Wow! Looks like my comment has drawn the most votes on Flopping Aces recent 'Caption This' contest celebrating their millionth visitor milestone.  YEAH!! 

I'm looking forward to modeling the T-shirt while sipping latte from my new mug and cuddling up with the guys from Flopping Aces. Stay tuned for photos!

Seriously, I can't imagine a woman in a greater need of  face-lift therapy as Hilary.  However,  scalpels and botox will never disguise her socialist core. 

 

 Again, my thanks to the fabulously talented investigative bloggers over at Flopping Aces -  you are my inspiration.

UPDATE: Upon reflection of my initial comments, I feel the need to amend my comments to include Madame Pelosi as a close second, immediately followed by Babs Boxer. 

 

 Today, a milestone has been achieved at Flopping Aces.

According to Curt over at FA:

Well, today we've hit the one millionth mark! It happened at 10:20:55 am PST from a Navy Base account:

gate-5-sandiego.nmci.navy.mil from this IP = 138.163.0.37. The one millionth hit was doing a google image search for Navy Seal Jaems E. Suh which landed the reader to this post and viewed this image of James.

Congratulations to Curt, Rob, Wordsmith, and Mike for their efforts in achieving this notable mark.

I've been told from some very credible sources that Madame Clinton was quite impressed upon learning that FA hit the million visitor mark....

 Dont forget to vote for best caption to the above picture.  The last caption in the third list is quite a doozy.

 

 

THE STORY OF TWO HOUSES: 

Look over the descriptions of the following two houses and see it you can tell which belongs to an outspoken environmentalists.

HOUSE # 1:

A 20-room mansion (not including 8 bathrooms) heated by natural gas. Add on a pool (and a pool house) and a separate guest house all heated by gas. In ONE MONTH ALONE this mansion consumes more energy than the average American household in an ENTIRE YEAR. The average bill for electricity and natural gas runs over $2,400,000 per month. In natural gas alone (which last time we checked was a fossil fuel), this property consumes more than 20 times the natural average for an American home. This house is not in a northern or Midwestern "snow belt". It's in the South.

HOUSE #2:

Designed by an architecture professor at a leading national university, this house incorporates every "green" feature current home construction can provide. The house contains only 4,000 square feet (4 bedrooms) and is nestled on arid high prairie in the American Southwest. A central closet in the house holds geothermal heat pumps drawing ground water through pipes sunk 300 feet into the ground. The water (usually 67 degrees F.) heats the house in winter and cools it in the summer. The system uses no fossil fuels such as oil or natural gas, and it consumes 25% of the electricity required for a conventional heating/cooling system. Rainwater from the roof goes into underground purifying tanks and then into the cistern. The collected water then irrigates the land surrounding the house. Flowers and shrubs native to the area blend the property into the surrounding rural landscape.

HOUSE #1 (20 room energy guzzling mansion) is outside of Nashville, Tenn. It is the abode of that renown environmentalist (and filmaker) Al Gore.

HOUSE #2 (model eco-friendly house) is on a ranch near Crawford, Texas. Also known as "the Texas White House," it is the private residence of the President of the United States, George W. Bush.

HAPPY EARTH DAY TO ALL THE INHABITANTS OF THIS PLANET!

PEACE OUT!

 

 

 

On the first spring-like weekend of the year, I motored out into the wilds of Harrisburg to attend the 2007 Pennsylvania Leadership Conference. The two day conference was hosted by the Pennsylvania Leadership Council, Inc with support from The Club for Growth - PA and the Commonwealth Foundation.

I was unable to attend Friday's lectures due to work commitments, so I set out early Saturday morning to attend this conference.

The Keynote speaker scheduled for Saturday was the Hon. Newt Gingrich. Arriving early, I had the opportunity to browse around the various booths set up outside the lecture rooms. While speaking with representatives from Newsguests.com, I mentioned the mobile blogging experiment of March 17th's Gathering of Eagles pro troop rally. They seemed quite interested in the concept and I'm hoping this will become a resource to build upon the success of the first mobile blogging experiment.

Never one who is backwards about being forward, I struck up conversations with other attendees and lecturers. Jethro Heiko, activist for Casino Free Philadelphia, explained his push to keep casinos from being built next to residential areas. I even had the opportunity for a photo op with one of the Speakers.




