At 6:15 Baghdad time, two 500-pound American-made bombs killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi while he was located in an area 30 miles northeast of Baghdad in the province of Diyala, late Wednesday. Iraq’s Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki said “Al-Zarqawi was eliminated.”

OBL named al-Zarqawi the “Prince of Terrorism.” AZ was the number one terrorist in Iraq.

Why did the state of Jordan help? Remember the wedding party blown to bits in the country last year?

Already the negative comments and the spin has started.

Nicholas Berg’s father Michael has already said that al-Zarqawi didn’t deserve to die, in a CNN interview. This from the father of the man that al-Zarqawi killed in front of a video camera — the same video that al Qaeda paraded in front of the world on the internet.

Asked what would give him satisfaction, Berg, an anti-war activist and candidate for U.S. Congress, said, “The end of the war and getting rid of George Bush.”

Another massive clue? When the announcement occurred in front of the press, Iraqi journalists cheered. American journalists were completely silent.

President Bush has stayed the course in his “War On Terror.” His war on terror is in truth a war only on Islamists or radical Islam — but in any event, by staying this course the number two AQ terrorist has gone to meet his maker. One more snake on the AQ head has been eliminated. This is a victory for President Bush and for his WOT.

Very few people, despite their prior cries, will find this a positive thing; witness the ridiculously-Moonbat statement from Michael Berg.

And those on the Left whose mantra was “If you’re so good, where is OBL? Where are his henchmen? You can’t even get those guys!” will likely now be saying: “Doesn’t matter anyway. So you got him. Big deal.”

President Bush: damned if he didn’t, damned if he did.

REALITY CHECK

What will be the impact? It will likely be split directly down the aisle. Who will be the first Democrat to congratulate the president and SecDef Rumsfeld? Don’t hold your breath.

And the reality check is this: though I believe this is another turning point in Bush’s war, it’s not, of course, and End-All and Be-All to this war, which will continue. IEDs will still explode. Homicide bombers will still detonate.

But one more very important nail has been driven directly into the forehead of al Qaeda and its ring of supporters.

And that’s a good thing.

President Bush: we do need to stay the course.

______________________

Two additional pieces of good news today:

First, the price of oil has dropped on the news of AZ’s death. “Oil prices dipped below $70 per barrel for the first time in two weeks Thursday following the announcement of the death of al-Qaida’s leader in Iraq, terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.”

Second, the USS Cole, disabled from a terrorist’s boat-bomb on October 12th in 2000 which killed 17 sailors while docked in Yemen’s port of Aden, is back on assignment today and headed to the Middle East’s Fifth Fleet, responsible for the Gulf of Oman, Red Sea and some of the Indian Ocean. Bravo and Godspeed, USS Cole!

God bless America!

BZ

In Fornicalia, the fifth largest economy in the world, June 6th saw our primary and a number of bond and proposition issues.

A few surprises occurrred and a large message was, in my opinion, delivered to the politicians in Fornicalia.

Which, though this has occurred in Fornicalia, portends much for the rest of the nation. And I submit this will be a new, building, sweeping trend — at least I fervently hope so.

First, the new trend I’m beginning to note?

In Sacratomato and surrounding Northern Fornicalia counties — even in San Francisco county — a number of bond measures on any number of topics went down to defeat; some of them went down in explosive swirls of massive flames.

These bonds included, on a statewide level:

— Proposition 81: a $600-million bond to pay for library expansion and construction; no: 60%
— Proposition 82: massive funding for “Preschool For All” to raise taxes to fund universal preschool education; no: 61%

In my neck of the woods, funding for a local community college expansion: no.
Other local bonds and “raising taxes” issues: no.

To me, the electorate seems to be expressing a trend, and that is this: we are collectively tired of politicians and special interest groups spending tax dollars with little or no accountability, with these funds diverted to other budget units for entirely different reasons, and with the overall quality of life seemingly unimproved — save that of those who authored the bond measures and politicians and bureaucrats in general.

The storm appears to be building: the days of voting for greater taxes in order to spend money that finds itself disappears into a Black Hole may be over.

Will this become a national trend? Only time will tell.

