I saw this on my new favorite web-haunt, ProbablyBadNews.com, and I just had to share! It’s yet another epic fail courtesy of NBC News, because – as they say at PBN – journalism isn’t dying fast enough. At least, mainstream journalism anyway.

Meh, no worries, NBC, it’s not like our housing markets are important or anything! Psshaw, like, my inner valley girl is sooo bored with it already, fer shure!
In fact, I’ve been so impressed with NBC News lately, especially after seeing this report about those awful town hall attendees, that I decided to come up with my own slogan idea for NBC News!! I’m, like, so totally excited to share it with you!

How long do you think it’ll be before I get an excited phone call from the head of NBC News, telling me how much they totally love my new slogan?
Yeah, I’m not holding my breath…

My jaw literally dropped when I heard this. I won’t even try to introduce it, just listen to it for yourself and be prepared to use both hands to hoist that jaw of yours back up.

I really, really wasn’t going to say anything bad about Ted Kennedy after the sad news of his passing.. I contemplated posting something short, just to pass along my thoughts, prayers, and condolences to the Kennedy family for their loss. I know that losing any loved one is difficult, and even despite the political differences I had with Ted Kennedy, I still respect his humanity and the pain that his family must be going through because of his death. But in the end, I decided against it; I didn’t think I should say anything, because this is a political blog and I didn’t think he should be dragged into political issues now that he’s gone (a la the way the Democrats are now trying to invoke his memory in order to pass their massive health care bills.)

But after hearing this, I just had to say something. Because my heart, thoughts, and prayers go out to the Kopechne family too. I can’t even begin to imagine how much hearing something like this would hurt, knowing that the man responsible for their daughter’s death now laughs about the fact. I don’t think there’s anything Ed Klein could say to make this sound any better. Sorry, but I rarely ever dare to joke about something that I feel great remorse for.

But then again, I’ve never run away while someone else was dying due to my mistake. I’ve never hid in a hotel room, trying to come up with an alibi, while a young woman spent unimaginably harrowing hours struggling in an air pocket inside of my drowned automobile, before ultimately dying a horrific, drawn-out, cruel, and painful death.

Maybe you just had to be there to get the joke. I’m sure Mary Jo would have laughed too, right?

Word surfaced over this past weekend about a book that’s recently been added to the Department of Veterans Affairs’ list of publications to be distributed to veterans, despite the fact it was deliberately removed several years ago due to material that the leaders of the VA deemed objectionable. Now that we have a new administration in town, apparently even though they haven’t seen fit to fill more than half of the vacant presidential appointments, someone thought it urgent that this book be reinstated. Someone has great priorities.
If you haven’t yet seen the book, you need to read it. Then you might understand why I’m a bit miffed about this.

The book is called ‘Your Life, Your Choices’ – a title which seems strangely apt given the recent debate over government-run health care. While normally such a title should be appealing to me, the content is absolutely disgusting, in my opinion. The reason for my disgust?
It’s an end of life planning counseling book written by Dr. Robert Pearlman, a major proponent of assisted suicide. In fact, Dr. Pearlman has testified repeatedly in multiple court cases wherein he advocated for physician-assisted suicide.
Brilliant. Just who I’d want to get compassionate, sensitive, and humane guidance from about how to make the most out of my life and maintain my dignity, no matter what physical condition I might find myself in.

I have to admit, I was not able to read the entire book. It was just too emotional for me, and I’ll explain why in a minute. But first, I want to give you a sampling of what the book has to offer: a checklist of ways to tell if your life has devolved to the point where you might want to consider that maybe it’s just not worth living anymore. At least, according to Dr. Pearlman.

Click to enlarge

You know what I noticed first? The options. Nowhere is there an option where you can provide an answer that life is more than just “difficult, but acceptable”, but actually valid, enjoyable, dignified, engaging, and valued. That tells you a helluva lot, doesn’t it? What do you think that says to the veteran who’s reading it?

