Polls show the people of Massachusetts are for a proposal to ban gay marriage -- so why is the state's governor trying to make sure they never get their say?

Gov. Deval Patrick has dangled job offers in front of anti-gay-marriage lawmakers to persuade them to switch their votes and kill a proposed constitutional ban on same-sex nuptials, sources said.

Two sources close to the gay-marriage debate said Patrick has used the controversial tactic as lobbying has intensified in recent weeks. The Legislature adjourned a Constitutional Convention yesterday without voting on the proposed ban, tabling the matter until a session scheduled for June 14.

Supporters of gay marriage said Patrick has worked extremely hard behind the scenes to defeat the proposed ban, and the sources said those efforts have included approaching lawmakers believed to be amenable to a vote switch and telling them they would be considered for administration jobs if they helped defeat the ban.

One can argue the merits of gay marriage -- but there is no legitimate basis for strangling the voice of the citizenry. It is interesting that Patrick, whose Clinton Administration job was focused on ensuring that people were allowed to vote, wants to disenfranchise an entire state -- unless he places the will of a core constituency above the will of the people as a whole.

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Well, is there any question now that Al Sharpton was engaged in a full frontal assault on Mormonism the other day? What other conclusion can one draw now that Sharpton has injected race into the mix -- and set himself up as Grand Inquisitor with his demand that Romney respond to questions about LDS religious beliefs?

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and civil rights activist Al Sharpton traded angry, racially charged accusations yesterday, with Romney alleging that Sharpton had uttered "bigoted" comments about Mormonism.

* * *

"Attacking me, not Hitchens, shows [Romney] is playing politics," Sharpton said. "What is bigoted about asking . . . about a denomination based on racism?"

Sharpton called on Romney to address whether the Mormon Church ever supported segregation. "He needs to clarify the truth or non-truth of what I was presented," Sharpton said.

No, he does not, Al -- and you need to crawl back under the rock from which you slithered. But not until you have been called to account for your history of racism and anti-Semitism -- Tawana Brawley, Yankel Rosenbaum, Freddy's Fashion Mart, and the Duke Lacrosse case, for starters.

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My wife and I spent our honeymoon in a vacation cabin we rented in the Great Smokey Mountains. We hope to one day go back for another stay. A nice cabin, condo, townhome or house in a nice location can make for such a wonderful experience -- and a raft of great memories -- for you and your loved ones.

Over at vlbo.com, you can find great vacation rentals around the country and in some foreign destinations. Take, for example, Lake Tahoe vacation rentals. They have several units available, sleeping anywhere from 2 to 18! Pick your date, pick your location, and you are all set!

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I'd wondered about this, but never asked. But my intuition on the HPV matter has proved to be correct.

The sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer also sharply increases the risk of certain types of throat cancer among people infected through oral sex, according to a study being published today.

The study, involving 100 people with throat cancer and 200 without it, found that those infected with the human papillomavirus were 32 times as likely to develop one form of oral cancer than those free of the virus. Although previous research had indicated HPV caused oral cancer, the new study is the first to definitively establish the link, researchers said.

"It makes it absolutely clear that oral HPV infection is a risk factor," said Maura L. Gillison, an assistant professor of oncology and epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in Baltimore, who led the study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The findings could help explain why rates of oral cancer have been increasing in recent years, particularly among younger people and those who are not smokers or heavy drinkers, which had long been the primary at-risk groups, experts said.

"There's been a kind of sea change in the last 10 years in who we're seeing with these cancers," Gillison said. "It makes sense with some changes we've seen in sexual behavior."

Maybe this will serve as notice to some of our young people that oral sex has consequences, too, and is not simply a safe way of having a good time -- or an entertaining form of party game.

But I'm also struck by the time frame of the change in throat cancer patients. What could have happened 10 years ago that would lead to such a change?

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Really, it has been great to be working with these folks doing consumer generated advertising. They sure beat those banner ads and text ads all to heck in terms of productivity. And even if I haven't been eligible for all of the big offers, and have even had one or two rejections along the way, i feel I have been well-treated by them in the three months that I've been grabbing opportunities to advertise on blogs.

How much have I made? Well, let's say that this week will pull in more than I have from AdSense in a year. Heck, I might even drop all those ads in the site redesign that is coming up -- that will certainly make my site seem a bit more sleek. And as for where it is going, there are needs following my wife's hospital stays -- and maybe even the chance to take her on that Alaska Cruise in the next year or two!

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The sound you just heard is the crashing and burning of Rudy's presidential campaign.

After months of conflicting signals on abortion, Rudolph W. Giuliani is planning to offer a forthright affirmation of his support for abortion rights in public forums, television appearances and interviews in the coming days, despite the potential for bad consequences among some conservative voters already wary of his views, aides said yesterday.

At the same time, Mr. Giuliani’s campaign — seeking to accomplish the unusual task of persuading Republicans to nominate an abortion rights supporter — is eyeing a path to the nomination that would try to de-emphasize the early states in which abortion opponents wield a great deal of influence. Instead they would focus on the so-called mega-primary of Feb. 5, in which voters in states like California, New York and New Jersey are likely to be more receptive to Mr. Giuliani’s social views than voters in Iowa and South Carolina.

That approach, they said, became more appealing after the Legislature in Florida, another state they said would be receptive to Mr. Giuliani, voted last week to move the primary forward to the end of January.

Now I'll be honest -- as much as I admire Rudy for many things, I've never been a big fan of his candidacy. His equivocation last week was troubling to me. This move simply turns me off to the campaign completely -- because it makes me wonder how much of his previous positioning on issues like judges is sincere. And the harder-line pro-lifers will sit home in 2008 rather than vote for him.