__________

So — what offends and irritates you about campaigns and voting?

For many, would it be:

— Endless computer-generated calls to your home phone;
— Continuous ads on radio;
— Continuous ads on TV;
— The overall negativity of the ads you see and hear;

One very interesting comment from a Democrat in Fornicalia when she was asked to comment about the recent Dem Governor’s runoff campaigns between current State Treasurer Phil Angelides (will has said he will raise Fornicalia taxes) and current State Controller Steve Westly (Angelides has now won the gubernatorial Dem primary): “I’m afraid this will hand the election over to Arnold.” What is she referring to? That would be the nasty and snotty campaigns run by both candidates against each other where she further said: “I’m afraid the Democrats eat their young.”

Perhaps people will also express their true feelings about negative campaigns embracing personal (instead of issue) attacks.

The potential trends I’m beginning to identify:

• A weariness of the electorate for negative campaigns;
• A weariness of the electorate to tax themselves;

Opinions and thoughts?

BZ

I’m back from vacation and sorry to see it end.

Time Passes Too Swiftly

The past three weeks seemed to pass as three seconds. I am told time perception is a matter of metabolism — and I’m wishing I had my 10-year-old’s metabolism back. That is to say, allegedly, when you’re young your metabolism is running at fever pitch and time seems to drag and drag.

Now, at “over 50” shall we say, the days pass like lightning strikes.

Does it seem that way for you as well?

At this point it’s Sunday afternoon, the wind is blowing outside my Sierra window and it’s 78 degrees (whilst 90+ in Sacratomato, Fornicalia — where I’ll be reporting for work tomorrow — heavy sigh). At least I had some time to decompress at home, unpack, do wash, clean the deck and enjoy the wafting pines. I came back to massive green deposits of new fir and pine pollen coating everything in sight — as well as evidence it had rained in my absence; the green garden cart was full of water.

This has certainly been an interesting past year in terms of the weather. Last Saturday, May 27th, I got back briefly from Southern Fornicalia early in the morning to 32 degree temperatures and falling snowflakes! On May 27th I started a fire in my stove that night!

Where I Went And What I Did

Boring to some, sorry, but I at least have some recommendations for places to stay on the Fornicalia coast.

First, I went to Long Beach to watch my fiance graduate from the University of Fornicalia, Long Beach (UCLB), with her Masters Degree following two long and difficult years of taking extension courses in Sacratomato. We had one dinner in Buena Park at Medieval Times — a hokey place but, actually, entertaining nevertheless. The show was interesting and the horsemanship was exquisite. We also spent the day at the Universal Studios park which was much more entertaining and engaging than I would have thought. Wish I’d had time to take the formal tour of the lot itself.

Last week I reserved a room at the Beachcomber Motel in Fort Bragg so we could take in the Fornicalia coast and, more specifically, Highway One. We had a huge second story room with a wonderful and complete view of the Pacific Ocean and a set of cypress trees adjacent the cliffs (ask for room 232!). I ordered the room with the fireplace, king bed, full sized hot tub (in the room) and private deck with its own stairs down to the trails leading to the beach. This was a wonderful motel, and the hot tub — well, I don’t have one at home so we used it a lot. The tub’s jets were much quieter than I would have imagined.

I also got my honey a full 90-minute “Masters Graduation” massage at the Bamboo Garden Spa in Fort Bragg, after the Mendocino Massage spa in the town of Mendocino stood me up and decided not to return my call; I suppose they weren’t interested in the $200+ I was willing to spend in their business. The Bamboo Garden Spa, however, was interested in making a couples deep-tissue massage arrangement and, I must admit, it was clearly the best massage I’ve had yet! Perhaps things happen for a reason! In the area? I would recommend it highly! And, I will be back!

Two places we stopped to visit on our journey — and two places we’ll be staying in the future?

