The "News" Disgusts Me

Is it just me, or has the world gone crazy?

A huge storm system moved through town today, and so I was watching the local news channel for weather info. I left the TV on CBS and ended up watching Katie Couric's "News" cast. The entire thing has been the most insane take on "news" or even "reality" than I have seen yet - we're talking worse than CNN here.

Let me summarize my frustrations with a single segment - coverage on the war in Iraq. It's no question that casualty figures would frame the segment, and every mention of things going well in Iraq followed by the obligatory "but." The segment totally ignored the ongoing military operation in Baqubah and instead claimed with no evidence that the military admitted that top al Qaeda leaders "escaped" from the city. Casualty figures were then reported as if they were independent of the operation (and remember that the old media likes to describe casualty figures as if our solders were just standing around getting killed - but ignoring a 10,000 soldier operation should be criminal). Finally, the correspondent finished by claiming that the "surge" in Iraq was being met with an al Qaeda "surge" of its own as he signed off with the inevitable picture of Iraq citizens bleeding and being carried off on stretchers. "Reporting from the Pentagon" was the only informative thing the reporter said.

This kind of reporting begs the question of whether or not the national old media is honestly trying to deceive and mislead the American people, or whether or not the reporters in the field (or in a posh hotel in D.C.) are so inexorably anti-war and anti-administration that their reports are written in such a way that it seems they want those watching the newscast to think the war in Iraq is lost/our soldiers are dying for nothing/the entire Iraq situation is hopeless.

I absolutely despise the old media. If you watch ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, or even FoxNews it's time for you to branch out. The media does not want you to think for yourself - they want to tell you what the world is like and they want you to believe them. Even though they aren't even there to cover it.

A rock could do a better job of reporting the war in Iraq than Katie and her "news" team. Ridiculous.

The War is not Lost

And the battle is on.

Michael Yon, the only real source of news from Iraq, tells us why.

Update: 10,000 troops in a major offensive. And who says the surge isn't working?

The Wisdom of Mark Steyn

The immigration bill is a fraud. According to Mark Steyn:

On Fox News the other night, I was told by NPR's Juan Williams, ''You're anti-immigrant!'' Er, actually, I am an immigrant -- one of the members of the very very teensy-weensy barely statistically detectable category of ''legal immigrant.'' But perhaps that doesn't count anymore. Perhaps, like Colin Powell's blackness, it's insufficiently ''authentic.'' By filing the relevant paperwork with the United States government, I'm not ''keepin' it real.''

...

The people who are truly ''anti-immigrant'' are the folks who want to send that immigrant from Slovenia or Fiji who applied in May 2005 back to the end of the line. But then ''comprehensive immigration reform'' is about everything but immigration, including subverting sovereignty and national security. Remember the 1986 amnesty? Mahmoud abu Halima applied for it and went on to bomb the World Trade Center seven years later. His colleague, the aforementioned Mohammad Salameh, was rejected but carried on living here anyway. John Lee Malvo was detained and released by U.S. immigration in breach of its own procedures and re-emerged as the Washington sniper. The young Muslim men who availed themselves of the U.S. government's ''visa express'' system for Saudi Arabia filled in joke applications -- ''Address in the United States: HOTEL, AMERICA'' -- that octogenarian snowbirds from Toronto who've been wintering at their Florida condos since 1953 wouldn't try to get away with. The late Mohammed Atta received his flight-school student visa on March 11, 2002, six months to the day after famously flying his first and last commercial airliner.

The government does not have all the answers, and shouldn't be your nanny. According to Mr. Steyn:

That's it? Anglicans need to fast-track a liturgy for gay couples so they can free up time to deal with the real issues like global warming? Half that catalogue of horrors seems to be different ways of saying the same thing ("child poverty… economic injustice… growing disparity") in order to give a bit of pro forma padding to the totally cool cause du jour of global warming. Which is so cool that, if an Anglican archbishop shows up at a climate-change conference, he'll be lucky to get in the room, and if he does he'll be stuck at the table with the wonky leg next to the toilet, barely able to see the Most Reverend Almer Gortry up on stage doing his power-point presentation and warning that rising sea levels will send tidal waves crashing through every gay wedding reception in Provincetown by Saturday afternoon.

...

