"Fireproof"

My wife and I went to this film last night and I have to say it was one of the best films I've ever seen. It's very engaging, with lots warmth and love. Many of the scenes are difficult to watch, particularly if, like me, they remind you of low points in your own marriage, but there is always the silver lining of hope, love and, best of all, faith. There are some very touching moments as well as suspense, excitement and a lot of humor that is far, far more hilarious than any of the garbage-filled "romantic comedies" out of Hollywood. This film delivers in a big, big way and will make you deeply contemplate your life and choices. It's not for kids, who won't understand the subject matter and might be frightened by some scenes' intensity, but it's a must-see for older teens and adult couples who are dating, engaged or married (from 1 day to 50 years and beyond). I highly recommend it.

The theater my wife and I went to was packed. There weren't very many seats empty, which was amazing. Furthermore, at least one couple (one of whom was an old college friend of my wife's, amazingly enough) came from about 90 miles away to see this film. This film is going to do really well at the box office. Probably considerably better than the predictions. I think word-of-mouth is going to really help it.

Awesome video about voting

I'm not Catholic, but this still inspired me. Simply powerful.

(Hat tip: Kyle.)

The Biased View - Obama and McCain Compared

Rangel is a major class act

Minus the "cl" and "act."

Rep. Rangel Calls Palin 'Disabled'

In a CBS 2 HD exclusive interview, Rep. Rangel called Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin "disabled."

The question was simple: Why are the Democrats so afraid of Palin and her popularity?

The answer was astonishing.

"You got to be kind to the disabled," Rangel said.

Laugh it up, Rangel. Statements like yours will only drive voters away from Obama and to McCain. Then Vice President Palin will be calling you something, too: "unemployed."

Traditional Christianity promotes rationalism

I can think of quite a few people whose heads are going to explode at this news:

The reality is that the New Atheist campaign, by discouraging religion, won't create a new group of intelligent, skeptical, enlightened beings. Far from it: It might actually encourage new levels of mass superstition. And that's not a conclusion to take on faith -- it's what the empirical data tell us.

"What Americans Really Believe," a comprehensive new study released by Baylor University yesterday, shows that traditional Christian religion greatly decreases belief in everything from the efficacy of palm readers to the usefulness of astrology. It also shows that the irreligious and the members of more liberal Protestant denominations, far from being resistant to superstition, tend to be much more likely to believe in the paranormal and in pseudoscience than evangelical Christians.

So after many, many years of atheists and "freethinkers" proclaiming themselves to be "more rational than thou," the facts come out and proves them to be among the most irrational of all.

Funny that.

More Palin Derangement Syndrome

We need more heroes like Janna Barber to stand up to the liberal indoctrination that is so prevalent in our nation's universities.

Well, so much for my support for Sarah Palin

This video changes everything.

I'd like you to meet my daughter Blaster Commando

Here's a fun website: the Sarah Palin Baby Name Generator. We've been having some fun with it over on Conservative Underground. My daughter's name (when I put in just her first and middle names) came out as Blaster Commando, which was pretty cool.

These are the people the Democrats want in the White House

Joe Biden tells a guy confined to a wheelchair to stand up:

The Obamessiah quickly follows up on that stupidity by making fun of McCain for not being able to use email:

Folks, McCain can't use email because his war injuries prevent him from being able to type. Of course, that doesn't stop him from enjoying email and having his wife type for him.

Oy.

The Obamessiah's campaign is quickly becoming a comedy of errors.

Much thanks to my brilliant and very, very resourceful Conservative Underground friend "LibraryLady" for the information on how McCain is able to enjoy email.

UPDATE: Here's an excerpt from a Forbes article from EIGHT YEARS AGO that puts the entire issue of McCain's tech savviness to rest:

In certain ways, McCain was a natural Web candidate. Chairman of the Senate Telecommunications Subcommittee and regarded as the U.S. Senate's savviest technologist, McCain is an inveterate devotee of email. His nightly ritual is to read his email together with his wife, Cindy. The injuries he incurred as a Vietnam POW make it painful for McCain to type. Instead, he dictates responses that his wife types on a laptop. "She's a whiz on the keyboard, and I'm so laborious," McCain admits.

