Maybe Zero Tolerance Should Be Applied

Given that kids are expelled an/or consigned to alternative schools for relatively trivial offenses like bringing butter knives to school or drinking at an off-campus party, what do you think LaMarque ISD should do with this situation?

Superintendent charged with DWI

La Marque School Superintendent Adrain Johnson was charged with driving while intoxicated Sunday after he was pulled over on the Gulf Freeway on Saturday night.

Houston police said Johnson, 49, was speeding and swerving in and out of lanes.

Well, it seems pretty clear he was drunk and endangering others. But what I find interesting is the response of school board members.

Trustee Merritt Lockwood, who said he stands by the district's leader because "people make mistakes," said the school board should stay out of Johnson's personal business.

"I don't think anything ought to be done," Lockwood said. "That's his personal life."

Another trustee, Joe Cantu, said he needs to know more about the case before he takes any position on the matter.

Gee, do you apply the "people make mistakes" criteria in enforcing your zero tolerance policies against students, or do you use a "one size fits all" approach to discipline? Do you "need more information," or do the details not matter when it is one of the students in your district?

Or do you hold your kids to a higher standard than you hold the head of your district?

Posted by: Greg at 04:46 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Is A Hospital Chapel An Appropriate Place For A Cross?

Yeah, you read that question correctly. What frightens me is that some hospital administrator in St. Paul, Minnesota has answered the question with a resounding "NO!"

Let's try this again. The hospital decided to remove the cross from the chapel. Chapel. There was a fear, apparently acted on by hospital administrators that the cross could be offensive to those who use the chapel but are put off their game by a crucifix.

"Regions doesn't have a religious affiliation,'' said Vince Rivard, the hospital's spokesman.

Rivard is a cool, collected fellow. When I expressed astonishment that a cross would be removed from a chapel, he calmly explained that this is a growing trend in the hospital industry.

"It's a natural evolution,'' Rivard said. "We have a more diverse population in St. Paul, with people having more diverse religious beliefs.''

So what?

I guess I could understand a hospital removing a cross from the property if the cross was planted in the front yard, or illuminated up on the roof or was a focal point of the lobby. You could certainly make a reasonable argument that such a symbol would be out of place in a hospital that has no religious connection.

But this is a new one for me.

IT'S A CHAPEL!

To think that someone could be offended by a cross in a chapel is like believing that someone could be offended by a safe in a bank.

But don't worry -- they do allow the cross to be taken out of hiding for daily Mass. At least until someone decides that it is offensive to allow daily Mass, and instead replaces that with a hand-holding Kumbayah circle.

Over 380 employees of the hospital have petitioned for the return of the cross to its proper place in the chapel, But Rivard, the administrator, says the decision is final, no matter how many folks sign the petition.

Let's test that one. Tell Vince Rivard that the Cross needs to go back in the Chapel. You can contact him here:
https://www.regionshospital.com/Regions/FrontDoor/0,1639,contact,00.html
I'll refrain from posting the phone number, because I don't want to risk disrupting essential phone service to the hospital.

Posted by: Greg at 04:23 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Bad Evidence/Incompetent Investigation -- The Gitmo Spy Cases

Now I am a little bit concerned about the reliability of this source. After all, the New York Times is not noted for being a reliable or objective news source, nor does it require either professionalism or accuracy of its employees. But the story has the ring of truth to it, so I will reluctantly link to it.

In 2003 there were a series of accusations of espionage against Muslims military personnel stationed at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where they worked with terrorist detainees. Spectacular charges were made, yet each and every one of the cases unraveled and left the government with minor issues that barely constituted wrongdoing on the part of the accused -- and had nothing to do with spying.

Even now, Defense Department officials refuse to explain in detail how the investigations originated and what drove them forward in the face of questions about much of the evidence. Military officials involved in the case have defended their actions, emphasizing that some of the inquiries continue.

