There's nothing more expensive
than what the government promises to give you for free.
~Jerry Agar~

Try Foxit

I got an e-mail from Pop asking about a program called Foxit. It's an alternative PDF reader to Adobe Acrobat. Like Acrobat Reader, Foxit is free and has pay versions for additional features. I had never heard of Foxit before, but I downloaded it and it is great! The word that comes to mind is "FAST," which is definitely not the word that comes to mind with Adobe. Try it out.

46-53!

Sanity prevails, if only for the moment! The Senate rejected the Immigrant Amnesty today in a very interesting vote. Here are the 46 turncoats who joined with Sen. "Grahamnesty" to "embrace the 12 million," as he says.

Akaka (D-HI) Bennett (R-UT) Biden (D-DE) Boxer (D-CA) Cantwell (D-WA) Cardin (D-MD) Carper (D-DE) Casey (D-PA) Clinton (D-NY) Conrad (D-ND) Craig (R-ID) Dodd (D-CT) Durbin (D-IL) Feingold (D-WI) Feinstein (D-CA) Graham (R-SC)

Gregg (R-NH) Hagel (R-NE) Inouye (D-HI) Kennedy (D-MA) Kerry (D-MA) Klobuchar (D-MN) Kohl (D-WI) Kyl (R-AZ) Lautenberg (D-NJ) Leahy (D-VT) Levin (D-MI) Lieberman (ID-CT) Lincoln (D-AR) Lott (R-MS) Lugar (R-IN) Martinez (R-FL)

McCain (R-AZ) Menendez (D-NJ) Mikulski (D-MD) Murray (D-WA) Nelson (D-FL) Obama (D-IL) Reed (D-RI) Reid (D-NV) Salazar (D-CO) Schumer (D-NY) Snowe (R-ME) Specter (R-PA) Whitehouse (D-RI) Wyden (D-OR)

The guys in bold have to be remembered whenever their primaries finally come around. The biggest surprise, even though he was part of the backroom dealings, is Kyl; I can't believe he actually pulled the trigger in the end. And McCain, who was on life support, is now officially dead in his bid for la casa blanca.

This bill was bad for many reasons, but fiscally it would have been a complete disaster. In fact, I was so unimpressed with the Senate's lack of examination of the financial ramifications of the bill that I sent a donation to the Heritage Foundation for Robert Rector's early number crunching that warned us all of the trillions we taxpayers would be out as a result of this legislation. Kudos to Heritage. Kudos to the 53. Kudos to talk radio, "the generators of simplicity." Kudos to the American people.

We Could Do Worse . . .

How's this for a potential '08 ticket? I guess they would run as independents?

Remodeling

Major redesign underway! Everything should still be here . . . somewhere. Posts will resume shortly. For now, the mail must go through!

"I am the literary equivalent of a Big Mac and Fries."
~Stephen King~

I Passed the US Citizenship Quiz:

Congratulations - you got 10 out of 10 correct!

Could You Pass the US Citizenship Quiz?

The best data we have (concerning the big bang) are exactly what I would have predicted had I nothing to go on but the five books of Moses, the Psalms, the Bible as a whole.
~Arno Penzias~

FDR's D-Day Prayer

I heard this on the radio on my way home today. I don't know why I've never heard this before! (I guess government schools are as bad as I thought.) This is the prayer FDR led the nation in by radio the evening of D-Day, June 6, 1944. There are enough mentions of Almighty God and faith to make any self-respecting atheist squeamish. What is amazing is placing yourself in the context of that day, sitting by the radio and praying along with the president in such uncertain times. Incredible!

Text here. Audio here. For you high-speeders here is an excellent video presentation of the prayer appropriately updated for our nation's current conflict. And for something else interesting, even General Eisenhower made mention of Almighty God in his Order of the Day delivered to the Allied Expeditionary Force that morning.

D-Day Remembered

On the 40th anniversary of Operation Overlord, known forvever to the world as D-Day, June 6, 1944, Ronald Reagan spoke at the site of the U.S. Ranger Monument above the beaches upon which so many had died. In addition to the valor of those troops, the words of our 40th president are also worth remembering. You can read the whole speech here, but here is a portion:

The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead or on the next. It was the deep knowledge--and pray God we have not lost it--that there is a profound, moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest. You were here to liberate, not to conquer, and so you and those others did not doubt your cause. And you were right not to doubt.

You all knew that some things are worth dying for. One's country is worth dying for, and democracy is worth dying for, because it's the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man. All of you loved liberty. All of you were willing to fight tyranny, and you knew the people of your countries were behind you."...you knew the people of your countries were behind you."