Expect a precipitous drop in the polls. And maybe a formal excommunication.

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I like picking out nice gifts for friends and family members, but I don't always know what to get. It isn't that i don't care or don't have good taste, but rather that I don't always have the time to do the shopping or the originality to come up with a neat gift. That's when I turn to gift baskets -- and there are some excellent ones at GiftBasketsPlus.com.

For example, there are a lot of babies on the way at my school. Rather than go out and buy the same chain-store onesies, I can find a neat baby gift basket that contains a number of quality items that are needed for the new arrival. Or there are personalized piggy banks, a cute gift that will be treasured for years. And there are lots of other gift baskets available, for every occasion.

After all, as I look at my calendar, I see a number of times I might be tempted to buy for someone at GiftBasketsPlus.com. My brother has a birthday in two weeks. My parents have their 46th wedding anniversary early next month. Heck, my wedding anniversary is coming up – followed by my darling wife’s birthday in rapid succession. And let’s not forget that Mother’s Day is Sunday – there is still time to order, even if your gift might be tardy. So drop by and take a look around

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Immigration knew who they were. They knew where they were. They just didnÂ’t care enough to do anything about it.

You might suspect when illegal immigrants are caught committing violent crimes, it means automatic deportation.

That's simply not the case. We dug through months of arrest records and immigration documents to find criminal illegal immigrants can get three, four and even six strikes, and still be allowed in our country.

You've seen these immigration rallies -- hundreds of marchers. But among these faces, you won't likely find Jimmy Ascencio, convicted of assault, evading arrest, DWI and robbery.

The chance is also slim you'll see Gonzalo Roldan, convicted of theft, burglary, auto theft, and manufacturing and delivering cocaine.

Both men were arrested, and according to the Harris County Sheriff's Department -- both admitted they are in the U.S. illegally.

But we discovered both are now out of jail and likely somewhere in the Houston area.

How bad is ICEÂ’s enforcement record?

From Jan. 1 through the end of March, 979 suspects booked into the Harris County Jail voluntarily told deputies they are illegal immigrants.

But records we obtained show ICE has only made efforts to deport 195 of those suspects in the same time period -- just 20 percent.

And these are the known criminals – and include killers, rapists, and drug dealers. Yet ICE cannot be bothered to return them to their countries of origin, despite the fact they are already in custody.

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Or maybe that should be the “Juan Kerry Question”.

Pope Benedict on Wednesday warned Catholic politicians they risked excommunication from the Church and should not receive communion if they support abortion.

It was the first time that the Pope, speaking to reporters aboard the plane taking him on a trip to Brazil, dealt in depth with a controversial topic that has come up in many countries, including the United States, Mexico, and Italy.

The Pope was asked whether he supported Mexican Church leaders threatening to excommunicate leftist parliamentarians who last month voted to legalize abortion in Mexico City.

"Yes, this excommunication was not an arbitrary one but is allowed by Canon (church) law which says that the killing of an innocent child is incompatible with receiving communion, which is receiving the body of Christ," he said.

"They (Mexican Church leaders) did nothing new, surprising or arbitrary. They simply announced publicly what is contained in the law of the Church... which expresses our appreciation for life and that human individuality, human personality is present from the first moment (of life)".

Under Church law, someone who knowingly does or backs something which the Church considers a grave sin, such as abortion, inflicts what is known as "automatic excommunication" on themselves.

You can be for and facilitate abortions, or you can be Catholic. You cannot be both. I applaud Pope Benedict XVI for having the courage to say so – and I hope that America’s bishops will have the integrity to follow his lead.

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Or maybe that should be the “Juan Kerry Question”.

Pope Benedict on Wednesday warned Catholic politicians they risked excommunication from the Church and should not receive communion if they support abortion.

It was the first time that the Pope, speaking to reporters aboard the plane taking him on a trip to Brazil, dealt in depth with a controversial topic that has come up in many countries, including the United States, Mexico, and Italy.

The Pope was asked whether he supported Mexican Church leaders threatening to excommunicate leftist parliamentarians who last month voted to legalize abortion in Mexico City.

"Yes, this excommunication was not an arbitrary one but is allowed by Canon (church) law which says that the killing of an innocent child is incompatible with receiving communion, which is receiving the body of Christ," he said.

"They (Mexican Church leaders) did nothing new, surprising or arbitrary. They simply announced publicly what is contained in the law of the Church... which expresses our appreciation for life and that human individuality, human personality is present from the first moment (of life)".

Under Church law, someone who knowingly does or backs something which the Church considers a grave sin, such as abortion, inflicts what is known as "automatic excommunication" on themselves.

You can be for and facilitate abortions, or you can be Catholic. You cannot be both. I applaud Pope Benedict XVI for having the courage to say so – and I hope that America’s bishops will have the integrity to follow his lead.

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You know, shunning someone because of their misdeeds isn’t a bad thing – indeed, it is virtuous. And as a result, I have to praise Louisville restaurateur Jeff Ruby.

Ruby — who owns restaurants in Cincinnati, Louisville and Belterra, Ind. — said Simpson, who was in town for the Derby on Saturday, came in with a group of about 12 Friday night and was seated at a table in the back. A customer came up to Ruby and was "giddy" about seeing Simpson, Ruby said.

"I didn't want that experience in my restaurant," Ruby said, later adding that seeing Simpson get so much attention "makes me sick to my stomach."
He said he went to Simpson's table and said, "I'm not serving you." Ruby said when Simpson didn't respond, he repeated himself and left the room.