But confidential government documents, court files and interviews show that the investigations drew significantly on questionable evidence and disparate bits of information that, like the car report, linked Captain Yee tenuously to people suspected of being Muslim militants in the United States and abroad.

Officials familiar with the inquiries said they also fed on petty personal conflicts: antipathy between some Muslim and non-Muslim troops at Guantánamo, rivalries between Christian and Muslim translators, even the complaint of an old boss who saw Airman Al Halabi as a shirker.

In one case an investigator even violated a directive to shut down an investigation, instead engaging in rank insubordination by rewriting his report and sending it over the head of his superior.

Each of the cases turned into a shoot first, investigate later operation. There were press conferences and weighty accusations. In the end the cases fell apart due to the discovery of reasonable explanations, erroneous translations of documents, and possible investigatorial misconduct.

Questions must be asked, and answers must be forthcoming.

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Bishop Julius Jia -- Faith, Hope, And Love In China

Bishop Julius Jia is a leading figure of the underground Catholic Church in the People's Republic of China. He will likely be jailed in the next few days, as he was at Easter, to prevent him from marking the Christmas holiday with his flock, which numbers about 1.5 million.

Government restrictions on the bishop's movements mean that he lives under house arrest in a tiny, whitewashed house near Wuqiu, a poor village where he founded an orphanage for unwanted children in 1991. Yet Bishop Jia frequently circumvents the order by going out to say Mass, often hiding in the back of a car.

His "diocese" is widely acknowledged to have the largest following in the province; in the middle of Wuqiu, a red-brick cathedral has been built, albeit without official approval.

Yet despite the official persecution, Bishop Jia's hope is intact and his spirit unbowed.

The Pope is known to have made one Chinese clergyman a cardinal in pectore - that is, a secret appointment - and Bishop Jia is widely believed to be that man. He is crucial to any further attempts to reconcile Beijing and the Vatican. And while the government harasses Bishop Jia, it has been unable to crush his spirit.

"For my followers, there are great risks, and I do bring them into danger sometimes," he says. "They are never scared so I don't worry. After all we know God will take care of us."

This man's life exempifies the gifts of faith, hope, and love that St. Paul talks about in I Corinthians 13. So do his people. Would that each of us did as well.

I leave you with two requests.

First, pray for the persecuted Church.

Second, ask yourself why the American media doesn't tell us of such human rights abuses.

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Dolphins To Interview Minority, Hire Saban

It is an absurd little ballet required by the NFL. Every team must interview a minority candidate for open coaching positions or face a fine. It doesn't matter that you know who you want to hire, that they are well-qualified, and they are ready, willing, and able to come to work for you -- you must interview a minority.

Enter the Miami Dolphins. The team has been a disaster this year, and lost head coach Dave Wannstedt earlier in the season. They have ben courting LSU head coach Nick Saban for some time now. There is nothing standing in the way of a deal that both sides want -- except for the absurd policy. Leading to this absurdity in the Houston Chronicle.

Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga and president Eddie Jones, an LSU graduate, flew to Baton Rouge on Tuesday to meet with Saban. He's expected to be offered a contract worth $4 million to $5 million a year with authority to shape football operations, which could lead to the departure of general manager Rick Spielman.

Jones has said the Dolphins will adhere to NFL hiring policy. Guidelines established in 2002 require teams to interview at least one minority candidate for coaching vacancies.

NFL Hall of Famer Harry Carson, representing a group that advocates more minority hirings in the league, said he complained Friday about the Dolphins' search process in a meeting with Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney, chairman of the league's diversity committee.

Carson said any interview with a minority candidate would now likely be viewed as a "courtesy interview ... because the Dolphins have already made up their mind."

Well, DUH!!!!!!!!! That is all the policy requires -- and is more than it should require. What do you want-- hiring quotas? They are hiring one of the best coaches in college football today. Why should they need to justify that to anyone, or meet some artificially imposed requirement? Wouldn't YOU be trying to hire Saban, given the chance? I know I would.

