Blue Star Chronicles

January 31st, 2007

Thursday Thirteen #12

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Random Interesting or Funny Photos I’ve Found on Blogs
Click on the photo to go to the source of the photo.

This is what tonight feels like …
Snowy

crocodiles

Is it real or is it photoshopped?
sexy tree

This is one I already blogged
~~clickie~~clickie ~~
Angelina Jolie and Children Hovering Over Wal-Mart

Wedding Photo

Brad Pitt in a dress?
Brad Pitt in a Dress

This reminded me of a friend who used to tell us stories about his years training Airborne School. He said every jump is a night jump.
No matter what anyone says,
they all go out the door with their eyes closed.
Airborne

I know the feeling ….

Tax Dollars at Work

This is one I already blogged
~~clickie~~clickie ~~
Positive Proof of Global Warming

Three Stooges

Global Warming

The D.C. area 8 years after the Bubba administration …
8 Years After Clinton

Kitten Rock

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!



January 31st, 2007

What the Troops Really Think ….

[gv data="uyqk1LsCDBQ"][/gv]

One of my pet peeves is hearing progressives make the statement, ‘I support the Troops, I just don’t support the war.’

That is patently hypocritical and ridiculous. You can’t support the Troops unless you support the mission. As I’ve written over and over again, undermining the mission is the same as undermining the Troops. When you criticize the war for the world to hear you are culpable in getting American Troops killed.

This video shows a little of what the Troops really think. It came from an NBC news story. How often have you seen it played on the MSM??

“If they’re gonna support us, support us all the way.”

“[The Apache Company] worries their country may be abandoning the mission they died for.”

Go vote for it at YouTube and at Digg to keep it up top. Let the world know that Americans really DO support our troops.



January 31st, 2007

Wednesday Hero - LCpl. Nicholas J. Manoukian

This Weeks Hero Was Submitted By Mark Bell

LCpl. Nicholas J. Manoukian
LCpl. Nicholas J. Manoukian
22 years old from Lathrup, Michigan
1st Marines 6th Batallion 2nd Marine Division
Oct 21, 2006

Here is a website that LCpl. Manoukian’s mother set up for her son after he lost his life in Ramadi.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.

It Is Foolish And Wrong To Mourn The Men Who Died.
Rather We Should Thank God That Such Men Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. If you would like to participate in honoring the brave men and women who serve this great country, you can find out how by clicking here.



January 30th, 2007

United States to the World: Be Careful What You Wish For

Do you hear the calls for a challenge to U.S. power? It is everywhere these days. Now that the Soviet Cold War threat has dissolved, who needs the United States to fend off the bullies in the global playground. Those who believe that economic prosperity and life will continue to be merry without U.S. leadership may want to think again. Better yet, can the global economy afford to exist without direction and leadership in general?

Let’s say the U.S. were to gradually lose power and influence to the point where nations either scrambled to defend themselves or formed alliances in a new bid to seize control over territory and precious resources. Sounds a lot like the imperialism of the early 1900s to me. Well, maybe with a few more players.

It is in our time of economic insecurity that the worst humanity is revealed. Whether it is via terrorist attacks, religious extremism, imperialism, civil war, corporate scandal, and so on. The list goes on. I do not purposely mean to ruin the party, stop the parade, or be a contrarian. It is just my nature to question authority and ask the difficult questions that most people are either too bothered or busy to think/care about. We actually make problems bigger than they are by covering up the scars or ignoring the signs. Can we really afford to kid ourselves into believing that no matter what happens everything will be fine?

I think history would tend to argue otherwise…

Over at MSNBC, Fareed Zakaria writes, “The world today bears some resemblance to the 1920s, when a newly globalized economy was booming, and science and technological change were utterly transforming life. (Think of the high-tech of the time—electricity, radio, movies and cars, among other recent inventions.) But with Britain declining and America isolationist, that was truly a world without political direction. Eventually protectionism, nationalism, xenophobia and war engulfed it.

