Montana Bears: Wildlife Warning

[Thanks, Mom!]

Montana Bear Tragedy

This is a very sad story about a bear.  Everybody should heed the warning to not feed wildlife because they become dependent and cannot forage for themselves anymore.

This is such a tragedy to see what they have done to our country's wildlife!  

The photo below captures a disturbing trend that is beginning to affect US wildlife  . . .

  
Animals that were formerly self-sufficient are now showing signs of belonging to the Democrat Party..... as they have apparently learned to just sit on their ass and wait for the government to step in and provide for their care and sustenance.

This photo is of a Democrat black bear in Montana nicknamed:

Bearack Obearma.

SEIU & Andy Stern Embroiled in More Scandal: FBI Probes Allegations of Corruption

Interesting headline from today's AP:

FBI Questioning Ex-SEIU President Andy Stern

The FBI and U.S. Labor Department are looking into two deals involving Andy Stern -- over a six-figure book contract given to the former head of the Service Employees International Union and payments to a labor leader convicted on separate fraud charges, a source familiar with the case told Fox News on Tuesday.

Alejandro Stephens, who was sentenced early this month to four months in prison and three months of home confinement for defrauding a non-profit organization in "bogus consulting agreements," is former president of SEIU local 660 in Los Angeles. 

Questioning of Stern, who is a member of President Obama's debt commission, revolve around whether he paid Stephens $150,000 to do nothing as the local union boss. Stephens and Stern met with federal agents this summer to answer questions about the relationship. 

An SEIU spokesman told Fox News that no labor official has been contacted in any way nor has received any inquiry of any kind from federal law enforcement officials regarding any investigation of Stern, who had signed off on Stephens' contract. 

But the spokesman noted that when several unions merged to form SEIU local 660 in 2007, Stephens was dropped as president. He was offered a $75,000 per year consulting job. 

SEIU demanded that Stephens return all the money he had gotten up front from his contract, which has been in arbitration since August 2008. The spokesman said SEIU has cooperated with federal investigators in the probe of Stephens.

Stephens' attorney, Roger Rosen, told The Associated Press that his client has not cooperated with federal officials and has no plans to do so in the future.

The disclosure about the federal inquiry of Stern comes just weeks ahead of contentious congressional elections in which the union is spending an estimated $44 million to support its favored Democratic candidates.

Stern left his post at SEIU in April, two years before the end of his term. The most frequent visitor to the White House in 2009, he is also a research fellow at Georgetown University and a paid consultant for the SEIU. 

One person who spoke to federal agents twice, in May and June, told The Associated Press that they asked about a 2006 contract in which Stern received a $175,000 advance from Simon & Schuster to write the book "A Country That Works." The SEIU and its locals bought thousands of copies of the book after it was published. The union also paid thousands to fact-check and promote the book, but Stern pocketed the advance. 

SEIU spokeswaman Michelle Ringuette said the SEIU's executive board fully vetted and approved the project. The board told local unions that purchasing Stern's book "is a truly voluntary decision on the part of those who make it, and no adverse impact will result for anyone or any entity who refrains from purchasing or promoting the book," according to documents obtained by the AP. The board also instructed locals to make sure any book purchases were authorized by the local's constitution and bylaws. 

Ringuette said the Simon & Schuster contract "did not require the purchase of a single book by SEIU." Stern also received no royalties from book sales to the union.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

You might recall that in February, Stern, a frequent visitor to the White House during the early days of Obama's administration, was selected by Obama for his bipartisan commission on the federal deficit.

Typical of this administration.

Christine O'Donnell and SNL Skit: Suit Worthy?

I was rather appalled at the skit Saturday Night Live did last night on their season opener.  I think the whole circus surrounding Christine O'Donnell, the "in-your-face-GOP" winner for Delaware's nomination for senate race, is ridiculous.  I'm not so sure that O'Donnell is a good candidate, BUT, she is the one that the people want.  A true "thumb nosing" of the constituency to the hardline GOP.

