Tony Snow Said, "Tar Baby"!

I sure wish people would get over trying to associate everything with race all the time. - No one can suggest that Illegal Aliens be booted from our shores without being called a racist. The word "Niggardly" is used and a proficient employee is embroiled in battle and ends up quitting because people shouting he made a racist remark. A third grade teacher in Brooklyn is forced by fear to transfer from her classroom because she read to her class, "Nappy Hair" a critically acclaimed children's book about accepting racial differences.

I could go on.

The latest example of ignorance on the part of people in this great nation can be shown through Tony Snow's use of the term "Tar Baby". I'll leave it to the reader to check Google's blogsearch to see what the general feeling is about his use of the term. I for one am ticked off that people, especially in the media, are so ignorant and just waiting to slather muck all over decent people. Tony Snow is a decent person regardless what you think of his politics.

Washington Post transcript of new confeence

SNOW: That is a decision the president has to make. I can't confirm or deny it. The president was not confirming or denying.

Again, I would take you back to the USA Today story, simply to give you a little context. Look at the poll that appeared the following day. While there was -- part of it said 51 percent of the American people opposed -- if you look at when people said, "If there was a roster of phone numbers, do you feel comfortable with that?", I'm paraphrasing, and I apologize, but something like 64 percent of the public was not troubled by it.

Having said that, I don't want to hug the tar baby of trying to comment on the program, the alleged program, the existence of which I can neither confirm nor deny.

and later the question: QUESTION: What are your personal goals? What do you hope to achieve here? Will you continue to televise these briefings? And would you put into English the phrase (OFF-MIKE) the tar baby?

SNOW: Well, I believe hug the tar baby, we could trace that back to American lore.

On Hugh Hewitt's Radio Program this exchange took place:

HH: Now I've got a couple of issues of the day for you. First, the Post this afternoon, on their blog, is blasting you for the use of the term tar baby. Is that just a way of smacking Tony Snow around to welcome him into the game?

TS: Well, apparently, what's happened is, apparently some people are unfamiliary with the pathways of American culture, and don't realize the old Uncle Remus story where somebody hugs a tar baby.

HH: Exactly.

TS: And the point is, I wasn't going to get myself involved in an issue that would be very difficult to extract myself from. So I look upon that..if that's the worst that happens, that's not so bad.

HH: Agreed.

TS: I've decided, though, because it's a classic case of, I think, somebody trying to sort of pick a fight. I'll probably take that out of my toolchest of rhetorical devices, rather than having to explain a hundred and fifty years of American culture.

Words that once had meaning. Stories that taught great moral lessons. Simple exclaimations like, "Boy-oh-boy" are carefully policed by the anti-discrimination crowd to the point where everyone in the country is walking on eggshells.

Down with the PC police!


Uncle Remus Stories by Joel Chandler Harris can be downloaded for free at Gutenberg.org - Click here and be prepared to learn some great stories from Early American Literature.

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Good News on the Terrorist Front

There is now one less place in the world for terrorists to hide. I'm only 2 days behind in posting on it. I had not heard about it at all but I get a lot of my news from radio talk shows and the MSM news breaks at the top and bottom of the hours. Today ABC News Radio (I believe it was) thought it important that we know that some place in the U.S. had an emergency drill. They spent a good 45-50 seconds on it. For a 5 minute news break that is quite a bit of time.

But thank God for blogging. That is one of the best places to get news nowdays especially if you gain some trust and respect for the person doing the posting. Such is Gentle Cricket who posted this bit of news and dated it Monday 15May06:

A new Friendship Between Libya and the West

Tonight President Bush delivered a ho-hum speech on the issue of illegal immigration. While this remains the issue du jour, I have personally tired of it. For me, the most interesting and pleasing news of the day was that the US and Britain have reached a peaceful agreement with Lybia, a country that has long harbored and supported terrorism.
~~~~~
Furthermore, Muammar Qaddafi has vouched to take a stand against terrorism. This news represents just one of the successes that President Bush has had in the global war on terror. Under President Bush, countries that have previously harbored and/or supported terrorism - such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, and now Lybia - have made dramatic changes to shun terrorism. I remain optimistic that Iraq will soon follow.
~~~~~
While President Bush' speech on immigration may be leading cable news and covering the headlines, this much more important story is going somewhat unnoticed.

