9/11: I Am Overcome

This video made me cry.



I also did not appreciate seeing Obama ads while watching 9/11 tributes. Look at this wording - SO WRONG:

Screen shot from this video.
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10th Anniversary of 9/11: Remembering Flight 11 Passenger Mildred Rose Naiman

For the last several years, I have posted this Project 2,996* September 11th tribute to Mildred Rose Naiman. Gives me chills rereading it now on the 10th anniversary of 9/11.  The following is the text from my original 2007 post on the sixth anniversary of 9/11:

My September 11th tribute as part of Project 2,996 is to Mildred Rose Naiman, 81, from Andover, MA, the town next to my hometown. According to WBZ Boston, over 200 people with ties to Massachusetts died on 9-11-01.

"Millie," as she was known to her loved ones, was on her way to California to visit her 2 sons, grandchildren and great-grandchildren when she was killed. She was aboard American Airlines Flight 11, the first plane to be hijacked and crashed into the World Trade Center.

Born on March 24, 1920, Mildred Naiman worked at Western Electric Co. as a tester. In her later years, she lived in a self-proclaimed "bachelorette pad" - her apartment in a retirement community - where she was active in planning and organizing events with her friends.

In a profile published on January 6, 2002, her daughter-in-law, Carol Naiman, told the New York Times, "She had a little bit of a lead foot. She had been stopped for speeding and was totally insulted the officer would give an old woman a ticket."

Although the feisty great-grandmother had had several knee replacement surgeries, cataracts, and other health problems, she still loved to travel. Her son Russ said, "If something was wrong with her, she'd go to the doctor and say, 'Fix me up; I've got a lot of traveling to do.' "

While she needed the help of a wheelchair at the airport, she still managed to visit her family twice a year. The Sunday before her fatal flight, a family member had asked if she was afraid of flying; her granddaughter, Hope, remembers her reply: "No, I've gone everywhere already--to Germany, the Bahamas. I'm not afraid to fly."

Incredibly, on July 24, 2004, the New York Post reported that the medical examiner's office had identified her remains. Many 9-11 victims are still unaccounted for. I hope her family gained some sense of closure with this discovery and was able to finally put her body to rest.

Today, on the sixth anniversary of her death, we celebrate the life of Mildred Rose Naiman.

May she, and the other 2,995 tragically murdered on that day, rest in peace.


9-11: NEVER FORGIVE, NEVER FORGET

8+ Defamations and Threats Against Tea Party in Last Month

The epithets and threats thrown out against the Tea Party and Republicans have gotten worse and worse.  I remember back in the day - summer of 2009 - when it seemed the worst we were called was "un-American" by Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer, and an "angry mob" by the DNC.  Now, it is somehow acceptable for commentators and elected officials - including the Vice President! - to publicly and triumphantly call the Tea Party "terrorists," "racists," "barbarians," and "sons of bitches."  Here are 8 despicable things said about the Tea Party - only in the last month!

UPDATE: And now there's an online game called Tea Party Zombies Must Die - you get to go through the Americans for Prosperity and Koch Industries offices killing Tea Party Zombies and the Koch Brothers!  INSANE!

9/5/11

Hoffa Threatens GOP At Obama Event: "Take These Son Of Bitches Out"

Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa had some profane, combative words for Republicans while warming up the crowd for President Obama in Detroit, Michigan on Monday. ...

 "President Obama, this is your army. We are ready to march. Let's take these son of bitches out and give America back to an America where we belong," Hoffa added.

9/5/11

Biden At AFL-CIO Rally: "You Are The Only Folks Keeping The Barbarians From the Gates"

8/31/11

MSNBCer Suggests GOP Rejected Obama's Request for Speech Because of 'Color of His Skin'

"The interesting question is: What is it about this president that has stripped away the veneer of respect that normally accompanies the Office of the President? Why do Republicans think this president is unpresidential and should dare to request this kind of thing? It strikes me that it could be the economic times, it could be that he won so big in 2008 or it could be, let's face it, the color of his skin."

