Why does anyone take Charles Rangel seriously any more? Certainly this comment is sufficiently out of line and not based in reality for the media and his fellow Dems to call him on it.

The dean of New York's congressional delegation suggested in a television interview that Vice President Dick Cheney may not be healthy enough to perform his duties.

Rep. Charles Rangel was being interviewed on NY1, the New York City-based all-news channel, when he was asked Friday night whether he thought President Bush was taking too much vacation time this summer.

"Oh no, it makes the country a lot more safe," the Manhattan Democrat said. "The further Bush is away from Washington, the better it is. And sometimes I don't even think Cheney is awake enough to know what's going on. Rumsfeld is the guy in Washington to watch. He's running the country,"

"Cheney's not awake enough?" reporter Davidson Goldin asked.

"Well, he's a sick man you know," Rangel said. "He's got heart disease, but the disease is not restricted to that part of his body. He grunts a lot, so you never really know what he's thinking."

Asked whether he was suggesting that Cheney was not healthy enough to do his job, Rangel said, "Why do you think people are spending so much time praying for President Bush's health?"

"If he ever leaves and Cheney's in charge, there's not very much to pull together for the rest of our nation," he concluded. "This is a sad state of affair."

The White House declined comment Saturday.

Cheney has had four heart attacks, and a pacemaker was placed in his chest in June 2001.

His most recent annual heart checkup occurred in July and found him in good health.

So Rangel now claims to know more than the Vice PresidentÂ’s cardiologists? And we wonÂ’t get into the fantasy-based notion that the President being outside of Washington DC renders him impotent to run the country.

Hey, Charlie – when are you going to become reality-based?

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All America has watched as Cindy Sheehan and company have pursued their anti-American protest in Crawford, proving that the United Stats is not the dictatorship they claim. I've approved of very little that has gone on at Camp Dhimmi (unlike his mother, I refuse to dishonor Casey Sheehan by calling it by his name) , but I did see this one bit of news that I want to note and praise.

Amid all the comings and goings around Camp Casey on Sunday, peace activists Genevieve Van Cleve and Peter Ravella got married.

The aisle was strewn with hay, and the crowd hummed "Here Comes the Bride."

"This is meaningful. This has substance," said Van Cleve, 34, of Austin. "We completely support what they're doing, and we just wanted to add whatever love, fidelity, loyalty and honor that we could."

I don't agree with their politics, and the couple sound like typical hippie-dippy Austinite liberals. That doesn't matter. Some things transcend politics.

Peter and Genevieve have made a serious committment that is a thing of beauty. If I agree with and support nothing else that went on as part of the Crawford protests, I offer my support here.

Congratulations to the happy couple, and may God bless them with many years of joy and love.

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There were a number of principled responses to the Lawrence v. Texas case. One of those, often derided by the pro-sodomy lobby was the position that Lawrence had the effect of opening the door to legal polygamy and incest.

Jeff Jacoby points us to a case that pointedly raises the issue regarding incest laws.

''I BELIEVE severe punishment is required in this case," the judge said at Allen and Pat's sentencing in November 1997. ''I think they have to be separated. It's the only way to prevent them from having intercourse in the future."

Allen and Pat were lovers, but a Wisconsin statute enacted in 1849 made their sexual relationship a felony. The law was sometimes used to nail predators who had molested children, but using it to prosecute consenting adults -- Allen was 45; Pat, 30 -- was virtually unheard of. That didn't deter Milwaukee County Judge David Hansher. Nor did the fact that the couple didn't understand why their relationship should be a crime. Allen and Pat didn't ''have to be bright," the judge growled, to know that having sex with each other was wrong.

He threw the book at them: eight years for Allen, five for Pat, served in separate maximum-security prisons, 25 miles apart.

If this had happened to a gay couple, the case would have become a cause celebre. Hard time as punishment for a private, consensual, adult relationship? Activists would have been outraged. Editorial pages would have thundered.

But Allen and Patricia Muth are not gay. They were convicted of incest. Although they didn't meet until Patricia was 18 -- she had been raised from infancy in foster care -- they were brother and sister, children of the same biological parents. They were also strongly attracted to each other, emotionally and physically. And so, disregarding the taboo against incest, they became a couple and had four children.

When Wisconsin officials learned of the Muths' relationship, they moved to strip them of their parental rights. The state's position, upheld in court, was that their ''fundamentally disordered" lifestyle made them unfit for parenthood by definition. Allen and Patricia's children were taken from them. Then they were prosecuted for incest and sent to prison.

Now tell me -- where does the logic of this law, this prosecution, differ from that in Lawrence v. Texas? After all, we had a pair of consenting adults engaging in a loving and consensual relationship. The state declared their relationship to be disordered and criminalized it. And do not tell me that hte reason is the potential for birth defects -- the courts have long-ago restricted the right of the state to engage in prohibitions of sex or reproduction for eugenic purposes. So what are you left with, other than public disgust and public morals, both of which are ruled out as a basis for legislation under Lawrence and related homosexual rights cases.

And consider what Lawrence actually says. It says that the state cannot regulate ''the most private human conduct, sexual behavior" whenit occurs between consenting adults.

''The petitioners are entitled to respect for their private lives," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in striking down the Texas law under which John Lawrence and Tyron Garner had been convicted of homosexual sodomy. ''The state cannot by making their private sexual conduct a crime. Their right to liberty under the Due Process Clause gives them the full right to engage in their conduct without intervention of the government."

Does a prosecution for incest between consenting adults respect their private lives, as required by Lawrence?

No, it does not.

Does the prosecution demena their existance?

Arguably it does, in violation of Lawrence.

Does the criminalization of their sexual conduct have the effect of demeaning their existence or controlling their destiny?

It most certainly does.

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has declined to overturn the convictions -- but only on procedural grounds, not on the actual merits of the argument that the Lawrence precedent nullifies all consensual sexual activity between adults. But that is really at the heart of the issue here, and will have to be confronted either by the Supreme COurt itself or by lower courts around the country.

Unless, of course, Lawrence established only one constitutionally protected class of sexual conduct -- and, in the process, special rights for homosexuals only.

Regardless, the Supreme Court must clean up the mess that it made by clarifying the scope of Lawrence v. Texas. Are all laws regarding consensual adult sex constitutionally infirm? Is homosexual conduct the only form of sexuality considered deviant by the majority of citizens and their legislators that gets constitutional protection? Or was Lawrence wrongly decided by a court more concerned with political correctness than constitutional correctness?

A nation waits.

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The votes are in.

The winning entries in the Watcher's Council vote for this week are An Open Letter to Cindy Sheehan by Gates of Vienna, and Israeli Pride; Israeli Angst by Alpha Patriot.

Congratulation to our lucky winners, and to all nominees. Full results may be found here.

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Over at The Jawa Report, Dr. Rusty Shackleford presents us with a new form of religious devotion, especially for the folks who believe Cindy Sheehan has even a lick of credibility.

The Rosary of the the far left:

1) Make the Sign of the Ankh and say the "Leftist Creed."

I laughed. I cried. I wondered whether the Pope will issue a fatwa against Rusty.

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The original got Dr. Hook the place on Rolling Stone's cover that he craved.

Will the parody get Misha the fatwa he sings about?

Go take a look -- it is worth the laugh.

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If ever there was a jumping of the gun by police and prosecutors, this was it. Why on earth were charges filed in this case?

MARION, Va. (AP) - A judge dismissed a manslaughter charge against a teenager whose 5-year-old half-sister died after he put her in a coin-operated laundry machine that then began running.

The ruling Thursday by Judge Charles Lincoln came after prosecutors said they did not believe they could convict the 14-year-old boy.

The boy put 30-pound Hope Wagoner into the triple-load machine "during a playful game between brother and sister" on June 17 in Chilhowie, defense attorney John Graham said.

The boy put no coins in the machine but it started anyway, Graham said. The boy tried "frantically" to stop the washer and free his sister, taking a large rock from the parking lot to smash at the glass, Graham said.

The children's mother, Rebecca Wagoner, ultimately used the same rock to break through the glass and free Hope. The child died of asphyxiation, a medical examiner ruled.

Rebecca Wagoner has sued the washing machine's maker, claiming it knew the model had a history of starting up without the insertion of coins but failed to fix the problem.

Where I grew up, this fell into the category of "horrifyingly tragic accident". It did not rise to the level of criminal behavior.

Bravo to the judge who had the common sense to see that there was no way a jury would ever convict.

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Yesterday I told you all about the Iraq Soldier Hoax that played out in the pages of the Daily Egyptian at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. Well, the story gets stranger as I read the coverage by Carbondale's REAL newspaper, the Southern Illinoisan.

First, we find out that the DE was not the only entity spoofed -- a Detroit church was also scammed a couple of months ago. Patrick Trovillion, who thought he was playing the part of Dan Kenner in a documentary project, may just have revealed why "Kennings" had to "die" in Iraq.

He also detailed a trip only three months ago when he traveled with Reynolds and the child playing the part of Kodee to a Detroit church that had befriended many American soldiers in Iraq. Trovillion said Reynolds instructed him to "stay in character" during the entire service.

