Today marks the 131st anniversary of the birth of the greatest man of the last century–Sir Winston Churchill. Born on November 30, 1874, at Blenheim Palace in England, he would go on to lead Britain against the greatest evil of his time — Nazism and later warn the world of the dangers of the next great evil of the twentieth century — Communism.

In the 1930s, he stood virtually alone, warning the world about the threat of Nazism. In 1940, upon taking the helm of the British government, he rallied a nation, fearful for its future, its survival even, after the swift defeat of its European allies as the Nazis & their allies enslaved nearly all of continental Europe.

Through it all, he never faltered, always held firm, believing that as dark as things appeared, the West would triumph, victory was on the horizon. He stood up to the naysayers of his day and stood strong against tyranny, defending Western civilization and the long English tradition of freedom under the law. He was a friend of the Jews and other then-oppressed peoples.

His greatest successors, Lady Thatcher and Tony Blair, the current resident at 10 Downing Street, have followed his lead in standing up against tyranny. Lady Thatcher joined her great friend Ronald Reagan in leading the struggle against Communism. Tony Blair joins President Bush in leading the fight against Islamofascism on behalf of all free peoples as well as people longing to free, including those in Muslim lands.

And like Ronald Reagan, Churchill was a great storyteller who often used humor to entertain — and make his points.

Because of the strong friendship between Churchill, a Tory (i.e., Conservative) and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a Democrat, the Allies were better able to triumph against fascism. And we see a similar friendship between the two men who hold the offices these men once did. President Bush and Prime Minister Blair (like their two predecessors) may come from different sides of the political aisle, but like those great men who came before them, they recognize the common national interests of our two great nations.

So, on this anniversary of Winston Churchill’s birth, take a moment a remember this great man. Take a look at this webiste and sample here his powerful prose. Had it not been for this great man, we might not be free today to speak so openly and criticize our leaders so regularly.

Happy Birthday, Sir Winston. And thank you. Thank you. We remember and we’ll always be inspired by your leadership.

-Dan (AKA GayPatriotWest): GayPatriotWest@aol.com

Every time I hear Massachusetts’ junior Senator speak, I breathe a sigh of relief that he was not elected president last fall. While doing some chores around the apartment this morning, I was watching FoxNews which was covering live his commentary on the president’s speech and heard this erstwhile Democratic presidential nominee claim that while he got home from serving in Vietnam in 1969, he didn’t start protesting the war until two years later — in 1971.

(QUICK ASIDE–Fox News covering Kerry remarks live?!?! Must not be the right-wing shills that the left claims it to be. Oh, wait a minute, it’s their clever Rovian strategy to present Democrats’ actual remarks and so reveal their absurdity.)

I wonder why it took Kerry two years to protest. I mean, in his testimony before the Senate, he claimed that the U.S. has committed war crimes in Vietnam. If he had witnessed such crimes, he owed it to the victims of these crimes — and to his nation — to speak out as soon as possible so our leaders could take action, punish those responsible and put and end to such atrocities. (As happened with Abu Ghraib, nearly four months before CBS broadcast the disgusting pictures and the crimes there became common knowledge.)

If this Democrat is ever to run for national office again, people need to ask about his delay in protesting the war. Perhaps, he (or others) already addressed it in last fall’s campaign. (If you have links to articles/commentary on this topic, please e-mail me or reference them in the comments below and I will update this post accordingly.)

Kerry’s comments today that it took him two years to protest the war merely show how even at the dawn of his political career, this man lacked a spine and put his finger to the wind before taking a political stand. In 1969, when he returned from Vietnam, he did not think opposing the war would serve his political interest. In 1971, he did.

UPDATE: I’m trying to find the text of Senator Kerry’s speech online and after checking his official Senate site (where he has not updated his linked speeches since July 21, 2003) and his pemanent campaign site, have yet to find the speech.

GP UPDATE: Let’s not forget how the Kerry weathervane twirled in circles over gay marriage during the 2004 campaign. One day he supported Massachusetts’ amendment, the next day he supported Missouri’s total ban… it all depended on where he was in this great country of ours and how the wind was blowing that day.

Earlier this year, when I asked a lawyer friend of mine to comment on a post I had written on the military’s Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell Policy (DADT), he called the policy one of the great injustices and follies of our time.

