Fifty are dead as the Tamil Tigers attack a Sri Lankan Navy convoy.

t least 50 Sri Lankan navy sailors were feared killed when an explosives-laden truck driven by a suspected Tamil Tiger rebel rammed into their convoy in a north-central district on Monday, a military official said.

``There were about 15 buses and 13 were damaged in the explosion. About 50 bodies have been taken to hospital,'' a navy official in Colombo, who did not want to be identified, told Reuters.

One more group that needs to be dealth with by the world. Terrorists are like pirates -- the enemy of all mankind.

Posted by: Greg at 10:33 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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That the power of taxing by the States may be exercised so as to destroy it, is too obvious to be denied. McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)

That principle is a cardinal part of our nation's constitutional jurisprudence. And Yet, the NY Times would set it aside in the case of religion, and with it the First Amendment rights of Americans.

Religious institutions should be protected from excessive intrusion by government. Judges should not tell churches who they have to hire as ministers, or meddle in doctrinal disputes. But under pressure from politically influential religious groups, Congress, the White House, and federal and state courts have expanded this principle beyond all reason. It is increasingly being applied to people, buildings and programs only tangentially related to religion.

In its expanded form, this principle amounts to an enormous subsidy for religion, in some cases violating the establishment clause of the First Amendment. It also undermines core American values, like the right to be free from job discrimination. It puts secular entrepreneurs at an unfair competitive disadvantage. And it deprives states and localities of much-needed tax revenues, putting a heavier burden on ordinary taxpayers.

Like most special-interest handouts, these privileges exist in large part because the majority is not aware, or is not being heard. With property taxes growing ever more burdensome, it is likely that localities will start to give religious exemptions closer scrutiny. People who care about discrimination-free workplaces, the right to unionize and childrenÂ’s safety should also start to push back.

Indeed, the NY Tmes akes a specific call for taxation of xhurcxhes, a much learer and much more substantial threat to the First Amendment than the exemptions it complains of could ever be. After all, who is going to determine what is essential to the free exercise of religion or cetral to a church's religious mission -- the church or the government? The authors of the editorial would support an entanglement of religion and government that they would never accept if we were talking about, for example, giving vouchers to allow shchool choice.

And more to the point, in every case that the NY Times raises a question regarding exemptions from taxation or regulation of religious institutions, it fails to ask a question that I think would be central to the issue if one does not believe in virtually unlimited government power -- is it the burden of taxation and regulation imposed upon society that is onerous, and not the exemptions permitted to those who do the work of God? Are the rest of us too oppressed by government, rather than religious institutions too free?

Posted by: Greg at 10:28 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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IF YOU USE A ONETOUCH METER FOR GLUCOSE MONITORING, YOU MUST READ THE INFORMATION BELOW. YOUR HEALTH MAY DEPEND UPON IT!

The government warned diabetics to watch for counterfeit versions of test strips used to monitor blood sugar levels. The strips, for use in glucose monitors made by a Johnson & Johnson company, were distributed nationwide, the Food and Drug Administration said. The strips are for use with various models of LifeScan Inc.Â’s OneTouch brand of blood glucose monitors. LifeScan is part Johnson & Johnson. Diabetics who bought the strips should stop using them, replace them and call a doctor, the F.D.A. said. The counterfeits are: OneTouch Basic/Profile, lot numbers 272894A, 2619932 and 2606340. The 50-count packages are labeled in English and French; and OneTouch Ultra, lot number 2691191. The 50-count packages are labeled in English, Greek and Portuguese.

I'd like to commend the New York Times for putting this story on its front page with the health news. While I wish it were higher up on the page, it is the only place I have seen this news about this important issue involving the sort of meter I currently use (no, I don't have the fake strips).

Posted by: Greg at 05:59 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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I'd like to applaud the American Federation of Teachers for opposing this anti-Semitic move by an Irish educator's organization.

he American Federation of Teachers (AFT) is calling on Irish academics to oppose demands to boycott Israel. The union, which represents 1.3 million members across the US, sent a letter to four Irish teachers and academics unions, urging them to oppose the boycott which has been proposed by several Irish academics in recent weeks.

"Boycotts of this nature only help those who wish to curtail the academic freedom faculty members hold dear," wrote Edward J. McElroy, president of the American Federation of Teachers in the letter to his Irish colleagues.

The American union also notes that the Irish academics' singling out faculty members from Israel, which is a democratic country, while ignoring those from other countries "raises more questions than it answers."

The boycott call voiced by 61 Irish faculty members in a letter sent to the Irish Times in late September. They called for the EU to cut ties with Israeli academic institutions in protest of Israel's policy towards the Palestinians and its conduct during the Lebanese war.

Yep, they only oppose democratic Israel -- not dictatorships rife with human rights violations like Cuba, North Korea, or Libya. Only Jew-hatred can explain such a move. And while I am not a member of the AFT (indeed, I am a building representative for another teacher's organization), I wholeheartedly endorse their position.

Posted by: Greg at 02:00 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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Do you doubt me? The look at this.

Mr. Bush ignored that fact after 9/11, when he tried to put the prisoners of the war on terror beyond the reach of American law and the Geneva Conventions.

If these folks are really prisoners of war, they are then not entitled to any trial. Indeed, trying them at all is a violation of the Geneva Convention. Furthermore, it would be within the province of the President to order them held until the conflict is ended by treaty or victory. Given that the War on Terror will last for many years (possibley beyond our lifetimes), the NY Times has conceded that the captured terrorist may be detained for life without any trial whatsoever.

Posted by: Greg at 10:01 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Hey, I figure I should just come out and say it. After all, that seems to be the signal being given by yet another extension of federal housing benefits to those living in Houston more than a year after their city was devastated by the hurricane and subsequent collapse of the levees.

Houston social service agencies and Hurricane Katrina victims living in the city welcomed a decision by Federal Emergency Management Agency officials to extend housing subsidies past an Oct. 31 deadline for recertification for at least another four months. The specter of thousands of jobless people being thrown out of their apartments onto the streets still remains, but the FEMA action provides a window of opportunity to prevent that from happening.

The federal disaster relief agency dropped its requirement for extensive documentation for housing assistance recertification after few of the estimated 21,000 evacuee households in Houston made submissions. Instead, a simple one-page form is being accepted, with an automatic extension of all housing payments through the end of February.

Here we are, over a year later, and these folks still are not working and pulling their own weight. Indeed, the only substantive contribution they have made to the Houston community is their impact upon the crime rate, which has skyrocketed since September 2005. And for all Mayor White and others say that 18 months is the upper limit for FEMA assistance of this sort, I've no doubt that come the first of the year we will be hearing the Katrina sob stories again. After all, I've got some Katrina kids, here for a year, still trying to use the hurricane to explain why they don't have basic school supplies. They don't have because they don't bother -- and that explains the housing and employment situation for many of these folks.

Enough is enough -- either cut off the asistance or concede teh reality that we will be supporting these folks and their descendents until the end of time.

Posted by: Greg at 07:25 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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I won't be buying the newest operating system from Microsoft -- and will likey get a Linux machine if these licensing terms remain in place.

From the Houston Chronicle's TechBlog:

Earlier this week, Microsoft released the license terms for the various versions of Windows Vista. As is always the case with a new operating system, there are some terms that weren't present with Windows XP.

One of them has caused a firestorm among computer enthusiasts who build their own machines and/or frequently upgrade hardware. As Ed Bott writes, Vista now limits the number of times you transfer the operating system from an old machine to a new one.

Specifically, you can transfer your Vista license once. That means if you install Vista onto a new PC, you must remove it from the old one. And you may only perform that maneuver once.

In addition, making enough changes to key components in a PC will constitute transferring the license, effectively creating a new PC.

I spoke with Shanen Boettcher, the general manager of product management for Windows Vista, who confirmed those scenarios. Those used to being able to use the same copy of Windows XP on multiple machines -- so long as the same copy isn't being used on more than one at a time -- will be out of luck after that first transfer.

Boettcher said this change was made to clarify that "Windows is licensed on a per copy, per device basis."

Of course, Windows' current activation process pretty much assures that. With XP, you're not able to have the operating system running on more than one device -- Microsoft's activation servers will block XP, and you'll be forced to call an 800 number to explain yourself.

Boettcher said that, as with Windows XP, an algorithm in Vista is used to determine the hardware fingerprint of a system. Change enough of the fingerprint, and the system is considered a new PC. Two things that are sure to trigger that, Boettcher said, is replacing the hard drive and/or the motherboard.

Those may not be things most users do every day... but they are not unusual things, either.

