THEY DID WHAT?!

(Collegiate Times -- Hard Copy)













Oh. Never mind. (On-line version).

The Bush Revolution continues in the Middle East

Pro-democracy protests in Bahrain.

Meanwhile, for the second year in a row, Roanoke Times editor Dan Radmacher recycled his Arizona Diet Green Tea bottles and felt very good about himself. No cutting and running for him, no sir.

The undiapered leavings of incontinent minds

A Roanoke Times editorial this morning addresses proposed troop withdrawals from Iraq. It's title is "Cutting and running is the worst option."

Cutting and running. Think about the sheer pettiness of the mind that composed that title. For over two years now, George Bush has shown himself willing to stick to his guns in Iraq and "stay the course," as his father was wont to say. His concern for the well-being of American troops is undoubted by all fair-minded citizens. While there has been honest debate about the correctness of Bush's response, no one but rank, hateful partisans question that after 9/11 his main goal has been to uphold his oath "to protect and defend the United States."

Meanwhile, the Roanoke Times has does everything it can, in both its editorial pages and news pages, to undermine, mock, belittle, denigrate, insult, disparage, and smear Bush's efforts. When he visited Iraq in Thanksgiving 2003, the Times called him a turkey. The following Memorial Day, it defiled the memory of our dead by using the day for an editorial attacking George Bush. A few days prior to the 2004 U.S. Presidential election, the Times ran a bogus report that the Iraq invasion may have caused hundreds of thousands of deaths. The day before the Iraq elections the Times headline blared that "panic" reined in the streets of Baghdad. Subsequent editorials have accused the Bush administration of deliberately cutting Veterans benefits, of using the war to enrich friendly corporations, and of embarking on a torture campaign equal to the gulags of Russia. The Roanoke Times pages serve as a case study for a news and editorial staff that have lost their moral compass.

Is it any wonder that most Southwest Virginians who still take the Times open it in the morning with all the pleasure of changing the day's first diaper?

Proving you can take it with you

Recent polling showing gains by Tim Kaine prompt Elbert and Myrtle Payne to face the Kelo decision proactively. 

"Over There" is way out there

A friend of mine, a retired Army Special Forces sergeant, sent the following to a few of us last night.

I am about halfway through watching a show on FX called "Over
There". It has been hailed as the first war drama ever aired on TV while
the war was still going on. It is made by Steven Bochco, a big name
producer.
However I am warning all of y'all, this show is a stinker. It
puts the term "sucks" to a new level.
Think of every stereotype you ever heard from Viet Nam, and then
place it in Iraq. It has soldiers smoking dope, NCOs who hate their men,
Officers who try to kill their men, Generals who have no idea what to do,
the black guy who hates the army and thinks all the white guys are
against them, the dumb Southern boy, the highly educated Yankee boy who
waxes philosophy about what savages we truly are. The Black choir boy who
writes an anti-war song about how bad it is and that they are all being
killed over there (even though up to that point in the show none of them
had been killed). The soldiers then go off on their own to get liquor,
taking a truck and a HUMV, and then get blown up.
It was a doozy.
Don't watch it, and don't believe the hype that will most likely
follow. Its a stinker. I'm annoyed that I wasted an hour of my life on
it.

Seven nuclear devices already in the U.S.?

Want to feel your stomach churn? Read this at Protein Wisdom.

The hypocrisy of Bill Moyers, patron saint of the Roanoke Times

Remember Roanoke Times' editorial page editor Tommy Denton saying how Bill Moyers was one of his journalistic heroes? This would be a sad tale if not for Moyers' moralistic, self-righteous denunciations of the "abuse of power" by the Bush administration.

From The Wall Street Journal.

BY LAURENCE H. SILBERMAN
Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Only a few weeks before the 1964 election, a powerful presidential assistant, Walter Jenkins, was arrested in a men's room in Washington. Evidently, [President Johnson] was concerned that Barry Goldwater would use that against him in the election. Another assistant, Bill Moyers, was tasked to direct Hoover to do an investigation of Goldwater's staff to find similar evidence of homosexual activity. Mr. Moyers' memo to the FBI was in one of the files [I reviewed for the House Judiciary Committee].

When the press reported this, I received a call in my office from Mr. Moyers. Several of my assistants were with me. He was outraged; he claimed that this was another example of the Bureau salting its files with phony CIA memos. I was taken aback. I offered to conduct an investigation, which if his contention was correct, would lead me to publicly exonerate him. There was a pause on the line and then he said, "I was very young. How will I explain this to my children?" And then he rang off. I thought to myself that a number of the Watergate figures, some of whom the department was prosecuting, were very young, too...

