What are they smoking?

They mourn this tyrant, yet condemn unborn children to death? Really, have these people even heard the words "common sense"?

Gerald Ford, RIP

The only man to never be elected to the presidency yet serve in the highest office has died at the age of 93. While people remember him for being bumbling because of a couple of stumbles and as the man who pardoned Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford was given a very difficult challenge. Coming up because of the impeachment was no small feat, and having to deal with an ever-worsening war in Vietnam (part of which can be blamed on the Democrats, who decided to blame Richard Nixon for all the troubles while being the ones themselves to hinder the efforts). He was also one of the greatest athletes to ever become president (and many recent presidents have shown some athletic ability). He survived two assasination attempts, starting a trend that continues to this day (Reagan shot by Hinckley, Bush-41 targeted by Saddam, and Bush-43 being targeted by a faulty grenade in the nation of Georgia). The four remaining living presidents are both Bushes, Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter.

Rest in peace Gerald Ford.

Merry Christmas!

Goode, Democrats, and Muslims

Recently, Virgil Goode made a comment concerning Muslims running for public office. This has sparked some controversy, even though the evidence appears to support his concerns. Even still, Democrats have tried to take advantage of this situation the same way they did with George Allen in the now infamous moment with Sidarth. Rather than address the concerns in Goode's letter, they have made the decision to call him a racist and refrain from any real debate.

Then, more recently, a Virginia blogger decided to post a picture showing a beheading, trying to remind us what it is that we are fighting. As many other blogs are, this was shown on the Virginia Political Blogs. Waldo decided to immediately pull the blog from the aggregator. Some feel that this was a good decision

As the result, Waldo removed the blog from the aggregator. I wholeheartedly support his decision. Contrary to the postings of some others, this isn’t about censorship. This is about common decency. The exact same decency that keeps out of the blogsphere profanity-laden posts. The image was profane.

I'll note that I respect Vivian and find her to be a very intelligent woman. But again, I believe she and others are avoiding debate to instead focus on the shock value and discuss how that is wrong.

This concerns me, as we are seeing claims by jihadists that it is they that beat the Republicans, not Democrats. Perhaps I have simply missed it recently, but I do not believe I have seen a response to this. Again, it is as if liberals are afraid to respond because they think they will offend someone, instead of addressing a problem.

This cannot be emphasized enough. We are not fighting a religious war, but the jihadists believe we are. We are not fighting a political war, but the Democrats sure are. Political correctness and the fear of a few deaths (even though they may prevent countless others) are tying our hands down, and they know it.

The Virgil Goode story may pass, as he is not up for office right now the way George Allen was. The beheading picture will be forgotten. And Democrats will claim in the future that al Qaeda and other terrorist groups can be negotiated with. But we need to remember that we are not dealing with people who want peace with us. In their eyes, we have two options; convert and change our culture, or die. And despite Democrats fear of offending Muslims, I highly suspect that they would find a government run by many conservative Muslims would not be seen very favorably by Christians, conservatives, libertarians, environmentalists, feminists, gays,...

Or maybe I'm wrong and Democrats are already consulting maps on how to find Mecca?

Ethics in politics may be entering a whole new era

Shaun Kenney has recently discovered that some Webb campaigners may have done some less than ethical research on many of Virginia's bloggers. He lists many of the more well known ones, but seems to suggest that the range of bloggers hit may be greater than just Chad Dotson; Waldo Jaquith and even Lowell Feld were included, in case they might turn away from Webb (Waldo, maybe, but Lowell, I seriously doubt it) and some of the smaller conservative blogs may have been targeted as well if his tone is any suggestion. NLS, another target, suggests that this accusation holds water.

If James Webb was aware of this, I am very concerned of what Virginia can expect over the next six years. If not, I hope that he either pushes the responsible party (or parties) to apologize or apologizes for them.

Is there much to find on Virginia bloggers? My guess is no; despite my opposition to the tactics used by some bloggers, I do not believe that there is any reason for us to concern. We should not have anything to hide, but undertaking such an effort to discredit those who oppose (or might someday oppose) James Webb is disgusting.

Should this gain more attention, it would be nice to see some campaigns clean house to avoid similar problems in the future.

On a side note, NLS's post suggests that the Webb campaign controlled the use of the so-called m-word. Disturbing, but somehow, unsurprising.