Gentle Cricket has the link to this story that reveals so much more than we ever knew about Libya's weapons programs and you'll have to visit him to see it...

Quote - The American and British team also was shown a significant amount of mustard agent, a World War I-era chemical weapon. Libya made the material more than a decade ago, and had bombs that could be filled with the substance for use in combat, the U.S. official said.

Libya also acknowledged having chemicals that could be used to make nerve agent. The official said there was little evidence of a biological warfare program.

Libyan officials further acknowledged contacts with North Korea, a supplier of long-range ballistic missiles, and provided the U.S.-British team access to missile research and development facilities.
~~~~~
"The announcement by Lybia to allow international weapons inspectors and to abandon its weapons of mass destruction programs clearly reflects the chilling impact of the arrest of Saddam Hussein, the invasion of Iraq and Libya's longstanding interest in having U.S. and U.N. sanctions removed," said CBS News Foreign Affairs Analyst Pamela Falk.
- End Quote -

Say what you like about President Bush and Prime Minister Blair on their home fronts but you have to admit that they are working together real well for the benefit of the world on the anti-terrorist front. When you hear people lie about "Bush Lied about WMD's" remember that this mustard gas could have ended up in your hometown.

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Tell the Senate, "No to Amnesty"

I received an email from a good internet friend Mr. Cary Cartter (yes, with two t's) concerning the Senate and their upcoming moves on the Illegal Alien issue. Here are a couple bits of the email and a link to the originator, www.grassfire.org -

The Senate amnesty vote is imminent!

Clearly the President and Senate leadership are working
together to push the amnesty bill through the Senate
before the Memorial Day recess. The President's speech
was designed to give the Senate political "cover" to
rush the vote and pass the bill.

The only thing that can de-rail amnesty in the Senate
is a massive grassroots uprising. That's why Ron De Jong
and I are going to deliver petitions to the U.S. Senate
BEFORE the amnesty vote!

We want to deliver a half-million petitions, but it can
only happen if citizens take a stand in a dramatic way.
Right now, we are at about 280,000. We have a long way
to go, but a flood of 500,000 petitions would really
send a message to the Senate!
~~~~~
The Senate WILL PASS AMNESTY unless citizens respond with
a massive show of pressure that says "Stop The Invasion"!

Sign the petition - It will only take a few minutes of your time -

Then post a message on your blog with a link to www.grassfire.org - This is our country and we should not allow the Senate to push us around.

Technorati Tags -
Illegal Immigration -
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Regarding Bush's Illegal Alien Speech

The Illegal Alien Speech President Bush gave last night was pretty good. He (and our country) is stuck between a rock and a hard place so there has to be some compromise. Some in this country would prefer everyone here illegally be shipped out. Some would rather give everyone here illegally citizenship and throw open the gates come one come all.

There is a middle ground and it looks like Bush got pretty close to center.

BUT

What needs to be done

first

is to build walls and fences to stop the flow from Mexico. - Go ahead and call me a racist. I could care less. The majority of Americans of Mexican and other south of the border countries heredity agree with me. Let's call them racists too while we are at it. Hell! Lets call every man woman and child a racist that has ever looked askance or been rude to someone with different skin shade than theirs.

But I digress.

There needs to be a method to stop the flow of Illegal Immigrants and a wall/fence is the first line of defense. (no pun intended) - But then we had this on the Hugh Hewitt Radio Show after the speech. - Hugh Hewitt interviewing Julie Myers -

Quotes from Radioblogger's Transcript (~~~~~ = I left out parts here)

HH: Right now, I'm joined from Washington by the Assistant Secretary for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, Julie Myers. Ms. Myers, welcome to the Hugh Hewitt Show.

JM: Oh, thanks for having me, Hugh.

HH: It's great to have you on. When the President said high tech fence, what was he talking about? How long will it be?

JM: Well, he is talking about, kind of thinking about a combination of surveillance and manpower and infrastructure, that the border patrol is seeking to do over a period of several years.

HH: But in terms of actual fencing , how many miles are we talking about?

