How is this possible? John McCain isn't even the 'official' GOP Presidential nominee yet and he was willing and able to have his full military record released to the media and the public! I was under the impression that no matter how much a Presidential candidate tried to get military records released, the Military bureaucracy made that next to impossible to accomplish. I have been told this for 1194+ days! Was all that a lie?

Why would anyone not want to release a record of military service that includes a full accounting of the medals, awards and citations earned during that service? Wouldn't that kind of information only serve to demonstrate to the public a candidates bona fides for the job of Commander in Chief, and thereby enhance their chances of getting elected?

Curious!

(I)n 1991 Cindy McCain was visiting Mother Teresa's orphanage in Bangladesh when a dying infant was thrust into her hands. The orphanage could not provide the medical care needed to save her life, so Mrs. McCain brought the child home to America with her. She was met at the airport by her husband, who asked what all this was about.

Mrs. McCain replied that the child desperately needed surgery and years of rehabilitation. "I hope she can stay with us," she told her husband. Mr. McCain agreed. Today that child is their teenage daughter Bridget.

...(T)here was a second infant Mrs. McCain brought back. She ended up being adopted by a young McCain aide and his wife.

"We were called at midnight by Cindy," Wes Gullett remembers, and "five days later we met our new daughter Nicki at the L.A. airport wearing the only clothing Cindy could find on the trip back, a 7-Up T-shirt she bought in the Bangkok airport." Today, Nicki is a high school sophomore. Mr. Gullett told me, "I never saw a hospital bill" for her care.

But don't you ever - EVER - call me an Environmentalist! Rachel Carson was an Environmentalist !

Others, such as writer Paul Driessen, describe the fear of DDT as a "country club anxiety," a luxury of rich Westerners who can afford organic foods and all-natural cosmetics and clothing. They will never contract malaria. Meanwhile, Africans - many of whom are lucky to afford any food at all - have made it clear that they’re willing to accept the risk of potential side effects if it means avoiding the very real threat of malaria. Two weeks ago, Uganda initiated a program to spray houses with DDT, even though it will probably hurt their trade with the U.S. and the European Union. As Ugandan businesswoman Fiona Kobusingye told reporters, "I lost my son, two sisters and two nephews to malaria. Don’t talk to me about birds. And don’t tell me a little DDT in our bodies is worse than the risk of losing more children to this disease. African mothers would be overjoyed if that were their biggest worry."

I’m not saying the environmental movement is entirely without merit. Nor am I a "global warming denier" or a person who believes in messing up the environment just for fun. But a movement that values a bird’s life over a human life is hard to accept and even harder to respect.

Thanks to Rachel Carson and the banning of DDT, 20+ million people have died. (a VERY conservative number I might add) Now, Al Gore looks upon himself as the new High Priest of Global Warming and head of the church of Environmentalism. Given the news about food shortages around the world thanks to the push by Environmentalist Al (remember, he cast the DECIDING VOTE in 1994 regarding the US Govenment Ethanol mandate) toward Ethanol production, one has to wonder how many people will suffer and die this time!

I care a great deal about the environment and the natural world, but if these two short-sighted do-gooders are examples of the quintessential Environmentalist, I think I'll pass on that label, thank you.

BTW, if for some unknown reason you cannot understand my title to this post, or what this video is illustrating, you are not the Enlightened, Progressive or Free Thinking individual you believe yourself to be.

Hat tip to Dean's World).

Despite my political burnout, I decided to go out to Townhall.com the past few days and see what I may have been missing. Not that I needed to really "catch up" on anything - politics is too much like Daytime Soap Operas; just jump back in, watch, and in a relatively short time you'll have no trouble knowing who is sleeping with whom, who's dying of an incurable disease, which character has come back from the grave, and who stabbed who in the back. You know... same shit, different day!

Anyway, I'm glad I did decide to visit there, because I got to read two of my favorite columnists: Walter E. Williams and Thomas Sowell. I appreciate and enjoy Professor Williams mainly because I have had the pleasure of hearing him as a substitute host when Rush Limbaugh is out, and Thomas Sowell because... as we here at TBR have often said, he is one of the smartest and wisest people in the world.

Enjoy:

Political Loathsomeness - Walter E. Williams

A Living Lie - Thomas Sowell

What is Racism?
"We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

What is the Truth?
"The sting in any rebuke is the truth." - Benjamin Franklin

What is Freedom?
"If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning." - Frederick Douglass

Whatever the reason, I can say with absolute confidence that, in some place and at some time, on this date in history an American died as a champion for Freedom and to further the cause of Liberty. And today - like every day in my life - I thank God for His Grace allowing me to be born an American, and I thank Him for and pay tribute to those that have fought and strove, lived and died, that this country and the ideals of Liberty and Freedom persevere - not just for Americans, but for the world.

Toward that end, I draw your attention to tonight's the Glenn Beck Show (7pm & 9pm, EDT) where you will hear the story of... America (Hat tip to Fury's Fiancee), and America's finest.

For SFC Stube and his brothers and sisters in arms who have given and continue to give, and to those who have given the last full measure of devotion, to and for this country and to all who love freedom...

Thank you, God Bless you, and God Bless the USA.

Incidentally, if you're not from SW Florida's 14th district or any of the other districts with current signers, please urge your congressman to sign it.