CAN YOU SPARE A DIME?

Peter Jennings was not one of my favorite anchors. However, I have to give him credit for his ability to handle money. Wow!

T.G.I.F.

***Chris at Lucky Dawg News is all over Bill Maher. HBO probably won't do anything to him, but we can always hope. And while you're there, he's had it with John Kerry, too. (scroll)

***Kitty at Kitty Litter links to a post that shouldn't be read before or after eating. It's a graphic site, so consider yourself warned. Here it is--cheers! (Kitty, I have that James Dean picture hanging on my wall)

***Marathon Pundit is blogging about something that hasn't happened since 1917. Maybe, just maybe, this is the year.

***Brainster has the low-down on the latest "Survivor," and he has info on a ship that's taking on water. This ship is listing hard to the portside--every man, or in this case, woman, for herself.

***Tinkerty Tonk has posted my favorite nominee for SCOTUS. I can only hope.

***How's your governor doing in the polls? Click the link on the far right and see the latest polling info in graph form. I found it of interest to check the polling for the govs in AL, MS, and LA. New Mexico's gov is doing great, but Illinois' gov is in the dumper. Both Dems. For presidential polling and much more, click here. And after you get to the graph on govs, pull down the "track points" in the upper left corner for a breakdown by age, sex, race, party, and much, much more. Interesting and informative stuff.

***UPCOMING MOVIE: North Country. I predict that if you don't see this movie, you will hear many around you discussing it. If you're a woman, you'll probably see it. I don't know if it's going to be a blockbuster, (lots of stars, though) but I do know it'll have a huge impact on the workplace. Lawyers will be happy come October 21st. Read this section and you'll know what I mean. (Participate)

***Why can't he just fade away.

***Out of all the women in the world to marry, this wiseguy had the misfortune to pick this one. Ain't love grand? (just read the first sentence)

***I'm just all busted up over this.

***TRACKBACKS. I tried to do trackbacks on all the blogs listed in this post, but only Kitty's would go through; the rest came back "malformed response." This happens all the time. Is it just me or does this happen to you too?

THE GOLDEN BB

Hurl, the other half of our Cobra pilot blogging team, has completed his 110th and final mission in Iraq. He describes the tension he felt before, during, and after the mission. Hurl relates that his feelings during this mission were similar to that of a B-17 bomber crew on their final mission during WWII.

We're going to miss his blogging from the front lines, but we're happy he made it through ok and is about to leave in one piece. Read his final post about this mission here.

FATHER-SON DAY---updated

Hamid Hayat is sitting in jail on a terrorist charge, but his father, Umer Hayat, might be getting out on bail soon.

The Sacramento Bee requires registration, so I copied the article in full.


By Denny Walsh -- Bee Staff WriterPublished 12:08 pm PDT Monday, September 26, 2005

A federal magistrate judge in Sacramento on Monday ordered Umer Hayat, the ice cream truck driver charged with lying about his alleged terrorist connections, released on $1.2 million bail and placed under house arrest in his Lodi home.The ruling by U. S. Magistrate Judge Gregory G. Hollows does not take effect until Friday, giving prosecutors time to appeal the decision to U. S. District Judge Garland E. Burrell Jr.

Assistant U. S. Attorney S. Robert Tice-Raskin indicated at a Friday hearing, at which Hayat's bail motion was argued, that he would appeal a release order.
Burrell is a hard-liner on pre-trial detention and is far less likely to grant bail to Hayat.
Hollows found that Hayat could not be held without bail as a danger because he is not charged as a terrorist and he is not charged with a crime of violence.

The magistrate judge found that the high bail, secured by property owned by Hayat's relatives, coupled with the fact that his son, Hamid Hayat, will remain locked up in Sacramento and must face a charge of being a terrorist, make it less likely Umer Hayat will flee to his native Pakistan.

I don't know, Pakistan must be lookin' pretty good about now.

***RELATED NEWS: Folsom prison inmate pleads in terrorism case.***(registration required)

Folsom inmate will face trial on firearms, conspiracy charges.
By Crystal Carreon -- Bee Staff WriterPublished 2:15 am PDT Tuesday, September 27, 2005

SANTA ANA - A Folsom prison inmate accused of orchestrating a terrorist plot against the United States made his first courtroom appearance on federal charges Monday, where a judge entered a not-guilty plea on his behalf.

