Weekend round-up

There was a story on Drudge today --apparently, Superman is no longer American. The directors have purposely taken the "American way" reference from the classic line Fighting for truth, justice, and the American way."

Their rationale:

"So, you play the movie in a foreign country, and you say, 'What does he stand for? -- truth, justice and the American way.' I think a lot of people's opinions of what the American way means outside of this country are different from what the line actually means (in Superman lore) because they are not the same anymore," Harris says. "And (using that line) would taint the meaning of what he is saying."

I don't think the "American way" has changed much for Republicans and other patriotic Americans since Superman was first invented. We still believe this is the best country on earth and that the ideals of freedom and a capitalist democracy that existed back then are still just as important and worth fighting to preserve as they were then. But heaven forbid anyone in Hollywood try to create a positive impression of the American way. If they aren't bashing America or bemoaning its many problems, then they just won't say anything about their country at all. In fact, we have them, along with liberal Democrats and papers like the "Treason Times," to thank in large part for the world's negative opinions of the U.S. As if trying to replace Christopher Reeve wasn't enough, this is just another reason I won't be flocking to the box office this weekend...

Speaking of the Times, Ann Coulter lays down the law in her most recent, most excellently written post about Treason. Some excerpts:

...the Bush administration is sounding very cross — and doing nothing. Bush wouldn't want to get the press mad at him! Yeah, let's keep the media on our good side like they are now. Otherwise, they might do something crazy — like leak a classified government program monitoring terrorist financing

Maybe treason ended during the Vietnam War when Jane Fonda sat laughing and clapping on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun used to shoot down American pilots. She came home and resumed her work as a big movie star without the slightest fear of facing any sort of legal sanction.

Fast forward to today, when New York Times publisher "Pinch" Sulzberger has just been named al-Qaida's "Employee of the Month" for the 12th straight month.


And what would the round-up be without a story about penis pumps... Not making this up. A judge was actually convicted yesterday of using said device in his courtroom --while court was in session! On multiple occasions! Now this guy's got issues...

That's it for the Sage this week --hope everyone enjoys the holiday weekend! Don't forget what we're celebrating --the founding of the greatest country on earth. The day when a bunch of brave, intelligent capitalists decided enough was enough with Britain's taxes. When they came together to declare the independence of this nation, a nation they would craft into a beacon for all the world of freedom, hope, and prosperity. God bless the U.S.A.

Building the Hype... as if she needed to

Taking a break from politics, since everything's boring me right now. (Gee, are we surprised that the Treason Times leaked a government secret? Are we surprised that a CIA person's identity who hadn't been undercover in 6 years is supposedly a terrible leak needing a full investigation and indictments, whereas leaking methods our government is using to fight terrorism and keep us safe is no big deal?) Yawn. Personally, if we want to find out what N. Korea's up to, I'd set up a NYT office there and tell them that the leader's name is Kim Jong Bush. We'd know all of his secrets in no time...

So back to this political break. I am a HUGE Harry Potter fan. As in read the books about 6 times. They are fabulous --if anyone still thinks they're just "kids' books," you're crazy and are seriously missing out on the work of an ingeniously talented writer. She derives names from Latin, from stars, from historical figures, people theorize she bases plots and storylines on alchemy, etc., she draws social parallels to racism and our current fight against terrorism. Not to mention that they're incredibly enjoyable to read --you literally do get lost in them.

As if Book 7 won't already be the most hyped literary event the world has ever seen, J.K. leaked some tantalizing info. in a recent interview. She's had the final chapter of book 7 written since before she wrote book 1 and she told us that she recently went back and gave a character she was going to kill off a reprive, but in their place is killing off two others. (she hinted they would be main characters) Not sure what the Vegas odds will be... I will confess, this is all I can think of since I've heard about the interview.

I thought I had it all figured out on my way home from work yesterday --Ron got the reprive and instead Fred and George will die (2 for 1, and you can't expect all of the Weasleys to make it through alive). After talking this over with some other Potter fans, I'm less sure of myself. After all, Fred and George are great, but they're not exactly main characters.

Clearly, Voldemorte is going to die. I'd wager Hagrid and Lupin will also kick it. I think Neville will likely die --who knows, though? He has some scores to settle, that's for sure. (All I can say is that Neville or Lupin better take Bellatrix with them!) Also think Draco will go.