Under these circumstances, what self-respecting person, minority or not, would accept such an interview. None -- which is why former Raiders coach Art Shell and University of Miami defensive coordinator Randy Shannon will be the likely interview candidates. Followed immediately by the Saban hiring. Wonder what they get out of it?

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Why Not Let The Data Speak For Itself?

The Dallas News, not known for its favorable coverage of religious issues, had a great editorial earlier this week supporting the teaching of Intelligent Design. It notes that famed British philosopher Anthony Flew, a leading proponent of atheism for decades, announced last week that he had become convinced of the existence of some Creator behind the existence of the universe. Why? Because DNA research has convinced him that biological life as we know it could not have come randomly into existence due to its sheer complexity. Darwin and his successors may be able to explain much about the process that followed later on, but they cannot account for the beginning of life itself. As he said when he made this announcement, his conclusion isn't based upon some pre-conceived notion of religious faith.

My whole life has been guided by the principle of Plato's Socrates: Follow the evidence, wherever it leads.

Please note -- this isn't some jack-leg street-corner preacher thumping a Bible. This is a serious intellectual whose writings have been cited for years by those who are opposed to religion and supportive of rational materialism. Why, then, are so many folks opposed to even presenting the theory of intelligent design alongside the theory of Darwinian evolution? Why do leading scientist like Harvard geneticist Richard Lewontin insist with a fundamentalist fervor that any view that might even hint at the existence of God is unacceptable?

We take the side of science in spite of the patent absurdity of some of its constructs, in spite of its failure to fulfill many of its extravagant promises of health and life, and in spite of the tolerance of the scientific community for unsubstantiated just-so-stories, because we have a prior commitment, a commitment to materialism. It is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world, but, on the contrary, that we are forced by our priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how counterintuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated. Moreover, that materialism is an absolute, for we cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door."
Lewontin, R., "Billions and Billions of Demons," The New York Review, January 1997, p. 31

No, it is long past time for us to reject the notion that science and spirituality are necessarily at odds with one another. Teach the theories -- both Darwinian Evolution and Intelligent Design -- AS THEORIES and present the evidence for both. Then allow students to follow Plato's Socrates, as did Flew: Follow the evidence, wherever it leads.

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They'll Be Home For Christmas

Twenty soldiers were going to be stranded at Ft. Dix after their military flight home for the holidays was cancelled. They just could not afford commercial tickets -- at more than $700 each -- to get home to California. They would simply head to Iraq after the first of the year without seeing their loved ones. Enter Congressman Chris Smith.

"At first, it looked like they were going to be stranded, which would be absurd considering they're about to be deployed to a war zone," said U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J.

"I thought it would be unconscionable for these soldiers to be at Fort Dix and making phone calls home when they could actually be home with their families for the holidays," Smith said.

Smith made contact with American Recreational Military Services, a nonprofit run out of the home of Ronnie Micciulla. She donated $10,000 to the cause, enabling all 20 to celebrate Christmas with their families. And New Jersey 101.5 radio host Mary Walter launched a fund-raising effort to reimburse ARMS, so that the Christmas cheer won't require the group to cut back anyplace else. And the Congressman got in touch with Southwest Airlines to arrange for the flights with Southwest Airlines.

And a Merry Christmas will be had by all!

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Julian Bond -- Head Case, Or Rebel Without A Clue?

The GOP is "Talibanistic," catering to "right wing" extremists, and seeking to reverse civil rights gains.

Or at least that is what once-admirable civil rights leader Julian Bond is claiming these days.

Black Southerners, Bond said, are just as disenfranchised as in the past because all of the South's electoral votes went to Bush.

