came once. There were many other times that WWIII was almost started but he was out of the Navy by then. I know that most, if not all, of you that post comments here are old enough to remember all the cold war tensions between us and the soviets, so I would like to hear any interesting cold war related stories any of you have. Feel free to share.

poem to an anti-us military frenchie

The following poem was found on one of AOL's message boards
written in response to a Frenchman's derogatory viewpoint about the USA.

Eleven thousand soldiers
lay beneath the dirt and stone,
all buried on a distant land
so far away from home.

For just a strip of dismal beach
they paid a hero's price,
to save a foreign nation
they all made the sacrifice.

And now the shores of Normandy
are lined with blocks of white:
Americans who didn't turn
from someone else's plight.

Eleven thousand reasons
for the French to take our side,
but in the moment of our need,
they chose to run and hide.

Chirac said every war means loss,
perhaps for France that's true,
for they've lost every battle
since the days of Waterloo.

Without a soldier worth a darn
to be found within the region,
the French became the only land
to need a Foreign Legion.

You French all say we're arrogant.
Well, we've earned the right --
we saved your sorry nation
when you lacked the guts to fight.

But now you've made a big mistake,
and one that you'll regret;
you took sides with our enemies,
and that we won't forget.

It wasn't just our citizens
you spit on when you turned,
but every one of yours who fell
the day the towers burned.

You spit upon our soldiers,
on our pilots and Marines,
and now you'll get a little sense
of just what payback means.

So keep your Paris fashions,
your wine and your champagne,
and find some other market
that will buy your airplanes.

And try to find somebody else
to wear your French cologne,
for you're about to find out
what it means to stand alone.

You see, you need us far more
than we ever needed you.
America has better friends
who know how to be true.

I'd rather stand with warriors
who have the will and might,
than huddle in the dark
with those whose only flag is white.

I'll take the Brits, the Aussies,
the Israelis and the rest,
for when it comes to valor
we have seen that they're the best.

We'll count on one another
as we face a moment dire,
while you sit on the sideline
with a sign, "friendship for hire."

We'll win this war without you
and we'll total up the cost,
and take it from your foreign aid,
and then you'll feel the loss.

And when your nation starts to fall,
well, Frenchie, you can spare us,
just call the Germans for a hand,
they know the way to Paris.

tired...

Another long day done, long but fun, I have like 5 more grad parties tommorow so I won't be posting until probably the same time tommorow, maybe later. Too tired to care about news now...

3 more grad parties... and work

Well once I leave home here in about 15-20 minutes I won't be back until probably clost to midnight tonight, I have to 2 grad parties then I work from 4-9 and then I have another grad party after that. So it's going to be a fun but long day, same tommorow but at least I don't have work.

my first poll...

I figure that I will probably leave it up for a month (until July 11th) and then do a new one, the sole purpose of it is to get an idea of what the personal beliefs are of the people that visit this site. I cannot wait for the results, who knows I might be surprised.

changing site format...

Over the next few days you will see this blog change a little bit, I am just trying to tweak where I should put all my stuff, I am still somewhat new to this and I want this site to be as presentable as possible, bear with me everyone!

looooooonggg night...

Well I just got up after my all night grad party we had in the U of M activity center. But, the hypnotist we had was amazing, it was probably one of the funniest hours I have ever seen. My classmates were up there and they were hysterical. The best part of the night was a toss up between when they were told to go out into the audience and find someone with red because it was supposed to smell nice to them and one kid literally tackled another onto the floor while "smelling his shirt" and one chased a girl up and down the theater and actually lifted her shirt above her bra! The other part that was funny is they go induced amnesia and they were told to go out into the audience and find their friends to tell them what their "name" was. The highlights were, "Aldof Hitler", "Chronic masterbating squirrel", and "Dingleberries". I laughed so hard it still hurts to a certain extent, the worst part is for those people that they will be reminded of it every class reunion until they die. Has anyone else had any memorable class grad party moments?

Off to graduation...

Well, my long 4 year journey is over, I am literally on my way out the door to head over to school for graduation and then after that the all night senior party, I still don't know where it is but it sounds like it's going to be fun. Thanks to my new ability to post pictures on my blog I will post some in the upcoming days that my parents will take tonight.

fist blog picture

Yay my first blog picture 

wow what a night!!!

Getting away from politics and back to my high school baseball team. We had game 1 at 5pm today. By the time the top of the 6th came (HS baseball is only 7 innings) we were down 7-2, but we scored 3 in the 6th and 4 in the 7th to take a 9-7 lead. Then our pitcher loaded up the bases with 2 outs in the bottom of the 7th and managed to get a ground ball to get us the win. It is a double-elimination tournament and the next game started about 45 minutes afterwards. I went over to McD's to get some food and headed back, by the time I got back BSM was already up 1-0 in the top of the first. It turns out that was all we needed but we won 7-0, our pitcher pitched a complete game shutout with 8 K's (strikeouts). We were getting bored towards the end so we decided to start cheering when the other team, Maple Grove, issued us a walk. We even held up BB signs, to be honest we were being gigantic jackasses but anyone who knows me knows I am literally a different person when I attend sporting events of any level; pro, college, or high school. It was awsome and now we go on to state!!!!! Go RED KNIGHTS!!!!!

remember the 2000 presidential election...

I do, I was an absolute independent back then watching on election night and then seeing Flordia was called for Gore, I didn't care, then they retracted it, that caught my eye. Then they called Flordia for Bush, that was a headscratcher, then they said it was too close to call, I thought that this was too damn weird and went to bed but I couldn't sleep. I stayed up half the night watching with as much confusion as the broadcasters had live on the air. The next few weeks were a blur, I remember I was sick and stayed home and watched some of the preceedings on CNN (keep in mind I was an 8th grader at the time). I remember a Ryder truck taking some ballots back and forth to places. In the end though despite all the bitching and moaning he did Gore finally conceded, that made me at least lean right; despite some of my beliefs listed below
Pro-Choice
Pro leagilization of certain drugs
Pro sex education (not abstience sp? only)
and a few others I can't think of now
The democrats are sore losers, they still believe Bush stole that election despite the fact that out of all 27 independent recounts (one done by the fricken NY Times nonetheless) done EVERY SINGLE ONE had Bush winning, granted not by a lot, I mean 527 votes in a state that has 15-20 million people, good god! They still haven't been able to let that go, even to this day. That is why I'm a conservative everyone.
Although I think that a non debateable (is that even a word?) fact is that the best thing to come from that circus was the SNL sketches witrh Will Ferrell as George Bush and Darrell Hammond as Al Gore. Those were hysterical. Anyone want to post their thoughts on what was the 2000 elections feel free.

Another new link section...

Like my link says, I warn you before you read this, also you need Adobe Acrobat Reader to see it. This stuff is unbelievable, the terrorist detainees are being treated better than our military personel there. Tell me how this is good, better yet why do we have to respect people who only believe in conversion by the sword. Also aren't these the same people who spit (sometimes literally) on the Bible and Torah? I mean come on people were being brainwashed. Everyone needs to wake up now before it's too late. I'd comment on what the document says but I am too pissed now. Everyone is welcome to read and comment on it afterwards, I'd like to see if I'm the only one angered by this since we all know I'm an insensitive conservative

high school baseball is screwy...

I just got back from the BSM game where we won 15-5 in 6 innings, there is a 10-run mercy rule after 5 innings put in by the MSHSL (Minnesota State High School League). Also there are other rules like a courtesy runner and other odd things. Anyway we have 1 maybe 2 games on wednesday. It is a double-elimination tournament so we have to win twice to get to the state tournament. I will do an update on wednesday. Go RED KNIGHTS!!!!

couple CD's I've bought lately...

2 weeks ago I bought the new NIN cd With Teeth and this weekend my dad bought the new Audioslave cd Out of Exile. Now this may not seem like a big deal and didn't to me until I realized something shocking. They were both #1 on the Billboard top 100 list in cd's sold the previous and current week. That spot is usually reserved to some pop or rap shit cd that was released. Are the American people coming around to me and my dad's taste or was this just a fluke concidence? We usually don't but "popular" music. We buy good music, this just happened to be a rare case where popular and good crossed paths. Will this happen more in the future? I'd like to hear what people think...