So what does that mean? You are paying more for the latest software, but have even fewer rights under the license than you did before. Indeed, not only are you limited in how many times you can transfer the software from machine to machine as you upgrade to meet your technology needs, even hardware upgrades on the same machine may be enough to qualify as that single transfer that you are permitted. In other words, simply installing a new hard drive after one crashes (a choice I considered this spring when mine failed) constitutes a transfer of the software, even though you continue to use what is, effectively, the same machine!

Frankly, I'm tired of Microsoft's BS games with consumers. Monopoly power chas led to teh screwing of the consumer with this latest OS. How long until XP is no longer supported, and new machine purchasers find themselves coerced into buying machines with the new licensing agreement.

Here's hoping that the consumers say no -- and that computer manufacturers start saying no to Microsoft Vista.

H/T: By The Bayou

Posted by: Greg at 02:15 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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It is generally accepted history that the Spaniards and other Europeans brought diseases with them that killed off the indigenous people of the Americas. There is certainly some truth to that in some areas of the New World -- but it may not be the case in Mexico, which is usually cited as Exhibit A for the "foreign diseases" argument.

Here's what history tells us about the Spanish conquest of Mexico: Armed with modern weapons and Old World diseases, several hundred Spanish soldiers toppled the Aztec empire in 1521. And by the end of the century, the invaders' guns, steel and germs had wiped out 90 percent of the natives.

It's a key piece of the "Black Legend," the tales of atrocities committed by the Spanish Inquisition and colonizers of the New World.

But it may be just that — legend, according to Rodolfo Acuña-Soto, a Harvard-trained epidemiologist.

He argues that an unknown indigenous hemorrhagic fever may have killed the bulk of Mexico's native population, which plummeted from an estimated 22 million in 1519, when the Spaniards arrived, to 2 million in 1600.

And he warns that the fever — which the Aztecs called cocoliztli in their Nahuatl language — may still be lurking in remote rural areas of Mexico.

Not everyone buys the theory. But Acuña-Soto, who spent 12 years poring over colonial archives, census data, graveyard records and autopsy reports, is convinced that many historians are wrong about what killed the Aztecs.

"The problem with history is that it's very ideological," he said. "In this case, it was a beautiful way of accusing the Spaniards of unimaginable cruelties and of decimating the population of Mexico."

Spanish colonizers were far from blameless, he quickly points out. By subjecting the Indians to slave-like conditions and malnutrition, they made them more vulnerable to the disease, he said.

"Of course, there's a terrible story of cruelty and disease that killed a huge amount of indigenous people," he said. "But we don't know what this disease was."

Acuña-Soto, who has published his findings in several international scholarly journals, is a research professor at Mexico's National Autonomous University.

Notice, this doesn't absolve teh Spanish of charges of great cruelty. But it does raise the possibility that something else was at work -- and that the agent of infection is still around. I ca't wait to se what further research shows.

Posted by: Greg at 04:41 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Maybe, maybe not. The availability of a defibrilator may not have made a difference. But wouldn't you think that every coach (those most likely to need it) would have a key to gain access to the equipment?

Katy school district officials acknowledged Friday that two coaches did not have keys to unlock a room where an automated external defibrillator was stored, 25 feet from the track where 16-year-old Jhonathan Bruda collapsed and died last week.

District officials originally told the Houston Chronicle that both track coaches — Ryan Ratcliff and Amy Pitzel had keys to the trainer's room on the morning of Oct. 6. They said Friday that police reports and witness statements won't be released now because of an ongoing investigation.

"We thought all the coaches had keys but now we know that's not true," said Steve Stanford, a spokesman for Katy Independent School District. ''Neither coach had a key."

This was just one of the discrepancies in the accounts the district gave this week about how coaches responded to Bruda, a Taylor High School cross-country team member who collapsed after a light workout.

Stanford also acknowledged Friday that a 911 dispatcher did, in fact, ask Pitzel if she had access to an AED. According to Stanford, Pitzel responded, "Yes, but I can't get to it."

Pitzel was relaying information to Ratcliff as he performed CPR on Bruda, Stanford said.

I'm not surprised by the discrepancies between the original account and the current one. It is only about two weeks since we had a 12-year-old collapse and die during football practice at one of the middle schools that feeds into my high school. The initial statements of the district and the later ones contained some differences that can best be ascribed to the rush to supply information in a timely fashion vs. the desire to to transparantly release all facts. None of the changes impacted teh basic narrative, though.

I am shocked, however, by the discovery that coaches didn't have a key to the defibrilator. I'm willing to bet that it will come out that only the "big sport" coaches have them. It is typical that minor sport coaches are disregarded in that fashion. Let's just hope that it didn't cost a boy his life.

Posted by: Greg at 04:30 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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And we've been repeatedly assured by Muslim groups that the government's actions with regard to that Islamic "charity" were unfounded and a case of post-9/11 Islamophobia.

But now we have a guilty plea to confirm that the organization was supporting terrorists.

The imam of a northern Georgia mosque pleaded guilty to providing material support to the militant group Hamas in a case in which the agreement, charges and even the plea hearing were handled in secret.

The U.S. attorney's office said Friday that the charges and plea agreement involving Mohamed Shorbagi were filed Aug. 28 in federal court in Rome, Ga., a division of Atlanta's federal court, but were sealed until Friday.

Shorbagi, 42, agreed to a maximum of 15 years in prison, prosecutors said. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for Nov. 3.

According to prosecutors, between 1997 and 2001, Shorbagi provided financial support to Hamas, a group designated by the United States as a foreign terrorist organization. He also was accused of conspiring with unnamed others to provide material support to Hamas.

The donations were passed through the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, prosecutors said.

"It was not for a large amount of money," U.S. Attorney David Nahmias said. "But that goes to show you it doesn't take a large amount of money to get 15 years in prison."

What did Imam Shorbagi and the Holy Land Foundation do to support terrorism?

Nahmias's office said Shorbagi was a Georgia representative of the Holy Land Foundation and knew money provided to the foundation was actually funneled to Hamas.

He had attended Holy Land Foundation meetings at which high-level Hamas officials made presentations condemning Israel, and had hosted high-level Hamas officials at the Rome mosque where he served as imam, prosecutors said.

So it appears that there was more than charity work going on out of the offices of the Holy Land Foundation (a name intended to trick American Christians into giving money to support Muslim terrorism against Israel and the US), and more than religious activities going on at the mosque. Is it any wonder, then, that many of us believe that the FBI should be monitoring mosques and other Muslim organizations for ties to terrorists as we continue the Crusade Against Jihadism?

Of course, the usual suspects are up in arms over the fact that their fellow jihadi Islamists have been investigated, charged, and in this case determined to be guilty of support for terrorism.

“The facts of these cases are never actually released,” said Rabiah Ahmed, a spokeswoman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, based in Washington. “There’s no public scrutiny except what the government chooses to release. The perception is that they’re being heavy-handed and the Muslim community is being unfairly targeted.”

The reality is that Imam Shorbagi could have had a trial in open court in which his crimes and those of the Holy Land Foundation would have been laid out for all to see. Instead he cut a deal to save his own skin, tuning on his fellow jihadi-wannabes. There will be plenty of time for all the evidence to be laid out in court when the principals of the Holy Land Foundation are put on trial. And by the way -- I can't wait for charges to be filed against CAIR, which I understand has its own Hamas connections.

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This news just breaking.

Former U.S. Rep. Gerry Studds, the first openly gay person elected to Congress, died early Saturday at Boston Medical Center, several days after he collapsed while walking his dog, his husband said.

Studds fell unconscious Oct. 3 because of what doctors later determined was a blood clot in his lung, Dean Hara said.

Studds regained consciousness, remained in the hospital, and seemed to be improving. He was scheduled to be transferred to a rehabilitation center, but his condition deteriorated Friday and he died at about 1:30 a.m. Saturday, Hara said.

My sympathies extend to his survivors. May they be comforted in this time of loss.

Of course, i don't write about every deceased former member of Congress. But it is quite appropriate to do so, given what he is best known for and its relationship to certain current events in Washington.

Gerry Studds had sex with one page and made inappropriate advances on two others. he admitted it. he refused to apologize for it. he turned his back on the House of representatives and rejected the censure vote of his fellow members over it. And he stayed in Congress, reelected with the full support of the Democrat leadership of the House and the Democrat Party, serving six additional terms until he retired after the 1996 elections. He was even given a committee chairmanship and was honored by having a National Marine Sanctuary named after him. So much for concern about the safety of pages by the Democrats, who now hypocritically object to the creepy words and dirty talk of disgraced former Congressman Mark Foley and the failure of the GOP leadership of the House to psycically know about IMs that no one showed them.

UPDATE: The guys over at GayPatriot have a great piece on Studds -- and note these two quotes upon his passing.