"This was a huge church and we were seated in the front row and the pastor introduced me as Dan Kennings, so I thought they all knew that this was part of the documentary," Trovillion said. "I mean these people were hugging me and telling me they loved me and I just went along with it; I thought they were just playing the part. I even got in the car and told Jaime (Reynolds) 'those people were good ¦ they were just awesome.' I even got up in front of the congregation and gave a little speech. This church was very supportive of Dan and they knew Kodee."

Reynolds said he didn't know if the church gave any money to Reynolds on the trip but said she paid him $400 to make the overnight trip to Detroit. Attempts to reach the pastor of the church were unsuccessful.

Trovillion said he has not spoken with Reynolds in "a few months" but said he began to have serious doubts about the validity of the project after he contacted the youth pastor at the Detroit church.

"I told her who I was and she acted like she didn't recognize my name," said Trovillion. "I told her that I was the guy that had played the part of Dan Kennings and she said 'Is this some kind of sick joke?' I didn't know what to say and after what I've learned in the last few days I still don't know what to say. She (Reynolds) didn't just scam me and Kodee and the Daily Egyptian - she scammed the pastor and the entire congregation of that church."

Trovillion was paid $400 for the trip -- I wonder how much money Jaimie Reynolds milked from that congregation?

For her part, Reynolds has quit talking.

MARION - Though many believe Jaimie Reynolds concocted the story of Kodee Kennings because she craved attention, the former Southern Illinois University Carbondale student wanted nothing to do with the news media that came knocking at her door Friday.

The elaborate, year-and-a-half-long hoax Reynolds promoted through the guise of 10-year-old Caitlin Hadley, of Montpelier, Ind., caught the attention of media outlets statewide and throughout the Midwest.

Several reporters and camera crews, including The Southern Illinoisan, spent time outside Reynolds' home in the 800 block of West Boulevard Street in Marion. Reporters made multiple attempts to speak with Reynolds. However, they were either answered with silence or the quiet admonition of a middle-aged woman, assumed to be a family member of Reynolds, from the back doorstep.

Friday's silence represented a marked change in Reynolds' behavior with the media.

You know, that silence may be her first smart move, especially if she has eceived even a penny on behalf of Dan and Kodee Kennings. The word for having done so would be "fraud".

For his part, former editor Michael Brenner, who was responsible for much of the Kodee coverage, is being sought by the media for interviews. The only problem is that they are not job interviews, but rather story interviews.

The networks are clawing for interviews with former Daily Egyptian editor Michael Brenner.

But he's worried if he'll ever land a job in journalism.

"Who's going to want to hire me after this?" Brenner asked in a telephone interview with The Southern Illinoisan from his grandparents' home in Indiana.

The former editor of the Southern Illinois University Carbondale student newspaper is at the center of a media firestorm.

ABC wants to fly him to New York City. So do NBC and CBS. CNN has called, too, he said.

Friday afternoon, Brenner was fielding a constant barrage of calls from the media.

Brenner recently quit his job as a sportswriter with the East Oregonian, a job he landed shortly after donning his gown and receiving his diploma in the December 2004 SIUC graduation ceremonies.

He said he left the Oregon job after only a few months because he wanted to spend time with his family in Illinois - and with the girl he said he had known as "Kodee Kennings."

Now he is the focus of questions and debate in the media world.

He claims he was "an idiot."

For Brenner's sake, I hope he really was simply an idiot who got duped. Reynolds has claimed that she and Brenner were a couple, and that the hoax was his idea. It seems hard to believe he would be that stupid, but then again either option indicates he was stupid. Did he fake a story he couldn't possibly sustain long-term, or did he simply get suckered? Given that he involved his own parents with Reynolds, I want to believe that he is a victim. But there is some evidence that he might not be -- and that he is enjoying the attention.

As journalists continue to attempt to unravel the Kodee mystery, many are asking, "Why?"

Why did the people who played roles in the hoax get involved? What was the motive?

I spoke to a lot of fellow journalists who have been poking around in this case and most of them seem to be willing to give Brenner the benefit of the doubt.

I am still skeptical.

Here's my problem: One moment, Brenner says he's distraught. Then a second phone rings (he was juggling two phones most of Friday afternoon) and his voice turns giddy.

Frankly, he seems flattered by all of the media attention. Rather than draw the curtains in shame and retreat (as did Colleen Hastings/Jaimie Reynolds on Friday) Brenner seemed to revel in it.

In the last of many phone conversations I had with Brenner on Friday, he told me that he had committed to be on "Good Morning America" and "Nightline" on Monday. ABC had won the battle of the networks. According to him.

I'm very interested in the story. It is happening in my old stomping grounds -- litterally in my old backyard (I lived and worked just a block from the SIU Campus for a couple of years in the late 1980s). My family has a connection going back to my dad and his siblings starting school there in the early 1950s, continuing through the my generation and including two members if the family teaching for the university. I want to see how this story turns out -- and how the perpetrators are dealt with by the powers that be.

***

MORE ON THIS STORY FOUND AT Michelle Malkin, Resistance is Futile, Angry in the Great White North, Florida Masochist, Doc Rampage, Harleys, Cars, and Girls, Salient Points, Florida Cracker, With Cheese, It Comes In Pints, Brainster's Blog, Getting Nothing But Static From MSM, Out of the Box, Don Surber, The Busch Stadium III Photo Blog, My Yellow Country Teeth, Musings From Brian J. Noggle, Right Nation and Tim Blair.

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Matt May has a great piece in the American Thinker highlighting a little known precedent for Cindy Sheehan's actions in Crawford.

NEW YORK (Nov. 20, 1776) – The grieving mother of an American soldier killed in action during the recent failed defense of Fort Washington is demanding an audience with Gen. George Washington.

“George is the biggest butcher on the face of the earth,” Mrs. Ima Benedict declared to a throng of nearly 25 Loyalist pamphleteers and newspapermen.

About 30 fellow protestors on a street corner on the upper west side of Manhattan joined Mrs. Benedict today at what has been dubbed “Camp Arnold” by supporters of Mrs. Benedict’s cause. The group held aloft homemade placards reading “No Blood For Representation,” “George, Talk to Ima” and “Justice for Arnold.”

Arnold Benedict was one of nearly 3,000 American soldiers killed during the recent attempt to defend Fort Washington on Manhattan. Mr. Benedict, of Massachusetts, signed on with the American army at the beginning of the year. Mrs. Benedict said that she pleaded with him not to join but Mr. Benedict and his father said he was old enough to make his own decisions. He was 22-years old. Mrs. Benedict claims the war is invalid.

I urge you to read this important historical report.

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This is one of the most shocking stories IÂ’ve ever encountered. It is shocking because of the false nature of the claims, the use of a child in the hoax, and the fact that no one picked it up over two years. It is almost impossible to know where to begin.

I suppose I should start with the admission of the campus paper at Southern Illinois University – Carbondale.

It was a heart-rending story--a blonde waif, her mother dead, entrusted to the care of a family friend while her father fought with the 101st Airborne in Iraq. The youngster was intelligent, friendly and engaging, and developed close bonds with many of the newsroom staff.

Then a week ago came the news that her father had been killed in Iraq.

Every war casualty leaves a trail of pain, but the story of a 10-year-old girl losing her only parent to the war is particularly poignant, and the Chicago Tribune showed interest.

In the course of checking out the details, a troubling problem appeared: The story wasn't true. What began as a nightmarish possibility became impossible to deny. There was no record with the Department of Defense of the death.

The father who was called Dan Kennings was not killed in Iraq. We checked with central command in Baghdad. There was no Dan Kennings in the 101st Airborne. No Dan Kennings in the entire Army.

We checked with Cathy Gramling, media relations officer at Fort Campbell, Ky., who in turn checked with the Army Human Resources Command.

"We cannot find a record of a Dan Kennings on active duty or having been killed in Iraq," Gramling said.

Holy crap!

You see, the paper had been running stories by and about this little girl and her father for the last two years. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch notes BrennerÂ’s reaction.

"Looking back on it now, it makes so much sense. I don't know how I could have been such an idiot," said Michael Brenner, the former Daily Egyptian reporter who first wrote about Kodee, and then spent two years staying in contact as a close friend of her and her purported aunt and guardian, who said her name was Colleen Hastings.

Brenner now knows the names to be false, the friendship was a lie, and that hours of telephone interviews and conversations he thought he was having with the girl were actually with the woman. "I was thoroughly convinced."

The relationship between "Kodee"' and the Daily Egyptian started in spring 2003, when Brenner wrote a feature story about Kodee's pain at the departure of her father, identified as Dan Kennings, and included excerpts of a letter she purportedly wrote to him:

"Don't die, OK dad? ... You should find Saddam and run him over with your tank ... I love you and don't die. Love, Kodee."

Another published letter, purportedly by Kodee, asked: "Are you still coming home dad? I'm still here without you ... Hey dad I dug a fox hole. It is regulashin ... Can you kill all the bad guys now so Air Force One can bring you home?"

People wee truly taken with this cute kid with a dead mother and a father in Iraq. How could you not be? The letters sounded genuine, and everybody assumed it was a true story. Unfortunately, the folks assuming included Brenner, who admits he didn’t check out the facts as closely as he should have. Its just that decent people don’t make up stuff like this – and certainly don’t use kids this way.

And then the big lie was exposed by the Chicago Tribune, which wanted a story on how this precious little girl would go on having lost both parents.

