See, it's good to spend time in the blogosphere. I'm learning things I'd never know otherwise.
This time it's about a man named Gilad Shalit, who has been in captivity in Gaza since 2006. I can't imagine what his life must be like, and I'm not sure I really want to. From RonMossad.
Gilad Shalit.
Born, August 28th, 1986.
Sitting in captivity in some Gaza hell hole since June 25th, 2006. Meantime, this peice of work goes home to a hero's reception.
I hope we didn't miss our chance to get him back in time for his 23rd birthday. Speaking of which, what were you doing on your 23rd birthday? Or your 22nd? Or your 21st? Well I don't want to talk about my 21st and you probably don't either because like me you probably can't remember too much of it. Lots of fun these early-20's birthdays. Before you realize you're closer to 30 than 20. Or more than halfway to 50. Yikes.
It's a scary time in your life to be 23, you know?
But none of that really matters if every day you wake up in the basement of some nearly-collapsing house surrounded by people who want to nothing more than to see you suffer in the name of their insanity. Nope, no scary decisions necessary here. If they give you food today, you eat it. If they give you water today you drink it. If they beat you today you nurse your wounds. If they don't, you wonder what they're planning tomorrow.
Everyday you wish it were over. But everyday it continues, same as the day before. Same as it ever was. How many days has it even been anyway? Is it your birthday today? If it was your birthday today, how old would you be? Does it matter? What should you do today in between dealing with your captors? Should you count how many bricks are in the wall again? Should you try to sleep? Will they let you sleep? Do you even remember what normal sleep feels like?
No, not much to decide here. Not much sense in obsessing over the future when you're Gilad Shalit...and it's been more than three years since you had to make a scary decision. No worries about the future or what to do with your life or if you should go out with that girl from last night again...when your entire life consists of just getting to the next hour without having your arm broken or face punched or your body violated. No scary decisions about the future, when the future is just your next breath. Or the next burst of pain. Or the next time you'll be able to chew your food.
Man it sure ain't easy being 23. For some though, it's easier than others.
It must be truly awful to be in his situation. May Gilad Shalit eventually find freedom - preferably sooner rather than later.
Now I'm really pissed. Word comes via Gateway Pundit that Obama has passed legislation to make 9/11 an empty holiday celebrating Marxist/socialist values instead of commemorating the victims who died. From the American Spectator:
The Obama White House is behind a cynical, coldly calculated political effort to erase the meaning of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks from the American psyche and convert Sept. 11 into a day of leftist celebration and statist idolatry.
This effort to reshape the American psyche has nothing to do with healing the nation and everything to do with easing the nation along in the ongoing radical transformation of America that President Obama promised during last year's election campaign. The president signed into law a measure in April that designated Sept. 11 as a National Day of Service, but it's not likely many lawmakers thought this meant that day was going to be turned into a celebration of ethanol, carbon emission controls, and radical community organizing.
The administration's plans were outlined in an Aug. 11 White House-sponsored teleconference call run by Obama ally Lennox Yearwood, president of the Hip Hop Caucus, and Liv Havstad, the group's senior vice president of strategic partnerships and programs.
Yearwood, who uses the honorific "Reverend" before his name, has been in the news in recent years, usually for getting arrested. After Democrats took back Congress, the rowdy activist was handcuffed outside a congressional hearing in September 2007 when Gen. David Petraeus was to testify. Yearwood told the "Democracy Now" radio program that he wanted to attend the hearing to hear Petraeus give his report. "I knew that when officers lie, soldiers die," he said.
On the Aug. 11 call, Yearwood and other leaders kept saying repeatedly that they wanted 9/11 to be used for something "positive," "forward-leaning," and "productive," said a source with knowledge of the teleconference.
The plan is to turn a "day of fear" that helps Republicans into a day of activism called the National Day of Service that helps the left. In other words, nihilistic liberals are planning to drain 9/11 of all meaning.
A day of fear? How about a day when we remember the 3,000 people who died? Does that ever occur to you FREAKING IDIOTS?!?
Here's a force to blacklist, and wouldn't you know, OBAMACORN is on that list.
A coalition including the unsavory left-wing pressure group Color of Change and about 60 far-left, environmentalist, labor, and corporate shakedown groups participated in the call. Groups on the call included: ACORN, AFL-CIO, Apollo Alliance, Community Action Partnership, Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, 80 Million Strong for Young American Jobs, Friends of the Earth, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, Mobilize.org, National Black Police Association, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, National Council of Negro Women, National Wildlife Federation, RainbowPUSH Coalition, Urban League, and Young Democrats of America.