“Gerry’s leadership changed Massachusetts forever and we’ll never forget him. His work on behalf of our fishing industry and the protection of our waters has guided the fishing industry into the future and ensured that generations to come will have the opportunity to love and learn from the sea. He was a steward of the oceans.”

- U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.

—

“No one fought harder for human rights, particularly in Latin America; for our environment; and for the fishermen of New England and the entire nation. He was a true pioneer.”

- U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., whose wife, Lisa, once worked as an aide to Studds.

In other words, even in the midst of the Mark "Talk Dirty To Me" Foley scandal, Democrats find it impossible to condemn a Democrat ex-congressman who actually did have sex with a page. Incredible!

Oh, and there are two other quotes that they left out of their piece hat I feel need to be included.

"Gerry was a stalwart champion of New England's fishing families as well as a committed environmentalist who worked hard to demonstrate that the cause of working people and the cause of the environment go hand in hand with the right leadership. When he retired from Congress, he did not retire from the cause, continuing to fight for the fishing industry and New England's environmental causes.

- U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.

---

"I am very saddened by the death of Gerry Studds. From his days in the early 1970s as an articulate and effective opponent of the Vietnam war, through his consistent leadership on environmental issues, to his insistence that the U.S. government stop ignoring the AIDS crisis, Gerry was a forceful advocate for causes that were not always popular and that were consequently shunned by many politicians."

- U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass.

Leading Democrats all. I guess its not what you do, its how you vote that counts. After all, its for the children -- and Gerry Studds was all about children.

I bet that Mark Foley gets no such eulogies on his death -- but then again, his party didn't run him for reelection a half dozen times after he was exposed, either.

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I'm disgusted that Bob Ney did not resign upon entering a guilty plea on bribery charges -- indeed, I believed he should have resigned when he announced the deal some weeks ago. I'm shocked that the prosecutors did not mandate he do so immediately as a condition of his plea deal. Those who take bribes have no place in Congress -- or any other public office.

Representative Bob Ney, the first member of Congress to confess to crimes in dealings with the lobbyist Jack Abramoff, pleaded guilty to corruption charges Friday but said he would not immediately resign.

Mr. Ney, Republican of Ohio, announced last month that he intended to plead guilty, admitting that in return for official acts, he had accepted tens of thousands of dollarsÂ’ worth of gifts from Mr. Abramoff that included lavish trips, meals and tickets to concerts and sporting events. He faces a prison term of more than two years.

But what had not been expected at FridayÂ’s court hearing was Mr. NeyÂ’s disclosure that he intended to remain in Congress for now. The announcement appeared to surprise and infuriate House Republican leaders, who are trying to tamp down other scandals that are threatening to damage the party in next monthÂ’s Congressional elections.

After learning that Mr. Ney would not step down immediately and would continue to draw his $165,200-a-year salary, Speaker J. Dennis Hastert and other Republican leaders said they would move to expel him as soon as Congress returns next month for a postelection session.

“Bob Ney must be punished for the criminal actions he has acknowledged,” they said in a statement. “He betrayed his oath of office and violated the trust of those he represented in the House. There is no place for him in this Congress.”

The White House joined in calling for Mr. Ney to resign immediately. “What Congressman Ney did is not a reflection of the Republican Party,” said Tony Snow, the White House spokesman. “It’s a reflection of Congressman Ney, and he ought to step down.”

I'm heartened by the GOP moves to rid themselves of this criminal -- though I am disturbed that they were willing to wait until after the plea to expel their corrupt colleague. After all, his admission of guilt should have been sufficent to trigger an expulsion vote.

By the way, I knew Jack Abramoff way back when -- a one of several members heads of the national College Republicans I've had the opportunity to know (one, Tony Zagotta, was a good friend back during our days at Illinois State). That association makes me more disgusted, rather than less, by the misdeeds we are learning of as this investigation unfolds, and makes me more desirous of seing all involved severely and justly punished.

Posted by: Greg at 03:11 AM | Comments (93) | Add Comment
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This could change our whole picture of the emergence of human civilization.

The remains of what has been described as a huge lost city may force historians and archaeologists to radically reconsider their view of ancient human history.

Marine scientists say archaeological remains discovered 36 metres (120 feet) underwater in the Gulf of Cambay off the western coast of India could be over 9,000 years old.

The vast city - which is five miles long and two miles wide - is believed to predate the oldest known remains in the subcontinent by more than 5,000 years.

The site was discovered by chance last year by oceanographers from India's National Institute of Ocean Technology conducting a survey of pollution.

Using sidescan sonar - which sends a beam of sound waves down to the bottom of the ocean they identified huge geometrical structures at a depth of 120ft.

Debris recovered from the site - including construction material, pottery, sections of walls, beads, sculpture and human bones and teeth has been carbon dated and found to be nearly 9,500 years old.

Read the whole article -- it is fascinating.

Posted by: Greg at 12:52 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Let me begin by noting that I just love the headline for this news story from the Sacramento Bee – it is so marvelously and subtly misleading.

U.S. agents question teen

Girl ran anti-Bush page on MySpace

Those fascists! How dare they harass this poor child for exercising her First Amendment rights.

Only if you read the story do you find it is more than an “anti-Bush” site.

The latest Sacramento resident to be questioned by federal agents in possible threats against President Bush is a 14-year-old girl with a heart on her backpack and braces on her teeth, a freckle-nosed adolescent who is passionate about liberal politics and cute movie stars.

Her name is Julia Wilson, and she learned a vivid civics lesson Wednesday when two Secret Service agents pulled her out of biology class at McClatchy High School to ask about comments and images she posted on MySpace.

Beneath the words "Kill Bush," Julia posted a cartoonish photo-collage of a knife stabbing the hand of the president. It was one of a few images Julia said she used to decorate an anti-Bush Web page she moderated on MySpace, the social networking Web site that is hugely popular among teenagers.

Yes, you read that right – “Kill Bush”. A graphic of a knife stabbing the president. Sounds like a possible threat that needs to be checked out, and possibly a violation of federal law. Certainly more than merely an “anti-Bush” site.

This brainless child’s parents are very upset – but not at their daughter. No, they upset that the Secret Service would DARE question her baby – especially without one of them present.

Federal law prohibits making serious threats against the president, and Julia and her parents say what she did was wrong.

The couple are disturbed, however, that federal agents questioned a child at school -- without her parents present. And First Amendment lawyers question whether the Secret Service over-reacted to a 14-year-old's comments on a Web site made for casual socializing.

"I don't condone what she did, but it seems a little over the top to me," said Julia's father, Jim Moose. "You'd think they could look at the situation and determine that she's not a credible threat."

Actually, you fool, they donÂ’t know what the situation is until they investigate. Suppose that, instead of an ill-informed little brat raised by overly-indulgent parents, the site was operated by a nascent Dylan Klebold or Eric Harris? No one took them seriously before they attacked their high school and murdered 13 people. How was the Secret Service to know that your daughter wasnÂ’t a mentally and morally disturbed sociopath? What is over the top, sir, is that you think they should NOT have pursued the matter as they did.

Here is how Julia Wilson's family tells their story:

Two Secret Service agents arrived at their Land Park home about 2:30 Wednesday afternoon, Kirstie Wilson said. They told her they wanted to speak with her daughter about threats to the president that she had posted on MySpace.

"She was in molecular biology, and I said I really didn't want to take her out of class for this," Kirstie Wilson said. "I said I'd make sure she came right home from school."

She asked the agents to come back in an hour, and they left.

Then Wilson sent her daughter a text message instructing her to come straight home from school.

"... there are two men from the secret service that want to talk with you. Apparently you made some death threats against president bush. Dont worry youre not going to jail or anything like that but they take these things very seriously these days," Kirstie Wilson wrote.

"Are you serious!?!? omg. Am I in a lot of trouble"? her daughter replied, using common teenage shorthand for "Oh, my God."

Kirstie Wilson called her husband. While they were on the phone, she received another text message from her daughter: "They took me out of class."

I guess that the Wilson family believes that law enforcement should schedule their appointments with potential assassins at the convenience of them and their families – you know, just to allow them to gather up their weapons of choice and go underground until they can do commit their murder.

And one more thing about this case, Mom and Dad were completely unaware of what their child was doing on the internet. They are lucky that all she lured out of the woodwork was a pair of nice Secret Service agents wanting to question her about her potentially criminal activity. They are lucky that she wasnÂ’t abused or abducted, or lured to the Middle East for a child marriage and conversion to Islam. Rather than bitching, they should hit their knees that they were spared any of those true horrors.