A little thank you...

Thanks to Zombieslayer, odograph, and occasionally paul for commenting on my site, I wasn't getting comments and was getting discouraged but now that I get comments if my posts have any substance I am more enegrized than ever. Thanks to you all and keep it up, I need to be "kept in line"!

2 more grad parties...

One guy friend and one girl friend today back-to-back. Also, hats of to France and Netherlands for rejecting the EU constitution, I will post on that, eventually...

and the grad parties begin...

Now that I am done with school I will try and do 2 posts a day one when I get up and one before I go to bed. Anyway I go to my first grad party today and this guy is pretty cool. We have been good friends and he was a kickass LB for our football team.

conversation with a liberal...

Well, I just got off AIM with the grandson of Walter Mondale and he just confirmed what I knew all along. I asked him, "so democrat=educated and republican=uneducated" and he responded of course. See I may come across thinking the dems are uneducated and they obviously aren't but niether are we. We defeated them with a president that wasn't popular in an unpopular war and they outspent us for the first time ever and they still lost! Liberals are mentally disabled I am more and more assured of it every day. He said once all the facts are out people will know. They don't even have a platform at this point. Wether or not you like it Republicans will dominate DC for the next 20-30 years unless something drastic happens very soon. Anyone disagree with me, explain to me why I'm wrong.

done with high school...

Wow what a long 4 years it has been but I got out at noon today after my last final. It has seemed like 10 years since I first set foot in that school in August 2001. Of course 2001-2002 seemed to go on forever didn't it? Anyway thanks to all my classmates for a great 4 years of high school, good luck in college. And to people respinding to my posts, thank you. I have thick skin and I can take constructive criticism. It keeps me in line as much as possible, you guys are as important to this blog as me.

conversation with my dad...

I was sitting watching the daily show tonight with my dad and he said you know why were over there in Iraq (implied that it's oil). I said if were there for oil why is oil nearly 52 dollars per fucking barrel? He just told me to connect the dots. Me and my dad agree on most things poltically related but I just can't fathom that we are in Iraq for oil. If we were it would be very cheap now, I just put up a new link called "Gas Buddy" so you can check what gas prices are in your area. Anyone else out there want to explain to me why were in Iraq and stuff for oil? And if you can do that tell me why oil is pushing $52 a barrel. If anyone can come up with a legitimate point I will comment on it. Also don't tell me your just against the war in Iraq and "No blood for oil" or other bullshit like that. Even if you don't agree with the war do you honestly think we went in there for oil?

Quotes on the military for Memorial Day...

This is long I know but it's worth reading
Fortune Favors the Bold: Attack, Attack, and Attack Once More

"Fortune favors the brave."
- Terence

"It is fatal to enter a war without the will to win it."
- General Douglas MacArthur

"A bold general may be lucky, but no general can be lucky unless he is bold."
- Field Marshal Archibald Percival Wavell

"Audacity, audacity, always audacity."
(English translation of the French Proverb)
- General George Patton Jr's Favorite Saying

"Don't say it's impossible! Turn your command over to the next officer. If he can't do it, I'll find someone who can, even if I have to take him from the ranks!"
- General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson

"Hard pressed on my right; my left is in retreat. My center is yielding. Impossible to maneuver. Situation excellent. I am attacking. Attaquez!"
- General Ferdinand Foch (to General Joffre during Battle of the Marne)

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belong to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again. Who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause. Who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."
- Theodore Roosevelt ("The Man in the Arena")

"In peace nothing so becomes a man as modest stillness and humility; but when the blast of war blows in our ears, then imitate the action of the tiger; stiffen the sinews, disguise fair nature with hard favour'd rage. . ."
- William Shakespeare ("Henry V")

"I have not yet begun to fight."
- Captain John Paul Jones (aboard the Bon Homme Richard)

"When war does come, my advice is to draw the sword and throw away the scabbard."
- General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson

"If the enemy is to be coerced, you must put him in a situation that is even more unpleasant than the sacrifice you call on him to make. The hardships of the situation must not be merely transient - at least not in appearance. Otherwise, the enemy would not give in, but would wait for things to improve."
- Carl Von Clausewitz

The Coward Dies 1,000 Deaths, The Brave Man But One

"Cowards die many times before their deaths;
the valiant never taste death but once."
- William Shakespeare ("Julius Caesar")

"Courage is like love: it must have hope for nourishment."
- Napoleon Bonaparte ("Maxims")

"Courage, an independent spark from heaven's bright throne, By which the soul stands raised, triumphant, high, alone."
- Anonymous

"Sure I am this day we are masters of our fate, that the task which has been set before us is not above our strength; that its pangs and toils are not beyond our endurance. As long as we have faith in our own cause and an unconquerable will to win, victory will not be denied us."
- Winston Churchill

"Who Dares, Wins. Who Sweats, Wins. Who Plans, Wins."
- British Special Air Service (SAS)

"Uncommon valor was a common virtue."
- Admiral Chester Nimitz (on the quality of the men under his command)

"In war, you win or lose, live or die - and the difference is an eyelash."
- General Douglas MacArthur
(as is the difference between the courageous and the coward -EM)

"The characteristic of a genuine heroism is its persistency. All men have wandering impulses, fits and starts of generosity. But when you have resolved to be great, abide by yourself, and do not weakly try to reconcile yourself with the world. The heroic cannot be common, nor the common heroic."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France. We shall fight on the seas and oceans. We shall fight with growing strength in the air. We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches. We shall fight on the landing grounds. We shall fight in the fields and in the streets. We shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender."
- Winston Churchill

"I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country."
- Nathan Hale

"Human life is the only thing that takes care of itself."
- Napoleon Bonaparte (on why he left men exposed to the enemy in Russia)

"When cities burn and armies turn and flee in disarray, cowards will cry: 'Tis best to fly, and fight another day'. But warriors know in their marrow, When they die and fall, 'tis best to have fought and lost than not to have fought at all.'"
- Anonymous

"Yea, though I walk through the 'Valley of the Shadow of Death'. I shall fear no evil. For it is I, that is the evilest bastard in the valley. My gun and my bayonet, they comfort me. I fear no one, I let them fear me. My fighting spirit runneth over!"
- Anonymous

I am Become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds

"I am become death, the destroyer of worlds."
- Robert Oppenheimer

"Never forget that a corpse never cares how it got to be so cold. Commanders should always keep in mind that they wage war through a wall of human blood, sweat, and tears whose pain they can never truly feel and whose loss they can never truly know. For they are become death: they are the destroyer of worlds."
- Ellen Mogensen

"War: that mad game the world so loves to play."
- Jonathan Swift

"The most persistent sound which reverberates through man's history is the beating of war drums."
- Arthur Koestler

"Magnificent! Compared to war all other forms of human endeavor shrink to insignificance. Gold help me, I do love it so!"
- General George Patton

"It is well that war is so terrible, else we should grow too fond of it."
- General Robert E. Lee

"There's many a boy here today who looks on war as all glory but it is all hell."
- General William T. Sherman

"If you want to know the taste of a pear, you must change the pear by eating it yourself. . . . If you want to know the theory and methods of revolution, you must take part in revolution. All genuine knowledge originates in direct experience."
- Mao Zedong

"Therefore I say: know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be in peril. When you are ignorant of the enemy but know yourself, your chances of winning or losing are equal. If ignorant both of your enemy and of yourself, you are certain in every battle to be in peril."
- Sun Tzu ("Art of War")

"When we assumed the Soldier, we did not lay aside the Citizen."
- George Washington

"On becoming soldiers we have not ceased to be citizens."
- Oliver Cromwell's Soldiers ("Humble Representation")

"I make war on the living, not the dead."
- Charles V (when advised to hang Martin Luther's corpse on the gallows)