Color of Change is the extremist racial grievance group that isn't happy that TV's Glenn Beck did several news packages on Van Jones, the self-described "communist" and "rowdy black nationalist" who became the president's green jobs czar after jumping on the environmentalist bandwagon. The White House may be behind a push to destroy Beck by convincing advertisers to stop buying time on his show. Jones was also on the board of the Apollo Alliance, a hard-left environmentalist group that is now running large chunks of the Obama administration. The group has acknowledged that it dictated parts of the February stimulus bill to Congress.
With the help of the Obama administration, the coalition is launching a public relations campaign under the radar of the mainstream media -- which remains almost uniformly terrified of criticizing the nation's first black president -- to try to change 9/11 from a day of reflection and remembrance to a day of activism, food banks, and community gardens.
Heck no. I will not be an activist, and I will be remembering the victims!!! This load of BS could be even bigger than Spendulus.
Of course, the annual commemoration of the 2001 terrorist attacks belongs to the entire nation, but President Obama and the activist left don't see it that way.They view the nationwide remembrance of the murder of 3,000 Americans by Islamic totalitarians as an obstacle to winning over the hearts and minds of the American people.
They view Sept. 11 as a "Republican" day because it focuses the public on supposedly "Republican" issues like patriotism, national security, and terrorism. According to liberals, 9/11 was long ago hijacked by Republicans and their enablers and unfairly used to bludgeon helpless Democrats at election time.
Emphasis added. I'd ask if Obama and his cronies have forgotten, but you can bet your boots they forgot what had happened by September 12, 2001. 9/11 wasn't hijacked by Republicans. It was commemorated in 2002, and every year after then, by Patriots. But now that Obama's remaking America, patriotism is apparently a bad thing.
On Aug. 4, the White House offered a glimpse into its plans to desecrate 9/11 for political advantage. Jones appeared in a largely ignored 33-minute video posted on the official blog of the White House to discuss the administration's plan to flush 9/11 down the memory hole just as it has tried to do by rechristening the Global War on Terror the "Overseas Contingency Operations."
Of this National Day of Service, Jones says little except that it will be a great opportunity "for people to connect, to find other people in your peer group who are also passionate about repowering America but also greening up America and cleaning up America."
On the same day, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson, and Department of Energy Under Secretary Kristina Johnson and activists held a low-key press conference. At it, Yearwood said the National Day of Service will be "the first milestone" of a larger effort called Green the Block that is attempting to convince Americans that the utopian fantasy of a so-called green economy is possible without turning the U.S. into a Third World country.
"From policy creation to community implementation, the Green the Block campaign wants to see access and opportunity created for all Americans, to build prosperity and a healthier planet for future generations," Yearwood said.
At no time does anyone explain why this National Day of Service has to be held -- of all the 365 days in a year -- on Sept. 11.
What a good question. This is new low, even for you, Obama. Well, this is great. Now I get to commemorate 9/11 and do everything I can to undermine environmentalists, all on the same day.
Congratulations Mr. President, just when I thought you can't go any lower, you take another nosedive.
A hat tip to commenter's at Gateway Pundit for directing me to this article by Let Freedom Ring. Muchas Gracias, people! Read the whole article, it's a good read. Here are a few selections from it:
I’ve long thought that Canadacare was vastly overrated. Thanks to Drudge highlighting this article, I now have proof galore that Canadacare is a disaster. Here’s what I’m referring to:
SASKATOON — The incoming president of the Canadian Medical Association says this country’s health-care system is sick and doctors need to develop a plan to cure it.
Dr. Anne Doig says patients are getting less than optimal care and she adds that physicians from across the country, who will gather in Saskatoon on Sunday for their annual meeting, recognize that changes must be made.
“We all agree that the system is imploding, we all agree that things are more precarious than perhaps Canadians realize,” Doig said in an interview with The Canadian Press. “We know that there must be change,” she said. “We’re all running flat out, we’re all just trying to stay ahead of the immediate day-to-day demands.”
The pitch for change at the conference is to start with a presentation from Dr. Robert Ouellet, the current president of the CMA, who has said there’s a critical need to make Canada’s health-care system patient-centred.
Health care systems that aren’t “patient-centred” are worthless. If the patient’s needs aren’t the health care system’s highest priority, then that system’s priorities are worthless. PERIOD.
So much for that old complaint that Canadians have better healthcare then Americans, eh? Wait, it gets better.
Who cares if everyone is insured if there are 17 week waiting periods for primary care physicians and longer waits for specialists? Who cares if everyone is insured if Canada has one-third of the MRI machines per capita that the United States has?
The question that conservatives should’ve been asking John Q. Public is whether they were willing to trade breakthroughs in equipment and life-saving procedures so that everyone is insured. We’ve failed in that type of messaging. Starting immediately, I won’t make that same messaging mistake again.
