Quick Chuckle

From the younger brother

May 1st

"There will be 2 to 3 million people hitting the streets in Los Angeles alone. We're going to close down Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Tucson, Phoenix, Fresno," said Jorge Rodriguez, a union official who helped organize earlier rallies credited with rattling Congress as it weighs the issue.

"We want full amnesty, full legalization for anybody who is here (illegally)," Rodriguez said. "That is the message that is going to be played out across the country on May 1." Here's the article.


Uh.......pipe down George, not a very bright idea at all. It is very offensive to me and most U.S. citizens to threaten us U.S. citizens with boycotting goods and services by illegal citizens. You cannot make demands on the government and its people if you don't have a legal leg to stand on. I believe your cause will backfire. The American people are a great people, we host the most diverse group of citizens anywhere on the planet, when you make demands with threats, you're going to see us stand up and take action.

This is a critical time for the immigration process, what you and your group are doing will create an unnecessary divide between the legals and illegals. We need legal immigrants in our country, we all know the laws and system need to be tweaked, let's work together to accomplish this, not create a divide

May 1 should be a very interesting day.

This is from Michelle Malkin:


I heard from a friend of mine who's family lives in Mexicali, Baja California Mexico that Mexican authorities are shutting down the border in Mexicali on May 1st so that people who live there would not go to California casinos on that day. Apparently lots of tour buses go back and forth. If that is the case, then the Mexican government has joined the protest.

Not good.

Don't Forget To Sign This Petition!

It takes 10 seconds, bloggers from around the world have signed on as well. Visit Elmer's Brother and read "Who is Lover of Angels" from his post on 4/24/06, he got the ball rolling, here's the petition .

Just caught a segment of Rush, and on his show he had the Director of the movie United 93 Paul Greengrass and he is a liberal. He said that whether or not you believe in the current war, we have to do something. The passenger's on the plane, he said, were everyday Joe's and already knew of the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks and were the first one's who had to something about the 9/11 attacks. Under frightening circumstances, they banded together to combat in any way they could to prevent the terrorist's from completing their mission.......which they did thank God. True heroes.

To this day, there are universities who allow professors to spout evil, such as the Associate Professor Julio Cesar Piño at Kent State University. I wonder what the families of the heroes on United Flight 93 would think of this flaky professor.......I know what I think....people like him need to be stopped. If you don't know what I'm talking about, visit Elmer's Brother and sign the petition.

Today in History.....April 28

Had trouble posting this morning, here we go......

On this day in …

* 1973, The Mrs. was born, Happy Birthday! Busy last 2 months for birthdays!

* 1789, there was a mutiny on HMS Bounty as the crew of the British ship set Capt. William Bligh and 18 sailors adrift in a launch in the South Pacific

* 1939, Powell Crosley produces America's first miniature or "bantam" car. The Crosley was a foot shorter and 100 pounds lighter than the pre-war Volkswagen Bug, and far smaller than anything manufactured by American companies. At a $800 sticker price, Crosley was unable to convince consumers to purchase a miniature car when they could buy a full-size car for a few hundred dollars more. He was soon out of business.

* 1945, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and his mistress, Clara Petacci, were executed by Italian partisans as they attempted to flee the country

* 1952, war with Japan officially ended as a treaty that had been signed by the United States and 47 other nations took effect. Also:
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, one of the most highly regarded American generals of World War II, steps down as supreme commander of the combined land and air forces of NATO. He does this in order to run for president. In November 1952, "Ike" wins a resounding victory in the presidential elections, and in 1956, is reelected by a landslide.

* 1958, Vice President Nixon and his wife, Pat, began a goodwill tour of Latin America that was marred by hostile mobs in Lima, Peru, and Caracas, Venezuela

* 1967, heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali refused to be inducted into the Army, the same day Gen. William C. Westmoreland told Congress the U.S. "would prevail in Vietnam"

* 1980, President Carter accepted the resignation of Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, who had opposed the failed rescue mission aimed at freeing American hostages being held in Iran by practitioners of that "religion of peace"

* 1986, the Soviet Union informed the world of the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl

* 1992, the Agriculture Department unveiled its pyramid-shaped recommended-diet chart that had cost nearly $1 million to develop.
Of course, it was later revised

* 2001, a Russian rocket lifted off from Central Asia bearing the first space tourist, California businessman Dennis Tito, and two cosmonauts on a journey to the international space station

* 2005, a military jury at Fort Bragg, N.C., sentenced Sgt. Hasan Akbar, a practitioner of that "religion of peace", to death for the
2003 murders of two officers in Kuwait. ALSO: More than 100 volunteers joined police in Duluth, Ga., in searching for Jennifer Wilbanks, a bride-to-be who had vanished two days earlier. (Wilbanks turned up in Albuquerque, N.M., having run away on her own.)

Desert of Death

Iraqi war reporter extraordinaire Michael Yon has a great article on the opium fields, etc. in Afghanistan "Dasht-e-Margo......Desert of Death". As slways, fantastic stuff, makes you wanting more and more to read. While you're at it, catch his "Gates of Fire" article, at the time this was the most downloaded story on the internet for about a week when wrote this last August. Print 'em and read 'em.

United 93

From all indications so far, it looks like Hollywood nailed it. Can't wait to see this movie, it is long over due if you ask me. We can never forget folks, if there's one thing these terrorists understand, and that is power, we need drive these SOB's into the ground, pound them so hard so that their will has been depleted. Mr David Beamer, father of hero Todd Beamer (who coined the phrase "Let's Roll") has a review of the movie here.

He has this to say:

There are those who would hope to escape the pain of war. Can't we just live and let live and pretend every thing is OK? Let's discuss, negotiate, reason together. The film accurately shows an enemy who will stop at nothing in a quest for control. This enemy does not seek our resources, our land or our materials, but rather to alter our very way of life.
I encourage my fellow Americans and free people everywhere to see "United 93."

and......

May the taste of freedom for people of the Middle East hasten victory. The enemy we face does not have the word "surrender" in their dictionary. We must not have the word "retreat" in ours. We surely want our troops home as soon as possible. That said, they cannot come home in retreat. They must come home victoriously. Pray for them.

Hey...Terrorists......

After dismantling a few large land mines and bombs, Sergeant Michael Burghardt gives the 'ol salute to insurgents that had remotely set off a land mine next to him and nearly killed him. Not wanting to give the insurgents any satisfaction of seeing him be taken to a helicopter on a stretcher, Sgt. Burghardt proudly walked to the helicopter under his own power........nice story. Read it here.

