What I Did on My Christmas Vacation

"There is a struggle in Iraq between good and evil, between those striving for freedom and liberty and those striving for death and destruction. You are aware of the heinous acts of the terrorists: Women and children massacred, innocent aid workers decapitated, indiscriminate murder. You are also aware of the heroic aspirations of the Iraqi people: liberty, democracy, security, normality. Those terrorists are not human but pure evil. For their goals to be thwarted, decent individuals must answer justice's call for help. . . . So I will."

So wrote 16-year-old Farris Hassan shortly before he snuck away to perform some "immersion journalism". Hassan, who is a junior at Fort Lauderdale's Pine Crest School, is the son of Iraqi immigrants. He decided the best way to complete his assignment in "immersion journalism" would be to travel to Baghdad and experience how the Iraqi people live. So, he did.

He left home on Dec. 11 and travelled to Kuwait and Lebanon before finally arriving in Baghdad on Christmas day. Despite his determination to witness firsthand the birth of Iraqi democracy and his Middle Eastern appearance, Farris found himself unprepared for life in Iraq. That could be because he doesn't speak a word of Arabic. On his second day in Baghdad, after being unable to order food in a restaurant and drawing a lot of unfavorable attention due to his English, Farris reported to the offices of the Associated press, telling them he was there to do research and humanitarian work. The AP office immediately contacted the US embassy who made arrangements to get Farris back home - courtesy of the 101st Airborne.

An avid student of history and a member of Pinecrest's Republican Party club, Farris said, "You go to ... the worst place in the world and things are terrible. When you go back home you have such a new appreciation for all the blessings you have there, and I'm just going to be ... ecstatic for life."

"I know I can't do much. I know I can't stop all the carnage and save the innocent. But I also know I can't just sit here.
"Love and kindness are never wasted. They always make a difference. They bless the one who receives them, and they bless the one who gives them.
"I will go there to love and help my neighbor in distress, if that endangers my life, so be it .
"If I know what is needed and what is right, but do not act on my moral conscience, I would be a hypocrite. I must do what I say decent individuals should do. I want to live my days so that my nights are not full of regrets. Therefore, I must go."
- Excerpts from an essay by Farris Hassan

Noble words from a noble soul. I pray that when his years are equal to his courage and determination that we will see great things from Farris Hassan.  ¶ Friday, December 30, 2005 2 comments

  Weird News Calif. woman says intruder brought computer porn
Fremont, Calif. - A woman in California called police to report that an intruder broke into her home and added pornography to her computer.The woman in Fremont said she woke up and was startled to see a stranger typing away on her computer.
Police say the intruder fled, but left behind an altered screen saver that featured erotic images.
Nothing was reported stolen. Neither the woman nor her nine-year-old daughter was hurt.

Police officer attacked by angry dogs -- itty-bitty angry dogs
Fremont, Calif. - A California police officer is OK after being attacked by a pack of angry dogs.He suffered only minor injuries, including bites to his ankle.
Oh -- did we mention that the dogs were chihuahuas?
The officer in Fremont was escorting a teen-ager to his home after a traffic stop. The dogs ran out of the boy's home, and attacked the officer in the doorway.
The officer was treated at a hospital, and he was back at work less than two hours later.

(What is it about Fremont, CA?)

Man shot in the head, man drives to hospital; girlfriend kills self
PORT ORANGE, Fla. A Florida man is in stable condition today after discovering the reason his forehead was bleeding. It turns out he had a bullet in his brain.Authorities say Glen Betterley noticed that he was bleeding yesterday morning and asked his girlfriend if she had struck him. She said she didn't know.
But when the bleeding wouldn't stop, Betterley drove himself to work to leave a note for his boss, and then checked himself into the emergency room, where he learned he'd been shot in the forehead.
While being treated, police called the girlfriend and heard a single gunshot. When investigators went to the home, they found her dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot to the head.
Police are calling the case an aggravated battery and apparent suicide.