Another few minutes have gone by, so it must be time to smear Sarah Palin again

These guys are predictable. If it's about Gov. Palin, it's a smear piece.

Here are the headline and the first two paragraphs from an article posted online that apparently will be on the front page of Friday's Washington Post:

"Palin Links Iraq to 9/11, A View Discarded by Bush"
By Anne E. Kornblut 
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 12, 2008; A01

FORT WAINWRIGHT, Alaska, Sept. 11 -- Gov. Sarah Palin linked the war in Iraq with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, telling an Iraq-bound brigade of soldiers that included her son that they would "defend the innocent from the enemies who planned and carried out and rejoiced in the death of thousands of Americans."

The idea that Iraq shared responsibility with al-Qaeda for the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, once promoted by Bush administration officials, has since been rejected even by the president himself. On any other day, Palin's statement would almost certainly have drawn a sharp rebuke from Democrats, but both parties had declared a halt to partisan activities to mark Thursday's anniversary."

Kornblut's interpretation of what Palin said is either stupid or malicious. Palin is evidently saying that American soldiers are going to Iraq to defend innocent Iraqis from al Qaeda in Iraq, a group that is related to al Qaeda, which did plan and carry out the Sept. 11 attacks. It makes no sense for Kornblut to claim that Palin is arguing here that Saddam Hussein's regime carried out 9/11--obviously Palin isn't saying that our soldiers are now going over to Iraq to fight Saddam's regime. Palin isn't linking Saddam to 9/11.
She's linking al Qaeda in Iraq to al Qaeda.

People can debate how intimate that connection is, and how much of the fight in Iraq is now against al Qaeda in Iraq--but it's simply the case that Palin is not saying what Kornblut says she is, and that the Washington Post is, right now, leading its paper with a clear distortion of what Palin said.

Might as well hunker in for the long haul, folks. We've got several years of Palin-smearing ahead of us.

Couldn't have happened to a more deserving person

Geraldo Rivera, ladies and gentlemen.

Charlie Gibson quote mines Gov. Palin to smear her

Via Gateway Pundit:

ABC's Charles Gibson distorted Palin's church prayer then tells her that it was an exact quote.
Gibson lectured Sarah Palin:

GIBSON: You said recently, in your old church, “Our national leaders are sending U.S. soldiers on a task that is from God.” Are we fighting a holy war?

PALIN: You know, I don’t know if that was my exact quote.

GIBSON: Exact words.

PALIN: But the reference there is a repeat of Abraham Lincoln’s words when he said — first, he suggested never presume to know what God’s will is, and I would never presume to know God’s will or to speak God’s words.

But what Abraham Lincoln had said, and that’s a repeat in my comments, was let us not pray that God is on our side in a war or any other time, but let us pray that we are on God’s side.

That’s what that comment was all about, Charlie.

GIBSON: I take your point about Lincoln’s words, but you went on and said, “There is a plan and it is God’s plan.”

Here is Governor Palin's actual quote:

"Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also, for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending [U.S. soldiers] out on a task that is from God," she exhorted the congregants. "That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God's plan."

Incredible. And he did this straight to her face! What is wrong with these people? They obviously cannot stop themselves.

You know, the more they smear her, the more I can't wait for the moment when she WILL take her oath of office.

Never forget

Please click the links to the right to go to my tribute to Mark Bavis and to the Project 2,996 website where you can read more unforgettable stories of those lost on 9/11/01.

Piper Palin for prez!

Cute! Cute! Cute!


Pic courtesy of Wizbang!

These nincompoops really do think he's the Obamessiah!

Unbelievable! These people are going off the deep end real fast. Imagine the outrage from the left if a Republican in Congress had compared McCain to Christ. They'd be bursting blood vessels!