Simpson, he reports, had the grace to leave quietly.

Unfortunately, SimpsonÂ’s lawyer is now attempting to turn the incident into something else.

Simpson's attorney, Yale Galanter, said the incident was about race, and he intended to pursue the matter and possibly go after the restaurant's liquor license.

"He screwed with the wrong guy, he really did," Galanter said by telephone Tuesday night.

I doubt there is a jury in the world that would give Simpson a penny – after all, this is clearly a case of refusing to do business with a loathsome individual. I’d suggest that Galanter may need to consider offering a retraction, unless he has significant poof of racial discrimination.

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Any immigration bill that grants amnesty to illegal aliens, no matter what it is called, leaves open the possibility of giving safe haven to untold numbers of potential criminals and terrorists.

The Federation for American Immigration Reform called the arrests "strong proof that lax enforcement of our immigration laws does pose a severe threat to the security of the nation, and that the government's screening process for granting green cards and other immigration benefits is perilously flawed."

* * *

"Given [Tuesday's] events, the American public has a right to demand, not ask, that Congress and the Bush administration drop all talk of amnesty and guest worker programs and get to work on the single most important priority: controlling our borders and fixing an immigration system that allows terrorists and just about anyone else to enter and hide out in this country," said FAIR President Dan Stein.

"Luck was on our side this time, but luck is not a substitute for due diligence and an immigration enforcement policy that protects the nation and its people," he said.

FAIR said the arrests in New Jersey prove that terrorists can and will take advantage of "unenforced immigration policies that have flooded this country with illegal immigrants."

And lest anyone forget – three of the Fort Dix Six were illegally in this country.

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Any immigration bill that grants amnesty to illegal aliens, no matter what it is called, leaves open the possibility of giving safe haven to untold numbers of potential criminals and terrorists.

The Federation for American Immigration Reform called the arrests "strong proof that lax enforcement of our immigration laws does pose a severe threat to the security of the nation, and that the government's screening process for granting green cards and other immigration benefits is perilously flawed."

* * *

"Given [Tuesday's] events, the American public has a right to demand, not ask, that Congress and the Bush administration drop all talk of amnesty and guest worker programs and get to work on the single most important priority: controlling our borders and fixing an immigration system that allows terrorists and just about anyone else to enter and hide out in this country," said FAIR President Dan Stein.

"Luck was on our side this time, but luck is not a substitute for due diligence and an immigration enforcement policy that protects the nation and its people," he said.

FAIR said the arrests in New Jersey prove that terrorists can and will take advantage of "unenforced immigration policies that have flooded this country with illegal immigrants."

And lest anyone forget – three of the Fort Dix Six were illegally in this country.

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IÂ’m betting the answer will be NO!

Two national hurricane experts say they expect an especially active storm season in the Atlantic this year, with one predicting 17 tropical storms and hurricanes.

Philip Klotzbach, a research associate at Colorado State University, and Joe Bastardi, the chief hurricane forecaster for AccuWeather Inc., acknowledged Tuesday that similar predictions for the 2006 season were wrong but still think there will be a more active storm cycle this year.

Klotzbach and Bastardi spoke at the Second Annual AccuWeather Hurricane Summit, a gathering of more than 100 weather experts and academics to discuss the coming season with members of the energy industry, whose business can be severely affected by storms.

"We didn't predict very well last year," Klotzbach said, noting that 2006 turned out to be an average year.

What we have here is really very little more than guesswork – and the track record of the predicters, I don’t know that I have much to be worried about on the Texas Gulf Coast.

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And I thought we kept being told that it was the evangelical Right that would be questioning Romney's religious beliefs and spouting anti-Mormon rhetoric. It isn't -- it is Al Sharpton!

"As for the one Mormon running for office, those who really believe in God will defeat him anyways, so don't worry about that; that's a temporary situation," Sharpton said Monday during a debate with Hitchens at the New York Public Library's Beaux-Arts headquarters.

So -- will the sensitivity police get after the so-called civil rights leader? or does he get a pass on this, like he does on anti-white, anti-Jew, anti-Asian comments in his past?

This is not to say that disagreeing with Mormon beliefs/theology is an act of bigotry -- it isn't, and I do (including in a conversation with a dear Mormon friend yesterday). However, the sort of marginalization of Mormons Sharpton is talking about seems to cross more lines than skepticism about that faith. Would such a statement stand unchallenged if it wer made about a Muslim candidate by a conservative Christian leader?

MORE AT My Man Mitt (including video), Jawa Report, Free Constitution, Blog-o-Fascists

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Andrew Sullivan asks what, it seems to me, is a really dumb question here.

If gun rights are civil rights, why would anyone feel the need to hide the fact that they own one?

I suppose one could also ask why, if freedom of speech and association are civil rights, one would wish to engage in anonymous speech or keep one's membership in political organizations secret. Doesn't Sullivan believe in a right to privacy?

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Now here is an idea that, if tried nationally, could really help lower energy prices -- lower the tax burden imposed upon fuel costs.

With pump prices surging toward $3 and possibly beyond this summer, the Texas House voted by a wide margin Tuesday to temporarily save motorists 20 cents a gallon every time they fuel up.

Call it "tax-free gas" for the summer driving season, Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, said after the House tentatively approved his amendment 118-16.