8/30/11

Rep. Carson: Tea party wants to see African Americans ‘hanging on a tree’

“I’m saying right now, under (CBC) Chairman Emanuel Cleaver’s leadership, we have seen change in Congress ... but the tea party is stopping that change,” Carson said at the event, according to the video. “And this is beyond symbolic change. This is the effort that we’re seeing, of Jim Crow.”
“Some of these folks in Congress right now would love to see us as second-class citizens,” Carson continued. “Some of them in Congress right now with this tea party movement would love to see you and me — I’m sorry, Tamron — hanging on a tree.”

8/22/11

Beware the tea party, Jesse Jackson, Frederica Wilson and black Democrats say at jobs meeting

The tea party opposing Obama, Jackson said, should be called the "Fort Sumter Tea Party that sought to maintain states' rights and slavery." (Apparently he read this article in Salon.)

"The tea party is a new name on an old game," he said. "Dr. King fought a 'tea party' in Alabama...He had no weapons, but he confronted the tea party."

8/21/11

Maxine Waters: ‘The tea party can go straight to hell’

 

“I’m not afraid of anybody,” the California congresswoman told constituents in footage that appeared on ABC affiliate KABC in Los Angeles, not backing down from comments made about President Obama earlier in the week. “This is a tough game. You can’t be intimidated. You can’t be frightened. And as far as I’m concerned — the tea party can go straight to hell.”

8/1/11

Sources: Joe Biden likened tea partiers to terrorists

Vice President Joe Biden joined House Democrats in lashing tea party Republicans Monday, accusing them of having “acted like terrorists” in the fight over raising the nation’s debt limit, according to several sources in the room.

Biden was agreeing with a line of argument made by Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) at a two-hour, closed-door Democratic Caucus meeting.

“We have negotiated with terrorists,” an angry Doyle said, according to sources in the room. “This small group of terrorists have made it impossible to spend any money.” 

Biden, driven by his Democratic allies’ misgivings about the debt-limit deal, responded: “They have acted like terrorists.”

8/1/11

NYT: Tea Party’s War on America

By JOE NOCERA

You know what they say: Never negotiate with terrorists. It only encourages them.

These last few months, much of the country has watched in horror as the Tea Party Republicans have waged jihad on the American people. Their intransigent demands for deep spending cuts, coupled with their almost gleeful willingness to destroy one of America’s most invaluable assets, its full faith and credit, were incredibly irresponsible. But they didn’t care. Their goal, they believed, was worth blowing up the country for, if that’s what it took.  ...

The level of hatred on public display from the Left is truly sick, especially coming just 8 months after a call from President Obama for civility in the wake of the shooting of Rep. Giffords.Santorum

What Elle Magazine Got Wrong About Feminism And Conservative Women

Interesting article in Elle magazine by Nina Burleigh (who infamously said of Clinton, "I'd be happy to give him [oral sex] just to thank him for keeping abortion legal") called The Best and the Rightest about conservative women, which featured Ashley Sewell (aka TXTrendyChick).  It's a 4 page article, but the paragraph that stuck out most for me was this one:

The young women I interviewed for this article share almost every goal of feminism. They want to be—and in many cases, already believe themselves to be—“empowered”: educationally, financially, sexually. But they resist any effort to put advancing their fellow women front and center. That means opposing everything from gender-based affirmative action, such as government-mandated quotas for female athletes under Title IX, to equal-pay-for-equal-work laws. So on the one hand they may lament that there are only a handful of female CEOs at Fortune 500 companies and only 17 female U.S. Senators—“It does matter,” Sewell says. “A woman’s perspective is different from a man’s.” But on the other hand, they’re not going to take to the ramparts to try to increase the numbers.

To the author, the only way to advance our fellow women is through laws and government mandates like affirmative action, quotas, and wage legislation.  How is that in any way empowering?  It doesn't even occur to her that you can advance women without government help.  Conservative women are not empowered by government handouts.  We want to do things on our own, not have the government give them to us.  Of course we want women to go into whatever field they want and can succeed in, play whatever sport they enjoy, and be paid based on merit, not gender.  But instead of government mandates or forcing public tax dollars on specious programs that are prone to mission creep, we turn to families, churches, and local communities to make this happen; we choose to support charities or volunteering to mentor girls.  It is ridiculous to say we "resist any effort to put advancing [our] fellow women front and center."

