November 30, 2007
Candidates 'offering viagra for votes'
[INSERT YOUR CRUDE JOKE HERE]
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November 29, 2007
Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer is blocking the nomination of former GOP Rep. James E. Rogan to the federal bench, citing his lead role in the impeachment of former President Bill Clinton as one of her concerns.Her stance is angering Rogan allies who contend that Boxer is reneging on her support for a bipartisan commission set up in California that recommends judicial nominees to the White House. Boxer disputes that.
"U.S. Rep. Rogan was one of the most enthusiastic backers of impeachment — he thought President Clinton had committed high crimes and misdemeanors. The Senate certainly disagreed with that conclusion, as did Sen. Boxer," said Boxer's spokeswoman Natalie Ravitz.
Boxer also believes that Rogan's strongly conservative positions on gun control, abortion and other issues make him "out of step with California," Ravitz said.
Now just a minute -- since when are federal judges supposed to be "in step" with the politics of a certain state. I thought the expectation was for them to be "in step" with the Constitution of the United States. Is its Boxer's contention that we must impose a political litmus test on federal judges -- and, in the event that a Democrat wins the White House in 2008, that only conservative jurists "in step" with Texas be appointed to the bench in this very red state?
But more disturbing is her attempt to rehash the impeachment issue. I'd like to like Senator Hillary Clinton to speak out publicly on this issue.
MORE AT Michelle Malkin, The Sleuth
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,
Congressional auditors on Thursday challenged NASA's readiness to move ahead with development of the Ares I rocket that will propel the new Orion moonship into Earth orbit with astronauts.The $14.4 billion that NASA plans to spend on the craft's development may be inadequate based on the space agency's aggressive development schedule and technical risks, said a report by the General Accountability Office.
The agency's auditors urged the space agency to postpone plans for a key July 2008 design review of the rocket, if necessary, to remedy a list of 51 unknowns, including 31 issues considered high risk to the success of the program.
The milestone "preliminary design review" is intended to spur the project toward detailed planning.
This, of course, raises the question of whether or not we can meet the 2020 deadline for returning to Earth's nearest neighbor. And given the number of competitors out there, it also raises the question of whether or not the United States will be the first to return there. And with the space shuttle fleet less than thre years from retirement, this leaves the issue of manned space flight by the United States in question as well.
But then again, if Nancy Pelosi keeps holding up NASA funding legislation, we may not have a space program left.
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Most children of Hispanic immigrants in the United States learn to speak English well by the time they are adults, even though three-quarters of their parents speak mainly Spanish and do not have a command of English, according to a report released yesterday by the Pew Hispanic Center in Washington.Only 23 percent of first-generation immigrants from Spanish-speaking countries said they spoke English very well, the report found. But 88 percent of the members of the second generation in Latino immigrant families described themselves as strong English speakers, a figure that increased to 94 percent for the grandchildrenÂ’s generation.
“The ability to speak English and the likelihood of using it in everyday life rise sharply from Hispanic immigrants to their U.S.-born adult children,” the survey reported.
You could have gotten that data from any teacher in public schools. Of course our second and third generation Hispanic students speak better English than our first generation Hispanic students.
Indeed, that has been the pattern with EVERY immigrant group over the last 150-200 years.
What shocks me is that someone felt the need to conduct the study.
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What is great about the site? Well, other users seem genuine and fun, and come in all shapes and sizes and personalities. The forums are fun, everything from cerebral to fun to a bit on the risque side (no, not THAT risque), and looking through them you can see where folks are really developing relationships. And then there are the date suggestions – real ideas for you from other members who have found success – including date ideas from folks in your area involving local attractions. Not bad for a free site!
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Now if he will only admit he tried to railroad the Haditha marines for political purposes.
U.S. Rep. John Murtha today said he saw signs of military progress during a brief trip to Iraq last week, but he warned that Iraqis need to play a larger role in providing their own security and the Bush administration still must develop an exit strategy."I think the 'surge' is working," the Democrat said in a videoconference from his Johnstown office, describing the president's decision to commit more than 20,000 additional combat troops this year. But the Iraqis "have got to take care of themselves."
Violence has dropped significantly in recent months, but Mr. Murtha said he was most encouraged by changes in the once-volatile Anbar province, where locals have started working closely with U.S. forces to isolate insurgents linked to Al Qaeda.
He said Iraqis need to duplicate that success at the national level, but the central government in Baghdad is "dysfunctional."
In other words, he is saying what those of us in the conservative blogosphere have been saying for months. And while I agree with him tha there is more to be done by the Iraqi government, I think he's wrong on one point. That government is no more dysfunctional than the accomplishment-free Democrat-controlled Congress we have in this country.
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CelebrityContacts.com has a staff that has worked in entertainment for over 20 years. They’ve done the research, so they have the most accurate information for celebrity representatives and publicists. If you reach those folks, you’ll likely get that autograph or photo – and maybe even get that script read – if you use their service. There is no monthly fee or membership charge, and you only pay a small fee for when you get a contact address from CelebrityContacts.com.