* * *

His amendment to a gas-tax collection bill would repeal the state's gasoline tax for 90 days, which would cost Texas an estimated $500 million to $700 million toward highway construction and public education. But the proposal would make up for it by sapping the $8 billion budget surplus, currently split almost evenly between money set aside for future school property tax cuts and the state's Rainy Day fund.

"That fund goes to times when we are in crisis and, right now, with gas prices through the roof, there is a crisis," Martinez Fischer said. "The last time I checked, that money belongs to the people of Texas."

The proposal may not survive the State Senate in the final three weeks of our biennial legislative session (next regular session -- January, 2009). However, I suspect that enough voices from the public might have an effect to get the measure through, and make Texas a model for every other state and the ferderal government to really help reduce fuel costs.

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I cannot believe the ignorance that these folks are showing here in their editorial regarding the Military Commissions Act of 2006.

Rewriting the act should start with one simple step: restoring to prisoners of the war on terror the fundamental right to challenge their detention in a real court. So far, promised measures to restore habeas corpus have yet to see the light of day, and they may remain buried unless Democratic leaders make them a priority and members of both parties vote on principle, not out of fear of attack ads.

Anyone who knows anything about international law would stop reading at that point. Under international law, POWs do not have the right to access the courts of the nation holding them. Indeed, they can be held indefinitely, until the end of hostilities, and may not be tried in any civilian court -- or (ordinarily) in any military court except for certain carefully delineated offenses that constitute crimes against humanity or other violations of the laws of war.

So in fact, what the editors of the New York Times are calling for is a strict violation of the Geneva Conventions. Is it any wonder that the Gray Lady are no longer particularly relevant in the public discourse.

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If you do any amount of shopping online, you know you can find great prices on almost anything. But are there ways to get prices that are even better? Yes, there are -- if you know where to look. And the place to look is CouponChief.com!

CouponChief.com is a site that links to thousands of advertisers with great online coupon codes. And some of these coupons can be quite beneficial to you.

lets say you are in the market for a Sony Vaio notebook computer. You can shop around town and surf the web, but are you sure you are going to get the best possible deal? Well, heres a thought -- visit this link and find a code for $340 off the price of a Vaio! Plus, you'll find a host of other great Sony coupon offers.

So check out CouponChief.com and SAVE!

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The actual site of the first successful English colony in North America was lost for centuries -- but 13 years ago was rediscovered.

Much that is new and exciting in the story of Jamestown is the result of discoveries made in the past 13 years by a white-haired 66-year-old archeologist named William M. Kelso, who found something here no other archaeologist had been able to find in a century of looking:

The long-lost site of Jamestown's fort.

Kelso's findings, unfolding quietly over more than a decade, take Jamestown's story back to its beginning, experts say, and rank among the greatest in North American archeology in the past 50 years.

"It's a big deal," said Carter L. Hudgins, chairman of the department of history and American studies at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg. "It's something you thought you'd never be able to look at. . . . We can now begin with the letter A. We don't have to begin with the letter D."

Kelso himself seems astonished. Last week he hosted the queen of England and Vice President Cheney. This week, the president. He chuckles: "This is the whole ball of wax, man."

The rest of the story is fascinating -- as are the discoveries that have been made in the last 13 years, bringing to light the lost history of the founding colonists.

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Business cards have become more and more a staple of professional life in recent years. Everyone seems to have business cards -- not just doctors and lawyers, but even folks the guy who does your lawn and the girl who grooms your dog. Even my students have them now -- the easier to get connected with friends and acquaintances. ProfessionalBusinessCards.com has some great business card designs, and at a great price. And while I'll be honest that I find the site itself to be somewhat boring, the selection of business cards they present is really great, with beautiful designs.

Paid Endorsement.

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Good Lord -- the terrorist scum of Hamas have even kidnapped the beloved Disney character and turned him into a terror-supporting anti-Semite.

Hamas militants have enlisted a figure bearing a strong resemblance to Mickey Mouse to broadcast their message of Islamic domination and armed resistance to their most impressionable audience — children.

A giant black-and-white rodent — named "Farfour," or "butterfly," but unmistakably a rip-off of the Disney character — does his high-pitched preaching against the U.S. and

Israel on a children's show each Friday on Al-Aqsa TV, a station run by Hamas. The militant group, sworn to Israel's destruction, shares power in the Palestinian government.

"You and I are laying the foundation for a world led by Islamists," Farfour squeaked on a recent episode of the show, which is called "Tomorrow's Pioneers."

"We will return the Islamic community to its former greatness, and liberate Jerusalem, God willing, liberate Iraq, God willing, and liberate all the countries of the Muslims invaded by the murderers."

Children call in to the show, many singing Hamas anthems about fighting Israel.

You wonder why the Palestinians hate? Clearly, they have been taught to do so from the earliest age, and the indoctrination continues.

I think Golda Meir had it right decades ago -- "Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us."

Seems pretty clear that point has not been reached.

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You guys all know that my wife and I have season tickets for the Houston Texans. We love the game. And we both love watching the away games as well -- not to mention the out-of-town team one of my former students plays for. That is why we are looking at this DIRECTV NFL Sunday Ticket Offer -- it makes the package even more affordable for fans like us, who have a lot invested in the game.

Paid Endorsement.

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Well, looks like we stopped a terror attack on a US military base in the United States. I can hear the neo-Copperheads now – “US out of New Jersey!”

And at the risk of stereotyping, all six are foreign-born young male Muslims, and some are in the US illegally.

Federal authorities in New Jersey have arrested six men who allegedly plotted for 17 months to attack the Fort Dix military base with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades, federal officials said today.

