Reagan Conservatives

Real Teen and Gribbit are starting a discussion group and blogroll for Conservative Bloggers who consider themselves in the mold of the great Ronald W. Reagan, the 40th President of the United States. They are also planning on starting a blogzine related to the group once we get rolling. The blogzine would be a release of a newsletter with thread titles and teasers linking back to the authors own blog. The plan is to release an issue per month.

The discussion group offers a quick way to alert fellow members to breaking news stories as well as mutual defense. There is a chat area that we could utilize in some fashion such as to discuss coordinated efforts. Once I get a few people signed up, I'll want to start the blogroll to be displayed on our blogs. I have a graphic that I plan on making smaller to be used as the blogroll header.

If you think that you would like to join us, click the graphic to your right or email Gribbit at gribbit@gribbitonline.com
Go on, you know you wanna...

Hello - Superladybug here!

Dear M Sheldon asked me to introduce myself, so here goes...

I'm Angie. I'm married to a sailor, and have one daughter. I have recently become a full-time Navy wife. I've learned a lot already, and have an even deeper respect for full-time military spouses now that I've walked in their shoes! I was formerly a reservist wife, but my husband has been activated, getting ready to deploy soon to the "sandbox".

I'm an accounts receivable manager for a small local wholesaler. I kind of got tossed into that position, but have found a real love for it. I never thought I'd be happy with a job that revolved around math. haha.

My husband and I are into VW Beetles. We have a 1973 standard and a 1999 New Beetle. We have a lot of fun working on the '73, and have done quite a bit of engine work on it ourselves.

Not much else to say, really. I'm a fairly low-key kind of person, not really getting into heated discussions and the like. Unless of course, someone really pushes my buttons.

That's about all there is about me. Nothing exciting, but hey..

Welcome home.

My cousin/good friend/and all around great guy is due to come back stateside from the sandbox on the 12th(ish) of December.
Dave has spent the past ten or so of the past eleven months training Iraqi Soldiers to take over security for their own budding democracy.
Personally, I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank Dave and the rest of our brave soldiers past and present for all they've done.
Also, I wanted to provide an open forum for all others to do the same...
So if you would like to send a message to Dave, whether you know him or not, here's your chance.
Consider this an extended semi-open post...no questions, please only comments.
Be reminded that all comments will be moderated by myself, Superladybug, or my wife.
Thanks a million, and God Bless.
-M. Sheldon
P.S. Look for updates to come.

Stop the ACLU Blogburst: The Judiciary as the Anti-Christ

Strong words, I know...but it's true.
from: Seattlepi.com

INDIANAPOLIS -- A federal judge on Wednesday barred the Indiana House from opening its sessions with specifically Christian prayers, ruling that such prayers amount to "an official endorsement of the Christian religion."

Judge David Hamilton advised House Speaker Brian Bosma that invocations given in the Legislature should not use the name of Jesus Christ or Christian terms such as savior.

So, they can pray, they just have to say a Court-approved prayer, anyone else see the irony in this? Separation of church and state my hind end. (not that I am an advocate of that notion, but that is what the ruling was based on.)

Of 53 opening prayers given in the House during the 2005 session, 41 were given by clergy identified with Christian churches and at least 29 mentioned Jesus Christ, according to court documents.

Hamilton said that practice "amounts in practical terms to an official endorsement of the Christian religion."

I would like to see the religious composition of the Indiana house, I would be willing to bet that the types of prayers said were much in favor of the non-christians.
Also, notice that it is now illegal to "practically" endorse christianity.

"All are free to pray as they wish in their own houses of worship or in other settings," Hamilton wrote. "Those who wish to participate in a practice of official prayer must be willing to stay within constitutional bounds."

Note to self: free exercise clause only applies at church and at home.

