So today I started off already in a pissy mood from the drive home Friday because I had to listen to this and this, but then there was this and I felt better. No wait a minute, OK. I at once realized that this is not about the USA “Security Act for Dealing with Terrorism Extension Bill of 2005”. Now I have a good idea. Add a three to five year extension to the current bill on Monday and leave the sundown dates in and get to leave town. Cool with me. The deal is we are sitting on a big string of success. Don't blink it’s just them trying to hold back the sea. Iraqi Success is just too much. Got to fight against the success of the Good old USA of A because were The NY Times, it's what we do!

Then today Condi was on TV and all was good(transcript eventually it's Fox they are slow to post this one for some stupid reason. Then Harry “what a punk” Reid. And then it was a good day off to the mall to pig and buy stuff. Not to bad really till I stopped to get milk at Wally World. Some group in from of me with lobotomies all the around. Each of them with his/her own pile of envelopes, cards and change. The one took at least two minutes with her Signature. Ok if you are not in a hurry the WTF are you doing in the “Quick Checkout Lane”, Ehem, The President is giving a speech in like two hours lady. Then at the gas station a DJ on the Radio just blanked old Harry out of the local newscast. I was standing there, and it says, ”House Minority Leader Harry……….. ……………..”. Then the news just continued on. I felt better and I hope you do to. Then I read this and felt even better. Double death for Zaqueery am I not correct he is already wanted dead there? I wonder how Jordan works that out? Read the related links as well, all good. I have to go now. President you know. Yes it all works out one way you can tell it's working is all the ruckess!!

Updated : link to transcript and what I thought was the chincher in the speech.

FOXNEWS:It is also important for every American to understand the consequences of pulling out of Iraq before our work is done. We would abandon our Iraqi friends and signal to the world that America cannot be trusted to keep its word.

See the terrorists first of all doubted our government had the gumption to act. Now they count on our people to falter. They believe "We the People" are soft and will loose heart and fail. That we can be easily waited out because as a society they are stronger than we. I'm willing to bet there is still some fight left in this dog. Don't let me and the rest fo the Nation down.

So while I'm at it Caption This pic of old Harry.

Updated : So now I have to pick winners. I hate that part. Due to some urgent stuff that must me done yesterday I'll be scarce for a few days. Not to worry the other bloggers are kickinig ass and taking names.

Winner Carter for : "Harry Reid fails a basic sobriety test, missing his nose and putting out a reporters eye"

Runners up Carlos for "Here, sniff my finger." Filthy for: "In my line of work I seldom need more than this".

Honorable mention Vinnie and traderrob although they post here so they can't win. And also Agent Smith's poem was good. See I would make you all winners if I could.

Posted by: Howie at 07:46 PM | Comments (22) | Add Comment
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My apologies for showing total irreverence for the Blog Sabbath but the Bears aren't on till 8:30 and there's just too much interesting stuff going on today to ignore.

German Hostage in Iraq Has Been Freed.... BERLIN - A German aid worker and archaeologist kidnapped in Iraq with her driver has been freed after three weeks in captivity, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier announced Sunday night.

And concerning the NSA wiretapping leak that hypocritical treacherous trollop otherwise known as House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi confessed late Saturday that she signed off on President Bush's decision to have a top intelligence agency conduct "unspecified activities" to gather intelligence on possible terrorists operating inside the U.S. in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

Then Colin Powell sticks his finger in the eye of the Democrats and MSM with this revelation...THE US administration was never told of doubts about the secret intelligence used to justify war with Iraq, former secretary of state Colin Powell told the BBC in an interview to be broadcast on Sunday night.

And finally news that will likely never be offered up anywhere but the blogospere and a few newspapers...Iraq Interior Minister Bayan Jabir said terror attacks in the country decreased by 70 percent and no escapee has been arrested at Syrian borders for two weeks.

Companion OpiniPundit

Posted by: Traderrob at 05:08 PM | Comments (15) | Add Comment
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If Col. Shusko has his way, every Marine -- and everyone near them -- will benefit from the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program (MCMAP). Unlike men and women in the other branches of the armed forces, every Marine is taught how to fight hand-to-hand, up close and personal.