The plan, first reported this morning by New York's WNBC television, involved four men from Albania, one from Jordan and one from Turkey, said Greg Reinert, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey. They intended to storm the World War I-era base and kill as many military and other personnel as possible.

Charging document filed in federal court in Camden yesterday and unsealed today portray an ambitious and cold-blooded -- but somewhat bungling -- cadre who hoped to kill at least 100 soldiers, but also dropped training videos off at a local store to be copied, and spoke openly to a Philadelphia police sergeant about obtaining maps of Fort Dix.

According to the documents, U.S. authorities were alerted to the group's existence by a video store employee, who said a man had brought in a recording of 10 young men shooting assault weapons and shouting jihadist slogans. The man asked for the videotape to be copied onto a DVD, the charging documents said.

The store complied, but also turned the material over to the FBI. In March of 2006, an FBI informant established a relationship with one of the men believed to be in the videotape, the charging documents say. Eventually, two informants infiltrated the group, recording numerous conversations and events over the next year.

And they have been among us for a number of years.

Four of the men were born in the former Yugoslavia, one in Jordan and one in Turkey, officials said. All had lived in the United States for years. Three were in the country illegally; two had green cards allowing them to stay permanently; the other is a U.S. citizen.

Besides Shnewer, Tatar and Eljvir Duka, the other men were identified in court papers as Dritan Duka and Shain Duka. Checks with Immigration and Customs Enforcement show that the Dukas were illegally in the U.S., according to FBI complaints unsealed with their arrests.

Five of the men lived in Cherry Hill, a Philadelphia suburb about 20 miles from Fort Dix.

Here are the identities of the terrorists.

Officials identified the men as Dritan Duka, 28, Eljvir Duka, 23, Shain Duka, 26, Serdar Tatar, 23, Mohamad Shnewer, 22, and Agron Abdullahu, 24. They are described as being in their early 20s.

It remains unclear if the men in question are Muslim converts or lifelong Muslims, and where they worship. If this follows the usual pattern of such Muslim terrorist plots, we will likely find a connection back to some local mosque where jihad is preached.

MORE AT Michelle Malkin, LaShawn Barber, PJM, Jawa Report, Iowa Voice, Blue Star, Sister Toldjah, Riehl World, Captain's Quarters

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1 These were simply young men attempting to express themselves...

Posted by: T F Stern at Tue May 8 12:39:32 2007 (/XKHe)

2 Another thwarted terrorist plot? When did Bush's approval rating drop below 30% again? Has it been six months already? Oh thats right, daylight savings time change and the approval rating below 30%.

Posted by: Syntax at Wed May 9 16:47:10 2007 (QqVLv)

3 It must be nice being a leftist, Syntax. If the FBI manages to stop a terrorist attack, you can claim it is all a hoax designed to boost the bush poll numbers. If, God forbid, they fail to stop one, it's all the fault of an incompetent Bush administration -- or you can claim he knew all about it and sacrificed American lives for political purposes. So no matter what happens, you have a ready-made line to use to justify your hatred of George W. Bush!

Posted by: Rhymes With Right at Wed May 9 21:06:15 2007 (7qGzY)

4 Oh, the angst of being a "disenfranchised youth" in America! Why didn't they just burn a few cars like they do in Paris? No jihad connection here. Move along, now! Return to your media-induced brain-dead coma. And, oh yeah, blame Bush.

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He came into office under the worst of circumstances, and failed to crush those who attacked his country when he had the chance. Now his nation's people reject him. So while Ehud Olmert survived a no confidence vote yesterday, how much longer can he continue to hold onto the office of prime minister?

IsraelÂ’s prime minister, Ehud Olmert, survived three no-confidence votes against his government on Monday, part of the political fallout from a harsh report on the countryÂ’s leadership during last summerÂ’s war in Lebanon.

Mr. OlmertÂ’s governing coalition affords him a large majority in the 120-seat Parliament, and the no-confidence motions were all rejected by comfortable margins. Nevertheless, the results revealed cracks in support from Parliament members belonging to the coalition: at least 16 of them were either absent, voted no confidence or abstained.

The motions were brought on the opening day of the ParliamentÂ’s summer session by rightist, leftist and religious opposition parties.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of the rightist Likud Party, called for new elections and told the cabinet, which has pledged to carry out the recommendations of the war report: “You are not the solution. You are the problem.”

The leader of the leftist Meretz Party, Yossi Beilin, said the lack of confidence had penetrated the public, the Parliament and even Mr. Olmert’s party, Kadima. Mr. Beilin told the Parliament that a minister in Kadima, whom he did not identify, had told him that the prime minister “poses a national danger to Israel.”

Furthermore, the Labor Party, which sits in the coalition, is holding primaries for the party leadership in late May, and several contenders have already stated their intention to taking the party out of the coalition if Mr. Olmert remains in office.

The situation remains murky for the Kadima-led government. If Olmert leaves office, will his party be able to continue to lead a coalition that allows some member to hold the top spot? Or are new elections -- which might well return Netanyahu to power -- the likely outcome. The situation is quite murky at this point, but I doubt that the the current government will survive the month.

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This sad situation has torn up a community -- and i suspect the people will not be happy unless this young perp is charged as an adult.

A 16-year-old Needville High School student admitted to starting the blaze that destroyed part of his school and caused students to retake the state-mandated TAKS tests, his attorney said Monday.

The 10th-grader arrived at the Fort Bend County courthouse with his attorney Steven Rocket Rosen on Monday and spent a couple of hours giving investigators a statement. He could be taken into custody today.