I have always thought that the most heinous act in which a democratic government can engage is to use its law enforcement machinery for political ends.

(h/t to The Ombudsgod.)

Brave New World?

A letter from a Unitarian appears in the Roanoke Times today, expressing "empathy, love and support" to "the entire gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender community...and support of marriage equality." It reminded me of the joke, "What do you get when you cross a Unitarian with a Jehovah's Witness? Someone who wanders around the neighborhood knocking on doors, but they aren't sure why."

So, exactly how do you support marriage and bisexuality at the same time? Oh yeah, I forgot. We are redefining the whole thing.

Attention Hokies -- An edifice of ominous power

Go HERE and click on the stadium picture for slides of the on-going construction at Virginia Tech's Lane Stadium.

I passed this site several times today. The web pictures don't do the new stadium justice. When you are standing in its shadow, you sense an ominous power. Let me repeat that -- an OMINOUS ("having the character of an evil omen; threatening; sinister") POWER ("the ability to control others; authority; sway").

The structure is not asthetically pleasing. Instead, it's scary -- a true "House of Pain." Visiting teams will look out their bus windows, see the fortress-like walls looming over them, and hear the Blacksburg wind whisper their fate --- "doom, Doom, DOOM, DOOOOOM!"

You can bet on it.

82% of all African American births [in Richmond] are to single mothers?

I read this over at "River City Rapids."

Eighty-two percent? In Richmond?

Good golly. I thought we were making progress on this. Apropos of the Roanoke Times' frequently expressed desire for higher taxes and more government services, I found a webpage (the pdf file of which I cannot access) which says 23% of Virginia children are enrolled in Medicaid. How much of this is paid by the state? Because if it pays a big part, we must be looking at a huge budget for indigent child care, not to mention other strands of the "safety net."

So maybe Roanoke Times' columnist Shanna Flowers should worry less about crazy white girls ("the Runaway Bride") falsely accusing minorities of rape and more about black girls just giving it up for free.

And it couldn't hurt, Shanna, if you'd show even a slight disapproval of running off to the islands to "get your groove back." 'Cause, honey, over in Richmond, a girl can come back with a lot more "in tow" than a false lover.

Remember this? "Diversity" can kill

The London bombings have certainly got us on the edge of our seats here in the U.S., don't they? I can only imagine the tension of the metro riders as they climb into those packed tubes up around D.C.

You can't watch the random searches of blonde-haired, blue-eyed subway riders in New York and not think maybe it's time to stop thinking of dark-skinned, foreign-looking people as privileged victims, and start thinking of them as our equals. You know, equally concerned with human life and getting the hell blown up.

Maybe it's time to remember the story of the woman who could have stopped Mohammad Atta and maybe 9/11.

More here.

Either we win or they do

A few days ago, the Roanoke Times ran a self-serving editorial proclaiming:

The most compelling argument for the patriotism inherent in criticism is this: If the administration had heeded some of its critics, the nation could be in far better shape in Iraq and the fight against terrorism.

This is fine, but it's a thin veil for the kind of rabid anti-Bush rhetoric and slanted wire-story selection that flows off the Roanoke Times pages.

This comment on a thread at protein wisdom perfectly explains the bottom line to Bush-haters like those on the Roanoke Times editorial board.

Citizen Journalist:

I’m skipping most of the comments because I want to talk to you directly, right now.

I don’t CARE whether the Leftists [who are demanding timetables for withdrawal, or equating our military troops to Nazis and Pol Pot, or marching in the street with giant puppets of Bu$Hitler] have “pure motives” or are operating in “good faith.”

There may have been legitimate debatable reasons to oppose the invasion of Iraq BEFORE IT HAPPENED. Now, to do so, is immoral and indecent. We are in a war and you have but two choices. America and the Iraqi people win, or the Islamists do. And every thing Leftists do to undercut the American effort is a choice that American loses.

Even Charles Lindbergh, who crossed the country giving speeches that American was being “tricked” into war by a conspiracy formed by FDR, England and Jews (now doesn’t THAT sound familiar!) had the common decency to shut the f*ck up after Pearl Harbor.

Why don’t you do the same.

The media lies, our men die

I know that the war my men and I fought is a totally different war than the one I see being reported by almost the entire media.