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British teacher Gillian Gibbons has been convicted of inciting religious hatred for letting her pupils name a teddy bear Muhammad and sentenced to 15 days in prison and deportation from Sudan, one of her defense lawyers said Thursday."The judge found Gillian Gibbons guilty and sentenced her to 15 days jail and deportation," said Ali Mohammed Hajab, a member of her defense team.
And to prove how dhimmified the folks who run the school are, get this quote.
The director of the school employing Gibbons, however, noted that since she had already spent five days in prison, she would serve only 10 days."It's a very fair verdict, she could have had six months and lashes and a fine, and she only got 15 days and deportation," said Robert Boulos of the Unity High School, adding they would not appeal the decision.
This ignores, of course, that Gibbons had done nothing wrong – and that the “offense certainly does not merit any judicial notice.
But at least these Islamist swine didnÂ’t get their way.
A powerful Sudanese newspaper urged authorities to call a hardline Islamist leader linked to Osama bin Laden to give evidence at her trial, to stress how offensive the case was to Muslims.Extreme Islamic groups said Mrs Gibbons "must die" and urged Muslims to hold street protests after prayers tomorrow.
Yep, that sort of stuff is what they mean when they talk about the glorious, peaceful nature of Islam – kill someone over an inoffensive action. All in the name of defending the honor of their false prophet.
H/T Michelle Malkin, WinderKraut, A Blog For All, Liberty Papers
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An elderly widow is forking out £2,000 a month for drugs to stop her going blind - because the NHS won't fund them.Dorothy Robinson, 87, who suffers from neovascular macular degeneration, went blind in one eye four years ago after being told there was no treatment available on the NHS.
Now the great-grandmother has been warned she will lose sight in the other eye unless she receives injections to treat the condition. But the NHS in Cambridgeshire has said it will not fund them so Dorothy has put her hand in her own pocket.
Oh, that’s right – the last time Hildebeast attempted to impose government control it would have become illegal to pay for medical treatment. Someone like Mrs. Robinson would simply have to go blind.
Just say no to the Democrats and their plans to play with your health.
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The status quo is unacceptable.
Half of the nearly 3.5 million immigrants living in Texas are in the country illegally, the Center for Immigration Studies says in a report being released today.
Based on the latest Census Bureau data, the report said Texas has one of the fastest-growing immigrant populations of any state. It said that 50 percent of the state's foreign-born population — slightly more than 1.7 million people — are illegal immigrants. Only Arizona at 65 percent, North Carolina at 58 percent and Georgia at 53 percent had a higher proportion of illegal immigrants in their immigrant populations.
All sanctuary policies must be ended.
All public benefits must end.
Illegal employers of illegal aliens must be arrested , prosecuted, and jailed whenever possible.
End birthright citizenship for children of illegals.
No safe harbor. We have to turn up the heat so high that those in this country violating our nationÂ’s immigration laws depart on their own.
And let me say this loud and clear – every legal immigrant to this country is a welcome immigrant in my eyes. My only objection is to those who come to this country illegally. Only in the most unusual of cases should they ever be granted amnesty. And only after they have waited for their turn in a law-abiding fashion should those who return home and apply for a visa be granted legal admission to this country.
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But not this bad, at least not normally.
I confused two individuals in my memory, and really said some particularly negative things above. I was so certain that Linda Howell had been Gary Gillen's Party Secretary that I didn't go back to earlier articles to double check. I was wrong, as that position had, in fact, been filled by Nancy Porter. As such, I made made statements that should not have been made about Linda Howell. I sincerly apologize for my mistakes and the harsh words that followed.
This post has been appropriately amended to reflect my error.
I will strive to do better in the future.
Thank you, Chris, for pointing out my egregious error.
Despite the attempts of the previous leadership to decapitate an organization within which they had sown dissension, the Fort Bend GOP has selected new leaders and stands ready to face the future.
Fort Bend County Republicans elected an interim party chairman, secretary and treasurer to fill posts vacated earlier this month due to resignations.Rick Miller, was elected as the county Republican Party chairman Monday evening by a vote of the party's executive committee during a meeting at the Fort Bend County courthouse.
Miller defeated Linda Howell, who is currently the party's vice-chairman. Pat Hebert was elected secretary and Frank Hester was voted to the treasurer's position.
Howell’s attempt to gain the top spot is particularly amusing. After all, she is one of those who resigned, having spent the last 18 months serving as previous chair Garry Gillen’s lap dog. Had she ever opposed Gillen along the way, in particular by refusing to resign along with him, she might have stood a chance. However, what the party needs in Fort Bend County is not someone tarred by their association with Gary Gillen – especially not as the party faces multiple investigations due to possible malfeasance and violations of fiduciary obligations during the Gillen era.
MillerÂ’s observation after his election is a good one.
“We have to organize. We have to put things in the past behind us and move forward,” Miller said in remarks after his election as interim chairman. “We have to quit calling each other names, and writing things about each other that just aren’t appropriate.”
Indeed, this is advice that all Republicans need to follow.