"He has admitted the wrongdoing. He is the one who started the fire," Rosen said. The teen's name is not being released because he is a juvenile. School officials said he was serving an in-school suspension when the fire occurred.

Rosen declined to discuss the motive for the April 23 fire but did say it had nothing to do with TAKS tests administered the week before the blaze. The test booklets were destroyed by the fire, which razed a large portion of the high school in the rural community.

"This was the best thing for Needville, for him, for the family, for the community and for law enforcement," Rosen said about the teen's admission. Rosen said he expects the teen to be placed in the juvenile detention center soon.

There's a lot more to come out in this case, but given that the kid set the fire in two locations and caused millions of dollars in damage to the facility I am unable to see how this will be treated as merely a juvenile case. the political pressure will be too great -- and the reality is that the act merits such serious prosecution.

Posted by: Greg at 10:29 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Dudes -- it was a freakin' flower!

An odd-looking Canadian quarter with a bright red flower was the culprit behind a false espionage warning from the Defense Department about mysterious coins with radio frequency transmitters, The Associated Press has learned.

The harmless "poppy quarter" was so unfamiliar to suspicious U.S. Army contractors traveling in Canada that they filed confidential espionage accounts about them. The worried contractors described the coins as "filled with something man-made that looked like nano-technology," according to once-classified U.S. government reports and e-mails obtained by the AP.

I had heard of, but never seen one of these coins, designed to memorialize the WWI Canadian war dead. I can understand that folks who reported them may have been suspicious. But surely someone in Washington might have actually looked at the damn things before sending out an espionage alert -- you know, check with a coin dealer or something.

Some days I fear for my country.

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More neat stuff from the world of archaeology.

An Israeli archaeologist has found the tomb of King Herod, the legendary builder of ancient Jerusalem and the Holy Land, Hebrew University said late Monday.

The tomb is at a site called Herodium, a flattened hilltop in the Judean Desert, clearly visible from southern Jerusalem. Herod built a palace on the hill, and researchers discovered his burial site there, the university said.

The university had hoped to keep the find a secret until Tuesday, when it planned a news conference to disclose the find in detail, but the Haaretz newspaper found out about the discovery and published an article on its Web site.

Now this is an important discovery in terms of further confirming the historical claim of the Jews to Israel, as well as documenting the well-attested history of the Roman era.

I would, however, like to note the glaring historical error in the article.

Herod became the ruler of the Holy Land under the Romans around 74 B.C.

Looks to me like someone just went to Wikipedia and read the first, awkwardly phrased sentence, presuming that the year of his birth was the year he became king. Herod becomes governor of Judea in 47 BC, and king in 37 BC.

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As a teacher, I am all for strong measures to ensure school security. But must we really reach this point?

Like some others in the Washington area, Loudoun County schools soon will greet all visitors with something new: a locked front door, a video camera and a button-activated intercom to request entrance. Inside, office staff will screen the visitors and decide whom to buzz in.

The video intercom, common in apartment buildings around the world, is turning up increasingly in public schools. After the 1999 Columbine High School shootings and subsequent school tragedies, limiting access is a top concern for every school administrator.

Loudoun's $550,000 video intercom solution, to be installed beginning this summer, was proposed after the Amish schoolhouse shootings in Nickel Mines, Pa., in October, in which a gunman killed five students and himself. The proposal, included in the school budget, won overwhelming approval days after the Virginia Tech shooting rampage last month that left 33 dead, including the gunman.

"I realize that schools cannot provide fortification against the crazy events that occur in society," Loudoun School Superintendent Edgar B. Hatrick III said. But he said school officials can at least take steps to secure buildings.

"By using the intercom video system, we can control who actually comes in the front door," he said.

I'm all for uniforms and IDs for students, but can does putting schools on a perpetual lockdown effectively deal with security issues, or does it really constitute an illusion of safety? And what is the cost to the psyches of our children?

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After getting 40-50 bites on each foot and leg one afternoon last summer, IÂ’m counting on seeing an end to this scourge in my lifetime.

Imported red fire ants have plagued farmers, ranchers and others for decades. Now the reviled pests are facing a bug of their own.

Researchers have pinpointed a naturally occurring virus that kills the ants, which arrived in the U.S. in the 1930s and now cause $6 billion in damage annually nationwide, including about $1.2 billion in Texas.

The virus caught the attention of U.S. Department of Agriculture researchers in Florida in 2002. The agency is now seeking commercial partners to develop the virus into a pesticide to control fire ants.

The virus was found in about 20 percent of fire ant fields, where it appears to cause the slow death of infected colonies..

Kill them. Kill them all.

Posted by: Greg at 11:00 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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I guess they will only tolerate opinions that they agree with -- call it the tolerance of the graveyard.

A court in Azerbaijan has jailed two journalists for writing and printing a newspaper article that was critical of the Islamic religion and the Prophet Muhammad.

Samir Sadagatoglu, chief editor of the Senet weekly newspaper, was sentenced to four years in prison on Friday, while Rafik Tagi, a journalist at the paper, was given three years.

The court ruled that their article 'Europe and us' was insulting to Islam and Muslims for saying that European societies were more successful than Muslim ones because Christian teachings were based on peace and tolerance while Islamic values, based on the teachings and actions of Muhammad, were not.

And so to prove the peaceful, tolerant nature of Islam, the journalists are going to jail. Where, of course, they might find themselves subjected to this tolerant fatwa from an authrotitative Islamic source.