Yep, that is Newt Gingrich posing for a picture with yours truly. The  gentleman pictured to the left of Newt is a military pilot who has done tours in Iraq. On an aside note, I plan on forwarding Curt's investigation of Jamil Hussein to Kevin. I believe the two would have lots to discuss on that matter.

Newt's speech to a packed ballroom was far better than I expected. Several of his key points were dead on in political, conservative and rational sense.

• Change your perception of 'That's a good idea, but we can't do it because of..." to "Yes that is good point, however, have you considered this idea..."
•  An ATM in Slovenia can dole out money from your properly identified bank account on demand, yet today, the federal government can't locate 11 million illegal residents in the US.
• Limiting of personal choices by the government is never a good idea and only serves to remove power from the people. He used a brilliant analogy regarding the difference choice makes by comparing Medicaid/Medicare to a ocean cruise ship.
•  He shared some great statistics on the clean energy source that is nuclear power. Essentially if anyone is serious about reducing carbon emissions, nuclear power would have put us light years ahead of the established Kyoto goals.
•  In order to see a change in this country, the grassroots level is where to begin. The Presidency is too narrow in scope to affect real change, that comes from the ground level and upwards. He did state that he was not interested in running for President in 08 and cited the above as one of the reasons.
•  My one beef with his speech was an observation that he made regarding the audience being interested in changing the government. The audience cheered and clapped at that remark - I rolled my eyes. They got the change they were seeking in the 06 election cycle and they are NOT happy about it? The old axiom - 'Be careful of what you wish for.....you might get it' has never been more clearer than with this audience response. We, as conservatives, got what we wished for in 06 - CHANGE. Now we have to lie in the bed we made till 08. **SIGH**

At the end of the day, I do believe this conference was worth the early morning motoring and quite beneficial to my understanding of Pennsylvania politics.  

One other point that I almost forgot....the results of PLC's informal Presidential Straw Poll showed Fred Thompson far ahead of the rest of the pack of potiential RNC presidential nominees. 

Photo Friday Theme:  The Country

Each week Photo Friday posta a photo assignment. Your mission, should you choose to accept, is the creative interpretation of the weeks's theme. When you are done, post the picture you took to your website and submit your link to Photo Friday. 

It is to my great shame as an American and Democrat to witness this Senator abandon our soldiers and the citizens of Iraq. Senator Reid's ill measured comments signal to the world and more importantly to terrorists that America can be beaten without much effort. It sends a clear message to the Iraqis and oppressed civilians worldwide that America will not support your struggle to end tyranny and foment democracy.  The last time the Senate acted in such a cowardly manner, over 3 million people died. The US cut and ran from Southeast Asia without a surrender plan, and in our wake, millions were put to death. If the words of Senator Reid become reality,  I have no doubt that the world will witness a return of the ‘killing fields’ in Iraq.

Adding insult to injury, Democratic senators have put forth a restrictive funding bill that will be felt most keenly by our troops in Iraq. These valiant men and women will begin to run short of ammunition, armor, replacement parts, vehicles, food and medical supplies. It will become more difficult to replace the wounded and rotate troops out of combat. The terrorists, whom our soldiers defeat daily, and burdened with no such hardships, will have increased opportunity to kill civilians and soldiers with impunity.

The actions of Senator Reid and the DNC controlled Congress reveal an indifference to how many innocent American and Iraqi people are butchered as they claim “concern" for US soldiers. The cost of the liberation of Iraq has been held as a reason for ending ( read: losing) this war. Does the cost of surrender include $74 million for peanut storage, $252 million for dairy interests, and $25 million for spinach?  Just because one loses a battle, doesn't mean the War is lost!  If Senators such as Harry Reid were in charge of WWII, we definitely would have lost the war before we had a chance to win it!

Give troop surge a chance, it's only been in effect for a few months.  It's too early to quit and run! There are approximately 30M Iraqis and approximately 300M Americans, we can win this war by the numbers, not to mention we have a higher kill-ratio than the insurgents.

Congress has the power to declare war on another country, but our President is the one who decides to end it – NOT CONGRESS - NOT SENATOR REID.  Our President has indicated that when the Iraqis can stand up, we will stand down. Once the Iraqis have enough training that they can defend their own country, we can pull out. Giving the President and the troops all the support in both funding and words would truly end the war, not just because congress said so, but with victory.