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November 28, 2007
Sudan on Wednesday charged a British teacher with insulting religion and inciting hatred, a crime punishable by up to 40 lashes, six months in prison or a fine, after she named a class teddy bear "Muhammad."The charges come a day after a 7-year-old Sudanese boy said Gilliam Gibbons, 54, asked him as part of a school assignment what he wanted to call the stuffed animal and he said, 'Muhammad,' after his name.
It was harmless. It was innocent. Heck, it was even a little bit cute. But given the congenital state of offendedness in which these folks seem to operate, I guess we should not be surprised by the barbarous overreaction to the naming of a childÂ’s toy.
Oh, and I love the reaction of American feminists.
A spokeswoman for the National Organization for Women said the situation "is definintely on the radar, and N.O.W. is not ignoring it.
But she added that the U.S.-based organization is "not putting out a statement or taking a position."
In other words, they donÂ’t have the guts to issue the sort of condemnation these charges deserve. After all, it might present Muslims in an unflattering light, and make the West look reasonable and enlightened.
Over in England, though, someone sees the matter clearly and isnÂ’t afraid to say it.
Once again, secular people around the world are left reeling at the capacity of Islam to discern "insult" in the most innocuous behaviour. At one level, this sequence of events is preposterous; I'm sure there are plenty of genuine crimes to worry about in Sudan without wasting time pursuing a woman whose good intentions are manifest.But the significance of the case goes beyond the individuals concerned, highlighting aspects of Islam as it is currently practised in countries such as Sudan and Saudi Arabia – and promoted in some European mosques – which are incompatible with the modern world. One is the role of honour, which has repeatedly been used to legitimise furious over-reactions to everything from the naming of a toy to instances of women and gay people demanding autonomy over their bodies.
Ever since the outcry over The Satanic Verses nearly two decades ago, I have watched Muslim men (they almost always are men) use the claim that their honour has been insulted as an excuse for disgraceful and frequently criminal behaviour. Salman Rushdie "insults" the Prophet: burn his books. Danish cartoonists display a lack of respect for Islam: attack Danish embassies. A British Muslim girl wants to marry the "wrong" man: kill her for shaming the family. A Saudi rape victim complains that her attackers got off too lightly: increase her sentence (for being in a car with a man who wasn't her husband) to 200 lashes.
* * * The damage that is being inflicted daily on the image of Islam doesn't come from people like me, who are constantly accused of Islamophobia, but practices such as forced marriage, honour killings and heated denunciations of "Western" values. I can't think of any secular country where a rape victim or a well-meaning British teacher would find themselves threatened with flogging.
When will the world recognize that much of what passes for Islam today is nothing less than a crime against humanity, and that it needs to be treated as such by all civilized nations?
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The Democratic National Committee plans to announce Wednesday night that it has canceled the final presidential debate in its fall series because of a potential writers strike at CBS News, a sponsor of the debate."Due to the uncertainty created by the ongoing labor dispute between CBS and the Writers Guild of America, the DNC has canceled the Dec. 10 debate in Los Angeles. There are no plans to reschedule," a statement from DNC Communications Director Karen Finney says.
So remember Americans -- when it comes down to a choice between communicating with you or sucking up to organized labor, YOU LOSE. Not only have several of the candidates indicated they wouldn't go to the debate, they have said they won't appear on any CBS News programs until the dispute is settled. That should tell you everything you need to know about the business climate under a Democrat administration under any of these folks -- it would be anti.
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IÂ’m struck by the case studies that show how eVisibility.com outshines other internet marketing companies. McDonaldÂ’s overlooked the possibility of an internet campaign when they started test marketing the Angus Third Pounder until ten days before the burger was set to debut. When they got the call from the fast food giant, eVisibility.com created a website and online campaign for the new sandwiches, complete with a coupon for customers to download. They created a 3000 word list of keywords and phrases, and thereby were able to get the website visited by millions on search engines -- 119,000 visitors downloading 63,000 coupons in just the first two months. And they can do the same thing for you!
That isn't the only example their success as a search engine optimization company -- they provide fantastic examples for a number of their clients. I'm really impressed by some of them.
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General Keith Kerr who appeared as a “spontantous” questioner on CNN’s YouTube Republican Debates hosted by Anderson Cooper is a member of the Hillary Clinton campaign. But this was not mentioned upfront, Kerr treated as a regular, spontaneous questioner. Shouldn’t that have been made clear to the audience? Or does CNN think it’s OK to sandbag the GOP candidates with a Hillary operative without mentioning it?In fact, he was so interesting to the CNN folks that they not only had his YouTube video question but he was there in person to ask follow up questions.
And then there were the other folks who asked questions.
***
The best thing about Republicans agreeing to do the CNN/YouTube debate is that it created yet another invaluable opportunity to expose CNNÂ’s abject incompetence.
Retired Brig. Gen./gays in the military lobbyist/Hillary-Kerry supporter Keith H. Kerr wasnÂ’t the only plant at the CNN/YouTube debate. The plant uncovering is in full-swing over at Free Republic.
Example: “Journey,” a.k.a. “Paperserenade,” the girl who asked an abortion question, is a declared John Edwards supporter.