In regards to Snape --I believe he's actually still on the good side --we still don't know the real reason Dumbledore trusted him. (I have my suspicions there's more about Lily and Snape we don't know...) And there was one small section of book 6 in which Hagrid overhears Snape and Dumbledore arguing where Snape demands of Dumbledore something like "how do you know I still want to do it/go through with it?" I think Dumbledore knew he was a goner throughout the entire book and knew about the unbreakable vow and wanted Snape to be the one to kill him if it came to that. So I do think Snape will do something valiant in the end, maybe even die in the act of saving Harry or others. (though that would be very un-Snapelike, as we know he serves himself above all others...)

Though I do think that Harry is the 6th Horcrux, which leaves open a potential ending of him having to kill himself to rid the world of Voldemorte forever, I just can't see him dying at the end of the series. Who knows, though --JK is capable of anything. And she did hint in that interview that sometimes its a good idea for authors to kill off their famous characters so there can never be shoddy sequels written in the future by other authors...

The one person I would bet money on won't die is Hermione. I think she'll be OK.

Well, I could go on and on, talking myself into a number of scenarios. But for the record, I will stick to my original prediction that Ron got the reprive. If there are any Potter fans out there with more insights, please comment!

Who's Your Tiger?

For those fortunate enough to live in and around the D, your TV will constantly ask this question of you in pre-during-or post game coverage, or during any random commercial. It is rather catchy, I must say. I had a great time asking this of all the Tigers fans in the Chicago bars last weekend whilst we were sweeping the Cubbies. It's just fun to say, especially after several Jack and diets...

The Tigers continue to rock, sweeping the Cardinals this weekend in some very exciting, come-back victories.

Granderson-- he's my Tiger...

Delusional Liberal Kook of the Week

John Murtha is giving Algore close competition this week...

Hail to Ann

It's Friday and, heck, I'm in a great mood. What's more, I'm in a mood to anger liberals, so I thought we'd hail Ann Coulter, that lovely political writer and spokesperson. She's apparently upset because people are only focusing on one element of her new book to be scandalized over... she assures us there's much, much more.

From her column/new book:

— No liberal cause is defended with more dishonesty than abortion. No matter what else they pretend to care about from time to time — undermining national security, aiding terrorists, oppressing the middle class, freeing violent criminals — the single most important item on the Democrats' agenda is abortion. Indeed, abortion is the one issue the Democratic Party is willing to go to war over — except in the Muslim world, which is jam-packed with prohibitions on abortion, but going to war against a Muslim nation might also serve America's national security objectives. Liberals don't care about women. They care about destroying human life. To them, 2,200 military deaths in the entire course of a war in Iraq is unconscionable, but 1.3 million aborted babies in America every year is something to celebrate.

You've got to love her. Can't wait to read the book when my dad's finished with it...

Happy Friday!

WMDs - A Non-Issue

Leading up to the war in Iraq, Democrats who could not grasp Bush's overall plan to fight terrorism or understand the other 15 reasons he gave us for going into Iraq, were at last convinced by the threat of Saddam's WMDs. The knowledge that Saddam had WMDs was based on world intelligence, believed by all countries, including a former U.S. president (clinton) and presidential hopeful (kerry). The potential threat of Saddam's WMDs finding their way into the hands of terrorists was even enough to convince those spineless doves on the left that we should take out Saddam.

After we invaded and WMDs weren't dripping from trees and floating in the rivers, "BUSH LIED!!!" came the cries from the rabid left. They were certain that no WMDs existed, that world intelligence had been 100% wrong on this issue (and of course, Bush was responsible for gathering all of that world intelligence from every other country on this planet), and going into Iraq was wrong. They completely ignored all of the other reasons for taking Saddam out, that they had never understood or accepted at the beginning anyway (and this from the supposedly compassionate party who cares about the human rights of terrorists, but not Iraqi citizens...) and screamed their chicken heads off about the lack of WMDs, which they declared was the "only" reason we went into Iraq. (They were, of course, partially correct, since it had been the only reason that had been able to penetrate their excessively thick skulls). All we have heard about for the past two years is their hysterical cries of "where are the WMDs?" and their favorite --"Bush lied!" Any small evidence of WMDs found prior to yesterday was ignored; any evidence of terrorist connections was ignored.