10 Years Ago Today

I married a Queen! Happy 10th Anniversary Fanny, I love you.



Photo of our first dance with a 12 piece Mariachi band playing at her uncle's club in Tequila, Jalisco, México.

Today in History.....April 27

On this day in …

* 1805, during the First Barbary War, an American-led force of Marines and mercenaries captured the city of Derna, on the shores of Tripoli

* 1865, the steamer Sultana exploded on the Mississippi River near Memphis, Tenn., killing more than 1,400 Union prisoners of war

* 1937, the nation's first Social Security checks were distributed.

* 1973, during the Watergate scandal, Acting FBI Director L. Patrick Gray resigned

* 1978, convicted Watergate defendant John D. Ehrlichman was released from an Arizona prison after serving 18 months

* 1982, the trial of John W. Hinckley Jr., who had shot four people, including President Reagan, began in Washington. (The trial ended with Hinckley's acquittal by reason of insanity.)

* 1986, a video pirate calling himself "Captain Midnight"
interrupted a movie on HBO with a printed message protesting de-scrambling fees. (Captain Midnight turned out to be John R.
MacDougall of Florida, who was fined and placed on probation.)

* 1996, tens of thousands of refugees streamed home to southern Lebanon after a U.S.-brokered cease-fire silenced the guns in the 16-day Israel-Hezbollah war

* 2001, the U.S. Navy resumed military exercises on Vieques island in Puerto Rico, drawing protesters

* 2005, touting technology as a way to solve the country's energy problems, President Bush called for construction of more nuclear power plants and urged Congress to give tax breaks for fuel-efficient hybrid and clean-diesel cars. ALSO: Russian President Vladimir Putin became the first Kremlin leader to visit Israel. The Airbus A380, the world's largest jetliner, made its maiden fligh

Why Are Most Jews Liberal?

Dennis Prager explains it here

Excerpt:

Liberal Jews fear nationalism. The birth of nationalism in Europe planted the secular seeds of the Holocaust (religious seeds had been planted by some early and medieval Church teachings and reinforced by Martin Luther). European nationalists welcomed all national identities except the Jews'. That is a major reason so many Jews identify primarily as "world citizens"; they have contempt for nationalism and believe that strong national identities, even in America, will exclude them.

Just as liberal Jews fear a resurgent Christianity despite the fact that contemporary Christians are the Jews' best friends, leftist Jews fear American nationalism despite the fact that Americans who believe in American exceptionalism are far more pro-Jewish and pro-Israel than leftist Americans. But most leftist Jews so abhor nationalism, they don't even like the Jews' nationalism (Zionism).

A Pretty Hairy Ride

Check this video out, these pilots eject just before crashing:

http://shock.military.com/Shock/videos.do?displayContent=48234

Quick Magic Trick - A Floating Ring

Make some really thick salt water. REALLY thick. soak a piece of thread in it somewhere between 45 and 60 minutes. take it out and let it dry. Now you are ready.

Ask someone for a ring. Tie it to the end of the thread. Hold the string so its like a pendulum. Now take a match and light the string down by the ring. The string will burn but the salt crystals can hold up a fairly light ring. An awesome effect.

The Power Of The People, The Power Of Prayer

A few weeks back, a dear friend of mine Abby Simpkins and her husband Bill, lost their 6 year old daughter Emma in a tragic accident in front of their home in Anthem, AZ.

Just a few days ago, Bill was rushed to the hospital with chest pains, as I write this, he is undergoing a left heart catheterization and another procedure, won't know the outcome for a few hours.

They are a great family who is unfortunately going through a bit of hell on earth right now, but they are getting by, when you have a quiet moment, say a prayer for the Simpkins, Bill, Abby, Tyler, Isaac and Wyatt.

Today in History.....April 26

On this day in …

* 1865, John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Lincoln, was surrounded by federal troops near Bowling Green, Va., and killed

* 1937, planes from Nazi Germany raided the Basque town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War

* 1945, Marshal Henri Philippe Petain, the head of France's Vichy government during World War II, was arrested

* 1968, the United States exploded beneath the Nevada desert a 1-megaton nuclear device called "Boxcar"

* 1980, following an unsuccessful attempt by the United States to rescue the U.S. Embassy hostages being held in Iran by practitioners of that "religion of peace", the Tehran government announced the captives were being scattered to thwart any future rescue effort

* 1986, the world's worst nuclear accident occurred at the Chernobyl plant in the Soviet Union. An explosion and fire killed at least 31 people and sent radioactivity into the atmosphere

* 1996, after 16 days of bloodshed, Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas pledged to end the worst fighting in the Mideast in three years, agreeing to a U.S.-brokered truce

* 2000, Vermont Gov. Howard Dean signed the nation's first bill allowing same-sex couples to form civil unions

* 2001, Ukraine's communist-dominated parliament dismissed reform-oriented Prime Minister Viktor Yushchenko and his government, plunging the nation into political chaos

* 2005, Syria's 29-year military presence in Lebanon ended as Syrian soldiers completed a withdrawal brought about by international pressure and Lebanese street protests.

Sign This Petition

Just caught wind of this. Folks, this is important, take a few minutes to read this over at Elmer's Brother and then go sign this petition and read his "Lover of Angels" post. Great find EB!

What we've got here is a terrorist sympathizer that YOU IN THE USA are helping to fund! Dr. Julio C. Pino at Kent State University is a jihad supporter and celebrates death to our military. It takes a second to sign.

Go visit the really good guys....and gals.....at these supporting sites:

Always On Watch, Conservative Central, A Small Dose of Reality, Infidel Bloggers Alliance, Democracy Frontline, Soccer Mom Unplugged, Moving Out Moving On, TheSixthColumn, NeoCon Command Center

It's Official! Hillary Clinton Believes That George W. Bush Is God!

This is too easy and good to pass up.............aren't hurricanes "an act of God".

Well according to Hitlery on Earth Day (whatever that is) she gave a speech citing GW Bush's environmental policies had caused hurricane Katrina. Let's see, George W. Bush caused hurricane Katrina, what's next, Bush responsible for an AIDS breakout on Mars?

Don't want to spend too much time on time waster's such as Earth Day and the Queen of the Nags.

FOX's Tony Snow to the White House?

Getting closer to having him as the new White House Press Secretary........ read it here.

Tequila Factoids

Just as true champagne can only be made in Champagne, France, true tequila can only be produced in the Tequila region of Mexico and must meet stringent government regulations. It is made in two general categories:

• Tequila 100 percent Agave: Must be made only with the juice of the blue agave plant and must be bottled at the distillery in Mexico. It may be Blanco, Reposado, or Añejo.