It must’ve about killed them to write this:
His thoughts on the issue are already clear. Ouellet has been saying since his return that “a health-care revolution has passed us by,” that it’s possible to make wait lists disappear while maintaining universal coverage and “that competition should be welcomed, not feared.” In other words, Ouellet believes there could be a role for private health-care delivery within the public system.
It must’ve been painful for someone who’s worked in a single-payer system to admit that “competition should be welcomed, not feared.” It must’ve been eye-opening and painful. While Obama and the Democrats have tried extolling the virtues of single-payer, albeit in code, Canada is moving in our direction. (Isn’t irony wonderful?)
Yes. Yes it is. Like I said, so much for that old fable that Canadians get better healthcare. If you wanna wait for 17 weeks before you can see a doctor, that's fine by me, but I don't want to, so don't you dare try and force everyone else onto the same plan.
Oh yeah, too late, Obama's already trying. Well, I'll leave it up to the rest of you to decide how long you want to wait for a doctor.
I am revamping Cynical Book. I don't know quite yet what I'm going to do with it, but I get the feeling it will no longer simply be about global warming/climate change/ whatever. I'll keep pondering what to do with it for now.
I finally got around to adding RonMossad to my Conservative Corner... and since not every blog down there is Conservative specific, I changed a few things. Read his blog. He's good.
I have now signed up for Project 2,996, and am going to be doing my best to write a tribute for at least one of the victims of 9/11.
School started again today. This year I'm taking a Keyboarding class. This should be interesting. See, I logged onto FFN back in 2007, and I've been typing ever since. The truth is that now I'm actually learning to type, and it's kind of funny because despite, I guess not being to type 'properly,' I've logged nearly 70 stories and who knows how many forum posts on FanFiction.Net, then we have the fact that between DR4I and Cynical Book I've written well over 100 blog posts and I've left probably nearly 200 comments over at There's My Two Cents ... And all without ever knowing how to type.
Speaking of 9/11, it's almost time to break out the 9/11 banner again... I didn't realize September was so close.
Blurb #1 - Government Health Care Socialized Medicine Strikes Again
Woman Told To Buy Painkillers Dies
A woman died from a heart attack hours after being sent home from hospital complaining of chest pains.
Debra Beavers, 39, was told to buy ibuprofen for the pain when she visited the Victoria hospital in Kirkcaldy, Fife, last Sunday, according to the Daily Record newspaper.
Ms Beavers' family believe she may still be alive if the hospital had not been so "dismissive." Her sister Darlene McConnell said Debra had twice contacted NHS 24 last weekend after initially suffering numbness, swelling and leg pains - then after chest pains.
An appointment was made at the hospital.
But Ms McConnell told the Record: "I spoke to her on Sunday morning and she said the pains were so bad she thought she was going to die.
"She went to the hospital as arranged at 1pm and was back out in minutes. The doctor told her to go home and take ibuprofen. ... She went to a relative's house nearby and lay on the settee in complete agony until she had a seizure around 8pm."
Blurb #2 - Religion of Peace Perpetual Outrage Strikes Again
Eight Christians Burned to Death after Koran is Supposedly 'Defiled'
Paramilitary troops patrolled the streets of a town in eastern Pakistan yesterday after Muslim radicals burnt to death eight members of a Christian family, raising fears of violence spreading to other areas.
Hundreds of armed supporters of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, an outlawed Islamic militant group, set alight dozens of Christian homes in Gojra town at the weekend after allegations that a copy of the Koran had been defiled.
The mob opened fire indiscriminately, threw petrol bombs and looted houses as thousands of frightened Christians ran for safety. “They were shouting anti-Christian slogans and attacked our houses,” Rafiq Masih, a resident of the predominantly Christian colony, said. Residents said that police stood aside while the mob went on the rampage. “We kept begging for protection, but police did not take action,” Mr Masih said.
Police and local officials said that at least eight people, including four women and a child, were killed in the fires. Two others died of gunshot wounds. Residents said that the casualties were much higher; one claimed that the number of dead could be in the dozens as many bodies were still buried under the rubble.Shahbaz Bhatti, the Minister for Minorities, said that 40 Christian homes were torched in rioting. He said there was no truth to allegations that a Koran had been defiled, and accused the police of ignoring his appeal to provide protection to Christians.
Tension started mounting last week after Muslims accused three Christian youths of burning a copy of the Koran. They denied the allegations, but clerics called for their death. ... Christians ... face intimidation because of discriminatory blasphemy laws, including one that carries the death penalty for defiling the Koran and images of the Prophet Muhammad. The law is often misused to settle personal scores.