Now we find out from a recently declassified report that approximately 500 weapons containing mustard or sarin nerve gas were found and we believe there is more yet to be found. WMDs! In Iraq! You'd think this would be the biggest story around, that it's all the MSM would be talking about. After all, they've been consumed with the lack of WMDs for so long now, you'd think, given the attention that went to WMDs, finding some would also be a big story. Not so. Suddenly, WMDs seem to be a non-issue. No big deal. Oh, they were old. Pre-1991, after all. No big deal. Sure, maybe they could still kill in the hands of terrorists, but after all, they weren't dripping off trees and floating in rivers as we expected.

An excerpt from the article:

The official said the findings did raise questions about the years of weapons inspections that had not resulted in locating the fairly sizeable stash of chemical weapons. And he noted that it may say something about Hussein's intent and desire. The report does suggest that some of the weapons were likely put on the black market and may have been used outside Iraq.

Weapons inspections ("Let the inspection process work! Wah!") didn't work; they didn't find these. Why was Saddam saving them? Perhaps to use? Perhaps to sell on the black market to terrorists? I really wouldn't have put it past him.

At the end of the day this story shows, for the 4,567th time, the absolute intellectual dishonesty of the MSM and the libs. Though, I will say, it gives us something to look forward to --last night the Reverend Al Sharpton told Bill O'Reilly that he would come back on his show to formally apologize for calling Bush a liar if these reports prove to be true. We'll be waiting...

Persistence Pays Off

Despite Liberals and Democrats whining that Iraq is not the place to be fighting the war on terror, it looks like we're doing a pretty good job to me. 104 insurgents (most of them al qaeda hopefulls who have come in from neighboring countries) have been killed since we took out Zarqawi; we've also conducted over 400 raids, nearly 200 of which were conducted by Iraqi forces alone. These raids have led to what the Iraqi National Security Advisor calls a "treasure chest" of information. An exerpt:

National Security Adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie also said he believed the security situation in the country would improve enough to allow a large number of U.S.-led forces to leave Iraq by the end of this year, and a majority to depart by the end of next year. "And maybe the last soldier will leave Iraq by mid-2008," he said.

That's good news. Guess us staying in there for this long is paying off. Either way you look at it, Iraq without a brutal dictator who gave support to terrorists and murdured and tortured people is a good thing. (I thought the Left cared about people being tortured? Oh, right, that's only suspected terrorists frightened with dogs or rap music, not rape rooms or dismembering body parts for critics of a dictator --I guess that sort of torture was OK...) And a free Iraq, a beacon and example of freedom in that volatile region that spawns Islamic facists, a country that is living proof of the goodness and nobel character of the U.S. is also a very, very good thing.

Oh, and apparently Zarqawi recognized what the Democrats could not... that we were winning. Click here for the text of the now infamous document found in his little hidey-hold after we bombed it. Is this too good to be true? Proof from the terrorists' own pen that what Bush, Rummy and Condi have been saying is true? We'll see...

Dubya's Surprise Visit

As you know, President Bush made a surprise trip to Iraq yesterday to give assurance to the new Iraqi PM that when the U.S. gives a commitment, we stick to it, and to bolster morale among U.S. troops there.

Despite our recent grievances over Dubya's immigration policy views, we have to admire him his steadfastness and resolve in this current conflict and his understanding of the war on terror and how to fight it, which he has not backed away from. It would be hoping too much that rabid, America-hating liberals out there will ever understand the significance of this fight or how we need to go about winning it. See, "winning" is against their nature, at least when it's America winning. They didn't understand the conflict with the Soviet Union, and therefore cannot understand why Reagan is credited with ending the Cold War. And they can't grasp the fact that being nice to terrorists isn't going to keep us any safer. But one would hope they'd at least admit, in secret, that Dubya has style...

Algored...

Great article about scientists disputing Algore's dire predictions of a looming, man-made global warming catastrophy. (And to all you libs ready to blame my supposed ignorance on Bush, this article is from a CANADIAN source; hardly a bunch of "neo-con Bush loyalists." So please, quit ignoring scientific truth against your own politically-driven opinions.) Some exerpts:

Professor Bob Carter of the Marine Geophysical Laboratory at James Cook University, in Australia gives what, for many Canadians, is a surprising assessment: "Gore's circumstantial arguments are so weak that they are pathetic. It is simply incredible that they, and his film, are commanding public attention."