In a provocative essay in Foreign Policy three years ago, the British historian Niall Ferguson speculated that the end of American hegemony might not fuel an orderly shift to a multipolar system but a descent into a world of highly fragmented powers, with no one exercising any global leadership. He called this “apolarity.” “Apolarity could turn out to mean an anarchic new Dark Age,” Ferguson wrote, “an era of waning empires and religious fanaticism, of economic plunder and pillage in the world’s forgotten regions, of economic stagnation, and civilization’s retreat into a few fortified enclaves.” That might be a little farfetched. But for those who have been fondly waiting for the waning of American dominance—be careful what you wish for.” (Source: MSNBC)

In my estimation, Zakaria has hit the nail on the head. He takes into account historical relevance most often forgotten by today’s leaders. Maybe this is just a phenomenon that out of our hands. The problem, specifically within the past century in regards to the global economy lies in the false sense of security and our inability to conduct a sustainable economy. If you think the good times will last forever maybe it is time to put on your reality cap.

I think in general we have been pampered and conditioned to believe that the bullish rallies since ‘82, running massive debt/trade imbalance, wasteful habits, irrational behavior, etc. can go unchecked. Every expansion has a contraction period, although much shorter in length due to the population expansion and progress of man. This global pullback may not happen in the new few years, but something will eventually give when natural forces begin to pull economies and civilizations back into balance. Every major superpower and empire in time has been thrusted into the spotlight only to see internal and external forces become unfavorable and unable to be overcome. Just as the sun rises and sets, heats and cools, and seasons change, so too will the roaring 2000s.

In life you cannot be afraid to ask if something is too good to be true, because it is most often the case. Then again, we do have the ability to change our fortunes. We are not necessarily destined for doom here. Alternative courses are chosen every single day. Could globalization and the Internet bring people closer together? I certainly hope so. Instead of turning on itself, maybe the globe will become flat and its citizens destined for a place of greatness.

Hope for a better life, for love, for freedom because without it…the dream can fall apart.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I wish I’d written that!

From Jutia Group | digg story



January 30th, 2007

Quote of the Day 17

“If you’re in Iraq and trying to kill our troops, then you should consider yourself a target.”
~U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates

If we’d been doing this all along the battle in Iraq would have already been over …..



January 30th, 2007

Bindi Irwin Likes Snakes Better than the Press

Bindi IrwinSince her father’s tragic death in September 2006, the precocious Bindi Irwin has emerged to carry on his work. She shares her father’s passion for wildlife and his personality. She is in the process of charming the world in much the same way her father did.

Speaking at the National Press Club in D.C. recently she was asked what she thought of the media. She replied that she didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, but, she continued, she likes snakes better.

As they say …. from the mouth of babes …..

Bindi Irwin with Snake

h/t Ms. Underestimated



January 30th, 2007

Toby Keith: How Do You Like Me Now?

Here’s Toby Keith singing, How Do You Like Me Now? Video and Lyrics below.

Toby Keith: How Do You Like Me Now? - Live Video

Enjoy Toby Keith and check out the links below ….

Here are the lyrics



January 29th, 2007

Battle in Iraq Decimates Jihadist Warrior Cult

Battle in IraqIraqi forces attacked an army of insurgents who called themselves ‘Soldiers of Heaven’, backed by Americans they killed the leader of the jihadists and killed between 200 - 300 enemy combatants.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi officials said Monday that U.S.-backed Iraqi troops had targeted a religious cult called “Soldiers of Heaven” in a weekend battle that left 200 fighters dead, including the group’s leader, near the Shiite holy city of Najaf. A military commander said hundreds of gunmen planned to disguise themselves as pilgrims and kill clerics on the holiest day of the Shiite calendar.

The Iraqi government spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh, said the raid on Sunday in date-palm orchards on the city’s outskirts was aimed against a group called the Jund al-Samaa, or Soldiers of Heaven, which appeared to have had links to Saddam Hussein loyalists and foreign fighters. Officials said the cult was hoping the violence it planned would force the return of the “hidden imam,” a 9th-century Shiite saint who Shiites believe will come again to bring peace and justice to the world.

military helicopterThis cult apparently has the same or similar belief system as the president of Iran, Ahmadinejad. This belief system has to do with creating chaos in order to hasten the return of the 12th Iman.