""It's Tommy this, and Tommy that, And chuck him out the brute,
But it's 'Savior of his Country,' When the guns begin to shoot!
For God and the soldier we adore, In time of danger, not before!
The danger passed, and all things righted, God is forgotten and the soldier slighted."
- Rudyard Kipling

"The nation which forgets its defenders will be itself forgotten."
- Calvin Coolidge

He Who Hesitates Has Already Lost the Battle

"Cry 'Havoc' and let slip the dogs of War."
- William Shakespeare ("Julius Caesar")

"I can always make it a rule to get there first with the most men."
- Nathan Bedford Forrest

"In war there is but one favorable moment; the great art is to seize it!"
- Napoleon Bonaparte

"A pint of sweat will save a gallon of blood."
- General George Patton Jr

"I yield to no man in sympathy for the gallant men under my command; but I am obliged to sweat them tonight, so that I may save their blood tomorrow."
- General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson

"A good plan executed today is better than a perfect plan executed at some indefinite point in the future."
- General George Patton Jr

"Let your plans be dark and as impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt."
- Sun Tzu ("Art of War")

"I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast, for I intend to go in harm's way."
- John Paul Jones (later adopted by the US Navy's Special Boat Units)

"If you're not gonna pull the trigger, don't point the gun."
- James Baker

"There is only one tactical principle which is not subject to change. It is to use the means at hand to inflict the maximum amount of wound, death, and destruction on the enemy in the minimum amount of time."
- General George Patton Jr

"God is not on the side of the big battalions, but on the side of those who shoot best." (which Napoleon summarized as "God is on the side with the best artillery!")
- Voltaire ("The Piccini Notebooks")

"Once you get them running, you stay right on top of them, and that way a small force can defeat a large one every time... Only thus can a weaker country cope with a stronger; it must make up in activity what it lacks in strength."
- General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson

"Strength lies not in defense but in attack."
- Marquis de Acerba

"The most certain way of insuring victory is to march briskly and in good order against the enemy, always endeavoring to gain ground."
- Frederick the Great

"Go forward until the last round is fired and the last drop of gas is expended...then go forward on foot!"
- General George Patton

"Follow me if I advance! Kill me if I retreat! Revenge me if I die!"
- Ngo Dinh Diem (on becoming President of Vietnam)

Advantages Must Be Pressed, Disadvantages Must Be Overcome

"There is nothing inevitable about military victory, even for forces of apparently overwhelming strength. The Greeks at Marathon, Alexander against the Persian Empire, the success of the colonists against the British in the American Revolution, Napoleon over the Austrians in Italy... all offer dramatic evidence to the contrary. In the absence of inspired military leadership... the more powerful side wears down the weaker." (In the presence of such genius and backed by inspired troops, there is no limit to the military miracles that are possible -EM)
- Bevin Alexander

"Kill one, terrify a thousand."
- Sun Tzu ("Art of War")

"No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. You win the war, by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country!"
- General George Patton Jr

"The General Order is always:
......To manoeuver in a body and on the attack.
......To maintain strict but not pettifogging discipline.
......To keep the troops constantly at the ready.
......To employ the utmost vigilance on sentry go.
......To use the bayonet on every possible occasion.
And to follow up the enemy remorselessly until he is utterly destroyed."
- Lazare Carnot ("First Order of the Day")

"The art of using troops is this:
......When ten to the enemy's one, surround him;
......When five times his strength, attack him;
......If double his strength, divide him;
......If equally matched you may engage him;
......If weaker numerically, be capable of withdrawing;
......And if in all respects unequal, be capable of eluding him,
..........for a small force is but booty for one more powerful."
- Sun Tzu ("Art Of War")

"Once we have a war there is only one thing to do. It must be won. For defeat brings worse things than any that can ever happen in war."
- Ernest Hemmingway

"Never give in - never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy."
- Winston Churchill

"It is not big armies that win battles, it is the good ones!"
- Marshal Maurice de Saxe ("Mes Reveries")

"Everything which the enemy least expects will succeed the best."
- Frederick II of Prussia ("Instructions for his Generals")

"Stonewall Jackson would rather lose one man to hard marching, than lose five men to hard battle. Perspiration saves blood!"
- Colonel Marttinen (to his tired and battle weary men in Infantry Regiment 61)

"He who gets there the fastest with the mostest wins."
- Anonymous

"Hard pounding, gentlemen. Let's see who pounds the longest."
- Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington

Numberless Acts of Courage: The "Common" Soldier

"It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a person stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope. That ripple builds others. Those ripples - crossing each other from a million different centers of energy - build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and injustice."
- Senator Robert F. Kennedy

"I don't know what effect these men will have upon the enemy,
but, by God, they terrify me."
- Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington ("Dispatch, Aug 1810")

"Who could not conquer with such troops as these?"
- General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson

"And when they ask us how we won, And when we tell them how it's done,
We'll proudly point to every one, Those British soldiers of the Queen!"
- Soldier's Hymn (in the movie "Breaker Morant")

"It is the soldier, not the reporter, Who has given us freedom of the press.
It is the soldier, not the poet, Who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the soldier, not the organizer, Who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.
It is the soldier, Who salutes the flag, Who serves beneath the flag,
And whose coffin is draped by the flag, Who allows the protestor to burn the flag."
- Father Dennis Edward O'Brian, USMC
(often incorrectly attributed to Charles M. Province)

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."
- George Orwell (attributed)

"Soldiers have many faults, but they have one redeeming merit; they are never worshippers of force. Soldiers more than any other men are taught severely and systematically that might is not right. The fact is obvious. The might is in the hundred men who obey. The right... is in the one man who commands them."
- Gilbert Chesterton ("Thoughts Around Koepenick")

"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers. For he today that sheds his blood with me, Shall be my brother; be ne'er so vile, This day shall gentle his condition. And gentlemen in England now abed, Shall think themselves accursed they were not here, And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks, That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day."
- William Shakespeare ("King Henry V")

"When you put on a uniform there are certain inhibitions that you accept."
- General Dwight D. Eisenhower

"The most important qualification of a soldier is fortitude under fatigue and privation. Courage is only second; hardship, poverty and want are the best school for a soldier."
- Napoleon Bonaparte

"Never in the face of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few."
- Winston Churchill ("Battle of Britain")

"Lo Que Sea, Cuando Sea, Donde Sea." (Anything, Anytime, Anywhere.)
- 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne)

Numberless Acts of Sacrifice: A Man Alone in Command

"In war there is no substitute for victory."
- General Douglas MacArthur

"To command is to serve, nothing more and nothing less."
- Andre Malraux ("Man's Hope")

"Be an example to your men, in your duty and in private life. Never spare yourself, and let the troops see that you don't in your endurance of fatigue and privation. Always be tactful and well-mannered and teach your subordinates to do the same. Avoid excessive sharpness or harshness of voice, which usually indicates the man who has shortcomings of his own to hide."
- Field Marshall Erwin Rommel

"No man is fit to command another that cannot command himself."
- William Penn

"There are certain things in war of which the commander alone comprehends the importance. Nothing but his superior firmness and ability can subdue and surmount all difficulties."
- Napoleon Bonaparte

"Battles are won by slaughter and maneuver. The greater the general, the more he contributes in maneuver, the less he demands in slaughter."
- Winston Churchill

"I do not fear an army of lions, if they are led by a lamb. "I do fear an army of sheep, if they are led by a lion."
- Alexander the Great

"I had rather have a plain, russet-coated Captain, that knows what he fights for, and loves what he knows, than that you call a Gentle-man and is nothing else."
- Oliver Cromwell

"A leader is a man who had the ability to get other people to do what they don't want to do, and like it."
- Harry Truman

"I don't mind being called tough, since I find in this racket it's the tough guys who lead the survivors."
- Colonel Curtis LeMay

"There is no type of human endeavor where it is so important that the leader understands all phases of his job as that of the profession of arms."
- Major General James Fry