On Saturday morning, cars began pulling into the gravel parking lot of a one-story American Legion hall in Orient, Ill., about 30 miles northeast of Carbondale, for a memorial service. Hastings and Kodee got out of a red Pontiac Grand Am, the little girl wearing an Army uniform shirt that hung down to her knees.

People inside the memorial service said both Hastings and Kodee were in tears. A video showed Kennings in his fatigues speaking with a group of children at a church, and there was a scrapbook filled with pictures of Kennings straddling a tank cannon or huddling with other soldiers.

Tribune reporters continued asking questions, and some students and a faculty member were growing increasingly hostile because of suggestions that Kennings did not exist. By Tuesday night, however, Brenner was pacing nervously outside a Dairy Queen in Carterville, Ill., talking to Hastings on his cell phone. He handed the phone to a Tribune reporter, and Hastings said she would come to the Dairy Queen and listen to questions.

Brenner, 25, said he was still convinced of Kennings' existence and defended Hastings for trying to protect a little girl.

Hastings pulled into the parking lot in the same red car she'd driven to the memorial service. She was told that the military denied Kennings' existence and that the name Colleen Hastings appeared in no public-records databases in Illinois. She was asked for a driver's license and for a death certificate for Kennings. With each question, Hastings shook her head no.

After Brenner spoke to her for a minute alone, she drove off.

State records show that the car is registered to a woman living in Marion, and on Wednesday a reporter was there looking for the woman's granddaughter, Jaimie Reynolds.

When she came out of the house, Reynolds was the same woman who had been at the Dairy Queen as Colleen Hastings.

Sitting on the back porch and wearing a long-sleeved Southern Illinois University shirt, her face flush from crying, Reynolds admitted that she had pretended to be Hastings. She said that Kennings was an invention, and later explained that those who met him actually had met Trovillion, the acquaintance who believed he was acting in a film.

She said, and the Tribune confirmed, that she had been a radio and television production student at the university. She graduated in 2004, putting her there alongside the very people she was deceiving.

Reynolds acknowledged the little girl is the daughter of friends and said she persuaded the parents to let her bring the child to Carbondale regularly by saying she was filming a documentary about a soldier killed in Iraq.

"We told her it was for a movie," Reynolds said.

Reynolds now claims that Brenner was in on the plot from the beginning, a charge that he denies.

And as the local paper in Carbondale notes, the motive for the hoax is quite murky.

The Daily Egyptian's general manager said the motive behind the entire Kodee story may be the biggest riddle yet to unravel.

"There is still confusion over what the motive may have been," Speere said.

However, he added that he didn't think money was the motive.
However, in many of Kodee's columns it was noted that her father had to pay $2 per minute to phone home from Iraq and the father's personal e-mail, a Yahoo account, was listed.

It will be interesting to see how much money, if any, these frauds got from good-hearted people.

It appears that the fake Kodee and her family were duped as well, if the Chicago Tribune's story is to be believed (though you have to wonder why the parents didn';t ask more questions sooner if they were not a part of the whole scheme).

On Thursday, 10-year-old Caitlin Hadley sat between her parents on a couch in her mom's office, retelling the two-year odyssey that began with her belief that she was going to be the star of a documentary film about a little girl named Kodee.

"It was sort of weird, but I had a lot of fun," Caitie said.

Her father, Richard Hadley, is a pastor at a Nazarene church in Montpelier, Ind., and her mother works for the church's regional office. Both said they felt they'd been scammed by Reynolds.

"I just realized that I didn't know this girl," Tawnya Hadley said. "In the profession that my husband is in, we move and meet new people all the time. What if she'd never brought Caitie back? We feel like we're idiots."

The Hadleys lived in Buffalo, Ky., during most of the time Reynolds was making the four- to five-hour drive from Carbondale to pick up Caitie and bring her to southern Illinois.

Caitie said that when she and Reynolds were with other people, Reynolds told her they were "filming." Caitie was to pretend to be Kodee, and "she said I needed to act like a tomboy because Kodee was a tomboy."

Caitie's understanding was that everybody she met in Carbondale was in the movie, which was being filmed by hidden cameras. So when they went into the Daily Egyptian newsroom the first time, she pretended to be Kodee and believed that the reporters and editors were playing along as characters.

"I met all the people she had in the movie," Caitie said. "We were always on camera, but I didn't see any cameras."

As Caitie's involvement continued, the Hadleys began asking why the documentary had not been finished.

About a month ago, after a long silence, the Hadleys heard from Reynolds.

She said a new group of students wanted to finish the documentary, and they needed to borrow Caitie again for a memorial service because Dan Kennings had been killed in Iraq.

The parents agreed, and Reynolds drove Caitie down for one last experience.

***

In her home in Indiana on Thursday, Caitie reflected on Jaimie Reynolds, the woman who during the past two years became like a "big sister" to her.

"I feel sad for her," Caitie said. "And I feel like she betrayed me."

Yes, Caitie, these folks betrayed us all – especially the men and women in uniform and their families. I hope that some way is found to punish these people for what they did to you and to them. It was terribly wrong.

(Personal note – The connection between my family and Southern Illinois University at Carbondale stretches back over half a century. Many of my family members are proud SIU Salukis, though none were associated with the Daily Egyptian. Two are former faculty members, but none in journalism. And yes, I have taken classes there, though I graduated with both a BA and an MS from another state university in Illinois.)

NOTE: Edrahe at The Busch Stadium III Photo Blog provides a great set of bulletpoints, since you can't understand this game without a scorecard.

MORE ON THIS STORY FOUND AT Michelle Malkin, Resistance is Futile, Angry in the Great White North, Florida Masochist, Doc Rampage, Harleys, Cars, and Girls, Salient Points, Florida Cracker, With Cheese, It Comes In Pints, Brainster's Blog, Getting Nothing But Static From MSM, Out of the Box, My Yellow Country Teeth and Tim Blair.

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The man has been sentenced to death. Why should we force-feed him if he wants to go on a hunger strike and kill himself?

A judge granted Montgomery County jail officials yesterday the authority to force-feed convicted sniper John Allen Muhammad, who has refused to eat or drink since he was transferred Monday from a Virginia prison.

Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge James L. Ryan issued the order after the county's Department of Correction and Rehabilitation filed court papers yesterday saying Muhammad was "in imminent danger of very serious bodily harm, including death, if he does not begin to receive nourishment within the next several days."

Corrections officials said in the court papers that Muhammad, 44, objected to the food at the jail in Clarksburg and to limits on his access to legal documents. The court papers quote Muhammad as directing a correctional officer to tell the warden to "get the IVs ready."

Muhammad's attorney, public defender Paul DeWolfe, argued during a hearing yesterday that the county should resolve the problems with his client rather than force-feed him. Nonetheless, the judge gave the go-ahead to feed him against his will if necessary.

As of about 9 p.m. yesterday, authorities had not exercised that option, said a person familiar with the situation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the high-profile nature of the case.

Personally, I’d say “Buh-bye, John!”

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I can’t help but be struck by the similarity in these two stories. And I cannot help but be offended by the implicit argument that the dead victim’s presumed wishes should override the safety of others.

The first comes from Australia. A marine biologist was attacked and killed by a great white shark. The parents’ response?

Horrified friends saw Jarrod Stehbens, 23, dragged under by a Great White off Glenelg Beach, South Australia.

His body has not been found, and normally there would be a search for the "killer" shark.

But dad David said: "Jarrod would not have wanted anything killed.
"He was doing exactly what he wanted to do. He loved the sea."

Uh, I’m sorry for your horrible and tragic loss, but I’ve got to tell you that it doesn’t matter what Jarrod would have wanted. Setting aside the fact that he is dead, we have a creature out there that has now attacked and killed a human being. That creature must die to make sure it does not repeat the action. It is about safety for others, not revenge.

And then there is this from Houston. A prominent Hindu community member was robbed and murdered, and his killer has been arrested. That killer now faces the death penalty. The response from some of the victim’s friends? You guessed it.

The arrest is just the beginning of a judicial process that could involve the death penalty if there is a conviction. And that could stir up complex reactions among Chopra's friends.

Vijay Pallod, a friend and co-worker, said Akhil was a nonviolent person who always sought the positive.

"Akhil, I don't think he would ask for the death penalty," Pallod said. "But this is going to be a debate among the community."

Again, I’m sorry, but this is not just about revenge. It is also about the safety of others in the community at large. The individual here has killed once simply to enrich himself. We must render him permanently incapable of doing so, regardless of what the victim would have supported.

Those who support the “do not kill” message here are not bad people – just misguided. They think the victim and his beliefs outweigh the needs of society as a whole. And they are wrong.

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I canÂ’t help but be struck by the similarity in these two stories. And I cannot help but be offended by the implicit argument that the dead victimÂ’s presumed wishes should override the safety of others.

The first comes from Australia. A marine biologist was attacked and killed by a great white shark. The parentsÂ’ response?

Horrified friends saw Jarrod Stehbens, 23, dragged under by a Great White off Glenelg Beach, South Australia.

His body has not been found, and normally there would be a search for the "killer" shark.

But dad David said: "Jarrod would not have wanted anything killed.
"He was doing exactly what he wanted to do. He loved the sea."