So far, the count is one Hillary staffer, one prominent Obama supporter, and a couple of strongly pro-Edwards questioners. I'm curious -- how many out and open GOP questioners were there during the Democrat version of this debate? I think the answer was ZERO.
I'm curious -- what would be the Democrat spin if FOXNews had hosted such a debate for the Democrats and picked a bunch of GOP activists to do the questioning? Oh, that's right -- FOXNews is "so biased" that the Democrats won't even go on a debate they host, even when the questions are being asked by respected journalists and the event is being sponsored by Democrats. But planted questions and questioners abound when Republicans go on "objective and unbiased" CNN with journalist reality-show host Anderson Cooper as "moderator".
Who says that there is no left-wing bias in media?
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Now I did buy a backup storage device a couple of weeks before, but I hadn't gotten it hooked up and running yet. But the truth is that I didn't really need it -- Online Storage is available at reasonable rates through iBackup.com. All that missing data would have been easily available to me, because you can drag and drop files to and from your computer. So drop by and check out the solution to your backup needs -- iBackup.com.
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Scientists say that there is still a chance of a close encounter of the devastating kind with an asteroid in 2036.
When it comes to 22-million-ton asteroids, the small stuff, it turns out, can make a huge difference in a potentially disastrous path toward Earth.Using limited observations and lots of high-end computer modeling, astronomers have gotten a better handle on the limitations of asteroid-track forecasting in a new study of a potentially threatening asteroid called 99942 Apophis.
In this high-stakes game of Whack-a-Cosmic-Mole, just knowing exactly what it is you don't know can be useful.
Apophis' chance of hitting our planet in its first pass in 2029 is now slim to none, but astronomers will have to wait four to six years before they can predict what it might do during a second pass in 2036.
A team of scientists arrived at the conclusion after accounting for small influences like the solar wind, gravitational drag of smaller asteroids and human error.
In other words, we really can't be sure if the big space rock is going to result in the end of the world as we know it -- or whether we can divert Apophis away from earth. At this point, the variables are just too great.
Still, it does raise the point that mankind and the planet are more likely to face a calamity not of our making than to suffer extinction due to man-made global warming as proposed by the Branch AlGorians.
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At Coupon Chief, you can find all sorts of great savings on gifts for the whole family. Around our house that means that I will need to find some Christmas goodies for my darling wife. Those favorite pajamas are looking a bit threadbare – maybe I can find something new for her here at Kmart! And then there is the dog who thinks she is a child. I bet she'd like something from Doctors Foster and Smith -- a new collar, leash, and some toys. So look at CouponChief.com for special savings from all your favorite online retailers!
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November 27, 2007
They are Deceased-Americans.
"People hear now and then of accusations of dead people voting," he said, "but these are examples of dead people continuing to give and give and give."The Democratic committee received the most campaign money from deceased donors, nearly $225,000, according to USA TODAY's tally of federal campaign-finance data compiled by CQ MoneyLine, a non-partisan group. The Republican National Committee was the second-largest recipient, with about $93,000.
Come on, folks! A person's political activity ought to come to an end after they die. I realize that disenfranchises a large Democrat voting bloc, but common sense ought to prevail here.
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Should the Salvation Army be able to require its employees to speak English? You wouldn't think that's controversial. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is holding up a $53 billion appropriations bill funding the FBI, NASA and Justice Department solely to block an attached amendment, passed by both the Senate and House, that protects the charity and other employers from federal lawsuits over their English-only policies.The U.S. used to welcome immigrants while at the same time encouraging assimilation. Since 1906, for example, new citizens have had to show "the ability to read, write and speak ordinary English." A century later, this preference for assimilation is still overwhelmingly popular. A new Rasmussen poll finds that 87% of voters think it "very important" that people speak English in the U.S., with four out of five Hispanics agreeing. And 77% support the right of employers to have English-only policies, while only 14% are opposed.
So the policy she is blocking is overwhelmingly supported by most Americans, including most Hispanic Americans. But Nancy needs teh support of a few key legislators to impose her partisan agenda, and they don't care what the American people want. As a result, a measure with bipartisan support may not be enacted -- and with it, funds for crucial programs are being delayed.
I'm curious -- what does Slick Nick Lampson have to say about this mess -- he of the strongly pro-Pelosi voting record despite representing a strongly Republican district? And what does prominent local blogger and NASA employee John Cobarruvias have to say? Or will they remain mute, continuing to be partisan yap dogs doing the bidding of their mistress?
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President Pervez Musharraf resigned his military post as Chief of Army Staff today, handing over the command stick to his successor in a ceremony at army headquarters and ending his eight years of military rule. He remains president and will be sworn in to a new five-year term in the capital on Thursday, but as a civilian president his power will be diminished.Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, 55, the vice chief of army staff, becomes the Chief of Army Staff, replacing Mr. Musharraf. General Kayani — the former head of the InterServices Intelligence and a graduate of the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas — has played a prominent role in cooperating with the United States in the fight against terrorism in Pakistan and is expected to continue that policy.
Mr. Musharraf had come under growing pressure internationally and from his own disenchanted public to relinquish his military post, and his grip on political power will be significantly loosened without the uniform. While the military remains loyal to him, General Kayani is understood to want to remove the army from the forefront of politics and concentrate on military concerns.