• Tequila: Must be made with at least 51 percent blue agave juices. It may be exported in bulk to be bottled in other countries following the NOM standard. It may be Blanco, Gold, Reposado, or Añejo.

NOM, the official Mexican product safety requirements, defines four types of tequila:

• Blanco, or Silver: The traditional tequila. Clear, transparent, fresh from the still. Must be bottled immediately after distillation process. Traditionally served in a two-ounce glass called a ``caballito.''

• Oro, or Gold: Modified by adding colorings and flavorings, caramel the most common. Widely preferred for frozen Margaritas.

• Reposado, or Rested: Kept in white oak casks or vats called ''pipones'' for two to 11 months. Much mellower than blanco or oro, pale in color, gentle bouquet.

• Añejo, or Aged: Matured in white oak casks for a year or more. Maximum capacity of the casks should not exceed 159 gallons. Amber color, oak notes.

• Reserva: Not technically a category, but recognized as an Anejo aged in oak up to eight years.

Tequila has its unique points. For one, there are no vintage years because tequila is made year-round from a plant that takes eight to 12 years to mature and its ripeness doesn't depend on the climate of one particular year. However, the weather obviously plays a major role year after year on the quality of the blue agave plants.

Once the best plants are selected, workers cut off the outer layers to reveal the pina, the pineapple-like heart of the plant, roasting it, with a clay oven -- the most traditional and, say purists, the best way to heighten flavor.

¡Salud!

Al Qaeda Attacking It's Own

Their fascination with death is irreversable, killing their own to make a point, blogger extraordinaire,Ed Morrissey at Captain's Quarters hits on it.

Today in History.....April 25

On this day in …

* 1792, highwayman Nicolas Jacques Pelletier became the first person under French law to be executed by the guillotine

* 1859, ground was broken for the Suez Canal

* 1886, Sigmund Freud opens practice at Rathausstrasse 7, Vienna

* 1898, the United States formally declared war on Spain

* 1901, New York becomes first state requiring auto license plates
($1 fee)

* 1905, whites win right to vote in South Africa

* 1915, during World War I, Allied soldiers invaded the Gallipoli Peninsula in an unsuccessful attempt to take the Ottoman Turkish Empire out of the war

* 1945, during World War II, U.S. and Soviet forces linked up on the Elbe River, a meeting that dramatized the collapse of Nazi Germany's defenses. ALSO: Delegates from some 50 countries met in San Francisco to organize the United Nations.

* 1953, scientists identify DNA

* 1971, about 200,000 anti-Vietnam War protesters march on Washington

* 1983, the Pioneer 10 spacecraft crossed Pluto's orbit, speeding on its endless voyage through the Milky Way

* 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope was deployed from the space shuttle Discovery

* 2001, in unusually blunt terms, President Bush warned China that an attack on Taiwan could provoke a U.S. military response. ALSO: A rescue plane flew out of the South Pole with ailing American doctor Ronald S. Shemenski in the most daring airlift ever from the pole.
Ousted Philippine President Joseph Estrada became the country's first leader to be arrested for alleged corruption in office.
Federal regulators ordered limited price controls on California wholesale electricity markets

* 2005, at his Texas ranch, President Bush prodded Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah to help curb skyrocketing oil prices

Very Cool

Michelle Malkin has a very cool new web video venture site, Hot Air. Good luck getting on today........everyone's checking it out....server overload.

Hugo Chávez: Far Right or Far Left?

Gustavo Coronel at V Crisis breaks it down here.


This guy Chávez is real pain in the you know what, a Fidel Mini me who suffers from "Little Man's disease"......Pat Robertson had it right.......take him out.

Excerpts:

This style of Chávez is, of course, not "Left" but "Right." Chávez has gone as far as trying to justify the attacks on the Twin Towers in New York City, arguing that this was the result of American crimes elsewhere. In taking this stance, he aligned himself with Rightist extremists such as Hebe de Bonafini of Argentina and the American Nazi Party.

This matter of political labels would have no real significance except that there is new enthusiasm for Chávez on the part of the U.S. "Left," those thousands of people who went to pick coffee for the Nicaraguan Sandinistas, collected money for Fidel Castro or hate George Bush, and who candidly believe that Chávez represents the new hope of the oppressed and the poor in the Western hemisphere.

and.......

I am sure that the U.S. flower children that are now paying Global Exchange to visit Venezuela would be shocked to hear that they are supporting a Rightist political leader. But this is what is happening. Hugo Chávez is in the same league with Mussolini, Perón, Velasco Alvarado, Mugabe, Castro, Gaddafi, Kim Il-sung and Hussein. Some of these leaders started out as radical reformers but all have ended up as tyrants, despots and oppressors of their people.

The innocent flower children have been had, once more.

Today in History.....April 24

On this day in …

* 1704, "Boston News-Letter," the first successful newspaper in US, forms

* 1800, Congress approved a bill establishing the Library of Congress

* 1833, Jacob Evert and George Dulty patent soda fountain (American dating customs are forever altered)

* 1877, federal troops were ordered out of New Orleans, ending the North's post-Civil War rule in the South

* 1897, the first reporter, William Price (of The Washington Star), is assigned to White House

* 1898, Spain declared war on the United States after rejecting America's ultimatum to withdraw from Cuba

* 1915, the Ottoman Turkish Empire began the brutal mass deportation of Armenians during World War I

* 1953, British statesman Winston Churchill was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II

* 1961, JFK accepts "sole responsibility" following Bay of Pigs

* 1962, Sandy Koufax's second 18-strikeout game

* 1968, leftist students at Columbia University in New York began a weeklong occupation of several campus buildings

* 1970, the People's Republic of China launched its first satellite, which kept transmitting a song, "The East is Red"

* 1980, the United States launched an abortive attempt to free the American hostages in Iran being held by practitioners of that "relgion of peace", a mission that resulted in the deaths of eight U.S. servicemen

* 1981, the IBM-PC computer is introduced

* 1996, the main assembly of the Palestine Liberation Organization voted to revoke clauses in its charter that called for an armed struggle to destroy Israel. They never implemented it.

* 2001, the Supreme Court ruled, 5-4, that police can arrest and handcuff people for minor traffic offenses

Look Out USA, We've Got A New One On Board!

Big night last night.....the Mrs. officially became a United States citizen! This was an inspiring event, it wasn't just a normal swearing in, this took place at an elementary school with 2nd graders putting on a fantastic production. All kids were dressed up in white tee shirts with the flag of the United States and they sang many patriotic songs and performed dances as well. It was a special swearing in ceremony, they only had 15 people sworn in, each representing different countries from around the world, with the wife representing México.