By the way, this was not an isolated incident for young Julia. She started the space last year calling it "People who want to stab Bush". Why MySpace didnÂ’t delete the account then for violating its terms of service is a mystery to me. She then changed it to "So Bush is an idiot but hey what else is new?", but left the graphic. It appears, though, that she never considered that her art work was also a potentially illegal act.

I think this stupid little child need to change the name of her group now. How about the title of this blog post -- “So Julia Wilson and her parents are idiots, but hey what else is new?”

UPDATE: I've run across several additional articles, and found a couple of quotes that make my blood boil.

The first couple are from Julia's over-indulgent, under-involved "parents".

"She obviously is not a threat to society, if you look at her age, her family background, the cartoonish nature of the MySpace page," said her father, Jim Moose, an environmental lawyer.

"She is just a typical teenage girl who made a mistake," said her mother during an interview at their neatly landscaped home.

First, Mommy Dearest, she is a girl who potentially committed a crime, not merely "a typical teenage girl who made a mistake". She deserved to be questioned. And Daddy Dearest, it is clear that you are a typical liberal hypocrite -- after all, your argument is that law enforcement should look and find out that this is a rich white little girl from a good home and therefore miraculously divined that she was no threat, because we all know that it is only "those people" (black, Hispanic, poor) who commit crimes.

Then there is this whine from the little anti-American felon-in-training herself.

Julia Wilson said the agents threatened her by saying she could be sent to juvenile hall for making the threat.

"They yelled at me a lot," she said. "They were unnecessarily mean."

In other words, they told you what could happen if you were charged as a juvenile. They didn't get you a double half-caf latte with extra milk before asking you any questions and they raised their voices, so you got your feelings hurt over that because Mommy and Daddy have told you that the universe revolves areound Uranus and you therefore don't have to accept the authority of anyone but yourself. Too bad they didn't cuff you and take you in for further questioning -- then maybe you would learn that your conduct was seriously wrong.

UPDATE 2: One more stupid comment from this self-centered little imbecile.

On Friday, the teenager said the agents' questioning led her to tears.

"I wasn't dangerous. I mean, look at what's (stenciled) on my backpack - it's a heart. I'm a very peace-loving person," said Wilson, an honor student who describes herself as politically passionate. "I'm against the war in Iraq. I'm not going to kill the president."

Four observations, you self-absorbed little brat:

1) John Wilkes Booth was a popular actor. He was pro-secession, and pro-slavery, but he would never try to kill the President.

2) Lee Harvey Oswald was a family man with a baby who was also a Communist. He'd never try to kill the President.

3) John Hinkley came from a good home in a nice neighborhood. he would never try to kill the President.

4) How many terrorists were "good Muslims" carrying a Koran? How many criminals are wearing hearts, crosses or other "nice" symbols when they are arrested -- or when they commit their crime?

UPDATE 3: Looks like the young lady is capable of learning and has some common sense after all. I dislike her politics, but support her next move.

And I'll post here my offer from the comments -- if Julia and/or her parents wish to comment here they are welcome, and if they wish to submit a piece for me to publish as a featured piece on this site I will be glad to host it. I'm willing to let them get out their side of teh story.

OPEN TRACKBACKING AT Conservative Cat, Blue Star Chronicles, Samantha Burns, Pirate's Cove, Bullwinkle Blog, Stuck on Stupid, Adam's Blog, Third World County, Clash of Civilizations, Right Nation, Is It just Me?, Uncooperative Blogger, Stop the ACLU, The World According to Carl, Church & State, Amboy Times, Woman Honor Thyself, Jo's Cafe

Posted by: Greg at 12:33 PM | Comments (210) | Add Comment
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John Murtha, an unindicted co-conspirator in the Abscam case, decided to bring the level of political dialog to his own level.

"Screw them," Rep. John Murtha said of Republicans in an email sent to the liberal political group MoveOn.org on Wednesday. The Pennsylvania Democrat, who is urging a U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq, added that he needs its members' help to throw GOP congressmen "out of power -- as many of them as possible."

"A year ago when I presented my plan for Iraq, I did it to provide leadership and protect our troops," Murtha stated in his email. "The Republicans have spent their time name-calling while the situation for our troops in Iraq gets worse. They've tried to smear me, other veterans, Democrats, you and anybody who stands up to them.

"Well, let me say one thing right now: screw them," the 16-term congressman declared. "Those gravestones at Arlington cemetery don't say Democrat or Republican on them. We are all patriots.

I don’t believe you are a patriot. I don’t care how long you served or how many decorations you have – your desire to cut and run in the face of the enemy is a cowardly abrogation of the security of the United States.
And I think this presentation of your record, Congressman Murtha, bears that assertion out.

Also on Thursday, Larry Bailey, president of Vets for the Truth (VFTT) -- an organization working to "boot Murtha" from Congress on Nov. 7 -- agreed that the congressman's attitude in his email is something voters should consider.

Bailey told Cybercast News Service: "'Screw them' is what John Murtha has said for 32 years to:

• "Iraq War veterans, who have tried unsuccessfully to discuss that conflict with Murtha;

• "Honest citizens, who are berated, cursed and threatened by Murtha goons;

• "Taxpayers, who have to come up with the money for Murtha's self-serving appropriations 'earmarks;'

• "Troops in Iraq, who are unjustly characterized by Murtha for having 'killed innocent civilians in cold blood;'

• "Honest politicians, who object to the 'bully-boy' tactics employed by Murtha in getting his way; and

• "Anyone who dares to disagree with or vote against John Murtha.

"'Screw them' might well be the epitaph inscribed on Murtha's tombstone," Bailey stated.

So Congressman, your MoveOn.org fundraising communique leads me to respond in kind – Go screw yourself!

Posted by: Greg at 12:28 PM | Comments (22) | Add Comment
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John Murtha, an unindicted co-conspirator in the Abscam case, decided to bring the level of political dialog to his own level.

"Screw them," Rep. John Murtha said of Republicans in an email sent to the liberal political group MoveOn.org on Wednesday. The Pennsylvania Democrat, who is urging a U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq, added that he needs its members' help to throw GOP congressmen "out of power -- as many of them as possible."

"A year ago when I presented my plan for Iraq, I did it to provide leadership and protect our troops," Murtha stated in his email. "The Republicans have spent their time name-calling while the situation for our troops in Iraq gets worse. They've tried to smear me, other veterans, Democrats, you and anybody who stands up to them.

"Well, let me say one thing right now: screw them," the 16-term congressman declared. "Those gravestones at Arlington cemetery don't say Democrat or Republican on them. We are all patriots.

I don’t believe you are a patriot. I don’t care how long you served or how many decorations you have – your desire to cut and run in the face of the enemy is a cowardly abrogation of the security of the United States.
And I think this presentation of your record, Congressman Murtha, bears that assertion out.

Also on Thursday, Larry Bailey, president of Vets for the Truth (VFTT) -- an organization working to "boot Murtha" from Congress on Nov. 7 -- agreed that the congressman's attitude in his email is something voters should consider.

Bailey told Cybercast News Service: "'Screw them' is what John Murtha has said for 32 years to:

• "Iraq War veterans, who have tried unsuccessfully to discuss that conflict with Murtha;

• "Honest citizens, who are berated, cursed and threatened by Murtha goons;

• "Taxpayers, who have to come up with the money for Murtha's self-serving appropriations 'earmarks;'

• "Troops in Iraq, who are unjustly characterized by Murtha for having 'killed innocent civilians in cold blood;'

• "Honest politicians, who object to the 'bully-boy' tactics employed by Murtha in getting his way; and

• "Anyone who dares to disagree with or vote against John Murtha.

"'Screw them' might well be the epitaph inscribed on Murtha's tombstone," Bailey stated.

So Congressman, your MoveOn.org fundraising communique leads me to respond in kind – Go screw yourself!

Posted by: Greg at 12:28 PM | Comments (22) | Add Comment
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I guess dirty talk is a much more serious issue than financial fraud that cost investors $2.4 million.

After investors sued a company whose new breast-cancer detector turned out to be ineffective, a firm partly owned by the Democrat fighting for Mark Foley's congressional seat stepped in.

Tim Mahoney's company, though, didn't side with the investors, who included a former deputy CIA director and a media empire heiress.

Instead, Mahoney's Boca Raton-based vFinance Inc. bought out the assets -- but not the liabilities -- of a deep-pocketed investment group that sold shares in the cancer-detector company. The plaintiffs said the purchase of Sterling Financial Investment Group's assets was a fraudulent effort to hide ill-gotten gains and will make it tougher for them to collect if they win the suit filed in December 2005 in federal court in Texas.