Uh, IÂ’m sorry for your horrible and tragic loss, but IÂ’ve got to tell you that it doesnÂ’t matter what Jarrod would have wanted. Setting aside the fact that he is dead, we have a creature out there that has now attacked and killed a human being. That creature must die to make sure it does not repeat the action. It is about safety for others, not revenge.

And then there is this from Houston. A prominent Hindu community member was robbed and murdered, and his killer has been arrested. That killer now faces the death penalty. The response from some of the victimÂ’s friends? You guessed it.

The arrest is just the beginning of a judicial process that could involve the death penalty if there is a conviction. And that could stir up complex reactions among Chopra's friends.

Vijay Pallod, a friend and co-worker, said Akhil was a nonviolent person who always sought the positive.

"Akhil, I don't think he would ask for the death penalty," Pallod said. "But this is going to be a debate among the community."

Again, IÂ’m sorry, but this is not just about revenge. It is also about the safety of others in the community at large. The individual here has killed once simply to enrich himself. We must render him permanently incapable of doing so, regardless of what the victim would have supported.

Those who support the “do not kill” message here are not bad people – just misguided. They think the victim and his beliefs outweigh the needs of society as a whole. And they are wrong.

Posted by: Greg at 12:21 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The former top-level exec with Air America is on the lam, with $875,000.

The former chairman of Air America Radio, Evan Montvel Cohen - who former colleagues said engineered transfers of more than $800,000 to the liberal radio network from a boys and girls club in the Bronx - is missing, according to a lawyer who is trying to have him served with legal papers.

At least two people have said Mr. Cohen is in Hawaii. He has not responded to a series of e-mail messages in recent weeks from The New York Sun asking him about his role.

Mr. Cohen, 39, helped lead the launch of Air America in March 2004. Less than two months later, Piquant LLC acquired the radio network from Mr. Cohen's Progress Media. Piquant LLC has agreed to pay $875,000 to Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club, without interest, in installments over the next two years.

Watch out kiddies – he might be after the contents of your piggy banks next. He has a history of stealing from children.

Posted by: Greg at 12:18 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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The former top-level exec with Air America is on the lam, with $875,000.

The former chairman of Air America Radio, Evan Montvel Cohen - who former colleagues said engineered transfers of more than $800,000 to the liberal radio network from a boys and girls club in the Bronx - is missing, according to a lawyer who is trying to have him served with legal papers.

At least two people have said Mr. Cohen is in Hawaii. He has not responded to a series of e-mail messages in recent weeks from The New York Sun asking him about his role.

Mr. Cohen, 39, helped lead the launch of Air America in March 2004. Less than two months later, Piquant LLC acquired the radio network from Mr. Cohen's Progress Media. Piquant LLC has agreed to pay $875,000 to Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club, without interest, in installments over the next two years.

Watch out kiddies – he might be after the contents of your piggy banks next. He has a history of stealing from children.

Posted by: Greg at 12:18 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Would you trust a study by a tobacco company scientist that showed no connection between smoking and cancer? I didnÂ’t think so.

Why then would you trust a study by an abortion industry scientist and an abortionist regarding fetal pain?

Two of five authors of an article published in a medical journal on Wednesday saying that fetuses probably cannot feel pain before the 29th week of pregnancy did not tell the journal that they had abortion-related activities that might be seen as a conflict of interest, the journal's editor said Wednesday.

The editor, Dr. Catherine D. DeAngelis, of The Journal of the American Medical Association, said in an interview that had she been aware of the activities, the journal most likely would have mentioned them. But she added that the disclosure would not have kept the article from being published, because editors and outside experts who had read the manuscript before publication had found it scientifically sound.

One author, Susan J. Lee, a medical student, is also a lawyer who for eight months from 1999 to 2000 worked in the legal department at Naral, an abortion rights group. Another author, Dr. Eleanor A. Drey, performs abortions and is medical director of an abortion clinic.

Neither tried to conceal those activities from reporters before the journal article was published. Dr. Drey's role as an abortion provider was reported in The New York Times on Wednesday; Ms. Lee was not quoted or mentioned. All the authors are from the University of California, San Francisco.

Anti-abortion groups criticized the journal's failure to mention the two authors' work and said their backgrounds revealed a bias that cast doubt on their findings. The National Right to Life Committee issued a statement yesterday calling Ms. Lee and Dr. Drey "pro-abortion activists" whose conclusions were "predetermined by their political agenda."

The fact that Dr. DeAngelis did not know about the authors' activities was first reported Wednesday in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

The journal article questioned the need for proposed state and federal legislation that would compel doctors to tell women having abortions at 20 weeks or later that their fetuses would feel pain and to offer pain medicine specifically for the fetus.

In interviews yesterday, Dr. Drey and Ms. Lee said they did not regard their work as a conflict of interest and so it had not occurred to them to report it to the journal editors.

Really – you make your money working in that particular industry, and your conclusion is that the industry needs not be regulated. If you don’t see the conflict, you have no ethics.

Oh, yeah, you work for the abortion industry. You have no ethics.

Posted by: Greg at 12:15 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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They say they are all about women’s health. Why, then, would they sign a deal that would allow them to make a 500% profit on emergency contraception – while undercutting all the local pharmacies?

If the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) "gives a green light for over-the-counter distribution, Planned Parenthood stands to take in a minimum $100 million profit over a five-year period from sales of the Plan B 'morning-after' pill," said Jim Sedlak, executive director of American Life League's STOPP International.

"Such action from the FDA would allow Planned Parenthood to take maximum advantage of a sweetheart deal the organization arranged with Plan B's owner, Barr Pharmaceuticals," to buy the drug at below-market cost and undercut other pharmacies' retail prices, he stated.

Sedlak said the details of the business deal were exposed when internal emails of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) were made public during a California court case. These documents show how the organization worked out a secret arrangement with Barr Pharmaceuticals, the owner of the Plan B patent.

Under a five-year agreement, Planned Parenthood would be able to buy Plan B from Barr at bargain-basement prices, undercut local pharmacies and clear an average $20 profit on each Plan B kit, according to Sedlak.

Let’s consider the numbers. PP would get the drug at $4.25. They deal let’s them sell it at $25.00. Local pharmacies average $32.00. Over five years, the “non-profit” group dedicated to “women’s health” would rake in a $20 million profit a year dispensing this medication that they consider so essential that they want it turned into an over-the-counter drug – with PP as the cheapest distributor while getting a preferred price.

I'm all for capitalism. I've go no problem with a business or individual making a profit. But this is a non-profit organization that claims to be engaged in charitible work. Those being gouged here are the organization's clients.

So why is Planned Parenthood out to make a profit off of poor women during a time of great personal crisis?

Posted by: Greg at 12:13 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I love these stories.

When Chris Yanez wanted to take his girlfriend out for a special dinner to celebrate their one-year anniversary, he chose the venerable restaurant Canlis, perched high above Lake Union.

Yanez, a soldier returning from Iraq, knew the dinner would be pricey. What he didn't expect is that it would be free. And he also didn't expect that when he walked out, the place would be in tears.

Before going to dinner Wednesday night, Yanez, a reservist who spent a year in Iraq as a machine-gunner, put on his green dress Army uniform, the one he was proud to wear. With his girlfriend, Liz Coleman, on his arm, he walked into Canlis, where owner Mark Canlis found the couple a special table with a panoramic view of the lake and the city.

"I was a captain in the Air Force, so I have a soft spot there," Canlis said.
A few minutes later, a man at a nearby table — who wanted to remain anonymous — walked up to the restaurant owner. "I was noticing the young soldier and saw them looking at the menu," he told Canlis. "I know he was looking at prices and I know this is a special thing, so I would like to take care of part of their bill."

Then another family, the Greenbergs, said they, too, wanted to help pay for the meal. By the end of the night several patrons had, unknown to Yanez, offered to pay for the young couple's meal. With Canlis also sharing the costs, the $150 bill evaporated.

Yanez and Coleman were sharing a peach-cobbler dessert when Canlis walked up with a piece of molten chocolate lava cake.

"There's folks in this restaurant who don't think you should have to share a dessert," Canlis told the couple. "And they don't think you should pay the bill."
Coleman burst into in tears. Tana Greenberg, whose family helped pay the bill, said she, like several other patrons, was wiping her eyes.

"This brought out the patriotism in all of us," she said. "It was just the right thing to do. We're sending our kids over there and they're dying to uphold our beliefs. We just said this couple should not have to buy their meals. It was showing our belief in the uniform and what it stands for."

There is more to this story. You se, this isn’t the first time this has happened – and one time it was the restaurant staff that paid the bill. So if you find yourself out in the Seattle area, this would be the place to go for dinner.

Posted by: Greg at 12:09 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Cindy Sheehan claims her rage is directed at George W. Bush. I believe she believes that. I also believe she is wrong.

She claims to speak for her son – but by all accounts (except hers), her son volunteered for military service, voluntarily reenlisted, and volunteered for the mission on which he was killed.

So at whom is Cindy Sheehan REALLY pissed off?

It should be obvious – she is angry at Casey Sheehan.

Sigmund Freud had a concept he called “projection, which has been defined as a defense where the ego deals with unacceptable impulses and/or terrifying anxieties by attributing them to someone in the external world.

In many ways I think that explains the behavior of the media’s current patron saint, Cindy Sheehan, whose hate rhetoric aimed at President Bush is really meant for someone else who she can’t admit even to herself is her real target. To do so would represent one of those “unacceptable impulses” Dr. Freud was talking about.