However, what SNL did last night was horrible ... and maybe even worthy of a law suit from O'Donnell?  You be the judge:



Our society is too quick to file lawsuits, but if I were O'Donnell, I would seriously consider a lawsuit against SNL for defamation of character.  What they did was not funny -- it was just pure hate-filled, filthy character assassination.   

Flight Experience ... Priceless!!!!

[Thanks, M!]

Psalm 2010

Another little gem I received via e-mail.  [Thanks, Mom!]

PSALM 2010

Obama is the shepherd I did not want.
He leadeth me beside the still factories.
He restoreth my faith in the Republican party.
He guideth me in the path of unemployment for his party's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the bread line,
I shall fear no hunger, for his bailouts are with me.
He has anointed my income with taxes,
My expenses runneth over.
Surely, poverty and hard living will follow me all the days of my life, 
And I will live in a mortgaged home forever.

I am glad I am American,

I am glad that I am free,

But I wish I were a dog,
And Obama were a tree!

The Election Poem

Here's a nice little gem I received the other day.  (Sorry that I continue to post so infrequently ... school continues to be crazy ... I'm trying to find room to breathe ... There are soooooo many things I do want to blog about ..... I've got a LOT to get off my chest!)

 

THE ELECTION POEM

  

'Twas the night before elections

And all through the town

Tempers were flaring

all up and down!

 

I, in my bathrobe

With a cat in my lap

Had cut off the TV

from all political crap.

 

When all of a sudden

There arose such a noise

I peered out  my window

Saw Obama and his boys

 

They had come for my wallet

They wanted my pay

To give to the others

Who had not worked a day!

 

He snatched all my money

And quick as a wink

Jumped  on his bandwagon

As I gagged from the stink

 

He then rallied his henchmen

Who all pulled his cart

I could tell they were out

To tear my country apart!

 

On Fannie, on Freddie,

On Biden and Ayers!

On Acorn, On Pelosi!

He screamed at the pairs!

 

They rallied his cause

as he flew out of sight

He laughed at the nation

Who wouldn't stand  and fight!

 

So I leave you to think

On this one final note --

IF YOU DONT WANT SOCIALISM

GET OUT AND THERE & VOTE!!!

Kick'm Out Video by Nate Smoove

TEXT

Source: H/T:

Media Manipulation: 9/11, Koran Burning, and Race Baiting

Sorry I've been MIA lately ... the new school year with a new prep has been keeping me hoppin'!  And, as I whiz through my day in a Tasmanian Devil-like whirl, there have been so many things going on in the news that have been adding to the centrifugal force of life.  And, as usual, the MSM are the motor of this centrifuge, spinning out lies, distortions, and outright churning up trouble.

I have been amazed at how much international play the recent story of the whacko "pastor" in Florida received when he threatened to burn copies of the Koran in remembrance (?) of 9/11 and in defiance to Islam.  I think we all breathed a sigh of relief when Pastor Terry Jones of the ironically named "Dove World Outreach Center" canceled plans, telling NBC's Today Show that he would not burn Korans or ever.  [Source]  I find it very alarming that the press and a bunch of politicians vaulted headlong into the insanity created by a pastor of a tiny 50-member church, magnifying and metastasizing it into an international mess.

Was it some kind of distraction?  Was there perhaps something more serious going on elsewhere in the world?

This tiny bit of insanity got woven into the bigger insanity going on in New York City's current controversy regarding the building of the "Ground Zero Mosque", or "prayer center" as others in the community call it.  In contrast to the media's all out "build the mosque to assuage our Liberal guilt" campaign, with 55% of network news coverage favoring the mosque, Fouad Ajami in The Wall Street Journal accuses Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf, "self-appointed bridge between America and the Arab-Islamic world", as being a false witness to the sentiments in Islamic lands.

The truth is that the trajectory of Islam in America (and Europe for that matter) is at variance with the play of things in Islam's main habitat. A survey by Elaph, the most respected electronic daily in the Arab world, gave a decided edge to those who objected to the building of this mosque—58% saw it as a project of folly.  

Elaph also polled its readers with regards to the Koran-threatening pastor:

Elaph was at it again in the aftermath of Pastor Terry Jones's threat to burn copies of the Quran: It queried its readers as to whether America was a "tolerant" or a "bigoted" society. The split was 63% to 37% in favor of those who accepted the good faith and pluralism of this country. 