Man arrested minutes after posting bail
FRAMINGHAM, Mass. He made bail, but a man in Framingham, Massachusetts didn't even make it out of the police station before getting arrested again.It seems Justin Fish slammed the door against the officer who was escorting him out of the station just minutes after he posted bail.
The MetroWest Daily News reports Fish's problems began Wednesday night, when he was arrested on charges of assaulting a car dealer and throwing a rock through the window of the dealership.
Police say the 21-year-old was "rude and belligerent" during the bail process a few hours later. Then, as an officer went to open the door to let him out of the station, Fish allegedly grabbed the handle and swung the door open, hitting the officer's hand.
He was promptly re-arrested for assaulting a police officer and spent the rest of the night in custody.

All stories copyright 2005, Associated Press  ¶ Friday, December 30, 2005 3 comments

  God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men.

Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

2 Corinthians 9:15

  ¶ Sunday, December 25, 2005 1 comments

  And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid.
And the angel said unto them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you: Ye shall find the Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger."
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men!"  ¶ Saturday, December 24, 2005 0 comments

    ¶ Friday, December 23, 2005 0 comments

  No Heroes' Allowed? The mainstream media would have us believe that the war in Iraq is an ignoble crusade with no heroes. Like John Kerry they seem to think "young American soldiers [are] going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children, ...women." Of course, every real American knows that the liberal Left and their talking heads in the media couldn't be more wrong.

Need proof? In Iraq and Afghanistan, the Marines alone have earned 8 Navy Crosses, 35 Silver Stars, 617 Bronze Stars with "V" for Valor, 1,126 Bronze Stars, and 5,197 Purple Hearts. But the media doesn't talk about that. We have to rely on BlackFive.

If it were up to the media no one would know who Paul Ray Smith is. Why else would they bury the story of his Medal of Honor on the back page of the New York Times? Less than a week before victory in Baghdad in April 2003, Sgt Smith and his men were building a holding facility for Iraqi prisoners. Suddenly surprised by about 100 Republican Guard fighters, the American's were in danger of being overrun. Manning a 50-caliber machine gun mounted on a vehicle Smith repelled the Iraqi attack while his men took up safer defensive positions. Smith killed at least 50 of Saddam's elite troops before being killed by a shot to the head.

In a letter to his parents just before the war, Smith wrote, "I am prepared to give all that I am to ensure that all my boys make it home." This is the kind of person that makes America great. Why doesn't the media see it?

According to Rich Noyes of the Media Research Center, between January and September only 8 network news stories out of 1,300 broadcast were about the heroism of American troops and only 9 were about soldiers helping Iraqis. In contrast 79 stories "focused on allegations of combat mistakes or outright misconduct on the part of U.S. military personnel." Stanley Williams, the quadruple murderer, commands our attention from the TV, while Smith and all the other heroes who defend this country are at best ignored and at worst vilified.

Why isn't the bravery and sacrifice of Sgt Paul Ray Smith at least as newsworthy as the execution of a murderous thug like Stanley Williams? Why has Williams become a hero to the looney Left while Smith was ignored?

Simple. They hate America. They hate America's greatness. And, they hate those who make America great.  ¶ Wednesday, December 21, 2005 1 comments

  Cindy Does Madrid




















"What do you mean Bono is 'Person of the Year'?"  ¶ Monday, December 19, 2005 1 comments

  Why We Are In Iraq

"I started taking pictures. When they pulled a femur bone from the hole I almost dropped my camera. One of the agents pulled out a skull and held it up. There was a bullet hole directly between its eye sockets. They even found the slug that killed the victim. It was flattened out and about the size of a quarter…. But the eerie part was what the forensics officer said when he showed us the skull and the slug that had shattered it: “This guy took one between the eyes. He knew what his killer looked like.”

"That drove it home. These bones belonged to someone who had a life once, who had a family and friends who loved him. Then he was shot in the face and buried in the middle of the desert without a headstone or any trace that he ever existed."
- From a letter by Mark Rickert about what he winessed unearthing the graves of Iraqis slaughtered by Saddam Hussein

  ¶ Monday, December 19, 2005 0 comments

  Left Keeps Losing   ¶ Monday, December 19, 2005 2 comments

  An Innocent Man? Not Hardly... “The state of California just killed an innocent man.” That's what Tookie Williams' collaborator, Barbara Becnel, declared when he was pronounced dead. This despite the fact that he was found guilty of four counts of murder by a jury of his peers.

