This is not your typical post about Terri Schiavo. I am not going to rant about how Bush is a hypocrite(ok, just a little), or how the Left just wants to “kill her!”. I just wanted to get that off of my chest right away. According to Yahoo! News, it appears that a confused young man from my hometown has set out to “Save Terri!”.

On Thursday, a Rockford, Ill., man was arrested in Seminole after trying to steal a weapon from a gun shop. Michael W. Mitchell, 20, told deputies he wanted to “take some action and rescue Terri Schiavo” after he visited the Pinellas Park hospice where she lives, an official said. Seminole is about 5 miles west of Pinellas Park.

The best part is this(from CNN):

Meanwhile, FBI agents have arrested a North Carolina man on suspicion of soliciting offers over the internet to kill Michael Schiavo and Greer. Richard Alan Meywes of Fairview is accused of offering $250,000 for the killing of Schiavo and another $50,000 for the “the elimination of the judge who ruled against Terry.”

Now, I don’t know either of these guys personally, not that I’d want to anyway, but I suspect their religious convictions may be playing a part in their attempt to try and save Terri Schiavo. Again, that is just my suspicion. As in, no proof. If, indeed, that is the case, can you sense the irony here? I mean, a religious person threatening to kill one (or more) person(s) in order to save another?

And since irony abounds so far in this post, how about this: In 1999, President (then-governor) Bush signed the Texas Futile Care Law. This law is essentially ‘Right To Die’ legislation. Kind of ironic that the President now is asking us to “presume on the side of life”, don’t you think? This law was used successfully to kill Sun Hudson, but not-so-successfully to kill Spiro Nikolouzos. I’m not gonna post details. Do a Google Search if you want to know more.

Anyway, both of these guys warrant my Asshat of the Week Award.

(portions of articles pilfered from CNN and Yahoo! News)

2 years.

Two long years, in which many lives have been lost. Estimates place the loss of American life, both military and contractor, at 1500+, the same that’s being reported in the Mainstream Media. Thousands of Iraqi citizens have lost their lives to in the “war” that was supposed to make Iraq a safer place under the rule of Democracy. Two years since the start of “shock and awe”, Saddam has been deposed, but violence mars the landscape. Car-bombs, IEDs, and suicide attacks seem to be the only anniversary gifts the Iraqi people will receive on this day.

President Bush showed, once again, how pompous and arrogant he really is:

“Now, because we acted, Iraq’s government is no longer a threat to the world or its own people,” Bush said, delivering his weekly radio address.

Although truthful, what he failed to say (call him a liar by omission?) was that the threat to Iraq now, is not it’s government, but the insurgents who are bound and determined to undermine efforts towards Democracy. At this point, I don’t know which is worse; probably the insurgency. With Saddam in power, at least we knew who the “enemy” was. Our enemy now is a nameless, faceless group of urban guerillas who are bent on destroying the peace process and, indirectly, American will to fight.

Around the world today, there have been numerous protests against the War in Iraq. More and more, the “coalition of the willing” is becoming the “coalition of the not-so-willing anymore”. More and more, countries that sided with us in the beginning, are withdrawing their forces.

So, Happy Anniversary Iraq! My thoughts and prayers go out to you, your citizens, but especially the men and women in uniform fighting in the U.S. military.

The Bulldog finally finds a house! Whoo Hoooo!
As I mentioned in a previous post, we have been looking for a house. Well, the first realtor we were using apparently didn’t care too much to make a measly commission off the Bulldog, so we ditched her. Kicked her to the curb, dropped her like a bad habit, etc. Well, I have to say that the realtor we finally found, has done an awesome job. Unfortunately due to our previous realtor’s asshattedness, we missed out on what Mama and I considered to be our dream house. (It had a big garage and finished rec room with BAR for the Bulldog, huge kitchen and large rooms inside for the Mama). Anyway, Mama looked at this place Saturday night and loved it. I checked it out yesterday morning and saw a lot of possibilities with the place. Plus, it’s in a very desirable neighborhood. So ends our home search and now we just have to be impatient as we wait for closing. I can’t wait!

This CNN Article touts what is most definitely a WIN to those of us here in the blogging community (Scroff - I also hate the term blogosphere!).

This past election saw hundreds of sites pop up supporting this candidate, decrying that candidate, and generally wreaking havoc towards those in the Mainstream Media. With the advent of Blogger, Movable Type’s TypePad, and other do-it-yourself web publishing software, millions of Americans are getting into Blogging. Their blogs consist of everything from political extremist views to those of someone just reporting on what their cat did all day. Whether they be silly or serious, blogs and blogging are here to stay. For those of you who frequent my abode here, you know that I have some pretty strong opinions on things, yet I also try to keep it light and interesting.

