ConservaChick

People complain all the time about corporate outsourcing. Most of the time the complaint centers around the loss of jobs here in the US. For those of us who use technical support all the time in our daily business, the complaint is really about the language barrier; it can be quite challenging to get a technical issue resolved when you have to spend time trying to figure out what your support person is saying. On the upside, however, is that the language barrier can be pretty entertaining as evidenced in this artistic interpretation of an actual tech support call ! Be sure to have your sound turned on because the actual phone message as left by the technical support person is being played while the "interpretation" is shown in the animation. It's a hoot!

The Patriot Post has e-published an insightful article titled " What's Wrong with the Republican Party: A Case Study ." (The only way I could find to link to this was a link to their "current edition" so I can't vouch for how long this will stay accurate -- read it quickly!) This article clearly makes the case for the things that I find to be wrong with the GOP these days. While I support President Bush's stance on foreign policy and national security, I do find his less-than-Conservative ways troubling in other areas. I hope, for the sake of those of us who were firm Reaganites, this trend is reversed and the problems corrected soon.

Pulitzer Prize winning author, Michael Gartner, wrote a piece last month called " A Life without Left Turns " about his father. It is both charming and inspirational. It is worthy of the time it takes to read it. I know that Gartner was involved in some controversy at NBC in the past but, hey, good writing is good writing! My mother forwarded this piece of writing to me today. I thought I would share it with you all. May we all live to be as old, wise, and humorous as Gartner's father.

From Neal's Nuze of 24-Jul-06 at his web site : The FairTax movement is going strong my friends, stronger than you might imagine. I can assure you that the FairTax is attracting an ever-increasing degree of attention in Washington. I wish I could share the details, but the wonderful world of politics is such that it is much better to let the people involved spill the beans than to jump the gun by disclosing their interest or involvement ahead of time. There have been three events in recent months that have really peaked interest among the political class. First was the debut of The FairTax Book on the New York Times Bestseller's list for paperbacks. We're still there ranking very high in the business category. Second was the FairTax rally in Atlanta a few months ago. When we packed a room full of 4,500 people, and then turned another 4,000 away, the shockwaves were felt inside the Beltway the very next day. On the morning after the rally Congressman Linder, who had re...

From our friends at ConceptWizard.com, the latest on missile attacks along with some very straight-forward answers to the ridiculous questions being posed by the media. Hang in there, Udi & Mal! Thank you for keeping the rest of us abreast of things. Stay safe and God bless you all.

For those who argue that we had no business fighting on the Iraqi front in our war against Al Qaeda and terrorism, that our only front should have been Afghanistan, I ask that you consider the insidious tentacles of Al Qaeda... Was Afghanistan the only country harboring Al Qaeda operatives and leaders? Do you truly believe that Al Qaeda was not receiving safe quarter in other parts of the world? Can you honestly say that our fight stops with Bin Laden while knowing that he has trained other terrorists who will wreak havoc on civilized countries on a whim? An article by our friend Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, " The Death of Shamil Basayev ," makes clear that there are other horrors connected to Al Qaeda in other countries... monsters who have no qualms about using terrorist tactics in their quest for victory. Shamil Basayev was one of those monsters. Remember the Beslan school massacre in 2004 in Chechnya? It doesn't take a specialist in world affairs or terrorism to see that...

From ForeignPolicy.com: " Before the U.S. military killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq was the face of the insurgency. Yet his group was probably responsible for only 5–10 percent of the insurgent attacks. What about the other 90 percent? " This list of Islamo-fascist insurgent groups from ForeignPolicy.com makes very educational reading, so I thought I would share it with you all.

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” -- Winston Churchill When President Bush met with Iraqi Prime Minster al-Maliki , I missed the news coverage of their press conference. Now that I've had a chance to read the text , I'm glad I missed the spin that was probably put on it by the mainstream press. Among the encouraging words from the Prime Minister, the following comments from his address to the press reminded me of the Churchill quote that started this post: "... And, in this field, we have achieved our first and initial success when our forces assumed the responsibility in the Muthanna governorate. This is a very important step. It will be followed by similar steps in many other governorates in Iraq. We are determined to defeat terrorism. And the security plan for Baghdad has entered the second phase, and it's achieving its objectives in hunting the terrorist networks and eliminating it. ..." It is more app...