One was the Timber Cove Inn near Jenner, Fornicalia — also directly on the Pacific Ocean. This place had my attention from the moment we hit the parking lot. The huge fireplace in its grand room, the bar, the rooms — one very nice man at the bar took quite some time to explain the inn to us and its benefits and attractions. The whole place is constructed from rough-hewn timbers and combines a rustic effect with massive amounts of class. The bartender spoke of the two kinds of return customers they encounter: those who come to watch the crashing 35-foot winter waves during the off-season, and those who take rooms to view the annual coastal whale migrations in February and March. This inn will be in my future late this year or early next.

The second place my honey and I will be staying is the North Cliff Hotel in Fort Bragg. Though the website isn’t much to see, the motel and its rooms certainly are. When they say that “all rooms have a view” they aren’t kidding. The concierge at the desk was kind enough to provide us with a key to an empty room (103, on one of the lowest levels) and said “Go look at a room. Take your time.” That, in and of itself, was impressive enough. The room we saw was stunning and the attention to detail was evident. Soft fuzzy white robes hung in the closet; a Jacuzzi tub adjacent a picture window to the Pacific Ocean; a fireplace next to the tub; a private and segregated balcony unenterable from the next; microwave, coffeemaker, refrigerator, fully stocked bathroom, beautiful glass shower stall with multiple fixtures; provided hair dryers; continental breakfasts delivered to your bedside — and for a price that I recently paid for the Beachcomber. This place is in my immediate future.

Thinking: I Am One Lucky Guy

That I am. Thankful for having a beautiful woman in my life, a mountain home, a consistent job with benefits, lead in my pencil, the ability to walk upright when I wish, the freedoms that living in America provides, the serendipity to take my woman, a car, and visit what I wish, when I wish, for whatever reason(s) I wish, at any time.

And the ability to realize just what a wonderful nation it is that I inhabit.

And why, precisely because of that, this nation deserves to survive, thrive and defend itself.

God bless America.

BZ

____________________________

P.S.
I took close to a thousand photographs of my recent trips, archived on Sony Memory Sticks. Yes, I can be a bit overwhelming with my interest in photography. It was a massive undertaking just to whittle down my photos to the one you see here. It drove me nuts to limit my vacation photos but — there you have it. I had to GTFOI.

Except that Blogger won’t let me publish a photo now. Guess I’ll have to try to attach a photo later — dammit, Jim!

If you’re President George Bush or another so-called Globalist, perhaps you’re wondering, at best, why we might need a Northern Border.

Certainly, it’s clear that only racists would demand and call for distinct and enforced southern borders.

And, naturally, should we open — ooops, sorry, I meant to write “continue to open” — our southern borders, shouldn’t we likewise open our northern borders as well? After all, that would be the very height of racial insensitivity were we to close only one country to our royal jewels and cash reserves!

Because, as we all know, those who would even remotely intimate that terrorist factions such as Al Qaeda would ever attempt to cross our southern or northern borders to harm these United States — well, those people would clearly be Moonbats, would they not?

Sealing our national borders isn’t about terrorism! It’s simply about holding down the poor and the downtrodden!

Every person who wishes to enter this country only has good intentions held in their hearts or, as Jean Rohe, the rude and self-absorbed student speaker at the New School’s Friday May 19th commencement featuring Senator John McCain, declared: “We have nothing to fear from anyone on this living planet.“

And so it is, Boys and Girls, with all aspects of a Leftie’s Life.

Yes. Heavy sigh. There are actually people that stupid (Aside: imagine how her parents must feel after having spent thousands and thousands of dollars for her so-called “higher education.” I submit the cash would have been better spent on pizza, pornos and a personal guided tour of the UN).

Back to the border. Why not open up everything — north and south?

How about this:

By BETH DUFF-BROWN, Associated Press Writer
TORONTO
Canadian police foiled a homegrown terrorist attack by arresting 17 suspects, apparently inspired by al-Qaida, who obtained three times the amount of explosives used in the Oklahoma City bombing, officials said Saturday.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrested the suspects, ages 43 to 19, on terrorism charges including plotting attacks with explosives on Canadian targets. The suspects were either citizens or residents of Canada and had trained together, police said.

Looks like the Canucks have their own share of issues.

And so do we — do what I call the “logical extension” — on our northern borders.

D’ya think Al Qaeda might want to revisit some violent acts on sovereign US soil? Maybe?

BZ