Patriotism may not be the all good, but it sure as heck is not defined as "dissent" like the Dems would have you believe. If anything, patriotism means a blind devotion to one's country - look it up. 

So, let's just call a spade a spade - the Dems are not at all patriotic. When you basically tell the entire world that we "made a mistake", the "we're losing", that "we need to get out now" and "it's a disaster" that is not helping the cause.  All this un-patriotic dissent is doing is making it more and more likely that we will pull out before the job is done and success will be precarious at best and a bloodfest at worst. I'm all for dissent, but I highly recommend that our so-called leaders constructively criticize the effort in privacy and show a united front publicy to give us a chance to finish this thing right.  Instead, the politicians on both sides are just trying to score cheap political points and endangering our soldiers unnecessarily.

Bottom line: politicians on both sides are more interested in retaining their political power than they are in whether or not thousands of Iraqis and Americans die in the war.

Murtha and the Dems keeps saying "Stay the course" is not a plan. Well no duh!

First, the Dems want you to think it means no troop withdrawals EVER, but in fact it clearly means keeping the troop levels where they need to be until we WIN!! Troops are still in europe and Korea, why aren't the Dems calling for withdrawals there?

Second, "Stay the course" is a promise - it is not intended to be a plan. The plan, in part, is to reduce troop levels whenever possible without endangering the current successes and future of Iraq.

Do they think we are stupid? (don't answer, I already know).

Oh boy, it was cold this morning! Good ride in, but I may have to have some warmer gear when January comes...

Temp: 35F
Wind: 5-10mph
Miles: 13.1
Frost bitten toes: 0, but just a few more miles and who knows
Avg MPH: no idea! My computer went on the fritz for about 5 to 7 minutes. Oh well, doesn't matter.

One note. I would not call Atlanta cycling friendly, but I want to say THANK YOU to the 99% of cars\people that pass me with courtesy. In the 8 months of consistent bike commuting, I have been honked at maybe once and not even close to any "dangerous" moments. Thanks!

I just read a post, purportedly written by a current or past journalist, that is simply emblematic of many of the far-left moonbats. Here are three examples of the wacky comments that I see on virtually every far-left blog (including Howard Dean's DNC web page). note: I am going to leave Iraq out of this discussion as I am having fun with that topic in other posts.

1. Jobs and the economy.
I am sure there are some statistics out there as well as plenty of anecdotal evidence that you could present that would suggest that the economy is not doing so hot, but that is frankly a bunch of hot air. The unemployment rate for the last several quarters has been as low or lower than many of the boom years in the 90s. The GDP (3rd Q came in at 4.3% even with the high gas prices and effects of Katrina) has been strong for the last several quarters. The Stock Market is making its way back to the "bubble" peak of early 2000. Compared to the Canadians and the Europeans, we are smoking along like a locomotive compared to their vespas. Period. Now I'm not going to give credit to Bush for this - presidents get WAY too much credit for a good economy, but to argue that Bush is somehow bad for the economy or jobs is simply not true. Period.

BTW, my anecdotal evidence tells me that the economy is pretty darn good. I have 2 people that I know personally that are\were unemployed. One of them has turned down at least 2 job offers and the other one just started his new job. My company is doing solid business and growing. Again, I know there are those out there having a tough time and for them it does not matter that the economy is growing a at a solid pace, but overall the economy is doing very well and has been for the last couple of years.

And last, because I know the detractors will argue that GW's first term was less than stellar - and it was - but I have to remind everyone about 9/11 too. The economy was already starting its dive in early 2000 and 9/11 frankly made the recovery much tougher than it otherwise would have been. For anyone to say otherwise is again, lying to themselves.

note: I'll have fun blogging about outsourcing jobs in a different post.