This last point is particularly important. Since its birth, Pakistan has had a military intimately involved in politics. This has contributed to serious instability in its democratic processes. That we are seeing what appears to be a peaceful transition to civilian rule is a hopeful sign, and the selection of a general to lead the Army who seeks political disengagement could go a long way towards relieving concerns about future coups. If the January elections produce results which are accepted as legitimate by the Pakistani people, the upheaval of the last few weeks may have been, in some greater sense, "worth it" in terms of achieving stable civilian rule.
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Now I'll be honest, this could be very interesting. As dark as Sweeney Todd is, it could conceivably contain one of the more chilling revenge scenes in film history. Currently, I'd have to say the best is the classic scene from the Godfather, where Michael Corleone takes out all his enemies as he stands at before the altar at the baptism of a child. While the child is washed clean by the sacrament, Corleone's organization -- including his own family -- is washed clean of betrayal through the varied, brutal murders of those who had betrayed his father and brother. The sunning contrast between holy and profane makes for a memorable act of revenge.
Sweeney Todd, of course, is all about a barber who is unjustly imprisoned. Upon release, he sets out to avenge himself and his wife and daughter, who suffered even more cruelly than he. He takes his revenge upon those he holds responsible, who are never seen again – while his lover bakes marvelous meat-pies to sell from her shop.
So take a couple of minutes and make friends with the Demon Barber of Fleet Street when you visit Sweeney Todd on MySpace. There may be fresh meat pies waiting!
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The video-sharing Web site YouTube has suspended the account of a prominent Egyptian anti-torture activist who posted videos of what he said was brutal behaviour by some Egyptian policemen, the activist said.Wael Abbas said close to 100 images he had sent to YouTube were no longer accessible, including clips depicting purported police brutality, voting irregularities and anti-government demonstrations. YouTube, owned by search engine giant Google Inc
, did not respond to a written request for comment. A message on Abbas's YouTube user page, http://youtube.com/user/waelabbas, read: "This account is suspended." "They closed it (the account) and they sent me an e-mail saying that it will be suspended because there were lots of complaints about the content, especially the content of torture," Abbas told Reuters in a telephone interview. Abbas, who won an international journalism award for his work this year, said that of the images he had posted to YouTube, 12 or 13 depicted violence in Egyptian police stations.
Abbas was a key player last year in distributing a clip of an Egyptian bus driver, his hands bound, being sodomised with a stick by a police officer -- imagery that sparked an uproar in a country where rights groups say torture is commonplace.
That tape prompted an investigation that led to a rare conviction of two policemen, who were sentenced to three years in prison for torture. Egypt says it opposes torture and prosecutes police against whom it has evidence of misconduct.
YouTube, which is more than willing to allow posts on the antics at Abu Ghraib to be posted, insists that video of ACTUAL torture, exposing ACTUAL human rights abuses, is inappropriate for its service. So I guess we have the company's official stand. Seditious, anti-American nonsense is fine, but courageous and ground breaking journalistic efforts are not.
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Red Cross President and CEO Mark W. Everson has stepped down after revelations he was "engaged in a personal relationship with a subordinate employee," the organization announced Tuesday.The Red Cross Board of Governors asked for and received Everson's resignation after it "concluded that the situation reflected poor judgment on Mr. Everson's part and diminished his ability to lead the organization in the future," the Red Cross said in a statement on its Web site.
Everson, 53, said in a written statement that he was leaving the $500,000-per-year job "for personal and family reasons, and deeply regret it is impossible for me to continue in a job so recently undertaken."
Everson -- who is married and has two children -- joined the Red Cross as president and CEO last May.
The organization became aware of Everson's relationship with a female Red Cross employee 10 days ago, Chief Public Affairs Officer Suzy C. DeFrancis told CNN in a telephone interview.
"I think the board acted very quickly," she said, adding that the woman remains in her job.
head of the organization has an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate, cheating on his wife. He is forced out over poor judgment and the harm he did to his authority and the organization by his actions.
I'm curious, though -- where the folks are defending him because this is "just about sex."
Too bad he was President of the Red Cross and not President of the United States -- after all, he certainly got held to a higher standard than one William Jefferson Clinton.
I wonder if Mrs. Everson will now be seen as the leading candidate for her husbands former position -- after all, if marriage to a philandering former leader is good enough for the United States of America, it out to be good enough for the American Red Cross.
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Brian Bates is a 36-year-old business owner in charge of Doraville's annual Police Appreciation Day.He's active in his neighborhood association and staunchly supports popular police Chief John King, who became a major issue in elections earlier this month.
So Bates' victory in a race for city council didn't come as a major surprise in this town of about 10,000 residents. But, it was, in fact, groundbreaking.
Bates is now the state's first openly gay Republican elected to office – a development that has gained the attention of politicos and pundits across the country.
Georgia Equality, the state's largest organization supporting gay rights, says he's the first openly gay Republican to win a race in the Deep South.
I'll be interested to see how he does in office. Is it his intent to be a gay REPUBLICAN or a GAY Republican? Time will tell.