Go back to those Canadian archbishops who want to worry about "child poverty." Poor children are the children of poor grown-ups. If the state assumes responsibility for those children from their parents, what kind of adults are you likely to end up with? And if you can't trust free-born citizens to reach their own judgments on cheeseburgers, what can you trust them with?

More bad news

The national and international media is a joke.

First comes the AP (Associated [with Terrorists] Press) and their constant intentional propagation of terrorist propaganda. Now that the civil war in the Gaza Strip is over (with the terrorists winning - it hardly matters which side we're talking about) the AP has decided to print a variety of Hamas propaganda photos, with such sights as a terrorist with an AK coming out of a baggage x-ray machine, and terrorists with AK's and RPG's posed at computer terminals at a border crossing checkpoint in Gaza. These are not news photos, they are terrorist propaganda delightfully captured by terrorist-sympathizing Gaza strip photographers designed and transmitted with the intent to encourage other terrorists or simply emblazon Hamas' "success" to the rest of the world. It's a wonder I won't pay for a newspaper subscription - I'd rather not finance these monsters.

In other news, with word that the Jack Daniel's distillery in Tennessee is running low on water because of a drought, John Roberts of CNN playfully insisted:

...somebody said to me this morning that that will get Southern conservatives interested in global warming. (Laughs)

I ask - is this news? Is this commentary? Is this deliberate disrespect? Is this discrimination? Or is it simple a matter of liberal intellectual elitism and a nasty case of "I'm better than you conservative drunken idiots" syndrome?

The national media is a disgrace.

We Lost, Again

You'd think that the Democrats would have had enough of claiming defeat in the war on terror. Never fear, they have done it again:

Top US congressional Democrats bluntly told President George W. Bush Wednesday that his Iraq troop "surge" policy was a failure.

Senate Majority leader Harry Reid and House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi challenged the president over Iraq by sending him a letter, ahead of a White House meeting later on Wednesday.

"As many had foreseen [it's amazing what you can "foresee" when you've already made up your mind what the results will be. - ed. mine] , the escalation has failed to produce the intended results," the two leaders wrote.

And now that key sentence:

The next critical point in the showdown between Bush and Congress over Iraq is expected in September, when US commander in Iraq David Petraeus is due to report on progress in the strategy to "surge" up to 30,000 more US troops into the war-ravaged nation.

So the commander of our forces in Iraq hasn't reported on the progress of the surge yet? I wonder what the Democrats are using as evidence for the "failure" then? Oh, and the "next critical step" is when General Petraeus gives his report? How can the Democrats' cry of defeat be a "critical step" in anything?

Finally, I've finally seen a picture that sums up the Democrats' mindset as far as troop levels, war powers, and the war on terror is concerned:

Yup: Cocky. Apparently that's the only word needed to sum up this Democratic congress. So sure of their rightness they needn't bother with anything else.

Update: Never mind. Harry apparently thinks that our military leaders are incompetent. No cockiness there! I guess Harry himself is the ultimate authority on war and defense.

Update again: I guess I now know why Harry jumped the gun in claiming our defeat in Iraq and calling General Petraeus incompetent: the General's report to congress and the nation is positive on the substantial gains made in Iraq due to the troop surge. I guess the Democrats know the media would rather report their claims of failure than a military leader's statements of success.

The Real Civil War

Here's another civil war the press won't report: the Palestinian civil war. There is nothing more bloody than terrorists fighting terrorists, and it seems that the Hamas version has finally routed the Fatah version in the Gaza strip. After weeks of relentless violence capped off by the bloody murder in a hospital of the Fatah military leader while dressed as a woman (he was trying to escape) will the press finally cover the story or label it what it really is?

I wouldn't hold my breath.

What I would do if I were president

In the words of Chuck Norris himself (really).

The Palestinian Death Cult

A lot of things can be said for the Palestinian / Israeli conflict, but those who claim the Palestinians are innocent bystanders suffering under Israeli occupation are missing a (possibly the) main part of the story that is rarely if never told.

The Palestinians that live in Israel or next to it are raising their children to be anti-semitic Jew-killing suicidal murderers. There's no other way to describe it. Very rarely have we seen in human history an entire society based on the murder of a specific ethnic group.

Take two examples. The first is of a kindergarten graduation ceremony of Palestinian children shouting "Death for the sake of Allah!"