We also don't want our success to come at the expense of others, such as when men's sports programs are canceled because there aren't enough women's ones to match them as a result of Title IX.  It shouldn't be a zero sum game, everyone should have the chance to succeed based on desire and merit - not gender, ethnicity, etc.  The fact that women and men are different and have different interests or skills is another important factor that the author misses.  And women shouldn't be advanced just based on the fact that they're women, they have to be the best. 

I don't know what the author means by "take to the ramparts" regarding the lower numbers of women as CEOs and Senators, but it sounds like she wants us to raise hell and shakedown companies to hire based on gender or force laws requiring minimum numbers of women in government.  We're not going to elect women just because they are women, they have to share our values and be the best candidate in the race.

Meanwhile, the author ignores groups like Smart Girl Politics, which I (along with Ashley Sewell and Dana Loesch, who is mentioned in the piece, too) am a member of, a community that encourages conservative women leaders to run for office and gives them the tools, training and support they need to make it happen.  2010 was the "Year of the Conservative Woman" with record numbers running for public office.  A woman just won the Iowa straw poll, and a second woman might be entering the presidential race soon.  These are glaring omissions.

Finally, it is interesting that in her list of "almost every goal of feminism" the author does not refer to abortion, which, ironically, to second and third wave liberal feminists, is the litmus test for bearing the title.  I attribute this to the author trying to get rid of feminism's current connotations as a dirty word along with an attempt to make the conservative women profiled in the article appear hypocritical.  On the other hand, it could be a nod to the fourth wave conservative and pro-life efforts to break the glass ceiling and finally allow diversity of thought in modern feminism.

The new movement of pro-woman, pro-life, embodied by the group Feminists for Life, is an encouraging shift from the radical feminism that has dominated since the 1960's.  We want equal rights with men, but how is abortion an equal right?  Rights do not extend to the destruction of another human, no matter what the law says.

It is important to remember that the abortion on demand version of feminism is a relatively recent development.  The suffragettes, the original "first wave" feminists, opposed abortion (all following quotes from FFL). Elizabeth Cady Stanton explicitly contrasted abortion as antithetical to the rights of women: "When we consider that women are treated as property, it is degrading to women that we should treat our children as property to be disposed of as we see fit."

She also used the "evil" of abortion to make the case for women's right to vote, with suffrage being the remedy to abortion: "There must be a remedy even for such a crying evil as this. But where shall it be found, at least where begin, if not in the complete enfranchisement and elevation of women?" 

Susan B. Anthony addressed what are now common modern day excuses for abortion and decried men's role in pressuring women to abort, "No matter what the motive, love of ease, or a desire to save from suffering the unborn innocent, the woman is awfully guilty who commits the deed. It will burden her conscience in life, it will burden her soul in death; But oh, thrice guilty is he who drove her to the desperation which impelled her to the crime!"

Finally, Alice Paul, author of the original 1923 Equal Rights Amendment, powerfully said, "Abortion is the ultimate exploitation of women." 

These feminist foremothers knew - as today's pro-life feminists know - that, as opposed to helping women, abortion hurts and degrades women.  This is true feminism and I hope the "Fourth wave" wins out.

So the author of the Elle article is right that conservative women "share almost every goal of feminism," she is just wrong on which aspects of it we truly resist and how we advance women.

Choice: After IVF, Woman aborts one twin because idea of managing two infants "terrified her"

Horrifying NYT article on pregnancy "reduction" - killing at least one but not all of the multiple babies growing in your womb.  I've only gotten through the first couple paragraphs but already the woman featured is a grotesque stereotype of all that is wrong with "choice" in America.  My reaction in black bold:

The Two-Minus-One Pregnancy

As Jenny lay on the obstetrician’s examination table, she was grateful that the ultrasound tech had turned off the overhead screen. She didn’t want to see the two shadows floating inside her. [Typical. She doesn't want to see the truth of the life of her children and face the reality of killing one of them. Another reason why pro-aborts HATE allowing women considering abortion to see ultrasounds] Since making her decision, she had tried hard not to think about them, [Thinking is bad. It might lead to some uncomfortable feelings] though she could often think of little else. She was 45 and pregnant after six years of fertility bills, ovulation injections, donor eggs and disappointment — and yet here she was, 14 weeks into her pregnancy, choosing to extinguish one of two healthy fetuses, [This is just beyond comprehension. Killing a desperately wanted, healthy child that you've spent countless time, energy, and money to have.] almost as if having half an abortion. As the doctor inserted the needle into Jenny’s abdomen, aiming at one of the fetuses, Jenny tried not to flinch, caught between intense relief [Sick] and intense guilt.[Good. Hint: Shame and guilt mean you've done something wrong.]

