Would Fox have run with this if it had been from a Democrat?

National Journal Editor Kristin Roberts: Why did the committee choose to go against the advice of the generals?

Republican Rep. Paul Ryan: We don’t think the generals are giving us their true advice. We don’t think the generals believe that their budget is really the right budget. I believe that the president’s budget by virtue of the fact that when he released his budget number of about $500 billion, the number was announced at the same time they announced the beginning of their strategy review of the Pentagon’s budget. So what we get from the Pentagon is more of a budget driven strategy, not a strategy driven budget.

Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, CJCS responds: There’s a difference between having someone say they don’t believe what you said versus … calling us, collectively, liars. My response is: I stand by my testimony. This was very much a strategy-driven process to which we mapped the budget.

Politics at it's finest......

Morning Musings

If people can legally discriminate against gays based on their religion......

House gives preliminary OK to bill that supporters say preserves religious freedom, but opponents say allows discrimination

Shouldn't gays be able to legally discriminate against the faithful?

The Individual Mandate

I found an interesting article that laid out the case for the Individual Mandate in the health care reform bill, currently under Constitutional consideration in the US Supreme Court. The article does a pretty good job of relating proposals from the right that supported the concept of the individual mandate, but falls short in it's support for the requirement.

Link

There is a huge difference between forcing someone to conduct a specific purchase and using tax money from the general pool to pay for expenditures. Many who support the mandate reply that precedence from earlier legislation, such as Social Security, makes this current law Constitutional. I argue otherwise. Precedence does not always equal being correct. Social Security, popular though it may be among many, is an anathema to the concepts of liberty that we generally proclaim.

This is not an act of "regulating commerce" as it's supporters would have you believe, it's an act of mandating commerce; forcing the individual citizen to conduct a not unsubstantial purchase against their will. Though I generally loath the 'slippery slope' argument, this further expansion of precedence being used as a Constitutional rule of justice, bodes ill for the future.

And he's one of those scary Mooslims......

At CIA, a convert to Islam leads the terrorism hunt

Kirk Cameron is sort of a dumbass

Kirk Cameron appeared with Wallbuilders' pretend historian David Barton and uttered the following unsurprising tripe:

You know what's interesting is that faith is always involved in politics, it's just not always a Christian faith. If you think about it, even those who are secular humanists, they are importing their secular humanist faith and religion and morality and imposing it on everybody else through the laws that they make. So the idea of faith in government is inescapable; it's always going to be somebody's faith, even if it's faith in atheism.

Even the most ardent atheist has faith that there is no God - and that's a blind faith; you have to ignore all of the evidence - but he nevertheless holds his position by faith and that faith informs his decisions. So don't let anyone ever tell you that faith doesn't belong in politics because you can't get away from it even if your faith is atheism.

It's just a question of which is the best faith to have. Do you put your faith in the idea that we all evolved from slime? Or do you put your faith in the revelation that we were created by God in his image and he loves us and has given us a life manual called the Bible?

Kirk, I don't consider myself an Atheist, but the collective group is not as monolithic as Christianists like to portray them. All Atheists  do not 'have faith' that there is no God, nor do they all deny the existence. Many Atheists simply acknowledge that they don't believe in a God because the overwhelming lack of evidence [in their eyes at least] to confirm the existence of some higher power.

Many sacred books have been penned about many deities, but somehow merely longevity and popularity have reduced the playing field a select few competing candidates, not unlike the current campaign season.....except in this case, the election never takes place.

Kirk's diatribe speaks to the definitions of Positive and Natural laws. His vision of America, where we all abide by his [and others] interpretations of an unprovable deity, is an example of positive laws. He would restrict the actions of American citizens based upon interpretations [there's that word again] of a 2000 year old-ish tome. He is merely one of many who have the unfortunate habit of not only believing that this nation was founded on that tenets of that book, but actively interpose the concepts of liberty and freedom with religious values, irrespective of the belief systems of all Americans. Never mind the fact that two people of the same gender committing their love and loves to each other does not impact another's commitment to an opposite gender partner, Cameron, Barton and their ilk would deny the very privilege bestowed upon other Americans merely because a cherry picked excerpt from Leviticus says so.

Kirk may want to come to terms with not advocating for all portions of God's "Life Manual" to be adhered to by this allegedly Christian nation.

Here's your religious freedom, Santorum style

“This nation was founded as a Christian nation...there’s only one God and his name is Jesus. I’m tired of people telling me that I can’t say those words. [...] If you don’t love America and you don’t like the way we do things, I’ve got one thing to say -- Get out! We don’t worship Buddha. I said we don’t worship Buddha. We don’t worship Mohammed. We don’t worship Allah. We worship God. We worship God’s son Jesus Christ.”

Pastor Dennis Terry, introducing Rick Santorum. The rest of his rant was filled with the same tired falsehoods about 'not being able to pray in public' and such, that we've come to expect.

Hey Dennis, how about you don't let the door hit your fat ass on the way out?

That's funny right there...I don't care who you are....

Senator Scott Brown on Santorum's Secret Service detail: “The First Time He's Actually Ever Used Protection."

The perils of NOT separating Church and State

Preaching politics from the pulpit is one thing; preaching from the seat of government is quite another.

A prayer to open the House session on Thursday included comments about abortion, same-sex marriage and religious freedom.

Father James Gordon of St. John Vianney in Maple Hill, delivered the prayer, saying, "We ask you to strengthen our understanding of traditional marriage: one man and one woman. We ask you to bring us back to virtuous morals in society, morals that kept us from killing a child in the womb through abortion.

"We ask you to defend us now in the fight for true religious freedom and freedom of conscience, that seems to be threatened now in the public sphere."

Gordon was a guest of Rep. Mike Kiegerl, R-Olathe. People who are invited to lead the daily prayer to open the House session are asked to steer away from political topics.

House Speaker Mike O"Neal, R-Hutchinson, said Gordon's prayer "arguably went beyond" those guidelines.

House Minority Leader Paul Davis, D-Lawrence, said the prayer was inappropriate."The prayer needs to be ecumenical," Davis said.

Thomas Witt, executive director of the Kansas Equality Coalition, which advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered persons, said, "Prayers at the beginning of the each day's session of the Legislature are meant to ask for the blessings of the creator. Using prayer to launch political attacks against one's opponents is unacceptable."

Link

The dumbest excuse for a mindless, group-thinking chant

Two men who kissed one another were kicked out of presidential candidate Rick Santorum’s rally Friday evening at Christian Liberty Academy in Arlington Heights.

Santorum was 15 minutes into his speech when the two men shouted and got the attention of the crowd. They exchanged a kiss, prompting guards to eject them and the crowd to chant “U-S-A” while they were leaving the gym.

When asked whether the kiss was a public display of affection or merely a symbolic act, Timothy Tross of Lombard and Ben Clifford of Algonquin, declined to comment.

Link

I don't condone interrupting a speech or an event, but I'm equally saddened that I live in a nation where patriotism is partisan.

Lá fhéile Pádraig sona dhuit!

Today is the day to raise a pint for your Lass, to the Lads, for Luck and for Brothers here and gone.

Seo sláinte a chaimiléirach, goidach, comhrac, is ólacháin.
Dá bheith ag rógaireacht tú, go raibh bíodh bás
Dá ghoid dtú, go raibh bíodh croí; Dá griolsa thú, go raibh d'aainneoin deartháir
agus dá hól tú, go raibh ag mise

Here's to cheating, stealing, fighting and drinking.
If you cheat, may it be a death
If you steal, may it be a heart
If you fight, may it be for your brother
and if you drink may it be with me