Next, there is a new film coming out focusing on the extremism fostered and bred in Palestinian children as a result of parental control, government propaganda, and one of the most vicious and successful spin machines in human history. Tokyo Rose of the 21st century is convincing children that murdering Jews in Israel gets you virgins and Ferris wheels after your suicide, and makes you an awfully cool kid right now. And it's getting worse.

Again, as with most stories worth knowing, the absence of media coverage concerning the Palestinian death cult is astounding.

Continued Corruption

While the Democrats can apparently only offer insults towards Republicans and desperate unconstitutional tactics to end a war they don't like, they also often remind us that the 110th congress is quite possible the most corrupt in history:

As usual, the main protaganist is Rep. John Murtha, who smuggled into the intelligence authorization bill two earmarks. The beneficiary is a contractor headquartered in Murtha's hometown, whose executives are big contributors to Murtha's campaigns.

Murtha and his fellow Democrats pretended that the intelligence bill contained no earmarks, but Rep. Jeff Flake eventually found 26 of them. By the time he did so, however, it was too late to offer amendments. When Rep. Mike Rogers tried to eliminate the earmark for a National Drug Intelligence Center in Murtha's district, Murtha made his infamous threat, in violation of House rules, to retaliate against Rogers' earmarks.

Novak reports that, while Murtha clearly is an embarrassment to the Democrats, the party has no will or real desire to curb him, or themselves. Indeed, House Appropriations Committee chairman David Obey, who has falsely denied the existence of earmarks, now has decreed that earmarks in his bills will not be revealed until a measure passes both the House and the Senate.

Corrupt Democrats on the rampage? I must have missed that on the evening news...

An Assault on Reason, Indeed

First, check out our friends at Amnesty International - who are in full BDS mode. They've posted a poll on their website asking people to vote for who they believe is worse on human rights: Darth Vader, "Hobgoblin," or Dick Cheney.

In other news, FoxNews' Jim Angle does a classic report on the ridiculousness of Al Gore's new book Assault on Reason, which, from all accounts, is truly right up the liberal left's alley - completely devoid of any connection with reality.

Something to think about...

From the irreplaceable Bill Whittle:

Throughout history, civilizations rise and fall. They fall for the same reason, by my reading of history: the lack of will to defend her, a cancer which starts not from the bottom but invariably from the top. A fish rots from the head, say the Russians, who ought to know. From Nero to Chamberlain, the elites evolve away from an understanding that retaliation against the lawless and the barbaric is not a vice but a virtue. They take the manifest blessings of civilization as a given and foist their own personal guilt and moral cowardice upon the entire city. They open the gates to the savage peoples who have always stood outside of progress and gentleness and culture.

It has always been this way. If you feel you see it happening now, before your very eyes, well… you are not alone. A society unwilling to enforce the laws that civilize it, that is unable or unwilling to see the advantages of civilization, a society led by the pampered, the narcissistic and the corrupt, is not long for this Earth. Our enemies look at us and see precisely these symptoms, and the symptons are worsening. Our unwillingness to retaliate when retaliation is called for – indeed, the uneasiness with the very idea of retaliation against betrayal – has them licking their lips in anticipation. They see all this decay and they are right to see it, for it is there.

One thing they do not see, however – also there. They do not see the Remnant. They do not see the power and resiliance of what the irreplaceable Victor Davis Hanson has referred to as “the Old Breed.”

Nock and Isaiah believed that the purpose of the Remnant was to rebuild a new civilization from the ashes of those destroyed by their own masters. And certainly to date this has always been their main function.

But there is something different -- just perhaps, something fundamentally different this time around. Because today, for the first time in human history, common people can communicate directly with one another. We are no longer dependent on spineless politicians and the jaded masters of the press to color our opinions of the world. For the first time in human history, the Remnant can reach out to each other on these gossamer threads of a world-wide web.

I believe – utterly – that this ability for the common person to communicate with other common people, this internet, will allow us to end-run the cycle of civilization. I believe it in my bones.

My friends, Western Civilization is not on its last legs.

Western Civilization is going to the stars. Count on it.

The Democrats in Action

The Democrats have now passed an unconstitutional bill through both houses of congress that is both full of pork (in order for Democrats to vote for it) and also calls for our troops to retreat from Iraq. What on Earth do they think they are doing?

What are the Democrats doing?