It’s not only this gay attorney who finds fault with this preposterous policy. Uncle Jimbo, a straight military guy whose opposition to DADT I’ve cited in the past, has written another piece reaffirming his “belief that the ban on gays serving openly in the military is wrong” and did so while guest blogging on Blackfive, the winner of the Wizbang Award for Best Military Blog last year and a respected blog frequently linked by conservative bloggers.

The more pro-military conservative guys like Uncle Jimbo speak out against the ban, the better we can make the case that ending this injustice would not be (as some critics have said) just a social experiment, but would also serve the national security interest of our nation. Uncle Jimbo is pleased to observe that:

Acceptance of gays has given way the irrelevance of sexual orientation for most people. Gay troops now serve without disruption and with distinction, in many cases maintaining only the flimsiest of facades, this is not going to change if those who wish it no longer have to pretend.

At at a time when our military needs to best, bravest and most dedicated young men and women to win the war on terror, it’s absurd to arbitrarily prevent so many citizens from serving openly.

Uncle Jimbo’s post shows that many military heroes welcome gay people into their ranks. Let’s hope that more military folk speak out as he has done. So, please take a moment and read the whole thing, then follow Uncle Jimbo’s advice and contact your Congressman or Senator and ask them to repeal this Clinton-era policy.

As I worked on my post faulting Log Cabin for bending over backwards not to offend the gay groups, most of which have left-of-center leanings, I kept coming across information, mostly on Log Cabin’s own web-site, which confirmed many of my suspicions about the organization. More often than not, I came across statements where the organization took issue with the President or conditioned its praise of his statements or initiatives. They seemed almost as reluctant as HRC to confront Democrats.

Given the length of my post, I wanted to highlight (in a briefer post) the most troubling of LCR President Patrick Guerriero‘s statements and juxtapose it with a Log Cabin statement (also cited in the post) released fewer than three weeks before last fall’s election.

Patrick considers it a firing offense for an employee to “speak ill of another LGBT group” even as his organization took gratuitous swipes at his own party’s presidential nominee (and his closest political advisor) in that statement ostensibly faulting the opposing party’s nominee for politicizing the sexuality of the Vice-President’s daughter. We can argue on the merits of Log Cabin’s non-endorsement of the president last fall. Indeed, North Dallas Thirty, who usually agrees with me, thinks Log Cabin did the right thing.

But, Log Cabin went beyond professing neutrality in the presidential race and actively criticized President Bush and Karl Rove, his top political aide and campaign strategist. On CNN, Patrick “lashe[d] out” at the president. Of the 115 words in the text of LCR’s statement on Senator Kerry’s Comments Regarding Mary Cheney, 45 took issue with that Democratic nominee’s comments (and those of his running mate) while 54 faulted the Republican team. The remainder were devoted to delivering a message to “both campaigns.” (Shouldn’t that be the job of the officially “bipartisan” Human Rights Campaign?)
(more…)

In The Washington Blade, columnist Constantino Diaz-Duran wonders at the number of gay men in Washington, D.C. sporting “Che” Guevara T-shirts. Not only was Che, a supposedly idealistic revolutionary, a “a cold-blooded killing machine,” but he also helped bring to power one of the most anti-gay leaders of the Western Hemisphere — Fidel Castro.

Indeed, many gay people wax eloquent over this tyrant just as they revere his bloodthirsty comrade-in-arms. When Castro took over in Cuba, he set up forced labor camps where he imprisoned what these Communists “considered the scum of society,” including, among others, gay people.

It seems that when it comes to supporting foreign tyrants, many gay activists, like others on the left, are more interested in that leader’s animus to the U.S. than his attitude toward gay people. Check out Diaz-Duran’s column and wonder with him at the eagerness of many gay leftists to adopt anti-American icons, even those who persecute their fellows.

**UPDATE at 2:10PM**
Outgoing Log Cabin Political Director Chris Barron has responded to this posting with the following statement: “”DJ Register turned the LCR NC list-serve over to me, not LCR Nationals. I never asked to become the owner of this list-serve. Mr. Register said he was “quitting” and turning it over to me. As the new owner of the list-serve I changed the settings to reflect that I was the owner of the list-serve, not Mr. Register. These changes had nothing to do with any criticism from DJ Register. The changes certainly weren’t ordered or asked for by anyone at Log Cabin.

The LCR NC list-serve is in no way related to Log Cabin. It’s just a yahoo group. If Mr. Register had experienced any problems posting any materials on this list-serve he certainly never brought them to my attention. Mr. Register continued to post regularly on the LCR NC list-serve, and did so without any interference from me, regardless of what he posted. This, quite honestly, seems more than a bit dramatic, considering we are talking about a yahoo group list-serve.”

