A POODLE'S LAST GASP

Normally, I don’t like to cover dog-stories on VRWC, (especially the gruesome kind), but . . . .with United States Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito is cruising toward confirmation, and expectations are that he’s to be confirmed next Tuesday, . . . enter the Poodle.

All indications are that all 55 Republican Senators will vote for him, and even a handful of Democrats, including Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Robert Byrd of West Virginia and Tim Johnson of South Dakota. This one should be a slam-dunk. But the French-looking puppy-dog, and some other Democrats are steamed. You see, they put on a big show at the confirmation hearings, . . . but nobody cared.

They grilled Alito, he held up under fire and all the left succeeded in doing in those hearings was to make his wife cry. The Poodle is upset about that! John F. Kerry, who, by the way, is running for president in 2008, has decided it's time to make some political hay over the issue. He wants to filibuster the vote, currently scheduled for Tuesday morning at 11.

The only problem?? . . . . He doesn't have the votes!

Even none other than Illinois Senator Sticky Dicky Durbin observed as much: "One of the first responsibilities of someone in Congress is to learn how to count. Having made a count, I have come to the conclusion it is highly unlikely that a filibuster would succeed."

You can bet Sticky Dicky will have a wet finger in the air, if this comes to fruition, . . . So there sits The Poodle, . . . twisting in the wind. Just like his 2004 presidential campaign, . . . he just can't get any respect.

He did bring up Ann Coulter's name on the Senate floor, saying that because she liked Alito's nomination, that was reason enough to stop it.So Senator John F. Kerry is trying to rustle up support for a filibuster. No matter, . . . the Senate Majority Leader Frist says he will change the rules to ban the procedure, . . . the so-called "nuclear option," . . . if these Democrats try it.

The Poodle just cannot win.

God Bless,
Dan'L

Local Discussion Becomes Less Than Congenial

You decide who went there, first!


01/24/2006
" Your Views Column: (Printed today in the Council Bluffs Daily Nonpareil)

We need soldiers to fight real enemy


I have decided to answer Brian Letner's letter published in "Your Views" on Jan. 3. It is ok with me that he idolizes Dan Larsen, President Bush and Fox News, but his accusations, like his insipid and shallow remark that since myself and others do not support Bush and the war in Iraq, that "we must support the enemy," lack logical thought.

He also accuses those of us who care about our brave soldiers as being "anti-war whiners." Some think it is OK for a soldier to die for the whims of a president who perceives himself to be the crown jewel of the universe and whose war in Iraq is and will continue to haunt America and increase terrorism for many years to come. We need every soldier that we have to fight the sinister forces wanting to harm America and a soldier dying looking for non-existent WMD in Iraq cannot help!

I have seen my youngest son leave to fight this god-forsaken war and he will be going again. It would seem to me that just possibly the cheering should be a little more muted, considering the facts that let up to this war!

Since Letner's only news contact with the world is Fox News, I will share the following: As of this writing, we have lost 2,178 soldiers, had in the area of 16,500 wounded, killed 30,000-plus innocent citizens of Iraq, and spent untold billions of dollars while the future of Iraq is in serious doubt and will not be a "buddy" to America as advertised by our glorious leaders! Apparently the Bush lovers quit watching the world news after the "mission accomplished" speech. Finally, Brian, you mentioned that your opinions are "worth sharing" and I am wondering why you do not practice what you preach, or is this "right" only extended to those who hover in darkness under the cloak of "compassionate conservatism"?

Bill Pelton,
Council Bluffs


Reader Opinions:

Dan Larsen Jan.24, 2006

Bill says “Some think it is OK for a soldier to die for the whims of a president who perceives himself to be the crown jewel of the universe and whose war in Iraq is and will continue to haunt America and increase terrorism for many years to come.” Goodness! Does Pelton have any evidence of any of that, or his he just pouring pure partisan poultry manure to imply his lunatic view of the current state of affairs.