For all of those who voted for current members of the 110th congress I ask you: are you happy? Are you satisfied with your choice?

After the current Senate Majority Leader went on the national airwaves and proclaimed we had "lost" the war in Iraq, he's now saying that he plans to ignore the commander of American forces in Iraq, General Petraeus, if the general states that the surge of troops in Baghdad is working (and for all intents and purposes it is). Reid, in the same manner as Johnson and Nixon during the Vietnam war, believes that he as a politician is more intelligent and knowledgeable about war and peace than military officials, and that regardless of evidence or expert testimony he knows he is right and everyone who disagrees with him is wrong. How did this man make his way to the top of the Democratic leadership?

Next, after the President vetoes the unconstitutional troop funding bill that decrees our troops leave Iraq within a specific time table, the Democrats have promised to introduce another unconstitutional war funding bill that decrees American troops begin leaving Iraq on October 1st. Would the Democrats please read the Constitution (specifically Article II)?

Now, in the midst of far-left Democratic madness, Dennis Kucinich is introducing articles of impeachment for Vice President Cheney! What!? I watched an interview with Dennis on CNN, and he claimed that he is going after Cheney and not Bush because literally Cheney is worse! What are the charges? That Cheney:

...misled the nation about Iraq's having weapons of mass destruction; he had been deceitful about a nexus between Iraq and Al Qaeda and was being aggressive toward Iran "absent any real threat" from the Islamic Republic.

Dream on, Dennis. Did Cheney manipulate the Senate Intelligence Committee, French, Russian, and British Intelligence too? (Not to mention John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, and others...) Was there not a link between Al Qaeda and Iraq before 2003? Is Iran not a threat to world peace and security? Not to mention that are any of these items, if true, "high crimes and misdemeanors"?

Dennis Kucinich, Harry Reid, and the Democrats in congress are rapidly proving to be not only inept, corrupt, and desperately political, but completely and inconsolably insane.

Update: Speaking of insane:

Jim Manley, Reid's spokesman, said earlier that the "war is lost" comment was not in Reid's prepared text for the news conference last Thursday.

It has been almost a week since the majority leader uttered the unscripted remark...

Does it matter that it was "unscripted?" Yes, in that it shows what Reid really thinks outside of what his handlers allow him to say.

"I'm not going to get into a name-calling match with the administration's chief attack dog [Cheney]," Reid said, repeating "attack dog" three times.

Could you be considered certifiably stupid if in the same sentence you claimed to both not resort to "name calling" and call your opponent an "attack dog?"

Reid called Petraeus on Monday to offer his personal support for the troops fighting insurgents in Iraq, according to Reid's office.

Oh! Well, then! In that case Harry probably shouldn't have already said that regardless of what Petraeus says he still thinks the war is lost and the surge isn't working. Harry Reid, it would be best for everyone if you just stopped talking.

We Lost

Time to pack up and go home. It's now official: the U.S. military has lost the war in Iraq. Says who? Why, Harry Reid of course. I'm sure this doesn't embolden our enemies at all.

What's that phrase again? "Aid and comfort"...

Update: Watching a History Channel special called Shootout again tonight about the Tet Offensive in Vietnam in 1968 reminds me that wars are not always won by men or guns, but public opinion and the media. For a democratically elected representative to claim we have "lost" is indeed an attempt, whether conscious or not, to cause us to loose the war. Is such a statement patriotic or treasonous?

Update again: Joe Lieberman responds:

This week witnessed horrific terrorist attacks by Islamist extremists in Iraq, killing hundreds of innocent civilians and leading Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to declare that the war is 'lost.'

With all due respect, I strongly disagree. Senator Reid's statement is not based on military facts on the ground in Iraq and does not advance our cause there.

Reid, against his better judgments, falls into a pit of cognitive dissonance:

"In an effort to shift attention from this Administration's failed polities – and I say that in the plural – the President and his allies have repeatedly questioned whether I and my fellow Democrats support our troops," the majority leader told fellow senators. "No one wants us to succeed in Iraq more than the Democrats. We've proven that time and time again since this war started more than four years ago. We take a back seat to no one in supporting our troops, and we will never abandon our troops in a time of war."

No one wants us to succeed more than the Democrats. Except that we already lost. Oh, and we support the troops.

Is there something wrong with this man?