With all of the hoopla regarding immigration recently, there were 2 local news stations covering the event, the Mrs. got a nice appearance on TV last night.

Congratulations!

This photo was taken 11 years ago when the Mrs. was crowned the Queen of Tequila in Tequila, Jalisco, México.

Dinosaur Media

After being without the use of a computer for a few days and relying on newspapers and a little bit of cable TV, it seems as though I've been in a time warp, definetly disconnected. No wonder newspapers all around the world are losing money as well as subscribers........what a lame way to get news and current event info.......cheers to the blogs and updated internet news sites.....jeers for the MSM.

A Few Days Off

Traveling and taking a break until friday.

JG's next to oldest brother has a neuropathic pain disorder that's pretty rare, at times he has had to take the equivalent of 70 percosets a day......yes, a day. He has been to the Mayo clinic dozens of times the last few years where they even put a pump in his body to administer morphine directly to his spine so it would bypass his organs, mainly the kidney's to avert any potential damage.

Last friday he was found by our mom at his house where he was unconscious, bumps and bruises on arms and head, a broken ankle, his heart rate was at 65/30 and experiencing kidney failure, functioning at less than 10%.

He has undergone kidney dialysis each of the last 3 days and we won't know the extent of his health problems for another day or two. Hopefully he's going to be okay, but you never know. He is only 51 years old, a former executive, an excellent golfer and avid golfer, but because of this disorder, he is unable to work and hasn't played golf for a number of years.

As Gary Allan says in his new song, "Life ain't always beautiful, but it's a beautiful ride". Count your blessings.

Adíos, will back on friday!

Joe Gringo

Today in History.....April 17

On this day in …

* 1861, the Virginia State Convention voted to secede from the Union

* 1875, "Snooker" -- a variation of pool -- invented by Sir Neville Chamberlain

* 1924, Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures and Louis B. Mayer Co merge to form MGM

* 1939, Stalin signs British-France-Russian anti-Nazi pact

* 1941, Yugoslavia surrendered to Germany in World War II

* 1961, about 1,500 CIA-trained Cuban exiles launched the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in a failed attempt to overthrow the government of Fidel Castro

* 1964, Ford Motor Co. unveiled its new Mustang model at the New York World's Fair

* 1969, a jury in Los Angeles convicted Sirhan Sirhan of assassinating Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. ALSO: Czechoslovak Communist Party chairman Alexander Dubcek was deposed

* 1970, the astronauts of Apollo 13 splashed down safely in the Pacific, four days after a ruptured oxygen tank crippled their spacecraft

* 1986, the bodies of American librarian Peter Kilburn and two Britons were found near Beirut; the three hostages had been slain in apparent retaliation for the U.S. raid on Libya. ALSO: At London's Heathrow Airport, a bomb was discovered in a bag carried by an Irish woman about to board an El Al jetliner; she had been tricked into carrying the bomb by her Jordanian boyfriend, a practitopner of that "religion of peace". IBM produces first megabit-chip

* 1996, seeking to calm Pacific security jitters, President Clinton and Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto signed a joint declaration establishing new U.S.-Japan ties for a "stable and prosperous" Asia. Also: A jury in Los Angeles opted to spare Erik and Lyle Menendez the death penalty, recommending that the brothers instead serve life in prison without parole for gunning down their wealthy parentsff

* 2001, by a nearly 2-1 margin, Mississippi residents voted to keep the Confederate emblem on their state flag. ALSO: San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds became the 17th major leaguer ever to reach 500 career home runs

Happy Easter and Passover

(click to enlarge)

Gonna Have A Treat In The Coming Weeks

A few years back, I had the pleasure of getting to know Mr. Jack Loughran, a pilot for Air America. Jack flew an incredible amount of missions in Cambodia, Vietnam, Korea and all throughout Asia and world and had the most fascinating stories. We all thought he surely embellished the stories a bit, the ones he told me were verified through certain sources.

A book was started on the life of Jack but was never completed due to his death nearly 2 years ago, he died of complications due to Parkinson's disease. When I get the time, I am going to compile the notes that Jack had for his book, and post them here or create a quickie website and put it on there. You will get to read such things such as his hand-to-hand fighting that included the killing of over 100 enemy solders, to a situation where he and his comrades were captured, were nearly thrown out of a plane and they actually ended up taking over the plane and threw a few enemy soldiers out, flying Kings, Queens, rich Arabs around the world, staying at their palaces, to flying meat and appliances in and around South, Central America, Mexico and Asia in the dead of night, to flying Frannk Sinatra to and from Los Angeles to Palm Springs.

Back in the early 80's, a producer from Hollywood sent out a couple of assistant's to interview Jack for a potential movie, after a few days, he got up and left because of boredom.

Jack had told us he didn't think his life was that extraordinary, but if we wanted to tell his story, we were free to do it.......well I'm going to take that opportunity on!

revision 3:35pm: Sergeant America, would this be appropriate?

The Democrats Sell Out Latinos

Ruben Navarette over at Real Clear Politics has this piece "The Democrats Sell Out Latinos.

Excerpt:

After the Senate Judiciary Committee put out a guest-worker bill, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney issued a statement saying: ``Guest-workers programs are a bad idea and harm all workers.''

That did it. Senate Democrats sided with labor, and sold out Latinos. The deal came undone because Reid refused to allow the legislation to go through the amendment process. Republicans had come up with as many as 400 amendments but whittled the list to 20. Reid agreed to proceed with debate on just three.

It was a masterstroke by Democrats. Labor is happy. And while Latinos are angry, there's always the chance that Democrats can fool them into channeling that anger toward Republicans.

.....and this (how true is the last paragraph).

And Sen. Kennedy told The Associated Press: ``Politics got ahead of policy on this.'' He then refused, according to the article, to defend Reid's performance. The story noted that, ``Outside the Senate, several Democratic strategists concluded that the best politics was to allow the bill to die.''

The moral: Marches and Mexican flags don't equal power. Labor uses millions of dollars in political contributions to take care of Democrats, and so Democrats take care of labor.

After the bill died, Democrats rubbed salt in the wound by insisting that Latinos had no choice but to stay on the liberal hacienda. Susan Estrich, who served as campaign manager for Michael Dukakis in 1988, told Fox News that Republicans had blown their chance to win Latino votes and predicted that Latino support would help Democrats win both houses of Congress.

You see, in a twist on the famous words of one of their icons, Democrats no longer ask what they can do for Latinos, only what Latinos can do for them.