For the first time in the U.S. military, an effort has been made to combine the most effective techniques of martial-arts disciplines from around the world into a single course of study -- MCMAP.

At the Marine Corps Martial Arts Center of Excellence, fighting instruction is merged with character-building lessons as a new breed of warrior is forged.

Posted by: Richard@hyscience at 05:38 AM | Comments (19) | Add Comment
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Cochabamba, Bolivia - Evo Morales, a leftist lawmaker and strident US critic who is leading Bolivia's presidential race, closed his campaign on Thursday, saying his movement was "a nightmare for the United States".

Thousands of Bolivians packed a soccer stadium in this central Bolivian city as Morales made a final plea for votes in his bid to become the country's first indigenous president in Sunday's election.

Morales, whose defense of coca leaf-growing has made him a pariah in Washington, said his Movement to Socialism party was a "political force that has the North Americans trembling."

It "is a nightmare for the United States", he said.

I'm trembling, are you trembling?

Such a nightmare, whatever shall we do.

I know, when the awesome military might of the hyper-power Bolivia appears on the horizon off of our coasts, I shall dutifully urinate in my underwear and hide under the bed.

I've got a better idea. We need divine help in this crisis.

Dear Lord our God, we pray to you in our hour of need.
Our children cry, our women weep, our men cower in fear.
O God, please deliver us, your faithful, from the terrible onslaught of mighty prospective Bolivian (which is similar to Bovine, but not necessarily the same) president what's-his-name.

Save us O Lord, for we have no other recourse.

Amen.

Posted by: Vinnie at 03:53 AM | Comments (27) | Add Comment
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Rusty Shackleford will be heading to Birmingham, AL tomorrow evening to spend his birthday in a strange town without the family. If anybody wants to take pity on me and show me the town, just drop an e-mail and I'll try and write back from the hotel sometime in the early evening. (Which reminds me,it's Professor Chaos's birthday tomorrow too. Happy b-day man.)

After that it's time for my annual upstream migration to the pond that spawned me, Los Angeles, for the holidays. Again, e-mail if you want to hang and we can work schedules out.

I'll also be in Atlanta, GA on Jan 5th and 6th. Then Chicago in April. Then London in May......The Jawapalooza Tour: Coming to a city near you!

Posted by: Rusty at 12:08 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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As I posted Friday at TDPB, the Drudge Report has revealed that the New York Times apparently lied about the reason for the timing of their NSA eavesdropping story. In fact, the story's release date was timed to help hype a book by reporter James Risen (State of WAR: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration). Now a US Senator has taken notice.

From the Associated Press:

"At least two senators that I heard with my own ears cited this as a reason why they decided to vote to not allow a bipartisan majority to reauthorize the Patriot Act," said Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas. "Well, as it turns out the author of this article turned in a book three months ago and the paper, The New York Times, failed to reveal that the urgent story was tied to a book release and its sale by its author."

A call to The New York Times' Washington bureau was referred to spokeswoman Catherine Mathis, who could not be reached immediately.

Also posted at The Dread Pundit Bluto, where the New York Times is regularly rochambeaued.

Posted by: Bluto at 11:41 PM | Comments (23) | Add Comment
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What the President said today about the NYT outing of a covert operation that doesn't have the name "Plame" attached to it:

In the weeks following the terrorist attacks on our nation, I authorized the National Security Agency, consistent with U.S. law and the Constitution, to intercept the international communications of people with known links to al Qaeda and related terrorist organizations. Before we intercept these communications, the government must have information that establishes a clear link to these terrorist networks.

This is a highly classified program that is crucial to our national security. Its purpose is to detect and prevent terrorist attacks against the United States, our friends and allies. Yesterday the existence of this secret program was revealed in media reports, after being improperly provided to news organizations. As a result, our enemies have learned information they should not have, and the unauthorized disclosure of this effort damages our national security and puts our citizens at risk. Revealing classified information is illegal, alerts our enemies, and endangers our country.