"Discipline is simply the art of making the soldiers fear their officers more than the enemy."
- Helvetius

"War is a matter of vital importance to the State; the province of life or death; the road to survival or ruin. It is mandatory that it be throughly studied." (especially by those who would lead others to their death -EM)
- Sun Tzu ("Art of War")

"Never give up, never surrender."
- "Captain Peter Quincy Taggart" (in the movie "Galaxy Quest")

A Noble Cause Worth Fighting and Dying For

"Freedom is never free."
- Anonymous

"These things we do that others may live."
- USAF Pararescue

"De oppresso liber." (To free the oppressed.)
- US Army Special Forces

"The human race is in the best condition when it has the greatest degree of liberty."
- Dante Aligheri

"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and success of liberty."
- John F. Kennedy

"I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right, stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong."
- Abraham Lincoln

"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives everything its value."
- Thomas Paine ("The American Crisis")

"War is an ugly thing but not the ugliest of things; the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feelings which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
- John Stuart Mill

"If a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live."
- Martin Luther King, Jr

"No man is worth his salt who is not ready at all times to risk his body, to risk his well being, to risk his life, in a great cause."
- Theodore Roosevelt

"Ask not what your country can do for you;
ask what you can do for your country."
- John F. Kennedy

"We shall meanly lose or nobly save the last hope of earth."
- Abraham Lincoln

"We make war that we may live in peace."
- Aristotle

"Let him who desires peace prepare for war."
- Vegetius

Something for all of us to think of on this Memorial Day 2005

Canadian radio commentator Gordon Sinclair delivered a stirring, pro-American editorial in 1973.
Good reading, from a Toronto newspaper's editorial page!
Widespread, but only partial news coverage was given recently to a remarkable editorial broadcast from Toronto by Gordon Sinclair, a Canadian television commentator. What follows is the full text of his trenchant remarks as printed in the Congressional Record:

This Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as most generous and possibly the least appreciated people on all the earth.

Germany, Japan and, to a lesser extent, Britain and Italy were lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans who poured in billions of dollars and forgave other billions in debts. None of these countries is today paying even the interest on its remaining debts to the United States.

When the franc was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans who propped it up, and their reward was to be insulted and swindled on the streets of Paris. I was there. I saw it. When distant cities are hit by earthquakes, it is the United States that hurries in to help. This spring, 59 American communities were flattened by tornadoes. Nobody helped.

The Marshall Plan and the Truman Policy pumped billions of dollars into discouraged countries. Now newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent, warmongering Americans. I'd like to see just one of those countries that is gloating over the erosion of the United States Dollar build its own airplane. Does any other country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet, the Lockheed Tristar, or the Douglas 10? If so, why don't they fly them? Why do all the International lines except Russia fly American planes?

Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or woman on the moon? You talk about Japanese technocracy, and you get radios. You talk about German technocracy, and you get automobiles. You talk about American technocracy, and you find men on the moon — not once, but several times - and safely home again.

You talk about scandals, and the Americans put theirs right in the store window for everybody to look at. Even their draft-dodgers are not pursued and hounded. They are here on our streets, and most of them, unless they are breaking Canadian laws, are getting American dollars from ma and pa at home to spend here.

When the railways of France, Germany and India were breaking down through age, it was the American who rebuilt them. When the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central went broke, nobody loaned them an old caboose. Both are still broke.

I can name you 5,000 times when the Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble. Can you name me even one time when someone else raced to the Americans in trouble? I don't think there was outside help even during the San Francisco earthquake.

Our neighbors have faced it alone, and I'm one Canadian who is damned tired of hearing them get kicked around. They will come out of this thing with their flag high. And when they do, they are entitled to thumb their nose at the lands that are gloating over their present troubles. I hope Canada is not one of those.

Madagascar...

The movie was actually not too bad, although I was expecting a little bit more from the people that made Shrek and Shrek2. To give you an idea, they made blatent refrences to Hawaii 5-0 and Chariots of Fire within a minute of each other. They also did a parody of the classic scene from American Beauty (you know the one where she's naked and the rose petals are falling on her). Overall despite the fact it had Ben Stiller as one of the lead voices (lion) it made up for it by having Chris Rock (zebra) and David Schwimmer (paranoid Giraffe) and Jada Pinkett Smith (Hippo) to make up for it. It had some very funny scenes and I won't give away anymore, it is worth seeing but if your expecting another Shrek you will be disappointed. I would give it 8.5 out of 10.

I gave in...

I just bought the new NIN cd "with teeth". I haven't listened all the way through it yet but "The hand that feeds" is a great song, even if he wants it to be anti-bush. If you listen to the lyrics its about blindly accepting authority for what it is, even though I'm conservative I don't do that, I tend to almost always question authority. And like I've said before I am willing to put aside politics as long as it's good music, and it doesn't get much better (or nastier) than Resner and NIN.

Hats off to our graduating class...

Well, we got our yearbooks yesterday and believe it or not they picked a good album. I was expecting 50 Cent or some pop crap to be the favorite album but it was Green Day's American Idiot. Now I know that some of (most actually) the songs take direct cheap shots at my beliefs and our president but that doesn't mean I don't know good music when I hear it. I am willing to put politics aside (except for anti-flag, those people are disgusting) and listen to their music if it has a good message. Needless to say our class picked the best and most popular (those two rarely go together) album of 2004. Now anyone who disagrees with me on that, please post and tell me what you thought the best album of 2004 was.

shifting focus...

I'm going to try and get away from politics for the next 2-3 weeks because frankly I'm sick of it, it's all too damn depressing. The only way I will post something politically related is if it's positive. Right now I'm considering new cd's to buy because I'm going to be spending a lot of time in the car over the next couple of weekends due to grad parties. I am considering the new NIN cd, anyone else got suggestions for new rock cd's?

Why all the obsession wit stupid TV shows...

Ok I don't think all tv shows are stupid I have a list I like; 24, House, Lost (new one), The Apprentice, Simpsons, Family Guy, American Dad, Malcom in the Middle, and probably a few more I forgot. But I have NEVER understood the obsession with Friends (praise the lord that it's off the air), American Idol (they can't even get it right when given a REAL musician), The OC (thank god the season's over), and basically anything on the WB. Somebody please tell me what the deal is with these shows, I'd like to think I watch intelligent shows but maybe I'm the idiot (but I highly doubt it). Seriously I would like an honest explanation. Any man or woman out there is more than welcome to respond to this (although if your a male and try to defend this I might have to question your sexuality). I'm not ripping anyone (yet) I'm just looking for answers.

meeting tonight...

I had a SD41 GOP meeting that I went to tonight. The speaker tonight was Brigadier General (Ret.) Dennis W. Schulstad who has met in person Colin Powell, Donald Rumsfeld, and George W. Bush. Very cool guy. He opened it up to Q&A after his talk and I asked him, "what do you say to those people who have the bumper sticker that says 'it will be a great day in this country when education has all the money that they need and the military has to hold a bake sale to raise funds'?" I think he was surprised by the question but quickly recovered, his response at first was very surprising. He said, "I would love the $500 billion spent every year on the military to be spent on education, but we need the military, it's kind of like life insurance. You have it but you hope you never have to use it. It's an insurance policy that the citizens of this country pays for but hopes we never have to use." WOW! what an amazing response, I'd like to see an anti-military liberal respond to that (I am aware that anti-military and liberal are damn near one in the same). The only problem I had with him was that he said it was great that people support the troops but don't support the war in Iraq. I think it's impossible to support the troops when you don't support their mission and bash them at every possible chance you have; especially when they say bring them home, just admit it people you hate the military. You know the ones that protect your freedom of speech, the ones you bash for not following "international law", the ones who put their lives on the line every day so we don't have to have a draft. For all the gripes you have about the military you should realize how lucky you are to live in this country. If you are embaressed to live in this country thats fine, THEN GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE COUNTRY AND GO TO CANADA OR EUROPE. Take your socialist asses somewhere else, you don't deserve to be protected by these great Americans.