*****************

Apparently free speech still isn’t being tolerated by the mullahs of the Log Cabin Republican organization. First, the Palm Beach LCR group was “excommunicated” due to the chapter’s endorsement of President Bush last year.

And now this….

To: LCRNorthCarolina@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wed, 09 Nov 2005 17:04:14 -0000
Subject: [LCRNorthCarolina] Leaving

Re: Free Speech Fear Not Acceptable.

Dear LCRNorthCarolina Members:

I am saying good-by to you. The reason is limitation of free speech. Today, I’ve learned that following the post below my privileges as a moderator were greatly diminished–LCRNorthCarolina is a group that I begun and voluntarily ceded ownership of to the national office in
2004.

I have enjoyed knowing all of you through your messages but I feel that no one should live in fear of what they say here. I will continue to work for Log Cabin Republicans and to pray for its future success. Thank you all.

So long,
D. J. Register
Founder, LCRNorthCarolina

I guess LCR Board Chairman Bill Brownson does rule with an iron fist…..

I don’t know about you, but I find more than a hint of irony when a Republican organization that spent most of its money last year in efforts to defeat Republican candidates (the infamous $1M anti-Bush TV ad campaign), has a problem with critical comments and opposition from within its own organization.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

Joe Lieberman, the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 2000 and a respected Senator from the great state of Connecticut, has just returned from his fourth trip to Iraq and reports “real progress there.” While he acknowledges that more needs to be done, this loyal Democrat has found that:

the Iraqi people are in reach of a watershed transformation from the primitive, killing tyranny of Saddam to modern, self-governing, self-securing nationhood–unless the great American military that has given them and us this unexpected opportunity is prematurely withdrawn.

That’s right, this Democrat opposes the premature withdrawal of our armed forces.

Among the process he noted was economic prosperity in the Kurdish North and increased electric power in the Shi’ite South, and saw elsewhere “more cars on the streets, satellite television dishes on the roofs, and literally millions more cell phones in Iraqi hands than before.” People were actively campaigning for next month’s legislative elections. “None of these remarkable changes would have happened,” this Democrat finds, “without the coalition forces led by the U.S.”

Iraq’s Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari claims “that his country now has the most open, democratic political system in the Arab world.” His people are far more optimistic about their future of their land than Americans are. “Two-thirds say they are better off than they were under Saddam, and a resounding 82% are confident their lives in Iraq will be better a year from now than they are today.”

Lieberman has much more to say about progress in Iraq so instead of relying on me to paraphrase it, I suggest you go on over to OpinionJournal.com and read the whole thing!

This coming Friday, December 2, 2005, please join me at the Claremont Institute’s Churchill Dinner and help support a top conservative think thank, the Claremont Institute, while we mix and mingle with thoughtful conservatives from the Southland (i.e., Southern California) and honor one of my favorite columnists Mark Steyn.

Perhaps the most quoted columnist in the conservative blogosophere, Steyn is both witty and wise. His satirical style often conceals (or perhaps reveals) unique insights into world affairs. Many conservative bloggers appreciate how he cleverly skewers left-wing policies and their advocates.

His articles and columns have appeared in such periodicals as the Wall Street Journal, Atlantic Monthly, Daily Telegraph, Jerusalem Post, National Review, The Spectator, Chicago Sun-Times, Toronto Globe & Mail, Irish Times, and The New Criterion. His next book America Alone: Our Country’s Future as a Lone Warrior is slated to be released next year. His previous books include The Face of the Tiger and Mark Steyn From Head To Toe: An Anatomical Anthology.

For more information on the dinner, click here. You can also register online.

After seeing the news this afternoon about US Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham resigning as the result of a bribery scandal, it reminded me of a great article in Sunday’s Washington Post Opinion Section.

The GOP And The Sandbox – WaPo Opinion Column by Douglas MacKinnon
(subscription required — use mine! email: gaypatriot2004@aol.com, password: gaypatriot)
(GP Editor’s Note — Douglas MacKinnon is identified in the article as the former press secretary to former Senator Bob Dole. He is also a former White House and Pentagon official, and an author.)

The subhead to the column is “I Wonder Where My Party’s Headed.” I couldn’t agree more. But let me provide some of Mr. MacKinnon’s best arguments.