#2 - Karl Rove is Evil Incarnate.
I love this one! Leftist moonbats will basically believe any conspiracy theory if it involves Karl Rove. Apparently, Karl called all of the swift boat vets and made them lie, he then orchestrated the Joe Wilson trip to Niger so he could out his CIA wife and finally, he planted the fake documents on Burkett so that Dan Rather could be fired from his anchor position. This is great stuff. Look, even if Rove helped those efforts along in any way, so what. It's as if Rove is evil, but Dean and Soros are just trying to help people by smearing Bush and the republicans. Bottom line, Dems and Reps both use "hit squads" to perform some dirty oppo research to smear the other side by stretching the truth and presenting half-truths in out of context fashion. Get over it.

#3 - Tax cuts for the RICH.
And finally, my favorite Dem talking point. Even the non-moonbat left regurgitate this canard. Frankly my friends, we are dangerously close to having too few people contributing to the overall tax burden. I could talk about this BS all day, but I'll limit it to 2 very simple points:

1) The top 1% of income earners paid 32% of all income taxes. The top 5% paid over 53% off ALL income taxes and the bottom 40% of income earners actually contributed a negative amount (income tax credits). 40% of income earners paid NO INCOME TAXES. BTW, I am not rich (maybe in top 5% or 10%, don't know, don't care). You can argue that the bottom 40% still had to pay payroll taxes, but most of that is supposed to come back to you in Social Security - you know the crappy government run IOU program that the Dems want to keep as is except for raising taxes on the rich to keep the thing solvent.

2) Buy In. When I ran my own software development business, I would make clients pay me some stipend up front to get started. Why? Because this insured that they would be involved in the process from the start once I had their money. It made them take it seriously from the start rather than delaying and not committing the time and resources thus making it difficult for me to do my job. Taxes are the same. For those that pay taxes, you feel like you need to keep an eye on what is happening to that money (i.e. "should the gov't really use my tax dollars to pay for that?!?!?"), you are invested. For those that pay no income taxes and receive money from the government, why would you vote for anyone other than someone promising you more - even if it is going to cost someone else more to pay for it?

Bottom line, this is class warfare plain and simple. If you don't like the tax cuts, then just make a donation to the government, I'm sure they'll be happy to accept it.

5:36am. the alarm radio starts slowly, but is soon blaring. I immediately hit the snooze button.

5:46am. ok. now I have to get up or I'll miss warm-up. I roll out of bed and land precariously on my feet. I stumble backwards a step but maintain my balance. Two steps forward, ankles creak, calves tight I shorten my gait and walk straight-legged to avoid the discomfort of tight muscles. Leaving the lights off, I find a pair of jeans, a t-shirt and flip flops and head to the garage.

6:00am. "Mornin' Al", I sleepily say to my friend at the front-desk. I shuffle to the locker room and prepare for my workout. The rest of the zombies are milling about, chatting quietly. I stretch briefly and reluctantly jump in the 84 degree pool. Swim practice has begun. I am not quite yet awake.

6:15am. It only takes 4 laps for my shoulder to start to ache, but it's okay because I know a few more laps and some stretching and I'll be good to go. We start with 4 x 100 yard kicks - I hate kicking. Quads and hamstrings burning in a matter of seconds. Lungs struggling to get enough oxygen to move these large muscle groups. It hurts.

6:30am. First of two main sets: 6 x 150 (50 fly, 50 back, 50 breast) with 15 seconds rest. Not too hard, but that first 50 of fly takes a toll.

6:45am. Second main set: 12 x 50 on a descending interval (:50, :45, :40). It starts easy, but by the 5th one, arms are getting heavy and I start to windmill. Finish the last 50 in :31 - not too bad.

7:00am. Easy 500 pull, some no-breather 25s and warmdown get me to 3,000 yards. Tired, but awake and energized, I'm ready for the day ahead.

That's my morning twice a week, every week. While I guess I could say I feel my age sometimes, I know I'm in better shape than most 20-somethings. If I didn't work out like I did, I can only imagine how much I would weigh and how I would feel. I didn't fear 40 and I don't fear 50. I am going running shortly and I will qualify for the Boston Marathon next year. Ride on!