Now look at the absurdity of that statement. Blacks were able to vote in record numbers -- because of the Actions of the GOP in fighting the Civil War, passing the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments, proposing and/or backing every major federal civil rights law overwhelmingly from the Civil War to the present, and legal action to enforce the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by every GOP president in the last 35 years. But they are disenfranchised because 90% voted for the losing candidate despite the fact that this administration has put more blacks in real policymaking positions than any administration in history. I guess that if your vote just didn't count if you didn't win. What does Bond want? Presidential elections open to blacks only?

"[Republicans] have divided more voters than in any other time," Bond said. "We have men versus women, whites versus nonwhites, straights versus gays, conservatives versus liberals, Protestants versus Jews, rural versus urban."

Imagine that. Groups with different interests being divided and voting differently. And it is all the fault of the GOP; despite the fact that the Democrats have been the party of special interest group Balkanization for the last four decades. And in the process the Democrats have managed to lose all but three presidential elections since 1968.

Bond defended the continued use of affirmative action as necessary to counter the advantages of "white privilege" that came from slavery and segregation. He said he supports slave reparations for African-Americans to level the playing field with whites.

Even thought that means we have to divide people based upon race, and then award benefits and privileges based upon racial identity -- in direct contradiction of the clear words of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the Fourteenth Amendment.

Go away, Julian -- you are an irrelevant dinosaur who has sullied the great work of your youth with race-baiting in your old age.

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Time For Irreligious Minority To Sit Down, Shut Up

Sometimes a demand for "tolerance" needs to be ignored. Heck, sometimes it needs to be dismissed as an outpouring of bigotry on the part of a minority. This case from Bellevue, Washington, is one such example.



They call it the "Giving Tree". It contains requests from the needy for assistance. Every "holiday season" (no use of the "C-word" in City Hall) it helps raise$25,000 for the needy around the city.

So, you might be surprised that Sidney Stock would look at this tree and say, "I resent it."

Sidney and Jennifer Stock are atheists.

They asked the city council to remove the tree because it represents Christmas, which is a Christian holiday.

Stock says city hall should: "Act as a place where everybody feels welcome. It is impossible for everybody's religious belief to be displayed and non-religious belief to be displayed, so therefore, no religious beliefs be displayed."

Well, as a legal matter he is wrong -- a tree (even one designated as a Christmas tree) has been held to be a secular symbol by no less than the US Supreme Court. So this tree is likely not going anywhere.

But look at his argument. When reduced to its essence, what he says is that because it is impossible to represent the views of the majority and every single minority on government property, the only acceptable result is to exclusively represent the minority belief system held by he and his wife! Never mind the history, culture, and desire of the overwhelming majority -- he wins. Talk about overbearing arrogance!

Sidney, Jennifer, why don't you sit down, shut up, and quit trying to impose your religious values on us. And if you can't, why don't you find some place where atheism is the official policy of the state. I hear that both Cuba and North Korea are nice this time of year -- though neither one of them is open to the sort of public whining against the government that you seem to have made a hobby.

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The Bill Of Rights -- Guarantor of Freedom Or Limiter Of Freedom?

Rick Lynch points out the problem with the Bill of Rights -- too many people see it as the full extent of our freedom, rather than simply the starting point. The notion of the people retaining rights not enumerated has been lost, leading most Americans to asume that government has free reign in those areas in which its power is not limited by specific restrictions.

The Founders had a different view. James Wilson of Pennsylvania, signer of both the Declaration and the Constitution, said

"In a government consisting of enumerated powers, such as is proposed for the United States, a bill of rights would not only be unnecessary, but, in my humble judgment, highly imprudent. In all societies, there are many powers and rights, which cannot be particularly enumerated. A bill of rights annexed to a constitution, is an enumeration of the powers reserved. If we attempt an enumeration, every thing that is not enumerated, is presumed to be given. The consequence is, that an imperfect enumeration would throw all implied power into the scale of the government; and the rights of the people would be rendered incomplete."

Unfortunately, too many people now see that neumeration as the limit of our personal freedom. Worse yet, many otherwise intelligent people, such as one of my assistant principals, assumes that we have thes rights because government gives them to us -- and regularly says that before the recitation of the Pledge of Allegience. I make sure my students know better, but am I trying to turn back the tide?

