13 Frequently Asked Questions About Illegal Immigration

If you care anything about the whole illegal immigration debate, you need to go here.

Savaging Catholics

I sometimes listen to Michael Savage's radio show, on the way home from work. Usually just about ten minutes of it; that's about all I can handle. I believe he is crashing in ratings, and it is pretty funny to listen to the desperation as he attacks Limbaugh and Hannity and the rest.

Monday I was listening when he made his anti-Catholic rant, and he lost me forever.

This is going to be interesting

Near Tuscon, students raised a Mexican flag, over the American flag at a school. Other students took the Mexican flag down and torched it. The whole story is here and here.

When we see some jerk torching the American flag, it's freedom of speech. We have to "understand" how mad the torchers are. I can't wait to see how "understanding" everyone is.

An unwanted reunion

I am sure the majority of people involved in adoption reunions are perfectly normal and sane people. Stories like this fascinating and scary thread are a great arguement for mutual consent on reunions, though.

Protesting for entertainment

Anyone else sick of the whole immigration debate? I am tired of the debate for the simple fact that it is so obvious that nothing is going to change. The Right is scared to death they will be called bigots. The Left is ready to open the doors to anyone who wants to be here. Both sides are looking at Hispanics as the next big voting block to pander to. Businesses that hire illegals are paying off both sides, and meanwhile anyone that wants to is walking across the border and getting free education and free health care, and the taxpayers are paying for it.

Mexico is running ads in American media demanding we allow more immigration. Forget about how arrogant that is, what does that say about Mexico? Shouldn't they at least be saying, "It really isn't that bad here?"

The protesters in LA are waving Mexican flags around. Doesn't sound like they care much for assimilating into out culture, does it?

Michelle Malkin has a story and picture that is absolutely infuriating. Protesters in California put up a Mexican flag over an upside-down American flag to protest. How respectful.

It seems to me that a lot of the protests you see (on whatever subject) are nothing but school kids looking for a reason to ditch. Kids have a right to speak their piece, but I doubt these kids in LA or Dallas have any clue what they are talking about.

Seems like a lot of people have a lot of time to protest. Don't these people have jobs? Shouldn't the students be in school? There are people who do nothing but go to protests. What a sweet gig that must be. These people always know where the courthouses are.

The debate should be about American identity, I think. We are all made up of other countries, of course. Few of us can go back more than a hundred years, or maybe a hundred and fifty. Immigration made us great, and it will continue to do so. But there is an American culture, and there is such a thing as American sovereignty. The country is obviously worth protecting, since we have so very many people who want to be here.

The country's duty is to Americans, first.

Those of us who were born here, and pay our taxes and follow the laws. Politicians seem to be so worried about trying to make everyone happy. They want to make sure they can come back to Washington next year. Every day I pray for term limits to somehow come back. There should not be such a thing as a career in politics.

If you want to be here, there are a set of rules to follow. One of them is follow the immigration process. I do not care where you come from, and I welcome you, if you follow the law.

There is probably going to be another amnesty. I know they are saying it isn't an amnesty, but how the hell else can you break into the country and get to stay legally? It is so simple to me that once you have broken a law, you obviously don't have any respect for the law, and you forfeit any 'right' you have to be here. If you are here illegally, you need to be deported.

If the whole issue is about jobs that Americans won't do, then some prices need to go up. If the cost of eliminating illegal immigrants is higher prices on our lettuce and landscaping, then so be it. The market will adjust. Free market forces will determine the prices. If a head of lettuce is going to cost four dollars, so be it.

24 once again

So, will Audrey get her fingernails pulled out?

Some Jack Bauer links;

Blogs for Bauer - Live blogging tonight's episode

Dave Berry - Usually a 24 thread here.

Jack Bauer Facts



OK, Stupidest way to commit suicide: Use a stungun on Jack Bauer.

Statistics and Choices

Since the whole debate last week with the anti-adoption and/or open records people I have been motivated to do a lot of research and analysis. The original adoption story is here, and there was more discussion here, here, and here.

Over the last week I have read dozens of anti-adoption and adoption reform articles on blogs written by women who regret their decision to varying degrees.

I am sick of the whole phrase "Anti-adoption". I cannot believe that any sane person would want to end adoption. How many children who would be born into poverty and would be unwelcomed, does it take to convince you it is an asinine idea?