 [Source for both quotes is here.]

How oddly coincidental that a New York Times reporter, Sharaf Mowjood, who has written several articles favorable towards the "Cordoba House", had previously participated in an April 2009 media training program led by Imam Rauf's American Society for Muslim Advancement (ASMA).  You can go here to read Newsbusters.org's report.

I wonder how much play those results will get in the MSM... little to none, is my guess. 

The media make a helluva lot more money churning up the water with race-baiting.  

Academia: Sanctimonious Leftist Professors

The following interview reminds me of a pompous, sanctimonious Liberal college professor I had a few years back .... more full of himself than actual spine.  (Tip: Bob Parks of Black & Right)

From FrontPage Magazine (emphasis added):

Leftist Professors and Double Standards

by Jamie Glazov

Frontpage Interview’s guest today is Dr. Fred Gottheil, a professor of Economics at the University of Illinois.

FP: Dr. Fred Gottheil, welcome to Frontpage Interview.

I would like to discuss with you today a recent experiment you did — The Statement of Concern — which exposed the hypocrisy of leftist academics who pretend they care about women’s rights and the rights of gays and lesbians.

Tell us about the Statement of Concern, what motivated you to do it and what its results have been.


Gotteil: My “Statement of Concern” came about more by accident than by design. I was searching for someone or some subject on Google.com — can’t remember exactly — when I chanced upon multiple listings of Professor David Lloyd’s anti-Israel petition. That was in early January, 2009, just after the Gaza war. Lloyd’s petition, addressed to incoming President Obama, asked for a US abandonment of Israel. His four-page argument read as if it were written by Ahmadinejad himself.  Of course, that wasn’t really interesting, considering the source. But it was the lead-in heading on so many of these petition-carrying sites that drew my attention. It read something like “900 Academics Sign Petition Against Israel …” I became more curious about who these 900 academics were than about the substance of the petition and found myself going carefully through the list of those 900. Did I recognize any? Indeed I did. Six were on faculty at the University of Illinois and one actually affiliated with its Jewish Studies Program! A few more were “the usual suspects” types but I couldn’t help but wonder who the others were and why they would sign onto such a distorted account of Israel.

I began searching through their web sites, making note of the signers’ research interests and department affiliations. That’s when I discovered that many were faculty in women and gender studies departments. The thought occurred to me: Would these same 900 sign onto a statement expressing concern about human rights violations in the Muslim Middle East, such as honor killing, wife-beating, female genital mutilation, and violence against gays and lesbians? I felt it was worth a try. My ‘Statement of Concern’ became a four-page document providing evidence of these human rights violations and identifying leading authorities – mainly Muslim clerics and professors – who condoned these anti-women and anti-gay practices. By late spring, I had the email addresses of 675 who signed Lloyd’s petition and sent them my ‘Statement of Concern,’ requesting their support. The results were surprising even though I thought the responses would be few. They were almost non-existent.


FP: What do you think explains this double standard on the Left in general and among leftist academics in particular?


Gottheil: Good question. And not an easy one to answer. I certainly claim no expertise but let me take a stab at it. You know, it’s not one size fits all. Some on the Left identify Israel with the US and that’s damning enough. Others, I think, see themselves as championing the cause of third-world people and, in this kind of mind-set, see Israel as white and successful, a deadly combination. There are some leftists — Marxists, mostly — who claim to oppose any form of nationalism and therefore regard Jews who are Zionist as enemy. Incidentally, these same leftists don’t seem to get too upset with African-style nationalism or even Arab-style nationalism. It’s just Jewish nationalism that gets their goat. Interesting, isn’t it? And we can’t discount the gorilla in the living room: plain old Anti-Semitism. It’s alive a well among the Left, and despite their vociferous denials, a growing phenomenon. In this respect, the academic Left is hardly different from the non-academic Left. They may be just a little more sophisticated in their loathing of Israel, but scratch the surface and it’s all the same.


FP: What conclusions do we make from your experiment?