Chalk Another One Up For Progress In Afghanistan

First Ever Open Heart Surgery in the History of Afghanistan, very cool, this is just the start, we got the ball rolling. Do you think the Taliban would have ever come close to accomplishing something like this? Uhh.....don't think so.

Surgeons of Hope, a non-profit organization that brings surgery and medical care to indigent children while training local surgeons in developing countries, performed the first ever open heart surgery this week in the history of Afghanistan. The revolutionary procedure was completed on a 13 year old Afghani girl named Elaha at the Medical Institute for Afghan Children in Kabul.

According to Dr. Alain Deloche, founder of Surgeons of Hope in the U.S. and one of six medical professionals who conducted the operation, Elaha was born with a ventricular septal defect, a heart malfunction which would usually have resulted in death within two or three years. "Correction of this condition is a routine heart procedure," said Deloche. "But it is exclusively done before a patient has reached age two. Elaha is a survivor! She managed to live to the age of 13 without this crucial intervention, allowing blood flow between the chambers of the heart."

Deloche continued, "The symbolic value of this event outweighs its technical aspect. We have verified that this is the first open heart surgery in Afghan history."

Watch Out City of Mesa City Council And Arizona Politics

......because on Thursday April 20 at 7pm, the Mrs. officially becomes a United States citizen! She's a little hell-bent (in a good way) on exercising her right to vote and to change some existing laws.......Arizona may never be the same! :-)

Word of the Day. Words You Think You Know, But Really You Probably Don't

Divagate

Meaning: Stray, digress

Form: v

Sentence: He has a very annoying habit of divagating from the topic while making a conversation; you have to coax him to stick to the main point.

Recommendations

Just buried today with little or no time......so go check out the smart folks over at Democracy Frontline and Freedom Fighter at JoshuaPundit and get the real low down on all things that are important and things that will have an impact on your life.

Well....not too busy for this, just caught wind of this.....go to Michelle Malkin and check out her post on "Cut off tax money for UC Santa Cruz" . These people at UC Santa Cruz are just pathetic, liberal, anti America scumbags. If you are a liberal, how can you affilliate yourself with this party, these punks need a royal a$$ kicking.

The Heat You Can Eat!

A little off the beaten path here .......but if you like, love hot sauce and spicy things to eat, YOU HAVE to check out the products from the Arizona Pepper Products Co. and their brand of Arizona Gunslinger products.

This is, without a doubt, the BEST hot sauce there is. Did you know that hot sauces, e.g. Tabasco, basically soak their chile pepper's in vinegar and salt for a length of time (or chile's in salt, then in vinegar) and then just scoop up the liquid and.....bam......you have hot sauce. (these guys put the bam! in hot sauce before our buddy Emeril) ;-)

Arizona Gunslinger Smokin' Hottm Jalapeño Pepper Sauce uses the whole jalapeño, so you're getting the whole "meat" of the jalapeño. Other products include stuffed olives, spicy microwave popcorn, pistachio's, BBQ sauce, steak sauce, hot honey mustard and salsa's.

Tell 'em Joe Gringo sent you over, he just may throw a little somethin' somethin' extra in there for ya'!

A New Tequila Hits The Market

Partida Tequila is an estate-grown tequila made by the Partida family in Mexico's Amatitan region....hte home of Tequila Herradura and just a stones throw before the Town of Tequila. They make a Blanco, Reposado and an Anejo that has been aged 18 months. The Reposado recently won a Double Gold at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition.The Partida Blanco was awarded a Gold and Partida Añejo a Silver. The tequila was introduced last summer and has received positive reviews including a five out of five stars in the Spirit Journal by F. Paul Pacult. It was the first time Pacult has ever given his coveted five stars for an entire tequila line. The Reposado can be purchased for around $50

Word of the Day. Words You Think You Know, But Really You Probably Don't

Coterminous
Meaning: Having a common boundary
Form: Adjective
Sentence: US and Canada are coterminous countries, and many immigrants have used this to their advantage by illegally crossing the border to the US

Today in History.....April 12

On this day in …

* 1606, England's King James I decreed the design of the original Union Flag (also referred to as the Union Jack), which combined the flags of England and Scotland

* 1861, the American Civil War began as Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter in South Carolina

* 1862, Union volunteers led by James J. Andrews stole a Confederate train near Marietta, Ga., but were later caught. (This episode inspired the Buster Keaton comedy "The General.")

* 1945, President Roosevelt died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Warm Springs, Ga., at age 63; he was succeeded by Vice President Harry S.
Truman

* 1955, the Salk vaccine against polio was declared safe and effective

* 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man to fly in space, orbiting the earth once before making a safe landing

* 1981, the space shuttle Columbia blasted off from Cape Canaveral on its first test flight

* 1985, Sen. Jake Garn of Utah became the first senator to fly in space as the shuttle Discovery lifted off

* 1995, in a move that stunned the business world, billionaire Kirk Kerkorian and former Chrysler Chairman Lee Iacocca made an unsolicited $22.8 billion bid to buy the nation's third largest automaker; Chrysler responded that it wasn't for sale

* 2000, Attorney General Janet Reno met in Miami with the U.S.
relatives of Elian Gonzalez, after which she ordered them to bring the 6-year-old boy to an airport the next day so he could be taken to a reunion with his father in Washington. (Elian was seized by federal agents ten days after Reno's order to turn him over.)

* 2001, the 24 crew members of a U.S. spy plane arrived in Hawaii after being held for 11 days in China. ALSO: The Philippine military rescued U.S. hostage Jeffrey Schilling from practitioners of that "religion of peace" who had threatened to behead him

* 2005, three men with suspected al-Qaida ties, already in British custody, were charged with a years-long plot to attack the New York Stock Exchange and other East Coast financial institutions.
ALSO: President Bush visited soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas, marking the two-year anniversary of the end of Saddam Hussein's regime

Do Your Duty....And Visit Sarge!

As in Sergeant America over at DemoNcratic Blunderground.
The Staff Sergeant, E-5, from our mighty Air Force has just the right edge!

Prophet Mohammad's Birthday Bash

Those fun Pakistani partier's sure know how to throw a birthday party, especially for their "prophet".

Over 40 dead, and counting. (bad link, go here http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,191327,00.html )

Let's see.....Christians celebrate Christmas with gift giving, family get together's and the celebration of Jesus Christ's birth.

Muslims.........celebrate their main cat with death. Religion of Peace my ass......you know what, maybe it's Religion of Pieces.....as in body.

Tip: next time you go to a Muslim birthday party, stay away from the piñata.

