Thank you Greyhawk, and all of your wonderful readers

I just posted this as a comment on Greyhawk's post asking his readers to come to my place and hit the donations button. I can't think of anything better to say here than I said there.

Greyhawk, I'm going to take up some more space at your place to thank you again, and thank your wonderful readers. I'm ashamed to say I haven't put up proper "Thank you" posts on my blogs yet, but that is the next thing on my to-do list. I would never have dreamed that the monthly transaction limit on my Amazon account could ever become an issue. Due to the generosity of your wonderful readers, I spent a major part of last night scrambling to put a working PayPal button on my site. (Note to self:: If Amazon was all you needed, why did Greyhawk have a PayPal button?)

Thanks to you and your wonderful readers, we won't be losing an insurance policy on the home I grew up in, my sister's car, and Dad's truck, which Mom wouldn't part with for any amount of money.

Thanks to you and your wonderful readers, my sister will not be going back to work against her doctor's advice.

Thanks to you and your wonderful readers, I feel good about "people" again.

Thank you, all of you. May God bless and keep you.

Bill Faith

My favorite quote from the V.P. debate

Senator Gone

He Said It:

VICE PRESIDENT RICHARD CHENEY: “Senator, frankly, you have a record in the Senate that's not very distinguished. You missed 33 out of 36 meetings in the Judiciary Committee. Almost 70% of the meetings of the Intelligence Committee. You've missed a lot of key votes on tax policy, on energy, on Medicare reform. Your hometown newspaper has taken to calling you Senator Gone. You've got one of the worst attendance records in the United States Senate. Now, in my capacity as Vice President I am the President of the Senate, the presiding officer. I'm up in the Senate most Tuesdays when they're in session. The first time I ever met you was when you walked on the stage tonight.” (Vice President Richard Cheney, Vice Presidential Debate, Cleveland, OH, 10/5/04

(And he didn't tell him to go do anything anatomically impossible.)

AMAZON PROBLEMS?

Amazon Problems

Please use PayPal

(I've removed some along-the-way information that was here earlier.)

I learned today, due to an outpouring of support that I never imagined was possible, that there is a monthly transaction limit on my Amazon Honor System account. Thanks to a donation from a reader who is more familiar with PayPal than I am, I realized a little bit ago that I do have a functional PayPal account and started scrambling to come up with a button. It's on my sidebar now. It works. It will be about a month before the Amazon button works again.

If anyone would prefer to use non-electronic methods, you can send money to my sister at:

Vicki Hussey
RR1 Box 271
Lawrenceville IL 62439

Thank you one and all, and may God bless you and yours.

Bill Faith
10/06/2004

Vacationing Marine's help praised by many

GO. READ. THIS.

Hat tip: The Mudville Gazette

Just a mail I sent some friends ...

I sent this email to two very dear friends, neither of whom I’ve seen in way too many years. In two separate parallel universes not far removed from this one, I’m married to each of them. After I sent this, I realized it might be of interest to some of my readers as well. I especially hope those of you in the teaching profession will note my suggestion for commemorating Veterans’ Day.

To two very dear friends whom I’ve been neglecting lately:

I know I’m long overdue to write to both of you, and I am sorry. I hope this finds you both well and I should be kicked for not staying in touch. I miss getting mail from you even if I am terrible about writing back. I hope the fact you haven’t been writing doesn’t indicate that your lives aren’t going well.

Read the rest here.

More light blogging while I move

Thanks to a tip from Bert Meyer, I am now "Small Town Veteran." It's going to take a while to raise the flag there, get my sidebar set up like I want it, etc, and I'm not about to just quit posting while I'm in the process, but please do stop by there now and then to see how things are going. Eventually I'll leave a note here saying I'm not posting here any more so please come see me there, but it isn't time yet.

A tip to all Blogger users, courtesy of Bert Meyer. Go, now, immediately, to http://www.mblog.com/ and set up an account. mBlog is free and uses Movable Type, which absolutely, purely, to put it mildly, beats the Hell out of Blogger 8 ways from Sunday.

An Interview With Swift Boat Vet Van Odell

Dean Esmay at Dean's World scored an interview with Swift Boats vet Van Odell, the man who served on the same boat as Jean Fraud Kerry longer than any other person. It's informative. Go read it.

Jeff's Morning News Briefing -- 10/05/04

Jeff Quinton posts a daily Morning News Briefing that should be on everyone's 'read every day" list. Click here to read today's briefing.

"If you vote for George Bush, you've lost your mind."