I suspect most of these women who despise adoption are miserable because they suspect their adopted kids are happier than they are, and it is painfully apparent after a few years that they don't need them. I know nothing about post-partem depression, but I suspect it is part of the problem.

Almost all said they were pressured into adoption. The women who said family pressured them into it are screaming for adoption reform. This seems curious to me; it sounds like they need family advice reform, if they are unhappy with the advice or pressure they got. I still have to come back to basic personal responsibility, and recognizing the consequences of your actions; you signed the papers, lady.

Some were very young; in fact, one was fourteen. Now, it may be presumptuous of me to say it, but a fourteen year old has absolutely no business raising a kid.

Teenagers usually make lousy parents. 10% of teenage girls get pregnant every year. That's a million a year. Of those, a third end the pregnancy. Some 14% miscarry. Half have the child, and three fourths of those are illegitimate. 80% of these are below the poverty level and end up on welfare. The teen birthrate in America is the highest in the world; how about that sexual revolution? Sex ed has not helped much.

All those new kids have a lot in common;

They have more health problems.

More likely to be premature and have low birth weight - by 50% - doubling the chance of learning disabilities.

A complete family is going to have a much better chance of dealing with these problems.

Assuming they are kept by the biological mother;

The children are far more likely to be abused, abandoned and neglected

They are 2 to 3 times more likely to run away from home.

The girls who keep the kid are not without their problems;

7 of 10 drop out of high school.

They earn about half of the poverty level.

The dads have problems too:

They finish eleventh grade. The national average gets 13 years of education.

About $5k less a year in wages.

'Open' adoption is favored by a lot of these women, to the exclusion of 'closed adoption'. I have thought quite a bit about this, not being sure if it is better or not. Women who have had open adoptions seem to be complaining that they are not able to see the child as much as promised.

One study done in the early 90's found that of biological mothers who gave up their child, 18 in open adoption and 41 in confidential adoptions, they found that biological mothers in open adoptions were far more troubled than those in traditional closed adoptions. There were problems of social maladjustment, sleep disorders, physical symptoms, despair and attempted suicide.

It seems to me that having an extra parent around is going to confuse the relationships for the child. It is indisputable that basic family structure is the best possible environment for a kid - and an extra mom coming around is just more complication. There are lots of anecdotal type stories about how the biological mother gradually turned into a stalker, so to speak, when allowed to be part of the family. They gradually attempted more and more control over the child, many up to the point of restraining order.

Closed adoption has problems, too, of course. Some adopted children wonder why their biological mother gave them up. The common belief is that the biological mother had problems of one sort or another, or was simply too young to be a successful parent, or was unable to locate the father. The children sometimes have feelings of abandonment, and are depressed apparently over the lack of contact. Most of these seem to be due to problems with the adoptive family.


The most amazing thing is that all of these anti-adoption people are vehemently pro-choice. Several exercised their choice. Sorry, but I am unable to follow the "logic" that the subjects are unrelated. I do not understand how you can have an abortion, then later give another kid up for adoption, and then feel remorse - for the adoption.

One woman writes about a depressed friend she met while in therapy, apparently both are "bi-polar". The friend is depressed because she had an abortion.

"...She herself was an adoptee, with her own hurt surrounding her biological mother's failure to care for her--and yet SHE felt that, somehow, I was a good person for carrying my baby to term, and for staying in contact... while she felt guilty for simply terminating a pregnancy."

"Simply terminating a pregnancy." That line amazes me. Ignore the argument about whether or not it should be legal, or whose rights we are talking about - it isn't really arguable that a life has been ended. I would hope that there would be a little guilt. How the hell can it be "Simply?"

An acquaintance of mind makes the argument that abortion may be a good thing; a woman that would have an abortion perhaps should not become a mother.

Abortion has a few statistics, too, but you don't hear them. Like increasing the risk of breast cancer. Have an abortion before 18, and your risk goes up 150%. If you have breast cancer in your family, and you abort a kid after you are thirty, your risk goes up 270%. Your "Suicidal Ideation", or just thinking about offing yourself, goes up 60%. Teenagers are ten times more likely to attempt suicide if they have had an abortion.