Conversation I had at work last week...

I was talking to a classmate while we were working at Jerry's and somehow the conversation got headed in the way of politics (big surprise I know). I had told him that I may not agree with the other side but more to the point I would defend to the death their right to say it. I am not so sure that the other side would do the same for us or me because I'm Offfensivee... and Intolllerant... and other bullshit like that. It's funny how the other side always accuses us of being facist or intolerant when they are the ones that actually are. I mean have you ever heard of a pie being thrown at a liberal when their giving a speech at a college (it happened to Ann Coulter and David Horowitz)? No, we like letting the other side speak, the more they talk the more people realize they are idiots and mentally disabled. They try and silence us because they know deep down were right and need to be shut up before the american people actually think for themselves, because when that happens liberals will have NO POWER in this country and that is unthinkable to them. I may come toe-to-toe with these people but I'll let them speak, they won't do the same for me, I've already seen it.

apparently I have some power... Who knew?

Well I was reading my email earlier today and I saw a letter that was called spotty's blog, it was a link to an article I had written over two months ago here on my blog. Here's the link http://retiregeoffmichel.blogspot.com/2005/05/letter-to-young-conservative.html (I still haven't gotten the hang of links on posts, it will be figured out soon). Basically after reading the post I have to admit it is well done but it proves something I have been almost assured of since I have gotten into politics, liberals are elitests. See he thinks that I think the fillibuster is a dirty word but don't forget this debate was the complete opposite in the 90's when 17 democrats (John Kerry and Ted Kennedy included) wanted to get rid of ALL FILLIBUSTERS, not just judicial ones. He speaks at the end about how he wants the equal protection of his beliefs while they are the minority, where were the protection of conservative beliefs when Clinton slashed the military budget in the 90's? Now I have been friends with this guys kid for nearly 14 years but I hope he realizes that one letter to me will not change my beliefs, if anything it strengthens them. I am welcome to more critiques and since I respect this well-educated person (even if he may be an elitest) and I will respond to the best of my ability. By the way asking for an up or down vote for the nominees blocked by the fillibuster isn't as bad as it sounds.

my new campaign...

getting away from politics, I am on a campaign now to expose PETA for what they are, basically a bunch of hippie domestic terrorists. I'm all for animal welfare, but animals have NO RIGHTS. Hear that you stupid hippies, who are by the way probably the most mentally disabled part of the mentally disabled group.

New link section...

I had just read that NewsMax article and thought that it would be a good idea to chronicle all the things that are stupid and annoying about Howard Dean (the list is endless). Even people in his own party can't stand him, everyone in our party likes Ken Melhmen, the same cannot be said about the democrats and Dean.

technology is amazing, and scary...

For those of you who don't go to my school I was given an ISS (In-school suspension) for swearing about our retarded librarian today. Sometimes you got to take lumps along the way to fight the power, that being said I'll get to my post. Earlier this week I got my first check card in the mail and I just used it for a couple EBay purchases tonight. It only took my 5 minutes to sign up for all that and put in for a couple of bids on Twins Medallions I have missed so far. I'm not saying this is bad by any strech of the imagination but is it hard to argue that this is disturbing. It seems that the system is wayyy to easy to abuse. Hopefully our ability to keep up protecting ourselves with how fast technology will get better in the upcoming years.

Being a dad...

No, I didn't knock someone up, this is for a Christian Vocations class at school (I go to a private catholic HS for those of you who didn't know). It was a good experience and with having a choir concert last night I found it to be very hard. But I managed and I only have to have it for a few more hours. Just to let everyone know it is a hard-boiled egg. I will post later today or tommorow about the Constitutional option (I refuse to call it the nuclear option)

Newsweek does it again...

Ok, if you haven't heard this Newsweek is indirectely (or more accurately directly) related to 15 deaths in the middle east due to abuse of the Koran at Gitmo. Tell me, outside of this trying to be in more of the blame America first mantra, why would this even make news? Who cares what goes on in Guantanamo Bay? These people are not POW's they are TERRORISTS!!! Such a dirty word, but accurate nonetheless, anyone who believes the Geneva Conventions apply to these dogs (I don't consider them human, therefore they do not deserve to be treated as such) needs to have their brain checked out by a mental health specialist. I am going to try and convince my parents to get rid of their Newsweek subscription and go back to Time, the lesser of two evils.

Check out this poll...

You know how everyone is attacking Pawlenty for his job as govenor check out this poll courtesy of anti-strib bloggers right

here

John Bolton one step closer...

He got through confirmation and will get a vote on the Senate floor, possibly. Dems says they may fillibuster him, good luck with that.

diving into some liberal mindthought...

I was just reading a blog about a lefty nut that I kind of I know (I will not care to tell you so he doesn' get anymore publicity). And he was ranting about all things those yellow ribbons people wear and the magnetic ones people put on their cars. That wasn't the most amazing part of the article, the most amazing quote came from one of his friends and I will quote it word for word: "I don't like the ribbons either, but is it proper to ask people to remove them? Im not sure, I just know that my opinion warrents me to look down on them, most of them anyway. But to understand that they have a right to their ignorance." I think everyone out there should read that again. So basically anyone who isn't anti-war is ignorant huh? Well I guess I'm nothing more than a two-bit hick who needs to have elitests talk down to me and help me understand why I'm such a moron... I have said it before and I will say it again, Liberalism is a mental disorder. Go out and spread the word!

Amazing school newspaper article...

This article I am going to post here is word-for-word. It was written by a senior named Chuck Benincasa who is a very smart, sane, conservative. I will be putting my own comments in parenthesis when I feel the need to comment on it.
Here is the article:
Ann Coulter proves that strong women can be conservative
In politics today, if you are a woman and a Democrat with strong opinions and outspoken convictions, you are considered an independent and confident woman. If you are a Republican woman with strong opinions and outspoken convictions, you are considered ignorant and a thorn in the side of the women's rights movement (truer words were never spoken)
New York Time's bestselling author, conservative Ann Coulter, is an example of such a woman who is harassed and cut down by the left not becuase she speaks untruths, but because she is a strong, confident, independend, REPUBLICAN woman. As soon as the "R" word is added, it's as if the devil had brought them into the world (no shit man, I couldn't agree more).
People need to stop trying to attack Ann Coulter (like throwing pies at her on stage while she's trying to speak), ir any other conservative woman for that matter, with useless name-calling, degrading dehumanization, and statements defaming her character (she can take it though). Ann Coulter represents the intelligent, educated, intellectual women of this country who proudly stand behing their conservative beliefs.
Yes, Ann Coulter us quite opinionated and outspoken (watch FOX News Hannity & Colmes sometime to see what he is talking about, or read one of her books), but she is not a woman hater, and she is not a racist as people have labeled her (I can relate to that, stupid PC liberals...). She is a woman who tells it like it is, using nothing but old-fashioned common sense, along with her degree in constitutional law, an item that does not pad the resume of Senator Clinton or Janeane Garofalo (Garofalo didn't even go to college).
Apparently, though, if you def the boundaries set by political correctness (the dirtiest word in the english language if I may say so), you are racist, or a bigot. Democrats and the liberal left know that Coulter is not a racist, but that word has so much pizzazz, that they throw it at her so that they don't have to actually respond to her real message.
People name-call and slander, but for some reason her questions are always dodged (maybe because she's always right, oh wait I forgot she's a racist moron...). Until someone can actually rebut her statements (instead of giving proof why she is right) or has the intestinal fortitude to take her on in a debate (I dream of the day that happens), people need to put the nasty names away and stop trying to hypocritically crutch one of the most brilliant female minds in current politics (screw the female part, she is one of the most brilliant minds in current politics today male or female).