From Drudge:

Dem vp hopeful John Edwards cut to the chase last night on ABCNEWS NIGHTLINE:

ABC'S BOB WOODRUFF: "He has avoided the kind of negative attacks that can make national news, although recently, he has stepped up his rhetoric."

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC) (clip of a speech): "I'd say if you live in the United States of America and you vote for George Bush,you've lost your mind."

WOODRUFF: "There's been criticism that you have been too soft."

EDWARDS: "Do I seem soft to you?"

Apparently some one has lost his mind, but it his case it was no great loss.

Dan Rather Vindicated

The memos prove to be genuine. Here's the typewriter Killian used to type the documents, running MS Word v.-9.2 in Windows 59.

Shamelessly stolen from Cartoon Nazi. Go there often.

Belmont Club: Ring, Ring

Ring Ring

The London Times (hat tip: NGR) illustrates the futility of any real retreat from fighting terrorism. Thair Shaikh writes about how cellular phone technology is being used to capture "that perfect moment" for family and friends among a certain circle of persons.

Mobile phones are being used by young Muslims living in Britain to watch videos of hostages being beheaded by militants in Iraq. With their color screens and access to the internet, the latest generation of mobile phones are being used to download the videos after they are posted on Islamist websites. The videos can then be sent to other mobiles.

One militant has saved every available video of hostages being killed in Iraq. An Algerian in his thirties who has lived in London for almost ten years, he is a follower of Abu Hamza al-Masri, the cleric whose extradition is sought by the US ... said "for us the jihad is alive in our hands as we watch American infidels get their heads chopped off ... within a few minutes of the Americans dying last week I was watching them on my phone"

[...]

Read the rest of it.

John Kerry's hometown paper endorses George W. Bush for President

Remember how the lamestream media played it up when the Crawford TX paper, which may reach almost a thousand daily readers, endorsed John Kerry for president? Don't hold your breath waiting for C-BS to tell you about this.

Endorsement: George W. Bush for president

It's about national security.

That's the key issue on the minds of Americans planning to vote in the Nov. 2 presidential election.

They must decide whether Republican President George W. Bush or Sen. John F. Kerry, a Democrat, can provide the leadership to safeguard America from foreign terrorism.

Go read the rest of it.

Blogger problems again.

BlogSpot seems to have had another one of its frequent headaches most of the day. I'm not at all certain I'll be able to post this. I replaced the power supply in the computer I normally use this afternoon and I’m in the process of transferring documents and images from the rented computer to the one I fixed so the rented computer can go back tomorrow. Blogging would have been light even without the BlogSpot problems.

I received an email today telling me one of my blog posts had done something better than I ever dreamed I was capable of doing. I’m not free to tell you any details at this point but I’m optimistic about receiving permission to finish the job, after the election when no one can question my motives. More later, I hope.

Morning News Briefing -- 10/04/04

Jeff Quinton posts a daily Morning News Briefing that should be on everyone's 'read every day" list. Click here to read today's briefing.

For a more sensitive war

More Guest Blogging

I am pleased to report that, in addition to this site and The Mudville Gazette, I will now be posting at Backcountry Conservative, another fine site of which I've been a fan for quite a while. Jeff and I need to exchange another email or two before I'm sure what subjects I will or won't be addressing there. At first I may copy a few of my favorite posts from this site to Jeff's, then after that everything I post there will be posted, or at least excerpted with a link, on this site. Backcountry Conservative is a stop on the MilBlogs ring so I'm pretty sure we'll get along just fine.

Heather, if you're keeping score, my Site Meter currently reads 20,731. Greyhawk's reads 621,102. Jeff's reads 1,927,002. If I can't make it as a blogger with the opportunities Greyhawk and Jeff have given me to establish a reputation then I just don't have what it takes. But I'm still not going to change your mind about Kerry, am I?

Some Telling Quotes

On Kerry's Diplomacy: Batting 1000

John Kerry:

"I think we need a president who has the credibility to bring the allies back to the table and to do what's necessary to make it so America isn't doing this alone."

French Foreign Minister Barnier:

Even though Nato last week overcame members' long-running reservations about a training mission to Iraq and agreed to set up an academy there for 300 soldiers, neither Paris nor Berlin will participate.

Michel Barnier, the French foreign minister, said last week that France, which has tense relations with interim prime minister Iyad Allawi, had no plans to send troops "either now or later".

[...]

That's just the beginning.Go read the rest.

International Man of Mystery Charms Pants Off World

Let’s face it. Bush sucked last night. In this debate, they both came across EXACTLY like they do in this cartoon. But don’t despair fellow Conservatives. Kerry buried himself with his own words.