“Things would have been different if we were 15 years younger or if we hadn’t had children already or if we were more financially secure [These are the same excuses most older women who abort make ... except they didn't spend 6 years TRYING to get pregnant! It is despicably selfish to kill your child because it is inconvenient to you.],” she said later. “If I had conceived these twins naturally, I wouldn’t have reduced this pregnancy, because you feel like if there’s a natural order, then you don’t want to disturb it. [A profound paradox. She is messing with nature, she has already disturbed it.] But we created this child in such an artificial manner — in a test tube, choosing an egg donor, having the embryo placed in me — and somehow, making a decision about how many to carry seemed to be just another choice. [This is a horrific consequence of our scientific advancement - the idea that we are our own Gods, we control nature, both its creation and destruction, because we own it. It's like all the dire slippery slope arguments and science fiction-like warnings are coming true.] The pregnancy was all so consumerish to begin with, [Children are becoming commodities whose values are only determined by the immediate needs and whims of their owners.  It's like going to Costco and buying the jumbo 2 pack of mayo.  You don't need the second one, it will only go bad and that would be messy and inconvenient, so you toss it in the trash. There is no moral difference between mayo and baby - hey, they both come from eggs.] and this became yet another thing we could control.” [And that's what it is all about these days.  The obsessive need for control.  And choice.  And power.  Holding a life in the balance must be the ultimate power trip.]
...
Jenny’s decision to reduce twins to a single fetus was never really in doubt. The idea of managing two infants at this point in her life terrified her. [Maybe she shouldn't have been trying to get pregnant!!!  You'd think after 6 years of trying, she'd have thought this through a little more. And what makes her thing she can manage ONE infant at this point in her life?] She and her husband already had grade-school-age children, and she took pride in being a good mother. She felt that twins would soak up everything she had to give, leaving nothing for her older children. Even the twins would be robbed, because, at best, she could give each one only half of her attention and, she feared, only half of her love. [Another common abortion excuse - as if your love is a zero sum game, there's a limited amount of love to go around and giving one child love, means you're taking away some from another. I'm not a mother yet, but every one I've ever met has said that they love all of their children equally and in different ways. There is always more room in a mother's heart. Also, she is robbing her own kids of their brother or sister.  This is a particularly grievous loss to the surviving twinn] Jenny desperately wanted another child, but not at the risk of becoming a second-rate parent. [WHY?!  Why, why, WHY?! I thought she was 15 years too old, had other children, and wasn't financially secure? What is the reasoning behind her need for another child?!] “This is bad, but it’s not anywhere as bad as neglecting your child or not giving everything you can to the children you have,” [This woman is living in a sick world where death is better than having a busy mother. I guess telling herself that is the only way she can sleep at night.] she told me, referring to the reduction. She and her husband worked out this moral calculation on their own [I also hate that we live in a world where people get to make their own moral calculations about life and death.  Life is life, no matter what, it's not something that's definition should be allowed to vary from person to person.  The woman whose "moral calculation" is that abortion is ok up until the minute of birth - or even after - is not equal or as morally valid as one who knows that life begins at conception.  You get to have your own opinions, but not your own facts.], and they intend to never tell anyone about it. Jenny is certain that no one, not even her closest friends, would understand, and she doesn’t want to be the object of their curiosity or feel the sting of their judgment.  ["Jenny," wherever you are, I hope you feel the sting of my judgment!]

SICK SICK SICK.  My heart weeps for her, her children, and the future.

Telf Photo Tribute

My good friend Erik Telford is leaving his post at Americans For Prosperity for the Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity in August.  Let's take a stroll down memory lane and look at the best pictures of him during his tenure at AFP ...