The whitewashing of the Obamessiah's Muslim past(?) continues

Now the New York Times has joined the whitewashing brigade:

Airbrushing at the NY Times: Obama's Muslim Prayer Article Deleted

On March 6, 2007, Nicholas D. Kristof at the New York Times wrote an article about Barack Obama's upbringing, "Obama: Man of the World," where Obama discussed his Muslim upbringing in Jakarta:

...

The article was published on March 6, 2007, but as John Galt reported, it's now missing.
It was removed from the NY Times website.

Apparently, it was no longer fit to print.

Boom! There it is!

Poll: Convention lifts McCain over Obama

In the new poll, taken Friday through Sunday, McCain leads Obama by 54%-44% among those seen as most likely to vote. The survey of 1,022 adults, including 959 registered voters, has a margin of error of +/— 3 points for both samples.

I'm really glad the people trying to smear Gov. Palin are really bad liars

Really, REALLY bad. Here's another one of the latest smears and its debunking via Michelle:

Palin Derangement Syndrome strikes again. This time it’s hysterical librarians and their readers on the Internet disseminating a bogus list of books Gov. Sarah Palin supposedly banned in 1996. Looks like some of these library people failed reading comprehension. Take a look at the list below and you’ll find books Gov. Palin supposedly tried to ban…that hadn’t even been published yet. Example: The Harry Potter books, the first of which wasn’t published until 1998.

The smear merchants who continue to circulate the list also failed to do a simple Google search, which would have showed them that the bogus Sarah Palin Banned Book List is almost an exact copy-and-paste reproduction of a generic list of “Books Banned at One Time or Another in the United States” that has been floating around the Internet for years.

...

It’s a fake. Not true. Total B.S. A lie.

If it gets sent to you by a moonbat friend or family member, set ‘em all straight. Fight the smears. They’ve only just begun.

UPDATE: And another:

One “Charley James” accuses Palin of exclaiming the following after Obama defeated Hillary:

“So Sambo beat the bitch!”

Read the entire “investigative report” here, which comes off like a really, really bad Onion parody.

If you think these things should just be ignored, take a look at how it’s already spreading:

...

For every nutball blogger who spreads it, there should be 50 to defuse, debunk, and beat it down.

The smear merchants aren’t going to let up between now and Election Day. Neither should we.

Palin and religion vs. Obama and religion

From Hot Air:

How long did it take for them to investigate the political radicalism at Trinity United Church of Christ and Jeremiah Wright? 15 months. How long did it take for them to start with Palin and her religious beliefs? Less than a week.

Yeah. Funny that.

Comprehensive list of Palin smears and debunkings

A follow-up to the last post is this list courtesy of Charles Martin. He will update it as more smears come to light. Good stuff.

Demolishing the smears about Gov. Palin

Some of you may have never heard of some or even all of these. The last one, #7, is EXTREMELY sickening, so please don't read it if you've eaten recently.

Or ever.

Top 7 Myths, Lies and Untruths About Sarah Palin

1) Palin “Joined a Secessionist Political Party”

The Charge: Unsubstantiated Internet reports insisted Palin was once a member of the Alaska Independence Party, which critics call a secessionist political movement and supporters say is dedicated to seeking greater state control over federal lands across Alaska.

The Facts: Palin has been a registered Republican since 1982. There is no record of her ever being a member of the AIP, or any party but the GOP. Palin’s husband has been a member of the AIP in the past, but since 2002 has been a registered independent.

(See: Party Official Says Palin Was Not a Member)

2) Palin Supported a “Nazi Sympathizer”

The Charge: “Palin was a supporter of Pat Buchanan, a right-winger or, as many Jews call him: a Nazi sympathizer,” Obama Florida spokesman Mark Bubriski was quoted as saying in a Miami Herald article.

The Facts: While mayor of Wasilla, Palin wore a Buchanan button during the sometimes presidential candidate’s 1999 visit. But Palin actually supported Steve Forbes in 2000, and served as a co-chair on his Alaska campaign.

