Another milestone in my so-called life . . .

I celebrated my thirtieth (30th) birthday this past week. Tuesday, to be precise.

Back in college I could scarcely conceive of myself turning 30 . . . I can remember when my dad was that age, and I thought he was so over the hill.

He emailed me with the reminder that Abbie Hoffman allegedly proclaimed "don't trust anybody over 30." Not to disappoint ol' Abbie, but I considered myself part of the establishment quite a while ago. ;-)

Anyway, my dad contributed to the "Get This Man A Beer Fund!" as a gesture of support. Donations are always appreciated.

Giving new meaning to the term "Loony Left"

This photo was taken at the Global Day of Action" rally in San Francisco on Saturday, March 20th, 2004.

I'd like to introduce the owner of this sign to the families of several thousand victims of 9/11 who would be all too glad to dispute his position.

You can find this and plenty of other pictures of liberals of questionable mental stability here.

(And some of my friends wonder why I'm no longer a radical lefty).

John Kerry - War Criminal?

Howard Owens ponders the implications of a Kerry quote:

Jon Henke uncovered this quote from John Kerry:

"I personally didn't see personal atrocities in the sense I saw somebody cut a head off or something like that," Kerry said. "However, I did take part in free-fire zones, I did take part in harassment and interdiction fire, I did take part in search-and-destroy missions in which the houses of noncombatants were burned to the ground. And all of these acts, I find out later on, are contrary to the Hague and Geneva conventions and to the laws of warfare. So in that sense, anybody who took part in those, if you carry out the application of the Nuremberg Principles, is in fact guilty."

If true, wouldn't this make Kerry a war criminal?

But here's the part that bothered me -- how do you become an officer in the Navy and NOT KNOW that the acts he alleged violated the Hague and Geneva conventions? Hell, I never made it past senior airman in the Air Force, and I knew that.

So in which part of Kerry's statement is he lying?

Do Something for the People of Iraq . . .

Thanks to Harry's Place decided to compile a list of positive things people can do for the people in Iraq, among them:

• IraqiSchools.com - dedicated to helping people gather and send school supplies to the children of Iraq.
• Footie4Iraq.com - "One thing to have survived through difficult times is the Iraqi people’s love of football. By giving them the chance to play again, we’ll allow a vital element of normal life to resume."
• The Iraq Memory Foundation - helping the people of Iraq people of Iraq "come to terms with the atrocities perpetrated in their name during three decades of Ba’thist rule" with a number of historical preservation projects.
• The AMAR International Charitable Foundation - established in 1991 "to provide emergency aid for refugees in southern Iran and the Iraqi marshlands in response to the acute humanitarian crisis."

Iraqi bloggers reflect . . .

Iraqi Bloggers reflect on the anniversary of the war in Iraq, among them Mohammed ("Iraq The Model"):

. . . It hurts my ears to hear the stupid statements about the “death of innocents” and the “tragedies” that are happening now because everybody knows that these are nothing comparable to the tragedies and losses we suffered in the past and those were for nothing.

And let them know that we’re ready to sacrifice more if that is the price needed to secure and maintain our freedom. Where were those paid off voices when we were murdered in thousands? Where were their ugly voices when Saddam used poisons on innocents?

That was not a war but a hope we were all dreaming of and we will never forget the sacrifices of the others and what they offered in the sake of our freedom.

A heart felt greetings to the heroes of this brave and just operation who never spare an effort to help us and listen to us. God bless the souls of those heroes who died during this operation.

That was not a war but a salvation and a wonderful dream and unbelievable dream coming true.

and Ays ("Iraq At A Glance"), who questions those protesting the U.S. method of attaining the liberation of Iraq:

". . . when you want to refuse something or say that’s wrong, first of all you should study the whole case and discuss it thoroughly before saying it’s wrong, and when you say it’s wrong, GIVE A PROPOSAL to solve the case, now when you said “ No war….” What is the right thing to do to get rid of Saddam and build democratic countries in the region? Tell me …

last year my salary was 1.5$, last year my parents were about to go mad cause we were almost broke, last year I had to obey the mean and disgusting orders of Saddam’s officers cause I had to join the conscription, last year I couldn’t watch what’s happening now on the TV cause I used to watch SH laughing at us, last year I couldn’t write what I’m writing now, last year thousands were being executed, last year hundreds of doctors, engineers and educated people were being arrested and tortured cause they dared to try to travel ! last year……………………………. Now, what do you think? Just give me a way to get all the above without a war ….

Good news from Iraq?

30,000 anti-war protesters in Manhattan today marked the anniversary of the war in Iraq by protesting "the new colonialism" of the U.S. . . . that is to say, protesting the U.S.'s chief role in liberating the country held hostage by a tyrant who, incidentally, would have typically dealt with such an exercise of free speech by torture and execution.

I don't think they appreciated the irony of the situation.