Tortured and Killed for being a Chrisitan

Yes, this type of things still happens in our world. Not only were Christian evangelists murdered by Islamic fanatics for distributing Christian literature in Turkey, they were also tortured first.

Why does this kind of story come out? To make an example of others who would choose the same path. An important difference to note: Muslim martyrs kill themselves to kill others. Christian martyrs die in order to save others.

Essay Roundup

Bill Whittle provides us some insight on conspiracy theories and theorists:

Recently, Rosie O’Donnell said on national television that she believes 9/11 was orchestrated by the US government.

...

Rosie O’ Donnell making such a claim on a major network is a national disgrace. The fact that much of the audience cheered and applauded is nothing less than a national catastrophe.

...

"This is the first time in history that fire has ever melted steel," she said. This is a statement of such pristine and perfect idiocy that it surely must be emblazoned in stone across the entrance to the Physics Imbecile wing of the Moron Museum of Natural History.

Victor Davis Hanson had a dream:

Those in Congress would not deny that Congress itself had voted for a war against Saddam on 23 counts — the vast majority of which had nothing to do with weapons of mass destruction and remain as valid today as when they were approved in 2002.

....

In this dream, I heard our ex-presidents add to this chorus of war-time solidarity. Jimmy Carter reminded Americans that radical Islam had started in earnest on his watch, out of an endemic hatred of all things Western. I imagined him explaining that America began being called the “Great Satan” during the presidential tenure of a liberal pacifist, not a Texan conservative.

...

I also dreamed that the British government only laughed at calls to curtail studies of the Holocaust in deference to radical Muslims, and instead repeatedly aired a documentary on its sole Victoria Cross winner in Iraq. The British, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Italian, and Spanish foreign ministers would collectively warn the radical Islamic world that there would be no more concessions to the pre-rational primeval mind, no more backpeddling and equivocating on rioting and threats over cartoons or operas or papal statements. There would be no more apologies about how the West need make amends for a hallowed tradition that started 2,500 years ago with classical Athens, led to the Italian Republics of the Renaissance, and inspired the liberal democracies that defeated fascism, Japanese militarism, Nazism, and Communist totalitarianism, and now are likewise poised to end radical Islamic fascism.

Obligatory Gratuitous "Bush is Nixon" Comment

Harry Reid is desperate. Running on a platform of "we aren't Republicans" has gotten the Democrats control of congress, yet they seem to be unable to accomplish anything. The continuing mockery of their first 100 hours of failure notwithstanding, the Democrats have seemed to hinge their hopes of control of the country on abandoning the fledgling democracy in Iraq.

The best way for Democrats to abandon Iraq is to compare Iraq at all times to Vietnam, and therefore Bush to Nixon. Reid excels at these comparisons and has dropped another whopper just the other day. Why? Because Bush is going to veto the "war funding" bill, because in actuality it is an "abandon Iraq and toss hundreds of millions of dollars at special interests" bill. If Bush vetoes the bill the Democrats will have to choose between abandoning our troops on the field or playing to their ravenous supporters on the far left. How desperate are they to do both?

Bush also objects to $20 billion-plus in "pork" spending programs that Democrats have included in the bill, although Democratic leaders defend the funding as need emergency spending for Hurricane Katrina victims, child health programs, and veteran care.

Eh? The Democrats have bought the votes to the "abandon Iraq" bill by pumping it full of millions of dollars of crap. The only reason a Democrat would claim this pork is needed is that they assume you, as an American citizen, are too stupid to find out for yourself what kind of unnecessary funding and special interest pacifiers have been tossed in it. Sugar beets, planting trees, and the University of Vermont don't have anything to do with Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, child health care, or veterans.

Keep going strong Harry. In no time an American public which is quick to ask "what have you done for me lately?" won't be keeping your party in office for long. Unless you write a few million dollars into a war spending bill for us...

John Bolton on North Korea, Iran, Chavez and Pelosi

*Exclusive* John Bolton audio at Miami University

John Bolton came to Miami University yesterday and spoke on a variety of foreign policy issues. His speech was excellent, and although he didn't comment much on the state of the United Nations, he did comment extensively on what he considers the largest threats to international peace and security - North Korea and Iran.