In this case it could well be that Cindy Sheehan is projecting her rage at George Bush when the one she really despises is her late son Casey, who died as a hero in Iraq, precisely because he did die a hero in Iraq.

The more I listen to Cindy Sheehan and consider her past actions and her past words, it occurs to me she has always been a liberal, sheÂ’s always been anti-military, and sheÂ’s always been anti-Republican. It appears that she raised Casey in such an environment, yet despite that what does he do? He not only joins the military engaged in a war she bitterly opposes, but to add insult to injury when his enlistment runs out, he re-enlists although he knew that by so doing it meant he would be sent to Iraq where a war his mother despises is being fought.

Think about that. What Casey did was to reject not by words but by deeds his motherÂ’s most closely-held beliefs.

I’ve expressed this view a few places around the net, though not in anywhere near the depth that Michael Reagan does. Cindy Sheehan is conflicted that her son (who I do not doubt she loved with every decent passion that accompanies motherhood) rejected her beliefs and became an American hero – how can she hold close the memory of her first-born child while rejecting all that he chose to become? And so she directs her anger at the most convenient, most safe target out there – the President of the United States, whose policies (and whose election) she has always rejected. And in doing so, she can stuff her words and her ideology into the mouth of her dead son, and make herself believe that she is really speaking what her son believed – even though his every action shows that he rejected his mother’s politics and pacifism.

Get help, Cindy. If you don't do something about the misdirected anger that goes along with your grief, you are going to be permanently scarred by it.

Posted by: Greg at 12:06 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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Look where Democrat activist Fred Phelps is going next.

The fanatical American Baptist minister, Fred Phelps, is on his way to Sweden.

"We'll hunt down your king," he said ominously to Expressen. "It doesn't make any difference where he tries to hide."

Phelps' hatred of the royal family and all things Swedish is linked directly to his equally virulent hatred of homosexuals. He praises homophobic crimes, including murder. When controversial Swedish minister, Åke Green, was convicted of inciting hatred of homosexuals following an anti-gay sermon, Phelps saw red and turned his attention to Sweden.

"You're doomed to spend eternity in hell," he continued. "All you Swedes and your Swedish king and his family."

The minister and twenty members of his congregation from the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, are planning to come to Sweden at the beginning of September. They are bringing plenty of placards in order to spread their message that Sweden is the cradle of all evil and that the king rules a nation of sodomites.

King Carl Gustaf is their primary target.

"Your king represents your doomed country and we'll find him wherever he may be."

A lot of this has to do with the case of Swedish minister Åke Green, whose conviction of a hate crime for preaching a sermon critical of homosexuality was overturned this spring. The Swedish Supreme Court will hear the government’s appeal this fall.

Posted by: Greg at 11:52 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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I own my house. What business, then, does the government (any government, from the federal level down to my city) in regulating who I may or may not sell my house to? That is not a rhetorical question, given the nature of this case in Virginia.

In the first case of its kind, the Alexandria Human Rights Commission unanimously agreed Monday night that Long & Foster Real Estate Co. discriminated against a single gay man who wanted to buy a home in a quiet, tree-lined neighborhood.

Instead, the house went to a young married couple, who continue to own it.
The commission cited the McLean-based real estate company for discriminating against Lawrence Cummings, 52, because of his marital status or his sexual orientation. The basis for its decision won't be made public for 30 days.
Long & Foster could be required to pay up to $5,000 in fines to the city of Alexandria.

Cummings has already paid thousands of dollars in attorney's fees since he learned that his offer on the house in the Beverly Forest area had been rejected in February 2004.

"It is for the cause. For the principle," he said. "I don't believe you can discriminate against someone for their martial status or sexual preference and be able to get away with it."

Actually, Mr. Cummings, you are exactly wrong in every moral sense. You have no right to buy a house if the owner is unwilling to sell it to you. And that is the case even if you are willing to meet the price set by the owner – because the right to determine who one does business with is a matter of fundamental human rights that pre-exists any statute.

LetÂ’s look at the particulars of the case.

In February 2004, Cummings and his partner had already made offers on six houses and were getting tired of looking. When he saw the ranch-style house on Pullman Lane on a Saturday, he thought he had found what he was looking for. "I thought, 'Oooooh, cute,' " he explained. He met the sellers briefly and made an offer for the asking price -- $555,000 -- that same day.
"I thought surely I was going to get this house," he said.

But two days later, his agent called and said the owner had chosen a young married couple who had made an offer of $45,000 less. "She said it was the fact that I'm single and they sensed that I'm gay," Cummings said. And so he filed his complaint.

At the hearing, Cummings's attorney played a tape of a voice-mail message from a Long & Foster agent to a Realtor for McEnearney Associates, who was representing Cummings, describing the seller as a "fuddy-duddy" and explaining who she wanted to own the house:

"She was just extremely concerned that a young family, who would love the house and care for it, just like they did, down to the last curtain, which had been made from a wedding dress from one of their children, [would] love the house as much as they did," Anise Snyder of Long & Foster left in the message to David Howell of McEnearney, according to the case file.

Brien Roche, attorney for Long & Foster, said that the young couple who bought the house had made an equal offer, put down more earnest money and were chosen because they had shown more enthusiasm, even writing a letter about how much they liked the house and the curtains. Cummings, an interior designer, loved the house, too, but not the curtains, he would say later. "Old, dirty drapes? I don't think so," he said.

"There were both business and emotional reasons as to why the seller chose the people," Roche said in the case file. "It had nothing to do with marital status, nothing to do with anything other than the facts I just mentioned."

But ultimately, who cares if it was marital status or sexual orientation – or even race? The ultimate right regarding the conveyance of the home to another individual belongs not to the buyer, but to the seller. The house was hers, and she had every right to decide that she wanted to see a traditional family in that house rather than a childless pair of homosexuals. She had every right to arrange her business affairs in such a way that the house went to such a family – even if the decision made no sense from a purely economic standpoint. The right to make such a decision is essential to any meaningful concept of economic liberty.

More to the point, no one can point to a natural right – as opposed to a government-decreed positive right – to acquire a particular piece of property. That government believes it has any sort of moral right to regulate or penalize the decision of an owner to sell to a preferred buyer is corrosive of the right to own and dispose of property – and with it, the capitalist system.

Now some may argue that I am supporting housing discrimination. They are right. But as long as that discrimination is engaged in by a private party, I don't see a compelling government interest in stopping it that in any way justifies the infringement of property rights stopping it would entail.

Posted by: Greg at 02:12 PM | Comments (86) | Add Comment
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Get your red-hot victim rhetoric here!

Black leaders in Dallas and across the country are crying foul as a string of federal corruption investigations have targeted black politicians.

"Our leadership is being attacked all over the country," said Dallas Nation of Islam minister Jeffrey Muhammad. "We need to realize this and come together with a local and national agenda for the betterment of our own community."

Most of the people named so far in the FBI's investigation into corruption at Dallas City Hall and the city's tax-credit housing program are black. They include four black City Council members and three black members of the powerful City Plan Commission.

The predominance of blacks named in the investigation has stunned veteran black politicians.

Yo, J-Mu – quit selecting morally-challenged lowlifes as your leaders and you won’t have this problem. Elect some folks with the moral fiber to say no to bribes, kickbacks, and other schemes designed to enrich themselves at the expense of the taxpayers. If you do that, then there will be no need for your so-called leaders to be prosecuted. Unless, of course, you claim that one must be a felon to be authentically black.

Posted by: Greg at 02:07 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I love the outrageous twisting of morality here.

Five Palestinians were killed by IDF gunfire after midnight Wednesday during a raid to capture fugitives in Tulkarm.

The army said that soldiers of an elite Duvdevan unit surrounded a coffeehouse and called on the fugitives inside to surrender. Soldiers fired warning shots in the air, after which the fugitives as well as other gunmen on the scene opened fire at troops.

A firebomb and an explosive device were thrown at troops. In the exchange of gunfire four Palestinians were killed and a fifth died shortly after of his wounds.

Palestinians claim that only two of the dead were fugitives affiliated with the Islamic Jihad while the other three were teenagers, ranging in age from 16 to 18.

The Islamic Jihad and the Al-Aksa Martyrs' Brigades have threatened to exact a "painful revenge" for the deaths of the five Palestinians.

"This episode will not pass without a response," Islamic Jihad leader Muhammad al-Hindi said Thursday morning.

A Hamas spokesman said the revenge could take a variety of forms "in order to teach the enemy a lesson," Army Radio quoted.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei condemned an Israeli raid that killed five Palestinians in the West Bank as a "brutal crime."

"The brutal crime in Tulkarm shows that Israel does not want calm," Qurei said outside his office.

Israel takes out a group of terrorists, but is somehow the bad guy. The terrorists start shooting, but the alleged “innocent bystanders” are somehow the fault of the Israelis and not the terrorists.

Hamas must be crushed, for the sake of world peace. By any means necessary.

Posted by: Greg at 02:05 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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I fully respect the right of folks to protest -- even against the war in Iraq. I even acknowledge their right (though not the propriety) of their use of the most vile of slogans .

But I think a line is crossed when the anti-War anti-American demonstrations are held outside military hospitals.

The Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., the current home of hundreds of wounded veterans from the war in Iraq, has been the target of weekly anti-war demonstrations since March. The protesters hold signs that read "Maimed for Lies" and "Enlist here and die for Halliburton."

The anti-war demonstrators, who obtain their protest permits from the Washington, D.C., police department, position themselves directly in front of the main entrance to the Army Medical Center, which is located in northwest D.C., about five miles from the White House. Among the props used by the protesters are mock caskets, lined up on the sidewalk to represent the death toll in Iraq.

Code Pink Women for Peace, one of the groups backing anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan's vigil outside President Bush's ranch in Crawford Texas, organizes the protests at Walter Reed as well.

Yeah, that's right -- they are protesting wounded vets in a military hospital. So much for all the rhetoric we hear about the anti-war anti-American protesters being concerned about the troops.

And given Sheehan's prominent association with the sponsor of the Walter Reid demonstrations, it is simply one more reason to question whether she really gives a damn about American men and women in uniform. If she cannot bring herself to denounce this particular activity by Code Pink and cut her ties with a group that would engage in such tactics, then I think we have to question her commitment to anything other than an agenda which supports the killers of her son.

Posted by: Greg at 11:15 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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I don't know how many of you saw the news coverage about Hilary Lister. For a quadrablegic to manage to navigate the English Channel using a sip=and-puff mechanism to control her boat is more than merely impressive. I'm at a loss for words.

A British woman on Tuesday became the first quadriplegic to sail solo between Britain and France across the English Channel, coast guards said.

Hilary Lister, 33, who is able to move only her head, eyes and mouth, took six hours to navigate her boat, the Malin, unaided through one of the busiest and most treacherous shipping lanes in the world.

"It is very emotional for me. I was absolutely certain that once I got in the boat that I could make it to France. I am too stubborn to give up," Lister told reporters as she quaffed champagne after arriving at the northern French port of Calais.

"I want to get able-bodied people to rethink their views about the disabled," she said, adding that she now wants to sail around Britain's coast.

Coast guards at the southern English port of Dover, where Lister began her journey, said it was the first time a quadriplegic had made the voyage solo.

Lister's vessel has been adapted to be controlled by the "sip and puff" method, allowing Lister to adjust the sails and tiller by blowing and sucking through two straws.

Hillary Lister was once an athlete, before her illness.

Ms Lister has been a quadriplegic for four years, due to a progressive degenerative disease, reflex sympathetic dystrophy, which has worked its way up from her ankles to her neck.

And that is what made this story speak to me so loudly.

You see, I find this story both inspiring and heart-breaking at the same time. As some of you who read my words know, from time to time I talk about my wife's health problems, and the "cluster of degenerative neuromuscular conditions" that she struggles with. One of the two major ones is the condition from which has rendered Ms. Lister wheelchair bound. Fortunately, Paula's condition has not deteriorated to anything even approximating that of Hilary Lister, butthe article reminds me of the bravery that she shows every day. It also serves as a sobering reminder of what the future may hold for the two of us.

Let it be enough to say to you, my readers, that Paula is the light of my life and that the ten years we have been married have been a source of such joy to me.

And if you should ever come by the site and read this post, I want you to know that I love you, sweetheart, and that you are very much a hero and an inspiration to me.

Posted by: Greg at 02:58 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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IÂ’m not a big fan of John McCain. That said, I think he pegged this one exactly right regarding the Cindy Sheehan situation.

"It's impossible to put yourself in the position of the president of the United States and say what he should or shouldn't do. If I was president of the United States, I probably wouldn't" meet with her, McCain told the Citizen editorial board.

Sheehan, whose son, Casey, was killed in Iraq last year, stood vigil with throngs of protesters outside Bush's Texas ranch last week, demanding the president hear her argument for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq. Her story spawned similar anti-war protests across the nation, including one in Tucson Aug. 17.

Bush has taken heat from many for avoiding Sheehan, including some congressional Republicans who say the decision makes the White House appear unsympathetic.

McCain said he's seen Bush after meetings with families who lost loved ones - including Sheehan at an earlier meeting.

"He cares. He grieves. He has the greatest compassion and sympathy for these families and anyone who says he doesn't isn't telling the truth," McCain said. "I've seen it with my own eyes."

But giving in to demands for a face-to-face meeting would set a precedent that would potentially have costly implications for the White House, McCain said.

"Perhaps her coming out of a meeting and saying she had berated the president of the United States and that she demanded another meeting and had demanded meetings for other families who have now turned against the war," McCain said. "And should he continue now a dialogue with them? And if he doesn't have a regular dialogue with them, then he's insensitive and blah, blah, blah."

And to all the folks who think McCain is the only good Republican – he believes that we need to increase the presence of US forces in Iraq.

Rather than giving in to public pressure to bring troops home, the White House should be increasing the military presence in Iraq, he said.

"We cannot afford to fail. We cannot lose. If we lose, you will see Iraq factionalize, maybe be broken up," McCain said. "You will see it as a new center for Muslim extremism - slash - terrorism, and it will be sending a message throughout the world that the United States can be beaten."

So, all you folks out there criticizing the war – do you want America to win, or to be beaten? Are you with us or against us?

Posted by: Greg at 01:33 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I came across this interesting piece by the Canton Repository columnist this morning before breakfast. I think it raises a good point, but also needs a response because of a number of assumptions the writer makes.

ItÂ’s disturbing, this gang-tackling of anyone who dares to question the handling of the war in Iraq.

In recent weeks, Cindy Sheehan has been called “the scum of the earth,” a traitor, and other choice epithets that only a gangsta rapper could love.

SheehanÂ’s protest in Crawford, Texas, has been equated with her dancing on the grave of her dead soldier son. A few folks have even expressed glee upon hearing that SheehanÂ’s husband recently filed for divorce.

ItÂ’s only a matter of time before sheÂ’s blamed for her motherÂ’s recent stroke.

Now hold on, Ms. Goshay. Is it your contention that Cindy SheehanÂ’s right to free speech is so sacrosanct that no one has the right to criticize her words or question her actions? You object to name-calling, but give Sheehan a pass on calling the president a murderer, a terrorist, a war criminal, and a member of a crime family. As far as her motherÂ’s stroke goes, the closest IÂ’ve seen to such an accusation against Sheehan is that her actions may have increased her motherÂ’s stress. On the other hand, IÂ’ve seen any number of Sheehan supporters suggest that George W. Bush and Karl Rove used the CIA to poison the stricken woman. I guess that is acceptable, though.

And let’s be honest here – there is something unsavory about a mother using her dead son as a prop to make a political point. Especially when doing so puts her on the same side as those who really killed her son.

It’s being argued that Sheehan’s actions are hurting our troops because it provides just the spark needed by the insurgents. Doubtful. It should be clear by now that roadside bombings in Baghdad are not incumbent upon how Americans feel about the war. Terrorists don’t give a damn what we think, and they certainly don’t need an anti-war protest 6,000 miles away to feel “emboldened.”

They would kill Cindy Sheehan as quickly as they did her son, because sheÂ’s an American.

I’ll agree with your assessment that the terrorists would kill Sheehan as quickly as they killed her son (or nearly 3000 innocents on 9/11), which should be reason enough to discount the woman’s rantings. But one of the lessons of Vietnam is that a war abroad that is being won on the field of battle can be lost in the streets of America if the enemy can manage to “wait out” the resolve of the American people. If you don’t believe that, check out General Giap’s memoirs.

But criticism of Sheehan is no longer about the rightness or wrongness of her protest.

ItÂ’s about her.

Half true – it is about her credibility. To the degree that questioning he credibility is “about her”, then I agree. So what? Discerning individuals are supposed to consider the credibility of a source when evaluating an argument. Especially when that source is claiming to have an indisputable and unquestionable moral authority.

Syndicated columnists have been on the front lines of the smear offensive, questioning not only SheehanÂ’s loyalty, but her very sanity.

They argue that her protest is no longer about her dead son. They’re right — just as Terri Schiavo’s situation evolved from a private family issue to a national discourse on the right to life.

People who want Cindy Sheehan to shut up and go away forget their history. History may love Charles Lindbergh and Henry Ford now, but both admired Adolf Hitler and were vocal critics of AmericaÂ’s foray into World War II.

Bowing under public pressure, Woodrow Wilson won re-election in 1916 by vowing to keep America out of Europe’s war — a promise he couldn’t keep.
Before it was over and done, some Vietnam veterans protested against their own war.

Fine. WhatÂ’s your point? Protest is fine, as is opposition to war. But there is a question of time and manner. Once the war begins, the method of opposition needs to be muted in order to not give aid and comfort to the enemy.

As for questioning Sheehan’s sanity – most of us who have done so have done so respectfully, suggesting that she is still so overwhelmed by her grief that she may not be thinking straight. A fuller examination of her words and activities have led me to conclude that she is not crazy or overwrought – rather, her associations with convicted terrorist mouthpiece Lynn Stewart and a host of anti-American groups lead me to draw the conclusion that it is not simply the war she opposes, but the United States.

Among those leading the charge are Bill O’Reilly, who labeled Sheehan’s behavior “treasonous,” and Michelle Malkin, who once suggested that John Kerry may have earned his Purple Hearts by wounding himself.

HereÂ’s a theory: Perhaps Kerry and Sen. Chuck Hagen shot each another.
Columnist David Horowitz said Sheehan has joined an “unholy alliance” that is threatening to undermine the mission, which has become “an epic battle for freedom.”