For Republicans, all the intense, newfound focus on Iraq that the Democrats and some in the media are avidly promoting is coupled with a sharp rise in partisanship and both real and politically motivated ethics problems in the GOP (I consider the questions facing former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist to be mostly politically motivated, while those surrounding lobbyist Jack Abramoff and Reps. Randy “Duke” Cunningham and Rob Ney are very troublesome). And it raises a critical set of questions: “Who are we, what have we become, and what do we, as a party, stand for?”

< ...>

For while it takes two parties to govern — or embarrass themselves — it is the Republicans who control the White House and the Congress and thus have the greater burden to lead. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way we seem to have lost vision, belief in our platform and a commitment to higher ethics.

Since 1994, when Newt Gingrich led the revolution that gave us our first House majority in 40 years, Republicans have sold the American people on the premise that we are the party of national defense, character, morality and ethics. But that premise is getting tougher to defend with each passing day.

< ...>

If these Republicans abandon the president because of their own worries, then the damage to the nation and to the Republican Party will be incalculable. We will have squandered any chance of democracy in Iraq, and potentially large parts of the Middle East. This is something that many Americans — and more Republicans — will not soon forget.

Instead of turning Congress into a sandbox, leaders of both parties should demand serious and extended debate over the war. While there is clearly no support, even among Democrats, for Murtha’s call to bring the troops home, there is also very clearly no coherent strategy for the future of the war coming out of Congress. Many members still refuse to be held accountable for their votes on it.

Enough with the name-calling, charges and counter-charges. Forget how we got there and focus on how we can and must prevail. The least that members of Congress and the administration can give our troops is a dignified and serious reflection on why they have put our soldiers in harm’s way. Both parties are in trouble at the moment. And Republicans have the most to lose.

Events like today’s Cunningham resignation and other recent scandals are not pillars of the Republican Party that I want to be a part of. They are instead the seeds of power and deceit that brought down the Democrats’ 40 year reign over the US House in 1994.

Governing responsibly is a lot different than campaigning from the minority position. The only saving grace Republican leaders have now is that the Democrats look more shrill and childlike every day. It is unfortunate that our elected leaders are helping demean our democracy brick-by-brick and in many ways are having a longer term impact than Osama’s plan did on 9/11. We are all responsible for our elected officials’ actions and we all need to call them on the carpet.

[Related Story -- Charging Rhino suggests some punishment options for Rep. Cunningham]

Welcome Instapundit readers!

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

It is now nearly ten years since I first assumed a leadership role in Log Cabin. Over this past decade, I have been both active in and critical of the organization. I have attended four national conventions, served as an officer of two clubs, one of which I founded, and talked with countless gay Republicans, gay conservatives and gay libertarians, most of whom refused to join Log Cabin. Indeed, many who refused to join were surprised at my activism and pleased at my decision to quit the organization.

In my conversations with such “non-mainstream” gays, the most frequent complaint I have heard about Log Cabin (and yes, I have also heard this from LCR members, many of whom have e-mailed this blog to say as much) is that it has failed to provide an alternative to the left-leaning national gay groups.

I was thus hardly surprised when Log Cabin’s Political Director Chris Barron refused to criticize NGLTF President Matt Foreman for suggesting democracy was immoral and by simultaneously pointing out that LCR Executive Director “Patrick [Guerriero] never comments directly on the opinions of other Executive Directors.” It merely confirmed what I had long observed about Log Cabin. In press releases and other public statements. LCR’s national leadership more frequently attacks Republicans than it does Democrats. And they never take issue with the national gay leadership, even while these groups are busy badmouthing President Bush and the GOP and misrepresenting the president’s record and that of the party to which Log Cabin ostensibly claims allegiance.

Log Cabin will not be able to influence the GOP if it does not publicly distance itself from the anti-Republican rhetoric of national gay organizations. To do that, it needs to take on those groups when they unfairly attack the GOP or otherwise show their left-wing stripes. Most conservative groups in Washington — and across the land — as well as many elected Republicans officials are familiar with the leftist agendae of these groups. When gay Republicans (as well as conservatives and libertarians) come out against their left-of-center policies and pontifications, they increase their standing — and thus their influence — with those on the right side of the political aisle.

Thus, if anything, this article in the most recent Advocate confirms how increasingly irrelevant Log Cabin has become. Instead of building bridges to the GOP, Executive Director Patrick Guerriero has been increasing his group’s “standing among liberal national gay rights groups.”