Let me tell you the second thing I noticed. Out of the 18 direct questions, I qualify for at least 11 of them, maybe 12. According to this book, I’d be a more than valid candidate for assisted-suicide. According to them, my life – at best – is “difficult, but acceptable”.

I’m only 24 years old.

Does that mean my life isn’t worth living? Does that mean my life isn’t dignified? Does that mean my life is “difficult, but acceptable”, or “worth living, but just barely”? Does that mean as a human being, I’m not to be valued as much as someone with an able body? Does that mean that I should just roll over and die because life didn’t turn out the way I thought it would?

I’m sorry, but I refuse to see if that way. I find it disgusting and so incredibly offensive that this book doesn’t even begin to recognize the value of every life, able, disabled, or otherwise. I’ve been seriously ill for over half of my life, and yet I’ve been able to contribute in ways most able-bodied people never do. Yet according to the words of this booklet, handed out to veterans by the VA, I rate just barely beyond “acceptable”.

I find this so far beyond deplorable that I don’t have words adequate enough to express my outrage. Some are calling this a “death book.” I certainly wouldn’t go that far or be that trite about it. But I would call it an absolutely appalling example of outright prejudice against the disabled. To devalue any human being should be outrageous to all of us. Because the minute we can devalue someone is the minute we can devalue anyone.

Veterans don’t need to be told that their lives are only barely acceptable if they’ve been injured or suddenly find themselves severely ill. They need to be encouraged, uplifted, loved, and reminded that they can overcome the challenges and obstacles they face, ultimately becoming stronger in ways they may not have previously imagined. I know I have. Sure, life isn’t always easy, but is it ever easy for anyone? Sure, I’ve had to deal with a lot of pain. But I’ve learned and grown as a person because of it. Those veterans can too.
But they won’t, if they’re told by our government that they can’t, that their lives are now worthless, and that they might as well just give up. We can’t devalue them this way, we can’t disrespect their humanity, we can’t just dismiss them. Just like we shouldn’t dismiss anyone with a disability, whether seen or unseen. We’re all human, we’re all born with different abilities, and throughout our lives, those abilities will surely change and transform. But we are all still human and we are all still deserving of the same rights, respect, and validation. How dare the VA even begin to say otherwise.

One final thought; this is how our government is treating our veterans’, how they’re influencing their health care decisions. If that’s how the heroes among us are treated, how would they treat the rest of us if they were in charge of our health care decisions? How much do you want to bet we’d all be reading a book like this one?
Are you willing to bet your life? It is, after all, your life, and your choice. At least, it is for now. I, for one, would like to keep it that way.

If you’d like to download and read the entire booklet, you can read it here on the official Department of Veterans Affairs website. Yup, even though the VA is saying it’s not an official VA document, it’s still available on their website, and the website says otherwise. It says it was created specifically for the VA via a generous grant of your tax dollars. Although it is allegedly under revision, it’s still being handed out in print in its current form to veterans.
And just in case it suddenly disappears, I’ve archived a copy here.

Thanks to our very alert commenter David, I’ve found out that my friend at Black & Right didn’t have entirely accurate information, and I’m sad to say I’ve reprinted the same inaccuracies! So I want apologize first off, but I also want to make a correction to my previous article, “Why I’ll Never Buy a Smart Car”. It turns out that it wasn’t even a Smart Car at all, but a Ford! While I’ve never been a fan of Fords either, the fact that it’s not a Smart Car kinda changes the whole premise of the post I wrote.

I’m afraid it’s awfully late here where I am (3:36AM) and I have to run to bed. My sleep deprived mind isn’t thinking clearly enough to come up with a good way of reworking the article right this minute. So after I’ve gotten some sleep, I’m going to do my best to rework it, republish it, and perhaps find a way to archive the original inaccurate article somewhere as evidence of the correction and David’s helpful commenting.