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Multi-Culti Mumbo Jumbo In Education

Robert Holland comments on the agenda of the National Association of Multicultural Educators and its leftist agenda.

Surveys by the nonpartisan organization Public Agenda have shown that parents still believe in America as an overwhelmingly good country, and they want their children to believe that as well. A Public Agenda report a few years ago summarized parental attitudes this way:
"We found a clear-eyed patriotism among parents of all backgrounds; a deep belief that the United States is a unique nation, while acknowledging its faults. Parents want the schools to face those faults, but not to dwell on them — the parents we surveyed want history taught with fairness to all groups, but recoil from strategies that they feared might encourage divisiveness."
The multiculturalists, by stark contrast, do not see the United States at all as a good country with common values worth transmitting. They grossly divide Americans into "oppressors" (all whites of European descent) and the "oppressed" (all persons of color from minority cultures).

This is a surprise? I could have told you that 20 years ago, while being subjected to the state-mandated multicultural education class I took at Illinois State University. The one film that offered a "majority" perspective on society was a product of the John Birch Society advocating segregation -- the rest all celebrated ethnic minorities and their cultures, and condemned the oppressive white man. The irony of having the course taught by a white male professor who ruthlessly censored all opposing viewpoints wasn't lost on most of us.

Fortunately, more and more of my colleagues in the classroom are rejecting the approach described above. We love our minority students, but are more interested in educating them than promoting victim status.

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Fraud At The Polls?

Is it just me, or is this the most blatant exercise in election stealing in American history?

Seems to me that they are making up rules as they go along, mining the invalid ballots to fet the result they want. After all, this is the same county that miraculously "discovered" 11,000 votes for the Democrat loser to bring the total difference in the vote to just a handful of ballots.

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Dem Dictator Seeks City Censorship Of Public Pres Pics

Lancaster is a beautiful town in eastern Pennsylvania, in the heart of Amish country. Its publicly-owned farmer's market dates to the 1730s, and is probably the oldest one continuously operating in the United States. It is also on the front line of the battle for free speech in America.

A Democratic city councilman has demanded that a baker remove photos of President Bush from his stand in Lancaster's venerable farmers market, saying the city needs a "healing period" following the bitterly contested presidential election.

City Councilman Nelson Polite approached David Stoltzfus last month and asked him to remove the pictures. When Stoltzfus refused, Polite vowed to pursue a city ordinance that would ban all political items from public places in the city.

Polite said the photo offended city Democrats.

"I just feel that since it was a close election and the city's so divided, that we should have a healing period," Polite told the New Era of Lancaster on Friday.

Polite said the photo should come down because "this is a public market" and that the public display of political paraphernalia is inappropriate and divisive.

"Bush didn't win here (in Lancaster City). It is like rubbing salt on a wound," he said.

I am speechless -- which is exactly where a pompous fool like the inappropriately named Polite would have Republicans. So let's let him know -- "Polite"-ly, of course -- what we think of him and his unAmerican attempt to prevent patriotic Americans from displaying pictures of our recently reelected President.

Mr. Nelson M. Polite
politesr14@aol.com

540 North Street
Lancaster, PA 17602
(717) 392-4655
(717) 392-3434 (Fax)

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Nice Going, Kid!

A big part of the reason i started this blog is to be able to respond to liberal idiocy and hypocrisy that appears in the press. Dan Schwartz of Plymouth, Minnesota, a student at the University of Minnesota, did me one better -- he actually got printed in the Minneapolis "Red" Star-Tribune, responding to a piece in the paper written by someone named Susan Lenfestey.