(more…)

I believe that one of the (various) reasons gay activists are losing the battle to promote acceptance of gay marriage is that they fail to understand the opposition to this significant social change. Too many contend that all who oppose gay marriage do so out of bigotry. They ignore that many who oppose gay marriage are not necessarily anti-gay.

Bruce noted recently how Matt Foreman, Executive Director of NGLTF (National Gay and Lesbian Task Force), defined state referenda on same-sex marriage as “bordering on immoral.” The Human Rights Campaign blamed “divisive politics” for the overwhelming passage earlier this month of a Texas constitutional amendment precluding state recognition of same-sex marriages — and domestic partnerships as well.

Echoing HRC’s rhetoric, Log Cabin’s outgoing Political Director Chris Barron called the Texas referendum “politics at its worst. Folks are tired of this divisive politics.” Yeah, Americans (including 76% of Lone Star State voters) were so tired of such divisive politics that they repeatedly vote in favor of referenda precluding same-sex marraige.

Such comments, which Log Cabin highlighted in its November 17 “Inclusion Wins” e-mail, shows that this group, like other gay groups, has excluded itself from what Michelle Malkin has called the “reality-based community.” While I agree with Log Cabin in opposing such referenda, I do not support their rhetoric of opposition.
(more…)

Polipundit: The Sixteenth Minute…In Pictures

*crickets chirping today in Crawford, TX*

More photos of the Sheehan book signing disaster at Sweetness & Light.

By contrast, here is the reception the President and First Lady received from our troops in South Korea last week.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

As one of the first bloggers to cover this story (College Professor Urges Soldiers to Shoot Their Officers…For Freedom), I am pleased that Professor John Daly has decided to take his radicalism another place. Let’s just hope he doesn’t join an al-Qaeda terror cell. Remember, Professor Daly is an avowed member of International ANSWER, the communist/anarachist front group for the “anti-war” movement.

Radical Professor Resigns Under Pressure – Young America’s Foundation

November 23, 2005

Warren County Community College adjunct English professor, John Daly resigned last night before the school’s board of trustees began an emergency meeting to discuss the professor’s fate. On November 13, Daly sent an email to student Rebecca Beach vowing “to expose [her] right-wing, anti-people politics until groups like [Rebecca's] won’t dare show their face on a college campus.” In addition, Daly said that “Real freedom will come when soldiers in Iraq turn their guns on their superiors.”

School President William Austin said that he will incorporate tolerance seminars for professors during the next faculty in-service day to shield students from this type of harassment, as requested by Rebecca Beach and Young America’s Foundation.

Rebecca Beach has called for Austin to select Young America’s Foundation President Ron Robinson as the one to teach leftists how to be tolerant toward conservatives. Robinson has dedicated his career to defending free speech on college campuses.

I’d be happy to volunteer to talk to these professors, too!

WELCOME MICHELLE MALKIN READERS!!! Take a moment and browse around this reality-based gay voice in the blogosphere.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

Interesting…. the Dow Jones average is flirting with 11,000 for the first time since the 9/11 attacks…

Wal-Mart is reporting two million shoppers in the first hour of “Black Friday” today…

And energy prices are on a steep decline since the highs of the media-hysterical, post-Katrina days…

If Bill Clinton or John Kerry were President, the CBS Evening News would change their theme music to “Happy Days Are Here Again” and CNN would have 24-hour live team coverage of the booming economy from every corner of the nation.

Here is the front page of the CBS Evening News homepage. You be the judge of double-standards.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

On this true American holiday, I would like to wish all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving. Please take the time to reflect on what a great nation we have and how fortunate we are to live in the greatest country on Earth. Also, let me suggest that you take the time also to call a family member or friend you haven’t seen in a while and wish them well.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

Over at Malcontent, Robbie reports that Jim Kolbe, the only openly gay Republican in Congress is stepping down.

When I lived in D.C., I knew Jim and socialized with him on occasion. I once even wrote a speech for him on free trade. Jim is a good man and a loyal Republican. He did a great job representing the citizens of Arizona’s Eighth District for over twenty years. Since his first election in 1984, he has won all but once of his races with at least 60% of the vote.

Even after coming out as a gay man, he continued to champion issues the same issues that he had championed before he came out — particularly free trade. If he wanted to be remembered as anything, it would be as the man who broke down trade barriers between nations. I remember how his eyes would light up as he talked about a hemisphere-wide free trade zone. As he retires, while he has not yet seen that goal realized, he should be proud that he helped secure the passage this year of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), one of the most significant accomplishments of this Congress.