I come away after reading dozens of these blogs (anti-adoption, adoption reform, open records, and/or pro-choice) with the distinct impression that they believe it is far better to have an abortion than give up a child for adoption.

There seems to be a word they are fond of - "Firstmom". Sorry, but there is more to being a mom than biology. In my mind, the term mother is to be earned.

Another one is mad because when she said something about 'her child', who she had given up for adoption, someone else pointed out to her, "It isn't your child anymore." Well, it isn't, in the sense that 'your' child is one that you raise.

Apples and oranges

Little Green Footballs notes a story over at Yahoo news that is the worst comparison I have heard yet.

ROME (Reuters) - The strong Western response to a threatened death sentence for an Afghan convert to Christianity looks something like a mirror image of the Muslim reaction to the Prophet Mohammad caricatures printed in the European press.

How does someone dying for being a Christian mirror people threatening murder over cartoons? Oh, I see. Both circumstances involve death at the hands of islamic wackos.

---

UPDATE: Little Green Footballs has a post about how Reuters has re-written this story. Just to be clear, here are the original two paragraphs:

ROME (Reuters) - The strong Western response to a threatened death sentence for an Afghan convert to Christianity looks something like a mirror image of the Muslim reaction to the Prophet Mohammad caricatures printed in the European press.

There have been no riots or sackings of Afghan embassies, unlike the violence that marked the uproar in Muslim countries after the Danish cartoons were published, but the shock and mutual incomprehension expressed in both cases are similar.

And here is the current rewritten version:

Two months ago, political and religious leaders in the Muslim world were rounding on Western European media and governments for printing and defending caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad that they considered blasphemous.

The cases are clearly different. Western leaders from President George W. Bush down have spoken up to save the life of a man whose religious freedom is a universal human right which his judges say is secondary to Islamic law.

Several blogs noted the original nonsensical story, and I think this is just another example of the mainstream press responding to the 'blogosphere'.

Breathtaking gratitude

Three Christian peace activists held for four months have been rescued in Iraq by American and British forces.

Great story. Glad to hear it. Don't care for your mission, but glad you didn't get killed by the folks you are trying to help.

The groups website put up a press release about their "return". No mention of the forces that rescued them. In fact, they did mention the military, but only to blame them for the origonal kidnapping. Read their whole press release here.

There were origonally four activists, but the fourth, an American, was murdered.

Michelle Malkin has a rundown here.

Stop the ACLU has more here.

The headline says it all

Clinton vows to block bill criminalizing illegal immigrants

If you don't see the humor in this headline, read it again until you do.

NEW YORK -- Invoking Biblical themes, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton joined immigration advocates Wednesday to vow and block legislation seeking to criminalize undocumented immigrants.

OK, now we are back to "Undocumented" immigrants.

"It is certainly not in keeping with my understanding of the Scriptures," Clinton said, "because this bill would literally criminalize the Good Samaritan and probably even Jesus himself."

I love it when a dem like Hillary throws the J-word around. I am not sure what the proposed law says, but I am curious who she considers to be good samaritans.

She also called for new enforcement laws, including penalties for employers who exploit illegal immigrants...

I'm ok with this...

... as well as a system to allow the roughly 11 million illegal immigrants currently living in the United States to earn their citizenship.

Oh, back to this, are we? More amnesty?

"We want the outcome to be that they're on the wrong side of the politics as well as the wrong side of history and American values," she said.

How is it against American values to want people to stop breaking into the country?

Read the whole Newsday article here.

The Soldier's IQ

Comedian Richard Belzer thinks our soldiers aren't very bright.

Doug Powers' article about Belzer's appearance on Bill Maher's show 'Real Time with Bill Maher' where Belzer made it known that soldiers aren't best qualified to comment because they don't have time to read all the newspapers he does, because they are so busy trying not to die. Plus, they are just kids who couldn't get a job anywhere else.

I see his point. How smart can you be to volunteer to go sign up to go to a cesspool like Iraq, with it's 120 degree summers, sandstorms, lousy food, and a daily chance of being offed by any punk with half a stick of dynamite or an AK? You make so little money you usually qualify for food stamps. Lots of soldiers come home injured and missing pieces, and some even die.