North Korea: The ambassador commented extensively on the futility of negotiating with the North Korean regime. Referring to the country as a "17 million person prison camp" it's important to remember that the only goals the regime has is to maintain its own power. North Korea will, as it has over and over again, stall and make deals that it immediately breaks in order to continue its nuclear weapons program. Every deal that is made provides the regime more time and money in order to maintain power. In order to solve the international crisis brewing Bolton urges us to use China's influence over North Korea and ultimately work towards regime change and reunification of the Korean peninsula. Listen to Bolton on North Korea here.

Iran: Bolton went on to discuss the second major threat to world peace as Iran. He reminded us that every pointless deal made with North Korea reminds the Mullahs in Tehran that the west can be bargained into inaction. He reminded us that there is no other way to interpret the nuclear program of the Iranians other than a program designed to create a nuclear weapon. This information is not only based on U.S. intelligence data, but public information available from the International Atomic Energy Agency. Further, Iran has been projecting power throughout the region and supporting international terrorism such as Hezbollah, and Hamas. Also, with the shenanigans involved with the kidnapping of the 15 British sailors Iran has tested the resolve of the west, the U.N., and the E.U. and found no real contest. Bolton urges the Iranians to follow the example of Muammar Qadhafi and Lybia who peacefully ended their nuclear program and in exchange dramatically increased the quality of life of the Lybian people. Lessening our dependence on oil and no longer allowing Iran to circumvent international law will be the first steps in reigning in this rogue nation. Listen to Bolton on Iran here.

The ambassador then opened the floor up for questions, and a few focused on Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez and Democrat Speaker of the House Pelosi. Bolton referred to Chavez as a "fruit loop" and "Castro without brains." He explained Chavez's attempt to buy a spot on the U.N. security council and buy his way into popularity in South America. Many nations beyond the U.S. see what an imminent threat Chavez's dictatorship is, and the ambassador reminded us that Chavez is unpredictable and a threat to the western hemisphere. Listen to Bolton on Chavez here.

Next, a question came up about Speaker Pelosi, and her recent trip to Syria. Bolton made no qualms about Pelosi's trip by saying "at best it's counterproductive" and reminding us that Pelosi was indeed trying to illegally establish alternative channels of foreign policy. Based on wide universal criticism of her actions, Bolton stated "I'll be surprised if she does much more of that." Listen to Bolton on Pelosi here.

John Bolton was articulate, knowledgeable, and direct when speaking about these international threats to world security. I can see clearly from this one experience that he was an asset to the U.S. and our mission within the U.N. It's therefore still unclear why and also unfortunate that the Democrats would rather play politics and refuse to ratify him within the post in which he was so exceedingly successful. The U.N is surely worse off without him.

Modern Journalism

Recovering from a week of anti-Christian TV spots for the Easter season, it's no wonder I am supremely annoyed (but not surprised) at the following:

The London Telegraph reports that the bitter old BBC won't air a drama about Britain's youngest surviving Victoria Cross hero "because it feared it would alienate members of the audience opposed to the war in Iraq."

British soldier Private Johnson Beharry saved his fellow soldiers twice while putting himself at great personal risk in Iraq. First he pulled his comrades out of a burning military vehicle while under enemy fire, and the other time he drove his armored vehicle out of harms way after getting a rocket-propelled grenade to the head (among other things). He has been given Britain's highest military commendation, and Britain's national TV network won't air his story. Modern journalism and political correctness at work.

An Example

It might have helped those British sailors and marines to have an example of "not cooperating" with enemy propaganda attempts. From a U.S. Marine, also a former hostage of the Mullahs in Iran:

During the ordeal they would try to tape us for propaganda purposes. Personally, I would keep looking down to the ground or hide behind others so that my face wouldn't show (in fact, after a couple of months of not seeing me in any of the videos my records I was classified as MIA). Another Marine and I shared the same cell and when they came in with cameras we'd strip down. I heard a rumor that one of the other Marines smeared ketchup on his face and started howling.

They day before they released us, we were taken to a room with a camera and Mary the Terrorist who was going to interview us. We were threatened that if we didn't say the right things we wouldn't be released. Some Marines gave only name rank and SSN, others sang (Marine Corps Hymn or God Bless America), others just said nothing.

On the day they let us go, I was being herded towards the airplane by a couple of those monkeys. I pulled my arm out of their grasp and let them know that "We're number one"...but used the wrong finger.