If itÂ’s so epic, why are we and the British practically the only ones fighting it?

Why arenÂ’t other Middle Eastern countries who claim to love freedom throwing in with us?

How can we dog the French when Turkey, Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia wonÂ’t help rescue a neighbor from the clutches of terror and despotism?

How many sheiks and princes were fighting alongside Casey Sheehan on the day he was killed?

Malkin did not accuse Kerry of intentionally shooting himself – she argued (as did one of those present when the wound occurred) that one of Kerry’s wounds was caused by blowback from his own weapon, not the enemy. Since you are so concerned about the accuracy and honesty of statements made by partisan columnists, you might want to engage in in a bit of accuracy and honesty yourself.

The rest of the argument isn’t worth dignifying – after all, most of us were taught at a very young age that one should do the right thing, even if everybody else is doing something else. I’m sorry your family, church, and school failed to pass that bit of wisdom on to you.

The central question is not whether Cindy Sheehan is right or wrong, or even if the war is right or wrong; the central question is, does she have a right to free speech, or not?

Even Bush, commander-in-chief of the armed forces and the object of SheehanÂ’s increasingly caustic wrath, defends her right to have an opinion.

Cindy Sheehan is being lambasted as anti-American, but whatÂ’s more American than speaking your mind?

Sure, Charita, Cindy Sheehan has a right to speak. But freedom to speak is not freedom from criticism. Making one’s opinion known does not exempt you or it from criticism, not even from harsh criticism. You should know that – for your column is nothing but criticism of Sheehan’s critics.
And as for your final question, I’d like to ask you in return – do you think that a Klan rally is the height of Americanism? Or do you think that the message and the messengers deserve scorn?

Posted by: Greg at 01:21 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Utah is a pretty conservative place. I don’t think I’m betraying any sort of national secret by saying that it is because of the Mormons. I mean, they are as conservative a bunch of pro-family traditionalists as you are likely to find – and they are centered right in Salt Lake City.

That’s why this move by Salt Lake City’s mayor seems sort of dictatorial to me – he’s going to impose domestic partnership benefits on the city by decree, even if the city council rejects them. After all, he has the power.

No lobbying or emotional debate necessary.

Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson apparently can extend health benefits to unmarried partners of gay and straight city employees anytime he wants. And he said Tuesday that he will "absolutely" offer the benefits once the city finishes its research on the plan and he gets formal word he can do it without a City Council vote.

Still, Anderson hopes the council passes a symbolic resolution supporting the idea.

"As long as we're going to do this, we should demonstrate unity on this issue," he said. "Providing for equality should not create more division in our community."

Even a symbolic resolution is hardly a sure thing. The city's seven-member council leans conservative, and this is an election year for four of them.

If the council rejects a resolution, Anderson said he would go ahead and offer the benefits anyway. Barring quick action from another city, Salt Lake City would become Utah's first government to offer domestic-partner benefits.

Do you get the arrogance there? The use of what I can only assume to be the royal “We” in the third paragraph? Translated, the mayor is saying “I want a resolution of support, but I’m acting even if you refuse me one – and if that causes division, my opponents are the bad guys.”

I’d like to encourage the members of the City Council out in Salt Lake City to go on record in opposition to these benefits. What’s more, I’d like to encourage the people of Salt lake City to vote out any member of the council who votes for a resolution of support – and eventually Mayor Anderson. His tactics are antithetical to the American system, and he and his supporters need to be righteously slapped down by the vast majority whose values he is trampling upon.

HereÂ’s a link to the email addresses of the members of the Salt Lake City Council. Be respectful, but express your views.

Posted by: Greg at 01:18 PM | Comments (14) | Add Comment
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SheÂ’s back!

Cindy Sheehan, the anti-American mother of an American hero, is headed back to Camp Dhimmi outside of Crawford in search of another 15 minutes.

Cindy Sheehan, the 48-year-old California mom whose anti-war protest has sparked international interest and plenty of controversy, will likely return to her post near President Bush's Central Texas ranch late Wednesday afternoon after a week-long absence.

Michelle Mulkey, a spokeswoman for the peace movement that Sheehan triggered just outside the town of Crawford, said Tuesday afternoon that Sheehan was expected to be back at her makeshift campsite near the Bush ranch sometime after 5 p.m.

ItÂ’s time for the media to make the point that this woman is giving aid and comfort to the folks who actually killed her son via her anti-American rhetoric

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The American Legion passed Resolution 3 at the groups annual convention.

"The American Legion fully supports the president of the Untied States, the United States Congress and the men, women and leadership of our armed forces as they are engaged in the global war on terrorism and the troops who are engaged in protecting our values and way of life.

Do America’s veterans have sufficient credentials to satisfy the anti-war anti-American activists of their moral authority to speak on the issue?

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The American Legion passed Resolution 3 at the groups annual convention.

"The American Legion fully supports the president of the Untied States, the United States Congress and the men, women and leadership of our armed forces as they are engaged in the global war on terrorism and the troops who are engaged in protecting our values and way of life.

Do AmericaÂ’s veterans have sufficient credentials to satisfy the anti-war anti-American activists of their moral authority to speak on the issue?

Posted by: Greg at 01:13 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I donÂ’t blog from Dear Abby often, but this letter is just too much.

Dear Abby:

I am 62 and my husband is 93. Our next-door neighbor, "Sam," likes to expose himself. Other than that, he's a good neighbor and always ready to help out.

One day, a couple of my women friends were over visiting, and Sam stood in his doorway naked as a jaybird, waving at them. Mostly, he does this when my husband has gone inside the house.

His behavior worries me. If anything should happen to my husband, do you think Sam would try to force himself on me? Could he attack me and try to rape or murder me, or is he just a nice guy who likes to expose himself, and not the least bit dangerous?

I don't want to be a bad neighbor, and I don't want my name revealed, but this neighbor is really making me uneasy. Should I report what he's been doing to the police?

SCARED in Hawaii

Have we really reached the point in this society where we worry about being “impolite” if we call the police over someone exposing themselves? Sure, nudism may be a valid alternative lifestyle, but the limits are reached when you stand in your doorway naked for the public to see. And I wonder – would she be so hesitant to act if it was her 12-year old granddaughter (or grandson) who he waved at naked?

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When I have taught English, I’ve used the film version of To Kill A Mockingbird. I did so again this past summer, and once again enjoyed the masterful acting of Brock Peters as Tom Robinson.

He passed away today.

Actor Brock Peters, best known for his heartbreaking performance as the black man falsely accused of rape in "To Kill a Mockingbird," died Tuesday at his home after battling pancreatic cancer. He was 78.

Peters was diagnosed with the disease in January and had been receiving chemotherapy treatment, according to Marilyn Darby, his longtime companion. His condition became worse in recent weeks.

He died peacefully in bed, surrounded by family, she said.

Peters also had a special place in my heart because of his appearance in two of the Star Trek films.

May he rest in peace, and may those who loved him find solace at this sad time.

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When I have taught English, IÂ’ve used the film version of To Kill A Mockingbird. I did so again this past summer, and once again enjoyed the masterful acting of Brock Peters as Tom Robinson.

He passed away today.

Actor Brock Peters, best known for his heartbreaking performance as the black man falsely accused of rape in "To Kill a Mockingbird," died Tuesday at his home after battling pancreatic cancer. He was 78.

Peters was diagnosed with the disease in January and had been receiving chemotherapy treatment, according to Marilyn Darby, his longtime companion. His condition became worse in recent weeks.

He died peacefully in bed, surrounded by family, she said.

Peters also had a special place in my heart because of his appearance in two of the Star Trek films.

May he rest in peace, and may those who loved him find solace at this sad time.

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More than one out of every eight girls at Canto, OhioÂ’s Timken High School is pregnant as school starts this fall. If that number astounds you, please consider that it does not include those who have already had a child. What is the reason?

There are 490 female students at Timken High School, and 65 are pregnant, according to a recent report in the Canton Repository.

The article reported that some would say that movies, TV, videogames, lazy parents and lax discipline may all be to blame.

School officials are not sure they what has caused so many pregnancies, but in response to them, the school is launching a three-prong educational program to address pregnancy, prevention and parenting.

IÂ’ll resist the temptation to make a snide comment about the contention that school officials donÂ’t know what has caused so many pregnancies. IÂ’m sure that a health of biology textbook clued them in really quick.

No, the reason is that sex has no consequences today. Look at what the school is doing – creating a parenting program to help these kids raise their kids. If it looks anything like my school district’s program, it will include free day care, free medical care, special scheduling, and a coordinator to get the new mothers hooked up with all the relevant entitlement programs. Getting pregnant and dropping a kid at age 16 won’t have any consequences at all – and when the little girl with the rotund belly is the guest of honor at a cafeteria baby-shower surrounded by all of her friends, being a “baby mama” will continue to look glamorous. And I won’t get into the question of the small number who actually get married on Saturday and come to school on Monday showing off their new wedding ring. And after graduation, many of them will be eligible for special scholarship money for overcoming the hardship of being a teenage mother.

I can still remember the day when getting pregnant (or even married) meant that you education was over. You had made an adult choice, and needed to live with the adult consequences. But with the consequences removed, what incentive is there for a young lady to put a dime between her knees and keep it there until graduation? None.