• Bilateral negotiations with North Korea? Exclude China, Japan and Russia? Just how stupid would that be?
• Scrap the bunker-busting nukes we’re developing? Oh I see, the way to deal with the threat of nuclear proliferation is to unilaterally disarm. What a ‘tard!
• Global test? That’s a real loser for Kerry.
• Add 80,000 men to the armed forces? How? With a draft?
• Give nuclear fuel to Iran? Oh my God! Clinton did that with North Korea and look what happened. This man is dangerous!

If the Right does it’s job this will be what’s discussed in the days to come. This is a fleeting victory for Kerry, that in the next week or so, will evaporate as Kerry is forced to defend his own words yet again.

Shamelessly stolen from a site I'll be visiting often from now on.

SpaceShipOne a Flight Away From $10M

Click here for some history.

SpaceShipOne is scheduled for the second of the two flight required to win the X Prize on Monday Oct 4, 2004.

Click here, here and here for more information.

Swift Vets / POWs Post Petition Urging Kerry to Come Clean

From the 1 October 04 Swift Vets e-Newsletter:

In a new petition the Swift Vets and POWs for Truth are calling for Senator Kerry to set the record straight and come clean about his fallacious Senate testimony and postwar radicalism. In calling for Kerry to tell the truth, the petition asks Kerry to produce evidence for his claims about war crimes and atrocities committed by American soldiers in Vietnam.

If Kerry wants to become Commander in Chief he needs to clearly explain to the nation what he meant when he said he participated in war crimes and how he could justify working with a foreign government at war with the United States.

He must also acknowledge the damage his activities did to POWs in Vietnam
when he was safely on American soil and apologize to our POWs for the harm he
causes them.

Kerry's entire chain of command and the overwhelming majority of those who served with him refuted his version of his conduct in Vietnam. Yet Kerry refuses to respond himself. The burden lies with Senator Kerry to set the record straight.

Read more. I've signed the petition and I hope you will too.

Found: Jean Kerry's Global Test

Rand Simberg has found Jean Kerry's global test!

Officially Authorized,
Internationally Recognized
Global Test

Welcome, World Leader. We understand that you'd like to undertake some type of foreign policy action. In the past, this would have involved a great deal of debate and diplomatic activity (not to mention bribery) in Paris, Brussels, and on the west bank of the East River. In the interest of streamlined world government, we've developed this simple test, which should take no more than a few minutes to fill out, to get you quickly on to your next foreign adventure, should it meet all reasonable criteria for peace and international justice.

The test may be taken as many times as desired, as long as the billion-dollar test fee is paid each time (proceeds are split evenly between the office of the UN Director General, and the French government, to compensate them for the trouble and expense of designing the test).

[...]

Go see if you can pass the test!

Siberia in pajamas

Is horrible, comrades! Commissar is holding show trials and sentencing bloggers to Gulag! Da, comrades, poor ankle-nipping pseudo-journalists in pajamas! Gulag will be cold, but bloggers will be in good company.

People Who Can't Think For Themselves Can't Tell Time, Either

The Washington Post has an unusual editorial in today's edition pointing out the efforts of DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe to hijack their Letters section for unpaid advertising. You have to read this to believe it, but apparently some of the mindless sheep he's driving can't tell time:

WE RECEIVED THE following letter from a woman in Yonkers, N.Y.: "Dear editor: This debate made it clear: John Kerry is a leader we can trust to tell us the truth when it comes to our nation's security. George Bush has had his chance; I'm ready for a new direction."

Cogent, succinct, personal -- everything we look for in a letter. So why are we writing about it here, instead of publishing it in the columns to the right? Unfortunately, the letter, perfect in every other way, arrived in our electronic in-box Thursday afternoon, four hours and 14 minutes before debate moderator Jim Lehrer posed his first question. ...

Read the rest of it.

The most interesting thing to me is that the WaPo didn't hesitate to publish something damaging to the Kerry campaign. Apparently, they've given up on installing their Golden Boy in the White House and started trying to salvage what little credibility they have left.

Meet someone else who isn't too impressed with Jean Fraud Kerry

"Sunnye" left this comment on "John Kerry's other salute". I thought you should see it.:

I'm so glad to see folks who know what a salute should look like affirming my impression of Kerry's salute. I'm a relic of the Korean War era, a grandmother who learned to salute at an R-Day practice at the US Military Academy at West Point and I do believe my salute is snappier than his!

For that matter, my brain is snappier than Kerry's.