''At the very least, this was unethical. vFinance showed up at the party and took away the money that should be part of a judgment,'' said the plaintiffs' attorney, Mark Kincaid.

vFinance was recently added to the suit along with Sterling and the cancer-detector company DOBI. All deny wrongdoing and say investors knew the risks of speculating on the market. Through his campaign, Mahoney, vFinance's chairman who is not named in the suit, declined to comment and deferred questions to the company's attorney, Peter Ticktin.

This stripping of assets while leaving only liabilities seems to be a pattern among liberals. That is a big part of why Air America, which filed for bankruptcy today, was able to survive – once its creators ran up debt, they simply sold the assets and left those owed money holding the bag. Highly unethical – but seemingly an approved practice if you are on the left end of the political spectrum.

And one more reason to vote Republican.

Posted by: Greg at 12:27 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Yeah, it was a publicity stunt, but I think it indicates the fundamental lack of control we have of the border region, and the resulting lack of security.

Reports of an elephant crossing the river or people trying to smuggle an elephant across were rampant Tuesday while an elaborate political stunt was taking shape near the mouth of the Rio Grande.

It was a while later that the stunt, which was a photo shoot, was abruptly met by federal agents.

“The elephant never made landfall into Mexico, but I tell you something, he could have made 15 laps back and forth, but no one showed up,” said Raj Peter Bhakta, a former star on the NBC show “The Apprentice,” who also is a Republican candidate for the 13th District U.S. House of Representatives seat in Eastern Pennsylvania.

Three elephants, two African and an Asian, were taken out to a ranch near Boca Chica beach to perform, the 31-year-old Bhakta said.

He was in Brownsville to raise funds with friends and decided to get a first-hand look at border security while he was here, he said.

* * *

“If I can get an elephant led by a mariachi band into this country, I think Osama bin Laden could get across with all the weapons of mass destruction he could get into this country,” Bhakta said.

The only response from authorities was the arrival of the US Department of Agriculture, which seized the elephants because they were in a quarantine zone. The beasts wee released after they were sprayed for ticks.

Incredible!

Posted by: Greg at 12:25 PM | Comments (230) | Add Comment
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News like this brings a smile to my face.

The Israel Air Force scored a direct hit on a car carrying a three-man terrorist cell Friday morning in northern Gaza. All three terrorists were eliminated.

The IDF reported that the cell was involved in many Kassam rocket attacks, including the five rockets fired at the Jewish town of Sderot on Thursday. The fifth rocket hit an electric power line in the evening, leaving the Jewish town in darkness. Power was gradually restored to the city over the next several hours.

The car carrying the terrorists was laden with Kassam rockets. The cell was on its way to launching them at Jewish targets when it was liquidated. Among the three dead is the commander of a northern Gaza branch of the Al-Kassam Brigades, Imad Al-Makusi, 32.

In a counter-terror aerial attack Thursday night, the IDF, targeted a weaponry manufacturing facility in Sajaiya, in southern Gaza. The weapons factory was located in the home of Ashraf Faruna, a senior Hamas terrorist. According to the IDF spokesman, Faruna was involved in numerous attacks as well as the manufacturing and distribution of weapons to terrorist cells. The PA claimed that several people were killed in the offensive; the IDF was unable to confirm or deny the claim.

The IDF spokesman noted that prior to the offensive, the IDF warned the population not to stay in structures that are used by terrorist organizations for storing weaponry. A statement from the IDF read: "Terrorist organizations operate from within civilian populations, while cynically exploiting uninvolved civilians and using them as human shields, exploiting their homes to store weaponry and launching rockets at Israeli towns from populated areas."

And just to clarify, Hamas has not changed its stripes, nor does it accept the right of Israel to engage in such defensive actions.

Hamas warned Israel that it would "painfully avenge" the recent deaths, and says it has "surprises" for Israel if the IDF tries to invade Gaza. "The enemy entangles itself when it merely infiltrates a few meters into Gaza," a Hamas spokesman said, "so what will happen if it infiltrates into all of the Gaza Strip?!"

Has the time come to exterminate the Hamasroaches?

Posted by: Greg at 12:23 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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He is “traveling abroad”. I’d be surprised if he bothers returning to the country.

A fundraiser and political confidant of Gov. Rod Blagojevich missed his arraignment Friday on federal charges that he swindled investors and used fraud to get a $10 million loan.

Antoin "Tony" Rezko, 51, was traveling overseas but intends to return to face the charges next week, defense attorney Joseph J. Duffy told U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel.

Wednesday's indictments caught the real estate and fast food entrepreneur by surprise, Duffy told the judge.

"I spoke with him this morning and he told me that he was aware of his obligation as a citizen, and he was prepared to meet that obligation," Duffy said. The judge continued the arraignment to next Thursday.

The attorney said Rezko also would miss a court appearance later Friday on separate charges that he and millionaire campaign contributor Stuart Levine plotted to shake down investment firms seeking state business for kickbacks.
Duffy told reporters he did not know Rezko's exact whereabouts.

Prosecutors had said after the two indictments were unsealed that Rezko, of suburban Wilmette, could be considered a fugitive if he failed to show up for his arraignment. An arrest warrant was issued earlier this week.

Given the level of corruption endemic in the Illinois Democrat Party, the shakedowns and kickbacks of which Mr. Rezko is accused are no surprise. Starting with the Chicago machine and oozing on Downstate, there is a long history of such shenanigans among Democrats in the state. Indeed, that is why the state went over two decades without electing a Democrat as governor – and why the GOP refused to stand behind former governor George Ryan when his illegal conduct was uncovered.

My question is when the indictment of Blagojevich will be handed down.

Posted by: Greg at 12:22 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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That seems to be the strategy of Ronnie Earle in the Tom DeLay case. After all, how else can you explainthe fact that only a few hundred dollars of expenses related to the Tom DeLay investigation were reported prior to the indictment of the former GOP congressman, while tens of thousands were reported afterwards?

Weeks before Texas Republican Tom DeLay resigned from Congress, five of Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle's staffers traveled to Washington, D.C., and pursued their investigation of DeLay at a cost of more than $40,000.

The expenditures, made six months after DeLay was indicted by a grand jury that heard evidence presented by Earle's staff, are documented in records obtained by the Houston Chronicle on Thursday. Under open records law, the newspaper had asked for material on the cost of the probe.

Rosemary Lehmberg, a top Earle deputy, said Thursday that Earle's team traveled to Washington from Austin to interview witnesses in preparation for DeLay's trial, which is still pending.

Almost all the spending for the investigation of DeLay was made only after he was indicted in September 2005, according to the records.

Of the $41,103 that Earle's office said reflected all the money spent pursuing the case, only $313 was documented before the indictment. Yet Earle's probe of DeLay began in February 2003.

Lehmberg said it is possible some of the expenses, such as a $3,000 fee for transcribing witness statements, involved witnesses interviewed before DeLay was indicted and that the transcripts were produced afterward.

Oh, and by the way, Earle refuses to disclose how he is spending the public's money for nearly half his expenses related to the case. I gues that we, the little people, just ae not entitled to know how he pissed-away $19,000.

Ronnie Earle -- unethical by any definition.

Posted by: Greg at 10:20 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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It is a sign of two things -- the lack of a substantive platform and the desire to win at any cost. The Democrats have decided that if they cannot win on substance, they can just dig up dirt -- real or imagined -- on their opponents.

In the wake of the Mark Foley page scandal, Democrats are targeting the personal lives of Republicans in numerous key House races as part of a campaign to capitalize on voter disgust with the messy personal lives and alleged character defects among elected officials.

Although Democrats' internal polling shows that the Foley scandal is resonating deeply only in half a dozen races, party operatives are calculating that GOP candidates are now unusually vulnerable to personal attacks, several candidates and strategists said.

Opponents are questioning how one candidate tried to pick up women in a bar. Another wants to raise allegations of violence against a fomer girlfriend that were investigated by the police and found lacking. Still another wants to focus on a three-decade-old DUI and a car accident years later. None of the charges are particularly relevant to the race in which they are being raised, but instead show a desperation and a desire to sink into the mud as a strategy for victory.

Posted by: Greg at 10:12 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I've been trying to sort through Harry Reid's confusing financial disclosure scandal for the last couple of days. I'm still trying to get a handle on all of the details, but have come to a conclusion similar to that of the Washington Post.

THE BEST CASE for Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) is that he was sloppy about financial disclosure rules in accounting for a real estate deal on which he made a $700,000 profit. The more unattractive case is that the senator's inaccurate description of the investment was an effort to disguise his partnership with a Las Vegas lawyer who's never been charged with wrongdoing but whose name has surfaced in federal investigations involving organized crime, casinos and political bribery since the 1980s. As of now, the evidence points toward sloppiness; Mr. Reid's friendship with Jay Brown isn't exactly a secret in the state. But either way, an Associated Press report about Mr. Reid's dealings doesn't cast the senator in an attractive light. Neither does his response to the AP story, which indicates a casual disregard for the importance of accurate reporting of lawmakers' financial affairs.

