It's a Dan-derful Life

The Ra^thergate scandal at CBS is the gift that keeps on giving....

Recently, Dan Rather announced his resignation from CBS, no doubt due to his passing off very bogus forgeries of George W Bush's National Guard documents as real news.

Well, David Burge at the 'Iowahawk' blog has now come out with a wonderful paradoy of Ra^thergate based on the great holiday movie "It's a Wonderful Life." The title: It's a Dan-derful Life

Highly recommended!

Is Iran Next???

On the blog of Marc Van Der Woode, Marc and I had a discussion about the evils of depleted uranium ammunition that is commonly used by American forces, especially by the M-1 tank and the A-10 Warthog attack aircraft. You can read Marc's postings and my comments here:Marc's Messages: Injustice in Iraq#comments

In the course of the discussion, Marc asked me: "What country will be next on Bush's pre-emptive strike list?" I said I thought Iran or North Korea, but serious doubted that either would be hit by anything more than a rapid strike, not invasion.

Well, Michael Leeden of National Review Online talks in his article Europe's Ritual Dance about how Europe's appeasment efforst concering the Iranian nuclear bomb program may in fact be working to the Iranian's advantage, as Iran stalls for more and more time. It's as if France, Germany and the UK are all tyring to do their best imitation of Neville "Peace in our time" Chamberlain.

Our one REAL hope: a military strike on the reactor used to create the uranium. (Just don't ask the Isrealis to do it...) But of course a damaged reactor will not cease a weapons program, just delay it. Perhaps the real answer is a regime change in Iran...

"Thanksgiving" born out of Civil War

The American holiday of "Thanksgiving," which traces it's roots back to the pilgrims that first landed in Massachusettes in the 1620's, really wasn't all that popular of a holiday for the first century of American history. It was widely celebrated in it's state of origin: Massachusettes, but only a few other states had a "Thanksgiving" celebration with turkey and all the trimmings.

The day started becoming a national day of celebration during the American Civil War. It was President Abraham Lincoln who was urged to issue a proclomation declaring the last Thursday of November as a national day of "Thanksgiving" in 1863, just a few months after the decisive Union victories at Gettysburg, PA and Vicksburg, MS.

In 1864, Lincoln again issued a proclomation calling for a national day of Thanksgiving on the last Thursday of November, but something extraordinary happened that turned it into a lasting national tradition.

A man in New York, first only known by the initials "GWB," decided that the troops serving on the front lines should be able to partake in a Thanksgiving feast like those celebrated in the northeast. So he and a group of others arranged for massive amounts of turkeys, chickens, apples, and other food be transported to the Union forces in Virginia. Talk about a moral booster! The food drive for the soldiers was a tremendous success, and served to unify the Union in a way that all other attempts failed to do. (Students of history understand that the "Union" was anything but during the first several years of the Civil War...)

For more about this interesting story, click here: James S. Robbins on Thanksgiving & War (National Review Online)

What I REALLY want for Christmas...

Santa Fe 0-6-0T "Docksider" Steam Engine

If any of your out there in Bloggerland are wondering what to get me for Christmas, I'd really like a Lionel Santa Fe 0-6-0T "Docksider" steam engine (Lionel Part# 6-28624) with the new, improved electronic whistle and realistic smoke coming from the smoke stack.

Unfortunately they are hard to find on the Internet, but any authorized Lionel dealer in your neighborhood would be happy to order one for you.

And for those who are feeling a little extra generous, a matching caboose would be nice...(scroll down the page to see it...)

WorldNetDaily: American Christians to prevent 'Eurabia'? Geopolitical expert Jack Wheeler sees AMERICAN missionaries rescuing Europe"

Here's a very interesting article I found at the WorldNetDaily site: American Christians to prevent 'Eurabia'?:

Dr. Jack Wheeler is one of the most interesting and original people you're ever likely to come across. He, like many other people, are seeing that Europe is endangering iteself by trying to align itself with the Arab Middle-East, and allowing the immigration of Muslims into their countries in ever increasing numbers.

Of course Islam isn't Europe's only problem, their famed "tolerance" is just a code word for what is more correctly termed hedonism. As history has demonstrated repeatedly, hedonism is the highway to destruction. You think the lesson of Sodom and Gamorah would ring some bells, but then again you'd have to be familiar with the Bible to know that story, and too many Europeans wish to distance themselves from the Bible or any other book that might place limits on their immoral behavior.

Every Christian minister I know of who has extensively traveled and visited Europe says the same thing: it's a religious and moral wasteland. That's not to say there's not some very committed and caring Christians in Europe, but rather that there influence is small, if not irrelevant.

So what is Dr. Wheeler's prescription for dealing with the moral demise of Europe? Christian missionaries from AMERICA!!! Sounds strange, I know, but his argument is a good one.

The reason why Islam is becoming increasingly militant and hostile to just about every other culture and religion on the planet is due to their sending out "missionaries" who are spreading the "gospel" of militant Islam. It is no secret that the Suadis are the chief financiers of this effort.

So, if Islamic missionaries can have such a major impact for evil, perhaps American Christian missionaries can have the same impact for good!

While I'm sympathetic to Dr. Wheeler's plan, I personally believe that the Europeans are far too complacent about their slow, steady decline to want to change. But it wouldn't hurt to offer them a choice...

The Key-Holders

There is a remarkable story about Afghanistan published by James S. Robbins of National Review Online.

It seems that before the trouble with the Soviet invansion and subsequent trouble with the Taliban, the Kabul Museum of Afghan history had a tremendous collection of artifacts that spanned thousands of years of history, and were worth many millions of dollars.

Of course war came to Afghanistan, and the museum was looted, bombed, and generally neglected. The artwork and treasures gone, and most people thought gone for good.

But a remarkable thing has happened....the museum has re-opened, and the treasures and artwork thought completely lost are now coming back to the museum! How is this possible? The key is an Afghan tradition known as the "key-holder."

To read about this remarkable story, click here: National Treasures -Preserving Afghanistan's history