Where were all the frothings when what's-his-name, Clinton, fired, wholesale, a whole raft of U.S. prosecutors?  Did nobody foam at the mouth and start issuing subpoenas then? 

Maybe the Republicans just didn't have sense enough to get all worked up over it, knowing that the firings go with the territory. 

What are we talking about here -- eight attorneys? 

Let's put this in some perspective. 

Think of the thousands of Americans who have lost jobs because corporations can make more dough by having work done in China or India or Ireland or wherever. 

Think of the thousands of Americans who are losing jobs daily due to the influx of thousands upon thousands of illegal aliens. 

Then think about those eight lawyers.  Pardon me if I don't feel a lot of pathos about their firing.  In all likelihood there are law firms all over the country who would love, love, I tell you, to have one of those fired attorneys as one of their own. 

Let's just see how long it takes for those lawyers to get themselves hired.  Let's take note of their names so we can track their progress. 

This blog was inspired by the 2/8/07 Victor Davis Hanson column "America the Blameworthy."  It angers me to believe there are actually Americans who blame Americans for the events of September 11, 2001, and certain events following that.  Such beliefs are in my opinion perilously close to treasonous.  It does not surprise me that such beliefs are being taught to ignorant Muslims by less ignorant Muslims throughout the world, but it angers me no less.  So here is that blog:

No, Radical Muslim.  I will not blame the U.S. for being the U.S. 

There is a U.S. that Informed Radical Muslim knows exists, but he is not about to share this information with all the Uninformed Radical Muslims (which latter comprise most of the world's Muslims). 

There is a U.S. with a sense of decency.  There is a U.S. with no desire for degrading practices involving children or animals.  There is a U.S. with a sense of fairness.  There is a U.S. with a love of our country that can hardly be described. 

There is a U.S. where illegal drugs are not taken at any cost, including robbery or murder.

There is a U.S. where gentlemen's clubs do not exist on every corner.  There is a U.S. where children love and respect and obey their parents.  There is a U.S. where parents cherish their children.  There is a U.S. where attendance at places of worship is a regular occurrence. 

There is a U.S. where members of one religion do not gun down or behead members of other religions. 

There is a U.S. where members of one religion do not gun down or behead members of no religion at all. 

There is a U.S. where soldiers willingly sign up for duty anywhere in the world -- knowing now that that place may be Iraq, where they may lay down their lives for the freedom of others. 

There is a U.S. where there is a Declaration of Independence declaring that all men are equal and are endowed by their Creator with the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 

But you, Radical Muslim, know this already.  You know it, but you are afraid, deathly afraid of allowing Uninformed Radical Muslim to stumble upon this information.  Why? 

The answer is simple, Radical Muslim.  You do not care one whit about the U.S. described above.  You do not care one whit about the Americans living in that U.S. 

What you really want, Radical Muslim, is the land of America.  We know that.  You truly, deep down in your so-called heart, know that the beliefs of America do not stand in your way.  Rather, it is the very existence of Americans that stands in you way. 

Americans have been known to have been pushed too far.  History has shown you, in plain terms, Radical Muslim, what happened to those who pushed too far.  You have no idea of the depth of dedication and determination of an American to keep what is his -- to keep that for which he has on so many occasions fought and died. 

I pity you, Radical Muslim.  You have no idea what you are getting into. 

This family's problems -- and the problems of too many families like them -- began many years ago when the U.S. refused -- refused -- to do anything to stop the influx of illegal aliens into this country. 

The problem is multiplying daily by who knows how many hundreds.  Why?  Because the U.S. government refuses -- absolutely refuses -- to do anything about the problem of millions of illegal aliens already here or the ones attempting to get here. 

We have thrown U.S. Border Patrol Agents in prison for attempting to do what?  Patrol our borders and keep this country safe from illegal aliens who may be carrying anything from handguns to bedbugs to explosives to illegal drugs or to children in utero. 

I certainly do not know the answer to the Thorsteds' problems. 

However, I do know one thing:  the two U.S. Border Patrol Agents who were just flung into the slammer for doing not much more than the jobs they were being paid to do should be pardoned and released immediately.  This is not a process that should take months or years.  It is a process that could and should be undertaken today. 

Today is January 19, 2007. 

George W. Bush could hardly have asked for a more loyal "subject" than I have been for the past six years. 

However, the Border Patrol Agents fiasco takes the cake.  It takes the wind out of my sails (to say nothing of what it must be doing to the now-imprisoned Border Patrol Agents), and it makes my loyalty fade like jeans dried in the sun too many times. 