Personally, I hope he is successful in office, and if he rises higher politically I will judge him in precisely the same manner that I judge other candidates -- without regard to sexual orientation, but with regard to the issues and his qualifications. I'll likely agree with him on some things and disagree with him on others -- just like every other Republican office holder.
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Mr. Kennedy, who will work with a co-writer, is expected to write candidly about his personal history, including the 1969 Chappaquiddick accident in which he drove a car off a bridge on MarthaÂ’s Vineyard, resulting in the death of Mary Jo Kopechne, a former member of Senator Robert F. KennedyÂ’s staff. He will also write about his unsuccessful bid for the presidency.
Want to bet he doesnÂ’t offer a dime of reparations to the family of the girl he left to drown while he slept off the liquor and looked for a patsy to take the fall?
After all, being a Democrat means never having to say youÂ’re sorry.
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A troublesome trio of transvestites allegedly laid siege to a Memphis McDonald's restaurant Sunday night, sparking a brawl with the restaurant's crew, according to reports.Police said they were working on a more detailed description of three men dressed in drag who came into a McDonald's restaurant and started swinging.
Restaurant employee Martez Brisco was working the drive-through window when he reportedly got into an argument with the suspects. When Brisco ignored them tapping at the window, they came in.
"They come to the window, 'Tap, tap, tap.' I'm still ignoring them," Brisco told WMC-TV. "I guess that just pissed them off worser."
The transvestites allegedly struck the manager with a tire iron, and when he swung back, the drag queens took off their stiletto boots, removed their earrings and prepared to attack. The manager, Albert Bolton, was covered with scratch marks after suspects clawed him with their fingernails.
Bolton grabbed a pot of scalding french-fry grease and hurled it at his attackers. One of the cross-dressers then smacked Bolton with a wet floor sign, sending him to the hospital in an ambulance, WMC-TV reported.
Before driving off, the three attackers smashed the drive-through window.
It is a good thing this is a news story. If some television show included a scene like this, every P.C. Sensitivity group would be out protesting the horrific mistreatment and oppression such a storyline contained. Maybe they can picket the perps instead.
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Hillary Clinton's campaign team are furious that an unsubstantiated rumour of a lesbian affair with her exotic aide de camp Huma Abedin, which has been doing the rounds of 'underground' blogs and websites in recent weeks, appears to have gone mainstream after reports in foreign papers addressed the subject of dirty tricks on the US presidential campaign trail.The problem started with a report in the London Times on Thursday. 'Hillary Clinton has been accused of having an affair with Huma Abedin,' read the caption under a photograph of the two trouser-suited women (above left) striding across the tarmac to catch a plane. The next day, the Russian newspaper Pravda wrote a similar round-up which concluded: "Hillary and her aide, Huma Abedin, do live together at home and on the road, but the only way to nail Clinton would be to catch them together in a lesbian action."
The rumour of a lesbian love affair appears to have been been started in August 2007 by the New York freesheet, the Village Voice. Although neither the Times nor Pravda made any attempt to claim the story was true, some Americans have taken the reports in two of the world's most famous newspapers to heart. Not least Hillary's own team. "This does not even qualify as tabloid trash... it's ridiculous and reckless," a Clinton aide said at the weekend.
On the other hand, they are more than willing to peddle this line of crap with significantly less substantiation.
The boy happens to be real, and his “stage name” is Benjamin Nicholas. One of the politicos Big Head DC has learned he’s alleged to have been involved with is the married Sen. Trent Lott, 66, who unexpectedly announced his retirement on Monday. Lott is well-known to have been against a plethora of gay rights issues throughout his terms in Congress. He was also good friends with Sen. Larry Craig throughout his time in Congress.Nicholas told Big Head DC today via e-mail that he didn’t want to go on the record to talk about his dealings with Lott, because, said Nicholas, “Trent is going through his fair share of scrutiny right now and I don’t want to add to it.”
However, e-mail and other records confirm that the two have met on at least two occasions.
“All I can say at this point is no comment,” Nicholas told us. “It’s the professional thing for me to do.”
Sorry, folks, but you cannot have it both way. Stories like these, both of which are unsubstantiated, are either both out of bounds or both acceptable. Either a public figure’s sexual orientation is open to question, or it isn’t – and given rumors about Hillary and lesbianism dating back 15 years, I think the Clinton story is probably MORE important and appropriate than whether Trent Lott swings like a pendulum do, despite all the allegations of hypocrisy from the allegedly gay-friendly, effectively homophobic Left. After all, one is running for President, and so we have an absolute right to know, don’t you think – especially since it would give us the reason that Bill Clinton has had to resort to a pattern of abuse of office, sexual assault, and fellatio with fat chicks to satisfy his sexual needs, namely that his wife didn’t because of her urgent craving for some carpet with a side order of thighs.
And are you offended by the paragraph directly above this one? Intended as satire, it is no more outrageous than the comments made on a great many Democrat-leaning sites today.