A terrific letter from a soldier back from Iraq -- at small dead animals.

How many homicide bombers have been whipped into action by the media's focus on
Abu Ghraib and Gitmo? How many killers have been encouraged by editorials like the one written by the Roanoke Times, referring to George Bush as "a turkey?" There is no way of calculating the exact number of dead, but only a fool would deny a connection. And somewhere along the line, the media have made the conscious decision to bet the lives of soldiers and civilians against their desire to damage the Bush administration.

When the history of the War on Terror is one day written, the role of a self-centered, preening media consumed with blind hatred will provide one of its most interesting and tragic chapters. And the chapter will not be titled "Their Finest Hour."

Write the Roanoke Times' advertisers, not their editors

Want the Roanoke Times to really hear you? American Digest tells you how.

Quit Being a Chump and Start Being Effective: Here's How to Make Your Views Matter to the Mass Media.

Tim Kaine and religion -- "Please, Lord, bless all the starving pygmyies"

"[Bill Clinton's] point was that Democrats can’t win the presidency if they don’t campaign earnestly among churchgoing Christians—he noted that he got 75 percent more Evangelical votes in 1996 than John Kerry did in 2004."

(Report on Clinton at the Aspen Institute’s first annual weeklong Ideas Festival.)

"I'm not going to change my religious views to get elected to public office," Kaine said. "And I won't let anyone push me around for my religious views."

(Tim Kaine interviewed after Saturday's debate with Jerry Kilgore.)


Watching Tim Kaine defend his "religious views" after the Kilgore/Kaine "debate," I couldn't help but think of a recent visit Tim Kaine paid to Floyd County, Virginia, a jurisdiction with one stoplight and so far back in the woods you have to pump in daylight.

It's not that the visit couldn't have been productive. After all, the wine and cheese festival crowd which Kaine visited are a likely demographic for a liberal Democrat. What was odd was that Kaine, fresh off what some called his public "meltdown" at the Salem Fair the day before, didn't seem to know where he was, or who he was talking to. A reporter from the Floyd Press wrote:

The Lt. Governor was asked what he wanted citizens to know about him both as a man and as a candidate. He replied that he had been a missionary in Honduras... At which point the crowd looked down at their brie and swirled their wine while murmuring polite little hobbit noises.

Actually, I made up that last sentence, because it sorta fit. After all, this was a wine festival crowd, not the regulars at the Tuggles Gap diner a few miles down the road. All I can figure is Tim's missionary service is included in the talking points he spouts regardless of where he is and who he's talking to. Either that or he looked around, saw mountains and trees, muttered, "Toto, we're not in Richmond any more," and said what he thought would mollify the natives. Kaine's awkwardness stood in stark contrast to the country fair atmosphere of Governor Warner's visit only days later.

But seriously, does it seem to anyone else that Kaine tries to shoehorn his religiosity into political conversation at odd moments? He did so at the wine festival and he did so after the aforementioned debate. Likewise, in an interview in February he responded to a question: "Who's the last person you wrote a letter to?" "A missionary in Honduras." Add those things to the television campaign add where Kaine says, "As a missionary in South America I learned that life is sacred," and you've got to be intrigued.

Kaine began speaking about the issue of faith early in the campaign, back in February:

"Kaine, in addressing about 1,000 people at the party's annual Jefferson-Jackson fund-raising dinner, said he would not tolerate attacks on his Roman Catholic faith nor would he condone Democratic attacks on the Religious Right.

"I will never cede to any other party or any other candidate the label of the faith and values party, because Democrats are about faith and values," Kaine said.

"Sometimes our candidates have trashed the religious right, when what we meant to trash is a bad idea," he said, prompting more than a few hard-core Democrats to squirm in their seats. "We should never, never label people who are from the religious right."

And shortly thereafter, Kaine told the American Prospect:

"The second thing that Democrats have to do better on is not attacking the 'religious right.' I think that has been a standard bogeyman that Democrats have often used in campaigns, including campaigns in Virginia. If somebody advances an idea or position that's wrong, then attack them for having a bad idea. But they are not wrong because they are religious. When Democrats kind of cavalierly attack the religious right or go after Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell, our candidates have sent the signal to a lot of religious people, 'Well, I guess they are not interested in me.'"