:-)

Cool New Tune

By Eric Church

Crank it.

Are We Witnessing "Dhimmigration?"

Let me preface this by saying I am for legal immigration, we need it, it's good for the USA and promotes good will between countries. What I am against is having the illegal immigrant's telling us how we should run our country.

Dhimmitude, under Islam, a "dhimmi" is a non-Muslim living in conquered Muslim lands. "Dhimmis" are permitted limited freedom of religion, provided there is no conflict with Islamic laws governing such things as religious symbols and images. However, a dhimmi has virtually no rights in actual practice.

Okay, regarding the marches, they're fine with me as long as they organized in a peaceful manner, which most were. What I totally object to is that we have illegal immigrants from many different countries protesting on our streets, demanding equal immigrant status and entitlement programs.

In 1986 when we passed a bill that gave amnesty to over 3 million illegal immigrants and within those 3 million, I believe 8 of the 19 terrorists in the 9/11 terror strike were given amnesty. Should we give amnesty to the over 12 million illegals here now, just how many of those are radical Islamofacsicts and terrorists? Look, we can't have illegals coming here and telling us what we have to do, it goes the other way. We are not forcing you to come here, you are making that decision on your own, and should you have the desire to come here, do it the legal, proper way. Don't make your first decision to enter the USA an illegal one.

Dhimmigration.....Joe Gringo's immigration term for "the inmates running the asylum".

Word of the Day. Words You Think You Know, But Really You Probably Don't

Don't say ya'all ain't learnin' thangs here! :-)

barmy - foolish, crazy


Sentence: The idea of setting up a company with such a ridiculously small amount of money sounds rather barmy to me.

Today in History.....April 11

On this day in …

* 1814, Napoleon Bonaparte abdicated as emperor of France and was banished to the island of Elba

* 1898, President McKinley asked Congress for a declaration of war against Spain

* 1899, the treaty ending the Spanish-American War was declared in effect

* 1945, during World War II, American soldiers liberated the notorious Nazi concentration camp Buchenwald in Germany

* 1951, President Truman relieved Gen. Douglas MacArthur of his commands in the Far East

* 1968, President Johnson signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1968, a week after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

* 1970, Apollo 13 blasted off on its ill-fated mission to the moon.
(The astronauts managed to return safely)

* 1979, Idi Amin was deposed as president of Uganda as rebels and exiles backed by Tanzanian forces seized control

* 1981, President Reagan returned to the White House from the hospital, 12 days after he was wounded in an assassination attempt

* 1996, seven-year-old Jessica Dubroff, who'd hoped to become the youngest person to fly cross-country, was killed along with her father and flight instructor when her plane crashed after takeoff from Cheyenne, Wyo.

* 2001, ending a tense 11-day standoff, China agreed to free the 24 crew members of an American spy plane after President Bush said he was "very sorry" for the death of a Chinese fighter pilot whose plane had collided with the American aircraft. ALSO: A stampede at a packed soccer stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, killed 43 people

* 2005, during a meeting at his Texas ranch, President Bush told Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon he could not allow further West Bank settlement growth and said Israeli and "Palestinian" doubts about each other were hampering peace prospects

The Democrats Are Pathetic

From Michelle Malkin

36 Years Ago Today, The Beatles Broke Up

They deserve credit for many cool things, and not so cool things.

I bought their first album (below) in the summer of 1970 when I was 8 years old for .25 cents at our neighborhood's annual Fourth of July carnival/pool party. My younger brother would grab 2 brand new #2 pencils and play the drums on the couch and I took my older brothers' electric guitar and sang into the vacuum cleaner to this album........we were rockin'!!

Mark Steyn on "Regulating the Legals".

Here's the article "Why not start regulating the legals" and here's an excerpt:

Here's my immigration "compromise": We need to regularize the situation of the 298 million non-undocumented residents of the United States. Right now, we get a lousy deal compared with the 15 million fine upstanding members of the Undocumented American community. I think the 298 million of us in the overdocumented segment of the population should get the chance to be undocumented. You know when President Bush talks about all those undocumented people "living in the shadows"? Doesn't that sound kinda nice? Living in the shadows, no government agencies harassing you for taxes and numbers and paperwork.

Word of the Day. Words You Think You Know, But Really You Probably Don't

asseverate- v - as-sev-er-ate, to state positively; assert, To affirm or declare positively or emphatically

use in a sentence - Even though the doctor asseverated that the illness was minor, I decided to go for a second opinion.

Inmates Running The Asylum?

I know there's freedom of expression in our great United States, but do we want Ché followers and the like, to be given a free path to citizenship?

Honkies? You can call me whatever you want, I could care less, but things like this probably aren't good for your cause.

Today in History.....April 10

On this day in …

* 1790, US Patent system forms

* 1816, Congress ok's second U.S. Bank. One of Alexander Hamilton's pet projects, the initial edition of the bank stirred opposition from states' rights advocates and lost its charter in 1811. Its successor, officially dubbed the Second Bank of the United States, opened in Philadelphia in 1817. Despite its twenty-year charter and
$35 million in federal funding, the bank floundered and the nation was plunged into a yearlong financial panic during 1819.

* 1865, one day after surrendering to Union General Ulysses S.
Grant, General Robert E. Lee addresses his army for the last time

* 1906, O. Henry's second short story collection, The Four Million, is published. The collection includes one of his most beloved stories, The Gift of the Magi, about a poor but devoted couple who each sacrifice their most valuable possession to buy a gift for the other

* 1912, the RMS Titanic set sail from Southampton, England, on its ill-fated maiden voyage

* 1919, Emiliano Zapata, a leader of peasants and indigenous people during the Mexican Revolution, is ambushed and shot to death in Morelos by government forces

* 1930, synthetic rubber first produced

* 1938, Nazi Germany annexed Austria

* 1941, the German and Italian invaders of Yugoslavia set up the Independent State of Croatia (also including Bosnia and Herzegovina) and place nationalist leader Ante Pavelic's Ustase, pro-fascist insurgents, in control of what is no more than a puppet Axis regime.
The Ustase began a relentless persecution of Serbs, Jews, Gypsies, and antifascist Croats. As many as 350,000 to 450,000 victims were massacred, and the Jasenovac concentration camp would become infamous as a slaughterhouse.

* 1942, the day after the surrender of the main Philippine island of Luzon to the Japanese, the 75,000 Filipino and American troops captured on the Bataan Peninsula begin a forced march to a prison camp near Cabanatuan. During this infamous trek, known as the "Bataan Death March," the prisoners were forced to march 85 miles in six days, with only one meal of rice during the entire journey. By the end of the march, which was punctuated with atrocities committed by the Japanese guards, hundreds of Americans and many more Filipinos had died.