Why would you go? Is it just because of some sense of duty to country? Some idea that you need to give something back? Maybe they feel like they need to help people in other countries for some reason. Or maybe they even think they are defending the United States from something. What a lousy way to earn a living, when you could be on TV insulting those people instead.

Numbers

I will have to admit that the number of our soldiers killed in Iraq bothers me. I know it is a very low number when compared to other actions the United States has made, but even so, for every single one of those soldiers killed, there is a family and group of friends in agony. I want the number to be zero; Patton's line sums up the way it should be;

"Don't die for your country, make some other sumbitch die for his."

I was very suprised to see the numbers that RedState put together. Basically, the number of soldiers killed is pretty close to what it is in peacetime since 1980.

George W. Bush . . . . . 5187 (2001-2004)
Bill Clinton . . . . . . . . . 4302 (1993-1996)
George H.W. Bush . . . . 6223 (1989-1992)
Ronald Reagan . . . . . . 9163 (1981-1984)

Considering that President Bush has fought two wars, this speaks well for the careful use of our forces and improvements in battlefield technology. Go read the whole article and check out the comments.

Bush administration needs to wimp up

By now you may have heard about Ruth Marcus' column diagnosing the 'problems' of the Bush Administration.

She says it is too manly.

OK, no one has to be told that the left is in greater touch with it's feminine side. I mean, you guys have Hillary Clinton, and Helen Thomas, and DiFi, and Barbara Mikulski, and Barbara Pitbull Boxer. Perfect visions of femininity. Oh, and Barney Frank.

...What this country could use is a little less manliness -- and a little more of what you would describe as womanly qualities: restraint, introspection, a desire for consensus, maybe even a touch of self-doubt.

Restraint? Sounds like hesitation to me.

Introspection? Like when Jimmy Carter gave the "Maliase" speech?

Consensus? Margaret Thatcher's qoute should be repeated here: "Consensus is the absence of leadership."

Self-doubt? The left cannot accept the fact that anyone can have confidence in themselves.

24 Open thread

Audrey? Say it ain't so!

Nicotine Nazis

I am an ex-smoker. I quit smoking when I could not stand the smell of my garage anymore and when I could not get the stain off of my fingers from smoke. I have enjoyed better stamina since I quit, and my clothes don't stink anymore and I don't ruin a shirt every now and then from a stray ember.

The smell of someone else smoking is pretty strong now, but it does not make me gag or anything like that. In fact, sometimes it still smells pretty good. I smoke a good cigar every now and then, too, usually a Macanudo.

The constant drumbeat of the anti-smoking folks, nationally and locally, is becomming a major pet peeve, though. We had a local group here try to outlaw smoking in all restaurants and bars here, and it failed by a very tiny margin. Sorry, but if you don't want to smell smoke in my bar or my restaurant, go away. Just because you can smell it doesn't mean it is hurting you.

Those of you who are saying, 'Good, it is bad for them anyway. And I am tired of smelling it in public.' If you think that, you are really short-sighted.

Calabasas, California has now banned smoking in most public places. No big surprise; it's California, after all. But it is over-reaching, I think. The KABC story has a phrase that is one of the most arrogant and scary things I have ever read.

"People will still be allowed to smoke in their homes."

How generous of them.

You hopefully don't need me to explain why this is such an amazing statement. The whole concept of private property is apparently fairly unimportant to a lot of people.

Harry's plan

Dem Senate minority leader has a plan to target President Bush. The Washington Times has the whole article here. Here are some excerpts, translated for your convenience.

• "Hold a town hall meeting with state officials and a local National Guard unit at their armory to discuss the security impact of long deployments. ... Ask National Guard members to offer input on how security and disaster response at home is compromised by long deployments."

TRANSLATION:Find someone that will say the war caused the Katrina disaster.

• "Hold a town hall meeting with troops at a local military installation. ... When selecting a location at the military installation for the event, make sure to select a space that allows easy press access and clearly conveys the message in the shot. Planes, vehicles, equipment and signage in the background enhance the pictures coming out of your event."

TRANSLATION:Get in front of military stuff so you will not look like the pansies you are.

• "Work with [veterans] organizations ... to find recently returned Iraq and Afghanistan veterans willing to discuss the mental effects they or their fellow veterans have experienced."