So far, this is fine, even positive. There is certainly nothing wrong in a candidate's grounding his principles in his faith. We often hear of how important George Bush's faith is to him. Wasn't it Bush who, in the 2000 campaign, named Jesus Christ as the most important person in his life? And Republicans and conservatives certainly don't have a lock on religious convictions.

The side of me that dislikes cynicism whispers that Tim Kaine may very well be a sincere Christian who honestly dislikes the growing anti-religious element that increasingly controls his party. Perhaps Kaine was uncomfortable with the MoveOn representatives that came from out-of-state to help his campaign effort at Virginia's shad planking. It's well-known that one of MoveOn major contributors is billionaire George Soros, whose hatred for George Bush derives partly from his contempt for religion. We'd naturally expect a religious person to be uncomfortable with Soros as a bed-fellow. Maybe Kaine's religion talk is a brave attempt to recapture his party and make common-cause with religious conservatives.

The Washington Post, however, offered a more cynical analysis:

"Kaine, an observant Roman Catholic, has apparently decided to compete directly for the religious vote with his likely opponent, former attorney general Jerry W. Kilgore (R). His advisers think the faith issue plays well in regions where Democrats traditionally do poorly -- the southwest and Hampton Roads. They also see Kaine's faith as a shield against his position on the death penalty, which he opposes but pledges to enforce.

The religion strategy should come as no surprise. Kaine has been telegraphing that part of his campaign at every opportunity."

"Religion strategy?"

Wait a minute... Now that they mention it, there is an eerie similarity between Kaine's "my religion" statements and John Kerry's emphasis on his military service during the Presidential campaign. Remember how Kerry attempted to inoculate himself against criticism of his anti-war protests by highlighting his Vietnam service? Remember how Kerry cried "How dare you question my patriotism!" at every mention of his anti-military voting record? Now Tim Kaine cries "Stop attacking my religious beliefs!" at every mention of his liberal political stances. Not only did he do so after the debate, but in an earlier skirmish where Kilgore asked whether Kaine, with respect to the death penalty, would follow his conscience or his oath as governor, Kaine responded by saying, "So are we saying that people with strong religious beliefs who take oaths of office can't be trusted to mean what they say when they utter that oath? I would hope not."

That response, of course, does indeed sound like a "strategy," not an answer.

Unfortunately for Kaine, it's not just Kilgore asking such questions.

As Washington Post reporter Melanie Scarborough wrote:

Kaine says that his Catholic faith leads him to oppose both abortion and the death penalty but that he would not, as governor, try to thwart either practice. Why not?

Kaine’s opposition to the death penalty dates from his days as a law student. What sort of person spends his adult life campaigning against the death penalty, but — if given the power to commute death sentences — would decline to use it?

Either Kaine’s beliefs are not strongly held, or he is being disingenuous.

Not strongly held, or disingenous? I don't know, but the more I hear Kaine talk about his religious faith, the more he sounds like Larry the Cable Guy talking about starvin' pygmyies. And friends, that won't get 'er done.

Free John Muhammad

One of the most contentious exchanges at last Saturday's gubernatorial debate concerned Tim Kaine's opposition to the death penalty, specifically as it related to gang-related assassinations. Jerry Kilgore pointed out the law says the governor can commute death sentences for virtually no reason at all. He asked if Tim Kaine would take advantage of that power to follow his personal convictions against the death penalty.

Now, Salt Lick is not smart about such things, but doesn’t the War on Terrorism also bear mentioning here? Remember a fellow named John Muhammad, the D.C. sniper? He was convicted and sentenced to death by a Virginia jury. I presume this means he will be executed in a Virginia prison.

Would Tim Kaine be opposed to Muhammad's execution? And I'm not just talking about whether, if Kaine becomes governor, he'd commute Muhammad's sentence to life. What I want to know is if Kaine opposes the death penalty for the types of baby-killer terrorists we see routinely on our televisions. Does Kaine consider their lives "sacred?" Or will Kaine, like John Kerry, decide to make a death penalty exception for terrorists as the election, and the war, continues?

I'd like to know. Because I don't want someone like John Muhammad spending the rest of his life suffering in our inhumane Gitmo-like prisons. That's cruel. Almost like a persistent vegetative state.

We were at war and didn't know it

The next time someone tells you our invasion of Iraq caused terrorism, direct them to this site and these pictures.

A first in Virginia newspaper history?

I was visiting WikiRoanoke and blundered into what may very well be the first podcasting journal devoted to critiquing a regional newspaper -- in this case, The Roanoke Times.