Governor Fletcher has seen his support from Kentucky GOP organizations wither away recently. All this over his handling of the "hiring probe." Let's face it, he handled it very poorly. I don't fault him completely for that -- he was given some VERY bad advice by someone; unfortunately, he took that bad advice and it left egg on his face (and ours). I worked very hard for Governor Fletcher when he ran against Democrat Ben Chandler in '04. I was excited about his election because I felt it meant the end of the "good old boy network" in state government -- the same Good Old Boys who have held this state back for three decades. Unfortunately, it seems Fletcher felt he could play the same old politics as the Dems when he took office and I'll never, for the life of me, figure out why he wasn't more alert to the enemies he was amongst in Frankfort. Enough of that. If Governor Fletcher's support is truly eroding -- which, for the record, I find dis...

It seems to me that a new phrase has been introduced into world diplomacy by our Secretary of State, Dr. Rice. It's a phrase I find interesting... " sustainable ceasefire ." Is "sustainable ceasefire" not simply a new phrase meaning victory? After all, if Israel succeeds, as I hope it will, in squashing Hezbollah that will mean that Hezbollah has been backed into a corner with no more artillery to lob into Israel. In which case, they will have been cut off from resupplies from Iran and/or Syria. They would be in no position to do anything other than cease fire. I would call that "victory." Israelis, if there were ever a time for you to perservere and squash Hezbollah, now is the time. The United States and our allies have every reason to encourage you to pursue your campaign. Your Islamo-fascist enemies are the same as ours. Al Qaeda may factor in somewhere but, even if they don't, Hezbollah and Hamas are cut from the same Islamic militant fanatici...

The Buzzard - If you put a Buzzard in a pen that is 6 feet by 8 feet and is entirely open at the top, the bird, in spite of its ability to fly, will be an absolute prisoner. The reason is that a Buzzard always begins a flight from the ground with a run of 10 to 12 feet. Without space to run, as is its habit, it will not even attempt to fly, but will remain a prisoner for life in a small jail with no top. The Bat - The ordinary Bat that flies around at night, a remarkably nimble creature in the air, can not take off from a level place. If it is placed on the floor or flat ground, all it can do is shuffle about helplessly and, no doubt painfully, until it reaches some slight elevation from which it can throw itself into the air. Then, at once, it takes off like a flash. The Bumble Bee - A Bumble Bee, if dropped into an open tumbler, will be there until it dies, unless it is taken out. It never sees the means of escape at the top, but persists in trying to find some way out through th...

I noticed that just after President Bush ordered the deployment of 6,000 National Guard troops to our southern border in May, the media virtually dropped the immigration issue from its reporting. The truth is that there are still bills pending on this issue, almost all of which will allow increases in legal immigration into this country. If you're still interested in both legal and illegal immigration as it may affect your quality of life in this country, you really need to see the commercial that is currently being sponsored by donations to NumbersUSA . It's important that we don't take our eye off this ball. Legal or illegal, immigration certainly needs to be responsibly controlled so that our currently quality of life is not greatly degraded by overwhelming increases in the population of our great nation.

Most bloggers use some sort of program to track their readership. I'm no different. I use Site Meter and it serves me well. I can see where my readers are coming from -- locality, what site referred them to my blog, and where they click to leave my blog. What I find intriguing is that many readers leave my blog by clicking on the link to my blogger profile . Google doesn't really provide us a good way to let you get to know us. The profile info they allow us to enter really doesn't tell you much, does it? Also, it's hard to post pictures. So, to help those of you who are interested in knowing more about this " Slimy Mollusc " of a blogger, I do have a more in-depth profile on Louisville Mojo . If you're interested, you can read/see more about me there.