* 1953, first color feature in 3-D, The House of Wax, opens.
Starring Vincent Price, the movie had to be viewed through special glasses

* 1970, Paul McCartney announces Beatles breakup

* 1972, the United States and the Soviet Union joined some 70 nations in signing an agreement banning biological warfare

* 1981, the long-awaited maiden launch of the space shuttle Columbia was scrubbed because of a computer malfunction

* 1996, President Clinton vetoed a bill that would have outlawed partial birth abortions

* 1998, the Northern Ireland peace talks concluded as negotiators reached a landmark settlement to end 30 years of bitter rivalries and bloody attacks.

* 2005, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon arrived in Texas to meet with President Bush

VDH....Another Dazzler

Can we not get Mr. Victor Davis Hanson to square off with Noam Chomsky in a debate and see who the real intellectual is? Seriously, why on earth is this guy not on every cable and network news channel/show.......oh, I know the answer to that one........it's because VDH is dead on! Actually, Hugh Hewitt does have him on about 3-4 times per month.

I may have to rescind my "VDH for Secretary of State....in 2008" campaign......go ahead and make Condi Rice your VP and run for President! ;-)

Here's the article "Has Ahmadinejad Miscalculated?" and here is an excerpt:

So far the Iranian president has posed as someone 90-percent crazy and 10-percent sane, hoping we would fear his overt madness and delicately appeal to his small reservoirs of reason. But he should understand that if his Western enemies appear 90-percent children of the Enlightenment, they are still effused with vestigial traces of the emotional and unpredictable. And military history shows that the irrational 10 percent of the Western mind is a lot scarier than anything Islamic fanaticism has to offer.

Time To Put The Hammer Down

Just remember, Iranian President Ahmadinejad has publicly stated, he visions Armegeddon in 2-3 years.....This Monday Russia's Novaya Gazeta newspaper reported that part of Ukraine's Soviet-era nuclear arsenal may well have found its way to Iran. With the breakup of the Soviet Union, the Ukrainians agreed to transfer the Soviet nuclear arsenal that remained in Ukraine after independence to Russia. According to Novaya Gazeta, some 250 nuclear warheads never made it to Russia and are thought to have been sent to Iran instead. The report further noted that the warheads in question will remain operational until 2010.

Tick tock, tick tock, tick....

Here's the article from Caroline Glick at Jewish World Review.

Better Not Be Gay In Iraq

Freedom Fighter at JoshuPundit post another great article, Open season: Death squads targeting gays in Iraq and poses this question that will make any liberal squirm regarding the Shiite Muslim leader calling for murdering gay Arabs in Iraq:

I wonder how that computes with people on the Left who claim to espouse gay rights but reflexively demonize Israel?

Read it, the guy has a gift with the pen (err.....keyboard). :-)

Today in History.....April 7

On this day in …

* 1862, Union forces led by Gen. Ulysses S. Grant defeated the Confederates at the Battle of Shiloh in Tennessee

* 1927, an audience in New York saw an image of Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover in the first successful long-distance demonstration of television

* 1939, Italy invaded Albania. (Less than a week later, Italy annexed Albania.)

* 1945, during World War II, American planes intercepted a Japanese fleet that was headed for Okinawa on a suicide mission

* 1957, the last of New York's electric trolleys completed its final run from Queens to Manhattan

* 1966, the United States recovered a hydrogen bomb it had lost off the coast of Spain

* 1969, the Supreme Court unanimously struck down laws prohibiting private possession of obscene material

* 1994, civil war erupted in Rwanda, a day after a mysterious plane crash claimed the lives of the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi. In the months that followed, hundreds of thousands of minority Tutsi and Hutu intellectuals were slaughtered

* 1995, President Clinton threatened to veto a lengthy list of bills passed by the Republican-controlled House if they were not modified in the Senate. ALSO: In a prime-time television address, House Speaker Newt Gingrich declared the GOP "Contract with America" was only a beginning

* 2001, NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft took off on a six-month, 286 million-mile journey to the Red Planet

This Should Be Good......

A debate between David Horowitz and Ward Churchill on Right Talk.... go here to check it out.

Horowitz will shred Ward "Little Eichmann's" Churchill to the bone, that is, if Churchill doesn't wet his pants and back out!

Is Everything About Sex?

From Carol Platt Liebau if there's one topic that really chap's my a$$, it's the topic of elementary school teacher's trying to do the parents' job. I doubt that this will go through, but if it did here in Arizona.....I'm home schooling! I lived in California for 3 years, what an overhyped, nut filled state that is.......nothing surpises me what comes out from there.

A ridiculous bill in California would require that elementary school children be taught about the "the contributions of people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender to the economic, political, and social development of California and the United States of America."How ridiculous. Of what relevance is someone's sexuality to his or her achievements? It would be insulting to label Cole Porter as a "gay songwriter" -- he was simply one of America's best, gay or straight -- just as it would be to identify Irving Berlin as a "heterosexual composing great." Why are sexual labels necessary?Sometimes, people, it's not all about sex. Please give it a rest for the elementary scool children.

The Masters Update

Go here for real time scoring. You may have to click "Leaderboard".

Today in History.....April 6

On this day in …

* 1862, the Civil War Battle of Shiloh began in Tennessee

* 1909, explorers Robert E. Peary and Matthew A. Henson became the first men to reach the North Pole. (The claim, disputed by skeptics, was upheld in 1989 by the Navigation Foundation.)

* 1917, Congress approved a declaration of war against Germany

* 1945, during World War II, the Japanese warship "Yamato" and nine other vessels sailed on a suicide mission to attack the U.S. fleet off Okinawa; the fleet was intercepted the next day

* 1965, the United States launched the Early Bird communications satellite

* 1985, William J. Schroeder became the first artificial heart recipient to be discharged from the hospital as he moved into an apartment in Louisville, Ky.

* 2000, the father of Elian Gonzalez, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, arrived in the United States to press for the return of his 6-year-old son to Cuba. ALSO: A private company mapping the human genome announced it had decoded all of the DNA pieces that make up the genetic pattern of a single human being

* 2001, Algerian national Ahmed Ressam, a practitioner of that "religion of peace", was convicted twice in the same day --- first in France for belonging to a group supporting Islamic terror, then in Los Angeles on other terror charges

* 2005, Iraq's new government finally began to take shape as lawmakers elected as president Jalal Talabani, a Kurdish leader who promised to represent all ethnic and religious groups

A Little Info On The Mrs.