Michelle Malkin and Gateway Pundit report that the White House is asking snitches to hand in information about people like me, who don't support a government health plan socialized medicine.
From Gateway Pundit:
Today, Barack Obama initiated the first stage of his Marxist snitch network.The White House asked supporters to report anyone who publicly opposes President Obama’s plan to implement a government-centric overhaul of the health care system.
Scary chain emails and videos are starting to percolate on the internet, breathlessly claiming, for example, to "uncover" the truth about the President’s health insurance reform positions.
Oops, there I go again. Anyway, back to the White House:
There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.
How about Obama's Healthcare plan? That's pretty fishy.
...[A]s we’ve seen in the health care debate to date, the term “disinformation” is used by the Obama White House as a catchall to describe any opposition to the President’s push for single-payer, government-run health care — meaning the White House wants to be informed of any forwarded emails or blog posts or any “casual conversations” that could be taken as opposition to their health care overhaul plan.
The White House has, as yet, offered no explanation of what it is they plan to do with the tips on policy opposition they hope to receive from citizen informers.
Really? That's odd. I'd like to see what they'd do, especially with the Constitution itself blocking them.
I wonder why Obama wants people who tell the truth reported to him ... could it be that the Internet lets the truth out? And, why does it even matter to Obama? It sure didn't matter back in the Bush-bashing days. Obama and his cronies do not have the right to restrain bloggers who tell the truth since, as I said earlier, it goes against the very first amendment of the Constitution. You've probably seen it before, and if you haven't, I've had it on this blog for nearly as long as I've had DR4I. It goes like this:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
Of course, Obama has no trouble getting rid of or ignoring these sorts of things whenever it becomes to inconvenient for him.
You see, I have the right that, since I don't like Obama's Health care plan, I can speak out against it. Now what Obama's trying to do here I don't know, and I'm not sure I want to fathom.
The real question is, do you want to know the truth about this government health care plan, or not? I've offered a bit of the truth, just a sampling of what's happened in other countries that have a government health care plan. I strongly encourage you to go look through this archive , which is full of the truth from other countries that have government run health care. These are the things the media will never show you.
If you prize choosing your own cardiologist or urologist under your company's Preferred Provider Organization plan (PPO), if your employer rewards your non-smoking, healthy lifestyle with reduced premiums, if you love the bargain Health Savings Account (HSA) that insures you just for the essentials, or if you simply take comfort in the freedom to spend your own money for a policy that covers the newest drugs and diagnostic tests -- you may be shocked to learn that you could lose all of those good things under the rules proposed in the two bills that herald a health-care revolution.
In short, the Obama platform would mandate extremely full, expensive, and highly subsidized coverage -- including a lot of benefits people would never pay for with their own money -- but deliver it through a highly restrictive, HMO-style plan that will determine what care and tests you can and can't have. It's a revolution, all right, but in the wrong direction.
That whole article is worth reading. Socialized medicine, A.K.A. "Government health care reform" has never worked, and never will work. The only way it would work was if everyone had the exact same problems. But they don't. This health care bill will hurt more people than it helps. The government can't run a program like this. No government can.
So now Obama wants to know who's out there telling the truth about his health care plan. I wonder how that's gonna play out.
Welcome to my blog, where I deal with politics, fanfics, and everything in between. All political stuff is located in the blue sidebar, and everything else is in this sidebar. Sidebar posters are placed at my discretion. Thanks for visiting.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: "May they prosper who love you. Peace be within your walls, Prosperity within your palaces." For the sake of my brethren and companions, I will now say, "Peace be within you." Because of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your good.
College keeps me busy, but when I have free time I enjoy writing stories, listening to music, surfing the web, and jewelry making. I love to read, and like to collect books.
You are a Faith-Based Fighter, also known as a religious conservative. You believe in Judeo-Christian values, restoring God’s rightful place in the public square, and in showing all the unwashed and unsaved liberal sinners the path to salvation, or at least to the GOP.
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." - Benjamin Franklin
"I'm a Christian first and a mean-spirited, bigoted Conservative second, and don't you ever forget it!" - Ann Coulter
"This country has shed more blood for the freedom of other people than all the other nations in the history of the world combined, and I’m tired of people feeling like they’ve got to apologize for America."
-Accredited to Fred Thompson
Blogs & Sites Frequented by The All Real Numbers Symbol
I reserve my First Amendment rights of the Constitution of the U.S.A.:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
In the interest of saving my country...
Call it Fairness Doctrine or Net Neutrality or whatever you want, but remember, the Constitution says I have a right to freedom of speech, not freedom of speech as long as I give you equal time to state your views.