Don't tell me the Dems are coming to their senses and trying to make a shrewd political move! According to NewsMax, the "first black President of the United States" (Mr. King of the Dems), Bill Clinton, has joined the campaign effort for Lieberman . Have they been secretly reading Conservative blogs and commentary? Do they actually realize that Lieberman stands a chance against a Republican candidate in '08 or is this just Bill spiting Hillary again? Knock it off, Bill! Don't you have some skirts to chase?

Hey Kofi Annan, if you'd really like a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel , I've got a great idea for you: Go on out there to the Lebanese border and act as a human shield! I think that would be a grand statement for you to make. Protect those terrorists now because they may need you for running a scam later... How much more nonsense are we going to have to hear spewed from the mouth of this hypocrite before the U.S. packs its bags and leaves the U.N. for good? It's a worthless organization with a crook for a Secretary General. Enough already. Let's roll.

I will likely take some heat from fellow Conservatives on this topic but I feel compelled to put this out there for consideration... I have a true dilemma. I am fully in favor of all of the means we can use to research and eradicate as many of the heinous diseases and genetic malfunctions possible. I am not in favor of abortion nor am I in favor of the use of labs to create babies. I believe there are pros and cons for both of these issues but find myself a bit of a fence-straddler here. Why straddle the fence? Well, in the case of abortion I believe there are indeed cases where a couple must make some horrific choices -- the threat to a mother's life, rape/incest, and extreme genetic malformations. For that reason alone, I find it hard to support a total ban on abortion in this country. However, I do not believe that, even in the most difficult circumstances, abortion is a healthy answer because it does great harm not only to the fetus (obviously) but to the psyche of the mother. ...

I'm quite a bit later on this than I would have preferred but I have a little something to say about the way our Senators from Kentucky voted on the Flag Burning Amendment . Mitch McConnell: A "nay" vote?! Senator, have you lost your freakin' mind? I've been watching your votes lately and I would swear that you have become a pod person inhabited by a Liberal alien. Sir, I would ask that you hold the symbol of our great country sacred as do many of your Conservative constituents here in Kentucky. For purposes of "freedom of speech," America-haters are welcome to bury Uncle Sam in effigy but NOT our flag. Jim Bunning: A well-considered "yea" vote was most welcome and this Kentucky Conservative appreciates the respect you have shown our flag with your vote. You had a tough battle during your re-election campaign here but you have proven time and time again via your votes in Congress that we certainly did the right thing by re-electing you. You ha...

Remember the old Sesame Street bit about finding patterns among items and figuring out which thing in the group doesn't belong? "One of these things is not like the others, One of these things just doesn't belong, Can you tell which thing is not like the others By the time I finish my song?..." I loved that bit as a kid and I'm sure it helped hone my analytical skills as an adult. Sometimes it helps to compare things that seem similar side by side to get a clearer view of them. This week's FairTax Blogburst from Terry and Jonathan does just that. Check the various issues below and see how the Income Tax, a Flat Tax, and the FairTax would affect each situation. 16th Amendment FairTax - Proposes repeal. Federal Income Tax - No change. Flat Tax - No change. Complexity FairTax - Individuals do not file. Businesses need only to deal with sales tax returns. Federal Income Tax - Very complex; 20,000 pages of regulations; I.R.S. incorrect over half of the time...

I have always admired Newt Gingrich . He is a gentleman and a scholar and certainly one of the most entertaining and insightful historians of our generation. So, when I saw this article on NewsMax, I took what he had to say as the definitive word on where we, as a world, stand today with regard to war in the Middle East . I could not possibly agree more. So then, the question becomes: what are we to do about it? At this point, I think the United States would be well-advised to gather free nations together to draft a treaty to annihilate Islamo-fascism (or "terrorism" if you prefer). Nations who want to continue to live free -- or, for that matter, BEGIN to live free -- without the threat of random and senseless violence perpetrated against them by the likes of Hezbollah , Hamas , North Korea , Iran , and other terrorist organizations . Such a treaty would have at the heart of it an agreement to "clean house" within each signatory's own national boundaries first...