I'm particularly fond of this part:

Unfortunately, she leaves out what Democrats take greatest comfort in: Watching Republicans change the world, complaining it was done incorrectly and taking credit for any positive outcomes. That's how the party that ended slavery became labeled anti-minority compared with the Democrats who fought to keep slavery alive, how the party of gay rights told homosexuals in the military it was all right to be gay as long as they kept it a secret, and how liberals have, according to Lenfestey, become the group that will "mourn innocent Iraqis who have been maimed or killed."

Were these liberals mourning Iraqis when Saddam Hussein ignored Iraqi law and endorsed amputations as punishment? Did liberals object when the Baath Party used rape, torture and beheadings for more than a decade to suppress those who spoke unfavorably of them? Did liberals protest the chemical-weapon-based genocide of Iraqi Kurds? No, either they forgot or never cared to begin with.

In the 1998 election year their preoccupation with abortion rights must have made it too difficult to fight for the 7,000 Iraqis killed and 10,000 injured in five days of Saddam's gassing. In 1991, it must have taken too much liberal effort to speak out against corporate oil greed to care about protecting Kuwait.

Nicely done.

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It's Christmas, So Some Attack Christian Symbols

I can't help but be disturbed by the amount of anti-Christian hate this Christmas season.

No, I'm not talking about the media.

I'm not even talking about the Democrats and the rest of the liberal elite and their compulsive hatred of all things biblical.

I'm talking about these:

Nativity scenes vandalized nationwide.
Jesus statue decapitated.
Statue attacked at LDS Temple.

But since it is only Christians and their faith being attacked, there is no hate crime problem.

When will the authorities pay attention to these hate crimes, and treat them as such?

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Reid Rips Thomas. Ignorance, Racism, Or Both?

On the air over the weekend with Tim Russert, Nevada Senator Harry Reid made the following statement about a possible Bush appointment of Clarence Thomas as Chief Justice.

Russert: Why couldn't you accept Clarence Thomas?

Reid: I think that he has been an embarrassment to the Supreme Court. I think that his opinions are poorly written. I don't--I just don't think that he's done a good job as a Supreme Court justice.

Unfortunately, Russert failed to press Reid for an explanation, or an example of the justice's shortcomings. That's too bad, because Clarence Thomas is known for his legal craftsmanship. James Taranto points to Thomas' dissent in the University of Michigan affirmative action case, Grutter v. Bollinger, as among his favorite Thomas opinions. I much prefer his concurring opinion in Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow, in which he urges a rethinking of the Establishment Clause jurisprudence developed over the last 50 years.

That leaves me asking if Reid's comments were based upon ignorance or racism. Is Reid simply relying on what others have said without doing any investigation of his own, or is the senator simply confident that an African-American lacks the necessities to be a good legal writer?

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Ding! Dong! The Witch Is Dead!

Or at least out of a job.

President Bush on Monday moved to replace Mary Frances Berry, the outspoken chairwoman of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission who has argued with every president since Jimmy Carter appointed her to the panel a quarter century ago.

The only problem is that she is refusing to leave, despite the fact that her term is over. The matter was settled in court proceedings over her refusal to seat a Bush appointee to an expired term, arguing that the incumbent was entitled to a full term, not just the remainder of her predecessor's, when appointed to finish the term of a deceased member. She wants to hold the job for six more years, since Clinton delayed her appointment until January 21, 1999, to prevent a GOP successor from filling the spot in his first term. But the vacancy began on December 5, 1998, meaning that Berry's term expired over the weekend.

Also replaced was Vice Chairman Cruz Reynoso.

The newly named commissioners are Gerald A. Reynolds, former assistant secretary for the office of civil rights in the Education Department, and attorney Ashley L. Taylor of Richmond, Va. Bush intends to designate Reynolds the commission chairman, succeeding Berry, and to name Abigail Thernstrom, already a commission member, as vice chairperson.

Good job, Mr. President. Now prosecute these miscreants if they attempt to collect a single minute of extra pay.

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French Crisis Solved?

An army of toy soldiers from Toyland have invaded France. The French government has surrendered, ending the crisis reported earlier.