The real problem here is not necessarily the deal itself -- it is the cover-up. Why hang up on a reporter who calls asking questions? Why attack teh integrity of those who raise questions about the deal? Why not simply issue amended financial disclosure materials? By failing to act, Harry Reid created an appearance of impropriety where I and others would have been willing to let the matter go. Instead, like any number of perceived financial irregularities by politicians on both sides of the aisle, we are forced to look more closely for wrongdoing where there may not be any.

Posted by: Greg at 10:04 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Does religious tolerance dictate silence about those things that a faith says may not be discussed? Does the freedom to speak critically about historical figures, theology, and uncomfortable truths endure even when such speech offends religious believers? That is an issue that is being faced today in France, and in much of the Western world.

Most, I suspect, would agree that murders, looters, polygamists and such deserve little respect. Why then cannot there be an honest debate over whether Mohammed was -- as M. Redeker alleges -- a "merciless warlord, a looter, a mass murderer of Jews and a polygamist"? Simply because Islam allows of no debate when it comes to Allah, his prophet, and his word. And the French government is fine with that.

That's where provocateurs like M. Redeker come in. Redeker is simply trying to kick-start that debate, even at the price of his own hide. That takes guts, I think, something the French politicians lack. And something Muslim intellectuals like Prof. Tariq Ramadan, the French university lecturer, cannot comprehend. Ramadan ominously warned M. Redeker that he can write what he likes, "but he must know what he wanted -- he signed a stupidly provocative text."

It is clear, in the case of Tariq Ramadan, that those who speak uncomfortable truths or dare to critically examine things held sacred by some believers deserve to be attacked verbally and physically – and indeed have chosen a course to action that merits such assaults and even death. Strangely enough, Ramadan does not extend his crabbed view of freedom to those who, like himself, espouse the hateful teachings of jihadi Islamism. After all, he is currently suing in a federal court demanding that he be allowed to travel to the US to take a position at a major university, and makes the claim that a denial of a visa is illegitimate because it is based upon a desire to censor his views. Perhaps we simply need to clarify to this Islamist swine that until he learns to respect the rights of non-Muslims to speak negatively about Islam (or any other religion), he is not welcome on our continent.

Posted by: Greg at 09:24 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Am I the only one troubled by this “culture of surveillance” that is developing in too many pats of the country?

Security and terrorism won't be an issue if Chicago wins the right to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games because, by that time, there'll be a surveillance camera on every corner, Mayor Daley said Wednesday.

"By the time 2016 [rolls around], we'll have more cameras than Washington, D.C. ... Our technology is more advanced than any other city in the world -- even compared to London -- dealing with our cameras and the sophistication of cameras and retro-fitting all the cameras downtown in new buildings, doing the CTA cameras," Daley said.

"By 2016, I'll make you a bet. We'll have [cameras on] almost every block."

Now how, exactly, will these cameras be used? Will they be strictly limited to providing evidence of crimes for investigatory purposes? Will they be monitored and reviewed looking for offenses – and will such monitoring be for major crimes of revenue enhancing offenses? Or will they be a surveillance tool – which, given the Chicago Police Department in monitoring political dissent, could mean that those whose views offend the powers that be could have their movements monitored and documented with staggering consequences.

Posted by: Greg at 09:21 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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And, as usual, they are bad for the prosecution and its flimsy case.

he dancing partner of the woman who accuses three Duke Lacrosse players of raping her refutes a key part of her partnerÂ’s account of the alleged crime.

Kim Roberts, who danced at the same party where the alleged rape took place, makes the revelation in an interview with 60 Minutes correspondent Ed Bradley this Sunday, Oct. 15, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

Roberts' answer to BradleyÂ’s question directly contradicts a crucial statement the accuser gave to police. Bradley asks whether she, Roberts, who goes by the stage name "Nikki" when she performs, was holding onto the accuser at the beginning of the alleged crime.

Says Bradley, "In the police statement, [accuser] describes the rape in this way: 'Three guys grabbed Nikki,' 'That's you,'" says Bradley, "'Brett, Adam and Matt grabbed me. They separated us at the master bedroom door while we tried to hold on to each other. Bret, Adam and Matt took me into the bathroom.' Were you holding on to each other? Were you pulled apart?"

"Nope," replies Roberts, who says she was hearing this account for the first time.

Roberts also denies the accuser's statement to the police that after the alleged rape, Roberts came into the bathroom and helped one of the rapists dress her.

When pressed by Bradley about whether she saw signs of rape from the accuser, such as complaining about pain or a mention of an assault, Roberts says, "She obviously wasn't hurt...because she was fine."

Bradley's report also contains interviews with the three defendants, Collin Finnerty, Reade Selligmann and David Evans, all of whom proclaim their innocence, and others involved in the case.

It seems to me that, unless there is some bombshell information is ut there, DA Nifong needs to drop this case.

Posted by: Greg at 09:20 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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One has to wonder, though, what the full story is.

Did the former governor recognize he can’t defeat Godzillary? Is there some family issue that takes precedence over political ambitions – or perhaps a potentially embarrassing revelation Warner wants to forestall. Or should we take his statement at face value?

Former Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner (D) announced this morning that he will not seek the presidency in 2008, saying he wants to spend more time with his family.

In a statement released shortly before his 11 a.m. press conference here, Warner said, "This has been a difficult decision, but for me, it's the right decision." He said he made up his mind after celebrating this father's 81st birthday in Connecticut and touring colleges with his oldest daughter.

"I know these moments are never going to come again. This weekend made clear what I'd been thinking about for many weeks -- that while politically this appears to be the right time for me to take the plunge -- at this point, I want to have a real life.

"And while the chance may never come again, I shouldn't move forward unless I'm willing to put everything else in my life on the back burner."

Maybe I’m a cynic, but I’m guessing that this is not all there is. After all, “spending more time with my family” is often a euphemism for “I’m trying to avoid a scandal.” But I hope that isn’t the case, because even while I disagree with Mark Warner on many issues, I have always had the impression that he was a decent guy – and I’m not so cynical that I wouldn’t like to see him be every bit as clean as he appears at first glance.

Posted by: Greg at 09:06 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Seems to me that this is not at all out of line with the underlying intent of the Founders – not that government should be restricting the ownership and possession of firearms, but rather that they should be encouraging it as part of one’s duty as a citizen.

Say an earthquake snaps a dam and the full force of the Boise River floods the Treasure Valley, driving untold thousands toward high ground.

Or maybe the subdivisions spreading west from Boise finally push big-box, subwoofer, exit-ramp America right up to this plateau of mint and alfalfa fields, where rural lives have passed in peace since Quakers settled a century ago.

However humanity’s rush may arrive, a town must prepare. Greenleaf, population 862, is not taking the task lightly. Thus the proposed language for Section 2, Chapter 6, Subsection 2 of the Greenleaf City Code.

“Heads of households to maintain firearms,” the heading announces.

“In order to provide for the emergency management of the city, and further in order to provide for and protect the safety, security and general welfare of the city and its inhabitants,” the proposal says, “it is recommended that every head of household residing in the city limits maintain a firearm, together with ammunition therefore, and obtain appropriate training relating to proper, safe and lawful handling of firearms.”

I’m for more guns in our society, not fewer. Today’s gun laws are destined to keep the law-abiding, responsible citizens of this country disarmed and vulnerable – both to the criminal class and the government. But Jeffersonian principles support the idea that the people should always be able to overpower a tyrannical government that has become destructive of their liberties, which has the side-benefit of enabling them to deal with those of their fellow citizens who would threaten their life, liberty, or property.

In the end, gun ownership is about ensuring self-reliance and not dependence on government.

Posted by: Greg at 09:04 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Seems to me that this is not at all out of line with the underlying intent of the Founders – not that government should be restricting the ownership and possession of firearms, but rather that they should be encouraging it as part of one’s duty as a citizen.

Say an earthquake snaps a dam and the full force of the Boise River floods the Treasure Valley, driving untold thousands toward high ground.

Or maybe the subdivisions spreading west from Boise finally push big-box, subwoofer, exit-ramp America right up to this plateau of mint and alfalfa fields, where rural lives have passed in peace since Quakers settled a century ago.

However humanityÂ’s rush may arrive, a town must prepare. Greenleaf, population 862, is not taking the task lightly. Thus the proposed language for Section 2, Chapter 6, Subsection 2 of the Greenleaf City Code.

“Heads of households to maintain firearms,” the heading announces.