Most media sources commemorated the anniversary with a litany of bad news and the latest body count. Paul Wolofowitz, U.S. deputy secrety for defense, has some good things to say in New York Post:

• Electricity reached pre-war levels last October, and is on track to reach 150 percent of pre-war levels, despite an infrastructure devastated by Saddam.
• Oil production has reached 2.5 million barrels per day, well ahead of projections.
• Funding for public health care is up 26 times the level under Saddam.
• All 22 universities, 43 technical institutes and colleges opened on time last fall.
• Some 72 million new textbooks will go to primary and secondary schools by the end of this school year, so children will no longer learn arithmetic from books that say "2 Saddams plus 2 Saddams equals 4 Saddams."

"Terror is Losing"
New York Post March 19, 2004

Browsing the White House's website, I see they're countering the negative reporting by publishing a "fact a day" regarding Iraq, a practice I hope they'll continue. So, here is some more good news:

• 70 percent of Iraq's 4.3 million children under the age of five have been vaccinated against diseases including polio, tetanus, diphtheria, measles, and tuberculosis. The Ministry of Health is also conducting monthly vaccine days to reach additional children.
• Iraqis have a range of banking options -- 19 private banks with 140 branches across the country, and 315 state-owned bank branches that have reopened since liberation.
• Iraqi women are enjoying leadership opportunities in a New Iraq -- through a new $10 million program -- the Women's Democracy Initiative -- women will learn important skills for political advocacy, entrepreneurship, and journalism. Already, newly-opened women's centers in Baghdad, Hilla, Karbala, and other cities have become focal points for women seeking to participate in Iraq's political future.

I expect the protestors would, at this point, contend that we never should have liberated Iraq in the first place . . . but perhaps we can agree that all points mentioned above are beneficial to the people of Iraq?

At least The French like him.

While Americans were muttering about "cheese-eating surrender monkeys," the French were crying foul over "American imperialism" and burning Mr.Bush in effigy on the streets of Paris.

"There is no question the Bush administration is unpopular in France, as it is across Europe," said the director of the French Center on the United States, Guillaume Parmentier. "Bush himself is deeply unpopular. He is perceived as being non-presidential; even his demeanor makes Europeans uneasy."

But in Mr. Kerry, the French seem to have found an American they can embrace. . . .

French Going Wild For Senator Kerry In Election Fever
Michael Manville
New York Sun March 15, 2004.

FOREIGN LEADERS LOVE MY BLOG!

THEY TOLD ME "IT RULES!"
and
"IT'S THE BOMB"
and
"IT POSSESSES GREATER INTELLECTUAL PROWESS
AND CHARISMATIC APPEAL THAN
InstaPundit and The Corner COMBINED!!!"

. . . but, like John Kerry, I'm not going to betray their confidence by revealing their identities.

Bleeding Heart Liberals

"He has it coming. He is utterly sub-human and evil. Suffer, bastard," gloated an Internet user on the DemocraticUnderground.com Web site. "(T)he world would be better off without him," responded another writer on the forum. "I hope he is in the most severe pain a human being can suffer, and after that, I hope he remains in constant pain with no hope of relief," chimed in yet another bleeding-heart Democrat. Out in Hollywood, comedian Bill Maher echoed these unsparing sentiments during his HBO talk show monologue, speculating that Ashcroft contracted his unimaginably painful and potentially deadly illness from "wiping his (expletive) with the Bill of Rights." The audience roared with laughter.

America, land of the Ashcroft-haters
by Michelle Malkin. Townhall.com.

Judas . . . the made-for-tv movie!

ABC is cashing in on the Passion hype with a movie about Jesus' betrayer . . . The made-for-tv movie Judas airs this Monday.

Good guys wear white, bad guys in black. I can dig that. But why does Jesus look like unshaven Fabio? -- Let's get a real Jewish actor for once.

A conservative in Hollywood?

"It's easy to lose a civilization," Rhys-Davies warns. "The values of Western civilization have brought so much good to the world: the notions of equality, democracy, tolerance, abolition of slavery."

Rhys-Davies [Gimli in LOTR] sees these same themes espoused in The Lord of the Rings, observing, "[J.R.R.] Tolkien knew that civilization is worth fighting for. There are times when a generation is challenged and must fight to defend their civilization from annihilation."

Of course, others on the set didn't see it the same way. Viggo Mortensen, who played Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings, wore a "No Blood for Oil" T-shirt during a promotional interview for the movie on Charlie Rose's PBS show.

Ironically, Mortensen's character in the movies is a military leader. And many have drawn parallels between the conflict in The Lord of the Rings with the war on terror. With a twinkle in his eye, Rhys-Davies confides that a friend whispered to him while watching Mortensen in The Return of the King, "Does he realize he's George Bush?"

No Sean Penn: John Rhys-Davies, without Oscar censors
by Andrew Leigh
NRO Guest Comment. March 5, 2004.