The Liberal Pledge Of Allegiance

"I pledge allegiance to the flag and my constitutional rights with which it comes. And to the diversity, in which our nation stands, one nation, part of one planet, with liberty, freedom, choice and justice for all."

That's how the kids protesting the real Pledge have re-written it to reflect their values. Notice what's missing? There's no "under God," of course. But where's "America?" Where's "the United States?"

Michelle Malkin has the story covered here.

Your BONUS Natural Truth for Today!

Hard to dispute this observation from self-described "ardent Obama supporter" in the New York Daily News:

"Let's face it: Leftie girls are easy."

Hillary's In Like Flynn

The latest numbers from New Hampshire prove what people like Jay Severin and I have been saying for years: Hillary Rodham has a lock on the Democratic nomination for president.

The New York Democrat registered 43 percent in the latest poll, 23 points
more than Obama, an Illinois senator. In a similar poll conducted in July, only
9 points separated the candidates, with Clinton then at 36 percent and Obama at
27 percent.

Meanwhile, former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards stands at 12 percent
in the latest poll, three points higher than July. New Mexico Gov.Bill
Richardson is at 6 percentage points, 5 points lower than the last survey from
CNN and WMUR.

On the Republican side, by the way, Mitt Romney's once-significant lead in the Granite State is gone. The latest WMUR/CNN poll has Romney at 23%, Giuliani at 22% and McCain surging at 12%. In July, the Romney/Rudy split was a solid 33-18%.

Romney has to win Iowa and New Hampshire. Giuliani can lose them both and still clean up in Florida and the Super-Duper Tuesday primaries. Keep an eye on these numbers.

You've Got To Be Smart To Be This Dumb

That's my take on the current status of modern American liberalism in the Boston Herald today.

One Picture, One Thousand Words

Everything you need to know about why the West can't win the war on terror is captured in this photo from the Detroit airport.

From The Mailbag

Lots of emails regarding Sophie's choice to sue over the National Medical Examiners Test because, she claims, the fact that she's a nursing mom makes it "impossible" for her to take the exam without breaking more than every 2 1/2 hours:


"To Sophie the whiner .... put on your big girl panties and deal with it. " -- Elinor.

"Did you say Sophie is taking a medical test? She has ADD and/or AHD? She failed the test at least once already? She CHOSE to have a baby and try to take this test and at this time. If she has all these “excuses” and problems, perhaps she should re-evaluate her career options. I wouldn’t want her involved in my medical care." -- Karen in Uxbridge.

"It gets me all riled up! I breast fed for 18 months. 2 hours isn’t so long. When I was lucky my kid slept for 2 hours or more at a clip and so did I, not thinking about pumping or whatever. If this woman is so concerned she needs to put on a nursing bra with some pads in it and massage her breasts while she is taking the test. Ok, she’ll end up damp and maybe chafed, but, there you go. I used to work at a major teaching hospital and part of my job was credentialing doctors. This all made me think of one thing – Malpractice. What goes around comes around generally speaking. I hope she’s ready for the mother of all malpractice suits having upset the apple cart so early with her own lawsuit.

Who knows, maybe she wants to be a Psychiatrist – and wouldn’t that explain a lot? " --Christine in Framingham.

"Doog monring Michael,

As for the breast-feeding mother that claims that the time is too long without a break...
I would hate to be in for surgery with her and having it go over time, what would she do then?

Regards, nairB.

Limousine Liberals Ride Again!

Right over their own principles. Read about it in my Boston Herald column today.

A Bit Of Natural Truth for ANY Day

"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects. " -- Robert A. Heinlein.

(h/t Jonah Goldberg at NRO)

"You're Not Going To Stop the Terrorists By Telling Them You Love Them."

That quote comes from Debra Burlingame. Her brother, Chic Burlingame, was the pilot of American Airlines flight 77, which was crashed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.

At least, that's what I think happened. The governor's fans at DevalPatrick.com know what REALLY happened. ("9/11 was clearly a fraud conducted by members of our own government!")

Anyway, I interviewed Debra for my Boston Herald column published this morning. I read her Gov. Patrick's quote (which you can listen to here) about how 9/11 was “a failure of human beings to understand each other, to learn to love each other.”

Before he speaks on the subject again, I would urge Gov. Patrick to speak with Debra Burlingame himself, or at least read some of her writings on the ongoing threat of Islamist terror. It might help him understand the reaction to his suggestion that 9/11 was the result of a failure of mutual understanding between the victims and their killers.

Personally, if I were Debra Burlingame I'd want to punch Governor Patrick in the nose. But she's a much nicer person than I.

UPDATE: Listener Steve writes: "I don't want to love the terrorists; they can all go "love" themselves. "

Democrats Top 10 Complaints About Gen. Petraeus

Courtesty of http://www.imao.us/archives/008655.html:

10) Low energy, bad lip-synching, and looks flabby in a two-piece.

9) Kept interrupting speech to hand out new contracts to Halliburton

8) Secretly replaced Ted Kennedy's gin with water, leading to an unsightly episode of DT's.

7) Repeatedly dropped second and third syllables of Bushitler.

6) Didn't demonstrate bipartisan objectivity by surrendering microphone to Code Pink protesters.

5) Forgot to acknowledge Democrats' hard work in supporting the troops.