Support the MMP

For those of you who haven't heard the Minuteman Project (MMP) lasted about a month and was a huge success. I am signing up to help these true Americans who believe in the protection of our borders with Mexico AND Canada. That is their next step. These people have the balls to do what neither the Democrats OR Republicans will do, so where government drops the ball citizens pick it up and make it work. I like Bush overall but I (and many other Republicans) can't stand his stance on illegal immigration. Calling these people vigilantes is counter-productive considering how these illegals are raping our economy. Besides most of the volunteers are ex-military and some are LEGAL IMMIGRANTS FROM OTHER COUNTRIES!!!!!!! Try and find that fact out from the liberal media, they aren't all white, NRA rednecks as they would like you to think

more links...

I have introduced a non-political section of links in my blog. The band list will be growing, that's all I could remember off the top of my head. On a sidenote I went to Normandale for orientation yesterday and it was ok. I still hope that I can get into the U at the last minute.

government taking my money...

I've only been working a few weeks, and I have noticed that taxes on my paycheck aren't as bad as I had thought they would be. So far the government has only taken about 14.4% of my paycheck. Out of that Federal is 32.6% of the taxes, Social Security is 36.5%, Medicare is 8.6% and good 'ol Minnesota takes about 22% of those taxes I pay. All in all not bad. It is interesting that Medicare is arguably in more of a crisis than Social Security but the taxes are 450% higher on Social Security.

Twins promotion...

I have been collecting those medallions that the Twins have been offering this past week. It is cool because I like to collect this stuff, plus the money goes to charity. I think all those who read this in the MSP area should go out and collect these things.

South Park conservative...

Yeah I know I said Savage's book "Liberalism is a Mental Disorder" was the best book out now but this one is a close second. I can really relate to this book, on how the youth of this country are sick of the PC (politcally correct) liberals. Especially the ones who constantly listen to National People's Radio (if you don't get it, it's not worth explaining). I'll do another post once I'm finished with the book.

A look, Yankees vs. Twins

Ok, to those of you who only know me through my blog this may come as a shock to you that I am a HUGE sports fan. I thought it would be fun to compare my Twins (17-11 2nd AL Central) and the overrated, overpaid New York Yankees (11-19 5th AL East). First lets start with the obvious, payroll, New York $205,938,439 (1st in MLB by nearly $80 million). Minnesota, $56,615,000 (20th in MLB). Johan Santana will be making $10 million starting in 2006, 10 Yankee players are making more than that this year!!! (I think you should read that again) The only player who might be worth more than that is Randy Johnson, and with the way he is playing this year he's not worth that much. In the end though I know it is only May 6th and this is the Yankees were talking about here. I will do periodic updates comparing the two clubs. It is fun comparing the overpaid to the underpaid.

New Yorkers say no to Hillary,

New York is as blue as they come, and by 2-1 (60%-30%) they say that Hillary should pledge to fill out her 6 year term if she re-elected in 2006. That's an amazing stat. For what it's worth I hope that the Dems nominate her for 2008. I am banking that we will either nominate Condi Rice, or hopefully Rudy Gulianni. I am starting to think that the Dems like to nominate someone who doesn't have a chance, they like feeling superior to the rest of the world because they are 'smarter' than everyone else in this 'dumb' country.

The right perspective on the Iraq war

Here's what former politican and astronaut John Glenn says about the Iraq war, I could not have said this any better.

THE RIGHT PERSPECTIVE:

WHAT SENATOR JOHN GLENN SAID, Scroll down.

Things that make you think a little........

There were 39 combat related killings in Iraq during January....

In the fair city of Detroit there were 35 murders in the month of January.

That's just one American city, about as deadly as the entire war torn country of Iraq.

When some claim President Bush shouldn't have started this war, state the following...

FDR...led us into World War II. Germany never attacked us: Japan did. From 1941-1945, 450,000 lives were lost, an average of 112,500 per year.

Truman...finished that war and started one in Korea, North Korea never attacked us. From 1950-1953, 55,000 lives were lost, an average of 18,334 per year.

John F. Kennedy...started the Vietnam conflict in 1962. Vietnam never attacked us. Johnson...turned Vietnam into a quagmire. From 1965-1975, 58,000 lives were lost, an average of 5,800 per year.

Clinton...went to war in Bosnia without UN or French consent, Bosnia never attacked us. He was offered Osama bin Laden's head on a platter three times by Sudan and did nothing. Osama has attacked us on multiple occasions.

In the years since terrorists attacked us President Bush has ....liberated two countries; crushed the Taliban; crippled al-Qaida; put nuclear inspectors in Libya, Iran, and North Korea without firing a shot; and captured a terrorist who slaughtered 300,000 of his own people.

The Democrats are complaining about how long the war is taking, but...It took less time to take Iraq than it took Janet Reno to take the Branch Davidian compound- That was a 51-day operation.

We've been looking for evidence of chemical weapons in Iraq for less time than it took Hillary Clinton to find the Rose Law Firm billing records.

It took less time for the 3rd Infantry Division and the Marines to destroy the Medina Republican Guard than it took Ted Kennedy to call the police after his Oldsmobile sank at Chapaquiddick.

It took less time to take Iraq than it took to count the votes in Florida!!!!

Our Commander-In-Chief is doing a GREAT JOB! The Military morale is high!

The biased media hopes we are too ignorant to realize the facts.

thoughts on UK election...

While I may not agree with everything Blair stands for I hope he gets re-elected tommorow. His staunch support for the war is admirable considering 70% of the country was against the invasion at one point. He is NOT Bush's lap dog. The man has a mind of his own people and we need as many of these people around the world as possible.

meeting...

Eh it was ok, the highlight was when the german presenter took a cheap shot at Bush and the room was dead silent. Apparently this guy didn't get the memo that most investors are Republican because they like low taxes and capitalism. I fell asleep partly midway through and while it was interesting comparing psychology and investing but it was focused wayyy too much on psychology. I have a great psychology teacher, I wanted to hear about how that and investing relate, not get a recap of things I have learned over the last 3 months.

going to a investment meeting today

It should be very fun. We leave in about 3 hours. At school I'm saying it's an "evil capitalist meeting" I'm going to just to piss off the hippy socialist liberals. Espically the librarian who is a card carrying member of the ACLU. Speaking of that I will talk about them in an upcoming post. I will have an update on how the meeting went later today after I get home from work

random thoughts

well instead of ranting about stuff but instead I thought I would talk about the re-premire of Family Guy and the series premire of American Dad. Both are great shows and should succeed in thier timeslots. I am huge fans of both shows and I think that they will become very popular.

Prom

Okay, moving away from my ranting about current events I attended my Senior Prom last night. It was very fun and tiring, my date was fun but wasn't able to dance much due to a bad skiing accident she had during spring break. We both got a lot of complements from friends about how nice we looked and that was cool. By far the highlight of the night would have to be when they play "The Beautiful People" by Manson (the only good song he ever did). I had a great time and I'm glad I went since neither of my parents went to their prom. I will most likely be back to my rants tommrow, probably about North Korea.

long weekend...

I get Friday off, maybe the republicans in DC will finally get around to using the constitutional option.

Michael Savage's new book,

Liberalism is a Mental Disorder has been #6 and #7 on the NY Times best seller list for the 2 weeks since it's release. And with little to no press about his book that is truly amazing

links!

Yay, I finally figured out how to do links on this thing, soon I will have a lot more.

Error America just crossed a fine line...

Thanks to a report filed by the Drudge report, I found out that they actually did something criminal, yes criminal, last night. Here's the story

The red-hot rhetoric over Social Security on liberal talkradio network AIR AMERICA has caught the attention of the Secret Service, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.
Government officials are reviewing a skit which aired on the network Monday evening -- a skit featuring an apparent gunshot warning to the president!
The announcer: "A spoiled child is telling us our Social Security isn't safe anymore, so he is going to fix it for us. Well, here's your answer, you ungrateful whelp: [audio sound of 4 gunshots being fired.] Just try it, you little bastard. [audio of gun being cocked]."
The audio production at the center of the controversy aired during opening minutes of The Randi Rhodes Show.
"What is with all the killing?" Rhodes said, laughing, after the clip aired.
"Even joking about shooting the president is a crime, let alone doing it on national radio... we are taking this very seriously," a government source explained.