TRANSLATION:Find a crazy vet.

• "Tour a factory in your state that manufactures military equipment like Humvees or body armor and hold a press availability afterwards with Iraq and Afghanistan veterans on the importance of protective equipment."

TRANSLATION:

Show how we aren't giving the soldiers any equipment and the Bush Administration doesn't care about the soldiers.

• "Visit the home of a military family that has purchased body armor on their own for a family member serving in Iraq or Afghanistan and hold an open press 'conversion' on the issue. ... Ask the family if they would be willing to hold the open press conversation/town hall meeting in their yard, on their front porch or in their home."

TRANSLATION:

Show how the war is costing families and that the Bush Administration doesn't care about the soldiers.

I am so sick of townhall-type meetings. Everybody sits around and expresses how miserable they are, and everyone nods solemnly and dabs at their eyes. Everyone has a good cry and at the end the anchor infers something like, 'If only these real Americans ran the country...'

Another reason AT&T really, really sucks

We all know AT&T sucks. As a person who works for an AT&T Competetitor, I really know. They are the absolute worst.

What they are doing to our soldiers in Iraq should not suprise anyone.

They have an exclusive contract to provide payphones in the PBXs in Iraq and Afghanistan. No big deal there, but they also are blocking the access numbers for phone cards - that is to say, unless the soldier has an AT&T calling card, it won't work. That practice is illegal in the United States. On top of that, the rate on the cards is twenty-one cents a minute.

The wholesale rate for calls is less than a penny a minute.

Being a capitalist, I like to say there is no such thing as an excess profit. But this is, well, typical AT&T and SBC behavior. Monopolistic and predatory.


You can read more on Tech News From Digg here and Fractals of Change here.

Never forget

There are few images more disturbing than the images of people jumping to their death from the twin towers on 9/11.

Michelle Malkin has the story; of one of the people seen falling has been identified. (Disturbing image that must not be forgotten)


Updated:

Hearing the 911 tapes from 9/11 this week in the Moussaoui trial brings back the anger. Some of those voices heard on the tapes were probably jumpers.

I wrote a piece in our local paper a few days after 9/11, and I am just as convinced today as I was then of what we needed to do.

The birth of an activist

All of this adoption dialog is wearing me out.

When I wrote the first story, I was only wanting to tell a neat story. I thought it was dramatic and heartwarming and inspiring, the whole search story, the first phone call, all of that.

I have discovered, entirely by accident, that there is an anti-adoption movement. I did not really register that whole concept for a few hours, that there is actually a group of people that want adoption to stop.

Think about that. I guarantee that if your family has not been touched directly by adoption, you know someone whose has. There are millions of families that would not exist. There are countless children who would have had single parent families and a one way ticket to poverty but for adoption. More personally, the circumstances in my own adoption all but guarantee that I would not exist if adoption were not a choice.

They speak of corruption in the adoption process, mothers being lied to and told to never attempt to contact their child. I have read a lot about the birthmothers being told it is illegal to attempt contact their ex-kids. I doubt that it has ever been illegal to do so, and this threat probably shouldn't have been made. I am sure some were lied to and mistreated, and that is absolutely unfair. But I can also understand adoption lawyers and adopted parents wanting to open up a moat between birthmothers and adoptive families, too.

There are stories about adoption that reek of corruption, but not in the way the anti-adoption people will tell you. All of the unfavorable stories I have heard about adoption revolve around mothers who for whatever reason change their minds at the last minute. It is undeniable that some substantial fraction of these women never had intention of giving up a child, they are simply cashing in on a system that is trying to do the right thing, and is biased towards the birthmother. That is a nightmare for a prospective adoptive parent; the parents are warned about how uncertain the process is when they sign up to adopt. There are countless cases of prospective parents being scammed by professional mothers. Couples search for months or even years to find a candidate. The adoption is set up, and usually the birthmother's medical expenses are paid, the birthmother is given living expenses, and a lot of times a lot more than that. Then at the last minute, she disappears, or just changes her mind. Nothing is usually said about the thousands of dollars the couple has paid, but it is gone. The contracts or agreements have little value in court in a legal system that is hopelessly slanted towards birthmothers. The mother is never looked at as being a criminal. There is a case right now of a family named Gurney in Amarillo, Texas that adopted a child, named Sierra. The mother changed her mind five months after the adoption was done. This is absolute nonsense. This case is in it's fifth year. The parents were given a child and the birthmother changed her mind and screwed up five lives.