...if you're playing with people who know what they're doing out on the golf course! Fortunately for me, in our foursome on Saturday, the other three could hit the ball relatively straight so we didn't spend the entire day in the rough. Evidently, I actually *can* hit a golf ball because three of my shots were played as "best ball" during the day. That's not much to brag about unless you're a total goof-golfer like me. I was pleased as punch to just whack the ball instead of missing it so my best balls were total accidents, I'm sure. My sore back and arms have me convinced that, no matter how leisurely golf looks on TV, it is a pretty darned strenuous sport! Our foursome came in dead last on the scorecard at the end of the day with a score of 90 but we sure had fun doing it! Thanks for all the tips, gang. If nothing else, you reinforced my determination to give it the old college try on Saturday.

Manufacturers announced today that they will be stocking America's shelves this week with "Clinton Soup," in honor of one of the nations' most distinguished men. It consists primarily of a weenie in hot water. Chrysler Corporation is adding a new car to its line to honor Bill Clinton. The Dodge Drafter will be built in Canada. When asked what he thought about foreign affairs, Clinton replied, I don't know, I never had one. The Clinton revised judicial oath: "I solemnly swear to tell the truth as I know it, the whole truth as I believe it to be, and nothing but what I think you need to know." Clinton will be recorded in history as the only President to do Hanky Panky between the Bushes. Thanks to my friend JR for sending these my way today!

I can't thank you all enough for the prayers and good wishes for my Mom, Joan, who's been diagnosed with primary peritoneal cancer. It means the world to me that many of you have written or commented with your best wishes for her and for my family. We are all very grateful for your love and support during a very difficult time. We enter a new phase of this journey on the 27th of this month when Mom goes for her first chemotherapy treatment. My family is all very aware that Mom will feel pretty lousy on or about the third day after that treatment. We're ready for it; however, we continue to hope and believe that she will do very well and make it through the trials of chemo just fine. She's one tough cookie and, it seems, she's ready to take it on. My thanks to everyone who's shared a story with me about relatives who have survived cancer far beyond what doctors expected. It's stories like those that give me hope for many more years with my mother.

If anyone in a position of power in our United States federal government happens to read this, thank you. In addition to my thanks, please consider the following request from a libery-loving, politically-active United States citizen: Please do not call down the government of Israel for their reaction to the terrorism that has plagued them for decades. Please respect their need to defend their sovereign state as we would have them respect ours. It is morally and ethically wrong to expect them to stand down in the face of the terrorism that is launched upon them in the form of missiles and homicide bombers. Read, from the minds of Israelis, what is happening there and understand that to stand strong against terrorism, we must support them. We can support the democratic movement in Lebanon without asking Israel to give in to terrorism. Let's stand strong against this and be assured that we stand on the right side of history.

Humans existed as members of small bands of nomadic hunter/gatherers. They lived on deer in the mountains during the summer & would go to the coast and live on fish and lobster in winter. The two most important events in all of history were the invention of beer and the invention of the wheel. The wheel was invented to get man to the beer. These were the foundation of modern civilization and together were the catalyst for the splitting of humanity into two distinct subgroups: Liberals and Conservatives. Once beer was discovered it required grain and that was the beginning of agriculture. Neither the glass bottle nor aluminum can were invented yet, so while our early human ancestors were sitting around waiting for them to be invented, they just stayed close to the brewery. That's how villages were formed. Some men spent their days tracking and killing animals to B-B-Q at night while they were drinking beer. This was the beginning of what is known as "the Conservative moveme...

From our friend, Russ Vaughn: "Those of you who want to help send Mujahadeen Murtha into retirement should visit Larry Bailey's site and contribute. Larry was one of those stalwart veterans who stood up to prevent Kerry from becoming commander-in-chief and he's leading the fight once more against this latest turncoat. Every small donation will help him accomplish the mission."

One of the things I have long admired about the current administration is that President Bush has kept his convictions intact and acted upon them despite the polls, despite the unpopular opinion, and despite critics. I am now embarrassed to say that I see all of that slowly crumbling. The Supreme Court has made a decision that, I believe, it had no power to make with regard to the detainees at our POW camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and now the President is caving on his stance on that. I'm very disappointed. Can we not all understand that these detainees are unlawful combatants who represent no nation state, who wear no uniform, and who show total and utter disregard for the rules of war? How has the Bush administration been led astray on this?!