As the 9/11 Commission pointed out, it was clear that terrorists inside the United States were communicating with terrorists abroad before the September the 11th attacks, and the commission criticized our nation's inability to uncover links between terrorists here at home and terrorists abroad. Two of the terrorist hijackers who flew a jet into the Pentagon, Nawaf al Hamzi and Khalid al Mihdhar, communicated while they were in the United States to other members of al Qaeda who were overseas. But we didn't know they were here, until it was too late.

The authorization I gave the National Security Agency after September the 11th helped address that problem in a way that is fully consistent with my constitutional responsibilities and authorities. The activities I have authorized make it more likely that killers like these 9/11 hijackers will be identified and located in time. And the activities conducted under this authorization have helped detect and prevent possible terrorist attacks in the United States and abroad.

The activities I authorized are reviewed approximately every 45 days. Each review is based on a fresh intelligence assessment of terrorist threats to the continuity of our government and the threat of catastrophic damage to our homeland. During each assessment, previous activities under the authorization are reviewed. The review includes approval by our nation's top legal officials, including the Attorney General and the Counsel to the President. I have reauthorized this program more than 30 times since the September the 11th attacks, and I intend to do so for as long as our nation faces a continuing threat from al Qaeda and related groups.

The NSA's activities under this authorization are thoroughly reviewed by the Justice Department and NSA's top legal officials, including NSA's general counsel and inspector general. Leaders in Congress have been briefed more than a dozen times on this authorization and the activities conducted under it. Intelligence officials involved in this activity also receive extensive training to ensure they perform their duties consistent with the letter and intent of the authorization.

This authorization is a vital tool in our war against the terrorists. It is critical to saving American lives. The American people expect me to do everything in my power under our laws and Constitution to protect them and their civil liberties. And that is exactly what I will continue to do, so long as I'm the President of the United States.

Apologies to the slack-jawed bushliedpeopledied set. I know it hurts when reality slaps you upside yer melon.

stein hoist to Steve and Robbo's House Of Culture and Gossip

Posted by: Vinnie at 05:32 PM | Comments (24) | Add Comment
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Some headlines just write themselves. The other obvious headline and related dog-eating jokes were deemed too ethnically insensitive by The Jawa Report editorial board. Which, of course, means that you should feel free to leave them in the comments. AP:

Some 30 dog heads were found discarded in a moat near Tokyo's main detention center, police said Friday....

The severed heads were mostly decomposed and some of them were skeletal, the police official said. The shape and size of the heads suggested they were of adult dogs, he said, adding that investigators believed no human heads were included....

Late Friday, an 82-year-old man who runs a neighborhood meat shop admitted to dumping the dog heads into the moat, and police are questioning him, public broadcaster NHK and Kyodo News agency said.

The man, whose name was not released, told police that he imported the dogs - frozen and already separated into heads and bodies - from China to sell as food, Kyodo said. All the torsos had been sold, and as there was little interest in the heads, the butcher said he dumped them in the moat, hoping they would be eaten by the fish.

Posted by: Rusty at 11:09 AM | Comments (22) | Add Comment
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Speculation that this is Israel will no doubt be forthcoming. Only problem with that theory......Israel wouldn't have missed.

Tehran, Iran -- One of the bodyguards of IranÂ’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was killed and another wounded when an attempt to ambush the presidential motorcade was thwarted in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan, according to a semi-official newspaper and local residents.

“At 6:50 pm on Thursday, the lead car in the presidential motorcade confronted armed bandits and trouble-makers on the Zabol-Saravan highway”, the semi-official Jomhouri Islami reported on Saturday.

“In the ensuing armed clash, the driver of the vehicle, who was an indigenous member of the security services, and one of the president’s bodyguards died, while another bodyguard was wounded”, the newspaper, which was founded by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, wrote.