Two families I know are seriously damaged by unwanted contact. One was an adoptee that I grew up with who used unscrupulous means to find his birthmother. He found out that he was the child of an affair; his search and discovery of his now 55 year old mother destroyed her marriage and his career. The other is a family who adopted a child, and had the birthfather, a repetitive 12 stepper, find the adoptive family five years later. The man follows the family around, and threatens legal action. The family is now well armed and moving to a different state to get away from this ticking time bomb. How many other stories are there?

Some of the people I have been reading about just want there to be no sealed adoptions, and want all the records opened. They speak of every American having equal rights to their identity. With all due respect, I suspect the people calling for open records and rights of identity are mostly people who chose adoption and are now regretting it, and want to change the rules in the middle of the game. It is difficult for me to find sympathy for them; I find it hard to believe that at least most of these women didn't know the terms; but some swear they didn't. They are undoubtedly suffering; I cannot imagine how much it must hurt. It was, after all, their child. At the same time, they signed the papers, and contracts are binding. It is a similar thing to me to know the penalty for a crime, commit the crime, and then complain about the punishment.

---

So what I have decided to do is become an activist. I will watch for these stories and legislative proposals and court cases. I have a good amount of familiarity with state and local political processes. I know a couple of judges and a couple of lawyers. I worked on the campaign of my US Congressman, and maybe he will remember and listen to some of my input on this issue. I will make it my mission to strengthen adoption through whatever means I can. I have never felt as driven to a cause, and to preserving a system that works.

The Infidel Creed

I am an Infidel.

I believe you have given me this name, so I will proudly bear it.

I am an Infidel.

I believe that world peace will not be earned through the shedding of blood in the name of Allah.

I am an Infidel.

I love this. Go check out the whole thing here.

More terms

The folks over at 'Musings of the Lame' have elevated the discussion;

brandi said...

Gah, anti-choice assholes...I have been a pro-choice activist since I was 16 and hate those people.

The word hate springs up quickly with some people...

Lady said...

...Men IMO shouldn't have too much to say about pregnancy/birth control/ abortion, etc. How can they relate?

I can relate because it is my child, too. Women surely have the tough part of the whole task, no doubt. Unfair design of the species, maybe, but check with God about that. If I could have carried the child my ex-girlfriend exercised her choice on, I would have. As it is, you need both to make a baby, and it is my knuckle-dragging male opinion that just maybe the father should have some say in the matter.

Kateri said...

What a conservative shitpile you stepped into! Clearly a man, clearly hostile to women. THere's no talking to that type. We can console ourselves that he probably has a miniscule penis. He's probably short and bald, too

Clearly a wordsmith. Has anyone else noticed that whenever you have a conversation with a person who cannot argue, it takes about a sentence or so to descend into profanity and name-calling? I am 5'11, and I have a full head of thick, brown hair. The rest is no one else's business, but my wife is more than happy. Sorry if that ruins your consoling.

FauxClaud said...

Thank you..that gave me quite a chuckle.

I deleted the comments that I thought were nasty to you and not pertinent to the discussion. I left the 'Spellcheck' crack because it seems to be a problem at Musings.

Yeah, this is one of those cases where I have to say.."Ok, not gonna get the perma bruise on my head from this brick wall".

Oh, how superior of you.

Really, it was almost shocking..here I thought Nice story..threw him some props, quickly agreed to disagree..

Oh, I see. You tell me what I am feeling, and what my birthmother is feeling, and that is the gospel. I am supposed to accept your word as truth for all women and dare not speak my piece?
Your post on my blog:

We DON'T move on.

Some of us do.

We might pretend, we might do what is expected of us to do, but we don't forget..and the feelings for our children do not go away no matter how many years have passed.
IF a woman has trully pushed it down so deep inside her that she is not dealing with it, then you, the adoptee, are doing her a great service by making her come to terms with it again and for once, in however nmany years, begin to feel again. Only then can she heal.