Gottheil: What conclusions do I draw from this? The academic leftists are caught in an ideologically discriminatory trap of their own making. It turns out that with all their professing of principle, they are sanctimonious bigots at heart. And some are so obsessed about Israel that they would undermine their own self interest. Witness the faculty in gender studies who signed the anti-Israel petition but didn’t sign my “Statement of Concern” which is about discrimination of women, gays, and lesbians in the Muslim Middle East. Sort of pathetic, actually.
 
FP: In terms of the many faculty members in gender studies who refuse to come to the support of persecuted women, gays and lesbians in the Muslim Middle East, chances are that they are motivated by something else other than genuine concern for women, gays and lesbians. That’s obviously just a smokescreen — which your Statement of Concern exposes. So what do you think that they really care about and what is it really that they want to achieve?


Gottheil: Well, I really don’t think they’re disingenuous about issues of discrimination against women, gays, and lesbians. After all, it’s their chosen life work. It’s just that, for some, their dislike of the Jewish state – it’s a visceral kind of dislike – trumps their professional interests. You may find that hard to believe but think of those Muslim mothers in the Middle East who are happy when their children volunteer as suicide bombers. It’s not that they don’t love their children. It’s more about them buying into a cause they believe is worthy of child sacrifice. Remember how Shakespeare’s Brutus explained his role in Caesar’s assassination: “It’s not that I loved Caesar less but that I loved Rome more.”  History is replete with these kinds of people. Now why some on the Left hate the Jewish state so much is another question. I think I addressed that earlier.

FP: Well, I would disagree with you about leftists’ genuine concern about discrimination against women, gays, and lesbians. This “concern” of theirs, as sociologist Paul Hollander has documented ^[1], is really just a weapon for them to use in their war against their own society. Destroying their host capitalist society is what matters to them and they will use whatever weapons are available to them in that quest for destruction. David Horowitz illuminates this disturbing mindset in the context of leftist academics in The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America. ^[2]

If leftist “progressives” really cared about women, gays and lesbians, then they would be fighting for their rights in places where such rights are really violated – like under Hamas in Gaza and under the Mullahs in Iran. But doing so would legitimize their own society and its values and therefore completely cripple their entire identity and life purpose ^[3], and so their purported concern for women, gays and lesbians has to go out the window – a dynamic which the Statement of Concern exposes very well.
...


FP: As an academic yourself, what is it that you think made you different from many of those in your milieu? How come you did not become part of the trendy and “cutting-edge” lefty crowd in academia? What was it about your own intellectual journey, and what is it about you as a person, that makes you an individual in academia who can sign the Statement of Concern while for so many others in your environment it is simply an unfathomable – and heretical– thing to do?


Gottheil: The truth of the matter is that I was considered a leftist myself not too long ago. After all, I am a Keynesian-type economist and I do share many of the positions normally attributed to the Left. I’m not afraid of deficit spending, I’m concerned about growing income inequality, I see sweetheart relations between corporate America and government – particularly oil – as sometimes problematic. So I would not be labeled completely evil to most of my leftist colleagues were it not for my advocacy of Israel. That advocacy is simply unforgivable to them. Actually, I regard Israel as the watershed issue among those on the Left. To me, if you don’t support Israel’s right to defend itself as best that it can against people and states who wish to destroy it, you’re not much of a human rights practitioner. That’s how I see it. And that’s what separates me from most of them.



FP: What do you hope that your Statement of Concern might help achieve?


Gottheil: “Disrobe the images if you do find them decked with ceremonies.” That, too, is taken from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. I think my Statement of Concern disrobes those images of the Left that the Left likes to project about itself. Many of the Left’s adherents like you to believe they are on the side of human rights, social justice, civility, etc. etc. but they are really no different from the bigots parading on the other far side of the political spectrum. I think I’ve achieved that disrobing although it was not my intent. My intention was to offer them an opportunity to speak out against the violence committed in the Muslim Middle East against women, gays, and lesbians. They failed miserably.

FP: Dr. Fred Gottheil, thank you for joining Frontpage Interview.