Ahmadinejad traveled to the restive province, where ethnic Baluchis have been fighting for years for autonomy, on Wednesday and returned to Tehran on Friday afternoon. Tehran often refers to anti-government activists and political opponents of the Islamist regime as “bandits” and “trouble-makers”. (I think it's a bit more than that)

The newspaper report made no mention of AhmadinejadÂ’s whereabouts during the attack on his bodyguardsÂ’ vehicle, but Zabol residents reached by telephone said there were rumors in the town that the hard-line president himself was the target of the attack, which took place near Zabol.

“Many people have been rounded up for questioning after the attack and the authorities here were clearly shaken by the incident”, a Zabol resident told Iran Focus.

Anyone wanna bet this is the first in a string of many attempts on this fanatical psychopath?

Companion OpiniPundit

Posted by: Traderrob at 07:36 AM | Comments (23) | Add Comment
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(Moscow) Russia's Federal Security Service, FSB, announced Friday that Sheikh Abu Omar Al Seyf, the top al Qaeda leader in the North Caucasus, was killed in the Russian Republic of Dagestan last month.

From Mosnews.com:

"Under the cover of the international non-governmental organization Al Haramein Islamic Foundation, he organized a terrorist cell in Dagestan, Chechnya and Ingushetia," the FSB reported. During the last few years Al Seyf was a chairman of the so-called shariah courts committee of the self-proclaimed Chechen republic of Ichkeria. He was reportedly informed of all the appointments made within the armed groups. He received and distributed all the money for terrorist activity inside Russia, the FSB report said.

The security officials claim Al Seyf took part in the planning and preparing of terrorist attacks, and extremist religious and political propaganda.

Details of Al Seyf's death were not reported. However, since he was simply a thug terrorist who measured success in the number of murdered civilians, I hope his death was slow and excruciatingly painful.

Companion post at Interested-Participant.

Posted by: Mike Pechar at 05:53 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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Jawadewan Vinnie lambasts those "seditious bastards" at the New York Times who leaked the information about U.S. surveillance of terrorists, and then feign shock at the idea a U.S. President might actually order surveillance of an American citizen suspected of terrorism.

Vinnie, Vinnie, Vinnie. I think that's terrible what the President did, spying on those Americans without their knowledge. Why, he ought to be impeached.

Oh wait, he was impeached--although not for his decision to have military satellites scan the Elohim City (Oklahoma) white-suprematard compound right after the Murrah Building bombing in 1995. President Clinton's boys didn't get a warrant before they went a peepin', either.

I'm waiting for the gasps of outrage from folks like Chuck Hagel and Arlen Specter and the anti-Patriot Act crowd. And I'm dead certain the New York Times hacked up a gigantic hairball of screeching outrage over the Clinton administration's unwarranted use of spy satellites on Americans in America. I just can't seem to find it.

After all, for anyone who reads a Tom Clancy novel, the idea that the NSA will sniff at incoming calls and e-mails is nothing particularly new. But those spy satellites...wow. Brave New World ya got there, Bill.

It is fascinating to me that the actual thorughly researched f---ing news being broken here is delivered by the McCurtain Daily Gazette, out of Idabel. Oklahoma (and those of you from around Oklahoma will know that Idabel, God bless it, is not exactly Manhattan). Contrast that with the recycled and misleading product placement thrown up by the Old, Gray, Seditious Bastard Lady of 47th Street.

I'm off to Tashi Station to pick up some power converters for Christmas, so the bloggery will be light from me until aught-six. Y'all have a good one.

Posted by: seedubya at 01:15 AM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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Harold Bloom is purportedly, as the Guardian notes in their story header for Bloom's American epitaph (Bushitlerburton, that tired cliché again), a "celebrated critic". They neglect to mention who celebrates him, if anyone, outside academic cloisters. Certainly not me, and I also understand why he is a critic, rather than one of the classic American authors he admires.

The man can't write. His words reveal a brain that is a walk-in closet packed with disjointed literary tidbits hung in mismatched sets and hateful paranoid fantasies lurking in the shoeboxes.