According to Becnel, “[Williams] suffered. He was writhing, lifting his head up ... It was horrible. To me, it was torture. It took 35 minutes to kill him.” I'll admit, Williams could have been dispatched much more quickly and humanely. A shotgun blast would have done the trick. That's the method he used to snuff out the lives of his victims. I say, let the punishment fit the crime.

The nuts on the Left argue that Williams redeemed himself in prison. First, Williams founded the blood-thirsty Crips street gang. He committed armed robberies. Then he gunned down four innocent people so as to leave no witnesses to his crimes. Quite a debt to overcome in anybody's book. So, how did Tookie redeem himself for his heinous crimes. Well, he wrote some anti-gang books for children. Books that, by the way, very few bought and probably even less read. Books that would never have been published if not for their author's infamy.

Those books aren't Tookie's legacy. This is: "Boys, 14 and 17, Killed in Separate Gang Shootings." And this: "Stanley "Little Tookie" Williams, Jr., a Crips member, was found guilty of shooting a twenty year-old woman to death in an alley off Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. He was sentenced to sixteen years in prison for second-degree murder." Quite a legacy.

By the way, here are a few things the bleeding-heart Lefties DON'T want you to know about. While in prison Tookie refused to aid police investigations with any information against his gang, and was involved in multiple escape plots. Williams spent 6 1/2 years in solitary in the late 1980s for multiple assaults on guards and fellow inmates.

Tellingly, one of Tookie's supporters, the "reverend" Jesse Jackson, couldn't name one of Williams' four victims when asked. By the way, they were Albert Owens, 26, shot twice in the back with a shotgun at point-blank range, Yen-Yi Yang, 76, Tsai-Shai Yang,63, and Yee-Chen Lin, 42. Poor, noble Tookie Williams slaughtered these innocent people for the grand total of $220 cash.

The state of California delivered justice to a ruthless killer. Period.  ¶ Saturday, December 17, 2005 2 comments

  Doing the Right Thing The facts are clear and undeniable.
The fact is, Saddam murdered his way to the "Presidency".
The fact is that Saddam Hussein, "President" of Iraq, was a threat to the United States as well as security in the Middle East.
The fact is, Saddam and his regime harbored terrorists.
The fact is, Saddam supported Palestinians terrorists with cash contributions to their families.
The fact is, Saddam had the means to produce, weaponize and deliver biological and chemical weapons.
The fact is, Saddam gave every indication that he intended to use chemical, biological and nuclear weapons against those he considered his enemies.
The fact is, Saddam used chemical weapons against Iranian soldiers (5,000 killed) and against his own people.
The fact is, in the late 1980's Saddam brutally murdered 50,000 - 100,000 Iraqi Kurds.
The fact is, in 1990, Saddam invaded, occupied and plundered Kuwait, killing more than 1,000 people.
The fact is, in 1991 Saddam murdered 30,000 - 60,000 Iraqi citizens to quell an uprising.
The fact is, Saddam repeatedly refused to allow human rights inspectors into his country.
The fact is, Saddam repeatedly refused to allow nuclear and other weapons inspectors into his country.
The fact is, Saddam blatantly and flagrantly violated UN sanctions and resolutions for more than 12 years.

The list goes on and on. What I have provided here is more than sufficient to justify to forceful overthrow of such a corrupt and barbaric regime. This is a regime that was a threat to the peace, safety and security of the entire world.

Based on Iraq's pasty actions, Saddam's own words, and the evidence on hand at the time the US was right to invade over WMDs. The fact that none were found does nothing to prove otherwise.

Yes, the intelligence was wrong. So what. Removing Saddam was still necessary and right. Regime change in Iraq has been the policy of the US through several Presidents. It is Leftist fantasy and sophistry to say that WMD was the sole reason for the overthrow or that because there was no WMD our actions were wrong.

The US would have been justified in its invasion for a number of other reasons. It was the humanitarian thing to do. The Iraqi people deserve to choose their own government. They deserve self-determination. Thank God the United States and our allies had the means and the will to deliver it to them.  ¶ Friday, December 16, 2005 6 comments