In the weeks after the 1999 report of her wearing the Buchanan button, Palin said: “When presidential candidates visit our community, I am always happy to meet them. I’ll even put on their button when handed one as a polite gesture of respect. … The article may have left your readers with the perception that I am endorsing this candidate, as opposed to welcoming his visit to Wasilla.”

(See: Obama campaign advisor quote is from an e-mail sent to the Miami Herald )

3) Palin “Wants Creationism Taught in School”

The Charge: Palin opposes the teaching of evolution, and would mandate the teaching of creationism in the state’s public schools.

The Facts: Palin said during her 2006 gubernatorial campaign that she would not push the state Board of Education to add creation-based alternatives to the state’s required curriculum, or look for creationism advocates when she appointed board members. She has kept this pledge, according to the Associated Press.

Palin has spoken in favor of classroom discussions of creationism, in some cases. “I don’t think there should be a prohibition against debate if it comes up in class. It doesn’t have to be part of the curriculum,” Palin told the Anchorage Daily News in a 2006 interview.

(See: ‘Creation science’ enters the race; Palin is only candidate to suggest it should be discussed in schools. By Tom Kizzia, Anchorage Daily News, 27 October 2006)

4) Palin “Was Nearly Recalled” While Mayor

The Charge: Palin was so controversial as mayor of Wasilla that she was almost recalled by a popular voter movement.

The Facts: The Wasilla City Council considered but never took up a recall motion after she fired a longtime police chief, who subsequently brought a lawsuit. A citizen’s group dropped their recall bid, and a judge ruled Palin had the authority to fire the chief.

(See: Foes Back Off Push to Recall Mayor)

5) Palin “Opposes Sex Education”

The Charge: Palin opponents say she supported the end of all sex education in public schools. In light of her daughter’s presumably unplanned teen pregnancy, this has been a particularly well discussed Internet topic.

The Facts: “The explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support,” Palin wrote in a 2006 questionnaire distributed among gubernatorial candidates. Palin favors abstinence-based sex education programs.

(See: McCain fought money on teen pregnancy programs, By Sharon Theimer, Associated Press, Sept. 2, 2008)

6) “This Picture Proves Palin is …”

The Charge: A slew of fake, Photoshopped or misdated photographs on the Internet purport to show Palin in any number of embarrassing or compromising poses. One photo claimed to show Palin standing poolside, wearing an American flag-themed bikini, toting a rifle with telescopic sight.

The Facts: The various photos are being discredited and shown to be fake on a number of Web sites. The original of the so-called bikini shot, probably the best-known of the pictures, was shown to have been taken of another woman, with Palin’s head Photoshopped above the body.

(See: Call to Arms)

7) Palin is the grandmother, and not the mother, of Trig Palin

The Charge: The most salacious rumor of all, this theory holds that Palin did not give birth to her son Trig in April, and was actually covering up for her daughter, Bristol.

The Facts: There are a number of photographs showing an apparently pregnant Sarah Palin, as well as a number of published eyewitness accounts of her pregnancy. These include First Lady Laura Bush, who says she spoke with a pregnant Palin at a governor’s conference in February. An assignment manager for KTVA news in Anchorage, Cherie Shirey, has also been quoted saying: “We worked with Governor Palin many times in 2008. Our reporters worked her on location and in the studio and I worked with her myself. She was definitely pregnant. You could see it in her belly and her face. The whole idea that Sarah Palin wasn’t pregnant with Trig is completely, absolutely absurd.”

The McCain campaign, in an apparent effort to counteract the rumors, announced last weekend that Bristol Palin is five months pregnant, which indicated she would have become pregnant before Trig was born.

(See: Palin Rebuts Rumors, Says Daughter Pregnant,
Anchorage TV Station: Palin Was ‘Definitely Pregnant’ With Trig’ )

These smears and others are now part and parcel to far-left loony tunes sites such as Huff-n-Puff, DailyKossacks and the Democrat Blunderground. Some are even part and parcel to the left-stream media. And they started the very second Palin was announced as McCain's VP pick. These people have nothing else to nail her with, so they have to come up with these falsehoods. Classy.