She's 12 years younger than this gringo, was crowned the Queen of Tequila (the town, not the drink) in Jalisco, México in 1994 when she was 21 so you know she's hot, has an accounting degree from the University of Guadalajara, Vicente Fernandez, Alejandro Fernandez and Chayanne are her favorite singers but her favorite songs right now are Blake Shelton's "Nobody But Me", Brad Paisley's "When I Get Where I'm Going", and Brooks & Dunn's "Believe", can put up with my beginning banjo picking, makes a smokin' mean pozole and pork adobada, is an inexpensive date ;-) .......1-2 drinks max (I sort of make up for her in that category though), can sew or knit or crochet, or whatever it's called, like anyone's grandma, green is her favorite color, is a land owner in México and the USA, always makes corn tortilla's by hand, after 3 kids and nearly 10 years later, weighs only about 5 pounds more that when she got married and will be celebrating her 10 wedding anniversary at the end of this month to some lucky gringo!

VDH On Immigration

This cat has just got it covered on every topic, read "Assimilation is the real debate".


My take on immigration is that there is no way on earth you can deport 12 million or so illegals, logistically it would be impossible and a bad political move. I posted last week that I am in favor of illegals here for 5+ years with steady employment and a clean record can start their citizenship process, and in this article, VDH alludes to the same idea....heh, heh. It is true that illegal immigrants have taken away just over 2 million jobs from legal hispanic immigrants....not good. I believe we should take care of the productive ones here, not the ones that syphon off of our education and health care system.

Excerpts:

This past week, thousands of Hispanic demonstrators, fearful of strict new immigration laws, chanted "Mexico" and for some reason waved the flag of the country they fled from and most certainly do not want to return to.

and.....

The Mexican government seeks to entice wealthy retired Americans to build homes south of the U.S. border, even as it exports its own homeless to this country. What a cynical mindset: "You take our Mexican poor, we'll take your American rich." Got to give them credit for that one though!

and...

As we've seen from second- and third-generation legal immigrants, when a person from Mexico comes to the U.S. with legal documentation, learns English and regards an unskilled job as the start, not the end, of a career, success most often follows.

and...

Third, immigrants can survive one strike against them, maybe two — but not three. A Mexican citizen who is here illegally might do well with fluent English and a high-school diploma. But when one is illegal, not fluent in English and without education — and immersed with millions who share such disadvantages — then we witness the sort of raw emotion now on display in Congress and on our streets.

What Do These Folks Have In Common?

Barry Bonds, Hillary Clinton, George Clooney, Howard Dean, Simeon Rice (NFL Defensive lineman), Randi Rhodes, Sharon Stone, Al Franken and Al Gore.

Only that they're idiots (no.....Hillary Clinton is NOT the smartest woman in the world, Condi Rice would dust her in a debate) and I just can't stand these nuts........I had a free minute and just felt like writing that!

This Week Needs To Be A National Holiday

Why?
It's time for THE MASTERS, that's why.

Here's a look at what your 2nd shot on the short but dangerous par 5 #13 may look like.

I had the 3rd pick in this year's Master's pool, Tiger went first, Phil Mickelson 2nd......I took Retief Goosen.





Okay, a quick analysis of Tiger's swing. This isn't from the range, this is from last years Master's. His weight is perfectly positioned on the back, inside part of his right foot, left knee is pointing just inside of the ball, hips are at a 45 degree angle to the ball, his right forearm is perpendicular to the ground (that is awesome), the back of his left hand is flat, not cupped, the club is parallel to the ground, check out the position of the clubhead in that little triangle area, you can almost draw a straight line from his right shoulder to his left shoulder to the ball. This might sound weird to non-golfers, but his swing is beautiful. Love him or hate him, Tiger is The Man on the golf course, it's between Jack and Tiger as the best of all time. One more thing, major kudos goes to his parents for raising an incredibly gifted athlete who is so well grounded. Tiger is one of the really good guys.......but........I'll be pulling for The Goose this weekend!

Today in History.....April 4

On this day in …

*1924, Joe Gringo's dad was born, he died March 23, 1990.

*1951, Joe Gringo's oldest brother was born.

* 1818, Congress decided the flag of the United States would consist of 13 red and white stripes and 20 stars, with a new star to be added for every new state of the Union

* 1841, President Harrison succumbed to pneumonia one month after his inauguration, becoming the first U.S. chief executive to die in office

* 1902, British financier Cecil Rhodes left $10 million in his will to provide scholarships for Americans at Oxford University

* 1945, during World War II, U.S. troops on Okinawa encountered the first significant resistance from Japanese forces

* 1949, 12 nations, including the United States, signed the North Atlantic Treaty

* 1968, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., 39, was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn.

* 1983, the space shuttle Challenger roared into orbit on its maiden voyage

* 1996, President Clinton signed legislation severing the link between crop prices and government subsidies. ALSO: The former general manager of Daiwa Bank's New York branch pleaded guilty to aiding a $1.1 billion cover-up

* 2001, Chinese President Jiang Zemin demanded the United States apologize for the collision between a U.S. Navy spy plane and a Chinese fighter jet; the Bush administration offered a chorus of regrets, but no apology. ALSO: Hideo Nomo became the fourth pitcher in major league history to throw a no-hitter in both leagues with Boston's 3-0 victory over Baltimore

* 2005, the Supreme Court ruled creditors could not seize the Individual Retirement Accounts of bankrupt people

Why Mark Steyn Is The Best Columnist....

....it's because of articles like this.

Excerpt:

The next weekend half a million illegal immigrants — whoops, sorry, half a million fine upstanding members of the Undocumented-American community — took to the streets, and you suddenly realized what a big-time demonstration is supposed to look like. These guys aren't even meant to be in the country and they can organize a better public protest movement than an anti-war crowd that's promoted 24/7 by the media and Hollywood.

Well, OK, half the anti-war crowd aren't meant to be in the country either, if they'd kept their promise to move to Canada after the last election. But my point is there's no mass anti-war movement. Some commentators claimed to be puzzled by the low turnout at a time when the polls show Iraq increasingly unpopular. But there are two kinds of persons objecting to the war: There's a shriveled Sheehan-Sheen left that's in effect urging on American failure in Iraq, and there's a potentially far larger group to their right that's increasingly wary of the official conception of the war. The latter don't want America to lose, they want to win — decisively. And on the day's headlines — on everything from the Danish cartoon jihad to the Afghan facing death for apostasy — the fainthearted response of "public diplomacy" is in danger of sounding only marginally less nutty than Charlie Sheen.