Read the rest of this entry »



January 28th, 2007

John Edwards and His Six Million Dollar Mansion

John Edward's Country HomePresidential Candidate John Edwards is building his presidential campaign on the values of socialism, redistribution of wealth and the like. He talks about the two Americas, the very wealthy and the very poor. He has pledged to alleviate poverty and help the working poor.

He has gotten off to a good start by giving a whole lot of people jobs in construction. Surely it was Americans that built his house. They had jobs anyway.

The Breck Girl candidate has built himself a 29,000-square-foot mansion. TWENTY-NINE THOUSAND SQUARE FEET!!!!

Elizabeth Edwards says it’s not pretentious though ….

She said there is nothing ‘grandiose’ about the house and that it was designed to be a functional home with room for her children to play outdoors and a large kitchen to entertain friends and family.

‘This house is a truly fabulous family home,’ she said. ‘The house has one fireplace, no grand staircase. Its not unlike our lives in smaller quarters for over 30 years, starting with John’s apartment in Oakwood.’

She portrayed their lifestyle as lacking pretension.

‘We don’t take fancy vacations,’ she said. ‘When the kids were young, we used frequent flyer miles to take a trip to Europe. We don’t have jewelry. We don’t have furs. We don’t have fancy cars. Those kinds of accoutrements don’t matter to him. What matters to him is home.’

That’s good - it’s just a nice family home :)

Read the rest of this entry »



January 28th, 2007

What Thomas Jefferson Really Thought About Islam

Rep. Keith Ellison’s political stunt, in which he took his oath of office on a Koran owned by Thomas Jefferson, garnered lots of adulatory reviews from the left-wing blogosphere and mainstream media. They saw it as an excellent put-down of right-wing Christians and other conservatives who objected to Ellison using a Koran, and as a political maneuver there’s no doubt it worked well.

But Christopher Hitchens points out that we still have not heard an unambivalent repudiation from Ellison of his long association with the Nation of Islam hate cult—and the ultimate irony of the Koran stunt is at Ellison’s expense: What Jefferson really thought about Islam.

read more at LGF | digg story

More:
America’s Earliest Terrorists
From the Median Sib: If Thomas Jefferson were President Now
The Random Yak: Learning from Islam: War is the Only Solution, per Thomas Jefferson

What does the Marine anthem say? ”From the halls of Montezuma, to the shores of Tripoli, we will fight our country’s battles on the land and on the sea.”

America’s military defeated Islamic terrorism in the early 19th century, and if Thomas Jefferson were leading the Democratic Party today he would despise their cries of appeasement and submission (which is the meaning of the term “Muslim”)and he would support the war in Iraq against Islamic terrorism today.



January 28th, 2007

The Patriotic Terrorist

The article below is actually on Huffington Post. I had to read it twice to be sure I wasn’t mis-reading and missing the punch line that everything wrong in the world is Bush’s fault. It wasn’t there. It’s a reasonable and I believe, right on target article about how the progressives are contributing to the demise of our once great nation.

Greg Gutfeld writes:

Whenever I visit this lovely blog, I usually run into someone - a “leftist,” if you will - who finds pleasure in things that make our country or the President look bad. I suppose I could say these angry types are no better than cheerleaders for terrorism. After all, both entities - the left and terrorists - seem to share the same desire: to put the US, humiliatingly, in its place.

But I would be wrong to say such things. Very wrong. Of course, “dissent is patriotic,” and the left is only critical of America because it simply loves our country much more than I do.

Yes - we’ve all heard the ‘dissent is patriotic’ meme. I’ve been told that several times just today.

That’s why calling them terrorists would be intolerant and pretty shameful.

But what about “patriotic terrorists?”

That’s kinda neat.

What is a patriotic terrorist?

I think he might have just coined a new phrase!!!

It is an American who claims to love his or her country while enjoying the enemy’s success against said country. It is a person who gets deeply offended if you question their patriotism, while also appearing to share the same ideals of the more spirited folk who like to blow up innocent people.

WOAH!!! And there’s more…..