Listening to the podcast, I was delighted to hear that "RoanokeJournal Podcast" intends in its next program/cast to examine some of the Salt Lick's discoveries regarding the sources of liberal bias at the Roanoke Times. What a surprise. Bill, I will try to post a "Table of Contents" to these posts this weekend.

Go here to listen.

At least he's not blind

I doubt they're letting new editorial page member Luanne Traud write editorials by herself yet, but I wonder if we aren't seeing her moderating influence in the Roanoke Times' less than hysterical, even measured, response to the nomination of John Roberts for the Supreme Court.

"...nothing so far marks him as a blind ideologue...Democrats will only erode their credibility if they leap to negative conclusions without a thorough and honest examination of Roberts' record."

Then again, maybe it's just that weak circulation numbers have taught the old staff some lessons about yellow journalism and eroded credibility.

I just hope he's housebroken

A new mutt wandered into the blogohood and I just had to take him in. (Added to the bottom of my Virginia blogroll.)

Of Angels and Bombs

I recently added Michael Yon's Iraq theater of action blog to my blogroll. Go read the last two posts and you will, too.

Lots of pictures.

"Toys R Us" suspends sales of "Hooked on Phonics" toys

-- says it will rename all inner-city stores "We B Toys."

Michael Sluss does a good job

Old Salt Lick doesn't know much about politics beyond what the other fellows on the loafer's bench downtown tell him, but it seems to him that Roanoke Times reporter Michael Sluss does a good job of reporting, not interpreting Virginia's political news to us.

Keep it up, son. At the Roanoke Times you must feel like the last kernel of corn in a barrel of rat turds.

Separated at birth?

Baghdad Bob -- "No, no, my friends. I swear to you. The American infidels never left Kuwait. Those sounds are the sewers exploding. Happens all the time."










Winchester Russ: "In the last months of this election, this election will be between Tim Kaine and Russ Potts."

1998 ABC video documenting Terrorist/Iraq connections

At Power Line.

Stunning.

But prompting the question -- "If a car bomber blows up children, but Bill Clinton isn't president, is the killer a terrorist, or an 'insurgent?'"

More Highway 11 -- I didn't ask if this one is "fireproof"

Dogwood Lodge -- Lee Highway 

For years I've driven past the Dogwood Motel on U.S. 11, Lee Highway, just outside of Radford, and thought of taking a room. And all because of this sign. Isn't this a great sign? It must have been quite an investment in the days when U.S. 11 was an important highway. I love these old pre-chain motels and their individuality.

A few weeks ago, I finally stopped in on the Dogwood, hoping to score a postcard from days gone by. Entering the office, I instantly realized from the smell of incense and pictures of a safron-garbed swami on the wall that I was in a "Potel," a motel owned and run by Asian Indians.

Did you know that Asian Indians own approximately 50% of the motels in the United States? The early entrepeneurs mostly bore the name "Patel," an Indian surname as common as "Jones." Thus, the name "potel" for "motel." Their rise is a great success story based on family ties and hard work. America, land of opportunity.

My wife and I, stuck in our nostalgic Peace Corps traveling days, began taking rooms in potels long ago when they were at the low-end of luxury. It reminded us of traveling in Africa and Asia where Indian entrepeneurs run so many motels. At one potel in Mississippi, we smelled curry in the air (curry in Mississippi -- is this a great country or what?) and told the owner-operators we'd like to buy a meal off of them. They were so delighted they prepared a feast for us.

A bit too much curry, though. Afterwards, I was wishing I was "fireproof."

More info on the Indian community in America.

UPDATE: Mrs. Salt says "saffron" is spelled with two "f's" and that it's important to note the Patels are Gujaratis, well-known for their entrepeneurial talents in East Africa and elsewhere. Many were run out of Tanzania when "forward thinking" socialist President Julius Nyerere appropriated their businesses.

"Super City" forming in SW Virginia?

Jethro says if this is true, he plans to be the "Superman of the Hills."

Breaking up the "Virginia jihad network"

Yes, we've got 'em here."

Molly Ivins tries to refill the hole

Roanoke Times editor Tommy Denton's favorite good 'ol girl Molly Ivins tries to cover up her Bush McHitlerburton exaggerations at Michele Malkin.

Might want to borrow her shovel, Tommy.

Republicans call for state amendment to limit eminent domain

I didn't see this statement discussed in the blogosphere much yesterday. I think it's noteworthy that while candidates of both parties have criticized the Kelo decision, it's the Republicans who seem most pro-active about limiting it and protecting property rights.