“In order to provide for the emergency management of the city, and further in order to provide for and protect the safety, security and general welfare of the city and its inhabitants,” the proposal says, “it is recommended that every head of household residing in the city limits maintain a firearm, together with ammunition therefore, and obtain appropriate training relating to proper, safe and lawful handling of firearms.”

I’m for more guns in our society, not fewer. Today’s gun laws are destined to keep the law-abiding, responsible citizens of this country disarmed and vulnerable – both to the criminal class and the government. But Jeffersonian principles support the idea that the people should always be able to overpower a tyrannical government that has become destructive of their liberties, which has the side-benefit of enabling them to deal with those of their fellow citizens who would threaten their life, liberty, or property.

In the end, gun ownership is about ensuring self-reliance and not dependence on government.

Posted by: Greg at 09:04 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I'm not a fan of video games. I don't play them, and haven't done so with any regularity since the days of video arcades, featuring Space Invaders Tempest and Frogger. So I really don't have any knowledge about the game Bully. But I find the implications of this suit and the possible outcome to be quite disturbing.

The Bully is taking a beat-down. Game publisher Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. was ordered to demonstrate an upcoming video game titled "Bully" for a judge to determine whether it violates Florida's public nuisance laws. Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Ronald Friedman issued the order yesterday.

The move is a major coup for conservative Miami attorney Jack Thompson, known for his crusades against pornography and obscene rap music, and now the video game industry. He claims that the makers of the game have designed a "Columbine simulator" in Bully, which follows the life of a prep school student as he navigates the social ladders of a fictional school called Bullworth Academy.

Thompson filed the lawsuit a month ago, claiming that the game would violate Florida's public-nuisance laws, which are more typically used to prosecute environmental polluters. Besides Take-Two, the suit also names retailers Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and GameStop Corp.

"My view is that the game potentially impinges on public safety," he said. "I'm pretty sure that the game is harmful to minors."

Since the game has not been released yet, how does this idiot lawyer know that it is a "Columbine simulator", And even if it were a "shooting gallery" game set in the halls of a high school, would that make any difference from a First Amendment standpoint? After all, if the game is a public nuisance, what about movies, television shows, and music that glorify certain sorts of anti-social behavior. Might a judge be able to declare them to be a "public nuisance" subject to special regulations or outright bans, the guarantees of the US Constitution notwithstanding? Heck, I could see lawsuits declaring certain religious groups to be a "public nuisance" because of their unpopular or "intolerant" (read that "in accordance with traditional Christian teaching") teachings constituting a threat to others

A better move, from my point of view, would be to declare Jack Thompson, the lawyer in this case, to be a public nuisance, to strip him of his license to practice law, and to forbid him to file any future lawsuits seeking censorship of others.

After all, if you don't like the game then don't buy it and don't allow your kids to buy it. I realize that some folks have a real problem with such radical concepts of personal responsibility over government regulation, but it strikes me as much more important from the standpoint of balancing individual liberty over government power.

Posted by: Greg at 10:29 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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But hey, at least he didn't send anyone a creepy email. And I'd love to know why the GOP is not all over this scandal.

With all the Democrats screaming about Mark Foley, we wonder why there's hardly a peep from Republicans about Dean P. Proffitt.

DebbieSchlussel.com has learned that Proffitt--the indicted chief of a Missouri Trucking School----is THE Democratic candidate for the Missouri House of Representatives from Missouri's 151st District. As we reported in September, Proffitt was indicted because, as superintendent of the South Central Career Center Truck Driver Training School in West Plains, Missouri, his school provided answers for the Commercial Driver's License (CDL) Test to Muslim students seeking to fraudulently pass the test and seek CDLs and Hazardous Materials hauling certificates.

A whopping 60% of those taking the CDL test at Proffitt's trucking school were Muslims, who'd traveled from all over the U.S. and the world to take the test specifically at the school. That's because his school enabled Muslims to cheat. Some never even attended classes and can't drive trucks. As we reported yesterday, there has already been one fatality linked to a Muslim driver from the school, the killing of an Oklahoma State Trooper. True to the phonetics of his surname, Dean Proffitt apparently cared more about making a profit than America's security.

So let's get this straight. This guy is under indictment for enabling hundreds of folks to fraudulently get a CDL -- which makes it possible for a potential terrorist to create and transport an 18-wheel truck-bomb. Not only that, but one of his alums who obtained his license fraudulently recently murdered an Oklahoma state trooper. But nobody is saying anything about it? Why is this not a serious scandal?

H/T Debbie Schlussel

Posted by: Greg at 12:52 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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“Professional queers” like Mike Rogers tell us that homosexuals have a right to be left alone, and to reveal their sexual orientation in their own time and own way – or not at all.

But that rule doesn’t apply to homosexuals who dare to engage in the heresy of independent thought and deviation from the political orthodoxy of the “gay rights” movement.

Homosexual activist Mike Rogers said he will reveal the identities of homosexual Republicans on Capitol Hill each day "for hypocritically opposing gay rights for political reasons when they themselves are gay."

But according to Rogers, who runs a web log called BlogActive.com, he's "reporting on hypocrisy," not "outing them."

"The right wing of this country is so out of control beating up gay people," Rogers told Cybercast News Service on Tuesday.

Rogers named two congressional staffers who he believes had "a vested interest in protecting closeted men like former Republican Congressman Mark Foley so the majority can remain in power." One of those staffers left Capitol Hill earlier this year.

Rogers also blamed the Republican Party for pushing the Federal Marriage Amendment and the military's "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy.

"It's [because of] those kinds of things that it's time to say 'enough, it's over,'" Rogers said. "Those who equate being gay with immorality will be surprised just how diverse the House Republican Caucus is when it comes to sexual orientation.

"The party is over for these guys who think they can be gay and beat up gay people, and there are a lot of them in the Republican Party," Rogers added.

In other words, homosexuals are only as free to exercise their political rights as the “queer mafia” like Rogers are willing to permit them to be. If they don’t hew the right (or is that “left”?) political line, they lose what we keep being told is an essential right.

It rather makes me wonder if folks Rogers and his ilk are behind the Foley scandal, outing him not because of his sex talk with a former page but because of his politics. After all, folks like Rogers still view Gerry Studds as a hero and a role model, even though he actually engaged in sex acts with a page while that boy was serving his internship. The difference (other than the fact that Studds’ actions were much more repulsive) is that Studds is appropriately “progressive” in his politics, while Foley was a conservative. Thus Studds was and is exempt from criticism while the activists seek to destroy gay Republicans because they dare to support conservative policies.

What moral midgets like Rogers fail to recognize is that the overwhelming majority of conservatives are significantly more tolerant of homosexuals than he is. We judge them based upon their individual behavior and character, not upon their adherence to the correct set of political beliefs. We don’t use their sexuality as a club to beat them into submission – that is the job for Mike Rogers in the other intolerant leftists of the gay no-rights movement.

And remember, this is not the first time Mike Rogers has attempted to intimidate gay conservatives.

Posted by: Greg at 11:03 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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But, of course, we wouldnÂ’t want folks to have to prove their identity and citizenship in order to register or vote, would we? That might make it even easier to detect fraudulent registrants.

St. Louis Election Board officials say they've discovered at least 1,492 "potentially fraudulent" voter registration cards - including three from dead people and one from a 16-year-old - among the thousands pouring in before today's voter registration deadline for the Nov. 7 election.

City Republican elections director Scott Leiendecker said the board's staff expects to find even more bogus voter-registration applications among the thousands remaining to be processed. The board plans to turn all the questionable cards over to city Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce for investigation and possible prosecution, said board chairman Kimberley Mathis.

The board says all the questionable cards were turned in by one group - the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, commonly known as ACORN.

Brian Mellor, the group's election counsel, said that it welcomed any prosecutions of workers who turn in fraudulent cards. "We try very hard to monitor the employees, but there are chances of things slipping through," he said.

My buddy Dan keeps telling me that he is unaware of any history of voter fraud in Missouri – maybe this will stick in his memory next time we talk about requiring the same sort of identification necessary to get a passport or cash a check.

And is anyone else struck by the fact that fficial">once again it is ACORN that is the source of hundreds of fraudulent registration cards? They have a history of this sort of stuff around the nation whenever they run voter registration drives. Think we could get a RICO prosecution over this issue?

Posted by: Greg at 10:49 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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This declaration from international HIV expert marginally talented actress Scarlett Johansonn tells us more about her morals and activities than about what responsible adults should be doing.

While most people have a dental check-up every six months, Scarlett Johansson has revealed that she has two HIV tests a year. She said it was "part of being a decent human to be tested for sexually transmitted diseases".

* * *

"I do think on some basic level we are animals and by instinct we kind of breed accordingly. But, as much as I believe that, I work really hard when I'm in a relationship to make it work in a monogamous way.