Read the rest of this entry »



January 27th, 2007

Hanoi Jane Fonda: Traitor Then and Now

Not much has changed for JANE FONDA …..

Hanoi Jane Fonda

She shows her true anti-American, traitorous colors again today in a pathetically attended ‘peace rally’ in Washington. The attendance was primarily 60-somethings reliving the 1960s. People who had one claim to fame and now want to get in front of the cameras again in what they THINK is a welcoming climate for sedition and treason.

WRONG!!!!

The democrats didn’t win the House and Senate because Americans want to retreat and lose the war. The democrats got into office because the American people want our leadership to show a scintilla of GUTS AND COURAGE!!

WE ARE SICK of PUSSY-FOOTING around and politicians who can’t take a stand on ANYTHING and who USE OUR SOLDIERS for their own POLITICAL GAIN.

Now, these ignorant hollywood elitists think they have an audience for their worn out slogans and sayings.

Read what this vermin, Jane Fonda, has to say now ….

`I haven’t spoken at an anti-war rally in 34 years because of lies about me that were used to hurt the anti-war movement,” [source]


LIES????
Then it was our imagination that you recorded propaganda footage for the enemy back then? It was our imagination that you SAT on an anti-aircraft gun that was used to shoot down AMERICAN planes??? You LIED about the condition of American POWs held in Hanoi??? We just imagined all that.

You can only get away with calling everyone else a liar, Jane, when your audience is people who are living in the same delusion or a bunch of college students who don’t REMEMBER what you did!

She tells the crowd she is ’saddened that we haven’t learned from the Vietnam War’. I say to YOU JANE that it’s pretty dadgume sad that you haven’t learned how to be a decent human being and YOU are still making the same mistakes you made during the Vietnam War. You are still a traitor and you still go out of your way to do HARM to American Soldiers.

Janie makes a passing comment of ’support for the troops and the mother’s of Soldiers’. WELL - KEEP YOUR KIND OF SUPPORT TO YOURSELF. You speak of support and try to give a passing disingenuous moment of sensitivity to the feelings of Soldiers and their Mothers.

Let me tell you JANIE - I don’t want your FAKE sensitivity and concern. You aren’t a good enough actress to pull off sincerity.

YOU and all the others who repeat the mantra that they support the Troops but don’t support the mission are fools and liars. It is IMPOSSIBLE to support the Troops and not the mission. As you undermine the mission, you undermine the Troops and you get more killed. JUST LIKE YOU DID IN VIETNAM YOU PIECE OF LYING NARCISSISTIC WHITE TRASH!

Jane - you were stupid white trash then and you are stupid white trash now.

Go get your hair and nails done and leave matters of importance to people who have an IQ above room temperature.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Israelated has a much more coherent article about this and reminds us of Jane’s semi-apology. But here she is, doing it again.

Howard County Maryland Blog
wonders if John Carry will be there too?? You know, for this publicity stunt protest.

Sweetness & Light has photos and commentary. It’s funny how the SAME faces are in all these protest pictures. I feel like I’m getting to know all the Code Pink fanatics, I see them in all the pics from all these protests. Not just that - but the same people are in all the photos to show the ‘crowds’. Gee, couldn’t they have gotten different faces from the crowds?

Michelle Malkin notices how much attention this rally gets versus the TENS OF THOUSANDS of Pro-Life marchers.

Little Green Footballs has photos of the anit-war protest with the new anti-war slogan ‘Just Poop’. You figure it out.

The American Pugilist Citizen is taking notes and lessons on PR from the moonbats.

The Median Sib
notices the MSM referred to the ‘peaceful protest’ that was not too peaceful with 300 rushing the Capital and scuffling with police who were trying to restrain them.

UPDATE: The best line I’ve seen in regards to the Hanoi Jane raising her nasty head again comes from Southern Sass -

I find you lower than a yeller belly suck egg dog

BWAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

She also starts out her post with a line from SNL, ‘Jane, you ignorant slut’. EXCELLENT! Even better, she reminds us of the facts surrounding Hanoi Jane’s treason and disgrace from the Vietnam era. Just in case someone doesn’t remember - we do have short attention spans.

More at: Wake Up America,