Anyway, I’ll work on that tomorrow, but I wanted to post this at least for now to let you know I got some inaccurate information and that I’ll be working on correcting it! I’m very sorry I wasn’t more thorough in my research before passing along this information! I promise that I will certainly try my best to be more diligent in the future.
I also want to say a huge thank you to David! Great catch, sir! I really appreciate it.
Good night, all! More tomorrow!

I saw a couple of pictures on one of my all-time favorite blogs, Black & Right, and I just had to repost them here, because it’s just absolutely frightening.
It’s a beautiful – and frightening – before and after. Take a look.

Here’s the before, a delightful picture of the oft-hyped SmartCar ForTwo. Awww, isn’t it all cute and teeny and precious with its shiny leftist ideological gleam? Fabulous!

All is perfect utopian sweetness and light. That is, until – like most leftist ideology – it’s smacked upside the head by cold, harsh, merciless reality:

Click to zoom

Ooooo, doesn’t look so smart now, does it?

That’s precisely why I will never, ever, ever set foot butt in a SmartCar or any similar teeny-tiny pocket hybrid.
And that’s also precisely why I absolutely love my BMW.

Now before you start accusing me of being the typical evil rich white conservative, let me quickly point something out. I’m a proud, proud owner of a 1996 BMW 318i (yes, that’s a tiny engine, but my, how she can pick up n’ go!) It was my very first car, for which I haggled $5,000 off the salesman’s asking price! Not bad, eh?
My baby still looks brand new, despite having dealt with a few significant scrapes over the years. That’s right, it has kept me and my passengers safe through multiple accidents (none of which were my fault, by the way) and it’s still running strong.

But not only is my baby Bimmer safe to drive, it can compete in fuel efficiency too: it just got 35 miles to the gallon on a recent road trip to Georgia & back. That’s pretty damn good, don’t you think?
And to think, the government would declare my darling baby a clunker! My car and I find that offensive.

If you’re still not convinced check out this frightening footage of the Smart Car being subjected to basic crash testing. It did so badly that even the normally generous Insurance Highway Safety Institute is giving you the same warning I am! I’ve never seen them issue such a warning before, and I’m a crash test junkie!

So please, take my advice: if you value your life and the lives of those who travel with you, please consider safety as well as fuel efficiency when buying your next vehicle. I firmly believe you shouldn’t have to sacrifice safety to suit some ideologue’s idea of a vehicular utopia. After all, what use is that vehicular utopia if we’re all dead?
My life and the lives of my family are of the utmost importance to me, and when their lives are in my hands when I’m behind the wheel, I like to know that should we end up in an accident, we’ll have the best chance possible of walking away unharmed. That’s why I’ll never drive or ride in a Smart Car, and why I’m sticking with my “clunker” BMW. After all, nothing says “safety” like pure Autobahn-tested driving perfection.

Sitting here in my bed, late at night, checking my email one last time on my laptop before going off to sleep, I was hit by quite a thought.
Remember back during the election, when people started bringing up concerns about Barack Obama’s ties to former Weather Underground leader, Bill Ayers? Remember how they told us we were all terribly silly for calling Bill Ayers a terrorist, despite the fact that he bombed the Pentagon & several police buildings, incited violence across the country, and was responsible for the deaths of multiple innocent people? Remember that?

Oh no, he’s not a terrorist at all! Besides, those activities were years and years ago, practically eons ago! We’re sure in his heart of hearts he’s grown as an individual since then and has fully repented! (Never mind, of course, the fact that he said otherwise, but what would he know? We’re sure he just had a difficult childhood, so it’s not his fault anyway even if he did do those things, right?)

So according to the people who said such things, we were utterly silly fear-mongers for daring to call Bill Ayers a terrorist. But now these same people think they can get away with calling average Americans terrorists, thugs & mobsters, comparing them to Timothy McVeigh, and accusing them of dealing in Nazi paraphernalia, purely because they dare to show up to Town Hall meetings, to ask tough questions of their representatives, and finally voice their passionate frustrations about proposed health care reform and the out of control deficit spending going on in Washington?