Last November, Grand Ayatollah Sheikh Muhammad Fazel Lankarani, a senior Shia scholar from Tabriz, a mainly Azeri city in northern Iran, ruled that the two journalists should be killed for writing and publishing the article.

"Such a person is an apostate in view of his confessions, if he is a Muslim," Lankarani ruled in a fatwa - or religious ruling - published on his website.

"If he had been an unbeliever (Kafir), he is considered as someone who has insulted the Prophet and in any case, given his confessions, it is necessary for every individual who has an access to him to kill him.

"The person in charge of the said newspaper, who published such thoughts and beliefs consciously and knowingly, should be dealt with in the same manner. We pray to Almighty Allah to grant Muslims and Islam protection from the evils of their enemies."

And if this is the true face of Islam, I pray that God will protect the rest of the world from it.

Posted by: Greg at 10:58 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I guess they donÂ’t follow up on court-ordered treatment in Virginia.

Seung Hui Cho never received the treatment ordered by a judge who declared him dangerously mentally ill less than two years before his rampage at Virginia Tech, law enforcement officials said, exposing flaws in Virginia's labyrinthine mental health system, including confusion about the law, spotty enforcement and inadequate funding.

Neither the court, the university nor community services officials followed up on the judge's order, according to dozens of interviews. Cho never got the treatment, according to authorities who have seen his medical files. And although state law says the community services board should have made sure Cho got help, a board official said that was "news to us."

Would more aggressive follow-up have prevented the shootings? We can’t know, but one cannot help but believe that Cho’s illness might have been mitigated if he had received the treatment – or he might have been committed to a secure facility as a danger to others. The courts and mental health authorities clearly dropped the ball here.

And sadly, such cases are all too common. A decade ago, when I worked on the mental health crisis team in a rural county in Illinois, and I saw how folks were often let go when they needed treatment. One young man attempted suicide with a shotgun, but was released less than 72 hours later with an appointment for the following week with a counselor. He didn’t make the appointment – he blew his brains out less than 24 hours after he returned home. I have often wondered over the past 10 years whether I could have done something more – though I know I did all I could in sending him to where he might have gotten treatment. Such systemic flaws, you see, are not limited to Virginia.

Posted by: Greg at 10:57 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Well, that is what they claimed when these same companies began giving more heavily to the GOP in 1995. Surely the same applies here.

Several large Houston-area companies in the Republican-leaning energy industry and other sectors have been shifting federal campaign contributions to Democrats, who are flexing their new power in Congress as they draft legislation on energy and the environment.

Political action committees for companies including ConocoPhillips, BP Corp. and Continental Airlines gave a significantly higher percentage of their contributions to Democrats in the first quarter of 2007 than they did for the November 2006 election, when Republicans lost their majorities in the House and Senate.

Corporate officials warned that first quarter contributions in a two-year election cycle should not be interpreted as an indication of a major change in long-term giving strategy. And some business PACs, including that of energy giant ExxonMobil, are still contributing largely to Republican lawmakers and candidates.

Nevertheless, some Texas mega-employers seem to be following the national trend of businesses steering more of their PAC money to Democrats, who now head the key committees where legislation is drafted.

So which is it – are campaign contributions a vital part of the American political system, or are they corrupt attempts to purchase influence for private benefit rather thant he public good?

Posted by: Greg at 10:56 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Looking at this article, I’m starting to wonder if maybe the Reds won the Cold War – and Commisar Schumer is preparing for a show trial. His target? The oil companies.

Schumer said the Government Accountability Office will investigate, and he hopes to have the results in "a couple of months."

A representative of the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association was not immediately available for comment yesterday.

Megan Barnett, a spokeswoman for the Department of Energy, said several factors contribute to the high gas prices, including refinery maintenance, growing demand for gas in developing countries such as China and India, and the upcoming summer driving season, when gas prices traditionally increase.

A GAO finding that the gas companies are at fault, Schumer said, would serve to pressure the companies into producing more or fixing up their refineries. Failing that, he said, legislation compelling changes could be in order.

A GAO investigation?

Did I miss the nationalization of the oil companies?

Or is this simply a prelude to it?

Posted by: Greg at 10:54 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The conservative candidate triumphs in France.

Nicolas Sarkozy, the combative son of a Hungarian immigrant, was elected president of France on Sunday, promising a new generation of leadership to transform the country, restore its self-respect and reinvigorate ties with the United States and Europe.

Sarkozy, a member of the ruling party and France's former top law enforcement officer, defeated Socialist Segolene Royal, who waged a determined battle to become France's first elected female head of state, by a 53 percent to 47 percent vote, according to final results. Voter turnout was a near-record 84 percent.

Now that seems to me to be a pretty significant mandate for Sarkozy to set about his plans to reform France.

Sarkozy is a rather interesting character, coming as he does from an unusual background.

Mr. Sarkozy is also a bit of an outsider, the first son of an immigrant to rise to the French presidency in a country struggling to integrate second-generation immigrants, the grandson of a Sephardic Jew who converted to Roman Catholicism in a country still riddled with anti-Semitism and a graduate of France’s creaky state university system in a country long governed by technocrats trained at a handful of small, elite “great schools.”

France, it would appear, is open to the rise of immigrants who are willing to take on French culture and fully participate in the French system.

Some folks object violently to Sarkozy's election.

CLASHES between police and protestors have been reported in central Paris and the southeastern city of Lyon after conservative leader Nicolas Sarkozy was elected French President overnight.

In the Place de la Bastille in Paris riot police fired tear gas and at least one burst of water cannon after hundreds of rioters – some wearing masks – began throwing bottles, stones and other missiles.