McCain and Palin speeches air on fewer networks, but draw more viewers

This is pretty awesome:

Nielsen: McCain’s speech draws more viewers than Obama’s — while airing on fewer networks

The devastating AWESOMENESS of Sarah Palin

Her speech last night was a thing of beauty, but we're finding out now just how awesome Gov. Palin is.

Sarah Palin "Winged" Her Speech Because of "Broken" Teleprompter

Halfway through Sarah Palin's speech tonight at the RNC, people following the speech noticed she was deviating from the prepared text.

According to sources close to the McCain campaign, the teleprompter continued scrolling during applause breaks. As a result, half way through the speech, the speech had scrolled significantly from where Governor Palin was in the speech. The malfunction also occurred during Rudy Giuliani's speech, explaining his significant deviations from his speech.

Unfazed, Governor Palin continued, from memory, to deliver her speech without the teleprompter cued to the appropriate point in her speech.

Contrast this to Barack Obama who, when last his teleprompter malfunctioned, was left stuttering before a crowd unable to advance his speech until the problem was resolved.

Sarah Palin. Winner.

In a word, the woman is simply brilliant. It will be wonderful having her as VP.

And as the father of a special needs child (my son has high-functioning autism), it will be wonderful having such a high-profile advocate for people young and old who have special needs. These people and those of us who love and care for them have been largely overlooked, especially in this "abort them now, ask questions later" society. I think that will change, now.

Finally, as awesome as Gov. Palin was, Piper and Trig stole the show:

You probably didn't know him, but I bet you knew his work

"Peanuts" animator Bill Melendez dies

Bill Melendez, best known for bringing the Peanuts characters to life with such classics as "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown," died Tuesday at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica. He was 91.

Melendez, the only animator permitted by Charles M. Schulz to work with the Peanuts characters, earned eight Emmy Awards, 17 Emmy nominations, one Oscar nomination and two Peabody Awards. He began his career at Disney and Warner Bros., working on classic characters at those studios, and spent more than 70 years in the entertainment industry.

...

Melendez went on to bring Charlie Brown and his pals to the screen in more than 63 half-hour specials, five one-hour specials, four feature films and more than 372 commercials. In addition to perennial favorites "A Charlie Brown Christmas" (1965) and "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" (1966), Melendez produced the Oscar-nominated "A Boy Named Charlie Brown" (1971), "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" (1973), "She's a Good Skate, Charlie Brown" (1980) and "You're a Good Sport, Charlie Brown" (1975). He also provided the voices for Snoopy and Woodstock through the years.

It's like saying goodbye to an old and very dear friend.

New York Times retracts front-page Palin/secessionist smear

But they buried it in their online blogs!

Here's the original story.

Here's the retraction.

Typical left-stream media tactic.

UPDATE: An anonymous commenter writes: "Methinks your right-wing blinders are on. It was not a retraction, but a correction from the party official who made the error. But nice try at a smear."

In retrospect, you're right on the one point. It was not a retraction. That would require the New York Slimes to actually admit error and apologize to Gov. Palin, which they did not do. The AIP chairwoman made the correction and the Slimes condemned it to an online blog post that I've little doubt very few people have read - just like the Slimes wanted.

Perhaps the Slimes should've better vetted their source for that information. Of course, if they had, they wouldn't have been able to smear Palin and then half-heartedly (or is it half-assedly?) publish the correction.

Truer words were never spoken

From Gateway Pundit:

It's interesting how the liberal media can spend sooo much time and resources on 17 year-old Bristol Palin but still hasn't investigated the Obama-Ayers scandal.
Funny how that works.

Personally, my feelings on Bristol Palin are mixed. On the one hand, I think the liberals' reactions to her pregnancy are disgusting. On the other hand, I hope they continue to mindlessly hammer the issue until their presidential candidate is polling in the single digits.

BONUS: From the McCain camp on the Obamessiah's claim that his management of his campaign makes him more qualified for executive office than Palin:

For Barack Obama to argue that he’s experienced enough to be president because he’s running for president is desperate circular logic and its laughable.