JM: Well, in terms of actual fencing, I think they're still looking at kind of what makes most sense in terms of surveillance and manpower and actual infrastructure.

HH: Is he committed, though? Did you have a talk with him about extending, for example, the San Diego fence, which is 1,400 miles long, and the El Paso fence, which is many miles long, double, and sometimes triple barrier fencing? Is that on the table?

JM: I think certainly all options are on the table to be most effective in terms of fencing. I am actually more the interior enforcement person, so I have not been involved in any direct discussions regarding the specifics of the fence.

HH: So we're still unclear of how far the administration is committed to actual fencing on the border? I mean, concrete, physical fencing?

JM: Well, certainly I'm not prepared to go further than what the President talked about tonight.

HH: And there were no specifics in terms of miles on that.

JM: That's correct.

HH: All right. That's disappointing, but let's move on.
~~~~~~
HH: So I'm back to the fencing conversation. If fencing is the best way to stop them at the border, why don't we have a plan laid out for that?

JM: Well, you know, I don't think we think that fencing is the best way to stop them on the border. I think the President's called for...if you build a fence, they build a tunnel. We just saw that today. There was another tunnel destroyed, another, excuse me, another tunnel found over in the San Diego area. So you can't...given the kind of the layout of our land, I believe it's the President's view, it's the border patrol's view, that a fence alone is not enough. We need a layered approach that includes surveillance, personnel, technology. We are working with the military to make sure we have the best technology. And some places, a fence may be very effective, but some places, it's simply not.

HH: Assistant Secretary Myers, correct me if I'm wrong. I think you just walked the administration back from the fence.

JM: I...no, I said consistent with what the border patrol chief's been telling me all along, he's been telling me what he needs, the combination of all these things. You look at the particular location, the particular terrain, and you decide what's most effective. You don't want something people can scale in two minutes and then be in the desert, and then you just have put people on the other side of the fence.

HH: But the idea that the fact that someone can dig a tunnel undermines the idea that a fence is effective...we'll come back.
~~~~~

So. Did Julie Meyers say that because someone might tunnel under a fence they won't build it? This is why I'll believe it when I see it.

That this issue has been ignored by politicians for generations is treasonous. Bush's speech was pretty good BUT Congress and the Senate will have a different opinion on what's best. Many of them want Illegal Aliens to register and vote for them. That is why I suggest going over to SEND-A-BRICK.COM and join in on all the fun.
~~~~~
The Send-A-Brick Project was created by concerned citizens to send bricks to Washington encouraging our Congressmen to stand tough on border security.

Each brick sends a message to our Senators and Representatives that we want our borders secured before any other action is taken on illegal immigration.


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It's Mother's Day

Ok! I jumped on it this morning and got a couple of things. Here is the first:

stolen from a neighbor's blog

For the second one you'll have to visit American Princess. She was smart and posted hers early while I'm blogsurfing around like mad trying to come up with something.


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Let's Start Flogging the Bloggers!

Maybe someone out there can help me decide. I know the English language, especially in the U.S. continually shifts and changes. Sometimes it depends on which side of the city you come from. Sometimes which side of the country. But words have to have specific definitions for accurate communication.

Maybe I'm making a bigger thing of this than I should.

Here is the problem. Sometimes I blogsurf and see that people refer to their individual entries in their blogs, posts if you will, as blogs. Initially I wonder if they mean ALL their ballyhooing combined or just the piece of the day. Quite often, checking the context, it is that entry alone they are writing of.
~~~~~

Checking dictionary.com I find this:

• Main Entry: blog
  
• Part of Speech: noun
  
• Definition: an online diary; a personal chronological log of thoughts published on a Web page; also called Weblog, Web log
  
• Example: Typically updated daily, blogs often reflect the personality of the author.
  
• Etymology: shortened form of Weblog
  
• Usage: blog, blogged, blogging v, blogger n

~~~~~

Nowhere does it suggest that individual entries are called blogs. The entire diary or weblog is called a blog.

Now, My question is, Should I write a comment and (politely) suggest they get it straight? email them with the definitions? Or ignore it and surf on.

I have a feeling that I'll be flogging a dead blog until the cows come home before the world gets this straight. Am I the only one that is bugged by this?


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