"I get tested for HIV twice a year. . . One has to be socially aware. It's part of being a decent human to be tested for STDs. It's just disgusting behaviour when people don't. It's so irresponsible."

No, most of us simply have sufficient self-control to keep needles out of our veins, keep our pants on, and stay in stable monogamous relationships. Those are the actions of decent human beings. Failure to engage in them is disgusting and irresponsible.

Posted by: Greg at 10:38 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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After all, a ban on a symbol is a ban on a symbol -- even if the symbol is being mocked and deprecated.

Juergen Kamm, the owner of a small German mail-order business, makes a modest living fighting neo-Nazis. His firm sells sloganeering T-shirts, music albums and books as part of a campaign to rid the country of extremists. "Smash Fascism!" one hot-selling button urges.

Last week, however, a court in the city of Stuttgart ruled that under German law Kamm might as well be a Nazi himself. His crime? Selling items bearing swastikas, the Nazi symbol that has been forbidden here since the end of World War II.

Never mind that Kamm's company, Nix Gut, loosely translated as "No Good," displayed the swastika only inside a crossed-out circle or as part of other designs intended to impugn Nazis and their ilk. A panel of judges agreed with state prosecutors in Stuttgart that any reproduction of the symbol, no matter the context, risked making it socially acceptable again in Germany.

"The danger of familiarization is ever present," said presiding Judge Wolfgang Kuellmer. "In particular, this mass-market business risked undermining its taboo status."

I hate the swastika. I also hate the ubiquitous Che photo. But I wish that they are never banned -- because making them illegal just makes them attractive to a small segment of non-conformist, not just the moral midgets who accept the underlying philosophy.

Free speech is the key to killing malignant ideologies -- from Nazism to Communism to Islamism.

Posted by: Greg at 02:00 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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I've noticed this trend over the last few years -- many of my kids cannot use cursive writing and continue to print. Not only that, some don't even print well.

The computer keyboard helped kill shorthand, and now it's threatening to finish off longhand.

When handwritten essays were introduced on the SAT exams for the class of 2006, just 15 percent of the almost 1.5 million students wrote their answers in cursive. The rest? They printed. Block letters.

And those college hopefuls are just the first edge of a wave of U.S. students who no longer get much handwriting instruction in the primary grades, frequently 10 minutes a day or less. As a result, more and more students struggle to read and write cursive.

Many educators shrug. Stacked up against teaching technology, foreign languages and the material on standardized tests, penmanship instruction seems a relic, teachers across the region say. But academics who specialize in writing acquisition argue that it's important cognitively, pointing to research that shows children without proficient handwriting skills produce simpler, shorter compositions, from the earliest grades.

Scholars who study original documents say the demise of handwriting will diminish the power and accuracy of future historical research. And others simply lament the loss of handwritten communication for its beauty, individualism and intimacy.

I'd add one additional reason for the use of printing -- the increase in the number of foreign-born or first-generation Hispanic students. The Mexican education system teaches block printing -- to the point that students do written work on what in this country considers to be graphing paper, with one letter to the box. Studetns who started school south of the border learned that system, and the children of such immigrants are often taught that at home. The result is a shift in style.

Posted by: Greg at 10:37 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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I mentioned new author Naomi Novik's series">series several weeks ago as one of my favorite new finds. Look's like Peter Jackson is interested in giving them the Lord of the Rings">Lord of the Rings treatment.

Naomi Novik has written three fantasy novels chronicling the Napoleon-era adventures of a swashbuckling ship captain and a heroic dragon named Temeraire who fight to rescue Britain from a French invasion.

Now she has a dramatic tale of her own: Geek Girl Makes Good.

Ms. Novik has just sold the film rights to all three of her books to Peter Jackson, the director of such blockbusters as “King Kong” and “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy. The deal has completed her ascent from a computer programmer to a virtually unknown writer to a newly minted member of a select group of authors — J. R. R. Tolkien among them — whose novels could receive the extravagant high-tech, big-budget Jackson treatment.

Sitting in the living room of the tidy Upper East Side apartment she shares with her husband, Charles Ardai, Ms. Novik, a petite, pale and bookish-looking 33-year-old, said she had always hoped her novels would catch Mr. JacksonÂ’s eye.

“I fantasized about Peter Jackson,” said Ms. Novik, surrounded by bookshelves crammed with “Star Wars” figurines and vintage toys that bring to mind the apartment of the lead character in “The 40-Year-Old Virgin.” “Before we ever sent the books to Hollywood, really, I was talking, we were joking with friends. Even my parents were saying, ‘Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the man who did ‘Lord of the Rings’ bought your books?’ ”

“I’m a big geek and a fangirl,” she said, referring to her penchant for fantasy fiction. “If you wanted to make a dragon movie, I would be incredibly excited about it, just for that. And if it’s mine, so much the better.”

It is nice to see science fiction and fantasy works going more and more mainstream instead of being treated like escapist fare for pimple-faced teenagers with no friends. Some of the best writing today is found in the genre, which is so much more than Star Trek and Star Wars.

By the way, to give you a quick taste of what reviewers are saying of Novik's work, I encourage you to look at this.

Reviewing her first novel, “His Majesty’s Dragon,” in The Washington Post, Rachel Hartigan Shea wrote that the book contained a “generous dollop of intelligent derring-do.” The Times of London called it “Patrick O’Brian crossed with Anne McCaffrey: historic, seafaring adventure, with dragons.”

And now, coming soo to a theater near you!

And speaking of Anne McCaffrey, when will we get a film or television adaptation of the Pern novels?

Posted by: Greg at 10:22 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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We hear of such moves from time to time -- will the Latin Mass be brought back as an option for the Catholic Church?

THE Pope is taking steps to revive the ancient tradition of the Latin Tridentine Mass in Catholic churches worldwide, according to sources in Rome.

Pope Benedict XVI is understood to have signed a universal indult — or permission — for priests to celebrate again the Mass used throughout the Church for nearly 1,500 years. The indult could be published in the next few weeks, sources told The Times.

Use of the Tridentine Mass, parts of which date from the time of St Gregory in the 6th century and which takes its name from the 16th-century Council of Trent, was restricted by most bishops after the reforms of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65).

This led to the introduction of the new Mass in the vernacular to make it more accessible to contemporary audiences. By bringing back Mass in Latin, Pope Benedict is signalling that his sympathies lie with conservatives in the Catholic Church.

During my seminary days, i knew any number of my fellow seminarians and lay people who wanted to see the Tridentine Rite made more available, due to both an attachment to the Church of their youth and a respect for the history o the Church. This will help to satisfy those folks. It may also help to heal the rift between schismatic supporters of the Latin Mass and the Catholic Church. This seems like a measured, moderate move on the part of a Pope who seems most interested in bringing reasonable people of faith together, not dividing them.

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After all, we get reports of Christian parents murdering their children because they want to leave the faith every day -- don't we?

A RELIGIOUS feud between a Muslim father and his teenage daughter may have sparked a bloody domestic dispute on Queensland's Gold Coast which left the man's wife dead and him fighting for life in hospital.

Police are investigating suggestions the violence erupted after the 17-year-old girl told her father she wanted to opt out of the Islamic faith and convert to Christianity. The girl's mother is believed to have stepped in to protect her daughter, only to be fatally stabbed with a kitchen knife.

Neighbours reported hearing "blood-curdling" screams before the hysterical girl ran half-naked from their Southport home unit covered in scratches.

Police later found the body of the girl's mother, 41, inside the blood-smeared unit. Her husband was taken to the Gold Coast Hospital with a stab wound to the chest. He was last night in a critical condition under police guard.

I've known parents who were sad or angry over the decision of a parent who chose to convert from Christianity to some other faith. But I've never met, or read about, a parent who tried to kill a child over that issue.

Posted by: Greg at 10:07 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Ken Silverstein of Harpers explains why he didnÂ’t run the Foley story months ago.

But interestingly enough, we should consider the reaction of several lefty websites.

Among those who received information about the story but declined to pursue it were liberal outlets such as Talkingpointsmemo.com, Americablog.com, and The New Republic (The Hill, Roll Call, and Time magazine also had the Foley story, though I'm not certain when it came to their attention.).

Excuse me – these reliably liberal websites and publications knew about the story but didn’t see fit to go public? Weren’t Josh Marshal and John Aravosis sufficiently concerned about the safety of the pages to publish the information on their site – or to turn the material over to the police or FBI? Shouldn’t they have known that these emails indicated serious predatory behavior? Or did they simply see emails that were creepy, inappropriate, and unprofessional, but not really indicative of anything more?

Or do they hold themselves to lower standards than they hold the House leadership?

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