On many occasions I have believed, very reluctantly, that mistakes were being made in certain political areas, but I never voiced my opinion stridently, as so many thousands are now doing.  I wrote quiet, respectful letters to my U.S. lawmakers voicing my opinions, including my opinion about the instant Border Patrol Agent matter. 

Quiet and respectful, I see, will get me nowhere in a hurry. 

I now wonder who should be in the slammer.  Hint:  it is not the Border Agents. 

I want to know what in the name of time it takes for some people to see the light.  There is this, however:  it is not writing quiet, respectful letters to my lawmakers.  It would seem my future letters and e-mail messages will have to be somewhat more strident, strongly voicing my disquiet. 

Those Border Patrol Agents no more belong in prison than my cat (now deceased).  Someone has made a terrible mistake here, and I am ashamed to have been a part of it, no matter how intangentially (by the simple fact, I should explain, of being an American citizen). 

A pardon is not too late, Mr. President. 

We are waiting.  So are those two Border Patrol Agents and their families. 

This blog was inspired by "Just Arnie" at http://asiseeitnow.townhall.com/ in a blog entitled "The mold is growing while the parties play on."

Yes, indeed, we have a growing mold problem, as discussed in depth in the above-referenced blog. We may need to don gas masks to eradicate it, but eradicate it we must.

We will need first to gang up, as we seem to be doing here on the "pages" of Townhall.com, and start yelling bloody murder. Start yelling that we're mad as [hades] and we're not going to take it anymore.

We will need to start writing letters to our Congressmen. We will need to start writing letters to the editor of our local papers. We will need to have lively discussions with our friends. We will need to resist every effort by such gangs as the ACLU to prohibit saying such things as "Merry Christmas" in a public building, or putting up Christmas decorations in public places (not necessarily governmental public places).

We will need to begin at home, in our towns, cities, with Congress, the President, then spread like wildfire. We may at times be discouraged because the ACLU-ers, etc. seemingly are so much louder than we are, thus creating the impression that there are many more of them than us. Not so. What we need to do in response to that is yell louder. There are more of us, and we will be heard.

We forget at times that we are in the majority. We forget that there is no requirement to be politically correct. It seems that only the majority are required to be politically correct; this is a fallacy that is happily perpetrated by the minority. We need to let them know in no uncertain terms that the majority rules.

If the majority does not start getting up off its duff and simply assuming that by virtue of the fact that we are the majority, our wishes will be upheld, we will begin growing mold ourselves.

I for one have no intention of growing any of it. I have been madder than [hades] for a long time, and I feel that I've just begun to fight. Silence will not get the job done.

The Weedpatch Gazette blog "Grandad and Santa Claus" brought back many memories of life during "the war." (Many of us to this day, when we refer to "the war," mean World War II. And World War II is not a subject to be covered here; it is simply a reference to the times to which you referred. As an aside, years before my time, when people of my geographical area referred to "the war," the war they meant was the Civil War!)

Many items were rationed; sugar was one. This was one commodity for which my mother must have traded ration stamps dearly. How do I know? Almost every Friday night in late fall, one of my sisters would have a friend over, and we would all sit around an old round oak table, newspapers spread on top, while we shelled pecans from the trees in our yard to go into the FUDGE that either my sister and her friend or my mother would make. As any cook knows, fudge requires lots of sugar. Somehow my mother made sure we had it.

Rubber for automobile tires was in short supply, as it was needed in the war effort. However, my father had a job with the Post Office delivering mail on a rural route. As a result of that great fortuity, our automobile never wanted for tires!

There was so much rationing that I cannot remember everything that was rationed. There may have been some grumbling going on, but deep down the citizens of this great country knew that the little hardships caused by shortages of such minor items were infinitesimal when looked at from the vantage point of the great war we were fighting, knowing we would win.

Where pecan trees grow almost wild, providing an abundance of their irresistible, fragrant, woody, wild, sweet taste, little girls also went barefoot, wearing shoes only on Sunday for Sunday School and church. Shoes were worn on other special occasions as well, but for the most part the wild little creatures ran about completely unshod, completely free to wiggle toes, completely free to run on rocks, sometimes making bleeding cuts and gouges that these days would require stitches. My mother fixed me up herself, pouring on rivulets of iodine causing me to scream in pain, with both of us blowing on the wound to put out the fire.

It would seem the little wild humans grew like the pecan trees. Our wounds healed, and we squeezed our feet once again into the dreaded shoes on Sunday.

My mother was a good seamstress. In those days, it was almost a requirement of a mother with children. Flour was purchased in great fabric sacks, and I have worn many a flour sack dress. Because I was the baby of the family, I may even have worn hand-me-down flour sack dresses!