Carter is one of hundreds of highly qualified non-governmental, non-industry, non-lobby group climate experts who contest the hypothesis that human emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) are causing significant global climate change. "Climate experts" is the operative term here. Why? Because what Gore's "majority of scientists" think is immaterial when only a very small fraction of them actually work in the climate field.

Among experts who actually examine the causes of change on a global scale, many concentrate their research on designing and enhancing computer models of hypothetical futures. "These models have been consistently wrong in all their scenarios," asserts Ball. "Since modelers concede computer outputs are not "predictions" but are in fact merely scenarios, they are negligent in letting policy-makers and the public think they are actually making forecasts."

We should listen most to scientists who use real data to try to understand what nature is actually telling us about the causes and extent of global climate change. In this relatively small community, there is no consensus, despite what Gore and others would suggest.

Appearing before the Commons Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development last year, Carleton University paleoclimatologist Professor Tim Patterson testified, "There is no meaningful correlation between CO2 levels and Earth's temperature over this [geologic] time frame. In fact, when CO2 levels were over ten times higher than they are now, about 450 million years ago, the planet was in the depths of the absolute coldest period in the last half billion years." Patterson asked the committee, "On the basis of this evidence, how could anyone still believe that the recent relatively small increase in CO2 levels would be the major cause of the past century's modest warming?"

Patterson concluded his testimony by explaining what his research and "hundreds of other studies" reveal: on all time scales, there is very good correlation between Earth's temperature and natural celestial phenomena such changes in the brightness of the Sun. (as The Sage has pointed out in previous posts)

I could go on --there is much more, directly refuting things Algore misleading tells us in his little movie. Read the whole article!

Good Riddance, Zarqawi

Sorry for the light blogging of late --The Sage has been busy! Can't believe I'm only just now addressing the kick-ass strike by our military to take out this brutal, psychotic, hate-inciting killer.

I can't tell you how happy I was to wake up last Thursday and hear that Zarqawi was dead. The feeling of good will lasted all the way to work. But when I walked into my office, I heard the libs in the cubes across from me discussing the incident --mere hours after we learned of Zarqawi's death, the conspiracy plots were already flying! These particular libs thought it was far too coincidental that we killed Zarqawi while Bush's poll numbers were so low. (were we supposed to wait for them to skyrocket when we had the chance to take this guy out? because current trends don't suggest that will happen anytime soon...) Turns out, this liberal cynicism was actually mild compared to some of the more outlandish conspiracy theories I've heard since then...

But it got worse. Now the media seem to be turning their attention to how humanely we killed this bastard. (The man with 17 heads buried in boxes around the house we killed him in --and we're supposed to worry about the details of his death???) Not that I think our military did anything improper here, but if they had --who the heck cares??? This is a terrorist we're talking about! He is not even an Iraqi fighting the "occupation" --he is a Jordanian member of the terrorist group who killed 3,000 Americans on 9/11, who came into Iraq to kill as many of our military as he could and incite Sunni on Shiite violence! He had no regard for human life; he did not care how many women and children he killed or how the people felt whose heads he was chopping off. It's disgusting how quickly the focus in our media has shifted away from the positive news of his death as they shamelessly try to extract something potentially controversial about the way this killer died.

Rush sums up the "Drive-by Media's" reactions pretty well...

Useless Nations

Earlier this week, U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown chose to defend his Useless Nations organization by (gasp!) critiquing the United States!

He criticizes the U.S. because we don't...

defend it against criticism at home, a policy of "stealth diplomacy" that he called unsustainable. He lamented that the good works of the U.N. are largely lost because "much of the public discourse that reaches the U.S. heartland has been largely abandoned to its loudest detractors such as Rush Limbaugh and Fox News."

He also says...

"The U.N.'s role is in effect a secret in Middle America even as it is highlighted in the Middle East and other parts of the world," Malloch Brown said.

In our defense:

U.S. officials, including Bolton, said they were especially upset that Malloch Brown, a Briton, mentioned "Middle America."
Bolton said Malloch Brown's "condescending, patronizing tone about the American people" was the worst part about the speech.