Roanoke Times helps Warner prepare for 2008

Unfortunately, you can't see the FOUR BIG PICTURES of Governor Warner that accompanied the hardcopy version of this love note to Mark Warner. I had to smile at this, having been told just yesterday by a gay Democratic-activist moonbat friend that he wants Mark Warner for his party's next Presidential candidate.

From his lips to the Roanoke Times' ears.

Karl Rove deserves an award

The Roanoke Times is predictably calling Bush McHitlerburton's aide Karl Rove to resign.

I can't find a better antidote to RT poison than Power Line's take on this.

More insight into the Roanoke Times

Remember the Roanoke Times editorial staff citing Julianne Malveaux as an authority for one of its opinions?

Ms. Malveaux is back in the news, calling George Bush "a terrorist" and America "a terrorist nation."

No, Howard, when Jesus returns he won't bring toys

Tommy Denton's favorite Religious Left leader says Democratic National Committee Chairman "Howard Dean doesn't understand religion very much."

Church people
"As if mouthy Howard Dean didn't have enough troubles, now comes a left-leaning evangelical, much in demand by the Democratic Party, telling the party boss to shut up about religion," Paul Bedard writes in the Washington Whispers column of U.S. News & World Report.
"'Dean doesn't understand religion very much,' says Jim Wallis, who has advised many Democratic leaders. He meets with Dean this week as part of the chairman's effort to woo the church-going crowd," Mr. Bedard said.
"Now promoting his book 'God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It,' Wallis says he'll tell Dean not to fake it on religion. 'The worst thing people could do is be inauthentic,' he says.

(h/t Ankle Biting Pundits.)













Dean shocks the Southern Baptist Convention by "reaching out" with his innovative "hard rock baptism."

Lost and Found -- thoughts for a sabbath

THE CLASSICAL THEMES of art have always been -- virtue, nobility, patriotism.

Since I practiced none of these in my youth, and throughout much of my career worked actively or passively to undermine them, I came -- at last -- to yearn to discover what they could possibly be in this blighted age...

Since the beginning of this century, the more I surveyed the vast and troubled social sea on which I had finally awakened adrift with the rest of the wreckage, the more I saw that these virtues -- in a shriveled and shrunken form -- seemed only to be found in the scattered sanctuaries of the Church and what remained to the Republican Party. But looking long at both these institutions I found I could not fit in either one or the other or some amalgam of both.

Gerard Van der Leun, American Digest.

Daily Kos purges moonbats -- this is not a joke

Just as William F. Buckley saved the conservative movement by condemning anti-Semites, perhaps more actions like this could save liberalism from irrelevancy.

(h/t Small Dead Animals

Ms. Luanne Traud -- recent addition to the Roanoke Times editorial staff

See? She does look a bit like MoDo (Actually, this picture is from her old newspaper, the Uniontown, PA Herald Standard. This is how she looks now).

My apologies, but I'm breaking my promise to provide a write-up on Ms. Traud today. Too much going on at the Salt Lick.

But I do promise, however, that Luanne's a reasonable liberal, a huge improvement for the Roanoke Times. And I'll get Jethro to working overtime on showing that to you soon.

Musical "tag" blogging

Old Salt Lick was slow to understand what Florida Cracker was doing when she "tagged" him for musical Q & A. Lordy, I only own one CD player (that runs on a converter off the cassette player in my car), and I don't buy much music these days. Nevertheless, here goes:

1. Total volume of music files on my computer: 0
2. Last CD I bought: Bob Dylan -- Live 1966
3. Song Playing Right Now: Nothing
4. Five Songs (or Albums) I listen to a lot or that move me:

-- Blonde on Blonde -- Dylan
-- Remember When -- Alan Jackson
-- Red, White & Blue -- Toby Keith
-- Softly, Tenderly (Jesus is Calling) -- Cynthia Clawson version from "Trip to Bountiful"
-- Lead me to that rock -- Stephen Hill

5. Tag 3 others:

-- Commonwealth Conservative.
-- Southern Conservative.
-- The Spacecraft.

I feel so inadequate. I'm going to buy some CD's today and download some tunes. Maybe that Allman Brothers anthology I've been thinking about.

Blogs that watchdog the MainStream Media

Sharing with neighbors is an important tradition out here in the country, so Salt Lick has posted a bloglist of sites devoted to watchdogging and cataloguing the bias of the High Priests of the MainStream Media (see The Salt Lick's right-hand column under "Journalism Watch blogs.")