(Hat Tip to David Benzion of Lone Star Times)

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When Will France Surrender?

This just in -- a major crisis exists for the French government.

A French soldier angry about being forced to retire holed himself up in an army depot containing 60 tons of explosives and threatened to blow it up Sunday, officials said. Authorities led an evacuation of hundreds of residents from nearby villages.

***

"He works there, and knows how to set off the explosives which is why we're taking this threat seriously," said army spokesman Col. Patrick Chanliau. "I don't have a list of demands ... but we know he says he cannot stand the mandatory requirement age."

They've already conducted a full-scale retreat away from the perimeter of the base -- French government officials are now debating whether or not French custom requires France to surrender to one of its own soldiers, or must it instead be faced with a foreign invader, such as a troop of Belgian Girl Scouts?

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US Out Of UN? UN Out Of US?

I'm not sure that Edd Hendee ever got answers to his UN questions this morning on KSEV (AM 700), since I arrived at work in the middle of his discussion of the matter. I thought I would contribute what I know, on the chance that he didn't.

The US signed the UN Charter on June 26, 1945, in San Francisco. It was ratified as a treaty on July 28 of the same year. On October 24, 1945, the Charter became effective with its ratification by all five permanent members of the Security Council (US, UK, France, China, USSR) and a majority of the other 48 original signatories.

The House and Senate passed Public Law 80-357 on August 4, 1947. It wrote into law the special status of the UN Headquarters in new York, and authorized the building of the present structure. It also authorized a loan to the UN for construction purposes.

Could the latter agreement be revoked? Yes, but it would only do away with the special diplomatic status of the property, not UN ownership. The loss of that status might be sufficient to make the leadership at the UN decide to leave.

Can we quit the UN? That is a bit harder. The Charter contains no "exit mechanism" that I've found. As a general principle of international law, a treaty with no expiration date is usually aboe to be repudiated with sufficient notice -- generally a year. On the other hand, it might be advantageous to stay, given that our veto power would be lost if we quit and that has often been the only means of protecting the US and Israel from action by the Seciurity Council. Our presence reduces the UN to the status of an infant, impotently thrashing its limbs and loudly squawking, but incapable of effective action.

The US currently pays 22% of the UN budget. Other contributors include Japan (19.63%), Germany (9.82%), France (6.50%), the U.K. (5.57%), Italy (5.09%), Canada (2.57%) and Spain (2.53%). The remaining quarter of the budget is paid by the remaining 190 or so member nations. Interestingly enough, permanent members of the Security Council (with veto power) China and Russia are not major donor nations.

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FDNY Heroism And Sacrifice Continues

You have probably never heard of Christian Engeldrum.

Odds are you have never seen his face.


You might have seen him at the bottom of this ladder at Ground Zero on September 11.


You almost certainly didn't know about this part of his life.


Sgt. Engeldrum died on Monday, November 29, 2004, when his vehicle hit a mine outside of Baghdad. He leaves his wife, Sharon, and two teenage sons, Sean, 18, and Royce, 16. Two other members of his unit were also killed, and sixteen soldiers were seriously wounded, including FDNY firefighter Daniel Swift.

Sharon Engeldrum's widow says her husband was the "ultimate patriot". My words can add nothing to that accolade.

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Adoption

Adoption usually isn't a funny topic -- but this piece certainly tickles the ribs. It gives 15 reasons why adoption is preferable to artificial means or reproduction.

A couple of highlights:

13. You can watch your kids develop talents that nobody else in your family has.

14. You can have some fun if your kids don't look like you, or like each other. One foster/adoptive mother of many responds to incredulous inquiries about her "unusual" family by saying: "Yes, they are all mine. They all have different fathers."

Really, folks, think about it. Do you have a place in your heart and home for one -- or more -- kids who really need a loving family? The Loyal Opposition and I are trying to get matters arranged so we can adopt. Why don't you?