I couldn't agree more. To say Brown condescended to us Rednecks in "middle America" is an understatement. I will try to enlighten him as to why we of the ignorant Heartland might not think very favorably towards to the Useless Nations...

The ungrateful, spiteful behavior of most of the world community is epitomized by the U.N. and is especially troubling considering that we, the taxpayers of America, that they so like to scorn, contribute 1/4 of the entire U.N. budget! They bite the hand that feeds them and expect us to take it with a smile? Perhaps we were further incensed when on top of what we give to the U.N., America (the most generous nation in the world) was called "stingy" by U.N. reps after our enormous contribution to the tsunami relief. Or, I don't know, the whole oil-for-food scandal didn't sit well with us either. Or maybe it was the U.N. "peace-keeping" soldiers raping women in Africa that has us a bit miffed.

We don't need Rush or Fox News to form our opinion of the U.N. --common decency is the source of our disdain.

And good for Bolton taking them to task for this deplorable, uncalled for condescention.

Global Warming Hype

On daring to dissent over the global warming hype...

The only inconvenient truth about global warming, contends Colorado State University's Bill Gray, is that a genuine debate has never actually taken place.

"They've been brainwashing us for 20 years," Gray says. "Starting with the nuclear winter and now with the global warming.

Gray directs me to a 1975 Newsweek article that whipped up a different fear: a coming ice age.

"Climatologists," reads the piece, "are pessimistic that political leaders will take any positive action to compensate for the climatic change. ... The longer the planners delay, the more difficult will they find it to cope with climatic change once the results become grim reality."

Thank God they did nothing. Imagine how warm we'd be?

Gray says. "It's about politics. Very few people have experience with some real data....

Oh, I so often wish I was back in college... Looks like College Republicans have found a way to have fun with this issue, with Global Cooling snow cone days and Global Warming beach parties... I just hope those tolerant, intellectually superior environmentalists don't attack them or blow up their SUVs...

Go to Hell..... Michigan

Yes, tomorrow's date is 6-6-6, supposedly associated with the devil, though I have no idea why. Personally, tomorrow's date worries me about as much as the whole Y2K hype. But the big day is still cause for celebration in some areas, including our very own Hell, Michigan.

Some quotes from the article I found quite amusing...

The Gates of Hell should be installed at a children's play area in time for the festivities.

The 666 revelry is just the latest chapter in the town's storied history of publicity stunts, said Jason LeTeff, one of its 72 year-round residents - or, as the mayor calls them, Hellions or Hell-billies. But LeTeff wasn't particularly enthused.

"Now, here I am living in Hell, taking my kids to church and trying to teach them the right things and the town where we live is having a 6-6-6 party," he said.

Immigration Mess

Here's a scathing critique of Bush's immigration plan by good old Ann. As a strong Bush supporter, I can't help but feel very let down by his wimpy, Democratesque views on how to "fix" the illegal immigration problem. Regardless, it is the House and Senate that have to come up with the specifics of the plan. I think Bush is so sick of being beat down by everyone, he's now suffering from the "say anything in a fruitless attempt to make everyone happy" mentality that claims more and more politicians every day. Bush will sign the approved bill when it's put before him; I just hope there's more House than Senate in that final proposal.

Reality Check from Peggy

Peggy Noonan gives her take on the growing divide between our elected officials and those who elected them... it also helps explain why just about every Republican in office right now seems to aspire to be a RINO.

Oh, the torment!

The anguish! To see the Pistons play like they did last night (sort of like they did all season...), yet to still be facing elimination going back to Miami. I had hoped they'd just lose, get it over with and put us out of our misery. After all, we haven't seen the real Pistons play in so long. But then they have to show up and have a great game like that --their defense returns, (Did anyone see Ben Wallace's block on Shaq? Wow.), they win decisively with their top scorers still not putting up the numbers they should be.

Mitch Album sums it up nicely--

Now, to be honest, if you're a Pistons fan, you're torn this morning between being glad and mad. You're happy the team is still alive in these Eastern Conference finals, but you believe if it had played like this in any of those losses, it wouldn't have been on the brink of elimination in the first place.

Well, if any team can come back from a 3-1 deficit against a team as good as Miami, the Pistons could. See, there I go again getting all hopeful...