House speaker Brian Bosma is declaring this ruling a direct violation of free speech. I would have to agree.
The Federal Judiciary has become the Anti-Christ, just listen to their rhetoric if you don't believe me.
Remember boys and girls, make sure you check your prayers with the officially recognized ones to be sure you don't mention anything to do with Christ.
-M. Sheldon
This was a production of Stop The ACLU Blogburst. If you would like to join us, please email Jay at Jay@stoptheaclu.com or Gribbit at GribbitR@gmail.com. You will be added to our mailing list and blogroll. Over 115 blogs already onboard.

Economy Growing Despite Fuel Costs.

from Bloomberg

U.S. economic growth rose at a 4.3 percent annual rate from July through September, the quickest since the first quarter of last year and evidence of the economy's resilience in the face of record energy costs.

The revised figure for gross domestic product, the value of all goods and services produced in the U.S., was higher than forecast and compares with a 3.8 percent pace initially estimated, the Commerce Department's figures showed today. Growth was 3.3 percent in the prior three months.

Add to all that the fact that factory inventories are declining which should keep them booming for the next while and you would think that things are looking up, Right? I mean, we are in the middle of a growth period of 3.3 or higher for the tenth straight month. The record was set in 1986 with 13 straight quarters.
Wrong...at least if you watch the news. How many times have you heard how good things are here?
Let's look at the facts:
The government's personal consumption expenditures price index is up.
The index excluding food and energy, a measure favored by Fed policy makers is up.
Consumer confidence is way up.
Consumer spending is up.
Corporate spending is up.
And if we didn't have so much wealth in this country that we buy more than we sell (trade gap) things would've grown even faster last quarter.
But believe what you will...as for Me?...I love how things are going.

German Chancellor "Will Not Be Blackmailed"

From The Scotsman

Chancellor Angela Merkel vowed that her government will "not be blackmailed" by those who kidnapped a German archaeologist in Iraq.

In her first major speech to parliament, Merkel said nothing was yet known about the motives or background of the kidnapping of Susanne Osthoff.

Good for her. Fact is that she's just smart enough to know that if you go around dropping daisies in a war zone, you could very well be killed.

Merkel said the kidnapping would not affect Germany's policy.

"One thing is clear," Merkel said. "This government, this parliament, will not let ourselves be blackmailed."

A special crisis team has been set up to try for Osthoff's release.

"The government is doing everything in its power to bring the German citizen and her driver as soon as possible to safety," Merkel said.

If only France and Russia would see through the liberal "smoke and mirrors" enough to vote for their best interests and elect a leader like Merkel the world would be a much better place for freedom loving folks like you and I.

Double Speak?

From Reuters:

The U.S. military has secretly paid Iraqi newspapers to run dozens of pro-American articles written by a special military task force, The Los Angeles Times reported on Wednesday.

The newspaper also reported that the "Information Operations Task Force" in Baghdad has bought an Iraqi newspaper and taken control of a radio station, and was using them to disseminate pro-American views as well.

Well, Whooptie Freakin' Doo. What do they think has been going on for the past hundred or so years of warfare? Morons.
"What do the dems have to say about this?

Rep. Henry Waxman of California, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives Government Reform Committee, condemned any covert military influence on the Iraqi media, saying it "should not be tolerated."

Of course Waxman thinks this is the worst thing ever...the Military is doing it!
From the Pentagon:

"This is a military program within the Multi-National Force (the U.S. military command in Iraq) to help get factual information about ongoing operations into Iraqi news," Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, a senior U.S. military spokesman in Iraq, said.

"Because this is part of our ongoing operations and an important part of countering misinformation in the news by insurgents, I can't provide details of what this entails. I want to emphasize that all information used for marketing these stories is completely factual," Johnson said in an e-mail.

Makes perfect sense to me. Only problem is that Waxman and Reuters are so invested in our Nation's failure that they don't WANT any factual information to go out. How much do you think that the insurgent groups would pay to get their side of the story out? I guarantee you that we have barely outbid them, and by mere dollars have prevented their skewed version of "facts" from hitting the airwaves en masse.