She wasn't sick. I have talked with her a great deal about this, (believe it or not some men can actually talk with some women!) (The horror!!) She was sometimes sad around my birthday, and sometimes wondered what I did or where I was. But she MOVED ON. She is very happy and very well adjusted. I submit to you that it is possible that not all women are the same, and some may be able to deal with difficult things in a different and perhaps more constructive manner.

Seventeen years? She did not ever move on and forget you. Not one bit.

Again with the moving on? Define moving on. She didn't sit around and whine about her life. She didn't blame anyone else for her situations. She is deeply loved by her family; she is very successful, and she is a highly respected person in her field. And who said anything about forgetting about anyone?

...and BAM! I am an irresponsible baby killer....and have NO clue what his mother went through. For her sake I hope she is a lala denial mom...for he is not wanting to hear the truth at all and will be mean to her if she dares speak it.

That is the most arrogant thing I have seen. How dare you presume this? You think you know me based on my opinions. People like you have destroyed debate. When someone disagrees with you, you turn to your like-minded companions and tut-tut about the poor Neanderthals who don't know any better. The attitude that "My opinion is the only one that matters, everyone else is a doofus.

My first reaction to you, my assumption which is no doubt unfair, is that you sit and cry in the shower about how unfair your life is, and you have probably attempted suicide more times than you can count. In fact, I might assume that out of the ladies who read your blog, more than half have attempted suicide. Your cats are the only males worth allowing near you. You sneer when a man holds a door for you.

Unfair assumption? Damn right it is. I don't know that any of that is true. Bet it hurt. I am sorry, and I don't really think that, and I am not out to hurt anyone. But it fits a lot of stereotypes, and stereotypes are hurtful and unfair. Just like you assuming I am an Archie Bunker, ladies-should-be-barefoot-and-pregnant conservative wacko. My opinions and feelings are exactly as valid as yours are, lady.

The rest of your blogs comments are equally charming;

Kippa Herring said...

Hoo boy!
Don't even bother with this one. It's not worth the energy.

Ah, yes. More of that 'don't bother with those peons down there' attitude.

kim.kim said...

ha ha HIM!!!! I saw his blog and went to have a wee peek and saw your comments and his comments and scuffled away as fast as I could. Did the word doofus come to mind???

You guys sure like that word, don't you?

HeatherRainbow said...

"I want the truth"

"You Can't Handle the TRUTH!"

How original.

suz
said...

major doofus. major major doofus. i hope he gets over his issues. cuz he may not realize it, but he has, uh, just a few.

Don't we all.

Who dies tonight? (24 Thread)

"They" (Don't know who they are) are saying another biggie bites the dust tonight. I am betting it is going be Bill; others are saying it will be Tony or Chloe. They CAN'T kill Chloe, can they? Maybe, just maybe, they will finally kill Kim.

Clooney turns on the charm

The New York Daily News reports the fury of the latest Hollywood diplomat.

George Clooney has a message for Democratic office-holders who voted for the war in Iraq, only to claim later that they'd been misled by President Bush:

"F— you!"

George goes on to mention that "The fear of being criticized can be paralyzing," on Huffingtonpost.com.

Wow. What insight.

American opinions of Islam changing

The Washington Post has a new poll has come out that finally makes a little sense.

...A majority now say that Muslims are disproportionately prone to violence

What was your first clue?

The Anklebiters note a few instances:

Hmm, let's see what Islamofascists have been up to in the last decade or so: The USS Cole Bombing, The Khobar Towers Bombing, The African Embassy Bombings, Suicide bombings in Israel, the first WTC attack, the Bali bombings, the London Tube bombings, the attacks in Spain, funding and leading the "insurgency" in Iraq, killing people and rioting over FRIGGIN CARTOONS, the streets of Paris burning, and that little thing called 9/11 just to name a few.

Read the rest of Anklebiters analysis here.

The poll found that nearly half of Americans -- 46 percent -- have a negative view of Islam, seven percentage points higher than in the tense months after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon...

OK, up 7 points... What has happened since 9/11... Quoting the Anklebiters again,

The London Tube bombings, the attacks in Spain, funding and leading the "insurgency" in Iraq, killing people and rioting over FRIGGIN CARTOONS, the streets of Paris burning...

I think the suprise here is that it is not up more than 7 points.

James J. Zogby, president of the Washington-based Arab American Institute, said he is not surprised by the poll's results.