Speaking Truth to Power -- in minutes. What an amazing revolution.

It really is a war

Never forget.

The finest on-the-ground Iraq reporting available

If you want to stay in touch with what our troops are experiencing in Iraq, Soldier Michael Yon's daily combat blog reads like the modern version of "Band of Brothers."

Here's an excerpt about the aftermath of an IED (improvised explosive device):

"Whenever we gather up at the scene of an IED, I expect every moment to be when the car bomb will drive into us. Time for the secondary IEDs to explode. Now come the machine guns. Any second now, those mortars should be coming in. RPGs. Nothing happens.

They set the plan and we mount up, and I pull my seat belt on, then take it off again. We drive across the dirt median--this is where the land mine will explode --nothing happens. I put the seat belt back on. We leave the road--this is where the real ambush kicks off . . . I unsnap the seat belt . . . the enemy probably let themselves be seen knowing we would come 'round to attack them. Nothing happens.

We ride off and partially envelope the suspect area--there are probably bombs under and around us --nothing happens. We move to different locations--mortars should be dropping any second. Nothing happens....

We keep pushing back further into farmland, and sure enough, the 3rd ID guys flush a suspicious car that starts evading. We drive down treacherous canal roads where one slip on the wheel and we'd slide down to the same watery end that has met many a soldier in Iraq, but luckily, the man at the wheel of my Humvee, SGT Mahoney, is a very good driver. But I start un-strapping combat gear in case there is a swimming drama around the next curve. Seat belt on or seat belt off? I snap and unsnap it without looking.

The 3rd ID guys are talking on the headset that the suspect car got away, but they see a group of kids up ahead. Keep scanning out the window. They stop at a little house and give some treats to the kids, then head back to the road to Baghdad.

Next day, CSM Mellinger told me that seven people had been found shot to death in a car just near the IED, and he said, "Sometimes you get the chicken, sometimes you get the feathers."

"Bush probably ordered the London bombings..."

Every now and again, I wade into websites like the Democratic Underground to remind myself that Democrats must never, ever, be allowed to regain control of our government so long as the War on Terror is ongoing.

Roanoke Times issues "apology"

The Roanoke Times editorial board apologizes today for its nationally recognized substandard reporting on last month's "hate crime" in Blacksburg, Virginia. These paragraphs in the "apology" say worlds about the editorial staff:

When some prominent religious and national leaders insist on sowing fear of all things Muslim, linking all to terrorists, their followers tend to react in kind.

And when news stories report that Muslims were offended when U.S. agents desecrated Qurans to entice Iraqi prisoners to cooperate, it is easy to think "copy cat" when burned Qurans turn up at a neighborhood mosque.

I guess it's better than the "Twinkie Defense."

(New editorial staff member Luann Traud must be wondering what she's gotten herself into. We'll offer readers some information on Ms. Traud this weekend. Don't worry, she may look like Maureen Dowd, but she's not quite that bad.)

They can't hit a moving target

Despite assurances from all Virginia gubernatorial candidates, Jimmy Hatfield tells governments state and local to "kiss my *ss," and finds a way to avoid the ramifications of the Kelo decision. "Of course, I'll have to give up blogging, but I'd have probably just had to kick somebody's butt sooner or later."  

More on Kelo and Virginia politics here. (hat tip to Commonwealth Conservative.)

Thoughts of a wounded soldier on George Bush

Like so much of America's political left these days, the Roanoke Times is rarely satisfied with merely arguing against George Bush's policies. Instead, the Times' staff wants its readers to believe that Bush McHitlerburton is an unfeeling, evil man who deliberately misleads the public and intentionally cuts soldiers' benefits.

Take, for instance, the Times' response to Bush's speech to soldiers at Fort Bragg about a week ago.

Bush told the military audience, "...Amid all this violence, I know Americans ask the question: Is the sacrifice worth it?" The president says it is. Wounded soldiers, receiving rationed care, and who realize they were misled, may be forgiven for not answering the same.

Coincidentally, here's what one wounded soldier said just days later:

"You can talk about our President, his politics, and his family, but you can never talk about his character. I met him face-to-face today and I will protect him as well as I protect my own."

(Med-evacuated to the states, the soldier also writes "Great, now I'm surrounded by a bunch of Virginians!")