Yeah, that’s fair.

Of course, not that we should be surprised anymore by the irony and outright hypocrisy of partisan politics these days, especially when it concerns the likes of Nancy Pelosi.

I’m up way past my bedtime, but this was just too funny, I couldn’t not share it! So I’m delaying sleepy-time, just so you can have a giggle too. Enjoy!

I saw this on the news last night and just about popped a cork:

Disgusting isn’t it?

As a point of comparison, consider this: the folks over at TheConservatives.com have put together a brilliant post illustrating the many varied differences between the Bush & Obama administrations’ reactions to dissent. Naturally, I’m no fan of President Bush, but the differences in approach are quite illuminating, if a bit disgusting. Click here to check it out.

I have to say, I’m absolutely disgusted with the way the White House, certain members of Congress, and the DNC have been handling the rather raucous reactions certain lawmakers have been getting at town hall meetings back in their districts, especially with regard to health care reform. Rather than react like adults and acknowledge the rights of free speech that make this country great – even if those who are exercising those rights disagree with you – they’re behaving more like spoiled children. Anyone who disagrees with them is met with dirty looks, accusations, and a fair bit of pouting. Obama certainly did bring change to the White House. Unfortunately it’s change in the wrong direction, toward an absolute contempt for dissent. I dare say, I doubt that’s the sort of change most voters were expecting.

But really, shouldn’t most people have known better? After all, Obama was the one who gave this edict to his supporters regarding how they should react should they ever meet someone who dares oppose the Dear Leader: “I want you to talk to ‘em whether they’re independent or they are Republican. I want you to argue with them and get in their face!”
Yeah, that’s how an adult calmly carries out a “thoughtful discussion”, the like Robert Gibbs said the orchestrated astroturf protesters were disrupting. But then again, I guess it takes one to know one when it comes to astroturfing. I suppose if you’re a Community Organizer who’s surrounded by fake, generated populist hysteria, you just don’t know how to react when someone’s actually genuine with their concerns about government overstepping its bounds. When everything you do is carefully orchestrated, when every person who asks questions at campaign stops is carefully pre-screened, perhaps you think everyone engages in the same sort of manipulation.

Surprise, surprise. Some of us out here in America actually do care enough about our country to stand up for our beliefs, even if someone isn’t paying us to do so. Myself included. I’m not getting paid a single cent to operate this blog. I don’t even accept ad revenue. And yet here I am, continuing to dedicate my time to voicing my opinions, and spending my own money to do so. And rest assured, if my health would permit me to attend a town hall or two, I’d be there giving a polite earful to my representatives as well.

In short, Mr. Obama, I’m an actual American who doesn’t need a Community Organizer to tell me what to do, what to say, and how to say it. Disagree with me all you like, but don’t you dare dismiss me, insult me, or devalue my right to voice my own opinions.

To the rest of you who are able to attend town halls with your representatives, please remember to be cordial, respectful, and polite, while of course being forceful, sincere, and honest. I realize these issues are important to us, I realize things are getting heated, but we don’t need to shout, we don’t need to scream, and we don’t need to behave like an angry mob. Leave those tactics to Acorn, because quite frankly, such tactics are beneath us. Let’s act like the adults that we are, not like the sniveling spoiled children in Washington.

I apologize for the lack of new updates recently – my family and I have been getting the house ready for a visit with my siblings and their families. They’ll be arriving over the coming days as we all get geared up for the big family get together. While I’ll be doing my best to keep myself apprised of all the political goings-on, I won’t have as much time to spend blogging. I’ll do my best, but I’ll have to keep most of it under wraps; my liberal brother is here too, so we will all be doing our best to keep our tongues well bitten in order to avoid any confrontations.
So I’ll be blogging as much as I’m able, but I most likely won’t be as prolific as usual. My apologies, hope you understand!