He goes on to say, “We need every soldier that we have to fight the sinister forces wanting to harm America and a soldier dying looking for non-existent WMD in Iraq cannot help!” That tells me that he actually thinks that’s the only order coming down from command staff, in theatre. There must not be any communication between he, and his son, ehh?

Watching something other than CNN, (recently thrown out of Iran, for failing to support their world-view, but then, a few hours later, they lived up to their reputation, and caved in), ABC, NBC and the prize-winners, over at CBS. I’ll bet Brian Letner is about to tell you you’re wrong about his viewing habits, . . . but it’s not surprising at all, since you’re wrong about nearly everything else dealing with international affairs. Bill will be quick to tell us just how much of a failure those democratic elections have been, over there. After all, those ballot boxes didn’t eliminate any terrorists, and he’ll challenge us to prove that negative, just like the WMD issue. If we ask nicely, maybe Pelton will tell us in a little more detail about how he knows what’s going to happen, years from now, in Iraq.

On the one hand, Pelton wants us to leave Iraq, immediately, and on the other, he implies we have to “quit killing innocent civilians in Iraq.” Hey, Bill! The innocent civilians you mention; does that number include all the cowardous terrorists, who wear no uniform, have no army, who represent no government, and are one and the same, with those you and your ilk would afford Geneva Convention Benefits?

Hmmmmmm? Oh, . . . and why does the term “Compassionate Conservative” bother you, so much? God Bless,Dan’L

Don Malick Jan, 24 2006
(From the AP)

Updated: 4:53 p.m. ET Jan. 24, 2006
WASHINGTON - Stretched by frequent troop rotations to Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army has become a “thin green line” that could snap unless relief comes soon, according to a study for the Pentagon.

Andrew Krepinevich, a retired Army officer who wrote the report under a Pentagon contract, concluded that the Army cannot sustain the pace of troop deployments to Iraq long enough to break the back of the insurgency. He also suggested that the Pentagon’s decision, announced in December, to begin reducing the force in Iraq this year was driven in part by a realization that the Army was overextended.

Does this mean that maybe Dan Larsen IS wrong about our capabilities? By the way, this is not a biased report, but a study funded by the Pentagon.



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I don't know, Malick. Let's ask the guy in the photo, above what HE thinks, . . . SHALL we??

God Bless,
Dan'L
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Jim Thorn Jan, 25 2006

"Goodness! Does Pelton have any evidence of any of that, or his he just pouring pure partisan poultry manure to imply his lunatic view of the current state of affairs.

"Dan, this complaint -- which you've raised several times in the past few weeks -- might carry more weight if you were in the habit of offering evidence in support of your own opinions. I reviewed the archived copies of the five letters you've had printed in the past 60 days. In that time, you have shared evidence-free "pure partisan poultry manure" on a wide variety of topics.

The only time you offered clear objective evidence in support of one of your opinions was in a dispute about whether Carnegie and Ford were philanthropists. (You did once try to use your own opinion about John Kerry as evidence "proving the hypothesis" of another of your opinions about Kerry, but I hope you'll understand why I didn't count that one.)


Skip Lambert Jan, 24 2006

It's really no wonder we are having such a warm winter with all the "hot air" that eminates from Larsens right wing rants. His propensity to perpetually "pollute" has a silver lining after all.

God Have Mercy,
SkipL

Stuck on "Stupid in America"

I hereby bequeath VRWC's January 2006 Nobelest of Journalism Award to ABC’s John Stossel for his 20/20 report entitled “Stupid In America: How We Cheat Our Kids,” a blistering expose of the government education system in the United States today.

As my good friend, Neil Boortz says, "For those of you who learned American history education from a public school," . . . you might be surprised to know that in 1775 most colonists did NOT support separation from England. Many actually preferred remaining as subjects of the King. They were called “Loyalists.” They wanted to continue working within the existing system, but maybe with a few “reforms.” They were opponents of independence. They were anti-freedom.

Then along came a guy named Thomas Paine and his pamphlet titled “Common Sense.” As Gregory Tietjen notes in his introduction of a reprint of this immortal historical document, Common Sense “immediately became the moral and intellectual touchstone for American colonists struggling to articulate their case for independence from England.” The pamphlet enjoyed unprecedented distribution; the “first printing of several thousand copies sold out in days, and the second, with additions, sold just as quickly.”