Thanks to all of you who have served our fantastic country so well. In spite of what the media would have you believe, most of us honor you.

Sunnye, thank you for your support. btw, I just added your blog to my blogroll.

An apology to Russ Vaughn and Thomas Lifson

I just published this on The Mudville Gazette:

From "A Vet's View Of The Debate -- Russ Vaughn":

Russ mentioned this in piece in an email and asked that I honor his promise to Thomas Lifson by not publishing it on my site till this afternoon. ...

Russ, I blew it. After Mrs. Greyhawk gave me permission to do the honors of posting "Vet's View" at The Mudville Gazette, I opened Movable Type to prepare the post, with every intention of waiting till around Midnight Mudville/Zulu time to publish it to the web. I thought I saved it as a draft to be published at the appropriate time. When I checked my email a few minutes ago and found Rosemary's comment in my inbox it was a total surprise. I still don't remember publishing the post, and it isn't on my site yet. I'm sorry. I won't blame you for not giving me advance notice on anything else, but I hope you won't deprive The Mudville Gazette's readers of your fine work because of my error. If Thomas is upset with you over what happened please direct him to this apology and let me know so I can email him a personal apology.

To Mr. and Mrs. Greyhawk: I'm sorry I've done something that some might see as reflecting badly on a fine site. The fault was mine entirely. Apparently I'm not always capable of recognizing when my health problems interfere with my ability to think clearly. (The cause was not alcohol or other recreational chemicals. It resulted from exhaustion and Hypo-K. I just need to remember my limits.)

To The Mudville Gazette's readers: I'm optimistic Russ will be understanding about my error and I hope my error will not slow the flow of Russ's fine work to a fine site.

After I realized I'd messed up and published "Vet's View" prematurely at Mudville I went ahead and published it a little earlier than I'd intended to here, to avoid further confusing people who followed the '(Cross-posted from "In Bill's World")' link from Mudville.

A Vet's View Of The Debate -- Russ Vaughn

Vet's View
October 2nd, 2004

Vets’ View

The thing to judge in these debates
Is what you’re truly hearing;
Do you hear what George, god bless ’em, states,
Or John boy so endearing?

The Cowboy tells you it’s hard work,
Not for the faint of heart,
But manicured John, that elitist jerk,
Does a global view impart.

We hear the pundits say John won,
And shake our heads and wonder;
How they disregard this Judas son,
Who made our nation sunder,

Turned on us soldiers in the field,
Accused us of war crimes,
And made our nation kneel and yield
In those disgraceful times.

It matters not how glib a man
Speaks to a listening nation.
What matters if he cut and ran,
His combat duty station.

As did tall John in sixty-eight
With purple band-aids flying,
Deserted crew, fled to his state,
To there pursue his lying.

We know this man, for we fought there;
He’s but a lying traitor
Whose fancy words and fancy hair
Conceal an imitator.

Yeah Johnny got his cuticles trimmed,
While George reviewed the gloom
Of homes and lives that had been dimmed
By nature’s hand of doom.

While all you pundits say John won;
We’ll take a differing view.
That inarticulate Texas son,
To us came clearly through.

He’ll fight the fight and win this war,
And victory’s road he’ll take,
To vanquish Jihad to it’s core
Unlike that Boston fake.

Russ Vaughn
2d Bn, 327th Parachute Infantry regiment
101st Airborne Division
Vietnam 65-66

Russ Vaughn is the Poet Laureate of the American Thinker

Republished in it's entirety from The American Thinker with the author's permission.

Russ mentioned this in piece in an email and asked that I honor his promise to Thomas Lifson by not publishing it on my site till this afternoon. Russ is also most certainly the Poet Laureate of "In Bill's World," and, in my studied opinion, of an unofficial but strong and still growing "Veterans against John Kerry" movement. Thank you, Russ, for all you do.

(Cross-posted to The Mudville Gazette)

Get that dog out of here! Now! What if he bites me next?

Brokaw, Jennings Show Support for Rather

While acknowledging mistakes in CBS anchor Dan Rather's "60 Minutes" report that questioned President Bush's service in the National Guard, competing news anchors Tom Brokaw and Peter Jennings offered support Saturday for the beleaguered newsman.

Brokaw blasted what he called an attempt to "demonize" CBS and Rather on the Internet, where complaints about the report first surfaced. He said the criticism "goes well beyond any factual information."

"What I think is highly inappropriate is what going on across the Internet, a kind of political jihad ... that is quite outrageous," the NBC anchor said ...

[...]

"I don't think you ever judge a man by only one event in his career," said Jennings, anchor on ABC.