I had no idea there was anything wrong with a four sack dress. I had no idea we were "poor." Besides, my wonderful mother usually made my doll dresses just like mine! For almost everything she made for me, she made my doll one of the same. I spent hours dressing my doll.

This is the same doll that had been brought by Santa Claus. In the geographical areas where pecan trees grow nearly wild, there were few chimneys. Santa came in through the keyhole, if you can imagine such a thing. However, if you can believe Santa slides down a chimney with a sack full of toys, you can also believe Santa can come in through a keyhole.

In fact, Santa can and does make appearances whenever and wherever and however he chooses. It helps, of course, if you've been good, not bad. You know -- you've heard it sung often enough, and you've sung it yourself often enough -- that he's making a list, and checking it twice! But you know Santa will be there.

That's the way it should always be. And that's the way it will always be.

Much is being said about freedom of religion and separation of church and state.

In addition, it seems necessary that to avoid offending anybody, we must be politically correct to a fault.  In other words, tiptoe on eggshells around everyone. 

Somewhere along the way we have moved to an uneasy place in history where religion has come to be verboten.  It appears to have occurred around 9/11/2001 and, more so, with our determination to bring peace and freedom to a nation whose landscape is sadly the resting place of thousands of victims of mass murder at the hands of a dictatorial tyrant.  Those victims were, not incidentally, of a religious faith not concurring with that of the dictator. 

It appears that in the effort to be politically correct, we have become blind to our own history and to our founding fathers’ remarkable intelligence and foresight.

One such founding father, Patrick Henry, described the place of religion in this country, using reason and intelligence common in our country’s long-forgotten beginnings, but all too uncommon in history being made today. Patrick Henry stated: 

 “It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.” 

We are free, by the Grace of God and the intelligence and courage of our forefathers, and by American men and women who have over the ages fought and died for that freedom. 

Because of that freedom, we are under no obligation to bow to a religion whose followers consider non-believers of their faith to be “infidels,” and many of whose followers are blindly and foolishly committed to our untimely demise.

We must not allow ourselves to be conquered by those whose only hope is “martyrdom.” 

We must not allow ourselves to be conquered simply by our country's choice of friendly nations.  We must not allow ourselves to be conquered by a peculiar minority who appear collectively to have a death wish.  We must not allow the minority to rule. 

We must not fear standing upright and fighting, by free speech and independence, a very small but rowdy minority who wish to see Americans groveling. 

In America the minority does not rule.  Why must we need to be reminded of this simple fact?

I have written a couple of blogs along these same lines.  It appears that their content must be repeated until reasonable minds converge and reasonable people begin to screech to be heard over the cacophony of dimwits. 

Those dimwits have every right to express their opinions, but their opinions, simply by virtue of the fact that they are pronounced justified, do not make them the law of the land.

What a waste of time and what little brain power was represented by the New/Old Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight. 

What in the name of common sense are we all waiting for?  For Iran to send a calling card to the West Coast?  To Israel?  To anyone else expressing the teeniest bit of regard for the U.S. or Israel? 

My personal opinion is that preemptive strikes are called for.  And I don't mean by Iran.  And I do hope we can shoot what we aim for. 

I still cannot comprehend what these old has-beens (has been what, pray tell?) are actually proposing.  That we attempt to reason with someone clearly deranged beyond redemption?  How in the name of time is anyone supposed to reason with madness? 

I have likened fanatical muslims to rabid dogs.  I have also said that to my knowledge reason never trumped rabies. 

The iron's hot.  But it's cooling fast, while we rock back and forth on our heels and toes waiting for the deranged to magically appear reasonable.  It's apparent the Old Gang thinks we should wait while we're struck when someone else's iron is hot. 

It is to be hoped that the strong in body and spirit in Israel take the reins of true reason and prove its right to be.  The same goes for us.

Regarding Ellison and taking the oath of office on what he believes to be a holy book: 

Our country was founded on Christian beliefs.

Patrick Henry wrote,

• "It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here."

It would be difficult to misinterpret that quote.

If Keith Ellison cannot understand that, he should not be permitted to take any oath at all. If he does not or cannot take the oath of tradition, for whatever reason, he should not serve. Period.

He should feel privileged to take the time-honored oath, especially in view of the fact that his own "holy" book requires him to destroy "infidels," which to him and those like him comprise all who do not believe as he does. 

Frankly, I could not care less what the ACLU or any other knee-jerk outfit may think of me and my opinion. I could not care less what anybody anywhere in the universe may think of me and my opinion.

They can like it or they can lump it. I am an American.