I realize that shame and consequences are dirty words in today’s society, and that using them marks one out as a cold-hearted SOB with an archaic value system. But let’s be honest – those social sanctions worked. Maybe we need to go back to them.

Either that, or more of my colleagues had better expect to hear what I heard from a student in my class several years ago – “Mister – I think I need to go to the nu-u-u-u-u-r-r-r-s-s-s-e! My baby’s coming.”

Posted by: Greg at 12:52 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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We have many American heroes fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. HereÂ’s an American coward hiding in Canada, Joshua Key.

Key and his wife Brandi (shown) were at Algoma University College last night to talk about American war resisters like himself and to appeal to Canadians for help.

Their visit was part of the official launch of the New Democratic Youth of Canada's national War Resisters Campaign. aimed at convincing the Canadian Government to grant sanctuary to American servicemen and women who object to the war in Iraq.

Audience members were told last night that Josh suffers from severe posttraumatic stress disorder because of the events he witnessed and was forced to participate in while stationed in Iraq.

Because of his condition and because of the estimated 8,000 or more American war resisters like him. the Keys and others are calling for changes to the Immigration Act of Canada.

"The war in Iraq is illegal," Josh said. "We are hoping people of Canada will stand up and say war resisters are welcome here."

Canada is welcome to keep this coward – though I would prefer to see a SEAL team sent in to get him so that he can face his punishment as a deserter.
I wonder – is there any possibility that the US government could revoke the citizenship and passport of this filth and his family so that we can ensure that they are never, ever, permitted to set foot on American soil again?

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This is just stupid, and offensive.

Conservative U.S. evangelist Pat Robertson called for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, saying the leftist leader wanted to turn his country into "the launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism."

The founder of the Christian Coalition said during the Monday night television broadcast of his religious program, "The 700 Club," that Chavez, one the most vocal critics of President George W. Bush, was a "terrific danger" to the United States.

"We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability," Robertson said.

"We don't need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator," he continued. "It's a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with."

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack condemned Robertson's comments as "inappropriate" and said they were from a private citizen and did not represent the U.S.

While I would not object to seeing the people of Venezuela rise up and give him the Mussolini or Ceaucescu treatment, I donÂ’t want to see our own government get back in this business over one tin-horn dictator.

Shut up, Pat!

Posted by: Greg at 12:49 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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This is a topic near and dear to my heart, since I’m a member of the local GOP ballot security committee, which trains poll-watchers and election judges how to spot and stop vote fraud. Selwyn Duke reports on some of the means by which fraud is perpetrated in Washington DC.

Experience has taught Deep Vote that it is transiency which provides Democrat political operatives with the most golden of opportunities to steal votes. In depressed urban areas an inordinate number of residents move in and out every year, with some taking up residence for only a brief time.

Stability is less common among the poverty-stricken and others suffering social dysfunctions, and such people are more numerous in large urban areas than elsewhere.

A high rate of transiency inevitably leaves a large number of people who no longer live in an area on the voter rolls. The local authorities, says Deep Vote, “are always somewhat late on removing non-residents.” All the Democrat operatives need do then is ascertain who these people are and vote for them. Deep Vote explains the mechanics of this process.

What we first need to know is that the Democrat operatives who are central to this fraud are known as “block captains” and “apartment captains.” Deep Vote tells us that a captain is a GOTV (Get out the vote) term for a campaign volunteer who knows the territory and is given a list of voters on his block or in his building who are believed to be sympathetic to his candidate. He is then charged with the task of driving these partisans to the polls.

Deep Vote then explains that since captains are usually “local/neighborhood leaders” or in the least have “been there for a while,” they “would know who has moved out.” It is then that the captains examine the voter rolls and “vote those people.”

This problem is not just confined to large urban areas. Yeas ago, as the GOP committeeman for a college campus voting precinct, I found that there were many registered voters who had long since moved on. Take my own dorm room as an example. There were six voters registered to that address – and I was the only one of them who actually lived there. It took me three months to get those voters tracked down and registered at their correct address or purged from the rolls. It never crossed my mind to engage in the mischief that was available to me.

Why are these ineligible voters left on the rolls?

Deep Vote also mentions factors that have exacerbated this problem by enabling these election thieves. First, many states have enacted “Motor Voter” laws, which he says often increase the chances of this type of vote-fraud. The reason for this is that such laws lead to the registration of larger numbers of irresponsible people who live transient lifestyles.

Then, not surprisingly, where there’s the appearance of corruption and turpitude there often lurks the Reverend without a congregation, Jesse Jackson. Some years ago he brought pressure to bear on Washington, DC to stop purging the voter rolls because doing so was “racist.” You see, racism is something on which ol’ Jesse is an authority.

Anyway, such a story is reminiscent of the hue and cry that ensued when Florida purged its voter rolls; back then accusations of racism were hurled as well. Just know, though, that those who use this ploy are scoundrels, scheming to facilitate the vote-fraud that can vault their candidate into office. Such people are to be despised.

Yeah, that’s right – easy registration and difficulty in purging the rolls (where it is done at all) make the casting of votes by these ghost voters that much easier. It doesn’t take much imagination to see the mischief that can be made of the process by these “extra voters”.

Posted by: Greg at 12:47 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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This is a topic near and dear to my heart, since IÂ’m a member of the local GOP ballot security committee, which trains poll-watchers and election judges how to spot and stop vote fraud. Selwyn Duke reports on some of the means by which fraud is perpetrated in Washington DC.

Experience has taught Deep Vote that it is transiency which provides Democrat political operatives with the most golden of opportunities to steal votes. In depressed urban areas an inordinate number of residents move in and out every year, with some taking up residence for only a brief time.

Stability is less common among the poverty-stricken and others suffering social dysfunctions, and such people are more numerous in large urban areas than elsewhere.

A high rate of transiency inevitably leaves a large number of people who no longer live in an area on the voter rolls. The local authorities, says Deep Vote, “are always somewhat late on removing non-residents.” All the Democrat operatives need do then is ascertain who these people are and vote for them. Deep Vote explains the mechanics of this process.

What we first need to know is that the Democrat operatives who are central to this fraud are known as “block captains” and “apartment captains.” Deep Vote tells us that a captain is a GOTV (Get out the vote) term for a campaign volunteer who knows the territory and is given a list of voters on his block or in his building who are believed to be sympathetic to his candidate. He is then charged with the task of driving these partisans to the polls.

Deep Vote then explains that since captains are usually “local/neighborhood leaders” or in the least have “been there for a while,” they “would know who has moved out.” It is then that the captains examine the voter rolls and “vote those people.”

This problem is not just confined to large urban areas. Yeas ago, as the GOP committeeman for a college campus voting precinct, I found that there were many registered voters who had long since moved on. Take my own dorm room as an example. There were six voters registered to that address – and I was the only one of them who actually lived there. It took me three months to get those voters tracked down and registered at their correct address or purged from the rolls. It never crossed my mind to engage in the mischief that was available to me.

Why are these ineligible voters left on the rolls?

Deep Vote also mentions factors that have exacerbated this problem by enabling these election thieves. First, many states have enacted “Motor Voter” laws, which he says often increase the chances of this type of vote-fraud. The reason for this is that such laws lead to the registration of larger numbers of irresponsible people who live transient lifestyles.

Then, not surprisingly, where there’s the appearance of corruption and turpitude there often lurks the Reverend without a congregation, Jesse Jackson. Some years ago he brought pressure to bear on Washington, DC to stop purging the voter rolls because doing so was “racist.” You see, racism is something on which ol’ Jesse is an authority.

Anyway, such a story is reminiscent of the hue and cry that ensued when Florida purged its voter rolls; back then accusations of racism were hurled as well. Just know, though, that those who use this ploy are scoundrels, scheming to facilitate the vote-fraud that can vault their candidate into office. Such people are to be despised.

Yeah, that’s right – easy registration and difficulty in purging the rolls (where it is done at all) make the casting of votes by these ghost voters that much easier. It doesn’t take much imagination to see the mischief that can be made of the process by these “extra voters”.

Posted by: Greg at 12:47 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Thanks to the racial gerrymander required by the Voting Rights Act, Sheila Jackson Lee will be in office making a fool of herself for years. Here is the latest chapter.

U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee visited the anti-war inspired "Camp Casey" near President Bush's ranch on Monday, lending support and words of encouragement to several families whose loved ones died in Iraq.

"It is time to bring our troops home," Lee said at the demonstration started by Cindy Sheehan, of Vacaville, Calif., on Aug. 6.

Sheehan, whose 24-year-old son Army Spc. Casey Sheehan died last year in Iraq, is currently in Los Angeles to be with her mother, who had a stroke. But about 60 other people were spread between two anti-war campsites near the ranch on Monday.

"What we want to do is give America a sense that it's OK to speak up and ask questions," said Lee, a Democrat from Houston.

She said that coalition forces of U.S. allies could come in to fill the security gap in Iraq.

Before you get too impressed, remember that this is the same buffoon who complained that the names for hurricanes didn’t sound black enough, and who asked NASA staff if the Mars Rover had taken any pictures of the flag that Neil Armstrong had left behind. She’s not the sharpest knife in the drawer – which is why she is the only member of Congress to associate herself with the group camped out in Crawford.

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