The Americans who fought here that morning knew word of the invasion was spreading through the darkness back home. They thought--or felt in their hearts, though they couldn't know in fact, that in Georgia they were filling the churches at 4 a.m., in Kansas they were kneeling on their porches and praying, and in Philadelphia they were ringing the Liberty Bell.

Something else helped the men of D-Day: their rock-hard belief that Providence would have a great hand in the events that would unfold here; that God was an ally in this great cause. And so, the night before the invasion, when Colonel Wolverton asked his parachute troops to kneel with him in prayer he told them: Do not bow your heads, but look up so you can see God and ask His blessing in what we're about to do. Also that night, General Matthew Ridgway on his cot, listening in the darkness for the promise God made to Joshua: "I will not fail thee nor forsake thee.''

He goes on to add words for which Pat Buchanan, Ron Paul, William F. Buckley, and the like ought to give heed:

We in America have learned bitter lessons from two World Wars: It is better to be here ready to protect the peace than to take blind shelter across the sea, rushing to respond only after freedom is lost. We've learned that isolationism never was and never will be an acceptable response to tyrannical governments with an expansionist intent.

May we never forget.

Talk (or rather Listen) to Mr. Ed !

Back to the Grindstone!

Wow. "Vacation" is over. Now the garage is cleaner; the basement could probably still be called a mess (too many toys); my cousin is married due in small part to Jacob's ringbearing and my eating a good share of the rehearsal dinner! So, it's back to the Post Office and maybe even back to blogging.

"Self Portrait" by Drew

Drew says, "This is how I look when I'm scared." That's his hair going wild with fright. I wish you could see the whole thing; it fills a 12 x 18 inch page, but our scanner isn't that big.

He says you can tell it's him by the "whale tail" necklace. You can also recognize him by the square jaw (if you don't first mistake him for Tom Petty or Steve Tyler!).

Daily Mail Straw Poll

I've posted a new poll asking which Republican presidential candidate you would vote for. The poll is in the left-hand column, or you can access it by clicking here.

I voted for Duncan Hunter. He hasn't flipped on anything. He's built a wall in San Diego to combat illegal immigration. He voted for a war which he has sent his own son to fight in (3rd tour coming up). He's tough on Iran. Tough on China. Solidly pro-life. His vote ratings:

• A+ National Rifle Association
• 100% Eagle Forum
• 100% National Right to Life
• 92% Lifetime rating, American Conservative Union
• 100% Concerned Women for America
• 100% Christian Coalition
• 100% Campaign for Working Families
• 7% ACLU (that's right, 7%)

Besides, if he's good enough for Chuck Yeager, he's good enough for me! He's just the sort of ideological conservative we need in la Casa Blanca. Who are you supporting?

Time to Make the Donuts!

One of my all-time favorite characters and one of my all-time favorite foods:

Good Call

I wonder how accurate any of you think this is . . .

A caller to the Laura Ingraham radio program this week made the point that the mood of the country toward abortion is generally presented by the media as "pro-choice with restrictions," whereas he felt it could more accurately be described as "pro-life with exceptions." It's a significant distinction; I think he makes a good point.

I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth: that God governs in the affairs of men.
~Benjamin Franklin~

What if you were a pompous curmudgeon who was pudgy with self-importance?

You would be Chris Hitchens! Initially I wanted to place here the video of Hitchens making a self-righteous fool of himself as he blamed every problem on earth for the last 30 years on Jerry Falwell, but I decided I didn't want his face on my beautiful little corner of the internet, so if you want to take a look at it you'll have to go here. He begins by lamenting that there is no hell for Falwell to go to. Well, at least there's no atheist heaven for Hitchens to go to. Now, I'm not the huge fan of Falwell that Ann Coutler is, but he is nowhere near the cause of the world's ills.

Also, Hitchens vs. Wilson Part 3 is up over at CT. I'm learning from this debate that Hitchens is not all that interested in the debate; he's simply impressed with his own thoughts. And somehow he has convinced himself that Thomas Jefferson was an atheist, but he needs to see my post of May 15, or he could at least read the Declaration of Independence!

Survey Says . . .

I stumbled onto pollingreport.com and though it's a bit overwhelming it really does pull together all the polls you hear about on different subjects. Just click on a category and you can go through a chronological listing of questions and answers from Gallup, Zogby, ABC, FOX, CNN, etc. Now, I don't in the end care about polls, and they are usually misrepresented in the media reports as much as possible (and of course no one has ever solicited my opinion!). But sometimes there are interesting things to be found in the "internals" of the polls. For you political junkies especially, Polling Report is worth a look.

"Morning Glories for Mother's Day" by Drew