This blog is a result of reading the blog by Sam:  http://theweedpatchgazette.townhall.com/g/9e0793b7-1336-408a-9cef-f9161fcb35fb

This was entitled:  "The Greater Good:  Often the Resort of Scoundrels." 

My blog follows:

Profits? That's the name of the game in a free enterprise system. A good game it is, too, were it not for the fact that some of those profits are in the form of ill-gotten gains. To-wit: these profits have been made with the unknowing assistance of taxpayer subsidization. This equates the profits to taxpayer-subsidized self-destruction – perhaps akin to "suicide by cop."

Security? How many of us feel truly secure -- even though we have a shiny new department called "Department of Homeland Security"? The latter, in my opinion, is about as effective as one junkyard dog.

Interlopers? As for the thousands-turned-millions of illegal aliens who have breached or are breaching our borders at will, they do indeed multiply. As they multiply, the American citizens' quality of life diminishes. One need not be a brain surgeon to understand the reason why.

Self-defense against the enemy: For the first time I have contemplated the possibility of this necessity. Why? Because I fear my own government may fail at this obligation. As a matter of fact, the government should issue each law-abiding family a weapon with which to protect itself. We could subsidize the weapons manufacturers. I see nothing unreasonable about that.  No American family left behind.

The justice system? Our justice system has failed too many times to separate felons from victims and prospective victims. Some may cry that sentences are too harsh. I shriek that they are too lenient, making it altogether too convenient for a parolee -- or someone waiting to be tried -- to continue in the twisted paths already chosen.

In particular, the laws regarding child molesters, child murderers, child stalkers, child perverts, child nightmare creators, those mutants who mangle the minds and bodies of children, have no place on earth unless that place is a prison for life without possibility of parole. That is justice.

If organizations such as the ACLU wring their hands because of those of us who believe in true justice, they need to get accustomed to it. There will come a time when the nation stands up on its hind legs, stops worshiping at the altar of political correctness, and begins profiling because it is a sound, reasonable, conscionable and just thing to do. Only then will we recapture our country’s inherent national integrity.

It may even begin the overdue act of a preemptive strike against those who need it most, when it is least expected.

 In November 2003 I began hounding Congress not to pass the Medicare "Modernization" Act.  I always put that word in quotes. 

In December 2003 I began hounding Congress to repeal the Medicare "Modernization Act," particularly with its egregious Medicare Prescription Drug Plan. 

During the next 2 years or so I wrote up to 30 letters each to my Senators and to my Representative; I wrote 30 letters to the editor (30 printed; some not) attempting to light fires under wood apparently not cured yet -- perhaps they were and still are incurable. 

There seemingly was nobody carrying a torch directed at the MMA and the PDPs but me.  I lost. 

I ultimately decided that if I couldn't beat 'em, I'd join 'em.  Therefore, I signed up with a PDP and wrote a letter to the editor (printed) directed at all taxpayers thanking them in advance.  I also thanked all their offspring and their offsprings' offspring.  That's how long it will take to pay the dues on prescription drugs for people like me -- and I'm not even entitled to "extra" assistance.

Now the Democrats want Medicare to negotiate prices for Medicare PDP participants, much like the VA does on behalf of veterans. 

An interesting point here is that some of Wal-Mart's new generic prices are less than that of the VA.  That is an example of free trade at its best -- rather simplified here, of course. 

The fact is that the Republicans in recent years have spent money like drunken sailors.  I hate saying that, but it is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. 

Lord help us if the Dems and Republicans get together and decide to do the same thing to us for the next several years. 

We've been bruised and bloodied enough.

The Truth shall set you free.

I continue to be amazed and delighted at your knowledge and the way in which you express your opinions and, more important, the truth.

It could cause so much envy, but, rather, I have only admiration.

As you may have seen in my bio, I was a legal secretary for years. My admiration for good writing knows no bounds.

One of the attorneys for whom I worked years ago, an antitrust litigator, worked very hard for days and weeks on a post-trial brief. This meant I worked just as hard at my own tasks -- before the days of computers or word processors.

When the brief was completed, he held the finished product in his hands and said to me, simply, "A thing of beauty is a joy forever." We were both filled with admiration and, yes, joy.

That was a strong compliment coming from him, for he was a nitpicking taskmaster. Ever after, I was grateful for having had the privilege of working for him.

We had parted ways, technically, just because of that nitpicking. I "quit" once but offered, graciously I thought, to stay until a replacement was found. You see, I had made an error. I found the error in his absence and made arrangements to correct the error. When he learned of the error, but not the correction thereof, I was "read out" in the presence of my fellow workers. He raved so that he could not, would not, hear my explanation or that the error had already been corrected.