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Black-Robed Tyrant Overrides Will Of The People

The people of Arizona have spoken. They don't want their tax dollars going to enemy invaders who illegally cross our nation's borders. They said so when they passed Proposition 200 on November 2, which requires state and local government employees to verify the immigration status of people applying for public benefits and report violators of our nation's immigration laws to immigration authorities.

U.S. District Judge David C. Bury has spoken. He doesn't give a rat's ass what the people of Arizona want, and has substituted his will for that of the people. He said that when he issued an order forbidding the implementation of a measure passed by the voters themselves.

"It seems likely that if Proposition 200 were to become law, it would have a dramatic, chilling effect upon undocumented aliens who would otherwise be eligible for public benefits under federal law," Bury wrote.

The thing is that no one is denied benefits by the law. It simply makes it state policy to check the citizenship/immigration status of all applying for programs and allows for the reporting of those in violation of federal law. There is no plausible right to not have one's illegal activity exposed to the authorities, is there?

Also outrageous is this quote from "Latina student" Marabella Ayala, who likely has US citizenship only because of the illegal activities of her parents who are "immigrants of Guerrero state in Mexico":

"We can breathe now. This means a lot. The Hispanic community is devastated because of this."

What needs to happen is that Ms. Ayala and her parents need to be unceremoniously dumped across the Mexican border, where they can file a suit in the Mexican court system demanding that the Mexican government supply the benefits that they tried to steal in the US. The rest of the invaders should scurry home after them. Why? Because the American taxpayer is no longer willing to subsidize their illegal presence in our country.

Posted by: Greg at 01:10 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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No Christians Allowed InHoliday Season Parade

There will be a group honoring gay Native American men and women as holy people.

There will be a group marking the Chinese New Year.

There will be German folk dancers and an "international procession."

Don't forget Santa and the gingerbread house

All varieties of cultural traditions are welcome in Denver's Parade of Lights. Well, almost all.

That's what Pastor George Morrison of Faith Bible Chapel in Arvada, Colorado found out. It seems that Christians are not welcome in the city parade -- at least not if they want to have a sign that says "Merry Christmas" or have the choir sing Christmas carols on the float.

According to parade spokesman Michael Krikorian,

"We want to avoid that specific religious message out of respect for other religions in the region. It could be construed as disrespectful to other people who enjoy a parade each year."

Might I suggest, as does Pastor Morrison, that it is highly disrespectful to hold a parade marking the Christmas season and leave out the most important cultural aspect of all? After all, the parade is scheduled when it is to precisely coincide with the Christian holiday. This isn't neutrality towards religion -- it is outright hostility!

And they wonder why the Christian majority in this country feels marginalized.

Posted by: Greg at 12:51 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Only Enforce The Laws They Want?

Congress is currently considering a simple, reasonable, common-sense approach to our ongoing border control and immigration problem. The Clear Law Enforcement For Criminal Alien Removal Act would penalize state and local governments if law enforcement is not authorized to enforce our nation's immigration laws, or if they fail to file appropriate reports regarding suspected immigration violators. The penalties would take the form of reduced federal dollars for state and local law enforcement agencies.

The International Association of Chiefs of Police has come out in opposition to the proposed law.

In a release, the IACP said it took the action, its first-ever position on immigration, after a careful review of the impact that enforcing immigration law could have on state, tribal and local law enforcement and the communities they serve.

Listen up, you doughnut-eating glorified bureaucrats with tin shields. Your job is to enforce the laws. It is not your job to determine what they are, nor is it your place to refuse to enforce the laws you don't like. You may not have heard about the attack on our country in 2001, but the rest of us do remember 9/11. We also remember that most of those involved were here illegally, and that many of them had contact with law enforcement personnel along the way who could have reported or detained them.

If enforcing immigration law to enhance national security is too difficult, I suggest that you apply to work at the local mall, guarding the food court.

Posted by: Greg at 11:42 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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