His departure will be a great loss to the Republican caucus and to the House. Even with his success and prominence, Jim remained a down-to-earth guy. Decent and hard-working, Jim is as eager to promote Republican principles as he is to describe the beauty of the Arizona desert near his Tucson home.

While Jim would surely rather be remembered for championing free trade than for being an openly gay Republican, he provides a good example for all gay Republicans. When he came out, he continued to promote Republican principles of small government and open markets. By and large, his sexuality remained incidental to his service.

I’m sure that, in his retirement, Jim will continue to remain active, speaking out on free trade and exploring the Arizona desert. While his retirement represents a loss to the public policy process, his service remains an inspiration to us all. We wish him well in all his future endeavors.

-Dan (AKA GayPatriotWest): GayPatriotWest@aol.com

As we have frequently pointed out on this blog, while HRC (the Human Rights Campaign) claims to be a “bipartisan organization,” it rarely, if ever, criticizes Democratic politicians. At the same time, its leaders regularly issue releases and statements attacking Republicans and conservatives. For example, HRC President Joe Solmonese took California Governor Schwarzenegger to task for vetoing legislation recognizing same-sex marriage in the Golden State, yet he and his associates use kid gloves when dealing with Democratic legislators in states across the nation who have voted for legislation codifying the traditional definition of marriage (one man to one woman).

Because of HRC’s readiness to attack Republicans for any hint of anti-gay sentiment and genrally leaves Democrats alone, it has become increasingly apparent that this group styles itself more as the gay and lesbian branch of a broad “progressive” movement than as a group committed to developing a bipartisan approach to gay and lesbian issues.

Troubled by HRC’s failure to take issue with Democrats who support the (Federal Marriage Amendment) FMA, a reader from Minnesota wrote to Solmonese to ask how he handles such Democrats. The reader shared the e-mail with me and I reprint it with permission:

What are you doing to confront Democratic Federal Marriage Amendment Supporters….. People like Stephanie Herseth (SD), Colin Peterson (MN) and Elwyn Tinklenberg (MN)?

The DCCC advised two Minnesota congressional candidates – Teresa Daly and Elwyn Tinklenberg to support anti-gay legislation (the FMA in the case of Tinklenberg) and the court stripping bill in the case of Daly.

When HRC starts confronting both Democrats and Republicans who promote anti-gay policies, rather than being a front group for the DNC/DCCC/DSCC, I will rejoin the organization.

We’re not the only ones who have noticed that HRC only seems to have problems with Republicans who oppose same-sex marriage. After all, this is the group which refused in 1996 to rescind its endorsement of then-President Clinton when, in the dead of the night, he signed the Defense of Marriage Act (DoMA) into law.

Germans are celebrating George Eliot’s birthday by electing a pro-British (and pro-American for that matter) woman as Chancellor. Today, Angela Merkel became the “first ever elected female head of government” of the Federal Republic. Perennial Bush-basher and Chirac chum Gerhard Schröder seems to have permanently sidelined.

It is fitting that a strong woman would come to power on George Eliot’s birthday as that great lady was fluent in German, traveled there frequently and translated Feuerbach’s Essence of Christianity and Strauss’ Life of Jesus from German into English.

On such a day honoring strong European women, I am delighted that Penguin also recognizes a strong American one as they are releasing my Athena‘s latest — John Paul the Great: Remembering a Spiritual Father.

So, continue the celebration of George Eliot’s birthday by cheering Chancellor Merkel’s election and buying Peggy’s book!

Iran Calls for US Exit From Iraq – BBC News

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has urged the visiting Iraqi president to push for a speedy pullout of foreign troops from his country.

The ayatollah also told Jalal Talabani that the US was mainly responsible for widespread violence in Iraq.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran holds the American government responsible for the suffering of the Iraqi people and all the crimes and assassinations now being committed in Iraq,” he said.

Wow. I heard all these same exact words from the Democrats on the floor of the United States House of Representatives, except they were spoken in English not Arabic.

Dan (GayPatriotWest) and I have a novel idea… how about a TERRORIST withdrawal from Iraq before any talk of a US/coalition withdrawal? Think of that!

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

Maybe Mal and I have invented a new game… Quote Add-On.

“I go in the woods early in the morning and imitate a sexy hen.”

— Jimmy Carter, from “The Tonight Show,” on hunting turkey (from The Hotline, sub. only)

“Takes one to know one.”

— The Malcontent

“Not surprising given he imitated a President from 1977-1981.”

– Gay Patriot.