Amazing -- it was not Gottheil's intent to "disrobe" the Left's image.  The Leftist college professors did it to themselves in refusing to stand up for human rights, regardless of safeguarding their leftist ideology.  Perhaps Gottheil is correct -- that Israel is the watershed issue among Leftists ... or Litmus test, more likely. 

My own two cents: I also think Gottheil got these results due to rampant PC thinking among academia.  Such professors would be far more concerned about hurting a Muslim's feelings than they are about actually taking a stand against how women and gays are treated in Muslim countries.  Human right are human rights -- not just protecting those who share your ideology. 

Spine is also a factor .... it takes a spine to actually stand up for human rights, rather than hide away in your little Ivory Tower office afraid of possibly being attacked by radical extremists.

Another Reason Why I Love Dogs: "The Magnificent Seven" of WWII

Details on a story from back in May ... from the UK's Mail Online:

The Magnificent Seven: Hero dogs that saved hundreds during the Blitz are honoured

By Paul Harris
Last updated at 7:56 AM on 17th May 2010

In the canine world they are the Magnificent Seven – the dogs that helped us survive the Blitz.
As the bombs fell on London they scoured the rubble of ruined buildings, finding hundreds of survivors for rescue teams.

When the Second World War ended, each was awarded the Dickin Medal for uncommon valour, the four-legged equivalent of a Victoria Cross and the highest honour bestowed by the charity the People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals.

Now, in the 70th anniversary year of the Blitz, all seven are to be remembered in a PDSA roll of honour.

PETER: COLLIE CROSS

 Peter: Passed search-dog training with distintion

His owners signed him over to the War Office in the hope he might help on the Home Front. He passed search-dog training with distinction and went on to locate a succession of victims trapped in or under bombed buildings.

His most triumphant moment came when he saved the life of a small boy in Chelsea after one of the last flying bomb attacks on London.

Recognition came when the Civil Defence was formally stood down at a parade in Hyde Park.

RIP: MONGREL TERRIER

 Rip: Rescued more than 100 people

A stray adopted by an air raid warden unit after being bombed out of his London dockland home.
They couldn’t stop him becoming a search and rescue dog – it seemed he did it for the enjoyment.
In 12 months between 1940 and 1941, he rescued more than 100 people from the air-raid ruins. He carried on the good work for another four years.

JET: ALSATIAN

Jet: Called out every night until the end of the air attacks in the capital

Jet of Lada, to give him his full pedigree, was born in Liverpool to celebrated breeder Mrs Babcock Cleaver.

He attended ‘war dog’ school in Gloucester from the age of nine months and was initially stationed in Northern Ireland, later distinguishing himself in anti-sabotage work for the Government.

When he was rebased in London, he became one of the most successful rescue dogs of the war, called out every night until the end of the air attacks on the capital.

BEAUTY: WIRE HAIRED FOX TERRIER

Pioneered a special squad to locate and rescue trapped animals despite never being trained for a wartime role.

Her owner Bill Barnett, a PDSA superintendent, used to take her on patrol with him when he toured the East End with a Civil Defence unit. She rescued 63 animals overall.

Beauty: Pioneered a special squad to locate and rescue trapped animals

IRMA: ALSATIAN

Irma trained at the Ministry of Aircraft Production Dog School and is credited with saving hundreds of lives.

Her ability to locate victims through the most dense and difficult obstacles constantly astounded her handlers.

Irma: Ability to locate victims constantly astounded her handlers

After one air raid she insisted she had found life under a collapsed house, and refused to budge.
After a day, rescuers pulled two young girls alive from the ruins.

THORN: ALSATIAN

Thorn came from a distinguished line of search and rescue dogs.

He was spectacularly fearless and happy to dash into blazing buildings to do his sniffer duty inside.
He once found a family trapped under a burning house.

How he detected their scent baffled rescuers – but they got the family out alive.

'Outstanding good work': Alsatians Rex, left, and Thorn

REX: ALSATIAN

Rex was described by Civil Defence authorities as having done ‘outstanding good work’ during the years he worked to the end of the war in 1945.

They said he ‘displayed uncanny intelligence and outstanding determination in his efforts to follow up any scent which led him to a trapped casualty’.