I don't know if you've noticed, I have, but we have an unusual amount of terror related activity going on in the Sacramento-Folsom area. Just sayin.'

GOOD ADVICE, ECT

***I have some advice for you. If you ever find yourself in front of your church's congregation giving a sermon, and you inadvertently blurt out these words, do the following: Stop talking and head for the parking lot. Don't try to explain the words; don't apologize; just look for the nearest exit. This guy kept talking, digging the hole deeper. Video here. (Pundit Guy)

***Kate Moss is finding out the hard way that cocaine isn't what it's cracked up to be. Could be a lesson here.

***Howdy, our Cobra pilot from Iraq, is back at home in Ohio. He wasn't home long before he ran across an anti-war protest. If that wasn't bad enough, he was facing a divorce, too. He couldn't do anything about the divorce, but he was able to do something about the protesters. Good luck to Howdy.

***I was under the impression that the NYT was going to charge a $50 subscription fee to view their site. It turns out it's just for their columnists. Is it just me, or does this seem like a bonehead idea?

***Take the Politics Test. It's short and I found it of some interest. I would've framed some of the questions differently, but it was fun. See what category you're in. (Tinkerty Tonk)

***I find myself agreeing with Jack on this one. I'm a big fan but I think his time has come.

***Need to know the time? Go here and here.

BREAKING NEWS--LODI TERRORISM CHARGES FILED

**WELCOME MICHELLE MALKIN READERS**

The Sacramento Bee requires registration, so I copied the article in full.

Lodi man indicted on terrorist charge By Denny Walsh--Bee Staff WriterPublished 12:16 pm PDT Thursday, September 22, 2005

A Lodi man previously charged with lying to the FBI about his alleged involvement with terrorist training camps in Pakistan was charged Thursday in a new federal indictment with providing material support to terrorists, according to the indictment obtained by The Bee.The new indictment alleges that starting in March 2003 through June 4, 2005, Hamid Hayat, 23, provided material support and resources by being a recruit to receive training at a jihadist training camp in Pakistan.

The new indictment, expected to be announced Thursday afternoon in Sacramento, is the first charge of terrorism in the government's ongoing terrorist investigation in Lodi. Lodi ice cream vendor Umer Hayat, 47, and his son Hamid, were previously charged with lying to the FBI.The FBI investigation also targeted two Lodi imams, Muhammed Adil Khan and Shabbir Ahmed, and Adil Khan's son, Mohammad Hassan Adil. All three were jailed on immigration violations and were voluntarily deported to Pakistan.
The new indictment charges Hamid Hayat with being trained "in physical fitness, firearms and means to wage jihad."

He "intended to return to the United States and intended, upon receipt of orders from other individuals, to wage jihad in the United States against persons ... and against real and personal property."

This should be of concern to everyone.

CAIR will surely comment, or not.

Update: KOVR Ch. 13 in Sacramento has a video report, here.

WHERE OH WHERE HAVE THEY ALL GONE?

It's a good thing Mother Birkenstock is in Washington D.C. early for her "big" rally on Saturday. She'll need the extra time to locate (pay) people to attend the damn thing. This "tour" of hers is becoming so pathetic I'm almost to point of feeling sorry for her, but not quite. It might be time for Jihad Jane to come to her rescue.

UPDATE: Sheehan has secured meetings with members of congress, including Hillary and McCain.

ANOTHER HOLLYWOOD IDIOT

The pampered in Hollywood are always poppin' off about Bush, but this one surprised me.

More here. And my reply. (courtesy of My Take On Things)

Hat tip: Drudge and GOP Vixen

IMAGES OF RITA

As Hurricane Rita closes in on land, you can watch the latest radar images of it here. Images are from Unisys.

Also take a look at some comparative evacuation pictures from Texas. It seems some people are using their heads.

UPDATE: Watch the bad weather in Minnesota.

ON THE ROAD IN SUPPORT OF OUR TROOPS

Move America Forward, the Sacramento based pro-America organization, has hit the road again in support of America's troops. The caravan left San Francisco Monday and will arrive in Washington D. C. on Saturday the 24th. Their last caravan arrived in Crawford, Texas, to help off-set the bed-wetters huddled around Cindy Sheehan during her vigil outside President Bush's home.