In essence, what Waxman is saying is "I don't care if it is factual information. I don't care if it is genuinely battling the insurgency. I want this stopped!"

Mark my words, in a year or less, these dems will rue the day that they ever protested the actions of our soldiers so much. Soldiers vote, and Soldiers speak. Soldiers won't like what's being said...and they'll be mostly coming home soon.

Polls You Won't See in the MSM

hat tip to GM's Corner

According to the Cook poll most Americans think that the Dems criticizm of the war effort hurts troop morale. The majority of them think it hurts morale alot.
Also, according to the Cook poll, found in the Washington Post, the Dems efforts to criticize are likely for purely political purposes.
I know what your thinking... but no. The majority of those polled described themselves as democrats, and equally liberal and conservative, and spread out across demographics.

Take a hint, Dems...Actually, just keep it up.
Once the war effort succeeds (which will be sooner than later) and the original landmark-based timeline that the president set up comes full circle, the dems are so invested in defeat that they can't even begin to backpedal fast enough to counter the damage that they will incur.

Lies pt. 2

Thanks to Aslan for the figures, Trodwell for making them understandable. The "hat tip" goes to Wonder Womanat the North American Patriot.

Now that the niceties are over, ever wonder about those "casualty reports" coming from the media and the rest of the anti-war crowd? Ever thought, just once, that "that don't sound like MY America"? Chew on this:

"This study reports 24,865 civilian deaths in the first two years of the Iraq War, an apparent ringing endorsement of the "Iraq in chaos" position. But a curious statistical anomaly jumps right off page one: over 81% of the civilian casualties are men. Even stranger, over 90% of civilian casualties are adults in a country with a disproportionate percentage of the population under 18 (44.5%).[…]

This question is particularly relevant when one side in the conflict does not wear uniforms, is predominantly adult and of one gender, and engages in a practice of concealing its combatants within the civilian population. The statistics are further distorted if the Iraqi security forces – essentially the free Iraqi military on the side of the U.S. coalition – are classified as civilians, as they are in this study.[…]

…Over the course of the Iraq invasion and "occupation," only 14.8% of reported fatalities represent actual civilian fatalities caused by U.S. action. Even more remarkable, since the fall of Baghdad the U.S. has been directly responsible for only 3.8% of fatalities reported, as many deaths over almost two years as Saddam averaged in 10 days.[...]

For those who claim the United States is indirectly responsible for the several hundred deaths a month caused by insurgents and criminals, they would do well to note two facts: 1) just over 32% of the fatalities in the chronological table represent civilians, and 2) that this figure is a 93% decline from the monthly average piled up by Saddam Hussein over 24 years..."
-from Right Thinking People

The vast majority of those killed were killed by Muslem Terrorists that do not recognize the rules of engagement. They do recognize, however, that the American left will stop at nothing to undermine this war effort...even demonizing our own troops. Don't think that these guys are stupid. They know exactly what they're doing.
Secondly, if you're in a war-zone, you might die. Period. Take care of yourself, and this may not happen.
The media and the left love the udder and complete idiocy of multi-culturalism...And hate George W. Bush and America herself so much that they are blinded from true statistics. Wonder Woman poses an interesting point:

The need to paint America as the "Great Imperialist Oppressor" is almost pathological in nature. It requires one to completely eschew all connection to reality, and parrot false numbers and vacuous talking-points. It is a common ailment of the left, and the time has come to excise the festering wound of civilian casualties, with a heavy vaccination of the truth. Numbers don't lie? They're right -- numbers don't lie...only they can look at these numbers, and keep lying to themselves.

Ditto, WW.

Look for "Lies pt. 3" to come soon.
-M. Sheldon

War on "the Holiday"

...Couresy of our friends in the Great White North.
Whooda thunk it. Canadians have beaten Americans in firing the first shot from the pro-Christmas side.
This from the Chronicle Herald:

OXFORD — Town councillors have put the Christ back into Christmas by decreeing that no other name be used to describe the holiday season within Oxford’s boundaries.