Thankfully, according to the article, our lawmakers are finally starting to show some common sense in how they approach certain things. As the article mentions, it was primarily Democratic lawmakers involved in keeping bloggers from being held to campaign-finance laws. I’m sure the outcry to pass this legislation was from mostly Republican lawmakers who imagined a “Vast Left Wing Conspiracy” towards them and their flawed views on certain things. Had the proposed legislation gone into effect, bloggers would be subject to the same or similar rules as other Political Action Committees. Of course, those of us who do blog, could have a little fun too.

One of the blogs I read semi-frequently (can’t remember which one I saw this on) shows how this legislation could also backfire. Let’s take for example, the past election. I’m a Kerry supporter who hates the majority of Bush’s policies. Every time I link to a site, Kerry or Bush’s, I am in effect supporting that candidate. Illegal though it may be, numerous links to my opponent’s website would, in effect, make him/her responsible for reporting these links which would then be subject to the limits of existing legislation. Get the picture?

If the Mainstream Media is smart, they will get back to reporting the facts instead of opinions. If our elected representatives are smart, they’ll stop trying to limit our First Amendment rights.

Even though it’s CNN, read the rest of the article.

The sad thing about this, is that it occurred in my neck of the woods. Some Honors Physics student got a little pissed off because his Physics teacher assigned him homework over the summer. Too Freaking Bad. Welcome to the real world.

“Wahh! I need a break! I just don’t have time for this when I have all MY stuff to do this summer!”

Get over yourself. Really. Thankfully, a judge feels the same way.

Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Richard Sankovitz on Tuesday called 17-year-old Peer Larson’s suit frivolous and said his complaint should be directed at the school board.

The Wisconsin attorney general’s office may ask the judge to order Larson to pay the state’s court costs.

I really hope they do levy fines and court costs against this kid and his dad. Maybe that would help cure him of this rampant Asshattery!
Check out the article from Yahoo! News - Judge Tosses Out Teen’s Homework Lawsuit

I have referred to this before concerning recruitment levels for our military being at all-time lows. A recent CNN Article touches on this as well.

Going back to 1995, the last time the U.S. Marine Corps missed one of it’s monthly recruiting goal, the Marines have always had enough recruits. Hell, my own recruiter consistently “made mission”. The remarkable thing was, he was probably the only Marine recruiter to do so while undergoing Level 3 Alcohol Rehab and a nasty divorce in which his wife had been cheating on him (If the Marines wanted you to be married, they would have ISSUED you a wife!). That, in and of itself, is amazing.

As the title of this post states, I wonder, as does the author of the CNN Article, just how close we are to the breaking point where something other than stop-loss orders and extended deployments will be needed to keep our military troop levels where they need to be to fight this God-awful mess in Iraq. As regular readers know, my brother fell victim to a stop-loss order as well last August. He had given 20 years of good and faithful service to this country only to be told “Sorry soldier, drop your cocks and grab your socks. You’re going to Iraq.” Our National Guard and Reserve units are strecthed thinner than a dime-store condom and, with as little training as some units receive, probably do about as good a job at protecting from “bad things that might happen”.

Republicans tend to scold the Left every time someone mentions the impending Draft of ‘05. But the truth of the matter is, we may be much closer to a draft than most are willing to admit. If recruiting efforts remain on the downhill slide, and support for Bush’s Playdate in the Big Sandbox™ continues to diminish, the United States may be without an alternative. My buddy Scroff over at Any Which Way has mentioned a possible solution to this conundrum numerous times: we need to get the Chickenhawks to enlist, suit up, and ship out. At least then, we would have people fighting that honestly support the War (or so they say).

Now, with the situation in Iran heating up, the pressure we’re putting on Syria, and the North Korea debacle, where will we get the military forces needed if anyone of these countries decides to stick out their tongue and go “PFFFBBBBLLLTT!!! You can’t make us! Nah, nah, nah, nah, naaahhh, nah!”? I’m sorry to say, but our interventionist policies need to end. We can’t simply keep telling other sovereign countries to do things our way, or else. The way we, as a nation, approach other countries concerning the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Act and their actions in the War on Terror™ borders on stupidity. If we’re going to talk the talk, don’t you think we should be walking the walk? Or are we the only ones good enough to possess these types of weapons?

I’ll be honest, I don’t know how to resolve our military recruitment issues. But I do know this, if something isn’t done soon to rectify this situation, the American people as a whole are going to have such a wicked taste in their mouth that recruitment will never get back to the levels they were. If anyone else has some suggestions, by all means, let your elected representatives know.

Sorry everyone. I know I had some of you scared that my words of wisdom will no longer be shared with the world. Then again, there are some of you who are glad I shut up for a change. Truth be told, the Bulldog has been working his tail off taking care of bills so he and Momma Bulldog and their pups can get their first dog house. Sorry if I had any of you worried. I will still be blogging, just on a pretty limited basis for about the next 2 months. After that, my typical sarcastic wit and brilliant anecdotes will continue (Full of myself ain’t I?).

Thanks everyone for caring about lil ole me.
Bulldog