Mother Sheehan is organizing yet another anti-war rally in D.C. on the 24th and MAF will be pulling into town to hold a pro-troop rally at the same time. In the meantime, while traveling from sea-to-shining-sea, MAF's caravan will be stopping in many cities and holding mini-rallies in an attempt to gain more support for their cause and their organization. They will be doing this on the dollars we've sent them and with little or no media attention. Make that NO MEDIA ATTENTION.

Today, the caravan is in Salt Lake City. Tomorrow they'll be in Wyoming and Colorado. Thursday they'll be pulling into Rockford and Chicago. Illinois is Marathon Pundit country; hope he's able to give them a wave while he's doing some road work.

For the entire caravan schedule, click here. Also, I urge you to send MAF a few bucks. We need this organization now more than ever and they only have us to send them money--George Soros is funding the anti-American groups--so skip Starbuck's one day and send them a five spot. (For those of you that frequent Starbuck's in NYC, make it a sawbuck) *Donate here.*

In related news, Jihad Jane, the traitor formerly known as "Hanoi Jane," had planned her own anti-war rally on the same date but opted out so as not to take away from what Mother Sheehan has already accomplished. That's too bad, because I wanted to get a look at the crisco-powered bus she planned to slide into town on. Bitch.

GOOD NIGHT AND MAY GOD BLESS

They don't come any funnier than Red Skelton. He was one-of-a-kind. Mr. Skelton always showed his love of God and country without hesitation. The title of this post is how he ended all of his television shows. Today, sadly, there would be a lawsuit against him and the network for saying such a thing over the public airwaves.

Skelton gave a talk about The Pledge of Allegiance, its meaning, and the "under God" addition many years ago. It has been posted at The Wide Awakes for us to listen to. This is the first time I've heard it, but not the last. Link it around to your friends.

It's a short talk and it starts automatically when you click here. Or, watch the video below.

Hat Tip: The Wide Awakes

MOVING INTO THE WEEKEND

**Find the "coffee bean man" while having your morning coffee. In the picture of coffee beans there's a picture of a man, and the faster you're able to locate him, the better your brain function, or so they say. For a description about what this says about your brain function, click here. Or, just go straight to the picture and start looking for him; you can read about it later.

**If you've got money with these idiots, I advise you to move it somewhere else. They don't deserve your business.

**So far 474 bodies have been confirmed in the New Orleans area. Only 9,526 more to find.

**The Right Place, featuring Mr. Right and Stephen Johnson, who by the way do a great job blogging, were handing out thanks and frequent flyer (s)miles today. Apparently I comment there too often, but thanks for the "thanks." Their weekly "caption contest" is fun--give it a try.

**2006 is just around the corner.

**A little biography of John Wayne by Ronald Reagan. I wish both these men were alive and well today. Here's a pic of Wayne in VN. Ann Margret draws a crowd.

ABC NEWS' VERY SPECIAL REPORT

Lorie Byrd posted this little gem over at Polipundit. I don't watch ABC News, so I missed this one. But the video is worth watching more than once.

After the President's speech, ABC went to Dean Reynolds for a little after-speech interview with the folks on the street. The "so poor" and "so black" type folks. Reynolds posed his questions in such a way to make it easy for them to rip into Bush, but, instead, they shoved the whole thing up his ass. One right after another. It had to be live tv because I don't think ABC would've aired it had it been taped. Just a guess. Sorry, Dean. Maybe next time you can ask them if they can get "angry" for you.

OWENS, ROBERTS, AND THE LITTER BOX

Terrell has talent, lots of it. That said, I still think the Eagles' organization should've cut this guy loose and sent him packin'. The skills he brings to the table are offset by the opposition's willingness to do whatever it takes to shut him down, and shut him up. Tonight on Monday Night Football, Atlanta did both. The Eagles should do what the Vikings did with their loose cannon, Randy Moss, and say thanks, but no thanks. Moss now plays in Oakland, and if he decides to be a productive, team player, he'll do fine. However, if decides to play with his ego in Oakland, he'll lose, and lose big. Oakland, after all, is the home of the Grand-Daddy of all egos: Al Davis. Al
never loses.
Did you watch the first day of Judge Roberts' confirmation hearings? It's no wonder our nation is as f---ed up as it is. I may be the only one that didn't give an opening speech at this event. What a colossal waste of time. The chairman should've opened with a speech and then went straight into the questioning of the judge. These idiots in the senate, both sides of the aisle, just love hearing the sound of their own voices. When the committee finally allowed the judge to speak, it was clear they were out-matched. Smooth and brilliant--and no notes.