Victory is what American’s want, not repeats of a sunny day in September. On the anniversary of the liberation of Iraq, an organization called the Gathering of Eagles, organized tens of thousands of American citizens to counter the message of defeat broadcast during the Anti War/ Anti America demonstrations.  

Were you listening, Senators?

Yours Truly,

Skye 

 

Amer Tahiri tells it like it is.   

10 out of 10 dems and Mullahs agree.....The mullahs (and Dems) want Iraq to become a theater of historic humiliation for the West, especially the United States. They hope to see the Americans running away, not withstanding in the context of an agreeement with a friendly Iraqi government. They want the credit for chasing away the Americans to go to Tehran and its Iraqi allies, notably muqtada al-Sadr.

 Maliki, however, wants the U.S.-led coalition out of Iraq only when the new Iraq is capable of defending itself against its enemies, including the Khomeinist regime in Tehran. Beyond that, he wants to maintain a strategic partnership with the Western democracies in the interst of Iraq's economic development. 

Both the mullahs and the Jack Murtha Democrats hate Maliki because he is working to prevent their respective dreams from coming true.

The mullahs dream of that "last U.S. helicopter" taking off from a Baghdad rooftop, spelling the end of American hpes of bringing decent government to Iraq. 

The Murth Democrats (of which I am not) may not want a humilitating American defeat in Iraq but would like something that looks like one. Only percieved defeat in Iraq would give their party something with which to unite its base (not me) and make a bid for the White House next year.

It may be a coincidence. However, each time Democrats throw a poisonous arrow at Maliki, they are followed by mullahs doing the same the next day. Maybe Maliki is doing something right? 

Maybe President Bush was right to establish a democracy in Iraq. 

 

Fresh Meat:

Ever been curious about the campaign contributions of your favorite or not so favorite celebrity?   Well, there is a website, NEWSMEAT , that provides detailed reports of the political campaign spending habits of anyone who donated over US$200 to a political campaign. The reports also details the total amount spent, the percentage given to political parties or special interest groups;  It further breaks down these figures to reveal what candidate or special interest group recieved funds from the selected individual. 

A brief overview of the categories illuminates some interesting details:  The billionaires don't particularly spend like a 'billionaires'  and tend to hedge their bets by donating fairly equal amounts to both political parties. The hollywood set is more dogmatic in their donations - all to one political party or special interest group. Care to guess which party? Also, there seems to be a trend in hollywood to donate funds through production companies. Is this legal?

 Have a look at how Rosie spends her undeserved income on political parties and candidates.

Interesting, no?

 

 

Fresh off the heels of the annual SHEA conference, I'm heading to Harrisburg on Saturday to participate in the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference.  The honorable Newt Gingrigh is scheduled to present a keynote address. Never one to be backward about being forward, I have every intention of asking the former Speaker a question or two. I invite my blogger friends to submit to me a question that they would like to ask the Speaker at this conference.  The question will be selected at my discretion.

 Any takers??

 

 

In the end, it was not about Imus. It was about us.

Are we really a better country because, after he was publicly whipped for 10 days as the worst kind of racist, with whom no decent person could associate, he was thrown off the air?

 Cards on the table.

Patrick Buchanan nails the issue regarding Imus.  A certain lackwit section of our population howls that our foreign policy is the root our tarnished global image.  I say it is the public display of unbalanced 'morality' in the American stage that inflicts far more damage to our credibility as a nation and a culture. 

Photo Friday - A variation on 'The Blues'.

Each week Photo Friday posts a photo assignment. Your mission is the creative interpretation of the week's theme. When you're done, post the picture you took to your website and submit your link to Photo Friday.

Photo Friday is about challenging our participants to be original and creative within the constraints of the week's theme. It's not a competition. Anyone with a camera and a place on the internet to post pictures can participate.

According to newly passed legislation in France, the above citizen journalists  would be considered criminals. 

Seriously.   

Poynter Online reports:

If you are a citizen journalist (read blogger) living or TRAVELING in France, you'd better be cautious.  On March 3, France's Constitutional Council passed a new law making it illegal for citizen journalists to record acts of violence. The penalty: UP TO 5 YEARS IN PRISON AND FINES OF MORE THAN 70, 000 EUROS.  Under the new French Law, only accredited journalists would be able to make recordings in public places -- a problematic distinction. 