He wanders on for hundreds of words when his entire message can be summed up thusly, "I'm an old partyline Democrat and I hate Republicans in general and George Bush in particular, and Americans are stupid for voting him into office". That's it, all Bloom has to say. Yet he drags out this message with inappropriate and boring literary references and unfounded lunatic fringe innuendo until one just wants to scream at him, "Enough! Pass gas in the President's general direction and be done with it, you senile old misanthrope." more...

Posted by: Bluto at 12:51 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Usually writing that is both meant to be clever and is also intended for a general audience is not clever. This little piece about domestic miscommunication actually is. A sample:

I was sitting on the bed, just about done folding our recently joined washables, when Diane started unfolding all the towels I had just folded.

I watched in utter disbelief. She laid them all out flat on the bed, and began giving me a little tutorial on the proper method of folding towels, which involved some form of terry-cloth origami. Instead of folding in successive halves, she wanted one-third of the towel to be folded in from either side. I thought this was ridiculous, but nowhere near as ridiculous as the idea of unfolding already-folded towels -- and thereby sending a signal to your newlywed husband that it is more important that a chore be done a certain way than it is for him to actually do it.

Posted by: seedubya at 12:37 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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So, what's the other bury the Iraq election big news of the day.

Supposedly, the President secretly ordered the NSA to spy on American citizens.

Well, there are far too many places debunking this utter garbage to link them all. Besides, I know you are well informed (trolls excepted), and have already read the vast deconstructing going on.

But let's just say that this really is the big revelation the New York Times says it is.

Would you be shocked? Horrified? Aghast?

If you are any of these above, then answer me these:

Do you have cameras atop your stoplights?

Have you ever taken money from an ATM?

Ever gone inside a convenience store? A bank?

Have you ever applied for credit? How about a job? Particularly one that requires a "background check?"

How about filing your tax return?

Have you ever passed a law enforcement officer holding a radar gun?

Oh, here's a good one; Have you ever purchased a firearm?

Ladies and gentlemen, your government, at all levels, has been spying on you since your parents filled out the birth certificate and put your cute footieprints on the card.

I don't like it. I hate it. But that's the way it is. Sadly, not enough of our population hates it, and most just accept the next erosion of liberty as the cost of living in a free country.

What a sad state of affairs it is when the New York Times puts the nation at risk by publishing leaks of classified information used to gather information on potential terrorists, while ignoring the real crimp on our liberty that goes on every day in full view of an uncaring public.

Seditious bastards.

Posted by: Vinnie at 10:57 PM | Comments (38) | Add Comment
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Alright, I have been toying with a new analogy here. The Democratic party, as it stands today, is the Episode I-III Separatist movement. Let's examine, shall we?

- sniffling wimps not willing to do any hard work themselves
- mindless sheep, willing to let anyone with half an idea in their head lead them
- willing pawns fighting the losing side of a war

I could go on, but why bother? I am sure we can see more similarities. Anyway, I am starting a mini-picture series. Let me be clear -- I am no Allah in the House (peace be upon him). These are only visual guides. This exchange from The Simpsons serves as my mantra:

Movie Executive: "You impaled a U.S. Senator with the American flag!"
Homer Simpson: "It was symbolism! He was angry!"

With no further ado, I present Murtha Gunray... more...

Posted by: wineaholic at 10:55 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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A haiku:

Hagel, you loser
No votes from me, you traitor
Yes, Osama smiles

Posted by: Vinnie at 08:32 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Apparently, the importance of the main virginity event ranks right up there with the annual royal reed dance ceremony.

Zulu traditionalists have vowed to carry on with the controversial practice, which involves inspection of girls' genitalia, usually on the sidelines of cultural festivals.

Posted by: Richard@hyscience at 02:50 PM | Comments (18) | Add Comment
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Some of you may have heard of Michael. He is a reporter that resides in Lebanon and also blogs here. Today Mike sends us news that La Weekly has picked up his account of the meeting. Mike also has written for The Wall Street Journal, The Daily Star and Tech Central Station.