So, denizens of the Left, you must decide. Are the sex lives of politicians -- all politicians, not just the ones you hate, not just the ones who don't vote the "straight" gay agenda -- open for public scrutiny and commentary? Or does there exist a zone of privacy that must be respected, one which ought be pierced only in cases of flagrant extramarital affairs or criminal charges?
FYI -- I vote for the latter, and therefore find both stories inappropriate.
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November 26, 2007
Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor has died from the gunshot wound he suffered early Monday when he was shot in his Miami home."He did not make it through the night," said Taylor's attorney, Richard Sharpstein, who called the incident "a ridiculous unnecessary tragedy."
Taylor died in the Miami hospital where he was taken after being shot once in the leg early Monday morning. The bullet severed his femoral artery. Police are investigating the shooting as a possible home invasion.
Taylor's death comes after what had been interpreted as optimistic signs following hours of surgery.
Taylor had squeezed a doctor's hand and made facial expressions early Monday evening, Redskins officials and a family friend said, providing some hope after he emerged from seven hours of surgery at Jackson Memorial Hospital. He had been "unresponsive and unconscious" until that point and doctors had feared possible brain injury or death, according to Taylor's attorney, Richard Sharpstein.
Signs had seemed good up to that point, but I guess the reports were overly optimistic. It will be interesting to find out why the reality was so different from what we all thought.
My deepest sympathies to Taylor's family and teammates.
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A friend of mine, talking about the Democratic presidential candidates, tossed out a wonderful mixed metaphor: “This is awfully weak tea to have to hang your hat on.”The notion that Bush & Co. had fouled things up so badly for Republicans that just about any Democrat could romp to victory in 2008 was never realistic. What’s interesting now, with the first contests just weeks away, is the extent to which Democratic voters are worried about the possibility that none of their candidates have the stuff to take the White House.
This election, the most important in decades, cries out for strong leadership. The electorate is upset, anxious and hungry for change. But “weak tea” is as good a term as any to describe what the Democrats are offering.
So what's the problem?
The problem for voters is that very little leadership has emerged from the many months of frenetic Democratic fund-raising and politicking.For all the noise and incessant posturing, we still donÂ’t have a clear sense of where Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama or any of the others would take the country.
That is because none of them has a vision beyond arguing that they are not George W. Bush. They are intent upon running against an incumbent who cannot stand for reelection.
Herbert, of course, offers a vision -- the same warmed over liberal cliches about health care, surrender in Iraq, and taking on the alleged racism of those who want American borders secure and immigration laws enforced.
Unfortunately, Herbert overlooks the problem facing the Democrats -- there are no inspiring candidates in the race, once one scratches the surface.
Hillary? She thinks marrying power constitutes competence.
Obama? All image, no substance.
Edwards? Run left, but without sincerity.
The rest of the pack? Oh, puh-leeeeeeez!
Frighteningly, the only hope for substance the Democrats could have had was Al Gore doing a Richard Nixon and rising from the political grave.
What am I saying? Don't be surprised when the returns come in and the next president is a Republican.
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But working where I do, I have any number of students who come from families with relatively little means, and that is how I first learned about the reality that is the payday loan. I mean, I hear about families facing the possibility of having the lights shut off or the car taken back because they don't have the cash to make a payment right now. In situations like that, a payday loan can be the difference between having what they need and losing what they have.
That's why folks that provide such loans exist. And with the advent of the internet, it is now possible to get payday loans online. We all know it is better not to have such a need, but when the need exists, it is good to know that there are options that exist to help meet those short-term financial needs.
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1) We're talking about participants in the legal sex trade in Nevada.
2) Ron Paul's libertarianism is at least theoretically open to prostitution as a legitimate industry and personal choice.
Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, an underdog Texas congressman with a libertarian streak, has picked up an endorsement from a Nevada brothel owner.Dennis Hof, owner of the Moonlite BunnyRanch near Carson City, said he was so impressed after hearing Paul at a campaign stop in Reno last week that he decided to raise money for him.
"I'll get all the (working girls) together, and we can raise him some money," Hof told the Reno Gazette-Journal. "I'll put up a collection box outside the door. They can drop in $1, $5 contributions."
Now I'll contrast this with Ron Paul taking money from Nazis. The key thing here is that we aren't talking about hate mongers supporting the campaign. Reasonable people can argue about the propriety of prostitution, something that cannot be done about the genocidal racist ideology of other Ron Paul donors. At worst, this is simply amusing.
On the other hand, here's some info I could have done without.
Hof was accompanied to the Paul news conference by television news personality Tucker Carlson, who is traveling with Paul for a magazine article he is writing."Dennis Hof is a good friend of mine, so when we got to Nevada, I decided to call him up and see if he wanted to come check this guy out," said Carlson, who hosts the show "Tucker" on MSNBC.
This produces images that I really didn't need to have in my head (Tucker+bowtie+hooker=ICK!). But it also raises another question -- the propriety of Carlson seeming to recruit supporters for a candidate he is covering.
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I've owned many clocks over the years, most of them not of high quality. My favorite, is the one given to me to mark my fifth anniversary with my school district. It is a Howard Miller alarm clock, and it sits next to my bed. I love it – it is absolutely beautiful, and keeps excellent time. I'm still impressed by the quality, surprised that the district treated us all so well that year. And in return, I treat my clock well. I plan on keeping it a very long time.