Wow what a classy move everyone, I'm sure more people will start listening now. Need I say it again? Yes of course I do, liberalism is a mental disorder

Thoughts on the "Nuclear option"

Well, if Frist has the balls it looks like the constitutional option (or nuclear option as libs like to call it) will be on the table. I personally am for this. And I find it so funny that Demoncats were ranting about that faith formation rally yesterday, they can't stand it when our side tries to bring churches and religion into politics. But last election cycle they remained surprisingly silent when Kerry spoke nearly every sunday at a black church trying to sure up his base. Ah hypocrisy, is there nothing better to get your point across? On a final note on this one of my good moderate friends is quick to point out that 200+ judges have been confirmed, while true he makes it seem like the people that haven't been confirmed have got a vote, they haven't. They deserve an up or down vote period. The longer Harry Reid & Co. stall, the greater their loss in 2006 and 2008. Go on Harry, shut down the Senate, I dare you.

New book I'm reading...

last night after picking up my first paycheck from Jerry's I went over to Barns& Noble trying to find Michael Savage's new book; Liberalism is a mental disorder. Unfortunately the book was taken off the front shelf which is where it was when I checked the day before, so I had to spend like 10 painful minutes searchinig before I came up with it. I also saw books there I would get in the future, most notably, "South Park conservative" which looks really funny. Anyway, I'm through the first chapter and I'm impressed so far, he lays into Bush about his handling of Iraq after Baghdad fell and it's hard to argue his reasoning. I will not say anymore for people who want to put down $20 to read it or borrow it at the library. By the way, it's the best $20 I have EVER spent.

We have a pope...

Well after deciding after only 2 days in conclave, the college of cardinals elected the 265th pope of the Catholic church. I have to say that I was surprised at how quickly this was done and how many differing opinions there are on Ratzinger or Benedict XVI. I am doing an informal poll of all adults in m school of what they think. Here are the results so far; bad choice:5 good choice:1 indifferent/don't know enough yet:6. I fall into the indifferent category. Once he makes his first real big policy decision I will make my decision. I have heard that he wants to reconcile with other churches which is good, one thing I cannot stand is the arrogance of the Catholic religion.

New job

for those of you who don't know I just started a new job over at Jerry's foods in Edina last week. I will try and update this blog as often as I can but it will be inconsistant, as always. I also just recently bought MVP Baseball 2005 for the PS2 and it is a sweet game. I play it whenever I get the chance to.
On a much different note, the conclave has started and it looks like we might actually have a new pope before the week is over.

New TV show on NBC 'Revelations'

I just watched the series debut of Revelations, a new show about the End of Days on NBC. Bill Pullman is the main character and has done a great job so far. It is a fancinating show and I can't help but wonder about the timing of this show. It seems odd with all that is going on in this world now, from the tsunamis to the eathquakes to the pope's death. Is there more to this than meets the eye? Probably not but it can't hurt to wonder...

Dems still in denial

Ok, after coming back from a 3 mile run at Lake Harriet on Saturday as I was coming up to France Ave. I looked across the street and saw something amazing. A Kerry/Edwards sign!!! My god people, its been over 5 months since he lost, get over it! This is exactly why the liberals in this country are so screwed up. They are still going on about how Bush stole both the 2000 and 2004 elections and are praying Hillary can reverse the trend in 2008. They have completely lost what little sanity they had left. All I can say is that in about 18 months it will be fun to wipe the floor with them being even less of a minority in the government. Michael Savage's book is coming out tommrow, Liberalism is a Mental Disorder. Kind of funny how no one, even on the right, is talking about this. He is going to do amazing things with this book.

Lists of Cardinals who will vote...

This is courtesy of newsmax.com, http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2005/4/8/223022.shtml