Earlier, a small crowd brandishing black and red anarchist flags set fire to an effigy of Mr Sarkozy before tearing it limb from limb and then stamping on it. Demonstrators chanted "police everywhere, justice nowhere".

Reports are that there is tension in immigrant neighborhoods as well -- particularly Muslim neighborhoods, where violent riots occurred two years ago. And there are predictions of more possible violence in the weeks to come, despite Sarkozy's decisive victory.

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Posted by: Greg at 10:29 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I guess that some folks are so desperate for faith that they will believe just about anything.

A controversial religious figure who claims he is Jesus Christ incarnate with a following of millions with "666" tattoos on their bodies, filled an amphitheater in Orlando this weekend, and promised joy, peace and prosperity.

Orlando police officers stood guard around the Lake Eola amphitheater as Dr. Jose Luis De Jesus Miranda, 61, arrived in the city Saturday.

Miranda, who has been banned from three countries, told Local 6 News cameras and a cheering crowd that he was Jesus Christ reincarnated.

His followers believe that Miranda's life and his teachings replace those of Jesus of Nazareth, Local 6's Jamie Guirola said.

Miranda is a recovering heroin addict from Puerto Rico. Am i the only one who wonders about lingering after effects of his drug use?

Posted by: Greg at 10:12 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Let's be honest about credit cards -- they are the avenue to so much information about us, and can be both a source of financial opportunity and financial danger. I mean, one need only consider the recent breaches of credit card security to realize that they can be the vehicle to your personal information, and allow great financial mischief to be made in your life. On the other hand, some credit card issuers monitor for fraud and act if they see strange transactions, like one of mine did in the days before Hurricane Rita, since my purchase of evacuation supplies and material to board up my house were seen as unusual by my standard of usage. They called me to make sure that the transactions were authorized. That shows that some companies are out to protect our interests when they coincide with their interests -- such as fraud prevention.

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I'll be the first to tell you that I don't believe in the man-made global warming hysteria that some keep trying to sell us. At the same time, that does not mean that I ma not eco-friendly in my outlook on things. For example, I am a believer in wind-generated electricity. That's why I find this WaPo article interesting.

Two hundred towering windmills, each so tall that its blades would loom over the U.S. Capitol Dome, could be built in the Atlantic Ocean near one of Washingtonians' favorite beach retreats, under a plan being considered in Delaware.

The plan, which could create the first wind "farm" in waters along the East Coast, envisions a thicket of turbines offshore of either Rehoboth Beach or Bethany Beach, Del. As the blades are spun by ocean winds, designers say, the wind farm could provide enough power every year for 130,000 homes.

The wind farm is one competitor in an unusual kind of power-plant bake-off: Delaware officials are also considering plants that would burn coal or natural gas as they seek ways to generate more electricity. A preliminary decision could be made tomorrow.

So far, the debate over the windmills has turned on global questions about climate change and very local concerns about the impact on the ocean view. But from the beach, the wind farm's backers say, the giant turbines would look smaller than a boardwalk french fry.

"Toothpicks, with maybe little pinwheels on the top," said Jim Lanard, a spokesman for the company proposing the windmills, describing how they would look on the horizon more than six miles offshore. "You probably wouldn't be able to tell what they are."

Wind farms have sprouted all over the United States in the past decade. There are about 150, from California to the West Virginia highlands. But, so far, they have sprouted only on land.

There was, of course, a plan for a water-based wind farm in Massachusetts -- but it was blocked by Teddy Kennedy and his rich and powerful friends who were concerned that it might mess up their view from Hyannis and Martha's Vineyard. But the reality is simple -- wind power is clean power. Situated away from from shore, they have teh advantage of being relatively inconspicuous -- something that cannot be said about coal burning plants on shore, or even natural gas plants. And if we are really searching for energy independence, where is the logic of leaving this natural form of power untapped?

Posted by: Greg at 10:06 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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Sometimes you just need to borrow money.

Let's face it -- cars and houses alone are purchases that almost any person will need a few (or more than a few) years to pay off. After all, do who has a spare 100K sitting around to pay cash for a new home -- or even 15-25K for a car? Heck, if you are like most average middle class people, there just isn't that sort of extra money available, even if you break open the kids' piggy banks and search beneath the cushions of the living room furniture..

And it is times like that when you find yourself seeking loans to help you make that special purchase.

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Well, a lot of us hoped the Rocket would be back one more time in an Astros uniform. I guess it isn't going to happen after all.

It was a news bulletin delivered before 52,553 fans on a glorious spring day at Yankee Stadium, where the season is suddenly alive with hope again. The man with more victories than any living pitcher was holding a Yankees microphone, addressing the crowd with a splash of the high drama that has punctuated his career.

“Thank y’all,” said Roger Clemens, who was wearing a business suit, a crew cut and a Yankees World Series ring as he stood in a box above home plate. “Well, they came and got me out of Texas, and I can tell you it’s a privilege to be back. I’ll be talking to y’all soon!”

Then Clemens pumped his fist as Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman crouched behind him, beaming. For a $28 million salary — prorated based on the date he is added to the major league roster — Clemens has returned to the Yankees, who trail the Boston Red Sox by five and a half games in the American League East but got a pitcher both teams wanted.

“Make no mistake about it,” Clemens, who hopes to be ready by late May, said later at a news conference. “I’ve come back to do what they only know how to do here with the Yankees, and that’s win a championship. Anything else is a failure.”

We were hoping the local boy would be back here a Minute Maid Park, seeking to win that championship for his hometown.

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