Now I knew nothing about Howard Miller clocks when I opened the box at dinner that night, but my wife was quite impressed. I've since discovered that Howard Miller clocks are considered to be among the best in the world -- especially the Howard Miller grandfather clocks.
As my wife and I talk about redecorating, we are trying to make sure that we have a clock in the living room that will help to set the tone for the space and keep with the Old West/ranch house theme. Personally, I'm rather fond of this wall clock.
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In a big strategic shift, Rudy Giuliani hammered Mitt Romney’s record Sunday on three fronts, saying it was time to “take the mask off and take a look at what kind of governor was he.”Using some of the toughest language of his campaign, Giuliani, in an interview with Politico, slammed Romney on health care, crime and taxes. At the same time he portrayed the one-time moderate as a hypocrite on a host of social issues who lives “in a glass house.” It was easily the most sweeping attack Giuliani has delivered against Romney in this campaign.
“He throws stones at people,” Giuliani said in an interview on his campaign bus. “And then on that issue he usually has a worse record than whoever he’s throwing stones at.”
The Romney camp responded by calling Giuliani's attack "nasty" and offering a point-by-point rebuttal.
Judging by Giuliani's rhetoric, he has appeared for weeks to be running more against New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, than any of his Republican foes. But as his poll numbers have dipped in this critical state, the former New York mayor has stepped up his campaign schedule and TV presence and also begun to take dead aim at Romney, whom polls show as the GOP front-runner here.
“I think there’s a difference between a guy who gets results, real results, that were applauded nationwide and somebody who had a mixed record at best as governor,” Giuliani said.
Rudy is lucky in one regard -- there is no way that Mitt Romney could be his running mate due to the geographical proximity of their home states. In a Giuliani Administration, Mitt Romney would have to be content with a cabinet position (Treasury, Commerce), while Rudy would have to do the same in a Romney Administration (Attorney General, Homeland Security). That let's him be a bit more free with his rhetoric.
Unfortunately, with that freedom comes the need to take care to not damage Mitt Romney too badly. After all, he could still be the nominee, and too savage an attack could leave Romney damaged goods in the general election. This is the same dilemma that the other GOP candidates face with Rudy, who has been the front runner -- how to score points without damaging Giuliani too severely in the general election
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Now he's on drugs and packing heat in violation of the law.
A man convicted as a 13-year-old for killing four Arkansas middle-school students and a teacher in an ambush and released from a juvenile detention center two years ago on his 21st birthday, faces new weapons charges.Mitchell S. Johnson, 23, was indicted by a federal grand jury in October on charges of possession of a firearm while being either a user of or addicted to a controlled substance. The indictment came after his arrest earlier this year during a traffic stop in Fayetteville, Ark.
Officers found a loaded 9 mm pistol in Mr. Johnson's van and 21 grams of marijuana inside a personal bag. State prosecutors dropped the original misdemeanor arrest charges against Mr. Johnson when the U.S. Attorney's Office in Fayetteville decided to seek a federal indictment in the case.
Mr. Johnson pleaded not guilty last month to the federal charges and was released on $5,000 bond. A trial has been scheduled to begin Dec. 3 before U.S. District Judge Jimm L. Hendren in Fayetteville. If convicted, Mr. Johnson faces up to 10 years in prison — more than the seven years he served for the 1998 school killings in Jonesboro, Ark.
This guy is a stone cold killer, who set up an ambush of his school for fun. He walked away with a minimal sentence because he was a juvenile. Let's hope that the book gets thrown at Mitchell Johnson here, and that he gets to spend the full ten years behind bars. Too bad he'll be allowed to walk the streets again.
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A British primary school teacher arrested in Sudan faces up to 40 lashes for blasphemy after letting her class of 7-year-olds name a teddy bear Muhammad.
Gillian Gibbons, 54, from Liverpool, was arrested at at Khartoum's Unity High School yesterday, and accused of insulting the Prophet of Islam.
* * * Robert Boulos, the Unity director, said Gibbons was following a British National Curriculum course designed to teach young pupils about animals and their habitats. This yearÂ’s animal was the bear.
In September, she asked a girl to bring in her teddy bear to help the class focus and then asked the children to name the toy.
“They came up with eight names including Abdullah, Hassan and Muhammad. Then she explained what it meant to vote and asked them to choose the name,” Boulos said.
Twenty out of the 23 children chose Muhammad. Each child was allowed to take the bear home for weekends and asked to keep a diary about what they did with the toy. Each entry was collected in a book with a picture of the bear on the cover, next to the message "My name is Muhammad."
Boulos said that the bear itself was not marked or labeled with the name in any way, adding that Sudanese police had now seized the book and asked to interview the 7-year-old girl who brought in the bear.
Of course, I would never name a teddy bear Muhammad, given my reluctance to give insult – to the cute stuffed animal.
But I would like to introduce you to our new mascot for posts on Islamic Outrage.
H/T Michelle Malkin, Shimshon 9, JammieWearingFool
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