What are the French authorities trying to hide? 

Yet another reason to be grateful to live in the United States.

Duke Lacross players cleared of all charges.

Closing the book on the case, which drew national attention, North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper said he was dropping outstanding charges of kidnapping and sexual assault against the men due to insufficient evidence.

"We have no credible evidence that an attack occurred in that house on that night," Cooper told a news conference in Raleigh, the state capital.

Next up:   Disbarring Nifong.

Update:  Has Amanda Marcotte's head exploded yet? 

 

 

Do not abandon yourself to dispair.

We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song.

 

Easter greetings to family, friends and fellow bloggers - May you all share in the peace and joy of His ressurection. 

 

Photo Friday is about challenging our participants to be original and creative within the constraints of the week's theme. It's not a competition. Anyone with a camera and a place on the internet to post pictures can participate.

Each week an assignment is posted on the website and emailed to particpants. It is your mission to creatively interpret the selected theme for Friday. After you have selected and posted a photo to your website, submit the link to Photo Friday.

Photo Friday is about challenging participants to be original and creative within the constraints of the week's theme. This is not a competition. Anyone with a camera and a photo hosting site can particpate.


Here is a link or two of some of the other participants photos that have captured my interest:

 gerryphoto

Zenzi 

 

 Global Warming Hits Mars

Global warming could be heating Mars 4 times faster than Earth due to a mutually reinforcing interplay of wind-swept dust and changes in reflected heat from the Sun. 

Scientists have long observed (with exception to 2500) a correlation on Mars between its fluctuating temperatures depending upon the season and location - and the darkening or lightening of swathes of the planet's surface .

The explanation is in the dirt. Glistening Martian dust  (not SUV) lying on the surface reflects sunlight and it's heat. (Recall there are NO greehouse gases present to hold the heat temporarily before releasing it into space)  This  phenonmenon is known as albedo.

 

 How many carbon credits and restrictions of civil liberties will it take to  STOP this runaway global warming on Mars?  

 

 

Researchers at the Imperial College, London have cloned human heart valves: 

By using chemical and physical nudges, the scientists first coaxed stem cells extracted from bone marrow to grow into heart valve cells. By placing these cells into scaffolds made of collagen, Dr. Chester and his colleague Patricia Taylor then grew small 3cm-wide discs of heart valve tissue. Later this year, that tissue will be implanted into animals - probably sheep or pigs - and monitored to see how well it works as part of a circulatory system.

Please read the above story with caution, I have yet to find the primary research papers on this study  published by the researchers at the Imperial College. What is does highlight is the clinical usefullness of ADULT stem cell research.  I will be following up on this study and reporting my findings.

News that does make my heart flutter happily:

Two of the nation's largest Infection Prevention and Epidemiology Associations - SHEA (Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America) and APIC (Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology) have convened a working group to find best practices for the prevention of MRSA in hospitalized patients.

Together, they  released a position statement and press release where they concluded that "there is not sufficient evidence to justify the legislation of active MRSA surveillance/screening for all hospitalized patients at this time."

Less governmental interference within health care, the better.   SHEA and APIC agree with me!

 

 

Madame Pelosi's  world class oral skills were put to good use in her recent visit to Syria.  10 out of 10 Syrian terrorists, who have killed more Americans than any other group outside of al-queda, give Pelosi two thumbs up.  They contentedly quoted that she really understands the Middle East and hope she wins more elections.  

 

Bwaahahahahahaha!

 

AND HE WAS CARRYING A FOLDER.

The folder is from an Internet hosting company called Coptix. This proves without doubt that Karl Rove is illegally running all the White House e-mail through a private company instead of the White House government servers which belong to the American People. Anyway, everybody knew all that weeks or months ago, but now there’s a picture of Karl Rove holding a folder. ~Wonkette

I know it is not Sunday, but this IS a creative and funny use of Photoshop.  I am sure we will soon be adding "Wonked" to our cultural lexicon. Come to think of it, this list has not seen an update since the addition of  the phrase "The Lewinsky" back in the 90's.

For those intersted in how this image was created - have a look HERE 

 Those who were 'Wonked':

Firedoglake 

Coolaqua 

Tenn Guerilla Womyn