Many historians consider publication of Paine’s Common Sense to have been the turning point of public opinion against the status quo and for a break from the King. In that regard, we can only hope that John Stossel’s “Stupid in America” has the same effect over 230 years later.

Stupid in America has the potential for becoming the “moral and intellectual touchstone” for Americans who have been fighting for independence from the tyranny of government schools in this country for many years now. As in 1775, most Americans today harbor a belief, more a hope, that education under the current system isn’t all that intolerable; that we just need to tinker around the edges a bit with a tweak here and a tweak there. Oh, and more money, of course.

Stupid in America obliterates that flight of fancy (click here to watch excerpts: http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Stossel/story?id=1491217).

I won’t go into the details and content of Stossel’s actual report here. Rather, I’m suggesting that education patriots who have long supported a break from the public school monopoly may now have a modern-day version of Common Sense with which to finally turn around the majority of public opinion. Stupid in America needs to be distributed far and wide. Every elected legislator in the country ought to watch it, as should every concerned parent and taxpayer. The case for complete and total education independence will no longer be arguable after watching this report by anyone but blind loyalists of the current system.

It’s time to choose sides. To spit or get off the pot. No more fence-sitting. You’re either with us or against us. You’re either for total freedom, choice and independence from the government school monopoly or you’re an education “Loyalist,” deserving of disdain and derision. And that especially goes for our modern-day Lobsterbacks, the teachers union.

These militant foot soldiers of the status quo, as exposed in Stossel’s report, will stoop to any level in defending their monopoly control over our kids’ lackluster education - and they are 100% committed to crushing anyone who dares threaten their power. It’s time to strip away the Suzy Sunshine face they portray in public and expose them for what they and their agenda really and truly are: Anti-education. Or at least, anti-education excellence. These people are Masters of Mediocrity. At best.

And if you are a teacher who belongs to the teachers union, thus helping to perpetuate with your dues their iron grip on the current system, you, too, are anti-education. There’s just no nice way to put it. It’s well past time for you to...quit...the...union.

All of this might sound harsh if you haven’t yet watched Stupid in America. But once you see this eye-opener, you, too, won’t be able to help coming to the conclusion that the education monopoly in this country must be obliterated - not just accommodated or reformed - once and for all. Which makes it all the more important for education patriots to assure the widest distribution and circulation possible of Stossel’s Stupid in America.

In the words of Thomas Paine, "It’s just common sense."

Congratulations Mr. Stossel. I think you may have stuck a nerve!

God Bless,
Dan'L

Look out Teddy! Here comes trouble! (. . . in the form of your Love Child)

A couple days ago, Senator Edward (Teddy) Kennedy, perhaps the most repulsive politician in Washington in recent years, said that he was going to cast his vote against Samuel Alito because, according to Teddy, Judge Alito was "itching to overturn Roe v. Wade."

Is this a personal issue for Kennedy?? I'd ask that readers of the VRWC consider the fact that the latest edition of The National Enquirer tabloid spins the tale of an Edward Kennedy love child, a now 21-year-old male name Christopher. I wonder if the child ever knew his dad likes to walk around in his print boxers, carrying a goblet of Scotch whisky?

(Let's see, . . . that would make young Christopher elegible for some serious medical
insurance benefits, courtesy of the American taxpayer, because his Daddy was a
Senator when he was conceived -- Can we say DNA tests may be the order of the
day, if those bennies become necessary??)

The Enquirer story says that Kennedy urged the child's mother to have an abortion, but she refused. Perhaps Kennedy is working hard in the Alito matter, in order to keep his options open in the event this one blows up, or in case(s) of any future indiscretions. Now, if the mainstream media would just pick up on the lead by the Enquirer, and go out and do some REAL investigative journalism, (something the VRWC thinks may well be extinct, when it comes to liberal proponents engaged in governmental affairs).

God Bless,
Dan'L