[...]

Get that dog out of here! Now! What if he bites me next?

Oh, so now they're threatening to get ugly

Agence France Presse wants you to know that, because of our Iraq policy, Al Qaeda is now considering pre-emptive attacks.

[...]

That does it. Now President Kerry has his excuse to cut and run.

Via Allah.

Light posting, but this time I have a good excuse.

I've got this bee in my bonnet about doing something a little beyond just linking to other people's words and adding a few comments. I'm pulling together a major photo essay to make a point more powerfully than I could possibly make it with words. Please forgive me for lighter-than-normal posting and don't quit coming by. I think I can make it up to you.

Update: I've decided to go ahead with some "Too good to keep" things but I'll still be posting less than usual while I work on my project.

Another opinion from a some one who's been there

An email I received that I think you should see:

"Vets4Bush.com Mailing List" wrote:

Date: Sun, 3 Oct 2004 03:50:19 -0400
To: bdfaith@yahoo.com
From: "Vets4Bush.com Mailing List"
Subject: Troops Support President Bush

FORWARDED BY: http://Vets4Bush.com

--------------------------------------------------------------

Forwarded From: http://Moms4Bush.com

We asked this active Air Force member if we could share his letter with our group. We all just had a hectic week ~ Lots of PR and along with that some other not so kind comments ~ the debate on Thursday. This letter should inspire you to keep working hard for the next 31 days, to keep President Bush in office! Though addressed to ma'am, it is for all our volunteers and our other grassroots friends!

==================

Ma’am,

I would like to express my personal gratitude to your group and the others like it. President Bush is not only my president, but my Commander-in-Chief as well. I am a member of the United States Air Force and have deployed to the Middle East five times. That would be five times more than most of those that sit in their armchairs at night, watching the evening news, telling their families what our foreign policy should be. I have been there. I have seen the face of terrorism. If we do not fight the terrorists in their own backyard, we will be fighting them in ours. I prefer the former. Trust me when I say this, President Bush is pursuing the correct policy. I am not alone in my feelings. At least 90% of my brothers-in-arms, across all branches agree with what we are doing to stem the tide of terrorism. Our biggest fear is that John Kerry will be elected president, and we will not be able to completeour important work in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I often hear people say that there is no link between Saddam Hussein and terrorism. That is on par with saying that there was no link between the Nazis and Japan during WWII. The Nazis did not attack us on December 7, 1941, yet our leadership saw a growing threat from Germany as well as a direct threat from Japan. I liken this vision to President Bush’s clear vision of the task at hand. Unfortunately, military members are not authorized to speak their minds in regards to political issues. If they could, you would hear a resounding roar of support for President Bush. It is a difficult task, however, with your organization and others like it, we are often reminded as to why we stand so boldly in the face of terror. It is for you, and all Americans, that I wear my uniform with pride and would defend to the death your freedom, and the freedom of your children.

God bless you,

MSgt __________ ________________ (name omitted)

=====================

Your Leadership Team
Security Moms For Bush
Website: www.moms4bush.com

email: Founder@moms4bush.com

=====================

Please DO NOT REPLY to this message unless it is urgent content. This list a very large and has been generating a lot of "thank you" email that I can't handle..... Gracias.

Fake but real ...

From USA TODAY:

[...]

"Rallying supporters in Tampa Friday Kerry played up his performance in Thursday night's debate in which many observers agreed the mssachusetts senator outperformed the president.

'"Didn't my nails and cuticles look great? What a good debate!' Kerry said Friday.

"With the foreign-policy debate in the history books, Kerry hopes to keep the pressure on and the sense of traction going.

"Aides say he will step up attacks on the president in the next few days, and pivot somewhat to the domestic agenda, with a focus on women and abortion rights.

'"It's about the Supreme Court. Women should like me! I do manicures,' Kerry said."

The item also quoted Kerry as saying of himself and President Bush: "I'm metrosexual — he's a cowboy."

[...]

Citizen Smash - General Kerry

From Citizen Smash, recently returned from Operation Iraqi Freedom:

General Kerry

THERE WAS A MOMENT in last night’s Presidential Debate that got me angry – and it probably wasn’t the same moment you’re thinking about right now.

KERRY: It is vital for us not to confuse the war, ever, with the warriors. That happened before. And that's one of the reasons why I believe I can get this job done, because I am determined for those soldiers and for those families, for those kids who put their lives on the line. That is noble. That's the most noble thing that anybody can do. And I want to make sure the outcome honors that nobility.

[...]

Go read it all.