The councillors unanimously passed a motion Monday contending that "the holiday originated from the birth of Jesus Christ."

But, that's not all:

They also voted to make the entire month of December the Christmas season and called on Mayor Lloyd Jenkins to make the proclamation as soon as possible.

What about the schools? They can't be in on this... Can they?

"We leave it up to the school and its school advisory council," he said. "It would be up to the school advisory council in Oxford to make a decision, if indeed it was an issue there."
Mr. Allen also hopes to see Christmas manger scenes placed on public property and in public buildings, adding that other religions should also be able to erect icons depicting their important holidays in and on public spaces.
"This isn’t a motion that legislates the use of the word Christmas," he said. "It is a political statement in which this holiday is recognized by this community as the Christmas holidays."

*Gasp* Leave it up to the schools? How novel.

The majority of Oxford residents are Christian, the deputy mayor said, and as Canadian citizens "we have the right to call Christmas Christmas without offending anyone."
Mr. Allen called on other communities to step up and pass similar resolutions.
And he said he is prepared to take some criticism over his motion.
"I’m sure some will take offence to it, but Christmas is Christmas," he said. "If they don’t like Christ being in Christmas, then they shouldn’t celebrate the holiday."

So in Canada, the majority rules? Wow. Now that's a novel approach to governance. The will of the people. And who would have thought that Christians had rights, too...considering they aren't a minority.
If only the constitution of the United States didn't guarantee the universal and undeniable right to not be offended...Wait, never mind.
Well, Deputy Mayor Allen of Oxford, Canada...You'll not take any heat from this side of the isle. Bravo Leonard Allen.

How diluted can the left in this country get?

I just read this in the San Francisco Gate:

In Berkeley, where revolutionaries schooled in the '60s tilt against global capitalism and post-socialist state China is a growing field of academic study, radicals and scholars alike are coming to grips with a new biography that paints Chinese communist icon Mao Zedong as pure evil.

No, Really???
And check out this gem:

Maoist intellectuals have counterattacked, saying the book negates any historical grounds for the Chinese revolution and positive changes in what had been a corrupt society before Mao's military victory in 1949.

"It's just outrageous," said Gary Miller, a volunteer at Berkeley's Revolution Books, as he leafleted the authors' event on campus. "A lot of people look with a great deal of affection at the Mao years because China's been turned into one giant sweatshop."

Referring to the new book "Mao...the unknown story
Holy Geez. But wait, It gets better:

"What sets this apart from other historical studies is that this person Mao, who led an historic revolution and changed the landscape of China and was an inspiration throughout the world -- they're saying this was a scheming, bloodthirsty opportunist who was evil from the day he was born to the day he died and who hijacked a revolution," Lotta said. "I think it's part of a continuing attempt to discredit communism and Maoism and any alternative to the current world order."

So, The Chairman was a good guy, just misunderstood. I'm sick of this moral equivolency junk that's plagueing our society. Further in the article, they mention the brutal occupancy of China by Japan as if to say that since that was bad too, Mao's actions were perfectly acceptable.

God help these people, after all, other than that, they're helpless.
As I said in a previous post...Socialism is dead... Deal with it.
-M. Sheldon

The implosion of the world's largest welfare state.

According to The Brussels Journal we may be witnessing just that.

In contemporary multicultural France such staggering figures of lawlessness are considered to be a sign of “"normality"” and are hardly reported in the mainstream media. Neither is the following little piece of information. This week Professor Dominique Reynie of Sorbonne University in Paris, told the Brussels weekly Knack that the French state was obliged to borrow money last week to pay the wages of its civil servants. "“The money has run out. One must concede: this is no example of a strong state."