Matt Drudge and Rush Limbaugh ain't got nothing on Kitty Litter. No way, Jose. Though she's busy writing, or supposed to be, she's still got time to set the pace for these headliners. Kudos to Kitty Litter. We're proud of this gal.

A NOT-SO-GREAT SOCIETY

What was Lyndon thinking? Whatever it was, it didn't turn out very well.

Sue Bob's Diary directed me to this article over at Paxety Pages. She says it's a must read, and she's right about that. I'm sure many of us have been thinking the same thing. Aaron has.

MAYNARD, GILLIGAN, AND OUR TRAITOR

Bob Denver died the other day. Though he's gone from this world, the two guys that made him famous, Maynard G. Krebs and Gilligan, will live on in syndication for many lifetimes. We'll miss ya, Little Buddy.








On the other hand, Jane Fonda (*sunbathing) is still with us. However, she has announced that she won't be in our lives as much. She's bailing on the bus tour, but for reasons I think are bullshit. Read the article and decide for yourself. This can't be good news for Mother Sheehan.

Also, Hanoi Jane came to New Mexico for a book signing a few months back and encountered local vets and one of our favorite bloggers: Chris at Lucky Dawg News. See this post detailing the events. You're a good man, Chris.

* You clicked on this, didn't ya?

WOLF'S WORKING IT HARD

Of all the MSM reporters, Wolf Blitzer is working harder than anyone trying to keep the anger level at Bush near fever pitch. Just now I saw him on CNN talking to one of his reporters, and it appears that Blitzer is having to invent things for the public to get pissed at Bush about. I'll paraphrase the best I can:
------------------------------------
Blitzer: "Do you know if Bush had the flags lowered to half mast because of the passing of our Chief Justice or because of the disaster in the Gulf area?"

Reporter: "The flags were lowered late Saturday or early Sunday. It's tradition to lower them when a significant person in our government passes on."

Blitzer: "Can you find out for me whether Bush lowered the flags after 9-11. I think the American public would be interested in that."
-----------------------------------

Someone should prepare a room for Wolf. He's over doin' it a bit.

SOMEBODY BLEW IT--BUT WHO?

Cindy Sheehan is no longer a viable product to be used against Bush. However, the left, in coordination with the MSM, have found the response by the feds to Katrina to be their next product line. Sales seem to be brisk.

You could see this attack by the left developing last week, and if you had any doubts about it, they were all but confirmed if you watched Tim Russert grill the head of HLS on Meet the Press, or if you caught 60 Minutes Sunday. All questions were framed in such a way to suggest a failure at the federal level, and I don't ever remember one question being asked regarding any shortcomings at the state and local level. It was a beautiful, hack job by both shows.

And, as expected, if there's there's to be an attact on Bush, Jackson, Rangel, and Sharpton can't be far behind. Their statements seem to be geared towards inciting a riot than anything else.

Here's the Mayor's announcement for NO to evacuate. He seems to know the worst is about to happen but does little to prepare for the immediate aftermath. I guess he thinks FEMA and the military will just magically appear on his streets. In the announcement, he states that the levees may fail and, with a two day head start, does nothing in the way of providing transportation for those with no way out of town. Which brings me to the buses.

The picture of the buses sitting idle in the flooded lot says volumes about the mayor's plan, or lack of. Here's an enlightening post about what could have been done with those buses. (point 3)

Also, in the mayor's announcement, he designated 10 places for people to go for immediate shelter. But since the locations weren't prepared in advance (part of planning), citizens were told to bring enough food for serveral days. Food should be pre-positioned in these designated shelters. (MREs and bottled water last for decades) For people to carry food during an evacuation would cause many problems, not to mention wasting time. Imagine the amount of food a family of 6 would have to carry. This brings me to security.