I don't even know how to take that. Is he saying, I knew all these Americans were bigots?

Politicians, authors and media commentators have demonized the Arab world since 2001, he said.

Bullcrap. People have finally noticed that almost all of the terrorism in the world today is related somehow to Islam.

We are told that not all Muslims are terrorists. Of course not. No one thinks that. But so far, almost all terrorists are Muslims.

Coming to terms

OK, another one about adoption.

I noticed a comment on my post about adoption. The commenter seemed to be saying that I did good thing by contacting my birthmom, and "making her come to terms with it..."

Whatever. That was not my intention in contacting her. I knew from my searches that she wanted contact, so I made contact.

According to FauxClaud, only now can she "...begin to feel again. Only then can she heal."

What nonsense. My birthmom has had a very cool and fulfilling life, with more to come. She wondered about the child she gave up, but it did not destroy her life.

I note that this person is pretty much against adoption, based on the subtitle of her Blog, Musings of the Lame, "Confessions of an anti-adoption momma", and a sidebar quote:

...One mother and child separated for the wrong reasons is a terrible tragedy. To be manipulated and fed on like chum..I don't know why, but that word fits....these preganant women with no resourses are chum for these money fiends to throw into the water to attract those who cannot think with their soul connected to humanity. The waters of adoption are red with the blood of broken hearts.

Are you freakin' kidding me? To quote the great social analyst, Elaine Benes, "Shouldn't you be out on a ledge somewhere?"

This is such crap. My adopted parents could not rub two nickels together. I never went to bed hungry, not once, but there was a lot of material things I could not have. I know a dozen or so others who are adopted, and none of their stories are much different.

Now, I am assuming this person is anti-adoption, based on this website. Fine. Then I read this:

"On a sad note..WTF is wrong with South Dakota????? They did it. Abortion is banned."

OK, so does this mean you believe abortion is a better choice than adoption? Oh, wait,

Now I don't like tying in adoption to abortion, as I see the two choices to be different choices completely.

How?

I read one of the other links on this woman's site, and apparently her birth control has failed her a couple of times. The first time, she killed it. Problem solved. The second time, she gave the kid up for adoption; apparently she regrets that. Abortion is especially ugly to me when it is used as a birth control by someone who lacks the willpower to abstain or accept the consequences of her actions. You speak of "The waters of adoption are red with the blood of broken hearts", well how about a kid getting sucked into a sink?

You talk about "coming to terms" with an adoption, but maybe you need to think a bit about coming to terms with abortion.

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The whole mess is updated here. There are more comments here.

24 Double Dose

Missed the first thirty minutes - Catch me up!!

Shooting the guy's wife in the leg - (masterfully played) - looks like the guy is another husband of the year candidate.

Even with the gas in a containment box, I think I'd keep my mask on.

Lynn's sister - seems to me to be no big loss.

I know they didn't just kill Edgar - holy crap!

Ridiculous lack of coverage on real news

Remember the whole cartoon intifada? Hope so, it is still going on.

A group of "Religion of Peace" followers were apparently trying to kidnap the school age daughter of one of the cartoonists.

Have you heard about this one? Not if you trust the mainstream press to tell you about it.

Agora has a rundown on the story.

The Clintons at odds

So, Hillary has come out swinging against the whole port mess. Understandable, since President Bush is for it, the default democrat position is of course, against it.

Believe it or not, Bill and Hillary aren't on the same page on this one. Bill is advising the Dubai company on how to get the deal done. Bob Dole and Madeline Albright are working to help push the deal through, too. The Dems are demanding that Dole's wife, Senator Dole, remove herself from the oversight process.

Marc Cooper has the details here.

Gateway Pundit has some more here

Meanwhile, I am trying to make myself care about it.

Unions and dinosaurs

The main difference between Dinosaurs and Unions is that Dinosaurs knew when it was time to die.

The Bookworm Room has a great article on Unions. Read it, and read all the links, too. It is good stuff.

Tom Clancy was right after all

A few years back, Tom Clancy wrote a book called 'Red Rabbit'. The basic idea of the book was that the Soviets put a hit out on the Pope in 1980 to shut him up. They also didn't care for his comments about Poland.
Seems the Italians have confirmed Clancy.