The next thing I did, after I quit squalling in the ladies' room, was to march down to "Personnel" and say that I could not work for him anymore. The reason was that he needed someone who was perfect, and I was making room so that he could find that someone.

When he learned of this, from "Personnel," not from me, he was quite cool for a number of days; however, eventually he called me into his office, closed the door and apologized, asking me to continue to work for him. I had one condition: that he understand I was not perfect, and that I was human, and that as long as I lived I would make mistakes. I had no desire to make mistakes, but I knew that, being human, mistakes would be made. I may also have asked him to make his criticisms in private, but my memory of this is imperfect. Imperfect!

All this simply to say that even a legal brief (written in English) can be a thing of beauty, a joy forever.

I like these comments so much that I shall copy this and place it in my blog.

AND TO SPARE!

Mr. Kerry surely did it to himself this time, didn't he? 

If I were Kerry, I would steer clear of the military for a while.  Wear a flak jacket.  Helmet.  Body armor.  The whole shootin' match.  There are a lot of American veterans home from that place where a noble job is trying to be done by some of the bravest -- and smartest -- people on earth. 

They may not care much for the implication that because they were in Iraq, they lack intelligence or are not "smart."  In addition, there may be a few mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, kissing cousins, friends, etc., who may not appreciate Kerry's implication that their loved ones in Iraq are somehow lacking in intelligence. 

Here's a question to ponder: 

With Kerry's intelligence and education and "smarts," how in tarnation did he ever wind up in Viet Nam?  He must really have been stupid. 

Sadly, his homecoming apparently did nothing to correct that defect.  It surely did nothing for his tact or plain old good manners.  The guy made a gaffe.  He knows it.  He's just not man enough to admit it.

And one more thing -- he belongs to the party whose symbol is a donkey.  He must be bringing up the rear.  And he has room for all four feet. 

With more time, I could write about how I really feel. 

Reading Townhall.com news article entitled "Man Gets 508 Years in Sex Assault Case" (10/30/06) made me want to cheer.

And I did, silently. For a while.

Then I read the last paragraph, which stated that "In 1998, ... was charged with 23 counts of criminal sexual contact with a minor. He served 321 days in jail after pleading guilty to contributing to the delinquency of a minor" (emphasis mine).

Will somebody please tell me why it is, how it is, that someone charged with 23 counts of criminal sexual contact with a minor gets to plead guilty to "contributing to the delinquency of a minor," and spend not even a year in prison?

It sounds to me very much as though the prosecution in that 1998 case had been so eager to get a guilty plea that it might have been satisfactory merely to obtain a guilty plea for jaywalking or littering.

Does anybody reading that story realize what has happened here? Since approximately 1999 -- almost seven years now -- that creep had been free to molest and savage "18 boys and one girl between ages 13 and 15.... He was convicted in August of 63 counts, including sexual assault on a child with a pattern of abuse...."

The travesty is that this subhuman was not sentenced in 1999 to 508 years in prison. I do believe that if such a sentence had been handed down then, those 19 children may have been just a little safer. We let them down. All of us.

What is wrong with a system that allows convicted child sexual predators to get out of prison – ever? Is there no reckoning?

The referenced column is as follows:

This blog results from a reading of Townhall's 10-29-06 "Emily Post Pushes Modern Manners."

From the time I began to know my grandfather, back about a hundred years ago (well, not quite), one of my most vivid memories of him is his pouring hot coffee into his saucer and sipping carefully therefrom.

It became problematic, unfortunately, when he developed a tremor. Problematic was a word unheard of then, and he overcame these difficulties somehow. I never saw him drink from a cup.

It is my understanding that in those days drinking coffee from a saucers was not considered bad form. I wanted to follow suit but such was not allowed. Presumably it was the sole privilege of adults.

My etiquette is far, far from perfect. However, this column resonated with me in many ways. No matter how casual dinner may be for two of us, the knife is never placed so that the "sharp" side faces outward. Other utensils are similarly correctly placed.  It's just one of those things that truly matters to me -- along with making sure the folds of napkins face outward. 

When I was growing up, the sing-song "Mabel, Mabel, if you're able, keep your elbows off the table!" was heard frequently. Now, when we are dining out, sometimes the refrain returns to my consciousness. Sometimes I listen.

Some people believe incorrectly that the Constitution is a "living document" that can be changed by the bench (the courts) at will. Etiquette must, in contrast, be a "living practice," changing as necessity requires.

Perhaps some day sipping coffee from a saucer will be completely acceptable.  Again.