Telford about to eat us at the MRC Gala 2011

Telford excited about Right Online 2011

Telford sorry I can't make Right Online 2011 this year

Telford belting out Total Eclipse of the Heart with Tabitha at CPAC 2011

Telford enjoying some delicious Ronald Reagan cake at CPAC 2011

Telford excited about the Citizens United film that led to the court case that led to Obama demonizing AFP

Can't wait to see what kind of pictures his new job will bring!

Candidates Lure Voters With Bacon - YUM!

MMMMMMM...bacon

Bacon is one of the best foods on the planet - and now it looks like some presidential candidates are tapping into Americans' love of bacon in their logos.

I once called Mitt Romney's logo "Patriotic Bacon"

Now here's Michele Bachmann's logo with what just looks like actual bacon:

Subliminal messaging?  It just makes me hungry.

Can Prayer Cause Irreparable Harm?

This is a pretty unbelievable story. How could anyone “suffer irreparable harm” from hearing the words "prayer" or "amen"??? Are they vampires who will burn at the sight of a cross? Are they demons afraid of being cast out? THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU!!!

And even if you're a freedom FROM religion type of person, you should at least be appalled by a judge banning not only prayer, but the use of specific words or phrases - punishable by jail. Could there be a more clear violation of "abridging the freedom of speech?"

All this because the student in question felt "anxiety." Since when is anxiety irreparable harm? This kid needs to go out into the real world and learn to interact with others and deal with LIFE. Yeah, there are people and situations out there that will cause you worry or concern but you can't always go run and hide under a judge's robes.

How sad that to protect one student's right to ... not be anxious, other students' legitimate right to free speech is stripped. Worse, that this decision was made by a federal judge - it drives me CRAZY that illiterate people like him control our legal system!!!

Where in the Constitution does it say that certain words can be banned? Maybe look somewhere between separation of church and state and penumbras formed by emanations.

Amplify’d from www.foxnews.com

Federal Judge Prohibits Prayer at Texas Graduation Ceremony

forbids students from using specific religious words including “prayer” and “amen.”

The judge declared that the Schultz family and their son would “suffer irreparable harm” if anyone prayed at the ceremony.

Judge Biery’s ruling banned students and other speakers from using religious language in their speeches. Among the banned words or phrases are: “join in prayer,” “bow their heads,” “amen,” and “prayer.”

He also ordered the school district to remove the terms “invocation” and “benediction” from the graduation program.

“These terms shall be replaced with ‘opening remarks’ and ‘closing remarks,'” the judge’s order stated. His ruling also prohibits anyone from saying, “in [a deity’s name] we pray.”

Should a student violate the order, school district officials could find themselves in legal trouble. Judge Biery ordered that his ruling be “enforced by incarceration or other sanctions for contempt of Court if not obeyed by District official (sic) and their agents.”

“It [prayer at graduation] caused [student in lawsuit] a great deal of anxiety,”

“At graduation, I would love to be able to speak from my heart,” she told the TV station. “But in this situation I feel my freedom of speech and my First Amendment is being infringed upon if I can’t say what I feel.”

Read more at www.foxnews.com

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/a14eoy

Abortion ends in death. Can you live with that?

Abortion ends in death. Can you live with that? I couldn’t. -Abby Johnson, former Planned Parenthood Director

via LifeNews.com: New Abby Johnson Television Ad Takes on Planned Parenthood





I was a Planned Parenthood Director and Employee of the Year.  I used to tell women that abortions removed a mass of tissue, but that’s not true.  I had to account for the body parts of aborted babies.  Yes, Planned Parenthood prevents pregnancies, but they also provide over 320,000 abortions each year.  They won’t protect your child, there’s no money in doing that.  Abortion ends in death. Can you live with that? I couldn’t. 


Meanwhile, there's this sick article: Celebrating the “Sacred Work” of Planned Parenthood on Good Friday

Boehner, You Can Act Like a Man!

Seriously?  SERIOUSLY?????????!!!!!!!!

ABC's The Note: John Boehner Cries Amid Government Shutdown Standoff

You know, I am REALLY getting sick and tired of Boehner crying all the time!  I feel like slapping them Godfather-style and shouting, "You can act like a man!"




He better overcome this weepyness and stand strong in the budget battle!