Anyone with friends in the military knows George Bush is admired, often even loved, by our soldiers. The Roanoke Times' attempt to drive a wedge between these men and women and Bush is the lowest form of yellow journalism. Sadly, it's what we've come to expect.

More at Michelle Malkin.

Koran burned in Blacksburg, VA -- by a Muslim

Want to see a textbook case of the kind of media hysteria and journalistic malpractice that is inflaming jihad? Look no further than the Roanoke Times' irresponsibile reporting of this incident.

This would never have happened if the Roanoke Times staff were more intellectually balanced. Bush Derangement Syndrome strikes again. And it's killing American troops.

UPDATE: The Spacecraft offers links to past hasty coverage of this controversy which Salt Lick, presently limited to dial-up, did not have time to link.

UPDATE: Links at Michelle Malkin on Blacksburg's non-existent "hate crime."

Roanoke Times' favorite good ol' girl does the math

Remember how much Roanoke Times' editor Tommy Denton likes to quote his fellow Texan and former Fort Worth Star-Telegram co-worker Molly Ivins?

Well, good ol' girl Molly
tells us:

I think we have created more terrorists than we faced to start with and that our good name has been sullied. I think we have alienated our allies and have killed more Iraqis than Saddam Hussein ever did.

We've killed more than half a million people? Ruh, oh.

Michelle Malkin carries analysis of Molly Math here.

Watch how often the names of Molly Ivins, Bill Moyers, and Jim Wallis appear in the Roanoke Times. Think about what your mind would look like if you constantly read only these type commentators. And then imagine what goes on in a newsroom where everyone thinks the same. Then you'll understand the RT's lack of intellectual diversity, and its descent from professional newspaper to partisan tabloid.

Happy Fourth

"Rebellion? My dear woman, I know these colonials like the back of my hand. Once they understand the benefits of these taxes, they'll be grateful we're looking out for their best interests." 

How much of your Roanoke Times' subscription money goes to Tim Kaine?

Well, we've got all the standing water vaccumed up and are taking a newspaper and coffee break. And what does old Salt Lick spy? An article by Roanoke Times' political reporter Michael Sluss detailing charges by the Kaine campaign that Jerry Kilgore showed favoritism to a political donor when he was Attorney Kilgore. (I can't access the online RT. Guess they're blocking old Salt Lick again.)

Being only a CITIZEN JOURNALIST, Salt Lick doesn't know much about such big-time politics, but Kaine's charges do bring to mind Salt Lick's previous discovery ("Bias? Don't believe your lying eyes.") that Frank Batten, Sr, founder and present Chairman of the Executive Board of the Roanoke Times' parent company, Landmark Communications, donated $25,000 dollars to the Kaine campaign in 2004, before the governer's race officially began. And a quick check showed, lo and behold, that Batten donated another $25,000 to Kaine early this year.

Hmmm. Of course, it's not like Landmark CEO and former Carter White House employee Decker Anstrom donated money to Kaine. Or former Democratic press aide and Roanoke Times' editor Tommy Denton. Or former CNN producer and Roanoke Times' news editor Mike Riley.

But we all do what we can, don't we boys?

Water, water everywhere

Nothing like waking up to 2 inches of water in your basement, courtesy of a malfunctioning water-softener.

Blogging will be light at the old Salt Lick.

Club Gitmo -- the horror

I read this and ask, "Why can't the Richmond Times-Dispatch open a branch in Roanoke?"

For Darrell -- Pope John Paul II was a moron

"The [Polish Communist] regime's security paranoia could have its amusing aspects. Cardinal Wojtyla was skiing once in the Tatras near the Czechoslovak border and was stopped by a border patrol. The cardinal handed over his papers, but the militiaman, not recognizing him, began to berate Wojtyla: 'You moron, do you realize whose identity papers you've stolen? This is going to put you away for a long time.' When Wojtyla protested his innocence, the militiaman shot back, 'A skiing cardinal? Do you think I'm crazy?' Wojtyla, who was once asked whether it was becoming for a cardinal to ski and answered that it was unbecoming for a cardinal to ski badly, finally sorted things out with the militiaman's superior."

From "Witness to Hope," by George Weigel.

More history of Lee Highway -- U.S. 11 -- This motel is also "fireproof."

Greystone Motel 

"Greystone Motel & Coffee Shop. Located at City Limits on U.S. Highway 11E, Johnson City, Tennessee. New, Modern, and Fireproof. Phone 4259."