Perhaps what we are witnessing in Europe, but what the politicians and the media dare not say aloud, is the implosion of the (welfare) state. The Soviet Union suddenly collapsed in 1989, when owing to the inability of communism to create wealth, the state went bankrupt, was unable to maintain its army and hold its empire together. In France, the same thing might be happening. The socialist welfare state is no longer able to maintain law and order and is abandoning entire neighbourhoods to anarchy.

Go figure. With the twentieth day of "only" a hundred cars being torched, and "only" 13 or so instances of violence against police...which is the absolute norm in France these days, Chirac declares that the riots are over.
Of course the left here in the States will deny that the French's massive collection of social programs have led to this...no...It must be Bush's fault.

The situation explains itself. However, I rather enjoy hearing myself...er...type?
Let's superimpose the French delima onto modern day America.
In the beginning, Americans would love all of the "free" benefits of being an American citizen. With the exception of folks like myself,
John Hawkins, Michelle Malkin, and others of course. Your old buddy the government would make sure that every single citizen had the same "rights" taken care of... Health care, medicines, food, your pay, etc.
Before long, those who would normally be the employers start feeling the pinch of rediculouslyously high taxes (hey, someone has to pay for all of this "free" stuff, may as well be the rich!). The media will downplay any "sacrifices" that are made by announcing more "free" stuff. Things will appear to be moving along swimmingly for the first twenty or so years.(Though I doubt it would take that long here) After this period, however long it takes, people will start pulling their investments as fast as the government will allow. Next comes the folding of businesses, mostly those small businesses whose owners file their combined income (personal and business) for taxes, as they are now considered "rich". Meanwhile, the unemployment rate has steadily risen to about fourteen percent. Another "sacrifice", but it's not so bad, 'cause you're still getting "free" stuff from the government.
Finaly, (fast forwarding a little) people will realize that all of a sudden, regardless of what the government and media have told them, the money's all gone. What happens? Everyone's not "wealthy" anymore, and the government can't do anything about it. Riots. Two kids die, and everyone riots.
I can predict with relative accuracy what will happen next in France.
No, I'm not referring to Circa 1989 USSR, someone will stand up...after the government collapses, and declare that the French people can fend for themselves, just like the Americans. (stop laughing.)(I MEAN it, stop.)
He will be elected leader, have way too much influence, and in time, things will return to a nice balacapitalistolist society.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the left in America has self destructed. Why? Their "model society" is gone. Failed. And they still won't accept the fact that socialism is dead.
-M. Sheldon

Lies pt. 1

I've decided to, well, not really expose, but more like remind you of the truth on a number of things. Lies that are propagated by the left and the Main Stream Media in order to suit whatever purposes that they may have at any given time.
Back in July of '04, everyone was reporting on this story:

Troops 'foil Iraq nerve gas bid'
Poland's defence ministry claims its troops in Iraq have thwarted an attempt by militants to buy a quantity of warheads containing nerve agents.

(not to mention the "yellow cake" and other forms of uranium that Saddam didn't get rid of that could be easily made weapons-grade, the 1500 gal. of chem. weapons agents, and the radioactive materials in powder form that have been found)
But remember, Saddam had no chemical or biological weapons.

Another lie that has been perpetuated by both sides (some doubtlessly out of sheer ignorance to the facts) is that the current offensive in Iraq was started solely by George W. Bush. Fact of the matter is that this offensive is in direct correlation to the violation of the cease fire
agreement after the first gulf war. If you violated a cease fire with any country in the world (other than the US, of course) you can expect a full bombing tomorrow...if not sooner.

That's all for now, but keep checking me out for "Lies pt.2" to come in the next few days.
-M. Sheldon

Prayer Request

I have gotten the word from Gribbit that our good blogging brother Kender is quite ill. I don't have any details on his illness, but would humbly request that, if you believe in and know the words of prayer that you would say a few on his behalf. That he may be returned to us in full health.
"For the ferverent prayer of a righteous man availeth much"