4) Wore medals on chest instead of throwing them over a fence.

3) Tested microphone by saying "I have a plan for Iraq" in mocking, high-pitched John Kerry voice.

2) Careless omission of the words, "failure", "quagmire", and "Vietnam".

And the #1 Democratic complaint about Petraeus's Iraq report (see extended entry):

1) His eerie resemblance to Fifth Element's Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg:

A Timely 9/11 Reminder

They still want to kill us. They have a plan to do so.

And if you have to ask who "they" are, you haven't been paying attention.

Never Forget.

Six Years Ago, In Massachusetts

Logan Airport, two local flights, Massport, security, some hotel rooms at the Park Inn in Newton--they all played a role in the 9/11 plot. And yet, Massachusetts seems as distant from the attacks at Missouri or Montana. Why?

That's the question I ask in the Boston Herald today.

UPDATE: Diane in New Hampshire sends this terrific email on the subject:

This "disconnect" is something my husband and I talked alot about that first year after 9/11 because we were perplexed by it and could never really figure it out.

I think two factors contributed to this: 1) a sense of shame and 2) lack of recognition from media, gov't, etc.

The two planes that flew into the WTC towers came from Boston. Those were the most high-profile hijackings that day because the attacks unfolded on live television. I know one of my first thoughts was "What the hell is going on at Logan??"

I honestly feel that there was, from very early on, an unspoken underlying sense of shame and embarassment that two of those aircraft came from Boston. It's horrifying to accept that this plot unfolded here.

The second thing that happened was that in comments in the media and from gov't "officials", there was a complete LACK of recognition about how deeply Massachusetts was affected by 9/11. As you recall, the phrase is always, "...the tragedy in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania...."

I understand that United flight 93 crashed in PA, so that location is sacred ground, particularly for their families. But it really had nothing to do with people of Pennsylvania per se. The plane could have just as easily crashed in Maryland, for example. But they NEVER mention Boston or Mass when they talk about "the tragedy".

If you look at a list of the passengers on those flights and their hometowns, and then get out a local map, you will see that practically every community across the greater Boston area lost someone....from Boston, Dracut, Wellesly, Newton, Needham, Sudbury, Framingham, Acton, Hudson, Wayland, Chelmsford, Brookline...

I just feel that Massachusetts has never been given full "recognition", if you will, for its trauma.

So that, combined with the shame, has resulted in the weird disconnect.

Thanks for talking about this, because I gave it alot of thought at one time,
and I'm glad to hear that others did too.

Your Special, 9/11 Dope Of The Day!

This is the dumbest thing anyone will say today and, not surprisingly, it was said by Keith Olbermann:

"Al Qaeda really hurt us, but not as much as Rupert Murdoch has hurt us, particularly in the case of Fox News. Fox News is worse than Al Qaeda — worse for our society. It’s as dangerous as the Ku Klux Klan ever was."

How does someone this stupid get his own cable news show? What--Cindy Sheehan wasn't available?

Mass. Schools Need More Money! Just "Ax" Them

Or is it "axe?" You'll have to ask the superintendent of the Lawrence, MA school system. My bureaucratic vocabularly is far more limited than his.

But if you'd like to find out what the "ABC" of public education really are, read my latest Boston Herald column.

The Censensus On Global Warming?

We've finally reach a consensus: Al Gore is a painfully uninformed kook.

Get the facts from my Boston Herald column today.

"Is Iraq Worth It?"

Retired Marine Lt. Colonel Ralph Peters takes that question head on in his latest column from Baghdad. He is one of the few people in the media writing about Iraq who has military expertise and has spent a great deal of time on the ground. A day earlier, he reported from Fallujah, scene of so many military disasters in the first months of the war.

His conclusion: cautious optimism about out soldiers and their mission, despair about our politicians back in Washington.

Col. Peters just returned from Iraq two days ago, and his first interview since returning will be on 96.9 FM TALK today.

Keeping You Safely Away From Your Money

If the purpose of a police department is public safety, why do we make cops spend so much time collecting money? The New York Times reported on a recently-released study of Massachusetts law enforcement and found that your chances of getting a speeding ticket went up 28% in a town where voters refused to pass an override to increase taxes.

Your chances of getting a ticket also went up 10% if you lived in a different town, and another 10% if you lived in a different state.

This is LAW enforcement? What--the law of "out-of-towners make easy pickin's?"

That Gerry Riviera Is A Classy Guy

You may know him by his stage/hack name as "Geraldo Rivera." I've called him by his more traditional name, "Loser Dirtbag" for years. In the Boston Globe-Democrat this weekend, he reminded everyone that Gerry Riviera put the "k" in "klass.":

"[FOX News commentator] Michelle Malkin is the most vile, hateful commentator I've ever met in my life," he says. "She actually believes that neighbors should start snitching out neighbors, and we should be deporting people.

"It's good she's in D.C. and I'm in New York," Rivera sneers. "I'd spit on her if I saw her."

I know Michelle, and I've seen her with less-than-friendly crowds. My advice to Gerry "Mr. Tough" Riviera is keep his gentlemanly behavior and/or spittle away from Ms. Malkin.

How embarrassing would it be to "Geraldo's" machismo to get his ass kicked by a girl?