Surprisingly enough, I find myself committed to participate in a company golf outing on Saturday. I have golf clubs but have had no lessons. The one time I actually tried to hit a golf ball, I missed abysmally and spun around like the Tazmanian Devil in the cartoons. Aaaaargggghhh! So, given that I've been busy with work and family lately, I now have the daunting task of learning to hit a golf ball before Saturday morning! Ack! Forgive me if I am a little less attentive to the news for the next few days. I'm practicing to embarrass myself on Saturday... ;o)

by MsUnderestimated Folks, I’m telling you… after I was lucky enough to find out about this article in the Gwinnett (Georgia) Business Journal this week, I was asking myself that very question. Why in the heck doesn’t Congressman John Linder run for President? I listened to the 45-minute interview for the article, and read along with the transcript. You know what amazes me? This is a true common-sense man. It’s no wonder he’s been a shepherd for relieving the United States of the 16th Amendment for the past 10 years. You might not recognize his name, but you will definitely recognize the name of the book he co-wrote, and the legislation he wrote - " The Fair Tax ." Not in history that I can I recall has there ever been a book to open at #1 on the New York Times best-seller list and stay there for two weeks in a row, which was about the United States Tax Code. Boring, eh? Well, aparently you haven’t read "The Fair Tax." John’s gotta give his hat off to Neal Boortz, ...

If you think that every black person on the planet is a Liberal Dem, think again! Vernon Robinson of North Carolina would like to correct your misconceptions. See the ad that should be a model for more right here . Good luck in your race against the prejudices of the Left, Mr. Robinson! Thanks for the heads up on this one, Mark!

As we bring our Independence Day to a close with fireworks, the North Koreans have created fireworks of their own with missile launches. From one of the first detailed reports on the internet about the launches: "These missiles are believed to have fallen into the sea of Japan, which lies between Japan and the Korean peninsula, and it's understood that there's been no fallout, no missile falling on any part of Japan, for example. " It appears that these launches have all ready had an impact on the Yen . Methinks the Japanese will have more to say about all this in the coming hours. How do you say, "Die, you pot-bellied little dictator pig" in Japanese?

Those of us who are able to listen and use our intellect understand that one of the fronts on the War Against Terror absolutely has to be on the continent of Africa. As expected, we have Special Forces troops there now. These troops have asked the wonderful people at Spirit of America for help with a new project . "The Combined Joint Task Force in the Horn of Africa encompasses about 1700 American men and women engaging in an unconventional and little known part of the global war on terror. The efforts focus on Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, Uganda, and Djibouti and they use drinkable water, food, medical care and even sports equipment as their weapons against terrorist recruiting and extremism." The Spirit of America is everywhere our men and women in uniform are. Their efforts to provide our Armed Forces with items they might need in efforts to help the people most oppressed by war and terrorism are phenomenal. This is one place you can donate money or goods and know for sure ...

While I fully support the efforts of U.S. Representative Pete King (R-NY) and Kentucky's own Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY) to prosecute Americans for treason in a time of war, I think their hearts are in the right place but their heads are focusing on the wrong entity. The New York Times (NYT) chose to publish what they'd discovered about the U.S. bank-monitoring program to track the financial dealings of those supporting terrorism. Yes, against government requests not to and against what most of us would deem common sense, they published it for the world to read. This is typical of our irresponsible media. No surprise to me. However, ask yourself this: Would the Times have had a story to publish if someone (or some people) within "classfied" circles not told them about it? Who truly committed treason here? The source(s) of the story, of course. It's evident that The Times was in it just to increase their circulation and make themselves the news of the day. The ...

Happy Birthday, America, courtesy of those Right-Wing Extremists known as our Founding Fathers! (Actually, back then they weren't "Right Wingers" but they certainly stood for the ideals embodied by the Right Wing today.) And, no celebration of our freedom is complete without a giant, heart-felt Thank You to all the members of our Armed Forces, prior and present, who have served to keep this country free -- we'd be nowhere without you all! God Bless America!