EUROPE:
Francisco Alvarez Martinez, 79, Spain (2001), Archbishop Emeritus of Toledo
Carlos Amigo Vallejo, 70, Spain (2003), Archbishop of Seville
Ennio Antonelli, 68, Italy (2003), Archbishop of Florence
Audrys Juozas Backis, 68, Lithuania (2001), Archbishop of Vilnius
Philippe Xavier Ignace Barbarin, 54, France (2003), Archbishop of Lyon
Tarcisio Bertone, 70, Italy (2003), Archbishop of Genoa
Giacomo Biffi, 76, Italy (1985), Archbishop Emeritus of Bologna
Josip Bozanic, 56, Croatia (2003), Archbishop of Zagreb
Agostino Cacciavillan, 78, Italy (2001), President Emeritus of Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, Roman Curia
Ricardo Maria Carles Gordo, 78, Spain (1994), Archbishop Emeritus of Barcelona
Marco Ce, 79, Italy (1979), Patriarch Emeritus of Venice
Desmond Connell, 79, Ireland (2001), Archbishop Emeritus of Dublin
Jose da Cruz Policarpo, 69, Portugal (2001), Patriarch of Lisbon
Godfried Danneels, 71, Belgium (1983), Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels
Salvatore De Giorgi, 74, Italy (1998), Archbishop of Palermo
Peter Erdo, 52, Hungary (2003), Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest
Michele Giordano, 74, Italy (1988), Archbishop of Naples
Jozef Glemp, 75, Poland (1983), Archbishop of Warsaw
Zenon Grocholewski, 65, Poland (2001), Prefect Emeritus of Catholic Education, Roman Curia
Julian Herranz Casado, 75, Spain (2003), President Emeritus of Interpretation of Legislative Texts, Roman Curia
Lubomyr Husar, 72, Ukraine (2001), Major Archbishop of Lviv
Marian Jaworski, 78, Ukraine (1998), Archbishop of Lviv
Walter Kasper, 72, Germany (2001), President Emeritus of Promoting Christian Unity, Roman Curia
Karl Lehmann, 68, Germany (2001), Bishop of Mainz
Jean-Marie Lustiger, 78, France (1983), Archbishop Emeritus of Paris
Franciszek Macharski, 77, Poland (1979), Archbishop of Kracow
Francesco Marchisano, 75, Italy (2003), President Emeritus of Sacred Archaeology, Roman Curia
Eduardo Martinez Somalo, 78, Spain (1988), Chamberlain of Apostolic Chamber, Roman Curia
Carlo Maria Martini, 78, Italy (1983), Archbishop Emeritus of Milan
Renato Raffaele Martino, 72, Italy (2003), President Emeritus of Justice and Peace, Roman Curia
Joachim Meisner, 71, Germany (1983), Archbishop of Cologne
Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, 72, Britain (2001), Archbishop of Westminster
Attilio Nicora, 68, Italy (2003), President Emeritus of Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, Roman Curia
Keith Michael Patrick O'Brien, 67, Ireland (2003), Archbishop of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh, Scotland
Bernard Panafieu, 74, France (2003), Archbishop of Marseille
Laszlo Paskai, 77, Hungary (1988), Archbishop Emeritus of Esztergom-Budapest
Severino Poletto, 72, Italy (2001), Archbishop of Turin
Mario Francesco Pompedda, 75, Italy (2001), Prefect Emeritus of Apostolic Signatura, Roman Curia
Paul Poupard, 74, France (1985), President Emeritus of Culture, Roman Curia
Janis Pujats, 74, Latvia (1998), Archbishop of Riga
Vinko Puljic, 59, Bosnia-Herzegovina (1994), Archbishop of Sarajevo
Joseph Ratzinger, 77, Germany (1977), Prefect Emeritus of Doctrine of the Faith, Roman Curia
Giovanni Battista Re, 71, Italy (2001), Prefect Emeritus of Bishops, Roman Curia
Antonio Maria Rouco Varela, 68, Spain (1998), Archbishop of Madrid
Camillo Ruini, 74, Italy (1991), Auxiliary Bishop of Rome
Jose Saraiva Martins, 73, Portugal (2001), Prefect Emeritus of Causes of Saints, Roman Curia
Cristoph Schoenborn, 60, Austria (1998), Archbishop of Vienna
Henri Schwery, 72, Switzerland (1991), Archbishop Emeritus of Sion
Angelo Scola, 63, Italy (2003), Patriarch of Venice
Sergio Sebastiani, 73, Italy (2001), President Emeritus of Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See, Roman Curia
Crescenzio Sepe, 61, Italy (2001), Prefect Emeritus of Evangelization of Peoples, Roman Curia
Adrianus Johannes Simonis, 73, Netherlands (1985), Archbishop of Utrecht
Angelo Sodano, 77, Italy (1991), Secretary Emeritus of State, Roman Curia
Georg Maximilian Sterzinsky, 69, Germany (1991), Archbishop of Berlin
Jean-Louis Pierre Tauran, 61, France (2003), Archivist of Vatican Secret Archives, Roman Curia
Dionigi Tettamanzi, 71, Italy (1998), Archbishop of Milan
Miloslav Vlk, 72, Czech Republic (1994), Archbishop of Prague, Czech Republic
Friedrich Wetter, 77, Germany (1985), Archbishop of Munich
---
LATIN AMERICA:
Geraldo Majella Agnelo, 71, Brazil (2001), Archbishop of Sao Salvador da Bahia
Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 68, Argentina (2001), Archbishop of Buenos Aires
Dario Castrillon Hoyos, 75, Colombia (1998), Prefect Emeritus of Clergy, Roman Curia
Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne, 61, Peru (2001), Archbishop of Lima
Francisco Javier Errazuriz Ossa, 71, Chile (2001), Archbishop of Santiago
Jose Freire Falcao, 79, Brazil (1988), Archbishop Emeritus of Brasilia
Claudio Hummes, 70, Brazil (2001), Archbishop of Sao Paulo
Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez, 68, Dominican Republic (1991), Archbishop of Santo Domingo
Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, 69, Colombia (1983), President Emeritus of Family, Roman Curia
Javier Lozano Barragan, 72, Mexico (2003), President Emeritus of Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers, Roman Curia
Jorge Arturo Medina Estevez, 78, Chile (1998), Prefect Emeritus of Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Roman Curia
Miguel Obando Bravo, 79, Nicaragua (1985), Archbishop Emeritus of Managua
Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino, 68, Cuba (1994), Archbishop of Havana
Rodolfo Quezada Toruno, 73, Guatemala (2003), Archbishop of Guatemala
Norberto Rivera Carrera, 62, Mexico (1998), Archbishop of Mexico City
Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga, 62, Honduras (2001), Archbishop of Tegucigalpa
Pedro Rubiano Saenz, 72, Colombia (2001), Archbishop of Bogota
Juan Sandoval Iniguez, 72, Mexico (1994), Archbishop of Guadalajara
Eusebio Oscar Scheid, 72, Brazil (2003), Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro
Adolfo Antonio Suarez Rivera, 78, Mexico (1994), Archbishop Emeritus of Monterrey
Julio Terrazas Sandoval, 69, Bolivia (2001), Archbishop of Santa Cruz de la Sierra
---
NORTH AMERICA:
Aloysius Matthew Ambrozic, 75, Canada (1998), Archbishop of Toronto
William Wakefield Baum, 78, Washington (former archbishop) (1976), Major Penitentiary Emeritus of Apostolic Penitentiary, Roman Curia
Edward Michael Egan, 73, New York (2001), Archbishop of New York
Francis Eugene George, 68, Chicago (1998), Archbishop of Chicago
William Henry Keeler, 74, Baltimore (1994), Archbishop of Baltimore
Bernard Francis Law, 73, Boston (1985), Archbishop Emeritus of Boston
Roger Michael Mahony, 69, Los Angeles (1991), Archbishop of Los Angeles
Adam Joseph Maida, 75, Detroit (1994), Archbishop of Detroit
Theodore Edgar McCarrick, 74, Washington (2001), Archbishop of Washington
Marc Ouellet, 60, Canada (2003), Archbishop of Quebec City
Justin Francis Rigali, 69, Philadelphia (2003), Archbishop of Philadelphia
James Francis Stafford, 72, Denver (former archbishop) (1998), Major Penitentiary of Apostolic Penitentiary, Roman Curia
Edmund Casimir Szoka, 77, Detroit (former archbishop) (1988), President of Governatorate of Vatican City State, Roman Curia
Jean-Claude Turcotte, 68, Canada (1994), Archbishop of Montreal
---
AFRICA:
Bernard Agre, 79, Ivory Coast (2001), Archbishop of Abidjan
Francis Arinze, 72, Nigeria (1985), Prefect Emeritus of Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Roman Curia
Frederic Etsou-Nzabi-Bamungwabi, 74, Democratic Republic of Congo (1991), Archbishop of Kinshasa
Wilfrid Fox Napier, 64, South Africa (2001), Archbishop of Durban
Anthony Olubunmni Okogie, 68, Nigeria (2003), Archbishop of Lagos
Polycarp Pengo, 60, Tanzania (1998), Archbishop of Dar-es-Salaam
Armand Gaetan Razafindratandra, 79, Madagascar (1994), Archbishop of Antananarivo
Christian Wiyghan Tumi, 74, Cameroon (1988), Archbishop of Douala
Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, 56, Ghana (2003), Archbishop of Cape Coast
Emmanuel Wamala, 78, Uganda (1994), Archbishop of Kampala
Gabriel Zubeir Wako, 64, Sudan (2003), Archbishop of Khartoum
---
ASIA:
Ignace Moussa I Daoud, 74, Syria (2001), Prefect Emeritus of Oriental Churches, Roman Curia
Julius Riyadi Darmaatmadja, 70, Indonesia (1994), Archbishop of Jakarta
Ivan Dias, 68, India (2001), Archbishop of Bombay
Stephen Fumio Hamao, 75, Japan (2003), President Emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples, Roman Curia
Michael Michai Kitbunchu, 76, Thailand (1983), Archbishop of Bangkok
Jean-Baptiste Pham Minh Man, 70, Vietnam (2003), Archbishop of Ho Chi Minh City
Peter Seiichi Shirayanagi, 76, Japan (1994), Archbishop Emeritus of Tokyo
Jaime Lachica Sin, 76, Philippines (1976), Archbishop Emeritus of Manila
Telesphore Placidus Toppo, 65, India (2003), Archbishop of Ranchi
Ricardo J. Vidal, 74, Philippines (1985), Archbishop of Cebu
Varkey Vithayathil, 77, India (2001), Major Archbishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly
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AUSTRALIA:
George Pell, 63, Australia (2003), Archbishop of Sydney
Thomas Stafford Williams, 75, New Zealand (1983), Archbishop Emeritus of Wellington

Last post on John Paul the Great...

First off the reason I am calling him that is because I think it is inevitable that he will become a saint soon. I have not watched much of the news lately, it's sad and everything but I've had enough of death news lately. I will be watching the conclave when it starts and hopefully making 1-2 posts on a daily basis. I mean this only happens 3-4 times during a lifetime and the process is so interesting. I have also heard that John Kerry is sending lawyers to monitor the voting, need I explain anymore why this guy lost to Bush the "dumb" candidate. Kerry isn't the sharpest knife on the tree if you know what I mean (I am aware the saying is screwed up, ok?). I am betting that the next pope comes out of Africa, and if that does happen look for a complete division of the church. Things could get really ugly for Catholics in the upcoming years.

thoughts on Pope John Paul II

Well, after hearing the sad news that the Pope had moved on to his afterlife I saw all the people crying on TV and to be honest I just couldn't. I mean it's depressing obviously but this guy accomplished so much in 26 1/2 years as pope it's hard to cry because he lived his life so well. I may not have agreed with his stance on a lot of issues but this guy deserves everyone's respect. I mean when you get the anti-religion Chinese government come out and wish him the best when he was still hanging in there, that shows you how much he accomplished. Without him communism would still probably be around. I have the upmost respect for the pope and it will be very hard for the next guy coming in. He has some big shoes to fill. I will do another update or two on this to gauge reactions at my Catholic high school.