Whenever you have a large number of people in a small area, you must provide security. With a two day head start, the mayor should have had security installed immediately. And since he thought the worst was going to happen, he should've had the governor dispatch the national guard in addition to declaring marshal law within NO. Why declare ML in NO before the storm hits, you ask? Well, being the smart guy the mayor is, he is well aware of his population and the elements within it. Here's what the numbers show for LA and NO regarding crime:

Stats are compiled from 1960-2000. In 2000, LA was ranked 22nd in population. LA had the 4th highest crime index. The following are the national rankings of particular crimes in LA:

Violent crimes..............7th
Murder...........................1st
Forced Rapes.................21st ( no stats on Voluntary Rapes)
Robbery..........................8th
Aggravated Assault......6th
Property Crimes...........5th
Burglaries......................4th
Larceny-Theft...............7th
Vehicle Theft.................10th
For your state's rankings, click here. (scroll to bottom)

Out of 350 U.S. cities ranked by SAFEST and MOST DANGEROUS, NO ranked as the 13th most dangerous.
Ranking against cities the same size, NO ranked as the 6th most dangerous.

To see if your city is ranked as SAFE or DANGEROUS, click here.

I'm not a mayor and neither are you, but, I think a reasonable person would come to the conclusion that security would be a front-burner issue, especially in light of these crime stats. Not only should ML have been declared before the storm hit land, I think it should've been declared a long time ago in NO to clean-up the crime problem once and for all. Sounds like a dangerous place on a normal day, and it isn't much of a leap to assume the city would spin out of control without sufficient policing. Read this article to get an idea of how solid the NO police department is.

I'm sure the feds didn't do everything perfect, they never do, but many things could have and should have been done by the city and state prior to Katrina hitting.

"All politics is local."--Tip O'Neil. So is disaster preparation. Somebody blew it.

You make the call.

THE BIGGER PICTURE

In times of crisis here at home, there are no political parties, only Americans. For anyone with the ability to have our attention, i.e., political leaders, celebrities, and the MSM, to be playing the "blame game" at this juncture not only shows that they're part of the problem, it clearly shows they are unamerican. 'Nuff said.

For a better perspective, read this and this.

Looking forward, I don't see good news. Al-Qaida is watching our current crisis unfold with much glee. They're taking notes. It's no secret their strategy is to hit us economically. At this time, with everything we have on our plate, aside from Katrina, we're stretched. With Katrina, we're being tested like never before. It's worse than you think.

I won't be surprised if we get hit again soon by AQ. It's the perfect time. What you're seeing unfold in the Gulf Coast area, specifically New Orleans, is a preview of what will happen if AQ unleashes a nuclear or bio attack, or both, inside one of our cities. However, to have an idea of how bad that would be, you'd need to take the current situation and multiply it many times. In comparison, New Orleans would seem like a Sunday picnic. Unthinkable as this is, I believe it's in the works.

Kitty Meyers at Kitty Litter posted a chilling exchange from the movie "Three Days of The Condor" (1975):

Higgins: It's simple economics. Today it's oil, right? In ten or fifteen years, food. Plutonium. Maybe even sooner. Now, what do you think the people are gonna want us to do then?

Joe Turner: Ask them?

Higgins: Not now - then! Ask 'em when they're running out. Ask 'em when there's no heat in their homes and they're cold. Ask 'em when their engines stop. Ask 'em when people who have never known hunger start going hungry. You wanna know something? They won't want us to ask 'em. They'll just want us to get it for 'em!

We're seeing the answers to these questions play-out on our tvs at this very moment, and it could get even worse. Pray it doesn't.

WTF, OVER

Isn't this the same Kuwait that we saved from an Iraqi invasion?

KATRINA CHARITY

I'm going with the advice of Mr. Dodo over at Lifelike Pundits. The Salvation Army makes sense to me but there are many fine charties to donate to, so head over to Instapundit and look at the list of options.

IMPORTANT: After you contribute, go here to log your site and contribution. TTLB is tracking it. Thanks.

UPDATE: As of 2:00 pm pst, 1050 blogs have joined in. Wow.