Michael Totten:The LA Weekly has published my first-person account of meeting and hanging out with Hezbollah.
Word has it that these guys are media savvy, that they know how to make a terrific impression on the press. It isn't true. If they were friendly and civilized with me I would have written that they were friendly and civilized. But they weren't, So I wrote this instead. They have no one to blame for this bad press but themselves.

Just a taste so you can get the flavor.

I sat at a set table draped with a clean white cloth. Yellow chicken, fatty beef, brown and white rice, hummus, yogurt and vinaigrette salads were spread out in front of me. There was plenty of bottled water to go around. The food didn't look great, but it looked okay. (And it was.) I smiled when it occurred to me that my meal was paid for by the Islamic Republic of Iran. It was about time they did something for residents of the Great Satan.

Now go read the rest.

Posted by: Howie at 02:44 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Reports are trickling in that a hostage negotiator who had made contact with the 'Swords of Righteousness Brigade' in an effort to free four Western peace activists has himself been taken hostage. The hostage negotiator is a local Iraqi who has previous experience in high-profile abductions. The man is said to have been missing since December 8th.

Norman Kember of England, American Thomas Fox, and Canadians James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden were taken hostage by an unknown group calling themselves 'The Swords of Righteousness Brigade'. 'As first revealed at The Jawa Report, The Swords of Righteousness Brigade' has been linked to the Islamic Army in Iraq. The Islamic Army in Iraq is an al Qaeda linked Salaafist jihadi group that has murdered foreign hostages in the past.

Curiously, the Islamic Army in Iraq website has been silent on the fate of the four hostages. Even more curious is the fact that although the group claimed responsibility for the murder of American hostage Ronald Schulz at an online forum frequented by jihadis, the Islamic Army in Iraq website has made no mention of it nor have they released the usual hostage snuff video.

The fact that the negotiator sent in to obtain the release of the four hostages may have been taken hostage himself is a bad sign. Hope for the best, pray for a miracle, but be prepared for the worst.

Posted by: Rusty at 12:37 PM | Comments (17) | Add Comment
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Just allow me a word or two about all those anarchy statements. You know the ones like. "but we would not want to trade dictatorship for anarchy". Try replacing the word anarchy with freedom. So with no further delay letÂ’s get on with it.

Filthy takes it to CNN again. No surprise to Jawa readers either Filthy, give em hell.

The Filthy One : So CNN, POSTS in their Red Banner that ZARQAQI CAUGHT AND LET GO BY IRAQI SECURITY FORCES . CNN Jazeera acts like this is Hot news off the press.

What to do with Iran? For sure itÂ’s not out of the realm of possibility that we may find ourselves in a scuffle very soon. Why because they want it of course.

ItÂ’s like shooting fish in a barrel.

Hat Tip Right Girl:

Today, December 15th, 10 Million Iraqis Voted. It was a major victory for Iraq. It was a major victory for our soldiers. It was a major victory for the Bush Administration!

She also sent me a Video this AM of an Iraqi (expat I think) womanÂ’s opinion of America and Mr. Bush. Email me at mchlhwrd@gmail.com if you would like a copy. The voter says in English :

Anyone who does not appreciate what America has done and Mr. Bush. Let them go to Hell.

Uh well put.

Another way to put it.

A new Jibjab featuring President Bush, if you donÂ’t have a sense of humor then donÂ’t click. Hat Tip: Pam.

More Anarchy er uh Freedom excuse me.

Centcom:“In a short time,” said Stevens, “we have made a huge difference for the people of Iraq, but, as this school so accurately reflects, there is much more to be done.”

Support Steve because here is a guy who has lost it all and is living in a FEMA camper and still has a good attitude.

Rick at Saintsreport: I am a mod for a website called Saintsreport.com. One of our regulars got a FEMA trailer a week or so ago and he refuses to let his situation get him down. His little girl is gonna have Christmas, one way or another. He lives in the NOLA area and his house was severely flooded.

Hat Tip : Macktastic Rusty Wicked.

Posted by: Howie at 11:04 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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